100 Days

When we went to the dry cleaners yesterday, the owner explained to me that in "his country" (Korea), there's a big celebration when babies turn 100 days old. We figured out that Alain is 100 days old today!

These last 100 days have been so special. I was just thinking about the day that we brought him home from the hospital. I was so excited that I almost skipped up to our back door. My parents welcomed us to a house that was warm, sunny, full of Thanksgiving smells and love. I cried pretty hard when we entered-tears of happiness, relief, and sadness that this homecoming was so different than our homecoming after Julian was born.

I could not have imagined what these first 100 days would be like. Alain is starting to become such a little person. He smiles and laughs and "talks" and gets excited when daddy comes home from work. I'm excited to see what the next 100 days have in store.

Here are a few of our 100 day-old's favorite things:

Hanging out with friends (kind of)

Chomping on his fists

Admiring wall art: the calendar is his current favorite-wonder how he'll feel when we have to flip the page to March tomorrow.

SMILING and talking: "a-goo" is his favorite phrase right now

Tummy time! (except for when he hates it)

My New Job

After a probationary period of about 3 months, I have formally moved into my new position as a "stay at home" mom. I resigned from my job a couple of weeks ago. Taison and I had been planning for me to take care of Alain full-time, but I didn't want to pull the plug until he got here safely and I tried out the mommy thing for a while. As I thought, I love it, despite the long hours, uncertainty, and exhaustion : ).

Resigning was bittersweet but not as emotional as I thought it might be. I will miss my students a lot, but I had started to burn out the last few months I was there due to various issues with administration and my caseload. I already felt pretty disconnected after over two months of maternity leave. My boss and coworkers have been understanding, and I think I'll be able to maintain the relationships I've created with them over the last four years.

Kitchen Adventures?

As I'm sure you can imagine, I haven't been doing much in the kitchen lately. I choose meals to cook based on ease of preparation and ability to eat with one hand. I plan way ahead for meals that require even the simplest prep, taking advantage of times when Alain is napping or entertaining himself to measure out and chop ingredients. He can be good company in the kitchen when he's in a good mood. I show him the ingredients and narrate what I'm doing as he sits and watches from his Rock 'n Play. I've also gotten pretty good at maneuvering around the kitchen while wearing him in a wrap carrier, but I miss having long interrupted chunks of time to play around in the kitchen. So, I was excited to take advantage of Taison getting home early one day last week to do some real cooking. On the menu: lobster risotto.

Yum. I end up eating lots of meals on the couch, because it's easier to breastfeed and eat at the same time there : ) 

And now some pics of Alain from the weekend:

Helping Daddy fold laundry

Yoga with Mommy

Getting ready to go on a walk

Hanging out with Grandma : D