Izzie's Fashion Faux Pas

I look funny with my pink outfit and blue socks. I mean I know it was 6 in the morning when Mommy dressed me (after I peed on her.. hehe), but I look kinda funny:

Next time, try harder, Mommy!:

Izzie likes her swing.... sometimes!

So Izzie has been having some spit-up issues, and the doctor suggested that we get a swing to help keep her upright (so we don't have to hold her constantly). She kinda has to be in the right mood to enjoy her swing, and these were one of those few times:



You can see her follow the rotating fish - somewhat of a development milestone as a baby. Before when she was awake, her eyes would just wander around aimlessly, but now she can focus and follow an object. I can also see that she's a bit more interactive. A book that I've been skimming through mentioned that at the 6 week mark (which she is today), fussiness is at a peak. I guess whenever babies are about to hit a major developmental milestone, it comes with a lot of fussiness and crankiness (growing up is hard!). Well, our little bugger has been slightly more difficult lately. She demands to be held now, and getting her to fall asleep is also somewhat more challenging (and not that fun at 3 am in the morning). The book also said, things start to get better after 6 weeks... which was welcome news to Albert and me .... but then I kept reading and the book said that for babies born early, it can be 6 weeks counting from their original due date. Sigh... if you'll remember Izzie was born about 2.5 weeks early.

So are Al and I in for some major fussy-pants action for the next couple weeks, or is the "worst" passing us by?

I still think she's a good baby. =]

By the way, you can hear Albert saying in the background: "The plural of "fish" is fish, Izzie." I guess Albert is trying to enforce good grammar at an early age. In my defense, I was saying FISHIES not FISHES. Is the plural of fishy also fishy, or is it fishies? Fishy is just child talk for fish.. if you don't know.

Saturday Activities

Today I put Izzie in 3-6 month clothes. They're still a bit big on her, but she wasn't swimming in them, so I kept it on. Cute, no? I also had her model her babylegs - today's selection being skeletons.



Here is Albert reenacting a certain movie. Can you guess which one?


Playing with Daddy can be tiring:

Congratulations, you two!

Here's to Greg and Wendy! We love you guys!

Smile!

Izzie, you smiled today, but I missed it because I looked away for a second. But mommy and nanny both saw it, and it was the first time any of us have ever seen you smile. Mommy says it was wide and kind of lopsided. Mommy was shaking the rattle at you when you decided to do your thing. Anyway, I'm hoping you'll show me too sometime soon.

Mommy and me also spent about an hour today putting together your swing. It was kind of annoying work, so you better enjoy it! It has rotating, colorful fish, and it swings from side to side. Your contraptions are starting to dominate our apartment - we look like we're running a whole daycare operation here. Hopefully, in the next couple of days, the weather will warm up so that you can go out and enjoy some sunshine too.

Love,
Daddy

My girl is getting stronger!

So yesterday, Izzie was giving us a bit of a difficult time. This girl totally has her nights and days flipped! ARRRRGH. She was awake from 3 am and wanted to play with daddy and needed mommy there to feed her when she wanted a sip or two. Anyway, I was dozing off when Al told me... "soph! look!" and he showed me this:



Isn't that cool? Her head is lifted up so high! She also started to follow things as they move around. If you shake a rattle in front of her and move it, she'll follow her gaze. Sigh... our little Einstein is growing.

Of course, she's sleeping away right now. I'm going to go wake her in a bit.... none of this nocturnal playing NO MORE!

Does my baby look like a boy?

Hahahaha.... I guess I really don't care if she does!

More Visitors!

We've had some friends come over to visit Izzie. Keep coming! You guys are always welcome.

Al's high school friend, Vasu:


And yesterday, Amy and Alex stopped by. I think Izzie was hungry at this time and didn't care to be held without being fed:

We gave it a second try after she was full. And she seems content, no?

1 month pediatrician's visit!

Today, Izzie had her 1 month pediatrician's visit. Our little chunky monkey weighed in at 10 pounds! She was something like the 43rd percentile at birth, and as of today she is now the 69th percentile. She also supposedly grew 3.5 inches.. but height is a very unreliable measurement.

We'll start to re-introduce the bottle this week.. hopefully it'll go well! Here's a picture from the doctor's office.

Heartprint

Oprah says that when someone makes an impression on your soul, it is a "heartprint." I woke up this morning and found a new video on the camera that was made last night. My heart melts....

Dinner Interrupted

Today Al and I were eating dinner while Izzie was hanging out in her rockin' bouncer. And of course, she was so dang cute... we abandoned eating dinner and started taking pics:

Izzie, you're 1 month old today!

Dear Izzie,

Exactly one month ago, you were almost on your way out to this world. Your mom and dad didn't know anything about newborns or how to take care of newborns, but God decided that we were going to take care of you anyway. Kiddo, in just one month, we have come a long way. We are now experts at changing your diaper, and we're also pretty good at deciphering your little cries and figuring out what it is that you want. We had some bumps along the road in terms of trying to get you to eat - but now you eat like a champ and you've become our little chunky monkey. We brag to everybody how you're the best baby in the world - as far as newborns go, we think you make our life very easy. In the past few days, you've started to make eye contact with us more, and you endure the silly faces that we make at you trying to get you to smile. You've also become remarkably stronger - when we put you down in your crib, you're able do a 180 degree turn. We think you're incredible, and we can't wait to see what our next month together will bring.

We love you very much,
Mommy and Daddy

Jess meets Izzie

Yesterday Jess stopped by the apartment to meet Izzie for the first time. We all loved seeing you Jess! And thanks for the momofuku. =]

Izzie's 6 AM Story

Most of the time I do this. Sleep, sleep, sleep....:

While I was sleeping this morning, I thought, "Ma and Pa want me to smile. So maybe I'll give them a little preview"

So I did this:

But then, I didn't want them to get too excited, so I showed them this:

I think Mom got kinda mad, so she made me do this:

So that kinda pissed me off, so I did a tinkle and made Ma change my diaper again. =]

Izzie was born 4 weeks ago!

While at certain times it didn't feel that way (at 2 am, when I'm trying to get her to go to sleep), the past 4 weeks flew by.

Here is a picture to commemorate the day. I can't believe this Saturday she turns 1 month old! Watch out for pictures!

Talking to Bonnie

Yesterday, i got a very welcome phone call from Bonnie all the way from Taiwan! I can't wait for Izzie to meet you, Bonnie!

When will she smile?

So Izzie's quiet alert time has definitely increased. And like a good girl, she moved her quiet alert times to the day time. I've been trying to get her to smile during these times (babies are supposed to start smiling 4-6 weeks). Hopefully we'll get a grinner soon. In the meantime, I just thought she was so dang cute. Also, doesn't she look chunky? We call her our little chunky monkey.

Tummy Time

Although Izzie technically spends a lot of time on her tummy (napping on our bellies, etc), today was the first real time she did tummy time during quiet alert time.

Stretch Time

Izzie is official!

We got Izzie's birth certificate in the mail yesterday. It looks a lot more fancier than mine - watermarks and everything...

I swear.. its getting better!

So today, we tried giving Izzie her bath in the living room in her own tub. Even though she still isn't digging getting clean, it was a BIG improvement from the sink bath. She was just doing soft cries as opposed to screaming bloody murder.

Izzie's First Walk Outside

Up till now, due to the cold weather, the only outside Izzie has seen is from the building to car for her doctor's appointments. Since NY weather today was mid 60s, I figured it would be good to go out for a short walk. We walked all of 10 blocks (to campus and back). It was nice getting some fresh air, and Izzie slept through it all!

Good-bye Grandma and Grandpa! We'll miss you!

We were blessed to have Al's parents over for the past two weeks helping us out. Al's dad had to leave a few days ago, and Al's mom had to leave today.



Come visit us again soon!

Playing with the Gymini

Today, we decided to see how Izzie would do at the Gymini Amy and Adrienne gave her.

She seemed enthralled at her own reflection. And then she got pissed off:

Public Service Announcement

Since Sophie and I have already noticed several different spellings of our daughter's name, we thought we'd like to clear the air: Her name is spelled Isabella. Her nickname is spelled Izzie, like sophIE. Easy way to remember - like mom, like daughter.

We now return you to your regular scheduled programing.

Got Milk?

Sometimes, to catch a break from direct boob-feeding (attractive I know), I have Al bottle-feed freshly expressed milk from the human cow factory. (Sorry, if this is gross)

This is my life....

Izzie's First REAL BATH

Since Izzie's cord fell off, we decided to give Izzie her first real bath. Congrats on graduating from the sponge bath to the sink kiddo. I was hoping to get some full-on nude pics of her, but our photog (Albert) had to jump in at the end and help us out.




And chillin afterwards:

(Thanks for the super soft blanket, Aunt Wendy!)