Happy 1st Birthday Brandon!

Happy 1st birthday Brandon!

We started off the day with a new tradition, the birthday donut! Brandon and I walked down to the bakery in town and got him a donut (his first)!

Here he is enjoying his donut!


Later that day Mimi, Brandon and I headed into Omaha to pick up some last minute things for his birthday party. We had a Korean birthday cake made for him at this Korean/Japanese store in Omaha.

Here is the cake

The raisins on top say "Happy 1st Birthday" and it looked great! I have to admit that it didn't taste like anything, not good or bad, just NOTHING! It was crazy but it was an interesting thing to have as part of his first birthday party! Don't worry we also had a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for the party guests and Brandon had his own little cake.

On the menu, besides non-tasting cake, was seaweed soup, 2 different kinds of Korean dumplings, fruit trays, chips, punch, and Korean cookies/treats!

Here are pictures of the table.

One of the first things we did at the party was to conduct the Toljabee event. We set up a table with different items on it and Brandon picked the items that he was attracted to. It is believed that the child's future is predicted according to the what he grabs. The first and second items the he grabs are considered the most important.

Here is a list of the items:

bow and arrow: the child will become a warrior

jujube: the child will have many descendants

book, pencil, or related items: the child will become a successful scholar

rice or rice cake: the child will become rich

ruler, needle, scissors: the child will be talented with his/her hands

knife: the child will be a good cook

For the record Brandon picked the jujube first and the rice cake second. So he will have many descendants and will become rich! (Or, as Patrick and I figure...he was hungry!)

Another tradition we honored was having Brandon wear his Tol Bok (Tol is the name of the 1st birthday party).

Look how handsome he is


After eating all the yummy food we sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake.

Let's just say that Brandon enjoyed his cake

After that we opened presents and then said good bye to all our very generous friends! It was a great day and we were so glad he was with us to celebrate this 1st of many!

1 month and 3 years

I feel like I should blog tonight but I don't have a lot of energy so this will be short. Today is a very sad day for me. My precious baby girl died in my arms 3 years ago. My heart just hurts when I think of all the things we have missed over the past 3 years; her first tooth, her first steps/words, seeing her become a toddler and not a baby anymore. I wonder what her personality would be like, would she be a calm child or a little monkey like her brother? No mater how many more children we have she will always be my first and today will always be a hard day.

I have to admit that the day was easier with Brandon to distract me, although he wasn't exactly in a great mood all day. Speaking of Brandon today is also a big day for him; he has been home with us for 1 month! Time has just flown by and, although we still have a ways to go, he has just made such tremendous progress adjusting to a whole new world.

Ok, that's all I can do tonight. Today is just too emotional and I don't have the energy to write all my feelings down (nor do I have enough tissues in the house).

Good night!

Computer is up and running!

I know I have been quiet for the past couple of weeks but, only a few days after Brandon came home, our computer died. After many calls to tech support and 2 on-site visits I finally have my computer back!

Brandon is doing so well, everyday just gets better! Here's what has been happening since my last blog post:

* Turned 11 months old

* Gotten 2 new teeth (total of 6 now)

* Decided he LOVES his baths now

* Doing so much better during diaper changes

* Eats just about everything (except baby food peas)

* Just tonight he let me brush his teeth and didn't want me to stop

* He is sleeping well (in our bed, not his crib yet)

[Goes to bed between 9 & 10; up for a bottle about 5 then back to sleep until 9 or 10]

* He doesn't have much patience and gets frustrated easily

* Still loves his yellow blanket but I had to wash it yesterday and he was ok with that

* Loves going for walks in his stroller

* Had his first haircut and HATED it

* Went to his first parade and liked it

* Met the governor of Nebraska (see pic below)

His Nonna (my mom) has been here since last Friday and we are loving her being here. Such a huge help, we will all be sad to see her go on Wednesday.

Here they are meeting for the first time:

Enjoying lunch time:

Meeting the governor of Nebraska: