Being Part of This Fam Bam Means Loving to EAT!!

My Luna is real human being -- there are foods that she does not like.  She does not like broccoli.  She will tolerate it and eat it but she doesn't do a number on it like she does zucchini. She doesn't really care for avocado either (gasp!!).  But she is a child -- she loves her snacks!

We initially started out with the Mum-Mum which is readily available in the States.  We brought some over back in March.  We also like the yogurt drops which is made by Gerber but another brand, Koochicoo, is available at Costco here in Korea.  I like the fact that Koochicoo is packaged into little packs so that not everything turns soggy in the pack in this humidity in Korea.  With the Gerber, I had to keep it in the freezer from soaking up the humidity and as is, I already don't have enough space in the freezer because of my growing stash of breastmilk.

Since we're running low on Mum-mum, I decided to check out some of the Korean brands.  So far, we have tried "Mean Mommy" haha It's called Mean Mommy because mommies do not feed infants the sweet/salty/savory/delicious snacks but the bland yucky ones.  However, Luna loves it! It really does taste disgusting.  The Mum-mum is heavenly compared to Mean Mommy.  As long as Luna likes it....  Also, the shape of the snack is really helpful too.  It's like the size of my pinky finger in terms of thickness and length so it's easy to grab and gnaw.  The selling factor for this first Korean snack was the sugar content of the snack.  I don't know too much about nutritional value or how to judge one content over the other so I think with sugar and sodium levels.  The sugar (당류) here is 0.2 g per serving (1 serving = 20 g) and the sodium (나트륨) is 4.3 mg. That is why is tastes disgusting :)

We also recently bought babyO.  It tastes like the communion biscuits from church.  It tastes ok, not as bad as the Mean Mommy.  However, I don't like the shape of these things.  This snack, which is supposed to be appropriate for a 7 month old, is round and the size of a 100 won coin but thicker.  So, a 8 month old who does not have their fine motor skills cannot hold it in order to gnaw it.  Hence, Luna ends up shoving the whole thing in her mouth but it's too big for it be gnawed and she gags on it.  If I want to feed it to her, I will have to break it in two.  (Nutritional value per 25 g:  Sugar 1 g; Sodium 0 mg)

I didn't really pay attention to the nutritional value to the yogurt drops because I didn't buy them but eek!  These things are packed with sugar and sodium!  ahhhhh!!!!  I'll have to think twice before buying them again.  Poor Luna!  She loves those snacks!  But for now, she's still got the little Cheerios looking things from back home and Mean Mommy and babyO to keep her busy.

I try to limit her snacking and give her real food instead.  She generally gets her snacks while we eat our meals.  She likes to participate in our eating and her meal doesn't last as long as ours so when she finishes her meal, she gets her snacks or else she will start screaming at me. sigh. she loves eating. hahaha she is definitely part of the family.  :)

Little Dracula

Have I mentioned that Luna is now 8 months old? Time passes by so fast!  Now she can crawl properly on her hands and knees, instead of doing the army crawl.  She also can sit down from standing up without plopping down on her butt; she will squat and then gently lower her butt to the floor. She's growing! Also, her front upper teeth are coming in really really spaced apart, so she looks like she has dull fangs.  She's a little Dracula!! It's so adorable!  And so verbal too!  She makes raspberries, om om om kind of sounds, and a raspy old grandpa kind of sound.  It's so cute!  We're having major conversations now a days.

Her little hands and feet are growing and I can see them grow! sigh...my baby is growing...

This is her very first print.  It's not very clear because I use paint instead of ink.

The other day, we visited Garden 5/Enter 6 in Songpa-gu.  I think places here need to be more mindful of what they name their shopping areas.  Enter 6 is this gigantic shopping mall and you can get easily lost in there.  There's an entrance for "young" fashion, techno, and something else.  When we went last year, it had just opened so it was always so empty.  I didn't think it would actually make it because there was no one ever there! When we went the other day, there were more people than there were last year but still not that many.  However, I prefer it this way than to be super crowded like Myungdong or Jamsil Lotte Mart.  There were a bunch of new stores too.  There was a baby/kids section on the sixth floor of the mall and there was a Destination Maternity there!  And quite a few things were on sale too!  The prices are still a bit steep but way better than the department stores like Lotte or Hyundai; also, it's not "si-jang" quality maternity wear so that's good too.  Now I know where to go if I get pregnant again here in Korea.  I would most definitely direct any pregnant women there.  There is also a grocery store there on the first floor.  Their products can be a little expensive but I found Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng there for 1100 won!  That's like unheard of here! wow. anyways.  good deals can be found even in places like this.

Now, it's time for cuteness overload:

We stuck a ball in her shirt :)  hahaha Luna didn't know what to do with herself and couldn't crawl about because her belly got in the way

We lost this hat the first time we wore it.  The nice lady at the baby cafe gifted it to us.... It's such a cute hat too!  So sad..  :(

Daddy pretending to sleep.

Shower head :)

Everything Wonderful in the English Language

Everyday I look at Luna and I don't know how to contain myself because she's so cute, lovable, beautiful, and everything wonderful in the English language.  Then I think about how I wish time would slow down so that I can cherish more of her at that moment and I wish she would stay as she is for the rest of my life or her life or whatever life.  But when the next day comes, I can't believe how she's so much cuter, more lovable, more beautiful, and more of everything wonderful in the English language.  How is that even possible?  She is the most beautiful today, and tomorrow, she is going to be even more beautiful.  Then, she learns to do something new and then I wish to stop time right then, once again, so I can cherish more of her at that moment.  Everyday holds something new and something wonderful, and though today is wonderful, I know that tomorrow will be more wonderful as Luna lives on and creates a new story in a new chapter, in a new volume of her life and mine.  At the moment, I love my life.

Learning

I have such horrible memory that I had to look back to my last post to remember what I wrote about last.  I don't know how long this "pregnancy brain" will last considering Luna just hit eight months couple days ago.  On her 8 month picture, I wrote "June 5, 2013" and I knew there was something wrong with it but I couldn't figure out what.  It was only later in the day that I realized that it should have been July 5, 2013.  And then sometime last week, I came home and opened the keypad to the door and instantaneously forgot the passcode to my door. My muscle memory was shot too once my brain realized that I mentality forgot the passcode.  oi.  So I ended up texting Husband to ask what our passcode is.  How long will this pregnancy brain last?  I hope not forever.

Since my last post, Luna has developed so much! She can now easily sit herself up from having laid down.  She can also climb over the pillows so that means no more nap time on the bed for her!  She can also pull herself up to stand using anything within her reach and she also walks to her right, though not to her left. She can also put her butt up in the air while on her hands and feet and I think she knows how to use the fan though her arm is not long enough to fan herself!  I think she knows what a cup is and how it is to be used somewhat, because she's been putting it to her mouth in the bath.  She doesn't know to tip it and I'm so glad or else she would be drinking her bath water!  eww.... I've also heard her say umma and appa but it's just from the random sounds that she's been making so I won't be counting that as her first words :)  I just know we're only a blink of an eye away from seeing Luna all grown up.  It's sad, yet exciting.  It's such a proud moment, yet bittersweet.

She's grown a bit too.  She has two upper teeth still coming in.  She gained a little bit of weight and has grown a bit to.  She kind of fills out her pack and play and I also have to lower the mattress on the pack and play because I'm afraid that she'll start climbing out of that thing soon!

Luna has been taking long naps recently, sort of.  She will wake up after like 30 minutes but I jump right in and feed while she's not quite awake and that will get her to sleep another hour or longer!  I like these long naps but it's only possible if no one is home because the entire house needs to be quiet in order for her to sleep.  On Sunday, she slept for three hours.  I don't know if was because of that but when we got to the church daycare, she didn't cry much.  She fussed a bit in the middle because she was hungry but other than that, she played pretty well! My baby is growing up!!!

With Luna developing so fast, we've been trying to figure out how to go about the language issue. Now a days, multilingualism is the thing and is necessary.  Luna is blessed to have parents who speak both English and Korean so that she can learn in the family, instead of taking language classes.  The question is, how do we go about "teaching" both languages successfully?  I've inquired to my linguist friend, Victor, who is currently teaching his son Mandarin, Spanish, and English.  He pointed me to his blog and I think it's going to be an interesting read. Here's the link: Growing Up Trilingual.

I have a little bit of a vent.  I can't stress how important it is to keep everything and everyone around a baby clean.  I'm all for strengthening the immune system and can't be completely 100% sterile all the time but it just doesn't make sense if you are deliberately giving your baby germs.  The baby will come across enough bacteria and viruses just breathing in this disgusting Seoul city air and will be plenty provided with diseases and illnesses already.  MIL LOVES feeding Luna.  I don't know why old people just love feeding babies but they want to feed nonstop.  I swear, according to MIL, Luna is either sleepy or hungry every waking moment of the day.  I wouldn't really mind if Luna was getting good healthy food, but she gets fed rice (which I have already told her on numerous occasions that it causes constipation), CHOCOLATE, DONUTS, ICE CREAM, and just junk like that!! WTF!!! She just "brushes" the junk across her lips.  REALLY?!?! OMG. yes. and Luna keeps getting fed her crackers and yogurt drops and apples too.  sigh.  and not only that, MIL fed her rice from the bowl MIL was eating from with the chopsticks that MIL was eating from.  So what happens at the end of the week?  Luna has developed viral sores at the back of her mouth with a 102 degree fever and cried for 3 days.  She didn't eat because it hurt to swallow, and she didn't sleep because she was hungry. Like I said, I'm all for strengthening the immune system, but I don't think deliberately sharing germs is conducive. (this turned into a big vent.)

Now, time for some cuteness:

In the bath!




We tickled her with a strand of my hair :)