Seeing Eye to Eye with Britney Spears

Sydnie went to her first bday party - Sofia turned one so we went up to LA to celebrate. The drive up was great and although she was a bit overwhelmed with so many faces at once, she was pretty good. The return trip home however was a terrifying combination of LA traffic, clogged duct pain, and ear piercing/crushing my heart wailing baby! So here I am trying to soothe Sydnie with one hand, while strategically positioning myself away from the window and pumping with the other. To Steve's dismay, I ended up pulling a Britney Spears and pulled Sydnie out of her car seat. My clogged duct chose that moment to unclog (to my physical relief) but I was spraying milk like a busted fire hydrant so must make note to wash my sister's clothes before returning them... sorry Amenda. Back to peace at home =)
So here's another lesson learned... how come no one told me to avoid those wind up mobiles?!?! I seriously thought I got a defective one because mine lasted for just a couple minutes and I would have to get up and rewind it over and over again. I highly encourage anyone expecting to ignore the mobile that matches your bedding and go with the Tiny Love Symphony mobile... that is, if your purpose for the mobile is for it to be used to entertain your child so you can get a few things accomplished without feeling like you're neglecting them. If you don't necessarily care about that and just want something cute, then by all means go for the wind up mobile, but I guarantee you will be getting up every few minutes and feeling more frustrated than productive!
Early in the week Steve watched a report on GMA where it recommends parents speak 17,000 words a day to their baby although 30,000 is preferred! I read up on it further and it says that babies who are talked to more have higher IQ scores and do better in school... partly because smarter parents talk more to their kids. Well poor Sydnie has a mute for a mom at home so hope that doesn't imply anything! Of course you have to take all these studies with a grain of salt but according to this report, assuming the baby is awake 12 hours a day, that comes out to 42 words per minute nonstop every waking minute! I tell you - this parent thing really can be more than a full time job depending on how you approach it. Well thankfully our conversations are becoming more two-sided as Sydnie is becoming so much more talkative, so maybe combined we can reach 17,000 together! =)

appa & sydnie time

Two Kids

We now have two children: Steve's 13 year old and our 10 week old... well technically 13 dog years. The inlaws are in Korea until next Monday so Yooree, Steve's dog, has been with us since last week. She's typically calm, but also suffers from random yet severe anxiety. It usually is triggered by fireworks or thunder and as a result a few doors and rugs became sad casualties. But she's fine as long as she's not alone... So going out now means packing up the WHOLE family!
So a friend sent me an article about a mom that makes $$$ through her blog via advertising. It sounds like a great idea but I empathize with her struggles (i.e., invasion of privacy, writers block, sensitivity to negative comments, etc...) Plus I don't think the few visitors I have to this blog would generate that much ad revenue! For now I enjoy sharing our lives with whoever comes to visit our site but I figure eventually my updates will be less frequent as Sydnie acclimates to everyday life and she becomes boring like all of us! haha But it does continually have me thinking about my perfect stay at home job. I think I might actually have something brewing in my head!


Sydnie and her pointer finger





Well, I've heard many complain about the pain from breastfeeding, but that only scratches the surface of breastfeeding woes for me. Here is a list of my "breastfeeding blues":
1. dry skin: not sure breastfeeding is really the cause but my hands and face feel like I washed them with clorox!
2. clogged ducts: you've heard enough about these, but they completely drain me - it takes minimum 12 hours to clear one of these
3. milk blisters: blister on your nipple - popping a pimple has nothing on these unless you pop your pimples with needles!
4. food limitations: I love SPICY food and the one day Sydnie would not stop crying was the day I had a spicy noodle dish so now I'm not willing to risk our sanity by eating spicy food again. Also lately all everyone talks about is that coffee drink from McD's! Steve's obsessed with them. Well I fear Sydnie might be sensitive to caffiene so I won't even let myself drink that either! Very sad...
5. birth control: apparently breastfeeding being natural birth control is a misconception so that's one more pill I'll have to take!
6. sagging: well I knew this was inevitable. It hasn't started sagging... yet! right now its reached a triangular stage =)
I can go on and on! But with all that said I'll gladly go through this knowing that she is thriving and healthy. She never looks more beautiful to me than when she is peacefully eating or pounding on my chest with her fisted hand. And I am continually amazed at God's perfect workmanship in allowing our bodies to produce nourishment for our children while bonding with them. I only hope I can be more successful with pumping so when I do go back to work I can continue being her food source! Speaking of pumping, I've become so absent minded these days, I was pumping the other day and forgot to attach the bottles to the pump parts so I was spewing milk all over my pajamas!!! All that good milk gone to waste!!!

I love these two pics of her! Power to the people! hee hee

We've Reached Two Months!

I have to continue telling myself that I'm not going to be the first mom to not be able to figure nap schedules, breastfeeding, playtime, etc... right?!?! I sure hope not! =)
Well, here are some two month mark notables:
* she goes down for the night around 8:30ish and will sleep pretty much through the night (its amazing that she can distinguish night sleeping from her naps)
* has started to suck on her hand, mainly her pointer finger to put herself to sleep
* getting very talkative and expressive
* the biggest thing for me is how much more we have bonded over this one month! i really like her a lot now! =)
And I've hit a glorious milestone of my own! I finally started to shed again! Whoo hoo! I know its a strange thing to be happy about but starting my final trimester I was shedding no more than one or two strands of hair and the thought that I was retaining all this hair was grossing me out! It looks like my normal shedding routine is returning!
Here is another thing that no one tells you about... I never knew there were different sizes to the breast pump until yesterday. Apparently its based on your nipple size so I guess everyone I know must have a standard 24 mm nipple, while mine are abnormally large!!! Well I hope trying a different size will help with my pumping dilemmas.
Just a random thought but I'm glad I've been using this blog to "journal" weekly as I realize you really do quickly forget... and its only been a short two months for us!

our dog yooree and sydnie (they both look so serious!)

sydnie enjoyed her first picnic this sunday!

for some reason she likes taking her medicine - it must taste sweet

8 Weeks v. 2 Months

Sydnie turned 8 weeks on Friday, but she won't be considered two months until Tuesday, the 8th... so confusing!
Well either way, it is amazing that she has already reached this age! Cliches are there for a reason and I find myself frequently thinking how big she is getting!... or perhaps that just shows how fast my own life is moving!
Because of my thrush I am constantly applying creams, rinsing with baking soda solutions, air drying - all quite tedious! So I'm actually topless most of the day at home for obvious reasons (yes I know that is a disurbing image!) I just hope I'm not putting on a show for our neighbors! But at this point I'll do pretty much anything to clear up this thrush and prevent clogged ducts!


Sydnie now holds on to dad while sleeping

At seven weeks, Sydnie has started her first job! Mom seems to have a problem with freqent clogged ducts and it seems the only relief is via Sydnie. She of course is rewarded with milk money! Seriously though, I lose more sleep over these clogs and at its worst, it is just as bad as labor pain! We also had our six-week doc visit and she came in measuring 70th percentile for her weight and height. Steve is most proud that her head measures in the 20th percentile but who knows if that is an indication of the end size... hopefully Steve's fears of giant head child won't come true! =) She also got her first five shots. That nurse was so speedy... she might as well have just grabbed all five in one hand and stabbed at the same time! Sydnie tolerated the pain very well though and seemed more stunned than bothered by the experience.
Her poos are still very infrequent, but when she goes it can probably drown a little town! She hasn't gone for six days now so getting very nervous! Another milestone is her hands are no longer fisted and she has them more unfurled. I already miss her just newborn stage

10 pounds

Update: Easter Sunday! We almost didn't make it to church because I was suffering from an awful clogged duct and Sydnie decided to throw a tantrum and woke up at 4 am refusing to go back to sleep - so when I came back upstairs after my failed attempts of unclogging, I found Steve giving Sydnie a time out! The day improved for all of us and Sydnie enjoyed her first dress from Auntie Eileen!

Sydnie and I went to see the lactation consultant today and she's now a whopping 10 pounds 1 ounce! But it seems we have a case of thrush, which explains the pain I still feel with feeding. So we have to use the same stuff Steve uses for his athlete's feet on the boob and her mouth!
Starting last week Sydnie stopped pooing everyday, which we read was normal around five weeks. She went about two days without pooing and when she finally went it was at least three inches deep! No Joke! and it was everywhere! She skipped yesterday and then went again today. Not sure of the depth this time because I had just finished wiping her when she shot out another big dose right in my hand! Its all so wonderful... =)

Her first documented smile... she's been super smiley.

She failed her first hearing test so was retested this week... she can now hear!

Bonding

Each day passes by so quickly and yet because of the cyclical nature of my days, I don't feel like I get much done or make progress. I just realize April will be here before I know it and I'll have to start thinking about returning to work... the question is will I mentally still be where I was in January or feeling a little more ready to move forward?!

Today was Sydnie's first time at church, although with her feeding time we didn't get to church until the message was over! haha. Each day's schedule is pretty consistent and then comes the weekend... hopefully with time we'll adapt and learn to balance everything or at least not burn ourselves out if we can't stick to "the schedule".
This week was the first time being on our own. Longer outings are one thing but running errands like bank deposits prove to be a little more difficult since I can't just leave her in the car! As for our first trip to the mall I was a little intimidated with setting up the carseat and stroller on my own, but figured I needed to start somewhere! I parked super far so no one would see me struggle and laugh but other than a few bruises, I showed signs of improvement by the end of the day! I also got to mingle as mom! Nordstrom has a mother's lounge and its pretty amazing as you see a continous parade of strollers going in and out and everyone whips out their hooter hiders to feed! I ended up meeting a woman that is Korean, lives around the corner from us, and her daughter is just three weeks older than Sydnie! While chatting she mentioned things really just clicked for her and she was struggling with the exact same issues I am now!... I guess there is quite a bit of support you gain from networking with other moms.
Getting back in shape is still a challenge and it seems the best thing is to take walks with Sydnie. Otherwise have to figure out who can stay with her, be sure I won't be engorged... a friend mentioned something I'll take to heart and that is it took us 9 months to get like this, so give it at least another 9 months to get back!
Well, Sydnie will get to wish Steve "happy birthday" for the first time this week!

Sydnie meets her great~halmuni!

Sydnie and Matthew finally meet... first bonding session

Hanging out with cousin Ryan