The Count!

I know it's been terribly long since a post. My camera has been acting funky and I'm trying to work on a Gabe update. Here's a little something to tide you over...

Hola Mexico!!

Last summer I filled out an entry to win a free vacation to Mexico at Gabe's Gym class. And wouldn't you know that out of the four winners nationally that they give away trips to, we won!! This past week, we cashed in our reward and took an awesome trip to Riviera Maya (20mins outside Cancun).
The resort was geared towards families, but was not over run. Our day consisted of waking up and going right outside to our patio and saying "hola" to all the 'guys' (aka the resort employees) as they walked by.Then we'd get dressed and head to breakfast. We'd usually hit the beach in the morning. Gabe had a ball his first time seeing the ocean and playing on the sandy beach. After lunch we'd head back to the room for a nap. Our room was perfect for a napping toddler. We were on the first floor with one of the pools right outside our room. After Gabe would go down, we'd sit on the patio, and alternate taking an occasional dip, and one would take a stroll to the bar to bring back cocktails and enjoy 2 hours to ourselves on the patio. After nap time, it was usually straight to the 'wa-wa park.' There was an awesome kid's section with a splash park, baby pool and water slide. Then showers and dinner. Next day, repeat.
It was great to get away to a fabulous location, but really to spend five days together having fun as a family!

Now for WAY too many photos...

On the plane ready to go!


View from our room

Gabe on the 'hola couch'

Keeping an eye on that shifty character

Beach time







Drumming at the pool

Chillin'


Fun at the splash park

Seoul Bro Update

The question I get the most is how is the wait different this time around. In most ways it's a lot easier. I have a cute little toddler to hang out with, and we've done this before so we kind of know what to expect. The biggest difference though, is that we trust the system. We have faith that it all works out as it should. All the things in the universe that have to happen to match us with our son, is really awe inspiring, and it's best to not over think it and just 'let go.'
The first time around, I swear we had all our paperwork filled out in about a week. This time, we've taken our time since we knew we could. However, our social worker came over last week for our final home study visit and said we were #7 on the list. Wow!! That means we can probably expect a referral in early May. We were originally told July. We're very excited, but now it's time to really get ready for our son to reveal himself!

Now for the bummer part. I've mentioned this before but I need to re-iterate it...we probably won't travel to Korea until about a year later.

*For those of you looking into Korean adoption and are in IL, IA or WI our agency has a relatively short list right now, so please feel free to email me with questions, etc.

Just a Boy with a New Haircut

Gabe has great hair. He always has. From his earliest picture, to his referral photo, to today...his hair is beautiful. It's not quite black, it has lots of brown highlights that really come out in the summer. He has lots of hair, but it also has body, so it always falls just right. He knows it too, and loves to have people touch and fawn over it.
Recently, two of my friends had traumatizing haircuts for their sweet boys. I knew Gabe had a haircut coming up and I was a bit nervous. One of the friends had grown out her son's hair so that he could get a 'K-drama' cut, but sadly it did not end that way. See, most of my Seoul Sisters watch K-dramas, which are kind of like soap operas, but more like a 'light' 90210 as a mini-series. I watched one of them, but didn't get into it enough to really make it part of my life. However, I CAN appreciate the attractiveness of the male K-drama stars and their hair. So after some of my 'sisters' were commenting on much they liked Gabe's long hair, I thought...why not embrace it and try to give G a K-drama look?

We walked into the salon and Gabe gave his hairdresser this photo...


He walked out of the salon very much the toddler k-drama star he was meant to be...

Rock Star!

Gabe's favorite activity is watching one of his 3 or 4 favorite Yo Gabba bands and imitating them. Sometimes that involves a guitar and a microphone, but these days it includes a makeshift drum set out of a xylophone as the drum and some pots and pans for cymbals. He's very meticulous how he sets them all up and then he gets down to business. He literally does this all.day.long.

In this video he's watching this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziOtfj5YMRI

Things to watch for...
His closed eyes before he starts,
A cooking break,
A counting break,
Some singing,
Some wild dance moves,
And of course the drumstick twirl at the end.

Fun Facts

You may think there is nothing more to know about me, but since I've won another blog award, here is even MORE info about me, me and more me!

Here's what I'm supposed to do:
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award. (I'll do this one)
2. Share 7 things about yourself. (and this one too)
3. Award 15 awesome bloggers. (Grace pretty much nominated every single blogger I know, so I second her nomination for you all!)

1. My friend Grace gave me this one and you all know I think she's fabulous! She's funny, relate-able, a great writer, stylish, and a fantastic new mom.

2. Here's 7 fun facts about JoJo:
1) I have a crazy good memory. I never, ever forget a face. I have bumped into flight attendants and people that sat a few rows away at sporting events (see, crazy, right?) I will remember a conversation we had a few years ago. So, be careful what you say to me, cuz I will remember it :) The one thing I cannot remember is medical issues. Your mom had surgery 3 months ago? Nope, don't remember. Your coworker has some blood condition? Never heard about it. I'm not sure what my mental block is on this subject, but it can be bad since people's medical issues are a BIG deal to them. Sorry if I have or will offend you on this.

2) I collect postcards. I started this my year abroad (1994). I found the postcard people took much better pics than I could. Lots of people send me postcards from all over the world, and I love it. I find it's a good thing to collect since it's easy, cheap and fun for other people to do. My favorites are of rinky-dink towns or really far away places. But any postcard that really captures the place, is what I like. I think my collection is at about 400 and I have them displayed in a carousel in my living room.

3) You probably know this already, but I overuse 'quotes.' Not sure why, but I do and I know it's a 'slightly' annoying habit.

4) I regularly call people by their last name. That includes Dave and Gabe. Yes, I call my son by our last name. I love nicknames in general and if you're one of my peeps you probably know this.

5)During my 4 years at college, I worked at 2 different record stores. For you youngins (and you know who you are), before Target, Amazon, itunes, etc., people would buy CD's, tapes and yes even records at an actual store that only sold music. My college had a great music scene, which made it even more fun.

6)I love a winter walk. I get bundled up, breathe in the cold air, and see how everything looks stripped bare. It's peaceful and energizing.

7)I watch the credits. Yes, to me a movie is not over until the last credit rolls by. What started out as a stand in principle, has turned out to be a nice way to let a movie sink in and not wait in line to exit the theater.. I like to read the names, find out sang 'that one song,' see where it was filmed, who was the caterer, how many 'Gabes' worked on the movie etc.


Phew!! Know me better now?

Blizzard 2011 (dun, dun, dun!)

In case you didn't hear, Chicago-land had a major blizzard last night. Chicagoans aren't snow wimps, we get lots o' snow every year. But 20inches in less than 24 hours? That's one for the record books. We (and everyone else) was snowed in, so we made the most of it. We bundled up and headed to a neighbor's house. Then on the way home, all our awesome neighbors were also out shoveling, playing, sledding down their stairs, taking pics and chatting about the crazy winter wonderland all around us. We could barely drag Gabe inside, he loved it!
Here are some of the pics (while I'm still feeling giddy about the snow):












Sorry for the 2nd post in one day!

Wordless Wednesday

Loving the 'Ordinary'

Yesterday, Gabe and I had one of the best days we've ever had together. It was a day that made me love being a mom and had me thinking I'm doing an OK job. We didn't go anywhere, we didn't do anything particularly special, the whole day just went 'well.'

Gabe woke up happy at a reasonable time, had a good breakfast, and enjoyed a bath. We played under the covers as I made the bed. We put his stuffed animals to 'nigh-nigh' complete with covers and pillows, lights off, and aquariums on. I put away laundry, and we cleaned up his toys. We shoveled and played in the snow. We had a usual lunch with a small dance party in our chairs. We headed up to a nap, where he slept 2 1/2 hours and I got to catch up on email. He woke up happy and had a snack. I talked briefly to a friend and got dinner ready.

Sounds simple and even kind of boring, right? But things just flowed effortlessly. He played independently at times while I did chores and then we reconvened for fun time. There was very little whining, crying, begging, no tantrums and no time outs. But there were lots of laughs, hugs, kisses, funny faces and voices, shapes and letters quizzes, and chatting. See, for a lot of us in mom-land, particularly stay-at-home mom-land, an easy ordinary day is an accomplishment. I knew it was happening right from the beginning and I cherished every moment.

The really good news is that I even 'sorta' know why it happened. I had a lovely weekend with my Seoul Sisters. We gabbed all night, like 3am all night, we laughed, we complained, we consulted, we gossiped, we teased, and just enjoyed each other's company. I felt refreshed when I came home and I missed and appreciated my little guy so much more. And he missed me. When you spend 99.9% of your time with someone, you need a break. The weekend helped me be more patient with Gabe today and let me take a deep breath and breathe in all the good I have in my life.

Contest and Give Away Winners!

First of all you guys did a great job of coming up with fun nicknames. I was totally impressed by how much thought some of you put into it. It was not an easy decision and I hope I don't hurt any feelings. In the end, I narrowed it down to 6 of my favorites and then let Dave choose his favorite.
The winner is "Seoul Bro" submitted by, the queen of nicknames for little ones, Grace! From now on our little one to be will be known as Seoul Bro until we have a referral and name. Thanks and Congrats to Grace.

Now onto the give away part. Congratulations to mommystwomonkeys! Send me an email (joanna1355(at)hotmail.com) so we can work out what you won and where to send it.

Here are the results from Random.Org:

List Randomizer

There were 48 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. mommystwomonkeys
2. Cori
3. mommystwomonkeys
4. mommystwomonkeys
5. Robin
6. Anonymous
7. Cori
8. Vanessa
9. mommystwomonkeys
10. Kristen
11. Cori
12. Jamey
13. mommystwomonkeys
14. Emily
15. Janet
16. Beth
17. mommystwomonkeys
18. Birdie
19. Cori
20. Tim&Nicole
21. Maggie
22. Chuck
23. mommystwomonkeys
24. GraceP
25. Cori
26. Cori
27. Rachel
28. ElizabethFrick
29. Michelle
30. Patti
31. Cori
32. CCL
33. Cori
34. mommystwomonkeys
35. Linella
36. MichelleO
37. Kelly
38. Colleen
39. Celeste
40. Cori
41. ChristineK
42. Christy
43. Cori
44. mommystwomonkeys
45. Cori
46. KristaR
47. mommystwomonkeys
48. mommystwomonkeys

Timestamp: 2011-01-24 12:16:44 UTC

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