14 months old

Miss Noelle is 14 months old today!!! She likes to clap, especially if we say "yay!!", she'll clap clap clap with a big smile.

Sunday was a nightmare tho. Miss Noelle went for a walk with the daddy while the mommy had some alone time shopping :-P She fell asleep after the walk, so the daddy put her in the crib for her nap. She woke up cranky, big time. We were able to calm her down a bit. But she was absolutely nightmare for the rest of the night. She barely ate, cried a whole lot. We just had no idea what was wrong with her.

My conclusion was that maybe she was upset cuz we left her twice yesterday (at church for the worship service and then again for the small group). And that we let her slept in her crib (least fav place of Miss Noelle, apparently). The combination of those made her one cranky child. She however, had fun chatting on skype with grandpa & grandma (my parents). She showed them how good a walker she is now and "talked" up a storm. It was a fun conversaion with grandpa & grandma Lai last night. I made my mom laughed so hard that she almost cried, lol.

Miss Noelle woke up this morning and was much of her old self, so hopefully whatever happened yesterday was just one time. Fingers crossed.

Social eater

We recently started switching to toddler food for Miss Noelle. She still gets some of her fav Gerber's greenbean & rice, but mostly she eats table food (regular food). But sometimes the mommy and the daddy like their food spicy, so we buy those pre-made toddler food for Miss Noelle. I thought she just didn't care for the taste or something, cuz she'll eat a few bites and refuse to eat anymore. Not even with cheerios! Miss Noelle loves her cheerios and sometimes that's how we got her to finish up her baby food :-P

Then we discovered that it's not that Miss Noelle doesn't like the new toddler food. She just wants to eat it when everyone else is eating. We sat at the dining table today for dinner and the previously refused toddler pre-made meal suddenly tasted good again for Miss Noelle. Because she finished the whole thing up without fuss! I guess she just likes the eating to be a joint thing. My little social eater.

naps = mama's happiness

We have family lunch at home almost every day. Dave and I are very lucky that both our work places require less than 10 minutes of commute. So since Miss Noelle was born, we try to have lunch together every day. And the daddy will ask the mommy how her day was during the lunch time. If the mommy said, "She took a nap!" Then that means the mommy's day has been good. "She didn't take her nap!" that means the mommy's day has been long.

You see, Miss Noelle's naps are very important to the mommy. When she sleeps, the mommy gets to be super productive with work. If she's goofing around and not takes her usual naps, then the mommy has to entertain Miss Noelle. When she was younger, babies tend to sleep majority of the day (oh those were the days). So she could be napping the entire morning if she feels like it. However, as Miss Noelle is growing up to a toddler now (the mommy: sniff sniff, she's not a baby anymore!), her nap time gets shorter and she takes less naps during the day.

On a good day, Miss Noelle will take a nap around 11AM right after her morning bottle. Yes, she's still drinking from a bottle, but we are teaching her to use her sippy cup. So hopefully she'll transition to sippy cup only soon. And then she'll take one more nap in the afternoon after her afternoon bottle. She used to take a night time nap before her actual bedtime, but she dropped that nap since she was 8-9 months old.

On the weekends tho, because it's not our usual set schedule, we're lucky if Miss Noelle takes one nap. It's OK tho, cuz the mommy doesn't work on the weekends, so we can play, haha.

Baby weight

Miss Noelle is almost 14 months now. And I'm still struggling with losing the baby weight! I gained quite a bit when I was pregnant and I thought to myself, "It's OK, once she's born, I can start losing the weight." Miss Noelle was born and I lost about 10 pounds instantly. But then it kinda stuck. However, when I started nursing her, my body burns 500 extra calories each day. So I actually lost some weight, even tho I ate more than when I was pregnant. Then Miss Noelle was old enough to drink whole milk and I no longer provide her with "mommy juice" (haha). I think I gained a few pounds since then. Cuz of my schedule, I just couldn't bring myself to the gym. So I actually quit gym late last year. I tried to use the exercise room at our apartment complex and it's pretty good. But last Saturday, for some reasons I couldn't get the door unlocked :-/ So I missed my one chance of exercise! Luckily the new Comcast On Demand has this fit TV thingy, where they have some exercise videos for free. So I tried a couple of them and they kicked my butt. I hope I'll be able to at least follow those videos a couple of times a week.

I was size 4 before I started going out with Dave. I guess I was really happy when we started dating, I gained a few pounds then. And then I lost some weights due to the wedding stress, lol. Our brand spanking new wedding album can prove that! However, after the wedding, I guess I was really happy being married, and the fact that I found joy in trying out different recipes and baking. Oh man, baking. Then I gained a few more pounds. But at least I was still going to the gym 2-3 times a week. Even when I was pregnant, I was pretty good with being active. And then Miss Noelle was born and that changes everything. I wonder if I could ever get back to where I was years ago? Sigh.

Playgroup

We are part of the local Las Madres group. But our group is apparently still new, so we don't have that many activities during the week. It works pretty well for Noelle and I tho, less choices means less decisions, haha. We usually have playdates on Mondays and Fridays, and I try to take Noelle to those playdates. It's just so that she gets a chance to interact with kids her age and to be in different environment. They also have park day/library story time/track walk/etc. during the week, but either the times don't work with our schedule or I just couldn't do it all. So I figured if I could at least bring her to the playdates, it should be fine. It's really interesting to meet other mommies too. We'll either exchange info on baby gears or stores, or just vent. Most of the moms are pretty funny and easy going. Because of my playgroup, I heard about this toy store called The Wooden Horse. We decided to pay it a visit today. It's located in Los Gatos King's Court shopping plaza. The store is bigger than I expected, but it's like a mom and pop store. They carry a great variety of toys, most of them I've never seen before. This was where I was "reunited" with my childhood toy - Calico Critters!

I was thrilled to see them again! I used to play with them all the time! I think I have a few different families and a whole bunches of home sets. Ah the memories. Maybe I'll introduce them to Miss Noelle when she's older. We ended up getting a wooden walk & roll pull toy. Miss Noelle was in love with it the moment she sets her eyes on it, lol. She carries the toy with her around when we were in the store. And I think it's a pretty good toy to teach her cordination. So the daddy got it for her.

If you are in the market for some fun and unique toy, give The Wooden Horse a try!

Co-sleep

When Miss Noelle was younger, she slept pretty well in her crib. So we thought, "that's it, she's getting used to her crib." But late last year, around November or December, Miss Noelle decided that she doesn't like the crib anymore. She'll cry frantically, standing up holding the crib rails and scream. LOUD. That happened so many nights, so we finally gave in. And let her sleep in our bed. I know there are parents practice co-sleep with their kids from the very beginning, so I know we are not alone. Miss Noelle sleeps pretty well in the bed with us. She'll go to bed around 9-9:30 each night and falls to sleep in the middle of the bed. Of course we surround her with pillows and turn on the baby monitor before it's our bedtime. She's a wild sleeper tho! She moves around a lot and likes to sleep on our pillows. She also likes to kick or play with us when she wakes up. I must say tho, she's usually pretty good when she gets up in the morning. Miss Noelle wakes up before us, and she'll just play by herself in the bed. When she's bored, she'll play us, haha. Either patting your face, scratches your lips or tries to put her binky in your mouth (that part is hilarious and gross at the same time). Last night I woke up in the middle of night and not seeing her anywhere. I freaked out a little until I found her almost to the foot of the bed. What the heck?! How she got there I had no clue. That also means she may have to go back to her crib again soon. I don't want her to roll off the bed in the middle of the night.

I'm just glad that we have a California King size bed, haha.

FroYo not for me

I come to the realization that I don't like froyo. I've tried them all too, pink berry, red mango, tartini, yogurtland, you name it. I guess I don't care for the tartness of froyo? I'll eat them, but will only enjoy them when I'm in the mood.

I'll have McD ice cream cone anyday, in a heartbeat.

Sign language?

Miss Noelle and I took a baby sign language class late last year at the local community center. Each class is about 30 minutes long, because that's how much attention you get from young ones, lol. I think it's more for the moms to learn the sign language and to teach their kiddies at home. Because sign language takes sometime and lots of repetition for kids to catch on. Of course, Miss Noelle gave me the blank look when I signed to her. She did smile at me whenever I sign "mommy" and "daddy", I think she knows those two at least. After the class was over, I stopped signing to Noelle. I dunno, just lack of affirmation from her kinda made me wondering if I was even making any progress.

Anyway

I still tried to sign to her when I remember to. Like "milk", "all done" and of course "mommy" and "daddy". Lately I noticed that she kinda mimics me when I sign "milk" to her. And that she'll wave her arms when she's done drinking. I'm guessing she's signing "all done" intently, because when I asked her "all done?" when she's waving and she'll giggle. That kinda give me hope, haha. Maybe I should bust out the sign language sheets I had from the class. Baby sign language is to help them to communicate, since they can't really talk yet, this is a good way to communicate with the parental and basically anyone.

I do also let her watch Baby Einstein dvds and one of her fav is baby sign. So I'm wondering if watching the dvd also helps her to learn to sign? I dunno, either way, I'm quite happy.

Another blog site??

Yes, so I decided to start another blog. Let's see if this one lasts longer than dj and/or xanga, lol. I want to use this to keep a record of how Noelle's doing. Miss Noelle is 13.5 months now and just started to walk. She really enjoys walking tho, I must say. She still can't walk independently too much, but she's getting there. We'll hold her hands and walk around. Bought 2 pairs of walking shoes for her last weekend. Baby shoes are expensive!!! Geez. I wanted to get Stride Rite shoes, because they are exactly what I was looking for. But guess how much it is per pair? $45!!!! For tiny baby shoes?! No thanks. I'd shell out the money, but seeing Miss Noelle is going to grow out of them soon. It's just not very economical. So we bought a pair from Target and found a pair of Stride Rite shoes from The Kidz Shoppe for $17. Not bad.

Until next post