Tuesday, December 28, 2010

5 mo/2mo "First Christmas"

Slugger
December 28 2010
5 months old
about 11 weeks adjusted

I can't believe it's been five months since our lives turned upside down. The NICU life seems ages ago although we just had lunch with some of our nurses the other week so it still lingers with us. Two days into the new year 2011, Slugger will be exactly 2 months adjusted. I may go into a lot of detail but this will all go into her baby book whenever I get organized.

Slugger is still a smiling machine. Her lips disappear when she smiles, and she's all dimply cheeks. Her left cheek still has a dominant dimple but sometimes we see a faint glimpse on the right...it's elusive so we may be imagining it. I know everyone thinks she's a mini-Scott. I can pretty much pinpoint whose features she inherited. Her hair looks black but in the sunlight it's actually dark brown (from me). She's got my forehead, poor thing (we'll be growing out those bangs from an early age). She has Scott's eyebrows and eyes but she has these beautiful, thick and long eyelashes (yah me). My nose, Scott's mouth and chin. So, all in all, Scott's genes seem to have kicked mine in the butt. But, as Casey gets bigger and bigger each week, I see less of Scott and more of Casey. I just see Casey when I look at her. And she's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Fair skin with dark hair and thick eyelashes. A cute little smirk when she looks you in the eye.

She's finally learned to bring her hands to her mouth. She sucks on her palm when she's hungry. I saw her try for an hour to get her thumb in her mouth and when she finally succeeded, she made a face and spat it out. Only to try again. When she's hungry, she'll start sucking on her left fist...we're crossing her fingers to see if she's a lefty like her daddy (although they say babies are pretty ambidextrous until they're older). Temperament wise-she's a mellow, sweet baby all morning. She'll wake up and just smile away, content just to lie wherever she is. But once the clock hits 4 pm (like clockwork), she becomes super fussy/super hungry/super needy. They call it the witching hour. After shunning the pacifier, we've just started to use it at nights until bedtime because I was afraid we were overfeeding her. We're still working on decoding the hunger cues.

It's awesome but we have the bedtime routine down great. At her 11 pm meal, we put her down in her mini cosleeper in the room and she knows that it's bedtime. She'll lie there quietly and drift off to sleep in no time. She gets up at 3 pm to eat and then she'll sleep in until 6 or 7 am. She's discovered kicking and uses her feet to push off when you're holding her. She's also started a new trick of kicking and walking on the side wall of her cosleeper so she somehow manages to turn sidewards by morning. When we're in bed, we can see her little legs "matrix climbing" her bassinet wall. I once saw that she had turned from her back all the way to her side in her sleep and I tried to wake up Scott but he refused to open his eyes. He said she'll do it again when he's awake...eventually. Oh, and she's started cooing. It's so adorable. I left her alone in the living room and she was staring at the christmas lights and talking to them.

11 lb 6.5 oz (according to our bathroom scale)
~22.75" long


[above: we can't believe how big she looks in her co sleeper]

Her first Christmas was a fun one. Scott has a small music gig every Christmas morning for Pleasant Holiday in Waikiki. So, we all woke up at 5:30 am to trek down to Waikiki to see Scott play Hawaiian Christmas songs (did you know there were other songs besides Mele Kalikimaka?) for all of 10 minutes. Then we drove around trying to find a breakfast place was open...ended up at Kenny's in Kalihi. Since we were out and about, we drove to Waipahu to drop off presents and for Casey to see her cousins only to find out that no one was awake at 11 am.
So we went to Scott's parents house to open presents and enjoy an amazing dinner. Scott's sister, Sara-Anne, was home for the holidays so everyone was all together. I borrowed some pictures from Scott's brother, Stanton.

The picture below shows Casey's grandpa, Pat. If you look closely at his right hand, you might see something pink. That's a pink pig puppet. No one seems to know where Grandpa Pat got it from but whenever they babysit Slugger, he entertains Slugger with little puppet shows. Sometimes he gets her so riled up when she should be sleeping. Well, I guess not everyone loved the frequent appearances and shows of the pink pig because somehow the puppet mysteriously disappeared on Christmas day. I believe certain members were aware of it's location but remained close-lipped. Poor Grandpa kept asking everyone where it went...I hope it didn't ruin his Christmas.

[below: Grandpa having to entertain Slugger without the pink pig]
[below: Scott and mini Scottlyn]
[Slugger with her dad, Auntie Sara, and Uncle Stanton]
[Slugger and the cousins]
[slugger, me, Scott, Uncle Stanton, Auntie Sara, Grandpa and Grandma ]
Scott's sister, Sara-Anne, gave us this beautiful framed song for Christmas. It's completely handwritten, she even did the golden inlay part herself. I, not being the Beatles expert, didn't recognize that it was a Beatles song and initially thought she also composed it herself. Hey, she did get her graduate degree in professional writing so it wasn't a far reach. At the end of this post, you'll see a video of Scott singing a Beatles medley with this song to Slugger.


Slugger got amazing gifts for Christmas. She's going to be a well-dressed baby with awesome toys. She actually had 3 different adorable Christmas outfits that she'll be wearing every day until this weekend (I don't think you can pull Christmas clothes off once you hit New Years). Here she is sporting one from my Aunty Linda.





Thanks for tuning in. Mele Kalikimaka a me Hauoli Makahiki Hou!!!!

The video clip below is Scott playing and singing a medley of "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight" to Slugger....although it's the end so you'll only hear Carry That Weight. Watch Slugger's joy and she even tries to join in singing a duet.

















5 comments:

  1. You are totally right about Casey looking like her own person now and not just mini Scott. Of course it helps that she is totally developing her own personality and all that, yeah? SUPER cute.

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  2. She's getting so huge. I think it's so adorable when she sticks out her tongue.

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  3. I so love your posts, Keao...Grandpa Pat and Pinky Pig how adorable, funny my husband used to use the puppets that I made for children's church to entertain our grandkids! Sara's gift, gorgeous...just like your photos Keao..one thing, if I ever have you do a photo shoot of me, do I have to hold a sign with my age and weight too?? Lol! Happy 2011 you guys...blessings, blessings! xoxo

    ps Scott, that video is precious...so precious

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  4. I love all your pictures and precious moments Keao!!! I'm finally signed in...offical to follow lil Slugger...hee, Baby Casey!!!! Yeh!

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  5. Daddy Scott...its awesome to see you serenade your daughter...sure looks like she enjoys it...and it singing with you :) Worship Team Sunaokas!

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