Feeling under the weather: Day 4

Emily's fever is gone but her nose is still runny and full of snot!  Every time she sneezes, it's quite a production.  Jason's cousin once told me that once baby gets their first runny nose, it doesn't really stop until they're one.  No kidding!!  She's been really needy and clingy to me and even though it's tiring holding her 24/7,  I still love that she needs me. 

I don't feel good Mommy

Not much of an appetite either

There's a smile...sort of!

Dinner Party (NBR)

This post is NBR = not baby related.  A term I picked up on The Bump.  The moms on these forums talk in code.  I spent a lot of time trying to decipher the posts in the 0-3 months forum during the wee morning hours of Emily's newborn days.

I'm in the mood for a dinner party.  An adults only, fancy shmancy pants, classy dinner party with sexy, sophisticated food and ah-mazing wine and cocktails that will have me talking for weeks.  Maybe I've been watching too much RHOBH (guilty pleasure) and the food network.  I've been thinking so much about baby friendly foods lately that I'm starting to fantasize about oysters, caviar, lobster, uni pasta and mind blowing wine (I'm a BIG seafood fan).  I want to put on some fake lashes, fabulous sparkly earrings, a nice dress (stretchy of course) and have an amazing meal with my amazing hubby, amazing friends and talk about things other than naps, tantrums and babyproofing. 

My new full time job

I've always loved cooking and anything food related.  I follow Hellobee religiously and get so inspired by Bee's bentos.  They're amazing and I've always loved bento boxes myself.  Now that Emily is one, I'm excited to start cooking with more variety in her menu.  It's very time consuming to cook/prepare Emily's breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, get her to try to eat it and then clean up said breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks if the dogs haven't done so already.  It's my new full time job! 

I love watching the food network channel and get so inspired by all of the different chefs, although I could do without the recent scripted drama of restaurant stakeout shows.  They should have a cooking for kids show! 

Here are a few pics of the amazing bentos I love from Hellobee:

Hellobee

Hellobee

Hellobee

Hellobee

Here's a great start entry with tips.  I really enjoy browsing her pictures and always get new ideas for Emily. 

I hear from mommy friends with older kids that it is very stressful when their kids don't eat.  I can relate a little bit since Emily has her days when she throws almost everything on the floor and just doesn't seem interested.  Lately her favorite foods are cheese, yogurt, bread, peas, soup and pears.

Emily started getting a fever in the late afternoon and spit up a few times.  I think it might be teething and hope it isn't the stomach virus again.  Poor baby.

Snuggling with Daddy for some TLC

Our baby sleeping in the position she finds most comforting <3

Pictures from yesterday:

Coloring

Doggies hoping Emily will share

Playdate at David's!  Not a happy camper in this picture

Emily is ONE

It literally does seem like yesterday as I think back to the time I was anxiously waiting for the arrival of our little baby girl.  I remember staying up all night crying through contractions, what I ate before we went to the hospital and how incredibly excited I was to finally meet the baby I'd been carrying for what seemed like forever.  Emily's first year has been full of surprises, tough and the most rewarding as a first time mom.  There were ups and downs, highs and lows and many, many lessons learned.  I've been pushed to my limits, my patience tested time and time again and I've never, ever felt this level of exhaustion before.  As scary as all this may sound,  it is also by far the BEST thing ever.  Every fiber of my being and every cell in my body light up whenever Emily smiles, laughs or does the amazingly cute things she does everyday.  She continues to amaze me and I feel beyond blessed and incredibly thankful.  Makes me want to have ten more babies!!

 

I took Emily to the indoor playground today and she had a lot of fun as usual.  It wasn't as crowded as last time so she had more room to crawl around and explore.  There were a few other kids and Emily seemed to want to play with them and kept staring in their direction.  Once we're all settled in at the new house I'm signing her up for Gymboree so she can have more interaction with other babies.  Afterwards, we went to Toys R Us and I bought her a ball.  She loves it!  In sticking with Korean tradition, I made her seaweed soup for dinner and she gobbled it all up and even finished all her juice.  I love it when meal time is a success.

 

 

 

Here are some updates:

Sleep: She is still taking 2-3 naps a day lasting 30 minutes to 1.5 hours max.  Most of the time, they're 30 minute naps.  She has been going to bed later at around 9-10PM and wakes up at 7:30AM.

Eat: She drinks 25-28oz of formula a day with two solid meals (bfast & dinner) and a snack of yogurt and crackers in between.  I was trying to feed her three solid meals but she wasn't interested in eating much during lunchtime.  She's picky on some days and a little oinker on others.  She will love something one day and hate it the next.  Pears, however, are always a hit.  She's a strategic eater and will eat all of one thing before moving on to another.  Lately, she always eats her cheese and peas first.  She gets a kick out of sharing her food with the dogs (they love it too). 

Play: Her play has become more purposeful and incredibly fun to watch.  She likes to open and close any door she can get her hands on, fill and empty any available containers with blocks and balls and she uses more defined hand gestures and babbles while entertaining herself.  She loses interest in one thing pretty quickly and is on to the next which keeps me on my toes.  She's more curious, determined and mischievous than the day before. 

Walking: She's not quite there yet but has been cruising faster, willing to stand more and will now leap from object to object with a victory grunt. 

Stranger anxiety: Yup.  Still there :)

We'll be getting her updated stats at her one year appointment.  

Emily's DOL video

Enjoy!

Emily's DOL

After weeks of planning and running around to every discount store in the area, Emily's DOL was a success!  It was so much fun and really heartwarming to celebrate Emily's first birthday with our family and friends.  My brother took great photos which I will share later once they're ready.

Prepping:

My box of crafts that come in handy for projects!

 The Dol was at Garden Buffet in Cerritos.  Thank you Jackie & Jess for helping me set up!!

Knocked out after her party

Starting to stand more!

Hubby and I celebrating after all the hard work.

Now that the dol is over, I can focus on packing.  The Han family is moving!! 

Bedtime

We got really lucky with Emily's sleep and she started sleeping through the night at around four months.  Sleep training wasn't as difficult as I was anticipating and she was really great about falling asleep on her own, in her crib.  As her first birthday fast approaches, the sleep training went out the window and we're co-sleeping to get her to fall asleep before moving her to her crib.  Why the back tracking?  Because of ME!  Somewhere along the line of being a busy working mama, I started missing Emily SO MUCH that I wanted her to fall asleep next to me so the co-(fall asleep)sleeping started!  I don't mind it at all but I know it's not good for her sleep habits.  Still, I can't stop.  I just love having her fall asleep with me.  Now that I'm not working anymore I figure we should start crib training again and have her be OK with it.  It's going to be hardest on me though since I cherish bedtime with her.

Got a hold of a pen and drew on herself

Naptime with Mommy