- Ko/Go for Kona and any dog she sees whether live, on Planet's Funniest Animals (yes we are opposed to TV, but when she was sick it made her laugh her cute little laugh so let her watch it everyday, but always with adult supervision), or in print.
- Hi/Bye-self explanatory
- Ba for ball
- Mama when she is crying it out or stuck in the crib
- Xixi for gongxi gongxi-well wishes or good luck in Mandarin
- Oush for ouch (that's what we tell her when she tries to remove outlet covers or pull electrical cords)
- Ha for hot when she goes towards the baseboards, but it doesn't seem to stop her.
- Pa/Ba for Papa
- Pua Pua for grandma
- Up/down
- Bubu for the source of her milk
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Little Chatterbox
My Mia is finally back to her old self. She is eating a little better too, but mostly she is talking up a storm. I've been a terribly bad historian on her behalf and have failed to record the exact day of many of her milestones. But I can say that by 10 months and a week she can say the following:
Friday, February 23, 2007
Baby Fixed, Mama's Broken
Mia is much better after her bout with a stomach bug. She stopped vomiting and acting list listless. While ill she was just so clingy and cuddly. I'll post a pick of her on Pua Pua's lap soon.
One way in which my Meemster has not recovered is her appetite. She mainly wants to nurse and eat Cheerios. Darn those Cheerios. I know they pack large amount of nutrition in the tiny O, but I need to get more proteins and fats in my little girl. She has probably lost a little more than half a pound and she looks so slight now. The terrible thing about a heavily breastmilk diet is the poop. For a big girl like Mia to mostly eat BM is not ideal. She poops more frequently since BM passes through the system faster and she is blowing out the messy yellow curdles at least a couple of times a day. That leads us to Mama's broken shoulder.
My left shoulder has bothered me intermittently since 2002, but NEVER like this. Goes back to when I used to lug around training material and pull on one of those luggage carriers with a box full of teacher's manuals and hand-outs. In the past I could really restrict use of the arm, but now I can't due to Mia's unpredictability and the need to use both arms to handle her. Over the last couple of days a series of unfortunate events culminated in my injury.
Since having Mia it has bothered me here and there, but it always healed in a few days. Looking back, I think I do live with a certain amount of discomfort that I have just grown accustomed to as part of daily life. Each time I put Mia into and carry her out of the Britax, the shoulder is bothered, but it just was part of the fabric of my day. But I guess in the last few days, the motion of carrying her on my left hip and overextending my shoulder, putting her into and getting her out of her car seat, Kona pulling on the leash when she sees a bird or squirrel, lifting Mia into and out of the crib--blah blah blah--just did Mama in. Oh and also loading my mom's small suitcase into the SUV when she left on Wednesday.
Last night I checked on Mia around 2 AM. I was up finishing a project and decided to see how she was doing. I found her in one of her usual predicaments. Three limbs were dangling outside the crib as she slept on her side. Took some pictures and smelled that nasty aforementioned breastmilk poop. Put the camera down and leaned down to grab her. I saw STARS like in the cartoons when some unfortunate creature got smacked on the head with a cast iron pan. I picked her up and it killed me. Normally my tolerance for pain is extremely high. I've walked around for three days with a ruptured cyst before admitting that something must be wrong.
I had the wherewithal to change her and nurse her back to sleep last night. In the morning I was not better off. With one arm, I unload the dishwasher, clean up the kitchen because we have a counter guy coming to give a quote. I take a shower with one arm and Mia sitting in her booster in the door of the bathroom eating Cheerios. I feel, this is doable. I am fine. Denial.
After the counter dude left, I found out that while using one arm to care of Mia could be doable only if she were not to big and unpredictable with her movements. The Meemster did me in when she had a blowout and refused to remain still on the floor while I changed her. Why would she? She's an active ten month old and wow, to be put on her back on the floor is sheer torture.
Seeing that the situation was going to deteriorate if I didn't get her on the changing table, I lifted her up and placed her on the table. It just killed my shoulder. Unzipped her sleep sack and saw that the poop had seeped into her footed sleeper. All the while my shoulder is in lip-biting pain as I try to keep her from turning over and touching the poop (which she did) that had reached the tummy area of the sleeper. Finally after nearly a dozen wipes, the situation is under control. I remove the dirty clothes trying so hard not to get Mia covered in poop. Chuck it all to the ground because I had no other option. Kona came sniffing. Shooed her away, then turned my attention to dressing my wiggly girl. Lifting my arm to put her onesie one and maneuver her arms into the arm holes caused more lip-biting tear producing pain. Finally I am done and feel as if I just can't go on. I call Papa who had a presentation to give earlier in the morning. Thankfully he was done around 9 AM. With a shaky voice and throbbing shoulder I tell him that I cannot make it through the day with Mia and go to the work.
We went to work where I thought Papa would just watch Mia for me while I worked and had a meeting, but after asking me to do some range of motion tests, Papa thought I probably needed to get seen by an orthopedic doctor right away. Luckily we got an appointment. Left work to go to the doctor. All this time I am thinking this will get better like it always does. Denial. Like when I thought Mia just gagged when she was vomiting. Like when I went three days without getting medical attention for severe abdominal pain (well in that case Papa poo-poo'ed my symptoms and told me to take Pepto). Docs say I need X-rays and an MRI. There goes by day and chances of returning to work. By the way, I pride myself in perfect attendance. I always had perfect attendance growing up until I got really sick in the 5th grade. I probably have taken less than a handful of sick-days in my working life. Pathology, ding ding ding, red flags.
Anyway, this whole time, I see all the things I am going to miss out on with Miss Mia flash before me and I get so MAD and CRANKY. I could barely hold her with my right arm alone due to the level of activity she engages in and the strength she has. I can't get her nursed on my left side without help. UGH, I like to do things my way and by myself. Yes, more pathology. My self-reliance is the albatross around my neck in my walk with God.
I start to ask, "WHY ME?" Whine whine whine.
Me: Why when I am on the cusp of retirement (3/31, hurray) does this happen to me? Why does this happen to me when Pua Pua just left after 3.5 weeks with us? Why does this happen to me at 33 when I have a baby, couldn't God wait 10 more years when I don't have to lug a soon to be toddler around?
God: Remember to consider it pure joy when you face trials.
Me: Shut up!
God: This is the cross you must bear for now.
Me: SHUT UP!
God: You have to learn to let Mia go a little and now be all over her all day long.
Me: THAT'S A LOW BLOW, SHUT UP NOW! You know she's my precious thing and a gift from YOU after not being able to have a baby, I have every right to love her up.
God: Time to ask for help. I am, the I am and I am here. Call your mother. She wants to come back to see Mia anyway. Your grandfather will be okay.
Now how does one keep talking back to God?
On Monday, I'll find it if I have bursitis, tendinitis, or a rotator cuff tear. Best case--please God--is bursitis. I asked friends for help to watch Mia and called my mom who chided me for being stubborn. She will come on Monday night. In the meantime, Auntie Sarah will spend the night and help on Sunday while Papa takes a trip. I might have to give up my contract work for the time being. I'll see. I spend 3-4 hours on it a night after I vege in front of the telly for a couple of hours.
I was able to write this on 800 MG of Advil, with one hand (okay I used the shoulder here and there for efficiency) and a cortisone shot.
Thanks for your prayers friends and family!
One way in which my Meemster has not recovered is her appetite. She mainly wants to nurse and eat Cheerios. Darn those Cheerios. I know they pack large amount of nutrition in the tiny O, but I need to get more proteins and fats in my little girl. She has probably lost a little more than half a pound and she looks so slight now. The terrible thing about a heavily breastmilk diet is the poop. For a big girl like Mia to mostly eat BM is not ideal. She poops more frequently since BM passes through the system faster and she is blowing out the messy yellow curdles at least a couple of times a day. That leads us to Mama's broken shoulder.
My left shoulder has bothered me intermittently since 2002, but NEVER like this. Goes back to when I used to lug around training material and pull on one of those luggage carriers with a box full of teacher's manuals and hand-outs. In the past I could really restrict use of the arm, but now I can't due to Mia's unpredictability and the need to use both arms to handle her. Over the last couple of days a series of unfortunate events culminated in my injury.
Since having Mia it has bothered me here and there, but it always healed in a few days. Looking back, I think I do live with a certain amount of discomfort that I have just grown accustomed to as part of daily life. Each time I put Mia into and carry her out of the Britax, the shoulder is bothered, but it just was part of the fabric of my day. But I guess in the last few days, the motion of carrying her on my left hip and overextending my shoulder, putting her into and getting her out of her car seat, Kona pulling on the leash when she sees a bird or squirrel, lifting Mia into and out of the crib--blah blah blah--just did Mama in. Oh and also loading my mom's small suitcase into the SUV when she left on Wednesday.
Last night I checked on Mia around 2 AM. I was up finishing a project and decided to see how she was doing. I found her in one of her usual predicaments. Three limbs were dangling outside the crib as she slept on her side. Took some pictures and smelled that nasty aforementioned breastmilk poop. Put the camera down and leaned down to grab her. I saw STARS like in the cartoons when some unfortunate creature got smacked on the head with a cast iron pan. I picked her up and it killed me. Normally my tolerance for pain is extremely high. I've walked around for three days with a ruptured cyst before admitting that something must be wrong.
I had the wherewithal to change her and nurse her back to sleep last night. In the morning I was not better off. With one arm, I unload the dishwasher, clean up the kitchen because we have a counter guy coming to give a quote. I take a shower with one arm and Mia sitting in her booster in the door of the bathroom eating Cheerios. I feel, this is doable. I am fine. Denial.
After the counter dude left, I found out that while using one arm to care of Mia could be doable only if she were not to big and unpredictable with her movements. The Meemster did me in when she had a blowout and refused to remain still on the floor while I changed her. Why would she? She's an active ten month old and wow, to be put on her back on the floor is sheer torture.
Seeing that the situation was going to deteriorate if I didn't get her on the changing table, I lifted her up and placed her on the table. It just killed my shoulder. Unzipped her sleep sack and saw that the poop had seeped into her footed sleeper. All the while my shoulder is in lip-biting pain as I try to keep her from turning over and touching the poop (which she did) that had reached the tummy area of the sleeper. Finally after nearly a dozen wipes, the situation is under control. I remove the dirty clothes trying so hard not to get Mia covered in poop. Chuck it all to the ground because I had no other option. Kona came sniffing. Shooed her away, then turned my attention to dressing my wiggly girl. Lifting my arm to put her onesie one and maneuver her arms into the arm holes caused more lip-biting tear producing pain. Finally I am done and feel as if I just can't go on. I call Papa who had a presentation to give earlier in the morning. Thankfully he was done around 9 AM. With a shaky voice and throbbing shoulder I tell him that I cannot make it through the day with Mia and go to the work.
We went to work where I thought Papa would just watch Mia for me while I worked and had a meeting, but after asking me to do some range of motion tests, Papa thought I probably needed to get seen by an orthopedic doctor right away. Luckily we got an appointment. Left work to go to the doctor. All this time I am thinking this will get better like it always does. Denial. Like when I thought Mia just gagged when she was vomiting. Like when I went three days without getting medical attention for severe abdominal pain (well in that case Papa poo-poo'ed my symptoms and told me to take Pepto). Docs say I need X-rays and an MRI. There goes by day and chances of returning to work. By the way, I pride myself in perfect attendance. I always had perfect attendance growing up until I got really sick in the 5th grade. I probably have taken less than a handful of sick-days in my working life. Pathology, ding ding ding, red flags.
Anyway, this whole time, I see all the things I am going to miss out on with Miss Mia flash before me and I get so MAD and CRANKY. I could barely hold her with my right arm alone due to the level of activity she engages in and the strength she has. I can't get her nursed on my left side without help. UGH, I like to do things my way and by myself. Yes, more pathology. My self-reliance is the albatross around my neck in my walk with God.
I start to ask, "WHY ME?" Whine whine whine.
Me: Why when I am on the cusp of retirement (3/31, hurray) does this happen to me? Why does this happen to me when Pua Pua just left after 3.5 weeks with us? Why does this happen to me at 33 when I have a baby, couldn't God wait 10 more years when I don't have to lug a soon to be toddler around?
God: Remember to consider it pure joy when you face trials.
Me: Shut up!
God: This is the cross you must bear for now.
Me: SHUT UP!
God: You have to learn to let Mia go a little and now be all over her all day long.
Me: THAT'S A LOW BLOW, SHUT UP NOW! You know she's my precious thing and a gift from YOU after not being able to have a baby, I have every right to love her up.
God: Time to ask for help. I am, the I am and I am here. Call your mother. She wants to come back to see Mia anyway. Your grandfather will be okay.
Now how does one keep talking back to God?
On Monday, I'll find it if I have bursitis, tendinitis, or a rotator cuff tear. Best case--please God--is bursitis. I asked friends for help to watch Mia and called my mom who chided me for being stubborn. She will come on Monday night. In the meantime, Auntie Sarah will spend the night and help on Sunday while Papa takes a trip. I might have to give up my contract work for the time being. I'll see. I spend 3-4 hours on it a night after I vege in front of the telly for a couple of hours.
I was able to write this on 800 MG of Advil, with one hand (okay I used the shoulder here and there for efficiency) and a cortisone shot.
Thanks for your prayers friends and family!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
What a Way to Celebrate
Mia turned ten months today and boy was it a memorable day. I have a few pictures of a sick and listless baby. We started off by Mia waking just before 7 AM. She nursed as usual, but a few sips into the second boob (I was only feeding one breast in hopes that she would eat more solids, but it made no difference so I went back to giving two boobies each morning) she pulled off, clapped her hands and then proceeded to barf all the milk from booby #1 all over our bed. The sheets and mattress pad needed washing anyway, so I handed her to Papa and he cleaned her up while I cleaned myself up and pulled off the sheets.
The vomit was a fluke so I thought. She was acting fine otherwise. I figured she just gagged or something. I finished nursing her. Then she played a bit, pulled herself up on the couch and fell back with a smack onto the rug. Where was I? Videotaping her 10th month milestone of pulling herself up. Guess she has not reached the "able to stand and balance self" milestone yet. Of course, I dropped the camera (still rolling and only Kona's legs are in view) and went to soothe Mia. About a minute later she puked again. Good thing we had a large blanket on our nice Pottery Barn rug (which we got for a steal) that caught most of Booby #2's milk. Wow, she must be sick. But part of me was in denial because she was not acting fussy and had no temperature to the touch.
Well, a few minutes later she hurled again, this time on Pua Pua. All of this happened in the span of 1.5 hours. Off I went to call Sand Point Peds for an appointment. Poor baby. I tried to feed her some oatmeal and egg yolk. She wasn't interested beyond the first few bites which is like any normal day. She ate a bunch of Cheerios which made me feel better because I hate for her to have an empty stomach. Around 11:30 Mia began to convulse again. Let me tell you that you usually feel the vomit coming up if you are holding your baby, but you still don't know quite what to do or how to react. If I could think fast enough I would have have her over the toilet, but it didn't go down that way. At that point I decided to only feed her liquids.
Around 12:30 Mia had her first ever diarrhea. Wow, what a way to celebrate 10 months! It was horrible. The stench. The color. The contents. The seeping. I felt such pity for her that tears welled up. Her appointment was at 1:45 and boy did I have a lot more to share with them than I did at 9 when I made the appointment. By this time she began to get a bit fussy and she had already taken a couple of cat naps.
We make it to the doctor's and I learned no water for a vomiting baby under 2. Only breastmilk and Pedialyte. No solids until there is no vomiting for at least 8 hours. My baby has lost about half a pound. Poor thing.
In the evening she developed a fever and got even fussier. But luckily she has been asleep since 8 PM. I was expecting her to wake up many times tonight. So far so good. I'll give a follow-up report.
The vomit was a fluke so I thought. She was acting fine otherwise. I figured she just gagged or something. I finished nursing her. Then she played a bit, pulled herself up on the couch and fell back with a smack onto the rug. Where was I? Videotaping her 10th month milestone of pulling herself up. Guess she has not reached the "able to stand and balance self" milestone yet. Of course, I dropped the camera (still rolling and only Kona's legs are in view) and went to soothe Mia. About a minute later she puked again. Good thing we had a large blanket on our nice Pottery Barn rug (which we got for a steal) that caught most of Booby #2's milk. Wow, she must be sick. But part of me was in denial because she was not acting fussy and had no temperature to the touch.
Well, a few minutes later she hurled again, this time on Pua Pua. All of this happened in the span of 1.5 hours. Off I went to call Sand Point Peds for an appointment. Poor baby. I tried to feed her some oatmeal and egg yolk. She wasn't interested beyond the first few bites which is like any normal day. She ate a bunch of Cheerios which made me feel better because I hate for her to have an empty stomach. Around 11:30 Mia began to convulse again. Let me tell you that you usually feel the vomit coming up if you are holding your baby, but you still don't know quite what to do or how to react. If I could think fast enough I would have have her over the toilet, but it didn't go down that way. At that point I decided to only feed her liquids.
Around 12:30 Mia had her first ever diarrhea. Wow, what a way to celebrate 10 months! It was horrible. The stench. The color. The contents. The seeping. I felt such pity for her that tears welled up. Her appointment was at 1:45 and boy did I have a lot more to share with them than I did at 9 when I made the appointment. By this time she began to get a bit fussy and she had already taken a couple of cat naps.
We make it to the doctor's and I learned no water for a vomiting baby under 2. Only breastmilk and Pedialyte. No solids until there is no vomiting for at least 8 hours. My baby has lost about half a pound. Poor thing.
In the evening she developed a fever and got even fussier. But luckily she has been asleep since 8 PM. I was expecting her to wake up many times tonight. So far so good. I'll give a follow-up report.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Pua Pua to Mia and Kona
Our pup just loves having Grandma or Pua Pua (nana in Mandarin) around. Kona waits at the guest room/office door in the morning waiting with anticipation for my mom to open the door. With Grandma around, there's one extra person to show poor Kona some attention. One extra person to rub her little belly, pass her a treat or two, and take her for walks. Grandma doesn't short change her either. My mom takes Kona on longer walks than Papa and I do.
Mia just loves having Pua Pua around. She's learning all sorts of little Mandarin ditties from her. Although I worry that the Meemster is too heavy for my mom, the woman doesn't like to put her down. I keep telling her to let her crawl around to play in her little corner by the dining room, but she just keeps holding her. Today, I tried to put Mia down for a nap. She was SO tired from our day out and about, but just kept crying. Finally my mom went in and emerged two hours later. She held the little girl in her arms in the glider while she slept for nearly two hours.
I bit my tongue because Mia is her first and only grandchild and Pua Pua doesn't live nearby, so I figure it's good bonding time. When Mia has her own baby, I expect I might do the same.
Mia just loves having Pua Pua around. She's learning all sorts of little Mandarin ditties from her. Although I worry that the Meemster is too heavy for my mom, the woman doesn't like to put her down. I keep telling her to let her crawl around to play in her little corner by the dining room, but she just keeps holding her. Today, I tried to put Mia down for a nap. She was SO tired from our day out and about, but just kept crying. Finally my mom went in and emerged two hours later. She held the little girl in her arms in the glider while she slept for nearly two hours.
I bit my tongue because Mia is her first and only grandchild and Pua Pua doesn't live nearby, so I figure it's good bonding time. When Mia has her own baby, I expect I might do the same.
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