I've been trying--desperately trying--to find time to update...but there's a new baby in this house and Sleep is not thine name.
Let me start at the beginning.
Two years ago, this weekend, we were on a plane bound for Seoul to meet our first son, H. He was about 5 and a half months when we met him, a lean mean jumping machine. H. had the biggest smile of any baby ever in the history of babies. He soon became the love of our lives. Five million diapers, three kajillion viewings of Finding Nemo and nearly two years later, the three of us headed back to Korea to meet our new son, W.
And here I interrupt to bring you a public service announcement: when traveling on a 14.5 hour flight with a two year old, the thing you need more than toys, DVDs, cookies, crackers, etc. etc. is another version of yourself. A well-rested doppelganger to handle things on the other side. Because, sometimes--and I'm not naming any names--sometimes kids decide not to sleep until the descent of the plane and by then, well, by then it's just too late. Thanks for nothing, kid, and all that.
Korea was amazing. With our eyes pried open by toothpicks, we took in as many sights as we could the first few days we were there. When we traveled to pick up H, the trip was much shorter. This time, we spent nine nights there and got around. The first three nights, H. was jet-lagging big time. And thus, so were we. But after that, we got back on track and by then it was time to meet W. That meeting is a longer post for another time but suffice it to say it was everything we could have wanted.
Two days before we departed Seoul, we headed over to the Korean agency. There we were reunited with H's foster parents. It was very emotional and touching for all of us, and we hope it's not the last of such visits. After that tear-fest, W. showed up with his foster mother and her daughter. They really loved him and it was hard watching them say goodbye. But again, we hope to see them in a few years, when we don't throw up at the thought of flying that far with children again. We'll send pictures and keep them up to date on this 5-month-old's fine accomplishments as they happen.
W. was 4 and a half months old when we met. It's now just about a month on, I guess three weeks. But when you factor in the lack of sleep, it's more like six weeks, since we've been up and working doubles. The jet lag was not as easy to overcome this time since we had a toddler who needed to watch. Wonder. Pets. NOW. At 2 am. This lasted a week. From then on, it's been your basic, garden variety up-at-night with a baby sleeplessness. And we are tired. So very tired.
But it's all good. W. is a bundle of cute. He's very happy and loves to flirt. He smiles a lot and is so alert. He watches every move H. makes. H. is starting to come around. He's been very cool about having a new baby in the house, and his days of indifference get cancelled out every time he places one of his prized possessions in the palm of the baby's hand just to look at it there, and say, "Sharing."
When W. cries, H. says, "Baby laughing." I started asking, "Is he laughing or crying? What do you think?" Now every time baby makes a noise, H. says, "Baby laughing. Is he laughing or crying?" H. is talking a lot these days, repeating everything we say, like a parrot. When he's not saying, "To infinity and deyond," he's usually saying, "Daddy says, I love you. Mommy says, I love you. H. says, I love you." When the baby first got here, we'd ask, "What does baby say?" The answer: "Baby says, Goo ga ga." But now, it's "Baby says, I love you."
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This post was interrupted by some early-evening-into-late-night-crying. Not mine, if you're wondering. But by midnight you wouldn't have been far off.
And now it is Thanksgiving, and time to end this, the most rambling of posts. I am out of practice and a wee bit scattered. Gooble gobble, as H. says. Enjoy everything that's good in your lives today.
