Ashley is 8 Month Old Today

Ashley is 8 month old today. Her big accomplishment this month:

1. Very proficient at rolling

2. Sitting up right

3. Putting herself to sleep most of the time since last couple of weeks.

She is a big girl now. Here are Ashley's 7 month and 8 month photos.

7 month. Look, I got a cute hat.


8 month. Hey, what you got in your hand? Are you taking photo of me?

Baby Hair

3 months after Ashley was born, Mommy started losing a lot of hair. Every time I take a shower, run my fingers through my hair, brush my hair, a bunch of hair would just fall off. I mean a BUNCH, not a couple. Within a day, it seems like thousands and thousands of hairs are lost. OK, OK, I might be exaggerating, but it's very close. I was very worried that at this rate, sooner or later I will be bald!!

While looking at myself in the mirror the other day, I noticed there are some baby hairs growing everywhere on my head. Thank God!!!  Haha, they look just like Ashley's hair: short, thin, soft and standing up right. And they are growing at the same rate. I look funny with these standing baby hair though, and I always try to press them down.

The other day, after a shower at the end of my workout, a coworker of mine walked pass me and looked at me funny, and said to me, "Hey Katherine, you got a lot of static in your hair! They all standing up right!" Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

Babies Always Know who Their Parents Are

Ashley's pediatrician once told us that babies always know who their parents are. She told the story about how close her nanny and her kids were that her kids called their nanny "Nanny Mommy". Then she said, "that's OK with me because it shows that the nanny was nice to my kids, and my kids loved their nanny and the nanny loved my kids. And besides, babies always know who their parents are."

While Daddy was away for 3 weeks, Ashley showed the sign of stranger anxiety and I was wondering if Ashley still remembers and recognizes Daddy or she might feel uncomfortable when she sees Daddy and thinks Daddy is a stranger. So when Daddy got home from his trip, he picked up Ashley after her nap. Ashley seemed fine seeing Daddy although she hadn't seen him for 3 weeks. She then smiled at Daddy, she knows who Daddy is, and Daddy is all melt.

Home Alone With Ashley 1 - Part 3

Tough week this week.

First, introduced formula to Ashley, that was a pretty tough battle. Surprisingly, Ashley seems to accept formula although we only tried it 3 times. Then for several days, she drank less and less and Mommy's milk supply goes back up thanks to non-stop pumping. So we haven't tried formula since then.

Second, for a couple of days this week, Ashley didn't want to sleep. She went to sleep around 9 PM to 9:30 PM, then woke up half hour to 45 minutes later crying. I tried to rock her, held her in my arms for more than an hour until my arms and wrists became SOOO sore (my wrists are still painful now, probably damaged), she still didn't want to sleep until 1 AM or 12 midnight.

Third, we decided not to rock her. Ashley would cry for 15 to 20 minutes or so, then went to sleep. Not bad, hopefully it keeps up although it's very tough watching her crying.

How can I describe these 3 weeks?

Weekdays:
7 :00 PM to 7:30PM: come home from work
7:30 PM to 8:00 PM: dinner
8:00 PM to 8:30 PM: pump
9:00 PM to 9:45 PM: put Ashley to sleep since she only wants Mommy to do it, mostly rocking
10:00 PM to 10:30 PM: brush my teeth, wash my face, get ready to sleep
11:15 PM to 11:45 PM: pump
11:45 PM to 12:15 PM: wash bottles
12 PM to 12:30 PM: go to sleep myself
6:30 AM to 7:30 AM: Ashley wakes up

Weekends: cycles between diaper changing, feeding, pumping, washing bottles, playing with Ashley, feeding solid food, diaper changing, putting Ashley to sleep.

Sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh ........

Morning Nap

For some strange reasons, regardless how much sleep Ashley gets over night, she always falls asleep with 1.5 hours after she wakes up in the morning, sometimes even sooner if you don't play with her. She can have over 10 hours of sleep over night, but still does the same thing.

This past Monday, after she drank some milk, I had to pump and had no choice but to put her in the exersaucer. Half way through my pump, she started getting quite, but I couldn't play with her. By the time I put the milk away, she was already leading over the exersaucer felt asleep. She was as soft as cotton when I picked her up. I tried to play with her, but it was too late, she was already asleep. That was only 15 minutes!

I can't believe this baby can fall asleep standing up!

The Battle of Breast Milk vs. Formula (cont.)

This morning, Ashley drank 6 oz of formula!!! Great job, Ashley, you're a very good baby.

We thought the best time for her to accept formula is when she's hungry, so we decided to try it the very first feed in the early morning.

To our surprise, she took down 4.5 oz without fighting or fuzziness. Usually in the morning, she takes 2 feeds within half hour span, and can normally drink about 7-8 oz total. Half hour later, we gave her more. This time, she sucked it slowly and perhaps realized it's formula and stopped sucking. That gave us the total of 6 oz.

Not bad, in fact very good for 2nd day! Ashley, you're a very very very good baby. We just need to drink the formula once a day.

Mommy was so worried last night that I couldn't sleep. Now I can relax a little bit.

The Battle of Breast Milk vs. Formula

Since Ashley was born till now, she has been on breast milk exclusively except 1 oz of formula when we first got home from the hospital. In order to provide her with enough of breast milk, I have been pumping non-stop. I would scarify sleep and stay up past 12 mid night to pump although Ashley goes to sleep early. I continue to pump in pain with one nipple cracked and bleeding.

I used to pump 6 times a day, but started slowly to cut down after Ashley was 6 month old. I was able to get 28-29 oz of milk when 6 pumps and about 23-24 with 4 pumps. When I got sick about 2 weeks ago, my breast milk supply decreased straight down to 17-18 oz. So, I went back to pump 6 times a day while supplementing Ashley with the backup frozen milk. Although my breast milk supply goes backup to 24-25 oz, with the frozen milk gone, I know sooner or later we would have to introduce formula to Ashley.

Today is the day.

This afternoon, the nanny mixed 3 oz of breast milk with 1 oz of formula to give to Ashley. As soon as Ashley put the nipple in her month and smelt the milk, she refused to eat it even she was hungry. But as soon as the nanny gave her the breast milk, she sucked down 5 oz right away. And we ran out of breast milk at home.

When I got home this evening around 7PM, Ashley only had some sweet potato and rice cereal since 3PM. She still refused drinking the formula. So, we decided to switch to a different formula. She still refused, pushed the nipple out or turned her head away. She was hungry but still did not drink the formula, she rather starve. Half hour later, Ashley was crying and fuzzing around, she was very hungry. I decided to try the formula again, at first she refused it and pushed out the nipple, so I tried again, and she finally took 2 oz of formula with struggle. After that, she didn't want to take any more. To reward her, at the end we gave her some breast milk, and she drank it down without any problem.

Ashley, Ashley, Mommy has tried the very best feeding you for almost 8 months and it is pretty lucky that Mommy has so much milk to last this long. I am sorry that I can not give you enough and I hate to see you starve. I feel like I'm losing something by giving you formula. However, eventually you would need to get off breast milk. I know the formula does not taste as good as the breast milk, but you are doing pretty good given it's the first day we introduced the formula. Can you please please try more tomorrow?

We'll try tomorrow again.

Birthday

As we grow older, we care less and less about birthdays. At certain age of our life, we wish birthdays would never come again and time would just freeze.

This year is very different than all other years. AJ is not around, but I got my sweet angelic daughter by my side. For every year I become older, she grows taller, bigger and wiser. So from now on, it does not matter how much older I am becoming because I see myself in her and my existence in her presence.

Life continues on.

Ashley's Growth Stories

1. Going to Sleep

Ashley is used to have Mommy and Daddy to put her to sleep at night and it seems she only wants Mommy or Daddy. Every night in the last two weeks, the nanny would try to rock Ashley to sleep, but she would cry and fuzz. She would stop crying right away every time Mommy takes over. Baby definitely has great sense of smell, they can smell and differentiate their mommies and daddies. It truly makes me feel great that my little angel needs and wants her Mommy. :-)



2. Roll, Roll Roll

Since Ashley started to roll in both directions, she loves rolling. She rolls on the sofa, on the floor, in her crib and on the bed. She loves to roll on Mommy & Daddy's big California king size bed. Every time I put her down on the bed, she would continuously rolling from one end of the bed to the other end. She discovers that by rolling, she can get to the places she wants and grabs the stuff she's interested in. So she would roll, roll roll to get to her destination. Putting cloth on her is getting tougher, the minute you put her down, she rolls, turn her over, she rolls again.



3. Stranger Anxiety

When Ashley was a little baby, we could pass her to anyone and she was fine with it. Lately, every time she meets a new person, she would stare and study the new face and constantly looking at me to make sure I am around. If I passed her to the new person too soon, she would start crying and I would have to hold her right away. She needs about 20 minutes or so to get comfortable with any new person.



4. Where are my toys?

Ashley started to realize that when she throws her toys away, the toys don't just disappear, they still exist but just missing. So she would look around on the floor for her toys. Small but important milestone.



5. Sleeping on her side

During the last couple of weeks, Ashley starts to sleep on her side.



6. Swing

This weekend is the first time I saw Ashley sitting on the swing, holding on to the handle bar and kicking her legs. She seems like a big baby now.



7. Head on the side

While Ashley is playing this week, she would pause and put her head on one side of her shoulder and smile as if she's making a photo gesture. It is so cute.


8. Sitting

Ashley is getting better sitting. She can sit fine if she doesn't grab anything.


9. Zipper

Ashley discovers zippers and she loves to pull it to unzip and zip it up. She would repeat the same thing over and over again, doesn't seem to be tired of it.

Home Alone With Ashley 1 - Part 2

Second week home alone with Ashley.

SP & BW visited us Saturday. We took Ashley out to the park near by. Have heard the nanny mentioned that Ashley loves the swing at the playground in the park. I didn't believe that small baby like Ashley can actually sit on the swing and enjoys it. So we went straight to the swing and put Ashley on. It was true, Ashley held on the handle bar, her legs kicked around every time we pushed the swing. She really truly enjoyed it. Afterwards, we sat around on the beach towel on the grass in the shade. Ashley curiously looked around, rolled around on the beach towel and seemed to enjoy being outdoor. We should definitely take her out more, there are so many new things she needs to learn.

Later on, PK showed up with her daughter Cerisa. PK and I had the same due date and Cerisa was born 3 days earlier than Ashley. They played together a bit. Ashley grabbed Cerisa's toy and vice versa, and both immediately put the toys in their mouths. Although these 2 girls are the same age, but they grow at their own different pace. It's always nice to let Ashley hangs out with someone her own age. I wonder if she's bored of having adults around her all the time.

Today is such a hot day. NQ showed up to help and we decided to take Ashley to have some pearl tea. We ordered some drinks and snacks, sat around and chatted in the sunny Sunday afternoon. Ashley continued to look around checking out the new surroundings, and played with her toys. At home, I put Ashley on the sofa sitting up next to me while I was on the laptop and gave her some toys. She just sat around, played with her toys in content. No fuzziness, no crying, no screaming, she is truly an angel.

It seems things are easier this week. Not sure if it's because I get more used to it or it is because I got visitors? 1 more week to go.

Home Alone With Ashley 1 - Part 1

This is the first week Daddy's traveling and the first week Mommy's home alone with Ashley. Having the nanny staying home during the weekdays definitely provides great help. Most of the week, Mommy was busy fighting with the flu but luckily near the weekend, the flu was 70% gone and Mommy was able to handle Ashley alone.

Home alone with Ashley wasn't as bad as Mommy thought it would be, but it is just so busy, non-stop, no breaks sort of days. It starts with Ashley wakes up, change her diaper, feed her, pump, wash bottles, play with her, feed her some solid food, change her diaper again and put her to sleep. Then finally Mommy gets some time to eat, and then the whole cycle starts all over again. At the end of the day, Mommy is still in her pajamas and didn't get to brush her teeth until the end of the night (I know, disgusting!!) Fortunately, Ashley is such good, calm and sweet baby except she refuses to drink any milk right before she goes to sleep. However, she's been cooperating with Mommy by going to sleep around 10PM and waking up at 8AM these couple of days. Can't imagine how difficult it would be if Ashley is a fuzzy baby. Regardless, Mommy definitely has great respect for the single parents out there!

Mommy is Sick!

Mommy got a terrible flu since last Thursday: very very sore throat, headache, fever and nasal congestion. Fever is gone now, but the rest of symptoms are still here. The sore throat is so painful that Mommy almost lost her voice and she can not swallow anything. The only "good" side effect is that Mommy lost 3 lbs within 2 days. :-)

Mommy hasn't played, held and spoken to Ashley for last several days. Mommy doesn't want to get Ashley sick and has to wear a mask around her. Ashley doesn't know what's going on and stares at Mommy funny. Luckily so far Ashley has not been affected. Poor Daddy had to do everything for Ashley last couple of days. But Daddy is leaving for a business trip for 3 weeks tomorrow, Mommy doesn't know what she is going to do if she is still not well by the weekend. Sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh....

Clap Clap

Ashley loves her orange and blue rocker chair. She does everything in that chair: she sleeps on the chair; relaxes on the chair; parties on that chair; eats on that chair; plays on that chair. The chair has a moving chicken on the side and a cat and a dog hanging on the hanging bar across the front. There is a red handle beneath the dog and if you pull it hard, it plays music.

After Ashley discovered that, she loves to pull the handle to play the music. Every time she pulls the handle, she would look for Mommy and Daddy waiting for some sort of reactions. So Mommy and Daddy would smile at Ashley and start cheering "YEEEAHHHH, you're SO smart, good job!" and start clapping as well. Daddy has nice big warm hands and of course when he claps, it's pretty loud. At the beginning, little Ashley didn't realize what clapping is and probably thought it's something bad, perhaps thought she's getting a spank, so she started pulling her chin and cheeks, and did a crying face. At this time, Mommy had to pick up Ashley, gave her some comfort and ensured her everything was OK. Since then, whenever this happens, Mommy has to tell Daddy to clap gently. Poor Daddy has to clap with his big hands in slow motion and barely touching each other, and hardly produces any sound. Ashley is then satisfied and returns with a huge smile. Now Ashley learned that clapping is a good thing and enjoys pulling the handle bar to play the music and always looks around for Mommy and Daddy and waits for her clap clap reward.

Ashley's Sleeping Story

Ashley used to sleep on her back with her whole body and hands swaddled in layers of swaddles for her first month. At the 2nd month, Mommy and Daddy decided not to swaddle her hands. Little did they know, every time she startled, she woke herself up. Mommy and Daddy had no clues what was waking Ashley up until they watched a DVD on how to put babies to sleep. It was then they realized that she was still too young to control her hand movements and that itself could wake her up. So Ashley was back to her swaddled stage for a while. It was until she mastered to control and coordinate her hands, Mommy and Daddy slowly stopped swaddling her hands after 3 months.

Since Ashley started to roll around in both directions in the last couple of weeks, she would kick and roll in her crib and ends up in the completely different part of the crib, sometimes even sleeping horizontally. Every now and then, she can roll to her side to sleep and then rolls back to her back. Smart Ashley also discovered a new game that if she kicks on the button on her music box hanging on the side of her crib, she can turn on and then off the music. She probably thinks that is a very fun game, so she would constantly kicking the music box turning on and off, on and off the music and then starts giggling.

An hour after Ashley was put to sleep last night, she started to kick and roll around as if she was "sleep rolling". After a couple minutes of kicking and rolling, somehow Ashley rolled from her back to her tummy and continued sleeping on her tummy. Wow, that was the very first time Mommy and Daddy saw Ashley roll to her tummy to sleep. Mommy and Daddy can not be sure if Ashley has done that before while they were sleeping. Excitements put aside, Mommy and Daddy did not want to take any chances of SID, so Mommy still went in and rolled Ashley back to sleep on her back. It will not be surprised to Mommy that one day after she wakes up she would find Ashley sleeping horizontally on her tummy at a small corner by the end of her crib.