Monday in Seoul

I posted a few pictures of Graham earlier today, but here are a few more!

Jeff was holding Graham while he intently studied a toy I was holding

FINALLY in my arms and I couldn't be happier!

Checking out his toy

The very proud new Daddy! The woman in white is Graham's foster mother.

Talking to Graham's social worker about his daily routine.

I'm still working on putting into words the emotions we experienced today. It's hard to believe that earlier today we were holding our son, and even harder to believe that in just a few days we'll be back home! Neither of us got much sleep last night. We're still dealing with major jet lag and the knowledge that we'd soon be holding our son didn't allow for very sound sleep. I actually woke up at 2 am and didn't really get back to sleep after that.

At the advice of our agency, we left the hotel 30 minutes early in order to arrive at our meeting on time. Well, it turns out it was only a 5 minute cab ride from where we are staying so we were very early. We walked down the street, got something to drink, and sat down to wait. We were both shaking and staring at our watches until it was finally time for our appointment. The first thing we did when we arrived was fill out paperwork and receive Graham's travel documents and passport. After that we were ushered into a small room filled with toys. We were told that Graham and his foster mother would be arriving shortly. Jeff started playing with the video camera and we're lucky he did, because not more than a minute later, Graham arrived. I was caught completely off guard to see him, and the foster mother immediately handed him to me. I will never forget that moment! Graham's social worker acted as our translator, as we talked with the foster mother about Graham's daily routine. I can tell you right now, that his bedtime routine has to change....he doesn't go to sleep until midnight, wakes up twice for a bottle, and gets up for the day about 8....I'm not sure that's going to fly in the Olson household! :)

Graham is wonderful though. We think he's just adorable and we're absolutely in love with our little guy! He is definitely smaller than we were expecting. The throne that all his pictures have been taken in is deceiving in size. No worries, he's not the "supersize baby" we were concerned about, he's a very normal size! He's also very loud! When he's happy, he's constantly "talking", it's actually very cute! We were also warned that he loves to be in his walker, pull things off tables, and open drawers. I think I've got my work cut out for me! We spent about 45 minutes with Graham today, and the foster mother teared up many times. Towards the end of the visit she began to cry. She has cared for Graham for the past 8 months, and truly loves him. I'm sure these next few days are going to be very difficult for her as she knows that he'll soon be leaving. We get to see Graham again on Wednesday at 2:00 for a short visit. Then, Thursday morning, we'll meet at the agency, pick up Graham and head to the airport. We're anxious to get home with him!

We spent the rest of the day just wandering around the various outdoor markets. We went hanbok shopping and found a great one for Graham to wear on his 1st birthday. Rorie, if you're reading this, we found you a gorgeous one too! We ended up having dinner at a department store. In Korea, most department stores have "food court" style eating on the top floor. The nice thing about eating at a place like this, is that we can point to the picture to order, which makes our lives much easier!

The dinner that Jeff and I shared. It probably looks strange, and it sounds strange too, but it was actually good. We had an omelet stuffed with rice with a "ketchupy" type sauce spread over the top.