Week #4

This week have been eventful with a number of highlights.

I am recording this incident down as sign of God's timely intervention. Hannah have been grouchy and grumpy since Monday. From a normally calm, contented and easy baby, she screams for no reasons and refused to be put down. I had to carry her most of the day and that includes her morning, afternoon and evening naps. It's so hard to get her to give one of her usual smiles. I thought it was her teething issue (not sure if babies starts as early at 3.5 months) of a growth spurt (she was feeding quite often). But on Friday on our daily walks around the neighborhood, I met a guy who was taking a walk with his 2 young sons. We started chatting and he notices that Hannah's cheeks had a slight infection. He is a family doctor. To cut the long story short, he got his wife who is a dermatologist to visit Hannah that night and she prescript some steroid cream and lotion for the infection and the eczema on Hannah's body (I didn't even know she had eczema. motherhood fails.) Later that night, a friend dropped by for dinner and after telling the story to her, she proceeded to the car and returned with the prescript lotion. Isn't that great? If I had walk just a bit slower, I would not have met them. Or if I was walking on the opposite side of the road, I would not have gotten chatting with them. And not only that, He brings along a doctor who knew that it was an infection. How amazing is God's timing? The best part is that Hannah woke up with a smile the next morning. And she has been smiling since that day. So thankful for God's timely intervention and in bringing along people to blessed us.

her morning smile

Something else happened this week. Hannah laughed!! Her first ever baby laugh. It was so cute. On Thursday, I was just playing with her by kissing her cheeks and neck and blowing them. Out of the blue, she gave a laugh. It happened 3 times and then she stopped. I cannot stand how cute it was. I've been trying to get her to laugh again but it had not happened yet. It was so surreal, considering that she was grumpy the whole week. But she did laugh. I swear.

shopping @ the grove

Rockstar had to go Hollywood on Tuesday and I decided to go along. We live about an hour out. This is the first time I have taken Hannah out on my own for a whole day. I imagined a whole day strolling along Sunset Boulevard and hanging out on a walkway cafe hoping to spot a celebrity and maybe browse some quaint bookstores or boutiques. All that flew out the door once I dropped Rockstar off. It's street cleaning day and hence we couldn't park our car there. Upon a suggestion from a friend, I decided to head to The Grove and Farmer's Market, off Fairfax and Beverly. Spend a couple of hours there, strolling through the shops. She slept the first half of it. The hardest part about going out with a baby is finding a suitable place to breastfeed. I am far from being conservative but flashing my boobs out in public is not my thing. Thankfully, Nordstrom had a Ladies Lounge and a mother's area where I could breastfeed Hannah and change her diaper in private. The Grove and the Farmer's Market is a really nice place to hang out with a wide range of shops, a theater, and even a dancing fountain that dances to oldies. It would be nice to chill on the grassy area (on a blanket and reading a book with Hannah. both provided by the management) while people watching. If only the parking were cheaper. 

on one of our walks. check out her kesian face. 

I have been taking walks with Hannah around the neighborhood lately. She really enjoys them. She will look around with curiosity and kicks her legs telling me to get going whenever I stop to take photos. Haha.. 

tummy time

Oh, I haven't really been doing tummy time with her. Mostly because she does not like it and I am too lazy. Motherhood fail. But I saw on Instagram a baby boy who was younger than Hannah lifting his head up and the kiasu-ness in me decided to train Hannah too. Thankfully her fussing seems to have lessen and she can lift her head up for a while now. 

shopping with my baby girl. one of our first mother's daughter outing together. 

I received one of the best news ever this week. So very excited about it. Will share when I can. 

So yea, it's been a great week. How have yours been? 

Outing @ The Asian American Expo

Nong Shims.... yums!

Indoor booth

Hannah sleeping soundly amidst all the noise

Outdoor booth

Double story carousel. Kiasu to the max ;p

Street food booths

Hannah sleeping soundly amidst all the noise

Outdoor Korean BBQ 

Hannah's wave

Some friends wanted to attend the Asian American Expo, so Rockstar and I decided to tag along. It was a surprise as we did not expect such crowd. There were many booths and stores lined up both indoors and outdoors. But truth be told, we felt like we were in China. Every other chinese in Los Angeles seem to be there with their grandmothers and their entire family. Some even brought along trolleys to cart their purchases. It was so crowded and there were queues almost everywhere. Hannah slept through most of it. Must be the rocking of the stoller that got her so sleepy. I did managed to sneak in a feeding but she was so distracted by the sound and noises around. Oh, and she pooped twice. But we did get to try lots of samples and had some street food for lunch. We left after couple of hours but not before buying 2 packets of Malaysian Ibumie Har Mee. Let's hope it will taste like back home. 

It's been a tiring day. Bed time for everyone.

Turning 3 months old

Time, please slow down! 

Everything is passing by in a flash. It makes me just want to be here and enjoy every single precious moments. My little girl is now three months old. No longer the squirmy little mouse, her legs and arms have filled up with tiny little rolls. Her little belly is so round and lets not talk about her face. And to think that I was so worried about her size and weight just a few weeks back. 

She has change so much from the time we brought her back from the hospital to the little adult she is growing to be. She is so much more alert now, smiling and cooing back whenever someone plays or talks to her. Her big eyes is constantly moving back and forth looking at all the big things happening around her. She still doesn't like to be left alone for too long, preferring to be held in the middle of everything that is going on. She will start calling for attention in her cute little voice if no one attends to her. And boy, she can be loud. She have started to be a little chatterbox, making all sorts of noises with her mouth. Oh, and the drooling and playing with saliva bubbles have started. 

Her smiles are one of the best things in life. My heart just cannot contain the love I have for her whenever she smiles at me. And even though she is still a baby, she seems to know whenever I scold her by either giving me her cheeky little grins or quietening down and being solemn. And I swear she listens and seem to understand whenever I talk to her. Even though she enjoys daddy carrying her when she is awake, I am her go to person whenever she is sleepy. She will quieten down, stop fussing and lay her head on my shoulder. I do love bath times with her. Its our special time together and I am sure she enjoys it as much as I do. This little girl sure knows her way to her mummy's heart. 

Feeding is so much easier now. She is almost about to stop formula and solely relaying on breastfeeding. The last bottle I gave her was 5 days ago and she only took about 1/2oz of it. She recognizes day and night time and goes back to sleep after every night feeding. She also got into a routine of feeding every 3 hours, each time taking about 10-15 minutes and on the rare occasion 30-40 minutes. But with the moving and the change in time zone, everything is off schedule. We will need some time to get into a routine again. Although, there isn't much of a routine as Rockstar and I are pretty much un-routine and un-schedule people. But I've been trying to set some sort of a wake-up time, afternoon nap and bed time routine for her. Any advices? 

She also loves her Baby K'tan, falling asleep soundly whenever she is in it which leaves me 2 hands free to do whatever I need to do. She started taking the pacifier and sucking it does seem to soothe her to sleep. She loves looking at lights and ceilings and her new bird mobile on her jungle play mat. She enjoys car rides and especially her car seat. She likes listening to music with Rockstar and seem to have a thing for Elvis. Her hands are her joy now and stuffing her whole fist into her mouth is now her new daily goal. She still dislike tummy time and being left alone for along period of time. 

As for me, everything is pretty much Hannah focus. I guess my challenge is now balancing my time between her and everything else. She is still my main focus but I feel that I need to do other things besides just taking care of her. Time for some new year resolutions. Its already half the month into January and I have yet to think about new year resolutions yet. I guess my immediate resolution is to find time to write down my new year resolutions. Oh, the irony. Getting rid of the tummy flab and cellulite will be high on my list. And maybe look into new interest at home. But for now,my focus is right here. 

I love this little girl so very much. She brings us so much joy.