Play Time

One of the best things about Kaden getting older is how much more playful he is! He loves interacting with us - making faces and cooing. He's also starting to notice toys and things in his surrounding area. So I love putting him down on his jungle themed play mat and seeing him smile at the monkey hanging overhead and try to kick the giraffe mirror. For the most part he still hates being put on his belly. But today was a rare day where he tolerated it for a few minutes. So I was able to snap a few photos of him holding his head up. Thought you would enjoy them. We're so proud of our strong boy!

starting to roll!

Jet Photos

Our squadron recently hired me to take portraits of families in front of the jet. This is a somewhat new tradition that I really enjoy. It's a fun way to commemorate our time in an operational fighter squadron. Since I'm going to be busy taking pictures for all of my friends on the day of the photo shoot, a friend of mine offered to take our pictures. I think they turned out pretty well! =^D

2 Months Old!

Just over 11 lbs, 23 inches long at 2 months!

 We are now the proud parents of a 2 month old baby boy! Time is flying by. Life is slowly but surely settling into a new normal for the Wentzel family. James is back to work and Kaden and I have a daily routine that helps us pass the time until daddy comes home in the evening. Thankfully, he is a great sleeper at night! It's a struggle to get him to go to sleep, but once he's down he'll sleep for a solid 8 hours. Then he'll get up for a feeding and usually goes down again for another 1-2 hours. The rest of the day he's awake, except for one long nap in the early afternoon.

We spend a lot of time on the couch trying to keep him entertained. Usually, it's the opposite, though. He keeps us entertained with his smiles and silly faces. Lately he's discovered his tongue and loves sticking it out over and over again like a lizard. He's also discovered his fingers and spends a lot of time sucking on his fist. He's also started cooing and babbling at us. Right now his favorite phrase is "mamamama...", which definitely warms my heart. =^)

I feel like our parenting focus has shifted from survival mode to infant development in the last few weeks. We're trying our best to help him learn and grow in important ways. Some examples include stimulating his brain development by talking, reading and singing to him. We're also preparing him for baby swim lessons (still several months down the road) by splashing water on his face during bath time. Tummy time is a struggle because he hates being on his stomach and would rather whine than try to push himself up or roll over like he's supposed to. But we know it's important so we make him do it everyday anyway. He is slowly starting to notice the swinging toys hanging on his bouncer and will track moving objects and faces with his eyes. He loves being held upright and walking around the house so he can look at everything on the walls or out the window. Any time he's in motion, he quiets down and looks around with wide, curious eyes. Everyone we meet comments on how alert he is and how he often looks like he's deep in thought because he furrows his brows and has a look of serious concentration or contemplation. I often wish he could talk so I could ask him what's on his mind. My first question would undoubtedly be: "Kaden, why do you love your changing table so much?" It's his favorite place in the house and he's content to lay up there and play for several minutes!

We've also been getting used to taking him out and about with us. I've had to figure out how to grocery shop and run errands with the stroller in tow. But it's fun dressing him up for social events. Last week I put him in his Little Fiend onesie, jeans and the blue Vans sneakers we used for his gender reveal. Can you believe they're already almost too small?

We took him out yesterday and set up a fall themed photoshoot to capture how he looks at 2 months. It's kind of interesting that his face shape doesn't look much different but his hair and eye color seem to be changing. His hair is definitely darker than it was when he was born. His eyes are also more grey than blue now, which makes me a little sad. I'll be curious to see what color each attribute ends up being in the long run.

He's definitely a lot longer than he was a month ago!

Hello, little grey eyes!

His daddy is so good at getting him to smile!

love the shoes!

my favorite of the day!

Had to get that baseball in there somehow

 Thankfully, I'm doing a lot better now than I was a month ago. I feel a lot better now that we're sleeping pretty normally again. Most of my postpartum issues have now subsided so I feel almost back to normal. I had my final check-up with the OB clinic in Seoul on Wednesday and they gave me a clean bill of health! I'm now cleared to start exercising and living life normally. Yay!

I must say, being a mother is a lot harder than I anticipated, but I love it! Kaden is such a sweet boy and I enjoy taking care of him and watching him learn and grow. I know God is teaching James and I a lot through this parenting process. It's a blessed challenge and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Korean/American Friendship Festival

On Saturday I was excited to get out and do a little exploring. The shop owners in Songtan put on the Korea-America Friendship Festival, complete with music, food booths and other interesting vendors for our shopping and eating pleasure (or displeasure, depending on what you got ;^). The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed walking around with friends and introducing our little ones to some Korean culture. Too bad they're so small they probably won't remember anything from our time in Korea later in life. Thankfully we'll have pictures to serve as a reminder!

Kaden dressed and ready for an adventure

Enjoying some time with friends!

The Cienski Family

Looking at the different Korean Vendors. This guy was selling fish, roots and spices

Big pig on a rotating drum

Interesting spiral-cut potatoes fried on a stick.

Beautiful cups and decorative pieces carved from wood

In Search of Color

I've found that a big part of raising a newborn is finding creative ways to accomplish everyday tasks. Whether that's learning to do things one-handed so you can function while holding a baby, setting a new schedule so you can cook and keep the house clean in between feedings, or learning new tricks like styling your hair while standing on one foot and using the other to rock the baby's bouncer, motherhood is a constantly changing learning curve. One thing I've discovered that has made my late night feedings much easier is the Kindle ap for my iPhone. It allows me to download and read e-books one-handed in the dark.

This discovery coincided with a timely book recommendation. A good friend of mine from Misawa recently self-published a novel through Amazon and asked me for some feedback. It had some minor style flaws, but over all was a great story that brightened my day. I always love an engrossing page-turner, and this book definitely fit the bill. It's an uplifting story about three women living in a small Colorado town who become close friends and help each other overcome some hardships from their past and find the joy and beauty life has to offer. I appreciate the fact that the book is clearly written from a Christian point of view and includes redeeming themes. If any of you are looking for something new to read, I highly recommend it. Below is my review and a link to the book on Amazon, if you're interested.

'In Search of Color' is the perfect companion for a vacation, a rainy afternoon, or when you just need a literary pick-me-up. This heartwarming story and its characters will quickly win you over and not let you go until long after you've finished the final chapter. You will smile as they each discover the joy life offers, laugh at their antics as they work to realize their life-long dreams, and cheer as the author gracefully delivers one satisfying happy ending after another! This book just makes you feel good. Highly recommend! 

http://www.amazon.com/In-Search-of-Color-ebook/dp/B00F4WOM26/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381126883&sr=8-1&keywords=in+search+of+color

Duck Dynasty Fiendette Naming!

I am now officially a named Fiendette! Just as the guys have their roll calls where they get a call sign (or nick-name) inspired by something funny they've done, the wives have quarterly namings in our squadron. Mainly we do it because it gives us an excuse to throw a big party and get to know our new ladies. The way it works is that three or four of the newer ladies in the squadron are selected as the next namees. Then they pick a theme and host a big dinner party with food, entertainment and decorations that go along with that theme. They also fill out a two page questionaire that circulates among all of the other ladies in the squadron. This helps us get to know them better and inspires many possible names. Everyone is required to wear their black Fiendette party dress to the event, but we all accessorize so our outfits fit the theme. This provides lots of fun opportunities to take silly pictures!

I was named with two long-time friends: Jordan Cienski and Carrie Ludington. As you know, the Cienskis are close friends of ours from pilot training in Del Rio. Carrie's husband Dave was in James' F-16 B-Course training class in Phoenix. We had a lot of fun planning our naming. We had so many ideas for a possible theme that it was hard to choose just one. But finally, we decided to go with the recent pop culture phenomenon: Duck Dynasty!
 

Duck Dynasty is a reality show on A&E that follows the Robertson Family, who have become very wealthy from their personally owned business that makes products for duck hunters. People think their southern antics and giant beards are hilarious. But really, it's a remarkable show because the Robertsons are a strong Christian family with good morals. At the end of every episode they sit down to a large family meal and pray together. Very cool.

We figured this would be an easy theme because we'd just utilize a lot of camouflage, wear bandanas on our heads and cook some tasty southern food! Over all, I think the night was a hit. =^)

We pushed the tables together to form 2 long family style seating arrangements

The tables were lit with lanterns we made from tin cans

We provided everyone with a mason jar to drink out of and take home as a favor

Sweet tea was one of the many yummy drinks we provided

Some of our dishes included fried chicken, gumbo, grits, green bean casserole, and apple pie

The whole group dressed in their Duck Dynasty attire

Channeling my brother's style in the camoflauge photobooth we set up

The ladies on Team Wentzel for our Duck Dynasty trivia game/relay race

I had a lot of fun being named. It was cool sharing stories from my past with the ladies and hearing the stories and observations they had for me. They seemed particularly impressed to learn about my scoliosis surgery and the fact that I won a student Emmy award in high school. There were many names inspired by my love of photography. Ultimately, they dubbed me KIWI. It was coined when I shared that my favorite vacation destination ever is New Zealand. Others remarked on how the pictures and stories I brought back with me has convinced a lot of people they need to visit that country someday. So I like the reference because it ties in my love of photography, travel, and fantasy stories like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. (Both movie series were filmed in New Zealand). But it was also a very sweet gesture because the ladies decided KIWI is an acronym for: Kim Inspires Women Immediately. =^)

 In the hot seat, being interrogated by Mistress of Ceremonies, or Mayorette.

Love my new name!

The other ladies had a lot of fun too. Everyone was surprised to learn that Carrie is a trained EMT, as well as a very talented artist and passionate video game player. We decided her most important characteristic, though, is a loving mother to her son Desmond. So we named her KANGA (as in Kangaroo - an animal that always has their young with them in a pouch). Jordan went last and entertained us all with a rousing rendition of the Texas A&M fight song and several funny stories from her college days and their time in Italy. Ultimately, Jordan is a Texas girl at heart, so we named her TEXY. I think there's an acronym that goes along with that, but I can't remember it.

It was a very successful event. We had fun putting on the show. But I must say that we're all relieved to have that finished and enjoy all future namings as seasoned spectators.