My family loves the video -- here's another one for your entertainment value.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Movie Night
Because part of the goal for the blog is to document milestones of Olivia's first year, I'm handling blog posts the way Apple Computer handles stock option grants. We went to an Academy Awards dinner at a friend's house. I did amazingly well in the Oscar guessing game, correctly guessing 16 of 24 categories. I don't have a point to make here, other than that I kicked butt.
Speaking of movies, here's one of Olivia.
Speaking of movies, here's one of Olivia.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Trip to Houston
My cousin got married in Houston over President's day weekend. Olivia and I took a trip without Spencer. Which meant that I got the excitement of flying with infant all to myself.
And good times they are! Flying with baby is essentially a 6 hour work day of avoiding the ire of fellow passengers. Olivia did pretty well on the outbound flight, the guy next to me even commented that she was a well behaved baby (which meant a lot, after his audible groan when I first sat next to him.)
The flight back was an entirely different story, a fussy, crying baby for a solid 1.5 (2?) hours before she finally fell asleep. The guy next to me was completely understanding (and very helpful.) It turned out that he had a niece the same age.
The passenger who was probably the most angry with me was the standby passenger whom they booted from the jetway when I arrived at the gate as they were closing the door. I have no idea how I almost missed the flight. We arrived at the airport a solid 1.5 hours before departure time, time gets eaten up getting a baby through the check-in, security, and the pre-flight diaper change.
As for the weekend between the flights, we had a great time. My cousin's wedding was beautiful. Margaret and Jim enjoyed the new laughing and emoting Olivia,and mom and dad enjoyed seeing Olivia without any housework to do or meals to cook.
And good times they are! Flying with baby is essentially a 6 hour work day of avoiding the ire of fellow passengers. Olivia did pretty well on the outbound flight, the guy next to me even commented that she was a well behaved baby (which meant a lot, after his audible groan when I first sat next to him.)
The flight back was an entirely different story, a fussy, crying baby for a solid 1.5 (2?) hours before she finally fell asleep. The guy next to me was completely understanding (and very helpful.) It turned out that he had a niece the same age.
The passenger who was probably the most angry with me was the standby passenger whom they booted from the jetway when I arrived at the gate as they were closing the door. I have no idea how I almost missed the flight. We arrived at the airport a solid 1.5 hours before departure time, time gets eaten up getting a baby through the check-in, security, and the pre-flight diaper change.
As for the weekend between the flights, we had a great time. My cousin's wedding was beautiful. Margaret and Jim enjoyed the new laughing and emoting Olivia,and mom and dad enjoyed seeing Olivia without any housework to do or meals to cook.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Big Brother
This was an exciting weekend for us. We had two exciting events. Julian came to town to visit Olivia for the first time and Olivia and I made a trip to Houston for my cousin's wedding.
Olivia is really lucky to have Julian as a big brother. Within hours of his arrival, he was already sticking up for Olivia. When I called her El Puerco, he defended Olivia, telling me that babies should have a little extra weight. Since he's pretty strong from being a defensive lineman on his football team, I didn't say anything more. But if you're reading now Julian, we're not talking a little extra weight here. You know she is in the 90+ percentile for weight, right? Ha, can't touch me!
I heard that Spencer and Julian had a fun weekend together. It was nice to come back home and see them on Monday. It was rainy on Tuesday which killed their plan to visit the SFZoo to play Simon Says in the tiger exhibit. We had a nice dinner at home on Tuesday night, Julian is great with the little girl. We're looking forward to Julian's next trip.
Unlike my brother, Julian is not afraid of drool
Darn, i missed the lamp hat shot.
Olivia is really lucky to have Julian as a big brother. Within hours of his arrival, he was already sticking up for Olivia. When I called her El Puerco, he defended Olivia, telling me that babies should have a little extra weight. Since he's pretty strong from being a defensive lineman on his football team, I didn't say anything more. But if you're reading now Julian, we're not talking a little extra weight here. You know she is in the 90+ percentile for weight, right? Ha, can't touch me!
I heard that Spencer and Julian had a fun weekend together. It was nice to come back home and see them on Monday. It was rainy on Tuesday which killed their plan to visit the SFZoo to play Simon Says in the tiger exhibit. We had a nice dinner at home on Tuesday night, Julian is great with the little girl. We're looking forward to Julian's next trip.
Unlike my brother, Julian is not afraid of drool
Darn, i missed the lamp hat shot.Tuesday, February 19, 2008
GUEST BLOGGER: Margaret
Hi! I get to be the guest blogger today. I won't be as entertaining as Joyce, but I probably will be more thorough.
Olivia is adorable. Unbelievably, she has gray eyes. We know that the statistics and Punnett Square shows she will have brown eyes eventually, but right now, her eyes are sparkly gray.
I love that babies have no idea how cute they are. They just act like babies. And Olivia's at the age where she laughs and responds to things. Joyce pointed out to me that Olivia's head is as big as her arms, so it is pretty funny when she is sleeping with her gigantic head and small limbs. Maybe Joyce has a photo.
We found out 4 things about our family:
1) DAD: Olivia likes dad the best. He gets big smiles and laughs out of her. Actually, she has a general preference for men with glasses. So we think her future husband might look like this:
2) Me: I decided to buy Olivia books and read to her (basically, everyone thinks Jim is the intellectual one in our family, but Jim is the one who, when I hatched my plan to buy her books, told me "but Olivia can't read!").
4) JIM: is totally afraid of Olivia throwing up on him. So if he is holding the baby and you want her, just say "hey, Jim - she looks like she is going to throw up!"
Oh, and her nose isn't yellow anymore!
Olivia is adorable. Unbelievably, she has gray eyes. We know that the statistics and Punnett Square shows she will have brown eyes eventually, but right now, her eyes are sparkly gray.
I love that babies have no idea how cute they are. They just act like babies. And Olivia's at the age where she laughs and responds to things. Joyce pointed out to me that Olivia's head is as big as her arms, so it is pretty funny when she is sleeping with her gigantic head and small limbs. Maybe Joyce has a photo.
We found out 4 things about our family:
1) DAD: Olivia likes dad the best. He gets big smiles and laughs out of her. Actually, she has a general preference for men with glasses. So we think her future husband might look like this:
2) Me: I decided to buy Olivia books and read to her (basically, everyone thinks Jim is the intellectual one in our family, but Jim is the one who, when I hatched my plan to buy her books, told me "but Olivia can't read!").
We need to work more on her reading skills. I started reading to her, and had her attention for maybe 2 minutes. Seems like she likes pretending to be an airplane more than reading.
3) MOM: While I am afraid Olivia will have no books, Mom is afraid Olivia will have no clothes. and I think my mother is worried for Olivia's clothing situation, because if you put forward the basic needs - food, shelter, warmth, clothes, climbing, sleep, biking (or something like that) - - joyce will order them biking, climbing, food, shelter, sleep, clothes, warmth. It says a lot that Joyce has actually prioritized Olivia in FRONT of biking and climbing.
3) MOM: While I am afraid Olivia will have no books, Mom is afraid Olivia will have no clothes. and I think my mother is worried for Olivia's clothing situation, because if you put forward the basic needs - food, shelter, warmth, clothes, climbing, sleep, biking (or something like that) - - joyce will order them biking, climbing, food, shelter, sleep, clothes, warmth. It says a lot that Joyce has actually prioritized Olivia in FRONT of biking and climbing.
4) JIM: is totally afraid of Olivia throwing up on him. So if he is holding the baby and you want her, just say "hey, Jim - she looks like she is going to throw up!"
Oh, and her nose isn't yellow anymore!
By the way, I didn't take any photos at the wedding last week, so I am depending on Joyce to post photos with her posting.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Olivia's Nose is Yellow
When she looked at some recent pictures , my sister noticed that Olivia's nose is yellow. In fact, I hadn't noticed until Margaret pointed it out. Another upside of blogging, having family members help keep an eye on your kid's physical well being. If anything should happen to her, I hope I post pictures soon enough that she'll get the medical attention she needs.
Back to the question of why her nose is yellow. I can't really think of anything in our lifestyles. Olivia comes home straight from her job at the sulfur mine and eats nothing but breast milk. I think Olivia's nose might have been yellow that week due to jaundice. It was crazy stormy while my parents were visiting and we didn't take Olivia outside at all. Her color seems to have improved since then, even though she only gets occasional trips outside.
Back to the question of why her nose is yellow. I can't really think of anything in our lifestyles. Olivia comes home straight from her job at the sulfur mine and eats nothing but breast milk. I think Olivia's nose might have been yellow that week due to jaundice. It was crazy stormy while my parents were visiting and we didn't take Olivia outside at all. Her color seems to have improved since then, even though she only gets occasional trips outside.
Monday, February 11, 2008
My how you've grown!
While I was on maternity leave, I tried to take photos of Olivia next to common household objects so that we could track her growth. Unfortunately, the photos next to the curling iron, butcher knives, and jigsaw came out blurry. But these photos next to our stuffed Elmo give a good sense of how much Olivia has grown in the past 3 months.
Before 12/3/2007
After 2/10/08
Before 12/3/2007
After 2/10/08
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Olivia is three months old today, which is also the eve of the Lunar New Year.
Here are some things I've learned in the past three months.
1) Diapers are not the limiting factor. Wipes are the limiting factor.
2) There's a bestselling children's book about a piglet named Olivia. Who knew that we were giving the playground kids such great material to work with?
3) What's wrong with this picture? In the Bay Area, you can make more as a nanny than as a cancer researcher.
Here are some things I've learned in the past three months.
1) Diapers are not the limiting factor. Wipes are the limiting factor.
2) There's a bestselling children's book about a piglet named Olivia. Who knew that we were giving the playground kids such great material to work with?
3) What's wrong with this picture? In the Bay Area, you can make more as a nanny than as a cancer researcher.
Friday, February 1, 2008
A visit to the pediatrician
We took Olivia to the pediatrician for her 5 week 'wellness' visit yesterday. I know that some of you are thinking, 'Wait, isn't Olivia 12 weeks old?' Yeah, we're a little late.
The first order of business at the doctor's office (after changing her poopy diaper) is to get weighed and measured.
Olivia's stats are:
Height -- 24 inches 75-90th percentile
Weight -- 13 lbs, 7 oz. 90th percentile
Head circumference -- 40.5 (cm, i assume) 75th percentile.
These are the percentiles for her actual age (not for a 5 week old.)
The next order of business is to get her shots. The question of what immunizations a child should be given is a controversial topic. The recommended immunization schedule recommends that a child get 32 shots by the time they are two years old. There's a contingent of medical professionals who view this as excessive. Some researchers recommend waiting until a child is 2 years of age to begin giving immunizations. The thought of poking your 14 lb child with viruses and manufactured chemicals is daunting, and when is the last time you heard of someone coming down with Diptheria? Of course, part of the reason you don't hear of Diptheria is the public health protocols to immunize us all against it, but it's tempting to be a freeloader on the public good. Alas, Olivia's mom has only limited time to research the tactical aspects of an alternative protocol (e.g., what does the daycare require?) So, I deferred to the pediatrician on what shots she should get.
The doctor recommends three vaccines, each administered as three shots over three visits. My mom points out that the extra fat on her thighs should make the shots less painful. My mother and I both cry at the sight of the tray of needles, then Olivia shreiks when she is poked with the the three needles. As promised by the nurse practitioner and the pediatrician, Olivia's memory for pain lapses quickly and she's a happy camper again once she's been fed.
The first order of business at the doctor's office (after changing her poopy diaper) is to get weighed and measured.
Olivia's stats are:
Height -- 24 inches 75-90th percentile
Weight -- 13 lbs, 7 oz. 90th percentile
Head circumference -- 40.5 (cm, i assume) 75th percentile.
These are the percentiles for her actual age (not for a 5 week old.)
The next order of business is to get her shots. The question of what immunizations a child should be given is a controversial topic. The recommended immunization schedule recommends that a child get 32 shots by the time they are two years old. There's a contingent of medical professionals who view this as excessive. Some researchers recommend waiting until a child is 2 years of age to begin giving immunizations. The thought of poking your 14 lb child with viruses and manufactured chemicals is daunting, and when is the last time you heard of someone coming down with Diptheria? Of course, part of the reason you don't hear of Diptheria is the public health protocols to immunize us all against it, but it's tempting to be a freeloader on the public good. Alas, Olivia's mom has only limited time to research the tactical aspects of an alternative protocol (e.g., what does the daycare require?) So, I deferred to the pediatrician on what shots she should get.
The doctor recommends three vaccines, each administered as three shots over three visits. My mom points out that the extra fat on her thighs should make the shots less painful. My mother and I both cry at the sight of the tray of needles, then Olivia shreiks when she is poked with the the three needles. As promised by the nurse practitioner and the pediatrician, Olivia's memory for pain lapses quickly and she's a happy camper again once she's been fed.
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