A kiss is just a kiss...NOT!

So as I was giving J some snacks today while playing, he signed that he wanted "more, please" and waited for the food to come.  I thought I'd try asking for a kiss before giving it to him (I know, I know, you're not supposed to bribe your kids, but I thought what the heck, it won't kill him to give me a kiss).  I also figured he wouldn't do it anyway, since he never has before, either of his own volition or when asked to.  Much to my surprise and complete awe, he came at me with puckered lips and pressed them to my own!!!!!  I just sat there for a second, not believing what had just happened, then started grinning and gave him a huge hug.  Of course, he got his snack for that.  :)  And when I asked for another one, it was a messy open-mouthed kiss with a kissing sound accompaniment.  I was thrilled!  Those are the only two I've received from him; usually he puts his forehead on ours and rubs it back and forth.  When Chris came home and I told him, he asked J for a kiss as well and got the open-mouth slobbery, lovable, can't-believe-it-happened one as well!  We know that this is not necessarily, in J's mind, a sign of affection and may just be something else that he has learned makes those big people in his life really silly and happy.  But we don't mind.  Mind you, we can't wait for the time that he is giving us kisses spontaneously.  We know this might be a while and, in the meantime, are content with the prompted ones.  Wa-hoo!!!!!!

loving the chocolate pudding!

tried going in the potty since he's like clockwork, but he didn't like it.  but not 2 minutes afterwards, he was going while he sat ON the potty...close is good, right??

just so ya'll know that he isn't always in a good mood!!  I usually try (unsuccessfully) not to laugh at this face...what a faker.  It's usually pulled out when he doesn't get something he wants.

can you see the pathetic single tear running down his face??

little stud man!!

I didn't think he'd do well with dipping the french fry, but he proved me wrong.  

3-month Family Day anniversary!!

So, yes, I've been a slacker for not posting anything for three weeks.  But I also have an excuse...actually, three excuses: week one, a sick baby.  The kind of cold where he woke up every hour or so coughing and we had to go in to his room to get him back to sleep; eventually, one of us would wind up sleeping the rest of the night on the floor in his room.  Does NOT make for good sleep for anyone.  Also, YOU try breathing through your mouth and keeping your binky in at the same time; a binky, I might add, that has to be in your mouth if you start waking up or else you cry and wake yourself up completely.  Week two: camping trip to our land with J for the first time.  It rained over half of the time we were there and every. single. night.  Good news from that: we found out that once J is asleep, not even a HUGE clap of thunder will wake the kid up (the same noise that woke up my husband who is a very heavy sleeper!).  And week three: well, I really don't have an excuse other than the fact I'm counting down the days to going back to work (sob!) and that J started with another cold a few days ago.  And so begins the sleepless nights again; great timing!

J also got to meet his cousins on Chris' side of the family at the beginning of the month and we got a great picture of the three boys together.  I just love this picture; he looks so comfortable with them!

Today is a good day to post since it has been three months since J was handed to us and we became a forever family!!!!!  I look back at the pictures and remember those days/moments in Korea and it feels like it has been forever since we were there, but it also feels like the time has flown.  I still remember our meetings with J so clearly, like it was yesterday.  I've been looking through pictures of when we first brought him home and in some, I can now see how scared he was, even though he never showed it through tantrums or tears.  So much different from the little boy occupying our house now; one that whines, cries, screams, and grunts when he wants something or doesn't get his way (for his own good, of course! ex: no, son, you can't eat the dog food).  I think he is able to do this now because he trusts us enough to show us his true feelings.  He is still not really saying any words to communicate with us, so I am hoping that this comes quickly, but I also want time to slow down so we can enjoy every last second with our amazing boy.  At times, I still can't believe he's actually, finally, here and just how lucky we are to have him as our son.

Now I'll leave you with some pictures I've taken over the past three weeks.  Enjoy!

helping Daddy pump up some tires

too cute!

Soooo jealous of those lashes!!!

Out strolling during good weather while camping

getting outside at the campsite

having fun in the camper during the rain

stopped at Chris' family's house on the way home

J's hanbok, sent home with us by his foster mother;

he'll probably be wearing this for a few more years!!

More pictures and video coming soon.  Bye-bye.

Wordless Wednesday - Little Fan

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Scene: Chris, J, and I went to a pig roast held at the house of our friend's brother.  They were hosting with three other couples, so there were very few people we actually knew.  I had finally gotten food for myself and J and was trying to feed him, but he was being extremely squirmy and wanting to stand on my lap to touch the leaves of the tree behind me on the deck.  A woman came up to the three of us and started a conversation because she "wanted to come see the baby."

Woman (I didn't even catch her name and you'll know why soon!): Oh I just had to come see the baby!!
Me (putting a spoonful of food in J's mouth) and Chris: Hi!
Woman: My daughter married a Japanese man and we thought they would have a cute Asian baby.  She ended up with red hair and blue eyes...but still a cutie!

As she is saying this, J burped a little and spit out the last bit of food I had given him.  So like the good mama I am, I put my hand under his mouth to catch it before it fell...not realizing that he was actually going to grace us with a show of his first time throwing up!!!  And he didn't just spit up the few bites of dinner he had already had, he threw up; I didn't think he had even eaten that much all day!  So here I am, sitting with one hand full of my son's vomit, trying to hold him away from me a bit so I didn't get any more trailing down my shirt and shorts than was already there, thinking I could still hold a conversation with this woman, and wanting to pass this off like no big deal.  Yeah, right!!  Supermom I am not.  The handful of puke went on the deck floor with the rest of it, J went to Chris as soon as he was finished throwing up, and the woman, well, I have no clue what happened to her, but Chris told me she left pretty quickly.  Poor lady, all she wanted to do was see the baby...just the baby, not what the baby had eaten today!    J was fine afterwards, just a bit startled as I handed him to Chris quickly and we had people flocking to us with napkins to try and help me clean up a bit.  He got his shirt changed to an extra onesie I keep in the diaper bag.  Having to smell like vomit the rest of the time we were there, I'll now be keeping a change of clothes for myself in the car as well!!!

Live and learn, right?!

Photo Dump

After having been away for a week, we have plenty of pictures to share.  Also, our baby J has been blossoming the past two weeks!!  He is getting more mobile, although still looks like he's a sleepwalking mummy when he walks...I just love it!  He definitely knows his name now; took a while, but hey, when people are suddenly calling you something different than you've been used to, you gotta give him a break!  He waves 100% of the time now when you tell him to say hi or bye-bye to someone.  He knows "uh-oh!" and just starting saying "hi"; sounds more like "i-ee," but we know what it's supposed to mean.  He's only said it to us and the dogs, so we have to teach him that that goes along with the wave.  :)  He is definitely understanding us more and more each day.  He has learned the sign for "more"; of course, he only does that when he wants more snacks!!!!

Nights have been a little rough again lately, but the boy is cutting two molars at the moment, one on each side of his mouth.  Poor little man!  So he wakes us up in the middle of the night and is awake for about an hour.  Last night he did that and then woke up at 5:30am also!  He was sitting up in his crib when I went in to his room and I knew he was not going to go back to sleep in his crib, so we all cuddled in mommy and daddy's bed and went back to sleep until 7.

Now for the pictures and some video.  Enjoy!

a small waterpark in Columbia, MO

getting comfy watching D*ora

at the Clydesdale barns..."mommy, can I have one?"

more waterpark on a HOT day

J found his bottle before bedtime!

just slightly pathetic?? 

The binky is attached to the diaper bag under his stroller and he. wanted. it.  period.

Met some friends outside of STL on the way home.  We'll have to do it again soon!!

Such happy boys.

um...he did this himself. (and I have video to prove it!!)

still tired after a 2+ hour nap...

Trying some video again.  Some of this uploaded onto the blog a bit blurry, but you can still see them.  Make sure you turn the sound up a little bit so you can hear J laughing!

Signing for "more" bread; you'll notice the sign at about 10 seconds into the clip.

He just loves to dance!!

Permanent Resident for my 100th post!

We are proud that, for my 100th post, our son received his permanent resident card in the mail!!  (And it really is a green card!)  Considering I am NOT one to write letters to people (um, ask anyone in my family), or like hand writing anything, period, this is a very big accomplishment for me!  Anyway, I tried getting a picture of him with it, but it was kind of hard when all he wanted was to put it in his mouth.  ha!  So here's the best I could do...

We're actually both pulling on it in this picture as I didn't want the entire card in the picture, just the part that says Permanent Resident (which is there, but blurry and unreadable).  And he wanted it up by his face!  First step in him being ours legally...yeah!!!!!

J's Journal - 15 months today

Yep, I am 15 months old today!  I have been home for just over 6 weeks now and am getting along pretty well.  Last night was the first night since I've been home that Daddy was gone overnight for work.  Mommy thought she was going to get to sleep in their big bed all night by herself, but I had others plans. (insert evil little laugh)  I decided that, since I'm cutting one of my molars, I would wake Mommy up around 12:30 and make her come in my room!  I just couldn't get back to sleep for a while; I wasn't wanting to get up, but I sure as heck didn't want to be alone in my room and the only one awake!!  So Mommy kept me company...she told me that she snuck back into her room around 3am after falling asleep on my floor.  Do I dare tell them that this might be what I do when I am cutting teeth??  Naaahhh, I'll just keep 'em guessing!

We then had a playdate this morning at a park we've never been to and I had so. much. fun.  They had climbing stuff there that was just my size and two, yes I said TWO, steering wheels that were at my height!!!  One of the other boys was older than me and was very fast walking upright on both his feet (I've done that a couple of times, but boy, is it hard to keep my feet moving as fast as my upper body so I just like to fall, laughing, into Mommy or Daddy's arms!).  The other little boy was fun to play beside...unless, of course, he wanted my steering wheels.  Then I wasn't happy with him.  And Mommy's telling me I have to share?!?!  I have no. clue. what that means, so I'm playing with them both, thank you very much!

After that, I passed out for a nap even though we have lunch plans.  I'm trying to thwart Mommy at every turn today!!  She is doing pretty well for not having been able to tag-team with Daddy last night and this morning.  It was fun to snuggle in bed with her this morning for half an hour when I woke her up for the day.  Maybe I'll give her a break later...

4 hours later...

...or not!!  Mommy wanted me to go down for another nap after our second playdate of the day, which was at the play area at the Mall.  I found another steering wheel and had a blast.  Don't think I even paid much attention to the other little boy.  Maybe next time?  And he should be getting a little brother soon from Korea who is about my age !!  I could teach him all the things I've learned so far.  I can't wait!!

I'm tired now, but fighting this nap tooth and nail!  I'm trying to make it hard for Mommy, too, by giving a cry every 15-20 seconds or so.  You know, just enough to show her I'm still awake.  Who wants to waste time sleeping when Daddy is coming home tonight?!  Mommy keeps saying it won't be until later, but "later" could be during this nap thing and I don't want it to get in the way of seeing him!  She says I'll be crabby later if I don't nap now...I think she thinks she knows me or something, huh?  I cried long enough this last time that I made her come back to the room to rock me some more; I didn't get enough cuddle-time the first go-round.  :)  I guess she WAS right about me being tired because I pretty much went out like a light once she did that!!  Or maybe it was because she remembered to turn on my noise machine this time??  I bet now she's not going to let me sleep very long because then I "won't go to bed tonight"; what, you want me on a schedule or something?!?!   (Note: I woke up after only 45 minutes so Mommy didn't have to wake me up.)

Daddy came home earlier than expected.  I had just gotten done helping Mommy make some sticky rice for dinner and was having a goldfish snack when Daddy opened the door.  When I saw him, I was so excited, but I had to go for one more goldfish and then I was waaaay up in his arms!!  So much fun.  We had dinner together, then Daddy and I played with my toys, they both played with me while I was taking my bath, and then I went to bed.  I am wiped. out.  Maybe I'll let them both sleep through the night tonight.  Hmmmmm...