Awwww

I love watching my 2 boys sleep next to each other. It turneth my heart into mush.

Thank you Auntie Yurika and Uncle Steven!

Look what came in the mail today! And look why it took so long to get here!

I liked my card VERY much I opened one eye so I could read it! Mom says you made her laugh Auntie Yurika! And she says don't worry because as you can see ... I'm a BOY!

Thank you both very much for thinking of me, and I hope you get to meet me someday soon!
Saving lots of slobbery kisses and burpies just for you,
Aiden

Rockstar

7th First outing

On the 7th I had my very first outing! I ventured to the far and distant land of the lake! Godmother and godfather came to show their support and we had a grand time! 

Here is godmother. She just can't get over how cute I am!

Awwwww, such a good lookin' family! :P

The next photos are full of mushy gushy lovey dovey feelings! She really couldn't get over me! I really am gonna be a chick magnet! (shhhh ... don't get mad ... Papa tells me that all the time, so it must be true!)

xoxo

~~~~~ So happy to be alive  ~~~~

 ~~~lalallalala~~~

 Oh so tender!

 The happiness continues .... 

... until she found a piece of dust on my face and was horrified

If you haven't been paying attention AT ALL ... this one here is my mama. Just cause there aren't so many pictures of her compared to godmother ... pay attention next time! 

Enter ... the godfather!

Pimpin' it!

Chillin'! (psssst ... take a look at my face! I'm a pro yo!)

They just wish I was theirs ... 

Godfather teaching me some strong posing!

Papa time!

When I grow up, I'm gonna be just like dad!

But for now, I just want to sleep!

Mama wanted to show off my stroller. Because she's my mama and I love her, I'm letting her.

So that's what happened on my first day out. It was perfect weather, and papa got sunburnt! I had a great adventure at a beautiful place with my favorite people (Mama and Papa), and got to know my godparents some more! I think I could get used to this place they call 'outside'.

Maybe I will try it again!

5 week checkup

On the 20th we took our Papoosie for a 5 week checkup. The only reason why we went was because the last time we took him the doctor told us he was too small to measure. I think they just wanted to see the baby again because he was so cute hehehe. But I'm not complaining: it was another opportunity to chart his growth and see how big he's gotten.
At 5 weeks:
Weight: 3,600 grams.
Height: 51 cm (which means that in 5 weeks he's grown 4 cm!)
Head circumference: 35 (has grown 2 cm in 5 weeks)

He also has a belly button hernia, which apparently is quite common in preemie babies. It can take up to a year or two for the belly button to go in like normal, but I'm really hoping it doesn't take that long and that it becomes a normal belly by around 3 months. It never hurts to hope.

It's been getting much much warmer ... no scratch that. It's been getting HOT (ummm hello, but what happened to SPRING?) ... and the doctor encouraged grandma to not bundle him so much. YAY! Cause no matter what we've been saying whenever she takes the baby she can't help but bundle him in at least 2 blankets and 3 layers of clothes. Now he goes around with just 2 layers and 1 blanket!

It's amazing how fast my baby is growing! Our next appointment is June 15th, when he is going to get his 2nd batch of vaccinations. This is such a controversial subject for me. Growing up in the Family I didn't get any vaccinations, and neither did my friends, or most of the kids I took care of. I've heard so many horror stories about vaccinations going wrong, and the point of getting vaccinated is so you don't have to have the sickness ... but I had most of the childhood diseases while I was young, and once you get them you never get them again (unless ur damn unlucky and then you MIGHT get it again), so it was just get sick and get it over with along with your whole class ... kind of a deal. But Como-kun hasn't grown up that way, has gotten all vaccinations, and to his family it was kind of a foregone conclusion that the baby would get them. Even when I was pregnant the docs and nurses at appointments were always shocked to hear I hadn't gotten a single shot as a kid. Aaaaaaaanyway .... I know some of them he probably should get because we live in a ... not so clean environment and there are sicknesses here that do not exist in Japan. (And more germs ... maybe? :D)
But I just don't want to subject him to shots every month for every kind of vaccination in the book just because the doctors recommend them. I know some he won't need ... but not being able to talk directly to the docs because of the language barrier really hampers communication. And Ardit thinks we should just give them all to him ... so what to do?
I guess the most right now is just hope and pray real hard that I/baby doesn't become one of the sob stories you hear about.

1 month old!

My Papoosie is 1 whole month old today! Time really flies and he is growing so much!

So far I have to say there haven't been any huge surprises. The time I spent taking care of kids is all just coming back to me, and I've gotta say I'm very thankful that I have been 'prepared'. Even breastfeeding was an easy transition. The first few days were tough because everything hurt and adding my boobs to the mix was just an extra burden for me, but within a week my milk had come in, my nipples 'toughened up', and everything was ok.

Even waking up in the night isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. It's only this past week that he has started really crying his head off (thankfully, he rarely does it during the night). I was very worried that I wouldn't be able to wake up to feed him, but I've only slept through his whimpering once or twice! And thankfully, the times when I am too tired to get up Ardit has been there to get up and fed him. Funny thing though: he is totally fine with feeding the baby (We bottle-fed him pumped milk for the first 3 weeks because Papoosie was too small to latch on properly) but he refuses (good-naturedly, but still refuses) to change his diaper. So if it's Ardit's 'turn' to wake up with the baby I will still get up for 5 minutes or so just to change him :D.

Actually one thing that took my by surprise: the amount of food I need to get through the day. Technically its only a little more than the amount I was supposed to get while pregnant, but I was sick for 6 out of 8 months of pregnancy so suddenly needing so much food to get through the day and being constantly hungry has taken me by surprise. I need 5 servings of protein/calcium a day, so I'm constantly snacking on yogurt, nuts, drinking milk (trying soy milk too!) besides my meals when I get meat and fish etc. It's somehow more physical and tangible than when I was pregnant. Because I know it was important to eat well while pregnant but somehow I couldn't 'see' results of what I was eating. But now I really see and feel effects of the food I eat. If I have a bad food day and somehow there is less milk I get super worried that I'll dry up (even though food actually doesn't have any direct affect to the amount of milk produced ... unless I go on a fast or something). Anyway, all my pregnant friends ... something to think about and prepare yourself for once the baby comes! I mean I guess you are all already eating healthy and the shiz ... but I had a hard time eating when preggers so its just been a new thing for me.

Starting today I put him on the cloth diapers we had bought for him. He was too small to use them when he first came out, but I wanted to try to see if he had grown enough for them ... and so far so good! It's only been his first day so we'll see how it goes but I'm liking it so far! It's amazing how much it seems he's grown! Hopefully we will be able to stop buying diapers really soon! I will post pictures of it later.

Anyway, happy 1 month to my Papoosie!

4 weeks old!

My baby is 4 weeks old today! I cant believe how fast he's growing! It feels like just last week we brought him home!

6th 3 weeks old!

I'm 3 weeks old today! I'm growing and getting bigger everyday!

I cried my first tears today! I also got to try the pacifier for the first time as well! 

My screaming voice is getting louder, I drink almost 100ml of milk every feeding, and I'm spending a little more time every day awake! Usually after my midday feeding I have an hour or so of awake time and that's when I get in my tummy time, leg exercises, and playtime! I know when visitors are coming and make sure to stay asleep while they are here (I'm naughty like that). So if you're planning on coming to see me, you might want to do it around midday :D:D. 

I have gained around 1 kilo since birth already! I can focus on things, and laugh at mom and dad, and suck my fingers. I also really like peeing on whoever is changing my diaper (usually mom) (again, yes, I'm naughty like that). I enjoy my daily bath times very much and cry very little. 

I'm really growing up!!! 

5th checkup and first time outside

On the 5th I had my 20 day checkup! So I was bundled up like so ... 

... and taken outside for the first time since coming home from the hospital! 

I now weigh 3,500 grams with a wet nappy and one romper. Apparently I'm still too small to measure how tall I am, so I'm going back to the clinic in 2 weeks to get my height checked, and get some new vaccinations! 

I'm growing up and out pretty fast eh? I'm gonna be a chub ball in no time!

4th First time in crib

I have a crib, and it is AWESOME! Unfortunately it doesn't fit in my parent's room and I'm too small to sleep by myself in my room (ahem, my mom is just too tired to get up 3 times a night and go to the next room ... so she wants to keep me close). But some days I take naps in my new room, just cause my parents think it's cute. 

Family Photo

Here are those family photos I mentioned in the previous post. We all somehow ended up in the same color and that is what prompted this photo taking session.

May 3rd, Easter Bunny!

Here I am in the bouncer again ... I'm the Easter Bunny!

Dad was having fun taking pics of me cause I'm just SO cute.

Mom just got out of the shower and we all happened

to be wearing blue! So of course they jumped on the

opportunity to take some family photos.

See, I told you we would do better next time!

Again, for those of you who don't have time to see the slideshow,

here are a few of the best ones ...

May 2nd, Playtime!

So here I am having playtime on my playmat for the first time!

Mommy couldn't choose from all the pictures so you get them all!!!

Here are a couple for those of you who don't have

the time to wait for the slideshow ... 

And yes, you don't need to tell me ...

I am the cutest thing you have ever seen!

May 1st

Not the greatest of pictures, but mommy really likes me in this shade of blue!