100 Days...about a month later

Turning 100 days old is a pretty big deal in Korea. The original reason was the high infant mortality rate; however, like most "developed" nations, infant mortality rates are now quite low. Koreans like traditions, though. It's a great reason to throw a party, serve lots of food the infant can't eat, and collect gifts of money and jewelry from the extended family.

We didn't throw a party, but since it's pretty rare for an American infant to turn 100 days in Korea, we decided to rent a hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) and take Rowan in for professional portraits. Of course, we found out mid-photo session that Korean babies don't get their pictures taken in hanbok until they're one year old. Even though we did it wrong, I think Rowan looks darn cute in hanbok. The ladies at the photo studio did a fabulous job.

Here are four of my favorites:









It took me so long to post these because the studio didn't give me the digital negatives, like they normally do here. I think that's because we were too cheap to purchase a big package. We just got some individual prints for ourselves and family, plus a mini album that my friend MinJeong got them to throw in free. She totally rocks. Even though she was sick, she dragged herself and both her kids in to translate for us, because the studio staff knew we're friends (long story).

Anyway, I had to wait until I was visiting my parents to scan in the photos. Hence the weird border issues, too. I haven't bothered to clean those up yet.