a little more room

Before Kyan came home we were told that he slept with his foster mom. When people asked me what the sleeping situation would be when he came home I answer very quickly "He will NOT be sleeping in our bed... we are going to break him of that right away... Maybe we will let him sleep in the pack-n-play in our bed room but we are moving that out quickly too" I would read about people who would have "family beds" and think that they are CRAZY! I bet God was just laughing to himself!


All that to say that Kyan pretty much sleeps in our bed now. We start him out in his crib but he wears me down and ends up getting carried to bed with me. Jason has been wanting to wean him from our bed and I really did try, but finally going to bed at 4:30 AM is just not that attractive to me and I make bad decisions when I am tired so needless to say he ended up back in bed with us. Jason told me I was weak- but I really had my child in mind. Kyan wants to sleep with me, I hate to sleep alone myself, I couldn't make my baby do it too, not yet. We are still working on bonding and I am not ready to let him "cry it out".

So, I needed to buy some time! We had a queen size bed and it was squished with just me and Jason- Add a 1-year-old-bed-hog and there REALLY wasn't enough room. I remembered that my parents had a king size bed as an "extra bed" at their house. So, I called them and asked if we could switch beds... it was for Kyan after all! And being the generous people that they are they agreed!


So we now have an extra 8.88 square feet of sleeping space! Wow does it make a difference. I know that some of you are thinking that I am crazy but that is OK. The best advice that I have gotten about parenting is "Many people are going to tell you what to do. But, You know what is best for your family. So, do what is best for them." And what is best for us is for all of us to get some sleep around here!

You Saved:

I have been trying to save us some money the past couple of months so when I get my receipts I always look on the bottom so see how much my total saving was. This weekend I feel pretty good about myself.

At Target: You Saved: $15.50
At CVS: You Saved $13.50
At Festival: You saved $15.53
Total Saving: $44.53

I think that is a pretty good start! That is $44.53 that I would have NOT saved a few months ago!

There are some things that I have learned while trying to save money: I have found that I have to be much more organized in order to save money.

• I have to find the coupons (for things that I ALREADY buy- if I am buy extra things I am really not saving anything!) We used to get the Sunday paper and be all excited about the coupons and all the money we were saving, but we were buying extra things that we would not have gotten in the first place. So I would save $0.50 on a box of cookies that I did not really want but spend $3 to get them so I am more picky about what coupons I get and use!
• I have to use the coupons before the expire! An expired coupon saves me nothing!
• I also have to think ahead. For example: this weekend I did not need dishwasher soap, but I had two coupons for cascade dishwasher soap (the kind I love and always use- Cascade Complete gets all the food off my dishes!). Both coupons expired Feb 15th which means I had to use them by this weekend or not get the deal... so I now have an extra bottle of dishwasher soap under my sink for when I need it. I have to think different, and not just get things when I need them but pre-get them when they are good deal. It is some money up front but will save us some money in the long run I think (I hope).
• Just because it is on sale and good deal does not mean that I should buy it. Children's Place was/is having a HUGE clearance sale and I wanted to get Ky some more clothes! Jason looked at me and asked a simple question "does Kyan need any more clothes?" the answer is no... if you have seen his closet, he has plenty to wear so I did not get the clothes and his birthday was coming up and I knew he would get some clothes (but it was a great deal - 3 onesies- black, red, and cream- and 2 sweaters all for $24 including shipping! Can you believe I passed it up!?!?) But it was $24 dollars that I did not need to spend so now I think of it as SAVING $24! To be honest I am still a little bummed about this one! : )

I am happy with the saving that I have had so far, but I know that there are more ways for me to save money so back to work!

Love

Today is Valentine's day so I thought that I would talk about the 2 very special men in my life whome I love: my husband and my son.



Jason is an extraordinary man, that I do not deserve. He is patient, kind, smart, funny, calm and handsome (I like to call him sexy- but he gets embarassed when I do that!) He is my rock. The last three months have been amazing to watch him be a dad. I did not know that this new level of love for him was possible. He does such a great job with Kyan. When he gets home from work he can not wait to get his coat off so that he can hold his son, it is so cool to see every day. He also does a great job of taking care of me. He makes sure that I get a break when I need it and is more than willing to play/feed/change Kyan when needed. I am so lucky to have Jason as my husand and I love him dearly!

Kyan is the sweetest boy I could have ever wanted. He is such a cuddler. He love to snuggle with mommy most times of the day. He calls me "Umma" and even if it is in a whiney voice it is still sweet to hear. His new thing is to pretend feed Jason and I with his bottle when he is done with it. He holds it up to our mouths. It is very cute. He is also waving, and can throw a ball like no one's business! Our boy is living up to his name-> he loves to be waited on like a king and he is VERY clever... he always wants to see how things work and he seems to also be 1 step ahead of us most times! He is such a cutie and I love to get him dressed in the morning because he looks so adorable is almost anything I put on him. Most times Ky has a very calm demeanor (except at night... that is a-whole-nother blog) and is very observant, he loves to go out and about with me and check out the world. It has been such a blessing to have him as a member of our family.

I love being a mom and this new role of being a wife/mom is a great challenge. I am so lucky to have a great husband by my side and a wonderful son to raise!

I love you Jason! I love you Kyan!
Love
Fawnda (AKA Mommy AKA Umma)

A Fun Birthday

We had a good 1st birthday with Kyan yesterday. We went to Underwater World at the Mall of America and we also stopped at Lego Land. Ky loved the fish and sharks at Underwater World, and Jason and I got to pet stingray and sharks. At Lego Land, Ky loved to throw the Legos all around. We also walked around the mall a bit, and it was nice to be out and about. Ky liked to sit in the stroller and to see all the sites. Here are some pictures of our adventure. The quality is not that great because we took them with Jason's camera phone.

Ky's first birthday party

Yesterday was Kyan's first birthday party. It was really fun!

My mom and dad came over on Saturday to help make the Korean dishes that I wanted to serve at the party. I had found some recipes online and I was really excited try them out. It was a fun day of cooking and we learned a lot about making Korean food. Not to toot my own horn, but the food turned out sooooo yummy! We made Korean egg rolls, Korean meat balls, Bol-Ku-Kee (Korean barbecued beef) and Korean chicken and cashews. I also made some fried rice to go along with all of the yummy entrees.

The Party started at 1 and went until about 5 pm. We got dressed in our Korean traditional Hanboks:



We did the Table Ceremony with Kyan. The table ceremony is a Korean tradition that happens at the first birthday. Different items are placed in front of the child and the first ones that they touch are supposed to show their future. After some research online, these are the items and meaning that we decided upon:
Pencil- You will be a writer
Thread- You will have a long life
Money- you will be rich
Paint brush- You will be artistic
Rice- You will never want for anything
Thermometer- You will become a Doctor
Knife- You will be a good cook
Computer Mouse- You will be good with technology
Calculator- you will work with numbers


Here Is Ky doing the table ceremony:




What did Kyan Choose??????????


For the most part he wanted to touch and play with everything on the table. I want to think that this means that Ky is going to be a well rounded individual.... but if you consider his first 3 things that he played with they were (in order) the computer mouse, the calculator, and the pencil. I know that one of the pictures above shows him with the thermometer so you all thought he was going to be a Doctor but, like I said he played with all of the items at once point.

We then had cake and ice cream:

You would think that a child would like their first taste of cake... but not my child! Here is what he did when he got frosting all over his fingers:

Oh, Well... Maybe next year will be happier!

Ky got lots of wonderful presents, but it was being with family and friends that was the real gift to us. It was so great to have them all celebrate this big event with us!

Happy 1st Birthday Kyan!!!

3 months

Today we have been parents for 3 months! The crazy thing is we have a 1 year old!! (Ok- he will be 1 in 5 days- but I call that close enough!) In some ways the time has flown by. It does not seem that long ago that were flying home on the LONG airplane ride holding our baby for the first time by ourselves. I can't believe that he is going to be 1 already! And in some ways it feels like Kyan has always been with us. His personality fits so well with Jason and mine. And the life we have now is so full that we don't think much of our life before he came to us (or maybe it is because we are not getting enough sleep and we don't remember it!).

Here is what Ky is up to now:

• He will walk while holding our hands, he really thinks it is funny when we "run"


• He can do an army stomach crawl when he really wants a toy


• He is eating solid food now FROM A SPOON! he eats chex cereal, banana puffs, pears, peaches, and rice with baby-food carrots mixed into it. He is eating solid food for lunch and dinner now. But he still loves his bottle.


• He is starting to take-things-out- and put-things-into boxes, baskets or bowls.


• He calls me "Umma" and Jason "Ahpa" (korean versions of mommy and daddy) it is very cute!


• Showing us that he is VERY stubborn... he will let us know what he does and more importantly what he DOES NOT want to do.


• What he does not want to do is sleep alone in his crib. It is a nightly battle.


• He loves to get his head or back rubbed. It is my secret weapon when he will not go to sleep. I start to rub his head and the eyes start to droop-such a man!


• He loves to get into all of my stuff. He can scoot on his booty to get to most things, Watch out when he really starts walking!


• He loves music. He bops his head and bounces to the beat of the song. It is so cute!


• Kyan is a social laugher... he will laugh when we are laughing or laugh to get our attention... it is a pretty fakey laugh, but it still makes us smile. :)

Jason and I love love love being parents. I don't know if you can see it in our faces, but we are so full of joy that our son is home with us! We cannot wait to celebrate his 1st birthday this weekend with friends and family. I am going to attempt to make Korean food. I made fried rice (real fried rice- not from a box or mix!) this week and it was Yummy! so I know that will be good. I have a couple other good recipes that I am going to try. You don't have to worry about it being too weird... I am a pretty picky eater, so if I will eat it- you can at least try it! :)

Happy 3 month parent-versay to us!