Dec 15, 2011  •  In Aerin, Baby, Claire, Personal, Relationships

A Small But (Hopefully) Meaningful Gift

I just realized that I never shared Aerin’s Chinese and Korean names with you guys. Aerin’s Chinese name — 君靖 (Gwan Zing) — was chosen by J from a list of “pre-approved” names given to him by his parents. Claire’s Chinese name, 君婷 (Gwan Ting), was chosen this way too. In fact, J used the same list […]

Dec 14, 2011  •  In Aerin, Baby, Claire, Parenting, Personal

Switching Up the Morning Routine

Since the moment I got pregnant with Aerin, J took over Claire’s night and morning duties so that I could get some extra rest. The routine has not changed with the birth of our second daughter. In fact, I think that J quite enjoys these moments alone with his eldest — despite the fact that […]

Dec 13, 2011  •  In Aerin, Baby, Motherhood, Personal

The State of the Milk Factory

They say that it usually takes about six weeks to establish a good breastfeeding relationship. Aerin turned six weeks old today. And aside from a couple of bottles of formula in the first week of her life, we have been exclusively breastfeeding her (about 60% straight from the boob, and the rest from pumped milk). […]

Dec 12, 2011  •  In Aerin, Baby, Claire, Motherhood, Personal

The Green-Eyed Monster

Disclaimer: I love my children. I am not suffering from post-partum depression. I am well-aware that my current life circumstances all stem from choices I have made. I know that there are tons of families who would kill to have two healthy babies. But everyone needs a gripe session once in a while, don’t you agree?  […]

Dec 11, 2011  •  In Cute, Gadgets, Personal, Travel

All Airports Should Have BannerXpress Kiosks

Last month, Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport became the first airport to install a BannerXpress kiosk and the banner printing machine couldn’t be more popular. Installed at the airport’s arrivals area, BannerXpress allows friends and families of passengers to create and print “welcome home” banners with custom fonts, graphics, messages and background images. The kiosk accepts debit and credit […]

Dec 9, 2011  •  In Entertainment, Personal, Relationships

The First Kiss

I always have a television show on queue to watch whenever I get some downtime and need to zone out, or when I am having trouble falling asleep. And these days, that show has been The Wonder Years. (image source) (Never watched The Wonder Years? Go do it now. It’s on Netflix streaming!) I have […]

Dec 7, 2011  •  In Aerin, Motherhood, Parenting, Personal

Thirty-One

On the eve of my thirty-first birthday, I wished that Aerin would go to bed easily for the night and stay asleep for at least three hours. But her witching hour had seemed to shift forward by about 3 hours. For at around 9pm, she became a whiny, crying, cranky mess… And stayed that way […]

Dec 2, 2011  •  In Aerin, Claire, Motherhood, Parenting, Personal

Letting Go of Control

Yesterday, I had noted that Aerin generally seems to be an easier baby than Claire. I now have another theory as to why may be so: it’s because as second-time parents, we are much more relaxed about EVERYTHING. For example, for the first few months of Claire’s life we religiously tracked her every breath with […]