Lizzie's Age!

Lilypie 1st Birthday Ticker

2.10.2009

Lizzie's New Toys

(Mom and Dad: sorry if this uses up your monthly allotment of bytes!)

In the past few days, Lizzie has received some new toys. One is her red piano, which was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but which didn't arrive until a week or so ago. She played with it, then Daddy broke it (turned it into a "build your own piano" set), then he rebuilt it and it sounds better than before!



Another is her "cage" (for lack of a better term), a plastic playpen-alternative which pens in
part of our living room. She loves playing in it, because we don't stop her from doing whatever she wants!




Also in recent news:

-Our nanny arrived! Mearia is great, she fits in so perfectly with us, and Lizzie likes her a lot.




- Lizzie was sick for a week in January.




-We had a great snowfall, of over a foot of powdery snow. Lots of fun, and I enjoyed seeing snow around for a few days!




-We celebrated Lunar New Year in Seoul, taking part in some traditional activities, trying on Korean traditional outfits, and eating yummy New Years soup, which is broth with rice cakes an dumplings.




- We watched the Superbowl (8:28am kickoff) at home


No, we didn't let her drink any Mountain Dew (the can was closed), she just wanted to do what grownups do, and put her mouth on the can!


- Fun this week: Lizzie playing with my ipod charger on the blue chair, and sporting a foamy admiral cap in the bath!

1.11.2009

Furniture



For the regular readers: These are posted because I'm trying to sell the crib/changing table, and I wanted to post photos for folks to see.

12.14.2008

Anyone Seen Will & Cara?

So, Thanksgiving came and we had lots of people over. And we were real busy. Hmm...are real busy. So, this is to let you know that, again, we're still alive on this side of the world. Cheers!

11.14.2008

Format troubles :-/

So, the previous two posts are backwards... Halloween was first; Gongju was mid-Nov. I just happened to start the Gongju one first, so even though I published 'Halloween' first, when I posted 'Gongju', it showed up as if it were earlier! Grr... So, sorry for any confusion!

Halloween

I've been so looking forward to Halloween, because I found Lizzie a tiger costume! And a super cute one at that. My squadron is the Tigers, so it's very appropriate. Enjoy!


Lizzie with her Gma, showing off her Tigerness



Kim learning what it's like to be mommy to a cute little girl in an Asian country (i.e. mobbed by everyone with cell phone cameras), at the Squadron's Halloween Sports Day. Lizzie became our team's mascot, we won the tournament, and she got to take home the MVP prize!



Lizzie Tiger got a little tired from all the sporting excitement


TSgt B was glad to hold her, while mommy took part in the Tug of War, which clinched our victory!


At home, she played for awhile before changing into non-Tiger clothes


We went to our church's 'Hoedown', which is their Halloween-alternative. Lizzie had a good time (for the most part!)



Will decided to rock his giant belt buckle, and it was a hit!

Gongju!

Hello again! Last weekend we (Will, I, Lizzie and Will's mom who is here to play with her grandbaby while I work) went to Gongju, which is a smaller town a few hours south of here. The drive there was great - drove through some of the countryside, so there wasn't so much traffic, and we weren't in the middle of tall apartment buildings the whole way.

Lizzie was good as usual, and slept most of the way. She cried when she needed her diaper changed, and when she was hungry once, and that was it. We tried out her new stroller, and she seemed to like it for the most part, when there was something interesting to look at. Though, when I put her in front of the mirror in the bathroom so she could see herself, she immediately had a pouty face and started crying! Silly Lizzie...



When we got to the town, we followed the signs to a burial ground, which had a king's tomb. We wanted lunch, but didn't see a restaurant, so we ate ramen from the souvenir stand. Then we went to see the display. The tombs were all closed up, but they had recreated them inside a museum. We walked through and saw the displays, which were simple, but nice. It was fun to see a bit of history.



The king and queen's symbols were pretty neat, they are very intricate. The king's tomb was noticeably different from the others. All were brick/stone domes covered with earth (so they look like little hills from the outside). The king's tomb was made of small bricks which were all carved with symbols. Some of the other tombs were created of large, rough stones.



After the short stroll through the museum, we went outside to see the tombs themselves. It was a gorgeous day, clear blue sky, pleasant temp, and lovely fall leaves on the trees. We walked up an incline to look at the tombs, which looked like little round hills. The doors were all sealed, so nobody could get in.

While we were there, about 8 busloads of elementary-aged kids came for a field trip. They were going through all the exhibits with worksheets, trying to find the answers to the questions. I remember doing the same thing when I was young! When they saw us (the only foreigners), they said 'Hello!', 'Glad to meet you!' and 'Obama, Obama!' We laughed at the last one - who would expect a South Korean 4th grader to know about US politics? Just shows the world was watching.

After the tombs we went to a fortress. It was basically a wall around an open area, and other than a good view of the town and river, it wasn't all that exciting. The only thing of note was when one of the ticket sellers looked at me, looked at Lizzie, then looked at Will, and said 'your baby look like American president'. Umm... ok. I guess all mixed babies look the same! Lol.

We drove back via a different route, much quicker but through the city. A lovely day overall!



And now, some photos of Lizzie...

What Lizzie thinks of her toy catalog:






Naptime!


Bathtime with Mommy!



Bedtime story with Daddy!

10.22.2008

Lizzieness

Hello again! With work, church, baby, etc, life is so busy it's hard to have a minute to think straight enough to have more than a paragraph of summary, and even harder to have a few minutes to type that info for all to see!


But, here is the copied/pasted list of the first section of the 'Lizzieness' file I started to record the little things Lizzie does. It's easier to keep that up than to write lots of blogs, and I figure it's interesting to at least some of you out there, as well! I'll throw in a few current photos too. I'm not editing it, so I hope it isn't too long. Enjoy!




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During Sept, she tried out lots of new sounds, so she had lots of vowel and consonant sounds while babbling.


Lizzie often talks to her mobile that was hanging above her changing table. It had lots of black and white designs. She especially liked the outline of the little boy face, and would tell it stories, with very expressive faces and sounds, and lots of smiling. Beginning about Oct 1, she no longer looked at the mobile. When we replaced the b/w designs with colored pictures, she again enjoyed her mobile.



For about a week, starting on 1 Oct, Lizzie wouldn’t make her talking noises, only a high-pitched screeching that we termed ‘pterodactyl speech’. This lasted about a week, then went back to normal babbling.


5 Oct – Lizzie turned from her side to her stomach. She tries to sit up by doing a crunch and raising her legs at the same time. Must be good for strengthening her tummy muscles.


10 Oct - Lizzie sometimes spends up to 30 minutes in her play mat, talking to her lion, and manipulating the duck that rattles. Back in early Sept, her time on the mat was only 5 min. She also is now able to catch items even when swinging, and hold onto it, and let it go at will. She can hold onto the swinging duck now too. While on the mat, she often turns herself 360 degrees, by pushing with her feet on the stereo speaker, or coffee table next to the mat. And she also scoots. It looks like she will turn over onto her stomach but hasn’t done it in the mat.


10 Oct – Lizzie likes to hold her toy key ring, then drop it. Then we pick it up and give it to her, and she drops it again. She watches it the whole time, and knows what she’s doing. I think she’s practicing her coordination. Sometimes it gets stuck on her thumb, so she has to tip her hand to make it fall off.


Oct – She likes to help when we change her diaper, holding her legs up or straightening them at the right times.


10 Oct – Lizzie nearly sits without assistance. She can sit for a minute or two before falling to one side. She likes to play with her feet while sitting, and with colorful toys. She tries to put the ring of keys onto her toes, like grandma Claire often did. She is good at taking the keys off of her big toe when grandma Claire puts it on the toe.

11 Oct – Lizzie likes to grab her toes. I think I saw her chewing on her toe once too! She sits and tries to grab them, then holds on and moves her feet around with her hands. She does this while she’s sitting, while she’s laying down, and while I’m holding her.


13 Oct – Lizzie has been sucking on her bottomlip today. She started when she woke up, and often goes ‘hmm, hmm’ with her lip pulled in.


16 Oct – Lizzie definitely knows that the music starts on her play mat when she kicks it. She was determinedly pushing her feet against different parts of the foot pad until it started. Also, over the past month she has started the music in her crib several times, at night or in the morning, when she is bored or wants to go to sleep. To start that music, she has to push a button twice.



18 Oct – Lizzie is 4mo old!


18/19 Oct – Lizzie figured out how to roll over on purpose, while she was supposed to be sleeping. She was with mommy on a retreat in Seoul and was sleeping on a blanket on the chapel floor. When mommy went to check on her, she had rolled out of her wrapping and off the blanket, so at least a few rolls away. That night she wanted to practice rolling over in bed, near mommy but not with mommy’s help! Nobody got much sleep! At home later, she rolls over from her tummy to her back fairly consistently, but doesn’t have much motivation to go the other way – she doesn’t know it can get her closer to fun things yet!


21 Oct – Lizzie played with her book while on her tummy, chewing on the pages and moving it, and closing it. She is getting much stronger, and I think she may actually crawl (I had thought she would walk first). She can hold herself up on her hands/knees for a few seconds when I put her down, and also lifted herself on her hands and toes for a second at one point, like she was doing a real pushup! Mostly she tries to move by pushing her feet on things, she hasn’t figured out the value of her knees yet.



22 Oct – Lizzie can balance herself pretty well while she’s sitting. She puts an arm down in the middle or to one side to help, but can pick up toys and move them without falling over.


And finally, a video of Lizzie playing with her kitty ball in the back of the car!


10.01.2008

Still Remiss....

So, yeah... still remiss with the blog. I forget sometimes that we have this. All is still good, although Lizzie just got her first cold. On top of that, she got a mosquito bite that she learned how to scratch. So Lizzie didn't get that much sleep that night. Cara brought her into our bed due to the mosquito situation in Lizzie's room, which left me with not a whole lotta room to sleep, and a constant reminder to NOT ROLL OVER. Despite all that, I probably got more sleep than Cara, so I'm not gonna complain (too much).

Its finally starting to get cool here. This was the first week in which the temps were below 80° and the humidity wasn't ridiculous. The reason I mention this is because our power bill came. $531. Not bad actually... we were keeping a Lizzie & Grammy Claire cool all day long. The last time we ran 1 (one) AC like that, we ended up having a $800 bill. So, I think we're doing better. Plus this time we had 3 different ACs running at various times and sometimes simultaneously (Main room, Guest room, Master Bedroom).

I think that about covers most of anything....if not... you'll have to wait till I'm actually awake, and not my I-took-my-ADD-medicine-too-late-and-now-I'm-still-awake-at-3:00am state. I need to get up earlier.

9.06.2008

Update!

Hello! We've been remiss lately, so here are some quick updates:

I've been back at work for 2wks now, and it hasn't been too bad. I've been able to pump each day, in a new office that isn't occupied yet (no furniture). Once people move in, I'll have to find someplace else, but for now it's great! My job seems like it will be a lot less stressful than the other two I've held at Osan, and the guys I work with are wonderful.

We were in Beijing for 4 days of Olympic fun, check out photos and captions here

My mom is here until mid-October, taking care of Lizzie, and my dad came out for the weekend from Vladivostok. Lots of fun, and they love their grandbaby!

Lizzie is growing quickly, and is starting to really enjoy her toys, especially her playmat (from Uncle Kurt!) and her new Jumparoo. She has so many outfits, and is super cute every day! She's sleeping 6hrs then 4hrs at night, so not too bad, and she takes the bottle well from Grandma during the day (though she gets really excited to eat when Mommy gets home!).

Will is still working, and playing the bass at church. He also was pretty involved in VBS at church, so we got to see him up in front in skits for a few weeks.

We are both still going to our Tuesday night Bible studies. The women's study is about the Psalms of Ascent, and it is great fun.

That's about it! Lizzie keeps us busy, and entertained, and we are still enjoying life :-)

8.17.2008

Lizzie's Friends

Hello all! I know we haven't written for a long time. Blame our trip to the US (which was great! check out the photos on Picasa), then the Olympics starting soon after we returned. Speaking of which, you may know that we don't regularly have TV, just dvds and video games. But, I wanted to watch the Olympics, so we borrowed a satellite dish and receiver from some friends who didn't use theirs because they recently moved on base. Will managed to set up the satellite dish after a few tries, and it's worked like a charm! We missed opening ceremonies, but I've had it on almost every day. Can't wait to go in person, we leave in the morning!

The main topic of this post is Lizzie, as usual :-). She used to hate her diaper changes, and would scream bloody murder from the time her back hit the changing pad to the second we had the new diaper fastened. We never figured out why. Well, that was before we went to the states for 3 weeks. At some point, she grew up a bit more, and started to realize that diaper changes were helpful, not hurtful. She became resigned to them, no longer screaming, but not really happy about it. After we returned, though, she noticed the mobile over her table. It had always been there, but she could never see it before. Now those mobile pictures are her best friends, and she talks to them whenever she lays down! No more screaming diaper changes :-)

Here is a video compilation of several changes. It may be a bit long, but I hope you enjoy my happy, talking baby Lizzie!


7.13.2008

Traveling to the US from Korea with an Infant...

So, Cara and I just finished the trek from Incheon Int'l Airport ROK to Denvier Int'l Airport, and it was a lot harder than it should be.

First, we got a ride to the Local bus terminal and got to ride in comfort to Incheon airport, and got on the bus, and was pretty nice ride. Once we got to the airport, and tried to check in, everything got difficult. First, we wanted to verify that we had an infant seat that would allow us to put Lizzie in a bassinet. When we did that, the ticketing agents found out that we hadn't paid for our infant ticket yet (which we knew). Then, when we showed them our passports, they noticed that Lizzie's Passport didn't have a Visa stamp and became worried. We got kinda annoyed cause Korea states that if our child is going to be in the country for more than 30 days, we have to get him/her a SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) stamp. Lizzie was only in country (out of the womb at least) for 21 days, so there shouldn't have been a problem. But even after explaining all of this, we still had to go to customs. On top of that, the office that would let us purchase the ticket was closed for lunch, so we had to call them to see when they were opened.

When we get to the Customs office, the line is rather ridiculous, and I end up changing Lizzie's diaper, and Cara had to feed her. We finally get called up, and show the Customs agent official Lizzie's passport. He looks at it a little strange at first, and then exlaims "No Problem!" He writes some Hangeul on the a scratch piece of paper and then staples it to the passport. We head over to the Delta office and get the infant ticket and then have to change Lizzie again on the way out of the Delta office. As we're heading back to the ticketing counter, we walk past a lot of Korean Flight Attendants. As they see Cara and Lizzie, they start to making the adorable "awww" sound as only women can do. So, in an effort to prevent a scene, we let them look at the baby. They were very happy about it. We finally head back to our ticketing agent (who has been waiting this entire time for us...wow...) and get everything squared away and head to the international security area.

When we get there, they ask where I'm going, I say US, and they hand me a set of sandals to wear that are like 5 sizes too small, while my shoes go through security. The koreans behind me chuckle as they see the shoes are not coming close to fitting. I take all of my electronics out (video camera & laptop) and and wait for my laptop back to get cleared. Well the guy scanning sends my bag through like 5 or 6 times, and keeps taking things out of my bag in the process. I know I have no scissors, nor anything flammable, so I wonder what's going on. Finally, he pulls out what he's looking for. I had a set of hex tool bits for a ratchet screwdriver with a phillips head bit on it. The phillips head bit was pretty sharp, and thus considered it gone. I apologize to the agent for bringing the phillips head bit out, but soon find out that the reason he pulled that out, was because they were tools. Grr... I can't stab anyone with those, nor can I use them on anything. I think someone misread the guidelines. But what do I know.

So we're finally through customs, and we hurry over to our gate cause we want to pre-board. When we arrive at the gate, I see the economy line is verrrrry long. So I walk to the gate agents to try and explain we have a baby, but they wave me to the Business Class line with out hesitation. Sweeeet. As we're walking down the Personnel Bridge (sorry, Jetway is a copyrighted company), we look for the gate check people. We don't see them, so we keep walking... and walking...and enter the plane. The ladies end up taking of stuff and storing it in the over head compartments. I never knew 747s had that much over head storage space.

Oh, I forgot to mention earlier that Cara and I couldn't get seated together cause there was only one bulkhead seat left. So we figured we'd try our luck with the bartering system. As I'm sitting, Cara tells me to come back to the front of the plane and we'll try and negotiate the seat switch. So as I get back to our seat, Cara asks the Korean Air Flight attendant to ask the lady sitting in the seat next to Cara, if she will switch with Me (Will). So the Flight attendant starts speaking english to the lady. That kind of startles me, since you'd figure she'd speak in Korean. I look at the flight attendants nametag, and... Oh! She's Japanese! That's not gonna work. Then a gentleman behind starts to translate the whole thing for us. Then the lady speaks. But it's not English, Japanese or Korean... wait... is that..? Yes! That's Chinese! Holy Cow! So, basically, she figures out what we're asking, and agrees. We find out later that the seat she was in wasn't the right one... but then later find out that everything was fine.

Partway through the flight, we have the bassinets installed in the seats in front of us. They are super nice cause it lets us put Lizzie to sleep without have to hold her the whole time. The downside is that they are engineered for people shorter than 6'4" (me) and thus, I had no leg room in part cause of the bulk head seat, but also cause of the bassinet. Dude... That was a long flight.


After that, everything became smoother. We got to LAX, went to customs, and changed Lizzies diaper. Then went through customs, sent to the back of the line for filling our paperwork in purple, went to the next customs agent, and interrupted his coffee break (he was a little disappointed, we could tell, but to his credit, he put his coffee away and got to work). Turns out that Lizzie was the youngest person he'd ever seen go through customs. We get our luggage, clear customs, recheck our luggage, and head to the terminal. Security this time is a breeze, and get to our gate, wait, and then board the aircraft. I get an exit row seat, and immediately pass out (I hadn't had any sleep since we took off from Seoul), and Cara ends up getting a seat with no one next to her. We land at Denver, get our luggage, and then get to the rental car place. We get upgraded for free and get to drive a Chevy Equinox .. its a nicer SUV than we were supposed to get (Kia Sportage...[I came to America to see something besides Hyundai & Kia...]).

We get on the road, and immediately notice that there is no traffic, parking spots are larger, and there's a whole lot of variety when it comes to the cars on the road. But I digress. Cara pulls out the directions for our hotel, and it states: Get off at Colorado Blvd at exit 226, take a left, and the hotel is on the right. Well, as she says that, we pass Exit 283. Either that's not right, or... that's not good... As it turns out, they meant exit 276. Whew. So we get off the highway, and turn left... and start looking on our right. And keep looking on our right... and keep looking. We figured we've been led down a bad path, so we stop and get a map, and ask for directions. Turns out we were on the right path, but no one mentioned how far south from the Highway the hotel was. So we keep driving... and driving... and driving.. and Yay! There it is! So we park, check-in, and start to relax. Ahhh.....

7.09.2008

3 Weeks

According to the Korean ladies, today is the first day Lizzie should be allowed to leave the house. I heard about this several times each time we went out previously, the first being when we brought her to church at 4 days old. A Korean lady I know came up and said, "she can be out?", told me that in Korea babies don't leave the house until 3 weeks, and then justified it to herself because the weather was nice. Since then, many Koreans have told me she is too young to be out, and look at me dissaprovingly. Though, in Starbucks when she was 9 days old, a Korean asked me how old she was, and then whispered, "when my daughter was 9 days old, we went to a movie!"

I don't think I've ever seen a "little" Korean baby. I see many larger ones, who seem to be around 6mo old and up, but never a small one. I wonder what they do while they're hiding?

The interesting thing is, when I carry her in the Maya wrap, I don't get any comments! Maybe they think she's older, or that it's ok because she's bundled close. Not sure.



One thing I do know, I couldn't have stayed in the house for 3 weeks. Not counting the doctor's appointment we had to go to, the paperwork processing we had to do to get that appointment, and the forms I had to turn in for leave, all of which required me to leave the house, I wouldn't have been able to stay without going stir-crazy! My trips to Starbucks in between errands were lovely, and walks around the neighborhood are a good way to get out and get some exercise.

But, in honor of Lizzie being allowed to leave the house, we'll go to the US :-)

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Some things about Lizzie:

-she gets really really excited when it's time to eat
-she likes to try to 'inch' around, especially when she's laying on mommy or daddy, and gets mad when she can't (usually because she's run into something)
-she sleeps best wrapped up and in her bed
-she doesn't like her car seat very much, and won't sleep in it unless we're on a long road trip, but when we stop she wakes up
-she enjoys snuggling
-she likes to look around and watch shadows and faces, and sometimes we're not sure what she's watching
-her eyes get real big when she's close to something she wants to see, and she sometimes leans sideways to keep watching something
-she likes to be lifted high
-she doesn't want to be laying down if she's awake, she'd much rather be held vertically
-she hates diaper changes
-when she poops, it's really loud
-after she poops loud, she makes a cute, high-pitched "eh" sound
-she doesn't like wet diapers at all, even if they are just a tiny bit damp, but she will sit in a poopy one for quite awhile
-she likes to lay over a shoulder (in the 'burp' position)
-her fingers are super long and she likes to grab (she likes to hold mommy's finger when she eats)
-she sucks on her hands, and is learning about her thumb. she gets it about 1/3 of the time now
-she gets mad if she can't have access to her hands (i.e. don't wrap them up inside her blanket)
-she makes a super-cute pouty face right before she's about to cry
-her 'reflex' smile is adorable, mommy and daddy can't wait for the real ones
-she acts surprised when daddy blows air puffs at her
-she looks super cute in a fruffle

USA or Bust...

Except, that the only thing keeping me from the US is our plane crashing into the ocean or something. But tomorrow we go back to the US. We leave from 인천국제공항--that is Incheon Int'l Airport, get to LA the same time we left Korea (traveling across the int'l date line screws with my head sometimes...) From there we get to go to Denver, and then DC and then into North Dakota. So I finally have the opportunity to drive on large open roads and such. And don't worry, gas won't phase us, we're paying $4.19/gal here on base. However, its like $1.80/liter [$6.80/gal] on the Korean economy, so, I'm still not complaining...much. Well, it will be good to be back in the US. I wonder how much has changed since the last time I was there? (Sept '07 for a friends wedding). We shall see. But, please pray for Cara and I to have a safe trip!

7.07.2008

Picasa!

I tried out Google's photo organizing program yesterday, called Picasa, and I must say it is the coolest one I have seen - and totally free. There is a program to download which makes it super easy to see and organize all the photos already on my computer, and I can select the ones I want to make a web album, then on the website it's really quick to organize and caption them. I made 4 albums during Lizzie's nap yesterday! Check them out, http://picasaweb.google.com/wills.carebear. There is a collection of Lizzie photos, our spring trip to the Garden of Morning Calm, and our vacations to Thailand and Vietnam.

6.24.2008

Diaper Changing

I just finished changing one of Lizzie's diapers, and it was quite hilarious. I heard her poop while she was in her bassinet, and Cara checked and commented that I get to take care of Lizzie before she fed her. Well, as I was getting ready to change the diaper, I heard her poop again. Good thing I waited. So I waited a little bit longer to make sure she was done, and continued to change her diaper. As I removed her diaper and grabbed the cleaning cloths, what happens? She poops again! But, without the diaper covering her bottom. Oh man, I never knew babies could spray things besides water that well. As I'm trying to clean the poop up, I notice that she starts to pee. Good thing she's not a boy, otherwise I would've gotten it in the face. Goodness gracious!

It's hit me...


Before Lizzie was born, I had talked to a lot of people about the whole birth process, and what their feelings were after their first child was born. One person told me, there is no cooler feeling that holding your first born child. Another told me that her husband balled everytime he called someone to tell them it was a boy. Even funnier was the amount of people who told me I was going to cry when I held my newborn girl. I've found that I'm more emotional than not, so I was prepared to let my emotions run free.

As Cara was 'evicting' Lizzie out of the womb (she was 2 weeks past due!), I was able to watch the whole process. When I could see Lizzie's head, it was totally cool! When Lizzie came out, I was just so awestruck with the whole delivery process, I don't think I thought too much about the fact that it was our daughter that I watched this time versus some person who volunteered to let them selves be filmed during labor. I walked over to the warmers where Lizzie was being warmed, and played with her a little bit. And then I realized that Cara was still in the stirrups by herself. So, I ran back, and made sure she was okay...and then ran back to Lizzie. She was sooo adorable, little hands, little face, tiny eyes... awww. But it still hadn't hit yet.

Cara and I were moved to the postpartum room and things got a little more hectic. Nurses were in and out, people came by, sleep was never at the same time, and Lizzie would cry. I think it began to sit in when Cara and the nurse woke me up to change Lizzie's diaper. I was half asleep and hear: "Dad...Dad...time to change the diaper...." Poof, there goes my sleep. I get up, start changing a diaper best I know how and in a non-medicated/tired state. The nurse helps me out here and there, and I do catch a few things it seems, cause the next time I change the diaper, she comments "Wow, fast learner." That's right... I love my daughter... :-P.

One day (wait.. this was all in the period of 36 hours..), Lizzie, Cara,.and I were sleeping soundly. We should have bee ordering our food, but hadn't had a chance to put our orders onto paper yet. Well, the food guy came by, and was kind of annoying, and basically wasn't leaving until we ordered our food. So after I finally get our orders to the food guy and he leaves, the is a knock on the door again. I think he's forgot something, so I open the door only to find its one of the nurses. To make things worse, its one of the more verbose nurses. So after she finally finishes telling what she was supposed to (it was good information) I shut the door and sit down in my uncomfortable chair and attempt to sleep. Cara check's Lizzie's Diaper and says: "Daddy... Lizzie needs a diaper change." Gargh! Not what I wanted to hear! I'm rather grumpy at this point, and so I start changing her diaper. "Lizzie... stop moving your legs. Lizzie, if you wouldn't move so much, this wouldn't be so bad." Then I think it started to hit. She's a baby... My baby... I have to be gentle no matter how tired/annoyed I am. She hasn't done anything to me. So I changed the diaper, and gave the baby to Mom, and passed out in my chair.

It really began to sink in when we were at the US embassy here in Seoul, and I had to get visa passport pages added to my passport. The lady told me to give them the passport book and to come back in like two hours. I told her that I was getting a passport for my daughter... whoa! Daughter?!?! Holy Cow! It just about sank in.

It was all complete when my dad wrote me an e-mail with just one line. "So, has it hit you yet?" Man, my dad and I are like genetically linked! Hilarious. Anyrate, just so everyone knows, its hit.