The boy this October
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 12:33 AM
The darling child ... photos from last month (in chronological order). He brings us so much joy ... I hope these pics will give you joy too!
Where is my XD card / USB adaptor?
Friday, September 18, 2009 10:12 PM
This child looks so innocent, doesn't he?
These pics were taken 4 days ago ... not long before my XD card adaptor went missing. And what is that he's holding in his hand ...? Okay KO, where have you stashed it? ... He's not telling. I hope he hasn't eaten it.
not much to say ...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:19 AM
... at the moment ...
But I've always got more pics of the darling child! Here are some recent ones. The boy is exactly 17 months today!
On a slide (guess where?) ...
In a wood (guess where?) ...
Lunching out (guess where?) ...
After a swim (guess where?) ...
See ya!
there is no try
Friday, July 17, 2009 12:21 AM
Try?? There is no try. Just do.
I could do with a lot more 'doing' and a lot less 'trying'.
Sometimes writing is the only thing that feels worthwhile to me. But only inspired writing. And that's problematic when one is uninspired.
But KO is a constant reminder of valuable things I've forgotten. He brings me the wisdom of a child who lives loves eats breathes rejoices dances, totally at ease, totally free ...
Salts Mill pics ...
feeding the cat
Sunday, July 12, 2009 8:37 PM
We've decided to try feeding KO by leaving a bowl full of food and a drink for him on the lounge floor, and topping up the food throughout the day. It's working pretty well so far.
Advantages: No more lengthy unsuccessful attempts to feed KO. No more constant wondering if he's hungry. He seems determined to feed himself, and only one or two mouthfuls at a time, grazing through the day.
Disadvantages: Mess. Everywhere.
Here are pics of the darling as usual.
"Look at the plane!" (today)
"Look at the ant!" (a minute later)
"Look at the weeds!" (awhile later)
A bit more gardening ...
The Punch and Judy show at Kirkstall Festival yesterday
KO watching the Punch and Judy show. Nonplussed.
Yay yay yay! The first CD is now being manufactured!
Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:12 AM
WARNING: Very unusually, I've got LOADS of news so, as I used to write to James (hubby) when I first met him online, here's a PAMYC warning (get some Popcorn And Make Yourself Comfortable).
1) The CD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The CD currently in production is the first in a series of 4 CD's that will be released over the next 10 months. Each CD will have 4 tunes on it. You can collect all four CD's, and put them together to make a nice big picture! Here are the titles of the CD's (you can kind of guess what the general tone of each CD will be):
Dis illusion
Heart felt
Fine tune
For give, For get, For ever!
So I know what you're thinking! You're thinking, "This is the most fabulous news I have had, the most exciting project I've heard about, in AGES! Tell me, tell me, WHERE can I buy this CD?"
Patience, young jedi knights, all shall be revealed in due course if you continue reading!
If you would like to one day soon have your very own copy of Dis illusion in your hands, complete with gorgeous artwork all by yours truly, you CAN through one of various means!
FIRST OPTION: Come to a gig!
I will be selling Dis illusion at gigs, starting the 25th of this month, when I'll be playing at the Verve Bar, Merrion Street, Leeds City Centre.
At gigs, the CD will cost £3 or two for £5. At gigs I'll be happy to take either cash or credit card! Yes indeed, I have got a credit card swiper! Woohoo!
SECOND OPTION: Pre-order it!
The pre-order price will be £4 per CD with free shipping! You can pre-order the CD by either sending a PayPal payment to leesunclark [at] hotmail [dot] com or sending me a cheque (email me for my mailing address), and the very day I receive the CD's (in about two weeks time) I shall package up any pre-orders and send them to you! Ooh, exciting! If you pre-order, please email me at blog [at] leesunmusic [dot] com to let me know that you've sent or are sending payment, and I'll confirm your order by email.
THIRD OPTION: Ask me a question!
The Official LeeSun Music website will be launched in July. The main page will consist of an advice column of sorts called WWLD (What Would LeeSun Do). Ask me something, anything, and if I use your question on the website I'll send you a free CD!
FOURTH OPTION: Download it!
In July, you will also be able to download Dis illusion at bandcamp, and by about November, the tunes will also be available through most major mp3 online distributors ... details to follow once the downloads are available.
FIFTH OPTION: All of the above!!!!!
If you are super keen, go for it!!
OTHER NEWS.......
Release party! I don't need much excuse for a party, and I'm hoping that you don't either! For those of you in the Leeds vicinity, I hope you'll be able to make it to the party here in July (more details to follow). For those of you in far-flung places, don't despair! You can throw a release party too! Please let me know if you want to do this, and you can purchase the CD in quantities of 10 or more for just £3 each including shipping!
Also coming ... the first LeeSun Music video! Wicked awesome sick and smoking! It will be on YouTube very very soon ... details to follow!!
Okay, I think that's plenty of news for the time being ... yay yay yay yay yay!
Big love, blessings and hugs to y'all and your loved ones!
... and of course, to cheer up your day even further, here is a recent pic of darling KO and his lovely cousin!
has it really been that long?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 9:01 PM
Have I really not said anything for over two months? I am surprised.
I was sure I posted up a pic of the boy on his birthday, 1st April ... here's one of him in his Korean outfit, taken on his birthday!
He's been walking about like a baby dinosaur for almost two months now, gleeful in his increased mobility.
And I'm working each day, balancing keeping house, being a mum, and getting my album sorted. Why it takes so long, I really do not know! I'm slow.
But as the midpoint of this year draws near (i.e., June 30th), I'm feeling like it's time to push for the release of the first part of 4x4. No release date yet, but I have just this moment resolved that DIS ILLUSION, a video or two, and my website will all be launched by the end of June. Yay! Let's do it!
round the clock
Saturday, February 28, 2009 11:56 PM
Here's the boy in the bath tonight;
JFC has just headed up to bed; I should head to bed too;
Midnight;
I was thinking randomly the other day, when I was in high school, I used to gripe all the time to one of my friends about how mean my sister was to me; a few years later my friend and sis met, while both visiting me in Vancouver, and ended up getting married; go figure!
Anyway, to bed ,,,
un-heaven
Monday, February 09, 2009 10:50 PM
KO still sleeps in my and J's bed. For awhile we tried putting him in his own room at bedtime (around 8), but he kept waking up at midnight for a feed, and it was just so much easier to feed him in our bed while drifting off to sleep.
Most mornings I wake up a few minutes before KO. I don't know if this is a weird body clock thing, or if I actually am somehow waking KO up by staring at him. Because that's what I do when I wake up. Stare at the beautiful baby.
These days I'm really emotional. Every morning, while staring at baby, terrible stories come to me ... a couple of years ago I read a book about Brazilian street kids. Non-fiction. In the book, there's an armless, legless child who is 'owned' by a gang who cut off his limbs when he was a baby. Limbless and utterly dependent on the gang, the child is left on the street begging each day to raise funds for the gang.
This morning that story came to mind ... the horror of it filled me and I just held KO and wept ... I felt so thankful that I was in a position to protect KO, and at the same time so sad for all the children who need protection and don't have it.
I don't understand why people hurt one another ... I don't understand how anyone can even be capable of it ... but it happens every day, all the time.
And I've said hurtful things to others before. I try to be more careful now ... I think, every time I say something hurtful, I'm contributing to the problem of un-heaven.
night owl
Sunday, February 08, 2009 12:00 AM
Before I married James, I used to stay up every night, just thinking things over and journalling; (the full stop key on my keyboard isn't working too well right now, so I'm going to use semicolons instead)
I still often stay up late (thought not as often as I used to),,,
But no more journalling,,, I'm not sure what to do with the volumes upon volumes of blank books I've filled up with journalling,,, every time I go to throw them out, I end up flipping one open to double-check that I really do want to get rid of it *forever* and I end up reading my own old journalling for hours,,, and then I end up putting it back;
Should I chuck them all out? Why do I still have them?
I still have almost all of the letters I've received over the years too,,, the other day, I had the urge to organise something so I grabbed a boxful of old letters, and hole-punched them all and put them into a binder;
James says that one day an archaeologist with find the binder and be grateful,,, and wonder what sort of special person hole-punches their personal correspondence and files it in a binder;
Anyway, two events happened today;
1) a good friend of ours married a very nice man
2) two very good friends of ours (who happen to be KO's godparents) had a baby!
Today we went to the house of our friends (referenced in 2 above) to rehearse some music for the wedding (see 1 above), and when we got there, E opened the door, jogging slowly on the spot and said, "I'm in labour!"
They hadn't cancelled the rehearsal as they hadn't wanted to deal with the logistics of diverting 7 people elsewhere on such short notice; so we rehearsed in their lounge while E laboured upstairs!
Rehearsal over, we headed off to the wedding (one musician short), and not long after the ceremony got a text announcing the birth of the baby; no messing around, eh?
Anyway, it's twenty past midnight,,, much as I love these quiet hours, I'm going to head to bed,,,
Good night all, I do hope you're well!
email from goodness direct
Saturday, January 10, 2009 12:51 AM
Ha ha I just received an email from Goodness Direct with the subject,
"Millions of bacteria hide in your mouth. Kill 'em."
edible emails in 2009
Thursday, January 08, 2009 12:32 AM
First things first ... the obligatory pic of KO! This one was taken last month, in Barcelona.
It's 2009! Hurrah! J is a man on fire at the moment, planning the release of my album. It turns out that my debut album (recorded in Calgary in 2007, not long before I became pregnant with KO) is going to be a debut in four parts.
Dun da-da daaaaa ... (drum roll and fanfare please)
Announcing ... the imminent release of ............... LeeSun : 4x4
Four EPs,
each containing 4 uniquely wonderful tunes ...
Downloads will be available through most of the popular sites (and some unpopular ones too, like maybe even this blog), and CDs will be available through CDBaby.
The first in the series is as follows:
4x4: dis illusion
01 Mickey Mouse
02 Always That Way
03 Wise
04 Without Me
So when will it be released and what have edible emails got to do with it? Watch this space to find out!
knitting and other sundries
Monday, December 01, 2008 10:03 PM
Here's KO a week ago, wearing a hat that I knitted!
The dull expression is due to sickness and teething.
Well, not a lot happening over here these days ... KO continues to grow, I've taken up knitting, J & I have bought a little house to rent out, my album is still unreleased, just regular stuff I guess.
Feeling uninspired quite a lot of the time ... or at least this very moment, anyway. It's probably the tiredness talking. We weren't able to get KO to sleep until about 10 o'clock tonight. I hate it when that happens.
A year from now I'll probably remember this phase with fondness and maybe even miss KO's clinginess.
I'll think about how sweet he was, crawling around like a little gecko, pouncing on his Fisher Price toys, bouncing whenever you picked him up, and playing with shrieky giggly excitement in the evenings instead of settling down to sleep.
I'll look back at the pics and vids and well up inside at how adorable he sounded and looked and seemed.
I'll pick him up with a grunt of exertion and reminisce about when he weighed half as much, and kicked his chubby little baby legs, and flapped his chubby little baby arms.
That day is swiftly approaching, I'm sure. In the meantime, I am so tired I could sleep for a week and forget that I have an 8 month old baby whose future is now inextricably caught up with mine.
Happy 100 days KO!
Monday, July 14, 2008 2:35 PM
Last week, KO turned 100 days old. Here's a pic of him in his hanbok (minus the jacket) from his dedication ceremony, and a pic of him taken this morning.
KO 12 weeks
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 12:48 AM
KO had his first swimming lesson today! What an adventure!
I expected more of a sort of supervised play session in the pool, but there was no messing about, no sirree. Here's a pic of him and JFC watching the babies in the class ahead of him. I realised after taking the pic that his swim nappy was a size too small, and changed him into the next size up -- a 'Medium' already!
KO now 11 weeks
Thursday, June 19, 2008 11:24 AM
Here's the obligatory KO pic, taken just over a week ago ... I'd put a more recent one up, but haven't downloaded the memory card off the cam yet.
I had a feeling KO would be grumpy today when he woke up at 7.30 and started crying. He normally starts the day with a steady stream of gurgling smiles. Sure enough, he's been grumpy off and on for the past 4 hours ... inconsolable.
He wasn't hungry or soiled or bored, just really tired and unhappy! So I strapped him into the hugabub, put on "The Best of Island" (ska), turned up the volume, and bounced him till he fell into a light sleep, where he is now, hurrah!
Taking care of KO reminds me all the time that taking responsibility and taking control are very different things, in fact they conflict with each other. Doing my best for KO means taking responsibility and doing what I can for his well-being, and recognising that much is out of my control ... we cannot control all of the outcomes; we just have to play it by ear and deal with things as they arise.
He might cry, he might get hurt or ill, he might get tired or unhappy. Despite all the 'experts' claiming otherwise, I'm pretty sure there's no secret way to keep a baby happy and/or placid 24/7 (without heavy sedatives?!). On the whole KO is a fairly peaceful baby, who feeds and sleeps well, enjoys playing, loves his mum and dad (woohoo) and lives in a world where he feels loved and well cared for. But in his short life so far he's still had 6 weeks of colicky evenings, a couple of rounds of painful nappy rash, teething pains, poorliness after immunisations, and various other small discomforts that made him irritable or unhappy for a time.
It seems that those who try hardest to control all the outcomes get the most freaked out at taking responsibility ... perhaps the greatest freedom is found in taking all one's responsibility and surrendering all the outcomes.
KO 9 weeks
Wednesday, June 04, 2008 8:26 AM
The whole world smiles with you ...
Thursday, May 15, 2008 8:02 PM
KO started smiling for real a few days ago. It takes some effort ... to coax a smile, I have to grin at him for ages (in an insane sort of way), and he'll stare intently at my mouth, deep in concentration. Then the smiles ensue ... sometimes little flitting smiles, sometimes big grins.
I haven't caught him smiling on camera yet, so here's a pic of him from Monday (when he was almost 6 weeks old), asleep with James.
he's so sweet
Thursday, May 08, 2008 2:16 AM
I've just fed KO and put him in his rocking cradle and am resisting the urge to pick him up again and let him sleep on my chest.
Where does the time go?
Sunday, May 04, 2008 6:49 PM
Here's a pic of me and KO at Becketts Park a couple of weeks ago. James has decided he'd like to take baby out for a walk in a green space every day if poss. Most of the time I go along ...
But what I'd like to know is, where does the time go?
The day is now split into 3 hour chunks. Every 3 hours, KO guzzles 4oz of milk, fills his nappy, and has a nap. This goes on all day and all night. At first I thought the schedule was intensive and exhausting. Then I mentioned it to a couple of friends with children and they exclaimed with delight how glad I must be, and how good it was that KO had established such a lenient schedule already ...
I had been expecting sympathy, but it turns out that this is the lot of motherhood. In fact, it seems I've got it easy compared to how many other parents have it.
Amazing.
And kudos to all those other parents!
