a whole lot of "firsts"

As anyone that has had a baby can attest to, the first few weeks (and months) are filled with baby's "firsts"... What a great thing to have the grandparents here to witness at least the first few! 

When Jimmy was 4 days old, we headed to the hospital for our first checkup. This was also his first time out of the house. He was so good! 

My awesome nurses! Will miss seeing these ladies every few weeks :) 

James also had to get blood drawn and have a hearing test. He was such a good boy! 

After the hospital, we took the parents to one of my favorite fish places in town

Mommy, James, and Papa took a nap after the big morning we had! 

Robert had meetings that day so while he was in the meetings, the rest of us stayed at the parents' apartment. After the meetings were over, the president took us to a lovely dinner at Jikjisa. Everyone was so surprised that James was out so early! Here in Korea most babies don't leave the house for almost 3 months. Also, he is so big compared to Korean babies that everyone thought he was older anyway! :) 

President Kang prayed a blessing over James. It was very special. 

Gramma Tina took responsibility for Jimmy's first manicure. He was less than pleased and was sure to let Gramma know about it! :) Check out that face! 

I would have loved to show my parents all over Korea but since I was still not feeling 100% myself, we tried to keep things pretty close to the house. It did feel great to get out a little though! We headed out for Jimmy's first walk in his stroller. 

Protective dad had the grandpas flank the stroller for added protection when crossing the street :)

How cute is that?!

Enjoying the afternoon at Nearby Cafe. 

Jared came by to see James too! 

Even with all the help from Nana and Gramma, Daddy still took care of a few diapers :) 

Vince and Nina had been waiting for a very long time to meet little James. They were so excited that they were still going to be in Korea when he was born! They headed back to New Zealand shortly after Jimmy's arrival. 

Mom and Dad Howard got to meet our monk friend too and get a tour of Jikjisa Temple. 

Jimmy's first trip in the ergo... this has since proved to be our magic baby whisperer! It's crazy how much he loves that thing. He can go from an all out scream fest to sound sleeping in a matter of minutes after being put in his ergo. :)

I don't think he got enough attention while the grands were here...

6 days on the outside. It's still so crazy that a baby so big was inside of me!! 

We decided to celebrate his birth with a party while the grandparents were here. Nana made enchiladas and we bought a cute cake from Tour les Jours. In Korea, a baby is considered a year old at birth so we decided to represent both countries with our candles... a "0" for America and a "1" candle for Korea :) 

James is such a blessed little guy to have these four grands in his life! 

Gramma and Grampa Black

Nana and Papa Howard

^^Our Little Family^^

Mom and Dad Howard were able to take a tour of the university campus and since Gramma had the tour last time, she stayed with Jimmy and me while we caught a few extra zzzz's. 

My dad is like a kid magnet! I have never seen a child not attach themselves to him :) 

Isaac loved hanging out with Papa during the tour. 

After the tour, Isaac finally got to meet his little buddy James. 

Aunt Charlotte getting to hold James for the first time 

^Our little boys^

We headed to Hands Coffee after the tour was over and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon there. 

연화지 which translates to "Lotus Flower Pond" 

My mom came to Korea with one goal in mind: to have a "pretty latte". She got her wish :) 

James meeting Rebecca (the boss) and some employees who have been waiting my entire pregnancy to meet him :) 

The following day was a sad one because we had to say goodbye to Gramma and Grampa Black :( As you can imagine, they were not ready to leave this little guy! Their departure hit me pretty hard and left me crying on the bed while my mom comforted me. It means a lot to have parents on both sides to be there for the important stuff...

Uncle Gerald stopped by for a visit and Jimmy even flashed a quick smile 

(we had to be quick to catch it, thus the blur) 

We took Mom and Dad out for a true Korean meal (we had been eating at home so much that they hadn't really had a chance to eat at a meat restaurant). The meal started out well but when Jimmy's diaper needed to be changed, it all went down hill from there... Korean restaurants don't often make it very easy on mothers with small babies because they do not have changing tables or nursing areas. I took my mom with me to the bathroom and we attempted to change his diaper on top of a washer that was in the bathroom. Mid-changing, a slightly inebriated woman came in to help us... so we had 3 sets of hands to do the job and afterwards she wanted to hold him. I cautiously (brand new mother here!) allowed her to "hold him" all the while keeping my hands on him. After a few brief seconds of this, Mom stepped to my rescue as the "mean grandma" that wanted to take her grandson :0 It truly was an experience. We wrapped up the meal quickly and headed home. 

We were heading to Seoul in a couple days to take my parents to the airport so we were going to get James' documents in order at the American embassy. The requirements for his picture were that he be awake and there could not be any hands in the picture supporting him. We saw that he was happy and awake and made a dash for the studio :) He looks like such a little man at just 10 days old :)

Our friends Phillip, Ashley, and Sean came over for the afternoon and evening and we enjoyed dinner at our favorite Chinese spot and games together :) 

Mom finally mastered the chopsticks!! She was like, "hurry and take a picture before I drop it!" :)

Papa and Jimmy enjoyed listening to lullabies together :)

I wasn't quite up for taking James to church yet but the others went and had a great time

Jimmy had his first train ride and slept through the whole thing! That was ok with mommy :)

We didn't have the paperwork yet to prove it but James was officially an American citizen :)

We took mom and dad to Myeongdong and of course that meant eating at Saffron :)

Starbucks 

Hanging out in our hotel before eating dinner downstairs in the restaurant

We left the hotel at 5am in an airport taxi to take my parents to Incheon airport. In order to catch a bus straight home from the airport we basically left my parents at the door and headed to the ticket kiosk. I had told my mom that if I didn't cry it wasn't because I wouldn't miss her and that I probably would have a melt down as soon as I got home... I made it to the bench beside the bus and the tears came...

Thank you Nana and Papa and Gramma and Grampa for being here to welcome our little James Robert into the world and for all your help in the first weeks of his life! We will treasure these memories always! It was so wonderful to also be able to introduce my parents to our life here in Korea :) 

This was a very special few weeks for us.