Off to Grandmother's house we went...

We took our first out of town trip recently to visit James' mom and stepdad (Granny and Big Pa to Henry). It was a 4+ hour car trip with a toddler and two poodles--in the middle of mating season, no less--but it went amazingly well. Henry slept a huge chunk of the trip there and was content the rest of the time. Once there, we had a great visit with Granny and Big Pa. Henry warmed up to them right away and made himself at home in their house. He spent much of his time happily taking groceries off of a shelf in their kitchen and rearranging them throughout the house. He was particularly fond of a small bottle of a canjun concoction called "Shrimp and Crab Boil." We visited and watched Henry carry on this way for hours. It's funny how having a kid can become a sole source of entertainment!

Henry and Granny bonding

Henry checking out Big Pa

Henry and the beloved, infamous Shrimp and Crab Boil

Granny successfully wooed Henry with some of her famous homemade cookies that we've been missing. It was pretty much pure love between them after that! It was so precious to watch them bond. As an adoptive mother, I was initally worried that family members wouldn't love him as much as we would. Of course, everyone is crazy about him! I love nothing more than to see how excited everyone is to spend time with him.

While there, we spent an afternoon outlet shopping and spending time with Henry's great Aunt Iris. Aunt Iris is hearing impaired and has inspired us to teach Henry sign language. He's doing really well with it!

Henry, Granny, and Aunt Iris

One of the few pictures of the 3 of us

The rest of the trip was wonderful, and it actually flew by too quickly. The only rough spot we had was on the trip home. Henry was tired and out of his element. He fussed a lot of the way home, so we stopped at a roadside picnic spot to give him a snack. He did well until he fell flat on his face on some rocks. That gave him a giant scratch/bruise on his cheek, which is actually still there 10 days later.

Fourth of July Weekend

Our little Korean-American on the 4th of July.

It's nearly been a week since Henry joined our family, but the time has really flown by! He's such a true blessing to us. We are falling more and more in love with him each day. He's still not sleeping well, but I think we are getting accustomed to a certain level of constant exhaustion. We have switched him from our bed to the Pack and Play in our bedroom. We all seem to sleep a little better that way. Eventually we will work up to him sleeping in his beautiful new crib, but we aren't going to push it for now.

Henry passed out from exhaustion.

Good news! He has decided that he loves taking a bath now! Yipee! The past 3 days he has played happily in the tub. Bathtime is no longer dreaded. However, this boy really hates diaper changes/putting on clothes. We have tried playing with him during it, but it just makes him crankier.

Henry in his cute little diapers and monster jammies.

On Sunday we went to visit some our family who had not met Henry yet. He got to meet his great-grandparents in the nursing home, his great-aunt Marcia and great-uncle Mike, his great-aunt Meemo, and his PawPaw. He charmed everyone with his cuteness, of course. He made a special bond with his PawPaw, eagerly sitting in his lap (he hasn't wanted to do that with anyone else) for quite a long time. It was so sweet to see that!

Henry with his Pawpaw and his favorite toy...a cell phone.




Well, this is all I have time for. I will, of course, continue to brag about my adorable baby....when I have time. :)

This is Henry with his new teether. It vibrates. Muy delicioso.

Lots of good news!!

We just got another new picture of Henry on Wednesday. We have definitely been blessed to receive so many! Even though I was excited to get this new picture ( he just so cute!!!), I was bummed that we got that instead of news about him coming home. This has been such a long, hard week. It was the last week of school for me, which is always crazy. Have any non-teachers ever stopped and thought about what 22 9 year olds are like on the last day of school? ;) Besides all of that, my mom was in the hospital all week. I won't go into all of the specifics, but she has many health issues that she has to face everyday, so prayers for her would be appreciated. She was very down about having to stay in the hospital, undergoing many procedures and still having the doctors not know what's causing some of her health problems. But when we brought in this new photo of Henry, she brightened up right away and was showing him off to all of the hospital staff who walked in the door. I know that is further proof of God's work in this adoption. Here is the picture of my 10 month old son:



Then on Friday, it was a teacher workday so that we could pack away all of our classroom materials for summer. At my district, this means packing everything up and storing it. Basically it's like packing and moving your house! Elementary teachers have lots of "things." In the midst of all of this hard work, I received a call that I have been WAITING for!! Nope, not his travel call, but it was from our agency telling us that Henry had his visa physical exam. The doctor noted that he has a "right ear deformity" on his paperwork, which means we have to sign a Class B Waiver. All that means is that we are officially aware that he has a problem with his ear. Our agency emailed us the waiver to sign. We had to get 4 copies of it notarized and then overnight FedEx it back to them Friday. Possibly on Mon or Tues the agency will send the waiver to Korea. Once there it takes "about 5 business days" for them to submit for his travel visa. Add to that the time needed for them to find an escort to bring him here, book the flight, etc....so we are likely looking at him coming home mid-to-late June. That is longer that I had been hoping for, but right now I'm feeling extremely happy to know that he's almost here. I'm looking at these next couple of weeks without him as a chance to enjoy my last moments of freedom before mommyhood! Summer is here and I can spend these upcoming days doing whatever I please. I plan to enjoy them!
Last but not least, we had a huge yard sale at my school yesterday as a fundraiser towards our adoption. Lots of staff members pitched in to help by donating items for the sale, and several people came to help set up and clean up (thank you SO much Eva, Susan, Wezie, Rachel, Yodit, Jeannie, and Dennis C.). A select few stayed ALL day with us in the HOT sun. (I love you and thanks again to Jennifer, Sherri, Kathy, and Michelle!!!!) We worked hard, got sunburned and sweaty, but it was so worth it! The yard sale brought us very close to $900! Add that to the jewelry fundraiser that we just had and we are over $1,000 raised this week! Amazing....