Browse Category: life

Half Birthday

Today Kumquat had her half birthday and I had a long Saturday to really reflect on everything that has happened so far.  Sounds silly since she’s not even a year old yet but I can’t help feel nostalgic.  I already have thousands of photos and videos of my little girl and yet I feel like I haven’t done enough to really capture the experience thus far.

After attending my lactation class this past week, I was impressed that my hospital did such a great job in teaching me and Jes all the things we needed to know regarding feeding and caring for a newborn because it was all repeated in the class.  They also provided us with every opportunity to bond with her (by delaying the weigh-in and bath) from the moment she was born, which I think helped her grow into an adaptable and secure baby.  Of course we’re also first and foremost lucky to have a baby that is so healthy and so eager to eat and learn from the start.

Six months later, I now have a chubby baby girl who sits up on her own, has two little teef, eats solids, and gives me a big smile when I come home from work.  She’s been a pretty easy baby so far and I’ve learned a lot from her already.

Here are some of my favorite moments from the past 3 months:

1. Watching her play with her pal Sophie.
2. Seeing her face light up at the aquarium.
3. Seeing Jes walking back from the lavatory in the airplane with a naked baby.
4. Hearing her cracking up at Koa’s every move.
5. Feeling her first tooth.

Here are my least favorite moments:

1. Leaving her on my first day back at work.
2. Seeing how miserable she was when she got her first cold.
3. Searching for a nanny.
4. Putting away her 0-3 month clothes.

Today I took her on a walk to the new Target down the street and on the way home we picked up a cupcake to celebrate out accomplishments as mommy and baby.  We’ve both endured together the nighttime feedings, stuffy noses, and afternoons of being just plain old grouchy.  We’ve also shared lots of conversations, giggles, naps on the couch, and new experiences.

So, after her serving of sweet potato, I lit a candle and wished her a happy half birthday in hopes of a smooth second half to the first year of our life together as a family.  I hope that we’re doing everything right so far and even if we’re not, I hope she grows up knowing how much we love her.

Happy Half Birthday, Kumquat!  We love you!

Back to Cali

On Wednesday (10/10), Jason and Jia drove up from Southern California after returning from their month-long Asia trip.  They moved into their new apartment in Foster City and bought some new furniture.  The rest of their stuff arrived on Thursday morning.

We drove down to see them on Wednesday night and helped assemble their dining table set so that we could have dinner together.  They live right next door to a 99 Ranch so I walked over to buy some meat and other items and then we sat down for a hot pot dinner.  Yum!

We’re so happy to have Jason back in California after so many years and we’re so excited that Jia will be starting a new life on the west coast with him.  Ah, it’s so nice to have family nearby.

New Goal!

I simply love cookies and I just read this list of the Best 12 Cookies in SF and realized that I’ve had only one of the 12.  Dang.  I’m behind.  So this is my new goal: Try every cookie on the list before I leave this city.  I don’t think we’re moving out of SF any time soon but I suppose anything can happen, right?!  So if we all of a sudden have to pack up and move to Hawaii or something, I will need to fulfill this goal before we move – even if I have to use up my last two days driving around the city picking up one of each!

So far the only one I’ve tried is the Gingersnap from Miette but I might be able to convince my co-worker to snag me a chocolate chip walnut from Mission Beach Cafe since his boyfriend is THE Alan Carter, the pastry chef.

Weird Bug

On Monday afternoon, I had a yucky, swollen, itchy feeling in my throat.  That evening, I threw up my dinner.  I thought it was food poisoning but Jes made my dinner and he had eaten the same exact thing with no problems.

The next day, I woke up with aches in every muscle and joint in my body and had a raging headache that wouldn’t go away.  I decided to call in sick and I was so glad that I did.  I was useless all day and struggled just to get up in the morning to feed that baby at 7 am.  I was also thankful that Mirian was still able to come in for her usual day with Kumquat.  I slept for most of the morning, woke up briefly but unable to get out of bed, and then slept right through lunch.  I spent part of the time staring out the window wishing I could enjoy the sunshine and rare 90-degree weather in SF that day.  But no, I was in my house worthless.  Finally around 2 pm, I was feeling better, took a shower, and managed to finish a load of laundry that I had started the night before.  That was about all I could handle.  Luckily I was well enough by 5 to drive Mirian home since I didn’t have a parking spot for her car that day.

The next day I woke up feeling about 75% so I went to work.  Unfortunately I was still fatigued, still a bit queasy, and my headache hadn’t really gone away.  I didn’t and couldn’t really eat much all day and just went to bed around 8:30 pm.

This morning I woke up refreshed and energetic again.  Maybe it was because the bug had passed and maybe it was because Kumquat slept ALL NIGHT without a peep.  I even had enough energy to wake up to my 6 am alarm and walk the dog before anyone else in the house was awake.  Boy, what a difference 24 hours can make!  And no, I’m not pregnant!

Kumquat saved the day!

This has been an unusually stressful week in our house.  It started when Kumquat caught a cold over the weekend and we just felt crummy that our little one had to sleep with a stuffy nose.  Then on Tuesday morning, I got a text from Jes saying that the dog had puked a huge amount after I left.

That same day, I got a warning light on the dashboard saying that I had low tire pressure and this was on top of the service light that we had on for the past month.  So, this morning I had to leave my sick baby and sick car at home and take BART into work.  It’s usually not so bad but I was running late and I HATE being late to work.

As if the day couldn’t get any worse, I got a text and photo from our nanny about a water leak coming from our kitchen lights in the ceiling.  What the heck?!  So I texted Jes and he called the building engineer who took care of it.

I was so frazzled by the end of the day that I made myself walk home from the BART station to work off my frustrations.  By the time I got home, I was ready to hang out with my baby girl and we went for a long walk with Koa before her last feeding.  Then, as I was about to say “good riddance” to the day, Kumquat decided to save the day by rolling for the first time!  Ah…what a great day after all.  You can just hear the excitement in my voice in the video.  I guess I needed SOMETHING to make me feel better and this did the trick.

Click here if you can’t see the video above.

Yay! She’s back!

My good friend Ranee and her family have moved back to California from NYC!  We met up on Labor Day to do some catching up and to watch Sophie and Kumquat play.  I must say it was really entertaining to watch and exciting to see my little girl interact with another baby. I’m also amazed at how much Sophie’s changed since I first met her 5 months ago.

Ranee’s not going back to work just yet and it makes me wish I was still at home.  Ah…that would be so fun.  We’d have play dates and lunch dates every week!

Welcome back, Ranee!