Very cold, clear and sunny...

This has been our forecast all week. It makes for mixed emotions when it comes to outdoor activities.  A few days ago, we decided to brave the elements and get out for a walk. Mommy, baby, and puppy all needed some fresh air and exercise! So, we bundled up and hit the road. For Kai, "bundled" meant: three layers on top (including his red "puffy" coat), two layers on bottom, wool socks, chicken shoes, a cute fuzzy blue hat, and a cozy blanket over his lap! Poor thing, he could barely move! He was not too happy about me bundling him up, then strapping him down in the stroller. But, after we got moving, he was quite happy to be in the brisk air and I could see his arms waving in excitement the whole time. As was my goal, by the time he was comfy in his stroller, not much of him was visible... see for yourself. (The hat is actually a little big, so for most of our walk, it was down almost covering his eyes, all you could see was his cute little nose!)

By the time we got home, my fingers and toes were well on their way to numb,but by-golley, my baby was warm! Even his little nose!

See how happy his walk made him??

Now today, the clouds are rolling in and the temperature is rising just a bit...perfect for...dare I say it...SNOW!! Yep, it's in our forecast for tonight! Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to post snow pictures!!

Adoption Buddies!!

Some of you might remember back in early Dec., when I mentioned about our new friends traveling to Korea to get their son, who is only about 10 days older than Kai. Well, we finally got the boys together this weekend for their first play date! It was so fun, all the kids had a blast (our friends also have an older son from China)! Grandma and Grandpa C were so nice to loan us their house for the meeting.  It was so great to share our stories, and "compare notes", and hear her little guy saying the same Korean words Kai does! 

Here are a few pictures of our time together. We hope to get these guys together often, so they can be friends as they grow up!

Checking each other out!

And off he goes!! 

(Notice Kai watching in the background, I love it!)

New friends playing together.

A Day at the Beach

Today we took Kai for his first trip to the Oregon coast! Now, some of you might be thinking...the coast??...in January?? We are very lucky here in Oregon that our coast maintains a very moderate climate all year long, making it a great get-a-way just about all the time. Just one of the wonderful things about living in the NW!! Anyway, we enjoyed a beautifully sunny day, with only a slight breeze, although it wasa bit chilly at around 50 degrees. Luckily, with the lack of wind and a coat, it was just right! We drove over, had a nice lunch, then hit the beach for some walking. Kai enjoyed a ride on my back, and we hit the jackpot on whole sand dollars! Neither of us had ever seen so many in our lives! After walking for a while, we let Kai down to explore the sand. At first he wasn't so sure about it, then he dove right in and start digging like crazy! Doing the most natural thing to do in the sand- burying your feet! All in all, it was a fun day, and a great way to spend one of our last days together before Joe goes back to work next week.

Also, last weekend, Kai took his first steps!! Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Dave were down for a visit, so they got to witness this milestone! He had about 3 times where he took 3-4 steps! We haven't seen that feat repeated yet, but he's been doing lots of 1 or 2 step jobs! We imagine before too long, he'll be running all over the place!

And now, of course, some pictures from our day at the coast!

Lunch by the River

Cozy ride!!

Daddy and Kai

What is this stuff???

Oh, so this is what you do with it!! FUN!!!

Wonders of the Bathroom

Kai is discovering all the glorious, fun things that can be found in the bathroom. As if taking a bath was not fun enough, he has also learned that there is a big bowl-like thing that has a lid that goes up and down, and if you push on a special lever it makes a big fun sound! He has also discovered the fun roll of soft paper that is so easy for him to unroll and is kept right within his reach (well...not any more!).  Our bathroom officially looks like that of a toddler. We are seconds away from installing the toilet lock, our toilet paper roll now lives on the counter, and our tub is full of bath toys- and we love it!! 

Since no child's life would be complete without the ever-embarassing "bath tub" shots, here are a few we caught the other night during bath time. 

Home 2 weeks!

It's hard to believe that Kai has been home with us for 2 weeks now! He has been such a trooper, and such a brave boy. He is doing very well adjusting to life as an American.  He is having less and less grieving episodes, but still cries for "Om-ma" when he is upset, hungry or in pain (from teething :-( ).  He has been pretty much sleeping through the night, and if he wakes it's usually just once for a bottle then back to sleep. We are seeing lots of smiles and hearing lots of giggles, and he loves playing with Willie. He's started smiling in response to seeing us and others.  He loves bath time! Our first few bathing attempts were horrible, but after just letting him play in the tub once or twice, he is now a huge fan; he gets so excited with splashing all around and kicking his feet all over. Tonight, he heard me getting his bath ready, and he came into the bathroom, ready to jump right in!! He is such a joy, and he loves to make people laugh. He is definitely learning English, and is definitely learning his American name. He is having more and longer periods of standing without support, and goes all over the place crawling. We're sure he'll be taking his first steps before too long. As you can tell, we're quite smitten with our little miracle, and I could go on all night. But, I won't bore you with all the gorey details. Let me just share this one picture. I took it a few nights ago. I was bound and determined to catch his toothy grin on camera (something we've not been able to accomplish yet), and we were in his room just playing around. Every time I said "I love you", he would get this huge smile on his face, so I grabbed the camera, thinking I could get my shot. Well, he decided he was done playing that game, when suddenly, Daddy came down the hall and walked into his room. Luckily, my camera was ready, and I got the shot I've been looking for! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

As most of you know, or can probably imagine, our Christmas celebrations this year were delayed. This was, of course, mostly due to Kai's arrival the day AFTER Christmas, and also that he had a new cousin due to be born a few days after Christmas pretty much put everything up in the air for a while. As of this past weekend, Kai has celebrated Christmas with both sides of his new family. He really enjoyed getting to spend some time with his new grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins! We were so happy that Christmas was delayed so that Kai, and his new cousin (Hayleigh Anna: born 12/30), could be there. Hope you enjoy the pictures!!

 Christmas Slideshow

Why go around it?

When you can just go through it?

A few nights ago, Kai discovered that if he wanted to get around the coffee table, he didn't have to go all the way around it, he can just go through the bottom of it!! Silly boy!

Life with Kai

Is simply wonderful! We are loving parenthood, and so in love with our sweet little guy. Well, not so little, at his first Dr. appointment yesterday he weighed in at 22 lbs 5 oz, and was 30 inches long! No wonder our bodies are aching. It is hard to believe he’s only been home one week. He has come so far so quickly. The first few days were really hard, he was grieving pretty hard, and would have intense episodes about 2-3 times a day. During a grieving episode, he cries for his Om-ma (his foster mom), screams and jerks his body around, and is inconsolable. We just have to hold him through it, until he will eventually fall asleep. We’ve seen a big change in the last few days. He’s started coming to us before he starts grieving, and asks us to pick him up. Yes, he actually asks. He can say the Korean word for “carry me”, which is “abuba”. When he says this we know he’s getting sad, and we put him in the carrier and carry him until he feels better. He is still grieving, but he is beginning to let us comfort him, and we are able to help him through it much better. We’ve also gotten a lot more smiles and giggles. And last night, we got sleep!! He slept in his crib all night long! We thought it was pretty ironic that on his loudest night home so far (with fireworks for New Year’s), he slept the best. Go figure! We’ve taken him out for a few outings, and he loves being out and seeing everything.
He and Willie became fast friends. From their first meeting, Kai has never shown any fear of him, and Willie is so gentle. In fact, one of the first smiles we got from Kai was when he met Willie! Kai has been chasing Willie around the house, and Willie has been right by Kai’s side while he’s in his high chair!
We are loving getting to know him, and are seeing his personality come out. He is such a snuggle bug, and quite the ham. We noticed while we were out with him that he’s also a big flirt. He loves music and loves to dance. He is so proud of himself while he’s cruising around the furniture.
I’ll leave with a few pictures from our first days together. Hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year!!

First walk with Daddy

Kai with his Pooh car from Grandma and Grandpa M.

Mommy's Little Snuggle Bug

Best Buds

Forever a Family!!!

Our sweet boy is finally in our arms! We had a wonderful family day, although it was a really long day for all of us. Our little trooper was in transit for over 24 hours when we finally reached PDX in the wee hours of 12/27! He endured 2 flight delays; his flight leaving Seoul was 4 hours delayed, and we were 4 hours delayed leaving SFO. He was such a good boy, took everything in stride, and *luckily* waited until we got to Grandma and Grandpa's in Portland before having his first major grieving episode. We were very thankful that we got to hang out in SFO most the day after he was placed in our arms, it was nice to have "get to know you" time before setting off on another flight. We even got to hang out with 2 of the other babies from his flight. When we finally arrived at PDX, we were greeted by all 4 grandparents, Uncle Dan, Aunt Joanna and the cousins, and Great-grandma Tee. We were surprised and grateful that they all waited and waited as our flight kept getting further delayed, until we finally arrived at nearly 1AM!

Hope you enjoy the slideshow of our family day!

Kai's Family Day 

Merry Christmas!!!

In just a few short hours, our sweet little boy will be waking up to his first Christmas morning. We, of course, wish he could be waking up in our house, but he will be in our arms in less than 48 hours. Today is a day of mixed emotions; we are so excited that our boy is so close to being home, but also our hearts are breaking for all the challenges he will be going through over the next few days. Please keep us in your holiday prayers; safe travels for all of us, continued health for Kai, and peace in his heart about the changes he's going through.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!

 We hope you have a safe and joyous holiday!!

More bonding talk

We have all been waiting a long time to hold and see our baby boy. We have already bonded with him through his photos and have grown to love him. It is hard for us to believe we are still strangers to him! While we are preparing a place for him in our home and hearts, he has not even thought of leaving where he is. He will be experiencing the loss of everything he has ever known in just a few days. A few months ago I wrote a post about bonding and attachment in adoption. Now, with Kai’s arrival approaching, I wanted to bring it to your attention again. We are thrilled that everyone is so excited to welcome our new son, however, we want to make our intentions and expectations clear from the start; we do not want there to be confusion, misunderstandings, or hurt feelings after his arrival. We have done a lot of reading about ways to make healthy attachments with adopted children, and many things we will do might seem odd or inappropriate, but we feel they are important to Kai’s adjustment with us.
As hard as it is to say, please awe at him from our arms for a while! He needs to recognize us as mom and dad before he is ready to be passed around. This is a small window of time we have to develop an appropriate bond. He will be a much happier baby if we give him time to grieve his loses and then form a forever bond. There is no set length of time for this, but we will be able to tell by his reactions whether or not he is ready to be held by others. We still invite you to touch him, hug him, kiss him, talk to him, and play with him. But, for a while, we need to be the only ones to feed, diaper, bathe, cuddle...you get the picture. He will be grieving the loss of his foster family, this usually lasts for at least a few weeks, but grieving episodes could occur for months after his arrival. Grieving episodes are intensified by over stimulation, so we need to keep his world quiet and small for his first weeks with us.
We have been so blessed by this gift. We want to make sure we are doing everything we can for Kai to feel the security his birth-mother wanted for him. We know many of you have bonded with him just as we have! So many of you have prayed daily for him and we do not underestimate the bond or love you feel for him. We hope you understand our need for this special time with our baby boy. If you have any questions, please call or email.

KAI IS COMING HOME!!!!

Some call it Boxing Day, some call it Kwanza, some call it "recovery" day, but from this year forward, we will call it FAMILY DAY!! Our precious little boy will be in our arms forever the DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS!!! We are absolutely thrilled beyond words, so relieved this journey is almost over, and so excited to start our life as a family. We will be leaving on Christmas Day, and will meet him in San Francisco early Wednesday morning! By that evening, we will all be home together. We are so thankful to all our friends and family who have been so supportive during this process; we will never be able to tell you or repay you for all your positive thoughts and prayers. We're almost there!!
RA

Conquering the Mountain

OK, so not really a "mountain", but it is a really big hill! Those of you that had the pleasure of visiting us at our previous house, the one on "the hill", know what I'm talking about. During the 3 years that we lived in that house, I became "one" with the hill. It was my biggest nemesis, and I took pleasure in conquering it on a nearly weekly basis. I overtook it mostly by foot (and a few times by bike while I was training for a duathalon), always with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment at the finish. The route is an almost 4 mile loop, half of which is straight up, the other half is straight down. This probably sounds crazy to most of you, but my running buddies can understand, that hill really helped me through some tough times; always leaving me with a clearer mind and an incredible feat achieved. After the rough time we had this week, waiting for the phone call that never came, I was left with feelings of anger, frustration and confusion. What better way to vent myself than by visiting my old friend, "the hill"? I'm not one to toot my own horn, but I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. We moved from that house almost a year and a half ago (we now live in the flat lands- not a hill in sight), and I have had only a few hill workouts since, mostly during my marathon training last winter. Since recovering from my stress-fracture, I have done 1 or 2. What I'm trying to say, is that even with very little hill experience lately, I sailed up that thing, in about the same amount of time that it took me when we lived up there, not having to stop or walk at all! Today I clocked 42 minutes, for a very hilly, 4 mile run! More importantly, I was able to vent my frustrations, and now feel able to enjoy what very easily could be our last weekend before parenthood! We're going to try to get everything for Christmas finished up, and have a few holiday events to attend. I hope to return next week with some good news for all of you!!
RA

A lesson in patience

If you're reading this, and it's the most recent post in the blog...relax, you haven't missed "it". The "it" I'm referring to is our long awaited travel call. Here we are, over a week "post VISA", and still no word about our sweet little boy. This week has absolutely been the longest week of my life! Every second just ticks by at a snail's pace as we wait, wait, wait for the phone to ring. I feel like through this whole process I've been pretty patient. Waiting over 10 months for a match, waiting over 11 weeks for immigration clearance...I am starting to lose patience! Really, in terms of what we've gone through, waiting 1-2 weeks for travel notification should not really be a big deal. But, it SOOO is! Maybe it's because we're soo close, maybe it's because everyday is closer to Christmas...I don't know, but this is all really starting to get to me! I am so ready to be done with this, and have our little guy home to start our life as a family.
At least we've been in communication with our agency, and they assure us the Korean agency is "working on it". Not really what I wanted to hear, but much better than a response like, "VISA, what VISA??". They also said that travel is not being delayed due to Kai being ill, so that's good. We just have to pray it stays that way! (They won't let him travel if he gets sick at all, even a cold)
I am starting to lose hope that he'll be home for Christmas. If we don't hear anything this week, he probably won't be.
This is definitely not easy to go through...it's been said many times on my web forum..."Adoption is not for wimps." So true.
Also- happy 10 months to Kai today! We hope you're home very, very soon!!!
RA

Life Takes---VISA!!!!

Kai's VISA was issued TODAY!! Our agency has notified us that we should know his travel plans by early next week! WOW!! What more is there to say? Our prayers are being answered and our dreams are coming true! Now we just need to pray for quick travel arrangements and safe travels for our boy and his escort! This is just so amazing...I am speechless!
RA

In progress...

At this very moment, on the other side of the world, our sweet little boy is having his exit interview!! We have been waiting for this moment all weekend (yes, it's been a long weekend)! OK, so I found out it's not really an "interview". He doesn't even have to go to the embassy. It's more like an appointment that someone from Holt Korea goes to, and takes all his paperwork to get his VISA. I really did like the visions in my head of our little Kai, all dressed in his Sunday best, going down to the embassy to get cleared to come home. But, I am happy that his foster mother does not have to take him, since that would be a lot of trouble for her. This has certainly all become a lot more "real" over the past few days; I am having the sleepless nights and knots in my stomach to prove it.
RA

Kai's Exit Interview!!

WOW!! A few short weeks ago we felt like Kai would never get home, now things are moving WAY faster than we ever imagined!!! I just got off the phone with the VISA center in Wash., DC, and was informed that Kai has his EXIT interview on 12/3!!! To say we are in a total state of shock would be an understatement!! I was not even expecting his I-171 to reach Seoul until Monday, and now that's the day he has his exit interview! So, now you're probably wondering what happens next. After his exit interview on Monday, his VISA will probably be issued within a couple days. After that, Holt Korea will start working on travel arrangements to get him home. This usually takes about a week or so. When his travel is arranged, they will call us (the highly anticipated "travel call"), and notify us as to when he'll be HOME!! Yes, I said, home!!! (Can you tell I'm in shock?) Looks like all our prayers for a Christmas Miracle are working!!
RA

Great news for a new Friend!!

If you've talked to me in the past few months, you have undoubtedly heard about my new friend "H" (keeping details out to protect their privacy). We met on the Holt web forum, and have met in person a few times. She is also a waiting mom, her son is in Korea, and is just a few days older than Kai. Our "timelines" have been nearly identical since our referrals in Aug. We live in the same state, so they were stuck in the same CIS mess that we were. They pulled out ahead of us in late October when they got their immigration approval, and have been about 2 weeks ahead of us since then. Well...today they got their TRAVEL CALL!!! YAY! I am so excited for her and her family!! Sounds like on Monday, they will be Korea bound!! We have already decided that our sons will be friends, and hopefully they'll be able to come to the airport when Kai comes home (and vice versa)! I can't wait to see her cutie pie in her arms, and can't wait to see our boys together!!
RA

More to be thankful for...

After a very fun trip to see our friends and families for the Thanksgiving holiday, we are safely back at home, with more exciting news on our adoption. First of all, yesterday we got word, from the NVC, that Kai's immigration approval has been sent to Seoul! That means that everything that needs to happen in the US, has happened! As if this wasn't enough to shoot us off to Cloud 9, when we got home today we had another wonderful surprise. A well baby report!! So, here's the latest on Kai: he's now measuring 21.6 lbs and 28.75 inches tall. He has 4 teeth, and is pulling himself up. He's also saying "Mama" and "Dada" (it didn't specify, but I'm assuming he's saying these in Korean). His report said that he was "well cared for", and a "cute, alert and active boy". It was wonderful to hear that he's doing well, but also bittersweet to see what milestones he's passed. He's going to be such a "little man" when he comes home! We don't expect to hear anything further regarding his arrival, until his I-171 reaches Seoul, which will probably take 10-14 days. At that point, they will begin filing his VISA! :-)
RA

A Day for Giving Thanks

This year we have so much to be thankful for. We are thankful for each other; and the love, friendship and companionship that we share. We are thankful for our son who is waiting in Korea to come home to us. We are thankful that we both have secure jobs, and that we have food on our table and a roof over our heads. We are thankful that we live in a free country that allows us to build our family through international adoption. We are thankful for our social worker, and all the wonderful people at Holt International who have aided us thus far in our adoption. We are thankful for all the wonderful and caring people at Holt Korea who have been tending to Kai’s needs, and preparing everything in Korea for him to travel. We are thankful for his wonderful foster mother who has loved him and cared for him like one of her own. We are so very thankful to his birth mother, that she loved him so much that she gave him the gift of life. We are thankful for our wonderful families, who have been 100% supportive of our adoption, and are waiting, with arms open and ready, to receive our new son into our family. We are thankful for all our amazing friends, who have been so supportive over the past several years; always there, lending either a shoulder to cry on, or a smile to brighten our day, whichever it is we need. Above all, we give thanks to God, who has provided all these wonders in our life.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Joe & Ruth Anne