Thanksgiving and birthday celebration

we had a full and fun weekend. my parents arrived tuesday evening. we hadn't seen them since the summer. i was amazed how great Claire was with them - it only took her about 10-15 minutes to warm up to them. Phil and i were relieved because we had planned a dinner outing, just the two of us, the next evening. we couldn't even remember the last time we ate out without the girls! Phil had made a reservation at L'Etoile for 6pm, so that we could be back to put the girls to bed. i thought we would be the first customers at the restaurant, but we weren't. we were the second. but we got some great seats by the window which overlooked the capitol that was lit up and it started to snow, so we had a fantastic view. the food was delicious and it was really great to be able to just enjoy my food uninterrupted. most meals, i'm scarfing down as fast as i can or i'm getting up from the table a million times (mum, i need this or that, someone else is screaming to be taken out of the high chair, etc). when Phil and i got home, Claire was screaming. fortunately, it hadn't been for long. i think it went well for her first time without mum in the evening! my mother said she did great until the very end.

it was so great all weekend to have my parents playing with Skye and Claire. i was cooking up a storm (or so it seemed!), so it was great for the girls to have my parents to play with them.

thanksgiving day, we went over so a friend's house. there were several other families so there were lots of playmates for the girls. friday, Phil's parents and brother, Mike, and his wife, Megan, came up from Illinois to celebrate Claire's birthday with us. there is a Korean tradition for the first birthday: you set out various items that symbolize different things and the baby gets to pick something out. for example, we used a ball of yarn to symbolize long life, $20 for wealth, pencil for wisdom/intelligence, ball for athleticism, and then my parents sort of threw in some other things too. like a paint brush for artistic talent and a stethescope for doctor. guess what Claire picked out? so she sort of went for the money, then she sort of went for the paint brush and then decided on the money!







both Skye and Claire are wearing hanbok the traditional Korean dress.


if you'd like to watch the videos, i've posted them at vimeo (you can access them from the sidebar). it was great fun for the girls, but i also realized how hard it can get for Skye with all the attention on Claire. she's a much kinder sister now that all the celebrations are over and all the people oggling over Claire are gone! not that she did anything horrible, but there were moments when things just weren't easy.

all in all, it was a fun and busy weekend. now my parents have returned to Michigan and we are getting back into our regular routine. and before i know it, Christmas will be upon us!

Thanksgiving weekend

my parents are in town for the weekend, so i'll return to blogging after the festivities are over. happy thanksgiving everyone!

Terrible Fours?

the so-called "terrible twos" and even the threes were not so bad for us, but i'm beginning to wonder if our time has finally arrived. overall, i still have to say Skye is a great kid and gives us very little trouble. a woman once said to me, if i had kids like yours, i'd have ten and more (she obviously has no children of her own). however, she's in this stage where making jokes is the greatest thing and brings home lots of "bathroom" language from school. there is quite a range of words that gets used to call each other. she called me "stinky piece of trash" once. so we had to have a talk about what words are ok to call people and what words are not. we're trying to teach some discernment, but it's hard at this stage. i'm sure all the kids in the class think it's hilarious whenever these words get used. Skye did come home from school the other day and told me that she told one of her friends he couldn't come over to our house for a playdate if he used bathroom words. his response? well, then you can come to my house to play. the world of four year olds!!

while Claire and Skye have some great sister moments, we also have the other end of the extreme. for the past two days, we've had lots of shoving, hitting and screaming at Claire because Claire is "ruining my stuff!" i'm sure it's only going to get worse until Claire is old enough to understand. i find myself making mistakes too, like not setting up a rule like: Skye can't play with the things that'll make her upset if Claire touches them while Claire is awake. those are toys to be played with during nap time. and of course i'm always harder on Skye because she's older.

but as you can see, not all sister times are terrible. there are some sweet moments like this one where Claire is giving Skye a hug!

Goodbye to Pete Bosscher

over the weekend, a friend of ours passed away - he had been battling cancer. we met him and his wife, Marcia, when we first moved to Madison and they were so gracious to us. if there was ever a man i would have wanted for an uncle, Pete would be that man. he was so great with Skye - he would get down on his hands and knees (he was a rather tall man) and play with her. whatever she said, he thought wonderful and brilliant. there aren't too many "big" people Skye gets excited to see, but "Mr. Bosscher" was different from other big people. so it was with difficulty we explained to Skye that Mr. Bosscher had died. we had visited the Bosschers a few weeks ago and Skye got a chance to see Pete who was quite changed in appearance. now, i'm glad she got that opportunity. it was heartbreaking to see Skye crying to hear about Pete. she kept asking why he died and then she said she didn't like it that people died, that she didn't want to die. we're planning to take her to the funeral - it'll be a good way for all of us to say goodbye to Pete and to hopefully give some comfort to Marcia.

Passions

Skye is passionate about ballet and playing doctor these days. she looks forward to ballet class every week. this weekend, she has been asking constantly, when do i go back to school? because tomorrow, she begins the new theme at school: hospital! she plans to play doctor with her friend ALL the time.

Claire is passionate about crayons. before, she would simply put them in her mouth, but now she has discovered the wonder of making marks with them. and of course, she's always passionate about copying Skye. the girls were in the tub tonight and Skye started splashing with her feet. Claire followed suite and found it incredibly funny. the girls were splashing and giggling, making lots of noise and mess. it was fun to watch.

Claire's one year check-up

we went to Claire's one year check-up today. she is in the 25 percentile for weight and length and 50 percentile for head circumference. she has a good sized head, but we were slightly concerned about the rest. Claire's doctor didn't seem too concerned because Claire looks and acts very healthy. i guess she's just a petite little thing. Skye was always above the 50 percentile. just another reminder that Claire is different from her older sister. she just has a different physique.

Claire received some shots today. we got a little history lesson about the varicella (chicken pox) shot because Claire's doctor's husband was one of the first doctors to receive the test shots to administer to his patients. they came up with varicella mainly because society lost too much money with parents staying home from work for their kids sick from chicken pox which usually lasted for about a week. not so much that kids were dying from the disease. interesting, no?

Preparing for the cold

yes, it is that time of the year again. i was thinking this as i zipped a screaming Claire in her snowsuit today. fortunately, Skye has learned she needs to bundle up and is bringing home all kinds of winter gear ideas from her friends at school. she wanted a hat that completely covers the mouth and nose. apparently one of girls at school has one. the down side to winter is how expensive all the gear gets. fortunately for Claire, she received lots of hand-me-downs and all i'll have to get her are some boots for when she starts to walk. but Skye, who is shooting up, will need some new snow pants since she's already outgrown last year's.

Phil reminded me that Skye, at Claire's age, was busy smelling flowers, both real and not real (pictures, flower patterns on clothes, etc). i had to remind him we were living in North Carolina at the time, taking leisurely walks around our neighbourhood every day where we could spot flowers almost year round. how often does Claire get to see flowers? maybe 2 months? 3? instead, she'll get to know snow really well!

here we are enjoying one of the pleasures cold weather brings - eating roasted chestnuts! except Claire has climbed onto the table and scattered all the peels all over the table!

Happy Birthday, Claire!!

here is Claire eating her sweet potato pie for her first birthday! the story behind the pie: the evening before Claire was born, we ate sweet potato pie for dessert. we think it had something to do with her quick entrance into the world! :)



Happy Birthday! from slkim on Vimeo.

when family comes over next week during Thanksgiving weekend, we will have a traditional ceremony for Claire, but for now, we just enjoyed our sweet potato pie. and if i sound rather stuffed up on the video, it's because i was a sick, sick mama. if you're up for it, there's another video of Claire actually eating the pie - you can click on it on the side bar.

and here are some photos from last year when Claire was actually born. this one is of Claire getting weighed on our kitchen island by one of the midwives, Anastasia.



here is everyone that was involved with the home birth!


Skye gets to hold Claire minutes after the birth.

More thoughts on motherhood...

your various comments on the Michelle Obama entry prompted this entry. i keep wondering why we women feel so unprepared for all the changes, emotionally, physically, psychologically, having children brings into our lives. do we blame our mothers for this? but i think my mother had us at a very different time and place than where i'm raising Skye and Claire. my mother worked and my grandmother took care of my brother and me. she could do that because my grandmother lived with us. did she have a choice? i'm not sure. i think she had to work - she was the breadwinner at that time. things changed once we moved to Kenya - she was much more involved in our lives. as for me, i have a choice. to stay home and raise my kids or work. i wouldn't be working out of necessity. and yet our struggle remains. some women i have met are perfectly content with raising the children and not working (by working, i guess i mean a real paying job). i'm happy with this too. but there are those of us, who have certain desires and passions to do certain things, whether it be work, something creative, whatever it might be, and we have to constantly battle this tension. it's exhausting some times! and yes, while kids grow up and leave the house but the work is always there, i sometimes think the time/opportunity can pass for certain things. i often think about my writing and wonder if i'll ever write something that is relevant at the time or will i have missed the right time for it?

A grump and a scare

i've been such a grump these days and i have no idea why. my tolerance level seems much lower with the kids and i find myself being less patient. i often tell Phil, i used to be such an easy-going person - what happened to me?

here is an example of why perhaps i've lost that easy-going self. our car broke down over the weekend and we borrowed a friend's car. this morning, i was returning home with the girls from ballet/kindermusik class with a brief stop at the store. Claire was playing with a small carton of yogurt and of course i hadn't thought that she would actually bite through the top. and of course she throws the carton down and Skye is telling me, mama, the yogurt's spilling out. onto our friend's immaculate seat. once i pull into our driveway, i get out of the car, run over to Claire's side to wipe up the mess. except the car door is locked. i run back to the driver's side but the door has locked somehow! and yes, the keys were still inside. i'm starting to panic. i'm yelling at Skye to go to the front of the car and press the unlock button. she tries several other buttons before finally locating the right one. in those few minutes, i can feel my hands starting to sweat and my heart thumping. fortunately for me, Skye is old enough to unlock the car. Phil reminded me how fortunate it was that it wasn't just me and Claire!! i can't even think about that without panic level rising.

i'd like to think that i'm a mum that takes advantage of every waking moment to enjoy my family, but to be honest, lately, i haven't been. i guess what i'm trying to say is that sometimes i'm so torn up between wanting to be selfish and then feeling awful for feeling that way, i end up being a grump.

Michelle Obama

i recently read an article about Michelle Obama (Vogue Sept 2007). here are some things about motherhood in the article that i found interesting.

"Every year, Michelle Obama considers quitting her job and staying home full-time to take care of her children...But having experienced the pleasures of work outside the home, she is reluctant to give up her independence. 'Work is rewarding,' she says. 'I love losing myself in a set of problems that have nothing to do with my husband and children. Once you've tasted that, it's hard to walk away.

"People don't tell you how much kids change things. I think a lot of people give up on themselves. They get broken, but if we can talk about it, we can help each other."

the question i always come back to is, how do women manage to do it all? how can we be devoted mothers and work at something else that we love all at the same time? something has to take second place.

Exercise post baby

ok, so Katie Holmes ran the NY marathon and was seen in heels a few hours later...she trained for the marathon for 2 months. how did she do it?? Phil's been asking me when i'm going to start exercising again and i'm like, excuse me, but exercise is like at the bottom of my priority list? i know it shouldn't be, but come on, after a full day, the last thing i want to think about is getting some exercise. fortunately for me, i don't have pregnancy fat to be rid of, but i do have other indicators telling me i need to get back into shape. my wrists and arms ache a little more these days when lugging Claire (who is growing heavier) around. Claire likes to suck on my belly after nursing. it's hard to believe i once boasted a firm, flat belly. and i sort of get a little breathless when pushing the double jogger up a steep slope.

yep, i suppose i need to bump up exercise on my priority list. i'll let you know when it happens!

Snow?

by now, i know Madison is cold, but snow flurries already? i thought i was seeing things today when i looked out the window. the day was a little colder than usual and extremely windy. then, in the afternoon, it started raining hail. then the sun came out. and then it started to snow. it was quite a temperamental day. we are supposed to get snow this week though, so i'm getting ready to pull out snow gear. Phil keeps telling me the snow won't stick, but who knows?

Ancient Korean wisdom vs western medicine

the other evening, the girls were taking their bath and i heard Skye singing, "hurry up and wash up, we are going to see the king." we started laughing so hard - Skye mainly because i was laughing, but i thought it wasn't too far from the original, "soon and very soon, we are going to see the king."

ever since the weather got colder, we are once again battling various illnesses Skye picks up from school. last time, it was the ear infection. this past week was a pink eye. Skye complained of her eye hurting and so we took her in to urgent care. they told us it was a viral kind and it would go away in 3-5 days. all they told us was to give her tylenol if it bothered her. her eyes got a little red and puffy, but not too bad. my parents suggested i flush out her eyes with salt water which Skye hated, but it seemed to help because the redness and swelling disappeared the next day. our neighbour, an eye and ear doctor (can't remember the medical term) looked at me rather oddly when i told him i used salt water to flush out Skye's eye, but hey, this is ancient Korean wisdom we're dealing with here! :)