The Pognae

I recently ordered the Pognae baby carrier -- "the best comfortable baby carrier you'll ever wear" -- from gmarket. I decided to go with the Pognae because it looks exactly like the Ergo carrier, but is about half the price. Since I haven't been working for around 6 months, I save money wherever I can, and I had a good feeling about the Pognae.

My good feeling was correct. I've only wore it out once, but it is comfortable and sturdy, and I like the design. The plain ones are cheaper, around 40,000 won, and the graphic design ones are extra. The elephant one I chose was an extra 15,000. The print material is a very soft muslin type of fabric, and the print is not garish or cheesy. There are even zebra print and military print ones!

It's definitely an Ergo knockoff, but it has a few extra features. It comes with an extra head support that is attachable by velcro. There is also a flap where the baby's back is that you can roll down to reveal a mesh material to allow for air flow. One thing I really like is that on all the loose straps there is an elastic attached, so you can roll up all those loose ends so they're not flapping around. For an extra 6000 won, I got the sucky pads, which are quite thick and nice, and reversible.

So I'm pretty happy with my Pognae. It's the first carrier I've picked out for myself...all the others were lent to me -- the Moby, the Ergo, a Korean Baby Bjorn type carrier -- which was great because I got to try many out before purchasing one.

Fashion is War

That's Doota's new slogan. I visited the newly renovated Doota in Dongdaemun today and was very impressed with the new luxurious feel...not so impressed with some of the new luxurious prices, but it's still an awesome mall. There's a new Coffee Bean on the second floor with an outdoor terrace. Lots of nice stuff. Lots and lots of people, but what did I expect from Dongdaemun on a rainy Saturday?

Today was also a major wakeup call for me -- I don't fit into any of this stuff anymore! Ahhh, the days when I could wear Korean "free size"! I was fawning over some of the cute little dresses and outfits which I used to fit in a little over a year ago. There is no better motivation to lose weight than to walk around Doota and look at the beautiful clothes...not to mention the beautiful people. Of course I can't go on a hardcore diet since I'm breastfeeding, but I can do such things as cut out the daily ice cream I've been eating.

I had gone out today with the intention of getting myself few cheap new T-shirts to wear this summer while I shed the pounds... instead, I got nothing for myself and Grace got a new dress, a skirt, T-shirt, cardigan, and sun hat (all in basement Migliore). My budget is shot, I've got nothing to wear, but I've got one well-dressed baby!

Baby-related shopping in Korea

I wanted to post some links to shopping sites in Korea. Last week I met a new friend, Karen, who has a two-year old son and is expecting her second child. Karen has only been in Korea for five months, but she's enthusiastic about being here and she's really getting out there and finding things out rather than staying in her own little community, which she could do if she wanted. Many people with the army, governments, or embassies hardly know anything about Korea and really don't need to, because they are taken care of. But I think it's great that Karen wants to get see what else is out there. It will make her time here so much more enjoyable and memorable.

Anyway, she has had lots of great advice for me about babies and baby stuff. It's a little overwhelming, all the products there are out there. Karen told me what I wanted to hear, and that's to hold off buying a lot of things until the need arises, and also to do my research. So, I'm only going to buy the things I know I'll need right away, like small-sized diapers, a few newborn sleepers (maybe one special outfit ^^), a baby carrier, and maybe a few other little things. With the convenience of online shopping in Korea, if I really needed something, I could order it and have it delivered within one or two days, so it's no use buying things that I'm not sure about.

But it doesn't hurt to look and see what my resources are, so when the time comes, I'm prepared. I've found the following links after just a bit of searching, so I will probably add to this list later, or make a new post.

First, maternity clothes. This isn't really for baby, but still necessary. Karen made a great post about maternity clothes and what you need/don't need. Here are some Korean links. Even if you don't speak Korean, it's easy enough to click around to get a sense of what they have. Then you can have a Korean friend help you out to order.

Mizmami Maternity Wear
To Be Mom
Maternity underwear
Lora (they have American brand nursing bras that go up to size G!)
Gmarket (search 임부복)

Baby stuff. There are tonnes of baby malls online. These are just a few.

Babyland
Urii baby
Pretty baby
Happy mall
Babywel
KKbaby
and of course, there's gmarket. Here's a link to baby onesies for example. Here's one to the ergo baby carrier, which I'll probably buy!

Diapers. Modern cloth diapers are available in Korea. I haven't checked them out in person yet, but I'm going to.

Babyan - Korean brand that looks promising.
Kissaluvs -American brand that imports to Korea. Thanks to Karl for that link!
diapers on Gmarket

I just thought I'd add this last link although it is not necessarily baby related. This site has IKEA products for good prices. I added it because a lot of foreigners don't know where to get furniture, or have trouble doing so. There are tonnes of places online to order furniture, but I know a lot of people like IKEA, and why not.

One thing that I CAN'T find after much searching is a rocking chair that I like. I would prefer a glider rocker, but can only find one online, and I've never seen any in furniture stores.