Ode to Owen

I find myself with a bit more energy than usual, which I attribute to Owen sleeping late this morning (5:30 a.m.)... While I have this rare burst of clear-headedness, I wanted to share some updates about our precious little guy.

Aside from a few sleeping issues that we are working hard to straighten out (some days with success, others not), Owen is thriving. I sense that he finally feels at home with us, confident to explore our house and get into everything possible. He finds endless entertainment in his toys, sisters and dog, and he watches the flurry of activity around him with great intent. He is very happy and well-adjusted, and I'm grateful beyond words that he has attached to Chip and me with no apparent problem. He is absolutely delightful, and he has a mother who is officially in love with him.

Owen loves to move around and crawl, and he is already standing on his own for up to 30 seconds. This leads to me to believe we might have an early walker, which I have mixed feelings about. (Just one more little creature for his tired mom to chase after!) Man, is he quick. More than once, he has crossed the kitchen floor with his speedy crawl and gotten very close to consuming Mookie's dog food.

On our very first day with Owen in Seoul, he got his first tooth. (Thank God we've been able to experience at least one major milestone with him so far.) In the short time since then, he is now preparing to cut his fourth tooth, which Chip tells me is rare and also explains why Owen stuffs everything he can into his mouth -- from newspapers to Mookie to my very own nose -- and drools without ceasing. God love him, I can tell he has serious discomfort from such intense teething, but he continues to go with the flow.

According to our pediatrician, Owen is a very healthy baby who is in the 85th percentile for weight and 90th for height. Finally, Chip will have someone in the family to see eye-to-eye with! He is a darling little chunker with yummy rolls of fat on his arms and legs, but he is not nearly as huge as we thought he'd be. In fact, he's just perfect.

Love from the Birds.

Settling in...

Eight days home and we're starting to settle into a family with three kidlets. It's been exhausting, exhilarating, messy, frustrating and fabulous.

Repeatedly, I breathe a sigh of relief as I look at the precious little faces climbing/crawling/running/singing/dancing/shrieking/drooling underfoot and thank God for the opportunity to be their mother. My life with them is chaotic and good.

Owen is doing amazingly well in his new home with his new family. He has had so many changes hurled his way in the last week or so, and he continues to take them in stride. We have had some predictable bouts of grief along the way (for his foster family, etc.), as well as some significant sleeping challenges, but overall our son just might be the most mellow little boy around. He is observant and interested in all that's happening around him; once he feels secure, he begins to babble and explore, which is great to watch. He loves his sisters but possibly adores Mookie even more... He crawls as fast as he can to keep up with him, and if given his way would do all his teething on Mookie's back and ears.

Caroline and Jane are hanging in there. All things considered, they, too, have taken this huge adjustment quite well. I think Caroline spends a lot of time contemplating and analyzing the new "arrangement"; whereas Jane approaches the situation with her usual aplomb and indifference. They all seem to be comfortable around each other, which is all I can ask for at this point, and I know that their affection for and protectiveness over each other will continue to grow.

Thanks to all for the support and love over the past few weeks. We've needed it. Everything still feels so strange and new, but I'm confident in the days ahead we'll fine-tune our crazy, wonderful life together.

The Family Is Finally All Together

Jane and Caroline gave Owen a "Hello" kiss The family all together

First meeting with Mookie
Going out for a walk (and Dad looking jet-lagged)
The Bird kids (and Mookie)

Today was a big day for the Birds, as Owen got to meet his dog Mookie first, and then later his big sisters Jane and Caroline. They were excited to see him and wanted to play with him and show him some of their toys. He was just staring at them (they are absolute bundles of energy and constantly moving) and getting to know their voices. It all went better than we could have expected and they wanted to hug and kiss him to welcome in to the Bird Clan. Laura and I were of course relieved that it went smoothly, as we were concerned about how they view this new "guest" in the house. We all sat down to dinner (with Grandma Cindy and Aunt Liz too) and got to all know each other again. It was quite a night.

Sleepwise, we are only doing OK. Poor Owen's schedule is all off after the 14 hour time difference, so Laura and I have taken turns sitting up with him. We got him out for a walk today in hopes that the sunlight would help reset his body clock a bit (and ours, too). Once he gets on schedule, we all should have a chance to catch up on the lost hours. I'm sure that there will be some adjustments on everyone' spart to come, but I'm glad to say that the first meeting and few hours of interaction exceeded our expectations!

Day 6/7: The Trip Home

Owen waiting to be checked in at US Immigration
It felt good to get in to the bath and some new PJ's
Jane and Caroline had made welcome home signs for us and Owen

Well, we made it. Our last 24 hours in Seoul was spent by having us all get to know each other, and preparing for the long trip home. We took a few more walks around the "neighborhood", taking in the sights for the last time. It was a bit bittersweet as we knew this would be the last time that Owen would be in his homeland until several years down the road when we can return with him.

We had a two hour ride through Seoul traffic to Incheon airport (to our delight, Owen is a good car sleeper!), checked in for our flight, and had our last bit of Korean food for a while. Our flight left right on time and was very full, so we were glad that our request for a bulkhead seat with a bassinet was granted, and we all settled in. Owen was a bit fussy at first, but a bottle and a walk around put him to sleep and we placed him in the bassinet and all got some decent rest.

We landed at O'Hare a bit early, and made it through immigration and customs without incident. We got into the car around 7:30pm (Owen took a bit of time getting used to sitting in a car seat for the first time, but nodded off again), and we made it home after 9pm. We got unpacked, gave Owen a bath and got to sleep (sort of).

The time change and jet lag has gotten to us all, and the first night at home was spent with Laura and I taking turns sleeping and sitting up with Owen. On the bright side, we got all of our mail opened and laundry done, so it wasn't a total loss. To add a bit of extra confusion, the daylight savings time change happened last night. It wil be interesting to see how long it takes all to get back on track sleepwise, as I return to work on Wednesday. The girls we will be back home tomorrow, as we had them stay an extra day with Grandpa and Grandma Merritt since we knew getting back home would be a big adjustment for Owen. I am really glad that we did this, and hopefully it will be easier for all.

We will post pictures of the girls first meeting with their brother, and his first meeting with Mookie. It sure feels good to be home again!

Day 5 (Part II) More Pictures

As I write, it's about 7am on our last day here. Owen (and Laura) are still sleeping and we made it again through the evening and night OK. Owen got to sleep around 9pm and got up once in the night for a bottle, which he has each night and is normal for him according to his foster mother. Once he can eat more during the day (ie more solids), we are hopeful that he makes it through the night. He seems to have taken to us and generally has a very good disposition. That may change a bit on a 13 hour plane ride, but my disposition isn't great after that either, so you can hardly blame him.

We got to give Owen his first bath with us and he did not fuss a bit. Eating has gone well also for the most part, and he makes some great cooing sounds. He sits up easily and pulls himself up to a wobbly stand. His legs seem quite strong, and he has a death grip when he wants to hang onto something. He likes to nod off in the baby carrier when walking and we have heard that he likes to sleep in the car, which is something new to us since the girls never really have.

Korea has been such an adventure for us and we will miss it. At the same time, we miss our girls, and of course all of you. For trips, it is always good to go, and always good to come back. The Korean people have made our stay something special and we will relish the chance to get to come back here someday.

I thought I would just put some more pictures up since I am not sure if I will get to post again before our flight leaves. We head to the airport this afternoon and our flight leaves at 7:30 (Sat. night). What is strange is that we get in at 6pm Saturday night, which is "before" we will leave. We are hoping for as smooth a flight as possible and a chance to get back on a halfway normal sleep routine (yeah, right).

Our first 24 hours: a bit of a rollercoaster but with some success!

(by the way, you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them for easier viewing)

Whew.

As I write (Friday at 1pm, Seoul time), Chip is on the bed in our hotel room with Owen. They are playing and "talking" and actually having a good time together. I say this with not a little relief, because yesterday, after we got him, things were pretty hard-going for awhile.

After returning to our hotel room with Owen, it was about 4pm. He was really into the rattles and teething rings we brought with us, and he appeared to be interested in us as well. He was curious and engaged and seemed pretty content. Until he remembered that we were strangers and not his foster mom. Then, the screaming began. He refused to take a bottle from us and was inconsolable. We spent the afternoon trying to get him to nap and eat; some things worked (the rice cereal & banana baby food were a hit, so was when Chip put him in the Baby Bjorn and walked back and forth in our hotel room to soothe him), some things didn't (changing his diaper, trying to put on clean clothes, etc.). It was touch and go for hours.

I was especially worried about bedtime. We were told that with his foster family, he would take an hour-long nap at 7pm (??) and then would go to bed for the night at midnight (!!), sleeping with foster mom on a mat on the floor (!!). None of these things are really in the cards for him with us, so we had no idea what to expect from our first night together. I'm glad to report it all went swimmingly. He fell asleep in my arms (finally taking a bottle, I'm sure out of desperation because he was so hungry) around 8:30, and when we placed him in the pack and play by our bed, he didn't budge until 7:30 this morning!

Since getting up this morning, he has seemed in much better spirits than yesterday. He has taken bottles from both Chip and me (although not as many ounces as he's used to), and he is in love with the stacking cups and Mr. Worm we brought. He has napped twice in the Hip Hammock Chip wore while we went out for a long walk. And now he is babbling and playing happily. He can sit up very well and really wants to stand up on those super chubby legs of his. We're not sure how well he can crawl at this point, but he seems like he wants to move around and explore.

He is darling - so precious. He looks at us very intently when we talk and seems so mild-mannered. I know we're going to have some ups and downs in the attachment process, but we have high hopes that he will rally. He is already doing so, I think.

I must point out that I had forgotten how cute Chip is with babies. As Chip was bottling him this morning, he started in with the sort of presentations he used to give our girls: "Owen, today we're going to talk about fishes that are native to Wisconsin." And sure enough, that's what they talked about. (I learned quite a bit myself.)

So, that's where we are with things right now. I feel good, so does Chip. I think Owen wants to feel good himself, but he's a little wary (understandably). Oh, he just started crying right now, and Chip announced, "Well, when you cry like that, I have a great view of your gum pads." Um, OK...

Oh, and some shout-outs to specific people:

MARI - Owen LOVES the taggie you bought 3 years ago for J & C! He slept with it all last night and buries his face in it for naptime, and he's obsessed with the tags. Woohooo! Love you!!
JULIE T - We were able to get hanboks for Sara & Alex, and I just hope they are the right size, etc...They seemed really pretty, and I loved the colors. We got them at the Itaewan market.
MIYA & DANA - We successfully delivered your packages to the foster families at SWS. The ladies who took them seemed to know what to do with them, so I'm assuming they'll get in the right hands. ..
CAROL, CINDY, LIZZIE & BETSY - So so great "chatting" with you online. You have given us a good dose of family (and sanity and perspective) when we've needed it most. We love you!

Sending thanks and gratitude across the miles to everyone. Thanks again for your tremendous support.

L & C

P.S. As I write, Owen has practically downed an entire baby food container of green beans that Chip has been feeding him. Seems like a step in the right direction. :)

Day 4 (Part II): Owen!

We arrived at SWS at Hansuh Hospital about 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment, which gave us a chance to get settled and calm down a bit. It wasn't long before we saw our Owen coming into the office with his foster mother and father, looking great in his Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer sweatsuit (it seems that Christmas is his early-on favorite holiday).

After a brief medical exam, they brought him back into the meeting room and we got to hold him and play with him again. He seemed to be in a very docile and calm mood, and was loving all the attention from his new parents and foster parents alike.

We filled out just two forms and opened the gift bag that SWS had put together. His foster mother also had a couple of outfits, some formula, diapers, and bibs for us as well, along with his favorite toy. Some tears were shed, and before long it was time to leave. We got in the car with him and our gift bags, and were glad that we had bought some flowers to give to his foster mother, since we didn't want her leaving empty-handed. The whole thing was over in probably 30 minutes. We thanked Owen's foster parents profusely (through the interpreter) and before long we were at the hotel. Things were going well for Owen as he got acclimated to his new surroundings, but as we feared, he got very fussy when it was time to give him a bottle. I think that is when it was kicking in for him that the lady that he knew as his mother for so long was not there to feed him. On a positive note, I can assure you that his lungs are in good working order, and he carried on so long that he only stopped when he cried himself to sleep when I put him in the carrier and walked around.

A one-hour nap later, he fussed for a while again and we have just been able to get some baby food and rice cereal into him, but still no bottle. We will try again soon.

One thing we are a little nervous about is that he did not usually go to bed until midnight. What they did for him is give him an "evening nap" at about 7pm, and then get him up for several more hours. This is obviously not the schedule that we want him to have, so we'll have to see how that goes. These could be some long first nights, but we are very happy to have our Owen with us now.

Day 4 (Part I): Changdeokgung Palace and Insadong

We caved in today and had breakfast at McDonald's and got on the subway to head to the palace. There are several royal palaces in Seoul, but we had heard from our guide yesterday: "if you can go to just one, Changdeokgung is the one to see". We heeded her advice, especially since it was Thursday, the only day of the week where they open the Secret Garden to visitors. This is an area that only the royal family was allowed inside, and very beautiful.

The palace was last used in 1989, and since then has become a historic landmark, and it was just breathtaking. It is awesome to see something that is so old, and has been around for hundreds of years.

The garden was as great as advertised, with small ponds and pavillions all around the property. The fall colors were out in full force and made it even more special. You felt like you were walking out in the woods in the middle of nowhere, not in the middle of a city of 12 million people. The air quality is supposed to be the best in Seoul from all of the trees. We took so many pictures, Laura's camera actually crashed.

It was then on to Insadong, which is a more quiet shopping district than some of the loud street markets. We saw lots of artsy things for sale and managed to purchase a few souvenirs.

It was in one of the restaurants/tea houses that we were served the best Korean food that I have ever had. The waiter brought out two big wok-type cookers with their own burners and we had beef bulgogi (in the foreground of the picture) and bibimbap (in the back of the picture). There was a great seaweed soup and all of those side dishes that you see. We actually made a pretty good dent in the whole thing and were getting filled up before getting back on the subway to get ready to meet Owen.