We be Parents

Hazel hit the 18 month mark about a week ago – one and a half years already…amazing. We brought her to the doctor today for her 18 month checkup and she’s doing great – the growth charts tell us that she’s tall (93rd percentile), skinny (35th percentile), and has a big head (85th percentile) – what a combo! She’s still a light eater, but seems to be eating enough to keep growing and keep herself running all around causing trouble, making messes, and having fun.

She’s still not talking too much – at least not with real words, but she seems to understand a lot of what we say – both in English and Korean. She has definitely learned how to say ‘no’, it isn’t afraid to use that word when we try to feed her something she doesn’t like or try to do something she isn’t excited about. She’s also changed the way that she plays – now she’s playing pretend quite a bit…filling up ‘water’ in her toy kitchen to give us, feeding all of her stuffed animals and us with make believe food, and pushing her stuffed animals around in her stroller and her toy car. Her other favorite thing is to slip her feet into my shoes and try to walk around the house in them…something she is surprisingly good at.

Since I haven’t posted anything in a couple months, here’s a quick pass of some photos and some of the things that have kept us busy lately…

Meemaw visits

My mom visited us for a couple days and Hazel had such a great time with her…

LA Trip

We made yet another trip to LA, though this time we went for a reason other than gorging on Korean food – my mom and Duncan were in LA for a few days so we decided to join as well. We had a great time at Mona, my mom’s high school buddy, and her husband Barry’s house…though somehow we managed to not get a photo of Mona or Barry! Hazel had an awesome time playing with their 3 dogs and wasn’t the least bit afraid:

On this Hazel finally warmed up to Duncan – here she is romping around on the bed in their hotel room:

Halloween

Hazel was a bumble bee for Halloween…wearing a great costume my mom brought us from Connecticut…also seen above in one of the dog photos where she was practicing for Halloween!

Thanksgiving

Yenari worked on Thanksgiving and Hazel and I had a wonderful time celebrating with Jeff and Sarah in Oakland. We followed that up a few days later with a full-on Thanksgiving meal at the Button’s house two days after Thanksgiving. Katie and Russ brought out their kids’ old train set which Hazel had a great time playing with:

and that’s it!

If Yenari were going to rank the three things she loves most in this world, the list would be something like the following:

1. Hazel
2. Chicken Wings
3. Me

I’ve tried to move up in the rankings (since I used to be number two before Hazel was born) but it’s really a lost cause.  At the top of Yenari’s list for chicken wings are Korean chicken wings.  While there are good Korean wing joints near us in Santa Clara, and other places Yenari has chowed down on in LA and New York, for the real deal you’ve got to get your Korean chicken wings in Korea.  So Yenari was pretty pumped about eating some chicken wings on our trip.

After a dinner one night with some family friends, Yenari asked her brother to pickup some chicken wings for her at one of the top spots in Seoul, Kyochon Chicken.  Despite having eaten a full dinner already, Yenari ate almost the whole box of chicken wings but couldn’t quite finish them off.  Fully satisfied with her midnight snack of chicken wings Yenari passed out for the night.

The next morning she spotted the left over chicken on the table.  Normally Yenari is very conscious of germs and proper food handling, but unfortunately her love of chicken wings blinded her and she ate the remaining chicken wings.  Before doing this she asked her mom if it was ok, and she said yes.  I caught her midway through the feast and asked her if it was a good idea to eat chicken that had been sitting out all night and she said ‘my mom said its ok’.  Not one to get in the way of Yenari’s love of chicken (kind of like stealing food from a hungry dog) I let it go and she finished off the food.

She was doing ok for a while, but had a bit of a stomach ache around lunch time….not enough to prevent her from eating beef soup at lunch, but enough to slow her down a bit.  We took a big family nap (me, Yenari, and Hazel) for a couple hours after lunch and upon waking up Yenari felt fairly awful.  After a bit she threw up and was definitely not feeling great.  Yenari’s mom wanted her to go to the hospital/doctor, but Yenari was refusing to go, saying that it was a stomach thing and there isn’t really anything the doctors can do about it – only time and fluids really help.

It was approaching dinner time, and we already had plans to have dinner with the whole family – Yenari’s dad was leaving work early and her brother was driving the hour from where he lives to meet us at a bulgogi restaurant.  Yenari’s parents decided that we should go without her, but right as we were leaving Yenari threw up again and Yenari’s mom decided to stay at home with Yenari and Hazel.  I offered to stay at home instead, but they insisted that I go out to dinner with Yenari’s father and brother.

So we went to eat and were enjoying our meal while Yenari was at home with her mom and Hazel.  About halfway through the meal Yenari’s dad got a call from Yenari’s mom and then said he was going home because they were bringing Yenari to the hospital and they needed help with Hazel, but that I should finish eating with Yenari’s brother and that everything was fine.  I assumed, from what Yenari’s father said, that Yenari’s mom had convinced her to go to the doctor, but the real story was somewhat different…

At home, Yenari started feeling worse and worse.  She had puked a number of times and she had been breastfeeding Hazel all day, so she was very dehydrated.  Yenari’s mom was playing with Hazel in her room so Yenari went to be with them in her mothers room.  She was lying there, zoned out, sipping on water…when she had to make another trip to the bathroom and basically was in a passed out / delusional state….she was sweating, having palpitations, was feeling lightheaded,  had numbness and tingling in her arms and legs, and blurred vision.  She asked her mom for water, but she didn’t want to let her drink it in the bathroom because that isn’t sanitary (but eating unrefrigerated chicken is?).

Finally Yenari asked her mom to call the Korean equivalent of 911 (which is 119 in Korea) – Yenari’s mom called Yenari’s dad first (the call I heard but couldn’t understand due to a slight issue of not understanding Korean) who said yes, call 911.  An ambulance came, the paramedics came into the apartment and brought her out on a gurney (after asking whether she was just drunk), and Yenari, her mom, and Hazel were driven away in the back of an ambulance, sirens ablast.

When Yenari’s brother and I finally finished the multi-course meal that Yenari’s father had ordered (and commanded us to finish) we started over to the hospital, but a few minutes away from getting there Yenari’s dad called and asked us to go back to the apartment and pickup Yenari’s glasses which she had left at home – it seemed odd that Yenari would have left them, but I didn’t think too much of it.  We drove the 10 minutes back home and another 15 back to the hospital….which was a real hospital, something I totally wasn’t expecting.  I was expecting something like urgent care, but this was a major hospital and we were heading into the emergency room.

Yenari’s father saw us coming in and directed us over to Yenari, lying in bed with an IV in her arm.  I was shocked as I had no idea she was actually that sick and that no one had told me!  She was obviously pissed off that I was coming so much later and asked very sarcastically if I had enjoyed my dinner!  She was actually feeling a lot better by then since she had been given some fluids.  The dangerous part was over, but they still attached an EKG and tested her heart – since Yenari is a nurse in a cardiac unit she was more than interested in interrogating all of the doctors and nurses on the results.  Here’s the happy chicken wing victim in the hospital:

Yenari in the hospital after the chicken wing incident

Yenari’s mom wouldn’t admit that the chicken wings were the cause and was looking for other potential causes, but we all knew that the chicken wings were to blame.  After her final tests were over we all headed home and Yenari finished off the evening drinking Powerade, Pocari Sweat (a Korean drink like Powerade), and water.  The next day Yenari was feeling much better and by dinner time was eating kimchi and pickled crab.

As a result of this two things happened:

1. Yenari’s mom started putting everything in the fridge – even cookies made it in there, and soon the fridge was just about overflowing
2. Yenari doesn’t like chicken wings anymore

So, on the positive side of things I’m back to #2 on Yenari’s list.  With chicken wings out of the way I’m right behind Hazel on the things Yenari loves.  I’m sure chicken wings will make their return on the list, but for now I’m enjoying my spot on the list!

Wowzers, a half year goes fast.  The Shins sing that “the years have seemed short but the days go slowly by” – for my last half year I’d say that the minutes have gone slowly but the days are just flying by.  The days have gone fast enough that I’ve neglected to write anything here since the 5 month milestone and I’m even a few days late on the 6 month mark which Hazel hit either Monday or Tuesday….since she was born on the 31st I’m not sure whether she should get credit for 6 months on 11/30 or 12/1.

Hazel has changed a lot in the last month, but it is hard to point to any single thing.  She hasn’t learned too many new tricks, but she’s improved quite a bit in the old ones.  She’s a lot more focused, she’s able to entertain herself with her toys, and she’s gotten a lot stronger.  Her eating habits have changed quite a bit as well as she’s caught on to eating the solid foods.  The solid foods have been great for me because it means she actually eats when I’m taking care of her while Yenari is working.

The solids have had a downside though…the switch from breastmilk only to rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, veggies, and fruits has brought her digestive system to a screeching halt, going from many dirty diapers a day to none for many days.  It got bad enough that we even brought her into the doctor because she hadn’t gone in about 5 days!  Her doctor checked her out and said that she didn’t seem to backed up, but that we she start her on some prune juice or prune solid food and proceed on to child suppositories if that didn’t work.  She actually seemed to like the prune baby food (gross!) but it didn’t quite ‘clear the road’, so the suppositories were the answer after she hit the 8 day mark…and once we went for it the action started up in seconds!  She still hasn’t quite figured out pooping with solid food, so hopefully we’ll be seeing more stinky diapers soon.

In the last few weeks we’ve been busy taking Hazel on many social engagements.  Hazel and I had a great time and Jeff and Sarah’s place for Thanksgiving – Yenari was working, but everyone there was really helpful in playing with Hazel.  Luckily I’ve gotten quite good at eating while holding Hazel, so I was able to enjoy an incredibly tasty meal! Here’s the little lady all dressed up in her Thanksgiving outfit before we headed to Jeff and Sarah’s house:

That same weekend we stopped by to see Rebecca, Troy, and Ewan at there house.  Rebecca took some great photos of Hazel and Ewan playing together – this was definitely the most interaction Hazel has had with another baby.  Hazel was busy grabbing Ewans hand, checking him out, and wondering how a 4 month old could be bigger than her!  Ewan was playing hard to get, or maybe just a little preoccupied with trying to jam his whole hand into his mouth! Here are the two lovebirds:

This Monday we took Hazel to the doctor for her checkup.  She is moving right along in the growth department, measuring in at the 90th percentile for height and head circumference and the 75th percentile for weight.  She was only at the 50th percentile for head circumference at her four month checkup, so her head has done some serious expanding!  Though they’ve made mistakes in measuring her head many times, so maybe her head didn’t get so much bigger.  She got a bunch of shots which she really didn’t like, but otherwise survived the visit without too much trouble.

And to finish it off, a couple more photos from the last month:

Four months have flown by quickly and the last month has given us a huge number of changes.  Hazel has changed a lot and is becoming more and more dynamic and interactive by the day.  While she laughed and smiled before, now she seems to be genuinely engaged by toys, songs, and staring at herself in the mirror.  Her occasional laughs and smiles have turned into excitement, infectious smiles, and cracking up.  She’s making a lot more noise, babbling to herself, squealing with excitement, and showing a wider range of emotions through her voice.  She’s getting a lot more control over her hands – grabbing toys, holding onto them, and studying them closely.  She’s almost like a real person!

Here she is holding one of her favorite toys:

She’s still giving us (at least me and the nanny) trouble in the bottle feeding department, but she does cave in and eat from the bottle when she’s really hungry, but still not nearly as much as she should be eating.  We’ve also caved in a few times by bringing Hazel to the hospital to meet Yenari on her dinner break for a quick feed, though we’re trying not to make these emergency feeding sessions a regular affair.

Today Hazel had her 4 month checkup.  We were especially eager to see how she was doing on the growth front since she obviously hasn’t been eating as well this past months due to her battle with the bottle.  The growth charts and the doctor’s comments comforted us – she’s growing just fine: she’s still at the 75th percentile for weight (14 lbs, 14 ounces), around the 97th percentile for height (26 inches), and the 50th percentile for head circumference.  On this visit to the doctor Hazel wasn’t the only one facing down the needle – the whole family got shots…Hazel got her next round of vaccinations and Yenari and I got flu shots…so while we don’t have matching clothes we were wearing matching band-aids today.

Here’s another shot of her from almost 2 weeks ago:

Lastly, congratulations to new parents Joe and Sophia, who welcomed their beautiful baby girl Vera Elizabeth Lampe about a week ago – welcome to the club!

On Friday, Hazel hit the 2 month mark and celebrated with a trip to the doctor for a checkup.  She’s doing well in the growth department – she’s in the 90th percentile for height (23.5 inches), the 75th percentile for weight (11 pounds, 10 ounces), and the 50th percentile for head circumference.  I think it would be funny if doctors gave adults these same comparative statistics when they go in for checkups – I wonder how my head circumference compares to other 30 year old dudes.  Anyway…here’s the dear child, in her car seat ready to head to the doctor.

Hazel in her car seat

On the developmental checklist she had ‘yes’ circled for all of the things she should be able to do as a big, grown-up 2 month old – lifting her head, making (non-crying) noises, smiling, tracking things with her eyes, and recognizing and staring at faces.  The least fun part of the doctors visit was the 3 vaccines she had to get…only two of them were shots – one in each leg, neither of them very enjoyable for any of us.  Luckily she seemed to have forgotten the shots after a few minutes.

And because all you readers are interested in is pictures of Hazel, here she is, ready for her closeup:

And now for that closeup: