Week 24: 4/30/2012-05/06/2012

Is it really week 24?  Are you really 6 months old?  What happened to weeks 8 through 23?  A lot has happened in those 16 weeks and I'll be the first to admit it Emily, your daddy and mommy were so tired through some of those weeks that it feels like a blur.  But, we were always grateful and thankful to God that you are with us and part of our family!  Mommy wanted me to start with week 24 so I can just start where you are now and then work backwards.  That's a smart idea.  Because right now, we both forget what we just said sometimes.  As mommy said about a month ago, "Did you upgrade to buy memory with the parenthood option?"

A lot of emotions has gone by in those 16 weeks.  A lot of anxiety, fear, restlessness, helplessness, happiness, and joyfulness were all part of those 16 weeks.  Some high level milestones:

• Sleep regression:  There will be a few entries about this. :(
• Sippy cup:  Yes, you skipped right over the bottle and graduated yourself to the sippy cup.  But so far, it's still a work in progress.
• Solids:  Your favorites so far seem to be bananas, peas, sweet potatoes, and pears.
• Sleep training:  You did it baby!  You've gotten yourself to learn how to fall asleep on your own!
• Lowered crib: We had to lower the crib because you could reach the top with your cute little hands.
• Sleeping on your stomach:  This was/is one of the big reasons, I think, you are sleeping so well at night.
• You started sleeping in the crib:  This was a big move and you seem to adjust to having your own room better than mommy and daddy!
• Arm crawling
• Trying to sit up [just look at yourself in the picture above!]
• Your first Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, and Easter
• Rolling over: Front to back first, then back to front, which was your favorite.  For a while, that was the only position you would roll over to
• Teething:  You now have 2!
• Blowing raspberries:  You really like to do it when I feed you. :)
• Reaching out:  You like to touch everything.
• You started liking your bath and you showed it by splashing the water with your feet
• Making the "Mmmmm, mmmmmm..." sound when you eat.

This week we celebrated Mother's Day early with LA Grandma.  We went to The Grove and you were so happy to be on the grass and stretching instead of being in the stroller.  You definitely didn't like sleeping in your new stroller since you were fussy and crying when we had you in there.  You slept in the baby carrier and then on the way home in the car.  

As far as what was on my [daddy] mind during week 24, I was happy that you are such a happy baby.  Your hair is growing a lot longer now and you no longer have that crazy hair.  For the most part, my anxiety and stress is not as high now that you're 6 months old and you are gaining the weight you're needing to and you are taking the sippy cup, although you still don't take an entire meal yet from it.  Before the sippy cup, mommy was the only way you were going to eat, but now, we have another option!  And YOU have another option!  It's difficult to put into words how much we love you Emily.  We love you unconditionally and we have so much fun with you.

Of all the pictures where you're super happy, here's one of our favorites:

Week 11: 01/08/2012 - 01/14/2012

Two birthdays back to back.  First your LA Grandma, and now me (daddy).  This week was significant in that we finally moved you to your own room.  As I wrote in the last entry, we were getting tired and feeling like we were always stuck with no where to go and couldn't make any noise once you fell asleep in our room.  So, we took the opportunity for me when I took a couple of days off for my birthday to transition you to your room.  Prior to moving you to your room, we started to put you down for your naps in your room to make it easier for you to adjust to the crib.  We moved the swing into your room in case we needed it.  Once we started to put you in your own room, you seemed to adjust fine.  There were a couple of nights when you even slept close to 7 hours straight!  We thought we had it made (as mommy would say).  The other big thing we started doing was changing your diaper in your room instead of out in the dining room, where we were changing you.  That made a huge difference!  No more going back and forth from the room to the dining room just to change you in the middle of the night.  I think ultimately, that probably woke you up more than anything else.  Live and learn - that's how we had to learn how to take care of you.

One of the biggest things we didn't know was whether or not you would reject the crib, since you had been sleeping in the Pack and Play.  We were still rocking you down for the night and your bed time, we felt, was so late.  You would normally finally be down for good around 9:30PM.  We were still swaddling you and putting you on your back for sleep and we also made a transition of our own - moving to the guest room right next to your room.  The bed was smaller (queen size instead of king size) and we had to move around a few things in the room to make it more convenient for us.  It was nervous for us because we didn't have you right next to us and we started to use the video monitor at night for the first time.  We weren't the most practical parents in that we would walk all the way back to our room to use the restroom so we wouldn't wake you up.  I remember there was a lot of discussion between mommy and I on where we would put your night light.  Every where we put it seem to be really bright.  We even went to Target to get some bulbs that weren't as bright.  We were so careful around your room because you weren't the best sleeper, so whatever we could do to not wake you was what we did.  We were nervous to wash the dishes, use the bathroom near your room, and I don't remember us ever even turning on the garbage disposal! 

Not a lot of pictures this week, but for my birthday, we went to Layer Cake for lunch with Irvine Grandma.  Afterwards, we were planning on going to Fashion Island, but your eating and napping schedule just got a little stressful, so we decided to get Japanese food from Sushi Kappo instead.  Mommy got me an ice cream cake from Haagen Daaz, but as you can see by the decorations, it was a pretty sad cake.  I told mommy that next year, I'll just do the Baskin Robbins ice cream cake instead. :)

Week 10: 01/01/2012-01/07/2012

We celebrated LA grandma's birthday this week.  We went up to LA and it was a pretty hot day.  So we put you in your nicest dress that we had at the time.  Unfortunately, the only picture we had of you during our visit was one where you were sleeping in the car seat.  I remember your cousins Peter and John were watching a really loud movie at grandma's and I was worried that you couldn't fall asleep for one of your naps.  But with some rocking and probably the warm weather, you feel asleep in the carseat.  Yes, I rocked you in the carseat so you could take your nap.  Oh, the things we did to ensure you fell asleep!!!

The following day, your aunties Kristy and Sandra came down to visit mommy.  They are mommy's best friends and they hadn't yet seen you since you were born.  So they drove all the way from LA to spend time with mommy and they had lunch out in our backyard while you and I hung out in the house.  They got a chance to hold you and you fell asleep on Auntie Kristy's shoulders.

Daddy's boss at work had given you a glow worm/seahorse for Christmas.  It plays music and it lights up.  We had started to use that as part of your wind down, and one night, you were starting to get tired and we captured a great moment where you were started to fuss.  It's one of daddy's favorite pictures of you because we don't have really, any pictures of you when you start to cry.  And the fact that you had your arm around the glow worm made it even more special!

I'm writing these entries way past the week that it occurred, so some of my thoughts and feelings are now kind of disjointed and not all together clear.  I do remember that it was tough to go out with you because you were not taking the bottle and we only had a short period when you had to eat and sleep.  So, going up to LA to see grandma, we had to stop half way back so you could eat.  And while auntie Kristy and Sandra were visiting, there were a couple of times where mommy had to come back in the house to feed you.  I know I wished that you could take the bottle because it would have made things easier for us, but you were gaining weight and overall, you were healthy, so we weren't complaining "too" much.  You were still sleeping well at night (4-5 hour stretches), but that would change drastically in the coming weeks.  One thing we did notice around this time was that you were started to already get a little distracted as you ate, which made the feedings longer than normal.  When you ate, you wanted to look around and I remember mommy saying that you would be on for a minute or two, then look around and then back on, etc.  We think this was the start of when mommy's milk supply started to go down because you wouldn't eat as much as you needed to.  Your personality is really starting to come through.

One thing that mommy just reminded me of was that around this time, we started feeling that we couldn't really do anything since you were sleeping in our room.  So we couldn't make any noise in the living room/kitchen, we couldn't get ready for bed in our bathroom, and you were needing the swing to sleep in some nights.  It was getting harder to put you down in the pack and play, so we decided that on my birthday (1/12) while I was on vacation, we would transition you to your room permanently.  Mommy and I then moved into the guest room so we could be closer to you.

Week 9: 12/25/2011 - 12/31/2011

Your first Christmas Emily!!!!  Your gift to us was a sleepless night.  I remember you got up a lot and it took us a long time to put you back down each time.  We were so tired when we woke up on Christmas Day.  But, you were celebrating your first Christmas and this was our first Christmas as a family.  We saved all of our gifts and we could open them and of course, you were your happy self, sitting in your not-so-favorite bouncy seat.

You got a lot of clothes, but mostly, we were just so grateful to being a family together.  We weren't planning on seeing anyone that day, but we decided to take you out for a walk and we stopped by Irvine Grandma's house.  We gave her her Christmas gift and your Christmas card to her.  I remember that day being pretty sunny and cool, but overall, a gorgeous day.  I also remember thinking how you could be so happy when you were just as sleep deprived as we were!

We started taking you out more because you were older and we knew that your immune system was stronger.  So, we took you to Irvine Spectrum, we walked around the neighborhood with you a lot more, and on New Year's Eve, we took you out for breakfast.  We went to one of our favorite places in Irvine called Layer Cake.  I remember this quite vividly because you fell asleep when we got there and it was still quite early.  Mommy and I got our breakfast and while we were eating, this older couple came in to the bakery.  Within 10 minutes, the woman sneezed about 5-6 times and woke you up.  I was so upset!!!  I was thinking, "Why, of all the places to sit, did you have to sit near us???"  Well, this is how you looked after you woke up.

Yes Emily, I was feeling the same way.  Needless to say, mommy and I didn't stay up too late that night to ring in the new year.  We had a birthday get together to go to (LA Grandma's birthday) and we were just exhausted.  We stayed up to watch some of the New Year Eve celebration on TV and in Times Square, but we turned in soon after.  

This was the start of your 3rd month with us.  And we love you so much Emily.  We continue to thank God that he provided a miracle for us!

Week 8: 12/18/2011 - 12/24/2011

You are really growing baby!  And after this week, you are 2 months old.  It really seemed like time is flying by.  This is the week before Christmas and so far, you have been a cat napper.  30 minutes each nap.  So you are going down for a lot of naps.  It got to a point where we decided we needed outside help.  So we got you your swing.  It was a Fisher Price My Little Lamb swing and we had it out in the our living room.  After I put it together, we put you in the swing for one of your naps.  And it worked!  We were so grateful.  But then, mommy and daddy started to feel guilty about putting you in the swing all the time and we thought that motion sleeping is "junk" sleep (thanks or no thanks to Dr. Weissbluth of Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child).  So, we put you in the swing when rocking you didn't work.  But it worked!  You fell asleep with the swing.

Mommy's brother and his family came to visit you as well this week.  They came by and gave us our Christmas gift (a set of Pyrex glassware) and your Christmas gifts (clothes and more clothes!!!).

We weren't sure what we were going to do for Christmas, so we didn't make any plans with anyone.  We thought that because of the eating and sleeping, it would be too difficult to make plans, so we decided to wing it.  Well, we would get a really "good" Christmas gift from you (see next post).  I (daddy) had already gone back to work for about a month and it had been kind of hard.  Missing you and mommy during the day, but also really tired as I tried to focus on what needed to be done at work.  We felt blessed that God continued to provide a job and a very, very nice and understanding boss.  During this time, mommy had been on her own to take care of you during the day and she was doing such a great job with you (but she was tired, so tired...)

You were able to wear a lot of your holiday outfits!  And we just were so amazed at how fast you were growing....

Week 7: 12/11/11-12/17/11

We were debating on whether or not to celebrate your One Month Birthday with the family.  Part of that was just that you had been spitting up, not sleeping well, and overall, we were just super stressed about your well-being.  However, in the end, we decided to have your One Month Birthday celebration.  It's a very traditional Chinese/Vietnamese celebration for babies and while I don't know any of the specifics, it is a big celebration where you get lots of gifts.  You've been very blessed so far because so many friends and family have given you so much.  Lucky money and clothes are most popular.  For your celebration, we got you a strawberry cake from Layer Cake [one of our favorites!] and Chinese food from Capital Seafood.  We were a little worried because we weren't sure how the day would go with how you hadn't been sleeping.  I know I was a little anxious and stressed.  Irvine Grandma helped me to pick up all the food and by the time everyone came and we started to eat, you were eating yourself.  Everyone had a great time and we were all able to enjoy you.  Even though the One Month celebration didn't actually land on your 1 month birthday, it was important that we celebrated you.

After your celebration on Saturday, we decided we really needed to take you in to see the doctor.  Your spit up wasn't getting better and one of the things that doctor said it might be was "pyloric stenosis", which is a thickening of a muscle that wouldn't allow the milk to get to your stomach/intestines, causing spit up/vomiting.  We went on a Monday and the doctor who saw you also didn't think it was pyloric stenosis.  She thought it might be because we were trying to give you the bottle, and how you were just swallowing a lot of air.  We had some time to kill before the ultrasound, so we went to the mall to have some breakfast.  The ultrasound was done at Irvine Hoag and during the procedure, they needed you to eat.  Which meant....taking the bottle.  Well, you didn't like it and you were crying quite a bit.  And we had to bring you hungry as well, so you were really starving.  By the time the nurse told mommy to feed you, you had swallowed so much air that you also vomited in the lab.  Yikes!  We went home after they felt they got enough pictures and waited for the doctor to call.  Good news!  You don't have pyloric stenosis, which would have bee the worse case scenario.  So, we thought we would just let off on the bottle and see how the rest of the week went.  Sure enough, after we stop introducing the bottle to you, your spit up went down to almost nothing.  So, lesson learned.  We cannot force you to take the bottle.  But, that doesn't mean we have given up on trying to give it to you.

The rest of the week was us trying to figure out how to get you more sleep.  We bought a swing from Babies R Us and thankfully, you've taken to it and have been able to sleep in it.  We didn't want to use it to put you to sleep, but we haven't had much choice this week.  You needed to sleep, and truthfully, so did we.  And we needed a way to not stress about putting you to sleep.  We are still trying to find your internal rhythm of when you need to go down for a nap.  It won't be until week 8 that I think mommy figured it out.  

There were a couple of "firsts" this week.  We had bought this rocker sleeper that you don't mind lying in, but you were never able to sleep in.  Well, you finally did sleep in it, although you had to be already asleep.  Nonetheless, we find these little steps towards sleeping as a positive.

There was this one night I was so wanting you to go to sleep that I put you back in the car seat and walked around the house until you got drowsy.  That took about 20 minutes!  And with the weight of you and the car seat, I was feeling tired!  But you did fall asleep, even though it was only for 20 minutes!

This week ended with mommy and daddy pretty stressed about getting you sleep.  So...we finally started to use the swing more during the day to put you down.  Sometimes you would fight it and it would take 15-20 minutes before you finally fell asleep.  We didn't feel good about using the swing to put you down, but at some point, it was getting tough.  I called it the "vicious cycle".  You would first get fed, then we would burp you.  After that and some downtime, we would soothe you to sleep.  At night, this took so long that it would be time for your next feeding and we would have to do it all over again.  The swing would put you asleep in half the time, sometimes even shorter than what we could do.  Sorry Emily, we never wanted to put you to sleep with the swing, but you needed the sleep!

Mommy and daddy had many talks about not being so stressed with you, but it's hard.  If it's not one thing, it's another.  For a while, it was not gaining weight.  Then it's the lack of sleep.  Sometimes, it's too much feeding.  Then you're sleeping too much.  This parenthood thing is tough!  But we're doing the best we can, because we love you so much!

Week 6: 12/4/11-12/10/11

This week saw a lot of changes in your personality Emily!  As you can see in the picture above, you not only started to smile while you're awake [as opposed to dream smiling], but you're smiling more!  It's been great to see that happy side of you and to see that you are starting to be really enjoy our company!  At least that's what I'm telling myself.

We had a big appointment this week for you.  You had your 6 week check up.  The days leading up to this week however, had been troubling for mommy and me.  You had been spitting up/vomiting for about 3-4 days prior to your 6 week appointment.  And it wasn't a little bit of spit up, but a lot each time.  We were worried that something was going on and we knew we had to ask the doctor.  The doctor didn't think you had anything severe and thought that it was due to gas and mommy's diet.  Mommy already gave up on milk and broccoli, but she was ready to give up more if need be.

While we were at your appointment, you were the perfect baby.  You nursed well and you were even smiling.  The doctor said that you seemed to be nursing well and that you were doing well.  At the weigh in, you were a heft 10 pounds!  You had gained 4 pounds in almost 6 weeks!  We felt relieved that you had gained so much weight.  We knew that you were getting bigger because daddy's back was starting to get sore rocking you to sleep.  At the end of the appointment, we were told you were going to get 3 shots and 1 oral vaccination.  The nurse came in and BAM!  BAM!  BAM!  At least she gave you the oral vaccination first.  She jetted out of the office as you cried your little eyes out.  At least you got 2 Snoopy band-aides.

We knew you would probably be "off" the rest of the day.  The doctor said that you might sleep more that day due to the shots, but guess what?  You didn't!  

This week also brought a number of appointments for mommy.  She had her own 6 week check up.  The OB who looked after you while you were in mommy's tummy responded to our comments about how you don't sleep much during the day with, "I'd rather have a child who partied all day and slept all night!"  You were on your best behavior that day and didn't cry too much.  I had you in the Baby Bjorn, so that helped.  After the appointment, we brought you upstairs to meet the nurse who took care of mommy during her twice a week non-stress test.  Nurse Charlotte was happy to see us and she was thrilled to finally meet you.  You were a big hit with the nurses in that office.

More adventures to come during week 7!  But you're growing and so far, you are a happy, healthy baby.  If you would only nap for more than 5-10 minutes at a time!