Roll it!

This morning Kaylani rolled over (tummy to back) for the very first time! It happened while Mommy was at her "Mommy and Me" exercise class and it brought tears to her eyes when she saw this milestone occurring in front of her. Everyone in the class applauded and then watched as Kaylani did it four more times on her own! I only wish I could have been there.

Sadly, Daddy was in NYC for work today, so he didn't get to see Kaylani's first ever tummy to back rollover. The NYC part is irrelevant because I could have been in the office, or even at home, and I still wouldn't have seen it. But that's okay because I was just happy to hear that Kaylani rolled over. That means his little girl is developing her muscles and coordination just fine, and that's what is really important!

Being able to watch Kaylani roll over would have been pretty cool. Mommy, knowing that Daddy would be a little sad and that he would want to see it, tried to get Kaylani to repeat her performance when they got home. The video camera was all set, her rolling area ready, and everything was primed for Kaylani to roll over for the history books (or at least our video library). But just like a few nights ago with our attempt to record Kaylani laughing, she got stage fright.

I'm starting to get convinced that she knows she's being videotaped. After I got home today, we tried again to watch her roll over, and of course tried to videotape it so we could share it with the world. But after 30 minutes of recorded tummy time, Kaylani was still on her tummy. She came close a few times, and even propped herself up on her arms and looked at the video camera, but no roll over. The show would not go on. Not tonight at least.

So Daddy still hasn't seen Kaylani roll over, but listening to Mommy describe it is good enough to hold me over for a few more days. Hopefully she'll do it one of these days for Daddy to see with his own eyes, but there's no rush. After all, once she can roll over, she moves into the first phase of mobility. And a mobile baby will change life as we know it pretty significantly. Or so I've heard.

All Bottled Up

I don't think Kaylani keeps her feelings to herself. She definitely makes everyone around aware when something is bothering her, so I guess I wouldn't say that she's all bottled up emotionally. But when it comes to taking a bottle, she's definitely all bottled up, and not in a good way. Unlike Daddy, she wants no part of a bottle when it comes her way, and unfortunately, that's not a good thing for us.

For the first 6 weeks, Kaylani took a bottle without a problem. She even switched back and forth from nursing to bottle feeding no matter when it was and this was great for 2 reasons. First of all, Daddy got to share the burden of feeding (during the day, but more importantly in the middle of the night) with Mommy. It actually sounds like it would be a hassle for Daddy, but I loved it because it was time I got to spend with my little girl. And also, it lead to the second reason why bottle feeding was great, which was that Mommy got to take a little breather.

Once Kaylani got on a more normal sleep schedule, I would wake up with Kaylani in the morning sometime between 6 and 7am. Then, I'd kick off my day by feeding her and putting her back to sleep before getting ready for work. That was enough to get me off to a great start to my day with some quality time with Kaylani and let Mommy sleep for just a few more hours after a couple of night shifts. But for the last 8 weeks, that hasn't happened, and tonight, we took action. We bought a new bottle with a new nipple (Playtex NaturaLatch) that was supposed to be closer to breastfeeding, and gave it a shot. Sadly, we misfired.

Kaylani wanted nothing to do with the bottle, just like 8 weeks ago when we last tried. Actually, that's not true. Last time she screamed at the top of her lungs at the thought of it. This time, she played with the bottle for a little bit, took some milk and spit it out down her neck, then cried until we took the bottle away. We tried this for about 20 minutes to see if she would adjust, and she did maybe a little bit, but not enough where we could say she actually took the bottle.

So unfortunately, Kaylani is not back on the bottle yet. Daddy's not either yet because of the diet so maybe we can have a little competition to see who takes a bottle first. I'm really hoping Kaylani wins, and I hope she wins soon. After all, a bottle means I get my quality time back, and more importantly, it means Mommy can take a breather again. And maybe, just maybe, it also means that Mommy and Daddy could take a breather together while someone babysits for a few hours. Now that's what I call motivation!

She ages pretty well

Today is Kaylani's 3 month birthday and we enjoyed every bit of it, from the second she woke up to the second she fell asleep, and everything in between too. The day started off so routinely, with Mommy and Daddy sleeping in until it was time to get ready for Church. But since Daddy doesn't get to see Kaylani wake up very often, he thought he would take it all in.

Part of me wonders if Kaylani knows that today is her 3 month birthday. She woke up with a giant smile on her face, even with Daddy taking pictures of her while she was waking up. Some may think that flash photography while she's sleeping may be a little bit mean, but it was 9am already and we had to make it to mass by 9:30am, so it was okay. Not only did she wake up in time for us to get to Church fairly on time (5 minutes late), but I did get to capture her first smile of the day.

The middle of the day was great too and Kaylani got to spend time with her friend Mia at her house. Mia's parents, Harold and Steph, even made a delicious brunch for all of us which Kaylani seemed to enjoy (several hours later when it passed through Mommy's milk of course). After a quick nap in Mia's swing (which Mia didn't seem too happy to be sharing), it was off to run a few errands then home for the night.

Tonight, we got the best present ever FROM Kaylani. We were just about to head in for bath time and we heard the cutest little laugh come out of our baby girl's mouth. We've heard her give a giggle before, maybe a single laugh, but never quite like this. She laughed for about 5 minutes and was so cute that it brought tears to Mommy's eyes. Before either Mommy or Daddy could compose themselves enough to grab the video camera, Kaylani decided the show was over. But even though we don't have it recorded on tape, it's in our memories forever and is the best gift she could have given us today.

So today was pretty great, just like every day we've had over the past 3 months. But now, it's time to start the next 3 months (I find it easier to look at Kaylani's life in 3 month increments so I don't have to think about her toddler or teenager years). For tonight, here are pictures from the last 3 days. They're split into 2 albums so make sure you look at them both!

Oh, and for those of you who happened to notice, I did make a slight change to the look and feel of The Daddy Diaries. The only way you may be affected is if you had a RSS feed going (like iGoogle). That address has changed, so use the link on the right to update. Thanks and keep reading!

I'm a failure...a big FAT one

I made a visit to the doctor today for the first time since Kaylani was born. I went for a follow up, and the outcome was that I'm fat. Okay, maybe that's not exactly how my doctor explained it to me, but that was the message she was trying to get across. And I can't really argue with her. When Kaylani was first born, I lost 4lbs right away. People still called me fat, but I thought that was because I was next to a tiny 7lb baby so she made me look fat. But now, I'm actually fat, or at least I've had a professional opinion to tell me so.

I'm not ashamed of my weight, so I'll talk about it. I weighed in at 189lbs today, but I think that was over-reported. After all, I did have jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and my shoes on. All that combined probably weighs like 10lbs, so really I'm only 179lbs. Alright, maybe I don't wear clothing or shoes made of lead, so I guess I am a bit fat. And, I happen to have hypertension, and my last cholesterol test came back a bit high as well, so fine, I'll accept the fact that I'm fat. But for the first time in my life, I'm going to willingly do something about it on my own.

My doctor told me I need to lose 10-20% of my body weight, and she wants me to lose 10% in a month. To help you out with the math, I need to lose 19lbs in 1 month, and then another 19lbs after that. If/when I lose all 38lbs, I'll weigh in at 151lbs, which would be less then I did before I went to college. Oh, and did I mention that my doctor is crazy and also that she's Jillian from The Biggest Loser? Just kidding...kinda.

Anyways, so the goal is 19lbs in 1 month. I haven't lost 19lbs since I made a weight loss bet at work last year (and won), but that was different. I had motivation, and that motivation came in the form of $100 (and a subsequent bet where I could have won $750 had my other 2 competitors not lost their target weight). This time, my motivation is different. My motivation is my little girl, who deserves to have a dad who can live a long and healthy life along side with her. And then there's my wife, who also deserves to have a husband and a partner to be by her side as we grow old together (she was with me last year too, but $100 turned out to be a better motivator at the time...as bad as that sounds).

So I've got a lot of motivation and I'm going to lose 19lbs in a month. And after that, I'm going to buy Guitar Hero World Tour because that's what Mommy and Daddy decided would be an extra motivator this month (I may have failed to mention that before). But after that, I'm going to lose another 19lbs somehow. And after that, I'm going to go buy all new clothing since everything I have will be way too big on me.

So stay tuned and I'll let you know how it goes. Anyone want to join me? Just think of something you want but haven't bought or done yet, and make that your motivation. If it's a loved one, a friend, or something you want to splurge on, just do it. Because whatever the actual motivating factor is, the long term effects will be well worth it. I'm sure Kaylani and Mommy will think so.

Soaking it all in

This post is not about poop, even though "soaking it all in" would be a great title for a poop story. What it is about is how unbelieveably interested in everything Kaylani is, especially people. Maybe she'll grow up to be a people watcher, or maybe she'll put attention to detail as a strength on her resume some day. Or maybe it means nothing since she's not even 3 months old yet, and it just means that she's soaking it all in.

I've always known that Kaylani was a starer. She stares at everything, even if there's nothing there. Sometimes it's the plain colored wall, or the ceiling, or just the floor. There are times where I think she stares at something just to see if I'll try and look with her. And if she could talk, I bet she'd say "haha, made you look!" But she can't talk, and she doesn't stop staring at whatever it is she stares at, so she must just be a starer.

Today, Daddy met Mommy and Kaylani at Panera Bread for lunch. It was there that I came up with the idea for this post. Panera at lunch is a busy place, so Kaylani had more then enough to stare at. And without fail, every time someone or something would go by, she would twist her head around to see what it was. Half the time it was a person walking by quickly and Kaylani may have reacted to late. The other half of the time someone would walk by and slow down to smile at her. Kaylani, given the opportunity to interact, would smile back. And the other half of the time, she would just stare at the people sitting around us.

It was kinda fun to try and follow her eyes. They would bounce around from person to person, table to table, and then try track the person walking by, and then go right back to the people around us. I really hope she is just soaking it all in, because the other possibility is that she's presentada (which is Spanish for nosy). There's a fine line between people watcher, attention to detail, and nosy, but at 3 months, I'm declaring it too early to define where exactly that line is drawn. For now, I'm just going to be glad that her brain is soaking it all in, and hope that her diaper does the same thing.

25 Random Things About Kaylani

For all of you on Facebook, you've probably seen the "25 Random Things" note going around. So, since I've been "tagged" 4 times within Facebook, but really don't feel like I want to write 25 random things about myself and then send it to 25 people on Facebook, I'm going to do it here. But instead of doing it about me, it's going to be about Kaylani. So, love it or hate it on Facebook, here are 25 random things about Kaylani:

1. She pooped 10 times in the first 2 days at the hospital when she was born, but then not again until she was 5 days old

2. She likes to move her legs...a lot

3. She hates tummy time, but has a really strong neck

4. She won't fall asleep unless you bounce her, sway her, rock her, or do something else that makes your body sore

5. If she was a boy, there's a strong possibility that we wouldn't have agreed on a name yet and she would still be called Baby Boy Tam

6. She has 2 big dark spots on her butt that the pediatrician tells us are normal (called Mongolian Spots apparently)

7. She likes to smile right before falling asleep, either because she's happy, or because she has gas

8. She either smiles a lot, or has gas a lot

9. She loves eating her hands, or anything else near her mouth

10. She can't sit up yet, but sure likes to try

11. She may grow up thinking that everyone makes funny noises all the time since that's what Mommy and Daddy do

12. Her hair gets really greasy every 2 to 3 days and needs to be washed frequently

13. She likes to cover her neck in drool

14. She HATES hats even though she has at least 10 of them

15. She LOVES baths, which is good because she needs them a lot

16. She is going to hate all the things Mommy and Daddy have to done to her just for pictures

17. She'll twist her neck really far in order to try and watch TV with us

18. She doesn't mind going to strangers, which is both a good thing and a bad thing

19. Daddy has the song for the Daddy-Daughter dance at her wedding picked out already ("I Loved Her First" by Heartland...and yes, Daddy listens to Country music)

20. She's going to be a handful when she's older

21. She'll usually smile if you tickle her chin

22. She has Daddy's head, which we still hope she'll grow into

23. She has the cutest pouty face ever, but hasn't held it long enough for Daddy to take a picture of yet

24. She makes Mommy cry tears of joy just by smiling at her sometimes

25. She'll always be Daddy's little girl, no matter what she does

So there you have it. 25 random things about Kaylani. She's 3 days away from her 3 month birthday, so maybe in another 3 months, we'll see how many of these things still hold true. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, here are 25 random pictures from the last 2 days to keep up with our theme of 25 for the night. Enjoy!

No Sleep Makes Daddy Something Something

No sleep makes Daddy something something. Go Crazy? Don't mind if I do! Sorry, that was a Simpsons reference for those of you non-fans. But seriously, no sleep does make Daddy go a little bit crazy. It also makes Mommy go a lot bit crazy. And to be fair, it's not like we're getting "no" sleep, it's just that we're getting less sleep. More Mommy than Daddy, but still, less sleep all around. And less sleep (or "no" sleep), does make us just a bit crazy.

Well, it doesn't make us crazy necessarily but it does make us very much blah (again, more Mommy than Daddy). For the second straight night, Kaylani woke up every 2 hours and wanted to cry, to be held, to nurse, or just to fuss about for an hour before she would fall back asleep for more than 10 minutes. So for the second straight night, Daddy turned off his alarm 30 minutes early to try and help out at 6am. That's why Daddy was a bit blah today. Well, that and the fact that he had to shovel snow again this morning manually because he still hasn't opened his snowthrower. Mommy was a lot blah because Mommy was the one who got up with Kaylani at 11, at 2, and at 5. And Mommy was the one who had to nurse Kaylani each time.

We really shouldn't be complaining because we did get 12 weeks of good sleep from Kaylani, and that's a lot more than most people with babies that I've talked to. And we also shouldn't complain because she usually stops crying as long as one of us is near her, so at least she doesn't cry for more than 5-10 minutes at a time. So don't consider this a complaint. Consider it more of a rant, or maybe just a blog post. Ah yes, a blog post. I'm not complaining...I'm blogging.

Anyways, we're hoping Kaylani snaps out of it tonight, and today, she did show signs that it was a possibility. She napped well, she played well, she even let Mommy and Daddy enjoy dinner at their favorite restaurant, Sotto, and didn't cry until we were about to leave. She also took a bath when we got home (with clear, not brown, water) and was calm the whole time. So hopefully, when she's done nursing in about 2 minutes, she'll sleep for way more than 2 minutes or even 2 hours. If she gets back to 6-7 hours of sleep, then she would make Daddy something something, and this time something something would not be the same as "go crazy!"

Growing Pains

Kaylani is going through her own episode of Growing Pains (and I don't mean she's talking to Mike Seaver or his idiot friend Boner). At least, that's what we think she's going through. She's almost 3 months old (would actually be 3 months old today if she came out on time), and from everything I've read, she's going through another growth spurt.

Our initial thought was actually that she was teething, but 3 months is REAL early to be teething since a first tooth typically comes in the 6 to 9 month range. You can't blame us for thinking it was teething since she drools more than Daddy (who drools like a leaky faucet), she constantly chews on her hand (or her arm, or our fingers, or our arms), and she had a low grade fever a few days ago (anything under 101 degrees). She's also been fussy, not eating well, and not sleeping the 6-8 hours that we've grown accustomed to. But upon further research, it's probably not teething.

What it does seem to be is just another growth spurt. Signs of a growth spurt are being hungrier (which she is since she cries for Mommy to nurse her every 2 hours or so instead of a little bit longer), being fussier (which means she cries if she's not being held constantly), and sleeping a bit more (she's not sleeping as soundly, but I guess she's sleeping more). And, the main reason we think it's a growth spurt is because all of our books and websites say that it happens at 3 months.

Now, don't get us wrong, we want her to go through growth spurts (well sometimes Mommy doesn't because she's getting too big too fast, but that's besides the point). The problem with this latest growth spurt is that Kaylani has completely spoiled us over the last 3 months. We've all slept so well that having to wake up every 2-3 hours is painful. It's like we're back in the hospital those first few days. Okay, it's not THAT bad, but it's much worse then sleeping for an average of 6 hours every night.

Another downside to this latest growth spurt is that she was really fussy all day today. Normally that's bad enough when it's just Mommy, but since Yin Yin was here, it was even worse. Yin Yin being home with Mommy was supposed to be a win win for everyone, but it turned out to be a cry cry. Mommy, who was up most of the night with Kaylani, didn't get to rest during the day because Kaylani wanted Mommy and only Mommy. She didn't want Daddy's Mommy, which was sad since Daddy's Mommy wanted Kaylani's Mommy to rest so she could be a good Grandmommy and take care of Kaylani while Kaylani's Mommy rested. Phew...got all that?

Anyways, we're hoping that the growth spurt wraps up soon and Kaylani gets back to her regularly scheduled routine. Actually, it will be a slightly different routine since tonight marks the first night that she's going sleep completely unswaddled. She won't even have a blanket, but instead is all tucked into a one piece sleep sack. You can see pictures of it tonight, but only a few since it was bedtime and not picture time. And we're about to find out what type of night it is since Kaylani's done nursing for now. We sure hope that a sleep sack is every bit as comforting as an old fashioned swaddle. The only thing we're sure of at this point is that it was a whole lot easier to get her into it, and a whole lot harder for her to get out of it. For now at least.

Bathing Doody

Sleeping Beauty is a cute fairy tale. It's one that I'm sure Kaylani will enjoy as she gets older and acts like (and is treated like) a Princess. Bathing Doody, however, is something drastically different, but something that Kaylani could be now. And the only relationship between Sleeping Beauty and Bathing Doody is that they are both stories that Daddy was told. Warning: Like Sleeping Beauty, Bathing Doody is a long story.

It's been 4 days since Kaylani had a bath, and she desperately needed one. We bathed her Thursday night before heading to Boston, with the intent of bathing her after the Super Bowl when we got home on Sunday. To make sure that we knew she needed a bath, Kaylani thought she'd help stress the bath point by spitting up on herself whenever she could over the last 4 days. And it wasn't just the "cute" spit up where a little bit drips out of her mouth and we wipe it up. They were the big spit ups where it either was a projectile spit up all over herself, or even worse, the kind that went straight for her neck.

So Sunday night, turned out to be a non-bath night just because of the car ride, the Super Bowl, the lack of sleep, and everything else. Normally we would have just waited the extra night and bathed her tonight, but that's not what happened. Since Daddy's friend Steph was coming to visit (thanks for coming Steph!), Mommy thought she would make Kaylani presentable (read: not smelly) and bathe her all by herself during the day while Daddy was at work. It was very nice of Mommy to do so I thought, but it's undecided if the outcome was worth it.

Daddy called home around 5pm to see how Mommy and Kaylani were doing. Mommy didn't answer the house phone, but called right back from her cell. I innocently asked, "How are you? How's Kaylani?" And this is what I got back:

Mommy: You remember how you wondered what would happen if Kaylani pooped in the tub?
Daddy: Ummm...yes? (I said it like a question, but I remembered quite clearly since I blogged about it a few months back)
Mommy: Yeah, well I'll tell you all about it when you get home
Daddy: You bathed her by yourself?
Mommy: Yeah...she smelled funny and Steph is coming over so I thought I should bathe her. I was wrong
Daddy: So what happened?
Mommy: I'm kinda still dealing with this right now so I'll tell you when you get home.

And then she hung up. Of course, my curiosity got the best of me so I quickly wrapped up what I was doing and headed home. It was around 5:45 when I got home and I found Mommy in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on dinner (which was delicious despite the day's events) and Kaylani under her musical light up piano. I went over to Mommy and gave her a kiss, then to Kaylani and gave her a kiss (and received a beautiful smile in return). I counted to 5, and then not being able to contain myself anymore, asked Mommy what happened.

Mommy: Okay, so I was giving her a bath, and she was liking it. But do you remember last bath time how she was pushing her stomach real hard while we were bathing her?
Daddy: Yep, and we thought she was going to push poop out?
Mommy: Yeah, well today she did. She was pushing her stomach so hard and I was saying, Kaylani, relax! Just enjoy your bath! Then all of a sudden she went "uhhhhhh" and everything went brown
Daddy: She pooped? Just like that?
Mommy: Yeah, the clear water turned brown all of a sudden. Oh, and the tub was pretty full by the way, so she was literally bathing in her own poop
Daddy: So what'd you do??
Mommy: I panicked, so I picked her up real quick. Of course she wasn't done, so she pooped down her leg and into the bath some more.
Daddy: Ewwww! How'd you clean her up?
Mommy: I held her in my arm by the sink and splashed water on her and rinsed her off. Then I had to put her wrapped up in her towel on the floor so I could dump the bath tub out in our tub
Daddy: You dumped the poop in our jacuzzi tub??
Mommy: Don't even start with me. Yes, I dumped it in the tub. Then I ran a LOT of hot water over it and a LOT of soap...
Daddy: What soap? Don't tell me you used the Burt's Bees...
Mommy: Yep, that one
Daddy: What are we rich??
Mommy: Don't start. So after that, I picked her up off the floor, poor baby, and finished bathing her in the tub

And that concludes the story of Bathing Doody. I can't say I wish I was there, but in a way, I really do wish I was there. Not sure I would have done anything different, so Mommy did a great job handling on her own. And Steph, if you're reading this, hope you liked smelling Kaylani, because this all happened because of you!

A Chinese New Year to Remember

Our weekend in Boston concluded with a Chinese New Year celebration at Saint James Church in Chinatown. We've gone to this celebration a few times over the last few years, but this was the first one we've been to since we were married and obviously the first since we've had Kaylani. Like all things that we've done with and without Kaylani, it was different, but in a good way.

Not only did Kaylani get to wear a gorgeous red Chinese dress that Yin Yin bought her, but she also got a little bit richer. As part of Chinese New Year, single people (mainly kids) get to go around to any married couple and say "Kung Hay Fat Choi", and in return, they receive a "lai-see", or lucky red envelope filled with money. Since this was our first celebration while being married, we were all of a sudden on the giving end instead of the receiving. But, Kaylani was on the receiving end, so all in all, we made out pretty well. Okay, "we" did not make out well, but Kaylani sure did. If I was more concerned about "recouping my losses", I could have taken some from Kaylani's stash, but we're also pretty good about making sure Kaylani's money is her money.

Unfortunately we missed the lion dance (or scary lion dance as Cousin Connor called it), and the martial arts display because Kaylani had to nurse, but we did get to see some funny speeches that involved white people speaking in Chinese, and some good authentic Chinese food. And of course, we got some good quality family time in there as well before we had to make the drive home.

The drive home ranked 2nd best in terms of time (5.5 hours), but probably 3rd overall. Again, we pushed Kaylani a bit too far since she had been awake for 5 hours by the time we got in the car, and she cried a few times. The worst part was she woke up for the second time with only 45 minutes left in the trip which meant we were so close but so far. Luckily she nursed quick, pooped quick (and cleanly) and we were back on our way to Rob and Jen's house for some Super Bowl fun (and was only an hour late).

All in all, this Chinese New Year definitely ranks among the top of my Chinese New Year experiences, and that's of course because of the wonderful family I have, from my beautiful daughter and wife all the way to my loving parents, sibling (and sibling in laws), nieces, and nephews. A special thanks to my family for spending the new year with us, and also to Rob and Jen for feeding us after a long drive home (go Steelers!)

And most of all, thanks to Kaylani for being such a great girl and sleeping most of the car ride, not having any blow outs, and for staying asleep in the always tricky car seat to crib transition once we finally got her home tonight. To wrap up the weekend, I'm going to head to bed, but for all of you, don't forget to check out pictures from the last 4 days. Good night!