P.S.

12.  Baby J likes anything with buttons he can push -- especially remote controls!  

13.  And opening and closing doors.

He slept for a solid 7 hours last night (yeah!!), woke up for a bottle, and then back to sleep for 1 1/2  hours...any ideas how we can get him to sleep longer after the bottle?!  He has done this same routine, post-nighttime-bottle, since coming home, meaning he only gets about 8-9 hours of sleep at night.  (And makes for very early mornings for at least two of us!!)  Progress, though, in baby steps.  :)

Learning about Baby J

Here is an early morning video of our happy little boy...I just adore his giggle!


Most of this blog is going to be pictures as we have some family who are not able to view the videos. This boy is a character! We are trying to get on a schedule and it is going okay. He does. not. like being in his crib...the kid screamed bloody murder when we tried that the first night. So we tried just putting the crib mattress on the floor. This worked only until he rolled off of it and woke himself up! Now we have a couple quilts on the floor, which imitates the way he slept with the foster family and this seems to be working very well. We still find him halfway across the room sometimes with how squirmy of a sleeper he is, but at least he's staying asleep (for the first half of the night!).


Here is a list of things we have already learned about our little turtle:


1. He is a very restless sleeper when he is finally asleep.


2. If he's really tired, he tends to drop off to sleep VERY quickly; he will just go limp in your arms. Awake one second, out like a light the next.


3. We call him our "turtle" because as he is falling asleep, he will put his head down on our chest, tucking his chin under and rounding his back...like a turtle going inside its shell.


4. When he gets fussy, he settles down if he gets his binky.


5. He does NOT like cold foods/drinks.


6. He is fascinated with watching himself on video on the computer.


7. He loves things with wheels and will sit and spin them endlessly.


8. He likes "peek-a-boo" and will laugh endlessly when you play it with him.


9. He claps to music, especially along with the Korean music his foster mother sent home with us as a gift for him.


10. He is not afraid of our dogs.


11. He is a very well-loved little boy and we are soooo lucky to have him in our lives!!

 J does not complain when getting in his carseat anymore.  He looks very snug and comfy in it!

His first car!

Playing on the deck after it rained and cooled things off a bit.  The boy got a bit dirty, but what's a boy with no dirt?!?!

Computer time with appa; that is, until he started hitting keys that actually did something!!  Then he was given his book.  Live and learn, appa, live and learn.

Climbing up the stairs already and pretty darn good at it too!

Meal time!!  He got a piece of banana stuck to his nose and I couldn't resist the picture.  He might be embarrassed in a few years, but what good parent doesn't have embarrassing pictures of their kids to pull out at the most inopportune times of their lives, right?

This is his "I'm all done eating and ready to sleep now" pose.  Just lays his head right down.

Bath time (getting much better about liking his baths!).

Bottle time (I love bottle time!).

Bed time.  He's all soft and snuggly and clean, I could just hold him forever.

And finally, his two guard dogs.  These two are very interested in the new little person in the house.  As odd as it is to say it, Lexi, our beagle, has matured since we got home with J.  She is very protective of him and is always wanting to be with him when he starts crying.  She comes with us in the middle of the night to comfort him and stays while he has his bottle.  She also kind of tried to corral him when he's on the floor; really cute to see.  We are soooo glad that the three of them get along and that J's not allergic to dogs; I don't even want to think about what we would have had to do if either of those weren't the case!

A video try...

trying new video:

We took Baby J for a walk outside the agency prior to the blessing from Dr. Kim.





Chris giving J his first meal on Gotcha Day.





J and Lexi getting along.

Overview of our week in Korea

Monday had been our first day to meet Baby J and then we did some sight-seeing with friends we met in Korea who were there to pick up their son as well.

Eating at an American pub in Seoul!  The guys said the burgers were frozen patties warmed up.  :(

The four of us and another adoptive father friend that was there picking up his daughter...on his own, brave guy!!!

Our meeting and luncheon with the director of the Korean adoption agency was cancelled on Thursday, so we were just going to go early and rock the babies that are waiting to be placed in foster homes.  Well, as we were walking near the agency, we happened to see our son with his foster mother coming in for a quick doctor check-up as he started with a cough and sneezing since our first meeting...poor little guy.  They gave him some medicine for the flight until we were able to see our pediatrician (who was on call Saturday morning and we just went to see her briefly; he is fine, she took him off the meds, and said to keep him well-hydrated...she suggested a humidifier, which we now have to find time to go get!).  We met with J and his foster mother for about an hour, during which she gave us a bunch more stuff that we had sent, some food to get him through the night, snacks that he likes, and other gifts for him, including a whole case of CDs/DVDs that we haven't even had time to open yet.  What a great foster family we had!!  Dr. Kim was available to do the blessing over the babies when it was time to leave and their driver took us and the S. family back to our hotels.

MAY 27 = GOTCHA DAY!!!!!!!!!

In the van going back to the hotel.

He did great on the plane!!  Mom and Dad, on the other hand, had to figure out at 30000 feet that he was finally hungry about halfway through the flight when everyone else was sleeping!!  But what a little trooper.  Here is when it finally hit us that he really is ours; the plane door was closed and we were moving away from the gate:

doesn't Chris look so proud and happy?!?!

Both of my boys getting some zz's.

Our family of three!!!!!!!

Our arrival in Chicago where we had to part ways from the S. family.  Can't wait to meet again!!!

We arrived home Friday evening to some super-excited people at the airport waiting to meet our son!  Not going to go into how tired we all were, but I. have. never. been. that. tired. before.  All of our body clocks are messed up and we're trying to get on a schedule, so wish us luck.  But we are happy to be home finally and ready to really get to know each other.  I am still working on trying to get video up; believe me, I have a ton that I would love to share, but right now it's only on my computer and camera!!  Here is a last picture of me and J.  When he finally gives himself over to sleep, he just goes completely limp...I love it...I LOVE HIM!!!!!

First Meeting with Baby J

He takes after his appa (daddy) in liking fish.

Here are a few pictures of our first meeting with baby J. The foster mother handed him right over to Chris and he did great ... he was all smiles and giggles. I still cannot get the video uploaded to the blog, but here are some pictures!!! He still has a LOT of hair.

We've met up with another couple who are picking up their child.  Their schedule is the same as ours; we pick up our children at the same time on Thursday and actually have the exact same flight back to Chicago on Friday!!!  I think we have made some lifelong friends.  Their son is 10 days older than ours.

And our new lives begin!

The flight is booked, the hotel is (finally!) booked, and the bags are packed, ready to go!!  We will meet Baby J at 10am on Monday in Seoul, which is 8pm Sunday night back here.  It's really here, we're really going, and he's really going to be ours!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I probably won't be on the computer much while we're there, but I will try to give a couple of updates throughout our stay.  My heart is pounding...I think it's finally sinking in.  :-)

TRAVEL CALL!!!!

We are going to Korea!!!  We will be back home next week with our baby J!!!  I don't know what else to write, other than that we are deliriously happy, excited, and, oh yeah, nervous.  We're gonna be parents!!  Wow, we're gonna be parents.  Ho-ly cow.