Happy 4th 2009!

We didn't do anything major, but the kids still enjoyed it.  We actually went to town to watch the 4th parade.  We've never done a parade and the kids LOVED it!  Chelsi was VERY outgoing and would ask anyone who walked by, in the parade, for candy.  She was NOT shy at all which is a little odd.  We had met our friends and their kids to watch together and they all enjoyed it.  I don't think the two youngest, ages 2 and 3, stopped waving their flags once!  They had to be the two cutest girls at the parade!  Afterwards we went to their house to watch some fireworks we bought and they bought with some other friends.  It really was a nice evening and the kids loved getting to play and be together.

At the parade.

The dads...



The two little girls



The 6 year olds.



The 8, 12 and 9 year olds...in that order.



Me and my baby.



Our little spectators.



4 of our sparklers.

My baby boy/Miracles

seems to really be becoming "my little boy".  I pray this stays when I have to return to work and he goes to daycare.  I'm so thankful I can work part days for a bit to be with him more.  He's starting to really snuggle and trust.  Trust is HUGE!  There's probably a post somewhere in here about that back when Chelsi arrived home.  I can hold him for a bit in his room while we listen to Brahm's and lay him down awake and rub his head, face and bottom and he'll go to sleep shortly after I walk out.  He never even fusses now.  He knows if he does I will come back and rub some more.  He trusts.  Makes me feel SO good!  Even his grumpy isn't as grumpy as it was just a couple of weeks ago.  He's been home 5 weeks now which totally amazes me.  It's starting to feel like we've known him forever already and we only found out 3 1/2 months ago we were even having a baby.

It's amazing the changes a family can go through in a short period of time; good or bad.  We had some rough and rocky last year and some mind-blowing amazing this year.  Trust mind-blowing, amazing miracle.  That's what this feels like.  Even thinking back to visiting Korea last month to get him.  It all felt so surreal and felt like a miracle.  I mean it's a miracle this other Korean agency found us and our two little ones are together as their birth mother wanted.  I so hope she reads our annual letters one day and knows this so she can feel better they will always know each other and love each other.

I think about my life and some of the pain; real pain; loss, fear, anxiety.  But, how many people get to witness these kinds of miracles in their life.  I witnessed a man paralyzed from the neck down walk again.  I witnessed 2 beautiful children born of my husband and I.  I witnessed 3 beautiful children travel all the way from another country to allow us to love them.  I witnessed God putting all of this together and orchestrating all of it regardless of any mistakes we made along the way.  I know there will always be pain in our lives, but I will try so hard to remember these miracles every day of my life.  I know there will always be days when I'm at my wits end due to stress of being a working mother, but I will always try to look at my family and thank God for these incredible miracles.  How on Earth did we get so lucky and deserve to witness this and enjoy these miracles in our lives?  I feel incredibly blessed to have them here with me and feel little fingers around my neck and being hugged by yet another child God has bestowed on us.

Lisa

2009 Weiny Roast

We went out before Brian got home, so it was still pretty darn hot.  We got everything out there and ready to go and the kids went ahead and started swimming.  Then the kids ate their hot dogs, chips and juice and swam again.  After that we roasted the marshmallows and swam again!  :)  We had chocolate covered graham crackers to put the marshmallows on.  Not the greatest idea.  They were pretty melted by the time we got to them and the kids had chocolate from head to toe.  :)  Kaelin finally stopped putting hers on graham crackers and just kept eating the marshmallows.  I have no idea how many that girl ate!  I was surprised at how much all of them ate tonight.  Jaemin liked the graham crackers too.  He likes the pool, but needs breaks getting out, so we finally got him this gate today.  Now we can do more outside and not worry about where he is.

First a picture from a night earlier this week, it was just too sweet when they were sitting there.



And the roast.





Chocolate and more chocolate....all over the body for some people.









Marshmallow Champ!



Break Time!



Swimming!









Ice pop anyone?



I just liked these looks she puts together.

All's well

Jaemin's attaching quite nicely.  We spend a LOT of time on the floor all day, then dad takes over part of the night so I can get some stuff done and feel productive still.  Then, when he can't I carry him on my back.  When we make our Walmart runs he rides on the front and falls asleep in the store every time.  :)  We're somewhat getting on a schedule.  At least he takes a decent mid-day nap now and sometimes takes a 20 minute here and there on either side of that nap.  He gets in bed at the same time every night now, which is nice.  Just shortly after the others go to bed.  I think it helps him to see everyone else go to bed as the house goes dim.  He doesn't fight it like he did.  He cries, sometimes, but not often and doesn't hit and scratch like he was in the beginning.  You could definitely tell the first two weeks or so were full-on grieving.  When he was tired, I think that's when he missed his foster mother most.  I heard him say omma over the weekend.  Omma is mother in Korean.  I wasn't sure if he was saying it to me or not until we went to visit grandma's daycare.  She had him and he reached for me and was repeating it.  He finally called me omma.  The girls never did, but coming home 3 months younger they were barely even saying it in Korea.  He was already saying a couple of things.  I've heard him says mama from time-to-time too.  That's not me.  It means eat!  He doesn't say that any longer, you just have to read his mind when he's hungry.  :)  He's sort of picky, but for the most part likes orange veggies.  We're moving onto solids as soon as the baby food is gone.  He wants what's on our plates anyways, so we've been trialing some things here and there.

He really has become a huggy boy.  If I pick him up and put him against my shoulders, he hugs me and then sits there and plays with my hair very sweetly.  He likes to lean his face to mine or lay his face to my lips while I give him little butterfly kisses on his cheek.  He's become very cuddly, which was definitely not the boy I came home with.  He pushed to get down and roam.  Really didn't want held too often.  I thought he was just busy at 9 months and crawling, but held him a lot anyways and now he likes to be held.  I think he's really beginning to trust.  Now we just have to keep building and keep that trust.  He still wakes a couple of times a night, maybe more.  It's usually not too bad.  Usually you just have to go put paci in and he nods back off.  This morning he was AWAKE at 4:30.  Wah, that was rough.  Hopefully, tomorrow is better.  But, I've been working on his schedule.  We're trying to get more on a schedule that will work when I return to work.  So he's not used to me getting him up by 7 am.  That may have thrown him yesterday.  We'll see, I guess.

Anyways, that's my little man for now.

Lisa

50 Toes

My 50 toes.

Successful Evening Out

Not without the kids, too early to leave little man, but we went out to eat for Father's Day as a family of 7 with no incidents for the first time.  It really wasn't bad.  All were in a good mood, ate well and we went home.  Of course, Brian picked Ryan's (buffet is always his choice), so when they can eat immediately there are always few complaints.  Jaemin ate like a pig!  He ate almost a whole jar of applesauce, some sweet potatoes from the bar and at least half a yeast roll.  He was leaning back in his high chair towards the end.  I believe he was stuffed.  Chelsi even ate well.  That was a first.  She even tried fried shrimp.  Kaelin was in heaven with ice cream with M&Ms and sprinkles.  We got stared at the whole time was the only bad part.  You're never sure why people are staring, they just are.  One older couple, right in front of me, stared 60% of the time they were there and they arrived the same time we did.  Another couple stopped by while I had taken one of the girls to the restroom to tell Brian we were blessed.  She told him she told all young couples with children that.  It was nice to be told we were young.  :)  We're not feeling so young right now.  I think Jaemin aged us quite a bit.  :)

We came home and I took all 5 of the kids swimming until bedtime.  They thoroughly enjoyed the evening!  But, we were all dog tired come 9:30 after the showers.

Now, Brian gets to go fishing with some other dads as their Father's Day gifts.  An evening all to themselves.  I think all 3 would prefer this over anything we could buy them.

Lisa

New pictures

Dad's going to get some family pics sometime, probably birthday too??  Anyways, I was afraid the kids would all grow out of the coordinating clothes they happen to already have, so we went to the backyard for some quick pictures.  I mainly wanted to replace the collage I had on the living room wall from when Chelsi came home.  I didn't want the focal point of the wall missing a very important person.  ;)

Doing better

Still no allergy test results...at least not the full set.  The basics came back with very little, but I'm waiting for the fruits so I can talk to an allergiest about him.  Surely we'll get the full results soon.  For now, he's done better with no more major reactions.  We're still transitioning him to milk based formula.  Korea said he was allergic to milk, but we're guessing it's more lactose intolerence since it wasn't a reaction.  So, we're now at half and half soy/milk based-lactose free.  He's doing well with it so far.  We got Jaemin into the doctor Friday too.  His cold had turned into a sinus infection and he just couldn't take anymore and neither could I.  Then, Brian and I caught his cold too and we could totally see why he was grumpy.  Our throats and heads were killing us.  Jaemin got some antibiotics though, and is now doing great!  He's back to his old happy self.  He laughs a lot and looks for me when he's upset.  If he bumps his head, gets tired or grandma/grandpa has him and he's done with that he looks for me and I, of course, just scoop him right up!

He seems to be attaching really well and I love my little man.  He's such a sweetie and a little love bug.  He snuggles right up when he gets tired.  He even fell asleep in my arms at M's shower Sunday and did so well.  I just let him sleep right there.  No point in putting him down.  It's going to be hard going back to work.  It always is.  So wish I didn't have to.  I hate that we need the money and health insurance, but you gotta have both, especially with 5 kids.  He's such a little angel baby.

Lisa

Bloodwork done

We don't have the results yet and may not for a couple of days, but we've had Jaemin's blood drawn.  I know when they couldn't get blood from Chelsi I gave up and never went back, but hers was just being precautionary.  I wasn't worried when the doctor asked that we get blood drawn to check for iron, lead and CBC.  I figured, no rush.  But, when he started to show more allergies to berries we couldn't hold off.  We decided to get enough drawn to do it all at once.  That's a lot of blood.  Blood for the allergies alone is a lot.  The first arm they tried the vein just kept rolling.  Then, the second arm rolled too, but she managed to move the needle and get the vein.  They started filling vials as quickly as they could.  hey were a little shorter in each vial than they had hoped, but they were going to put his birth date on the vials and let the lab know that they really need to try to get all the results we need off the blood he already gave so we don't have to put him through this again.  We're praying they can make it work.

I don't remember what all they're testing for, but they're testing for everything they have a panel for.  All the regulars, plus extra fruits.  It's hard to keep his ear clear at this point from the last reaction, so we don't want to risk giving him any other food he can't handle.  I'm praying he's not allergic to too much or anything too difficult to eliminate from the diet.  That will be difficult with 5 kids.  Praying he's okay.  Hopefully, they call soon so we can just know.

Momma loves you little man.

Lisa

Teething...

yikes!  Jaemin was doing so well with it.  He broke his first through on Saturday.  Then, I could feel the next one trying to come through beside it by Sunday.  He was doing so well.  He wasn't really drooling and wasn't too upset.  Today it all hit.  He's been so grouchy.  Even holding him was doing no good by this afternoon, which isn't like him at all.  No bottle, no food.  He didn't want anything.  I finally gave him a little tylenol and about 1/2 hour later he was fine.  And he's been drooling like crazy this afternoon.  His chin is constantly wet!

Hopefully, tomorrow's better.

Lisa

Update on Us this Week

We've all been doing well.  And, yes, this blog will be inundated with Jaemin pics for awhile.  He's just so darn cute!  Tonight was his first night at church and he did well.  No real tantrum, just some talking.  :)  Kae had a friend down to play Friday and they were truly in girl mode with secrets and lounging and all that.  Chelsi's been adjusting better than expected to being ousted from her position as baby so suddenly.  The first few days she was pretty loud for her, but she now creeps around the house if she thinks the baby is sleeping and keeps rubbing his hair very gently saying "he's so cute". I think she likes him. Honestly, it's starting to feel like he's been here forever and we haven't missed a day.  He's only been home a week and while the first few were beyond rough he is really bonding.  He holds tight to me and is SO excited when I walk back into a room.  He likes me to wear him while I do dishes like Chelsi did.  But, he can be independent too, or he's trying to find it anyways.  He's such a sweet, loving little man.  He's even getting better about bedtime.  I go into his room, turn on Mozart and he knows.  He lays his head down on my shoulder and relaxes.  Sometimes he doesn't, but it's usually within minutes.  Tonight I even put him in bed semi-awake and he just went to sleep.  He only wakes once or twice and it's not been terrible.  We are truly blessed with such a sweet surprise.

Here's Jaemin trying to get to his hiding spot.  Yes, apparently, my rocker needs a dusting underneath.





Bye Bye



Daddy and me.



This is the only way I like to sleep....arms and legs free and on my side.



Here Kae with M.....girls.  They're wearing each other's shoes too.  Sheesh!

Kids are SO literal!

Kaelin and her friend (neighbor girl) Madison were playing outside.  We were upstairs with Jaemin and Chelsi.  They come into the basement and Kaelin asks for a bandaid.  Brian asks who's hurt.  She says "M. I."  Like we don't know her last name.  :)  Then Brian simply asks "where".  Kaelins replies "downstairs".  We had to literall say "Kaelin where on Madison's body does she hurt".  She finally told us she "accidentally ran over her with her bike and skinned her knee".  Don't ask....it's hard to say what they were really doing.  :)

Lisa

All together now

I took pictures of them all the day Chelsi arrived, but was just so tired after we got home from Korea with Jaemin I didn't get around to it until yesterday.  Here are the 5 together.  So cute!

Almost forgot

Chelsi wanted a picture with little brother.  Here it is.

We're home and doing well

Between just not having time to post and just not choosing to out of exhaustion I haven't done what I haven't had to in the last week.  We're all starting to catch up now and it feels much better.  The last two nights have been much better.  Jaemin grieved pretty heavily each time he got tired, day or night, since I picked him up.  He pushed away, thrashed around, you name it he didn't want us.  Brian decided we needed to really try a pacifier to help him through just a little, not to mention the fact that his first tooth just broke through Saturday and he also hurts.  We took him to the doctor Monday for a check up and to make sure nothing else was going on that we needed to know about.  He checked out fine, so it really was just grief and teething.

Since we got him to take the paci and attach to his snuggly he's been great!  He sleeps from about 8 or 9 to about 8 the next day with a couple of wakings in between.  They're very short lived the last couple of nights though.  Either we can put the paci back in and rub his back or give him a quick bottle and he goes right back to sleep.  Even the nap today got easier.  I just sat on the floor and held him and he went right to sleep.  He actually let me rock him like a baby which he's not let me do until now.  He's a HUGE cuddler!  He loves to give hugs and kisses and tells everyone bye-bye by waving.  He's extremely smart...we can see that already!  If daddy's playing with him so I can do something and they come to visit me he gets so excited!  He definitely has attached to mommy!  I'm seriously enjoying this little man!

The trip from Korea was rough.  It's a 15 hour flight with an infant, plus customs, immigration and layovers.  I promise, it's pretty rough.  He did great the first few hours of the 12 hour flight from Seoul to Chicago and then he hated sitting still.  The stewardesses on Korean Air took him for many walks since it was hard for me to get out with the basinett in front of me.  They kept telling me he was crying because he couldn't understand me, but if they quit walking he cried for them too.  :)  They were truly very nice.  It's a wonderful airline to fly.  We only had a 2 hour layover in Chicago, so we literally got through customs and immigration and ticketing just in time to catch the next flight.  He slept on the flight home, but it was only 1 hour.  We met with the entire family and a friend of ours met us at the airport too.  It was so great to be home!  Chelsi and Chase ran to each other, once she woke up.  The boys were so happy to have her back!  Jaemin didn't care for the carseat too much, but I sat next to him and he calmed right down and fell asleep.

Since we've been home, Cole's been dying to hold his brother.  He's still off limits to everyone except daddy and I though.  Shortly, we'll let Cole hold him some, but if he throws a fit I don't think Cole could hold onto him because Jaemin's so strong.  So we'll have to be careful with that.  Kaelin and Chase pretty much stick together as usual and do their own thing.  Chelsi was pretty loud and seemed jealous at first, but has gotten to where she loves to gently kiss her brother and give him small hugs.  He's almost as big as her for goodness sakes!

That's about it for now.  We're all doing great, catching up on sleep and finding our new normal with 7 people in a smallish house.  It's all good though!  :)

Lisa



Here are some of the kids finally getting to swim!

Chelsi Korea funnies

She was so funny, so I had to share just two of the things she did.  When we were on the way to Korea we had a lot of turbulence.  She kept asking me why the rocks were hitting the plane.  Then on the way home, we landed in Chicago and had a rough landing.  She laughed and laughed and laughed.  Most kids would have been a little scared, because it was pretty hard, but she thought that was so funny.  She's such a rough and tumble girl!

Lisa

Coming Home Pics (Airport)

Thanks for taking photos Jane!  Jaemin got to meet daddy and his brothers.

Receiving Jaemin (Gotcha Day)

I'll have to post about that later....doing good to get this much done.  :)

Lisa

Meeting Jaemin Pics

Chelsi's Foster Mother Visit

Kaelin's Foster Mother Visit