 | |  | |  | |  |
Just a quick good morning/good night to everyone! We'll post later after we meet Ellie, we can't
believe it's actually going to happen today!
Kevin barely slept - his back is in BAD shape. In between Kevin's nocturnal wandering which included
turning on/off every light in the room, I slept pretty well. I must have been really tired because I
thought the bed was super comfy, the down comforter was the perfect weight, the pillows had just
the right amount of fluff, the room had just the right amount of a/c...nothing like a 14 hour plane ride
to set everything in perspective. I'm watching it turn from night to day as I type and it looks like
it's going to be gray and rainy, but we'll see.
Nona sent a little update and a few pictures of Sammy's day yesterday (which was really Saturday,
geez, this is going to get confusing) so I am going to post them there, that way Sammy's time while
we are away can be documented too.
Kevin's ready to head to the breakfast buffet - raise your hand if you're surprised to hear that this
is the first thing he wants to do! Then we have all the gifts to wrap for Ellie's foster family, the
Social Worker, the Director and the office staff. Then we finally can get ready and go - we'll get to
the agency around 2:00 and then go to the her foster family's home from there.
We'll post again tonight when we get back! Hopefully by then we will have heard back from the
website peeps and have the picture posting issue resolved!
WE MET HER AND SHE'S PERFECT!!!
Sighhhhh. Hi Ellie. 2 days into this trip and I have to comment on how amazingly calm this trip has
been so far for us. My first thought is I am so calm because of the mega doses of Vicodin &
Ibuprofen I am desperately taking to mask the pain of my herniated disc (another story, another
time). But wait a minute; that would explain my calmness but Lauren is also suspiciously calm this time
around. Could it be? Naw, of course not! But what if?…what if she has been sneaking some of my pain
killers? Methinks I’ll count them and perhaps even hide them just to make sure she isn‘t stealing
from me. By the way, what are the side effects of Vicodin? I know constipation is, but what about
paranoia? Yes, I had to go there. Welcome to the family Ellie.
So anyway….assuming the pain killers are not the root of our calmness, what could it be? The monsoon
like rain we’ve had thus far? The hazy fog of consciousness that consumes every fiber of your being
when you suddenly thrust your body 13 hours ahead where day is night and night is day (deja vu )? Or
maybe the fact that we oddly feel like old pros at this; Incheon airport - been there. Korean style
bar-b-que? Love it. Hotels at the top of very steep hills? Walked it. The lobby of the Social
Welfare Society where we wait for our driver to take us to meet you for the first time? “Done
that”. But, that is where the “calmness” ended. Something tells me that if we did that 100 times,
we would be nervous EVERY time.
Okay - side bar. Lauren is flipping through channels and stumbled across a sumo wrestling match. The
first thought that came to my head is that guy looks like Sammy only taller. Sorry Sammy, but that
guys butt looks just like yours - I swear.
Okay, where was I? The lobby of the Social Welfare Society. Yeah, we were both nervous. Not
sure why. It isn’t like you are going to interview us as potential parents. This is where my head
imagines an 8 month old baby wearing glasses and you are holding a pencil as you ask us questions like
“so, Kevin; would you consider yourself the good cop or the bad cop in this relationship?” LOL - that
image makes me laugh. Yeah, I know, it probably is the Vicodin.
So, the question at hand is why are we so nervous? Probably because we don’t know you yet. What if
you don’t like us? We assume you’ve bonded with your foster family and now we are going to take you
from her - that isn‘t very nice at all! When do you like to eat? What do you like to eat? How much do
we feed you? Do you need a #2 or #3 bottle nipple? Are those even the right sizes? Why am I just
now learning that bottle nipples come in different sizes? What size diaper do you wear? Where is the
off button? And the question that plagues me most is “what am I going to do with a little girl“? and
all that pink and princessy stuff? And you can’t even speak yet, sow how am I going to make it
through this transition?
And, that is why I think we are so nervous. This transition is the big unknown and it is the unknown
that makes us nervous. This is where we have to figure it out as we go and all we can do is hope we
make the right decisions. I think we’ve been fairly successful with Sammy thus far. Right Sammy?
I said, RIGHT SAMMY????
Unknown or not, life has a way of moving forward whether you are ready or not and the next thing we
knew, they said let’s go and we were off to meet you for the first time.
I couldn’t believe how cute you were when I first saw you. Yes, you looked just like your pictures,
but it is completely different meeting you in person for the first time. I can’t explain it. Trust me, I’
ve tried several times now, but just can’t find the words.
At first, I think Lauren and I were apprehensive. While part of me wanted to grab you and give you
the biggest hug, another part of me was concerned about scaring you but also I felt like you were
still the foster mother’s baby and somehow, not ours yet. So there is this weird, almost awkward
little song and dance where we ask questions via the interpreter, the foster mother answers them
and shares with us what you like, what you don’t like, and what you are doing now developmentally.
You also acted a little shy. Your foster mother told us you are like this with all new people and that
you are a “very clever and serious - not a giggle baby“. But you are very persistent. You were very
interested in the food (fruit, sushi, crackers) that the foster had set on the table. I caught you the
first time you crawled toward the table before you could grab anything and I‘ll bet you tried at least
a dozen more times after that.
So quickly, some of the details that the foster mother shared with us:
- You are sitting up by yourself
- You rolled over both ways at 5 months.
- You started crawling at 6.5 months
- You pulled yourself to a standing position at 7 months
- You recognize your name and some words such as “o-boo-ba = carry on back , “oo-you = bottle“,
“Oma = mom…the doctors apparently have told them that you have fast development for your
age. - You are a good eater. You get a bottle every three hours and have started very small portions
of solid food - specifically rice porridge, apples, grapes and peaches. - You are a good sleeper all night except one wake up for a bottle and 2 naps, one in the morning
and one in the afternoon. But that is what they told us about Sammy, but we all know how that
worked out or should I say didn‘t work out! - You love splashing in the bath, the longer the better.
- You don’t like the stroller or walker
- You do like to have your hair put up into a pony tail (oh no, am I going to have to learn how to
make a pony tail?) - Your foster mother said you are a princess, particularly in relation to how you seem to enjoy
being clean and the neighborhood thinks you are very pretty. - You have a bowel movement every day usually in the morning. Yeah, that little gem may haunt
you for as long as I’m alive. - And last but not least, as we were on our way out, your foster mother put you on her back into
a podeggi (sp?) and you burst into this little baby belly laugh. So, buying a podeggi for Lauren to
wear is now our #1 shopping priority because you seem to love it so much.
They asked us when we wanted to pick you up…ummm, now? They offered Wed or TH and then
quickly talked us out of Wed citing the swine flu epidemic as an issue (many people here wear face
masks). So we ‘agreed’ to pick you up on Thursday at 1:00. Then our flight is on Friday at 11:30.
After 15 hours in the air and hopefully as little time as possible going through customs and
immigration, then we get to introduce you to Sammy and Nona for the first time. We can’t wait to
see you on Thursday Ellie!
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
I was awakened this morning to hear Sammy playing in the hallway with Roxy and the gang. It was 8:15am. He told me
later he had come into the bedroom and I was asleep, so what's a boy to do? Guess he has already figured me out, now if
I could just get him to bring me my coffee in the morning. Tomorrow I am setting my alarm for 7:45am but with my luck
he will probably be up at 6.
The boy has style...he picked out his outfit for the day...including socks worn pulled tall with sneakers. Not sure what his
mama thinks about this fashion statement...not asking either.
He checked out pictures of Ellie with his Mom and Dad and although he thought Ellie looked "OK" he really, really wanted
to know who all the presents were for. I of course wanted to spend some extra time just staring at the pictures of
Ellie but Sammy had other ideas, he had serious work to do on the computer this afternoon.
After dinner, bath and stories he was off to sleepy land with only one extra potty request. Score a 2nd win for Nona.
I know it won't last......... A Nona can dream can't she?
PS Kevin what are fluffy eggs? I tried eggs two ways this morning no luck, he still ate them though!
PICTURES COMING SOON -
|
|
