April 2010

We enjoyed a great family vacation at the Barcelo in Punta Cana. We travelled once again with Jon, Tina, Tianna, Lucas and Dave, and as usual, we shared a few good laughs. Our niece Alyssia and her friend Katherine also joined us for a few days. This resort had a wonderful children's waterpark and a large indoor kids club with every toy imaginable. Memorable moments:

Photo 1 - Reuben's mentor and bodyguard...always up to something.

Photo 2 - And why they invented Swimmers.

Photo 3 - These two are always hand in hand.

Photo 4 - Donkey Man. Had to have been there. Hee Haw Oink.

Photo 5 - Lucas always with camera in hand. If it wasn't for him or I, we would have had no photos.

Photo 6 - The 3 musketeers during lunch break.

Photo 7 - By the end of the trip, Reuben grew a love for the pool. When we put water wings on him, he would just get so excited.

Photo 8 - Reuben playing in the sand. The funny thing is that he's petrified of sand and wouldn't walk in in, therefore since he was ALWAYS taking off on us, we would lay a towel on the sand and gather toys all around him...and he wasn't going anywhere. Now if only we could find a solution to getting him to keep a sunhat on.

Photo 9 - Tianna and Portia got their hair braided

March 2010

Our little family decided to go on a mini-get-away vacation to Toronto. It didn't start off on a good note, since Reuben was quite sick and Portia and I were just getting better. Unfortunately, we weren't able to cancel since it had been prepaid and it was non refundable so off we went. We stayed at the Residence Inn Marriott in Vaughan Mills and coincidentally (okay, not so coincident) we were a hop, skip and jump from the Vaughan Mills Malls.

On Friday, we headed to Niagara Falls where Portia and Reuben both got to see the Falls for the first time. It was a perfect day and the fresh air and walking did us all some good. We took the children to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. It was a first time for all of us, and although it was a bit pricey, it was a wonderful experience. Reuben was loving every minute of it, especially the animals all around us, but Portia not so much. She's still quite sensitive to noise and didn't like the thunder and lightening that happened every 22 minutes. I must admit it was a neat experience especially with the live shark exhibit. We took a walk to the Hershey's store. It just reminded us how much we miss the Hershey's factory in Smith Falls. We walked through the Soda Shop (a 50s style soda shop) that serves ice cream sundaes like the did in the olden days. We made a pit stop at the Great Canadian Midway where some lady must have taken pity on us and gave Portia all her ticket stubs, which she cashed in for half a dozen plastic play rings. Our next stop was The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory where Portia was treated to Cotton Candy (one of her favorite candies) and Alex and I got a slice of Rocky Road Fudge.

Saturday, we headed to Little Italy. We stopped at a place called Grande Cheese where as you guessed it, there is every kind of cheese imaginable. We had dinner at a restaurant that caught Alex's eye. It's called Our Thai and we totally recommend it. It was delicious and if it wasn't for the rambunctious little man, we would have actually had a great dining experience. I finally had Bubble Tea with Tapioca balls for the first time and it was delicious.

February 2010

We were finally squeezed into International Adoption Clinic at CHEO to have Reuben checked. Overall, he's doing well. As per his bloodwork, nothing serious was found. He is low in Vitamin D and Iron (but not anything significant). They did find some lead in his system, but it's not accumulative. They did a urine and TB test and we will go back Thursday to get the results confirmed. As well, it was recommended that we up his calorie and fat intake (in other words, they said butter and cream....hmmm, go figure, the two things I'm trying to avoid), and will refer us to a dietitician. They charted his weight and he's on a good curve, albeit still under the American averages. If they go by his weight as to when we received our little boy and compare it to today, they said that he's actually slightly over the curve so hopefully they will continue to see this improvement at the next check up, scheduled 3 months from now. They found that his speech is delayed but felt it was due to the age that we picked him up and lack of stimulation. His head and face are all proportioned to his body and they found his lungs to be clear. We have to return with a 3 day stool sample....uuuhhh, nasty, as well as to provide all medical background information within our records. Due to Reuben's lack of history, they suggested a Genealogist which will likely do a blood test and review the chromosomes. Sounds interesting, and as much as it may answer some of our questions, I must admit, I have some hesitatancy. Maybe, fear of the unknown, not sure. Well, our little man is starting to learn more words and has added "hat" and "out" to his his list. Coincidentally, I believe he learned "out" from Portia, who continually orders him out of her bedroom. Too funny!!

January 2010 Update

Okay, I know I've been negligent in posting photos. One of the problems is actually getting a photo of Reuben not moving. Most of our Reuben photos are blurry. For every 1 photo we take of Portia, we usually have to take about 10 of Reuben and then it still doesn't come out, so this is all I have right now.

January 4th was our 5th Year Family Day Anniversary. Portia has been part of our lives for 5 whole years! What a blessing!

What's new?? Alex is on paternity leave and has been able to spend more quality time with the children. Okay so Portia is 3' 8.5" tall and 40 pounds now. She had her eyes checked and we found out that she's near-sighted, therefore will be getting glasses. Oddly enough, she seems to be okay with that. I was concerned that some of the children might tease her, so we rehearsed some lines she would likely hear, and what she could say back. There was no need, no one bugged her and infact she got compliments more than anything else. Go figure! Reuben had an appt. with a respirologist and he is definitely asthmatic. Unfortunately, asthma, allergies and eczema usually go together and he has all three. The good news is that they are all presently under control. We've tried so many creams on his sensitive skin and were extra careful in what we used to wash his body with. Believe it or not, vaseline came to the rescue once again. We went through the same thing with Portia and it was vaseline that soothed and restored her crocodile-like skin, although in her case it wasn't eczema. Reuben is currently on the orange puffer. Apparently children under 6 should not be on it, but it seems to be the most effective one and has less side-effects. Reuben is going through that lovely whinny stage right now and has mastered crocodile tears, and we are certain he had the best trainer in teaching him. No one other than the Professional herself...his sister. It's funny how life is. Portia is heading out of that stage and Reuben heading in. We just can't seem to catch a break. Reuben has started saying some words now, but believe it or not, he's gotten pretty good at la-la-la-ing and even singing some words to the Mamma Mia movie, on cue no less. Too funny!

We finally got Reuben's hair cut and he actually looks older and more like a boy (it was pretty long). He was so good about the whole thing and sat there in a quizzical state, as our family barber (Corrado) did his thing. He was treated to a lollipop in the end for being such a good boy. We learned quickly that he loves lollipops but also loves to rub them all over himself and in his hair. Ewww!