A Weekend of Visitors....

We had a very nice weekend visiting with family and friends who have been anxiously awaiting their chance to meet Ellie.

On Saturday Uncle Paul (Phil's brother) and Aunt Tiffany came for a visit. They had a great time playing on the floor getting to know Ellie and spending some time with Abby and Gabe. They grilled brats for us and brought yummy dessert too. THANKS Paul and Tiffany! They even got to stay long enough to play some 500 after the kiddos were all sleeping. Yay!

Kicking back with Uncle Paul. This guy seems alright!

Is that me in your camera Aunt Tiffy? Boy I look cute today!

On Sunday evening our friends Steve and Micki came over with their four kids. All of the kids were very well behaved. You wouldn't have even known we had seven children in the house! They brought dinner and presents for Ellie and even stocked our freezer with homemade lasagna for another day. THANKS Steve and Micki!

Here is Ellie checking out Nate (Steve and Micki's youngest child). He is an older man who already knows how to walk. We are already screening him as a potential prom date so Nate was showing off his moves!

The presents are interesting. Amanda would have been happy to open them for Ellie.

But in the end she just wanted to eat the paper.

Ellie did great meeting so many new people. Allowing her to stay on familiar turf and having the new people come to her seems to work very well. Although Ellie handled her weekend well, she is exhausted. I put her to bed 12 hours ago and she is still sleeping.

Fun with Bubbles!

Ellie LOVES her baths. Because she has had a cold this week we have been using a Johnson's baby bath product with menthol to help with her congestion. The bonus of that particular baby bath is the that it makes TONS of bubbles. Who doesn't love bubbles?

How many MOMS do you have?

How many Moms do you have? This is the question that filled my mind today on my first Mother's Day with 3 children. Since we do not yet have the technology to grow babies to full term in jars, we all have a First Mom. A First Mom is the mom who carried us in her womb and gave us life. For some that may be the only mom they ever have but most of us acquire more Moms somewhere along life's journey. Some of us acquire Second Moms through death, divorce and remarriage. We may also acquire Second Moms through our own marriage, our mother-in-laws. Still others acquire more Moms through pseudo adoption. We adopt friends, neighbors or coworkers with whom we develop a nurturing 'mom' like relationship. All these woman, the many Moms in our lives, should be honored on Mother's Day.

On this day, I realize that I am both a First and a Third Mom. I was blessed enough to be a First Mom to Abby and Gabe. I carried them with me for 9 months and I was there when they took their first breaths in the world. No matter where I go in life or what I do, I will always consider the creation of those two perfect human beings my greatest accomplishment.

Now through the beauty of adoption I also get the chance to be a Third Mom. Somewhere in Korea is a courageous young woman who loved Ellie enough to give her life despite the fact that she was probably shunned by family and friends for being a single pregnant woman. Ellie's First Mom also placed her for adoption hoping to provide her with the things she couldn't. That decision had to be one of the most difficult decisions of her life. I hope that on this day celebrating Mothers that Ellie's First Mom is at peace with her decision and I hope someday she will know how much we love the little girl she brought into this world. Ellie also had a Second Mom, Lee Mi Sook. Mi Sook took on the difficult task of caring for a new born day and night knowing that someday she would leave for another family. She loved Ellie as her own until the day we brought her home. Ellie could not have had a better Second Mom. So that leaves me in position number three. It is a position that I am happy to have. I didn't hear Ellie's first breath. I didn't see her first smile or hear her first laugh but I get so much more. I get to be there for her first steps, her first word and her first birthday. I will be there for her first day of school, her first aced test and her first broken heart. I get to be her forever mommy. Yes, third place is just fine with me.

We had a fairly quiet Mother's Day around the Germann household. We went to Mass and ate lunch at Subway (Abby's choice). Who knew a five year old could eat a whole meatball sub? We spent a quiet afternoon at home with all three children napping (that is a gift in itself). We then went out for Mexican food (Mommy's choice). We had hoped to capture some pictures of our Mexican dinner but we were too busy surviving eating out with three kids to remember to take pictures. Here are some pictures we took after church of me and my beautiful children on Mother's Day.

Muffins, Mass and the END of Paternity Leave

Today was a busy day for the Germann Household. First we had muffins. Gabe and I headed off to his daycare for "Moms and Muffins" in celebration of Mother's Day. It was nice to have breakfast with him one on one and spend a little time playing in his room. He will continue to attend this daycare all of next week and probably part of the following week to allow Ellie a little more adjustment and bonding time. After that he will be at home with mom. Then in July both Gabe and Ellie will start at a brand new educational daycare center just opening next month. We have been at our current daycare center, Knowledge Beginnings for nearly 6 years so it is hard to make the change but we are very excited about the new school, Primrose. They seem to have great curriculum and the directors there were formerly the directors at Knowledge Beginnings so we are very comfortable with them. Still transitions are hard and this is another one. Here are some pictures of "Moms and Muffins."

Phil was left home to get the girls ready and Abby to school by 9:00 because Mass was next on the agenda for the day. On Wednesday Abby has school Mass and today was the Kindergartners week to 'plan' Mass. Abby read a petition the last time the Kindergartners lead Mass but this time she sang in the choir. I met Phil and Ellie at school for Mass. Nothing beats Kindergartners belting out Mass music!

Abby is on the top row in the middle. She is wearing a yellow shirt.

Today marks the end of Phil's two weeks of paid paternity leave so after Mass he headed back to work. Wow - where did those two weeks go? We spent the first one traveling and the second on recovering. I will miss having Phil home. Ellie is fun but she is not much of a conversationalist yet.

I should note that Ellie slept for 11 hours last night and only got up because we had to wake her to start our busy day. We missed her afternoon nap yesterday so she fell asleep at 8:30. We were so afraid that she would be up in the night or very early in the morning. I was quite surprised when I woke up at 6:00 and had not heard from her. We finally woke her at 7:30 so she could eat before going to school with Abby. It appears that our little Ellie may be a good sleeper. YES!

Jet lag has lifted and Ellie sits up

I think we are finally over the jet lag. Woo Hoo! Ellie slept last night from 9:30 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. At 4:30 she was only up for 45 minutes took a bottle and went back to sleep until 8:30. We slept through the alarm and were awakened by Abby at 8:00! It was a mad dash to get everyone fed and Abby to school on time but we did it and we were grateful for the extra sleep.



Ellie is settling into the family so nicely. I have heard and read of so many struggles with attachment in adoption that I keep waiting for something bad to happen but each day gets better and better. Ellie takes bottles easily for us now (though she still won't look at Phil when she takes her bottle at least she drinks all her milk). When we first came home she would arch her back and scream when we tried to put her to sleep. I just put her down for her morning nap and she just snuggled in my arms and drifted off to sleep without any fighting or crying. We feel so blessed that she has such an easy going disposition.




Abby and Gabe have been struggling a little bit with all the changes. There is no outright hostility toward Ellie or anyone else but there are more temper tantrums and tears. They are both really sensitive and a small injury that wouldn't have phased them two weeks ago is now a terrible tragedy. We are working hard to find some individual time for each of them each day (no easy task). I know in the long run their lives will be richer and fuller for having another sibling but it is hard to see them struggling now. In a month it will be as if Ellie were always here. Gabe is already rewriting history in his story telling to include Ellie in things we did before she came.



Ellie's newest trick is getting from laying to sitting on her own. She is very proud of herself when she does it and looks to us for praise. She gets herself in some pretty funny positions and she appears to be incredibly flexible. Perhaps she will be a gymnast. This is usually the last developmental milestone before crawling so our house will get even busier soon.



Almost there...


Look at me sit up. I am so proud!

Ellie has also become an avid reader of any book containing pictures of babies.

It's been a hard day's night...

We should be sleeping like a log.

We are, however, not sleeping like a log, in fact we are not sleeping very much at all.

Two things seem to be interfering with our ability to get some sleep:

1) jet lag; and

2) our three children.

Three children can you believe that?!?! Though we have been in the process of this adoption for a year and half it is just now sinking in that we have three children. We are out numbered. Be afraid be very afraid!

Those of you who have more than one child know that the whole theory of "sleep when the baby sleeps" goes out the window when you have other children to care for. Also, we are trying desperately to recover from jet lag and get our bodies back into this time zone and we know that sleeping during the day will not help with that process. We are also trying to get Ellie adjusted to this time zone without much success yet. Thursday (her first day home) she slept almost the entire day. We decided to let her sleep considering the stress her little body had been through the day before and the fact that she slept very little on the plane. We did wake her around meal times all day to expose her to some daylight and keep her eating. After being up with her quite a bit on Thursday night we decided on a new plan of attack for Friday. We kept Ellie up as much as we could on Friday. We took her to Target and walked around just to entertain her and keep her happy while awake. We took her to daycare and school to pick up Abby and Gabe. We did allow her to nap twice but woke her from those naps after 2 hours and despite this valiant effort last night was worse. Ellie slept from 9:30 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. and then she was awake until 7:00 a.m. She was great fun during this time laughing and playing and only cried when we would try to put her to sleep. We are trying again today to keep her awake so that she will start to sleep during the night. She is currently taking a nap but we will be sure to keep it short. Hopefully this works. Phil says we are not jet lagged, we are sleep walking.

So far, in our mere 36 hours home we have really only encountered two struggles with Ellie; sleeping and eating. These are the times when she seems to miss her foster mom the most. For the first two days home she didn't want to take bottles from us. We had a bit of a break through on that yesterday and she is now taking her bottles better. She also really seems to fight going to sleep. She arches her back and cries and tries desperately to get away from us. This also seems to be improving a little though I think it will take some time.

In all other ways things are moving along splendidly. Ellie is opening up and smiling and laughing more with each passing day. She is very bubbly and engages people she encounters when we are out and about. She babbles a lot so she fits in nicely in this family! We did not get to see this personality during our time in Korea and it is so fun to see her come out of her shell. Ellie is growing accustom to Abby and Gabe and the commotion they create. She really enjoys the kids and they are always attempting to make Ellie laugh or smile. She also enjoys her bath. She is not a big fan of the car seat but we are working on it. I sit in the back with her and that seems to help.

Abby and Gabe are adjusting very well. We have seen a few bouts of jealousy out of Gabe when I am holding Ellie but Ellie expresses the same displeasure when I am holding Gabe. Gabe will recite a liteny of toys that he does not want Ellie to chew on but then he and Abby fight over who gets to sit by her at dinner.

So that is the update for now. We are VERY tired but surviving. Here are some pictures of our first days together.

Wow these are adorable children!



Abby is such a good big sister. She is always willing to help out and fetch something and wants to hold Ellie whenever she will sit still long enough to be held.

Gabe's job currently consists of explaining the intracacies of toys to Ellie to make sure she is enjoying them properly.

Ellie does not yet crawl, however, she rolls everywhere. She can turn on dime and practically bend herself in half to get where she wants to go. She takes off her socks as soon as I put them on and likes to chew on her toes. She is such a joy!

Better than Expected...

Better than expected is the phrase I use to describe the travel home. I had geared myself up for 13 hours of non stop crying. I figured if I could handle 30 hours of labor I could handle 13 hours of crying. Ellie, however, was a trooper and greatly exceeded our expectations and handled the trip quite well.

We had a direct flight from Seoul to Chicago leaving at 12 noon, then a hop from O'Hare to Rochester after a brief layover. Ellie fell asleep in the van from the agency to the Inchon airport. At the airport she had a tough time and did some crying but fell asleep again after I tied her on in my podaegi (a traditional Korean baby carrier). She even slept through the boarding process.

There were lots of babies on this plane so we weren't able to get bulkhead seats where we would have had more room and a bassinet but it still worked out OK. We had two seats alone toward the back of the plane so I had lots of space between my seat and the window where I could stash the diaper bag and other necessities. Phil and I worked out a system for meals where one of us would hold Ellie on the back of the plane while the other one ate. Ellie was upset and crying 3 different times. The first two times we were able to walk around the plane and get her to fall asleep (yeah podaegi!). She even took one nap that was three hours long allowing Phil and I to zone out to a movie. The last time she was upset was the most difficult. We had only a couple more hours to go and Ellie was definitely mom shopping. She would reach out to every Korean woman on the plane. She was missing her foster mom and could not be comforted by me. One of the stewardesses was nice enough to hold her for a while. Ellie was very glad to have a Korean face to look at and Korean words to listen to. These times of crying only seemed to come when she was tired and needed to sleep, other than that she would play with toys and eat snacks and generally entertain us. Phil and I both think the flight home went faster than the flight there, who would have thought!

We had a small welcoming committee great us in the Rochester airport. Phil's mom and dad, Abby, Gabe, our good friend Polly and her children Eric, Gina and Luke. It is good that Grandma Patt was snapping pictures because we were too tired to think clearly.

Abby and Gabe were very excited to meet their new sister. Abby especially seems very smitten with Ellie.