We be Parents

Hazel turned six weeks old this past Sunday, so now she’s a good way through her seventh week, but these days we’re running late on just about everything, so why not this update!

This past weekend we had a couple visitors which was very nice.  On Saturday, Petyon and Kathleen came to visit – Kathleen is Hazel’s 11 year old aunt!  It was great to see them and I think they both really enjoyed seeing Hazel.  It was particularly sweet seeing Kathleen with Hazel – she seemed so thrilled to be meeting her little niece!  We had a really nice Chinese takeout dinner with them before they headed to San Diego to continue their vacation. Here are a couple shots I took while they were here:

On Sunday – the official six week milestone – Jeff and Sarah came out to visit for the afternoon. They had visited us in the Hospital on Hazel’s first day, so it was nice to see them again when things were a little less hectic. Here they are:

Hazel’s biggest new trick is that occasionally she smiles at us – she was already smiling in her sleep, but now she’s started doing it while awake…not to often, but she’s started nonetheless…and of course we totally melt when she does it!  It even makes us forgive some of the trouble she gives us – the dirty diapers, the crying, and the sleepless nights.

Sleep wise, she’s generally been pretty good, waking up 2-3 times a night.  A couple times she’s been a little less cooperative, keeping us up until 3 or 4 in the morning, walking her around the house, trying to get her sleepy, trying to make her fall back into the regular routine.  Last week I was holding/rocking her, walking around our house in the dark at 3am, and I managed to stub my toe so hard I thought I broke it – it’s still black and blue a week later!

When she does sleep, she really does sleep though:

Yenari’s doing well too – just yesterday she went for her 6 week post delivery checkup and passed with flying colors.  Overall we’ve have nothing to complain about – Yenari’s healthy and Hazel is a healthy baby who’s quiet most of the time, sleeps well most of the time, and makes us happy just about all of the time!

Yenari, Hazel, and I are now home alone, which I guess isn’t exactly alone, but certainly without adult supervision.  Unless we’re the adult supervision…definitely a scary thought.

Today Yenari’s mom headed back home to Korea after being with us for almost 4 weeks.  Yesterday Yenari’s aunt headed back to Korea after being with us for about 3 weeks.  They were both an incredible help to us – keeping us fed (with delicious food), keeping the house clean, changing diapers, and keeping Hazel occupied so that we could sit at the table and eat together and with friends.  They will definitely be missed – we can’t thank them enough.

We spent some more extended family time this weekend too – on Friday we had a nice dinner at our house with Yenari’s cousin Kisook, her husband, and their 2 and a half year old.  On Saturday, Yenari’s aunt and uncle who live nearby San Francisco came down for breakfast and then took Yenari’s aunt up to SFO.  Here’s a (slightly out of focus) shot I took of the crowd Saturday morning:

Yenari’s uncle caught a great shot of Yenari’s mother, that really captures her joy and excitement in being a grandmother:

This morning it was our turn to head up to Yenari’s aunt and uncle’s place for breakfast – we had an excellent meal of blueberry pancakes then brought Yenari’s mom to the airport, bid her farewell, and then back to our place for the start of a new phase in baby wrangling.

In Hazel’s 4 weeks – yup, today she is 4 weeks old – she’s kept us busy and entertained, and now she’s made her way around the Bay Area, making it up to San Francisco, her great aunt/uncle’s place, SFO, the mall, Target, Stanford, a french restaurant in Santana Row (where Yenari had her first feeding the baby in public experience), the doctor, and a whole host of other places.  She’s doing really well – spending more time awake, trying to lift her head as much as she can, and still sleeping fairly well.

Here they are, my favorite girls:

As of this morning at 5:11am, Hazel is now two weeks old…and its been an interesting 2 weeks.  It’s amazing how much energy we all need to expend for a newborn who sleeps almost all of the time and can’t even move!  She’s doing well though – eating a lot, sleeping, making us change diapers a bit more than we’d like, but that is supposedly the evidence that things are going well.  At a doctors appointment this past Wednesday she was up to 7 pounds, 13 ounces – 3 ounces above her birth weight.  Like all babies, in her first couple days she lost close to 10 percent of her birth weight and was at least as low as 6 pounds 15 ounces, so making it back up means she’s gained quite a bit of weight in the past week and a half.

As mentioned before, she spends most of her time sleeping, eating, or filling up diapers.  She’s sleeping pretty well – we have to get up every 2-3 hours for some feeding and diaper changing, but we’ve been able to counter that by sleeping longer into the morning.  That will certainly disappear for me as I’ll be heading back to work tomorrow morning.  In the time that she is awake she keeps us all entertained with her various grunts and noises, trying to lift her head – good progress in that department, shaking her arms and legs like crazy. She also lost her umbilical stump, so she’s even more like a miniature person now!

The other thing that has made things fairly easy is that Yenari’s mom came in from Korea to stay with us on June 2nd and Yenari’s aunt came in on June 8th, so we’ve had the help of 2 moms with 5 children between them.  One of their primary activities has been keeping the Korean food cooking on the stove and trying to keep Yenari and the baby as warm and toasty as possible.  We’ve all had our fair share of seaweed soup!  They’re going to be here until the end of the month, so we still have two more weeks of help.

Visitors have also been keeping us busy – here are some shots of some of the people who’ve come to wish us well and meet Hazel since we’ve been home:

Yenari’s Mom and Aunts

To Yenari’s right is her aunt who is visiting from Korea to help us out for the first month, over Yenari’s should is Yenari’s mother, and just below her is Yenari’s other Aunt who lives close by and came for a visit.  So, 3 out of 4 Kim sisters, and three generations of women.

My Dad

My Dad, the new grandfather, was in town for business and spend Tuesday and Wednesday evenings with us.

Yenari’s Nursing School Buddies

A couple of Yenari’s nursing school buddies showed up unannounced but still very welcome this past Wednesday. From left to right: Dylan, Ruby, Yenari with Hazel, Josette, and Jen.

They joined in one of Hazel’s favorite ‘rock out’ moves, raising her fist in the air above her head.

Yenari’s Cousin

Yesterday Yenari’s cousin Kisook and her son came to visit us and to her aunts. Kisook had also visited us in the hospital the day Hazel was born and delivered a hospital stay worth of seaweed soup for Yenari.

Like Violet, Hazel’s second cousin is definitely a fan of making funny faces when asked to smile for the camera. Soon there will be another second cousin thrown into the mix as Kisook is expecting her second child in a few weeks!

Eulji!

Eulji, one of Yenari’s best friends from Korea – a friend since middle school, is traveling in California and stopped by our place before heading down to LA. Yenari and Eulji last saw each other two years ago when Yenari and I visited Korea.

Wave Goodbye

With all the guests we’ve had, we’ve done a lot of waving goodbye. So, here we are, the new family, waving hello and goodbye!