Congratulations Aunty Charmy and Uncle Wayne!

Congratulations to Jac's aunty Charmy (Joseph's sister) and (now officially) uncle Wayne!





They married on Saturday, July 26 at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Gardens, at CSULB.
It was a beautiful wedding!

(Photo credit: One of Charmy's friends. But I'm not sure which. Sorry! Please let me know it it's yours!)

Jac working on crawling

Jac has been learning to crawl - really crawl - on hands and knees. When he first started crawling he would not lift his hands up - it was more of a soldier crawl on his belly. Now, when he crawls he lifts his hands up - in a very dramatic fashion! It is almost like he is prancing. His arms move to pull him forward and there is some connected movement from his legs but he still has a ways to go with his coordination of arm and leg movements.

How Daddy carries Jac

Jac likes to be carried by Daddy in a nice little side, front carry. It is really cute! They walk around this way all of the time!

Jacuzzi time!

Jac had a nice time "swimming" in the jacuzzi today. Here are some pictures and a videos.

Mommy is so tired

Oh man, am I tired. I am not sleeping well even though Joseph is sleeping with Jac and waking up to feed him during the night. I am dreaming a ton, which I am not normally aware of and I am sleeping so restlessly that when I wake up I feel as if I have not been sleep. This is not making for a very happy Mommy! No. 2 kicks me all of the time, especially when I lay down. I never realized how little Jac really kicked me. No. 2 is now almost twice the size Jac was when he was born. It is hard for me to understand and to think about. I am now 28 weeks - only about a week and a few days until Jac was born - from a gestational standpoint. Oh man! I am so much bigger this time, as we would hope and expect. I am not sure I was prepared for all of the changes in my body, especially the fact that my stomach seems to be about the size of a pea and it feels like there is a large rock sitting on top of my bladder at all times!

Busy on the computer

Jac loves to bang away at the keys on our computers. When I try to use my computer while holding him, he makes all sorts of noises and reaches out to the keyboard with all his might. And, when he does get his hands on the computer, he whacks away at it with much gusto!

While it might take an infinite number of monkeys an infinite amount time to type out Shakespeare's Hamlet, it only takes a few whacks for him to lock out the keyboard, reconfigure our browser setting, or even send out e-mail missives to strangers. (Fortunately, after the fourth time, Daddy has figured out how to unlock said locked keyboard without powering down the machine.)

When I close the lid to protect my machines from his customizations, he protests that he is not done. So, I decided that life might be easier if he got his own computer to work on...



He enjoys his machine, greatly. He gets enthusiastically busy at the keyboard and then, with his work completed, he leans out with both hands extended to latch the computer lid closed.

Sit and crawl, and stand!

Jac has gotten very good at switching between sitting and crawling. About a week ago, he would struggle as he tried to twist his body from being on hands and knees to a sitting position without rolling onto his back -- you could see him trying furtively to get his arms and legs into place. Fast forward a week later, and now he just does it effortlessly.

The latest thing he is trying to master is to get into a standing position. He loves to grab onto people or the couch and raise himself up onto his feet. He still is too wobbly to stand without support, but you can tell that he's really wanting to do that!

(from Taj)
We spent the evening at the Perletz's and Jac had a great time playing on their couch. He spent a good hour and a half (cumulative) pulling himself up and then sitting down, over and over again. He did this while there were other people on the couch to use to pull up on (Lissa and Mattie) and while he was on the couch by himself. It is really amazing how quickly he is learning. A week ago, at his birthday party, he could not sit effectively, and now he can pull and and sit down over and over again and only fall over occasionally!

Here are some videos to illustrate my point!

Jac's first swim lesson

Jac had his first swim lesson this week! I found him two little twin boys that take a private swim lesson and we joined them. It was a lot of fun and Jac really joined it. I think he and I both felt like it ended before it had even started since it was only 30 minutes long and we were a few minutes late because I had a little bit of trouble finding the pool and where to change!

When I say swimming that is a generous way of describing it. Perhaps calling it a pool lesson would be a more accurate way of describing it. I held him and took him around the pool while we did various activities. We did things on his back and his front and practiced going from one side of the pool to the other.

We are going to see if we can continue with the lessons when we get back from Los Angeles. I am anxious to fit in as much as we can before No. 2 is born and everything gets a lot harder! We will need a sitter to be able to go to swim lessons!

Unfortunately since we were both in the pool I don't have any pictures of Jac in the pool but I do have a nice picture of him wrapped in his towel feeding himself his bottle (which most of the time he won't do, preferring to have us hold it).

Happy Birthday Alexis

Happy Birthday little Dork Child!

First Birthday Party

Jac had his first birthday party on Sunday. We decided to celebrate his birthday with one of the little girls from his playgroup, Grace, whose birthday is five days before Jac's.



We had the party at Chautauqua Park in Boulder. It was very hot on Sunday - in the upper 90's. Earlier in the week it looked like Sunday was going to be the cool day but no luck - it was hot, hot hot. The party was at 2 pm and we got there a little early to set up.

Jac was not a huge fan of the heat (as he has shown us quite clearly in Italy) and before long he was in just his diaper!



We did not have as many kids and parents as it looked like we would from the evite (some of the kids napped through the party!) but we had a perfect number to have a nice little party. We had cake from Costco which the parents and some of the kids ate.




By the end of the party Jac was pooped and he fell asleep eating, sitting between Daddy's legs. This was very cute but even cuter was when we laid him down on a blanket between the benches and he continued to sleep! He was so out that he slept through getting in his car seat and going home and even transitioned into his crib to continue the nap a little longer.




We took a lot of pictures of the kids and the adults. I put a couple in this post and the rest are on Flickr.

One Year Checkup - and two teeth

Jac had his one year checkup today. He is getting to be quite the big boy - at least as far as we are concerned. He is now 24 inches long and 11 pounds and 5 ounces! His head is now 43.5 cm!

The doctor is happy with his growth - he remains well below the growth curve - but he is tracking it. She would really like to see him eating more foods. We are working on this but feeding a baby that just wants to play with the food rather than eating it is quite the messy undertaking. We have decided to start trying every evening before bath time!

We also discovered during his appointment that he has both center bottom teeth coming in, not just one!

Jac in his car seat

I thought a picture of Jac in his car seat would give a little perspective on how big he is now!

Jac has a Chicco Cortina KeyFit 22 car seat. This car seat is designed for babies from 4 pounds to 22 pounds. It has an insert designed for babies up to 11 pounds which we are still using. Jac is a skinny 11 pounds!

I have started to think about what car seat system to get for No. 2. I am thinking an Chicco but I have not decided yet.

Birthday Dinner at the Aquarium

We took Jac for his birthday dinner to the Denver Aquarium restaurant. They have a large aquarium that you can sit right up against and we got a good table where Jac could see all of the fish. He does not seem as fascinated with the fish as he was before he got so "busy". Now he seems more interested in moving and watching the people but he did seem to have a good time. It is a little hard to know though! Next year he will be able to tell us a little more about what he would like to do for his birthday!

No. 2 - 27 week ultrasound

No. 2 is growing well. We had a 27 week ultrasound today and "he" is growing all the time. They now estimate that he weighs 2 pounds and 11 ounces! He is 51st percentile for his measurements (he was 61% at the last ultrasound at 23 weeks). The doctor is not concerned about the change from 61% to 51%. He says that No. 2 is growing well and he does not need to see me for another 5 weeks or so! Yeah! Grow No. 2 grow!

The funny thing about the measurements is that No. 2's head is so large that it drags the average for how far ahead of dates he is up. With his head taken into account he is 2 weeks ahead - without his head he is only 1 week ahead. Yeah for having a big head like Daddy!

Happy Birthday Jac - and Jac's birth story

I can't believe that Jac is a year old today. I truly can't believe it. This has been one of the best and of the hardest years in my life. And in Joseph's. So many things have changed.

We moved from Pasadena to Boulder five days before Jac was born. I was on "bed rest" which I was doing my best to comply with while moving. Joseph had already been here for a month and I really wanted to be in Boulder with him for the remainder of my pregnancy (which I thought was going to be many more weeks). Joseph flew to LA, drove the dogs to Boulder in two days, and picked me up at the airport (where I laid down the entire time on the plane) all in the two days. I arrived July 5.

I stayed in our new condo in Boulder, with almost no furniture other then our bed, and tried to rest. I had my first appointment with Boulder Women's Care on July 10. The night before I told Joseph that I did not think the baby was kicking as much. Since we had the appointment the next day anyway we decided to wait.

When we went in for our appointment we went through all of the normal first appointment stuff including a full family medical history. After all of that we talked to the doctor and she decided to put me on the non-stress test monitoring machine to watch the baby's heart beat. She did this based on my report that the baby was not kicking as much.

I was on the monitor for quite a while. When they first put it on my belly they couldn't find a good heart beat to follow and the nurse was trying all kinds of different spots on my belly to find it. When she finally did she left me on the monitor. We were in the room with another woman and her husband. She was much further along in her pregnancy and she and her husband were talking and laughing. Joseph and I sat there and watched the machine tick along. After I had been on the monitor for at least a half an hour the nurse decided to give me a Capri Sun to drink. The idea with this was to get the baby to wake up. They did not like the readings they were getting on the monitor - and the Capri Sun did not make things better.

The doctor came in at that point and decided that she did not like the heart rate tracings from the monitor and that I needed to go over to the hospital. This is when I got scared. I had been on the monitor several times before and it had always gone well - with the baby showing good heart rate accelerations periodically - and the baby was not doing that this time.

Joseph and the doctor and I walked over to the hospital portion of the building and I was put in a bed and hooked up to a monitor again. This time the baby started showing marked decelleations. And the nurse got scared. And that is when I really got scared. I clearly remember my entire body shaking. I knew something was really wrong. Joseph helped fix the power cord on the ultrasound machine and the doctor did an ultrasound. The baby looked good on the ultrasound. But she decided that the heart rate was too scary - and that as good as the baby looked on the ultrasound she didn't care (they had been worried that I was dehydrated as I do not drink well and had just moved to a high elevation and a very dry place but I was not - and the baby had plenty of fluid).

We sent Joseph home to take care of the dogs at some point during all of this and pretty soon after he left I was calling him to come back as quickly as possible - as we were about to have a baby.

While Joseph was gone the doctor came to talk to me about why the baby had to be delivered that night, the anesthesiologist came to talk to me about what a spinal would entail and the nurses were prepping me for surgery. I was so scared. They put in a catheter at some point and that was one of the worst parts of the pre-surgery routine. I was so glad when the spinal went into effect so I didn't have to feel the catheter anymore.

Pretty much as soon as Joseph made it back to the hospital they walked me over to the surgery room. The did the spinal and things went pretty quickly after that. At 8:39 pm Jac was born.

After Jac was born - they took him - and started working on him. I didn't really know what was going on with him - I couldn't see very well and the doctor's and nurses were all ringed around him. My OB was sewing me up and I could feel slight tugging around my ribs while they did it.

I think Jac left the room before I did. He was getting prepped to transfer to Children's Hospital. I was taken to the recovery room where I called my parents. I remember my cell phone (Palm Treo) was almost out of batteries and I was trying to tell them what happened. Joseph was with Jac and I was by myself. I don't know how long I was in the recovery room. After a while I was wheeled out the recovery room and past the room where they were getting Jac ready to move.

There is a picture of Joseph and standing next to me while I am on the stretcher and Jac is in the transport isolette. After that Jac left for Children's Hospital. Joseph went home and got me some things - including my PowerBook - and then went to Children's Hospital to be with Jac.

That left me in a room at Boulder Community Hospital, knowing that I was now a Mom, but wondering if that is really what just happened. I started recording videos for Jac on my PowerBook - so that I could talk to him.

I left the hospital 4 days later, on the 14th, and that was the first time I saw Jac and was able to touch him. By the time I made it down to Children's Hospital I already felt like Jac's Mom. I had spoken with his doctor's lots of times and already had many details of his medical issues flowing through me. I had been pumping since hours after he was born and I was making a lot of milk.

When Jac was born he did not have a name. My father named him BBC (Baby Boy Chiu). Joseph and I are terrible at names, and we thought we had another 9 weeks to procrastinate about picking a name. We finally came up with Joseph Alexis Chiu - and I am glad we did. I love his name though Joseph is not always sure that he thought through all of the consequences of naming his son after him. We joke about how Jac is going to use Daddy's credit cards someday!

When I finally got to see Jac and touch him I cried. So small. So fragile. My baby.

Happy Birthday, Jac!

Today is Jac's birthday. He is now officially 1 year old! Yeah!

As I type this, our wonderful boy is still snuggly asleep next to mommy. It's been a year of many wonderful achievements for him, and I can't even imagine all the things he's going to be accomplishing over the next year!

Jac loves the "ABC" song

Jac loves it when I sing the "ABC" song. He smiles and laughs and gets really happy. He can be fussy and upset and if I sing the "ABC" song he starts smiling!

First tooth

Jac's first tooth has come through his gums on the bottom. It is very sharp and I can feel it but I haven't seen it yet. Yeah Jac! First tooth before his first birthday. Now we just have to get him eating so he can use it.

Yeah, the Mommy that cried teething is finally right!

Pulling to standing

I am just putting this up now (July 20) but here is a video of Jac from July 5 when he had really just started to pull to standing on his own more easily. He is playing on the bed with me and using me as his standing platform.

We have an 11 pound (5 kilo) baby

Jac is now 11 pounds and 1 ounce (5.01 kg). Yeah! We were very worried that he might have lost weight during the trip because of all of his throwing up. He obviously did not gain as much weight during this trip as he would have if he had not gotten sick but we are still happy that he gained some. His 3 month clothes are starting to feel a little short - it feels like he has gotten a bit taller. Jac has his 1 year check-up on the 14th so we will see what the measurements show at that time!

A new way to fly

Daddy has discovered a new way for a baby to fly! On the floor. Jac really likes to lie on his back or his tummy now and play (oh how things change!). Since Jac was flying without a seat there is really not a good place for him to stretch out - except the floor. Daddy put the diaper changing pad down on the floor - underneath the seat in front of his - and put Jac down on it. He then put airplane blankets on either side of Jac so he would stay somewhat contained in that space. Jac loved it!

On the Heathrow to Chicago flight he played down there - a lot - and ate some. On the Chicago to Denver flight he slept there - the entire flight. Amazing.

Daddy gets definite creativity points for this one!

We made it home

We are back in Boulder, all in one piece, and slowly recovering and adjusting to the time change.

We had quite a trip home though - and not one that I think any of us would like to repeat. We had a two part trip home - from Heathrow to Chicago and then from Chicago to Denver. The Heathrow to Chicago portion of the trip was fairly uneventful. Getting from Alexis and Chris' flat to Heathrow was quite an experience. Our flight was at 12:20 pm and we left the flat at 8:30 am. We took the Underground with 3 roller bags and 2 carry-ons, and a baby in tow. Joseph is tough and really carried all of the stuff while I carried Jac. Getting on the Tube at ruh hour with all of that stuff was exciting!

We made it to Heathrow and through security (after they confiscated our freezer gel packs) and onto our flight. Yeah! It is a long flight from Heathrow to Chicago. Jac slept for the first two hours of it (we had to wake him up at the flat) and then was awake for the rest of it. Joseph and I were exhausted by the time we made it to Chicago.

O'Hare is huge! It was hard for us to believe how far we had to walk after we got off the plane just to make it to Immigration and Customs. After waiting in a long line at Passport Control we went to get our bags. We had to wait quite a while for them and then take them through Customs. We then immediately gave them back to United and then took a train to Terminal 1 where our next flight would be leaving from.

Our original schedule had us arriving in Chicago at 3:30 pm (our flight from Heathrow was about 45 minutes late) and leaving Chicago at 6:30 pm. When we finally go through to see the monitors our flight to Denver was on time. We ate some food quickly and then headed to the gate. And the delays began. Our flight ended up being delayed by 5 hours by the time we were wheels up. As we were sitting there and our flight kept on getting delayed we started getting worried about how much formula we had for a Jac. We had not packed enough for such a long delay and we were worried he wouldn't have enough food. We lobbied United to let us get our bags off the plane (the plane sat there the entire time - we were waiting for a crew) but they wouldn't let us.



I ended up taking a $30 cab ride to a grocery store that had Alimentum (I had to help the cab driver get there using Google Maps on my iPhone!). Of course, because we did all of that, Jac slept for the entire flight, and we did not need the can of formula I bought!

We also ended up renting a car when we got to Denver - because it was 2 am and we did not want our dog to have to pick us up at that time (she was going to bring us home when we were arriving at 10 pm!). Returning the car the next day turned out to be a problem also!

All in all - we are glad to be home - but we really liked London - and Jac misses the big city already! It is nice to be back on our own space where we know where everything is and we have all of the conveniences that we get so used to!