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.