My friend Lisa says that I (Vivian) don't post enough about my day to day life. So to make Lisa happy I am going to post a blog, sans picture, about something that happened yesterday. Yesterday Marielle and I went running in the evening, which is apparently the time when everybody gets outside. In the morning when I go running I don't end up seeing anybody, which is kind of nice and peaceful. The afternoon, however, is a different story. Yesterday everybody and their brother were outside going for a walk. The trail outside our house is one big loop. I usually run the loop and then take another part of the trail to a golf course near our house. Yesterday it was getting dark so I decided to just make loops around the trail because it is so close to home. So here I am with all these differing groups of people. Single men walking their dog, single women walking their dog, couples walking their dog, and some people just walking (yes without a dog). Because I was running and they were walking I ended up lapping these people several times during my run. The silly part is I felt really good lapping all those people. Every time I would pass someone I would think he he I am faster than you. But of course I am faster than them. I am running and they were walking. Nonetheless I felt a little bit of pride each time that I passed them by. Even a couple of the people commented on how fast "we" were. Ok, first of all Marielle is not doing any of the running. Second of all, I am not fast. Yes, I did lap the walkers several times, but had any one of them decided to start running I surely would have been left in the dust. I am sure even the 70 year old couple who were walking could beat me in a running race. I was just laughing to myself thinking about having a running race with the 70 year old couple. That's all for now. P.S. I hope you enjoyed Lisa : )

Ode to Sophie

I thought I’d write on our blog

About Sophie the world’s cutest dog

She’s super nice and super kind

The best dog you’ll ever find

She lets Marielle pull her tail

Without letting out the smallest wail

She loves to eat ice and play outside

And get in the car to take a ride

She also likes to lick your feet

And thanks to Marielle has lots to eat

We love our dog and hope she’s happy

And hope that this poem is not to sappy

A Reflection on Marielle's Beginnings

When I come home at night the first thing I do is go and pick up Marielle and give her a big hug. (Ok the first thing I really do is wash my hands cause I’m a germ freak and don’t want Marielle getting sick). I have to admit that nothing brings me more joy than saying hi to her when I get home and see her react by smiling and then running over to me and saying “up” so that I can hold her. It amazes me to this day that she is the same baby who a little over a year ago was fighting to survive. I remember coming home at night from the hospital after visiting Marielle and praying that she would make it. Marc and I didn’t care if she had physical or mental disabilities, we would always love her and be proud of her. Now I look at her today and its hard to remember that Marielle was once so fragile. I suppose her spirit was never fragile, just her body. But today all I can see when I look at Marielle is a strong, feisty little girl that is going to give me a run for my money. Its hard to remember those days when she was a preemie and 3lbs sounded like a ton of weight and when regulating her own body temperature was a huge accomplishment. I remember that she came home at a little over 4lbs and that just seemed huge to Marc and I. Although Marielle’s weight is small (a whopping 16lbs at 15 months) her personality is huge. Marielle is such a character. She has so many faces that she makes on a day to day basis. She has a sad face, shy face, happy face, frustrated face, mad face, her I’m up to no good and know you are watching face, and I did something great aren’t you proud face (just to name a few). All I know is that I could watch her all day. I love her! She brings me more joy than I ever imagined possible and I can’t imagine my life without her. I am thankful to all of you who prayed for her while she was in the NICU. Sometimes at night I’ll peak in her room and watch her sleep in her crib. While looking at her I think to myself that some prayers do get answered.

Father's Day Duo

This past Father's Day, at my parents' house, I found myself wide awake and rolling out of bed before 6am. The funniest thing is that I had really no reason to be up that early. Marielle was still asleep. In fact, she slept past 8am. I had no place to go that morning. I just happened to wake up and not feel like sleeping anymore. Although I don't really sleep in on the weekends, 6am is a rarity. I headed downstairs and passed my Father who was fast asleep on the family room floor. He does this on occasion. My Mom always feels bad disturbing him to get him to come to bed. Anyway, he hears me rustling around and gets up himself.

I said to him, "Funny that it's early on Father's Day and the only ones up are the fathers. Maybe we should have slept in."

It was actually a lot of fun. He put on a coffee, and then we just hung out a bit until Mom and the other stragglers rolled in. Later that morning, Marrielle and I donned my first Father's Day gift which was a pair of t-shirts that identified us as the father-daughter pair that we are. Later, when we returned home, Sophie gave me her Father's Day gift. Apparently, when she lays around the garage, watching me work on things, she's come to realize that I could use a helping hand. She got me a little set of tools so that I can employ my daughter's skills. I missed capturing her first pose where she had one hand up on her hip resting on the tool belt, but you can see she seems to know what she's doing. Lastly, Vivian surprised me with tickets to see Brian Regan at the Paramount. Brian Regan is one of Viv and my favorite comics. We've seen hime twice already, and I'm super excited to see him again. He always seems to have some new material; however, the funniest thing is that he actually gets requests from the audience to do some of his classic bits. Vivian and I have seen him comment on this in interviews where he thinks it is the oddest thing.

Whether he gives us a completely new show or some of the old, we are excited to get to see him again. Especially at such a big venue. Anybody that likes a good, clean comic should check him out at www.brianregan.com. He is hilarious!

Baby in a Box

Marielle got Build a Bear gift certificates from our nanny for Christmas and we just recently went to the mall and used them. While Marielle likes her new monkey Millie, she really likes the box. She likes to sit and play in it. Here is a picture of her enjoying the box. For those of you worried, Marielle is like three inches from the ground.

Safety First

Dad got Marielle a bike helmet to wear when Mom goes running. Its a little too big, however, she enjoyed wearing it and sitting in the stroller. As you can see she liked touching it! She thought the soft plastic was really cool.

Marielle Goes "Swimming"

Marielle swam in her own pool today. She was a little timid at first, but after a while was walking all over and splashing around. She also liked sitting in the pool and playing with her water can. A couple of times she bent over a little to far and dipped her face in the water, which she was not pleased about. On the whole though, she was a definite pool fan. I am glad that she got to use her new bathing suit before it was too small or the summer was over. I am sure that she will go "swimming" a couple more times before the summer is over. I know Marc and I enjoyed playing in the pool with her. By the way Sophie also wanted to use the pool, but we all thought she would likely just pierce the bottom of it with her claws. She did however, enjoy drinking from the pool. Oh the fun of summer : )

Marielle and Her Ponytail

I have been wanting to put Marielle's hair in a ponytail until her hair in the front got longer, but that seemed to be taking forever. So this week I decided it was time. She has tolerated me putting the hairband in her hair pretty well considering she doesn't like wearing a hat or a headband. Today she left the ponytail in all day : ) I can't wait until I get to put her hair in braids and pigtails. It will be a while, so until then Marielle will follow in Lacy's footsteps and have cute little sprout hair.

Ellie Bug's Vocabulary

I was thinking about all the words Marielle is using nowadays. Its fun that she is really starting to communicate with us and tell us what she wants. To date Marielle's vocubulary includes: baby, ball, bububee (aka bumble bee), hi, more, daddy, mama, up, puppy, doggy, dobie (aka Sophie), book, Dori (aka Dora the Explorer), no, dow (aka down), baba (aka bottle), and wawa (aka water). I look forward to Marielle and her buddies (Alex and Nathan) having cute little conversations with one another. I like to think about what they would talk about, perhaps what kind of super heros they would be.

Super Hero Powers Anybody?

I'm a little disappointed in all of you for not responding to my "Had a Lazy Weekend" post with your thoughts on super powers. Come on guys. Wouldn't it be cool to zap the dog that poops in your yard with lasers from your eyes, or fly to Florida for a vacation instead of flying to Florida for vacation.

So let's hear it.

Apparently, Marielle's Weekend: Not So Lazy

In my last post I mentioned that we didn't do too much this past weekend. Apparently, that was only true for Viv and I. While we were at brunch, Marielle helped my parents around the yard. They sent us photos today showing some of their exploits. The highlights include examining the yard for weeds and debris, walking the perimeter of the yard, and even helping Oma stand up.

Oma won't be pleased that I put this photo out on the web.

Had a Lazy Weekend

Not much new to report, but we must blog on anyway.

We spent part of our weekend up at Marielle's Oma and Opa's house. They watched Marielle while we went to brunch at the house of one of Viv's firm's partners. We had a good time. Eating Eggs Benedict on the weekend and not making them yourself is always a plus. We got the added bonus of getting to see a new movie as well. Yea, whenever we get a chance to visit any of the grandparents, we take advantage of giving them their "grandparent" time and we sneak off to the theatre. We saw X-Men III. We thought it was a lot of fun, and despite being titled, The Last Stand, we think they left lots of things open for follow-on movies. Every time we see a super hero movie, we end up talking about what sort of super powers would be cool to have. I'm partial to being able to fly. Super strength or tele-something-or-other mental powers could be cool too.

Anyway, comment back and tell us what super powers you would want.

Marielle's Rabbit Chair

Marielle loves her rabbit chair. Most of the time she crawls into it and then lounges in it. In one of the pictures you can see her "chillin like a villain." She also loves to throw herself at the chair before she lounges in it. Marc and I think its really cute how much she loves it. Sometimes she even pretends like Sophie is the rabbit chair, but Sophie does not sit as still.

Marielle and Her Baby Doll

Marielle loves her baby doll and has learned how to "feed" it. She also likes to "feed" herself with the dolls bottle. And while she is cute with it sometimes, sometimes, she is kinda scary with it. She likes to bang it on the head a lot and bite its hands and feet. Perhaps its a good thing that she doesn't have any siblings.

Sleepy Sunday

So, for anyone out there that has been keeping up to date on our blog, you're probably starting to realize that we are trying to get caught up on a lot of our recent goings on. I promise that we will soon start addressing only the things that have happened since our last post.

Anyway, this past weekend we not only went to a lake near my parents' house but slept a lot as well. It's always nice visiting both our families' houses. There is something comforting about going home. Be it the home that you have made for your family or the home your family has made for you. It's always relaxing. As you can see, the Koreans in our family aren't the only ones who can "O Ba Ba" a baby to sleep! I'm sure I butchered the "O Ba Ba" phrase (oops, now I've done it again). If you don't understand, look it up. It's a way for carrying a baby on your back. Here's a photo of Viv's Emo showing us how it's done.

Super Marielle

Marielle trys to blend in with all the other babies, but during her bath she showed that she was a superhero in disguise. Be careful Lex Luther, there's a new superhero in town.

Marielle's First Spaghetti Meal

Marielle ate her first meal of spaghetti a while ago, but I thought the pictures we took were funny, so I thought that I would post one of them online. Thankfully, all of her meals are not this messy.

Sophie Learned to Swim

This past weekend, we took Sophie out to a lake near my parents' house and taught her to swim. I use the term taught loosely realizing, of course, that we had very little to do with the process. Basically, we let her romp around in the shallows until she stepped too deep. At that point, instinct really did the teaching.

I was impressed that it only took her about 10-15 minutes to figure out the dog paddling. Chloe had not been a fan of water at all. Swimming was definitely one new trick that that poor old girl wasn't going to learn. Sophie, on the other hand, was thrilled to be in the water and seemed to enjoy splashing me as often as she could. I wish Chloe was still around. Maybe Sophie could have gotten her out into the water . . . and Chloe may have been able to teach Sophie the value of sitting still for more than 4 seconds. In their own ways, both Chloe and Sophie are great dogs and companions.

Marielle's First Trip to Disney World

Well, meeting Mickey Mouse went OK although there was no way Marielle was going to let him hold her. Yes, I'd say our daughter's first time to Disney World was a great success. I say, "first time to Disney" because I have no doubt that we will go back many times. Vivian absolutely loves all parks Disney and I must admit that Marielle seemed to appreciate the experience much more than I thought a 14-month old would. Oh yea, I'm a fan as well.

We met up in Florida with our friends Geoff and Colette and their son Alex. The little man further reinforced the fact that 14-month olds love Disney. Watching him and Marielle was a riot. They really loved hanging out. Their antics started before we ever got to the park. We placed the two of them in their carseats on the center bench of our rental minivan (no, this is not a sign that we are getting a minivan). Alex sits facing forward in his seat and petite Marielle still has to face backwards, so they got to look at each other everywhere we went. They got a huge kick out of this. They spent all of their car time passing toys back and forth, holding hands, and thumb wrestling.

We spent our first day at The Magic Kingdom and headed straight to Fantasy Land so that Alex and Marielle could take a ride with Winnie the Pooh and fly to Neverland with Peter Pan. On day two we nearly baked to death at MGM Studios and the concrete landscape of Epcot, but found that it was all worth it for experiencing Epcot's new attraction, Soarin'. We spent our third, and final, day at The Animal Kingdom where we took full advantage of the FastPass to ride the new Expedition Everest rollercoaster three times.

While we were in Florida we had an opportunity to meet up with Viv's sister, Jenn. Jenn, her boyfriend, and his son made a two and a half hour trip up to Orlando to meet us. It was great seeing them. Getting together was especially exciting since we haven't seen each other since this past Christmas. Jenn couldn't believe how well Marielle cruised around. We all went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. I have to say that the food was fairly good but you pay one heck of a markup to help save the rain forests of the world. Jenn took Marielle to look at the large aquariums spread throughout the restaurant. She loved it. We appreciate them making the trip to see us.

Hello

Viv and I have taken yet another step into the internet age. We now have a blog. I must confess that I didn't even know what a blog was until last year. Well, Vivian's cousin has one, our friends Lisa and PC have one, my parents neighbors have one, and now we do. Hopefully, we keep up on posting to it so that we can actually call it a weblog.

I'm sure most of our posting will focus on our little girl, but we will try to keep you all up to date on all our goings on.