Today is Tuesday and it feels like a Thursday. We had a big conference at work the last two days that I helped organize, which means I was living, breathing, constantly thinking about this meeting. During times like this, I am learning that I am not the best multi-tasker. I am so consumed and focused on this meeting, I have no idea what else is going on around me. I am still learning how to turn off work when I get home so that I can give my full, undivided attention to my family. I'm definitely a work in progress.
So, this past weekend we started to transition EV to whole milk. Since I am still planning on nursing her on days that I am home and since I absolutely hate pumping, we decided to give her whole milk with her meals over the weekend. EV, you have only had breast milk and water your whole life; so unbeknownst to you, you grab your cup, sip from the straw, and make a confused look on your face as you pull the cup away from yourself. Then I proceed to give you the milk again, and you politely push it away. So, as stubborn and insistent as I am, I give you the milk again, and again you push it away, this time with a little more force. So, I offer it again to you. At this point, you are not having it, you take the cup and throw it on the floor. Uh oh, momma does not like throwing. So, now comes Monday and I have this meeting and you will be home with grandma all day. I thought, okay, lets try giving you half breast milk and half whole milk. After a long day at work, I come home anxious to know if you drank your milk, and I am told that you drank a total of 2.5 ounces all day. That's no good. I am tired and all I want to do is go to sleep. Papa offers to bathe you and get you ready for bed. As you are ready for bed and as I am nursing you, I attempt to push all the work thoughts out of my head and start to think about what we can do to get you to transition better to whole milk. I remember a conversation with someone who said that sometimes it helps to try out different brands. So, I thought, "okay, maybe EV just doesn't like Trader Joe's whole milk." So, I ask papa to go buy some whole milk from Publix. I started thinking what we should do when you go to school the next day. So, I asked papa to make sure to take Publix milk and pumped milk to school. After a long day of work today, I anxiously go to school to pick you up and to my surprise you drank all your milk. EV, for some reason you do a lot of things at school that you normally don't do at home. For example, you don't eat bananas at home but you eat it at school and you don't drink whole milk at home but you do at school. At this point, I'm not sure if it was cause of peer pressure, the school environment, or the Publix brand of milk. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. That's all to say, you are an opinionated toddler (yes, you are definitely a toddler now).
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Happy birthday, Evangeline!!
This time last year, I had been in labor with you for 15 hours and your heart rate was dropping with every contraction. An hour and 15 mins later, you were born via cesarean section and we were in love. You were ever more beautiful and precious than I could have ever imagined.
At 12 months, you are walking and understanding so much. This morning after you had your morning milk, we went downstairs and you were banging on the fridge, the pantry, and then your high chair. You were trying to tell us you were hungry. The other day after your dol party, I said to you, if you want me to read you one of your new books, come bring it to me. You looked at your pile of books, went over and picked one of the new ones, and brought it over. I never pointed or made any gesture; you just understood. You were for the longest time a very chill, laid back baby. Nothing seemed to ever bother you, but in recent days you have become more expressive, you laugh more, whine more, and you are much more attached to us than ever before. You love to take baths and splash water everywhere. You love music and making music. You enjoy being outdoors. You hate shoes and get very upset when we put them on your feet. You love love love cheese and you enjoy flavorful foods.
This past Saturday we had your dol and it was a special celebration. Although there were many things that did not go according to plan, we had family and friends there to celebrate. For the doljabee, you chose the guitar twice. You were loved by many and that made it memorable.
Happy birthday, my beautiful daughter. You are so special and amazing. We thank God for you everyday. We love you and look forward to many more blessed days.
In this picture: You never ate the cake and you were barely playing with it, so I took your hand and smashed it in the cake. It took awhile but you finally warmed up to playing with it but refused to even take a bite of it.
At 12 months, you are walking and understanding so much. This morning after you had your morning milk, we went downstairs and you were banging on the fridge, the pantry, and then your high chair. You were trying to tell us you were hungry. The other day after your dol party, I said to you, if you want me to read you one of your new books, come bring it to me. You looked at your pile of books, went over and picked one of the new ones, and brought it over. I never pointed or made any gesture; you just understood. You were for the longest time a very chill, laid back baby. Nothing seemed to ever bother you, but in recent days you have become more expressive, you laugh more, whine more, and you are much more attached to us than ever before. You love to take baths and splash water everywhere. You love music and making music. You enjoy being outdoors. You hate shoes and get very upset when we put them on your feet. You love love love cheese and you enjoy flavorful foods.
This past Saturday we had your dol and it was a special celebration. Although there were many things that did not go according to plan, we had family and friends there to celebrate. For the doljabee, you chose the guitar twice. You were loved by many and that made it memorable.
Happy birthday, my beautiful daughter. You are so special and amazing. We thank God for you everyday. We love you and look forward to many more blessed days.
In this picture: You never ate the cake and you were barely playing with it, so I took your hand and smashed it in the cake. It took awhile but you finally warmed up to playing with it but refused to even take a bite of it.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Vacation
So, life in 2011 started off pretty crazy and I needed a break badly, so we had a free companion ticket that was expiring in the end of March and saw some plane tickets for cheap so ended up buying two round trip tickets to West Palm Beach, Florida for $190. That's a pretty nice deal considering gas prices are about equivalent right about now. One thing we didn't realize when we bought these spontaneous tickets were that there is nothing to do in West Palm, which was fine with us cause all we really wanted to do was go to the beach. Well, after days of searching for the right hotel and trying to arrange the rest of our travel details last minute, off we go on our mini vacation.
We arrive in West Palm and the wind is blowing pretty strongly. I ask the taxi guy if this is normal and he said that it was absolutely calm yesterday and just started up today. I thought, okay, well maybe the winds will die down. To my disappointment, the wind never died down but it did not make the ocean any less beautiful.
This was EV's third trip to the ocean. The first was when you were about 3.5 months old, we drove down to St. Simon's Island. This was a great trip, except for the fact that the beach was not only windy but the sand blew into our faces and made it very difficult to enjoy. The second trip was when you were about 7 months old, we went to San Diego for a work conference. We stayed an extra day and a half, went to Coronado Beach and the zoo. The beach again was windy but much more tolerable than St. Simon's. Neither times were you too excited or interested. This time you were much more curious. You played in the sand, ate the sand, crawled in it, and even tried walking on it. You are now walking more comfortably, although you still prefer to crawl.
Although it was windy, it was nice to get away from everything and not worry about anyone or anything. As I get older, I have been learning more and more about the importance of taking mental health days and vacations. I am so thankful for all the blessings in my life! I am recharged and ready to face reality again...well, I will be by Monday.
Here is a video of EV approaching the ocean:
We arrive in West Palm and the wind is blowing pretty strongly. I ask the taxi guy if this is normal and he said that it was absolutely calm yesterday and just started up today. I thought, okay, well maybe the winds will die down. To my disappointment, the wind never died down but it did not make the ocean any less beautiful.
This was EV's third trip to the ocean. The first was when you were about 3.5 months old, we drove down to St. Simon's Island. This was a great trip, except for the fact that the beach was not only windy but the sand blew into our faces and made it very difficult to enjoy. The second trip was when you were about 7 months old, we went to San Diego for a work conference. We stayed an extra day and a half, went to Coronado Beach and the zoo. The beach again was windy but much more tolerable than St. Simon's. Neither times were you too excited or interested. This time you were much more curious. You played in the sand, ate the sand, crawled in it, and even tried walking on it. You are now walking more comfortably, although you still prefer to crawl.
Although it was windy, it was nice to get away from everything and not worry about anyone or anything. As I get older, I have been learning more and more about the importance of taking mental health days and vacations. I am so thankful for all the blessings in my life! I am recharged and ready to face reality again...well, I will be by Monday.
Here is a video of EV approaching the ocean:
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Spoon feeding
I realized that although this blog is supposed to be an avenue to share my inner thoughts, it has become a compilation of EV's milestones and adventures. Oh well, what can you do? When I leave work, most of what I think about is EV, I'm such a typical momma bear!
EV has always been a very opinionated and stubborn baby. So, it does not surprise me when you started insisting that you feed yourself with a spoon. In an attempt to minimize the mess that I will have to clean up afterwards, I tried to place foods that are sticky onto the spoon so that it'll stay on until you get it into your mouth. You took the spoon from me, stuck it in your mouth, sucked on the spoon until everything was off of it, and threw the spoon on the table, as if you were saying, "put some more on the spoon, please." After you were done with dinner, I gave you fruit for dessert, and you proceeded to put the fruit onto the spoon but got frustrated when the fruit would fall off before you got the spoon into your mouth. Eventually, you learned to balance the fruit on the spoon and get it into your mouth. At one point I tried giving you the bowl but you cannot scoop the food out of the bowl yet. That made a real mess. Note to self: buy a deeper spoon.
EV has always been a very opinionated and stubborn baby. So, it does not surprise me when you started insisting that you feed yourself with a spoon. In an attempt to minimize the mess that I will have to clean up afterwards, I tried to place foods that are sticky onto the spoon so that it'll stay on until you get it into your mouth. You took the spoon from me, stuck it in your mouth, sucked on the spoon until everything was off of it, and threw the spoon on the table, as if you were saying, "put some more on the spoon, please." After you were done with dinner, I gave you fruit for dessert, and you proceeded to put the fruit onto the spoon but got frustrated when the fruit would fall off before you got the spoon into your mouth. Eventually, you learned to balance the fruit on the spoon and get it into your mouth. At one point I tried giving you the bowl but you cannot scoop the food out of the bowl yet. That made a real mess. Note to self: buy a deeper spoon.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The countdown is on
Happy 11 months my beautiful baby girl!! I cannot believe how fast time flies. I look back at your baby pictures and am so amazed at how much you have grown. I cherish every moment we have together and look forward to every new adventure. I just wish we could slow down time just a little bit so that I can have a moment to take it all in. Your personality is starting to really show. I love how you are completely your papa and completely your momma at the same time. You are strong-willed, stubborn, and opinionated but at the same time you are patient, nurturing, and laid back. As of today, you have two teeth on the bottom; you say appa, umma, baba (for book), baby, uh (for up); you point to everything; you feed yourself most of your food; you love cheese; you can stand on your own; take one to two steps by yourself; you are finally sleeping through the night without needing to nurse; you love wrestling with piggy and rolling on the floor; you love music and you love to dance; you swing your feet when you're happy; you know how to scribble on a magnetic board; and when I ask you, "where is EV's tongue" you love to stick out your tongue. Each day you learn something new and you bring a smile to our faces. We fall in love with you more and more each day. You are an amazing little baby! I can't believe we will be celebrating your 1st birthday soon. The countdown is on!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Kimchi squats to standing
Evangeline is such a Korean baby, and this is not just based on her looks. EV, you love Korean food more than any other types of food, and I'm not talking about basics like rice or vegetable porridge, I'm talking about fermented soy bean paste soup (think miso soup but stronger). You also like to sit in a kimchi squat position. I have never seen a baby sit like this, comfortably in the middle of a room or while reading a book, but you love it. Then you took it up a notch yesterday. After you have a bowel movement, you never like to sit, so you are either on your side or in the kimchi squat. So, after you had a BM, you were in a kimchi squat, then you slowly started pushing yourself up (feet shoulder length apart). Next thing I know, you are squatting, standing, clapping. You did this over and over and over again. Well, tonight you were very cranky and only wanted to be held. While I was nursing you, you kept on putting your leg up on my shoulder and taking my hand and putting it on your leg. So, I started massaging your leg. I think your leg was hurting because of all the squats you've been doing the past two days. Your legs went limp as I massaged them and you slowly started falling asleep. You are always so determined to perfect whatever you learn. I love that about you!!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
A cerebral extrovert
When EV was a newborn, I thought she was going to be introverted, more like her father. Even at 2-3 weeks of age, you would pretend to sleep when we had visitors and wake up when they would leave. You would avoid eye contact with everyone, and even sometimes momma and papa. You never smiled and you were a homebody. Then as you got older, you started to become less inward and much more social. Then it hit me, it's not that you were being an introvert, you were just taking it all in. As papa would say, you are our "cerebral" baby. You're actually not that different now, but that you take things in much quicker and in a different way. It's also dawning on me that you're not an introvert but an extrovert like your momma. You LOVE being around people and it doesn't even matter if you know them or not. You will approach anyone and you will try to engage in some communication with them.
Last week we were at a friend's house for a superbowl party and you did not want to be held by momma. You wanted to play with the 2 and 3 year olds. You wanted to touch other people's shoes. You wanted to be held by everyone else. You were exploring and socializing. You could have cared less if momma or papa were there with you. Today we went to your friend Olivia's first birthday party and you wanted so badly to open her gifts, pick her doljabi, and grab her toys. You sat behind Olivia very patiently waiting your turn, looking over at me to see if I will give you the okay, but it never happened. Momma was very proud at how well you listened and behaved. I guess we will have to have a big lesson on not talking to strangers when you get older. Until then, it's a lot of fun watching you explore, interact, and engage new circumstances and people.
Last week we were at a friend's house for a superbowl party and you did not want to be held by momma. You wanted to play with the 2 and 3 year olds. You wanted to touch other people's shoes. You wanted to be held by everyone else. You were exploring and socializing. You could have cared less if momma or papa were there with you. Today we went to your friend Olivia's first birthday party and you wanted so badly to open her gifts, pick her doljabi, and grab her toys. You sat behind Olivia very patiently waiting your turn, looking over at me to see if I will give you the okay, but it never happened. Momma was very proud at how well you listened and behaved. I guess we will have to have a big lesson on not talking to strangers when you get older. Until then, it's a lot of fun watching you explore, interact, and engage new circumstances and people.
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