Making baby food

I started making my own baby food a couple days ago and it was not as complicated as I thought. I started with a small sweet potatoes and baked it in the oven for an hour. The skin was easy to peel and I mashed the sweet potato with a fork. Too bad I bought such a small sweet potato that I ended up with only 4 ounces of food for Aaron. I can't believe it was actually fun to make baby food and perhaps I will make more instead of buying the expensive baby food. We'll see. :)

Solid food progress

Aaron has been eating solid food for a few weeks and so far doing better by the day. At first he didn't even seem like he knows how to swallow. We offered him brown rice cereal, which I made it very runny. The cereal just kept sliding out of his mouth and it didn't seem like he ate any. I then started him on some squash mix with some cereal and he seemed to really like it. One of my friends, Phyllis once told me that I should not give feed Aaron all yellow/orange vegetables and should switch it up with other color vegetables.  Therefore, I offered him some peas after the squash and he totally loves it!

Perhaps Aaron doesn't like carrots too much like mommy when he spits out most of the carrots.  I am planning to feed him some avocado tomorrow and see how he likes it.

Level 2 bottle nipple

Daddy noticed Aaron has been taking way too long to finish his milk and should try changing the nipples to the next level.  It seems like he's doing a little better, but still refusing the bottle every now and then. Perhaps Aaron just likes to eat solid food than drinking milk, as he seems so interested in solid food whenever it is offered to him.

First Christmas

This is Aaron's first Christmas and we decided to stay in town as it was not a good idea to travel far with him.  We didn't do much but managed to take Aaron to the mall for he Santa picture. The line wasn't long at all when we got there around 9ish. Picture turned out okay but the background was boring. Oh well, at least Aaron got a picture with Santa on Christmas eve. 

Aaron got a few Christmas gifts from the family and I haven't even had the time to let him play with the toys. I didn't get him anything specific for Christmas when it's already Christmas for him everyday. I have been buying him toys and clothes every week and it doesn't seem like I can buy enough stuff for him. I better start looking for a job soon so I can buy everything Aaron needs for him. 

I love spending Christmas with my little gremlin and he truly is my best Christmas gift. 

6 month vaccines

Daddy came home early to take Aaron to get his 6 month vaccines today. It appears that Aaron knows the doctor's office and doesn't like being there. He never likes to smile when he's at the office and definitely doesn't like the doctor touching him.  Aaron had one oral and two shots on the thighs today, and of course he cried pretty loud after being poked. 

Aaron then fell asleep pretty quickly in the car and we got to hang out at Barnes & Noble for an hour.  Perhaps Aaron is getting bigger, the vaccines didn't seem to bother him as much this time. He's not 100% as his appetite is smaller after the shots, yet he hasn't been too fussy and needs any Tylenol. Hopefully he will do as well next time at the 9 month check up and be calm as a cucumber. :)

Christmas + 6 month photo shoot

We originally scheduled Aaron's 6 month + christmas card photo shoot last week, but we rescheduled it due to the rain.  I am so glad we rescheduled the photo shoot as the weather is much nicer today. We took some pictures at the Lakewood Park in Sunnyvale by a photographer named April Funsten. The session only took about 15 minutes and Aaron wasn't fussy at all. I can't wait to see the pictures and print them out. Hopefully they will all turn out nice and cute. :)

We are still shopping for the canopy of the stroller.  It seems like the color I want is out of stock everywhere.  I can't find the exact color online either. Who knew it can be so difficult just to get the desired color of a stroller? Oh well, I hope we don't have to keep the red canopy.

We went to daddy's coworker's surprise birthday party in Menlo Park today and we met a girl called Alexis at the party. She was actually a preemie at Good Sam just like Aaron.  She is already 12 years old and you can never tell she was a preemie. I guess many preemies turn out to be perfectly normal and have no long term health issues even when they had a rough start. I pray to God that all preemies have good health and can go home with their family soon. ;))))

6 month checkup + flu shot

We went to Aaron's six month check up today and got his first flu shot. He took it like a champ and only cried for a little bit. Due to his sickness earlier in the week, his weight fell into the 10-15th percentile (15.9 lbs). :( The good news is he's still on the fairly tall side 27.5 inches, which is in the 80th percentile. Hopefully he will gain some more weight once he starts eating solids. We delayed his 6 month vaccination once again as we don't want him to be down for the weekend. It's inevitable that we have to take him in for the vaccination next week though. 

I am planning to start him on rice cereal and hope that he will get used to eating solids soon. Solids gear is almost ready -

bowls - check

spoons - check

plastic bib - check

booster seat - check

baby food maker- still shopping

ice trays - still shopping

storage - check

Looks like we still have some more shopping to do. :)))))

Bugaboo

Daddy and I were just going to the mall for our normal stroll, and once again we found ourselves playing with the Bugaboo stroller at Nordstrom like always (since I figured that there are so many different fancy strollers out there going out and about in Palo Alto).  There is no doubt that I have been thinking about getting a fancy stroller for awhile, but I just couldn't pull the trigger when it is so expensive. I was thinking more about getting an Uppababy at first, however, the stroller is simply too big and wide.

Long story short, daddy must have read my mind that I really wanted the stroller and he decided to purchase the Bugaboo at Nordstrom. I can't help but feel incredibly blessed that I get to have one of the best strollers out there, yet I feel guilty about splurging so much on a stroller when we have so many other baby necessities to buy. Hopefully we will get good use out of the Bugaboo and Aaron will enjoy his new ride. :)

Head turning + standing up

Aaron just started to turn his head to look at people these couple days. He looks so funny when he does that because he looks like the girl terminator.  I laugh everytime when I see him turning his head, and he will give me a smile back (which is super adorable).

Daddy has been holding Aaron to stand up on his lap and it seems like he finally is standing with his own strength. I can't wait to see Aaron be able to sit and play with his toys like other babies. :)

Stomach bug

It appears that Aaron has been having some sort of stomach bug for the past few days. He has been having at least 5-6 dirty diapers a day and we suspect that he is having the same stomach bug daddy and I had last week.  I was worried that he will get too dehydrated and decided to take him in to the doctor. This was the first time I brought Aaron in to the doctor's office by myself. Of all days, the elevator was out of order and I had to carry this little guy up the stairs by myself. 

Dr. Ahmann confirmed that Aaron has a little something going on in his tummy, but as usual there's nothing his can do.  I guess poor Aaron just has to fight the stomach bug for a few more days. :(

6 months

Aaron is turning 6 months old today. Time went by so fast that my little baby has grown so much. Even though he can't sit up by himself yet, I notice his neck muscle has been stronger by the day. We didn't do anything special to celebrate Aaron's six month birthday, as he seems to be a little sick. Perhaps it's a stomach bug or something? He hasn't been sleeping or eating very well the past couple days. Hopefully my little munchkin is going to get well and be his happy self soon. Happy 6 month birthday, my dear gremlin. Daddy and mommy love you!