1 YEAR!

Dear Evan,

I can’t believe you’re already one now.  Wow, what a whirlwind of a year.  In every single day there has been a moment of unbounded laughter, thankfulness or just sheer happiness.  You’ve been such a good baby for us.  I wonder how we got so lucky.  Although there have been struggles and fumbles along the way, I think we all did a pretty great job living in this fabulous year together.

* You love balloons!!  If you have a balloon at home you’ll just walk around everywhere with it even as you’re playing with other toys.

* You & Bella went to see Santa Claus.

* Your bottom right tooth poked through.  Now we’re at 8 teeth and counting…

* Mommy & Daddy went to Vegas and left you for the first time overnight.  You were such a good boy and had a blast with Grandma & Grandpa while we were gone.

* This was your first Christmas season and we celebrated throughout December.  We spent Christmas in Palm Springs with family.  It was so fun!  Family, good food, lazy days…what more could we ask for?

* Here’s our holiday card!

* We had a Christmas dinner at Yongsusan with Abbie and Eleni’s families.  It was so nice to relax and take a break from dol planning.  I hope this becomes an annual tradition.  

* You love imitating people.  You’ll copy people and smack your lips, bang on the table, etc.  You also started playing peekaboo.  It cracks all of us (including you!) up whenever you do it.

* We celebrated your first New Year’s Eve & Day.  I can’t believe just one year ago you were still in my belly and now you’re this big guy.  What a difference a year makes!

* You got your first haircut!  It was only a mini trim because I couldn’t bear to part with your baby hair.

* Some of the highlights of this month~ Desmond’s birthday party, Asher’s birthday party, Eemo Halmoni’s wedding, photo shoots, filming our birthday party video, reunion dinner with the Liangs and Pengs and a ton of craft sessions.  The biggest highlight of all was your birthday party! 

You won’t remember me.  Not as I am now.  You won’t remember this love.  The way I hold you close and brush my cheek against your silky soft hair.  The time I spent painstakingly putting each piece of your birthday invitation together from cutting the stray edges off paper elephants to trying every font in Photoshop to find just the right one.  The tears that fall from my eyes when I see you in pain.  The hours I’ve spent just watching you sleep.  The silent prayers that float through my mind wishing every happiness for you.  You may not remember but you’ll know…when you look back at these letters, photos and videos.  We love you so much!

Love,

Mommy

Weight:  21 lbs 14 oz (35th percentile)

Height:  30.5 inches (70th percentile)

Head circumference:  47 cm (67th percentile)

Evan’s Actual Birthday

The actual day of Evan’s birthday was so nice…a very warm & fuzzy day.  We had Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sandy and Uncle Marvin here to celebrate with us.  Grandma made Evan noodles and I made him miyuk gook (seaweed soup).  It was the first time I made it but luckily it turned out okay!  Andy brought flowers and an awesome gift for me!  He said Evan’s birthday should be like Mother’s Day because of all that I went through to have him.

We opened all of Evan’s gifts and he was super happy!  We were so touched by the generosity and warmth of our friends and family who got him such wonderful gifts and cards.

Next Time…

The next time I post it’ll be all about birthday party stuff.  Yay!  Until then, here’s a video of a sweet moment.  I took it with my iPhone so the quality is poor but trust me…the contents may melt your heart, hehe.

We were so excited to be invited to the grand opening of CityCenter’s Aria Hotel in Las Vegas.  The invitation was probably the nicest invitation I’ve ever received!

CityCenter is the largest private sustainable development in the world and with a pricetag of $8.5 billion dollars, it is sure to forever change the landscape of Las Vegas.

The best part was that we got to go to the VIP pre-party before the hotel opened to the public.  It was so awesome being one of the first people to ever be in the hotel.  All of the restaurants were open and tray passing their signature dishes and drinks.  We got to watch along with tons of television and newspaper reporters as the public came rushing in at midnight.

Guess who my new buddy is??  It’s Lloyd (Rex Lee) from Entourage!  We were on the same flight in and became buddies.  We ran into him later at the party.  He actually came up to us when we were talking to a bunch of Andy’s work people and totally remembered us.  His co-workers were so surprised.  One of them even took a photo of Andy taking a photo with Rex, hehe.

I always take photos from one side so when we were at the airport and I was taking a photo with Rex I naturally went to that side.  The funny thing is I felt him sort of pushing me to the other side.  I didn’t think anything of it because I never thought guys cared about that stuff.  BUT when we were hanging with him at the party and taking photos he did the same thing again!  This time he admitted he has a “good side” and we realized our good sides conflicted, hehe.  I’m too embarrassed to show you the ridiculous photo that resulted.

It was sooo fun and memorable.  There aren’t many opportunities in life where you get to be a VIP and also get to experience the opening of a hotel and project of this magnitude.  It was also meaningful to both of us because I worked on this project at the first law firm I was at and Andy recently worked on the project.

I wanted to introduce you all to my sister-in-law’s new blog called Sandy a la Mode!  She has so much useful info on just about everything – cooking, photography, books, sewing, etc.  I have no idea how she does it!  I always say that I hope Evan grows up to be just as diligent as Andy & Sandy.  They’re both superstars.  They work so hard yet always manage to do so many other non-work things and do them exceptionally well.

I couldn’t have asked for a better sister-in-law.  She’s not really an “in-law”…she’s just like the real thing.  It’s like we were meant to be family!  We both love photography, crafts, shopping and cute things.  We also love being silly.  Whether it’s rummaging through bolts of fabric or eating a mysterious corn concoction purchased out of a trash can in a shopping cart we always have a blast.

The best part about Sandy is that she’s such a good aunt to Evan.  She loves him so much!  Her and Marvin flew all the way to California to be there for his dol and they were such a huge help.  Although I know I can be pretty crazy about my craft projects, they were happy to oblige and stay up all night helping me.  I love them so much and can’t even express how much it means to me that they’re my family.  We were sad when they had to go back home…

Dear Evan,

We’re quickly approaching the end of the year.  This month was filled with so many birthday parties, playdates and holiday fun.

* When you hear music you like to shake your booty and dance!  You love making music too by banging two objects together.

* We were on a special segment for Fox 11 News!

* We had a Thanksgiving playdate at Aunt Tracy’s place and a Christmas playdate at Aunt Connie’s place.

* You can do “manseh” (lift your arms up high) when we ask you to.  I got it on video and when you watch it you’ll do it too!

* You learned to do the “happy dance”~ moving your head and neck side to side with a huge smile on your face.

* Thanksgiving was such a wonderful event.  You got to spend it with both sides of the family~ all of the people who love you most.

* You went through a biting phase and kept biting me.  I even got bruises.  Ouch!

* We were out and about all over LA with Aunt Sandy & Uncle Marvin.  We went to the Getty Villa in Malibu, ate crab at the Redondo Beach, ate shaved iced in Monterey Park and went shopping at the Culver City Westfield.

* You started taking a few tentative steps but always from where you’re holding on to something.  You also started standing on your own.

* We can see the bottom left tooth poking out.

* You’re always waving hi and bye to everyone.  When you’re excited you’ll wave with both hands.

* Your love affair with the pacifier ended at 10.5 months.  It was a rough week.  You had a lot of trouble sleeping at night and napping.

* Other highlights this month were~ Aunt Miny’s birthday at Manna BBQ, Ellie’s birthday party, Aiden’s birthday party, playdate at our place with Ella, Logan & Aiden, family reunion and hanging out with Aunt Jean, Aunt Jane & Aunt Grace and lots of craft sessions.

Seeing the world through your eyes has been such a privilege.  You help us see how something as simple as hiding under a blanket could be just so hilarious or how delicious a piece of apple could be.  You love everyone equally…you don’t care if they’re ugly, poor, fat, short.  You share the same big and warm smile.  You make everything more fun and worthwhile.  You are just an incredible joy to us.

Love,

Mommy