5 months old and already grown up

So, our little tyke is five months old now and already we are amazed with her growth. She's getting bigger, insists on tryingto stand all the time, and now she has developed a want for 'adult food'

Whenever we eat around her, she mimes us eating and ends up salivating all over the place.

Ah, the joys of parenthood.

(ah, Joo just asked me to add in the pic of her wearing a white hat - so here you all go - enjoy)

3 months in...

So, my little banana (and I use that term affectionately) is 3 months old today. For a while there it was tough going. I'm told that she's pretty good compared to some babies, but at times I was wondering how long the 2 hour sleeping and feeding ever 1 hour would last.

Apparently, it lasts till about 3 months because nowadays she's sleeping for 7 hours and feeding every 3.

It's the simple things that make a parent happy. lol

Also, I wanted to mention on here that my mom just came for a visit. She had a great time with Hannah (yeah, and us too), and I can't wait till she holds her again.

Which Superhero are you?

So, it seems I have more anger issues than I would have suspected. lol
These are my results:
You are Hulk

Hulk 75% Green Lantern 75% The Flash 70% Superman 60% Catwoman 60% Supergirl 55% Wonder Woman 55% Spider-Man 50% Batman 50% Iron Man 50% Robin 47%

You are a wanderer with amazing strength.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

3 weeks in and still alive.

Of course that is referring to the parents... I'm impressed we're doing so well. Joo is tried, and I'm a little sleepy, but overall we're doing pretty good.

I thought I'd take a few minutes to load up a couple of recent pictures.

Baby Hannah sleeping...

Baby Hannah hunting for food...
A proud, yet tired, Mommy...
Hannah on the hunt...
And finally, Hannah with a little bed-head.

And to top it all off, today is out 3 year anniversary! Wow, things are good.

Our Baby Girl!

So on Friday night, after a fairly normal week, Joo headed to bed around 10:30. As usual, I stayed up and surfed the net for a little while longer. I went to bed around 11:00 and after a few minutes Joo sprung out of bed.

"Emergency!" She yelled out as she ran to the bathroom.

I looked over and saw a wet spot on the bed and figured "meh" - pregnant women's bladders and all.

Then she said her water broke. I thought, "no way. That looks like only 50 ml worth." But within minutes the pipes were a gushin'.

We got to the hospital way before midnight and she called her parents to meet us.

Then the waiting game began.

Joo did really well hiding the pain. I'd say out of the 12 hours of labour, only half of it looked really bad. I'm guessing though she was just bearing it and the grimace on the picture below kind of proves that..

This picture is when the pain started I suppose.

So, around 10:30am is when the action started. In Korea, the hospitals are similar in practice to what you might have seen in America 50 years ago - as soon as the gore starts, they kick the husband out.

I waited with her parents in the waiting room for a bit and then a nurse busted in and told me to "suit up" (um, I'm not going to mention the fact that they never once told me to wash/sanitize) /shrug

I was able to get into the delivery room to see the last few pushes (and Joo's tremendous effort), and to see our baby being born.

It's quite a surreal feeling. I really with I could describe it better, but I think that that is the perfect word for it.

So, at 11:32am on June 9th, Hannah Ha-Eun Foychuk was brought into this world in Seoul, Korea weighing 3.25kg (7.15 lbs). She's the biggest baby in the ward... and the "Whitest". lol

Good luck little girl. The world is a tough place, but know that you're loved!

Edited to add a few more pictures: One week old.

Hong Kong and Macao

Well, this is it. Our final vacation before the baby comes. The little tyke is due in June and I have a feeling our jet-setting days are going to be on hold for a little while. With that in mind, we decided to head on a fast 5 day trip to...

HONG KONG:

We stayed on Hong Kong island at a fairly reasonable hotel (about $120 US per night). It was easy to get around and I was enamored with the "Tram" system (electric steet cars). You can see in the pic below that the streets are well maintained and that, at least on the main strips, order is followed (sometimes in short supply in Asia).

You can also take the very cool (and very cheap) Star Ferry between HK Island and Kowloon. It gives a real feeling of what things would have been like before all the metro tunnels.

People talk a lot about how great HK is for shopping. Honestly, before I went, I really didn't believe them. I thought that it was probably only good for people who love the high-end brand-name type of stuff. Boy was I wrong. HK is not a perfect city, but the two things it does have going for it are shopping and food. We ended up getting all our baby needs (crib, high chair, clothes, etc..) for around $200. It would have been more than double that in Korea!

Ok, so now on to the food. I absolutely loved it there! Sure, a lot of restaurants don't have english on the menu, but when the food is this good and cheap, who needs english? I loved the smells and taste of the HK Chinese food. It's much different than the stuff in the North - not near as greasy.

One thing that kind of threw me was... what I found in a local supermarket. Whenever we go oveseas, Joo and I always love to check out the markets and bring home cool suaces and such. This time though, something jumped up at me.

Frogs! That's right, these little toady fellows were up for sale. So, what did I do?? ...

Yup, you guessed it, I ate 'em!

And what HK trip would be complete without going up to "the peak" and looking out over the city... actually, it got cloudy, so instead I hung with my main man Bruce.

Macao:

We took a day trip over to Macao. It's only an hour away by speed boat so I figured I'd go and see what all the fuss was about.

"North Korean money" - "The new Las Vegas" - "amazing architecture"

They were only right on the last one.

Joo and I eneded up taking a city bus to Santos Square and hiking up to some old church (or what was left of it). Quite a cool building and some nice Portuguese influences. As well, right beside the church was an old fort. I always love seeing old forts and wondering how they might have held off an invasion.

This fort though looks like it is taking aim at modernization.


THE SUMARY:

The Good-

-shopping in HK and Macao for anything other than a car

-the food on both islands

-cheap McDonald's breakfasts

-transportation

The Bad

-Ocean Park (nothing close to Sea World)

-Comparing Macao to Las Vegas (not near as interesting)

-the weather might make things sticky

Why I don't live in Canada

Ok, it's been more than 5 years since I've lived in Canada, and sure I miss some people and the great selection of potato chips, but for the most part I am very happy with my move.

Most people in Canada cannot realy understand it. When I talk to them about how life in the rest of the world is fine, and that not everyone wants to move to Canada, I get blank stares. So many people in Canada are taught from an early age that Canada is the best (and most humble) nation on the planet. That everyone is just dying to get in.

well... I'm not. And here's why:


The average Canadian family earned $63,001 in 2006 and paid taxes equalling $28,311, almost 45 per cent of its income, while spending 35.6 per cent of its income on food, clothing and housing.

Holy fudge! And what is more interesting is this:

Since 1961, the total tax bill for the average Canadian family has
increased 1,590 per cent, according to the think-tank. Meanwhile, the cost of
housing has increased 1,019 per cent, the cost of food 487 per cent and the cost
of clothing 447 per cent, the Fraser Institute said.

“Over the past 45 years, taxes have become the single largest expenditure
in an average Canadian family’s budget, with the total tax bill for a typical
family increasing by 1,590 per cent since 1961,” Veldhuis said

Our little.... well, not a monster.

Some of these scans really scare me. Sure, I know that they are designed to help us figure out if the baby has 10 fingers and 10 toes, but man, have you seen these things?

The 3D Ultra-Sound peels back flesh and bone like it's butter. Sure sometimes it looks pretty cool to see your baby moving around, but one cm too deep and you're looking into or through the baby.

Anyway, I thought it was about time to post up another pic...

Lie- Joo was telling me it's time to post up another picture.

Our baby - 29 weeks in.

From movies to...

Well, if you've been reading this blog for awhile, you might remember me being in a couple of movies. I've been what is called an 'image character' in 4 of them so far (basically an extra with some lines). The pay is decent and I get to meet some interesting characters, so when the opportunity arrives (and my schedule is clear) I try to do them.

This is a little different though. I went for a comercial shoot a month or so back and it's running on TV. It's nothing major, but I thought you might want to look at it.

You can check it out HERE.

(Oh, and if anyone knows how to download from a video like that, post it here k)

A wallpaper for you...

I've been doing up a lot of paintings while Joo is away (and cleaning of course honey). I figured I'd post this one up here for any interested in having a new wallpaper.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/50986112/

300

Wow, I just watched this movie and I have to say ... Holy frickin' cow! This was visualy spectacular. The lighting and imagery were really impressive - especially on the IMAX screen.

I wasn't as comfortable with some of the "lessons" it seemed to be trying to teach though. Sure honor and loyalty to your country can be a good thing, but it just seemed a little too much for me .

This movie, minus the dialogue, would be perfect.

23 weeks in.

Well, we're over the half way point - and all is going fine. We've had more ultrasounds than I can shake a stick at, and all of them have come back good.

At this point we're seeing the 'bump' grow (and actually move from side to side on occasion).

Here's my Moonie looking oh so 'Moonful'