I realized the other day that I had never posted Aerin's birth story. There is reasoning behind the madness: it just isn't that exciting. :-( And by this, I mean that while the birth of our second daughter was thrilling for us, it was short and easy and free of drama — not stuff that non-family members, let alone strangers on the web, would find very compelling. (For some serious birth story drama, check out the one of this lovely lady, whose second was born while she was changing into her hospital gown — the doctor literally had to catch the baby before she hit the floor!) But since people have been asking for the full gritty details...
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The last time I wrote about Aerin, I had talked of switching from breastmilk to formula. This is going splendidly. Aerin has not spit up even once since we made the switch. She still has a bit of cradle cap, but aside from that her skin is smooth and clear. And at the risk of jinxing myself...
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Last week, I wrote that breastfeeding Aerin was going splendidly. Well, this just goes to show that anything can happen in the wild, crazy journey we call motherhood, because I am no longer breastfeeding. So what happened? I had mentioned earlier that Aerin was suffering from 3 different types of skin ailments: eczema, baby acne, and little red bumps that our pediatrician guessed was heat rash. Aerin developed these skin problems when she was about a week old, and they seemed to keep getting worse and worse no matter what we did. No only that, she was spitting up and vomiting frequently (I will never forget the Exorcist-like vomiting she performed on my birthday). I know that many babies spit up a lot, but Claire had only...
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Most of the moms I know can't bear to be apart from their children. They tell stories of the bucketfuls of tears that were shed the first time they left their babies with a sitter, nanny, or at a daycare. They talk about how they refuse to spend more than an x amount of time away from their children. (I even know one mom who has not spent even an hour away from her daughter for over 3 years!) Some even speak out about the physical pain that is felt when they are away from their children. I am not one of those moms. Again, I cannot help but wonder if something is wrong with me, or if I am missing that part of most women...
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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 for both names, and when his brother has children, he too will be naming them from the list and the first character of the names will be the same as well. My father had chosen Claire's Korean name — 다정 (Da Jung) — and I personally love it. Not only is it cute and easy to pronounce, the word 다정 is used in the Korean language to describe...
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