Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro!

Today Nathan is four months!

Four months! 


This morning I was telling my mom that we are in the sweet spot. We have a great routine, Nathan has an adorable little tiny personality and all is well. (I think I even told her I can't wait to have more...no, this is NOT an announcement). 


We had a nice day. Nathan even slept in a little bit, (I think because it was a rainy morning).

Nothing like a little morning stretch to get things started. 

Then it was business as usual. Tummy time, sleep, eat, poo, practice drooling for the upcoming teething adventure...you know the drill.  

See you next month--five months, here we come! 

:)sbc

Before & After-ish

If you have been with me from the beginning (of the blog, that is, and if you have: THANK YOU), you might remember my very first entry, "House on a Hill."

Let us use the photos from that entry as our "before" shots.  The after are the house currently after our "remodel."

To you, the changes may not seem like much. To us, though, it makes a big difference. You have to remember, we started from a very spartan state--ALL WHITE and very sparsely dotted with BEIGE RENTAL furniture...

Kitchen before:

White!

Kitchen after:

Not completely white!

Dining Room before:

Dining Room after:

Guest Bath before:

Guest Bath after:

Guest Bath AFTER

Living Room Before:

(note the "fireplace")

Living Room after:

look who has a fireplace!

Master Bedroom before:

Master Bedroom after:

note adorable boy having some tummy time on our bed ;-)

Nursery before:

Nursery after:

The paper isn't really this "loud." It is very cute, but I can't take credit: Kyle picked it out.

Guest Bedroom before:

Guest Bedroom after:

And saving the best for last...Nathan before:

And after!

:)sbc

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Monday we went to the doctor for Nathan's check up and to--fingers crossed--find a pediatrician that we liked.

The check up went well and Dr. Yoo is very nice. She is used to dealing with expats and spent more than a decade in Palo Alto with her own practice before she came back to Korea to head the Pediatric Unit at Samsung (huge) Hospital.  She's now semi-retired and in private practice.

What's not to like--she remarked that Nathan is a very relaxed, happy baby and that he is in good health and very alert. Nathan smiled at her the whole time.  After the checkup, we caught a quick nap and some late morning coffee.

Later, I tried to interview Nathan to get his thoughts on Dr. Yoo, but he was way too occupied with his reflection in the mirror. Hilarious. Check this out:

Also, flower class is back! This arrangement is in honor of my niece Sophie who turns 8 today. Happy birthday, Henry!

:)sbc

Michigan 35 Notre Dame 31

Go Blue!

We love night games! An eight o'clock Saturday night start in the States means that we can have a Sunday brunch with all 114-thousand-plus fans at the Big House.

Kyle--who is NOT a morning person--even thought about setting an alarm to make sure we were all set up and ready to go.

So at 9AM Seoul time, thanks to the *magic of our slingbox, we watched not just live college football, but Michigan Football.

Nathan's first Michigan game. We were pretty excited.

My boys

We certainly got off to a pretty rocky start.

So nervous (check out those thighs)!

Suddenly, we had a chance!

Touchdown!

 Hail to the Victors!

A win's a win!

:)sbc

PS--Today is my mother-in-law's birthday--Happy birthday, Nana!

*Many thanks to our tireless slingbox technical team: Cheryl & Bill Bupp and Lynn & Dave Michael!

100 Days

Today Nathan celebrates his 100 days. Who's counting?

From asiainfo.org

In Korea, on the 100th day after a child's birth, a small feast is prepared to celebrate the child's having survived this difficult period.  The family, relatives and friends then celebrate with rice cakes, wine, and other delicacies such as red and black bean cakes sweetened with sugar or honey.  To prevent potential harm to the child and to bring him or her good luck and happiness, red bean cakes are customarily placed at the four compass points within the house. If the steamed rice cakes are shared with 100 people, it is believed that the child will have a long life. Therefore, rice cakes are usually sent to as many people as possible to help celebrate the happiness of the occasion. Those who receive rice cakes return the vessels with skeins of thread, expressing the hope of longevity, and rice and money, symbolizing future wealth.

The more modern acknowledgment of this milestone, according to one of Kyle's managers that helped me organize his celebration, is that they pass out cute little rice cakes on his or her 100th day.  More traditional Koreans probably do the rice cakes at the four compass points in the home, etc. In fact, strict traditionalists say that you shouldn't bring your baby out of the house before their 100th day. Oops, Nathan already has stamps on his passport! (And just ask my mom about the speech she got from a Korean couple when we were out with Nathan at the N Seoul Tower at three weeks old!)

Anyway, with the help of San, we ordered the celebratory rice cakes and all that goes with it. I don't know if she was helping me because I am the wife of the boss or just felt bad that I am basically a functional illiterate and was nervous that I might make Kyle look bad by ordering the wrong rice cake package--but who cares. Help is help!

All she needed was a selection, credit card, a picture and the inscription and she would take care of the rest. I picked the rice cakes, sent a picture and told her that she knew better than I did what should be traditionally written on the tab.

They turned out very cute and were delivered to Kyle's office on time, thanks to San.  She texted me this morning saying, "The cakes are very nice and everyone is congratulating Kyle and saying Nathan looks just like him."  Awww.

The final product

It reads, "Thank you for celebrating Nathan's 100 days anniversary. We will raise him as a boy with generosity and wisdom. Shelby and Kyle Crockett."

They don't smell delicious and they didn't taste like anything special (Kyle and I just can't get behind the idea of rice cakes as a dessert as pretty as they are), but Pete liked them.


At the end of the day, Kyle's teams were appreciative that he acknowledged and participated in a traditional Korean celebration. And that was the whole idea. 

Happy 100th day to Nathan! :)sbc

Suddenly It's September

Isn't Labor Day great? I mean, once you get past the whole "I-can't-believe-it's-over-I-don't-want-it-to-be-over" part.

But on the bright side, weather permitting, you guys back in the States get a pretty awesome trifecta: College Football (Go Blue!), Major League Baseball (Tigers!) and a long weekend at the lake all rolled into one!

So, please know that I am thinking of you--and missing you--while you are at the sandbar, at the tailgate, at the beachfront, on the pontoon, at the Euchre table, at the dinner table and behind home plate one last time. 

For us it was just a weekend. But, weekends are good! We attended our first Korean wedding. The bride was the daughter of S.R. who is CFO for Vidamco (GM-Vietnam). S.R. organized our trip to Halong Bay and was a very gracious host when we visited in October. There were a lot of GM folks in attendance and Kyle was one of very few that brought his spouse. Each introduction ended with, "And may I congratulate you on your boy."  I have grown semi-accustomed to this male dominated society, but that still felt funny. 

This wedding was no joke--talk about all rolled into one. It was compact as it was layered and still managed to be profound and meaningful.  It was like a very high-end luncheon and the entertainment was the ceremony.  

Wedding

Except for the Bride walking down the aisle (which was really an elaborate, elevated, skirted runway) to applause (the whole way), there was never just one thing going on. 

You were greeted at the door by both sets of parents and the Groom while handing in your card (money). They were announced husband and wife (more applause) and almost simultaneously dinner service began. Then lights went out, spotlights flooded the couple as they lit candles down the runway, cut the cake and poured the champagne fountain to a medley of Celine Dion love songs. As we are served the main course, the Bride and Groom and their parents greet every table. Dessert is served and people began to leave. Just like that it was done.

Bride and S.R. walking down the aisle

Sunday the humidity was pretty low so we took advantage of the weather and went for a nice walk...

Hyewah district near Seoul National University

On the walk home, striking a pose

Wait for me!

did some yard work...

 

 

Look who I found hiding in the bushes

while others took a nap...

 

I hope you are having a nice Labor Day Weekend! :)sbc