Brothers over Seaweed

Guess who slept for 12 hours last night?!!! He really needed it (I did too, but it wasn't me). He slept in his crib for about seven hours, had a bottle, and then with me for another five. I was going to share photos of our homecoming but I just realized that we don't have any, we have to get them from others who took them as we met them at the airport. As soon as I get them I'll put them up.

This boy loves seaweed!

And so does his big brother!

Ryan has been great so far. His energy level has jumped a few notches and that has been a little crazy. He needed a long bike ride tonight. Tomorrow is soccer and we'll have to have an outing of some sort to keep him busy. He loves being a big brother though.

Got Seoul!

We had a good day again. Last night we didn't get as much crib time but he did sleep on us in shifts. He was happy and smiley all day. Here are some pictures of our time at Eastern Welfare Society in Seoul.

It was raining when we arrived in Korea. Korean drivers don't slow down for rain! And...they watch t.v. while they drive. Our driver had chosen a soap opera for our ride home.

Power shopping in Seoul. It was already 10pm and the store was closing. I of course rose to the challenge!

This is the sign in front of the welfare society where all of the babies spend their first months.

This is the baby ward. We didn't go in because they are worried about swine flu...and limiting visiting.

The kitchen for families to use during stay (if you are there more than one day).

Front entrance of Eastern

Cool carwash as we walked around Eastern. Probably not in the top sightseeing stops of Seoul, but it's about as good as we got.

This is a few blocks from where we stayed.

We went to a little bakery near Eastern before we got to meet Erik. We found out that they have this same chain in our town!

Breakfast just before we were to meet Erik (before they told us to come back in an hour).

The first time Erik played with Mommy!!

Playing with Daddy

"Most uncomfortable bed ever"

We got in the van and foster dad handed Erik to me. It was exciting to start our journey home, but sad to watch foster mom and dad have to say goodbye.

Ready to fly!

I think I look pretty good for only sleeping about an hour up to this point!

He did great in the airport for two hours. He never cried and played all over the filthy floor. There were several tears on the plane (his and mine). More tomorrow!

Correction:

They're called 'chryslides'

Jane's Travel Tips

I am a new woman! Erik slept in his crib until 2am (5 1/2 hours). He was wide awake and happy when he got up. We played, had a bottle, watched Baby Einstein...until 4am. Harv got up then and I went back to bed, my bed, and slept for 6 hours! I felt great today. Erik stayed up for a little while and then slept in Harv's arms for about 3 hours and then in his crib for another 2 1/2. (Don't worry, I know it may not last!). He had a great day. He hasn't cried since the first night except to get out of his crib. He laughed a lot today and was very smiley.

Our caterpillars came the day before we left. Today they headed to the top of the up to start their chrysalis' (spellcheck let me write that so I'm sticking with it until corrected). Cocoon is so much easier to spell, but I hope you all know that caterpillars do not make cocoons, moths do!



Travel Tips

So here are some traveling tips from my trip in case you travel to Korea and back in two days to get your child:

1. Don't drink a large lemonade a half hour before a 12 hour flight.

2. Don't sit by the window after drinking a large lemonade a half hour before a 12 hour flight.

3. Don't cut your own bangs before one of the biggest photo events of your life.

4. Don't take a walk in a torrential rainstorm just before one of the biggest photo events of your life.

5. Do take lots and lots of photos-even if it embarrasses your husband and he says you don't need a photo of the airplane snack (because you do!).

6. Don't spend $15 on a paperback book that is so poorly written that you can only force yourself to read to page 19 even though you don't have one other thing to read for the next 11 1/2 hours.

7. Don't travel 11,000 miles in two days with 1 hour sleep.

8. Do let go of your plans and embrace God's (even when it doesn't make sense).

I tried to start going through the photos from the trip and it was too much for tonight, but I'll pick some fun ones from Korea tomorrow!

Got Erik!

Hi,
We are home, safe and sleepless! Yes, he finally has a name...Erik. We still mostly call him Seo Jin and Yoo Rok. It's going to take a while to adjust! He had a pretty good plane ride home. I hit 'the wall' a couple of hours before we landed. Can't say I have ever felt worse in my life. Since Erik didn't go to bed until after 4am last night, I am going to just share a few photos from today and share more about our trip (including my travel tips!) when I can think straight! On our way home from the doctor's visit today Harvey drove right past our street, so we probably shouldn't be driving or doing anything important like blogging right now!

We had lots more smiles and laughs today

This is progress...last night he wouldn't get in the tub.

He is a very social little guy. We can't wait for everyone to meet him. More tomorrow! Oh, by the way, he has been sleeping in his crib for an hour...he woke up, I picked him up and he reached for his crib. I just patted his back and he went back to sleep for the last half hour. That's already double last night. I'm taking whatever I can get at this point!

Latest Update from Korea

Hi,

It's 9:00 in the morning here in Seoul. Since we were up so early we got showered (best thing ever) and took a walk around the neighborhood. There really wasn't a lot to see, but we wanted to get a feel for the area. It was just raining lightly and fortunately I had brought an umbrella. And then it got ugly! I think the English translation is 'torrential downpour'. We had a quick breakfast and some coffee : ) and then headed back so we would be here when the office opened at 9:00. They told us to come back at 10:20! I don't know if my stomach can last that long. The anticipation is crazy. We are guessing that we'll do some paperwork and meet Yoo Rok and foster mom and then head off to the airport. Our flight leaves here at 4pm Korea time. Next post: Yoo Rok will be in our arms and we'll be deciding on his name!! (But I have a feeling Yoo Rok, Rock, Rocky, might stick!!). Thanks for your prayers...I know you will all be praying all night for our 10 hour flight : )

Good Morning! It's 6:00am here. I've managed to get 1 hour sleep since we left and Harv doubled me! Neither of us could sleep after 2am this morning so we finally got up at 4:45 and started getting ready. We had a really nice flight. I'll give more details later. Here are a few pictures of our trip so far:

Asiana actually gives you food! We got two meals, a sandwich, and they even smiled when we asked for extra juice!

Mt. Fuji from 38,000 feet

This is the weather (sorta like San Diego vacation weather, only worse!).

YEAH!

Our friends from church took us out to eat and then to downtown Seoul to look around a little.

We never met with anyone last night so we have no idea what the schedule is for us today. Our friends leave with their little guy a few hours before us. Please pray for our little boy. His world is going to turn upside down in a couple of hours (and then he gets to get on a flight). Can't wait to get home and share more!

Looks Like We Made It!

Hi Everyone,
We made it safely to Korea around 6pm. It took about two hours to finally get to the welfare society. We met our new friends from church and went out and hit the town. It is now 11pm their time and we haven't had a moments sleep yet. Tomorrow will be interesting. We'll meet the baby in the morning and head back to the airport after lunch! Harv decided to post pictures for you anyway, but everything is in Korean on the computer and we couldn't figure out how to see the pictures, so Harv tried to take the memory card out but it didn't have a button and well, all the stuff on the computer is in Korean...so now we have to figure out how to get it out! Good night!

There's Room in the Inn!

So we found out that the welfare society has a room for us and they will pick us up from the airport. That saves us trying to get a hotel room and making our way to see the baby. We just noticed that we aren't sitting next to each other on the flight, and we are both smack in the middle of the middle aisle of the middle of the plane! Oh...it's going to be a long flight! Ryan came and got into my bed this morning and instead of his usual happy "Good Morning Mommy" he crawled next to me and told me he didn't want us to go. He brought it up all through the day. So we had a special trip to Toys R Us to ride the cars and pick a present for him to give the baby. Just to give me a moment of sheer panic before we leave, as we were looking at some toys, Ryan noticed that Hanna was missing! Just the very thought of losing Hanna, at any time, let alone the day before Mommy and Daddy leave the country, about gave me a heart attack. Fortunately, no one was in the market for a much loved, water-filled lion and a normal breathing pattern returned.

Of course it's his favorite...it's pink!

A noisy mailbox!

Lucky boy! He found an Easter egg with candy in it today!

After stopping at several stores I told Ryan we had to stop at the market and get ice. Being a quick thinker, he reminded me that 7-11 sells ice and Slurpees! So Daddy took him to get a special treat.

And the bank has lollipops! Guess who is going to the bank from now on!

Our friends stopped by with some very sweet gifts before we head off.

It wasn't one, it was a whole roll of certificates! And they came with coffee and chocolate to help us get through the next week! Okay, I should probably stop typing and finish packing!