E's 3 month old "birthday"

It's like E has reached her "first" birthday, she's three months old!

This in and of itself is usually not cause for celebration, but we had a Red Egg and Ginger Party (the traditional Cantonese "Meet the Baby" party where people get to meet her, congratulate the parents and grandparents, and eat - of course), so it was definitely like a birthday. The Red Egg and Ginger Party usually occurs a month after the baby is born, but as the holidays were in full swing it was postponed to this momentous day instead. Overall, she did well... sleeping through the first half hour, being cute the second half hour, being hungry the third half hour and crying because she was tired again for the fourth half hour (it was two hours long at a chinese buffet restaurant). Hopefully it doens't look like she was asleep and crying in all the pictures, ha lol. (Pictures will be posted when we get them from the photographer... keep a lookout for them.)

Another reason why 3 months feels like such a milestone is I guess we've been noticing all the thing E is able to do now too. Sometimes she seems so grown up and then we remember, oh wait she can't eat by herself, sleep by herself, or even play by herself. Ha ha ha... I guess she is still our little infant!

[Oh, and just a random sidenote: a couple people that wanted to give E a gift from the baby megastore that is BabiesRUs said they couldn't find her registry. How odd, I thought, because I had looked at it just last week. Well I guess they took it down recently as her 3 month "birthday" approached, because it no longer exists. Yep, our baby girl is getting so "grown up" that I guess she doesn't need anymore gear (so says BabiesRUs). Odd because we have a bunch of gift cards to still use and a bunch of stuff we still want to get. Seems like that was not a good retail move on their part, oh well.]

So, as we revel in our baby girl growing up and discovering the world, we continue to look for that perfect balance and find some semblence of workable routine. Hopefully it will come sooner than later. But even if it doesn't, we are still so excited to have our little Miss E . Boy, do we love our little girl!

Coordinating to Slobber

Our little E -bean is just learning to use her hands to grasp things (and then bring them to her mouth). Here is a picture of her working with her favorite toy (because it's the only one she can hold at the moment and also get into her mouth) - Thanks "Uncle Alex" for the clutch cube, it's getting it's share of slobber on it. ha lol.

Other things we've noticed is her noticing things. She is watching everything we do. And she like to stare at us when we eat, but hasn't quite figured out what we're doing with all that food (that disappears into our mouths).

YUM YUM, want some ice cream E ??

Discovery... of Feet!

Recently E has discovered she has feet. She will rub them together. And occasionally she'll watch them too. That's what she is doing above. (Just wait till she discovers she has hands that can grab things... then those feet of hers will be the next things in her mouth.)

Oh and of course, if you post one picture... you have to post a couple more because she's just too cute not to.

This is "Grimace" E ! (like the big purple creature at McDonald's)

E just lounging ... and striking a toothless smile for the camera.

Baby Advice to Pass On

For all of those looking forward to the births of their bundle of joys... here's a list for those new parents. After talking to one of our friends, we remembered how much confusion and time was spent trying to figure out all that baby gear. Really all we needed to know was what was necessary, what was useful and then how to choose the "right" kind. So that is how this list was made. Of course, we're also always available to help traverse the crazy mega baby stores in search of that needed baby gear among all the unnecessary "cute stuff". Just let us know... recently made experts (because you almost have to be in order to decide on anything in those massive item filled stores) of baby gear!
(P.S. Oh, on the amazon list, I forgot to add a very much used item - Mylicon, for infant gas release. Boy did we go through a lot of it and it isn't too cheap either. BUT our baby girl definitely needed it. Oh and later on we discovered generic brands that make it - like Walmart and Target type brands - and work just as well.)

Also, THANK YOU to all those who pitched in for our car seat (especially Rebekah - who orgainzed it as a group gift)! This might seem like a random thing to blog... except for the recent Consumer Report article released on new infant car seats. If you were wondering, we indeed do have the Graco Snugride with EPS that is mentioned in the article. Yeah... pretty and safe!

Parenting is Rough even for Dr. Sears!

OK, a lot of you might be asking "Who?". If you don't know, Doctor Sears is a doctor that comes from a family of pediatricians... his parents being the ones who published all those books on raising kids and how to handle childhood issues. Let's just say, the Sears family knows about taking care of kids. So, of course, that makes this blog/article (Diary of a Third Time Dad) that I read even funnier. Actually, I think this is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time, trumping all other funny things. Ian also found it highly amusing (although the situation in itself might not have been amusing). AND, it makes me feel loads better about my inadequacies in parenting when I read that even knowledgeable pediatricians have a rough time when they bring home their newborns! (BTW, Ian asked me what I would have done if he had done that... I said there would have been a lot of yelling and scolding.)

2007 Goals (NOT Resolutions)

So 2007 has begun... how are you doing so far?

Ok, so most people I know are not resolution makers, Ian included. Actually most are anti-resolution makers. This isn't because they don't have goals, plans or dreams they hope to accomplish, but because the whole idea of making resolutions (usually unachievable resolutions at that) and then breaking them in the first week is ludicrous to them. I guess I partially agree... BUT I still make them. I just have to add a disclaimer in saying that I don't make flippant resolutions... and there's a process to my goal making. First, I look back at the last year and see where I've been... then consider where I think I'm going... how I think that might need some changes... and then make some Goals for 2007. They're not resolutions... because with my very inadequate discipline (hehehe - lazy procrastinator!), I'm bound to fail... especially the harder I try to accomplish them as a "task" (aka. resolution to fulfill). So instead I make Goals for the Year, with action plans, and give myself some liberty to tweak them as necessary. Doesn't that sound much better? Oh it does also help that this year I realized that all I need is a few (like 5 or 6 for the whole year) simple (aka do-able ones) goals. And I made sure they were Important. (ie: One is Enjoy E ! Simple. Action Plan -> Accomplished through intentionally spending time with her. Recording her milestones. And doing things like reflecting on what she teaches me, how she is growing and recording it through pictures, scrapbooking and journaling.) See, not so bad.

Oh, I also (not a goal, but this is a good time to kick my butt into gear) did some much needed cleaning up of stuff around the house as 2007 rolled in. Mostly it was organizational things I had let pile up. I think I would like to stay more organized and have a set way of keeping track of what needs to be done... but I will work on that. One resource a friend (Corrie Haffly) has enlightened me with is actually a system of which I might try some pieces. Specifically, I like the Pickle Jar and glorified To Do List . See David Seah's site for more explanation. Also a big organization step accomplished in the Spencer Household is helping Ian get more organized. Yeah! (It also makes me feel better NOT seeing his papers littered all over the apartment...hehehe).

Well, Happy New Year (and Resolution/Goal Making, if you do that)!!