Unpacking...

For the past couple of days (well, actually the whole of last week), we've pretty much been living out of boxes and garbage bags AND without TV. I think it's going to take us at least a month to settle in, to know where everything is and to really be comfortable. As of now, we have a broken cable box the cable company has yet to fix, windows that need blinds, curtains (I'm hoping our budget allows for plantation shutters), and a garage that's filled with unassembled furniture and boxes and boxes of STUFF.

It took us two whole days to move and it'll probably take us two whole months to unpack. Other than that, the new place has been fabulous. Gilroy's colder than San Jose and that takes some getting used to. It's a lot quieter (some of my neighbors haven't moved in yet and maybe that's why). And there's more wild life. Just this morning, we saw a family of deer taking a morning stroll in the hills behind our backyard - nice.

It took Kayla a couple of days to get adjusted to the new place, though. We packed her off to Grandma's for about four days (Friday to Monday) while we moved and made sure we had the basics set up at least (ie diapers, diaper changing table, her toiletries, clothes, crib etc). She was cranky and kept throwing tantrums. We figured she was upset about moving from one unfamiliar place to another...and she probably misses her old digs! But things are better now, and she's having fun exploring every nook, crawling on the much softer carpet (nope, not walking yet) and leaving her toys everywhere (some things don't change).

We took her to the playground nearby today and she had a blast. Will post some pictures once we figure where the stuff to upload the photos are.... :)

Below Average

No, I'm not getting lazy, we've just been super busy. The big move is this weekend and I'm ashamed to say we're still not halfway packed! Arghhh......................

Anyway, we took Kayla to the doc's today for her shots and as usual, she wasn't happy. She cried before we entered the building, then cried some more after we went into the doctor's office and continued crying when they gave her her shots. We chose to stagger the shots so she wouldn't be in so much pain.

She also got her regular checkup and here's the report: Head (bigger than average), height (25 percentile, shorter than average - uh oh!), weight (she's dropped below 25 percentile but the doc doesn't seem too concerned.) In a nutshell, we have a tiny baby with a big head.

But here's the funny part: The doc was asking what I assume was the usual string of questions (is she drinking whole milk? from a cup? started walking?) and when it came to: "Has she started talking? How many words can she say?", Mike, the over-enthusiastic Daddy replied in a very matter-of-factly manner: About a hundred. And the doc thought he was joking. I quickly corrected Mikey and said, "Not a hundred, probably 50." Still the doc thought we were kidding.

"Babies at this age usually say only three to four words," he mumbled. And we left it at that. No point trying to prove our point when all Kayla would do in front of him is cry. :)

But we did make a list of all the words she knows, just so Mikey can prove that he was right about 100. And guess what, he's right. Her vocabulary's about 120-strong right now. Something tells me she's gonna be a real chatterbox!

Picture perfect

She's clapping to her own birthday song.
Bubbles in the park
Siew mai, please.
Told you she loves her Ernie
Sunday best.

Way overdue.... but better late than never. :)

On the Move

You know you're in farm country when you encounter a couple walking their pony at an outdoor mall. And I'm not kidding. We decided to spend the afternoon at Gilroy today after checking out our new place (it has RED doors..i wonder if the designer's color blind). We stumbled upon a pretty cool outdoor mall that has pretty much all the big box stores and just minutes after we got out from one of the stores, we pass by this couple tugging their pony to the PetSmart. Totally bizarre.

We're about three weeks to the big move and packing to date has been just nightmarish. It's just been overwhelming. So let's not even talk about it, and hopefully when the time comes, everything will work out the way it should.

Back to baby, Kayla got an Elmo today at the mall and loves it to bits, as she does Ernie and her 1,000 other soft toys. Her toy collection is getting ridiculous and we've decided to pack a box of toys to donate to Goodwill. One good policy I think would be to give away one toy each time we buy another. Maybe even two.

Gotta keep this short. Work beckons.

Happy Birthday Kayla!

She arrived sometime last year this time at around 9pm..and I think my first question was: Does she have all her fingers and toes? Or perhaps that was my cocktail of pain meds speaking. :)

It's been an interesting, eventful and certainly life-changing past year and I'm sure the next year's going to bring even more surprises (pleasant ones I pray). We thank God for keeping her healthy and safe, and will continue to lean on Him for strength, wisdom and much-needed patience, especially for me - now that we're about to transit into the messy "I wanna feed myself" and "toilet-training" mode or what others have called the "God Help Us" phase.

Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving!

Phew! There's so so so much to catch up on since I've been silent for so long, thanks to a never-ending pile of work. I think I over-commited myself this month - too many stories, too little time. Hopefully, it'll be well worth it when the checks come in the mail.

On to more exciting updates:
1. Kayla turns one this Saturday! But we celebrated a week earlier because her cousin Emily is making her annual pilgrimage to Disney this weekend. A simple family affair at Dynasty, our fav dim sum spot which ended with unbridled consumption of a yummalicious birthday day from our fav bakery, Aki's. And yes, Kayla had some.
2. She knows her ABCs. Well not exactly. She knows A, B, C, D, E, K, M, I, Q and Y.
3. She hasn't taken her first step but she's been doing a lot of "standing on her own."
4. She's learned some new dancing moves. Instead of bouncing on her tush, she now wiggles side to side. Pretty cool.

Photos to come once Mikey finds time to download them from his camera to the computer...

She cracks me up when....

1. She wakes up in the morning, sits up and greets me with a most endearing "merning"
2. Points to something she knows she's not supposed to touch (like the laptop) and says "no, no."
3. Puts up her hand when I ask "Who's the stinky pooey?"
4. Demands for her stars - the edible ones
5. Tickles herself when I ask her if she wants to play Tickle Me
6. Asks for "Incy Wincy Spider" by raising both arms and yelling "Spider"
7. She gets angry after something she really wants is wrestled away, gently of course.
8. She points to a picture of Shrek and goes "Daddy"
9. She crinkles her face.
10. Plants big wet kisses on her bears (she's developed a thing for bears lately) and hugs them to death

Miss Talkalot

We took Kayla to storytime at the Morgan Hill library this morning and she was totally into it. Too bad next week's the last session and they'll most likely resume only in January. She danced, crawled all over the place and kept going "Bear, Bear" referring to the big teddy bear the kind volunteer storyteller was holding. And of course, we had parents coming to ask us how old she was, because she say a number of words - something that's been happening quite frequently.

I don't know what it is about parenthood that amplifies the inherent competitive streak (or perhaps the fear that one's child is behind) in us all - though I've resolved firmly not to evolve into the parent that compares each and every milestone with each and every baby they meet.

It doesn't really matter to me if she isn't advanced in her development - so long as she's healthy and happy. She's 11 months now and still has two teeth. Still isn't interested in walking and hasn't acquired a appetite for chunky food, preferring her meals pureed. Maybe, parents should just chill and let kids develop at their own pace. Every baby will get there...just takes time.

EARTHQUAKE!

This is the worst I've experienced since coming to the States. I was putting Kayla to bed when I felt the bed move and pretty much the entire house shaking. For a moment, I thought this was it and it wasn't going to stop. Mikey rushed into the room, shouting "Earthquake", grabbed Kayla and we got out of the house right away... Let's just say I'm a little freaked out.

I'm totally convinced now that we need an earthquake emergency/preparedness plan of sorts. And I'm praying this isn't the precusor to the BIG earthquake that everyone says is long overdue.

From the Contra Costa Times
Magnitude-5.6 earthquake shakes San Francisco Bay area
By RON HARRIS Associated Press Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif.—A magnitude-5.6 earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay area Tuesday night, rattling homes and nerves, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries.

The moderate temblor struck shortly after 8 p.m., about 9 miles northeast of San Jose, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The shaking was widely felt within an 80-mile radius, as far away as Santa Rosa, Sacramento and Monterey.

The quake occurred on the southern end of the Calaveras fault, said Rafael Abreu, a geophysicist with the USGS' National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo. It was the strongest tremor in the Bay Area since 1989, when a magnitude-7.1 quake killed 62 people and caused nearly $6 billion in damage, according to the USGS.

The effects of Tuesday night's quake were considerably less dramatic than the Loma Prieta disaster.
Local and state authorities fielded a numbers of calls about gas leaks and broken water pipes, but there have been no reports of fires, widespread damage or serious injuries related to the quake.

"I hate to say it, but this one sort of seems like a non-event event," said Santa Clara County Sheriff's Sgt. Don Morrissey.

The epicenter was near Alum Rock, in the Diablo Range foothills east of San Jose—not far from the mayor's own home. Pictures fell off the walls of Reed's house, but he said there was no major damage there.

"It was a pretty strong ride here, a lot of shaking but nothing broken," Reed told The Associated Press in a phone interview from his home. "I've talked to a few people and we have no reports of injuries or damage. There was a lot of shaking, but it wasn't the big one."

Amrit Shergill, a night cashier at Alum Rock Shell gasoline station in San Jose, said there was no damage other than some small items that toppled off a shelf—but the intensity of the shaking sent her outside and crouching on the sidewalk.

"My God, I felt like running because the roof might come down on my head," said Shergill, who was born in India. "I've never felt anything like this in 16 years in the United States."

The USGS reported about a dozen aftershocks, the biggest with a preliminary magnitude of 2.1.
Rod Foo, a resident of south San Jose, about 10 miles from the epicenter, said everything in his house shook for several seconds, but the electricity never went out and his telephone was still working.

"I could hear it coming up the street before it hit the house," said Foo, a former reporter with the San Jose Mercury News. "It was rattling for a long time and really loud."

At Eastridge Mall in San Jose, employees reported chaos when the shaking began.
Donnie Moreno, 17, a retail store worker, said merchandise fell from the shelves, and one man ran into the store and pushed his child under some clothes.

"It was very scary," Moreno said. "Me and my manager, we're like, 'That's an earthquake. Everybody stay calm,' and it just started rumbling really bad. ... You could hear cracking in the mall."

Allison Guimard, 25, a technology executive who lives in Mountain View, about 18 miles west of the epicenter, said her china started shaking and she grabbed her dog. It was the first significant earthquake for Guimard and her husband, Pierre, who moved here from New York six months ago.

"It felt like the apartment was rolling—shaking and rolling," said Pierre Guimard, 25, a home entertainment installer. "Almost like a boat on the water."

Bay Area public transportation officials said Caltrain and Bay Area Rapid Transit trains halted for several minutes after the quake, then resumed at reduced speeds. There were no reports of injuries or damage to trains, officials said.
T
he 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which struck just before the third game of the World Series at Candlestick Park, was centered in the Santa Cruz Mountains on the San Andreas fault. The tremor collapsed a section of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge and left more than 12,000 people homeless.

In 2003, a magnitude-6.5 earthquake jolted the Central California coast, pitching an 1892 clock tower building onto the street and killing two people. In 2005, a magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck about 80 miles off the coast of Northern California, briefly prompting a tsunami warning from the Mexican border to British Columbia, but no damage or injuries were reported.

Scientists have warned for decades of an imminent major earthquake on the Hayward fault, which runs through the eastern Bay Area. But the southern end of the Calaveras fault is only capable of producing a temblor of a magnitude 6.4 or lower, said Tom Brocher, a USGS seismologist in Menlo Park.

"There wasn't any one big, strong wave or jolt—it was this rumbling, nothing else going on," Brocher said. "I knew right away this wasn't a big one."

Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the state "will review and inspect all important infrastructure," including levees in the coming days.

Earthquakes powerful enough to be felt through the Central Valley have been of increasing concern since Hurricane Katrina because of their potential to weaken the earthen levees that channel rivers throughout the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Toy Tantrums

For those of you who don't have kids, don't bother to buy any toys when you do decide to have a baby. These munchkins don't play with their toys; they wanna play with yours. And by that I mean, your cellphone, the tissue box, your stapler, pen, notepad, garbage bin, your hair - in short, anything that doesn't remotely resemble a toy.

Either Kayla has a super short attention span or her toys are simply not captivating enough. Of late, she's taken a huge interest in my stuff and seizes every opportunity to lay her tiny fingers on these forbidden objects whenever I'm not looking. When she's caught red-handed, she tries to smile it off. And don't even think about wrestling it away from her, she'll throw a huge fit...

That said, her playroom now looks like a war zone, peppered with remnants of our daily battles. Bits of tissue, Post-its, straw wrappers, torn magazines (tons of them) and what have you. But her favorite un-toy toy is my cellphone. She knows how to flip it open and loves punching those tiny buttons. So if you do get a mysterious call one day with a very brilliant baby "Hi there," you know who won the fight.

Baby Bribes

The most challenging hours of staying home with Kayla every day are in the evening. She's tired and cranky. I'm tired and cranky. Throw dinner prep into the mix and our little home goes from haven to "hell" (for lack of a better word).

Like clockwork, at about 5pm every day, Kayla gets super attached to me and refuses to let me out of her sight. She starts crying the minute I turn my back on her, which makes it hard for me to cook her dinner in the kitchen or do anything for that matter. But I think I've found the solution.

Bribe her with her favorite Gerber Graduates fruit and veggie puffs. Shaped like stars, they melt in your mouth and are pretty healthy (80 puffs add up to only 25 calories!). All I do is put her in her walker, throw about 20 puffs on the tray and she's a very happy baby. It's worked two days straight, and I think I'll have no choice but to keep doing that. Cos when she's happy, I'm happy.

Time Out

I'm running low on sleep and high on stress. I need a break - any kind of break.

What's the buzz?

Presenting Kayla the Killer Bee.

Garlic Capital

If all goes well, we'll be spending Christmas this year in farm country. Yes, we're moving again. We've spent a happy two years in our current townhouse but it's just not the baby-friendliest place in the world. Three flights of steep stairs and no backyard for Kayla to prance around in. (Actually, it's the steps that are really killing us). We've been looking around for a while and finally found something we really liked (and at a bargain price) in Garlic capital, Gilroy.

Of course, garlic gastronomists will dispute Gilroy's claim as the "Garlic Capital of the World." According to the San Francisco Chronicle,

"In reality, Gilroy hasn't even been the garlic capital of California for 20 years, since most growers moved their operations to the San Joaquin Valley. Only 300 acres are planted around Gilroy, said Don Christopher, chairman of Christopher Ranch, the nation's largest fresh garlic shipper.

And China has far surpassed California as the world's garlic supplier, growing 13 billion to 16 billion pounds a year, compared with the state's 400 million pounds, he said."

But it's all good - we're not seeking the reek. :) Gilroy's a wee bit off the beaten path, but it's home to the outlets! With slightly more room and a small backyard for us to grow some vegetables and hopefully a lemon tree, I'm really looking forward to moving in. And I hope Kayla is too. Did I mention there's a little tot lot right across the street?

:)

A is for Aardvark

Aard what? In the part of the world that I grew up, we call okra "ladies' fingers", eggplants "brinjals" and ant-eaters, "ant-eaters." Never knew what an Aardvark was until today when I flipped open Kayla's "Super Chunky First Words - ABCs for You and Me!" Right below A is for Apple was A is for Aardvark. Do they seriously expect a tiny tot to pronounce that? What were they thinking? And besides, what's wrong with saying A is for "ant-eater"?

Kayla's doing pretty well these days, learning more words and still struggling to say mommy. I've given up. She still has no teeth, save for the two tiny ones on the bottom and now enjoys eating what we eat. Her fav foods: slices of microwaved bananas, bread, cheese, ice cream (we only give her a wee bit) and anything that doesn't require too much chewing. She's resisting the No. 3 jars of baby food because they're chunkier... I think we've a picky eater.

Sick again

I don't know it is ...but I'm down with a flu again. This time, a horrible sore throat and a headache that makes me feel like my head's gonna explode. I've been on painkillers but if it persists, I think we'll have to go to the doc's. I've been drinking lots of water and sleeping as much as I possibly can (with a 11-month-old who's an extremely light sleeper and poor napper). But I just don't seem to be getting any better.

Trash Talking

Lately, I've been on a mission: to clean up the kiddie mess that's infiltrated almost every corner of the house. It seems I can't go anywhere without finding a sock or toy hiding someplace. I can't call myself a neat freak (those who've worked with me know how infamously messy my desk can be - though I call that controlled chaos), but this is driving me nuts. And no matter how hard I try to pack the books, put the toys away, pick up shredded bits of books, magazines and napkins, the mess isn't going anywhere. Give me one of those HGTV homes. NOW!

To escape the mess and madness (work's getting a wee bit overwhelming again), Kayla and I attended a free Gymboree play class today. We had so much fun - or rather I had so much fun -
that we signed ourselves up for another 12 sessions. It really isn't much. 45 minutes filled with singing, rhymes, and gym time. Kayla's pretty sedate compared with the other kiddos who were crawling, climbing over just about anything and anyone. She seems awfully tiny too, sitting beside them (and I always thought she was big). She kept to herself mostly, amusing herself with the colored balls. Perhaps she was just shy. We'll see how she does next week.

Shot!

Flu shot. :) Kayla got hers, and so did we. She recognizes the doc's office now and absolutely hates it. She cries the minute we step into the room where she gets examined and pleads tearfully when I hold her down so the nurse can administer the shot. Ouch! It's tough hearing her cry so so hard.

All is well

So we finally squashed the nasty flu bug and I hope it doesn't go around terrorizing another family. It seems practically everyone's sick - even my dearest friends back home - so there's definitely something in the air. All I can say is eat your vitamins, drink lots of water water and make sure you get plenty of sleep.

I'm glad Kayla's up and about terrorizing me again... :) It's comforting to know she's eating and sleeping well again. She was having so much trouble sleeping with a congested nose that we took her to the doc again. And maybe that was a bad idea. She spent more time crying than he did examining her. Plus we didn't even feed her the over-the-counter cold meds he recommended, even though the temptation to, and I quote, "knock her out," was a wee bit hard to resist. Perhaps all that loud crying cleared up the congestion but she slept instantly well that night.

There's so much I wanna write but can't because a ton of work has piled up because the publisher's sick (see, told you everyone's ill) and hasn't been able to do much! But stay tuned for posts to come: Storytime at Morgan Hill (and how a 25-pounder scratched Kayla's porcelain face) and Kayla's favorite junk food. :)

Baby's Sick

It appears my body is taking longer than it usually does to fight this horrible flu. I'm still nursing a sore throat and I can feel a cough coming on. But the worst thing that's happened is that poor Kayla is sneezing now too.

For the past three days, she has had a persistent fever, that came and went, depending on when she got her dose of baby Tylenol. She's better today, but still warm to the touch. And she's pretty miserable. Lethargic (and by that I mean, she's still active, just a little slower than usual), whiny...and has little or no desire to eat. I hope she feels better soon. And I hope I do too.

Shoo Flu Shoo

The cold erupted into a full-blown flu - sore throat, fever, the works and we spent Mikey's birthday (which was yesterday) at home. Bummer! We'd plans to go out to dinner and coming home with a sinful-licious cake, but that all into the garbage, along with the two boxes of tissue I went through.

I've been popping Tylenol flu (both drowsy and non-drowsy versions out of desperation) tabs every four hours, and still my nose keeps dripping. But it's good both Kayla and Mikey appear immune to whatever's ailing me.

I'm gonna go get more sleep now.

Ah-Choooo

Lack of sleep, work stress...whichever the culprit, I'm down with a nasty cold, my first in a long long while. And it sucks. I'm just worried Kayla will catch it but according to, yes, the internet, my body's busy making antibodies to fight it and she'll get them when I nurse her.

Alright. This giant human pacifier has to go get some real rest...before the cold turns into something nastier. Ah-chooooooo and out.

Clutter Control

If there's anyone in this family who needs a walk-in closet, it's Kayla. I can't even begin to describe the number of tops, bottoms, onesies, pyjamas and dresses she has, not to mention new pieces she's already outgrown that still have their tags on. All I can say is some rooms are starting to resemble a baby boutique.

Recently, we welcomed (I use "welcome" because while it's tiresome to sort through the stash, these hand-me-downs have helped us saved a lot of money) another huge bag of 12-18m clothing. I hear there's another bag of 24m and beyond that's sitting quietly in a corner at grandma's. To make room for the new, we had to get rid of the old...so I spent close to two hours weeding out the 6-9mth items in her closet. I haven't had time to even go through the new stuff... and I haven't figured what exactly to do with the clothes we've accumulated since she came into this world. Ebay? Garage sale? Craigslist? Goodwill? Starting a baby consignment store (yes, we really do have that many items)?

Then there are the toys! I don't even want to start.

Of Birthdays and Balloons

We haven't done anything exciting lately, due in large part to the magazine's print week. No street festivals, excursions to the playground or outings with mommy groups. Only daily visits to the flat bed of green minutes from our place, and more recently, a shopping trip for Daddy's "surprise" birthday gift.

Surprise in quotes because it's no longer one. While Kayla was napping, I quickly stuck the two shirts I bought in a box, but forgot to hide it when I heard Kayla screaming over the baby monitor. Mikey came home from work, looked at the box and asked very matter-of-factly, "Is that my present?" Sigh.

Speaking of birthdays, Emily (Kayla's adorable cousin) recently turned five. Happy Birthday, Emmie. As usual, she threw an awesome birthday party at her home in Oakley, and Kayla decided she wanted one of her birthday balloons. Try saying "Boon" with your lips shut. That's "Balloon" in Kayla-speak. As for new words in her ever-expanding vocabulary, she now knows: socks (she goes "ocks"), hat (she says "at"), tiger (a very long "tieeeeeeeeeee" and short "ger"), and a whole bunch of words she can't pronounce like train, truck and Mommy. She does, however, lets out an extremely endearing "Da-dee" whenever she spots Mikey coming down the stairs or walking in the room. Can't wait to hear her say "Happy Birthday Dadeee!"

Success!

Kayla had her first bowl of chicken "chok" (cantonese for congee) today and she loved it. No dinnertime drama (I pushed dinner up by half an hour and it seemed to work magic!), and nothing wasted (of course, I overestimated again and ended up cooking enough for, well, the three of us). Though the chicken wasn't seasoned and the porridge had no salt, it actually tasted surprisingly good. Guess what's going to be on the dinner menu in the next couple of weeks - chok, chok, and more chok. Chok with spinach, chok with carrots, chok with salmon, chok with fill-in-the-blanks. Welcome to detox diet, Kayla style. We'll see how long we last.

Dinner Tantrums

What would I do without the internet? So it seems dinnertime tantrums are legitimate and commonplace though the methods of dealing with them are as varied as jellybeans.
http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/eating/dinnertantrums.html
I'm not about to put her on the floor with her food, but on the other hand, this can't continue. Someone ought to write a handbook for babies, and people ought to stop gushing about how wonderful parenthood is. Dealing with a human being who cannot tell you what she needs or wants is like playing charades blindfolded - beyond frustrating. Ugh!

I'm gonna try and and feed her a little earlier tomorrow and we'll see if that helps. If that doesn't, we might try a different chair or perhaps placing her in a different spot. Maybe all she needs is a change of scenery.

Dinnertime Drama

Of late, Kayla's been crying at dinnertime and we can't figure out why. She's in her high chair like she always is at mealtimes, but the minute I start feeding her, she starts crying. The food's comfortably warm and somewhat tasty, I think (she's still on an Earth's Best diet), she's comfortable, but something's clearly wrong. I've tried bribing her with applesauce and still, she cries.

It's really bizarre and I hope we solve the mystery soon. She's not eating as much as I'd like her to at dinnertime - you really can't feed her much in between her very sad-sounding sobs. I've tried singing to cheer her up, carrying her to calm her down but nothing works. Maybe I should start cooking her meals like I planned to, ahem, a long time ago.

Pictures!

I know... it's been a while. You know how it is with digital technology - too many photos, too little time. We've only just managed to upload a fraction of what we've stored so here goes. My faves, of course.

Shake hands....

Kayla had her first lesson in etiquette today. When you meet someone, shake their hands. And she does it with finesse. But seriously, she's learning so much everyday that I finally understand why people compare babies' brain power to sponges. Sometimes I think I underestimate their ability to understand and pick up on stuff. She knows now when I'm upset with her for attempting a dangerous stunt. She knows to think twice before doing anything when I say "be careful." And more endearingly, she knows how to give me a kiss and a hug when I ask for it.

But it's not quite the real deal, not just yet. In her world, a hug equals leaning her head against your chest; and a kiss is more like a lick on the cheek. Wet, but wonderful. She's still perfecting her blow kisses - sometimes it comes from eyes, sometimes they come from behind her ears, then there are days she sticks her fingers in her mouth. We'll get there.

A Walk in the Park

If there's one thing I've learned with this entire "stay home mom" stint, is that it's never a walk in the park. Throw a demanding part-time gig in the mix and there are days where I feel I'm being pulled in a million directions (sometimes literally by Kayla who tugs on my top from every angle reachable). But I think it'll work out - I don't think I could just stay home with her and not do anything else. (it'd kill me). Already I'm drowning in baby talk, baby books, baby poop, baby fill-in-the-blanks... work, though tiresome at times, is my lifebuoy. Breathe baby breathe.

Another lesson: Learn to live with the mess, and in a mess. It's okay to have a room littered with so many toys that it looked like a tornado paid a visit. It's okay not to know what's on the table for lunch or dinner so long as you can cook it in a minute in the microwave. And it's definitely okay not to remember brushing your hair before you head out so long as you've something to tie it up with. Oh gosh. What have I become?!

But what's been the hardest for me has been patience. Never one to live life languidly, I now have to put everything on hold when coaxing Kayla to take a nap (sometimes it takes up to an hour!), try not to go crazy when she's having a major meltdown, and live my life according to someone else's schedule, not mine! But I think I've come a long way in this department, though I know there's way way way more to be patient about in the future (like when she decides she wants to feed herself, pick her own clothes and what time she wants to come home).

Don't get me wrong, though. While I may appear to complain a whole lot (it's embedded in my Singaporean DNA), I really do love spending time with my lovely daughter. She's pure joy, a bundle of fun, and the reason why we're learning to appreciate the little things in everyday life -
through her eyes.

On a separate note, Halloween's approaching and her Daddy and I can't meet eye to eye on what to dress her up in. I like Princess Fiona (comes with a wicked wig!) but Daddy prefers a dog with a horrible collar. I say Sheep and he says Elephant. For some reason, I think we're going to end up with Bumble Bee. Stay posted!

Shame on me for the silence

The past couple of weeks have been a wee bit rough - but happy rough. We'd visitors (Yay!) and were having a ball discovering and rediscovering the region's attractions as much as they did. Still, that's no excuse for failing to report on Kayla's progress, or lack thereof.

Her sleep crawling spell has sort of ceased though she still wakes up screaming and crying for no reason and sits up by herself in bed. And she's talking a whole lot more now but still not making much sense. Extremely enthusiastic about ducks, lukewarm about bunnies and definitely crazy over babies. I can't take her anywhere without her yelling "Baby" whenever we pass a tot or babe in arms.

Unfortunately, I've to keep this short. Got a ton of work to finish but in good Governator fashion, I'll be back!

Sleep Crawling

It's amazing what you can find on the internet...and how it helps you to know you're not alone. So Kayla has been waking up a whole lot lately...crawling with her eyes closed. I think I now know why:

Excerpt from: http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

The "8-month sleep regression" (which for some babies is closer to a 9-month sleep regression) is related to the 37-week spurt. For some reason that one just seems to cause more waking, too, than some of the other spurts do. It might also be particularly hard because many babies are smack in the middle of working on crawling or walking, and also teething. (At Casa Moxie we've had probably 8 weeks of crappy sleep between teething, the 37-week spurt, crawling, teething, and now pulling up. Every now and then he'll have an easy night, but boy is it rough being a 9-month-old.)

Bear in mind that individual kids have different reactions to all kind of spurts (physical, developmental, etc.). Some teeth painfully for months, while others just pop a tooth with no symptoms. Some will wake in the night practicing crawling for weeks, while others never do and just take off one day with no warning to you. The developmental spurts are the same, so you might have a kid who has 3-4 nights of wacky sleep and then learns a new skill, or you could have one that spends 3-4 weeks waking up before every spurt.

Key Words: For Weeks

This is only the beginning.

Doc says....

Mikey left for a work trip this evening - his first since I got preggers with Kayla. It's going to be hard taking care of the little one all by myself but thankfully my mother-in-law's coming over to help out the next couple of days. I still haven't figured out how to give her a bath myself!

Anyway, we went to the doctor's this morning and found out, to our horror, that Kayla has dropped to the 25th percentile in weight! I think it means 3 out of 4 babies are heavier than she is. She barely gained a pound since her last trip to the doc's three months ago, but her paediatrician says it's alright, so we'll see. Her height and head circumference, on the other hand, are right on target. She also got her flu shot today and when her leg jerked, I thought the needle broke! Kayla obviously didn't like it and wasted no time in showing her displeasure. I don't think she's looking forward to her second flu shot in October.

As usual, we went to the paed with a long list of questions swimming in our heads, but only remembered to ask a couple:

1. Should we feed her breakfast since she's losing weight?
Ans: No, it's alright. Feed on demand and if she has no appetite for breakfast, you can stick to two meals.
2. Should we be concerned that she tosses and turns and sometimes sits up suddenly in the middle of her sleep?
Ans: No, babies do that.
3. She seems hyperactive. Should we be concerned?
Ans: No, it's a just phase. She'll get over it.

Paed asks:
1. She's still not sleeping through the night?
Ans: No. (I wish!)
2. Have you installed child safety gates?
Ans: Err...no. ( He must think we're the worst parents!)

Questions we forgot to ask:
1. Should we start brushing her two little teeth?
2. When can we start feeding her what we eat?
3. When will I get eight hours of sleep since Mikey gets his today? (Seriously...)

Body Parts

It's a nice, slow, relaxed day! Finally, I got a couple of deadlines out of the way, so I decided to take the day off and work off my mind at the same time. I still have an ed's note to write but I should be able to get that done tonight. I hope.

We spent the entire morning playing. I've just taught her how to raise her hands when I ask "Who's the baby?" and just minutes ago, I put her down for her first nap. I'm hoping she sleeps for at least an hour. I've been reading some parenting forums where moms post their day's schedule with their nine-months old. On average, those babies take at least two two-hour naps. I feel like I've been shortchanged! We're fortuntate if Kayla sleeps for an hour and a half. Her snooze average: 40 minutes.

It's a bummer too that story times at all the libraries have been frozen for the month of August and will resume only in September. It'd have been nice to get out of the house for a little while. There's acutally a bilingual Mandarin/English storytime that I think would be fun.

I've digressed so much from what I'd planned to blog about: body parts. Kayla now knows toes from hair and fingers from nose. Her listening vocabulary has also expanded to include: inch worm, peanut, bear, baby, duck, and good girl!

From Eshton to Darrell

I did a quick internet search and found that Eshton meant effeminate, and promptly warned my sister. And as of today, I think they've decided to name their little precious bundle Darrell. We finally got a sneak peek too and I'm happy to share it here!

Taking a Break

Not from this blog, but from work. How could I ever stop raving about baby, right? Well, actually I don't have much to say today. She hasn't done anything phenomenal to warrant mention, nor has been she exceedingly kind to her extremely tired Mommy. It's a good thing Mikey worked from home this afternoon so I could get more done before the packed weekend steamrolls me. Still, there's a pile of stuff to be done - laundry included. Which reminds me, I really shouldn't be typing away here when I've lots of typing to do elsewhere.

Oh but wait! I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't make the grand announcement. My sister has just given birth to a healthy, lanky baby boy whom she plans to name Eshton. His Chinese name literally translates to mean "Champion of the Universe", so take that Superman. He's 57cm in length, 3.1kg, has a head circumference of 33cm, and is, I believe, way cute though we haven't officially met. My parents are obviously thrilled since now they get to be "real" grandparents, not virtual ones who try every week to get a clueless 9-month-old to stay focused on the webcam. Kayla hasn't said it but I know she's excited - when I told her about her newborn cousin, Eshton, she smiled.

So congrats and send me the pictures, someone!

Ball!

I'll keep this short because I'm super sleepy. Kayla now knows how to say "Ball" and she does it in the cutest fashion ever. With her right (usually) hand, she holds the ball up high, cocks her head to look at it and goes "Baal." Never fails to make me smile.

Drained!

I think I should have given myself a small break before taking on the job - too many transitions at one time equals recipe for disaster. Barely into my second week and I'm drained... poor planning on my part, but I'll just have to deal with it. As always, the eternal optimist in me is saying things are going to get better and I'm hanging on to it.

Keeping up with a super active baby, I guess, sucks life out of you faster than a vampire in serious need of a drink. Kayla moves around practically every second that she's awake. She's always trying to reach for something, ripping pages off her books, and yes, still learning desperately to crawl. When you pick her up, she tries to climb on you, pull your hair, and play with your lip before smacking your nose with her fat (and wet with saliva) fingers. Even when we try to put her to sleep now, she flips and turns and ends up on her belly - like a tortoise. I don't even know what I'm writing now...my thoughts are a jumbled mess and that means I should head to bed. But before I do, I want Kayla to know that despite all that, I'm not sending her back to daycare. Not yet.

Spotlight: Mikey

I realized I've been blogging way too much about Miki and way too little about Mikey. Daddy deserves a shoutout for his outstanding performance and Kayla needs to know and remember that:
1. Daddy changes most of her middle-of-the-night diapers.
2. Daddy's the only one with enough muscle power to carry and calm her when she wakes up screaming and wants to be held.
3. Daddy does her laundry. (I think I should be taking over soon.)
4. Daddy cooks dinner sometimes when Mommy is too tired.
5. Daddy eats whatever Mommy dishes up without complaint.
6. Daddy lets her pull on his hair cos it's so short and she can't grab any.
7. Daddy used to let her listen to Radiohead on the way back home from the babysitter.
8. Daddy reads to her when Mommy makes him.
9. Daddy sings to Kayla - which is a near miracle cos Mommy has never heard Daddy sing this much before!
10. Daddy loves Kayla very very very much.

There's so so so much more that Mikey does... but let's just leave it at this for now: He's a definite A+ Dad!

One Week Later

Kayla survived a week of Mommy being home with her and I hope she's loving every minute of it because I am. Awww...ain't that sweet? I promise I won't turn Hallmark-card mushy, but I do feel like I've gotten to know her a whole lot better and vice versa. She knows I won't tolerate any secret munching of tags on toys, but she still does it (and gets away with it sometimes). She knows I'd really like to see her crawl and obliges by staying on her tummy for a good half hour every day before letting loose the floodgates. And she knows that there are times I've to type away on the computer and quietly plays on her own by my side.

I finally found some time to take her to the park today and even though we did little but sit on the bench and stared at trees, there wasn't nothing I could have wanted more (okay, maybe some chocolate ice cream). She laughed as the wind breathed life into limp leaves, softly running its fingers through whatever little hair she has. And she waved as a fat bulldog chased after a candy wrapper the size of her little toenail. I wished there was a way to capture all these tiny moments - because I know I'll need them when she hits the Terrible Twos, Threes, and Teenagehood.

I got the job!

Okay, it's not that I'm itching to get back to work, but in the back of my mind, the ideal situation has always been for me to be able to work from home part-time so I can enjoy the proverbial best of both worlds. And I'm glad everything has worked out. I've just gotten a permanent part-time gig with another Silicon Valley magazine - the hours are perfect (a total of 35 to 40 hours per month) and the extra money, though not much, always helps. I'm grateful to God and all those who've kept us in their prayers that everything has come together, although there were moments when I had my doubts.

It's a fresh challenge, which means added stress until I get a good grasp of my responsbilities and figure out how to fit some work into an already packed day with Kayla. Even if it means staying up an extra hour or two while everyone else buttons up for the night, I think it'll be worth it.

My first day as a stay-at-home mom

I had grand plans - plans to head to the park, thumb through "touch and feel" books at the library, and maybe if time allowed, some simple grocery shopping. None of that happened. Instead we spent most of the day just playing - on the bed, in her playroom, and what used to be our couch. I'm amazed at how I spent an entire hour watching her amuse herself, wave "Hi" to herself in the mirror, and go from her well-practiced crawling stance (still no crawling) to sitting position. It was fun.

And I still harbour great hopes for accomplishing some of the stuff on my stay-at-home mom to-do list: we're hitting the park on Wednesday; there's story time at the Cambrian library on Thursday, and if I wanted to, there's a mommy's group that meets for stroller walks on Friday. My schedule could be more packed than ever.

I know it's just been 24 hours but if this is how it's going to be (minus the bedtime drama!), this could be the best decision I've ever made in my life. I'm loving watching my precious one grow up and rediscovering every minute why she's so special.

Bedtime Drama Update: It's getting worse every day. She's protesting a lot louder and harder. She wails, flails her arms and legs, and won't go to bed without putting up a good fight. Pray for lots of patience, wisdom, and for Kayla to learn to speak real fast so we know what's bugging her! :)

Sorry Baby

This must be the worst I've felt in a long time. Kayla fell off the bed this morning, just as I was getting ready for work. I'd placed on the bed, turned around for what must have been five seconds when I heard a loud thud, followed by loud wailing. I picked her up right away, checked her all over for bruises, broken whatever...and I cannot describe the relief I felt when she started laughing. Then the guilt kicked in.

I'm hoping she's okay - she seems perfectly fine for now. And I don't think I could forgive myself if anything bad had happened. From now on, I'm gonna watch her with eagle eyes.

Bad mommy. I'm sorry.

My two-year anniversary

So this is it - my last day of work at the magazine that I've really enjoyed working at, at least most of the time. Coincidentally, today also happens to be my second anniversary at this job, and I was pleasantly greeted with a pretty pot of lilies on my desk when I got in to work today. I know there WILL be days and moments I'll miss typing furiously away at my desk (even if it's just with two fingers), shooting Nerf darts at my co-workers, and the feeling of accomplishment every two weeks when the publication goes to print. So I'm kinda glad that I'll still be involved with the magazine as its editor-at-large, contributing articles and helping out with editing a couple of days during print week. The money's not much but I think it'll make the transition less painful and at the same time, provide some respite from 24/7 baby talk.

Back to baby, Kayla now understands "Bounce" and "Peekaboo". She starts bobbing up n down on her butt when you say "Kayla, bounce?" and she loves pulling shirts, blankies, and pretty much any material she can get her hands on over her eyes the minute you say "peekaboo?" I've to say she's a big bundle of joy.

She's still not crawling (reverse mode doesn't count) but she's trying really hard. But I see it happening soon.... something tells me she's gonna do it sometime next week when I'm home with her. And I can't wait.

Stay-home mommy jitters

As the day approaches and the finality of my decision becomes more apparent (they've found my replacement at work), I'm getting a wee bit nervous. I can't quite put a finger to what it is that I'm apprehensive about - finances, losing a part of my identity, just change in general, having a whole lot of time but little discipline to put it all to good use - I don't really know.

A million ideas (alright, maybe nine) are bubbling in my head about what to do with all that free time but something also tells me I'm really not going to have much free time between diaper changes, playtime, and more playtime. I'm also planning to take on some freelance assignments (who can argue with extra pocket money right?) Will that all be too much for me? I hope not.

Reserves Low

So it seems my nursing days might be coming to an early end. My stash of frozen reserves are at a critical low. What used to occupy two freezer shelves has whittled to a dismal dozen of two-ounce bottles, and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm hoping to hold out till next Friday when I officially become a stay-home mom and hopefully resume a regular nursing schedule. :) If not, we've backup cans of baby formula, courtesy of the hospital and baby formula companies.

This week, we also bid farewell to Kayla's babysitter who's returning to North Carolina. I know Kayla's going to miss little Jonah. I hear they spend afternoons babbling with each other and that she gets upset when Jonah decides he's had enough and gets up to run away. I just hope she wouldn't miss him too much - her babysitter gave us Jonah's old swing and a couple of other toys, so maybe those will help.

Teething Trouble

I said it too soon. There actually isn't much to smile about when a baby is getting her first pair of teeth. It got so bad today ("it" being the incessant crying and "I'm in pain" scream) that I caved in, giving her two teeny teething tablets. Folks who know me know I abhor taking pills or medication of any sort or form. I'd choose a sleepless sniffling night over popping sleep-inducing Tylenol. Let's just say I believe strongly in the body's ability to heal itself, so giving her tablets is really quite difficult for me. And I'm not even sure it worked. She still woke up screaming at 1am.

From the looks of it, the next couple of months aren't going to be much fun, not when more choppers will emerge from her candy pink gums. Can someone tell me how many teeth a baby's supposed to have?

Something to Smile About

For a while, I thought it wasn't going to happen till she turned one. But she started drooling like crazy this weekend and when I looked, I saw tiny white ridges on the roof of her gums. Hoooray!From all the teething literature I've perused, it's supposed to be a pretty traumatic experience, both for baby and the parents - sudden spurts of crying, fussiness, loss of appetite, little or no sleep. Surprisingly, Kayla's taking her swollen gums very well. We haven't had to do much besides giving her a chilled teething toy. She's not crying or fussing too much; she's been miracle-baby good (fingers crossed, of course).

Even more exciting: She started to crawl, okay, maybe wriggling about like a caterpillar doesn't qualify but hey, she's trying. She does it only on our bed (the rug's too rough, I think) and only in reverse mode (backwards only). Guess who's going to be chasing her around pretty soon.

Baby Lapsit

Call it a rare treat. I actually got the day-off last Thursday and decided to make the most of it by taking Kayla to storytime at the library. I thought a change of environment might be good for her but mostly, it was to satisfy my curiosity of how she'd react in a herd of babies.

She couldn't care less; not in a bad way, more like she's "one of those kids doing her own thing." She was happier tugging at the zipper on the diaper bag, paying little, if any, attention at all to the jumbo storybook (i never knew they come this big!) or the over 30 babies that filled the room in a matter of minutes.

It was kinda like testing mommy waters with my toes. Still am not completely comfortable with taking the plunge and maybe I'm not supposed to be. Embracing change is never easy.

Divine Intervention

Coincidence or meant-to-be? Just when I was trying to figure out the best way to break the news to our babysitter, she surprised me first. She's decided to move back to North Carolina in - guess what - August so Jonah, her son and Kayla's first official baby friend, can be closer to grandma. Talk about perfect timing, I don't think it could get very much better than this.

If I hadn't decided to leave my job, we would have to go through the trouble and stress of finding another babysitter, and then undergo another period of readjustment. I'm not sure how Kayla would react to a new babysitter at this point but surely it's unnecessary stress for her.

Alright, she's bawling her eyeballs out. Daddy Hong is trying to get Baby Hong to bed without success. Here comes Mommy Hong to the rescue!

Ernie before Daddy

When I first moved to the States, I lugged with me a huge Ernie that I've had with me for a long long time. Yes, he took up almost an entire suitcase but it was worth it. He's now Kayla's new best friend. And she has a name for him: Eh-Eh.

Ask Kayla where's Ernie and she'll turn her head to look at him, squeal in delight, and then shriek, "Eh-Eh". Ask her where Daddy is and she continues doing whatever she's doing. I guess she's acting like everyone else - learn only what matters most to you. Which brings me to her second favorite thing: her bath time rubber duckie. He's "Duck Duck Duck Duck..." or close. So far, those are the only two things she's got names for. The rest of the world gets random sounds, including Mommy and Daddy. Ouch!

And here's a little announcement, something I never quite envisioned I'd be doing: I've finally taken the plunge and come Aug 1, I'll be a full-fledged stay-home mom. To borrow a tired phrase, it feels like a huge weight's been lifted off my shoulders. I think I can finally put working mom's guilt to bed. And hopefully in her place will rise a happy stay-home mom who'll be there at Kayla's every milestone.

The past six months have been rough and for now, I think this is probably a step in the right direction. Of course it'll mean lots of lifestyle changes but I believe it's worth it. Especially when she finally utters, "Da-Da and Ma-Ma."

Wish me nothing but the best, will ya? :)

Where Sleep is Scarce

Just when we thought we had her sleep pattern all figured out, it's morphed into a jumbled mess - again. She likes waking up in the middle of the night these days, refusing to be tucked back into her crib. Sigh. Mikey, the model dad, has been suffering the brunt of it.

We don't know what's bugging her. We don't see any teeth (still none, should we be concerned?), I feed her right before her bedtime at 8pm, and we always make sure she's snug and warm. In what I believe is desperation, Mikey has come up with a theory (the room's too bright) and removed all the night lights. We're keeping our fingers crossed it'll work.

I've been reading so much about babies and sleep that I'm all confused now. Some recommend letting the baby cry it out (sorry, can't do it), others say you've to establish healthy sleep habits now (no cradling or letting her fall asleep while nursing in the daytime or she'll expect the same service at night - what?!) or suffer. Suffer we have been, and suffer we will.

I think all moms who claim their babies sleep through the night are lying! Okay, maybe that's just my sleep-deprived jealousy talking. But seriously, why won't mine?

Nitey Nite. Don't let the bed bugs bite.

Big and Beautiful

Mikayla seems to have gotten over her fear of strangers, well at least for today. We took her to the grocery store and there must have been at least three or four who stopped to gawk. But what came out their mouths more often than not wasn't quite what I'd hoped for. "Oh, how many months is she? OH...she's BIG!" First they say she looks like a boy. Now.... she's gone from boy to big! How about beautiful next? It starts with "B" too.... :)

I'm not too bothered though I'm surprised that folks are calling Kayla a plus-size babe. One lady even commented that she looked like a one year-old. Mikey has a theory: She's big only because I'm small. Size contrast, so says my man.

Matter of proportion or not, it's been a while since I've uploaded some munchkin pics. Enjoy!

Baby Products I'm Loving

Advice from friends, how-to books, and parenting websites have all been a great source of support and help on this challenging, yet fulfiling journey. But I also have to give credit to parent and grandparent inventors who've made motherhood that much easier (not for our pockets though!).

Here's my current list of motherhood must-haves:

The Boppy Pillow - makes nursing much more comfortable for baby and me
The Buggy Bagg - you put this over high chairs and shopping carts. not quite a necessity but it's so cute we had to get it!
BabyLegs - super duper cute baby leg warmers that protect their knees when they start crawling
Baby Cubes - food storage cubes that fit into the freezer as beautifully as the diaper bag.
Robeez - cute, comfy shoes for even the non-walking tot.
Patemm diaper changing pad - babies outgrow the changing pads that come with diaper bags so fast. This roomy round diaper pad leaves plenty of room to grow, plus it doubles up as a play mat.
DaysAgo - The inventors sent me a couple when I wrote a piece on them, and these digital counters have been mind-savers! Helps me keep track of how many days ago a jar of baby food was open.
Ergo Carrier - Kayla loves being in that when she wants to see the world, and I love using it cos it doesn't hurt my back or shoulders!

There are tons of essentials that I've left out (bottle sterilizer, milk storage bags, stroller, diaper bag...it's impossible to list them all). Just consider these some of what I think are the most brilliant and clever inventions. :)

Ber Ber Ber

My little baby learned a new word (sound rather) this week: Ber ber ber ber. And she's so proud of it she would repeat it over and over and over again. Her grin widens when you say it back to her: Ber Ber Ber.... Banana!

Who knows what she'll come up with next? I can barely wait. :) On a more serious note, we might be having a mini childcare crisis in the next couple of weeks. Babysitter might need a couple weeks off for medical reasons and we haven't quite figured out an alternative. Like the Chinese say, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

What else am I missing?

Like many things these days, this slipped my mind a couple of blog posts ago. Kayla was so tired that she fell asleep while eating. It's hard to put into words how adorable and utterly ridiculous she looked as she nodded off to sleep, strapped to her high chair, a bib round her neck, with a mouth full of what I believe, was peas and brown rice (from the supermarket shelves, of course - I haven't reached that level of domestic goddess-hood). It was to me one of those priceless parenthood moments that will forever be engraved and live to be retold over and over and over again.

Just how many of these precious moments have I missed out in the past months? And how many more will evade me? It's become clear as crystal to me that I can't have it all - a career, time with my daughter and husband, and stories to tell when Kayla asks, "What kind of baby was I?"

From the time I get home from work (usually around 5.30pm, barring bad traffic) to the time Kayla goes to bed (typically around 8pm, sometimes earlier), we have less than three hours together. And most of that's spent feeding her, giving her a bath, and getting her ready for nitie nite. She's usually too pooped out to sit through a storybook that I'm dying to read her, and too tired to do anything really, even play. I know it's all about quality time, but the only time I seem to have with her are weekends, which are increasing filled with errands and engagements. Where does one draw the line? How does one find the balance?

Somedays, I feel she's growing so fast that I don't really know her anymore. She's gone from the wee one I cradled in my arms to my little chunky monkey who's outgrown mommy's short torso. Has it come to a point where I've stretched myself so thin that's it's become a lose-lose situation - for me, and for her? I'm stressed out at work, trying to accomplish more in less time. By the time I get home, my baby's too tired to get to know me. Is there any point in trying to "have it all" when at the end of the day, no one's completely satisfied?

I'm trying my best to answer these questions. Perhaps the answer's right in front of me, but I'm choosing not to see it. And why?

Paper Chase

Shame on me! It's been almost a week since my last post. But I've my reasons (ok, excuses). My back's been aching - she's heavy. I've been super tired - lack of sleep. And well, Mikey just started his new job so we're all adjusting to the new schedule and whatnot.

Kayla's bruise is fast disappearing. Her babysitter explained that she took her eyes off her for just a couple of seconds to check on her son, Jonah, and that's when she fell and hit a plastic toy (couldn't quite catch the name of the toy but it rhymed with wiggles i think). I'm just keeping my fingers crossed it's never going to happen again.

This week, Kayla also consumed some bits of paper. I was to blame. Was working on the computer when she reached out for a magazine mailer. I gave it to her thinking she was going to flip the pages, only to find out, minutes later and to my horror, that she had chewed up a huge chunk off one corner! She had paper bits all over her mouth but the rest of it was in her tummy, I presumed. Great, I thought, maybe we'll find a Post-It in her poop.

Another milestone: Someone gave us one of those doorway jumpers where she can basically bounce up and down for hours in. For two days, she couldn't quite figure out how to use it. To bounce, she technically has to push off both feet... but I guess she didn't feel safe enough to do that. Today, she started pushing off one foot and it's pretty hilarious.

Did I miss anything? I'm sort of writing this in a huge rush cos my bed beckons and my back pain is near unbearable. I'm hoping sleep will be my cure-all.

Big Bruise

And I wasn't even there to see how it happened - yes, that totally sucked. According to the babysitter, she had put Kayla on one of those walker toys and Kayla fell, hitting her right cheek against a plastic toy that was lying on the floor. It must have been a hard hit because the bruise was big and bumpy.

It was an even harder hit for me emotionally. Broke my heart to see my baby come home with a big bluish black patch adjacent to her eye (like she had been in a fight), knowing that I wasn't around to comfort her when she was in what must have been horrible pain. I'm extremely upset.

I'm also terribly disappointed with the sitter for not watching over her more closely. Yet I feel, to some extent, indirectly responsible because I chose to return to work, leaving her in the care of a stranger. I've been thinking for weeks now to ditch my day job for a full-time mom gig. Maybe this is my wake-up call of sorts.

Passport please.

We finally got down to applying for a passport for Mikayla in anticipation of heading back to Singapore in December. The queue at the post office wasn't long, but the wait for the passport is going to be. It's going to take three months and that's not guaranteed. Expediting it would have cost us $140, which is an extra $60 - and still we would have had to wait eight weeks. Thanks, but no thanks.

Applying for her passport got me thinking about her citizenship again. As far as I understand it, we've up to a year to get her Singaporean citizenship http://www.mfa.gov.sg/sanfrancisco/citizenship.html. We're at the halfway mark and we still haven't made up our minds. None of the Singaporean moms I polled informally here have applied for Singaporean citizenship for their kids - they tell me they see no reason to, especially when their little ones are boys. With National Service and all, I can see how things can get complicated once they turn 16, but for little girls, the only real downside is going through the trouble of renouncing her citizenship (if she chooses to) at 21...unless of course girls get pulled into National Service as well.

Thoughts on this, anyone?

Laughing out loud - fish market loud

The past couple of days have been pure joy, so much so I wished I didn't have to go to work. Gasp! I can't believe that just rolled off my tongue...rather, my fingertips.

Even though no one can figure what Kayla's been jibber-jabbering about the past couple of days, watching her plasters a permanent smile on my face. She's been da-da-ing, ba-ba-ing, and gibberish-ing, splashing about in the bath (i think she's finally figured out baths can be fun), and shrieking herself silly. She's one perky, peppy, playful baby - or at least when she's around us.

Speaking of which, we conducted a mini social experiment on Saturday when we went to a barbecue at one of Mike's ex-coworker's Redwood City home. Setting: More than 20 people yapping away, about a dozen kids screaming and running around, plus a ton of strangers who couldn't wait to meet Kayla. Hypothesis: She was going to cry the house down. Result: She wasn't the friendliest baby but she wasn't all that grouchy either. Conclusion: She's cool with children, but still not so cool with crowds, not yet.

Whatever the case, we're in no hurry for her to transform into the social butterfly all babies become. And until then, I'll save and savor every chirpy chuckle and carefree chortle in the chambers of my heart and corridors of my mind.

Rash free, finally

Finally, some good news. Her rash has cleared up, leaving tiny stubborn splotches of red. I'm not taking any chances though - so no more orange juice for me. We've also reverted to her old wipes - alcohol and scent free. Now what do we do with the huge case of Huggies cucumber and aloe wipes?!

I'm also getting a slight reprieve at work, now that this issue is coming to a close. I need sleep. Badly. I've been up practically every single night this week, trying to finish a feature I volunteered to write (on hindsight, I should have farmed it out but the itch to write prevailed. Bad idea.) But now that it's done and over with, I feel supreme satisfaction.

Oh and Kayla got her remaining two shots today - no more till her first birthday. Phew! As she grows older, it's going to get harder to hold her down while the nurse stabs her thigh with a needle. And what will I say the day she asks tearfully, "Mommy, why are you letting her hurt me?"

Rash Distress

Kayla has a pretty bad and lousy case of diaper rash, so bad that she's crying and writhing in pain when we try to clean her up. Her bum's an angry red and no matter how much diaper cream we slap on, it's refusing to go away.

We're not sure what caused it either. Pure conjecture: Her butt could be protesting the new diaper wipes we started using on Friday, or perhaps it was something in both her diet and mine. I'm praying it clears up tonight - knowing she's suffering (no matter how minute the pain) and being totally powerless is tough to stomach.

She's crying again now - looks like it's going to be another long, sleepless night.

Munchkin Madness

In the past 30 days, I've received three baby birth announcements in my inbox - gorgeous girls with marvelous moms. There's Auntie Jean with little (name unknown at press time), Auntie Andrea with Leia, the little diva-in-making, and Auntie Yvonne with sweet Annalise.

Bienvenue babies!

Farewell fatty, hello shorty

Miki lost some weight, at least that's what the scales at the doc's say, though my arms tell me differently. She has gone from being in the 75th percentile (for mathephobes like me, it basically means she used to be heavier than 75 percent of her baby buddies) to just a teeny wee bit above average. Her current weight: 16 pounds 12 ounces. And that means we can't call her fat baby no more.

We thought she was thinning out, making up for her weight loss in length - but no. She's dipped below average lengthwise at 25.25 inches. Don't rub it in. I already feel bad since I know firsthand what life as a petite person is like. Don't even get me started.

Roll Over

I couldn't be prouder. Baby Miki has finally figured out how to roll over from her tummy to her back - not vice versa just yet, but I'm not too concerned. And she performs the cutest rolls ever! (I do realize I'm gushing, but I can't keep a lid on my excitement...so bear with it.)

It happened unexpectedly (always does) when I decided she could use some tummy time after a diaper change this afternoon. As usual, she started whimpering after a couple of minutes but this time, she leaned her head way back and used the weight of her pretty big head to flip herself over. I put her back on her tummy and she did it again. And again. And again. And again... I think she's figured out, too, that with this newfound ability, it's farewell forever to tummy time. :)

I had better turn in now... Kayla turns six months this week and that equals visit to the doc's tomorrow for more shots. Owwieeeee....

Poop Panic

Kayla will probably hate me 10 years from now for posting this - then again, maybe she won't. It is, after all, part of her transition from baby human to bigger baby human. So, she's been on a supplemental diet of rice cereal, bananas, and vegetables (sweet potato, peas, and carrots) for the past week - which almost means her poop's all grown-up.

While we usually dread changing poopy diapers (we've had our fair share of leaks and explosions), we've been praying for one for the past three days. My baby hadn't gone to the bathroom for three days - she did a little Thurs & Fri but they were so so tiny. Her doc said it was normal now that she's on solids but real relief came this afternoon when her babysitter emailed to let me know - she had finally gone, half-a-diaper load and the best news in a while! She, however, did cry in the process of trying to go. Poor thing.

We're gonna go easy on the rice cereal and prob stick to more fruits and vegetables. Does anyone have a fail-safe formula that'll fix poop panic for good?

Playing Dress Up

People keep mistaking my little girl for a boy and the most recent case in point was our trip to Vasona Lake County Park on Saturday when a lady came up to her and said "Hey buddy!" (despite the fact that Kayla was in a pink cap, a pink onesie, had a pink blankie, plus a bib that read 'Thank Heaven for little girls!') When she realized she had made a mistake, she quickly added, "Oh, what a cute little... girl."

Sigh. Not the first (and definitely not the last) time this has happened. If pink's not working, I don't know what will.

Happy Mothers' Day

To my mom, my mother-in-law, my sis-in-law, my (soon-to-be-mom) sis, and all my dearest child-rearing friends,

Happy Mothers' Day! Thank you so much for sharing so unselfishly everything you know about taking care of a little one. Your nuggets of wisdom have made my transition into mommyhood a much smoother, and enjoyable one.

Love lots,
Me (and Mikayla)

Going Bananas!

She's graduated from cereal and has just moved on to pureed fruit. After some fruitful (sorry, couldn't resist!) Internet search, we decided to skip the greens and feed her fruit instead. For those not in the know, some experts recommend giving greens before fruits so the baby doesn't grow a sweet tooth and reject peas, carrots, and the likes. Advocates in the opposite camp say the fruit-first strategy is harmless and doesn't turn babies into salad-haters. I chose to stick with the latter, simply because eating off a spoon is totally new to her, and if there's anything I can do to make the transition that little bit smoother, why not? So we opened a jar of mashed bananas, and fed her just one tablespoonful. She made her a face when she got a first taste, but that quickly gave way to squeals for more. My baby likes bananas!

And here's something I never imagined myself doing: making baby food. Yes, we've succumbed to the whole "watch what you feed baby" anti-preservatives, anti-lotsa-sugar movement. We've the tools (Mikey bought a mini Cuisinart blender), and what I need now are recipes. I grew up basically eating rice porridge, Singapore-style, so this whole "boil the pears till they're tender, mash them, puree them, add water to thin" business is new to me. Doesn't help that I'm neither a great cook, nor a master of kitchen appliances (unless you consider the can opener one). I just hope I keep this up... it's more time-consuming, but certainly a whole lot cheaper and healthier than baby food on supermarket shelves.

Not sure if I mentioned this in any of my previous posts: Miki's sitting up on her own now, although she's still not rolling over!! I hate to say this, and don't shoot me... but even my dog picked that up faster.

More than a moniker

Everyone wants to know how their name came about. And here's how we ended up with Mikayla Rae-Ann Hong.

Mikayla wasn't even an option until about eight months into the pregnancy. For the record, I did most of the research and came up with a long list of names I liked - Haley, Natasha, Kayla, Kimberly, Victoria, Sasha, Jade, Shyanne, Kira, Kiersten, Tasha....so on. Mikey shot most of them down, and the ONLY ONE we agreed on after countless evening debates was Victoria. So it was Victoria for the longest time. As for her middle name (which is also her Chinese name), it wasn't as difficult coming to a decision. These were our options: Mae-Ann, Rae-Lyn, Rae-Ann. We chose Rae-Ann, "Rui En" in hanyu pinyin and it means "goodness" and "grace".

Back to "Mikayla". So I started throwing names at Mike again one evening (I mean surely there must be some other name he fancied!), and when we got to Mikayla, he paused, thought about it and said okay. Only because Mikayla, Micaela, or Michaela, is a derivative of Michael, which means "like the Lord".... He wanted his little girl to be named after daddy. We spelled it "Mikayla" because it's easy to pronounce when you break it up :Mi-Kay-La.

It's worked out really well. Now, I can't imagine calling Miki by any other name. Speaking of names, we did a little experiment today and found out Miki knows her name! But she responds only to Kayla (which is what we call her most of the time).

Milk Machine

I've been Miki's on-demand food factory for close to six months now - much longer than I thought I would have lasted considering our nursing relationship had a seriously shaky start. While I did read and hear many stories about how potentially difficult (and painful) nursing can be, it's one of those things that you don't really have a good grasp of until you experience it - or perhaps you harbor hope that things would be different for you. Well, I wasn't quite so fortunate.

For starters, I was too drugged out after surgery to stop the nurses from feeding her formula with a bottle. Then I was still too drugged out to protest when the nurse on night shift decided to whisk Miki off for another bottle feed while I slept. I don't know if our problems with latching was a result of her not being nursed right after birth, or if it was just new territory for both of us. To cut the long story short, what followed was three months of very painful feeds (I'll spare you the details, except to say there were tears and lots of painkillers which didn't help). I must have considered quitting a trillion times, but I could never bring myself to do it - for fear that she would fall sick, and guilt that I'm depriving her of nature's best sustenance just because I've a lousy threshold for pain.

Often I questioned if it was worth it. I dreaded every feed (which was every two hours), I certainly wasn't enjoying my baby as much as I thought I would, and I was frustrated with myself and Miki for not figuring it out!

Things got so bad we called a lactation consultation at six weeks, but the only thing that did was assure me that I wasn't starving her and my milk supply was more than sufficient. That kept me going. Plus the hope that many nursing sites proffered: Things would get better.

And they did, shortly after she turned three months. Today, we're a happy nursing couple, but it's also about time we work out a plan to wean her off slowly. I'm hoping to wean her off completely once she's on solids.

We've started her on cereal one meal a day, three times a week, but she doesn't seem to be taking to it that well. Maybe I'll try baby oatmeal. She seems to enjoy nursing too much to want to give it up. Which might mean I have to put up with the tiring "pump at work" routine for nobody knows how long, and not going out longer than three straight hours. I'm also worried she'll go on a hunger strike - though I think she loves food too much to do that. :)

I'm fortunate that Miki's good with the bottle. I've heard stories of babies who would rather go hungry than drink from a bottle (talk about emotional blackmail). Miki's happy with the bottle, so long as I not around. I'm the numero uno milk machine.

I think I'm ready to wean her - six months' a long time, though close, and experienced mom friends have told me to keep at it for another six. We'll see...

[to be continued]

Loving the Labels

It's been an exhausting print week (the week the mag I work for goes to print), which explains the deathly silence on this blog. The good news, we're almost done. After a readaround in the morning tomorrow, this little baby is good to go.

As for my other baby (the more adorable one), she's really into labels these days - eating them, that is. Only natural since she's at that stage where toes look especially tasty. But it's cute how she manages to locate the labels on every single one of her toys, our pillows, and most recently, our comforter. Into her mouth they go and out they come, soaking wet with her saliva. Ick! Besides licking labels, her other recent talent is shrieking. She's discovered the soprano range of her vocal cords and has taken to exercising them regularly...in the wee hours of the morning. Ugh!

Oh, and she muttered "Wa" the other day...maybe she meant "Ma?" It's fun listening to her talk these days. If I can figure a way out to record it somehow and post it, I will. I'm thinking of getting a video cam just to capture her delightful gibberish. :)

Fun in the Sun

Captions:
1. A sleepy start at the Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival. So Miki munchkin woke us up at 6am, refused to go back to sleep, and conveniently fell asleep the minute we got there.
2. A sleepy daddy with a not-so-sleepy Miki.
3. Miki's starting to look like a mini Sumo? The Sumo wrestling demo was pretty cool, by the way.
4. Mr and Mrs Duck with their six precious little ones.
5. Mommy and Miki.

Hot Spot

She's got heat rash, or so we think. Miki came home from the sitter today with tiny little pink bumps on her body, forehead, and tummy. It could have been the dress I put her in, or it could just be the rising temps. But there's nothing a cool bath with her rubber duckie can't fix.

It's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow, with temps expected to hit the high 80s - time to whip out some baby sunscreen and her cute little sun hats. We're off to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Cupertino tomorrow, and I think she's going to love it.

She's much calmer today, and much happier! I can only hope it stays this way.

Meltdown

To put it mildly, it's been an extremely trying, challenging, call-it-what-you-will week with Miki. She wakes up screaming half the time, has trouble going to sleep, and has become very temperamental about feeding. What makes it really tough is that we can't figure out what's wrong. Are we dressing her too warmly? Is she having tummy trouble? Or are these teething tantrums?

Whatever it is, I hope we figure it out soon. Needless to say, we haven't been sleeping well, or very much at all. Two hours here, one hour there - we're lucky if we get 10 in two days. Having said that, I'd better climb into bed.

Please pray for Miki, and us. Thank you.

B for Books and C for Cereal

And A's for Alicia who invited me to join an awesome online book site, www.goodreads.com. It helps folks keep track of what they've read, find out what their friends are reading, trade reviews...the works.

And for the life of me, I can't remember what the last "real" book I read was, except it was borrowed from the Rose Garden library. If I had kept record, my reading repertoire in the past year probably reads like this:
1. What to Expect when you're expecting
2. Book of Baby Names
3. What to Expect in Baby's First Year
4. Baby Sign Language
and more recently,
5. Maisy Goes Swimming
6. Peek-A-Pet

How terribly uninspiring! Having said that, Miki made her first trip to the library Sunday afternoon. She likes Maisy Goes Swimming, which is essentially a pop-up book that asks baby to help Maisy change into bathing suit. Yes, it involves taking everything off from Maisy's hat to bloomers.

On to a happier note, Miki got her first taste of cereal this evening. She's been waking up a lot at night to feed, and I think she's ready. She did alright, though she hasn't quite gotten a hang of eating from the spoon. Huge mess, great fun, though she was a little frustrated at how slow the spoonfuls were coming. We'll probably give it another shot this Wednesday - nice and easy, one tablespoon at a time. Yum!

Toy Shopping

I can't quite remember the last time I went toy shopping; but it must have been at least 20 years ago. We got to relive our childhood a little today when we decided to add to Miki's already crowded collection of toys. I hate to say it, but I think it's more because I'm getting bored of playing with the same, old toys with her day in, day out.

So like all first-time parents, we went a little, just a little, overboard and got her a baby piano with keys that light up, a singing/talking dog, a collection of sponge balls, and a cute duckie toy on wheels to motivate her to move. She's a little lazy when it comes to tummy time, so hopefully this will help. She loves banging on the piano..but she's not taking to the dog as much as I thought she would.

We're headed to the park tomorrow to watch little ducklings in the pond and loud geese terrorizing visitors. Miki loves watching the trees sway, birds flutter, and the wind on her face; so much so we've resorted, on some days, to sitting on the doorstep to calm her.

I guess no matter how raved about toys are, nature's still the ultimate playground.

Jiang Hua Yu

I've been thinking about this lately - how to ensure Miki grows up with a decent Chinese vocabulary. It's pointless running a "Speak Mandarin Campaign" at home when the only person that understands me is me. It's just weird speaking to Miki in Mandarin when Mike's totally clueless about what I'm saying. Trust me, I've tried. That said, my Mandarin isn't all that fluent either, due to an obvious lack of practice.

Grandpa and Grandma in Singapore brought a bunch of Chinese picture books for Miki when they visited early this year and it's been fun learning new words from these infant-to-toddler books (for me, that is.) I mean, who knows what the word for cabbage or onion is in Mandarin?!

Given these dismal circumstances, it's looks as though it's going to be pretty challenging imparting a second language. Ideas? Packing her off to Chinese daycare is one. Others?

Brainy Baby

This borders on insanity! A baby reading at 12 months - with total ease? I'll be happy if Miki figures out how to tell me when she wants milk or a diaper change.

Baby Boom

Come August, Miki's going to have a new cousin - a little baby boy with a name that begins most likely with the letter "D". Suggestions anyone? And we're hoping to head back to Singapore sometime in September even though the prospect of a 17-hour flight with a 10-month-old is as unappealing as finding your seat on the plane, only to realize you're sitting beside a couple with a 10-month-old for the next 17 hours. Imagine the cabinful of eyes that burn with frustration as we walk up and down the isle trying to calm a crying Miki. (And did we mention, she's loud?!) I'm hoping she'll mellow out... or perhaps a little dramamine won't hurt (kidding!).

So besides a little baby boy cousin, whom we shall refer to as "D" until he has a real name, Miki also has other baby friends in the making. Aunty Jean is expecting her second (anytime now) - a little sister for baby Ken Lin. And then there's Aunty Andrea who's welcoming Baby Leia in the next two weeks! :) Miki would have so much fun on playdates with her fellow munchkins if we were back in Singapore.

Now I've succeeded in making myself homesick.

Stranger Shy

Look at how much Miki has grown! Pretty amazing isn't it?

So this not-so-little now munchkin accompanied Mommy to work today and guess what? She's no longer likes it, or perhaps, never did. She was calm until a co-worker decided to pinch her ultra-fat cheeks, and then the screaming began. The only way to calm her was for me to carry her. So carry her, I did, sitting her on my lap, and typing with one finger on one hand. Good thing I didn't plan on staying long.

That aside, she's making it known she doesn't like strangers very much these days. She turns around once in a while to check who's carrying her. It takes about 5 seconds for a new face to register before she screams herself pink. Someone commented we should take her out more...but don't all babies outgrow it at some point?

Oh. And here's Miki's second official word - "I", "Eye", or maybe she was trying to say "Hi." Whatever it is, she's become a real chatterbox! I wonder who she got that from.