Firsts ...

As we were going through this adoption process, I would get a little sad  from time to time at all the firsts I'd miss, Aiden's  first tooth, first laugh, first everything.  So in the last 7 months, WOW he's been with us for 7 months now!  As I was saying, in the last 7 months, we've seen quite a few firsts I guess, but this last weekend, we took our first family trip as a family of four! That's a major first if you ask me! ;) This past Saturday we left for Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Since Aiden had never been in the car for more than an hour ride, I was a bit nervous, actually, the idea of the whole trip made me very nervous. We left around lunch, after about an hour in the car, Aiden finally fell asleep.  Pretty peaceful ride, but after only an hour Aiden woke up.  I was sitting in the back with him, so I kept him occupied with snacks, tickle sessions, and a drink.  He did great! Oh btw, hubby borrowed this awesome ride for the short trip.  Love those perks!

We finally arrived at our hotel in Pigeon Forge, settled in and walked down the road to get something to eat.

  Dinner was great, Texas Roadhouse! Went back to the room to get ready for bed. Aiden had other ideas.

Since Aiden had never slept in anything besides his bed at our house, my only other option was to borrow a Pack N Play from a friend of mine, Thanks Lee Ann!!! :) I was so nervous on how he would sleep in it.  He's not the best sleeper really, so I was of course worried, I'm a nutcase like that! The little guy was really tired that first night, I gave him a bath, put his pj's on, then laid him down on my bed with me. He rolled around a bit, then he was out, fell asleep on me.  I layed him in this:

and he stayed asleep till around 4 am.  Heard his usual cry at this time, but he fell back asleep - yah!  He woke the next morning around 6:30! Awesome! So his first in a Pack N Play went well.  The hotel had Disney Junior, I was more excited about it than Aiden was but I caught this little picture when he was watching it the second morning.

Taylor was bored waiting on the rest of us to get ready so this is how she spent her time.  Aiden I guess thought it was funny.

After breakfast we took off up the hill to Gatlinburg.  If was the first time Aiden had spent so much time in his stroller. I guess there was so much to look at, he did awesome!

After leaving Gatlinburg, Aiden crashed in the car on the ride back down the hill, got to the hotel, I put Aiden down for his nap in the P N P and Mike and Tay went to play put put golf and rode go carts.  After that was dinner time, walked up the road for dinner and back to get ready for bed.  Aiden was super tired that night, went to sleep on me again, put him in the P N P,  and woke the next morning happy.

We left for home but made a stop at the Knoxville Zoo.  Aiden did awesome there too.  Towards the end of the walking we let him out of the stroller to run around a bit, and boy did he run, poor little guy wore himself out! Here's some pics.

Red Panda Bears! They were so cute!

Bottle feeding the babies!

So we had a great weekend.  It was great to get away, and we all enjoyed some of Aiden's firsts, so did he!

Dedication ...

This past Sunday, Oct 2, 2011, was Aiden's Dedication at our church.  Bro Bill, our pastor, asked us to come down front to introduce Aiden to the church.  What I didn't know  was that he wanted me to give a short explanation on our journey to Aiden.  After Bro Bill introduced us and said a few words, he read this scripture:

After a few words from Bro Bill, he asked me to say a few words about our journey to Aiden.  What seemed like 20 seconds, I'm sure was 2 minutes.  I just hit the high notes, "Four years ago ... " blah, blah, blah.  I could have stood up there all day explaining all the details, sweat, tears, and blood we shed for our journey to Aiden.  There was so much more, but if anyone wanted to know details, then they need to read this blog, from beginning to end.  Of course, now I can think of a few other things I wished I'd said up there, but what I said was fine, or so I was told by my mother! Thanks mom! :) The grandparents were all there and counted for. So glad they could take part  in this special day.

Bro Bill asked before the service if he thought Aiden would let him hold him.  I said maybe, maybe not.  Well, the time came and Aiden went right to Bro Bill.  It may have been that Aiden was in total shock, standing in front of all the congregation, but nonetheless, he did.  And it was the best sight and warmed my heart!

One last little tidbit,  when I was giving my little summation of our journey to Aiden, the last comment I made was that we were hoping to finalize his adoption before the end of the year, go to court and he'll be ours forever. At that moment, Aiden looked at me, and as I was saying "he'll be ours forever, he's perfect"  I smiled and Aiden smiled back at me. It was the sweetest thing! We will be his forever and ever.  Aiden is perfect, perfect for us.  I could not imagine life without him now.  He fits in so well with us, never would have imagined it being that way, but it's happened.  Can't believe 6 months ago we met Aiden for the very first time.  Now, I get numerous hugs a day, endless smiles,  and ever got a sweet little kiss this last week.  I'd rather not say my life is complete, but it feels complete with all of us in his life!

You need to read this ...

I just had to post this.  Take the time to read it.  It's a fellow AP's blog post and is definitely worth reading. It's a must! I insist!! Read it now!!!

http://stickysloans.blogspot.com/

3rd Post Placement visit ...

This afternoon Mike, Taylor, Aiden, and I went to our social workers office for our last post placement visit! Why yes I'm excited!! It was our final official  visit with Hallie, our social worker.  So now we wait. (I remember so well  how I always would post about the waiting  and how much I hated it.) But this wait isn't near as long.  Hallie will write up her report and send it off to Holt in Oregon. They will complete their "consent" letter and send it back here.  Our lawyer jumps in at this point, and soon we'll be off to court to finalize this little guys adoption!!! :)

I still can not believe it's been 6 months since he's been home  - HONESTLY, I can't!  Like so many other AP's have said, it seems like he's been home forever, but yet it's only been 6 months!  Aiden is doing so incredibly well now.  I look at him sometimes and I'm just amazed at what this kid has gone through to get to us.  And I still can't believe Mike and I flew half way around the world to get him!!   It brings tears to my eyes some days.  He's so amazing to watch and he's attached to all of us, even the grandparents.  He even tends to get a little upset when the grandparents go to leave from visiting. 

Since Aiden turned 20 months old on Sept 3rd, here are 20 new tidbits about Aiden:

 1)  Has become a picky eater now. 

 2)  Loves to spit water, milk, pretty much anything out of his mouth at any given moment, for fun no less! ;)

 3)  Is scared to death of our home phone ringing. (I guess because it happens so rare!) hahaha

 4)  Tries to say so many words now, which I'm loving!

 5)  Loves to turn the light switch on for me and off when we're leaving a room, and smiles at his little accomplishment. 

 6)  Will run to me with open arms to give me a great big hug. 

 7)  Will look deep into my eyes sometimes like he's trying to figure them out.

 8)  Loves to look for his "buddies" at our local Kroger store that make his visit there so memorable! (Thanks for the balloons!) 

 9)  Waves bye bye to pretty much anyone now. 

10) Still loves to go outside and play. 

11) Can open all interior doors - scary!

12) Asks for "Juice" on a regular basis now.

13) Can point to his hair, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, toes/feet.

14) Sleeps from 8:30 at night till about 6:30 in the morning, give or take a few minutes either way. YAH!! :)

15) Unfortunately is fascinated by dog poop in our yard. (Probably because I'm trying to keep him out of it!)

16) Will give anybody "5" when they hold their hand out, even a knuckle "bump". 

17) Helps me with laundry from time to time. (Actually shuts the dryer door,even if I'm not quite ready for him to.) 

18) Can drive his remote control car in the driveway. 

19) Likes to ride our next door neighbors 4-wheeler, with his daddy of course! :)

20) Naps from 1pm to 3pm  most days. YAH! 

So our little guy has settled in pretty good around our house.  Tonight when I was putting him to bed, he had a bit of a hard time settling down to sleep, so I rubbed his back a little and let my hand stay close to his arm until he got quiet.  Then his little hand somehow found my littlest finger and slowly grabbed a hold of it and held it for a long while, then released it.  It was as if he was saying thank you mamma for being close, just when I need it.  It was the sweetest thing, almost made me cry.  

Most nights when I put him to bed, I'll stay in there just a little while longer after he's gone to sleep.  I look at him sleeping and I'm just amazed at his presence here, amazed at his life so far, amazed at what he has shown me, amazed at my life now with him in it, amazed at his courage, his faith, and his love.  What would  my life have  been with out him in it?  Thankfully, I don't know the answer to that......thankfully!   

  

Finally .... we meet!

It may have been close to a  year ago, I ran across this little girl.

This is Ella. Isn't she the cutest??? Her picture was posted in another mom's signature  on the Korean BB last year.  Eventually, I ran across her soon to be mother on Facebook last year, yes FB strikes again! I soon found out that Ella's mommie Cindy lived really close to where I live!  

After missing the cut off for Aiden's EP last year, there were a few moms that started a message thread on FB. We were all running within the same time line of all our required things getting processed. So we were hoping that some of us would travel at the same time.   This was so great to be apart of.  There were about six of us mom's messaging on that thread for what seemed like every day! It really was a life saver.  We all had one major tidbit in common, we were all waiting on the notorious Emigration Permit. So basically, we were all in the same "batch" (technical term for where I don't even want to explain what this means anymore!).  So when we all finally were getting down to Travel Call's the first of this year, we were all tearing that message board up, and I do mean tearing! And eventually, we all started getting "the call".   

Come to find out, on March 5th of this year, Mike and I were leaving South Korea with Aiden and Cindy and Nat were on their way over to South Korea to get Ella. So we basically met in the air.  So we missed each other by a day or two in Korea.  Talk about a small world!  So we weren't able to meet in South Korea, here, now six months later, we met for the very first time yesterday!  

Cindy had invited us to an adoption and support picnic through Joseph's Hope Foundation in Kentucky, which is close to where we live in Tennessee.  It was so great to see these two kiddos together!  Ella is the sweetest, cutest, and most adorable little sweetie!  She is so petite, Taylor and I kept saying how cute she was to each other!  Taylor really enjoyed playing with Ella at the picnic.  I guess it was a pleasant little break from her little brother who's all boy! :) 

We all had a great time at the picnic! It was so great to reminisce about our trips to South Korea and our experiences so far.  I was so happy to finally meet Cindy, Ella, and her family!  It was such a special day to remember always!  Getting together with them seemed like getting together with family.  Although Aiden and Ella aren't related, they each hold a special piece of their birth place that will tie them together for the rest of their lives.  And if getting together keeps that bond connected, then I look forward to meeting up with Aiden's family from now on. 

This is how great a time he had at the picnic! Need I say more! :)

Thanks again Cindy for the awesome picnic. It was so great to be apart of something so wonderful! I see another family reunion in the future! :)