gleaming the boob

The end of an era is near and it may be an unwelcome moment for Jalen and Eumi. Eumi's milk production is slowing down and their breastfeeding days are coming to a close. After being a front row witness to this amazingly wonderful process, I know that I have a new understanding of life. Though it is probably one of nature's most primary and rudimentary acts, it may also very well be one of the hardest to begin. As if it weren't enough that the mother gives up her body to gestate her baby for so many months and endures hours of the utmost pain to deliver him/her, she continues to devote her body and soul to feed her child for as long as nature allows.
It's reasonable to think that a baby is born with the skill to feed from the breast or that the breasts should instantly be full of milk, but that's not the case. Breastfeeding is a process that must be learned and practiced for both the mother and child. On top of that, a mother's breasts don't produce milk until about 5-10 days after birth. Jalen needed to feed 12 times within each 24-hour period, with each session lasting 45-60 minutes. Fatigue, recovery pains and a hungry, crying baby (among other things) can help to create a senseless and insecure mother. To make a long story short (I could write a book on this), those were friggin' hard times and it really sucked. When the milk finally comes in and the baby is actually feeding, it's a feeling so great that it's like the baby is being born again.
I know that Eumi will be a little sad and she may not even be ready to give up breastfeeding yet. I know that Jalen, too, may feel a little desolate that the one thing that made sense to him since being brought into this world will no longer be there. I cannot even pretend to know what it will feel like for them to lose this intimate relationship. But I will also miss those moments because I've been able to experience those moments with them in my own way. I will carry this most bittersweet and beautiful image of Eumi and our child in my mind forever.

ready, set...

Coming soon! A mobile Jalen! Seen here is a never before revealed photo of Jalen test driving himself being on all fours. Well, he hasn't quite mastered the crawling part just yet but he can shimmy backward and forward pretty well. To be honest, I can't say that I'm a hundred percent looking forward to the crawling. He looks like he's so ready to wreak havoc.

mover and shaker

Jalen's life has been corrupted by an abundance of babysitters. A couple times a week he'll go to my parents' place. Once or twice a week, Eumi's parents have him. Once a week, Eumi usually gets to stay home with him. I'll take him every so often and every now and then, his aunt Eura joins the mix. Jalen's pretty lucky to have so many options. He's a real trooper about it too because he doesn't seem to mind being passed around this way. If I had to speak for him, I would say that he thinks it's all very interesting. Everyday is a new adventure.

the silky tag phenomenon

Of all the things that I've learned about babies, one really sticks out. One day I discovered that Jalen was totally absorbed in the silky little label that was attached to his toy. He had this plush little dog pinned down with the label sticking straight out. With the precision of a tailor threading a needle, he stroked the silky tag between his little fingers, over and over again. I'm more used to seeing Jalen hitting, pulling, gnawing and throwing his toys, so I was a little surprised by how absorbed and focused he was on such a peculiar detail. From that moment on, I noticed that Jalen had an affinity towards labels and tags of all sorts. Apparently, baby label fascination is a pretty well known fact. So much so that there is a company devoted to making baby products full of labels and tags sticking out all over them. Can you believe that? It's a good thing to know too, because I've got a box full of labels that I'm gonna glue to myself in case Jalen gets bored of me.

zestfully clean

As a reward for being such a good boy, we've decided to give Jalen more freedom during bath time. At this stage, he is super curious of everything around him and very easily distracted, even during feedings. His 3rd and 4th teeth have just broken through and hopefully he gets a nice long break before the next teething period. Though he's still very friendly and sociable, he definitely recognizes the people that are close to him. He's very playful and interactive so we can easily get him laughing like crazy. We never got used to letting him cry it out, so we've figured out our own bedtime routine and often rock him to sleep. Now I'm sure some people may be jeering at the fact that I rock him to sleep at night. But the rocking usually only takes a couple of minutes and honestly, he's now a pretty good sleeper. After spending months drowning in baby books and websites telling us how to raise our baby and what not to do, we've cleansed ourselves from most of the baby paranoia. From now on, we'll have to raise Jalen like animals, on instincts.

rear up

Jalen has reached his 6-month mark. First, I will state the obvious--I'm elated that Jalen is a big and healthy stud. But, not so obviously--I'm more amazed that Eumi and I have survived without killing each other. No one ever warned us how difficult it would be on our relationship. On top of that, learning to understand and deal with opinion differences on raising a child is stressful. And now that Jalen is priority, our relationship has taken a back seat. We're here trying to juggle taking care of a baby, our work schedule, keeping our household in order, friends and family on both sides. Where would we find time to groom our loving partnership? I guess you don't. I suppose if you have a strong enough foundation, then you could put it in hibernation-on-demand. But that's probably unrealistic because life has changed and there's no reverse. It is quite sad for me, thinking about our intimate little life before. Unfortunately, amorous sighs have been replaced with exhaustive snoring and lustful stares with take-care-of-the-baby looks. Ironically (and not surprisingly), though, our love is stronger than before. For me, maybe it's because I take great comfort in knowing that Jalen will grow up with the greatest mother he will ever know, or that it's only with my soul mate that we could have created such a great kid, or that sooner than later, hopefully, things will get down and dirty again.