Summer's Over

Wow, September already.  This morning I saw kids waiting for the school bus.  This summer flew on by!  I really hope the nasty humid and hot weather is gone for good though. I'm so ready for cooler weather!

Let's see...any updates.  Carey had his 15-month well appointment last Friday.  Here are his stats:

Weight:  20 lbs, 10.5 oz (under 6.7%)
Height:  30 inches (14.6%)
Head Circumference:  47 cm (47.4%)

I thought he would weigh a little more than that but the dr said that when they get to a certain age, they stop gaining pounds rapidly.  According to his chart, he is doing just fine.  Every time I go in for a well check-up for Carey, my family always asks...how much percentage are his measurements?  They just don't do that for preemies cuz it's going to be tiny tiny.  This is the first time I looked it up and yep, tiny, except for his head.  My baby has a big head, big hands and feet.  And he's pretty tall!

My boy eats a TON and drinks a TON of milk.  They say you should limit the amount of whole milk to only 16-24 oz a day to prevent iron deficiency.  We've been doing that but lately, Carey wants more milk at night time.  He'll scream when he finds out there's no more milk in his bottle and I have to scramble quickly to get him more or else he'll never stop screaming.  I know I have to transition him to a cup instead of a bottle but it sucks when my mom refuses to do that cuz it's easier for her to give him the bottle.  *sigh*  I'll have to transition him myself when I'm home for a week at the end of the month. 

I searched on google and you never read that their kids love milk too much.  Only that kids refuse to drink milk.  I was one of those kids.  I hated milk but I got my calcium via yogurt and cheese, which I loved.  My sister hated all dairy and she's shorter than me. Haha.  But the only people I know who loved milk are my cousin, Snot, who is very tall; and Meanie, who's also very tall.  I keep on hearing stories from Meanie that his father had to buy a bunch of milk several times a week cuz he would suck it all down.  I think that's what Carey's starting to do.  I buy the 3-pack organic whole milk from Costco and that should last me for a week but sometimes it doesn't and I have to run to the grocery store to get a gallon of organic whole milk.  Gack.  At least it's cheaper than formula!

Carey's got a lot of teeth.  Almost a full mouth.  His molars have come in and the ones in between are coming in now.  It's like they all popped up all at one time.  And I can't pry open his mouth like a circus lion to monitor these things.  I found out when Carey got his vaccines on Friday - measles, chicken pox, flu and Hep A (just in case because we are going to Cancun in November) - when he was screaming his little lungs out, I peered into his mouth and saw all these teeth coming out!  That boy inhales his food.  I don't know if he chews or not but it's gone in seconds, esp if he really likes it. 

It's funny cuz I was reading an old post of mine during my pregnancy about how whenever I ate food, baby would jump around all over in my uterus as if he were excited.  And if I forget to eat or if I was too lazy to get food, I would get a kick from the uterus telling me that I need to feed him.  And I said that my kid would prolly be a foodie.  Boy, was I right or what?

His palate is more like an adult's.  He can eat scallions, onions, garlic and ginger with no problems at all.  He loves Asian food, Taiwanese and Vietnamese, and he also likes the American stuff.  He had Costco pizza for the first time over the weekend and he looked so happy.  I think his favorite foods are watermelon (such a happy happy face when he's eating it) and oranges.  It's funny cuz I was snarfing those 2 things like candy while I was preggers.  He prolly likes pomelo, too, but we haven't given him any.  I was eating pomelos for dinner when I was preggers.  Grapefruit if I couldn't find any.  I craved for it.  Heheh.

But overall, Carey is doing well.  The dr wants him to speak more and know more words. He has said some words but he hasn't said them again.  He's already said "Bad" (lol), "Red", "Green" (at Meanie's prompting), "Milk", "Mama", "Meh".  He says "Meh" alot and it seems like he says it towards me.  I wonder if he knows that "Meh" means Mom in Vietnamese.  I dunno if he's saying that for me or if he's just babbling.  We tell him to say "Mama" but "Meh" comes out instead most of the times.  The dr also wants me to let him feed himself.  *cringe*  Guess I'll be doing a lot of cleaning during my vacation.  It doesn't help that Carey refuses to sit at his high chair, too. So it's kinda hard to let him feed himself with a utensil!

He is officially walking!  He's very steady on his feet and can officially walk from person to person.  But now that he's kinda mastered walking, my daredevil son has been trying to walk up and down the stairs, only to fail. : (  My poor baby! He seems to have inherited his mother's and father's clumsiness and has constant booboo's and bruises.  In fact, he had cut his foot on something several weeks ago and we had no idea what it was.  It got infected and it swelled up and got red.  I even had to call the doctor's office to see what we could do for it and they said warm compresses and Neosporin.  The infection eventually broke and now it's healing up nicely.  But I don't think he was bothered by any of it. He has a high pain threshold!

Now that it's officially cooler in the mornings and nights, I like to put BabyLegs legwarmers on him. 

These are so covenient! I just slip these on, instead of pants, and he's good to go.  They also protect his knees and legs when he's crawling on hard wood floor.  And if his feet are a little chilly, I pull them over the heels of his feet, too.  And yeah, adults can wear them on your arms, too!  They have very cute designs and patterns.

These Cocolo bears are Carey's most prized possession. Actually, the bears aren't the prized possssions but the blankies they are holding are Carey's most prized possession.  He received one of these bears last year from a friend of ours.  He used to love the bear but now it's hanging out in his playroom somewhere.  But the blankie has become his "nigh-nigh", his lovey, his security blanket.  He's totally like Linus from Peanuts.   It didn't cross my mind to get several duplicates until he started getting a rash on his face from the blankie.  He would drag his blankie everywhere, mop the floors with it, etc, so god knows what sorts of nasties are on his lovey.  It took some work tracking these doods down but thankfully Snot found them on Ebay.  I promptly paid for 2 of these doods and now I have 3 loveys for Carey so I can swap them out for washes.  I've heard stories where extra loveys have backfired because the kids know the difference but luckily for me, Carey still loves them all!

This is the Cloud B Lavender Lab pillow.  I know young kids shouldn't be sleeping with pillows but Carey's been a pillow sleeper ever since he started co-sleeping with us.  Even those rare times when he slept in his crib, he always used his bumpers as a pillow, not as a bumper.  But Carey loves this.  Not only cuz it's in puppy form, but that it's soft and cuddly and he does use it as a pillow! It's so adorable when I check on his while he's sleeping and he's hugging his pillow and using it.  : )

Carey is a puppy fiend.  All his stuffies, pillows, etc are all puppies or dogs.  You know if something has Carey's seal of approval when he nuzzles them nose to nose. It's sooo soo cute.  These 2 are the only exceptions that he loves that aren't puppies:

His baby seal and shark Lubies.  He likes to chomp on noses, too.  Stuffy's noses, not human noses.  Phew!

Here are his puppy friends:

(From top to bottom:  Spunky - Gund blanket; Carter Baby Puppy Lovey; North American Bear Co. Pastel Pancake Puppy with Blanket)

Everything else that he dislikes is beaten up and then thrown out of his view.  Hee hee. 

First Word and First Steps

Yesterday, Carey said his first word!  How exciting, right?  You always imagine this type of situation.  You think that your baby will say "Mama" or "Dada" as their first word or something just as innocuous.  But nope, not my baby. 

Carey was a terror yesterday.  He was getting into everything, chewing on everything and every time he got his hands on something - a remote control, telephone, etc. - he would throw it on the floor, really hard.  He wouldn't stay still during his diaper changes, esp the poop ones, which could get very messy with a very wriggly baby, he wouldn't nap even when he was obviously so tired, he just wouldn't sit still.  Meanie and I were really exhausted yesterday so we fell asleep at different times cuz one of us had to be awake to take care of Carey.  I had just woken up from a nap and Meanie basically plunked him down in my lap with a smelly poop diaper and tried to get some Zzz's as I took over.  Nice rude awakening, huh?  And Carey started behaving really bad after that.  I couldn't even get a clean diaper on cuz he was rolling this way and that and he wouldn't stop grabbing stuff, so I decided to give him his very first time-out in a corner of his room.  Unfortunately, every corner of his room has crap in it so he was playing with everything.  To which I would snatch whatever he grabbed and throw it back where it belong.  So here I am, obvious mom-out-of-control, screaming at the diaper-less baby that he's a bad boy and boy decided to crumple in this dramatic heap and starts screeching in protest. 

Meanie decides to give him a shower so I haul the bad boy up and Carey has this habit of totally relaxing every limb of his body so he hangs like a limp noodle so he eventually falls out of my grasp.  So freaking infuriating.  And I transfer over the "package" to Meanie who's getting ready to shower with the baby and I'm screaming at Carey that he's a really bad boy, so bad, BAD BOY!!"

And that's when Carey decides to stay his first word ever, "BAD!!"  And he said it so clearly and well, too.  Meanie looked up all surprised cuz that's his first word ever and I knew I had to go on scolding or else I would have cracked up, too.  So I scream, "That's right, you are bad! Bad boy!!!" *stomps away*

It is soo hard to stay angry at such a little boy that's so cute with those big and innocent eyes!  He's going to be a trouble maker and is going to get away with it all.  Argh. And what do you do to discipline your child when screaming/scolding doesn't do anything, neither does spanking on the butt.  Whenever I scolded him or spanked him on the butt, he would just turn around and start laffing.  He thought I was playing with him.  How am I going to discipline this child if I cannot instill any sort of fear in him?  I/we have our work cut out in front of us.  Oh boy.

Have you ever seen "Bambi" and that scene where he starts to say his first words?  That scene totally reminds me of Carey saying "Bad!!"  LOL

He's not full fledged walking yet.  I think he knows how to but is just lazy. But he can do about 6 steps without falling.  He can walk a short distance from me to Meanie or vice versa.  He'll be running in no time, I'm sure, and that's when I'll really have my hands full.

This past weekend, we had company and I left Carey in the care of friends while they were snacking from the table.  We just said no nuts and no shrimp for Carey so they left Carey with free reign of the table, except by the shrimp cocktail. I stepped in to drop some more food on the table and I see Carey..eating something.  I"m like, what is he eating??!!?!  Turned out he was fishing in the bowl of Pop Chips or Pita Chips and stuffing whole chips in his mouth!!!  It's the most hilarious thing to see Carey stuff a big Pop Chip in his little baby mouth.  It sorta resembles a hamster trying to fit a huge sunflower seed in the cheek-pouch.

Such a curious little boy!  I love him so much! Even when he's bad.  <3

Independence Day Weekend & Sad Goodbyes

We headed down to Maryland this past weekend to Snot's new house and to have a mini family reunion.  It was great fun, lotsa food (as always) and great to catch up with cousins I haven't seen in a long, long time.  And the kids finally all got together!

Lotsa food, like always, at our family gatherings.

3rd generation kiddies!
We tried organizing them by age but it's a little hard to arrange the younger ones since they crawl away!

Overall, it was great fun.  I hope to keep this up more often.  I grew up with many cousins and had tons of fun at family gatherings. It would be great if we could keep this up so that Carey could grow up with the same experience. 

Sad Goodbyes [This is going to be long.  I'm blogging about everything so I can remember later and read back when my memory fails.  You can read if you want but I won't be hurt if you don't]

We returned on Sunday night and I received a phone call from my dad early Monday morning that our beloved kitty, Tigger, had passed away Sunday night. =*(

Hearing the news was like having a truck hit me.  It's as equivalent as hearing the news of a dear family member departing us.

I knew this day was coming because his health had been deteriorating and last I heard he wasn't even interested in food, not even shrimp, which is his most favorite food. My parents were going to take him to the vet this week because they knew he was ill. We suspected he had diabetes because he drank so much water and he urinated so much but the thought of giving him daily insulin (read: daily torture) every day just to prolong his life a few more weeks didn't really appeal to my parents. They preferred that he lived his life naturally.  Although I think something else ailed him. He always had stomach problems ever since he was young and I'm sure that attributed to his health problems.

So when my parents returned to the house, Tigger didn't run up to the door and greet my parents, like he always does so they knew something was wrong.  He was laying on the basement floor when they came in and he was too weak to get up on his feet.  We were only gone for a day and a half and for all that time, Tigger hadn't eaten, drank water or gone to the potty.  It's as if he was waiting for them to come back so he could say goodbye.

There was a pile of vomit next to him with some blood in it.  =*(  My mom held him for an hour and comforted him and he just meowed softly.  After an hour, she put him down on the carpet and he slowly passed away right then and there, around 12:30am, July 5th, 2010.  My parents tell me there was little struggle and he passed on peacefully. 

We went to my parents' house Monday around noon to say our goodbyes.  They had left him on the carpet with blankets and it looked just as if he was sleeping on his left side.  I've been in tears since I've heard the news and when I saw him lying there, I just bursted out in tears, absolutely bawling.  I still tear even today when I think that he's gone. I can't believe he's gone and I miss him dearly.

He was a very good cat.  I always said he was a cat with the personality of a dog because he hated to be alone and loved company very much.  He was a great companion whenever I felt sad or down. He would always be there to comfort me.

I adopted him at the age of 20 from an animal shelter in Toms River, NJ, back in the spring of 1995. I really really wanted a cat so my then-bf at the time drove me around to several locations in NJ by Rutgers, where I was attending college.  I was in the search of a black and/or grey kitten but we went to several shelters and there were no kittens to adopt.  The third shelter (Toms River) had several kittens.  There were some really cute grey, orangey, white, black calico kitties I was interested in but they were too young to adopt.  I also picked up a grey and white kitty that kept on scratching at my neck and I was like, no thanks.  The adoption woman said to me that "kittens do that when they like you".  Uhm, no thanks.

My ex asked me "What about that orangey kitty?"

I looked in the cage he was pointing at and yep, there was this orangey kitty sleeping on his sibling's neck.  His sibling was black and grey with this huge orange spot on her nose.  She was pretty but I was more interested in the orangey cat.  Once I picked him up, he just purred and purred and purred and purred and I knew he was the one.  I felt everything was right when I held him so I adopted him right then and there.  It's almost as if he chose me.  I think he was a red tabby with maybe a  hint of angora because his fur was so nice and soft.  His coloring was an orangey auburn during the summer months and in the winter, a paler orange, like a dark blond. He was the most beautiful and handsome kitty! Of course, I'm very biased. :)

I remember thinking back when I was 20...15 years average life span?  I'll be 35..and that'll take a long time in coming.  Boy, was I wrong.  I cannot believe 15 years has passed by so quickly and my TiggerWigger is gone.  *sigh*

My parents are heartbroken as I am.  I think they might even be more heartbroken because he came to be their kitty, their baby. 

Funnily enuf, my mom and my sister hated me because I had adopted a kitten.  My dad was ecstatic from the get-go and was really excited to see that there would be a kitten in the household.  My sister was mad at me because she was allergic to cats.  But you know what?  I am, too.  But I loved cats enough to suffer thru the allergies.  But eventually I got used to him and the allergies went away.

After my mom spent some time with him, she told me in my face that I can never take Tigger back to my own apartment, if I ever had one.  I reluctantly accepted that because Tigger had changed my parents.  They were two really miserable people before the cat came into our lives and the cat changed them into tolerable, almost pleasant people!  I also knew that my parents would provide him a better life with them and not with me.  They have a huge house with lotsa room to roam around so I reluctantly agreed to what my mom said bluntly in my face.

Shortly after I adopted him, I had to move back home with the cat so I took care of him there.  Certain instances made me leave the house prematurely and I had to leave the cat there with them because I knew my parents could provide a better life there than me moving around all the time.  My dad begged me to move back because he missed me and the cat missed me.  Tigger would wait outside my bedroom door and just wait and wait and wait for me to come out of the door but I had left.  So Tigger became their baby.

Tigger always knew that I was the one who adopted him, the original mommy, but he also recognized that I wasn't the highest on the hierarchy.  Haha.  So he became my sibling.  He was always possessive of me.  He hated every bf I had and would scratch them. He was relentlessly jealous of other people who would take my attention away from  him.  Whenever I was sick or feeling down, he was always there to comfort me and hissed at others (like my hubby) to stay away.  He eventually came to love Meanie and vice versa (it wasn't like that in the beginning) and he changed all cat-haters into cat lovers, just because he was so unique.

I miss him...

The only picture I have of Tigger when he was a kitten/teenager.
Big ears and big eyes that he grew into eventually.

Shaking hands with Meanie to get shrimp

In his seat at the kitchen table.

Looking for hotpot goodies

Resembling Puss n' Boots from Shrek

Kitty snuggles with Meanie

Keeping me company while I played videogames back in 2007

Sleeping on my bed

RIP, my beautiful Tiggy

April 2005 - July 5, 2010

Bored at Work

Yay, it's the week before July 4th weekend and things seem to have slowed down for a bit.  I hope it stays like this because I have had work-itis for a very long time.  I just came back from a weekend trip to Montreal with my family and my parents for my sister in law's wedding.  Overall, I had a great time.  Things could have been better (dealing with the Naggon) but I won't touch that subject here.

Let's see, what's been happening.  Carey isn't walking yet but I think he's super close to.  He's very steady on his feet (with the assistance of another person) and he likes to wrench out one hand so that he can walk with only hand holding to another person's hand.  He still hasn't gained all the confidence to walk by himself yet but I think that day will be very soon.  I'll be very busy once he does!

And he's made the switch over to whole milk.  I get him organic whole milk from Costco.  And he eats 3 meals a day. He's got a hearty appetite and eats tons! He's learned how to crunch down his Cheerios with his front teeth (there are 8 now, the 8th just popped up a few days ago - 4 on top; 4 on the bottom) and gum down the rest so he eats efficiently and quickly.  My baby's a little boy now! He's not that tiny and helpless baby from one year ago.  I'm ecstatic that he's grown up so well but in a way, I miss that newborn baby in my arms.  We met my newest 1-month old nephew over the weekend and it was nice to hold a little baby again.  I guess it's time to try for the 2nd baby but we won't till after November.  We are going to Cancun in November and I would like to enjoy my trip before a 2nd pregnancy!  All inclusive!!

For his 1 year birthday, his family on his dad's side bought Carey a gift certificate to get some professional pictures taken from here:  Magenta Studios in Montreal.  We had some pictures taken of him in a baseball outfit, a chef outfit, a boxer outfit and a bowl of apples.  We ended the session in his own outfit but by that time, he had enuf of the photo shoot so he wasn't too happy.  But we got really great prints since he was so cooperative.  The pictures won't arrive in Montreal till about 3 weeks and I'm sure it will be sometime before we actually get our hands on it.  I can't wait!

I definitely recommend the studio since they do such a great job. The bad thing is that it costs an arm and a leg. 

I mentioned the last post that I ordered an Ipad.  I love it!  I know it's pretty much like an oversized Itouch but I love it. It's a life saver for road trips for Carey.  We installed some Baby Einstein onto it so I can just bust that out whenever and Carey will be quiet and calm. I pretty much replaced my netbook with the Ipad.  I had trouble with the netbook because the screen was so tiny and it was just really unpleasant to surf the net with it.  It's so much easier with the Ipad and its touch screen. My only regret is that I didn't get a larger size.  I only got the 16G. I should have gotten the 64G! It's also much less bulkier than a laptop or a netbook so it's easier to transport.  I only got the regular Apple case for it and I am ok with it.  I don't love it nor do I hate it. 

I got an A-frame for it from Griffin and I'm really happy with it.

My Ipad was resting on the box before on my night table but it looks so much better on this frame.  It also lies flat, too, if you don't want it to stand up and it easily charges in it.  I also had an invisible shield put on it to protect the screen cuz the screen tends to get really dirty very easily.

Carey was on terrific behavior at the wedding.  He put up with everyone wanting to hold him and he was like a star of the party.  At one point in time, this cute little girl of 14 months toddled up to him and gave him a hug and my son was so traumatized that he started bawling in her face, crumped to the ground and I had to heave him up and calm him down.  *sigh* Uber cute, but hilarious.

We're heading down to Maryland this upcoming weekend for a last minute family shindig. It should be fun! :)

June, Already?

Seems like I post once a month. It's seriously tough to blog every day.  How in the world did I do this before? 
Around this time last year, I was in labor.  I guess this year Memorial Day weekend happened later this year but the Tuesday after Memorial Day in 2009, I was in labor.  Can you believe it's been a year?  I cannot believe time has flown so quickly.  My baby boy is finally 1!  I remember the first few months were really rough and time went by so slowly. I couldn't even fathom his first birthday happening because it seemed such a long time.  Things started to get a little easier when Carey was around 5-6 months old and I guess the remainder of the year just flew by.  It is so fun to see my little boy's personality shine through.  I truly do have a happy baby boy (for most of the time) and it's been a tremendous joy to be a mother to him.  I'm looking forward to our many years to come (through fun times and bad times)!

[Thank you, Macey, for the pictures!  I wouldn't have any time to take any pictures and everything would have gone unrecorded.  :) ]

Carey had his first birthday party over the weekend.  Meanie cooked for most of the party - a traditional Vietnamese celebration meal.  We had brought over some Vietnamese pastries when we went up last at his mother's insistence just for Carey's birthday party.  These pastries are a must-have at big Vietnamese celebrations, like weddings and such.

Steamed buns with pork and egg inside; pork in a flaky crust; spring rolls; cold peanut butter noodles

Meanie also cooked a Viet sticky rice, spring rolls (what NYers know as "summer rolls"), green papaya salad (not so good, lol), my mom made her cold peanut butter noodles, there were grilled chicken wings and steak. 

Here is Carey's first birthday cake:

It was a chocolate cake/chocolate mousse on the inside covered with fondant. I had asked them to make a Baby Einstein cake for Carey and they did a great job on it.  I got this cake at Shop-Rite - it was perfect!!  Now I know I can just get my cakes at the local grocery store and not at an over-expensive custom bakery.  It tasted great, too!

I bought this little hat for Carey but he hated putting it on, so here it rests on the table.  :(

I made Bakerella's Cake Pops on a whim after discovering the supplies at Party City.  They came out really well and I look forward to making more of these so I can perfect the skill.  It's a great job if you have little bakers helping you out, too.

They look easy to make but in reality, a little time-consuming, but its outcome is really rewarding.  Not only did they look good, they tasted good, too!  I want to make more of these now. I don't think I can decorate as nicely as Bakerella does it but at least I can do the basics.  Mine are Devil's Food cake with chocolate frosting with blue Candy Melts, dipped in sprinkles or sand sugar.  It gives a satisfying crunch to the cake balls.  :)

Thanks to everyone coming to help us celebrate Carey's 1st!  It was definitely fun! Too bad he won't remember any of it.  =*(

Haven't updated in a while.  I'm just either too lazy or been too busy.  :)

Carey is turning 1 at the end of May! Scary how time flies so quickly.  He started crawling around Easter time and now he's perfected this skill.  He totally looks like a happy puppy when he crawls.  His face is beaming and he's got this huge smile and he lifts his hands arm in this jaunty way.  So friggin' cute.  I have to catch it on camera one of these days.  He's also trying to walk, with our assistance, of course.  He'll prolly be walking very soon!  I've noticed  that my son's personality is very determined.  He was called the "overachiever" at the hospital and I totally agree!

That boy loves food! I don't have a picky eater *knocks on wood*.  I made homemade purees for him at home - butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potato, broccoli, japanese pumpkin & prunes (to make him regular) and I buy the Gerber fruit purees for him.  He can also eat little chunks of food like banana and avocado.  Those 2 are his most favorite, even eaten together. Haha. 

And because he's on the move so much, he eats so much more now compared to before.  He's impatient and loves his Baby Einstein.  It's like the whole world disappears for him when we play it for him. 

We gave up on the crying it out and the ferberizing.  I had him all trained before the holidays and he was going to sleep in his crib regularly until the holidays came.  We had to consolidate rooms and Carey had to sleep with us during then and after that, all the ferberizing and sleep training just totally backfired.  So we co-sleep in our California King sized bed.  There's plenty of room but my baby is a bed hog!

He also must be at my side at all times, either in contact with me or using me as a pillow.  I call him my Barnacle Boy.  I never disagreed with co-sleeping - I think the bond with your children is much closer than if you didn't.  But of course, I plan to have him sleep in his crib soon.  Very soon. :)

I can't believe it's May already.  Next weekend is Mother's day and we are going to Montreal for that weekend.  It'll be Carey's first real road trip and first time he's sleeping over in a new place.  Wish us luck!

I also pre-ordered a 3g/Wifi Ipad and should get it by mid-May.  I can't wait!  This will be also my very last big purchase for a long, long while. 

Hope everyone is doing great!

Post-Pregnancy Feet and other Random Things

So, in addition to my hair falling out and then growing back in - which are just starting to look like short bangs and not sticking up anymore - my feet grew.  A whole freaking size up.  I went from a size 6.5 to a 7.5.  And now I have to get a bunch of new shoes cuz my old shoes don't fit anymore.  What saddens me is that I had just gotten this really cool pair of silvery Cole Haan open toed shoes right before I got preggers and now they don't fit anymore and I've never had the chance to wear them!!  They've become my sister's birthday gift.  *sobs*

My mom was elated that my feet grew so I had to buy new shoes..and give her my old shoes. She says her feet grew too so she can fit a size 6.5 now which was my size - pre-pregnancy.  At first she thought I had diabetes when I said my feet grew so she kept on poking her finger on my foot to see if it was just swollen but it wasn't.  I kept on telling her that after some pregnancies, feet grow but she just chalked up my new foot size to my being fat.  Yay. 

I did some research and it's not just the weight gain from the pregnancy.  It's a hormone called relaxin:

I think my feet have grown. Is this possible? (Source)


Expert Answers


Jane Andersen, podiatrist


Yes. As you're discovering, your belly isn't the only thing that gets bigger during pregnancy! This is partly due to pregnancy weight gain and swelling from the extra fluid your body retains while you're pregnant (called edema). To ease the swelling, soak your feet in cool water and prop them up as often as you can.

But there's another reason that feet seem to grow during pregnancy. The aptly named pregnancy hormone relaxin, which loosens the joints around your pelvis so your baby can make his way down the birth canal, also loosens the ligaments in your feet, causing the foot bones to spread. Your foot bones aren't actually growing — it's just that the ligaments that hold these 26 bones together aren't as tight as they were.

You may notice your shoes getting a little tight as early as the second trimester, and they may continue to increase in size until late in pregnancy. While the foot swelling generally subsides within a month after delivery, any foot spreading caused by looser ligaments is permanent. I estimate that half the moms out there wear shoes a half or a whole size bigger than they wore before having babies.

The bright side, if there is one, is that you get to buy new shoes! Buy a few pairs of comfortable, roomy shoes to wear during your pregnancy, but be aware that you may have to go back for more once the swelling settles down and your shoe size stabilizes about a month after delivery. Whatever you do, don't try to make do with your old shoes! Wearing tight shoes can aggravate bunions and cause a host of painful foot problems, ranging from ingrown toenails to corns and calluses.

Finally, since feet tend to grow with each pregnancy, you may want to hold off on those pricey Jimmy Choos or Manolo Blahniks until you're finished having babies.

Ugh.  I guess I should be happy my fingers weren't affected.  I still fit my wedding and my e-ring!

My colleague recently told me about Skechers Shape-Ups. They're like MBTs but run a little cheaper around $100-110.  I thought the price was a little steep considering what a cheapo I am these days.  A hundred buckaroos for sneakers??  I don't have time to work out or go to the gym anymore now I have a tiny tot that takes up all of my time when I'm not at work.  Especially since he's teething these days.  His fourth tooth (the top right one) is coming in and it's especially painful since he's especially fussy these days.

I bought my first pair of Skechers Shape-ups via Amazon at a whopping $90 at a size 7 but they delivered the wrong color to me and the size didn't fit either so I returned it.  The Slickdeals alerted me to a new deal on Woman Within - if you bought 2 items, the 2nd item (the more expensive item) would be at a 50% discount! Woweee!!  So I got onto that deal and got my new Skechers for only $55, instead of a freaking $100!  I just received them and tried them on yesterday and wore them to work this morning.  It's like walking in moon shoes and you have to get used to the rocking.  But my calves actually felt a little tired today when I got into work!  Just standing in those require you to use your muscles just to stay balanced.  So we'll see if these work in any way.  I'm going to walk around everywhere during my lunch hour especially since it's nice and sunny today.

On baby news, Carey slept his first full night yesterday allowing me to get continuous sleep! I did wake up several times at night just to check on him via the monitor and he was sleeping soundly  We were thinking to give him a little Tylenol last night too because he seemed to be in so much pain but in the end, he passed out soundly.  It's makes a huge difference to get a night of continuous sleep.  I'm still tired but at least I feel somewhat refreshed. 

My baby is so smart these days.  He tells me he's hungry or thirsty by making these lip smacking sounds. It's so freaking adorable.  And he doesn't make that icky face anymore when he eats his puffs - whether it's Happy Bellies Organic Puffs or the Gerber Graduates Puffs.  I got the latter at my sister's recommendation since that's what her kids loved to snack on.  They have much more flavor than the Happy Bellies Organic Puffs.  I'm not sure which one Carey prefers but he's happily munching on all 3 kinds - Happy Bellies, Gerber Graduates or even plain Cheerios!  And I started him on water in his sippy cup.  He has a little problem using some sippy cups but he's working on it.

He started rocking on all 4s and he'll be crawling in no time. Actually he is getting somewhere, kinda, but I can't really call it crawling.  More like stretching and shimmying. Hehehe.  I definitely think that he'll be full-fledged crawling by Easter!

Weekend from Hell

Ugh, what a crappy assed weekend.  I feel like I need a vacation from the crappy assed weekend we just had.  On top of it all, it was Daylight Savings and we lost an hour! Boooooo.

We were planning this past weekend to go up to Boston since we both took off on Friday for Carey's 9-month well appointment.  But plans fell through and we didn't end up going, which might have been a good thing considering the crappy weather we all got.

Carey's 9-Month Well Check-Up

His stats:

Head:  45 cm (my baby has a big head so it's hard to put shirts on and pull shirts off.  Forget turtlenecks!)
Length:  27.25 inches
Weight:  17.8 lbs

Wow! He's grown quite a lot.  Not quite the 25 lbs that Meanie was telling his co-workers that's how much Carey weighs now. Hah.  He's so off.  The doctor said he looks great and is doing very well. 

We asked her to check his head to see if he was ok, after his accident from last week (lunging himself out of the crib). And she said that his case was the 2nd one who had lunged out of the crib that week.  I guess it's a common thing.  So once your baby starts pulling him/herself up a little, lower the crib ASAP.  You don't want to risk anything! And might as well lower it to the max lowest possible. It's a pain in the butt to put him/her in/out of the crib but better safe than sorry.

She also mentioned that the right part of his head (the back) is a little flat.  It's not THAT noticeable and his hair will cover up the flatness but it seems that the doctors like to tell you (and freak you out) when your baby's head is flat in the back.  Now it's inevitable because they tell you to keep your baby on their back when they sleep to prevent SIDS.  But if we want (we don't), we can have Carey put on a helmet 23 hours of a 24 hour/day period to straighten that out.  I think that's pure torture and I heard it smells.  No thank you.

I'm also weaning Carey off of the Similac Neosure formula onto Similac Early Advance formula.  It tends to make him slightly more gassier but the plus side is that he poops easier and more often.  It even says on the can that the formula is made to be more similar to breast milk so the poop should be more similar to a breat-fed's baby poop. Awesome!  Hehehe.  I asked to see if I could get an alternate vitamin for him cuz I thought it constipates my baby (one of its side effects) but she told me to change up his diet.  He eats pureed prunes every day so that's good.  We also need to add more fiber to his diet or we can put a little Benefiber in his food and that should help.  And he can eat meat and table food now.

I got some organic chicken breast over the weekend to make for him but Meanie's mom brought up a good point and she said to start making his baby food with some chicken stock so he can get used to the taste before he graduates to real chcken.  So I made a new batch of butternut squash puree with chcken stock.  It's quite good! I want to eat it all! Hahah.

Also I noticed if you make pureed prunes at home, try throwing in a pear as well (steam all first).  It makes the consistency a little more smoother than with a regular apple. 

Why It was the Weekend from Hell:

We were having crappy assed weather since Friday.  Heavy rains and strong winds.  Could you imagine if it were all snow?  We'd be totally snowed in with no way of getting out. Of course when I was going to enjoy my 3 day weekend with my hubby and son, the weather literally takes a dump on us. 

I could hear the winds howling on Friday night and the garbage cans being blown onto the street and stuff.  Freakiness.

Saturday, it rained the whole freaking day.  I have a running brook right behind my back yard.  When it rains/snows alot, it tends to swell alot and triple in size.  When I woke up on Saturday, it wasn't that frightening yet.  Later in the day, it looked like a river with high waves. Scariness.  We had near power outages all day with the power flickering but then it would come back on.  Meanie was saying soon we'll have a full blown out power outage.  I was hoping he was wrong.

Around 8pm, we heard a succession of big booms.  We peered outside and saw something burning a weird purplish color. It wasn't fire but it definitely wasn't a good thing.  I tried to get it on video but wasn't quick enuf.  And during the explosions, our power was flickering on and off but it kept on.  And then 2 hours, bam, no power.  *sigh* Luckily the baby was sleeping so I didn't have to stumble around with him in my arms.  I was prepping for a power outage so I had my flashlights ready - flashlights that supposedly don't run out of battery!  *crosses fingers*

I don't really care about the power outage with the lack of electronics and the fridge full of food. My main worry is the pump in the basement - that runs on electricity!  We have a pump down there to ensure that the basement doesn't flood and when the power goes off for that long of a period and if it's rainly profusely like it did all weekend, we are guaranteed to have a flooded basement.  There was about 3 inches Saturday night but by Sunday morning, it was about 6 inches.  It was high enuf to dislodge some boxes in the basement.  Our Guitar Hero guitars are totally waterlogged and most likely don't work anymore.

Our power/heat didn't come back till around 11:30am on Sunday morning.  That's like 13 hours of no electricity and no heat.  I didn't know we had hot water during all that time so we didn't shower and we were feeling pretty disgusting by Sunday morning. But I had a dilemma, I couldn't wash my hair anyway because how in the world am I going to dry it in a freezing house?  Ughhhh.

Since it was freezing, all 3 of us slept together. Hehe.  And I had to warm up Carey's bottles the old-fashioned way - by boiling some water and then dunking his bottle into it to warm it up.  Luckily we don't have electric stoves!  If so, we would have been doomed doomed doomed!!  Carey woke up in the middle of the night for his feeding because we didn't wake him up at midnight (his usual feeding) because there was no power. We were hoping by the time he woke in the middle of the night (or hoping he would sleep thru the night), that the power would be back on but nope, it didn't happen.  He had a look of WTF on his face and was like why the heck is there no light?  Would have taken a pic but not enuf light.  Hah.

And then there was the worry that there was an electric current in the stagnant water in the basement.  We had to flip the switch for the pump to get it running so Meanie put on my Sorel rubber boots (more like shoved his feet in it) and put on rubber gloves and went downstairs to switch the strip on, several times.  Ugh.  All Sunday we spent going thru the boxes - mainly my boxes full of mementos - old pictures, and some sentimental stuff which can never be replaced.  But nothing worth crying over.

So we finally finish doing all the yucky basement stuff and the laundry and everything till around 5pm Sunday.  I go to take a much needed shower - only to find that there was NO HOT WATER. *cue frustrated screams*  So after a few hours, Meanie finally gets the water heater working till around 7pm.  Apparently the flame area was wet from the flooding so with the help of some paper towels and a hair dryer, he was able to get it to work, finally.  I was worried I had to go into work feeling all disgusting and smelly. 

The shower I finally took was probably the best ever!

But yeah, that was my wonderful weekend.  I need a vacation from it.  Blegh.

Happy Bellies Organic Banana Puffs

Yesterday, we tried giving Carey some organic puffs, banana flavor ones.  My mom tried giving him Cheerios last week and she said that Carey looked like he was going to throw up while he was eating it.  I guess nothing compares to his milk or mom's milk, huh?  Whenever Carey tries eating something new, he has this peculiar face - like he ate the nastiest thing ever or something along that line.  I remember when I was trying to breast feed him in the hospital, he would have that very same face every time I tried to put him on.  I thought it was the funniest thing and then started thinking, omg, maybe I taste bad (only after not showering for a couple days, lol).  But it turns out that Carey has that face all the time whenever he tries something new.

We went to a baby shower over the weekend and the baby closest to Carey's adjusted age was already drinking from a sippy cup and eating puffs with no problem!  Age is confusing for a preemie.  Even though Carey has been out of the womb for a little over 9 months, his adjusted age is about 7.5 months but Carey was pretty gargantuan in size compared to the other babies.  I'll have to see what's up with his growth on Friday when Carey gets his 9-month well appointment.  Last time during his 6th month appointment, he was only like 10th percentile compared to other babies his age (not adjusted).  He's huge and heavy now!

So yep, I gave him a puff yesterday and accordingly to the Amazon reviews, kids love it!  I think it tastes better than a Cheerio but it's not much different.  It doesn't really melt in my mouth like they said it would but I guess it melts more than an actual Cheerio.  Carey looked like he was going to puke when I gave him a puff.  I couldn't stop laffing!  I don't have any pictures of him cuz I was laffing too much but Meanie took some video.  What's even funnier is that after he's eaten his puff, he'll open his mouth like a hungry baby chick so I can shove more in.  And when I do, he'll make that puke face again as he's trying to eat it.  LOL

I think the main reason why my baby got so big over the last 3 months is because of his formula.  Carey was only 3 lbs and 14 oz when he was born and he was PUNY.  He didn't even fit into preemie clothing cuz he was so tiny.  He was in the NICU for 2 weeks and they put him on Similac Neosure formula, which is what I still use now.  They say you should use this formula till your baby is 9 months old (which is Carey's age) so I'm wondering if I need to switch formulas now that he seems to be all caught up.

Now I have to teach him how to use a sippy cup.  I tried one time and told him to watch me as I sucked prune juice (ew) out of his sippy cup.  He didn't quite get it.  It's also more difficult to teach him because he only likes to drink milk.  He hates water and he hates juice.  Only milk!  He's just like his dad.  Meanie said when he was young, he went through like 3 bags of milk (the milk is sold in bags in Canada!!; not in cartons or gallons) per week.  I have a feeling I'll be going thru a lot of milk when Carey starts drinking cow milk.  Thank goodness for Costco!  = )

Sleep Deprived

I need a sleepcation.  My baby woke up at 5am screaming bloody murder and wouldn't go back to sleep after that.  I think he had a really disturbing nightmare and he just couldn't sleep after that.  I tried comforting him by holding him but nothing helped.  Every time I put him back in the crib, he'd start screaming as if someone was trying to kill him.  =(  So we brought him to the bed with us.  I don't want to make co-sleeping a habit but if it's the only way I'll get sleep, I'll do it.  He slept for maybe half an hour to 45 minutes and after that, he just started making this noise (think something like the horror lady from "The Grudge") and started poking me. Yes, my baby pokes me when I'm sleeping.  Wahhhhh....

Me = one unhappy exhausted momma. 

I can only drink one cup of coffee max per day or else I get really bad shakes and feels like I'm getting a heart attack since my heart palpitations are so rapid on caffeine.  Blegh.

I really hate this post-pregnancy hair issue.  Approximately 3 months after you give birth, all the hair you had while you were pregnant starts to fall out.  I would see softball sized hairballs after I took showers.  It was really disturbing.  Luckily I have a lot of hair to begin with so I didn't end up bald but my hair got really really thin.  And then after that, your hair starts growing back.  Baby hairs galore.  Mine grow back slowly and they stick straight up. So the hair at the front of my head (the bang area) sticks straight up.  You know, like these birds:

Now my baby hairs are half grown out so some are sticking up, some are sticking left, right, down, or just against the way how my hair is growing.  So annoying.  Luckily I found a stick of hair wax in my medicine cabinet and applied it.  My hairs seem to be behaving for now but who knows what'll happen at the end of the work day.

*Sigh*  The stuff mothers have to go thru for their children....*shakes head*  My sister was lucky.  She didn't have this hair problem after both her pregnancies. 

Anyways, here are some more product reviews.

Carey got this for his Christmas present from his Aunt Jenny, Uncle John and the kiddies:

Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo

I think Meanie and I were excited more than he was.  This was the present we were waiting for.  This thing is a God send if you want to save your arms.  At a certain age - like around 6 months or so, your baby is going to want to jump alot.  All..the..freaking..time.  Usually we hold him under the armpits and he starts jumping no matter where he is.  On the bed, on the floor, on the couch, on your gut..etc etc.  But when you want ur hands free, you just plunk him into this and he jumps like crazy.

When I first put Carey in it, his feet didn't even reach the floor so he just kinda hung there.  I don't think he even knew that he could jump in it.  I even bounced him by myself for him to get a clue.  He didn't figure out it gave him the ability to jump until when his dad was trying to take him out.  So Carey was trying to get away from his dad and started jumping to get away.  But once he figured out he can jump in the thing, that's what he exactly did.  I have several videos of him.  It's totally hilarious when he screams at the top of his lungs and starts jumping.  He also likes to jump to music.  That's my son! :-)

There are 2 music settings - one that plays continuous music or the other is that music will play whenever he starts jumping.  There are also toys on the side that will entertain him and a bird and a gecko hanging from up high which Carey likes to stare at while jumping.  The only bad thing is that the seat is a little tight so putting your baby in is slightly difficult and that it takes a lot of room.  But I definitely recommend it!

When my sister had her kids, she didn't have a jumperoo (I'm sure she regretted it because she got Carey one, lol). But she had the Evenflo exersaucer, several of them. LOL One for home, one for maternal grandparents' home and the other for paternal grandparents' home. I have 2 now (hand me downs) but it's a great contraption to put your kid into when he starts holding up his head. Mine are pretty outdated but the ones on Amazon look really cool!

The one I have is similar to this one.

But the other ones look so fun:

OR there's a 3 in one:

Wow!  The EvenFlo ExerSaucer Triple Fun.

I'm really envious of the babies nowadays.  I didn't have cool toys like that when I was a baby.  And the diapers are so awesome too.  I remember leaky, damp and itchy diapers from way back.  Ugh.

My blog is too long.  I'll do toiletries next like shampoo, baby wash, etc etc. eventually.

Coupon Holder

Wow, who would have thought this was possible?  A non-baby related blog?  Whoa!

I've become my mom.  I've become a coupon clipping suburban mom.  I subscribe to the local newspaper for Thursday and Sunday deliveries.  I don't even read the newspaper.  I get all of my news from the internet.  So why the heck did I get a subscription to the local paper?  I would have totally opted for only Sunday deliveries but it's not available for some reason. Once I receive the Thursday paper, I just chuck it into the recycle bin.  Hopefully my mom reads when she's at my house!  I pay $9/month just so I can get the Sunday newspaper - cuz it's chock full of coupons that I can cut!  Haha.

Before I would totally shove in my coupons in this plain white envelope and it was totally unorganized so it was pretty difficult sorting out coupons in the store.  But now I have a solution.  My mom actually carries around this ugly-as-hell coupon organizer from Shop Rite. It's this nasty yellow and red but it organizes her coupons and it was free.  I wouldn't be caught dead in that coupon organizer.  So on a whim, I did a google search and thank goodness, people sell coupon holders on Etsy.com!  Pretty ones!

I ordered one last week and just received it yesterday and I luv it!  I haven't organized my stuff yet but I can't wait to.  Now I have an idea what to get people as gifts. Hehehe.  So don't be surprised if you get a coupon organizer from me for Xmas (esp if you live in the 'burbs).  Keheheheh.

What's also very cool about it is that you can hang it on your shopping cart so it makes shopping easier! :)

The shop is Grandma's Little Lilly and she sells other items as well.  Shipping is fast and I totally recommend this Etsy!

Refreshed...

I had a wonderful weekend.  Meanie had to work all weekend and honestly, I was quite worried if I could handle taking care of the baby all by myself.  So I had a little taste of what it would be like to be a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom). My mom always said staying home and taking care of a baby is much harder work than having an office job from 9 to 5.  At least at an office job, you can just sit and stare at a computer and have a 1 hour lunch break so it's a total of 7 "working" hours.  My mom arrives at my house at 7:30am and doesn't leave till about 7pm when we get home from work. That's a 12 hour day taking care of the baby.  No wonder she looks so tired. Children suck the life force out of adults!! :)

Honestly, I really enjoyed it.  Yeah, I was tired when he woke up at 7am but that's made up for during his naps!  He naps twice a day, each spanning about 1.5 to 2 hours each, if there are no interruptions like pesky phone callers, etc.  And I got to spend a lot of time with my baby boy and I'm sure he loved getting mommy all to himself, all day (and night) long. And on top of taking care of the baby, I also did 4 loads of laundry and cleaned up some mail.  I wanted to bake some brownies but never got around to doing that. 

I want to do so many things like bake some baked goods (Meanie really misses that), catch up on my DVR (I'm like 90% full on one of the DVRs - YES, I have 2!!), play some videogames (not happening.  Would like to finish Lost Odyssey but not getting any closer), and have tons of "to-do" things on my mental list which I seem to never get to.  At least I have an IPhone to entertain me in spurts.

Rowrrr

Happy Belated Lunar New Year & Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

It's the Year of the Tiger - MY year.  I hope that means a good year.  It seems like everyone I know has had a bad start to their new year - both regular and lunar new year.  Yesterday was a crappy day for Carey and me.  We both had big falls!  My poor baby rolled off the couch and hit the coffee table.  The loud thump had us both running and we found him on the floor next to the coffee table.  Luckily we have a rug underneath so I think it softened it fall but it totally scared him but he seems fine. 

And for me, I was heading downstairs to the playroom and laundry room with Carey in my arms and I slipped and fell down the stairs.  There are only 7 steps are so but I fell down and I remember thinking, protect the baby, protect the baby!!!  I did manage to protect the baby but I'm sore in several places.  But he totally freaked out cuz it was kinda scary and then screamed for a couple minutes till he was ok.

Speaking of tigers, someone has taught my baby how to growl like a rabid dog/tiger and totally sounds like a demon.  He was scaring both his parents cuz he sounded so demonic!  However, my family thought it was hilarious and caught it on videotape.  But I noticed he only seems to growl when his dad is around. He's ok when he's around me.  Haha.

Weekend was fun.  Had some visitors over - family visitors.  Went to eat at several restaurants in the area.  I'm still kinda annoyed at a visitor we had over the weekend.  I think it's only common sense, as a visitor, to respect the hosts of the house.  Not to demean them in any way or disrespect them, you know?  It's only basic common sense.  Yet this one visitor we have (I won't name any names and/or titles) is constantly dissing me and my people (Taiwanese) and it bothers the hell out of me.  Out of respect to my family, I keep my mouth shut so I don't create any drama but sometimes I wish I can just rip her a new one - in her Commie Chinese speck of a brainwashed brain.  =X  Oops, did I go there?  I sure did and that's it. 

Also, when you know the other party is footing the restaurant bill, you don't go and order EVERY SINGLE THING on the friggin menu and then go one to say that the food wasn't good.  "I like the variety and that's it".  Learn some freaking humility and order what you want to eat, not what you want to try.  Ok, that's the end of my rant but poor Meanie is going to have to go thru a whole week of mimicking by me of the bullshit that came out of her mouth.

*grumble*

2 Teef & Solid Feeding

My baby has his 2 bottom teeth coming out.  Carey's age is now 8 months and 2 weeks (34 weeks) but his adjusted age is 27 weeks, which is about 6 months and 3 weeks. It's confusing with preemies because he's got an actual age (when he was born) and his adjusted age cuz he's a preemie.  He's small compared to all other babies that are around 8 months old.  In reality, his real age is about a 6 monther.  But he seems to be doing very well!  I haven't compared him with another baby his age so I have no grounds for comparison.  He's got 2 teeth and I've started him on solids already.  We received a Beaba for Xmas so I've been making some of his baby food.  At first, I buy Gerber Organic or just regular Gerber (the ones in the plastic rectangle container) to see what he likes and then if he does like something, I'll go out to the store and buy organic produce to make his own food.

I totally love the Beaba! I've read reviews that some people think it's a waste of money and that a regular blender would just suffice.  But the good thing about the Beaba is that not only does it puree food, it also steams/cooks the food all in one gadget.  I definitely recommend the Beaba and it seems to puree food to a much better consistency than it would in a regular blender or even in a regular food processor. 

I've already made a batch of butternut squash and a batch of sweet potato.  He loves both but I think he's starting to get sick of it.  I just made a batch of pureed prunes with apple.  The consistency is a little gooey but once you mix it with another fruit, like banana, it becomes a nice pureed fruit.  It also helps with constipation!

Carey also loves fresh banana (all mashed up) and fresh avocado (also mashed up).  He is born into a family of foodies so it's only likely that he will enjoy his food.  I hope I don't have a picky eater!  I ventured out to the veggie world of Gerber and got him some green beans. I smelled it and thought it was disgusting.  Apparently Carey thinks so too because his facial expression is like BLEGHH.  I've seen him gag when I spoon it into his mouth.  But I read an article that your own facial expression should be positive at all times, esp when feeding him icky foods or changing his poopy diaper so he won't have issues later on.  Having a positive facial expression definitely works because Carey ate all of his green beans (I also mixed with sweet potato to make it a little more palatable)!  I think I won't venture to the veggie world like green beans and peas until Carey is able to gum it down himself.  That pureed stuff is just horrible!

Once you're a mother/parent, you are obsessed with baby poops.  It sounds disgusting but it's all a part of parenting.  You become obsessed to see if the baby pooped and what kind of poop it is.  Hahaha.  Carey always had a problem with poops.  His problem was that he didn't poop!  Maybe like once a week, if we're lucky.  He hates all kinds of juice so prune/apple/pear juice didn't help and that's what the doctor always ordered.  Water was also recommended but he hates the taste of water, probably because it tastes like absolutely nothing.  One time we used a suppository but I didn't want to make that a habit.  The process itself is traumatizing enuf and the clean-up afterwards isn't so fun either. 

Carey's new flouride vitamin causes him to be constipated.  His new diet of solid foods also cause him constipation but at least he's pooping more regularly now.  And the pureed prunes definitely help!  He also prefers oats cereal over rice cereal because it has more flavor.  Rice cereal is just a pile of mush.  I feed him Happy Bellies Organic cereal.  I think I'm going to try to feed him yogurt soon.  I just bought some Stonybrook Organic Yo Baby yogurt but I just realized after I bought it that there's sugar in it.  Does anyone use it and is it bad for babies?

Sorry this blog is so long but it's been a long time since I've blogged and I have so much stuff on my mind to blog about!  :)

I wanted to get Carey this cool Vtech book that one of my friends have for her baby.  It's the Vtech Infant Rhyme and Discover book.  My friend brought it over and Carey loooved it so I was going to purchase it on Amazon until I read one of the reviews that one part had contained lead.  Gahhh!

This website has a list of toys and what toys are safe and what aren't.  It's pretty shocking to see how much chemicals are in children's toys.  They say that you should just buy products that aren't made in China but it seems like everything is made in China these days.  Just on the safe side, I opted not to purchase the Vtech book even though Carey really enjoyed it.

More to come later!