Back in Korea

Well, so much for my goal of writing once a week this year. That lasted for a few months, anyway, but I'm not even close to 52 entries for the year. It would help if I had any time to type with two hands these days, but I'm usually holding a baby with one hand. This morning Keegan and I both got up really early because the baby is asleep and we were so anxious to have some time to ourselves!

It's been a good week for Sophie. She and I have readjusted to Korean time and are in a good routine. Sophie has blossomed in the past few weeks into such a big girl! Her sitting ability has improved by leaps and bounds even over the past several days, and she is now basically sitting unsupported, although she does occasionally topple and bonk her head and howl. She now likes to sit up in the bathtub, which makes Mommy really nervous since she's still a little wobbly.

Sitting in the tub, with a mohawk no less.

She's also started making raspberry sounds and an occasional "b." It's so funny hearing her make those new noises.



Less tangibly, she seems to be more interested in the world around her. The other day I put her in the Moby wrap and did some chores around the house, and she watched quietly and intently the whole time. The funniest part was when I swept the floor. As I swept on one side, she would turn her head to see the broom, and then when I switched hands she would swivel around to see the other side. Nothing gets past Sophie! Keegan wants me to add that Sophie is "super grabby, like an octopus." It's true! She wants to get her hands on anything that Mommy and Daddy are interested in, including food, silverware, magazines, or anything within her reach when we're carrying her like hair, earrings, glasses, ears, etc.

We've enjoyed seeing some of the changes to Geoje that took place while we were gone. The biggest is that the bridge-tunnel to Busan officially opened on Tuesday. The bridge and the associated highway on northern Geoje have made a big difference to us. We can get right on the highway across the street from our apartment building and zip right past Okpo on our way to the shipyard or to Home Plus. It cuts about ten minutes off the drive, which is wonderful for Keegan since he drives that way every single day. It also cuts about an hour off of driving time to Busan, depending on traffic. Sophie and I tried out the new road on the way to Home Plus on Tuesday and enjoyed it very much. On Wednesday, we went out for a walk in the afternoon and discovered a new coffee shop down by the beach in Deokpo. My friend Mijung was having coffee there and invited us in to join her. It was a pleasant surprise to have coffee with a friend and to find this nice little coffee shop a two-minute walk from the house! On Thursday, our neighbor Sojung came over with her two-month-old Anna-Lynn, who has grown so much! She enjoyed trying out some of Sophie's toys and Sophie enjoyed grabbing at her with her octopus-like appendages.

Sophie eyeing Anna-Lynn's wrist rattle enviously.

Friday we went out for coffee with Sandra and Leandra and Leandra's family visiting from Brazil. Saturday morning we got to visit our Ukrainian friends Daniel and Marina and their two kids, Eli and Mia. Mia is just three weeks old now, and Eli is almost two. It was amazing to see how tiny Mia is and to think about what Sophie will look like and be like when she is two. Eli learned the English words for construction equipment during the construction of the highway near our apartment, and he spent much of the visit trying valiantly to spit out "bulldozer." Daniel and Marina seemed calm and confident and relaxed considering that they had just doubled their number of offspring.

That's about the shape of our week so far. We've been keeping busy! Today we plan to take a trip to Home Plus to buy some baby-proofing supplies, since Sophie seems to be on the cusp of at least a limited amount of mobility.

Sophie Update

I just finished writing an e-mail to my parents about their granddaughter and thought it would be good to share with the rest of the world:

Sitting here trying to catch up on e-mail while Sophie sleeps. Earlier this week I was despairing that I couldn't get her to take any naps and then the past few days she has gone down between 10 and 11 and slept for almost three hours! It's really nice to have the free time during the day. It's hard to entertain a baby all day when there aren't long breaks for sleep!

We are having a busy week this week. Yesterday we went to visit the wife of one of Keegan's co-workers, who lives in our building with her five-month-old daughter. Anyway, today is Sophie's second photo session at the photo studio, and tomorrow we are going to have coffee with friends in the afternoon. On Saturday we'll go to the ABS company picnic for a while in the afternoon, and on Sunday my friend Alana is having a first birthday party for her son. I am really looking forward to that! Poor Sophie will be exhausted by the end of the weekend! We've started using Mondays as a day to relax and get back on schedule after having Daddy home all weekend.

Sophie is developing like crazy. She is getting better and better with her hands and isn't happy unless she's grabbing something or chewing on her hands. She is also wiggling around during floor time like crazy, and yesterday she ALMOST rolled all the way from back to front. She is a pro at rolling onto her side from her back. Also yesterday she started really trying to sit up more when I had her reclined on my bent legs, so I think she is starting to work on the first step toward real sitting. She is such a curious girl! Laura said she has great head control, so I have started wearing her in various baby carriers facing forward, and she LOVES it. She's doing pretty well in the stroller for short walks in the evenings. She has interacted with the cats a few times - she is much more interested in them now that her vision is a little better. She has gently patted the cats with her little hands, and the cats have shown remarkable forbearance with her flailing arms and legs. Speaking of flailing limbs, Sophie also LOVES bath time. She has learned how to splash by kicking her legs, and she finds that delightful. She just smiles and smiles the whole time she is in the tub. She's not all that happy with getting dressed afterward, though. Can't say that I blame her - it's always cold making that transition. Yuck.

So that's the quick and dirty update on our little girl. She amazes me every day.

Sophie's First Day at the Beach!

This morning we took Sophie to the beach for the first time. We hung out in a tent on the beach to keep everyone out of the sun, and we briefly dipped Sophie's feet and legs into the ocean. We also took a nice walk up and down the beach. Sophie seemed to enjoy the water more than I thought she would. The car ride maybe not so much....but we'll keep working on that. When we got home, she had completely worn herself out and took a three-hour nap. Here is a photo of Sophie and her Dad on the beach:

The Cats and the Baby

A lot of people ask us how the cats have reacted to having a new member of the family. They have done great! The first day that we brought Sophie home from the hospital, I sat with her on the couch, and Pepper approached to sniff her head. He sniffed her little hairy melon very, very intently and then his tail bushed out and he jumped off the couch in a hurry. Who knows what he thought! Since then, both cats have tentatively approached Sophie to sniff her many times, but they have not really interacted with her much. She doesn't seem to pay much attention to them, and they, though wary of her flailing limbs during play time, don't pay much attention to her.

Sophie's paraphernalia, however, is a different story. Both cats have thoroughly explored many of Sophie's toys and blankets, and they love to sleep in the drawer underneath her crib. Unfortunately, this means that most of the "clean" blankets and bedding I keep there will need to be washed before I use them because they are covered in cat hair. But our pampered felines love sleeping in the little cave formed by the bed skirt, and it's harmless enough. Keegan likes to joke that Sophie will grow up with real monsters under her bed. Monsters that are always hungry!

Of course, the cats suffered a bit at first from the disruption of their usual routine and especially because they are necessarily getting less attention now. They are very clingy at night, when we leave our door open so that we can hear the baby. And sometimes we want to kill them because they yowl at us for attention while we are trying to rock the baby to sleep. Chili has overcome her wariness of Keegan and begs him shamelessly for all-over body rubs whenever she has the chance. Both cats have developed the annoying habit of leaping onto the back of our office chair while I am sitting in it and nursing, and they make me feel like the chair is going to tip over (it isn't). But overall, I think everyone is adjusting quite well. To sum up, here's a video of Pepper enjoying a perk of living with a new baby:

Through the Early Parenthood Wringer - But Still Alive!

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything on the blog! Most of the time I spend in front of the computer these days is while I'm nursing Sophie, so I only have one hand to type with. Now she's taking a nap, so I have a few minutes to type with two hands and let you all know how things are going!

Another reason it's been hard for me to update the blog is because I haven't been sure what to say. I want to be able to post about how rosy and beautiful it is to have become a parent, but I also want to be honest about our experience. There have been rosy and beautiful moments, yes, but for the first two months a lot more dark, scary, or just plain frustrating moments. The combination of my type-A personality, crazy hormonal changes, a "high-need" baby, and the myriad inconveniences of being a foreigner in Korea have made the past two months or so a very, very difficult time for Keegan and I. I hope it's been a comfortable and happy time for Sophie, though!

When I think about how Sophie has changed in the past two months, I keep thinking that the biggest changes have been not in our little one but in us. We've had to learn that we are not in control of our days anymore! While I sit and nurse Sophie, I think about my plans for the next stretch of time between feedings. I think things like "Well, she looks sleepy. I'll put her down for a nap and then clean the kitchen." And then she finishes eating, pops her eyes open, and grins at me mischievously, and I know that I'll be carrying her or playing with her or going for a walk rather than doing any housework. I had lots of ideas about how to calm a baby or how she should sleep that just don't work for our child. It drives me crazy that she doesn't like to be worn in the sling around the house and that she doesn't sleep well in her bassinet, but it's not up to me. I have had to learn that she sleeps well in her swing and that she likes to sit in a seat and watch me rather than be worn around the house. There are times when she refuses to breastfeed because we have waited to long to get situated, and there is nothing I can do until I've calmed her down, even though I know that she'd feel much better if she'd just close her screaming mouth and start drinking. I guess this is all part of learning that our child, while dependent on us for everything she needs, has a mind of her own and can't be forced into our preconceived ideas of what babies want and need.

Anyway, things are slowly but surely getting easier. It's easier to tell when Sophie is tired and wants to sleep for a bit and easier to tell when she is hungry. She cries a lot less and "talks" and smiles a lot more. When she is hungry, she has a funny, insistent sing-songy screech. It's the warning that we need to start getting things in place for the feeding. When she is tired, she will scream and refuse to eat until she is swaddled and comfortable. Now that she is less likely to have a screaming fit, I am getting more confident about taking her out in public. I am even thinking about meeting some friends for lunch at a restaurant this Wednesday - wish us luck!

Here's a short video from a recent bedtime bath: