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A new year, new blog - I've moved over to a new website.  Please visit me at Hip Pea where I'll continue to post finds with a modern and vintage-inspired twist, as well as product reviews, working mom tips, and other general musings :)  See you there!

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My little man turns ONE

The little man had his milestone 1st birthday last month, and seeing what a blast he had (despite his initial shyness with a crowd of people he didn't know) was worth all the time, energy and occasional bouts of stress that went into the planning.  I'm still waiting for pictures from the big day but I do have one from the dohljabi that never fails to put a smile on my face when I see it:



No pressue buddy...this only determines the course for the rest of your life.



1st birthday party inspiration ideas

It's almost little guy's first birthday...I still can't and won't believe he's growing up SO fast.  I remember last year at this time I had just started maternity leave and was pretty bored out of my mind for the first week or so.  In order to take my mind off of feeling swollen and heavy, I perused 1st birthday ideas for fun (did you know I like to plan ahead?).

Korean tradition makes a big deal out of the first birthday (or dohl) as its original intent was to celebrate an infant's survival back in the time of high mortality rates.  Over the years, especially with the rise of the internet and photography blogs, people have been one-upping each other to put together an even bigger, highly styled, more whimsical bash.  I won't even try to keep up given my already crazy life, so I'm trying to keep things simple and easy. 

So for those curious to know what a dohl celebration is like, I thought pictures could explain this better than any words can :)




From uncleowly - an example of a traditional dohl table. 



from kokoliving.com - one that combines tradition with a modern flair.



From terryandesther.blogspot.com - whimiscal princess theme



from kokoliving.com - simple and elegant

 It's been difficult narrowing down the design elements from so many insipirational blogs and photos online, but I think I've put together something simple and fun at the end.  Pictures to follow after this weekend's festivities!



It's been a LONG time

...since my last post.  Juggling work, family, baby, friends, and miscellaenous other stuff (like trying to maintain a tiny fragment of a social life), really eats away at the time I planned to allocate to updating this blog.  I can't believe the July's ending soon - summer is halfway over already (and so is 2011!)

One of my biggest challenges in blogging is re-learning how to write in a open and engaging way, especially given that the bulk of any writing in the last several years has been very cut-and-dry stuff like emails and application review comments.  I hope that this blog will help me develop a stronger writing style which infuses more of my own personality within its contents!

Moving onto another topic, I've belatedly started planning A's first birthday party (called the dohl), which is a pretty significant event in korean culture.  I like to call it "my second wedding," as it entails just as much planning and stress (many moms say even more).  With the event less than 2 months away and nothing really done, I've got a ton of stuff to do.  More details on dohl planning in future posts!

Decoration-less for Xmas

I love the holidays, but this year it seems to be passing by in a big blur.  With the little one and now the anticipation of returing to work, I've barely had time to acknowledge the fact that Christmas is only a few weeks away.

Cluttered rooms make me feel claustrophobic, and I've always liked minimal, simple decorations for the holidays.  With our small living room already filled with furniture and miscellaneous baby items, getting a tree is out of the question.  However, I still want the house to feel a little festive and this picture from Ohdeedoh would be great for our space.  Unfortunately, we have a big flatscreen TV above our mantle, but the stockings, twinkle lights, and knicknacks might work. 

I love the chalk-drawn fire in the fireplace!  So cute...

2 month update

At the beginning of the year, one of my resolutions was to be more consistent at writing blogs.  I've failed somewhat miserably at this.  Though I tried justifiying this because of the pregnancy and being a first-time mom, they aren't the best excuses because I see lots of pregnant and/or FTMs that somehow find the time to update their blogs.  These women must either have clones of themselves or not sleep more than 2 hours a day. 

Every year around this time, I say the same thing - "I can't believe the year's almost over!"  What's really scary is that time seems to go faster on a daily basis.  I clearly remember writing my first blog post  back in September 2009 while traveling for recruiting trips, and now it's already been over a year since then.  Ever seen the episode of "Twilight Zone" where a man finds a stopwatch that stops time?  I need one of those.

November has flown by and Aaron's grown tremendously.  He's almost double his birthweight - currently at 10 lbs. 11 oz.  Granted, he was a tiny baby...but still!  I'm a little sad that he's no longer the wee little newborn swimming in his baby clothes.  My eyes got a little watery as I put away some of the clothes that no longer fit him because he's outgrown them. 

I'm returing to work in less than 2 weeks, and each day my heart aches a little more thinking about it.  The first few weeks of motherhood, I was itching to get back to my old life and return to work, craving that sense of normalcy and the "good old days" because I was so tired and overwhelmed.  I missed the silence of our house pre-baby, and the prospect of a solid 8 (or more) hours of sleep after a long day of work.  How things have changed...how I've changed!  I don't mind getting up at 3AM to the sounds of Aaron's cries for food.  Squeezing in a shower during naptime and wearing the same spit-up stained clothes for days on end isn't so bad either.  Hanging out at home amusing Aaron with faces and babytalk isn't boring - the smiles they bring forth are worth it. 

I've always feared that I was born without a maternal bone in my body, and the first month of motherhood almost made me feel like this was confirmed.  It took a while to bond with little Aaron, and now I can't imagine life without him.  Gladly, I give up sleeping in, drinking alcohol, and my overall independence for him.  Being a mother is the hardest thing I've done, but the rewards are totally worth it!

1 month update

It's been over a month since Aaron was born.  The time went both slowly and quickly.  Slowly during those early days coping with sleep deprivation and learning the hard way all the tricks of becoming a new parent.  Quickly because, well, it's already been a month and I can see so much growth already.  Some milestones over the past 4 weeks include:

week 1: breastfeeding - it was painful for both of us.  He developed nipple confusion from taking some glucose water and formula from a bottle, so our first night home included an epic fight to get him to latch onto the breast.  For the next few weeks, I dealt with sore, blistered nipples :(

week 2:  sleeping - sleep deprivation started to wear on me at this point.  Fortunately, Aaron started to sleep better through the night, and he took regular daytime naps.

week 3:  stir-crazy - baby blues combined with being confined indoors started to drive me crazy.  I didn't think that it would affect me that much since I normally don't get very moody and my emotions were pretty level during pregnancy, but it's so crazy how hormones can affect a woman on such a level! 

week 4:  sleeping again - somehow, Aaron's developed an attachment to being held.  Late this week, it's gotten to the point where he won't nap unless he's held during the day.  Strangely, he still sleeps perfectly well during the night in his crib.  What to do?

Now we're in week 5, and aside from the daytime napping issues, he's great - eating, pooping, and growing like crazy. 

Here's a picture of Aaron from his first Halloween, dressed as a bee!