HAELEY KWOK

Catch up blog - 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:20:00 +0000

We finally got our act together and decided that it's time to revive the blog we started for Haeley. It's been over a year since we last blogged and we feel terrible for not keeping it up. Sorry Haeley girl. But better late than never right. We thought we'll pick it up from where we last left off, which was when Haeley was 9 months old (she is now 22 months) and posts some highlights from the later half of last year. Looking back at these pictures, it is amazing seeing how much Haeley has grown over such a short time span. Her babytalks of goo-goos and gagas have now been replaced with words, full sentences, commands (yes, Haeley is very demanding) and a slew of expressions. She moved on from humming to singing songs such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars, Barney Song or Baa Baa Black Sheep. Her latest fave number is the ABC Song and she can sing it really fast or in slow motion. One of the most exciting change is seeing her personality shine as she grows. We'll chat more about her recent development in the next blog.

Haeley's biggest milestones in 08 was her learning to walk. She took her first independent steps in December, shortly after she turned 13 months old. She must have been very motivated by her older pals in class who were running and jumping about after she joined the Infant II class at daycare when she turned one. Haeley's vocabulary also grew by the time she was one. Daa Daa, MaMa and Bye Bye were some of the first words she mastered and understood what they meant. Her favorite negative phrase was "No Want" accompanied by head shaking.

Enjoy the pictures of Baby Haeley and stay tuned to the next blog of Haeley into toddlerhood!

Christmas 2008 at Kurt's grand father's place (13 months)

Thanksgiving and make-up Birthday Party with Grandparents - November 2008

For the first time, Haeley is heavier than the turkey!

Haeley with Cousin Jade

One Year Old Check Up back in November 2008

We do the same pose every check-up!

I need an escape plan

Singapore Trip & ONE YEAR OLD BIRTHDAY! (November 2008)

Haeley watched Barney's for the first time on this flight!

Sleeping on mama is way better than sleeping in the bassinet

The bakery obviously didn't listen when we told them how to spell Haeley!

Celebrating her first birthday at gong gong and po po's house in Singapore

Waaahhhh-ing with Uncle Ashley and Auntie Tricia

I thought the whole cake is mine!!

Haeley with Jordan. Jordan used to go wakeboarding with us when she was 3 months old!

With Aunt Fiona and Clara

Aunt Jennifer and her charming boys, third baby on the way

Haeley is so excited eating at the neighborhood food court

Haeley's First Halloween - 31 October 2008 (11 months)

At VMWare's company halloween party. Haeley's a little kitty Cat

Meow!!

Tracey got me a devil bear!

11 months old (October 2008)

Caught on camera, Haeley's first solo stand

Lake Tahoe - October 2008

Mmmm ice cream!!!

Buddy Tristin's 1st Birthday Party at Golden Gate Park - October 2008

Haeley hijacked Tristin's trolley

Big kisses for Tristin!

Can you spot Haeley??

10 months old (September 2008)

Devine 9

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:54:00 +0000

Divine Nine

Haeley has officially started crawling (Hooray!)! To be exact, it happened on August 18 (9 months 1 week old). Haeley is absolutely thrilled with her new skill and is a now a crawling machine. The first week, she took it slow and easy and would only crawl a few steps and would sit up and rest. She would crawl only if she feels the absolute need to, like to grab a piece of tissue on the floor (I'll discuss this later in the blog) or a Cheerio that dropped on the floor (yucky). But now, she is ready to participate in a baby crawling race! She crawls towards anything thats shiny (like our garbage can), anything that can help her pull up (like legs of chairs, low tables or even the stairs) , and any of her favorite toys. The best is when she follows mama around the house. Apart from 2 gates, a couple of electrical plug protectors and some corner cushions, we haven't really quite baby-proofed the house yet...I know, it's time to get moving!

---Haeley's Top-5 Favorite Things ----

Favorite Item: She is wild about tissue paper. Once she gets hold of a piece of tissue or paper (sometimes she'll take them out of the tissue box), she would start shredding it up and putting in in her mouth and eat it. Of course she finds it both hilarious and irritating when we get all panicky trying to dig the piece of tissue out her mouth, or sometimes she'll get really upset if we take it away from her. Check out the video below (if you have ear plugs handy, put them on!)

Favorite Game: Peek-a-Boo! While in bed, she would pull the sheets up herself and cover her face and she would waits for us to ask "Where's Haeley? Where's Haeley?" and then she'll pull the cover down and starts laughing. We do this a number of times till she gets tired and is ready to sleep. Sometimes, just for fun, we keep silent when she's expecting us to say "where's Haeley?" and she'll mumble something under the sheet as if to say "com'on, hurry up!"

Favorite Toys: Apart from things like our cellphone, remote control, laptop and mouse, which she simply likes to grab or tap, Haeley loves small and simple toys, like stacking cups and rings, shape sorters, small balls and water squirting toys during bathtime. She is also fond of peeling out the alphabets from the foam ABC floor mats and travels around the house with them. Her favorites are the smaller pieces like the hole in the letters O and D and number 9! In school she'll get to play with all kinds of big fancy structural toys.

Favorite Moves: clapping hands, giving high fives, kissing, and dancing to children songs. Whenever Haeley hears those childern songs, she would shake her body. In fact I think she's more in sync with the beats than her daddy is.

Yeah, high five!

Clapping hands in a hardware store!

Favorite Food: Some of her fave finger foods include Cheerios, apple puffs, fruits like banana, peach, melon, carrots, peas, bread, soft cheese.

Haeley continues to be a great eater (testament to her bulging belly) and chomps down almost everything we feed her. She is now more interested in self-feeding and loves mini pieces of food that she pass from hand to hand and put in her mouth. There's two neat tricks that Haeley uses occasionally when she can't quite use a pincer grip - she picks up her food with her palms, squeezes it tight into her fist so it sticks to her hand, then she carefully brings it to her mouth and licks it up. The other method would be to squeeze her food real tight till it pops out around the top of her fist and she sucks her food up. You can probably imagine the mess she creates nightly.

What are you staring at? Is there something on my face?

Ermm... where the cheerio I tried to put in my mouth?

----Physical Developmment----

Haeley had her 9 month well baby visit early August. Everything checked out very well. Those who are into health and fitness can try to figure out her BMI: she's a whopping 20 lb 11 oz baby which puts her in the 75-90 percentile, and she's 28 inches tall which is around 50th percentile.

Her two top front teeth came out about a month back. So now she has four teeth and a fifth one is starting to protrude on the top rack!

Wanna rub my buddha belly?

Where do I sign up for gym membership, Dr Laura?

Paper fetish

Hey, why do we always take the same pose each time I get a check up?

----Play date with Tristin -----

Approaching Trisitn for a welcome kiss *muak*

Having a great time with T!

---- Family Gathering ----

Kurt's sister has 2 boys (Nathan and Nicholas) and the family has been living in Shanghai for the past 5 years . Each summer, the whole family would come back to the Bay Area where they used to live.

First time meeting my cousins!

Haeley with gu-ma Linnet and gu-cheung Eddy

Haeley giving a kiss to cousin Nicholas

Haeley hanging out with grandma and grand aunts

3E (grand aunt #3), do you like my outfit?

----More Random Pictures ----

I just crawled here and now I'm gonna stand up... watch okay?

mama always like to tickle me!

Wanna race? I got turbo arms and thighs!

Who's that cute baby in the mirror? I'm gonna kiss her!!

Welcome to my toyland!

erm... just a little warmer please

I'm ready for dinner!!

goofy smile

Enjoying a sunset view from our bedroom

Haeley's Adventures at Seven Going on Eight

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:13:00 +0000

The past 2 months just whisked by so fast and we have had no time to pen (type) down all the fun stuff Haeley has been up. To our defense, Kurt and I have been busy dealing with the construction of our new home, which we are hoping would be ready by October. In 3 days, Haeley would be 8 months old and she is getting more active, curious and responsive by the day. As part of her learning curve to crawl while in a sitted position, Haeley would stretch her both arms forward, try to reach out for her toys and before you know it, she would lunge forward and her face would be planted on the floor or sometimes on top of a plastic toy...Ouch! My tough lil' one sometimes doesn't make a sound when she is stuck and just quietly try to wiggle her way around. It's funny seeing her in these "painful" yoga-poses.

Many of you may have witnessed how chubby baby Haeley has become in the recent months. It must be her love of homemade food and Mama's milk. Haeley eats a good 3 meals of solid food a day and its a pretty balanced diet too: for breakfast, she enjoys a nice warm fruit cereal or yogurt and for lunch/dinner, she get her carbs from rice or pasta; vitamins from vegetables, protein & iron from turkey, chicken or beef. Occasionally, we'll throw in a fruity dessert such as strawberries and apples to sweeten things up. In between meals, she'll have her "tea" break of her good o' milk. Its funny how chubby she is now that she can barely fit into her 12 months Levis jeans anymore. Our little "fat-fat" weighs in about 20 pounds and is 26 inches tall.

Let's dive right into all the wonderful adventures Haeley's been up to recently:

--------- Palm Springs ----------

During the Memorial Day long weekend in late May, we went for a short getaway to Palms Spring. Instead of driving down, we decided to take a flight and let Haeley (and us!) experience her first plane ride. The flight was a little over an hour each way, and Haeley did great! She wasn't keen with the in-fight entertainment nor the airplane food; she much prefered her own toys and baby food! All in all, despite a little discomfort on our return trip, it was a pleasant flight for her, for us and the other passenger (phew), no nasty stares!

Why does everything look so tiny from here?

Strolling along downtown Palm Springs with sunscreen, sunglasses and sunhat

Hey, Pa, we're getting a lot of attention... is it because of me or you?

Learning cool hand signs from mommy in the hotel room...Surf's Up!

New definition of Babe Watch

Mom, don't let go! I maybe bouyant, but I don't know how to swim yet!

A little father and daughter time in our private "yacht"

This taco salad looks pretty yummy, don't worry, I'll help myself...

after peeing on the hotel bed, I'm ready to go home!
(teeshirt says - Little Big Person)

------Holding Her Bottle------

Yep, Haeley can hold her own milk bottle and sippy cups. She's been doing it since 6 months old and we got all excited with her new ability. We just need to let her sit in her bouncy chair, hand her the bottle and she'll grab it with 2 hands and aim the bottle to her mouth...voolia. She would even tilt the bottle up when the content is getting low.

Full back tilt to get maximum drip!

frame by frame on how she masters this difficult technique!

-----Pull Up & Stand------

Haeley is one chubby baby but with her weight also comes with great strength. This girl loves to be held in a standing position and loves pulling herself up while holding on to short furniture or our fingers. Without much effort on our part, Haeley just pulls herself up and sometimes lets one hand go so she can grab a toy or our nose. There's this game she loves lately. She would hold our fingers and pull herself up, and 5-10 secs later, she's drop herself down to a sitted position and she would go through the stand-up-sit-down-stand-up routine over and over again. It really amuses her and amuses us to see her muster up all her strength to pull herself up and she ain't feather weight!

full concentration

-----Happy Dada Day!-------

I (Kurt) celebrated my first Father's day with a touching surprise! Haeley gave me this card that was created Mommy while I was away on business trip. Haeley has this playmat with all the alphabets on it, and Mommy took a bunch of pictures of Haeley at home holding (and chewing) the letters D and A... and by combining the pictures together, it spelt DADA! How cool is that!!?

---- My 2 front teeth -----

About a month back, Haeley's bottom 2 teeth sprouted out of no where. We only found out about her first teeth when one day we heard her scratching her sippy cup with her teeth. We suspected she might be teething because of her excessive drool, which often exceeds 1 bph (bip per hour), but she didn't really make any fuss about it, so we weren't sure. Babies are known to get really fussy during their teething period so we are very grateful that she dealt with it so well and didn't wake us up at night. :) Now that her teeth have grown a little bigger, she really knows how to make use of them. One of her newly discovered favorite food is corn on the cob!

chomp chomp chomp

Babies: Do not try this at home

---- More Pictures----

Her cheeky monkey look

Bathing is still one of her favourite activities

Do I look good in hats?

Anything can be a great toy, even mommy's hair clip!

D for Daddy, H for Haeley!

Grandpa and Grandma Kwok baby sitting on weekends

Sign of frustration

Solids, Sitting, Swimming at Sweet Six

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 May 2008 23:17:00 +0000

My little angel turned 6 months old last Saturday! Since Mother's Day is only a day away from my baby girl's half year old birthday, we decided to have a joint celebration with Grandpa and Grandma Kwok for a sumptous champagne brunch at the Pacific Athletic Club. And just in time for Mother's Day, Haeley gave me the sweetest gift that I could ever ask for. A few days ago, she started making a new cute sound that resembles very much like Mum Mum, as part of her baby babbles. It completely melted my heart and of course I took it literally that she is calling me. However I must admit, she says it even when I'm not present or when she is hungry and tired.

-----------Mother's Day Pix-----------

Did Papa buy this shirt for me or for Mama?

Family picture at the Club

Haeley facinated by Grandpa's white hair (or no hair?)

Weee...

-------Eating Solids---------

So much have happened since our last posting and I might have slipped a couple of fun Haeley events. One pretty big event is that Haeley has started eating solids food about a month ago and she is now pretty addicted on experimenting with foods of different textures and tastes as much as I am enjoying slicing, dicing, steaming, pureeing, freezing and bagging little ice cubes of baby food. Apart from the staple rice and oats cereal, Haeley loves almost everything that we prepare for her. In no order of preference, she cherishes every tiny bite of carrot, apple sauce, pear sauce, banana, sweet potatoes and butternut squash. She is not yet a fan of avocado and she makes sure we know it by giving us a "disgusted" look. Here's a picture of the "look" to prove it below! We recently got a high chair for her and now all 3 of us can have breakfast and dinner together at the dining table!

mmm, yum yum, food!

eekss, what's that green stuff?

keep that stuff away from me!

apple and pear sauce are my fave...MMMmmore!!

Papa distracting me with a ball so he can clean my neck

-----------Sit up Straight---------

Couple of weeks ago, Haeley has graduated from a supported sitter to an accomplished independent sitter with better sitting posture than her parents. She loves being on her butt and can last in a seated position for a long period of time, playing, grabbing and chewing on her toys. Occasionally, she would grab her tiny toes if there are no toys available. Once she get a little wobbly and sways to the side, she'll either grab her pants or stretch out her arms to the side to balance herself. Good job gal!

Miss giggles

--------Swimming Sensation--------

Haeley went swimming for the first time a few weeks ago when the weather turned warm and sunny. Since she likes to splash water in her bath tub (with arms flapping the water and her legs strutting like a frog), we figured she's ready for the big pool! It was a Sunday and the pool at PAC was crowded with kids and parents but we managed to find a relatively calm corner for her first swim in her sexy bikini. Haeley tightened her tiny fists as we lowered her into the water, but after a few minutes, she became more relaxed and seemed to really enjoy herself, flapping her arms around. Not long after, she was able to float on her own with us gently supporting her head. Haeley is not afraid of the water... there were a few occasions we even dunked her in the water and she seemed unshakened. She's probably thinking, "hey, this is nothing, I was living in water for 9 months!" Her first swimming session lasted 30 minutes or so. We figured she drank enough yucky water for the day. 2 weeks ago, we took her swimming again for more fun in the sun!

I can't swim, but at least I look cool!

-------6 Month Well Baby Visit --------

Last Friday, we took Haeley to Kid Kare to see her pediatrician, Dr. Laura, for her 6 month well visit. Doctor said Haeley is developing very well and is somewhat amazed that she can sit so well at this age. Haeley now weighs 17.15 pounds and is 26 inches tall. Her weight puts her at the 95th percentile while her height is right smack in the middle at 50th percentile. Yup, she's one heavy baby... with that weight, that might be why she can't roll over yet.

As usual, we brought our camera along and took a bunch of photos. Unfortunately, something happened to the memory stick and we're not able to retrieve any of those photos! We took a lot of funny shots of Haeley having fun crumpling and ripping up sheets and sheets of protective paper covers on the examination bed. Keeping our fingers crossed that we can retreive those photos.

-------More Pictures-------

Haeley strikes a pose

The 80's aerobics fashion is back...bring on the legwarmers

Papa, can you read this to me again?

Haeley can read at 6 months old!

When done with reading it, start chewing it!

Ermm... the ending is a bit disappointing...

One of Haeley's favorite past time: her exersaucer!

-----With her pals at daycare, The Whistle Stop-----

Zane has the hots for Haeley

Lillian wants to play ball with Haeley

Girl talk with Reese

Haeley checking Olivia's temperature

Guess who's Haeley?

The Big Four Oh

noreply@blogger.com (Kurt) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Shortly after Haeley turned 4 months, her papa turned 40! Yup, the big four O has finally arrived! It's actually less scary than what the Hallmark cards make of it. In fact, I don't feel any different. It's not how old you are, but how old you feel, right? Despite a few more grey hair and wrinkles, I still feel like I'm in the late twenties! With all the baby talking and acting foolishly to get Haeley to laugh, at times, I certainly act a lot younger than my age!!

The party days are over! The weekend before my actual B-day, we went for a short getaway with baby and mama to Mendocino, a beautiful quaint little town about 180 miles north of San Francisco. The drive on HWY 1 was scenic but curvy and it seems to be the perfect condition for Haeley to doze off. She pretty much slept through the entire journey! But the windy road is certainly not what ma ma likes as she was feeling a little car sick, and didn't really get to enjoy the breathtaking views. We took a few pit stops along the way to let ma ma get some fresh air and we took plenty of photos of the coastline of northern California.

Pit stop to stretch our legs

Light house at Arena Point

Are we there yet?? I'm bored.

We're here! Now let's look for parking...

Yippee! Let's check this place out!

ma ma making sure baby is still inside the stroller...

Smile Haeley, smile!

This is where we stayed...its famous for its vegetarian restaurant

In our room... Haeley suddenly realizes she's got feet!

Haeley enjoying her first hotel bed!

mama playing flying girl with baby! Weeeee....

Hmmm... when did I last cut your toe nails?

Baby playing Taliban

A walk along the animal barn outside of the Inn

On my actual birthday, I picked up Haeley from her day care, and to my surprise, she was wearing a tee shirt that says Happy Birthday papa! Mama had made that shirt the week before and knowing that I'll be picking Haeley up from day care, she arranged for the care taker to change her outfit right before I got there! That's the best and most touching birthday surprise I've ever had!

That same evening, I had a craving for meatloaf and mikeshake (maybe I'm trying to be young again), and since its my birthday, I get to eat whatever I want. So we went to a diner in Palo Alto to have my birthday dinner.

Haeley and ma ma wish papa a Happy 40th Birthday!!

The following weekend, we met a few friends at the Cliff House for sunday brunch. It turns out three of us all had birthdays in March! So it was a triple celebration!

It seems like each time Haeley is near the ocean, the sky is perfectly clear. This is true even before she was born. When Anthea was 8 months pregnant, we took a trip to Big Sur, and it was again clear blue sky admist clear blue ocean. In fact that's kinda how we came up with Haeley's Chinese name...Hai Qing which means Ocean clear sky. Little did we know she actually has special power to cast away clouds from the sky!

Cheek to cheek with God mom and God dad

Haeley with her little beannie in front of Ocean Beach

My Favourite Four

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:12:00 +0000

Haeley turned 4 months old a couple of weeks ago. We have been a little delinqent in updating the blog mainly because we've been pretty busy since I went back to work about a month ago. I am still trying to get used to the routine of getting up extra early for work, getting Haeley ready for daycare and still make it on time to the office. In this update we want to share a little about Haeley's daycare, her first Chinese New Year family gathering, her recent pediatric visit, some of the latest developments and other funny little happenings. I'm sure you'll enjoy these tit bits as much as we did!

What's new ?

Haeley is finding her fingers and fists the best item to chew on. If her hand is not in her mouth, Haeley would be grabbing on to something nearby. That includes my hair, my blouse, or my necklace, and when she is alone, it would be her bib, her blankie, or a little rattle toy which she also ends up putting in her mouth.

Right before I returned to work, Haeley had began really sleeping through the night. On good days, she sleeps up to 12 hours in a stretch, from 8.30pm till around 8.00am! Certainly a treat for us, giving us some time in the evenings to catch up on household chores and prepare her bag for daycare the next day. Finally Mommy gets to regain her 8 hours of sleep... but you never know when Haeley will start crying at 4 a.m.

My baby girl is starting to lose her hair and it is dropping at a ferocious rate. Everywhere we lay her down, she'll leave a trail of baby hair. Overnight, she would easily drops over a 100 strands of hair on the mattress from turning her head left and right in her sleep. Needless to say, she is developing a little bald spot on her back and sides of the head. Daddy now has someone else to compare bald spots with. If anyone knows of a baby Rogain shampoo out there, let us know!

As she becomes more comfortable in making different sounds, Haeley is becoming a little babble chatterbox. Sometimes during our dinner, she would be babbling non-stop as if she's trying to say "hey, how come you guys have so many different dishes to eat and all I get is milk?!" Haeley also smiles a lot especially when you make her stand up. Occasionally, if you say something really funny (to her) she would laugh out loud!

----------Chinese New Year Family Gathering--------------

Born near the end of Year of the Boar (the golden piggy), Haeley enjoyed her first Chinese New Year family reunion at our aunt's house in El Cerrito. As part of the Chinese New Year tradition, all married relatives more senior than Haeley gave her red packets (Ang Bao) with money inside! In just a few hours, she accumulated her first mini-fortune!... of course as parents, we're gonna invest it and hopefully it'll grow multi-folds and pay for her college (yeah, right)

Wow I'm rich!

Hanging out with Great-grandpa who is... ermm 89 years older than me!

Ah gung and Ah Mah happy to see me!

Haeley with cousin Jade

------Mommy & Daddy's Valentine's Day Tennis Tournament-------

Hey Dad, it's kinda sunny out here. Can I borrow your sunglasses?

From Haeley: The Pacific Atheletic Club at Redwood Shores held its annual Valentines Day mixed doubles tennis tournament in February. Mommy and Daddy entered the tournament together. It's been a while since Mommy played in a tournament... in fact, I think the last time she played I was still in her belly! They signed up for the intermediate level with about 10-15 other couples. While they were playing, I was napping and playing at the child care facility at the Club. Yes, the Club has a child care center for parents to drop off their kids so that they can go workout. So I didn't really get to watch mommy and daddy play, I just hoped that they won't forget about me. After about 3 hours, they came to the child care center to pick me up, and they had a big grin on their face! When I got outside to the tennis courts, the organizer was congratulating mommy and daddy for winning their intermediate division! Of course, after I showed up, I became the center of attention. I guess they don't get too many infants at the courts. Later when they were taking photos of the winning teams, mommy and daddy were holding me up as if I was the trophy! I guess I was their lucky charm even though I napping at the day care center!

Mommy, when I grow up, I want to play tennis and go swimming here

--------At the Whistle Stop--------

Haeley started daycare about a month now and so far she has been having a wonderful time at school. She is constantly being surrounded by toys, friends, music and loving teachers who take great care of the little ones. Every 2 hours Haeley would get a fresh clean diaper; and once she gets sleepy, her teacher would swaddle, cuddle and rock her to sleep. I love the fact that the daycare is only minutes away from my office. Ever so often, I would pop by to visit and feed Haeley during my lunch break. The cute little boy pictured above is Zane, Haeley's good friend who has the hots for my girl. Whenever Zane spots Haeley, he would walk over and try to play and touch her. Recently, I was told by her teacher Esmerada that Zane lovingly rested his head over Haeley's belly, and once when she was burping Haeley, Zane came and patted her on her chest.

Story-telling time by Esmerada

Can I get a dictionary? I need to look up a word...

---------4th Month Well Baby Visit-----------

Haeley had to go through another 4 immunizations shots at her 4th month visit to her pediatrician, Dr. Laura. This time round, she did pretty well after the shots and bounced back to her usual smiley self shortly after. Haeley's 4 month growth stats are quite impressive: from the tiny 7lb 3 oz at brith, Haeley has more than doubled her weight is now 15 pounds 5 oz which is in the 85% percentile and is standing tall at 24.5 inches. Look at her chubby arms, thighs and cupcake belly and you know what I mean.

Daddy has this same pose each time. He looks the same, but I get bigger!

See? No pain! Would you hurry up, please?

WAAAHHH!!! WAAAHHH!! I want my Mommy!!

------Finger Licking Good, Caught in the Act-------

First its my teeshirt...

then my thumb....

argh...I can't fit my fist in

slurp slurp

even with a ball on my head

and when its diaper changing time

-----------More Photos-----------

This swimsuit is way too small for me

Thank you Godmom for the headband and swimsuit

Little Miss Smiley

Daddy and me

geee....this bed is way softer than mine

smelly toes game

Uncle Bobbie!! So glad to finally meet you!!

Mom! You dropped honey grahams all over me! What a clutz

Smell my feet!

almost rolling over

I''m a big girl now, I can sit unsupported!

and I love being held standing up too

More tummytime!

bathtime!!

Haeley's Going On 3 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:56:00 +0000

Gung Xi Fa Chai! Gung Hay Fat Choy! We wish everyone a healthy and prosperous Year of the Rat! Eventhough Haeley doesn't know the meaning of the Zodiacs or the significance of Chinese New Year, I'm sure she will understand the meaning of Lai See or Red Packet very soon! So keep them coming!

Another month have passed and Haeley is turning 3 months old this weekend. Quite a number of events happened in the past few weeks for Haeley. One of the most exciting news we like to annouce is that Haeley has a Godmother and Godfather!! We proudly like to introduce our dear friends: May and Hoover Wong, now known as Kai-Ma and Kai-Yeah (cantonese for godmom/pa). May and Hoover have been Kurt's good friends since their Berkeley days, and since we moved to the Bay Area about 2 1/2 years ago, they have been one of our closest friends here. We even live minutes away from each other! May is great with kids (she has 2 wonderful boys), loves babies and has been showering Haeley with lots of presents, even before Haeley was born. Haeley is one lucky gal!

A tight hug from Godma

Godma May with her 2 boys Ethan and Justin

2 families having hot pot during one cold night...yummy!

all the "mothers" of Haeley unite

------Thanks for taking such good care of me, Grandma Pang------

A week ago, Haeley and I sent my mother to the airport for her return flight back to Singapore. My Mom has been here helping us care for Haeley for almost 3 months and it was sad for us to see her leave. Without my mom around, I would not have had found the time to take leisurely showers, go to the gym, surf the Internet and organize the house. Whenever the three of us "ladies" go out, my mom becomes Haeley's backseat playmate, entertaining her with her toys till she falls asleep and diapering her in the backseat whenever Haeley needs a change. Together, we had lots of fun going out for lunches, walks, shopping and buying groceries.

We know Haeley misses Grandma's singing, chatting and playing. Haeley showed some withdrawal syptoms for a few days since my mom's departure. She was very quiet, did not babytalk and was a little fussier than before. Kurt and my multiple attempts to imitate my mom's high pitched voice and singing could not fool Haeley.

It's (RED) shirt day!

Power hike at nearby Crystal Springs Reservoir

tender loving care by grandma

-------Haeley's Developments-------

Haeley has started to sleep through the night. Hooray! She averages around 6 hours, followed by a feed and she slumbers back for another 4-5 hours. (note: sleeping through the night is a pediatrician's term, not by our definition: if she goes to bed at around 9, she'll wakes up at 3am!)
Now that Haeley is sleeping longer at night, we decided its time to introduce her to her room and crib. We think she likes it there since its roomier than sleeping with us or in her bassinet and more importantly, she don't have to tune in to Dad's snoring (just kidding Kurt).

She has learned to lick and suck things these days. Put a bib near her month and she'll start licking it. She also likes to suck on her tiny hand and sometimes her own lips just to make some funny sound.

Haeley likes sitting up straight and she's able to sit up on her own for a few seconds before toppling over.

Haeley now weighs about 14.5 pounds and is getting so chubby, her cheeks are hanging down her face.

-------More Photos-----------

tummy time!

Laughing at mommy's joke

Haeley commits her first fashion crime!

One of her favorite past time: sucking on her own little hand

Her second favorite past time - blowing bubbles

Is there something on my lip?

Haeley is not interested in gourmet food yet

Enjoying her daily hot tub

Grandpa Kwok giving Haeley a jiggle

Hey same outfit! It's a coincidence, I swear!

Haeley Turns 2 Months Old

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:31:00 +0000

Haeley turned 2 months old last week. Her day started off with the usual affair: feeding, bathing, screaming and some playing. Afterwards, we headed out to Kurt's office to have lunch and meet some of his colleagues. Haeley didn't find Kurt's office particularly exciting as she pretty much slept through the entire visit while Kurt's colleagues surrounded and chit-chatted over our sweet little one. After lunch, we did some birthday shopping, bought more clothes for Haeley (after-x'mas sales are awesome) before we headed home to bake her birthday orange chocolate cupcakes. That evening, we had a nice cozy little birthday celebration for her.

Haeley made some significant developments this past month. Here are some of her milestones :

Haeley has started to smile (voluntary) and wink at us (involuntary) when we sing or talk to her. She loves listening to Grandma Pang sing to her and gets really excited by kicking and waving her arms around. Sometimes, she gets so excited that she hits herself in the face and starts crying.
She's getting talkative (in her gibberish). She listens attentively and baby-talks back at us by making different pitched coos, occasionally squealing and babbling out loud.
She is also getting stronger by the day. She steadily holds her head for a good amount of time when we sit her up to burp her or when she is on her belly for some tummy time.
She learned how to play with her saliva and makes saliva bubbles. She also drools constantly and goes through a bib almost every hour.
Haeley now weighs a little over 12 pounds and is 23½ inches tall.

Haeley's 2 month birthday cup cakes!

Haeley, center of attention as usual, and she loves it!

Daddy, your office is messier than my play pen!

-----2 Month Pediatric Visit-----

Haeley’s 2 month well-baby doctor visit was one that we dreaded bringing her to. She was scheduled to receive 5 painful vaccinations. They were DTaP (2 shots), Polio, Hep B and pneumococcal conjugate. That’s 5 nasty needles poking through my little girl's chubby tender little thighs. While we were in the doctor’s room waiting for the nurse, Kurt and I were thinking of an escape plan for Haeley, but there was no way out. Baby Haeley screamed in pain after the first needle went in and I started tearing not knowing how to comfort her. That evening, Haeley became really mellow and sleepy and developed a slight fever, which is quite normal for babies to have after being vaccinated. Thankfully, she sprung back to her usual chirpy self the following day.

All smiles during her check-up (that's before she knew about the shots!)

Daddy says everything will be okay (for him!)

5 big needles and 2 little baby thighs

-----More Pictures-----

Haeley loves to take baths!

Hey Grandma, stop posing and get me cleaned up!

... but the moment we take her out of the water, she SCREAMS!

Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the cutest of them all?

Sometimes daddy likes to dress me up like a boy!

Playdate with baby Tristin aka Haeley's boyfriend

Haeley would not let the camera out of her sight

Haeley's First White Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:11:00 +0000

December was an exciting and busy month for Haeley. Haeley met her Grandpa Pang who came from Singapore to spend a good 3 weeks with her. Together, we went Christmas shopping at different malls around the Peninsula, mainly Stanford, Hillsdale and Santana Row, took trips to San Francisco, strolls around the neighborhood, frequent dine-outs and even a drive down to Gilroy (that's about a 45 min drive) for some outlet shopping. Not too bad for an 8 week old baby! I must say Haeley travels really well, she pretty much sleeps through car rides, the noisy malls and loves being pushed around in the stroller or bundled up in the sling.

Haeley's first Christmas was filled lots of red outfits, gifts, picture taking, family celebrations and more driving. Yep, Haeley took her first long distance first road trip to Lake Tahoe, which is about a 4-5hr drive and got to enjoy the cold snowy weather. Of course in between we had stopovers for feedings, diaper changing and more outlet shopping. By the time we arrived to Lake Tahoe, our car's trunk was overfilled with shopping bags!! Tahoe's weather was perfect, it snowed the few days we were there but was not bitter cold or too windy. We think Haeley loves the cold. Even after covering her up in her white puffer jacket, she somehow manages to wiggle her tiny fingers out for some snowflakes.

Enjoy the pictures!!

---------Lake Tahoe, Here We Come---------

Are we there yet?

I can't move my arms

Scenic South Lake Tahoe

Where are you taking me Paps?

My Grandparents adores me

Mommy & me

Haeley's fingers are out again

Daddy, is my tongue whiter than snow?

snow fight, snow fight

Get me back to the lodge, I'm sleepy

Tummy time turn naptime

---------Haeley's First Trip to San Francisco---------

Outside Pier 1

Time to slurp on some oysters at Hogs Island cafe

Mama, what did you get me from Gap this time

Doctor says I need more sunshine

A Recollection of Haeley's First Month

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:38:00 +0000

Welcome to the World, Haeley

born on:

10 Nov, 2007
10.26am
7 pounds 3 ounces
19.5 inches

Welcome to Haeley's baby blog. Kurt and I thought this blog would be a great way to share all of Haeley's many milestones with you so you can be a part of her life and share in our joy. Seeing Haeley grow and develop has been amazing. She is a true darling and we are so blessed to have her.

Enjoy Haeley's photo journal! :)

-------------------------Haeley's First Week------------------------------------

She is Just Perfect!!

This picture was taken just minutes after Haeley was born. The moment we saw her, our hearts were filled with so much love and we just can't believe we have created this perfect little baby girl.

The Dynamic Duo

These are the 2 very special ladies that made my delivery one of the most unforgettable experience in my life. Standing in the background is Dr Swenson and nurse Elizabeth carrying baby Haeley. Their confidence and poise gave me the strength to go through my 1o hr long labor. Thank you ladies!!

Her first car ride home

Home at last and all wrapped up in her fave Swaddleme blankie

Looking cheeky at just 2 days old

We Caught Her Grinning!

Like all new parents, we hardly stopped looking and admiring our little one. For the first few days since Haeley was home, we hardly left sight of her and we always had our cameras handy for those candid shots. This is one of the first few times we caught Haeley smiling in her sleep and she has not stopped since.

Mommy admiring her sweet pea

Haeley's First Pediatrician Visit

Haeley's first pediatric visit was such a thrill to us. Not only was it one of our first outings as a family, it also marks Haeley's first week birthday. Haeley was weighed in at 7lbs 2 oz, she lost only an ounce since birth. She also grew an inch longer at 20.5 inches. We are so happy to have Dr. Laura as Haeley's pediatrician. She is a such a sweet lady and really has a way with communicating with babies. Haeley was so calm when Dr Laura was examining her...we knew instantly they connected!!

Daddy's turn to take a picture with me...

---------------Haeley's 2nd Week--------------------

Haeley's second week was a very special week for us. We celebrated 2 special events - one was my birthday, that falls on the 20th November (Haeley and my birthday is only 10 days apart) and it was the first time we celebrated Thanksgiving together as a family together with Grandma Pang.

This used to be one of Haeley's favorite holding positions when she was a little tinier. Her head fitted nicely in the palms of my hand while we enjoyed our mother daughter eye contact.

Mama, are you gonna massage my tiny wrinkly feet?

Now I feel good....thanks folks

Grandma & Daddy busy dissecting the turkey!

Thanks for preparing our sumptuous
turkey dinner Granny

---------------Haeley's 3rd & 4th Week ------------------

Good morning world!

Yeah, I got my first mail and its my SSN.
Time to start looking for a job

ahhh I love lying on Daddy's chest

Happy 4 weeks old Haeley

Pleasure to meet you, Grandpa
and Grandma Kwok

--------------Haeley Turns 1 Month Old---------------

Happy Haeley

Haeley's first month went past so swiftly. Its amazing how time just flies by while taking care of a newborn. I was in Mommy combat zone, devoting all my time to Haeley duties and barely had a clue what was going on around the world. My day evolves feeding her every 3 hours (yes, that includes the wee hours of the night), burping her, responding to her cries, putting her to sleep, changing poopy & pee pee diapers, washing her laundry, etc etc. If time permits, I'll try to catch a cat nap while baby is sleeping, bring Haeley out for a stroll or make quick trips to the supermarket. Thankfully Kurt took the first 2 weeks off from work and I had my Mom here to help me out, ensuring our house is in order and preparing traditional Chinese meals which is said to nourish new mothers and to recover faster from the trauma of childbirth.

Here are some of Haeley's developments we saw at the end of her 1st month:

She lifts head for short periods of time during tummy time and could briefly move her head from side to side She has started to recognize our voice and reacts by turning her face towards our direction
Haeley is always busy making jerky, arm movements, but sometimes these uncontrollable arm jerks wake her up in her sleep
Haeley is starting to smile more often when she is almost asleep

At her one month pediatric visit, Haeley weighed in at 9lbs 6oz (that's a whopping 2lbs 3 oz since birth), is 21.5 inches tall and moved up to the 50-75% percentile range. Good job gal!