Beware of MONSTER TRUCKS

When big sis takes lil' bro's monster truck...

And it refuses to be used as a curling iron and attacks...

Bad Photo Scavenger Game

If you haven't heard from me in a while, I hope you'd accept my apology for missing my friends birthdays, phone calls, messages.. etc. I am naturally a lazy slacker when it comes to keeping in touch, and even more so when combined with singular focus on trying to win the "Crying Photo Scavenger Game". What is this new game, you ask?

Ryan had a great idea that we should take a photo of Emilia every time she had a fit of rage. It is sort of like musical chairs combined with a photo scavenger hunt. You never know when the music stops and you have to sit in a chair.. or in this case, when the crying starts and you have to grab a camera! This game didn't last long. I think I got tired of running for the camera each time, but for the duration it lasted... we got a lot of photos!


And to top it off with one of Liam's tantrums. =)


Drats.. this guy beat me to it!

As of lates...

This is how we wake up in the mornings now.



The past month have been really, really busy. Trips to Nor-Cal, bi-weekly swim lessons, demanding schedules at work, and a baby pushing full-throttle ahead to toddler-hood at 299,792,458 metres per second (aka. speed of light). Lots of highlights that I have not been able posts, but will certainly go and back-post Em's growing experiences.

A brief re-cap, Em had several opportunities to spend some extended time with relatives and family. Em also had a blast hanging out with her uncles/aunts, grand uncles/aunts, grandparents, great-grandma, and especially her cousin K and cousin T. Em LOVES her cousin K and T and they played and got to know each other well. Em also had her first amusement park visit to Legoland with her cousins.

Her developmental growth has been really fun to watch. I don't want to give too much away since Ryan likes to write about it for the monthly summaries, but she has new tricks up her sleeves and she's an expert now at her old tricks. The video above gives a hint to one of her new tricks. For about a week, I would go into her room and help her because I thought she was stuck. I thought she figured out how to pull herself up in the crib but not know how to get down. Then Ryan decided to observe her one day via our baby cam, and he discovered that she would get up, fall down on her butt, and get up again, while constantly playing with the wall, toys, etc. Then when she was bored, she would give us this "help-me-cry" that she uses to get us in there (it obviously works!)

Swim lessons have come and also have gone. It took pretty much all 9 classes to get her to a point where she started to enjoy the pool. She's not so fond of going under the water, but can hold her breathe. She even began kicking her legs when she is swished side to side.

In other areas, work has been ramping up the past month. New projects that require a bit of time for research and learning. Deadlines hovering about, and overall busy-ness has increased significantly. Looks like the holiday season will be crazy as that is when the high-profile project will be impacting. Balancing time has been okay, but definitely a juggling act.

Why Does She Cry?

How does little Emilia go from her calm, "I surrender" pose...

To this...

It really makes you want to understand why she's crying (the possessed crying seen in the video normally happens in the wee hours of the morning, of course). We've watched the "Happiest Baby on the Block" DVD, and practiced the 5S's. We've also watched the Dunston Baby Language DVD that helps you to understand what the baby's sounds mean. Well, our baby Em has become somewhat desensitized to the 5S's, and she's only made one sound that correlates to the Dunston language (Heh which is suppose to mean "uncomfortable").

So here's what Connie and I have learned so far:

1. She does not cry due to a dirty diaper.
2. She doesn't seem to cry for no reason (although you sometimes wonder).
3. She will cry when she's hungry.
4. She will cry when she's not comfortable (Heh from the Dunston language). This could mean a lot of things so you have to experiment until you find the off position for the crying switch. 
5. She's really sensitive to body position.  She prefers to lie on her sides rather than her back.  But she has to sleep on her back since that poses the least risk for SIDS.
6. She will cry due to gas or digestion issues. But you can generally tell from the usual signs - burping, farting, or squirming like her stomach is bothering her.
7. She will cry when she wants to be held.  Connie feels more strongly about this than I do.  I still think it's a comfort issue, and that holding her is a way of making her more comfortable.  You still have to find the right position to hold her otherwise she'll continue to cry.
   
8. She loves motion: big, swinging motions, bouncing motions, burping motions (patting her back). These will usually stop her crying, but it can be just temporary if there's an underlying discomfort (position?).
9. If you can't do anything to get her to stop crying, she's usually hungry. In other words, if all else fails, feed her :^)

So I guess the bottom line for us so far is to know when her last feeding was, make sure she doesn't have gas, try a variety of positions and motions, and don't put her to bed until you've coaxed her into a deep sleep.  Bottom line #2 is that we're still learning about her.