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!