The First Big Day...many more to come

Today was our first full day in Korea and it has been full indeed.
After a night of broken sleep we got up early to visit Naomi for the first time. We waited nervously for our social worker to make the last minute arrangements, then we took a long cab ride to Naomi's foster mother's apartment. Then on the 15th floor of a high rise in South Central Seoul we met our daughter for the first time. She is beautiful and tiny (only 15 lbs). When we got Josiah he was a month younger, but he was about 35% heavier.

We got to visit and ask lots of questions for about an hour before Naomi had to go to sleep. We learned that she is a mild mannered baby when she is up, but she does have some problem sleeping. She is usually awake from midnight to 6am. After this trip around the world and some of Josiah's recent wake-up times, I think that we have decided that sleep is over-rated.

When Naomi started to get fussy, her foster mother would step in to try and calm her. This feels strange to have someone reach out to take your baby because she is fussing. It makes your natural parental instincts say, "Hey, I am her Dad, I can handle this." But we experienced the exact same feelings when we got to hold Josiah for the first time and he cried a lot more. Today we learned that we will get Naomi for good on Monday at 11am.

On our long cab ride back to the guest house we alternated between feelings of happiness and Oh My Goodness ... This is really happening. No matter how deliberate a decision to become a parent may be, I don't think you ever feel that you are fully ready.

After returning to the guest house, we made a trip out to Walmart to pick up a few things, like the cable that we needed to download pictures to the computer. Well, we never found Walmart, but we did enjoy shopping at E-mart. It was right next to the ubiquitous Starbucks.

We then ventured into Itaewon, the heart of Seoul's tourist district. We spent time browsing the unique shops. We bought some Masks from a 90 year old shop owner who didn't mind mugging for the camera. After an long afternoon of browsing and turning down offers to have a custom tailored suit made for us, we ate traditional Korean barbecue at Don Valley restaurant. During our train ride back, we got to experience the Asian version of personal space, as we jammed into packed subways.

Enjoy the pictures and leave a comment for us.
Tomorrow promises to be another Big Day.