Noah has been drooling buckets lately. Going through 5-6 bib a day! Last night ZM told me he could now feel the tip of a tooth poking out. So i stick my finger in Noah's mouth, he was happily chewing away at it, and indeed, a tooth! Or the tip of a front tooth! on his lower gum.
Aside from the first few days out of the hospital, Noah had always loved diaper changing time. Now he had one more reason to be excited about diaper changing. Because it is also the time he could pick up his bear feet and put them in his mouth. Noah loved chewing his feet. We captured him on video the other night when it was warmer than usual, so i let out his feet from his sleeping sack.
小人儿这几天口水狂流. 刚换上的围嘴,几分钟就湿透了. 昨晚到家后,米粥说Noah啃他手指时,能感觉到小牙了.我伸了个指头给他, 小家伙欢天喜地地啃起来. 果然! 小牙冒尖儿了! 下面的门牙. 硬硬的.
Noah一直很喜欢换尿布换衣服这类活动. 现在更喜欢了因为他又发现了一个新鲜东西啃,自己的小脚丫. 前晚看电视时他有点热,我就把他的小脚丫从睡袍里掏出来. 小家伙津津有味地啃起来...
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Noah and Food
最近我们吃饭时都会捡些小颗粒喂小家伙.一般他吃了张嘴还要,或者扑过来抓住我们的手都表示喜欢.噗次一声吐出来就表示不喜欢.
Dinner time used to mean nap time for Noah. Then it turned into half play time in the bouncer, half play time on Mom's lap. Then he started to notice the dishes on the table. We got him a high chair about a month ago, so he could sit with us, playing with his teething toy while we eat.
Very soon, he became a lot more interested in what we eat than in his toys.
After reading Hungry Monkey, we decided to feed him scraps of whatever we eat instead of making pureed "baby food" for him. Apparently before 6 months old, babies eat more for social experience than for nutrition.
So far, we found out that he liked egg omelet, bread, apple, grape (skinless), roasted chicken...He also loves to drink from my sigg bottle, which happens to have a sports cap that he could suck. Every time he drank from my bottle, he has this serious look on his face, as if saying, "this is serious! i'm drinking from a grown up bottle!"
He doesn't care for rice, porridge, curry.
Last week ZM cooked rib. We let Noah had a taste of it. He was blown away. His eyes popped out, he slammed both of his hands on his highchair table, and dived toward my hands for more! When I took the bone away, he cried. It was the first time he cried for table food.
这次吃排骨的表现不同凡响.只见他两眼放光,两只小手往自己高椅上的小桌子一拍,一个小人几乎要从椅子里跳将出来了.
周密因此发明了一种新的标准, 好吃到什么程度,有没有"拍案而起"?:)
可惜当时没有录像.这里录下的是他对我们把排骨拿走表示抗议.
可惜当时没有录像.这里录下的是他对我们把排骨拿走表示抗议.
Dinner time used to mean nap time for Noah. Then it turned into half play time in the bouncer, half play time on Mom's lap. Then he started to notice the dishes on the table. We got him a high chair about a month ago, so he could sit with us, playing with his teething toy while we eat.
Very soon, he became a lot more interested in what we eat than in his toys.
After reading Hungry Monkey, we decided to feed him scraps of whatever we eat instead of making pureed "baby food" for him. Apparently before 6 months old, babies eat more for social experience than for nutrition.
So far, we found out that he liked egg omelet, bread, apple, grape (skinless), roasted chicken...He also loves to drink from my sigg bottle, which happens to have a sports cap that he could suck. Every time he drank from my bottle, he has this serious look on his face, as if saying, "this is serious! i'm drinking from a grown up bottle!"
He doesn't care for rice, porridge, curry.
Last week ZM cooked rib. We let Noah had a taste of it. He was blown away. His eyes popped out, he slammed both of his hands on his highchair table, and dived toward my hands for more! When I took the bone away, he cried. It was the first time he cried for table food.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Four Month Check Up 四个月例行检查
Weight 体重: 17lb 1oz, 7.739kg (89%)
Height 身高*: 2'1.5" 0.638m (74%)
HC 头围: 17.52" 44.5cm (96%)
身高量得不准. 小腿没伸直. 我们在家里量的至少26英寸(.66m)了. 头可真大啊. 真是个大头.
时间选了个周四以为会避开高峰期(周一周五), 结果却落在退伍军人日, 一般公司不放假但是学校放假, 所以打针的地方人山人海, 等了近两个小时才轮到.以后千万要查好日历...这次打针又是出了护士室的门就不哭了. 真乖.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Food
Noah started to express interests in food we eat.
He is often awake during our dinner time, and usually only happy in his bouncer for half of our dinner time. During the 2nd half, i usually hold him in my lap with my left arm and eat dinner using my right. After a few weeks watching us eat and trying to keep himself entertained by looking around the dinner table. He finally decided he wanted some action too. He started leaning toward the dinner table, and tries to grab whatever we have in our plates/bowls.
So lately we started to pick up pieces of the food and gave him a little taste. He is usually satisfied or puzzled after a lick. His reaction turned interesting starting yesterday.
We had thai take-out. so i dipped my chopstick in a little of my green curry dish and presented the chopstick to Noah. He eagerly sucked on it. Immediately he made a yucky face and started spitting out, what looked like, all of the saliva in his mouth. He continued to making the spitting sound even after he spitted out everything. It was the first time he showed his dislike of any food.
It is either because the curry taste is too much for him, or he finally gained some taste-bud?
This morning, he showed lots of interests of our breakfast. So i offered him a small piece of my omelet to lick. instead of merely licking, he took a bite (even though he has yet to teeth) like a hungry little beast! He loved it!
This morning we bought some grape from the farmer's market, and i washed a bunch for snack. Sitting in my lap, Noah stared at the grape very intently. So i bite off half of one grape, and offered him the other half, he eagerly sucked/chewed it to taste the juice. He seemed to really enjoy it.
For dinner we had fish and veggie. He obviously loved the fish, and made spitting sound on the veggie. :-/
He is often awake during our dinner time, and usually only happy in his bouncer for half of our dinner time. During the 2nd half, i usually hold him in my lap with my left arm and eat dinner using my right. After a few weeks watching us eat and trying to keep himself entertained by looking around the dinner table. He finally decided he wanted some action too. He started leaning toward the dinner table, and tries to grab whatever we have in our plates/bowls.
So lately we started to pick up pieces of the food and gave him a little taste. He is usually satisfied or puzzled after a lick. His reaction turned interesting starting yesterday.
We had thai take-out. so i dipped my chopstick in a little of my green curry dish and presented the chopstick to Noah. He eagerly sucked on it. Immediately he made a yucky face and started spitting out, what looked like, all of the saliva in his mouth. He continued to making the spitting sound even after he spitted out everything. It was the first time he showed his dislike of any food.
It is either because the curry taste is too much for him, or he finally gained some taste-bud?
This morning, he showed lots of interests of our breakfast. So i offered him a small piece of my omelet to lick. instead of merely licking, he took a bite (even though he has yet to teeth) like a hungry little beast! He loved it!
This morning we bought some grape from the farmer's market, and i washed a bunch for snack. Sitting in my lap, Noah stared at the grape very intently. So i bite off half of one grape, and offered him the other half, he eagerly sucked/chewed it to taste the juice. He seemed to really enjoy it.
For dinner we had fish and veggie. He obviously loved the fish, and made spitting sound on the veggie. :-/
快四个月了 Almost Four Months Old
Noah's face seems to change everyday. He looks more and more like a little boy instead of a little baby now. He can sit sometimes with his arms stuck out in front to balance himself. ZM joked "just like a chimpanzee!" He could roll over consistently with some help. He loves lying on his stomach and look around. he could also grasp toys quite well now.
He still loves to smile and laugh, any hour of the day. He took two weeks off from babbling though. His silence got me worried for a bit, luckily he just started "talking" again a couple of days ago, coincide with another heat wave (in November! it is crazy). This morning, he woke up at 7:30 and started "humming" to himself. It was hilarious.
Noah的脸一天天变化, 越来越像个小男孩, 而不是小婴孩了. 他有时候把手支在身前就可以自己坐一会. 米粥笑他 "像猩猩似的!" 翻身还是需要外力帮助一下. 趴得很好了, 趴着时挺胸抬头地可以东张西望很久.
依然爱笑, 无论早晚. 前两个星期他突然沉默起来不再嗯啊说话了. 吓着了我们. 不过前天开始好像闭关结束, 又开始长篇大论发表意见了. 今天早上七点半醒了,天还没亮,他居然悠悠然唱起小曲儿来, 好玩极了.
昨天拍的录像. 抓东西时手指的协调性已经很好了.
He still loves to smile and laugh, any hour of the day. He took two weeks off from babbling though. His silence got me worried for a bit, luckily he just started "talking" again a couple of days ago, coincide with another heat wave (in November! it is crazy). This morning, he woke up at 7:30 and started "humming" to himself. It was hilarious.
Noah的脸一天天变化, 越来越像个小男孩, 而不是小婴孩了. 他有时候把手支在身前就可以自己坐一会. 米粥笑他 "像猩猩似的!" 翻身还是需要外力帮助一下. 趴得很好了, 趴着时挺胸抬头地可以东张西望很久.
依然爱笑, 无论早晚. 前两个星期他突然沉默起来不再嗯啊说话了. 吓着了我们. 不过前天开始好像闭关结束, 又开始长篇大论发表意见了. 今天早上七点半醒了,天还没亮,他居然悠悠然唱起小曲儿来, 好玩极了.
昨天拍的录像. 抓东西时手指的协调性已经很好了.
Monday, October 25, 2010
翻身 Rollover
Last week was my first week back to work. ZM and Noah not only survived their first week without Mommy during the day, they even managed to practice roll-over daily. So on Saturday morning, Noah showed me how to roll over for the first time!
上周是我回去上班第一周. 爷儿俩白天过得挺好的. Noah只有在周三晚上我回家前大闹了一次,狂哭了四十分钟. 其他时间都很好. 他们还天天练习翻身. 周六给我表演来着.这是录像. 小家伙抑扬顿挫的哼哈声还挺有练武术的气氛...
上周是我回去上班第一周. 爷儿俩白天过得挺好的. Noah只有在周三晚上我回家前大闹了一次,狂哭了四十分钟. 其他时间都很好. 他们还天天练习翻身. 周六给我表演来着.这是录像. 小家伙抑扬顿挫的哼哈声还挺有练武术的气氛...
Sunday, October 17, 2010
夜莺
最近两天小家伙会突然在晚上九十点钟醒来,然后特别高兴的又说又笑十几分钟.昨晚ZM抱他在屋里遛弯,哄他睡时,走到厨房他又开始了这一活动,我赶紧抓了相机拍下来. 很可爱. 这也是我产假期间最后一篇博了. 上班后看到他的时间会少很多. 真舍不得...
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Three Month
Yesterday Noah did something funny when i placed him on his gym blanket, face up. He started kicking his legs against the bed, as if he was swimming-breast stroke style, except he is facing up, and inched himself headward quite a bit. He really enjoyed this movement, so he kept kicking. Just when i was thinking what would happen once he reached the end of the bed, Noah did just that, another hard kick, his head was at the headboard and couldn't go any further. What's more, he kicked so hard, that his head banged on the board, it must have hurt, he started crying bloody murder.
Later we put him into his crib after he fell asleep around 9pm, an hour later, he has turned himself 90 degrees in his crib, while sleeping. ZM was startled when he went to check on Noah, where did he go?!
Noah seems to have the desire to skip crawling and going straight to walking. Often he demanded us to hold him up in our lap so he could look around. Today, we discovered a new game. I held him up then let go for a brief moment(both hands were still next to him torso), he fell, i caught him before he hit any surface. He LOVED it so much that he laughed out loud. So cute.
He also finally started acknowledge the cats' existence. He would even watch them fight for a few seconds. (He has noticed the dog since end of September, a few days before Yangmama came back from her China vacation, during which Anita stayed with us).
Another thing he started to enjoy is to watch animated clips on laptops. For example, he could watch up to three music video on this playlist before he got bored.
On our large bookshelf, we have English books in some cube, and Chinese ones in others. Noah showed a lot more interests to the Chinese sections than to the English ones. Probably because Chinese characters are pictorial?
While putting Noah to sleep, ZM would sing all kinds of tones, from revolutionary peking opera to Chinese pop. I only sing one song, Ella's Summer Time. I started singing this to him since he first discharged from the hospital. In a week, he caught on and singing this seemed to calm him down and eventually put him to sleep. But recently, this song started to affect him differently. Instead of putting him to sleep, whenever i sing this song, he would wake up and start laughing. What gives? Is he showing how much he loves the song? or is he laughing at my singing?! I would have to ask him that when he grows up!
Summer Time, When the Living is Easy
Fish are jumping, and the Cotton is High
Your Daddy is Rich,
and Your Ma is Good Looking
So Hush little Baby
Don't You Cry...
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Noah "Discovered" My Laptop - Day 88
I often have my laptop open while holding Noah. Most often, i was updating his daily spreadsheet that tracks his baby activities. My usual seat was right by the bookshelf. Usually Noah completely ignores my laptop, and turns his head toward our colorful bookshelf, or the big window behind me. Today, however, he suddenly noticed the laptop screen. What's more, he discovered he could "type" on the keyboard, and things happen on the screen!
So i quickly opened a blank doc and allowed him to type away, ZM quickly picked up the camera and started recording...
So i quickly opened a blank doc and allowed him to type away, ZM quickly picked up the camera and started recording...
Monday, October 4, 2010
小猴子
新玩具Jumperoo上面有一个小塑料猴子的挂件. Noah 对它情有独钟. 从第一次坐进Jumperoo就一心一意地望着它,跟它讲话. 在Jumperoo上坐不了多久就会发脾气.开始以为他发脾气是因为眼花缭乱烦了. 昨天看到Noah烦了之后又蹦又跳地把自己转了小半圈,正好转到右边小手可以抓到小猴子的角度.这下开心了,抓着小猴子唧唧咕咕说了好多话. 所以他发脾气是因为够不着抓不了玩具.
(健身毯(Gym blanket)上也有类似造型的一个小猴子,同样颜色不过是绒布做的,挂在毯子上面, Noah也是对它很感兴趣.不知道是这个颜色组合吸引他还是这个造型?)
周六拍的录像, Noah专心地望着小猴子说话.
周日就能抓着小猴子说话了.
自从昨天抓到了小猴子,今天开始就对小猴子兴趣小了,开始移情别恋,和小猴子旁边的小鹦鹉套起交情来.
(健身毯(Gym blanket)上也有类似造型的一个小猴子,同样颜色不过是绒布做的,挂在毯子上面, Noah也是对它很感兴趣.不知道是这个颜色组合吸引他还是这个造型?)
周六拍的录像, Noah专心地望着小猴子说话.
周日就能抓着小猴子说话了.
自从昨天抓到了小猴子,今天开始就对小猴子兴趣小了,开始移情别恋,和小猴子旁边的小鹦鹉套起交情来.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Week 12 - Routine and Exception
- Morning starts around 7ish, almost always super happy and talkative
- Stay awake and mostly happy the entire morning with little 10-20min naps here and there. Wants to do lots of activities, playing with mommy or daddy, jumperoo, and going around in the baby carrier.
- Have a long nap (2-3 hours) in the early afternoon, then woke up, usually happy, stay active until early evening
- Early evening(starts around 5, 6ish) is the worst part of day for Noah. He tends to be really fussy. This is the time when he demands to be held by mommy, and cry bloody murder otherwise.
- Fell asleep around 8ish. Before midnight he would wake up every 30-45 min for a little cuddle, then go back to sleep.
- Sometimes request a evening bottle before mid-night, sometimes not.
- usually woke up once during the night around 1 or 2. then sleep till 5ish.
We started to put him to sleep in his crib a couple of days ago. He has been doing pretty well.
Eating is another matter altogether. Sometimes he would take the bottle without any fuss even when he was not drowsy. But sometimes he acts really confused, one minute he is sucking on the bottle vigorously as if he was famished, the next minute he would spit the bottle out and wriggling like crazy and crying too, then a few minutes later, he would drink up the entire bottle peacefully.
but as long as he is hydrated(producing enough wet diapers) and not losing weight, i guess we need not worry.
Another development is that he started to pay attention to toys and the dog (cats are still not in his radar yet, maybe cuz they are too small and mostly stay on the ground which is not yet in his line of sight.)
Overall, he has become a much happier baby than his newborn stage. I finally feel like I'm getting a full night of sleep and can get through the day without any naps.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Getting Vertical - 站起来了
第十一个星期
Noah 现在喜欢站在大人的腿上当然需要我们用手托在他的腋下, 东张西望. 小腿很有劲,几乎可以承受自己的重量了.出生时的"罗圈儿腿"已经直了. 背靠垫子枕头坐着也将就. 不喜欢躺着.
看东西开始看细节.特别喜欢冰箱门上的定时器.我想是因为上面三个小小的红色按钮很醒目的缘故.
开始津津有味地舔自己的小拳头. 好在只是偶尔为之.
前面说到小家伙不肯吃奶瓶. 网上研究了一下说是两个月大的小孩开始有了自我意识. 在自我意识成型前, 他们靠条件反射来决定行为. 知道了自我,就有了好恶的认识, 能够选择了.所以有的小孩就会选择不要吃奶瓶. 所以原来这是他第一个作为个体的自我意识! 但愿这不是将来他变成青少年时的预演.
The Eleventh Week
Noah now loves standing in our lap and look around. His little legs are very strong, could almost bare his own weight completely. The "bowl legs" during birth have straightened out. Occasionally leaving him propped sitting up on a sofa/chair/bed will do too. He really enjoys the view of being vertical.
He could also see many finer details on objects. One of his favorite objects in the house is our timer on the frig. He could stare at it for over a minute whenever we walk through the kitchen. I think it is probably the three bright red but tiny buttons on the timer that caught his eyes.
Started licking his own fists (especially the right fist, right handed?). So far he doesn't do it that often, so we let him enjoy it.
Previously i just said Noah refuses bottle feeding. After some research, turned out it is because 2 month usually is the time when baby started to become self-aware. They can now make a conscious decision based on preference.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
New Challenge - Refusing Bottle
Around his 3rd week, Noah started crying and refusing food (both bottle and breast). He would even cry in the middle of his sleep. We were perplexed. Then we were told by nurse and doctor that it might be gas. So we burped him more, and it seemed to have worked.
Slowly, we mastered the art of burping and learned to co-op with his crying in the middle of a feeding or from the middle of his sleep. By 6th week, we were cruising. Things are looking up.
Then Noah thought of something new to keep us on our toes. He suddenly started to refuse bottle a couple of weeks agp. Not formula itself, just the form of delivery of formula - the bottle. Because we could sneak the bottle feeding in while he was drowsy or asleep. So we know the formula itself, the taste or whatever, was not the reason for his refusal.
He just decided that he didn't like bottle. Merely putting the rubber nipple to his lips would cause him to cry bloody murder. The only time he would drink from a bottle were when he was super super hungry AND when he was drowsy. Missing either element won't do.
Up until now we have always said that Noah is a reasonable baby. But this time he went too far. we started to let him cry out when he threw another fit at the bottle. We put him on the swing and turn on the mobile. The funny thing is that in between crying he would angrily "talk" to his own reflection, as if doing a self-therapy and eventually he would calm himself down. Then we would pick him up again and try to rock him to sleep in our arms (maybe sneak in the bottle then).
Feeding suddenly becomes difficult, especially now I'm preparing to go back to work. He would HAVE TO take the bottle even for breast milk during the day when i'm at work.
Hopefully this is just a phase that he would outgrow soon. :(
On the positive side, sometimes he refuses the bottle with a smile. It was rather cute, and one couldn't get mad at him when he does that.
update 9/22/2010:
Did a little more research on this. Seemed like a common problem, babies would take bottle when they were a few weeks old because they were "feeding reflexively" then. When they reach 2 month, they became self-aware, and starts to make decisions. One of such decision is the preference of breast over bottle. And looks like we are trying all the tips given here, all we need is patience and time. By the time i'm out of the house and he is hungry, he will accept bottle eventually. Sure hope so. It is really frustrating.
http://www.pamf.org/children/newborns/feeding/refusal.html
Slowly, we mastered the art of burping and learned to co-op with his crying in the middle of a feeding or from the middle of his sleep. By 6th week, we were cruising. Things are looking up.
Then Noah thought of something new to keep us on our toes. He suddenly started to refuse bottle a couple of weeks agp. Not formula itself, just the form of delivery of formula - the bottle. Because we could sneak the bottle feeding in while he was drowsy or asleep. So we know the formula itself, the taste or whatever, was not the reason for his refusal.
He just decided that he didn't like bottle. Merely putting the rubber nipple to his lips would cause him to cry bloody murder. The only time he would drink from a bottle were when he was super super hungry AND when he was drowsy. Missing either element won't do.
Up until now we have always said that Noah is a reasonable baby. But this time he went too far. we started to let him cry out when he threw another fit at the bottle. We put him on the swing and turn on the mobile. The funny thing is that in between crying he would angrily "talk" to his own reflection, as if doing a self-therapy and eventually he would calm himself down. Then we would pick him up again and try to rock him to sleep in our arms (maybe sneak in the bottle then).
Feeding suddenly becomes difficult, especially now I'm preparing to go back to work. He would HAVE TO take the bottle even for breast milk during the day when i'm at work.
Hopefully this is just a phase that he would outgrow soon. :(
On the positive side, sometimes he refuses the bottle with a smile. It was rather cute, and one couldn't get mad at him when he does that.
update 9/22/2010:
Did a little more research on this. Seemed like a common problem, babies would take bottle when they were a few weeks old because they were "feeding reflexively" then. When they reach 2 month, they became self-aware, and starts to make decisions. One of such decision is the preference of breast over bottle. And looks like we are trying all the tips given here, all we need is patience and time. By the time i'm out of the house and he is hungry, he will accept bottle eventually. Sure hope so. It is really frustrating.
http://www.pamf.org/children/newborns/feeding/refusal.html
Friday, September 17, 2010
小人儿坐大椅子
Noah can sit up a bit with back support now. He could also put some weight on his own feet when we lift him up. He really enjoys this new point of view.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
2 Month Check Up - 两个月例行检查
Weight 体重: 6.379kg(14lb 1oz) 92%
Height 身高: 0.622m (2' 0.5") 92%
Head Circumference 头围: 42cm (16.54") 90%
百分比的意思是在同龄的小孩里, 每一百个里只有八个比我们高比我们胖,只有十个头比我们大!
真真是个大胖小子. 米粥说我们要小心点控制饮食不能再肥下去了...
检查身体时倒是很开心. Happy Baby on doctor's examination table.
Getting shots. 今天还打了三针预防针. Noah虽然打的时候哭得很厉害,打完了就好了.
打完预防针回家后有点发烧,看来接下来两天大家都睡不成觉了...
Noah gets a low fever after the shots, really fussy all afternoon. guess no one gets to sleep the next couple of nights...
Height 身高: 0.622m (2' 0.5") 92%
Head Circumference 头围: 42cm (16.54") 90%
百分比的意思是在同龄的小孩里, 每一百个里只有八个比我们高比我们胖,只有十个头比我们大!
真真是个大胖小子. 米粥说我们要小心点控制饮食不能再肥下去了...
检查身体时倒是很开心. Happy Baby on doctor's examination table.
Getting shots. 今天还打了三针预防针. Noah虽然打的时候哭得很厉害,打完了就好了.
打完预防针回家后有点发烧,看来接下来两天大家都睡不成觉了...
Noah gets a low fever after the shots, really fussy all afternoon. guess no one gets to sleep the next couple of nights...
Saturday, September 11, 2010
温暖的九月－Warm September
九月很温暖，几乎天天一早起来家里就阳光灿烂，一直灿烂到太阳落山．．．
小人儿“词汇量”大增．
Warm September. We have brilliant sunlight almost everyday, from sunrise to sundown, from living room to bedrom...
Noah's babbling now has more sound combination. His emotion/expression also starta to become more subtle, instead of stark black and white, there are now shades of gray...interesting...
劳动节长周末 labor day weekend：
九月十一, today 9/11：
小人儿“词汇量”大增．
Warm September. We have brilliant sunlight almost everyday, from sunrise to sundown, from living room to bedrom...
Noah's babbling now has more sound combination. His emotion/expression also starta to become more subtle, instead of stark black and white, there are now shades of gray...interesting...
劳动节长周末 labor day weekend：
九月十一, today 9/11：
Saturday, September 4, 2010
The Eighth Week - Settling Down
Noah will be 8 weeks old on the coming Monday. He has figured out a routine that he likes for the morning and the evening. Afternoon is the period that he couldn't make up his mind about.
In the morning he is awake most of the time, happy, talkative and mostly self-sufficient. rarely fuss. Yesterday we took the advantage of his morning calm and took him with us to City Hall where we picked up his birth certificate.
In the evening starting around 8pm, he sleeps till 11:30 at least. Occasionally wakes up for burp or cuddle.
In the afternoon, he alternates between sleep through most of it and stay awake and then fuss since he wants to sleep but couldn't.
From mid-night to 2am he alternates between sleeping like a log and stay wide awake and happily babbling away by himself.
His usual feeding time at night has settled into 2amish, 4amish, and 6amish.
He is close to 24 inches long, and weight in the upper 13lbs based on our own method of weighting with his cloth and diaper on. As Claudia has noticed from the pictures, he has grown chubby! His two fat cheeks resembles a chipmonk cartoon! ha. Now i start to worry whether he has gone from underweight 5 weeks ago to overweight! :-/
In the morning he is awake most of the time, happy, talkative and mostly self-sufficient. rarely fuss. Yesterday we took the advantage of his morning calm and took him with us to City Hall where we picked up his birth certificate.
In the evening starting around 8pm, he sleeps till 11:30 at least. Occasionally wakes up for burp or cuddle.
In the afternoon, he alternates between sleep through most of it and stay awake and then fuss since he wants to sleep but couldn't.
From mid-night to 2am he alternates between sleeping like a log and stay wide awake and happily babbling away by himself.
His usual feeding time at night has settled into 2amish, 4amish, and 6amish.
He is close to 24 inches long, and weight in the upper 13lbs based on our own method of weighting with his cloth and diaper on. As Claudia has noticed from the pictures, he has grown chubby! His two fat cheeks resembles a chipmonk cartoon! ha. Now i start to worry whether he has gone from underweight 5 weeks ago to overweight! :-/
Monday, August 30, 2010
A 7 Wk Old Sound Box 七周大的小话匣子
Noah is now 7 week's old. He has been cooing with more "phrases". Morning seems to be Noah's happiest time and he tends to wake up around 7-8ish and stay awake and happy till 11ish, sometimes noon! ZM made a couple of more videos of him cooing this morning, hoping to record his newly expanded "vocabularies".
今天小人儿满七周了．早晨／上午总是他最开心最活泼的时段．他一般七八点钟笑眯眯地醒过来．除了传统项目“手舞足蹈”，小人儿还很爱讲话，可以边舞边自言自语到十一点左右．今早米粥拍的录像，试图记录小人儿新近学会发的音节．．．
今天小人儿满七周了．早晨／上午总是他最开心最活泼的时段．他一般七八点钟笑眯眯地醒过来．除了传统项目“手舞足蹈”，小人儿还很爱讲话，可以边舞边自言自语到十一点左右．今早米粥拍的录像，试图记录小人儿新近学会发的音节．．．
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Having Brunch at Gui & Matthew's 第一次带小人儿串门儿
Perfect weather, Gui and Matthew invited us to have brunch at their lovely patio. Sun was warm, the San Francisco Bay was blue, food was amazing, even the 7-week-old Noah surprised us by waking up in his normal nap time and enjoyed the outdoors among us during (half) the meal.
Feel so fortunate to have such amazing friends...
天气堪称完美，桂和马修做出丰盛早餐，我们在她们美丽的大阳台上晒太阳，赏海（湾）景，尝美食，品美酒．七个星期大的小人儿出人意外地合作，平生第一次开开心心坐在边上享受旧金山的户外生活．能拥有这样一个周末的我们何其幸运．．．
Feel so fortunate to have such amazing friends...
天气堪称完美，桂和马修做出丰盛早餐，我们在她们美丽的大阳台上晒太阳，赏海（湾）景，尝美食，品美酒．七个星期大的小人儿出人意外地合作，平生第一次开开心心坐在边上享受旧金山的户外生活．能拥有这样一个周末的我们何其幸运．．．
Thursday, August 26, 2010
How a Piglet Was Created...
On the morning of the hottest day in San Fran, ZM made a funny video of Noah, enjoy!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Noah In the Morning
Every morning when he wakes up, Noah has always been in a good mood.
This is from this morning around 7am:
Indian Summer
Before we moved to the south bay, we used to live on the sunny side of the city. So yang mama was very surprised by the July-gloom when she was helping us during Noah's first month，Afterwards, she started thinking we live in such depressing weather all year round; even when i told her our summer doesnt show till fall, she remains skeptical.
today we had our first mini-heatwave.
we could finally dress Noah in summer-wear! Unfortunately Noah had outgrown all his new-born clothing, even thought he just reached his 6-week mark. luckily we found this 3-6 month sized onesie! boy, he grew so fast!
i also remembered how i dislike hot weather, esp when there is a screaming baby in my arms. thank god for SF's cool summer then, i shall remember to complain less during july.
today we had our first mini-heatwave.
we could finally dress Noah in summer-wear! Unfortunately Noah had outgrown all his new-born clothing, even thought he just reached his 6-week mark. luckily we found this 3-6 month sized onesie! boy, he grew so fast!
i also remembered how i dislike hot weather, esp when there is a screaming baby in my arms. thank god for SF's cool summer then, i shall remember to complain less during july.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Most Useful Baby Gears So Far
Almost all the baby gears either we bought or were given to us by kind hearted friends and co-workers are very essential. But there are two that really made a huge difference in our post-baby lives.
1. Exercise Ball
I bought this toward the end of my pregnancy, when all the chairs that used to be comfortable were no longer so with my newly acquired mess.
When Noah reached his 3-week mark and suddenly became more fussy, i did some research and learned that holding a crying baby and bounce on this exercise ball could calm babies down.
We tried and it worked like magic. Till this day, this ball is still the most calming device we have for an angry Noah.
2. Cradle Swing
We first tried place Noah in this when he was fussy, it just made him even more upset. But he did enjoy it when he was happy, he would coo to the mobile and his own reflection in the mirror for a long time. A perfect self-entertainment device for Noah.
Then ZM started using it when Noah wants to get to sleep but couldn't. The swing did a great job rock him to sleep. Later ZM discovered the most amazing use to this day: Noah sleeps much better in the swing AFTER falling asleep in our arms. Used to be we put him down, then he would wake up in less than 10 minutes, crying. Putting him in the swing seems to extend Noah's sleep session to at least an hour, sometimes over an hour.
It was so amazing to be able to count on Noah's newly found longer sleep period. I managed to make pancake for our breakfast a few mornings ago. I haven't been able to do that since Noah was born. I'm thinking of making bread in a few days. Ah, even the thought of it makes me smile--slowly we are getting our normal life back...some aspect of our normal life at least.
There is light at the end of the tunnel!
======
Oh, and on the baby update front: Noah used to only coo when he was happy. Today he started making some cooing sound when he was upset! Hmmm... maybe i shouldn't call those "cooing", baby-cursing?!
1. Exercise Ball
When Noah reached his 3-week mark and suddenly became more fussy, i did some research and learned that holding a crying baby and bounce on this exercise ball could calm babies down.
We tried and it worked like magic. Till this day, this ball is still the most calming device we have for an angry Noah.
2. Cradle Swing
We first tried place Noah in this when he was fussy, it just made him even more upset. But he did enjoy it when he was happy, he would coo to the mobile and his own reflection in the mirror for a long time. A perfect self-entertainment device for Noah.
Then ZM started using it when Noah wants to get to sleep but couldn't. The swing did a great job rock him to sleep. Later ZM discovered the most amazing use to this day: Noah sleeps much better in the swing AFTER falling asleep in our arms. Used to be we put him down, then he would wake up in less than 10 minutes, crying. Putting him in the swing seems to extend Noah's sleep session to at least an hour, sometimes over an hour.
It was so amazing to be able to count on Noah's newly found longer sleep period. I managed to make pancake for our breakfast a few mornings ago. I haven't been able to do that since Noah was born. I'm thinking of making bread in a few days. Ah, even the thought of it makes me smile--slowly we are getting our normal life back...some aspect of our normal life at least.
There is light at the end of the tunnel!
======
Oh, and on the baby update front: Noah used to only coo when he was happy. Today he started making some cooing sound when he was upset! Hmmm... maybe i shouldn't call those "cooing", baby-cursing?!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
A Miraculous Night
Last night we witnessed a miracle ...[drum rolls]...
Noah almost slept through the whole night!
i suspect it was just a happy incident, but hopefully it starts a positive feedback loop and puts him on the right track.
we have many theories as to why, maybe all of these are true, and a combination of them created the miracle!
1. lots of feeding during the day so he is fully loaded before the evening
2. lots of stimulation during the day that have tired him out: tummy time, going outside for the first time
3. he was been awake more hours than usual during the day
4. ZM did a very thorough job burping him before putting him to bed: got four huge burps out of him!
last but not the least, THANK YOU, Claudia, for all the super useful baby gears that contributed to this miracle:
Noah almost slept through the whole night!
i suspect it was just a happy incident, but hopefully it starts a positive feedback loop and puts him on the right track.
we have many theories as to why, maybe all of these are true, and a combination of them created the miracle!
1. lots of feeding during the day so he is fully loaded before the evening
2. lots of stimulation during the day that have tired him out: tummy time, going outside for the first time
3. he was been awake more hours than usual during the day
4. ZM did a very thorough job burping him before putting him to bed: got four huge burps out of him!
last but not the least, THANK YOU, Claudia, for all the super useful baby gears that contributed to this miracle:
- Cradle Swing - Noah can sleep longer and deeper when we place him in it
- Little Gym blanket
Let's see what tonight brings...
Introducing Noah to his City
The weather in SF finally makes its departure from gloomy summer and advances toward the glorious fall. Starting yesterday we were able to see sunlight from our place before noon! So we decided to take Noah out for a stroll, introducing him to his City (hopefully he will get to grow up in this beautiful city that we love so much.)
A few photos, too...
So where to start? We want to go to a place where parking is easy, plenty of sunlight, good scenery, and has path for stroller to roll. So i suggested Fort Point, where we used to go in early weekend morning to watch the surfers under the GG bridge. That was when we were living on Cole street. Now it means we have to go across the entire city to get there. But since it is a weekday, we figure the traffic shouldn't be so bad.
During the ride, Noah was sound asleep in his car seat. The city scene flows by in the brilliant sunlight. My mind started wonder: The first time i went to Fort Point w/ ZM; Hitchcock film Vertigo, which had a scene shot at the fence at the end of Fort Point facing the gigantic bridge; and the days when sis and i first arrived in SF, roaming the city w/ a muni pass...
Noah made a little protesting whimpering, which brought me back to present tense. The sun was shinning on his face. so i adjusted the sun shade on the car seat to block the strong light. In the not so distant future, this little baby will grow into a teenager, and he will roam the city on his own, and fill it with his own memory and adventure, then he would leave all that behind and go explore the world, and from time to time, he will think of SF through his own lens of memory with his own sentiments like i am now thinking of beijing...
Meanwhile, here is our very first memory of Noah and Fort Point.
Noah made a little protesting whimpering, which brought me back to present tense. The sun was shinning on his face. so i adjusted the sun shade on the car seat to block the strong light. In the not so distant future, this little baby will grow into a teenager, and he will roam the city on his own, and fill it with his own memory and adventure, then he would leave all that behind and go explore the world, and from time to time, he will think of SF through his own lens of memory with his own sentiments like i am now thinking of beijing...
Meanwhile, here is our very first memory of Noah and Fort Point.
A few photos, too...
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| Daddy |
 |
| Mommy |
 |
| ...and Baby |
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Bath and Gym 洗澡的魔力
Last night was the first time ZM and I gave Noah a bath without YangMama's help.
ZM suggested we let Noah soak for a few more minutes after the wash. So we did and Noah really enjoyed it! He even relaxed one fist to play with the water, and his facial expression was borderline smiling.
afterwards, Noah had an amazing peaceful night. He slept in two huge chunks, 4 hours and 3 hours. I felt like being given a miracle! Maybe we should bath him every night?
Some video clips at the end of the post from this morning after a good night of rest.
昨晚是羊妈妈回家后我们第一次给Noah洗澡．ZM说让他多泡一会，他应该会很舒服．结果小家伙真的很享受．泡着泡着紧紧攥着的小拳头都松开了一个，小脸上若隐若现一个微笑．
惊奇还在后面．泡完澡小家伙一口气睡了差不多四个钟头（夜里十点到临晨两点）！先是在摇篮里摇着睡了两个小时，然后他不愿意了，米粥就让他趴在胸口又睡了两个小时．起来换了尿布，先吃母乳，然后又喝了两盎司的配方奶，稍微清醒了一会三点钟就又呼呼睡过去．我一直等着他醒，听到他吭哧吭哧叫两声我就跳起来，听到他咳嗽又翻身下床，结果人家睡得好好的．一直到五点多，我实在忍不住把他滴溜起来吃奶．他意思意思吃了几口又昏睡过去．一直到六点天亮了他才真刀真枪地哭喊要开饭．吃完倒头睡到七点半醒过来．
不知道是不是应该从此天天给他洗个澡再睡呢？另外我们发现放在摇篮里摇啊摇的他至少可以安静地睡一个多小时．
上午又给他睡摇篮，醒来后很精神，手舞足蹈地．我们就把他放到运动毯上去玩．两只猫猫在一边观摩．米粥拍了录像．虽然错过小家伙很认真努力的把头撑起来的镜头，但是依然很好玩．
ZM suggested we let Noah soak for a few more minutes after the wash. So we did and Noah really enjoyed it! He even relaxed one fist to play with the water, and his facial expression was borderline smiling.
afterwards, Noah had an amazing peaceful night. He slept in two huge chunks, 4 hours and 3 hours. I felt like being given a miracle! Maybe we should bath him every night?
Some video clips at the end of the post from this morning after a good night of rest.
昨晚是羊妈妈回家后我们第一次给Noah洗澡．ZM说让他多泡一会，他应该会很舒服．结果小家伙真的很享受．泡着泡着紧紧攥着的小拳头都松开了一个，小脸上若隐若现一个微笑．
惊奇还在后面．泡完澡小家伙一口气睡了差不多四个钟头（夜里十点到临晨两点）！先是在摇篮里摇着睡了两个小时，然后他不愿意了，米粥就让他趴在胸口又睡了两个小时．起来换了尿布，先吃母乳，然后又喝了两盎司的配方奶，稍微清醒了一会三点钟就又呼呼睡过去．我一直等着他醒，听到他吭哧吭哧叫两声我就跳起来，听到他咳嗽又翻身下床，结果人家睡得好好的．一直到五点多，我实在忍不住把他滴溜起来吃奶．他意思意思吃了几口又昏睡过去．一直到六点天亮了他才真刀真枪地哭喊要开饭．吃完倒头睡到七点半醒过来．
不知道是不是应该从此天天给他洗个澡再睡呢？另外我们发现放在摇篮里摇啊摇的他至少可以安静地睡一个多小时．
上午又给他睡摇篮，醒来后很精神，手舞足蹈地．我们就把他放到运动毯上去玩．两只猫猫在一边观摩．米粥拍了录像．虽然错过小家伙很认真努力的把头撑起来的镜头，但是依然很好玩．
Monday, August 16, 2010
5 Week Old
He still doesn't have much of a schedule. Just when I thought he has settled into a pattern, next day he would do something totally different to throw me in a loop.
Nights:
After watching him a few times being startled into a screaming session when co-sleeping with us, I put him back to his own bassinet in the crib (still in our room) for the last couple of nights. It was a little better, at least i could sleep more comfortably. And i could almost understand all his cues at night, so i could preemptive his needs before he started screaming bloody murder. The result was ZM could sleep better, he woke up this morning thinking the little one was less fussy last night, until i told him that no it was still an hourly affair, we just managed to get through it more peacefully than usual. At least that's what i thought. We will see what happens tonight.
Days:
Up till yesterday, i looked at the spreadsheet i used to keep track of Noah's daily activity and was telling ZM that Noah's day time schedule seems to be very regular now with set-time for feeding, sleeping and awake. Today Noah decided to sleep through almost all the supposedly awake time, and randomized his feeding schedule too. :-/
Being a parent is really hard. :(
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Noah making a fashion statement
For little Chinese baby, reaching one month mark is the first big milestone in Chinese tradition--满月(full month). Although we did not follow tradition very closely. ZM decided to do one thing for Noah according to tradition--shave Noah's hair.
The belief is that shaving off baby's hair at one month mark will allow the real hair to grow more healthy and lush later. Apparently my hair was shaved but my sister's wasnt. till this day, sis often jokingly mention that as the reason that her hair was not as thick and strong like mine. Even though at birth she had beautiful curly long hair, while i had only a few weed-like fiber covering my scalp. That was also the reason my parents had no issue giving me a shave, but didn't give one to sis.
Anyway, ZM got out the clipper yesterday, and we gave baby Noah his first haircut. He was really quiet and cooperative throughout the session. we were very impressed.
It took a while for us to get used to his new look--it is a cross between ET and the Japanese cartoon character 一休（ikkuusan).
Mom said his newly bald head looks like 扦光嫩地力（上海话：剥光的嫩荸荠）.
And here is the video mom took during the haircut.
Here are a couple of more new video clips
1. Noah cooing - pre-shaving
2. A Happy Noah in the morning - post-shaving
The belief is that shaving off baby's hair at one month mark will allow the real hair to grow more healthy and lush later. Apparently my hair was shaved but my sister's wasnt. till this day, sis often jokingly mention that as the reason that her hair was not as thick and strong like mine. Even though at birth she had beautiful curly long hair, while i had only a few weed-like fiber covering my scalp. That was also the reason my parents had no issue giving me a shave, but didn't give one to sis.
Anyway, ZM got out the clipper yesterday, and we gave baby Noah his first haircut. He was really quiet and cooperative throughout the session. we were very impressed.
It took a while for us to get used to his new look--it is a cross between ET and the Japanese cartoon character 一休（ikkuusan).
Mom said his newly bald head looks like 扦光嫩地力（上海话：剥光的嫩荸荠）.
 |
| Taking a Bath after the hair cut. It is his third bath by now. You can see he is still nervous--two tighly clinched fists. But he remained very quiet. |
Here are a couple of more new video clips
1. Noah cooing - pre-shaving
2. A Happy Noah in the morning - post-shaving
Friday, August 13, 2010
米粥趣语
米粥发明的很多有趣名词，都是和Noah有关的．
－韩国炸酱面
－打卤面
－下巴上毛泽东的痣
－有时候眉清目秀，有时候眉不清目不秀的
－总是等我马上要睡着了，他就哇一声大哭
－弥留之际
－嗑瓜子
－韩国炸酱面
－打卤面
－下巴上毛泽东的痣
－有时候眉清目秀，有时候眉不清目不秀的
－总是等我马上要睡着了，他就哇一声大哭
－弥留之际
－嗑瓜子
Thursday, August 12, 2010
growth spurt?
just when we thought he has settled on a night feeding schdule, noah made sure we were wrong. the last couple of nights he has returned to hourly feeding! even though he had bowl movement and bath before bedtime!
so the only theory i'm left with is growth spurt. Since he is about to enter his 6th week next monday.
It is either that or we have spoiled him, i.e. he doesn't like sleeping unless he is held. :(
so the only theory i'm left with is growth spurt. Since he is about to enter his 6th week next monday.
It is either that or we have spoiled him, i.e. he doesn't like sleeping unless he is held. :(
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
a parent license?
1.
noah is 4 weeks old yesterday. and one month old by lunar calender today.
his favorite sleep place is either ZM's or my chest, while he himself lies on his stomach. he could sleep for hours this way. He is doing just that on my chest as i am typing this post...
he can make cooing sound when he is awake and happy.
he no longer screams during diaper-change, in fact, diaper change seems to calm him down. he seems happier after each change.
he loves watching any light source, a lamp at night or a window or a skylight during the day.
here is a video of noah's hair wash
2.
During the first week home with noah, i constantly felt incredulous that it seems so easy to be granted a parent "license".
Think about it, every responsibility we are given in this society requires so much scrutiny. driving license, ability to get a house loan, etc. we were asked over and over again to prove we wont mess it up, we took exams, gave promises, fill up forms, sign legal papers...
Then came being a parent, we were given a human being in baby form, yet we were not asked a single question. off we go, being responsible for a human being seems so easy comparing to be responsible for a car or a house. fascinating, no?
But then, maybe it is just another proof that nature is so much more efficient and powerful than anything man-made. In a way, we are born to be parents, it is in our genes. That's why when a mother lays her eyes on her baby, she went into this euphoric state. All parents submit themselves to be their babies' slaves since the moment babies were born.
we would make mistakes like any newbie in any field. but we have the motivation and the capacity to correct our mistakes and move on. babies on the other hand has the built in error buffer to tolerate and even adapt to their parents' inexperience and imperfection.
together we form a team that is called a family.
noah is 4 weeks old yesterday. and one month old by lunar calender today.
his favorite sleep place is either ZM's or my chest, while he himself lies on his stomach. he could sleep for hours this way. He is doing just that on my chest as i am typing this post...
he can make cooing sound when he is awake and happy.
he no longer screams during diaper-change, in fact, diaper change seems to calm him down. he seems happier after each change.
he loves watching any light source, a lamp at night or a window or a skylight during the day.
here is a video of noah's hair wash
2.
During the first week home with noah, i constantly felt incredulous that it seems so easy to be granted a parent "license".
Think about it, every responsibility we are given in this society requires so much scrutiny. driving license, ability to get a house loan, etc. we were asked over and over again to prove we wont mess it up, we took exams, gave promises, fill up forms, sign legal papers...
Then came being a parent, we were given a human being in baby form, yet we were not asked a single question. off we go, being responsible for a human being seems so easy comparing to be responsible for a car or a house. fascinating, no?
But then, maybe it is just another proof that nature is so much more efficient and powerful than anything man-made. In a way, we are born to be parents, it is in our genes. That's why when a mother lays her eyes on her baby, she went into this euphoric state. All parents submit themselves to be their babies' slaves since the moment babies were born.
we would make mistakes like any newbie in any field. but we have the motivation and the capacity to correct our mistakes and move on. babies on the other hand has the built in error buffer to tolerate and even adapt to their parents' inexperience and imperfection.
together we form a team that is called a family.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
First Bath and Calm Night
Noah has been a perfect angel the last couple of nights.
Last night, he woke up for a feeding at 12:40am, 2:40am, and 5:40am. Similarly the night before.
Hopefully he can keep this routine going forward.
It is refreshing to get up so early in the morning. maybe i will like this schedule going forward too! :)
It is 7:25am and he is sound asleep on the sofa next to me. Maybe the bath last night after dinner did the trick too. he seemed a much calmer/happier baby at night after the bath.
he did contemplate about the bath for a long time afterwards though. trying to decipher what had just happened probably. cute little thing! Mom said my fear of water was obvious since i was a baby--i hated taking bath. so we were worried that noah would inherit that fear from me already. We were surprised that he didn't make much of a noise, let alone scream. Funny that he decided to held on very tightly to my shirt front as a safety measure. throughout the bath, noah's facial expression reminded me of my cats when they were given bath. it says this-feels-pretty-good-but-i-am-not-sure-i-can-trust-this-not-making-a-bad-turn-any-moment. funny.
oh, and his acne were completely gone. we got our perfect baby back again. :)
Last night, he woke up for a feeding at 12:40am, 2:40am, and 5:40am. Similarly the night before.
Hopefully he can keep this routine going forward.
It is refreshing to get up so early in the morning. maybe i will like this schedule going forward too! :)
It is 7:25am and he is sound asleep on the sofa next to me. Maybe the bath last night after dinner did the trick too. he seemed a much calmer/happier baby at night after the bath.
he did contemplate about the bath for a long time afterwards though. trying to decipher what had just happened probably. cute little thing! Mom said my fear of water was obvious since i was a baby--i hated taking bath. so we were worried that noah would inherit that fear from me already. We were surprised that he didn't make much of a noise, let alone scream. Funny that he decided to held on very tightly to my shirt front as a safety measure. throughout the bath, noah's facial expression reminded me of my cats when they were given bath. it says this-feels-pretty-good-but-i-am-not-sure-i-can-trust-this-not-making-a-bad-turn-any-moment. funny.
oh, and his acne were completely gone. we got our perfect baby back again. :)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Colic?! Gas?!
Starting Tuesday (8/3), Noah starts crying for seemingly no reason at all.
First i thought the bleeding umbilical cord stump is bothering him. Calling Kaiser advice line and learned that there is no nerve ending at the stump so it shouldn't cause pain.
Adviser nurse on the phone thinks he is having gas issues. Later the doctor said around 3-4 weeks is when infant starts colicing crying. :(
the net result is the just established late night routine of feeding every two hours suddenly went to hell. he would wake up every hour or every half hour screaming bloody murder. no food or diaper change can sooth him. just had to wait for it to pass.
urgh.
the good news is his eyes can focus now, when we place him in the cradle swing, his eyes will actually follow the motion of the fake birds on top. he shows more recognition for faces, and he could lift his head a bit when lying on our chest on his tummy.
acne also seem to have gone away. his legs are stronger and kicks more when he is in a fit.
what a temper he got! ZM kept on saying he got that from me. :-/ i kept on thinking, "and i thought the first week home was bad! this is farworse. i wish i could get the week2-noah back. is there a cl number with that version of noah i could use to override the current one?!"
oh and his umbilical cord stump fell out last night! :)
update: we didnt buy the "colic" reasoning cuz we dont believe noah would do such a thing, not at this stage at least. we believe he cries for a reason.
the gassy theory might be closer to the truth than the colic one. we noticed that he didnt have a bowl movement during the fussy 24 hours. he was a lot calmer/happier after his poop finally made a grand exit the following evening. so we stick to our theory that noah wasnt colic, he simply had a overcrowded tummy for a day and one night.
First i thought the bleeding umbilical cord stump is bothering him. Calling Kaiser advice line and learned that there is no nerve ending at the stump so it shouldn't cause pain.
Adviser nurse on the phone thinks he is having gas issues. Later the doctor said around 3-4 weeks is when infant starts colicing crying. :(
the net result is the just established late night routine of feeding every two hours suddenly went to hell. he would wake up every hour or every half hour screaming bloody murder. no food or diaper change can sooth him. just had to wait for it to pass.
urgh.
the good news is his eyes can focus now, when we place him in the cradle swing, his eyes will actually follow the motion of the fake birds on top. he shows more recognition for faces, and he could lift his head a bit when lying on our chest on his tummy.
acne also seem to have gone away. his legs are stronger and kicks more when he is in a fit.
what a temper he got! ZM kept on saying he got that from me. :-/ i kept on thinking, "and i thought the first week home was bad! this is farworse. i wish i could get the week2-noah back. is there a cl number with that version of noah i could use to override the current one?!"
oh and his umbilical cord stump fell out last night! :)
update: we didnt buy the "colic" reasoning cuz we dont believe noah would do such a thing, not at this stage at least. we believe he cries for a reason.
the gassy theory might be closer to the truth than the colic one. we noticed that he didnt have a bowl movement during the fussy 24 hours. he was a lot calmer/happier after his poop finally made a grand exit the following evening. so we stick to our theory that noah wasnt colic, he simply had a overcrowded tummy for a day and one night.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Day 22 - 3 week check up - weight gain finally!!
birth weight: 8lb 9 oz
day 3 prior to hospital dischrge:7.99 lb
day 5 hospital visit: 8lb 6 oz
day 14 2 week check up:8lb 6 oz
--doctor ordered formula supplement to breastmilk
day 22 3 week check up (today): 9 lb 12 oz!!
we seemed to have starved the little guy during his first week home! then we were feeding him cold formula bottle that we finally corrected on sunday.
poor little thing end up w/ two clueless parents like us...
acne seems to get better today, too.
bloody umbilical cord, and fussy baby.
acne seems to get better today, too.
bloody umbilical cord, and fussy baby.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Day 18
major acne break out.
according to books (baby 411, what to expect...) this is normal, and worst around 2-3 weeks, will go away by 8th wk the latest. nothing needs to be done. baby just looks bad, apparently it doesn"t bother them...
could also be the formula, since these acne suddenly showed up the same day when we introduced formula to Noah's diet after coming back from the 2 week checkup.
mom told me to take some VC, maybe it will help him to fight this "allergic reaction".
7/31/2010 update: 3rd day since acne broke out, yesterday seems to be the worst looking, today seemed a little better. good thing that Noah indeed doesn't seem to be bothered by it, he doesn't scratch it at all. so he probably doesn't feel a thing.
according to books (baby 411, what to expect...) this is normal, and worst around 2-3 weeks, will go away by 8th wk the latest. nothing needs to be done. baby just looks bad, apparently it doesn"t bother them...
could also be the formula, since these acne suddenly showed up the same day when we introduced formula to Noah's diet after coming back from the 2 week checkup.
mom told me to take some VC, maybe it will help him to fight this "allergic reaction".
7/31/2010 update: 3rd day since acne broke out, yesterday seems to be the worst looking, today seemed a little better. good thing that Noah indeed doesn't seem to be bothered by it, he doesn't scratch it at all. so he probably doesn't feel a thing.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Day 13
last night was the first night noah went through regular timed interval feeding:
finish feeding at 12:53am, woke up at 2am for next
then finish at 3ish, woke up a little past 4
then 6am
8am
so i got to sleep at least an hour in between feedings!! amazing!
lets see if we can repeat this progressive style tonight!
another highlight ive been waiting for, mad men season 4 began tonight!!!
we all sat down and watched science of babies last night after dinner too. some kind of normalcy of our lives, however little of it, is still good to have...
finish feeding at 12:53am, woke up at 2am for next
then finish at 3ish, woke up a little past 4
then 6am
8am
so i got to sleep at least an hour in between feedings!! amazing!
lets see if we can repeat this progressive style tonight!
another highlight ive been waiting for, mad men season 4 began tonight!!!
we all sat down and watched science of babies last night after dinner too. some kind of normalcy of our lives, however little of it, is still good to have...
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Day 11
Dealing with a screaming infant is like trying to debug an entire programming class inside one try and catch block. No matter what went wrong inside the try-catch, the exception is always the same-a screaming baby.
So we have to start with trial and error approach. So far we have figured out the potential errors such as: dirty diaper, gas passing( or unable to), hunger, tired but can't sleep frustration, or a combination of the above and baby can't remember the priority. There is another possible error lingers in the background, but so far turned to be always a negative, I e. sickness. There is another possible conclusion which during real life debugging would come to mind but always turned tone false too. That is "baby is crying for no reason" (this error is impossible to fix") and equally in both case I will be proved wrong. Baby always cry for a reason, just like any computer program is always logical, so all errors are fixable. At least it is the case for infant. His neurological circuit is not yet fully functional, So he is incapable of manipulation, ie not spoilable.
So we have to start with trial and error approach. So far we have figured out the potential errors such as: dirty diaper, gas passing( or unable to), hunger, tired but can't sleep frustration, or a combination of the above and baby can't remember the priority. There is another possible error lingers in the background, but so far turned to be always a negative, I e. sickness. There is another possible conclusion which during real life debugging would come to mind but always turned tone false too. That is "baby is crying for no reason" (this error is impossible to fix") and equally in both case I will be proved wrong. Baby always cry for a reason, just like any computer program is always logical, so all errors are fixable. At least it is the case for infant. His neurological circuit is not yet fully functional, So he is incapable of manipulation, ie not spoilable.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Day 8
Noah was born a week ago. Now this 7-days-old runs my life without mercy.
Late last year when my mom learned that I was expecting, she was so worried. "How could Jean be a mother? she is so impatient." Here i am, 9 months later, an infant lying besides me, going in and out of sleep. Every facial expression of his controls what i could and couldn't do the next second. Just now he was making a grunt face and farted, i froze, and waited for a screaming that would last and demand a feeding; or as it turned out, he went back to sleep and even smiled in his dream. Then i relax and continue typing this post...
I feel so undeserving to be given such a perfect angel. I wonder if this is the primary reason that so many parents enjoy parenthood despite all the work. Babies are magical creatures. They took over your lives and reduced you to baby-talk simpletons and sleep-deprived zoombies, yet you loved them more for such torture, and you wish you could do better to serve him, to match his perfection.
Late last year when my mom learned that I was expecting, she was so worried. "How could Jean be a mother? she is so impatient." Here i am, 9 months later, an infant lying besides me, going in and out of sleep. Every facial expression of his controls what i could and couldn't do the next second. Just now he was making a grunt face and farted, i froze, and waited for a screaming that would last and demand a feeding; or as it turned out, he went back to sleep and even smiled in his dream. Then i relax and continue typing this post...
I feel so undeserving to be given such a perfect angel. I wonder if this is the primary reason that so many parents enjoy parenthood despite all the work. Babies are magical creatures. They took over your lives and reduced you to baby-talk simpletons and sleep-deprived zoombies, yet you loved them more for such torture, and you wish you could do better to serve him, to match his perfection.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Noah
July 15, 2010
It is 1:44am, i’m writing a blog entry in my PJ, wide awake even though i haven’t really slept for more than 3 hours in the past 24. Living on something a little more than adrenaline: we now have a new member in the household!
Tonight was the first night this week any of us has slept at home.
I plan on start a new blog for all Noah related writings so i can keep my current blog(s) still about me.
So here is a quick intro, and hopefully “Jean’s Weblog” will resume its usual random program when life becomes more sane.
It has been a roller coaster week. I had no idea how we had managed to pull through all these so quickly. Luckily we did and things are looking up (at least at the moment, i’m in the optimistic cycle of the mood swing).
Noah has been a model baby. Even nurses in the hospital were telling us how calm and pilot Noah has been. He rarely makes a fuss about anything and the only thing really bothers him has been hunger, even that he protests in a very restrained way.
He has this amazing highly choreographed facial expression plus elaborate hand gesture reflex that totally blew us away. 80% of his time since being born has spent with an IV tube taped to his left hand. So we always thought he only had a single hand gesture routine, which often mimic either a passionate speaker or a symphony maestro. What he couldn’t talk, he made up using his facial muscle and intricate finger language. I often said he had an obama routine where you could imagine an Obama speech was given.
But since last night when his left hand was also freed from the iv, we realized it was really a double hands gesture routine that he was excelling at. definitely a maestro.
Tonight i discovered something else, he can pull a super vivid and accurate marlon brando Godfather routine with his facial expression and his hands and shoulder. And he only does that when he was pooping. It was hilarious.
Unfortunate Noah has been a complete night owl, to witness any of these performance, you have to be present around 2am.
July 18, 2010
There are so much i wanted to write, only if there is some kind of thoughts->words program so i can dump everything in my mind in words without actual sitting down and typing them out…
Since Thursday night, i’ve been struggling between co-oping with Noah’s feeding schedule and keeping my own sanity by sneaking in as many naps as possible. I’ve realized that if i wait till i have enough time to make a proper introduction and recording all the little things i want to say about Noah since his birth a little over 6 days ago, i would have to wait for a long long time.
so here are some vital stats:
Noah Tian-Yi Zhou (周天翼）
Born on July 12th, 2010, 15:05
Weight: 3.895Kg (8lb, 9.39 oz)
Height: 54.6cm (1′9.5″, i.e 21 and 1/2 “)
APGAR (okay, i know this is too “typical asian parent” to include such stats, but just for the fun of it. I will try not to do it again):
one min: 7
five min: 9
Since Thursday night, he has been doing better at waking up occasionally during the day too. So to give Grandma Aiqi a glimpse of what he looks like when he is happy and awake!
Holding Noah in my hands, i am still awed by this reality, it still feels like a miracle. Surreal.
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