Pictures of Liliana, Angelina, Nicholas & Mike

We've been home 1 week!!

Since the day we got Liliana we've been wanting to update our blog but have not had a chance to. Wonder why? It's incredible how one little baby can take up so much of your time!

So first Liliana:

She is doing wonderfully. We weren't able to get her until Thursday morning. This meant she only had one day to get use to the idea of being with us before we embarked on our trip home. She did very well Thursday and slept the entire night. She slept through the entire 14 hour plane trip from Seoul to Chicago and most of the flight from Chicago to Newark. I was worried that she was just trying to block out everything that was happening but was relieved I wasn't having to deal with a screaming 1 year old for 14 hours. It took her two days at home before we saw her giggly self begin to emerge again. I can confidently say she is adjusting amazingly well. We transitioned her from our bed (she never slept in a crib only with her foster mother on a mat on the floor) to the pack-n-play in our room. Today I put her down for her naps in her crib and she did very well. She is eating everything and loves playing with Angelina. I even took her out on a 3 mile run today and she loved it. She is so snugly and cuddly I could spend all day kissing her!! Angelina is also adjusting well to being a big sister. She's loving all the big sister gifts!

Korea:

Korea was wonderful. We were staying in a major financial district. The area was not tourist friendly but we were happy to be able to get a real feel for the Korean culture. We cannot say enough about the Korean people. We really stood out as "foreigners" but most people were eager to help if we looked confused. I think they were happy to practice their English. One night we ate a traditional Korean restaurant. We sat in the floor and tried seaweed and kimchi. Most of the time we were in search of American food. We did manage to find Domino's, McDonald, Donkin Donuts and believe it or not there was a Starbucks on every corner. We stayed at the adoption agencies guest house and even though it wasn't a 4 star hotel it was homey and we were comfortable.

We visited Liliana at her foster mother's home. She lived in a small apartment in a very crowded village. We were so appreciative of this women who cared for our baby for the first 13 months or her life. I am teary eyed thinking of how much she loved Liliana and how empty she must be feeling now. She has been fostering children since 1996 and will get another baby in 2 months.

We traveled by subway to visit Angelina's foster mother at Holt's Korean agency. She had traveled 3 hours to meet with us and was so wonderful. She gave us a 10 lb jar of honey farmed in the village where she lives and we have been enjoying it on our yogurt for breakfast. After our visit we traveled to the Namdaemun Market which was incredible. It was streets and streets of vendors and store owners selling their goods. The streets were crowded with people while cars and motorcycles tried to get through. We had never seen anything like it. We manage to buy some souvenirs and find our way back switching subway lines and carrying Angelina. Angelina would fall asleep everyday at 3 pm and would not awaken until 3 am. At 3 am she would be wide awake and would eat the dinner she missed from the night before. Thank God for the DVD player we borrowed from Aunt Barbabra. We had plans to visit many places but it seemed impossible with visiting with foster mother's Monday - Thursday mornings and Angelina sleeping every afternoon. We did manage to find E-Mart in our area. E-Mart is the Korean version of Wal-mart. A big department store with everything from home goods to food. A future trip is planned for when the girls are older for site seeing.

Thank you everyone for the well wishes and for the out pouring of support we have received. Liliana is a little angel and we are so blessed to have her in our family!

Giggles Paesano

Video Clip of Liliana

We Met Lollipop!

Our trip to Seoul has been amazing. We flew Korean Air and had a very comfortable 14 hour flight. Seoul is a bustling city much like NY. There's a Starbucks & Dunkin Donuts on every corner. Last night we ate at a traditional Korean Restaurant. We had to take off our shoes when we entered, sat on little mats on the floor and ate a delicious meal. Today was the day this whole trip was about and it could not have gone better. We arrived at Liliana's Foster Mother's house in this small village outside of Seoul and was greeted by a happy giggling baby. Lilian was so comfortable with us. She let us play with her, hold her and kiss her. She loved Angelina and wanted to hug her almost knocking Angelina over. We are so grateful to Liliana's Foster Mother for the amazing job she has done raising her over the past 13 months. We will be meeting with Liliana again on Wednesday afternoon and her family day will be on Thursday 9/16. We are so excited and cannot wait to bring her home.

Tomorrow we will be meeting with Angelina's Foster Mother and then off to do some site seeing and shopping.

Enjoy some pictures!

Travel Call!!

Liliana here we come!!!

Our tentative plans are

Departing JFK on 9/10 and returning Newark on 9/17

We will be traveling Korean Air and staying at the SWS Guest House.

It's going to be a crazy week of packing!

I can't wait to hold our little lollipop Fudge !!

We are getting closer!!

This blog is to keep our family & friends up to date during our Journey to pick up Lollipop Fudge from Korea. We hope to be traveling sometime in late September.

Check back to read about our adventure!