Forever a Family of 4 - December 15, 2011.

We woke up at a decent time.  I think for all of us, even though we slept a good 8-10 hours we were pretty much still tired.  Martin woke up earlier and as I turned to the other side I could see his E-reader light on. He said he couldn't sleep.  After that I couldn't go back either.  Nerves?  Ya, I guess.  We got ready and had breakfast at a cute Italian cafe around the corner.  We decided to walk around, but it was freezing and decided to have a quiet morning in the apartment before we picked up William.

Finally the time came to go and get ready.  We dressed almost in silence. We were getting nervous.  What I was really anxious was how was Olivia going to react to all this?  How is she going to be when we actually bring William home and keep him there?  It wasn't just a visit for William, he was actually going to stay.  Also, a part of this nervousness was also the fact that we weren't the family of 3 anymore.  Things were going to change again...but life has gotten even better. Doubts started to flood my head - Can we do this?  Will he attach? Will Olivia like her new baby brother?

We were ready to go, and walked up to the SWS office.  Last time when we picked up Olivia we met her in the lobby as she was going for to the doctors for her check up.  When we got there, no sign of William. So we went up to the 7th floor and met Ms. Bang.  We saw a bag full of stuff and a purse and jacket. It looks like they were already here.  Ms. Bang greeted us at the door and told us that William was seeing the doctor.  So, we waiting in the conference room for them to return.

Same yellow leather couch. Same wave of emotions flooding. Ms. Bang came into the room.  Final paper work. Showed us his passport and papers.  Gave us all the SWS paraphanalia and gifts.  All this things we put in Wiliam's memory box (ugh, which I need to get still).  ahhahah.  We read over the final report about his well-being.  Then in came foster mom and William.  A deer in the headlights - Martin was saying. hahahah.  We received the final report of physical condition.  All clear.  Oh crap, he has a cold.  Got a prescription for cold medicine and Tylenol.  Poor little guy, having a cold and travelling on a plane was not going to be fun. Olivia was her charming self and started playing with William. She offered him a snack and played with is toys. She was awesome.

We signed off the consent.  Then Ms. Sun the SWS director came in.  She is beautiful.  She came in a greeted us and gave us a little gift.  Then is it was time to go. Ugh...the dreaded elevator moment.  Ms. Bang and Ms. Sun escorted us to the door.  Foster mom was already in tears.  HATE HATE this moment.  9 months of her life - she dedicated her time and love to this little boy. On average foster families keep a child for 3-5 months. She raised him for 9 months. It's heartbreaking.

We got to the elevator, the door opened. Ms. Sun told me to go and get William from foster mom's arms.  We said our goodbyes and thank yous.  She whispered something to him in Korean and teary-eyed kissed him goodbye.  The elevator closed. All we saw was Ms. Sun holding foster mom very tightly and comforting her.  I turned to Ms. Bang and asked her how she does this all the time.  Ugh.

We got to the foyer of the building and said goodbye to Ms. Bang.  Then off we went to start our life together.  That was it. He was ours fovever.

We got back to the apartment and waited for William to freak out. But Miss Olivia did a good job with racing around the room and keeping him distracted.  We took off his 10 layers of clothing.  Man, the wrapped him up good.  We saw that he really got his name "muscle man" for a reason.  My family is going to have a field day with his chubby legs!   We took out the toys and played for a bit.  He got quite comfortable and started exploring the apartment. Good lord, he pulled himself up and starting taking a few steps.  But then he would drop down, and ape walk around. hahahhaha. He was having a blast exploring. Olivia was having a blast chasing him around.  :0P

Then it was time to give him his bottle. No problems taking it. So, Martin stepped out quickly to get us lunch (McDonalds ;0)). When he came back, we all sat down and had some lunch.  It was a great family moment. Our first meal.  When we were done, William wanted out from the high chair. We could see the 2 kids wearing down. It was nap time!  Ugh...here we go.

William got in my arms and was calm.  He was ready to sleep.  He had only a 20 minute nap in the car, so he was done.  Ms. Olivia was done from her entertaining William. The only trouble we got...Miss O was so hyper she gave a fight for her nap. She was down in a minute though, but man..the screaming and fight she gave. It reminded me of 2 years ago. I came out to see how Papa and William was. Yay! He passed out on Papa. Two sleeping babies! WOOHOO!

It's been an hour now that they have been asleep so that's why I can blog.  Tonight will bring it's adventures I'm sure.  I'm looking at my 2 beautiful babies, and can't help think how fortunate I am.  They are beautiful, perfect, and incredible in every way. It's time to go home.

Christmas in Korea

Today was going to be all about Olivia.  We reserved this day for Lotte World, where the spirit of Christmas is alive and the young all gather around to celebrate.  Despite being tired, Olivia enjoyed every bit of the day.  We started off at ToysRUs, and we had a field day playing with every toy that made music. You could literally spend hours here.  But we didn't, we had a Santa Parade to watch!

We went downstairs and paid the $60 admission fee to this giant indoor amusement park which had it's own skating rink.  It was awesome!  The rides were a bit too old for Olivia this time around, so we just enjoyed the sites around. There was too much to see. As soon as we walked in, there was a spectacular show going on. This stage was massive!

 I have to say it was a bit overwhelming, with the crowds, the loud music, the visual stimulation. It was a lot for a little one.  Fortunately, we didn't have to stay long because the parade started at 2:00pm.  After the parade, we decided that we needed to go back for a nap to re-energize. It was a perfect day for our family of 3.  Tomorrow will be the first day with the 4 of us. I can't believe it.  1 more day we will forever be a family of 4.

Day 3 Continues at the COEX Aquarium

After the highly emotional morning meeting with the Olivia's foster family, we came back to the apartment to take a short break. Olivia desperately needed a power nap to continue to function for the rest of the day.  Like Olivia, she took a good hour nap and she was ready to go.  We got ready and headed back down to the COEX mall for some fish watching.

It's definitely not Orlando's Sea World, but it was very kid-friendly and Olivia loved it.  Actually it seemed that Olivia loved it too much. She was on a high.  She was laughing hysterically and racing around the place like she was a kid on a chocolate high.  She was still really tired but man was she a trooper.  We pretty much went through it in about 2 hours.  It's was small and cute, but they had everything Olivia wanted to see - fishes, sharks, and best of all penguins!

After the days adventure, we asked Olivia what she wanted to eat for dinner.  Noodles?  Rice?  All she said was "spaghetti".  Poor thing...she just wanted some comfort food from home. I totally understand.  Luckily (but not surprisingly), there was a UNO's restaurant (deep dish Chicago pizza and pasta).  Perfect.  Olivia ate the entire adult size plate of spaghetti.  It was what she needed.  Actually I think it was all of needed for that day.  We got home and I gave her a quick bath in the baby bathtub.  Brought back memories from 2 years ago, when we gave her a bath in that tub to calm her down because she was so upset.  Sigh.  This time, Olivia's legs were hanging out of it, but loved "swimming in her blue boat".  Ugh, she's getting so big.  Tomorrow is another fun-filled Olivia day. We need to rest up.

Meeting with Olivia's foster family

Today we met with Olivia's foster family.  We started the day at 7am - Yay!  We were able to somewhat sleep in.  We went for breakfast with our new friends - Andy and Jeanne - who were also adopting their second. They are great people and we are so happy that we were able to meet.  We ended up going to Paris Baguette again because of the nice space for Olivia.  We got back to our room around 10:30 and relaxed for a bit before we set out to meet Olivia's foster family.

Our experience is with our visit with the foster family was beyond what we ever imagined.  We never had any doubt but it's clear that they went over and above the call of duty in Olivia's case. They loved her/love her so much. The moment they saw Olivia it was totally emotional for all.  FM (foster mom) and FD (foster dad) were both in tears and wanted to hold and touch her.   We got to the lobby of the SWS and were waiting for Martin because he had forgotten something in the apartment.  As we were waiting they had walked in. I was so excited. Olivia on the other hand had no idea what was going on.  They couldn't believe their eyes.  They were laughing and crying. Just an overflow of emotion.  Martin arrived and foster mom gave Olivia a gift.  It was the cutest pair of mittens.

We know that usually meetings with past foster families took place at the office of the SWS. But we really felt a connection with this family. We owed them a lot, and we wanted to spend more time with them, and for Olivia to spend more time with them.  So we invited them for lunch, and they graciously agreed.  We went down the street with Ms. Park to a great Korean restaurant.  Throughout the whole lunch, FD kept filming Olivia - just eating, singing, doing her thing.  It's like they wanted so much to capture this short time with her.  Not to forget her face and her mannerisms.  Olivia was great. She was slow to warm, but eventually became the star that she is (always making sure we were close by still).  By the end of the lunch, she was high fiving  and giving hugs and kisses to everyone. She also did a command performance of "ABCD, Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider" and of course to set the festive spirit " Jingle Bells".  They loved it.

Martin and I talked about the experience afterwards. Today the roles were reversed. Meaning, we were on the side of trying to get Olivia comfortable with the FM and FD.  We got to see how it felt on the other side.  You could see in their eyes that they wanted to hold her and pick her up, just like the first time we met Olivia at their house.  We felt the same emotion.  And just like how we were very hesitant not to overwhelm her in the beginning, they stood back and took her cues.  We found a deeper respect for what foster families do, and how difficult it must be to say goodbye to a baby that you've become attached to. In William's case, he was with the FM for 9 months.  What a bond they have created and we can just imagine how difficult Thursday will be for FM.  We know deep down it's their job, It's what they sign up to do.  But, saying good bye to a beloved child is always hard no matter what. All in all, it was such an amazing experience that we will cherish.