7 Months Home!!!!

Today marks 7 months home. Boy, when we were waiting 7 months was an eternity and now it has gone by in the blink of an eye. We had a fun weekend doing all sorts of fun fall activities. We had a great time spending time with family at the apple orchard. Last year my heart broke the entire time we were there. If you had told me that day that next year we would join our families with our very own son I wouldn't have believed you!! What a difference a year makes.
We spent today as a family of 3 at a farm picking pumpkins, going on a hayride, seeing the TRACTORS and DIGGERS (which are two of Jae-min's favorite words), sipping cider, and digging in a big pile of dirt. We had the best time. A great way to celebrate 7 months home!!!Jae-min was soooo excited when he saw the tractor, so he decided to take the people for a ride!!

I think this pumpkin looks perfect!! So does the little cub picking it!!!

Apple anyone? What a way to ride, attached in your carrier on daddy's back.

7 sweet months with our little sweety. How did we get so lucky?

"A" OK

Could he be any cuter? We just love this little guy!!!!

I Wished For You

We have been searching for some children's books relating to adoption to incorporate into Jae-min's bedtime routine. We have begun to talk to him about his story and how he joined our family but thought it would be fun to let him see some stories as well. We bought 3 and they arrived yesterday. I opened the box and took out this amazing book entitled I Wished For You by Marianne Richmond. As I read it, my eyes filled with tears. It addresses how a little bear's mother wished for him in her heart for such a long time. It also addresses how his birthmother wished for him a better life than she could give at that time. Also it addressesed the fact that this little bear looked differently from his parents. How wonderful!!! The big theme is about wishes, and how sometimes they come true, and sometimes they don't. The mommy bear explains how she wished all day and all night and never stopped wishing. Sounds very familiar huh? Last night we snuggled on the couch and read this book to Jae-min. We think this will become a favorite in this family and will open up the lines of communication in the future. Oh, how I love a good book!!!!

In other news, Jae-min had his 15 month check up last week. He's a picture of health and developing well!!! Jae-min and I have joined a music/story time at our local library once a week. We are having a great time!!

We have our final social worker visit Monday and we received our adoption finalization papers in the mail. We fill these out, our social worker writes up a report, we mail it into our agency and they deliver it to their attorney. She then schedules us a court date and we can finalize. Right now the courts are backed up, so it may not be until the winter, but we'll see. We can't wait for our social worker to see him again.

We've been having fun around here and can't wait to make Jae-min Francis legally ours. We know he's our son, but it will be nice for the courts to acknowledge it.

6 Months Home!!!

Six Months. 184 Days.
During the last 6 months we think we have felt every emotion/feeling known to mankind. We have experienced joy, sadness, frustration, elation, doubt, overwhelmed, anxious, laughter. We have gone through the darkest days and nights with each other and have come out the other side. We have wanted to give up and we have wanted some days to last forever. We have all looked at each other and cried and felt so inadequate that all we could do was laugh. We have slept on the floor, patted a bottom for hours to soothe to sleep, rocked and cuddled for countless hours. Again, through it all, we have made it through and even stronger than we were before. We have become a family!!!
Last night as we played on the floor in Jae-min's room we were sitting in the spot where we had slept when he first arrived home. Tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered those days. During those times it felt so hopeless. We were exhausted and overwhelmed and had so many first time parent jitters. Looking back at those days I sort of felt a twinge of nostalgia. I'm not saying I would wish for them back, but I am grateful we went through them. They make these days so much sweeter.

As things have settled down we have begun to notice the little things that make Jae-min unique and we thought today, our 6 month anniversary, would be a good time to share them. Enjoy...

How do we love thee?

Let us count the little ways......

*We love his belly laugh and how his face gets bright red, almost looking like his head will pop off.

*We love the scar by his left eye from a scratch he had when we met him in Korea. We say its his little Korean souvenior.

*We love the dimple high on his left cheek when he smiles big.

*We love how his pinky toes jut out slightly from the others.

*We love how in certain light you can see the peach fuzz on his cheeks.

*We love his birthmark under his armpit.

*We love his inquisitive mind and his love of learning.

*We love how he feeds the dog one piece of food at a time.

*We love how he rubs his blankie as he falls asleep.

*We love that he is Korean.

*We love seeing his smiling face at 6 am. Well, we like it more at 6:45 but thats another story.

*We love how he cuddles into you as he's rocked.

*We love how he loves us unconditionally,

*But most of all we love how he made us a family!!!

Happy 6 months home Jae-min Francis. We will never ever forget that day, that trip, and all the days that followed.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Yesterday was Joe's fantasy football draft with his buddies from his old job (that sounds so weird). This year we had Jae-min home to help daddy pick the best players. So, he turned on the computer at 8:30 am while I got Jae-min dressed in his football outfit only to realize that oops the draft was actually at 8:30 PM. So...needless to say, Jae-min did not attend the draft but looked cute in his outfit anyway!!! We worked on touchdown all day and hope Jae-min has it by the first game. Jae-min and daddy waiting for the football draft.

Jae-min has had a big couple of weeks. He's started walking behind his push toy and climbing the stairs. He has several new words "cracker", "car", "go" which he uses appropriately. He's also used other words yet not consistently so we won't count them yet. He's also using the sign for help appropriately. He's begun to feed himself, after lots and lots of patience and work!!!
With all this progress comes a little "toddler tude". Jae-min has grown independent and with this independence comes some frustration. He's begun to have mini meltdowns, mini tantrums, and whining. He's definately testing us and we know this is totally age appropriate. We're actually happy to see these tests because it means that Jae-min feels comfortable and safe with us. We're sort of igoring these behaviors which is working so far. So, "toddler tude", it doesn't work with us!!!!!

Firsts!!!!!!

As you all know Jae-min joined our family through adoption so we didn't get to see some of his "firsts", but we've tried to make up for that since he's been home. We didn't get those little "first" footprints and handprints when he was born to place on his birth certificate and then place on our shirts so.....we made our own!!! We bought a little kit this weekend and had Jae-min press his hand and foot into the clay so that we could always remember how small he was when we met him. Who needs those teeny tiny prints when you can have the chubby ones that hold onto your hand while snuggling? We love our "first" prints even more!!!!

This weekend Jae-min had another "first" that we could be a part of. He had his first haircut from his Auntie!!!! She did a great job and he looks so snazzy and handsome I just can't stand it!! From the back and sides he looks so grown up, but from the front he still looks like my little baby. When he finished getting his haircut (which he did a great job at) I looked at him and my breath was slightly taken away. He's sooo handsome and I just want him to stay a baby alittle longer. I feel like we haven't had enough time, and now he's turning into a little toddler. Give me my baby back!!! haha Let's stop time and stare at his cuteness.

This first picture is the after:

This second picture is the before:

Our last "first" this week has been for Joe. He has started a new job teaching in the electrical department at the local highschool. His first day of school was today and he was a wee bit nervous. It was a big decision to leave his other job, but Jae-min and I are so proud of him and can't wait to go to his school and peek through the windows and whisper "thats our daddy". We'll wait though, we don't want anyone to think we're crazy haha.

So, we celebrate these "firsts" and look forward to many many more in our little family.

Silly Goose!!!!

The other night after dinner we went to feed the two geese that live at our local small airport. We were all excited to go on this family outing and Jae-min clutched the bread bag in his hands all the way there. When we approached the geese everyone was happy and having a great time, until.... Remember I said that it was a family outing? So yes, that means we brought along Martin. He was being very good with the geese when all of a sudden the big goose began to hiss at Martin, distracting Jae-min, which allowed the little goose to snatch the bread right out of Jae-min's hands!!! They were in cahoots I tell ya!! So, needless to say our fun outing turned into a barking, crying fest with two very upset goose visitors. Silly Gesse!!! I never knew geese hissed, did you?

This past weekend we met up with another family we had met during our waiting family groups. They traveled to Korea in June to bring home their son Ryan. We were so excited to finally meet him, he's such a doll. We went to a local park and then to the waterfront for a casual dinner. The boys had so much fun playing and eating together. It was so fun to see them home with their little one!!! Welcome home Ryan. We hope you and Jae-min are great friends.