Free fun at interesting places!

Memorial day weekend wasn't super exciting, but it was nice family time.

Aidan got to play at two different places with other kids. One of our favorite places is the Tanforan Mall. They have this children's playground where Aidan can run around and not get hurt (unless a big kid runs into him or pushes him). When he first went there with daddy, he was unsure of what to do. Daddy had to climb through the tunnel to show him what to do. However, this time around, he wanted Mommy to hold onto him so he could walk up the little slide (as there were no steps). That's what Daddy showed him last time. He's not as timid and actually felt quite at home in the playground. We go to this mall almost every week and it's only recently that we let Aidan play in the play area. Daddy is always worried about other kids getting him sick or him being too young to play there. Mommy could never win the argument. Now that we've taken him there, it's a load of fun for him. I think he definitely needs to hang out with more kids around his age, especially boys. At day care, he hangs out with 2 girls, one's 3 years old, and the other is a month younger than he is. At the playground, he got to hang out with other kids, especially boys that are about his age. But we noticed that he usually checks out other girls instead ;)

Last weekend, we also went to Ikea. The trip was mainly for my wedding shopping for tealights and holders, and other misc. stuff. However, we love Ikea because of how baby-friendly the place is. You can't beat all the children play areas throughout the store. We tried to find the blue-ball pool that Aidan played in before, but couldn't find it. But that's quite ok, we found another play area that's even better... the children's section! He's old enough to climb up the little slide and slid down by himself. Mommy was so proud of him. Because of the bad habit of walking up the slide at the Tanforan playground, he wanted to do the same at Ikea. Mommy had to redirect him a couple times to go through the back where the steps were, instead of up the front and blocking other kids. I think he had tons of fun. Doesn't hurt when Ikea has free diapers and wipes, bottle warming station, baby care and family bathrooms... oh, and the Swedish meatballs.

I am a bad mommy!

I don' t know what' s going on with me lately. The last two days I have been so careless with Aidan. Yesterday, as I was trying to grab a pair of pants for him while he's still sitting on the changing table, he just rolled off! OMG! The poor boy just fell down on the floor and I felt HORRIBLE!!! I usually strap him in, or put him down on the floor before I go to the closet. I don't know what I was thinking!!! I knew everyone said kids grow up with bumps here and there, fall down from couches and beds, etc... but still!!! I could have done better!!!!! I have to tell daycare about the accident and observe him so he wouldn't throw up and have a head trauma. Luckily, he's fine.

And guess what happened this morning again. I messed up!!! I warmed up some sweet potatoes for him in the microwave, touched them and gave to Aidan. He SCREAMED!! It was too hot in the middle and I didn't notice that! I had to use my finger and swap all that food out from his mouth and the sweet potato was still hot on my finger. That's the first time ever I have burnt his little tongue. WHAT WAS I THINKING?? I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER!!

I must be having some sort of brain fart. I seriously need a vacation. Tomorrow I better pay better attention to my son before CPS is called on me.

Any other mommy out there feel my pain and guilt?

Roseola

Finally, the truth is out. It's Roseola aka baby measles. I don't know where he picked that up, but it sure put mommy and daddy in a stressful situation again.

Stressful Situation = 4 days of fever, high and low, another ER visit, 3 phone calls to the Kaiser advice nurse, 2 days of diarrhea and a final visit to the doctor. At the final visit, the doctor finally realized that it might be Roseola and Aidan might get rashes all over his body after the fever is gone. And guess what, rashes all over.

Luckily, the most contagious time was when he's having a fever. Now we just need to wait for the rash to painlessly go away. Aidan has been a trooper during all this. Despite a minor loss of appetite when he was having a fever, he was quite his old self. Happy and running around like nothing happened.

Mommy deals with stress by eating. After the ER visit, I told Hank that I need some ice-cream. And this is so not good for my diet! But I NEEDED some ice-cream! I bet parents out there totally understand how I feel.

Dan Dan's Birthing Story

Dan Dan is already 16 months old and yet I still haven't written his birthing story. I've been meaning to do so for the longest time. After reading a tragic blog of another January 06 Mom from BabyCenter, I decided to open this new blogging account and write about my dear Dan.

I first felt the contractions on the early morning of January 8, 2006. I think I felt some minor pain at around 1 or 2 a.m. I was able to sleep a little, reminding myself to sleep on my left. That morning, the contractions became more painful and frequent. I tried to use the big yoga ball that I got, lean on it on our bed to reduce the pain. Hank tried to massage me, but the pain would not go away (of course, doh!). At around 11 a.m., I called Kaiser and told that I was in pain. They told me that if the contractions were between 2-3 minutes, then I might be ready. From then on, we started tracking the frequency of the contractions, while trying not to go crazy. I think I actually did a pretty good job in not screaming and hurting Hank. I internalized my pain and just made some grunting sounds when the contractions came. Hank tried to comfort me, but was pretty helpless. We were all packed and once the contractions were close enough, we'd head to the hospital.

At around 1:30-2:00 p.m., I called back Kaiser and said my contractions were getting close. That walk from the Kaiser parking lot to the main hospital was definitely not fun. I had to stop and wait for the contractions to come and go before I could walk again. I hope that walking helped with my labor. I remembered walking through the hospital lobby to the elevator, and a woman was whispering to the man beside her that I was in having contractions. Damn right I was! We got to the hospital, waited in the waiting room for a brief time and was checked into the Labor and Delivery room. Everyone at at the hospital was very nice, especially, the nurses. Even though they had different Dr. interns during my stay there, everything was fine. I think I was only 4 cm dilated at the time and they gave me Pitocin (without me asking or telling me). I remembered asking for an epidural as soon as possible! haha Getting the epidural was an interesting experience. I had to wait for the contraction, once it's gone, then they insert that into my spine. I don't remember if that was painful or not since nothing can beat the pain of a contraction, right?

Afterwards, I just laid in bed until it's time. Hank was there with me the whole time. I called my parents to let them I was in the hospital and I bet they were nervous. I also called Lolita and told her to make me some ginger fried rice and bring them to the hospital. My mom said that I had to eat that after the baby is born. During this time, a few residents came in to check on me and see how's the dilating went.

Finally at around 10 p.m., I got to 10 cm and they were ready for the baby to come out. They first had to stop my epidural because I was supposed to push when the contractions came. I couldn't really feel any contractions with the drug. After that, I kept on pushing and pushing and pushing. We tried holding onto the bar, holding onto the towel, and yet Dan Dan's head was still stuck! Hank was on my left and Lolita was on my right, encouraging me along the way. I could feel I was working all the muscles that I had, yet the baby has not come out. During this time, they were monitoring the baby's heart beat and making sure baby was getting enough oxygen. At one point, the nurse gave me an oxygen mask. The resident doctor continued to encourage me to push and didn't really want to slit me open for the baby. It was getting so close that they could see the baby's hair. I guess I should appreciate her belief in my ability to push. They asked if I wanted to feel the hair, I refused. I just wanted to get this over with. Finally, after 2 long hours of pushing, Aidan was born on January 9, 2006 at 12:02 a.m.

Since Aidan was stuck for a while, a pediatrician was on standby to make sure he's doing ok, and draining some of the poopy stuff (I forgot the medical term, meconium?) out of him. They made sure he was ok. Hank was over there watching Aidan and cutting the umbilical cord. I knew he was a proud dad. I, on the other hand, was so dead tired. The doctor continued to get the rest of the placenta and all the bloody stuff out of me. Sewed a couple stitches, and I was fine. I have yet to hold Aidan at this time. At this point, I didn't really feel a lot of emotion towards my newborn baby. I think it's the hormones, the high and low of giving birth.

When Aidan was finally all cleaned up and healthy, I got to hold him for the first time. My precious baby. He's so cute. I was so glad he's not one of those ugly newborn babies. He's adorable! We then spent time taking pictures and videos and rested. I ate some of the ginger fried rice, but oopsie, I threw up all over. It's that epidural acting in my stomach. I wasn't feeling very hungry, just sore from my 'full body workout' for the last 2 hours.

I didn't have the initial happiness of seeing my newborn. All I felt was, "I am glad he's finally out". However, after a while, that overwhelming feeling of LOVE came to me. It kept on growing and growing. You never knew you could love someone so much until you become a parent.

16 months later, I am still so in love with my Dan Dan.