happy halloween!

we stayed home this evening since daddy wasn't feeling well. so we loaded up on goodies and passed them out to the decked out trick-or-treaters. daddy was concerned about the raisins and fruit leathers we were handing out, but everyone seemed to appreciate the variety...especially the moms. mommy thought it would be nice to give out something healthy to balance out all the candy being handed out this evening. way to go mommy!

recipe for a dynamite baby...

...asian engineering + caucasian design. the hat i'm sporting was a gift from my family in korea.

A Word from Mommy...

Moments. Sometimes that's all we get. And sometimes they're all we need.

Tonight, like the past few nights, the little man has had a bit of trouble staying asleep for longer than a half hour or so. In fact, it's been like that during the days, too. A "sleep strike" I think Sarah called it (that's Abel's mommy). And tonight followed suit. So after the first awakening, I went in and "rocked" him back to sleep...actually, it's simply lightly pushing the bassinet insert in our playard back and forth which simulates a rocking motion while allowing him to remain laying down. I am trying to resist always picking him up right away. Luckily, he fell back asleep.

Then, as I expected, the next awakening came within 10 minutes. Although he loves sucking on his thumb, fingers, or whole fist, he still has a hard time keeping control of his arm when he is crying. So I tried helping him. But it was to no avail. So I grabbed his paci and he took it right away.

Then we had a moment...one of those moments mommies live for and cherish always. As my totally exhausted son laid swaddled in his bed, he sweetly sucked on his pacifier and held my hand. Truly...he held my hand, not the other way around. Instead of rocking him, I thought I would just lightly rub his face and hand (we keep one arm out of the swaddle) to help him fall back asleep. But instead, he needed to feel my touch and began to "play" with my fingers, sometimes grasping one, then just lightly touching other parts of my hand.

It was amazing and wonderful and sweet. It was our moment. And it was all he needed.

a boy and his rumpz

today was daddy's tuesday off work, so he and i had lots of extra daddy/son time together. this morning, he took some pictures of me with my freshly washed rumparooz diapers. i love having fun with daddy.

happy 100-day birthday

yeah, yeah...i know. it seems like i'm always having a birthday. but i'm not making this one up just for more cake.

in honor of my korean grandma and heritage, today i celebrated 100 days of health. historically, many babies in korea did not live past 100 days so it has become custom to celebrate once a baby has reached this milestone. my daddy had a traditional ceremony full of all the korean clothes, gifts, food, and money. mommy and daddy scaled it down a bit for me. even without the material things, we still enjoyed celebrating my first 100 days of health.

my daddy's 100-day celebration with my grandpa and grandma

my 100-day celebration with daddy and mommy

a day of happies

this special post goes out to three of my favorite people on their very happy day.

happy birthday, cousin anabel!

i can't wait to meet you at thanksgiving. i hope you enjoyed your day and really enjoy your presents, especially the one from us...i picked it out myself!

happy anniversary, gampa and grammie!

mommy told me, 41 years of marriage...amazing! thanks for being such a good gampa and grammie and for loving each other so much, even more than you love me! i love you so much and am looking forward to spending my first christmas with you!

playtime

this is how playtime begins...

i'm still working on precision and control, but i figure if i wave my hands around enough, i'm bound to make something move...and i like to make them all move!

and this is how playtime ends...

once i've had enough, all i need is some comfort and that's that.

does this count as my first date?

this morning we went with beth, jarod, and eliana to the the flat acres farm to ring in the fall season. we walked through a corn maze, picked out a pumpkin, and even saw some animals in the petting zoo. it was kind of chilly so my costume kept me cozy and warm.

i think eliana is so cute

so naturally i put the moves on her

my friend eliana as pooh bear
(pink bows and all!)

okay, time to go home

and the winner is...

okay, let me explain. the official halloween costume winner was "sweet pea", but by the time mommy went to order the costume, they were all sold out. all the choices were sold out. so plan b was enacted. actually, mommy had no plan b. maybe borrow a costume. maybe find another one. or maybe even make one. too many options. so mommy's friend beth, sensing our dilemma, found me the perfect costume! i'm a giraffe!

the bradley crew in the house!

it's been a long day

tonight mommy and daddy got together with their bradley class for an ice cream social. their teacher, clarice, was there with her husband and five daughters. so it kind of balanced out the five new boys in the room. these are the friends mommy and daddy spent ten weeks with learning all about having a baby the bradley way. and this was the first time we all got meet each other in the flesh (and as you can see, I truly was "in the flesh"!). even though we each had our own set of obstacles coming into the world, we all ended up with the ultimate goal...healthy momma, healthy baby...oh yeah, and healthy daddy.

and no, i wasn't trying to show off my unmistakable manliness (as seen in both pics). i just got really hot in the room - way too many people and bright lights. so that's why mommy stripped me down to my diaper even though the other boys stayed in their cute outfits. daddy was kinda bummed because he had a cute outfit all picked out for me that he wanted to show me off in. oh well, sometimes nature must rule!

mommies and their sweet little boys

daddies and their big growing guys

can you guess which one of us is sleeping?
from left to right - Elijah, Me, Wyatt, Abel, and Ryker