Korean War Museum

So these pictures have been sitting in my draft box since November and I thought I had better post it right quick before we actually leave Korea and everyone starts thinking I'll stop talking about Korea. (Ha, I say! Ha!)

These are pictures from the Korean War Museum, which is right next to the base here in Seoul. It's an impressively large museum that covers the history of warfare in Korea but, of course, the most interesting sections are those that deal with the Korean war, which celebrated its 60 anniversary in 2010.


The outside has a large open courtyard/pavillion where ROK soldiers and color guard sometimes do drills.


There are many statues....



(Which remind me a lot of the statues at Mao's mausoleum in Tienanmen Square.)


This one is called "Brothers." It shows a rift in the earth, representing the split between North and South and two brothers (the North and South) being reunited. The Korean war, and the continued separation of North and South Korea, is incredibly sad. I have a hard time remembering, sometimes, that Seoul was a pile of rubble only 60 years ago and that they've completely re-built their country and economy in such a short period of time. It's even more disheartening to read stories of life in North Korea or watch documentaries of the Kim's oppressive regime and not wish there was so much more we could do. But I do believe that I will live to see the fall of North Korea.

Outside the museum are several airplanes, tanks, and ships which have been used by Korea, mostly during the Korean war.

There are a few inside too. (Huge museum, right?)



We visited one of their special exhibitions on the DMZ. This was a collage of photographs taken of North Korea.



Here are some North Korean soldiers standing guard at the DMZ. I wonder how much they understand about the outside world and if they want to flee their country?



Or if they are just so indoctrinated that they truly believe they are better off in the North.

This is a sculpture made entirely of the dog tags worn by men who fought in the Korean War. A tear drop for all the men who died.

Maybe, if I get really ambitious, I'll do a post about some of the books and documentaries I'd recommend about North Korea. But really, you should just go read 1984 and you'll get the idea.

So here's the thing....

So here's the thing.

I love me some America. I truly, truly do.

I kinda have a Master's in the subject. And that's no joke. (Just ask The George Washington University and the nice people at Citibank who will be receiving my student loan payments for the next bazillion years of my life. And, why is it THE George Washington University? Are there others that I'm unaware of?)

Deep thoughts. But these are not THE deep thoughts which prompted me here in the first place.

So here's the thing.

I love me some America. But I'm kinda scared to return. It's been two years, after all.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm super duper excited to see friends and family, meet my new niece and nephews, show off my most adorable baby, eat In & Out with reckless abandon, and buy shoes that are bigger than a size 8. But I'm also 100% sure I'm going to have a serious case of reverse culture shock.

David and I went to Insadong last Saturday to admire all the paper lanterns out for Buddha's birthday and to buy some Korean-y things. We peeked into the Indian Cafe or Cafe India or something equally clever for dinner. We'd eaten Korean the night before and I was feeling the need for curry and so in we went.

I should have known something was amiss when we realized that we were surrounded by only other Americans except for a pair of Koreans who probably felt they'd just wandered in Oz. It was weird to realize that I could eavesdrop on any conversation going on around me because I could totally understand what people were saying. And I haven't been able to do that in a long time.

But here's the thing, when you can speak the same language as the group of loud-mouthed Americans sitting across from you, you can totally hear everything they are saying.

And I was totally ashamed by these rude, obnoxious, arrogant group of young Americans who laughed too loud, boasted with pride, and acted like all the bad things people say about Americans.

David and I weren't having it (also, it was also a hookah bar and who brings an 8-month old to a hookah bar? and I swear we're good parents we just didn't know it was a hookah bar when we sat down) so we requested our food to go and high-tailed it out of there. Instead we found a coffee shop (Star Moon....WAY original there guys) and settled down with our Indian food and about 30 Koreans.

And I felt so much more comfortable in that room full of Koreans than I felt in that cafe with my fellow Americans.

So that's the thing. I love me some America, but also...? I love me some Korea too.

I totally didn't see it coming.

Zara at Eight Months!

I'm sorry this update is so late in coming. We've been busy with getting things taken care of for our impeding move so this will most likely be my last baby update from Seoul. How quickly our time here has come to an end!

General Observations, Physical Changes, Etc.

Zara's weight has appeared to plateau and she still weighs only a little more than 19 pounds. This is fine by me because I was not looking forward to having to cart around a 30 pound baby. Now that she's mobile, she's thinned out quite a bit. From my own measurements, I think she's about 29 inches long but she's a squirmy little sucker so I could be wildly off.

It seemed to take forever, but Zara's top right tooth has finally broken through the gum!

She's outgrown her infant car seat carrier and we've finally upgraded to a convertible car seat. We finally opted to go with the Britax Roundabout 55.

Zara has also been taking her baths in our bath tub for the last two months. At first, she just clung to the side of the tub the entire time, but now she crawls around in the water and splashes and plays with her toys. It's made bathtime a lot more fun.

I think the poor girl has some seasonal allergies. She's had a running/snotty nose for almost three weeks now but no other visible symptoms. She also occasionally wheezes (but she's been doing that for awhile). I'm taking her in to the doctor next week just to be sure.

Eating and Sleeping Habits

Zara seems to require less and less breastmilk during the day (she nurses for about 2 minutes before she gets distracted and wants to do something else) but still has a long nursing before bed and wakes up about once or twice a night for more. Even when I attempt to feed her a lot during the day (to fill her up, the books say), she still wakes up at least once during the night.

Zara continues to enjoy eating solids though she much prefers to feed herself, thank you very much. She's added mangos, yogurt, green beans, crackers, juice, and Cheerios to her list of foods. She definitely prefers fruits over vegetables and she enjoys feeding herself. The other day, I had a banana sitting on the table (which I had intended to eat) when Zara grabbed it and started munching on the peel. Since I was getting ready to leave, I let her hang onto the banana as we walked (she strolled) over to base. By the time we got to our destination, she had managed to break open the peel and suck out some of the banana so I opened it up the rest of the way and let her go to town. She ate almost the whole banana herself although there was banana EVERYWHERE.

Napping is still somewhat problematic, but Zara's nighttime sleeping has greatly improved. She's generally asleep and down for the night between 7:30-8:00 (8:30-9:00 on bad nights) though she often wakes up around 10:30-11:00 (as we're getting into bed) for a little top off. She generally wakes up again around 2 a.m. and is up for the day between 6:00-6:30 a.m. (Sometimes much earlier to my consternation.) I wish she'd sleep in longer (at least to 7 a.m. for my sake) but we're figuring things out.

I find that swaddling Zara during her pre-bedtime feeding has been an effective way to get her ready and focused to eat and then to sleep. As soon as she falls asleep, I unswaddle her because she tosses and turns and twitches and moves around A LOT in her sleep. In fact, there has been many a night when I've woken up to find Zara's feet instead of her head on my pillow.

Accomplishments and Firsts

Zara desperately wants to be more mobile than she already is. She's pulling herself up on everything, walking along the furniture and has even begun to work on climbing. Heaven help us all.

Zara celebrated her first Easter. I bought her a cute pink basket which I filled with (empty) eggs and new pajamas.

Favorite Toys, Places to Go, Etc.

Zara's favorite things to play with are of course the things that are not meant to be baby toys. They include: a tape measure, cat's toys, DVD cases, toothpaste tube, Kleenex, cell phones, cups, spoons, keys, books, the broom and Swiffer mop, and lately, her infant car seat.

Zara will be heading to new and exciting places soon. We'll be making our return to America in the first week of June and I'm really hoping that Zara will do well on the plane ride. Otherwise it's going to be one loooong flight. Not to mention that we'll have Suyom with us as well. I feel bad for all the people who will be sitting next to us. I've even thought of bringing them a little gift as a pre-emptive "I'm sorry." But if we sit next to Koreans, they won't care because they love babies and they'll spend the whole time cooing and saying "Ah! She's so cute. She looks just like a doll!" and making faces at her. Pray for Koreans people!

And now some photos:

Mother's Day ...and hinges

For those faithful readers out there, you know that I have not been a very active participant in this blog.... Honestly, I just don't think anyone will want to read what I have to write. I'm sure someone will find this post at least mildly entertaining and will disagree with that last statement, but it doesn't matter because I won't believe it. Seriously, I won't believe it, so save your breathe... or your typing energy, in this case.

You see, I know that I think about things--weird things--that normal people just don't think about. Things like hinges. Yes, hinges. You see, the three hinges on American doors are evenly spaced, but maybe you didn't notice? Well, here in Korea, there are two hinges located near the top of the door and one near the bottom. Which of these two hinge-hanging methods is better? On the one hand, it seems as though the evenly spaced hinges provide more stability, but on the other hand, a door with only a top hinge is more stable than a door with just a bottom hinge, so shouldn't there be more support up higher? I know people don't want to read these things because they are just ludicrous.... Honestly, how many other people do you know that are so concerned with the stress placed on hinges?

But today I'm not here to tell you about my random thoughts, or why I shouldn't blog, or even hinges, despite the fact that I could write a dissertation on each of those subject. No, today I am here to tell you about a couple of the many wonderful women in my life, but most importantly my amazing wife Liz--so please just ignore that first crazy part.

First, my own Momma. My Momma was blessed with five children--four girls and me. (As her only son, I'm her favorite by default.) My Momma has always been a terrific listener. She will sit and listen to me ramble about all the wonderful and horrible things happening in my life, and she has given me encouragement through it all. My Momma always took such good care of me when I was sick. She packed my often meager school lunches with care and tucked me in at night until I was probably far too old for it. She has been the model of patience and virtue; a stalwart Christian woman who wants nothing more than to have a loving family. I love you, Momma; happy Mother's Day to you!

In addition to my own Momma, I've had other mothers just about everywhere I've lived. When I left home to join the military, my first assignment was located in Monterey, California. Charlie and her husband were leaders at the local single's ward (an LDS church congregation) when I arrived there, and they opened their home to the many single adult "children" who attended there. Charlie is a very strong woman who has overcome a lot of adversity in her lifetime; she passed on much of her wisdom to me and all of her other children. She was there during a time of great difficulty for me and we shared many happy and sad moments together. Perhaps the greatest thing she did for me was establish a home where I felt I belonged during a time I thought I couldn't fit in anywhere. Happy Mother's Day, Charlie!

There have been many other women who have been a significant blessing in my life, but I'll just name one. Alicia and I met at school when we were in Monterey. We were in the same class and got to see each other every day. We didn't talk at first. I think she thought I was a weirdo (see introduction for supporting evidence). Sometimes we still wonder why we are friends since we really have nothing in common, but I think it boils down to the fact that we find each other so amusing. When we talk we are constantly laughing! Alicia and I have been through a lot together and she has always been a true friend to me. When we were in school, she really pushed me to do more with my life. Thanks to her persistence, I fulfilled all the requirements for and received an associates degree in Korean, making me the first Malone in my family to earn a college degree. Alicia and I are still great friends, and I can never thank her enough for being such a support to me. Thank you, Alicia! 사랑해!

Ah, now to the bestest, most awesome woman of all time, my adoring wife Liz! But first, some back story.

I was having a conversation with a friend at work the other day in which I described myself five years ago. He quite pointedly stated that the person I was describing didn't sound anything like me, and I couldn't have been happier to hear it! You see, five years ago at around this time of year, I finally decided that I would ask Liz on a date. I really had nothing going for me at that time--significant debt, no education to speak of, no plans for life, no confidence worth mentioning.... But Liz is such an awesome gal that I just couldn't let her slip away without trying. I asked her out on a date, we had a wonderful time, and the rest is history. Flash forward five years to the present day and I am now debt free; I will be completing a Bachelors in a few weeks; I'm off to BYU for an MBA starting in August; and I've never had more plans, ideas, and confidence, and I owe it all to Liz. Some might say that I'm giving her too much credit, after all, she didn't earn the degree for me or pay off my debt. To those I simply say, if you knew me five years ago, you'd think otherwise. I am a firm believer that behind every good man is a great woman and that while people can do great things by themselves, they can do truly amazing things with the encouragement of loved ones, particularly from a loving and supportive spouse.

Liz has been taking care of everything around the house allowing me the time to focus on my education. She's been steadfast in preparing meals for me to take to work for those ridiculously long hours away from home. She's been there through every semester and before every test wishing me luck and reassuring me that I can do anything I set my mind to. She's kept me calm and encouraged me every step of the way the last five years. I can never, ever thank her enough for her love.

And now, Liz is also the mother of our daughter. With my retarded schedule, Liz has largely held the burden of taking care of so many things including caring for Zara. Cute and entertaining as she often is, Zara can be quite frustrating to deal with especially when she won't sleep, but clearly needs to.... Liz is a wonderful mother who quite obviously wants the best for her children. The way that Liz interacts with Zara is quite beautiful to me, and I love my girls very much! So, thank you Liz, for being such a wonderful wife, and now a wonderful mother as well!!

And Happy Mother's Day, Honey! I'm so grateful you said yes the second time I asked you to marry me, and I'm so grateful you are the mother of our daughter! I look forward to the addition of any other children we get to have and for the many years ahead that we will get to spend together! I love you very much, Liz!! Now... as for your Mother's Day gift....

I've had trouble with gift-giving recently because anything Liz wants she can--and usually does--just go get whenever she wants it. It's become harder and harder to think of gifts to give her for that very reason. Plus, many of the staple gifts like books and CDs... well, as close as Liz and I are, I won't pretend to know what music and books she would like. I've only read a couple of the same books as her, so I can't even begin to suggest a book for her based on her tastes. And most of the bands she loves are groups I've never heard of before, and I don't know where she finds the music anyway since you never hear it on the radio. She has an Amazon wish list, but half the stuff on there isn't really things she wants, just things she put there to remind herself about.... The point is, finding gifts for her has become much more difficult for me lately; its a dilemma that I'm sure many spouses and significant others out there can appreciate.

So, Honey, my gift to you this Mother's day is intangible, because it's the only way I can give you something that you can't buy for yourself. My gift to you is to write at least one blog post a month for the next year--that's 12 blog posts. For the purposes of this gift, however, any additional blogs written in the same month will not count toward the total of 12, so I may write more than 12 during the whole year, but there will be a least one each month. Oh yeah, and this post doesn't count, but I will start this month. Who knows, I may end up enjoying this whole blogging thing, but I'll still need some more of our followers to start looking at their hinges in a different light before I'll be convinced that my writing is worth reading.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

The Break-Up

Our internet was down for a whole 24 hours.

24 hours.

It was tough.

It felt like 3 days. I felt so disconnected and cut off from the world.

I rely so much on the internet to communicate with friends and family (not to mention that our Vonage phone which allows us to have a California number even though we live in Korea can't work if we don't have internet), to plan our meals for the week, to budget, to Google every whim and fancy that passes through my mind.

So what did I do for a whole 24 hours when my internet decided to break up with me?

I wrote a thank you card to my aunt for the Christmas gifts she sent us five months ago and then I wrote a 3 page handwritten letter to my Grandmother but I couldn't address them because my address list is online. I washed the dishes. I folded laundry. I watched a documentary about Elizabeth I and read two books. I tried to restain myself from eating all the See's candy mother sent me for Easter and failed. I gave Zara a bath. I snuggled with my baby and wondered at how much she flips and turns and twists around while she sleeps. I flossed.

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't spend all your time reloading Facebook and watching all three seasons of Castle.

But that doesn't mean that I almost didn't hug the very nice Korean man who fixed our internet this afternoon and who called Zara a cutie, but made it sound more like Q-T.

The internet and I are in love again.

Now if you will excuse, I have two days of Jeopardy! and several more episodes of Castle to watch.

Namsan Walk

Well, the weather can't seem to make up its mind to be cold, gray, and rainy or beautiful, sunny, and springy. I wish it would make up its mind so I could plan on going out for walks more often. On one of the nice days last week, I packed Zara into her stroller and hit the trails. I recently discovered a nice paved walkway that runs along the base of Namsan mountain (on which Seoul Tower sits). I've taken Zara on the trail that leads to the tower itself but it's a steep upward hike and rather difficult to do with a stroller. But this trail is nice and level and makes for a perfect stroller trail.
I'm sure it would be gorgeous in the fall. I think once spring fully arrives, the trail will be full of blossoms and color too.

There are some pretty stops along the trail, like this little waterfall.
And excellent bathroom facilities.
You can see the top of Seoul tower in the distance.
And there's a little shrine of some sort. I didn't go in. I could take the stroller up that many stairs.
We walked on the trail for over an hour (and didn't get to the end of it) and Zara slept most of the way. I stopped to rest before turning around and Zara woke up. She didn't see very happy about it.
But she eventually got over it.

Zara vs. Sleep Part Two

Why is that the harder I try to get Zara on a consistent sleep schedule, the less she actually sleeps? I'm baffled.

After reading some different things (particularly Elizabeth Pantley's The No Cry Sleep Solution) and taking great stock of my needs as the primary care giver and Zara's needs as the primary care receiver, I've made some changes to the way we approach sleep in our home. And for the most part, I'm seeing slow but steadily improving results.

For the last two weeks, Zara has been going to bed between 7:30 and 8 p.m. and for the last week, I've been able to get her to fall asleep on her own (rather than being nursed or rocked to sleep). She still typically wakes up every 2 to 3 hours wanting food or comfort, but in the last week, she has slept in longer stretches. Two nights ago, she slept for 8 hours before waking me up. So the nighttime sleeping is getting better, or at least, more manageable because I know what to expect and how to respond. (Now, I just wish she's stop waking up at 6:30 a.m. every morning.) I've got ideas in place for how to gradually improve her nighttime sleep. Success there!

I've also tried to implement two naps a day. One thing Pantley says is that babies will sleep better at night if they get the sleep they need during the day and a baby Zara's age is supposed to take 2-3 naps per day for an extra 3-4 hours of sleep. So I resolved right away to get Zara on a better nap routine. My goal is to get her to take at least an hour nap in the morning from about 8:30 to 9:30 am and a two hour nap in the afternoon, from 1 to 3 pm. But Zara? Won't sleep during the day.

Well, that's not entirely true. She sleeps for about 30 minutes in the morning and about 1 hour (1 hour and 30 minutes if I'm really lucky) in the afternoon. I think the problem is that now that I have an expectation that she will sleep at these pre-determined (by me) hours and she doesn't meet those expectations, then I get frustrated with her. Whereas before, I simply rejoiced when she'd deigned to sleep anytime, no matter what time.

Expectations....

I should never had gotten them.

And We're Moving To.....

Since graduating from college in August of 2005, I've lived some pretty exciting places.

There was the year I spent living in the beautiful splendor of Monterey, California where David and I met. Of all the places I've lived, Monterey is the one I'd most want to move back to.

And then I spent two years living in our nation's capitol, Washington, D.C., attending graduate school, working at awesome museums and meeting some of the coolest people in the world. My history-lovin' heart was full.

After marrying David, I moved to Oahu (where he'd already been living for two years). It is a tropical paradise but of all the places I have lived, Hawaii is the last one I'd want to move back to. But I'd certainly go there on vacation.

After a year in Hawaii, we moved here, to Seoul, Korea in 2008 where our daughter was born. I've loved living here and I find myself getting increasingly misty-eyed as I contemplate leaving.

But leave we must.

David will be getting out of the Navy (hooray) and finishing his Bachelor's degree in Accounting (double hooray) and so we can go anywhere and do anything we want.

So what exciting new locale will we be moving to come August?





Provo, Utah. (Well, hopefully we won't be living right in Provo....I'd prefer American Fork, Springville or Lehi....)

Exciting, right?

Kind of tame after Monterey, Washington DC, Hawaii, and Seoul but we couldn't be more excited. (Well, David still isn't super excited about Utah itself but he is excited for the reason we are moving there.)

David will be starting an MBA program in finance and international business at BYU in the fall. He just got his acceptance email this morning. I'm so proud of him. He's worked really, really hard and I'm so glad BYU recognized his potential.

I'm looking forward to being closer to family, living in AMERICA again, and all the glorious food. Utah I can take for two years. And then you better believe we'll be moving on to somewhere far more thrilling.

I'm hoping for China. :)

Sewing Fun

When I sew, I normally set up my machine on the kitchen table and take up more than half the table with all my stuff. So when the machine gets put away and the table is actually clean (which, let's face it, even when the sewing machine isn't there, the table is still a mess), I usually don't break out the machine for awhile. But I've been in the sewing mood lately, so out came the machine and the subsequent mess and it's stayed there for the last month. But at least now I've got a few cute sewing projects completed to show for it.

Now that this has been delivered to its recipient, I can share the baby quilt I made for my sister, who is expecting a boy in May.

I turned to my fabric stash and Oh, Fransson!, my favorite site for quilting inspiration for a quick project. She does beautiful, modern quilts and I just bought her book because I love her stuff so much. I really wanted to showcase the fun car fabric I bought awhile ago and I loved the punch of color and contrast the panel of blocks provided. (Fabric is by Riley Blake, whose fabric collections I love and always pick out without even meaning to.) I cut out pieces on Friday, sewed all day Saturday and Sunday and bound the quilt on Monday. (Which shows me that it doesn't take a year to make a quilt, like my last baby quilt took me....) Here's the finished product:



I machine quilted the entire quilt along the road. The binding was a pain but I think with more practice, I'll get much better at it. I machine sewed the entire binding, and I think in the future, I'll hand sew it which will leave me with better results. But, this is only the second time I've bound a project this way and I can already tell I've improved.

My sewing group has been working on sloper patterns. Basically, it is a very simplistic pattern that is fitted to your exact proportions which can then be modified and tweaked to create any number of garments that will fit your measurements each time. This is an ongoing, long-term project (it's really hard to get garments to fit well) so we've started making short goals that have to be finished in a month. Our project for the month of March was to make a skirt.

I used a fun sunburst fabric in my stash (again from Riley Blake) and designed my own skirt. I played around with pleats (never done them before) and put in a waistband with black piping. Since I didn't use a pattern, I had to improvise as I went along and my waistband doesn't fit as well as I'd like. I learned that wide waistbands are generally cut along a curve so that they are narrower at the top. I'll have to try that next time.

Otherwise, I'm quite pleased with my results. We had to wear our skirts to church on Sunday but since David had to work, I didn't have anyone who could take my picture, so I snapped this one in the mirror. I'll have to get a better photograph next time I wear it.

And I had to make Zara a coordinating outfit. I used this tutorial for a onesie dress which was fantastically easy and fun.
It's so fun to see something you made being used by the people you love. I have so many other projects I want to work on, I just wish I had more time to sew each day.

Zara at Seven Months!

Each month has its challenges and its pleasures. Last month was not my very favorite in the life of Zara, but I've enjoyed her so much more this month. Which is not to say that it hasn't had its own share of frustrations but I'm learning how to wait out the trying moments for the really good moments. Sometimes they happen in the same minute.


I feel increasingly lucky each month to actually get a shot of Zara lying still on her back. Typically, as soon as I set her down, she rolls right over and starts crawling away. It makes trying to change her diaper so. much. fun. She's getting huge, no?

General Observations, Physical Changes, Etc.

No check-up this month, but according to my own measurements, Zara is sitting right at 19 pounds and is 28.5 inches long.

She now has two bottom teeth which I can testify are very sharp. Luckily she doesn't bite. Much.


Apparently, Zara has very fat feet. I bought her some adorable new shoes (6-12 month size) and they were too small. I couldn't even get her big old feet inside them. It doesn't help that she tends to curl up her toes, thus making it nigh impossible to cram shoes on them, but when I do actually wrangle some shoes on her, they won't close because her feet are too fat. Most of the time she goes barefoot (she always kicks her socks off too) so I'll just worry about shoes when she's actually walking. Which may be next month at the rate she's going.

Zara and Suyom share many of their toys. They both enjoy rats, tape measures and plastic bags.

Zara has started to make a lot more noises. I was starting to get a little worried because she doesn't vocalize much, but in the last week, she's really started to make a lot more sounds (ma, ba, da, and ga being her favorite) and she blows raspberries quite frequently, but most especially right in my face.

She's a crawling monster. She crawls everywhere and fast. She also tries to pull herself up onto everything and can cruise along the furniture. Most of the time it means that she's trying to pull
herself using my pant leg, which depending on the pant, means I get pantsed quite frequently. She also really likes the bookcase in the office and pulling out the books. David has been encouraging her to leave his Chinese dictionary alone and instead go after the 501 Japanese verbs. Because we don't really need Japanese verbs.

Zara also loves to kick. Whether she's sitting, laying down, or being held, Zara likes to kick, kick, kick, particularly her right leg. It's rather amusing.

Zara also seems to be entering the "I want Mommy all the time" phase which, in some ways, is flattering, but in other ways, is downright annoying. She used to go willingly and happily to anyone that wanted to hold her, but lately, she cries if anyone else holds her, even David. She's always looking for me and often launches herself out of other people's arms if I get too close. She does still smile and flirt with people all the time (when I'm holding her) but she does get shy, and bury her head in my chest on occasion. For some reason, she does it most often around Koreans.


Eating and Sleeping Habits

Zara is still a fan of the milk but she has been doing a pretty good job of eating solids. So far, she has eaten apples, pears, bananas, peaches, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, rice cereal and oatmeal. She prefers oatmeal over rice cereal and loves all the fruits, except for the peaches. She didn't really care for the peas or the sweet potatoes but she does seem to like the carrots and butternut squash. I pureed a whole bunch of carrots so I really hope she learns to love those carrots. I've got a bunch of them.

Zara eats solids in the afternoon for lunch (most days) and at dinnertime (everyday). She still nurses about every 2-3 hours, but not for very long. It seems like she barely eats anything before she starts trying to flip over and crawl off my lap.

With the solids has come more solid waste. I really miss those sweet smelling purely breastmilk poopy diapers. Because what she's got going on now? Stinks. Luckily, she seems to be pretty regular, meaning that she generally has one big poopy diaper in the morning. After we wake up, I change her into a disposable diaper and once she's had her big poop, she goes back into cloth diapers. So much easier than trying to clean those disgusting poopy diapers. Today, however, she totally blew out her diaper. She had poo all over. Literally. It was everywhere. Her onesie was covered. Fortunately, David was home and I declared it was his turn to change her but he seriously had to hose her off in the shower.

Changing her diaper feels like a battle each time. She won't stay on her back and flips over as soon as I take the diaper off. And she screams and wails if you try to get her to lay down to put a new diaper on. Sometimes, it takes both of us to get her properly cleaned and diapered.

Sleeping is still a struggle. Zara just will not fall asleep on her own. She falls asleep easily in her car seat (when we're driving) or if I have her in the Ergo carrier. Lately, I've just been letting her nap on me (in the Ergo carrier) because if I try to put her down, she'll only stay asleep for about 5-10 minutes before she wakes up. But she'll sleep for over an hour if she's on me. (I don't know how that's very comfortable.)

At night, I typically nurse her to sleep on our bed and then she sleeps with David and me. She typically wakes up at least twice during the night to eat more, but when she sleeps with us, I just have to roll over and it barely disrupts my sleep, which is good. But she's also been waking up about two hours after she falls asleep to eat more. I wish I could break her of that habit.

I succeeded in getting her to sleep at 7:30 three nights in a row but it didn't remain that easy. I think 8:30 is a better bedtime for her. She seems to sleep better when she goes to sleep later. I wish, however, that going to bed an hour later would mean that she'd sleep an hour later in the morning, but no. No matter what time she goes to sleep, Zara wakes up between 6:30am and 7am every morning. But I refuse to leave my bed before 7 a.m. (more often 7:30) so Zara just has to content herself with the toys I shove toward her while I drift in and out of consciousness.

Infant sleep is a topic fraught with many controversies. I am aware of all of them and I'm even more aware of what other people say I should do to rectify some of Zara's sleep habits. Make her cry it out alone, in her crib. Don't nurse her to sleep. Don't co-sleep, ever. "Train" your child how to sleep. Don't go to her immediately if she wakes up in the middle of the night. She'll eventually learn how to get herself back to sleep on her own. All that jazz. Basically don't do everything that I'm currently doing. I don't mean to disparage these ideas or even the mothers who use them, and find them successful. I certainly like the idea of them. Believe me, I'd love nothing better than putting my baby in her crib at 7:30pm, walking away, and having her sleep for a solid twelve hours with nary a peep or cry. It would be bliss. But that is not my reality. I did try it. (Though most people would say I just didn't stick it out long enough. And it's true. I'm a wimp.) I have thought long and hard about what Zara needs and how best to parent her while fostering a good, caring parent-child relationship. And I have felt--time and time again--that right now, this is what Zara needs and I will try to give her that as long as she needs. But I know that when she's ready, Zara will learn how to sleep on her own and without interruption. I don't feel like I need to justify our decisions, but I know I complain about Zara's sleep habits quite a bit. I don't mean to elicit sympathy or advice (though both are always welcome). It's been the biggest challenge in parenting for us so far and I feel that it's important to document her sleeping habits--and our responses to it--so that I'll remember what we did and why when the next baby rolls around.

Accomplishments and Firsts

Zara mastered crawling this month. She's a speed demon.

She has also learned how to pull herself up to standing, cruise along the furniture, and has gotten much better at sitting back down again on her own. She still falls quite a bit, but that seems to be happening less frequently.

Zara is beginning to figure out this whole waving business. She sometimes flaps her arm when we wave at her but I'm not sure she's really made the whole connection yet.

Zara definitely recognizes her name. She often jumps and stops what she's doing when I yell, "Zara! No!" generally right before she pulls the trash can over.

She's stood by herself (without holding onto anything) for about 2 seconds before promptly falling on her bum.

Baby's favorite toys, places to go, etc.

Zara still loves her animal countdown book, her rubber blocks and any and all books. Lately, she's also been delighted by one of my Easter bunnies who sings and flaps its ears and the plastic Easter eggs. I bought her a little pink basket and she grabs the handle and shakes it until the eggs fall out. Then she goes crawling after all the eggs and works really hard to pick one up (since they tend to just keep rolling away). One of her favorite things to chew on, besides my sewing tape measure, is her little rubber toothbrush.

Zara likes to be sung to, though she doesn't show much preference for any particular song.

Zara is a great traveler. She does well in her car seat and is happy to watch the world from her stroller or her carrier. Unless she falls asleep in her car seat, however, she typically rides in her carrier when we're out and about because Korea is not a stroller-friendly place.

Here are some of my favorite Zara photos from the past month:










Love this baby. Most days.