So we finally got our travel information for South Korea. Don't get too excited it is just a packet of info telling us what to expect when we get there. We are figuring we have 10-12 months before we travel.
Travelling to countries outside of North America was something I had never done until we went to Ethiopia. It was an awesome experience to be some place new, some place where I wasn't the majority, some place so welcoming and beautiful. I loved Ethiopia. It was an eye opening, life changing moment. You can't go to some place like Ethiopia and see what we saw and not come home a changed more grateful and aware person.
Korea is going to be different from Ethiopia but culture shock all the same. Things are much more formal in Korea. We will be packing dress clothes. As in Dave will need to pack a tie or two and maybe depending on the time of year we travel a sport coat. I will need to pack business attire and/or a dress or two. Who knew.
The trip itself will also be much less structured. In Ethiopia we had an hour by hour itinerary. Korea we will not. We only have to be in Korea for 3 days. We will likely spend a few days before our official arrival date sight seeing.
We want to soak up as much as we can while in Korea and the packet gave us some ideas of things to look into. We have lots of things to figure out like will we stay in the guest house or will be stay at a hotel? Are we going to uses taxis or the subway? Will we dare try McDonald's or Baskin Robbins while there or try and eat mostly Korean food? Which to date I haven't yet tried but no worries I will and I am not at all worried about it. I wasn't really with Ethiopian food either. I knew once we decided to adopt from Ethiopia that I needed to jump in and just be adventurous. I am not typically an adventurous eater but that is changing and my dear husband and my children have helped to broaden my food horizons.
Included in the packet was info about how our first meeting with Sweet Baby K and foster mom will go. I got teary eyed just thinking about it. We will be allowed to photograph and video tape the meeting. It will last about an hour. Baby K will go home with her foster mom after that meeting. We likely won't see her again until the day we are to return home. This was hard to read. Really hard. I am not going to want to let her go once I see her and yet I understand that this will be very emotional for her foster mom as well.
At this time in Korea, it will be almost certain that we will never meet Baby K's birth mother. This breaks my heart but culturally it is not deemed okay at this time. There are steps being taken to maybe change this but as of it that isn't the case. This will be tough. One of my most cherished memories will always be the 20 minutes or so that I was able to be in the same room with Zinash. I won't forget a moment of that meeting. It is something so precious that I can share with Kiya. We can travel to Ethiopia and see her again. I won't be able to do this with Baby K. We will have her foster mom. We plan to cherish that relationship and do with it what we can. It is just different.
Ethiopia and Korea are so very different. Our daughter's stories are so very different and yet we are all a family. We have a tie that binds us all together. It's called love.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Baby Sister
Sweet Baby K also known to Kiya as baby sister is now 6 months old. She is 15.1lbs and over 26 inches long. We got new pictures again this month and are just so in love. Her hair is starting to get really curly and man oh man she is adorable.
That said, Kiya keeps talking about her baby sister. She wants to look at her pictures. She wants to take her to the pond. She wants her home. So do we.
So how in the world do you explain to an almost 3 year old that we have to wait to bring home her baby sister? Kiya knows that she lives far away and will tell us that.
It makes me sad. We understand (sort of) why we have to wait but Kiya doesn't. It is so hard. She really wants to play with her baby sister.
We show her the pictures. We talk about her. We tell Kiya that she lives in Korea with her foster mom and that we have to wait awhile to bring her home. Are we doing the wrong thing? Should we have kept baby sister to ourselves for awhile.....
Why oh why does adoption have to be so hard......
That said, Kiya keeps talking about her baby sister. She wants to look at her pictures. She wants to take her to the pond. She wants her home. So do we.
So how in the world do you explain to an almost 3 year old that we have to wait to bring home her baby sister? Kiya knows that she lives far away and will tell us that.
It makes me sad. We understand (sort of) why we have to wait but Kiya doesn't. It is so hard. She really wants to play with her baby sister.
We show her the pictures. We talk about her. We tell Kiya that she lives in Korea with her foster mom and that we have to wait awhile to bring her home. Are we doing the wrong thing? Should we have kept baby sister to ourselves for awhile.....
Why oh why does adoption have to be so hard......
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
We made it
We all survived our vacation. Traveling with an active toddler is no easy feat. I am pleased to report that Kiya was a fantastic traveller. She did really really great. I was so proud of her and so relieved.
We did have one moment where timeout was necessary in the Denver airport. She tried to run off and thought it was super funny even though we had been very clear how far she could roam.
Here's a list of things we learned on vacation:
1) Kiya is very likely allergic to blueberries. We have suspected as much but it was definitely confirmed. No blueberries, no blueberry yogurt :( I feel bad as she loves them but they just don't agree with her.
2) Nap time is not a necessary thing anymore. It is still preferred by mom and dad and teachers but Kiya seems to be the dictator of this one so we shall see.
3) Children's museums with water rooms are Kiya's absolute most favorite things. She has never had so much fun and she didn't even get wet which is a huge bonus with her cast.
4) Sleeping in a hotel room with a toddler makes for early mornings for the whole family.
5) Baby cereal is GONE! Kiya has now chosen yogurt and fruit for breakfast which is fine with me. She will also eat Total cereal when she feels like it. Next up I might revisit the oatmeal things but for now I am content with her eating yogurt and fruit.
6) Pinkberry=AMAZING
7) We actually found good beer in California. Didn't think it was possible but we did.
8) Kiya loves cheese just not California cheese.
9) We definitely did not have enough time to do all that we wanted to and it may be a few years before we can get back.
10) Family vacation was super fun, tiring and very worthwhile.
We did have one moment where timeout was necessary in the Denver airport. She tried to run off and thought it was super funny even though we had been very clear how far she could roam.
Here's a list of things we learned on vacation:
1) Kiya is very likely allergic to blueberries. We have suspected as much but it was definitely confirmed. No blueberries, no blueberry yogurt :( I feel bad as she loves them but they just don't agree with her.
2) Nap time is not a necessary thing anymore. It is still preferred by mom and dad and teachers but Kiya seems to be the dictator of this one so we shall see.
3) Children's museums with water rooms are Kiya's absolute most favorite things. She has never had so much fun and she didn't even get wet which is a huge bonus with her cast.
4) Sleeping in a hotel room with a toddler makes for early mornings for the whole family.
5) Baby cereal is GONE! Kiya has now chosen yogurt and fruit for breakfast which is fine with me. She will also eat Total cereal when she feels like it. Next up I might revisit the oatmeal things but for now I am content with her eating yogurt and fruit.
6) Pinkberry=AMAZING
7) We actually found good beer in California. Didn't think it was possible but we did.
8) Kiya loves cheese just not California cheese.
9) We definitely did not have enough time to do all that we wanted to and it may be a few years before we can get back.
10) Family vacation was super fun, tiring and very worthwhile.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Vacation check in
So we are few days into our California vacation and so far all is well. Kiya has had some moments but for the most part has been nothing shy of amazing.
She did beyond amazing on both of our flights out here. She was a little loud but at least she was happy loud. She has now had M and M's and she is in love.
She conquered the public restroom with zero issue. She has been stellar in telling us when she has to go potty. Truly amazing really. We haven't attempted airplane bathrooms but we will if need be.
She is sleeping well in her inflatable toddler bed. Naps are mostly in the car but she is doing all right.
We went to the Children's museum today with some old co-workers who have kids Kiya's age and she had so much fun. She was all over the place and the kids were super cute and thanks to a waterproof apron and bib she had an amazing time in the water room and left not wet at all. I was secretly dreading the water room. I read up about it online, I came prepared with her bib. I just wasn't sure if it would work. I looked at the under 4 years old area and said no way. All the kids in that area were soaking wet. Granted they were quite a bit younger than she was but still freaked me out. The older kid area however seemed doable. She had a blast. I am glad I let go a little and let her have fun cast and all. She LOVED it. We have video and the joy was so worth the slight risk of her cast getting wet.
Kiya has been addicted to infant oatmeal/banana cereal. We didn't bring any and nor have we bought any since we have been here. She will willing eat Rice Krispies now. And then there is fruit and her new obsession bread and butter. She can pack that stuff away as we witnessed tonight when she ate almost 3 pieces of sourdough bread with butter. She still ate her fish and even saved room for some vanilla ice cream.
Tomorrow we are heading to the city (San Francisco) for a baseball game and touristy stuff. Another long day so hopefully all will go well.
Three things I am so grateful I bought on amazon that have truly helped make this trip successful are her inflatable toddler bed. It takes a crib sheet, has sides so she won't roll out and came with a pump. Second is the travel bag for her carseat. It fits her Britax seat along with her fuzzy blanket and the toddler travel bed. Lastly, her fold up potty seat. AMAZING. It folds up and fits in a gallon size bag. It has worked in every bathroom from park to restaurant to airport we have tried. It is sturdy, has handles for her to hold on to and would be nearly impossible to pinch her skin and best of all it was less than $10.
I will try and post pics and video soon but that may have to wait until we get back next week. And now back to enjoying my glass of wine while hotel bound with a sound asleep toddler.
She did beyond amazing on both of our flights out here. She was a little loud but at least she was happy loud. She has now had M and M's and she is in love.
She conquered the public restroom with zero issue. She has been stellar in telling us when she has to go potty. Truly amazing really. We haven't attempted airplane bathrooms but we will if need be.
She is sleeping well in her inflatable toddler bed. Naps are mostly in the car but she is doing all right.
We went to the Children's museum today with some old co-workers who have kids Kiya's age and she had so much fun. She was all over the place and the kids were super cute and thanks to a waterproof apron and bib she had an amazing time in the water room and left not wet at all. I was secretly dreading the water room. I read up about it online, I came prepared with her bib. I just wasn't sure if it would work. I looked at the under 4 years old area and said no way. All the kids in that area were soaking wet. Granted they were quite a bit younger than she was but still freaked me out. The older kid area however seemed doable. She had a blast. I am glad I let go a little and let her have fun cast and all. She LOVED it. We have video and the joy was so worth the slight risk of her cast getting wet.
Kiya has been addicted to infant oatmeal/banana cereal. We didn't bring any and nor have we bought any since we have been here. She will willing eat Rice Krispies now. And then there is fruit and her new obsession bread and butter. She can pack that stuff away as we witnessed tonight when she ate almost 3 pieces of sourdough bread with butter. She still ate her fish and even saved room for some vanilla ice cream.
Tomorrow we are heading to the city (San Francisco) for a baseball game and touristy stuff. Another long day so hopefully all will go well.
Three things I am so grateful I bought on amazon that have truly helped make this trip successful are her inflatable toddler bed. It takes a crib sheet, has sides so she won't roll out and came with a pump. Second is the travel bag for her carseat. It fits her Britax seat along with her fuzzy blanket and the toddler travel bed. Lastly, her fold up potty seat. AMAZING. It folds up and fits in a gallon size bag. It has worked in every bathroom from park to restaurant to airport we have tried. It is sturdy, has handles for her to hold on to and would be nearly impossible to pinch her skin and best of all it was less than $10.
I will try and post pics and video soon but that may have to wait until we get back next week. And now back to enjoying my glass of wine while hotel bound with a sound asleep toddler.
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