Omens From a Dead Fish

So I thought I'd rather forget three days ago when Lew got up at 4:30AM and stayed up because he just wanted to play. I was so tired the next day as was he. We were both in bad moods. BUT yesterday takes the cake.

I should have known when Audrey said to me as she left for school, "Don't forget to feed the fishy!" also known as Parm. I thought, "Ah, stupid fish can wait, but I better do it in case it dies." Well, I went to feed Parm #2 (Parm #1 died while we were in Korea and our neighbor took it upon herself to replace Parm - great), and Parm #2 was on his side stuck under the beads we had at the bottom. It looked like he'd been dead at least a day. I should have known at that moment that the day would be a sour one.

I went to pick up Audrey from school at 11:30 and was taking a left into her school and never saw the car coming at me until it was too late. I noticed it just before it hit me, so I sped up so as to avoid hitting a door and it hit my back passenger side quarter. The wheel bent in. I felt awful. I still cry when I talk about it. It was Lewis' first time in our car. Now the car might be totaled (we'll know today). Everyone is ok and Lew has a doctor's appointment today anyway, so I'll mention it. I felt awful because for the people coming, it was a head on collision, and it was two older ladies and I probably ruined their day if not a long time after. I know I probably scared the wits out of them. I was scared myself. I was so scared because I never even saw them. I remember thinking, "I wish I had prescription sunglasses," and "Oh good, the bus is still here, so I'm not late."

The school called Todd as I was crying too much to do anything. They were so nice. Todd came and stayed until the wrecker came. I was in the back of the police SUV, so I took the kids home to give them a bath (the germs in the back of a police cruiser have always bothered me - not that I've been in the back of one EVER). One of Audrey's friend's mom from school was gracious enough to take us home.

After bath I put a diaper on Lewis and was getting his PJ's because by this time 1:30PM he hadn't slept all day long. He spit up the most he's ever spit up right down my shirt on the inside. Talk about slimy and nasty. I was dry heaving and thinking, "This is way worse than peas, dude." I got myself cleaned up, him cleaned up, and put his PJ's on and put him to bed. He was crying and I couldn't figure out why because he hasn't been to sleep in a long time, but then I remembered that I had forgotten to feed him. So I got him out of bed and told him he didn't win the battle I just forgot to feed him. So I fed him and he went to bed at around 2:30 very contented.

Now, the dead fish could be a bad omen (if I were to believe in omens) or it could be a good one because last night was awesome! Lew got up at 1AM and took his bottle and I cuddled him and put him down, but he wanted to play, so I told Audrey to go into our room and I went into our room and Lew fell asleep on his own!!! Yeah!!!!!!!! THEN, at 6AM I heard, "Umma" which is mom in Korean. It was a very happy sounding word - not cranky or upset word. I looked in on him and he seemed to still be asleep, so I prepared a bottle just in case and then I heard a few babbles - happy babbles! I was like, "Thank you Babywise!!!!" That's the deal with Babywise. You can get your kid to sleep through the night and then when they wake up, they wake up happy. I'm going to start trying it on myself. He slept from 8PM to 6AM with only one wake up, and I didn't have to be that involved!

We are very blessed to be ok after the accident (including the other people in the other car), and I'm blessed with a calm husband (my dad pointed that out). We are also blessed with great in-laws who lent us their car for a little bit. I'm especially grateful because Lew has a doctor's appointment today and I wasn't sure how I was going to get him there. My dad also said that in these times we learn to appreciate each other more, although Todd may not appreciate me at this moment :)

1st Day in America!

So Lew enjoyed his first day in America. Except for the whole time change thing, Wallace and Gerber baby peas. He went to bed at 6:30PM last night totally exhausted from the trip. He shouldn't have been because he slept for most of the trip. I went to bed at 7 because I hadn't slept at all on the plane. Anyway, he woke up at 3:30AM ready to play. I congratulated his 9 hour stint with a bottle, but then tried to get him to go back to bed. I had to pat his back for 45 minutes!! He kept wanting to get up and stand in the crib, so I had to hold him down with my hand every now and then. He didn't like that, but eventually he fell back asleep until 7:30AM. What a guy! He did great his first night! We'll see how tonight goes. I, unfortunately couldn't go back to sleep after 3:30 eventhough I was dog tired. I wanted to so badly but couldn't.

At 7:30 I gave him Kix and he tried his first tried and true American baby food: peas. He dry heaved the whole way through the 7 bites he took. At lunch he had rice cereal - we figured he was safe with that. For dinner we tried mixing the rice cereal and the peas. Again, dry heave after dry heave. Todd said, "Seriously? You'll eat formented cabbage with chili sauce and not mushed peas?!" So we decided to put our hot sauce in it...:) Yeah, we actually did it. It didn't help.

He's a big fan of Kix and Audrey is a big fan of the song, "Boom Boom Boom, let me hear you say way-oh. WAY OH!" But she thinks it's "whale." She's singing it in bed right now.

Last night when we arrived home, Audrey was so excited to see Wallace. She let him in and Lew screamed extremely loud. Oh my goodness! I held him and petted Wallace at the same time and told him it was ok. Wallace smelled his bare foot and so his cold nose got on Lew, and I thought Lew was going to crawl up over my shoulder and down my back! We let Wallace back outside. He's also stressed out by baloons. I told him they were just like lanterns, but he thinks I'm lying. So today Audrey put the baloons on Wallace's dog collar (4 of them) - that went over really well. Both dog and kid were equally stressed out over the situation.

Other than that things went really well! Todd is absolutely amazing. He did ALL of the laundry - yup, all of it. I was worthless - the most I've done today is this blog (at teh behest of my friend to let people know how he's adjusting) and I have to go and at least clean up my kitchen. Tomorrow I plan on not taking two naps; the last one being a 3 hour one (Toddy was supposed to wake me up after 1 hour). I plan to wear Lew for his first nap as I clean my house. Then we'll pick up Audrey from school. Put Lew down for his second nap and bathe Audrey. It should be fun. Then I get a little quality time with just Audrey. That's the plan. It may all fall to pieces if I fall asleep. We'll see.

Last Day in Korea

Lewis did great last night! Thank you for all the prayers!!!!!!!!!!! Please keep it up!!! Please also pray that I don't get motion sick on the way back. I did on the way to Korea and it was awful. I thought I was a goner, and had to take inventory of the barf bags. Anyway, back to Lewis...he didn't wake up until 6 AM! He had a bottle and we played a little and then I put him back to bed and had to wake him up at 8:30. Poor guy was probably so emotionally exhausted. I get that way :)

He ate very well for us again today, which I'm told is a good sign. It was hard to get much done being the only one to take care of him. He's beginning to recognize that I'm the one who cares for him because he'll cry and crawl up to me to be held. How could I not?! Audrey, again is a HUGE help. She plays with him when I need to get something done and she actually likes it. She gets his diapers, or clothes or wipes for me. She's just so helpful. She even informed me when he peed on the towel before his bath time when I didn't know it. Nice of her to point it out. I gave him his first bath today (no pictures on the blog, so you'll have to come over), and before I could get him in the tub, he peed on the bathmat. Audrey folded it up and stuck it under the sink for the cleaning lady whom we adore!

Well, our trip has finally come to an end. It is sad to see. While we are anxious to get home and get into a routine (feed, wake, sleep, Baby!!), we love the people and the food so much here that it's hard to go. We've made some friends with the people at the hotel. One is our cleaning lady. She speaks the most English and is the most animated person I know. She's awesome. We've also been totally enjoying the hotel breakfast buffets that keep us from eating lunch they're so big. Who knew cold bean sprouts could taste so good! I love them - Todd hates them. I like the cold beef, but would rather it be hot.

We ate at yet another authentic Korean restaurant, but this one, we actually ate while sitting on the floor. Good times. Sorry it's a little blurry. They made the food right at our table. We were a little bit of a hike from our hotel, and we're not used to being parents of an infant again, and we're Todd and Erica, so naturally we forgot the diaper bag. Lewis poops once a day and guess when he decided to go. Yup, right during dinner. Todd ran back to get the diaper bag and then I changed them. The Korean women serving us commented on how fast he was at getting back. Anyone else snickering?

Lewis eats everything, according to his foster mom. I'm still a little nervous about giving him food I know Audrey didn't have until she was older. But the ladies cooking and serving us gave him rice and the broth made from the beef on the skillet. I figured if they gave it to me, it was ok.

We also went to "The Alter of Heaven," today. Apparently only the emperors could make sacrifices to Buddha, so the last king declared himself emperor so he could make sacrifices. Not sure how much of that is true, but it was a pretty place and quiet. Again I was the baby wearer!! Seeing Todd try to fit through the tiny door that I barely cleared was too funny!

Lastly, here are a few of our first pictures of us as a family. The first one was in our favorite store. The guy gave us good deals and we found ourselves going back there. The staff at the hotel took the other one for us by the waterfall sign in their hotel. Maybe next time, I won't have to hold Lewis because he was so stinkin' heavy.

WE HAVE LEWIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so I'm anticipating a rough night. Not that Lewis has been terribly difficult - quite easier than I anticipated. Not EASY exactly, but he at least had some fun with us for a while at dinner time. We didn't want it to end. It was more emotional for me than I thought. I was just so grateful to his foster parents who were very sad to see him go. They were so sweet and we will remain in contact with them via Holt and pictures. Anyway, he's asleep, so I better get to sleep, here are the pictures. I'll write more later, but I figured you'd want to see pictures!

Last time as a family of only three!!!

We Arrive!

On the way to Holt to pick him up

Foster Family

In the cab on the way to the hotel!!!

I

Dinner Time fun!

So I officially am a baby wearer

Meeting Lewis for the 2nd Time

Today we had Lewis' doctor's appointment (more on that in a minute). We also went to one of my mother's closest friend's mother's house. There we had a home cooked Korean meal. It was wonderful!!!! I've never been so full in my life. We had fried rice with shrimp and yellow fish, and a really great kabob type of thing with beef and mushrooms. The beef was so tender and tasty. We also officially love kimchi. The woman who prepared the kimchi is from the southern part of South Korea, and they use different spices there. Apparently kimchi takes at least a week to prepare because the spices and cabbage and whatever else is in there has to ferment. I guess it can take up to a month! My mother's friend's brother joked that we eat it just before it gets moldy. We joked that we might have some American kimchi in our refrigerator when we get home. Audrey showed the picture album of Lewis to the family. Here's a picture:


We had the best seaweed soup as well! Love that stuff. The clams put in it tasted so fresh! They taught us (again) how to use chop sticks. I think we're getting the hang of it. I asked them how do they teach their children how to eat with chopsticks and they said like they were teaching us. :) They were so gracious and kind. I received a necklace that is this beautiful purple/red. Todd got a nice new tie (thank goodness! I'm kind of sick of his old ones.) They gave Audrey a cute little set of glazed clay pigs - a Mommy, Daddy, Audrey and Lewis piggy as Audrey likes to call them. She also received some snacks. My mother's friend's brother said that the "whale food" used to be his nephew's favorite (personal shout out to Justin there!). Everything was so lovely, we couldn't have asked for a better evening!

During this day, we had, as I said, Lewis' doctor's appointment. I'm glad we got to go and see Lewis again, but it seemed like a waste of time. All it made me want to do is take him with me more. The doctor didn't really talk to us at all, but I guess if there had been any problems, it would have been essential that we be there. This visit, he got cleared for travel. He is safe to go on a plane and leave for America. He has some Mongolian spots which are common amongst Asians. We were instructed to take pictures of them to document that they are birthmarks and not bruises because some people could think otherwise. If he's anything like the other Boerman kids he'll have plenty of bruises to worry people, so if we can keep the tally low, that would be good.

His foster father was there today, so we got to take some pictures with him. He loves him so much - it's great to see. I got a picture of him sucking his thumb which is cute.



















He thinks Audrey is great and I'm so glad she's here with us because really, she'll be such a big help building that bond. Right now he doesn't really want anything to do with Todd or I, but tomorrow he won't have a choice (poor kid), but what's my motto been since having children? "He won't remember." That's what we've been taking video and pictures for, right?














He was getting a little sleepy towards the end of our visit, but as soon as his foster mom put him on her back, he was sooooooo happy. It's funny how a child can go from slightly whiny (he really wasn't bad at all) to extremely happy in a matter of seconds. Little stinker! That's the last picture in this series. His big ol' toothy grin being on the back of his foster mom's back. I love this picture!!

bukhansan

So we did a little hiking today. Ok, a lot of hiking today. About 8 hours through the Bukhansan National Park. By the way, this is Todd writing for a change. We had a wonderful day of fresh air. We saw some Buddhist temples, lovely mountains, and an unbelievable view of Seoul through the fog. A portion of the park is in Seoul and is pretty neat to have such a large mountainous park so close to the huge city. I understand it's pretty busy in the summer, but it wasn't bad today.
Audrey did remarkably well. She hiked about 90% of the time, and spent the rest of the time on my shoulders, carried, or in the Moby. This was Erica's first time trying out the Moby, which will be our primary transportation device for Lew. Audrey had a short time where she had cold feet (literally), and the lack of a restroom was a bit of an issue (no accidents, just an issue). Other than that, she was great. She was singing again 15 minutes after the rough patch. She never complained about being tired and she covered a ton of ground and elevation today.
About where we went in the park, and so on... We'll tell you when we get back. The locals are extremely helpful and we were fortunate to receive snacks, pictures taken, and other generosity along our way. One even tucked in Audrey's shirt for her.
We're back at the hotel now after a long taxi ride. The girls weren't in the mood for the subway on the way back.
Better go grab some dinner I suppose. Hopefully I can talk them out of the hotel for dinner today, but my legs are feeling it a bit, too.

I Got Worms....Excuse me? That's what we're gonna call it...

So today was the day we went on a tour of Seoul with Holt (the agency here Bethany Christian Services works with). We saw a palace - the last king/emperor died there. It was quite interesting. Then we had a bunch of traditional Korean food and the guides guided us through it. The Bibimbap was wonderful. I have pictures/video of everything I tried, so I can tell those of you who are actually interested at a different time.

HOWEVER I know you all will be interested in the following story: For those of you who are squeamish - this has nothing to do with blood or bodily fluids or needles, but it is nonetheless GROSS, so beware.

We went to a popular outside market (there are a few of them here). We got a few gifts there. You can barter and it's extremely difficult for me, but Todd is AWESOME at it. Given his peaceful nature, it kind of goes against the grain, but he has a will of iron and if he doesn't get a price, he just leaves. We had a few "shop" owners chase after us. One guy just shook his head. I don't think he's run into too many Dutchmen.

Anyway, they have some interesting things to eat that we're not sure what they are. They're like little kiosks cooking food - some really great smelling, and others awful smelling. One good smelling thing was a pig's face. It was hard to distinguish exactly what it was, so I asked and then the lady whipped out a snout and a forehead and started slicing it up and showed me. I was like, "Oh, gotcha." She laughed and I think it translated well.

I asked the Holt tour guides if there is anything I should definitely try either for tastiness or for the experience. I eventually figured out that the "clean hotdogs" as Audrey calls them, that she eats for breakfast every day are actually something to do with an ox tail. Not sure how that all plays in together, but I'm not eating it, and she loves them, so I don't really care. Anyway, they told me of a few things to stay away from and a few things to try. Once we got to the market, they saw a kiosk of food and said, "Oh if you want experience, try this, but it's really gross." Here is the picture:

Wanna know what it is?

Silk Worms.

Apparently, according to one of the guides, he used to eat the little worms at amusement parks when he was little. He said that these big ones, however, are really nasty. And here is a picture of me and Todd trying it and the aftermath of Audrey trying one. Audrey didn't want to try it at first, but she wanted one of the tour guides to try it, so I said, "If she tries it, will you?" and Audrey agreed. She said, "Yucky!" but she was a trooper and swallowed it! Todd was concerned as she was on his shoulders. We've been telling her she's not allowed to say anything is yucky in front of people if she eats it because it's rude, but she may say, "No thank you." She's been awesome and has tried everything. Some things she says, "No thank you," and others, like the "clean hotdogs," she's all about. After she said it was, "Yucky," we told her she may say that as often and as loud as she wishes about the silk worms. They give them to you in a large dixie cup with toothpicks to eat them. Haha! I just realized that apparently when I go across an ocean to a different country I eat worms! I ate them in Spain (unintentionally) and I ate them in South Korea (under coersion). :) I haven't had a worm in a tequila drink in Mexico, so I guess I'm safe in that country.