16-Month Update

Noelle is an absolute delight, and I can’t get enough.  Granted, I’m the mom so there’s obvious bias, but this 12-16 month stage has been my absolute favorite!  Please don’t end.  I’m scared to death of what’s to come as Noelle approaches her “terrible two’s” and “treacherous three’s”.  I guess I’ll cross that road when it comes.

(it’s so hard for me to catch her in any of her silly/funny moments because as soon as I take out a camera or videocam she stops what she’s doing and lunges towards me, wanting to see what’s behind the lens.  I end up with way too many blurry pictures)

What has she been up to?

• Playing pretend tea party.  She has a tea set a friend bought her for her 1st birthday, so she’ll take the teapot and pour it into a cup.  As she pours, she makes this funny “do do do do do” noise.  Then she’ll pretend to drink from a cup with a big “sluuuurp” noise.  Then she’ll pass the cup to me, her daddy, and her doggies so we can all have a taste.
• Decorating her bears.  Today, as I was folding clothes… she was playing nearby with her bear.  I glanced over and found a very focused Noelle trying to put a necklace on her bear.
• Decorating herself.  She loves to dig through my closet and prance around in scarves, belts, and whatever else she can find.  She doesn’t always put it on correctly, but she makes a good effort.
• Pretend makeup.  She usually plays by my side as I get ready for work in the mornings.  She always sees me put on makeup, so now she copies me by grabbing a brush of her own and brushing it against her cheeks.
• Toddling around all over the place.  She has really strong balance and coordination now and can even run!
• Imitation.  She loves to imitate us and try to pronounce new words.

(accessorizing her bear with necklaces)

(checking herself out!)

(sharing her goodies with daddy)

This stage is the best because she has her own personality, but she’s still eating everything in sight, sleeping 12 hours straight, napping 2x a day, still wanting mommy but is also enjoying daddy, kicking the stranger anxiety habit… and not quite “mature” enough to throw tantrums to get her own way.  To me, it feels like the perfect marriage between the infant stage and the terrible two/three stage.

(trying to get her way using her pouty face weapon)

It’s true what they say… the days are long, but the years are short.  Sometimes I stare and stare at my girl, trying to soak all of her in.  I look at her and think, “Are you real?  Are you mine?… and I, am yours?”.  I try to burn each part of her into memory before they escape me – the feel of her baby skin, the rolls on her thighs and wrists and arms, the roundness of her cheeks.  Then there’s the funny way she toddles about on those short stubby baby legs, and that look of delight when she discovers something new… She’s exhausting sometimes, but I can’t get enough of her.  It’s strange what parenthood does to a person.  I love you I love you I love you.  I don’t think I can say it enough… those three words only skim the surface of what I feel inside.

Went to the Pediatrician this month (will put up stats when I get less lazy):

75th percentile height | 50th percentile weight

Towards Greener Pastures…

Whenever we have a free Saturday, we all bundle up in the car to go “on an adventure” (as I like to tell Noelle) to our local farmer’s market.  With its abundance of locally grown greens, free-range eggs, homemade pastries, and other goodies, there is something there for everyone.  As we were perusing the maze of fresh veggies, we came upon a man selling a variety of potted herbs and vegetables.  We’ve often passed by him, but never really made the effort to look.  I don’t know what made us stop today – it might’ve been his kind eyes and open smile or perhaps it was the way he was gently tending to his plants.  Whatever it was, we left with three budding plants for a whopping $5.

We stopped by a nursery (not the baby kind, the plant kind) on our way home  to pick up some tools and fertilizer.  Armed with our new gear, we were ready to tackle our little garden.

the lady at the nursery recommended a box of Sure Start fertilizer for our veggies.  The box looks small, but you only need a few teaspoons to mix into the soil so it should last us awhile.

out with the old, in with the new!  we had no empty land so we had to get rid of some flowers – don’t know if we committed a gardening faux pas or not.

patting down the soil so our eggplant will stay put.

someone was very excited to be a part of it all!

she even tried her best to help…

by doing a lil’ jig…

and picking up a phonecall…

or two… she couldn’t hear very well with all the commotion going on.

she even helped us figure out what that hole was REALLY meant for!  (her finger of course)

the final touches – a tomato “cage” to contain the vines and to help them grow tall and mighty

We had a lot of fun gardening together as a family.  Hopefully in the coming weeks I’ll be able to show you the result of our efforts.  My husband and I always talked about having our own garden someday, and now that day is here.  Albeit it is a small start, it is a good start… something we cultivated and nurtured together.  A garden we can call our very own.

13-15 Month Update

I am pleasantly surprised at how fun this 13-15 month stage is.  Noelle is increasingly more independent.  She can play by herself for extended amounts of time, and is consistently more calm and happy.  She thoroughly enjoys the outdoors and will have me walk her to the door while saying, “shooo” [shoe] to indicate she’s ready to play.

Physical: at the start of her 14th month, Noelle would take 1-2 steps here or there, but never more than that before collapsing into a heap on the floor.  On March 26th, Noelle took 8 real steps all on her own and gave me a big bear hug at the end!  Although we know she can walk now, she still prefers to crawl or be picked up.  However, she practices walking the stairs a lot (with me holding her hands).  She’ll go down, down, down… then up, up, up…

Language: her vocab continues to expand by the day.  Her words so far – mama, daddy, doggy, up, apple, purple, nose, cheek, no, what’s that, opposites, shoes, socks, door, book, ball, touch, shovel.  I started to sign to her more regularly around the 12-month mark.  She can only do all done and more so far.

Playtime: she has fun sharing and loves to feed people.  She often offers her food to other babies at church, and when she’s at the playground she will pick things up and offer them to others.  One thing I find funny is how she picked up the habit of “cooking”.  Amongst her toys are these Melissa + Doug pots/pans, so she’ll pretend to stir it and then feed me with her wooden spoon.

Other things she’s learning – during bathtime, she’s practicing how to scoop water then pour it back out.  She also likes to “wash” her face (and mommy’s too) with her washcloth.  She does the same with her toothbrush – after she brushes her teeth she’ll stick her toothbrush in my mouth and brush mine too.  Everything she does, she wants to try on mama too.

Books: I don’t know what came over her these past few months, but she’s taken on an even stronger interest in books.  When I’m changing her diaper, she reaches for a book to keep her occupied.  When I’m about to put her down for bed, I’ll put a book in her crib.  She’ll lay there, quietly flipping through the pages before falling asleep.  Right after breakfast, she’ll reach for her favorite books and sit in my lap while I read to her.  She’s always enjoyed books, but now she’s obsessed.

Food: she still LOVES food.  It’s her passion.  She will eat anything.  I’m grateful she’s not picky, but at the same time, should I be worried about her intake?  She eats A LOT.  I have to be careful what I eat in front of her because whatever I put in my mouth, she wants it too.  Here she is munching on some celery as if she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar: 

(she’s not picky – even celery is good enough to eat)

(this is when she stole my breakfast from me – she has to do everything I do)

Milk: we weaned her off her last bottle right at the 14-month mark.  It was her bedtime bottle and I was nervous the first night I didn’t give it to her, but she did fine.  Now she only gets milk with her meals.  I think the transition was more nerve-wracking for me than it was for her.  So glad we have no more bottle parts to clean and more counter space now that the drying rack is stored away.

Sleep: she’s been sleeping well for the most part, except those 2-3 day stretches where she went through her wonder weeks.  She is still taking 2 naps a day of about 1.5 hours each and sleeping 12-hours a night.  I’m expecting her naps to go haywire soon though because she’s approaching the age where she should be dropping down to 1-nap.  I’m not looking forward to that.

First Hike: there are a lot of great hikes near us so we took her hiking with some friends.  We strapped her in a baby hiking backpack and off we went.  It was a 3-hour hike and we were surprised at how well she did.  We were worried she’d have a meltdown because she skipped her first nap, but she loved being in the great outdoors.

(An example of her always trying to feed us.  She gets a lot of joy when we eat or drink or does what she does!)

(End of hike – Self-congratulatory applause.  She had such a great time!)

I love her more each passing day.  She can be challenging at times, and there are days when I want to collapse from exhaustion, but I can’t imagine life without her now.  I look at her and I can’t believe she’s mine.  She’s all mine.

Hush Little Baby…

For most of my daughter’s first year, I dreaded putting her to bed because I never knew what I was going to get.  I’m sure some of you mom’s know the feeling… some nights can be a true battle!  Then, all that changed a few months ago (sometime after her 11-month mark).  I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but bedtimes with her have consistently become my favorite time of day (along with waking her up first thing in the morning).

We start her bedtime routine with a bath, then we give her the bottle (it’s her only bottle of the day… I don’t have the heart to take it away yet!).   Once she sucks that dry, we’ll take her to the bathroom to brush her teeth.  We then zip her up in her sleepsack and I pull her into my lap to read a couple books (Goodnight Moon is always on the agenda – she loves pointing out the little details in that book… the red balloon, the green curtains, the fireplace, etc).  This all sounds like a lot, but it takes no more than 10 minutes (minus the bath).

Then comes my favorite favorite part… I turn off the lights and turn on this music/projector thing our friend gifted us.  Both of us lay down on the floor while she lies in the crook of my arm.  We’ll stare at the rotating projector on the ceiling while listening to “Hush Little Baby”.

We point and wave “bye bye” to the projections.  I always whisper, “Noelle.. say goodnight moon, goodnight stars, goodnight cow…. goodnight…” as the images go round and round.  She even points to the tiny green light from the smoke detector and waves bye bye to that too (she thinks it’s a star, haha).  I love being in the quiet with her.  I love snuggling with my soft, milky, delicious baby.  I look over at her, and she looks at me – I know we have a special bond.  I can see her smiles in the dark.

She gets drowsy within minutes, so I’ll pick her up and put her in her crib.  However, in the last week or two something new/different happened – she’s been wanting to be held just a little while longer before we put her down.  We know she’s tired, but what she wants is a longer cuddle session.  So I bring her back to the glider with me.  She lays on my chest and I’ll sing her lullabies while she drifts off.

She hasn’t fallen asleep on our chests since her newborn days, and we missed it a lot… so we couldn’t be happier to oblige now that she wants it again.  Tonight, both of us fell asleep and I woke up not realizing how long I’d been in the darkness with her.  I put her in her crib, and walked out with a big puddle of baby drool on my right shoulder and an even bigger smile on my face.  THESE are the moments. 

Goodnight Noelle, mama loves you… daddy loves you.  Goodnight sweet girl. 

Every night, the same words… and my ever-expanding heart.

Noelle’s Dol | 1st Birthday!

Long overdue, but here are the highlights from Noelle’s 1st Birthday… my super talented friend took all these photos, and my other super talented friend made the amazing cake!

I tried to keep Noelle’s birthday party lively + fun, but simple at the same time.  We decided to do an UP! themed Dol at home.  It’s one of my favorite Pixar movies, the wife of Carl is named “Ellie”, and I figured it would be doable with lots of balloons and bright colors everywhere.  Not to mention Noellie is in a huge balls and balloons phase.  We also had all our guests dress up in UP! appropriate attire.  Everyone looked great in their suspenders, ties, and cute party dresses.

The head table – nothing too fancy.

What do you think she chose?

At the time, she had just discovered her nose. 

Now she can point out her ears, head, knees, nose, eyes, and belly button.

Hello, sweet girl!  She was in such good spirits that day… she must’ve known it was her birthday.

Sharing a moment

This is why I call her my “pouty face”

Drooly face

She chose the pencil!  Maybe she’ll be a future novelist…

Her buddies – Nathan and Selah~

Photography: Jim Kang Photography
Doljabi Board: Dohl Posters & More
Decor: Oriental Trading Co. and Party City
Food: Catered from Zion Market
Cake: the super talented Nancy Lim

Babbly this Babbly that

Her words so far:

mama = mah-ma
apple = app-poh
daddy = dad-djeee
doggy = duh-ggiee
door = d-hoo-r
socks = sh-ocks
shoes = shoo-oohs
what’s that? = wat-ss dat?
opposites = ah-poh-this
up! = ah-p!

I love the way she drawls out her words.. so soft and delicious! My own mom always looved to smooch me on the mouth growing up… and she even does it now though I’m a grown woman!  I always go, “MOH-OM!!” but I just let her because I like to pick my battles. My sister NEVER let’s my mom kiss her like that and will say, “that’s disgusting!”. But gosh, I think my daughter is soo delicious that I can’t stop kissing her on the lips and cheeks and tummy and all over! I get the appeal now.  She’s so eatable.

The Case for a Doula

This post is inspired by a question my very-pregnant friend asked me.  She wanted to know if hiring a doula was worth it and asked about my experience with mine.  Like me, she wants to try for a natural, medication-free birth and has been preparing herself by taking Bradley Classes.

This was my response:

When we decided to hire a doula, my line of thinking was… you only get ONE shot at this first pregnancy thing. There is no second chance, and I wanted to give myself the best chance possible for success.  As a first time mom, you don’t know what the hospital is like and you don’t know what medications you should/shouldn’t give your baby.  You’re in labor and not able to think that clearly… I was likely to agree to anything the doctors & nurses suggested.  However, I wanted to make the most informed decisions possible for me and my baby.  A doula has that experience to guide you and tell you what’s coming next from beginning to end.  Knowing what came next helped me stay calm and assured. I felt like I knew what I was doing, even though I had never done this before!!

During our labor, our doula was an invaluable asset. She really guided Sam and I felt soo supported by my husband. He in turn felt like he really contributed and was a part of the birth process rather than a helpless bystander. We felt like ONE and we were stronger for it. When I was in unbearable pain she suggested different positions that helped a lot. When I felt like I needed an epidural she kept me focused and reminded me what I really wanted. She was soothing and patient and fully present.

Then after labor, when the nurses were asking our permission to give Noelle this shot or that shot, we were able to say yes to some and no to others. Some shots are procedural, but not really necessary.  Our doula gave us direction in an unbiased way.  Based on her thoughts combined with what we had learned in our Bradley Classes, we were able to make informed decisions without simply following the status quo.  Our doula also stayed an additional 2-hours post-delivery as a lactation consultant to help our baby latch correctly, so breastfeeding was never an issue for us.  The story doesn’t end there…

Noelle was diagnosed with Jaundice and had to undergo blue-light therapy.  I was upset because her bilrubin levels were only borderline (and my gut sense was that her bilrubin counts were artificially high because she’s naturally yellow due to her Asian heritage).  I did not like all the poking and prodding they were doing to her.  I also felt we could’ve done the therapy at home, but they forced us to stay an additional day at the hospital and Noelle had to have UV-light therapy in an incubator.  The nurses also tried to supplement my baby with formula under the advice of an on-site Pediatrician.  I refused and our doula stood up for us.  If I didn’t have my doula as my advocate I might’ve just said OK to everything the hospital threw at us.  Shoot – what did we know, right?  We were just green, newbie, first-time parents at that point up against “medical professionals”!

Our doula came by every day to check up on us. One night, she even swung by when she was on a date night with her husband! I will forever remember her immense care and concern for us even though she’d done a million births by then. We could’ve just been “another family” to her, but we weren’t.  She treated us like we were the most important thing in her life at that moment because she knew it was the most important time in life for us.  She went above and beyond “the hours” that we paid her. She could’ve just walked out of that hospital 2 hours after delivery and fulfilled her duties, but she did so much more…

In the end, I walked away with an amazingly positive and memorable first birth experience. I look back on that day and smile. It’s ONE day in your entire life. It’s a day you’ll always remember and can never get back. It’s a day I didn’t want to leave to chance, so that’s why we decided to hire a doula.

Not a single regret.

Handmade: Petit Plume

My incredibly talented friend recently made me a box full of beautiful hairpieces for Noelle.  I just had to tell you guys about her, especially if you have daughters you love to dress up!

She is so talented, and if you look at these pieces up close you’ll see that every part was carefully thought out.  The quality and design is soo much better than most things out there.  She’s been featured in tons of magazines and wedding blogs, and she actually designed my wedding hairpiece too.  Not only that, but 15% of all sales go towards Human Trafficking!! Consumerism with a cause – Love it.

So yes, this is my shameless plug for Petit Plume Handmade Accessories!  Here are some pics of her creations on my daughters head.  :)

Here she is, playing peekaboo again!

BIG SMILE with a mouth full of teeth!

I think she likes the headband

All the different styles she made for us.

Website: www.petiteplume.com
Blog: petitplume.blogspot.com
Email: petitplumedesigns@gmail.com
Twitter: @petitplume

My Ultimate Baby Registry

(source)

A lot of people around me are having 2012 babies and have been asking my opinion on Baby Registry recommendations.  Instead of saying the same thing over and over, I created a Google Doc of “Ultimate Baby Registry” items for them.

“If I knew then what I know now…” - Ha, story of my life.

When I created my own registry, I missed so much.  Since I was the first of my friends to have a baby, I didn’t have many people to ask.  I totally regret putting things like “black and white board books” while missing out on some of the essentials.

Click here to view some of my favorite, and not-so-favorite things.

What would you add to this list?  Do you agree or disagree with any of my DREAM ITEMS or REGRETS?

Personalities and Playdates

Noelle’s favorite, frequent playmates.  Both boys.  Uh-oh?

Meet Baby Nathan (10-months) and Baby Luke (7-months)

When they were younger, all three were sleeping, eating, or crying blobs… but now our playdates are getting a lot more fun.  It’s not just for us mommies anymore!  They actually play together (sort of).  Nathan and Luke are still in the play side-by-side stage, but since Noelle is a couple months older she is more aware of other babies now.

I noticed that Noelle is very gentle when she plays.  She doesn’t fight over toys or climb over the other kids, and when I say “share” she understands and hands her toys over willingly.  She’s actually pretty obedient in general.  That makes me a really proud mama.  She was totally acting the part of the older sister around these two boys!

As for N’s personality – S and I have been very aware of her natural tendencies since Day One.  I am now an even firmer believer that personalities are largely predetermined, though nurture does play a part in teaching us how to control our behaviors.

So what is N like?  Well… in a nutshell, she’s a girl who knows what she wants.  I am hopeful that that will be an incredible asset in the future.  She is focused, determined, persistent, stubborn, impatient, silly, gentle, curious, and introspective.  She is spirited.  She is intelligent.  She is loving.  She is so very feminine.

Her public face is very different from her private one.

With us, she smiles/laughs a lot and does a lot of goofy things.  Shouldn’t surprise me since both me and S are silly people.  She babbles a lot and points at everything.  She is so incredibly aware of her surroundings and wants to know what everything is and how they work.  At the same time, she is hesitant when it comes to approaching the unknown.  I see that she will grow to be a careful/cautious little girl (so different from her mama); I am already grateful for this quality because I hope she makes wiser decisions than me.

But the moment she’s around strangers, she shuts up.  She is silent – so quiet and serious and does not warm up to new people easily.  She starts sucking on her two middle fingers and begins the quick retreat into her own internal world.  She stares and stares and I wonder what goes through that baby mind of hers.

I love this picture because Nathan’s mom and I always joke around that our kiddos are “saved” for each other.  They’ve been “betrothed” since they were still in the womb.  Nathan + Noelle… doesn’t that have a nice ring to it?  Here he is already on his knees.  Noelle is paying him no mind.  That’s how it should be little girl…