Fall Pics

Hello All!  I do apologize for the 6 week absence from the blogging world.  You know what they say, "the transition from 1 kid to 2 kids is the hardest."  Well, we're finally starting to get into somewhat of a normal rhythm around here so I wanted to get some pictures uploaded before they, too, become old!  I still want to make a post about my parent's trip to visit us.  But, until then, enjoy these pictures I took yesterday of the kids at the park.  It was pretty cold, hence the crying 6 week old.  But, it was still fun!  Oh, and special thanks to Aunt Judy for making the kids' blankets.  We LOVE then!  

 Enjoy! 

William Joseph Zanger

Introducing:  Our Little Stud Muffin  :)

Born:  Sept. 19, 2012   

11:27pm

Seoul, S. Korea

9 lb 5 oz.

(Another) Baby Update

41 wks + 2 days

Just quickly wanted to let everyone know that at our appointment today we set an induction date for Wednesday (Sept. 19) if our son does not arrive before then.  Obviously this isn't ideal but it is what we had to do for Emma as well.  Apparently, my body just likes hanging on to babies for a really long time.  There was no new progress at our appointment.  I am having some contractions but they aren't regular and so far they haven't done anything for me yet.  Please pray that God's will would be done here.  That our baby would arrive safely.  And that Emma would do well away from us (and us away from her) for several days this next week!

Birthday Weekend

First things first:  #1 - Yes, I am still pregnant.  I know you are all wondering but I currently don't have any signs of labor so we're still playing the waiting game.  Our next appointment is Friday and I'll be 1 week over at that point so I'll let you know more at that time.

#2 - Last weekend was my birthday (and due date) and I want to send out a thank you to all those who helped make it special for me... especially my wonderful husband.  Yes, we were able to go get those pedicures and if my feet weren't swollen, I'd show you a picture of how cute the design looks!  Thanks also to Eric for buying me a great Korean cookbook, taking me out to eat to a few of my favorite places, and for letting me buy a new pair of cute shoes, to Eric's parents for sending it to us (as well as giving us all birthday money to spend during the summer), to Laura for sending a cute Montana t-shirt (that I'm sure I'll be able to wear someday, post-pregnancy!), to Corrie for dropping off some Birthday brownies, and to many more people who said or wrote birthday greetings.  Thank You!!!

I suppose our Birthday festivities started off last Thursday when Emma suddenly had a fascination/obsession with a box of yellow cake mix that we had.  She wouldn't put it down, kept saying "bite" and then tried to eat the picture of the cupcake on the front.  So... that day we make cupcakes!  It wasn't really supposed to be for me (actually, we made blue frosting in honor of baby boy's birthday that was supposed to be coming soon).  But we sure had fun making them and made more than one mess.

 Then on Friday we had a doctor's appointment in Seoul.  It was a little disappointing since the Dr. told me that nothing had changed since the last week.  :(  But then Eric took Emma and I out to a great restaurant in Seoul that we hardly ever get to go to, "On The Border."  It was SO good!  And we had a great time doing something fun and out of the ordinary as a family.

 Emma just had to help me wipe my hands off before eating.

 Yep, there I am!  Or should I say, there WE are!  Ready to pop!

 Then on Saturday we went to a school volleyball game.  Emma enjoyed being around the people as always (me too!).  And she was also really into the game...

 and the water puddles outside...

and her best bud, Isaac!  :)

The rest of the weekend didn't go so well, as we found out that Emma was coming down with some sort of virus (Hand, Foot, & Mouth disease?) so we had to stay home.  And we've been sticking close to home all this week, too.  I guess it's a good thing I'm not in labor yet since we need to keep her away from other kids for a few more days.  Pray for us in this time of waiting!  And again, thank you for helping make my birthday special.

Fun Staff Events

These pictures are from a few weeks ago but I wanted to share a few of them from some of our recent staff events.  The 1st two are from our annual staff Progressive Dinner that we had at the beginning of the school year.  We went from house to house eating different courses of a great meal.  It was super fun and a great (sweaty) bonding time.  :)

 These next 2 pictures are of a staff meal we had at Rio Grill... a Brazilian Steak House.  If you've never been to one I HIGHLY recommend it.  Rounds and rounds and rounds of meat come to your table until you are stuffed to the gills.  The 2 people in the front right of this picture were actually visiting us from the Home Office of NICS so they took us all out to dinner!

 Our WHOLE ICS family (minus 3 kids I think)

Morning Videos

Just a small fraction of our 17 month old's vocabulary.  :)

Baby Update

39 weeks + 2 days

Hello all!  With less than a week left until our little one is guesstimated to be born, I bet many of you wouldn't mind a little update on what is going on in our lives... particularly our little boy's life.  Well, he is happy, cozy, healthy, normal sized, head-down and just waiting to make his entrance into this world. We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and were very encouraged.  This time we don't have any of the swelling/blood pressure issues to worry about (yay!).  I am 50% effaced, with slight dilation, and the baby's station is -1ish (if you know what that means)  (it's good.)  :)  And as we were saying goodbye to the doctor he said that he's pretty sure the baby will come sometime in this next week.  Hopefully he's right because we are gearing up for it and might be a tad disappointed if our son doesn't arrive by next Friday.  However, Emma was 10 days LATE so you never know.  I'm just happy that everything seems on track and our baby should be here soon!!!  

So this weekend we are doing laundry, cleaning up our house, packing our bags (yes, we hadn't done that yet), and getting all our ducks in a row for our trip to the hospital.  We're also going to be going to a birthday dinner for a fellow staff member tonight (and it happens to be at my favorite restaurant!).  And sometime in the next few days Eric and I are hoping to get away for a little while to have MY birthday date... Pedicures!  Wouldn't that feel nice right about now?  :)  

Okie dokie!  We'll let you know when things get rolling!

Happy Typhoon (Tropical Storm) Day

Yesterday we had a pretty disappointing Tropical Storm roll through here.  There were some stiff winds all day and maybe a little rain.  But, it was enough for Eric to get a 1/2 day of school off!  In the evening, Eric took Emma up to our roof to check things out.  He took this video and it's just too cute not to share.

On Thursday we're supposed to get another tropical storm coming through.  Maybe this next one will be something more to write home about.  Or... maybe it'll bring on labor???  :)

August

Hello Friends!  We are back in Korea and in the full swing of things already!  Today is Eric's second day of school.  Things are going well for all of us.  We were able to do a lot of helping the new teachers get oriented right when they arrived a few weeks ago.  It's been really fun to get to know the new staff.  There are about 8 of them this year.  Emma and I have also gotten to go out to school to visit and/or help several times, too.  (they had training the last week and a half).  We have also been able to hang out with some of our Mommy/Toddler friends and even went swimming twice so far!  Oh, and then there's that little thing called getting ready for our new baby!  Only 3 weeks left until my due date. Mostly, I have stayed inside during these hot, hot, humid days with the AC on and that has been really nice.  And usually we just lounge around.  But today I woke up really motivated to get some cleaning done so it's been nice having that little "extra burst of energy" they say comes at the end.  We'll see how long it lasts.  I'm getting pretty ready to be done with this pregnancy.  And we're all looking forward to having TWO kids!  Emma is really cute because she is now really into babies and even points at my belly or hugs it and says "bebe" all the time.  :)  Hope she likes the real thing just as much!!!

Here are a few pictures of Emma from the last several weeks.  She just cracks us up with everything she gets into.

 Trying on Daddy's swimming goggles.

 "I see you!"

 Someone gave us this winter "bear" hat so Emma had fun trying it on.

 "Pick me up, Mommy.  Please!!"

 Anybody want a chocolate chip cookie?

 Mmm... Daddy kisses!

 My little helper!

 Keeping cool with a new "do."

Sporting her swimming hat.  She just loves this thing.  BTW... interesting fact about Korea:  Whenever you go to any type of swimming pool/water place you have to wear a swimming cap... no matter who you are.  Thankfully, the swimming pool we have been going to lets Emma wear this floppy hat instead of a regular swim cap!

Well, that's all for now!  We'll keep you updated as the next few weeks progress!

Summer 2012: Part 4

Part 4:  Chicago (again)

After our time in Kansas, we flew back to Chicago for a final week of family time, LOTS of shopping (when you only go to Target once a year, think of what you'd spend, too!),  and getting ready to head back to Korea.

 Emma learned a new word in the Omaha airport.  "Airplane!"  She loved staring out the window saying and waving "byebye" to all the airplanes that passed by.  It was cute.  However, after a long delay in Omaha and then sitting on the tarmac in our plane for 2 hours AFTER we had already landed made this 8pm bedtime girl VERY upset at getting home at midnight.  Shortest flight yet probably the worst of the summer.

 This child loves being outside even in bad heat.  She also has a new love of "bubbles!"

 Eric and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary that final week by taking an overnight trip into downtown Chicago, staying at a neat, old hotel, and going out to eat a a FAB restaurant.  This is us at the train station waiting for our train.

 On the train going into Chicago.

 The restaurant we ate at:  Aria.  Eric and I are fans of the TV show, Top Chef.  And this last season there was a chef from Chicago who also happened to be Korean/American.  We really enjoyed her and rooted for her on the show, feeling like we understood her more and had a connection with her.  Well... this is the restaurant she is the Chef du Cuisine at AND we got to meet her and have a little chat with her.  Definitely a highlight of our anniversary.  And the food was probably the best I've ever had in the States.  SO GOOD!  I wish we had gotten a picture with the chef, but at least we got this one, outside the restaurant.

 Cousins James, Jane, Will, and Brian came to visit us and it was fun to see the kids interact and play together.

 We finally got some good pics of Emma with her Grandparents the LAST night we were in Oak Brook!

 Emma and her laughing buddy.

 Saying goodbye at the airport.

And we're off!  The final 14 hour flight wasn't actually that bad, even with Emma sleeping only about 4 hours (which is more than she slept on our 1st flight to the US).  I think we have a good traveler on our hands!  Next time... we'll have TWO!