2-month Old Well Check

Today was baby Kara's 2 month old pediatrician appointment. It was also the start of the many immunization shots baby Kara had to take. As usual, the nurse checked baby Kara's weight and height. She weighed 9 lbs 15 oz and measured 23 inches tall. Dr Mc Cormick came in to check baby Kara's developmental progress including her physical check. Everything checked out well and now time for her shots! At 2 months, baby Kara was scheduled to take 5 shots plus 1 oral! After Dr Mc Cormick left, the nurse came back in with all the shots ready on a tray. Baby Kara was placed on the exam bed and the nurse started her with the oral vaccination (for rotavirus) in a form of a sugary syrup. Baby Kara, not knowing what's to come, enjoyed the syrup very much. She was making loud slurping/licking noises with her tongue. It was quite cute to see. If she only knew what was coming. After she finished the syrup, the nurse had mama Lyanne hold baby Kara's arms down firm on the exam bed while the nurse gave 2 needle shots on one leg and 3 on the other, all back to back. Each needle poke came with a loud painful cry from baby Kara. It was so loud that it made mama Lyanne teared up. That was when mama Lyanne decided that papa Matt should take the responsibility of holding baby Kara down on her next appointment. After the last shot, we were cleared to go home and baby Kara calmed down shortly after. The 5 shots made baby Kara very tired and she napped 4 hrs straight.

Kara and her Play Mat

Auntie Betty bought baby Kara a play mat. She loves the mat and keeps her active and excited. Baby Kara's favorite toys are the mirror, rattler and the soft stuffed happy face toy. The mirror was a great way to bring out her social skills. She loves looking at the mirror because she thinks she's talking to another baby. She gets excited every time she's on the play mat. So much that she flails her arms and kicks her legs...a great workout tool! The rattler and the soft happy face toys hang low enough that she can touch them during her wild flailing and kicking. And when she does touch them, they make noises which makes her get excited all over again. Eventually, it will encourage her to learn how to reach out with her hands and fingers to grab the toys. All in all, it's a great developmental toy.

Papa Matt came by to distract baby Kara. But that's ok because baby Kara loves the human interaction. She's very attentive, curious, and loves to chat with anyone who talks to her. It's so cute to hear her baby talk!

Pizza Night at Uncle Ton and Auntie Jane's

Today was 'pizza night' at uncle Ton and Auntie Jane's apt. Uncle Mike and Auntie Jenny was also there. It was Auntie Jenny's first time seeing baby Kara.

After eating a humongous pizza, mama Lyanne had to change baby Kara's diaper. While doing so, uncle Mike was also lying on the floor next to baby Kara, so he took a head shot just to show how tiny baby Kara's head is compared to uncle Mike's head. After seeing that, we couldn't resist but to add cousin Ellie to the snap shot. Cousin Ellie, at 6.5 months, did not want to lie down and auntie Jane had to hold her down for the picture.

After a clean diaper and a full belly, baby Kara is fast asleep on uncle Mike. It was nice and cozy!

Baby Kara Found her Thumb!

For awhile, baby Kara have been sucking pretty much all of her 4 fingers except her thumb. Just today, baby Kara found her thumb! There's a chinese old saying that if a baby suck on its thumb, that means that the baby loves the father more. And if the baby suck the index finger, then that means that the baby loves the mother more. Since baby Kara seems to be sucking both her thumb and index finger, as well as the other 3 fingers, does that mean she loves both mommy and daddy? Also, baby Kara doesn't just suck on one finger at a time. No, no. She goes for 2, 3 and sometimes 4 fingers all at once!

Kara Time!

Baby Kara is one week away from 2 months old! During the day time, mama Lyanne brings Kara down stairs with her portable day bed. Where ever Kara goes, the bed goes with her. It's almost like a 2nd home for her. She doesn't leave the bed unless she needs to feed, diaper change, bath or just being picked up by mama Lyanne or papa Matt for play/stimulation time.

Kara's first time sitting on her own (with the help of extra blankets by her tummy and gravity of course).

Papa Matt came home from work to play with baby Kara. He talks to baby Kara in Cantonese and baby Kara would smile and respond with her baby talk. "A-goo-wa" and "ah-wa" are her famous lines when she's happy and satisfied.

Kara's First Hike

We started our day very very early in the morning. Baby Kara must be very excited about her first hike because she woke mama and papa Wong up at 4am in the morning. Baby Kara had time to feed and take a bath before heading out of the house close to 6am. Their first hike was at Joshua Tree National Park, which was approximately 2.5 to 3 hrs long. Mama Lyanne and baby Kara got a good nap during the car ride.

We arrived at the park close to 830am and met up with Uncle Vythia, Auntie Pushan, cousin Zoe, Uncle Mike, Auntie Jennifer (Herrera), Uncle Ton, Auntie Jane and cousin Elle. Just when we were ready to start our hike, mama Lyanne realized that she was very unprepared. Mama Lyanne didn't bring any sunscreen, carrier backpack or a sun hat for baby Kara. Thankfully, Auntie Jane was extra prepared! She had everything mama Lyanne forgot to bring. The cloth wrap and sun hat (shown in the picture below) was from Auntie Jane, and of course sunscreen was applied to baby Kara. At first, we tried the cloth wrap on papa Matt, but it wasn't comfy enough for baby Kara so we switched to mama Lyanne. Mama Lyanne was able to keep baby Kara comfortable. Within a few minutes into the walk, baby Kara fell asleep from the soothing rock of mama Lyanne's walk.

On the first hike, it was the mommies with the babies. Even though it was still early in the morning, around 9am, mama Lyanne made sure that baby Kara was fully shaded from the sun. She even found a way to tuck baby Kara's legs in the cloth wrap. By the 2nd hike, it was the daddy's turn to carry the babies. It took papa Matt a while to get used to the wrap and keep baby Kara comfortable at the same time. Once he got the hang of it, papa Matt was happy that he can also bond with baby Kara just as mama Lyanne did on the first hike.

By afternoon, baby Kara resorted back to her car seat and stroller because the walking path was smooth enough for wheels. Plus, it would be too hot to carry her on the cloth wrap.

Mama and papa Wong didn't focus too much attention on taking pictures of wild flowers, but below are a few taken by Uncle Mike. We ended our hike around 230pm to head back to Alhambra for papa Matt's Sacristan duty and to visit Yee-Po.

Picnic with Auntie Jane, Uncle Ton and Uncle Mike

Today was a busy, but fun day for the Wong family. Early in the morning, everyone was awake by 630 am. Baby Kara had her bath shortly after breastfeeding from mama Lyanne. Everyone was dressed and ready to leave the door by 9am. Papa Matt had to be at UCLA by 10am for his co-chair duties for the UCLA Freshmen Scholarship Interviews. When they got to UCLA, mama Lyanne was so tired that she decided to take a nap in the parking lot before meeting Auntie Jane and Uncle Ton, since it was still early. Mama Lyanne had a good 45 mins of nap time. 

After that, she headed over to Auntie Jane and Uncle Ton's apartment to play with cousin Ellie while papa Matt was at UCLA interviewing students for the Scholarship Program. When mama Lyanne and baby Kara arrived at their apartment, Uncle Mike was already there greeting mama Lyanne and baby Kara as she parked the car. The first half hour or so, baby Kara was still asleep from her 8am feeding. But shortly after that, baby Kara was awake and everyone got to play with her. Auntie Jane wanted to use the sling on baby Kara.  

Soon after that, papa Matt was done with his volunteer co-chair duty and was ready to be picked up. Uncle Ton drove to UCLA to pick papa Matt up, because mama Lyanne was busy feeding baby Kara at the time.  When papa Matt arrived at Uncle Ton's and Auntie Jane's apartment, it was the perfect time for burping.

After Ellie woke up from her nap, it was picnic time!  We took 2 cars.  Uncle Mike did not want to ride with baby Kara, so he split up Auntie Jane and cousin Ellie.  Cousin Ellie must have missed her mommy because she cried the entire car ride. For the picnic, we went to Auntie Jane's work, the Kinross building at UCLA. They have a small grass area, giving it a private VIP feel to our picnic, because no one else was around except for us!

During lunch, the grass area had no shade so we ate at the tables where it was still shaded. As we ate by the tables, the shade slowly went away, and the grass area slowly became shadier, thanks to the fence providing the shade. The weather was hot in the sun, but cool enough in the shade. It was a perfect day for a picnic! We all got to relax on the grass. Uncle Mike got a chance to feed baby Kara and gave her a little bit of belly time, while cousin Ellie was enjoying her toy on her daddy's lap! 

Shortly after, the Wong family headed over to Alhambra so papa Matt can do his weekly Sacristan volunteer duty. Normally, they would go visit Great Yee-Ma at least an hour before church. However, since papa Matt was running late, he drove mama Lyanne and baby Kara straight to church and decided to visit Great Yee-Ma afterwards. After church, they headed over to Great Yee-Ma's house and found that she wasn't at her house, but was at Uncle Ho's house eating dinner with the family. When they arrived at the house, baby Kara was sound asleep. Great Yee-Ma and Great Auntie Winnie waited patiently for baby Kara to wake up so they can play with her. However, after 30-45 minutes of chatting with Great Yee-Ma, Great Auntie Winnie and Great Uncle Ho, baby Kara was still sound asleep! Even Great Yee-Ma was surprised that baby Kara slept through the loud TV noise and people chatting. By 8pm, Great Yee-Ma told us to go home knowing that baby Kara wouldn't be waking up any time soon. Sure enough, she slept the whole ride home!