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.