Emerson is 2!

My baby isn't a baby anymore. She's a toddler! It all happened so fast. I remember when we brought her home from the hospital. Those first initial months felt SO long. I often wondered when she will be old enough to sleep through the night, feed herself, start talking, walking etc. How foolish of me not to cherish and live in the moment because time really does pass by quickly and now I wish I could turn back time and relive those moments. She is now talking non-stop. She's very kind and sweet to others. Yesterday I took her to the library and before we left she proceeded to give every single kid in the toddler corner a hug. I felt that some parents might not like her hugging their kid so I told Eme to give them a high five instead. So she gave them high fives, even the kid that shoved her head. My prayer daily for Eme is to continue being sweet and compassionate towards others. I also pray that she may learn to know God's love share that with others. 

Spring Break

Spring break is almost over and I'm getting kind of sad. I had a list of things I wanted to do during this break, however I only managed to complete a few:

• Playdate with a friend and her daughter
• Sushi Gen lunch with husband
• Visit friend who recently had a baby (happening tomorrow)
• Do something crafty (e.g. make more bibs, hair barrettes)
• Cook more
• Clean and organize closet
• Do some work (It's IEP season y'all)
• Visit grandma and parents
• Clean kitchen
• Get manipedi
• See a chiropractor

Each day I have a list of things to do, but I tell ya, time goes by so fast! Next thing you know it's time to pick up Eme from daycare, feed her dinner, give her a bath, put her down for the night and then make myself and Tim some dinner. Tomorrow I'm going to try to clean and organize my closet. Forget the manipedi- got no time or money for that. The rest on the list I'll get to by the end of this week except for making an appt with a chiropractor (not gonna happen until work ends). 

Eme and cousin Brayden

Eme at 15 months

Unconditional Love

Time is flying by so fast! She's going to be 6 months in 6 days. Besides marrying my husband, having my baby was the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm starting to understand God's unconditional love for us through the love I have for my daughter. I hurt when she hurts and I'm happy when she's happy. I only want the best for her and I worry about her ALL. THE. TIME. Being a mother gives me an insight into how much He loves us too. Although I like to think of my love for my baby as unconditional, His love for us is the true definition of unconditional and again I am humbled. 

Family

I finally got a family photo! I wish my babe's face wasn't blurry and that she was looking at the camera, but that's too much to ask of a 5 month old, no? 

Back to 30 Minute Naps

I spoke too soon. She is back to her usual 30 minute naps. =/

Mommy Meetups

As much as I love hanging out with Eme all day long, it can be tiring and at times isolating. Your time is dictated by their feeding and nap/sleep schedules. In the beginning they are feeding every 2 hours and it's impossible to get out of the house. I've been cooped up inside the house for 2.5 months. Toward the end of the 2nd month I started to venture out a little going on walks here and there. I even took her to the market via baby carrier. Month 3 is looking much better. I joined a few local mommy meetup groups and attended 2 events so far. One is a group that strolls around LACMA every Friday and the other meets up at local parks or other baby/kid-friendly places such as The Grove or someone's house. These meetups are great because it gets you out of the house and you get to meet other local women in the same life stage as you! 

I don't drive with Eme past a 2 mile radius unless Tim is with me, but I think I'm ready to trek further than that (without Tim). We'll see, hopefully by the end of this month I could take Eme with me to meet up with friends in the Valley, OC and LB. 

taken at 2 months

Who is this baby?

I don't know what's going on, but something is up. For the past two days my babe has been showing me CLEAR signs of sleepiness. She'll rub her eyes a lot and eventually she will start whimpering. I quickly swaddle her, lay her down in the crib and within seconds she's knocked out. No twinkle twinkle little star sung, no shush/pat, no rocking or holding. As I write this I am aware that I'm jinxing myself, but like I wrote in the previous post, this is AMAZING. Not too long ago (last week) I was reading 5 different books on naps/sleep training. None of them seem to really help. Maybe all she needed was time? Or reflux medication? I don't know, all I know is I'm thankful. So so so thankful. Let's keep this up!

She's 3 months now and these are some new things that happened this month:

• laughing out loud
• napping longer than 30 minutes
• bearing weight on feet
• shoving whole fist in mouth
• clasping hands together

I've also seen an increased amount of:

• cooing
• smiling
• kicking legs
• drooling

She continues to take Zantac twice a day (1.5 mL) and I think that it's helping her. She's spitting up less and in general seems to be in a better mood. I also don't see her regurgitating cottage cheese-like spit up that smells really sour/acidic. The only thing is that Zantac tastes terrible and she hates it when we give it to her. I tried to look into getting it flavored, but we have to get a new prescription for that and the pharmacy near our home does not flavor medication. boo. 

just hanging out

Naps

Oh naps. Before my babe came along I had no idea that babies needed daytime naps. Of course I knew that they sleep a lot, but little did I know that naps are necessary. Eme has been struggling with naps for almost 2 months. I was able to put her down for a nap, but the trouble was having her sleep longer than 30-45 minutes. I've read that babies have sleep cycles that last approximately 45 minutes and often have a hard time consolidating them. Well, I don't know if it's her age or just a one time miracle, but she slept for 90 minutes! She stirred around the 45 minute mark, but after 5 minutes she fell back asleep and I did not intervene. This. is. amazing. Amazing because just yesterday she was waking up crying every 30 minutes and needed to be shushed/patted back down. Maybe the acid reflux medication is helping her or maybe it's because she's almost 100 days old. Whatever it is, I hope it continues. She is a happier baby when she gets a good nap. About the 100 day thing- it's Korean tradition to celebrate a baby's 100th day because back in the day so many babies died before their 100th day. So this weekend we celebrate her 100th day, yay!

My Life Now

This happened:

Her face is almost done peeling from baby acne. I was so stressed when baby acne suddenly appeared overnight, but her pediatrician said it's very common and should go away within a few weeks. My life has drastically changed, but I'm loving it so much. She's such a joy and I die every time she smiles at me. I'm still amazed by it all. Never knew how hard taking care of a newborn would be. It's damn hard, but so rewarding. 

Keeping Busy

I'm officially 37 weeks pregnant today. I can't believe I'm so close to meeting my baby. I'm super excited! In the meantime I've been trying to keep myself busy with a few projects. I decided to give my niece and nephews their Christmas gifts in handmade stockings. I also made stockings for my in-laws and brother-in-law. The only 2 left that I still need to make would be for me and my husband. Here are the stockings:

Who will she look like?

Min (Tim's brother), mother-in-law, & Tim

Tim

Tim

me

looking dazed and confused

Tim and I often talk about who Emerson will look like. Will she be a combo of both Tim and me or will she look more like Tim or more like me? I think Tim was such a cute baby and he's so handsome to me right now so if she looked like her dad, then I would be happy. There are certain things that I really hope she inherits from Tim such as his height, his slim-fit body, and his hands. However, I wouldn't mind if she had my eyes or my nose (even though I hated my nose growing up). I think Emerson might be born with a full head of hair. In both our baby pictures, we both have major fro action going on, lol. 

Very Pregnant

I haven't blogged for a long time. I thought I would blog at least every week during my pregnancy to document this experience, but unfortunately blogging was the last thing I felt like doing. Now, I'm fairly close to my due date and before I completely neglect this blog ( i hope i don't), here are a few pictures of my baby bump in no particular order. 

Yummy Chicken

Saw a chicken recipe on www.milkandmode.com. Recipe is from Jenny Rosentrach's book Dinner: A Love Story. This chicken is really good and easy to make. Make it this week for dinner. It will not disappoint.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sushi

I am looking forward to meeting my baby girl, but one of the drawbacks of pregnancy is that I can't eat sushi. I absolutely love sushi and used to eat it at least once a week. I hope to go to Japan one day to eat at Sukiyabashi Jiro. If you're a sushi lover like me you must watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi (watch instantly through netflix.com). 

Seattle and Portland Part II

We loved Broder from 2010's trip to Portland that we decided to hit it up again. Finally got to try Pok Pok and unfortunately it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I had high expectations because I read about it so much and waited a year to go there. The wings were too sweet/salty/sticky. Just too much sauce going on. Everything else was good, but not worth waiting a year for. I don't think I'd go back to Pok Pok even if I lived in Portland.

Split pea soup and Swedish meatballs

Pok Pok

The famous wings at Pok Pok and some catfish noodle dish with peanut sauce.

Seattle and Portland Part I

First meal in Seattle: Mother-in-law's home cooking, YUM!

We headed south to Portland the following day arriving at the lovely Ace hotel. This was our room.

It's an open kitchen at the Beast

Made reservations for brunch a month in advance

housemade apple butter clafoutis with soft whipped cream and maple-glazed bacon

Beast Hash: lamb sausage & pork belly, market potatoes, delicata squash, turnips, cauliflower & brussels sprouts topped with poached farm egg and whole grain mustard hollandaise.

chocolate truffle cake with whipped cream on top