Back in the States (by Bob)

Well, it's been a hectic and happy set of days since our last blog post, including the trip home from Korea and the first few days of settling in with Boden.

Monday night, all three of us slept in the same bed at the SWS guest house since Bo had never been in a crib. He definitely did not want to fall asleep but Colleen was great in finally bouncing and swaying him into slumber. When we woke up at 5 am to get ready to go, Bo kept on sleeping for another 30 minutes or so with us moving around him to pack and clean up.





We caught our bus and plane without any problems, even fitting in time for some much needed coffee. The plane left right on time and (after some negotiating with an older Korean man and a flight attendant) we were able to get a whole row of seats to ourselves. The 14 hours went a LOT better than we had originally anticipated. Bo took several 2 hour naps and really didn't have any full-on meltdowns. He was a little fussy towards the end, but all-in-all it was relatively painless compared to some stories we've heard.

After landing, we spent 30 to 45 minutes in customs, including a weird inquiry into whether or not I had ever lived in Canada (??!?) and we were out the door -- officially back in the US. Mom, Katie and Kevin met us at the airport with big fanfare and drove us back to Maryland. It's a good thing they were there because I could never have driven after that flight!!


Since arriving home, we've been enjoying getting to know our little man and trying to get back on a reasonable sleep schedule. Suprisingly enough, we all did pretty well the first night, only having to get up for feedings/diaper changes about 4 times (he was getting fed twice a night in Korea). Last night, it was only 3 times, so we are getting better already. 

We are loving the experience of Bo! He is warm and smiley and loves to play and take baths. We are certainly tired and have burned a lot of calories bouncing him up and down when he's fussy, but it doesn't really feel like work since we finally have our son here. We're not really getting anything else done other than caring for him. In fact, we still haven't even unpacked yet -- amazing since there are 2 of us and only 1 Bo.

I expect this will be our last posting to this blog given that we intended for it to only be an account of our trip to pick up Boden. Thank you all for following and commenting/emailing -- As we mentioned in a previous posting, it has felt like a collective experience that helped us feel well loved and less isolated while over in Korea. We will always remember this as something that made the trip even more special for us. Thanks again and we look forward to having you all meet our little man, Boden Luke Mitchell!

Announcing Boden

One last post before we get on the plane tomorrow.  Colleen and I have finally settled on a name and wanted to share it with all of you:

Boden Luke Mitchell

(pronounced bo-den)

We'll still call him Bo for short, but really like the strength and flow of his full name.

Our Boy at Long Last! (by Bob)

The day seemed liked it would never come, but here we are sitting in the SWS guest house with our boy Bo!  We wasted some time in the morning reading and visiting a book store, but then our 1:30 appointment time seemed to come up before we realized it.  The turnover process was amazingly quick, lasting a total of about 30 minutes. 

The foster father was in the waiting room when we arrived with Bo and very warmly handed him to us immediately.  He and Mrs. Shin have been very good about emphasizing that he is our child and being very fact-based and straight forward about providing us with information on his care and up bringing to date.  It was clear that they cared very well for him, but also wanted to make the turnover emotionally easy for everyone involved.  

After going through some paper work and getting some very nice gifts (both from SWS and the Shins), the Shins each said a personal goodbye to Bo that made us both inevitably tear up.   We were whisked into an elevator where we said goodbye to the Shins as the doors closed.  Our case worker escorted us to the door, took a picture for us (left) and the next thing we knew, we were out on the street with a BABY!!!  I'm not sure what we were expecting, but it all seemed so sudden that we looked at each other in a mixture of joy and complete disbelief.

We've been back in the room since then getting to know the little man.  He was a bit fussy when he got back to the room and wouldn't take his bottle.  But after an hour nap in Colleen's lap, he took an entire bottle and has been happily playing with us ever since.

We've been able to get up and pack a little watching him closely and he seems to play by himself for small stretches at a time well.  He is smiley and makes lots of funny sounds.  He also likes to be bounced around a lot and loves to chase the camera when I'm trying to get a video him.

Here's a video of him scoping out the camera before trying to manhandle it:

Tomorrow morning we catch a plane at 10am local time (Tuesday) and arrive back at Dulles IAD by 9:30 am Tuesday (magic, huh?).  We've heard that 20 hours of travel time (bus, plane, car ) is the international adoption equivalent to labor.  We are ready to go through anything with Bo and this trip will only allow us to get to know him better.  And be delivered a family on the other side.

I think it's safe to say that we have already fallen for Bo and his home city of Seoul.  We had such a remarkable time here that we will never, ever forget and will almost certainly return.

We'll post more when we get back to the US.  Until then, thanks for following the Bo Chronicles!