New set of pics on Flickr!

Click here to see Penny's recent pics

Penny onesie

Very cool gift from the Robertsons. It says, "Find a Penny pick her up and all day long you'll have good luck!"

A smile for you

Baby Penelope has been smiling and cooing more this week. Her smiles are actually a reaction now and not just random. It will make your heart melt when she smiles at you. Her voice is very sweet too!

Penny digest

Here are some recent highlights:
-We introduced the bottle with breastmilk a few times now so that Minkz can participate in feeding Penny. She had no problem taking the bottle and seems to take in a lot of milk that way, which may be helping her sleep a little longer. But, we will keep it to a minimum so that it doesn't interfere with her latch breast feeding. Pumping the milk is a daily chore that I have to keep up consistently now...
-We went to a San Mateo Mother's Club brunch on Sunday where we met other members and learned about the club. We will also be joining a "playgroup" (more for the mothers at this point) with other babies that are around her age. It will be nice to have some acquaintances that are very close by.
-We tried out a mom and baby yoga class on Monday. Nobody else showed up, so it ended up being a private class. Penny was awake the whole time and fussy part of the time, but I was able to get some yoga in with her by my side.
-We had our first happy bath time with Penny yesterday. She actually seemed to enjoy it!

This week's update

Penelope's one month check-up went well with her weighing in at 8 lbs. 4 oz! I was worried that I wasn't feeding her long enough on each breast, but it seems like she is getting enough and the doctor told me that I can stop timing her feedings and just feed on-demand. Unfortunately, she still has frequent demands through the night... She teased me with one night of 4 hour stretches of sleep, but now it is every 2-3 hours. The interrupted sleep is not easy but I feel okay during the day.

We went to our first new mommy's group at the YMCA in Mt. View on Wednesday. Penelope was the youngest baby there with the others being all around 3 months. The topic of discussion by popular demand was, sleep. I found out that we are actually lucky and some people are having a harder time with their babies not sleeping for long enough blocks, even at 3 months of age...

The facilitator of the group is a labor/delivery nurse and an expert in lactation and sleep. She had some interesting points about motherhood in our culture. She said it actually takes about a year to fully recover from childbirth (not 6 weeks from the state of CA) and in some cultures, the village takes care of mom and baby and all mom has to do is feed the baby. Sounds like I am gonna have to have a talk with my village who is out playing basketball...

Daddy is entertaining

Hot spring day at GG Park

We were invited to BBQ at Golden Gate Park on Sunday, an unusually hot day in SF. It was an unfamiliar experience to be out with old friends in my new identity of being a mom with baby attached. It was a reminder of how much parenthood has changed our priorities; Penny's appetite and diaper needs come first and everything else comes afterwards. Also, the focus of conversation is Penny and our life as new parents. Since Penny only gets breast milk, she is always close to me for feedings and usually most of the time in between. In order to allow dad to join in on the feeding fun, I tried pumping some breast milk for the first time today. Only a little was produced but hopefully by signaling more demand, my body's supply will ramp-up and I will be able to collect more throughout the week.

little feet looking big

Academy of Sciences

We checked out the Academy of Sciences on free admission Wednesday yesterday. Ann and Hung have been visiting this week so it was a nice family trip. The line when we got there at 10 am wrapped around the block and we didn't get inside for over an hour. Then, there was so much to see inside that we didn't leave until around 4pm. The museum was really impressive and my favorite was the rainforest with butterflies that landed on Hung and MInkz. This was the most walking and longest day out that we have had with the baby so far and we were all tired (especially me) by the drive home. Penny slept most of the time and saved her poop until we got home.

San Mateo Mother's Club/baby sleep

I checked out a monthly meeting of the San Mateo Mother's Club this week. This will hopefully be the group where I find a playgroup based on Penny's age and meet some peers in the area for me and Penny to socialize with. The speaker at the meeting was a sleep consultant. I learned that at 6 weeks of age, babies start developing a pattern of day vs. night sleeping (there is hope in sight!) and at sometime between 12 and 14 weeks, they should get sleep trained so that they can soothe themselves to sleep. Calorie intake during the day and nap quantity/quality during the day can affect their sleep at night. Sleep is important and bad habits are difficult to undo, so I'm glad that I learned a little bit already.

Weekends are nice

The week watching Penny by myself was not bad, but I really do appreciate the weekend having Minkz here. He has cooked gourmet meals for us, helped to clean up the house and has been helping to watch Penny. They say that the way that dads play with babies is different from the way that moms play and it's important for them to get daddy-time.

New pics on Flickr

Click here to see new pics of Penny

Penny this morning

family

Time flies by when you're having fun with Penny

One little errand seems to turn into a full-day event when I'm with Penny. This is because our schedule is run by her naps and her appetite. If she wants to eat, then everything else gets put on hold for about 30 minutes. This is how I found myself breast feeding at the bank parking lot today. Luckily, I'm starting to understand what she needs and when she needs it. It is helpful to distinguish poopy diaper cry from pre-sleepytime cry so you're not trying to put a baby to sleep with a poopy diaper.

Daddy back to work

Today is our first day home without dad. So far, so good (but its only noon). Minkz did not want to go back to work, but he will plan to take time off again a little later rather than taking it all at once.
Today will also be the first time that I take Penny somewhere by myself. We have an appointment with the pediatrician this afternoon. Wish us luck!

I like sleeping with daddy.

This is me taking a nap with daddy today.