Ending 2007 in sickness..... ugh....

Dan Dan has been sick for the last few days. First a runny nose and cough, and then started a low-grade fever for a couple days. Luckily he is getting better and the runny nose is almost gone. It worries me that he might have a stuffy nose when he's on the plane. Since it's his first flight, I have no idea how he would react. And if he's sick, this would just add more pressure to his little head and his ears might really hurt.

He has also lost his appetite the last few days. He used to eat almost everything, and a lot! But lately, he would take a couple bite and then refused to eat. Even his favorite apples and bananas, he won't even finish half of it. The only thing he would take was soup. But that's not enough to sustain his active lifestyle. Feeding has become a battle. It has become a battle between Dan Dan and Mommy/Daddy, and a battle between Mommy and Daddy on the philosophy of food battles. The pediatrician said one of the rules we should follow is never force a kid any food. No food fights! This is one thing that Mommy and Daddy are not agreeing on.

But thank god he's feeling better now and actually went to day care today. He came home eating just like he used to! I am not sure if it's because he saw other kids eating, or he's just feeling a lot better. He didn't eat as much as he used to yet, but he definitely ate everything we put on his plate. Thank God for that!

Now that Dan dan is getting better, Mommy and Daddy are sick. First Mommy, then Daddy. We seem to get sick together a lot. It sucks because it's the crucial time of the year and we definitely need to get well within the next 2 days. We definitely don't want to be sick on the plane, or any time during our month-long trip.

I vaguely remember we were also sick last New Year's Eve. Mmm... I guess flu shots are not perfect. Now let's see if Mommy and Daddy can actually stay up late enough to watch the New Year comes, while listening to Dan Dan coughing up a storm.

Christmas 2007

This Christmas was a quiet one. Aside from opening presents, it's like a normal Sunday. We got up, had breakfast and then proceeded with the presents. Aidan wasn't very interested in opening any of them! He's more interested in looking at the lights of the Christmas tree, and trying to grab my camera!

I got daddy to set up a tripod to videotape him, and then daddy took pictures while mommy helped Dan Dan open his presents. Aidan received a nice set of block books from Uncle Kyle and Auntie Leonor, a nice dinosaur transformer car and Spiderman memory game from Auntie Joanne, a bear with chocolates from Auntie Zoe (chocolates for Daddy and Mommy, of course!), a stuffed animal dragon from Khalida (day care provider), and a V-Smile Babysystem from Daddy and Mommy. He also received an early Christmas present from grandma, which was a very nice red coat that he's been wearing since!

After opening the presents, daddy and mommy took Dan Dan out to Orange Park and play. It was a beautiful day, a little chilly, but nonetheless a perfect day in the park. He enjoyed the swing, but was a little scared of the slides. He spent most of the time inside the Choo-choo train!

Dan Dan will be getting more presents next month when we went back to Asia to see more relatives!

Boys give mommies heartattacks

We met up with Leonor, Kyle and Melanie for some lunch on Sunday (12/23/07) . It was pure craziness! I guess since it's the final days before Xmas, everywhere was packed with last-minute shoppers. We finally ended having lunch at Marie Callendar because Moonstar was packed. Lunch was fine and food was just OK. Didn't really expect a whole lot. Basically, we just want somewhere the kids could walk around and won't be such a bother if they cry.

Melanie has grown so much! She is such an adorable little girl. Makes me want to have a little girl even more. Aidan was being his charming little self for the most part. It was not until the end of lunch and after sitting for over an hour that he finally lost his patience. He was doing fine and playing with Melanie, until he ran into the corner of a table. And I mean he really RAN into it! Poor boy got a black eye. Thank goodness he was tall enough to miss hitting right in the eye, but a little below the right eye. He would have to be a panda for the next few days. Being the little champ that he was, he only cried for a little while. Hank told me Melanie walked into the same corner but since she was walking slower and she's a little shorter, the impact wasn't as great.
I don't know how many bruises he is going to get in the future. As long as there isn't any broken bones, and CPS wasn't called, I am fine. When we got home, I put a stuff animal right at the corner of our futon bed/couch so he won't run into it. He often times runs without looking where he is going. Definitely needs to get a leash for him when we go back to Asia. I don't think grandparents can keep up with him and I don't want him to run into traffic.

At night, we went over to check out some Xmas lights at the Chestnut neighborhood in South City. We went at around 5:30 p.m. which was earlier than last year. Maybe coz it was too early, not all the houses were lit up yet. Since it's getting cold, I didn't want Dan Dan to be in the cold. A couple houses still amazed me with their decorations. It's amazing how much time and effort (and $) people put into each year's decorations. Dan Dan didn't fully enjoy it despite the fact he loves the little lights and tree we have at home. Maybe next year he could fully enjoy the amazing decorations. We will make this as our annual holiday tradition (as long as we live close enough to the area).

Party Party Party!!

When you had 3 Holiday parties in one weekend, you knew it's definitely that time of the year. What a busy weekend!

Last Friday was mommy's work holiday party. As usual, it was held at work. It wasn't too crowded this year and I think we arrived right on time. Aidan, of course, was busy running around, playing with cabinet doors, going up and down the stairs, and occasionally throwing a tantrum here and there. Overall, he behaved ok, didn't scream or cry. Mommy and daddy just had to keep him in the general area and not grabbing food, or daddy's beer.

Saturday was mommy's friend's holiday party at her house. We got there a little late because we had to wait till Aidan woke up from his nap. We actually had to wake him up coz it's getting late and daddy and mommy were starving. We're saving our stomach to gulf down some delicious Filipino food. Aidan was busy hanging out in the kitchen and playing with cabinet doors. Nothing new in that area! Lola's grandson wanted to 'race' and play. So I got Aidan to run around with Allen. However, Allen got a little too excited at one point, and accidentally pulled Aidan too hard that Aidan hit his face to the door frame. No serious injury. Just a bruise and he was being a trooper. Mommy hugged and he's fine within a few seconds. Aidan had also taken a liking to tortilla chips. There was a plate on the coffee table and he kept stuffing himself! He definitely liked that salty taste!

Sunday, we were invited by Grandma to the TerraBay Holiday Party. As usual, we arrived right before food was served. Now this time, Aidan was being a good boy. He sat down for a whole hour and a half, didn't fuss at all. Aidan arrived and saw Grandma helping out with checking-in people, and he immediately went around the group in front of us, and wanted to say Hi to Grandma. Aww... wasn't he the cutest! I was happy to see that Aidan recognized Grandma, and actually liked being with her.

Unfortunately, mommy was busy feeding and chasing after Aidan that she didn't take any party pictures the whole weekend. Grr... sux...

First day of new day care

Today is Aidan's first day at the new day care. Since Mrs. K is on vacation and won't be back until the end of the month, she recommend her friend to us. Dropping Aidan off this morning was easy. He went in, saw a bunch of older kids, and then started playing with the Elmo toy. Totally forgot about daddy and mommy, and I was worried he would cry! Where was the separation anxiety when I wanted it (ok, maybe only just a little of that)?

I didn't get to pick him up at the end of the day because of a dentist appointment. Daddy picked him up and obviously he's fine. I was hoping at this new day care, he would speak more as he's the youngest one. At Mrs. K's, he's the oldest kid and has no one to talk to.

I did notice something different this evening when he's home. He was taking his pants off and squatting down! I bet he saw other kids who are potty-trained and tried to copy that. At home, he's already following me into the restroom when mommy had to go. He immediately took the stool, sat down and waited for me. Then he would stand on the stool and wash his hands. I think he's ready for a potty!

Today at bath-time, I only lifted him up and said "pee-pee time" and he immediately peed, even without me dipping his feet into the warm water. I guess it's time for me to do some potty-shopping and reading up on reviews. Maybe by the end of this month, he would be potty-trained! Ahh.. a mommy could dream...

Thanksgiving Weekend

I know it's a little late to blog about Thanksgiving. I've been meaning to write more often, especially, at that right moment when Aidan was so cute. But once that moment is gone, I got lazy again.

So, Thanksgiving was nice and quiet. Had dinner at Paul and Rachel's. The food was good and I don't think I overate. I would love to, but it's really kinda hard to do that when you're chasing after a toddler all the time. The rest of the weekend was spent on shopping. I definitely didn't participate in the Black Friday craziness. However, I did shop at around 10 a.m., just not 5 a.m. Aside from getting clothes for Aidan, there wasn't any big purchases the whole weekend. I remember last year, i really wanted to get a laptop and there was a reason to look at Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. This year, I just browsed ads and websites unconsciously.


We went to Hillsdale Shopping Center on Saturday and saw that they already set up the Santa photo props. There wasn't a line so I figured, why not go ahead and take a pictures? This is Aidan's first picture with Santa Claus. I was surprised that he wasn't scared at all. He actually sat still and we were able to take one good picture. The picture package was somewhat expensive and the quality wasn't THAT great. But what the heck, it's for my cutiepie.



Thanksgiving weekend was also spent on decorating my Christmas Tree. I've been debating for a very long time whether I should get a new fake tree. This tree that I had, has been with me for years and it's really not that pretty. But since I didn't want to spend too much money, we ended up using this tree for another year. Hopefully, next year I would be able to get a new one. We got new LED lights for the tree and I was glad we did. The colored lights were so much nicer than my old set of lights and Aidan liked them so much more. We've set a timer so every night from 6-9 p.m., the lights would go on automatically. Each time Aidan saw the lights, he would say "Waaa". So cute!

Happy Halloweeny... Arrggghhh...

This is Dan Dan first year of trick-or-treating and also daddy and mommy's first. If I had done this before, I would have planned it better. Luckily, he's still too young to understand what this is all about and won't blame me for the uneventful trick-or-treating.



We planned to take Dan dan to Tanforan Mall to go TOT because he's so cold outside. Thinking the mall would be a safe and warmer alternative. Unfortunately, mommy had a late meeting at work and by the time I picked him up at daycare and get to the mall, it's almost 6 p.m. All the stores were out of candies and we only got THREE candies out of all whole mall (even though this is not a big mall). Mang.. that's horrible! Thank goodness, Dan Dan didn't know any better and he wasn't very into it anyways. When we got home after dinner, it was already 7:30 p.m. and it's getting cold. Daddy would definitely not let me take Dan Dan out and I was too tired anyways. So we stayed home and gave out candies for 30 mins before Dan Dan's shower and bedtime routine.


Luckily, because of the mid-day doctor's appointment, I had Dan Dan with me most of the day until I dropped him off at day care at around 2:30 p.m. There's a Halloween party at work and I brought him with me and showed up his little pirate outfit. Of course everyone said he's a cutie pie, and my staff got to meet him for the first time. Since I work at a different office now, my other co-workers haven't seen Dan Dan in a long time. It's nice for them to see and play with him again, even though we didn't stay for long. Instead of partying, Dan Dan was mostly interested in playing with all the cabinets, doors and drawers. At least Dan Dan wore his pirate costume all day!

Separation Anxiety?

So we went to see the pediatrician today to find out if Dan Dan had an ear infection that caused him waking up almost every night. Turns out he's fine and despite some ear wax, no ear infection. So we just talked about the sleepless nights. Since there hasn't been any stress or change in Dan Dan's life or routine, and he wakes up at various times, the doctor said it's probably separation anxiety. This is what she suggested:

- a small night light because he might be scared when he wakes up and doesn't see mommy
- mommy will need to sleep in the same room with him to soothe him if he wakes up crying (not whimpering or whining in his REM sleep)
- do not pick him up or turn on the big light; just pet and soothe to make sure mommy is here
- once he seems better, move the mattress in his room a little farther away but still in his room
- eventually mommy goes back to her room

Doctor also recommended the book by Dr. Richard Ferber, 2nd edition of "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems". She said it gotta be the 2nd edition, as the 1st edition has some controversial methods. Of course this is the doctor that's famous for the Crying-It-out Ferber method. As the doctor said, there's much to the CIO method than just letting your kid cry. I guess that's a very broad generalization and misunderstanding of his method. I'll see if I can find that book at the library so I don't have to buy it.

I am hoping Dan Dan won't wake up tonight as he's too tired today and we got him a nice fluffy pillow, just like how he likes to sleep on our comforter. He slept well last night, hopefully he'll sleep well tonight again. October is almost over, I am hoping for a better November.

It's that time of the year to get sick...+... sleepless nights

We are all sick this week. First it's mommy catching a cold, then spreading it to daddy. Lastly, Aidan caught it, too. I think daddy and mommy got it a lot worse than him. He just ran around with a runny nose and coughing a little. With us, we had to call in sick from work.

We're supposed to go to a Pumpkin Carving event and a Halloween party yesterday. But since we're all sick, we just basically stayed home and didn't do much. It's a shame coz I wanted Aidan to wear his pirate costume. Actually, I wanted the whole family to wear the pirate costumes. Now we'll just have to resort to Halloween day trick-or-treating and pray for nice weather.

More sleepless nights for Aidan. I am not sure what has been happening to him. He hasn't been sleeping well for this whole month of October. Spooky! I think there were about 5 nights in October where he slept through the night and I actually got to sleep through the night. He's been waking up screaming for no reason. When we're on our trip, it took me 2 hours to get him to sleep, which I could understand because it's a new environment. But even before he went on the trip, he's been waking up.

2 nights ago, it was so bad that he woke up screaming like someone was torturing him. I worry our neighbors would call the cops and think that we're torturing him. Took me a while to get him back to sleep... with us. Last night, because we're all not feeling very well, daddy had to actually sleep on the couch, while mommy slept with Aidan in bed. Of course I didn't sleep very well because I worry Aidan might roll off the bed. I had to periodically wake up to check on him.

I hope this is only a developmental stage and this will pass. October is ending soon, and these night terrors (maybe?) or nightmares (maybe?) better stop!

So much to say...

So much has happened since my last blog. I've been wanting to write all about it: S. Cali trip, sleepless nights, and pumpkin patch experience. However, now that time has passed, I don't feel like writing everything down anymore. Maybe just a brief update.

Oct 10-13
We drove down to S. California to visit Disneyland, California Adventures park and Legoland. We first stopped at Harris' Ranch for some yummy meat and then dinner at Downtown Disney. I had one of the best Mac and Cheese at Catal Restaurant.

Second day, we went to Disneyland. Overall it was a great experience and I think Aidan had fun. The only lousy experience was trying to meet Mickey Mouse at Toontown. There were soooo many people (you couldn't tell when you first lined up), and the line was moving super slow. We just left after half-way through Mickey's enormous house. California Adventures was fun as well. Aidan's favorite was the water park. Anything water was fun to him! The same day after California Adventures, we drove down to San Diego, checked-into Doubletree Del Mar and headed out for dinner. The following day, we drove up to Carlsbad to Legoland. I was a little disappointed. I heard this is a great park for little kids, but Aidan was a little TOO little. He didn't meet most of the height requirements (34") but he did spend a lot of time at the water park area. It's more fun if your kids are over 34" because the lines weren't that long and kids all seemed to have fun. We drove back home the following day.

What I learned from this trip, is not to jam packed so many theme parks! I should have stayed in Anaheim another day, instead of driving down to San Diego. Just too much too little time. Also, next time we're definitely flying. Sitting in a car with a 21-month old is not fun anymore. It was too long a drive for Aidan and for us.

Bye Bye Paci!

Last night was the second night in a row that DanDan slept through the night without a pacifier. I am so glad he is able to cut it out of his life just like that. He actually has been pretty good with his pacifier, using it only when he sleeps. But still, after hearing horror stories, I'm glad this is an easy one for me. No paci fairies, no donating paci to poor children, just plain cold turkey! I am so proud of him!

DanDan has been talking a lot more even though we're unable to make out of the sounds coming out of his mouth. It's funny how he likes to talk in our ears or face when we're sleeping. Like he wants to whisper some secrets to us. He's still as musical as ever. Especially now that his mouth is not being shut by a paci, when he lies down in bed at night, he would sing for a little while before falling asleep. In the morning, instead of quietly waiting for us to get him, he would be saying "ma ma" and talking to himself loudly. It's all broadcasted through the baby monitor. Even though I know he's not saying "ma ma" to call me his room, it still motivates me a little more to go in his room early in the morning to fetch him.

I am thinking about what to dress him up for Halloween. I really want to get him an airline pilot outfit since he's been obsessed with airplanes in the sky. We live close to the airport and we see airplane very often. But I can't seem to find a 18-24-month outfit. They are either 18 months, or 2T-4T. Gotta keep searching. Or maybe I should just get different pieces separately, so that he can actually re-wear the shirt or pants or jacket after Halloween.

Ah, my boy is growing up so fast.

San Mateo County Fair

Last Sunday (8/19/07) we went to the San Mateo County Fair. Got some free tickets from work, including free parking, so we ventured out to the San Mateo Event Center. It was a beautiful day and it was pretty warm.

We got there after lunch at our favorite Taiwanese restaurant in Foster City and it was very crowded yet. The Fair opened from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m., so we were actually quite early. Luckily, we were able to find a pretty good parking spot and didn't have to walk too far away.

It was a pretty big fair with different farm animals, children's playground, exhibitions and hands-on museum, games, entertainment, and food. Aidan got to check out different animals and he seemed very interested in them. I think he got tired very easily because of the warm weather. He was actually pretty clingy to me.


We played a few games and won a couple stuff animals. Aidan was actually not very into stuff animals except the big Winnie the Pooh at home. Since he's still too young, we didn't get on any rides. We missed the little kids section and since it has gotten hot and close to his nap time, we opt out of visiting that section.

I think the highlight of Aidan's day was the visit to the hands-on exhibition area where he was turning this wheel around, hitting a musical instrument with a rod, and playing with some games. I had to physically pull him away from spinning the wheel.

The other highlight was when we got some frozen treats. Daddy went to get mommy a frozen yogurt, and he got a chocolate-dipped frozen banana AND a chocolate-dipped frozen cheesecake! Man, were we sugar-high after that! Aidan particularly liked the cheesecake. He usually likes banana, but I think it was too hard and cold for him to bite in. After the cheesecake, he got some frozen yogurt from me. Weekends are
definitely days when he got his sugar intake.

We left after the treats since it's getting late and

Aidan was getting sleepy. He took a nice long nap after that. We were able to leave just in time to beat the crowd and the heat. He was still so full of energy in the end (after the sugar) and wanted to jump all over. He's been trying to squat and jump, but still can't quite jump up yet. But it was just too cute when he was trying to do so.

First FootBall Game

Aidan and mommy both went to their first football game last Saturday. Uncle Melvin got some extra tickets to the pre-season 49ers vs. Raiders. These tickets were expensive and hard to come by. Lucky us! This was our whole family's first time going to the Coliseum.

Aidan was having so much fun looking at the big screen tv, checking out those people running around. And best of all, his new obsession: airplanes. There were so many planes flying above us and he kept on lifting up his arm to do the plane action. So Cute! Since it's the Monster Park, it gets really cold at night and we had to bundle him up on a summer night! I think Aidan enjoyed a football game a lot more than a baseball game (even though AT&T Park is a lot nicer).

Aidan is 18-month old!

Aidan turned 1.5 yrs old on Monday the 9th. I can't believe he's growing up so fast. We went for his 18-month well-baby check up today and he's grown taller and heavier. He's right at around 50% for his weight (25 lbs 10 oz) and at 75% for his height (33 inches). Doctor said his head circumference is back on the chart at 90% or 95%. His head was so big that it was actually off the chart the last time we went in for his 15-month check-up. What can I say, he's a smart kid with a big head... I mean brain.

He's all over the place, making up all these weird words and humming songs that we sing to him. He got a few favorites and I think he actually got the tune of the songs pretty accurately. Will he be a future American Idol? At the check-up, we were trying to count to see if he can say 7-10 words. I guess he could, maybe not voluntarily speaking those words all the time, but he surely can imitate what we do and say. His current words are: nana (banana), wa-wa (water), mum mum (food), hi, bye, yum yum (unfortunately for the tylenol we feed him), uh-oh (his favorite expression lately) and other mumbo jumbo.

He's still a happy kid most of the time. But his evil-two behavior has come out as well. He would scream and fake-cry if he doesn't get what he wants. Really have to make sure we're not spoiling him (but it's so hard when he's so darn cute).

Now I am looking forward to my family visiting next month so that they can play with Dan Dan. My brother and sister have never met him (just through webcam), and they would love to play with him. Hank and I could use some babysitting service as well. ;)

Monterey Trip and Father's Day weekend

We had a fantastic weekend! It was short, a little rush, but nonetheless, we were able to have fun and not think about work or wedding planning.

The sole purpose of the trip was to take Aidan to the Monterey Aquarium, since he always shows interests in checking out the fish in fish tanks at restaurants. He saw some big fishies, but wasn't very interested in most of them. He had a lot more fun playing in the children's area than checking out the big sharks. It's all good. He's still young and we'll probably go back when he's a little older.

His favorite activity was to play with the water and squirting plastic fish at the children's area. He was laughing and running around, getting himself all wet. We didn't put an apron on him and his shirt and socks got all wet the first day. We went back the second day and we're prepared this time. We put on those yellow aprons provided, and I bought a extra set of clothes. I knew he's going to get so wet.




Aidan also had a lot of fun walking on the "water bed" in the children's area. He was a little wobbly and unsteady at first, but he got the hang of it and was able to walk and run around. He also played with another kid that was a little older than he is. The little boy was almost wrestling with Aidan, but it was all good fun. Aidan was laughing and playing with him.. no harm done.

Another fun event for Aidan was the slide. Ever since he tried that, he's been a big fan. He can now climb up the stairs by himself and slide down without much help (of course not when it was a very steep and fast one).

The second day of our trip was Father's Day. This time, mommy was behind the camera so daddy and Aidan got to take some pictures. Before we boarded on their free trolley to the aquarium, the conductor lent us her hat so daddy and Aidan both got to take a picture with it. The trolley rides were enjoyable and Aidan was well-behaved.

Busy Weekend!

Last weekend was a fun and busy weekend. We went to Palo Alto for Mel's annual bbq. It was Aidan's second bbq since he went last year as well. This time around, he had a lot more found. Instead of being stuck in a stroller, he was walking and running round. It was the first time he stepped on grass and he was walking like he was in new shoes for a second, before getting adjusted to the new sensation. Of course afterwards, he couldn't stop running on grass, then cement, then grass again. He also enjoys picking grass as well.

Another new fascination of his was football throwing. A few people were throwing football and Aidan just stood there, following the football with his eyes. He could stand there for more than 5 minutes (which was a long time for him), and just watched the guys play. I guess he's a true American and we should definitely introduce him to this real American sports. Unfortunately, mommy is not a big fan of football and this honorary coach task will be daddy's in the future.

Sunday, we met up with Leonor, Kyle and their new baby girl, Melanie. Melanie is such a cutie pie. She was in her best behavior (according to her parents, which doesn't happen frequent enough). On the other hand, Aidan was a little whiny and clingy. It took him a while to get used to them and started walking around in their house instead of clinging onto mommy and daddy. We spent some time in their house and Aidan got to climb up his first flight of stairs. He was a little scared at first, but then daddy said he went up twice! He still couldn't come down but with practice, he would be able to do so. Since we don't have stairs at home, his practice will be going to the playground and walking up the slide, which he loves play.
We then head to Santana Row for some lunch. It was such a nice and warm day, so different than the temperature that we're used to. I have to take off one of Aidan's shirt because he was sweating like crazy. After lunch, we split up and hopefully we get to hang out again. I wish we live closer to each other and we can hang out again more often. It's nice to share first-time-parent experiences.

Where is the nose running to?

Aidan has been having a runny nose since last Friday. While his nose is 'running', mommy is running after him to blow his nose. At least he has learned another skill during this whole ordeal... he learned to blow his nose while mommy said "1-2-3...brrrrr"

I'm looking forward to Mel's annual bbq this Saturday. Life with family these days mean lesser time to see my friends. And usually during this annual bbq, I get to see most of my friends there. Aidan hasn't seen his uncles and aunties in a long time. This year, he's old enough to walk around and we can take him to the playground. Last year, he was just sitting in his stroller. *mental note* Needs to bring lots of sunscreen.

Also on Sunday, we'll be meeting up with friends in San Jose. It's sort of like a play date since my friend had her new baby girl (not-so-new as she's about 10 months old now). I wish I have more friends that have kids and live close by. Hopefully, both kids are going to be in their best behaviors. I heard Melanie is quite a challenge and a feisty little girl. She better not beat up my Aidan! Or worst, Aidan beats her up! haha...

Work has been so crazy, I am so looking forward to my next few weekends.

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.