See Kylan grow!

We have moved!

2009-11-26T23:20:00.000-08:00

Our family is going from 3 to 4 and we felt like our blog needed to grow up too. Here is our new site to celebrate both Kylan and Kyrsten!

fantastikk4.blogspot.com

21 months...I am a big kid now.

2009-11-01T23:23:00.001-08:00

We are a few days late but we still want to celebrate Kylan turning 21 months old. Wow! Kylan is a big kid now. We gave up on keeping track of his words because there are simply too many. Sometimes, it almost feels like we are communicating back and forth. I think, through words or actions, Kylan is able to communicate about 70% of what he wants to say. There are very few times when we feel frustrated because we don't know what Kylan needs to say. He also imitates everything appa does...everything! It's kind of scary because appa really feels the burden of being a good role model. No more yelling at the Lakers because they lose a game, no more road rage,...at least for a few years.

Kylan even tries to wear appa's shorts.
He now paints by himself (not very well but still impressed with how he holds the brush)
He rocks it out!
But the little man is not quite 3 feet tall yet..
And he keeps having all the fun...
Kylan also had so much fun on Halloween. You can see his pictures here.

Pregnancy update! We are only about 7 weeks away from the due date. Umma caught a cold but all in all things are going very well except the gestation diabetes part. Well, the tests are coming out negative but her doctor decided to be cautious and put umma on a diet to make sure that both umma and Kyrsten are healthy. Umma's belly is now really big and umma has trouble moving around. However, Kyrsten keeps reminding us that she is very healthy by kicking umma very hard very often. We are already scoping out soccer teams because we believe Kyrsten's got a natural talent for the sport. But for now, umma and appa are more worried about giving Kyrsten a middle name. We are feeling a little guilty that we can't come up with something clever for her. Umma likes Grace. Appa likes Grace a lot too but he also likes Lydia because of an old story appa shares with umma but perhaps umma doesn't remember it anymore. We are giving ourselves 3 more weeks to decide. By the way, Kyrsten already has a Korean name - it is Yae-Eun. Kim Yae-Eun...sounds like a TV star in Korea. We like it.

2-0!

2009-09-26T23:26:00.000-07:00

Kylan is now 20 months old. Yes, he has gotten much bigger and much, much, more talkative. But at the same time, he is still the same adorable cute baby that we first saw 20 months ago today.

Appa appreciates Kylan for being such a affectionate baby. He gives you hugs, kisses, and he gets along with everybody. He has many friends which is why his schedule is full of attending birthday parties.

Above all, we are so grateful that he is a healthy boy who loves to play with balls and eats everything in sight without being picky. We had an exceptionally hot month in Southern California in September but that didn't stop Kylan from running around with a ball in the park.

Appa loves spending time with Kylan. Even when appa gets tired and lays down, Kylan walks over and just lies down on top of appa. Kylan is appa's best bubby.

We also took a family trip to San Diego this month and Kylan saw the animals for the first time in person. He calls every animal "mung mung". And he made a point to kindly point them out to appa and umma. His look of fascination was priceless. He especially went crazy in front of the tiger but the crowd in front of it didn't allow us to take a good picture.

He had exceptional fun at the petting zoo chasing after the goats.
You can see all of Kylan's pictures here.

Pregnancy update! Umma is now about 27 weeks pregnant. She is now in her third trimester. Coming down the stretch here we come. The doctor told her this week that this is a text book pregnancy so I think that gives you an idea how well mommy and the baby are doing. This baby is even more active than Kylan was. She kicks and kicks and kicks! Hopefully, she is getting all her agression out before she is born. We have not met her but she is alreay making us love her so much. Kylan goes over to mommy belly, points and says "baby". But we are pretty sure he has no idea what is going on and what is going to hit him in about 13 weeks. We are planning a big change on the blog to celebrate our baby girl. Please be on the look out!

19, 19, 19 months

2009-08-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

Don't know if it's because he's going to be a big brother at the end of the year, but Kylan seems like he's becoming such a big boy already. This past month went by so fast that I am not so sure what we did.

Kylan's vocabulary has definitely increased. It's to a point where umma can't remember everything that he's been saying all week to tell appa about it. One thing he has been doing well is telling us how old he is. Here he is saying "1 year old!"

This month, he said two 2-word sentences. He went up to eemo and said, "Noona, ayah" when Ashley noona got hurt. He told appa on the phone, "mung-mung, baby" pointing to the bird on umma's shirt saying that there was a picture of an animal on umma's belly. He also talks on the phone really well. Actually, he talks all day although we don't completely understand everything he says. But especially with appa, he responds with "neh" (yes) and tries to tell umma what appa told him on the phone. For instance, appa told Kylan to be gentle with umma, especially with her belly because of the baby, then he went over to umma and gave her belly a nice-nice by rubbing it and saying "nie-nie".

He also attended his first VBS. He spent some time participating in the VBS activities and the rest of the time in the nursery. His favorite part of VBS was the praise time where he learned the songs and motions. He still loves to listen to them and actually knows the motions to the various songs. We thought it was a coincidence, but he actually does all the dances! Here he is dancin' away.

We went to the OC Fair on the last weekend of the fair. Kylan absolutely loved the "ba-ball" (basketball) game booth and went to each one to grab the basketballs, which added up to us stopping every 3 minutes because there were so many of them!
He also rode on the carousel and an elephant with appa!
We thought that he was going to ride the pony since he was so excited to see the live ponies, not like the fake horsies on the carousel, but he didn't want anything to do with it once he found out that he had to do it by himself.

We won a green teddy bear playing the squirt gun game. Kylan absolutely loves it and we have to make sure we keep it in the car because it has become his new car buddy.

Umma has a bit more energy these days and Kylan has lots of energy to burn, so we've been trying to keep ourselves as busy as possible - or at least as long as umma can last. Since our blocked out days are over on our Disneyland passes (woohoo!), Kylan and umma had a date to the happiest place on Earth. It wasn't too hot on the day we went and not too crowded either. We missed the Playhouse Disney live show which was a bummer since Kylan loves "Meee" (Mickey), but when we got in front of Small World, Kylan started dancing and wanted to get on.
Here he is on the Monorail which always counts as a ride.
And at Goofy's Playhouse showig off his Beethoven skillz.
Of course, we've been doing outing with noona, Wes and eemo. It's to a point where Kylan has his own carseat in eemo's car right next to noona. Here we are riding the train at Irvine Spectrum.

Kylan has graduated - from his highchair! The only meal he likes to have in his highchair these days is breakfast since that is the only meal he eats by himself because he wakes up so hungry and has to get fed right away. Otherwise, he likes to eat at the table with everyone else and has to feed himself. We've been letting him eat at the table, but something that he started doing that has been annoying umma and appa is getting up and doing other things like playing with his toys in the middle of bites. We would give him chances then put him in the highchair if he kept doing it over and over. We finally bit the bullet and bought a Stokke booster chair. He absolutely loves noona's chair and when we saw how well he did in it, we found and bought an used one since they are so expensive. Now look at him strapped in his chair and eating all by himself at the table!
(If you are wondering what he is eating, he is eating Korean soup and rice - the main staple of all Korean kids.)

We have finally come to that point where we are getting ready to turn Kylan around to front-facing in the car. We were planning on waiting until he turns 2, but he's gained some weight, has gotten taller, and it's also getting hard for umma to load him in the car all the time with the extra baggage (a.k.a. baby sister in her belly) that's she's carrying around.
One thing we are going to miss, especially appa is whenever we asked Kylan for his "sohn" (hand), he would throw his hand over the side of his seat so that we can hold hands with him.

It's another sign that he is getting bigger since we will not be able to do this with him any longer...

"oppa" vs "hyung"

2009-08-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

The Korean language actually has designated title for the older brother. Unlike English, the older brother is never called by the first name by his younger siblings. And, to add to the complexity (it really isn't that complicated), the title changes depending on the gender of the younger sibling. The younger sister calls him "oppa" while the younger brother calls him "hyung". As we were waiting to find out Kylan's younger sibling's gender, we wondered if Kylan will be called "oppa" or "hyung" for the rest of his life. Well, yesterday we found out! The answer is....

oppa! (Kylan will have a younger sister in December)

Can you believe this baby is already someone's oppa?

Half way point between 1 year and 2 years

2009-07-26T22:58:00.000-07:00

Kylan is 18 months old as of today. What a busy month it has been for Kylan! His days are packed with playing with friends, cousins, and uncles/aunties at church. Of course, we can't forget his awesome trip to Nagoya, Japan. (I know that we are big time late on blogging about this trip but there is so much to say and the pictures are not ready yet. We will post something about the trip very soon.)

During this month, Kylan has actually lost some weight because of his busy schedule but he has grown so much in other ways. He pretty much understands about 75% of what we say to him. We say something to him and he just knows what to do. He also picked up a few new vocab (like "no!"). He uses a fork when he eats. He just seems to act more mature since the trip to Japan. Perhaps his eyes are more open to the world now. By the way, he has picked up a Ninja trick in Japan. He climbs out of his crib now. There is no containing him. This is how we found him one night after we left him in his crib.
Alright, I will confess. I have gotten very lazy about taking pictures lately. But fortunately, Kylan has auntie Pey who takes good picture of Kylan all the time. Just 2 days ago, we were at the outdoor theater at Arovista Park in Brea to watch Kung Fu Panda which was hosted by the city of Brea and sponsored by Ambassador Church. It was raging fun.

Auntie Pey
Kylan playing before the movie
By the way, have we mentioned that watermelon is Kylan's absolute favorite? He out eats a regular grown man when it come to watermelons.
I promise! We will post the Japan story in a few days (Business trip to Dallas keeps getting in the way)

UPDATE:
We had Kylan's 18th month check up today. He continues to be a very skinny, average height boy. The pediatrician was impressed that he had gained 7 oz in the past 3 months since Kylan is so very active. The doctor said that most active kids actually lose weight during their second year of life. He was also impressed with how Kylan was interacting with him and trying to talk to him and stayed still during the examination. He said that it was excellent that Kylan was also following my directions during the visit. But all hell broke lose once the doctor got up to leave. Kylan started waving bye to the doctor, but I think he realized what was going to happen next. He wanted go out of the room with the doctor, but the doctor informed him that he was to stay in the room with mommy. Then he stated to fuss, destroyed the paper on the examination table and we both broke a sweat. He finally calmed down when I let him play with the running water in the sink. Of course he got both of us wet, but Kylan was a total trooper when it came time to actually get the shots. He just yelped a bit on the second shot but totally brushed it off!

We are finally getting a break from all the check-ups for Kylan. We won't have to go back until he turns 2 with the exception of his flu shot. I can't believe my little baby is growing up so fast...

First Haircut - Wait, for Real?

2009-07-04T07:13:00.000-07:00

As all of you have noticed, since Kylan was a newborn, one thing he hasn't had much of is hair. You can still see his scalp and we have been waiting for his hair to fill in or grow in or just make some kind of progress. Well, the progress it's been making is at the bottom around his neck and ears. We wanted the top of his hair to start coming down instead of sticking straight up before we took any action.

But no, we have pulled the trigger. We were all out running errands and one of the stops was appa's haircut. Kylan watched appa intently as he got his haircut. I'm sure he didn't know what to make of the situation, but he knew that appa wasn't doing anything that hurt him. We decided to give Kylan a trim at that point. He sat on umma's lap and didn't even flinch the entire time. The other people in the salon were completely shocked that they didn't even hear a peep out of him. They said they never saw a kid like this before.

The aftermath is a super cool trim that makes his hair look so much neater. But needless to say, umma is a bit sad that Kylan looks like a big boy with all his baby wisps gone. And to all of you who always ask if he has gotten a haircut, yes, he finally got one.

Before:

During:

After:

Seventeen Months Already?

2009-06-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

Kylan has officially stopped walking. He is now running everywhere! With that, there are bumps, bruises, and cuts that come along with the territory. At times he can't turn or stop fast enough that he runs into walls and corners. Kylan usually brushes them off unless they're really bad.

We always thought that Kylan was an overly cautious kid, but he is becoming fearless. At the park, he now climbs things that he is still too small for and tries to jump off couches and climb out of his crib.

He moved up to level 4 at Gymboree this past month. He is the youngest in his class, but seems to keep up with the rest of them.

He is doing big boy things now. When asked, he even tells us when went poo-poo. He answers many of our questions with a neh (yes) or no.

Here he is wrestling with his cousin:

At the park running around on Father's Day with his dad shirt:

His new love these days has been Pororo the Little Penguin. It's a Korean cartoon character that has completely mesmerized him. Kylan never really took to watching TV, so we were kind of worried about keeping him entertained during our flight to Hawaii. We borrowed a Pororo DVD from his cousin Ashley and downloaded it to our iPod. He watched it and totally fell in love it. Then he started to recognize the characters everywhere, especially at Ashley's house. He started asking for "Po-ppo" which actually means kiss in Korean, but we know he doesn't really want to kiss us, he just wants to watch Pororo. Grandma even got him a Pororo bowling set and water cup. Last weekend, he sat in his chair watching Pororo with a bowling pin in one hand and his water cup in the other hand. When he is at eemo's house and sees the door to the garage open, he runs out to the garage so that he can watch Pororo in eemo's car. By no means is he a couch potato (trust us, he is still very, very active), but when it comes time to watch Pororo, he actually gives umma a break for 30 minutes, especially when appa is on his business trips. At the end of the DVD when the end credits are rolling, he waves bye bye to Pororo.
Here he is in action watching his beloved Pororo:
First in his chair:
Then lounging with his belly hanging out:
Then up on the couch:

By the way, Kylan is becoming really big in December, as in big brother!

In Celebration of the Most Wonderful Father in the World

2009-06-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

I have to say, when we found out that we were having a boy at Kylan's 20 week ultrasound, appa literally jumped up and down. To this day, he questions it, but umma was there wondering where this rush of emotions came from a person who had clearly said he didn't care about the sex of the baby, only the health. He later disclosed that he always wanted a son and couldn't wait to do all the things that only a father and son can do.

Yes, I am biased, but I have to admit that Kylan is the luckiest kid on Earth to have appa as his dad. Although there there are many things Kylan cannot do yet, on the weekends, he plays on the jungle gym and with balls at the park, plays basketball in the backyard, gets new books at the bookstore, and runs errands with appa. Whenever appa swings his golf clubs (of course from a distance), Kylan thinks it's the funniest thing and just laugh and laughs. On days when Kylan knows appa's home from his business trips, he always calls for appa from his crib when he gets up. Every night he's home, appa's prayers and hugs are the last things before he falls asleep. Yes, they have been having lots of male bonding time on the weekends while umma gets to be lazy around the house.

We await those days when the two will ride bikes together, play sports together, and even work around the house together!

Lately, Kylan copies everything appa does. To commemorate Father's Day, here is Kylan trying to be just like appa:
And one day, he'll catch up to appa and be as big as him!

Sixteen Month Today - Yipee!

2009-05-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

Kylan has reached his 16th month mark today. As you saw in the previous posts, this past month has been jammed packed with so many activities. We know that we say this almost every month, but we feel like he's grown so much this month. He has lots of fun with his friends and tries to do the things the big kids do. He especially tries to copy everything his cousin, Ashley, does and oh do they reach the highs and lows when they are together!

Before we left for Hawaii, Kylan actually got to get on an airplane. The only difference was that this was a retired, real Air Force One at the Reagan Library. We got to go when we were staying in a hotel with appa for 2 weeks when he had a project up in Calabasas. Grandma and grandpa actually came up for a day to spend with us.

Yes, the Hawaii post has already been done, but we had to share just one more thing. Kylan loves to dance and dances to the weirdest music. For example, when we were at Lowes the other day, he started dancing to this weird 80's elevator music that they were playing in the store. You could barely hear it, but he would just stop and dance to it. So, you can imagine what happened at the luau. He loved watching the poke ball demonstration and just danced away to the live music on stage.
He watched the stage intently as he was waiting for his food as well.
Guess what he did after he was done with his big meal. He tried to jump on the stage! TLC was there filming for an episode of The Little Couple and Bill and Jen, the stars of the show thought Kylan was so cute that they laughed at his futile efforts to get on stage as appa caught him just in time. We didn't think that he would last through the entire show, but he sat in his stroller next to the TLC production staff and watched the whole thing.

How to make the coolest trip to Hawaii

2009-05-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Kim family visited the island of Hawaii from May 9 to May 13. It was a lot of work taking a toddler 2500 miles from home. However, it was the best vacation ever. Kylan made our time enjoyable even that much more. Both appa and umma were very nervous about the plane ride but Kylan did extremely well. Here are 5 things to do on the island of Hawaii (Kim family version which omits some other things that are not so condusive for babies):

1. Go see the volcano

2. Hang out at Hapuna Beach

3. Take a scenic drive down the lush Hamaukua Coast

4. Relax at the Waikaloa resort (Our resort was super nice. Appa has traveled to many different places but it was probably the best resort ever.)

5. Go to a luau dressed in a brand spanking new Hawaiian shirt

Of course, we can't forget to commemorate Kylan's first plane ride!

Next trip is to Japan in July!

Growing, Growing, and Growing??? Hmmm

2009-04-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

We had Kylan's 15 month check-up today. Since he has been feeling so much heavier and he has been outgrowing his clothes, we were expecting huge growth, especially in the weight department.

When he got measured today, the results were somewhat surprising. He is now in the 47th percentile up from the 15th percentile in height. Woohoo, almost the average height for boys his age!

As for his weight, he moved up a whopping 3 percentile to the 8th percentile. Hmm...I could have bet so much money that he gained more than a little over 2 pounds. As those of you who have witnessed it firsthand can attest to, it is really mind-boggling as to how a boy who eats all day and will consume adult size portions will not gain more weight. Yes, it is true that he is extremely active and has a really effective and fast metabolism. But seriously!

It didn't occur to me until today why the examination room at the doctor's office has these bars across the windows. I always wondered why they would have these unsightly bars that made the room look like a cage. I got so used to looking out the windows of the 25th floor when I was working that it felt so weird to me every time I saw the bars. Here he is waiting for the doctor after his weigh-in. I definitely had an "aha" moment. Don't want him falling out of the 5th floor window...

(For some reason, he does look really skinny in this picture. His belly is usually sticking out.)

Y2 Q1 done

2009-04-26T23:18:00.000-07:00

Year 2 Quarter 1 is now complete. Kylan is going to the doctor's office this Thursday for a check up. We will post his new measures after the visit. Our guess is that he has gained a lot of weight but we have thought that and been wrong before. Kylan is very active and healthy. He imitates many things and he has his favorite things like "baaa-luns" (ballons), "bish" (we don't know why but this means stuffed animal on top of his bookcase), "buk" (book), and "bol" (ball). Appa has been very busy traveling back and forth to Wall Street but we have been making the time to go to the park on every Saturday to have a picnic. Here is Kylan playing at the park.
The leg just doesn''t get over the edge right now. I think it will be 3 more weeks before it gets over and he will be able to get on top by himself.We are off to Hawaii in 2 weeks. We will post more pictures soon.

Mr. Kylan Kim goes to central California

2009-04-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

Kylan celebrated grandma's 60th birthday by going on a weekend trip with the entire Kim clan. Kylan went to Pismo Beach area and had a wonderful day at the beach, park, and winery. It was super fun to spend a weekend with grandma and grandpa.

This picture was taken at a small park in Santa Barbara off the 101 highway at exit 91. It was right on the beach and there was a beautiful picnic area over looking the beach. We had lunch there on Saturday (full Korean food spread) before driving back home. After we came home, the next day was Easter Sunday. We went to church picnic after service. Kylan had fun with Easter egg hunt. (Look at last April posting for a comparison of Kylan's egg hunt.) Both mom and dad were impressed that Kylan carried around a basket and put eggs into the basket.
And finally, we thought we should share one of Kylan's special moments.

Beethoven, Books, and Bubbles!

2009-04-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

When grandma comes over, Kylan loves to play the piano with her. He pounds on the keys as grandma plays a song for him. We call him our little Beethoven. This makes him so happy.

Kylan's new thing has been books. He loves to "read" them and flips through the pages over and over again. He asks for his "boo"s. Here he is with one of his favorites, "Hop on Pop".

We went to the Bubblefest at the Discovery Center today with Audrey and Isabella. The show was amazing; there were all sorts of bubbles. You really have to experience it to believe it - from the lifesize bubbles to Fan Yang's iridescent Las Vegas style shirt. Kylan had so much fun. He sat through the entire show and was clapping and dancing along with the music. He was completely mesmerized.
That's a huge bubble on the table.Look at the bubbles that landed on his face.

14 Months and Counting

2009-03-26T00:04:00.001-07:00

Kylan has been moving nonstop these days. From the moment he gets up, he is up and moving. This also means that he's been getting into a lot more things, too. We often see the entire contents of drawers on the floor and things that go missing from Kylan dragging it all over the house.

On the other hand, we realized that Kylan is understanding what we say a lot more now. When we ask him specific questions, he responds in his own way. For example, when we remind him to drink his milk during a meal, he'll reach for his cup and take a swig. He'll start to clean his toys when we ask him to, but only until he gets distracted.

He's talking a lot now. He says about 20-25 words and is babbling all day long. Although we don't fully understand him, he often looks right at us when he talks and acts like we should totally understand him. He is also doing the motions/dance to several songs and dances and claps when he hears music.

The funniest thing he's been doing the past couple of months is when we ask him if he needs a diaper change, he'll go lay down on the floor. But he lays down on his belly instead of his back. I guess he wants us to have a little bit of challenge turning him over. We're just happy we don't have to tackle him to the floor. :)

He loves to play outside. He has playdates at the park with his friends. Here he is on the way to the park with his friends.
Kylan's favorite activity at the park - stealing his friends' snacks

He also experienced a first in his childhood...Chuck E. Cheese. Kylan was invited to a party there and he was so excited as soon as he stepped foot into the place.

A souvenir sketch picture. Yes - umma tried to hide, but to no avail.
Eating with Auntie Sun- a.k.a. Samonim. :) He had so much fun with her roaming around the entire place!

Gymboree Fun!!!

2009-03-20T10:44:00.001-07:00

Kylan has been having gobs of fun at Gymboree. He doesn't stop moving from the moment he steps foot onto the playarea. In the past he didn't really pay attention to the instructors all that much, but is able to sit and wait for Gymbo the Clown to come out now. But most of all, he has made some great friends there!

This is quentisential Kylan at Gymboree...

You see that adorable kid with Kylan? He's the son of an amazing photographer, Drew. And yes, she took these pictures! She actually started a new blog (www.momtog.com) for moms who love to take pictures of their kids, whether they are professional photographers or not. Since Kyle is the photographer of the family, he's been getting great tips from Drew's blog as well. Drew said that dads are welcome on the site, too! By the way, Drew and her husband are UCLA alums as well. Wouldn't it be cool to see the 2 boys go to UCLA together?

Mr. Kylan Kim goes to San Francisco

2009-03-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Appa had a business meeting in SF on 3/6 so the family packed up and drove to the Romantic city on late afternoon Thursday. It took 7 hours to get to SF. Kathy and I were worried that Kylan would struggle with such a long ride in the car but Kylan did very well. Here is Kylan in the car seat picture taken at a pit stop.
Kylan and umma had fun in the city while appa was at work. Kylan walked around Union Square which was down the hill from our hotel.
Of course, SF is famous for its hilly roads. Our hotel was at the very top of California Street in Nob Hill. It was also two uphill blocks away from Chinatown. After dinner in Chinatown, Kylan manned up to walk up the hill. This hill was so steep that Kylan couldn't balance himself at first. He didn't know that he had to lean forward on a slope so he kept falling backwards. He eventually figured it out. Even the gentleman passing by was impressed by Kylan's feat...look how happy Kylan is!
We went across the most famous SF landmark - Golden Gate Bridge to take in the city's night view
Kylan was so impressed by the cable cars in SF. He could not take his eyes off them - not even for a picture.
On Saturday, Kylan hung out with his uncle who lives in the city. He took us to a park where we got a beautiful view of the bay and the bridge. It was super fun! (although by this time, Kylan was tired, hungry, and cranky.)
We drove back to LA at 8 PM on Saturday night and got home at 1:20 AM Sunday. Kylan slept he whole way down and umma and appa appreciate that very much. Next trip is to Hawaii in May! (7 hour drive was a nice dry run of the 5 hour plane ride we hope)

1 year + 1 month

2009-02-26T23:11:00.000-08:00

Kylan is now walking. He took his first steps back in December but he didn't start walking until about 2 weeks ago. It took him 5+ months from the time he started pulling himself up to a standing position. Our doctor told us that this long stretch is a window to his personality in the future. Both Kathy and I agree that this showed that Kylan is a cautious person. We will see how this all turns out. Meanwhile, please check out a video of Kylan walking all around the house (holding fairly heavy and large object nonetheless)

Walking is not the only thing he is doing. We thought that he was growing fast until he turned 1 but he has kicked it up another gear since his birthday. He now says about 15 words such as "dha" when he needs a diaper change, "Apuh" when he is hurt, and "nana" when he wants a banana. He voluntarily puts his hands together when its time to pray. He knows where appa's belly button is. He uses forks and spoons when he eats. He hands motions and says "hah" (hi), "bah" (bye), and "o~" (kiss). It is like he is already a grown boy. There are too many things to list.

Here is a picture of the family on umma's birthday just a few days ago. You can compare with a blog entry from last February and see how much Kylan has grown.
We got an annual pass to Disneyland as a Christmas gift and we have been taking Kylan there....a lot! For some reason appa cannot do well in this game...
In front of the merry-go-round
Other shots of Kylan being active
He can get on the horse by himself now and rock it!
See you again soon!

Happy Birthday Kylan!

2009-01-26T20:48:00.000-08:00

Kylan is now 1 year old. What a blessing! Kylan has brought so much joy and happiness to the Kim family. It seems like it was yesterday when Kylan was the size of my two hands and he could barely open his eyes. The year flew by and he now lets you know what he wants, dances, and turns mommy's tupperware cabinet inside out, etc... We are so happy to spend everyday with Kylan. To celebrate the first year of Kylan's life, daddy made a little video.

We went to the doctor's office today for the 1 year check up. It turns out that Kylan has gotten smaller in relation to his peers. But the doctor said active babies who eat a lot gain muscle weight (not fat) later in their lives. Those words were little comforting yet we wonder how a baby who eats SO much be so small? Where does it all go?

Here are pictures he took a week ago for his "dol" (first birthday). If you compare these shots to his studio shots from August, you will notice how much he has grown.

We will post some pictures from his birthday party in a few days when we get them. See you soon!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T20:20:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! We wish that 2009 will be a blessed year for you.

1 year minus 1 month

2008-12-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Christmas Kylan had yesterday! Kylan celebrated his first Christmas in style with family and had lots of food and fun. Here is a picture taken today of Kylan in front of one of his favorite Christmas gift - a chair (thank you, Ashley nuna's family emo for the gift)On Christmas Eve, Kylan started to stand up on his own without any help. I think the days of him walking around the house are very near.

Here is a picture of the Christmas dinner with the Kim clan.

Kylan's first meeting with Santa Claus didn't go so well. He must be wondering who that man with white stuff on his face is...Here is a picture that shows the essence of Kylan Kim - shoving food in his mouth, holding dearly to the cup that holds his snack and one sock taken off for extra comfort around the house

Finally, a picture caption contest! Guess what Kylan is doing in this picture? Please leave a guess in the comment section. hint: we were very lucky to capture this on camera as he does this 2~3 times a day but it only lasts very short amount of time.

Next month, we will celebrate 1 year!

10 months!

2008-11-26T15:28:00.000-08:00

Kylan talks and talks and talks. We don't know what he is saying exactly but he is constantly talking. So far, we know that he says "umma" (mommy), "appa" (daddy), "mamma" (food), and "baba" (bye bye). He still doesn't know how to stand up on his own but as you can see from this video, he uses other objects to walk around while talking out loud. No matter what, he never forgets to have fun.

Kylan's signature: wide open mouth smile

Kylan as Mr. Cool (the picture only shows two teeth but he now has 4 on top and 3 on bottom)

Here are three things about Kylan at Gymboree (his school): 1. He never stops moving 2. He pays the least amount of attention 3. He flirts with the teacher (teacher's pet). An evidence of Kylan being a baller:

Kylan can now climb up and down from "things". He has climbed to the second floor of the house and climbed down. Here is Kylan being caught playing on our sofa.

Halloween pictures

2008-11-04T00:16:00.000-08:00

For Kylan's first Halloween, we went to downtown Brea to attend a festival. Kylan was just overwhelmed with the enormous crowd and it wasn't clear if he was having any fun. But we enjoyed dressing Kylan up in a costume and, as usual, he was the one attracting the crowd at times.

Kylan also went to a studio with his cousins Ashley and Wesley before Halloween to take some pics as well.

9 Months Old!

2008-10-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

Kylan continues to grow very well. He is a very lovable boy. He smiles and laughs a lot. He is now crawling the traditional way, but when he wants to go fast or drag something around the house, he gets back down on his arms military style. He has become quite the daredevil climbing the stairs and pushing the screen door. Mom and dad are still trying to figure out how to babyproof the tricky stairs, but for the meantime, he has been responding to "stop", so there haven't been too many mishaps. He is pulling up on anything he can get to and cruises quite proficiently from place to place, especially to grab his favorite toys, aka the remote control and dad's cell phone. The babbling has also increased, but we have to say his activity level and appetite still rank at the top.

Here is him eating lunch today. He ate finger foods (broccoli, carrots, and pasta) which explains the mess.

Here's all the fun he had during this past month.
Kylan playing with his cousin Wesley.
Kylan with Audrey nuna at her birthday party. Kylan got on a car wearing a cowboy scarf!
Kylan went to the mall and got on a carousal for the first time. He held on to the horse the entire time.
He also went to a pumpkin patch and rode a train and got on a hay ride for the first time, too! It was fun to hang out with Audrey and Isabella.Kylan has been having playdates. Here are a couple of his buddies who came over to the house to play.
There have been some changes made to the nursery since he became mobile and can pull himself up. Obviously, we had to lower the mattress, but also removed the crib bumper since he kept stepping on and squishing it. Although some people say it's a suffocation hazard and recommend not having one at all, we found a good reason why a crib should have a bumper during his nap one day.
See you again soon!

8 months! Kylan says "umma" and "appa"

2008-09-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

The 8th month of Kylan's life has been a triumphant one. Since the last posting, Kylan has learned to sit up by himself, stand up by himself (with some help from the furniture), grab food by himself, and, most amazingly and breathtakingly, started saying "umma" (mama) and "appa" (dada). At first, we just thought that he was making random sounds but he has done it consistently enough to convince us. He looks straight at us and call us by name!

Kylan is still sleeping well (12+ hours every night), eating well ("wow!" is all we can say), and developing a real personality. Overall, he is a very happy and well behaved baby.

Please see this video that we took today.

Here is Kylan with Grandmas
Here is Kylan standing up
Kylan self feeding
Kylan playing with bath toys
Kylan at his first Angels game
Kylan is "our cutie pie" as mommy would say

7 Month Mark!

2008-08-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Kylan is 7 months old today! Although we are with him everyday, we get surprised at how fast Kylan is growing and are always thankful that he is so healthy. His appetite has been increasing and still opens his mouth wide when he eats. We also picked up on his cue of sniffing/sniffling when he wants more food.

He still prefers to stand rather than to sit and continues to love to jump and dance. Singing is still the favored soothing method and has a couple of favorite songs that makes him smile every time he hears it.

Kylan is attending Gymboree Play & Music classes. He graduated from level 1 and is now in level 2. Here he is at his class today. (Look at those teeth!)
He has been rolling over for the past several months and has perfected his army/military crawl. He has been lifting his belly when he is on all fours this past week, but can't say that he's been mobile in that position. We can't seem to get a good video of him crawling, so here's our attempt from today.

Our family also went on a quick overnight trip to San Diego last week. He experienced the ocean and the beach for the first time.
Chillin in his tent
Stealing mom's Doritos
Made and tried to eat a mud pie. Luckily, most of it ended up on his face and was not ingested.
At Torrey Pines
At Balboa Park

Kylan's New Cousin

2008-08-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

Kylan has a new cousin! His name is Wesley Ryoo and was born on August 19, 2008 (on his exact due date) and was born 6 lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long. He is one of the sweetest babies we have ever seen. Since the boys are a bit less than 7 months apart, we are anticipating all the fun and trouble they will be getting into together.

Here they are in their first picture together. You can't tell in this picture, but every time Kylan saw Wesley, he just smiled the whole time. I guess even Kylan knows that Wes is sweet.

Had to share

2008-08-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

Kylan recently took some studio shots and we want to share them with you. He performed like Zoolander.

Half way to 1 year!

2008-07-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

Kylan turned 6 months old today. We can't believe that he is already halfway to being a one year old boy. Kylan is a very healthy and happy baby. Here are picture from today to celebrate his turning 6 months old.

If you see this picture closely, you can see Kylan's tooth.What is he looking at? The Angels beating the Orioles 11-6.Mouth open wide for Kylan's favorite activity - eating.

Kylan is 5 months old!

2008-06-26T23:08:00.000-07:00

It seems like it was yesterday when we welcomed Kylan into the world. We can't believe that he is already 5 months old. We are so blessed to have such a cute and well behaved baby. Kylan is teething already. At times we feel that he is growing up too fast.

Here is what he looks like today (taken right before he went to sleep).

Some recent pictures with fun expressions
Here is a picture taken at daddy's graduation (very important to daddy)
At the Father's day picnic with mommy

One great week

2008-06-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

Again, Kylan is growing up fast! This week, he added two more tricks to his repertoire.

First and very importantly, he learned how to sleep through the night. It just happened without any promise. On Sunday night (6/15/08), he just decided to sleep without waking up and he has done it every night since! You have no idea how appreciative Kylan's mommy and daddy are of this trick. Said mommy on Monday morning "oh my gosh, what happened last night? I can't remember the last time I got woken up in the morning by the sound of my alarm clock." Here is a picture of him sleeping to commemorate this achievement.
In addition, starting this Wednesday (6/18), Kylan started to flip over at will and does it very well. We captured his trickery on a video. Enjoy!

Kylan's big achievement

2008-06-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

Kylan is adding a new trick everyday. On June 1st, Kylan had "solid" food for the first time. It was actually not solid at all. It was rice porridge mixed with milk - both made by mom. Let's just say that it was the first time something other than mom's natural milk went into Kylan's stomach (other than those 9 or 10 times we had to give him formula milk). What surprised us was how much and how fast he liked it. We were just amazed by his big appetite.

"My very first bite"

"I like it!"

"More mam-ma please~."

"So yummy" (Watch it in Youtube)

Kylan is now 4 months old

2008-05-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

Kylan is already four months old. Here is what he looks like today.
Guess which is Kylan today?
Here are some pictures he has taken with his cousins over the past 4 months.

Audrey nuna and Tyler (we need to take some new ones)

Ashley nuna

Charlene who is 3 weeks younger than Kylan

We will see you again in few weeks!

Kylan is 100 days old!

2008-05-05T21:46:00.001-07:00

Much to God's blessings, Kylan turned 100 days old today. He is a very healthy and happy baby. He is growing by leaps and bounds everyday.

We celebrated Kylan's "bak-il" (Koreans celebrate 100th day) with 23 family members on 5/3 (2 days early). It was a great day to celebrate the joy Kylan has brought to our family. Here are some pictures from the party.

Kylan's Eemo (mommy's sister) took Kylan to a studio for some professional shots. (Thank you Eemo!)

Kathy and I could not have asked for a more precious son. He is very special to us.

Kylan playing

2008-04-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

Look at Kylan play! He has a bit more neck control now, so he can play with some fun toys.

Here he is after a 2 hour nap.

Kylan is two months old!

2008-03-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

Time sure flies when you are having fun! Kylan is already two months old as of today. This is how he looks like today (taken at 9 pm right before he went to sleep).
Here are some other very recent pictures.
Here is a picture from the Easter egg hunt. I think the eggs found Kylan, not the other way around.
Oh, by the way, Kylan got baptised on March 16. He slept through the entire baptism ceremony.
Kylan is sleeping very well at night (being very kind to his parents) and eating like a man. We are truly blessed to have Kylan.

Kylan is now 1 month old

2008-03-02T22:02:00.001-08:00

Daddy forgot to celebrate Kylan's 1 month on the blog this past Tuesday because he was busy with school and work. Although we are a few days late, we want to show you how much Kylan has grown in a month. Here are many faces of KSK.

Smiling Kylan (Just started to smile about a week ago)But those moments are rare because most of the times he is just sleeping

Kylan wakes up for milk every 3 hours or so and when he is hungry he is like this
But sometimes, he just chills because he is a cool dude.
Besides eating, Kylan feels satisfied after a bath.
We will meet you again soon.

Kylan was born on 1/26/08!

2008-01-28T22:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the hospital.

It was a very tough delivery (35+ hours from what we counted but officially 16 hours and 2 hours of hard non-stop pushing). But right after Kylan was born we forgot all about it and had a huge smile on our faces.

Kylan's sleeping face.

Kylan and mommy all dressed up to come home.

Kylan bear!

We would like to thank the Lord for a healthy baby boy.

Kylan's nursery is complete

2008-01-21T15:50:00.001-08:00

Kylan's room is finally complete. A lot of shopping and much elbow grease were put into the room.

Paint the room in two different colors (2 coats): 6 hours
Paint the moldings (crown and chair): 2.5 hours
Put up the moldings: 4 hours
Complete patch, caulk, and repaint: 3 hours
Put up the window treatment: 1 hour
Decorate the room with Pottery Barn Railway Express collection: 2 hours and mucho $$$

The feeling of finishing our baby boy's room a month before he is born: PRICELESS!

Pregnancy Update

2007-12-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

Pregnancy Update
· Countdown: 51 days to go!
· Kylan’s favorite position: foot in mom’s right ribs
· Kylan’s newest feat: hiccups
· Kylan’s favorite food (based on movement): Cheerios and milk
· Mom’s weight gain: 11 lbs
· Mom’s favorite food: dumplings
· Mom’s current conditions: gestational diabetes and anemia :(

Mom’s current cravings (but can’t have until the baby is born because of gestational diabetes):
· Sprinkles’ Red Velvet cupcake
· Ice cream cake
· Pinkberry yogurt
· Banana split/ice cream sundae/milkshake
· Diet Coke
· Coffee drinks (especially the sweet variety)
· Cake (preferably Junior’s Brown Derby or Sweet Lady Jane’s Triple Berry)
· Chocolate fondue
· Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory’s caramel apple (Avalanche and/or Cheesecake)
· French Fries
· Ketchup
· Sushi (not so much the fish, but more the rice)
· Korean rice cakes (all varieties)
· Noodles (kalgooksoo and jjajjangmyun)
· Fried rice
· Popcorn

Wow, I didn’t realize it was such a long list. It sounds like I’m complaining, but we really do count our blessings every day. We can’t wait until we finally meet Kylan next month!

Hmmm, I wonder...

2007-11-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

As we approach the due date, we have been wondering if Kylan will look more like dad or mom. Here are dad and mom when they were 100 days old.

Dad

Mom

One thing is for sure, he will most likely have the same hair style that both dad and mom had when they were babies!

Kylan's first pictures

2007-10-31T01:02:00.000-07:00

Kylan at 20 weeks old. You can already tell Kylan is a good looking boy.
I know that it's hard to tell but this picture proves that it's a boy. I will let you figure it out.

the DAD!

2007-10-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

Works for a bank
Speaks 3.25 languages
Was wearing braces when he met his wife (she was wearing braces too!)
Lived in 5 countries
Loves to golf and run
Installs crown moldings for fun
Oldest child
Loves God!

a little about the MOM

2007-10-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Educator
Middle child
Only drove SUVs (never wants a minivan)
Wore glasses since the age of 5
Bruin
Fan of KitchenAid and Le Creuset
Computer is toy of choice- knows how to hack systems...
Has worked only for LAUSD