favorite items: mommy vs. jamesy

kinda late in the game, but thought i'd jump on the trend and compile a "favorite baby items" list. james took one look at the items and didn't seem to approve though. instead of trying to argue back and forth with him, i just made a separate list for him below. enjoy! :)

M O M M Y // T O P F I V E



1. jesus storybook bible - love how it goes through all our favorite bible stories in easy to follow fashion. helps us see the big picture and how everything points to christ. not gonna lie, sometimes makes me tear up.
2. agabang pajamas - as much as i tried to resist these fresh off the boat gifts from korea at first, must admit the quality of material is most excellent and quite comfy (not that i've tried it on, but you know). fobulous sleepwear ftw.
3. bumkin waterproof bibs - recommended by concon, these bibs have come in very handy for our daily adventures with solids. good coverage, super easy to clean, and cute designs too!
4. sleep sheep - good thing concon had an extra one of these noisemakers to spare. early on, it was the perfect background noise to lull james to sleep. and now as soon as he hears the waves, he knows it's time for lights out.
5. baby deedee - before james started flipping, we swore by the miracle blanket, and now have switched over to this sleepsack, which we equally love. it's plenty warm and cozy for those cold cali nights and shoulder snaps make for easy on and off action.


J A M E S Y // T O P F I V E


1. ty liony/matty doll - when we first moved into our place last year and i was pregnant, our awesome neighbor got this for us as part of a welcome gift. what started off as a beautiful flowy mane has now become a short, matted fro due to time spent in the washer/dryer (hence the name change).
2. fisher price whale-of-a-tub rinse cup - in or out of the bathtub, for some reason, james has a huge affection for this little orange plastic piece and clutches it as if we all want to steal it from him. we don't dude, relax!
3. graco doorway jumper - we have this on loan from shar and have been putting james in it starting around 4 months. he loves to jump up, jump up and get down in it, especially when mommy turns on some good (and clean) hip hop tracks.
4. goofy pook a looz plush doll - an early gift from susie, this is the only doll that accompanies james in his crib. he loves holding onto the ears and biting on his hat. and i love it because it's furless and seems cleaner than the other dolls.
5. organic puffs - had to include this because i'm pretty sure if you were to put any of the above items next to these (or any) puffs, he would quickly betray goofy and liony/matty for his snackies. hm, wonder where he gets that from? ;)

hey cuz, what should we do today?

spontaneous photo shoot at the park! (said london, hopefully).










looks like at the rate i'm going, this blog gets updated every 4 months, 3 times a year. eek! well, jamesy is now a big, healthy, happy 8 month old boy who devours all his solids as well as most of his toys and books, squeals like a dinosaur, fake laughs, army crawls at impressive speeds, greedily picks up puffs and puts them into his mouth at even-more-impressive speeds, and pretty much melts mommy and daddy's hearts with every smile.

ok, with every cry, burp, poop and glance too.

seriously, sometimes it scares me how much i love this little guy. each day i think to myself how crazy and amazing being a mom is. and this feeling i could have never imagined before just seems to grow and grow with each day. of course with it comes bouts of frustration, anger, fatigue and helplessness, but all in all i'm so thankful for this great blessing. and hopefully i'll do a better job of sharing it with you here! :)

hello again, blog.

ok wow, i can't believe so much time has passed since my last post...and even more so, how quickly the time has flown by since little james was born! i just put together a photo book of the past 4+ months as a christmas gift for my parents and i couldn't help tearing up as i went through the pictures of my jamesy wamesy as a teeny tiny newborn. it's so exciting to see him grow and learn, to get more smiles and funny noises from him, to get to know more of his personality and try to match different traits to either joe or me. but i can't help but feel it's all happening so quickly.

before i blink and he turns into a teenager, here's a quick recap of the life & times of JZP via screen shots from the photo book (is that ghetto? haha). enjoy!

from bump to baby

our little bundle of joy, james zachary pyo, came into the world on july 27 at 2:13 a.m., weighing 7 pounds 8 ounces and measuring 20 inches long.



it started tuesday around 3 a.m. james was running a couple days fashionably late and just about ready for his grand entrance. with the contractions getting more consistent through the morning, we decided to make the call and head over to the hospital around 10 a.m. at 11 a.m. i was dilated only 2-3 cm, by noon 5 cm, and so it continued until about 10 p.m. when we got to 10 cm. by then i felt like i was connected to a million things, from the iv pumping fluid to me, another one pumping pitocin, to the catheter pumping fluid to the baby and the catheter pumping fluid out of my bladder, to the epidural in my back, to an oxygen mask on my face, the blood pressure thing on my arm and probably a few others i can't remember. not my best look, i'm sure.

around midnight, when james was low enough, the nurse told me we were ready to push. to be honest, i wasn't very good at it and they kept telling me i was only pushing with my face so it was getting all red and squished with no action down below. after about an hour and half of that, they could finally see james' sweet little head poking through, at which point they called my doctor to come and do the rest of the delivery. so after about another 25 minutes of waiting, i pushed a couple more times and out came baby james! along the way i had to vomit a couple times and i got a 100.3 fever, but by 2:13 a.m. none of that seemed to matter because our baby boy was perched on my chest and i was in love!

i came in not knowing what to expect, and though it's definitely been mixed in with moments of cluelessness and emotional drainage, i can't help feeling the experience is more amazing and he is more precious than what i could've imagined. can't wait to see how james' journey continues to unfold, from bump to baby to...