Her name!

Her name.... Mhyia Kunya!

Mike and I decided very quickly after applying for the adoption that her name would be Mhyia and we are so in love with the way we have spelt it.  I posted about how we landed with this name etc.. here. 

When we received her referral we were told her name was Long Kun Ya (Chinese put the last name first).  Mike and I had already decided that whatever her Chinese name was that we would keep it as her middle name!  We loved Kun Ya!  We always pick girl names that end in an "a" so this was perfect!  We decided to spell it with the two together, when we received her translated documents we noticed that sometimes they spelt it as 2 words and sometimes as 1 so we put them together as one name.

I looked up the meanings of her names and they are as follows;

Kun = Universe or Earth

Ya = Elegant or Graceful

Long = Dragon

Gung Hei Fat Choy – Year of the Dragon!

Happy Chinese New Year to all our friends and family and to our baby girl who is somewhere in China – it won’t be too much longer and mommy and daddy will be coming to get you!

Year of the Dragon is known for being one of the luckiest years and we are hoping this proves to be true for us!

We have some big changes coming in our lives and we cannot wait!!

I read this article on the some of the history etc.. and found it quite interesting so I decided to re-post it here! Enjoy…

"Gung Hei Fat Choy" That’s the traditional Chinese New Year greeting that means “wishing you prosperity” in Mandarin. The first day of the Chinese New Year – which begins at midnight on January 23, 2012 – is the most important of Chinese holidays, celebrated by billions in China, and by millions of ethnic Chinese around the world. It’s a celebration that lasts for 15 days, culminating with the Lantern Festival. Each year is associated with one of twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac. For 2012, it’s the Year of the Dragon.

There are several variations on the mythology behind Chinese New Year celebrations. Most are based on a ugly bloodthirsty monster named Nian that would emerge on the last night of each year to destroy villages and eat people. A wise elder advised villagers to scare the monster away with loud noises. That night, they set fire to bamboo, lit fireworks, and banged their drums. The monster, afraid of the loud noises and lights, ran away to hide in its cave. In another version of the myth, an old man persuaded Nian to turn its wrath on other monsters, not the villagers. Before he was seen riding away on Nian, the old man, actually a god, advised the people to hang red paper decorations in their homes and set off firecrackers on the last night of the year to keep Nian away. On the first day of the new year, the villagers celebrated, greeting each other with the words “Guo Nian” which means “survive the Nian”, a tradition that has continued to this day to mean “celebrate the new year.”

Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally lasts 15 days, from the first day (during a new moon) to the 15th day (a full moon). Each day holds a special significance that varies according to local traditions. But first, before the arrival of the new year, homes are thoroughly cleaned to sweep away ill fortune, and to welcome good luck. On new year’s eve, there are family gatherings to celebrate and enjoy sumptuous traditional feasts, and to greet the new year with fireworks at midnight.

The celebration culminates on the 15th day with the Lantern festival; on this night of the full moon, families mingle in the streets carrying lighted lanterns, often creating a beautiful light display.
The Chinese New Year for 2012 will be celebrated on 23 January. It’s the most important of Chinese holidays, celebrated by billions of people across the world. Festivities traditionally last for 15 days to culminate with the Lantern Festival. This calendar is based on a complex lunisolar calendar system that uses both lunar and solar cycles to mark time. As a result, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, between January 21 and February 21 of the conventional Gregorian calendar. Each Chinese lunar year is associated with one of twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac. For 2012, it’s the Year of the Dragon.

Mike and I didn't have anything planned this year for Chinese New Year but when he came home from the gym he brought this little surprise!! These were the best chicken balls we have ever had - form a little local restaurant - why haven't we tried them sooner!!!!

Bottles & Blankets

One of my friends at work is pregnant and it is so exciting because I have been living through her with this pregnancy and the two of us are constantly researching baby products and visiting new baby boutiques on our lunch etc...

Lately I have been researching bottles - I don't know exactly how old she will be but she should be still taking a couple of bottles a day. I am really looking forward to bottles, I think it is just such a great time to bond and build the attachment between us and her. I have always liked the glass bottles, I think they are tested and true and the only concern is the fact that they are glass and potentially breakable....well.....solution found!! I found these bottles made by lifefactory and I just LOVE them. They come with a silicone sleeve that can be removed if necessary but considering it can be boiled, microwaved, put in the dishwasher etc... I don't think we should have to remove it very often.

I purchased 8 bottles which I think should be enough?? I am assuming she wouldn't have more than 4 bottles tops a day, probably more like 3?


We bought 2 pink, 1 raspberry, 1 orange, 1 lilac, 1 turquoise, 1 deep purple and 1 light green! They are just so cute and we purchased some of these lids so the bottle can convert to a sippy cup.I also picked up two of these blankets - I LOVE them - they are Muslin blankets, so light and pretty. They are Aiden + Anais I got the pink stripe and floral one - I wish I could get one in my size - such a nice buggy blanket, especially in the summer. All in all I am very happy with my recent purchases, it is so nice to finally feel like I am picking up some things with an actual purpose!!

Another Step Closer to our baby girl!

About a month ago or so our agency sent us the links and information for the immigration paper work we need to fill out for Mhyia. To be honest I looked at it quickly but we decided that Mike would look after this part since he was familiar with a lot of this kind of stuff from work. Thank goodness - it all looks very confusing. We were taking our time getting to it but after last months huge batch it got us thinking we better get on it "just in case" apparently it can take up to 6 months to have this completed, depending on which route you go.

There is now two ways that you can bring your child back to Canada - "as a landed immigrant" or "as a Canadian citizen" at first we were going to go landed immigrant route because there could be some kind of issues with Mhyia's children's children not being Canadian citizens if she marries a non Canadian citizen and if the child is born outside of Canada (or something like that). The more we thought about it and read about it and looked at all the paper work etc... we decided that we would go the Canadian citizen route. Which means that she will travel to Canada with a Canadian passport and land in Canada as a Canadian citizen!!
Mike took care of doing all the paper work and having everything notarized at the lawyers, paying on line and making copies. It was so great!!

Today we sent it off to the Citizenship office - we now wait to hear back from them and then that is it until we return to Canada with her - then I believe we have to send in a "part 2" within a year. I am not sure exactly what that is for but I know that Daddy is on it LOL!!

Good job Daddy!!

YES - I am reading a book!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not much of a book reader AT ALL. I will read articles on things I am interested in or even portions of a book I am interested in but I am not one to just pick up a novel and read for enjoyment.

I was at work one day in March and came across an article in the Toronto Star about Xue Xinran a woman from China who has written a couple of books and in particular they were talking about her latest book to be released called " Message from an unknown Chinese Mother"

"Xinran has gained entrance to the most pained, secret chambers in the hearts of Chinese mothers—students, successful businesswomen, midwives, peasants—who have given up their daughters. Whether as a consequence of the single-child policy, destructive age-old traditions, or hideous economic necessity, these women had to give up their daughters for adoption; others even had to watch as their baby daughters were taken away at birth and drowned. Her searing stories of mothers who have been driven to abandon their daughters or give them up for adoption is a masterful and significant work of literary reportage and oral history".

I was instantly intrigued by her article and decided that this was definitely a book I was going to read. I have since purchased the book and at first couldn't put it down but she tells some very sad stories and to be honest I have not read a lot of it lately. I am most definitely going to finish this book but it may take me a little longer than I originally thought. I think it is an important book for me to read and possibly one day for Mhyia to read as well but that will be a LONG time from now - I am not sure if I would ever want her to read it??

Has anyone out there read it? What are your thoughts - is this something you would want your daughters to read??

Baby items - Research Day!!

We have not really looked to closely at anything baby related because it has always been so far away but this year while looking at our budget for the year we thought maybe we should start to plan for some possible baby items (maybe by the end of the year, fingers crossed). I/we just wanted to get a sense of what is out there and what kind of price range we would be looking at for the items we want.

So mid January we headed out a local store that carries all kinds of baby items and they are extremely knowledgeable in the areas of strollers and carseats, which would be two of our bigger purchases. This store has been around for 50+ years and they not only sell strollers but also do all the servicing on them so I know they know what they are talking about!

Even though the news at the time was not promising as far a referrals go we still thought, Why not, it will be fun to act like we actually have a child on the way LOL!!

The first thing we saw that we fell in love with was this humidifier - okay not something we needed to be looking at right now but I couldn't help myself - I LOVE pigs!! It is so cute and we actually wanted to get a humidifier regardless, to help with some of the dryness during the winter so yes I bought it!! LOL I couldn't resist!

Next we looked at highchairs, I really love the highchair and plan on using it for quite a while, I know some friends have the chairs that go onto an actual kitchen chair - I am not a fan - I like the convenience of a highchair, I like that I can wheel it around, easily clean it etc... I want a good highchair that will last, one that I can easily clean and one that I can store away in the main floor laundry room if I want it out of the way, also one that i can raise or lower to allow her to sit at the table as well. This is the one I have decided on, I LOVE it, it is the Peg Perego, leather seat, removable trays etc... it has everything I want - now lets hope they don't discontinue it before I need it!

Our next item was a stroller, there was one I was interested in and I am so glad that I spoke with them about it, he doesn't even stock it in their store because apparently it is a beast - heavy and really big (even folded). We looked at a whole bunch and again there were things that I wanted; the handle to be able to raise, a cup holder, big basket, full recline, easy steering, possibly be able to do some light jogging with it, light and compact. I think we found one that has all of these and I like the look of - it is the Valco - Tri mode ex - we both really liked this one!

I can't decide between black and Red - I like the red but if it had more black on it I would like it more - I think we are leaning towards the black!



The last thing was carseats - we really like the Britax carseats but I have also looked at the new Radion, this one is so thin and allows more room for other passengers but I don't love the look of it, it doesn't look as comfortable as the Britax. I don't know which one we will go with, I guess we will decide when the time comes!

All in all it was a great day - so much fun to think...One day we will actually be able to make these purchases!

If anyone has any other suggestions or comments on our choices we would love to hear them!!