mychouchou.com

We’re in Hong Kong – Shopping!!

Christian’s first international plane ride went better than what we expected. Prior to the flight, Jason and I were nervous/petrified/mortified, we didn’t know if we could handle a teething baby on a 13-hr flight. We were prepared to drug him with baby Gravol (or rum or tequila, or whatever works…) but Christian slept most of the way to Hong Kong without fussing or crying or misbehaving at all. The guy sitting across the aisle even complimented on how well Christian behaved. Thank goodness we got him a seat and the airline check-in lady was able to block the extra seat – 4 seats all to ourselves – Christian was able to lie down to sleep.

Even though the flight went good, the first few days of the trip was rough. First off, my luggage went missing. Thank goodness I packed an extra outfit in my carry-on, including an extra pair of underwear. Then, it was cranky-teething-jetlag baby for the next 3  days. The first night Christian woke everyone up at 12am. Then, it was 2:30am; the following night, 4:30am. Finally, last night, he slept from 10pm to 6am.

Tooth #5 and #6 have also broke through!

Because he still can’t eat outside food, we had to go buy a rice cooker and a hand-blender the first morning in Hong Kong. We emptied out the mini-fridge to make room for carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and zucchini; apple juice, yogurt, fruits… Because the fridge is not cold enough, I can only cook for 2-days at most at a time. This is supposed to be a vacation for me, too, but it seems I’m doing more than I usually would at home – grocery shopping and cooking every other day. I miss home!

Our hotel is part of the biggest shopping complex in Hong Kong, with the basement floor of one of the wings dedicated to just baby stuff. Unfortunately, baby clothing stores in Hong Kong (at least at this mall) is not your typical Baby Gap, but rather Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy, Armani Junior, Burberry Kids, Comme Ca Kids, Chicco, D & G Kids, DKNY Kids…clothes that makes Christian’s Carter t-shirt and Baby Gap jeans look really inadequate.

Call me cheap, but no son of mine needs a polo shirt that has a big ass pony covering half of his front. But I did get him a Harley Davidson onesie, a few toys from Chicco, an Adidas track suit and runners…

and he’s going places

Last night, Jason and I put Christian in his walker, as usual, thinking that he’s just sit there and play. Boy were we wrong! Up until yesterday, he only knew how to go backwards in his walker. But somehow, last night, he figured out how to go forward…and he’s been unstoppable since, though he walks like a drunken dork (thanks to his bowl-cut) on tippy-toes.

The walker has been the place to put him while I cook dinner – a place where I know he’d stay there for at least 20-30 minutes, playing happily…I guess I’ll have to find somewhere else to put him now.

Update on the feeding situation

And update on the feeding situation: Because we don’t want to make eating/feeding a negative experience for Christian, we’ve decided not to “force” him to finish his milk and will give him as much solids as we think he needs (6 tbsp max per meal at this time). Surely, meal-times is once again a happy giggly experience for all of us. But, because he’s drinking way less milk during the day, he’s been walking up at 3am for an extra feeding…what’s a mom to do, right?

Thank you, Sonia, for your email. I’ve now started Christian on yogurt for breakfast and for dessert (frozen blueberries and yogurt)…and he loves it! I’ll start him on tofu soon to sneak extra calcium in him.

Resisting the Urge…

to force-feed Christian. He’s not taking in enough and I am seriously getting worried. I’ve been reading articles online and talking to the nurses at the health clinic and I’m getting mixed information.

Here’s his usual daily intake:

7:30/8:00 – 5 oz formula

9:30/10:00 – breakfast (1 tbsp rice cereal, 1 oz formula and fruit, for a total of 4 tbsp)

11:30/12:00 – lunch (2 tbsp mixed grain cereal, 2 oz formula, 1 tbsp meat+veggie puree, 2 tbsp veggie puree, for a total of 6 tbsp)

2:30/3:00 – 4-5 oz formula

5:00/5:30 – dinner (2 tbsp mixed grain cereal, 2 oz formula, 1 tbsp meat+veggie puree, 2 tbsp veggie puree, for a total of 6 tbsp)

7:00 – 4-5 oz formula

7:30/8:00 – dessert (1 oz formula and frozen fruit, for a total of 3 tbsp)

9:30 – anywhere from 5 to 7 oz formula

So, on a good day, he takes in about 27 oz of formula. But lately, he’s been taking in only 20-23 oz. According to his nurses and the online articles, he should be taking in around 30-32 oz of formula. So, we are at least a bottle short on a good day and a couple on his bad days.

Jason keeps telling me I am stressing out too much over nothing. Maybe it IS as simple as “teething”. By the way, his right front tooth finally pierced through the gums. We’re just waiting for the left one now. It’s true that babies won’t starve themselves and if he’s hungry he’ll let me know. He is sleeping through the night and he’s very happy and active when he’s awake…

Mom’s advice is not much better either: give him less food and he’ll eventually drink more formula. Mom also blamed it on my food – that the gourmet homemade baby food I am making is too good that it ruined his appetite for formula. So, I’ve tried giving him less, but he got very upset with me when I refused to give him more food. I’ve tried to “skip” a meal altogether, but that didn’t increase his formula intake and it made me even more upset since not only is he not drinking enough, he’s also not eating enough.

So, what to do? Should I force more formula in him? If yes, how? Or should I just give him as much food as he wants and treat formula as a “drink”?

I am honestly more sleep-deprived now than I was when he was still on a 2-3 hour around the clock feeding schedule…

Christian’s First Haircut – 仔,覺得點呀?

Christian’s hair was getting a bit too long, it was almost poking into his eyes so Jason and I decided to give him a haircut ourselves. Jason did the cut and I just hid behind the door to secretly film him. The haircut went well, according to Jason, my cutie-pie is still very cute, but now with a dorky bowl cut.

It began with…

and at the end, we got…

Jason: 仔,覺得點呀?

Christian: 真係好唔掂喎! 你仲好意思問我收錢! Wait till Grandma sees this! You’re so in trouble, Mister!

and he crawls

oh and by the way, Tooth #3 has broken out from the gums, Tooth #4 is slowly getting there…

Photos: 6-Months

Mom and I took Christian to KidsPhoto at Oakridge Centre last week for a photo session. I love that place, the photographer was great, the gentleman who helped us choose the photos was nice…

*as per Jason’s request, all photos of topless-Christian have been removed.

Daddy Juggles, Baby Giggles

Chouchou made his first “laugh out REALLY loud ” the other night while playing with Jason. Apparently Jason was juggling with his toys. He had already gotten too tired laughing by the time I found the camera so that moment is now lost in time. However, he did another similar laugh today while watching Jason balance a pen on his nose. Thank goodness for the iPhone 3GS, here it is:

Crawl, or something like that

Chouchou has yet to figure out how to crawl, forward that is. He’s getting pretty good at crawling backwards though. Anyways, this is one of his recent attempts:

the Jolly Jumper Workout

Move over Jillian and Bob, here’s the hottest workout in town – the “Jolly Jumper” Workout, guaranteed results for Dad PLUS a super fun time for Baby AND a much-needed 15 mins break for Mom!

Let’s see a demo by Jason and Christian.