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）.

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.

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

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

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. :(

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.

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. :)

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.

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.