Luna wants to stand already!

It's been a while since I've posted but work's been keeping me super busy.  I don't even know if I can keep up with work anymore since Luna has been demanding more of my attention lately!

I was hanging out with some real ajummas the other day and I noticed one of the women's wrists.  I sure do have small wrists was what I was thinking.  Then I grabbed Luna's forearm to see how it would compare to my wrist.  -.-  Her forearm is the same size as my wrist!  I'll post a picture of it later but wow...she has thick limbs and I have a thin wrist. For that reason, my watches always have to be small or else it just looks weird.  Also, maybe that's the reason my wrists are so weak?  My ankles are weak too but I haven't exactly been staring at other people's ankles to compare them to mine so I can't really say much about that.  Anyway, back to the wrist.  I was fanning Luna yesterday because it was so dang hot and my wrists sorely paid for it later, literally.  They hurt so much!  :(

Luna has been growing so fast lately, not just in size but in her behavior and develop as well!  You'll see it in the video below, but now she will grab onto something and try to stand.  She hasn't gotten to the standing part yet, but she can lift her butt!! omg!  She really is going to walk pretty soon...probably before she can crawl.  Then I'll be really busy trying to keep things out of her reach and trying to anticipate her every move so that she won't hurt herself!

Also, I put her in a jumper at the local baby cafe and boy can she jump!  She loves that thing!  I will have to bring her jumper out from storage tomorrow so she can jump jump jump!  or maybe not...so that she can slow down on that walking progress.  jumping will only make her legs stronger, no?

I found the baby cafe through a mom I met on one of the fb groups.  I finally found a foreigner mom!! and finally got me a playgroup!!  woohoo!!   yay~yuh!!!~~  she then added me onto more fb groups for mommies  :)  Go search for them

• Milky Mamas in Korea
• Korea Maternity/Baby Gear Sale Extravaganza
• Baby Mini Mall in Korea

This totally beats craigslist!  There are sooo many moms hanging out on fb, it's unbelievable.  I pretty get all my mommy related info from these groups and another one on fb but you won't be able to search for that one because it's listed as a secret group and you have to be invited in.  If you want an invite, just let me know!

Now, onto my new baby gadget.
After Luna fell off the bed the second time, I posted on one of the fb group pages looking for info on where to buy bed rails.  I didn't even know what to call them so I couldn't search for them online.  In English, it just makes sense to call them bed rails and even if you didn't know that such things existed, you would still call them bed rails because it just makes sense, right?  Either husband's and my Korean sucks, or there isn't an obvious word for bed rails in Korean. Anyway, someone posted a link to where I can buy them and I got one!  Here's the link!

I got the pink 90 cm one.  It came pretty fast.

 This is the box it came in.

This is the aerial view of it.  If you look closely next to her left thigh, you can see that there is a space between the bed and the rail.  It doesn't help that my bed sheet is the same shade of pink, but I would say that there is about 2-3 in space between the bed and the rail which is  not good because the baby can kind of get wedged in there, but I suppose it's better than having her fall onto the floor.



In the video, you can see how cute she is and how the rail also wobbles.  The rail has a mesh center so if she were to get stuck, she can still breathe if she is facing the right way.  Then again, it's not like I won't hear her complaining from being wedged in there.  Anyways, it wobbles.  Also, it slides out from under the mattress a bit too easily too.  Luna won't be able to pull it out, but I can.  The rail does come with a weight attached which extends to the opposite side of the bed but it's not the strongest thing in the world.  But given that it's only 20,000 won, I guess I can't complain.

This is the baby cafe I visited this week.  I like it.  It's clean, cheap, and friendly.  There is no cover, but you do have to buy a drink or a meal.  A drink will get you 2 hours of play and a meal will get you 3 hours.  The drinks range from around 4,000 won to 7,000 won, I think.  I always get the kiwi juice which is 5,500 won so I can't remember.  But hey, you're get 5,500 won for a drink and two hours of play on a clean playground for babies.  That's pretty good! 

That's her on the jumperoo at the baby cafe.  She's totally lovin it!

AHh..  I shall go to pass time again....when I have time to pass!!

Anyways, my next review is on baby food making.  Hopefully, I can get to it by next week.  TTFN!~

My Blogging Purpose

Wow, it's already May.  It's already been half a year since Luna has come into my life and nearly half of 2013 has already gone by.  Time sure does fly.  I've now been in Korea for two months with Luna and it's radically different from what it was like when I was here last year.

Though pregnant, I was my own self, with really no one to be accountable for.  I worked like the workaholic that I was, traveled all throughout Seoul every working day, ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and with whoever was free, and slept a lot.  At least when I was in California where it was warmer and I had A CAR, I still met with friends whether single, married, or with children, and I didn't feel isolated after the arrival of my baby Luna.  Being in Korea can be pretty lonely, but I soon discovered that being in Korea with a baby is even lonelier because the baby pretty much isolates you.  All of my working friends can only play at night, and all of my friends are single with no babies in tow. So I decided that I needed to find some English speaking mommies here in Korea.  I've posted on CL twice looking to form a play group, essentially for my own sanity.  It hasn't worked.  I also went about the American immigrant way: I went to church.  I did make a mommy friend but she lives outside of Seoul.  I know there are English speaking mommies here in Seoul but I just couldn't figure out how to find them.  Googling "playgroups in Seoul" just brings up deserted forums that gets looked up once in a blue moon and I read that there is one at a church in Itaewon, but trying to get anywhere beyond a walking distance is pretty hard with a six month old.  I figured the army wives probably hang out with the army wives and they all live right around Yongsan, if not on base already.

One night after doing some hours of research on sippy cups, I decided to pose the question to my facebook friends.  I didn't get too many answers but one thing did happen.  Someone invited me to a general first time mommies fb group.  I would've never thought to look for mommies on fb!  So I searched for mommy groups in Seoul and I finally found some expat mommies!  ha!  I figured I'd go with the next best thing if I can't find a playgroup around my neighborhood.

Then lying in bed last week after failing to fall asleep at 3 am, I figured out what I wanted out of my blog (aside from updating friends back home and sharing ridiculously cute pictures of Luna).  While there are expat mommies and daddies here that know what they're doing and probably don't need new info or mommy friends, there are probably new mommies and daddies that are in my situation with no friends, few info on baby products, and are lonely.  I decided that I want my blog to be the gathering place for expat mommies and daddies to get info on products, get info on where to get more info, and connect with other expat families...and of course to overload you on Luna cuteness.  (Am I being too ambitious?)  We'll see how this all turns out...

So here's to my new project, my blog, and my crazy life where I am losing precious hours of sleep each night!

I decided that I don't want to make a fb page in addition to the blog so you can get yourself added to these fb pages.  Not all of them are active aside from the administrator but I figure if we get more people looking to be active, these fb pages will come alive again, cuz the one I was invited to is like super busy all hours of the day and night. I'll make a blog page of links that you (as parents in Korea) might find helpful.

Go and search:

• Moms in Korea
• Seoul mom's helper
• Seoul Mama's Club

 Now it's time for cuteness

This is her looking pitiful because I left her in her swing while I made food for Chris before he came home.

If you edit this picture right, this can turn into a glamour shot!

Annnnddd, it was my birthday. The big ol' 29 by anywhere-outside-of-Korea-age. It's the last one in the twenties!!  ahhH!

It was my birthday so I purposely took a picture of her in that bib..  haha

She fell asleep holding her teether

And her hair is tied up!  It's getting long!! She won't stay still long enough for me to take a non-blurry picture.

 Luna is growing so fast!!! She already has TWO teeth coming in, she can flip onto to tummy and now onto her back, she can sit up by herself!  She even moved forward the bit last night!! I'm ready to cry!!

Milestones and Some Product Reviews

ahh.. Finally some time for myself.  Chores done, baby asleep, husband asleep, and the long awaited shower i finally got to take.  I've had couple of days to think about what I want to blog about as soon as I got the time.  I'm afraid this might be a long post. haha.  So here it goes:

Luna has gotten to TWO milestones.  Yesterday, she sat by herself! Of course, I have to sit her down in order for her to do so, but she does sit by herself.  I can't leave her unattended just yet because I don't have the foamy/rubbery mat made by the god of the children, Pororo.  Those Pororo mats are quite expensive! I'll get into that next time.

Here's the video of her sitting up.  I really hate to hear my own voice but I did watch it to make sure it uploaded right.  I didn't realize I speak so much Korean!  It's probably because people around me are always speak so much Korean.

Then today, as I was cleaning her mouth (which I haven't done in two days.  bad mommy!) I found a tooth!  She has her bottom tooth coming out!!  My baby is growing up!!  So I gave her a talk.  The don't-bite-the-hand(breast)-that-feeds-you talk.

This onesie will be retired after tomorrow.

Look at how long her hair has grown!

There is a Korean proverb that goes "Even a porcupine loves its own young" which means that no matter how ugly, nasty, or prickly a babe might be, a mother will love their own.  So I've been thinking.  I KNOW my Luna is the cutest little baby girl in the whole wide world, objectively.  haha ok I know that's how I feel because she's my baby but I think that that she's still pretty darn cute even without her antics.  But it got me thinking, what if she isn't?  People lately have been saying that she looks exactly like me and when I look at my own baby pictures, she looks like me as a baby.  The problem is that I was a pretty not so cute baby.  People saw me as a baby and comment that I was a "general"...like you know, General Yi.  No one ever apparently looked at me and said "Oh! How cute!!" according to my mom.  She said that in retrospect, that I looked more like a general than cute.  So then, if Luna looks like me now, and she looks like me when I was a baby, does that mean that she isn't as cute as I think she is?  How can I look at my picture and think, "Uhh..no." and then look at her and think "Cuuuute!" when I look at both pictures and we look alike? hahaha



Allllright. On to the next portion.

I decided to start reviewing baby products that are available in Korea because well, we're in Korea and we're going to end up buying Korean baby stuff.

First things first.  Everyone knows that diapers and formula are the biggest expenses when it comes to baby raising.  Since I don't use formula, I can't be reviewing that.  So I will start with diapers.

Huggies is probably the most expensive one and most reliable since it is an American brand, though Kimberly Clark has a Yuhan-Kimberly Corp that manufactures in Korea.  Apparently, Huggies Magic Panty was innovated by Korea Yuhan-Kimberly, according to husband.  I'm not gonna get into Huggies since it's pretty popular anyways.

Bo Som Ee, I thought was pretty good.  One thing I've noticed is that if the diaper gets soaked, the outside of the diaper feels damp though the baby's bottom doesn't feel damp whatsoever!  The cut of the diaper fits Luna pretty well and she's got some thunder thighs.  The waist band stretches pretty well too.  And like I said, it keeps her dry.  And it's cheaper than Huggies!
When you feel the new diaper, it feels like the American Huggies Snug & Dry (the original Huggies).  Basically, if you've felt the Huggies Little Snugglers, it feels really soft to the touch as if it was washed in fabric softener, whereas the Snug & Dry is a bit more stiff.  The Korean Huggies Premium is probably like the Little Snugglers.

Soom n Soom is the next diaper I've tried.  I don't like it.  The shape of the diaper isn't too good.  The velcro cuts into Luna's skin because of the shape of the diaper.

The bottom of the velcro (where the arrow is pointing) will cut into her skin, leaving her delicate skin all red!  So, I have to be more attentive when I put on these diapers which can be a bit hard when you're changing diapers at 3 am.  Also, I've noticed that her bottom doesn't feel as dry so she has a foul smell coming from her hooha when I change her.

When this order came in, it came with this flyer, which was nice.  They offer to replace or give a refund if there are any problems.  I haven't decided what to do as of yet.  I might just ask for a refund for the other pack of diapers I haven't opened yet.

As with the Bo Som Ee, it feels damp from the outside. And it also has the line that turns green/blue to show that the diaper is wet.

While I'm reviewing this diaper, I may as well say it: I don't like the bunny.  I think it's ugly.  Maybe their higher line of diapers, Cotton Air, will be a better product and hopefully with a cuter design.







The B & B dish detergent.  I tried the liquid kind but I also have this foam/bubble kind too.  I don't like it. I understand that it's supposed to be gentle since you're washing your baby's dinnerware but it doesn't wash off the oiliness of the meat! I end up washing Luna's dishes with the normal "adult" dish soap and then washing it again with the baby dish soap.  Double the work.

But I really like their laundry bar soap.  It's wonderful!  Also, their prewash spray.





I think this is all that my body and brain can handle for now.  It's almost 1:30 am.  oiii...I'm dearly going to pay for it in the morning when Luna gets up at 6....