Toddling in the Windy City

Our flight from L.A. to Chicago last week was, how shall I say this nicely... um, PAINFUL. Jude is our champion frequent flyer. But after blessing us with an easy child like Jude, God may have decided to mix it up a bit and give us our second son. Not having a seat of his own on the plane, Eli whined, fidgeted, and cried for almost the entire flight. You might be thinking, c'mon, no child can be that difficult for an entire FOUR hour flight without getting tired at some point. Everyone? Meet Elijah Kim.

Did you notice something about that pic? Our Eli is officially a toddler. He took his first 11 consecutive steps at our friends' Jeny & Sungjai's home in Chicago and now loves to walk around everywhere. Our trip to Chicago was so nice that the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad flight was worth it. A week seems like a decent amount of time, but I really didn't get to do half the things I wanted to. Most important, however, was Eli's first birthday party (dohl). Although most of our friends back in Chicago did not see Eli during his first year of life, they graciously came to celebrate with us. That speaks of what wonderful friends we have and why I can't figure out how my husband has not moved us back already.

Also high on the agenda was Jude's week long 3rd birthday celebration which included an evening out alone with Kathy Eemo and Uncle Stace as well as another family get-together at Chuck E. Cheese (a special request from Jude):

It was a nice vacation for everyone. Kwang spent some quality time golfing, golfing, and golfing some more. And Jude spent a lot of quality time with his cousins. I imagine his senses probably exploded each morning he walked into their home. He got to play with and ride so many of their toys, toys he thought only existed in toy stores and remained there.

(Cousin Noelle and Jude)

Normally a plastic helicopter will keep Jude plenty entertained. This is not the case when his cousins have their own Nintendo DS Lites. Can you tell which is my son and which are my nephew Zach and niece Meghan? The non-electronic toy and crazy hair should be dead giveaways:

I did get to see some friends, but it was pretty obvious that while they missed me, they really just wanted to see Eli. Soon after this picture was taken, my friend Jane ate her panang curry chicken with a side of Eli's cheeks:

Fortunately, our return flight was much, much better than our departure. Both boys were fast asleep when we pulled into our garage last night, safely back home in L.A. Here is the conversation I had with my half-asleep Jude as I unbuckled his carseat:

Me: Come on Jude, we're home now. This is our house, remember?
Jude: (looking around the garage from his carseat, a bit disoriented) House?
Me: Yes.
Jude: (pause) Home?
Me: Yes.
Jude: (frowning and burying his face in my shoulder) I want to go to Chicago.

Happy 1st Birthday To My Little Eli

Eli has begun this horrible habit in the last day or so. Whenever I'm holding him, he finds his nostril to be the most comfortable, convenient, perhaps coziest place to rest his finger in. He's not doing anything with it but holding it there. I take it out, it goes back in. Take it out, back in it goes. It's a spectacular display of unpleasantness. And yet, even something that annoying is adorable when it's Eli doing it. Like when he takes the TV remote, points it at the TV, and clicks to another channel while simultaneously looking at us and saying "uh-ooh". We're beginning to see a mischievous little boy emerging and it frightens me a bit.

But this same little boy is also my baby. I love that I can console him like no one else can if he wakes up crying late in the evening. I love how excited he gets when he sees Jude's bowl of gook-bahb even when I just finished feeding him dinner. He squeals and looks at me excitedly as if to say that he needs a bowl of gook-bahb like no one has ever needed a bowl of gook-bahb in the history of the world. I love that already he can't seem to live with or without his older brother. I love that God reminds me of His graciousness and omnipotence when I look at my son.

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, but it was difficult to sit and write my usual lighthearted jibberish after the tragedy at VA Tech. Although I personally did not know anyone who died, I was devastated for the families who lost loved ones, children in particular. It's difficult to think of the world we've brought our children into and not be shaken. The world has gone on, but these families have been permanently altered and the healing is just beginning for them. To think of parents lovingly and tirelessly raising their child for some 20 years only to lose him/her in such a brief and horrific moment, well, it's overwhelming to imagine. It has caused me to realize the overwhelming love I have for my own children. Eli has been in the world for just one short year but it has been such a full year that I can't imagine my life without him.

Happy 1st birthday pumpkin! You have made my world a more colorful one.

Why I Already Fear Becoming a Monster-In-Law

Spring is here! And it feels exactly like winter... as well as autumn...

But we love it nonetheless! I showed Jude how to catch bubbles without popping them. He has the time of his life with a fifty cent (not to be mistaken with a "fiddycent") bottle of bubbles, although you can't tell by the photo below because he is trying very hard to resist the urge to pop the bubble with his other hand while I take the pic. I'm a playtime killjoy, I know:

Here are a couple of cute things I've heard Jude say lately:

• "Look at me, Ah-bbah! Look at me Kwang Ah-bbah!"
  
• While sitting on the potty: "Uhm-mah, can you get me a magazine?"

What I find cutest is when we see how much he loves his family through his words. As we were leaving our friends' home last week:

• Kwang: "Jude, should we take Matthew with us and leave Eli with Uncle Charles and Auntie Jean?"
  Jude: "No."
  Kwang: "Why not?"
  Jude: "I want my brother."

And while we were watching Charlotte's Web and Jude laughed at a scene with Dakota Fanning:

• Kwang: "Jude, do you like that girl?"
  Jude: "No." (pausing, thinking, and then pointing at me) "I like that girl."
  Me:

The other week, Kwang's cousin told me she saw a teddy bear in a store that reminded her of Eli.

Unduhwear

The boys had some fun in the sun this weekend...

Jude and Eli loved the pool. It was pretty chilly outside which is why Jude was shivering like crazy and we had to force him to dry off. But for some reason, Eli didn't shiver once. So we could only conclude it was due to his natural insulation:

Today's Easter message spoke of how Jesus rose from the dead in three days, the good news of the gospel. Though far less significant but still good news for our family, in three days Jude was potty trained. A few weeks ago, we bought some briefs for him and although he was excited to sport Thomas the Tank Engine and Lightning McQueen on his little butt, we didn't make a focused effort to train him until last weekend. I had heard from my sister and friends who are more experienced mothers that if he didn't seem ready, it's quicker and easier to wait until he's closer to 3yrs old. So that's what I did. What?! Lisa does something that marks her as a procrastinating mother taking the easy route? Unheard of. I decided to wait until a month before he turned three thinking it may take the entire month. But my sister and friends were right! THREE DAYS. My Jude is a potty-using superstar. I had to take this picture without him knowing. Don't you love the GOLF Magazine toilet reading?

My sister and brother-in-law sent the boys an Easter package of goodies, including a children's book about Easter that we read with Jude over the past few days:

At Jean & Charles' home, Eli tried to shoot some hoops with Matthew but instead learned what home court advantage meant:

Eli didn't like that so much:

The Beginning of the End

I'm extra excited when I get off work at 3pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, because I get to pick Jude up from school. If ever you feel lonely or unpopular, I highly recommend having a kid. In an instant, they can make you feel like the greatest person existing in the whole wide world. Jude is so happy to see me and gives me the warmest welcome. Oftentimes, he wakes up in the morning not wanting to leave our comfy home for school, so I have to force him. I feel so bad. He's a homebody like me. But there hasn't been a time when he's told me afterward that he didn't have a great day at school. Kwang has had to remind me more than once that it's good for Jude socially. Whenever I arrive to pick him up, I don't tell him I'm there and will just observe him playing. It's really cute to watch. He's learned a lot of wonderful things at school. Then again, he's also learned how to shoot me with his imaginary Buzz Lightyear hand laser.

So the week AFTER Jude's school pictures, Kwang decided to cut his hair. I gave him a disappointed look and he told me he actually wanted Jude's hair to be long for school pictures.. obviously one of the things he and I disagree on... like which town is better-- Los Angeles or Chicago? Yes, I would say Chicago. Of course, people say Los Angeles has the nicer weather. But did you know LA folk also experience weather hardships? As I was driving into work one day last week, I heard on the radio that there was currently a "Winter Storm Warning" which was immediately followed by a "with a high today of 70 degrees." Is that as confusing to you as it was to me? Or how about the time the radio informed me that we were under a "Drizzle Watch?" I AM NOT EVEN JOKING.

Anyway, the experiment is finally coming to an end. We've given Jude's hair a partial cut, but we're not sure what to do with it at this point. As bad as it looks now, the fact that it's an improvement from last week is a sign that it was THAT BAD. Poor guy. Does he really deserve to have such silly parents and be the victim of amateur haircuts from a mom whose high school picture reveals a perming wonder and a dad who had longer bangs than his mom?

What's Eli up to these days, you ask? Still not walking. But hey, he can shoot a basketball!

 

Warning: Video Clip Overload

As I was folding laundry yesterday (again, our never-ending laundry), the NCAA basketball tournament was on. While I can't remember what two teams were playing, I do remember watching a Coca-Cola commercial with a college athlete talking about his grandfather coming to watch him play and what that meant to him. For some reason, it got me a little choked up. A soda commercial. I always find March Madness to be one of the more thrilling sports tournaments of the year. There is always a number of crazy games and the emotions run so high. My favorite part is, of course, watching the "One Shining Moment" montage at the end. It's a bit cheesy but the highlights, soft lighting, and music give me goose pimples every time. Here is my own version of One Shining Moment (we're not quite sure why he's doing what he's doing w/his tongue):

I don't know what's happened since I got married and had kids. Growing up, I would rarely choke up from watching a movie or TV show. Now, I become a complete mess. We watched the movie Babel last night (not recommended), and I had to turn my head away during some of the scenes involving children going through some kind of suffering, even heat exhaustion. It's silly because I know it's not real. But I don't even like it when Kwang plays jokes on the boys. Here he is reading a book with Jude about parent and baby animals and he purposely sets Jude up to say "I'm sad."

And here he is filming Eli demonstrating his latest act, the dramatic head tossing because he's upset. This is almost always done when there's food being prohibited:

And finally, here is Eli showing off his latest athletic skill-- kicking a soccer ball:

You may have wondered, "Wait, can he walk now?" which is a reasonable question. But as you can see from the clip, the answer is no. We've taught him to kick a soccer ball before successfully teaching him how to walk. So if there was a list of parents who exemplify how to logically raise a child, we would be on the other list.

 

Cowboy Jude

It's been a very long and tiring two weeks at the office. A lot of overtime and weekend work until the early mornings. As hard as it is to work normal days and take care of two boys (three if you count Kwang ), having to stay up and use my little brain for such long hours has left me in a state of exhaustion I haven’t felt in a very long time. I can haul groceries with the bags under my eyes. 

Fortunately, the monstrous application we released went well and I'm thankful for the people I work with. But I'm mostly thankful for Kwang who had no problem taking care of both Jude and Eli last weekend by himself and without complaint. He even had friends over for a poker night. My co-workers think he's quite a stud. I'm writing this because I know he'll hate it, but really, I don't know many guys who could handle such a weekend as effortlessly as he did. As a treat for me, Eli got to spend some time at my office. My director kept staring at him wondering how such a delicious profusion of chub could possibly be my offspring. And at 8pm each night, I would put Jude's goodnight call on speaker phone for all my teammates to hear. Yes, yes, I'm one of THOSE annoying co-workers.

Is "uh-oh" an actual word? Because if it is, Eli can say his first word! I was just doing it the other week to get a smile from him, but to my surprise he repeated me and later used it in context. It was very cute. Well, what do you know. I just looked it up in Merriam-Webster and it is a word!

Although Jude enjoys his trains, he has never loved them like he has his Cars. I love watching him play with his growing collection while reenacting scenes from the movie. It puts him in a happy place. 

Today was "country western day" at Jude's school. He had a blast digging for gold, getting his face painted, and riding a pony.  

And despite this project at work, what may have stressed me out just as much was that Tuesday was Jude's school picture day. If you've been following my Chronicles of Crazy Hair, you can easily imagine the mop I had to tame early Tuesday AM. I doubt it will be his best picture but I hope he is able to laugh about it later. It may almost look as nice as my third grade picture where my eyes are super puffy from crying because my mom made me wear a skirt.

 

Don't Need No Hateration, Holleratin'

A few weeks ago at church, Jude tried to stop a fight between two older boys. It was pretty funny to watch because the two boys were bigger than him and paid no attention as he tried to get in between to break them up. What is difficult to watch is when someone is unnecessarily rough with Jude. The only time I think it is okay for Jude to push anyone is if he's pushing Eli on, say, a stuffed duck.

Jude plays well alone and with other kids. He knows not to take things from other children even though he may want them, so I think that makes it difficult for him to understand why someone would take something he's happily playing with. Some may think I'm cruel for watching rather than intervening right away, but part of me doesn't want to shelter him. I'm thankful to be able to see him interact with all types of kids. I don't know what the best way to handle an altercation is, really. I'm actually softer than Kwang in this matter and don't know if I can subscribe to all of his thoughts but I trust he has more insight when it comes to boys since I was raised in a home of three girls. I think, in general, Jude has a kind heart for a two year old. I absolutely love that about him and find it hard not to adore a soul like his. At the same time, I wonder if his heart may be too tender for his own good. That would mean he takes after me, because Kwang bullies me all the time. Kidding. But if that's the case, I hope we will have the wisdom to raise him to be a kind yet confident individual. Otherwise, we may have to enlist Eli to sit on anyone who messes with our Jude.

If you look closely, you will see bits of Jude's meal on Eli's face. That's when he's happiest-- when he's near food, anyone's food.

If you can't already tell by this post, I think I will always feel like a rookie mom. The cluelessness is palpable. The other day, Jude showed us he could spell his name... and we had no idea! 

Working Girl

Work has been busy, busy. After Jude & Eli have gone to bed, I've had to pull out my laptop every night to do some work which means I've only been playing with my kids as opposed to playing with them while taking photos of them playing and then writing what just happened. Yes, that is what I call a good time. Precious moments are flying by without my being able to inform the world of all the adorableness being had.

Jude doesn't throw fits very often and will lately inform us when he's upset. He'll say, "Uhmmah, I'm saaaaaad... I just go obur dere and play by myself..." and then he'll walk slowly away with his head down and shoulders hunched, wondering if we're watching him. That is his new thing. Quite a little thespian, our Jude. Before he concocted this interesting show, he had another amusing routine. When he would get sad or upset, he wouldn't cry or fuss. He would just get up, walk into a closet, and close the door. We found that pretty hilarious.

Jude's bedhead is so out of control that I have to wet and style it into a more organized 'fro before school. Strangely, this hasn't deterred others from wanting to look like him. Yesterday, Jude's teacher told me about another boy who has been wearing a band-aid on his forehead because Jude wears one on his to protect his scar from the sun. His class consists of about 10 boys and 1 girl named Tessa. Jude knows that I am a girl, Kwang is a boy, and Noah, Sean, and Dillon are boys. But when you ask him if Tessa is a girl he'll respond very matter of factly, "Nooooo... Tessa's a princess."

All I can really say about Eli today is that he is a Professional Eater. He can make plain tofu look like the yummiest, tastiest food around. He's so irresistable to me that 95% of the time we are together, I find my lips glued to his chubby cheek. I don't want Eli to grow anymore and if he could just stop right now, I'd very much appreciate it.

From Hair to Hare

We gave Eli another haircut. We had decided to shave it before Access Hollywood informed us it was the latest trend. 

It was another week alone while Kwang traveled to London on business. I'm not a big fan of business travel. As my sister Kathy puts it, home really is much more about the people living in it than anything else. Before Kwang left for the U.K., we shared a nice steak meal and a bottle of wine. Because I've been nursing Eli, I haven't indulged in wine in a VERY long time. The last time I recall was when I was unknowingly pregnant with Eli and had some wonderful chianti. I'm not much of a social drinker but I love having wine with a good steak. When we have it at home Kwang ends up drinking most of the bottle because I am such a lightweight. I assume I lack the supposed enzyme that many Asians do because I turn as bright as a ripe tomato at just the smell of alcohol.  What's worse is that I become a bubbly, non-stop chatterbox. And this is why Kwang does not encourage me to drink outside the confines of our home. He likes his usually quiet and gentle-spirited wife. Haha. So anyway, after having wine that night I sat at work the next day wondering if Eli would turn red and giddy after my mother-in-law fed him my milk. What a cute sight that would have been.

Jude still dreads bedtime and always wishes we could go to sleep together. It literally takes every ounce of will in me not to stay with him. It's so sad to see him sad. We've recently been reading Guess How Much I Love You at bedtime. I received this book three years ago at my baby shower for Jude and have eagerly waited for the day he would understand and enjoy it. Together, we love to read and imitate the pages of this charming book. What's funny is that when we near the end, Jude suddenly gets a very serious look on his face and takes a deep breath. This happens every night. He then gets teary-eyed when we get to the page where Little Nutbrown Hare gets sleepy. You'd think the next page reveals Little Nutbrown Hare dying some sort of tragic death. Instead, he just falls fast asleep in his father's arms. It's a wonderful, feel-good story for everyone but Jude. That is how sad he gets every night about going to bed. It's cute but heartrending to watch him quickly wipe his tears with his shirt sleeves so he can see the pictures. I guess I'm writing this for no other reason than for me to recollect later, because it is at times like this that I just want to squeeze Jude and tell him I love him all the way "up to the moon-- and back."

 

The Jude Hair Growth Experiment

Last week while driving my mother-in-law home, we passed by a KFC that Kwang witnessed a robbery at when he was a little boy. When it happened, he was standing in front of the cashier when a man next to him took out a gun and asked the worker for money. This took place while his father and older brother sat in the car waiting for him to order the food. He was about 6 or 7 years old. I never heard this story until last week and have only heard of times when his father & brother would wait in the car while Kwang retrieved jugs of water for the family. I get sad thinking of Little Kwang being the family gopher. In some ways, though, I think it's helped him become the generous and patient person he is now. It's joked about from time to time, but I don't dispute the notion that Kwang's brother has always been the favored son. Instead of posting a picture of Kwang and his brother, here is one of their sons Mr. Manning & Mr. Timberlake:

(Note: Justin is larger than he appears. For some reason, he tends to slouch whereas Eli sits straight up, most likely to hold up his sizeable noggin.)

The other week, I asked another mother of two young boys if she sees herself favoring one of her children. As much as I'd love to say I won't, I've heard from many people that it just happens. So far, I don't have a favorite between Jude and Eli. Of course, Jude's hair right now could very well drive me to favor Eli. I'd personally like to end this lovely anti-gravity experiment, but Kwang wants to keep growing it out. I think even Jude might find it a bit frightful (notice how difficult it is to get it all in one picture):

Fact is, I favor both my boys! They change my world everyday in such wonderful ways. Eli will be turning the big O-N-E in about two and a half months, so we've begun teaching him that he is one year old.

He's learned this more quickly than we thought. Problem is, when we would ask "Eli, how old are you?" he would do this:

So we've been working to correct him:
 

Finally, I hope everyone had a wonderul Valentine's Day! Although it's a rather superfluous occasion, I can appreciate an observance of love and good cheer when there is so much in the world today that is dark and melancholy. I can't really say Kwang is the romantic type, so I am especially touched when he sends flowers to brighten my day at work. And I love his practicality in sending them the day before the holiday to save money. 

Because Jude's hair cannot be contained in one post

These days, Jude and I spend a lot of time playing "fort". We drape a blanket over four chairs and have ourselves a good ol' time. We even share a nice, cool, imaginary drink when it's raining "outside". We then leave our little fort and go to the forest next door, also known as the daybed or the "spooooky forest" as Jude calls it. Sometimes we'll hide in our fort when we hear Kwang coming home. I'm not sure where he learned the word "spooky", but I have a feeling it's from an episode of Little Einsteins. It's the only show he watches everyday. It's a good show that has taught Jude musical terms like "fortissimo!" and "accelerando!", plants like the anemone, and animals like the "cwockydile". But I knew my sub-par, TV-allowing parenting would bite me in the butt one day. He's seen this episode many times, but since his vocabulary and understanding have expanded dramatically over the last month, so has his awareness of everything around him. Now he doesn't like to go to sleep at night alone even though we make him. The first time, we woke up to find him asleep on the floor next to us. It was the cutest but saddest thing. Now if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he'll come to our room to make sure we're in bed, and then head straight back to his room. I know it's silly, but the parent in me wishes I can protect him from everything scary or spooky he'll experience in life. You know, things like lowfat ice cream.

We ask Eli if he wants to play Fort with us, but the boy is always too busy talking on the phone.

And so it is

Congrats to Indianapolis. Great speech by Coach Dungy. And the interview Lovie Smith gave after the game was just as classy, I thought. How can you not love the Midwest? After seeing a picture I had on my desk of Jude & Eli in full Chicago gear last week, a co-worker of mine told me he grew up a diehard Bears fan. A friend of his here in L.A, also a Bears fan, hosted a Superbowl party and catered Portillos! They met at a bar in West L.A. that is exclusively a Chicago Bears bar. How great is that? CHICAGO FANS ARE EVERYWHERE. Gotta love it! Superbowl, we will be back.

Fortunately, I had my Chicago bud to watch this year's Superbowl with. I'm thankful to have not only one of my closest friends from Chicago out here, but the one who loves to watch sports even more than I do. Jean is a pretty crazy enthusiastic fan. What great husbands Kwang & Charles are to watch the big game with two... girls.

Chicago fans in the making, Matthew & Eli:

Matthew is 1½ months younger than Eli. And Eli is 1½ months younger than his cousin Justin (Bo & Bonnie's son). It's a cutie patootie sandwich. Justin & Eli are two of the most serious-looking infants I know:

I often tease that Jude will despise having a mother who broadcasts his weekly activities to her 300 closest internet friends and family. But I really hope he doesn't. If my mom kept a blog, I think I would appreciate learning her joys, struggles, and day-to-day musings as a mother and homemaker. The world has changed so much. What would I do without the internet, this amazing source of information and communication available at my fingertips? In this digital-crazed world, my kids have had more pictures taken of them in two years than I have had my entire life. Not only that, my sons will never know what "be kind, please rewind" means or what it is like to have to sit through commercials. Lucky ducks.

The love/hate relationship that is growing between Jude & Eli is pretty funny and adorable (right now). I can appreciate the times Jude needles Eli and roughs him up a bit, because I also see the natural, caring affection he has for his younger brother. I think Eli knows this, too, because even at this young age he is still drawn to his older brother despite Jude using his head as a practice golf ball:

After seeing the clip, you're probably thinking, "That's it?" Well, it's for my parents in Chicago who are watching Eli grow via xanga. But if you lived with Eli for the past nine months and, like me, wondered if he might ever have the desire to move from point A to point B on his own before reaching kindergarten you, too, would probably delight in this rather uneventful footage of him ascending the stairs. Besides, how could you not want to squeeze that waddling little booty?

 

Snow Day

Jude was in an exceptionally good mood the other evening and happily recited both the Bible and Beyonce. As I mentioned before, he really dislikes the camera so I was surprised to have gotten this footage. Even though he knows more age-appropriate songs like "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "This Little Light of Mine", it's just funnier watching him sing Beyonce. You can tell I'm striving hard for Parent of the Year.

Jude's class had a "snow day" Friday. For the rest of the country, this means "no school". In SoCal, however, it means I can bring Jude to school on his off-day to play in specially delivered snow placed in a section of the parking lot. I had a meeting conflict at work, but fortunately my director understood that this midwest girl will do anything to expose her kid to semi-real winter conditions. Actually, it wasn't even close to semi-real because I was still wearing short sleeves. Nevertheless, Jude had a great time sledding and throwing snowballs. He cried when it was over and we had to go home. Must be the Chicago in him...

Baby Eli, as you know, doesn't attend school yet and still studies diligently at home.

 

We are the Bears Shufflin' Crew

Chicago is going to the Superbowl!

In other sports news, Jude hits a homerun, rounds the bases, and slides into home...

You may think we are conscientious parents and that thing on Jude’s head is a protective helmet he wears while playing baseball. But you would be mistaken… that is his hair. You might then think we are terribly neglectful parents for allowing our son to walk in public with such a mop in which case you are still mistaken. As much as we like his head shaved, we are purposely growing his hair out. Only problem is, Jude’s hair defies gravity. So unfortunately at this length, it continues to reach for the sky in classic chia pet fashion. If it doesn't go down, we will stage an intervention. But on the upside, the bedhead it produces every morning is fabulous.

I love playing with my boys and admit I am not a typical girl who loves make-up or buys lots of shoes and nice purses to change with my outfit. But as I was sliding into an imaginary home base while playing with Jude the other day, I commented to Kwang that it would be nice to have a daughter simply because if we don’t, I may be in danger of losing all the femininity in me. So the next day I had Jude sit with me during lunch as I perused my latest In Style magazine. Unfortunately, that didn’t make me feel much better. I suddenly felt very old when he pointed to a picture of Avril Lavigne and called her an ah-ju-mah.

As we sign off, Eli would like to bid you a fond farewell. It may not be the prettiest or most heartfelt wave, but our little pumpkin gets it.

Lellow

I'll be sad when Jude begins to accurately pronounce the color "yellow". There are just some things I don't wish to correct. His current favorite book is "Oh, The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss. He has been requesting this book every night but calls it the "Lellow Boy Book" because the main character is wearing a yellow outfit.

The Bears are going to the NFC Championship! Too bad I lost my copy of the "Superbowl Shuffle"...

Since my family visited a few weeks ago, Jude has reached a noticeably new level of speech & conversation. I can tell he loves being able to express his thoughts or ask questions in complete sentences. I’m surprised daily by a new phrase or verb tense he uses. But as quickly as he's growing, he is still our little Jude. He happily informs us when he's passed gas and exactly how many times (“Ah-bbah! I boomped two times!”) or when his nose itches ("Uhmmah! I got the burgert!"). The latter was a sentence that surprised me because I know I never taught him the word "booger". And no matter how many times I try to correct him, he insists that the flying vehicle Mickey Mouse rides is a SPACESHIT.

Jude loves to greet his brother in the morning when he hears him cooing.

Kwang was in London all week on business and then in Vegas this weekend w/friends. We missed him so much! Well, maybe just me & Jude. Eli might have thought of him once in a while, but I’m not sure he missed him. He was too busy catching up on his milestones. Our little Michelin man has started to show signs of authentic crawling. He can finally get his rotund belly off the floor! He is 8 months old which means he should probably be working on his cruising skills at this point. But being the mediocre mom that I am, it would go against my parenting practices to push him to learn faster. Yes, I am a disgrace to the Korean competitive spirit.

As much as I would love for my sons to be athletic, witty, artistic, handsome scholars, what I continually pray for most is their faith. I pray that God would help them grow into a deep understanding of who He is. There is so much I hope for regarding my sons, but my greatest if not only true hope is for their salvation. One of the best moments of my day is checking up on them before heading to bed. I love just watching them sleep. Oftentimes, it is at these moments that I am moved to lift them up in prayer one last time for the day.

"Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children."   Lamentations 2:19

 

Our rockstar son

Returning to work after the holidays hasn't been easy after a full week of nonstop fun with Jude & Eli. Well, almost nonstop... if it weren’t for the Terrible Twos blindsiding the Kim household. What in the world took over and possessed my fun lovin’ Jude? I admit I'm exaggerating slightly, but it’s certainly not a proud moment when your child is lying on the floor of Baja Fresh not wanting to eat his lunch. Doesn’t he realize that such a display is cute to, oh, absolutely no one? Being such a mellow fellow, he wasn’t throwing a tantrum. He was just lying there, apparently exhausted from all the energy we were exerting to get him to eat. And yet, I would somehow rather be there than sitting at work. Our office’s next scheduled holiday is Memorial Day. Oh... so... far... away...

What made the return to work even harder is that I am once again toting around my breastpump. I was spoiled for an entire week by having Eli with me all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I am very thankful for my Medela Pump 'n Style because without it, I wouldn’t be so happy to work. But with this wonderful modern technology comes all 153 pieces I have to clean and sterilize every night and then pack up every morning and carry to work. It can get a bit tiring. Of course, it’s all worth it when I go home and see my ever-growing Pillsbury doughboy.

Funny story, last week at Disneyland while Kwang was standing in a line holding Eli, some strangers went up to him and asked if they could take pictures with Eli. So these people we didn’t know took turns holding Eli and taking pictures. It was as if he was a celebrity.

Eli turned 8 months this week. It’s hard to imagine life without him and yet it seems like just yesterday I was pregnant. A friend recently mentioned that Koreans supposedly have the highest threshold of pain tolerance. I never would have guessed we Korean women are strong, because after giving birth, I think we’re required by law to keep ourselves wrapped in about four layers of clothing even in summer, not exposing an inch of skin to the air, and staying locked inside the house for at least one month or else? Well, or else we might die. Meanwhile, our Caucasian counterparts carry their newborns around outside three days after having major caesarian surgery. Hmm… go figure. I guess it makes sense if I think about it. Labor without epidural wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, thus the high pain threshold. But I did have this strange waddle afterwards because my bones felt funny. I was walking funny for weeks… and I couldn’t help it for the life of me! And this is all probably because I recklessly exposed my ankles to the harsh summer air.

Despite this more difficult age, Jude is still loads o’ fun. He’s fairly placid by nature and even quieter in public, so most people don’t get to see him in all his glorious, uninhibited cuteness. It’s also difficult to capture on camera because he detests being photographed or filmed. Fortunately, I am smarter than my 2 year old son and can hide where he cannot see me. Here is never before seen footage of our little musician. The passion with which he sings is unparalleled.

He’s seriously going to hate me when he grows up. Happy new year, everyone!