We're having an awesome day!

Ben and I are having an awesome day. He sorta slept until 6 (with the help of 4 nighttime bottles) and was in a very good mood overall today. And we're having two naps today, so I get to rest and even get some stuff done. We got our adoption announcements in the mail yesterday and I already addressed some and mailed them! So excited!

The last two days were, well, not so great. After my post on... I forget what day it was, they all blend together. Anyway, after my last post I had the trip from h*** to the nursery. After a lot of crying in the car, we got o the nursery. Meanwhile, Ben had escalated to screaming. I got him out of the car seat and nearly broke my back and went looking for a cart to set him in. No cart with seat, only pull carts available. So I put on my Beco. Which still takes me forever to figure out! Meanwhile, Ben was still screaming and people were looking at me funny. I finally got him in the Beco, but something wasn't quite right. So I took him out again. Baby was still screaming. Eventually I got it right and picked my plants and then got to the register. Ben was screaming again. The lady rang up my plants and I handed her my credit card. They don't take our brand of card. Okay, fine. I tried the next card. It expired! I gave her my last card that I know doesn't have enough money on it. Declined, of course. So I trapsed off with my screaming baby and will not return to this place out of shame. It doesn't end there. Ben screamed in his car seat almost all the way home and all of a sudden he went quiet. I thought he had died! So I pulled over to check on him and of course he was fast asleep. I am totally laughing about this now, but it wasn't so funny when it happened.

What to write, what to write...

While I am exhausted at the end of the day, I find myself not being able to think of anything exciting to talk about. Don't get me wrong, I love my little Ben and it's awesome to see him learn new things every day (currently he loves to pull himself up to a stand and laugh and say "up"), but it's still quite an adjustment for me. I remember when the first of my close friends back in Germany had her first baby and all of a sudden all she could talk about was poopy diapers and other baby things and I was bored out of my mind every time we talked. So while I am still not the kind of person who can only think about baby stuff, now when I talk to my friends and parents I actually do not have anything else to talk about. Of course I want to talk about my awesome son, but oh how I'd love to have something else to talk about too!

In an effort to do something semi-productive today I am going to brave the carseat drama and venture to a nursery to buy some more plants for our yard. I can't blame the little guy for hating the car seat, especially when I try to put him in. I am way too clumsy and I am waiting for either me or him to break a bone. I finally get why people with kids have minivans!

Okay, naptime is over, off we go....

Happy Baby

Another try

Oy, my last posting was kind of pathetic LOL

Let's try again. It's a few days later. Last night Ben Hoyoung (I still can't let go of the Hoyoung) slept from 8:30 p.m. until almost 6 a.m. this morning with only 2 bottles! Of course today he refused to nap, so we'll see how tonight goes.

He's had his initial doctor's appointment the other day and went to the lab yesterday to give blood. I was really dreading that one, but he didn't even blink. He did scream bloody murder in the car seat though. So - giving blood is okay, car seat not so much. Now we get to collect stool samples. Yummy.

We're also scheduling our first post placement visit with our social worker! I can't believe how fast time is passing. The last weeks are just one big blur. Did they really happen? It seems surreal, still.

Ben Hoyoung is practicing pulling himself up to a stand and also likes to yank on my hair and bite my fingers and then gives me the silliest giggle and wiggle. He is also still very interested in the cats' food and not giving up until he can try some one day. He does not however care for the food I make for him. He likes puffs though, which I have been using way to much to bribe him.

The house is still a mess, but I now attribute it to my husband being home from work.

All in all things are really improving around here (I hope I didn't just jinx it) and I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

It's 2 a.m.

and I've been up for 2 hours. Somehow we can't get that sleep schedule down.

It's been an exhausting week. Ben no longer needs to be carrie 24/7, which is HUGE. He is starting to get into everything. His favorite hobbies include eating paper and trying to get to the cat food.

The house is a complete mess, there is no time to do anything! And off I go - trying to console screaming baby!

We're home!

Monday morning we hecticly finished packing our suitcases since we didn't get done in time on Sunday evening due to someone's sleep schedule. Then we got in our cab and off we went to the airport. I tried to soak in as much of Seoul as I could during the cab ride and as Hoyoung was sleeping in his daddy's arms, I cried some more quiet tears. I was so happy to finally be the mom of our little angel, but so sad at the same time.

Traffic was surprisingly good, but there were long lines at the airport so I am glad we left early. Our little boy drew lots of attention, and we learned that he a) hates all old people (foster mom said he hates old men, but he screamed at every old person that looked at him) and b) hates the clicking sound Koreans make to babies. All throughout the trip, starting at the airport, we got all kinds of good advice on how to stop the screaming. Like - his bib is too tight, he is not dresses warm enough, is dressed too warm, he is hunrgy, he has a wet diaper. Ugh.

Once we got to the counter, the gentleman couldn't find the reservation for the lapticket. In the meantime, Hoyoung had started screaming so my husband was politely asked to remove the baby from the ticketing area LOL.

After another long line at security we went to find water to make a bottle - all the things I hadn't thought about!

Soon it was time to board the plane, and one perk of having a baby is getting to board first!!!! Yay!
We had bulkhead seating and a bassinet, which turned out useless for Hoyoung, but good for our stuff.

The flight was long. He barely slept and wanted to be walked a lot. He did have periods of giggling and playing, but sitting on someone's lap for an extended period of time is just not comfortable!

After we arrived at Dulles, the screaming baby got us to the front of the immigration line and soon we were on our way home.

It was so strange to be home. First of all - it is so green here! Azaleas are in full bloom and it feels like summer, where Korea felt much more like winter still. The cats were very cautious around the baby, especially the one that can hear! It's hard on them that they now have to share the attention. We took an afternoon nap and then an evening nap and were up for most of the night with the baby.

Today we got a playful baby that loves his high chair (to my surprise) but hates my rice porridge! We put him down at around 10 for what we thought would be a nap but turned out to be a good day's sleep until 4. Needless to say, I slept too, while daddy ran out to Target to buy a few necessities like more wipes and diapers - and pajamas. Afterwards we went a walk and then tried out the pack'n'play, which he really enjoyed.

Overall it was a great day, but really exhausting trying to carry a squirming 24 lbs baby, feed him, change him, get things done around the house and make sure the cats don't wreak havoc on the house. At some point today Freddy was sitting in the palm tree container snacking on the plant, Casper knocked over the trash bin and the recycling bin and was taking out things from the recyling basket and placing them all over the kitchen, and Ben grabbed an openend banana and smeared it all over me and himself.

Now our life as a family begins!

Last day in Seoul

First of all, it is a miracle I've been able to blog from Seoul - when I log on to blogger, everything is in Korean!

Today is our last day in Seoul. I am so sad. I have fallen in love with the city and the country and the people. I've read the same thing on so many people's blogs and I always thought it was impossible to feel such a deep connection to a place you only spent a couple of days in.

I still have some catching up to do here! Ben and daddy are finally napping, so here we go.

The day before we got Hoyoung, we walked back up the Insadong area and stopped at the Jogyesa temple, where the preparations for Buddha's birthday are underway.

Then we made our way back to Insadong, where we ordered a name chop for Ben.

We also got a name scroll and the nice lady gave us ink for free. She said "Korean baby" and gestured that it was a gift. Guess who started crying at that....

Then we tried to find a restaurant that serves grilled bulgogi and finally asked at the tourist information center. I thought every restaurant would have that (I don't know why I thought that), but only very few do. We found one though and it was delicious!

Afterwards we headed to Gyeongbokgung palace, which is huge. You could walk for hours. There were tons of schoolchildren everywhere and we were celebreties. They would come up to us and say "hi" or "hello" and giggle. One boy was especially brave and told me that I was tall and asked if I was a singer (sorry, no) and told my husband that he was very handsome. Was it rude that I broke out in giggles?

Then we headed back to Insadong to go to one of the teaplaces. We were approached by a radio team and interviewed for a local station about the tea place. As a thank you they bought us some pastries. Unfortunately that was after we had already ordered some. They were all delicious and I left feeling a little nauseous from all the food.

We wandered back to the hotel and at night ventured out in search of a suitcase. We ended up somewhere behind the Lotte department store in a maze of narrow roads, neon lights, fashion stores, and food stalls. It was brimming with young people. We ended up at a buffet restaurant that had every kind of food you could imagine and included free wine. I kept on looking at all the gorgeous young Koreans out on a date and it made me so sad that Ben will never take his beautiful date wandering through those lively streets.

It was so amazing to see! Of course we never got the suitcase that night.

It has been very tough since we got him. He cries unless he is carried. He gets into screaming fits and won't stop. He has gas, he is teething, he lost his family. He gets inconsolable. He slept in the bed with us last night, but his limbs go flying all over the place, and none of us got any sleep.

He does okay when we're out and about, so he already went sightseeing with us.

I have such a hard time to put into words how amazing this experience has been. It is so emotional. It's sad and it's wonderful. It's heartbreaking to see our boy scream his lungs out, but it makes my heart almost hurt with happiness to see him smile.

To those waiting, as impossible as it seems, as you get closer to travel, enjoy the wait, enjoy the anticipation. This is the most amazing thing you will experience, soak in every second! One day, just like that, it will be over. As happy as I am about beginning a new chapter in our lives, including our baby, there is definitely some sense of sadness about this journey being over.