Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

Oops can we rewind…

~ Etc.

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  Me genuinely happy and content with life. Before we got caught that is. 

Just a week after giving birth, Jay and I went to Magleby’s for all you can eat crabs. Korean tradition is that you and the baby don’t go out for a month for the sake of you and the baby’s health and all these other extremities such as not bending or twisting your wrist(literally), not crunching on ice because all your teeth will fall out(my mother’s words exactly), etc. but that’s worth a whole other post. So my mom didn’t think it was a good idea but with my body feeling good and me wanting those dang crabs, we went nonetheless. 
By the time we got our crabs I felt my breasts get engorged with milk due to skipping a feeding, but it was so good I kept eating my dang crabs. We wished Adalie was there with us and felt bad we left her behind and agreeing that she would love the crabs, we decided to ever so discreetly hide the crabs in a napkin and take it with us. Horrible idea. First of all, Jay had to go to the “bathroom” so on his way back he could snatch a napkin from another table. Second of all, Jay had to lean over next to my plate so he could break the crab legs and in the middle of doing so, our waitress appeared on our sight which caused Jay to jolt up out of nervousness and he dropped the crab legs and stopped everything he was doing which had to be SOOOOOOO obvious. We waited for the waiter to disappear out of sight and when he did, with the napkin Jay snatched on his way back from the bathroom, we rolled up a few legs and shoved it in my purse. Right after I shoved it in my purse I looked up and my eyes met with our waiter’s eyes who was by the cashier register in the corner. He had his eyes big with his mouth gaped open like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing and then he ducked down and started laughing with another waiter in the corner. 
I never felt so embarrassed and shamed in my life! Then I realized I was just like my Asian mother whom just a few days earlier brought me a scone and a garlic bread wrapped ever so nicely in a napkin from Chuck-A-Rama. Why do Asians do this? Are we the only ones that do this? Whatever the case may be, that was the very day when I realized I am the stereo-typical Asian I make fun of sometimes. Ugh… 
When I told Jay our waiter had totally seen us, the look on Jay’s face was priceless. You would’ve felt bad for the guy if you had seen it too. I could obviously tell he was all shame and embarrassed as well so we got up to leave ever so quickly and discreetly but it didn’t help that our waiter who was tending the table right next to us turned to us and said, “Oh take your time guys, there’s no rush.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME? OF COURSE THERE IS A RUSH, we just got caught stealing crab legs and shoving it in our purse!!! We gave him a 20% tip and half walked/half ran out of the restaurant and across the parking lot to get to our car to drive away as fast as we could. A lesson learned: There is ALWAYS somebody watching you.

“Please, please!”

~ Etc.

Jay tells me I’m the biggest snack pack in the world. It may be true. I eat treats, candy, sweets ALL the time, anytime. It’s exactly 2:32 a.m and I have a headless Dove chocolate bunny right next to me. It tells me the whole thing is 960 calories. Thank you nutrition label.

This habit of mine is not something I particularly want to pass down to my generation but with Adalie being by my side 24/7, it’s hard to snack without having her want it too. And just look at her saying please. Her intense way of saying the word and the way she stomps her little feet! It’s too adorable, how can I say no?

These videos are all within one day. I watch these videos over and over and never get tired of it because it’s so cute. But maybe that’s just because she’s my own daughter, I don’t know.

Let’s not forget the very beginning of this video. I kinda wish she ate it right there. darn.

What I wish nurses/doctors or ANYBODY had told/warned me.

~ Etc.

The first 3 days Ariana came home she would sleep all day long but somehow magically stay up all night for 6 hrs. straight usually between 12a.m-6a.m. She would poop on an average of about 13 times a night so literally for 6 hrs. I would feed her, she would fall asleep while sucking, she would poop so I would change her and while changing her she would wake up and want to suck again, she sucks, falls asleep, poops, wakes up while getting changed, sucks, falls asleep, poops, wakes up, sucks, falls asleep, poops, wakes up….you get the point. FOR SIX HOURS I TELL YOU! Oh my goodness it was miserable. One night I was so angry I even said a curse word out loud. GASP! I know, I felt terrible afterwards and I told Jay and my cousin Ginny & Colby but they didn’t even believe me.

On one of those sleepless, exhausted, sleepy, frustrated, angry nights I thought of all the reasons why I am so done having kids and I made a mental note to write down all the things I had forgotten about that comes with the pregnancy, labor, and recovery. You really do forget it all, until right as you’re experiencing it again! It’s amazing!

There are a TON of things you forget about. Pretty much all the bad things. But right now all I care about is what I’m experiencing now. Why doesn’t ANYBODY tell you any of these things?

-NO ONE told me how painful it is while your body is getting milk to feed to your baby. You get hard knots all over your breasts around 2nd, 3rd day of giving birth that’s as hard as a rock. It hurt me starting on my chest all the way to my armpits that I couldn’t even lift or move my arms without hurting.

-NO ONE told me that breastfeeding hurts. BAD. And when these babies clench on to your what’s already so sensitive…with such a powerful suck…WOW. Don’t let the no teeth fool you. And don’t think the second time around will be any better. I think with Ariana it was worse since I got more milk faster and more easily since she is my second child. (More kids=more milk) since your body has done it before so is better at it.)

-NO ONE told me you’ll have contractions while you breastfeed. They’re just as painful as the real contractions while in labor. Ok maybe not AS bad but it’s pretty close and when you think your contractions are finally over when all the sudden you feel it…again…yeah it’s not a pleasant surprise. These lasted me about 3 days. The pains would start in my stomach and shoot down all the way down my legs to the ankles. I teared up everytime.

-The uncomfortability(I think I just made that word up) of episiodomy. It is more uncomfortable than painful even though it has its moments when you bend down, sit down, or go to the bathroom. It feels like you have a wedgie constantly until you realize it’s the stitches and there’s nothing you can do about it except wait for the stitches to dissolve. A constant wedgie is what anyone could only dream of. So fun.

-NO ONE told me you’ll bleed for about 3 weeks so you’ll be wearing a pad for that long.

-A month after giving birth to Adalie, Jay treated me to go get a one hour body massage and as I was signing the papers, I felt blood gushing down my pants. It took me by surprise and I hoped no more would come but it kept coming. At first I thought I lost control and peed my pants because it was with that amount as if I had to pee really bad and I released it. Shocked and scared, I asked them where the bathroom was and walked speedily down the hall. When I got in the bathroom, I had blood all the way down to my knees(thank goodness I was wearing a long coat), blood soaking through my jeans. I was still gushing blood down there so I sat down on the toilet and for the next 30 mins. while crying, I just watched as blood just kept pouring down. I think I bled about 2 galloons. I was horrified and scared. Was I going to die from all this loss of blood? What was wrong with me? I called the doctor and without any concern or sympathy in his voice he casually told me that was completely normal. “TO BLEED 2 GALLOONS OF BLOOD??” I asked him. He said it was completely normal, that I could expect it to happen again once or twice more and that I should only worry if I was bleeding like that for longer than an hour. In disbelief I hung up the phone. Jay had to come get me and I walked out wearing his basketball shorts and told them we would have to reschedule.

This doesn’t happen to everyone just FYI. I think for most people, they don’t experience this.

I wrote this post awhile back and right now it’s almost 3 am and Ariana’s been sick the past 3 days with a runny/stuffy nose/cough/sneeze. She’s been sleeping fairly well but of course she picks this time to stay awake out of all other times. She’s been crying for the last 4 hrs. I tried holding her, feeding her, burping her, changing her, singing to her but no use. So I just put her down on my side and I just read this post. To keep my sanity and to read about all the reasons why I shouldn’t want anymore kids because within that short time, I forgot again. But why is it that at 3 in the morning, so fatiqued and sleepy with a baby crying by my side, I still want more kids?

These darn kids. I love them more than any discomforts they may bring me. But don’t test me Heavenly Father. Please. 🙂

I think it’s time.

~ Etc.

When your child comes up to you as she’s pointing to her diaper saying, “pee pee or poo poo”, then goes to the bedroom to grab a diaper and then hands it to you and lies down on the ground as she waits patiently for you to change her… I think it’s time to start potty training. And I have NO clue. Any suggestions?

Adalie’s milestones

~ Etc.

I just realized I never really blog about Adalie’s milestones. I think she’ll enjoy reading about it when she’s older so here are her current milestones.

Her vocabulary: baby, ice, please, mama, dada, shoes, kitty, dog, meow, more, juice, milk, eat, moo, thank you, bye bye, hi, hello, ball, bath, no, and poo poo. Many of these she knows the sign language as well.

I’ve been teaching her the words poo poo with 2 fingers up and pee pee with 1 finger up and today while changing her poopy diaper, she said “poo poo” and tried to hold two of her fingers up but couldn’t so she just got her fingers wide apart and stuck it out at me. So I taught her to hold one finger each on both hands to represent “two” fingers and she did it. I think it’s never too early to start potty training them, don’t you? 😀