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Last July our family went on a week long camping trip to Lake Tahoe. It was the first long
drive we took with Erin. Longest car ride before Tahoe was maybe 1.5
hours. It took about 8 hours to get to Tahoe. We started the drive at
midnight and got there early afternoon. To our surprise Erin was really
good the entire car ride there! We had high hopes for the trip. We
weren't sure how Erin would handle a new environment, sleeping in a
tent, eating outside, etc. We were hoping and praying she'd adjust well
and enjoy the change in scenery. She did exactly the opposite. Of
course.
She has a lot of anxiety at her age already. I can go on
about this, but I'll save it for another post. She gets overwhelmed
easily and has quite a bit of separation anxiety. She's not the most
outgoing girl, but she'll start warming up to once you've given her some
(a lot) time. She knew immediately she was not home. She refused to
interact with anyone (including dad) or do anything. She practically
lived in the Ergo. Camping with her was a challenge. I didn't end up
getting to do much because I was still nursing and she would not
associate with anyone else. It didn't help that she wasn't walking yet
either. My arms were dead by the end of the trip.
This was our giant 10 person tent. Lots of room for just the 3 of us.
Erin and the Ergo.
Tahoe was absolutely beautiful.
The Fam.
The Giant and the princess.
Chilling in the hammock.
All the kiddos. (Erin had a great time)
Deciding if she likes sand or not.
Now that I've gone camping with an 11-month old, here's what I would've done differently:
1. Bring a large tarp. Erin was only crawling at 11 months and I
could tell she wanted to explore but I wasn't going to let her crawl
around in the dirt. The only other option I had was to play with her
inside the tent and that would be no fun, we'd be missing all the
nature. So next time I go with a non-walking kid, I'd bring a large tarp
to lay somewhere flat and put a blanket on top to cushion it. This
would allow a child to sit, crawl and just play in the open.
2. Bring more food for the baby. At 11 months, Erin was eating a lot
of things. I still had to make sure things were soft enough for her and
small enough for her, but she ate mostly everything. I only brought with
me a few containers of pureed food hoping that she'd eat whatever the
other kids and adults planned on eating each mealtime. But of course
Erin wasn't open to trying a lot of the things we cooked so she didn't
really eat much during the whole camping trip. I know now to pack more
and better next time.
3. Leave my baby. I felt so bad for my kid so I decided to stick by
her side, even though that would mean mommy couldn't do ANYTHING. I was
so jealous of my husband, he got to go rock climbing and mountain
biking! (His version of our Tahoe Trip is very different from mine) Even
though my kid may be having a hard time adjusting, I'd make sure to
have a little me time and do something away from the baby next time. A
few hours away won't hurt the baby.
4. Bring a manual breast pump. Lesson learned!
*On a positive note, I got to spend lots of time with my baby girl!
She really is a funny girl and even though I was tired and a tad bit
grouchy, I had tons of fun hanging out with her. Better to start em
young. Hopefully with age Erin will get better with adjusting to new
environments and people. Camping in Tahoe is a must!
We'll have to see how our next camping trip turns out.
First time mom here.
Creating a baby registry isn't as easy as
it sounds. You really have to sit there and look through ALL the baby
stuff and pick out what you think you might need. If I could go back and
re-do my registry, I'd add the items below. I ended buying all of these
after having the baby.
1.Brica Mirror
This mirror is great. We have a pretty tiny kid so she'll be rear
facing for a while. It's nice being able to see what she's doing back
there and she can see me too.
2. White Noise Machine
We didn't buy this till after Erin turned one. We told ourselves that
we'd train Erin to be a heavy sleeper and we wanted her to get used to
sleeping in any noise condition (noisy or quiet). Unfortunately, we live
in a very old townhouse. 4 levels! Erin's room happens to be right
above the noisy garage and right under our noisy bathroom. With loud
plumbing, extremely creaky floors, a loud husband, thin walls..we
decided to try out this white noise machine. I'm not sure if it's
actually making a difference with Erin's sleep, but it does drown out a
lot of the unnecessary noise. Overall, I like it.
3. Earth Mama Angel Baby New Mama Bottom Spray
The first few weeks Postpartum were no fun. I was dealing with a
Third.Degree.Tear. Not kool. I researched online and I stumbled upon
this spray. It's all natural and it smells so good. I think it really
helped with the healing process and I'd definitely recommend it.
4. Books
I didn't even think to register any kid books. But books are so
important! We've been reading to Erin since she was just a few days old.
I'd definitely recommend registering some books if you don't have any
already. Some favs of Erin's during the first 6 months were: "Where's
baby's belly button?", "Where's Spot?" and the Going to Bed book.
5. Electric Food Mill
I didn't register any food related items. We ended up giving Erin
solids at an early age of 4 months. She refused the bottle during
daycare so we started giving her solids so she'd have something in her
stomach during the day. This is a pretty basic food mill, but it works
great. I used this to puree everything.
6. OXO Tot Freezer Storage Containers
These are great for storing/freezing baby food. The 2 oz ones worked
well for me. They are microwave safe and great for on the go.
7. Aden + Anais Dream Blanket
I love these blankets. They aren't too thick or too thin. They come
in cute patterns too. I've got quite of a few of these. They're great
for traveling or just to keep in your car in case of a cold day.
8. Zipper PJ's
Babies poop A LOT. I didn't realize how much till I had one myself.
For the first few weeks of life, Erin probably pooped about 3-5 times a
day (many of those times were during the night). That was when I
realized how thankful I was for zippers. Zipper PJ's all the way. They
are easy to take off and put on. These are especially helpful when
you're doing a late night diaper change and you don't want to completely
wake up the kid.
9. Boppy Nursing Pillow
I breastfed Erin till she turned one. I had my highs and lows
breastfeeding throughout the year. Overall it was a positive experience.
The first few months were pretty dang challenging though...and to add
to that, I didn't have this pillow! It seriously was a game changer. I
don't know why I didn't bother buying a nursing pillow in the first
place. Before I bought the pillow I was using my legs as a rest or I'd
stack several pillows to rest on..but that eventually took a toll on my
back, neck and arms. That's when I decided to buy the pillow. I
absolutely loved it and I'd recommend every nursing mama to get some
sort of nursing pillow.
*10. Manual Breast Pump
I didn't actually get around to buying it this time around, but I
really should have. Since I was working full-time I kept my electric
pump at work. What I realized was that sometimes on the weekends, Erin
would eat less during a few nursing sessions and I'd be left with full
and uncomfortable breasts. These manual pumps are light and easy to
travel with. So I'm definitely getting this for baby no. 2.
A few things I registered that I didn't use/need.
1. Booster Chair - Didn't end up using this one. We got a Inglesina (absolutely love it) from my sister and we ended up using it all the time (still do).
2. Diaper Genie - We just use a regular trashcan.
3. Crib Mobile - It ended up breaking after a few months and we didn't end up replacing it.
Meet my giant, aka Ken.
He's a whopping 77 inches tall (6'5)! (Taking photos with him is
always a struggle) Don't be fooled by his size though cause he's quite
the gentle person. He loves food, the niners, taking photos, mountain
biking, singing..the list goes on. You can see and hear him from miles
away.
Meet my princess, aka Erin.
She's a whopping 30 inches! Don't be fooled by her size though cause
she's got quite the personality and sass. She loves dancing, eating
snacks and reading books. It's the cutest seeing Ken and Erin interact
with each other because they're such extreme opposites when it comes to
size.
aren't they the cutest?!
I've got a 17 month old right now. I still need to carry around a
hefty diaper bag with lots of random things for the little one.
1. Spare clothes. My girl is quite messy, but what 17 month isn't?
She's really into feeding herself right now which means more mess for
mommy/daddy.
2. My go to snack, Plum Organics fruit bars. Erin loves these fruit
bars. I give her one of these If I know we're going to be eating a late
meal. Keeps her happy and content.
3. Costco diaper wipes. I love these because they're unscented and they aren't too expensive. Gotta love costco.
4. Goldfish. All kids love goldfish. The crunchy with the saltiness,
Erin loves them. These are especially great for when we're sitting in
traffic.
5. Diaper changing pad. No explanation needed here.
6. Avent insulated straw cup. I've tried out a few other insulated
cups but for some reason this was the one Erin and I liked best. It's a
little on the heavier side, but it does the job. Keeps her milk cool and
no leaking.
7. Diapers. I'm a pampers girl all the way. I've always had leaking problems with Huggies for some reason.
I wanted to start monthly updates for Erin..but I never got around to it, so I'll start with month 17.
Baby
girl is not a baby girl anymore. She's our toddler girl. It's amazing
how much she's changed since her first birthday. Physically she hasn't
changed much. She's still pretty tiny, weighs just over 18lbs. Her
height is somewhere around 30 inches.
Food: She went through a no eating phase right around her
first birthday. But a few months ago we noticed she was eating a lot
better and eating more in quantity. We need her to eat, gotta fatten
this girl up. She loves meat..like loves it. What a true Korean right?.
She'll be happy eating meat and rice everyday if we'd let her. Oh, and
get this..she loves veggies! We're so thankful we don't have to force
feed her vegetables. Her favorites at the current moment are: meat,
pasta (red sauce spaghetti and mac n cheese), rice and soup, pizza,
veggies (peas/carrots/corn) and bagels. She's still drinking whole milk,
maybe 12 oz a day. She's also like mommy and has a big sweet tooth.
She'll eat anything that looks unhealthy. Great.
*She doesn't like fruit. Who doesn't like fruit?!
Sleep: Oh sleep. Sleep was great right around the time she
turned one. She was finally sleeping through the night and things were
good. But around 14 months she hit some sort of regression or something
and things went downhill from there. She woke up frequently screaming
and crying. I'm pretty sure many of those times were due to nightmares
or night terrors. Didn't realize that nightmares started at such a young
age. Poor thing. Both Ken and I attempted to re-train her to sleep in
her crib, but we eventually got tired and worn out and that's when Erin
started sleeping in our bed. Yep that's right, we started co-sleeping.
At 17 months, she starts off in her crib..goes down around 7:30pm and
sometime between 11-2am, she'll wake up and end up in our bed. I'll
admit that at first, there was a lot of adjusting. Girl takes up a lot
of space and moves like ALL the time. But, I do love seeing my baby.
She's so cute when she sleeps. We're not sure how long we'll have her in
our bed. Not sure when and if we'll sleep train again. But for now,
we're open to having her sleep with us. As for naps, she's down to one
nap, However, there are days when she'll have two naps. No complaints
about her naps, she's always been good about napping.
Hobbies/Play: Erin loves dancing. Started at a young age. She
was pretty obsessed with "Shake it off" by TS, but now she's addicted to
"Let it go". She's got a specific dance for the song and it's pretty
dang adorable when I see her do it. She's also really into
peek-a-boo/hide and seek (still). She's also into knocking things over
and throwing things (yay). Oh and she loves balls! But I do think we've
got a smarty pants on our hands. She loves books! We read maybe 10-15
books to her daily (sometimes the same book over and over). I love that
she loves books. Kids books are so awesome! Here are some of our faves:
Up: That's her go to word right now. Don't know where she
picked it up, but she says "up" for everything. We're really trying to
encourage more talking. We noticed she's been doing more gesturing than
talking. At the moment she knows: mom/umma, dada/appa, mama (food), up,
kkakka (cookie/cracker), kkokko (bird) and I love you.
She's growing too fast!
Not in any particular order:
Lake Tahoe: We survived an 8 hour drive there and back.
We visit SF.
Erin's first flight.
(originally posted 1/16/15)
I knew I've always wanted a daughter. But, I want to emphasize on the
word "a". I come from a family of four daughters. We're all so
different and similar at the same time, it's weird. But with all that
weirdness comes the drama, the difficultly and all the emotions (no
thank you). I'm not all that sensitive myself. Some people even joke
and call me a robot. But as it turns out, my daughter is quite the
sensitive one (so is my husband). For some reason, I imagined I would
have a daughter similar to me. Someone who would be independent and just
explore on their own and listen well. Someone just real chill. Erin
turned out to be the quite opposite of that. She's Ms. Sensitive and
clingy and if she could, she'd be stuck to me all day long. Of course
I'm flattered about the idea of how much this little girl loves me and
wants to be with me but I'll admit that sometimes, I just need a little
room to breathe. But, through the past few months, I've learned how
grateful I am to have a daughter like Erin. She's teaching me SO much
patience and she's teaching me a whole new meaning of what loving
someone means. She's the sweetest girl and I'm so thankful to have a
daughter. It's true what people say about mom's needing to have
daughters. Especially this mom in specific. I definitely needed a
daughter like her. Daughters are so special and I'm so open to the idea
of having more than one! I'm sooo looking forward to seeing our
relationship blossom!
(originally posted 1/15/15)
I've been meaning to write down my birth story. Thought it'd be nice
to write it down while I can still sorta remember things. So where to
begin..
I had a EDD of August 9, 2013. My pregnancy wasn't bad at
all (first trimester was the worst) so I continued working full-time
till the day I went into labor, which happened to be August 9, 2013. A
week before my EDD, my Doctor told me that my fluid levels were looking
lower than what she wanted to see so we decided to schedule inducing me.
I was set to get induced August 9, 2013. The funny part was that on
that day I felt what felt like kicks all day. I just assumed that it was
the baby moving around, just being real active. But apparently I had
been having contractions all day. I checked into the hospital around
10pm and they confirmed that I was indeed having contractions. We agreed
that I would still get induced because I was not dilated at all. The
doctor told me at this rate it might take over 24 hours till I'd get to
start pushing. At 12am, I was getting petocin and was not looking
forward to a long labor.
A few hours passed and I could start feeling pressure in my uterus
and back. It wasn't too painful, just uncomfortable. By 4am, the
contractions were getting more painful and I wasn't able to rest at all.
The petocin intensified my contractions and sped up my labor, so I was dilating a lot faster than people
were expecting. I was already almost 5 cm dilated by 4am. I asked for
something for the pain so they gave me some painkillers through the IV.
It was around 5am that I felt my water broke. After that, things
progressed rather quickly. The contractions were getting worse and I was
exhausted. That's when I decided I wanted an epidural. I got the
epidural before 8am and I will admit, it felt good. I got to relax a
little and just prepare myself for meeting this baby. It was only a few
hours after that that I was fully dilated and ready for pushing.
I'm not sure if they gave me less of the medication, but I could feel
everything...just not the pain. I felt when my uterus was contracting
and knew when to push and when not to (I was expecting to feel
absolutely nothing). I started pushing around 11am and little Erin came
out just before noon. Thinking my labor would be more than 24 hours, I
was completely thrilled that it only lasted 12 hours! Although I was
aiming for a drug free birth, I don't regret anything at all. Both mom
and baby were healthy and happy.
Erin Montana Kim, Born: August 10, 2013; 6 lbs 11 oz
Some highlights I'd like to mention:
- Seeing Ken's face when the baby came out. Priceless. I'm pretty sure he had to hold back his tears.
- Holding Erin against my body for the first time.
** Did I mention I got a third degree tear. Not kool. But no hemorrhoids, Hooray!
**Oh, and I'd like to mention that a lot of the pain during labor was felt in my lower back *back labor). Was not expecting that.
Just a few days old. =)
(The giant and the princess)
