Breaking the Radio Silence

And...we're back! Sorry for the radio silence over the last couple of months. Since going back to work, it's been hard to try and keep the blog up to date. Numerous people are unhappy about the lack of updates so we thought we'd better get to it before the Christmas arrives---at which time there will be, undoubtedly, many photos to take.

Since the this blog is normally arranged in reverse chronological order with the most recent posts at the top, we'll post the pictures also from most recent to least recent as well.

Hannah has been gaining steady weight. As of November 28, 2006, we guesstimate her weight to be just above 15lbs. It's hard to believe how chubby she has become. When daddy has to give Hannah a bath, he actually has to lift away the flabs of fat to clean between the folds. Just a few days ago, daddy and mommy looked at some of the older videos of Hannah (who we normally refer to as "Cutie") shortly after she was born. We couldn't help but laugh when we saw how small and frail Cutie was. She looked like an alien---big head, big eyes, big mouth, and tiny body. How things have changed!

Overall, Cutie has been a good girl. We are truly blessed. On most days, daddy and mommy get at least 7-8 hours of uninterrupted peace. Getting Cutie to bed, however, is always a challenge. Sometimes, she makes the Energizer Bunny seem out of shape with her persistence in staying awake. At one point, we had decided to lead Cutie cry herself to sleep but after she lost her voice (at around week six), we decided not to let her do that. Since then we've only let her cry at bed time a few times.

Cutie laughs and giggles now. She clearly knows who mom and dad are. There are few things in life that feel as good as going home and seeing Cutie all happy and excited to see daddy come home. Cutie spends quite a bit of time on the various toys that we have received as gifts from our many generous friends. We are now realizing that Cutie doesn't always want to be held. She's actually sometimes happier just being put down to look at her toys. Go figure! She's also on the virge of being able to turn now which means mom and dad have to be extra careful when changing nappies.

A couple of months ago, Cutie stopped taking the bottle. We tried hard to give it to her but her tongue and lungs were just too powerful and we saw little point in forcing her to take the bottle. How ironic it is given that we could not get her to take the breast at the beginning. For a while, we lived in the land of bliss with Cutie taking whatever we gave her. Alas, mommy doesn't seem to mind and it means that daddy is absolved of the responsibility of getting up to feed the baby.

Birthday Party for CJ
On November 26th, we had a chance to go over to Peter and Megan's house to celebrate CJ's first birthday. Wow! The house was filled with little babies! It was a fun party and we got to meeting quite a few people. Cutie got to meet someone special, too!

Two lovely ladies!

Here are some pictures of Hannah with her new friend, Jordan. The new friends were totally unabashed and felt right at home holding hands together in front of their stunned parents.

All the kids are looking down. Maybe they're looking for Cutie's daddy!!

Happy mothers with some Kranky Kids. These pictures were made into black and white because daddy doesn't know how to expose properly with his camera. Post-processing couldn't fix the problem without introducing a lot of noise and so the image was turned into B&W. The final result doesn't seem too bad, though.

At Henry and Ann's
After CJ's party, mom and dad had a fellowship committee meeting at Henry and Ann's.

Cutie seems to have no problems being held by Rev. Ko. Cutie even cracked a smile looking at mommy! Daddy smiles when he sees mommy, too!

Miscellaneous Photos
These photos are shown from most recent to least recent.

A more recent family photo.

Jolly jumper joy! Hannah loves her new Jolly Jumper. Courtesy of Hannah's uncle and aunt.

Exersaucer. Baby gets a work out while mom and dad get a break!

Cutie loves the bathroom! She especially loves the big mirror and the lights in there.

Sleeping in the sling. It looks so comfortable...but daddy's concerned about improper spine development.

Cutie loves her bath and the grooming she gets afterwards. She's so happy she thinks she can fly.

Hannah sits with a bit of assistance.

Look Ma! I Can Sit! Sitting with no assistance...well, no visible assistance, that is. You can guess where the hands are!

Hey Cutie! Hannah in the bathroom in the morning. Perfect formula for happiness!

Hannah enjoying her tummy time! Good progress on neck strength.

I don't feel like doing anything today!

Daddy and mommy love it when Cutie puckers her lips after a feeding.

One of the last times Hannah was willing to take the bottle.

Hannah makes some yogurt and is happy about it.

Grandma and Cutie

Hannah with her new Roots tank top courtesy of granduncle and grandauntie Yeung (our neighbours)

Yeeeeeeah!

Cutie and daddy in the office.

"Labour" Day Weekend Update

Well, I haven't been very diligent in keeping the blog up to date. Now that I'm back to work, things are pretty busy again.

Anyway, life is sort of getting back to "normal" again. Grace is recovering quite well. Hannah seems to take both breast and bottle without problems (though we're still waiting for the Domperidone medication to kick in---there are indications that it might be working now) which is a real blessing. We're going to church again and even had a chance to attend fellowship this past Friday (September 1st).

We are now trying to train Hannah to sleep a little bit better at night. She's currently on a timezone on the other side of the planet being fully awake from about midnight on and virtually unwakeable after about 8:00am. It's a tough thing to do but we are letting Hannah "cry it out" a bit during her sleep time now. As with all things in life, there are usually two camps of philosophies. We have done the "soft camp" for a few weeks now and we're trying to transition slowly into a more disciplined mode.

Last Sunday, August 27th, officially one month after Hannah's birthday, we went to church and the brothers and sisters helped us to celebrate the full month. We brought a cake and they also provided a cake. What a blessing.

Later that afternoon, many people from the fellowship came up to our house to give Grace her birthday celebration. Another cake! Needless to say, we had lots of cake that day.

Little White Riding Hood
Hannah loves the bathroom because normally that's where she gets cleaned up and where daddy and mommy get messy! Hannah doesn't always take too well to the waters but you can be sure that after her bath, she's always delighted!

Hannah with her Glo-worm toy.

Last Sunday, before I got up for church, Grace brought Hannah to the bed and left her with me for a bit. It was a very touching moment because Hannah was wide awake but didn't fuss while daddy embraced her half asleep. To reward her, I let her sleep in my spot for a few minutes after I got up snuggled between Egyptian cotton threads and a nice down feather pillow---quite the upgrade from her crib mattress and receiving blanket. She gave me the one-eyed bandit look in return!

Car Seat Magic
It's interesting...it seems that whenever we put Hannah into the car seat, she becomes pacified. If we put her in the car and drive, she usually doses off. There must be something special about the way carseats are designed because I know, talking to my friends, that they have experienced the same thing! Perhaps infant beds should be shaped like carseats instead. Not too sure this would be healthy for the spine, though.

	Decisions, Decisions, Decisions Sometimes life presents you with the job of making difficult decisions. Before we headed back to Waterloo during the Labour Day weekend, we presented Hannah with just such a decision: a can of hearty V8 or a pack of Trident Splash gum (daddy's favourite). Hannah struggled with the decision for a few minutes and then a smile began to appear. Before we knew it, she raised her hands and cried out, "I'm taking both of them!"

First stop in Waterloo is Hannah's great grandmother's place. Some 94 or 95 years separate these two and yet there is definitely a bond between them. In fact, great grandma made a 130km trek from Waterloo up to Markham to see Hannah. After the visit, great grandma had diffculty sleeping and so had to make the trek again the following week. I'm sure Hannah loved being in great grandma's arms (even though the pictures might not give you that impression). :)

Of course, grandpa and grandma were there, too. Grandma had the privilege of giving Hannah a change of nappy (without getting bombed, I might add). Hannah is happy after a nappy change as usual and grandma and grandpa share in her delight.

Grandma and Hannah spending some bonding time together.

Next stop is Hannah's other grandparent's place. Mom and dad got to enjoy some good food. Hannah didn't to eat the same food but she seemed happy all the same.

Last stop is a trip to the pitstop where Hannah got another nappy change from grandma. Once again, she's happy. We have noticed that Hannah is a tad narcissistic---she loves to look at herself in the mirror and seems quite well please with what she sees. Of course, daddy and mommy are happy with what they see, too!

Back to Work

Well, Hannah is exactly 4 weeks old which also marks the day that I go back to work. The last few days, Hannah has been pretty fussy. Nevertheless, there are still some moments where she's cute so I've posted a few pictures. Also, talking to numerous parents, it seems that all parents pretty much go through the same traumatic ordeal so we take refuge in that fact. Breastmilk, formula, bottle fed, breastfed, I guess at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. As long as the little one is happy and healthy. I'll post some of her not-so-cute photos sometime.

Some may construe this as child abuse but I assure you the foot never came close to Hannah's face. Hannah must see something funny underneath my feet.

Hannah enjoying her tummy time.

Check out Hannah's tongue!

Grandma holding Hannah over the shoulder.

We have found another use for the breast feeding cushion. Hannah didn't seem to like it at first but then she found it to be quite comfortable.

Hi!