Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everybody! Today Izzie celebrated her first halloween as Nemo. We stopped by the law school halloween party for kids:



She was in a good enough mood that she kept her little headpiece on for 30 minutes!


Sophie thought she looked particularly cute from the behind:




Izzie even went trick-or-treating! Here is her haul for the night:

Seaweed Soup

So lately, we've been making a more concerted effort to have Izzie eat more solid foods. The doctor recommended that we increase the number of her daily solid food feedings, so we've taken the opportunity to experiment with some new foods. Last week, we made seaweed soup for Sophie's birthday (Korean tradition). Knowing how much I disliked seaweed soup, Sophie decided to get to Izzie early and get her accustomed to the unique taste. So she ground it up and Izzie had her first taste of seaweed. As you can see, she wasn't a big fan. (It's OK, Izzie, I get it.) That said, I don't think that will stop Sophie from trying to convert her. It's kind of like Kimchi -- Sophie will probably just force it on Izzie until she likes it.



Anyway, here's an early list of Izzie's likes and dislikes --

Likes: Sweet potatoes, pears, vanilla yogurt, prunes, apples.

Dislikes: Seaweed, broccoli (Izzie: that one's not gonna fly with Mom either), plums.

Our First Family Outing

In the 2+ years Al and I have lived in the city, we have never once taken a road trip. Sure, we took planes to go places, but we never attempted the simple art of renting a car and just going somewhere. One thing that I was really looking forward to this year was taking Izzie to the pumpkin patch in Central Park. Of course, after a beautiful week of perfect weather, there were thunderstorms this past Saturday - no pumpkin patch for her. I was completely crushed, and Albert made the last minute decision to rent a car and head out to a real pumpkin patch.

I got my foliage fix on the way there:


Izzie chillin'


One with the pumpkins:


Did I mention how hard it is to get her to look at the camera these days?


Picking her very own apple:


Albert being... Albert:


Do you watch Mad Men? I do.. its, hands down, the best show that is on the air right now. Its an incredibly well-written, captivating show that actually makes you feel smart when you're watching it (although I do love my Real Housewives and The Hills). Anyway, as we were driving by, I saw the exit for Ossining, so of course I had to yell out "Don Draper lives here!"



It was so incredibly refreshing to leave the city and see so many trees and no buildings. We were only 1.5 hours away and I felt like we were in a completely different world. As we were driving with Izzie in the backseat, I couldn't help but think that this was so cool. As a young kid you remember the times, where you got into a car with your family and went to do fun activities - and our little family was doing just that.

Sophie, You're 25 Years Old Today!

Dearest Sophie,

You turned 25 years old today! That's an entire quarter-century. You are halfway up the hill! And of course, we're finally free from the oppressive chains of the underage rental car fee. Twenty-five is probably the age where most people consider themselves to have truly entered adulthood; I have a feeling you felt that way long before this birthday.

Had the internet and blogger existed back when you were a baby, maybe your parents could have shared your growth and development with the rest of the world as well. It would have been fun to go back and read about it. The stories on your blog would have been very different. By all accounts, you were an outgoing and active baby, always hitting milestones ahead of schedule. You walked at 10 months, the age Izzie is now. So if Izzie takes an average between both her parents, she should begin to walk a little bit after her first birthday. You also talked and learned to read before your friends. You were a smart kid and a fast learner. You had an out-going personality, and weren't shy about talking to other kids, sharing personal stories or asking questions. One time, you even genuinely asked another boy in your preschool class why he was still wearing diapers. You didn't know it at the time, but you made him cry, and your teacher had to call your parents to tell you to be more sensitive. In many ways, you're really the same person you were back then.

This year has been an eventful year for you. Of course, you were finally able to shed that giant mass in your tummy, only to discover that caring for that thing was much harder outside the womb than inside. The first week was definitely the hardest. You shed a lot of tears that week, and probably grew up a lot too. But you know what? Izzie grew too, and she kept growing. She's a bundle of fun these days. Your biggest challenge this year has been motherhood. At first, the challenges were physical: teaching her how to breastfeed, and then how to bottle feed. Then we had to get her to adopt a regular sleeping schedule. Now, it's on to straws and real cups. (The fun never stops, right?) These days, the challenges seem more emotional; it's the constant worrying of whether we're making the right decisions as parents. You were and are completely obsessed with Izzie's welfare; you've probably read more books in the past year on child-rearing than you can count on your fingers. Maybe your toes too. And of course, you are always concerned about making sure we were giving Izzie the right experiences and capturing the right moments. You've done most of this while going back to work as the sole breadwinner in the family.

Besides motherhood, you also had personal issues to deal with. You had an extremely worrisome experience when you were diagnosed with cancer. Consistent with the theme of growing up, we researched various treatment techniques and insurance options, asked for surgeon recommendations, and finally settled on a plan with which we were comfortable. Even after the surgery, we had to make a lot of decisions on follow-up treatment options, timelines and the like. Thankfully, the surgery was a success, and within a few months, you will hopefully be completely cancer free. But alas, the cancer wasn't the only sad part of the year. We lost your paternal grandmother, a woman who helped shape you as a child and mold you into the woman you are today.

Like Izzie, you also learned a few new things this year. You took a class on how to take pictures with our digital SLR camera. You played Wii for the first time, and quickly mastered the Wii Fit Hula Hoop game. We bought a pasta machine and made homemade pasta for the first time ever. You learned first hand how annoying HMO plans can be. You started jogging again. And we became members at our church, two years after first attending as recent settlers in New York City. How quickly time has passed.

This past year was a year of life and loss; of celebration and grieving; of challenge and triumph. A lot of the causes and events that defined your life this year probably came unexpectedly. You probably saw more of the inside of hospitals than you'll ever want to see. But you always handled it with grace and poise. Watching you go through life everyday reminds me of why I love you and why I married you. And as Izzie grows up and begins to understand more, she will draw from your life experiences and examples and become a better person. Your silliness adds that much more to the merry times. Your determination gets us through the hard times. Your presence makes life worth living all the time.

So here are 25 cheers to you, Soph. Your family will always love you and be here for you. May this next year and chapter of your life be filled with good health, love, peace and joy.

Love,
Al + Izzie

Izzie, you're 10 months old today!

Dearest Izzie,

Congratulations, you turned 10 months old today! Just this week, the weather took a turn for the cold, and we started to bundle you up in your winter clothes. It seems appropriate now that you’re only two months old away from your first birthday. You were born at the beginning of winter, so as the weather gets colder, it reminds us of that special time when you came into our lives. It’s been a great ride, and you’ve made our lives as easy as anyone could possibly expect. Just today, you sat around patiently in your stroller and played with your giraffe toy while Mommy and Daddy had lunch after church. We think you’re an All-Star.

Well, on to the accomplishments! You did two major things for the first time last month. First, you started crawling. At first, it was pretty slow, and you really had to put forth a lot of effort just to move even half a foot or so. But you slowly got better everyday, and now you can crawl pretty well, even when you’re on a slippery surface like our hardwood floors. Like Mommy said, it can be quite a task to follow you around these days. Pretty soon, you’ll have seen every nook and cranny in our new home! We’re happy you have your new found freedom, but now we’re going to have to work that much harder to keep you safe.

The other major thing you did this month was imitate our sounds. You had being saying “Umma” (Korean for “Mommy”) for a long time, and even said “ba” and “da” before this last month. But before you were mostly just trying out new sounds. Now you can say those phrases, and some other ones, on cue. You also said “bye” and learned how to wave your arm when one of us leave. It looks kind of funny, because you just wave your entire arm like a windmill. On a much smaller scale, you also began to shake and wiggle your fingers, which looks kind of funny too.

You also began to change the way you sleep this month. Until recently, you were always a back sleeper. But now, out of nowhere and at all times of the night, you’ll decide to just roll over to your tummy or sleep on your side. At first, this really worried us, because you had never done this before, but we couldn’t really stop you, and you’ve been doing it for a few weeks now. Both of your parents are tummy sleepers, so if you take after us, this could just be a natural and inevitable development.

This month, I thought it’d also be interesting to recap some current events. The country is going through its most serious economic crisis in quite some time. In a couple weeks, we will have a presidential election, and we may very well make history with the first non-white male president in the history of our country. It’ll be really interesting to see how it all turns out.

We love you, sweetheart.

M+D

Halloween Preview

Ever since I saw a fellow mom dress her son as Nemo last year (Donna, that would be you), I knew that that is what Izzie had to be for her first halloween. My dog's name in Korea is Nemo - and he has such a special place in my heart. It was the perfect costume. I decided to bust it out and put Izzie through a trial run. It was a bad idea to do right before her nap time. I guess I wouldn't like getting stuffed inside a stuffed animal if I was tired too.

Sorry, kid. You still look very cute.

Izzie, You're a Mover!

There is one thing we knew about Izzie, pretty much from the beginning. She is one mellow kid. No real sleep issues, happy as a clam, content as can be. Albert and I always figured that that was the chief reason she took her time to roll over, sit up on her own, etc. However, because she took her time doing things, when she did start doing them, she did them perfectly - no learning curve.. she just did it! I figured, that she would skip crawling, and one day just get up and start walking. However, Izzie surprised us last week, by implementing the army crawl. She's been scooting around backwards forever, but now forward motion is in the repertoire. I have to say, I sure am glad that she took so long to crawl - because it is exhausting following her around now!

A PERFECT Day in Central Park

We've been having a magical week in New York. Perfect, crisp, 70s weather throughout the week. After church, we met up with some friends for brunch in the park. Thanks for the company, guys!





We could not get a good picture of the babes:


Second attempt:


Sweet Miles:

9 Month Ped's Visit

I was looking forward to the 9 month pediatrician's visit because I knew she wouldn't be getting any vaccines done - just the flu shot. Ever since I got an iPhone, it has been super convenient to just jot down questions when I think of them. Here is the list that I've accumulated since her 6 month appointment:

Constipation
Solids
Teeth tongue care
Belly button
How many ounces of milk?
Cheese
Gross motor
What to do in case of allerge rxn
naps
boogers

As you can see I am mostly concerned about what goes in to my kid and how it comes out. And of course the occasional booger. I used to say how even her boogers were so clean and cute, but now, her boogers are starting to look more and more adult (read: nasty). I just can't leave them hanging there - but she can't blow her nose, and my fingers are too big to pick them out... Anyhow, I digress.

After weighing Izzie and measuring her, we discussed my concerns with her weight gain. And my pediatrician assured me that there was absolutely nothing to be worried about. Bigger babies do not necessarily mean healthier babies. Izzie has been making a nice curve since she was born, and she's really leaning out - nothing to complain about. She also did lose some traction in the weight gain area because of all the nasty herpangina a month ago, so long story short, she's doing fine.

In other areas, Izzie is doing great. She can already say umma, ahbba (mom & dad in korean), bye, and I swear I hear her imitating sounds all the time. The pediatrician said that once she gets used to more chunkier textures I can start giving her meat. Although, I'm not sure how soon that would be happening - I tried giving her cheerios last time, and the girl completely protested. She still likes everything puree!

I can't believe the next appointment we have - she'll be 1. Time does fly.

We Interrupt your Regularly Scheduled Broadcast....

I've always told Albert, "I wish we blogged more", "I wish we wrote more". I think my tendency is to not post if I have no pictures (which means, I should be taking more pictures). The goal, always, for this blog, was for me to turn it into a book when Izzie turns 1. If Izzie is anything like me, she will read through the blog over and over again, and marvel at how much her parents love her. So I wanted to make an effort to journal more. Talk more about my thoughts and feelings of becoming a 3-person family.

So here I am. Its 2:47 am, and I have no pictures to post because I can't find the camera and I will not risk waking Izzie up trying to look for it. What should I talk about?

Motherhood is awesome. I honestly do not remember a time before Izzie, when in reality, it was not that long ago. Sometimes, I will just wonder, what did I do with all that time? Now, my days are dictated by The Schedule. Everything gets planned around when she wakes up, goes down for her two naps and down for the night. What do we do when she's awake? I like to put her in cute outfits and take her out a lot. I think she's super cute, and I like to show her off. These days, I follow her around a lot as she discovers the apartment. I think I can spend hours watching her do the most mundane things. Its amazing how something like the TV remote can fascinate her for such a long time. Sometimes, when she's sleeping, I'll stare at her. The disbelief is still there - I can't believe I made something that is alive, has feelings and has an opinion of her own. Talk about a miracle.

I love it when people point out that she looks like me. I take it to another level, and mention how we both have left dimples, and how so many of our features are exactly alike. I'm also amazed at how much Izzie looks like Albert when they're both sleeping side-by-side. Its weird - her features may take more after me, but her general "aura" is more Albert. They have the same sleeping positions and sleeping expressions - its quite endearing to see. Izzie has Al's skin tone and hands and feet (and hopefully height).

I am still dealing with the identity crisis that comes (and maybe never ends..) with motherhood. I know I am a mom - and I love it. But who else am I? What does Sophie, the non-mother side do. Am I defined by my career? I hope not. My side-by-side mental comparison list between stay-at-home-ing and working is continuously running through my head, and I have no conclusion, nor do I see myself making a decision anytime soon.

I think I will bring my insomnia-induced ramblings to an end right here. Perhaps, when I am more awake and alert, I'll write more coherent posts about my thoughts and feelings.. but for now, this will do.

Good night.

Izzie's Central Park Photo Shoot

On a perfect Saturday afternoon, we had Christie Adams do a family photoshoot in Central Park by the pools (probably my favorite part of CP). Here is a small preview. I can't wait to see the rest!

NICU Walk

Today, Albert and I attended a NICU walk in New Jersey in honor of my boss's twins that were born earlier in the year. It was nice to get out of the city, and I was excited to meet the twins for the first time.

Izzie got to try out her new big girl car seat for the first time. She loved it!


Izzie, chilling, right before the walk started. Of course, she missed her nap time and got cranky, so Albert ended up wearing her around the park.


Brandon and Brendan. These guys are almost as heavy as Izzie is! They were born back in April, but their adjusted age is around 3 months - big boys!


After the walk:


Little (Big?) Brandon:


We went to lunch afterwards, and Izzie got to sit in a high chair for the first time. The hunt for a chic, sophisticated high chair cover is on! I didn't expect her to do so well on the high chair, and she was totally digging it:

Izzie's Best Friend

You'll remember the Blik designs that Laurene gave Izzie as a present. For the longest time, Izzie would light up when she saw the lion and start babbling. They were high up on the wall, so Izzie could only see them when we were holding her. Finally, I had the idea of moving the lion lower, so she could see him anytime she was on our bed.. and oh, the happy, happy meeting that occured!