10 month Videos-Crawl, laugh, and slobber

Her second time crawling (no camera the first time) with the help of Uncle John-John snatching her toy away).


She now loves to babble. She's got kind of a soft voice. She loves to say "da da da da." Scott's parents insist that she said "da da" when she saw Scott on the computer screen. But they said then she said "da da" again when Scott's sister was on the computer screen. Maybe "da da" is her word for the computer?



and now, the grand-daddy of them all. The cutest video I've yet to take. Slugger and her cousin. We met up at the beach but we also hung out with them in Kona a few hours before our plane took off. Slugger was just fascinated with Zylin, she is amazed by other kids. And Zylin decided to share a little love for his cousin. I think he thought I was saying "kiss her." So he did=)!!!

Kind of.

Warning: This might be the cutest video you have ever seen.

10 month update-Big Island Trip

Slugger:
Real Age: 10 months and 2 weeks
Adj. Age: 7 months and 2 weeks
Weight: ~17 pounds
Height: ?

Milestones:
-can sit unassisted for short periods of time (not a lot of improvement there)
-passes toys and objects from one hand to to the other
-is starting to prefer her parents (FINALLY!)
-loves to talk in long run-on sentences "da da da da da da da da"
-crawls
-attempting to climb the stairs in our house
-is pulling herself up on lower things (only to faceplant)
-first tinge of stranger anxiety, looks like it's in our near future
-eating 2-3 baby food meals a day in addition to all the bottles

Happy Father's Day, Scott!!! You are such an amazing man in all you do. I am in love with the son you are to your parents, the friend you are to others (and myself), the husband I have, and the father you are to Slugger (and Allie and Rory). I wish I had the chance to take some father/daughter pictures this past week to go with this post. But I'm so happy we finally get to celebrate our first father's day together and we are so blessed to have many more for years to come.

This is our regular appointments
Speech Therapist-once a month
Physical Therapist- every other week
Public Nurse- once a month
Pediatrician-every 3 months
And we'll having a retina check-up in the next month.

Of all those, I really love her physical therapy. It has helped Slugger catch on to new skills much more quickly. Just 8 days ago, Slugger learned to crawl. She couldn't do it at all before. She planted her hands like they were stuck in concrete and kicked those legs...did pushups...did handstands...but those hands never moved. Last Saturday, one of her favorite uncles, John-John, came to visit and was trying to tempt her with a stuffed animal and she picked up a hand...put it down and then I think she realized how it worked. She crawled across the room to the toy. No problem!!! And that was that. She suddenly became very mobile in five minutes.

I had this misconception that I would have time...there would be a gradual learning process. That she would crawl 1 foot. The next day, maybe a foot and a half. Nope. Once she picked up how to move her hands, she was crawling everywhere. The next day, she crawled to our living room stairs and began tackling that first step. We found her behind our TV. One time, I got distracted and when I looked around, she had disappeared. I was mystified until I saw two little pale feet kicking out the bathroom door and there she was rolling herself in the bathroom mat. In the past week, she's completely mastered crawling and now she's not happy unless intent on standing up. Everything becomes a makeshift crutch to pull herself up to her feet with. One big problem is that she thinks she can stand on her own so she doesn't bother to hold onto anything and topples over straight as a board.

This past month, we took advantage of memorial day weekend and our days off to take her on her first trip ever. We went to the Big Island so my brother and sister could meet her for the first time. And my brother and his girlfriend had their baby boy on July 4th, just 3 weeks before the girls were born. I've never seen my nephew and I was so excited. It was an amazing trip. One thing we've learned this past year is that life is short and you never know when you have to say good-bye. My perception of what's important really has changed and I hope for the better. It was very important for us that Slugger sees her family and I wanted my siblings to see that's she's fine...she's great and they don't have to worry. I know it was so hard for them to not be here for everything.

The trip did have some hilarious highlights, that are so fun that I'm probably going to blog about them on my photography website soon. Look for that. A rodeo and the signs that tell you that you're on the Big Island. But the second day of our trip, my sister, Genesis, took us to lunch at her working place, Merriman's Restaurant in Waikoloa. She's been telling her coworkers all about Slugger and so she wanted them to be able to meet her too. Slugger was a little celebrity as Genesis took her around to meet all of the staff.

Then we drove to "69s" beach to meet my brother and his family. I don't think I need to explain how the beach got its name. It is pretty much what you think it might be=). Slugger went in the water for the third time in her life. She loved it but the sound of the waves along shore really spooked her. Check out her face!

Happy Father's Day, Scottie!!! We were a little short on chairs (which Jordan thoughtfully brought) so Scottie had to hold all the towels for everyone.

Here's Slugger getting ready for her swim. That bathing suit used to be her cousin, Lauren's bathing suit. It's neat to see things getting passed down.

And here is Slugger meeting her handsome cousin, Zylin. They must be family, they both love sticking their tongues out at each other. Oh, no, already the antics begin!

First time I got to see my first and only nephew, and I am in love. He's such a happy and content baby.

And this sight warms my heart. My baby brother holding my baby girl. Oh, I think Zylin is getting a little jealous. I don't think he knew what to make of Slugger.

He burst out laughing when she lost her balance and tipped over. Aunty Genesis was so quick to catch her though.

Cousins!!! I can't wait to see them grow up and become friends!

Jordan, Carolin, Zylin, and Slugger.

Scottie and I taking our turns with the babies.

Genesis, me, Jordan, Slugger, and Zylin.(just missing our older sister and we would have had a little reunion)

Check out the latest post of three recent videos. Crawling, jibber-jabbering, and getting a surprise.

9 Months Old-First Solid Foods

Slugger:
Real Age: 9 months
Adj. Age: 6 months
Weight: 16 lb.
Height: 26 inches

Milestones:
-can sit unassisted for short periods of time
-on tummy, she can push herself up to hands and knees for a few seconds
-she will even push up to her hands and feet before her feet slip out from underneath her
-super ticklish
-can eat baby food pretty without any problems
-rotates and scoots backwards
-holds toys with both hands
-says syllabic run-on sentences "babababababa" (usually when tired and grouchy)

First, as a follow-up to the March For Babies event. Slugger even had a team in New York walking in her honor. My good friend from college, Yong, has been walking in the March of Dimes Walk for years now but now it has meaning. He called me one morning and asked if he and his group could walk for Slugger. We feel so loved. He sent me some pictures from the big walk in New York.

Here's Yong and his beautiful wife, Katie. We flew to New York for their wedding and Scott was their officiant. Now they're expecting and it is just a few more months before their baby arrives.

They carried that sign the entire walk. Yong said people were admiring the sign and cheering encouragment.

Easter was last month but here's some pictures of Slugger in her first Easter dress. She could not sit on her own yet so I had to do some photoshopping magic. If you're interested in seeing the process, I explained how I achieved the following photo on my photography blog here.

Slugger doesn't have stranger anxiety. So far, she's happy to see everyone. I love that about her but sometimes I do wish she was a little more excited to see me. She's thrilled when I walk in, but she's thrilled when anyone walks in. I'm compiling pictures of her with friends but this one is one of my faves. This is at church on a Sunday morning and Bob got to meet her for the first time. Oh, she just loved Bob. It was so cute. She just buried her head in his shoulder and smiled sweetly up at him the whole time.

The big event of turning 9 months and hitting those 6 month milestones was that we introduced her to solid food. I don't know why they call it "solid." It's more mushy gelatinous liquid.

We started off with rice cereal and have introduced a different food every 4 days to a week (to check to make sure there's no allergic reaction). Because Slugger has had dysphasia with swallowing, we had an Easter Seals therapist present the first time she had solids.

And here we go with the very first sample. Scott fed her while I held my camera in one hand and a video camera in the other hand. She wasn't real thrilled with it.

As first-time parents, we are so lucky. How many people get to have a therapist giving guidance on how to feed your baby?

Yum yum!

She did great with the food the first day but after that, she had no interest in it. Would not open her mouth at all. Her peds told me to give her something else to chew on and sneak in a spoonful of food whenever she happened to have her mouth open. It makes meal-time a long exhausting process just to get in 7-10 spoonfuls. But she's getting used to it and has started to open her mouth on her own.

So far, we're making our own baby food. It's pretty easy and she doesn't eat enough to warrant opening a whole jar of baby food. We got a magic bullet for our wedding. That thing is PERFECT for pureeing baby food.

Carrots-Likes

Bananas-Surprising not a fan

Avocado-Likes

Sweet Potato-hmm, jury is out. She eats it but spits it out (that might be her new thing though)

Lastly, here are some pics from our quick trip to Hoomaluhia Gardens. We took her there with her bff, LW, but the bugs were eating them alive so we had to run for the car.

I keep forgetting that she's really 9 months, not 6. Oops! I always think of her by her adjusted age.

2011 March For Babies

Happy Easter everyone!!!

This past Easter weekend was a big one. It's one of the two busiest weekends at Scott's workplace so we had big services Friday night and Sunday morning. And Saturday morning, we walked as a family in the 2011 March for Babies Walk held by the March of Dimes Organization.

The night before we were so tired but I was real bummed that we hadn't made T-shirts in preparation for the walk. Scott said it was no big deal but I just knew I would regret not having at least something for Slugger. I searched our bookshelves and managed to find an old package of print it yourself Iron-on transfer paper. So, I stayed up super late and designed a little onesie for Slugger to wear during the walk. I think it turned out awesome and was worth getting just 4 hours sleep.

The walk started at Kapiolani Park so we parked at the Honolulu Zoo parking lot and walked over. Man, the pay rate for parking sure has jumped up a lot. It was incredible to see how many people were at this event. There were families unloading their vans all in matching T-shirts, kids of all ages rolling in their strollers. I have to admit, I choked up when I read parents wearing T-shirts with a preemie picture and name on it and holding the hands of strong, healthy grown kids. Amazing to see that these kids running around started off so small and sick.

Slugger had her own proud statement on the back of her onesie. [click on it to see large version with list of our wonderful sponsors]

Slugger chilling in her carseat on the way to Kapiolani Park. She didn't seem to notice that we woke her up 3 hours earlier than usual. She doesn't wear a watch so she just has to take our word for it.

Uncle John carrying Slugger as we unload in the zoo parking lot.

Here's a close-up of Slugger's onesie design with her birth statistics and a list thanking all the people who donated to her walk.

This is her first ride in a jogging stroller. We borrowed this one from Liz and Mikey. Wow, these things run so smoothly compared to a regular stroller. Yowzahs!

Here's a close-up view of the front of her onesie design. We meant to focus on the celebration of Slugger so we didn't get too sad, but we just couldn't do it without remembering our twinnies.

As we walked into Kapiolani Park, they were having a huge warm-up exercise class led by Gilad. Oh, I love him. Scott and I were in a phase where we were taping his Bodies In Motion show and exercising to it. He looks really good in person. Hubba hubba.

Crissy and Todd watched Slugger so I could run up closer to get pictures of Gilad.

Then we headed to the Kaiser tent and Slugger got to hang with one of her favorite NICU aunties, Gina. Look at Slugger beaming at Gina.

This little girl is sunblocked up. She has a UV protection hat. And that's an umbrella I brought along that I held over her whenever we didn't have shade.

We got so comfortable checking in to the Kaiser tent, Scott even made himself a plate of food and began chowing down, that we missed the start of the walk. There was a huge crowd by the start line when we looked so we didn't even budge, but it turns out that the crowd was the kiddie crowd that would walk a truncated route around the park. Um, the other members of Team Slugger thought the truncated route sounded ideal, especially John-John who couldn't find sneakers so was wearing slippers. But, unfortunately, they're with me. I felt like we told people we were doing a 5 mile walk, so we should be doing a 5 mile walk. I love our friends. So, we set off on the full 5 mile route which starts at Kapiolani Park and turns around once you hit Ala Moana Beach Park.

Since we started so late after everyone else, I seriously think we were the last ones in the whole walk. Amazingly, we ran into Davidson and Candace who go to our church and were walking with their two fraternal twin boys, G and G. So Team Slugger and Team GG united. The first half of the walk was great. The rising sun was low enough that we were continuously in the shade from the buildings. However, on the way back, it was blazing hot and the sun was beating down on us. We also ran into Hope Chapel's Women's Ministry Pastor Tami T. and her husband Mike in the walk. Tami told us that they were walking for Slugger too!!! So sweet!

Here's Team Slugger and Team GG finishing up the last half of the walk. Notice the hidden babies as we were constructing all sorts of tents to protect them from the sun.

But we finished!!!

Longs Drug was a huge sponsor of the event and there was all sorts of swag that we could stuff into our goodie bags at the end. I was real excited about my chocolate pudding cup. Yum!!

We collapsed under the Kaiser tent and rested our sore feet. And tried to take a team picture before we left.

I brought my camera and I set up the shot. Got the focus, the exposure in Manual mode all down. Here's my test shot. Crissy and Todd are such goofs=)

Then I asked a lady nearby if she could take our picture. My dSLR looks intimidating but I had it all configured from my test shot so I told her she just had to stand where I pointed, point the camera at us, and click the button.

I do not want to make fun of her. But, it just goes to show you how cameras have changed so much that they have changed the common experience. I huddled into the team slugger group and the lady held the camera up and then said "wait, where's the picture?" She was looking for a live-view picture on the LCD screen that we've all become accustomed to because of digital point and shoots. I don't have live view on my rebel so I told her "you're going to have to look through the viewfinder." She still didn't seem to understand but she started clicking away. And this is what she got.

Oh, this made me laugh when I scrolled through. She took about 10 tries and thankfully, the very last one came out. I think it's so funny that people don't know about or how to use the viewfinder anymore. We've been spoiled by these fancy cameras and camera phones.

[From left to right]Scott, me, John-John "rubbah slippahs brah," Todd, and Crissy "listened to a sports game on her earphones the whole walk and ignored us=)"

PS. We were blessed to find that we all got Kaiser shirts since we were signed up under the Kaiser Team. But I opted to wear the shirt that I was already wearing. Look, I just happened to choose the right color that morning. I fit right in.

[Click on picture below to see how much money we raised. + a pic of Slugger in her cute Easter dress]