Giggles Galore

So I know I'm incredibly late at posting an update, but going back to work is kicking my butt! Time is flying even faster now. Yong and I rush to get the three of us ready and out the door every morning and try to enjoy as much time with Kai when we get home before preparing for the next day. Makes for creative dinners, a dirty house and even less sleep! But it's all worth it when you hear Kai and his glorious giggles. He's almost 4 months old now (3 more days) and will probably be sprouting some teeth a little early. We can see white spots on the top and on the bottom. We'll see how much longer I nurse him for; I love the little guy, but I don't trust him with teeth for a second!

The past month and a half brought us a visit to Grandma and Grampz Born's house with many visitors, a 100-day celebration at Grandma and Grandpa Pong's house that was very fun, visits from friends, celebrating Yong's 31st birthday, more diapers, more spit-up and many giggles. Kai can now grab his toys, which is great entertainment. He absoultely loves looking at himself in the mirror and laughing. He also loves day care and all the kids he gets to play with. We think he'll be a little social butterfly just like his dad was as a kid.

All in all, we're living it up and loving it.

Happy 4th of July! Today is Kai's first major holiday and we're planning on meeting up with some other new babies from when Yong and I took our prepared childbirth classes. Should be fun. Kai is now 11 weeks old and is changing so much all the time. Here's a list of what he's been up to:

Kai can:

• Roll over from his tummy onto his back!


• Coo, laugh and shreik (loudly, too)


• Lift up the top half of his body during tummy time--maybe will be crawling sooner than we thought


• Fall asleep on his own in his crib (most of the time)


• Get distracted while nursing and drive his mom crazy


• Melt our hearts with his amazing smiles and sweet talking

Yong and I both decided we'd like to hit 'pause' for a bit...we want to savor every moment at this point. The first month was almost the opposite and I wasn't sure I would ever want to have another baby...now I'd be happy with 10! :-)

Big Little Dude

As I write, Yong is trying to lull our little Kai to sleep. It was a rather traumatic day for us as Kai received the first of his immunizations today at his 2 month doctor appointment. Kai took the shots and elixir like a champ, much more brave than his mommy crying next to him. It's so hard to see him in pain, as I'm sure any mom can relate.

Kai weighed in today at 13 pounds, 12 ounces and measured 24 3/4 inches tall. He's above the 90th percentile in both categories, so it seems he is still going to grow up to be just like his daddy. A big dork! Just kidding Yong!

Speaking of daddy, we celebrated Yong's first father's day on Sunday. Grandma and Grandpa Pong, Gene and Kristine all joined in the fun. Kai was exhausted from all of the fun and attention by the end of the weekend, but I'm sure he enjoyed every second he could.

Last week Kai met his day care provider and made a really good impression. He was cute and smiley, well-dressed and clean! What else can anyone ask for? :-) This is my last full week at home with him and I treasure every moment. Next Wednesday marks my return to work and I'm dreading the handoff. All sorts of thoughts run through my mind. Will he remember who I am? Will he think we've abandoned him? What are we going to miss out on? Will his poo poo stil stink the same? :-)

I'm sure we will all survive and figure things out...wish us luck!

Another Week, More Changes

7 Weeks has come and gone and the result is a smily happy baby. We figured out that Kai needed more sleep than we were giving him, so he's now napping a few more times a day. I feel like I never see the kid anymore! He's so much happier with the new extra sleep, there's hardly a crying moment anymore. Kai's even trying to sleep longer at night (to my extreme approval).

Kai talks to us a lot, especially when we're changing his diapers. His favorite word is currently "uhgoo" and I have a lot of fun echoing his words back to him. He loves to kick and climb up us, occasionally likes a pacifier and is still working on figuring out bathtime. He had his first real bath last night as his umbilical cord finally fell off. We also started using cloth diapers, which even with our best intentions, is quite a hassle and probably won't be continued after our 1 month diaper service runs out. Sorry Al Gore! We can only do so much!

6 Weeks Young!

I cannot believe that 6 weeks has come and gone. It still seems like a blur due to the continued lack of good sleep, but Kai has changed tremendously since coming home from the hospital. Grandma Pong continues to be amazed by how different Kai looks everytime she sees a new photo posted. Kai is growing faster than ever and fits into many of his 6 month clothes already. His umbilical cord still has not come off, making sponge baths a regular event in the Pong household.

This morning I took Kai out for our normal morning walk. Usually he starts wailing about 5 minutes in, prompting me to pop a pacifier in his mouth so I don't wake up all the neighbors. Today, however, Kai fussed for a few seconds and fell right to sleep! Like I always thought babies did. I was so stoked (it's the little things that help me through the day). Another awesome thing is that I am wearing some non-maternity jeans (FINALLY!) and I couldn't be happier to have something different to wear. It's been almost a year since this pregnancy/baby fiasco began...time sure flies!

Our little sack o' potatoes

Today was Kai's 1 month doctor appointment with Dr. Bravo. Yong and I made a friendly bet yesterday about how much our little guy weighed (I guessed 9 1/2 lbs and Yong guessed 10 1/2 lbs)....and we found out today that our little Kai is not so little after all! He weighed in at 10 lbs 12 ounces; no wonder my back feels broken! He measured 23 1/4", placing him in the 95th percentile...he's going to be one tall kid. Now that I know how much he weighs, I feel every ounce in my arms. The doctor calculated that Kai is gaining about 2 ounces per day and at that rate will be 15 lbs at 2 months. No wonder I feel like a milk factory--I am one! Kai made a great impression on Dr. Bravo by flashing him a smile at the end of the appointment. Dr. responded by saying, "You've got a sweet boy here". We'll have to try to remember that at 2am when Kai is kicking and screaming inconsollably.

Smiling makes the world go 'round

Today is Kai's 4 week old birthday. The time has flown and dragged by all at the same time. He is so much bigger than he was 4 weeks ago and it seems like the days that have passed since his birth have been 1 extremely long hazy day. Sleep has been very hard to come by recently; still working on getting that gas to go away! We tossed the schedule out the door for now...newborn Kai prefers to eat and sleep on his own time (duh)..Yong and I were just trying to be optimistic.

So the smiling has commenced and it couldn't be more glorious. Getting a smile in return for mine makes all of the screaming and fussiness worth it. Smiling doesn't always happen this soon for newborns, so we're hoping Kai will have advanced to vacuuming and doing the dishes by the end of next week. :-)