Happy 3rd Birthday Grant!

Dear Grant,

Today you are 3 years old!  And since it's a Monday, Mommy has off from work and we've been having a great time playing on this beautiful day.  It's such a special birthday because it's your first one at home with us.  We had a wonderful weekend celebrating with a BIG party with a ton of family and friends.  You had a blast and everything went off without a hitch, including the most gorgeous weather, an awesome bounce house for entertainment, the Thomas the Train ice cream cake you requested and yummy BonChon Korean fried chicken that was a huge hit with our guests.  It will definitely be an unforgettable one for us, even if you can't remember it in a few years!

Of course on this day I think of the two other mothers in your life.  The one that gave you life, whom I may never get to see or talk to, but who I will be thinking of for the rest of my life.  I hope she finds peace on this day, the day she gave birth to a son she knew she couldn't raise.  I pray one day she finds out how loved and cherished you are.  Tonight, we will light another candle on your piece of cake for her and when you blow it out we will think of her and wish her peace and happiness.  I hope it will be a tradition we can continue for years to come.    

 I'm also thinking of your amazing Omma, who I chatted with this morning on the other side of the world to wish you a very happy birthday!  After finally connecting on KakaoTalk (Korean text message app), we've been chatting every few days for the past two weeks.  I had no idea that she is so proficient in English that we can have written conversations in real time.  It brings me tears of joy that I've been sending her videos and pictures of you almost daily that make her SO happy.  She still thinks about you every day and has wanted to hear your voice for so long, she LOVED the video of you singing your ABCs I sent her last week.  She says your Appa looks at the photo album I sent them every day with a smile and her younger son misses you so much and just turned 17 a few days ago.  I got more pictures of her and your foster family and more information about you as a baby.  We are so blessed you were placed with such an amazing family and I thank God for them every day.  I'm so happy we can be connected with them right now and I hope that when we go back to Korea when you are about 10 years old we can see her again.  

You are a ball full of energy, spunk, laughter, love and some bossiness thrown in for good measure:)  You have taught me to be a better mother almost every day (patience is key).  Your Daddy and I are often astounded at what a bright little boy you are.  You have a steal trap of a memory and it's hard to believe when we talk to you that you've only been hearing and speaking English for 10 months.  We giggle when we get into "arguments" over whether we should go the regular way or turn for the shortcut when we are going places around town because you know where everything is already.  You learn things by observing people very closely, which we aren't sure is a great thing yet, ha.  I'll never forget when we walked out of the grocery store and I turned for one second to put the cart back outside the door and there you were, leaning against the wall pretending to smoke a cigarette like the old lady 4 feet next to you.  Luckily she was on her cell phone and didn't even notice you next to her before I scooped you up and you giggled.  Your laughter is contagious and even though you still take a while to warm up to new people, when they get to know you, they see what a remarkable little boy you are.  Every night at bedtime when we say we love you and goodnight, you recite a long list of everyone you love- "I love Mommy, Daddy, Auden"...(then in no particular order) "I love Grammy, Grandpa, Nana, Pappy" then you'll throw in the Aunts and Uncles and cousins you have seen recently or you have been thinking about.  You know and remember them all, no matter how frequently you get to see them:-)     

Happy 3rd Birthday baby.  We love you with all of our heart and can't wait to see what the next year brings for you!

                                            

  Big party on Saturday!  BIG thanks to all the grandparents that helped out SO SO much for it and big thanks to all our family and friends for celebrating this special day with us!

 

 

 

Easter Fun

The boys had a great Easter.  Grant, as with most holidays so far, doesn't quite get what things are leading up to and this one was no different, ha.  He was very intrigued and curious about the egg dying activity, did not think the neighborhood egg hunt in freezing cold weather was worth it to get some candy, but enjoyed the actual Easter day where he woke up to fun baskets and got to go to church with his family and Grammy and Grandpop who came down for the holiday.

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt!  So windy this year!!!

Easter Day is here!  It was hard not to reflect on last Easter.  It fell on Grant's 2nd Birthday and we were still enduring an excruciatingly long-overdue court date to find out when we could travel to Korea.  And here we are one year later- so much happiness!  Thank you God!

Daddy thought it would be funny to give the boys a whoopie cushion, I definitely underestimated the fun little boys can have with it!  And by the way, they self-inflate now!

Auden "sneaking" the cushion under Grandpop, hilarity ensued:-)  

In our Sunday best for Easter church service

As you can see, Grant was on a funny "cheese" smile kick on Easter, haha.  Let's hope his normal smile returns for birthday pictures shortly!

Preschool Spring Show

Auden had his annual spring show for his preschool in March and it was just as cute as last year!  He said he felt more confident and ready to be on stage now that he was a "big kid," haha.  They all looked adorable up on that high school stage and his class sung the song "High Hopes" in which Auden held up the letter "S".  Grant enjoyed the show but definitely was fidgety, it made us wonder what our/his future holds when he is up on stage next year!



Of course I had to take some pre-show sibling pictures when they are looking cute in ties!

I said "do a pose"- this is what I got?!  ha!

Auden's best friends in his class and the best teacher ever- Ms. Nicole!

Grant already doesn't like this "sitting still" thing

Showtime!  So cute!  Of course we bought the DVD like we did last year (in case Grandparents want to see Auden in action!) 

Can't wait for Grant's turn the next two years, we LOVE this school so much!  It is so amazing that the owner of the school is the music teacher that puts the whole show together (with other teachers' help) and is playing the piano the whole show.

The little things

Today was not a special day, yet it was an afternoon that made me smile and want to remember it.  Grant and I picked up Auden early from school and when we got there we found all the kids on the playground.  I let Grant play with the kids for a little bit, Auden from the get-go put his arm around him and led him to the slide as all his classmates were making a fuss over Grant like they do with all the little siblings that come in.  It's so adorable but they crowd Grant and make him feel a bit overwhelmed.  Auden cleared the way so he could go down the slide and then they did the merry-go-round.  Several of Auden's friends did it with them but it got crowded again and Auden just wanted to do it with his brother and explained that to his friends, it was so cute.  

Then after running two errands we went to a playground until it was time to meet Daddy at a place for dinner.  At the playground Auden kept saying "follow me Grant!" Grant would say "okay!" Let's play this Grant!" He replied "Yeah!  Let's do it!" and they ran around for 30 minutes laughing and giggling together. 

After dinner and bath time routine, we read the Tickle Monster book and I tickled them silly which led to hiding under the covers and creating a fort.  Since it was a Friday night I let them play and have fun for a while.  Then when it came to be bedtime I asked if Grant wanted to do a sleepover in Auden's bed, he happily said "yes" even though Auden was apprehensive.  He conceded, I tucked them in and actually thought it may work.  But Auden sleeps with a really bright night light and in the end Grant decided he wanted his own bed- with the darkness, his music and where he can talk/sing himself to sleep which he normally does.  The cutest part was the turn of events that Auden actually became sad that Grant wanted to leave.  He got out of his bed and went to Grant's room and said he wanted to give Grant a goodnight kiss and tell him that if he needed anything he could come to him, like a book or to get Mommy for him. 

The whole afternoon just made me reflect on how Auden's relationship with Grant has been changing a lot lately.  As I mentioned before, we were fortunate that Grant looked up to Auden from the beginning, Grant was always the initiator of affection- has given random hugs, snuggles, and kisses to Auden ever since day one in our family,  Auden "accepted" all of it but he never initiated unless he was told to give his brother a hug, etc.  He always treated him nicely, played with him nicely but it was clear he still needed time to form that bond, that brotherly love.  After all, you can't just shove a 2 year old in a 4 year old's face for the first time and say- "here is your brother, now love him."   

No mater how big the couch, the step or lawn, Grant always sits down right next to Auden so that they are touching.  Auden would never move away, but now I'm catching Auden put his arm around Grant like I did in the picture below.  The bond and brotherly love is definitely there on both sides now and it's just a beautiful thing.

                           '              

On a less positive note, although Grant has been sleeping very well lately, unfortunately our latest issue is his growing desire to not want to go to daycare anymore.  He did great for so many months, but lately it's been a battle and the mornings have been pretty rough with tears/tantrums.  He says he really wants to go to Auden's school but he he doesn't start until June which is hard to explain.  So we are all counting down and hoping that really turns things around when they can go to school together this summer.  Some days are better than others, so it's inconsistent, hard and sad all at the same time.  Hopefully our peaceful mornings will return soon.    

Fun with Korean adoption friends

In the last few weeks I've been able to get together with my Korean adoption friends several times for fun events.  

We took the boys to a great Korean BBQ place in Annandale called Kogiya.  We got a separate room which was perfect for our squirmy boys and had a ton of fun and food!  

An event that was a little less fun but very important was seeing The Drop Box documentary that was playing in the movie theater as a special event for 3 days.  It was a beautiful story of Pastor Lee's dedication to save abandoned children in Korea, especially those with severe special needs.  It was great to finally see after hearing so much about him and his church for so many years.  Definitely made you leave the theater thinking about what means most in life and how you could live your life more selflessly like the Pastor.  

Next up was my friend's annual Lunar New Year party that got postponed due to bad weather.  It was a great time and the boys had so much fun pulling all of Henry's toys out:-) Auden and Grant, (especially Auden) were SO excited to wear their Korean Hanboks for the occasion.  I didn't get any really good pics, they were all too busy playing:-). 

I'm so thankful to have these special friends in our lives!