The party planner in me has recently kicked in. Maybe I'm just trying to make sure my 2 year old gets to celebrate all our holidays (because we all know she will remember this...). Maybe it is the Pinterest fad that made me need a place to use all the great ideas I see. Regardless of the reason, we had a Valentine's play day and it was great!
E and I made these valentines for our friends (again, thanks to Pinterest).
We followed her instructions to make the crayons. I think the most fun part was peeling all the paper off our old, broken crayons!
I also make envelopes for each of the kids to receive their valentines in. It was cute to see all the kids pulling their letter outs and reading the homemade cards!
We made heart hats and love bugs.
We played 'find the hearts' and 'heart bean bag toss'.
We wrapped up the fun by decorating cookies. Of course E had to have a pink one with LOTS of sprinkles!
Another year. Yep, 4 years ago on a very cold day we sealed the deal. Somehow the 2nd of February is repeatedly the coldest day of the year. I loved looking back at our photos of just 4 years ago and my, how much younger and thinner we were...and how much more hair some of us had.
I'm not sure if I've ever shared this photos but it is quite an amazing photo by my friend Catherine (http://imagesbycatherine.com/).
We keep our anniversaries pretty low key. This year I convinced Ben into a trip to Thailand next month as a combined anniversary and birthday gift. I don't often do cutie things anymore (not sure why not) but it was fun to spice up our day a little love.
It started when he first woke up.
Then he had a special delivery girl bring him the next one at lunch.
He then got a grand entrance home from work.
We enjoyed a little pizza and wrapped up the day with come cake & ice cream.
Let's just say it was the least I could do for a trip to Thailand.
This is a past-due post that I am finally get around to! E got the cast off about a week before we went back to the U.S. for the holidays and since then we've been a little crazy. She has progressed tremendously and we have been so pleased with her progress! While in the states we had her checked up and it was nice to hear Korea did things just the way they would have done it in the U.S.
The night we got her cast off she was scared but ready to get moving again. On the drive home her legs were up over the cup holders of her car seat the entire time. It must have felt good to stretch her legs again! When we got home she rolled around the on floor, got up to crawl and really wanted to hold hands and walk. She reminded me of a new baby deer trying to stand up on wobbly legs for the first time. It didn't take her long to get going on her own.
Here are the x-rays of her bone growth. Yes, her bone is overlapped and not set directly into place. This is because the broken leg will grow quicker than the other due to the trauma of the break. To prevent length differences later in life they overlap the bone 1-2 cm. Her right leg (the broken one) is currently slightly shorter but in about a year to year and a half they will be back to the same length. The human body is quite amazing!
This was taken on October 27, 2011 which was the day they set the bone and placed her in the cast.
This was on October 30, 2011. There was slight movement in the placement of the bone (probably due to decrease in swelling) but not enough to re-set the bone.
This was taken on November 7, 2011 which was one week after we got home from the hospital. A white cloud of bone growth was already forming!
This was taken on November 14, 2011...one week later.
This was taken on November 28, 2011 which was 2 weeks later. The first 3 weeks are critical for positioning. If there was too much movement within those first few weeks they would have had to set the bone again and we would have to start the process over. Thankfully E was still in good alignment.
This was taken on December 5, 2011. It was only 5 weeks and 4 days after it was set and we were cast free!
This was taken on January 9, 2012 (about a month after the cast) when we had returned back from our U.S. trip. We were amazed the the amount of bone growth! As she grows her bone will even out and will not have such a big lump in the middle. I think it's safe to say she'll never break it in the same spot again.
The progress of learning to walk again was quicker than I thought. I had read online about kids not taking their first unassisted step until 10+ days later. E took her first steps on her own only 4 days after the cast was taken off. She had a peg-leg walk and her right foot pointed outward for a while but eventually she corrected herself (just as the doctors said it would). We did take her to a chiropractor which was a great temporary fix. She continues to grow stronger each day and learns to jump and climb and do all that she used to. She is still a little scared going down stairs or being on the edge of places but with time she'll be comfortable with it all. We don't go back to the doctor until July to make sure things continue to look good.
This is E taking her first unassisted steps on December 9, 2011.
This video is one week after the cast was off on December 12, 2011.
This is E today, February 1, 2012. It is hard to tell from this picture but her right leg (on the left) is slightly shorter but not really noticeable. It's hard to tell something was really ever wrong!
Lunar New Year is a family holiday for Koreans so the masses exit Seoul and head to their hometowns. My parents just received their shipment and were moving into their apartment the day before we planned to come so we decided to make the drive on Friday night (which ended up being less that 5 hours). Ben had to go back to work on Wednesday so he drove home Tuesday. E and I stayed and flew home on Saturday.
We had a great mix of helping the parents get settled and having fun. We can't wait to go back in a few months when it isn't so cold!
One of the big outings was to Lotte World which is one of the biggest theme parks in Seoul. Thankfully they have an indoor park. The rides were fun with lots of cute ones just E's size. Despite the looks on her face, I think she had a good time. She also loved the parade and riding the train.
While in Seoul we took advantage of the American restaurants (Outback, Friday's, On the Border). It didn't take long for E to discover her new favorite, Krispy Kreme.
We spent one morning at the Samsung Children's Museum which was 3 floors of fun!
We also went to the COEX Mall Aquarium. The mall is huge and seemed to go on forever. Inside was a great aquarium. E later told her daddy that we went to see "fishies and sharks and Nemo fishies and FISHIES!"
We loved walking around the crowded 'hip' market streets at night...just wish it wasn't so cold (I guess we'll try again in a few months). Seoul also got a few inches of snow while we were there so E had a super fun time throwing snowballs at grandpa!
E took a fond liking to my parent's driver, Mr. Kim. He was sweet and gave E some money for Lunar New Year (a Korean tradition). He was great to play with her while mom and I were at the grocery store.
We found the fabric market and I felt like I was in Pintrest heaven. Can't wait to get my project list together and head back!
It was great to see my parent's new place and spend some time in Seoul. They have a great new penthouse apartment in town and next to the mountain. We are lucky to have them closer and can't wait to go back!
The second half of our trip to the U.S. was spent running around Utah with my side. We left the cabin in Island Park and drove about 9 hours south to my grandparent's cabin in Pine Valley, Utah. We got to spend just a short time with my dad's side in their fantastic cabin. It was great to spend a little time with my grandparents and see some of the family that we haven't seen for a while. It was fun to have the 4 generations together.
We then went back to Murray to celebrate our late Christmas and New Years at my brother's house. We all ended up getting sick but were able to squeeze in some fun (after spending New Year's eve at the insta-care facility for E). The boys went night skiing while the girls went shopping, we took family pictures, took the girls to an indoor carnival and got together with my mom's family. One of the best memories was unwrapping all the re-gifted things my parents brought up from their house. It was fun opening old CD's, games, toys, and junk from their house.
The time passed quickly and part of us wanted to stay in the comfort of the U.S. but it was a surprisingly nice feeling to come back home to Korea. We weren't sure it will feel like home but after 8 months we feel comfortable and happy to be here.
We did it. Our first trip back to the U.S.A.! I admit it was a little strange to talk to the store clerks and waiters in English, shake hands with people, have an endless supply of anything you could ever want to buy (thank you Wal-Mart and Target), and eavesdrop on conversations while out and about. There was sure a great feeling about being 'home' and around our familiar things! I feel bad I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have.
We spent 2 weeks with Ben's family. The first week we did A LOT of shopping and eating out. I think those were our major goals of the trip. We stayed up way to late, laughed a lot, spent a ton of money and prepared for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we drove up to Island Park to spend Christmas with Ben's mom's side in a huge cabin. This is the 3rd year I have been a part of this every-other-year cabin trip and it just can't get much better than hanging around, eating, playing games, riding snowmobiles, etc. Here is a look at our time.
