3 Little Pigs

Wow, I haven't had a chance to update until now. Imagine that. I guess I could say I have been too busy working on my tan, getting a pedicure and eating bon bons to blog. Man I wish.

I could kill the person who said having 3 kids was just adding one more. They were dead wrong! The day to day household activities haven't changed much but man do they demand constant attention. I am either wiping this ones nose, getting someone a drink, tying a shoe, wiping someone's butt, breaking up a fight that most days I feel like I haven't taken a breath all day.

To add to all of this, someone is ALWAYS crabby! One day, I am going to keep a list of how many times each of them can cry and whine in a given day. Maybe I should hand out "Oscar the Grouch" awards. I can see them right now loving this idea although I already know who would win!

To combat sanity, I have set a few new pampering ground rules for myself: Please read at your own risk and don't call DSS.

1. Happy hour can now begin at 2pm instead of 4pm without seeming like an alcoholic. This will be just as the morning double shot espresso is leaving my system

2. It is now okay to drink alone...or without the company of another adult (adult definition now includes anyone over the age of 10)

3. It's okay to yell "Stop that GODDAMIT" instead of just "Stop it." They haven't figured this one out yet!

4. TV time can now be raised to 3 hours in a row instead of 1. Of course, this only makes sense since there is 3 of them.

5. The dog is now in charge of cleaning up the food in the high chair, coffee table and any leftover food particle on the kids hands. It's about time she earns her keep

6. I now have a cleaning lady coming once a month. I have told Milon this was until the dog dies but really I have no intention of firing her then. After all, the dog is 11 how much longer till she kicks the bucket?

7. Any outfit the kids come down the stairs wearing is permissible as long as all body parts are covered. This means Leah can now wear her green wife beater with a hedgehog on it with the pink tulle skirt. Yes, I don't care as long as they have clothes on.

8. Davis no longer has to brush his teeth (since he complains all the time about it) but he knows if he gets a cavity it's coming out of his piggy bank.

9. Leah now asks to listens every night for her bed to "call her name" b/c I told her it misses her. So I whisper "Leah, I miss you, come see me."

10. The kids can now pick their dinner out from some choices...cereal, eggs or yogurt. They don't eat anyway so I figured why cook for them? The other night Davis had guacamole (homemade of course) and tortilla chips (I bought organic so I could feel a little better) and he says to me "Thanks mom, this is the best dinner ever!)

11. Oh and one last one....baths are now only given if (1) they are bored and need some entertaining or Emma has diaper rash. If they look clean and smell fairly clean, no need for baths.


Yeah, I know I am kidding with SOME of these...I will let you figure out which is true!

Time is flying by!

I can't believe Emma is almost 1 on June 16th! She will have a great birthday because we will be at the beach for the week! She has really fit into our family. She is sleeping great (from 6:30pm - 8:00am) and takes about two 2 hour naps. She eats great and is a whopping 18.9 lbs. Her favorite things to eat include meatballs, french toast, cheerios and avocado. I am anxious for her to start walking so we can spend more time outside. I don't think she is close though.

The kids are still go go eyed over her. They take turns each morning waking her up. I can't believe they think it's so exciting! They never want her to go in for naps and say all the time how much they love her. I think she is really going to miss the kids when Davis starts Kindergarten and Leah is at preschool. She gets so excited to see them and I can tell when they aren't here she is bored.

Milon and I are adjusting to three kiddos also. Really, the hardest part is the nap schedule. I feel like I can't get any errands done because someone is always napping! I can squeeze one errand in between preschool drop off and the morning nap. I have started doing more at nights so I don't get behind.

She is very dainty and quiet. Her personality is so sweet and gentle. I can't wait to see if she stays this way. Thank goodness she is so easy because with the 3 of them I would be pulling my hair out if she was a high maintenance baby.

She had all of her wellness tests run and all the labs came out perfect.

I have finally started her adoption announcement. I will post it here when I get it finalized.

No Nap, No Problem!

Emma has to be the most laid back, easy going baby alive! She NEVER cries anymore! Sometimes at the end of the day I realize she went the entire day without shedding a tear! I have to admit, I have not been very good with getting her 2 naps a day. The older kids have spring break this week and it seems that if we go to the park or a playdate in the morning, we aren't back in time for her morning nap. She doesn't seem to care! Although, if we were at home she would be lying on her blanket sucking her thumb so I know she is not ready to give up the 2 naps. I have been able to put both girls down in the afternoon for the most part.

Overall, things are going great. Emma is eating up a storm although I can say the things she likes aren't the most nutritious...she loves pizza crust, bread and crackers. She tolerates meatballs, grapes, beans, edamame, peas. She isn't very big on vegetables and fruit but we are trying various ones to see which she likes. I am making her whole wheat bread so at least if she eats it will be nutritious. If she doesn't like it she drops it on the floor which is driving me nuts, but my other 2 kids did the same thing.

She is sleeping great still. No issues waking up.

The hardest thing about having 3 kids is trying to keep the house clean! It seems that is all I am doing...other than wash! I think having the 3 kids at home this week has been probably half the issue so I am hoping next week I will catch up.

Emma has really bonded to Davis. She smiles when she seems him and they play peek a boo behind the doors in our house. Emma is still a novelty around here and both kids always want to wake her up from naps.

I will post more pics from Easter!

Everyone's Alive!

I made it through my first day alone with 3 kiddos. The morning wasn't really too hectic because of the staggered awakenings! Leah is first up at 7. Davis woke up next at 7:45 and I woke Emma up at 8:00. It helps so much that I can tell Davis to go get dressed, brush teeth, etc. Leah can do it also, for the most part but needs some assistance.

I get everyone loaded into the car only to find out my seat won't move forward so I can't reach the gas pedal. I ran inside and grabbed Emma's gigantic blanket and stuffed it behind my back. Smart thinking mommy because if she gets cranky I can hand her a piece in the back seat!

We ran some errands came back here and had lunch. Emma ate a ton of rice and cheerios. I tried to get her to eat mangos and cheese but no luck. She took a look at my almond butter sandwich and was reaching for it so I gave her half and she ate it! Eating for Emma is an all day affair. She sits in this high chair quiet as can be stuffing her face!

Here she is eating the rice and cheerios.

Now she eyed my sandwich and is still eating.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Leah and Davis were wild while Emma tried to nap. They decided to get on ride around toys and race up and down the hall. Sounds like fun right, unless you know Emma's room is at the end of the hall they were flying down.

My mom made a huge mistake teaching Davis her phone number. He randomly picks up the phone all day and calls her! The reasoning could be as minor as he saw something funny on a commercial. Today, I snapped a picture of calling her.


We went to Milon's parents house for dinner. Emma was shy and clingy in new surroundings and new people. I am glad to know she has gotten comfortable with our house and me! I have learned to save my wash folding for when she is awake. It's a perfect way to sit on the floor with her while she plays and get something done! Maybe I will have to try cleaning my floors next!

Well, one day down and four more to go! Hopefully, we will all be alive and well at the end of the week!

3 Little Clowns

We had a great afternoon! Emma started exploring around the house more and becoming more independent. She is also really interested in the stairs. Davis is such a big help and carries her away from them. Guess it's time to bring out the dreaded babygate!

For the first time today, Emma really enjoyed playing with the kids. Davis put her on the couch and the 3 of them were being so silly and laughing. It helped that Emma had a full tummy from a huge meal! We were all done with dinner and she continued to eat for another 30 minutes. She ate rice, avocado, biscuit, and strawberries, grapes! Finally, she is eating rice and fruit! I tried to give her chicken but she didn't like it. The kids are so crazy about her they kept wanting to feed her and loom in her face as she ate. I had to tell them to go play until she was done and every 5 minutes they would ask when she was done. To be honest, I kept wondering when she was going to stop eating myself!


I am finally starting to learn what her behaviors mean. We were at Davis' tball practice and Emma started to pull at my shirt and necklace. I told my friend that I am beginning to think when she does this it means she is tired and sure enough she starts yawning. Score one for Mom paying attention!

Emma broke through her front tooth the other day. I can feel 2 more teeth trying to come through as well. Hopefully, we will be beyond the teething soon so we won't be blaming everything on teeth!

Who knows what tomorrow may bring. She might be clinging again but everyday the amount of time she spends not in my arms is getting longer.

Progression!

Today, Emma made great strides. She woke at 7am (although I think she had help waking up from Leah) and had some Cheerios. I bet they didn't have those in Korea! She sat on the floor and started to explore on her own. This is great improvement from the death grip she has had on us for the past few days. She saw Greta and started to crawl after her and even pet her! Why all of our kids love that dog I will never know. She even had a normal nap schedule rather than her marathon naps.

She loves her bottle, even though they said she hated it in Korea. Maybe I just haven't been feeding her spicy noodles and rice and she's starving. She likes black beans, egg yolk, cheese, avocado, and crackers. They also said she loved fruit, but she won't eat any for us.


We are bathing all 3 together. Emma isn't comfortable enough yet to sit down but likes to stand and walk along the side of the tub holding on. I can't blame her for not wanting to sit down as Davis and Leah pretend the side of the tub is a slide. They are rather wild and soon I am sure she will participate in the chaos but it's actually kind of nice to have a quiet child in the meantime!


She is so good natured and loving! I could sit on the couch and watch TV all day and she wouldn't fuss at all as long as I was holding her. I am going to attempt to take her shopping tomorrow to see how she does. Being a good shopper is a prerequesite in this house!

We heard the Seoul, Korea was told to stay indoors today and to shower if you had been outside. Apparently, the winds off the ocean of Japan have changed and the radiation is heading towards Korea. The government has even canceled school! Boy am I glad we got home when we did, but I do feel sorry for the people of Korea.

Everyone Has Lots of Adjusting

We made it home. Emma slept 5 hours on the first flight after some explosive diarrhea which leaked out of her diaper and all over my lap. Thank goodness I brought a change of clothes. Unfortunately, I only brought one change of clothes because when she leaked pee out of her diaper soon after I didn't have anything to change her in! Needless to say, I didn't smell very good when we got home! She was so good on all the flights and never shed a tear. I am not sure how we entertained for the rest of the 8 hours on the plane, 6 hours of layovers and another 1.5hr flight. She was really good though. We arrived home and were beat. Neither of us slept at all on the plane. I have never been so tired I felt sick to my stomach.

My parents brought the kids over Monday morning. They were nuts over Emma. Almost too much so as she is having a hard time adjusting to the commotion. She is petrified of the dog also which hasn't helped. She is sleeping all the time which I think is her coping mechanism right now. We have been trying to keep her up as much as possible but there is only so much you can try with a 9 month old.

She is happy when we are holding her and definitely reaches to us for comfort. Emma is exhibiting a lot of the same behaviors that we had with Leah when she first arrived. I am actually surprised because she seemed so adjusted in Korea. I am not sure if it is sheer exhaustion, the kids, or just too many changes.

The kids are crazy over her. Leah's motherly instincts are coming out with Emma although she is terribly jealous also. She is trying to act like a baby sucking her thumb, wanting to be held, etc. I have been making a point to do fun things with her alone and telling her how big she is. She also helps me hold the bottle and change diapers! Hopefully, soon she will get use to being the middle child. Thank goodness she is being very gentle and sweet with her despite her jealousy.

Davis is a kind as they come. I catch him lying on the floor with her stroking her and asks for her all the time. He comes downstairs in the morning and his eyes light up as he sees her sitting on the floor. He did ask me why she had so many rolls on her legs and why her nose is so flat! It did open a great race discussion opportunity though so we started talking about how she looks different and why but the conversation soon stopped when he didn't think her eyes looked different! It's so nice how innocent and oblivious to things they are.

I will post later once we are rested! Even though we slept through the night we are still not caught up on sleep!

Farewell Korea

We loved being here! I love the people, the food, the cleanliness of the city, all the things to do! We have had a fantastic experience! I would recommend adopting or visiting Korea to anyone!

Emma slept great last night. She went to bed at 10pm and woke at 9:30am! She is cutting her front teeth so I gave her some Tylenol before bed. Hmmm, I might try that for the plane also since it knocked her out!

I have no pictures today. Our bags are packed and so is the camera! We leave in 2 hours for the bus to the airport. Our flight departs at 5:15 and we arrive in Raleigh around 11:30pm on Sunday!

Here are some cost saving tips for those who have yet to travel:

1. Stay at the SWS guest house. If you don't mind not having room service, the guest house is perfectly adequate and clean. We stayed at the $70 family room but if we did it again we would probably stay in the $40 room until the day we got Emma and then upgrade to the family room with the separate bedroom.

2. We were told to we needed to stay 5 business days. We have seen so many other couples come for 5 days total. Next time I would not stay as long! I would have flown in Sunday night and left Thursday.

3. Bring coffee! The coffee is expensive here. Starbucks is $4 a cup. We have been going to ToPresso which is $3. But times 2, we have spent $42 on coffee alone! We do have a coffeemaker in the room so if you bring coffee and filters it would save money.

4. Bring Breakfast food. We brought nutrigrain bars and it saved us a ton! Bring peanut butter! The jar I bought for my peanut butter and banana sandwiches was $7! Anything else food wise that you eat I would bring. Food from the grocery store was pricey.

5. Eat where the locals eat. A typical Korean soup meal was $8 for 2 people! The other restaurants like Mexican, Indian, etc are an easy $40! By SWS Food2900 is very cheap!

6. Shop at the markets! They are the cheapest place for Korean items. Forget about the Coex mall! It's outrageous!

7. Don't bring bottles, formula or diapers! They provide plenty!

8. Our foster mom gave us a 1 yr Hanbok so there is no need to buy one. They also gave us a children's CD, Korean flag, and decorative box.

9. I found a fantastic children's book that has English on one side and Korean on the other. It's all about visiting Seoul, customs and traditions for kids! I actually found it at the Korean War Museum. It was $10 but really gives great detail about Seoul.

10. We didn't feel the need to dress up for the foster home visit. In fact, I felt over dressed. I also didn't feel out of place in regular shoes and jeans. Most people are dressed up, but unless you are in high heels you won't fit in anyway! We did a TON of walking so wear comfortable shoes.

11. Domino's Pizza actually taste like regular pizza!

12. Don't take cabs unless you have to. The subway isn't hard.

1am Bedtime No Kidding

What a difference a day makes! Alice and I had free hands yesterday!


Last night we went out for some Kraze burgers (which were really good) with the kids. Emma was so tired because she only had 1.5 hr nap and it was her "7pm naptime". We left the restuarant, all grabbed a coffee and headed back to our messy apartment for a playdate.

We then played with Emma on the floor and tried to keep her up. At about 9 we put her in the crib. She slept for maybe 30 mins and woke up moaning. We got her up and she ate dinner (probably when she usually does). We played until 11:00 or I should say she played. She self entertains very well. At 11:00 I laid her in our bed and we all tried to go to sleep. She had her thumb in her mouth and was wiggly although her eyes were closed. So at 12:30 I got her up and laid her on the hard, cold floor with her "blanket" that is so big it looks like it's a comforter off a twin bed! Go figure, she fell alseep. She slept till 8 this morning when I decided to wake her up. Hopefully, getting up early will help her get on more of a normal sleep pattern.

Today, we walked to the Emart today to get some apple juice. Emma fell asleep in the ergo at the store at 10:00! I guess getting up at 8 is hard work! We are amazed at how many people are in Emart buying whole Pizza's! It was 10 and they were selling out of them! Milon almost got some fried chicken until he could only recognize 2 legs as being from a chicken.

Emma was really belly laughing today. We spent a few hours at the apartment playing with her on the floor. She loves to play hide n seek and like mimicking games. Every few minutes, she does look for her blanket and sticks her thumb in her mouth for comfort. I am not sure if this is part of the grieving process or if this is normal behavior. Or, if she is exhausted because of us trying to shift her schedule!

Milon basically watched TV for the morning. Let's see he watched some show he didn't know the name of, Kung Fu Panda, and then The Transformers. I have been bored to tears! I have been cleaning and packing.

Speaking of schedule. So far, she is on the perfect schedule for our family! Up at 8:00, 1st nap at 10:00, 2nd nap at 1:30 and a small nap at 3:30. Let's hope bedtime isn't 1am! Later in the day we walked to the largest mall in Korea called the Coex. It was 8 floors and extremely pricey! They love the coffee and donuts here in Korea. Every other store was a coffee shop or doughnut store. We saw them auctioning off meat in the middle of the mall! Emma fell asleep on the way in the ergo. We were gone from 3-5:30 and she never cried a tear.

Everyone is dressed so nice here. It reminds me of Kazakhstan. Girls wear high heels to take the subway! Dark clothes are definitely in. Although, I didn't feel out of place with my jeans and t-shirt. Having Emma has made such a difference in the way people perceive us. Before, I never even saw a Korean turn their head. Now, that we have Emma, everyone stares. I am not sure if their stares out of displeasure or if they are grateful. A lot of the older ladies speak to her in Korean, although I have no idea what they are saying.

Emma reminds of a a little China doll. She is 100% girl. She is very feminine in her ways and mannerisms. Even when she eats it is so dainty! It is nice that each day we learn a little more about her!

Here are her measurements:
18.9 lbs (45%)
27.4 Height (31%)
17.4 Head Circum (51%)


I miss my kids so much! I can't wait to see them! We have goodie bags for both of them. The highlight we bought Davis is a spiderman jacket that zips up beyond his head and forms spiderman's eyes. It is so ugly but he will love it. We got Leah a bunch of Hello Kitty stuff, like stamps, pens, etc. We also got her a Snow White change purse. I am sure they will be excited to open anything regardless of what it is!

Tomorrow is it! I can't wait! Our flight is out of here at 5:15 which means we have to catch the hour long bus at 1:30!

April Fools Day!

We started off the day at 10am being paparazzi for Alice and Wade. We were privileged to be able to share and record their gotcha day. Their son Jack is so cute and huge! They really like big babies here in Korea. The foster mom was an older lady probably in her late 40's (so says Milon. I think she looked to be in her 50s). We never saw tears from the foster mom but we did hear her sniffling. What a bittersweet occasion. I was as nervous for Wade and Alice as they were but it did help me to see what was going to happen for us at 2pm. Jack did amazing. He never really cried. He was so tired though. I have a feeling our experience will be different. The reunion ended as we all got in the elevator and the foster mom stood in the hallway. The doors to the elevator closed and that was that. The separation was that quick. I am sure a lot more tears fell once those elevator doors closed. How could you not.

We left Alice and Wade and went to the Korea Walmart. We picked up some bananas, peanut butter and some bread for a traditional Elvis sandwich! Peanut butter was $6! I should have brought some from home. We then stopped by a flower shop to pick up some flowers for the foster mom. $20 bought us this bouquet. I have some chocolates to give her as well.


We ate lunch at the apt and nervously waited for 2pm! I can't believe these are our last few hours as a family of 4! Adoption is such a different experience from child birth and this adoption is so different from Leah's! I wanted to break Leah out of the orphanage but Emma is in a loving home with people she thinks of as Mom and Dad. It is a different feeling and Milon keeps reminding me that the foster parents are not her parents and don't want to raise her. You can feel the love this women has for her foster children. The walls in her living room were covered with collages of all her foster babies and updated pictures of the children. To invest 9 months lovingly caring for a child to let it go takes a special person.

Now, I am updating the blog entry again. We have Emma!

What a heartbreaking but exciting day. We walked into SWS and the foster mom was already in the conference room. She was already sobbing. Emma was sitting there in a dress, with a headband, shoes and ruffly socks. She looked so cute and you could tell the foster mom took extra time to fix her up. She even had a headband on! We handed her the flowers and chocolate but nothing we could have given her would have taken away her pain. Her tears were pouring. Our social worker came in the room and we went through Emma's typed out schedule, asked if we had any questions, signed a piece of paper and then we were off to the elevator of separation. Emma did great though and didn't shed a tear. I really thought the foster mom was going to be fine and Emma was going to cry! Look at the picture below and you can feel her sorrow.

Here is a picture of the final elevator goodbye.

Below is a picture of us with our social worker.

More pictures from the conference room.



SWS gave us clothes, bottles, diapers, formula, and mother of pearl box, a Korean flag, baby food and her favorite toys.



We got back to the apartment and tried to put Emma to bed since it was nap time. She was more interested in playing peek a boo through the crib rails and playing with Milon's belt. She is great at imitating our clicking noises. I changed her clothes since she had 5 layers on and the 9 month pants don't fit! I guess she is in 12 months. Since she was too busy to sleep we played with her on the floor for awhile. She has a very cute personality and likes to play games with us! She even got the sippy cup of water I gave her down pat. I felt like first time parents. We tried putting her in the crib, lying with her on the bed, rocking her to get her to fall asleep. Finally, we decided to put her blanket on the floor and sit and play with her and in minutes she grabbed her blanket and put herself to sleep. Let's hope this continues! She is now sleeping like a baby on her blanket on the floor!
Of course, mommy had to put some new threads on. And the cute hair bow. Unfortunately, most of the clothes I brought aren't going to fit! We might be wearing this outfit again!

Seeing the Sights

Today we tried to cram all of the last minute touristy site seeing in. It is our last day as "childless couples" in Korea! Alice, Wade, Milon and I first took the subway to Gyeongbokgung Palace. The palace was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a prettier day. It was about 62 degrees and sunny. We saw the changing of the guards and also saw a group of tourist monks! At least that is what we liked to think they were! It was so funny to see them in their monk attire with digital camera!



We tried to go to a Korean restaurant that I read about online, however the line was down the street! So we then stumbled across this Italian restuarant which was wonderful! Amazingly it was Zagat rated. We got pasta and pizza and enjoyed out last dinner with a white linen table cloth!


We then headed to the Seoul Tower. We had to take a cable car to reach the top! The tower has a terrific view of Seoul, however with the smog it is hard to see very much. At the top they have the locks of love where tourist can bring a lock and put it on the wall. This is suppose to symbolize eternal love.


We then headed to the Korean War Museum. We were privilaged with a private tour guide! This 60ish year old man gave us a 30 minute explanation of the Korean War and America's involvement with it. He was so interesting and a terrific storyteller. I learned more in this 30 minutes about the history of the Korean war than I ever did in high school! He said that it is predicted that South Korea and North Korea will be at war in the next year or 2! It is so scary to think it could happen at any minute.


We are headed to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant because they are having a Naked Thursday special. No, it's not what you think. They have $1 tacos and cheap beer on Thursdays!