Favorite things: Stroller frame

I am copying this blog idea from  Kateri's cooking blog where she writes about her favorite tools. I thought long and hard about what to write my first one about, and I decided that the one piece of baby equipment that I use a ton and have the fewest complaints about is the frame to my baby stroller (Graco SnugRider infant car seat stroller frame).

I am terrible at maneuvering anything on wheels, so I didn't want a huge stroller that I would end up running Noah into bushes with, or falling off curbs with, etc. Additionally, we have no space to store a million different types of strollers. So we ended up asking just for a frame that you attach your infant car seat onto. Thanks to our friends Lorin and Natalia, we got the frame.

The frame is not much to look at. In fact, it looks like a piece of junk. It's super light-weight, so it feels like it is going to break apart at any moment. But it is awesome! In fact, it is great because it is so light. It folds up flat and fits into the trunk of our Civic. The best thing is that it has awesome turning radius and I find it really easy to push (this is key since Noah is so heavy). I've logged so many miles on that thing, and it is still going strong. I plan on using it until Noah outgrows his infant car seat, and hopefully by then he'll be able to sit up and we can use the umbrella stroller.

Night time hilarity

For the last week, Noah has been waking up between 1-3 in the morning and won't go back to sleep for a couple of hours. He isn't crying, but he is wide wide wide awake! He is actually pretty hilarious when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Lots of talking and shrieking (happy shrieking, but shrieking none the less). He also does what we call 'donkey kicks,' where he brings both of his legs straight up in the air, at a 90-degree angle from his body, and then will kick them straight down into the mattress, which makes a really loud, hollow sound. If Grant or I go to the side of his crib and tell him to go to sleep, he give the biggest smile, like he is so happy to see us and wants to play. It's so cute.

I can't decide whether we should just let him play in the crib by himself until he goes back to sleep on his own or if we should pick him up and help him to go back to sleep as quickly as possible. If we didn't have to get him up at 5:45 a.m. to go to work/day care, I wouldn't care if he played in the middle of the night. But since we can't let him sleep in, I worry about him getting enough sleep at night. I need to do some internet research for my internet baby regarding what to do. (My mom calls Noah an 'internet baby' because Grant and I are always running to look up online how to raise our child). Anyway, hopefully this phase will pass and he'll go back to sleeping most of the night soon.

Noah chuckles

Noah giggling with Grant. Sometimes when he giggles he gives himself hiccups, which is why he looks so concerned in the middle of it all.

Nose aspirator

Noah still has a bit of a stuffy nose. Luckily, he hasn't been so stuffed up that he can't nurse, as I have a great fear of the nose bulb sucker contraption. I get freaked out because he's usually squirming like an alligator while I'm trying to do it and I have visions of accidentally sticking the tip all the way up into his sinuses. But Grant has gotten awesome at using the sucker! He just goes for it like a pro. I am so happy and proud of him! I will happily let Grant suction away from now on!

Noah in bouncer

Not really much to this video, just want to show the grandparents Noah in action. Thank you to the Ash, Karen, Clancy, and Nate for this bouncer. Noah really likes it.

Bane of my existence: Part II

The much awaited second installment...day care is the second bane of my existence. The number one problem I have with it is that, frankly, I don't want to have to send Noah to day care at all. I wish I was rich and had a nanny by my side so that I could still work and have Noah with me all day. Unfortunately, Noah is not a good napper and I can't get anything done when I stay home with him, so off to day care he goes.

That said, I do like our day care person. She is an older woman who raised 5, now grown, kids. I have always felt that she seems like a very nurturing, motherly lady, and I think that she genuinely likes Noah and that Noah likes her. She takes care of Noah, a 9 month old, and two 2 1/2 year olds. I think this is a pretty good ratio of kids.

But of course I also have my complaints:

1) Very expensive. I don't want to put price tag on the care of my child, but the truth of the matter is that we are paying nearly as much for day care as we are for rent. We interviewed other options, which were cheaper, but we didn't like anyone else as much.

2) Distance. I drop Noah off in the morning and Grant picks up after work. It takes me 1 hour to walk my giant baby in his car seat, in a stroller, with all of his stuff (at least 25 lbs. total) to the day care place. The other day I got caught in a torrential down-pour and had to walk 30 minutes while it was pouring rain. Noah, please note that again I expect Mother's Day presents because of this. I don't drive, so I feel this complaint is kind of my fault, but then again, with as expensive as day care is, we couldn't afford a second car anyway. 

3) Language barriers. Our day care lady is Persian and her English is passable, but it is definitely not as easy to communicate with her as Grant or I would like. For most situations, it is okay, but I often worry about unusual situations popping up and how we'd get what we need across. 

The latest drama that made me write this blog is that, evidentially this past week Noah has wanted to be carried constantly. So she basically asked us not to carry him so much over the weekends because he gets used to constantly being in someone's arms. I do understand her point, because she does have another baby she needs to deal with. And I will admit that lately Grant and I have been carrying Noah more than previously because Noah likes to lay on his back, but we're so freaked out about the back of his head being smushed on the ground, that the second alternative is to hold him upright. But still, the fact that we are having this conversation at all makes me feel really bad. Really bad. Plus, (and I am going to sound like one of those annoying parents who thinks their kid can do no wrong), I don't believe that she has to carry Noah ALL day. Even with the additional carrying we have been doing, we still leave him alone sometimes and he is fine. Maybe this week he just wanted the attention. Poor little guy.

Dissection of Noah's Features

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since Noah is a mixed-race baby (officially, he is 1/2 Japanese, 1/4 German, and 1/4 other European mutt), one of the common things people do is comment on whether he looks "more Asian or more White." This is a fun game. Interestingly, Grant's parents seem to think he looks absolutely like me, whereas my parents think he looks entirely like Grant.

Here is what I currently think. Look at the picture of Noah (taken today) and you can play too.

Hair: Currently dark brown, thus an even contribution from both of us. For some reason, in some pictures his hair looks red. I think that it is lighting, because in person it is definitely brown.

Forehead and eyebrows: Definitely Grant. He has adorably dainty little eyebrows just like his dad. Most women, including me, would be jealous.

Eyes: I feel definitely takes after me. I don't know how much white people talk about 'single vs double' eyelids, this might be a uniquely Asian person thing. Anyway, I have one single eyelid and one double eyelid eye. Noah does as well. As an aside, I once tried to explain single vs. double eyelids to Grant, and was trying to compare and contrast his eyes with mine, but interestingly enough, Grant also has single eyelids. We have always said that that is the Asian part of him.

Nose: Hybrid. Nose is interesting because the Grant's family nose is a very strong trait. All of Grant's nieces and nephews had the same nose as infants and to some extent, still do. I think baby noses change quite a bit, so only time will tell on this. But while I see some evidence of a Grant's nose, I also see some evidence of my nose too. I personally hope Noah gets Grant's nose.

Mouth/chin: Undetermined. I think baby mouth and chins change too much to make a call on this quite yet. I will say that both Grant and I have pretty square jaws, so this might be a non-issue.

General head shape: Also a non-issue. Grant and I both have gigantic heads, so I'm guessing Noah will as well. Sorry kid.

Finally, I will end with this. Grant was discussing with his boss what percentage Noah looks like me versus him. This is what she wrote to him in an email:

"Or 100% Noah. You will appreciate that he is his own self when he throws parties at your house while you are gone, crashes the family car or gets really bad grades. That way, you won't have to blame yourselves too much."

Amen.

Bane of my existence: Part I

Pumping breast milk for Noah is currently one of the banes of my existence. I fully expect Noah to get me things for Mother's Day simply because I had to pump breast milk for him during the first year of his life.

Reasons pumping is awful:

1) It makes me feel like a cow. I realize that this is what I am for Noah in general, but having a machine hooked up to you really drives the point home. And while I think breast feeding is a beautiful thing, for those of you who haven't heard it before, a breast pump in action sounds exactly as gross as you'd imagine. 

2) I feel tied to it. I try to get a pumping session in at least every 3-4 hours when I'm at work. It's stressful to make sure I am not doing an experiment or in a meeting or having lunch, etc. with this schedule. Additionally, I spend 1-1.5 hours each work day pumping. That's a lot of time, I think. 

3) I put the bottles of milk into a refrigerator. The refrigerator is in front of a lab where a fellow we call 'Roid Rage Pete works. 'Roid Rage feels it necessary to come and talk to me every time I am by the refrigerator. He tells me asinine stories about his lab that I don't care about. He also seems to think that every time I am by the refrigerator (which is 3 times per day) that I am eating something. He told me the other day something to the effect, "Karla, you don't seem to realize you're not eating for two anymore." This didn't come across as mean as it sounds. It did come across as stupid as it sounds. I have taken to hiding from him.

4) Tons of bottle components and pump components to wash. With no dishwasher, this means I wash them all by hand. I've told Grant not to be afraid to help out with the washing, but alas to no avail. Noah's feeding, and everything related to it, falls squarely in my domain and I don't think Grant feels comfortable entering this domain. One of Grant's domains...cleaning the lint out of Noah's toes. Fair trade, right?! (I am being tongue-in-cheek, as I will be the first to admit that Grant does do a lot, and it is not his fault he is currently lacking the equipment to help more with feeding).

Even with all this complaining, I intend to pump for as long as I can. I think it is important and I want to be able to breast feed him exclusively during the weekends (no dishes!). My goal is to make it through 6 months for him. If I can go the full year, I will. The saving grace in this situation is that I have promised myself that I will only pump 3 times a day and that I won't do it on weekends, for my sanity. Eventually Noah will eat more than I can produce (which I think is going to happen in the next couple of weeks), then I will supplement with formula. I've made peace with this decision. 

Done grumbling for now. Wait for Part II....ending with a cliff hanger!

Sleeping through the night, or not

The #1 question I am asked by people is if my baby sleeps through the night. (Noah doesn't yet, he usually gets up twice, on a good night, to feed). Once I say that he isn't, I am bombarded with suggestions on how to get him to do so. The thing is, I secretly don't want him to sleep through the night. I like getting up with him. I nurse him next to a night light and the way he looks in the middle of the night is so cute and perfect. Sometimes he'll stop nursing and just look at me, really peacefully, and it makes me cry a little. I'm tearing up just writing about it. Anyway, I'm not sleep-deprived enough to want to stop having this every night. Call me crazy.

2/7/2009

Now I am officially starting this blog. I had been planning on keeping a journal to give to Noah, and even got a very fancy one, but only wrote in it two times. This will be better, I think. 

We had a doctor visit yesterday. Noah got his second round of immunizations. He also is in the midst of his first cold. The combination made Grant and I completely paranoid of him getting a fever and us having to take him to the emergency room, but I think he's doing okay.

Prior to the doctor's visit, I have been obsessing about whether his head is too flat or not. Grant thinks I'm being ridiculous, but that is because we determined he has a flat head himself. I have a nice round head. Anyway, the doctor said every baby has a flat head at 4 months because they are always laying down. Supposedly it's going to pop out. Hopefully, at least his hair will grow in and create the illusion of a rounder head. 

Stats: 

2 month check-up: 14 pounds, 9 ounces (95th percentile), 24 inches (75th percentile)

4 month check-up: 17 pounds, 4 ounces (90th percentile), 26 inches (90th percentile)

Noah 1 month

Month 1 highlights:

As a baby, Noah was an incredibly noisy sleeper. Much noisier sleeping than awake. Lot of grunting and struggling. See video of him sleeping, I swear he was sleeping (November 28, 2008)

Noah is a very mellow boy. He is not much of a crier. We are very lucky. I knock on wood every day in the hopes that this trend will continue. 

1 month doctor's visit: 10 pounds, 3 ounces

Noah's first week

Very good, sleepy baby. All you did was sleep and eat, which is what you are supposed to do, I suppose. You barely cried during the first week and got cuter every day. 

Birth story

To Noah:

We were expecting you to be born on November 6, 2008, but you decided to come early, and that was fine with us. On Saturday, October 11, 2008, your dad got up to go workout. Your mom woke up and found her water had broke.

We were a little in shock driving to the hospital since you were earlier than we expected. Your mom was thinking that it might be a false alarm. It wasn't.

We checked into the University of California Irvine Medical Center around 9:30 a.m. Around 2 p.m. they induced contractions in your mom to get labor going. Around 7 p.m., your mom decided that she had had enough dealing with the contractions and got an epidural. (As a wise friend told her...you don't get a medal for being in more pain and you end up with a baby either way). Anyway, then your mom, and therefore your dad, were in a much better mood. Much better. Your mom tood about an hour to push you out. And then you were here! At 9:51 p.m., we said hello Noah! Your dad cried. We were both so so so happy. You weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces and were 19 inches long. That's not bad considering you were early and your mom didn't gain much weight during her pregnancy (maybe 25 pounds total). 

The first thing you did after you came out was pee all over everyone. Funny boy.

Another thing you did right away that made Mom laugh...your dad does this wrinkly forehead thing (I'm sure you'll see it many times as you grow up). I always tell him to stop doing it because it will give him wrinkles, and he always says that he can't stop because he can't help but do it. Anyway, within minutes of you being born, you wrinkled your forehead JUST like your dad. I guess he was telling the truth, he really can't help it. I guess it's genetic and he passed it on to you! I will continue to bug both of you about it for the rest of our lives. Get ready.

You were perfect and so cute. Very pink. We love you so much. You made us a family.