Sadie jumping with bungee cables

Here she is waiting for her turn.

Getting strapped in.

My brave girl decided she wanted to try the bungee experience at Concord Mills. We were there two weeks before Christmas killing time waiting for our cars to be inspected across the street. It's the last place I wanted to be , but it didn't turn out to be so bad. I thought she would chicken out at every step of the process, but she didn't even get scared and loved it the entire time. I told Eric that the scariest part of the whole thing would be when they weigh you and write the number in orange marker on your hand.

And then we did something a little less adventurous.

The carousel.

Gracie at 15 months

Here's Gracie waiting for the doctor to see her.

We were waiting a while so I first put on her shoes so

she could explore. Then, I thought she might be getting cold

in just her diaper so we put on her jacket. And then just for fun,

I put on her bear hat. It was quite a hit with the doctor and the staff.

Gracie had her 15-month well visit on Wednesday morning. Prior to going in, I was worried that she was on the small side. And it was confirmed when they told us she was in the 30th percentile for weight at only 21 pounds, 13.5 ounces. She's just under 50th percentile for height (30.5 inches) and head circumference (45.8 cm). I don't understand it. She eats a ton! But we need to work on getting her weight up so it's full-fat everything for her and Carnation Instant Breakfast mixed in with her milk every morning. The doctor said she wasn't too worried about it especially considering how active Gracie is. She started walking in her 10th month and now she just runs everywhere. She's always climbing onto everything including the little chairs she and Sadie share in their play area. (Those were taken away immediately.) She's generally happy and silly. And she's just talking up a storm.

I was watching Sadie and Gracie play the other day and I remembered being very pregnant with Gracie and thinking how it would be great for Sadie to have a play buddy. And now she has one in Gracie! It's really wonderful how much they miss each other when they're apart and how they look forward to seeing each other in the mornings. And I can just imagine that it'll get better as Gracie gets better at keeping up with her big sis.

Gracie is 1!

My itty bitty baby Gracie turned 1 on Sept. 22. We had a party for her in California at Grandma and Grandpa Kwon's house. And at her one-year well visit, she was 29.5 inches tall, 21 pounds and 1 ounce and had a head circumference of 45.5 cm. Smaller than Sadie was at this age, but just by a little. The doctor thinks her weight is on the low side because she started walking so early (10 months!). She is all over the place trying to keep up with big sister Sadie. She's a great eater. I couldn't even tell you what she loves best because she loves it all! I guess her favorites would be green beans, oranges and like Sadie, she loves crackers and cereal. She's got six teeth now and can say "dada," "mama" and "mo." She's really sweet and very independent. She's also quite determined. She will walk back to the foot of the stairs a dozen times if you return her to the living room in between. She can climb up onto Sadie's bed by herself and can get down safely, too! All in all, a wonderful kid and I'm just lucky to be her mom!

Gracie walking and drinking

Apparently just walking isn't challenging enough. Now she thinks she can walk and drink at the same time, something I can't even do
successfully at times.

My sweet Sadie

Sadie on April 11, 2010

My sweet Gracie

Gracie on April 10, 2010

Food photography

Sweet potato cake

Zucchini and pea risotto

Sweet sausage rigatoni

Fish tacos

Easter cupcakes

Blueberry cake

I've been wanting to become a better photographer. I have a decent camera and I love to cook and bake so I've combined my two passions. Here are some recent shots.

Gracie turns 6 months old

After a meal of rice cereal and milk. Yum!

I guess it's time I learned Gracie's name. I keep calling her Sadie. But then again, I call Sadie Gracie all the time. Thank goodness we don't have pets. I'd never get any of their names straight.

Gracie turned 6 months old on March 22. I can't believe it! She's rolling over, sitting up and is so much fun. She's really a great baby. We started cry it out a few nights ago. And while it's difficult in the short term, it's so worth it long term. We did it with Sadie and she sleeps like a champ. The doctor says we should get Gracie a helmet to correct her misshapen head. The doctor does not recommend this for most patients, but she's encouraging us to go see a specialist. Once Gracie gets some hair, you won't even notice her head not being perfectly round, but I guess it can cause problems with her jaw. So off we go. With the hottest months coming up, I'm sure this will be a blast!

Her stats: 17 pounds, 1.5 ounces; 25.5 inches tall and a head circumference of 43 cm.

Gracie's sitting up!

Sort of.

Sadie turns 2

Sadie on her second birthday.

I know this is a bit late. It's mid-March and Sadie turned 2 at the beginning of February. However... her stats: 35.5 inches tall, 28.4 pounds and a head circumference of 49 cm. She's in the 90th percentile for height and the 70th percentile for weight. I'm not sure where she gets her height. Some say that if you double a child's height at age 2, that's how tall they'll be when they stop growing. That puts her at 71 inches or 5 foot 11. I'm a little skeptical, but I bet she'll be taller than I am (5' 6").
She just started potty training about 4 days ago and is doing very well with a few successes already. So proud... And so excited to not have to buy diapers for two members of our family.
She still has some trouble at the dinner table. She just won't eat sometimes. But the doctor says to provide healthy options and if she doesn't eat, she just doesn't eat. "Don't be a short-order cook," she said. And another article I read in the paper said that my job is to make sure she gets a wide variety of healthy food and that's it! The rest is up to her. I've never heard it put that way. It takes a lot of pressure off. She almost always finishes her vegetables. So I guess she'll eat the rest if she's hungry.
Otherwise, she's a healthy, happy girl and is actually starting to take an interest in Gracie or "Gracie Olivia" as she likes to call her.
I keep hearing from her daycare teachers that her pronunciation of words is really great. We still have to ask her "what did you say?" a lot. Most of the time she answers "thank you" or "please" thinking I've asked "what do you say?"
She's going through a mommy phase right now. It's kind of nice, but I'm fully aware that the daddy phase could be just around the corner. I guess I'll just hold on tight to Gracie Olivia then.

Gracie at 4 months

Gracie turned 4 months old on January 22. She's such a big girl now. Her stats: 25 inches tall, 14 pounds and 11 ounces and a head circumference of 41.4 cm. The doctor says she looks perfect except for her flat head. We may go and see someone about getting her a helmet. Eric and I don't want to and we'll only do it if it's effecting her face. She'll probably grow out of it and nobody will notice it at all once she gets some hair.

Just yesterday I tickled her and she giggled. And then she kept doing it. It was great! She has also started to stick her hands in her mouth. Drool city! But the doctor says she isn't officially teething yet. And the herky-jerky movements have begun as well. It's so funny to watch.

She's doing wonderful at school. She sleeps more than Sadie did while at school. Sadie would come home from school having slept 30 minutes total some days. She was just a social butterfly and didn't want to miss anything. Gracie will sleep for hours. And all of a sudden, she's one of the oldest kids in her classroom.

Gracie just loves her sister. She lights up when she sees her. It just warms my heart to witness that. Please, please! I just want them to be close as they grow older.

A baking fool

White cake with cream cheese frosting. It's supposed to look like a mini cupcake on a stick.

White cake with cream cheese frosting. I made them for Wendy's birthday.

Brownie cupcakes with walnuts and (you guessed it) cream cheese frosting.
Oh, and caramel drizzle. I made these for the daycare teachers' holiday party.

All I want to do these days is bake. And blog. And then bake some more. I finally made Bakerella's cupcake pops. My parents and brother visited in January. My dad just had his birthday and Sadie's birthday is Monday. So I decided to attempt making these cute little cakes on a stick (http://www.bakerella.com/chocolate-cupcake-pops/). She makes it look easy. It's not. Oh well. They were delicious, very sweet. Maybe next time they'll look better.

100th day celebration

Happy Gracie.

Eric with my sweet, precious.

Sadie, my silly munchkin.

Happy mom after a successful party.
Photos by Wendy Yang Brunk

It's a tradition in the Korean culture to celebrate the 100th day of life. It was thought to be a major milestone during the days when the infant mortality rate was high. Gracie's 100th day or baek il was on Dec. 30, a Wednesday. So we invited our friends to brunch at our place the following Saturday. We had biscuits, ham, quiche, fruit, coffee and juice... all very Korean, very traditional. =) Maybe one day we'll have a party with actual Korean food. But then again, I've been saying I will start to cook Korean for a long time now. Anyway, I digress... Eric and I look at it as a "thank you" to all the people in our lives who helped us get to day 100. All the support - meals made, words of encouragement, kind Facebook posts, offers to babysit - really mean a lot to us and we are so grateful.

My little girl is two weeks shy of being 4 months old. My, time really flies. She's all smiles lately and is such a good baby. She only fusses when she's hungry or extremely tired. It doesn't take much to get her to calm down most of the time. Since she's probably our last child, I can't help but just stare at her and try, try, try to not forget what she's like at this age. You see, I love little, little babies. I'd have two more if a certain husband of mine would agree to it. He says we can if we win the lottery. I'm pretty sure I already have.