Carrying on the Family Tradition

   A longstanding family joke is the bad luck we have when traveling. My parents are particularly prone to this bad luck curse. One notable instance was the time they were supposed to travel to Scotland and arrived at the airport only to discover that my father’s passport had expired. As this was not long after 9/11, renewing passports was a more lengthy process which meant the whole trip had to be cancelled. The kicker was that my mother had previously reminded him to check the expiry date on his passport; something which still gets brought up from time to time. Then there was the time when my parents traveled to Tofino. They remembered to bring their dogs, the dog beds, the dog food, the leashes, all the accoutrements needed to travel with dogs. What they failed to bring was their own luggage. This was not the only time they forgot their luggage. They also drove to the airport for another trip and forgot their luggage at home. Fortunately, my father believes on arriving at the airport with more than enough time to check in and sister was able to make a speedy trip with the forgotten bags. Speaking of my sister, she has also not escaped this curse. In her case, it was nothing to do with forgotten bags or expired paperwork, her entire backpack was stolen when she was backpacking around Australia at the age of eighteen. She was traveling alone, just graduated from highschool when this happened. I can only imagine how scary that must have been for her. Nothing that occurred was her fault. She had been directed by the bus station staff to leave her backpack in a pile of other luggage. When she got off the bus in Blue Mountain, her bag was nowhere to be found. Not her fault and certainly bad luck. Actually this may have been the start of this whole bad luck curse.
  Now, I’ve counted myself pretty lucky. Aside from an unscrupulous hotel in Cancun, my traveling has been fairly smooth sailing. It was really only a matter of time though. Markus, Isaac, and I are supposed to be in Connecticut this week visiting our dear friends, Gill, Atila, and Olivia. We had a two night stay planned for New York. Gill, without prompting I might add, suggested she look after Isaac while we stayed in New York. Two baby free nights in NYC! We also planned to stay the weekend in a beach house in a town called Mystic. I had dreams of sand dunes and scraggly grass, picnics on the beach, and children building sandcastles. Well, we arrived at the airport on Saturday bright and early, 6am to be exact, ready for our adventure. Getting to the airport at 6am meant getting up at 4am. 4am people! We made it through the check-in line up and presented our tickets and passports to the clerk, only to find out that in addition to Isaac’s permanent residency card, we would also need a Visa for him to enter the US. Now, I thought that I had done my homework on this. I had checked the Canadian Immigration and Citizenship website and looked under the section, Traveling with a Permanent Residency Card. The website helpfully indicates that to return to Canada all you need is your PR card. What would have also been helpful would have been if that section had also had a simple one line warning: Make sure to check the requirements of the country you are traveling to as a PR card may not be sufficient to enter that country. As a Canadian, I have the benefit of being from a country that is welcomed to most other places in the world without additional visas being required. Unfortunately, Zambians do not share this luxury and thus Isaac with his Zambian passport and Canadian PR card required a Visa to enter the US. This is not the first time I have felt incredibly stupid after trying to navigate the CIC website. Despite having a Masters of Science, I find the CIC website to be very confusing and challenging to find the information that you need. It’s almost like they purposely make it this way, like they don’t want people immigrating to Canada.... hmmm... that couldn’t be the case, right?

  So the long and short of it was that we made a disappointing trek back home, called our friends and tearfully explained that we wouldn’t be able to see them, and then later in the day booked accommodation in Uculelet. Markus and I both wanted to make the most of our time off and realized that staying at home would only be depressing. So, here we are making the most of our vacation and embracing the rain that has now come (finally) to the West Coast.
  Really, it was only a matter of time before I carried on the family tradition. Let’s hope that’s the end of the bad luck for at least this trip. 

On Wickaninnish Beach. Both our boots were full of water by the end.

This morning on the Wild Pacific Trail.

Kelp graveyard

My woodland baby. He walked and ran for 1km on our hike this morning. It's only a matter of time before we won't be able to keep up with him.

Gotcha!

I find it amazing to be able to say that one year ago today, Markus and I were given the greatest gift of our lives when we met our son for the first time. In the adoption community, many people refer to this as your "gotcha day". While I'm not completely sure about the name, I love the idea of celebrating this day and remembering that this was the day your family was created. Thinking back on that day, I remember the nerves, excitement, and adrenaline as we drove up to the orphanage with our social workers. Having barely slept in three days, I think I was running on fumes. But the moment Isaac was placed in my arms, all that faded away. All I could feel was love, joy, wonder, and amazement at this beautiful baby boy in my arms. To feel his soft skin and smell his amazing baby smell. To be able to kiss each of his chubby fingers and hold his tiny (but actually quite large) hands in mine. It was just an incredible moment and I don't think I can truly do it justice in writing. I find it hard to describe the bond that formed that day. This was my son and I knew in that moment that I would do anything for him and love him until the end of my days.
  Fast forward a year and I find it hard to believe how far we have come. Markus and I have taken on this crazy challenge called parenting. I'm not sure there are many situations in life that have quite the same learning curve as becoming parents, but we adjusted and tried our best which is all you can really do. Isaac is now an active, curious, loving, mischievous, and busy 17 month old. One of the first descriptions we read about Isaac in his proposal was that he was "energetic". We had a hard time understanding what that meant for a five month old, but the description fit him perfectly. He has such a exuberance for life and the "energetic" description still holds true today. He is constant motion. I love this about him, but also sometimes wish he would just hold still a bit more like for example when I'm trying to put on his shoes. Everyday Markus and I always have something to chuckle about because Isaac is always doing something new and usually funny. I find those moments when I look into my husband's eyes and we look at our son together in joy, awe, or amusement some of the best times in my day. It's a knowing look. We don't have to put anything to words, but during those times, I know that we both feel so lucky to have Isaac in our lives. So here's to many more gotcha days to come.

One of the funny moments

I just can't get enough of this little guy. Such a handsome little man.

One of his rare moments of stillness.

Should I be worried?

The great thing about the internet is that when you have a question, you can often find someone else who has already been in a similar quandary. Even when your question seems obscure or very strange, chances are someone else has already been there before you. So, tonight at dinner when Isaac gagged himself to the point of vomiting up his just eaten lasagna, I went to my trusty google search for some answers. And, low and behold there was already a chat underway on the Baby Center with this exact problem. Turns out it's very common for toddlers to gag themselves to the point of vomiting. Who knew? Just another behaviour to add to the already long list of questionable things Isaac has already done. Apparently some toddlers do this to get out of naps and bedtimes as they have to be taken out of their cribs if their blankets are covered with vomit. Smart. Isaac has only been gagging himself at meal time. I think he finds it funny. To Markus and myself it's just plain disturbing. I'm not sure what goes on at day care, but I really hope the kids aren't sharing secrets. The last thing I want is for Isaac to discover the vomiting to avoid nap time tactic. As with most things, from what I've read, this is just a phase that will pass. I can only wonder what the next one will bring.