Busy, busy, busy

We have been pretty busy for the past week and it was quite difficult to find time to blog. We have finally started on the reno (redoing part of our roof), grandma caught a cold and so she wasn't able to help us with babysitting and daddy was just overwhelmed with work! When it rains, it pours. That is always the case, isn't it? Today is a good day though, because daddy is working from home and I can hop to the dentist and visit my coworkers at work; grandma is getting better and can help us again; renos are almost over. Yay!!! =)

During the renovation period, there were a lot of loud noises and bangs. Because of that, Ali was not able to sleep very well on her own, but she slept like a baby (wait, she is one!) when you allowed her to sleep on your chest. Basically, I was her bed for the past few days. My arms are so sore!

On the weekend, we did a quick photoshot for Ali and her peeps. She seemed to have a lot of fun posing (at least the parents had fun)!

Ali with her favourite Moo (Betsy is busy taking pictures at the time). Look how happy she is!


"Look, I told you I don't want to hold another baby. Take him away!"


Ali and her peeps:

Computer Problem

Baby Ali's great uncle Ming (he's really old) had a computer problem - his MSN messenger didn't work all of a sudden. Ali had a look at it between her naps

She figured out that great uncle Ming's computer date was wrong and was set 6 months back.

Click...click... all fixed

So easy a baby can do it!

Good job Ali.

My little chubb chubb

Baby has gained another half a pound...that makes her a 13lb 6.5oz. Boy, oh boy! I am really glad that she is gaining weight, but on the other hand, it is getting more and more difficult carrying her. Especially when she wants to be held, it really hurts! I thought it would be neat to see how fast she has grown (she is only 8 weeks old!) so I asked my hubby to do a side-by-side comparison of a few pictures.


Notice that those tiny frog legs has slowly evolved into gigantic thunder thighs. Nice, eh? Her arms have gotten much bigger too. Ali did not take up much room on the change pad, but now, she filled up most of the space. And look at the diaper that she was wearing back then. The newborn size fitted quite loosely and now size 1-2 looked a little snug on her sweet butt!

There is not much difference between these two pictures - well, except those cheeks, and that round tummy of hers!

These two pictures really showed how much Alison has grown. When she was born, her torso was about two-thirds the length of Anders' arm. Look at her now! And notice how light she was before. Anders was able to carry her without much effort, but now, he really has to have a firm grip on her.

To show how difficult it was for Anders to carry Ali using one hand, you gotta check out this picture. He was literally in pain. While I was taking the shot, he kept on asking me to hurry up. Unfortunately, the first few pictures were blurry, so he had to hold her for a little longer than he wanted. Poor poor daddy!


P.S. A big thank you to daddy for making these jpeg files. It would take me forever to make one, but it only takes him less than a minute to do! Thank you, you are the best!

我是表姑婆

One of my relatives just had a baby girl. Her name is Nicole. And funny enough, she is only two weeks older than Ali, but Ali will be one generation "higher" than Nicole in the Chinese culture! What on earth! Mind you, my relative is four months younger than me and I am her 表姑姊. Now, I have become a 表姑婆 (which translates to great aunt, second degree of separation). Man, I am getting pretty old! Chinese customs are so bizarre!

Joanna chilling with Nicole and Ali:


The two girls:

Playdate (Sammy)

Baby Ali has had many visitors since birth. Recently, she has a great time hanging out with baby Samantha. Sammy is just ADORABLE! She is 5 months old and is able to hold her head (unlike Ali, who is a bobblehead). She always smiles a lot!! What a cutie!!



Ali wants to be just like Sammy, except for the age part. She is glad she is not as old as Sammy!! (Please excuse my rudeness. Wendy, Sammy's mom, has always refer Anders as the "old guy" even though he is only 4 months older than her. Now Wendy, imagine how I feel. I am two months older than Anders. What does that make me? A cougar??? Rawrrrrr...)



Please come and visit us soon!! =)

Spit ups

The very first time she slept through the night, she made some strange noise. I woke up to check on her and guess what I have found. She dreamt that she was feeding!!! She was sucking - air! Because of that, she had major spit ups. Poor dad was unaware of what he signed up for when he offered to burp our baby girl.

Needless to say, daddy was a little peeved...look at his reaction!!! Awww.....poor daddy!

Grandpa came and visited us a few days ago. Wanted to see how he would react, Ali decided to start crying while grandpa was holding her.



After her surprise attack, grandpa regained his composure in a matter of seconds. Notice that he did keep distance between the cry baby and himself after the attack.

Call me Betsy

During the labour day long weekend, we decided to train Ali to sleep through the night. Well, not exactly training her, just not waking her up in the middle of the night to feed her. In other words, let her wake me up to feed instead. The first three days were just wonderful. Ali slept from 11 pm to 4:30/5:30 am. Absolutely great. For the first night, I got up at 4 am feeling wide awake and rested up (I guess I have not slept for 5 hours straight for 6 weeks.) Unfortunately, this kind of happiness did not last long. In the past three days, Ali has been waking up at 2:30/4:30/7:30 to feed. I hope this is because of her grow spurt, but right now I feel like I am a milk machine.

A picture of Betsy, Ali and the Mooer:

We also had a few friends visiting us from time to time. One of the most common questions seem to be, "How many diapers did you guys go through?" Because my brain seemed less functional than before, I want to put the numbers in my blog just so that I can relive the moment years later. In the few seven weeks, we went through:
~234 newborn diapers + 300 size 1 diapers. That translates to ~11 diapers/day. Damn those diaper companies!!! They are stealing our money!!!

Look at those dirty diapers!!!

Occupational hazard

During the past six weeks, both my husband and I had been working hard to make sure that Ali gained good health weight. Obviously, my job is to breastfeed and my husband job is to feed me and make sure that I am not dehydrated. I have to say we did quite an impressive job. We went to our family doctor on Tuesday and Ali has now reached 12 lb 2 oz (with clothes and diaper on)! Oh my! And she is only 6 weeks old! The doc said she is in the 90th percentile in terms of weight and 50th percentile in terms of height. We are so very proud of our little (actually, not that little) girl! One of our friend's girl weighs 12 lbs when she is 3 months old! Not to be bragging, but boy, are we proud! Unfortunately, this also brings in a series of problems for the new mom. In the past few days, my left shoulder started to hurt. It feels like I have just helped someone moved. It got better and then my left arm started to hurt and now my right arm. (It feels like I have been doing many reps of weights, my arms are super sore) I just might have to go for an acupuncture or acupressure session soon.

Look at those chubby arms and thighs!



Oops, you caught me linking my own fingers!

Agedashi Tofu

We did not take too many pictures of Alison in the past few weeks because of her skin problems. Ali looked like a piece of egg tofu - soft, smooth and pretty fair, just like the colour of egg tofu. But now, she looked more like a piece of agedashi tofu. Here is a picture of agedashi toful for those of you who don't know what it looks like.



Here is a picture of our undercooked agedashi tofu:


She has these yellow crusty patches around her eyes, nose and ears...pretty disgusting, actually. Just like the colour of the agedashi tofu...deep fried and a little yellow. Her cheeks and body are covered with baby acne. Poor poor baby!! The baby eczema is almost completely gone (although it still comes back every now and then) and her baby acne is not improving too much yet. On the other hand, her cradle cap (really dry skin on her scalp) is getting a lot better. The pediatrician that we visited last week prescribed a steroid lotion and we were a little hesitant about that. Thank goodness our community health nurse phoned and she suggested to use either a vegetable-based oil or mineral oil. So we soaked the affected area with olive oil for a couple of hours and brush the dry skin off. And boy, it worked like a charm!!

And this is what Ali looks like now:


Ali looks so much better now!! I can't wait til everything clears up!!

Visiting Great-grandmother

Over the labour day weekend, we decided to venture out and visit Ali's great-grandmother. We bought dim-sum takeouts and had lunch at her senior home. Both Ali and great-grandma had a blast!! We have not seen great-grand with such a big smile for a long time, not since the birth of her youngest grandson and that was three years ago. Oh wait, I heard from a little bird that my hubby's aunt and uncle are contemplating having a third. According to their eldest son, he really wants a little sister, so I don't know, maybe great-grand is gonna have another granddaughter in the near future! ;P

Ali, on the other hand, fell asleep in great-grand's arms. Look at great-grand's ear-to-ear grin!!


Sleepy Ali and her very happy great-grandmother:


On our way home, Ali was so tired that she has to take another nap. She was blowing bubbles while she napped:


Happy Birthday, dear Uncle Ming!

Alison & her family and friends

Ali's family:




Her Grandparents:



Her family and friends:

To all my beloved family and friends: Thank you so much for visiting my mommy, daddy and me. I had a lot of fun seeing you all (although I was asleep half the time!) And thank you for all the precious gifts too!! I am gonna be so spoiled (and loved) by all the aunts and uncles!!! Please visit me again soon!

Daycare

It has been extremely difficult and frustrating to find a daycare that is close to home/work and is also willing to take my baby girl in a year's time. So far, I am on a few wait lists, but nothing is for sure yet. There was one place I thought I would get in, but she just called a couple days ago confirming that there would not be any space available in Sept 2010. How sad!! I am very worried that I won't be able to find anyone to take care of Ali. I guess, worst come to worst, I will take my baby to work (umm....wishing thinking, work will NEVER allow that, sigh). I am now expanding the search to areas that are farther from my work and home, hoping that one of the places out there will take my child. What a nightmare! I guess this is one of the major challenges that all parents (except the lucky ones who get help from their family) have to face nowadays.

On a different note, Ali could now turn her head 180 degrees. Very cool!

My "Michelin baby"

My husband and I have been dying to find out how much our baby girl's weight. Yesterday, we finally have had the chance!! I brought Ali to see the pediatrician about her jaundice and skin problem. Turned out that her jaundice has passed, but she has cradle cap, baby eczema and baby acne!! Poor baby!! Anyways, we found out that she weighed a whopping 11 lb and 6 oz (with a very heavy diaper and clothes on). Oh my goodness!! I guess she is feeding well and that my dream of having a "Michelin baby" has come true!

Little Ali posing for the camera...look at my sexy tummy!

Give me food, damn it!! Give it to me, right now!!!! (look at those folds at the back, cute huh?)
Por por is pointing at baby's double (sometimes, triple) chin:

An "artistic" shot of her sexy back, taken by Ali's "kai ma":


My good friend Katherine's family has come to visit. Thank you for the gifts!!