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Sunday, 22 November 2009

China Days 1-4

Day 1 - The 14 hr flight...
Lila did great on the take off and up until it was time for bed. She slept in the carseat for about 2 hours, but as soon as she needed to flip, it was all over. I had to carry her for the next 2 hours in the seat and standing. After she was in deeeeep sleep, we laid out blankets and she slept on the bulkhead floor. That lasted for another 2-3 hours which gave me some time to rest. When I woke up, she was in YSB's arms sleeping. Second to the flight back from Miami after Lisa's bachelorette party, I've never been so glad to get off a plane.

Day 2 & 3 - Shanghai
Lila & her Great Grandma going for a walk outside

The residence had these aromatic flowers. I don't know what they're called, but they smelled SO good.

I guess the good thing about jet lag is that Lila was able to stay up late and through dinner. Most of the time, she just walked up and down the restaurant hallways stopping to chat with the staff or look at the older kids running around.

We also had drunken shrimp for the first time. I didn't know they're still alive when they serve it! They were SO delicious.
Drunken Shrimp from angie bae on Vimeo.
Day 4 - Beijing
YSB and I left early in the morning for our flight to Beijing. Our tourguide (Johnny) met us at the airport and right away started telling us facts & figures, which we were more than happy to learn. His English was also pretty good so we were excited for this part of our trip...Little did we know our next 2 days with him would be all downhill. But for today's agenda - Tianamen Square, Mao Mausoleum, and the Forbidden City.

Line for the Mao Mausoleum

Tianamen & Forbidden City

The tree is unique bc it's actually 2 separate trees that fused together and now grow as one. Lots of couples were waiting their turn to take a photo in front of it.

After dinner with my cousins, we did a little bit of shopping. There was a super cute store that sold these clothespins with chalkboard paint on them. Could be really cute to use at an event in some way, no?

Next day: Great Wall, jade factory and the Ming Tombs.

Friday, 13 November 2009

Getting over jet lag / CIO

Lila's jet lag going to China took 2 nights to get over, but coming back seems to be a lot worse...5 nights of:

7pm - down for the night
9pm - up and wanting to play
11pm - down again
1am - up again and bringing me books to read
3am - down again
10/11am - up for the day

So we decided to sleep train using cry it out. In addition to the jetlag, we wanted her to get used to falling asleep in her crib instead of transferring her from our bed. We co-slept in China bc there was no crib where we were staying.

The first night, I went in every 15 minutes for the first hour, but she just got more upset when she saw me. We decided that we have to stay out of the room. Nights 2 and 3 (today) we're sleeping in the living room so there is no chance of her waking or seeing us since we share the bedroom.

This morning, she woke at her usual 6am, took 2 good naps (9-11am and 3-4pm), then back down at 7pm. It was great! But as soon as we finished reading Goodnight Moon, she started crying because she knew what was coming next. She hugged me so tight that it made me wonder if we should continue. She cried on/off for a little over an hour but hasn't woken since.

We're trying it for another 3-4 days for a total of 1 week. For anyone that went through this, is 1 week enough? I miss the days when she would sleep 12 hours at night without any sleep training. Not to mention when she used to like her crib...this picture seems like sooo long ago.
SNS/FOMS & Radio City Christmas Spectacular Discount

When I was still working, my cousin and I would get together on Sundays to get over our SNS (Sunday Night Syndrome). After she moved to London, other friends who "suffered" from SNS and I would meet each Sunday. We didn't want to face the new work week so we'd try to prolong the weekend.

Anyway, tonight I learned a new term from a local mama...FOMS (Fear Of Missing Something)! When I heard it, I thought...yep, I totally get that too. I definitely noticed it more after I became a mom. Partly because we're among the first of YSB's friends to start a family, so of course we don't go out as often. I thought that moms wouldn't feel FOMS because there just aren't enough hours in the day to get things done, but yep, I do. YSB says he never gets it and I'm just being a girl

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Radio City Christmas Spectacular
Just got this code for 25% off tickets purchased from now through December 10

Code: DANCE

I think Lila is too young to really enjoy the show now but when she's older I would like to take her.

Monday, 09 November 2009

Very Belated Dol Recap

We just got back from China on Thurs night and it feels so good to be back in the US. I meant to post these dol pics before we left, but as usual my procrastination got the better of me and I spent every spare minute packing.

Lila's birthday banner
Luckily there was just enough patterned/color paper left over from the globes to put this together.

We taped this photo in the elevators to greet guests. It says "Oh! You made it. I'm on the 4th floor!" I love her expression. The Hello Kitty is a balloon holder that I got from Party City.

Petitemandoo's friend printed out/mounted photos of Lila in 3 different sizes from different months. Then sue_shi's hubby was kind enough to help us hang them like a gallery wall using the 3M removeable mini hooks before the party started.

"Hanbok Cake" baked by Ruth (our friend's sis) of brooklyncake.com

Guests took lollipops (that Sandy so kindly assembled) on their way home from this lolli garden. The letters, crate (cd holder) and pink/green paint were from Michaels. I glued them on with regular craft glue, then used the leftover crinkle paper from the invites as filler around the inside floral foam.

We played one game/raffle - What Will Lila Pick? Everyone wrote their name on a ballot and dropped it into the pocket they predicted Lila would pick. From those pockets, we picked 2 winners.

And the globes that I already posted about.

To package the dduk, my Uncle brought empty take out boxes from his restaurant and we attached these labels printed from avery.com

And our birthday girl~

With Grandma

Playing with the balloons

The doljabee
Lila picked the abacus first, but YSB's family didn't count it, so they made her do it twice more. My family counts the abacus, and my in-laws count the rice and pen. Here's a video of her grabbing the abacus.

And the pen
Lila Doljabee 1 from angie bae on Vimeo.
Sue_shi & Sandelion23 - thanks so much for all your help!

Lila handing a prize to her Uncle D.

And finally, eating cake for the first time

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

Screaming during sleep and random bumps

UPDATE
I've been more diligent about Lila's napping yesterday and this morning. Down at 10am and again at 2pm sharp. She hasn't cried out as much so I guess it was just overexhaustion. I thought she was transitioning to 1 nap, but I guess it's still too early for that.

As for the bumps, I gave her another scrambled egg yesterday. Again, she loved it and finished the whole thing. She still has a few of the same bumps left from Sunday but no scratching. Also no bumps on the chest this time. The pediatrician thinks it is an allergic reaction to something but isn't sure if it's egg or something else. She said we can most likely give Lila food with eggs in it (noodles, etc), just not whole egg alone and bring benadryl with us. When we're back, we'll try scrambled eggs again and bring her in if the same dots come out.

11 AM and still napping

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The past couple of days, Lila has been screaming out during sleep and naps. Have any xanga mommies had this happen? Is it a nightmare? Her eyes will be closed and she'll scream out ma ma or nah nah. i'll go over and see she's still asleep. She'll stop on her own and just stay asleep. When she was around 4 months, i remember she would do a random yell at night but it hasn't happened again until now.

Also, I gave Lila egg whites for the first time yesterday. She seemed totally okay, and loved eating them. But 2 hours later, I noticed these bumps on her thighs and lightly on her chest yesterday. It looks like this:

She wasn't itchy, but has been cranky and super clingy. Part of me thinks she's clingy bc of teething (her gums look a little inflamed.) The doctor said she might have a reaction from the vaccination she got on Wednesday since most of the bumps were around the injection site...Anyway, they are basically gone today and I'm thinking of trying egg whites again. I didn't give her benadyl bc we didnt know if it was allergies or from the vaccination. Maybe she just has an intolerance...?