Home Sweet Home

Ride to Airport - 1 hour - Sad & HappyTicketing and Immigration - 1 hour - Smooth
Flight - 13 hours - Brutal
Customs - 1 hour - Finally on US soil
Ride home - 1/2 hour - quick
Home - PRICELESS
Total time from start to finish of adoption - 3 1/2 years...TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!!!

We are home and all is well.  We left Seoul at 5:20 on Tuesday and arrived home at 5:20 on Tuesday, now I know what it's like to go back in time!

  Look at my shirt...It's a helicopter (mom couldn't find an airplane one for my airplane day so a helicopter had to do...hey, they both fly!)

I know everyone wants to know how things are going now that we are home.  I will make this post about that, then I will be going back in time again to our final days in Seoul.  We had so many wonderful expereiences and memories I need to capture for Ty and this blog has become my means of doing that...It's Ty's so called baby book. 

Home has been wonderful.  Ty continues to be his happy go lucky self and Libby is of course a great big sister.  We played it safe with not having a big homecoming for Ty.  We wanted it to be calm and low-key to help him adjust to yet another strange place,  (poor kid was starting to think his home was the hotel)  Chris' mom picked us up from the airport and my mom and Libby were waiting at the house for us.  Libby was a little nervous when we first arrived and was glued to my mom.  She quickly loosened up and soon was all about Ty.  They took to each other immediately and it was so precious to watch.  Libby has waited so long for him to arrive, I think she was in shock he actually was here (I am a little too!)  Ty was in awe of all the toys and instantly started playing.  He loves anything that lights up, makes noise, and has buttons to push (lucky me)!  He loved Libby's keyboard and sat and played on it with Libby.  It was funny he chose that because we have always joked that he would be musically inclined. 

When it was time for bed we all peacefully found our resting places and fell asleep.  I know I've said it before but this kid is such a good sleeper.  His Foster Mother (FM) trained him well and he knows how to get himself to sleep and he can sleep anywhere (you will see evidenve of this in posts to come)  Due to the jet-lag Ty woke up at 1:30am.  We played for a few hours then went back to bed.  He and I slept in until 12:30pm. Libby had already gotten up and gone to Kindergarten and come home by the time we woke up:) 

My neighbors are an awesome Korean family of  5.  They have 1 daughter in High School, 2 in Elementary School, and a little boy who is almost 4.  Gina, the mother, came over to see Ty this afternoon.  She was so excited to see him and thought he was adorable.  It was so cool listening to her talk to him and seeing him respond.  He totally understood what she was saying and it made me a little sad that he is going to lose his native language.  Korean is not a hard language to learn and I truly wish we would have taken the time to learn it.  Chris and I are thinking about taking lessons...I only hope it's not too late and Ty doesn't lose too much of it. 

The coolest thing that happened while Gina was here was that he wanted ME.  She and I had discussed that with her being Korean he may take to her over me.  He didn't, he kept coming to me and putting his arms up for me to pick him up.  It made my day...I truly think he is attaching to me.  He even called me omma today for the first time without me prompting him.  It feels amazing to be his omma!

I had told Lib that we would take Ty to the park when she got home from school so she was super excited.  My mom and I put the kids in strollers (yes Lib insisted on going in a stroller)  and headed to this small park near our house.  Of course, Ty fell sound asleep on the ride there.  Lib insisted on waking him so she could show him the park and play with him.  Once he woke up he had a blast, he ran around and around, something he didn't get to do in Seoul because there is very little open space and nearly no grass at all.  He was amazed by the grass.  He would stare at it, pick it, and just stroll through it.  It was so fun seeing him enjoy the outdoors. 

Footloose and Fancy Free

Awe....



No longer has to wish for her brother to come home!

We ended the day with dinner and a bath.  What a great first day home....I know there are many more to come!  Tomorrow Libby is going to the Tiger's game with her Grandpa and Mimi so Ty , Chris and I will have the afternoon to bond .