We survived Jason going back to work and me starting my new job as Full Time Mom!
Jason went back to work on Thursday. We were both pretty nervous about this. I was nervous because Jason is usually the one who can get Kyan to fall asleep at night (see earlier post for details) and He was nervous for me and about getting enough sleep to be able to focus at work. Jason was also sad to leave Kyan.
So Wednesday night we went to bed. Ky woke up at 12:30 as usual and I gave him a bottle and he put up a very small fight and murmured off to sleep. He slept until 3:00 and than woke up. I was able to rock him back to sleep but when I put him in he crib he was all ready to play. He was cooing and looking at the bummer. I was able to walk slowly out of the room and he cooed himself to sleep. But he did wake up at about 3:45 and would NOT go back to sleep. He was crying and Jason couldn't sleep. I kept telling him to go down stairs and we will get through it but he really wanted to help. We kept at it until 4:30 and decided to bring him to our bed. Kyan was content to roll back and forth between me and Jason until 5 am and I decided to get up with him.
Jason went off to work and Ky and me had the day to ourselves. he took a few good naps, which means that I got a few good naps! We had some mommy-n-me play time and he had some individual play time (in the sit-n-spin). The day went pretty well. We had one minor melt down when I tried to take a shower and Ky was not asleep like I thought. It was the fastest shower I have ever taken! Other then that it was a good day,I was even able to pick up the house before Jason came home.
Thursday night went pretty well. Ky slept from 8:30 - 1:30, I got him to sleep on me from 1:30 -3:30. He cooed himself back to sleep in his crib until 4:15. I was able to keep him a bay until 5. He was awake but not fussing and I was happy with that. We got up at 5 again this morning. It is funny that I now consider 5 AM a decent wake-up time. I never would have thought this in my former life (BC- Before Children). : ) Ky took good naps again today and we even ventured out to Target today. It was short trip, but he was in wonder of the big store.
Tomorrow is Saturday and Jason is home again! We are both happy about this. Jason has had a rough time being a work while his wife and son are playing/napping at home. If you ask me, I have the better gig right now!
Now that I have survived these two day I can always think "I made it through before, I can make it through today!"
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
a fork in the road
My baby is on a completely different time zone. He is 15 hours ahead of me. Which means his night is our day and vice-versa. Each night I come to a fork in the road. I am walking down the path of motherhood happy as can be and then my baby wakes up at midnight and I find myself looking at one of three paths:
#1. let my baby stay awake, he is in such a great mood and laughing and talking, how can I resist such a cutie? so I start down that path... but I find myself rethinking my choice. What am I teaching him? That we can all be awake at midnight. So I retrace my steps and look at my other options.
#2. try to make him go to sleep by holding him and rocking him the the rocker. This does NOT make him happy and he starts to cry! Yelling for "Eomma" which means Mama in Korean. He is not calling for me, he is calling for his foster mom (Who, I am sure, would have chosen path #1), this is probably the most heart breaking thing for me yet! I walk this path for a while thinking, "he is ok, he is just making himself tired, he will tucker himself out and then fall asleep." After what seems like years, my heart is breaking for my baby who not now piping mad at me and who is looking for some other lady to come and save him. Most times we both end up in tears. When I can take it no longer I again turn back on this path and look a my options again.
Which brings me to path #3. Laying him in his crib to let him cry it out by himself. I look at this path and in NO way does it look desirable to me. I have not walked this path yet. I can not think about leaving my baby to cry by himself thinking that I have abandoned him. But that path is there.
There I am, going back and forth between path 1 and 2, hoping, praying that they will come together and he will fall asleep.
So, what is the lesser of the 3 evils? stay awake and prolong the schedule change, try and force my baby to sleep while he cries for "Eomma" or lay him in his crib to cry himself to sleep thinking that I don't care. None of them seem like good options. I just want to do what is best for my son!
What usually happens is a rescue vehicle to come to my aid. A knight in shining armor, my husband (AKA "the baby whisperer") comes into the room and takes over for me. He can usually get the baby to fall asleep in about 15 min. I have worked for 2 hours with no luck and he takes over and that baby is asleep. This has been great for the past week, but Jason goes back to work TOMORROW. The rescue vehicle is going to be put int the garage. I'm sure not totally, as he is a wonderful man and will still help, but he is going to need his sleep more than me and he can't nap when the baby naps.
As I sit and reflect about this I am thankful for a few things. First off, I am thankful that I have a baby to take care of. I know there are lots of women who would love to be up at night with a restless baby, but are unable to have children. I was in this situation not that long ago and I know the heartache! I love my son and would not trade him for the world! Maybe I should be saying a prayer for these women (some of which are my dear friends) as I sit up with my baby boy.
I am thankful for my wonderful husband who is a great father! He loves my son and me so much and he has such a way with babies! I should be praising the Lord for him as I wait for Kyan to go to sleep.
I am also thankful for the foster mom that took care of Kyan before we got him. She loved him like her own son and she treated him like the king he is. I know that she misses him and was so sad to see him leave. I should praying for her and the new baby in her foster care. So I will try to think on these things as I am up most of the night with my wonderful son!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The longest day ever!
Literally, Nov 5th was the longest day of my life. I am pretty sure that it lasted about 38 hours with the time changes (counting from mid-night to mid-night). But it is our son's Gotcha Day and that is a good day to have a few extra hours in! Here is the detail of that day:
Jason and I woke up in Korea at 6 am Wednesday Nov. 5th, which was 3 pm Tuesday Nov 4th back here in MN. We got ready, finished packing our things and at 8:30 We went down to the lobby to meet with the foster mom, social worker, and Dr. Kim (the founder of Eastern Adoption agency) to have the prayer ceremony before taking custody of our son. After the prayer they quickly ushered us and all of our luggage into a van. Jason and I were in the van and once they were ready to close the doors, the foster mom handed over our son to us. Up to this point (basically all morning) I was so nervous. I was worried about how our son would attach to us, I was worried about the flight, I was worried if I would make a good mom. As some of you know, my body handles stress by making me feel nauseous, so that morning I was feeling a bit queasy. But, as soon as the foster mom placed Kyan in my arms, I knew that everything was alright. I did not feel sick (even driving in the back seat of a van). I did not feel worried, because all was well. Kyan just sat there taking in all the new sights. He did not fuss at all. Of course the whole ride I was kissing and hugging him and he tolerated me doing so. In the van with us was another couple from Chicago that adopted a son as well.
Once we got to the airport we got in line to get our boarding passes. We bought an extra seat to give us some extra space on the way back. It ended up being cheaper buying 3 round trip tickets as opposed to 2 round trip and 1 one way. This "extra seat" caused us problems at every stop on the way. Every time, the ticketing agent had to figure out what to do and each one ended up talk to a supervisor. This was understandable on the way TO Korea, but we thought that with Kyan it would be no problem. Not the case. They had to check with the supervisor, and they finally gave us our tickets, but as Jason was walking away a lady came up and told him that those tickets would not work and we needed different ones. So we had to take a seat and wait. There was only an hour and half before our flight took off and we still had not gone through security. Finally, they got the tickets figured out and we were off to the security checkpoint. Once we got through the checkpoint they sent us to the Immigration office to get cleared to leave the country, which meant more waiting... they cleared us and we were off to find our gate and some water for Ky's bottle. We got to our gate with a 1/2 hour to spare. We found a drinking fountain and I was able to feed Ky a bit of "cow milk powder" (formula) before boarding the plane. Since this is our first child I did not know how much attention one gets when walking through the airport with a baby. Everyone asking us how old he is, telling us how cute he is, and making funny faces.
The nice thing about have a baby with is you get to board the plane first. No waiting in line, worrying if there will be room for your carry-on. I have to put in a plug also for Korean Air. It is by far the best airline that I have been on. The stewardesses were WONDERFUL, the plane was clean and big. Each seat had it own touch screen where you could play computer games, watch the latest movies and tv shows, and keep track of the flight pattern. The seats were very roomy and had a good amount of leg room. We had a 12.5 hour flight ahead of us. We were armed with toys, food, and blankets. When we got in our seats we found that we were sitting right behind the couple from the agency who rode to the airport with us. That was so great! We were able to talk and support each other through this long trip.
When we were settled into our seats we found that Kyan had on a couple layers of clothes. Korean mamas think that babies need to be kept warm at all times. So, Ky had on 2 pairs of pants and 3 shirts (all long sleeve) so we stripped him down to just one layer of clothes. The long flight consisted of Jason and I feeding Ky, holding Ky, or walking up and down the isles with Ky. I made a few diaper changes as well... Jason claimed that he was not good enough at the diaper changes to try on the airplane! The very first time I changed Ky, he peed all over me (a little hazing from the baby I guess)! While I was in line for the airplane's lavatory with the changing table, some of the stewardesses were asking about our baby and told me that they thought it was cool that we brought our baby to Korea. I then told her that we went to Korea to adopt him and she told us that we were the nicest people ever, and that our baby was really lucky. I told her that I was the lucky one! Throughout the fight the stewardesses would stop by to see, talk and play with the baby. It was nice to have a fresh face for Kyan to see. Jason held Ky on the descent, because it was really bumpy. I ended up throwing up once we were on the ground. Once that happened I did feel a bit better.
Now, we were in Chicago, USA, which means CUSTOMS! We had our travel papers (the ones that you don't lose or open) We get up to the customs agent and he sends us and our paperwork to the customs office. The funny thing is the couple that was with us did not have to go to the office. They got to go right on through, and their papers looked just like ours. We only had to wait a couple of minutes and we were cleared to enter the country. We had to claim our luggage and get off to our connecting flight.
We had to get boarding passes for our last flight from Northwest and of course, the 3rd seat was a problem. Finally they figured it out and it was through security again. Security is not fun by yourself but it is really hard with a baby (as many of you know!) We left Korea at 11:40 AM Wednesday and after traveling for 12.5 hours we arrived in Chicago at 9:17 AM Wednesday We had to ask the customs agent who the new president was, since we were on the plane when it was announced, and we could not get the news while we were in the air. We made it to our gate with a little over a half an hour before boarding. We got on the plane and it was pretty much empty. there were probably only 15-20 people on the plane including us. This plane ride was SO bumpy. I could not even sit up for it, it made me so sick. Jason had Ky the whole ride -bless his heart! While the plane was bumping up and down, I was sure that I was going to lose my stomach again, and Ky was laughing the whole time. Once we landed I did end up getting sick again, but that was fine because I felt better after that too. We went down to get our luggage and we found the carousel that it was on and all three of our suitcases were just sitting there waiting for us. There was no one else from our flight with any luggage. It was nice that we did not have to wait.
Our dear friends- the Sorensen's- drove our car to the parking ramp for us so we would only have to pay for 1 night stay instead of 7 nights stay. So we were able to walk out to our car and load it up. We put Ky in his car seat for the first time. Jason rode in back with him since I get sick in the back of a car, and I drove home. We arrived at our house around 3:00 PM Wednesday.
The Norman family is home!!
Jason figured that we were doing some sort of traveling for 21 hours. So here is the break down of the time for the day!
Wake up and pre-travel - 2.5 hours
Travel from Agency in Korea to Norman house- 21 hours
Home at 3:00 and go to bed at 11:30 -8.5 hours
Total awake time= 32 hours.
Three words: TOTALLY WORTH IT!
And yes, I would do all over again!
Jason and I woke up in Korea at 6 am Wednesday Nov. 5th, which was 3 pm Tuesday Nov 4th back here in MN. We got ready, finished packing our things and at 8:30 We went down to the lobby to meet with the foster mom, social worker, and Dr. Kim (the founder of Eastern Adoption agency) to have the prayer ceremony before taking custody of our son. After the prayer they quickly ushered us and all of our luggage into a van. Jason and I were in the van and once they were ready to close the doors, the foster mom handed over our son to us. Up to this point (basically all morning) I was so nervous. I was worried about how our son would attach to us, I was worried about the flight, I was worried if I would make a good mom. As some of you know, my body handles stress by making me feel nauseous, so that morning I was feeling a bit queasy. But, as soon as the foster mom placed Kyan in my arms, I knew that everything was alright. I did not feel sick (even driving in the back seat of a van). I did not feel worried, because all was well. Kyan just sat there taking in all the new sights. He did not fuss at all. Of course the whole ride I was kissing and hugging him and he tolerated me doing so. In the van with us was another couple from Chicago that adopted a son as well.
Once we got to the airport we got in line to get our boarding passes. We bought an extra seat to give us some extra space on the way back. It ended up being cheaper buying 3 round trip tickets as opposed to 2 round trip and 1 one way. This "extra seat" caused us problems at every stop on the way. Every time, the ticketing agent had to figure out what to do and each one ended up talk to a supervisor. This was understandable on the way TO Korea, but we thought that with Kyan it would be no problem. Not the case. They had to check with the supervisor, and they finally gave us our tickets, but as Jason was walking away a lady came up and told him that those tickets would not work and we needed different ones. So we had to take a seat and wait. There was only an hour and half before our flight took off and we still had not gone through security. Finally, they got the tickets figured out and we were off to the security checkpoint. Once we got through the checkpoint they sent us to the Immigration office to get cleared to leave the country, which meant more waiting... they cleared us and we were off to find our gate and some water for Ky's bottle. We got to our gate with a 1/2 hour to spare. We found a drinking fountain and I was able to feed Ky a bit of "cow milk powder" (formula) before boarding the plane. Since this is our first child I did not know how much attention one gets when walking through the airport with a baby. Everyone asking us how old he is, telling us how cute he is, and making funny faces.
The nice thing about have a baby with is you get to board the plane first. No waiting in line, worrying if there will be room for your carry-on. I have to put in a plug also for Korean Air. It is by far the best airline that I have been on. The stewardesses were WONDERFUL, the plane was clean and big. Each seat had it own touch screen where you could play computer games, watch the latest movies and tv shows, and keep track of the flight pattern. The seats were very roomy and had a good amount of leg room. We had a 12.5 hour flight ahead of us. We were armed with toys, food, and blankets. When we got in our seats we found that we were sitting right behind the couple from the agency who rode to the airport with us. That was so great! We were able to talk and support each other through this long trip.
When we were settled into our seats we found that Kyan had on a couple layers of clothes. Korean mamas think that babies need to be kept warm at all times. So, Ky had on 2 pairs of pants and 3 shirts (all long sleeve) so we stripped him down to just one layer of clothes. The long flight consisted of Jason and I feeding Ky, holding Ky, or walking up and down the isles with Ky. I made a few diaper changes as well... Jason claimed that he was not good enough at the diaper changes to try on the airplane! The very first time I changed Ky, he peed all over me (a little hazing from the baby I guess)! While I was in line for the airplane's lavatory with the changing table, some of the stewardesses were asking about our baby and told me that they thought it was cool that we brought our baby to Korea. I then told her that we went to Korea to adopt him and she told us that we were the nicest people ever, and that our baby was really lucky. I told her that I was the lucky one! Throughout the fight the stewardesses would stop by to see, talk and play with the baby. It was nice to have a fresh face for Kyan to see. Jason held Ky on the descent, because it was really bumpy. I ended up throwing up once we were on the ground. Once that happened I did feel a bit better.
Now, we were in Chicago, USA, which means CUSTOMS! We had our travel papers (the ones that you don't lose or open) We get up to the customs agent and he sends us and our paperwork to the customs office. The funny thing is the couple that was with us did not have to go to the office. They got to go right on through, and their papers looked just like ours. We only had to wait a couple of minutes and we were cleared to enter the country. We had to claim our luggage and get off to our connecting flight.
We had to get boarding passes for our last flight from Northwest and of course, the 3rd seat was a problem. Finally they figured it out and it was through security again. Security is not fun by yourself but it is really hard with a baby (as many of you know!) We left Korea at 11:40 AM Wednesday and after traveling for 12.5 hours we arrived in Chicago at 9:17 AM Wednesday We had to ask the customs agent who the new president was, since we were on the plane when it was announced, and we could not get the news while we were in the air. We made it to our gate with a little over a half an hour before boarding. We got on the plane and it was pretty much empty. there were probably only 15-20 people on the plane including us. This plane ride was SO bumpy. I could not even sit up for it, it made me so sick. Jason had Ky the whole ride -bless his heart! While the plane was bumping up and down, I was sure that I was going to lose my stomach again, and Ky was laughing the whole time. Once we landed I did end up getting sick again, but that was fine because I felt better after that too. We went down to get our luggage and we found the carousel that it was on and all three of our suitcases were just sitting there waiting for us. There was no one else from our flight with any luggage. It was nice that we did not have to wait.
Our dear friends- the Sorensen's- drove our car to the parking ramp for us so we would only have to pay for 1 night stay instead of 7 nights stay. So we were able to walk out to our car and load it up. We put Ky in his car seat for the first time. Jason rode in back with him since I get sick in the back of a car, and I drove home. We arrived at our house around 3:00 PM Wednesday.
The Norman family is home!!
Jason figured that we were doing some sort of traveling for 21 hours. So here is the break down of the time for the day!
Wake up and pre-travel - 2.5 hours
Travel from Agency in Korea to Norman house- 21 hours
Home at 3:00 and go to bed at 11:30 -8.5 hours
Total awake time= 32 hours.
Three words: TOTALLY WORTH IT!
And yes, I would do all over again!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
We're home!
Hi all!
We are home! We are all tired and happy!
Jason (our stats guy) figured that we were in the air, on a rail or in a car for 21 hours. Our son did WONDERFULLY! He was a little trooper. And we found that he travels much better than Fawnda (who got sick twice).
We will update on how the our trip to Korea went, in the next few days, but wanted to let everyone know that we are home and safe!
Our son is named Kyan MinKyoo
Kyan means "little king"
Min means "clever"
Kyoo means "brave" (pronounced like the letter Q):
MinKyoo is our son's Korean name. We are going to call him Ky for short.
FYI we are in discussion as to if we are going to post pictures of Kyan... We are just not sure about it yet... new parents are so cautious some times!
We are home! We are all tired and happy!
Jason (our stats guy) figured that we were in the air, on a rail or in a car for 21 hours. Our son did WONDERFULLY! He was a little trooper. And we found that he travels much better than Fawnda (who got sick twice).
We will update on how the our trip to Korea went, in the next few days, but wanted to let everyone know that we are home and safe!
Our son is named Kyan MinKyoo
Kyan means "little king"
Min means "clever"
Kyoo means "brave" (pronounced like the letter Q):
MinKyoo is our son's Korean name. We are going to call him Ky for short.
FYI we are in discussion as to if we are going to post pictures of Kyan... We are just not sure about it yet... new parents are so cautious some times!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Cocooning
We are leaving for Korea in less than 24 hours so this will be the last blog update until we get back, and we probably will not be able to update the blog right away because we will be a bit tired and busy with a little one!
So I am taking the time to let you know what our plans are after we get back. Our agency has done a wonderful job educating us on adoption issues, Korea, multi-racial families, and attachment.
Attachment is the one I want to talk about now. Our son has been taken care of by his foster mother for the past 8+ months. The only mother he knows is his foster mom. And she is doing a great job spoiling him. She is carrying him around all day, feeding him lots of food, playing on the floor with him, and sleeping with him in her bed. And then one day (one day soon!) he will be handed over to us! And we do not look, smell, sound, or act like anything that he is used to. We are probably the last people he would think of as his parents.
The agency said to help with the attachment process, the family should take some time to "cocoon". Cocooning is when the new-family gathers together and bonds with each other. The first week we get back we are just going to stay home and be with our baby. We are not going to go out and we are not expecting any visitors. We need time for our family to figure ourselves out. Our son needs to be able to have time to process who his primary care givers are before we introduce a bunch of new people. As a mommy who has had her son in FULL TIME daycare for the first 9 months, I am going to be a little selfish and take some time for my family to bond alone! Plus I think that we will need some time to recover from our trip and the 14 hour time difference. But it is only a week, so please have a little patience with us, and it will be over before you know it! : )
This brings me to the next couple of weeks. So after Week 1, we are going to want to get out of the house and show off our cutie! BUT there is a catch! We will still be bonding with our child and he is still learning who his Mom and Dad are. For the first month or so, Jason and I will be the only ones holding, feeding, bathing and changing our child. We need to be the ones who fulfill his basic needs so that he knows who to trust. This is really important to us. Since I have not been the one holding my son for the first 9 months of his life, forgive me if I am a little hesitant to hand him over to someone else once I get a hold of him! : ) Again this is for a short amount of time and it will be over before you know it!
So, please do not be offended if when you ask to hold our child we kindly say "no" it is not you, it is us!
I am off to finish packing and cleaning!
So I am taking the time to let you know what our plans are after we get back. Our agency has done a wonderful job educating us on adoption issues, Korea, multi-racial families, and attachment.
Attachment is the one I want to talk about now. Our son has been taken care of by his foster mother for the past 8+ months. The only mother he knows is his foster mom. And she is doing a great job spoiling him. She is carrying him around all day, feeding him lots of food, playing on the floor with him, and sleeping with him in her bed. And then one day (one day soon!) he will be handed over to us! And we do not look, smell, sound, or act like anything that he is used to. We are probably the last people he would think of as his parents.
The agency said to help with the attachment process, the family should take some time to "cocoon". Cocooning is when the new-family gathers together and bonds with each other. The first week we get back we are just going to stay home and be with our baby. We are not going to go out and we are not expecting any visitors. We need time for our family to figure ourselves out. Our son needs to be able to have time to process who his primary care givers are before we introduce a bunch of new people. As a mommy who has had her son in FULL TIME daycare for the first 9 months, I am going to be a little selfish and take some time for my family to bond alone! Plus I think that we will need some time to recover from our trip and the 14 hour time difference. But it is only a week, so please have a little patience with us, and it will be over before you know it! : )
This brings me to the next couple of weeks. So after Week 1, we are going to want to get out of the house and show off our cutie! BUT there is a catch! We will still be bonding with our child and he is still learning who his Mom and Dad are. For the first month or so, Jason and I will be the only ones holding, feeding, bathing and changing our child. We need to be the ones who fulfill his basic needs so that he knows who to trust. This is really important to us. Since I have not been the one holding my son for the first 9 months of his life, forgive me if I am a little hesitant to hand him over to someone else once I get a hold of him! : ) Again this is for a short amount of time and it will be over before you know it!
So, please do not be offended if when you ask to hold our child we kindly say "no" it is not you, it is us!
I am off to finish packing and cleaning!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
WE GOT OUR CALL
We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!! We got our call!!
Oh, in case your have not heard, we got our call to travel on Friday Oct. 24th! This is probably the second most important call that we have ever gotten (the first was getting the referral!)
I was teaching my first hour and my phone rang in my classroom. I knew that it was an outside ring (it double rings if it is an outside ring) so I answered it and it was the director of the Korean program! She said "are you ready?" I said "yes!" and she said "go! and call me back!" I was shaking and crying and I had to teach the rest of the day. The next thing that I did was call Jason and tell him. Than I had to call my parents and siblings (except Justin- he lives too far away and I do not have a number for him- but I did send him and e-mail). Jason did the same for his family. During my prep time I call personal to let them know that Friday was my last day and that sub would be starting on Monday. I than called my sub to let her know. I finish the day teaching the best that I could under the circumstances. To be honest, it was not a very educational day for my students, and they were ok with that! :)
We have our plane tickets. We decided to get 3 seats. We wanted to just have 3 seats on the way back but it was less money to get 3 round-trips seats so we will have extra room on the way there as well, which will be nice! We leave Wednesday Oct 29th and come home Wednesday Nov. 5th. We will will arrive in Korea on Thursday evening and meet our son Friday! We are so excited and it is really hard to believe that in less than 1 week we will meet our son!
Please pray for safe and stress-free travels (well, as stress-free as possible with a nine-month old) Please also pray for good bonding with us and our child.
I just have to say it one more time: WE GOT OUR CALL!!!!
Oh, in case your have not heard, we got our call to travel on Friday Oct. 24th! This is probably the second most important call that we have ever gotten (the first was getting the referral!)
I was teaching my first hour and my phone rang in my classroom. I knew that it was an outside ring (it double rings if it is an outside ring) so I answered it and it was the director of the Korean program! She said "are you ready?" I said "yes!" and she said "go! and call me back!" I was shaking and crying and I had to teach the rest of the day. The next thing that I did was call Jason and tell him. Than I had to call my parents and siblings (except Justin- he lives too far away and I do not have a number for him- but I did send him and e-mail). Jason did the same for his family. During my prep time I call personal to let them know that Friday was my last day and that sub would be starting on Monday. I than called my sub to let her know. I finish the day teaching the best that I could under the circumstances. To be honest, it was not a very educational day for my students, and they were ok with that! :)
We have our plane tickets. We decided to get 3 seats. We wanted to just have 3 seats on the way back but it was less money to get 3 round-trips seats so we will have extra room on the way there as well, which will be nice! We leave Wednesday Oct 29th and come home Wednesday Nov. 5th. We will will arrive in Korea on Thursday evening and meet our son Friday! We are so excited and it is really hard to believe that in less than 1 week we will meet our son!
Please pray for safe and stress-free travels (well, as stress-free as possible with a nine-month old) Please also pray for good bonding with us and our child.
I just have to say it one more time: WE GOT OUR CALL!!!!
Monday, October 20, 2008
I think that it is called "Nesting"
So, nesting is not just for pregnant women. It is not a hormone thing; it is a mom thing. I have been going around the house cleaning things. I cleaned the kitchen floor (my baby is not crawling on a dirty floor!). I reorganized the kitchen cupboards to make room for all the baby dishes and bottles and such. Jason and I cleaned out the Jeep, we vacuumed, Windex-ed, and Armor-all-ed the inside to make it "shine like the top of the Chrysler building!" We also put in the car seat. It is a little weird going from no car seat to driving around with an empty car seat. We rearranged the living room to make room for toys, toys and more toys! We put up safety gates and safety locks on the cupboards, oven, and refrigerator. The Baby's room is READY. We also put together our high chair, exersaucer, and pack-n-play.
So basically, we are pretty ready. I am going to clean the bathrooms and vacuum the house about 100 more times to get the last of the dog hair.
So, we are still here, waiting for the call! As Scarlett would say, "After all, tomorrow is another day!"
So basically, we are pretty ready. I am going to clean the bathrooms and vacuum the house about 100 more times to get the last of the dog hair.
So, we are still here, waiting for the call! As Scarlett would say, "After all, tomorrow is another day!"
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Travel Window
Our travel window is now open. We could get the call to travel any day now (please let it be tomorrow!). It is a weird feeling being "on call" this way. It is hard to make plans. I am still working, but my long term sub is all ready to go. Any day could be my last day at work. We still want to do things with our family or friends but I find myself saying "We'll be there, unless, we are in Korea"
Our travel window is 4 weeks. So that means for the next month I could be waiting. Waiting for the call to come any day! UGH! Honestly, I am SICK of waiting! I am ready to go, so, lets GO! And I am sick of the expectant look on every one's faces when they say "any news?" I just answer "If I had any news I wouldn't be here right now!" I try to do it in a sweet voice and add a smile - it is not their fault that I don't have news- but I am sure that there is a twinge of annoyance in the sound of my voice- sorry, I am only human!
So my prayers is now "Lord, let us get the call to travel SOON- meaning tomorrow! You know my heart and my heart wants to go get our son!" Please pray for us this way!
On a side note, tonight I am trying a Korean Short rib recipe! Maybe this will help me wait!
-sigh-
Our travel window is 4 weeks. So that means for the next month I could be waiting. Waiting for the call to come any day! UGH! Honestly, I am SICK of waiting! I am ready to go, so, lets GO! And I am sick of the expectant look on every one's faces when they say "any news?" I just answer "If I had any news I wouldn't be here right now!" I try to do it in a sweet voice and add a smile - it is not their fault that I don't have news- but I am sure that there is a twinge of annoyance in the sound of my voice- sorry, I am only human!
So my prayers is now "Lord, let us get the call to travel SOON- meaning tomorrow! You know my heart and my heart wants to go get our son!" Please pray for us this way!
On a side note, tonight I am trying a Korean Short rib recipe! Maybe this will help me wait!
-sigh-
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Stimulating the Economy
You should be happy to know that we are doing our part to save the economy. We have been buying so many things to get ready for our son! In the last month we bought a pack-n-play, crib, glider rocker, safety gates, dresser, diapers, and several other baby items. We also bought things for our house to get ready for his arrival. We got furniture that will be child friendly and have storage for toys. We started a bathroom in the basement, got a new tank-less water heater, and we will be buying plane tickets to Korea in the near future! Jason also found us a new digital camera to buy as well. Not to mention, people are throwing us showers, so we are even encouraging others to buy! Who knew we were so patriotic?
We are feeling the pressure of becoming parents soon. Just yesterday, I bought my first box of diapers. Now the baby can come home! I have diapers, a pack-n-play, a stroller, and safety gates (what else could a person need?!?). I am also starting to think about what it is going to be like to be a parent. I know one can never be fully ready for what is to come and I am starting to wonder what I have gotten myself into. I mean, I am going to come home with a child and I am going to be in charge of it all the time. Am I prepared for this??? [rhetorical question - no need to comment on this] I am so excited to be a mom, and every night I fall asleep dreaming of holding and playing with my son, but I know I have a lot to learn about parenting. I can probably only learn it by being one!
Challenging things have also been happening as we are getting ready. A couple weeks ago, I got strep, followed by an ear infection, which took me out of school for three days. Last week, we found out that Jason and I are not the only ones living in our house. We have some uninvited house guests: mice- and NOT Micky and Minnie! We have declared WAR on the mice, and have several traps and mouse poisons spread throughout the house. We are hoping to kill the little guys before our child comes home, because we will definitely be pulling the traps and poison once he gets here. We did get one so far! Today I slipped on some water on the floor at school and twisted my ankle. It hurts pretty bad and I can not put much weight on it. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow, hopefully it is not broken because that would really stink to have to travel to Korea with a cast!
Our travel window opens one week from today. Please pray for us as we get prepared for our trip and journey into parenthood.
We are feeling the pressure of becoming parents soon. Just yesterday, I bought my first box of diapers. Now the baby can come home! I have diapers, a pack-n-play, a stroller, and safety gates (what else could a person need?!?). I am also starting to think about what it is going to be like to be a parent. I know one can never be fully ready for what is to come and I am starting to wonder what I have gotten myself into. I mean, I am going to come home with a child and I am going to be in charge of it all the time. Am I prepared for this??? [rhetorical question - no need to comment on this] I am so excited to be a mom, and every night I fall asleep dreaming of holding and playing with my son, but I know I have a lot to learn about parenting. I can probably only learn it by being one!
Challenging things have also been happening as we are getting ready. A couple weeks ago, I got strep, followed by an ear infection, which took me out of school for three days. Last week, we found out that Jason and I are not the only ones living in our house. We have some uninvited house guests: mice- and NOT Micky and Minnie! We have declared WAR on the mice, and have several traps and mouse poisons spread throughout the house. We are hoping to kill the little guys before our child comes home, because we will definitely be pulling the traps and poison once he gets here. We did get one so far! Today I slipped on some water on the floor at school and twisted my ankle. It hurts pretty bad and I can not put much weight on it. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow, hopefully it is not broken because that would really stink to have to travel to Korea with a cast!
Our travel window opens one week from today. Please pray for us as we get prepared for our trip and journey into parenthood.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
A peek at the baby's room
We are almost done with the baby's room! I love to just sit and look at the room! So I took some pictures to share with all of you!
I did say it would just be a peek! We will eventually post pictures for all to see but, for now we would like to give real-life tours! We want to see the look on your faces when you see it.
It is now October, the month that we have been talking about since we received our referral. I cannot tell you how many times I have said, "We will hopefully be traveling at the end of October." Too many to count! And now October is here! Our travel window opens after October 15th, which is less than 2 weeks away! We were told that we would most likely travel between 10-14 weeks after signing our official paperwork accepting the referral. That puts us traveling between Oct 15th and Nov 12th. We will get a phone call that will tell us to get our tickets ASAP, so NO, we will not save money on tickets and No, we have not bought them yet!
Now that we are getting this close we are starting to get a little freaked out! We have talked about traveling for so long. We have been looking at the pictures of our baby boy, and talking about bring him home for a while now too. But talking about it and doing it are two different things. We have some MAJOR child-proofing to do! I still have our car seat and pack-n-play in their boxes. The baby's room is ready, but I need to wash all the clothes, and put them in the closet or dresser. I need to get some diapers! I need to transition the back part of the living room into a baby-area. I need to pack a bag for the baby, and for us. I need to get some extra sleep, because we all know I won't get any after the baby comes. We need to pick a name for our child! And, I need to mentally prepare myself for the 20 hour flight home with a 9 month old (this is the part that freaks me out the most!)... not to mention the jet lag we will all have when we come home!
Next week I will be interviewing for my long-term sub, and hopefully training them the following week so it will be a smooth transition out of the classroom. I was granted my FULL 6 weeks paid maternity leave (Hooray!) and the unpaid family leave after that. What a blessing!
Even though we are totally FREAKING OUT, we are beyond excited for our boy to come home!
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