Our travel call could come very soon. Possibly in the next 2 weeks. So we've been working hard at knocking things off our very long list of things to buy in preparation for bringing Leah Jin-Ri home. It's pretty amazing how much stuff you need for just one little baby. I've been at the Babies 'R Us and other stores almost every day buying things, changing my mind, exchanging things, getting price adjustments, etc. At least I'm finally in the buying mode. For a while there, everytime I'd go, I'd wander around the store aimlessly for hours looking at everything, but leave empty-handed and confused. It always seemed that we had plenty of time to make these decisions. Now suddenly we're running out of time!
Meanwhile, this is what Jin-Ri's been up to. She loves playing with all her toys. She really enjoys that talking, musical bus that honks and says "an-nyong-ha-se-yo", which means "hello" in Korean.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Strollin' in Style
I found this cute stroller online and it arrived today. It's lightweight at only 18 lbs., folds up easily, and has a cute giraffe pattern.
Meeting Milestones
I did some calling around today and found out that our case has made it through the National Visa Center and our Packet 3 is now on its way to the embassy in Seoul. In adoption speak, NVC logged in, NVC logged out, and P3 are milestone markers, and passing these just gives us an idea that we are still on track in getting Jin-Ri cleared to leave Korea. So we're getting really close now. Things are moving along a lot faster than I had expected, and at this rate, we may get our travel notification at the end of February!
Today, we also received this cute video of Leah Jin-Ri sitting among her toys. It's great to see how easily she goes from sitting to laying down on her stomach and back up to a sitting position again. Not bad for 7 months!
Today, we also received this cute video of Leah Jin-Ri sitting among her toys. It's great to see how easily she goes from sitting to laying down on her stomach and back up to a sitting position again. Not bad for 7 months!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Doin' tummy time
We received notification today that Jin-Ri's emigration permit was approved as of January 30th! There are still many steps left in the process, but we're getting closer and closer to meeting her and bringing her home!
Just for fun, here's an older video of Jin-Ri on her tummy, probably filmed in December, before she learned how to creep and sit up by herself. But you can tell she's getting strong by how she's pushing herself up. She's full of smiles!
Just for fun, here's an older video of Jin-Ri on her tummy, probably filmed in December, before she learned how to creep and sit up by herself. But you can tell she's getting strong by how she's pushing herself up. She's full of smiles!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Bumbo baby
Jin-Ri was 5 months old when we accepted her referral, but we were only given those two photos taken of her taken when she was about 1-2 weeks old. We were so curious what she looked like now and couldn't even imagine it. So we were so happy when we received this cute photo of her taken in a Bumbo seat on December 18th during a well-baby check. She was just a little over 5 months old here, and we couldn't believe how much she had changed from those early photos.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Jumping for joy
Jin-Ri is hilarious to watch when she is bouncing and jumping in her walker. Here are 2 videos filmed in early January. This is one lively and active little girl!
Out of the Blue
Since I was late in starting this blog, I thought I'd do another photo flashback to the day we received our referral of Jin-Ri. It was the afternoon of Friday, December 5th, 2008. I had to stay home all day because I had several different appointments scheduled with floor companies that were coming to give estimates for sanding and refinishing our scratched foyer floor (that's a whole other story). One guy had just left and there was about an hour to go before the next appointment. I don't think the doorbell even rang because I would have heard it, so I was surprised to see a Fed-Ex envelope sitting there when I opened up the door to let the next flooring guy in. I took one look at the return address on the envelope and I knew what it was. Even though it was all I could think about, I had to put it aside while I dealt with the floor guy. But when he took a few minutes to make his calculations, I couldn't help myself, I ripped open the envelope to see what was in it. As I quickly flipped through the pages, there she was.
Here are the first photos I saw of Jin-Ri. It took me a minute to process the whole thing, but I thought she was so cute and tiny and perfect.
So we didn't get "The Call" that everyone talks about in adoption circles. I had always expected that someone would call us to present our referral, but nope, we just got a surprise package in the door one day, out of the blue. And doesn't it just figure that John was out of town for that weekend. He rarely has to travel for business during the weekend, but on that particular weekend, of all times, he was in Zurich and wasn't going to be home until Sunday night, not to mention that his cell phone wasn't working there.
It was almost midnight in Zurich, and I knew he was planning to meet up with his friend, AJ, so I found his number and gave him a call, but he didn't answer. A few minutes later, AJ called back and I told him to tell John to give me a call because I had a big surprise for him. John hurried back to his hotel, and he then had his own share of technical difficulties trying to get his laptop to work so he could look at the e-mail I sent him. It's sure a good thing for all this technology today, or he would have had to wait until Sunday night to see her for himself. So after 13 months of waiting for our referral, our first moment of seeing our daughter and reviewing her file together was from across the ocean.
Here are the first photos I saw of Jin-Ri. It took me a minute to process the whole thing, but I thought she was so cute and tiny and perfect.
So we didn't get "The Call" that everyone talks about in adoption circles. I had always expected that someone would call us to present our referral, but nope, we just got a surprise package in the door one day, out of the blue. And doesn't it just figure that John was out of town for that weekend. He rarely has to travel for business during the weekend, but on that particular weekend, of all times, he was in Zurich and wasn't going to be home until Sunday night, not to mention that his cell phone wasn't working there.
It was almost midnight in Zurich, and I knew he was planning to meet up with his friend, AJ, so I found his number and gave him a call, but he didn't answer. A few minutes later, AJ called back and I told him to tell John to give me a call because I had a big surprise for him. John hurried back to his hotel, and he then had his own share of technical difficulties trying to get his laptop to work so he could look at the e-mail I sent him. It's sure a good thing for all this technology today, or he would have had to wait until Sunday night to see her for himself. So after 13 months of waiting for our referral, our first moment of seeing our daughter and reviewing her file together was from across the ocean.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Sitting is fun, but standing is even better
She looks like she just woke up here, a little puffy, but excited for a new day. The barking sounds always make her smile.
Enjoying her new techie toys
Jin-Ri has the hiccups at first, but then starts enjoying the Baby Einstein musical duck (she even dances for a few seconds) and her new V-tech talking phone toy. That phone sure looks huge next to her.
Jin-Ri turns 7 months on Feb. 8th! Happy 7 months to Jin-Ri!
Jin-Ri turns 7 months on Feb. 8th! Happy 7 months to Jin-Ri!
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