Our family has grown

We are home and pretty settled in. Hope is a pure joy to have. We are all in love with her, even Will, who did not want another sister. As I was putting the big kids to bed tonight, I whispered in Will's ear " I think you like your baby sister"..and he said "NO, I love her" Ugh...sooo sweet I almost lost it. Brooke is loving her too, she wants to help all the time, and doing a good job at it.

Ok so I will back up now and tell you how things went in Korea.

We left on Monday morning and arrived in Seoul Tues evening. The flight was fine, just long. We checked into our hotel and went right to bed, slept 10 hours straight. Then on Weds we went to meet Hope at her foster family's apartment. It was like a dream, we walked through the door and there she was crawling towards us. So petite, beautiful rosy checks, and these big dark chocolate eyes.

Like I said in my other post, she was very shy. We got down on the floor with her and her Foster Mom gave me a banana to feed her. Then she let me hold her and feed her pretty much the rest of the time we were there. It was soo wonderful to finally have her in my arms. Our visit lasted about an hour and a half...but it felt like 10 minutes.

On Thurs day we went shopping and sightseeing. And then on Friday we picked Hope up at the the agency. It went as well as anyone could have wanted. She recognized me and did not hesitate to come to me, as we went over the last bits of paperwork and other details. Then as we said good bye to her Foster Mom Hope got a little whiny, but once the door closed she was fine.

Until we got to the hotel room. Then she lost it. Lots of grieving. We ended up going back out just to get her out of the room. I popped her in the sling and started walking and she was happy as a clam. That night was not as bad as it could have been. We think we got about 6 hours of sleep total..again with lots of grieving for Foster Mom.

Sat morning we headed for the airport. On the flight from Seoul to Chicago, I would not say Hope was pleasant. But there were times she slept so we got through it, with the help of an older Korean couple.

Since we have gotten home things have just gotten better and better. I am clearly her first choice for comfort. And Raymond or I must be with her at all times, so we are playing pass the baby whenever one of us needs to do something we can't do with a baby attached to us. But we were very prepared for this stage, and we have missed the last nine months of holding and cuddling, so we are happy to snuggle her as much as she wants for as long as she wants.