Yes, I'm a slacker.

Long time no post. 

Anyway, my younger brother and his beautiful wife came to visit last weekend! 

They live in New York, and flew all the way to Korea for the weekend. 

Yes, you read that right... the weekend. They love us, obviously. 

A 14 hour flight, just for a quick weekend? I don't know if I could do that! 

No, I know I couldn't.

So thank you for coming, Will and Jeanene. You guys rock.  

Elijah showing Will how to do The Superman/plank/skydive/whatever you want to call it.

Gnawing on a carrot for those pesky teeth.

Trip to the coffee shop.

See ma, I've got 2 now!

It flies by!

I can't believe Elijah is almost 6 months old.
Next week marks his half-birthday. That old saying, "they grow so fast".... oh heck yeah.
On one hand, I can't wait for him to be older. I love watching him reach milestones, and am excited to see the boy/man he'll become. However, I love that he's little enough to scoop up and smother.

He's not eating solids yet. We tried him on oatmeal and bananas, and a bit of apple, but he just wasn't very impressed. However, he can drink from a cup!

Ok, so here's Elijah's 5-month list:

LIKES:

How do these work again?

- He loves being outside. While it's still nice out, I try to take him out several times a day. He likes watching people, cars, the trees, LIFE! He's an observer.

- His Ergo and baby Bjorn carrier. Gary uses the Bjorn more, and I use the Ergo. Elijah just likes moving around, and since he can't move himself, we are his mode of transport.

- Elijah has taken to yelling at us if we don't move fast enough.... going outside, picking him up, looking at him, picking up his toys... He loves to yell. He doesn't cry, just shouts and hollers.

- He is very adept at picking up toys now, and can switch hands. Big step, apparently.

- We put him up in his highchair, and he now bangs his toys on the tray, deliberately. The kid likes making noise.

- Elijah has discovered Sookie, and just loves watching her. He gets excited when she comes over and licks him (which I'm not too excited about. Her mouth smells like his diapers).

DISLIKES:

- Sleeping. Yup, Elijah still won't sleep. I've sort of resigned myself to that fact, and it makes things easier. He takes between 3-4 naps a day, 45 minutes long. You could set a watch to him. At night, he goes down fairly easily between 7-8.... but then he rouses multiple times all night, until 7-8am. It's insane. So he sleeps in bed with me, which doesn't really help that much, but it saves me having to get up a zillion times all night long.

swimming. 

- Sitting/lying still. The kid is a real mover and shaker.... howbeit a totally immobile one.

- Rolling over. He still won't roll over regularly. He can do it, and he might a couple times a day. But he's just not interested. He'd rather 'swim'.

- Teething! He's cut one, and another is on the way through. Poor little fellow. However, he isn't as drooly as I had imagined he'd be. He doesn't even need a bib!

Hey, there's something in here and it's sharp!

All in all, Elijah is a pretty happy little guy. Yeah, he gets fussy/grumpy/miserable... but don't we all. He doesn't cry much (during the day), and it's not too hard to get a smile or giggle out of him. He's fun!



I just wish he would sleep better. We are contemplating sleep training... I feel almost desperate. Any suggestions on sleep training methods? 

Up-cycled baby onesies

Yes, upcycle. Not recycle. Upcycle. Cause I'm cool like that and like to use newfangled words.

Since we lack a Target/Walmart/Cheapo Store in Korea, I can't easily find basic baby clothes - like onesies (babygros). I mean, you CAN find them, but you have to buy them individually, and they are pricey. Not like the handy packs you can find at Target (Carters brand, I love you).

Anyway! It's getting chilly here, and all of Elijah's 6-9 month onesies are short sleeved. As a matter of fact, so are all his 9-12 month ones. And winter is coming. By the time it's warm again, he will have grown out of all of those. So I decided to 'upcycle' the old pajamas and long-sleeved onesies from his 0-6 month stage.

This is the result:

Lil' gangster stylin' in his new threads. 

Not bad, for 15 minutes work! And it certainly saved us a lot of money. I also like that I can mix and match the fabrics. Makes (boring) boys' outfits a little more fun.

It is so easy to do, you should try it! Plus you get to feel all accomplished and everything.

Step 1:
Go through the clothes your baby has grown out of - grab all the long-sleeved ones.

Step 2:
Measure your baby's arm. All I did was use my finger as a measuring stick (I even did it while he was sleeping) ... Elijah's arm is 8 finger segments long.

Step 3:
Measure how long the sleeve should be, adding in the length of the bigger onesie's sleeve.

Step 4:
Cut off the arm of the too-small outfit. I cut off 6 finger segment's worth, as the sleeve on the bigger onesie was 2 FS (finger segments).

The process: cut off arm.  

Step 5:
Turn everything inside out, and pin if desired. It is not necessary.

 I only pinned one of them. Didn't make any difference. 

Step 6:
Sew the arms together. I lined up the sleeve to the hem, and sewed it so that the stitches don't show, and then finished result looks like layered shirts.

Stitch - yeah, my stitches aren't so neat and even. 

Step 7:
Turn it right-side out and put it on your baby.

Tada! Super easy. 

SO EASY! I've done about 5 of them so far.... and Elijah seems to like them too!

So happy with his new shirts!

Tiredness

I've been lax in posting, mostly because I'm tired. Also lazy. But mostly just so completely exhausted.
Elijah is a little nightmare when it comes to sleep! He's 5 months old now, and rousing every hour. I think he has gas, or reflux, because he just starts crying/screaming. Normal babies don't do this, do they? The weird thing is he doesn't fully wake up. His eyes never open. He just screams and cries, and I have to get out of bed and bounce him.

So anyway, I'm so very tired.

A very special group. haha. 

Gary's parents have left, and we had a wonderful time with them. Next up, my brother and his wife are coming! I'm so excited about seeing them. This has been an awesome year for family visits! Starting in July, we've had family come every month!






I don't have much else to say, so here are a few more pictures.

Amazing chocolates Ted and Jean brought. Yum!

beautiful baby

A day at the beach.

Nan and Granddad

Gary's parents, Ted and Jean, have come to visit. They have retired to Spain (from England), but made the LONG trip over to Korea just to see their newest grandson. We are enjoying their company, and they certainly are loving Elijah.
We're stuck indoors today, with lots of wind and rain, but yesterday was great fun! We went for a walk around the neighborhood, down to the local grocery store, and then to the beach. Elijah loves being outside, and was happy and content the whole day. He's not so happy today, and Nan is working hard to keep him entertained.

Like-minded souls

Hopefully the rest of their week here will be sunny and fun! I've got a hearty beef stew in the crock pot, a loaf of whole wheat bread cooling, and a stick of French bread rising. Seemed appropriate for this damp, grey day.






Here are some pictures Ted took... he's got a great eye!

Lotte Mart down the road

pretty cakes

Korean apartment movers down the street

Free samples at Lotte Mart

gathering sea shells at Daecheon Beach

Shots and Jumperoos

I just hate when Elijah has to have his shots. Poor little man. 

He's on some kind of schedule (given by the doc) where we go in once a week for one shot (every couple months). 

September is one of those months. 

Elijah has had shots for three weeks in a row, the latest one being today.

However, we're done now.... until December.

Elijah has graduated to a jumperoo! No more passive swing-lying for this little man. All he wants to do is stand, so this is perfect.

We are renting it from a toy company we found online. They send the (new) jumperoo, we pay 20,000 won (aprox. $20) a month, and they come get it when our time is up. It's great! I was looking for a company like this, since baby gear is so expensive here. This way, we get to try out different toys, and swap them when he gets bored! 

He likes it (we think)! He doesn't last very long, and doesn't want to be left alone, but I think in the next couple weeks he will start to enjoy it more.

my little 'eggy'

The Korean word for 'baby' is '아가'. It is written as 'ah-gee', but everyone says it like 'eggy'. Wherever I take Elijah, I hear that word, along with exclamations of how cute he is. 'Cause face it, he is adorable.

Today is special, as it marks Elijah's 20th week! That seems like a significant milestone (at least to me).

He can grab things now, and everything he touches goes straight into his little drooly mouth. He is quite particular, and very vocal about what he doesn't like.

He smiles and laughs so much more now! Especially with his dad... Gary can ALWAYS get a smile and giggle out of him, just by looking at him. Me? I have to work at it, making silly faces and noises.

I keep trying to get all these smiles on camera...but as soon as I take it out, he just stares up at the camera.

He's also getting so big! He's wearing 6-9 month onesies/babygros and Korean size 1-2 year old socks(!).
He weighs 17lb 10oz (8kg) and is about 27 inches (~70cm) tall. He's in the 85th percentile for his height/weight... big 'ol boy.



Just for fun, I'd like to start making a short list like this every month...

Things Elijah likes:

- waking up at 6am
- moving. He hates being stationary.
- standing! He ALWAYS wants to be standing. No sitting or lying down for this little guy!
- his daddy
- being naked
- bath time and massages
- eating while sleeping
- his little blue dog lovey, from dear Aunt Carol. He smiles and coos at it, and tries to fit the whole head in                    his mouth.

Things Elijah doesn't like:

- going to sleep
- staying asleep
- eating during the day
- not having your FULL attention
- tummy time
- bottles and pacifiers (so mama can't leave him for very long).
- sitting/lying down
- being carried in the 'cradle' hold. When he's held, he needs to be upright, or facing forward.

We're enjoying him a lot these days, as his little personality develops and he becomes more social. I am trying to cherish this time while he's small, but I am just so excited to watch him grow!

20 weeks old

3 days old