Meeting Mercy Thi!

Here is Derek getting up close and personal with cousin Mercy Thi (only a few days old here!). Congrats to my brother, Phi and sis-in-law, Mary Margaret. He looks so big next to her. He had come to greet her at Sibley but wasn't allowed in the room since he wasn't a sibling unfortunately. That's OK, he looks just as happy here to see her. He'll have to share the spotlight of cute Dinh baby with her, but that's totally great. Looking forward to them growing up together.

Time with Lola

Continued St. Patty's Day Fun

This baby loves parties. We made it to his Bac Uyen's House for her annual St. Patty's Day Party. He was passed around for a good 4 hours while I enjoyed eating with two hands and sitting in my sisters very nice massage chair. Here he is with my mom and Minh Chau's in-laws, Co Chu Thanh (great aunt and uncle, if you will).

Trying out the jumperoo

Adding -eroo as a suffix to everything is my favorite. I like to schedule "Luncheroo" on my calender. I got Mike a magnet from Australia that said "Hugaroo" - another perennial favorite. So its fitting that Dek will follow this trend and begin bouncing in the jumperoo. Not quite 5 months yet, his legs are dangling a bit - but we cushioned him with a pillow as he explores all his toys and such.

First St. Patty's Day!

So know that this is the second outfit that Dek had for St. Patty's day. He spent all of 2 hours in his "my First St. Patty's Day" onesie before pooing all over it. That's my boy! We did try to take him down to the neighborhood Irish pub, P. Brennan's. It was a mob scene there and we ended up eating next door at the Thai joint. Here he is after dinner just hanging out before bedtime. And no, he did not get into a bar fight. He scratched his face up this week. We got him some stronger eczema cream and clipped those long fingernails yet again.

Four Months Old!

                                                                Yum this hand is good.

Hello everyone....

                                                         Ooooh, look at my neck strength.

                                                                Smiling lots now.

Here are some action shots of Dek at four months old! He went in for his four month visit to the pediatrician this week. Here are his stats:
75th percentile for weight (15.9 lbs)
90th percentile for height (25 3/4 inches)
90th percentile for head circumference (17 1/2 inches).

Our boy is growing! He's had a pretty rash of ezcema due to my diet. I've gone on an extreme elimination diet to help him stop breaking out in a major rash. Its totally ridiculous.

No dairy
No nuts
No shellfish
No eggs
No wheat

Basically nothing good. There was ice cream cake at work today and I almost cried giving it up. I'm so selfish. Anyway, more about Derek instead of me.

He's cooing and giggling lots. He's learning to play peek-a-boo. He still hasn't rollover all the way, only to one side. He's enjoying "jumping" and "standing" lots and is quite the squirmy guy now. He's such a loveable and happy baby.  We've also got the night time routine down more regularly so that we're all getting some sleep (this will probably last for 3-4 days). We're so lucky. This baby is awesome.

Dek and Aiden

Boysssssss! Here is Dek with 6 week old Aiden. Ja'Net is a wonderful old pal of mine. Its great to get the boys to hang and share tips on how to keep their moms from sleeping.

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With Ms. Sharon - our hypnobirthing/yoga instructor.

Here is Dek with the amazing Ms. Sharon. She was my hypnobirth & Prenatal Yoga instructor and also taught the Itsy Bitsy Yoga class for babies that we took these last few months.

For all those that laughed at my hippie notions of natural childbirth - behold - this is the woman that helped me and Derek do it! She's runs several pregnancy related classes in this little Alexandria Yoga Studio. You can learn more about her from www.yogabirthandbeyond.com.

For those that I haven't regaled of my tale of birth, here are some highlights. I was in labor for almost a whole 24 hours before I finally "gave in" to going to the hospital. I thought about walking in the rain since sitting still was probably the toughest thing. Despite the fact I was going to break anyone's arm that tried to put an IV/epidural/anything interventionist near me during labor - turns out I had a very normal, natural progression of labor, so all those extraordinary measures were never necessary. Plus I had a fabulous Doula, Ellen and Mike at my side helping me through. All that support was really key. Sharon gave me so much good information on what to expect and how to advocate for the birth that I wanted. Dek was such a good baby even in the womb - that he gave me breaks during labor and made good progress so the doctors never worried about him. I could have done without the 2 hours of pushing at the end, but he did make his way out 100% naturally and since then our adventure has only gotten better. I feel that alot of the endless breathing exercises I practiced during pregnancy still help him fall asleep while he's laying on top of me.

On our last day of class, Ms. Sharon joked to me to "get pregnant again and come see me again soon!". I don't know how soon it will be, but having her all those months of pregnancy was wonderful to know and understand what would be coming my way.

Look at that indie baby!

Another picture from Dek's Cali adventure as I finally get the photos sorted through. I feel like we overdo it in this digital age. Anyways, Fingerprints is Mike's FAVORITE used CD shop in Long Beach. He used to go here all the time growing up. When we got there - turns out they had moved! They are in a newer and nicer space but we didn't get to dig through the dollar bin since those CDs weren't unpacked yet. Who even buys CDs anymore.

Here is Dek being a good sport about CD shopping though his main interests are still drooling, waking up in the middle of the night (which he's getting better at not doing!) and grasping onto your finger.

Getting help from Great Grandma

Enjoying quality time with 95 year old great grandma. How lucky is Dek to get to see her all the time.

Afternoon Yoga Class

This is our main Tuesday afternoon class and it was dominated by Girls! Here he is with Chloe, Amy Lee & Annie.

This is funny because we were trying to resort and he was still just hanging out up there.












Another baby joins the fray!






Too cute.

Frog Action

How awesome is this hat that Dek's Band Auntie Audrey got for him. He's out and about alot with us so alot of these silly shots are of him in his car seat. Don't worry though, we stick close to home so the car trips are not too long.

Unfortunately this past weekend he had his first HIGH fever ever. 103.5! For such a small baby, this is potentially dangerous so he was off to urgent care who then refered him to the Hospital. We were there all night due to all kinds of hijinx, but in the end he is OK. The issue is for young infants (under 6 months), they have to do a pretty in depth work up. They needed a blood count to see if his white blood count was elevated. He got his nose swabbed and a cathether up his weiner (ouch!).

I kid you not the following people tried to poke him for blood.

- 5 ER nurses
- the ER Doctor himself
- 1 pediatric nurse

They tried both his feet. A heel stick. Both arms, his wrist. It was horrifying to watch. The ER doctor got a sample from his wrist but they claimed that the blood had clotted, so they needed another sample. Finally they were about to just send him home b/c his fever had come down with some tylenol (inserted rectally unfortunately) - the peds nurse got a heel stick (where they actually cut your heel and push out blood) to work. I felt so bad for him, everytime he was about to fall asleep, they'd wake him up and start feeling around for a vein.

Aaaaaah. So frustrating. He slept all Sunday and is now on the mend. Phew. First fever over.

Yogi Derek Graduates

Here is Derek "graduating" from his Itsy Bitsy Yoga class. He attended two classes on this particular day so wait for more "graduation" photos from his other main class. He even got a certificate declaring him a Yogi of Itsy Bitsy Yoga.

Itsy Bitsy Yoga is just a fun thing (though I'm sure I hear the snickers everywhere of what-kind-of-weirdo-hippie-something) that I signed us up for these last few months. It was taught by Sharon, my Hypnobirth and Prenatal Yoga instructor and I found it to be very cool. Mostly just to meet other new moms who are also concerned about sleeping, breastfeeding, solid foods, pooing, etc. Good to hear from others so that you know that your fussy baby isn't the only one. The nice thing too is that they taught infant massage so on some days after class Derek would actually nap for 3 hours. I kid you not. It only happened a few times, but it was a thing of beauty and awe.

With Cali Lolos and Such

With Great Tito/Lolo Pete

With Great Tita/Lola Nila

Eating Vietnamese Food in Cali (of course)

More on Dek's adventure to the West Coast visiting Mike's enormous family. We were able to gather up 4 uncles (Tito Pete, Tito Raul, Tito Ramon, and Tito Ding) and 3 cousins (Shelly, Tanya and Sarah)  in all.  It was fabulous! 

Archer Pose!

Derek went through this 2 week phase where he kept putting his arm up in "salute".  He looks so serious too when he does it. We were at Itsy Bitsy Yoga class when the instructor claimed what a nice archer pose.  Well that's much nicer than thinking he's a Nazi.  Also, though Derek isn't teething yet, he's almost outgrown this onesie. This is probably 1 of 3 things Mike and I actually bought for him. We got it while visiting Cape Cod last year. We've been so lucky inheriting so many hand-me-downs, that we haven't bought him very much stuff.  

Flying the Friendly Skies

 

 

Here is Dek's first foray into the world of aviation. His first flight was on Virgin America - IAD to LAX. He did wonderfully! Even the flight attendants loved him. He mostly napped and just was overall chill.