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Sophie

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Lil Alphie is taking a break!

But do not fear.. you can still read about Izzie and our family - here!

Easter Day: A Day in the Life of Izzie Chang

Happy Easter! The Lord is risen! He is risen, indeed!

It is amazing to see how different Izzie is compared to her last Easter. I've been meaning to do a day in the life for awhile, and I figured Easter would be the best time to do it. Brace yourselves for plenty of pictures and videos!

Izzie had a good night of sleep and woke up at 6:30. We usually bring her to bed to give her, her first sippy of the day. Face of a baby who is well rested:


We had wanted to go to the sunrise service in Central Park in the morning, so instead of prolonged cuddle time, we got Izzie "dressed" (she's still in her PJs) and we rushed over:




The scenery was truly amazing:


And of course, so was the worship:


Izzie was good throughout:


And then it was time to rush home, get dressed, so we could head over to the East side to attend Easter services. We usually attend the West side services, but I really wanted to hear the orchestra. The shoes make the outfit:


Before we left we tried to take a (pretty bad) self-timer picture of ourselves:


Close to church, I had to take some pictures of the beautiful flowers that blossomed on the trees that line Park Ave. I'm glad that it looked like it was spring, because it sure didn't feel like it (temperature was in the 30s this morning):


After enduring some chaos trying to drop Izzie off at the nursery (first time doing this on the east side), we were able to attend the Easter service in peace. Apparently, Izzie did great in the nursery also:


Izzie fell asleep on the way home:


And after a really good nap, she had lunch. She sneezed on Al's pants during lunch at some point, getting food all over:





And then we had people over for our Easter supper pot-luck:




Izzie didn't really play nice with Miles. Our next big project will be trying to get her to learn how to share:


But they can still be best buds:


After the supper (which was fabulous), we had some quiet family time. Of course, a day wouldn't be a day without Izzie having a mini meltdown:


Meltdown aborted after Izzie discovers her belly button:


After a great dinner, it was time for a bath:


Lately, Izzie has been super vocal:


After her bath, its lotion time! Izzie helps out by doing her face herself:


Then it is story time while Izzie gets her last sippy of the day. In this picture it looks like Izzie is listening intently to the story:


But in reality, this is what she is really doing:


We brush our teeth:


We have some fun family playtime:


And we give good night kisses:


And off to bed we go:


Whew! I am exhausted just recapping our day. Man.... that post took a lot out of me, but I know that one day, I'll be really glad that I did this. =]

Izzie is Walking!

I wanted to post this before I forgot.

On April 9, 2009, at exactly 1 year 3 months and 3 weeks- our Isabella Chang walked! It was amazing - I sat in front of her and Albert was behind her. He let go, and she walked about 10 steps towards me! Her face had a look of fear and awe, and when Izzie finally made it into my arms she bursted into tears. I guess walking kinda freaked her out! We have still yet to capture this on video, but she can do it! She's still unwilling to take those steps without our encouragement, but at least she doesn't cry anymore.

Happy Easter!

The Truth about Motherhood

A few days ago Oprah did a show about the truth about motherhood. It was about how motherhood is this completely amazing and bewildering experience - nobody really tells you what its really like, and the only way you find out is when the kiddo is in your arms! A really funny part of the show were the mom confessions - things that they do to just get by during the day. And I realized that I have quite a list of my own. Many of these things are stuff that I swore up and down that I would never do as a mother.. but oh well, things change!

- I turn on the tv in the mornings, so I could get a bit more of shuteye.
- I give her juice first thing in the morning (mainly for constipation, but I should really push plain water more)
- Me, a self-professed gourmand, has a daughter who only loves jarred baby food. Ugh
- Sometimes when I'm feeding Izzie she gets a runny nose, and when I try to wipe it down she freaks. So I just let her nose run, and it gets in her food and I just let her eat it.
- I skip her baths many times when I'm too tired to do it.
- Same with brushing her teeth.
- i smell her clothes and as long as it doesn't have some kind of excrement on it, I just let her wear it again.
- I've given my kid ice cream and Doritos.

I'm sure there are many more to list.. but I'm tired right now and can't think of anymore. Anyway, oftentimes, I do NOT have it together as a mom - but I try hard, and hopefully that will be good enough. =]

Oh!

We have a lot of fun these days trying to get Izzie to imitate what we're doing. Its hard to get these things on video, because as soon as we whip out the camera, Izzie will stop doing whatever it is we want her to do. This video is a bit old (you can see our old apartment), but its an example of Izzie doing some of her new tricks: saying Oh.

Some other recent things:
- Trying to snap (she's pretty good actually)
- Imitating any kind of sounds we make (but not necessarily words)
- Pointing out her belly button, and her nose
- She will go up to a door and start knocking

Walking - Well, Sorta......

Izzie is over 15 months now and she is still not walking. The normal range for walking is 10 - 15 months, so I was getting a teensy bit worried. In my heart, I know she is fine. A lot of it has to do with her personality. Izzie is super cautious and she won't attempt to do things, unless she knows that she can do it well. It is one of the main reasons she gets less bumps compared to other children. Still, when 15 months creeped around I figured she just needed a little encouragement. I went out and got her the Haba Walker Wagon - and immediately Izzie loved walking around with it. In fact, after a week of walking around the wagon, Izzie has gotten the courage to stumble one or two steps and Al and I think that she will be walking soon. If anything, it proved that she could do it... we just need to be patient with our little girl!



The first time I saw Izzie walking with the wagon, I got a bit teary. It was the first time I saw her walking by herself (albeit with the wagon). I'm always walking while holding her hand or watching somebody else do that. But she just looked like such a big girl walking towards me! Sigh, where has the time gone?

Taking a break, and looking at herself in the mirror:


Back on her way:

Morning tantrum

You're an American Baby

Goodbye Lenfest Hall. Thanks for the Memories.

Independent Eater (Sort of)

The most challenging point about raising Izzie is feeding her and making sure she is getting enough. It seems to be a common theme since she was born. We had a rough start to nursing and then later the bottle transition was really tough. Sippy cups were not easy. And all through this, Izzie's weight percentile had gone down dramatically this past year. Her pediatrician assured me that it was completely normal and that she was just leaning out and genetics were kicking in... but I always obsess a little bit how about how much she is eating.

Ladies and Gentleman, I have a picky eater. Izzie loves, crackers, pears and cheese (add a glass of wine, and you've got a party). Anything else I will put her on her tray, she will poke it around and then eventually throw it on the ground. Oddly enough, she LOVES the jarred food. Now, not to be so cocky, I think my food is pretty delicious - but nope, girl likes her jarred food that tastes really bad. I hate that she's eating the jarred stuff - not that its really bad, but it would be so much more simple for me if she ate the food that I made for our family! We're trying this new thing where she gets her yogurt and toast for breakfast, lunch she gets what I give her (and she barely eats it), and then dinner, she gets what I give her, but I finish her off with jarred food, just to make sure she is getting the calories. Perhaps, it is time to really enforce "you eat what I give you or no meal", but its hard for me to do that, because I really think that kid would be happy not eating anything. We'll see - maybe I will go all strict on her very soon.

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of Izzie after she managed to self-feed herself with a spoon. Because jarred food is one of the few things she is willing to eat, I figured its a good way to make her practice eating with a spoon. This time, I managed to get a stealth video of her doing it:


And here is a video of Izzie denying my food:

Playground Business

This past weekend we had gorgeous weather - high 60s! It was a welcome change after the massive snowstorm we had earlier in the week. I really wanted to take advantage by taking Izzie out. We met up with Miles and Annie one day - both babies were intent on licking the bar (gross):


Miles had just learned how to lift his hands up in the air. He's so cute, even though he's wearing the SUC sweatshirt:


Here's a picture with moi:


We went out again next day, but this time with Albert:


And she loved going down the slides:



And of course the swings again. I cannot get this girl to smile on camera when she's on the swings - but she enjoys it!

Just doing her business

Picture Posts: An Explanation

So you may have noticed that we recently started making one-picture, no text posts on the blog. The reason for that isn't because we're lazy - well, not JUST because we're lazy. Sophie figured out a way to take pictures on our phones, and instantly email them to the blog, where they are automatically uploaded. So we figured it would be a good way to put up posts to capture funny moments as they occur.

Also, we're moving soon! We're moving out of Lenfest (law school dorm) and will be heading 60 blocks south, around Lincoln Center and Columbus Circle. So the next couple of weeks will consist of lots of packing and other grunt work. Sadly, that probably means more cell phone insta-posts and less long posts. We'll try our best though - thanks to those of you who are still following the blog!

Sunday Best

Important Phone Call

Swingin!

Since we had a brief moment of good weather a few days ago, we took Izzie out to the swings. It was so close to her naptime, that Izzie didn't dig it too much, but we still look forward to many many swing days once the weather gets warmer.

*Wendy says that riding the swings is really good for development. Who knew!

Sleeping Babies

I love watching Izzie sleep. Of course, I don't watch her sleep that often because I'm afraid I'll wake her up. She looks so vulnerable, sweet and delicate when she's sleeping. We took this video way back when Izzie just came back from Korea. She was incredibly jet lagged, and we tortured her by not letting her sleep in during the day, and not playing with her at night. Poor kid would crash during the day only to be constantly woken up by us during the day. Anyhow, after a week, Izzie fully recovered and she was back on schedule.

Playing with mommy's purse