Jin's Nine Months Old!

My son is 3/4 of a year old. Good Lord, I'm a mom.

If you can't tell by the photos, I can't keep this kid in one place anymore. Still not crawling, per se, but definitely managing to move himself across the room. I guess now might be a good time to start baby-proofing. Woo went out and got outlet covers but I think we should probably worry more about the wires because Jin loves to chew on them. Most of the time you can find him playing with cardboard boxes; kitchen utensils; phone/iPad chargers; and then occasionally, with his actual toys.

Other milestones this past month include cutting his first two teeth (the two front bottoms) and getting his first official passport. He outdid Woo and me because our passport photos came out pretty god-awful (and Woo's was way better than mine). So here's Jin's passport photo, a toothy grin, and his monthlies. You'd have to kill me to get me to show you my passport pic. Ever.

 Teeth!

He started chewing on monkey hair...

So I had to just take the stupid monkey away from him.

That lasted all of a minute before he pulled the monkey back over.

And then he caught sight of his binkie on the carpet...

 ...and almost took a nosedive into the floor. This kid.



Jin's Eight Months Old!

Oh my little Jin-Su. He’s so funny. I think I find myself laughing more and more with these photo shoots because he’s getting so animated and he’s got so many quirky little facial expressions. I wish you could see half of what I miss in the time my dumb little camera takes to actually snap the shot. But eh, I catch some good ones here and there too.

So…we’re not quite crawling but we’re definitely sitting and what I like to refer to as “rolling”, looking like we’re about to take off any second now. I fully expect it to just happen overnight, as often as he looks like he’s just about to but doesn’t quite. He loves to laugh at and watch Mushu, he has a really hearty laugh when tickled, and he smiles a lot at both myself and Woo when we walk into the room. I LOVE when he first opens his eyes from a nap and just starts smiling when he sees us. Best feeling ever. He also likes to hold his arms out and wrap them around our necks or lean into us to let us know he wants to be held. That happens a lot too, so I’ve got to be more mindful of not spoiling him, since it’s so hard not to indulge him every time he does that.

The other day he ate a big chunk of cantaloupe through a mesh baby feeder, and he’s been eating more of his baby cereal. He likes carrots; avocadoes and sweet potatoes are ok; not a fan of peas, and bananas are just gross. I’ve been making all of his food fresh and organic. I’m working on expanding that selection and I hope to find something he’s just head over heels in love with. For now, we’re taking it in stride and I’m thankful that it appears he’s got his Daddy’s sense of taste and doesn’t have the sweet tooth his Mom has. Cheers!

A yawn-smile. 

At the very end he seemed to take this little bow. He opened his arms out wide and then threw his face into the chair, LOL. So dramatic. 



 

Jin's Seven Months Old

Today totally snuck up on me and it was Woo that reminded me this morning that today is the 11th! Jin and I have been busy all week, cleaning house in preparation for my Mom's visit next week. She and my Aunt Mine actually passed through Phoenix for an 8-hour overnight layover on Thursday night so we got to see them for a little while, which was so nice. So the house actually looks semi-decent because of it. :)

Jin's crazy big now, and his little personality develops a little more each month. He's started to be able to sit up for longer periods of time, although he's not quite able to get up on his own yet. But you can see him trying and he eventually gets frustrated when someone doesn't help him up. He's very curious and starting to get into everything within reach. And of course, anything he can reach goes right in the mouth. 

He can hold his own bottle, he has started eating pureed solids like sweet potato, and he loves when Daddy drips a little cold water on his tongue with a straw. In fact, when I drink out of a particular green cup that Jin recognizes, he opens his mouth because he remembers that Daddy let him have a small sip of water from it. And I love how he now reaches his arms up to whichever one of us is standing. We've tested it out and his "favorite" parent is based solely on which of us is standing at the moment, haha.

Its pretty funny, the quirky little habits they start to develop. Jin will often stop drinking his bottle when he's decided he wants a break, and when we put it to his mouth he purses his lips shut until you offer his binkie instead. If you sneak in the bottle, he blows raspberries and spits the milk out. 

One of my favorite things to do with him is to stop in the hall bathroom on the way to his nursery for diaper changings. He always smiles big and almost laughs a little when we go look at ourselves in the mirror. I can't help but silly-grin with him. Sigh. Love this crazy kid.

Jin's Six Months Old!

It's here and I can't believe it, our baby is half a year old! CRAZY. Time flies, seriously, when you're having a blast, as the old adage (sort of) goes. I'm so blessed beyond measure. We've settled into such a nice routine with our little baby who's fast becoming a little boy. He's everything I look forward to at the end of my long days at work away from him. My boys (Woo, Mushu and our Nano) are what spell out happiness for me. Thank you for these six months of joy beyond belief.

Here are the photos I managed to snap this afternoon. Poor baby, he caught his first cold that began around Thursday last week, so he's just getting over it. He really rarely smiled during our little shoot, and what few smiles he offered up, my slow camera just didn't catch in time. But he's such a trooper. He may not smile as often, but he hasn't been fussy either. Just tired and kind of blah.

Go figure, right after these were taken, we ran some errands around town and he giggled a lot in the stores and in the car. Such an odd duck. I fear he may be the kind of kid that I just can't keep at home. Ah, well, socializing is important too. :)

Hope you're all well and healthy...here's to being half-way through the work week!

Monkey mittens are good eating.

 Looks almost bored.

We're getting good at dirty looks.

 The "please stop already" face, which is where all this ended.

Woo's First Father's Day

Today was a good day. Really relaxing. We got home late after being at a wedding for most of the day yesterday so we took it easy today. Woo really didn't want to do too much but he did ask for Korean for lunch, so off we went to our favorite Korean place in town (sooo good). It was a nice, quiet, family-time meal, which I loved. The rest of the day was even quieter. We took naps, cleaned a little (I cleaned, Woo and Jin took naps, which is what a great Daddy should be able to do on his day). Later. Woo got us take-out for dinner while I put our little monkey to sleep. Nothing exciting to report at all, but it was genuinely such a NICE day at home with my little family. Loved it.

To the man that I've loved and who has been a true friend to me since I was 15: THANK YOU for being the most amazing Father to our Jin. You're more than I could have ever hoped for in a partner and a Father to our child. I think back to my own childhood and the absence of a strong, supportive father-figure and I'm just thankful beyond what I can express in words, that my child has only the best. Jin, Mushu and I love you to all of Saturn's moons and back. :)