Amelia in action

Here are a few random snap shots from our day. Considering how laid back our days have recently been, I think we packed quite a bit in! I took Graham to school, Amelia got to make her first trip to the hardware store with her Daddy, and we all spent some time at the park enjoying our beautiful spring weather. And, we did all this completely sleep deprived. Not too bad if you ask me!

Amelia has now successfully napped 4 times in a row in her crib!!! WOO HOO!!! We're not even close to expecting her to make it through the night, but we're going to try having her sleep in her crib tonight....wish us all luck!

Amelia was giving orders to her baby. Really, she was deep in conversation here and the babbling went on for quite a while!

This is a random video clip of Amelia playing with her Daddy. She's been stripped of her cute outfit at this point thanks to her REALLY enjoying her dinner!

Making Progress

We're making progress in our house! During the day Amelia is a happy girl 99% of the time. The other 1% of the time she screams because I'm washing her face after an especially messy meal. Actually, every meal is especially messy with her because she insists on running her baby food covered fingers through her hair over, and over and over again. Nice.

Amelia successfully took a nap IN HER CRIB this morning!!! She peacefully slept for over an hour until Graham opened her bedroom door and loudly called "Hi Amel-ya-ya!". She doesn't fall asleep in her crib on her own, after she's rocked to sleep she's transferred to her crib, but we'll take it! Since Jeff loves playing with his iTouch so much, he so kindly volunteers to sit in her dark room with her in case she wakes up panicked by where she is. I didn't think I would ever appreciate Jeff's love of surfing the internet as much as I do right about now! Our crib training appears to be paying off! In case you were curious, night time sleeping is still a major issue though...

I know I've mentioned it before, but Amelia is very mobile. She crawls quickly, and each day becomes more adventurous regarding what she tries to get into. This morning though, I actually held my breath as I watched her try to stand up completely unassisted in the middle of the room. She wasn't able to do it, but giggled as she toppled to the floor and tried it again and again. I am so not ready for my 9 month old baby to be standing without help.... I'll do my best to catch her on video trying to stand up because it's actually pretty funny!

After lunch today, both kids were in a good mood so Jeff and I decided to try our luck with a quick trip to Costco. On the way to the store, I turned around to check on Graham and Amelia in the backseat, and this is what I saw....

They were holding hands!!!!!!!!!!!

We managed to grab the few things we needed in record time and both Graham and Amelia remained happy as long as the cart was in motion. The highlight of today's Costco adventure for Graham were the many samples he was allowed to try. He loved his waffle sample so much that he tried his best to get Amelia to eat it too. Too bad she's just a baby and can't eat a waffle yet, but I do have to give Graham credit for attempting to share with her all on his own!

"Want some waffle, Amelia??"

Sleeping Beauty

Amelia is sleeping so peacefully here for her afternoon nap...what you can't see is Jeff sitting 6 inches from her killing time in the dark by surfing the internet on his iTouch! We're making progress though....Just 2 days ago Amelia wouldn't sleep unless she was on top of one of us, now she'll settle for sleeping next to one of us. She did happily play alone in her crib this morning for nearly 15 minutes while I was in and out of her room putting away laundry, so we're moving in the right direction. With any luck, she'll be sleeping soundly in her crib before too long!

A real update...

I've got a bit of time, so here is the much awaited update....

The flight home went better than expected. Amelia wasn't happy, but she was no where near as upset as Graham was. For much of our journey home, and even the first few days home, Amelia seemed to be understandably in shock. We were told in Korea that she is a very happy, playful girl, so we were waiting to see even a glimmer of that personality. Yesterday, she appeared to open up a bit, and we got to see her smile and really laugh for the first time which was so much fun!

As far as sleeping goes, nobody in our house is getting much of it. Amelia HATES her crib and becomes hysterical if we try to transfer her from sleeping in our arms onto her mattress. She prefers to sleep directly on top of somebody. This is how it was done in Korea, so that's what she is expecting each time she goes to sleep. Only then, will she sleep for 90 minutes at a time...I know that this extreme level of exhaustion is only a temporary thing and with time, as Amelia becomes more comfortable with us and we're able to build her trust will she sleep more peacefully.

Amelia is a fantastic eater which is such a treat! Getting a single jar of baby food into Graham was a real battle, so this is is a nice change. The only thing that makes me sad, is that she really doesn't seem to enjoy her bottles, and selfishly, I love the cuddle time that a bottle allows! She'll guzzle them down in the middle of the night when she's half asleep, but during the day she could care less. I'm thinking this might have something to do with her jet lag. With Korea being 14 hours ahead of us, and Amelia being used to drinking her bottles during the day, her body could still be adjusting.

Graham is doing as well as can be expected. He's extra clingy right now as he seems to believe that I'm going to disappear again for a week. That, and the fact that when I did finally return from Korea, I brought a baby with me, has him acting out a bit. We've instituted a sticker chart for him with the hopes that if he feels like he's working towards something it might encourage him to follow directions a bit more often. Currently, he's only three stickers away from a popsicle! :)

That's about it from our house right now. As we become more organized around here and more efficient at handling our two mobile children, I'll be more diligent at updating the blog on a regular basis. We're beyond thrilled to finally have our little princess home with us and I can't wait to share more stories of our 'new' life!

Happy Amelia!

Amelia loves this toy phone. The problem, is that Graham also loves this toy phone...

Since Amelia hates her crib, we've started having a bit of play time in there. A bunch of toys and Graham kept her distracted for 10 minutes and then she wanted out. Small steps...

They're actually looking at a book together. Too bad this peaceful interaction only lasted about 30 seconds!

Oops!

I just took a long time and posted four video's of Amelia on her blog...at least I thought it was her blog. As it turns out, I accidentally posted them to Graham's blog. It takes forever to correct this mistake, so for now, check out Graham's blog http://www.journeytobabyolson.blogspot.com/ for Amelia's update. From now on, I'll be more aware of where I'm posting and Amelia's updates will continue right here on her blog.

We're home!

We arrived home yesterday afternoon to fantastic group of supporters waiting to greet us at the airport. Thanks a million to all of you who took the time to help us welcome Amelia home! We are beyond exhausted right now, but I know that many are anxiously awaiting pictures of our little princess. I'll write more later, but until then, enjoy these photos compliments of Jeff's cousin, Mark.

Farewell to Seoul...

I'm happy to say that tomorrow morning, we'll begin our long journey home! Although we've been gone less than a week, it feels more like an eternity. Jeff and I are both going through Graham withdrawal, and we are very anxious to get home and unite our family. I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to the actual process of getting home though. Last night when Jeff and I were talking about our upcoming long flight, he actually used the word 'petrified'. Yes, it really was that difficult with Graham, and I'm hoping and praying we don't have a repeat of that.

After visiting with Amelia today, it seems as though our concerns may not be unfounded. Let's just say that she wasn't a very happy camper with us. Amelia was playing with some toys on the floor and I sat down next to her. She stared at me, then crawled back into her foster mothers lap. The social worker then suggested she and the foster mother leave for a bit allowing the three of us some time alone. Amelia did NOT like this new arrangement. Her lower lip immediately began to quiver, then she stuck it waaaaay out (her pouty face is actually kind of cute!), and then the tears arrived. Big tears, rolling slowly down her cheeks... I wanted to cry right along with her. She was just so sad. Jeff was actually able to put her to sleep though, so at least we know it's possible! At this point in the process with Graham, he preferred to hit our faces, so crying and falling asleep is a huge improvement! The foster mother and social worker came back about 30 minutes later and were both very surprised to see Amelia sleeping in my arms. According to Amelia's foster mother, she's been very sensitive lately, almost like she knows a big change is coming. I handed Amelia back to her foster mother (who was tearing up) and away they went without her opening her eyes. We'll see Amelia again tomorrow morning at 8:30, when we pick her up for good. Please send good thoughts to Amelia tomorrow. She is going to be so afraid, and I can only hope that peace will come over her sooner than later. If you've got any good thoughts left, Jeff and could surely use them as that 14 flight from Seoul to Chicago seems pretty daunting right now. As you can see in these pictures, Amelia clearly was not impressed with Jeff and I...

After we said good-bye to Amelia for the day, we met with Graham's foster mother, Mrs. Im. We spent an absolutely wonderful hour with her! She ran up to me with the biggest smile on her face and hugged me. We then went into an office with a translator and the first thing she said to us was just how blessed Graham is to be a part of our family. I corrected her, and told her that we are the blessed ones...Graham has brought us more joy than we ever thought possible! I thanked her over and over for giving our little guy such a wonderful beginning and she got all choked up. I then presented her with the gift we brought for her-a copy of Graham's blog book. Jeff and I both agree that we've never enjoyed giving someone a gift, as much as we enjoyed presenting the book to her. She was speechless, then her tears started. She rubbed Graham's picture then actually kissed the cover. She then admitted that she was so distraught after Graham left that she couldn't foster anymore children. She did ultimately change her mind though, explaining to us that having babies around heals her pain. In fact, she had her 5 month old foster daughter with her at our visit today. This woman is truly Graham's angel and I feel so lucky to know her. She did have a few special presents for Graham and I'm certain he's going to be thrilled with each and every one!

So, that's about it from Korea. We're currently packing up our suitcases and double and triple checking that we've got not only our own passports, but all of Amelia's visa documentation as well. I've become paranoid we're going to misplace something and after all the time it took for us to finally get this visa, those documents can't leave our sight! Our flight leaves Seoul at noon on Thursday which is 10 pm on Wednesday night in Minneapolis-good vibes are welcomed and much appreciated! :) We hope to see many of you at the airport when we land on Thursday! The only thing we ask, is that we aren't swarmed immediately....the first hugs and first introduction to Amelia is reserved for her very proud big brother, Graham! The next post will be from home-WOO HOO!