Rooar.

I feel like a scared mama bear today. We're meeting with the director of a very sweet Montessori school tomorrow. This is great! There are openings. Also great. It's a really good fit for us, and Jin loves his classes at ECFE so I'm pretty sure he'll love "real" school in September. But Jin has a very low-grade fever tonight and the swine flu has given me the hee-bee-jee-beez. SO my logical perspective is out the window and now I want to scrap our meeting and go live in the hills with my sweet little family. Jin can learn to write in the mud with a stick.

Happy Easter!

How does our sweet baby already know that chocolate is not an ordinary food? How does he know that it should be eaten until it makes your scalp tingle? We're on sugar detox. As of right now. I'm hoping to successfully wipe Jin's memory of the precious drug and replace it with a healthy love for broccoli and sunshine.

It was SO nice and warm in Denver. Jin loved not being all bundled up and getting to investigate things without his mittens on.

This picture was taken minutes before Jin and I went to our first day of school. ECFE is wonderful... There was play time, gym time, snack time and then singing time. In this class the parents stay with their child, while chatting up other parents. At one point Jin gave into his instincts and let go of a huge happiness holler.

It's only 10:30 and it feels SO late. Today was tough. Jin's teeth are coming in and making him SOOO miserable. I even took him to the doctor today, and the doc thinks that his teething and sinus gunk are related at this point. I think being outside is a good distraction, so we went to the zoo with my sister Sara and our nephew Joey. It was fun, but the Como zoo makes me a little sad for the animals. The giraffes had nothing except a metal pole to look at, and they were standing on dirty, wet carpet. They had to be depressed. This is the first decent picture we have of the two cousins, and it is not from a lack of trying. We have a whole set of pictures that I'll one day reveal where I had to hold Jin for the picture and I didn't want to be in it, so I put a blanket over my head. Since I'm tired, those pictures seem hilarious right now.

Doesn't it feel nice to be outside??? Jin loves to walk around and explore our yard. He likes to push sticks into the mud and he loves splashing in the puddles. He also enjoys pointing at everyone that passes us. I'll wait until he's done teething before I tell him how rude that is.

My youngest sister just turned 24. She gets wiser and wiser, and she's got one of the softest hearts you'll ever meet. She's got a thing for skulls so I made her a cake. It's a red velvet cake with butter cream frosting. I'm going to be a little vuage about this so I don't get anyone in trouble, but I got the "recipe" for the cake from a very big restaurant company here in Minneapolis. They sell ginormous slices of this lovely cake for a good chunk of change, which I'd always thought to be fair because it tastes so freaking good. This secret recipe should have been kept secret because it's SO LAME... Ok folks, just mix up 6 boxes of yellow cake mix with 1 box of devils food cake mix and add tons of red food coloring. I hate to be a snob, I'm not a foodie, but how disappointing. I was all for an elaborate process where I'd do something like chill the batter for 48 hours before baking, or use cream of tartar, or something... Oh well, it was easy to do and I love'd doing the decorating.

Jin's Jokes

Jin's jokes are happening more and more often now, and my favorite part of his routine is how he just cracks himself up. Today he a found a spoon on the floor and I told him to give his baby some "bites". At first he aimed the spoon right for the baby's mouth, but then he put the spoon in the baby's eye, looked at me and then cracked up. Morbid, huh? This was all repeated with his tigers, his bunnies, Domokun, and Grover.

Oh yeah, he also loves to find his belly button.

***Also, someone from Korea checks this journal almost everyday. I believe and hope it might be Jin's foster parents. It would make me so happy to know who it is that's checking. If you are in Korea, and read this journal, I would be so grateful if you could send me a message.***

Sweetness

Jin is exceptional at licking the batter.

Sock Arms

On Sundays Zander takes care of Jin while I go to yoga in the morning, and then do something fun in the afternoon. Today I went to Saver's and entertained myself for quite some time. I even found Jin 2 new pairs of overalls, which is good because they look so cute on him and if he is wearing overalls, I'm less likely to wear them myself--and I always get strange looks when I wear them. When I come home, I feel refreshed and ready for a week filled with full-time fun with Jin. It's wonderful. Zander and Jin have so much fun together, and I'm always impressed with their games. This game was called sock arms.

Organization

Unfortunately I'm really inadequate when it comes to keeping important papers for more than a few hours at a time. I guess this lackage could extend to things like my cell phone and my car keys, and my favorite underwear. I'm not-so-secretly-jealous of you people out there that always have it all together. Ahem. (Becca, I'm talking to you:)) So when Oprah is running a 20% off coupon at the Container store, I make the trip out to Edina and pretend that I belong in a store like that. Never mind that I have to ask the clerk if I can have the discount without the coupon because mine is somewhere, but not in my pocket where I thought it was. As of this afternoon, my bills, transcripts, health insurance info and lots, lots more are all placed neatly in their properly labeled and color coded file in this lovely filing system. I feel good, and a little smug. I'll never have pieces of mail all over the house again. I won't have to hide my piles when people come over. Jin's adoption will be finalized in a court of law and I'll have a file filled with all the documents that'll prove it. I'm cured. Forever.

Enabling?

Is this enabling? I made one as a Valentine's gift for Zander. Found on the Domestic Scientist.

Now that I check up on facebook from time to time, I sometimes forget to update over here. Jin came down with RSV last week and was one sick little guy! We spent eight days at the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, but are now so happy to be home. He's doing great and we're so, so thankful. He's been saying "mama" this week, and it gets louder and louder, especially when I'm not listening as closely as I should be. It's pretty much adorable. I LOVE Valentine's Day, so we're celebrating at home tomorrow. I'm thinking about making a heart shaped homemade pizza for dinner. We're also thinking about taking Jin over to PetSmart and picking out a goldfish with him.

Handmade Perfume

If any of you out there talk to my husband regularly, maybe you could just not-so-subtly let him know that this would be a really, really, really good Valentine's Day present for a woman that frequently smells like baby formula and diaper ointment. Please throw in how orders need to be placed asap.

The Harmonica

Ok, let's just say that Jin is way more of a talented musician than I am a videographer...

Jin and Julie and Boo and the Tunnel

Julie built Jin a little tunnel/fort at the edge of the sofa today and they had great fun surprising each other at its mouth. Boo declared himself emperor of the tunnel late in the game but that didn't seem to change things much.

Jin Turned One

Jin turned one on Saturday, and I hope he thought it was half as wonderful as I did. He's in a traditional Korean 1st birthday outfit given to him by his foster parents.
This tiger cake was SO fun to put together, and we even had Jin dressed up like a tiger later in the night so he'd match his cake. I think this might be a birthday tradition. Maybe he'll want a Yoda cake and costume for birthday #2?!

Happy Holidays!

Well, it's kinda nice that the hustle and bustle of Christmas is over and now we've got a leisurely weekend to look forward to. We had a fun time over at my mom's house on Christmas eve. Joey was so excited for Christmas, and Jin (with his red cheeks and runny nose) just took it all in from the vantage point of mine or Zander's arms. We also made (and ate) way too much minty bark, and then took Jin out for a little ride in his sled today. He loved it, although he couldn't figure out what to make of his new winter boots from Grandma. He kind of forgot how to walk...

Our Christmas tree is about 3 feet tall and potted. I've heard that if I keep re-potting it, it'll grow as tall as I'd like it to. If I can only just keep it alive, it'll be so cool to have our tree from Jin's first Christmas with us.

Quick One!

I might have 5 or less minutes left of this nap, so this will be a really quick post. Lotsa pictures, not so many words.

Zander's dad is Papa and we love to "call" all the grandparents on my old dead cellphone, many, many times a day...

Jin loves this little pull phone, and he LOVES walking, but I'm not sure he really understands the combination of the two...


Naps over, more later!

Jin is very musical.

The video gets a little experimental towards the end, but the shouts of happiness are worth it.

So Happy to be Home!

Doesn't he have the cutest laugh?

Firsts...

So many firsts around this house... Here's Jin's first meal, and I'm sorry to say that we forgot to put a bib on him! Oh well, we did learn that he loves chicken noodle soup (thanks Mom) and baby food squash. With all that time waiting, I could have grow my own free-range/organic and high fructose corn syrup free squash, cooked it, mashed it, and then frozen it in cute little screen printed non-BPA tupperware. Because let me just say, there is no time now. Crafty projects are not happening, and my stack of magazines are just not getting read any time soon. Thank goodness for the Ergo carrier, because that's the only way I even pee these days. Joking aside, things are going really well. We're really happy and really sleepy. Jin is still on Korea time, so we're up during much of the night. He's bonding with us really well. I think he's feeling safer and safer each day. Oh, and he's the sweetest boy I've ever met.

I promise all of the sweet phone calls and emails aren't going one bit unnoticed. I'll be back in business in no time at all.

First Family Picture

Our first family picture, and I look kinda goofy, but who cares!? I just need a bit more practice I guess.

We got to spend about an hour alone with Jin today and he is the sweetest boy. His foster parents obviously love him very much and he'll definitely need to do some grieving just being apart from them. He cried a lot this afternoon, but we held onto him and sang to him, and cooed at him, and played with his hair, and patted his bottom and he fell asleep in our arms. When he woke up he was much more comfortable with us than he was before he fell asleep. Based on this afternoon, our social worker and the foster parents said that we can take him back to the hotel Wednesday afternoon and then they'll give us a ride to the airport on Thursday morning. Only about 48 hours to go until Wednesday afternoon...

Babies

Today I woke up around 4:30 AM wondering what we should do today. We've wandered around the city lots and lots, and there's so much to see. We're staying in the Hongik University area, so the college kids are bar hopping, the ex-pats are puking in the alley ways around 7:00 AM, and the trees aren't quite ready to drop all of their leaves. At the guest house after breakfast today we were chatting with some other people meeting with their children this week too. We're all thinking about the long flight home and just wanting to see our babies. Tomorrow we'll see Jin just after his nap. Anyway, we just spent about 2 hours holding babies in the orphanage's nursery. A few were only days old and I'm guessing that the rest were under a month old. There were two women taking care of 30 babies! They were getting great care, but they really need volunteers to help out. I almost didn't go in because I was afraid we'd get in the way, but they put us to work. Now we're heading out to eat and then off to Toy Alley, looking for some cute Korean stuff for Jin and his cousins. Thanks everyone for all your sweet thoughts and wishes for us. Other than shedding a few tears leaving the nursery today we're having a terrific time.

The first meeting

Our first meeting with Jin was so wonderful. His foster mother and her daughter are very sweet women who've taken great care of him. He's big. He's beautiful. He's got 8 teeth. He's walking. He say Appah (daddy) and Omah (mommy). His voice seems deep to me. He was cautious around us at first, but eventually he sat on my lap and let us give him toys, which he put immediately into his mouth. Now we've got the rest of the day and the entire weekend to figure out ways to distract ourselves until Monday when we can see him again. When I met Zander I felt like I'd already known him for a really long time, and now with Jin I feel that again. We are both so happy and just can't wait to bring this guy home.

We're HERE!

Hi friends! We're in Seoul and meeting Jin in about 30 minutes! The traveling went really smoothly and our hotel is really nice. But seriously, it could all have been crap for all we care because we're actually meeting Jin... really soon! We'll try and keep you updated, although I'm not sure if we'll be able to load pictures until we get home. Love to you all---think lots of happy thoughts for Jin. Us Cannons can be pretty scary sometimes. PS: Zander shaved off his beard so I think that'll help.

Mom-our e-mail to you bounced back. We re-sent it, but if you don't hear anything from us let me know here. xoxo, Julie

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Wahoo! Korea called and Jin is ready to come home! We're ecstatic and I'm too excited to do anything but run around and flap my arms around.

Happy Birthday Zander!

Happy Birthday Sweetie Pie! You're going to be a Daddy soon!

Happy Halloween!

Being one of the Halloween's favorite icons, Boo was more excitable than ever last night.

Golden Girl

Happy Golden Birthday to my organized, hard-working, huge-hearted sister, Sara!

Still Waiting...

Yeah, we're still waiting... Our Korea specialists think a call could come in on Friday, just a day before Zander's birthday. We're thinking it'll probably come the following week, but in spite of all that, this Halloween in my LAST DAY OF WORK. I love my job, and I pour A LOT into it, but it's time to get ready for Jin to get here! This was a busy weekend: running errands, getting the yard ready for winter, and spending one very luxurious night at the W hotel.

This entire website is occupying my brain right now... Especially the parts about attachment.

I'm hoping to spend a little time crafting this week. I like these headbands, and I think it could funk up my new haircut on days when I feel like a frump. I'd also like to get started on a top secret sewing project that needs to be done pronto.

Jin Update

We still haven't gotten a travel call to go and pick up Jin, but we did get an update today! He's 22.5 lbs, has four teeth, and is 30 inches long.

Still Waiting...

Jin is still in Korea... I'm going a little (lot) crazy... I talked to our country specialist today and she told me there's no news yet. On the realistic side, the wait could go on for another month. I think it'll be much sooner than that, but the unknown is SO hard! I'm staying busy, and trying to do things that'll be difficult to do once Jin comes home, but it's hard to care about that stuff when I just want him with us. Maybe I should attempt Ric-Rac's selvage project to keep me busy...

Need a Good Solution!

This TV cabinet is perfect for hiding all of our TV crap. However, it isn't attractive. Anyone have some advice? The doors need to stay flat, so they'll stay open when the TV is on.

I like the idea of painting it and then putting umbrellas all over it. This one came from sprout studio.

I also like this color blocked look over on Design Sponge.

I also love the idea of stenciling our faces on the front... Maybe that's a bit over the top??? Picture from design sponge again.

My last idea would probably be the easiest, but I've never used these etsy decals before and I don't want them to peel off and look crappy.

Any other ideas or preferences?

WOWZA!

I JUST talked to our Korea specialist on the phone, and she let me know that we'll be traveling to Korea as soon as 5 weeks from now, and as late as 9 weeks from now!
So the rush is on! I just finished a little blanket to send to Jin that has this flannel on one side. We've been sleeping with it, so hopefully it'll smell like us in a non-stinky kinda way. I'm also hoping to talk my mom into making a set of fitted crib sheets out of it.
I'm thinking this could make a cute little valance...
I've also got a sock monkey doll started for Jin. It's being made out of navy wool socks. Man, for someone that didn't want to have any sort of theme in a baby room, I'm sensing a little bit of a trend!

Domokun

I remember when we'd have to traipse all over Harajuku just to find a toy store that sold Domokun stuff. I suppose I could try and stop liking him now because he's not nearly as obscure as he used to be, but naw... I still love him, and it thrills me to see him everywhere.

I'd love to make these cupcakes. How adorable!
You can even buy Domokun at Target now.

You could learn how to make this i-pod cozy.

Jin's Quilt

Zander's mom, Betsy, made Jin the cutest little quilt. We can't wait to hang it up! In fact, we went and got a crib last night, to help us figure out where to hang it. I'll definitely put up some pictures when his room is a little closer to ready.
Here's Froggie Jin.
Here's Cowboy Jin.
And Sweetie Pie Jin.

I just picked up Jin's baby book. It is the only non-dorky baby book for adoptive families that I've found. It's so adorable that I'm putting off writing in it in fear of messing it up!

Happy Birthday Betsy!

We can't wait to help you blow out some candles!

Jin

Many of you have already heard our news: Today we filed the paperwork to adopt Jin! I've looked at him thousands of times already, and I just smile every time I see his little smile. I hope we'll get to go pick him up in Korea sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we'll see when we get the call. We're so excited and happy, and thankful and yes, even a little bit scared. He's been a precious, but kind of fuzzy thought for a long while now, and it's hard to describe how it feels to see his picture. Many, many happy tears have been shed around this house today. Well, I could go on and on, but I'll save more for another day. Thank you all for rooting for us, encouraging us, listening, lending your shoulders, and telling us again and again that we'll one day be great parents. We've held on to your every word!

Baby Daddy

Zander just sent me this image from the comic convention in San Diego. Clearly this woman, whoever she is (Wonder Woman? Super Girl?) does not care so much that we know her exact identity, but her subtlety does not extend to the identity of the baby daddy. In fact, I think she looks all too eager to share the intimate details.

Gardening Hat for those with Plus Sized Heads

Aha, the days of gardening in a hat that's too tight for my head are over. I used an Amy Butler pattern and some cute fabric from Crafty Planet. It whipped together in just a couple of hours. This big thing is not only great for wiping sweat/mud off my face BUT it also prevents the sun from leaving a tan line just above my upper lip.

Seven

Well, there's been slight progress with our adoption. ...Just a little bit too slight for my tastes. It's like watching paint peel off of an old dry board, trying to pick it off yourself, and then getting it stuck up underneath your fingernail where it really hurts. You can call me Pissy-Pissy-Two-By-Four. To yourself. Not to me. I'd take it personally. Then I'd wonder what I did to piss you off. But I might not ask, I'd just wonder. And stew a little bit. And then yell at the cat for being on the table. And then have that same cat wonder what kind of inconsistent parenting I'm planning on using with this baby we're so longing for when I usually only yell at him for being on the table when I'm irritated about something else.

Just so you know, this little guy cheers me up every time. Joey is my 2 1/2 year old nephew and he can be sweaty and crabby and sleepy, and he still makes me happy.

Oh yeah, and our niece Campbell's Hockey Moves, and Dancing on the Kitchen table routine are also a very strong cure for crankiness.

Motivation

I love this print! You can buy it on Etsy. It also might be nice embroidered... Oh, and this is especially relevant because I CAN'T FIND MY PASSPORT ANYWHERE.

Dark Knight

In anticipation of the Dark Knight preview, I made a Batman skirt from a thrift-store sheet and a little Ikea fabric. I used this fabulous book to make the pattern, and it was so easy. Five stars for a really useful book. Unfortunately, I thought I'd make it to sit lower on my hips instead of at the waist, and that just doesn't work with my body type, so it hangs a bit funny. I'm excited to try it again!

Got Some Time?

Watch this. Already seen it? Watch it again, that's how good it is. And while you're at it, why don't you do a little counting?

Imagine Cramming a Hat on this Big Head

Today I took Z's parents to the airport (I'll post pictures of our weekend later), spent about an hour on the phone with my sister, watered my wilted plants, ate some left-over chocolate peanuts, brought Boo over to play with our neighbor kid, and surfed the web. This my friends is what I call the glamorous life. Now I'm heading over to the thrift store to drop off the left-overs from our yard sale this weekend. I'm hoping to find a sun hat while I'm there that fits my over-sized melon. I'm tired of looking at my sweaty red band of forehead flesh that shows up every time I take off a hat.

You might have seen this already, it has a cool story here.

Damn It

We're still #8 on the list. Could you all think some happy thoughts please?