tried to sit up ...

so i'm working with aj to practice sitting up...here's our progress. =)

first on the bumbo: hmm...he's only fascinated with his right foot

let's switch to the left foot

good, good. sit next to your giants bear

and then quickly tumbled after a second...hehee.

happy chinese new year

wow, i can't believe chinese new year crept up on me so quickly! since i'm still on maternity leave, i went and hung out with my parents and went to visit our relatives. it was weird to get red envelopes again. aj received a fairly generous number of red envelopes from all my relatives!

umm...my mom got this chinese outfit for my nephew. unfortunately (or fortunately), they didn't make them in 3 months for aj!

hey, you owe me some red envelopes!

okay, do you want them back?

must wear our red outfits!

3 months old

i can't believe aj is 3 months old today (ha, i think i say this every month)! this last month has definitely flown by; probably due to the holidays. so let's recap how my sweetie has changed...

weight - he's definitely getting bigger! i'm not sure how much he weighs but he definitely feels heavier heehee. he actually started wearing 3-6 months clothes a couple of weeks ago; more really for his length though.

sleep - it was rough for a bit. he was waking up a couple of times a night. not for a feeding but he just wanted to be soothed. so i'd wake up at 2ish, comfort him and then have to get up at 4ish to feed him. well, just this past weekend, he started waking up at 4 to be soothed and didn't get back up until 7 or 8 for a feeding! i'm actually getting at least 5 or 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep! i won't hold my breathe - we'll see when he regresses! his naps are going well. putting him down is relatively painless, it's getting him to take long naps! he'll usually wake up after 30 - 45 min but needs to be soothed to sleep for another hour or so. since his bedtime is still 10p; he usually takes four naps a day. i'm trying to adjust and get him into bed earlier but it doesn't really work out with his feeding schedule.

feeding - what a good transition into his feeding. i've survived another month!! i can honestly say that breast feeding is actually going okay! my breasts are still quite sensitive and i don't think they'll ever look the same again. my only issue is that since he's going longer without a feeding, my breasts are quite engorged. i actually look forward to feedings at times so that i can get rid of the milk! i just want to survive another month and then i have to think about going back to work and pumping - yuck!!

personality - i'm happy to report that his temperament isn't as serious anymore. he's definitely a more happier baby. he's not really into looking at himself in the mirror. he's most happiest early in the morning and after each feeding. he loves to see new faces and loves having people talk to him. he also really likes being on his changing pad. he has this panda bear that he adores and these hand puppets that can entertain him for hours.

smiling on his changing pad

"oh interesting, these are called toes?"

"why is mommy making me do tummy time?"

"i love sleeping on daddy!"

sleep is over rated...

or at least that's what i try to convince myself! aj is almost 3 months old and i'm trying to start some good sleeping / napping habits. for the first 2 months of his life, i took aj everywhere with me and he just slept a lot. at night, i only got up once for a feeding, usually at 4-5 am. so overall, i didn't really have much to worry about. i thought, wow, aj is such a great baby. =)

ummm...spoke too soon! 2 weeks ago, he started waking up at 2-3 am. he wasn't hungry but just needed to be soothed. this continued for days and i figured i better start reading those sleeping books!! so in the baby whisperer book, she recommends this "easy" schedule. well, it's not easy!! haahaa. she mentioned that you should stop swaddling after 6 weeks as the baby starts to discover his hands and can use them to self soothe. so i thought, easy enough! maybe he'll soothe himself at the 2-3 am waking. i don't know if he wasn't used to his free body but then he woke up every 2 hours instead!! he obviously didn't know how to self soothe so i had to get up and calm him down. sometimes it was quick and only took five minutes but other times it took almost an hour!

so then i bought another book, healthy sleep habits, healthy child and tried to utilize some of his tips. he emphasized the importance of napping and "window of wakefulness". so i decided to not go out for a couple of days and see if i can observe aj's napping tendencies without the distractions of going out and having the car seat or stroller alter his schedule. if he had great naps during the day, it would set him up for success at night. he also emphasized putting your child to bed earlier. he also dissed the baby whisperer at times; for example, dismissing the claim that sleeping has nothing to do with your stomach and "tanking" doesn't work.

well, i just have to say, i have no idea what parents write these testimonials about the effectiveness of these sleeping books because it is NOT a miracle worker for me and aj!! this whole putting your child down while he's still awake but drowsy and not overtired is not always that easy!! i do think it's good that i try to understand aj's sleeping patterns but then i end up stressing about his naps being too short or long or too few or many!

i think i'm just putting too much pressure on myself and certainly aj to try to get a structured routine now in preparation of going back to work in a month in a half or so. whatever...

aj's first christmas

since s and i were both not working the week of christmas, we felt that we were up to hosting christmas. also, with this being aj's first christmas, it was nice to have both families together. the only missing person was s' sister, who unfortunately, had to work on christmas. this was the first time that we've hosted a dinner with aj and it was interesting to say the least. prep time definitely slowed down due to having to break to breast feed or entertaining him when he was feeling lonely. we also made all the dishes from scratch and it took a bit more time that we thought. i actually ended up not making a salad because we had more than enough veggies and i ran out of time!

aj had a great first christmas with his grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins! he was very grateful for all the generous gifts and can't wait to play with all his new toys!

our christmas dinner

j always making sure everyone is liquored up!

busy eating...

m with c

g and f enjoying dinner...

j trying to give c food - c saying 'don't touch me with that thing'

j givng aj the stare down

j wants aj off of him while...

c just wants to get away from both of them!

my family minus the hubbies...

s' family minus the h's

paw paw and gung gung with their 2 favorite grandson

aj with paw paw

christmas eve

my wonderful cousin invited us over on christmas eve. since we no longer spend christmas with their family, it was nice to see them and have the kids play together. aj was on his best behavior for his first christmas eve...

matching red shirts with denim pants

aj's 1st present

with auntie j

with uncle f

j pushing m along in the truck

they're stuck...looking at the truck to see what's wrong!

2 months old...

i can't believe aj is another month older! we had his 2 month wellness check up today and he did very well! you know, other than the loud crying when he got his 3 shots. =( he's progressing along well...he's pretty proportioned in terms of his percentile. he now weighs 12 lbs 2 oz and his head circumference is 15.75 inches (both of which are in the 50% percentile). he is 23.5 inches tall which puts him cusping the 75% percentile.

so what has changed since last month? i think the biggest development is that he is so engaged now. he loves to socialize and hang out with friends and family. he loves to make eye contact and follow people's movements. he doesn't have any problems being carried by different people and being passed along moving from one set of arms to another. he is very active. somehow, while being swaddled in his sleep, he moves his body ninety degrees and is in a completely different position than how we had put him down.

i had been feeding aj every 3 hours and would sometimes have to wake him up to feed him. the pediatrician said i no longer have to do that since he's at a good weight. in the evenings, he does tend to eat sooner than 3 hours. the doctor said it's probably because i don't have as much milk in the evenings as i don't get the rest that i properly need during the day and also because he's 'storing' some milk to get him through the night. i never really thought babies knew to do that! and speaking of feeding, i am happy to report that breastfeeding is definitely better now. it's still not pain free but i've survived another month!

s and i have noticed that aj has a very serious demeanor. we don't know why but he has this look like he's stressed out about something. he does smile and laugh but it does take him a while to warm up; he normally just stares. our college friends say that must be from his parents and our 'deadly' stares from our fraternity / sorority days.

i do have somewhat of a routine with aj. i take him out everyday. we try to venture out at least twice - working around his feeding schedule of course. i usually try to do one trip shopping; alternating between burlingame, hillsdale, stanford and target. then we'll usually make a 2nd trip out on a walk around the neighborhood. i definitely try to do 2 trips out now before it starts to get too wet and cold outside. it's also a good way for me to get some 'exercise'.

here are some pics of aj with some friends: coincidentally, the 3 infants below were all born in september!

r and aj scoping each other out

ummm...despite the age difference...uncle m and aj have the same hairstyle going...

aj was too busy sleeping to hang out with k

x and aj were actuallly due a week from one another but x came 4 weeks earlier than expected

i guess this is how infants 'hang out'?

work update...

aj and i made a trip to work to drop off some christmas gifts for my team and boss. i was so proud of aj because he was on his best behavior! he was asleep when i first got to work but when he woke up, he was making eye contact with everyone and cooing! i got a lot of grief for not dressing him in any gymboree clothes. as i told everyone at work...he wears whatever is handed down to him. unfortunately, that means no gymboree clothes!

the timing to visit work was quite appropriate as i had to chat with my boss about a press release from monday. it is definitely a different approach as most companies would just lay-off employees. as expected, it was received with mixed feelings. in a very instinctual reaction, people would naturally be pissed. i can understand that perspective but from a more holistic view, i accept this without any resentment. (not saying i won't miss the money that i'm losing because we can all use money)! the economy is just soo tough right now and we should all be very grateful for our jobs. to have even more people looking for jobs now would just be so awful. if a paycut can prevent us from laying people off, i completely support that. however, s believes that laying off people would "eliminate the fat". however, we are a very lean company and we don't have any "fat" to trim. or last least i don't work with anyone who i would consider "fat". so not exactly the best "christmas gift" from work but you go with the flow right?

other than this "bad" news, it was nice to be back at work. it was great to see everyone and they were so excited to meet aj. i do have to admit, it made me *miss* work. i told my boss that i'd be back end of february / early march and my boss said, "it's up to you; when you are ready." it's nice that he is flexible.

oh, christmas tree...

this past weekend, we went out to get aj's first christmas tree! i just love the smell of a fresh christmas tree!! we wanted to get the tree up earlier as we had to take pictures for our christmas cards. s and i didn't want to be in the picture so we had to be a bit creative in getting aj in front of the tree by himself. the final picture we selected wasn't perfect but it'll do for a 7 week old baby! i've always loved christmas but now it means so much more with aj!

i also went to the mall with my mom, aj and my nephew to take their pictures with santa. of course, aj was totally oblivious so he was fine. we just have a problem getting him to look at the camera! my poor nephew, on the other hand, was completely frightened by santa. he wouldn't even get near him! even with aj on santa's lap, my nephew would not warm up to santa. hopefully, my sister will have better luck when she tries to take him to see santa again!

our finished tree

my 2 favorite baby boys!

my cutest nephew

20 lbs lighter...

but 15 more to go! =( i had my 6 week check up with my ob doc and everything is okay. i didn't really have a specific number of pounds that i was hoping to lose but i guess it's a step in the right direction that it was slightly more than half the pregnancy weight gain.

i also have what feels like this nasty bruise that i wanted to make sure was just a clogged duct and luckily it is. it's slowly getting better but still hurts quite a bit.

yesterday, i had what hopefully was my final appointment with the lactation consultant! although i'm not quite loving breast feeding, at least i'm not dreading it anymore. it still hurts as i have some painful letdowns but at least it's getting better!

aj hit the 6 week mark earlier this week and is now at 10 lbs 3 oz! he definitely is more engaging; looking and starting at people. he loves to stick his tongue out and pucker his lips (though, not at the same time). he LOVES to stretch - whenever we remove his swaddling blanket, is done feeding, or changing his diaper, he stretches out his arms and legs!