Our little Bubbly Butt!

Finally a moment to sit and relax with my cappuccino mix!

After I dropped Ayden off at the daycare, I sped home to clean up the house and do some laundry before I was off to work. Our little guy was just drifting off to sleep, as he usually does when we take him in the car. It's hard dropping him off to be cared for, when of course, I'd rather keep him to myself all day long. On the positive side, I get a few hours to do stuff I normally can't do when I'm taking care of Ayden.

Workwise, I don't have quite the inspiration that I used to have at FLI, especially knowing that I'll most likely be transferring to either the kindergarten or the college side after my contract is up. I just don't want to deal with ever-fluctuating schedules, last minute changes and of course, ENGLISH CAMP! Ugh.. I told Ahsan that I'm through with English camps. No more. Done! Now I'll be looking forward to summer and winter vacation, free time and travel---no longer burdened by a discombobulated camp season!

I've been taking so many videos of Ayden, I feel a bit overwhelmed by what I have and how much I want to upload for the family to see. So I just put it off another day, especially since Ayden has gotten so busy-body; he's very fussy, he always wants to sit upright, and when I leave him for a second to roll on his own, he gets very vocal and lets me know he doesn't like it! I feel a bit drained for energy, but definitely a lot better considering that I had spent the latter part of February and now March being sick--combo between a mild cold and allergies. Not fun stuff!

Here's a few of my favorite pictures of Mr. Ayden, taken between February and March. These are the "firsts" that I'm most proud of!

Ayden's first roll-over on his own!

The first quirky little home family picture (Ayden has a new sleep outfit!) We actually took a family photo in December, so this is the official second family photo. Aren't we just cute?

First family trip to the zoo!

First trip to Homeplus with the carseat
(my hands were getting tired holding Ayden all the time!)

A not a first, but one of many beautiful pictures of our boy sleeping: actually we went "walking at the park" for the first time, and as expected, Ayden slept the whole time!!

Ahsan and I have coined another lovely nickname for him. So instead of "pumpkin noodle" it's now become "bubbly butt" (which is quite funny because Ahsan's family name is "Butt"--and I've long since told him he needs to spell it like "Baht" or "Bauht"--considering the English spelling, of course. I personally don't want to be called Mrs. Butt: so, thankfully, Ahsan's family gave him his mother's last name, Manzoor, which is a thousand times better!)

So here's to our little Bubbly Butt, Ayden. We love you! Momma and daddy are so proud.

By the way, I posted NEW VIDEOS of Ayden at my YouTube site. Ayden is just too adorable!

Ayden is getting SO big...

Our little punchkin (fusion of "munchkin" and "pumpkin", cute huh?) is growing like a weed. Literally. I was browsing through some videos~just a few of the zillion I have taken~and realized just how behind I am at updating everyone.

This particular video was taken when Ayden was 3 months old~ January 11th. So for the next few posts, I will refer to pictures and videos uploaded on both Flikr and YouTube sites, seeing as I have so so many pictures and videos now...honestly, our little boy keeps me oh-so-busy, I barely have time to shower and think about what's going on tomorrow, let alone update my blog and various communication devices! lol.

Motherhood has definitely blossomed for me. I feel like I finally understand what my mother went through, taking care of my brother and I~ particularly how she may have felt being a single mom, managing her work schedule, taking us to/fro school, coordinating when we went to see our dad, and just dealing with the ins and outs of daily life. That's exactly what I'm going through... and my husband just loves that I manage to not only work, but keep the house clean, take care of our little guy (to and fro daycare, too!), and somehow get a little sleep all within a 24 hour period. Quite a transition from my life just a year ago!

It's surely not a walk in the park.. but I love our little punchkin more and more each day.

Well, looks like I have 30 minutes of--OMG--free time before I pick up our little bun from daycare. And yes, I will eventually talk about daycare here in Korea, because it's long overdue. Gawd, where the hell have the past few months gone? Little Ayden is ALREADY rolling on his front, he always wanting to be upright, and he's now babbling up a storm. Isn't this little guy precious?



I don't mind not sleeping, but I need my freetime to exercise my stress off! So.. I'm off to get my heart pumping...

Until next time!

The new E2 Visa Hoopla...

Ok. I've been sucked into the "you have to know about.." category because I'm a fellow EFL Teacher here in Korea. And, though I've stayed away from talking much about EFL related stuff (well, I've had a kid, for one--and he surely keeps me busy) I decided it was time to contribute.

Everyone is talking about it. You can read it daily in various blogs. There's tid-bits of gossip you hear at work, or on the street; and up to this point, it has sounded like nothing but hearsay. The new E2 Visa laws have caused a lot of commotion in the ESL/EFL community.

The Korea Immigration website posted about this topic, but I think if any native English speaker were looking to get the right information--and the necessary documents to get their E2 Visa accordingly (especially newcomers who plan to come and teach in Korea)--a huge question mark pops up.

Who has the low-down on what's really going on?

For the past month while on maternity leave, I had been helping out a Korean friend who works as a recruiter, finding teachers to work for hagwons in Daegu. She didn't even know about these new requirements that supposedly took effect as of January 1st, 2008. One thing I DO know, however, is that schools will no longer be able to find teachers quick. And if you want to tack on a part-time job working for another school (at your own risk, of course), these new E2 laws won't apply to you. You'll have a whole new set of issues to deal with yourself.

EFL Geek has posted on this, and I found the site to be the most informative. The widely read Marmott's Hole also posted an interesting take of the E2 situation through an article written for the Korea times. I also ran across EFL-Law.com has some particularly important links to consider, too.

So what's the deal? Does anyone have a definitive answers?!?

Well, I fell upon the G4F of Korea website, dedicated to bridging the gap between Korea's foreign population and the government. TONS of valuable information to be had, so check it out; however, as of yet, I haven't found any new information regarding the new E2 visa requirements. In the meantime, I'll be surfing the web for more info on this matter...