Upgrade: From the prince to the king

Another busy month has come to a close! As you will see in our 100 Flickr pictures this month, Theo had many engagements on his social calendar. Favorites of the month included a visit to the pumpkin patch, watching the Bears (of course), visiting with friends from Eastern at a Lifelink event, Halloween, and most important, ADOPTION FINALIZATION DAY!

That's right, as of October 15, 2008, Theo is OFFICIALLY a Barrett. Legally he is now Theodore David Ha Bhin Barrett, and is eligible for a social security card, a birth certificate, and a passport. Our social worker visits have also ended, a strange realization as Cheryl left our house for the last time on October 13th. Especially considering we both expected to see her in 6 months, and 12 months after that, but we were mistaken! Oddly enough, the very important day of finalization was met with little fanfare. We did not need to make a court appearance, we did not to file any paperwork as our lawyers were doing everything for us, and we did not even know when it exactly happened until two days later. How weird is that? Our celebrations were minimal and fabulous as we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's complete with cheesy potatoes and Mickey balloons. There was no Dairy Queen involved, but did I mention the potatoes?

Another fun event of the month was an official visit from Eastern Social Welfare Society, Theo's Korean adoption agency, to Lifelink on October 18th. It was great fun to see foster mothers and social workers from Seoul. It was also so much fun to meet so many other Korean adoptive families and see a variety of Korean culture demonstrations. We plan on attending this event annually until Theo is in middle school and way-to-cool to hang out with us...

Of course the most fun we had this month (other than the NKOTB concert I attended, Hang Tough everyone) involved our festivities leading up to and including Halloween. On one of the most gorgeous October Saturdays in years, Theo, Andy, and I headed to Kuiper's Farm to find a pumpkin, pet some goats, and hang out in a corn maze. (It ended up being a bittersweet day - later that night the Cubs blew the final game in the first round of the playoffs.) We had such an AMAZING time! Our personal favorite was the dried corn sandbox. We sat in that thing for a good half hour, with Andy and I having as much fun as Theo. Feeding the goats was also fun, although Andy was extremely nervous when the goats climbed up on my lap (and on Theo) to get some treats. We left the farm with a just-my-size pumpkin for Theo, and some great family pictures. Later in the month, after weeks of debate, we settled on a Halloween costume for Theo, which ended up being Andy's Halloween costume as well. What could be more fitting for a young boy that's already the center of so many people's universes than to be The King? That's right, Theo was Elvis as was Andy. They were so cute in fact that they made the local edition of the Daily Herald. Theo spent the day with Grandma, touring Mill Creek and Storm Elementary Schools. He had so much fun with my 4th graders and even managed to win some prizes at our party. The day concluded with trick-or-treat visits to family in Batavia, and finally pizza for dinner. It was a very busy day, but what a day it was!

Please check out our latest pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68847421@N00/sets/72157608550046469/detail/

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The cutest pumpkin in the patch!

Well, my goals of once-a-month blog updating faltered in September! So here I sit, on October 7th, a full week behind schedule. I guess this blog is now in tune with the rest of my life, BEHIND schedule! (Yes, I'm always late...)

Theo is of course doing marvelously well. Currently he is sporting nine teeth, a new haircut, and somewhere in the ballpark of 7-10 words. Toddle speak can be a bit confusing, but as he connects meaning to more and more objects and actions, it's amazing to watch his language development. We know, we know, he is genius! (Did you ever doubt?)

The Barrett family has added another level of "new normal" to our lives. I started back mid-September with my graduate classes (only 3 to go!) and Andy began his doctorate program at University of Illinois. So, seeing as we weren't quite busy enough, I'm gone every Monday night and Andy is gone two weekends a month as we educate ourselves on being better educators. Fortunately, the schedule has thus far worked out and each of us end up getting great quality time with Theo. Now if someone could just tell me how to keep the house clean, the laundry folded, and the meals prepared I'd be all set! And to think, we haven't even hit first-quarter report cards and parent/teacher conferences yet! =)

Overall, we are doing amazingly well. Theo's adoption will be OFFICIAL on October 15th. We do not need to make a court appearance this time around, which stikes me as ironic as the adoption finalization is one of the most important moments in the lives of adoptive families. No celebrations are scheduled, but I'm sure we will end up at Dairy Queen at some point. We are also closing in on our final post-placement visits with our social worker, but we will stay connected with Lifelink for years to come. Andy and I sincerely hope that they like us enough to one day invite us to be speakers to their Parent Academy. Here's hoping!

As always here's a link to the newest Theo pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68847421@N00/sets/72157607839867103/detail/

Stay tuned for more fall happenings!

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Koreans for Obama

August has proven to be a CRAZY BUSY month! Theo is now in daycare full time as I returned back to work officially on August 18th. If someone can explain this working mom thing, I'm all ears! Seriously, who is going to cook dinner for the three of us, because it's certainly proving not to be me! =)

Theo had a great last few weeks of summer that were filled with firsts. This included attending his first Korean Fest in Chicago, enjoying his first Olympics (he was very nice and left mommy alone during gymnastics coverage), and experiencing his first Democratic National Convention. He was a huge fan of the Olympic diving - Andy believes it's because the sport was dominated by Asian people this year, I think it's because he's a talented athlete in the making. I do believe I am correct in this argument? Theo is also super excited about Obama and the upcoming presidential election - what a great year to become an American! Lucky kid. =)

Other than that, there's not too much going on as we try to get adjusted to our "new normal." Theo is growing up so fast and doing wonderful new things everyday. His words now include mama, dada, nana (banana), sit, up (bup), night night, and this (A weird one, I know). He's also learned how to walk backwards (with style I might add) and has become a very good helper when we clean the house (He can use a lint roller like nobody's business).

Here's our latest pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68847421@N00/sets/72157607042934183/detail/

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Only two weeks left?!??! =(

Yes, it's about to happen.... I'm going back to work! 4 months home with Theo has left me spoiled, so I guess I'd better head back to 4th grade and get reacquainted with life in the real world...

Theo is still cute as ever - keep voting for him on-line for the Cutest Kid in Kane County contest! (The link is in our previous post) He's a completely steady walker (well, you know, except when the carpet trips him and stuff) and is totally enjoying summertime activities. He LOVES playing in the water. Doesn't matter how much or where it is, if it's there he's splashing in it! He also enjoyed his first trip to Brookfield Zoo complete with his very first Mold-a-Rama. His favorite thing at the zoo? Sting Ray Bay! Why? Because he could splash in the water! One summertime activity he did miss was the 4th of July fireworks. Andy and I are still baffled by this as the fireworks are literally shot off right next to our house. Believe it or not, Theo slept right through the fireworks! We're still scratching our heads over that one...

In other news we had our FINAL baby shower for Theo. That would make 10, count em' 10, baby showers for the Crown Prince of Batavia. What can I say? He's just so loved! We also had our family court date on July 11th in downtown Chicago to get our interim order from the courts. What is an interim order? Well as far as I can tell, it's the official document to get the ball rolling on finalizing Theo's adoption. Now that the interim order has been filed, we just sit back and wait for October 15th to come along. That will be Theo's adoption finalization day!

As always I will leave off with a link to Theo's newest pictures!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68847421@N00/sets/72157606476197633/detail/

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Theo is the cutest!

Here is the info about Theo being part of the Cutest Kid in Kane County contest:

www.kcchronicle.com/cutestkid Theo is #60

If the voting link is not working, here it is: http://www.kcchronicle.com/cutestkid/vote/

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