Hoover Junior

One of Ed’s nicknames is Hoover because he can eat a lot. We’ve nicknamed Sophia "Hoover Junior" because she’s inherited Ed’s appetite. We started giving Sophia baby cereal when she was five months and pureed foods when she was six months. She has been an enthusiastic eater right from the beginning and has not been picky. She has her favourites - yam, sweet potato, pear, apple, and yogurt. She’s not too thrilled with potato, brocolli and parsnip but as long as I mix them with one of her faves, she’ll eat it. I was told to let the baby decide how much to eat, so one day, I kept giving her food until she turned her face away. She finished four bowls of food - that’s about 350-400ml of food! Sometimes I wonder how she can barely weigh 16lbs when she eats so much.

The past few weeks, I’ve been giving her chunkier foods and cut up fruits. She handles them fine, with the occassional gagging. She definitely has more fun when she uses her hands to feed herself. She still hasn’t figured out that she should put the spoon into her mouth. I load up the spoon with food and hand it to her but instead of taking the spoon, she picks up the food with her fingers and shoves it into her mouth. Hey, whatever works!

Yummy papaya!

Sophia and Neo waiting for lunch.

Heavy heart

My heart is heavy and I cry with sadness. My dear friend Kathleen “Dayday” Joseph passed away today from cancer. I am so lucky to have known her. Her heart was always full of love and kindness. Her smile brightened our world.

I met her on our first day of high school. I can’t even remember how we became friends. I would go to her house, sometimes, after school to hang out. One day, I heard Dayday’s mom say to her “I love you dear” and Day responded “I love you too Mom”. I was stunned because I really thought they only did that in movies. I love you’s were never spoken at my house. But at Dayday’s house, you felt the love they had for each other.

I visited Manila in Oct 2006 and Feb 2008. I saw Dayday both times. We had lunch a few times in 2006 and she was pregnant with her second son, Pio. In 2008, I went over to their condo and spent the afternoon with her and her boys. We went to a green market nearby and bought fruits and vegetables. A few months later, she was diagnosed with cancer for the second time. She had beaten it once before and we were all hopeful that she’d do it again. Fuck cancer.

Rest now, my dear Dayday. Your friendship was such a gift. Thank you and I love you!

Sunny spring day

It was so beautiful outside; the sun was shining and it wasn’t very cold at all.  So I laid out a big sheet onto the grass in front of our townhouse and enjoyed the sunshine with Sophia.

She's wearing a hand-me-down Lululemon jacket (thanks, Joshie and mommy Yvette!). The hat is a hand-me-down, too.  Thanks to my girlfriends for helping dress my baby in such cute outfits.  :)

SAHM

The use of acronyms in baby forums is quite common, so much so there are websites that explain what these acronyms mean. DH = dear husband, DD = dear daughter, BF = breastfeeding, BM = breast milk, and so on. The other day, I saw SAHM in a baby forum and couldn’t figure it out so I googled it. SAHM = stay at home mom!

It dawned on me that I am currently a SAHM (ha, I’m using the acronym!). I have not thought of myself as such because I am on my year-long maternity leave and the Canadian government is paying me to stay home. But my days revolve around caring for my baby, at home. So I guess that makes me a SAHM.

The first six months of Sophia’s life, there wasn’t much predictability to our days. We loosely followed a 3-hour cycle for feeding and sleeping but we didn’t get out of bed or go to sleep at a specific times. The length of her naps would vary quite a bit, too. I’d wait for Sophia to start whining or crying to tell me when she’s hungry or sleepy and I responded accordingly. I would also get out of the house often and take Sophia along. She napped in the baby carrier, car seat or stroller and I fed her whenever she got hungry, wherever we were.

When she turned six months, we trained Sophia to fall asleep on her own and established a routine for her. Nowadays, this is how our routine usually goes:
- wake up at around 7am
- around 8am, feed her cereal and fruit, then it’s playtime
- around 9:15am, time for morning nap (usually an hour long)
- playtime or a quick trip to the supermarket down the street then around 11:45am, lunch is served
- more playtime then around 1:30pm, time for afternoon nap (around 1.5 to 2 hours)
- go outside for a walk or play inside when rainy, then between 5:15 and 6:00 (depending on what time she woke up from her nap), dinner time
- between 6:15 and 7:00pm, start bathtime and bedtime routine
- between 7:15 and 8:00pm, bedtime and lights out

When we were starting to establish this routine during the sleep and nap training, it was me who had a hard time accepting it because it tied me down to the house too much. Sadly, I stopped going to the baby story time at the library down the street and the mommy/baby group sessions at our local community centre because they conflicted with Sophia’s nap times. But I’ve come to accept that for now, fitting our excursions around her nap times and following the routine are best for Sophia. The length of her naps are finally getting consistent. I realize too that I only have a few more months before I go back to work and I should just enjoy the time I am at home with her. My days of being a SAHM will be over too soon. Unless we win the lottery....

Here are photos of Sophia enjoying meal time and playtime:

Sophia at 7 months

While we were in Trinidad, Sophia learned to get herself from the laying down position to the sitting position.  I woke up one morning and found her sitting up in her crib.  When she saw me looking at her, she smiled at me and clapped her hands.  At first, she wasn't very good at getting herself back to the laying down position.  One day, she sat up in her crib, got sleepy and just folded over to fall asleep.  So cute.

Here is a picture with granddad.  The main reason we wanted to visit Trinidad was for Ed's dad to spend time with Sophia.

By the time we left Trinidad, Sophia had begun to crawl and pull herself up to standing.  Once we got back to Vancouver, we had to install baby gates in our house right away.  I've been teaching her how to safely get down from standing but she usually hangs on for dear life until I come and help her down.  I'm sure she'll figure it out soon.