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?

Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins, oh my!

Nina got to meet more of her family this past weekend as Aunt Andrea, Uncle Owen and her 18-month-old cousin Lucia came to visit. Lucia is quite amazing. She runs around and is beginning to say a few words ("shoes!", "duck!", "juice!" - yes everything has an exclamation point), but it is her non-verbal communication that is really cool. She pats the ground next to her if she wants you to sit down. She loves to bring you your shoes and take hers off. She seems to understand most things you say to her and can point out all the people in the room. She was curious about baby Nina ("Bebee!") but mostly she enjoyed breaking in Nina's toys!

At first, Lucia got quite jealous when her mom would hold the baby. She would hold her arms up demanding that Andrea also hold her. Of course as soon as Andrea gave Nina to someone else, Lucia totally lost interest and would scamper off on some other adventure. It was fascinating to see this special mommy bond!

Auntie Andrea holding Nina. Don't let Lucia see!

Uncle Owen, obviously an old pro at this.

Lucia admires her cousin.

She is very helpful in the kitchen!

Getting ready for a bath.

Bundling up the girls for a trip to the mall.

Who says you can't nurse discreetly?

Lucia explores the flower beds. Much more interesting than the shops.

Nina looks forward to future trips to Bloomy's.

How the dads spent the weekend.

Lucia tours Palo Alto in the baby jogger.

Princess of the Universe.

It was a wonderful visit! We miss them so much all already. I am still using the patented soothing techniques that Andrea showed me. They work like a charm on Nina. We look forward to getting the girls together again. I leave you with one final shot ...

aawww!

Slow News Day

Not much to report this week, but here are some lovely pictures of our dear daughter.

Here is a shot of Nina waking up from an afternoon nap. She actually slept in her crib! Well, for about five minutes anyway.

Best of Sunday morning photo shoot.

Enjoying a very warm Saturday in the park.

And finally, here is a movie of Nina .... well not doing much of anything. But why not, we haven't had a movie in awhile.

Click to watch the Movie

1 Month Doctor's Visit

Nina had her 1 month check-up yesterday (actually 5 weeks 5 days). She now weighs 10 lbs 9 oz - up almost 3 lbs from birth. She is 22 inches long and her head is 38 cm. She had her second shot for the Hepatitis B vaccine (the first one she got at the hospital). Dr. Enright said she looked great, and we agree!

All Smiles

Now we are definitely getting smiles! They are so precious and heartwarming.

First Smiles. ~5 1/2 weeks.

Other less glamorous milestones include drooling and crying real tears (so sad!).

Say what?!

Nina does know the best way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon...

Nap time.

1 Month

Yesterday was Nina's one month birthday! We dressed her up and our friends had a party for her. Actually, it was a Superbowl party, but don't tell her that!


She has grown like a weed in the past month. She is about 4 or 5 inches longer than when she was born and definitely has gained weight but we aren't sure how much. Her awake periods are getting longer. After a nap and a feeding, she's awake for an hour or two, generally just looking around and checking out the world. She is starting to gain a little control of her limbs - her arms and legs flail around slightly less, and she can lift her head for a second or two. Mirko claims that she smiles at him every morning, but everyone else thinks it is just gas! She tends to have a fussy period in the late afternoon and evening, but then when she does settle in for the night she'll sleep for stretches of up to four and half hours. Not too bad!

Having her nails done.

Another bath.

Walk with the grandparents.

Visitors

Yesterday, Grandma Vicky and Grandpa Dave came from Houston to visit!

Proud Grandparents!

In other news, Nina seems to be losing some of her newborn hair. Oddly, she has some male-pattern baldness action going on - she is losing it on the top of her head while the sides and back are just fine. She is not to happy about the resulting look...

"Waaaaaaahh!"