Pampers vs. Huggies

No doubt about it... Pampers definitely wins my vote in the diaper challenge. We've been solely using Pampers diapers on baby K since she's been born. However, we mixed in a pack of Huggies in our stockpile since there was a sale at Rite Aid a few weeks ago. Baby K goes through almost one diaper per feeding, so price speaks louder than brand loyalty... that is, until we actually tried it. Now I know why almost everyone I know use only Pampers. More often than not, there was a leak with the Huggies diapers. There was one day when I had to change baby K's outfit four times. It got to the point where I became so paranoid about a leakage that I'd check her diaper every half an hour just to make sure she didn't pee or poop through. Fortunately, it was a small pack of Huggies, so we're done with it and have moved onto the next size of diapers. Today marks another (albeit insignificant) milestone for Baby K: our little girl is growing bigger and has upgraded to size 2 diapers =). She used probably close to 600 size 1s. Let's hope she will be kinder to our wallets (not to mention our olfactory glands) as she gets older.

BTW, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Just The Two Of Us

M is back at work today. I was a little anxious about being home alone with baby K at first, but it's been going okay so far. Between feeding her, pumping, cleaning, and catching up on e-mails during the brief time she's napping, the day really goes by quickly. She was good this morning until the early afternoon; now she's crying up a storm in my arms. Maybe she misses her daddy.

Baby K has been salivating a lot more recently, but it's too early for her to be teething (and I imagine there will be a lot more crying when she does!). That's one of the questions I have to ask the pediatrician tomorrow when we go for her check-up. Baby K also slept in her own room for the first time last night! We've had her in a bassinet in our room since she's been born (just makes it so much easier for me to feed her in the middle of the night), but alas, our little one is outgrowing this tiny cradle. She kicks and fidgets so much that within minutes, her head is halfway down the bassinet and her bent legs are squished b/c there's no room for her to move anywhere else. We finally upgraded her to the crib; she didn't seem to have any problems with the transition, as she was able to sleep five hours straight... let's hope she keeps it up.

Here's our cutie pie looking up at the mobile in her crib. She's mesmorized by the moving toy animals while Mozart is playing in the background:

Baby Talk

I had a conversation with my daughter today, hopefully the first of many to come. Okay, so maybe I was the one doing most of the talking and making the baby sounds, but her periodic "ehh's" was enough of a response for me to believe that it was a two-way dialogue. What more can you expect from a baby still shy of eight weeks old?

It's amazing to see how much (and how fast!) our little one has grown these last few weeks. She can now fit into clothes for a baby 0-3 months (and she's not even two months old yet!), so we no longer have to do laundry every other day and recycle the same 2-3 outfits that fit her. M thinks she's over ten pounds already, but I'm doubtful. Her next doctor's appointment is in a week and a half; we'll find out then.

In addition to having a conversation with mommy and expanding her wardrobe, baby K can also lift her head high when lying on her stomach:

Fussy Time

Most of the times, baby K is pretty well-behaved, crying only when she's hungry or needs a diaper change. She even sleeps through the wee hours of the morning (or at least she keeps quiet if she's not sleeping), and waits for me to wake her up for a feeding. However, that nice routine I've been spoiled with went down the drain in the last 24 hours. I don't know what changed, but baby K became very cranky yesterday and wouldn't stop crying. Every time she fell asleep (whether in our arms or in the bassinet), she'd wake up ten minutes later and start screaming hysterically. This continued through the day and into the night; I couldn't get more than an hour's worth of uninterrupted sleep. Finally this morning, I put M on daddy duty and stayed in bed for another three hours while he tended to our fussy baby.

Half the times, I let baby K cry away in her bassinet, but when her screams become so loud and shrill that one simply cannot concentrate on anything else, I can't help but hold her... at a minimum, to try to calm her down so that she doesn't lose her vocal cords. Here's a picture of her smiling (yes, we actually got her to smile!) from a few days ago, before the fussiness started. What a difference from the cranky baby I have in my arms right now!

Ben Stein's Commentary

I came across the following that was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary. Granted, it's a bit dated from about a month ago, but I thought it still worthy to be posted:

"My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year.

It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period.

I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards,
Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein"

Tummy Time

Earlier this week, M and I started using the Baby Einstein mat for baby K (a hand-me-down item courtesy of my sister-in-law -- thanks KM!). We put baby K on her tummy and tried encouraging her to use her arm muscles and lift her head up. M helped her out a little bit, as you can see here on the right, but shortly after, baby K was able to do it herself! I tried capturing the moment (below), and you can kind of see her head off the mat, but the photo doesn't do it justice. We still need to build up her arm strength so she can hold her head up a little longer, but she's getting there. Meanwhile, her legs are kicking so frantically I fear she will be able to stand and walk before we're ready! I'm already feeling the brunt of it, at times being kicked in the face while changing her diaper!