Welcome to the world, cousin Kwok Jr!

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My brother and his wife welcomed a new wee one last night! At 9:15 pm on March 8, 2009, little Kwok Jr came into the world weighing 6 lb 6 oz!

Connor and I, along with Po Po and Gung Gung, went to visit this afternoon. I can barely remember Connor ever being this tiny! Connor was born 6 lb, 4 oz.

Kwok Jr arrived after giving his mommy a long wait (her water broke on Friday around 9pm!). Everyone is doing very well!

Here is a video of our visit with the new one.

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Baby's Crying Face

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Connor has been very needy the last few days. He doesn't like being left to his own devices. Starts crying as soon as you put him down. Probably spoiled by Po Po!

Here's his crybaby face...





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Connor at 7+ Months

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Connor is 7.5 months now! Wow. Connor has been saying 'dadadada' a lot now - just like the books said he would. He is also beginning to improve his fine finger motor skills; he tries to touch and pick up more small objects now. He's also taken more interest in Oscar our Yorkshire Terrier - Connor will stare at Oscar when Oscar is prowling around, and Connor has shown interest in petting Oscar, too!

This weekend, Connor came up with a new "face". I'm not sure if it's supposed to mean "I don't want anymore"... see the video below and let me know what you think!

Connor is also a Jolly Jumpy freak, he can go crazy jumping around in that thing. Here's another video of him jumping around!

Only another 16 days or so until Connor's cousin Kwok Jr is due to arrive, at which point his Po Po and Gung Gung will not be around that much to play with him anymore.

Connor's progress on solid foods

Connor enjoying meal time (Feb.7, 2009)

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Connor has been doing quite well with his solids. He usually has a good appetite for it. I feed him three times a day (morning, lunch, dinner) and yes he is still nursing the same as before. The solids are not meant to replace breast milk at this point; baby is supposed to be learning how to eat solids and getting used to the textures. Connor definitely prefers the sweet foods for now (breast milk is sweet, too). It's funny watching his expressions as he tries different foods.

If you are eating as you read this, you better read the rest of this post later. That's because I wanted to mention now about the new poopy that we have to deal with! Boy is it ever a sticky, yucky mess. (I WARNED YA!). Not only is it sticky like peanut butter, but super stinky. This new poopy is giving me quite a challenge with the cloth diapering - so far, I only had to wash it off the cloth diaper once (and Po Po helped me with that in the end!). I've read that you should "spray it into the toilet" (you can actually purchase a sprayer that attaches to a toilet). I tried spraying it into the laundry sink and it didn't work out well at all. Ick. Afterwards I remembered I had purchased a disposable liner for the cloth diapers, so I have been doing that. It worked well the one other time Connor actually pooped into the cloth diaper. Every other time so far I have been lucky he happened to be wearing a disposable.

Connor seemed to be having some constipation, but he's gone #2 once yesterday as well as today so his body must be getting used to processing it now.

Jolly Jumping, How High?

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My new favourite toy is my Jolly Jumper. This Jolly Jumper Mom had picked up for a real steal for $5 from a Craigslister. We have the style that has a clamp to hook on to a door frame.


I love to jump high and fast! Oh, the freedom, the freedom!

Flashback: Toronto to Vancouver Road Trip

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I had almost forgotten about this old blog I started when Linds, Oscar and I drove from Toronto to Vancouver for our move out here in August 2006 (how time flies!).

Looking back at it now sure brings back great memories of the trip - I only wish I had blogged more on it as it appears I did not finish up the tail end of the blog. I can't even recall what name I signed up with on that blog, so I cannot go edit it or anything.

Anyways here is where the blog is, so that I don't forget what the blog was named!

http://torontotovancouver.blogspot.com

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The Connor Boogie Woogie

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Do you think I can make it on "So You Think You Can Dance Canada"?

Connor eating rice porridge and giggling at UM...

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Connor has been eating "solids" - if you can call mush a solid - for about two weeks now. We started with a sample packet of Heinz rice cereal which we received free from Heinz. We also had a Nestle sample, which seemed sweeter than the Heinz, so I have since purchased a box of Heinz Organic Wheat cereal. This is non-sweetened so it was even better. Connor has also eaten brown rice porridge which I pureed the heck out of, and froze them "plop" method - spooned the porridge onto wax paper and froze them (read this in a book). Connor isn't a big fan of that one, as it's quite bland, so I mix it with apple sauce and he's OK with that. Connor has also tried pureed carrots and avocado - he wasn't that happy with those either.

Here's a video of Connor having some white rice porridge yesterday. He didn't seem to mind it that much. The porridge consistency was thicker but there were still chunks of rice in it, which he wasn't used to.

I decided to try posting the videos to YouTube now, and embed the video into the blog. The quality seems much better.

Six months old update

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Wow, I just noticed that my last post was on January 10th! Boy I am so behind!

Connor is now more than 6 months old and has started solids! Such fun, such fun. Such messes!

I started him on rice cereal - some freebie packets I received from Heinz and Nestle. Ended up buying a box of Heinz because it was less sweet. I also made some brown rice porridge which I then pureed. Connor isn't liking that as much, probably because it is not sweet.

Today I tried giving him some pureed carrots. He seemed to like but I think he doesn't like the texture of it all that much. It will take some time, it seems, for him to get used less liquidy textures.

Here's a video of Connor eating...

Sleeping update - we've set up Connor's bed and I have been sleeping with him in his room. This has been working out good, he doesn't seem to know the difference as long as I'm there with him. One significant improvement to this setup so far is that for his daytime naps, he has been sleeping super well in that bed - for up to 2+ hours at a time! He does wake up and cry for some BF or a soother works sometimes too, but once pacified he just goes back to sleep.

Out like a light!

Here's how we have the bed set up. I bought a bed rail.
However I haven't been using it lately,
|since Connor doesn't roll around just yet.

Happy Chinese New Year - Year of the Ox

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Gung Hay Fat Choy! We've had a busy Chinese New Year!

Grandma Kwok spent her first ever Chinese New Year in Canada. We had a pre-New Year's dinner last Friday. Then we all went to her place on New Year's (Monday Jan 26) for lunch and dinner. Then yesterday we went out for dinner again, because we had Uncle 4's family visiting.

In this pic here we were having dinner on Friday. We went to the Kirin at Starlight Casino.

Connor ended up with lots and lots of lucky lai see packets!

We are all exhausted though from all this eating out!

Wishing you all a healthy and prosperous 2009!

Splish splash

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Splish splash I was taking a bath! I love my baths. Mommy always sings to me in the bath, since I first took baths she would sing "Clean Clean Clean" to the tune of "Chain Chain Chain." The singing used to help calm me down. Now I don't really need the singing but I like it when she does. I know I'm getting a bath when I hear the tune.

Today Daddy gave me my bath. Look at me sitting like a prince in my tub. I can sit up pretty good in the tub now - just have to make sure I'm sitting on a towel so that I don't go sliding all over the place. I can grasp the sides of the tub really well too. They like to keep me sitting up now because if I'm lying in the tub I like to kick my legs and really make some big splashes - someone ends up all wet besides me!

Rubber ducky, you're the one... ducky is from Auntie Emily.

Dec 2008 Recalls

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Wow, so many recalls in December 2008!

List of children's items from the Health Canada Consumer Product Safety site.

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Connor enjoying his bottle

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Connor's sudden spurt in awareness and mobility continues. He's been touching our faces, has better hand dexterity and can reach for smaller items. If you are not careful during a meal, he'll grab your plate or bowl from you!

He recognizes bottles of milk and gets excited when he sees it (when hungry) (and not to say that it's replaced the real thing!!). He seems to enjoy being able to hold the bottle himself, too. See this video of him and his bottle.

Sleeping

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Like father like son...

Yes, Connor is still co-sleeping with us. Oscar also sleeps in our bed - he usually sleeps around my legs. It is not recommended to have pets sleep with babies but Oscar is totally harmless (he's so chicken anyways). Connor is getting bigger now, of course, and so it's getting a bit crowded.

I have a new sleeping plan. I will set up a twin bed in Connor's room and start sleeping in there with him, and eventually start sneaking off to my own bed once he's asleep. I've ordered a bed rail online from Babies R Us. Once it arrives, I'll get started on making the changes for the sleeping arrangements.

Lots of changes for Connor this month is in store... he'll start solids mid-month as he will be 6 months old.

Developmental improvements at 5+ months

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Happy New Year everyone!

We went to a friend's house for New Year's Eve and we dressed Connor up in a collared shirt and these cute slacks from GAP that Daddy bought him. The slacks were a big hit! Unfortunately Connor fussed the entire time we were there - he just couldn't handle all the people and the noise I suppose, since we've been holed up at home with the snow. We went home by 9pm and were in bed at midnight. Such party animals, eh?

On January 1st we went out for New Year's dim sum with the family, and dressed Connor up again. He fussed again like the night before. SCREECHING at the top of his lungs. I can't imagine if we were on a plane, it would be so so horrible. We'll have to take him out more, to get him used to crowds, once the snow stops. Linds took him out of the restaurant to a nearby Shoppers Drug Mart and Connor was fine the entire time, so it must be the crowd and the noise.

Connor can sit up better every day (he's now 5 months and almost 3 weeks old)! The past couple of weeks Connor has shown major improvements with his cognitive abilities and motor skills. He seems to recognize his name (he turns toward you when his name is called), he is enjoying jumping in his Jolly Jumper, he is playing more with his toys with both hands. I observed him trying to control his hand to place a teething ring into his mouth. And he's trying hard with the consonants ("b"). He's able to spit out a "beh" on occasion (and I do mean spit - he's spraying it!). The only thing he doesn't do is roll over from back to front. Could be because he's such a chunky monkey (I read that somewhere, that chunky babies may have a harder time with that).

Tonight he even seemed to recognize the word NO! He was crying at dinner and I said NO very firmly a few times and he stopped crying and stared at me. This worked a couple of times and then he started wailing. He was hungry. Bad Mommy...

There's a good checklist of developmental checklist on Babyzone.

Here are Connor and Oscar sitting side by side.

My handsome guys!

Styling in his cool slacks!!

On a sour note, someone hit the rear of my car while it was parked (hit and run)!!! :( Not a good financial beginning to the year.