100 Days

I can’t believe it’s already been 100 days since Taylor was born. Seems like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital and now here I am looking through photos from her Baek-il celebration.

In Korean culture, Baek-il (literally means “100 Days”) is a huge milestone for an infant. Back in Korea when childhood diseases were common, it was rare for babies to make it to 100 days, so it was a cause for celebration when a baby survived for that long. To protect their child, parents would refrain from even taking their baby out until after this date. On the 100th day, family and friends would then gather and celebrate the baby having survived a critical stage in his or her life (Think of it as a baby’s first “debut”). In turn, they would bring gifts and gold to wish the baby a healthy and prosperous life.

This day is also a huge milestone for mothers as well because it marks the end of her recovery from labor and celebrates the sleepless nights and hard work during the newborn season.

Headband: BabyBling | Dress: Burberry Kids | Shoes: Freshly Picked

Like all Korean special occasions, food plays a critical role during this celebration. On a baby’s 100th day, in addition to the typical feast prepared, baeksulgi (백설기), a sweet rice cake is passed around to “spread” health and love for the baby. “Baek” means “100”, but it also is another work for “white”. The whiteness of the rice cake symbolizes a pure, clean and fresh start for the baby. So in the spirit of tradition, I knew I had to have rice cake so we could make sure to share & “spread” the love and health for our sweet baby girl with all our family. I ordered the most beautiful baeksulgi rice cake with a delicious black sesame filling. The cake was absolutely perfect.

Just look at the intricate details of the flowers. The cake was almost too beautiful to eat! (Almost 😉) I loved that it also doubled as a centerpiece for the headtable.

Because we kept things simple and had just a small family gathering at home, I wanted to make sure that we at least had a few good photos to capture the memories. 

For her backdrop, we used a tablecloth and used her gold etched name that we had made for her nursery. We went to Michael’s and picked up some green garlands to hang over the top and stopped by Home Goods for some potted plants and voila! Simple and minimal. It made setting up so much easier because we were able to get everything ready the night before and that way we were able to focus on taking photos the next day.

I guess the real credit should go to the cute photographer I hired because it was thanks to him that we were able to capture these moments so beautifully. (Thank you Taylor appa, aka my husband. Lol.) 

Now time to start planning ideas for her Dohl. Wish me luck!  

xoxo,

Su