Update on Emilia's Roseola: She is now starting to look and feel better. The rash is mostly going away, only a faint remnant. She lost about a pound during this, but her appetite is coming back. She was still really irritable yesterday, but today her mood seems to be more on the chipper side.
And so, with Emilia back to high-energy, we've started getting ready for little bro's arrival. The count down begins as we are less than a month away from due date. I'm at 36 weeks preggers right now, able to hold a mug of water on my table of a belly, and at the last check up, baby bro is upside down and has a weight estimate of 5-5.5 lbs right now with 4 weeks left to go.
I'm not sure how much Emilia understands the concept of a baby brother coming, but she loves to give her "brother" sweet little pats and kisses (that is, she loves to pat and kiss my belly). She "reads" the baby magazines and loves to point out all the babies in it. And I've referred to our family and how much fun her play time will be when she'll have her baby brother to play with.
Thank you thank you to friends that have given baby boy or gender neutral clothing to us! He is well equip with clothes up to 6 months now and even has a few items up to 9 months. We're slowly, but surely, getting ready for the big day... washing everything, bringing out all the stashed newborn gear and cleaning them - baby carriers, carseats, bouncer, bottles, etc.
Just like with Emilia's birth, we are planning for this blog to be the source of information update. Makes it easier. Family and friends can check in on their own time and be updated on the latest news. We're excited and nervous at the same time. As we've heard from so many, that life changes even more drastically with the arrival of a 2nd baby. Baby boy, we're ready for you. Come on out soon!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Roseola
Emilia is not feeling well. She's been sick since Sunday with sudden onset of high fever (103-104). At first, even with the fever, she acted normal... active, happy, and playing. But then on the 2nd day of the fever, she was really tired, wanted to be held, and easily irritated. She slept 5 hours nap, and another 12-13 hours of sleep that night. She also had a loss of appetite.
The high fever lasted for 2 days, til Tuesday, and then she had a low grade fever (~100) on Wednesday. The fever finally broke by Thursday, only to be replaced by a rash over her face and upper body. Poor baby! Doing some research and talking to the on-call nurse, she was diagnosed with Roseola, sometimes called "Baby Measles". She's in the second stage of this bug, and hopefully the rash will go away within a few days. She's been really tired and laying on the ground a lot. Still not eating much (also her bottom molars are breaking through the gums at the same time.) I tried coaxing her to eat by giving her some of her favorite foods, but nope. She even said no to a strawberry popsicle! So, all in all.. not a happy camper, but definitely a trooper.
The high fever lasted for 2 days, til Tuesday, and then she had a low grade fever (~100) on Wednesday. The fever finally broke by Thursday, only to be replaced by a rash over her face and upper body. Poor baby! Doing some research and talking to the on-call nurse, she was diagnosed with Roseola, sometimes called "Baby Measles". She's in the second stage of this bug, and hopefully the rash will go away within a few days. She's been really tired and laying on the ground a lot. Still not eating much (also her bottom molars are breaking through the gums at the same time.) I tried coaxing her to eat by giving her some of her favorite foods, but nope. She even said no to a strawberry popsicle! So, all in all.. not a happy camper, but definitely a trooper.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Emilia's First Year Album
Finally got around to putting together a photo album for Emilia's first year with lots of familiar photos from this blog. At some point, maybe in a few years, I'll get around to putting together our wedding album which nobody has seen photos from yet! But for now, here's a look back at how quick the year went and how much she's grown!
(click on the image below and it will take you to a Picaboo app site which will launch the book in a browser window.)
(click on the image below and it will take you to a Picaboo app site which will launch the book in a browser window.)
Friday, September 9, 2011
Blackout
The whole city and county had a big blackout yesterday that started at 3:38pm and lasted through the night. I was fortunate to have been working from home because the nanny had an emergency, so I was with Em the whole time. Ryan, on the other hand, had a doctor's appointment and got stuck in gridlock traffic at the other end of town with all the traffic lights out. It took him 3 hours to get back home on a route that would usually take 30 minutes. He didn't make it home til after 8pm.
If I were at work, it would have been the same for me. So it was simple luck of events that I was able to be with Em. We did have to fend off the 90+ heat since the A/C was down, but Em and I had fun hopping into the shower with cold water. Her first time in the shower and she LOVED it. Couldn't get enough of stomping on the water and sticking her hands in the shower stream. We took an evening stroll in the backyard after the sun went down since outside was cooler than inside now, and first time again for Emilia, to be walking around after dark. She could tell that something was different (maybe the headlamps and flashlights gave it all away...) and she stuck close to me, but still did her thing and continued to have fun.
Long story short... this reminds me that we need to be more diligent in having emergency preparedness readily and easily accessible. There were rumors of a fire as well, and we are in a fire hazard area where we need to be prepared to evac at a moment's notice.
I have to just note, that lanterns are absolutely AWESOME. Candles too, but a little more cautious about candles. Headlamps too are AWESOME.
So here's a checklist (mainly for me to remember) to get a bin full of emergency stuff:
1) headlamps/flashlights/lanterns with extra batteries
2) candles and lighter/matches
2) battery-operated AM/FM radio
3) water/food (3 day supply)
4) first aid kit with basic medications
5) extra sets of clothes for everybody in the house
6) copy of important documents (birth certificates, passports, insurance paper, inventory, tax, hard drives.. computer backups)
7) emergency blanket/sleeping bag per person
8) emergency tools
9) Goggles (for high wind or blowing embers)
9) work gloves
10) duct tape
If I were at work, it would have been the same for me. So it was simple luck of events that I was able to be with Em. We did have to fend off the 90+ heat since the A/C was down, but Em and I had fun hopping into the shower with cold water. Her first time in the shower and she LOVED it. Couldn't get enough of stomping on the water and sticking her hands in the shower stream. We took an evening stroll in the backyard after the sun went down since outside was cooler than inside now, and first time again for Emilia, to be walking around after dark. She could tell that something was different (maybe the headlamps and flashlights gave it all away...) and she stuck close to me, but still did her thing and continued to have fun.
Long story short... this reminds me that we need to be more diligent in having emergency preparedness readily and easily accessible. There were rumors of a fire as well, and we are in a fire hazard area where we need to be prepared to evac at a moment's notice.
I have to just note, that lanterns are absolutely AWESOME. Candles too, but a little more cautious about candles. Headlamps too are AWESOME.
So here's a checklist (mainly for me to remember) to get a bin full of emergency stuff:
1) headlamps/flashlights/lanterns with extra batteries
2) candles and lighter/matches
2) battery-operated AM/FM radio
3) water/food (3 day supply)
4) first aid kit with basic medications
5) extra sets of clothes for everybody in the house
6) copy of important documents (birth certificates, passports, insurance paper, inventory, tax, hard drives.. computer backups)
7) emergency blanket/sleeping bag per person
8) emergency tools
9) Goggles (for high wind or blowing embers)
9) work gloves
10) duct tape
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Sharing Food
Emilia is pretty good about sharing. This is her sharing her "dessert" (I think it's peach) with her BaBa. I hope it's a good indicator of her "sharing" her toys with her baby brother!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Tropical Weather
East Coast is getting earthquakes and we're getting tropical thunderstorms. This weekend was hot, humid, and muggy with lightning and thunderstorms. It produced an amazing rainbow right outside our front door though.
Emilia and I took in the sight outside with a few snapshots. Then proceeded indoors to sit together on the dining room chairs (which she loves to sit on.. it's her way of joining the grown ups) with the lights off as we watched the sunset light dim fast and the rainbow fade.
Emilia and I took in the sight outside with a few snapshots. Then proceeded indoors to sit together on the dining room chairs (which she loves to sit on.. it's her way of joining the grown ups) with the lights off as we watched the sunset light dim fast and the rainbow fade.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Our New Ride
The time finally came to retire the Subaru (190K miles), and find a suitable replacement. With another baby on the way, we needed something that was safer, worked better with carseats, got excellent gas mileage, and had enough space. With the price of fuel these days (and most likely only to go up), I set a fuel economy requirement of at least 30 mpg. This ruled out a lot of cars. And when you factor in the space requirement, there were really only two options: the Volkswagen Sportwagen TDI (diesel) and the Toyota Prius. Still clinging to my old school car roots, I had a hard time accepting the space age Prius. The more conventional nature of the Sportwagen and the spirited diesel engine (still capable of close to 40+ mpg hwy) were more to our liking.
So meet the newest member of the family...
Nothing too special about the interior, but it does have a rugged, Teutonic feel unlike a lot of Japanese cars that feel more spacey and plastic.
This spacious cargo area plus the panoramic sunroof sold Connie on the car. It'll make roadtrips and camping excursions so much easier especially when we have two rugrats in tow.
And the most important thing was the fitting of carseats. The LATCH system makes it so much easier than using the seatbelts as in the old Subaru, and there's plenty of space for the infant carseat as well. I do look forward to the time when we won't need carseats, but that's many years down the road.
I ended up purchasing the car from Sunnyvale VW up near SF. Turns out that they offered the best deal by far, and even paid for my plane ticket to fly up there. The drive back was a good time to get to know the car. I even averaged 39 mpg, and drove the entire distance to San Diego on one tank of diesel! Once the car's fully broken in and I can drive in a more economical fashion, it should be no problem to see well over 40 mpg on highway trips.
So meet the newest member of the family...
Nothing too special about the interior, but it does have a rugged, Teutonic feel unlike a lot of Japanese cars that feel more spacey and plastic.
This spacious cargo area plus the panoramic sunroof sold Connie on the car. It'll make roadtrips and camping excursions so much easier especially when we have two rugrats in tow.
And the most important thing was the fitting of carseats. The LATCH system makes it so much easier than using the seatbelts as in the old Subaru, and there's plenty of space for the infant carseat as well. I do look forward to the time when we won't need carseats, but that's many years down the road.
I ended up purchasing the car from Sunnyvale VW up near SF. Turns out that they offered the best deal by far, and even paid for my plane ticket to fly up there. The drive back was a good time to get to know the car. I even averaged 39 mpg, and drove the entire distance to San Diego on one tank of diesel! Once the car's fully broken in and I can drive in a more economical fashion, it should be no problem to see well over 40 mpg on highway trips.
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