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.