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November 20 CHOMP!This week Moomers top teeth sprouted making the grand total 4 little teeth. Moomers is pretty fascinated with this new turn of events. She likes to click her teeth together. We're not sure how to prevent it... we just hope that she'll quickly lose interest in grinding her teeth together.
Alas! Monkey needs to work on her paparrazi skills to get a good picture of these long-awaited beauties.
Granted, Monkey may not be up to the task.
Ahhh. I know this game. If I keep my mouth closed... Mama will keep on making more silly faces. November 02 Happy HalloweenUnfortnuately, due to illness we didn't actually go out, but we couldn't pass up the chance to let the Moomers get all dressed up...
  In our original plans the family was going to go as "King Kong", Dragon was going to go as the sky with a biplane hat; Monkey was going to dress up as a skyscraper... Oh well. It was a good idea. We'll channel our creativity for next year...
Hope that everyone had a Happy Halloween! October 21 RUN FOR THE HILLSMoomers has really packed in the milestones in the past few weeks. We didn’t know how good we had it. Moomers was sleeping an easy 6-7 hours a night straight. Suddenly, around the middle of September Moomers decided to wake every hour between 10 PM and 3 AM then wake again around 5 AM. We couldn’t figure out what had happened. Then these showed up:
A few weeks afterwards, we had Moomer’s 6th month appointment. Everything checked out great, and as usual Moomers started to fuss as soon as her bare bottom touched the crinkly exam table paper. Through the din, the doctor gave her the green light on solids.
A few weeks ago we found that Moomers could sit up on soft surfaces. We couldn't call it un-supported sitting though. After a few moments she would lose her battle with gravity and slump-roll over. Since then, we'd say that Moomers has honed her sitting skills pretty well. She can't get herself into a sitting position, but when we set her up, she'll stay sitting for as long as she wants.
Moomers has been able to roll both back to front and front to back for a while now. She has used that ability to move around independently and explore. We got tired of pulling her out from almost-under the couch so we put a box under there to fill the void. A few weeks ago Moomers found that 'creeping' or worming along is a much more efficient mode of locomotion to get to those illicit object (like scraps of paper that Monkey and Dragon missed while cleaning). Last week she surprised us with this pose.
We have, since then, exponentially increased our child-proofing efforts. She doesn't have the strength or coordination to actually crawl, but we know it's only a matter of (very little) time. When she's on a soft surface she'll try to crawl by using her head as a third arm. When she wakes suddenly at night, it's usually because she's plowed her head into a corner. Silly Moomers.
At this point we feel it only fair to notify visitors and well-wishers: we've got an ankle-biter on our hands.
If you leave your feet unattended or sit on the floor with your legs stretched out Moomers will probably creep over and slobber on your appendage. She has been known to bite when the slobbering does not ellicit the focused attention she desires. Consider yourself warned. October 16 A first tripAt the beginning of this month, we took a weekend trip to visit UT for my cousin's wedding. This was Moomers’ first cross-country trip! All in all, the trip went well. We’re glad to be home, but we miss our friends and family already!
Pictures from our trip? Click here September 24 ComparisonsWe are in the process of culling the Moomer's dresser. Monkey just got tired of pulling out clothes that were too small or tight. Moomers can put up quite the struggle while getting dressed now so we need every bit of slack an outfit can provide.
Sometimes Monkey looks at Moomers and has a moment when her brain tries to resolve the paradox of how much Moomers has changed in such a short amount of time.
This is where pictures come in very handy.
April 12, 2009
Moomers is about 9 days old
That's some magic act Moomers. Quick change indeed. September 09 The baby is not where I put her.The first time it happened I just thought, “Oh, Dragon moved the Moomers over”. It happened a few times when I was alone and I just thought, “Huh. I guess I didn’t put her in the middle of the blanket… for some reason I put her on the floor”. But today we’ve confirmed, I am not delirious from sleep deprivation. Moomers has developed the skill of self-locomotion. She can roll from back to front. She can roll from front to back. And , she can now combine these actions to move herself from point A to point B when the desire is strong enough. So far she has used it to grab a wayward toy or something else that is just out of arm’s reach. If she’s ambitious, she can add a little wiggle and scoot to pivot while rolling to give herself a new view of the room. She has done enough 3-point rolling turns to complete a circle and end up where she started. Monkey and Dragon are on notice. Move your valuables. It’s time to start baby-proofing. August 09 A quick entryIt's not the rest of the catch up, but I thought I'd put in this quick entry.
We were wondering if we'd get the chance to do this before the end of the summer season. This year has been un-seasonably cool.
We kept on waiting for days with 'better weather'. Finally we just said, "today's the day" bought the odd swimmer diapers and did it.
We were apprehensive, but it seems like Moomers enjoyed her first dip in the pool.
Hope that you're having a great summer too!
(Don't worry, the rest of the catch up is still in the works.) July 19 Catching more than spit upDuring the pregnancy we were never sure what 'week' or 'month' is was. Things are no better now. We still have a little confusion on how to tell people the Moomer's age. What makes a month anyhow? Do we go by the calendar or do we count 4 weeks in a month? Either way time once again has sprouted wings and she has passed the 3 calendar months or 13 week mark (when I started writing this... now it's week 15).
And none a post to show for it...
 One achievement: we have been able to keep up with our 'picture' per week project. It's in the 'Baby' photo album associated with this blog. If you haven't had a chance to look, there's a picture for every week. If nothing else, we post at least one new picture every Friday. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words...
But, we know, we know, some people still like the written digest of events. There's enough news to soak through a few burp cloths so, bear with us.
They don't have a well baby visit this month so we don't have an offical weight and heigth done by the professionals. Our rough estimate is that she's about 13 pounds and 24 inches long (update: As of week 15, Moomers may actually weigh 15 pounds! We're a little shocked, so we're going to weigh her again tomorrow to check the veracity of these data).
Moomers has become more interactive and loves playtime whether it's catching fish on her playmat, one of our evening walks, or a game of tug-of-war with her rings and daddy. She also loves to bat around the Happy Apple Grandma and Grandpa C got her. We're not sure why Fischer Price doesn't make this toy anymore; it's perfect for the wild and inaccurate arm swings of a baby.
We continue to be blessed with Moomer's cheerful and happy countenance. She has learned to smile and even laugh occasionally. She is pretty expressive: smiles when she is content and grimace when she is sad, wails when angry. She's also quite the chatterbox and wants to 'converse' a few times a day to anyone willing to listen and talk back. Moomers has added squeals to her coos and gurgles.
Moomers has (in Monkey's mind at least) always been a good sleeper (it's because Monkey naturally doesn't sleep that much either). But, now Moomer's has at least adopted a pretty reliable schedule. We get about 4-7 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night. Moomers tends to settle down for the night around 11PM and wakes sometime between 3 and 5 AM. After a diaper change and feeding, she snoozes off and on until 8 AM. We're not sure this counts as 'through the night', but it's not bad.
There is one thing that is getting in the way of a restful night's sleep for all of us: Moomers is learning how to roll from her back to tummy. We're not sure if she is quite happy with the development. Sometimes it seems like her torso and legs are not quite in agreement of what to do. Her legs start to push and her upper body just contorts and twists agaist her legs with the legs eventually winning; all the whole while Moomers is yelling in protest not to mention the shrieking when she finally does roll over and plant herself on her tummy with her arms pinned under her. It's quite Dr-Strangelove-esque.
At the same time, Moomers has also learned how to 'self-sooth' by sucking her thumb at night. She's mastered the skill of getting her mouth and thumb in the same space-time continum without poking out an eye or smacking her self on the face. During the day she's happily chew-sucking away and at night, sometimes when she wakes, she's able to get herself back to sleep (given she isn't actually hungry and her diaper is mostly dry).
Over all we are doing well. We're learning that you can never really 'adjust' to a baby quick enough. By the time you get something down in 'routine' the baby's moved on. But, we love learning together and look forward to the surprises ahead.
(Well I'm going to post this while the getting's good. I'll start my next 'follow up' post and with luck it'll be here before Moomers starts crawling or something).
May 21 Spitup: The stuff nightmares are made ofWe’re certain that the Moomers dreams. What does she dream of?
A self-cleaning diaper? (wait… that’s us dreaming).
All kidding aside, we think that she dreams of eating. If you watch her right as she’s drifting off to sleep you’ll see her moving her little mouth in sucking motions.
Just like adults sometimes she has good dreams, followed by a grin and chuckle. I assume that means that she’s dreaming of a warm, full belly. Sometimes she has bad dreams, followed by a grimace and whimper. I assume that some of her precious dream food has escaped her once-full belly and some dream-one is trying to wipe her face with a burp cloth.
On occasion, Moomers gets really, really into this dream-eating and ends up gagging in her sleep … which eventually leads to prodigious amounts of spitup. The kind that starts as a small trickle and ends up pouring out of her little mouth every time she opens it; just like someone completely turned the handle on a spigot in her tummy.
We’d really like it if Moomers would refrain from this kind of dreaming; it scares her parents.
Like we said. Spitup: the stuff nightmares are made of. May 09 Where no Cow has gone beforeFor those of you that know the Dragon, you know that May 8 2009 was a day he looked forward to for quite some time. What happened? The release of the newest Star Trek film of course! He’s been waiting like a moisture farmer on Tatooine (…wait… wrong universe…).
This time though Dragon had a dilemma. The new movie came out, but Dragon had little hope of seeing it. We couldn’t in good conscience take the Moomers to the theater. Nowadays the theaters are so dirty and they set the sound system volume so loud; just not a good environment for the Moomers. Monkey also doesn’t feel good about disturbing others with a fussy Moomers when they’ve paid the exorbitant ticket prices to watch a movie.
So, what to do? Dragon is such a big fan. He had incentive to find a solution to this dilemma. Here it is. Bengies Drive-In Theater. Yup. There was a Drive-in theater near our home that was showing the movie… opening day too!
So we packed up the family and took Moomers to her first movie. We wish we had pictures, but cameras are forbidden (among other things) at the theater. We watched Monsters vs. Aliens and then Star Trek. We all had a great time. Dragon got to watch his long-awaited movie and we got to see it as a family.
All in all, it was a pretty good deal; 2 pretty new movies for the price of 1! We’d recommend the Drive-In as a solution to any young families that would like to see movies, but have young children; you get to watch a new movie without all the stress that comes with a theater. If we go again to this Drive-In, we may opt to bring our own food and pay the ‘outside food surcharge’. Theater concessions just aren’t as appealing as they used to be (especially at theater prices).
As for the Star Trek movie?
Dragon: Seven claws out of ten. It’s okay. It’s a summer action movie that happens to have Star Trek characters in it.
Monkey: I hate the new Kirk.
Moomers: Loved it. Granted, I like anything that gives me cuddle-time with mommy and daddy. April 30 Rolling, rolling, rolling...1 Month! Wow... when you're living day-to-day time really moves by quickly!
At her 1-month check up Moomers received a clean bill of health: good heart, lungs, and over all muscle tone. She weighed in at 9 pounds, 4 ounces (up from 7 pounds 8 ounces from her newborn visit). And, here Monkey and Dragon were worried if Moomers was eating enough or spitting up too much. I guess she is keeping some of her food down... enough to have the doctor say, "wow next month the little miss will be rolling in".
Like last time Moomers protested greatly at the indignity of being undressed and set on the crinkly, cold exam table. Moomers showed the Dragon just how upset she was by peeing on him (again). This time we came a little more prepared with a fully-stocked diaper bag complete with diapers that actually fit (for the Moomers) and extra wipes and hand sanitizer (for the Dragon).
She also had her second vaccination. She took it "like a champ" as the Dragon likes to say; she cried a little but by the time we had her little jumper back on she was done crying. It's hard for the Dragon to see Moomers upset like that; especially now because Moomers actually has tears when she cries. She definitely loves her daddy. By the time we made it to the front desk to set up another appointment, Daddy had her sleeping again.
Overall, our first month as a family has gone well. Sure, some mornings we're reeling from lack of sleep and others I bolt out of bed in terror when I realize that somehow Moomers slept for 4 hours (or more) straight... right through a feeding. Seems like there’ll always be something we’re concerned about, but that’s because the Moomers is so precious to us. Even with the unpredictability, added responsibility and sleep deprivation, we are having a great time getting acquainted with our little baby girl! Thank you again for your thoughts, prayers, and love! Until next time! P.S. Posted new pictures in the 'Baby!' gallery. April 06 Suddenly Busy, Suddenly Tired, but very happy.We're glad to welcome the newest member of our family!
She was born on April 3rd, 1:00 PM. She weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and is 20.5 inches long.
Her first name is Margaret, her middle name is Wing-Siu, our dear baby girl.
She is a delight and currently spends most of her time sleeping and eating.
Margaret, welcome to your new home!!! March 14 Catching up ... as usual...We know... It's been almost 6 weeks since we surfaced on the web for some virtual air. It's been busy in the Forest. Lots to do before the Moomers arrives in ... 4 weeks! (Yes... the Monkey continues to hold to the hope that she will be among the 5% of women that give birth on their due date.... she'd be even happy with + or - 2 days).
So what's happened in the past few weeks? Let's see....
Dragon had a birthday.
Dragon had 6 candles on his cake, we lit them all and challenged him to blow out all but 1 candle (since that's equal to his age.. 100000). He did pretty well. It was nice to spend the weekend with family, exciting too since we were able to meet one of his cousins that just moved into town. Since our last post we had another treat. Dragon was especially excited, he had help the whole weekend from the Best Monkey Handler in the whole world ... a weekend visit from the Monkey's mommy!
The Monkey's mommy brought lots of goodies with her like yummy foods, baby supplies and a baby cradle, but most of all mommy brought her mommy wisdom and advice. She helped up get our apartment in order. We've been working on re-organizing, but we reached a little of a stalling point and things were piling up everywhere. In just a weekend mommy cleared through the clutter that had been sitting for months... she also helped us know what we was left to do to get ready for the Moomers. At the end of the visit Monkey and Dragon were a little worried... in addition to her good company, mommy brought....
... snow. We've had a pretty cold, but dry winter so far. The day mommy left this was the view from the airport. We were worried that she'd get stranded on the East Coast, but were very happy when we found that mommy made it safely home (back to where they know how to deal with a little snow). Last of all.... to wrap things up...
Happy Pi Day! It's funny, but the Monkey and Dragon remember Pi day better than other 'holidays'. We really like our Pi.... Overall things are going well. We are in good health and good spirits. As always, we thank you for your well wishes and prayers. Until next time!!! February 02 It's like magic!!!In preparation for the little Moomer's arrival in ... 10 weeks (did we count that right? 10 weeks?!) ... we've been trying to clean up the Forest a little. We've found that we are the owners of many, many, many empty boxes.
One of our big goals was to consolidate our desks in the office since although we have 2 desks in our office, in the 3-4 years we've been here... we've never been in the office at the same time. During this little exercise we've found that one of us is much better at 'overhaul-type' cleaning and re-arrangement of furniture and othe big-changes. Anyhow...
Before:
And, after...
It was quite a surprise for the Monkey when she came home from work today. Thank you Dragon for all your hard work!!! (Now... where's all my stuff?!) January 26 Happy Chinese New Year!! Happy Chinese New Year, Year of the Ox!  May the new year bring prosperity, happiness, and good health! Best Wishes, Monkey, Dragon, and Moomers December 25 Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas to all! We hope that you have a great holiday season and are able to spend this time with your family and friends! November 26 20/20It's been a while, we know... But without further stalling ...
In case you're wondering, Monkey's double / look-alike in the picture is "Moderation" our cookie jar. He also goes by the name "Snack Dragon". Yes, we are both a little round in the belly... and we are both the giver of treats in this household. However, in the coming months, one of us is going to continue to get rounder... and rounder. Care to guess who? Haha. Yes, with good luck and good health, we hope that in a few months there will be a new addition to the Forest family. It's just been 20 weeks... that's the half-way point right? (Dragon and Monkey are both very new at this and have a lot of learning to do.) We are happy to say though that things have been going well for both mom-to-be and the little pumpkin. So this Thanksgiving season the Dragon and Monkey have many extra things to be thankful for. We hope that you get to spend your holidays with those you love. Until next time! October 13 One more thing...Speaking of how time flies... In the last few months we also celebrated our 5th wedding aniversary. Wow. Time flies. Don't ask how we spent it... we don't remember anymore.
Hahaha. We never were much on things like aniversaries and birthdays. Especially the aniversaries. Before we got married, we knew each other for almost 4 years. So this summer makes it about 9 years since we met.
A very long time, but a lot of time filled with good memories. To celebrate a little... Here's a little trivia.
5 years ago:
Now?
Huh... I guess that some things change and some things stay the same. Here's to good times in the future (and something other than Metal Gear... since this is the last games in the series).
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