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