Today was Ed’s 1st Fathers Day! I could hardly wait to celebrate this – he is such a great dad and does so much for us that I wanted to make it special. I think I was more excited about Father’s Day than Mother’s Day! Ed wanted to keep things low-key, so I honored his wishes. :)
We started off the morning by presenting Daddy with a few gifts. Ruby made him a picture storybook called “Daddy & Me” with some of the best photos of the two of them so far. Want to see the book? Click here to see the book
(You’ll see the book on the right, and use the “Next” arrow below to flip pages of the book)
After presents, we headed out to the beach for an early morning run (we had a delicious lunch planned, so we had to get our exercise in early!) Both of us enjoy running together and its always a kick to watch Ruby enjoy herself while she’s a long for the ride. We did about 2 1/2 miles from Bluff Park to Belmont Shore and back.
Finally, the part Ed was really looking forward to – lunch at Porto’s Bakery in Downey to enjoy empanadas, potato balls and ropa vieja sandwiches! We love Cuban food and Porto’s is simply amazing. The place was packed! Lots of families were in to pick up pastries for their own Father’s Day celebrations. It looks like our Foodie-in-Training is learning quickly – here she is making an attempt to steal our empanadas and potato balls! :)
We also had dates with both my dad and Ed’s dad to celebrate the day as well. We took my dad out on Saturday to Schooner or Later. It’s kind of a Long Beach institution and it was featured on one of my dad’s favorite shows, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network, so it was a fitting location! We enjoyed a beautiful breakfast by the water…
On Sunday, we took Ed’s dad out to the new Gaucho Grill in Downtown Long Beach for some Argentinean cuisine. Basically, that means meat! It was delicious, and Ruby was in a really great mood and hammed things up for her Harabuji at the house before went out.
All in all, it was a great Father’s Day. I’m so lucky to have all these great dads around me to celebrate with!
Entering 2011 is very exciting on many levels. We are entering the new year as a family rather than as a couple. As such, we want to make sure Ruby gets to know her family traditions. New Years Day has some special rituals in Korean families, so we started off 2011 doing these with Ruby for the first time.
We started off heading down to my mom’s place, where she had prepared the traditional New Year breakfast of duk-kook, which is a very tasty and nourishing soup. It was delicious! It was Carrie’s first time eating this dish – she liked it a lot!
Afterwards, it was time for Ruby to do “sae-beh”, where children wish their grandparents a happy new year with a bow. Of course, I had to help Ruby out with this as she can’t talk or bow on her own just yet!
Halmoni (the Korean word for Grandmother) gave Ruby the cutest card and a gift!
Three generations!
Ruby loves her Halmoni!
Afterwards, we went to celebrate my dad’s birthday (which is January 1!) where Ruby got to meet her cousins Jeffrey and Luke, and their Uncle Danny and Aunt Janet for the first time.
Ruby did “sae-beh” to her Harabuji (Korean for Grandfather) too!
Three generations!
It was especially sweet just how much Jeffrey and Luke took to Ruby. And vice versa! Ruby kept smiling at them and trying to suck their fingers.
It was a wonderful and very special New Year’s Day, and we can’t wait to see what this year will have in store for us! It’s going to be a very fast year, I suspect, as babies do grow up fast. By this time next year, Ruby will be walking and maybe even uttering a word or two. It’s going to be an amazing year, so watch this space!
Ask us a year ago if we would’ve thought that we’d be celebrating Christmas Eve in a new house with a new baby, and we probably wouldn’t have believed it! This has been quite a year, and that made this year’s Christmas Eve dinner even more special.
As usual, we were hosting Ed’s mom, dad, aunt and uncle for dinner. We even have a dining room now! We set our modern table in our signature red and white stripes, and for this year’s place settings I decided to do sugar cookie stars in red and green.
Also new for this year, I made a roast …
I loaded up an oven bag with potatoes, carrots and onions and cooked it for about 2.5 hours.
I did it!
The candles were lit and we waited for our guests to arrive.
Even Ruby got dressed up in her special Christmas Eve dress from Halmoni!
Tonight’s dinner consisted of Ed’s mom’s amazing spinach salad with pomegranate, cranberry, blueberry and almonds … My roast with potatoes and carrots, wild rice, roasted brussel sprouts and mushrooms, and Ed’s aunt brought the cake for dessert!
Even though we didn’t exchange gifts this year, the grandparents couldn’t resist buying a little something for Ruby. Harabuji bought Ruby two sets of pajamas, and Halmoni bought Ruby a special animal print dress since she was born in the year of the Tiger!
After everyone left, it was time for Ed to read Ruby ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Grandma & Papaw Facey bought us our own copy of the book so we could start the tradition of reading it to her before bedtime each Christmas Eve like my dad did for me!
This Christmas Eve was a wonderful night spent with our family in our new home. It just can’t get any better than that! Stay tuned for part two tomorrow! :)
It’s hard to know where to begin – Ruby’s journey here was quite the dramatic one! Born at 9:26pm on Tuesday, November 2, Ruby came a lot later – and differently – then expected! I had tried to tell myself all the way through the pregnancy that I just needed to go with the flow and try to be as open minded as possible, and I had no idea at the time how much I would be held to that during the process! But Ed & I can’t complain, we ended up with a healthy, alert and gorgeous daughter, and it made it all worth it! So if you are up for the details, here is our story …
On Monday, November 1 we arrived at Labor & Delivery at Long Beach Memorial Hospital at 9:00am for our scheduled induction. Ruby was 40 weeks/2days and had been served her eviction notice! After getting settled in and examined, we were told to get cozy and be prepared to stay awhile! I was still only dilated 1cm, and they told us we may not meet our daughter for another 48 hours!
So, the 1st day went by … I was given medication that would help to get my cervix dilated. Each pill was administered every 4 hours, and I had 4 doses! That evening, the doctors wanted to try another procedure to help get things moving, but unfortunately – it was unsuccessful. I’ll spare you the details of what that procedure was, but wow – it was traumatic!
This is the last pregnant picture I have of myself. After being praised by the nurses for being such a trooper despite the failed procedure, I was given clearance to get up out of bed after 15 hours and walk the hallways! I was ecstatic. Now that we’ve met Ruby, it is so surreal to see her still inside of there…
The next morning we were visited by the doctor. She said that she was thinking that maybe we should let nature take its course to help the process, and she was thinking of sending me home! Our hearts sank – of course, we were anxious to meet Ruby, but man – that means we’d have to go through all of this again? The doctor examined me, and she promptly said, “Oh, we’re definitely not sending you home!” Overnight I had progressed from 1 cm to 3-4 cm, so she ordered to start up the pitocin and get things moving along!
Contractions gradually started getting pretty strong, and by that afternoon (at about 30 hours in), the nurse said that the doctor would be coming in to break my water. Finally! I was a little nervous about it, but encouraged. Turns out its a rather uncomfortable procedure to say the least – and after that, boy do the contractions really start kicking! I made it through though – my mom was holding one hand, Ed was holding the other, and we got even closer to meeting Ruby.
After that, there was a woman in one of the rooms who was a real screamer. Listening to her was terrifying, so I promptly told my nurse, “I want my epidural!” Wow, the rumors are true – it really made all the difference! As soon as I got it, I was relaxed, unafraid, and ready to get the baby party started! I kept looking the monitor and seeing these big contractions, but I didn’t feel a thing. All was looking good and at 32 hours in, I even brushed my hair and put on lipstick!
At about 7pm, things took a turn. All of the sudden, the room started spinning, I started to get tunnel vision like I was going to black out, and my blood pressure dropped to 80/50. I had gotten an infection from them manually breaking my water. Apparently, this is somewhat common – its always a risk when your water is broken manually. I was shaking violently from having a fever … I felt awful. The doctor came in and said that after 36 hours, we should just call it and go for a c-section.
Things moved very quickly after that. They got me prepped for surgery almost immediately, and Ed got outfitted in his scrubs. I was still feeling very sick at that point and having trouble controlling my shaking. It seemed like I was only in the OR for a few minutes, and all of the sudden we heard, “Here is her head …”, and moments later, we heard the magic cry. Ruby had finally arrived!!!
Inside the Operating Room, moments after her birth:
Ed got to cut the cord
Here she is! A petite little girl, but 20.5 inches long!
They brought her to me and snuggled her near my face. She immediately responded to my voice and started sucking on my upper lip!
Ruby weighs in at 7 lbs., 6 oz. She’ll hate us for posting this photo in about 13 years, won’t she?
After she was delivered, Ed had to leave the OR while they finished up my surgery. The whole family was waiting outside – both my parents and Ed’s parents, and my brother, sis-in-law and our 4 nieces and nephew. As they wheeled Ruby over to the nursery, the nurse was super cool and allowed our family to hang out and see her in the hallway for a few minutes (even though she technically wasn’t supposed to) and take pictures! My brother captured this quick video just minutes after Ruby was born. She was so alert!
It seemed like ages until I got to see my baby. My c-section revealed a large ovarian cyst that was the size of a grapefruit and had to be removed immediately. It had actually taken it over, so the entire ovary was removed. This added another hour on to my surgery, and at that point, I was just so anxious to be finished and hold my baby! By the time I got out of the OR, out of recovery, and into my room, they brought Ruby in at 3:00am. Almost 6 hours later – I finally held my baby!
So … that’s our story! But before we sign off, a few more pics …
Ruby, 2 days old.
Ruby meets Halmoni (Ed’s mom, Halmoni is “Grandma” in Korean)
Ruby meets Harabuji (Ed’s dad, that’s “Grandpa” in Korean)
Ruby is partying with Papaw Facey on his birthday. We had a little birthday party for my dad in our hospital room with his favorite cheesecake on Nov. 4th.
Ruby loves her Grandma Facey, even if she’s crying in this pic!
For Valentine’s Day this year, I decided that I wanted to cook something really special for Ed: A proper Korean Feast! It seems like a no-brainer, but of course Ed absolutely LOVES Korean food, and in the three years we’ve been married, I really haven’t cooked it enough for him.
A few years ago, Ed’s mom bought us “Practical Korean Cooking“, a traditional Korean cookbook written by Noh Chin-hwa. It was translated to English with the intention of helping Westerners learn how to prepare Korean cuisine. The coolest part about this cookbook? There are step-by-step photos that guide you along, which was a BIG help (seeing as how I had no idea what some of the ingredients looked like or how these dishes are supposed to look)! So I guess in the spirit of “Julie & Julia“, this project turned out to be the Korean version. Instead of trying to tackle Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking“, I took on the challenge of Practical Korean Cooking! I decided on making a 4-Course meal. I knew it was ambitious, but I am proud to report that 4 hours later it was a huge success!
1st Course: Saengseon Jeon
(Pan-Grilled Fish Cake with Egg)
These “fish & egg pancakes” (as I called them before looking up the proper name) are an Ed staple! He LOVES them so much, often times he can’t wait until they’re completely made – he has to cut off slices of the fish cake and eat them plain! Ed’s mom helped me with this recipe and she even gave me a cute idea of making them heart-shaped! They are super simple – beat some eggs, add a pinch of salt, dip the slices of fish cake in the egg and cook them like a pancake! I even found a heart shaped frame I could use at the Korean Market!
2nd Course: Komt’ang (Beef Stock Soup)
This soup got put on the list because a) I’ve never made my own soup stock from scratch before and b) Ed loves any kind of noodles!!! Basically, this recipe was a simple soup made with beef shank, garlic, korean radish and “chinese style” noodles. This was definitely the toughest to shop for – at Zion Market they had 2 whole aisles of just noodles! How’s a girl like me supposed to figure out the right one?!? I’m pretty sure I chose the wrong noodles, but Ed said it was delicious nonetheless.
3rd Course, part 1: Twaejigogi Kimch’ibokkum
(Stir-Fry Pork with Kimchi)
You’re definitely not eating a true Korean meal if there is no kimchi involved, so I knew this dish would hit the spot. No, I didn’t make my own kimchi from scratch, but there’s always next time! Thank goodness Ed’s mom told me which red pepper paste to look out for (whew!). This dish came out so spicy and bold and delicious – and Ed said everything about it was “just right”!
3rd Course, part 2: Nakchinokkum (Fried Octopus)
My goal from the start was to knock Ed’s socks off and completely surprise him by this meal – so I knew the sure-fire way to do just that was to include octopus on the menu. Octopus is a huge favorite for Ed, and there is no way he would ever expect that I would make that for him! Even though I am not a big fan of the octopus, I did give it a shot. Ed was completely shocked that I even attempted it and very happy about how it turned out!
I took this shot of him, mid-bite:
He liked it – he really, really liked it! :)
4th course: Strawberry Ice Cream and
Rice Cracker Treats
Pretty simple, but Strawberry Ice Cream is always a hit with Ed, and paired with Rice Crackers, I knew it would be a solid finish to the meal!
In total, I spent about 4 hours preparing everything tonight – and it was worth every minute of it to see Ed’s shock and amazement! Now I want to practice a bit more so I can impress my in-laws! :) A BIG thank you goes out to my awesome mom-in-law, Kay, who helped me out a lot by sharing some invaluable tips!
Here are a few more details of the evening:
Place setting + menu
Ed devours the octopus!
I did it!
My menu!
Click here to see all the pictures! (Sorry for bad quality of some of them – technical difficulty had us using our iPhones for the majority of the evening!)
