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

a day, just like any other day

Last night was fairly decent, considering the 4-month regression and all. Elijah was asleep by 7pm, and only woke up once before we went to bed. He was up for a feeding at 1:30am, then again at 3:30 and 5:30. I took him into bed with me then, and he slept until almost 7am. Not a bad start to the day!

We hung out with Gary and had breakfast. Gary went off to work, and I put Elijah down for a nap at 8:30am, and he slept until 10:20 (with a short wake-up after the first 45 minutes - I had to bounce him back to sleep). I got a nap then too. Awesome.

Back awake, and the Gary came home again. Lunch and playtime, and another nap at 12:15pm. He slept until nearly 2pm that time (with just a tiny little wake-up and bounce back to sleep).

helping!

Then we made bread (Elijah helped)...


 ...and went for a walk with Sookie around the apartments.

It was a really nice afternoon, and it felt good to get outside.




Elijah had one more (very) short nap between 3:45-4:20pm. We then did tummy-time and read some books. Elijah practiced rolling over -- which he can do, but prefers not to. He's a bit chunky, and I've read that makes it harder to roll over.

"ma, WHY?"

"ack! so hard!"

Reading one of his favorite books.







Then daddy came home! Yay! Elijah was full of smiles (not shown).




At 5:30 we started the bedtime routine:

First comes nekkid time! Elijah loves this, and coos and laughs and gurgles.
Then there's the bath, which he enjoys most of the time.
After that, he gets pampered with a lovely coconut-oil massage. Lucky little man.
Then he's dressed and has a quick feed.
I walk around the apartment singing to him for a while, to wind him down, before swaddling and one last feed. Then it's bouncy time on the ball, and prayers.

And Elijah was asleep by 6:45 this evening!

that dreaded regression

Yup. It's that time. Elijah is in the throes of the 4-month sleep regression. At this age, babies' sleep cycle starts to become more mature, so they have to learn how to transition between the sleep stages. It's not easy for them to do this, and then throw in new motor skills to practice (in their sleep), plus lots of new synaptic pathways developing . . . you end up with a baby who wakes up hourly (actually, more like every 45 minutes) all night long.

It's rough.

It will pass, but it's so hard right now. I actually held him all night for the past couple nights. It helped, but I certainly don't want that to become a habit!

He eats all night long too, far more than what he eats during the day. I don't really know how to stop this 'reverse cycling', and so for now I'm just going with it.

In other news, it's Korean Chuseok, kind of like Thanksgiving. Gary had 2 days off, which was amazing, as I was able to take naps! We didn't do anything at all, other than the usual house-cleaning. We didn't go shopping (one of the most popular past-times here), and we didn't even go to the beach. With Elijah not sleeping well, I am too exhausted to do a whole lot. We just hung out, played with the baby, went on a couple walks, and watched movies/tv shows together. It was really nice. I wish Gary never had to go to work.

Oh, and Elijah loves his daddy. He always has smiles for him. But for me? I just get yelled at.

looking at daddy

looking at mommy

loafing about