Saturday, June 22, 2013
Iris’ first Hello Kitty.
Thank you Auntie Vicki!
My bright eyed boy.
Today was our first trip to Costco as a family. It’s a much different shopping experience when you have a curious toddler and unpredictable baby. We were rushing to get all the things we needed before Simon got too hungry and Iris woke up from her nap. Not an easy task on a busy Saturday morning at Costco but we managed to avoid any meltdowns. So I would say it was a successful outing.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Now I have been noticing Iris giving real smiles and responding to my voice with cooing. I guess it’s about right, they say babies usually start smiling at you around five weeks old.
Iris refreshed after a bath.
Since it seems like she is getting more aware of her surroundings, I took out Simon’s old play mat to let her check it out. Guess who decides to try and play on it?
Today we met up with my parents for lunch but visited a park nearby first. We went to Emerald Glen Park which is one of the first parks listed when you search Yelp in Dublin. It was a beautiful and sunny day. Where’s Simon?
This is a pretty amazing park with the water feature. Next time we will bring more appropriate clothing for Simon. Most kids were wearing swimming clothes and Crocs. Iris stayed in the shade with mommy, grandma, and grandpa while Simon played in the water, sand, and slides with daddy.
Here is grandma Tam burping Iris.
Another little smile.
Almost overnight, Iris’ skin has cleared up. She still has a few red spots and dry skin but it is so much better compared to a few days ago and much smoother. Probably only a few more days until all the baby acne is gone and I won’t be afraid to irritate her skin by rubbing or kissing her cheeks!
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Yesterday, Iris had a rough day with a tummy full of gas. You could hear the bubbles rumbling in her tummy and she had loud burps and uncomfortable poops. The culprit? Red seedless grapes. It was the only unusual thing I ate the day before and in the morning. So I cut it out of my diet and so far, so good today. I hope we really did find the culprit. My little cupcake still has a bit of a mohawk after her bath a few days ago.
Have you ever seen a baby laugh and smile before falling asleep? I remember Simon laughing when he was already asleep but Iris will laugh and smile as she is dozing off. Her eyes will flutter open and closed. It’s brief though so hard to catch in a photo.
Today we took a trip to the park to pick up Simon from his camp. We went a bit early to take a nice stroll and get some fresh air. Here is Iris all ready to go!
During the car ride to the park, she fell asleep and continued to sleep until Simon finished with his camp. Here we are near the manmade lake.
Iris’ neck muscles are slowly getting stronger. Here she is lifting her head a bit during some tummy time. She ends up drooling a bit while on her tummy as she struggles to lift her little big head.
Love for my little boy’s inquisitive eyebrows.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
It’s been a busy few days as we have been out and about visiting others and having visitors come to see us.
Last Friday we took our first trip to the Chung grandparents’ house. We made a few stops along the way to pick up six orders of San Tung dried fried chicken wings and Zanze’s cheesecakeS!
After visiting at the house, we all had dinner at The Counter. It was too loud in the restaurant for Iris and had a hard time settling down after she woke up. Simon was also a little fussy because he did not nap during our drive to the peninsula. But we still had an enjoyable dinner.
I tried a bison burger on a ciabatta bun with Gruyere cheese, bacon, black bean and corn salsa, pickles, baby spinach, grilled onions, and garlic aioli. Yum yum! Their onion strings and Parmesan cheese fries were pretty delicious too.
We also had Zanze’s cheesecake with chocolate shavings for dessert back at the house to celebrate Auntie Betty’s birthday.
Happy Birthday Auntie Betty!
On Saturday, Caden and his mommy and daddy met up with us at The Original Pancake House for brunch. Seating time was reasonable, about 15 minutes, but service pretty slow. The kids got bored so they watched Disney Pixar Cars 2 on Ron’s iPhone. Look at that concentration…
But brunch was pretty amazing. I had the bacon pancakes and Ron ordered an omelette. The portions were huge so we had plenty to share with Simon and had leftovers for breakfast the next day. The bacon is a thick cut and with nice smoke flavor. The whipped butter and hot syrup complemented the pancakes well.
Thanks for coming to visit us and treating us to a yummy brunch!
Iris and I went out together ourselves in the late afternoon. It was a bit of a challenge since she does not enjoy the car seat and one of the wheels on the stroller locked up on me 🙁 But after working through a few times when Iris screamed in the car seat, we made it to two stores before heading home. She seems okay falling asleep in the carseat but the challenge is getting her to accept being buckled in then starting the car to get moving ASAP.
On Sunday we had my family over for dinner and had a delicious spread and enjoyable time. Ron cooked ribs, mackerel, hamachi kama, corn, mushrooms, and sweet peppers. My parents brought fried rice and chow mein. My brother brought a sashimi platter (SO good!) with edamame. Then we had another Zanze’s cheesecake for dessert which had their cherry topping. We were all stuffed!
“Happy Father’s Day” from Simon and Iris to Daddy Ron.
Iris slept through most of dinner but woke up a little after we finished to play with everyone. She seems to recognize faces and voices and will concentrate on the face of someone she doesn’t recognize. She has an inquisitive look when someone she is not too familiar with holds her. Thank you Auntie Kat, Uncle Jon, and Elyse for Iris’ cute outfit for the day.
After the busy weekend, I just wanted to stay home but Simon is always full if energy. He is signed up for day camp and it was his first day on Monday. It was a little hard for him to be dropped off and Daddy to leave but it seemed like he had fun after he settled down a little. I think the camp counselors helped by giving him a stuffed toy Triceratops to hold during the camp. I hope he will continue to enjoy it, socialize with other kids, and so help prepare him for school in the near future.
Simon received a special package in the mail all the way from Singapore. Thank you Nimisha and Nitin for sending Simon one of his new favorite characters, Qiao Hu!
Baby Iris was a bit of a sleepyhead. Probably recovering from all the weekend activities.
Simon is off at camp again this morning wearing his camp T-shirt.
Iris is sleeping again so finally found some time to post. This week we are going to try to get her to take the bottle. Right now, she only wants to drink from the breast and refuses the Dr. Brown’s bottles we have from when Simon was a baby. We borrowed some Born Free bottles and will see if she likes those instead. Crossing my fingers that she won’t be one if those babies that will starve themselves when I’m at work then breastfeed every hour when I get home… will update our progress as we go along.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Today Iris is one month old! Wow, how time flies! Iris and I did not go out today but I did get to eat pho, drank a latte (decaf first so as not to possibly affect milk production), and had Krispy Kreme (not pictured). Yesterday was our last day of confinement so no more restrictions on going out (except avoid sick people and large crowds) and I can eat mostly whatever I want (excluding turnips and celery). It’s not a good idea to go too crazy on the carbs though since I have to do a 2 hour glucose tolerance test in a few weeks to make sure that I don’t still have glucose intolerance. Adding back one to two types of carbohydrate rich food item per day shouldn’t be bad I hope.
Simon had a dental checkup this morning with Auntie Tiffany, aka Dr. Tiffany, at Contra Costa Dentistry. He was due for his six month checkup and cleaning. He did a really good job with no fussing or crying. Just had a little plaque buildup which mommy and daddy have to do a better job with helping him to brush. He got a token for their treasure tower and was the first patient to use it. He was so happy! If you need a family dentist in to Concord, CA area, check them out! They see adults too! I have my check-up next month 🙂
I forgot to mention, last night was pretty amazing, Iris slept almost 6 hours straight! She slept about 5 hours and 45 minutes before waking up to have milk. I know they say that newborns should eat every 3-4 hours and you should wake them if they don’t but I think Iris is “big” enough not to have to be woken up in the middle of the night. I’m pretty sure she won’t repeat it tonight though as she has been feeding every 3 hours pretty consistently all day.
Happy 1-month Iris! We love you!
