Bye Bye 爷爷

Dear Isabelle,

You had a great time with your 爷爷 but it's now time to say goodbye. Both of you got along so well! 爷爷 will miss you and I am sure you will miss him too but hopefully we get to see him again soon!

Love, Mom

Happy 22 week birthday!

Dear Isabelle,

You are getting to be an expert with your hands now. Your ability to reach and grasp your toys has improved dramatically. Whenever you see an object you want, you will reach for it with your fingers outstretched, ready to grasp the target. You also utilize your dexterity to transfer toys from one hand to the other and are starting to learn to put the pacifier back in your mouth. Mommy is so proud!

You are sort of pseudo-crawling. Your legs/knees keep on moving under you but you go nowhere...be patient, you have to tone your back and shoulder muscles first! You really like it when Mommy "helps" you by giving you our hands as a push-off board...then you go off lunging around the floor!

Mommy loves to hear your squeals of joy and I melted when you greeted me with outstretched arms for the first time the other day. You are capable of giving different responses to people based upon the level of comfort you have established with that person. You love laughing at 爷爷's funny faces!

We went for your 5 month wellness check up this morning and everything is on track. You are now 13 lbs 6 oz, you have put on about 1 lb since the last time you got weighed at the doctor, that's about ½ ounce a day. You are a hypermetabolizer and an active baby with a persistent, motor-driven personality so you tend to burn more calories and are quite lean although your Daddy and your 爷爷 say that your thighs resemble the lotus root. Don't you worry, Mommy says it's all muscle!

Love, Mom

Tummytime with Zoë

At the doctor's office

First Foods for Optimal Growth Workshop

Dear Isabelle,

We went to the First Foods for Optimal Growth workshop at the Pump Station today and got TONS of valuable information! This has also reassured and solidified the baby-led approach Mommy has been researching about.

The developmental milestones we are supposed to watch for that are indicators of your readiness to begin solids are:

• your ability to stabilize your head and trunk and sit without support–this is a prerequisite to using arm and hand movements during the self-feeding process.
• your ability to remove food from the feeding spoon with your lips, without spilling too much–this will reflect higher intakes of foods, vitamins and minerals
• your interest and reaching out for food–this signals a readiness to grasp food and find your mouth

So once you are ready, what are we going to feed you first? Recent research has supported starting with green and yellow vegetables as they are easier for digestion and may reduce the risk of food sensitivities and allergies. So as recommended by the metabolic nutritionist, we'll start with peas, sweet potatoes, yams, squash, and yukon gold potatoes. She gave us a sheet with a food variety timetable to follow. We'll pass that on to Daddy because he will be making most of your food. We hope you'll like them!

Love, Mom

Baby Spy Cam

Dear Izzy,

We got ourselves a baby spy cam so Mommy and Daddy can spy on you while you are playing in your crib. We've only installed it for a day and we've already had an hour of laughter. It's better than watching TV!

Love, Mom

Jump Jump Jumperoo!

Dear Isabelle,

We got you the Rainforest Jumperoo from Fisher Price today and you seem to be enjoying it. Let's hope that this will bring Mommy a few minutes of free time for herself each day while you strengthen your legs in it.

Have fun!

Love, Mom

Happy 21 week birthday!

Dear Isabelle,

So what have you been up to this week? Since finding your feet, you love to just hold on to them and let your body roll to either side. I hope this is the start to you being able to roll on your right side since you are always rolling on the left. You've mastered your left side flip. You have also started to put those stinky footsies into your mouth...mmmmm, another yummy treat!

My foot is yummy...*drool*

You also LOVE to stand. Almost always when Mommy is holding you in a sitting position, you use your leg muscles to bring yourself up to a standing position. And once you do, you are all smiles and so proud of yourself! Sometimes you even "walk"...you have pretty good walking motions, crossing one foot over the other. You are also always straining to sit up and are much happier in the sitting up position than in the lying down position now.

Sitting and strengthening your back muscles

You are Mommy's biggest fan. Only you would request Mommy to sing to you with your high pitched shrieks. Our repertoire of songs consists of the ABC song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Ba Ba Black Sheep and Doe A Deer. Once Mommy starts with her "melodious" singing voice, your shrieking stops and you just look at me in awe and contentment. We need to learn more songs!

You are starting to want reassurance when you are amongst strangers. A few minutes of comforting words and glances from Mommy and you are the most charming little girl, playing and interacting with others. You are intrigued with other babies and attempt to "talk" to them when we attend our Breastfeeding Mothers Support Group.

In a few days, you will be 5 months old! We wish we could slow down the time in this journey called life and enjoy every single second with the cute you right now.

Love, Mom

Hello 奶奶 and 爷爷 and Happy Birthday 爷爷!

Dear Isabelle,

Your 奶奶 and 爷爷 are here to visit you. This is the 2nd time you are seeing your 奶奶 and first time meeting your 爷爷. How fitting, we got to celebrate your 爷爷's birthday with him too!

You instantly took to your 爷爷. I think it's because he looks like Daddy and has that familiar face! 爷爷 made lots of funny faces and made you laugh. 奶奶 missed you since the last time she saw you.

We went for dim sum in the morning and for Korean BBQ for dinner in celebration of 爷爷's birthday. We hope he had a great time!

Love, Mom

Baby-Led Solids

Dear Isabelle,

Since we've been going to quite a few of the breastfeeding support groups at the Pump Station, we've been introduced to the term "baby-led solids". The more Mommy does her research on this topic, the more we are convinced that this should be the way to go. It seems very logical and natural as that has been the way you've been eating since birth.

The approach states that:
"Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of life. Breastfeeding is the ideal preparation for self-feeding with solid foods. Breastfeeding babies feed at their own pace – indeed, it is impossible to force them to do anything else! They also balance their own intake of food and fluid by choosing how long each feed should last.

Many parents worry about babies choking. However, there is good reason to believe that babies are at less risk of choking if they are in control of what goes into their mouth than if they are spoon fed. This is because babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have developed the ability to chew. And they do not develop the ability to chew until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things. The ability to pick up very small things develops later still. Thus, a very young baby cannot easily put himself at risk because he cannot get small pieces of food into his mouth. Spoon feeding, by contrast, encourages the baby to suck the food straight to the back of his mouth, potentially making choking more likely.

It appears that a baby's general development keeps pace with the development of his ability to manage food in his mouth, and to digest it. A baby who is struggling to get food into his mouth is probably not quite ready to eat it. It is important to resist the temptation to 'help' the baby in these circumstances since his own developmental abilities are what ensure that the transition to solid foods takes place at the right pace for him, while keeping the risk of choking to a minimum.

Baby led introduction of solids involves trusting the baby to know when he/she is ready or able to eat, and to know when he/she has had enough."

DOs and DON'Ts for baby-led introduction of solids: (as taken from Borstvoeding.com)

• DO offer your baby the chance to participate whenever anyone else in the family is eating. You can begin to do this as soon as he shows an interest in watching you, although he is unlikely to be ready to put food in his mouth until he is about six months.
• DO ensure that your baby is supported in an upright position while he is experimenting with food. In the early days you can sit him on your lap, facing the table. Once he is beginning to show skill at picking food up he will almost certainly be mature enough to sit, with minimal support, in a high chair.
• DO start by offering foods that are baby-fist-sized, preferably chip-shaped (i.e., with a 'handle'). As far as possible, and provided they are suitable, offer him the same foods that you are eating, so that he feels part of what is going on.
• DO offer a variety of foods. There is no need to limit your baby's experience with food any more than you do with toys.
• DON'T hurry your baby. Allow him to direct the pace of what he is doing. In particular, don't be tempted to 'help' him by putting things in his mouth for him.
• DON'T expect your baby to eat any food on the first few occasions. Once he has discovered that these new toys taste nice, he will begin to chew and, later, to swallow.
• DON'T expect a young baby to eat all of each piece of food at first – remember that he won't yet have developed the ability to get at food which is inside his fist.
• DO try rejected foods again later – babies often change their minds and later accept foods they originally turned down.
• DON'T leave your baby on his own with food.
• DON'T offer foods which present an obvious danger, such as peanuts.
• DON'T offer 'fast' foods, ready meals or foods that have added salt or sugar.
• DO offer water from a cup but don't worry if your baby shows no interest in it. A breastfed baby, in particular, is likely to continue for some time to get all the drinks he needs from the breast.
• DO be prepared for the mess! A clean plastic sheet on the floor under the high chair will protect your carpet and make clearing up easier. It will also enable you to give back foods that have been dropped, so that less is wasted. (You will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly your baby learns to eat with very little mess!)
• DO continue to allow your baby to breastfeed whenever he wants, for as long as he wants. Expect his breastfeeding feeding pattern to change as he starts to eat more solid foods.
• If you have a family history of food intolerance, allergy or digestive problems, DO discuss this method of weaning with your health advisers before embarking on it.
• Finally, DO enjoy watching your baby learn about food – and develop his skills with his hands and mouth in the process!

Mommy thoroughly enjoys our nursing sessions and we are definitely going to wait until you tell me that you need more. And when you do, we shall experiment with the baby-led approach. At that time, your digestive system would have matured and you would also be developmentally and physically ready for solids!

Love, Mom

Sleep Training Revisited

Dear Isabelle,

We went to see Marilee Hartling, RN, MFT, who is an early childhood behaviorist, in regards to your sleep issues. We started off your sleep training with great success but have now seen some regression. You are now up 4 to 6 times a night needing Mommy or Daddy to pop the soother back into your mouth or to rescue you and flip you back over to your back. You are able to roll over both ways but only in one direction right now. So when you flip from back to tummy, you get stuck because you've hit the side of the crib. Hopefully, you'll learn to roll the other direction too, that way, you can help yourself!

Marilee described you as precocious and very alert and she's not surprised that you've regressed. She says it's because you are so active and are probably practicing your new motor skills when you wake from REM sleep. And after all that practicing, it's hard for you to fall back asleep yourself and you need help from Mommy and Daddy. She also advised Mommy to resume your nightly feeding because you might also be waking due to hunger. Even though Dr. Scott said that physically, 4 month old babies should be able to go without calories for 10 hours at night, Marilee said that, in your case, you might have Mommy's high metabolism and in addition to your hyperactiveness, you need that extra feeding in the night.

So her solutions for us are:

• to be patient as this period shall pass but will also return when you develop another new skill
• to add a night feeding
• to teach you to pop the soother back into your mouth yourself

On the cute side, at the beginning of our consultation, you were looking at Mommy for comfort because you were in the presence of a stranger. After Mommy reassured you, you started interacting and smiling with Marilee. You were also rolling, rolling and rollling all around the mat...little show off!

Love, Mom

Your eyes are always big and open like that!!!

Happy 20 week birthday!

Dear Isabelle,

So what have you been up to this week? We have been practicing on bottle feeding in preparation for 奶奶 and 爷爷's visit. So far, so good! Each morning, Mommy gives you a bottle and you drink from it while watching Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. You are starting to get better at it and no more protesting. You even want to hold onto the bottle yourself! You are not ready yet though because you squirt milk all over the place!

Holding onto your own bottle

You roll around all the time (tummy to back and back to tummy) and you LOVE to scream. You find it very amusing when you scream and Mommy comes running over to where you are just to find your wide gummy grin!

Your feet are your next favorite thing after your fingers now. You prefer your right foot over your left...is it because you are going to be right-handed? Mommy always finds you rolling around in your crib, holding onto your right foot. You also hold on to your foot for comfort when you fall asleep in your carseat...it's the funniest sight!

Loving your footsies!

As for sleep training, naps are getting better. They are getting a little longer and it is easier to put you down for them.

Work in progress (Thanks Auntie Peggy, Uncle Andrew & Kaiden for the onesie!)

Love, Mom

Mommy and Me Footwear

Dear Isabelle,

Look at our collection of "Mommy and Me" footwear, courtesy of Godma! Your Godma is the fairy godmother of your shoe collection. The sneakers are from Keep and the flip flops are baby Havaianas! Every time she sees you, she has shoes for you and Mommy! Mommy can't wait till your feet grow into them so we can bust out in ours too.

Love, Mom

Bye Bye Godma & Uncle Justin

Dear Isabelle,

Vacation is over and Godma and Uncle Justin left to go back to Vancouver today. You had so fun with them!

So what did you do with them while they were here?

• We went for Korean tofu hot pot with Godma and Uncle Justin when they arrived on Saturday.
  
• We went for brunch at the Beverly Hills hotel with Godma, Uncle Justin and Daddy on Sunday. Then in the evening, we went to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate Uncle Justin's birthday.
• Monday evening, we went to Mozza for pizza with Daddy, Godma, Uncle Justin, and Godpa Dan. You screamed at all the guests for entertainment.
  
• In the mornings, Godma would feed you from the bottle and change your diapers. Then she would play with you after. Mommy got a nice short break!
  
• Uncle Justin watched you while Mommy and Godma were busy getting ready to go out.
• Uncle Justin made lots of funny faces and made you laugh.
• We went for an early lunch at hotel Bel Air with Godma and Uncle Justin on Thursday. Your Godpa Dan cooked for us a scrumptious meal! Then we went to Nordstrom Rack for some shopping. Uncle Justin took care and entertained you while Mommy and Godma shopped, shopped, shopped!
  
• It was a long day on Friday. We all went for a day of outlet mall shopping and seafood at Santa Barbara Pier.

WOW! What a busy week! You went to bed late on Friday so when Godma and Uncle Justin left this morning, you were still sound asleep. They came into the bedroom to say goodbye and we'll see them when we go back to Vancouver!

Love, Mom

Godma & Isabelle @ hotel Bel Air

Sunglasses: Check, Sophie: Check—now ready for our roadtrip to Santa Barbara!

You Found Your Footsies!

Izzy,

You found your feet! Two nights ago, Mommy found you fussing in your crib and you were holding onto 1 of your foot...no wonder you were fussing. You might have gotten a muscle cramp, you silly goose! Next time learn how to let go! Now you roll around and hold on to your footsies all the time.

I wonder when you are going to start putting them in your mouth because EVERYTHING goes into your mouth these days.

Love, Mom

Happy 19 week birthday!

Izzy,

You are another week older! Why is the time passing so fast? You are almost too long for your bathtub! When you stretch, your head and your feet touch the ends of the tub!

You love your fingers—you can occupy yourself for minutes at a time staring and checking them out. You have started to predict and anticipate Mommy's actions too. When Mommy counts to 3 while you grasp onto our fingers, you start wiggling and tensing your back muscles, trying to pull yourself up. Also when Mommy holds our hands up when we are about to tickle you, you start giggling in delight!

You are also able to follow finger-pointing and motions. Mommy reads and points at the picture book and you follow the story with my finger. Your eyes follow Zoë, who loves to run around you with her soccer ball. You have become more outgoing and are starting to enjoy strangers who interact, play and make funny faces at you.

I wonder what new things you will learn to do in the coming weeks!

Love, Mom

Just chillaxin' on the couch

Milestone: Doing the Flip!

Isabelle,

Mommy finally captured the moment of you doing the flip! You flipped from back to tummy today. You've been practicing a lot these past few days and finally did it. Now you do it with ease! Mommy has to be careful when we rest you on the changing table...don't go doing the flip on there now!

Love, Mom

Hello Godma & Uncle Justin!

Godma Danielle and Uncle Justin are here for the week! We will be hanging out with them and doing lots of scrumptious dinners. Behave yourself OK?

Love, Mom

4th of July

Happy 1st Independence Day, my American baby!!!

Sleep Training: Day 7

Dear Isabelle,

1 week has passed since we started you on some gentle sleep training techniques. Mommy can say that your night time sleep has improved TREMENDOUSLY! After our bedtime routine, you fall asleep within 10 min of hitting the crib and Mommy and Daddy can have dinner and hang out together after a long day! Thank you for some Mommy & Daddy time!

But we do have to work harder on naps. Apparently they are harder to tackle but should get better once you are older. At least we have 1 sleep schedule down!

Love, Mom

Sleep Training: Day 6

Bedtime was at 7 p.m. and only 1 nightwaking last night! Again, you woke up at around 4:15 a.m. Mommy really thinks it is due to a little bit of hunger but we had to hold out again. You fell asleep after Daddy turned on the Sleep Sheep. You stirred a little in your crib at 5:15 a.m and Mommy fed you then. After the feed, you slept till 8 a.m.!

Naps are kind of sporadic still. Sometimes you take 1 hour naps but other times the "45 minute intruder" creeps in and you only take 30-45 min naps. We need to work harder on naps!

Love, Mom

Sleep Training: Day 5

We are almost there! You had only 1 nightwaking last night. You were put down at 6:30 p.m because we were out all afternoon and you didn't have a good nap. Mommy dreamfed you at 10:00 p.m and you didn't wake until about 4 a.m. I think you were hungry. But we had to hold out till about 5:30 a.m. to feed you. You were good though, you fussed a little, babbled to yourself as if you were complaining about why Mommy hasn't come to feed you, and then fell back asleep. We fed you at 5:30 a.m., you gave a little smile after your meal and went back to dreamland till 8 a.m.!

It's getting better and better everyday, Isabelle!

Love, Mom

Adventure: First Bus Ride!

Isabelle,

Mommy took you on your very first adventure today! We strapped you into the sling and went on a bus ride to the Pump Station in Hollywood. We went there to attend another breastfeeding support group session because Mommy had some questions to be answered by the lactation consultant. You enjoyed your first bus ride because you actually got to see out the window, not like when you're in your carseat, you don't get a view.

It was a good session and we got lots of good information about bottle feeding, feeding schedule, maintaining milk supply and even solids.

And then your Daddy was being all overprotective over us and didn't want us to take the bus home. So he left work for a little bit to come and pick us up and drop us off at home. Oh Isabelle, I can just see the day when you want to take the public transportation out, your Daddy is soooo not going to let you!

Love, Mom

Sleep Training: Day 4

You are getting better at this, Isabelle! You went to bed at 8 p.m. and there were only 2 nightwakings (12:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.). Both times, you put yourself back to sleep within 3 mins. Mommy feels more refreshed than ever as I am getting about 6 hours of straight sleep (and about 8 hours of sleep total).

We fed you at 5:45 a.m...you weren't awake, it was more like a dreamfeed. And you slept till 7:30 a.m. this morning.

With your better nighttime sleep, comes longer naptimes. Now Mommy has time to do more freelance projects!

Love, Mom

Special Day

Hi Isabelle,

July 1st holds a dear spot in our hearts...do you know why?? It was 1 year ago today that Daddy and Mommy went to visit the doctor to confirm that you were REALLY growing in Mommy's belly! The home pregnancy test gave us a positive on June 30. Once we got the confirmation, we shared the good news with close family members. Everyone was elated! We couldn't wait to meet you from that day on.

Love, Mom

Tiffany & Co. locket from Daddy! Something I will wear close to my heart