quick christmas post

Here they are the cutest, happiest Christmas girls in Korea. We had a great day and the girls enjoyed all the lovely things brought over from loved ones at home. These dresses from Nana Rene and Grandad were a big hit - so incredibly cute.
Christmas cake - this is what Koreans do for Christmas - eat cake. We had to get one to be a part of the experience here but just when we had finished ours our neighbor (at least we think it was our neighbor) showed up at the door with an extra one from their party - so now we have 2 - well actually only 1 1/2 now. John and Netta tried to find the neighbors and offer some of our baked goodies in return but ended up knocking on someone else's door and so they got the goodies.
Netta - very happy about the Christmas Cake.
Paper dolls with Pauline. fun fun
John with Dino the amazing knitted dinosaur that Pauline brought for Olive.

It was a wonderful day. Thanks to all at home and I will try to post more details of our last couple of days soon.

Pauline is here!

Hi all - so as you can see here - Pauline arrived yesterday safe and sound. It is a joy to see her. I am up late posting and need to go to sleep so I will be brief. This is the girls on the subway as we headed out for a day at Seoul Tower. We have been wanting to go check out the view and figured Pauline's visit was a great chance. The weather didn't agree and it was overcast so the view was less than ideal. Oh well - we will have to go back - it was great anyway just being out and about and showing off Seoul.
Here is Olive pulling a face for the camera in Seoul Tower. She had part of her cast removed on Saturday - I have been meaning to post and let you all know. He took off the part that covered her knee so she can crawl and walk easier know. He also told us we can come back on Christmas eve and have the rest removed. Which is pretty thrilling as it is a bit earlier than we had thought and fun for Olive to have it off for the Christmas festivities with Pauline. She is wanting it off and wants to be walking and running again soon.
Sideways John and Olive.....
This is the cool elevator we took up to the cable car area. It was just an elevator on a hillside - neat huh?
This is a shot of the elevator track from the top.
Sideways Seoul Tower - I haven't figured out how to turn pictures here sorry.
John like to call these trees with coats. They put them on some trees here to keep them warm.
Happy folks.
Walking around in the observatory level of the tower.
A speed bump with a flower growing out of it...... not sure why. Ideas anyone?

That's it for now as it is 1 am and we are planning a big day out in downtown Seoul tomorrow. I'll try to blog again soon.

The Snowy Day

So today we awoke to a blanket of snow. Netta was jubilant and had us all suited up and out in no time. I wasn't going to take Olive out with the cast and all but she really wanted to go so we just bagged it up and out we went. Olive even ended up on the swing as you see here. The bare hands did not last long - the mittens went back on pretty quickly. I think the chain was cold.
Here is Netta all suited up and enjoying the snow.
The pristine swing before the butts.

The snow was really puffy and light - so beautiful and fun to brush off of things. I wish this photo was more in focus.

We all thought these little ledges were mighty cute covered in snow.
This is the view we saw from the staircase of our building.

Unfortunately it didn't last long - the day warmed up and despite there being more snow later in the day by the time it came along it melted right away in the puddles. Oh well. It was a fun morning.

Tomorrow we are off to the doctor to check in about Olive's progress.

Then Sunday Pauline arrives - we are unbearably excited about her visit. So lots of cleaning and getting ready is the plan for our weekend.

Doctor visit

So Olive went to see the doctor on Wed. and he checked her cast, did some more x-rays and said everything looks to be healing well and he wants to see her again in 10 days. I asked how long the cast might be on and he said around 4 weeks. He also said it is fine for Olive to try to walk on it with help or on her own. She has not really tried on her own but often asks for help and I am glad to know it is ok to go ahead and help her. She is mostly just dragging herself around on the floor and rolling to get around.

We also had our first real snow this week. It was fun for Netta she ran out to play in it. There was not much but some is still sticking around on rooftops.

So that is a brief check in and update. I will try to write more this weekend.

life goes on

As easy as it is to stay at home and avoid the extra carrying and lugging it takes to go out with the casted Olive we have been venturing out. We live on the 4th floor so we have 5 flights of stairs to carry her up and down every time we go out. I think it is more fun for her to be in the stroller checking out interesting things than staying at home staring at youtube and reading books. So off we go (especially on the weekend when John is available to help) - today we went to The National Museum of Korea. We posed for this photo opp where Obama had stood just a few weeks ago.
Here is Olive with the camera strap levitation device that we created. If her leg is not supported than the cast digs into her thigh in the back. She is wearing my sock to keep her toes warm as she can't wear a shoe on that foot. We put her own sock on her other foot but halfway through our outing today discovered that she had taken it off and dropped it. We were very glad that we had her stroller blanket to keep her tootsies covered on the way home. Don't want to get yelled at by the Korean grandmas when they see her bare toes and don't want her feet to get cold.
Here is a good shot of Olive with her new scarf. It has been tough to get her to wear a scarf - it seems really important to protect her little neck from the cold. I found this at a thrift store and realized that cutesy things like this actually help small children wear the warm things necessary here in the winter. Brilliant - Olive loves her puppy!

First full day with the cast

Hi so we made it through our first day of many to come with the casted leg. It was tricky figuring out how to set up her stroller so that it was comfortable for her. We ended up lifting it with an old camera strap. Pretty weird - but functional. It hurts her without support - it digs into her thigh where it ends.

I found out some clarification on the break - it is the tibia - so I suppose that means she broke her leg not her ankle. As John pointed out you can't really break an ankle as it is not a bone.

Olive spent the afternoon asking to walk with help - she is having a hard time sitting still so much. She tried dragging herself on the floor combat crawl style but that wasn't so fun. It worked better to walk while holding hands kind of like when she was learning to walk. She is very proud of herself when she can stand independently.

It is hard not to worry about her putting weight on it. I wonder if it will affect her healing. It is really hard to keep her off it though. Unless someone is sitting with her entertaining her which is hard when I am trying to cook, clean, do laundry -etc etc etc....

Maybe the lesson is to stop and just hang out with her - relax on the couch and read her books. If only life could stop for that....

Not a good day

So here I am back as promised but for all the wrong reasons. I have news to tell and it is not good news. Olive broke her tiny little ankle. She has a cast. She went down the slide at our local park just a little too fast. The first night we did not take her to the hospital as it was late and we thought it might just be a bad sprain. Although I have to say it was just as others have told me about kids and broken bones - she kept on crying longer than usual. But we waited until today and then went first to the acupuncturist who needled her and then sent us to have it x-rayed. It was x-rayed and found to be broken - not all the way through the bone about 3/4 of the way through and then the doctor put a cast on it. A big cast - not sure how life will be with the cast on. I'm kind of nervous as it was impossible for Olive to sit in her high chair tonight and the top of the cast was hurting as it pressed on her leg. The doctor said 3-4 months although we are hoping this was wrong and a miscommunication/ language confusion. She will go back for a check-up in one week so hopefully it will be cleared up then.

We have a guest now and so I will sign off with that short post. Sorry for the crazy news.

We are all fine otherwise and Olive is a trooper - she did great laughing through it all and letting everyone prick her and wrap her.

I'll write more soon and post pictures now.

photos

Olive getting acupuncture on her foot. We love our acupuncturist!
Olive getting her cast - isn't it enormous?

More shots of the casting process.