Judah is getting a passport!

Today we went to the US Embassy to apply for Judah's passport. Getting his passport photo was a monumental task. It had to be on a white background, fully facing the camera, baby's eyes open, and no parents' arms or hands showing. Geeze! It took about 100 different photos to get one that worked. Here are some of the funniest shots we got.

And here's the one we finally settled on.

We also had to bring lots of documents: passport application, photo, birth certificate, report of birth abroad application, social security application, and our marriage certificate. We only had a copy of our marriage certificate. They wanted the original but thank goodness they accepted a copy. We should be getting his passport in 2-3 weeks. Yay...Judah gets to come home with us!

Our little family in the taxi on the way home

Baby Judah is Here!!!

Judah Christopher Hankins entered the world at 2:48pm on June 22,2012  here in Seoul, South Korea. When we woke up at 8 am that morning Ashley's water broke and she started having contractions. After they started progressing quickly, Lisa our doula arrived at 10:15am. We discussed the option of going to the birth clinic or staying at home; we decided to stay at home for the birth. 4 1/2 hours later he was born here at the officetel. Thank you for all your prayers during this time, God is good! A mother's perspective of the birth coming soon...

Busy(er) day

Yesterday was quite a busy day compared to the beginning of the week. I was really tired and lethargic on Monday and Tuesday. I think my iron levels were low. After replenishing with iron-rich foods, I felt better on Wednesday so we went out for some activity. In the morning we went to check out a yoga class at a gym. My mom was considering taking the class so she wanted to check it out. After yoga we ate a Korean restaurant in the basement of the gym. We came back home to check movie times and were planning on going to the mall to see a movie. We ended up deciding to go in the evening with Taylor instead but still wanted to go pre-buy the tickets. In Korea, you buy your actual seat, not just a ticket. So if you wait until right before the show starts, you're gonna get really bad seats. We went outside and tried to get a taxi and after standing there for about 5-8 minutes, a nice police officer stopped and said "No taxis. On strike." WHAT???? "What if I go into labor today?" That was my first thought! Of all the times for taxis to go on strike....

So we made our way to the mall to buy tickets by bus. Later that night the 3 of us went to see Men in Black. The baby moved a lot during the movie...it was probably too loud for him. Not loud enough to make him want to come out apparently!

Still uncomfortable and not wanting to smile for pictures.

I got Bibimbap- one of my favorite Korean dishes. Mom
got the Korean Curry- one of my least favorite dishes.

waiting for the bus

inside of the TimeSquare Mall

She tried this drink made from boiled rice. Rice tea, I guess. It's really gross
but she said it wasn't too bad. My mom is really flexible and easygoing!

Look at that huge belly! This is where my day started to get really good.

Coldstone makes everyone happy!

Waiting for the bus to go to the movies.

Same face haha. They didn't plan that.

Walks in the park

We've been trying to do little things to get this baby on his way out. One of those things is daily exercise, which I should be doing anyway. My mom and I have been going on walks in Yeouido Park.

King Sejong statue in the park. He is considered one of
Korea's greatest rulers/inventors. He invented the Korean
alphabet, Hanguel, along with many other things.

Who's that big pregnant lady???

One of the great things about the park, and most places in
Korea for that matter, is the convenience. We stopped on
our walk for some iced tea. We also stopped about 4 times
so I could go to the bathroom!

I was not happy on this day...feeling quite large and uncomfortable and not wearing
any makeup. I didn't feel like smiling or even looking at the camera.

Mom ordered a popular Korean dish called Omurice. It's
kinda like an omelet filled with rice, meat, and vegetables.

Biking around Yeouido

This weekend we're supposed to be taking maternity pictures (pray that it doesn't rain). So tonight we went out with our bikes to scope out some good locations. I will be 31 weeks tomorrow. Only 10 more to go! Yes, I said that right- 10 more, not 9. We're aiming for 41 weeks of pregnancy. I'll write a post about it sometime on the baby blog. :)

Parking

I've mentioned this in a blog post before but one of the the things we had to get used to was how people park their cars here. It's madness! It's not uncommon at all for people to park their cars in neutral, double park someone, and just expect that the person you blocked in will push your car out of the way when they need to get through. It happens all the time. Or people will just leave their doors unlocked and leave the keys in the car. Yeah right! Almost every car has a cute little plate in their front dashboard with their cell phone number on it so they can call you if your car can't be moved out of the way. Here's a picture of the madness that is parking in Korea:

this is only a small glimpse of how crazy it can be

You can see another crazy Korean parking lot in the following post:

http://findusinkorea.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post.html

Yangjae Flower Market

Last weekend we went to Yangjae Flower Market in Seoul.

This says "Oh! Happy Day" in Korean- literally O! Haepee Dae-ee

Does anybody know what these flowers are called? We left with these and a few tulips that unfortunately never bloomed. These are one of my new favorite flowers!