Fun for Tae

Tae has had a fun week...

Finding treasures under the furniture:

Eating grass off the sidewalk:

And eating sand at the beach (egads...):
Playing with his new friend Grady at Parent Participation class: Playing in our "backyard pool" since it was so hot today:
And sleeping. Tae is now sleeping in his crib exclusively and we've moved back to our room. For the most part, it's working out well, though since this change he seems to be an early riser -- 6am most mornings -- ugh!I guess it's not true that he "exclusively" sleeps in his crib. Today he fell asleep on my back as I vacuumed...with a death grip on his teddy bear's ribbon. Poor bear!

Hope you've had a fun week too!

A couple cute videos

We've been teaching Tae some baby sign language, as well as how to act out the phrases "I have no idea" and "I can't believe it." Here he is putting them together -- cute!

Tae has the most adorable giggle, and it's the littlest things that get him to laugh, including kisses from mom on his arm...

This past week Tae and I started attending a fantastic mom/kids play group which includes a beautiful boy adopted last year from Ethiopia and a wonderful mom who was adopted from Korea when she was a baby. We also had our first weekly "parent participation class" with songs, games, crafts, and outside play for toddlers. Tae is the only one in the class not yet "toddling" -- but it won't be long! He keeps standing up and holding on to furniture as he takes steps.

We're well, happy and grateful for the gift of our Beautiful Star!

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)