Such a beautiful day today! Eric has the day off and was able to make it to our hike! The hike’s organized by a non-profit organization, Stroller Hikes. They go to different parks and trails every week. Today we are at Cupertino’s Rancho San Antonio Nature Reserve. It’s a mile long hike back and forth. We hiked up to a farm. We got to see a cow, chickens, ducks, sheep, and even a skeleton of a horse! We also saw some wild turkey and a deer that ran across the pasture in front of us. Funny thing though, Ethan was mostly interested in looking at the ground! Maybe he likes looking at rocks and hay. Lol!

At the farm

The butt of the cow. There he is, looking at the ground!!

He fell asleep! First time falling asleep on one of our hikes. Yay!

And of course it’s never really a day off for Eric. He’s taking a conference call in the car.

After lunch we took a walk around downtown Mountain View. We came across the Pho noodle shop which had the Pho Challenge. The challenge was to eat 2 pounds of noodles and 2 pounds of meat under 1 hour. Winner gets to keep the bowl and gets a free meal. Losers get a T-shirt, but have to pay $22 for the meal. Crazy. Eric is reeling in people to do this with him.

We finished off our day at Tapioca Express. I got the Passion Fruit Snow Bubble. Looks like Ethan wants some! He keeps grabbing my cup. Here he is licking the outside of the cup. Lol! He’s definitely more interested in our food  now that he’s started eating solids. He’s always looking at our food and trying to get in on some of what we’re eating!

I love it when Eric has the day off! So fun!!

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Here we are again. Sitting in the car cos baby EJ is fast asleep in his car seat. This is totally my fault, though. I knowingly left the house when it was his nap time!

One of the mothers at my Mommy and Me group at the hospital told me about this baby sing-along program at the library every Thursday. That sounded awesome! So of course I have to go check it out. I love singing and hopefully EJ will learn to love music and singing too! But I learned that the time was at 10:30. That’s the time where EJ usually goes down for his nap. I told myself that if he falls asleep before we have to leave the house, we won’t go. He was still awake at 10:20, and so we went! But honestly, I thought I saw a little yawn already. Yikes! I took him anyway!

We had a lot of fun at the class. The girl who led the class was probably really new at this, though. She wasn’t very good, but I can see she was trying. She’s an intern. Weren’t we all at that stage some point in our lives? Learning experience! Secretly though, the teacher in me wanted to get up there and take over the class. I knew the lyrics and actions to most of the songs she was teaching. Ironically, she didn’t! She had to keep going back to the CD. Lesson 1 of teaching: Know your subject well!!! (Those Challenger School teacher workshops have been deeply ingrained in me!) She should really have learned the songs well before trying to teach them before a class of very noisy mothers and babies! Seriously, some mothers! If you’re gonna chat and not participate with your baby, go somewhere else!! I thought they were very rude and disruptive. The girl that was leading the class wasn’t speaking very loud either, so that didn’t help. Then again, if she knew her subject well, she would be more confident, and would probably speak louder. Lol! Know your subject well!!! Nevertheless, we’ll still try and come next time. I like the library.

So, EJ really enjoyed himself. He was laughing and babbling a lot. Didn’t seem sleepy. (But I know he was tired, he just loves to play.) We even got two music CDs while we were at the library. They’re both for babies. One cd is in Chinese and the other one is a Beethoven cd. I really like the Chinese one! I actually recognize a lot of the songs on there. We haven’t listened to the Beethoven one yet, but from the cover, it looked really fun!

Since he was still awake, and since we were out, I decided to go to Costco. I had to fill up the car. The gas station near our place was up to $4.23 a gallon!! So, if possible, I try to go to Costco, which is only $4.09 a gallon. And plus, we got the Costco coupons, which are valid starting today, so off to Costco it was!

He was fine in the car on the way to Costco. But it was while I waiting in line to get gas when he started crying!! I figured he might cry himself to sleep. He does that a lot. Nope! But the minute I picked him up from the car seat, he stopped crying. I thought maybe he might fall asleep as I carry him around in my sling. Nope! So we paid, and left Costco. The minute I put him back into his car seat, he starts crying. But when I started driving, it was all quiet. I knew he had fallen asleep.

It’s really hard to go places and get things done if we have to work around his nap schedule. This week we already missed our Tuesday and Wednesday hike because he was still napping! I try. Do the best we can and make the best out of it, right? As long as EJ is a happy and healthy baby. 🙂

So happy after his nap

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Nat and Rie Woo had their baby girl on Saturday, April 9 at 3 something in the morning. She weighs in at 6 pounds 7 ounces and is 19 inches long. Congratulations to them!! We are so excited for them!!

Funny thing is, April 9 was supposed to be their Baby Shower. I felt so bad! We waited too long to start organizing the party and we had to keep pushing back the date because of other things that were happening. And turned out, her water broke Friday morning and instead of a baby shower, we have a baby! I think this baby girl’s gonna be quite a party animal! She knew that we were having a party for her, so she decided she was gonna show up!! Hannah came 2 weeks early. We really pushed this baby shower too far back. Well, we’ll just have to have a bigger and better one-month party for them!

EJ and Hannah are only 6 months apart. I always tease that Hannah will be his future girlfriend 🙂 With a dad like Nat, EJ will probably be whipped :P! What parents we are, huh!! All in good fun, all in good fun. (But it’ll be so awesome if we’re actually related to the Woo’s!)

I’m so proud of Rie! She went through such a long labor without any pain medication. She is indeed a warrior! Nat said that any woman that can endure so many hours of pain is better than any Iron Man. He’s right!! So proud of her!

Precious baby Hannah, just 9 hours old.

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I can’t believe my little baby is teething! He’s not even 6 months old yet! I’ve noticed that he drools a lot and loves chewing on his fingers. People have mentioned that they’re early signs of teething. But I didn’t expect it to come so soon! Now and then I feel his lower gum with my fingers, just to check. Last Friday, I did it again and that was when I noticed something sharp! I remember I was visiting Sudie then, she just had a baby, and I had brought over a new outfit my mother-in-law bought for her new baby. When I felt the sharpness on his lower gums, I was definitely surprised, a little excited, and somewhat worried about what nursing will be like with little teeth! Yikes! My little baby is growing up!!

This same weekend, we also have our first cold. Baby EJ’s got a runny nose and a hacking cough with lots of phlegm. Poor baby 🙁 At times he coughs so much that he chokes and his whole face turns red. I’ve stayed home with him for the past 3 days. Yep, I haven’t left the house in 3 days. Hopefully, staying out of the elements will prevent his illness from worsening. And hopefully staying home will also help him nap more. Lucky for us, he doesn’t have a fever. He seems normal. He’s laughing and playing around like normal. It just breaks my heart to hear his little coughs! Hopefully he gets better soon.

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We just came home from visiting teaching. Rie and I visited Jenn. I love that we can do visiting teaching during the day. We can avoid the rush after church on Sundays and also the tired, after work visits. Staying at home is awesome 🙂

I have a feeling EJ’s gonna be a terrible napper. Actually, he’s already a terrible napper. He sleeps great at night, though. We put him down, and even though he’s still awake, he doesn’t cry for attention and just falls asleep all by himself. It’s awesome. Sometimes he doesn’t wanna be put down, so he cries. But he never cries long, usually only about 5 minutes. Then he’ll be fast asleep till the next morning.

Naps, though, are a different story! It’s even worse when we’re out. He just wants to look around, and even though he’s extremely tired, he won’t sleep! When we put him back in the car seat, he’ll scream (he hates the car seat) until we’re almost home, then he’ll fall asleep. Whenever we pick him up from his car seat, he wakes up! Then he’s cranky all over again cos he’s still tired. And it’s almost impossible to put him to sleep again. We can never win with naps! I’ve taken to just staying in the car until he wakes up from his naps. That’s what I’m doing now.

Naps are better when we’re at home, though. Since it’s not very exciting, he can usually nap when we’re home. Sometimes he naps for 30 mins, sometimes for 2 hours. I wonder how some moms have their kids on a schedule?!?!

It’s different everyday with EJ. I think that’s because I go out almost everyday. Is that bad? You know, he does eat and sleep better if we’re home all day. But there’s always something to do! Errands to run and places to go. Well, I am a “stay-at-home” mom, so maybe I should do what the job title says and stay at home? Lol!

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A lot has happened since I last posted. I’m really bad at this blogging thing. Hopefully staying at home with EJ will give me more time to blog. Hopefully.

We went back to Singapore and Hong Kong in February to celebrate Chinese New Year with the family. And of course to show EJ off to the rest of the family. Especially my dad who hasn’t seen him yet. We were really worried about the heat and humidity. We were afraid that EJ won’t be used to it. He was born in October, so he’s never really experienced heat much. But we were pleasantly surprised! He was mostly fine. In fact, I think his skin condition improved in the humidity.

Our nightly routine consisted of lotions and creams and what nots. But when we were in Singapore, we only applied the moisturizer. I think the humidity was doing something for his skin. His cradle cap also got better! We’ve been back for about a month now and his skin is still great! He used to have a really bad rash behind his ears and under his neck, and that has gotten better too. We’re having this rash around his mouth now. We think it’s largely due to his slobbery drool. It’s hard to keep it dry all the time, and he’s now into sucking his fingers. That doesn’t help the drool! I guess I’m hopeful that he will eventually grow out of his eczema. His cradle is almost all gone. Things are looking better. 🙂

We also decided that I would stay home with EJ. I’m still on maternity leave, but I went in yesterday and officially resigned. I’ll miss my friends at work. We ladies do have lots of fun together. But I think this is something I have to do right now. We’re going to have to make some major adjustments to our lifestyle! Eric and I used to eat out a lot. Probably about twice a week. Eric would always buy his lunch. With me at home, I’ll have to make his lunch everyday! I’m getting creative with sandwich fixings! And we’d have to limit out nights out. We would also travel a lot. Bye bye to traveling for now! At least limit it to once a year instead of every other month! It’s a sacrifice for that little guy. But it’s so worth it! I just hope I don’t spoil him!

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So says the doc. She diagnosed him with eczema. And Ethan was prescribed with desonide. An ointment that we have to apply for him twice a day. It’s definitely worked so far. His neck and behind his ears are ok now. They’re not red with rash anymore. At least not as bad as before. But now the rash is all over his body! Especially wherever he has folds. We’ve also switched our moisturizer from Aveeno to Cetaphil. We don’t use any body wash or shampoo when we bathe him now since his skin also reacts to them, even if they’re fragrance-free and especially made for babies with sensitive skin. On top of that, I’ve taken out all his clothes that are made from polyester. His body breaks out in a rash if he wears polyester. Everything has to be like organic with this little guy!

On Christmas Eve, we went out to dinner with some friends. We have lobster noodles. And the next day, Ethan actually broke out in a rash all over his face! A really bad rash. We decided that he might be allergic to shellfish, which was transferred from my breastmilk to him. So, we experimented again. We actually had ciopinno, a soup made with all kinds of shellfish. There was crab, shrimp, mussels and clams. Yep. He broke out in a rash again. Poor baby! It sucks to be allergic to such wonderful food!! And poor me!! That means no shellfish for me while breastfeeding!

This week Eric’s on a business trip to LA. We decided to tag along and take this as a mini vacation for our family. Not much of a vacation since Eric’s at work all day anyway. But we figured this would be a good time to see what traveling and being away from home with a baby would be like. We’re gong to Hong Kong and Singapore in a couple of weeks and figured this would be good practice so we can see what to expect. Well, his rash is pretty bad again. Just like when I had the lobster. We think it’s because of the hotel’s sheets. I bathed him our first night using the hotel’s towels. I could see the rash appearing on his skin right as I was washing him. It was horrible! Also, I’ve been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday and we think he might be allergic to the peanut butter 🙁 So, however much I love my PB and J, I’ll lay off it for now. We just got two huge tubs of peanut butter from Costco. Lol! Don’t know what we’re gonna do with it!

So, our little guy definitely has his problems. He might be sleeping 7-8 hours every night now, which is awesome for us. But it so sad to see him so uncomfortable. We have to hold his hands down and put mitts on his hands so he doesn’t scratch his face off. It’s definitely heartbreaking for me to see him suffer like that. I really hope he grows out of this 🙁

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Ever since Ethan was born, his skin has been riddled with problems! He had a diaper rash less than a week after he was born. His diaper rash was persistent until he was almost two months old. It’s much better now, but we still apply a skin protectant just in case. I bought a 21 oz jar of Triple Paste, the super strong diaper rash cream, just in case he needs it! We definitely used a lot of it in the beginning. We went from using wet wipes, to just water and a soft wipe, to just water. We now just wash his bum in the sink. Avoid all wipes and chemicals. When we’re out all day and have to clean his bum with wet wipes, his bum does start to get red by the end of the day. So his skin is still pretty sensitive.

Aside from his bum, he’s got pretty bad cradle cap too. It’s crusty and really gross. Because he has all that hair, the flakes get stuck in his hair too. Every other night we oil his head with baby oil, let it soak for 5 minutes, then use a soft brush and brush in a circular motion, trying to get the flakes out. They come out, but come back again a few days later. Hopefully he grows out of it!

Then there’s his face. He’s also had a rash on his face ever since he was born. In the beginning we didn’t think too much of it. They say it’s the leftover hormones from me from when he was in the womb. But now, when I go to Mommy and Me (a mommy’s group at the hospital), and look at the other babies around the same age with their soft, white skin, I’m wondering why his skin is still like that! 🙁 Behind his ears and on his neck is now red, raw, and oozing too. Sigh. Poor kid. It looks to me like he has eczema. We really can’t use any chemicals on his skin when bathing him. It seems that if we do, it starts going all red.

I just emailed the doctor about his ear and neck. Hopefully she’ll make some time to see him. We applied antibiotic ointment, but no improvements. I’ll probably look and see if altering my diet might help. In the end, I hope he won’t have these problems in the long run. They say babies grow out of it. Hopefully it’s true for him!

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A lot has happened since we were married five years ago. We graduated from BYU, moved down to California, and now we have a kid! This anniversary was somewhat uneventful in a sense. But also busy with the precious little prince. We’ve definitely been blessed with jobs, friends, and family. Even though we’ve only been in the Bay Area for 3 1/2 years, I can honestly say I love my life here! There are moments when I think about moving back to Singapore cos I miss my family, but there are also moments when I think I could stay here for good. That is if we can, of course. We’re still on working visas. It’s all up to Eric and his job. We’ll see how long he can make it! We made it through so many rounds of laying off. Hopefully we can continue to make it! It’s definitely expensive living in the Bay Area. We often talk about moving, but we’re comfortable where we are, I guess. So, we’re good for now. 🙂

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One thing I’m thankful for this year is of course our baby Ethan (or you can call him EJ 🙂 ). This past few weeks have not been easy. Getting used to sleeping only 1-2 hours at a time, changing diapers all the time, getting spat up on, and not being able to go out spontaneously. It’s a major lifestyle change! But when we hold him, and cuddle him, and when he smiles at you, it’s all worth it! My heart just melts!

Another thing I’m REALLY thankful for this year is for my mom. It made adjusting to having a baby so much easier. My mom doesn’t cook. She didn’t really look after us when we were young, that was all my grandma. So for her to come all the way from Singapore, out of her comfort zone, and take care of me and Ethan, it’s not easy! And I’m really thankful for that.

For the first month, she made me ginger soup everyday. To make this soup, you need cut up the ginger into slices, then blend it. After that you take the blended ginger and squeeze it through a cheesecloth to get the ginger juice out. Hand squeezed! My mom did that for me everyday. Her hands got so dry and cut up! She also made red date water for me. She pitted every single red date because she said that it’s not good to boil it with the seed in the red date. She did that everyday too. She also cooked like she never cook before in her life! At home, my mom doesn’t have to cook. So for her to prepare meals for us must not have been easy for her because she’s not used to it! She’s so awesome!

She also takes such good care of Baby Ethan. In the mornings, she’ll hold him for an hour, sometimes two, so he’ll sleep longer and so I can sleep longer. That boy sleeps real well when someone is holding him. She changes his diaper when I’m just so SICK of changing another diaper. Just like us, she’s been peed on, pooed on, and spat up on! Awesome! She talks to him and sings to him. I know Baby Ethan misses his popo.

I’m glad my  mom got to spend this precious few weeks with me and the baby. I hadn’t seen my mom for about two years before this. She left everything behind. My sister and her preparation for going on a mission. The buying of their new HDB flat. And all the other comforts of her own home in Singapore, and come here where public transportation sucks! To be stuck at home and to be cooking all the time and taking care of me. I’m grateful I have such an awesome mom! I love you, mom!

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