Deep Thoughts - By Baby Bear

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Our "Healthy" Baby

For the past few weeks, I have heard numerous euphemisms for the term "chubby." The most popular being, "Your baby is so healthy." Yes, she's very "healthy" indeed. Or we hear, "Wow, your mommy feeds you well" or "What a good eater you must be."

Some not-so-euphemistic terms that have been mentioned are: Rubberband arms, Michelin Man, Thunder thighs, Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man...
Personally, I like my baby's double chin and wobbly cheeks. I like her "rubberband arms" and "thunder thighs." So, there are no need for euphemisms with this mom. But...

...At her 4-month appointment yesterday she came just 3 ounces shy of 16 pounds. That's 90-95 percentile! She doesn't seem so roly-poly though. She only eats 5 times a day usually. Most breastfed babies are supposed to still eat 6-8 times a day at this age. Hmmmm....She doesn't look overweight or anything. She seems proportional...perhaps she's just storing it all in her cheeks.

It's So Difficult...

...to type with one hand as you're holding a fidgety 4-month old in your lap.

On another note...you know how as babies develop there are supposed milestones that they are supposed to reach at certain times? I kind of look at them sometimes, mainly so I know what the pediatrician is going to ask me at the next visit. Otherwise, I know that Bear will develop in her own time...and why should I push her? But there are people out there always forming the unnecessary developmental comparisons.

Baby Bear and I were at Target the other day. I was perusing the bottle aisle with Bear when we bumped into this woman who was perusing the formula cans. Baby Bear is a conversation starter, so this woman proceeded to tell me about her own child who was 2 months older. It was nice, just a simple conversation with a stranger who could understand the woes of baby raising. Then again, conversations with me are usually one-sided...I tend to be the silent nodder.

It's great when parents are proud of their little ones and of the achievements that they make. It's better when they don't gush about it in a condescending manner. "Yeah, but my baby is advanced, so your child might do that at 7 months...not 6 months like mine."

I just smiled and nodded...what else could I say?

Any UCSD AACFers out there?

I received an email about a UCSD AACF Alumni reunion happening over Memorial Day weekend (Sunday to Monday). If any of you are out there reading this blog and you want more information just go to this website for more info. Sounds interesting...

Mother Knows Best...

For weeks now, I have been telling my mom about all the things that Baby Bear has been doing recently. Let's see...it started with the ear pulling, then the drooling, then the increase in fussiness, the sucking on the fist, eating of the toys, some bouts of diarrhea and then howling in pain on occasion. Her first response was, "maybe she's teething." My response was, "...but she's only 3 months old."

So I kept trying to figure out what it could be. Reflux? Tummy hurts? Is she sick? She wants attention? She wants to be held? She only wants dad? She only wants mom? She's tired? She has gas? She needs to poop?

Trust me I went through the whole gamut. Then this happened.

All I have to say is, "My mother knows best." This mother (meaning: me) knows squat.

It's Official...

...she's teething.

Baby Bear has a pearly white already poking it's way through her gums on her lower jaw.

No wonder she's been so fussy lately.

Man, and I thought it was because I was eating something that was bothering her while nursing. I just wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. She's not even 4 months yet.

Oh well. What can we do.

Korean Food...Yum

My cousin told me to check out this xanga...it's all about Korean Food. Looks so yummy!

Huh?

It's Thursday?!?! Where did the week go?

Why I Know...

Padawanlee isn't gushy. You'll never catch him gushing over Baby Bear...I think he shows his love for her in his actions. Last night, the baby monitor alarm started going off...Padawanlee instantly woke up, ran over there, and picked up Baby Bear even before I could register what the noise was. We don't know why it went off. Perhaps she did stop breathing, or she just happened to move off the sensors, or something was wrong with the monitor. Whatever it was, I knew I felt fear...so I know Padawanlee felt it too.

This is why I know Padawanlee loves Baby Bear deeply...if she were ever to be in trouble, he'd be the first person to run over and save her.

The Busy Weekend...

The highlights of our weekend:

(1) Baby Bear's Red Egg & Ginger Party - To celebrate her arrival, her grandparents held a party for Baby Bear. Here she is with her great-grandmas.



(2) Padawanlee got to see a lot of his good friends who live up north. Baby Bear got to sing karaoke, play poker and eat Chinese food with them. Okay, well she watched them do all of that. But she got so much attention! She was loving every minute of it.

(3) Baby Bear got to meet her great-great grandma. That's right! You read it correctly...her GREAT-GREAT grandma. We even got to take a picture with all 5 generations.

(4) Baby Bear started laughing...not just little laughs here and there, but honest-to-goodness belly laughing.

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(5) We had a good time, but it's good to be home.

100 Days...

'Twas the day after Christmas
when you were born
New parents were blessed
that December morn

You had a full head of hair
And big puffy cheeks
You were rosy in color
And food did you seek

Your Daddy was so happy
and slightly in shock
He was a new dad
He could hardly talk

Your Mommy was tired
but forgot all about harms
The moment she saw you
and held you in her arms

Now it's 100 days later
You've changed and you've grown
You're smiling and laughing
and your personality is your own

You sing with your mom
You splash on your dad
You make cute little "ah-goos"
and you are rarely sad

Happy baekil my darling
How we love you so
We've thanked God everyday for you
Starting 100 days ago...

The Amorphous Asian...

Back in college, I had a friend dub me an "amorphous Asian." It was a joke because although I was Korean, no one really knew. My appearance is definitely Korean, but because I don't act Korean (whatever that means) my friends often questioned my background ethnicity. There were some friends who didn't realize I was Korean until 4 years into our friendship. I remember many conversations that went like this:

"You're Korean?!?!...No you're not!"
"I am."
"NO YOU'RE NOT!"
"Uh, okay, I'm not?"

I always wondered why people just had a difficult time believing it. Conversations usually followed with:

"But there's something different about you...I can't put my finger on it."

So then I would respond:

"I'm one-eighth Japanese?"

And they would seem content with that reason for my being not-so-Korean. Yet, one-eighth really isn't all that much. So I'm not sure why it would suffice. But still to this day, friends I've known for a decade will still slip this comment into conversation:

"Oh yeah, I forgot you were Korean...but you're not really that Korean anyway."

Huh? So what am I?

So I wonder what it will be like when Baby Bear grows up. Here's the breakdown on Baby Bear. She's half Chinese, seven-sixteenths Korean and one-sixteenth Japanese. She's more indefinable than I am. I will either have to teach her fractions at an early age, or somehow simplify. I can already imagine the conversations:

So are you Chinese?
Yes.
But I thought you said you were Korean?
Yes.
...and kind of Japanese?
Yes.
No, really, what are you?

Here's to all of us "amorphous Asians" out there. You know who you are.

There is a Fungus Among Us...

I hate fungus. It disgusts me so. I hate it in all of its forms...mold, mildew, and even shiitake. Pennicillin comes from a mold. I'm allergic to penicillin. Those brown mushrooms that we eat in pasta...I usually hand them over to a willing partaker. Out of all forms of fungus, I despise mold. Now, I know that mold is one of God's creations and it is necessary in this world for it's saprophytic qualities, but the thought of it makes me shudder....ew.

Today I had my own battle with mold. I fought the fridge and I think I won, for now. There were foods in there that were just unrecognizable. Some large lumpy white chunks, something that I think was once guacamole, and something that I think was chicken katsu.

Now, before you go on thinking that we're the most disgusting people and we live in filth, I have to explain how our fridge became a breeding ground for fungus. You see, when i was pregnant, I had this weird thing about smells...especially the smells emanating from our fridge. Padawanlee had no idea what it was that I was smelling, but every time the fridge opened, I had to gag a little. Therefore, for about 9 months, I didn't dare enter the fridge. So that meant Padawanlee had to do the cleaning of the fridge (which never happened...he would just point at things in the back of fridge, say "ew" and then laugh because it's been in there so long).

So yes, I have cleaned out some things that have been sitting in there longer than Baby Bear has been in existence outside and inside of the womb. Ick.

But the battle rages on...next battle: the mildew on the shower tiles.

Goodbye Little Geo...

I have to put up a post to say goodbye to an old friend. Some of you remember I used to drive a Geo Prism. This was my car the moment that I turned 16 and it faithfully carried me around during my high school years and my college years. Now I haven't actually driven the car in about 6 years, but it still has a special place in my heart.

A couple of weeks ago, it had a little accident. The driver is fine, but the Geo, being about 12 years old, just didn't make it.

So, goodbye little Geo. We know you weren't the sturdiest of cars, but you had great mileage and you managed to carry me from San Diego to LA dozens of times. Your paint was chipping and your insides were being held together with duct tape, but you were a good car until the end. May you be recycled well.

Things I Love About Being A Mom...

My baby finds simple things amusing. I think this is because her mom finds simple things amusing. Here are some things that I love about our baby.

(1) I love when she laughs and her smile is so big that her eyes shrink. It's so Asian.




(2) I love that her cheeks are so big that when I hold her up above me in the air, gravity pulls those heavy cheeks down and puckers her lips together.








(3) I love how her hair looks like a boy's haircut. I don't mind that people assume she's a boy at first impression. Some days her hair is reminiscent of Wolverine on X-men because she gets these funny poimts sticking out.

(4) Most of all, I love that we're a family.

That's what I love about being a mom.

No More Worry...

I guess I caused a little worry because my baby sleeps on her face (see March 16), but for all of you who commented, I just wanted to say thanks for the suggestions and thoughts. I worry some, but perhaps more that she'll end up with a flat nose rather than the possibility of SIDS. I used to worry more when she was a couple weeks old, especially because she would not sleep on her back, and with so much hype to put babies to sleep on their backs (even the diapers have it printed on them!) I felt so guilty letting Baby Bear sleep on her tummy. It seemed to be the only way she would sleep, especially with her bit of colic and her strong Moro reflex (Sorry, I was a Human Development/Biology major - so therefore, I often reference random things like Piaget, Erikson or Maslow).

In the end to help ease my worry and so I wouldn't, as kliao commented, stand by her crib all night, we ended up buying a baby monitor that senses movement when she was a couple weeks old. It works well...perhaps too well. When I take Baby Bear out of her crib, I often forget to turn it off. 10 seconds later I remember as I hear the "weeoo weeoo weeoo" of the alarm.

Honestly, I really don't need the monitor anymore, and I often forget to turn it on. I think I just needed it for peace of mind the first few weeks of being a worried parent. I realize that many of us were raised sleeping on our tummies and SIDS is just another one of those things that they don't know for sure what causes it.

So, no more worries. Well, at least about her sleep. We'll move on to worrying about things like what Padawanlee will do when she starts dating boys.

Baby Bear and Padawanlee watching "The Apprentice" together

(Well Baby Bear wasn't really watching tv, but it just looks like it)

Update...

Baby Bear is officially ready to come out of her harness...she will be weaned off the harness in the next couple of weeks. Yay! Her doctor gave the "okay" this morning.

Speaking of which, I really appreciate all of Bear's doctors so far. Her pediatrician has been really great and helpful. Baby Bear even gave her a smile at the last doctor's visit despite the immunizations. She even turned out to be the mom of one of Auntie Roachyface's elementary school friends. The doctor told me that she remembers my mom from PTA meetings, school functions, birthday parties or the like. How funny.

I also really appreciate Baby Bear's orthopedist. She's really knowledgeable and this morning I got to see her be really proactive. Since the hospital wouldn't give me the films of the ultrasound yesterday due to procedural reasons, the doctor got on the phone herself and had a "discussion" with whoever was in charge of the unit.

So in the end, I appreciate that (1) they caught the hip dysplasia early and (2) Baby Bear is all fixed and ready to use those wiggly legs.

The Crying Baby...

Today we went for a follow up ultrasound of Baby Bear's hips. The technician seemed a little frazzled with Baby Bear crying, so he ended up retrieving one of his colleagues to do the ultrasound. While this new technician (a female) was performing the ultrasound she asked me if it would help to breastfeed the baby to calm her down. I tried, but she didn't want to eat. Baby Bear was beginning to sound angry, and she was kicking her legs so much that it was hard to take the ultrasound pictures. The first technician ended up staying to help hold Baby Bear's leg in place. He just kept saying, "Wow, she is the strongest baby ever." They kept asking me if I brought a pacifier or a bottle. I had to apologize and tell them that (1) The pacifier wouldn't help and (2) a bottle would just make her even more mad. So then the 2nd technician asked, "Is she just mad about the procedure?" I nodded. They finally got it and moved on with the procedure through the howling cries of my baby.

Funny thing, once the procedure was over and the technicians left, Baby Bear immediately stopped crying. I changed her diaper, picked her up and she gave me a huge gummy grin.

What a funny baby.

My Baby Sleeps on Her Face...

Does this worry anyone else besides me? :)

Fun with Daddy...

Sometimes I think Padawanlee thinks we have a new toy instead of a daughter. Yesterday, he "accidentally" put her away in the toy box with the rest of the toys.


At first, she didn't seem too fond of it...


Then again...maybe she was comfortable.


Sleep well, little doll.