Baby's Monologue

We managed to capture our cutie pie on camera while she was in a talkative mood. At one point, it even sounded like she said "ma" (at around the 20 second mark), but I know better than to think that she was referring to me. Enjoy the clip! (We sure did.)

Three Months and Growing...

Baby K had her first play date ever yesterday. We took a short drive to Metuchen to visit JV, a coworker of mine and AV, her baby girl (born two weeks after baby K). It was more of the parents comparing stories with each other than the little ones playing together though, since one or both babies would be sleeping at any point in time. Before we left, JV and I held our little girls to face each other. They looked intently into each other's eyes, deep in thought, as if they had a common understanding with each other. No words (or in their case, sounds) or actions were necessary. It was a baby bond that no adult can break... they held a secret only privy to those under six months old. They looked so serious that it was almost amusing.

Another "baby's first" that happened yesterday... Baby K laughed for the first time! It was such an awesome moment! I rushed to the phone and called M, in hopes that baby K would repeat her chuckling with daddy on the line. Unfortunately, babies tend to do what they want when they want, so she didn't cooperate. However, I did get her to laugh again when daddy came home. SIGH! I am going to miss all of this when I go back to work. Speaking of which, I only have one week left before that happens.

An update on the health-front. Baby K still had a little blood in her poop yesterday, but the pediatrician said it could take a week for it to leave her system, so hopefully that was the last of it. Baby K has also been having a really bad case of cradle cap. It's been so itchy for her that she's constantly scratching it. She doesn't quite recognize her hands yet, but she knows enough to reach for her head and scratch with her fingernail -- so much to the point that she made herself bleed. I used baby oil (per the doctor's recommendation) one time (weeks ago) on baby K's head and shampooed it right off, but her head turned all red, blotchy, and bumpy, so I never tried that regiment again for fear of an allergic reaction. After that, we used Aquaphor and left it on her scalp overnight (per the doctor's recommendation when we told her about the baby oil), but I didn't like the idea of leaving the ointment on unsupervised since baby K has a tendency to reach for her head and put her hand in her mouth, so we tried the baby oil route again. We've done it a few times now (every other night... no more redness and bumpiness since that first time), and I'd comb out the flakes, but it reappears so quickly by the next morning that I don't know if it's even helping. Baby K continues to reach for her head to scratch, leading me to believe that it's still very itchy for her. I'll give it another week and if I still don't see any improvement, time to look for another remedy.

This was baby K getting ready to go out yesterday, dressed in a new jacket from her Auntie K (her real auntie K, as opposed to someone you call auntie b/c they're mommy or daddy's friend):

Baby Poop, Part Deux

Baby K paid a visit to the pediatrician yesterday (yes, there was blood in her stool again). We even kept a sample of the soiled diaper (and I had M take a picture of it), unfortunately it was all dried up by the time we brought it in, so the doctor couldn't get it tested. She said that most likely, baby K is allergic to something I'm eating, so I am to stay away from all dairy products for the next few weeks. Hopefully she's right and baby K will be okay after this.

While we're on the topic of dirty diapers, I must reiterate how much I despise Huggies! We had another pack to finish up (M had purchased two packs when it was on sale), and I got so frustrated with all the leakage and changing baby K's outfit every three hours that I would purposely waste the diapers just to get rid of it. It's ridiculous how there would be more pee or poop on her clothes than there was on the diaper! Fortunately, we are down to our last few from the pack of 44 and I've already moved on to the box of Pampers when changing her overnight. For those moms (and dads) out there who collect the Gifts to Grow points from Pampers, here are some promotional codes to add to your account (some of them date back to 2008, so not sure if they are all still valid):

• GIVE09UNICEFGTG (3 pts.)
• THRIFTYMOMMYGTG (1 pt.)
• OHAMANDAAWGTG08 (1 pt.)
• DONTFORGETGTG08 (1 pt.)
• WELCOME2GTG0809 (1 pt.)
• WELCOMEBONUS089 (1 pt.)
• HAPPYHOLIDAY089 (3 pts.)
• WEAPPRECIATEU08 (10 pts.)

Baby Poop, Part One

There's been some blood in Baby K's poop... it's not a lot, and it doesn't happen often or consistently, but we did see it a few times now over the past several weeks. We've been a little concerned, but because it occurs so sporadically, we didn't want to over-react. When I saw the tiny streaks of red across her stained mustard-colored diaper this morning, I finally called up the pediatrician's office and spoke to the nurse, explaining the situation to her. She informed me that someone will call me back. When she did, this was how our conversation went:

Nurse: Mrs. Y, you called earlier about your daughter K. The doctor said to give her some cottage cheese or yogurt.
Me: Cottage cheese or yogurt? What kind of yogurt?
Nurse: Any kind... you can get the ones labeled specifically for babies.
Me: But my daughter's not even three months old yet. Should I be feeding her anything other than milk?
Nurse: Your daughter's not three months old yet?? I thought you told me she was nine months old.
Me: No! She's only about two months and three weeks old!
Nurse: Oh! [SILENCE] I called the wrong number. I'm sorry. You're the one with the baby who has blood in the bowel movement, right?
Me: Yes.
Nurse: Okay, Dr. Jaroslow will call you back.

How bizarre is that?? If I didn't question her about giving my baby solids (who doesn't even have teeth yet!), baby K could've potentially been a lot sicker, and the other patient (who's treatment this was meant for) would not have been notified. I'm second-guessing my choice of pediatrician now -- it's a group practice, but so far there's only one doctor I like out of the eight (baby K has seen four of them, including the one tending to her at the hospital), and my impression of their staff has just gone downhill. It's a pain looking for another doctor though, and there's no guarantee the new one would be any better.

I still don't know if there's anything wrong with baby K, but her diaper was blood-free the next time she pooped. The doctor said it's most likely something external (although I don't see any irritation or redness in that area), and to use tons of petroleum jelly. I'm to bring her in along with the soiled diaper if it happens again. Until then, does anyone have any ideas what it could be?

Our Sunday Outing

We finally made it out to Chinatown this past Sunday (after two unsuccessful attempts from the weeks before thanks to the cold weather). We were doing really well on time, and would have even been to church early, when halfway out to New York, M suddenly remembered that we forgot to bring the stroller with us (we had switched cars and left the stroller in the MDX). Arghh! Talk about forgetfulness! I suppose that's one disadvantage of having two cars... In any case, we ended up driving all the way back home to pick it up, and by the time we got out to Chinatown, we were an hour late for service. We decided not to go into the sanctuary, and just hung around upstairs until service ended. When it did, everyone came upstairs and were so happy to see baby K. We stayed for Sunday School, and our cutie pie was on her best behavior (I'm convinced she's only fussy when it's just mommy and daddy around... she loves all the attention she gets whenever we go out). She even stayed awake the entire time Uncle V was teaching.

After church, we headed over to my parent's place for lunch. They had such a great time playing with baby K. My brother and family also came over after having dim sum with some friends in Chinatown, so it was nice to have everyone together. Look at grandma and grandpa's happy faces as they're holding the grandkids:
We ended the afternoon at my mother-in-law's place before heading home. I thought everyone would be home watching the Superbowl, but we still got stuck for over half an hour going into the Holland Tunnel. Baby K was in the back crying up a storm as we sat at a standstill on Hudson Street. She quieted down once we got moving and made our way into the hole.

Here's our cutie pie dressed in red earlier last week in honor of Chinese New Year:

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: