Recognition

We have been wondering if Nina knows and recognizes us yet. She gives us bright smiles, but she will also smile at total strangers and a variety of inanimate objects (totally hilarious). However, this past weekend Nina and I went to Elizabeth's baby shower. Needless to say, there were tons of women dying to hold baby Nina. At one point, I was sitting across the room from her, and she heard my voice and her eyes lit up! She definitely recognized the sound and looked around trying to find me.


In other news, Nina is starting to discover her hands. She'll look at them in amazement, and sometimes, especially during feedings, she'll hold one hand with the other. She will also grip on tightly onto your finger but isn't yet intentionally grabbing at things (which makes taking her to places like restaurants very easy!). And now her absolute favorite thing is standing. Another really cute thing she does when she lays on her back, she lifts her legs and rubs the soles of her feet together. Adorable.

On Sunday, we took Nina for a hike through the redwoods at Huddart County Park in Woodside. It really is surprising to me that less than 3 months after she was born, we are off and doing things we loved to do before she was born. Admittedly, we didn't lead particularly wild and crazy lives before, but still it is very encouraging. Nina was right at home in the forest, looking around at the trees before eventually drifting off to a deep sleep.

New Tricks

We don't have too many pictures of the three of us, but here is one - a bit bedraggled, but a family portrait nonetheless.

Also, time for a new movie that I like to call Smiling, Standing and Swimming. Enjoy!

Time for Friends

Nina is a lot more transportable these days, so we have been getting out of the house more often during the week. On Wednesday, we visited my friend Chaya and her baby Tara. Chaya and I met in our pre-natal yoga class. We got to watch each other's bellies grow, and now we can see our daughters grow together! Tara is just 5 weeks younger than Nina.

Comfortable new mom.

Tara looking quite happy while Nina plays coy.

On Thursday, we went to lunch with Shaolan, Elizabeth, and Helen. Elizabeth is 36 weeks along and looking great!

Stanford girls and one (hiding) boy.

Crazy Chinese Aunts.

AJ's Birthday

This past Saturday (St. Patrick's Day) A.J. turned 1 year old, and the gang was there to celebrate!

The Birthday Boy gets ready to blow out his candle.

Life of the party ... well maybe not.

A bunch more pictures are posted here.

Symmetric Baby

Nina's 2 month doctor's appointment was today (10 weeks 1 day). First the stats:

Height: 23 1/2 inches (78%)
Weight: 12 lbs 3 oz (71%)
Head Circumference: 40 cm (71%)

Growing nicely. The doctor said her head control was excellent. She also had a bunch of vaccinations, 4 shots and one oral dose. She cried, cried, cried when she got the shots, tears and everything. So heartbreaking. You feel like you are completely betraying her trust. She is happily laying on the exam table and then bam! jab in the leg. Luckily she calmed down fairly quickly and within 10 or 15 minutes was sleeping in her stroller. There is a chance she could develop a slight fever from the vaccinations so we'll be on the lookout for that.

A few pictures from last weekend.

Nina Belle, Jedi Knight

On the way to Santa Cruz, woohoo!

Nina's First Playdate

Today Hannah and her dad Tim came to visit. Hannah is 8 months old. She can sit up on her own, play with toys, and eat real (baby) food! Watch and learn, Nina, watch and learn.

Punk in Pink

Nina has had quite a developmental explosion recently. The head-lifting thing still blows my mind every time she does it. Here is an image that captures it nicely:

She'll stay like this for a minute or two until she gets tired or discovers "hey, this is a great position for sucking on my own hand!" then of course it is all over.

She is also now able to hang out by herself for longer periods - in her bouncy seat or the baby gym or just on a blanket on the floor. I think that the main reason for this is that her eyesight has vastly improved. She is content to hang out looking around at the world. The other day she discovered her own feet and boy was she fascinated by them!

But what is with all the drooling?

In case you are wondering what the title of this post has to do with anything, here is picture from last Saturday when Nina was feeling a little rebellious....

Babywearing

Nina has finally outgrown the newborn front carrier that Shaolan gave us (and used when Louie, now 15, was a baby). Boy, that thing was a life saver! Especially in the early weeks when Mirko first went back to work. We are now experimenting with other carriers. We bought an Ergo which is great for taking walks but not as convenient for around the house. It will probably be more useful when she is a little bigger and doesn't need the infant insert. In the meantime, I have been playing around with a ring sling. It is a little harder to get the hang of but makes for very cute photographs...

And We Have Liftoff!

Nina has generally not been a big fan of tummy time. She tends to grunt and groan with increasing urgency until we finally take pity on her and roll her over. However despite her protests, she does seem to be getting better at it. Today after her bath, she actually seemed to use her forearms to push her head and shoulders up. A blog-worthy milestone indeed!

Heads up.

Mesmerized and Pacified

Today Nina is two months old!

"Happy Birthday to me!"

She is starting to become a bit more interactive. She stares intently at our faces then gives us a big smile and a bit of a laugh. She looks genuinely happy! It seems like she is trying to imitate our facial expressions like opening her mouth or sticking out her tongue. She mostly likes to look at faces and didn't really take much interest in the toys we tried to show her - until I found this black and white mobile for her. The high contrast patterns really attract her attention. You can tell in her eyes that she is really engaged. If we move it around slowly she tracks it with her eyes.

Mesmerized

About a month ago, we introduced a pacifier for Nina. At first I was a little reluctant, I guess I didn't want her using it all the time, or something... I am not even sure why. In the beginning, she would just push it out with her tongue, and it took two or three weeks for her to take it reliably. But now, whoa, what a difference! Talk about happiest baby on the block. It really provides her with a great deal of comfort. We have virtually eliminated the 20 or so minutes of crying before each nap, and car trips are, well, possible. She seems happier and that definitely makes my life easier. Now instead of coming home to a crying baby and a stressed out mom, Mirko can enjoy the evenings with his little noodle.

Also as promised, here is a movie we took last weekend of little Lucia after she figured out how to turn on the music on Nina's bouncy seat.

Mirko has been playing around with some new processing software for creating high dynamic range images. Here is a picture of our local park. Anya is the red ghost on the left. Whaddaya think?