Yum!

 

Thanks to HM my old roomie!

1st haircut...sort of

So Max's hair was turning into a mullet and we've been meaning to cut it. I was really nervous about how to trim it - especially the sideburns. We weren't going to cut any of the top - just getting it away from the spit up trail was the main idea. We ended up cutting it a little too short (in my opinion) and weren't sure about the sideburns, but I almost cried I was so upset about cutting his beautiful hair afterwards. So we might have to find someone more experienced to cut it next time or clean it up a bit, but at least he's not looking like a redneck anymore...from the back anyway.

 

1st pics with my (er, i mean "our") new Nikon

 

 

So dan gave me the 10 min tutorial...and i'll get around to figuring out some stuff soon, but here are some pics we took with the new D40. Thought I'd post a pic of max mad that we're in the car and he's not going to eat just yet since we always post pics of him smiling. He is a pretty laid back baby though - he's mad and he's just taking it out on the pacifier (times like this when i am SO THANKFUL he takes a pacifier) frowing his eyebrows until we get home and he can eat.

31st Birthday

 

We went out to Mimi's cafe for lunch. Sad that I didn't know it had been open for a year now near the Triangle Town Center. Lunch was yummy and Dan took this picture of us. Later that night we were able to head out to Mura for some food (sake & sushi for me) and a movie (we watched Harold & Kumar). As far as dumb movies, H&K definitely delivered. I you didn't like Eurotrip or the first H&K then yeah, don't waste your time - but if you like mindless, racial, high school male humor than knock yourself out (i like almost any kind of humor - as long as i know what mode to set my brain on).

Pre-birthday treat

Postpartum hormone fluctuations have been causing some breakouts on my face so I decided to treat myself to a facial. Also have credit still from the gift card Wei Yan gave me for my 30th birthday last year, so I figure I should at least try to use it one more time (got a pregnancy massage last time) while I'm 30. I think maybe I should have gone for the massage...but I suppose I'm too sore right now. The whirlpool was nice on my sore muscles though! Got to have breakfast/brunch at Briggs with a friend before the spa...so it was a nice relaxing day!

So Sore!

Thursday I went to a stroller fitness class at the clubhouse in our neighborhood. I even did the modifications to some of the exercises and didn't make it through all of the repetitions before we went onto new exercises - but I am still super sore today. I think I'll probably be sore all weekend. So luckily, Wei Yan will be around this weekend to help take care of Max some while I get out a bit to celebrate my birthday and just relax.

Elvis!

The ladies at Max's day care have nicknamed Max "Elvis". They can't get over all the hair he has. Course there are like 6 Caucasian babies with no hair and 1 indian baby with no hair (they are mostly 7-8 months) in Max's class right now. I'm thinking they mean the older Elvis when he got the double chin and the belly...they said I should dress him up as Elvis for Halloween. And I am a little sad that Max is the youngest one in his class by far, but I guess one perk is that he'll get more attention being the only one who can't crawl around or play in the bigger baby toys.

1st Casualty

 

So Max was in a very good mood.

 

One moment all is happy...next that neck control lapses for a second and Dad's got a bloody lip.

 

Grand Turismo 5

I finally bought Wei Yan a gift that he actually liked. I usually end up getting him stuff that you would think he'd like, but then he never ends up using it. I pre-ordered it & it arrived last week. The look of concentration on both of their faces...I think Max already likes the lights of the TV....

oh, it's a lancer evo

sorry, forgot that not everyone knows cars like wei yan's car friends. he got a 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. he got it used, so that's why he already got it detailed. wei yan thinks white is 2nd worst at showing dirt (black being the worst). luckily i have an orange car - which does clash with the yellow-green pollen but doesn't show it too bad.

Eating my hand!

 

Max has been eating his hand lately. He'll even spit out his pacifier and then just start mouthing his hand (not just his thumb).

In this pic you can almost see his 2nd dimple on his left cheek. And I was able to get his smile with my slow camera...i'm thinking about getting a nikon slr...2 of my friends here have nikons and i can borrow their lenses and ask them stuff that I don't have time to figure out (like, what's this button do?)

 

also, i'm craving sees candies caramel candies with the marshmellows inside. the ones wrapped in wax paper...can't get those here...they sell the candies at a kiosk in the mall, but it's not a real store where they make those. anyone want to send me some for my bday? not everyone now...my dentist won't be happy with that...or at least i won't be with paying for bill...

New Car

 

 

So here are finally pics of Wei Yan's new toy. These are pics from the detail job (he's more anal about the white paint than he was with the old black/gray) - so eventually we'll get a pic of the whole car. At least you can see the wheels he choose. Sadly I intended to post these a few days ago but accidentally shut off the NAS instead of rebooting it...

The baby seat fits in the back and Max has had some fun riding in the new car on the way to day care with daddy. by the way, i still think this is an ugly car and no, i have not drivin it yet. i don't know which is worse, the last car that i thought looked great but hated driving (transmission was really clunky, ride was rough....although the looks were pretty funny) or a car that I'll probably like driving but don't like the way it looks...hey, i'm from LA, looks matter ;-)....at least when it comes to cars....

Best and Worse Parts about being a new mom

Worst
1. When you are so tired you are afraid you will fall asleep standing up or sitting somewhere while holding him and you're afraid you'll drop him, but you are just so tired.
2. Big poopy diapers. 'nuf said.
3. When Max is crying and you have no idea why and nothing seems to work.

Best
1. Smelling Max right after his bath when he's all fresh and clean.
2. He smiles now. He doesn't necessarily recognize people now from what I can tell, but he finds joy in little things. He loves his mobile (winds up & moves while playing music) and his play mat. We can also make him smile when he's in a good mood just by talking to him and playing with him.
3. When I burp Max he puts his arm around mine and it's like getting a little hug. You can put your finger in his hand and he'll grab on and just hang on forever. :-)

1st day at day care pics!

 

 

Max on his first full day at day care. His daddy did his hair like this the night before after his bath and the next day it was still going strong!

Back to Work

Monday was my first day back to work. It started off a bit slow since I had to wait on my OB's office to fax me a letter that I needed clearing me to go back to work. So Wei Yan left in the morning to take Max to day care and I got some time to clean the house a bit (yeah, to look at you would never be able to tell I had done anything...but the 45min was the most I've done at one time in forever). My work email inbox was just shy of 700 emails. For 10 weeks that's not bad! I was able to delete most of them and only read maybe 50-100. Yes, I was counting down the minutes I had to go pick up Max, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be.

Monday evening and Tuesday were a bit rough, we're trying to figure out if Max's eczema is bothering him (crap, i just added "ezcema" to the mozilla spellchecker by accident....darn it). So by Tuesday evening I was ready to go back full time. Wednesday at work, I figured out I'll be taking off Tuesdays and Thursdays until May 20th and then I'm full time after that.

Course this morning things are much nicer. Max was pretty fussy last night. The day care said that we should bring in some diaper cream for his "bm, uncontained" that irritated his bottom - I was annoyed at first but once I checked it out, I was impressed cuz I think they were actually being overly cautious. Still that might have been bothering him a bit on top of the ezcema. Fed him at 10:15pm, and Max woke up at 3:20am for a feeding. Then he was asleep by 4am and didn't wake up until 8:30am. I fed him and we played for a bit and he fell fast asleep around 10am. Hopefully today will be much better! It would really suck if the last 10 days of my maternity leave are spent taking care of a really cranky baby! This morning he was smiling and loving just hearing me talk to him and watching the ceiling fan from his bassinet after breakfast. I'd post some pics, but the camera is still in Wei Yan's car right now...soon.

New Vacuum Cleaner

So recently our vacuum died on us. Anyone have a good recommendation? We have stairs, and I used to vacuum them with a hand held corded dirt devil - but that hasn't happened in a long time since I really don't feel like vacuuming on my hands and knees. A friend of mine said her Dyson collects dust somewhere inside - that the occasional dust cloud will erupt despite efforts to have it serviced & throughly cleaned out.

movie night and day care...

We were able to get out to watch 21 in the theater last night. Good movie - not as good as Rounders or anything, but entertaining. The theater near our house has free popcorn on Tuesdays with your frequent movie goer/points card - i ate like a third of my bag. Wei Yan finished his whole bag. We argued about the goat problem afterwards, which made me feel like we're closer to the nerds in the movie than I'd like to admit (ok, i didn't do much arguing, except for us to get on the road & get some food before stuff closed).

Max also went to day care for a half day this morning. They said he did really well and liked sitting on the playmat that has stuff hanging from a bar overhead - he really likes the mat my aunt got him too, so that made sense. He also stayed up the whole time he was there, just like yesterday. Last night he slept from about 11:30pm to 5:30am - not sure if it was the shots or that he only slept for a few hours during the day. He's sleeping more today, so we'll see....

2 month check up survived

so we survived. i thought i'd be more upset, but i was just so amazed at how red max's face got. and he also looked so mad - not sad. i tried giving him his pacifier when he started screaming - but he wouldn't take it. i scooped him up once the nurse said i could and he got quiet - for like 10 seconds. but then i was able to get him to take the pacifier and he quieted down after a few minutes of rocking. got him into his car seat and he was out. he was up pretty much the whole day. from 9:30pm to 6:30pm he only slept for 2 hours (2 one hour naps) and one or two 10 min naps.

oh, he also weighs 12 lbs 5 oz and is 23-1/8 inches long. Which puts him in the 63% for weight and 55% for height. His head was 15-7/8 inches and i think in the high 50s as far as percentile goes. he's also got some ezcema - worst on his face and under his chins, but it doesn't seem to bother him much.

k, sleepy time for me. max goes to day care for a half day tomorrow. i should have planned better - but at least i'll be getting a massage. monday i am back to work part time - i'll be going back mon/wed/fri for 5 weeks. so that's 10 weeks of full time maternity leave and then 5 weeks where tuesday & thursday are my maternity leave - til i use up my 12 weeks. sucks cuz i think i'll be using up vacation days too...anyway, i'm babbling. time for bed.

2 month checkup

Going tomorrow afternoon. Just realized that poor max is going to get his shots. Last time he got shots it was in the hospital and it was just one. And i was not there with him. Hopefully these shots won't be too hard on either of us! Max can cry a LOT louder now and with real tears, so hopefully we both survive ok. ;-) wish us luck.

Daddy's babies

 

So daddy's supra drove away for the last time yesterday. wei yan had never heard his own car pulling away from the house - it does sound good. max got to sit in the supra for the first and last time and now it's off to a new home. at least he has one cute baby left!

Food Coma

 

nuf said.

and my favorite picture of late....

 

Crib

 

Max finally got his crib and his mattress. USA Baby is Cary was very lame. They were nice, just extremely incompetent in getting us the crib, armoire and mattress. I don't know how many hours we wasted on the phone with them just getting the stuff here. It was also about 12 week later than the long end of the time frame they told us when we ordered. Anyway, this was back a week ago when he got to sleep in his crib for the first time. He's sleeping in the hail mary pose - which he usually will only sleep in for maybe 20 min.

Here is max sleeping on his side - he can sleep for a long time like that - probably because this is more of the fetal position and maybe because that's how i had to sleep when I was pregnant with him!

Alligators!

 

My mom bought max a cute outfit from baby gap with alligators on it. Then one of Max's great aunts sent him this adorable alligator robe! If he gets the munesato collecting bug, maybe it will be alligators. Course, I've already gotten him a cow car seat and a cow humidifier!

Gordito!

Today I was at Target and heard two workers speaking spanish - well, I didn't hear much, just kept hearing the louder one say "Ay dios mio" over and over. As we were passing them near the shoe section, Max smiled at one of the ladies who was checking him out. I heard one of them say "gordito" and I just started laughing. I guess they weren't expecting me to understand - happens a lot in Raleigh. They asked me how old he was and I just said dos without thinking. Luckily - because last time someone asked me what time it was in Spanish I totally blanked on how to say thirty so I just showed him my watch.

Poor little guy usually calms down once we get on the highway, but coming home from Target Max cried the whole way. I think that was the loudest and longest he's ever cried - I felt so bad, he had one tear that had dropped down to his nose and 2 big tears that had fallen on top of his big cheeks and gotten stuck there. He hardly ever cries with real tears and usually they are just kinda on the edge of his eyes.

Here is a picture from the other day where you can see his chins. He was being kind of fussy and then fell asleep when my Kirk Franklin CD started playing. I was trying to figure out how my 6-cd changer on my old stereo worked so I could put in a baby einsteing lullaby cd someone gave us, but I haven't used it in so long I was having trouble figuring out which CD was what. We think he actually does better with a litle bit of noise, seems like he sleeps better than when it's dead quiet....

Lasik

Dude, today I got some junk mail inviting me to a Lasik seminar. And yes, it is watching an actual Lasik surgery live! Yikes! I know I am usually all into the science stuff - I watch when they are taking blood, I asked to see the placenta before they took it away for core blood donation, etc. but that was all myself. I guess I was already squeamish about someone pointing a laser into someone's eye while they are still awake, but watching someone else get it done just seems kinda wrong!

Playdate

 

Ok, maybe not a real play date, but the first time Max has met someone his own age. Barrett and Max are closer in age than wei yan and uncle josh. Perhaps they will grow up together just like josh and wei yan did in greenville - as grandpa chan predicts.

our mornings

in the mornings a lot of times i'll tuck max in with dad while i brush my teeth and grab a bite to eat before it's time for dad to go to work...

 

max is sleeping, but his eyes in that pic are a little open. and in the words of my pediatrician, yes it is a little creepy ;-)

Grandma's got the touch!

My mom left on Sunday, but while she was here she got Max to smile a lot! I joke that we're in survival mode so we are just concentrating on keeping the kid alive, whereas when she was here she had lots of extra energy to play with Max. I still say that he smiled a whole lot more when she was here - and here is some proof!

 

 

 

breastfeeding is hard

max weighs 11 lbs 5 oz now and gaining about an ounce or more a day - which is all what it's supposed to be. i've been dealing with some pain that has always kinda been there (max does better on one side than the other) and when he started his last growth spurt he really took out some frustration on the side he doesn't like as much. so it's been tough. i finally broke down & went to see a lactation consultant a week and a half ago, went to a nursing mothers of raleigh support group meeting and also rented a hospital grade pump - the other pump wasn't working that well for me most of the time. it was all going pretty well before that or about as well as i was expecting breastfeeding to be. so i keep telling myself that one of these days it will be easier and this will be the last thing we need to get over, but i'm guessing that is not true, that as soon as we get past this there will be something else. max no longer wants to go 3 hours between feedings consistently, but i guess i've traded 45 min feedings for 10 min feedings every hour or two. so it's been long enough that i don't think he will go back to the 3 hrs between feedings at this point.

i woke up this morning only to realize that in 3 weeks i go back to work! yikes! today i was in bed til 12:30 - max was in bed with me after 8am and we napped between feedings. so i wonder if i'll be ready and need to figure out the pumping thing before i go back as well! oh, and i tried to give max a bottle for the first time last night (pumped to give the problem side a rest) - he cried and fussed the whole time and ended up taking both sides anyway.

my mom was here for a week and so our house is cleaner, we're all very well fed and max got lots of cuddles and love last week.

growth spurt at 5.5 weeks continued

Just kidding. He totally fakes us out. He's back to 10 feedings a day and hasn't gone more than 3 hrs between feedings (and that's maybe once a day). Not too bad, but yeah, he eats for a really long time still. Anyway, just gotta keep through. Hopefully Wei Yan and my mom can hold out on the temptation to "just give him a bottle" - while the intentions are good to let me sleep & rest, I don't want to go through the not being able to keep up with his demand thing and trying to breastfeed & supplement with formula all by myself at home while everyone is gone a week from now. Max started this growth spurt Sunday - so someone please tell me it will be over soon. On the plus side, he is growing - for good or bad. He started using his hands to push off my chest and pull on me when he's really hungry. He also learned today that if he spits up in his mouth and then blows out it's really fun (too bad I was talking right to him when he first did this this morning). And he's hang onto my shirt when I'm feeding him and roll onto his side when we put him down on his play mat.

Growth Spurt

So right at the end of our 1st trip seems that max started a bit of a growth spurt. Incidentally, we caught the Duke-Carolina basketball game and Max stayed up for all of it and we made him do the UNC cheer. His arms are too short to make a C and therefore the C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A cheer will really have to wait...and "A" is totally out of the question with those short arms.

Oh, yes, growth spurts. So he was really getting frustrated with my milk flow and causing a bit of pain and then I was not able to pump very much. Kind of panicked, and went to see a lactation consultant. Course now his growth spurt has slowed down a bit from the last few days and he was much calmer. We also weighed him Tuesday (he has crusty cradle cap on his eyebrows & ears that is REALLY gross and spitting up a lot but dr says it's normal after hearing all about it) at 10 lbs 5 ounces. And then today at 10 lbs 10.5 ounces (when I left the lactation consultants office) - so yeah, that just confirmed he's growing like crazy the last few days and everything is normal. Technically I do need to make sure I can pump enough when I go back to work, but guess we can worry about that when Max is NOT going through a growth spurt.

First Road Trip

 

This past weekend, Max got to meet his yeh yeh (grandfather) and see his ma ma (grandmother) again. He also got to meet lots of uncles and aunts and family friends. His yeh yeh made red eggs for everyone to eat for good luck.

If he hadn't gotten stuck on I-40 during rush hour when an accident happened, that trip to Greenville (NC) would have been his longest.

Happy to be 1 month old....

 

Ok, so he's really happy about something else, but I was actually able to get a picture of him smiling on Wednesday. We can't wait til he starts smiling at people socially, but this will have to do until then!

Happy 1 Month!

 

Today Max is 1 month old...well, technically he is 4 weeks old.

Not all things on newborns are proportional. His little arms barely reach to the top of his head! Pretty much all bodily secretions are HUGE compared to this "little" 10 lb guys. And his burps and farts are already as loud as those of a full grown adult. We both still jump when he poops his diaper it's so loud! Things I had never thought about before...

Heels are #1 and Bruins are #2 in the men's basketball rankings this week! Nice!

Changing every day!

 

Today Max went with me to an old friend's house for lunch. He stayed up for quite a while there - so I got a pic of him with his eyes open. He got bopped on the head by the 2 year old - but he slept through it...even the subsequent apology. I wasn't as upset as I thought I'd be, but I think that's because I really trust my friend (we've known each other for 13 years now) and he really didn't get hit very hard at all. I was also more interested in seeing motherhood in action - how my friend taught her son right from wrong, that there were consequences to his actions, that he needed to apologize, and that there is forgiveness and unconditional love.

Oh, I also stopped by Target on the way home. I used to think that I'd always just wait til hubby got home to run errands. I mean, why would I deal with the hassle of bringing a kid along, but I guess I've just been so stir crazy & feeling house-bound, that it just felt good to get out & do something normal. And maybe it's a way to prove to myself that the baby is not going to stop me from being able to do normal stuff like go to Target. I made it back just in time - he got hungry just as we were driving home! I knew I was playing with fire!

His baby acne seems to have emerged today. :-( Here is the exact face we get when we try to burp Max most of the time (well, unless he just falls asleep right after his feeding):