Sunday, July 31, 2011

First Days Home

We are so in love with Beau! He is the perfect addition to our family!! Here is a little update about the first few days home!

General Update:
-He likes to sleep on his back with his arms and legs stretched out far.
-He does not like any type of blanket or cover on him. He will kick it off if you try to cover him up.
-He does not like the bath yet. He screams and holds his body really stiff.
-His cries kind of sound like a mix between a cough and a sneeze. We have heard him cough and sneeze, but his cries sound similar.
-He can scream loudly. When he is upset he arches his back and hold his body straight. He is very strong.
-Most of the clothes we have are a little too big. We have a lot of 12-18 month stuff. His 12 month clothes fit, but are a little big. I know he will grow into everything soon! He is so cute and petite.
-He is not eating much. His reports that we received the day before he came home said that he was drinking 5 ounces of formula every 3 hours. He is also accustomed to 1 or 2 night feedings. At this point, he has not eaten hardly any table food. Luckily, he is now drinking his Korean formula.
-He really likes his pacifier. We didn't realize he would have one, because we never received pictures of him with it, but it is obvious that he really likes it.
-His hair is super soft and pretty.
-He scratches his face when he is tired. He came home with several scratches on his face. We received a lot of pictures from his foster mom and she has his hands covered with socks in some of the pictures, so I guess he has always scratched his face when he is sleepy.

Thursday:
Beau arrived home Thursday afternoon shortly after 4:00. He cried when his escort handed him to me and she told us that he had a fever. Raleigh and I took several laps around the atrium of the airport and that really helped him calm down. He did not fuss in the car seat on the way home. He ate one goldfish in the car and drank a little water from a bottle. In his blue bag from Holt, there was a bag of Korean potato sticks. This has become his comfort item for now. He likes to have a potato stick in his hand at all times. Beau liked to be right next to my chest the first night home. He didn't really eat much of anything. We offered him lots of things, but he was not interested. He went to sleep about 10:30 and slept until about 9:00 the next morning. He did wake up once around 2:30am and drank a bottle of water. I slept with him on a mattress on the nursery floor.

Friday:
Beau slept most of the day Friday. He slept on the couch on top of a quilt. He likes to sleep on his back with his arms and legs spread out. He woke up a few times throughout the day and would just stay on my chest. He would never lift his head or sit up. He ate a few bites of rice cereal with applesauce for breakfast. He ate about 6 potato sticks for lunch and a few bites of rice with soy sauce and sesame oil and a few pieces of seaweed. He liked the seaweed the most of all and stuffed several pieces in his mouth. Friday night we decided to sleep in our room. Beau slept between us. He slept really well from about 11:00 to 9:00 the next morning. He woke up once and had a bottle.

Saturday:
Beau had a bite or two of applesauce for breakfast and a bite or two of banana baby food. Saturday Beau finally started drinking formula. We are using the formula that came home with him in his blue bag. So far, this is the only formula he will drink. We also tried similac and whole milk, but he would not take either of those. Beau stayed stayed in my lap with his head pressed against my chest most of the day. We did get out of the house Saturday morning to drop of some food at a wedding shower. I was a hostess at the shower, but just took the food I prepared and left. Beau hated getting into the car seat, but once the car was moving, he seemed to really enjoy it. He was very content.

Saturday night, Beau really opened up. He held his head up for the first time. Yay!!! He also smiled when we played with the Busy Ball Popper by Playskool. He still sat right next to be with his body pressed against mine, but we were soo happy to see him hold his head up.

Sunday:
Beau ate about 7 dry cheerios and about 10 pieces of kix cereal for breakfast. We were told that he likes all types of fruit and cheese, but so far he will not eat any of these things for us. An hour or two after waking up, he had a bottle of formula. Then...Beau really came out of his shell! For the first time, he engaged in play and interacted with me and Raleigh. He also sat unassisted, crawled, and climbed up 2 steps!!!! He fell asleep at 2:00 for a nap. More to come.....
Friday morning: Waking up for the first time at home
Friday morning: First bath

Friday afternoon: Taking a nap on the couch (you can see his rib cage if you look carefully- his belly is really tiny)
Saturday morning: Hanging out with his potato stick
Saturday night: Our first smile
Saturday night: Starting to engage with his surroundings
Saturday morning: Watching dad blow bubbles

Sunday: Starting to crawl
Sunday: Exploring the stairs
Sunday: Sitting unassisted



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Friday, July 29, 2011

He Is Home!!!

I will post all about his homecoming day later, but for now...here are a few pictures! These were taken by my brother-in-law Brandon and my sister-in-law Stacey of Simple Color. Beau is just perfect and we are so thankful that the Lord has given him to us.








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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Today is the Day!!!!!!!!

Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary,
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power,
praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Psalm 150:1-2





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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Happy 13 Month Birthday to Beau!

Today Beau is 13 months old. I cannot believe that we will meet him for the first time on Thursday!!! Only 2 more days until we see our sweet boy!

I hope Beau is enjoying his last days in Korea with his foster mom. I hope she is not too sad and I hope she knows that we will love him forever. Raleigh and I pray every day that the Lord will prepare Beau's heart for all of the changes that are about to occur.

We love you Beau! See you on Thursday!!!! :)
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Friday, July 22, 2011

TRAVEL CALL

Raleigh and I decided to go to the beach for a couple of days earlier this week to get our minds off of the wait for our travel call. We were hoping to hear something Monday. No news. We were hoping to hear something Tuesday. No news. Wednesday I texted my friend Karen and told her that if we didn't hear anything, I was going to email our social worker since it had been one week since his Visa Interview. After getting down to the beach Wednesday morning, I took a little walk by myself and pleaded with the Lord to please bring our travel call that day. I really didn't think I could take another day of not knowing when Beau would be home.

When I got back to our beach chairs, I noticed that I had 2 missed calls. One from Bethany (our adoption agency) and one from Raleigh. I called Raleigh first and asked him if he had talked to Bethany. He said that he hadn't and told me I should call them. (Even though Raleigh came to the beach, he had to stay inside the condo and work.) I listened to the voicemail that our social worker had left and it just said to call her. So, I called our agency and asked to speak with our social worker. She picked up and also the director of the agency was on the phone too. They asked if I knew why they were calling, and I said, "I hope so."

They said that Beau was coming home!!!!!!! Beau is arriving home Thursday, July 28th at 3:44 in the afternoon. He is being escorted to the Atlanta airport. We are overwhelmed with joy. There really are no words to describe how we are feeling right now. I cannot wait to see my baby boy for the first time! I have studied the pictures we have of him. I wonder if he will look the same as he does in his last picture that we received in May? We know he weighs about 18 pounds. How will that feel in my arms? Has he had a haircut since his last picture or will it look the same? What will he be wearing? Will he be scared? Will he be awake or asleep?

Oh, the joy of seeing Beau for the first time!

~We applied to work with our agency's Korea program on October 4, 2008.
~We were placed on a waiting list.
~In February of 2009, we made our agency's annual "quota" and were allowed to begin working on our home study.
~We were HSTK July 30, 2009.
~After 18+ months of waiting for a referral, we saw our son's sweet face on February 4th, 2011 on a waiting child email from our agency.
~We officially became his parents on February 18, 2011.
~And now Beau will be coming home on Thursday, July 28th!!!!!!

The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes. Psalm 118:23
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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Beau's Visa Interview was today!

Our social worker called and Beau had his Visa Interview (VI) today! This is the very last step that has to take place in Korea!

Beau will be home really soon! I will keep you posted once we have more details!
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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Beau's Nursery

We have finished Beau's nursery for the most part, so I thought you might like to take a tour of his room! Enjoy!
As you walk into the room, you see the upholstered glider. The color is oatmeal.

Above the chair, we have a framed name scroll from Korea. Some friends of ours visited Korea in March and graciously offered to pick this up for us. We are so thankful to have Si-won's name written in hangul on a traditional name scroll. I had it framed at JoAnne's Fabric store.
On the right of the window, we have two frames from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child. I love them and think they look great in the room.
The lighting isn't great on this picture. The curtains are a thick linen in the color of burlap. They are from the Restoration Hardware outlet store.
This is Beau's book nook! I have put mostly board books in the shelf for now, but he has a lot more! My plan is to change the books out every so often. I also love seasonal children's books, so it will be fun to put out the Fall books in a couple of months.
Beau's crib is a dark expresso color. It will convert into a toddler bed and eventually a full bed.
The bedding we chose is from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child. The fitted sheet is so soft. The background is white and it has light tan and dark tan polka dots. The bumper is a soft jersey cotton.
This is a toy bin I found at the Pottery Barn Outlet. I think the color of the basket works well in the room and it is very useful. It will make clean-up super easy!
The lighting is not great in the picture because the sun was coming through the windows. On top of the dresser I have 3 burlap bags. One bag is holding diapers, one bag has wipes, and one has baby lotion and diaper cream. The other side of the dresser has a little clock that plays lullabies. I am still looking for a lamp for the dresser. When I find one, I may put it where the clock is, and find a different spot for the clock.
Again, the glare makes it hard to see, but these are framed letters that spell Beau. My cousin Erica made them and they are such a special part of the nursery. The shelf they are on is directly above the dresser.
This is a view of the room as you enter from the hallway. There is an additional box of books in this picture that I may leave out or I may keep in the closet until we need more books.

Hurry home Beau!!


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Friday, July 8, 2011

God is in the Details of our Lives

For the last month or two, I have been looking for a great monogramming/embroidery store near my house. We live in a suburb of Atlanta, so you would think there would be tons of choices. Surprisingly, I found very few options. The best option I found was an embroidery kiosk in the mall which was not exactly what I had in mind.

Well....over the last 48 hours, a new embroidery shop opened up less than 2 miles from my house. Yay! I popped in yesterday and it looks like it may be my new favorite place for hostess gifts, baby gifts, graduation gifts, etc. They have a little bit of everything. If you don't see exactly what you are looking for, they also allow you to bring in your own items. I have always wanted to have our Christmas stockings monogrammed, so I think this might be the year!

God is so good to show up in the details of our lives. What a happy surprise to have this new embroidery shop so close to home! I ordered Beau a monogrammed bib while I was there and it should be ready Monday or Tuesday.
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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Got plans for 2018?

South Korea won the bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics! Korea beat out France and Germany for this honor. According to Wikipedia, the Olympic games of 2018 are scheduled to take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea between February 9 and 24th.

When I heard this news today, I was thinking how great it would be to attend the games with Beau. He will be 8 years old in the winter of 2018, so I think it would be a great age for him to attend the Olympics.

Do you have plans for 2018?


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