Zoey pictures of the day!

12 month clothes are still a little big, but I'm getting there! Zoey is so petite!

Our families' one week anniversary!

I can hardly believe after such a long wait that we have already hit our one week mark since becoming a family of four! I can tell you I am glad I am a week away from that immigration line!

What can I say? We are truly blessed in every way. But our two children are by far the greatest gift we could ever be given. They are pure joy to be around and we love them both so much! It all just feels so right like Zoey has been here all along with us. I will admit, after our first meeting last Monday, I was definetly stressed. I thought of a million reasons why this could be a bad idea! I ached for her as she could not understand what was going on and my eyes still fill with tears each and every time I think of her foster mother who has now been without her for a week. But the bond I saw between them can only assure me how well cared for and loved she was. We hope that she is slowly realizing that we love her just as much.

Today, we hit a HUGE milestone! As I mentioned before, baths have been a dreaded event around here and we resorted to bathing her evry other day to lessen the trauma! She screams the entire time as if we're torturing her and stops the minute her body is out of the water! So after some thought and at the suggestion of a an awesome mommy from the Holt BB (thanks Suzy!), we decided to give the kitchen sink a try. That's right! We stood her up in the water first and she didn't make a peep! So we gradually lowered her in and wa-la! She took over a five minute bath and actually laughed! We weren't sure how to rinse all that pretty hair, so Daddy laid the towel down on by the sink and we layed her down and held her head over the sink while I sprayed it down with the faucet hose. She leaned back, closed her eyes and enjoyed it! I absolutely cannot believe it still and hope this trend keeps up! I've included some pictures of the memorable event below.

We continue to do well as we take it day by day. We feel that Zoey has taken some good steps toward recognizing us as her parents and is ALWAYS interested in whatever Brother is doing! She laughs out loud, smiles constantly and even dances a bit! To all the family so patiently waiting to meet and hold her, we promise the wait will be worth it!

I'm still working on getting our airport pictures and video uploaded, so as soon as I get it, I'll post it!



Braedan has preferred to stay indoors to play as the temperature outside climbs to 100 degrees in the afternoon!

And there's no reason why Daddy has to miss out on any of the fun playing Better Batter!

Just to show off another cute outfit and bow! And of course, the model!

I love Gerber cheese puffs!

Hangin' out in my cloth diapers...aren't they cute?!?!

A fun morning playing with my family! Brother makes the silliest faces!

I love bath time in the sink! Please ignore the mess that is our kitchen...we just had a baby! :) I even sat down in the sink and enjoyed it!

I love being finished with bath time even better!

Zoey slept from 10pm till 7am in her crib and did not make a peep! She is napping peacefully now in her crib and continues to do better every day with sleeping independently! She does not cry much and is happy to now play on the floor, as long as someone is very close by! She loves to pull her brother's hair and tease him by pulling out his pacifier when she gets the chance. She is doing better about her carseat and learning to appreciate her diaper changes, rather than screaming through it! Which she saves for the much dreaded bath time. She HATES the water and we have resorted to bathing her every other day in an effort to not traumatize her! How she will ever enjoy Papa's pool, we're just not sure! Cloth diapering is going well, though they make her tiny hiny a bit bulky! She eats everything we give her and has transitioned well to American formula as we ran out of the Korean formula yesterday. She smiles every time she makes eye contact with us and giggles out loud!

Brother is still adjusting and we're finding that long afternoon naps are making it a little easier on him! He's going stir crazy and we were able to get him out to his favorite store today, Toys R Us, for a little fun. Fortunately, the local school district has given us the all clear on the Swine Flu, and preschool starts back tomorrow, which will be a much needed outing for him. Overall, he continues to do well and loves his new baby sister.

Here's the latest pics! Some are a bit blurry as we can't get Zoey to sit still long enought to snap a picture sometimes! She loves cameras and will try to grab for it everytime it's out if we don't hurry!

Update!

Yesterday turned out to be a busy day so I didn't get a chance to post anything! Daddy has finals this week at school and has been a little busy! So I was left to man the post by myself! I did have help from Nana though and things went smoother than I had expected! Zoey continues to sleep longer increments throughout the night in her crib and is soothed back to sleep more easily as well. We're pushing for naps in her crib and so far, it's not been too bad! Brother is still adjusting, but overall doing great. Zoey continues to reach milestones every day and will go to both of us without problem. We made it to the local Korean market today and found all the snacks she was accustomed to in Korea. She was excited to see some things she recognized! Overall, things are going good as we all continue to adjust. Zoey is a happy baby who likes to be held and loves playing with her brother. It is a big difference from the baby I met just one week ago and we hope that she is learning who we are. We realize we may still be in the "honeymoon" phase, but are hopeful that she will continue to do well. We are just so in love with her and are so happy to have two beautiful children!

Pictures of the day!

Mommy's first attempt at a ponytail! The best I could do considering she won't stay still for longer than about a half a second!

Bobo Twins! Getting brother up from his nap!

Everyone loves a brown eyed girl...

Say cheese!

Braedan's attempt to make his funny face! He just looks like he's a bit constipated!

You talkin' to me?

I love my new exersaucer! First time sitting in it!

My beautiful kids! Again, Braedan attempting a funny face - we need to work on that one!

Today's Pics of our baby girl and brother!

Could I be any cuter?

First sit in my highchair! So thankful she was sitting in one in Korea already!

Getting ready for bed...Taken Friday night

When is she going to wake up and play with me? Taken Friday

We're FINALLY home!

Just a quick update to let you all know we're home safe and sound and trust me, I could not be happier to be done with that trip home! It was nothing short of a nightmare and the plane ride seemed to drag on forever! I was fortunate enough to catch an earlier flight home to SA after standing in line for nearly 2 1/2 hours at customs then immigration, with four carry-ons and a hungry baby! Seon-Mi did amazingly well and I cannot complain about how great she held up. She's definetly a trooper! The plane ride home brought her first smile and laugh for me and I was overjoyed! On Wednesday, after a very tearful goodbye with her wonderful foster mother, Seon-Mi and I spent the night at the Holt guesthouse and while she grieved some, she played with me but would not let me put her down! She finally fell asleep at around 8:30 pm and slept through the night! She awoke at 5:30am and took a bottle, then layed down again as I finished packing and got ready to head out to the van where I was greeted by Maryann and Aaron and Rai. He too had done well the night before and we were all ready to get home! There was another baby who was picked up by his daddy and headed to Dallas and we all ended up in different parts of the plane. The flight was fairly full, but people were friendly and didn't mind the crying - or just didn't say anything! I was exhausted from not sleeping at all on the plane and ready to get home! I arrived in SA at about 1:30pm to waiting family and Seon-Mi took to her daddy right away! She has split her time between the two of us very well, and daddy took over last night for any feedings or wake ups so I could finally catch up on some much needed sleep. We are so happy to see her easily transition from back and forth from daddy and I. After having some family over a quick birthday party for brother, it was finally just the four of us and she opened up quite a bit! She and her brother interacted well and she even sat down and played with him for a while. Her schedule is totally off - her and I took a nap from about noon to 2pm and then daddy went up after me and they have been asleep ever since. Not too worried about changing any of that right now. Words cannot express how happy we are to finally be a family of four!

I'll post pics from the airport and coming home as soon as I have them...we had some family take those pictures on their camera. I'll try and post a pic or two every day or so just to tide everyone over! Thank you all so much for following our journey and being a part of this with us!

And to Maryann and Aaron...I cannot say enough great things about this couple, but just wanted to publicly thank them for all they did for me while in Korea! A big congratulations for getting Rai home and praying for them to have a smooth transition too! You guys are great and thank you so much, I could have never had the trip I did without you!

Gotta go, baby is awake! Here's some pics!

As we were walking back to the guesthouse, she fell asleep in the carrier and stayed asleep when I layed her on the bed. I couldn't believe I finally had her!

Just like the rest of us, Seon-Mi doesn't think brother needs his bobo either! (Pacifier)

Achoo! She loves it when someone sneezes, fake or not!

Since we moved her crib into our bedroom as her foster parent's did, we have a little more room to play on the floor of her bedroom. This was the first night home.

This morning we went outside to enjoy the breeze! LOVE her hair! Have no clue what to do with it as she won't sit still long enough for me to fix it!