First Day Back at Work...

and oh my, how I missed seeing this face all day. He did great at his Grandma's today. Nathan and I both made it by to see him and feed him at lunch.

I have had a great six weeks off work, plus I got a "bonus day" because of bad weather. I have enjoyed every minute spent getting to know Owen better and I found myself watching the clock closely for the minute I could dart out the door to pick him up. We must now move on to our new routine of early to bed and early to rise (reality).

He is learning how to do so much and every day he shows us more of his personality. He is so silly. He can play round and round the garden, he can give you five and clap along with what ever you are doing (or whatever they are clapping for on t.v.). We spend a lot of time at our house laughing at and with him. What did we do before he came along?

Thank you to all of you who prayed for us today!

Home...One Month Today

One month ago today our long journey from South Korea began for the three of us. It was also the beginning of our journey as a family of three. So much has changed for all of us in the last month, but I can truly say we are all bonding very well.

I got a haircut today and Owen stayed with Grandma (Nathan's Mom). When I came in he gave me a big kiss. It was so sweet! He also knows I am going to smother him with kisses and he puts his cheek to my mouth in anticipation.

When Nathan comes home at night I tell Owen "I hear Daddy!" His eyes light up and he starts to kick his feet. When Nathan walks in he cackles.

Last Saturday night we heard for the first time his all out belly laugh. He has another little squeal that he makes to laugh, but this was a belly laugh.

All around, he is so much more comfortable with us, his home, his grandparents, his toys and our friends. You can see that he trust us with things like feeding, diaper changing, bath time and bed time. It is amazing to see the transformation.

Last night he slept in his bed all night...didn't even wake up for a bottle! We were shocked. We kind of both got worried about 5 something this morning, but we didn't check on him until 7ish. He did great. I think that has to do a lot with his comfort level.

He is working on four teeth! Two are pretty much in a we have two that are very close. Really, he has not been all that fussy about his teeth. He is a very easy baby.

Thanks for all the prayers for my friends who were waiting for their babies to come home...they are all home now. Also, our friend Woody is doing better as is Harper Stamps.

Thanks also for praying for our family. This amazing transition is due to all the prayers that people have offered for us.

Please pray for Harper Brown Stamps who was born yesterday. She has been transported to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa to be put on a heart lung machine. You can click on the picture above to link to her blog.

Sweet Success!

Guess where we slept for the last two nights? Yes! Our bed! It was wonderful...I am not quite the boy scout that Nathan is, so I am thrilled to be back in my bed. It seems like so long ago, because we haven't been in our bed for most of the night since we left for Korea.


Guess where Owen slept for the last two nights? You guessed it, his bed.
I know the victory could be short lived, but it is a victory none the less. He woke up both nights for his mid night bottle and then went back to sleep in his bed. In an effort to have full disclosure, the first night was not that easy. He was wound up after his bottle and had a hard time going back to sleep for an hour and a half or so, but he eventually went back to sleep and I put him in his bed and made a mad dash for mine. I am hoping this is a trend that continues.

In other Owen news...he is pulling up (holding my hands) like crazy. I think he would pull holding my hands 24/7 if I let him. We sense that he is feeling a lot more relaxed with us and in our home. We also feel more relaxed with him. Sleep may be the key factor there for all of us.

I have a couple of prayer request.

First, our dear friend Woody is having quadruple bypass on Monday morning. This man is a friend of ours from church. He was our 7th and 8th grade Sunday School teacher. To hear him tell it, we flunked and had to repeat his class. He and his family are very dear to us and we would appreciate your prayers.

Also, would you please pray for three of our friends who are DESPERATE for a travel call? One family received their referral at least two weeks before we did. I know this is very hard for all of them. I am sure they will hear something very soon, but weekends can be very hard, because you usually don't expect any information over the weekend.

You can follow their stories on their blogs:
Donna
Sunny
Melinda

Home for 2 Weeks!

I can hardly believe it, but we have been home for two weeks. Sometimes it seems like much longer and sometimes I wonder where the time has gone. Today Owen is 9 months old!

Owen is doing great. He has learned so much (and taught us so much) in the last two weeks it is amazing. He can sign for more, he can play patty cake, he can play peek-a-boo, his sleeping habits are much improved and he seems to be attaching to momma and daddy very well. He is still eating well, tolerating his car seat, high chair and stroller well AND he has cut his first tooth. He is also pulling up by holding on to our fingers. We can hardly wait to see what changes will happen in the next two weeks.

As for the sleeping, he now seems to be on US time versus Korea time. The last few nights he wakes up in the middle of the night for a bottle feeding and that is pretty much it. Today I had to wake him up at 9:30 a.m! The sleeping arrangements are interesting! Here is a picture of our camp out that we have every night. We started out several nights ago with all three of us in the floor. We progressed to him in his crib and us on his floor until after his mid night bottle and now we are at us in our bed, Owen in his crib until after his mid night bottle and then all of us on his floor. It is quite comical, but you do what you have to do! On Friday, we are going to try going back to our bed and leaving Owen in his crib after his mid night bottle. I hope (cross your fingers) we are past the point where we had to drive him around for 30-40 minutes at night to get him to sleep - yes, we did that for two nights. We will get it all figured out and we will stop the mid night feeding soon as well. He has had so many adjustments, it is just hard to force one more thing on him.

He is a great baby and we both agree, we never knew how much we could love a child! It is a blessing to have him, God has made the three of us a family! Even though sleeping in the floor is no fun at times, I love waking up and seeing all cuddled up next to his Daddy. There is nothing sweeter.

He continues to learn to trust us, that we will feed him, that if we leave, we will come back and that we are going to take care of him. It is a daily thing for us to whisper words of reassurance to our little guy. Since Sunday, he has been very clingy to us. He is fine to go to other people, but he wants to make sure he still knows where we are. This is nice to see that he is forming attachments, but it makes it hard to get anything done.

Here is one last picture of Owen all dressed up after church in his high chair. He is ready to eat. He did great at church. He let everyone hold him and when we got home, we had a quick visit from Grammy and Grampy.

Happy New Year!

Leaving 2008 behind and looking forward to 2009.

The Williams Family wishes you a Happy New Year.