Seven Months

Today marks Nicole Huelan's seventh month with us! I know I always write about time feeling like it's flying, and it does, but there's another side too. Though it's "only" been seven months, it feels like she's been with us a whole lot longer.

In the past few weeks, she's almost perfected eating (at vid was taken about 2 weeks ago), can sit up pretty confidently, and wants to crawl on hands and knees (though she stilll resorts to army crawl when she is in a hurry).

The biggest changes, though, are in her personality. She is curious, always looking around and trying new things. She is trying to communicate (grunting counts we think). And when she hears keys jingle in the door, she knows that someone is coming to play with her and looks around expectantly. We love coming home!

Mommy and Ba's night out

Viv and Jason's wedding at the City Club SF. We're so blessed to have been to some great weddings and this was up there with the best of them. One of my favorite afterparties.... don't judge me.

Learn On

Huelan is just a 10 days shy of being seven months old, and in the past 3-4 weeks her growth has just exploded. It's great fun to watch her physically grow, gaining length and strength, and add new skills. Her legs are getting buff from all the boucing she's been doing in her hew jumperoo, and she gets around pretty efficiently now so we have to keep a close eye on her. She's very curious, and is especially interested in trying to find out what's under the couch, coffee table, and TV stand. She has mastered working her rattles, and we've found that she loves books (to eat). We challenge her by putting obstacles in front of her and watch her try to figure out how to get where she wants. She's kinda like one of those Roomba robot sweepers- when she bumps into something, she backs up and tries to approach it from another direction. Endless enterainment for us, which is why we had her.

Even more fun to watch is the growing that she's doing mentally. She recognizes multiple people, and her favorites are greeted with big smile or laugh and excited leg kicks and arm waves. Her concept of object permanance is forming, and she looks for people and things when we hide them. She is always down for a good game of Peek a Boo. I think that she recognizes when we call her name, which can be confusing because we regularly call her by at least 3 different names.

Along with these changes have come the first real necessity for parenting. Most of what we've done up to this point has been to meet basic physical needs- food and comfort, stuff that we felt we were just getting the hang of. Now, with her baby brain forming, we're got a vastly more difficult responsibility- helping her balance her first concepts of possibilities vs. boundries. And right now, all that she sees are possibilities.

Some recent pics here.

Free Will

Been away from the blog for a while, but it's been a busy month. And what a difference a month makes! When we last posted, Huelan was about 5 months old. Now that she's 6, she has a whole new bag of tricks. Though she is obviously still a wee baby, she is developig her own sense of what she wants to do. There is not turning back now. I was stunned to see her army crawl across her blanket to get to her toy basket, tip it over, and go for her favorites. And she laughs like crazy.

With her newfound mobility, she's been exploring every crevice. If we let her, she'll crawl across the rug and try to shimmy herself under the couch or coffee table, her favorite spots. Looks like it's time to babyproof the living room.

In addition to the physical changes, this month she's become a lot more interactive. At this age, she constantly wants to look around and interact with stuff. She recognizes people, places, and toys. The babyfood thing is going well; she's not too picky (like her dad), though she sometimes makes a face at first (like her mom).

She checked in at the doctor last week and got her shots, which she tolerated very well. She weighted in at 16lbs,6oz (60th %tile) and almost 27inches (90th%tile!).

We've defnintely got her out and about this summer- hope to see you!

Here are the most recent pics.

Gettin Out

The weather these last few weekends has been fantastic. 75-80 and sunny, even in parts of SF. That's made it really easy to take Huelan out and explore, which she is really digging. She's got a growing curiosity, and likes being out of her stroller when we walk, her head on a swivel checking everything out.

Walking around with a baby puts you in this whole different world. You know when you learn a new word and suddenly hear it used everywhere? It's kind of like that except there are babies everywhere. Among parents, there is tons of knowing eye contact, a fraternal nod and smile. And mnay parents are thankful for any brief opportunity to engage another adult for a few minutes, even if the topic is children. I actually have to be careful when I don't have Huelan with me because I don't want to be taken for a weirdo smiling at other people's kids.

And people on the street are always doing double takes at Huelan, stopping us to check her out. The comment that she gets most is about her lux hair; she rocks a barrette like few 5-month-olds can. It goes without saying that she gets her hair from her mother.

Here are some recent pics.

Now-stalgia

Now that she's a little bigger, it seems like a lot more things happen. In the past few weeks we had Mother's Day, went to some parties, and had Ba Noi in town. She was even sick for a while, which was terribly sad. But she's back to herself now, and she's picked up a few new skills- rolling over left and right, getting her toes in her mouth, and blowing wet raspberries. She tries to sit up on her own, but inevitably gets transfixed by her feet and slumps foward.

She's also been staring at us while we eat, so we figured she might want some too. We tried spoon feeding her for the first time last night- some rice cereal mixed with milk, barely thicker than the milk alone. She's good at getting the food off the spoon, but doesn't yet know what to do with it from there, so most of it ends up dripping down her chins. If she's anything like her mom and dad she'll be get the hang of it sooner rather than later.

Over the weekend, my cousin was here from Houston, telling us about her son, who is just under 2. We are having a great time with Nicole, and it's awesome to hear about all the fun stuff there is to look forward to. Of course everyone says that time just flies by and advises us to soak up the baby-essence as much as we can right now. Is it possible to have nostalgia for something as it's actually happening? Evidently so.

Most recent pics here.

Super Baby

She loves this ("Bay" means fly in vietnamese).

thanks for the vid Uncle Jay.

Mother's Day

Huelan says, "Thanks Mommy. For gestating me, birthing me, nursing me, and loving me. I love you too. Happy first Mother's Day. Here is your present."

Success!

She's had been right on the cusp for 4-5 days, with an occassional successful attempt, but this weekend it looks like she mastered it- the RollOver!

The difficultly with this manuever is that her left arm gets in the way when she is just about over. Sometimes, she would get 80% there and get flung back because that left arm gets in her way and she doesn't know what to do with it. But it looks like her master plan with all those extra ounces of chubb onto her thighs was to use them to leverage herself onto her belly.

She only likes to roll over her left shoulder, so I think that she's going to be goofy-footed.

She's so funny- once she figured it out consistently, she is doing it all the time. She'll be on her back, I go to get some water, and when I come back she's on her tummy. But she doesn't really like being on her tummy too long and hasn't figured out how to get back yet, so she'll just get tired after a while and start to cry.

I guess that'll be her next trick.

Reactions

Nicole just reached the four-month mark this week, and she had her scheduled doctor's visit. She checked in at 24 inches, 13lbs & 12 oz, and it shows- she's definitely heftier. She's also noticably stronger with her arms, back and squirms.

But what we really notice is the change in her interactivity- she does things to see how we will react, staring at us with wide eyes. We also we get a huge kick out of is provoking reactions in her. Of course making her laugh is the most fun. It might be the funnest sound I've ever heard.
It start out like a high pitched giggle, but when she's really into it, she'll even kind of yell, like in the video above where Liz is playing with her. What's cool is when she's laughing like that, she's totally focussing on you to see what you'll do next.

Once we find something that puts a smile on her face, we'll do it repeatedly, faster, and more exaggerated to see if we can get her to laugh. She's not ticklish yet, but I can't wait. She loves to move really fast and have us fly her around like Supergirl.

Can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Time Flies

We constantly wonder where all the time goes. I think most parents feel this weird mix of wishing their babies would stay babies longer and looking forward to all the things they'll be able to do when they get a little older. I guess it's a good place to be- wanting to slow down the present while happily anticipating the future.

This month in particular flew by, though. Mainly because we have been mentally occupied with figuring out what to do when Liz returned to work (first day was yesterday). We looked into a few good options, and decided to go with a nanny who comes to our house 4 days/week. She's a very experienced Polish lady names Gosia (pro: Go-sha). And she lives in our neighborhood, so she can walk to our house in the morning. She has a kind and playful temperment and seems to really enjoy playing with Nicole.

She was previously commuting to Hillsborough, where she worked for 4 years for someone who Liz's boss knows. Of course no matter how good the references are, there's still some anxiety. The fact that I can partially work from home makes it easier, though.

And the remaining one day a week, Liz's parents have volunteered to come over and care for Nicole. Yesterday was their first day, and I think it worked out great. It's been a while since they took care of a newborn all day, so I think there was some nerves, but I hope they had fun. Nicole loved it of course.

She is super interactive now, and seems like she is making sounds on purpose. They're longer and alomst annunciated. We can almost see her thinking, reacting to our reactions. She laughs, which makes us laugh, which she laughs at. I think that means we're on the verge of actual parenting. Scary.

She looks around the room searching for certain things, and can reach out and grab stuff we put in front of her. Of course everything she grabs goes directly into her mouth. And just the other day, she held her own bottle for the first time.

Time keeps on slippin into the future, and the only option we have is to soak it up.

Here are some pics!

Mornings

(This video is kind of long, and there's no big finish or anything, so you won't be missing anything if you stop it before it's done)


Mornings are typically the best for us, and I am especially happy when I can hang around for a bit before heading to work. The video above is from this morning. One of my favorite things is her first smile of the day. For about 2 weeks now, Nicole has been sleeping a solid 7-8 hours at night, which has been a blessing for Liz and me. What's more, she usually wakes up happy and wants to smile and play.

Liz is also working on stretching out Nicole's daytime meal intervals from about 2 hours to 3 or more. So far Liz has been really successful. When Nicole wants to eat, we'll try to disctract her by picking her up, playing with her, or going for a walk. But when she reaches her limit, she lets us know. The video below is from this morning, about an hour after Nicole woke up. As you can see, she's finding her lungs and learning how to express herself.

Parents

Not to get too existential, but this having a kid thing is really a trip. It's one of the basic things that people of all races and cultures do, and though our methods may differ a bit, the goal is pretty much the same.

It's something that so many people share, you can meet almost any stranger with a kid and can relate to them through common feelings and experiences: the seemingly overwhelming trials of the first few weeks, the joy of little milestones, the fact that your baby will grow and change much more quickly than you expect (even though everyone tells you to expect this), the amazing learning that babies are capable of, the occasional irrational fear, the reprioritizing, the desire to make time stand still, the shift in the way that you think about the present and the future, the realization that you have all this room in your heart that you didn't know was there... all parts of the endless list that makes us parents.

And it's cool how we now share this with our own parents.

____________

Last week we spent a wonderful few days in socal with family and friends. She did amazingly well in the car both ways, sleeping most of the time. We woke her to feed her and let her stretch a little, which added a welcome leisurely quality to what is usually a 400 mile sprint.

Huelan got to spend some quality time with Ba Noi and meet all of her aunts and uncles. She seems like she is comfortable being the center of attention. Ba Noi showed her off to her friends and co-workers; there are few places on earth where a baby girl is more fawned over than a hair salon.

We had a great time for so many reasons, but perhaps best of all we were able to meet some of the newest people on earth- Leah An Nguyen (6lbs, 3oz) and Francesco Reno Toscanini (8lbs, 15oz!). And, to top that off, we went to a baby shower where there were THREE pregnant people. Congrats to all- you guys are going to be great parents.

Check out some pics here

Another Year

I think that having a baby actually makes us feel younger. The exuberance that comes with goofing off, making faces and making noises is good for us I am sure. Sometimes her firsts feel like our firsts too, which is almos as good as a fountain of youth.

Despite this feeling, however, Larry and I celebrated our birthdays last weeked. Larry went to the Cliff House Friday, and spent Saturday at St Anne's St. Patrick's Dinner Dance.

On this side of the bay, Laurie and Sophia watched Nicole while Liz and I relaxed at Piedmont Springs, a day spa nearby. For dinner, Liz took us out to sushi at Kirala. We were in the first seating and were home by 6:45. Our new normal.

Sunday was the gathering at Lynn and Larry's. We celebrated St. Patty's day and three birthdays (Larry, Me, and Ashley-13!) with the traditional huge slabs of corned beef and cabbage with all the fixins.

Then last night, Bi, Anh and Patty came over to make dinner at our place- fancy appetizers, Bo Luc Lac, and a strawberry short cake for desert. A delicious end to a very relaxed and gluttonous birthday weekend. Just have to make sure that my waist size doesn't keep increasing with my age.

Check out some pics of the last week here.

Keep Calm

Florence and the Machine - You've Got The Love

Happy birthday big brother! It's been a pretty crazy year eh? You have a baby, a new decade is upon us and now you're even older than before. Well at least you'll always be younger than your wife, haha. I'll see you in a few weeks.