Go Sox

Forrest showing off his Red Sox pride, and his actual red socks that nainai knitted for him. I have to admit I didn't watch even one minute of the series because that was my main chance to sleep, but Forrest spent many nights with daddy watching the games while he should have been sleeping too.

Dumplings

Forrest's first dumpling? No he's got a while to wait for that. But daddy likes to pretend feed him and Lotus is all too ready to seize the moment!

Cloth Diapers

Here's Forrest sporting one of his cutest cloth diapers! After testing out a variety of styles I didn't really settle on one kind. We use pockets because they're easier for Nainai, covers and inserts because I like that they're more reusable, plus fitteds as the nighttime heavy hitter. But no matter what he's wearing, it makes less waste, saves us money, and makes his bum super fluffy and cute!

100 Days!

Yesterday Forrest turned 100 days old! This is an important milestone in Chinese culture, but Yeye and Nainai didn't seem to want to do anything to celebrate beyond dressing him up in his red bib and silver pendant and taking some pictures. So that's what we did. Congratulations Forrest, you're in triple digits now!

Yeye Nainai

Forrest's other set of grandparents arrived a few weeks ago to take care of him when I went back to work. They've had a very hard time accepting the fact that sometimes (more often than we'd like) babies cry for no discernible reason. In fact they insist that Li Zhuang never cried as a baby. A likely story! But, I've been impressed at how well they adjusted and how independent they can be, getting to know the neighborhood and grocery stores on their own. While living with them can be pretty annoying at times, they are also a huge help!

Nainai sings Xiao Yanzi, a Chinese song from her childhood, to Forrest to put him to sleep for naps. It seems to work! Except when it doesn't.

Yeye jumps right in and tries out the crazy contraptions we have in our arsenal  in the hopes of stopping the baby from crying. He's a brave grandpa!

3 Months Old!

It's official, we can now stop measuring his age in weeks and just refer to him in months. He hasn't been formally weighed in a while but he's definitely over 15 pounds. This was a big month for us since Forrests's Yeye and Nainai (grandparents) arrived and I went back to work. It's an adjustment for sure, and pretty overwhelming at times, but we're lucky to have all the help at home and logistically things are going fine. The worst thing at this point is his sleeping - I had hoped he would at least be trending in the right direction, sleeping longer stretches at a time, but no in fact he's waking up more than ever. So yeah, nights are pretty fun for me, and you can imagine I'm totally on the ball at work. But, Forrest can also see much farther now - he'll smile at Nainai from across the room - and he's starting to play with toys which is good because it gives us another tool to use to distract him from crying. He's definitely getting more fun, I just wish I had more time and more brain cells to enjoy it!

Out to Lunch

Out to lunch on my last full day off. Forrest sat on the bench and let me eat - so grown up!

Grab Bag

In the last week or two Forrest has learned to grab things. Such as hair, and glasses, oh joy! He also grabs his zebra toy and studies it carefully before drooling all over it.

Baby Zumba

This was a regular Zumba class but my friend and I turned it into baby Zumba, which is a class someone should start for real - my million dollar idea! Forrest slept through most of it but once I took him out he could watch the neon workout outfits and bop along to the music!

Family Resemblance

Li Zhuang's baby picture next to Forrest. See any similarities?

Family Time

Tummy Time

Forrest has never loved tummy time but lately he's tolerating it more than he used to. Here he is working out his upper body!

Snoozing

Their favorite activity.

2 Months Old!

Forrest is 2 months and weighs 13.5 pounds. No wonder it's getting harder to carry him around. It's true what they say about newborn time - the days are long but the months are short. He's started smiling a lot more and even gives daddy a laugh every now and then. And it's feeling less like he cries all the time because he now has slightly longer stretches where he can be awake and content, and during those times we can see he is really looking around at stuff. He still sleeps like a baby, in the literal sense of the phrase, as in not very much in a row, but he is also as cute as a button - both figuratively and literally, since buttons are in fact super cute.

Purple Monster

Nothing like a little jaunt at Fresh Pond on a fall day, wearing your purple monster hat. What we discovered on this walk is that Lotus does NOT like us to be separated. I tried to take her around the pond the other way and the first chance she got she sprinted back to Daddy and Forrest. So naturally we then did some experiments to see which combinations of family members she felt most drawn to. And that was our animal behavior research project for the day!

Sibling Secrets

I think she's teaching him how to be a good dog.

Sweats

Forrest is ready for a workout! Will he be on American Ninja Warrior or on So You Think You Can Dance? Only time will tell...

Picnic With Grandpa

Baby Love

Pepa loves her cousin Forrest! She loves to hug him and kiss him and smother him if we let her. Just as fiercely as she loves her brother Diego. The fun thing about watching her with the babies is that she sees them as real people that she can play with and laugh with. These first couple months I've felt like Forrest is more of a pet (a very high maintenance pet) than an actual child. Watching Pepa interact with him as a real person is a nice reminder of what he will grow into!

Cousins in the Bath

Pepa loves to bathe with the babies!

Social Smile

Forrest has started smiling! But it's nearly impossible to get a picture of it, so all I have to show for now is this blurry shot. The smiles are great because it's our first glimpse of the possibility that he may become more than just a lump.

First Ergo Ride

Our first use of the Ergo carrier came about when I forgot my Moby and had to borrow my friend's (counterfeit) Ergo. Not quite as cozy as the Moby for a little guy but it worked great!

Yawn.

Sorry if I'm boring you, Forrest.

You are getting sleepy...

Charles River

A rare alert moment while babywearing by the river.

FEED ME

Dad has a bottle and he's not afraid to use it.

Mad Face

Play Mat

Forrest likes his play mat. Or at least he did for 10 minutes yesterday. Today he was not so easily amused.

First Bottle

Grandma giving Forrest his first bottle at 4 weeks. I guess he doesn't need me quite as much anymore. On the other hand, I can be free! (Well, occasionally.)

1 Month Old!

Forrest on the alligator at 1 month (compare to 1 week). He's definitely growing - 11 lb. 5 oz. now - you can't see his ribs anymore and every day there's more lint to be found in his fat rolls! This has probably been both the fastest and slowest month of my life. I can't believe it's already been a month since he was born, and yet the days seem to crawl by when he's crying and I'm so tired. At the same time I want him to stay this little but also want to fast forward to when he's bigger and can do more stuff. Everyone tells you it's both exhausting and amazing having a baby, but you can't really know what it's like or understand the feeling until you experience it. So, now I know what the first month is like - we'll see what the second one brings.

Fuzzy Hair

Four weeks old with freshly washed hair.

Road Trip

Brother and sister riding in the car together.

FaceTime

Video chatting with cousin Diego. They're so tech-savvy at such a young age!

Sleeping

No firsts here, just a cute picture of Forrest taking a cat nap at 3 weeks old.

First Restaurant

...and his first time going to a restaurant. Once again, he slept through all the fun.

More Firsts

Also new this week: Forrest's first stroller walk and first trip to the farmers market!

First Real Bath

Since Forrest's belly button stump fell off on his two week birthday, he was ready to give up sponge baths and have his first real bath at home with soap and everything! He didn't love it but he did pretty well!

Baby Clothes Archives

Thanks to mom for digging this shirt out of the archives! She tie-dyed it back when Abby was a baby and then we all wore it. And now it's Forrest's turn!

First Outing

Forrest is 2 weeks old today! This was my first real outing - a walk to the store. And baby's first trip to Whole Foods! He is already learning why it's called Whole Paycheck. No, actually he slept through the whole part where we were actually inside. But we both like the Moby and we're glad we can finally start getting out!

Family Portrait

I think this is the first picture we've gotten with all 4 of us! Granted, 50% of the family members are not looking at the camera but we'll take what we can get.

1 Week Old!

Forrest's 1 week photo! I'm going to try and be consistent with taking regular photos with the alligator to document how he grows. We'll see if I can stick to it!

The first week has gone by so quickly, it's true they grow up so fast! I can't believe he'll never be 2 days old again. Friday through Monday we spent in the hospital, getting help from nurses, lactation consultants, and midwives who checked me and the baby every single day. Coming home on Tuesday things got a little harder - adjusting my position in bed was much more difficult without the motorized bed. But things went pretty smoothly thanks to LZ's hard work around the house and his new Happiest Baby on the Block swaddling skills, and thanks to mom's help walking Lotus, running errands, and patience taking Forrest even at his fussiest.

Just like people say, I could watch my baby sleep all day. Probably the best part of this whole baby deal so far is the skin to skin time in bed after a feeding, just cuddling and watching him make his funny little faces and wave his arms around randomly. The hardest part, aside from lack of sleep, has been recovering from the c-section including the physical pain and limitations, plus the emotional toll of coming to terms with how the birth went and what I feel I missed out on.

So that was the first week! I'm sure Forrest has all kinds of adventures in store for us in the coming weeks and months, and we're on the rollercoaster now, so there's no going back!

Hiccups

This is one of those videos that I find really annoying when people post on facebook because so few people would actually care about it. And yet I'm still posting it, but at least it's not on facebook. I imagine it's only of interest to people who are related to Forrest and definitely not even all of them. So without further ado, I present to you: Forrest Gets the Hiccups. (Note: There is sound and it's cute, but it might be really quiet.)

Sleeping Baby

You can consume all kinds of media while babies are wrapped up and sleeping!

Back Home

Here we are back at home. Lotus is having some adjustment issues, as expected. She's a little overenthusiastic about the baby, and she barks too much, but that's nothing new. Forrest on the other hand seems unphased by both the barking and the frenzied foot licking.

Leaving the Hospital

Forrest's first photo shoot a few minutes after being born. 

Fast forward to:

This morning's cozy time, on Forrest's 5th day on the outside. Getting ready to go home today, so Forrest can meet his doggy sister.

Forrest is Here!

40 Weeks

Yesterday was the baby's due date, so I suppose technically that means I'm overdue. It's a pretty weird feeling just waiting around to see when he will decide it's time to be born. Not much to do but just relax and try not to be anxious (easier said than done for LZ). I decided to start my maternity vacation this week and I'm glad I did because it was getting really tiring focusing on work and worrying about it every day. Despite the 90 degree heat it has been nice to just walk Lotus, read, and finally do some craft projects now that I have time (see the new "nursery decor"?). It's amazing how the days go by without getting a lot done, and even more amazing that that's okay because the goal is just to relax and rest up!

I have to say the worst thing about being anywhere near the due date, but especially being past it, is everyone asking me if baby's here yet or if I have any special feelings. He's not, and I don't. I know it's nice that people care and are checking in, but I'm hot and crabby and I think this is a major annoyance for all pregnant women, not just me. Trust me, I'm wondering when he's going to come too and if I had any more info, I'd be letting you know! At least I can tell you one thing though - he's not going to be a 4th of July baby, sorry to disappoint!