In a world like this

My 9 month old baby stood up unassisted the other morning. He enthusiastically took a few wobbly steps towards the momma. It was pretty damn cute & amazing. (:

Noah is now 28 inches tall & weighs 17.8 lbs. We've come a long way from the mere 4lbs he weighed on 11/23/12. I can't believe my tiny mini ninja will be turning 1 soon. Where did the time go?

This past weekend was long & semi-exhausting. Saturday was filled with tears, baby vomit, laundry, sleep deprivation, worries, 24/7 nurse line, spousal spats & sighs of relief. Sunday was filled with errands, groceries, more laundry & Grandparents' Day dinner al la Korean-style. Yeah, Sunday won in the "better day" ranking.

Sunday night & Monday morning was one of those insomnia-filled moments. My tired eyes were still wide awake after an early morning feeding. Rather than force sleep, Iregrettably stayed up to read Huffington Post articles via Twitter & viewed fellow WTE mamas & babies via IG & started writing this blog post. Silly me.

I've had home projects on the brain lately. Minor things, such as changing the bathroom's shower curtain, adjusting shelves, emptying & unpacking remaining boxes, organizing CDs, organizing paperwork, moving furniture around, finish baby proofing, installing convertible carseat, test driving more vehicles, searching for more vehicles to test drive, installing funky cabinet & drawer contact paper, cleaning produce bin & adding the liner, never ending pile of dishes & laundry, hanging photos, filling out Noah's baby book, backing up videos & photos to external hard drive, connecting Apple TV, figuring out how to connect the Wii to this new TV, steam mopping entire house, vacuum area rug, bringing stuff from my parents' house to my house (I.e., boxes of Halloween decorations, clothes, books, baby furniture, plant pots, Shark sweeper vac, bringing baby pool to store in parents' garage/shed... The list could go on & on & on... Every weekend, I remind myself that these "projects" will never all be done over one weekend. Every weekend, I find myself utterly disappointed at how many items were NOT crossed off my list. However, these moments with Noah as a baby are few & precious. I would hate to miss out on a first moment because I was too busy tackling some lame domestic chore. 

On that note, we have manage to hang 50% of our framed photos/art pieces. Lane has agreed that our hall entry wall will be a wall of funky frames & photos. I also have these random wall decals on Target & Bed Bath & Beyond wish lists, which make Lane cringe. As I've mentioned in past posts, our taste in decor is so very different. Recently, we checked out to this consignment shop (Design & Consign in the Hilton Village area - so fabulous!) & he pointed out these vintage farm-styled chairs. Uggggly! He thought they were so "cool". I thought he was joking. I did, however, purchase a jungle green nightstand, adorned with bamboo, for Noah's room & a old beat up military trunk with writing & stickers from around the world. He picked out the trunk. Although, I would have preferred the slightly more expensive & smaller trunk. Ours did come with a set of keys & I joked about the million dollar treasure hiding inside. Much to our disappointment, the trunk contained absolutely nothing. 

September 9th was my not-so-little cousin's birthday. Is it weird that I sent him flowers? This 1-800-flowers arrangement had an autumn bouquet in a giant martini glass. I figured he could use the giant cocktail glass to impress a chick with his bartending skills.

Today is September 11th. I still remember sitting at a red light in Kissimmee, about to jump on the 417 & head into work. I had begrudgingly just started my 1st semester in college & was done with classes for the day. My parents were still living in Florida & my uncle was working at the Pentagon. I remember my parents' calling my old school silver Nokia cell phone & telling me to come home instead of going into work. My mom & aunt were on the phone the entire day, worried about my uncle. Communication was spotty & traffic was apparently horrendous. My uncle made it home later that evening & my worried sick aunt + rest of the family was relieved & grateful. Even though it has been 12 years, 9/11 seems to impact fellow Americans significantly. 

I hope Noah's lifetime is NOT filled with war or acts of terrorism. I worry daily about the state of our world & how I can protect my sweet, innocent baby from all the ugliness. I know I cannot shelter him 100%, but I wold imagine most mothers want to ensure a life filled with happiness & safety for their child. We live in scary times. :(

As the love of my life naps peacefully in my arms, I can only wonder what thoughts or dreams are running through his sweet little head. I could stare at his beautiful face forever. Until next time - XoXo - HMBC