Foot Feeding

When I wrote yesterday that we were going to start giving Kaylani 3 meals a day, I didn't realize that she would take her own steps towards making sure that happened. She ate 1/4 cup of oatmeal this morning, a 1/3 of a cup of oatmeal and carrots for lunch (kinda), and 4oz of sweet potatoes for dinner, but that wasn't quite enough. Maybe it was because she puked up her lunch afterwards (we're blaming the shots...or the fact that oatmeal and carrots is gross), or maybe she just wanted more to eat.

We've always known her to nibble on things like her toys, her hand, us, or whatever, but tonight was something completely different. While we were getting her ready for bed, she decided to eat her foot. Not just grab it, but eat it. All of it. She got so much of her foot in her mouth that I figured I should charge her for a $5 foot long from Subway (which would also end up saving our favorite TV show "Chuck"). But besides the poor Daddy jokes, I was pretty amazed that she could get that much of her foot in her mouth.

When she's older, she'll realize that putting her foot in her mouth won't be a good thing. If she's as talkative and sarcastic as Daddy, hopefully she'll learn that lesson earlier so she doesn't end up putting her foot in her mouth. But for now, we'll still count it as being cute. Well, I actually think it's kinda gross because feet are gross, but that's just me. And when it comes down to it, nothing Kaylani does can really be counted as gross because she's so damned adorable (even if she does have Hershey Kiss shaped poop).

And to prove it to you, here are a few pictures from this week. Hopefully feet don't gross you out like they do me. But if they do, then don't focus on those pictures. Instead, just look at the rest of the pictures of my little girl. I know I will.

Doctor Says

Today was Kaylani's 6 month checkup. Sure, she's not 6 months yet, but we had it anyways. Overall, the doctor said everything looked good,which is always a good sign. She now weighs 14lbs, which puts her in the 21st percentile. She's 27" tall, which is in the 35th percentile. Her head is 17" round, which is in the 26th percentile. What's all of that mean? It means she's a skinny little tall girl. At least that's what I took out of it.

Her height and weight measurements weren't what we went for (well, not the whole reason). We found a few other important things, like she has no signs of teeth yet and that she's developmentally on track with her rolling, feet grabbing/eating, grabbing in general, "standing", and sitting (as limited as it may be). But the 2 other things that the doctor said were what we really took away from the appointment.

The first was food. Since she's in the 21st percentile in weight, we got the go ahead to move to 3 solid feedings a day (in addition to 5 breastfeedings a day). Up until now, we've been giving her a 1/4 cup of oatmeal at lunch and then 2oz of vegetables at night. Well starting tomorrow, we'll be moving to a little less than a 1/4 cup of oatmeal at lunch, a 1/4 cup of oatmeal and veggies at lunch, and then 5oz of a different/new vegetable for dinner. It's going to be a race now to see if I can lose more weight than Kaylani can gain. It'll be close.

The other thing that the doctor told us was that we had her full permission to begin ferberizing Kaylani when she doesn't sleep. Sounds mean, but what that actually means is that we need to let her cry at night for however long it takes for her to get back to sleeping 10-12 hours straight through. Since she used to be able to do it and just hasn't been doing it lately, it means that she's capable of lasting 10-12 hours without nursing. The hard part will be seeing if we can do it. It's a battle of wills according to our doctor, and I'm not sure our wills are strong enough.

Letting her cry sounds easy enough, but when it's the middle of the night and she's crying, that means one of us has to stay up and make sure that she's actually okay and just crying for the sake of crying. Shutting off the monitor(s) sounds easy enough, but given how tired we are, we may just sleep through any type of cry and miss out on something important or urgent, which is not really an option.

The other otpion is for 1 of us to stay awake with her while she's crying. The problem with that is it means one of us will suffer through the next day. And it's really a coin flip to see if a tired Mommy home with Kaylani is worse than a tired Daddy in the office. Anyways, I guess we'll deal with that starting tomorrow because tonight doesn't count with Kaylani getting 2 shots today (which she did great at and only cried for a minute after the 2nd one). Stay tuned to see how this one turns out.

What's Next?

Kaylani slept 10 hours straight last night. It was the first time in over a week that she had slept more than 5 hours straight, and more often then not, it was closer to 3 hours of sleep at a time. Needless to say that 10 hours was much appreciated by both Mommy and Daddy. What's interesting about it is that Kaylani had been sleeping 10-12 hours at a time for a 2 week period before this recent one bad week of sleep. So is it back? Is she back to sleeping 10-12 hours at a time? Or more importantly, what happened last week?

We had a lot of speculation around what caused Kaylani to wake up every 3-5 hours last week. The ideas ranged from the family we had in town, to the change in weather making it too warm for her to sleep (or cold with the A/C on), and even to the possibility that she was hungry and going through her 6 month growth spurt a bit early. Personally, I think it was the 6 month growth spurt early that was the reason, but I learned something a bit new today.

Apparently the week of non-sleep could be a sign that Kaylani is about to do something new. Her mind may be so filled with the things that she's learned that she can't sleep at night and she wakes up often to try and put it all together. If that's actually the case, then I can't blame her for waking up because Daddy is the same exact way. If there's something on my mind I can pretty much just forget about sleeping. But the question is, what's next?

I'm extremely curious to find out what it is Kaylani is about to do for us. Could it be sitting up all by herself (since her friend Aadi just mastered this skill himself after a period of sleeplessness as well)? Could it be crawling (doubtful even though she does kick like a frog sometimes while she's on her belly)? Could it be walking (unlikely although she does have really strong legs in our opinion)? Could it be her first tooth (which should be sometime in the near future)? Or could it be getting ready for her first word (which hopefully is Papa)?

Whatever it is, we're ready. Our Pediatrician may have better answers for us at Kaylani's 6 month appointment tomorrow, or maybe she'll just agree with our list of things that may or may not be next. Or then again, maybe she'll just stick Kaylani with 2-3 needles and collect our copay from us. Either way, at least I'll have an official updated height and weight to throw up on the Stat Tracker. Stay tuned for that, and much much more here on "The Daddy Diaries."

Hershey Kisses

There are certain things that have such high branding that just the mention of it will give everyone an idea of what you're talking about. For instance, people will say "pass me a Kleenex" instead of a "tissue." In Puerto Rico, they'll say "I need more Pampers" instead of "diapers." Hershey Kisses are the same way. Everyone knows the size of a Hershey Kiss and everyone knows the color of a Hershey Kiss. What you may not want to know is how that branding awareness is being used in our house now.

Ever since Kaylani started eating her vegetables (she's on her second day of Sweet Potatoes now after finishing carrots and squash) she's been pooping more regularly. She hasn't been constipated or had any blow outs since back in the barley/prune days (which we probably shouldn't have mixed anyways). But besides the fact that she's more regular now, she's also pooping more solidly now.

It's important for us to keep track of how often and how much she poops so we know how she may be reacting to the new food we give her every 3-4 days. You may recall that the description of her poop used to be "chocolate soft serve ice cream" way back in the day. I thought that was a pretty good description of the consistency, and when you add "machine stuck in the on position," that helps give the quantity part of it. Nowadays, we use the phrase "like a Hershey Kiss" to describe her poop.

It fits it perfectly. It's about the same size as a Hershey Kiss, definitely the same color, and sometimes, it's even the same shape. And the best part of it (for Kaylani), is that it comes right out. I guess you can call her a Hershey Kiss dispenser now. Sometimes we use different descriptors, like "rabbit poop" when it's a few small little balls of poop, but more often then not, it's Hershey Kiss that fits the bill, or the poop as the case may be.

Anyways, I think that's enough poop talk for now. Here are pictures from the weekend with Cousins Connor and Zoe (and Yin Yin, Yea Yea, Bat Bat, and Auntie Shannon). There's also a few pictures of Kaylani's 2nd time in an outdoor swing since it's been so nice out. And don't worry, I promise there are no Hershey Kiss pictures of any kind included, so happy looking!

Stick a fork in me

It's been basically one long week of family activity. Between Mommy's family being here Saturday to Wednesday, and then Daddy's family being here Friday to Sunday, we've had a lot of things to do in the past 8 days. It's all been fun and it's always great to spend time with family, but now it's time to relax.

Combine the amount of family activities we've had with the possibility that Kaylani is going through her 6 month growth spurt about 2 weeks early, and you've got yourself one tired Mommy and Daddy. But, when all is said and done, it's quite possible that Kaylani is more tired than we are. And to show us how true that may be, she's passed out right now in her carseat in her room. It's 9:45pm and we just rolled in from our last family dinner. We're not just past Kaylani's bedtime anymore. We're WAY past it.

And you know what? With the way this last week has been, we're way past Mommy and Daddy's bedtime too. The original plan was to try and stay up and watch the last Yankees-Red Sox game, but since it looks like they're currently tied and it's only the 5th inning...forget it. Daddy's going to sleep now and won't wake up for at least an hour (assuming that's when Kaylani realizes she's in her carseat and not her crib). So stick a fork in this weekend cuz we're ALL done.

A Taste of Summer

What a long, beautiful day today was. Just think, this was only the beginning of summer, and it's not even officially summer yet. So I guess we'll consider this our first taste of summer.

Kaylani was eager to get the day started so we were out of bed by 6:30am. Cousins Connor and Zoe were up at 7:30am, and I guess that's what we could consider the real start of the day since it didn't let down after that. The activities for the day consisted of playroom time, then a baseball game for Daddy and park time for the rest of the family, and then it was back home for the Yankees-Sox disaster of a game and some good ol' summer grillin'!

I can only imagine that this is how all of our weekends will be like over the summer. I'm going to go ahead and say I can't wait for now, but ask me after a few long, tiring weekends once summer starts. Maybe I'll change my mind by then, but more than likely, I'll tell you I'm having a great time. Can you blame me?

The Looker

Kaylani's a looker. Not just because she's ridiculously cute (in my unbiased opinion), but because she likes to look around at absolutely anything and everything. Kaylani craning her neck around to look at people and things when we're out is something we've grown accustomed to, but it's still funny to me to see other people do the same.

We were at Whole Foods tonight picking up some things (like 3 delicious porterhouse steaks) for the upcoming weekend with Daddy's side of the family. And as we walked around the store, we ran across several people who all did the same thing. Each time we walked by, people would wait until we passed them, and then crane their necks around to take a good look at Kaylani.

Most of the time we walked by so quickly that I doubt they got anything more than a glimpse of my butt (hmm...maybe that's what they were actually looking at...). I guess the polite thing to do would have been to stop and let them take a good look at Kaylani (and not my butt), but that's just not the type of person I am. At least not when we're out running errands and there are important things to do at home, like get Kaylani ready for bed (or watch the Yankees-Red Sox game).

Speaking of which, it's time for Kaylani to go to sleep and Daddy to go watch the game. You can be sure I'll be staring straight at the TV though. I'm too old and inflexible to crane my neck at anything. And to make things easier for you, you can look straight at Kaylani's latest pictures right here. Enjoy, and go Yankees!

Downtime?

I've always thought that we were busy people. We always had something to do, whether it was a local trip to Target or Stop&Shop/Wegman's, or a weekend trip up to Boston. It just always seemed like we were on the move. Looking back now I can see how much downtime we actually had before Kaylani.

Just to preface this, I'm not complaining that life is different now that we have Kaylani. I just can't believe how having a baby changes your perspective on certain things. I look at some of our friends and can't believe that just a few years ago (or even last year) we were as "free" as they are still.

Gone are our days of sleeping in, sitting around all day and watching TV/movies, going to the movies (was actually never a big fan anyways since it involved sitting still and staying quiet for 2 hours at a time), driving off to run errands whenever we so chose, or having dinner out on a whim. Now, they're replaced with early morning errands, naptime, quiet time around the house, and quick dinners at home before an early bedtime for everyone.

And instead of heading to bars to watch a game, or wandering around a mall or shopping for hours, we take trips to the park or to the zoo, or other family friendly environments where we can make a quick escape if necessary and don't have to worry about disturbing people if Kaylani happens to be cranky. Everything else is put on hold, or squeezed into the limited amount of time we have to ourselves, or more specifically, times when Kaylani is napping.

And when it all comes down to it, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have no real desire to sit at a bar all day anymore (even if the Yankees were on). I find sitting in front of the TV for more than 2 shows boring now (and tiring since we only do this after Kaylani is already in bed). TV during the day would mean Kaylani was watching too, and there are much better ways to help her develop. Making sure she gets her sleep and then taking her around to see new things and new places are what our lives have become about.

We got everything we asked for, and there's no way I'd want anything else. Well, except maybe a few hours a night this weekend to watch the Yankees and the Red Sox go at it. Good thing 2 of the games are night games and she'll be asleep already. Plus, watching baseball on TV is a good way to help her develop, right? No? Just me?

Coach or Dad?

As the little league season rolls on, I find myself wondering if I'm in the wrong line of work. I mean, I'm not wondering if I should quit my job as a consultant and be a full time professional little league coach (although I imagine it'd be pretty cool if I could keep the same salary), but I am wondering if I'm coaching the wrong sport.

Kaylani is a good 4-5 years away from playing organized softball (assuming that she wants to play softball at all). Softball and baseball are fairly similar when you look at them (pitch ball, hit ball, run aorund bases, stop other team from running around bases), but they're actually pretty different from each other. So should I be coaching softball now instead of baseball?

Despite my basic description of both games, I only really know how to coach baseball. I've worked with 15-18 year olds at Trevor, and now with 10-12 year olds in Lawrenceville, and both those groups sound pretty different from 5-6 year old girls, or even just girls in general. Then, add in the fact that I've watched somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 baseball games over the last 25 years, and you can quickly come to the same realization as I did that I know very little about softball (or girls because who has time for girls when you're watching upwards of 3000 baseball games).

That brings us back to the question around me coaching softball. I have plenty of time to switch sports and start to coach softball next year and on, but I'm not sure I want to. It really comes down to if I want to be a Dad or a Coach. Sure there are some Dad's (and Mom's) that do both, but I'm not sure I can do that. Well, not sure I can do that without favoritism. I played on a few little league teams when I was a kid that had coaches favoring their own kids and it was really annoying. Plus, I think I'd rather watch Kaylani play instead of coaching her (and the other 10 kids on her team).

As of right now, I think I'd rather just be a Dad and a spectator if/when Kaylani starts getting into sports. It'll be a lot easier that way and I can pay more guilt free attention to just her. At least that's my stance for now. Who knows if I'll be able to resist her when she asks if I'll be her coach. Yikes, that would mean she can talk for real. Okay, I think that's enough future talk for now. She's already getting so big. No need to speed the process along, even if it is only in my head.

The Silent Type

I'm a quiet guy. That may be hard for some people to believe, but when it comes down to it, I'm a quiet guy. I don't have much to say (unless it's a wiseass remark), and when I do, I like to think I don't blab away and drag on. But I do have a lot of things in my head, and I have even more things to say. Maybe that's why I write this blog.

As an add on to yesterday's FAQ blog, one of the most frequent questions I get is "how's the baby?" There are a million ways I could answer, but I usually say a few lines that seemingly sound like this: "She's doing great. Sleeps 11 hours straight at night so who can complain!" And then instead of elaborating on her new tricks, things she has or has not done, or will or will not do, I whip out my phone and show off a picture (which is currently Kaylani in her bunny outfit).

I'm not sure if it's a good thing or bad thing that I don't elaborate when people ask me how she is. I'm ridiculously proud of my little girl (as anyone who reads this blog could clearly attest to), but maybe I don't elaborate because I don't believe people actually care. Let me rephrase that before anyone gets offended. For some people, I think it's just a topic of small talk (which I'm not good at because I don't elaborate). For others that I know are asking because they actually want to know, I'll talk about Kaylani non-stop.

So where's the line between killing a conversation with a 2 line response and rambling on endlessly? I'm not sure I could even pick just a few key points to talk about because there's so much to say. Maybe I'll start adding a few more details when anyone asks until I figure out what's appropriate. Or maybe I'll just recite one of my recent posts. That might be the best way to get my story across. Maybe not the shortest way, but probably the best. And for any of you that have been reading along, let me know that upfront. That way I don't have to bore you with something you already know, which is an entirely different problem that I'll try and figure out on another day.

20 Questions

We've had a lot of questions come our way since we've had Kaylani (and maybe even before then too, but who can remember those). Some of them are new questions, but a majority of the questions have been asked of us by several people (and sometimes even more than once by the same person). So to help answer any questions that people may have had but haven't asked, here are The Daddy Diaries very first official answers to our very first list of Frequently Asked Questions.

Where'd you come up with her name?
We came up with her name while we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii. And by came up with, I mean saw on a sign while we were cruising around the island...drunk. Just kidding. Kinda. You can read the real story in one of my past posts.

Is she Hawaiian?
Yes. Daddy is Chinese and Mommy is Puerto Rican. The midpoint happens to be Hawaii which makes Kaylani Hawaiian. Funny enough, some people actually think Daddy is Hawaiian, which then makes it a really stupid question since she would clearly be Hawaiian if Daddy was.

Did she have that much hair when she was born?
Kinda. I mean, it's definitely longer now, but she was born with a full head of hair. Heck, she was born with more hair than some of our friends. Especially more hair than Doug.

Do you write this blog everyday?
Sure do! I've actually only missed 3 days since she was born, and 2 of them were while we were in Florida between Christmas and New Years. The other was the 2nd day of her life and Daddy was too busy trying to get comfortable in a hospital chair for the weekend.

Where do you find the time to write a blog everyday?
Kaylani nurses for about 35 minutes every night and it takes me between 10-20 minutes on average to write a post while I sit here next to Mommy and Kaylani. So if you do the math, and factor in the fact that I write most of my posts at work...just kidding anyone from Rosetta who reads this...

Is she a boy or a girl?
In all seriousness, we've been asked it just like that. Is SHE a boy or a girl? No one said these were all good questions.

Does Daddy get upset because she looks just like Mommy?
This may be Mommy's favorite question that she gets asked. Her standard answer is "nope, she looks just like Mommy! Daddy is a taca taca (her phrase for Chinese). Does he look taca taca?" Her second favorite answer is "she looks like her real daddy, but don't tell Jonathan that." But she doesn't use that one much anymore because she knows what's good for her.

How does she sleep?
With her eyes closed. How do YOU sleep?

How many diapers do you change a day?
Depends. No wait, we don't change any Depends. But we do change Kaylani anywhere from 8-12 times per day depending on how many times she wants to poop herself and then how many we actually notice.

Do you speak to her in Spanish and Chinese?
Considering Mommy's Spanish is Puerto Rican Spanish and Daddy's Chinese is practically non-existant anymore, you would think the answer to this would be no. But the answer to this is actually a little bit in Spanish and not at all in Chinese. That's what Yin Yin is for.

What kind of tricks can she do?
Her latest one is mimicking the sounds of an elephant. It's even better when she does it while she's eating food. Carrots especially.

What is her poop like?
For the most part, brownish-green and smells like poop. Lately it's been pasty and stuck between her butt cheeks too. And on special occasions like tonight, it's brownish-green, streaky, and stuck to the bottom of the bath tub and her butt cheeks.

If I pull her onesie up over her head, will I break her?
No, you won't break her if you move her around a little bit. Her little neck is pretty strong already, but if you don't feel comfortable moving her around to change her, then just cut off her onesie with a pair of scissors. And leave $5 on the changing table too.

How old is she?
Right now she's 5 months old. Or 5 months and 2 weeks. Or 23 weeks. Or 165 days. Or a half year old. I'm never quite sure how to answer this one.

Is she your first?
No, she's our second. The other one is home alone playing with knives. Yes, I know that it's actually a fair question, but it doesn't mean I can't be a smartass when I answer it right?

What if she's not a Yankees fan?
That's not even an option and doesn't deserve an answer.

What do you do when she cries?
Turn the volume on the radio/TV higher. I mean, go through the standard checklist of is she bored, tired, hungry, wet, soiled, etc.

Is she teething? Is she hungry? Is she tired?
All 3 of these are questions we get asked a lot, especially if she's crying. The answer to any of them is always "Umm...maybe?" I mean, I always ask Kaylani but she never gives me an actual answer. Maybe I should say it louder and slower. I heard that works for people who don't understand.

If Mommy laughs while she's nursing, will milk come out her nose?
So far the answer to this is no, but I'll keep trying to find out. A couple of times I thought milk was going to come out of Mommy's nose, but so far, nothing yet. Stay tuned.

How many kids are you going to have?
Depends on who you ask. But since this is The Daddy Diaries, the official answer is 2. And if you ask Mommy, she'll give you a far different answer, and that's a whole different post.

So that's it for round 1. Got a question that wasn't covered? Feel free to shoot it over to me and maybe I'll answer it in the next installment of The Daddy Diaries Frequently Asked Questions. Until then, like Kaylani after a long day without a good nap...I'm out!

What a zoo!

The zoo is a zoo. I take that back. On a normal day, the zoo is a zoo. But on a nice day at the beginning of "zoo season", the zoo is a ZOO. On days like today, families go to the zoo, no matter how much of a zoo that zoo actually is. It might have been just another day at the zoo, but since this was our first trip to the zoo with Kaylani, it sure felt like a zoo.

After a quick 30 minute morning nap for Kaylani, we headed out to the Philadelphia Zoo. It's about 40 minutes from here, and the ride was fairly uneventful, or as uneventful as could be for having a minivan with 4 adults, a 4 year old, a 2.5 year old, and a 5 month old could be. It wasn't until we got to the exit for the zoo that we realized that we were definitely not going to be alone today.

Walking around with just Mommy and Kaylani would have been crazy enough, but add in the extra responsibility of Alisha and Rohan and the tens of thousands of other people that were at the zoo and you have yourself one heck of a day. I'm actually not complaining (much) because we had a great time and Kaylani behaved extremely well even though she only napped 1.5 hours throughout the day. The Philadelphia Zoo (the first in the US according to a sign I saw) had plenty of animals to keep us busy (and walking). We saw turtles, snakes, frogs, elephants, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, lions, tigers, and bears (oh my...sorry, had to) amongst other things. But I still can't get over how much of a zoo the zoo was.

I like to think that we're prepared for any public situation. We took Kaylani to the mall the week before Christmas, and she was only 6 weeks old at that point, so that had to be preparation for something. Both today and the mall at Christmas still meant Kaylani was near (or on) us at all times which makes things a little bit easier (and less hectic). But it's still too early for me to start thinking about Kaylani as a wandering toddler, or having more than 1 child (let alone 4 which is Mommy's new plan...to be written about at a later date).

For now, we're going to continue to live day by day, so check out pictures from Kaylani's last couple of days (can't believe she's in her 160's already). And if you're so inclined, check out pictures from the Yankees 2009 home opener. Even though they don't have Kaylani in them, they're still pretty cool (and have an upclose shot of Harlan Chamberlain who we saw passing through the halls). Enjoy!

So many firsts...

I love the fact that everything is so new to Kaylani that she can have a ton of new experiences each day. For the most part we've tried to space out her firsts so we don't overwhelm her. And more selfishly, we try and space out her firsts so Daddy doesn't have a conflict about what to write about when it happens. But today, there's no way to get around that conflict so let's just head straight into it.

Normally Saturday morning would mean it was Daddy-Daughter time for an hour or two. But today, Daddy had his very first Little League game to coach, and also his very first Little League opening day parade. Kaylani, being the good sport she is, woke up right before I had to leave so I could give her a quick hug and a diaper change before heading out. Little did I know that I'd get a great surprise while coaching the game. Mommy and Kaylani came out to watch which was a lot of fun for all of us (even though my Lawrenceville Fuel lost to Bossio's Deli 9-3). And that about sums up Kaylani's first experience at a baseball game.

Today was also the day that Titi Glendalys, Abuela, and Primitos Alisha and Rohan came to town to visit for a few days. And to keep all the kids entertained, we took our first family trip to the park (Village Park in Lawrenceville) which led to Kaylani's first time in a swing! We've got a ton of pictures (to be posted tomorrow) and for the most part, I think she enjoyed it (even if she tried to eat the swing). And after leaving the swing and the park, it was time for yet another first.

When we got home, the most exciting first of the day was Kaylani's first dinner with non-cereal food! The food of choice was carrots and early results say Kaylani liked it (again, tons of pictures to be posted tomorrow). Well, we're assuming she liked it since she ate the whole jar and it hasn't come out...yet. Tomorrow we'll do carrots again, and then after that, we'll tackle the rest of the "orange" foods (sweet potato and umm...I think that's it).

Lastly, since it was such a gorgeous day out finally, Daddy fired up the grill to cook up some chicken wings and churrasco that Abuela prepared, which meant it was Kaylani's first time being near the grill (Mommy freaked out when Daddy tried to cook with Kaylani in his arms, but that was definitely not a first).

So now it's time to call this day of firsts a day. It's been a long day for all of us, and Kaylani is practically passed out and only halfway through nursing. Hopefully she'll still sleep 11 hours because that's something Mommy and Daddy are desparately in need of. I mean, there's no way we'll get 11 hours of sleep, but it'd sure be nice. Anyways, come back tomorrow to check out a ton of pictures. And until then, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Hope it's as nice for you as it is for us!

Dinner Out

Tonight Mommy, Daddy, and Kaylani all experienced a first for dinner. For Mommy and Daddy, we had our first taste of Five Guys Burgers and Fries. But besides our dinner being delicious (I would compare it to an East Coast version of In-N-Out burger, but not quite as good), the new first for Kaylani was that she got to have dinner out with us! Before heading out, Mommy packed up Kaylani's oatmeal (yes, she's back to oatmeal instead of barley), put some milk in a cooler, and we were ready for our first dinner out.

With Kaylani strapped into her carseat and on top of her stroller (we've found out that upside down highseats don't work with our Graco carseat), she ate her dinner just like every other night. Apparently dinner out wasn't nearly as exciting for Kaylani as it was for us since she ate her 1/4 cup of oatmeal within 5 minutes just as usual. Lucky for Mommy, Daddy finished his burger in 5 minutes just as usual too so he could finish feeding Kaylani and let Mommy eat. Who knew that eating fast would come in handy some day?

After dinner, we went to Rita's for some custard/frozen ice with Dorothy, Tom, and Makayla before heading home. We were a bit past Kaylani's bedtime which meant she was out like a ton of bricks after nursing. We missed her bedtime by a little bit but it was totally worth it for the burger from Five Guys. Well, it'll be totally worth it if she sleeps for 11 hours tonight like she has this whole week. If not, well, it'll still be worth it. After all, a burger is a burger.

It's only a day away

Luckily for me, Kaylani wakes up at 7am every morning so I can hold her for a few minutes before I head off to work. Even luckier for Mommy and me is that Kaylani wakes up at 7am after going to sleep at 8pm. This is especially good for us on days when I don't make it home until after 7pm, or after Kaylani's bedtime process starts, like today.

By 7:30am, I was out the door and on my way up to the new Yankee stadium for opening day. I'm not going to lie and say I was sorry to be leaving for the day because after all, I was going to see the Yankees first game ever at the new stadium! Maybe it was the slow pace of the game, or the fact that the Yankees got blown out in the late innings, but I found myself missing my little girl and hoping I could get home in time to see her before she went to bed. Unfortunately the baseball diehard in me didn't allow me to leave early to make things easier.

So because I'm such a baseball diehard, I had to "endure" 6 hours at the stadium before I could leave. It was tough being at the stadium 3 hours before the game started and waiting on line for my new authentic Teixiera jersey, or for the beer and hot dogs and sausages we waited for, but I survived. And believe it or not, the whole time I was thinking about Kaylani and Mommy. Well, some of the time at least.

I actually made it home by 7:30pm, which was minutes after Mommy put Kaylani to sleep. Since she was crying, I took the opportunity to head into her room and say goodnight to her which made my day. Seeing Kaylani and kissing her goodnight made a Yankees loss on opening day suddenly bearable. It was tough to be away from 7:30 to 7:30, but at least I got to say good morning and goodnight to my little girl. So win or lose for the Yankees, I'll always have Kaylani. And trust me, that's always a win.

Get your hand out of my mouth

Kaylani's been chomping on her hand for awhile now, and it's kinda cute (except for the drool). But the part that is funny is when she wants us to chomp on her hand. She just sticks her hand right up in our mouth and expects us to chomp on it. Then she'll usually give out a little giggle and we'll do it all over again. Oh, and I forgot to mention that it drives Mommy crazy.

Apparently Mommy isn't a big fan of the Kaylani's hand in our mouth game. It's not because it's not fun or because it isn't cute. She isn't a fan because Kaylani does it while she's nursing, and that's when it becomes not cute and not fun. I mean, I personally still think it's both, but I guess it's annoying to Mommy. Let's find out why:

Daddy: Soooo, why do you find Kaylani's hand in your mouth so annoying?
Mommy: Ay, because! Somebody reaching for your face and blehhh and wanting to put her finger in my mouth. It's annoying! And I'm breastfeeding and it's annoying! If you did it, it'd be annoying too. And she does it everywhere! At home, in public, doesn't matter. All the time. So cut it out. Plus she scratches my face.

I was going to do that as a long interview session and write it as a back and forth conversation, but I haven't had a chance to ask anymore because Mommy is still going on about it (she's since added "it's just annoying! Look at her now!" and a few other things about facial cleanliness this late in the day).

I'm not convinced that I've taught her to do this to Mommy, and I think a large part of it is that she likes to hold on to something while she's nursing and Mommy's mouth just happens to be within her reach. But I get blamed for things like this. I just got blamed for teaching Kaylani to "blow bubbles" and the fact that Kaylani just spits bubbles all day. Luckily I'm used to getting blamed for things. And as long as putting Kaylani's hand in my mouth or blowing bubbles makes Kaylani happy, then I'll accept that blame anytime.

For now, I'm going to go take Kaylani's hand out of Mommy's mouth so she can finish nursing and go to sleep. You can take a look at the last couple of days of pictures in the meantime. And after that, this guy is officially on a 1 day vacation so he can head up to the new Yankee Stadium for the home opener. Maybe next year I'll take Kaylani with me.

Reaching for the Animals

For $45, Kaylani has had nightly entertainment for the last 5 months. That turns out to be about 25 cents per night of entertainment (actually it turns out to be free since it was a gift from Madrina Maria). I'd say that's a pretty good deal and if I could have nightly entertainment at that price, I'd sign up right now (of course as adults, we're a bit pickier and anything that costs 25 cents per night or free probably isn't worth it). But soon, Kaylani's entertainment might get cancelled. Temporarily.

In case you're wondering, Kaylani's entertainment is her mobile. It's a wonderful array of 5 animals (rhino, giraffe, elephant, zebra, and chick) that just hang above her. Some nights she'll talk to them (we're unsure if they talk back when we're not here), other nights she'll just lay there and stare at them. On rare occasions they'll sing music to her, but that's only when we crank them up which is hardly ever. Watching her interact with them has been very touching, but lately, it's been that touching that causes us concern.

Some times when we look at Kaylani "sleeping" through her video monitor, we see her reaching high in the air trying to grab one of the animals. She's pretty smart about it too because she'll even roll onto one side so she can stretch her little arm that much higher. Although it's far away, we're pretty sure she can put her finger tips on at least one of them. And that's not a good thing.

Imagine if she reaches up and grabs an animal (let's use giraffe as an example because he's the tallest, even though all the animals are at the same height, but it would make the most sense for her to be able to grab the tallest one right?), gives it a good tug, and then the entire mobile comes crashing down on her. The possibility of that happening is enough to make us come up with an action plan. Unfortunately, action plans need time to work.

Our action plan is to lower her mattress. Upon further review, lowering the mattress requires taking the matress out, unscrewing 4 screws and rescrewing them back in. I know, it doesn't sound like a lot of work, but that has to be done between Daddy getting home from work and Kaylani going to bed, which is usually less than an hour, of which 30 minutes is used for dinner. So needless to say, that hasn't been done yet. The alternate plan is to remove the mobile for now, but our concern there is that without her nightly entertainment, she may not sleep as well as she does currently. And when 2 of the 3 past nights have involved her sleeping over 11 hours straight (last night was the 2nd time), it's hard to justify changing things now.

So for now, nothing's going to be done. Since she likes sleeping on her belly we're kinda just hoping she doesn't reach up for the animals and that the animals don't try and reach down to her. Maybe this weekend Daddy will stop making excuses and lower the crib. But until then, let's hope Kaylani listens to those famous words from Casey Casum: "Keep your hands on the ground and keep reaching for the floor." Well, something like that anyways.

Seriously...roll over

Remember a few nights ago when Kaylani rolled over from her back to belly in the middle of the night, then rolled back over onto her back all by herself, which led to 11.5 hours of sleep for her? Yeah, that was awesome. And then you remember when Kaylani rolled over onto her belly and got stuck there and had to be rolled back over onto her back by Mommy and Daddy? Yeah, that wasn't so awesome. And in addition to being not awesome, it also happened way too frequently last night.

For a long time now we hoped Kaylani would roll over from her back to belly. That meant that she achieved yet another developmental milestone, and we'd be happy. What we should have been hoping for was that Kaylani would roll over from back to belly during the day while she was playing. That way she wouldn't freak herself out and wake herself (and us) up in the middle of the night each time she did it. Little did we know that Kaylani is only a push over at night.

We've tried to let Kaylani figure out how to roll over from belly to back by herself at night. I mean, we know she can do it (we even have proof from several months back caught on video tape). But whatever the reason is, she won't do it regularly at night. Some of it probably has to do with the fact that she's tired and was in the middle of a nice dream before she woke up with her face flat on the bed, and the other part of it might be how her arm gets trapped underneath her. But whatever the reason she can't or won't roll over is, it does mean that Mommy or Daddy have to help out.

The first time it happened last night, Mommy went in and rolled her over. After a few minutes of crying, Kaylani fell back asleep. Less than 30 minutes later Kaylani was back on her belly. This time, it was Daddy's turn so in he went and pushed, I mean rolled, Kaylani back over. Back to bed, and back to sleep. This happened about 3 more times during the night, and all 3 times were handled by Mommy because Daddy is a deep sleeper.

I feel bad that I don't hear the monitor. I feel even worse when I ask Mommy if Kaylani woke up at all during the night (that's when I get the morning death stare for not hearing the monitor). But the way I look at it, Mommy is better at rolling Kaylani over. I mean, she's had years of practice pushing me back over to my side of the bed (I'm a close sleeper). And when I went through my snoring phase, she was constantly rolling me over onto my side so I'd shut up. So in a way, this isn't much different. But I'll still try and do my part. It's hard not to when Mommy rolls me out of bed anyways.

Funny Bunny

We've tried to buy Kaylani a new outfit for each holiday that comes and goes, even though we know we'll only use it once. So when Easter rolled around we went out and got Kaylani an outfit. Actually, we got her two since they were on sale (we just bought them yesterday). The first one was her "normal" outfit which was a simple onesie that said "I love the Easter bunny." Cute, practical, normal, maybe even resuable. The other outfit was more for Mommy and Daddy than it was for Kaylani.

Her other outfit was a full bunny costume, or what Daddy referred to as "hilarious." Before we saw the bunny outfit, Mommy had bought a set of bunny ears thinking that might be enough. But Mommy didn't quite understand how much Daddy wanted to dress Kaylani up. After all, if you're only going to wear an outfit once, you might as well WEAR it once. So first thing in the morning we put Kaylani in her bunny outfit and headed outside.

It was 8am and Daddy and Kaylani posed for a few pictures. Mommy, still in her pajamas, snapped away, and then hid behind trees, columns, or doors whenever cars drove by (kinda funny to watch). Then we took a ton of pictures with Kaylani the Easter Bunny inside with all of her Easter eggs (of the plastic variety).

The rest of the day consisted of some errands during Daddy-Daughter time, Church, nap time, family picture time outside (I sure do love my camera remote still), then dinner with Auntie Danika and family. Watching Darby and Sloan run around looking for Easter eggs sure did make me realize just how little Kaylani still is. At 5 months, we think she's all grown up already, but it's time to slow down and just enjoy Kaylani's first Easter. So sit back, relax, and enjoy with us by looking at these pictures. It's probably the only way you'll be able to see Kaylani in a bunny outfit...well, this bunny outfit at least. Happy Easter!

Sleep-rolling through the night

You always wonder what parents consider "the night" when they say "my (insert child's name here) slept through the night last night!" Everyone has their own definition of "the night", with most people considering thigns like 12am-6am as "the night." Well last night, Kaylani slept through the night. And trust me, Mommy and Daddy have a much longer definition of "the night."

Kaylani was asleep by 8pm last night on the dot. Every night before Mommy goes to bed, she counts off 4 hours and assumes that's when Kaylani will wake up. So when we crawled into bed at 11pm, Mommy said "9, 10, 11, 12am...that's when she'll be up." I'm not exactly sure why Mommy does that since Kaylani averages closer to 6 hours, but it's never good to set expectations too high, especially when not meeting those expectations means waking up 2 hours earlier than expected. So anyways, 12am came and went, and Mommy was still sleeping.

Mommy woke up a few times after midnight just to take a peek at Kaylani and each time she found her fast asleep still. It wasn't until 5am that Mommy and Daddy both woke up to the sounds of baby talk. She wasn't crying so we let her be and laid in bed trying to fall back asleep. It wasn't until Mommy took a closer look at the monitor that we realized Kaylani was on her belly!

To our knowledge, Kaylani has only rolled over onto her belly once, and that was a week ago. And that time, she cried after a few minutes of being on her belly, and it was around 8am so Mommy just picked her up. This time, we stared at her on her belly reaching out for her bumpers and just talking to herself. After a few minutes, her head was down and she was still. Mommy, being the constant worrier, debated whether or not she should sneak a closer peek. Of course she ended up going in and sure enough, Kaylani was asleep, on her belly, for the very first time (again, to our knowledge).

As exciting as it was, Daddy went back to sleep. Mommy however stayed staring at the monitor to make sure that she could react in case Kaylani needed us. Around 6am, she woke Daddy up and said "she rolled back over!" to which the response was an incomprehensible grunt of approval. Around 7:30am, Kaylani gave her "wake up cry" and we knew it was time.

In total, Kaylani spent 11.5 hours in her crib before she got out. Our best guess is that she slept approximately 11 of them, which blows away her previous 9.75 straight hours of sleep she accomplished just about a month ago. So no matter whose definition of "slept through the night" you use, I'm pretty sure that Kaylani's sleep last night would hold up. Let's just hope she sleeps through the night again tonight. Or to avoid any confusion, let's hope she sleeps 11-12 hours tonight. It's best she gets it in now before her teeth start coming in. I've heard that's when it all goes down the diaper genie.

Daddysitting

I've been alone with Kaylani for an hour or two all by myself before. And usually during that hour or two, Kaylani would sleep and I would sit and watch TV. It was a pretty sweet life. But today, I had Kaylani for 3 hours by myself. And those 3 hours happened to stretch from the end of one nap time straight through dinner. All in all, it wasn't so bad.

As a little treat for Mommy, we decided that once Daddy got home from work she would go get her hair cut (and colored). Kaylani had been sleeping for about an hour by the time I got home so the plan was to wake her up and let her nurse before we lost Mommy. And just like anyone waking up when they're not ready to, she cried. Not off to the best start.

She ended up nursing just fine so it was the beginning of Daddy-Daughter time, and this time, we didn't have our safety net. The first 20 minutes or so were spent wrapping up some loose ends from work while Kaylani laid on the bed next to my desk and stared at me. Then, Kaylani spent about 20 minutes in her exersaucer before she started to look pretty tired. I mean, she had been awake for almost a full hour by this point.

After Kaylani spent 20 minutes in her pack and play trying to fall asleep on her own (she didn't and screamed the whole time), Daddy gave up and moved her to her swing. She fell asleep instantly, which meant that Daddy could spend the next 1.5 hours finishing up his taxes and watching the Yankees game. That left about 30 minutes before Mommy would be home, so we started cooking dinner (frozen pizza for Mommy, pre-seasoned salmon for Daddy, and barley cereal for Kaylani). When Mommy got home, dinner was almost ready, and Kaylani was almost done eating. Everything looked great...especially Mommy's hair!

So Daddy's first real shot at babysitting alone went as well as it could have. Part of me thinks that it's because we have the easiest baby ever, but the other part of me thinks that it was all a ploy between Mommy and Kaylani so that Mommy could leave us alone more often. I'm okay with either right now, but whenever Kaylani has one of her bad days and we don't have our safety net, we're going to need a Daddysitter for Daddy the babysitter. Any volunteers?

Even if you don't want to Daddysit, check out these pictures from the last couple of days. And don't forget to check back over the weekend. I'm sure we'll have some great pictures from Easter!

Kaylani's First Beer

Before anyone gets carried away, I did not give my daughter beer tonight or any night in the past 5 months. I may have a few pictures of her holding a beer or looking like she was drinking a beer, but she hasn't had beer yet. Tonight though, she had the foundation of beer for dinner. By that, I mean she started barley cereal.

For those of you who don't know, barley is a cereal grain which is typically fermented and brewed when you make beer. So the fact that Kaylani had barley cereal pretty much means she had a beer. Maybe in the end it was more like beer after she fermented it in her stomach (which feels like it's fermenting something with the way it's moving because she hasn't pooped in days). Or even if we don't treat it as beer, it was one step further in her development.

When she had the cereal, she didn't turn "Asian red" which is a good sign. That means she's got Daddy's good drinking genes, and not the "Asian red" gene that the rest of my family has (especially Bat Bat who gets it REAL bad). And speaking of drinking, Kaylani also drank some prune juice out of a sippy cup this morning in an attempt to stimulate poop. It didn't work, but it was still kinda exciting to see her drinking out of a sippy cup.

I think tomorrow we'll throw in some hops to her barley cereal to see if she likes it and then maybe put beer in her sippy cup because it's okay for minors to drink as long as you're in your own home right? Or maybe that's only true in Europe. I guess I'll hold off on the beer for now and stick to the food. After all, we're going to start orange vegetables in 2 days. Can't wait!

Why can't I sleep?

It's well known that having a baby significantly alters your sleep routines. With them waking up and being hungry, or wet, or just uncomfortable, it's no surprise that us parents would be awake also. So if those are the things that wake Kaylani up, then why is it that I find myself as the only person awake in the middle of the night lately?

The past few days have started early. First it was 5:30am, then it was 5am, and the latest was 4:30am. You would think Kaylani's schedule would be similar, but she's been waking up at 8:30am or 9am on each of those days (after waking up at 2am or 3am for the first time). So no baby awake to take care of meant that there was no reason to be awake. But I was.

I'm not sure what exactly is going on with me, but I can't blame Kaylani. I've had sleeping issues dating back to my college days. Sure the college sleeping issues were related to playing computer games, drinking, or watching pointless infomercials...I mean, studying (forgot my parents read this), but they extended past college too. Luckily I didn't use to need a lot of sleep to function. That's only partially true today.

Today, I can get by on 4 or 5 hours of sleep as long as I have my coffee and my family, both of which give me some sort of energy. And I could probably get a few more hours of sleep if I went to bed at 8pm like Kaylani instead of 11pm, but then when would I watch things like Chuck, 24, The Amazing Race, and Hell's Kitchen? So there's no real answer (okay, no real acceptable answer) to solving my recent sleep issues.

As I'm sure you realized by our customary picture that today is Kaylani's 5 month birthday (the sign says Happy Birthday in Chinese obviously). I can't believe it's been 5 months already, but she has grown so much recently that it's more than believeable. It almost feels longer than 5 months (in a good way). Now that she's older, maybe I can learn from her by staring at her sleeping through her monitor when I wake up. She might just be able to teach me something.

Anyways, I just got home from baseball practice and am exhausted, so Happy 5 Month Birthday to Kaylani, and feel free to celebrate along with us by checking out her latest pictures. It's time for me to go watch some mindless TV. What'd you think I was going to do? Sleep?

On the outside looking in...

It's a sad day here in Daddyville. Today, we made an executive decision to rotate nights of putting Kaylani to bed individually, and tonight is Mommy's turn. Actually, we made that decision last night after Daddy came home from baseball practice. Apparently once Daddy said good night and went to practice while Kaylani was still nursing, it caused a serious disruption in the bedtime routine. Instead of nursing calmly, then going to sleep by herself, Kaylani stared at the door and cried for 30 minutes without finishing nursing because she was looking for Daddy. Finally, after being picked up by Mommy and soothed for 30 minutes, she fell asleep with an occasional whimper.

Some may think that not being involved in the bedtime process would be a good thing for me. After all, it basically means that Daddy is "free" for 30-45 minutes to do whatever he wants while Mommy and Kaylani are closed up in Kaylani's room. But that's not how I look at it. Instead of "freedom", I'm in "confinement." The fact that "confinement" actually means I can be anywhere but Kaylani's room doesn't matter because it means I'm on the outside looking in.

Right now, I'm sitting on my living room couch staring at Kaylani's monitor while writing this post just to feel like I'm still part of bedtime. I can't actually see anything except an empty crib since the camera angle is only of her crib, but it's the closest I can be. When Kaylani has to burp or is done nursing, she won't be able to look over and smile at me like she usually does. So sadly, she can't see me, and I definitely can't see her.

But this is one of those things that just needs to be done to help Kaylani in the long run. Crying when one of us isn't there isn't a good thing. It makes for restless nights for everyone involved and is a habit that we really want to break now. We've been a big fan of our bedtime routine for quite some time now, but the problem with routines are that they're too routine. And with other commitments creeping in now and then, a routine just isn't going to cut it anymore. It's too sad to watch Kaylani go to bed sad. This is good for her. At least we hope it is.

Tomorrow night will be Daddy's turn to put Kaylani to sleep by himself. It'll be a little different since Mommy will still have to nurse her since Kaylani still won't take a bottle and Daddy still isn't producing milk. But after she's done nursing, we'll do the hand off and Daddy will say good night all by himself without Mommy there. I have a feeling tomorrow night will be even harder than tonight, but that's tomorrow. I'm still not over the feeling that I'm an outsider. So tonight, I guess I'll just keep staring at the monitor trying to catch a glimpse of my little girl. Maybe, just maybe, she'll see me too.

Opening Day!

Today is one of Daddy's favorite days...Opening Day for the Yankees! It normally comes after a very long and cold winter where we're stuck inside, but this year, the offseason wasn't too bad. I mean, from a waiting from baseball perspective it was bad, but Kaylani was around to keep us busy for the last 5 months. And now that baseball is back, Daddy got to live out a lifelong dream of his.

Ever since I started thinking about being a Dad (which was sometime around the age of 17...I know, I'm odd), I couldn't wait to watch baseball with my own kid. So finally, 11 years later, my dream came true. When I got home from work, I quickly changed into my Yankees T-shirt so I could match Kaylani's cute little Yankees outfit that Mommy put her in appropriately this morning. Feeling like we were dressed for the occasion, it was baseball time!

Normally Kaylani isn't allowed to watch TV, or at least not much of it, but not surprisingly, Daddy made an exception for Yankees baseball. So with her sitting on the couch and me laying across her, we watched the game together. She actually behaved real well and watched quietly along with me. It's hard to say if she was interested in the game or was just relishing her time in front of the magic box. Either way, Daddy was okay with it.

Anyways, baseball season is here finally and I couldn't be more excited. You can bet Kaylani and Daddy will spend quite a bit of Daddy-Daughter time parked in front of a TV somewhere watching the game, and maybe even at the new Stadium later in the year since I renewed my season tickets. But for now, it's time for Daddy to turn off the radio so Kaylani can finish nursing and go to sleep.

Today's game didn't quite turn out the way we wanted to, but when you have a smiling baby as cute as Kaylani, it's hard to be upset even when the Yankees lose. Anyone who knows my passion for baseball will find it amazing that I can smile during a Yankees loss, but that's what Kaylani does to me. Check out these pictures of Kaylani and Daddy on Opening Day (and from our weekend in Boston in a separate album). I bet they'll make you smile too...no matter who you're rooting for. Go Yanks!

Seat's Taken

It's been 52 hours since we left home on Friday night to head up to Boston for the weekend. And of those 52 hours, Kaylani spent 23 of them in her carseat. To put it in Asian/mathematical terms, she spent nearly 50% of her time away from home (okay fine, it's 44%) in her carseat. 12 of them are accounted for in the drive between NJ and Boston. But where did the other 11 come from?

We drove around quite a bit while we were in Boston, but everyone we visited was within a 15 minute car ride. So the fact that we made 5 different stops, most of them being back to back instead of roundtrip, totals to just about 2 hours. That leaves about 9 hours that Kaylani spent in her carseat, and none of those 9 hours were actually in a car.

Being away from home meant that we were limited to the places we could put Kaylani down. Sure she could lay on a couch or a bed or even a blanket on the floor while we were out, but there was little possbility that she would have napped in any of those places. That meant Kaylani's naps while we were out (which was all the time) were in the comfort of her carseat. And I use the word "comfort" in the loosest of terms because each time went something like this:

Go in the carseat and look around. Get out of the carseat and get held by people. Get real tired and get put back in the carseat. Cry a bit and get swung around in the carseat. Time to go and get put back in the carseat. Fall asleep in the car for about 5 minutes. Get woken up because we're at our next destination and start the cycle again.

On the rare occasions Kaylani would fall asleep because she was so tired from us screwing with her nap schedule, it would be in her carseat. Since it's not particularly comfortable and she's used to moving around in her crib, each nap lasted no more than an hour in length, and more often than not, lasted about 5 minutes. So 9 hours of Kaylani's weekend were spent napping, swinging, or just sitting in her carseat. Sounds like a blast right?

After Kaylani finally fell asleep on our ride home (after Mommy nursed her because she cried for the first 30 minutes), she woke up 2 hours later which was great, except we were still 2 hours from home. We did our best to distract her, but when she cried the last 40 minutes, even after we stopped for a quick dinner because she was crying already, we didn't complain. I would have done the same thing if I was in her position. But now we're home and we promised Kaylani that she wouldn't have to go back in her carseat again...until Tuesday.

Anyways, I'll try and post pictures from the weekend tomorrow. It's pretty late for all of us and I have to wake up Mommy and Kaylani and put them both to bed. Hopefully I can do it gently since Kaylani and Mommy are both sleeping while nursing. Luckily for Kaylani, she gets to sleep in her own crib tonight. Hopefully she'll actually sleep for a long time so Mommy can sleep in her own bed tonight too. But whatever happens, it's still better than being in a carseat.

Aunts and Uncles

Today was Day 1 of 2 of Kaylani's first Spring tour in Boston. We had an ambitious plan of spending time with 4 couples/groups of Daddy's friends today, and hoped Kaylani would behave well for the. For the most part, she did. And given the circumstances, she did far better than we could have asked for.

After an official bedtime of 12:45am yesterday, and a wake up time of 6:30am, we knew we were in for a long day. We had plans to see Uncle Tommy and Aunt Gretchen, Padrino Tim and Aunt Meredith, and Aunt Jes, Uncle Brian, Aunt Heather, Uncle Bob, and Ben. Kaylani took a few (forced) naps at each stop, but it was the Aunts and Uncles that were the most fun.

Forget the fact that Aunt Gretchen tried to cook Kaylani on the griddle, or Uncle Tommy tried to feed Kaylani a plant, or even that Padrino Tim took a LONG time to change his first poopy diaper. I was more caught up in the fact that Kaylani had all these "aunts" and "uncles" that weren't actually aunts and uncles, just like Daddy does.

I don't mind having Kaylani call my friends "aunt" and "uncle" (or won't mind), but I do think it's a nit confusing. Kaylani only had 2 real uncles (Bat Bat and Tio Pritesh) and 2 real aunts (Titi Glenda and Auntie Shannon), but she'll grow up having way more "aunts" and "uncles." I guess it doesn't really matter in the end, because what she does have is a whole lot of people who love her. Who could (or would) ask for anything more?

The Long Cryway

Its 7:30pm right now and we're on our way to Boston. Well, I guess I can't say we're on our way since we're actually stopped somewhere in Bloomfield (about an hour away from home). This is our 2nd stop of the trip, and what a trip its been.

We left the house promptly at 6 and the GPS told us we would roll into Boston at 10:35pm. Our GPS is a liar. They should make a GPS that takes into account babies (or even one for people with small bladders). Our GPS right now says our arrival time would be 11:08pm, but that's only going to go up since we're stopped.

Kaylani's nursing right now and we're hoping she'll fall asleep during or shortly after. If she wasn't overtired when we left, she surely must be by now after over an hour straight of that adorable crying. Only time will tell, and unfortunately, all we have tonight is time. But now, its time to get in gear. We're just hoping it'll stay in gear for the next 3 hours.

The Love Triangle

For an almost 5 month old, Kaylani sure has a lot of clothes. Sure they're all different, but there are certain things that jump out when you look at her. For example, a large portion of her clothes are pink or purple, or there's the fact that most of her clothes have flowers or animals on them. But there's one other thing that jumps out at me, and it's that one thing that gets to me just a little bit.

I'm very proud of the "Daddy's Little Girl" onesie that she has. Actually, I'm very proud of all the "Daddy" clothes that she has, and even made it a point to buy a bunch of them myself before she was born and even after. But it wasn't until recently that I noticed something about her "Daddy" clothes. In addition to "Daddy's Little Girl", her other outfits and bibs all say "Daddy Loves Me." Now, that's cute and all, and very true, but all the "Mommy" outfits say "I Love Mommy."

So if I was to evaluate Kaylani's feelings solely through her clothes, it would be that Daddy loves her, and she loves Mommy. I love the fact that she loves Mommy, but how about a little love for Daddy? I pour my heart and soul into this little girl and she knows it since it's written right there on her clothes, but all her love apparently goes to Mommy. That's cangrejo (oh by the way, cangrejo in Spanish is "crab", but Mommy used to think the English expression "that's crap" was actually "that's crab", so now we use it that way instead)!

I made this revelation about a week ago, and I guess I made enough of a point of it for Mommy to go out and do something about it. So when I came home from work today, I was pleasantly surprised to see Kaylani wearing an "I Love Daddy" outfit! Here I was thinking that they didn't exist, but apparently we just weren't looking in the right places. Or maybe Mommy was conveniently not finding them while we were out. Either way, she now has 2 of the "I Love Daddy" outfits that should last at least 3 months.

Anyways, we're getting ready to get away for the weekend so make sure you look at pictures from the last couple of days. And you can be sure that there will be pictures of Kaylani's "I Love Daddy" outfit in this batch, and many more to come.

Different Times

So Mommy called me on my way to work this morning which was a bit unusual. Usually she's still sleeping when I leave, but today she was apparently awake and wanted to talk. After a few minutes, that's when she said it. "I'm pregnant." My mouth dropped, my hands tightened around the steering wheel, and I stayed staring straight ahead, completely unaware of my surroundings or the other cars on the highway (if you've seen the episode of Friends where Rachel tells Ross she's pregnant, it was kinda like that).

I babbled a few incoherent thoughts back at her, and couldn't comprehend anything she was saying back to me. None of it made sense to me. How (okay, I actually knew how)? When (knew that one too)? What day was it? Why would that matter? Why was she asking me that? And then, it hit me...it was April Fool's Day, and I was playing the role of the fool.

That was a few years ago, back before we were married and obviously before we knew Kaylani was on the way. It was probably the best (and meanest) April Fools joke that anyone has ever played on me, and to this day, I can still remember everything quite clearly. But now, we're living in different times and the "I'm pregnant" prank just wouldn't work the same way (I might still be freaked out, but not nearly as much). Leave it up to Mommy to come up with something that she knew would have me playing the fool again.

We were in Kaylani's room tonight getting her ready for bath/bedtime. Daddy was changing Kaylani's crib sheet when he heard Mommy say it. "She has a tooth!" Daddy dropped everything and ran over to the changing table, trying to get a good look into Kaylani's mouth with Mommy showing the way. That was quickly followed by "Got you! Happy Fool's Day!" And then Daddy sulked back over to finish changing Kaylani's sheets.

So that's twice now that Daddy has felt like a big time fool, and both times had to do with Kaylani (kinda). Apparently if you want to toy with my emotions, using a baby will work every time. One of these days I'm going to get Mommy back. Not quite sure how, but I will, and it's gonna be great. Then the foolee will turn into the fooler! Oh man, I can't wait until next year now. It's time for me to start plotting, but until then, Happy April Fool's Day!