Updates from the past few months

I have a ton of photos since about October that I am very behind on uploading. I hope to get to them sometime. Facebook is just kind of funny now, so I have to see if there is any easy way to upload them so that they are not high res without converting them all first. That would not be fun.

Anyway, the photo above is a recent one showing one of Nehemiah's new favorite activities--playing with pots and pans. Only relatively recently have we allowed him to openly roam around the house (minus the bathroom and "office"), so he has enjoyed being able to cling pots and pans around, as well as take the house phone off the charger and put it back on again. HS doesn't fancy this too much, but it doesn't bother me in the least.

He absolutely loves to walk around the house wearing our slippers, particularly his Appa's. He does a very surprisingly good job with it. I will have to make a video sometime and upload. I wound up buying him a pair of his own slippers, which he loves. However, he still likes to put the big slippers on over them. I don't mind it, but when going from room to room, there is a part of the door frame that is elevated. If your home is carpeted, when you go from the kitchen to the dining room, for instance, there might be a kind of gold bar that is in place to make the transition of carpeted to not look nicer. Korean houses are not carpeted, and our house in particular basically has door frames that really go all the way around and can be tripped on. It's hard to explain, but just take my word for it. He has learned to lift his feet up higher when he has the slippers on, but he still trips sometimes.

Nehemiah also loves to wander around with the hair dryer. It is simply amazing how fast he is learning nowadays. I told and showed his that when walking around with it, he needs to pick up the cords so that he doesn't trip, and he followed right away. Yesterday, he wanted to walk around with a small blanket, and I taught him the same deal. He was very proud to show me he understood, applauding himself after doing so.

Since November, he has sprouted 8 more teeth for a total of 16. He had been teething for ages with them (the joys of molars), so I was very happy when they finally broke through.

Around December, many of my friends got on the topic of when to wean their children off of pacifiers. At that point, Nehemiah was only using them to help him sleep at night. I kept wondering when would be best, but he suddenly weaned himself one day. And when I say he weaned himself, I mean he let us know that under no circumstances were we to even offer him one. I think he figured out that it made him sleepy, and of course, sleep is for babies. He's not a baby anymore, so fight the power, right? Something like that. Anyway, he positively will not take one.

Similarly, since he had not had anything from a bottle since about June, he will not drink anything from a bottle. He doesn't even like his sippy cup that much. It just has to be a bendy straw or straight out of the cup.

His communication skills have just sky-rocketed. From his daycare, which he is still attending only while I am teaching, he learned how to bow while greeting or saying thank you (in Korean). He's picked up a couple of other things there as well. When eating, he's very vocal about when he wants to drink in between bites. When he's in his playpen, he will say "Go" if he wants to get out. He often brings me his baby carrier and sits in my lap after I've strapped it on so that I'll pick him up and walk around with him.

And oh, the TV. The TV.

It's adorable in essence. He climbs up onto the sofa very excitedly and points to the TV when he wants to watch. Failure to respond immediately has him standing on the sofa, searching the back of it for the remote since we often put it there. If he finds it, he will put it into our hands and point to the TV, telling us what he wants (Sing-along with Pororo). If it is not there, he turns to lean over the arm of the sofa to search for it on top of the microwave. It's adorable how excited he gets about watching, but he is definitely a little bit addicted. I've been along with him this weekend, so we've been working on not always asking for the TV.

Allowing myself to get a little sidetracked, I really enjoy when he and I have long stretches of time alone. It's just different when HS is home. Yesterday, he was being cranky, so even though it was starting to get dark out, we went out for a bit. Of course, he fell asleep right away and woke up when we got back home. When HS is here, I suppose he sometimes protests us going out because it's too cold or some other excuse. I'm not saying he's bad for doing so, but it's just kind of nice to not have that extra nagging voice. But don't tell him I said that. At any rate, I think I'll encourage him to go away on more weekend trips with his friends...

Back to developments, I've started teaching him how to use a spoon. When he's being defiant and refuses to eat, it helps to give him a spoon so he at least thinks he's feeding himself. He's catching on very quickly. I like to let him spoon-feed with foods that will stick to the sppon, such as sweet potatoes, so that there isn't a huge mess all over the place. Many parents are happy to let their children get food all over the place, but that's just not for us. As always, he loves to cheer himself on when he is doing well. It'll still be awhile before he gets complete freedom to self-feed, as he enjoys mashing his food between his fingers and then rubbing it in his hair.

Ah, I almost forget! We went in this week to get him his first MMR shots. I was very against getting the varicella vaccine, but we wound up getting that as well. If we were in America, I would not have gotten it. Here, however, parents tend to not worry about the well-being of others, and I was just concerned that if someone at daycare exhibited signs of it, the mother would just send him anyway instead of keeping him home. I think this resounded in my mind because of one particular day when we were coming back home from being out somewhere where Nehemiah had a cold (I think this was actually right before he came down with Roseola) and ran into the mother of another child at the same daycare. We mentioned how he wasn't going to daycare because he was sick, and she thought we were so strange because she'd send her child anyway. I know many people still send their children even if they have a cold, but the impression she left was very strong.

At any rate, the doctor said a lot of people have it in Korea right now, so I asked if there was mercury/thimerosal in it (nope) and we just went for it. He got them in the arm and was such a champ. Didn't cry at all. He voiced his complaint and was then over it. I fed him afterward, but the people there tried to tell me I had to wait at least 30 minutes. I had never heard of such a thing before and said that I was going to feed him anyway. They just walked away unhappy. I couldn't even find anything online to support not feeding him right after.

Nehemiah definitely has a temper, but I still think it's far less than that of other children. He knows when he is in trouble and often acts sweet and cuddly after he has been reprimanded.

I still receive weekly updates about development milestones, and the one I got this week said that many children start going from two naps to one around this time. While he sometimes takes a quick nap when he gets home from daycare, he has been on a one-nap schedule for a long time. I was pretty surprised when I read that.

I'm sure I am leaving something out, but my time is limited since he sometimes naps for just one hour instead of two. I will update more as time permits.

Always sending lots of love and prayers everyone's way~

Nehemiah's Birthday Video

For many reasons, I haven't been posting recently. I'm going to try to start doing so again, so I figured I'd start off with sharing the video we made up to show at Nehemiah's first birthday party. It still causes my eyes to swell with tears.

~Happy Birthday~

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.

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~

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~

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.

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!