Ellie's first photography session

We had an amazing opportunity recently to have a photograph session with our friends and professional photographers Drew and Laura Castle (see their blog at http://www.castlephotographie.com/). It was good for several reasons:

1. They were laidback, allowing us to be natural (see above photo).

2. They were creative, seeing shot opportunities I never would have considered.

3. They brought Roxie, the only person who was able to make Ellie smile during these photos :)

4. Most of their shots came from candid situations as we were just spending time together.

5. Our current camera's screen is being slowly taken over by an alien blob that prevents looking at the pictures (I'd take a picture of it, but that'd be harder than licking my own elbow).

That said, I think this is certainly a blog post where the pictures speak for themselves, so I'll be quiet now.

Some quick pictures

Just some quick pictures of the little one on this post :)

After three months of training us as parents, Changmonim headed westward to fulfill her next task of caring for Jusu's newborn.

Ellie, showing off the fact that she receives more mail than her parents do :)

And we'll close with my favorite daily view of Ellie, when I hold her until she sleeps.

100 Days

Because the child mortality rate was so high in Korea until recently, there was a large celebration around the baby's 100-day mark (백일). From what I understand, friends would gather, and the baby's parents would cook rice cakes to pass around to friends and family in the community. If they could distribute 100 of them, then the baby would be guaranteed to have long life.

We did not do the cakes, but JooYeon did bake some blueberry muffins for the occasion.

In the week leading up to the 100-day mark...

A brief visit from my friend Mike, also in the math ed program.

Ellie talking with Grandma on her 100th day.

And, here we go. This is not a bad picture... unfortunately, it was an unrealistic snapshot of the event.

Here's what really happened.

We reassured her that our family was in no way royalty who practiced proper etiquette.

Eventually, after making her point clear that she was NOT meant to be a princess, she calmed down.

Growing girl

Ellie was gracious enough to take a break from her evening novel (above) for another picture. In fact, she's been quite gracious all around, letting us drag her here and there.

For example, she braved the mosquitoes to have a barbecue out at Strouds Run.

It was a rather ironic moment. As we pulled into the parking lot near one of the shelter houses, Joo said, "Hey, isn't that Randy Longenecker?" And it was... just a few feet away!

I've heard that one of the saddest parts of having a little baby is when you realize that a favorite outfit has been outgrown. Over the past few weeks, Ellie has matured past the purple button-up elephant shirt (that carried us past the first couple weeks when we couldn't figure out how to get her head through the neckhole of a tight shirt), a cute pink shirt, and now the frog zip-up (below).

Luckily, her best accessories still have some room to go.

Mom and Dad came down for their weekly visit - Dad got his first shot at the front carrier and Ellie loved it; perhaps even more than his trademark interviews (although it's a toss-up).

Daddy Dan is ready to jump into another semester of classes starting on Monday. Especially after crossing 21 items off of his to do list today. 22 now that the blog is done :)