Dear Katie,

You are so funny these days, and your personality is coming out!

Here are your stats:

Weight: 20lbs, 10 oz (43%) (Last 19 lbs, 15 ozs - 49%)
Height: 29 1/2 inches (19%) (Last 29 inches - 35%)
Head Circumference: 45 1/2 cm (46%) (Last 44 1/2 cm - 34%)

Major Milestones for 15 Months:
-Your gait is more steady, and you never crawl anymore
-Can walk up and down stair with support
-You can listen to commands and do them (Eg. Get me that slipper)
-You can TALK
-You can communicate effectively things that you want or don't want
-Shift objects in your hands
-Stacking objects already, whether it is plastic cups or daddy's tools - you can stack two things on top of each other

Notable happenings this month:
-You fell and ripped your lip on the corner of the drawer in your room (4/22/13) - had bleeding, fevers 4/25/13, but everything was ok.  Now we don't let you open the drawers anymore.
-We went to the Museum of Natural History with our friends (4/20/13) - this is the first time you have seen the big whale

-Spring is here!  We opened our pool and started renovations on backyard.

Words:
-Thank you
-Bye Bye
-UMMA (mommy in Korean)
-No
-Audrey (yes you can say your sister's name)
-"A," "B," "C"
-"1," "2"
-APPA (but only when prompted)
-Signing: Eat, Bye, More
-Often points to things that you want and cries if we don't give it to you.  At night, when you are hungry, you point to your bottle and cries when we don't feed you.
-Again, it's helpful to have a lot of people around constantly talking.  In this respectful, Katie is blessed (Audrey didn't have as many people talking to her at this age)
-As opposed to Audrey whose first word was "APPA" (daddy in Korean), your first word is "UMMA."  You have learned to say THANK YOU before you have said APPA.

Feedings:
-Eating more solids now on a routine basis
-Still bottle feeding whole milk - about 4 servings a day of 4-8 ozs each
-Still constipated - we feed you prune juice daily - 3 to 4 oz at the beginning of every day.
-Vitamins daily (TriViFluor)
-You are still constipated, but it is now better with the prune juice

Sleep Schedule:
-One nap in the mornings, one nap in the afternoon.  The exact time varies everyday.  You sleep from 1-3 hours depending on how tired you are.
-Sleeps through the night, no middle-of-the-night feedings anymore.  You do always drink about 5oz before going to bed.
-You still love to roll around while you sleep

Favorite Activities:
-Pulling out drawers in your room and taking out the clothes - you like to then walk around with them until we take them away - we stopped doing this because you hurt yourself once
-Pulling on the cabinets in the kitchen and taking out all the plastic containers and lids
-You do everything that your sister does - you take great interest in whatever Audrey is doing and then tries to take her toys and run away to a safe harbour (namely, grandma or mommy)

Personality:
-You are quiet most of the time, but when you want something, you yell very loudly (like when I don't give you your food or something that you want)
-Aggressive - as I said, if you want something, you will yell loudly and let us know
-Your actions are more deliberate than I remember Audrey was - you play with a purpose
-We think you are going to be more "smarter" and "aggressive" than your sister - you seem to be get things faster than your sister at this age.

Quirky things:
-You get carsick fairly easily.  In fact at the time of this writing (5/16/13) - you have thrown up about 6 times (once on mommy in the middle of the night, about three times because you had a stomach virus, and in the car on mommy while shopping for tiles, and again when going out for mother's day lunch with grandma).  Usually, you start crying, then break out in a sweat, then salivate and then throw up.  It's become more of a common occurrence now.

Things to work on:
-More words and signs
-More books

Keep on growing little one!!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

1. Bicycle Club: B-

In retrospect, I don't think I would have booked the place if I had to do it over again.  The event planner Mallory really was not helpful AT ALL.  What really got me mad was after I went over very specifically how I wanted the tables and things set up, NOTHING WAS DONE.  I was moving the tables and rearranging things myself the day before the event.  I specifically asked them to use the nice buffet covers and the manager gave me such an attitude about it.  He said that there wasn't enough to cover both the head table and the candy buffet that I prepared.  I ended up ripping the buffet table side covers myself, digging around in their back room, finding extra covers incidentally, and setting it up myself.  IT WAS HORRIBLE, and a customer should not be doing those things.  Although we also said there would be a slide show, of course the event planner didn't know how it was set up, so we showed the slide show with no sound (or limited sound from the laptop that the screen was hooked up to).  The only saving grace about the place was that the actual space was nice, it was cozy and what I was looking for.  There was an area for the actual party, and a separate area for the mommies to change diapers, and for the entertainment.  The food was ok, and the price was not bad. 

2. Photographer Studio Hong: A

They were ok, and I was decently happy with the photos that they took.  But in all honesty, there was nothing truly special about the photos overall.  I wanted to do the hand and foot casts, but this studio didn't do it, so we didn't have that for Katie as we did for Audrey.  We tried to do the casting ourselves with a home-made kit.  Needless to say, it didn't really work out.  The pricing was a bargain, we got three photo sessions, one at 6 months, 11 months, and one at the dohl.  We also got an album, one enlargement that we displayed at the party, keychain.  I wish there were more detail shots.  They did a lots of shots with a fish-eye lens that I loved.  The photos were fine, and I was overall happy. 

3. Photographer Connie Gledhill: A-

Connie is an up and coming photographer, who I am SO glad I hired for my party especially since Studio Hong didn't take nearly enough detail shots that I wanted.  She wasn't as expensive as Studio Hong, but I was happy with what she did.  In fact, most of the detail shots and candid shots were from her.  She also shoots weddings and other events and her pricing is extremely reasonable.

4. Dohl Posters and More: A+

I love love love Dohl Posters and More.  This is the second time that I have worked with Sooki, and she just made my life SO MUCH EASIER.  I guess it was that way since I already knew what I wanted and just told her.  But the turn around time was so fast, and she is just so easy to work with.  She responds quickly to email, and I love the products.  She even express mailed the package and it came three days early.  When you are in a time crunch like I was, her professionalism really stood out.

5. Meli and Angi Cookies: A+

We loved the cookies so much from Audrey's party that we ordered them again for Katie's party and no surprise.  They were a big hit again.  ALL of them were gone.  I am so glad I saved some of the hanbok cookies for my parents and in-laws or there wouldn't be any left.  We ordered two designs, the butterfly one 4 different colors, and the hanbok ones, all to match the colors of the actual hanboks.  Since the party was in New Jersey where Angi lives too, she delivered them in person and even helped to arrange them.  Of course none of them were cracked.  I had a few cookies that were cracked at Audrey's party and Angie gave me some extra ones for Katie's party (and realize, these parties were 2 years apart).  She is so NICE!  Anyways, if I ever have another dohl to throw, I will be calling up Angi again.  =)

6. Cakes by Christine: A+

Christine really has it together.  She responds quickly, is open to changes, and was the first vendor to show up the day of.  She set up the cake before we even got there, and it was exactly the way I wanted it.  I know she is pricey, but she was so professional, I would recommend her to another person in a heartbeat.  You know that someone is doing a good job when you have absolutely nothing to complain about them, and would hire them again.  Hence the A PLUS review.

7. Cake Pops by K-Macarons: A

These were done well, fit our decor, and the pops were priced reasonably. 

8. Flowers - Eun Soon Lee: A

Ms. Lee did our flowers for the wedding, and we decided to have her arrange them for the head table.  They looked nice - she really is an artist and I can count on her to make things aesthetically pleasing.

9. Little Seouls Party - Banner/Invitations: A-/A

I liked our invitations, and the banner was fine.  But, I didn't realize that the banner would come a little dirty - otherwise I would have cleaned it beforehand, but I had no time.  I also had to return the banner and pay for the shipping cost which was not cheap.

10. Party Magic: A+

The kids LOVED these guys.  They were hovered around the face painter who did a wonderful job.  Everyone got something done by her.  The Balloon artist, Twisted Mike, was a HUGE hit.  There were lines for the balloons and they were awesome.  Let me put it this way, even the adults wanted the balloons - he was that good!  Heck, even I wanted one too!

11. Dduk - Shilri Bakery (Flushing, New York): A+

We decided against a dduk cake, and ordered boxes to hand out to people.  I loved these boxes - they were so cute, and there were a sizable amount of dduk in there, including two big pieces with first birthday written on them and a crown, plus a set of smaller round pieces to eat.  It was delicious.  I would order from them again!

Dear Katie,

What a big girl!  You have grown so much in the past two months!

Major milestones for 13 Months:
-Walking unsupported for an extended period of time, more than 20 steps - you exploded onto the walking scene this month
-Can crawl up long staircases
-Can walk up and down stairs with support
-When we ask you to get things (like our slippers) - you retrieve them
-Weaning off breastfeeding
-You started walking by yourself after you turned one, and after a few weeks, you hardly crawl

Major milestone for 14 Months:
-Walking and running independently, does not crawl anymore
-Can talk to us - wave Bye, Say Uma, recite the first three letters of the alphabet
-Weaned off completely from breastfeeding (last day to breastfeed was April 6th) - after that, no more
-Imitating us - closing the door after saying Bye Bye, holding a purse
-Able to understand and carry out orders (like handing over slippers, closing the door, and kissing my cheek when asked).  When I asked her a few nights again to hand over the Boots doll (from Dora Dora), she stopped what she was doing, looked around for Boots, found him, and handed him to me.
-Currently teaching her some basic signs like "eat", "milk," "drink"

Words:
-Bye bye (complete with a hand wave, and closing of the door)
-No
-Uma
-"A," "B," "C"
-Assorted sounds - ma, ba, pa, da, and other baby gibberish
-It helps that her sister is constantly talking up a storm

Feedings:
-Katie has been taking whole milk after she turned one, about 5-8 oz of whole milk every 3-4 hours
-Does not drink well from a sippy cup - we are still bottle feeding her
-Not a great solids eater still - about one large meal a day @ 13 months, more feedings @ 14 months.
-VERY picky solids eater.
-Snacks all day, whenever she wants them (and she will let us know)
-Immensely Constipated - we have to feed her daily prune juice starting 13 months.  If not, she will have large hard stools that occasionally will lead to rectal tears and bleeding.  I've had to manually remove her stool to help things along. 
-Vitamins daily (TriViFluor)

Sleep schedule:
-One nap around 11-12 in the mornings, One nap in the afternoon.  The length of nap time has increased to 1-3 hours.
-Total of 2-3 naps throughout the day (3 naps if she didn't sleep well overnight, or had a shorter nap in the morning)
-Sleeps through then night with one feeding from the breast in the middle of the night @ 13 months, and no feedings at all @ 14 months
-Sleeps around 9-10pm, and wakes up around 6-8am
-Occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night and needs to be comforted back to sleep
-You like to roll around when you sleep

Favorite Activities:
-Playing with her sister
-Walking around, Climbing stairs
-Playing with plastic containers from her special cabinet in the kitchen
-Pulling out drawers and grabbing the things inside (like her clothes)
-You don't grab mommy's hair as much
-You like to explore anything new

Personality:
-Laid back like her dad
-A "No" means a "No."  Once she refuses food, she will never open her mouth. 
-If she wants something, she will let you know.  Once time, she wanted milk, and the longer I didn't give it to her, the louder and more unhappy she became. 

Things to work on:
-Signing and communicating
-Walking/Running more steadily
-Reading more books together
-We are probably not

Major differences with Audrey at this age:
-Less hair
-Shorter and lighter
-More stubborn

We love you so much!

Love, Mommy and Daddy