Looking Good

We had our first pediatrician visit today and everything looks real good. He is literally off the charts for length and 95% percentile for weight and head circumference. We tried to do his blood tests, but they had a hard time finding his vein in his chubby little arm. So, we'll have to go to a blood lab this week. We got a lot of our questions answered and overall the pediatrician thought he was doing great. Gabe was such a good boy the whole visit. He's very curious and was checking everything out and charmed all the nurses and waiting families in the meantime.
Sorry this is the only pic, but when a guy is active, curious and concentrating on 'cruising' he doesn't have time for a photo session, apparently.

*my work email is not working lately, so if you usually email me there...I haven't gotten it. Please email me at joanna1355@hotmail.com

Sweet Gabe

Gotta start with the pics, since that's what you came for. Things are going progressively better each day with Gabe. The first few days were pretty rough, but today got much better. We got a much calmer boy, some glorious smiles and a few giggles. It's just great to see his personality come out a bit more each day.
The jet-lag on all 3 of us has been bru-tal. I know how lousy I was feeling and I'm back in my home that I'm comfortable in, I can only imagine how much Gabe is struggling. We see the pediatrician on Monday and I'm anxious to ask her a few questions.
Thanks for all the emails, calls, text messages, gifts, blog comments, etc. I'm trying to catch up, but please know that we appreciate all the support and well wishes.

Home, Safe and Sound

You guys were getting used to the daily posts, weren't you? Sorry to have left you hanging...but it's been a pretty busy couple of days. The night in the hotel went pretty well. He cried for the first 2 hours there, but then fell asleep for 8 hours that night. The plane ride was good the first 5 hrs, but then a poopy diaper got us all out of whack. We were all tired and out of sorts and he could not stop crying. As many of my blog friends have said, a nice woman (who had the bulkhead seat) took him for the last 3 hours of the flight. It was hard to not be able to comfort him, but we were grateful someone was able to help him (and us) out. We were happy to finally make it home and were joyfully greeted by our parents at the airport.
When we first got home there were lots of tears from Gabe. This wasn't the home he was used to, and it's the 3rd new place he's been taken to in 2 days. He's had a lot to adjust to. He had a short nap yesterday and did sleep last night in various blocks of time...sometimes for 3o mins, sometimes for 4 hours. He's still grieving the loss of his foster family, that's clear. But he also reaches for us, is comforted by us and looks in our eyes.
Hopefully I can get some pictures up in the next few days. Thanks for all your support over the past week...it was so great to have all of you calming us and cheering for us back home.
We are finally home and a family...forever!

Morning Calm

In a few short hours we will finally become a family. To try to manage the anticipation, we went to the Bongeunsa Temple this morning. As we walked up you could hear the monks chanting as the people in the various temples worshiped. We slowly strolled the grounds, taking in all the beauty of the temples and the melodic chants. It was impossible to not feel a sense of peace.

Second Meeting

We had our second meeting with Gabe today and it was wonderful to see him again! He let us hold him right away, then cried for his foster mother. We got to play with him longer today and even provoked a few smiles, he seems to be feeling better too. He is VERY attached to his foster mother and would cry very hard when she left the room. We are bracing ourselves for a exceptionally hard day tomorrow and flight home. Speaking of, when we called the airline they said it's a totally full flight. We hope if we get to the airport early they can maybe make some changes for us. If not, let's hope the person in the window seat is a 60 year old Korean woman that resembles Gabe's foster mother.

Touring Seoul-Part 2

Today was another full day of sight-seeing in Seoul. Our first stop was N Seoul Tower where we took the cable car up the hill to the tower. Once there, we went up to the top of the tower and saw all the wonderful views of the sprawling city.




A fun tradition at the tower is to add your 'locks of love' to the fences around the lower observation deck. We brought three locks from home and locked our forever love for me, Dave, and Gabe on the fence.



There was also a Teddy Bear Museum at the tower, that we decided to check out. It was pretty cute, actually. It basically told the history of Korea through teddy bear scenes.


After all the fun activities at the Tower, we headed to Namsongal Hanok Village. The grounds were very nicely landscaped and it was fun to explore the traditional homes.


From there it was off to The War Memorial of Korea. The building and the grounds are stunning. Walking around the grounds there are many statues and plaques that give you a tangible sense of how many men and women lost their lives fighting for the freedom of South Korea.




We spent a lot of time at the War Memorial. I suggest all wives keep their husbands moving through the museum at a quicker pace. Next up was the toy district. Since it was Sunday and it was a national day of mourning for the former president Kim Dae-jung many places were closed or packing up to close. But, we found the Pororo the Penguin doll we were looking for!


By now it was time to head home, but we stumbled across this River Walk and had a nice stroll first.

Tomorrow we go back to the agency for their staff lunch and to spend more time with Gabe!

Touring Seoul-Part 1

Our first day touring Seoul was jam-packed. We started at Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was pretty impressive. For those that remember the lesson, you'll know that it was the king's primary residence during the Joseon dynasty. We took a free English guided tour around the grounds.



After we toured the grounds of the palace, we went to the National Folk Museum which is also on the property.

We had been at the palace and the museum for about 3 hours and we needed a hearty Korean meal...
After lunch we headed to Changdeokgung Palace, which has a 'secret garden' at the back of palace. You used to be able to explore the palace and garden freely, but too many people damaged the grounds over the years so you must take a guided tour. The English tour wasn't for an hour, so we joined the Korean tour and it was just fine.

After Changdeoukgung we headed to Insadong, which is a long shopping street with small side streets that veer off and you can explore. We bought some unique items here and some funny little items too. After awhile though you start to see a lot of the same stuff and there is a fine line between cool stuff from Korea and Korean junk. I'm excited though to review all the 'cool stuff from Korea' we picked up.

After Insadong we were beat...we had been out about 9hours and as you know I had gotten up at 5am. So we took the subway back to the hotel and just had a light dinner at the lobby bar at the hotel.
We had a wonderful day! The Korean palaces were spectacular and something I didn't know I would ever see in my life. We are really enjoying Seoul and feel like we are really getting to know the vibe of the city and how to navigate it. Though every day our thoughts are consumed with Gabe and that we'll be a family VERY soon.
Today we are heading to Seoul Tower, the Korean War Memorial, Itaewon (for the scroll guy!), and hopefully the toy district if we have time.

Hustle Doo!

We hit the Doosan Bears vs the Samsung Lions game last night. When you go to the ticket booth, you are asked which teams section would you like to sit in. Since it was a Doosan Bears home game, we are now officially Doosan Bears fans. The title of the post is the Bears battle cry, that I think Dave may incorporate into daily use. Dave bought a very cool Doosan Bears hat before the game, that has the SoKo flag on the side and a number on the back. There were a few numbers to choose from but we decided on "14," basically because that's Paul Konerko's number. As they were doing the opening lineups we paid attention to see whose number we bought. And wouldn't you know...it's Young Min Ko! Every time the players come up to bat the fans bang their 'thunder sticks' and chant the players name. So we had our sticks and cheered "Go Young Min!" with the crowd.

*I wrote this part of the post this morning at 5am and was going to include the rest of today's activities with it...but I'm just too darn tired. I'll post about today's activities when I wake up, which will be this afternoon for you guys.

Our Boy

We just got back from meeting Gabe and he is just perfect. He has a lot of energy, is a very determined little guy, very strong, and according to his foster mother, very smart. Unfortunately he had a cold today and missed his morning nap, so he was a bit tired. He let me hold him and snuggled with me right away. We played for about 45 mins with his foster mother and father. They love him very much and said they will have a hard time letting him go, but that they know we are a nice couple and have a nice family. We showed them some pictures of our family and they got a kick out of me speaking some Korean phrases to Young Min.
Ok...here's what you want to see. We actually didn't get THAT many photos. There is a fine line between enjoying the moment and taking lots of pics.




We're about to grab some lunch and then are going to a baseball game tonight. Tomorrow and Sunday we will tour Seoul, and then Monday we have our second meeting with Gabe!

We Made It!

We've checked in, had an adventurous yet delicious, dinner at an authentic Japanese restaurant and are about to hit the hay. We were fine during our 13 hour flight over here...a little movie watching, Pororo cartoon viewing, sleeping, be-bim-bop eatin', head-to-head yahtzee playin' and some thinkin' got us through.
After all the dreaming of this moment, all the stories of my friend's trips here, and all the blogs...it hit me that this is it...it's OUR life, OUR trip to Korea, OUR son, and now it's OUR reality. Pretty cool. It's not just in my dreams any more, it's real life. And tomorrow, it gets a whole lot more real. We just keep saying to each other "can you believe we meet our son tomorrow?" We simply cannot wait!!!

To tide you over until the main event, here is a picture of us at the airport and a view from our hotel room.


Until tomorrow...

Ready to Go!

Our bags are packed, some last minute things got done around the house and we're ready to fly to Seoul to meet our son!
Our first meeting will be with Gabe and his foster parents at 11am on Friday (which is 9pm on Thursday here). Any prayers, good vibes, warm thoughts, etc. you'd like to send us across the ocean at that time are appreciated.
We have Saturday and Sunday on our own. Monday we go back to the agency for a luncheon, and hopefully more Gabe time. Then on Tuesday afternoon we will meet him and his foster family again at the agency and bring him with us...forever. The three of us will spend Tuesday night together getting to know each other, then we head home on Wednesday.
Next post will be from Seoul...

Travel Call!!!

So, I spoke too soon yesterday....we got the travel call yesterday at 3:30, after 3months, 3weeks and 3days of waiting!!!
I left work early to meet with the pediatrician we plan on using when my cell phone rang on the way home. I saw it was our social worker and I coyly asked why she was calling. She said an adorable baby boy is ready to come home! I told her I thought today was 'toast' and there was no chance it would come today. We were both excited and couldn't stop giggling as we talked about what happens next.
So, I raced home to book the flights before the doctor appointment so that Lifelink could let Eastern know today when we are coming. We leave on Wednesday and come back the following Wednesday and hope to meet Gabe on Friday. We will be blogging from So Ko (my pet name for SOuth KOrea), so be sure to tune in while we are away.
I can't believe we'll be in Seoul in a week meeting our son!!!

Not Today...

No travel call today, please let it be tomorrow so I don't go nutso over the weekend.

Mad Men

We didn't get the travel call today, so how about a distraction post instead?

Ok, you all know that I love me some TV, but if I had to give up all shows but one, Mad Men is the show I cannot live without. Since in a few weeks all my regular shows will go to the wayside anyway, it's good that I made my choice now.

Season 3 premieres this Sunday, August 16 on AMC at 9pm CST. I seriously CANNOT wait and have been thinking about it for weeks. I've watched it from the first episode and I'm thrilled it's picked up so many more viewers since the first season. The writing and character development is superb, with many subtleties, and where it will take you is delightfully unpredictable. Not to mention, the fabulous style (see pic above).

If you'd like to check it out, I think you can enjoy it without seeing the first 2 seasons. However, I highly recommend renting the DVD's (or check out AMC) and having a good ole' fashioned marathon to fully appreciate the show. For all my fellow Mad Men fans out there, check out this article, and for all things Mad Men, check out Basket of Kisses .

Visa Interview aka VI!!

Gabe's Visa Interview was today at 1pm in Korea...meaning it already happened! What does this mean? Now we wait on the official travel call, but we'll probably be in Korea in about a week....
It's for reals now, people!

Gabe is 9 Months Today

So....when will he be home?
It was 16 weeks ago today that we got Gabe's referral. Lately, families have been traveling around the 21st week. We have been asked many times over the past few months, "So, could you get the call any day?" My answer before was always "No, we need a few more things to happen first (like dcfs, uscis, nvc)." My answer now is "Yes, the call could come any day." If you take a look at our timeline you'll see we're almost at the end. Not sure how much longer this last wait will take...but travel is definitely within reach!
Mommy and Daddy love you and miss you Gabe, and hope to have you home real soon!

Sometimes Things Just Go the Right Way

Here is the email from Cathy about her trip to Eastern last Saturday. It gave me chills...

I finished up my meeting today and got dropped off at my hotel around 3. I headed straight up to my room, grabbed the package, the directions to Eastern and my subway map, and off I went. The subway is pretty easy to navigate once you get the hang of it. There was a little bit of a detour with the subway exit, but I used my wits and got oriented correctly.
When I arrived at the front entrance of Eastern - I saw that behind the 2 glass doors of the entryway, there was a metal sliding door in place. They were closed? How could it be? In my head, I looked up to the sky and let out a cry of anguish "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" (The kind of scream that can be heard from space.) But, I'm no slouch. There was no way I was getting on that plane tomorrow without handing off this package for Gabe. So I figured, if there are babies inside, there HAS to be someone here who can help me.
I snooped around the side of the building and saw an open door marked "guest house" and in I went. There was sort of a lobby area, with an American couple hanging out. There was also a woman sitting at a reception area desk. I introduced myself and explained why I was there. The woman asked if I would like her to show me around, and I said yes I would like that very much. So, I had my very own personal tour. I saw the red chair!!!! And the little bed with the blue blanket!!! And, I also saw the room were you will meet Gabe for the very first time. I got all teary. At this point, I had not yet pulled the package out of my bag - I didn't want to appear rude about conducting business too soon...the typical American way. I was waiting for the right time. Anyway, I got to talking more with the woman giving me the tour, and she asked if I knew the name of the baby - I said of course, it's Park Young Min! She said "Park Young Min? Park Young Min! That's my case!! Is your cousin Joanna?" The woman was your case worker, Ms Shin! So, we a bit of a serendipity moment. She got all excited and asked about your P3...but I didn't know since I had not had a chance to check your blog since Tuesday. She took me to her office, showed me around, and pulled his file. I saw his new photo! When I looked at the photo, I said "I LOVE him!!" She said she thought you would be very happy to know that he is getting even more handsome every day. And that his foster family says he is full of energy. She said that she had sent an updated packet to you. (Did you get it?) Then, I got the bag out and pointed to everything and explained what it all was.
She explained that she does not normally work on Saturdays, but since it's summer holiday she is working the weekend. I told her how happy I was that I got to meet her personally, and how happy we are about Gabe and that we cannot wait to meet him and welcome him into the family. She was so nice, so warm and genuine, I really liked her. When we were saying goodbye, I noticed another American couple in the building. I thought - that's going to be Joanna and Dave...real soon!!!
So...that's my story. It went well. Better than expected, even. I've seen where you're going to be - how strange and exciting is that?
Love, Cathy

Congrats to Jen and Katie!

Two of my waiting buddies have finally left the P3 Lounge! Jen's husband is traveling to Seoul TODAY! And Katie will have her daughter escorted home in the next week-ish.
I cannot wait to see you holding your baby girls!

Posie is Chillin' Too

A Treat While We Wait

We got an updated picture of Gabe! Here is our little guy from his 8 month check-up:

Don't you just want to eat him up? Look at all that hair! I think he got a haircut already, too.

As of July 13, he weighed 21.67 lbs and was 28.30 inches long. He's still tracking about the 50th percentile for all his physical markers, except he's in the 75th for weight. He also has 6 teeth!
Ohhhhhh we just can't wait to get our hands on our little angel!