Happy 43 week birthday!

Dear Izzy,

Your new hobby this week is climbing up stairs. You can't get enough of it! You try to race up the stairs with Brooklyn all the time but Brooklyn is so much faster, she usually waits on the top for you. You are always so proud of yourself after you make it up the flight, you sit at the top and give yourself a round of applause!

Your leg strength and muscle control are definitely building up. You can stoop and squat quite well now. You crawl with your feet flat on the ground and Ah Kong calls you Spiderwoman! I think all you need to work on now is muscle control in your back and some balance and you will be off walking!

You have become Ah Kong's superglue. You cannot get enough of him! First thing in the mornings, you crawl into his room and yell for him to wake up and when Ah Kong is up, you only want him to carry you!

You are such a little miss chatterbox but for some reason when we put the phone to your ear when Daddy wants to talk you, you turn into a silent movie. Daddy misses you so much! Don't worry, he'll be here in 3 more days!

Love, Mom

Isabelle's First Christmas

Dear Izzy,

We celebrated your first Christmas today. We went to the 9 am Christmas mass in the morning before your AM nap. Then after your nap, we had our present opening ceremony. You got a lot of presents for a little girl celebrating her first Christmas! Mommy has to leave some of my own stuff here to bring home all your presents! What a lucky girl you are, so many Uncles and Aunties love you!

After that, we went for dim sum and you entertained everyone at the table with a new dance. Not sure where you picked that up from but it was really hilarious! After lunch, we came back home in time for your PM nap. You slept like an angel again...you've been doing so well for the past week!

See, it definitely pays to be a good girl because Santa brings lots of presents to good girls!

Love, Mom

Yay! Presents for Izzy...

Miss Claus and Santarina

Happy 42 week birthday!

Dear Isabelle,

It's our first week in Vancouver and we've been busy! We took you to see Santa again and we've been going out for lunch quite often and you seem to enjoy eating whatever Mommy eats. So far, you've had fish congee, rice rolls, BBQ duck, roast pork, wonton noodles, chicken wings and fried tofu....yummm...this gives you a real taste of some good Chinese food! Most of the time, we don't need to pack you any extra baby food, Mommy just brings out a spoon and a pair of baby scissors!

You sleep schedule is ever-changing as well. Lately, we've tweaked your schedule a bit and putting you to bed around 7-7:30 pm and you've been waking up at around 7:30 am in the mornings. It's great! Your naps are getting longer too...your PM naps have lasted 1.5 hours at the longest. I think you like the Vancouver darkness and air...it's just so relaxing.

Babbling is what you do most nowadays. Your babblings have started to sound more like words and you try to imitate whatever is said to you. You've learned to react to songs like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "When You're Happy and You Know It". It's so cute, I love it!

Keep on learning, baby!

Love, Mom

Izzy checking out Santa's beard

Champion Traveler

Dear Isabelle,

Thank you so much for being such a good girl on the flight today! You were a champion traveler, Mommy was surprised but oh-so-grateful. You fell asleep during take-off and landing and played with the passengers in between. You were playing peek-a-boo with a 2 year old girl named Emily, who was sitting in front of us. You ate well while in the boarding lounge and on the plane and was in such a good mood.

Mommy is proud of herself too. We managed a huge luggage, a stroller bag, your car seat in the stroller base, a hand carry, a diaper bag and a baby all by ourselves with minimal help! We would not be able to do it with Zoë though...that would be too many beings to keep an eye on. This proves to Mommy that we are able to travel alone so maybe we will do more trips in the future, just you and I.

Our plane ride by ourselves was a success and thank you again for being a good girl. You are definitely growing up!

Love, Mom

On the plane en route to YVR

10 month Baby Wellness Exam and Happy 41 week birthday!

Dear Isabelle,

You are getting skinnier and skinnier, little skinny minnie! Mommy and Daddy were certain that you would hit the 17 lb mark but nope, when we went to see Dr. Scott today, you were only 15 lbs 15 oz and that puts you at the 4th percentile! So it is quite obvious that you have the famous Ow genes because you eat like a horse but haven't put on much weight! Your height was measured at 28 inches (56%) and the circumference of your head is 44 cm (44%).

Dr. Scott said that you can start having citrus and egg whites but to still stay away from honey, shellfish and peanut butter (although you had some peanut butter cookies yesterday!). We also have to start some routine oral care so Mommy is going to try to remember to brush your teeth every day.

You were such a brave girl today. You had to have a toe prick to measure your iron levels and you didn't even feel that one! Then came the second dose of flu shot...ouch! You felt that but you only cried for a second or two. You are getting better at this and so is Mommy!

As for motor developement-wise, you have been doing the crab crawl and Dr. Scott said that since you have been cruising a little and slowly testing the waters by letting go of one hand, you should be able to walk by your first birthday. You are climbing up on things and using everything as a stepping stool! Mommy is kind of not really looking forward to it because I will not know what to do with you during your waking and WALKING hours!

You have become a better sleeper now as well, much to Mommy's delight! Today something happened that has never happened in your whole 41 weeks of life. You fell asleep in the carseat AND didn't even wake up when we brought you into the house. Not even with Daddy knocking the carseat on the entryway of the apartment building! You slept in the carseat for almost an hour afterwards. WOW, Mommy hopes that this continues and maybe you might even be a good girl and sleep soundly in the carseat for our trip back to Vancouver tomorrow. It's going to be just you and I and Mommy is stressing out about the flight!

Be nice to Mommy tomorrow, OK?

Love, Mom

Lulu keeps you brave at the doctors.

Using your animal zoo as a stepping stool.

Isabelle and Friends

Hey Izzy,

We went to 2 playdates in the last 2 days. You are starting to make little friends! You had such fun and Mommy had a good time watching you interact with your little friends. You guys are hilarious! We will make sure to go to more of these playdates next year as you are at the stage where you enjoy playing/watching/interacting with babies your age (and plus you sit nicely in the carseat now).

Love, Mom

From left to right: Payton (12 months) , Nicole (8.5 months), Devin (9.5 months, his birthday is 1 day after Izzy's!) and Isabelle

"Hi, my name is Payton...and you are...?"

From left to right: Nicole, Isabelle and in the background with the cutest devilish smile, Devin

Happy 40 week birthday!

Dear Izzy,

40 weeks on the outside world already! You were supposed to stay 40 weeks in Mommy's belly but you checked out early at 38 weeks and 6 days, I think because we didn't have the big screen with Ni Hao, Kai-Lan playing. So how do you like your last 40 weeks on the outside world? You are definitely enjoying it more and more, Mommy can tell.

You are sooooo talkative now. Always babbling and baby-talking. You say "pa pa", "da da", "yayyyy", "ahhhh", "aiya", "ehhhh", "okay" and "woh woh" all the time. Sometimes by chance, we hear a "ma ma" but you are very stingy with that word...why??!! Are you saving that for Mommy's Christmas present??

You are also so animated and thrive on getting a reaction from us. You can definitely understand simple words and phrases now. I especially like it when I ask you to come, you crawl right to me and use my legs to pull yourself up!

Wow, you really dislike to get changed. It's so hard to put the diaper and clothes on you nowadays. You roll around and try so hard to crawl away! Sometimes we need 2 people to get you dressed!

Mommy wants to freeze time now because you are at such a cute stage! But alas, Father Time just keeps on ticking away...

Love, Mom

Outside Santa's workshop

Isabelle Meets Santa!

Dear Izzy,

Have you been naughty or nice? We took you to the North Pole to meet Santa today. You weren't scared at all! You sat on Santa's lap and Santa asked you what you wanted for Christmas this year. Mommy couldn't hear what you whispered in his ear. We took some pictures and you didn't want to leave his lap after. You just kept on staring at him. I think you wanted to go back with him to meet the elfs and the reindeers and of course check out all the presents at Santa's workshop! But Daddy didn't want to leave you.

Can't wait to celebrate your first Christmas with you, Izzy! We will be back in Vancouver and hopefully you get to see a white Christmas.

Love, Mom

Milestone: Sleeping Through the Night!

Dear Izzy,

This is the milestone Mommy has been waiting for! You are finally sleeping through the night. About 2.5 weeks ago, we weaned you off the 2am feed and you've been doing great! The first couple of nights, you woke up and fussed but after the third night, you slept right through till 6am. That gives Mommy about 6-7 hours of uninterrupted sleep after we dream feed you at 10pm. Well, Mommy is still trying to relearn to sleep through the night ourselves as we are so used to waking up. But the nights that Mommy does sleep through till 6am, I feel so refreshed and like a new person! It's nice after 9 months of having fragmented sleep to finally be able to just have peace of mind that you don't need a feeding anymore in the middle of the night.

Not only are you sleeping through the night, your naps are getting longer as well. You were only doing 30mins naps for the past couple of months but now they have lengthened to 1 hour naps. You dropped your late afternoon nap and now are taking only 2 naps a day.

We have to slowly tweak your schedule to try to get you to wake up later...6am is still a little too early! Maybe one day you'll be able to sleep in till 7am. We can only hope!

Keep it up, baby!

Love, Mom

Happy 39 week birthday!

Dear Izzy,

Auntie Christine and Uncle Moe arrived in LA last night and you got to see them this morning. We hung out with them for a good part of the day. You seem to have forgotten them at first but have been slowly warming up to them again. It's Uncle Moe's birthday today too and we went out for breakfast, to the library, park and grocery store with them. They will be staying at the Beverly Hills hotel tonight and we'll see them again tomorrow!

At breakfast with the birthday boy, Uncle Moe.

You started drinking from a straw today. Usually you just chew on it but today when Mommy tried to "pretend-share" our juice box with you, you actually got stuff to squirt out everywhere! Daddy cannot "pretend-share" his iced coffee with you anymore as you might actually drink it!

You are constantly using Mommy like a jungle gym by crawling and climbing all over me! I always have to watch out behind me because you use the back of my legs to pull yourself up all the time. Mommy cannot believe the speed of your crawling nowadays and you go where ever you want to go. Mommy found you hiding in my closet today, playing with my shoes! Like I said to you before, they are all yours when your feet can fit in them.

Love, Mom