It's been another busy few weeks in our household, but we've been having lots of fun. The weather has been unbearable some days, but overall we've been enjoying the summer and getting out with Alex to visit family and friends.
A few weeks ago, we had a wonderful afternoon in London for our niece, Sarah's birthday. We met them at a park in London with a great splash pad and Alex had a riot running through the water with his cousins and us. It's amazing how much he loves water... he'll get right into the thick of the spray and giggle his little head off. People kept watching him and laughing as he'd run up to some of the posts with the water spraying him right in the face, and he'd turn around and giggle and then run back over and over again.
We were also able to get to Kingston for a few days over the long weekend and had lots of fun there. Alex enjoyed spending time with his grandparents and everyone else, and he is also getting more comfortable about us leaving him for a bit with family members (I think the longest we left him with anyone was about 20 minutes... one day we'll get up the nerve to actually go see a movie or something). Of course, no trip anywhere is complete for Alex unless he gets to play in water, and he got to do lots of that in Kingston, both at the beach and also at a local splashpad.
Alex is also clearly focused on feeding himself instead of having us feed him, which is a challenge to find foods he can pick up himself, but that he can actually eat with only four teeth. I think my family was amazed, not only by how much he could eat at times, but also how much of it could get on his face, in his hair, down in his chair and often spread around the general area where he was sitting.
I've put up a new family album with photos from the past month in case you want to see what we've all be up to.
Saturday, August 6, 2005
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Fun with Food (or How to Survive on Air)
It's been a little while since I've had the time to do an update, so I've added a new album with a few pictures from this past weekend.
Alex is doing really well. He's trying to talk a bit more, and is signing a few things as well, so it's fun to see him trying to communicate a bit.
We just finished our six month updates with our social worker, so now we wait for the final bit of paperwork to be processed before Alex will officially be ours. It's exciting to be moving onto these final bits of the process before Alex's adoption will be finalized and then become a Canadian citizen.
This past weekend we went to a big picnic hosted by another family that adopted a child from Korea. They've hosted this picnic each summer for the past five years, and it gets bigger each year from what I was told. This year, there were over 100 adults and kids there, so it was tons of fun and we got to meet some truly wonderful people. Alex had a great time, and by 7:00 he'd collapsed in his Dad's arms after a bottle, so we packed him up and took him back home and got him into bed.
We got a chance to visit today with Alex's Great Uncle Joe and it was a lovely visit. Alex warmed up pretty quickly and was soon toddling around the house and trying to look in drawers, cabinets and cupboards.
It's also interesting to see how much Alex's personality is beginning to change a bit. He's showing a bit more of a temper if he's frustrated or denied something, and his eating habits vary dramatically from day to day. In talking to other parents, we're learning this is very typical for kids his age, but it is distressing to watch him push away meals he loved only a few days before, so we're doing a lot of trial and error to see what he feels like. One thing that seems to be happening is that he really wants to feed himself, or use his own spoon, so that's changing the types of food we give him, but it's a normal expression of his emerging independence, so it's a natural change for him to be going through.
Alex is doing really well. He's trying to talk a bit more, and is signing a few things as well, so it's fun to see him trying to communicate a bit.
We just finished our six month updates with our social worker, so now we wait for the final bit of paperwork to be processed before Alex will officially be ours. It's exciting to be moving onto these final bits of the process before Alex's adoption will be finalized and then become a Canadian citizen.
This past weekend we went to a big picnic hosted by another family that adopted a child from Korea. They've hosted this picnic each summer for the past five years, and it gets bigger each year from what I was told. This year, there were over 100 adults and kids there, so it was tons of fun and we got to meet some truly wonderful people. Alex had a great time, and by 7:00 he'd collapsed in his Dad's arms after a bottle, so we packed him up and took him back home and got him into bed.
We got a chance to visit today with Alex's Great Uncle Joe and it was a lovely visit. Alex warmed up pretty quickly and was soon toddling around the house and trying to look in drawers, cabinets and cupboards.
It's also interesting to see how much Alex's personality is beginning to change a bit. He's showing a bit more of a temper if he's frustrated or denied something, and his eating habits vary dramatically from day to day. In talking to other parents, we're learning this is very typical for kids his age, but it is distressing to watch him push away meals he loved only a few days before, so we're doing a lot of trial and error to see what he feels like. One thing that seems to be happening is that he really wants to feed himself, or use his own spoon, so that's changing the types of food we give him, but it's a normal expression of his emerging independence, so it's a natural change for him to be going through.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Catching Up on the Latest Baby News
June is almost at an end, and we've been so busy with Alex and other things.
We celebrated Alex's first birthday two weeks ago and also got a chance a few days after that to get Alex's formal first birthday portraits done, so we now have adorable pictures of him in his hanbok and new jean shorts, which he received as a birthday present (photos in a new album called “First Birthday Portraits”.
Our biggest event recently was our first trip to the hospital with Alex. He'd come down with a fever at the beginning of this week, and it had varied between 37.5 (99.5º) and 39.5º (103º) with a few times of it being back to normal. His appetite was also off, and his normally easy going and happy personality wasn't always there and he was fussy and irritable at times. By Thursday he was still not feeling better, so we decided to take him to see his family doctor just to be sure he didn't have an ear infection. The ears and lungs were clear, so it seemed as if it was just a viral infection.
Later that night after he'd gone to bed, he woke up crying inconsolably and he had the beginnings of a rash. His fever was down, but he was obviously in pain or discomfort and couldn't settle to sleep. He finally fell asleep (we resorted to taking him for a ride in the car) and then slept at home for only 45 minutes before waking up crying again. When I went to change him, I noted that his diaper was still dry, so that meant he'd gone about 5 hours without a wet diaper, which caused us to worry there might be some type of blockage.
We headed off to our local hospital and they got us in right away to see a doctor. They had Alex wearing a small bag to try to catch any urine so they could test for an infection, but it was 7:00 a.m. before he went pee, which meant he'd gone 12 hours with a dry diaper. They were concerned about a few things so they decided to admit us to the Peds unit for the day to wait for his blood and urine tests to come back.
Everyone at the hospital was amazing, but it was still so stressful to have Alex sick enough to be admitted, even for only a few hours, to the hospital. The test results were pretty good, so it was determined that he was probably suffering from a reaction to the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine he’d received about 10 days prior. We’re still waiting on some cultures to be done to rule out a throat or bladder infection, but the MMR reaction seems the most likely cause at this point. Kathy is convinced her diagnosis of Roseola (a viral infection causing fever and rash) is the cause, so we’ll just have to see who’s right when we see the doctor again at the hospital on Sunday morning.
Aside from that scary episode, Alex has been such fun to have around. He’s still walking like crazy and he understands so much that it’s actually surprising us at times. He’s now saying a few more words and is signing a few things as well. It’s surprising what words he picks up as we’ve been trying to get him to say some things without any luck, but then other times he seems to learn a new word without any effort. I had just given him a bottle the other day and while changing him, he’d let out a cute little burp. I grinned at him and said, “did you just burp?” to which he joyfully replied, “BURP” and that’s now one of the words he likes to use. He also says “up” and “bye bye” and knows where his eyes, ears, nose, toes, mouth, teeth and head are, so it’s fun to play different games with him getting him to do those things.
Well, I’m off to get something for dinner. Sorry for the delay in posting all of these journal entries and I’ll try to be better about getting news to you more regularly.
We celebrated Alex's first birthday two weeks ago and also got a chance a few days after that to get Alex's formal first birthday portraits done, so we now have adorable pictures of him in his hanbok and new jean shorts, which he received as a birthday present (photos in a new album called “First Birthday Portraits”.
Our biggest event recently was our first trip to the hospital with Alex. He'd come down with a fever at the beginning of this week, and it had varied between 37.5 (99.5º) and 39.5º (103º) with a few times of it being back to normal. His appetite was also off, and his normally easy going and happy personality wasn't always there and he was fussy and irritable at times. By Thursday he was still not feeling better, so we decided to take him to see his family doctor just to be sure he didn't have an ear infection. The ears and lungs were clear, so it seemed as if it was just a viral infection.
Later that night after he'd gone to bed, he woke up crying inconsolably and he had the beginnings of a rash. His fever was down, but he was obviously in pain or discomfort and couldn't settle to sleep. He finally fell asleep (we resorted to taking him for a ride in the car) and then slept at home for only 45 minutes before waking up crying again. When I went to change him, I noted that his diaper was still dry, so that meant he'd gone about 5 hours without a wet diaper, which caused us to worry there might be some type of blockage.
We headed off to our local hospital and they got us in right away to see a doctor. They had Alex wearing a small bag to try to catch any urine so they could test for an infection, but it was 7:00 a.m. before he went pee, which meant he'd gone 12 hours with a dry diaper. They were concerned about a few things so they decided to admit us to the Peds unit for the day to wait for his blood and urine tests to come back.
Everyone at the hospital was amazing, but it was still so stressful to have Alex sick enough to be admitted, even for only a few hours, to the hospital. The test results were pretty good, so it was determined that he was probably suffering from a reaction to the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine he’d received about 10 days prior. We’re still waiting on some cultures to be done to rule out a throat or bladder infection, but the MMR reaction seems the most likely cause at this point. Kathy is convinced her diagnosis of Roseola (a viral infection causing fever and rash) is the cause, so we’ll just have to see who’s right when we see the doctor again at the hospital on Sunday morning.
Aside from that scary episode, Alex has been such fun to have around. He’s still walking like crazy and he understands so much that it’s actually surprising us at times. He’s now saying a few more words and is signing a few things as well. It’s surprising what words he picks up as we’ve been trying to get him to say some things without any luck, but then other times he seems to learn a new word without any effort. I had just given him a bottle the other day and while changing him, he’d let out a cute little burp. I grinned at him and said, “did you just burp?” to which he joyfully replied, “BURP” and that’s now one of the words he likes to use. He also says “up” and “bye bye” and knows where his eyes, ears, nose, toes, mouth, teeth and head are, so it’s fun to play different games with him getting him to do those things.
Well, I’m off to get something for dinner. Sorry for the delay in posting all of these journal entries and I’ll try to be better about getting news to you more regularly.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Alex's Tol (First Birthday) Celebration
It's hard to believe that Alex is now a year old. He turned one on June 11, 2005 and we celebrated with a party on June 12.
On his birthday, we went into Toronto to have a special Korean lunch to celebrate, and also to pick up some items for the party such as Kimchi, yummy walnut cakes (addictive little treats) and the rice cakes and decorations for the Toljabee table.
We’d already decorate the room we were using for the party, so it was just some last minute running around before we got Alex settled for bed before his big day. We were so lucky to have been offered the use of a party room by our cousin, Patti as it would have been impossible to have the party in our home. Not only is our place pretty small, but with one of our niece’s allergy to cats and her asthma, we didn’t want to take a chance of having the party here. The place was perfect for our group, and we are so grateful for Patti’s help in making the party possible for us.
The party was lots of fun and some family and friends joined us for the big day. It was great to see everyone and celebrate Alex's special day with so many people that had come from places like London, Kingston, Toronto, Whitby and Mississauga to celebrate with us.
In Korean tradition, a child's first birthday is of special significance, so we tried to honour that with our plans for Alex's party. We performed a small ceremony called the Toljabee that is supposed to foretell a child's destiny. In this ceremony, items with special significance are placed on a table before the child and his father then leads him around so he can select a couple of items. As each item has a specific meaning, the first two items he picks up (not just touches) are said to foretell his future.
For Alex, we included some items that are traditional items, including a bow and arrow (he'll have much courage/be a warrior), Korean money (he will be wealthy), rice cakes and dried dates (many descendents). We also included items of personal significance to us such as a stethoscope (he'll be a vet or doctor), a computer mouse (he'll work with technology), a globe (for a love of travel) and an artist's paint brush (for being an artist or creative).
Alex chose the paint brush first and then the computer mouse, so we assume he'll be both creative and technically minded... perhaps a graphic designer?
We then opened some presents and shared a nice lunch with everyone before having some cake. When we ordered the cake from our local grocery store, they gave us a small free one to use if we wanted Alex to be able to stick his hands in it. We thought that would be fun, and we've included some pictures in the "Birthday Celebrations" photo album.
After the party, we cleaned up the room and took Alex home. He was asleep before the car was even out of the parking lot and he slept all the way home. Chris decided to let him sleep in the car while he emptied it out, so we just kept the doors open and Chris stayed outside putting together some of his toys while he dozed peacefully in the car seat.
After he woke up, we decided to let him play outside for a bit with his new toys and he really had fun running around naked (Chris’ idea *grins*) and playing with the new water table his Aunt Jenny gave him and playing in the pool that his Grandma and Grandpa gave him.
Soon after that, it was time for dinner and then it was off to bed for the whole family as we were all pretty exhausted from the long, but very fun, day.
On his birthday, we went into Toronto to have a special Korean lunch to celebrate, and also to pick up some items for the party such as Kimchi, yummy walnut cakes (addictive little treats) and the rice cakes and decorations for the Toljabee table.
We’d already decorate the room we were using for the party, so it was just some last minute running around before we got Alex settled for bed before his big day. We were so lucky to have been offered the use of a party room by our cousin, Patti as it would have been impossible to have the party in our home. Not only is our place pretty small, but with one of our niece’s allergy to cats and her asthma, we didn’t want to take a chance of having the party here. The place was perfect for our group, and we are so grateful for Patti’s help in making the party possible for us.
The party was lots of fun and some family and friends joined us for the big day. It was great to see everyone and celebrate Alex's special day with so many people that had come from places like London, Kingston, Toronto, Whitby and Mississauga to celebrate with us.
In Korean tradition, a child's first birthday is of special significance, so we tried to honour that with our plans for Alex's party. We performed a small ceremony called the Toljabee that is supposed to foretell a child's destiny. In this ceremony, items with special significance are placed on a table before the child and his father then leads him around so he can select a couple of items. As each item has a specific meaning, the first two items he picks up (not just touches) are said to foretell his future.
For Alex, we included some items that are traditional items, including a bow and arrow (he'll have much courage/be a warrior), Korean money (he will be wealthy), rice cakes and dried dates (many descendents). We also included items of personal significance to us such as a stethoscope (he'll be a vet or doctor), a computer mouse (he'll work with technology), a globe (for a love of travel) and an artist's paint brush (for being an artist or creative).
Alex chose the paint brush first and then the computer mouse, so we assume he'll be both creative and technically minded... perhaps a graphic designer?
We then opened some presents and shared a nice lunch with everyone before having some cake. When we ordered the cake from our local grocery store, they gave us a small free one to use if we wanted Alex to be able to stick his hands in it. We thought that would be fun, and we've included some pictures in the "Birthday Celebrations" photo album.
After the party, we cleaned up the room and took Alex home. He was asleep before the car was even out of the parking lot and he slept all the way home. Chris decided to let him sleep in the car while he emptied it out, so we just kept the doors open and Chris stayed outside putting together some of his toys while he dozed peacefully in the car seat.
After he woke up, we decided to let him play outside for a bit with his new toys and he really had fun running around naked (Chris’ idea *grins*) and playing with the new water table his Aunt Jenny gave him and playing in the pool that his Grandma and Grandpa gave him.
Soon after that, it was time for dinner and then it was off to bed for the whole family as we were all pretty exhausted from the long, but very fun, day.
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Thank Heavens for Steam Cleaners
Alex is changing so much as he draws closer to his first birthday. It seems like he’s learning something new each day and it’s so exciting and fun for all of us. He’s also often doing things that makes both Chris and I laugh out loud, and it’s so cute when he does something funny as he seems to enjoy making us laugh as well.
The other day when I was out for the evening, Chris was going to give Alex his bath (which he loves!) and I’d suggested that Chris give Alex a bit of time without clothes on after the bath (so the moisturizer we use would soak in before he was put into his sleeper). In my mind, that meant Chris would put Alex in his diaper after the bath but would give it a few minutes before he put on the sleeper. What Chris understood was that he should leave Alex naked for a bit, so that’s exactly what he did.
Chris was tidying up the bathroom while Alex wandered around naked in the upstairs hallway when Chris heard the distinctive sound of liquid hitting carpet. He looked out to see Alex standing in the middle of the hallway, with his hands up in the air as if he was being robbed as he gazed down in curiosity to see where the liquid was coming from! When he couldn’t figure it out, he then turned around a few times to get a better view which meant he had a little fountain of pee arcing around him. Once Chris stopped laughing he was able to get Alex covered up and then cleaned up the mess (thank heavens we already owned a steam cleaner).
The other day when I was out for the evening, Chris was going to give Alex his bath (which he loves!) and I’d suggested that Chris give Alex a bit of time without clothes on after the bath (so the moisturizer we use would soak in before he was put into his sleeper). In my mind, that meant Chris would put Alex in his diaper after the bath but would give it a few minutes before he put on the sleeper. What Chris understood was that he should leave Alex naked for a bit, so that’s exactly what he did.
Chris was tidying up the bathroom while Alex wandered around naked in the upstairs hallway when Chris heard the distinctive sound of liquid hitting carpet. He looked out to see Alex standing in the middle of the hallway, with his hands up in the air as if he was being robbed as he gazed down in curiosity to see where the liquid was coming from! When he couldn’t figure it out, he then turned around a few times to get a better view which meant he had a little fountain of pee arcing around him. Once Chris stopped laughing he was able to get Alex covered up and then cleaned up the mess (thank heavens we already owned a steam cleaner).
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Disney and Beyond
It's been way too long since I've had the time to sit down and upload some pictures and write a journal entry.
Life with Alex continues to be a joy and a delight. He's such a happy baby and we're so grateful to have him in our family.
Alex is now walking full tilt about 95% of the time. He often looks like a drunken sailor, but he's actually pretty darned good at getting around on two feet now. We bought him the cutest pair of sandals for our trip to Walt Disney World, and once he got used to wearing them, he's been doing great walking around outside as well.
Chris and I had been busy for the past few weeks working on plans for Alex's upcoming Tol (first birthday party) as well as our trip to Disney with Kathy, Steve and the girls.
We just got back last night after spending 5 days at Walt Disney World (WDW) and we had a great time.
We had gone down to Buffalo the night before our flight because of the potential delays at the border. Our crossing went pretty smoothly as we had all of Alex's paperwork with us. He was great in the hotel and slept through most of the night and was ready to get going to Disney early the next morning.
The flight down was a dream, with Alex falling asleep about 5 minutes after take-off on the first leg of the trip and he slept right through the flight and stop-over in Baltimore and only woke up about 30 minutes into the flight to Orlando. He was great on the flight and kept the people around us entertained by flirting with them and giggling lots.
We arrived in WDW after a long day of travel and checked into our hotel and quickly met up with Kathy, Steve, Jennifer and Sarah for a light dinner at our hotel. After a short walk around the grounds, we headed off to our room around 8:30 to get settled as it was to be an early morning at the Magic Kingdom the next day.
With Kathy's expert planning and knowledge of the parks, we headed straight to ride Dumbo with Alex and the girls (pictures in the latest photo album), and then also got to go on Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh's Big Adventure and It's a Small World. Alex LOVED them all and spent the time clapping to the music or gazing around at all of the sights in the rides. From there, we were also able to have Chris ride Space Mountain with Jennifer twice, and also we got to go on Splash Mountain with Jennifer (Alex was asleep in his stroller and being watched by Kathy at the time), and then we went to have lunch at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and his friends.
The lunch was lots of fun, if a bit chaotic at times, and we then headed out to see Mickey's PhilharMagic (3D movie) and then went to get Alex's hair cut at the barbershop in Disney before doing a bit of shopping on Main Street. We'd read about the barbershop online and learned that they would do a baby's first haircut and also give us a keepsake certificate and give him special "first haircut" Mickey ears, so that was one thing on our major "must do" list.
After that, we headed over to Kathy & Steve's hotel for an afternoon of relaxing in the room and swimming in the hotel's amazing pool. From there, it was out to celebrate Jennifer's 10th birthday at a nice dinner before taking a boat across the water to MGM Studios to ride the Tower of Terror with Jennifer.
After that busy day, we got back to our hotel room and pretty much collapsed.
The next day was much quieter as we spent it at Epcot doing only a few of the new or big rides. We got to ride Mission Space with Jennifer (Kathy and Steve were off with Sarah in another area of the park and Chris and I used Disney's amazing 'baby-swap' process to be able to both get a chance to ride, while one of us stayed with Alex in a play area). We all LOVED that ride and it's a shame that it tends to make so many people sick as it's a lot of fun. From there, Jennifer and Chris went onto Test Track and then we headed over to the new "Soaring" ride they just opened up at Epcot. The ride simulates a hangliding trip through different areas of California and it was lots of fun for everyone.
From there, we went back to check into our hotel (both families had switched hotels for the last two nights so we could all stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge) and went for a swim and had a nap before having dinner at a wonderful restaurant in the hotel. Unfortunately, before we could even really start our meal, Alex got a bit sick so we took him back to the room and had a quiet night in. Alex had a fever on and off that night and wasn't hungry at all, but overall he was doing pretty well. We stayed in all of the next morning to be sure Alex was okay and then headed over to the Animal Kingdom Park for an hour to do two rides (the Safari and River Rapid ride). From there, it was back to the hotel for a nap or swim for everyone, and then we headed over to the Polynesian Resort for our last Disney dinner.
After dinner we walked around the hotel's grounds and Alex got to play in a fountain/splash pad and he had a great time getting soaked. After that, it was another pretty quiet night with lots of packing and organizing for both families.
We had time the next morning for a breakfast with the nieces and a final swim together before they had to head out for their flight home. Chris and I relaxed a bit more around the hotel before heading out for our own flight home that afternoon.
It was a wonderful trip, but it was certainly nice to get home and to be able to sleep in our own beds again.
We now have a few weeks before Alex's first birthday... the time seems to have just flown by and our little baby already seems like he's more little boy than infant. We're having such fun with him and enjoying all he's learning to do, but it's also a bit overwhelming to think how fast he's growing up and changing. I'm sure all parents feel that sense of time speeding by, but perhaps it's more acute when you've already missed so much of their first year before they were home with you.
I'll try to be better about posting pictures more regularly and writing more frequent updates. Bye for now.
Life with Alex continues to be a joy and a delight. He's such a happy baby and we're so grateful to have him in our family.
Alex is now walking full tilt about 95% of the time. He often looks like a drunken sailor, but he's actually pretty darned good at getting around on two feet now. We bought him the cutest pair of sandals for our trip to Walt Disney World, and once he got used to wearing them, he's been doing great walking around outside as well.
Chris and I had been busy for the past few weeks working on plans for Alex's upcoming Tol (first birthday party) as well as our trip to Disney with Kathy, Steve and the girls.
We just got back last night after spending 5 days at Walt Disney World (WDW) and we had a great time.
We had gone down to Buffalo the night before our flight because of the potential delays at the border. Our crossing went pretty smoothly as we had all of Alex's paperwork with us. He was great in the hotel and slept through most of the night and was ready to get going to Disney early the next morning.
The flight down was a dream, with Alex falling asleep about 5 minutes after take-off on the first leg of the trip and he slept right through the flight and stop-over in Baltimore and only woke up about 30 minutes into the flight to Orlando. He was great on the flight and kept the people around us entertained by flirting with them and giggling lots.
We arrived in WDW after a long day of travel and checked into our hotel and quickly met up with Kathy, Steve, Jennifer and Sarah for a light dinner at our hotel. After a short walk around the grounds, we headed off to our room around 8:30 to get settled as it was to be an early morning at the Magic Kingdom the next day.
With Kathy's expert planning and knowledge of the parks, we headed straight to ride Dumbo with Alex and the girls (pictures in the latest photo album), and then also got to go on Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh's Big Adventure and It's a Small World. Alex LOVED them all and spent the time clapping to the music or gazing around at all of the sights in the rides. From there, we were also able to have Chris ride Space Mountain with Jennifer twice, and also we got to go on Splash Mountain with Jennifer (Alex was asleep in his stroller and being watched by Kathy at the time), and then we went to have lunch at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and his friends.
The lunch was lots of fun, if a bit chaotic at times, and we then headed out to see Mickey's PhilharMagic (3D movie) and then went to get Alex's hair cut at the barbershop in Disney before doing a bit of shopping on Main Street. We'd read about the barbershop online and learned that they would do a baby's first haircut and also give us a keepsake certificate and give him special "first haircut" Mickey ears, so that was one thing on our major "must do" list.
After that, we headed over to Kathy & Steve's hotel for an afternoon of relaxing in the room and swimming in the hotel's amazing pool. From there, it was out to celebrate Jennifer's 10th birthday at a nice dinner before taking a boat across the water to MGM Studios to ride the Tower of Terror with Jennifer.
After that busy day, we got back to our hotel room and pretty much collapsed.
The next day was much quieter as we spent it at Epcot doing only a few of the new or big rides. We got to ride Mission Space with Jennifer (Kathy and Steve were off with Sarah in another area of the park and Chris and I used Disney's amazing 'baby-swap' process to be able to both get a chance to ride, while one of us stayed with Alex in a play area). We all LOVED that ride and it's a shame that it tends to make so many people sick as it's a lot of fun. From there, Jennifer and Chris went onto Test Track and then we headed over to the new "Soaring" ride they just opened up at Epcot. The ride simulates a hangliding trip through different areas of California and it was lots of fun for everyone.
From there, we went back to check into our hotel (both families had switched hotels for the last two nights so we could all stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge) and went for a swim and had a nap before having dinner at a wonderful restaurant in the hotel. Unfortunately, before we could even really start our meal, Alex got a bit sick so we took him back to the room and had a quiet night in. Alex had a fever on and off that night and wasn't hungry at all, but overall he was doing pretty well. We stayed in all of the next morning to be sure Alex was okay and then headed over to the Animal Kingdom Park for an hour to do two rides (the Safari and River Rapid ride). From there, it was back to the hotel for a nap or swim for everyone, and then we headed over to the Polynesian Resort for our last Disney dinner.
After dinner we walked around the hotel's grounds and Alex got to play in a fountain/splash pad and he had a great time getting soaked. After that, it was another pretty quiet night with lots of packing and organizing for both families.
We had time the next morning for a breakfast with the nieces and a final swim together before they had to head out for their flight home. Chris and I relaxed a bit more around the hotel before heading out for our own flight home that afternoon.
It was a wonderful trip, but it was certainly nice to get home and to be able to sleep in our own beds again.
We now have a few weeks before Alex's first birthday... the time seems to have just flown by and our little baby already seems like he's more little boy than infant. We're having such fun with him and enjoying all he's learning to do, but it's also a bit overwhelming to think how fast he's growing up and changing. I'm sure all parents feel that sense of time speeding by, but perhaps it's more acute when you've already missed so much of their first year before they were home with you.
I'll try to be better about posting pictures more regularly and writing more frequent updates. Bye for now.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
He's Growing Up So Fast
We've now reached a few crucial milestones with our sweet Alex. He turned 10 months old and also reached the three-month mark since he's been home with us. On April 15 (3 months exactly since our "Gotcha" Day), Alex took his first "real" steps. While we're thrilled beyond words at how exciting this step is, I can't help but feel that the time is passing so quickly.
When Alex arrived here, he was really only drinking bottled formula and a bit of rice cereal and was sitting up, but would still topple over from time to time. Soon after he came home, he was doing the soldier crawl, and it feels like we've just whizzed through the stage of him crawling, then crab walking, then cruising along furniture, to taking his own steps now. I'm sure it's the same for all parents, and we all wish there was a *pause* button we could use for different stages, but it's still bittersweet to have Alex turning into a little boy so quickly.
For the past few weeks, Alex had been letting go of furniture and toppling forward, but I didn't count it as real steps because it was more forward momentum, or falling forward while you take a step or two, and not an actual attempt at getting from one place to the next on somewhat steady feet.
In the newest album, I have pictures of his first steps (with him grinning and squealing in delight the entire time lol), and at that time, he could do 2-3 steps before resorting to a crawl or losing his balance. Now, only a couple of days later, he's able to walk across the family room, and can even correct himself if he starts to lose his balance. Granted, our family room isn't huge and he falls an awful lot still, but it's still so amazing to us to watch his progression and learning from day to day (The second set of walking pictures were from tonight where he was walking across the room to me - not sure what the interest in the sock is, but he seemed to have fun putting it from his hand to his mouth as he walked *chuckles*).
We've also been having fun with Alex learning to point out things like our nose, eyes, mouth, etc. He's picking up new things everyday, and he seems to understand so much now. He understands if I ask for a kiss or a hug, and it almost makes me cry each time he cuddles up for a hug from either of us.
We've been out and about with Alex a bit over the past couple of weeks. We attended another Seoul-Mates gathering (playgroup for families adopting from/who have adopted from Korea), and that was lots of fun, although we didn't get as much time to visit with people as we'd have liked to as we had plans in Toronto that day as well.
We've seen Grandma Rice a couple of times in Toronto since she's been in town for the past week, and we also got a chance to see Chris' sister, her daughters and her boyfriend. Our niece, Sarah (on Chris' side of the family - so you're not confused), has decided to do a speech for her school project on how she got a cousin from South Korea, so she's been busy gathering information on the adoption, and pictures of Alex.
We also had a delightful dinner with friends of ours, Willem and Christine who also adopted a baby from Korea. They are one of the first couples we met in this process, and we've kept in touch ever since. Their son (also named Alex) is now 19 months old and he's an absolute doll. We met up in Cambridge and went out for a Korean dinner at a new local restaurant. The staff were all so nice to us and the boys, and the food was wonderful. I included a couple of pictures from that dinner in the newest album.
Our only other big news at this time is that we'll be going to Walt Disney World in 3 weeks. Kathy, Steve and the girls will be down there for 9 days, so we're flying down and spending 4 days with them at the parks. It'll be Jennifer's 10th birthday there, so we've promised to take her onto the Tower of Terror!
When Alex arrived here, he was really only drinking bottled formula and a bit of rice cereal and was sitting up, but would still topple over from time to time. Soon after he came home, he was doing the soldier crawl, and it feels like we've just whizzed through the stage of him crawling, then crab walking, then cruising along furniture, to taking his own steps now. I'm sure it's the same for all parents, and we all wish there was a *pause* button we could use for different stages, but it's still bittersweet to have Alex turning into a little boy so quickly.
For the past few weeks, Alex had been letting go of furniture and toppling forward, but I didn't count it as real steps because it was more forward momentum, or falling forward while you take a step or two, and not an actual attempt at getting from one place to the next on somewhat steady feet.
In the newest album, I have pictures of his first steps (with him grinning and squealing in delight the entire time lol), and at that time, he could do 2-3 steps before resorting to a crawl or losing his balance. Now, only a couple of days later, he's able to walk across the family room, and can even correct himself if he starts to lose his balance. Granted, our family room isn't huge and he falls an awful lot still, but it's still so amazing to us to watch his progression and learning from day to day (The second set of walking pictures were from tonight where he was walking across the room to me - not sure what the interest in the sock is, but he seemed to have fun putting it from his hand to his mouth as he walked *chuckles*).
We've also been having fun with Alex learning to point out things like our nose, eyes, mouth, etc. He's picking up new things everyday, and he seems to understand so much now. He understands if I ask for a kiss or a hug, and it almost makes me cry each time he cuddles up for a hug from either of us.
We've been out and about with Alex a bit over the past couple of weeks. We attended another Seoul-Mates gathering (playgroup for families adopting from/who have adopted from Korea), and that was lots of fun, although we didn't get as much time to visit with people as we'd have liked to as we had plans in Toronto that day as well.
We've seen Grandma Rice a couple of times in Toronto since she's been in town for the past week, and we also got a chance to see Chris' sister, her daughters and her boyfriend. Our niece, Sarah (on Chris' side of the family - so you're not confused), has decided to do a speech for her school project on how she got a cousin from South Korea, so she's been busy gathering information on the adoption, and pictures of Alex.
We also had a delightful dinner with friends of ours, Willem and Christine who also adopted a baby from Korea. They are one of the first couples we met in this process, and we've kept in touch ever since. Their son (also named Alex) is now 19 months old and he's an absolute doll. We met up in Cambridge and went out for a Korean dinner at a new local restaurant. The staff were all so nice to us and the boys, and the food was wonderful. I included a couple of pictures from that dinner in the newest album.
Our only other big news at this time is that we'll be going to Walt Disney World in 3 weeks. Kathy, Steve and the girls will be down there for 9 days, so we're flying down and spending 4 days with them at the parks. It'll be Jennifer's 10th birthday there, so we've promised to take her onto the Tower of Terror!
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