CJ's First Halloween

For CJ's first Halloween, I decided that CJ dress up as Cookie Monster from Sesame Street because one of Jeff's most memorable Halloweens as a kid was when he was dressed as Cookie Monster and I thought it would be great to pay tribute to that. I bought this really deluxe Cookie Monster costume online and made a big chocolate chip cookie out of felt to match. The whole costume looked great!

And since it was our first Halloween in our new home in San Ramon, we decided to stay home to pass out candy. We got a few kids but not too many.

During the day, Jeff and CJ came to visit me at my work and to participate at the company's Halloween festivities. There were lots of kids and the company hosted a very kid friendly party. There was also a costume party and Jeff, dressed up as the Joker from the new Batman movie, won Scariest costume!

CJ's first time on a swing!

This past Sunday was Pug Sunday so after the gathering, Jeff and I decided to go to the nearby kiddie play area to see if CJ would enjoy the swing. He was a bit small for it so we had to surround him with a blanket, but he was giggling the whole entire time. It was sooo cute. Jeff and I will try to make an effort of walking to our nearby park each weekend for CJ to get some outdoor playtime!

Man does the time fly by

CJ is now 9 months old, and each and every day, I feel like I see something new in him. For instance, a week ago, as I was holding him and he was arching his back to show his dislike of being held at that moment, I was thinking...Man are you strong now kid! I can easily drop you with that arching! A little later in the week, I was looking at his hair and thought...Man is your hair thick now! I wonder if I should give you a haircut. And finally yesterday, I put an A's baseball cap on him which was previously too big and what do you know, it fits him well meaning Man, his head is big now. It's been 9 months and every few days, I notice that he's changing. Especially when you look back at the pictures of when he was a newborn, 2 months old, even 6 months old, you can see how much he has evolved. I just have to remember to cherish every moment, despite how much I may dislike what it is. Remember in a previous post how CJ loves his veggies...well guess what, he HATES veggies now. I've tried to offer the same veggies at 3 different times and each time he spits it out and screams loudly to show his dislike. Oh well, he has a sweet tooth like everyone else in the family. At least he still likes fruit, unlike Daddy.

Videos of CJ

This last weekend has been quite life altering for CJ...for one, he took his first dip in a swimming pool! At first he was a bit scared and held me tight, but it didn't take long for him to get comfortable with the water. He enjoyed himself so much he kept patting the water with his hand to make mini splashes! He has also started to sleep in his crib and has stayed there every nite since. After a week, it still hasn't been easy to put him down to sleep, but Jeff and I are trying to be persistent.

Over the past few weeks, I've been using the video feature in my point and shoot camera to take some videos of CJ. Unfortunately, because of the limited amount of memory available on my memory card, I could only take short clips. I figured a short clip was better than not having any moving memories of CJ as a baby!

And just today, Jeff recorded CJ on the camcorder! Jeff made a nice edited video of CJ today crawling around our living room and attempting to climb 2 stairs. He is really getting quite mobile.

So please do check them out...the links are to the left of this page! Enjoy!

Many more milestones (and scares)

Okay so it's been a long time since my last post...I gotta tell ya, moving into a new home and taking care of a baby gives you NO time to really do anything else. At the same time Jeff and I were busy participating in my friend's wedding so lately sometimes I feel like I didn't even have time to breathe.

CJ is now 7 months old, and just in the last 3-4 weeks, he's got two baby teeth (bottom front), he now can sit up on his own, and he is almost on the verge of crawling (he can sorta move around like an inchworm). We've also discovered that his favorite solid foods are carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash and peas (veggies!) and seems to really dislike fruits (bananas and apples particularly). I'm hoping that sticks, so then I don't have to persuade him later to eat his vegetables! He'll also probably love spending time and eating Aunt Audrey's food (she's a vegetarian) when I need her to help me babysit!

The bad news is that Jeff and I failed to recognize that CJ is getting more mobile this quick as CJ had an accident and fell off our bed last week. Jeff's snoring was causing me to have trouble falling back asleep so I decided to sleep in the guest room assuming CJ would be okay since Daddy was sleeping next to him. Next thing I know, in the early morning, I hear a thump followed by crying. My heart raced as I ran into our bedroom and sure enough, CJ fell off the bed...Jeff picked him up off the floor faced up. Luckily he didn't cry too hard and was comforted once he was in my arms. Since then, Jeff and I have been trying to teach CJ to sleep in the bassinet/playpen next to our bed. We've successfully gotten him to sleep in it for hours at a time, but he still isn't able to fall asleep on his own in it, nor does he really want to be in it at all. Hopefully soon he will be more comfortable in it and be able to sleep in it on his own as the next transition would be his crib. A family bed was a nice idea in the beginning, but now that he's mobile, it's a dangerous one.

Life without Daddy

Jeff had to leave for a business trip or shall I say training class this past Sunday, so it was time for me to act like a single parent for a while, meaning I had to dropoff and pickup CJ from daycare while working, prepare his bottles in the morning, prepare dinner for him and also tend to Sammy. I was a little worried at first but the first few hours away were okay. Then of course I had some setbacks which made me stress out...for instance our kitchen faucet broke and I couldn't use it at all the first evening, but luckily Jeff's dad came to the rescue and fixed it for me. Luckily I had my parents come over to help out by Wednesday (3 days later) which I am so relieved for. I have to give major props to those single moms out there...I don't know how they can make it work because in that short time, I had moments where I thought I would pull my hair out.

Anyways, after all this...I appreciate having a partner like Jeff to help with the parenting. I love you hon for all you do!

This week CJ has been teething and getting fussy cuz of it. I think he is also starting to recognize his name! I'm gonna start teaching him sign language soon...hope he catches on quickly!

A busy month

So it's been over a month since I've last posted on this blog. So much has happened that I haven't had time to do so, from getting more comfortable yet busy at work, packing and unpacking, cleaning the condo to be ready to list, buying new appliances, to traveling for my friend's bridal shower. Normally doing all this at one time wouldn't be horribly bad, but try doing that while having to care for a baby who needs his attention! Needless to say there's still more work to do but I deserve a break and people need to know what's been going on in CJ's life.

In the last month, CJ has been more interactive. He now bats at the toy bar I attached to his carseat handle a couple months ago, and now that we have our house, we set up his big high chair that comes with a toy base and he gets almost violent with it. He likes to grab the attached teether toy and hit the toy base repeatedly. It gets really loud with the banging and the music/noise from the toy! He also got an exersaucer from our neighbor (Thanks Jon, Sara and Paul!) that can entertain him for quite some time so that Mommy can have some time to do other things! It's really cute...the exersaucer basically keeps him standing and he can swivel a whole 360 degrees and explore all the toys around him. It didn't take long at all for him to catch on...now he's so good at it and loves it so much he doesn't know which toy he wants to play next! The next thing I want to get him is a walker!

CJ has also started on eating other foods other than rice cereal. He's had his taste of apples, bananas and pears. I think he's done pretty well eating out of a spoon! Next is veggies!

A busy week

This past week was my first week back at work, as well as CJ's first week in daycare. I thought I was well prepared, but little did I know how sad I would react on his first day! As I took him out of his car seat and handed him to Natalie, the babysitter, I started crying! It finally hit me that I would now have to leave him for hours for someone else to care for him. Need less to say, I pretty much thought of him all day at work, and made a couple calls to check on him.

CJ also experienced a few milestones this week at the babysitter's. First, he was rolling over during tummy time from tummy to back, and secondly he was batting at toys dangling above him, which he wasn't really doing when he was with me. Thirdly, when Jeff was making faces and noises at him, he laughed, meaning he did a little chuckle! It was sooo cute. And lastly, since CJ is now four months old, we were given the okay to start on solids so I decided to start yesterday with rice cereal. He didn't seem to enjoy it much...he made a sour face each time I put it in his mouth. Oh well, we're gonna keep trying. What a busy week!

More milestones

Jeff and I went to LA this past weekend so that my parents could see CJ for the last time before I went back to work. After changing CJ's diaper on their guest bed, CJ must have decided it was time to go because he rolled over. And not just once...he rolled again, from his back to his front! I think Jeff might have helped "encourage" this though, because Jeff's weight created a hole in the bed, so gravity helped CJ with the rolls. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get any of this on video or pictures. But we did take these pics of CJ starting to sit on his own and holding his head up 90 degrees from his body when placed on his tummy. As you can see, sitting doesn't last long and CJ falls flat on his face! I don't think it will be much longer!

First A's Game - Opening Day

Jeff was soo ecstatic to take CJ to the Oakland Athletic's first home game, known as opening day. He wanted to go meet up with his left field bleacher friends and coworkers at their tailgate parties and stay for the entire game. That would be a 6 hour day for CJ, which I thought was way too long for a baby to be out not to mention it would cut right into CJ's bedtime, but Jeff was reluctant to change his itinerary as he really wanted to go have fun at his old stomping grounds and also introduce his new little rookie. He eventually decided we can cut the trip short by going early and leaving early, so we dressed CJ up in his little blue A's beenie and baseball outfit and headed out there around 5, two hours before the game started.

At the tailgate parties, CJ was doing very well. I had him in the front carrier looking out, and he seemed interested everywhere we went. There were lots of tailgate parties going on, particularly because there was a mix of A's and Red Sox fans. It seemed like the trip would go smooth.

However, once we got to our seats in the left field bleachers, the noise and amount of people and activity going on must have overwhelmed him because he started crying hysterically, and nothing we did calmed him down. If you've ever sat in the bleachers, you'd know that the rowdiest fans are seated there, so there is a lot of yelling, drums, cowbells, etc. It was so nerve wracking for me, I didn't pay attention to the game the entire time, even when I wasn't holding him. After almost two hours of crying, Jeff decided it was time to go. Luckily we got a family pic before we left to (unfortunately) remember the traumatic day for CJ! I think we'll have to wait a couple more months for CJ's next game...hopefully next time it won't be so traumatic for him!

Moving up

Now that CJ is here, our condo has really become too small. With the added baby gear in the living room and dining area, such as the swing, playpen, and the stroller, there is hardly any room to walk around, let alone invite others to see CJ! So, we decided to upgrade to a 4 bedroom house.

We spent a couple weeks surfing the internet and one Sunday looking at homes in San Ramon, Pleasanton, and Dublin. Jeff's coworker who lives in San Ramon mentioned that her neighbor was selling her house, which happened to fit our criteria for a house: 4 bedroom, updated kitchen and bathrooms, over 1800 sq. ft, large backyard. We ended up falling in love with that house the moment we saw it, but then found out an offer was already made on the house. We were so bummed but thought that it probably wasn't meant to be. Then Jeff's coworker mentioned that the offer didn't go through so we called our realtor to see what the news was. She told us that the first offer didn't fall through and another offer was also made by an investor. Fortunately, the sellers wanted to be sure that they sold the home to people who would appreciate and take care of the home so the investor's offer was not accepted. Boy were we ecstatic...so we made an offer on it, and even submitted our Sears family portrait to our realtor so the sellers could see who they were selling to! And what do you know, they accepted it so soon we'll be homeowners and CJ and Sammy will have a yard to play in! I guess it was meant to be!

Happy Easter!

Jeff and I took CJ to Sears Portrait Studio to take his first studio pics, as well as a family portrait. It was fun and the pics came out great! Too bad CJ got a little fussy, or we would have taken more! Check them out by clicking on the link to the left. Happy Easter everyone!

Who does CJ look like?

Most people have stated that CJ looks like his Daddy. Very few say he looks like me. So, for fun, I decided to dig for mine and Jeff's baby pics.
Does CJ look like his Mommy (top pic) or Daddy (bottom pic) as babies?

Finding Childcare

One of the worst fears a parent has is that their child is not getting the appropriate care in someone else's hands, particularly one they hardly know. I had to go back to work in another month, so it was time to start searching for that someone we can trust to watch CJ.

Jeff and I toured three different places: a daycare center and 2 home daycares. The daycare center, Kindercare, was very clean and seemed well organized, but we really didn't want to pay $387/wk, not to mention they had a wait list. We met with Ting Ting, who runs a home daycare exclusively for infants right by our house. The advantage of that place was that she would speak Mandarin to CJ so that he can learn another language that his Mommy could understand, however the disadvantage was that Jeff may not be able to communicate well with Ting Ting as she spoke minimal english. Lastly, we met with Natalie and her assistant Kim, who run a daycare inside Natalie's home in the westside of Dublin. We were greeted by many toddler boys who seemed very welcoming, social, and happy, so we both saw that as a good sign. The kids seemed to play well together, and Natalie and Kim interacted with each of them and gave them the appropriate amount of attention, but still letting them play and be kids. That seemed to be the perfect environment for a child to grow, as all I really wanted for CJ is to be happy.

So we hired Natalie and Kim! Jeff and I are so relieved that we found people we can trust to watch CJ!

Routines and Bedtime Issues

Now that CJ is about 3 months old and a month shy of going to daycare, I decided that I needed to give CJ more structure and also deal with some of his attachment and feeding "issues". Here were the four things I wanted to do:

1) Start CJ on a daily routine, particularly for naps and bedtime
2) Get CJ to fall asleep on his own instead of in our arms or while nursing
3) Get CJ used to sleeping in his crib
4) Work with CJ so he doesn't continue to be a "snacker"

Up til this point, I was reacting to his cues...he could eat and sleep when he wanted to. Unfortunately he never liked to be put down and always wanted to be in the comfort of someone's arms. This caused us to never use the crib...instead he slept in our bed at night and during the day he was either in our arms or in the swing (he also liked motion). On top of that, he would only fall asleep at night by nursing...the pacifier used to work but now all he wanted was the comfort of Mommy's breast to put him to sleep. All I could think of was how he may be problematic for someone else to take care of him!

I thought in order to start on this I needed some help so I went to our local library and picked up a couple of books. I decided to try the Baby Whisperer's E.A.S.Y. routine method: Eat, Activity, Sleep and Yourself (time for yourself while baby sleeps) as I thought that it would tackle all four tasks. Instead of allowing him to fall asleep on the breast (which was causing him to be a snacker), he was kept awake for a little while and then put to sleep on the crib by some other means besides nursing. I tried for 1 day and it was one hard day. Putting CJ to sleep by soothing him and not feeding him just didn't work, particularly because I was putting him down in his crib, which he was not used to. I even let him "cry-it-out" meaning I wouldn't go to him too soon and let him eventually fall asleep by being so tired crying. What mother could be so insensitive to let their baby fall asleep upset! After a few minutes of crying and seeing CJ's tears roll down his face, I just had to pick him up and say I'm sorry. So....back to the drawing board I go.

Who would have thought that babies have sleeping and feeding issues when that's all they do all day? Whomever came up with the expression "I slept like a baby" probably didn't ever take care of one.

Gymboree

Jeff's coworker invited CJ to his son's first birthday party at Gymboree Play & Music in San Ramon. Now I only had known Gymboree as a kids clothing store, but it turns out that they also own membership facilities for kids to play. It was actually quite fun, particularly for the one year olds, as there was a hostess that facilitates activities and singalongs. The kids were running around, climbing up wooden playground furniture, throwing balls around, playing with marachas...what fun for them! Unfortunately CJ couldn't participate much being one of the youngest babies in the group but he wasn't really fussy at all and seemed to enjoy himself! A place to consider joining once CJ is a little older!

Chinese New Year

In celebration of CJ's first Chinese New Year, my parents came to the bay area and we had dinner at Koi Garden in Dublin. CJ received many red envelopes and we even got him a cute chinese outfit, complete with a pigtail! Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Now that we're parents, we must look legal

Jeff and I have taken CJ out a few times to some neighborhood restaurants, usually to restaurants that are more family oriented such as Applebee's or Cattlemen's. Usually Jeff and I are always carded when we order alcoholic beverages, but it seems now that we have a baby, the waiters no longer ask for ID. I don't know if this is good or bad. I guess I look my age now! Or maybe it's the lack of sleep that's wearing down our bodies!

Oakland Athletics Fanfest

Jeff was very excited to be able to bring CJ to Fanfest to show him off to some of his Left Field Bleacher friends. He dressed CJ up in baseball gear and at Fanfest we picked up a cute blue A's beenie to match his outfit.

There are many new players on the team this year...here we are with Donnie Murphy.

Bad luck

I decided to bring CJ to his daddy's work and grab lunch at the same time. Jeff planned it out so that we'd have lunch with his Assistant GM and his wife and baby and also introduce CJ to his coworker at the Courtyard. It was rainy weather and we managed okay, except while driving Jeff back to his work stopped at a red light, a 17 year old rear-ended us in her mom's brand new Mercedes, pushing my Rav4 into the car in front of us. Luckily nobody was hurt...but poor CJ has already experienced his first car accident at 6 weeks old! And my car is less than a year old!

Red Egg and Ginger party

My mom had asked if I wanted to throw a Red Egg and Ginger party for CJ for his 1 month birthday, and I had intended to do so. Since I was so busy taking care of him after he was born, and with the timeliness of the LA trip, I decided that we can do a casual celebration with my parent's church. On January 13, we bought a big roasted pig, vietnamese eggrolls, a large cake, and made red colored eggs to serve at the church's luncheon after the Sunday service. CJ was pretty much asleep the entire time and all the Aunties sure had a lot of advice to give Jeff and I!

The ironic thing about all this...CJ was born the year of the golden pig, and here we are celebrating his 1 month birthday by eating a pig!

CJ's first trip to LA!

Since Jeff had to attend a business conference in Anaheim soon after his paternity leave, I decided to hitch a ride with him so that CJ and my parents could spend some quality time together. I had heard from my brother's girlfriend Larissa that my dad is very happy and boasts about CJ at church, but little did I know how much my mom and dad were in love with him! My dad is a very quiet reserved person...but when he's with CJ he seems to light up. He was always wanting to hold CJ and was concerned with every little thing about him. It's good to know my dad has a soft side.

CJ's first tub bath

When you first bring a newborn home, you must give a sponge bath, which really is a bath in which the baby is not submersed in water. That's because the umbilical cord takes about a week to fall off the belly button, and you want to avoid any infections.

So after his umbilical cord fell off and healed (and his circumsized penis was also fully healed), we, or should I say Jeff his daddy, gave him his first tub bath. He was very well behaved...he didn't make a peep and just looked around!