At Home

We've been home a week now.  Its been a challenging and exhausting week but a joyful one too.  Every day we learn more about our boy, and how to better communicate and care for him.

The first few days were a challenge with the jet lag and more grieving from Sam.  He would not go to sleep at night.  He pointed at the door and screamed and cried, expecting that we could just take him back to his foster family I think.  One spooky moment we had was when he was in the middle of a crying fit, he pointed directly at the picture we had of him and his foster parents in the living room.  Needless to say that picture is now hidden away.  He's constantly surprising me with how much he recognizes and understands.  He recognized a picture of Julie too, and carried it around for a while.  He misses his Gomo!

It's taken a while for him to get comfortable with his new home and new parents.  In Korea he was incredible with how well he handled the situation.  He slept fine, ate fine.  He would wake up from naps smiling and say "Hello mother and father.  I love you!"  But reality set in when we got home.  He was no longer as cheery and well adjusted as he was.  He was tired, fussy and clingy, would not take naps, would not go to bed at night.  Of course we were just as tired and cranky.  But little by little he has adjusted.  He still does not like to go to bed at night, but he is no longer grieving for his family.  He is not as tired during the day.  We have slowly given him more interaction with family and friends.  He's such a social little guy that I think it has helped him to be around others.  Being around others brings out his separation anxiety too though.  He usually cries when friends and family leave.  Of course he hates it when either of us are away.  It's natural given what he's been through.

It has been an incredible blessing being a family at home for a full week though.  We've taken strolls through the neighborhood, visited several playgrounds.  He got to visit both sets of grandparents.  He's had fun getting to know our rabbit Blanco!  We share in his joys and share in his sorrows.

Many more adventures to come!  Enjoy some of the pictures of Sam and his new home and family:

Helping in mommy's garden

wearing overalls like his great-great-grandpa Emery used to wear

Noodles are a favorite

With friends Jenna and Yuna

Yogurt is fantastic!

Go Beavers!

Sam with Grandpa Chuck

Day 6 - Coming home

An incredibly long day as we ventured home with our new son.  It started at 6am when we woke up in Korea Saturday - that's 2pm Friday Pacific time, and ended when we hit our pillows at around midnight Saturday at home.  Thats about 34 hours with only a short nap or two on the plane!  All things considered it went pretty well.  Sam slept on the plane most of the time.  The most challenging times on the plane were when meals came.  Sam wants to try everything - especially what you are eating.  And when you are all so close together and you can't just move things away from him, spills inevitably happen.  One nice thing about the flight was that the airport in Seoul and the airport in Seattle had playrooms.  So Sam could run around and tire himself in between legs of the flight.  There were some cute moments in the playroom as he likes to flirt with the girls.  He made one girl cry because he kept trying to hug her!

When we made it into Portland, Sam got to meet his grandparents for the first time.  They were very excited to meet him.  For Kristi's parents this is their first grandkid!

After finally getting home, Sam enjoyed exploring and getting to know his new home.  He especially likes his room and all his toys!  He quickly is teaching us what things need to be put up and out of site.  He was so wound up that night that it was hard getting him to go to sleep.  He also cried for his foster family again that night especially after seeing the picture of him and his foster family in the living room.

So now the Korean adventure is over.  It was a great time.  It was really more than I could have dreamed.  We are so excited to be parenting Sam and are looking forward for him to meet all of you.  We are also very thankful for all of you that have been following us on the blog and sending us encouraging words over facebook.  We even had several gifts waiting for us when we got home.  We are so spoiled!  Thank you all.

I imagine that even though Sam is with us now, I'll still update this blog periodically.  After all there is much more story to tell.  Sam hasn't even officially been adopted yet.  Yes, there are a few more hoops to jump through still.  But they will be happy ones.  We'll see how he adjusts but I also predict a big birthday bash for him when he turns 2.  You might get to see him in his hanbok for the first time.  Then there is Halloween and trick or treating for the first time, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Good times await.  Can't wait!