Madeline's Blog

Friday, November 9, 2007 - Karen

Maddie had a wonderful halloween.  We spent about 20 mins trick or treating and meeting our neighbors in the process.  However, her favorite part by far was helping us pass out candy to the kids as they came to our door.  She would even peek inside their bags, sometimes pulling out candy for a closer look.

She is also increasing her sign language vocabulary a bit, particularly with food.  She uses the sign "more" a lot, especially when she wants you to make Elmo sing & dance over and over again or when she wants more crackers. 

Now that she can walk, Maddie is no longer content sitting in her stroller or booster chair for long periods of time.  That means that when we go out to eat, at least one of us needs to wolf it down and be available to take her for a walk as soon as she gets bored.  Luckily for us, she is still a voracious eater, so she gives us ample time to enjoy our meal.  Maddie's food favorites are cheese, fruit, crackers, and pasta.  She'll eat meat and vegetables, but only if they're offered to her first.  Once she realizes cheese is an option, forget about it -- that's all she'll eat.

The best part about little Maddie growing up is that she has developed ways of showing affection.  When she is not busy tipping him over, she likes hugging her giraffe.  There's also a picture of her hugging Petey.  She also gives plenty of hugs to mommy and daddy.

Sunday, October 7, 2007 - Karen

A lot has happened over the past couple of weeks.  Maddie's walk has gotten a lot better.  She can walk down most of the hallway before falling down.  Now she resembles more of a Frankenstein than a drunk tightrope walker.  She also had a blast at her birthday parties.  The cake(s) were a big hit -- she loved shoving it in her face, but she didn't like the mushy feeling of it on her hands. 

This weekend, we met up with Jeff's high school friend Betsey and her daughter Melissa.  Betsey's mom arranged for the kids to have a private petting zoo session at the animal rehabilitation clinic where she volunteers.  The babies were mesmerized by the bunnies, guinea pigs, horses, goats, sheep, and of course, each other.  Here are some pictures.

Sunday, September 23, 2007 - Karen

Maddie can walk now.  Last weekend she was taking a few tentative steps with her big red ball (see video on the home page), but within the course of a few days, she was able to walk a few feet.  She can stop, turn to the side, go faster, go slower.  She sort of resembles a drunk, tight-rope walker.  Jeff & I made a run to Babys R Us and Target to shore up the babyproofing around the house. 

The sign language journey continues.  Maddie clearly has a lot to communicate but the only sign she really makes is the milk sign and bye bye. She makes the milk sign for any need that is food-related -- "I need water", "more goldfish please", "where the heck is my lasagna?", etc...And she waves bye bye to everyone -- mom & dad after we tuck her in at night, all the people at the restaurant as we're leaving, etc. 

Next week is Maddie's birthday and we've got two small parties planned -- one for Playgroup friends and one for family (a joint celebration with Uncle Gary).  We got Maddie two birthday presents.  One practical -- a Noah's Ark toy that will help her practice fine motor skills, and one not so practical -- a keepsake box from Tiffany's with a decoration of an "M" and a monkey. 

Saturday, September 9, 2007 - Karen

The sign language thing actually works.  For a couple of months now, we've been signing simple, but critical, words for Maddie like milk, more, eat, drink.  A couple of weeks ago, she seemed to be able to start interpreting the signs -- eg. when she'd get fussy and I'd say & sign the word "milk", she'd smile like she was happy I understood what she wanted.  A couple of days ago, she actually made the sign by herself indicating she was hungry and we'd better get her some food, pronto.  Great milestone!  Hoping this will cut down on the yelling.

Maddie has also been walking around pretty effectively with her push toy.  She uses it like an elderly person with a walker, pushing it around the kitchen and hallway.  The new house gives her ample room to explore and exercise without the cats & parents getting in her way.  She is definitely enjoying her newfound autonomy, which is now making it more challenging to coax her into her car seat or keep her in our arms.... 

Saturday, August 11, 2007 - Karen

Maddie is having a fun summer full of new experiences.  Way back in July, we took Maddie swimming for the first time.  She loved it, which is no surprise since she also loves bathtime.  So much splashing.  We've since taken her swimming quite a bit since our home is about 200ft from the community pool.  It's so convenient, but taking her out of her bathing suit afterwards is no easy feat.

Now that we live closer to Jeff's extended family, we get drop-ins from time to time.  Maddie's cousin Katelyn has come over to play, and SD Grandparents too.  Maddie enjoys the company but is still trying to grasp the concept of sharing, especially toys....

Our friend Samantha recently visited SoCal and we got to have lunch with her & her parents in West LA.  Afterwards, we walked around Jeff's alma mater, UCLA.  Here's a picture of us in front of the library.

Another new experience that Maddie recently enjoyed was Caitlin's Princess Birthday party hosted by Ariel.  Everyone dressed up in their ballroom attire.  Although it looks like Maddie is getting smacked down by Belle in the picture below, that's actually her friend Lindsay planting a kiss.  Don't worry grandma/grandpa.  We also got a picture of Maddie with Princess Ariel.  That wasn't Maddie's favorite part of the party but we had promised grandma we'd get a picture.  Finally Maddie and her new friend Micah raced around the house, Maddie having a bit of a handicap because of the dress.  She held her own though. 

Friday, June 15 2007 - Karen

Maddie has achieved many milestones in the past few weeks.  She is now crawling, standing up while using support, getting to sitting from crawling position, shoving Cheerios in her mouth (at least 50% make it in).  She enjoys 2nd level Gerber foods and Jeff has even made her chicken soup with carrots.  Not a picky eater at all -- she'll pretty much shove anything into her mouth. 

She's learning something new each day.  Tonight, for instance, she finally realized that the peekaboo blocks had little doors on them that you could open and close.  She would keep doing that over and over for 10 min stretches at a time. 

She is also a big fan of buttons.  Every night as we're putting her to bed, she crawls around reaching for the buttons on the stereo.  She usually ends up playing Jack Johnson, but sometimes she ends up with 1400AM radio.  When we're in the family room watching tv, we have to give her the xbox remote (minus batteries) so she can help "change the channel". 

We're enjoying the family life here in Irvine.  On the weekends, we have fun exploring so cal, such as by going to the beach, visiting San Diego, hanging at the mall.  Our weekday routine consists of eating at the kitchen table (no more tv dinners), with Maddie shoving Cheerios in her mouth and playing with her sippy cup.  After dinner, we often take walks around the neighborhood.  Around 8pm, we start putting Maddie to bed (wipe face, Jack Johnson, diaper wrestling, final bottle, lights out).  Maddie pretty much goes to sleep by herself now.  When Pooh Bear starts singing good night, and the crib rail goes up, she pretty much knows it's blackout time.  She must take after me -- I treasure my sleep too.

Next week I'm taking time off work to spend with Maddie.  Hopefully I'll have more time to update the blog then.

Sunday, May 13, 2007 - Karen

Realizing that it's been ages since I've last updated the blog, and am missing out on capturing many of Maddie's big milestones, I had to make an effort today, especially since it's Mother's Day! 

April was a busy month as we moved and worked on settling down in Irvine.  We are now only ~50 mins away from Jeff's parents in San Diego, where we've been able to visit a few times.  Also, we're able to spend a lot more time with Jeff's cousins (who have been busy producing Maddie's cousins).  Our friends K & June and my college friends Michelle and Ruth are also nearby.  Despite all the good reasons for moving down here, it didn't make it any easier to execute, at least logistics-wise.

Luckily we had my mom and our San Jose nanny down with us for several weeks to help out.  The house is starting to feel more like a home, even as we await window treatments and landscaping.  Maddie's room is green with her sea animals swimming around the walls happily.  She will get white shutters in the next week or so.  She is also making great use of her new walk-in closet.  Amazingly, it's already packed full with new summer clothes and costco-sized packages of diapers, diaper genie refills, etc

Given our new proximity to Babys R Us (only 5-10 mins away), we have shopped up a storm.  We got Maddie a long-awaited Exersaucer, which she loves to play in (picture below).  She also graduated to a high chair, which really beats feeding her in her stroller.  The pediatrician also gave the thumbs up to Cheerios, which Maddie has been experimenting with.  We've also been trying out a couple of different sippy cups, even though Maddie seems to prefer using them as a teething toy.

Now that Maddie is seven months, she is getting pretty good at using her hands.  A couple of times I've plopped her down on the bathroom counter to grab a washcloth, only to find 1 second later a mess of Q-tips sprayed all over.  The burp cloths are also pretty useless now too since Maddie loves to grab them and wave them around like a flag.  So far, the only upside is that she is able to pull a blanket off of her head, which means she can graduate from the zip-up blanket sleepers now. 

Saturday, March 31, 2007 - Karen

The adventures of solids continue.  Over the past couple of weeks, Maddie has been introduced to yams, potatoes, green beans.  There isn't anything she won't eat but you can definitely tell what she really likes vs. what she sort of likes.  Cereal w/bananas isn't her favorite.  Applesauce, though, was a big hit.  So far it hasn't been hard to get her to eat green beans and other veggies - she's much less picky than mom.

Last weekend we took her to the Oakland Zoo.  She had more fun watching the other kids than the animals.  The nanny takes her for a walk everyday around 10:30-12:30 and they socialize with the same groups of babies.  Little by little, Maddie is starting to realize that there are many more interesting people in the world besides mommy, daddy and Elmo.

A fun thing we did was create a cast molding of Maddie's foot and hand at 6 months.  Fun but creepy picture below.  It's really cute close up though - you can see little fingernails and chubby folds of skin.   

Saturday, March 24, 2007 - Karen

Geez I hadn't realized how long it has been since I've updated the blog.  Time flies when you're taking care of a baby, working full-time, and oh by the way, preparing to sell a house and move.  That's right, we're heading south to Irvine in just a few short weeks.  We just sold our San Jose townhouse and are moving down south to be closer to family and escape the frenetic pace of silicon valley.  We will still keep our jobs -- but will be telecommuting. 

Another big milestone, at least from my end, is that I did my first business trip since Maddie was born.  I did a week-long trip to Vietnam and the Philippines to visit governments, development agencies, and schools.  Although it was sad to be away from Jeff & baby, it was also a nice retreat as I was able to go shopping and eat at nice restaurants without worrying about baby barf stains on my clothes.  I was able to check in on baby all times of day with the nannycam (i call it "BabyTV").  So it didn't feel like I was too far away.  Kudos to Jeff for being such a capable single dad!

Maddie is getting  more independent now.  She'll go longer stretches of time now (say 10 minutes), able to play by herself and her best friend, the monkey.  She always seems happy to see you when you come into view, but she also doesn't mind letting you do your business and hanging out alone.  Naptimes are also longer now -- 1 hour in the morning, 1.5 hours in the afternoon, a couple of power naps (~10-15 mins) during other times of day as needed.  Maybe I'll be able to update the blog more regularly now!

Friday, March 23, 2007 - Jeff

There has been lots of stuff going on with Madeline over the past 2 months.  Karen is back to work which is probably why she hasn't updated the blog in forever.  The two major milestones are that Madeline is now eating solids and able to sit up by herself now.  Here are some nice pics below.

Saturday, January 13, 2006 - Karen

I started working again full-time on January 2 (that plus all our holiday guests = big gap in blog).  Madeline has been very cooperative, sleeping pretty much through the night.  She regressed a bit after all the holiday craziness (Maddie got us invited to all the cool parties), but she's back on schedule now.  She gets a last bottle at 10:30pm and wakes us up around 6:30am.  Beautiful.

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday.  Both sets of grandparents and Uncle Warren came to share Maddie's first Christmas.  It took us about 2 hours to unwrap all of Maddie's presents alone.  She didn't really know what was going on but we videotaped it so she can enjoy it later.  Daddy got her an Elmo doll which she is coordinated enough now to swing around wildly.  She also got her fair share of teether toys, but her favorite thing to suck continues to be her knuckles. 

We spent Christmas Eve at Jeff's cousin Allison's house, where Maddie was a big hit with her cousins, even though she had trouble staying awake through the party :)

The transition back to work has been smooth.  Fortunately I have a pretty flexible schedule and a sympathetic boss, so I've been able to work from home 3-4 days a week.  I admit that I actually look forward to going to the office for the change of scenery, although I'm so thankful I can be there for Maddie when she needs me to be.  Jeff is also a great, hands-on dad.  He plays with her often in a wild, chaotic way, yet one of her favorite places to sleep is on his chest.  One of my favorite parts of this mom thing is to watch Jeff & Maddie be together.  It's really sweet and touching, and best of all, it frees me up to do my own thing.  

Sunday, December 24, 2006 - Karen

Of the past 6 nights, Maddie has been able to sleep through 5 of them.  I think we can safely say she's got the hang of it now.  Yeeha!

This week, both sets of grandparents and my brother Warren are in town.  Maddie's social calendar is completely packed with parties.  She's the first grandchild on both sides and completely milking it - learning how to smile and charm the pants off people right in time for the holidays.  She has been making out like a bandit with all the presents. 

December 15, 2006 - Friday (Karen)

Still struggling with getting Maddie to sleep through the night.  She's only done it twice so far, and even then, she wakes up here and there to whine a little bit.  The good thing is that I can pretty much count on her to only need one middle of the night feeding though.  Once I give her a little snack, she goes back to sleep pretty easily and sleeps soundly until 7:30am. 

Besides nighttime, it's really hard to get her to take a nap.  This kid has so much energy.  The best ways to get her to sleep so far seem to be walking her around in the baby bjorn or her stroller.  Acetaminophen seems to work as well (kidding).  Otherwise she will not sleep through the day, she'll just keep chatting to her toys or nanny or whoever will listen to her. 

The newest development is that Maddie has discovered her hands.  She especially likes sucking on her knuckles like they're short ribs or something.  Slurp slurp slurp.  I guess her thumb is too little for thumb sucking to be satisfying yet, but I'm sure that will come.  It's pretty funny when she wants to suck her knuckles.  Her hand-eye coordination isn't quite there yet so sometimes she misses, her fist hitting her cheek while she's sucking air.  It's really cute when she focuses real hard moving her hand to her mouth, going cross-eyed in the process.  I'm observing closely for signs of intelligence but so far, it seems the cats are still a little smarter.

Here's a picture of Maddie on her activity mat, cerebral development in process.  It's a little old (~2 weeks), but so cute that I thought I'd share it.

December 5, 2006 - Tuesday (Karen)

Hallelujah!  Maddie slept through the night for the first time.  There will probably be a few more sleepless nights before she settles into a no-night-feed routine, but at least now I know it's theoretically possible and that gives me hope.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Maddie got her 2 month shots yesterday and handled them bravely.  She cried a little bit but once she got bandaids for her boo boos (one shot for each fat thigh), she was smiling again.  We gave her some baby tylenol in the afternoon since her swollen leg was really bothering her, but otherwise there was no reaction.  My mom thinks Maddie only slept through the night because of the residual acetaminophen working its way in her system, but I'm optimistic that she's rounding the corner and will be able to sleep like a big girl soon.

December 3, 2006 - Sunday (Jeff)

I took some pictures of Madeline in her Santa Outfit.  Thanks to Liz for the outfit!

December 1, 2006 - Friday (Karen)

Jeff took advantage of the post-thanksgiving sales and bought a fancy new SLR camera.  Note the nice-looking new pictures.  He's having a good time playing with his two new toys -- the SLR and Madeline.  Here are pictures of me and the baby during some of my favorite times -- when she is happy and when she is sleeping.  Lucky for us, she doesn't cry that much.  It seems like she's a fairly rational baby -- when she starts fussing, there's usually a gas or diaper issue.  Easily debuggable.  Once it's fixed, she's pretty happy-go-lucky again.  We'll enjoy this while it lasts -- if she truly has Jeff & my genes, she'll no doubt give us many headaches later on.

We also put up our Christmas tree tonight.  It feels a little early since Christmas is still many weeks away.  Nonetheless, Maddie loves to stare at light fixtures around the house, so we figured she'd go nuts for a Christmas tree.  Note to Grandpa from Maddie -- now that the tree is up and ready, there is plenty of room for presents for Maddie...and mommy too...

November 27, 2006 - Monday (Karen)

I haven't updated the blog in a long time because we've had a busy couple of weeks.  San Diego Grandma and Toronto Grandpa were in town for a little banquet we had to introduce Maddie to the family.  Then we had a yummy thanksgiving with lots of turkey meals.  You'd think that with all the tryptophan in my system, the breast milk would have helped Maddie sleep through the night.  No such luck.  Maddie still seems to want one middle of the night feeding, no matter how much we stuff her during the day.  At least we're getting closer though -- baby is getting pretty good at settling herself back to sleep without intervention so we hope she'll be able to sleep through the night before I return to work in January.  What a great Christmas present that would be.

Maddie has hit the 13 pound mark now.  Amazing developments every single day.  She can hold up her head most of the time and can crawl across the coffee table with only a little bit of help.  She smiles at people who feed her, as well as the teddy bears that sit above her bassinet.  In addition to tummy time, she really enjoys having people stand her up on their laps so she can jump up & down. 

November 13, 2006 - Monday (Karen)

The weather has been warm for the past few days, so we've been taking Maddie out for walks a lot.  She loves the car seat and stroller.  One time, she was fussing about being strapped into the car seat (I was taking a long time bundling her up in a hat and blanket and everything), so Jeff just started wheeling her around the house.  She loved it, even though she really wasn't going anywhere far.  Anyway, she's a big fan of movement.  The bumpier the ride, the better.

Here are some pictures from our walk this weekend.  She seemed to really enjoy the sunshine.  I've also included a picture from family photo night.  If Jeff and I look disoriented and sleep deprived, it's because we are.

The best thing is that Maddie has learned how to smile.  She used to smile a lot before, mainly because of gas.  Now she smiles at people on purpose.  It's cute.

November 1, 2006 - Wednesday (Karen)

Maddie had her 1 month checkup yesterday.  She weighed in at 10 lbs 8 oz, which puts her at the 75th percentile.  I think that's pretty good for little chinese baby who started out at 7 lbs 2 oz only 4 weeks ago.  Then again, chinese people do like to eat don't they?

We hired a nanny last week and it seems to be working out well.  Nanny Fen can speak cantonese, mandarin and some english so hopefully baby will pick up the various languages.  The biggest perk of having the nanny (besides being able to catch some zzz's during the day) is that she cooks lunch and dinner.  Her cooking is pretty good too (better than I could do).  Man, had I known how good it could be, I would have had a baby a long time ago.  

October 28, 2006 - Saturday (Karen)

It's a Saturday night and I've got nothing better to do than to update the blog, and try to keep awake until the 10pm feeding (I'm so tired right now but if I go down for a nap, I might not get back up for the night shift).  Man how life has changed.  It's not like we were big party animals before baby, but being home in front of a PC on a Saturday night is a new low for me.  Maybe not for Jeff, but definitely for me.

Maddie is on a very predictable feeding schedule.  She eats 8 times a day and seems to get hungry every 3 hours at 7, 10, 1, and 4.  Every night after 10pm, I wait until she gives me the cue to feed again.  I keep hoping she'll forget she's hungry at 1am, hold out until 2:30 and skip the 4am feeding.  No such luck -- she always wakes up by 1:30, and then again at 4am for her late night buffet.  You could set your watch based on this girl's tummy. 

Maddie is still mostly a perpetual eating/pooping /sleeping machine, but over time, she's developing a sense of curiosity and motivation.  When she's awake, she is very alert (ie. does not blink) and is ready to play.  When you put her on her tummy, she uses her legs and her head to do a pre-crawl.  (Her arms aren't quite strong enough yet to lift up her body so she just uses her head to push herself around -- you'd think it would be really frustrating but she loves it).  Here are some pictures of Maddie totally hypnotized by the mobile in her crib.   

Maddie has her mellow moods too.  Here is a picture of Maddie sleeping in her swing (thanks Matz and crew -- my back and arms are slowly recovering now that I don't have to rock baby 23 hours a day!).  Stu (aka Grey Cat) has also really stepped up as babysitter.  He checks in  when baby is crying and has been coming into the nursery to supervise feeding sessions.  Petey (aka White Cat) is somewhere between indifferent and really scared of baby.  He tends to leave the room in a hurry when baby starts getting fussy.  Hopefully they'll eventually be friends one day.

October 23, 2006 - Monday (Karen)

Maddie is getting big really quickly.  I think she's a little over nine pounds already!  She's rally filling out those onesies really nicely now (she used to be so small that her arms would fall out of the sleeves).  Soon she'll outgrow the swaddle -- she's so long that when she stretches, she pretty much kicks free anyway. 

When she is awake, she is pretty alert and curious.  We're making great use of the Gymini activity mat (thanks Uncle Bill & Aunt Suzanne!) where Maddie loves the different noises and practicing her army crawl.  She also likes the swing very much since it calms her down.  Now that she is great at being awake, we need to work on her sleeping skills!

October 10, 2006 - Tuesday (Karen)

Maddie had her very first bath today.  She has been getting mini sponge baths for the past few days but now that her umbilical stump has fallen off and healed, she got the full spa treatment today.  She seemed to really like it, which is good since it means she won't get stinky.  Here's a cute picture of Maddie & grandma.

Maddie has been steadily gaining weight.  At her follow up doctor's visit on Friday, she had weighed in at 7 lbs even (up from 5 lbs 14 oz when she was admitted to the hospital for jaundice).  After our jaundice/massive weight loss scare last week, we bought a baby scale and have been monitoring her weight gain more closely.  She is now at about 7 lbs 4 oz, which is definitely in the right direction.  Count her chins -- she gets more as she grows each day!

October 5, 2006 - Thursday (Karen)

Maddie is one week old today.  The first week was pretty tough.  She had a checkup on Monday where we found out she developed jaundice.  She was readmitted to the hospital, where she had to lie under UV lights to break up the bilireuben in her system.  Although it took some time to get used to the sunglasses she had to wear over her eyes, she braved it out and was a model patient. 

We were discharged late yesterday after they confirmed her bilireuben and electrolyte levels were stable.  She seems to be doing much better now -- less fussy and eating very enthusiastically.

Now that we're at home again, we're trying to develop some semblance of a routine.  Jeff and I are taking turns with the night shift but the sleep deprivation is definitely getting old.  We can't wait until Toronto grandma (my mom) comes in on Sunday to help out.

September 30th, 2006 - Saturday (Karen)

We were discharged from the hospital yesterday and Jeff's mom came up for the weekend to help out. 

Couldn't have asked for a better labor & delivery process.  God bless the epidural.  I entered the hospital at 7pm, got my epidural at 8pm.  Jeff & I took a nap for a few hours and by 11:30pm, I was ready to push.  Maddie arrived officially at 12:52am on Sept 28.  I was pain-free and we were cracking jokes the whole time.  No lie.

Post-partum sucks though.  Wish there was an epidural for this part, although the prescription-grade Motrin does help take the edge off a bit.  Maddie eats like a piggy -- every 3 hours and she takes forever, like she's at a Vegas buffet or something.  This means that I get to sleep at 1 hour increments at a time, assuming that she isn't in a really foul mood...which is a really big assumption.

Jeff and his mom have been great though.  They feed me, I feed Maddie.  It's a very efficient assembly line process and I can't imagine how people could do this part without a lot of help.

September 25th, 2006 - Monday (Karen)

Today was my first day of maternity leave, which was a bit of an adjustment.  Even though I made good headway through my long list of things to do, I was pretty bored.  It's weird to think I won't be working again until 2007. 

Went to the doctor's today for my Week 37 checkup.  Dr. Faryno was pretty convinced that I would have delivered over the weekend already but baby seems to still be hanging in there.  I'm dilated and 90% effaced and the doctor is thinking that baby will be out of there within the next couple of days.  The weird thing is that Dr. Faryno pointed out that I was having contractions during the Doppler exam and yet I couldn't feel a thing. 

Afterwards, I spent some time at the mall getting some final things we need for the nursery (like sheets for the crib) and for mommy (fun stuff from Sephora).  Nursery pictures are below.  As Aunt Samantha has pointed out, baby has been scuba diving for the past 9 months now, so she should feel pretty at home in her ocean critters-themed nursery.