Baby's first word

Last night my mom was singing and talking to Lydia. At first, Lydia was babbling and "singing" along with my mom. Then my mom said in Chinese "Daddy is coming home soon" and kept saying the word "daddy" (ba ba). Then suddenly, Lydia repeated "ba ba" right back to my mom. My mom and I both looked at each other in amazement. We're sure that Lydia did not know what she was saying, but the pronounciation was so clear that there was no doubt she had said her first word. Okay, so Trung gets the first Chinese word, maybe I'll get lucky and get the first English word. :P

Lydia has also been able to hold up her head for several seconds now during "tummy time". I've been trying to help her to raise her head and turn it from side to side, but last night, she just raised her head on her own. She was all looking around, showing off what she can now do. That's my girl!

Sleeping through the night

This morning when Lydia woke up, I thought that it was still about 3 AM; I don't really know the time until I check my cell phone next to my bed. Well, when I checked my phone, I was delighted to find that it was 5:37 AM...my little one has finally learned to sleep through the night. It has been nice getting the extra sleep, but I've been waking up in the middle of the night lately due to some unusual dreams, so I haven't been been able to fully enjoy the sleep. Before coming to Houston on the 5th, I used to sleep until 11 AM AND take an afternoon nap because my body was not used to waking up several times during the night. Okay, this is coming from someone who used to sleep no less than eight hours a day and averaged about nine hours of sleep while pregnant. Since starting training, however, I've been able to wake up between 8 and 9:30 AM (depending on what time the baby gets up) and stay up for the rest of the day.

Trung and I are truly fortunate to have a good baby. Just about everyone that has met Lydia has commented about how good she is; I think she gets it from Trung. :) She never cries to have her diaper changed, so it's usually for attention, for food, or for sleep. It's even easier at night...she's just hungry, though I do change her diaper while I'm at it. She's so good that I'm afraid the next baby is going to be a real booger. :P Oh well, I'm just going to enjoy this while it lasts and deal with the next one when the time comes.

Ah-ha, caught in the act of sucking her thumb! She woke up when the flash went off and responded with this...

Plays and dances

Tonight I went to Jocelyn's Thanksgiving play at her daycare. The performance was short, but sweet; she was adorable as a little Indian. After the performance, I dashed home to watch the last half of the Dancing with the Stars finale. Just this afternoon during lunch, I had discussed with my friend Anne that I thought Emmitt should win. Well, what do you know... the Cowboy did win...yeah! Sorry, Mario, you've got really cute dimples, but Emmitt's just got it all. :)

So, it has been a bit chilly, so I bundled up the baby in a nice warm fleece blanket...
She's pink and full of goodness. *muah*

Talking and sleeping like a baby

Lydia has been babbling a lot lately. Just a couple days ago, I was talking to Trung on the phone and Lydia kept interrupting us. I had to finally just give her the phone and let her talk it out with daddy. She only really talks when we're at home or at my parents' house; she talks the most when she's very content (after waking up and eating).

The baby did so great her first week of training. She slept until 4 AM or after (though not always straight through) everyday except one day, when she woke up at 3 AM. It's almost as if she knew that she needed to be sleeping longer the very day I started training. Lydia likes to prove me wrong too...every time I think she doesn't get enough to eat during the night, she ends up sleeping just a little longer than normal. Just today, she did not eat as much during her 4:30 AM feeding and I was all like "you're going to wake up at 7 AM" rather than 8 AM. Well, she didn't end up waking up until 10 AM!! I woke up at 9 AM panicked, thinking that maybe she slid down her sleeping pad, under a blanket and couldn't breathe. When I checked on her, she was squirming around, but still very fast asleep. WHEW!

We are family!

I am trying to organize the pictures in the blog a bit, so you may think you're seeing "repeat" pictures, but I'm actually just moving them around. For some reason, ever since I've been in Houston, I cannot seem to move the pictures around within the post, so it is a hassle when the pictures download out of order. Oh, and it doesn't help that everything is in Chinese; good thing I remembered all the links based on their locations.

So anyhow, Lydia and I have hung with Jimmy's family everyday this week. I would like to think that Jason and Jocelyn have grown a certain fondness for Lydia. Jocelyn has been helpful by giving the baby her pacifier whenever she gets irritated or whenever it drops.
Here's my brother Mike on his moving day. He had been staying at my parents' house since his return, but moved out last night to a friend's townhome in downtown Houston because it will be closer to work, which he will start on Monday. He will be missed, though I'm sure we'll still see him often since he loves my mom's cooking.

Last night Lydia slept until 5 AM, her longest stretch yet! She actually woke up at 2 AM, which is earlier than usual. Well, I did what the nurse practicioner said and waited fifteen minutes before going to her. I only ended needing to wait ten minutes because Lydia fell asleep again. I am so proud of her, and she will continue to improve from now on. Yay! Oh, and when I picked her up at 5 AM, she was sucking her little thumb.

There has always been a debate whether or not to let a baby suck his/her thumb or to give a pacifier instead. Pacifiers fall out easily and babies will cry until someone puts it back in their mouths, but they can be taken away when the child gets older. Thumbs are useful because the babies always have them if they need them to suck on something, but they are harder to wean the child off of. Okay, so I was going the pacifier route...it was tough having to get up at night to stick the pacifier back in Lydia's mouth, but nowadays, she doesn't cry for it as much; well, that's because she's found her thumb. Ah, the good ole thumb, that's how I've been getting all that sleep! So, as you can see, it's a toss up. I think I'll start her off with the pacifier when I put her to sleep for the night and just let her suck on her thumb/hand during the night...it seemed to work last night!

Pictures Galore

I've posted a bunch of new pictures throughout the last few blogs, so make sure to scroll down and check them out! :)

Cuteness

Babies truly radiate cuteness; here's a picture with Grandpa Lee: and a picture of Lydia in what I like to call her "Orphan Annie" outfit...
Here's me and the baby!
Okay, so Lydia has always used her purple and pink pacifier because it was more bulb shaped and longer, so easier to grip. Well, I was at my brother Jimmy's house the other day and couldn't find the baby's pacifier, so I had to use the spare flat-shaped pacifier that I always keep in her diaper bag. And what do you know...she was all sucking on it as though she had been sucking it since day one. It's really cute because it lays pretty flat against her cheeks, so it looks like she's got a flower on her mouth. Here, see for yourself...

Shopaholics

Lydia and I have been shopping at the mall these last couple of days...what can I say, you've got to start them young. hee hee. Yesterday we went with Mike to Memorial City Mall and had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen and today we went by ourselves to the same mall after having lunch with Grandpa. We paid White House Black Market a few visits because after all, it is one of Mommy's favorite stores. I was hoping that being out a little while would get Lydia really tired for her nap when we got home, but instead she was extremely restless. She would only sleep 10-15 minutes at a time and would wake up very upset. I guess it didn't help that her rowdy cousins were over for dinner either. Well, Lydia finally got some rest laying on top of me as I watched Dancing with the Stars. Speaking of which, it was a three way tie so it's going to be a close call. I personally think Mario needs to go because he's always been good and hasn't really "improved". Anyhow, so I learned my lesson and am only going to go out for a few hours at a time, so my little one can get some rest. This motherhood thing sure is an experience and I sure am loving it!

I got to talk to Trung this morning at 8:30 AM our time, 10:30 PM his time. Poor guy's luggage didn't get transfered, so he had to wear his traveling clothes to work. Well, at least he finally got it and is getting plenty of sleep, considering the lack of sleep with the baby. The good thing is, by the time he gets back, the baby should be sleeping until at least 4 PM and will soon be sleeping through the night. I can't wait for that, but especially for Trung to come home. He's only been gone for a couple days, but I miss him immensely. I think my hormones are still out of whack too. :P

Back in Houston

After being away from my parent's home in Houston for almost four years, I am back again in my old room, except this time with my baby girl. It has been awfully nice getting to hang out with my entire family everyday; we haven't been in the same city in a very long time.

Getting to this point was quite an adventure...let's begin with Saturday early afternoon. Trung and I were running a little behind schedule in driving off to Dallas for Jasmine's wedding when our neighbors, Jonathan and Grace, came over to watch Lydia before our Calvin picked her up to take her to Houston. We got to Richardson just in the nick of time and would have been late had we not changed our clothes in the parking lot of the church. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a blast at the reception, um, at least what I could remember...hee hee. Congratulations to our friends Jasmine and Trey!

So, we had a great time and ended up getting to the hotel and sleeping at 12:30 PM. Our wake-up call was at 5:15 AM because Trung's flight to China from DFW was at 8 AM Sunday. After dropping Trung off, I headed for Houston. I arrived at my parent's house at 10:30 AM with no caffeine, which was surprising because I thought I would need a venti coffee at Starbucks. I guess these last two months of staying up with the baby helped me out.

While Trung and I were trying to get some sleep in Dallas, where's what was going on in Houston:
When I got to Houston, my brother Mike made me some lunch and then I headed to bed. I didn't get much sleep since Lydia was restless, but we ended up sleeping at 9 PM that night. Lydia slept for the longest time ever...6 hours, but 7 hours if you include the occasional whimpering. She must have known that I was exhausted or something, she's such a great baby! :) Oh, so Lydia turned two months old yesterday and is 11 pounds and 24 inches tall. She had her two month old shots on Friday and did wonderful considering that she got four shots and and oral dose. Now I've got to train her these next couple weeks to sleep through the night. It's going to be hard, but someone's got to do it...it's probably a good thing that Trung is in China because he's a sucker for her cries. :P

Unemployment

Today I am officially unemployed. The head HR lady called me today and asked if I knew if I was returning to work or not. Though I was going to e-mail everyone later today or maybe even Friday (since I've got until the 18th to notify the company), I decided to go ahead and tell her that I was going to be a stay at home mom. She took it very well and asked that I still send something in writing. Well, I sent her and some other folks an e-mail and within the hour, my access to company e-mail was caput. So long...farewell!

After sending the e-mail, I was looking at Lydia and decided that I truly was glad to stay home with her. Only I can raise my child the way I want, ya know? Anyhow, here's a picture of my mom giving Lydia a bath this past weekend. Looks like Grandma is going to be bathing her during our Houston stay, which is totally fine with me :)Lydia really does love taking baths even though she's got a weird look on her face. Hmmm, maybe it's because Grandma made her hair all funky.