Max was so blessed on Christmas....

Everyone...including Santa was very generous to Max this Christmas.  I was overwhelmed by the many wonderful gifts we received for Max.  He got lots of neat toys, ornaments and keepsakes. 

For the first time since we have lived in our house Santa paid us a visit!

Both of us took turns opening Santa's gifts and took pictures of everything for Max.  Here are a few...

Mommy with some cars...

Daddy with a Helicopter...

All of Santa's gifts...

Sorry some of the pictures are fuzzy...

I-600 Approved!!!! (this is a good thing)

We got the letter today that our I-600 was approved on 12-22-2010.  Which is the United States side of the paperwork, the timeframe on this document is all over the board anywhere from 1 week to 16 weeks.  We waited a little over 4 weeks once we were logged into the system, which is not so bad.  We were also supposed to be re-fingerprinted since our prints expire on 1-2-11.  So I think we do not have to go back again.   There is one more document that we need in order to get the US side 100% done and we are thinking it may already be done.  This will mean that we will be only waiting on the Korea documents.  We are certainly relieved to have this step done.  Remember to follow the timeline on the side to see what we have left...the list is getting shorter!

Our Christmas was wonderful and I will post some pics and tell you all about it later this week.  This was one of the best gifts we got for Christmas....the gifts just keep coming!

Special Christmas Ornament for Max

A few weeks ago I was shopping at T*rget...looking at the ornaments.  There were a few cute "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments.  I was conflicted.  Yes, it is Max's first Christmas.  But he is not home with us. 

I posted a question on my adoption message board looking for advice and what others in this same situation have done.  I got lots of responses, mostly others  thought that I should buy one this year and one next year. 

Shortly after this I got a message from another Adoptive Mom, Misty.  She wanted to make an ornament for Max!  She was already making one for her daughter that is waiting to come home and offered to make one for Max.  I gladly accepted her offer and sent her our address.  About a week later there was a big envelope in my mailbox, a very beautiful ornament with Max's picture on it.  I did not know what to expect...but it surpassed my expectations.  It was a wonderful gift, at a time of the year I am finding difficult to get through. 

Here is a photo of the ornament on our tree: ( the picture does not do it justice)

It says:

Born in Our Hearts Our Blessing Max

Waiting for us in Korea 2010.

What a wonderful gift from one waiting momma to another.  The Friends I have met during this journey have helped me in so many ways.  I am truely thankful for the blessings of this support system!  Thank you Misty!

New pictures of Max!! and a medical update!

On  Thursday we received two new pictures of Max!

The first is a picture of him with his foster mother and the care package items we sent him.  It is a wonderful yet strange feeling to see your son half way around the world wearing an outfit you picked out for him and send him in the mail.  We had to block out his foster mothers face for privacy reasons, but let me tell you she has the biggest smile on her face.  He is most definitely being well taken care of :)

The other is a picture that was  taken the same day, He had hand surgery (they often send pictures with new medical information)  As many of you know, he was born with an extra thumb on his right hand.  He has surgery to remove the extra thumb on November 23rd.  These pictures were from November 26th.  We did not know he was going to have surgery.  It was just as well that we did not know beforehand, I would have worried for weeks.  His eyes are just as bright and he looks to be doing well.

These new photos made our week Month! I was certainly having a hard time believing it was all real.  This was just what I needed to carry on!

Max is now 8 months old and he currently weighs 17.41 pounds up just a little from last month and is 27.28 inches, he also has 3 new teeth on top! for a total of 5, 2 of them are his bottom teeth.  he can stand on his own, crawl and walk along the furniture!  Wow things are just passing us by.  We will definitely have to chase him by the time we bring him home.  He had gained almost 2 pounds last month and I was a little worried he would be a BIG baby by the time he comes home.  He is a healthy, happy growing boy! We cannot wait to bring this little guy home!!! So far 2 months waiting, hopefully only 3 or 4 to go, we shall see.

Holiday joy sent to you by Shutterfly.com

Shutterfly is offering an opportunity for bloggers to receive 50 FREE holiday cards if they blog about all of their fabulous options! 

I have scoured their holiday selection and needless to say whether you are looking for a Photo Christmas card http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

A calendar option for family to enjoy pictures your little cuties all year long http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Or a fun way to invite friends and family celebrate a big birthday http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birthday-invitations

Shutterfly has something for everyone.

While I won't reveal what I have selected.  You can be sure that it will have cute picture of Max on it! You will just have to wait and see if you are lucky enough to be on my Christmas card list!

Here are a few that caught my eye.


Our entire home is done in these colors...it fits us!

Kind of like a big present being sent to everyone!

I love a candy cane stripe!

What a great Early Christmas Present for me! This is a wonderful opportunity to share the gifts we have been given, and to show off our new little cutie, while he won't be home in time for Christmas, Shutterfly.com is helping to share our joy with our new little goy, so you can all enjoy him too.  Happy Holidays everyone, And Thank you shutterfly!

Check out all they have to offer at Shutterfly.com!

All sunshine and LOTS of Showers...

It's not a weather report...Two weeks ago we were very lucky to have several people throw us Baby Showers!  We had two in just a few days.

The First:

Mark's Co-workers threw us a shower on Monday 11-8 during our lunch break.  We only work a few minutes from each other, I was invited to join everyone for the shower and they served lunch and had a beautiful cake.  We were blessed with many gifts from some individuals and some gifts from the group.

Here are some pictures from the shower and the gifts we received.  Everyone was very generous and we are very thankful for their kindness.

The Second Shower:   My Mom and Sisters threw me a Shower on Saturday 11-13. 

It was a lot of family and several of my friends as well.  We had an early dinner, were definitely showered with many wonderful gifts and some very tasty cake! We do typically not play games at showers, we are more of a chatting and drinking wine kind of group.  I did have one request...we passed out blank world maps and itty bitty pictures of Max.  It was a one question game "Where in the world is Max?"  Everyone had to put his picture where they thought he was.  Everyone seemed to know he was in South Korea, and most everyone got the continent right.  My niece Megan went around and showed everyone where it was!  She had done her homework and had a bit of an advantage;)

Part of the decorations were little Korean Flags.  I had to get a picture with both the South Korean and American Flags.

Here are some pictures from the Shower as well.  We got gifts from near and far.  I even got a surprise package from another AP in waiting Amy!  Thank you, Amy.  When I explained how I knew her, from meeting online, no one seemed to follow, so I said it is kind of like online dating for adoptive moms!

We were very blessed by the generousity of both of these groups and are very thankful we have them in our lives!  Thank you everyone for the wonderful things for Max! We cannot wait until he is able to use everything!

Legals!

We found out yesterday that our legals arrived in Wisconsin on Friday November 12th.  The state will send the legals and a letter to the Federal government and we will start the steps to be able to bring home Max.  The US side is officially underway!