3 months home!

I'm happy to report Miss Hui-a is settling in and enjoying life after stepping off a plane from Korea just three months ago!

She loves her some toys and babies!

Is sleeping thru the night and crazy addicted to her bottle!

Full of life and energy, and still refusing to speak any sort of English!

Has started to give unsolicited kisses and hugs as well throwing down some serious temper tantrums!

She now loves to cuddle with both mommy and daddy, but still sneaking in some pinching and scratching on her poor unsuspecting sister (who I actually think has had the rougher time)! 

Swims like a fish and loves the outdoors, and has had a lots of timeouts for trying to ride the dogs like ponies...including the 8lb mini dachshund!

Loves her some Texas insects and always more interested in pointing one out then smiling for the camera!

Continues to only answer to her Korean name, and still eating lots of Korean food!

I can guarantee you it's been a lot of craziness, adjustment and hard work, (and still is!) but it seems as though she's been here all along...

right where she belongs. :)

2 months home!

2 months ago, Emersyn, my brother and I, were stepping off the plane from Korea and had a welcome party ready to greet us!

While I'm sure they were all happy to see my brother and I, they were really there to meet this cutie!

Love this moment as she takes it all in!

(and how dirty her hair was after the many hours of traveling!)

We have such a loving and supportive group of family and friends!

Which is why I believe that Emersyn continues to do well and she could not be loved more!

2 months in, she still only responds to Hui-a, still only parrots a few words in English, sleeps thru the night, loves swimming, still enjoys bath time, loves being outside, still eating lots of Korean food, but finally starting to like more Americanized meals, loves the dogs (calls all three of them 'hiloh', also known as Shiloh!), enjoys toys and car rides, addicted to her bottle (now filled with lactose free milk!), likes to pick on her brother and sister, enjoys screaming at the top of her lungs, likes to have her hair fixed, has a slight shoe addiction, calls both me and my husband, mama, and both my mom and dad, papa, unfortunately likes to hit and scratch, but gives unsolicited kisses and hugs, and seems to genuinely enjoy life...

We are blessed to have her and while it's only been two months, it seems as though she's been here all along!

And just for fun...

our first moment being united as a family of five!

The week in pictures.

Pre-school graduation!

Swimming,

swimming,

swimming,

and more swimming!

1st grade graduation!

 

Hugs for big brother!

Another attempt at operation 'get all kids to look at camera and smile'

The sisters taking pics of each other!  Zoey took this one!

Emersyn took this one!

After our first day of all three kids home, I can tell you it's going to be a looooooong summer!!  I love having them all home, don't get me wrong, but boy is there a lot more fighting and complaining of boredom around here!  Most days I think you'll be able to find us out at the pool or in an air conditioned library. :)

So let me ask, what are you doing with your kids this summer????

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!!

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!!

Thanks to my friend Mario of Mario Lopez Photos for capturing these moments for us!

Happy Referral Day!!

One year ago today, these precious pics popped up in our email! 

And here we are today ready to celebrate 3 weeks home with our girl!

Happy Referral Day, Emersyn Hui-a!  

Saranghaeyo!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

While the boys were at baseball practice, it was swim time instead of bath time...

cause we can't all get the mother of the year award...   :p