Out Socializing

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!
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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.
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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.
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We also had Zanze’s cheesecake with chocolate shavings for dessert back at the house to celebrate Auntie Betty’s birthday.
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Happy Birthday Auntie Betty!
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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…
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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.
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Thanks for coming to visit us and treating us to a yummy brunch!
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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!
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“Happy Father’s Day” from Simon and Iris to Daddy Ron.
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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.
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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.

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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!
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Baby Iris was a bit of a sleepyhead. Probably recovering from all the weekend activities.
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Simon is off at camp again this morning wearing his camp T-shirt.

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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.

Iris, Happy 1 Month!

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.

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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 🙂

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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!
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Return to Swaddling

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

It’s one if those days where Iris needs to be swaddled tightly to go to sleep. She had been sleeping with both her arms out but today she kept flailing around and waking herself up unless she was bundled very tight. She slept more than usual today as well… Sleep = Growing.

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Today was a Simon tantrum filled day. He woke up too early this morning so was fussy and cranky all day; crying, kicking, screaming, etc. You wouldn’t know it from his innocent expression.

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Our little sweetie.

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In My Shoes

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

I ordered some new shoes online and they arrived a few days ago but I haven’t had time to try them on. I opened the box and put them on (they are really comfortable! OKA b.) then Simon wanted to try them on too.

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“How do I look?” (Actually just saying. “Cheese!” for me and caught a funny pose. I can imagine this being one of those “ah geez mom! don’t show that picture again” pictures…)

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After playing dress up, we went to play in the sandbox in the backyard. Simon had lots of energy for playing with his construction vehicles and shoveling the sand.

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Simon had an energizing afternoon nap so he and Ron went to try to fly a kite in our neighborhood. There wasn’t much wind but they tried running to let the kite catch the breeze… but were not very successful. Simon had a great time anyways running up and down our street.

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Do you like green eggs and ham? I do! I do! I like green eggs and ham!

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Smiling Bathing Beauty

Monday, June 10, 2013

Some strange weather we had this weekend… In the 100s on Saturday then suddenly cooler and windy on Sunday. It made for a confused baby with poor sleep. She made up for it today though with seemingly more peaceful naps.

To share some pictures from the weekend:

My kids hanging out. This little bouncer did not get much use with Simon but Iris seems to like it. It probably makes her feel like someone is holding her.

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Iris’ morning nap in the bouncer. Her arms are getting chubby! What do you think she’s pondering?

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Ron went out for the afternoon and I successfully got the two kids to nap at the same time :). I should have napped too but felt like I had to do a bit of house cleaning… (Simon’s head is visible in the monitor and Iris is sleeping in her bassinet.)

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With the hot weather, Iris was sweating and sticky. She was due for a bath to wash her hair. She seemed to enjoy it more this time with the warm shower all over her body and a nice light soaping. Did you know babies collect lint between their fingers and toes?!

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Relaxing after her bath in her Hello Kitty bath robe.

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On Sunday, Iris and I stayed home and she started giving me these little grins. It may be hard to see but the sides of her mouth are turned up a little more than usual.

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Simon and Daddy went to a park in the morning. Simon is having his snack here.

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Then to see the movie “Epic” in the late afternoon. Simon loves popcorn and slushy drinks.

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Simon is a bit of a copycat. I put this blanket around my shoulders today because it was kind of cold and he said he wanted a blanket too… So here is SUPER SIMON!

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Iris, happy 4 weeks!

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