Friday, July 27, 2012

I have to get these pictures up during the last few minutes of nap time because we are about to fly to Australia by way of Malaysia. Fun! No time for talking, just looking.

Monday, July 16, 2012

I have the worst deathbed timing. My last major bout of food poisoning came when I was pregnant and our water had just been turned off for leak management (because buildings in Korea are built only with hindsight) while we maintained bathroom operations out of a huge bucket full of water. This time Dan was in Gwangju for a days long business trip. Each time the culprit has been chicken gimbap. Don't eat the chicken gimbap, you guys. Chicken is too scurrilous. You know that GS 25 isn't air conditioned half the day, and we've all pulled too many lukewarm sodas out of convenience store fridges. That chicken is just sitting there vacillating between its safe and unsafe meat temperatures, slowly turning into a poison that will level you to the ground while you have a crawling baby to corral. I couldn't even sit up for all of Friday, let alone the let alones.

But, look, I didn't die! I discovered how to trick a retching stomach out of recidivism (apparently you don't eat or drink for two hours after expelling your innards so as not to re-trigger the expelling of your innards). I found another use for diapers. I learned how good Joah mind me when the bathroom proves too far. And, at least for a day or two, I hyper-valued so many things about regular life, chief among them this babe, but also just walking to another room without feeling faint.



Speaking of this babe, he likes to play hide and seek with the curtains in the living room. Especially these curtains because of the stroller, boxes, luggage, and musical instruments stored behind them.
  We were watching some Sesame Street video with characters who kept repeating the word "radio," and he started sounding out. He's such a smarty pants.
  Swoopy baby profile.
 
Sitting by the fan, catching the wind.

And here's something, if your baby is a lunatic, as most babies are, and keeps waking up all night, huddled in a corner, clutching the footboard of his crib, maybe he doesn't know how to lay back down in order to put himself to sleep, and you should probably spend a night encouraging him to let go and lay down without physically re-positioning him yourself, and then everyone's lives (and sleep) will improve at least until the next thing happens that re-renders sleep insignificant to your infant son.

Thursday, July 12, 2012


He can't sleep, but he can back himself off the bed. That's something.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012


On the heels of the total annihilation of any semblance of sleep routine come more sleep pictures. We had a day with no naps and several nights of only 9 total, incredibly disjointed hours of sleep...for the baby. I have been averaging probably 3-6 with a sometime bonus hour if Dan is able to to play with Joash before work. It has been a merciless adventure like the Oregon trail. But I feel good about tonight. We are going to shore up our bedtime routine, permanently including baths and being vigilant about story time. Meanwhile, solids three times a day (including new things like blueberries and mushy peas, which I myself choked down gagging and groaning while he proudly gobbed them into his mouth) with enough time elapsed before bed to avoid nighttime gas (for my notoriously gassy, explodey offspring). We'll do a Dr. Sears approved pass off to Dad before bedtime, which means that Dan gets to put him in the crib with the admonition to "go to sleep, it's bedtime." And, most importantly, I got my right attitude back, and I had 16 ounces of coffee drink today. It isn't easy, but it's possible, right?



This is the hardest kind of sleeper to move, for cuteness and logistics.


Homemade sleep mask.

Some of Dan's phone pictures:

So serious about his biscuits. If he sees the McVitie's box, he squeals or shrieks, contingent upon our generosity with said biscuits.

 
He definitely enjoys the train more when he is unwrapped. All the better to stare and paw at people with.

 
He's a natural model.

 
And an avid crawler. I had a dream last night that he started walking. I can't even believe I experienced enough REM sleep to dream. Anyhow, I wouldn't mind a walker. He sure is sticky enough in this hot, humid summer to have steady footing. His knees and wood floors work in tandem like brand name Velcro.

Saturday, July 7, 2012


Joash is in his last baby month, month 11, and he is set to turn one when we visit Australia (and Quinn and Korrine) next month. I would say that I can't believe it, but I have been awake for most minutes of these last 11 months, so I can actually believe it pretty well, and, as such, I don't feel like I missed much. I still can't believe that we made a human. That's still the weird part of it all.

Today he has a fever, so he is acting like he likes me lots and lots. He didn't even destroy my block towers seconds after I built them.

Anyhow, here are some cute pictures.

Monday, July 2, 2012


Joash is in, what I hope will prove to be, a phase of somewhat constant fussiness throughout his days. Every change of direction is met with sometimes mild, often urgent weeping and moaning, so I took video of it throughout the week (usually to complain to his dad). His excessive cuteness doesn't help with the crying, but it does make it easier to look back on fondly. It is because they can be so sour that babies prove to be so sweet.