Stats

Pediatrician appointment today. The vital stats:

Height: 28.75 in (68th percentile)
Weight: 18 lb. 9 ounces (19th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.5 in (91st Percentile)

Yes, 19% in weight and 91% in head circumference. So we're going to have a lean, tallish guy with a huge head (I guess it could be worse: short and squat with a small head)!

Christmas in Pictures

(This looks like a sad photo, but it's actually not) Christmas was spent in Hood River this year with Dae doing another locum tenen at the hospital. Call us crazy, but we love joining him (and love our Best Western accommodations! Side note: Dae has since joined the "Best Western Rewards" Club since he spends so many nights in their hotels. We were very, embarrassingly, excited when his Rewards Card came in the mail with all its advertised perks! Boy I wonder if Dae knew what he was in for when he met me...he goes from the Ritz Carlton to the Best Western!) Anyway, Leelee in particular loves the complimentary breakfasts that come with all Best Western stays. Speaking of breakfast, his new thing is his "sour face", when he puckers his face and squints his eyes in succession (usually 4 times in a row, sometimes less). He can now do it on command, even sans food!

Getting ready to squeeze...

Here we go...

The full squeeze...

A Quick Recovery...

Onto something a little less tart...

In this case, the culprit was some less-than-sweet yogurt (regular yogurt diluted with the sour Greek stuff). He was actually squinting already when Dae tried to feed him another bite; he usually doesn't squint when we place a new bite in front of him.

Another one of the perks that came along with the Best Western was a readily available crib. Here at the BW it more resembled a jail cell, but we thought it would work. We had to rethink our strategy when we checked in on Christian's first nap and came across this...

It was absolutely hilarious. We were laughing and horrified at the same time, wondering whether we should wake a sleeping baby (never!) and extricate him from this mess, or risk some serious lack of circulation from those bars. Well, the answer was pretty obvious so Dae surged ahead and repositioned the poor little guy (without waking him - yahoo!). After that, we made sure he had sufficient padding around the entire circumference.

Leelee in jail

Excited to be in the Big People's Bed

So anyway, the rest of our stay was excellent. Hood River was a far cry from La Grande as far as shops and restaurants (and workout options!). I came across this workout challenge during Day 3 of our trip...

418 stairs. Yup, I counted each and every one of them (so as not to sell myself short!). On the first attempt, I tackled them twice. On the second try, I brought Leelee with me and challenged myself for 3 times, and I did it! I was pretty much wheezing by the end, and Christian was completely sacked out in the carrier, all 20 extra dead-weight pounds of him.

Here we are in matching hats at Andrew's Pizza Place on the main street in Hood River. We came back here twice for their lunch special of pizza, breadstick, tomato basil soup (which was absolutely delicious) and a drink. $6.75, couldn't beat it! And yes, that blue striped number underneath his sweater is in fact his pajamas from the night before. This habit of just placing a sweater and pants over his pajamas is a new, unfortunate development.

Finally, a whole slew of photos from Christmas at mom's house. Christian had an active weekend fending off attacks from cousin Didi and bonding with his new family.

A regular occurrence with these three

Looking for some sympathy. Side note: Auntie Ev thinks it's hilarious how far apart his legs spread when he is sitting. Must be a flexible guy.

Matching outfits from Grandma for Christmas! A perfect fit.

"Twins" - Part 2

So much activity going on, didn't even notice wrapping paper strewn everywhere (including covering his right eye!)

Pike Place Market. Wilson and Stacy kindly hosted us and showed us the insiders' guide to Pike Place Market, including mini doughnuts, mac 'n cheese, and clam chowder. Yum!

This was as good as it was going to get. Sure, Didi was aiming straight for my head and Mal wanted to be anywhere but here, but it worked!
Ev, Didi, Mel, Jeff, Mal, Leelee, Grandma, Stacy, Wilson and Uncle Wang

Christmas 2009!

We've been busy. We jetted up to Grandma's house last weekend for our first annual pre-Christmas Christmas celebration and had so much fun! Photos to come (I am awaiting photos from mom and Ev...hint hint). We have also been cheating by opening a trickling of Christmas presents well before Christmas, starting with Leelee's Christmas pj's, opened last week.

You can see that Christian was intensely interested in the bow. The gift itself? Not so much.

The next stop on our gift-opening extravaganza was this evening, our "big" gift opening. Since we are heading to Hood River tomorrow for another one of Dae's hospital stints, we decided to do our big gifts this evening and our stockings in Hood River.

This photo about sums up the level of excitement Leelee felt for gift opening this year


SK-II!!! I have been wanting this ridiculously expensive product forever!

Ultrasonic jewelry cleaner! Yet another item I have been online shopping for forever, but never purchased.

Dae and his new guitar. How surprised was I to learn that he could actually play? (I mean, he said he could "play" but I secretly thought otherwise)

A sea of stuff. Christian was surrounded by his new toys from Auntie Ev, Auntie Ann and Mary.

Other Random Fun Stuff:

1) Christian has moved up to his big-boy carseat. We milked every last second out of his infant seat carrier but, as the name SnugRide would suggest, it was getting quite a bit more than Snug toward the end of its use! We'd have to strip poor Christian of all of his outerwear to even get him to fit into the seat, and then it was cozy, to say the least. He has upgraded to a Britax Roundabout and we are taking it on its inaugural spin tomorrow to Hood River. We shall see how it goes.

2) Christian lent a hand in laundry last week:
3) The nanny taught Christian how to clap his hands when we say "Pai Pai Shou" (Chinese for clap your hands). It is so fun! We are conveniently overlooking the fact that the nanny is teaching him these monumental tasks...

Leelee Laughing: Video

Dae always manages to get the most prolonged and hysterical laughter out of Christian. Here's some video proof taken in November. (I will not admit how long it took me, with Dae's help, to figure out how to upload videos...)

Toothbrushing

We brushed Leelee's tooth (singular!) for the first time this evening, and I think he liked it. We even used a little bit of toothpaste...it took a total of about 2 seconds to brush it, it was pretty funny.

It seems I have contracted whatever it is Christian had, because I laid in bed today until about 5pm with a fever. Dae did his best to keep the house quiet and Christian at bay and was pretty successful, even though Christian was irritable all day. When I finally re-emerged at 5pm I found dad and son completely passed out on the couch, Christian in the Beco. (I must admit, sleeping in all day was a dream!)

The Dentist didn't even Notice...

Leelee got his first tooth today! (His lower left central incisor, otherwise known as tooth # O) One might assume the dentist in the family was the first to discover it, but that would be an incorrect assumption. It was none other than Auntie Ev! Embarrassing but true. I had even done a gum-swipe this morning to rule out a new tooth and felt nothing.

Anyway, pre-tooth discovery, Christian developed a fever of 101.6 yesterday and a red rash around his mouth. We, being first time parents and dealing with the first fever, were running around getting thermometers and tylenol in a frenzy. I sent a couple of e-mails to the pediatrician, who humored me but didn't seem concerned (good thing I didn't bring him in only to have the doctor tell the dentist that the culprit was a tooth).

So Christian has been especially clingy and fussy. He has napped in no greater than 15 minute increments and likes to be held (at all times). While it certainly puts a crimp in my day's plans, everytime I see his little face, covered in mucus and tears and with swollen eyes and wet eyelashes, I feel so bad. Therefore, we forewent (a word I just recently learned) showers and a change of clothes and spent the better part of the day in our pajamas, eating.

A rare 'dry' period today when he wasn't covered in some kind of secretion.

Speaking of eating, I made cookies today and was actually very proud at the outcome, in both taste and esthetic appeal! haha Good old Sunset magazine was my inspiration...

Those are candy cane crumbs lining the cookie sandwiches. (I am not that messy of a froster!)

Dr. Sears

I am pretty obsessed with Dr. Sears book on kids' nutrition and anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes with me in the past few weeks has probably heard about it!

So I've been adding all sorts of concoctions to Christian's meals. Tonight, his dinner was a mush comprised of the following:

Yams
Spinach
Green Beans
Wheat Germ
Fish Oil

In fact, I've got the whole family, even Dae, on the fish oil. (I'm sure we all smell just wonderful!)

Social Butterfly

We had a very busy weekend. It started with Dae's department party on Friday, continued with our monthly mom's potluck on Saturday and ended with George's annual wine party on Sunday. The weekend also culminated in a very fitful night of sleep for the entire family last night, complete with wake-up calls at 10:00-11:30pm, 2:00am and 5:30am. I believe Leelee is probably an introvert at heart and this was his way of telling us no more holiday parties. Therefore we will be leaving him at home with Auntie Ev for next weekend's work party.

Here are some photos of Christian with his friends. Although the pictures suggest otherwise, he truly is (finally) sitting up on his own. Hallelujah!