Rebecca Walker Photography

This weeks Texture Tuesday, I wanted to go back and share how our little guy is doing! So much to tell! So I thought I would go back through our pictures of our first month with Davis.  From our “Gotcha Day” on March 5 through April 5.  Those first few moments when he was “officially” ours and in our arms to the first days in our apartment, to bringing him home, and what it was like going from zero to toddler! It has been such a whirlwind of an experience! I want to share it, and make sure it is all documented.

I remember that morning so perfectly.  We got into Seoul, South Korea on Monday night, March 3, had spent all day March 4 recovering from jet lag, shopping for supplies for the week, acclimating to our surroundings, and trying are hardest to wrap our hearts and brains around what was about to happen that next day.  After a night of jet lag and nerves, neither of us got much sleep, but we got up, got ready, ate *some* breakfast and took off to our agency.  The entire time we were just a mess of emotions. I was so thankful that Scott was level headed and could get us through the subway system and get us there.

Once we got to our agency, SWS, we walked up all the stairs (because who had time to wait on the elevator!), and then we waited.  Davis and his foster Omma were stuck in traffic and would be there soon… so about 30 minutes later, they walk in.  My heart was beating out of my chest.  What was he thinking? How was he going to react to this new transition? Were they REALLY going to let us keep him, like for forever? His sweet foster mama… my heart was breaking for so many reasons.  We sat for about 30-45 minutes in this little play room, letting our Davis play, see us, I just kept crying and holding his foster mama’s hand and telling her thank you, thank you for loving and caring for our baby when we couldn’t yet. Thank you for loving all the babies you have ever cared for, and promising we would send updates, and that we would love him forever.  I just couldn’t stop crying.  Then Scott, myself, Davis in my arms, our social worker, and Davis’ foster mama all walked to the elevator.  We said our final goodbyes, she gave Davis final kisses, and the doors opened, and we got on. And our foster mother stayed there. Then, if I didn’t think I could cry anymore, buckets came.  I am crying now, just remembering that moment. We then got into the taxi, went our way back to our apartment, our home away from home, with OUR baby, as a family of three. We couldn’t believe it.  Scott and I both said silent prayers for a smooth transition, for Davis’ heart to be prepared to move from his temporary family to his forever family. 

Finally, we made it to our hotel with no meltdowns, an occasional smile, and went up to our room.  For this sweet baby to fall asleep on my shoulder for his nap.  We had some hard moments once he woke up, we saw confusion, grief, fear, but we slowly got to see more and more of our boy.  Snacks, toys, and trying to get him to laugh helped so much (Our micorwave timer’s ding helped tremendously!) We made it through our first day fairly well. 

The next morning Davis woke up early and devoured some yogurt.  Pretty much our whole week there, he ate yogurt, strawberries, and these rice cake things his foster mama sent with him. We did more playing, more snuggling, more snacking (our little snack monster). We even ventured out of the apartment for a little bit! 

After that, we had an amazing first few days with our little man! Besides bath time and brushing his teeth, he did so amazing and adjusted to us amazingly well!! We were so thankful!!! We also got to meet some new friends who got their son (also Davis!) the day after we did! 

We had our first adventure of eating out with a toddler as parentsAs you can see, it wasn’t quite the same as it was pre-toddler!! Ha! It was super cold the week we were in Seoul, so we really only got out a little at a time with Davis.  And the Ergo carrier was such an amazing essential on our trip!!  We were just down the street from two amazing palaces so we made the trip out to see if one afternoon. Davis wasn’t too impressed and slept through the entire tour.  One day we will go back (hopefully more than once!) with him to show him his amazing homeland.  But then he woke up, and we let him out to run around a bit.  OUR sweet, happy boy!  VISA day!!!! Behind us was the US Embassy where Davis’ Visa was issued so we could leave Korea with him, and bring him into the US!!! This was a BIG deal day! It was pretty amazing to have the official paperwork in hand saying we could come HOME!   We walked past this quote everyday as we left our apartment.  I just love it. We were definitely called to  be this boys parents.  And we never gave up.  What an amazing reminder of God’s plan for us!  We had to go to N Seoul Tower with Davis to leave a lock, and of course, we chose Tennessee Orange!  Final night in Seoul.  Talk about about emotional.  So ready to be home, so sad to leave this amazing city, scared to bring our baby home, excited to bring our baby home. I couldn’t stop the tears!  But here we go.  On the plan for a long time, with a very busy 20 month old!!!  He finally fell asleep after 8 hours on the flight…. Our newest US citizen!!! He wasn’t too impressed at first, but then decided chips were good, and he was finally FREE too move around in Detroit!  HomeMore on the airport Home Coming HERE Forever home, in our bed, with our son.  The moment was amazing.  We re-adoped Davis in the state of TN!  Davis got to meet his cousins for the first time and his Uncle Greg!

And there was our first month home!!!!! Crazy to look back on it.  Emotional to look back on it. But it is part of our story, and a big part of his! Over the next few weeks, I am going to recap our time home.  Now that I am learning and managing how to balance being a business owner, wife, friend, daughter, and now a MAMA, I will be blogging more and more!

Davis has really adjusted so well.  We slept with us in our bed for the first 2 weeks home, then we slowly transitioned him into his crib! His laugh is the best sounds in the world! We brought him home he weighed 22 pounds and was 33 inches tall.  None of the clothes that we had for him fit, all way too big. So of course, we had to do some shopping once we got home! Every day he was learning new things and it just blew our minds.  To watch our sweet boy grow and learn has been remarkable. We first started working on teaching him some basic signs to help with communication.  That was one of the toughest parts about bringing him home.  He didn’t understand what we were saying, and he couldn’t communicate with us.  I mean the basic information, eat, drink weren’t there.  Once he learned signs, things got so much better! Less meltdowns, less tears (from both of us).  Overall, most of it was a bit of a blur. It took us a couple of weeks to get Davis into our timezone, out of our bed, understanding some basic words, and get him to start trusting us that we will be there to meet his needs.  But we made it!

More about month two next week! The month we reached attachment, starting saying some words, and when we turned a corner!! Thanks for sticking with this super long post!  It has been quite the journey and we appreciate all the thoughts and prayers to get all three of us here!!!