Trinidad Wedding

We welcomed 2013 somewhere over Ontario, while on a WestJet flight from Toronto to Port of Spain, Trinidad.  We were going to attend my sister-in-law's wedding and post-wedding celebrations.  Sophia was going to be a flower girl at the wedding and was quite excited about the trip. “We going to Trinidad?”, she would ask everyday. I finally introduced the “x more sleeps” countdown to give her some idea about when we were leaving.

The wedding and reception were great! Christine, the bride, looked stunning and very happy. Omar, the groom, looked ecstatic, too. Sophia looked so cute in her flower girl dress. I had to walk down the aisle with Sophia during the ceremony. I coaxed her to walk on her own but she refused. Holding my hand, she marched confidently and looked up at the guests. She actually didn’t want to leave the aisle once we got to the front.

The bridal party’s dance performance during the reception and Sophia’s dance performance on the dance floor were the highlights of the evening. The reception was fun and lively. Carol, Christine’s maid of honour, put together a very touching slide show for the couple. The food was delicious and the calypso music got everybody dancing. Sophia couldn’t get enough of the calypso music. She was hilarious! I was carrying her while I danced and she was all calm and quiet. I asked her if she wanted to dance, too, and she said yes so I put her down. Then the dancing queen in her just came out! It was like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Too funny!

I am very happy for Christine and Omar. Congratulations to the happy couple!  Here are some pics from the wedding day...

C&O's Wedding, a set on Flickr.

December wrap-up

December was a very busy month, filled with Christmas festivities, Christmas shopping, trip preparation, and my birthday celebration.

Christmas festivities included a visit to Stanley Park's Bright Nights light display with our friends, the Van Dops, Blommesteins, and Vangie & Skye.  We braved the rain to enjoy the train ride through the light display, visit Santa at his "house", enjoy some face painting, and take photos with the mascots walking around.  Sophia enjoyed everything, except for getting too close to Santa.  I was hoping to get a photo taken with Santa but Sophia would not go near him.  Oh well.

I also attended Navarik's Christmas party, held at the Vancouver Aquarium.  It was really nice to see my ex-colleagues again, as I do miss them.  Knowing that this will be my last Christmas party with Navarik (I changed jobs last October) made me feel nostalgic.

To celebrate my birthday, Ed and I both took the day off work.  I wanted to spend a grown-up day with Ed so we dropped Sophia off at daycare then headed to downtown.  We had brunch, did a bit of shopping, then watched the James Bond film, Skyfall.  Afterward, we had a snack, did a little bit more shopping, then it was time to pick up Sophia from daycare.  The time went by so quickly.  Later that evening, after Sophia went to bed, we went out for a fabulous dinner at Les Faux Bourgeois.  I had a great time with Ed and really enjoyed every minute of my birthday.  It was definitely a happy day.

On Christmas day, we all slept in then had some bacon and eggs for breakfast.  Then we took some photos in front of the tree, before opening our presents.  Sophia doesn't really get the Santa-coming-down-the-chimney thing yet so we just mentioned that Santa gave her some presents.  She seemed happy enough with that much information.  That evening, we hosted my family Christmas dinner.  My mom and sister's family brought the sides while we prepared the main dishes.  Ed slow roasted some pork shoulder and it was super delicious.  It was a big hit!

With Christmas over, my attention turned to preparing for our upcoming trip to Trinidad.  So much to do, so little time!  I quite enjoyed December but now I look forward to having some down time while in Trinidad.  I need a break from errands and running around like a crazy woman.  While I was packing, Ed says to Sophia, "Mommy is packing like a maniac".  Sophia then comes upstairs and asks me, "Mommy, you packing a mani ack?".  Too funny.

20 years in Canada

This past week marked the 20th anniversary of my “landing day” in Canada. 20 years ago, my dad, mom, two brothers, and I got off the JAL airplane in YVR and officially became Canadian landed immigrants. It was a very cold day, I remember, and coming from the tropics, we were all pretty shell-shocked by the temperature. My first glimpse of Vancouver from the airport entrance was of the snow-capped North Shore mountains. I remember thinking how beautiful the view was.

Canada has been very good to me and my family. Thank you, Canada, for welcoming us with open arms. Thank you, Papa and Mama, for uprooting your own lives so that your kids can live in a place with better opportunities. Your sacrifices have not been for naught and I appreciate them every single day I get to enjoy the life that we have been able to build here in Vancouver.

28 months

I am really enjoying Sophia nowadays. Yes, her “terrible twos” moments make it more challenging but her increased ability to articulate her thoughts and feelings allow for more interesting and enjoyable interactions with her. Her personality and sense of humour are coming out more and more, and she makes us laugh all the time. Her cuteness is overwhelming, sometimes. Hey, I’m her mom, I’m allowed to be biased!

“Mommy not angry anymore.”

“Don’t wipe my tears.”

“No, daddy not exercising. He at work.”

“Mommy no go to work. Sit with me first.”

These are some of the things she has said to me lately. Sophia’s vocabulary is growing everyday. She is quite chatty and asks many questions. She loves to read and we’re regular visitors in our local library. When checking out the books, Sophia scans the books by herself. She sometimes cracks jokes and laughs at them the loudest. Too cute.

As for the terrible twos moment, I am learning more tricks and techniques for how to deal with these situations in a more calm and patient manner. And these new skills have really helped make my time with Sophia more peaceful and gratifying. Less stressful for me, too.

One of my favourite moments is when Sophia asks if she can tie up my hair. She has me sit on the floor and she stands behind me. She sweeps up my hair with her hands and forms a pony tail (well, a messy one). Then she attempts to put a hair tie on but of course, she’s not able to do that yet. So she releases my hair and starts over. I just love feeling her little hands through my hair and she has such fun fixing mommy’s hair. These moments, I just wish would never end.

New MacBook Pro!

The MacBook Pro with Retina display that I ordered last Friday (Black Friday) arrived today. And I am writing this blog post using my new laptop!

It was on sale last Friday ($101 off) and that was all I needed to make the purchase. My six year old MacBook Pro has finally given up (I think it over heated and fried some components). We have another MacBook (also six years old) that is still working fine but using it to edit photos was getting painfully slow. It’s funny how our threshold for “slow computing” gets lower and lower as time passes.

This is my first ever computer purchase, which is pretty amazing. Work has always provided me with a machine to use at home but my work laptop now is a Dell and I am not interested in using Windows at home. I’ve been using Apple laptops since 2004 and all my stuff are too embedded in the Mac. I love, love, love this new laptop. It is super light and fast and the retina display is stunning. I’m very happy right now. :)