i'm blogging again! *gasp*

this the second day in a row that i am blogging. yep, i am trying to make an attempt everyday.

for those you don't i know i am practicing what they call attachment parenting. i had one of those attachment parenting moments which i wanted to share.

we went to a marriage retreat in denver a few weeks back. jake is a seasoned traveler. he has been to japan at 5 months, flew to houston to see great great auntie harriet, and he also survived a 16 hour road trip from los angeles to here in colorado springs. so this one and a half hour drive and two nights in a hotel should not have phased him.

so much to my surprise, when we went into our hotel room in denver, he got scared and nervous in this new environment. i could see this when i put him down to stretch his legs, he kind of looked to me, looked for reassurance. i went to him and cuddled with him. in about 15 minutes he was his normal self again crawling everywhere in the hotel room and exploring like he loves to do. this kind of experience makes me believe that for us to respond with sensitivity and provide loving and consistent care creates a confident child, not a spoiled child.

my parenting journey at 9.5 months

i really need to get back to blogging, i have a lot to say, i always end up facebooking it or just sticking it in the back of my mind...

so jake has began to explore everything and i am so amazed at what he is doing. every little thing he has to touch it, look at it, taste it, and absorb it all. at the same time i see him learning, learning to crouch down from a standing position instead of just fall over, learn to vocalize and show what he wants (he comes over and pats my chest when he is hungry), and learn to show that he is displeased instead of just crying (ok he could've skipped this one ok? LOL). now the baby whose whole world was just the living room now explores all over the place. while he explores, we keep an eye out from a safe distance... we still do not have baby gates.

yea, we do not have baby gates. we have items placed strategically placed, like the laundry baskets blocking him from the kitchen... but he wanders back and forth, from the living room, to the dining room, to the bedroom (when we forget to shut the door), and the bathroom (again when we forget to shut the door, but we make sure we close the toilet lid). i don't feel like it is necessary to restrict him from places with a gate. i dunno, its just how i feel.

overwhelmed!

i really have meant to update. i log on to blogger then i get so overwhelmed with all tat has been happening! so paul got his class date. he unfortunately did not get the MOS he wanted but they made sure he stayed MI (thank goodness) so he got a jack of all trades desk jobber kind of MOS (35F). well he will be at Ft huachuca (:thumbsdown: LOL) for 4 months. automatically i asked him if we could go back to torrance and he said yes! so we'll be in southern california from feburary to june... that means we wil be able to share his first birthday with the whole family! (maybe paul will be able to catch a flight home really quick? i hope so!!!!)

so... for jaker updates! he has been crawling since he was about 6 months old. that means now he knows how to crawl to get to places that he can pull himself up to too! he has been cruising the couch and the coffee table. :( why sad face? because my little man is mobile!!! well, paul and i being the well, whatever happens happens kind of parents, we haven't gotten baby gates yet (haha i know). we keep talking about it.... but no action. he crawls everywhere! he has also started to eat soilds. he loves to eat! i'd say asparagus and sweet potato is his favorite.

yes, its that easy.

paul said to me at breakfast today, i don't know what the big deal is. i was like hmm? and he said, parenting. i told him, well we've been lucky. you know there are babies that can't be put on the floor like that because they want to be carried? then he simply replied, then why don't they strap them to their chest (aka babywearing)?

hehe.

many people ask us if jake is sleeping through the night. he is not. he still wakes up during the night, sometimes three times a night. people are surprised by this, but i don't have the heart to tell them that i've been co-sleeping with jake since birth and getting quite of bit of good quality sleep. i can't imagine how it would have been if i had to physically wake up to tend to him. i would probably be a zombie right now.

this all could have gone a different path. when he was 2 days old we found out that jake did not like sleeping on a cold sheet, so he wouldn't even sleep in his cosleeper. i was disappointed. i wanted to cosleep with him but i wanted to do it safely of course... but he was happiest tucked in our arms. i could have let him cry it out and tire him to sleep, but my conscience didn't let me so. he has never cried it out. i get plenty of sleep.

guilty.

i am guilty of not posting. life has been grand lately. also i have some awesome pictures of jake but it is on paul's SD card and i just have to remember to upload them. jake has gotten bigger. he sometimes wears 12 month clothes. i think we are very overwhelmed by how fast he is growing. it blows our mind that he can even fit some 12 month stuff. we forget that he is not even 6 months yet. we went shopping at the outlets and we spent A LOT of money on the little guy, more than we even spend ourselves... and we probably get much more use from whatever we buy. HA. but still paul was captivated by gymboree's pirate dog line (so cute) and the osh kosh b'gosh 50% off sale. we did manage to pick up a pizza stone and a cool criscross cutter that chop carrots in the thai curries (SCORE!).

jake has bonded with dad wonderfully. paul even put him back to sleep when he woke up tonight. there was a little bit of crying, then there he was sleeping. i almost got up and went to nurse him but paull called out that everything is ok... and it was.

honestly? why i cloth diaper.

jake is 4 months old now. i've been exclusively using cloth for about 3 months now. i really love it. now i can reflect on WHY i love cloth diapering. so here i go.

is it the ecological benefits?

no, not really. i do worry about the amount of water i use to wash the diapers. how can that be resolved? just simply buy more diapers! there are ways that you can keep the stink away and take the stains off the diapers. what is the magic formula? baking soda + good ole sunshine! i can not believe how WELL hanging diapers in the sun gets the stain out... and believe it or not it DRIES the diaper at the same time as well (i know, hard to believe). also on another note, the energy i saved by not drying the diapers in the dryer was a whooping... 10 dollars. i was a little saddened by that but also reinforces the fact that it doesn't cost much to cloth (and i was drying a load every other day).

is it the rashless tooshie?

no, jake still gets rashes because i forget to drink water. :-( i've been trying to get better at it. jake spends a lot of his time nekkid on a towel in the living room. he likes it better that way, and his tooshie feels better too. he hardly fusses when he is naked. also its hard to use butt paste when you are cloth diapering. well, i can buy grandma el's but i have 4 tubes of butt paste i don't want to waste. i am using an old cut up gerber prefold as a liner. i guess that works pretty good. so.... yes jake still gets a rash sometimes but its not the diaper's fault.

is it the cute diaper covers?

maaaybe, but i did not buy the dr seuss bumkins when i sized up. so probably not.

so, what is it then?

in the end i'll have a mountain of cloth diapers and if you use disposables, you'll just have a mountain of trash.

i am totally selfish like that.

almost 4 months

i can't believe its been 4 months already. he is nicely growing out of his 0~3 months clothes and his diapers! i was not expecting it to be soon but last friday we weighted him in at 16 lbs and thats when his poopie blowouts started. lol. i bought the thirsties duo. i can't wait to try them out! next tuesday is his doctor's appointment and his second round of shots. not really looking forward to that.

he is cutting teeth!

jake is teething. he is a little fussy, but he is not drooling or anything like that.

Is it the end of august yet?

some firsts that jake has done the past few days:

rasperries! he had a whole lot of drool and he pfffffft at grandmas. we thought grandma tooted! i tried to get it on camera but he was busy talking to it. he's such a ham.

play date with joshua... the two boys were talking back and forth! lol. its funny because jake just falls asleep when he is around baby girls :D

mothering adventures at three months old

three months. i can't believe its already been a quarter of a year since jake was born. i must admit, i have it pretty easy. jake has been easy... but he is starting to show signs that it that all may change in a few months!

about two weeks ago he started to get very active, socially and physically. he started to notice the differences in people's faces. it was so funny because my dad was holding him when this happened. jake just stared at my dad and then within seconds he was crying. i think jake was the one most surprised of it all. i was worried that he had gotten separation anxiety or something like that but few hours later he was back to his normal self. my dad and i were awestruck. we felt like we just witnessed his cognitive skills developing. now he stares at me when someone else is holding him.... he has this 'hey if mommy is over there who is this holding me?' kind of look on his face.

so he rolled over tummy to back two weeks ago (right and left) and hasn't done it again since. :P thank goodness i got it on video! lol. it does seem like he was just showing off. haha. now his new thing is kicking, kicking, and more kicking. kicking during diaper changes (ugh), kicking while i hold him, kicking during tummy time. maybe thats why he doesn't roll over anymore. hm... interesting.

i think the biggest issue that has come to my attention is how socially unaccepted breastfeeding is!! its been so hard to nurse jake in public. i am lucky to have been blessed with a wonderful family (both sides) that accept breastfeeding (even my brother doesn't mind. yeah!) as being 'natural' but i've read that some families are not. yes, i've had to nurse him in a bathroom in a public sports venue. it was a 'family bathroom' but i had to sit on the toilet (yuck). another thing i thought, that it was a simple matter of choosing between the breastmik or formula but its not. a lot of mothers 'give up' for one reason or another even though they want to breastfeed. some doctors even advise patients to wean before the baby is 1 year old which is against the recommendation of the american association of pediatrics.

another thing i really realize until i actually started doing was how easy cloth diapering is... but i think some diaper companies are capitalizing on how scary diving into cloth diapering can be and selling all in ones when prefolds are so easy to use.

easy to fussy in a day

lately jake has become fussy. i think he is beginning to know what works for him and what doesn't. now he has prerequisites to falling asleep. he needs to be swaddled or tucked in my arms. its funny, when he is tucked in my arms i feel him sweep his feet on my thigh as if he is making sure i am there. i would leave to go do something and if he is not completely asleep he will wake up within half an hour. he won't fall asleep just being on the breast anymore.

first cold (2 months and 1 week)

he was just sneezing and coughing. i thought it was just allergies... so he got his shots and BAM! he had a cold. he never had a fever. i'm just wondering if it was his slightly lowered immune system from the shots made it worse than it really was.

doctor's appointment

jake weighs 10lbs 13oz now!

lol. i can't believe it.

2 months!

jake is 2 months old today! i weighed him last week and he was 10 lbs (but it was after a feeding)! he has been feeling heavier to me, and that is crazy because i hold him everyday. he has a doctor's appointment on tuesday.

some of his developmental milestones so far...

he did the mini push up - once.
his neck is so strong. he can hold his head up and look around.
he can turn from side to back. i THINK he turned from side to stomach but i think katie helped him (lol).
he sleeps about 3~4 hours at a time, sometimes 5.
he can turn his head from side to side while on his stomach. he is so funny because he would fuss during tummy time and even if his neck is tired he keeps trying to turn his head!
he coos, but not a lot. i don't know if he is smiling or if he is gassy. (maybe both :P)

wow.

time goes by so fast. i was looking at some old pictures (ok only 2 months ago). i can't believe that he was still in my belly then. i still marvel over everything. conception, the miracle of birth, and this tiny, helpless being we brought into this world. it maybe cliche, but seriously he is my bundle of joy. i feel so happy holding himthis feeling is so wonderful even when he is waking you up in the middle of the night, fussy with no consoling in sight, or peeing on you for the 10th time.

6 weeks 1 day

ooo its so exciting... when i give jake tummy time, he almost seems like he can turn from belly to back! he lifts his leg and looks like he can make it... but not yet. not quite.

5 weeks 2 days and growing...

so i put jake in his newborn size sleeper and he is just barely fitting into them now! his toes fit in the foot perfectly, sometimes its a little bit tight (when he stretches his legs out). since i look at him everyday its hard for me to see how fast he is growing. this morning i was surprised (its only been like 3 days since i put him in a sleeper the same size). i'm hoping that maybe it shrank *lol*. my little man is growing so fast!

1 month old

jake is a month old today!! i can't believe how time goes by so fast (i seem to be repeating myself every week).

gassy baby.

jake is gassy all of a sudden. he has been eating formula and breastmilk for the last 2 weeks so the only thing i can think of is that it maybe something in my diet... particularly cow's milk.

i'm going to miss you milk, but its for the sake of my baby's tummy.

parents will be parents.

naura ...: ugh
naura ...: one day a girl is going to steal his heart
socalyonsei: she better be hot and have money =X
naura ...: ha
socalyonsei: she better make cute grandkids
naura ...: hehehe