Today's the day

I cannot believe we will meet our baby in a few hours! His plane just made it from S Korea and landed at the San Francisco International Airport where he and his escort are likely going through customs at this very moment. Then they will fly to Denver and finally be on their way here! It still seems very surreal to me. James and I have spent the last few days relaxing, shopping for last minute things we need, and imagining what it will be like! Ironically, this morning we discovered that we had an email from Holt, and it was his June "well-baby" report. It's so funny to receive one now because during our 4 month wait, those reports were our lifeline to him, and now we are finally going to meet him!

Here are some updates from the report:
He weighs 23.1 lbs (75th percentile!)
He is 29.5 in tall (25th percentile, so he's on the short, chubby side!)
He has 6 teeth (3 on top and 3 on the bottom)
He pulls to standing position, stands alone, and walks holding on to furniture.
He has good fine motor skills.
He waves bye-bye and plays peek-a-boo.
He prefers his foster mother.
He babbles.
He was assessed to be right on target at an 11 month developmental age.

We cannot wait to meet him and discover everything about him. More to come later!

Our chunky monkey by Mary

On Friday we were suprised with these updated photos of Henry. We knew from his Well Baby checkup reports that he was getting chubby. We were amused to see just what a little chunky monkey he really is! Our latest report, which was when he was 6 1/2 months old in February states that he is 20 lbs, and that his nutrition is "good." It will be interesting to see what his March report will show.

Also, we expected that he would have more hair--he seems to have even less than before. When my mom saw his new pictures for the first time, she squealed with delight and said he looks like Buddha.

We love that he seems so happy. He has personality for sure. Just look at those pictures where he is kicked back on the crib--adorable. I have to admit it was a little strange to see his new pictures at first. I had been staring at his first two pictures for so long (ever since early January) that those images of him were all I could imagine. It was slightly difficult to transition to the idea that this is him now. Some adoptive parents never do receive updated photos, so the first time they see their baby in person is probably quite a shock. We are blessed that we have gotten these pictures.

On a funny note, a couple of weeks ago when we went nuts and shopped for Henry at the outlets in San Marcos, we (and the grandmas) had purchased quite a few baby clothes for him despite warnings about "you don't know how big he will be."

Well, very few of those clothes are going to fit our little chunk. We had purchased 12 month clothes for the summer when he first comes home and 18 months for the fall/winter. Yesterday we went to several stores to swap out sizes for what we could. Now we are getting 18 months for the summer and 24 months for the fall/winter. If Henry continues to get "fluffier" then none of the new things will fit either. James and I laughed about imagining going back to the stores again and again to size up.

Baby FEVER!

Last weekend we went to San Antonio to visit James' mom and stepdad. My mom went along too and visited with her dear friend Betty. While we were there, we went to several fabric stores to pick out material for Henry's crib. James' mom Anne bought all of the fabric and is going to sew all of his crib bedding! We are so excited about having fun, custom baby bedding. It's definitely not going to be traditional baby! It's hard to tell in the picture, but the brown and the stripes are corduroy fabric. I know it's going to be super-cute. I'll let exactly what it will look like be a surprise for now.

**I also need to give credit to Brandy Webb, the lovely and talented wife of James' cousin Kevin. She went with us to help us put together the bedding. She creates gorgeous handmade baby/children's items. Check out her website: http://www.simply-adorable.com/.

Also on our trip we spent an afternoon at the awesome San Marcus outlets. James' mom and my mom both went with us as we shopped for baby gear and clothes at stores like Pottery Barn, Gymboree, Carter's, and Baby Gap. We found a lot of great deals on some extremely cute things. It was sweet to see both grandmas getting so excited about Henry. He is going to be one spoiled little guy for sure!

James and I are experiencing some major baby fever. We try not to, but Henry is almost all we think and talk about lately. We are both obsessed with finding the perfect things (on sale, of course!) for him. One of our prized findings lately was a Maclaren stroller at TJ Maxx. We are also trying to find a crib for him, but cannot decide on one. We want it to be affordable, but yet good quality and attractive. I am not exaggerating when I say that we've been to Babies R Us 20 times in the last 2 weeks! My friend Jennifer pointed out that we seem to be nesting, ha ha.

Finally, I want to say that we got a new "well-baby" checkup on Henry from February. He was 6 1/2 months old at the time and was assessed to be developmentally on target. He is starting to crawl and is teething. He is still not too steady at sitting up. I hope that he doesn't start walking before we bring him home. Also, I hope that the March "well-baby" report will include an updated photo.