The big update!

Hey everybody!

Okay here it is! The last few weeks have been crazy busy. Of course, our little girl is back with us, and Al and I were super busy. Izzie did great on the plane ride back with my parents and our nanny. She was very tired when she got off the plane, but she instantly perked up when she saw the apartment. Usually Izzie gets a little bit shy when she goes somewhere new, but I was relieved to see that she still remembered the apartment.

We spent the next week or so trying to get Izzie back on New York time. I am really bad with jet lag, so I really sympathized with Izzie. She would be so tired during the day, but we kept her up, and she would crash for her naps, only to be waken up after a couple hours. And at night, she'd be ready to play. It was really hard (I felt like I had a newborn again), but I was super proud that she took less time than me to get over it.

She definitely changed a ton while we were apart. The first thing I noticed that when she said "umma" and "abba" (mom and dad in Korean), she really enunciates. I really want to get this on video sometime, but she'll call out "Um-maaaaaa!". She knows exactly when to wave good-bye now and will do it unprompted whenever somebody leaves the room. She learned how to bow hello the Korean way and as evidenced in the pictures above, everytime you say "Hello?", she'll take whatever object she is holding and lift it to her ear like a telephone. I've taught her how to give kisses and we're working on teaching her how to blow kisses. She can also say "Annyung!" (Hi or bye in Korean).

Izzie is still not the gourmand that we hope her to be, but her eating has gotten a lot better. The other day, I cut up some kimchi and mixed it in with some Kalbitang (Short rib soup) and oatmeal, and Izzie ate it! I was one proud Korean mommy. She'll still pick waffles, crackers and cheese over anything else - but at least we are making progress.

One huge thing that she did yesterday for the first time was Izzie went both #1 and #2 in her potty. We are not potty training, but I do like to keep her diaper off often (also evidenced by the picture above). There is nothing like healing/prevention of diaper rashes with some sun and fresh air. Yesterday, I could see that Izzie wanted to go, so I promptly put her on her potty, and she went! I was really surprised that I feel like I should research Elimination Communication (google it) a little bit more.

I'm also happy to say that the worst of Izzie's stranger anxiety has seemed to pass. We've dropped her off at the church nursery the past couple weeks, and she did not cry one tear while we were gone. She also lets other people hold her now (given that Al or I am close by). We feel like we can let other people babysit her now! So, please offer!

I've gone back to work this past week, so I feel like things are really back to normal now. We're back in our routine, and hopefully it'll stay this way for awhile. Al will be graduating this May, so I am already stressing out about moving. The apartment rental market has been coming down, but I still think Manhattan prices are ridiculously high. Living close to Al's work is a must though, so we are not leaving the city, and we are hoping to stay on the Upper West Side. I am also realizing that we need to buy a lot of furniture (our current dorm came furnished), and then in New York, there is the ridiculousness of paying a ton in "closing" costs for leasing an apartment, although I am hoping that we can cut a deal given the current economy. Oy vey. I know things will work out, but my head is spinning!

Anyhow, we'll go back to doing frequent posts about Izzie now.

Thanks for being patient!