vacation!

Things are getting a little more relaxed these days! Clothing optional...

This picture was taken the day before Zander went out of town. 7 days later and I'm still smiling, but if you'd look closely you'd see an extra wide streak of crazy running through me!

The Benjamin

I LOVE this idea! With school starting soon, I somehow feel like I need to go buy things and really, I'm too broke not to shop in my own closet. Speaking of money... Damn the public library for not going easy on me. I feel like they've gotten much stricter about enforcing their fines. I'm still a new mother and organization has never been one of my strengths. I explained this to the librarian yesterday and her eyes rolled back into her head.

Happy 2 months later!

Here's Jin begging bubbles off of strangers at my friend Rebecca's wedding recently. It was a beautiful wedding. Zander and I gulped big glasses of wine and chased Jin while he swiped at the pretty ladies with his fingers covered in frosting.
Here was our official day in court. The judge was very sweet and took extra time with us for pictures. I cried throughout the hearing. My dress was $12 (!) at Hunt and Gather. Jin's bowtie is from VV's and it was approximately $.89. I usually don't really put much thought into what Jin is wearing, but oh my... I think he looks so cute wearing a bowtie.
Zander is off to Comic Con for the week and Jin keeps saying "Da-Da" over again and again. He's confused so we're processing, which by the way is one of my favorite activities. Usually I like to do this with people closer to my own age, but this is fun too. I'm trying to view this as special time alone with Jin instead of freaking out about when I'll be able to take a shower or sleep without Zander here. Tonight we ate our dinner on a towel in the front yard.
Random stuff:
I've been doing Weight Watchers lately. I've gained a little weight and lost any ability to close my mouth when there is food nearby. I know this program is really effective for many people, but I think it makes me eat like CRAP! I mean, sure I'll eat an individual sized processed ice cream treat sweetened with junk for 2 points. Scratch that mister, I'll have two of those. Then I'll wash it down with some chemicals that are calorie free. No thanks, I don't need any cheese, I'll just sprinkle some cheese flavored popcorn dust on my hand and lick it off. Again and again. Zero points. I have lots of friends that swear by this program, but it brings out the junkie in me. Maybe I need to be thinking more along these lines and enjoy more, but we'll see.
Lately I've enjoyed looking here,here, and I always look here.

Jin Loves Popsicles!

I'm loving hanging around in the parks with Jin these days! On a crafty note, that hat is made out of an old pair of cords. They had wide legs but I still have to yank that sucker to get it on to my head.

A Dinosaur Needs Snacks You Know...

I'm hoping that OB will add a little to Jin's college fund once they get a good look at this one. Check it out.

Cool Car

I just bought some of this cool fabric over at the Crafty Planet. Or maybe I should call it Crack Planet. (The owner there is THE NICEST person-she ALWAYS remembers my name AND Jin's name, and no it's not because I'm in there that often) Anyway, Jin needs some breezy pants that cover his knees, but aren't too hot. I scrimped on the yardage, so maybe he'll get a pair of "JAMS" instead. Do you remember Jams? I might be mixing this up, but I think I wore them with my jellies. For real.

I Just Discovered that I Talk Baby Talk

1. Yes, now that I know that I talk baby talk to my son, I'll try and stop.
2. If I tell Jin that he'd "better not do-so-and-so..." he is the MOST likely to do it. It didn't work today.
3. He loves talking about his Dad. And yes, he does know how to say Mama. It was his first word even.
4. We eat almost all of our meals with The Fish out on the table. When we're done, he goes back in the hutch or the cats try and eat him.
5. Jin is really in to snuggling and tickling right now.
6. Jin sleeps in his crib now, and last night was his second night in a row of sleeping through the night. I'm starting to be able to complete a thought again. Kind-of.
7. Being a mom to Jin is one of the best things I've ever experienced... Even when the bubble blowing sucks, when I don't feel like pretending to vacuum with Jin's toy (because I need to vacuum for real), when I find a poop chunk on the cute rug in his room AGAIN, when he pours his milk into his food, and even when he finds my fattest part, pokes it and laughs out of pure delight. Zander doesn't even get to do that one.

Moo, Baa and Mmm

It's official. Almost every time, but mostly when he feels like it, Jin will tell you exactly what a cow, a sheep, and a vacuum sound like. He's still a little iffy on what cats sound like, but he can tell you that our cat's name is Boo. This is all really new folks, and as lame as it seems, it is really freaking exciting on our end.

Today we went to (and got there too late to see) the May Day Parade. It's difficult pushing a stroller through the masses! However, it was an absolutely lovely time to be in the park and take in all the hippie magic fairy dust. This very well might be my favorite day of the year!

Alright, the sweet boy won't be nearly as sweet if I don't start rocking him to sleep!

Maybe I'll do something crafty-like on this blog again soon!

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!