Sara Young-In Lee is Here!

#2 is here! Sara was born on April 20th (39weeks + 3days) 9:43am at 7lbs 11oz.

Birth Story:

Labor was about 8 hours total. I started contracting Sunday night after a long day at the Bronx Zoo. I think all the walking that day made me start to contract more frequently (I have been having irregular contractions on and off the previous week). Stomach felt very strange Sunday night so I kinda knew something was gonna happen very soon. With that in mind i tried to get as much sleep as possible...just in case it happened in the middle of the night.

During the night I woke up frequently having to use the restroom, also my stomach was cramping slightly more than usual. It was 2am when I noticed blood and my water broke. We took Emma to my in laws and went to the hospital. We got there around 3am and I was 2cm dilated. My water was not broken all the way so they had to break it for me. I tried to hold on using the epidural but by 5cm it got too painful for me to bear. The epidural only ended up working on my right side so I had to get another one. That really sucked. By the I got the second one my doctor came in and checked me..I was 10cm and ready to push. I freaked out because I couldn't feel any of my contractions! This didnt happen with my first so I was worried I wouldn't know how to push correctly. Luckily by my 5-6th push she came out!

She looked exactly like Emma when she was born. I felt like I had her all over again. She was so precious and small. I forgot how small they were. She latched on well and is continuing to breastfeed very well. I am so thankful to have another healthy baby girl.

                     

-Jess

Almost there

I have 2 weeks and 3 days left until my due date. My company decided to close down earlier than expected so last month we had our second group of layoffs. Thankfully they gave me a good insurance package to cover my delivery and post birth so that's a relief. Since the layoff I have been busy taking Emma to local mommy and me and library classes. She has been enjoying them so much. I'm glad I can spend this quality time with her before the birth of her sister.

Weather in NY has been so cold so I haven't been able to go out much. Other than the classes i have been helping out my husband at work here and there. Since the layoff we don't know what we are gonna do about my job and daycare for Emma. It's been stressful with no plan. 

In terms of my pregnancy, I'm going in for another growth scan this Friday. Baby is looking a bit smaller than average so my doctor wants to make sure she is still steadily growing. Emma was only 6lbs 12oz at birth so I think this one will be small too. Ive been feeling ok other than not much appetite mainly due to my heartburn/acid reflux. 

Last week was my husbands spring break at school so we decided to take a weekend trip to PA. It was pretty relaxing and Emma had so much fun. We took her to the Crayola Expercience. It was an amazing place for kids. 3 stories of a activities and fun. We didn't expect it to be so interactive and big. We ended up staying there longer than expected. I'm sure we will be back when we are around the area again. :)

-Jess

Much Needed Weekend

I have never felt soooo tired in a while. On Sat., I woke up and I couldn’t even get out of bed, I tried to sleep but of course having an awake toddler, sleep is impossible. My body ached and felt so restless. Oh man. On Sunday I got to take a nap, but still was exhausted most of the day. Couldn’t get myself to do dishes from the night before and cook a single meal. L I definitely didn’t feel this way when I was pregnant with Emma, but of course I didn’t have a toddler to take care of either. Maybe since work is so super slow my body is also moving slower. Now I can’t wait until this girl arrives!

I have been pretty quiet this past weekend and I think my husband realized I am actually so tired that I don’t even want to bother talking. He has been understanding and has been trying to help out more. Luckily Emma’s fever went away and she is sleeping better. Her cough is better too. But she is having her fits and tantrums more frequently these days. I’m sure she realizes there is something happening to me.

On another note, despite my exhaustion I managed to start packing my hospital bag. I washed and packed the baby’s clothes and my clothes. I don’t remember what else I really need other than toiletries. With Emma I packed a whole bunch of things that I ended up not even using because the hospital provided most of the things and I didn’t mind using them. This time I’m going to narrow things down and pack light. One thing I missed the first time that I will not miss this time around is packing snacks!  I can’t believe the first time I didn’t bring any snacks. After not being able to eat for 15-16 hrs, after delivery I was starving…unfortunately it was so late at night (around 1-2am) the hospital didn’t have much to offer. The food was horrible. Anyways maybe after I’m done packing I’ll do a hospital bag post!

-Jess

Sleep Deprived...

Emma is officially sick L I took her to the doctor yesterday and they said it wasn’t bad enough to give her medication. She had a fever of 102.7 the first night and now she is just coughing and has a runny nose. Colds always scare me, but luckily this is Emma’s second cold since she was born. Hopefully her immune system continues to stay strong and she will fight this quickly.

I have been so sleep deprived the past few days, I feel like such a slug esp with my growing belly. Body aches all around and I can barely keep my eyes open. It is taking me closer to the reality of what will come very soon. Sleep deprivation + crankiness = stay away from Jessica. Other than due to Emma’s cold she has not been a consistent good sleeper. Thinking about having to deal with two now makes me very unexcited for the baby. Bahhh. I can’t believe I want more? I think I will see if I can handle more after two. 

Sick in bed eating string cheese :) 

-Jess

Randomness...

I am due in 7 weeks! I definitely feel pregnant and move like a pregnant lady now, but it didn’t really occur to me until this weekend that I am going to be taking care of an infant all over again! Why did I realize this now? I went to visit my friends sister’s baby who is only 3 weeks old. I couldn’t believe Emma was that tiny. It was actually scary. I suddenly felt so overwhelmed…and unprepared. What’s going on here..? I didn’t feel like this with my first. Maybe because when I had my first, I didn’t know what to expect, but now that I do know what to expect, I know it won’t be easy esp. with two.

Work has been so slow these days (hence the reason I am updating so regularly), I see myself surfing the web for things to buy every day. Bad, I know.

Here’s a list of items I recently purchased from Amazon :

1. NovaFerrum Pediatric Drops Liquid Iron Supplement for Infants and Toddlers 120 mL

Emma's 2 year old blood test showed she lacked a bit of Iron so the doctor suggested she take iron supplements. I tried to give her poly vi sol, and it tasted terrible she should spit it out. This one is supposed to taste better and the reviews are pretty good so I will see how she takes it.

2. Set of 10 Multi Color Indoor/Outdoor Mini Oriental Style Nylon Lantern Plug-in String Lights - Expandable to 150 Lights

I am so excited to put these string lights above Emma’s bed! Since we have a bunk bed now there is no place to put her night stand and it’s much darker down on the bottom bunk so these will be good during story time.

3. By Anna Dewdney Llama Llama I Love You (Brdbk) [Board book]

By Caroline Jayne Church I Am a Big Sister

Books are always good right? She is obsessed with Llama Llama books and introducing her to a big sister book will be fun for her.

4. stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner, Intense Black

This is seriously the best eyeliner I have ever tried (and believe me, I tried a lot!) It is so easy to put on and it stays all day long. Only bad thing about his eyeliner would be that it does dry out fairly quickly.

5. Rebecca Minkoff Rhodium and Rose Gold Arrow Pendant Necklace, 15''+2'' Extender

This is for my best friends birthday gift. I think it is so pretty! I wish I can wear it for myself haha. Hope she likes it!

6. Hamilton Beach 63325 6-Speed Stand Mixer

Purchasing this mixer is long overdue. I bake a lot at home and now that I’m trying to explore more recipes I find myself needing the mixer more and more. I plan to make pizza dough too! We love pizza…who doesn’t right?

7. Summer Infant Ultra Plush Change Pad Cover, Pink

I never got a changing pad cover for Emma. I just laid a waterproof fabric/towel over the changing pad. I regret doing this because, since I didn’t protect the changing pad well enough the plastic part of the pad is breaking apart.

8. 3 Sprouts Laundry Hamper, Octopus, Purple

We used a small laundry bag for Emma’s clothes and hung it by the door, but with the new baby coming, the bag will be too small to fit both of their clothes. I got the octopus one since the color matched best with the room. J

I think it took about a week of slowly adding these items to my cart before making my final purchase. Let me tell you it was downsized at the end of each day :x. 

-Jess

Emma's 2yr Old Update!

It’s been almost a  year since I did an update on Emma!

She turned 2 Jan. 30^th, so she is now 25 months. At 25 months she is talking, babbling non-stop. I think because she is a fast learner it is easy to sit down and teach her new things every day. She loves learning and is definitely like a sponge. Her vocabulary has grown so much I can’t really say how many words she knows now. She is talking in sentences most of the time and expresses herself pretty well.

Her weight now is 23lbs (10 percentile). I don’t remember her height but it is also in the 10 percentile. She is a small little girl J

Eating:

She is a very picky eater! I cant get her to eat anything green. She doesn’t eat any of her veggies. She loves rice, cereal, pasta, bread, mac and cheese, fruit, yogurt and cheese. I have been worrying she is not growing enough due to her eating habits, so the doctor wanted me to provide her with more dairy and vitamins. She doesn’t eat the vitamins (even the gummy ones) and she barely finishes a cup of milk a day. L Hopefully this is just one of those toddler phases…

Sleeping:

In terms of sleeping, she is still waking up at night. After she turned 1 she slept through the night with no problem, but I think after she started to refuse sleeping in her crib, and stared sleeping on the mattress only, she started to wake up more frequently. When that started we began to lay next to her until she fell asleep. This has now caused her to become dependent on us lying next to her while she sleeps. Once she wakes up and we are not there, she will start crying. This happens at least 2-3 times a night. Luckily once we are next to her she falls right back to sleep. Hopefully before the baby arrives we can break this habit. Gotta start now.

This is her new KURA reversible bed from IKEA. She is sleeping in the bottom for now and we are using the top for storage. She likes to go up there to play as well.

Personality:

Her personality is definitely starting to develop. She is honestly a very easy and simple kid. Of course she has her toddler tantrums from time to time, but nothing that makes me feel like I can’t handle her. She is very friendly. I swear sometimes I think she can be with a stranger and not care if I’m there or not. She loves to greet people hello and goodbye even when I don’t ask her to. She loves to dance and try to sing along every time music comes on. She is so caring and loving to me and my pregnant belly. I really think she will be a great sister. She is also so funny…always makes our family laugh with her facial expressions and her funny sentences. I wish I could have a video record of every single one! She loves to say the word “together” in Korean. Always wants to do things together. It’s the sweetest thing. She is also very cautious of herself. But if she does hurt herself, she barely cries. I took her to get her 2yr blood test +  Hep B. shot and she didn’t even cry…this was done on two separate days too. The doctors were pretty impressed. However she is scared of lions, and sharks. She is currently very in to Minnie /Mickey mouse and Minions (crazy about minions). All in all she has a pretty outgoing personality. I cant wait to see how she keeps developing!

Link to her two year montage below!
https://animoto.com/play/gRoR6PQkdqO5jgcbWl51Qg

-Jess

Pre-Marriage

A few weeks ago I received an email from someone I was seeing about 3 years ago. The subject was “Hi.” That was it. I’m a very curious person so I couldn’t resist to see what this guy had to say to me after all these years. Mind you we ended on a bad note so this made me even more curious. I replied back “Hi?” and his response was that his email was sending out “Hi” messages to random people in his email list. Of course I don’t believe this, but just played along. He then went on and asked me if anything was new and how I was doing.

Within 3 years I got married and got pregnant with my 2^nd child so yes, a lot has happened but of course I didn’t mention this to him since our relationship didn’t go that deep to begin with. I told him everything was great and I hope he is doing well too. Surprisingly in the next email, he told me how he was sorry for treating me the way he did and that he was not in a good place in his life during that time to start a serious relationship. I knew this feeling because I was the same way. I was in fact in the worst condition of my life when I was with him. I told him the truth and of course since I am in no means to start anything with him, ever, I went on to tell him that I appreciated his words and wished him the best. Luckily he is not in NY anymore so I don’t really have to worry about ever bumping in to him (I worry about these things a lot). He wished me well too and told me to give him a shout if I ever went to Cali. That was the end.

These email exchanges made me reflect on my past before marriage. So much has changed so fast it feels so unreal sometimes. Even through therapy and meds., I was depressed and miserable. Everything was out of control, I’m sure if it wasn’t for my husband, I would not be the person I am today. I am truly grateful. I think all experiences, good or bad molds you to become the person you are in the present. I am definitely stronger and much more confident. Sure, I miss my pre-married life, because I was having the time of my life, but in the end of the day nothing can be better than coming home to my baby girl and loving husband. 

-Jess

Start of 2015

Im now currently 31 weeks pregnant with baby girl#2! I feel like this pregnancy is zooming by. Except for my acid reflux, I’m pretty comfortable so far. Emma has been doing great. Her speech is developing faster than I thought it would. At 24 ½ months has started to talk in sentences, knows her ABC’s and counting 1-10 in Korean and English. She also pretty much knows most of her colors and shapes as well. J We just bought her the reversible Kura bed from IKEA since we need the crib mattress for the baby and since they will be sharing a room together, getting this bed seemed to make the most sense. Right now she is sleeping on the bottom bunk and we are using the top for storage. I just wish she would sleep through the night! I don’t know why but she has been waking up at least 2-3 times a night. When she sees neither of us not lying next to her, she will cry bloody murder.

It’s been very cold in NY, I had a bad cough for about 1 month. The doctor refused to give me meds so recovering naturally took longer than I thought it would. Thankfully it didn’t turn in to something more serious. My husband started the Spring semester end of Jan so he’s been very busy with juggling work during the day and school at night We’ve been clashing for the past few weeks about so many things…it has been stressing me out. I confronted him about it but usually our talks don’t go anywhere since we are both stubborn in our own ways. It’s tough. Anyways...I guess this too shall pass as it usually does. Maybe this pregnancy is making me feel more sensitive about it though my husband will probably beg to differ.

What else is new? My company had a huge layoff last month so it’s been pretty quiet in the office. Since I am pregnant they decided to help me out and keep me until I give birth and come back from maternity leave (need the insurance), Once I come back, I will know what they want to do with me. I know I need to work but of course the mother in me wants to really stay home and watch the kids. It’s always the dilemma. Work or be a SAHM.

I haven’t been meeting up with many people since my 2^nd pregnancy. Only my best friend I try to meet every month. I used to reach out to friends first and try to keep in touch, but I guess as I get older I feel lazier? I also don’t feel like spending money going out anymore. I want to also cherish the rest of the time it will only be the three of us. We are going to become a family of 4! Seems so fast. 


New Years Day- In her traditional Hanbok :)

Celebrating the 2yr Birthday! I made her the fur vest to match her leopard dress :)

First time making a birthday cake!

We went to Myrtle beach for a long weekend in the end of Jan. Emma had a blast playing in the kiddie pool.

Happy Valentines Day! We just went out for a quick dinner since both my husband and I was sick that day.

-Jess