Lions and Tigers and Bears... Oh My!

In kid-imagination world, it translates to Naomi, Isaac, and Elisabeth.

Em's cousins (once-removed) came down for a visit this past weekend, and it was the most excitement she's experienced... aside from birth. I love having my cousin and his family visit. Every time is a memorable experience and guaranteed to be fun with the kids. I can already imagine Em having tons of fun with her older cousins a year or two down the line. She was a happy baby with entertainment by her cousins and with Uncle Brian and Auntie Christine around to hold her.

There was a day of outdoor rock climbing with the kids:

And also various "train" rides throughout the weekend:

The "train conductor":

Just like any of Disneyland's rides, Em did not meet the minimum ride requirement, but did get her own kind of ride in the Baby Bjorn from Uncle Brian:

It would be unheard of if there wasn't any fighting that occurred in 3 days of togetherness...

With Auntie Christine just coming back from a newborn baby workshop, she gave us a treat of a photo session with Em. (More to come on that...)

All in all, it was a fun-filled weekend with Em's introduction to some of her Szeto cousins.

Emilia Hits the Big 2.0 (Months)

Last Saturday was Emilia's 2 month birthday. It's still a learning process for us as we discover new things about her on an almost daily basis.

• She's smiling more now, but still rather unpredictably so it's hard to catch on camera.
• Her night-time sleeping is really good, and has been as long as 7 hrs.
• We've been tracking her weight gain, and she's had a steady increase from birth (see chart below). She's almost 11 lbs now which is about a 50% increase over her birth weight.
• She's gone through a spit-up phase, but it's seems better now.
• She eats like a horse at times, and at other times is more interested in sleeping.
• She loves her Rainforest musical mobile. Not sure what it is about it, but she'll stare at it, wave, smile, and coo.
• I think she's said "Hi" a few times. Ok, at least it sounded like it :^)
• When she has a fit, she's as strong as an ox. I think she'll outdo Momma in pull-ups.
• For some reason, she likes to turn her head to the right more than the left. She also seems to use her right hand more. We're starting to think that she might be a righty (much to Connie's dismay).
• She's been great on almost every outing we've gone on. She just seems to do better in fresh air, new environments, and with various people interactions.
• There are times during the day when you just can't get her to sleep.  That wouldn't be so bad except her awake time consists of a lot of crying time which means she requires a lot of attention to minimize the crying.  But there are also times when it seems she just needs to cry to burn off energy and tension.
• We've found a few new ways to soothe her into sleeping: 1) when it's cooler, a warm rice bag on her tummy makes her content, and 2) gentle stroking on her back will lull her to sleep as long as she isn't too fussy.
• She doesn't have a problem bottle feeding (The First Years Breastflow bottles rock - only bottle we could find that had a slow enough flow and simulates the real thing). This will help free up some of Connie's time, and will be necessary when she goes back to work.
• Pacifiers aren't her thing - yet. We're still working on it as it may become an important soothing tool when Connie is at work.
• She generally sneezes in 3's, with occasional 2's and 4's.
• She's got Momma trained really well, and she has Momma thinking she can hold a conversation with her based on one-syllable sounds and facial expressions.
• Her depth of vision seems to be around 4-5 ft.  She'll track things up to that distance, but doesn't like things too close to her face.

This last weekend we had Connie's cousin Brian and his family (Christine, Naomi, Isaac, and Elisabeth) stay with us for the weekend. Brian's wife Christine is a children's photographer so Connie and her spent some time taking some high quality pictures. Here's a teaser of some amazing pics that will be coming soon. Thanks Christine!

Photo by Christine Szeto, http://candidsbychristine.com/blog/

ps. We discovered that this newborn photography business is risky. The soiled clothing and blankets are evidence.

Friends and Family

It has been exciting for us to share Em with our family and friends and, lucky for us, we have had an evenly spaced stream of visitors that have come by to meet our little girl. Not only family and friends, but also neighbors (Thanks Karen & Bruce, Jim & Sandy for welcoming her as the new kid on the block), co-workers, and old and new acquaintances have stopped by.

Em loves having visitors. In fact, she is always on her best attitude when people are visiting. She's sad to see them leave, evident by her crying and fussiness after they leave.

Em gets a weekend visit from Auntie Christina.

And Em loves the blanket, especially the hoodie that Christina made for her!

If you look closely... or the next photo...

Em is all smiles with Auntie Debbie holding her.

While I haven't documented all of Em's aunties, uncles, and family that have come to visit, it's been great for us to be able to see our friends and family at the convenience of our home. Thanks for stopping by! If you haven't had a chance to come by and visit (or if I have been absent-minded on social etiquette and have not been in communication =P ), please do call us up and come on by, as we are eager for Em to meet all her "aunties" and "uncles".. and I have only a few more weeks before I have to head back to work.

Request from the G'Rents: Mo' Photos

04.19.2010. SHE SMILES!!! =)

04.19.2010. And more smiles!

04.19.2010. Little chubby cheeky...

04.19.2010. Em at play.

04.19.2010. She has Grandpa Sakurada's cheeks.

04.19.2010. Em being very good while daddy changes the diaper.

04.19.2010. Ryan calls this particular Em expression "the turtle".

04.19.2010. Is that a smile I see?

04.06.2010. Daddy & Em in Easter Saturday attire.

04.13.2010. Random Em Sleeping.

04.02.2010. Random Em playing.

Another Notch on the Age Counter

Red tulip flowers from hubby and baby for my birthday a few days ago! And as always, the birthday spurs my reflections of the year.



Every year the birthday passes like any other ordinary day. This year's ordinary day is vastly different from the past... I am a mommy and the day spent with my family is one great, ordinary day. =)

This year, I look at the changes from the year and am seriously amazed at all that's happened. I moved from where I lived the past 10+ years... I have a hubby.. a really good hubby... I have a baby girl.. a really good baby girl... I have become over-protective, somewhat traditional and a little conservative (a veer from the whimsical-anything-goes mindset), and I have friends that are still my friends even though I've transitioned over to the "married couple with kids" side. (Thanks for sticking with me and all the baby talk!) Quite a difference from the sporty, adventure traveling vagabond life. All I can think to say is "Whew, I've survived the ups and downs and adventures life brought til now and am looking forward to the next set of ups, downs, and adventures life will bring in the future."

And with baby, every day is a new adventure. She reminds me that the simple things that happen are the exciting experiences - a smile, a coo, a wickedly loud cry, a visit from friends, homecooked meals, a trip anywhere outdoors (and not just the Sierras or Rockies), or even just hubby taking care of baby for a while so I can nap! So cheers to hopefully another year of new adventures!

Baby Em Goes Climbing

We took Emilia to the climbing gym for the first time last night.  If you can't tell, she loved it  :^)

Each time we go out with her is test of what we need to bring, how she'll do in the car, and will it be a major job keeping her from crying while she's there. Well, everything went very well from most all aspects (Connie wants to refine her roadie nursing technique a bit). We have one small bag of supplies we take, and took her bouncer just in case, but didn't need it.  She slept in the car the entire drive over and most of the way back, and was awake the whole time we were at the gym (~2.5 hrs).  She did have some bouts of fussiness, but Aunties Patty and Kelly were quick to get her back in line.  Unfortunately we weren't able to get her on any climbs, but maybe next time  ;^)

Sorry for the blurry pic (camera was set wrong and batteries running low), but this is the only one we had with Auntie Patty.

Tai Chi Yoda

Baby Em has various wake-up routines. This one is the Tai Chi Yoda...




For reference, here's the real Yoda...














As you can see, I post up the corny videos and amateurish pics. Look for Connie's posts if you're looking for quality ;^)

The Extras

It took a while to get Em's birth announcement together.. in between feedings, sleep, and chores. Here are the extra photos (or alternative photos) for the full version of the birth announcement if it wasn't limited to size.

Extra photos that didn't make the cut for the birth announcement:






And a few of the birth announcement photos that have more detail in color:

Emilia's Birth Announcement

Six weeks old now and we have gotten to know so much about her. Ryan and I are amazed every day to all the laughter she brings. We love those moments where she wiggles and nuzzles in our arms to find the comfy position or when she cries all out like a Yoda only to calm down and start cooing. We are so lucky to have her.

Here's to welcoming our daughter who is true to the phrase "our bundle of joy".

Just Needs a Little Fine Tuning

In our down time, we like to play with baby.



Disclaimer: No baby was harmed in the making of this video.

First Run

Uh, not the baby - me.  I haven't been able to run since I had the neck operation last Aug '09.  So this is a minor milestone as I try to get the ol' body back in shape.  Just did a couple miles at a really slow pace.  Baby steps.  My near term goal is to do the Project Athena 15k trail run on May 8.  We'll see...

The Foremilk/Hindmilk Imbalance

The latest chapter in Baby Em's life has had her experiencing some very watery, green poop (pics omitted for obvious reasons). We've learned that this is caused by a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. The foremilk is the first milk that the baby gets during a feeding. It is generally a thinner, low fat, low calorie milk similar to skim milk. This milk serves to quench the baby's thirst and meet their liquid needs. As the feeding progresses, the baby gets a thicker, fattier milk which is the hindmilk. This milk is high in calories and is essential to the baby's growth.

We believe that the foremilk/hindmilk imbalance was caused by an oversupply of milk. When baby had her last growth spurt, Connie's milk adjusted to this and generated more milk. But when baby's feeding slowed, there was an overabundance of milk. She would feed completely on one breast, but then be only able to take a portion of the second. This means that she got mainly just the foremilk from the second breast, and hence, the imbalance. Connie also experienced some clogged ducts due to the incomplete feeding sessions, and this also contributed to the irregular feeding patterns.

To solve this problem, we now make sure that baby completely finishes the first breast. Connie will express some milk from the second breast if she's feeling engorged. This serves to relieve the pain she's feeling, and also removes some of the foremilk. So when baby now feeds off of the second breast, she gets to the hindmilk quicker and can drain that breast more completely. Hopefully as Connie's milk supply adjusts to this new demand, there will be less engorgement and less need for that initial pumping, and baby will become satisfied on completely draining just the first breast.

The good news is that we can readily see the difference in Baby Em's poop since we adjusted her feeding. Her poop has returned to it's normal appearance and consistency - more of a mustard yellow color and much less watery. We also see that she's gaining weight again whereas she was just stable while she had the imbalance. Another issue now understood. What's next?

Dadda Drives, Bebe Sleeps..

and Mamma goes snap happy!!

Our Lil' Sleepy Angel


Our Lil' Boxer


Our Lil' Garden Gnome


Mamma just found her point'n'shoot camera.. oh, how much easier and portable it is to take ga-zillion of photos of the Lil' one!

And more sleep photos cause mama likes watching the lil' one sleep.