Daycare and Nightimes

Hi again,

It's been awhile since we've updated the blog, so we actually have some new stuff to report (although many of you know this already since we have talked to you in the last week or so).

First -- Daycare!
E and A are both settling into the daycare routine quite nicely. The first day they were there on their own, the caregiver (Jane) sent pictures to us. They were clearly enjoying themselves. Jane also sends a binder home with them every day where she reports about what they did all day, what they ate, and how they were. According to her they are both doing really, really well. It sounds like Erin has become quite attached to Jane and her middle daughter. A is settling in quite well, but is not as relaxed about it as E is. (This is a bit of a role reversal from their normal states.) Possibly because it's a change from being at home all day with DoT, who the sun rises and sets on, according to her.

Secondly -- Sleep!
When they started daycare, we started trying to get them to fall asleep on their own without us having to lay down with them. We figured if they could do it at daycare, they can do it at home. It's gone pretty well -- although it's still not as easy as it is at the daycare... why is that? Everyone I know tells me that this is typical -- kids always go to sleep more willingly at the daycare than at home. It doesn't seem fair to me. I figure I'm paying the caregiver, she shouldn't get the easier time of it. :-)

But anyhow, here's the big news.... this week, four nights in a row, E and A slept in their own beds all through the night! I was feeling pretty smug about it so, of course, last night they were both up a couple of times. But I'm hoping that was just a glitch and tonight we'll be back to them sleeping through the night, on their own.

They have come home a few days from the daycare with top-knots in their hair, so I thought I'd end todays post with a couple of pictures...

Happy blog-versary to me!

Wow, two posts in one day! DoT's blog entry (below) is much more interesting than mine, but I just realized that today is the one year anniversary date of the start of this blog. And I thought I should mark it.

I had thought that I might shut the blog down at the one year mark, since it is becoming more and more difficult to find things to write about, but I think I may keep going until the one-year anniversary of when we got the girls (July 1st). I think it might be a nice memento for them to have the first year of their lives with us captured somewhere.

Daycare Daddy

Hi all, Dad is feeling a little lost these days as it slowly sinks in that the kids aren't about to come running up to me at the keyboard demanding "up, up" (OK I admit to some satisfaction that the only whining in the house right now is coming from me). The girls have their first lunch at daycare today and I pick them up in time for their naps (last weekday naps at home today). Here are some more pictures and a video that is hopefully bright enough for people to see (they are in correct order).

1. Looking after babies is hard work!
2. Alex reviews the daycare contract very closely - what are we getting into!
3. I can't believe we drank the whole thing!
4. Let's do the Wave!
5. Go Sens Go!
6. Enjoying backpacks that Aunt Doreen bought (containing sleeping bags for use at daycare).
7. People have trouble telling us apart right-side-up, this should confuse them (hint: it's E)
8. Trying backpacks at high speed.

Daycare update

Hi all,

Just thought I'd give a quick update to let everyone know that we have now found a caregiver for when DoT goes back to work in a week. So we can all take a collective sigh of relief.

When we first started looking for a caregiver, a colleague of DoT's had mentioned the woman who had looked after her kids, and who she thought was fantastic -- but she only worked 4 days per week. Since that didn't work for us, we kept looking. However, the fiasco of the last few weeks with our expected caregiver, plus a bit of desperation on our part, resulted in DoT phoning her on Tuesday of this week. Well it turns out that she has two spots available right away and, get this, she is starting to take kids 5 days per week. So, we met with her yesterday and we both had a really good feeling with her. And the girls took to her quite well right away. So, tomorrow we will be meeting with her to sign a contract and then next week DoT will start the integration process. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. There is a 6-week trial period to make sure the kids settle in well and there are no issues, and then we're in for sure. So, it's all fallen into place. What a huge relief!

That's it for tonight. Just thought I'd give a quick update because I knew a lot of you would be wondering.

A mishmash of stuff...

A and E are making lots of progress on the talking front. It seems like it wasn't very long ago that they weren't really saying any words. Now they are up to about 10 words that they'll say on their own without any prompting from us. The ones I can remember right now are up, milk, bye (bye), hi, mama, dada, ball, bubbles, baby, apple,and Abby. And I think there are a couple of others that I can't think of right now. Plus they will repeat a whole bunch of words if we say them. And they spend a lot of time every day pointing at things and asking "dat?" Most of the time we don't know what they're pointing at, so we just make something up. Like rhinoceros or tuberculosis.

So, some of you may have heard about our daycare woes. For those who haven't let me just say that we thought we had someone lined up a long time ago but for some reason -- lets just call it a breakdown in communication and leave it at that -- it doesn't look like it's going to work out. So, last night I spent the hours between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. worrying about it. Then today DoT and I began a new search for a caregiver. DoT had been referred to a caregiver that a colleague of his used in the past, but we had not contacted her mainly because we understood that she only took kids 4 days per week. Well, today DoT contacted her and it turns out she now takes kids 5 days per week and she has spaces available! So tomorrow after work we will all be heading over to her house so we can meet her and scope the place out. It looks very promising from the conversation DoT had with her on the phone today, but we'll see tomorrow. We know of another person who met with her and she refused to take that family on as clients, so who knows we may not meet her criteria. But I'm hopeful. Now if only we can get through the meeting without any of us flailing around in full tantrum mode I think we'll be all set. I mean, come on, who can refuse A and E? There are no two cuter kids.

This weekend we were in Shakespeare for the Easter weekend. E had a fever most of the weekend, but it really didn't slow her, or us, down much. DoT and I had a very nice breakfast, sans kids, with a good friend on Monday morning before our drive back to Ottawa. We also had an Easter egg "hunt", with the girls finding 12 plastic eggs that had a couple of smarties in each one. After we pointed out the first of the eggs and showed them what was inside, they managed to find the rest of the eggs in seconds. (They weren't really hidden... just sitting about the room.) It was really fun watching them. They were so excited. And they LOVED the smarties.











It was a good thing they were so fantastic in the morning because we had to keep reminding ourselves of that all the way to Ottawa for the rest of the day. Neither one of them wanted to nap, which made for a very long and cranky trip.

On a final note...

I know there are always lots of people asking for your money and the last thing you need is for me to point you towards another good cause, but I'm going to anyway (avert your eyes now if you really don't want to read this). As you know, DoT and I went through an agency called Children's Bridge when we adopted A and E. Well, associated with this agency is the Children's Bridge Foundation. Periodically we receive information from the Foundation about the work they are doing in various countries, and in the last month or so we have been following the story of 10-year old Haong Son Pham, in Vietnam. Son Pham has a huge tumour on the left side of his face that is causing great pain and is threatening his life. The CB Foundation has been working to bring this little boy to Canada to have the surgery to remove the tumour.



Two hospitals are currently looking into whether or not they can provide the medical care for this boy -- the Toronto Sick Kids hospital and the IWK in Halifax. If a hospital agrees to take on his case, the CB Foundation will pay for his medical costs both here in Canada and follow-up care back in Vietnam, and will pay for his and his escort's travel and living expenses to get here and back. Lots of people have already come forward with offers to help, and approximately half of the estimated $50,000 needed to help Son Pham has been raised. If you would like to know more about Son Pham and the fundraising being done to help him, visit the CB Foundation's website at http://www.cbfoundation.com/HoangSonPham.html#April%205,%202007 (note: earlier information suggested that the medical care would be provided in the USA, but if you keep reading you'll see that it's changed to Canada now). There is also a link on that page if you want to make a donation to the cause. Also, on the same page is a link to an Ottawa Citizen article that I'd encourage you to read.

Okay, that's it. I'm done.

Have a great week. Sorry this update has been so long in coming. I'll try to make sure the next one is quicker.

K...