A letter to Mommy

Dear Mommy

I am not quite ready to give up our all night playdates, but I am willing to make the following concessions:
1) I will nap with you for two hours after work
2) I will not howl and scream so Daddy can hang out with me more at night and you can rest
3) I will only stay awake from 1-2:30am

Deal?

Love, Gemma


(and Mommy was SOOO happy!)

A letter to my daughter

Dear Gemma

I just want to check and see if we could move our playdate up a few hours, lets say 6pm-10pm, instead of the usual 12am-4am. Poop once for yes and twice for no, thanks!

Love, Mommy

(If only it were that easy.)

House Dad Day One

Nevada went back to work today and Gemma has done her absolute best to ease the transition for mommy and daddy. We weren't sure what to expect but luckily for me Gemma has decided to have a sleep day. We woke up at 9:45...hung out until 10:30...had a little bottle snack. Nevada came home to feed at 10:45. Then we played for a few minutes and Gemma got sleepy. She's been in an out of sleep for the last two hours and she doesn't look eager to get up. I'm not saying that I want her to sleep all day everyday but during this adjustment period it'll be a good thing. Well, I just wanted to update you guys...now it's time to start on the laundry.

New Friend!

Another couple from our church had a baby on December 27 named Noah. We had a couples shower for them yesterday at our place and the two of them were so cute, amazingly both awake at the same time. This kid is soo adorable, he has got more hair than any baby I have ever seen. It covers his ears and is thick thick thick. The beginnings of the Sunday School at our church!

First Bottle

Here is Gemma's first bottle, and let me tell you what pain in the butt pumping is. Well, so far at least. Now I need to spend 15 minutes feeding her, THEN assemble the pump and spend 15 minutes pumping. Then the pump has to be washed and sterilized, bottle dealt with, etc. Pumping success varies each time. The first two times I got two ounces, then I had a super pump and got 5 ounces in less then ten minutes but then this morning only got 3 ounces. I hope it gets easier, and as I replace feeding times with pumping maybe I'll have more to give up to the pump. And what is the deal with sterilizing? We have the fancy bottle sterilizer, but I sterilize the pump and then have to touch it all to get it together. And the bottles and everything are sterilized but then they sit on the counter; is that ok? Hopefully this gets easier; three more days and then back to work!

Cutesy Wutesy

Baby clothes are soo adroable and one of the funnest (good english, eh?) things of having a baby is picking out little outfits. It's too bad she is a winter baby and can't wear all her little short sleeved onesies, but we still have fun. We were given a tonne of clothes from two familes who are done having kids and passed on all their baby girl clothes to us and I found this little bonnet in the hat drawer yesterday. She looks more like a doll then ever. She was kinda grouchy during the photo shoot, but the effect is still there, I think.

Winner!

You would have heard the Hallelugiah chorus in our house two nights ago; She slept for 5 straight hours, from 1am -6am. We are on our way. Last night was not bad either, only up twice but awake from 3:45-5:00am.

She started smiling this week and it is so cute. Its still a little sporadic but we'll try to catch it on camera. She has also really begun spitting up. Yesterday after a feed it was like a tidal wave of milk, it just poured out of her mouth and soaked her arm, the pillow, her clothes (which, by the way, were the third set of clothes we had put on her). Yesterday I was at the store and I had set my purchases on her tummy and then she barfed an arc that landed on her chest and splattered them. Yummy!

Meow!

I have met the dreaded colic monster, and lived to tell the tale... barely. Friday night and Saturday night were terrible, starting at about midnight with fits of unconsolable howling (from Gemma; Mommy's howling came later), the poor girl cried until she was gasping and hoarse. She would scream for 20 minutes until I comfort fed her, then sleep for 40 minutes. Repeat. Repeat. Saturday night was the worst, I didn't crawl into bed until 7am. Sunday night was good. Yesterday night she was awake a lot, from 1-5am, but no screaming so that was good. The Meow title of the story comes in from Saturday night about 2am. She was in the middle of a screaming fit, and I was holding her in her bedroom which backs onto a lot. She was howling so loudly that this cat started howling too. Then another. Then another, until there were about 6 cats in a serenade. Then the dogs started barking! It was like a creepy horror movie, I was waiting for them to claw at the windows or something. I know I shouldn't be embarrassed and I'm not really, I just know we are not making any friends in our building. All of you raising your babies in four walls of your very own be thankful!

We at our first bath in the big tub with mommy, and it was so fun. She likes the water so far, I think she is just interested in the new sensation. The funniest part to me was that she almost floats. I tried to hold her under her armpits and dunk her body down into the water (remember our bathtub is short but super deep) and her little bum and abdomen kept rising up to the surface. The second most funny part is that after we were done and Daddy was holding her in the towel and cuddling, and I was thinking to myself, we should get a diaper on her soon...(you an all guess where this is going, right?) You got it; pooville! Fortunately it was all contained bu the towel :)

She fell asleep all by herself just now on the boppy pillow. She usually sleeps by herself in the afternoon; I don't know why she is so restless at night. Maybe we need to turn all the lights ON at night and trick her.

What's new...

Generally she is just busy being cute and growing. We've been working on sleep lately, and how she only will go to sleep on one of us. Ooops... We've been putting her in her crib when she does fall asleep, but it usually takes a few tries to get her to stay down. She is kicking and moving so much that in the freedom of her crib she just balls up, and flails and her arms move all over. In our arms she is more contained. The book I read is Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, and it had some good ideas, but its just so hard to apply them to a real life baby. Like it says that she should fall asleep on her own in the crib. Which is a great idea. But Gemma just won't. She'll lay in it for 10 minutes then cry. So I pick her up, soothe her, put her back down, and then she cries. And on and on. We did this for an hour yesterday and I was like This is so stupid. She is exhausted and needs to sleep, I'm not going to keep doing this for another hour. So I held her for ten minutes till she was out and then put her in her crib. And she was fine. She is so little yet that by the time we get done with all the book shenanagins and finally get her down its 20 minutes till meal time and she is up, so whats the point? The irrational overtired part of me knows she needs to learn to fall asleep by herself, but the normal practical side of me is more like, she'll learn eventually, why spend all this time fighting with her? Things will work themselves out, I'm sure. She made the move from our room to her room though, sleeping in her crib last night. Well, for two hours at a time, in between meals! We had a nap on the couch this morning, her in her boppy pillow and me beside her. I am hoping sleeping through the night comes soon, but we'll see. She is only 8 pounds and so I can't imagine her tummy is very big yet.

We went to the doctor yesterday. She had a little scab on her left bicep that was getting worse and worse; yesterday it was really big and red and hard, like a huge pimple. So I took her in, and the doctor said it was completely normal, the result of her vaccination she got when she was born. If there was no reaction that would be bad and mean it didn't work. You would think they would've mentioned that before I left the hospital; "your baby will get a big sore in about 5 weeks and don't worry about it" but what can I say besides lost in translation. She also has her baby acne this week, and her head is all pimply and her neck and chest too. Buut we quit using lotion and it is clearing up. More good news in the looks department; she is getting new hair on her bald spot. She has lots of hair in the back but the top of her head is pretty sparse. Well, today I noticed a new fuzz, just the smallest sheen like a new peach. What a doll!

I've included some Christmas pictures, we've been delinquent this week in the photo department. But the flicker site is all up to date, so check it out if you haven't been.

1 month!

Happy one month birthday to Gemma!

She has grown quite a lot in the last week. We went to the doctor yesterday for immunization and well-baby check, and she is up to 3.8 kg and 53 cm. The also measured the circumference of her head, or 'circumstance' as the doctor said, but other than that his English was good.

For Christmas we just chilled around home. Gemma woke up long enough to pose with some of her presents, and then slept, Mommy had a big nap while daddy cooked dinner and cleaned house. I put some pictures of her presents from Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Rod below; a play mat that apparently was 'Toy of the Year' (Gymini Super Deluxe Activity Mat) and a Rainforest bouncy chair, Rainforest being the new fisher price theme. Its pretty cool, the waterfall lights up and it sings really cute songs as well as soothing rainforest sounds. My only beef about the bouncy chair is that there is a giraffe on the seat. Giraffes don't live in the rainforest! From Baba (Chris' mom) and great grandma the present is going to be a one on one visit; that's right, the McKenzie's are getting company in Taiwan! Brenda and Grandma are coming the beginning of February for three weeks. Hurray!

She is Canadian...

well, she will be in 9-13 months. Isn't that funny that Gemma, born of two Canadian parents, has to apply for citizenship and wait for that long to find out if she is accepted? Until then she gets a temporary passport. The ladies were so nice at the consulate today. The room is like a waiting room, with doors along one wall that open to little cubicles where you meet with the people who do your stuff, so Chris was in one room applying for his passport and I was in one little room applying for Gemma's stuff, and we'd have to go out and back and forth and the ladies would go back and forth between our booths because he needed the marriage licsence and then I would need it, etc. The lady working with me caught a major technicality regarding Taiwan and passports; You can't enter Taiwan with less than 6 months left on your passport, and because Gemma at first only gets a temporary 1 year passort if we get it now, it will expire in December, which is less than 6 months than when we plan on coming back after summer. So if we get her passport in the spring we don't have to worry about it. I love people who know their jobs that well, that she thought of it and gave a real solution. Compare that to Vital Statistics in Regina, who were completely UNhelpful and gave bad information...no need to get into it.

What's new in Gemma land? She has been an ANGEL the last few days, playing by herself and sleeping easily by herself giving Mommy and Daddy lots of time to nap and putz around. She is growing so much! Chester put some more pics up on the flicker, so check those out.

On a side note, here are some things I love about not being pregnant anymore:
1) I can bend over and get all the clothes out the dryer easily
2) I can walk up a flight of stairs without being out of breath
3) I can go for HOURS without needing to pee. It's amazing!

Schedule????

Life with baby; what a thing. If I have time in a day to eat a few meals, get dressed, brush my teeth and put deodorant on, the day is done! And speaking of daily things, like showers and eating and brushing teeth... If you are up all day and night, when do you do those things? I mean, usually I brush my teeth and go to the bathroom in the morning, and put deodorant on too. Then at night before I go to bed I brush my teeth again. But with Gemma here, when do I 'go to bed'? I go to bed at 10:30, then again at 12:30, then again at 3, then repeat with the waking up stuff; I have three different wake up times; 6, 9 and today 11.

Last night was the worst for sleeping; she would not sleep in her bed. I would get her calmed and quiet, lay her in bed and she would sleep for about 5 minutes, wiggle for 5 and then be awake. And repeat. By the time she finally fell asleep it was time to eat again! Finally, I gave up and let her sleep on my chest and we both crashed on the couch from about 5-7:30. Then I made the mistake of trying to go to bed. Doh... Then she was up. Again.

So, passport office yesterday... I got everythign ready the night before, had it all laying out. Then in the morning I double checked it all, and ventured out. A 30 minute bus ride later we are there, get up to the office and....no stuff! It was all neatly placed in an envelope on the kitchen table at home. So, 30 minute bus ride home once again with no passport. Then today was so rough in the morning, we didn't wake up until 11. (We didn't really fall asleep in our own beds until 8) and since the passport office is only open from 9-11:30 we missed our chance. Oh well, tomorrow.

I am really trying to have a relaxed attitude about everything; ie; dirty floor, dirty dishes, wearing the same clothes every day, piles of laundry... because I know she will not be a baby forever, or even for a long time, but it is very hard for me and my structured self. Part of me wants to cuddle her at every moment and the other part of me is dying to get the broom out. You can pray for me that I stay relaxed and enjoy all these minutes with our already 3 week old little bear. (I started calling her little bear because she makes these funny growling sounds... we'll try to catch it on video soon)

(posted by Nevada)

The belly button

The best and the worst...

We've had our best moment and worst moment so far. Good new first?

I had just put her down in her little bed (on the floor beside our bed) and was getting myself ready for bed when she sort of whimpered out. So I bent down over her and held her little hands and and whispered to her and she breathed a huge sigh and fell right back asleep. It was so amazing to comfort her like that, I just felt like Yes, I can take care of you and you can trust me.

Contrast that with Day 17; the worst day ever. She was fussing and fussing, and really cried for the first time; the full on wailing, back arched, voice rasping cry. It was totally heartbreaking. She fussed/cried for a few hours and finally we gave her some ovol and she went right tos sleep (dummy parents; why didn't we think of that hours before?)

Wow, parenthood. This blog post has been sitting on the screen of my computer for two days. So much has happenend since then...

1) Gemma has a belly button! The stump fell off, and there is a nice little hole in its place. Well, it is a little oozy still but cute none the less.

2) We went to Ikea today to do some shopping for Chris. She was getting tired of being in her carrier so I had her laying in a shopping cart, which she loved. Well, everyone stared and smiled at her, just fascinated to see such a little baby out and about. Then I had to change her, so we were in the bathroom in a special changing room but I didn't have the door closed becuase Audrey and Ali were coming in and out helping me. Well, by the time we were done we had an audience of 5 or 6 all in that little room, all oogling her and cooing, asking how old she was and marveling at her young age (san-ga lee bi = 3 weeks) "How can you be out if she is only 3 weeks?" was one question, because in Chinese tradition mothers and babies do a staying in period of one month after the baby is born, and don't go out. Mostly they were saying how cute she was and just admiring her, but really, would you crowd into a changing room and spectate a diaper change of a complete stranger?

Tomorrow we need to go get Canadian and get her passport. More later.

Update

So, in an update from yesterday, after the whole day of sleeping she did finally wake up about 8:30 to eat, dozed till 10:30 and then followed her usual routine; midnight, 3, then 5am.. except instead of going back to bed at 5 she was up until 7:30. (usually she goes back to sleep). Then she did go back to sleep till 10. So I guess letting her sleep was ok, Today she was up more, so we'll see what happens tonight, And no fussy time tonight, yay! Mommy has been more careful about what she eats; no more milk, and I guess that has worked for one day, anyway. Or, it could be that she had good burps after every meal today. ? :)

She is growing so much and doing new things. Today she followed my face with her eyes back and forth a few times before breaking contact and going back to staring at her imaginary friends 12 inches in front of her face. She can get her fingers in her mouth almost on the first try now, and tonight she was laying on her blanket on the floor just hanging out by herself, and her soother was in front of her. She reached out and was moving it closer to her mouth, and even though she couldn't pick it up and put it in her mouth she was sort of pulling it as close as she could get it to her mouth and then was stretching her neck to try and grab it. It was so clever, I thought. Also, she can roll herself over onto her side. (not sure if she does this on purpose or not yet...probably just a fluke, but still so cute!) I love babies!

Sleeping Beauty

Today I rode my bike to the video store. If you would have asked me a week ago if I would ever be back on the bike I probably would have said 'no way' but the movies needed to go back, it was too rainy to take Gemma in the stroller, and I just felt like it was possible. The human body is an amazing thing!

Gemma is good. She has started having fussy time in the evenings, I think she has gas, and so we've been trying to burp her better and bounce her around. Last night she slept from midnight to 5am, then up at 7 and back to sleep until 9:15 so that was awesome. Today she has been sleeping all day, probably not up for more than an hour since 10 am. I don't know if I should wake her up so she'll sleep tonight or just let her relax and enjoy it. Ideas anyone??? It is only 8:30, so she may wake up yet for a bit before her usual bedtime. Hopefully, I like sleeping at night.

A week of firsts

Although life with a newborn isn't super eventful for us as adults(mostly hanging around the house getting used to a new routine) but it is an awesome time to watch our little one experience everything for the first time. This week was full of many firsts: first time on the MRT, first time at church, first Laker game, first bowling game, first trip to Starbucks, first nose picking and first trip to the school. Gemma was a busy baby, she really seems to like our outings. The vibration of the stroller is key. She usually watches the scenery for about 5 mins and then it's off to sleep. She's been very well behaved and has yet to be the crying baby in public. (she is finding her cry more at home though) I can't wait to enjoy some more firsts this week and hopefully I'll get some pics to share.


By the way, keep checking the Flickr link. I add pics often.

The McKenzies & Dr.Lee

Yesterday we went to Dr.Lee's office for Nevada's one week check up. The doctor said she was doing fine and took out the last of the stitches. It was fun to take Gemma to visit the nurses and Dr.Lee...they all said she was so cute and the all wanted to play with her. It's strange to think that Gemma had been there many times before but she had never really "been there". Our experience with Dr.Lee was a good one. He helped the process go smoothly and was always available and informative. If we have another baby in Taiwan he will definitely be our man.

The poo diaries

We have survived week one. Survived isn't the right word really, the week has been such a joy and we are completely in love with this little jelly bean. She is soo cute and adorable and we both just want to stare at her and hold her all day long. (and night too!) Really, I hate when evening comes because it means another day has passed.

Recovery is going alright; the physical is definetely on the mend but the emotional is tailspinning out of control. I'm in tears for a million stupid reasons and I'm sure putting my husband at his wits end but I hope that I get evened out here pretty soon.

As we learned from the greatest blogger of all time, Shelen, no baby blog is complete without some good poo stories. So last night, Sunday, we were getting ready for our first outing to church. Our friends had come to visit and were going to drive us so that was sweet. It was close to go time so we took her to change her into her 'church' clothes we picked out for her debut. Well, as soon as I got her diaper off and away she rocket shot a nice stream of mustard baby poo across the table all over the change mat. Of course I yelped and everyone came in to check out the show. No sooner than I got that cleaned up and her cleaned up, and she did it again!! And mommy the fool of course didn't learn her lesson the first time and still had nothing under her, and she got it all over the table again. And on her new hat, which was an integral part of the outfit. So Daddy cleaned the hat and mommy got her cleaned up again. And then we were ready for church.

Our little girl is a very good pooer, and we have figured out not to change her immediately after the first poo because she usually poos in twos. Well, she did her intial poo, and so I waited about 10 minutes for number two, but it didn't come. So I went and changed her, and as soon as I put the clean diaper under her (remembering yesterday's lesson) she pooed. So I got another clean diaper, put it under her and.....Again! Another squitry poo. So I get ANOTHER diaper, and sure enough as soon as it is under her she lets her go. 3 diapers in 3 minutes!!! Good thing she is so darn cute!!

Baby Pics

I want to bring your attention to the link on the left called "Gemma Pics". This will take you to our Gemma Gallery on Flickr where we will put up all the pictures we can. Tonight I purchased a FlickrPro account so that we could upload full size pics for you all to enjoy and for some of you to download and print. I hope you enjoy...I know we love looking at her!