Tales of Wonderlost

첫째태교는 번역 일이였으며 둘째 태교는 박사공부;;;; 원래 박사 수업을 마치고 둘째를 갖을까 했지만 이왕 이렇게 됐으면 공부를 좋아하는 아기를 낳길🤰🏻📚🙈since i just spent the afternoon dropping 💣to all the profs and administrators who need to know, i may as well just drop one here so that those of you who know me IRL wont be wondering and afraid to ask 😂 unintended but eagerly anticipated baeby #2 is already 4.5 months on the way! was planning on finishing my coursework before trying for #2, but here we are 🤰🏻🤷🏻‍♀️

35 years old and starting school again 😅 its already been 4 years since i finished my MA and i will be well past 40 by the time i finish this phd but its something i set out to do over a decade ago and even though i’m sad to put baeby in daycare after 2.5 years with him at home with me, i hope he looks back and remembers mommy as someone who never gave up on her goals 💪🏼 35살에 또 다시 공부 시작 😅 석사 졸업한지 4년이나 됐고 이번에 박사 졸업하면 40 넘지만 10년전부터 꼭하고 싶다고 마음 먹었다, 2년반동안 준서를 데리고 있다가 이제 어린이집에 보내야한다는게 마음에 걸리지만 나중에 준서가 뒤돌려보면 엄마가 꿈을 포기하지 않았던 사람으로 기억해줬으면 하는 마음에 화이팅해야지 💪🏼

full disclosure: our childhood photos were each chosen by ourselves (however mine was just one that i had posted to fb earlier so it was easily accessible on my phone but jinwoo went into his fb and purposefully searched specifically for a photo that he felt was really close to looking like baeby) and baeby's photo is just the one that is always my cell home screen.

omg i have only just recently discovered the magic of washi tape and i went on a decorating spree in baeby’s room 😍 i am officially a suburban soccer mom 😂

couldnt order ours while we were still in korea. better late than never 😍

i’ve been trying to get baeby’s room organized and i’m still trying to decide if i’m going to put a bed in his room. we’ve been cosleeping since he was born since i was nursing on demand and it was just easier. now, i know he can sleep separately (he actually slept on his own in this room a couple of times already) but it’s harder to get him to sleep when all of his toys are all around so i’ve been cosleeping with him on the floor in our room just because it’s easier to get him down for naps and bedtime when the lure of toys and books isn’t all around. if i put a bed in here, i’m looking at getting something that’s fashioned like a playhouse, with either walls or curtains/net coming down the sides so that will obstruct the view of the toys, but still trying to decide when to actually move him completely to his own room. i imagine the transition will be harder for me than him (as it has been every step of his life so far 🙈🙈😅)

2016 KUMFA Holiday Gift Drive wishlist is up! Thank you to our 6 volunteer translators elves Jongbin Jung, Joyce Kim, Alice Kim, Hannah Jang, @youri choe, and @박소영 who helped out tremendously by translated the wishlist items for 104 KUMFA kids. KUMFA (Korean Unwed Mothers’ Families Association) is once again organizing a Christmas gift drive for the children of Korean unwed mothers. KUMFA (Korean Unwed Mothers and Families’ Association) advocates for the rights of unwed pregnant women, unwed mothers and their children in Korea. For more info on KUMFA, please visit the KUMFA FB page. By giving small, personal gifts to the children of single moms, we encourage the movement of child-rearing single mothers to grow in Korea. Of course, we also bring a little holiday cheer! In order to get all the gifts ordered and delivered before Santa arrives, we need to find donors by December 15th!! Read on to see the wish list written by moms from KUMFA – This year we are aiming to find sponsors for 104 children! (some of the children are listed under their mom’s special nickname for them) HOW TO SPONSOR A KUMFA FAMILY: 1. First, decide which child’s present you would like to sponsor by clicking on the posted link. Most of the names have a hyperlink with a link to the gift the child has requested (we are still waiting on some of the links). 2. Second, send an email to [email protected] to tell us which family you have chosen to sponsor (please be sure to send the child’s name and number). This is important in order to ensure that we don’t duplicate gifts. 3. Third, send your donation: In the past, we have offered sponsors the option of sending gifts directly. However, after some consideration, in order to protect the privacy of the moms and their children (because name, phone number and address are needed in order to send directly in Korea), we are requesting that sponsors send their donations and we will take care of the ordering for you. Most gifts are worth 30,000 KRW (about $30 USD). Thus, we ask that you send the equivalent of US$30 to the KUMFA Paypal address, which is [email protected] with a note saying which family the transfer is for OR If you are in Korea, you may also transfer the money: Shinhan Bank (신한은행) Account number: 110-403-352377 Name: HEIT SHANNON NELL The website post will be updated every day. The gifts that have already found a sponsor will be checked off. Please help so that each child gets his/her Christmas wish! Thank you! Questions? Please contact: Shannon Heit, KUMFA Volunteer, [email protected]

got a potted tree, about 4ft tall, so we can keep it even after the holidays because lately joonseo loves trees! every time we leave the house, he basically points at every tree we pass and shouts excitedly, “마무 마무! (his way of saying 나무). so as you can imagine, he is so happy to have a tree in his house❤️stuck it in a wicker basket that my dear @hilbop brought me from thailand and then wrapped a scarf around it bc the pot was taller than the basket 😂 that’ll do for now but i need to get some lights and trimmings after i turn in my first round of grad school apps this thurs 🎄

i’ve decided i’m gonna try mainly posting baeby’s photos/videos on instagram. i was posting them all to FB bc i thought it was a good way to backup my photos, but i’m gonna try this and see how it goes. my account is private but i believe its searchable (baebyandme) if you are on instagram, leave your ID in the comments!

"Adam Crapser was brought to the United States when he was 3, to start a new life — new parents, new culture, new country. But his adoptive parents didn't complete his citizenship papers. Then they abandoned him to the foster care system. And now, as a 41-year-old father of four, he's being deported. Despite his appeals for help, he has been ordered to be sent back to South Korea, a country The Associated Press describes as "completely alien to him." ... "The first family that adopted Crapser and his sister fought viciously and punished the children frequently; Crapser remembers being whipped and forced to sit in a dark basement. After six years, the couple decided they no longer wanted the children they had adopted and the siblings were split up. Crapser bounced between foster homes and a boys' home before landing with a family in Oregon. "His new parents, Thomas and Dolly Crapser, had a house full of foster and adopted children, as many as ten at a time. Their punishments, too, were frequent and even more brutal than his first adoptive parents'. Dolly, Crapser says, slammed the children's heads against door frames and once hit him in the back of the head with a two-by-four after he woke her up from a nap. Thomas duct-taped the children's mouths shut, Crapser says. He also burned Crapser's hands and once broke his nose when Crapser couldn't find Thomas's car keys." ... " 'I'm responsible for my actions, and I've done my time,' he said. 'Please, just listen to the details. ... I want to be here. I want to stay here. So I just ask everybody to just please, you know, have some leniency on me. ... All I want to do is be the best American I can be. I don't want to be this broken, screwed-up guy. Just don't take me out of the United States.' " ...

saying our goodbyes to the house of sharing halmonis with baeby (yes that’s him doing a heart to park ok-sun halmoni) ❤️