Wow...So I've been a bit busy. I got back Monday from a nice combination of business and pleasure. For work I headed out to San Francisco, California last Monday. Thursday, when my co-workers headed out, I stayed to extend my trip to have some fun! Jonathan flew out on Wednesday and we left on Monday.

It was an awesome trip. Jonathan had never been and I had been once for only a couple of days when I visited my sisters 5 years ago. I was definitely nice to get away from the HOT weather to enjoy San Francisco's 'record cold summer'. We had tons of fun and managed to celebrate HUDSON'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!!!!! That's right, his Birthday was August 20th. We ate at Seoul Garden and had some fabulous food! We are definitely ready to celebrate some more authentic Korean food...like in Korea...

Speaking of, it seems like things are moving quicker than expected so there is a real possibility we could be traveling in SEPTEMBER!! More updates to come...

A couple of weeks ago, our Sunday School class so graciously threw us a baby shower for Hudson! It was so much fun! There was a great turn out and Hudson got a lot of cool stuff!! I am finally finding a place for everything. We got a stroller, lots of books, diapers, toiletries, clothes and toys. We are so thankful for such an amazing group of friends that are so supportive and are always there for us.


Even more good news.... We received notice on Thursday that Hudson's Emigration Permission was submitted! This is the document that officially starts readying Hudson for his exit from Korea to the US. We still have a little bit of a wait, but we have learned to celebrate every step! I think the earliest travel date would be the last week of September, but we are anticipating October as more likely.

So we're back! We got back from New Orleans a few weeks ago. We had a great time with Jonathan's parents. We saw the entire city. We even went on a Swamp Tour! We experienced some odd behavior by some baby Russian boars and of course lots of alligators. Both animals had a sweet tooth for marshmellows which is what the tour guide would toss out every couple minutes. We visited a couple of the historic city cemetaries which I found very cool. We also walked around the Garden District which is where the town's celebrities and wealthy live. We saw the homes of Anne Rice, Nick Cage, Sandra Bullock and Archie Manning just to name a few.

Of course we ate some awesome Seafood, went to the French market and visited the aquarium . It was definitly an action packed few days, but worth every minute!

New Video!

We came home from New Orleans on Monday night to find our latest video of Hudson in the mail!

The clarity is much better here on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpFGBaPr3ko

Our baby is 11 months old!

That's right, Tuesday was Hudson's eleven month Birthday. We are stilll anxiously awaiting the video from last month. I can't wait to see him playing and more mobile then the last video. We know we'll be in the next batch of EPs (Emmigration Permission) submitted. Which means hopefully we'll be going in September.

Other than that, we've been putting the final touches on his room and winding up for some mini-vacations in the next month. Today we're heading to DeWitt and leaving for New Orleans with Jonathan's parents on tomorrow. We cannot wait. I love historical cities and can't wait to go... even if it is going to be hotter than hot, even if there is a tropical storm moving in that direction right now, and even if the oil spill has effected the seafood...we are still excited!

More news from Seoul!

Last week we received more pictures of Hudson and an update from our agency!

This was written for this 9 month update. It takes about a month from our agency's rep to get there, visit, process updates and forward on to us. So he is now 10 months old.

"His foster mother gives him a bath every other day and does not use soap due to sensitive skin. He can be quick tempered and does not like strangers. He goes to sleep at 11 pm and gets up at 7am, waking several times throughout the night as he is very sensitive to sounds and wakes up immediately. He sleeps on the floor by his foster mother. He is able to sit unassisted, crawl on his hands and knees, pull up to stand, and can stand without support. He can say omma (mom) and mamma (food). He likes new toys, especially toy cars. There is another foster baby boy age 3 months in the foster home.

As of May 20, weight 8.8kg, height 73cm, head 44.3cm, chest 42.8cm, teeth 0/2"

I'll be honest, there are a few things about this update that make me nervous...

1) he has extreme stranger anxiety... yikes, this is going to be an 'eventful' bonding period.

2) he is very sensitive to sounds and wakes up immediatly...with 3 dogs, one of which being a barker, this could be bad..

No matter how nervous I am, I am still ready to go get him! Getting the pictures is so bittersweet. I love to see how he's growing, but I'm sad not to have him home. Anyway, on to the pictures...

He is holding the stuffed rattle horse we sent in our last package in May. Jonathan was not impressed with Mrs. Choi's wardrobe decision of bright pink socks... We're still planning on October timing to go pick him up. I watch for news from families ahead of us hoping some revelation will happen and we will get a call tomorrow...

So... A lot has changed...

Hello all!!

Since the last post, we have got 2 more updates on Hudson... One good, one not so good. I always stick with bad news first, so I can end on a high note...


The first one was to all waiting families as an update on timelines. Here's some background: S. Korea is reducing the number of foreign adoptions and encouraging more domestic adoptions (which is not a bad thing by any means) however, this means that every year the government regulates the number of babies that can leave the country. Last year our agency met their 'quota' of babies early- around August. What that means is that no families can travel to pick up their child until the following new year. So in February 2010, those families finally started to be able to travel. They had a long wait- around 6-7 months. Typically they tell us the wait should be around 3-6 months, but it is almost always 4 months.


Jonathan and I expected to be closer to 5 months given the backlog of families from 2009. Then we got a letter from the agency. They have moved all waiting times from here on out to 8-12 months. After working with the Korean agency/orphange, Eastern, it was just not realistic to believe the original timeframe could be kept in light of the recent goverment announcements. So now we've been told to expect our baby's age to be 14-18 months instead of the original 9-10 months.


This was pretty upsetting news to us as we thought we were so close. We have plenty of things to thankful for though. Nothing has changed with our baby. Hudson is still ours, we will just get him a little older. His foster parents are taking really good care of him and love him to pieces. He has a foster baby brother (I think around 3 months) that is probably entertaining him a lot. And now we just have more time to get the nursery together and save $$.

The second update we recieved just yesterday. Hudson apparently has eczema (doesn't every baby though?) Heck, I still get it on my hands every once in a while, huh must take after me... Anyway, that is why we got the update and pictures! It was a really nice surprise to see his face! He is getting so big! Here are the updates on his 8 month progress report:

• He is about 18.5 lbs
• He eats apples, rice and bread
• He is a night owl and goes to sleep at 11
• He tries to crawl, can roll over and uses his pincer grasp
• He responds to his name and 'no'
• He plays in the sitting position
• He imitates speech sound "umma, appa" meaning momma, papa