Rubber ducky, you're the one

My last semester of coursework in the PhD program before I begin my dissertation... any blog time translates directly into "not with Ellie" time, so I'll keep this quick!

At nine months old now, she's got three teeth, is eating real solids (not just mashed ones), and just started to crawl this week.

She's still amenable to taking places like coffee shops and restaurants, although I'm not sure how the crawling will affect things. She rarely cries in public; the only thing that gives us reason to pause is her Da Da Crescendo that our table neighbors can interpret as annoying or cute depending on who they are.

Of course, speaking of annoying, poor Ellie has to endure my singing in increasing portions...

Grandma and Grandpa have maintained their frequent visits...

 including morning massages...

and makeup sessions... (it's really prunes)

"Why don't you eat your own vegetables, Dad?"

Grandma has given JooYeon ideas for alternative bathtimes.

Ellie loves her ladybug star nightlight and sleeps with it every night.

Ellie's friend Shi-yu had her first birthday recently and invited us to celebrate.

A special treat for Ellie, Mommy, Daddy, (and hopefully Grandma and Grandpa) was a several day trip up north for a few days while Daddy tried to catch up on work around midterms week.

Our house has now doubled in size (JooYeon's sister Jusu and her two little ones are with us for awhile); more on that in the next entry.

Oh happy days!

I'll let Ellie's facial expressions do the speaking for this blog post.

A walk with Mrs. Claus. Before...

and after.

Our washer broke down, our microwave exploded, and our kitchen drainpipes got plugged up. Bad things come in threes (I hope).

Teething... a short burst of discomfort among the smiles.

Snowy cacti and talking chairs

In our last couple days in New Mexico, JooYeon and I said goodbye to the lovely cacti... they reminded us of our hikes in Arizona with Heather when JooYeon first came to the United States 5 years ago.

We also bid our farewells to the Sleeping Lady of Alamogordo who rests just outside of Heather and Bob's back porch.

 
Ellie was getting the hang of travelling and even started expanding her social circles.

Heather, despite being ready to deliver at any point, showered Ellie with lots of love, as did Ellie's grandma.

Ellie, enjoying her morning spa and massage treatment...

On our final day in New Mexico, we had the treat of seeing something I had never seen before: snow on a cactus.

It was a refreshing break, the calm before "the storm" of my final semester of doctoral coursework. I've been particularly anxious about this one. Not so much because of the coursework - on the contrary, most of this semester (both as a student and the classes I teach) will be related to applied statistics, which I'm quite excited about. It's more the anxiety in the wake of committing to a dissertation topic. I guess I deserve it though - for some reason, I never doubted, second-guessed, or had cold feet about getting married to JooYeon, so I'd be missing out on a major life experience if I didn't have cold feet about my dissertation. Thankfully, I have a topic that I'm starting to feel pretty decent about and a chair who takes the time to truly listen, discuss, and offer feedback on all of my ideas (a dissertation chair, that is. I have to clarify these things because JooYeon has this persistent fear that all "math people" go crazy).