Ali - from birth to one

(Warning: this is a super long post! It is more for me so that I will remember the little details of our baby girl.)

So much to be thankful for. A cute, healthy baby and best of all, she is quite mellow and relatively easy to take care of. And best of all, she can sleep through the night and by herself since 3 months old! Thank you Lord for giving us Ali! I can't imagine living a day without her and for some reason, the pre-Ali days seemed so distant and far away. Here is a recap of her first year.

Ali has always been a good sleeper. She goes to bed at around 8:30 and doesn't get up until 7:30ish. Naps twice a day. Rarely does she wake up in the middle of the night. A few days ago she started to sleep on her tummy. Hubby and I didn't have any problem with that, except that her eyes get really puffy and swollen. At first we didn't know why, but when we went in to check, she was tummy down, sleeping on her little hands. Funny little baby.

Eczema and cradle cap started to show up when she was 3 weeks old. And Ali was the most chubby during this time too. Just look at her cheeks!

Her first sacrament, baptized in Oct 2009. Her uncles, Peter and Paul, flew in to be her sponsors.

Eczema at its worse. Ali seemed not to be too bothered by it. Her mommy, on the other hand, went crazy during those times. I think her skin problem probably gave me the most headache in her first year, but as a result, I have become an expert in dealing with baby eczema.

Cradle cap got a little better, her face looked great. But actually, we were still battling with eczema on her body. It got so bad that Ali had to take antibiotics - twice!

We tried feeding Ali rice cereal when she was 5 months old and hives broke out. Her dermatologist advised us to try again when she was 7 months. This is her infamous "baby-steel" stare. We couldn't really make her laugh or smile back then.

Three biggest mistakes I made with my first child. One, I did't learn how to help baby to latch on properly before I got discharge from the hospital. That was a BAD, painful experience. It felt like I was feeding a barracuda with my nipples. That also translates to one whole month of pain and terror. Two, I didn't introduce a bottle until Ali was 2 months old. Too late! I should have done that a little earlier, maybe a month earlier. Well, eventually after numerous other attempts with various tricks that I heard/read, she did take the bottle for a short while. The last mistake - I should have used the nursing pillow LESS OFTEN. Seriously, travelling with a nursing pillow is one of the most challenging things that I have done. See my post on foggy town.

Ali's favourite past time, Jolly Jumper! This is a God-send! Really, no more tantrums when mommy goes off to make dinner!

Her kai-siblings, Kira and Hayden. Now there are two places that we have to travel to more often - HK and SF. Kai mama and dada, can you guys move closer?

Ali has gone to the pool only once. Can you tell from the picture whether she liked it or not? Hopefully, she will grow up to be a good swimmer (unlike her pathetic parents).

Ali's absolute favourite time - MUSIC classes! At first, I brought her to library for babytime and she liked it a lot. The only thing that I did't like was the number of people there. It was way so crowded. Finally, I started to sign her up for actual classes when she was ~8 months. She just loved it! In hind sight, I should have brought her there a little earlier.

Ali is not a shy baby. We took her out quite often and I guess she is relatively comfortable playing with other adults. I mean what's not to like when you are the center of attention? And people would play peekaboo, hold you, play ups and downs, sing, let you play with their phones...

Mommy's first big sewing project - panda bear. Ali does spark my interest in sewing again.

Ali is a scaredy cat, cries easily. Remember playing in the water on her birthday? Seriously, other kids would just play, play and play, she would cry, cry and cry some more. Sad. A clingy little one.

Ali didn't know how to crawl until she was 11 months. She started crawling backwards first and then she figured out how to crawl forward a week before her first birthday. Now she is trying to stand.

Ali is not very active, definitely not a zoomer. She likes to sit and play with her toys. She would only move when she sees something that she is not supposed to play with (how typical!). Ali is also a super hot water bottle and does not take heat very well. In the winter when all the babies were bundled up with layers and layers of clothing, all she needed was a long sleeve top and a light jacket. Nowadays, she only wears a diaper around the house and she still has heat rash. What the heck!

Curious Ali loves to play with knobs and buttons (hello remote control and cell phones!). She loves flipping though her books and play with shakers too. Ali is also at a stage where she loves to point. She understands simple command, recognizes faces and household items quite well. Ali is not much of a talker tho. She is usually pretty quiet unless she is very excited or very tired.

Ali eats well if the food is pureed or that it is really really soft. Yes, at 12 months, she is still not taking ground meat that well yet. I guess it is a little difficult to eat with just two teeth. Her favourite food is bread and yogurt. She can use her fingers to feed herself pretty efficiently, but she is not ready for the spoon yet. Now that I don't nurse her anymore (Ali weaned me off a week before her birthday, no more diet restrictions - NICE!), she is drinking formula (~15 oz/day) and water from the sippy cup.

On her real birthday, we had yet another birthday cake (thanks Aunt Sachi!). That's her third birthday cake for her first birthday.

Hubby sometimes call Ali his "advanced pet". Grow my dear Ali, grow! Show daddy you are way better and smarted than an "advanced pet". Grow up nice and healthy, but don't grow up too fast!