Getting to know each other

We can't believe that Claire has been home with us now for over a week. She has changed so much in a short period of time. She is now crawling and pulling up on things. She isn't very steady yet, but she is persistent! Now that we know she prefers real food to baby food she is also much happier at meal time. Her sleep is getting better each day and she slept from 10pm till 7am last night with only one waking that required a rub on the back for a few minutes. We have noticed that she has become a bit clingy the last few days with Dave and I. She really prefers to be held over playing on the floor. I think this is just part of the bonding process and her trying to figure things out. We aren't complaining as it is nice to cuddle with her.

Jack is struggling with Claire's arrival sadly. We knew he would find it hard at times, but we didn't expect the acting out that we have seen from him. We have made special efforts to spend one on one time with him and take him to some special places. That has helped, but he still has his moments. He is really sweet with Claire, but not so much with mommy and daddy at the moment.

Dave is home from work until next Wednesday which is nice. Jack also begins preschool next Wednesday and Friday. He is going to the same place he went last year and he is getting excited. We are going to an open house "meet your teachers" day next Tuesday. I think it will be good for him to get back into a routine.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days. The first is of me trying out my new carrier with Claire riding on back. She was held this way a lot in Korea so we figured we would try it. She fell asleep with me doing house work after about five minutes!

The second photo is from our outing yesterday to a new place down the road (literally about 1/2 mile) called 'Snapperz'. It is an indoor kids play center. They have bouncy things and huge place sets to climb on. Jack had a blast!

Doing Great

Day 5 and we are doing great! Claire has settled in to a routine better than we ever expected. Each day more of her personality and abilities emerge. She is really laid back and happy most of the time and really only cries if she is hungry, wet, or can't see one of us nearby. We have started to think that she was fed a lot of table food even though her paperwork said she only had babyfood. She absolutely hates baby food but goes nuts when she sees our food. I gave her some rice from our Chinese food last night and she giggled as she ate it. Almost as if to say, "finally, you get it, I want the real food". We stopped by Dairy Queen for an ice cream last night and she went nuts over that too. Her time clock has been getting better too. She slept most of the night last night and has been happily going down for her morning and afternoon naps for the last couple of days. She is teething pretty badly and that seems to be her biggest problem at the moment. She already has eight teeth and is constantly chewing on things.



Here are a couple of picts from the last two days.

Here she is!

We made it home this afternoon and Claire is doing really well so far. She ended up sleeping around 7 hours last night at the hotel, which we were kind of suprised by. She also did really well in the car on the way home today considering she had never been in a car seat before (her foster family lived in the city and took the subway). We just got both her and Jack to sleep a little bit ago.

Yesterday was amazing. It was a very emotional day from start to finish. Having your child arrive to you in the baggage claim of a huge airport is surreal to say the least. It was amazing though how when we caught sight of her it was as if no one else was there with us. I don't even remember seeing other people around us, and Dave says the same. We were going to try to hold it together when we first saw her, but needless to say we were both a pile of tears when the escort handed her to me. She came straight to me willingly and never fussed or cried. We spent some time talking with the escort and getting photos and then we signed some documents with the agency representative that was there and then we headed back to the hotel. We spent the rest of the evening playing and watching her sleep :)

She is really laid back and happy so far. She really fights going to sleep, but seems to sleep soundly once she gives up. She also likes to eat and we haven't had any problems getting food in her. However, she is teeny tiny. I took 6-9 month clothes with us to Chicago and she is swimming in them. She is happy to be with both Dave and I, which we are pleased with. As long as she can see one of us near her she seems ok to play on the floor too.

I"ll post some pictures from yesterday and no doubt more will follow later this week.

She's home!!!

Well, today has been one of the most emotional days ever. Just quickly I wanted to let everyone know that she arrived safe and sound and on time. She is amazing and even cuter in person than in the pictures. She came to us with smiles and giggles. She is now taking a nap. We are in love and so is Jack. He ran right up to her and gave her a hug and kiss at the airport. We'll post pictures tomorrow. Good night from Chicago!

She's coming home!!!!

We got the call we have been waiting for at noon today. Claire will be arriving home to us on the evening of August 19th in Chicago. We are so relieved and thrilled beyond words. It is amazing to think this time next week we will be a family of four finally! It is also exciting that she is coming home on my sister's birthday.

Still Waiting...

Still waiting for the phone to ring to hear what plane Claire will be on. We are NOT waiting patiently at this point either. Please don't call us unless you want to hear us sound disappointed when we pick up and you are not our social worker calling with good news....just kidding :) We are really hoping to at least hear when she is coming by Thursday as Friday is a Korean holiday and we know if we don't hear by Thursday we won't hear until next week. Please send happy airplane ticket booking vibes/prayers our way as Emily is about to lose her mind!

Last step!

We finally got some good news today. Dave called the visa hotline number in DC this morning and after nearly a month of hearing bad news they told him that Claire's visa interview happened in Korea today! This is great news as it is the last step before she comes home. This also means her visa physical was fine and we don't have to sign anything after all (which would have delayed us another week or two at least). Now we just wait for our phone to ring to let us know what flight she'll be on to the US. I've been watching an online bulletin board for our agency and babies have been travelling in as little as two days after they had their visa interview up to as many as two weeks later. So, we really have no idea when we'll find out. She will almost certainly be flying into Chicago O'Hare.

We also have gotten to know another family from our agency that are in Korea now picking up their new son. They asked if there was any way they could see Claire to take some photos and video for us. They emailed us this morning before they leave Korea today to say that Claire's foster mom brought her to the office and they got to hold her and take some video for us. We can't wait for them to get home so we can see it. They said that she went to them without crying and seemed really happy and content. Hopefully her transition to us will be smooth too :)