He's Got Nice Hair

Just about anyone who meets T compliments his hair. Obachama thinks that his hair makes him look like a 1 year old. T's hair is nice and full, but extremely unruly.

This was over a month ago, but it's basically what T's hair looks like if we don't do anything.

Here he is with a little help.  The trick is to put on a hat right after his bath so his hair stays flat.

The above effect can also be achieved with the hair gel that Mommy bought.  Yes, there's a baby hair gel (Le Baby).  Mommy probably wouldn't have bought the gel, but she feared Daddy would try to replicate this.

That's T's hair after Daddy decided to style it with Aquaphor (which is basically Vaseline).  Note: Child was not harmed in the process.  He just needed a few extra shampoos.=)

Webcam Fun (With Daddy)

Daddy likes to try out new looks on T. It started back in early February when we got a new webcam to Skype with Obachama and Jiji (the Japanese grandparents). Check out these two shots of T when he was just under a month old.



And here's the most recent one that Daddy took. It's scary....

Who Sucks Their Thumb?

Tyler doesn't suck his thumb, he'd rather suck his pointer and middle finger (or his whole hand).

Daddy Can Be So Mean =)

As I've mentioned before, Tyler is really cute when he cries.  Here's Daddy videotaping him.  I think he was hungry.

Watch Me Grow

When Tyler was born, we decided to take pictures of him on a monthly basis (weekly for the first month) so that we could see how he's been growing.  Since we started this blog when he turned 3 months, here are the pictures that we've taken so far.  It's amazing how he's grown!

1 Day Old.  T came out with a full head of hair, but swollen eyes and face like any other baby.  Still, we thought he was the cutest thing.

1 Week Old.  T wasn't into having his picture taken - yet.  All he wanted to do was eat, sleep and poop.  This is the best we could do.  Someone asked us what we were writing the signs on since it looks really big.  It's just an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.  That's how small our little guy was back then....

2 Weeks Old.  He's starting to get a knack for picture taking and staying awake. 

3 Weeks Old.  Clearly, he's thinking Mommy and Daddy are crazy, but he's entertaining us.

 

1 Month Old.  T had been wanting to lift his head up from pretty much the day he was born.  With a little help from the Boppy, he was able to hold his head up high.  Check out how much his hair has grown.

2 Months Old.  He's starting to have a little attitude.  "Mommy, Daddy, what's with making me hold these signs?"  His hair is definitely getting out of control.

3 Months Old.  This was a hard photo session.  Now that he's interested in grabbing everything and putting it into his mouth, this was the only shot we got of him kind of looking at the camera.  He looks grumpy.  I think he wasn't happy with the fact that we kept pulling the paper away from him.

So, there you have it.  That's our little T growing up, month to month.  He's really starting to look less like a baby.  From now on we'll hopefully stay on top of things and post his monthly pictures on his monthly birthdays.  No promises.

On His Own

April 20th was a big night for our Little T - he slept all by himself in his crib!  I can't say it was perfect, but for starters he did well.  At around 9pm he fell asleep after nursing so Mommy set him down in the crib.  Of course, he woke up.  But Daddy, the swaddling expert, came to the rescue and wrapped Tyler up good.  Comfortable, he clonked out and slept until 2am.  Not bad.  I went in, he nursed, and went back to sleep in the crib.  Yeah!  Not really, it wasn't for very long.  He woke a little over 2 hours later, just fussy, not hungry.  I tried to get him to sleep with us, but he wasn't having it.  So, I did what usually works, I fed him.  He ate a little (clearly wasn't that hungry), fell back asleep, and back in the crib he went.  An hour later, he was up again.  So, he came back into bed with us, but he didn't want to sleep.  This time he'd woken up because he had to poo (again, that bowel of his).  By this point Mommy was exhausted so she woke up the support team - Daddy. =)  Daddy cleaned him up, put T back in the crib, and we got another hour of sleep.  So, not a perfect night, but it was decent for starters.  We'll try again tonight...   

Tyler's First Trip Out of Cali

Tyler (and I) survived our first airplane ride together to Boston to visit Tito Jonathan and Uncle Michael.  Thankfully, it was an uneventful flight and there were no poop explosions.  Phew!  Lola and Lolo were a great help on the flight.  Lola played with Tyler while he was awake and Lolo helped him sleep when he got sleepy.  The parents at the parent's group last week had said their babies basically slept for whole flights, but not our little guy.  Oh well - at least he wasn't crying.

Saturday was the "Carb Fest" for Uncle Michael in preparation for his first Boston Marathon and his upcoming birthday.  Tyler was "Mr. Social" and a hit at the party.  Mommy barely held him all night as he was introduced to new people.  In fact, he was so comfortable with strangers that he fell asleep in Tito Mickey's friend, Devon's, arms for awhile.  He's still not ready to party through the night and needed a power nap.

Speaking of partying, Tyler was kicked out of a bar for the first time on Sunday.  That's right - the Cactus Club, Tito Mickey's old hang out, wouldn't let T in so he had to have dinner in the restaurant section with Lolo and Lola while Mommy was at the bar.  I didn't think he'd experience being thrown out of a bar he was at least 17....

The main event of the trip, the Marathon, was on Monday.  To get to our viewing place, Tito Jonathan took us on a T ride so Tyler had another first - his first train ride.  I decided that it might be too crowded for the stroller so I carried all 15 lbs (that's a guess) of him in the Bjorn.  Sure enough, the train was packed.  But, we made it safe to our destination and got to watch Uncle Michael run by at around Mile 25.  He looked awesome and rocked his time too.  3 hrs 25 min 46 sec.  Congratulations, Uncle Michael!  This Corona's for you!

Tyler finally got a little R&R with Lolo and Lola last night while Mommy went out for dinner around the corner from Tito Jonathan and Uncle Michael's.  He was good most of the night, except had 2 episodes of fussiness.  The first, Lolo and Lola thought he was really hungry so Mommy came home.  But, the second time, Lola knew that he wasn't hungry and decided to wait.  And, she was right.  He wasn't hungry, he was just missing his Mommy a little bit. =) 

What else happened... Lola figured out a new way to make Tyler laugh.  She basically says, "Are you (pause) calm?!"  For some reason, when she does this, he cracks up.  When Tita Len or Mommy tries, he might crack a smile if we're lucky.  I'll have to try and catch it on video.

Mommy's new experience was changing a diaper in a bar booth (with the help of Tita Len and Auntie Kristy) during the Marathon.  That was a first, but one has to do what one has to do(do).

Oh, and Tyler only got to take one bath in his 5 nights on the East Coast.  Tito Jonathan and Uncle Michael don't have a bathtub, so Mommy tried showering with him early on.  It wasn't easy.  T was slippery and uncomfortable and didn't like the shower hitting him so Mommy decided that he'd just be wiped down over the weekend.  Not great, but at least his hair looked good. =P  And, although Daddy got lots of photo updates from Mommy all weekend, because he missed T so much, as soon as Daddy got home tonight, T got to take a nice, long hot bath with Daddy and caught up.  I think that made up for the lack of baths over the weekend.

Otherwise, both Tyler and I made it back safe and sound.  Again, no poop explosions on the flight back.  Phew!  And, Tita Len was there to help out and entertain.  He was a little fussy, but slept more (it probably helped that he nursed about 4 times in 6 hours).

Thanks Tito Jonathan and Uncle Michael for having us over this weekend!  And, Happy Birthday, Uncle Michael!  We can't wait to see you both in July when you are here in San Francisco.  xoxo

Three Months Today

Tyler is 3 months old today. I feel like the time has flown by and I'm forgetting a lot of things that he's been doing.  So, I figured I'd start a blog that Daddy and I can write to keep track of it all.  One day, I imagine, he'll enjoy looking back at "his" blog and thank me and Daddy for it. Or, Daddy and I will look back and reminisce ourselves about what a cute little baby he used to be. =) So, here we go....

Tyler's definitely grown and developed a lot in these three short/long months, and not just his weight (which is probably about 15 lbs now), height (maybe about 25 inches?), and hair (everyone comments on how much hair he has).  For the most part he's a calm baby and really only cries when something is bothering him.  Usually, he's hungry or sleepy.  Or, he has to burp, pass gas or poop.  Daddy and I think it's cute when he cries - it usually starts with a pout which turns into a frown before the tears come on.  Sometimes, we let him cry for a second for our amusement.  I know, it sounds cruel, but if you saw it you'd take a moment to take it in too.

Personality wise, he's kind of serious, but he does like to smile big and laugh lots and really likes people.  He's also noticing the things around him now (it was such a surprise when, one day, he started staring at his swing mobile) and seems to rather be awake hanging out than sleeping during the day (I'm worried he's not napping enough). His daytime sleep routine it to get tired after about an hour and a half of being awake, but then only take 20-30 minute naps if he's by himself (he'll sleep much longer if I nap with him or if Daddy puts him in the Bjorn and bounces on the exercise ball while playing NBA 2K10 on the Playstation).  Thankfully, he knows night from day so although he usually won't go to sleep until 10 or 11 in the evening, once he's down, he'll sleep for at least 3 hours, wake up hungry or pooping, and then go back to sleep once he's been fed and/or changed.  He'll also sleep with me until 9 or 10 in the morning which is nice since I'm not a morning person, but I think that I'm going to have to become a morning person so that he'll go to bed earlier.  Last night, he slept for almost 6 1/2 hours and tonight he went to sleep at 9pm.  Maybe people are right when they say 3 months is the big milestone in terms of sleep.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Other things he likes to do now is grab things, especially my hair or necklace, and cuddle with his blankies Mr. Moo (initially named "Softie" by Lola) and Mr. Bear (or a burp cloth if they aren't around).  Oh, and he's found his hands which he likes to shove in his mouth and drool all over.  Actually, he seems to like grabbing pretty much anything and putting it in his mouth.  After Tyler was born, Daddy and I took weekly pictures of him until 1 month and have now been taking monthly pictures with a sign.  For his photo session today he kept grabbing the sign and trying to put it in his mouth (pictures will be coming soon).  Which reminds me, a sure why to make him smile is to tap his mouth dry.  For some reason, he likes that.

Tomorrow, Tyler will be going on his first airplane ride.  Daddy is off to Vegas for Tito Ray's bachelor party for the entire weekend, so I decided that I would go to Boston with the Cruz's in support of Uncle Michael running the Boston Marathon and his birthday.  We're flying out with Lolo and Lola and coming back with Tita Len.  Tyler and I went to our first parents group today at Day One and were told that poop is much more explosive in high altitude and that I should bring a couple changes of clothes for him and for me.  I'm a little nervous about that, especially since his poop is explosive on the ground (I have a feeling that a lot of posts will involve Tyler's bowel movements...).  Stay tuned, I may have a good story soon.

I think that's about it for our first post.  HAPPY 3 MONTH BIRTHDAY, Tyler Kenji.  Mommy and Daddy have really enjoyed these first few months watching you grow and take in the world and look forward to our many, many years together.  We can't imagine our lives without you and love you very much.