g.@.j

the year of jubilee

2009-12-17T20:19:00.011-05:00

on oct. 4th, we welcomed our little girl, jubilee sunah blum into this world.

...
just a few days later we celebrated atticus turning 2, and few days after that we celebrated mom turning 32!

halmoni came and stayed with us for 6 weeks!!! to help take care of us.

...
later that month, we celebrated halloween in our crafty homemade costumes: juby was a puppy, atti was the neighborhood woodchuck, mommy and daddy were critter control. our costumes were inspired by the neighborhood critters that attacked our homegrown brussel sprouts.

...
SUMMER TRAVELS
chicago and traverse city
halabujee was officiating a wedding in chicago, so the choes decided to have a minireunion in chicago where mommy grew up.

from chicago we traveled to traverse city where daddy grew up.

later that summer, when mommy was 8 months pregnant, she traveled across the world with 3 of her pals to train teachers in Indonesia.

we took one last weekend trip up to Vermont

daddy took a trip to Tanzania to attend a conference on global health.

long overdue update.

2009-12-17T13:23:00.001-05:00

it's been a looong time since an update...
and this isn't really one.
it's a placeholder really.
will try to update by tonight....
seeing that our xmas cards went out with our blog address on it, we thought it might be time for an update.

for now... celebrate with us.
this is the first year that we've gotten our xmas cards out before xmas!
woohoo!

summer is here.

2009-06-15T12:11:00.003-04:00

it's a girl!

2009-05-02T21:30:00.005-04:00

we brought Breakfast with the Blums back... this time with a pinata.
we wanted to share the good news and the surprise with our pals.

atticus took a good whack at it.

daddy stepped in...

and out flew a flood of pink candies.

It's a girl!
We're expecting to meet baby GIRL Blum in late September!
now we'll be able to play two on two.

sunday best.

2009-04-24T16:03:00.002-04:00

atticus and his best pals on easter sunday.

atticus and his uncle matt

2009-04-03T10:35:00.001-04:00

we love visiting uncle matt and auntie jacinda in nyc.
atticus always has a great time with them.

atti and his pt.

2009-04-03T10:09:00.002-04:00

atticus was a little slow to crawl... and a little slow to walk...
so for the last several months atti has been meeting with a physical therapist to work on developing his gross motor skills.

well, the day came when he started to walk a few months ago... meaning no more pt.
atti looooved his pt and their sessions together.
thanks deb for all the support, laughter, and fun!

another fashion statement.

2009-02-19T16:20:00.006-05:00

this picture was taken a few weeks ago.

atticus loves his boots. when getting dressed,i usually set out 2 or 3 pairs of shoes for him to choose from... and without fail, when given the choice, he chooses the boots.
thanks halmuhni!

no comment.

2009-02-09T22:48:00.001-05:00

it's not funny mama.

2009-01-28T22:29:00.002-05:00

atti loves his spaghetti...

not in his eye though.

Atticus standing on his own... and groovin'!

2009-01-28T21:34:00.001-05:00

excuse the poor guitar skills and the ridiculous song that mama is singing.
enjoy atti's smooth dancin' moves...

happy birthday

2009-01-12T10:26:00.002-05:00

happy birthday to the best samchoon ever!

jer rocked it first.

2009-01-08T15:50:00.006-05:00

Inching Its Way Back Onto the Lip

in the new york times today.

puh.leez...
we all know who started this trend.

feb. 08.

a little background info.

2009-01-06T23:56:00.003-05:00

so i made this ridiculous costume. handmade it.
jer commissioned me to do so. so...out of my love for him and my love for ELF, the willferrell elf, i attempted to make my first item of clothing.

the process was ridiculous. going to joann's on black friday to get the best deal on fabric.... buying white tights dyeing them yellow, handstiching the elf shoes.... and after 5 attempts at the hat, finally getting it right.

all that work... and atticus was in the costume for a total of about 10 min. ridiculous.

next time i'll use a pattern.

next time? what am i thinking.

i hope atticus forgives us someday...

happy holidays!

2008-12-27T10:12:00.001-05:00

pa rum pum pum pum....

nonverbal communication

2008-12-05T10:37:00.007-05:00

Atti Loves the Swing

2008-11-22T08:20:00.001-05:00

while mom and dad were celebrating their 2 year wedding anniversary on catalina island, halmunee and dave samchoon took atti to the park.
atti had such a blast.... not sure if he even missed us.

e.i.e.i.o.

2008-11-18T13:52:00.001-05:00

13months

2008-11-18T10:08:00.003-05:00

here's our superbaby at 13months!

manhattan with ol' friends

2008-10-03T09:16:00.003-04:00

a few weekends ago, we went down to nyc to hang out with our sommermeyers. after getting to know eli thru his blog, it was so great to meet him in person!

unfortunately, our camera was out of commission, so z and e sent us some pics of our time together.

we also hung out with the basingers in ktown, but unfortunately, no pics. =(

oh... and tomorrow's the big day! atticus' dol. it's already been a year?!

link

2008-09-26T09:39:00.003-04:00

sorry for the lack of updates.
our camera broke during our trip to traverse city and we haven't been able to take any pics these last few weeks.

our friends, the sommermeyers, came through the NE on their all-America tour.
they posted about our visit on their blog.

check it out:
http://sommermeyers.blogspot.com/2008/09/manhattan.html

Mommy and Atti Swimming

2008-09-07T14:52:00.001-04:00

Atti Swimming with Daddy

2008-09-07T14:50:00.001-04:00

Atticus took his first trip out to Traverse City, MI (home of Jeremy Blum and world famous cherries).
Here's some footage of Atti swimming in Lake Michigan.

Mr Wiggles

2008-09-04T23:11:00.001-04:00

Several months ago, Atticus started to wiggle. Wiggle when he heard music, wiggle when he was feelin gooooood, wiggle just about whenever...

He hasn't started to crawl yet... my theory is that he's focusing all his energies into the wiggles... a lot of upper body and not enough leg.

Uncle Dave captured some of Atti's wiggles in our time in Kauai.

Atti Likes Strawberries

2008-09-03T22:33:00.001-04:00

Uncle Dave captured Atti's first taste of strawberries.
(Taken 2 months ago in Kauai)

Swinging Atticus

2008-08-20T01:14:00.001-04:00

Atticus enjoying Tofu

2008-08-19T13:45:00.001-04:00

Here's Atticus enjoying tofu... one of his favorite things to eat.

emma's graduation

2008-07-14T22:29:00.003-04:00

if you hadn't heard already, last year we bought a house.
we bought a house together with another family.
emma is part of that family. our family.

emma graduated from high school a few weeks ago.

emma loves atticus and atticus loves emma.

"EMMMMMAAAAA"- atticus obviously thought he was too cool...

from kauai to keystone. part 4.

2008-07-14T22:04:00.004-04:00

the beautiful bride and handsome groom...

jer.kirk.@.kate.

jer and i took kate out to dinner and got a taste of what life might look like with 2 little ones.
pushing 2 strollers and 2 sidebyside childseats. it actually wasn't that bad... dun, dun, dun....

atticus happily sitting on a stove. (dad's idea)

from kauai to keystone. part 3.

2008-06-30T15:44:00.007-04:00

mom and atti came back from hawaii, then flew out the next day with daddy to colorado.

here we are with our rental car. this was all that they had left...
i know. ridiculo.

it was another beautiful wedding. here we are making our way to the ceremony site via covered wagon!

atticus was a wee bit scared of the horse.

we've been on many hikes with atticus... but this was the first time he enjoyed the view from behind dad.

from kauai to keystone. part 2.

2008-06-27T11:53:00.004-04:00

atti and the 4 Js...

dave.me. and the happy couple.

chillin wit the ladies...

dave and me.

from kauai to keystone. part 1.

2008-06-24T23:15:00.004-04:00

atti and umma traveled without daddy to kauai.
here's atti going thru security...

beautiful day spent with old friends...

atti's first time swimming

wake up samchoon! let's play!!

more to come...

life @ 8 months

2008-06-12T16:06:00.003-04:00

learning to drive uncle caleb's truck.

playing on his new playmat.

chomping on some toes.

hot, hot, hot...

atti's first camping experience

2008-06-10T21:39:00.004-04:00

atti spent his first memorial day weekend in the great outdoors.

big thanks to elizabeth and tim for planning the trip... and uncle ethan and auntie katie for... well... surviving.

daddy and atti

uncle ethan and atti

umma and atti

saying goodbye...

2008-05-19T16:00:00.005-04:00

several weeks ago we hosted a goodbye party for the groves'.

atti had a great time at the party.

atti and major groves modeling the combat crawl. perfect form..

classic graceandjer

lovin' the ladies...

the party was for bryan and richelle... but atti was trying to steal their thunder...

life at 7 months.

2008-05-09T09:00:00.003-04:00

atti at 7 months...

all shnazzed up...

doing a little morning reading...

atti-clean.

2008-04-29T10:35:00.001-04:00

three times.

2008-04-27T21:45:00.004-04:00

my parents came to visit us this past week for the 3rd time in 6 months.
and according to my dad, my mom checks this webpage 3 times a day.
(hi umma!)
i'll try to update more. promise.

atti and halmuni and halabuhjee reading...

atti and his grandpa.

out to dinner in guilford.

halmonee and joon-young playing together in his new top of the line exersaucer.
thanks halmonee and halabuhjee!

please come again!

happy half a year!

2008-04-08T08:28:00.002-04:00

it's hard to believe that atticus is already 6 months old. he's growing up so fast.
soon he'll be walking... going off to college... getting married. (sigh...)

to iraq and back.

2008-04-01T06:54:00.005-04:00

we just got back from a two week trip to the middle east. it was atti's first trip to iraq and our second. we wanted to show atti where his mom and dad met and introduce him to his Kurdish family.

here we are at the new Sulei airport. after taking this picture we were politely told that we weren't allowed to take pictures. us, tourists....

we celebrated Naw Roz, the Kurdish New Year, together with my host family.

here we are with our most beloved friend Sermed, who took us out for a wonderful meal.

here we are with Jer's friend's family...

on our way out, we spend 2 days in jordan.

that's all for now... more pics to come soon...

a little respect

2008-02-12T07:31:00.001-05:00

Atticus @ 3.5 months

2008-02-06T13:53:00.001-05:00

Chatti Atti has found his voice!

the greatest gift...

2008-01-22T15:38:00.000-05:00

why mom? why?!

ok. i'll smile... if it makes you happy.

blum family xmas 2007

AttiClaus Blum

2008-01-05T13:05:00.001-05:00

hello uncle dave.

2007-12-17T23:38:00.000-05:00

flurry of family...

2007-12-05T18:06:00.001-05:00

nothing like a grandchild or nephew to bring out the family to the frigid northeast...

God bless my mom, who came out and stayed with us for 4 weeks!!! to help take care of Atti, Jer, and me.

here i am, toasting and celebrating my last cup of Korean herbal antler-root medicine. 30 days of this glorious stuff...

atticus has many aunties and uncles... but only ONE samchoon...

here they are meeting for the first time.

grandpa dale and grandma marilyn. they could hardly wait their turn to hold little atticus.

and last but not least... grandma judy. she came bearing the best of Michigan gear. atticus was dressed in his blue and maize finest for the OSU vs. Michigan game.

all these visits were within the same week!!! after having such a full house, it was strange to find ourselves alone... just the 3 of us.

we're so blessed to have families that love and support us... and adore our little guy. this blog exists mainly for them.

please come visit again!

long overdue.

2007-11-28T11:01:00.000-05:00

sorry that we haven't updated in a while... my computer crashed, family members came and went, went back to work, developed mastitis (again!!!)...

little atticus has now become more alert... smiling and discovering the world.

uncle dave requested more atticus pics ASAP, so this is a quick little update. i'll update soon with pics of recent family visits.

atti and ayla

2007-11-01T14:05:00.001-04:00

atti and ayla, originally uploaded by inae.

atticus and ayla were born exactly one week apart from each other, in rooms right next to each other.

here they are, with their proud dads, dressed to partay with the other Vineyard kids.

atti's week 3

2007-10-29T16:37:00.001-04:00

today marks atti's 3 weeks of life.

jeremy and i celebrated our 1 year anniversary yesterday. woohoo!
unfortunately, i became pretty ill on saturday... so we kept our celebration simple... pho' and brownies. hopefully we'll be able to celebrate a bit more... when i'm feeling better and a bit more comfortable leaving atti at home.

IMG_0959, originally uploaded by inae.

atti and halmoni... enjoying some freshly squeezed milk. i'm trying to slowly get him ready for when i'll have to go back to work.

thankfully, he took it without hesitation.

that's our little chub scout!

atti and daddy

2007-10-29T16:36:00.001-04:00

IMG_0957, originally uploaded by inae.

daddy and atti reading the Bible together.

whatcha lookin at?!

2007-10-23T09:26:00.001-04:00

IMG_0927, originally uploaded by inae.

many faces of atticus blum

2007-10-23T09:25:00.001-04:00

IMG_0930, originally uploaded by inae.

first bath

2007-10-23T09:23:00.001-04:00

IMG_0922, originally uploaded by inae.

atticus took his first bath this week. someday he'll kill us for posting these pics in public.

he seemed to really enjoy being in the water... so much so that he gave mom and dad a little shower of his own.

atticus' throne

2007-10-23T09:20:00.001-04:00

IMG_0909, originally uploaded by inae.

i bought this chair for $15 from some random center at Yale several months ago.
i loved it at first sight... but wasn't sure how it would fit into our decor.

with atticus here, it all makes sense now. doesn't he look quite regal?

we plan to take a pic of him sitting in his throne each week so that we can see how he fills it in over the months.. years.

the grandparents have arrived

2007-10-23T09:11:00.001-04:00

IMG_0913, originally uploaded by inae.

halmuni and harabujee came into town this week.

atticus enjoyed watching Wheel of Fortune with grandpa and has benefited from morning stretching exercises with grandma.

(for more pics, click the picture above)

week1

2007-10-15T09:45:00.000-04:00

it's hard to believe that little atticus is already one week old. in a matter of days, hours... our lives have completely changed.

here are some images from this past week:
i turned 30 on saturday. jer surprised me with an evening spent with close friends and a sushi cake.

uncle ethan and auntie katie

adam stopped by to say goodbye before leaving for cali. adam was jer's roommate before i moved in. new haven won't be the same without adam. northern michigan-ites are hard to come by in the northeast. if you look carefully, jer's holding a michigan football... and totally regretting wearing the illinois shirt for the pic.

i'm not sure why we always use jeremy's leg as a backdrop for our pics of atticus. we'll try to mix it up in the future.

hospital to home

2007-10-12T11:21:00.000-04:00

baby boy blum

2007-10-10T15:58:00.000-04:00

atticus joon-young blum

born 10.08.07 /3:46am
7lbs. 5.5 0zs.

hobbies/interests:
sleeping. eating. pooping.yawning.winking.
reading

favorite book:
to kill a mockingbird

hometown: new haven, ct

favorite sports team: chicago bears/ michigan wolverines (it's a toss up)

future aspirations: to change the world... one wink at a time.

stay tuned... more to come.

las fotos

2006-12-23T16:14:00.001-05:00

IMG_0320, originally uploaded by inae.

click the picture above to see more of our pictures from our honeymoon in Chile.

another first

2006-12-22T12:07:00.000-05:00

my name is grace blum and i'm a blogging addict. i must confess that i have 4 or 5 blogs spread all throughout the internet... and this is merely one of them. but this one's different.

from grotch to grum... this one includes my husband. this is OURS... and hopefully it'll be our platform to share with anyone who's interested about what's going on in our lives.

graceandjer.com was a huge success. we're now simplifying and bringing it back to the blog. stay tuned. we are embarking on a blum beginning...