Happy 1st Birthday Jonah RiYoon!

Jonah's 1st birthday was this past Sunday. Joshua and I were in Florida for a bridal shower for my future sister-in-law and to visit my family. It was Joshua's first time meeting his aunts, uncle, and cousins, as well as his first time on an airplane since we brought him home from Korea. He did wonderfully! I think he was actually better behaved than he is at home. He LOVED his cousins.

On Sunday, we went to the beach and wrote a birthday message in the sand for Jonah. I found myself more sad in the weeks and days leading up to his first birthday than on the day itself. My heart was also very heavy thinking about his birth parents. We plan to have a family celebration with Korean food and cake this weekend so that John can celebrate with us.

 

On Monday, we received updated pictures of Jonah with the birthday care package we sent. He is currently just over 20lbs and 29.9 inches. By comparison, Joshua was 30 inches when we brought him home at 16 months, but weighed 30 lbs! It also looks like Jonah is standing independently and most likely has started walking based on the lack of weight gain. Hopefully, I won't get myself in trouble, but here is Jonah's blog debut:

Love his smile and he looks so sweet with the lovey we sent. I am hoping and praying for 1st birthday hanbok pictures and a more substantial update that might give us more insight into his personality. That is one of the hardest things for me, not knowing what my new son is like at all. I want to know what he likes and dislikes, know whether he is outgoing or shy, basically just know who he is. However, I am very grateful for the pictures we have been receiving. We have gotten many more pictures than we got with Joshua, so I am grateful. We have gotten pictures every month since February with the exception of April.

My First Mother's Day

My day started out with Joshua and John bringing me breakfast in bed. The memory of Joshua carrying the plate in with his sweet smile will be one I never forget. Truth be told, I didn't actually eat breakfast in bed, but I certainly enjoyed having it brought to me.

And for the first time in a number of years I went to church on Mother's Day. Our church held a parenting presentation (their version of a baby dedication) and so we took part to commit ourselves to raising Joshua to know and love the Lord with all his heart, mind, body, and soul. I jokingly said this was the Lord's way of finally getting me to church on Mother's Day. :-)  Though I have every reason to celebrate this day, and I absolutely celebrate it, my heart is still very much with those who are hurting on Mother's Day. All morning long I couldn't help but think of how painful that service would have been for anyone dealing with infertility. I also think of those mothers who have lost their children, those who are estranged from their children, and those children who have lost their mothers, so many people are hurting on this day.

Almost all the other children being presented were babies, keeping a 2 year old still/entertained is a little more challenging. Fist bumps helped at one point. :-)

I don't remember what Joshua did just before this, but it was obviously funny/embarrassing.

My favorite one, us joined together in prayer as our Pastor prayed. Prayer is very important to me, so I love seeing that Joshua already has an interest in praying. He insists that we hold hands to pray at dinner time. Joshua does not say many words, but when we say "amen" he will often echo us with "men" - it is so cute.

After church, John made lunch and then I took a nap during Joshua's nap time. The rest of the day we just relaxed, talked to our families, and then John made dinner.

When we were in Korea, we bought a Celadon vase for occasions like Mother's Day when we want to remember and honor Joshua's birth mom. John bought two bouquets of flowers, one for me and one for his birth mom. I plan to take a picture of Joshua every year with the vase.These pictures were taken on my new iPhone, my Mother's Day present - I love it!!!

It is still hard to believe that I am actually a part of Mother's Day now. I feel so very blessed to be your mom Joshua JoonSeo.

Grandma's Quilt

My grandma, Joshua's great grandmother, died the summer after I graduated college so sadly she was never able to see any of her grandchildren get married or meet any of her great grandchildren. My grandpa died the year prior to her death. How I wish I could have known them as an adult when I would have appreciated them so much more.

My grandparents were not extravagant people or big collectors. They lived simply, loved Jesus, and prayed for their children and grandchildren daily. We do however, have a few cherished items that belonged to them. The summer grandma died, my sister was pregnant with my niece. She would have been the 1st great grandchild for my grandparents. One of the cherished items is a baby quilt made by my grandparents, apparently my grandpa would actually do a lot of the hand stitching, so naturally that item went to my sister. When I was pregnant my sister passed the quilt along to me as part of my Christmas gift. For a very long time it sat tucked away in the guest bedroom closet. It was hard for me to even look at it. One of my cousins had a baby, but at the time I had pushed those thoughts so far out of my mind (for survival) that I didn't even think about the quilt. Thankfully, by the time another cousin (his brother) was expecting, I was able to pass the quilt on to them. Their little girl is named Elise, which was the middle name we gave our baby, so that was kind of neat. Anyway, my cousin sent it back to us last summer before Joshua came home.

In August, I am going to have another niece so it is time to pass the quilt back to my sister. Truthfully, we didn't use the quilt much because it really is a baby quilt. Also, I didn't want Joshua to choose it as his blankie (with him being at that age). But it was important to me to get some pictures of Joshua with it before passing it on. I took a few pictures at the house which didn't really turn out well and then went to a park to play and have a picnic lunch. It was a fun day and a great memory.

I only wish she could have met my sweet boy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Joshua is in love with balloons right now so we got him a couple more to celebrate today.

Then we made cupcakes. He LOVES helping mommy right now.

 

Finished product - Toppers are a free printable from Creations by Kara

St. Patrick's Day lunch was rice with seaweed (it looks black in the photo, but it's really dark green) and green grapes on a green plate topped off with a cupcake.

Initially, I wasn't sure how I felt about celebrating this holiday with so much emphasis on it being an Irish thing. We have an Irish last name, and therefore Joshua will have an Irish last name once our adoption is finalized, but I don't want to take away anything from who he is as a Korean American. Ultimately, I decided to have fun with it and celebrate the day with things I know Joshua enjoys. I like the idea of having fun little celebrations for the various holidays throughout the year. I want to keep it simple, however, and not fall into the trap of doing things to impress others or to try to be the perfect mom.

I also love this post from Dr. Russel Moore - a great reminder that St. Patrick's Day is really about a man who told people about Jesus. Now that is worth celebrating.

February Recap and Pictures

February started out wonderfully with a visit from Papa and Meme but then took a turn for a worse when both Joshua and I got sick. However, we did manage to have some fun.

It snowed in Tucson on Valentine's Day! It actually made me a little sad though because it made me think of our friends in Maryland and Virginia.

We had some fun with a Valentine balloon, bought at half price the day after, since I was too sick to leave the house prior to that. Joshua loves us to karate chop it. :-)

Met up with a new friend (also adopting from Korea) at Spring Gymnastics, where they open up the gym to toddlers and let them play on their trampolines, mats, and Joshua's favorite the foam block pit below the parallel or uneven bars (not sure which).

"More, more, more" - he wants me to throw him in the pit

Following his most recent illness, our pediatric nurse practitioner put Joshua on inhaled steroids indefinitely. We do one treatment in the morning and one right before bed. To encourage his cooperation, he is allowed to watch a video during the treatments. This particular evening we were watching one of the Praise Baby DVDs. There are balloons throughout the video, so Joshua just has to go get his balloon in order to watch it. He gets quite upset if he doesn't have it with him. :-)

Joshua turned 22 months! I just took pictures of what he happened to be doing that day. Here he is playing with the green bowls in the living room, a favorite activity.

And here playing with the little ceramic bear my mom made for him.

In front of the quilt John's mom made for him. Isn't it gorgeous!

Met up with some ladies from our new church for a playdate. Here Joshua is "dancing" to a beat. He will do this anytime he hears music or some type of rhythm. His dancing is marching his feet and spinning around.

He also discovered the teeter totter.

"More, more more!"

Joshua started giving Annie her treats in the morning. As you can see, he is quite pleased with himself.

Getting down on the ground to watch Annie eat her treat is required.

I am sure we did other stuff, but if I don't have a picture then I can't remember. John always make fun of me about this because I always want to take pictures of whatever we are doing.