Howdy, bunco group, this is the house that the Kilgore's are considering to purchase in Washington, PA. We'll likely be moving in late June.

Maya's First Birthday!

The weather was beautiful for Maya's first birthday on Saturday! Maya got to meet new family (Aldo, Amy, Santino, Dominica, and Luciano) and reacquaint with some other family (Bob, Kim, JT, Adeline, Justin, Jackie, Landon, Larissa, and Landon). Plus some good friends and neighbors (Barb and Natalia) joined the party. Maya had a good time playing, dressing up in her hanbok that our Korean friends gave her, playing in the cake, and all around having a pleasant day.

Maya discovered her little rocking chair and loves to climb up and rock herself! She is also getting close to walking alone (up to 4-5 steps) but still likes to hold our fingers. The third picture is from the Butterfly House on campus where Oliver has become the master butterfly wrangler, with assistance from his vivid shirt; Maya, as you can see, is teething like mad!

A few more pics. Maya loves the swing!

The fam pics were for our social worker's first post-placement home visit, which went very well. We don't expect any difficulties associated with finalization and our moving to PA this Summer. Whew!


Tomorrow (Saturday) is Maya's first birthday, so we'll post more pics later this weekend!

Maya continues to astound us with her rapid acclimation to our family. She absolutely adores Oliver and doesn't mind his carrying her around the house. She is completely bonded with Pam as her mommy, and Maya is very happy to see daddy after work. Maya also continues to demonstrate her innate flexibility, indicating a future yoga instructor.

Days after arriving in the US, we attended a retirement party for a faculty member and took two cars not knowing how the children would respond. Maya was quite content and, with Oliver's able assistance, walked around between all of the tables.

Maya is a great eater, takes a decent (usually) midday nap, and loved her first trip to Woody's Oasis! The last photo shows Maya making what started out as an apparent imitation of our family's large smile and turned out being what Pam and Oliver call "funny face," which she thinks is pretty funny.

Wednesday p.m. & Thursday flights

Hello all. We’re writing from a severely jetlagged state of mind, so I’ll go easy on the exclamation points this time ;) Maya was pretty darn suspicious of us in the hotel, and not too happy…but she did have her moments of calm (pic). She did a superb job of sleeping on Wednesday night in the hotel. This of course is from my vantage point of the parent who did not take her on a midnight stroll through Seoul after she woke up from a deep 4 hour “nap.” Jason and she saw some of the Seoul nightlife together as I was passed out in the hotel room.

Thursday morning brought us a slightly bewildered, but nonetheless (fairly) content, happy baby who accompanied us on a quest for caffeine. Once she realized we weren’t such bad people after all, she was willing to let us haul her around the world with few complaints! Earlier in the week we had resigned ourselves to the idea of a horrendous 12 hour return plane trip, with a screaming baby and angry co-passengers. We got none of that! She was so amazingly content, even though the three of us were squished in 2 economy class seats (with a Tibetan woman next to us whose legs kept falling asleep, so she would stomp them on the floor as hard as she could…). Maya charmed many people, and even sat with a friendly woman in front of us so we could eat our dinners. We walked around a lot and visited with the MANY other babies and children as their parents did laps with them around the plane as well! (All that walking left both of us with some serious vertigo once we were back on terra firma. Holy moly…what a trip!) We even befriended a Vietnamese woman with a serious Wisconsin accent (think Fargo, WI- style) who had been adopted after the war and had visited Asia for the first time since she was 3.

We landed at O’Hare, got through security, customs, & IMMIGRATION(!) successfully and without hassle (pic). The last leg of our trip to Lansing was fairly uneventful, and we were all welcomed back home by Ollie, Dad (pic), Jackie, Landon, Larissa, & Lane! Thanks guys!

Oliver joined us for the car ride home. This ride was another anticipated hardship since Maya had never been strapped into a carseat before. But man, is this kid cool. She was totally chilled out the whole ride home! She loved watching Ollie do pretty much anything (breathe, eat, speak…) and he loved entertaining her and holding her (pics; and remember the gumby reference for pic 2). We’re trying to get back into Michigan time (refer to the luggage under my eyes in pic). Yet again, coffee is our friend!

Maya seems to be doing GREAT in our home already! We can get her to laugh like her housemother could (an uninhibited joyful and hearty baby laugh!). Maya and Oliver enjoyed their first bath together (pic). She’s eating well, and we all took her on many walks today. We’re enjoying this exciting time in our lives!

Later!

Pam (& Jason & Oliver)

Today is what adoptive parents call GOTCHA Day! We finally got to bring Maya back to the hotel with us this afternoon after what can only be described as a whirlwind trip through the orphanage. The workers and volunteers threw her (and other children) their first birthday party with the traditional “Hanbok” clothing; we arrived just as photos had finished, and they were removing her Hanbok. We held her for some photos (pic), said good-bye to everyone, and headed over to get the final OK from the doctor before taking a taxi back to the hotel. Mind you that car seats are not mandatory and thus not really used here, that the seat belts in the back of the taxi were dysfunctional, that riding in a taxi in Seoul is a bit like riding a roller coaster, and that Maya had probably never been in a taxi let alone with these strangers…well, the ride was interesting, but she did pretty well most of the way sitting on my (Jason’s) lap and being distracted by all the sites and movement.

In the hotel room, she intermittently cried, drank some “milk,” and switched b/w Pam (pic) and me before passing out at 5:52pm on the bed. She is still sleeping. Pam’s getting ready for bed in preparation for the inevitable 2am festivities!

Before arriving at the orphanage (3pm), we took our time getting down to Itaewon via the subway. Have I mentioned the very fast, cheap, and clean subways here in Seoul? They’re great! Anyway, we were in search of a particular artist who paints scrolls while-u-wait; we were going to get one for Maya. Even though his card says that he opens at 9am, he never opened by the time we left the area at around 2pm! The weather was brisk and damp, and his shop is a booth along the street, so perhaps today did not seem like a good painting day… Nevertheless, we found (and negotiated well for) a nice little herb chest (reproduction, not real antique) and had another great traditional meal for lunch….followed by a couple of lattes at a local beanery!

Tomorrow morning….taxi to the airport and a noon flight home! We’re looking forward to seeing folks as we recover from the jet lag and allow Maya time to adjust to her new surroundings! We’ll continue to update this blog with Maya pics for some time since we may not see all of you right away. Thanks for all of your support in preparation for and during our travels to Korea, and special thanks to Nonno and Zia Kim for staying with Oliver!