Our Growing Boy

One night at dinner, Daniel oppa and I spent some time remembering the first year of Ethan's life and we realized how many milestones he reached in that year. Now that he's past one and walking, we've definitely seen smaller changes.

1. It was pretty amazing to see how he learned to walk when he was 13 months old. He went from cruising around the room to taking a few steps at a time to walking EVERYWHERE in a matter of days! Now, he practically runs around all over the place! We ended up buying one of those backpack leashes for him, just in case, so he doesn't wander too far away from us.

2. Though Ethan doesn't say many words, it really surprised us to see how well he understands what we say to him. I think it started with "do you want to eat some mam ma?" and he would walk into the dining room and reach up to be seated in his high chair. Then, when he started walking, it was "do you want to go outside?" and he would go find his shoes and sit down to get his shoes on. He definitely understands where his milk is because when we say "do you want some milk?" he will go straight to the refrigerator. It's definitely made things easier for us since we don't have to make too many guesses as to what he wants.

3. Ethan loves to play with his toys. We've been teaching him to clean up one toy before he plays with another so that the living room/playroom doesn't end up a mess when he's done playing. Most of the time, he'll listen when we ask him to clean up. He has definitely impressed us with his ability to remember where the toys came from. We bought a shelving unit for his toys at Ikea and there are six different drawers/bins for his toys. If we tell Ethan to put something away, he'll walk right up to the drawer where it belongs and put it away.

4. Ever since we bought a chair for him, Ethan loves sitting on it to read books or to watch TV. We don't usually watch TV when he's awake, but once he hears the TV turn on, he'll run right to his chair and sit down, awaiting to see what will show up on the screen.

5. Yesterday, as we were leaving daycare, Ethan said "buhbye" as he waved to Pauleen and his friends. It was so cute! He's definitely learning some words... he can also say "uh oh," "umma," "dada," and I think he repeated "thank you" the other day. He knows how to sign "please," "more," and "milk," too.

As you can see, our Ethan is no longer a baby... but a growing little boy! =)

Swimming!

The other day, we took Ethan to the swimming pool for the first time. It was such a hot day that as soon as Daniel oppa was done with work, we all changed into our swimwear and headed to the pool.

We didn't know how Ethan would react in the pool since the water wasn't exactly as warm as his bath water, but he seemed to love it! He didn't complain one bit the whole hour we were there!

He held onto the head of the turtle every now and then, while playing in the water.
But mostly, he liked to move to the side of the turtle and splash the water with his hands.
Hopefully, we'll have more opportunities to take him to the pool this summer since Ethan seemed to have a great time in the water!

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

One year ago today, God granted our family with a healthy, beautiful baby boy. We can't believe that it has already been a year since Ethan came into this world.

I remember going to the hospital and being in labor as if it were yesterday, but I can't seem to remember the actual pain I felt throughout labor and delivery. Thank God for that!

The past year has been amazing. We've watched Ethan grow, step by step, reaching a milestone at a time, simply in awe of how God created him, of how God created life. When we first brought Ethan home, we kept looking at him and thinking "wow! he came out of me?!?" It was unbelievable at first to see him as a small human being, knowing that he once was a spot on the ultrasound with a beating heart! And for the first time, we understood God's love for us in another level, because we had this unconditional, immeasurable love for our son.

A year ago, Ethan would eat, sleep, pee/poop and cry when he needed something. Now, he can crawl and cruise around everywhere, play on his own with his toys, eat finger foods by himself, babble like he's having a conversation with you, smile and laugh all day long, and sleep through the night.

God has truly blessed our family and we are forever grateful.

Ethan's Dol (First Birthday)

On Saturday, we celebrated Ethan's first birthday with family and friends. We rented a community center in Castro Valley so that we could accommodate everyone. Though it took a lot of work and preparation, it was definitely worth it!

We arrived at the venue an hour before noon to set-up the tables and chairs and complete the decorations. I made the banner by printing the letters from the computer and gluing them on scrapbook paper.

We ordered the cake from Black and White Bakery in Hayward. The price was very reasonable and the cake was delicious!

I found ideas for decorations online and even made these go-im towers for the head table. The first tower means first birthday in Korean. The second tower is a cow since Ethan was born in the year of the cow. The third tower is Ethan's Korean name.

We put together some of our favorite photos of Ethan during the past year to place on the photo table. The sign-in frame holds the picture of Ethan in his traditional Korean costume, taken at home with the studio equipment we borrowed from Jonathan for the occasion.

We had a raffle going for the doljabi. Guests were able to predict which item Ethan would choose and enter in the raffle. Each item holds a meaning for Ethan's future. There was a pencil (scholar), stethoscope (doctor), string (longevity), rice (no hunger), ball (athlete) and money (wealth). Though we had planned to give away four prizes, we ended up with only two winners since Ethan chose the same item twice.

My mom helped out by making the orders for rice cake (dduk) and for the food. We catered from EM market in Oakland and the food was delicious! We had way too much leftover, though!

We started the party with a short message and blessing prayer from Pastor DeWayne. Pastor Jun prayed for the food and as everyone ended their meals, Daniel oppa gave a word of thanks to our parents and shared the meaning of Ethan's name before playing the slideshow. After singing Happy Birthday, we helped Ethan blow out the candle.

Then, we did the doljabi. Ethan was reluctant at first to pick up any of the items because anytime he touched something, people were excitedly screaming! It was pretty cute to watch his reaction. He definitely showed interest in the stethoscope and string before touching the money. The second time around, he went straight for the money. My mother-in-law thought he would choose money, but my mom was hoping he was going to choose the pencil. Daniel oppa and I didn't really know which he would choose, but in hindsight, it makes sense that he chose the money since he hadn't ever seen or played with it before.

After all that was required of him, Ethan fell asleep so peacefully.

It was a great event as we saw many of our relatives we hadn't seen in over a year. Ethan was able to meet his cousins, Brynn, Bailey, James, Kari and Jackson, for the first time. It was a nice treat since Jackson and Bailey are only, respectively, a month and two months older than him. We truly felt blessed by our guests and again, we are thankful to God for always watching over our family, especially as we've seen Ethan grow so much over the past year. We continue to be amazed at how God created and blessed us with a beautiful, healthy boy.

Ethan's First Vacation

During the week of Independence Day, Daniel oppa's parents came
to visit. His mom wanted to go to Yosemite, so we found a vacation home to rent for a couple of days and planned a trip in the beginning of the week. We were excited that Ethan would be going on his first vacation away from home. Here are some pictures from the trip:

We rented a minivan for the trip, a Chrysler, Town and Country. It was pretty spacious, just perfect for our trip. I think we went a little overboard with our luggage, thinking we had room since it was a minivan, but then again, we actually needed all that we took and we even forgot some items!

On the way to Yosemite, we stopped to eat lunch at a Chinese seafood buffet in Tracy. We were all stuffed by the time we left. Ethan also enjoyed the variety of food there, especially the watermelon!

Ethan was pretty good in the car, though at times he got cranky and whiny. He seemed to like being out and looking at the view when we pulled over to a vista point after entering Yosemite National Park.

Once we got to the Yosemite Valley, we decided to go to Vernal Falls. My father-in-law carried Ethan in the Ergo the whole way! It was a 0.8-mile hike to the footbridge by the waterfall, which felt much longer than that. We decided to continue our way to the top, another 0.7 miles. The mist from the waterfall created puddles along the trail and made the rocks slippery, so we took a picture and the grandparents took Ethan down the trail, while Daniel oppa and I continued our way up to the top.

After getting drenched by the waterfall's mist and taking several breaks, we made it to the top and it was awesome. I didn't think I was going to make it, but Daniel oppa encouraged me to keep going until we reached the top. =)

The next day, we decided to go to the Tuolumne Meadows. Along the way, we stopped at Olmsted Point to take some pictures. This is such a great picture of the Half Dome.

Since Daniel oppa brought the tripod for the camera, we were able to take this family picture with Half Dome in the background.

Once we got to the Meadows, we realized it was much cooler outside than we had expected. As you can see, there was still snow in the mountains, which explains the fullness of the waterfalls in the Yosemite Valley.

We left the Meadows when it started to rain and headed back to the Yosemite Valley. We were able to walk to the base of Bridalveil Fall and the Yosemite Falls. This picture is in front of the Yosemite Falls.

On the last day of the trip, my father-in-law and Daniel oppa hiked up to Half Dome. My mother-in-law, Ethan and I went to Glacier Point to soak in the beautiful view. From Glacier Point, we were able to see everything from the waterfalls to the mountain peaks. It was absolutely breath-taking and I was so in awe of God and how He created such beauty. We ate lunch and then headed back to the Yosemite Valley. We walked around a lot and just waited for our husbands to come down from Half Dome. We started to worry when it began to rain and we heard thunder in the skies. After 10 hours, the two men made it back safe and sound.

Daniel oppa took this picture along the way. It's the Nevada Fall in the background. Apparently, they were doing well until after having lunch at Nevada Fall because they ran out of water!

Dying of thirst, they couldn't eat snacks along the way and barely made it to the top of Half Dome.

Luckily, they ran into a couple of kind ladies by the river on their way down. The ladies let them use their water filter to fill up their water bottles. With a satisfying drink, the two were able to make it down with a little bit of energy to spare. What a memorable vacation it was!

Day Care

After visiting 4 daycare centers and 8 home daycares, we found the perfect place for Ethan! Initially, we thought of putting Ethan in a daycare center since there would be more than one adult to watch over the group of infants. We really liked the one down the street from our home, run by the church. However, the cost was just too much for our monthly budget, so we decided to look into small home daycares.

Near the end of the school year, I started to call around different daycares and set up appointments to visit and interview the childcare providers. In one week, I visited six daycare centers around Hayward, Castro Valley and San Leandro. After narrowing down the choices to the top two, my mom suggested that Daniel oppa visit the places with me to get his input in the decision. He ended up liking both of them, so we sought advice from our friends. =)

We decided to go with a small home daycare in San Leandro. Though she just opened her center and does not have the years of experience as other daycare providers do, we felt very comfortable in her home, which had large, clean indoor and outdoor play areas. It was very easy to communicate with her, which we feel is important when entrusting Ethan in someone else's care. She has two boys of her own, a 3-year-old and a 15-month-old, who are absolutely adorable and sweet. They played so well with Ethan in the few minutes we were there. She plans to only have her two boys, Ethan and another toddler, so only four kids total. The family is Christian and attends Neighborhood Church, a few blocks from our home. In her daycare description, she explicitly wrote that she would teach the children to pray before meals and naps, read a scripture verse in the mornings and do things related to Bible stories. Her background is in graphic arts, so she does a lot of creative arts with her children, which we're excited about.

We're going to start transitioning Ethan to daycare in August. We're hoping the slow transition will be smooth and that Ethan will enjoy going to daycare and socializing with the other children there. Knowing that he'll be taken care of is making it easier for me to go back to work full-time for the new school year. We thank God for meeting our needs and giving us peace over this decision.

Sleep Training

Ever since Daniel oppa went to Denmark for a business trip, Ethan has been sleeping with me in the bed. Though he sleeps so well with us, we decided it was time for him to sleep in the crib again. Ethan really likes to move around in his sleep, so it has been difficult sharing the full size bed with him these past couple of weeks. The bed is not big enough for all three of us! Also, since we're thinking of putting him in daycare starting August, we thought it would be better for him to learn to fall asleep on his own so that he doesn't have a hard time taking naps at daycare.

Today, after his bath and last feeding, we put him in the crib and let him cry it out. Daniel oppa peeked in the bedroom a couple of times and saw Ethan crawl from one side of the crib to the other, crying and looking around for us. =( Slowly, Ethan's crying became softer and less frequent until there was silence. It took 25 minutes for Ethan to fall asleep on his own tonight. Hopefully, it'll take less time tomorrow.

Update on the Party

On Monday, we drove to two parks near our home. Carlos Bee Park is literally blocks away and it has a nice picnic area, though the parking lot is small and there's only a small playground to keep us and the little ones entertained. On the other hand, Castro Valley Community Park is very nice! There are 6 different picnic sites that can be reserved and 5 of the picnic areas surround the playgrounds. There are four different play structures and a small water play area for the kids! We can't wait for Ethan to start walking around so that he can play there. It's such an awesome park! We decided to make reservations because we wanted to make sure we'd be able to have the party there on Saturday. We're really excited for Saturday!

Ethan's First Birthday

We can't believe our Ethan will be turning one in less than two months! It has been such a blessing to watch him grow over the past year and we're so excited for the years to come. We just ordered invitations for his first birthday party! Save the date for Saturday, July 10, 2010! =)

Daniel Oppa's 34th Birthday Party

We're planning a birthday BBQ this Saturday (June 5) for Daniel oppa. With so many babies at church, we don't think our place will be large enough to accommodate everyone, so we're thinking about going to a park nearby. We're going to check out a couple of places today so we'll keep you posted!

Tomorrow is his birthday and my mom offered to make dinner for us! =) We love my mom's cooking so we're really excited to be celebrating his birthday with both our families since Renee unni, Josh oppa and Sammy will join us!

Welcome to Our Blog!

We decided to start this blog to keep our friends and family posted on our lives. We'll post stories, updates, pictures and videos along the way. Hope you enjoy what's to come!