Gross!

One thing I never really thought about when looking forward to seeing Max smile and laugh at us, was that this was a product of him being able to have & express feelings of joy and pleasure...which also comes along with him being able to feel and express displeasure. After a good nap today, Max woke up rather grumpy to say the least. After trying to calm him down a bit, we gave up on that idea and proceeded to get him ready to nurse. We suctioned out his nose since he's been very congested (and even started coughing productively this afternoon) and I tried to nurse him. Boy, was he even more ANGRY! He cried and screamed....so we walked him around a bit with a paci trying to get him to calm down again. We suctioned out his nose REALLY well this time and he was able to eat finally. He really hates having his nose wiped...I think he actually dislikes it more than having it suctioned.

Course he did start to cough a bit & proceeded to spit up all over me while nursing. And when you see pictures of women nursing in books on breastfeeding, they never show a picture of a woman with boogers all over her and her hungry babies nose. Sorry, I know this is more than some folks would like to know, but I ran to get dinner with spit up all over my undershirt just to get out of the house for a bit, so it's been that kind of an evening where I really just don't care that I'm supposed to look like I've got this all together 24-7. So anyway, as we eat dinner, Max is happily laying on his playmat talking to his toys and Wei Yan says to me (the topic of the day), "Do you really think Max is sick???" I don't bother pausing as I shove food into my mouth (I didn't realize I was hungry until I was on the way to pick food up at 8:30pm) and reply "Yup". Wei Yan says, "But he seems so happy now. I wonder what he was so upset about earlier" Wei Yan then decided to check on Max on the mat since we need to wipe his nose every few minutes it seems...and I think we've got our answer about him starting to get sick...

 

Story time

 

Before we put Max down, we've been reading him stories. I usually end up rocking max while I'm reading so that he's snuggled up to me rather than looking at the book - right before we put him down. This seems to be a good signal to him that it's time to get comfy & sleepy and he usually is alseep 5-10 min after we put him down if we do this. Dad likes to read to him & Max loves to look at the pictures while dad reads to him. I think this must be the scary part of Brown Bear, Brown Bear....

Bumbo

 

Max has been has been wanting to see what is going in the room these days...no longer happy just laying on his back looking at his toys forever, so we bought him one of these bumbo things. He's been kinda fussy with the whole growth spurt thing, so we decided to go for a car ride (goodberry's frozen custard....yum) and a trip to target.

Uh oh!

Max has been pretty fussy the last few days. He's been waking up after ~5 hours and been pretty cranky so he might be on a growth spurt. Anyway, the day before yesterday we went for a walk at 8pm in the evening, because nothing else was working. He got quiet as soon as I put him in his car seat and while we were walking he didn't want his paci. Guess he found something else he likes better....

Bad Lakers fan

i'm such a bad lakers fan. it's 11:06pm, max went to sleep (finally) at 10:30. i'm going to bed. in my defense, max has woken up at 4:30am this morning (after waking up from 12:30-2:30am) and 3 am the 2 previous mornings. guess this is his ~4month growth spurt. he's been really hungry and pretty fussy. he's also been sleeping a lot and still acts cranky when he's awake. we'll just say it's cuz i know they are going to win. crap. 2 point game now. night everyone.

Bears!

So apparently there were a few bear sitings across the street behind the Walmart in Brier Creek! Pretty crazy, huh? Guess that's another reason I should make sure our garage is closed at all times. Stuff that would have never happened when I live in LA.

Mother's Day part II

 

 

 

 

So I guess Max's first Mother's day present is that he didn't do this to me. We were just telling our friend (5 min before this happened) about Max's biggest poop/leaky diaper. Apparently Max felt this was a challenge & decided to work on a new all time best.

Mother's day part I

 

Yesterday, Max got to celebrate Mother's day a day early with Mom, Grandma (mama) and great Grandma! He got a little overstimulated by the end of the day, and fought harder than I'd ever seen him fight going to sleep.

2nd haircut

 

Our friends mom is a real hairstylist and she fixed Max's sideburns & near his ear for us. Mom is feeling much better about his haircut now. ;-)

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!