Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving-Wow What A Year!


I am so thankful that I have three healthy, happy children. I am glad that I have a good job that I enjoy, most of the time. My health has greatly improved over the last three months after working the graveyard shift since February. I am extremely thankful for my good health. Words cannot convey how thankful I am for my life. I am grateful that even with the ginormous cost of adoption that we can still take our kids to Disney World. We have a lot to be thankful for. It makes me feel bad that we have so much when there are millions that do not even have enough to eat.
(Eun Jin was having such a fun time Thanksgiving day that she was not happy when I grabbed her for a picture.)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

South Korean Pop Star Rain


(CNN) -- South Korean pop star Rain, who stars in "Ninja Assassin," releasing nationwide on Wednesday, has all the trimmings of an international superstar in the making.

His talent, good looks and charming swagger have captured the devotion of the Asian continent, where tickets to his concerts evaporate in minutes. He was hailed as one of People magazine's most beautiful two years ago, and, despite being relatively unknown to most Americans, beat Stephen Colbert in a Time magazine online poll of most influential people in 2007.

Yet Rain's climb from unknown backup dancer to a member of Asia's A-list wasn't easy: His lack of Western features caused many music labels to look right past him and getting his footing in the United States has been particularly difficult.

Despite having six albums under his belt and selling out a two-day Madison Square Garden tour in 2006, Rain's "Justin Timberlake meets Usher" brand of bubble-gum pop never saturated pop charts here as it did in the East.

But Rain isn't one to accept defeat. "The more criticism I get, the more it gives me a stronger urge to win. So I try harder," he told CNN's Talk Asia.

"The more times I was turned down, the more I believed I was getting closer to making it. A lot of people in Korea say that failure is the mother of success, so I believed that more times I failed, the more likely I was to succeed," he said.

The 27-year-old tested Hollywood waters with last year's "Speed Racer," but the action film, which he now calls a "warming up period," failed to give him cross-over recognition.

Now, Rain has a second shot at swimming in the American mainstream with another Wachowski produced film, the cut 'em and gut 'em "Ninja Assassin," where the pop star does most of his own stunts.

"I put my heart and soul into this movie," he said. Rain trained hard for months to get ready for the movie's slick violence.

"For about a year, I couldn't eat properly, I was working out from 7 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon," he said. "I went through a lot of pain in my efforts to get 100 percent close to the character that I was playing."

To get the opportunity to finally become an American household name, though, it's worth it. After all, Rain isn't the type of guy who shies away from a challenge.

"What I want to do now is start from the bottom again and build up a name in the U.S.," Rain said.

"I experienced firsthand what it means to be poor, what it means to go hungry, and that I think may be the reason, the root cause of why I'm able to work so hard even these days," he said.

"I'm hoping people expect a lot from this movie, because I think they will not be disappointed."

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Peek A Boo


So for this game my hands go where?
(She almost has it down)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Our Dancing Baby

She may not like to stand but she does like to dance.

She Can Stand Up Fine



BUT
this is how she feels about it...She is like a water faucet being turned on, the tears start IMMEDIATELY.
I put her down twice to get a picture of this outfit for my sister. You would think by her reaction that I slapped her first. She dries up the second I pick her up. She can stand up very well. She is sturdy, doesn't wobble at all. Needless to say she still doesn't like to do it.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

I Got Kissed Last Night!



There is nothing better than baby kisses!
I have been waiting for this moment since we picked up Isabella Eun Jin. We kiss her all the time. We kiss our kids every time we leave the house, at bedtime and just whenever throughout the day. With Isabella when I kiss her I tell her, "this is a kiss" or "can I have a kiss" so that she will figure out what it is...
Last night I got home picked her up and said, "Can I have a kiss?" and she leaned right over and kissed me several times. She has been doing it today as well.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Joelee's Year Of Service Project


Joelee's school service project will benefit the Eastern Social Welfare Society. She will be collecting donations as well as doing chores at home to earn money to buy needed supplies for them. She is required to work on the project for the entire school year.
The kids had to present to the community on their project and why it was important to them.
(When she gets home from school I will have her type her presentation here on the blog.)

Really, Now...


This is what you get when you hold and hug your little boy that fell down and got hurt and has a reason to cry.
Someone has a little jealous streak going on...
As soon as I picked her up she was happy as a clam.
(And NO this does not start out small and work up...She is extreme when it comes to the boy getting attention...she doesn't do this when my daughter gets attention.)

She Can Say My Name


My husband thinks I just sit home repeating my name over and over to Isabella. What actually happens though is my four year old boy actually says it over and over and over again...So now cute little Isabella can say it. She says it so cute. amBUR is how she pronounces it. She does not realize this is my name which is partly why it is so cute. She will be just trucking along saying it, amBUR-amBUR-amBUR. Just some cute baby babbling.
(This video is not the best example but so far I have not had my camera on when she is doing it really cute.)

Toe Socks







Isabella Eun Jin has long pretty toes. My husband thought it would be cute if she had some toe socks. I ordered these but then when he saw them on her he didn't think they were as cute as he thought they would be. He said these make her look like she has monkey feet...I still think they are mighty cute and best thing about them is that they were made in KOREA!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Cardiology Visit-Overwhelming



We FINALLY had our Cardiology visit at the children's hospital. I called to make the appointment right after we got home from Korea. When I talked to the girl scheduling I told her we needed to have an echo cardiogram. She told me that I would have to bring Isabella in for an appointment and then they would schedule the echo for another day after the visit. I argued with her for a few minutes about it but she would not budge. The day before the appointment they called me back to CANCEL the appointment because Dr. Gordon Mack wanted an echo the same day as the appointment. Really, isn't that what I told the first girl when I scheduled this appointment...Whatever people lets get it together. So she rescheduled the appointment for Wednesday, November 4th. The office visit would be from 10:00-11:00 and then the echo would be from 1:30-2:30. This is all fine except that she could have solids, milk or formula until 8:30 that morning and then clear liquids until 12:00, then nothing. We are talking about a girl that EATS. She likes her meals and her bottles. She really does eat something every two hours. I was freaking out in my mind trying to figure out how we would make it through the day. I didn't tell my husband about the eating because I didn't want him to make up his mind on going based on the miserable level. He decided to go with us. Well I fed her at 8:20 and gave her a bunch of cereal and baby fruit so that it would be with her for a while. We left at 8:45 so that we could drop our boy off at preschool and still make it on time. Once we got there we met with the doctor and a medical student. They were great. They took down her medical history and then discussed with us what was going to happen. She had an EKG and then we got to leave the hospital for a short time before her echo. We went to lunch and thankfully she fell asleep so we didn't feel guilty about eating in front her. Then we got some frozen yogurt with fruit. While my husband was in buying it she woke up. He came out and put it on the armrest between us RIGHT IN HER VISION!!! She grabbed her binki and threw it with force out of her mouth. She saw that yogurt and fruit and wanted some. She started to whimper and look at us. It was awful. (The frozen yogurt and fruit was delicious though) We distracted her and went to geocache at two very close spots because it was not time to go back yet. We also stopped at the Whole Foods store and bought her some pineapple juice. She has not been exposed to juices yet and does not drink them. We tried to give her some cranberry juice about two weeks ago and she was not having that. I thought about it and decided that if I were going to have juice which would be the best to be introduced to and my conclusion was pineapple. I watered it down and put it in her bottle. She was not terribly excited about it but after a few tries and her realizing that was all that was being offered she drank a little bit of it. We went back up to the hospital for the echo cardiogram. They sedated her and started the heart ultrasound. It was quite amazing. I knew that she still had a little hole in there based on some of the measurements I saw the tech taking so I wasn't quite as surprised when we met up with the doctor a little later. Anyhow back to the echo. It went well, she slept through it all. When she was recovered we went down to the cardiology clinic again to see Dr. Mack. He is great. He told us a story about Mongolian spots and his sisters kids. He then told us that she does have a small hole, much smaller than the Korean echo showed. The Korean echo showed an 8cm hole. This one showed that the hole is only 3cm by 2 cm. He said that we should come back in 2 years for a follow up. He said that we do need to remember that if she ever does have an IV that we have to tell them to make sure there are no air bubbles in it because it would be dangerous with the hole in the heart. Also everyone told us that she is absolutely beautiful. When Dr. Mack came into the room he said everyone out at the desk was talking about how she was at the top of the cute scale. He agreed. He was so attentive to her. He said that he and his wife are considering adopting from Korea. The person doing her IV was also awesome. She asked where Isabella was from because we asked if they would hold her for the IV so that we didn't mess up the bonding process, especially right now where she is doing so well. The girl said that she to wanted to adopt and that she has been discussing it with her husband. She was so gentle and quick putting in the IV. Isabella barely fussed and calmed down immediately when I picked her up. What a small world. It is interesting the people that are put into your life.
All in all the day went well. It was stressful, emotional and overwhelming but the results are good. Thanks Heavens!
(Can you believe that I didn't take my camera?)


On a funny note.
We had to go to outpatient registration to get registered for the echo. (I work in health care and am familiar with the questions asked during registration) The girl got to the end and said, "Do you have a religious preference you would like to list?" I said, "No thank you." My husband was only half listening so he said to me, "What did she ask you?" I said, "she wanted to know if we would like to list a religious preference." He looks at the girl and at me and says, "We're Buddhist." No joke he really said it. The girl busted up laughing, hysterically. She could not finish the paperwork because she was doubled over laughing. I looked at him and said, "We are not Buddhist." I looked at the girl and again said, "We are not Buddhist. If any one of us here is Buddhist it's this little girl and she is not practicing..."
Now don't get me wrong I am not against Buddhism. I actually like most of the teachings and I told my husband that I wanted to investigate Buddhism seeing that it is one of the more common religions in Korea but he has decided that investigate and shove down throat have the same meaning.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Happy One Month Anniversary

It was one month ago today that we were given Isabella Eun Jin. It is amazing how fast the time goes by. It seems like we just left Korea.
It has been such a fun month getting to know her. She is such a sweet baby. We just love holding her and letting her pull herself close to us.
She is a very smart baby. She figures things out quickly.
We like that she can feed herself a bottle but that she lets us do it.
She has an adorable way of crawling, usually with both legs straight, sometimes she is lopsided if she is in a hurry and will crawl with one leg bent and one straight.
She absolutely loves her sister and laughed for her first.
She likes to man handle her brother and will fake cry if he is crying because she understands that if he is crying and she is not he will get more attention that she is at the time.
She obviously knows who her mom and dad are.
She sounds like a kitten.
We just love so many things about this girl and feel so lucky to be raising her.