Jin Loves Popsicles!

I'm loving hanging around in the parks with Jin these days! On a crafty note, that hat is made out of an old pair of cords. They had wide legs but I still have to yank that sucker to get it on to my head.

A Dinosaur Needs Snacks You Know...

I'm hoping that OB will add a little to Jin's college fund once they get a good look at this one. Check it out.

Cool Car

I just bought some of this cool fabric over at the Crafty Planet. Or maybe I should call it Crack Planet. (The owner there is THE NICEST person-she ALWAYS remembers my name AND Jin's name, and no it's not because I'm in there that often) Anyway, Jin needs some breezy pants that cover his knees, but aren't too hot. I scrimped on the yardage, so maybe he'll get a pair of "JAMS" instead. Do you remember Jams? I might be mixing this up, but I think I wore them with my jellies. For real.

I Just Discovered that I Talk Baby Talk

1. Yes, now that I know that I talk baby talk to my son, I'll try and stop.
2. If I tell Jin that he'd "better not do-so-and-so..." he is the MOST likely to do it. It didn't work today.
3. He loves talking about his Dad. And yes, he does know how to say Mama. It was his first word even.
4. We eat almost all of our meals with The Fish out on the table. When we're done, he goes back in the hutch or the cats try and eat him.
5. Jin is really in to snuggling and tickling right now.
6. Jin sleeps in his crib now, and last night was his second night in a row of sleeping through the night. I'm starting to be able to complete a thought again. Kind-of.
7. Being a mom to Jin is one of the best things I've ever experienced... Even when the bubble blowing sucks, when I don't feel like pretending to vacuum with Jin's toy (because I need to vacuum for real), when I find a poop chunk on the cute rug in his room AGAIN, when he pours his milk into his food, and even when he finds my fattest part, pokes it and laughs out of pure delight. Zander doesn't even get to do that one.

Moo, Baa and Mmm

It's official. Almost every time, but mostly when he feels like it, Jin will tell you exactly what a cow, a sheep, and a vacuum sound like. He's still a little iffy on what cats sound like, but he can tell you that our cat's name is Boo. This is all really new folks, and as lame as it seems, it is really freaking exciting on our end.

Today we went to (and got there too late to see) the May Day Parade. It's difficult pushing a stroller through the masses! However, it was an absolutely lovely time to be in the park and take in all the hippie magic fairy dust. This very well might be my favorite day of the year!

Alright, the sweet boy won't be nearly as sweet if I don't start rocking him to sleep!

Maybe I'll do something crafty-like on this blog again soon!

Rooar.

I feel like a scared mama bear today. We're meeting with the director of a very sweet Montessori school tomorrow. This is great! There are openings. Also great. It's a really good fit for us, and Jin loves his classes at ECFE so I'm pretty sure he'll love "real" school in September. But Jin has a very low-grade fever tonight and the swine flu has given me the hee-bee-jee-beez. SO my logical perspective is out the window and now I want to scrap our meeting and go live in the hills with my sweet little family. Jin can learn to write in the mud with a stick.

Happy Easter!

How does our sweet baby already know that chocolate is not an ordinary food? How does he know that it should be eaten until it makes your scalp tingle? We're on sugar detox. As of right now. I'm hoping to successfully wipe Jin's memory of the precious drug and replace it with a healthy love for broccoli and sunshine.

It was SO nice and warm in Denver. Jin loved not being all bundled up and getting to investigate things without his mittens on.

This picture was taken minutes before Jin and I went to our first day of school. ECFE is wonderful... There was play time, gym time, snack time and then singing time. In this class the parents stay with their child, while chatting up other parents. At one point Jin gave into his instincts and let go of a huge happiness holler.

It's only 10:30 and it feels SO late. Today was tough. Jin's teeth are coming in and making him SOOO miserable. I even took him to the doctor today, and the doc thinks that his teething and sinus gunk are related at this point. I think being outside is a good distraction, so we went to the zoo with my sister Sara and our nephew Joey. It was fun, but the Como zoo makes me a little sad for the animals. The giraffes had nothing except a metal pole to look at, and they were standing on dirty, wet carpet. They had to be depressed. This is the first decent picture we have of the two cousins, and it is not from a lack of trying. We have a whole set of pictures that I'll one day reveal where I had to hold Jin for the picture and I didn't want to be in it, so I put a blanket over my head. Since I'm tired, those pictures seem hilarious right now.

Doesn't it feel nice to be outside??? Jin loves to walk around and explore our yard. He likes to push sticks into the mud and he loves splashing in the puddles. He also enjoys pointing at everyone that passes us. I'll wait until he's done teething before I tell him how rude that is.

My youngest sister just turned 24. She gets wiser and wiser, and she's got one of the softest hearts you'll ever meet. She's got a thing for skulls so I made her a cake. It's a red velvet cake with butter cream frosting. I'm going to be a little vuage about this so I don't get anyone in trouble, but I got the "recipe" for the cake from a very big restaurant company here in Minneapolis. They sell ginormous slices of this lovely cake for a good chunk of change, which I'd always thought to be fair because it tastes so freaking good. This secret recipe should have been kept secret because it's SO LAME... Ok folks, just mix up 6 boxes of yellow cake mix with 1 box of devils food cake mix and add tons of red food coloring. I hate to be a snob, I'm not a foodie, but how disappointing. I was all for an elaborate process where I'd do something like chill the batter for 48 hours before baking, or use cream of tartar, or something... Oh well, it was easy to do and I love'd doing the decorating.

Jin's Jokes

Jin's jokes are happening more and more often now, and my favorite part of his routine is how he just cracks himself up. Today he a found a spoon on the floor and I told him to give his baby some "bites". At first he aimed the spoon right for the baby's mouth, but then he put the spoon in the baby's eye, looked at me and then cracked up. Morbid, huh? This was all repeated with his tigers, his bunnies, Domokun, and Grover.

Oh yeah, he also loves to find his belly button.

***Also, someone from Korea checks this journal almost everyday. I believe and hope it might be Jin's foster parents. It would make me so happy to know who it is that's checking. If you are in Korea, and read this journal, I would be so grateful if you could send me a message.***

Sweetness

Jin is exceptional at licking the batter.

Sock Arms

On Sundays Zander takes care of Jin while I go to yoga in the morning, and then do something fun in the afternoon. Today I went to Saver's and entertained myself for quite some time. I even found Jin 2 new pairs of overalls, which is good because they look so cute on him and if he is wearing overalls, I'm less likely to wear them myself--and I always get strange looks when I wear them. When I come home, I feel refreshed and ready for a week filled with full-time fun with Jin. It's wonderful. Zander and Jin have so much fun together, and I'm always impressed with their games. This game was called sock arms.

Organization

Unfortunately I'm really inadequate when it comes to keeping important papers for more than a few hours at a time. I guess this lackage could extend to things like my cell phone and my car keys, and my favorite underwear. I'm not-so-secretly-jealous of you people out there that always have it all together. Ahem. (Becca, I'm talking to you:)) So when Oprah is running a 20% off coupon at the Container store, I make the trip out to Edina and pretend that I belong in a store like that. Never mind that I have to ask the clerk if I can have the discount without the coupon because mine is somewhere, but not in my pocket where I thought it was. As of this afternoon, my bills, transcripts, health insurance info and lots, lots more are all placed neatly in their properly labeled and color coded file in this lovely filing system. I feel good, and a little smug. I'll never have pieces of mail all over the house again. I won't have to hide my piles when people come over. Jin's adoption will be finalized in a court of law and I'll have a file filled with all the documents that'll prove it. I'm cured. Forever.

Enabling?

Is this enabling? I made one as a Valentine's gift for Zander. Found on the Domestic Scientist.