I finally caved in...

Dear Aidan,

The photo above was not taken today. I took this a few days ago. Lately I've been so busy to even take photos of you.

It's been hard this week. Really hard. I'm embarrassed to say that I lost it on you a few times this week. I don't know if it's because you were still a little bit sick from your cold last week or it's because you were constipated (you haven't pooed for 2 days now). Or maybe it's because you were tired from not sleeping during the day. You were just a handful. I think I was more frustrated due to the fact that I had so much work to do. I was working on Home Depot stuff and Auntie Sara's wedding is one week away. I'm just so stressed out. Anyways, I screamed at you a few times and I even cried. You felt my frustration because you started crying like crazy. Then I felt terrible so I tried cradling you back and forth. It was just a roller coaster ride all week. I even told daddy yesterday that I couldn't wait to get back to work so I could have some time to myself. I think daddy was shocked to hear that. I don't know. I think I'll feel better once I get some sleep. I didn't get much sleep this week.

So what do I mean by finally caving in? I finally introduced formula to you. I was trying to wait for as long as I possibly could. You're almost 10 months now. I was originally planning to wean you out at 6 months and then I decided to do it a bit longer because I still had lots of milk. But lately you've been waking up in the middle of the night screaming so I think it might be because you are hungry. I know my friend, YJ, told me that when she first fed Asher formula he slept all through the night. I was looking at the formula website and it said babies your age should be getting 7oz of milk (about 180mL). I'm not sure if you are getting that amount by my breast milk. So tonight I gave you formula. You ate almost all of it and you looked very satisfied. Let's see if it works.

I'm still going to be feeding you breast milk during the day, but I think I'm going to give you formula at night to keep you full. I also introduced proteins to you today- tofu. I also made some meat puree that I'll try giving you tomorrow.

Should I invent this?

Dear Aidan,

What a brutal brutal day. Last night you were such a dream during the daytime. You ate well, played well, and even took a nap. I thought it was going to be an easy peasy day. Was I wrong! You slept at around 9:30pm, but you woke up at 12am crying. I tried putting you to sleep, but it wasn't working. Your cries were getting louder and louder. I tried putting you to bed with us, but you were rolling around so much! I eventually had to play with you in your play room for another hour. You looked like a baby possessed. You were laughing so much and you had so much energy. You and I both slept in the play room last night so daddy could sleep, but it was hard. I had to put the clamp on you many times during the night because you kept waking up crying and trying to roll over. I got no sleep and today I paid for it dearly. I had to do some freelance work for Home Depot and you were being very difficult. I think it's because you were a bit constipated and tired. I almost cried in frustration. My head is buzzing while I'm writing this because I'm so tired.

When daddy and I thought about it today you didn't really play in your play room before I put you to bed initially. We think that that might've had to do with the fact that you woke up in the middle of the night full of energy. So tonight we played with you til you were exhausted in your play room. Your head was literally drooping because you were so tired. Let's hope it worked.

While we were playing with you I was talking to daddy about inventing something like a hamster wheel for babies so that they wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night. It would basically be a device that mommies could put their babies in to exhaust them. I think it would be a great invention! All the mommies will be lining up in droves, don't you think?

Cheerios is a lifesaver

Dear Aidan,

Boy, were you a nightmare today... You literally cried from 2pm to 4pm. You wouldn't nap again and when mommy tried putting you down you started crying like crazy. I lost it. I almost cried a few times. I think you felt mommy's frustration because you got even more upset. By 4pm you were so exhausted from crying that you cried yourself to sleep in your playpen. When you woke up around 5:30pm you were in such a good mood (because you took a nap) that daddy didn't believe me when I said you were a nightmare. That happens a lot. Everyone thinks you are a dream baby, but you have your moments.

Tonight we went out to Ichiban with Justine, Ryan, Cara, and Andy. Cara is 2 years older than you. You sat in the high chair at the restaurant and snacked on Cheerios the whole time. I swear if I didn't have Cheerios I don't know what I would do.
I think Cara wanted to have some too because she started feeding you and herself. I find the last picture so funny because you are both putting Cheerios in your mouths at the same time. Classic!

They call me mellow yellow

Dear Aidan,

It's amazing how we can spend tons of money on expensive toys, only to see how the simplest thing can entertain. Here you are playing with a straw at H-Mart. Daddy took it away from you and you started crying. Awww.
But what I said earlier is true. I got a free dragon toy from a Happy Meal and you are just entranced by it. Same with bubble wrap inside a packaging that I received in the mail. That just goes to show you that sometimes you don't need to buy so many toys for your babies/kids. I know when I visit some friends their house is just drowning in toys. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy toys for your kids, but kids have imagination. I know when I was growing up I played with anything. I made a shoe box into a dollhouse and I used my books to make fortresses. Sometimes kids just need to use their imagination to turn something ordinary into extraordinary.

Here you are playing with the straw again. You are so cute! You are wearing a ridiculous yellow outfit that you got from Korea. I'm not sure who gave this outfit to you, but it's very yellow. We kept singing 'They call me mellow yellow...' all day. Haha.




You also got a red bump on the right side of your forehead today. I think you got it while you were in your playpen this morning. Mommy was upstairs doing a freelance project for Home Depot so she didn't see exactly what happened. I think you were standing up in your playpen and you fell over. I heard you crying and then I saw the bump on your forehead. Daddy thinks I did something to you, but I swear I didn't!

Caught you in the act!

Dear Aidan,

Here you are putting your feet into your mouth again. Oh boy.

Mommy missed you so much today. I had to do a lot of things today so daddy was home babysitting you. In the morning I stopped by Jenn's store, Tabula Rasa, to sell her some of the jewelry I made (btw, Jenn bought 18 rings and 8 hair pins!). Then I had to go to my dentist to get my root canal done, and then to a friend's bridal shower. Basically I was gone from 10am to 6pm. It's funny how attached I have gotten to you. When you aren't with me I feel like something part of me is missing. I'm always thinking 'what is Aidan doing right now?' or 'I want to kiss Aidan's cheek' or 'I hope Aidan is doing okay...' I especially miss you when I see other moms with their babies with them. I think that unless you are a parent you will never know what this feels like. Well, I guess you can... It's like the feeling when you really like someone and you can't get them out of your head. I think it's like that, but more so. Even when mommy and daddy are lying in bed we sometimes want to bring you over to our bed because we miss you.

The biggest poo to date!

Dear Aidan,

You're going to kill me that I posted something so gross, but you did the biggest poo ever today. I don't even know how it got out of your little bum bum. Daddy was changing your diaper and he found a big surprise. He actually called me over to show me how big your poop was. Every day your poo changes. It all depends on what I'm feeding you at the time.

You are feeling under the weather. You caught a cold from daddy so you are coughing a lot. Today, your nose was a bit runny too. I hope you get better soon. I love you sunshine.

3 words...

Dear Aidan

Go Kings go.
Daddy knows what this means...

The many faces of Aidan

Dear Aidan,

Both mommy and daddy are so tired today because we slept really late last night. It was game 3 of the Canucks vs. Kings. The Canucks lost btw. Daddy kept swearing in frustration that's why mommy couldn't sleep) and you woke up at 4am crying. I can sort of tell by your cries now if you can soothe yourself back to sleep or you need to be checked on. This cry was a 'I'm awake and I'm hungry' cry. I quickly changed your diaper and tried to feed you to get you to fall back asleep, but by this time you were wide awake. I thought that putting you to bed with us would make you fall asleep, but no it wasn't so. You were rolling around, trying to climb on top of us and you even bit mommy a few times. That's why we are so tired. You, on the other hand, were full of energy. Must be nice! I wish you can take more naps during the day so mommy can have some alone time. Today I literally had to force you to take a nap. You weren't happy about it. I put you in your crib and held you down until you cried yourself to sleep. I cannot do it any other way! I know people tell me that their babies take 2 naps during the day for an 1 or 2 at a time, but you literally sleep for like 15 minutes and then you are up. I think because you were crying you slept a little longer today. I think crying to sleep takes a lot of energy out of you. I need to figure out a way to get you to nap better...

When you awoke from your nap you were in a pretty good mood. You were very playful and that's when I took all these photos. As I mentioned yesterday in my post you are a very expressive baby. You do so many things that really enchant me. So even though you can be a handful at times I can't deny that you also make my heart melt.

Happy 9 month!

Dear Aidan,

Happy 9 month!
Today was your 9 month check-up with your family doctor. You are currently weighing in at 8.29 kg (app. 18.28 lbs). You are 74 cm in length and 44 cm in head circumference. So according to a growth percentile calculator that I found online your length is between the 50th and 75th percentile, weight is between the 10th and 25th percentile, and head circumference is between 10th and 25th percentile. I don't really care about weight, but I want your length to be long. I don't want you to be short like mommy and daddy. Other than that you are pretty normal. However, something very embarrassing happened while you were getting examined. While the doctor was checking the back of your throat with a tongue compressor she asked me to hold up your arms over your head and hold it steady (just so you couldn't move your head). While I was doing that the doctor was holding down your lower body with her upper body. But you didn't like that you couldn't move so you started squirming and you kicked the doctor! Right on her chest area! But wait, it gets worse... I found out at the end of the examination that she was pregnant! She is due in July. That means you kicked a pregnant lady on the chest. Oh boy. I apologized to her for you after our check-up. She was all flushed (because you kicked and did other rough things to her during the examination), but she understood.

The funny thing is, when I told daddy all of this he just laughed.

I am ending things off with a very short video of you taking a bath today. If you listen carefully in the 11 second mark you can hear daddy farting. So attractive!

Ouch!

Dear Aidan,

You are such a rascal now. You were going around biting both mommy and daddy all day. Now that you have 8 teeth (4 up top and 4 at the bottom) you tend to bite a lot. I think you bit mommy around 15 times today. Maybe even more. And when you do bite you have this devilish grin on your face. You aren't selective about what you bite too. You bit mommy's nose, lips, fingers, arms, elbows, neck, shoulder, and the list goes on. I was talking to Auntie Sara today and we were saying how you are such a gae gul jang ee. That means a rascal in Korean. Yesterday you were pulling mommy's hair while I was sitting on my office chair. Daddy was holding you and standing behind me and you kept pulling mommy's hair and then when I turned around you smiled coyly. You acted like you didn't do anything wrong! You kept doing it because you thought it was funny. I'm not saying I don't like that about you. I think it's so cute. Many babies I know right now are so inexpressive. I love the fact that you are so expressive in everything that you do. You start talking jibberish when you are climbing up the stairs (making like 'gah' or 'aka' noises). Then when you are trying to chase Rosco you laugh aloud and start making this high-pitched laugh. When you are crawling towards something that you are excited about you start panting really loudly and again make a high-pitched sound. When daddy puts his face really close to your face you start cooing and making 'sha sha' or 'ga ga' noises. You have this baby language that you speak that sounds like you are speaking Mandarin. It involves a lot of 'sha' sounds. There's so much more, but I can't think of it right now. Then there are your facial expressions. You squint, smile, frown, bite your lip, stick out your tongue, smack your lips together, etc. I recorded a video of you in your jumper today making a lot of weird noises to show you what I mean. Enjoy!

We lost your father to the Canucks

Dear Aidan,

Oh boy... Your father is crazy. I just caught him red-handed eating pizza and a coke just now. He is in playoff mode as the Vancouver Canucks are in the playoffs right now. He's such a nerd. He's wearing his Canucks jersey and his undies watching the game. So attractive... He even put you in your Canucks jersey on their first playoff game. You looked pretty cute though. I think I'll go down and watch the game even though I hate the Canucks. It'll give me some 'quality' time with daddy.

Just to recap yesterday was a really busy day for mommy. I had to meet my boss, Bonnie, for coffee downtown. Then I had to meet my cousin, Jenn, to help her with her store opening. Daddy had to take care of you the whole day while mommy was gone. He was great though. He fed you, put you down for a nap (quite a long one too), bathed you, and even put you to bed. I was so shocked when I came home (around 11pm) that you were already sleeping in your crib. I have to give daddy props. Maybe I should go out more...

So Bonnie wanted to meet me to see if I was still coming back to work after my mat leave was over. I think she was worried that I had changed my mind. That's understandable because a lot of moms choose not to go back to work. I assured her that I was coming back. Even though I'll be sad to not spend time with you all day I think it will be good for mommy to go back to work. I feel more like an independent woman when I'm making my own money. It's hard to explain. I hate feeling like I'm not contributing financially. The lucky thing is, Bonnie is allowing me to work from home every Fridays so that's excellent news. I'm still going to have you in daycare on Fridays, but at least I won't be commuting. That takes a lot of time out of my day.
After meeting Bonnie for coffee at Starbucks I dropped by the office to say hi to my co-workers. While I was on mat leave they had reconfigured the office to make the space work a lot better. Plus, we got new desks. I'm happy to say that the office got about 10% better. It's still ugly (far from the beautiful office spaces at Canadian Family), but I can manage.
Then it was off to Jenn's store, Tabula Rasa, to help. All in all it was a pretty exhausting day yesterday.

Today I took Rosco to the vet in the morning to get his ears checked out. His ears were bothering him and it was starting to smell really funky. I tried cleaning it with a wet q-tip, but it was really hard because there were so many hairs in his ears. It was so gross, but our vet, Dr. VandenBrink, took out all the hair in Rosco's ears with a tweezer. Basically his ears were smelling bad because all the bacteria was getting stuck to all his hairs. It was so gross when he took it all out. Rosco was screaming in pain :-( Poor guy. Then Dr. VandenBrink got some q-tip and cleaned his ears with some ointment. He used about 10 q-tips and it was all brown in colour when he finished with it. He was saying that Rosco probably got an ear infection because he had an allergic reaction to something he ate. Then Rosco got some blood taken out to get tested for heartworm and everything came out to $268!!!!! Ugh. Talk about being broke...

You know what you did today that was so funny? You crawled over to me, reached out to get a steady balance while you were standing up, and you lowered my shirt and started sucking on my breasts! Daddy watched this all go down and he started laughing. So basically you were in an upright position with your legs tucked under your bum and you were breast feeding. I felt like it was a drive-through. You are doing that quite a lot though. You tried doing it again right before I put you to bed.

That's about it. Good night sunshine. Sweet dreams.

Morning routine

Dear Aidan,

Every morning we have a set routine that we go by. You usually wake up around 8:30am. You always wake up crying nowadays so it's pretty annoying. I change you and give you a dose of your vitamin D shots (1.0 mL). Then I feed you 3 Tbsp of solid food. We finish that off with some water in your sippy cup. By then you are in a really good mood so mommy puts you in your playpen or your jumper and turn on Treehouse. I know showing too much TV to a baby isn't all that good, but that's the only time I have to brush up and get ready.

One of your favourite show on Treehouse is Four Squares. It's a show that I would never expect you to like because it's just 4 people (kids and adults) singing and talking, but you just love it! I think you like the neon colours and the songs they sing are really catchy. When that show is on your eyes are glued to the TV. I video taped you watching it today.

Wow, so full...

Dear Aidan,

I'm so sorry that I've been so bad with posting up pics & videos lately. It's just been such a busy month. And it will just get busier...

Today mommy and daddy invited our friend, Andy, over for dinner because his wife, YJ, and their son, Asher, are in Korea for a month. I made hamburgers and salad and Andy brought over Flour Studio's delicious cupcakes. Yum! We are all so full from dinner. I made 8 hamburgers and we all polished it off. Tomorrow mommy starts on her diet!

Right now I love how cute you are. I think you are so expressive and playful and I wish you stayed this size forever. It's really amazing how quickly you have grown in the past 8 months. Thanks be to God!

The next Mozart?

Dear Aidan,

We went to visit the grandparents today and every time we go there grandma sits you by the piano so you can bang your little fingers on the keyboard. The first time she sat you down you didn't know what to do, but now you are such an enthusiastic pianist. I've been watching you carefully lately to see if there is anything you are showing an interest on or seem to be good at so that I can enroll you those programs. So far you seem to really like kicking and doing stuff with your feet (future soccer player?), listening to music (you always stop and stare, completely entranced at the TV, when a commercial with a jingle comes on), and banging on the piano.

Yesterday I didn't post anything because daddy took a day off because he was sick and we were doing a lot of errands. Here's a photo of you and daddy I took when we went to eat sushi in the afternoon. It looks like you are kicking daddy's face. See... I told you you like to do kicking motions with your feet. You look completely grumpy here because you just awoke from your nap in the stroller. You aren't the cutest when you wake up. Just being honest here!

I'm baaaaaacccccckkkkkk!

Dear Aidan,

As summer approaches it's going to get harder and harder for mommy to blog every day. This weekend was so busy for mommy. Friday was small group (mommy and daddy's church couples group meeting) at our place. We had an Indian-themed dinner and it was soooooo yummy. Also, everyone commented how good you were. It's amazing how well-behaved and cute you are when you are around mommy and daddy's friends. Everyone thinks that you are dream baby. If only they can see your bad side... just kidding. You are actually not that bad. I know because I see other babies and they are a handful even when they are in a good mood.

Then on Saturday mommy had a bridal shower to go to. Daddy babysat you while I was gone.
Then daddy had to go to his friend, Do Yoon's bachelor party at night so I took care of you while he was gone. When daddy came back home he was really sick and coughing a lot. He had mild cold symptoms earlier in the week, but it was starting to show that night. Well today was really bad. He was sweaty, feverish, and very dizzy. I decided to take you to church by myself so daddy could rest. He's still very lethargic. Hopefully he feels better soon. I think he missed playing with you today. He didn't want to get you sick you see.

BTW, baby Isaiah (Erica and James's new son) came to church for the first time today. He was so small! Everyone that saw Isaiah commented how giant you were in comparison. It's funny because in such a short period of time (well for me, that is) you have grown to be a big baby. I'm actually a little sad. There is a whole slew of new babies that are coming to church and you are no longer the smallest baby.

Anyways, next week will be pretty busy too. I have to meet my boss on Friday afternoon and then at night I have my cousin, Jenn's, opening party for her clothing store to go to. On Saturday I have a dentist appointment and another friend's bridal shower to go to. Then in early May it is Auntie Sara's wedding! I can't believe how quickly it's approaching. I'm a little sad. I can't believe my little sister is getting married. :'-(

Just so you know I have been so busy to take any photos and videos of you this weekend so the photo above is something that I took earlier in the week this week. I don't know if you noticed, but you love the joining parts of your foam mat. You always take it apart and hold one in each hand.

Oh, and before I forget I just wanted to say that you stood on your own without holding onto anything for a good 10 seconds! You were in your playpen and I was cooking dinner and daddy called out to me saying that you were standing on your own. It was pretty amazing. Unfortunately I didn't get that on tape, but I think you'll be walking soon.

5 things

Dear Aidan,

Here are 5 things that happened today:

   You had the world's smallest poo today. It was the size of a small pellet. And the funny thing was it was stuck on your scrotum. Now that I'm feeding you solid foods your poo texture has changed drastically. It used to be really runny and curdle-y, but now it's more like chocolate mousse or like adult poo (the firm kind). I know it's disgusting to talk about poo and stuff like that. Sorry!

Daddy has started to train you to start walking on your own. He wants to get you to walk on your own by 10 months. He keeps telling me how he was walking when he was 8 months and nonsense like that. This is coming from a guy who can't even remember what he did the day before. Anyways, he puts you by the living room couch and you scoot side to side while holding on to the couch. I think he's trying to build up your leg strength so that you can walk soon. I'm going to be video recording that pretty soon so watch out for it.

You started showing signs of separation anxiety today. When we leave you in the play room and say 'bye bye Aidan' and leave the room you start panicking. You start to crawl really quickly to find us. Of course we wouldn't leave you by yourself in the room, but we were just seeing what your reaction would be like. It's actually pretty cute.

You seem to like it when I graze your head with my fingernails. I think you like the feeling. I was doing it while I was feeding you and you kept closing your eyes every time I did it.

You barfed quite a bit today. Every time we put you in your jumper I think the up and down motion makes you get motion sickness.

Aidan, the train conductor

Dear Aidan,

Every time you wear that hat (see above image), it always reminds me of a train conductor's hat.

Today, Auntie Sara came over and we walked over to the park. We put you in the swing for a bit and then we put you on the base of the slide. I think you're still too young to go down the slide, but we thought it was a great photo op. I would write more, but right now you are sitting in your Oeuf Lounger and you are screaming. I think you are tired and cranky. Oh boy.