Christmas in LA

Joseph, Jac, Nic and I arrived in LA on the 24th. Our flight was a little late and it took quite a while to pick up my parents' car. The kids were tired and so were we. We had quite a bit of shopping to do though, to pick up supplies for the kids and food for Christmas. We were supposed to pick up a Honey Baked ham by 5:30 pm and we made it there at 5:33 pm! They wouldn't let us in even though we had a reservation! Bah Humbug! That's okay - we got some nice cold cuts at Ralphs!

After a long day of travel the kids were worn out. Nic had spent a good portion of the afternoon crying in his car seat and wearing all of us, including him, out! We made it to my parents' house and we all pretty much crashed!

We got up on Christmas morning and got ready to have Joseph's parents, his sister and her husband, their friends and my Aunt over for a little Christmas party. We served the most basic of food but fun was had by all and it was wonderful to be with family for the holiday.

The kids were wound up last night and it took us a long time to get them to sleep. Jac gets so excited when he spends time with a bunch of people it takes him a long time to calm down. So cute! Nic was rocked, and bounced and burped by a bunch of different people, especially Uncle Wayne, who is a natural (he has had a lot of experience!)

We are very happy to be in LA but the cold weather seems to have followed us. It rained most of the day yesterday and it was cold (for LA) and today it is windy and cold! What's up! We came here to escape the cold!

Today we got up to a still messy house, had some breakfast and let Jac play around. He is having a great time in the new space. We haven't pulled out a single "toy" yet, he has been playing with pots and pans instead! I am told that these were a favorite of mine as a kid! Bang away! Just wait until Jac and Nic are both banging away! Oh man!

Jac: First steps

Yeah! Jac took his first steps tonight! He stood up in the middle of the living room and took two steps towards the ottoman, and then took a third and fell down. He then got up again and took one more step, tripped on the carpet and fell down. Amazing. Joseph and I were both there, and both saw it! Yeah!

We were all just hanging out and watching TV and Jac was crawling around on the ground playing when he did it. We tried to get him to do it again so we could take a video but he was having none of it!

The impressive thing about it to me is that he just stood up and took the steps - rather than letting go of something to do it. It has been feeling like he wanted to stand up for a while - and he had almost been doing it - so it was very exciting to see him do it.

We shall see when he does it again!

Nic's cheeks

On Friday night we all went to the Real D Holiday party. It was a very nice party and the food was really good. None of the food that I ate looked like it had dairy in it, but I think it did. All yesterday Nic was very fussy, and he got a rash on his cheeks that we noticed when I was eating dairy. If I did have dairy, it was a tiny amount. Today he is much happier and is currently sleeping - which is lovely. I hear Jac, I better go.

Sick Jac, Nic and Mommy

We are all sick - with a head cold. It is not too bad, but we are all snotty. It is really cold here. We were out today and it was 16 degrees. That is just wrong. Bright and cold. Oh man!

Fortunately we are all doing pretty well, even with the cold. Unfortunately Daddy pulled a muscle in his back last night - so he and Jac are taking a nap right now.

We are getting ready for our trip to LA for the holidays. I better get packing!

Jac: More teeth

Jac is getting more teeth, it seems like every day!

He now has four top teeth. The two outside teeth on the top have both popped through and now the bottom outside right tooth has come in - so he has seven teeth now! Wow! It is really hard to get a picture of his teeth but I will try!

Milestone: Jac: Carrying

Last night, for the first time, I saw Jac carry something from one spot to another. Since he is still crawling he has to hold it in his hand and scoot along on his butt (which he doesn't generally do very much). So cute! I gave him a small piece of cracker and he scooted along the floor holding it and he scooted along the floor with one of his toys in his hands in his bedroom.

Yeah! I will get a video of it soon!

Milestone: Jac: Ne Ne

Jac is saying "Ne Ne" when he wants his bottle of formula. "Ne Ne" is Taiwanese for milk and Jac has learned to say it when he wants his bottle! Yeah! This is real communication! He has said it quite a few times and it has become quite clear what he wants! Yeah! Communication with words! Jac's intent for things has been clear for a while but with reaching and whining like sounds but this is the first time he has used a word to tell us what he wants - although it is usually accompanied by a little whining and reaching. YEAH!

Nic has more and more affect

Nic is smiling and cooing more and more. He is so cute when he is happy. He gives me this lovely little smile, with one side of his mouth. With his double chin and that round little Joseph face who could resist him! It makes all the rocking and bouncing and sleepless nights worth it!

He is starting to sleep a little better. He is not crying as much and is much easier to soothe which is great. I am off dairy, caffeine and chocolate. Sometimes it seems like I eat something that bothers him but I haven't been able to figure out what other things might be bugging him.

He still likes to eat every hour and a half or so - no wonder he is getting so big! I have had a few nights where he has slept for 3 to hours which is just glorious. The good news is this won't last forever!

Jac: Bouncing and cracking up

Oh man! Jac was cracking me up the other day. He was standing on the couch and he started bouncing up and down, and laughing his head off. He thought it was so funny he did it for a long time. He smiles so much - and laughs a lot also. He is just such a happy little boy. His smile lights up the room and brings joy to people. Even though he is not as remarkable as he was when he was tiny, people still notice him all the time. His smile just captivates them - and he gives them the dead pan look and they work so hard to get him to smile! My little love.

Jac's Breakfast 12-09-08

Nic smiled at me for the first time

Nic smiled at me for the first time today. He was in the papasan chair and I was standing over him talking to him, saying, "Nicie, Nicie, Nicie" in a funny voice and he smiled. It was very cute and very heart warming after the difficulty of the last two months!

Jac and Nic sleeping together

Mommy heaven! I got the boys asleep - together - at the same time! Amazing. This is a first! Love it!

After I took the picture I took a nap also!

Jac exits stage left

Jac did not want to take a nap today! He has now learned how to get off the bed, safely! Five or six times while I was trying to get him to take a nap he scooted over to the side of the bed, turned around, and slid off! Oh man! I called Joseph to find out if he had been doing this and I just didn't know! Nope, he just started this today!



Nic was sleeping so I was hoping that Jac would take his nap while Nic was sleeping. Of course that didn't happen! Jac kept getting down from the bed, crawling and the house, and then asking me to pick him up! Silly boy! It is amazing how much he is growing up and doing what he wants. I think this is true toddler hood!

2 month check: Nic is now 13 pounds!

Nic had his 2 month physical and vaccinations today. I guessed that he was going to be 13 pounds and I was spot on - 13 pounds exactly! At his 1 month check he was 10 pounds on the nose!

He is now 50th percentile for length and 75th percentile for weight! He is getting to be a big boy which is no surprise since he nurses all of the time.

We are still having a lot of trouble with sleeping at night - he sleeps much better during the day! Ah, this will all be over soon - at least that is what I keep telling myself!

He is nursing a lot so it is no surprise that he has gained 3 pounds in 1 month! Well - at least I am not having any milk supply problems - I am always surprised when I think he has nursed me dry and then he comes up choking because the milk is coming to fast. He has such a strong suck it is amazing!

Almost free standing!

For a while now, we've gotten Jac to free stand (sort of) -- being upright for one or two seconds at a time.

Usually, I start the process by holding him at the waist and "bouncinig" him on the ground. He reacts by straightening his legs, and when I think he's got them in the right position, I let go.

Sometimes, he initiates the free standing by letting go of whatever he had been holding.

And, more recently, he has started trying to lift off the ground from a sitting or a semi-kneeling position, thrusting his body upwards.

In the last few days, he's gotten better at actively shifting his legs and body in an effort to remain standing.

Last night, he managed to get several two and three second intervals before falling back down. At least once, he managed to get into a squatting position and hold it for a moment before sitting down on the ground.

I am now sure that he will be free standing by Christmas, and even probably taking some steps!

Happy 2 month birthday Nic

Nic is 2 months old today. It is hard to believe. In a way it seems like he has been with us much longer! His development is really coming along. He has pretty good head control. Enough that he can smack me in the chin with his head! He can hold his head up pretty well and we are going to start doing a little tummy time! He is starting to make more sounds when he is happy and move his arms and legs around more. Yeah! And he is a Chunk-A-Monk! We are going in for his 2 month check on Thursday and we will find out how much he weighs. He is eating like a champ and starting to sleep a little better. He slept from 1:30 am - 5 am in his swing which I was very happy about. He still sleeps better during the day but hopefully that is going to start to get better! Before Joseph and I lose our minds from sleep deprivation!

They are both asleep right now and I should sleep but I needed to post this!

Jac's first step

Jac has taken his first step! And on Thanksgiving no less. After we came home from our friend's house he was wired! Literally! He was awake until 1:30 am doing all sorts of things! We were exhausted and Joseph was on the couch snoring off and on while Jac and I were playing on the floor and Nic was swinging.

As usual Jac really wanted my camera - and so at the end of the video - after he has been playing happily - he comes over and tries to get my camera - and takes a step toward me in the process!



In general Jac's movement is making huge strides. He is getting up and down off the couch like a pro now - and he is even learning to get on and off our bed. In the following video he is getting on and off the couch and doing some path planning (his father's term!) to come and get me (and the camera) on the far side of the couch from where he has the pillow and the cube to climb up. Earlier this week he had not been able to figure this out! It is amazing how quickly he learns!

Nic making sounds

Nic has started to move around a bit - flapping of his arms mostly - and he has started to make some sounds (apart from crying). He does a lot of his sound making when he is on the changing table but this time he was making sounds while we are all hanging out in the boys' room and he was in his swing. Awake and not crying! Amazing!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We spent the evening with good friends here in Boulder. We had a great meal - at least I think we did - I couldn't eat any of the items with dairy in them!

Jac had a great time with all of the older children. One of our friends' daughters who is twelve loves to carry Jac around and she takes great care of him. He got to "help" her put together her turkey with glue!



Nic was held by several different ladies and he seemed to enjoy all of it although he did spend part of the time sleeping in his car seat.

Jac and Nic together

Jac is very interested in Nic. Whenever we set Nic down near him or when I am nursing Nic where Jac can reach him he comes over and touches him. He likes to lean on him - which is not the greatest - but he loves to do it. He also likes to "burp" him - he pats him like we do when we are burping him. Very cute. He also likes to "apply his head" to him. I never realized that Joseph does this also! We think Jac learned it from him! Jac also likes to touch Nic's face - especially his nose and mouth. Very cute! And you have to love the laugh!

Jac in a shopping cart

Jac can now ride in a shopping cart. He has been able to do this for a bit - but he is so much more stable now that he can do it really well - and we have to strap him in so he doesn't stand up in the cart!

Jac is so close to walking

We bought a closet organizer for our kitchen. While building it, Jac discovered that he could use it as a really fast walker. He was having a great time with his increased speed, mobility, and the ability to turn!

Jac: Talking in the car

Jac has been talking! A lot! I do wish we knew what he was saying but whatever it is he is quite serious about it. He talks all the time about what he is doing as he crawls around the house and plays. The most exciting thing about this is that he is talking to himself in the car. Nic frequently cries in the car - especially as we are just getting started - and Jac is sitting in his seat talking to himself. This is especially exciting because for a long time he cried in the car. Not too long ago I made the discovery that music in the car calmed him down, but now he doesn't even need that. This is great self soothing and a really great sign.

Jac being more careful

Since Jac fell when he was trying to use his "get off of something" technique to get off the bed he has been a bit more cautious getting off the couch. It is funny to watch him do this because he gets sort of "stuck" halfway down and hangs there.

Nic and Grandfather

My father visited last weekend (after an around the world journey for work and pleasure). It was really great to see him and it was the first time he had met Nic. Thanks for coming Dad!

Jac: Food Beard

This picture speaks for itself.

Nic: Our new best friend (aka paci)

So - we are using a paci! I never thought I would do it but it is very quickly becoming our new best friend. Nic really likes to suck! The theory we have developed with the help and advice of a bunch of different people is that Nic has been overeating. He has been eating when he just wants to suck - because my boob was the only thing he had to suck on.

Sometimes I would notice that he would suck and pull off, over and over again. I think that during these times he may have just been looking for something to suck on and he really wished milk wouldn't come with it.

I also think I may have been overfeeding at any particular feeding. With all of my experience with Jac and wanting him to eat more, I kept on re-offering Nic the boob, even after he had pulled off and stopped. I think during some of these times he was continuing to eat even after he was satiated.

We shall see but things are going much better. The night before last he had one 5.25 hour stretch that he slept! Yeah! That is the magical five hour mark! Last night we did not do quite as well but still enough that I was not out of my mind tired this morning.

We will have to deal with taking the paci away when he is older - perhaps we will only need to use it during this transitional period but somehow I have a feeling it is here to stay for a while. Sometimes you just have to take the "Whatever Works" and run with it - so you can sleep!

Nic: 11 pounds and 13 ounces

Nic is getting big, fast! I took Nic into the pediatrician on Saturday because he has been super fussy (mostly at night) and I was worried that something might be wrong. He also developed a rash on his back when he was in car seat on Friday night. The doctor said he was fine but I should avoid caffeine, chocolate and go dairy free and see how he does!

One plus one does not equal two

Oh my gosh. We had it easy. Two is hard. Harder than I thought it would be.

Nic started out as such an easy baby and man has he changed. He is up for three hours or so every night. He crys all during this time unless he is constantly rocked and bounced. Constantly. The car doesn't work. He will stop crying while he is in the car but as soon as you get him out of the car (still in the car seat) he is awake and starts crying.

So tiring. Major sleep deprivation. I tried to take care of Nic by myself for a while so Joseph could sleep but I have given that up as a pipe dream. Last night I was up with him for two hours before I got Joseph up. And then he was up with him for another hour and a half. Augh!

It is a very special time for me just to take a shower.

I am getting much better at taking care of both of them by myself though. On Monday I was terrified. Ama left on Sunday and I was going to left alone with both boys for an extended period of time for the first time.

Nap time. Hard, hard. I am used to putting Jac down for his nap and helping him fall asleep, alone. And now I am doing it while holding or feeding Nic. Since Nic is a frequent crier I often have to help Jac go to sleep while rocking and bouncing Nic to keep him from cying. Hard, hard. But I am getting better at it.

I was completely neurotic when this week began and I am much less so now. Joseph actually came home to a wife that was not crazed the last two days.

I am getting some help. Our good friend Leslie has been coming over a bit with her daughter and that has been nice. I am not getting a lot of social interation right now so it is nice to have it coming to me.

I have also asked Grace and Adri to come over and help, so I had about 14 hours of help this week. I would like to be able to do this by myself but realistically I am going to go crazy with a difficult newborn and a very young Jac. So I have accepted that I need some help, for now.

First snow of the year is late

We just had our first snow of the year - late! Last year it had snowed by Halloween - this year the first was today. Knutson loves the snow - but this was too thin and melted too fast for him to enjoy it!

Sleepy Jac

When Jac is tired he does this head down kind of burrowing thing. It is really cute and he has been doing it since before he could sit up - it was one of the first major movements he could do. He does it all of the time in bed when he is falling asleep and it is one the big signs that he is tired and ready to go to sleep - but he generally only does it in bed. The other day he was doing it while he was in the other room - on a pillow - like the one in bed.

He frequently has a burst of energy before he is ready for sleep - where he gets a little wild - and then crashes - and that is what he is doing in this video.

Nic is growing fast

I weighed Nic after his bath last night and he is now 11 pounds and 3 ounces. Wow! I guessed he was going to be just under 11! He is getting chubby!

He was 10 pounds on the nose at his 1 month check on Oct. 31 and 11 days later he has gained 19 ounces. Average weight gain for a newborn is supposed to be between 1/2 to 1 ounce per day so Nic is beating that by quite a bit. SO much for 50%!

Jac using his Nuk brush to eat yogurt

Jac is getting better and better at eating and his gag reflex is getting better and better! The other day I gave him cherry yogurt on his Nuk and he was a very happy little boy. He had that Nuk brush in all different parts of his mouth with no signs of a gag.

Milestone: Getting down from the couch

So... it turns out that Jac knows how to get down from couch and I didn't know it! I thought he was still learning! It turns out that he had been doing it with his Daddy for a week or so - and is his more careful Momma thought he was still learning. It is good the boys have a Mom and Dad - for a little balance!

The way I discovered that Jac knew how to do this was when I had my MacBook down at Jac level and I was trying to do a disk repair and he rapidly got down off the couch and came and got my computer.

Jac is a handful

We have been out to eat several times this weekend with Ama, Charmy and Wayne. It has been a lot of fun to go out and nice to have extra sets of hands to help with the boys! But Jac! Oh man! He loves to eat now! And he likes to move around and stand up and .... He is eating so many things! It is amazing how much he is changing right now and how fast he seems to be developing new skills. Opening and closing doors, crawling around and standing up with great proficiency (standing up as long as he is holding on to something).

I feel like things are going to get easier when Jac can walk - because then he could walk rather than needing to be carried (for little jaunts like from the car into the house). But then - he is going to be into everything - even faster! Hmmm... Mixed blessing! But it is coming - and soon. His PT says that the fact that he pulls to standing on flat surfaces, like the refrigerator, is a great sign for walking to come soon.

It is so amazing to watch him develop! My little boy is growing up!

Aunty Charmy and Uncle Wayne visit the boys.

The boys' Aunty Charmy (my sister) and Uncle Wayne (her husband) came to town this weekend. It was wonderful to spend time with them, and they had a great time with the boys. We wish they could have stayed longer!

We went to Pearl Street Mall last night for dinner. While we were waiting for our pizzas and baked potatoes, Jac offered up some of his food to Uncle Wayne.


This morning, during Jac's breakfast, Wayne made all sorts of funny faces and expressions to encourage Jac to take more spoonfuls of food. Jac giggled, laughed and generally had a good time as he polished off a bowl of persimmon puree' (the fruit came from my parents backyard).

Charmy was very sweet with the boys. She had a great time "po po" (carrying) the boys.

1 10 50/50/50

On Friday, Taj and Ama (Grandma, in Taiwanese) took a walk to Dr. B's office for Nic's 1-month checkup. It was a beautiful, warm day -- one of the last ones for the year!

He weighed in at 10 lbs, exactly, and was 50th percentile for weight, 50th percentile for height, and 50th percentile for head size. Our little boy is growing at a nice average pace.

Here he is, having a nice snooze in Ama's arms, while the rest of us went grocery shopping at Sunflow Supermarket (a store that features organic produce).

Happy 1 month birthday, Nic!

Happy 1-month birthday, Nic!

We are very glad to see that he is progressing so nicely. I can't wait for him to grow a bit older so that we can have more interactions with him, and also for him to interact with his older brother!

The many faces of Nic

Nic's face is starting to become more expressive! It is interesting also to watch his face change as he gets older!

I don't think this was a real smile but we can pretend.

Jac: Two top teeth

Jac's two top teeth have poked through. Wow! They are just through but I never would have known from his behavior. He has not been more fussy or anything. The first two (bottom) definitely caused problems so it is great to have him doing so well with these.

You can only see them when he smiles so I haven't managed to get a picture of them yet. Pretty soon he is going to have a toothy grin!

Jac: Six ounces in 3 days

Jac is now 14 pounds and 4 ounces (he was weighed for his first Synagis injection of the season). He just gained 6 ounces in 3 days! Amazing!

Here he is at Best Buy helping Daddy buy his new cell phone! Helping!

Jac: The joy of opening and closing doors

Jac has discovered the joy of opening and closing doors. He is always curios to go into the bathroom in the hall. For some reason every time he leaves his room he heads into the bathroom before proceeding down the hall. The night before last he discovered opening and closing the bathroom door while Daddy was outside the bathroom and he was inside. He did it again with me today. So fun!

Reminder: Look down the page for new posts

Hi All,
Sometimes I do posts that should have been put up a few days earlier. When I do that I post them with the date they should have been put up rather than the current date. I do this for historical accuracy! So - when you are visiting the blog - look down the page a little bit and you may find a post you haven't seen before!

Mommy's blood pressure is down but the headaches are still there

I went to see Dr. P today and my blood pressure is down some (144/82). Now that my diastolic is in the 80's Dr. P is halving my Labetalol to 50 mg twice a day (I was on 100 mg twice a day since I left the hospital). He wants to make sure that my blood pressure doesn't get too low (I could faint!). I still have quite significant headaches though - but at this point it is not clear what is causing them.

Last week I had some dental work done (Old fillings in two teeth that were starting to cause problems) and my mouth has been hurting ever since. So.... It is hard to know. I am going to let things settle out a bit and see what effect the change in dosage of the Labetalol does. I have taking Tylenol pretty much all of the time for the headache! Let's hope it all just works itself out.

On the positive side my blood tests for Thyroid levels and Zinc level all came back in a normal range!

It is not clear how long I am going to have to be on Labetalol. I have my six week post-birth check in a few weeks and Dr. P will reevaluate at that time.

Jac is growing!

I took Jac to see his pediatrician today because he has been congested for over a month. While we were there we weighed him. 13 pounds 14 ounces. He was 13 pounds on October 16! He gained 14 ounces in 11 days! It seems that Ama's Asian cooking agrees with Jac! He has been eating all sorts of things! I have started offering him my PB&J sandwich and he really enjoys taking little bites off of it. Dr. B told me today that I was not supposed to give Jac peanut butter until he is 2! Ooops! She said that now that he has had it and been fine it is okay to keep giving it to him! I thought he could have it at a year! Ooops!

Take a look at his weight chart! It has spiked! - Let's hope he is able to continue this progress!

Jac: My own little Schroeder

Nic: Happy in the bath

We have started giving Nic baths now that his umbilical cord has fallen off and healed. The first bath Daddy gave him he cried a lot but he has enjoyed them ever since (I think we are now at 4 baths!). We think the first one may have been a bit too warm in terms of the water and we didn't do a good enough job of keeping the parts of him that were out of the water warm. Now that Daddy has adjusted those things he is a happy little camper!

Joseph does the baths in our bath tub, first Nic and then Jac. We are all four in the bathroom during this process. Jac likes to stand by the side of the tub and watch Nic have his bath. As we have mentioned before Jac loves the bath and gets very excited when we get in the bathroom. Prior to this for the last couple of months Joseph has been giving Jac a bath without me - while I get things done around the house (it is amazing how much one can get done in 15 minutes!). But now that we are bathing Nic I am in the bathroom for the first part of the bath. Jac is hilarious because he gets really excited and screams while he watches Nic have his bath. I try not to laugh, because the screams are ear-splitting, but it is really funny.

Jac's first drawing (with Mommy's help!)

A little while back I purchased some designed for little hands (they have a big bulb kind of thing to hold on to which is still a bit big for Jac's hands). Jac is still a bit young for them but I thought we would give it a try. I showed him to scratch back and forth while holding the crayon and hehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif did it a few times.

Jac: Walking with the Radio Flyer walker wagon

We bought Jac a Radio Flyer walker wagon - which he started using immediately (as soon as Daddy had built it!) but has laid off of since then. It seems right now that he knows that he can get wherever he wants by crawling, really quickly, so he is putting off the walking. He does like to cruise along the couch though and does this frequently. He is very cute when he uses the Radio Flyer though and I expect he will come back to it soon!

This video is from the first night Jac had the walker (10/22/08) and the second or third time he had walked with it! This is progress from his Pampers box (which he still seems to prefer).

Jac: Learning to get off of things

We are trying to teach Jac how to get off of things by turning around and getting on his stomach. He is starting to get the idea. Prior to learning this way of getting down he would go head first which is how he ended up falling off of the bed. Fortunately he seems to have learned from that experience and he is now staying away from the edge of the bed and he has not made any further attempts to get off of it by himself.

Nic: 8 pounds 14.5 ounces at 3 weeks (21 days)

Oh man can this kid eat! I am not getting much sleep because Nic is up all night nursing. I am trying to keep him awake in the evening so he will sleep at night but it is not working right now. Last night I think I got about 3.5 hours of sleep! But wow! He really is going to be as big as his brother in no time. At night I feel like I have no milk left to give but he seems to find something there, at least enough to keep him latched on!

Milestone: Jac: Putting things "in"

Jac has figured out how to put things "in." I have been trying to teach him to do this forever! And this morning Ama got him to do it and now he is putting things in a small bucket like a champ! Yeah! It is amazing how much he is growing up and really starting to respond to language! He is doing "So big", asking to get "Up", and now putting things "in." Yeah!

Mommy is going home

I have been in the hospital since Friday morning - and it is now Monday morning. Prior to this the only time I had been in the hospital was after each of my C-Sections. It has been far more disturbing to be in the hospital with an illness, not knowing what is going on and when I am going to get to go home and be with all of my boys!

Dr. P. did not release me on Sunday because my blood pressure spiked back up to 140/102 during the night and at 4:30 am the nurse had to give me an extra medication to bring my blood pressure down.

Dr. P. thinks I have Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) which is just really showing its ugly face now. Four days before I had Nic my blod pressure was really getting pretty high (140/100) but it came down while I was being monitored.

But, I am acting a bit weird in how the PIH is showing up which makes Dr. P. think that I may have some underlying disease process going on. I have a lot more investigation to do to try to figure out what is going on.

The end result is that I am going home on Labetalol. It is a beta blocker which is helping to lower my blood pressure. I am taking 100 mg twice a day. Dr. W. came in this morning and told me I could go home and that she thought that I would probably need to be on Labetalol for six weeks or so.

Nic has gotten more Mommy booby time in the last 3 days! He has been eating, and eating and eating! And not sleeping as much as I would like! I think he actually likes it a lot more noisy and he sleeps the best during the day at home when there are all sorts of things going on! You can start the dryer right outside the room he is sleeping in, with the door open, and he sleeps like a baby ;) But here in the hospital where it is very quiet it is really hard to get him to go to sleep. He likes his swing at home and the swing that we borrowed from the NICU here he doesn't seem to like - I was never able to get him to fall asleep in it.

I have really missed Joseph and Jac. I have had visits but it is not the same and I can't wait to get home and get back to figuring out how to take care of two boys. Fortunately Ama (my Mother-in-Law) is here to help!

(P.S. - I accidentally posted this as Joseph - this is of course Taj!)

Mommy is in the hospital

In the middle of the night on Thursday night/Friday morning, when I woke up to feed Nic, I woke up to a blinding headache. I think it is the worst headache I have had in my life. After an hour and a half of feeding Nic and trying to get him back to sleep I finally had to go wake Joseph up - my brain hurt so much I could barely function. Fortunately Nic went back to sleep after some rocking by Daddy and I was finally able to get a little bit if sleep.

We went in at 8:30 am (Friday) to see Dr. P (my OB) and finally saw him at 9:30 am. When I arrived at his office my blood pressure was in the 140/100 range - I started my pregnancy at 98/65 - so this is very high for me. My blood pressure had been creeping up during the end of my pregnancy with Nic and I had a pre-eclampsia scare four days before Nic was born. Fortunately I was fine at this time and we were able to make it to Nic's planned C-Section day. While I was in the hospital recovering from the C-Section my blood pressure crept up a little more but was still not in a dangerous range. I had it checked twice since I left the hospital and it had still been high for me but still not dangerous.

Dr. P. did not think that my blood pressure should be causing me such a bad headache so he admitted me to the hospital (back in the same room as I was in after I had Jac) and had me monitored and given pain meds. I also had an MRI. The MRI showed a perhaps, diffuse bleed in my pituitary gland but the neurologist that came to see me said he did not think if I had the bleed (which is debatable) that it should not be causing me such a headache and he also did not think my blood pressure was high enough to cause me such a headache.

Well, after a day of pain meds that did not help and just made me feel foggy and miserable, I finally got Labetalol (a beta blocker that helps to reduce blood pressure) and I felt better in a couple of hours. I took my last pain meds at 8 pm last night and my headache has been better since then (not gone but much better.)

My nurse last night thought that I would be discharged today but I had a feeling Dr. P would ask me to stay another night to monitor me and make sure the blood pressure meds don't "bottom me out." (Meaning that they lower my blood pressure too far to the point that I could pass out)

So, here I am in the hospital (Saturday afternoon). Nic is sleeping (he let me sleep for several, several hour stretches last night, and then was awake and eating all morning (literally from 8 am to 2 pm!)

Dr. P said if I feel okay tomorrow I can go home!

I miss Joseph and Jac, who have been out and about with Akon and Ama. They came to see me this afternoon and Jac slept most of the time, and then was fussy when he woke up. D'oh! Hopefully I will get to go home tomorrow and see my happy baby!

Jac: Bottle in bed (and everywhere else)

Before Nic came home (a few days really) we started pushing Jac to hold his own bottle. Up until this point we had been holding the bottle for him (although I had made the change to get him to hold the bottle in the car a month ago or so). In 24 hours Jac was holding his bottle without complaint, almost all of the time. Amazing! It is a mistake to underestimate Jac because he is small - which is easy to do - he learns really quickly and is more flexible than I sometimes give him credit for! He is now even holding it when he is falling asleep! Good job Jac!

"The boys" and "The girls"

My brother and sister-in-law have two girls and we now have two boys. So on my side there are "The boys" - Jac and Nic, and "The girls", Madeline and Caitlin. Cute!

Jac: Explorer Baby

Jac is becoming a real Explorer Baby! He is crawling all over the house and trying out all sorts of things! Unfortunately, all of them are not good. Yesterday, Daddy put him down on the bed while he was getting dressed, something he has done a thousand times without incident. This time, Jac took off and launched himself off of the bed. Daddy got his shirt over his head to find Jac on his back on the floor, screaming. I heard Jac crying really hard and came running, with Nic in tow. My poor little baby. He recovered fairly quickly but, oh man were Joseph and I both a little freaked out. We are hoping that Jac learned from that experience and won't do it again but there is no way to know.

Today he was exploring the rest of the house and crawling all around. I was doing chores around the house and checking on him to make sure he was okay. I am trying to give him space to explore while still making sure that he is safe - and sometimes I am surprised what by what he can do in 30 seconds! The picture above is what I found (he had never done this before!). I had to help him down off the box, he couldn't figure out how to reach the floor!

Jac is 15 months old - growth update

Jac had his 15 month appointment with his pediatrician today. He now weighs 13 pounds! When we took him to the doctor just a week ago he weighed 12 pounds and 3.5 ounces. I am really wondering if that was wrong because it seems so unlikely that he gained so much in such a short period of time. But I do believe his weight from today. We measured it twice! (He was 11 pounds and 5 ounces at his 12 month check-up).

Jac is now 26.25 inches tall (he was 24 inches at his 12 month). Wow! 2.25 inches in 3 months. I knew he had gotten taller but wow! When I really look at him I can see it - but when you are with him every day it is not so obvious.

Jac's head is now 44.1 cm (it was 43.5 cm at his 12 month). I can also tell that his head is bigger which is good to see!

Jac: Walking with a Pampers box

Jac started, yesterday, using a Pampers box as a walker! It is really great to see him doing this - he is pretty good at it already and he can go all the way across the living room without sitting down!

(Update from Taj - 10/16/08) Jac's OT (Occupational Therapist) explained to me today that it is good for Jac to start his walking in this bent over "bear" walk position. This position helps to strengthen his trunk, shoulders and arms and does not require as much balance as walking standing up more upright. After Jac has had some practice with the Pampers box we will need to get him a walker so that he can practice walking in a more upright position. After he does that then he will be ready to walk on his own!

Jac is very curious about Nic

It is very cute to watch Jac with Nic. He is very curious. He wants to check him out and touch him. We are teaching him to pat him gently (and Jac is starting to say "pat" - which is more like "pa", but he is trying!). He likes to touch his mouth and his nose and his head. Sometimes he uses him to stand up when Nic is in my arms on the couch and Jac is next to us.

Jac is eating more

Jac is doing a better job of eating! Yesterday his Occupational Therapist was here (we have switched back to in-home therapy services through Imagine) and he had a good time eating. He has been enjoying eating Medium Hot Japanese curry! Hard to believe but true.

He ate quite a bit of curry off of a piece of celery. The celery was suggested by his OT as a way to help move his gag reflex back. We think that the reason he has so much trouble eating foods is that he has a very strong gag reflex which is quite forward on his tongue. This means that when he gets some food on his tongue and he is not sure what to do with it or how to move it around or swallow it he sometimes gags on it and then throws up.

After he finished with the curry he had some tapioca which he also enjoyed. I am happy to see him be able to eat the tapioca as it has the little bits of rice in it that he has to navigate.

He has gotten very good at eating the Gerber Graduate Crunchers and Stars and we give him those every time he sits down.

I have contacted the GoodLife clinic at Children's Hospital in Denver. I am trying to see if I can find an MD to help us figure out how to get Jac to start gaining weight. His weight has stalled for the last 3 months right around 12 pounds. The good news is he has not lost weight with all of his extra activity but he really needs to gain weight.

When we go out to Kangaroo Kingdom it really strikes me how small he is and next to Nic I realize that Jac should be so much bigger. I, of course, know all of this intellectually but it hits me emotionally more and more frequently the more active Jac gets and the more he interacts with other kids.

We haven't been to Kangaroo Kingdom since I came home from the hospital and I miss going and I am sure Jac does also. He has had a cold though, and that in addition to Nic means we haven't been. I am hoping that Jac is going to make it to KK this Saturday.

Nic sleep!

Nic likes to sleep in his swing. Jac used this swing a little bit shortly after he came home but he was never a very big fan. Nic will sometimes sleep in the swing for several hours!

Nic really likes to be swaddled. When we unwrap him to change his diaper he sometimes get really upset and as soon as he is wrapped up again he calms right back down. I used to keep him swaddled while he was nursing but I have started unwrapping his arms. This seems to help him eat a little more. He has started nursing from both sides in one session which is nice.

Last night I kept him up for several hours eating and hanging out next to me before we went to sleep and he only woke me up once at 4:30 am until we got up at 8 am. Progress!

Nic and the Diet Coke can

Of course we needed to take this picture! Nic is 12 days old!

Nic's birth day pictures

Joseph took some very nice pictures on Nic's birth day. I have uploaded them to flickr.

Jac: Shaking of the head

Jac has been doing this funny little head shake for a few weeks now. It looks like he is shaking his head "No" but he does it at all sorts of different times. It is really cute and he seems to really enjoy doing it.

Nic: Easy baby

Nic is an easy baby! He sleeps a lot, nurses a lot and poops and pees a lot. Hs is very sweet when he is awake. He likes to be swaddled and we keep him that way most of the time. I have found that he nurses well during the day swaddled but at night I have to unwrap him a bit to get him to wake up enough to eat well.

I have also taken to try to keep him up for several hours before we go to bed so he eats a lot and is tired out a bit so he will sleep longer. It worked last night - I got to sleep for one 2 hour period and one 3 hour period.

The funny thing is that he sleeps through anything! during the day. We took the boys and Grandma Toni out to breaskfast this morning and to Sam's Club and after nursing he slept all the way through Sam's Club in his car seat in a shopping cart! I am not used to this newborn sleep through anything stage as Jac was in the hospital during this early part of his life and when he came home he did not really ever sleep well in teh car seat or out in public! I have to say it is pretty cool!

As I mentioned in a previous post Nic has been nursing well and regained his birth weight in 9 days! It is a real joy to be able to nurse Nic but it has brought back some feelings of grief over not having a breastfeeding relationship with Jac.

Jac: Milestone: Pressing buttons with an index finger

Jac has been using his index finger for quite a while now to explore his world. He loves to inspect things and put his little index finger in little nooks and crannies of almost every object he comes in contact with!

But, up until now he had not been using his index finger on its own to press buttons. This is considered a developmental milestone and he has now reached it!

How Nic came to be named NIC

It took us a long time to come up with a name for Nic. For a long time, when we did not know Nic's gender we had no names at all. It seems that the need to come up with two names paralyzed us! When we found out that Nic was a boy it was easier to think about a name. We wanted to name Nic with a three letter acronym, like my name and Jac's name. As we went through the possibilities for three letter acronyms that work with "C" as the last letter I really liked "NIC" so then I needed two names for the "N" and the "I". Joseph's Taiwanese name is I-Jen - which he uses as his middle name. We don't have any family names with an N so I started looking at all of the boy "N" names and Nicholas was my favorite and I think it sounds good with I-Jen.

Joseph liked the idea of using the acronym "NIC", but he was much less sure about Micholas and I-Jen but eventually he decided that he liked it! (Joseph if you would like to add to this post please feel free to clarify your position!) But, if Nic decides when he is older that he doesn't like his name it is definitely me he has to blame!

(As an aside - I call NIC, Nic all of the time at home but when I call the doctor to make appointments for him I have to call him Nicholas - and I haven't gotten used to that yet. It reminds me so much of when Jac was in the NICU and I had to call and say "This is Joseph Chiu's mother, can you connect me to his nurse." I still sometimes do a double take when I do official stuff for Jac and I have to call him Joseph!)

Jac: Milestone: Clapping

Grandma Toni has taught Jac to clap. It is really fun to clap and have him imitate it. A lot of times he claps on his own - he seems to do it most when he is happy or excited about something. He has started to imitate other things also - like doing "So Big". It is so much fun to interact with him as he is really starting to respond which is new!

Nic sleeping in his car seat

Grandma, Joseph, Jac, Nic and I went out to breakfast at the Old Pancake House in Boulder this morning. Joseph and I have been taking Jac there for a long time and it was nice to go with Grandma and Nic also. Nic does quite well in his car seat and so I took a nice close up picture of him. The older Nic gets (in days!) the more he looks like Jac. When he was first born he was a dead ringer for his Daddy but as his eyes open up a bit more he is looking more and more like Jac!

Nic: Regained his birth weight

I took Nic for his second doctor's appointment since he left the hospital today. He had his second Newborn Screening blood test. This is where they prick his heel and fill up five circles on a piece of paper with his blood. He handled it pretty well - he cried while the nurse was doing it but he nursed right after and was fine.

Nic has been nursing very well - sometimes too well in the middle of the night. He has been cluster feeding at night which has been difficult as I don't get a lot of sleep! I am hoping to progress to feeding him lying down when he is a little bit older but for now I have to sit up and do it! And sometimes I almost fall asleep while he is nursing.

Nic's weight at his doctor's appointment was back up to 7 pounds and 12 ounces which is his birth weight. I thought he might have even progressed beyond that weight as he feels so solid! He is definitely his father's son in the eating department!

Jac: Happy 15 month birthday

Jac is 15 months today! Hard to believe. He seems so much older now that we have Nic as the "little one!"

Pictures posted to flickr

I will post these pictures directly to the blog later but for now you can see some more pictures on flickr. There are about 10 pictures from today of Jac coming home and spending some time with his brother!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thechius/sets/72157607774750078/

Nic is home

Nic came home today! It took me several more days to make it out of the hospital than I had initially thought it was going to.

I was feeling pretty good the day after surgery, and I was still doing pretty well two days after - but then things started to go a little more downhill. I started to swell up and this made it harder for Nic to nurse. That is getting a bit better now and Nic is able to latch on well and eat. My milk has come in fully and he seems to be really enjoying getting a full belly and then sleeping for a few hours. I will put up a more full post of all of the goings on of the last few days but right now I am going to bed as Nic is going to have me up soon to feed him - and I can't have Daddy do it!

(This was written by Mommy and accidentally posted as Daddy!)