Birthday Favors: Home-made Breastmilk Soap

Luna's birthday favors were soap.  Boring, right?  I know.  But these soaps were quite special. They were handmade soap with a special ingredient.  The special ingredient was my breastmilk. Yeah, you read that right. BREASTMILK.  Before you get all disgusted, think about this, Dove soap has milk in it.  It comes from the cow's breast.  Technically, they are called udders, but they do the same thing that human breasts do--it feeds baby cows (and humans of all ages too). They're called udders for the same reason that cow meat is called beef instead of cow milk. It's so that you would separate the image of a cow from the beef that you are consuming, or any other dairy product.  So yeah, if you have a problem with my breastmilk soap, you can stop reading my blog from now on.

Ok, so now that my rant is out of the way, I can get started on this post. I pumped milk since day one of Luna's life til about five months. I brought all the milk that I pumped back in California to Korea (though most of them melted due to my memory problems) and pumped some more here.  In five months, I accumulated a giant stash of milk.  I pumped so that if I ever ran out of milk, I had something to fall back on.  Well, I have never run out of milk and Luna did not ever take a bottle so I had all this breastmilk sitting in my freezer.  Then just before summer, one of my ajumma friends asked me very hesitantly if I had breastmilk to spare to add to her batch of soap making.  Oh was I glad to hear that! Breastmilk has so many benefits for the baby in terms of nutrition, but breastmilk is like the Windex to Mr. Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  It has healing capabilities and is also good for your skin.  Milk in general is good for your skin; that's why Dove makes soap with cow's milk in it.  But more than the benefits of breastmilk to your skin, I was just really glad that all that work I put into pumping would be put to use instead of down the drain, literally.  I even held onto the once melted breastmilk from the flight because I couldn't bear to put it down the drain.  If you don't have a baby yet and/or have not breastfed, you won't understand how important this pumped milk is, but let me try to explain anyway.  

Babies feed every two hours starting on the second day into this world.  Every two hours, all freakin day, and every three to four hours all freakin night.  If you pump, then that means, after feeding every two hours during the day and every three to four hours during the night, you pump for an additional 15 minutes for both breasts.  You do this if you're going to be going back to work (to build up a stash) or to increase your milk supply.  If you pump, that also means that you have to wash your pump parts.  Washing the tiny little crevices or each tiny little part every time you pump.  You also have to sterilize all parts every couple days.  Obviously, you would go bonkers if you actually pumped after every feeding because that's like ten times a day you are hooked up to a machine that makes a weird noise and you get to be dairy farm.  BUT, if you're not producing enough milk to feed your young and you're really really determined to breastfeed, then you're probably trying to pump that much while losing sleep in the process.  It really is a wonder that more women don't have postpartum depression.  The five ounces of pumped milk (I say five because that's usually how much I pumped at one sitting) is the result of hours put into washing and preparing the parts, waking up every three hours even though the baby slept through the night, lost sleep, and tears from being so tired and stressed.  Oh, and when you accidentally knock over that open bottle spilling two ounces?  It's DEFINITELY something to cry over.  And don't get me started on all the pain you go through with clogged ducts, mastitis, engorgement, babies biting, and whatnot. So, when you have once-melted milk sitting in front of you and know that you will have to throw it away, it makes perfect sense to put it back into the freezer to throw it away six months later instead.  

Now, when my friend asked me for breastmilk, I was so so freakin happy to be able to give her my once-melted milk.  Afterall, it wasn't bad.  It just couldn't be consumed by the baby that's all.  And the soap?  It turned out perfect. 

I still had like 300 ounces of breastmilk sitting in my freezer when we started planning for Luna's birthday.  I am totally for giving practical party favors, so we opted to give out breastmilk soap.  Two birds with one stone, you know?  My friend made 160 bars of soap out of like 50 ounces.  It's too bad I didn't get a picture of the giant pile of soap when she gave them to me.  The soap were of different colors too.  There were green ones, brown ones, orange ones, and others.  They all contained different ingredients.  It was awesome. 

The soap was wrapped in saran wrap.  I didn't do it.  The friend did it, along with the labels.  I couldn't undo the wrap because she put so much work into wrapping them.  I bought the boxes, stuffing, purple wrapping paper, and the ribbons.  I looked around Namdaemun for boxes and found one store that sold boxes specifically made for soap.  They were 1000 won each and came in packs of ten.  I didn't want to spend 80,000 won on soap boxes and I didn't like the colors. This is their site.  I ended up buying boxes from this site because it was so cheap.  Unfortunately, it looks like they do not sell them anymore.  I think I paid like 22,000 won for 80 boxes.  I bought the ribbon at Dongdaemun for 13,000 won before I bought the wrapping paper so I was limited in what wrapping paper I could get.  I should have waited to buy the ribbon but it all turned out well so it's ok.  I bought the wrapping paper and stuffing(6000 won) at another trip to Namdaemun, but they do have a website here.  I'm one of those people who have to touch and feel before buying and especially since I had to match the ribbon to the paper, I did not purchase online.  The paper I bought was pretty thick.  They come in bundles of ten sheets and I think I paid 600 won per sheet.  I still have two sheets left.  The little thank you picture note thingy was made by yours truly and printed on 3x5 photos at the local film place for 9000 won (300 won per sheet with two pictures on a sheet.  I only had 60 pictures because I wasn't expecting more than 60 guests). So altogether, Luna's birthday favors cost about 56,000 won (The soap was made as a gift).  

Not bad.  Not bad at all. 

(I love shopping for deals :)


Luna recently learned to crawl backwards.  That means that she knows how to get off the bed now.  dun dun dun.... So now, I really need to reorganize the bedroom so that Luna can't get into things she shouldn't be getting into.  Knowing how to get off the bed also means that she has a bit more independence.  To foster that independence, I rearranged the baby fence so that she can now leave the bedroom to go to the living room where all her toys are.  She's also figured out that she can use her booster chair (which is on the floor) as a step to climb up to the couch.  We tried to keep her from figuring that out by not leaving the chair next to the couch, but someone must've forgotten and put the chair next to the couch.  Good timing though, because now she uses her other newly acquired skill to come down the couch as well.  This is all within a week!  Now, she preoccupies herself by climbing up the couch from one end, scooting down to the other end of the couch to come down and then go back to the booster chair to get back on the couch.  I love the self-playing!

 She's entertaining herself with her box of diapers (it's not 김 inside).

I've been reading up on Montessori education as of late.  Well, it's more like I've been following this woman's blog on how she does Montessori at home in daily life.  I'm loving it.  But I'm just totally blown away by what her little son can do by himself because she taught him to do it.  It is truly empowering when you can do things for yourself, isn't it?  That's why I rearranged the fence so that I can empower Luna to do things on her own when she is completely capable of doing it.  I won't be expecting her to pour herself a glass of water or sort her trash into compost and recyclables just quite yet.  I don't want to unleash the tiger mom within me. Here's the blog I've been following: howwemontessori

I really like the blog because it gives me ideas for what I can do at home with Luna and for things that I can make for her to play with and do.  I'm not about teaching her the Montessori ways and using the Montessori materials.  I just like her philosophy and feel that I can incorporate her philosophy into everyday life and live the Montessori way where Luna will be empowered to do and be all that she can be. 

Next up: Diaper stripping, Winter holiday

toys Toys TOYS!

When I was in elementary school, I used to go to an American church during the week to partake in a girls' program called Missionettes.  I've never been in a girls' program aside from that and am not familiar with Girls' Scouts other than their cookies, so I have nothing to compare it to, but in retrospect it was very much gender-biased.  We learned about women in the Bible, to cook, to craft, among other things.  It was okay though because my curiosity has supplied me well in the male-oriented spectrum of life.  I generally know most tools, know how to fix a toilet (even if it is just temporary), know more about cars than most men would expect me to know, and whatnot.  I have many many fond memories of my time in Missionettes and one of the most grateful things that I have learned through the program is crafting.  My parents both worked very hard to provide for our family and so teaching me to craft wasn't exactly their priority, but there at Missionettes, I made things that to this day I completely cherish.  It wasn't anything fancy or intricate.  Sometimes it was a sewing-with-yarn kind of craft you would probably find at a dollar store, and sometimes it was revamping a cheap plastic photo album with lovely printed material, lace, and buttons. I can confident say that it was the introduction to crafts at Missionettes that has made me into the crafty person that I am today.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I am by no standard a pro at anything I do.  In fact, my work is rudimentary at best, but I believe that God has given me the interest in wanting to make things and a talent to work with my hands.  Also, I don't believe in having to pay inflated prices for things that I can easily make with the time I have at home.

This brings me to my current and on-going interest in toys for Luna.  Toys in general are super expensive.  Toys in Korea in general are like three times the prices back at home.  sigh.  I do not have the money to satisfy my want for toys for Luna, especially when I'm looking for toys that are specific to her developmental stage right now.  This is where my crafting comes in.  Also, being a teacher by profession helps me to think of toys for her that would be beneficial to her stage.  So, here it goes.

One day I noticed that she was starting to use her fingers to pinch objects.  Also, she liked putting stuff into containers.  So I saved my plastic cup from the coffee shop and brought it home.  One man's trash is another man's treasure, is it not?  haha  Then I got the scrap ribbon I had in the house and sewed up the ends to make little balls out of them.  This was the result:

 

Luna likes to shove the ribbon ball into the hole in the cup.  I initially thought of buying pretty little pom pom things at the craft store, but there are no mega craft stores Michael's in Korea.  I'm sure I can find them if I looked, but the ribbon was already at home.

Luna really likes to do this.  It's really amazing how focused she is when she tries to finish this task.

For a while, I didn't have any other inspiration to make a toy for her.  Finally I found something to make.  I'm still in the middle of the project though.  What am I making?  I am making a ring stacker for her.

I don't know why, but Luna loves that blue ring holder!  And that's not even the intended use.  The blue thing is actually the rack for the Avent bottle parts sterilizer. lol.  Luna loves to go in the corner where I have stored it, open the top and bring out the rack.  She just carries it around.  So, I decided to make some rings out of felt and stuffed it.  I've made three rings so far and need to make more.  I just haven't had the energy or the mind to do it lately. We've only had this for a week now so she hasn't mastered getting the post through the ring.  But, she will.

Also, I made some puppets with felt.  My mom sent me a Tweety bird puppet during the summer and Luna was super amazed by the puppet.  It's a simple puppet too; it doesn't have a moving mouth, but just a giant head and arms.  I made three friends to go along with Tweety.  The first one I made was of a rabbit.  When I cut out the body in accordance with the width of my hand, I forgot to account for the thickness of my hand. Oops.  I worked to fix it, but it means that it only fits my hand.  Then I made the frog so that Husband would be able to fit his hand.  This time, I made it too big where it is real comfy for him but I can't use it very well because my hand is much smaller.  The most recent one I made is the owl, and it happens to be my favorite.  I saw this owl on Pinterest and I think it provided a template, but I didn't use the template.  This time, the size is just right where both of us can use it comfortably.  (This is starting to sound like Goldilocks.) I've included the measurements for those of you who want to try it out.  Note that the rabbit is the smallest in width and height as well.

Of course, with the green felt I had, I made a felt CHRISTmas tree.  Felt stick to felt so I cut out "ornaments" that Luna can stick and unstick onto the tree.  She isn't toooo interested in the tree, but its there for when she is.  This idea wasn't mine, but a fellow mom on a fb group I am a part of.

With some fabric that I bought at Dongdaemun last week, I've made some bibs.  Koreans don't actually use these as bibs, but as scarves for the babies.  Koreans have this thing about always having to keep the neck warm to keep the cold away.

This took a little more work because I'm hand sewing them.  I left my sewing machine back in California though I'm sure using the machine wouldn't cut down on time too much because I'm not too skilled with the machine either. haha  But, after cutting the two fabrics, I ironed the edges down so that it would be easier to sew them together.  I ended up having to adjust the ironing twice in the middle of the sew because the two triangles weren't lining up right.  In the end, the green side came out a little lumpy but you can't tell once the scarf is around the neck.  I also attached some snap buttons so that I wouldn't have to tie it.  The snap buttons can easier be bought at Daiso too.
(Looking at the pictures now, the green print looks similar to the play clothes that Maria made for the children in Sound of Music)

A while back, I also made teething pads for my ergoBaby carrier.  Again, I had the cloth at home already. so i just sewed it up instead of paying the $10 for it.

 I used one of the numerous brand new washcloths we had at home.

The one on the left is the ergoBaby teething pad and the one on the right is the washcloth. 

I just sewed up the ends and sewed in the snaps and voila! I've got some more teething pads. 

Last week, Husband and I went on a Dongdaemun haul, picking up some goodies at the toy alley and the fabric/craft mega building.  Like I said, toys are expensive.  Wooden, Montessori-like toys are even more expensive!  Holy moly! If you know the toy alley, there's a store on one of the corners that is gigantuous.  It's two floors and it holds many many toys of brands that you know.  It also holds many Montessori toys and wooden toys that I would love to buy for Luna.  The problem is the price.  Even at Dongdaemun, the prices are ridiculous.  sigh.  BUT there is a toy store I found that hold wooden toys at a much cheaper price!  I bought a wooden puzzle for 5000 won.  yay!  I forgot the take a picture of the store front, but hopefully someone can help you find it if you decide to go check it out. They also sell lamination stuff.

The prices I saw there were comparable to the prices on Gmarket, so if you're not into actually playing with the toys before purchasing (like I am), then I say utilize Gmarket instead of making the trip to Dongdaemun.

You can find directions and additional info on the the toy alley on this blog, Kids Fun in Seoul: Dongdaemun market


Back in May, I posted info on a baby cafe near my apartment.  They've actually changed their name and their prices/policy a bit.  It used to be that a purchase of a drink will get you two hours of play, and a food purchase will get you three hours.  They have actually started charging an entrance fee of 1000 for the adult and 2000 for the child in addition to the drink/food purchase (the drink/food prices haven't changed).  However, there is no time limit.  It's still a pretty good deal.

This is a lot of information and there are still two more topics I wanted to cover, but I think I'll leave it for next time.  Leave me some love please!


Next: soap making/packing supplies and stripping diapers

Luna's First Birthday Party

We did the whole crazy big Korean first birthday shindig.  And yes, it was quite crazy, only because I'm the mommy and I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to greet all the guests; keep Luna occupied, fed, and happy; and still keep my composure in a dress, too-much makeup, and heels. Overall, it went fairly well despite my crazy and pitiful rantings about how I wanted to do it my way and whatnot.  I was pleasantly content with what I was given and Husband was fairly satisfied with the service of the venue.

My little princess was indeed a princess.  She was dressed in a white dress (as all little Korean birthday/mini-wedding protagonists should be) and stomped around in matching shoes that were all provided complimentary by the venue.  Her little pigtails and her big personality were no match for the numerous tables and chairs that dared to stand in her way.

From food, decorations, Masters of Ceremony (MC), to slideshow, it was all provided by the venue. All we prepared were birthday favors, photographers for the event (our friends), giant paper mache letters of LUNA, her booster chair, and mommy adornments. In weeks prior to the event, we went to a self-studio where the studio provides the studio, clothes, and camera (at a price, of course) and Daddy took the pictures.  It isn't professional photography, given that we are not experienced photo-takers but it was good enough for us.

Luna did the traditional doljabi the non-traditional way since Koreans like to use their space efficiently.  That means that Luna didn't crawl or walk up to one of the objects to grab it, but little miniature versions of the doljabi was placed on a tray for her to pick up.  For those of you who are not Korean, doljabi is a traditional event during the birthday party where different significant objects are placed in front of the child.  The object that the child picks up will be determinant of what the child's adult life would be like.  Normally, the objects are money for wealth, a ball of string for a long life, stethoscope or a medicine bag for becoming a doctor, book for becoming a scholar, some sort of musical instrument for becoming a musician, and whatever else you want to add.  You can add a ball for an athlete, a kitchen utensil for a cook, etc. The sky is the limit really.  Some choose to go a totally different route where they print pictures of famous celebrity women for a birthday boy to choose as his wife. lol

We are not superstitious whatsoever and actually wanted to go with Bible characteristics but that meant that the MC would need to know the Bible well in order for him to MC well, so we ditched that idea.  We are also not one of those parents that practice the doljabi for weeks at home to train the child to pick up a certain object. haha So when it came time for the doljabi, Luna was essentially given a bunch of strange objects (from her perspective) that doesn't belong to her.  Luna is a smart, careful baby.  She doesn't grab at things that she doesn't know.  In fact, she pussyfoots A LOT. At the doljabi, she kept touching the things, poking it quite a bit, but not grabbing any of it.  After two tries, we propped up the money on its side so its more visible and that's what she went for--she went for paper. hahahaha Paper is something she is very familiar with. She plays with it everyday! She loves flipping through her books and sometimes even ripping out pages.

Alright, so where did we hold our birthday party?  We booked a place called BOM Party in Bundang (Sunae Stn) like three months prior to the event.  The woman thought I was crazy for booking so late.  Apparently, parents book birthday venues when the kid is like three months old.

BOM Party is a small venue with two banquet halls, one seating from 60 to 80 people and the other seating from 70 to 100.  They really do have the place set up to look like a wedding and you can easily do a wedding there because it is quite pretty.  The flowers are all fake though.  I actually stood in front of the flowers and even stuck a little bit of tulle in between the flowers without noticing that they were fake!  Goes to show how much money they put into these fake floral arrangements. Their buffet is set up within the banquet hall so you're not going to a buffet line with the other party's guests. And their food is quite okay.  It's not hotel food, but good.  There is no minimum number of guests you have to pay for; you pay for the number of people that show up for the party so that's really great too.

 I got the makeup and hair done by a place called SuDa at Sincheon Station.  I swear, if I had the time to do it myself, I probably would have done a better job...and I am no make-up artist!  In some of the pictures, it looks like I have a lazy eye, which I don't.  But, that's how they did the make-up and in some pictures, my left eyelid looks droopy.  The makeup or eyelashes must've moved around or something.  Never again!  Also, I should've gone with my instincts and worn glasses.  By the end of the day, bags underneath the eyes and the puffiness comes out and so I look really really tired in the photos.  Also, the lady didn't know what the heck to do with my hair.  A seasoned stylist will know what to do even if the person getting the hair done doesn't.  Because my hair is short, the woman was at a loss and when I said, do something cute, this is what I ended up with.  I specifically told her that I was not wearing a hanbok, and she put my hair in a fashion where I should've been. ugh. Whatever.

We got the self-studio photos done at BeBe Story.  The place was close and the facilities were pretty good, though I have nothing to compare it to.  The clothes that are available aren't phenomenal but you're not there to take phenomenal photos of the clothes, but of the phenomenal child in those clothes.  The rates were decent, but I would definitely recommend taking your own camera because trying to use a camera you're not used to all within an allotted time is not cool...that is of course, unless your camera isn't a DSLR.

LISTEN UP!! I'M SPEAKING!! 

 BUTTONS!! 

 I am definitely getting use out of my shoes...for my wedding and this mini wedding for Luna.

I don't know if I'm leaving anything out, but at this point, I'm too tired to think of anything else. Bah. Time to sleep.  

P.S. the links page has been updated

Next up: Home-made toys for Luna