Signing-Off For Now!

It's the end of August, already! We've been together as a family for almost 8 months, and so much has happened since my last post in early June. We've had a summer filled with fun activities and visits with family. Ty was granted his U.S. citizenship on June 28th, officially making us his adoptive parents. What a thrill that was!

We drove to PA for our first family road trip to visit my (Carrie) cousins, grandmother and to see my mom, who was visiting there at the time. On Aug. 1st we spent the day in the Boston area, with (almost) the entire Steele family. Ty was the youngest of 10 little cousins. The highlight for him was getting to ride a pony!

We had a couple of weekend visits with out-of-town friends who have enjoyed meeting our Ty. We returned on the 20th from a trip to IN to visit my sister and her family. We re-visited the Indianapolis Children's Museum and had a great time. (My sister and I especially loved the Barbie display!)

The day after returning from IN, we had the joy of celebrating Ty's 2nd birthday on August 21st. It was so much fun for me to wake-up, knowing that we had a child with a birthday in our house! We sang the birthday song to him several times throughout the day. Grammie Cheryl hosted a little family get-together where Ty enjoyed a chocolate truck cake filled with chocolate pudding and topped with whipped cream and Oreos and M&Ms. Yes. One thing is for sure. He likes chocolate (in moderation!).

To commemorate his 2nd birthday, we dressed Ty in his traditional Korean costume called a "Hanbok". It was given to us by the foster mother and is the same one that he wore on his first birthday. It brought tears to my eyes as I was reminded of the culture from which he came.

He knows lots of words, but is only using one syllable for now; except when he says "uh-oh!" We suspect that will change soon as he becomes more and more familiar with English. His current fascinations are with trucks and trains - esp. Thomas the Tank Engine; doing anything outside, "helping" me in the kitchen and saying "hi" to almost anyone or any THING. He continues to bring so much joy and laughter into our home. We thank the Lord daily for giving us the privilege of being his parents.

Our application for the next little Steele will be submitted to Korea in December. They tell us that there is approximately a 10-month wait before we can expect the name/photo of another child to consider. We know that it's all in God's hands. We're looking forward to seeing who He wants to bring into our family: boy or girl. If all goes according to plan, we could be traveling to Korea again during the winter of 2011. (?) Ty will likely stay home while Dana and I fly there. We will let you know when that process begins again and we start a new blog. For now, we are signing-off, and will continue updates/photos on Facebook! Thank you for your prayers and loving support of us. What a journey it has been to bring Ty home!

5 Months Together!

As you may have guessed from the amount of time that has past since my last post, we are busy enjoying our family life together! June 7th marked our 5 month-a-versary. Amazing. It's a great feeling to have settled into a "normal" routine together. We are looking forward to our court date on June 28th, in Hartford, to legally make Ty our son. He will also be given his U.S. citizenship. Yay!

We are all enjoying the warm Spring weather. We are doing things to enjoy the outdoors as often as possible. Ty loves to climb and run around and has started going down slides by himself. We went swimming at a friend's house recently, and Ty had such a great time! No fear of water for him! He was anxious to try to swim on his own!? We're looking forward to getting swim lessons in July. I think he'll love it.

Ty and I had a great week in Indiana, meeting more family last month. It gave me great joy to watch him play with his new cousins. It was a dream-come-true. He did great on the flights, thanks to much prayer and his new-found interest in the "Geotrax" train DVD! A highlight of the trip was going to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. His favorite part was - you guessed it - the train section! We bought a train whistle to remind us of our time there.

He is doing great with communication, and is SO close to saying lots of words. For now, we'll accept just the first consonants until he can get the full words out. We do our best to try to figure out what he's saying! He has opted to not use as much sign language to communicate these days. He prefers to just point and say "mmmm? mmmm?". We have to remind him to use "words"! :)

I plan to write at least one more blog entry, and conclude after our court date on the 28th. It has been a blessing to be able to share with you these early days of having Ty home. We are planning to start the application for our next Korean baby in July! Once our paperwork is submitted to Korea, they tell us there's a 10-month waiting period before getting the name/photo of a baby to consider. We would be happy with either a boy or a girl. We don't have a preference. We'll see who God wants to add to our family! Who knows WHO we'll be "bringing home" next time? We will let you know when we start that blog!

Sweet 16 (and a half) weeks at home!

The month of April felt like a pivotal month for our family of 3. Ty is learning so much and has such an excitement about life. He loves being outside and is much more vocal when we go out for our walks. Now that he can say "car" , "ball" and "grrr" (for truck), he gets excited whenever he sees them, hears them, or reads about them (or any other mode of transportation, for that matter). He says Da-da all the time and has finally learned to say "Mmmaa" for Mommy. :)

He is very detail-oriented, and loves looking at photos & seems to notice every new one that I put up in the house. He especially loves seeing pictures of himself. He's becoming a lot more interested in books, which is fun, and we've even managed to read a few from cover to cover! We've also discovered a 12min. Fisher-Price DVD about trains that he loves to watch. It's fun to see him enjoying his first movie!

While in Korea, the foster mother gave us a disc with 540 precious photos of Ty from the time he was 2 mos. old until just before we arrived. What a gift it is for Ty (and us) to have such a great record of his life before we brought him home. I managed to choose 150 of my favorites and put them into an album titled "My Life in Korea" by Tyson Hasun Steele. I wrote captions from Ty's perspective. I've already enjoyed showing him some of the photos. He seems to recognize his foster family pictured in some of them.

Ty and I will be leaving on a jetplane this time next week to visit my sister & family in Indiana. My mom will be there, as well. I'm excited to take another adventure with Ty and for him to meet more family! I'm already starting to pack, and am making lists of things that Ty will need for the trip! It will be his first time sleeping in a place other than his own bed. Should be interesting!

Our hearts are so full of thankfulness to the Lord as we anticipate our first Mother's Day and Father's Day this year.

14 Sweet Weeks

"Cheeee" is what Ty will say for the camera now! It has been fun to be able to capture more of his smiles and laughter on film and to see him getting more and more comfortable in his environment. He is so sweet and friendly, and enjoys saying "Hi!" to the birds, passing cars and strangers at the store. He has made friends with some of the employees at Costco, since we're there often during the lunchtime samples! He is still very enthusiastic about playing with balls, and always loves when Daddy walks in the door. Daddy=Playtime!

We're looking forward to going to the home of an adoptive family this week, who will be hosting a Korean dinner for other adoptees and families. We will be meeting the president of the Adoption Agency in Korea (Social Welfare Society), along with seeing again, the social worker who placed Ty with us. It will be fun to re-visit Ty's Korean heritage.

We are excited (and a little nervous) about an upcoming flight to Indiana, after Mother's Day, for Ty to meet Aunt Stacie, Uncle Jim & new cousins: Luke, Jenna & Kayla. (Dana will be staying in CT this time.) Ty's cousins are avid fans of Veggie Tales, so we are trying to give him an introduction to the movies/music, with the hope that he will sit still (???) for a movie when we get there.

12 Weeks for the Steele 3!

The time sure has gone by quickly! Our return trip from Korea seems like a lifetime ago. We are so comfortable and happy, together as a family. Ty continues to fill our home with laughter and amazement as we watch him learn something new everyday! He just learned how to say "car" and smiled on command, saying his version of "cheese" for the camera. His personality has really blossomed in recent weeks, especially with the warmer weather. He can't get enough of the outdoors or playing with the BALL. (It's his current favorite word.)

He was a big hit when we traveled down to my former VNA office in E. Hartford last week, and got another great report from the MD at his check-up the same week. He got another 2 vaccines and handled them like a big boy! He's gained another 1/2 lb. and has grown almost 1" since his previous appt.

We took our 1st family adventure to NYC on Easter weekend. Ty did great and especially enjoyed running around Central Park, greeting people and trying to get into their backpacks! He was so friendly with everyone. He (and we) were exhausted by the end of the day. It was very helpful to have 4 adults looking after our little guy. We were there with Grammie Cheryl and Auntie Shane.

We are looking forward to another home visit from our social worker sometime in April, which means we will be one step closer to our "Finalization" in May, when we officially become Ty's legal parents!

Family Fun

I can't believe it's been almost a month since our last post! The fun times have been rolling. We have been together as a family for 9 1/2 weeks, and it just keeps getting better. Ty is adjusting to our lives so well. He has such a fun, easy-going personality. It is such a joy to be with him. (We've heard many other people say the same!)

Ty turned 18mos. on Feb. 21st, and received his 2nd haircut by our friend Shelly the same week. (This time it didn't require 3 stages!) We enjoyed a 2-week long visit with Nana (Carrie's mom), who traveled from Tucson, AZ to see her newest grandson. She returned home on the 11th, and was able to do a lot of fun things while she was here. One of those things was a Steele family party to welcome Ty into the family. The next day we had a "Dedication" service at church, to demonstrate our commitment to raising Ty in a way that honors the Lord. Ty met more of my (Carrie) side of the family when we traveled to Pomfret to visit with Nana's brother and family. The following weekend we had fun throwing a surprise party for Grammie's (Dana's mom) 60th birthday.

We enjoyed spending time at home with Nana, as well as taking a few trips to Target and Costco. (It's so much more fun to shop when you have a helping hand!) Mom and I both got manicures at the mall, and took turns watching Ty.

Ty knows how to say quite a few things in sign language: "more", "eat", "help", "milk", "drink", "again", "all done", "brush teeth"; and a few words in English: "Hi!", "ball", "Da-da", "dooo" (balloon). He is understanding SO MUCH of what we say. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to communicate with him more and more. We think he's going to be quite a conversationalist when he starts saying more words!

We had our first visit to the Urgent Care Center this past week when we thought Ty may have dislocated his wrist. I heard, and felt, the pop of his wrist when I was pulling him up into his carseat. He was in pain and didn't want to use his hand. I felt TERRIBLE! By the time we were in the waiting room for 5min., he was back to normal. Pheww. We left, and proceeded with our scheduled trip to Target. He has stayed healthy except for 1 cold a few weeks ago. He is sleeping about 11 hours per night with 1 to 2 naps during the day. It is still one of our greatest moments of the day, whenever we go in to greet his smiling face when he's ready to wake up.

We hope you enjoy our newest photos.

Funny Little Valentine

Greetings on another snowy, New England day. We've been reminiscing about the fun times we had this past weekend when Auntie Shane came to visit for Valentine's Day. She took lots of photos and captured some great moments of Ty and our family of three. (Ty would much rather play around than have his picture taken, as you can see!) He was a little fidgety, but we did our best!

We thank the Lord everyday that we get to be the parents of this great kid! He continues to make us smile and laugh with all his funny antics. He certainly knows how to entertain himself, and has been taking fewer afternoon naps these days. He has much "better" things to do than sleep or lay quietly in bed! (Thankfully, he's still napping in the morning.) We're glad that we can continue to share these moments and updates with you. Thank you for sharing in our joy!

More updates and photos coming!

We haven't been able to take any recent photos since my camera fell into my cup of tea last weekend. The new camera arrived yesterday, so we just need to learn how to use it!

Ty is doing great! He had another check-up at the MD yesterday. He has gained 1/2 lb., and grown 3/4". Yay! It's great to see him growing into the next size clothes. He's healthy and (very) strong! This past week we've enjoyed going to a mom's / pre-school group, "Rhyme-Time" at the library, lots of walks and swinging at the park, and playing in / jumping on his indoor tunnel when it's too cold to go outside. We are SO looking forward to warmer weather. (We're expecting at least 6" of snow today.)

We're excited about a visit from Nana Eldeen (Carrie's mom) at the end of the month. She will be staying for 2 weeks.

More to come ...

Fun times

The days keep getting better as we grow together as a family and get to know this precious child that we've known for almost 4 weeks. We thank the Lord for how well Ty is adjusting to life in our home, and how charming and entertaining he is whenever he has a visitor. We have enjoyed several play dates, both at "Ty's house" and at friends' houses. Our friend (and professional hairdresser), Shelly, gave him his first haircut. (Hopefully, that will get easier as he gets older. I (Carrie) will only attempt to cut his hair if absolutely necessary. He's just too fidgety!)

We had a weekend visit from Auntie Shane, who had a blast playing with her new nephew. She tired him out while playing with his new favorite toy: a collapsible tunnel. (Thanks, Grammie!)Ty also enjoyed meeting Great Auntie Linda over the weekend. We determined that Ty's first words in English were "hi!" and "Google".

This was Ty's 3rd week going to church, and he seems to be getting more and more comfortable with all the new faces anxious to greet him. I was able to step out of the nursery for 40min. to go to the church service, leaving Ty in the capable hands of Auntie Shane and 4 yr. old friend, Noelle (his other mother ;) Ty did great!

We are still enjoying the novelty of the video monitor to supervise his "sleeping" patterns. By the looks of this picture, he might suspect that he's being watched. Ty has picked up a few words in sign language, which has been very helpful for our communication. He's able to give high-5's, blow kisses, and raise both arms and say "Woohoo!" He's enjoying a new step stool that I've placed at our front window, so that he can look out any time he wants. He has generally been sleeping about 12 hours per night, and has gone 2 nights in a row without waking for his routine bottle. We're hoping that he has started a good pattern.

We hope you enjoy reading these little updates as we continue on our adventure as a new family. We are happy to be able to share our lives with you.