Tag Archives: Baby

Everest at 5 months

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Everest recently turned 5 months! She’s still pretty new to this world, and continues to be a mellow, easy baby. She does not cry much, and when she does, we usually know why, and can calm her down pretty quickly. She babbles a lot and likes to blow raspberries. She likes to say, “Ohhhh,” “Ehvuhh evvuhhh” and “Pfft Pfft.” She still likes to frown and mean-mug people. It’s her favorite! But when she wakes up in the morning and sees our faces, she always gives us a big, sweet, smile.

She loves her big sister, and loves eating avocado. She started eating solid foods about 3 weeks ago, and has pretty much enjoyed everything she has tried, including yams, sweet potatoes, avocado, bananas, and rice. When she sees people eating, and not sharing their food with her, she becomes very vocal and accusatory. She cannot seem to get enough of avocado, and insists on shoveling food in her mouth on her own (let’s hope this enthusiasm sticks!)

She took her first picture with Santa, and is experiencing the magic of the holidays for the first time.

She recently took her first vacation with us, and was very well-behaved in the car to and from Lake Arrowhead. In the mountains, she participated in a night hike for the first time. It was rather uneventful though, because she fell asleep.  

Everest at 4 Months

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Everest turned 4 months recently. She celebrated her first Halloween, and went trick-or-treating with Sister and buddies Connor and Ellie. She also enjoyed friends visiting from Indiana this month. Auntie Belen and Uncle Tony made her laugh many times, and she had a lot of fun at home with extra attention from loved ones.

It’s been a good first three months of life. However, beginning the end of October and through the first 2+ weeks of November, she was also abandoned by her mother, who had to work long hours in trial, leaving early in the morning, and working late into the night. Might as well not have a mom at all, horrible. Fortunately, a defense verdict was reached on November 19, so that Mom could resume momming.

Everest also went on her first hike. She was fussy at times, but caught a little bit of sunshine and did pretty well overall.

Everest at 3 Months

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Everest is a tall girl, measuring in the 90th percentile. She is scowly and does not smile much. She wears a slightly disturbed or exasperated look on her face often, particularly when Sister crowds her space with excessive hugs and kisses. Her head smells like pineapples.

She is a pretty easygoing baby, but does not like to be alone. She attended a birthday party with Mom in Fullerton, and screamed most of the drive back home because she was in the backseat all by herself (she was napping on the way there). She has a serious case of Fomo. If other people are around and doing stuff and she can’t see, she gets agitated.

She gets a lot of love and attention from her big sister, and she doesn’t yet know how lucky she is. Every morning, the first thing Vale does when she wakes up, is run into our room and give Everest hugs and kisses.

Everest at 2 Months

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We have now kept Everest alive for a whole 2 months. (*Pats self on back*) She is a fairly quiet and easy baby. She recently started sleeping in 9 hour stretches just in time for mom to return to work (we’ll see if she keeps it up). She often wears an inquisitive look, or a frown. Frowning is her favorite. She surprised us by lifting her head and chest off the floor completely, for the very first time, when we set her down to take 2 month photos.

She is very fortunate to have a sister who is sweet and kind, and looks forward to playing with her every day. Her head is a little flat on the right side, so we have been trying to be extra attentive with tummy time and holding/wearing her instead of letting her lie on her back. Hopefully we can avoid a head helmet situation.

And one of our first (the first???) picture as a family of four:

Everest at 1 Month

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Everest has been with us a whole month now. Everyone is adjusting. I’m adjusting to maternity leave (half over now), Vale is adjusting to being a big sister (very well, I might add), Kyle is adjusting to being a Dad to two, and Everest is adjusting to…. life. Existence. Not being a fetus. Acquiring human status, which is a big fucking deal!

Fiona is also adjusting. She’s kept her cool and been as sweet as always, but we know she’s secretly thinking, “Oh god… again? Why? Why? Meow meow, meow meow.”

Everest is still a little funny-looking, like a lot of newborns. She’s lost some hair, and has that same old-man receding hairline her sister did. She also has some flaky skin. But we can’t say anything about her looks around Vale, who gets very defensive about it.

It’s funny how you forget after less than a handful of years, all the stuff newborns do – breathe funny, make weird noises, flop around because they don’t have any muscle strength. It’s a little surreal, but we are a family of 4 now.

Vale Turns One

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Vale turned one recently. We already celebrated her birthday with family a couple of weeks earlier, so we did not have another party. However, she did have a little celebration at daycare, and exhibited some pretty greedy behavior, reaching for a second donut while the first was still unfinished, in her mouth (let’s be honest – there’s no way she can even finish the first donut, much less the second!)  On the actual day of her birthday, she received a visit and some neat presents from her buddy Luka from San Francisco. They played together a little, though Vale was abnormally shy about it.

Later in the day, we took her to the park (her favorite!), where she enjoyed climbing slides, throwing sand, and other playground gadgets. In the early evening, we gave her presents mailed from Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Aaron. She liked chewing on the panda bear’s nose, and was immediately interested in the Chinese version of Hungry Hungry Catepillar. We gave her a percussion instrument set, including a xylophone, maracas, jingle bells, claves, a small drum, and a guiro. She took to it quickly and could be a future bando in the making.

At night, Dad baked her a chocolate chip cookie (from scratch!), and we sang happy birthday to her in Mandarin and English. She refused to try even a bite of the cookie, unfortunately. She appeared confused by this birthday spectacle.

Vale loves animal crackers and bananas and is increasingly developing a personality. Her likes and dislikes are always in flux, and she has even exhibited some rather intense fears. Grandma gave her a pretty cool Curious George-in-the Box for her birthday, but she is not yet a fan. She was initially terrorized by George popping out of the box, and attempted to flee the scene, but also proved curiously drawn to it. Her fears have somewhat diminished after interacting with the toy multiple times, but it seems George still continues to put her somewhat ill-at-ease.

Another toy that has really ruffled her feathers, is a talking teddy bear given by a kind family member. The bear recites a prayer, Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep, guide me through the starry night, and wake me with the morning light (or something along those lines). We actually received this item before she was born, and it creeped me the fuck out, so I put it away in a drawer. Recently, I pulled some toys out of the drawer, including this bear, and pressed its belly to make it talk. Vale immediately dropped to the ground on all floors and started bawling. Due to the extremely dramatic display, I questioned whether her reaction was some kind of a coincidence, and related to another external stimulus. However, when I again brought the bear near her a few minutes later, her lips curled downward like she was going to cry.

In contrast, when I cruised her down the aisle of Halloween decorations at the 99 cent store, and waved dead bodies, bloody skeletons, and murderous clowns in her face, while saying, “oOOooOOooO,” she was much less concerned. The combination of these circumstances could be an indication she is a heathen, or worse, some unholy daemon.

She still loves In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company by The Dead South, and likes to bob her head and bounce her butt to the song, while watching the music video.

She continues to enjoy bath time, and even jumped in with all her clothes on before I could stop her on one occasion. She likes riding around in her Cozy Coup, and has another fun car in the works, a present from her uncle, auntie, and cousins.

Vale at 11 Months

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At this stage in life, it is apparent Vale has opinions about things. She does not like putting on clothes (let’s see how this plays out when the weather gets cooler, kiddo!). She does not appreciate being dragged away from things and “goals” she intends to pursue, e.g. breakable dishes, electrical sockets, bottles of wine, picture frames, etc.

She remains quite social, but tends to be much more charmed and interested by older kids, as opposed to babies closer to her own age. She had a grand time playing with a 3 or 4 year old boy and a couple of 12 year old girls at Crack Shack. They played with giant Legos and made fast friends.

She made her second trip to Mexico (TJ), and accompanied the adults on various taco and beer adventures, where she enjoyed a few bites of taco meat, washed down with yummy Horchata.

She loves toddling around, exploring her environment, and being outdoors. She’s starting to get quite a tan, and mom has restricted direct sun exposure to after 3:00 p.m., especially since she refuses to keep a hat on her head. Her favorite toys are constantly changing, and recently, she enjoys taking things in and out of a small makeup pouch.

She’s eating more and more solid foods, though unfortunately, this includes some junk food, such as cheese balls. Dad got her a gigantic tub of these at WinCo. One questions why these cheese balls only come in a 3 gallon tub, but then you eat one and remember  they are about as addicting as crack. After a stint without cheesy poofs, she will walk over to the container and pound on the lid to demand more.

 

Vale at 10 months

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We went to Maui this month, and Vale proved again to be a relatively compliant little traveler on the plane. However, due to the slight time change and new environment, she woke up twice a night to eat for almost the whole trip. On the positive side – she pooped three times on the toilet, and took one step on our vacation. She loved playing in the pool water, splashing in the ocean waves, and visiting with the staff at Java Jazz cafe/bar.

Over the next couple of weeks after we returned from Maui, she added more and more steps, and we think she’ll be fully walking any day now. She has finally started to be amenable to solid foods once again, and is back to eating avocado. She also likes string cheese, Pirate’s Booty cheese puffs, celery, and unfortunately, cat food.

Her new favorite activities include tearing into the spice drawer and playing with her new alphabet flashcards. She also enjoys playing in the sand pit and turf at Crack Shack while her parents enjoy beers.

We attended a beer and cheese tasting at Alesmith brewing, hosted by our real estate agent, and decided to bring Vale along. She enjoyed a fancy, dry, gouda with excellent flavor crystals. She also tried and liked the triple cream brie, goat, and bleu. Unfortunately, she was not of legal age to pair these cheeses with the recommended Alesmith Nut Brown, .394 Pale, Horny Devil (Belgian), or Speedway Stout, respectively.

 

Vale at 9 Months

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Vale enjoyed playing with her buddy Sienna when we went to visit Matt & Jess in Arvada, CO. On this trip, she thoroughly enjoyed the outdoors, the grass, time by the lake, and discovered her love of slides. She enjoys climbing up slides, though she’s a bit less certain about the sliding down part. She was slightly less cooperative on the plane this time, but still slept most of the way there and back.

 

Overall, she is quite social and enjoys interacting with other babies and people. She had a blast at a couple of birthday parties for her buddies recently.

Vale has learned to like the water a bit more: she enjoys splashing during baths and playing in the hot tub/pool. She was less fond of putting on a bathing suit and being slathered with sunscreen, but the fun times that followed appeared to be worth it, as she had a great afternoon playing in the water at her cousins’ birthday party.

She detests shoes, and broke down in a tearful demonstration of melodrama when we tried to put some cute, sparkly, silver shoes on her feet. She doesn’t walk, and thus doesn’t really need them anyway, though she has stood unassisted a couple of times and just might be walking soon.

She has proven to be an active baby, and hates being confined. If we don’t let her crawl around and explore, she gets extremely frustrated. She’s also a bit stubborn – with shoes, solid foods, hats, and bottles. In the solid food department, we are making some progress though – she regularly eats yogurt now, and has taken a few bites of mozzarella.