Rolling!

At the close of baby A's 6 months old, he's finally ROLLING from tummy to his back (one way). Today is the first day he rolled 4 times, very smooth and very controlled. There were numerous times when he was half way there, but stopped himself on purpose. So hopefully, with continued practice, he will roll with ease. I was almost starting to think he might skip rolling altogether. :)

Oh, and he's got 2 teeth poking through so sometimes, it really hurts when I nurse him.

2011 holiday letter

Dear family and friends,

2011 has been a wonderful, miraculous, and challenging year for our family. We started the year knowing we will have a new baby boy added to our family. Wanting a different and more holistic birth experience, we researched our choices and initially chose to work with midwives through a hospital. But eventually, due to some issues with our midwives, we chose to give birth to A in our home with just the four of us. When I was not convinced that A will come that night/morning as a result of castor oil induction, J and W were convinced and excitedly decided to “camp” in our bedroom with their sleeping bags. Of course, they were right. At 12:29am of 6/6, they witnessed the water birth of their little brother. He came out with his water bubble still fully intact and eyes wide open. Daddy had to pry the amniotic sac open to get the little dude out. Oh, the little boy was so red, like Esau from the bible! And he had just as much hair as his sister J except for the first few months, his hair stood up like magic with long sideburns making him look like a “Chinese Elvis”.

Ever since the birth of A, our lives have changed dramatically. Let’s just say this boy is a real little character and is too much like the energizer bunny. W called him “red hot head” for the first few months. Even now at close to 7 months, putting him to nap is such a challenge and our lives revolve around it. He doesn’t fall sleep anywhere like J and W. Then there is still the frequent night waking and feeding. I have just read about all the baby sleep books and tried all the recommended methods with no lasting success. But we still all absolutely adore him. Balancing a new baby who sleeps little and homeschooling is really hard. As a result, I changed our homeschool curriculum so the kids can work more independently. They are such troopers and rose to the challenge with much grace.

As a result of visits to the midwives, J added MIDWIFE to her long list of future career choices. From the beginning, she is a natural little mommy and a great help. She lavishes love and attention on Alex while learning to care and diaper change him (even the poopy ones). For W, there has been a learning curve but he has come a long way and can now be counted to hold/entertain A w/o getting too excited or crazy. It’s truly a joy to see how much they love A.

This year has been an exciting and busy year for J. There were dance classes and rehearsals in preparation for dance competitions, raising sponsorship fees and competing in National American Miss (winning in talent for her dance) in the spring/summer, auditioning, rehearsing and dancing in the Broadway style show of CC Christmas Spectacular in fall/winter. The best part is she loves every minute of it and works very hard at her art. We are really seeing her blossoming in many areas including a knack for working with technology. Who Knew? Daddy calls her “little techie”. J also enjoys playing piano, drawing/designing beautiful clothes and writing/illustrating short stories. This year she also tried weaving through her homeschool class.

W is also discovering who he is. This year, he has narrowed his career choice from artist to COMIC ARTIST. There’s not a day that goes by without him working on some kind of comic drawing or reading some comic book. Some of his favorite comic includes Tin Tin and Stone Rabbit. He continues to participate in soccer and Boy Scout. He also participated in archery and tried his hand at clay this year and enjoys them very much.

Daddy's company got bought this year so he’s now working for a new company. We’re thankful for all that God has provided and just an amazing year.

Wishing you and your family the very best in 2012!!

Baby A - 6 months update

Thanks to " The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight" book by Kim West, we have made some progress in getting baby A to sleep through the night. The book made me realize that baby A shouldn't need to eat during the night and he was probably waking up simply because food is available.

The first 2 nights were really rough, with A screaming for a long time numerous times wanting to nurse or maybe even have a bottle. I think he was really mad that we had decided to stop feeding him at night. Daddy was really great and stayed with him and didn't get much sleep. We almost gave in numerous times and I actually did once.

But by the 3rd night, baby A slept mostly through the whole night waking up only one time around 6 o'clock. Last night was the 3rd night he has slept through the night. Weeks before that, he was waking up multiple times a night and won't go back to sleep until I nursed him making me a very tired mommy. Now before we stopped the night feeding, we did up his day time feeds by giving him more cereal and more baby food. We watched our home video of when J was A's age and realized we gave her a lot more cereal (2 -3 tb spoon) than we had given to A (1 tb spoon).

We are also watching the clock really closely and putting him to nap every 2 hours. So far, baby A has been sleeping much better. His naps are more like 1 1/2 hours - 2 hours like how they should be. Previously, I was luck if he slept for 45 minutes. Now putting him down to nap is still a big struggle. He really fights it and usually won't sleep unless he cries for about at least 20 minutes. And it doesn't matter if I hold him or not. It's like he really wants to sleep but just don't know how to settle himself. Poor baby. I'm trying to get him to get attached to a lovie but so far he's not attached to anything. Pacifier also stopped working a while back.

Other than that, he is doing well. He's getting better with tummy time but still refuses to roll over. We got an ONYA carrier and use that when we are out shopping and sometimes around the house. He does really well in that. He loves to hear me sing the alphabet song as well as the Chinese phonetic song. He's always got a smile when we blow his hair. And he absolutely loves bath time, esp. if he takes one with me. We always give him an infant massage after bath and he really enjoys that. Baby A is also a good eater. So far, he likes all the food we gave him and is very interested in what we are eating.

Showing preference

Baby A is starting to have stranger anxiety and showing preference for who he wants. At first, mommy didn't believe it. But after numerous tries, she is convinced. It is so cute to see him leaning his head and upper body toward mommy when he sees her. Baby A is also very vocal and makes lots of babbling sound. Oh, how he love to blow raspberries. One thing he refuse to do is to turn over when he is on his tummy. It seems like he is really resistant. Guess all in good time.

Baby A loves is to hear the ABC and Chinese phonetic song. He always smiles when he hears it. He also loves it if you fly him like an airplane over head.

For some reason, for last couple nights, he is acting like a newborn and waking up multiple times a night. So it is making mommy very tired. Good thing he is so cute. Big brother/sister just love to hold him. In fact, they fight over it.

Today, mommy made some apple puree and baby A got a little taste and like it. Looks like he's definitely ready but we'll still wait a little longer before we give him solids on an everyday basis.

Baby A's first baby food

Baby A is definitely showing sign he's ready for solids. So yesterday, we gave him some homemade butternut squash puree and he LOVE it. Today, I gave him some more, and he ate it all up that I had to give him seconds, all straight out of the fridge. He's also got a super strong grip. We have got to be careful about holding him while at dinner table.

We knew for a long time he recognizes people but today, we really got to see it in action. Grandma held him and he soon started crying. Back in the arms of sister, and he was fine. With grandpa, daddy was holding him while grandpa looked and talked to him. Baby A studied grandpa intently for about 5 seconds, before wailing like he was really scared.

He's sleeping mostly through the night, but day time nap is still very difficult and random. Sometimes, he'll start crying just as we are taking him into his room because he knows we are putting him down for his nap. And of course, he's getting cuter and cuter day by day. We especially love to see him laugh and squeal in delight. He is very aware and gets excited when we take his clothes off to give him a bath. He hasn't been splashing as he use to do and but he does seem to really enjoy his massage.

We are just so grateful for baby A. Love ya, baby boy!

He loves this teether and pacifiers.

Given the choice, baby A prefers to sit up than lie on his back.

Baby A - 3months old

Here is baby A at just 3 months old. He is a big baby, weighing at 15lbs and wearing 6 months old clothes. He is a pretty happy baby and very curious and alert. He usually only takes one nap during the day which make mommy's life pretty hectic trying to balance homeschooling and taking care of him. But despite all the craziness, we all love baby A to pieces. Everyone smooches him way too much. Just looks at those cheeks!

Love this song- All Your anxiety

This is a Celtic arrangement of the old hymn "All Your Anxiety", from Anne MacCallum's album "Shine". The message of the song is pretty much the same as we hear in the familiar hymn "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" : we don't need to carry our burdens, Jesus will carry them for us if we will only let Him.

Here is the link- click here.