Monthly Archives: July 2013

Bottle Battle

Friday, July 5, 2013

An update on bottle feeding. We tried the Dr. Brown’s bottles a few more times but Iris cried and screamed and just wouldn’t have it. Then we tried Born Free and she took to it, but very unwillingly and it took an hour to feed her 2 oz (60 ml). So I went one day to Babies R Us and bought at least one of each of the recommended bottles for “babies who refuse bottles”. Including the first two we tried, here’s all of them lined up. Left to right: Dr. Brown’s, Born Free, Lansinoh mOmma, Tommee Tippee, Medela Calma, Avent, and Playtex Drop-ins.

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I didn’t know where to start so went with Amazon reviews. The one that immediately stood out was the Lansinoh mOmma bottle. It had the most reviews for success in babies who were breastfed only then refused the bottle once introduced. Apparently the shape helps to mimic breastfeeding since it is squat so you can hold it tilted toward you so baby thinks he or she is still drinking from the boob. The nipple is softer than all those silicone nipples so more comforting to baby. The small vent supposedly works great to reduce gas.

Guess what? It worked. She cried for 5-10 minutes the first time before drinking 2 oz and yesterday, she drank 3 oz (90 ml) without a peep! Today she got a little upset because she was too hungry. I’m glad we found a bottle that she will take so I won’t need to worry when I go back to work. Now time to return all those other unused bottles to Babies R Us… Thank goodness for their 90 day return policy!

Now for pictures of the kiddos.
My little man loves his shark hat 🙂

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Go Bears! Thanks Will and Lulu for the cute Hello Kitty crinkle book. For now, I like it more than Iris 😛

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Today’s weather was completely different than yesterday. Yesterday was super hot and dry. Today was cold and extremely windy. But a good day for kite flying! Ron and Simon went to the park to see if they could get the kite in the sky… and they were successful! I love Simon’s smile.

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Other big event for the day…

STOP reading if you are easily grossed out…

Have you ever experienced projectile poop?! I had my first unfortunate experience today. Simon gave us many “golden showers” but never a shooting stream of poop. It all happened in slow motion. I put Iris on the changing table, undid the sides on the diaper, then turned around to grab a wipe, and as I turned back towards her, I see this yellow-orange stream of poop coming towards me. It hit me on my chest and in my hair before hitting the diaper pail, the bookshelf, the carpet, and a few swaddle blankets. It reached a good 3 ft in distance. I’m completely grossed out and I look at Iris and she was just contently lying there like nothing happened… and to her, nothing did happen except a satisfying bowel movement. So I just had to calmly clean her up and change her, clean up the mess on everything else, then give Iris to Ron before going to shower myself. The image of that stream of poop is embedded in my head… I’m still sort of grossed out thinking about it. I am also hoping it doesn’t stain anything as it is going through the wash right now. Just eww!

Happy 4th of July!

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Oh boy oh boy, was it hot! We have a small pool in our backyard and the water was finally warm enough for Simon to swim. Grandpa Chung was in the pool with him to help him float on his front and back. After putting on his arm floats, Simon could kind of doggie paddle around the pool and tried to “race” grandpa. Simon loved it because he could splash around all he wanted.

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Ron grilled up some good food for us all the eat.

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We had bleu cheese hamburgers, sausages, chicken kabobs, corn, broccoli salad, and plenty of fruits.

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We did out best to stay cool. Iris slept a lot and lounged around.

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A quiet relaxing day. Waiting to hear the fireworks overhead…

Still a Starfish

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Simon is in the beginner swimming class called Starfish. The level before his is Guppy. After is Seahorse, Dolphin, Shark, etc (not in that particular order). Lessons are four times per week for two weeks. He received his excellent participation certificate today but isn’t ready to move on to the Seahorse class yet. He still has to work on floating on his back and front, using his arms to paddle, and doing what the teacher says. Even though he was probably a little disappointed to not move up a level (he really wants to be a Seahorse), he has a good time being in the pool.

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Iris was a little fussy today about napping. She wouldn’t nap in her own bed and would only sleep while being held. Not sure why but I hope it’s just a temporary thing. Right now she is sleeping contently in her bed. I have a hard time resisting this face.

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Head Up!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Iris exercising her neck muscles while lying on a Boppy pillow. She was able to do this for 1 second…

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Then collapsing to suck on her hand. I think she is going to figure out how to suck her thumb pretty soon.

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One of my favorite sleeping poses, arms up!

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Iris was in a really good mood today. Smiling and cooing a lot. I think she is over her gassy stomach and slept well.

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You can listen to Iris cooing:

Iris and I went for a walk around downtown Walnut Creek and even though it was over 100 degrees, it was good to get outside. I had an iced coffee and strolled about with Iris.

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We did some shopping at Gymboree and although these looked cute, we didn’t get them.

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But got Simon this awesome shark hat. It has a shark fin on top that you can’t see in the picture. He loved it and was eager to wear it right away.

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I got to take Simon to his swim lesson today and saw how much he has improved. He is able to bob under the water to pick up a weighted stick, he can float on his back and stomach with assistance (before he would always bend at the waist), his kicks are much stronger, and he’s great at blowing bubbles. He still has a lot to work on but seems like he is better about listening to the teacher and learning.

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Grandpa Tam came over for dinner and I caught Iris smiling in her sleep while he was holding her. I think she had a happy day.

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Whatever You Eat is What Baby Gets

Monday, July 1, 2013

The Taiwanese food from Mama Chen’s turned out to be a very bad thing for Iris. She suffered from a gassy stomach all day and constipation. I’m thinking it was probably too much soy sauce with added MSG. So now I have to avoid that restaurant until she’s done with breast milk. She seems to have a sensitive stomach. So for the next few days, I will have to eat “lighter” foods to cleanse my system so she can cleanse hers.

The other night I decided to try baking something. I came across this recipe for Japanese cheesecake which looked delicious so I decided to try it out. It may not be healthy but at least I know all the ingredients that go into it.

Here is the finished cheesecake.

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It was a bit dense and got a bit watery at the bottom but overall, it tasted pretty good. But next time I think I would adjust it to have less egg and maybe have a crust to give it some texture.

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Today’s pictures of my kiddos:

Iris, happy 7 weeks!

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Simon says: I’m a fish! (Wearing a fish shirt) and holding his best pal Ziggy.

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