Birthday celebrations continued...

We had a fantastic week in Oregon with Mike's family (and extended family and good friends) introducing Tae and continuing his 1st birthday celebration. No doubt Tae would say that his birthday cupcake was the best part:

We spent a day hiking at Silver Falls State Park with 10 waterfalls, some of which you can walk behind. Tae loved it and tried to touch the water:

The best part was being with family, including Grandma and Grandpa Isensee, Tae's cousins, aunts and uncles.
Now we're home and getting into a real routine, including improved sleep! Thanks for checking in on the birthday boy!

Tae's 1st Birthday!

We joyfully celebrated our little boy's first year of life on Monday, August 31! We were in Colorado for a week visiting my (Jana's) parents in the mountains. On his birthday we had professional photos taken of all 3 of us in our hanboks (the traditional Korean dress for first birthdays and other life celebrations).

Here we are trying to fit Tae's hanbok hat on his head for the photo session, which was successful for only a couple photos:

Later in the day we celebrated with a Korean "Tol", a traditional first birthday party with special Korean food and decorations on the table:

We also had a Korean "toljabee" table on which party guests placed items which they hoped Tae would choose to help determine his future. As Tae's mom, I was super happy that he chose my item (and I didn't even rig this!) -- a Bible to signify his growth and critical inquiry into faith. He also chose a rock from a geologist friend, so he'll be rooted in the earth while he grows in faith! :-)
We shared a traditional Korean birthday cake and blew out one whole candle:

Throughout the week all eyes were on Tae, including his Aunt Michelle's and Uncle Mark's in this photo at an "outdoor living room" next to the river in Buena Vista:

Tae's also had his first pet of a cat:

He had fun with Grandpa Rod:

And fun with Grandma Sharie at the library:

How grateful we are for our sweet one year old boy:

Now we're in Oregon where Tae is meeting his relatives on daddy's side of the family. We continue to be smitten by this beautiful little boy. Thanks for helping us celebrate his first year of life!

A Tree for Tae

On Sunday we invited our neighbors to our front yard for a tree planting in honor of Tae. We wanted to celebrate our new family addition with a symbol of Tae's rootedness in our family and neighborhood:

Before we planted the tree, Mike cut off a bracelet I had been wearing for the last few months that some dear Ministerial Association friends had both given and worn themselves as a reminder of my connection to Tae even though he hadn't yet arrived in our arms. It was my "umbilical cord" to Tae (and a Chinese belief called "the red thread" -- that there is an invisible, unbreakable red thread that connects all those who are destined to be together), but since Tae is now in our arms, we cut the bracelet off and buried it under the tree -- new life for everyone!

Here's the tree going in the ground (it's a beautiful Coral Bark Japanese Maple):

Neighbors and friends, especially the kids, helped put dirt on the tree and water it:

Afterwards we all had a toast to Tae. He loves watching people clink glasses, so we used real wine glasses for everyone and kept clinking and toasting and Tae would smile!

The tree will grow as Tae grows, reminding him he is rooted in his family forever:

Thanks for watching our little family grow, too!

One month home!

Today we celebrated one month together as a family. We brought Tae out for dinner and he was amazing -- he ate everything we fed him off our plates and intently watched everything happening in the restaurant! We are thankful beyond words for the gift he is to us.

Tae had lots of firsts this week! Here are some photos:

First corn on the cob:

First hair cut from our good friend Leslie:

First tooth coming in since he's been home (now he has 7)! Thank goodness for teething rings:

First time in a Johnny Jump-up:

And though not a "first," another cute photo:

Summer blessings to you from the 3 of us!

Jana, Mike, and Tae

How time flies...

I now understand the common feeling of adoptive parents when we talk about the wait for our children often feeling excruciatingly long, yet when they're in our arms time seems to go at warp speed! We've been home with Tae exactly three weeks and we can't believe it! Yet they've been delightful weeks. Here's a bit of what happened this past week:

Tae had his first doctor's visit in SLO. The doctor wrote about Tae on the form for our adoption agency, "very healthy, alert infant, excellent disposition." We knew that already, but it's nice to hear it "officially!" We also had our first post-placement visit from our adoption social worker, and she gave us all a thumbs-up! Yea!

We've had lots of walks in the stroller and in the Ergo carrier around town. Tae loves being outside, though he's not a fan of the sun...and unfortunately not a fan of hats, either!

He likes playing on our back deck (which is getting more and more complete!) and eating oranges on our tree -- literally on the tree -- he'll take a bite of an orange while it's still hanging on the branch! The day he did this we also got this cute photo of him with a hat on before he ripped it off!

We're thrilled that Tae is an excellent eater -- he has loved almost everything we've fed him. His very favorite food so far has been -- get this -- Copper River salmon. Good thing the season is over or else we'd have to take out a loan to afford it!

And most importantly, Tae has stolen his grandparents' hearts. My (Jana's) parents were here for three weeks and left on Sunday. They were so good to him -- and us -- during their visit, and we don't think we could have begun this journey nearly as well without them. (Thank you so, so much Grandma Sharie and Grandpa Rod!). We're so excited to introduce Tae to his GrandMary Jane and Grandpa Don and all his aunts and cousins later this month/early September.

Tae does continue to grieve the losses he's experienced, and life isn't always easy for us day to day -- I came down with a cold on Sunday which makes parenting even more challenging trying not to get Tae sick. But overall we are overjoyed with our new little family. Thanks for checking in on us! We'll try to post an update about once a week.

P.S. We did decide on his name (Carol..."Tae Gyu" will work fine! :-) )

Tae (first name, pronounced "tay")

Gyu (middle name)

Schofield (second middle name)

Isensee (last name)

Tae's 100 day photo

Today we received a digital copy of Tae's 100-day professional photo taken last December. We thought it was so beautiful we needed to share it with the world! Tae continues to be such a joy and delight. Today we all met Mike at a park downtown for lunch since he started back to work today. Tae had his first swing on a swingset and fell asleep in the stroller on the way there and back.

He does continue to grieve, especially late at night, though he is so comfortable with us, and now with his Schofield grandparents as well. We are happy and grateful for this amazing gift of our son!

P.S. Here are some park photos:

Tae's Big Day Out!

Since Mike goes back to work on Monday (*sigh* from both Jana and Tae), we thought today would be a good day to celebrate being a family of three living near the ocean, so Tae and his parents and grandparents spent the day at Avila Beach. He did great! Granted, he did sleep and eat most of the time, but he also had fun in the sand and sea. Here are some photos:

Ah...this is the life:

Yesterday, as you can see below, was a day of thinking, playing in water on the deck, and eating:

A cute eating story:

We've been giving Tae "Cheerio kisses" where he takes an "O" from between our lips with his mouth. Tonight I said "give mommy a kiss" without a Cheerio in it, and he did! It warmed my heart! I, of course, tried it over and over again and he didn't do it again without a Cheerio...but there's always tomorrow! :-)

We do feel like Tae is doing extremely well adjusting...enough to be fussy with his parents when he wants to! He's still on a bit of a crazy sleep schedule (different every night), so there's still adjustment to go, but we are beyond grateful to God and the rest of our support system for helping us get to such a good point already. Thanks to you for thinking of us and checking in!