Sunday, September 18, 2011

Coming Home

Or: "It's About Time You Updated the Blog!"

We are curious how many of you will end up reading this.  I assume most have given up on us ever updating the blog and you may have stumbled upon this update by mistake.  Or maybe you figured out a way for Google to notify you when an update occurs, in which case you are smarter than probably 90% of the folks out there!

In any event, we are home and have been home for two weeks now.  As you may have imagined it has taken all of our time and energy to try to get us to where we are today (something that "resembles" a normal schedule with two loving siblings!).

Long story short, and as you will see below I've chosen pictures to speak over too many words, we got an amazing welcome from family and friends when we got to the MSP airport- THANK YOU to all who spent their Saturday nights dealing with airport parking traffic! 

Louis took to his new home very well.  Livia has been a GREAT big sister and we can tell they will get along fantastic once she gets over his high-pitched screeching and occasional hitting (ha!).  In fact, I was just commenting to Tiff at dinner that one day these two are going to be conspiring against us.  It brings a smile to my face just to think of the stuff they'll try to pull!

Louis' challenges have been few, but among them are the screaming, the rough play with the dogs, and needing us in the room for him to fall asleep.  So, all in all, we have been extremely lucky and blessed with a little boy who adjusts well and is fitting right in.  He sleeps through the night (with an occasional fussing), takes only 1 (1.5-2 hour) nap during the day, and likes to have is hair washed!  Very cool, indeed!

Okay, I will throw out some pics now and put them in chronological order so you can see what we've been up to for the last 2 weeks.  It seems like Louis has always been with us, which means he's fitting right in.

Hope all is well on your end- and look for more blog posts as time allows (read: rarely!)...Enjoy the pics:

Out first McDonald's Happy Meal at the Seoul airport!

A play area in the airport...

I took this for cousin Finn- I figured he'd like the name!

Here we are getting all adjusted for the 13+ hour flight to Detroit ahead of us...


It's only been one picture ago we were in Seoul, but here we are in Detroit, waiting for the boarding to begin for Minneapolis
 
In the meantime, Liv and Company were at home preparing for the big arrival

What a great looking cake!

Suckers for all the kids at the airport made the wait that much better.

Finally, we arrived!  It's kind of funny, the picture looks like no one wanted to get too close...



Louis meets Graham


...And Amelia

Big sister Livia is crying, maybe tears of joy?  No, doesn't look like it!


Liv and Louis!


Finally, a hug!


Home sweet home- after a day that began about 30 hours earlier!

The beginnings of a band?  Flute and guitar sound great together-














Nothing like a wagon ride to bring brother and sister together- neither can escape! 

Grandma Jo taking the first pull...


Pop showing Louis how to build a train.








Liv actually wanted to try on this football helmet!

Angela Dubord's 4th birthday- and Louis' first intro to the group!



We thought Louis might benefit from a binky since his teeth are really coming in (he didn't like it).  Liv had to give it a try as well.


And finally, I'll leave you with a video of our little daredevil:

Friday, September 2, 2011

Goodbye from Seoul- See you in the USA!

We are all packed up and ready for the van to take us to Incheon Airport in 45 minutes.  Louis had a great first night (once he fell asleep).  In fact, as someone who gets up 3 times per night to take a bottle, he did pretty well as he slept and slept and slept and didn't wake up once all night.  9:00 am came and we finally had to turn on some lights and make some noise so he'd be stirred awake.

He took a full bottle after he awoke, and has been in true Louis form from then on.  We are optimistic for the long flight as it relates to him, but it's still going to be a tough one, with 14 hours total in a small space while changing 14 timezones. 

For those of you in Minnesota, you are more than welcome to join us in the airport when we arrive Saturday night.  We are on Delta flight 1055 from DTW to MSP, arriving at 8:38 pm.  There is no meeting place, so if you are interested in coming, just meet us at the baggage claim carousel for Delta 1055.

Thanks for being there along with us for our journey to Seoul and back.  We will do our best to continue to post pictures and a few words, so have patience!

Here are a few pics from this morning and final video from Louis to Livia:


These pics were taken at about 8:30 this morning.  He moves around quite a lot, and tosses and turns all night too.  Yes, we all slept in this bed together last night, making even the seats on the Delta flight look roomy!



Our last family self-portrait before the trip home:


And finally, one last video of our new little guy: