Burping time

never realized how important burping is to babies. in the first 2 weeks, we would feed him and put him down as soon as he was asleep. he would almost always spit up in his sleep, making a choking gurgling sound that would wake me up with a start, to rush over and make sure he wasn't choking to death. can be very scary but then we also found out that babies rarely die from spit up. they instinctively turn to the side so whatever they spit up drains properly. God gives babies some wonderful instincts to make up for our lack of knowledge.
we found out that you have to keep them upright for 20-40 minutes after they eat to prevent spit up. i thought that babies had nice strong, brand new stomach and esophagus muscles. what do you mean they need to be upright for 30 minutes after ever single feeding?

so you feed for 20 minutes, burp for 30 minutes, 5 minutes for diaper change... and one hour has gone by. at least once a day they also get hiccups after eating so that extends the time you spend burping/keeping them upright. if you are lucky, they sleep for an hour or two, then they are hungry again and you repeat 3 steps above. all day, that is all you do for the first 2 months. at least he is sleeping 3-5 hours at a time now. makes night times a little easier.

this is our favorite look on his face - when he is being burped and looking up and around. so cute. look at those little bulldog cheeks! there is william... already poking fun of thomas.

week 8 update with Mr. Frog

wow he is getting bigger fast. here is a picture taken today with our prepetually happy Mr. Frog. Thomas was in a better mood today and i actually almost got a smile. but look at how much bigger thomas is. almost the same size as mr frog now, about 22.5 inches and over 11 pounds. yikes!
hi joanna! :) i posted a different picture b/c the first one made him look even bigger with that full body suit. this is a better comparison shot. look at how chubby those thighs are!

william and cleaning up poop

william is very fastidious when it comes to personal hygiene. he is very paranoid about poop and making sure that it is dealt with in the most sanitary way possible. sometimes i think he would sterilize his own butt if he could. so naturally when we had thomas, it extended to the baby. william loves to make sure thomas' butt is scrubbed squEEEeeaky clean when he does diaper changes. for the first several weeks, william would change his diaper every time there was even the slightest bit of poop. i was a little more lazy about it, esp in the wee hours of the morning. if thomas was not complaining and the diaper was not really full, i would let it go. so he ended up with a diaper rash. now we just put this nifty diaper rash cream (zinc oxide) on his butt after every diaper change and that way, we can let him sleep for 4 hours if he chooses too (w/o waking him up for a diaper change. although when he is really asleep, he will sleep through a diaper change!) however, even with the zinc cream, william will use this little flashlight to peek into thomas' diaper to make sure it is not too full & poopy. ha ha! :)

i found out yesterday that this fastidiousness goes all the way back to when william was a little boy. his mom told him a story about when he was about 6-7 years old. william's grandmother is a pretty easy going person and she would help watch the kids (william has 2 younger sisters, helen & jenny). she decided that she did not need to change jenny's diaper just yet. well, william decided that that would not do. so he promptly went over to jenny, pulled her diaper off, and thoroughly hosed down her little butt with the shower bucket. then he was happy. however, he did not know how to put a clean diaper on, so then he let her walk around naked. too funny...

so now, william (who used to hate dealing with poop) has to deal with thomas' poop and scoop poop for our two kitties. he is the poop master! :)

More new babies!

Congratulations to John & Joyce on their new baby girl, Lindsey! 7 pounds, 2 oz and 21 inches long. wow! that is long. thomas was only 19.5 inches when he was born. sounds like little lindsey will be taller like her dad. this is their second child. their first daughter, Lauren is almost 2 years old. they have their hands full for sure!

wow... now, we personally know EIGHT couples who are have new babies between Novemeber and March. it's like a baby epidemic - it seems there were a lot of couples getting busy early last year. but it also means lots of playmates for thomas! :)

Playing around! :)

some funny pictures from the 8th. look at that little face. :)













he is getting pretty chubby - it is really hard to clean out those neck folds. it gets pretty gross in there b/c when he dribbles or spits up, it goes right down his chin into his neck folds. and sour milk smells funky! plus this is breast milk - even funkier smelling. breast milk tastes really odd - it is really more like milk juice. breast juice. nothing like cow milk. plus the glands that produce breast milk are same as the glands that produce sweat. one of our friends said that she had a glass of wine. so an hour later she pumped and was going to throw it away so that her baby wouldn't get any alcohol in the milk. but her mom (who is helping out with baby care) said "you shouldn't waste it!" and promptly drank the whole thing. ewwieeeee......

giving babies a bath is a little tricky. i think we have given him 4 baths now and boy, they are slippery when wet! we try to make sure no water gets in his eyes or ears, and keep soap to a minimum so we don't dry out his skin. the first time it took us an hour, from in the tub to drying off. we have it down to about 30 minutes now. 20 minutes would be great. it will be so much easier once he can hold his own head up and sit up on his own. i think around 6 months...

Some artsy images from William...

Here are two of william's pictures from the weekend... one with his little nose and other with his little hand... still so little!





the funny thing about when he sleeps is that you can do almost anything and he will sleep. now i know how anne geddes gets those baby pictures. she just has to wait until they are deep asleep and you can put them into almost any pose you want!

Not happy with Mr. Frog

This picture is from today. he is 10 and a 1/2 pounds and chubbing out nicely :).
i was trying to get a nice picture with mr. frog there but Thomas just wouldn't have it. every time i put him down, he started with the kicking and moon pie face. then as soon as i pick him up, all calm. put down - waaah, pick up - calm, down - waaaah, up - calm... sheesh!!! little bandito just wouldn't cooperate so this is all i could get. ha ha...

a few things they don't tell you about breastfeeding

both william and i have been reading a lot of material, books and online, about babies and baby care, etc. it can be frustrating b/c many of them say different things. i tend to think that the more you read the better - that way you can just use what you feel applies to your baby. as they always say, each baby is different and you know your baby best. but all those differing opinions can be really annoying when you are trying to figure out why baby is fussing. luckily Thomas usually fusses when he is hungry, wet, too cold/hot or has gas (burps or farts). but every once in awhile, he fusses for a bit and it seems like nothing is wrong. william gets frustrated "those stupid books are so full of it!" and it does feel that way sometimes :)
here is what i wish was explained better re: breastfeeding. they talk about "let down" but they don't really explain. well, your breasts don't let go of milk right away. ever time he feeds, baby has to suck on them for a few seconds and then the milk starts flowing. that is called let down, and once your milk really starts flowing, it can happen several times in one feeding. so much milk comes out that baby chokes sometimes. however, you can have spontaneous let down at random times of the day, i.e. when your boobs are really full, when you hear him cry, when you think about him feeding, etc. what they don't tell you is that you know when you have let down b/c your breasts tingle - not a pleasant tingle. it can be a very strong tingle, uncomfortable. it is not as bad when he is feeding. but if you just start leaking when you are walking about, it is not comfortable.
another thing they don't tell you - even with everything going well, it is not comfortable when the little bugger latches on (first starts sucking away). this is after 5 weeks of breastfeeding. they say, oh the soreness will subside and that definitely does. but those first 5 seconds still make me want to say "hallelujah!!!!!" and push him off. plus, it is not like your breasts toughen up and become like pre-baby. you learn to be a little more careful, even towel drying after a shower.
anyways, tmi, but all true. of course each woman is a little different so my experiences are particular to me. but i wish i had known some of the above. it is no wonder women stop breastfeeding after a few weeks or the first month. it is not the most easy, natural process, not for today's women.

Congrats to the new babies!

Congratulations to Liz & John!
They had their baby boy, Ethan yesterday. john sure was super eager to get photos to everyone. i don't think it was even a couple hours after the birth and john had photos emailed out. john - take care of your wife and baby! stop emailing everyone so much... ha ha...

Congratulations to Mia & Shawn!
their baby boy, Gabriel was born on January 31st. that makes 2 kids for them - brave new world of two kids!

both babies are healthy and doing well. well, now the four of us up here in the Tri-Valley have had our babies. it was so nice to have other couples going through the same thing together. along with my co-worker, Blanca & Richard, and our friends Louisa & Andy and Mia & Shawn, that makes 6 couples that we knew that were all pregnant around the same time. definitely nice to know that there are others going through the same process. :)

Still at it...

almost four weeks old and still loves sleeping with his arms up. so cute! ugh just want to squash him - like this cute little stuffed animal. but he is alive so you can't just hug him to death.... but he makes me want to (william too. he is always pretending to smoother him with hugs. or poking his little chubby cheeks). he is just about 10 pounds now. we keep telling him to stop growing so fast. we see other babies at 4-5 months old and they are so big compared to thomas. sometimes we wish he would stay small.
life has settled down to almost a routine now. thank you God! we are both getting some sleep and we are getting used to life with baby. it is still hard and thomas doesn't leave me with time to do much else but last week i finally recovered fully from my cold and william's cough is finally gone this week. we feel normal again! we thank God that thomas is a fairly easy baby and that he is healthy. gaining weight at a good pace and eating really well. although when william does the evening bottles, he was adding a little formula to breast milk (partially to help him sleep longer at night). then we noticed formula makes his poop stinkier so we stopped mixing. there is plenty of time for stinky diapers once he starts eating solid foods. right now we are just trying to enjoy him as much as we can. they change and grow right before your eyes.

New pictures for week four

he is still so small... *sigh* :)

hiya to my mervyn's friends! :) btw, in the previous picture - that is my hand on his head. i guess the light was not that great in that shot...

we are doing better now in terms of sleep. i usually sleep from around 9p to 2:30am and william will feed him once or twice using a bottle. william sleeps from 3:30a to 9am. that way each of us gets at least 1 good block of sleep. i have been trying to get william to sleep by 3am so he can get 6 hours - but it is still hard to wake up sometimes. so instead of waking up at 2 or 2:30, i end up sleeping until almost 3. but at least i get naps during the day. william doesn't take any naps. don't know how he does it.


isn't he cute? look at that big ole nose and those little lips!
can't wait until he starts smiling at us.


Here i am with Thomas - he is looking grumpy b/c he was just cuddled against my chest, nice and warm. all of a sudden he was picked up and plopped down next to mom for a photo. not nice at all. at least his neck is getting stronger now so he can hold his head up without it suddenly flopping to the side.

Going into the fourth week

It is unbelievable how much you love your own baby. it is almost an ache in your heart - when you just sit and stare at him. i used to think "yeah, of course people love their kids" and i knew it was aweful to hear when kids were kidnapped or abused. but you really never know until you have your own. how you could look away for just a moment in a crowded place and have him nabbed, or how no one really knows why SIDS happens. until i had my own kid, i never in a million years imagined how much the thought of finding him not breathing could make me feel. and i used to think i was not maternal!
of course, that overwhelming love is also mixed in with frustration (when it is 3am and he just won't stop fussing) and the occasional desire to just shove his whole bassinett in the closet and shut the door (just let him cry his little lungs out until he falls into an exhausted sleep). luckily God has given me a lot of patience for Thomas and the thought doesn't cross my mind too often. william is handling it a little differently. patience has not been his strong suite - i know he has thought about squeezing thomas so he can't cry (bad william!) and just leaving him on top of the dryer, crying. but then he realizes how helpless Thomas is and that he has no other way to communicate with us right now when something isn't right. William may not have actively worked on gaining patience with circumstances ever before, but he is getting a crash course in it now to make up for the past. i have certainly heard a marked decrease in the not so family-oriented language that pops out of his mouth whenever he stubs his toe. maybe this will help him be more patient with Thomas as he moves into toddler-hood. we'll see. :)

8 pounds, 3 oz!

He was 7 pounds when he was born - but he gained 13 ounces by the time he was a week and a half. And now he weighs 8 pounds and 3 ounces. our doctor said to try to make sure we are not letting him eat too much. what a little piggy! and how are we supposed to tell if they are eating too much. most of the books/websites say that babies instinctively stop eating when they are full. i think this is payback for william because he is always saying he is going to make sure his kids are not chubby by making them run laps.

anyways, i think Thomas is trying to look up at whatever is sitting on his head in this picture. It was taken when he was only 3 days old. i can't believe his face is already changing. they grow so fast!


Here he is strapped in at 4 days old, fast asleep and ready to go on his first car ride - home!

I knew it didn't come from me...

we keep laughing at the way Thomas sleeps with his arms up.

well last night at 4 in the morning, william conked out from exhaustion and lo and behold... touch down!

mystery solved.

Sorry more pictures - he is so cute!

This is his favorite thing to do - waking or sleeping - one or both hands at the side of his head. Touch down!





Look at how small his foot is!






Ok, i promise - no more pictures for a little while. :)

Elephantitis

i had to have an IV stuck in me during the labor as well as the c-section. i asked to be able to just drink water on my own but the hospital staff gave me some reason for having the IV - i can't remember it now. i think think the rate that they allowed it to titrate into my system was for an average size person and i am only 5 feet. so after having the IV pump fluid into me for 20 hours - i woke up with HUGE feet, ankles and legs (all the way up). it's quite grotesque and made walking around a little uncomfortable. i had to buy a pair of size 9 slippers (i usually buy 5.5 or 6). funny... and yet not so funny.
they look kind of like the pigs feet in the chinese markets. ha ha... they are better today, but still swollen from the calves down. another week maybe. don't look too close - my nails are not very nicely manicured. william has been helping me clip them for the past few months. :)

Here is a cute picture of our baby boy

Here is a picture from today - 2 weeks old. he looks more like william esp if you see william's baby picture - same eyes, forehead and cheeks. he has my mouth and nose though.

i am completely biased but i think he is terribly cute. and this is the best time - when he is fed and changed and just sits there looking at you. completely magical :)

there's more: realigning life for Thomas

william and i have been married for 9 years now. we know each other fairly well. arguments don't really happen (not like the first year or two of marriage when you are trying to figure each other out and decide how to pick battles). we still love to talk as we fall asleep at night, share memories and dreams about the paths our future could hold. corney i know.
so along comes baby. baby reorganizes things, your relationship, your priorities, the things you pray about, your time and your entire life. baby doesn't listen and he doesn't care that you are tired and didn't eat yet. i think we had at least 3 arguments at the hospital. one about william not taking this seriously (going home to dink and get on computer when steven and vijay didn't) and not being at the hospital where i needed him on Monday at 2am. a second about parents - how often they can come over, how needy my dad is becoming, how high maintenance my mom is and how his parents impose themselves on us without asking us first if what they works for us. and the last smaller one about him dragging his feet (he didn't get the baby seat in the car until the day we left the hospital. this really surprised me because as some of you know - william is all about getting things done efficiently and on time. he obviously was in some sort of denial about the imminence of the baby's arrival).
our last argument happened the third day we were home because william had run out of patience and was letting me know it. so i finally let lose and started into him - letting him know that i wanted just as badly as he did to throw things around, that i was just as exhausted if not more so, and that having him throw temper tantrums made things twice as difficult because not only do i have to manage Thomas, i have to manage him too. that made him stop and he has been more patient since then.
ugh, and i never finished sending out christmas cards or thank you cards for gifts from the baby shower. it helps to know that millions of people take care of their babies every day, but also humbling as it undoes the way you are used to doing just about everything.

Thomas William Kuo - FINALLY! :)

Hard to believe but our baby is finally here. whew! I have hundreds of emails that i haven't responded to and lots of mail, and phone calls have been hard to return (one at a time, one or so a day if i am lucky). sometimes we just sit there and stare at Thomas in awe and simple amazement. sometimes, we look at each other and wonder what we have gotten ourselves into. he doesn't really come with any sort of guarentee and is non-refundable on top of that. I guess God doesn't take returns on babies :)
So here are the essential details: his name is thomas, he weighed 7 pounds on the dot and was 19.5 inches. he was born on 1/8 at 7am by c-section. i went to the hospital on sat morning at 9am after my water broke. (if you read the post from the week before, i was doing some rather heavy cleaning on Friday, about 12 hours before my water broke at 6am). i was in labor for 18 hours and my doctor ended up having to deliver by c-section after determining that the baby was just not coming out. he was in the right position, but my pelvic bones were not separated enough to allow him to pass through.
so word to you who have not had babies yet: take that epidural while you can because labor without it was probably the most painful/agonizing thing i have ever been through. just when you think that it can't get more painful, it does and just gets worse and worse. then once you are fully dialated, you have to start pushing, and that is even worse than getting yourself fully dialated. God is good - He has provided a way out. take it unless you really enjoy pain, or don't feel it. ha ha...
i will post pictures later today if i can get on my desktop. we'll see...

New Year's resolutions

i have to admit, i have not given this much thought this year. but out of the blue, william mentioned that he has two for this year while we were driving home the other day. his first is very relevant - to stop cussing, for his sake and for the baby's. so we don't have to have a call from preschool teacher telling us that junior is cussing the other kids out. ha ha.... bad bad. his second is to sit up and stand straight, so he is not slouching. he asked me what mine might be - and first to come to mind was to finish what i start. i tend to start projects and not finish. we'll see how long these last. :)