It is now 2:12am, just 10 minutes after Nehemiah was born one year ago. He's been on this earth for one year, with us for about 21 months, in our hearts much longer and known by name by God since creation.
Though he is sleeping, we went by his side and spent his "birth moment" with him. I can't even think of typing without tears swelling in my eyes.
He is an absolutely amazing little boy loved so dearly by so many. We are so, so very blessed. There truly are no words.
When emotions settle a bit, I will try to reflect and type more. For now, I can at least laugh and say that I feel as though I deserve an award for not dropping him once.
If only you could see and feel my heart right now. Nehemiah, we love you. We love you, we love you. Giving my life would still not feel adequate enough to thank God for sending you to us. You are such a Godsend, and we are blessed so, so far beyond measure.
You are so incredibly and dearly loved, Nehemiah.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Still There
I'm home right now for the purpose of eating cereal, showering and grabbing more wipies to take to the hospital. There's a shower there, but the thought of using it creeps both of us out.
It looks like we'll be checking out tomorrow instead of today. It's our choice in the end, but in this case, I do agree that it's best to make sure the fever stays away at least 24 hours. It appears to have been a virus after all, seeing as they have not found anything else in his blood or urine.
Tons of Koreans we have spoken with have said in response, "Why do babies always get sick when it's their first birthday?" It could just be an old wives' tale, or maybe there is something to it in this country. I don't dismiss that possibility because of the "traveler's cough" pretty much everyone who comes here ends up catching (I had it myself, though it was awhile after we moved here).
Whatever it is, it had better not shine its face around these parts again.
Anyway, he's been in better spirits since yesterday. He's not as terrified of people anymore. (He was utterly traumatized by them taking blood and putting the IV in.) He's been clapping, talking, trying to rip his IV out and all of that good stuff.
It will be a miracle if I don't get checked into a psych ward before the end of this.
Feeding him solids has become a challenge because I think he's afraid of throwing up. For a few nights, he would throw up when we tried to feed him dinner. It's hard to say why. I thought it might have been tofu, but he threw up last night sans tofu. I think we might have given him one spoonful too many. ;~; Poor little guy.
Let me quickly tell you about Korean hospital food. It should make you love American hospital food. It is always soup, rice, white kimchi (the not spicy one) and a few side dishes. Sometimes, the food contains shellfish. Sometimes, it contains peanuts. Our first day there, they served spam. There's plenty of tofu, seaweed, this root, that root... It's sometimes okay (I happen to love seaweed soup), but even HS won't even touch it most of the time.
Anyway, since being admitted, the leaves have changed so much. This area is incredibly beautiful--plenty of roads lined with now yellow ginko trees. It's amazing.
Oh, I must announce this as well. Once thing that makes me a little happier through all of this:
I had to go to Homeplus to pick up a few groceries to take back to the hospital, and I gasped quite dramatically when I saw Cheetos, REAL CHEETOS, in stock there. I just munched on some. Oh, yum. It's been years. Korean Cheetos are awful. "Steak." "Bulgogi." "Spicy." They are nasty. But these Cheetos...so savory...so yummy...yum...
That's all for now. Thanks so much for all of the thoughts and prayers. Hopeully, Pooh Bear will be at home playing when I update next.
Much love and many blessings to you all~
It looks like we'll be checking out tomorrow instead of today. It's our choice in the end, but in this case, I do agree that it's best to make sure the fever stays away at least 24 hours. It appears to have been a virus after all, seeing as they have not found anything else in his blood or urine.
Tons of Koreans we have spoken with have said in response, "Why do babies always get sick when it's their first birthday?" It could just be an old wives' tale, or maybe there is something to it in this country. I don't dismiss that possibility because of the "traveler's cough" pretty much everyone who comes here ends up catching (I had it myself, though it was awhile after we moved here).
Whatever it is, it had better not shine its face around these parts again.
Anyway, he's been in better spirits since yesterday. He's not as terrified of people anymore. (He was utterly traumatized by them taking blood and putting the IV in.) He's been clapping, talking, trying to rip his IV out and all of that good stuff.
It will be a miracle if I don't get checked into a psych ward before the end of this.
Feeding him solids has become a challenge because I think he's afraid of throwing up. For a few nights, he would throw up when we tried to feed him dinner. It's hard to say why. I thought it might have been tofu, but he threw up last night sans tofu. I think we might have given him one spoonful too many. ;~; Poor little guy.
Let me quickly tell you about Korean hospital food. It should make you love American hospital food. It is always soup, rice, white kimchi (the not spicy one) and a few side dishes. Sometimes, the food contains shellfish. Sometimes, it contains peanuts. Our first day there, they served spam. There's plenty of tofu, seaweed, this root, that root... It's sometimes okay (I happen to love seaweed soup), but even HS won't even touch it most of the time.
Anyway, since being admitted, the leaves have changed so much. This area is incredibly beautiful--plenty of roads lined with now yellow ginko trees. It's amazing.
Oh, I must announce this as well. Once thing that makes me a little happier through all of this:
I had to go to Homeplus to pick up a few groceries to take back to the hospital, and I gasped quite dramatically when I saw Cheetos, REAL CHEETOS, in stock there. I just munched on some. Oh, yum. It's been years. Korean Cheetos are awful. "Steak." "Bulgogi." "Spicy." They are nasty. But these Cheetos...so savory...so yummy...yum...
That's all for now. Thanks so much for all of the thoughts and prayers. Hopeully, Pooh Bear will be at home playing when I update next.
Much love and many blessings to you all~
Friday, November 5, 2010
In the hospital
Nehemiah was admitted yesterday after we decided to take him to the hospital instead of his regular doctor because his fever climbed up to over 40 degrees. There's much to be said about how long and drawn-out this is getting, but I'll spare everyone for now. This is just certainly not how I envisioned spending the week before his first birthday.
We're not sure what's going on yet. He got sick last Tuesday, just a simple cold, then developed a slight fever after a couple of days. It went up over 38 on Saturday, which prompted me to take him to the doctor to confirm my suspicions that he had an ear infection. Monday, he had no fever, and the other night, it went up to about 40.4. His fever still went up to that last night, despite being in the hospital trying to get treatment. No UTI thankfully, but it might be bacterical. I have no idea. HS is terrible at getting information. Some mucus is apparently a little backed up in his lungs, but nothing very serious.
We'll see. Please send prayers if you can.
Lots of love~
We're not sure what's going on yet. He got sick last Tuesday, just a simple cold, then developed a slight fever after a couple of days. It went up over 38 on Saturday, which prompted me to take him to the doctor to confirm my suspicions that he had an ear infection. Monday, he had no fever, and the other night, it went up to about 40.4. His fever still went up to that last night, despite being in the hospital trying to get treatment. No UTI thankfully, but it might be bacterical. I have no idea. HS is terrible at getting information. Some mucus is apparently a little backed up in his lungs, but nothing very serious.
We'll see. Please send prayers if you can.
Lots of love~
Monday, October 25, 2010
Where to Start?
Once again, I am behind on updating for a variety of reasons. There is so much to update about, though!
Nehemiah is just over a couple of weeks away from turning one. We are simply in disbelief. His party will be on November 14th, and I think we have just about everything prepared. First birthdays are traditionally very important over here, so it will be a pretty big event. We are both bery excited for it.
We are very blessed in that the studio that did photos for him for free when he was about five months has offered to do another free shoot! We were just going to go to a self studio, but how can I say no to free pro shots? We'll be going Wednesday morning to have them done. It's quite a distance away, but it will be so worth it.
Anyway, by the 11-month mark, Nehemiah learned how to stand up without pulling himself up. He still prefers to pull himself up, but he definitely knows how to do it without assistance. It is also very cute to watch him carefully crouch down (what many endearingly refer to as "the Korean squat") and then stand back up.
We finally figured out what his apparent "go, go, go" means. It is not "go" at all--it's actually him grunting like a pig! Koreans say "ggul, ggul" to imitate pigs, a sound which he has heard quit a bit from watching Pororo. That, and his Appa likes to say "goink, goink" to him, sort of mixing the Korean and American sounds. Last week, HS was making the sounds with him, and he kept trying to follow more accurately. That's when we realized that all along, he's just been grunting like a pig. It's so cute. He also tries to make cow sounds to imitate what he hears from one of his toys.
He is able to stay at daycare alone for a couple of hours now and really enjoys it. It is so much better for him to be there when I have class so that he's not so restricted in the house. I can't drop him off, though. It'll make me cry. I'm more than happy to pick him up, though!
We are starting to feed him more of our food. So far, spaghetti is a definite hit, and everything else seems okay as well. It's rare that he really doesn't like something.
Yesterday, Nehmiah was baptized at our church. It was a really wonderful ceremony, although he cried when the pastor laid his hand on his head with the water! He was just scared because he didn't really know who he was. He was a bit cranky because he decided not to nap at his normal time and passed out soon after it was all over. Regardless, it was a great time. We view it more as a dedication to God and will encourage him to receive a baptism (if he would like) by his own choice when he is older even though it isn't necessary. When we get the pictures and are able to format the video, I will definitely upload them.
There is so much else to be said but not a whole lot of time. We will be very busy until the end of the year, but I hope to be able to update more as time goes on. We are counting and living in our blessings each and every day. God is so good.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Getting Faster and Faster
Nehemiah is showing no signs of slowing down with his developments. He loves to talk more and more everyday and shows a lot more understanding as well. He can say "more" (sometimes sounds more like "wo") if he really wants more food, and he's got something he says that we are trying to figure out. Recently, I'm thinking what he is saying is "All done!" (A-da!) The possibilities are endless, though.
He is super fast. That boy is crazy.
We've been teaching him how to pat his mouth while making sounds like people often do to pretend like they are Native American Indians. This morning, he started doing it on his own.
He has this thing where he will sometimes squeal with delight and put his hand to his mouth. It's hard to explain, but to me, it is very Asian. Asian girl, to be exact. You know how girls often cover their mouths when they laugh? It's kind of like that.
Daycare is still in transition right now. HS continues stays with him to help him get more comfortable being there. Perhaps it is taking more time because we only take him there about 2 hours at at time. He is showing great signs of improvement with trusting other adults, but still, his comfort zone is us.
I cannot believe he will be one year old in a month and a week from now. It's just crazy to think about. This past week in particular we've been hauling to get everything ready for his dol, his Korean first birthday party. Maybe I will detail more of what that is all about later. We finally got the biggest time-consumers finished and just have a few more details to take care of. It's not that difficult to plan, but with not really knowing what we're doing, it has just felt like a big task at hand. Thankfully, we are down to the smaller details now.
Anyway, that's all I have time for right now. God is so good to us and continues to bless us incredibly each and every day. Sending lots of love and prayers to everyone!
He is super fast. That boy is crazy.
We've been teaching him how to pat his mouth while making sounds like people often do to pretend like they are Native American Indians. This morning, he started doing it on his own.
He has this thing where he will sometimes squeal with delight and put his hand to his mouth. It's hard to explain, but to me, it is very Asian. Asian girl, to be exact. You know how girls often cover their mouths when they laugh? It's kind of like that.
Daycare is still in transition right now. HS continues stays with him to help him get more comfortable being there. Perhaps it is taking more time because we only take him there about 2 hours at at time. He is showing great signs of improvement with trusting other adults, but still, his comfort zone is us.
I cannot believe he will be one year old in a month and a week from now. It's just crazy to think about. This past week in particular we've been hauling to get everything ready for his dol, his Korean first birthday party. Maybe I will detail more of what that is all about later. We finally got the biggest time-consumers finished and just have a few more details to take care of. It's not that difficult to plan, but with not really knowing what we're doing, it has just felt like a big task at hand. Thankfully, we are down to the smaller details now.
Anyway, that's all I have time for right now. God is so good to us and continues to bless us incredibly each and every day. Sending lots of love and prayers to everyone!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Walking
Nehemiah took his first steps at 8 months, and since then, he has been unstoppable. His daycare (which we are still very slowly getting him adjusted to) has a much more open space for him to run around, so I asked HS to make a video today. ♥
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Nehemiah's Game
Nehemiah made this game up himself. He's a little sleepy here, but sometimes, he just goes wild with it (especially right before bed). He particularly enjoys doing this when his Appa chases him.
10 Month Stats
Height: 79.6cm/31.3in - 95%
Weight: 11kg/24.2-lbs - 88%
Head Circumference: 45.9cm/18in - 60%
Weight: 11kg/24.2-lbs - 88%
Head Circumference: 45.9cm/18in - 60%
Monday, September 13, 2010
10 Months
The resized clips of my photos always look so low-quality, so click it to see his adorableness super-sized.
I cannot believe Nehemiah is 10 months old now. In order to spare myself of waterworks, I won't look into that any deeper for the moment.
His babbles are becoming more complex as he mixes different types of sounds instead of just repeating one over and over. He understands more and more everyday, with great understanding of "bath time!" and "diaper!" recently. I suddenly decided to start trying to teach him to nod and shake his head for yes and no, and since he already knows how to shake his head, he just thinks it's a good idea to shake it all of the time now. I'm trying to teach him the association, though. It's so funny and cute.
He can take so many steps now. It's hard to say how many since our place isn't a wide and open one, but he can really do it. He loves to walk everywhere, though the leaves on the playground have him wanting to crawl so he can try to pick them up.
These photos show him in summer wear, but it has cooled down quite a bit since then. I placed and order for some baby legs and other items yesterday, but I'll detail more of that later. I went to H&M on Saturday to try to get a few pairs of pants and some long-sleeved onesies for him, but most pants were denim, and the onesies were a little pricey for me. I wound up buying a long-sleeved onesies set, spending a bit more than I would like to admit, but I feel better knowing that he's got more long sleeves now, just in case.
We made a big decision to enroll him in a daycare that is right next to our place. Our plan is just to send him for about 2 hours a few times a week so he can make some friends and get used to other adults. He's fine when meeting others if we are around, but not so much otherwise. Because of some more urgent dental care HS needed done and a limited schedule for the dentist, we wound up having to leave him there for the first time last Friday since I had classes. He was all fine for about 90 minutes, which included a short nap, but once he woke up, he sort of paniced. He would cry and then stop, cry and stop. I was in the middle of a Skype class, but they called thinking it would be better if I went and got him. He wasn't crying when I got there, so we played a little while I was there. During that time, he wound up crying again, and it was definitely the cry he has when he's scared and afraid he's lost me or something. HS will be taking him today and staying with him, so we're just taking it slowly. The teachers are wonderful, and the time we take him has fewer students, so it's a perfect number for him. The time also allows him more freedom to play in the main room where he can climb all over everything (he loves climbing these days), so it's really great. Like I said, we just don't have a very big open space for him to just have at it, so we think this will be great for him.
Anyway, the rain has stopped for now at least, so we are hauling to get the little man's laundry done. Sending lots of love from all of us here~
Friday, September 3, 2010
Since the last post...
At the time of my last post, Nehemiah favored communicating by means of variations of "da". All day long, it would be, "Da da da dai dai da dai." He nows prefers oohs and ohs, and it's hilarious because he makes his mouth so small and flares out his nostrils a bit.
Once he turned nine months, we started hardcore training on clapping. We've just been trying different ways to get him to do it, and he surprised me yesterday morning by suddenly being a pro. Now, he claps all the live-long day. It is so incredibly adorable and can definitely turn any frown upside-down.
He's much braver now and is taking more and more steps, feeling more comfortable letting go of whatever he is holding onto to just go for it. He just loves the freedom of it.
Those are just some quick notes as I head off to class. Definitely plenty keeping s busy here! What a blessing it all is, though.
Once he turned nine months, we started hardcore training on clapping. We've just been trying different ways to get him to do it, and he surprised me yesterday morning by suddenly being a pro. Now, he claps all the live-long day. It is so incredibly adorable and can definitely turn any frown upside-down.
He's much braver now and is taking more and more steps, feeling more comfortable letting go of whatever he is holding onto to just go for it. He just loves the freedom of it.
Those are just some quick notes as I head off to class. Definitely plenty keeping s busy here! What a blessing it all is, though.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Video for a contest
This is a video from a contest we entered for Seoul Milk. Well, we're not sure yet if HS made the cut-off time (long story), but either way, it's way adorable, if you ask me. We cut it down a little for the contest, so this is it in its full-length "glory." The concept was him passing up his toys for the company's baby cheese instead. Let's just say that this was not the first cut!
Friday, August 20, 2010
9 Months
Nehemiah is 9 months (and then some) now. It's been very difficult to find the time and energy to update because of a very busy August schedule and other aspects of life, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been anything to update about!
Some highlights:
By 9 months, monkey boy...
-started taking a few steps on his own. The most he has taken to date is 5. He is getting more and more confident by the day.
-started saying "Eomma", "Appa" and "Up".
-figured out how to blow air.
-found that he loves to be chased.
-decided Pat the Bunny is his favorite book. (He knows how to do every page.)
-shown interest in vehicles. He has a wood block vehicle puzzle that he received while in America, and he just loves it. He loves it when I make the sounds, too. His apparent favorites are the train and ship. He has mixed feelings about the fire truck.
Since turning 9 months, he has...
-truly discovered his temper.
-shown that he definitely has preferences.
-shown more and more interest in books.
-gotten closer to clapping. He does it with toys (well, not clapping, but crashing them together), but for some reason, if he doesn't have toys in his hands, he can't figure it out. Since yesterday, actually, he has started putting his hands together and shaking them up and down. He'll have it in no time now!
There is more to add to that list, but that's all that comes to mind currently.
Trauma
His halmeoni (Korean for "grandmother") still scares him very much. He's okay (most of the time) if I am holding him, but otherwise, he just screams. She means well, of course, but I think her face just isn't the smiley type that he is used to. Her voice doesn't help either. After another visit with her, HS now clearly says, "I can't leave him with her. ::head shake::"
When we tried to eat dinner, we put him in his playpen. He always whines for a minute and then goes off to play. She wanted to pick him up, so we had to repeat the process of putting him back down several times. While we were eating, he played happily. "Let sleeping dogs lie," they say. She wanted to get his attention and make him smile or something, thus causing him to realize, "Oh, wait, I want them to hug me. ::fuss fuss fuss::"
She also wanted to let him have the freedom to go wherever he wanted in the house. Our house is not 100% babyproof. "Babies need to fall and bleed a little sometimes." . . .
Anxiety
I don't know if it's because of his halmeoni or what, but Nehemiah's separation anxiety doesn't seem to be getting any better for the time being. In fact, it might be getting a little worse in some ways. We read that it is better to say bye than to sneak away, so when I leave for class, HS always brings him to the door to say "Bye-bye." Sometimes he gets upset, sometimes he doesn't. The biggest effect it is having, though, is on his sleep. He sleeps fine when he finally goes down, but putting him down can take such a long time these days. He has recently changed his napping schedule, though, so that might also play into it. I just keep remembering the sage advice of other moms out there: This too shall pass...
Stroller
Since we don't have a car, the Capella stroller we won really wasn't all that convenient. It was very nice, but it just wasn't convenient to carry around. We decided to sell it and buy an umbrella stroller, and we both absolutely love the new one! We got a great deal on it, and it's pretty deluxe as far as umbrella strollers go. The handling is great, and it's so much easier to take along with us when we go out. We really tested it out yesterday with going to the baby fair, and it worked out so well. We still carry him a lot, but with him getting so big and with it being so hot, it's great to have a stroller we can get more use out of.
Otherwise, all is well. I feel like we never really had a baby, that he's always just been a little boy. That, of course, isn't true, but from very early on, he has shown us just how boyish he really is. I love it, though. Many parents get caught up on how short the newborn period is, and while it's true that it goes by so quickly (and may or may not get me choked up at times), I love looking forward to life with our little boy.
I will try to post some videos and pictures soon. I havn't even gotten many up on facebook recently. The big Mr. Cranky Pants is up now and is wondering why I haven't done "anything." Well, should I make a list of all that I've done in the past 3.5 hours while you slept? Oh, well.
God is so good! Thank You for blessing me so greatly when I am hardly worthy.
Some highlights:
By 9 months, monkey boy...
-started taking a few steps on his own. The most he has taken to date is 5. He is getting more and more confident by the day.
-started saying "Eomma", "Appa" and "Up".
-figured out how to blow air.
-found that he loves to be chased.
-decided Pat the Bunny is his favorite book. (He knows how to do every page.)
-shown interest in vehicles. He has a wood block vehicle puzzle that he received while in America, and he just loves it. He loves it when I make the sounds, too. His apparent favorites are the train and ship. He has mixed feelings about the fire truck.
Since turning 9 months, he has...
-truly discovered his temper.
-shown that he definitely has preferences.
-shown more and more interest in books.
-gotten closer to clapping. He does it with toys (well, not clapping, but crashing them together), but for some reason, if he doesn't have toys in his hands, he can't figure it out. Since yesterday, actually, he has started putting his hands together and shaking them up and down. He'll have it in no time now!
There is more to add to that list, but that's all that comes to mind currently.
Trauma
His halmeoni (Korean for "grandmother") still scares him very much. He's okay (most of the time) if I am holding him, but otherwise, he just screams. She means well, of course, but I think her face just isn't the smiley type that he is used to. Her voice doesn't help either. After another visit with her, HS now clearly says, "I can't leave him with her. ::head shake::"
When we tried to eat dinner, we put him in his playpen. He always whines for a minute and then goes off to play. She wanted to pick him up, so we had to repeat the process of putting him back down several times. While we were eating, he played happily. "Let sleeping dogs lie," they say. She wanted to get his attention and make him smile or something, thus causing him to realize, "Oh, wait, I want them to hug me. ::fuss fuss fuss::"
She also wanted to let him have the freedom to go wherever he wanted in the house. Our house is not 100% babyproof. "Babies need to fall and bleed a little sometimes." . . .
Anxiety
I don't know if it's because of his halmeoni or what, but Nehemiah's separation anxiety doesn't seem to be getting any better for the time being. In fact, it might be getting a little worse in some ways. We read that it is better to say bye than to sneak away, so when I leave for class, HS always brings him to the door to say "Bye-bye." Sometimes he gets upset, sometimes he doesn't. The biggest effect it is having, though, is on his sleep. He sleeps fine when he finally goes down, but putting him down can take such a long time these days. He has recently changed his napping schedule, though, so that might also play into it. I just keep remembering the sage advice of other moms out there: This too shall pass...
Stroller
Since we don't have a car, the Capella stroller we won really wasn't all that convenient. It was very nice, but it just wasn't convenient to carry around. We decided to sell it and buy an umbrella stroller, and we both absolutely love the new one! We got a great deal on it, and it's pretty deluxe as far as umbrella strollers go. The handling is great, and it's so much easier to take along with us when we go out. We really tested it out yesterday with going to the baby fair, and it worked out so well. We still carry him a lot, but with him getting so big and with it being so hot, it's great to have a stroller we can get more use out of.
Otherwise, all is well. I feel like we never really had a baby, that he's always just been a little boy. That, of course, isn't true, but from very early on, he has shown us just how boyish he really is. I love it, though. Many parents get caught up on how short the newborn period is, and while it's true that it goes by so quickly (and may or may not get me choked up at times), I love looking forward to life with our little boy.
I will try to post some videos and pictures soon. I havn't even gotten many up on facebook recently. The big Mr. Cranky Pants is up now and is wondering why I haven't done "anything." Well, should I make a list of all that I've done in the past 3.5 hours while you slept? Oh, well.
God is so good! Thank You for blessing me so greatly when I am hardly worthy.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Practice Makes Perfect
Ever since Nehemiah started to say "Appa", we've been working to try to get him to say "Eomma" (sounds like "Ummah"--the Korean word for mom) as well. As mentioned before, he's said it, but not very consciously.
Today, he was determined to get it down. He practiced all day long, watching our mouths to try to copy the sound. For the greater part of the day, he would be able to manage only "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm", sometimes opening up the sound to make "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmma". Be the end, however, he had it down and didn't want to mix himself up by throwing an "Appa" in there anywhere. He just wanted to keep saying "Eommmmmmma" tonight, so I did not object, of course.
There were a few times he got in an "Appamma" to get us both in there. ^.~
Needless to say, I am very thrilled at this new development. I love that boy's determination!
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In other news, after several days of no-shows when she said she was going to come, my mother-in-law stopped by for a visit today. Nehemiah is still not particularly fond of her. He loves the older ladies at church, but for some reason, he just doesn't want to be around her. He sometimes smiles and likes to talk to her, but most of the time, she just scares him. She was talking to our nephew explaining how to do something, and with one swift arm movement and relatively loud noise, she had him terrified and in tears. I feel bad that he's like that with her, but I think I understand where he's coming from. She's great and means well, but she might be just too tough for him.
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I've increased how much food he gets per meal. It's sometimes a challenge to get him to eat when there is no fruit mixed in, but we get through it. We started fish, and my goodness, I don't think I'll be preparing fish for a long while after what I went through today. I thought it would be easier and faster than chicken and beef, but I was very sorely mistaken. I put it through the mixer, only to end up finding that contrary to what I had been told, there were indeed bones in there. I spent so much time basically looking for needles in the haystack. Oh, it was just not fun. I also didn't get my nap in today (I need one on Tuesdays), so I was just ready to throw the whole batch out.
Anyway, the increase is for two reasons: 1) He definitely shows he can handle it, and; 2) he's growing length-wise faster than width-wise. This may not be a problem, but he hasn't gained a whole ton of weight while gaining height. The weight he has gained is more due to getting taller and not due to getting more chub. I am not concerned at all, but I just figure he can handle more of mommy's love-filled creations. ♥
When we moved to our apartment in April, he was just barely able to touch the ground in his activity center, the Around-We-Go. He could walk in it, but just on his tiptoes. Three months later, we found ourselves adjusting the straps underneath because he was just too tall for how it was. I knew he had definitely gone through a growth spurt. (If the measurements are accurate, he's just over 77cm, which is about 30.5in.) Silly boy.
Anyway, I am beyond exhausted from a long day and should get all the rest I can.
Sending lots of love and prayers to everyone. God is so incredibly good.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Ta-da!
Grandma sent a package full of gold last week, which included a variety of yummy snacks. She mentioned how some parents keep the bottles that some of the snacks are in and sometimes fill them with things to make shakers out of them. All I can say is that they had better be filled with food...
Here, Nehemiah would like to show off how a baby should really use his chompers.
Here, Nehemiah would like to show off how a baby should really use his chompers.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Before the time gets any farther...
I am so behind on updating, largely due to Nehemiah just constantly keeping us on our toes. I came on to check something for someone that I have forgotten about for about two weeks, but seeing as I was not able to get the information I needed, I think now is a great time to catch up a little before recent developments end up being old news.
Yesterday, Mr. Nehemiah demonstrated how truly brave he is as he attempted to stand without support many times. He did very well a few tries. Today, he's been letting go of whatever he uses for support and trying to take a couple of steps. He was successful a number of times. I don't need to hold both of his hands to walk with him anymore. I can just hold one (usually his left), and he just takes off all over the place. We went out to the playground in front of our building to let him run around (while holding hands), and he just had a blast. He absolutely loves his "independence" and will definitely be walking in no time.
I noticed him sort of bear crawling yesterday (trying to, at least), but I later realized that he might be trying to stand up on his own rather than pull himself up.
It's pretty much official that "Appa" is more of his first word, and he definitely loves to say it. He only says "Eomma" sometimes, and that's usually when he's crying. I think it's both a combination of "Appa" and "Up". He seems to be able to slightly distinguish between the two, but definitely not 100% yet.
His first bilingual word is "kiss" (뽀뽀). I say, "Kiss, kiss!" to him, and he knows to give a kiss (nothing new there), but HS was a bit envious and set out to teach him the Korean: 뽀뽀! (Bbobbo!) He has that down now as well. Nehemiah appears to understand several other words as well, particularly "no" (usually obeys pretty well, though often protests) and "milkies" (which I say to him to see if he's hungry for milk).
He eats three meals a day, usually close to 2 oz. (~30mL) per meal. For breakfast, he gets oatmeal and a fruit. Lunch is usually either chicken or beef plus a fruit, but right now, we are doing it with buttercup squash. Most of the time, Nehemiah seems to prefer beef over chicken, which was exactly how I was while I was pregnant with him. For dinner, I usually give him rice and a vegetable. Sundays are still usually my food prep days.
Any time he is harder to feed, we give him yogurt on the side. We usually only have issues when he's tired of the taste or because he wants to get out of his chair or rip off his bib. The other magic trick is to allow him to eat from the side of his bowl. He absolutely loves to have the bowl to his mouth and just eat that way. This might be because of him watching us eat our cereal or soup since we have most of our meals together. Either way, it doesn't really bother me, as I am happy that it helps him get it down more enthusiastically.
Two weeks ago, we tried out a new church that we received a pamphlet from in our mailbox. It showed they have English sermons, so we decided to give it a go. It's definitely the best we've visited yet. The worship music is CCM style (which I love), and there are a few couples there currently expecting. A couple of families also have toddlers. After we go to our service, we grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria and head over to Nehemiah's service.
They have a service for babies during every main worship hour. We could have one of us go with him during English worship, but then one of us would be missing out. We could also try to leave him with the helpers there, but we're just not comfortable with that with being just 8 months old still. They sing cute songs with plenty of hand movements, have a short sermon with lots of videos and pictures and then have either arts and crafts time or story time (we've only been twice so far, and that's what they've done). Simple snacks are also provided.
As you can imagine, being the only non-100% Korean baby, Nehemiah is simply adored there. The helpers' faces light up when they see him, and they definitely know him by name. It actually makes us feel a little sorry for other parents because the workers don't dote on their children the same way. However, I've been around many parents with their young children who will focus more on our baby than their own child as well. Ah, Korea. I'm sure, though, that after a few weeks, the novelty will wear off.
Anyway, I've got two taxing days ahead of me, so I need all the rest I can get. I hope to post some videos and photos soon.
Sending many prayers for blessings and lots of love to all who might read this. God is so good.
Yesterday, Mr. Nehemiah demonstrated how truly brave he is as he attempted to stand without support many times. He did very well a few tries. Today, he's been letting go of whatever he uses for support and trying to take a couple of steps. He was successful a number of times. I don't need to hold both of his hands to walk with him anymore. I can just hold one (usually his left), and he just takes off all over the place. We went out to the playground in front of our building to let him run around (while holding hands), and he just had a blast. He absolutely loves his "independence" and will definitely be walking in no time.
I noticed him sort of bear crawling yesterday (trying to, at least), but I later realized that he might be trying to stand up on his own rather than pull himself up.
It's pretty much official that "Appa" is more of his first word, and he definitely loves to say it. He only says "Eomma" sometimes, and that's usually when he's crying. I think it's both a combination of "Appa" and "Up". He seems to be able to slightly distinguish between the two, but definitely not 100% yet.
His first bilingual word is "kiss" (뽀뽀). I say, "Kiss, kiss!" to him, and he knows to give a kiss (nothing new there), but HS was a bit envious and set out to teach him the Korean: 뽀뽀! (Bbobbo!) He has that down now as well. Nehemiah appears to understand several other words as well, particularly "no" (usually obeys pretty well, though often protests) and "milkies" (which I say to him to see if he's hungry for milk).
He eats three meals a day, usually close to 2 oz. (~30mL) per meal. For breakfast, he gets oatmeal and a fruit. Lunch is usually either chicken or beef plus a fruit, but right now, we are doing it with buttercup squash. Most of the time, Nehemiah seems to prefer beef over chicken, which was exactly how I was while I was pregnant with him. For dinner, I usually give him rice and a vegetable. Sundays are still usually my food prep days.
Any time he is harder to feed, we give him yogurt on the side. We usually only have issues when he's tired of the taste or because he wants to get out of his chair or rip off his bib. The other magic trick is to allow him to eat from the side of his bowl. He absolutely loves to have the bowl to his mouth and just eat that way. This might be because of him watching us eat our cereal or soup since we have most of our meals together. Either way, it doesn't really bother me, as I am happy that it helps him get it down more enthusiastically.
Two weeks ago, we tried out a new church that we received a pamphlet from in our mailbox. It showed they have English sermons, so we decided to give it a go. It's definitely the best we've visited yet. The worship music is CCM style (which I love), and there are a few couples there currently expecting. A couple of families also have toddlers. After we go to our service, we grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria and head over to Nehemiah's service.
They have a service for babies during every main worship hour. We could have one of us go with him during English worship, but then one of us would be missing out. We could also try to leave him with the helpers there, but we're just not comfortable with that with being just 8 months old still. They sing cute songs with plenty of hand movements, have a short sermon with lots of videos and pictures and then have either arts and crafts time or story time (we've only been twice so far, and that's what they've done). Simple snacks are also provided.
As you can imagine, being the only non-100% Korean baby, Nehemiah is simply adored there. The helpers' faces light up when they see him, and they definitely know him by name. It actually makes us feel a little sorry for other parents because the workers don't dote on their children the same way. However, I've been around many parents with their young children who will focus more on our baby than their own child as well. Ah, Korea. I'm sure, though, that after a few weeks, the novelty will wear off.
Anyway, I've got two taxing days ahead of me, so I need all the rest I can get. I hope to post some videos and photos soon.
Sending many prayers for blessings and lots of love to all who might read this. God is so good.
Friday, July 2, 2010
That Crazy Boy
Mr. Nehemiah is a master at pulling himself up onto...everything. There is no ledge too high that he can't pull himself up with, be it his crib, the sofa...he even likes to use the window to get up. I had been all for having a baby that does everything early, but now I am wishing he would slow down a little! It's in his genetics, though.
He loves to talk and to hear himself talk. In the morning sometimes, I'll play around with him on our bed, and he'll just lay on his back making random noises just to hear himself. I'll have to try to get a video of him blabbing on because he is just hilarious. (I think hilarious has got to be one of the top five most used words in this blog.)
Separation Anxiety. Big time. Combine that with his newfound skills, and you have one heck of a time getting him to stay down for bed. He'll be utterly exhausted at dinner time, then I'll feed him to the point of him falling asleep in my arms, but as soon as I lie him down in his crib, if he's not completely out, he's doing a world tour of his crib.
Raspberries. He is the master. If you've got an open piece of skin, he's blowing raspberries on you. I do have a video of this and will try to upload it sometime soon.
He had a blast swimming for the first time. He was scared at first because it was a bit loud and because he feels more comfortable being able to touch the ground, but once we got to the baby pool, it was his territory.
A few photos:
The dinosaur tube is his, and the Pororo one belonged to Spa Plus. We thought he would love the Pororo tube more because it had a squeaky horn and whatnot, but he is very partial to his own. If I have the energy, I will do a separate post detailing our adventures.
I feel like I had more to type, but my mind isn't functioning very well right now. Nehemiah truly is the light of our lives.
Have a blessed weekend!
He loves to talk and to hear himself talk. In the morning sometimes, I'll play around with him on our bed, and he'll just lay on his back making random noises just to hear himself. I'll have to try to get a video of him blabbing on because he is just hilarious. (I think hilarious has got to be one of the top five most used words in this blog.)
Separation Anxiety. Big time. Combine that with his newfound skills, and you have one heck of a time getting him to stay down for bed. He'll be utterly exhausted at dinner time, then I'll feed him to the point of him falling asleep in my arms, but as soon as I lie him down in his crib, if he's not completely out, he's doing a world tour of his crib.
Raspberries. He is the master. If you've got an open piece of skin, he's blowing raspberries on you. I do have a video of this and will try to upload it sometime soon.
He had a blast swimming for the first time. He was scared at first because it was a bit loud and because he feels more comfortable being able to touch the ground, but once we got to the baby pool, it was his territory.
A few photos:
The dinosaur tube is his, and the Pororo one belonged to Spa Plus. We thought he would love the Pororo tube more because it had a squeaky horn and whatnot, but he is very partial to his own. If I have the energy, I will do a separate post detailing our adventures.
I feel like I had more to type, but my mind isn't functioning very well right now. Nehemiah truly is the light of our lives.
Have a blessed weekend!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
7 Months (and counting)
This might be all over the place, but I just want to highlight a bunch of things before I forget when they happened and whatnot.
Nehemiah is 7 months old and has 8 teeth now. Yes, 8 chompers that have all cut through. I can't believe how quickly he has been getting his teeth in. He has experimented with biting to let me know when he is done eating, but after a few no-nos!, he is starting to do it ever-so-gently if I try to get him to feed when he has decided he has finished.
He is still like a vampire, trying to suck our necks. It is so adorable, though--when I pick him up these days, he puts his arms around my neck and just hugs me so tightly. I love it. I'll never get tired of it.
He has been developing like crazy lately. Yesterday, he pulled himself up to his feet by himself for the first time. He can easily do it when someone is holding him, but this was the first time to did it all on his own. We're in big trouble now!
His balance is getting much better. He thinks it's hilarious to stand with the support of the couch and try to reach for objects that have been placed strategically out of reach. He is able to scoot by himself from side to side, but he definitely needs to be watched while doing so. Nehemiah also loves to stand holding his crib rail with one hand and reaching for his mobile with the other.
In addition, I've noticed that when he's playing in his activity center (his around-we-go), he doesn't always lean forward while walking/running anymore. He often looks like he is holding himself upright instead of always leaning. That boy is incredibly fast now, too. His new trick is running as fast as he can and then lifting up his feet so he can just glide some distance. It is just hilarious and simply adorable. I test his balance sometimes, and he does have some instances where he can stand unsupported or take a couple of steps, but it is nowhere near consistent at this time.
I cannot believe how smart he is. Just today, I put him in his crib to play around since his Appa was in that room (not helping) while I was trying to get something done, so I put his music on. As soon as I did that, he turned around and started whining at me because he knew I was going to leave the room. He has known "kiss-kiss!" for some time now, but he follows along so much better. His appa has taught him 뽀뽀~! (the Korean "kiss-kiss"), and he apparently does it for him, too.
We've been trying to get him accustomed to drinking from a cup. Apparently, some children are resilient to do so, but he certainly is not. I don't know if it's the taste/feel of water he enjoys or if it's the pride of being able to drink out of a cup, but he loves it. Even though we don't feed him his food when we eat out dinner, he sits with us in his chair. We give him his snacks, as well as some of our rice. When he doesn't want any more food and just wants to get out, the cup of water comes in to save the day. It's important to me for us to sit down for family meals, so I truly enjoy this time with him.
He loves being outdoors. We take him to the playground downstairs to walk around and so he can show off to everyone what a big boy he is. He sometimes feel a little intimidated by the presence of so many older boys and girls, but he later ends up wanting to run around to see what everyone is doing.
Nehemiah is still as happy as ever, if not even more than ever. He has his cranky moments, but he is just a genuinely and naturally happy boy. There are no words to express just how much joy he brings to us. It's so wonderful to come home after class to a boy flailing his arms and legs in excitement just because he has heard my voice.
For now, I had best be off. Because someone mentioned above was too involved in his own sleepy time (and still is at almost 12 noon), I was not able to get all that I wanted to accomplished this morning. I now need to prepare to head out for class. Tomorrow, however, we are using up as many of our hotel membership coupons as possible for a mini getaway. We'll be heading to Icheon Miranda Hotel, and for about $90, we'll be staying in a deluxe room (regularly closer to $300!), getting a free lunch and dinner, as well as a free breakfast buffet and free admission to their Spa Plus spa/waterpark. We bought an inner tube for him and can't wait to see how much he enjoys it since he absolutely loves water. I've been seriously lacking in the photo department this month, but I will be sure to take plenty while we are there.
Sending prayers for all who read this. God bless!
Nehemiah is 7 months old and has 8 teeth now. Yes, 8 chompers that have all cut through. I can't believe how quickly he has been getting his teeth in. He has experimented with biting to let me know when he is done eating, but after a few no-nos!, he is starting to do it ever-so-gently if I try to get him to feed when he has decided he has finished.
He is still like a vampire, trying to suck our necks. It is so adorable, though--when I pick him up these days, he puts his arms around my neck and just hugs me so tightly. I love it. I'll never get tired of it.
He has been developing like crazy lately. Yesterday, he pulled himself up to his feet by himself for the first time. He can easily do it when someone is holding him, but this was the first time to did it all on his own. We're in big trouble now!
His balance is getting much better. He thinks it's hilarious to stand with the support of the couch and try to reach for objects that have been placed strategically out of reach. He is able to scoot by himself from side to side, but he definitely needs to be watched while doing so. Nehemiah also loves to stand holding his crib rail with one hand and reaching for his mobile with the other.
In addition, I've noticed that when he's playing in his activity center (his around-we-go), he doesn't always lean forward while walking/running anymore. He often looks like he is holding himself upright instead of always leaning. That boy is incredibly fast now, too. His new trick is running as fast as he can and then lifting up his feet so he can just glide some distance. It is just hilarious and simply adorable. I test his balance sometimes, and he does have some instances where he can stand unsupported or take a couple of steps, but it is nowhere near consistent at this time.
I cannot believe how smart he is. Just today, I put him in his crib to play around since his Appa was in that room (not helping) while I was trying to get something done, so I put his music on. As soon as I did that, he turned around and started whining at me because he knew I was going to leave the room. He has known "kiss-kiss!" for some time now, but he follows along so much better. His appa has taught him 뽀뽀~! (the Korean "kiss-kiss"), and he apparently does it for him, too.
We've been trying to get him accustomed to drinking from a cup. Apparently, some children are resilient to do so, but he certainly is not. I don't know if it's the taste/feel of water he enjoys or if it's the pride of being able to drink out of a cup, but he loves it. Even though we don't feed him his food when we eat out dinner, he sits with us in his chair. We give him his snacks, as well as some of our rice. When he doesn't want any more food and just wants to get out, the cup of water comes in to save the day. It's important to me for us to sit down for family meals, so I truly enjoy this time with him.
He loves being outdoors. We take him to the playground downstairs to walk around and so he can show off to everyone what a big boy he is. He sometimes feel a little intimidated by the presence of so many older boys and girls, but he later ends up wanting to run around to see what everyone is doing.
Nehemiah is still as happy as ever, if not even more than ever. He has his cranky moments, but he is just a genuinely and naturally happy boy. There are no words to express just how much joy he brings to us. It's so wonderful to come home after class to a boy flailing his arms and legs in excitement just because he has heard my voice.
For now, I had best be off. Because someone mentioned above was too involved in his own sleepy time (and still is at almost 12 noon), I was not able to get all that I wanted to accomplished this morning. I now need to prepare to head out for class. Tomorrow, however, we are using up as many of our hotel membership coupons as possible for a mini getaway. We'll be heading to Icheon Miranda Hotel, and for about $90, we'll be staying in a deluxe room (regularly closer to $300!), getting a free lunch and dinner, as well as a free breakfast buffet and free admission to their Spa Plus spa/waterpark. We bought an inner tube for him and can't wait to see how much he enjoys it since he absolutely loves water. I've been seriously lacking in the photo department this month, but I will be sure to take plenty while we are there.
Sending prayers for all who read this. God bless!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
All I Want for Christmas...
On about May 20th, Nehemiah sprouted three--yes, three--new teeth. He's decided to be a rebel about it, however, and has skipped his two front teeth. As his teeth continue to grow, it looks like he has vampire fangs. They are the teeth that are next to the front teeth and not the canines, but still.
For those who know their teeth terminology, he has just sprouted his two upper lateral incisors and one on the bottom. If this is wrong, don't blame me, blame the chart I am looking at.
It's hard to say whether or not his front teeth are starting to show, but I noticed that his other lower lateral incisor (glad I'm typing that and not speaking it!) is starting to sprout. That means we've got five teeth right now with at least a sixth on the way.
When he was getting his three new ones in, it caused him to have a pretty runny nose. No fever or anything, just a runny nose. I share that for others who might be nearing this stage soon.
In other news, Nehemiah surprised us yesterday by pulling himself up to a kneeling position on the side of his Bumbo. He also was easily able to *try* to stand. He'll have it in no time now. We're in trouble, that's for sure!
I just wanted to type a quick one for now. I leave you with this photo of ridiculous measures of adorableness, though many have already seen it:
For those who know their teeth terminology, he has just sprouted his two upper lateral incisors and one on the bottom. If this is wrong, don't blame me, blame the chart I am looking at.
It's hard to say whether or not his front teeth are starting to show, but I noticed that his other lower lateral incisor (glad I'm typing that and not speaking it!) is starting to sprout. That means we've got five teeth right now with at least a sixth on the way.
When he was getting his three new ones in, it caused him to have a pretty runny nose. No fever or anything, just a runny nose. I share that for others who might be nearing this stage soon.
In other news, Nehemiah surprised us yesterday by pulling himself up to a kneeling position on the side of his Bumbo. He also was easily able to *try* to stand. He'll have it in no time now. We're in trouble, that's for sure!
I just wanted to type a quick one for now. I leave you with this photo of ridiculous measures of adorableness, though many have already seen it:
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Like this, Uncle Brian?
This is the video I wanted to post with the other one, but I found out after hours of trying to get it to upload that it was simply too big. Anyway, I was able to chop it down a little to upload it for everyone's viewing pleasure.
I had been fanning myself with some-odd newspaper insert-style ad, and then I did a big dramatic whoosh! fan on him. He immediately started cracking up, so Hee Suk of course ran to grab the camera.
And yes, he's like this pretty much every day. We are so blessed.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Super Silly Boys
I have to try to cut down the other video I wanted to share, but I figured this could brighten up anyone's day for starters. We just bought a little playpen at an amazing deal for Nehemiah since it's hard to keep up with him while he's crawling in every direction we don't want him to, and the person we bought it from included a whole ton of ball pit balls. Appa enjoys bonking Nehemiah on the head with them, and Nehemiah enjoys being hit. (We usually keep just a few balls in there, by the way.)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
New Silly Smile
Nehemiah has a new smile, which I actually think he might sort have learned from me. His Appa agrees.
Monday, May 10, 2010
6 Months
I had a list of a million things I wanted to accomplish today, but the time just zipped right on by. Feeling like my head was going to explode all day may not have helped, either.
First, a belated Happy Parents' Day and Happy Mother's Day! I have not been online a whole lot recently (save to quickly upload some photos a few times), so I am definitely behind on posting (amongst other things).
On Parents' Day, we went for another hike on Bulam mountain. We picked up some gimbap first and had a picnic by a small stream in the mountain. It was very lovely. My Mother's Day gift from Nehemiah was an impossibly explosive poop at the very end of the day when his appa and I had finally sat down to watch our favorite comedy program (which we had not been able to see for quite some time). I'll have more details on those days plus Children's Day in the next couple of days (hopefully).
As the post states, today is Nehemiah's 6-month birthday. This one has been pretty emotional for me. I just can't believe he is already 6 months and am amazed by how much he has grown and developed in such a short amount of time. The time really does go by so fast. He is simply and incredible boy, and I am so, so blessed to have him. It's hard to even find anything to say. I am just so incredibly grateful of this blessing that I am so far from worthy of.
Nehemiah, I love you more than I can say. That's about all I can get out right now. There just really aren't any words.
I love you, my sweet prince.
God, I am so unworthy but eternally grateful. I love You so much, O King. Thank you. Thank You. ... Thank You...
First, a belated Happy Parents' Day and Happy Mother's Day! I have not been online a whole lot recently (save to quickly upload some photos a few times), so I am definitely behind on posting (amongst other things).
On Parents' Day, we went for another hike on Bulam mountain. We picked up some gimbap first and had a picnic by a small stream in the mountain. It was very lovely. My Mother's Day gift from Nehemiah was an impossibly explosive poop at the very end of the day when his appa and I had finally sat down to watch our favorite comedy program (which we had not been able to see for quite some time). I'll have more details on those days plus Children's Day in the next couple of days (hopefully).
As the post states, today is Nehemiah's 6-month birthday. This one has been pretty emotional for me. I just can't believe he is already 6 months and am amazed by how much he has grown and developed in such a short amount of time. The time really does go by so fast. He is simply and incredible boy, and I am so, so blessed to have him. It's hard to even find anything to say. I am just so incredibly grateful of this blessing that I am so far from worthy of.
Nehemiah, I love you more than I can say. That's about all I can get out right now. There just really aren't any words.
I love you, my sweet prince.
God, I am so unworthy but eternally grateful. I love You so much, O King. Thank you. Thank You. ... Thank You...
Thursday, May 6, 2010
A Short Hike
Not too much to report. Nehemiah started crawling last week (one week ago, actually--April 27th), but he doesn't have the technique nailed down quite yet. The point is, though, that he can get wherever he wants to be. We can't let our guards down for even a minute!
In the food world, he currently enjoys avocado, buttercup squash, purple sweet potatoes, bananas and yogurt.
In the realm of sleep, we had some issues. I blame it mostly on his Appa, of course. Hee Suk started to try to put Nehemiah to sleep by putting him in his carrier, which does work wonders. However, we wound up realizing that him falling asleep this way was causing him to panic when he would wake up because he felt so alone. He kept waking up just screaming a number of nights until it dawned on us that that was the issue. We've made some changes, and Boy Wonder does very well sleeping through the night now.
Speaking of the little prince, he has just awoken from his nap. Sending prayers for blessings to you all~
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Been Awhile
It's been almost a month since my last post, but it's certainly not for lack of updates! We moved at the beginning of the month, which is also right when I started filming for a drama called Jejungwon (제중원). For those who know the story, I auditioned last June while pregnant, was told a couple of months later that I got the role, didn't hear from that manager for quite some time, was sought out by another manager who didn't want to do the drama because she had some beef with the casting director, contacted the casting director directly, was told everything was cast, and that was that. However, they wound up writing in a new character towards the end of the series now, and I have since been filming for it. What seems to have happened is that there were originally two main foreign doctors, but they drastically changed the direction of the drama and cut the character that I thought I would end up getting cast for.
With the leading lady.
With the leading man, plus three other foreign actors. The two other men are also half-Asian, half-white.
Anyway, so with that and life in general, it's been difficult to update.
Sitting
With my last post, I mentioned how Nehemiah was able to roll over both ways. This is such a piece of cake for him! He's now moved onto sitting unsupported.
He's been doing pretty well. Actually, he suddenly improved quite a bit two days ago on Thursday while we were at a free photo shoot for him (more on that in another post). He's incredibly strong and loves to show it.
Activity Table/Exersaucer
We went to a baby fair in March and ordered an exersaucer for him there. It's actually referred to as an activity table, though, because he doesn't sit in the middle. Instead, his seat is attached to the table and has wheels that allow him to walk around it in circles. Because he is so much taller than average, this has worked out perfectly. An average-sized baby would not be able to use it yet.
Bright Starts Tropical Fun Around We Go Activity Station
He loves the freedom he has to walk around (I am surprised at how well he can on his own!), and he has so much fun with the little piano. There are three different sound options: piano, who am I? and music. He has shocked us by not just slamming on the keys all of the time. It sounds like he's playing a real song when he uses the piano mode, and he usually waits until the end of a song on music mode before pressing another key. He really does love music.
Tooskers
Tooth number two finally broke through Wednesday, April 7th. It doesn't seem like there are any other bumps for now, but who knows?
5 Months Old!
Where has the time gone?
On April 8th, we took him to the doctor for his second Hib shot. He weighed in at about 8.65kg (19.03 lbs) and measured in at 71.8cm (28.27in). Carrying him around has sure helped develop my calf muscles again, that's for sure.
He made a new friend at the doctor. There was a four-month-old boy there whose mother and grandmother were interested in Nehemiah. Nehemiah was very good with the baby. Instead of trying to claw his face, he enjoyed just grabbing his hands and didn't even try to eat them. He has done this with a couple of other babies he has "met" as well. I hope he stays like this as he gets older!
Pumpkin
Pumpkin has been difficult to not get everywhere, but I realized it has actually been because of the rice cereal. It seems because pumpkin is thicker than avocado and because my most recent batch of rice cereal is thicker than last time's, he has had a harder time with the consistency. I just expressed some milk to mix in with it, and he's doing much better with it.
He's still doing one meal a day, but when I've got some time, I will do a little more research and see about bumping it up, possibly starting to try some fruits as well.
Halmeoni
Right before we moved, Hee Suk's mother decided to surprise us all with a visit. Some of you may be aware of how well I don't handle surprises. She's a very kindhearted woman who I am thankful is not treating me as many MILs in Korea treat their sons' wives.
I thought she would be extra gentle with Nehemiah, but ho.ly.smokes. I kid you not, she was so impressed with how strong his legs are that she was trying to balance him on one hand while lightly supporting him with the other. Thankfully, Hee Suk and his brother's family were all around to help tell her not to pursue such crazy antics. I just could not relax around her, as hard as I may have tried. I really wanted to feel comfortable with her playing with him, but I couldn't. Reminding myself that she raised her own four children and pretty much our nephew as well was of no help. Thinking of how my husband turned out may or may not have invoked a little extra fear in me.
The time came, however, when Hee Suk was "stuck" (don't get me started) at the new place supervising some cleaning being done (don't get me started on that, either, with Korea's backwards way of how the people moving in to a place get to clean up after the people moving out), and I had to go to class. That left me with two options: cancel class, or leave Nehemiah with his halmeoni ("halmeoni" is Korean for "grandmother"). After a pretty serious panic attack (no joke--I was absolutely hysterical), I decided to gather myself and leave him with her for the hour. Of course, everything turned out just fine, but holy moly. I don't know if I can go through that again, though.
Restart
At some point during my pregnancy, I was having an awful time sleeping because of having nightmares all of the time. I prayed that I would be okay with rough sleep, if only I just would stop having nightmares, and they immediately went away.
I don't know if it's hormones surging again or what, but I've been having more nightmares again. Worse than those, though, are the daymares I have been having that just leave me paralyzed with fear. I won't go into detail, but it's been a little rough. We'll see how that is after another month or two.
No More Midnight Snacks
I know that "old habits die hard," especially when it comes to feeding babies in the middle of the night. With the stress of moving, I didn't even try to wean him off of his late night feedings, but as of yesterday, I've decided I had better get a start on not allowing him to develop dependence on those feedings.
As such, I just let him whine out his frustrations of not being fed at 4:30am this morning and was shocked by the results. He didn't get as hysterical as I thought he would, and he didn't complain for nearly as long as I had expected. Moreover, he didn't wake up an hour later to repeat. He slept until about 7:30, where I decided to go ahead and feed him, and he slept until later than ever, until almost 9:30. I think this is going to go more smoothly than expected, but I am not getting my hopes up to high just yet!
We're using a method that I can't remember the name of, but he can whine for 5 minutes, and if he's still upset, we will pat him and reassure him and let him try to go back to sleep on his own. Repeat if another 5 minutes pass of frustration on his end. We've got his music box from his activity gym in his crib, though, so that does help.
Anyway, I've got to go and get some housework done. Nehemiah continues to delight us more and more every single day. We are so incredibly blessed to have him and never take a single thing for granted with him. I will never be able to thank God nearly enough for him.
With the leading lady.
With the leading man, plus three other foreign actors. The two other men are also half-Asian, half-white.
Anyway, so with that and life in general, it's been difficult to update.
Sitting
With my last post, I mentioned how Nehemiah was able to roll over both ways. This is such a piece of cake for him! He's now moved onto sitting unsupported.
He's been doing pretty well. Actually, he suddenly improved quite a bit two days ago on Thursday while we were at a free photo shoot for him (more on that in another post). He's incredibly strong and loves to show it.
Activity Table/Exersaucer
We went to a baby fair in March and ordered an exersaucer for him there. It's actually referred to as an activity table, though, because he doesn't sit in the middle. Instead, his seat is attached to the table and has wheels that allow him to walk around it in circles. Because he is so much taller than average, this has worked out perfectly. An average-sized baby would not be able to use it yet.
Bright Starts Tropical Fun Around We Go Activity Station
He loves the freedom he has to walk around (I am surprised at how well he can on his own!), and he has so much fun with the little piano. There are three different sound options: piano, who am I? and music. He has shocked us by not just slamming on the keys all of the time. It sounds like he's playing a real song when he uses the piano mode, and he usually waits until the end of a song on music mode before pressing another key. He really does love music.
Tooskers
Tooth number two finally broke through Wednesday, April 7th. It doesn't seem like there are any other bumps for now, but who knows?
5 Months Old!
Where has the time gone?
On April 8th, we took him to the doctor for his second Hib shot. He weighed in at about 8.65kg (19.03 lbs) and measured in at 71.8cm (28.27in). Carrying him around has sure helped develop my calf muscles again, that's for sure.
He made a new friend at the doctor. There was a four-month-old boy there whose mother and grandmother were interested in Nehemiah. Nehemiah was very good with the baby. Instead of trying to claw his face, he enjoyed just grabbing his hands and didn't even try to eat them. He has done this with a couple of other babies he has "met" as well. I hope he stays like this as he gets older!
Pumpkin
Pumpkin has been difficult to not get everywhere, but I realized it has actually been because of the rice cereal. It seems because pumpkin is thicker than avocado and because my most recent batch of rice cereal is thicker than last time's, he has had a harder time with the consistency. I just expressed some milk to mix in with it, and he's doing much better with it.
He's still doing one meal a day, but when I've got some time, I will do a little more research and see about bumping it up, possibly starting to try some fruits as well.
Halmeoni
Right before we moved, Hee Suk's mother decided to surprise us all with a visit. Some of you may be aware of how well I don't handle surprises. She's a very kindhearted woman who I am thankful is not treating me as many MILs in Korea treat their sons' wives.
I thought she would be extra gentle with Nehemiah, but ho.ly.smokes. I kid you not, she was so impressed with how strong his legs are that she was trying to balance him on one hand while lightly supporting him with the other. Thankfully, Hee Suk and his brother's family were all around to help tell her not to pursue such crazy antics. I just could not relax around her, as hard as I may have tried. I really wanted to feel comfortable with her playing with him, but I couldn't. Reminding myself that she raised her own four children and pretty much our nephew as well was of no help. Thinking of how my husband turned out may or may not have invoked a little extra fear in me.
The time came, however, when Hee Suk was "stuck" (don't get me started) at the new place supervising some cleaning being done (don't get me started on that, either, with Korea's backwards way of how the people moving in to a place get to clean up after the people moving out), and I had to go to class. That left me with two options: cancel class, or leave Nehemiah with his halmeoni ("halmeoni" is Korean for "grandmother"). After a pretty serious panic attack (no joke--I was absolutely hysterical), I decided to gather myself and leave him with her for the hour. Of course, everything turned out just fine, but holy moly. I don't know if I can go through that again, though.
Restart
At some point during my pregnancy, I was having an awful time sleeping because of having nightmares all of the time. I prayed that I would be okay with rough sleep, if only I just would stop having nightmares, and they immediately went away.
I don't know if it's hormones surging again or what, but I've been having more nightmares again. Worse than those, though, are the daymares I have been having that just leave me paralyzed with fear. I won't go into detail, but it's been a little rough. We'll see how that is after another month or two.
No More Midnight Snacks
I know that "old habits die hard," especially when it comes to feeding babies in the middle of the night. With the stress of moving, I didn't even try to wean him off of his late night feedings, but as of yesterday, I've decided I had better get a start on not allowing him to develop dependence on those feedings.
As such, I just let him whine out his frustrations of not being fed at 4:30am this morning and was shocked by the results. He didn't get as hysterical as I thought he would, and he didn't complain for nearly as long as I had expected. Moreover, he didn't wake up an hour later to repeat. He slept until about 7:30, where I decided to go ahead and feed him, and he slept until later than ever, until almost 9:30. I think this is going to go more smoothly than expected, but I am not getting my hopes up to high just yet!
We're using a method that I can't remember the name of, but he can whine for 5 minutes, and if he's still upset, we will pat him and reassure him and let him try to go back to sleep on his own. Repeat if another 5 minutes pass of frustration on his end. We've got his music box from his activity gym in his crib, though, so that does help.
Anyway, I've got to go and get some housework done. Nehemiah continues to delight us more and more every single day. We are so incredibly blessed to have him and never take a single thing for granted with him. I will never be able to thank God nearly enough for him.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Never fails to please
I can now officially say he can roll over from tummy to back. I think he's done it both ways today, but I can't be certain. He doesn't do it very often like he does from back to tummy, but he's got it down now.
Yesterday, I was suspicious of something he was doing, and today, I confirmed it. He loves to fake cough. I didn't even know babies could do so. It's really hilarious (to us, anyway).
Another thing he currently loves is "feeding" us his hands. We open our mouths and say, "Ah!" and he shares his hands with us as we "munch" on them.
There are certainly never any dull moments here. ♥
Yesterday, I was suspicious of something he was doing, and today, I confirmed it. He loves to fake cough. I didn't even know babies could do so. It's really hilarious (to us, anyway).
Another thing he currently loves is "feeding" us his hands. We open our mouths and say, "Ah!" and he shares his hands with us as we "munch" on them.
There are certainly never any dull moments here. ♥
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Milestones (of sorts)
Food
Tuesday was day four of adventures in baby food, and it was definitely more encouraging than other days. I had purchased a buttercup (yes, not butternut) squash to try preparing for us as practice preparing it for Nehemiah, and it was so easy and delicious. Before cooking it for us, I gave a little bite to Nehemiah, and I think it will be one of his favorites. It was only 1,750 won, so I will definitely be going back for more. I can't believe I never tried to prepare squash before!
Yesterday was a good feeding day as well. I decided to also try giving him some avocado, and he took it pretty well. For some reason, though, He's chewing motions are so much better. In fact, while he was sleeping last night, I saw him sleep-practicing eating rather than sucking. It was too cute!
Me preparing avocado was surprisingly and ridiculously messy. If Swamp Thing came to our kitchen and pooped all over it, it would have been cleaner than me preparing the avocado. I don't understand why it was so difficult for me.
Today, I cannot believe how much that boy ate. He might as well have licked the bowl clean. Yay for homemade rice cereal and avocado!
Rollie Polie
Two nights ago, Nehemiah rolled from back to belly to the right for the first time, and he's been doing it more today. Well, it was at least the first time we noticed, which I am pretty sure is the first time because I always try to check which way he goes (not hard, even after the fact). Yesterday morning at whatever wee hour of the morning, he was having a bit of a temper tantrum and wound up rolling from belly to back. It doesn't seem he understands just how to do it yet, but it's progress!
Support
This child was born with really strong legs and has been able to bear weight on them for quite some time. Sometime last week, though, he realized that when I am pulling him up to a sitting position (we like to pull him up by his arms while he is lying down for extra neck muscle practice since he's been able to hold his head level with his body for a few weeks now and because he enjoys it), he can go from sitting to standing no problem. He loves this. His huge grin says it all after he stands. We hardly have to support him while he's standing (though we do exercise caution, of course). I can't believe how strong he is.
Yesterday, he showed that he's starting to get the hang of sitting. He doesn't have beautiful posture yet or anything, but he's getting the basics down. I was pretty surprised at how he has started to support himself. It all seems to happen in the blink of an eye. I practiced again with him today, and he's already improved so much. Where is my baby??
Doctor
We went to our public health office to get his second round of Polio and DPT done, and he cried more than usual initially, but he stopped right as soon as I picked him up. What a good boy.
We went to our regular doctor today, and he weighed in at 8.1kg (17.82 lbs) and measured in at 67.6cm (26.6in). This is 5mm shorter than last time, but obviously no big problem.
Anyway, I had best be off. We are incredibly grateful for how amazingly we have been blessed.
Tuesday was day four of adventures in baby food, and it was definitely more encouraging than other days. I had purchased a buttercup (yes, not butternut) squash to try preparing for us as practice preparing it for Nehemiah, and it was so easy and delicious. Before cooking it for us, I gave a little bite to Nehemiah, and I think it will be one of his favorites. It was only 1,750 won, so I will definitely be going back for more. I can't believe I never tried to prepare squash before!
Yesterday was a good feeding day as well. I decided to also try giving him some avocado, and he took it pretty well. For some reason, though, He's chewing motions are so much better. In fact, while he was sleeping last night, I saw him sleep-practicing eating rather than sucking. It was too cute!
Me preparing avocado was surprisingly and ridiculously messy. If Swamp Thing came to our kitchen and pooped all over it, it would have been cleaner than me preparing the avocado. I don't understand why it was so difficult for me.
Today, I cannot believe how much that boy ate. He might as well have licked the bowl clean. Yay for homemade rice cereal and avocado!
Rollie Polie
Two nights ago, Nehemiah rolled from back to belly to the right for the first time, and he's been doing it more today. Well, it was at least the first time we noticed, which I am pretty sure is the first time because I always try to check which way he goes (not hard, even after the fact). Yesterday morning at whatever wee hour of the morning, he was having a bit of a temper tantrum and wound up rolling from belly to back. It doesn't seem he understands just how to do it yet, but it's progress!
Support
This child was born with really strong legs and has been able to bear weight on them for quite some time. Sometime last week, though, he realized that when I am pulling him up to a sitting position (we like to pull him up by his arms while he is lying down for extra neck muscle practice since he's been able to hold his head level with his body for a few weeks now and because he enjoys it), he can go from sitting to standing no problem. He loves this. His huge grin says it all after he stands. We hardly have to support him while he's standing (though we do exercise caution, of course). I can't believe how strong he is.
Yesterday, he showed that he's starting to get the hang of sitting. He doesn't have beautiful posture yet or anything, but he's getting the basics down. I was pretty surprised at how he has started to support himself. It all seems to happen in the blink of an eye. I practiced again with him today, and he's already improved so much. Where is my baby??
Doctor
We went to our public health office to get his second round of Polio and DPT done, and he cried more than usual initially, but he stopped right as soon as I picked him up. What a good boy.
We went to our regular doctor today, and he weighed in at 8.1kg (17.82 lbs) and measured in at 67.6cm (26.6in). This is 5mm shorter than last time, but obviously no big problem.
Anyway, I had best be off. We are incredibly grateful for how amazingly we have been blessed.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Rice Cereal
I made rice cereal for Nehemiah on Thursday. We had rice in our rice cooker already, so I decided to try out grinding the rice into a fine powder and cooking it on the stove. (I was following a recipe, of course.) I think the image above and video below (which is actually of our second try after feeding him some milk) say it all.
We of course tried again on Sunday, and he just does not like it. He doesn't get unruly or anything, but again, the look says it all. I am fairly certain it's the consistency he doesn't like. Most likely, the powder was not fine enough, so it's making an unenjoyable texture for him. His rice is now cooking in the rice cooker for me to try to puree later, so we'll see how that goes.
I tested out my consistency theory in a way I probably shouldn't have, but it worked. Making sure he wasn't objecting to food as a whole made sense to me, so after day two of the Rice Cereal of Apparent Doom, I grabbed my bread which had a pumpkin filling that was pretty much the consistency babies need scooped out a little and popped it in his mouth. He definitely responded to that much better (well, duh), so that made me feel better. I'm probably not going to wait two weeks until I introduce anything else to him like I had originally planned, but we'll see. I am dying to go back to Home Plus and buy the avocado I saw there. It is so rare here, and it's full of goodness for babies (and everyone, really).
Anyway, it's off to class for me, then round two of rice cereal goodness.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
4 Months Old
Our little bonbon is 4 months old today! Now I can really say that I can't believe how the time has flown and how much he has changed in such a short amount of time. He is 1/3 of the way to being one year old.
On Sunday, I had to be away all day. That morning, I had a feeling that Nehemiah would roll over while I wasn't there. Sure enough, I get a call around 8:30am letting me know that my premonition was right. Hee Suk made a few videos, but they are on the DSLR and are thus quite large. Here's a video from his antics on Monday:
(Hee Suk was doing something that caught his attention.) Nehemiah often is just so proud of himself after he has rolled, squealing in delight. However, the boy is all business and is now focusing on trying to roll from tummy to back. He knows how to push off of whatever surface he is on with his feet, and he can get pretty far that way. It looks as though he's doing push-ups sometimes, too. I imagine the boy is already stronger than I am.
On Monday, I noticed that his first tooth finally cut through. I was worried because he had what looked like a sort of skin tag where it was growing in, but Hee Suk looked it up and found that that sometimes happen because of strong sucking power. It seems to have just fallen off and have been swallowed once the chomper finally made its appearance.
That day, I knew I wanted to make a video of him rolling over, so I put on one of his new onesies from Grandma, which is size 9 months. Footed sleepers are still a little long yet, but the onesies and pants are definitely a much better fit. It is so hard to believe. (At our last visit to the doctor about a week ago, he was about 27 inches and over 17 pounds, about 8 kilograms.)
Nothing is out of reach for him now. He seriously pulls stuff out of thin air. He loves this little three pack of books the super nanny gave to him, and it seems that one rattle we have is sort of a favorite now. Watching him shake it is just so much fun.
The boy does have a temper at times. I say it's the Busan Baby in him. Hee Suk kindly reminds me of some of the childhood stories I have told him, from fork fights to using my Pillow Person as a punching bag. It's funny how much a baby's voice changes and how they can so clearly show their personality. We'll see how that one develops. For the most part, though, he is a very happy and content little boy. Definitely no complaints here!
Today, I bought some organic brown rice for him so that we can start trying out rice cereal for him this weekend. We'll be going to the Baby Fair tomorrow and hope to get a good deal on some spoons and bowls and whatever other frills and thrills go along with eating (as well as an exersaucer!). He sits in his bouncer alongside us while we are eating, and I've been sort of prepping him by showing him food and having him watch me put it in my mouth and chew. It seems like it's working a bit, but we'll see.
On a somewhat related note, today was the last day for his antibiotic. I'm actually kind of sad because he loved it so much. He tried to take it as if it were a bottle. Soon enough, though, he'll be getting more tasty treats.
Going into parenthood, you know that the time will just fly by, that there are so many milestones to look forward to. If you didn't know that yourself, someone will surely have repeatedly reminded you of this while pregnant. You don't realize just how true this is until you've been through it, though. I cannot believe how much he has grown and changed in just four months. He is amazing. God has very, very greatly blessed us.
Dear Lord, there are no words, no actions great enough to express the gratitude we have for the Godsend we hold daily in our arms. He is more amazing than we could have imagined and we find ourselves blessed far beyond anything we could have even hoped for. Please continue to hold him in your hands, to help him develop and grow according to Your will, and let us support him in the way that he needs us. Thank You so much, O King. Thank You.
On Sunday, I had to be away all day. That morning, I had a feeling that Nehemiah would roll over while I wasn't there. Sure enough, I get a call around 8:30am letting me know that my premonition was right. Hee Suk made a few videos, but they are on the DSLR and are thus quite large. Here's a video from his antics on Monday:
(Hee Suk was doing something that caught his attention.) Nehemiah often is just so proud of himself after he has rolled, squealing in delight. However, the boy is all business and is now focusing on trying to roll from tummy to back. He knows how to push off of whatever surface he is on with his feet, and he can get pretty far that way. It looks as though he's doing push-ups sometimes, too. I imagine the boy is already stronger than I am.
On Monday, I noticed that his first tooth finally cut through. I was worried because he had what looked like a sort of skin tag where it was growing in, but Hee Suk looked it up and found that that sometimes happen because of strong sucking power. It seems to have just fallen off and have been swallowed once the chomper finally made its appearance.
That day, I knew I wanted to make a video of him rolling over, so I put on one of his new onesies from Grandma, which is size 9 months. Footed sleepers are still a little long yet, but the onesies and pants are definitely a much better fit. It is so hard to believe. (At our last visit to the doctor about a week ago, he was about 27 inches and over 17 pounds, about 8 kilograms.)
Nothing is out of reach for him now. He seriously pulls stuff out of thin air. He loves this little three pack of books the super nanny gave to him, and it seems that one rattle we have is sort of a favorite now. Watching him shake it is just so much fun.
The boy does have a temper at times. I say it's the Busan Baby in him. Hee Suk kindly reminds me of some of the childhood stories I have told him, from fork fights to using my Pillow Person as a punching bag. It's funny how much a baby's voice changes and how they can so clearly show their personality. We'll see how that one develops. For the most part, though, he is a very happy and content little boy. Definitely no complaints here!
Today, I bought some organic brown rice for him so that we can start trying out rice cereal for him this weekend. We'll be going to the Baby Fair tomorrow and hope to get a good deal on some spoons and bowls and whatever other frills and thrills go along with eating (as well as an exersaucer!). He sits in his bouncer alongside us while we are eating, and I've been sort of prepping him by showing him food and having him watch me put it in my mouth and chew. It seems like it's working a bit, but we'll see.
On a somewhat related note, today was the last day for his antibiotic. I'm actually kind of sad because he loved it so much. He tried to take it as if it were a bottle. Soon enough, though, he'll be getting more tasty treats.
Going into parenthood, you know that the time will just fly by, that there are so many milestones to look forward to. If you didn't know that yourself, someone will surely have repeatedly reminded you of this while pregnant. You don't realize just how true this is until you've been through it, though. I cannot believe how much he has grown and changed in just four months. He is amazing. God has very, very greatly blessed us.
Dear Lord, there are no words, no actions great enough to express the gratitude we have for the Godsend we hold daily in our arms. He is more amazing than we could have imagined and we find ourselves blessed far beyond anything we could have even hoped for. Please continue to hold him in your hands, to help him develop and grow according to Your will, and let us support him in the way that he needs us. Thank You so much, O King. Thank You.
100 Days - February 17th
We got 3rd place in another photo contest with this and will receive a 11x14 print with frame!
Taken At Igloo.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Fun with E.Coli
Two weeks ago, I was down and out because of some nasty flu that rendered me practically useless. I felt slightly better on Wednesday (the 17th), which was Nehemiah's 100th day of life, so we went over to Igloo to take some photos. I'll have those up eventually. I want to edit them before posting. The bug still hasn't completely cleared up, but all is well.
That weekend, we noticed Nehemiah was running a pretty high fever. He was acting out of character, so I felt his head and took his temperature. When it read close to 39ºC, I immediately said to Hee Suk, "Honey, open the window right away." This was Saturday, if I am not mistaken. On Sunday, he was still feverish, so I started giving him some baby Tylenol. We went out that night with my brother-in-law's family to have dinner to celebrate his 100 Days, and he did just fine.
His fever was much better on Monday but still not gone. With him still a little out of character, we decided to head to the doctor. When we left, it looked like just a simple fever, so instead of waiting around for the urinalysis results, I went home and Hee Suk dashed off to an appointment. When some phone number I didn't recognize called me on my phone several times, I finally answered. It turned out that an over-abundance of something or other was in his urine, showing that he had a urinary tract infection. My jaw pretty much hit the ground. I didn't even know it was possible for babies to catch them. His doctor wanted to admit him and told me to talk it over with my husband.
After Hee Suk finished his appointment, he went back to the hospital to talk to the doctor and wound up getting him to just give us a prescription. With me questioning the prescription and Hee Suk's overall concern, we decided it would be best to just get him admitted to the hospital and cared for there since it's how they handle it best.
We were admitted Monday night, and I think I cried more than Nehemiah. I wanted to be with him while they inserted the IV, but the nurses felt it would be better if I weren't there. They instead called me right after they got it in and were wrapping it up. They did it so quickly that I had to compose myself in a flash to follow the nurse who came to get us. He didn't even shed a tear! He was just very loudly complaining. He is his father's son for sure.
We were there from Monday night until Thursday morning, and it was pretty uneventful. He was almost too thoroughly examined, but it was definitely a good thing to know we caught the infection early so that no damage occurred to his kidneys.
There was a mother there with her 6-month old son in our same room, and we felt so bad for her. She had been to Severance Hospital because her son's fever was even higher than Nehemiah's, and they sent her home with just some fever medication. When the fever didn't go away, she went to another small hospital where they were able to diagnose him with a UTI and refer her to our hospital for care. He is probably still at the hospital, as his urine was backing up into his system. She hardly got a wink of sleep because her son was just crying all of the time. For some reason, the nurses weren't able to get the IV into his foot like they did for Nehemiah, so he had to have it in his arm/hand (I'm not sure which.)
As briefly mentioned above, we stayed in a non-private room. I'm actually thankful no private rooms were available, as it wasn't that bad. We started out with four people, then one family left the next day, so we were down to three. Another family came later, though, and a fifth family came on Wednesday who wound up right next to us. (Everything is sectioned off by curtains, of course.) It was fine until that fifth family got there. The mother was very...strange. She seemed to be Korean and spoke Korean most of the time, but she read stories to her daughter in English and randomly spoke to herself in some language that sounded similar to Russian but didn't seem like Russian (unless hers is just that bad).
That woman would not get off of her phone doing whatever business she had to do. She wore a hospital gown, even though it was her daughter who was admitted. And her English. Oh, her English. She is referred to by us as the witch from Snow White, and it was Hee Suk who came up with the nickname! She sounded positively evil, as if with every sentence, she was offering her daughter a poison apple. Hilarious stuff. We could not stop mocking her and still do on occassion.
Her daughter is definitely her little princess, though. On Wednesday night, Hee Suk was entertaining Nehemiah with a monkey toy that has three thick plastic keys attached that his grandmother bought for him. It is not noisy in the least. Even with the keys clicking together, the sound is quite muted because they are thick. We put up with her witch-voice, and incessant phone chatter and her daughter's whininess all day, but she just couldn't have us playing with the monkey because her princess was in a coma from the poison apple, I mean, sleeping. I was not there when this happened, and it's probably a good thing I wasn't.
Anyway, I am derailing my train of thoughts. In the end, Nehemiah's case was mild because we caught it so early, so we were able to leave on Thursday morning with a prescription for some antibiotics. The cause of his UTI was E.Coli. I said to the doctor, "How? Isn't that from raw chicken and the likes?" "Yes, but it is also very common in, well, poo poo." I almost died trying to contain my laughter. He didn't say poop: it was "poo poo."
I was very concerned about the antibiotic and braced myself when we gave it to him the first time, but he pretty much enjoys it. We call it his orange juice. He needs to take it twice a day, so that is very manageable.
At any rate, this is getting choppy because he is getting fussy. I hope to get my act together to finish editing the photos soon.
Definitely giving thanks and praise to God for keeping our little guy safe and sound!
That weekend, we noticed Nehemiah was running a pretty high fever. He was acting out of character, so I felt his head and took his temperature. When it read close to 39ºC, I immediately said to Hee Suk, "Honey, open the window right away." This was Saturday, if I am not mistaken. On Sunday, he was still feverish, so I started giving him some baby Tylenol. We went out that night with my brother-in-law's family to have dinner to celebrate his 100 Days, and he did just fine.
His fever was much better on Monday but still not gone. With him still a little out of character, we decided to head to the doctor. When we left, it looked like just a simple fever, so instead of waiting around for the urinalysis results, I went home and Hee Suk dashed off to an appointment. When some phone number I didn't recognize called me on my phone several times, I finally answered. It turned out that an over-abundance of something or other was in his urine, showing that he had a urinary tract infection. My jaw pretty much hit the ground. I didn't even know it was possible for babies to catch them. His doctor wanted to admit him and told me to talk it over with my husband.
After Hee Suk finished his appointment, he went back to the hospital to talk to the doctor and wound up getting him to just give us a prescription. With me questioning the prescription and Hee Suk's overall concern, we decided it would be best to just get him admitted to the hospital and cared for there since it's how they handle it best.
We were admitted Monday night, and I think I cried more than Nehemiah. I wanted to be with him while they inserted the IV, but the nurses felt it would be better if I weren't there. They instead called me right after they got it in and were wrapping it up. They did it so quickly that I had to compose myself in a flash to follow the nurse who came to get us. He didn't even shed a tear! He was just very loudly complaining. He is his father's son for sure.
We were there from Monday night until Thursday morning, and it was pretty uneventful. He was almost too thoroughly examined, but it was definitely a good thing to know we caught the infection early so that no damage occurred to his kidneys.
There was a mother there with her 6-month old son in our same room, and we felt so bad for her. She had been to Severance Hospital because her son's fever was even higher than Nehemiah's, and they sent her home with just some fever medication. When the fever didn't go away, she went to another small hospital where they were able to diagnose him with a UTI and refer her to our hospital for care. He is probably still at the hospital, as his urine was backing up into his system. She hardly got a wink of sleep because her son was just crying all of the time. For some reason, the nurses weren't able to get the IV into his foot like they did for Nehemiah, so he had to have it in his arm/hand (I'm not sure which.)
As briefly mentioned above, we stayed in a non-private room. I'm actually thankful no private rooms were available, as it wasn't that bad. We started out with four people, then one family left the next day, so we were down to three. Another family came later, though, and a fifth family came on Wednesday who wound up right next to us. (Everything is sectioned off by curtains, of course.) It was fine until that fifth family got there. The mother was very...strange. She seemed to be Korean and spoke Korean most of the time, but she read stories to her daughter in English and randomly spoke to herself in some language that sounded similar to Russian but didn't seem like Russian (unless hers is just that bad).
That woman would not get off of her phone doing whatever business she had to do. She wore a hospital gown, even though it was her daughter who was admitted. And her English. Oh, her English. She is referred to by us as the witch from Snow White, and it was Hee Suk who came up with the nickname! She sounded positively evil, as if with every sentence, she was offering her daughter a poison apple. Hilarious stuff. We could not stop mocking her and still do on occassion.
Her daughter is definitely her little princess, though. On Wednesday night, Hee Suk was entertaining Nehemiah with a monkey toy that has three thick plastic keys attached that his grandmother bought for him. It is not noisy in the least. Even with the keys clicking together, the sound is quite muted because they are thick. We put up with her witch-voice, and incessant phone chatter and her daughter's whininess all day, but she just couldn't have us playing with the monkey because her princess was in a coma from the poison apple, I mean, sleeping. I was not there when this happened, and it's probably a good thing I wasn't.
Anyway, I am derailing my train of thoughts. In the end, Nehemiah's case was mild because we caught it so early, so we were able to leave on Thursday morning with a prescription for some antibiotics. The cause of his UTI was E.Coli. I said to the doctor, "How? Isn't that from raw chicken and the likes?" "Yes, but it is also very common in, well, poo poo." I almost died trying to contain my laughter. He didn't say poop: it was "poo poo."
I was very concerned about the antibiotic and braced myself when we gave it to him the first time, but he pretty much enjoys it. We call it his orange juice. He needs to take it twice a day, so that is very manageable.
At any rate, this is getting choppy because he is getting fussy. I hope to get my act together to finish editing the photos soon.
Definitely giving thanks and praise to God for keeping our little guy safe and sound!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Pre- and Post-Bath Antics
If you are viewing from facebook, you will have to click "View Original Post" in order to see the videos.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
3 Months Old
Nehemiah turned 3 months old this past Wednesday (the 10th). We went to the doctor on the 11th for his Hib shot, and these were his stats: 7.36kg (16.2 lbs) and 67.3cm (26.5in). He's a big boy, to say the least! He took the shot very well, letting out one simple loud complaint and then smiling.
It seems that the shot caused him to be slightly feverish on Friday, though. Early in the evening, he was about 37.7º, but it went up to 37.9º, which is borderline need for concern. That day, I noticed that he was eating more than usual, and apparently while I was away teaching, his Appa noticed he was having more #2 diapers than usual (most notable was the frequency). When we were trying to put him to sleep, he kept waking up every so often and pooing (I can't tell you how many diapers I changed, when I usually don't change any until about 6 am, if even), so something was definitely up. He woke up at one point somewhere around 4 or 5am, ate, needed a diaper change, and at that time spit up all that he had eaten, some of which came out with a little bit of force. After composing myself, we decided to just put him in a short-sleeved onesie, help him back to sleep and cover him with a thin blanket. He dropped back down to about 37.6º, and a few hours later, it was showing more of a decline. Thankfully, he was super bright and chipper when he woke up for the day.
His father wasn't too keen on swaddling, so I stopped swaddling him some time last week. He's back to being swaddled as of last night, though. He loves his hands, and I think just being able to have them free is motivation enough for him to fight being put down for the night. He sleeps so well when swaddled, too. I am breaking him away from one of his nighttime feedings (around 3 or 4am) so that he can just sleep through the night. I think it's going well. He eats around 6am, then, which works fine because I am up anyway twice a week at that time getting ready for a morning class and always feed him before I leave.
These are Nehemiah's current favorite things:
- His hands
- His Appa's voice
- Squealing/sort of screaming with delight (hilarious)
- Grabbing things out of thin air (I don't know how he is able to reach some of the things he ends up with in his hands! He knows magic, I tell you.)
- Being sung to
- Pulling his hair
- As always, nakey and bath time
Anyway, today is both the Lunar New Year (Seollal) and Valentine's Day. I will try to get some pictures later. El Crankazoid is currently sleeping, so we shall leave him there for now.
Happy New Year and Happy Valentine's Day! Many blessings to you all~
Monday, February 8, 2010
Holiday Woes
Seollal (the Lunar New Year) is one of the two biggest holidays in Korea. If you are in the states and think you know what bad traffic is, you haven't sat in traffic on Seollal in Korea. You just have no idea.
I've been excited for Seollal this year because it will be our son's first. He's too little for a hanbok (Korean traditional wear), so I bought some little hanbok accessories to pin on him to add to the festive mood. As such, we've been asking for months what the plans are for the holiday since my husband and his brother are in Seoul, but their mother is in Busan. Train tickets sell out way in advance of the holiday, and I don't know a single person who is willing to sit in 8 hours of traffic that hardly even creeps along at times with a 3-month-old baby.
Well, until yesterday, it seemed like everyone was working hard to get my mother-in-law up here for the holiday. It only makes sense: holidays are spent with the husband's family, and considering both of her sons live up here, it's far easier to transport one person than it is to move six people (which includes a baby) along. Complicating matters, though, is my brother-in-law's wife, who wants to visit her family (in Busan) and now my niece from Busan, who is staying with my brother-in-law's family for two weeks as she starts job training here in Seoul. She, of course, would make seven people.
As I am sure you've deduced by now, my brother-in-law will be driving down to Busan with his wife, son and our niece. When we talked to him, it sounded like we weren't expected to make the trip down since we have a baby.
Hee Suk's mother called last night, though, and she is none too happy. As expected, she pulled out, "But you went all the way to America with him!" Airplanes have bathrooms with changing tables, and we can get up and walk around any time. Airplanes don't sit in traffic (well, unless the runways are busy, but still). And I don't know about you, but I actually kind of like airplane food. Oh, yeah, and my parents provided a car seat for us. Despite having a large family, we never tried to cram seven people (remember, we are adding in our niece now) into one car with the baby. The longest car trip we took with Nehemiah was, what, 30 minutes?
I'm really disappointed, too. As I said, I was really looking forward to his first Seollal, but no matter how upset she gets, I am NOT taking our son in a crammed car for a minimum of 6.5 hours in traffic, which will later mean that we'll be looking for some sort of a motel/hotel for our stay in Busan that doesn't include an Austin Powers-style love bed in it. I can't even handle it.
I guess we'll just pretend like it's not his first Seollal and just focus on Valentine's Day (same day this year), setting up hearts all over the place and taking ridiculously adorable pictures of him.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Sleep
It's been a very exhausting past couple of weeks with a couple of new classes starting up and some filmings mixed in there. To date, I've never really felt exhausted because of anything to do with Nehemiah--a true blessing indeed. Though I wish I could sleep in more many days, I feel fine throughout the day.
I just learned very quickly, though, that catching up on sleep is a whole new ordeal.
I find it very difficult to sleep during the day. For the past couple of weeks, when time has permitted, I've tried to nap a little while Nehemiah was playing with his Appa or while the little monkey was sleeping, and it just was not happening, leaving me feeling even more tired and groggy.
Yesterday, though, I was finally able to get a nap in. I fed him in the side-lie position, which sometimes help him get to sleep better, and decided that instead of moving him, I would just try to lie with him there (which I obviously felt comfortable doing). Wouldn't you know, I was able to catch what might have just been a cat nap, but it was exactly what I needed. I felt so incredibly much better after that. It's amazing what a difference a little extra sleep can make.
Otherwise, all is well. Nehemiah continues to thrive. He grabs things so well now and has great focus while playing the "crane game." He sure does have a lot to say as well. In just a few days, he will turn 3 months, and in 10 days, it will be his 100-day birthday (which is hugely important here). We are taking him to the doctor next Thursday for his first Hib shot, so I will have some updated stats then. (We've decided to pass on PCV and Rotavirus for now.)
That's about it for now!
Dear Lord, there is nothing we could have ever done to warrant such incredible blessings from You, but You continue to bless us more and more each day, through every little giggle and smile and even in those moments where it's hard to figure out what to do. I pray we never take for granted any of these things. I pray that our lives might serve to be a testament to Your faithfulness, your love and mercy, and that day-by-day, we might glorify You through every decision we make.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Crane Game and Giggles
This video is of what I like to call the "crane game." Nehemiah is learning how to put his hands together to grab things and likes going after the turtle mirror on his bouncer. The first time I saw it (yesterday), he had grabbed it and wanted to try eating it. It just reminded me of a crane game with how easily those prizes can slip through the grabber.
As I mentioned a few posts ago, Nehemiah is actually laughing nowadays. Yesterday, he laughed more than ever. As I was holding him before feeding him and putting him down for the night, he was looking at the flowers on the wall that he has always loved to look at and just started cracking up. I had Hee Suk hand me the camera as quickly as he could so I could record some of the action. I was holding Nehemiah with one hand and filming with the other, but what's most important is what you hear. ^^
As I mentioned a few posts ago, Nehemiah is actually laughing nowadays. Yesterday, he laughed more than ever. As I was holding him before feeding him and putting him down for the night, he was looking at the flowers on the wall that he has always loved to look at and just started cracking up. I had Hee Suk hand me the camera as quickly as he could so I could record some of the action. I was holding Nehemiah with one hand and filming with the other, but what's most important is what you hear. ^^
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Watching the News
Here's a little video of Nehemiah watching the news and doing his new favorite thing: sucking his thumb. I think it's way adorable.
His first major note of the TV's existence was while I was watching Pride and Prejudice. All of the sisters were together, so I turned it off and said, "No more pretty girls for you!" ^.~ He likes to watch the news with us, though.
More videos to come!
His first major note of the TV's existence was while I was watching Pride and Prejudice. All of the sisters were together, so I turned it off and said, "No more pretty girls for you!" ^.~ He likes to watch the news with us, though.
More videos to come!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sweet Notes
I just want to quickly type up a couple of things before I forgot when they happened.
Nehemiah has been trying to sleep at later times, but I've been trying to get him to go to bed earlier. We still have one side of his crib down as it is placed up next to our bed, so it worries me to have him on his tummy while I am sleeping with him being so mobile. (Yes, he does get to sleep on his tummy whenever he so pleases.) And yes, he is quite mobile.
Thus, I've started a new routine of swaddling him since he sometimes is a little more restless in his sleep if he is simply on his back sometimes. The first night I did this, three nights ago (the 24th), he was lying down in his crib, and I sang him to sleep. It was just so sweet and special to me.
What happens now is that we put him to sleep all swaddled up, and after he wakes up for a feeding, I unswaddle him because he falls right back asleep while eating. This is working very well for us so far.
When he sleeps, he sometimes laughs. Recently, his laughs have started to change a little to that more familiar chuckle that babies make. It is super cute. Today, when his Appa was holding him before his bath, he really did laugh. It was so adorable. I don't expect it to be a regular occurance just yet, but it's fun to be on the lookout for.
I feel like there is something else, but it's not coming to me at the moment. I had an awful nice last night with some psycho nightmares (thankfully none concerning Nehemiah), so I am just beat. I have to be up way early the next few days, so you probably won't see much of me, for those who connect with me on other sites.
That's about all I have for now. Sending lots of love and many prayers from the three of us. ♥
Nehemiah has been trying to sleep at later times, but I've been trying to get him to go to bed earlier. We still have one side of his crib down as it is placed up next to our bed, so it worries me to have him on his tummy while I am sleeping with him being so mobile. (Yes, he does get to sleep on his tummy whenever he so pleases.) And yes, he is quite mobile.
Thus, I've started a new routine of swaddling him since he sometimes is a little more restless in his sleep if he is simply on his back sometimes. The first night I did this, three nights ago (the 24th), he was lying down in his crib, and I sang him to sleep. It was just so sweet and special to me.
What happens now is that we put him to sleep all swaddled up, and after he wakes up for a feeding, I unswaddle him because he falls right back asleep while eating. This is working very well for us so far.
When he sleeps, he sometimes laughs. Recently, his laughs have started to change a little to that more familiar chuckle that babies make. It is super cute. Today, when his Appa was holding him before his bath, he really did laugh. It was so adorable. I don't expect it to be a regular occurance just yet, but it's fun to be on the lookout for.
I feel like there is something else, but it's not coming to me at the moment. I had an awful nice last night with some psycho nightmares (thankfully none concerning Nehemiah), so I am just beat. I have to be up way early the next few days, so you probably won't see much of me, for those who connect with me on other sites.
That's about all I have for now. Sending lots of love and many prayers from the three of us. ♥
Saturday, January 23, 2010
His 2-Month Appointment.
It was 1.5 weeks ago, but hey. I've been busy. No, not just taking photos.
We decided to go to our local Public Health Center (보건소) for his shots since they are free there. He received DPT and Polio. Polio didn't even cause him to flinch, but DPT was cause enough for three loud cries, and that was it. I am starting not to dread shots quite as much now.
There, he weighed in at 6.4kg (14 lbs) and 63.8cm (25in). We headed over to our regular doctor directly after. He wasn't scheduled to be seen until 3pm, but we went early to try to get in sooner. Thankfully, we got in almost right away at 1:50--just before my own appointment. Everything looks great!
There, however, they weighed him in at 6.64kg (14 lbs 9.6oz) and 62.4cm (24.6in). Height is always tricky with babies, but the weight difference was simply what each place decides to subtract from what the scale says. Both scales read about 6.7kg, but the person at his regular doctor subtracted only 100g versus the 300g they subtracted at the public health center. Either way, he is obviously above average and growing very well!
While we were waiting to be seen (in the quiet area, thankfully), there was another baby there his age with his grandmother and aunt. For whatever reason, the mother was not present. Anyway, he and Nehemiah were born the exact same day! They almost weighed the same, but the difference was length versus chub--that boy was definitely all chub! He was cute. Everyone is always surprised at how big our son is, particularly his length. Anyway, It was fun chatting with them.
I must be off, though, as Mr. Fussy Pants beckons for a diaper change.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Feeling Like a Pro Now
After
*As always, click image to view larger.*
Maybe I'm just slow, but thanks to The Pinoeer Woman and Totally Rad Actions, I just learned about Actions in Photoshop this morning. I am totally in love.
I decided to start with a brand new photo, so I had fun capturing Nehemiah's joy before bathtime this morning. He is so incredibly happy in the mornings and loves his nakey-before-bath time. Some of you will be seeing an upload in the near-future of a great number of photos capturing his many wonderful expressions (though they won't all look like this!).
Anyway, I know I need to update about the doctor, but I just wanted to share his ridiculous level of adorable-ness for now.
Monday, January 11, 2010
2 Months
As of yesterday, our little Nehemiah is now 2 months old! In the two weeks we were in MN, he developed so incredibly much. He holds his head up so well, and his eye focus has greatly improved. He certainly loved looking at his aunt and uncles and grandparents! He also loved seeing his great grandmothers, though he did show a preference for one over the other, we shall say. His coordination has also shown vast improvements, as he loves to either sit in his bouncer or lie on his playmat and just flail about. It actually looks like he is marching. I am simply amazed by how full of life he is.
The day after we got back, well, I suppose it was the same day considering we arrived back home closer to 1am, I set up his new playmat to give it a go. I had briefly tried it while in MN, but he wasn't really having it. When I was setting it up, he was having a fit. After I lied him down, he still wasn't having it, so I took one of the toys and shook it next to his ear a little loudly to get his attention. He finally calmed down and has absolutely loved his playmat ever since.
After much debate and a final battle that came down to the Fisher-Price Rainforest Melodies & Lights Deluxe Gym and the Baby Einstein Baby Neptune Ocean Adventure Gym, we went with Baby Einstein, and I am so glad we did. I owe a major thanks to my older brother for helping me decide. (The decision for him came down to giraffe versus octopus, and he said that an octopus is way cooler than a giraffe. I like his logic!)
Comparing them online again, we really are getting a better value out of the one we purchased. Nehemiah LOVES the mirror (just like his father...), and the one in our set is nice and big and can easily go in his crib as well. The Fisher Price one is much smaller and not as easy to just place anywhere. Also, the sound and lights gadget in the Neptune set can be taken off as well and placed in his crib. We have definitely gotten a lot of use out of it because of this! I don't know about the other one, but ours has three sound features: continual, motion activated and button activated.
Buyer Beware! Toys 'R' Us charges $10 more than Target for the Neptune playmat! I wasted time and money going to Toys 'R' Us for it to wind up buying it again at Target and returning it because that's a huge difference to me. Don't get me started on how diapers there are a rip-off as well.
Anyway, the whale is nice and soft and can be used for tummy time.
That was hard work!
For quite some time, he has been able to lift his head really high, but he had only ever done so while on our tummies. Right after playing with the whale, something clicked in him, and he is now able to just pop right on up himself. I don't have any good pictures yet because I keep making movies of it, but I will snap some next time.
He is also quite mobile for a little guy who can't crawl yet. We have to be extra careful about where we put him now because he just scoots all over the place somehow, whether he's on his tummy or on his back.
His little cooing sounds are just as adorable as can be. It's so fun to have little "conversations" with him. He really does enjoy talking to his animal friends and to himself in the mirror.
Anyway, we are so proud of our little one and so incredibly blessed to have him in our lives. We will be at the doctor on Wednesday to see just how much he has grown, so I will certainly post those stats.
God bless!
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