When did it happen?

She is 2 1/2 months and I cannot quite remember what my life was like without her. When did it happen... the transition from when she looked like a newborn

into now where she looks like an infant/baby

I see her every day and know that she is changing but I look back at the pictures from that first month and it amazes me. I look into her face and see those intense eyes as she tries to figure out the world. I know I am biased but she is this beautiful, smart little baby and I cannot imagine life without her. The time has passed so quickly, I am trying to enjoy each little minute I spend with her as I know it won't be long before she changes again.

Here she is on her play mat looking up at me. I included this picture because even though she has other things to look at she decided to look up at the camera :).

Happy Mornings

Lauren is usually pretty happy when she wakes up in the morning and Eric has finally had the pleasure of seeing it. Eric was taking a class for a week and a half where he had to be in Palo Alto by 7:30am. Needless to say he missed the first few times Lauren had her happy morning faces. She likes to get up about 7 am and hang out for a little bit downstairs in her swing. The last few days she will also use the bathroom around this time.

Eric has been hanging out with her the past couple of mornings while I sleep in. Below are a couple of her happy faces.


Unfortunately she also makes sad faces as soon as she gets hungry which is around 8:30am. Hopefully Eric will be able to catch a couple of those on film and we can post them.

from watermelon to hindenburg

Ok.. .hindenburg is a bit dramatic as there were no flames...

So it started early Sunday morning with our little girl going through a long nap-induced fasting period. Early that AM, our little girl packed in about 4.5oz of the milky.

I woke up around 7:30 and she packed in another 6 full.

then throughout the rest of the day, there were frequent(3-4hr) feedings of an additional 4-5 oz...

At one time, Bethy asked me if she wanted more, and I thought not.... being that when I picked her up and was patting towards a burp, in return, I would receive that very similar hollow-sound-reverberating-echo of a heavily water-laden watermelon....

But no..... more was wanted, and more fit in.

We thought that it would result in some overspill, or some regurgitation, but no... it all stayed in there... and in wasn't leisurely consumed... the efforts were packed with a considerable amount of haste equating to about a 4oz/10 min consumption rate. Wow little girl... impressive.

Sure... there were some P diapers... but no poop.... yes.. that is worrisome.

So that went on for almost all of yesterday. Some diapers were quite full, but that happens.
This morning just as I was waking up(around 6-ish) I heard a long and drawn out emission. It didn't sound especially wet, but it had me worried. All told, it lasted probably around 3 full seconds, no kidding. I was on duty for the next feeding so I debated on whether to wake her up and change her, or just let it brew a bit and let her continue to sleep. After about 5 minutes, I figured she was going to get up soon anyway, and that the interruption was worth the time it might take if the damage baked in a bit.... but much to my surprise... it was only a P diaper.

I took her downstairs to heat up a bottle and start the feeding and she pretty much just relaxed and hung out. I picked her back up and started the feeding, but wasn't really about to get very much into her... she was spending alot of time stretching, grunting, and knocking the bottle out... so I put her in the swing, and let her gaze and talk to her toys.

Over the next 10 minutes I heard a variation of sounds.... coos, squeals of delight, some wimpers... and definitely not least... quite a bit of gas. Some long ones... some short ones, some wet sounding ones and everything between and around those.... and after THAT, there was a decent amount of poop.

All in all... our little girl is growing up nicely. Every day, there are little strides in progress of her growing up, being more alert, tracking, responding, reacting. When presented with a new face she'll spend time starring and examining the new person.

I have yet to really settle down into a set schedule on sleep and being able to do lots of things, I'll take advantage of some nap times to get some stuff done. She's a cutie!

Here are some pics of her today:
This one is of her sleeping with the familiar hand to the face.

And this is a few minutes later as she surveys what is going on.

Laughing with some friends

I really should video tape since I know she will outgrow it at some point. If you have seen her do it, it is quite amusing to watch. I am talking about her laughing, talking and cooing at the mobile we attached to her swing. Below are some of the funny faces she makes at it.




We had a nice lunch with Tai Tai yesterday. When Tai Tai got to hold her one of the first comments was "She's heavy!" :). Since she is topping 12 lbs now I wasn't surprised by the comment. Grandpa suggests to anyone wanting to carry her to prepare by working out by carrying a 10lb sack of potatoes around on your shoulder. You don't even have to buy the sack of potatoes, you can go to the grocery store and put it on your shoulder while you go shopping.

With the turn in the weather she has been wearing her fashionable long sleeve onesies given to her by Juney. Even though they are the 3-6 month size she seems to fit them ok. They are really cute and simple. They have a nursery rhyme character in the front and line from the corresponding nursery rhyme on the back. I will take a picture of her in it tomorrow and post it for all to see!

Ahhh sleeping more

Lauren is now sleeping 5-7 hour stretches at night to the relief of me and Eric. Of course that doesn't excuse us from writing in the blog but I have been taking advantage of this sleep :).

Lauren stays up during the day, keeping me relatively busy. She takes a few 30 minute cat naps that are interspersed throughout the day. To keep her busy during the day I take her out. We have been to Stoneridge Mall to walk around, out with some of my coworkers for lunch and visits to Auntie Harr's.

Lauren visited Auntie Harr's a few times in the past week where she has been talking to the visitors, hanging out and hardly sleeping. Auntie Harr didn't believe that she would sleep for more than half an hour but last Sunday she finally witnessed a two hour stretch of sleep. Auntie Harr also noticed that she likes to look out at people now, so instead of being held on your shoulder she likes to sit in your lap facing out.

The swing we put her in is multi-functional. There is a mobile that hangs from it that she likes to talk to and she giggles at it too. I definitely need to record a video of it before she grows out of it. The swing also seems to elicit bowel movements. When she is sitting quietly in the swing one always has to be aware she might be making packages.
My how she changes so fast.

Her chubby cheeks are still chubby and here is a picture of them:


Here is another after eating cat nap that I found cute:

finding what you've been searching for ...

for the better part of the last month.

Ok... I'll admit, I helped her find it, but she was happy nonetheless. Glad I could chip in a little and give a little guidance to my daughter.


As many of you know, "the thumb" and I go back a long ways, and I'm glad I could help make this introduction as well.


And that's about all I got to interact with her. She spent some time down with A Harr, and I guess it wore her out, as she was sleeping all evening when I was home.

This included a feeding with Mom when I got home, a nap, a walk over to see her friends(Sophie and Hannah couldn't come out and play yet though :( ), the walk back home, a nap on me, and then a changing and then there was another feeding.

I guess she knew she might get a bath and wanted to sleep right through it.

A Harr musta really tired her out! Hopefully she'll sleep through the night now!

Two Months today

Lauren had her two month checkup today where she received four shots. Two in each leg. You can see the little band aids on her leg in this pic.

She cried for all four shots but after a few minutes of soothing she was fine. We went out for a little walk afterward and got some fresh air. She had a fever later on in the day as an after effect of the shots. She was fussy but not inconsolable, after some tylenol, lots of holding and some sleep she is again feeling ok. She is in the 50th percentile for length and head circumference but she moved up to the 75th percentile for her weight. Her pediatrician said she looks healthy and happy!

I thought this pic was funny because she is sticking her tongue out. So I am including it.
She is sucking her hand now trying to find her thumb so you will see her stick out her tongue quite often nowadays. :)

It strikes again.

As a preface, for the past three days we have been awaiting a large package from Lauren but to no avail. She hasn't even delivered small packages associated with gas. We have only gotten wet diapers...

Yesterday we had the pleasure of Andi and Becca coming over to our place to visit. After a few fussy minutes because she was frightened by a big bright shiny ring, she settled down. (She was actually fussy because she was startled awake just before Andi arrived.) As many of the parents know already she is at an age where she can't seem to pacify herself. I took her, bounced her while she was leaning against my shoulder and she calmed down. Once she was calm I handed her off to Becca. Becca had a one sided conversation with her for a little while before she began to fuss again. Becca got up and did a great job of calming her down. Lauren started falling asleep as I went out to get dinner. When I came back she was fast asleep on Becca's shoulder resting peacefully. In the middle of dinner Lauren awakened as she was wondering where was her serving. I started to feed her a bottle and when Andi was done with her meal she took over and fed her the rest of the bottle. Overall it was a good visit with the Fong girls :). Alas, there was still no package to speak of from Lauren.

Today, Eric and I had the fortune of Auntie Harr offering to babysit Lauren while we did some errands, so we took advantage. Just before we went to Auntie Harr's house Lauren delivered a small package. We were surprised it wasn't bigger but thankful she went as we were wondering how long she could go... We dropped her off at Auntie Harr's house. Becca was there as well. She was fussing a little bit before we left, but we know Auntie Harr is an expert so we went on our merry way. We returned three hours later to hear the news...

Lauren didn't just deliver one very large package, she decided to deliver two. Thanks to Becca who patiently comforted a very fussy Lauren for an hour and half before the first package came. Thank you a million fold as she was probably fussy because she couldn't go and you got her to let loose! Auntie Harr handled the second diaper but she said it was a lot of poo. So much that she wondered how the little girl could hold so much.

Of course we got there after all the commotion and she was again displaying her happy baby disposition, cooing and calmly looking around. She had finished around 6 ounces over that 3 hour span so she was pretty sated. I think she will sleep well tonight since delivering packages is hard work.

Thanks again Andi, Bec and Auntie Harr for watching my little girl. She loves the company of others even though she has a funny way of showing it :)!

Having Lunch with Great Grandma!

Today we had the pleasure of having lunch with Great Grandma at the club. Tai Tai wisely pointed out that we represented four generations. Here is a picture of them posing. Though Lauren only had milk for lunch, she had a great time.

Lauren spent time cooing, smiling and laughing with Tai Tai. Below is a picture of Lauren laughing happily as Tai Tai is holding her.

Lauren is becoming more and more aware of her surroundings and will often watch you intently as you speak. If you are lucky or if she likes you she will laugh, coo and smile at you. I can assure you she doesn't do these things for just anyone. Tai Tai must have the touch!

making new friends!

So today our friends Joy and Derek made it home with their new little ones. Joy and Derek live a house over from us and just had twins on August 31. Sophie was 6lbs 2oz, and Hannah 4lbs 9oz.
Today they finally came home, so we thought we'd stop by and introduce Lauren to them.

Oh!!! what a difference 8 weeks makes! Yes.. we figure that Lauren is maybe a little heavier than 11lbs right now, so roughly both Sophie and Hannah combined!

We laid Lauren down into the crib next to Hannah, and here's what it looked like:


So for the other events of the day, Grandma-Ko came over and spent some time today... I heard that she was fussy for a large portion of the day, but was pretty sleepy with mom when I got home. My parents came again and brought dinner and spent some more time with Lauren. My dad noticed that Lauren is starting to stick her tongue out a bit more... and found the tag on one of the towels! She is more and more conscious every day, and I guess the tongue is one of the sensations she is starting with!

Another day full of fun... more tomorrow!

... making sure you have a firm imprint in the past

So going back almost a couple months now, we got a very nice gift from U Cliff, A Marilyn, U Ken and A Tina of a really nice frame with room for a picture, and two moulds, one for a hand print and one for a foot print. Last night... Bethy decided we had better do it before she got too big, boy... were we in for it ;)

So it actually started really good. Opened the packages, and they come in little foil-like mylar things. They are actually a bit foamy spongy to start, so you are supposed to knead them for a minute or so to get the air bubbles out. Then they include a little wooden dowel that is supposed to be used like a rolling pin to smooth out the chunk of stuff so that you can do the imprint. After you do the imprints, then you let it set at room temp for 48 hours before it hardens and then you mount it... pretty easy huh?

So Bethy rolled out both chunks of the stuff.... nice little round patches ready for imprint. My Mother in law(MIN for future ease of typing) brought "the talent" over.

Foot. No problem... I know I mentioned that she likes to make little fists with her toes, but not this time... either that... or we caught the little pigs by surprise. I think it was a first try imprint of "oh.. hey... that's pretty good.... next"

So first we tried the left hand... I was holding the stuff in place, MIN still holding the talent, and Bethy went for the left hand.

yeah... not so much... the fists were in full effect here. Something about a pointer finger wanting to dig into the material. Instead of lather, rinse, repeat, we got into a pretty steady groove of imprint, ball, flatten. There were some close calls.... but for one reason or another, maybe a finger slightly off or not deep enough, yet another finger that she clenched and dug into the material, or in general, just not pushed down into the material hard enough. For the foot, we basically had the bulk of her weight to push down into the material. For the hand, not only did we not have her weight behind it, but she also had a tendency to bend her elbow a lot which didn't give us much leverage on the wrist into the material.

I figure we probably tried this somewhere in the range of 15-20 times with probably 3 or 4 very close calls. Yes.. there was a little bit of frustration. The talent was being incredibly cooperative with our efforts, but it just wasn't happening. After a while, we decided to give it a break. The talent was running out of patience and it was almost a feeding time.... about an hour after we first started.

So upstairs she went. The instructions actually recommend waiting until the talent is sleepy, but, chances are, if you are reading this, you are either family, or know how stubborn one or both of us are, and at the same time... not really high on the reading comprehension part either. Alas, we had to submit.

Upstairs, as the little girl was being fed, we ran into a new set of problems. Previously, MIN was holding Lauren, with me either holding the mold or trying to take the imprint. In this case, Bethy was holding Lauren, so I had to learn to flatten the stuff out. Let me say.. this was a bit of an amusing situation all the way around. From Lauren being so good, to Bethy and I taking turns trying to get the imprint, to being picky and agreeing that yes... although what we thought was good... we could get it a little better.

So... after about 1:30 of trying, roughly 30 times later, we finally had something that was acceptable. This attached photo is of them setting. I'm sure we'll put up a picture of them when they are fully set and mounted.

In general, I wouldn't necessarily think it worthwhile to spend a whole blog entry blabbing on about imprinting of these, but it was an interesting and amusing situation, and at the same time, I think we learned quite a bit about ourselves as well. There were several occasions where patience wore a little thin, emotions could have ran high, and frustrations could have taken over, but as we worked through this situation, albeit it was one without real time restrictions, Bethy and both clearly understood what we were shooting for, and worked together to get there... and I think that is something that, while we accepted it as something that was necessarily before, are learning to be able to integrate it into how we are doing things day in and day out. Discussions on how to handle situations with family, care and feeding of Lauren, and things that are going to impact the well being and upbringing.

I never really professed that I understood or knew what to expect, or believed that I was fully prepared, or as prepared as I would have liked to be to have Lauren, but have believed that Bethy and I were at a point with our careers, our communication skills, our understanding of what we believed was acceptable behavior and a positive environment which could accommodate a shift in focus to a new family addition. And even as we have spent the last 13+ years getting to know and grow with each other, the addition of Lauren is making me realize more and more that while our primary focus might have shifted from making each other the best person possible, that we are still growing as individuals together, just with a different focus. We are learning more and more about ourselves through having more patience, and more focus on how we are contributing best to Lauren growing up.
Besides all the wonderful things that are going on with our little Lauren, this is a joy of parenting that I didn't quite expect.

A little warning would be nice huh?!?!

ranting about plane rides and such

(from a father's perspective)

Maybe I've been intolerant in the past of what I view as families not really being able to handle their own baggage in public situations...

And in many cases, I still am...

As has everyone, I've been victim to the crying baby on the plane. Baby across the isle, over a couple rows, or all the way on the other side of the plane... you can still hear it and it's annoying as heck. You try and avoid looking in the direction for the first couple of wails, but if its something that persists, tolerance runs thin, and annoyance sets in. Sadly, the root of many of the situations goes deeper than the plane ride, the symptoms that result in the crying and annoyance is not hunger, or sickness, or air pressure, its in the parents inability to handle their children, and willingness to place the burden of the children on the innocent and captive passengers around them. Yes... I feel strongly about this.

Which is why I was hesitant to take the plane trip down. I'd seen too many times these situations dealt with by parents unable to deal or prepare for the situation, and given what I believe to be a large number of unknowns in this new world of raising a little one, I wasn't quite comfortable with the prospect of being able to handle my own baggage. But alas, it was important that we go down and give the rest of the family an introduction to Lauren, and let me make sure I'm clear, it wasn't the family I was worried about, it was the plane trips.

So I worked it out with Bethy that I'd drop her off, go get the car parked, and then meet her at the gate. Yes, we were flying SW so we already had boarding passes, but Bethy needed to check Lauren in as well, along with getting the stroller and car seat through security so she got a head start. Oakland actually wasn't that bad for security. The line was long, but it moved pretty quickly and I was up at the gate just as Bethy checked in with the staff to see if the flight was full and if we were going to be able to have Lauren in the car seat next to us vs having the check the stroller and the seat and have Lauren in our lap. All good. For those future parents out there, the baby in the car seat must be placed in a window seat, but if the flight isn't full, then you are in good shape.

*Bonus for having a kid - you don't have to check in early ... you get to pre-board!!!

Bethy had prepped a bottle for Lauren for the altitude changes to encourage pressure relieving feeding if she became uncomfortable..... and that was that. With the exception of a mid-air poop and some slightly lost containment which resulted in my having to do a change in the tiny restroom, no crying, no fussing, not a peep. The flight attendant(primarily there for your safety) was so kind as to hand out little pairs of wings like what United used to do so long ago. Hopefully Bethy still has them somewhere!!!!

Bethy already wrote about the nice time that we spent there so I don't need to go into that much, so I'll skip to the flight back.

This prep was slightly different as I didn't have to go do the car thing, and I fully realized the coordination that Bethy must have done without me getting through security. In my hands were the diaper bag, the roller, and the little bed that Mona/Vince/Abe let us have (Thanks!!!) so I thought I was sufficiently occupied and contributing. Bethy had the stroller, carseat, and Lauren. I piled my stuff through the checkpoint, laptop out, shoes, 3 bags and I thought we were good. Little did I think aobut how Bethy was going to unload the little girl, collapse the stroller and get it on the conveyor, and the same for the car seat. I scooted my way through, at my own capacity, only to look back and see that Bethy needed help... :( Just goes to show that with a little one, even if you are at capacity, or what you believe to be at capacity, if there are needs elsewhere, be prepared to look around and fill in!! Sorry Mom!!!

So onto the flight... this time there was another group that pre-boarded with a little one as well. Looked to be about a 1yr old or so... girl... and oh what a terror she turned out to be. Without getting too far into it, one of the things that you learn when you are a parent is the difference between the cries... the hungry, the trying to poop or pee, the waking up, the angry, and then like this one, the pay attention or fussy fake cry. The fussy fake cry is usually louder than usual, and can start and stop at a whim. And this little one was a perfect example and reminder of what we don't want to happen. Annoying all the people around them, banging on seats and tray tables, and the family of course, with the helpless look. Obviously we know who runs that family.

Lauren? perfect again, she didn't get a pair of wings, but this time, no poop and a comfy ride the whole time. Maybe a green light for future travels!!!

Visiting SD

Before our trip down to San Diego, Eric was playing with Lauren's toes in her swing. She was so happy to spend time with him she gave him a sweet smile and was laughing!



Lauren took her first airplane ride down to San Diego this weekend to visit with my family. To our relief she did amazingly well. She was calm on the trip down and the trip back. Other than a poo incident which stressed out us more than her, the flights were uneventful.

We had a wonderful spending time at my brother's place. Here is a picture of her relaxing with her cousin Abraham.


And her making a happy face with my brother Vince.