New Tricks

I feel like Izzie has had an EXPLOSION of development these past few days. She is very aware of her surroundings now, and she loves to grab at things (and put them in her mouth). Here she is grabbing her foot for the first time:


She also can grab toys and shake them. All the rattles that I've gotten her are now coming to good use. I joked how she is just about as smart as my puppies now. =]

Jess and Elisa's Visit

Over the past weekend, we had two visitors come by. First was Jess, who once again, brought over a ton of cute clothes for Izzie to wear (she's modeling an outfit in her 4 month photos):


And my cousin, Elisa, got to meet Izzie:


Elisa gave Izzie some presents that Al got super excited about:


And these:


I think Al dreams of gamedays of dressing Izzie and taking her to football games. Hopefully his dreams involve Cal actually winning also.

Thanks for stopping by guys! We love it when you come over.

Izzie, you turned 4 months old yesterday!!!

Dearest Boo Boo,

You turned 4 months old yesterday! Even though we took your pictures yesterday, Mom and Dad were a day late in posting your update. You've changed so much in the past month. We think you're showing some signs of teething - you don't like it very much, but Mommy and Daddy try to do everything we can to make you feel better. You've really discovered new sounds, and some of our favorite moments are our conversations with you - you're even taking a stab at all the consonant sounds, which is really exciting to us. Your head control is excellent, and tummy times have become more enjoyable to you. You're favorite toy is the baby mirror, and then the musical inchworm is a close second. We think you're going to roll over really soon, and we can't get over how strong you are. You've started to grab everything in your sight - toys, blankets, your own clothes, and your personal favorite, mommy's hair.

This past month was also very interesting, because Mommy got diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Although she's going to be just fine, she has to go through surgery tomorrow. We're both a bit nervous because this is the first time we've been away from you for so long - but you're in really good hands. Halmuni is really excited about taking care of you for the 2 days that we'll be gone. Boo boo, you're so lucky and blessed - you have so many people praying for you and loving you. While it is kinda sucky that Mommy got cancer, we really believe that this will only make our family stronger and closer, so we're excited about that.

Love M & D

And an outtake:

Photoshoot part 2

We got the film back from our photoshoot last week. Here are some favorites:

Izzie's New Favorite Toy

Izzie has definitely met a few new milestones in the past couple of days. First, she is discovering her voice, and is now shrieking to prove it. Its very cute, and sometimes I shriek with her just to show her that I can do it too (Al says its annoying). She is also starting to really grab at toys and is fascinated by her surroundings. At night I have to go around and cover the clock radio, and all the little lights from the TV and the phones - they her distract her too much. I also think she's starting the process of learning how to roll. She can dig her feet into the ground and lift her little hiney up to the side. We're also pretty convinced that she is starting to teethe. All in all, she is really discovering the world around her. Unfortunately, this also means that she fights sleep a lot, and it has been a bit more challenging to get her to nap and go to sleep at night. To aid Izzie in her development, I bought a few new toys last week for her to play with - and the best purchase thus far, is the Lamaze baby mirror. Not only does she LOVE looking at herself (she's darn cute), but she loves to pick and touch the frame surrounding the mirror. Al took the video at night, so its dark, but you get the idea:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Spring is here!

We had gorgeous weather in the city yesterday. It was a very pleasant mid-70s, and during the day, I put Izzie in her rompers (although our nanny was convinced that it was too cold and always had a blanket on her). It was the perfect day to do our outside photo shoot. We already took the black & white portion of our photoshoot, but since we were using color film this time, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather. Al and I even spent a pretty frustrating 30 minutes trying to change our stroller from a bassinet to the seat. Seriously, how many degrees do you need to assemble a stroller, but alas, we were successful.


Izzie in her big girl stroller seat. Look at her left hand grabbing on.. its as if she's saying "I'm holding tight!"


Here is the little supermodel getting ready for her shoot. Everybody walking by kept mentioning how cute she was, and all I could answer was, "Yes, I know!"


Instead of being a team player during the photo shoot, our little diva decided that looking at her fists would be more fun.


Trying to get a tummy shot. You can see Al holding his cell phone.


We use the cell phone to distract her, so she'll stay happy.


Izzie started getting cranky because she was tired, so we got her to go to sleep, and took some shots that way.


Everybody decided to take advantage of the weather.


Hello! Sleeping outside is fun!


One last shot before we headed home.... "Modeling is hard work!"

Burpberry

Due to the massive amounts of clothing we got while I was pregnant (thanks Jess!), there are only a few items of clothing that I bought for Izzie. I was in a store that a fellow fellowship group member owns (Pink Olive), and I saw the cutest onesies. Izzie is now finally big enough to start wearing all her cute clothes. Yesterday, we were went to visit Chris and Joyce, and I wanted to put Izzie in something a bit more elaborate than her standard footed jammies fare. Here is the end result:





A new update:Izzie was nearly inconsolable the past day or so. She would scream her head off during feedings, wouldn't calm down easily, etc. It is very uncharacteristic of her - I almost thought it was teething (although, isn't she too young for that?). I wasn't sure what it was, but for sure, I'm hoping today will be a better day.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Izzie was taking a nap on the couch yesterday, and she looked so cute that I decided to snap a picture:


Anyway, I thought it was totally inappropriate that she looked like she was sleeping with the remote. Although, I have to say, often times, before Izzie was born, this was how I fell asleep.

I thought I'd snap some pics of her sleeping with her lovey instead, but she woke up:


I also think Izzie is going to roll over within the next couple of weeks - so these days, couch napping requires constant monitering.

Taking Care of Cradle Cap

While I was holding Izzie the other day, I noticed that she had what looked like to be the beginning signs of cradle cap. I was looking up some home remedies and I read that rubbing in olive oil, then brushing, then bathing will help get rid of it. I figured there was no harm in trying, so this is what Al found when he came home:



And you can see Izzie here enjoying her bath:


And afterwards:

My Other Babies

These are my two dogs, Nemo and Bbalgangee. They're currently living with my parents in Korea and I miss them so much! They're my original "babies" until Isabella came along. Out of the two puppies, I have to admit.. I do have a favorite. I love Nemo a teensytiny bit more, just because, I'm the one that brought him home, potty-trained him, etc. Also, everytime I go back to Korea, that dude of a dog always remembers who I am and cuddles right up to me.


Anyhow, the other day, I was going on and on about how cute I thought the dogs were and as a joke, Al asked me "Who do you love more? Nemo or Isabella?" Well, I misunderstood him, and I thought he was asking who did I love more, between the two dogs. So I started rambling, "Well, I love Nemo a bit more, because blah blah blah.." I looked up a minute later and found an expression of horror on Albert's face. "You love your dog more than your own daughter????" Haha.... Don't worry, Izzie, I love you more than I love Nemo.. but Nemo is dang cute:



I also spent the last hour, reading through my old xanga entries. It is motivating me to do a really good job of updating this blog - its so much fun to look back at the good ol' days! Anyway, here is a (now private) xanga entry I found from Feburary 2006 that Albert wrote:


Baby Names

After much debate, Sophie and I have decided to claim the following baby names: Isabella, xxxxxx and xxxxxxx. That's all.

You can name your kids that too, but only if you're willing to subject them to a lifetime of comparisons, and ultimately, humiliating defeats.

Obviously, I xxx-ed out the names, because we're still going to use them for future Alfs!