anZel/Arden

Archive for May, 2006

anZel update…

Another week flew by quickly since we last posted. It SEEMS to be getting better everyday. We are now able to put anZel to sleep in his own crib by doing

1. Swaddling him
2. Turning on a CD with a womb noise track playing

He generally does pretty ok with just that. With those more cranky moments, we give him the pacifier. He will suck and suck and suck on that and then once he’s done, he just drops it.

We are continuing our routine of me feeding him around 12-1, beeber feeding him around 3-4, then grandma takes over around 6-7. This routine works really well so far.

anZel’s also starting to enjoy his bath more. He doesn’t cry anymore when we wash his hair or giving him a bath. He just sits there enjoy it the whole time.

anZel sleeping on beeber…

anZel thanking someone (see hand gesture) while drinking his formula…

Tummy time for anZel…

美男入浴 … anZel loving his bath time…”wake me up when you are done…”

“wah ya looking at?!”

transcript

Dad: Ok, Bud. You can either sleep with us without the pacifier or you get the pacifier and sleep in your own crib.

Mini-dad continues to suck on the pacifier (sound: click click click from the sound of the handle of the pacifier)

Dad: Ok Bud. You have made your choice. (placed mini-dad in his crib)

Click click click click click then it stopped with the sound of the pacifier dropped on the crib. “aaaaaaaaaaaaRRRRRRRRRRRRRR”

Dad got up, picked up mini-dad with pacifier from the crib and brought him to the bed.

anZel’s visit to PA

It’s been a while since we took anZel out for a nice stroll. Today we decided to go over to Palo Alto for a visit and take one of my sick 12″ PB to the apple store.

Weather wasn’t the greatest as it was cloudy and actually rained fairly hard for some a bit. But it was a nice get away from the 4 walls at home.

anZel has his picture taken by a new black Macbook

Auntie Amy visited on Saturday and brought anZel a kewl vibrating chair. It’s perfect for those moments that you need two hands. The vibration so far has kept him pretty quiet!

anZel holding tight while taking a bath…

anZel sleeping peacefully even with the heavy rain…

anZel saw the new black macbook, liked it so much he was ready to jump on it…I had to hold him back!!!

anZel update

It has been a few days since we posted some pictures for anZel. anZel has grown alot. He’s gotten heavier, longer, and FATTER!! His eyes are starting to see farther. His head will turn to where he hears something interesting. He will stare at you to study you.

He’s also allowed us to sleep a bit more at night. We have finally gotten the pattern down, we think. And anZel will usually remind us if we are late to feed him. These past week, I usually do the midnight to 1AM feeding, then beeber will do the 3-4AM feeding. Next thing you know, it’s the morning! And both beeber and I will have gotten some sleep.

He’s also now over a month young! I can start telling people his age using months (”he’s a month old”) instead of days (”he’s 24 days old”).

anZel in deep thoughts…

anZel sitting on the couch…

anZel the milk-drunk koala bear…

anZel looking at the acquarium above him…

anZel thanking someone…(that’s a usual hand gesture in China for thanking someone)

You know you are sleep deprived when

1. You wear black shoes with a brown belt
2. You book a trip with the airports switched
3. You keep typing the same thing over and over again
4. You make the most basic programming mistakes, like = vs ==

In search of Chinese name

[ original 5/12, updated 5/15 ]

We have a couple good candidates:

甄思博 : 4
甄品堯 : 2

Any votes?

Mother’s Day

I had never imagined what Mother’s Day would be like for a mother. Today I am humbled by all mothers who have come before me. Being a mother is the most challenging and loving thing.

I truely believe that it takes a village to raise a child. I am fortunate enough to have this village of people around me. I can’t imagine doing this without my wonderful husband, my mum, the support of fantastic friends (T, Amy, Julie, Ginger, Ruth, Jenn, Celine, Anne, Clark, Linda, Jeanette, Charlene) and loving family near and far.

Happy mother’s day to all mothers and those who support mothers.

This was sent to me by a wonderful mother…

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, “It’s okay honey, Mommy’s here.”

Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies who can’t be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who DON’T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they’ll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors.
And for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching from the warmth of their cars, so that when their kids asked, “Did you see me, Mom?” they could say, “Of course, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten instead, but realize how child abuse happens.

This is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the (grand) mothers who wanted to, but just couldn’t find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat. For all the mothers who read “Goodnight, Moon” twice a night for a year. And then read it again. “Just one more time.”

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school. A nd for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls “Mom?” in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home — or even away at college.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomach aches assuring them they’d be just FINE once they got there, only to get calls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up. Right away.

This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can’t find the words to reach them.

This is for all the step-mothers who raised another woman’s child or children, and gave their time, attention, and love… sometimes totally unappreciated!

For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their 14-year-olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings, and the mothers of those who did the shooting.

For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful, and now pray they come home safely from a war.

What makes a good Mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips?

The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time? Or is it in her heart? Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time? The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby? The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 A.M. when you just want to hear their key in the door and know they are safe again in your home? Or the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are universal and so our thoughts are for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation…

And mature mothers learning to let go.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.

Single mothers and married mothers.

Mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for you all.

For all of us.

Hang in there.

In the end we can only do the best we can.

Tell them every day that we love them.

“Home is what catches you when you fall - and we all fall.”

anZel going to a party..

Today anZel went to his first big party, the 4th Annual Cajun Barbecue, hosted by Cam and Kerri & Mike and Jeanette.

It’s always a great pleasure to go there as they bring in tons of meat, crawfish and stuff from New Orleans. This year there was over 200lbs of meat!!

anZel, as usual, was a performer. He didn’t make a peep the whole time he was there. He slept the whole way through, even when he was handed around and we were really LOUD!

Here’s Mike with anZel. He’s been approved to be a babysitter for anZel

Hectic week for the family…

It’s been almost a week since I last wrote. Things have been extremely hectic both at work and at home.

I’ve spent several late nights at work earlier this week and also travelled to the east coast for a couple of days. Felt pretty bad as I had to leave anZel and beeber. But beeber has been very supportive of my work.

At home, anZel has developed this rash on his face. We called the nurses at Kaiser and they said it’s probably baby acne. We went in and saw a pediatrician. And he said it’s seborrhea, or “too much oil.” It’s a common skin problem that many infants may get. It’s also sometimes called “cradle cap” and usually go away in a few weeks (or a couple of months.)

Oh when we asked the pediatrician to spell seborrhea for us. He asked me if I was going to google it (even a doctor is using google as a VERB!!). When I said yes, he didn’t seem too happy. I asked him why I shouldn’t, he said, “Information without knowledge is a very dangerous thing!” I’ve to say that’s a pretty strange thing to say to a parent that wants more information.

One doctor recommended using dove soap to lightly wash anZel’s face. Another doctor claimed that aveeno is better. We used dove a couple of days and switched to Aveeno today. Aveeno seems to be a LOT more gentle on anZel’s skin.

In any case, due to the rash, anZel has been really fuzzy the last week or so. He would not sleep at night at all when he’s sleeping with beeber. He needs someone to constantly hold him and comfort him. Beeber’s had some really tough nights lately.

I’ve been able to keep him asleep by rocking him to sleep, then putting him next to me in bed and sleep together that way. Let’s just say that coffee is a luxury for a man, but a necessity for a new dad! Thanks Starbucks!!

Some recent pictures…

One of the few moments that anZel’s asleep…in love & care…

anZel on an outing..or is he in jail?!

anZel’s drunk…milk drunk…

Great Expectation(s) for Our Night Owl

Since anZel can hold up better with MINIMAL sleep than the average adults, he will do great things soon (I think). I assume he can study five books at the same time; go for several college degrees in four years; work on several jobs.