Weirdo Walk

When Ella was very small, I "invented"the tradition of adventure walks. It started with "Sky Walks" (walk through the neighborhood at night to look at stars). Then, when we moved to Illinois, the "Snow Walk" came about. When it rains, we do a "Rain Walk." You get the picture. Essentially we go for a walk, and I make up a name so the walk sounds like more than it is.

Lately we have been doing "Weirdo Walks." A Weirdo Walk is when you wear whatever you want, bring along whatever you want, and go for a walk through the neighborhood, all while hoping fervently that you don't see anyone you know professionally (that last part? only I do that...).

Today was Charlie's first Weirdo Walk. He and I wore normal clothes. I "wore" him in the baby carrier, which is why he is not in any of these pictures. It is quite difficult to take photographs while wearing a 23 pound 1 year old on your chest. Just fyi, in case you were wondering. Ella also chose to wear normal clothes, but she did bring along a motorized stuffed guinea pig. Rose wore a Sleeping Beauty dress and brought along her doll dressed as Cinderella. Lucy wore a Belle dress and Wizard of Oz ruby slippers. Oh, and also fairy wings.

About to leave the homestead. At this point, I'm looking around, making sure no one I know is around...

Yup, feathery fairy wings spruce up any outfit.

Wait up, guys!

Willie looks thrilled, doesn't he?

This is a path coming up on "Fairy Land," which is what we call a cute little park area a few blocks from where we live. There is a nice wooden deck with Adirondack chairs overlooking a pretty pond that is home to 2 alligators. We go there a lot in the summer to "visit" the alligators. I think alligators do some version of hibernation during the winter, so we haven't seen them in a while. We still look for them, however...

Ella and her sweet doggie.

Rose, looking ticked off

Softening a little...

And back to sweetie Rosie

Lulu mad at me for what she perceives as us leaving her behind (which, of course, we did not!)

Mom, stop taking my picture!

And back to silly Lulu

There's no place like home, there's no place like home...

The Shrimps

For those of you grammar sticklers (and I am one of you!!), no, I'm not really sure if "shrimps" is truly the correct plural of "shrimp," but at *** Academy it is. All of the classes have some sort of marine name -- Dolphins, Sea Stars, Killer Whales (just kidding about the Killer Whales...that would not be a great preschool name). Anyways, Rose & Lucy's class is the Stingrays, and Charlie's future class is the Shrimps.

He won't officially start school until Sheref goes back to work at the end of January, but Sheref has been taking him for about an hour a day to start getting him used to the class. So far he seems to really like it. The kids range from 12-24 months, so Charlie is obviously one of the younger ones.

Blueberry muffins rock, Daddy!

An apple a day...

...keeps the doctor away. Well, not if you're due for your 12 month check-up. Jinjin went yesterday for his 12 month pediatrician visit and shots. He did great. The photo is of him after his fingerstick for lead and hemoglobin. Apparently the site bled a lot -- hence the bandaged finger!!

Per his measurements, he is not as big as he seems to us. He is only 35th percentile for weight, which surprised me because the little guy feels like a brick to carry! Sheref was happy about that because Jinjin is a REALLY good eater, to the point where we wonder if we are feeding him too much. Pretty much the only time he ever gets really mad is when mealtime is over...

Red Rider BB Gun, Lucy-style

You know the movie "A Christmas Story"? About the kid Ralphie who really really, with almost obsessive focus, wants a Red Rider BB gun for Christmas? Well, Lucy's version of the Red Rider BB gun was a Barbie car. This kid really really really wanted a Barbie car. She talked about it ALL.THE.TIME. She reminded us, "Remember what I want for Christmas? Don't forget: I want a Barbie car." She talked about it, she planned how she would play with it. She just really really wanted a Barbie car. Lucy is just so darn cute and funny and sweet. OF COURSE we got her a Barbie car. Actually Santa got her the Barbie car, but we passed on the message to him.

Seeing her Barbie car for the first time early Christmas morning.

Remember how I said she had plans for how she would play with the Barbie car? This is what went on at our house tonight. A few Barbies, a miniature American Girl doll, and, oh yes, that is a horse hanging out the driver's door. Does this look safe to you? Looks like Barbie version of wild and crazy spring break to me...

Guess who likes spaghetti and meatballs?

Charlie is most definitely a member of the clean plate club

Happy Birthday Jin-yeong

Jin-yeong's birthday is Christmas Eve. He was born at 11:55 am on 12-24-2009 in Seoul, South Korea. He was 41 weeks 2 days' gestation and weighed 3280 grams at birth, which is 7.2lbs. Seoul is 14 hours ahead of American EST, so his time of birth would have been 21:55 on 12-23-2009 in our neck of the woods. I was on call at the hospital delivering babies at this time. The girls were home asleep, and Sheref was packing our suitcases as we left the next morning (Christmas Eve) to drive to Murfreesboro TN to visit my sister for Christmas.

This year we were also at my sister's in Murfreesboro for Christmas, and also for Charlie's birthday. Shannon (my sister) was so sweet and planned a party for Charlie. She arranged 2 cakes and lunch from our favorite barbeque place in Murfreesboro, the Slick Pig. We ate barbeque, potato salad, and cake. We toasted with (really crappy $2.99) soju that we had bought at H-mart, a Korean grocery store, in Atlanta the previous day. Charlie wore the hanbok his foster mother had given him, and looked so handsome!

What? A party for me?

All the kids at the party table. My nephew Cooper is next to Ella, but you can only see the very top of his head!

Charlie's super cute cake

The "smash cake," which was thoroughly enjoyed by Jin-yeong. He actually cried when I took it away after he had eaten probably 1/5 or so of the cake...

So cute! I thought he might be bothered by the hat, but he didn't seem to mind it at all. I think he knew he totally rocked his hanbok:)

Charlie with Mama

With Dadda

Pop (my dad) was making faces and noises off to the side, which is what Charlie is so entertained by in this picture

What a beautiful little guy

Love this kid!

We plan to send photos of Jin-yeong in his hanbok to Holt, one packet for his birth mom and one for his foster mother. His foster mother will get the photos for sure, but we don't know about his birth mom. Holt keeps a file on each child for the birth mother, who can, if she desires, come look at the file at any time and get whatever the adoptive family may have sent. We have no idea if our birth mom will ever go to Holt again, but if she does, we certainly want to have photos and keepsakes of Jin-yeong for her.

There is a concept in Korean adoption of "Third Mom," meaning that the "forever mother" (adoptive mother), even though she is the child's real and final mother, is really his or her third mom. First he had his birth mom, then his foster mom, and finally his "forever mother." We want Charlie always to be aware of his first two mothers, who provided him such a healthy, loving and wonderful start to his life.

Seoul by Night

The night before he was to meet Charlie Jin-yeong, Sheref decided he should take advantage of his last baby-less night in Seoul and get out to explore the city by night. He said he was absolutely exhausted and tempted to go to bed, but thought, "Wait, no, I'm young, strong, fit. I'm in Seoul, South Korea. There is no excuse for me not to go out and explore this city." So he walked, and he walked, and he probably took the subway, and then probably walked some more.

He walked past cars, and a blue bus, and lots of bright lights.

He walked past some sort of temple (? -- I'm sort of making this up, since, as we all know, I wasn't there)

He walked past more bright lights, and past cool young Korean people

Until he came to the Seoul Tower

Sheref and I had both heard and read about the Seoul Tower, and, quite frankly, it sounds pretty cheesy. Now I admit, I'm not exactly the touchy-feely cheesy type, but the Seoul Tower (per what we had heard) is a tower (duh) that people climb to the top of in order to place a lock on the gate, or some part of the tower. Something about hearts, and love, and locks. Also, there is a Teddy Bear Museum at the top of Seoul Tower. Again, I admit, I rank quite a bit lower than average on the touchy-feely meter, but still. Sheref said he felt the same, but thought he should at least check it out. Turns out, he said it was one of his favorite moments in Seoul. He said the Seoul Tower really does have sort of a magical atmosphere, especially lit up at night. I really love the above photo, and looking at it, I can actually imagine how special the moment was (for the record, I still wouldn't have visited the Teddy Bear Museum)

Did you think I was making up the part about the Teddy Bear Museum? Think again.

Cool image of the Seoul Tower

More bright lights. Sheref is no country bumpkin and has been in his fair share of major cities, mind you, but he said Seoul is by far the BRIGHTEST place he has ever been.