Finally, Pigtails!

Hard to believe Allie has been home over 3 weeks already! Seems like she's been with us forever. But then I realize that we've lived a pretty sheltered life with her so far. We've had a few visitors and made a few outings, but there are still many firsts to attempt. We've not taken her to a restaurant yet, haven't gone to the pool yet, etc. We'll get there! Once Jeremy went back to work, she began a phase in which she was VERY clingy to me. Hence I haven't gotten around to updating the blog in a while! According to what I've read about attachment, she's at a point where she is attached to us enough that she's now fearful that we'll leave her. There was a week stretch where she was just so whiny and clingy that we were all very stressed out. We tried to be patient, but it was definitely an adjustment for me taking care of 3 kids by myself, all the while lugging a 22 pounder around while I cook, etc! The past couple of days have been better, though, and she seems more relaxed and happy. I'm hoping we've turned a corner!

We discovered recently that Allie came home with a CD full of nearly 200 pictures of her while in Korea in her foster home, dating back to October!! We're so thankful to be able to see her in her foster home and get an idea of what life was like for her. It's so very cool to see her develop along the way, something we thought we had missed out on. She is smiling and happy in nearly every picture!

Here's a couple pics of our "stairstep" kids-ages 1, 3, and 5!!! And of course, the pigtails. :)

Allie's Homecoming at OneTrueMedia.com

Our journey to Allie!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Allie Turns 1

June 28th, 2011 Allie Turns One!!! Happy Birthday Allie!!! Daddy took the day off and we enjoyed the day together. Went to the park for a while, but spent most of it hanging out at home. They were repaving our street, which was major excitement. Notice the picture of my 3 shirt-less kids eating popsciles while watching the dump trucks and equipment.

Healthy Baby, Happy Baby

Great news today. Allie had her appointment at the International Adoption Clinic at Children's Hospital today. They do a full evaluation, checking her physically, behaviorally, developmentally... nothing but good news! She's healthy and happy, we are so blessed.

Happy Father's Day!!!

Firsts

Just had to share the trouble makers... now on to Allie's recent firsts.

First ball game (Go Ethan!).

First trip to the park.

First ride in the bike trailer (she clapped a good part of the ride).

Baby Love

One week ago today, we were on our way back home from the airport with our girl! Seems like she's always been with us. She's doing great, she gets more relaxed every day. Nighttime sleep is still an issue. She wakes up for hours at night and just can't calm down. A 13 hour time difference and total life change will do that to ya, I guess! She'll get there in her own time. We're still trying to keep things low key for her, sticking close to home. She does love to take walks and seems to like meeting new people in small groups. She had her first checkup at the pediatrician and passed with flying colors. She's very tall and doing great developmentally. Ben and Sam just LOVE her, and have been helping with her bottles and baby food. Although, I think the baby food phase isn't going to last long. The girl can EAT and she loves just about any kind of table food I give her. Jeremy is off work through next Wednesday, so we are just enjoying these lazy days getting to know our girl.

Smiles, Kisses and Sleep Deprivation

Life with Allie is good. Really good. We are having so much fun getting to know our little girl. She is still very clingy to me, but is finally willing to let Daddy hold her a little more the past day or so. As long as she is very near to me, so is happy. She laughs and shows her 8 little teeth, and her whole face lights up. She's even started to give us kisses. So far she's a fabulous eater., taking 5-6 bottles of formula a day, plus some baby food and a lot of table food. She's going to give Sam a run for his money in the eating department! The scale agrees: At her first checkup we found out she's 21.8 lb which is 65th percentile! She's also very tall, almost off the charts, which is surprising. She got a clean bill of health and our pediatrician was very impressed with how on target she is developmentally. She's walking great, uses a spoon and fork some, mimics sounds... of course we think she's a genius. :)

Sleeping is not her forte so far. She is up a lot at night, although she is slowly improving. Nighttime is when she grieves as if she's realizing all she's lost. She cries and just is so sad and can't relax enough to sleep. It breaks out heart. So we hold her and rock her and reassure her we're not going anywhere. Time will help. We continue to "cocoon" around her some and plan to continue this until she seems completely safe and secure. Our only outing so far has been for her checkup! We're totally enjoying our time at home to just hang out and be together. If only Jeremy could quit his job! We are so incredibly proud of the boys and how they take care of and love on their baby sister!

Here's more homecoming pictures. Our good friend Leigh was generous enough to take some of the airport photos, all while carrying her brand new baby in a front carrier! Her baby Evie is just a little younger than Allie and we just know they'll have a lifelong friendship having embarked on this incredible journey from Korea together.

Day 2

Hi Everyone!

Well, we are exhausted but doing well. Allie has bonded to me to the point that she literally doesn't want me to put her down--which is a good thing! I literally can't go to the bathroom without her. She is not used to men, as in the Korean culture men often don't play a role in helping with the kids. So she has not taken to Jeremy yet, which of course is killing him. So far, I am holding/sitting with her whenever she is awake and taking care of all her needs. And Jer is on Ben-Sam duty and taking care of the house, cooking, etc. I'm also sleeping on a mattress in her room to help her through the night. She has her nights and days all mixed up, so she literally wants to sleep the day away and play at night. Last night she was awake quite a bit, and she sat next to me on the mattress clapping happily while I tried to doze! We've been told that'll take a few weeks to adjust.

She's eating great, a mixture of table food and baby food. She didn't want a bottle at first, but we've figured out the right type of nipple she likes, so she doing that pretty well too. We have a feeling that once she's more adjusted to us she's going to be a social butterfly. She loves to clap and smile and make sure all eyes are on her (well, except mens' eyes!). Boys are doing GREAT, they love her and kiss her and help take care of her. And they are loving that Daddy is home for almost two weeks.

The airport experience was amazing. While we were waiting for her to come through customs, there was some military men and women returning from duty over seas, so it set a very emotional tone. Then out she came, and she reached right for me. The boys couldn't get enough of her and it was just wonderful. Her escort said she did great on the plane, slept a lot and was pretty social. After a few brief instructions from the escort, she was ours forever. It was a glorious feeling walking out of the airport with her. All 3 kids slept on the ride home from Detroit and so began our life as a family of 5.

We have so many pictures and video to sort through, but they are coming! By the way, she is walking, has 8 teeth and a crazy mop-top of hair! We are smitten already.

We've FINALLY Got Our Girl!!!

Yesterday went more perfectly than we could have imagined. Boys did so amazingly well in the car ride to Detroit, flight was early, and Allie is phenominal. She's walking, smiling, laughing, playing peek-a-boo and just all around perfection. Pictures and more details to come! See the previous blog for details on how we're going to handle the next few weeks as we bond with her!

Allie's Homecoming!!!

Allison Hee Young Coleman

Born: June 28, 2010, Seoul, South Korea

Homecoming: Friday, June 10th, 2011

Dear Friends & Family,

Wonderful news! Allie is FINALLY scheduled to come home next Friday, June 10th!! As we prepare for Allie's joyful homecoming, we wanted to share with you some of what we can expect in the coming weeks. This will be a time of adjustment for our family as we help her adjust to life with us. Bringing home an 11 month old baby is very different from having a newborn join the family!

In Allie's short life, she will have gone through more life changes than most adults coudl handle. She will experience immense loss and feelings of grief. She experienced the loss of her birth family, as well as the caretakers at the orphanages where she lived for her first 2 months. She will experience the loss of her foster family, who has cared for her for the last 9 months. The sights, smells, tastes, sounds and language of her birth country will change overnight. She will also be dealing with a 14 hour time difference and a very long flight with a stranger!

Our social worker has shared with us that while the day we meet Allie at the airport will be one of the best days of our lives, it will be one of the most difficult days of her life. She will be grieving for the life she has lost. We won't know what she likes to eat, how she sleeps, what her favorite toys are, etc. We'll be starting fresh with this little baby who has already had 11 months to develop her own likes, dislikes and preferences, only to have that be completely taken away from her.

The best way for us to form a bond with her is for us to have the time and privacy to hold, snuggle, soothe and feed her. Over time, she will learn that we are safe to trust and to love. Although it may appear that we are over-protecting her, please know that these decisions are thoughtfully made choices based on our training and advice from trusted adoption mentors. We plan to "cocoon" around her and spend time alone at home as a family. This may take weeks or months, not days.

We want nothing more than to have Allie cuddled and cherished by ALL of you, but until she has a firm understanding of our family, we would be so grateful if you would allow us time to bond as a family. The timeline is different for every child. We will follow her lead and trust our instincts as her parents. Of course, we also have 2 very active boys, ages 3 and 5, so we will strive for a balance for all our kids.

That being said, we've decided to follow these guidelines when Allie comes home:
-Only immediate family members will meet her at the airport.

-No initial welcoming parties in an effort to avoid an overwhelming situation.

-Limited visitors for at least the first few weeks to allow her to bond with us. Once she's ready, we'd love you to come here to meet her in small groups.

-Avoiding outings and errands as much as possible at first.

-Even after her initial period of adjustment, we'll continue to be cautious about any situation with large groups of people or traveling long distances.

You can help by giving us your prayers and patience! We'll keep everyone updated through our blog with lots of pictures and details on how she's doing, so check back often!

We have every confidence that she will adapt and become a part of our family in her own time. We are so grateful to have your support, patience and understanding! we know Allie will grow to love each and every one of you as we do!

With love,

The Coleman Family

Jeremy, Jen, Ben, Sam and Allie

jcoleman48@cinci.rr.com

Things are Looking Up!

Great news! Allie's passport came through last week and her flight is booked from Seoul, South Korea to Detroit on Friday June 10th! We are still waiting for her visa to be appoved, and anything can happen in the world of flights schedules, etc. so we are cautiously optimistic at this point! Keep checking back!

Good News & Bad News

Thank you thank you to all of you who continue to ask about Allie and pray for her safe homecoming. We received quite a bit of news today regarding her situation and wanted to share this with all of you. As time has been going by, we have becoming increasingly worried about the situation and why there has been such a big delay in getting her home. The good news is that our agency reassured us today that they continue to expect that she will get her paperwork eventually and will be coming home to join her family. The bad news is that right now it's looking like it may be early June or later. That seems like a long time away to us right now since we thought she'd be home in April, but we are very relieved that things are still expected to get processed as they should.

Basically the Korean government has to approve her to travel and issue her passport and visa before they can book her a flight home. They have slowed waaaay down on this process (we are not sure why) and all the orphanges and agencies are upset with their government right now because of this. So we wait as patiently as we can for them to get around to doing these things for us. Our agency told us today that the agency we work with in Korea, which is called Korean Social Services (KSS), gave them an estimate today that they thought she could be ready to leave Korea in early June. So between now and then they have to get her approval, passport and visa. There are several babies in this same group and same situation with her. Our agency told us that we are very fortunate that she should be coming "soon" because there are some families who will have to wait until next year for their babies to come home, since they only issue so many passports a year. Luckily, Allie is in the group that should receive one.

We asked if it would expedite the situation if we went to Korea to get her and were told no, absolutely in no way would that bring her home sooner, and in fact they probably wouldn't allow us to do that. So they are still planning to escort her to the Detroit airport when the time comes. So we continue to wait. We are worried that the Korean government has all the power at this point, but are very thankful that our agency continues to be very hopeful despite the delay. They also told us that early June is just a guess until some of the paperwork starts to get approval. In early June she'll be 11 months old; I am very hopeful that she arrives before her first birthday June 28th.

We appreciate your continued support. One of the hardest parts of all of this has been our lack of control in the situation, but we continue to have faith that God has a plan for Allie and that she will come home when the time is right. We are also sad that we are missing first teeth, possibly first steps, first words, etc. It's also been heartbreaking to see just how excited Ben and Sam are to finally have their sister home. But we believe that all this extra waiting will just make it that much sweeter when she is finally in our arms!!! We will continue to keep you posted.
Love,
Jen

No News....

Well, we are STILL waiting for Allie's travel call. We are trying so hard to be patient and trust that she will come when the time is right. About two weeks ago we found out that for some reason the Korean government has slowed down on issuing passports. The 3 babies in Allie's group, including Allie, all need passports to come home. They have everything else they need, so as soon as the passports come in, they'll work on booking her flight home. We were so disappointed that she wasn't home for Easter and her Easter dress hangs in her closet. But the Easter Bunny did leave her a basket of goodies here for her when she comes home! We would love for her to be home by Mother's Day, so pray pray pray for her that the passports come through very very soon!

Water, Sand & Animals

Water, sand and animals pretty much sums up our March. The boys finished up their swim lessons with a splash. We also spent a day at Coco Keys Water Resort, which was fabulous! Ben keeps telling me that he dreams of going back there. :)

As an early birthday present to both boys from Grandma Toodie and us, they were given a brand new, big-boy size sandbox. They are thrilled and are starting to log in many hours of play time out there, digging away.

Some of the other pictures shows Sam's bedhead, a cute pic of the boys with their beloved Cat in the Hat books, and our playgroup partying together on St. Patty's Day. Gosh how they've grown from the little babies they used to be.

The biggest news of the month was Sam's THIRD Birthday! He was adamant that he wanted to spend the day at the zoo, so that's just what we did, despite chilly temperatures. Daddy took the day off and Grandma and Izzy joined us at Sam's insistence. He was so excited and proud to be turning 3. I just can't believe it. A special fact: he was born in the last hours of Red's Opening Day in 2008 and this year is birthday was on Opening Day.

Allie Update: Well, we're still waiting. We had been told beginning of April, so we started anxiously waiting for the phone to ring with her travel day. But yesterday we got word that it could still be a few weeks. So we're trying to be patient and enjoy our last weeks with just the boys. We will keep you posted!