Playdates, Dairy Queen, and Other Favorite Things

Hello! We've been home now for enough time that I've lost track of the days! Theo is still doing wonderfully - he's sleeping through the night and eating everything we give him. This includes ice cream from our first trip to the DQ... you all know how important the DQ is to Andy!

We've had loads of playdates including time with Theo's foster brother from Korea. It is so much fun to see the two of them together. Yesterday well went to a small zoo by our house and had a great time hanging out! Theo and I also headed to my classroom to meet my kids who were SOOOOO excited to see Theo live and in person. He was a bit overwhelmed, but if you had twenty 10 year olds bouncing with joy at the sight of you, you would be too! =) It was so great to see my class who made Theo a fantastic Mickey Mouse blanket and welcomed me back with big smiles and lots of hugs! We will go back to school and visit them often for the remainder of the school year.

Theo is already super close to walking - no down time in this house! He's standing on his own for 15-20 seconds at a time, and cruises around the furniture with amazing speed. He's also starting to mimic English sounds that Andy and I make, the first being the word doggie. As of late his newest trick is waving bye-bye. I'm amazed at how well our little boy is doing and learning everyday!

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Seoul in pictures

Hello! Quick update: Theo is doing wonderfully! He's eating, sleeping, and being social with anyone and everyone who stops by. =) We couldn't have asked for a better transition for him. Tomorrow we're actually having a playdate with his foster brother in Wheaton - I can't wait!

Below is a link to my Flickr account for anyone who wants to see our entire trip - there are MANY pictures so I hope you enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68847421@N00/sets/72157604580635723/detail/

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Pictures

Well, we've been home for a week and real life starts back up tomorrow! After having a wonderful two weeks together, Andy heads back to principal duties tomorrow morning. I know his MCES family will be happy to have him back, but it's been so nice having both of us home!

My last two posts have been picture-free, so I will take time now to post a few pictures from the rest of our trip. I'm not sure why the pics aren't lining up... I'll try to fix it later!

Images of Seoul:

First night with Theo!

Going home...

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We're home - anyone for laundry?

Theo is home... need I say more???? =) We finished up our week in Seoul wth some final shopping and sightseeing before picking up Theo from Eastern Sunday afternoon. The experience of the giving and receiving ceremony was both joyful and heartbreaking. There are no words to describe what adoptive parents go through when a foster mother places a child in their arms. We are eternally grateful to our foster mother and will think of her often as Theo continues to grow.

Andy and I returned to our hotel at about 4:00 with Theo. We promptly sat down with some toys and looked at each other and said,"What on earth do we do now???" So we decided what all first-time parents must do - we took Theo down to the market to get dinner. Oh, and the market???? Imagine the largest crowd you have EVER seen at a grocery store, multiple it by three, and then you will know what Andy and I encountered that night at the market. Regardless of the crowds (and the noise), Theo hung out happily in a carrier until he fell asleep. What's that you say???? HE FELL ASLEEP???? Shockingly enough, he dozed for about 40 minutes in the carrier. When we got back up to the room he woke up and went right back to playing happily. At that point Andy and I were like, "How can this kid be so mellow? Well, he must be waiting until bedtime to freak out." Bedtime came and went - he slept the ENTIRE night. Seriously!!!!! The only problem with that was the fact that Andy and I couldn't sleep.! =)

Our flight home was amazing as well - although Theo only slept for about 2 hours (out of 13, yikes!) he only cried for a total of about 15 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly. This poor child who had just had his world turned upside down cried a total of 15 minutes in the first 36 hours he was with us. (Yes, counting blessings) He also was the most popular person on the plane! More than once he was scooped up by a flight attendant or a passenger giving Andy and I a few brief moments of calm. Overall, the flight went quickly and was the best we could have hoped for. I didn't even need to pass out the earplugs I had brought along for other passengers because he did not scream once!

Our first day home was fantastic - thanks to everone who stopped by, called, and e-mailed us to welcome us home. It was so nice to see so many familiar faces after a week of strangers and Theo handled meeting people like a champ! He also did very well his first night sleeping in his crib. We did not end up setting up an air mattress in his room like we had intended and I don't think there is going to be a need. He has taken 3 naps in his room, plus one night of sleeping, and seems to sleep well. Going to sleep is a little more difficult and seems to be his grieving time - tonight at about 8:00 (second night at home) we finally experienced a breakdown with some screaming, but it only lasted about 15 minutes. It felt a lot longer but we know plenty of babies that scream for hours on end their first few weeks home, so we'll take 15 minutes of screaming any day.

We are now trying to set up routines and get our body clocks reset. I managed to get some laundry done today, and organized all of our gifts that we brought home. Wahoo! Of course we've had a lot of time with our family who have been bringing us food and necessities but they all have to go back to work tomorrow! I was kind of hoping that no one ever had to go back to work but alas that thought shall remain a dream. ;)

My next project (other than that whole parenting thing) is to organize our pictures (all 245 of them) and videos of our trip. Stay tuned for more Theo updates!

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Why are there no trash cans?

Sorry folks, today's post is Theo-free. =( Andy and I just got back to the hotel after a LONG day of sightseeing. And as you can tell from the title of this entry, we had a heck of a time trying to throw garbage away! I'm serious - this country is super clean and apparently has no need for public trash bins. Moving on...

We left the hotel at about 10:00 this morning with a full agenda for the day. Before we made it to the subway station, we ran into one of the couples that we had met at lunch the day before at Eastern. And would you believe that they are a Lifelink family? Would you believe that they are from Illinois? WOULD YOU BELIEVE THAT THEIR SON'S NAME IS THEO?!?!?!? Well you should, because all of these facts are true! Needless to say, we were all very excited that we shared they same great taste when selecting names for our children. We exchanged e-mails and everyone went on their merry way.

First up today was the Gyeongbokgung Palace. As we walked "into" the palace, we were met with a tour guide that was about to start an English-speaking tour group at that very minute! What great timing. While our group walked and talked, Andy and I found out that many of the people in our tour group were all journalists from various parts of the US who were participating in an exchange-type program with Korean journalists. We filled them all in as to why we were in Seoul and they, being the journalists that they are, wanted every single detail! So much so that one gentleman gave us his card and asked us to e-mail him with an update after we were home with Theo. How cool is that?

After our tour, we meandered to the back entrance of the palace to see the Blue House - the Korean version of the White House. (And yes Monmouth people, I was quite excited to see a "Blue House" in Seoul) We took some pics, walked back through the palace, hopped on the subway, and stopped off at Insadong for some more shopping.

NEXT, we hopped back on the subway (we are total pros at this point), and went to the Korean War Museum and Memorial. It was an interesting visit - Andy and I were both very impressed with the building itself but not so much with the exhibits inside. We left the museum and headed back to Naedaemun market (where we went yesterday) this time with hopes of seeing the famous South Gate. Unfortunately, due to an incident of arson, the gate is under some serious rehab. It was a sad sight to see - huge walls are up all around the gate and the walls are covered with notes and signatures from thousands of people. Speaking of thousands of people, Andy and I managed to become spectators of a "small" demonstration today in downtown Seoul. We have no idea what these people were protesting against, but we did see the riot police get dispatched. Oy!

Our last stop of the day was Seoul Tower. This is a massive structure with an observation deck that lets you see all of Seoul. The bus ride to Seoul Tower was NOT fun, but the view was amazing. One strange thing that we saw at the tower, and never found out any information about, was the fact that barricades at the observation deck were covered in hundreds and hundreds of padlocks. All of the locks were signed with dates and names and they were all over! We never did find out why they are all there, but it was an unusual sight to see.

Well that was our day in a nutshell. Tomorrow we are heading to the Korean Folk Village with a bunch of other families - should be fun! Andy and I will post some last pics of Seoul Sunday after we pick up Theo from the agency. Thanks to everyone for your fun comments on the blog - Andy and I have thoroughly enjoyed them!

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Dr. Kim knows Andy

Today we started things off at Eastern - it was a busy morning! First we met with Dr. Kim.... then we met with Dr. Kim. Confused? FIRST we met with "old" Dr. Kim. He started Eastern 36 years ago, is 94 years old, and still oversees the adoption of every child that comes through Eastern. Under his guidance more than 45,000 children have been adopted. You read it correctly - 45,000! It was a great honor to meet with him and I (of course) did not think to ask him for picture since it was a bit overwhelming to see him in person. There were about 8 of us in the meeting with Dr. Kim, all couples adopting babies, but one remarkable thing happened to Andy during the meeting. We all sat down to chat with Dr. Kim, and he began asking (more like checking to see if he was putting the right names with faces) who each of us were. After he asked Andy his name he said, "You are principal of the school, yes?" WHOA, DR. KIM KNOWS WHO ANDY IS?!!?!?!? We were astounded! Of all the thousands of couples that come through his door, he remembered something about Andy!

After meeting with "old" Dr. Kim, we met with "young" Dr. Kim. She is currently the director of Eastern. She chatted with us about the history of Korea, how the adoption program came to be, and how important all of us were in the lives of "their children." Needless to say, between this meeting and the meeting with the other Dr. Kim, it was a great start to our day.

Prior to the meeting with "old" Dr. Kim, we had the opportunity to meet some very important people. Theo's foster family has had another little boy living with them for several months. Obviously, Theo and this other boy have had a close relationship as foster brothers. His family is also in Seoul this week to pick him up and it turns out they are from Wheaton! It was great to meet them and we plan on getting the boys together once we are all home. We had hoped that we would find out a little about Theo's foster brother's family, but we never imagined that we would be able to continue their relationship at home in the states.

Andy and I had about 1 hour to spend with Theo at Eastern today. We had a great time playing! In fact, he's taking to us so well, that we will be going Sunday afternoon to pick him up for good! We were expecting to pick him up Monday morning on the way to the airport, but everyone feels that since he is doing so well, the quicker he's with us forever the better! Andy and I are thrilled (and of course nervous - you know me!) that he will get to spend time with us before the "long and scary" plane ride. So far he seems like such a happy and content baby - we're bracing ourselves for hour #10 on the plane when we're sure he's going to start screaming like crazy!

Our first family picture - with the famous red chair!

After our Theo meeting with had the opportunity to have lunch with other families at Eastern. There were SO many of us that that dining room was completely full. All of the families that I have been e-mailing back and forth with were at lunch so it was nice to meet everyone in person. We are all planning to visit the Korean Folk Village on Saturday together. We were going to try to go to the DMZ - but all the tours are booked solid. Had we been able to book on Monday there were seats available, but our availability for the week was determined by Theo!

After our morning at Eastern, we spent the day at Naedaemun Market and Itaewon. To describe Naedaemun would be nearly impossible - y'all will have to wait for the video! Itaewon was not what we expected - although we did manage to get some great deals on ties for Andy, and a "Prada" purse for me! Tomorrow we plan to visit the Korean War Memorial, a palace or two, Seoul Tower, and at least one more shopping district. Before I finish up, I will leave you with one more Theo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCnJpThDCbM

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Meeting day

Andy and I both woke up a little afte 5 this morning with no ability to go back to sleep. Between jet lag and the excitment of meeting Theo, there was little to do but get up, shower, wrap presents, and WAIT! We've become very good at that over the last few months...

Finally at 11:30 we left our room. Remembering how to get to the subway was easy, but figuring out exactly HOW to use the subway was more of a challenge. After a few attempts at a handful of machines, we managed to secure subway tickets to get us to Eastern Social Welfare Society where our meeting with Theo was to be held. You may remember that our meeting was not until 1:30, so YES, we left ridiculously early. We walked into Eastern a little before 1:00, were shown to a small waiting room, and were told to (What else?) WAIT.

As the minutes crawled by, Andy and I sat anxiously awaiting Theo's arrival with his foster mom. A little after 1:30 she and our social worker came into our waiting room with Theo! It was a wonderful meeting. Our foster mom was fantastic, and Theo did not seem to be scared at all! We went over some of his paperwork, exchanged presents, and then Andy and I had Theo all to ourselves for about half an hour. It was completely surreal - we are still in awe and shock that this cute little guy will be ours forever in just a few days! And now I will share what you've all been waiting for - a glimpse of our new son:

See our video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnFnhs2Dv1Y

After our meeting, we headed to Insadong for some shopping. After visiting some shops and munching on some mondu, we left the shopping district and headed to Jogyesa Buddhist Temple. Now back at the hotel we are planning our day tomorrow which includes another Theo visit, a meeting with Dr. Kim, and lunch with the staff from Eastern. Stay tuned!

I decided to add a couple of pictures from the rest of our day:

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We made it

After a 14 hour flight, we made it to Seoul! We both survived the trip just fine - Andy was a real trooper. So far our "tour" of Seoul has led us only to the shopping complex attached to our hotel. We managed to find the subway we will be using, and located a variety of restaurants including Mickey D's, BK, Pizza Hut, Baskin Robbins, Outback, and KFC. We also found a Build-A-Bear and the Korean version of Claire's Boutique.

We were going to be brave and avoid the forementioned restaurants and order from a Korean place, but the ordering situation was a bit too intimidating - all the food was on display in a central location, and after you ordered you went and picked it up from the correct counter. Oy! So good ol' BK won out - we will do our best to eat Korean tomorrow. (Craig, please don't make fun of Andy for ordering BK while in Korea!)

Speaking of tomorrow, we will be meeting Theo officially at 1:30pm. Originally our meeting was scheduled for 10am, but I think that there are so many families meeting their children tomorrow that some of us got bumped until the afternoon.

I will post pics and videos as soon as I can tomorrow evening!

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