The First 24 Hours

Things are going really well. (Note, this will be a boring post for those of you not interested in the mundane details of taking care of a baby. In fact, posting this might even put me to sleep. I'm only interested because it's happening to me. And even that... ) Sean seems to have taken to us right away (especially Wade, heheheh).

 They said to leave him in his clothes for a while since it was a familiar smell, which we did. But we also wanted to get him out of his little suit with suspenders outfit, complete with dickey. Koreans dress in layers I'm told. This did seem to be the case when we changed him, because there were lots of clothes to undo-- the pants with the suspenders, the button down shirt, the elastic dickey/bow tie thing, and underneath was like another set of white cotton shorts. Americans don't have time for that, unless they live in Alaska. Or Utah, and I think those extra undergarments are considered magic anyway. The clothes we brought for him aren't fitting so good. I thought these pjs fit him, but I guess they might be too loose. My sister says that kids' pjs are supposed to be tight. Either that, or she just liked my nephew running around like a gay superhero. (Sorry, Jaim, I couldn't resist.) They were size 24 months. But this morning, when I put on some size 18 months shorts, they were too big. They fell off him when he stood up and the poor kid spent most of the afternoon pantless in a too big tee shirt. Maybe he's not as big as I think he is. He's just kind of solid, I guess.

We're trying to sort out his cues and quirks and it's getting better. He hates being put down flat on his back on a bed. So he screams bloody murder while changing his diaper or his clothes (refer back to comment above about removing his Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit) . He also does not like taking a bath. He needed one though, so I was just like, suck it up, kid and dumped water on top of his head to wash his hair. Thank God I had watched Jaimie bathe Matty and Kaelyn enough times to know how to do it. You think this baby care shit comes naturally? I'm missing part of that gene if so.  It was a very quick bath. If this doesn't improve, all baths will be really quick ones.

His foster mother said he was a good sleeper, which he is. After he napped for two hours yesterday afternoon, we got him to bed at about 8:30pm. We figured out quickly that no matter what, he likes to fall asleep with a bottle in his mouth, even if it's empty. He slept nearly straight through to 6am, getting up once at about 12:30am to kvetch a bit for about 5 minutes, but he went back to sleep. I wish I had slept as well. We had the AC off so we could hear him and also left a light on in the kitchen-- both things I hate. Not only was it hot, I need the white noise of the AC to sleep. So I look kind of tired even though he slept great.

Breakfast this morning went fantastically. He cried a little when we first put him into the high chair, but we put a bottle in front of him (empty-- it doesn't seem to matter. He won't take a pacifier though, so don't bother suggesting it.) and some toys and he stopped. That kid can eat! I have no idea if it's ok to give scrambled eggs to a 1 year old, but I did. He had some eggs, pancakes, yogurt, bread, scraped apple, grilled pumpkin (seriously-- there are some interesting things at the breakfast buffet here), seafood porridge-- I'm not kidding. (And you know I had some grilled pumpkin and seafood porridge at breakfast too.)

He's drooling like a maniac. It's kind of gross. Teeth are coming in. My nephew Matty was the same way, it just poured out of him. I'm concerned because he still hasn't pooped yet. I want him to poop. Preferably before we get on the plane tomorrow. Trying to change him on a bed isn't fun, trying to change him and balance him and clean an enormous poopy diaper ass in a plane.... I'm starting to cry just thinking about it.

We were going to take him out today, do some more shopping and site seeing, buy some souvenirs. But it's been raining most of the day. We don't have an umbrella or a raincoat for him. So Wade trekked out alone to the Lotte Mart for diapers, baby food, more bottles-- he's my hero. He took the subway and did the shopping all by himself. He's the best! But no one is getting any souvenirs from Seoul, I'm sorry. The timing and the weather didn't cooperate. We didn't even buy anything for ourselves! I'm a bad daughter/sister/aunt. Sean will have to be the souvenir.

That's about it. He's sleeping again now. I want to come home so badly, but I start crying with dread when I think about the plane ride home tomorrow. I feel like there aren't enough drugs in the world to make this go well. (I meant drugs for me, not for the baby!) I guess it's like Sean in the bath last night: suck it up, kid.