One of the best compliments I received was from a friend who said I reminded him of Tina Fey. Granted, he was a little drunk when he said this, but the truth comes out after a little alcohol, right?
After a long hiatus, I’m excited to for the new season of 30 Rock, one of my favorite TV shows.
Now I’m only waiting for Mad Men to debut its new season and life will be good. So good.
A. was born in September 2010 and I ambitiously set a goal to get myself into shape before his 1st birthday. My husband and I even made a deal that I would get a Rolex watch if I met this goal. Well, it’s been 15 months and that Rolex watch doesn’t seem any closer to being in my possession.
Nursing, going back to work, and generally having no time to do anything in between (like eating) helped shed the first half of the weight really quickly. I thought, pssh this is going to be a piece of cake. Obviously, I was delusional. Although I was fortunate enough to lose most of the pregnancy weight, the last 5-7 lbs have proved to be very, very stubborn. They’ve pretty much parked themselves in my midsection and butt and have made themselves quite comfortable without any intention of leaving without a fight.
Working out regularly has never been something I enjoy but I need to suck it up and go to the gym on a regular basis. I’ve also purchased this:
It’s actually quite a good workout – it’s just that I haven’t been that great about following the plan as laid out by Jillian (who’s tough in a surprisingly charming way in the DVD). A more detailed review to come soon.
Finally, a coworker and I are ambitiously planning to try a juice cleanse for a fresh start to a new year. I’ve never done a cleanse before, partly because I love food but mainly because I have little willpower to stick to anything, so this will be interesting. More to come once these action items are put in motion!
Regular blogging has been on my new years resolution list for the past…three, four years (probably longer) but like anything that requires discipline and maintenance, it inevitably moved down the priority list as the year went by. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve kept journals and diaries, and years later, I find it extremely amusing to read about the “drama” I’ve endured in life, like as a seven year-old newly minted big sister, or during my days of emotional turmoil as an angst-ridden middle child teenager.Buying a website domain and actually paying for it will hopefully make me feel more compelled to post regularly.
Ever since becoming a parent, I’ve been obsessed with finding the best baby products through internet and word-of-mouth reviews, and the myriad of websites, blogs, stores, etc. can be quite daunting. I have pretty specific tastes (simple, modern, whimsical with a retro/vintage vibe) so my goal is to share my thoughts and resources with others that have similar style. in addition, as a working mom, I’m continually striving to find a balance between my professional and personal life, and hope that this blog will help myself and other mothers, in all walks of life and all stages of parenthood, to share tips and resources to find this balance.
Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to share your comments/thoughts/products/advice with me!
– Jessica –
The little man had his milestone 1st birthday last month, and seeing what a blast he had (despite his initial shyness with a crowd of people he didn’t know) was worth all the time, energy and occasional bouts of stress that went into the planning. I’m still waiting for pictures from the big day but I do have one from the dohljabi that never fails to put a smile on my face when I see it:
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| No pressue buddy…this only determines the course for the rest of your life. |
…since my last post. Juggling work, family, baby, friends, and miscellaenous other stuff (like trying to maintain a tiny fragment of a social life), really eats away at the time I planned to allocate to updating this blog. I can’t believe the July’s ending soon – summer is halfway over already (and so is 2011!)
One of my biggest challenges in blogging is re-learning how to write in a open and engaging way, especially given that the bulk of any writing in the last several years has been very cut-and-dry stuff like emails and application review comments. I hope that this blog will help me develop a stronger writing style which infuses more of my own personality within its contents!
Moving onto another topic, I’ve belatedly started planning A’s first birthday party (called the dohl), which is a pretty significant event in korean culture. I like to call it “my second wedding,” as it entails just as much planning and stress (many moms say even more). With the event less than 2 months away and nothing really done, I’ve got a ton of stuff to do. More details on dohl planning in future posts!
At the beginning of the year, one of my resolutions was to be more consistent at writing blogs. I’ve failed somewhat miserably at this. Though I tried justifiying this because of the pregnancy and being a first-time mom, they aren’t the best excuses because I see lots of pregnant and/or FTMs that somehow find the time to update their blogs. These women must either have clones of themselves or not sleep more than 2 hours a day.
Every year around this time, I say the same thing – “I can’t believe the year’s almost over!” What’s really scary is that time seems to go faster on a daily basis. I clearly remember writing my first blog post back in September 2009 while traveling for recruiting trips, and now it’s already been over a year since then. Ever seen the episode of “Twilight Zone” where a man finds a stopwatch that stops time? I need one of those.
November has flown by and Aaron’s grown tremendously. He’s almost double his birthweight – currently at 10 lbs. 11 oz. Granted, he was a tiny baby…but still! I’m a little sad that he’s no longer the wee little newborn swimming in his baby clothes. My eyes got a little watery as I put away some of the clothes that no longer fit him because he’s outgrown them.
I’m returing to work in less than 2 weeks, and each day my heart aches a little more thinking about it. The first few weeks of motherhood, I was itching to get back to my old life and return to work, craving that sense of normalcy and the “good old days” because I was so tired and overwhelmed. I missed the silence of our house pre-baby, and the prospect of a solid 8 (or more) hours of sleep after a long day of work. How things have changed…how I’ve changed! I don’t mind getting up at 3AM to the sounds of Aaron’s cries for food. Squeezing in a shower during naptime and wearing the same spit-up stained clothes for days on end isn’t so bad either. Hanging out at home amusing Aaron with faces and babytalk isn’t boring – the smiles they bring forth are worth it.
I’ve always feared that I was born without a maternal bone in my body, and the first month of motherhood almost made me feel like this was confirmed. It took a while to bond with little Aaron, and now I can’t imagine life without him. Gladly, I give up sleeping in, drinking alcohol, and my overall independence for him. Being a mother is the hardest thing I’ve done, but the rewards are totally worth it!
Last Wednesday was my last day of work before maternity leave. I’ve been looking forward to this for months but now that it’s here, I’m finding myself being rather bored and restless. Everyone’s been telling me to relax, rest up, and do absolutely nothing, especially since I’ll never be able to regain this time once the baby’s born, but try as I might, this is tougher to do than it sounds! Maybe it’s because of my short attention span – I can barely sit through a movie or spend hours finishing up a craft project. Or perhaps the pregnancy makes it difficult to be in one position for long periods of time. Whatever the case…man, I’m really bored. It doesn’t help that I’m stuck without a car since it’s currently at the dealer’s.
I guess it’s time to go refold the baby’s clothes (for the 10th time).
It’s hard to believe almost 9 months of pregnancy are over and that my life will be forever different with the addition of a new member to our family. Though we’ve spent the past few months slowly preparing for the little one, I don’t think the reality of this event has hit us yet. It’s fun to squeal over cute baby clothes, obsess over strollers and cribs, and decorate the baby room, but I’ve tended to gloss over (or not think about) the hard parts – labor, saying goodbye to uninterrupted sleep, endless loads of laundry, lack of alone time, etc. However, moms have been doing this for thousands of years, so I’ll get the hang of it, right?
I’ve come to terms with gaining 35+ lbs. since January. It seems like ages ago when I competed in a mini-Biggest Loser competition…which ultimately left me $600 poorer since I found out I was pregnant during the last week of the competition. I guess one good thing about being broke is that I have no choice but to lose the weight to fit into my old clothes…no money for a new wardrobe!
Here’s a shadow pic from my 5th month…at the time I thought I looked huge, but compared to now, that’s nothing!
Wow, I can’t believe it’s already mid-August! Why is it that summer flys by so quickly? It’s been a weird one in LA this year…the weather has been unusually mild, with temperatures averaging in the high 70’s, even in the valley! Normally this time of year, the valley’s scorching with temps over 100 on average. Not to complain though…I was dreading a hot, sweaty summer during my last trimester of pregnancy. God’s blessed all the pregnant mamas in LA with great weather this year. Hopefully this won’t mean we’ll have a crazy heat wave in the fall, though!
Second trimester of pregnancy was great – I had tons of energy, slept pretty well, and had a healthy appetite (almost too healthy, since I gained about 25 lbs. during that time!) Unfortunately, third trimester isn’t so wonderful. The past few weeks have been pretty tough…lots of back pain, especially from the afternoon on, difficulty sleeping at night, heartburn, and peeing every hour has been super annoying. Good thing there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, since the little guy’s due at the end of September!
I’ve done a fair amount of travel during my pregnancy. Here’s the rundown:
-March: Pismo Beach for a destination wedding
-May: Bachelorette party in Santa Barbara, 1 year anniversay/babymoon to Cabo
-June: Chicago and San Diego for business trips
-July: Hawaii for a destination wedding
The last trip, while it was super awesome, was definitely tiring. My aches and pains started after I got home from the airport and haven’t really gotten much better since. Now’s the time to take it easy, which means I’ll be missing my nephew’s 1st birthday in Seattle at the end of the month.
We just found out that a baby boy is on the way and now we can start doing the fun stuff – shopping!
Actually, it’s a bit overwhelming. I didn’t realize how much stuff a little infant needs, especially after reading blogs and baby books. Plus, there are so many choices out there for car seats, strollers, cribs, clothes, bottles, diapers…my head’s spinning already.
I came across this article today narrowing down baby items to the five essentials that a parent only needs. According to the author, parents really only NEED the following:
-car seat
-crib
-stroller
-bouncy seat (more of a maybe)
-baby bottles
Of course, obvious items like diapers and baby clothes weren’t included. Unfortunately, the first three items are probably the ones that’ll cost the most amount of money, especially if you go for top-of-the-line items. And realistically speaking, who can’t resist buying teeny little baby clothes and cute baby room decor, no matter how impractical or expensive they may be? I should’ve stopped spending money a year ago to save for our expensive little one.
Hip Pea 