Arriving in Durban

We arrived in Durban Thursday at almost exactly 10am.  Our 11 hour flight from London to Johannesburg went exceptionally well.  D was asleep in her seat before the wheels left the ground and slept for a majority of the flight.  She enjoyed watching a little “Frozen” on her own television but other than that was content to lay across the seats and sleep.  Doesn’t work so well for the big people!  Needless to say we are all looking forward to sleeping lying down tonight!

We transferred easily to our domestic flight to Durban in Johannesburg basically walking off one plane and then boarding the next.  Upon arriving in Durban we realized that our luggage did not arrive with the same ease.  After talking to a BA agent they did have our bags available for us by the end of the day.  It just meant an extra trip for the boys to practice driving on the wrong side of the road back to the airport to pick them up.

We are at a B and B in Durban for the night.  We enjoyed a nice cup of coffee sitting in the outdoors which we truly appreciated after being in airport transit for so many days.  D took a little dip in the pool which is a little cold to her standard but won’t hinder her usage.  We are hoping to all be in bed early tonight as we will be travelling over 4 hours by van to Matatiele the area where Z’s orphanage is located.  

Laying Low in London

We survived our first flight.
 After making it through airport security in Toronto, D looked at her dad and asked "Where is the swimming pool?" (apparently she thought we in South Africa already)  She thought the take off was "super exciting" and enjoyed the rest of the plane ride until she was way overtired.
D waited until 11:30pm for supper and then proceeded to fall apart and not eat a bite.  She had a good cry and fell asleep quickly on her mom's lap and didn't make a peep until landing.  After figuring out that the most sleep any of us had gotten was maybe 3 hours(and that was D) we decided to lay low at the London airport for the day.  We all managed to have a little nap(or 2), some decent food and almost feel ready for our longest leg of this plane marathon which will be 11 hours to Johannesburg tonight.
For those of you hoping for some skype or facetime I could not get it to operate at the airport so will have to try again some other time.
Our upcoming itinerary looks as follows
Thursday-arrive in Durban
Friday-head to Matatiele to meet Z
Saturday-visit with Z
Sunday-Z comes to guest house with us
Monday-court and return to Durban as a family of 4

Not sure when I will have a good enough connection to post again but will try!!

One more sleep!!!

After one more sleep we will be on our way to South Africa!
Our first flight leaves Toronto at 9:20pm on July 1st to arrive in London on Wednesday morning.  We then enjoy a leisurely 10 hours in the Heathrow airport(We told D we may go see the Queen if there is time or maybe just tea).  We then take a second red eye from London to Johannesburg, South Africa.  From there we take a shorter flight to Durban the area in which we will be located for most of our trip.  We are to arrive in Durban at around 10am on Thursday morning.
We are packed and as ready as we can be for the adventure ahead.
Funny picture of the day!

What does a 3 year old think they need in their carry on?

It's another GIRL!!!!

We are excited to be posting again!!

On Wednesday, May 28, 2014 we got the call from our Social Worker that we have been matched with a beautiful little girl from South Africa.   She was born on December 11, 2012 so she will be a near 2 years younger then her big sister D.  Big sister is still a little confused about all this talk about going on an airplane for a LONG, LONG time and then living somewhere else for almost 6 weeks but reality will hit soon enough.
Our flights are booked!  We leave July 1(this Tuesday) and are to arrive in Durban, South Africa on Thursday morning.  South African adoptions run on a much different timeline then Ethiopia.   We will only need to travel to South Africa once.  We will meet our new daughter very soon after arrival and then enjoy time getting to know each other as we wait for court, court documents, then Canadian Citizenship, and finally a Canadian Passport before we can fly home as a new family of four.  Our return flights are set for August 12 provided all is in order by then.
We are excited to have long time family friends and seasoned travellers Gene and Corry Veening coming with us!  It will be so helpful to have the extra set of hand, eyes and planners when travelling with 2 little children.

For all who supported us with words of encouragement, listening ears and gifts through this second adoption we want to say a huge THANK YOU!!

We will meet our new daughter in 7 days!!

Where are we now

As you can see this really isn't my thing but I will try to update on occasion.  A couple of noteworthy accomplishments about our special little girl.
- She can crawl!(kind of).  As of Monday our little girl has mastered the "army crawl".  It is somewhat painful to watch as it looks like she is trying to climb a mountain.  She crawls with only her arms and she really isn't a big fan of it but will do it when it serves her purpose.
- She can now go from lying to sitting!  This one took some help from her mom but after much cheering and showing her how to do it she can now go from a floor position to a sit.  As soon as she is in the sitting position she looks to her audience for the appropriate cheer and clap for her accomplishment.
-She walks with her toy walker!  She pulled this one off last Monday when mom put her behind a walking toy.  She now has no problem cruising behind a push car and trying to get where she needs to go.
- She talks!  Her 2 favourite words would have to be "DADA"(which mom hears all day as she has a picture of him in her playbin) and "BABY" which she has a couple of as well.  She "MOO"s whenever she sees a cow picture(there are a number around our house) and "Woof"s whenever she hears the dogs bark outside.  When she is really grumpy and desperate she will say "MAMA" as well.
-On a rotten note she has had two major inner ear infections that have required antibiotics(and I think she may be working on a third though I am trying to ward it off with warm clothes on her ear, wish me luck).
-She continues to be up once or twice a night(more when she has a ear infection) but mom is okay with that as it is great for bonding.
-She has settled into a nap routine(I will probably regret writing this).  She naps for a good 2 hours in the morning and again for a good 2 hours in the afternoon.  
-At last measuring she was 28.5 inches.  On the home scale she weighed in at 22lbs.  To do the math for you that means that she has grown 2.5 inches and gained 6 lbs in the 4 months that she has been home.  Not bad for a 14 month old.
We continue to be thankful for the joy that this little girl brings to our everyday lives!

SNOW!

Yesterday afternoon while D was napping it began to snow.  I almost woke her up so she could experience the first snowfall but sanity prevailed so she remained sleeping.  Much to my delight we awoke this morning to a light dusting.  After playing with a pile of snow in her highchair given to her by her Uncle Phil we decided to see how she felt about sitting in it.  

Isn't that the cutest coat you have ever seen?! (Thanks great Aunt Maria!)

My apologies ...

I hadn't really realized that people were still following but due to requests I will try my best to post every now and then. Although I am still old fashioned and not comfortable pasting my child's picture all over the internet I have included small glimpses of what I am delighted by every day.

D's hair.  Oh my, how it has grown!  With a daily dose of Coconut Oil it is also very soft. 

D's kissy face.  This is a new trick she has recently learned.  When you ask her for a kiss she puckers up in a full  "fishy face".  Incredibly adorable!

Her two big teeth. These two decided to show their face right upon arrival home.  Since then  no more have appeared.