Jae-min (isms)

Another week has gone by and we can't believe Jae-min has been home for 2 weeks now. Sometimes it feels like he's been here forever, and sometimes it feels like it's only been a blink of an eye. It just continues to boggle our minds that we actually flew to Korea to pick up this little love!!!
He continues to grow each and every day. He's doing so many new things its amazing. He's really started to snuggle more and open his mouth for kisses (yes, drooly kisses are the best). He's become very interactive and will "chat" at you to get your attention and then giggle. He's very vocal and loves to imitate different sounds. He loves books and really scans the pages and attends nicely (he's definately mine huh?). He also has become very animated and when you shake his bottle he shrieks and waves his arms and legs in excitement. We went grocery shopping today and Joe was carrying him around the store and every time I went around the corner he would look for me and when he saw me again he'd give me the grin and shriek. A very good sign for attachment!!!!
Jae-min's motor continues to be behind, but we're working on it. He loves our floor time!!! His sleeping has gotten better (knock on wood) and we think he's feeling more comfortable. We hope this pattern we're in continues.....no more night time crankies. We're in a nice routine for naps and bed in his crib and we hope it continues. Fingers crossed. We're enjoying our new roles as parents. How could you not when you hear that silly belly laugh?

Settling In...........

It's been a whirlwind week of settling in to parenthood. Aside from teething, constipation, and a few crankies at 2am we're doing ok. We're really trying to tweek Jae-min's schedule to make it easier for him (and all of us) and some of the tweeking has worked. He remains smiley, giggly, has great eye contact, and pretty happy much of the time. He's decided he only likes to sleep from 8-12 at night and then bring on the crankies!!!!! We've begun to do things alittle differently in the middle of the night to settle him back down. We shall see how it goes. All I know is I've been living in a fog full of dizzy spells for the past week. I'm hoping it's just lack of sleep and food thats bringing on the dizzies!!!!!!!! Fingers crossed the room stops spinning soon.
We had our first post placement visit today and she thought he's adjusting great. He gave her his huge toothless grins and belly laughs and she was just in love. She wanted to take him with her!!! We fought to keep him though haha.
So, all in all these first time parents are learning as they go. Those smiles sure do melt a mamma's heart (even with little to no sleep). I guess he's already got us wrapped around those chubby little fingers!!!!!!!1

Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is the only word to describe the last week and a half of our lives!!!! To think last week we were in Korea, meeting our son, and now we are home with the most amazing boy ever who is a perfect fit for our family. Jae-min seems to be adjusting so well we are in awe. For two years we read about difficulty with attachment, tantrums, fears, and overall difficulty initially and we haven't experienced any of it yet. We are alittle nervous, sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop and for him to start all of the things we were prepared for. As of now he's eating great, laughing, smiling, and yes even sleeping in his crib!!! We have cuddle, bottle time and then put him to bed semi awake and pat his tummy and whala he's asleep. He wakes up "chatting" and singing and when he sees us he smiles from ear to ear. It's amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're prepared for some bumps in the road, but hope that his easygoing personality is just shining through.
Jae-min is already doing more developmentally than he was three days ago. Every day I see something new and he's working hard on the skills we're showing him. He's begun to pat our shirt and hold our finger when we give him a bottle which is priceless. The bonding is definately progressing, although we know it's a process. We feel like he bonded to us immediately though.
All in all we couldn't have asked for anything more. When I sit back and think that we were in Korea this time last week it boggles my mind. And when I sit back and marvel at this child who was chosen as our son I am speechless. If you had told me two years ago that all we went through would bring us here, I wouldn't have believed it. Yet now I'm a true believer.
Jae-min is one amazing little boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're Home.......

Safe and sound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We made it home last night after our journey around the world. The flight home was bearable and Jae-min did ok for a little baby on a 14 hour plus flight. We've begun to settle in and saw some grieving from him at night. The good news is that so far he allows us to help him through the grief and we can settle him rather quickly. We've noticed he looks for us for comfort and we're thinking bonding and attachment is under way. We know its a process with ups and downs but we're optimistic by how quickly we can settle him and really seem to know the tricks and his cues as to what he needs already. All in all he's still a happy, smiley, guy who loves to play and interact. He's doing great with his "brother" Martin and Martin just wants to lick him (which makes changing duty difficult Haha) We still have that surreal feeling that he is here to stay. But we'll take him!!!!
His pediatrician appointment was today and he did great. We love the office and she thought he's looking great for his adjusted age. We've already noticed some new developmental things he's now doing that he wasn't doing a few days ago. Joe calls him my "little project" and he's a great project to undertake.
As we left Korea I broke down at the airport with all of the emotions of the trip surfacing at once. We were leaving Jae-min's birthcountry, taking him away from everything he knew. And we had to get on a plane, as first time parents, with a baby we hardly knew, and figure it all out in front of 300 captive onlookers. But, with our strength and bond for one another we made it through. I have no doubt in my mind this was how our family was supposed to be. I have no doubt in my mind that Jae-min was always meant for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's Ours Forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At 2pm we walked into the Holt office and walked out 30 minutes later with the most adorable, happy, baby!!!!!!!!!!! We are sooooooooo in love!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a whirlwind meeting and pick up and before we knew it I was hugging Jae-min"s omma with tears in my eyes. The next thing I knew she pushed my into a cab and we were off. It all happened so quickly, yet I wouldn't change a thing. Jae-min fell asleep on the cab ride and awoke when we got back to the hotel and has been smiling and laughing ever since!!!!!!!!!!!! He's simply AMAZING!!!!!!!! He's napped great, ate great, and we even walked around alittle outside to get some pictures for him in Korea. He laughs so easily and its fun to know the tricks to make it happen. Things couldn't be better!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so happy and so in love. We hope to return soon to experience this all over again. It has been breathtaking.
Goodnight from little lamb shanks (Jae-min), his omma (mom), and appa (dad) We are so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another Wonderful Day In Korea...........

Today we woke up early and got ready for another wonderful day in Korea. We had a tour planned through our adoption agency starting at 9am. We decided to be adventurous and take the subway there and when we got off to go to Holt we were facing in a different direction and we became lost in Korea for about 1/2 hour. Yikes!! We made it to the Holt office alittle late but everything turned out ok. We have had so many adventures on this trip and we think its going so well because we're just taking them all in stride and enjoying every experience. We met another family today that we've talked with online and did the tour with them. It was another fantastic day. They pick up their son tomorrow as well. The people continue to be amazing and gracious and today with our guide we all ate at a traditional Korean restaurant. It was delicious and Joe and Steve (the other dad to be) ordered beers and toasted their new arrivals.
Oh, and our social worker from Holt, DJ, has been trying to recruit me to come work in Korea for alittle while. They need developmental specialists. She kept bringing babies out yesterday for me to look at and trying to coax me into a job. Who knows?
So, tomorrow will be the beginning of the rest of our lives. We travel to Holt in the afternoon and have our pick up meeting at 2pm (Korea time). This is it. The moment we've been waiting years for. It still feels so surreal but I'm sure when we get back to our room tomorrow it will be a weight lifted off our souls. We can't wait. It's going to be the hardest thing we'll ever do to say goodbye to his foster family and take him away from everything he knows. Please say alittle prayer to heal his heart quickly and for everything to go smoothly.
We may not be able to post tomorrow, depends on how Jae-min does. So, light your candles tomorrow night and guide us home!!!!!!!! We need to feel your energy during our long flight.
See you on the other side of the world!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's Real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At 10:30 this morning our hearts left our bodies and began walking around in the world, in little Jae-min!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our social worker walked in ahead of Jae-min and his omma and the world stopped. Life, and the next hour and a half seemed to be surreal and time stood still. Jae-min and his omma sat on the couch next to us and the next thing I knew she handed me our baby with a smile from ear to ear. Jae-min did wonderfully, looked at us with curiousity but quickly interacted and was very happy. We got lots of smiles and even some giggles from him!!!!!!!!! He's AMAZING and we really don't know how we got so lucky. He seems to love us already and we are completely in love with him.
His omma was the sweetest woman and told us that she knows Jae-min is going to the right family. I told her we knew instantly he was meant to be ours and she reached across took my hands, with tears in her eyes saying she did too. She thinks he looks like Joe and fits in well with our family!!!!!! We think she feels peaceful and her heart is content with us as his parents. She called him
Jae-meeenah which we think is darling. He responded so nicely to everything and we are just so in love we can't stand it!!!
We got to go to his well baby check and the nurse also loves him so much. He has been so well taken care of and it touches our hearts. We feel truly blessed to have come halfway around the world and found the baby which we were always meant to have. He's so easygoing and chunky, yup, today he weighed in at 20 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!! Chunky monkey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, after our restless night we feel peaceful again. Your all going to love him. He's absolutely, positively, perfect and we couldn't have asked for anything more.
We will officially take him back to the hotel Wed afternoon and are counting the hours. To say this experience has been amazing is true. Thank you Korea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!