kimbapandkimchi: May 2012

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

I heart foster mothers.

As much as I'd like to say, 'I just don't know how the last two weeks went by without a single blog post!', I know exactly why!! In fact, I know THREE reasons why!

Between baseball, school, illness, etc....family life of five is keeping us very busy! It's much easier for me to just post a pic or two on Facebook here and there! I know...LAZY!!

Anyway, we finally had our first post placement visit today after having to reschedule three different times for various reasons. It was nice to report to our social worker that after being home 5 1/2 weeks, that things are going really well! Of course, we still have our little challenges here and there, but nothing we can't handle and certainly not anything out of the ordinary for a family with a new addition...we feel quite blessed.

I've not had the chance to share a few of these gorgeous pictures that Emersyn's foster mother gave us in a little album. I love that we have pictures of her when she was younger and living in Korea. And I must say, this is one precious little girl! I'm not sure if Holt has some connection with a professional photographer, as I've had other friends in the adoption community receive pictures similar to these!

I just love them!

I had stepped into my office to snap pictures of the pictures by the big window we have in there, and Em followed me in...

When I was finished, she grabbed the book and started flipping thru the photos.

I knew there was one picture at the back of the album of her and her foster mother together and I got a little nervous with her spotting it, but she seemed to know the book and know where the picture was and turned right to it...

and immediately pointed her foster mother out...

{I just started snapping pics, so excuse the bit of blurriness!}

huge smile came across her face and she began tapping her face over and over...

she leaned in closer...

{and this is where I started to bawl like a little school girl}

and gave her a tender kiss...

she took one last look, closed the book, and walked out of the room...

and that was that.

***************************************

I heart foster mothers.

I am so happy to be the mother of this absolutely fabulous little girl.

And I feel blessed beyond measure to have her here in in our home finally.

But I often think of what this time is like for her foster mother and family and how much they must miss and love her...and what Emersyn must think about where she is now and why her foster mother isn't here...

I wish I could reunite them just one more time...

Meeting with Zoey's foster mother in Korea, who has been without her for three years now, and hearing how much she still loved and missed her...it's still so hard to imagine the sacrifice these foster mothers and their families are making caring for our precious babies till they can be placed in our arms!

So, right now, while the kids are sleeping and my only distraction is Modern Family on the DVR, I'm going to send a bunch of prints to Costco and put an album of pictures together for both foster mothers and mail them TOMORROW.

Adoptive mamas, join me!!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Rolling with the punches!

When I picked Em up in Korea, (a month ago yesterday, how is that possible?!?!) she was on meds for some 'flu-like' symptoms. She pretty much has had a runny nose and a little cough since coming home, and this past weekend, spiked a pretty high fever...

We headed to the doctor Monday morning, and unfortunately, she has pneumonia. Thankfully it was caught early and is only in her right lung, so we're treating with 10 days of strong antibiotics and avoiding a hospital stay, thank goodness.

Her breathing sounds terrible! And her usually addictive bottles of ooyoo were causing her to throw up, so she was avoiding bottles, had no appetite and wasn't sleeping well. Poor baby. She is usually so happy and active but has been pretty fussy and miserable these last few days. Fortunately, today she seemed a little better after having a few doses of meds and her breathing already sounds so much clearer.

And she's back to her bottles of ooyoo. :)

This was right before she fell asleep tonight...my sweet girl! Oh how I love her!

She's getting so much more comfortable with our co-sleeping and a month in, we have evolved from walking her around in the carrier on my back, to rocking her in my arms in our rocking chair, to now, simply laying next to her in our bed till she falls asleep. To me, after all the sleeping issues we had with Zoey, that's like heaven on earth! She still will not allow Danny to take her to bed, or sleep with us, but we'll get there one day soon! (Or maybe she'll transition to her own room by then!)

She's not really a cuddler, but in the morning, will reach out to find me and lay her head on my shoulder. :)

To add to it, I have an upper respiratory infection and have not been feeling great! At times, this week has got the best of me and it's only Wednesday! I will say that I feel like I've taken a few punches these last several days!

I will admit that one of the hardest transitions for me as a mother of three, has been needing to be in three different places at the same time! Filling three different needs and answering three different questions, etc, etc, all at the same time! The language barrier with Emersyn continues to be frustrating for both she and I, and she is still not really interested in the English language, saying little to nothing in English and only repeating Korean phrases. She's just not interested!

Overall though, her transition continues to go pretty smoothly, and we are very grateful for that. It's now hard to imagine life before her being here...

I'll leave you with our first family picture at the airport three and half weeks ago!!