5 months old (this was when he was really into grabbing his feet)
6 months old (can't sit still)
7 months old (giving us the "why do you keep doing this" look)
UNTIL WE HAVE A BETTER PICTURE OF THE TWO TOGETHER....
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Months 5, 6, 7
Yes, that's right, we have 3 months worth of "birthday" shots to share. Today, Tyler turned 7 months old. How quickly the months have gone by. It's still not easy trying to take a photo with him and a sign and I imagine that will not change. But, we'll keep on trying until the little kiddo turns 1.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Physical Milestones
I'm not sure where the days have gone, but somehow it's been a long, long time since our last post. We really need to work on being on top of this. Right now, we have a post about our trip to Japan in the works(which was already over 2 months ago), but we wanted to share the physical milestone's that T has reached in these past couple of months before we forget. =)
So, for starters, our little guy is crawling. It's not perfect yet. We only saw him crawl on all fours for a few "steps" for the first time yesterday, but he started doing the army crawl a couple weeks after he turned 5 months and now does it with speed and perfection. There's no holding him back now. He needs CONSTANT supervision.
He can also sit, though he'd much rather be crawling. He learned to crawl before sitting.
T also recently learned to pull himself up. He's been trying to do this for awhile now, but he figured it out a week ago and now he's unstoppable. Today he even figured out how to stand in his crib (uh-oh).
And, finally, he can also crawl up stairs. He's not very fast at this yet, but if we had stairs in our place (the video was taken at Lolo and Lola's), I can only imagine how quickly he'd figure this one out. Warning - this is a long video.
There you have it. T is a handful now that he's mobile, but it's been fun watching the developments. Next up - walking?
So, for starters, our little guy is crawling. It's not perfect yet. We only saw him crawl on all fours for a few "steps" for the first time yesterday, but he started doing the army crawl a couple weeks after he turned 5 months and now does it with speed and perfection. There's no holding him back now. He needs CONSTANT supervision.
He can also sit, though he'd much rather be crawling. He learned to crawl before sitting.
T also recently learned to pull himself up. He's been trying to do this for awhile now, but he figured it out a week ago and now he's unstoppable. Today he even figured out how to stand in his crib (uh-oh).
And, finally, he can also crawl up stairs. He's not very fast at this yet, but if we had stairs in our place (the video was taken at Lolo and Lola's), I can only imagine how quickly he'd figure this one out. Warning - this is a long video.
There you have it. T is a handful now that he's mobile, but it's been fun watching the developments. Next up - walking?
Sunday, July 4, 2010
To the Land of the Rising Sun
This is very delayed, but it took us awhile to upload and sort through our pictures from our trip to Japan. Better late than never, right?
(Here's T in his car seat and Snap 'N Go ready to conquer the flight.)
On May 29th Tyler experienced his first international flight to visit his Japanese side of the family in Tamana, Japan. Tamana is a small town in the southern island of Kyushu. It's part of Kumamoto prefecture (state) and isn't known for very much except their hot spring baths and ramen. This is the town that Mommy was born in and where Obachama and Jiji (maternal grandparents) and Mamachan and Jijipapa (maternal great grandparents) live.
It was quite a journey. First we had to fly to Narita (Tokyo) from San Francisco which took about 11 hours. On the way to Narita, we were fortunate to get the bassinet seat (we didn't have it on the way back). It served as a place for T to sleep as well as for us to put all sorts of stuff. He actually seemed quite comfortable, even though he was strapped in.
Once we got to Narita, we had about a 4 hour layover before our flight to Fukuoka. And, once we got to Fukuoka, Jiji picked us up and we had a 1 hour car ride to Tamana. It was quite a trip, but T was a champ the whole way.
Our time in Japan was relaxing. We didn't do much except hang out with the family since everyone couldn't get enough of T. Mamachan, who in the past year had broken her back, insisted she was fine and wanted to carry around the little guy. Jijipapa, who hasn't carried a baby since Uncle Hide was born, also wanted to hold T as much as possible. Everyone was pretty much fighting over him. =)
There was a lot of drinking, at least between Daddy and Jijipapa. T has started to already show his interest in alcohol too (like parents, like son?). He still has many years to go, but here he is wanting Jijipapa's sake.
Even though we didn't do much besides relax, it seems that hanging out with the family is exhausting for all (Don't T and Uncle Hide look alike here?). =)
The one big thing that we did do was "omiyamairi" or "shrine visit." This is a traditional Shinto practice of taking one's baby to the shrine to have the priest pray for the baby's health and happiness. Obachama and Jiji bought T his first kimono (which is wrapped around the adult carrying him) and we went to the shrine that Mommy went to for her omiyamairi many, many years ago.
Here's T cleaning his hands with the Shrine water.
And the priest doing his thing...
While we watch.
This is us, as a family of three.
And this is T with his Japanese family (minus Suechan (his great aunt) and Gonchan (his great uncle)).
Aside from doing the omiyamairi, we also stopped by the Iris Festival to see the pretty flowers. Here's what it looked like.
That's about it. It was a quick trip there and back. The travel back home was another journey, but it was uneventful. We didn't have the bassinet so T had to sleep in Mommy or Daddy's arms the whole time. But, he was well behaved and slept a lot.
Here are some random photos from our trip.
Crazy hair
Japanese Summer Outfit (Jimbei)
Meeting Obachama's cousin's family
Meeting Suechan
Laughing at Mamachan's cousin
Laughing at Daddy
(Here's T in his car seat and Snap 'N Go ready to conquer the flight.)
On May 29th Tyler experienced his first international flight to visit his Japanese side of the family in Tamana, Japan. Tamana is a small town in the southern island of Kyushu. It's part of Kumamoto prefecture (state) and isn't known for very much except their hot spring baths and ramen. This is the town that Mommy was born in and where Obachama and Jiji (maternal grandparents) and Mamachan and Jijipapa (maternal great grandparents) live.
It was quite a journey. First we had to fly to Narita (Tokyo) from San Francisco which took about 11 hours. On the way to Narita, we were fortunate to get the bassinet seat (we didn't have it on the way back). It served as a place for T to sleep as well as for us to put all sorts of stuff. He actually seemed quite comfortable, even though he was strapped in.
Once we got to Narita, we had about a 4 hour layover before our flight to Fukuoka. And, once we got to Fukuoka, Jiji picked us up and we had a 1 hour car ride to Tamana. It was quite a trip, but T was a champ the whole way.
Our time in Japan was relaxing. We didn't do much except hang out with the family since everyone couldn't get enough of T. Mamachan, who in the past year had broken her back, insisted she was fine and wanted to carry around the little guy. Jijipapa, who hasn't carried a baby since Uncle Hide was born, also wanted to hold T as much as possible. Everyone was pretty much fighting over him. =)
There was a lot of drinking, at least between Daddy and Jijipapa. T has started to already show his interest in alcohol too (like parents, like son?). He still has many years to go, but here he is wanting Jijipapa's sake.
Even though we didn't do much besides relax, it seems that hanging out with the family is exhausting for all (Don't T and Uncle Hide look alike here?). =)
The one big thing that we did do was "omiyamairi" or "shrine visit." This is a traditional Shinto practice of taking one's baby to the shrine to have the priest pray for the baby's health and happiness. Obachama and Jiji bought T his first kimono (which is wrapped around the adult carrying him) and we went to the shrine that Mommy went to for her omiyamairi many, many years ago.
Here's T cleaning his hands with the Shrine water.
And the priest doing his thing...
While we watch.
This is us, as a family of three.
And this is T with his Japanese family (minus Suechan (his great aunt) and Gonchan (his great uncle)).
Aside from doing the omiyamairi, we also stopped by the Iris Festival to see the pretty flowers. Here's what it looked like.
That's about it. It was a quick trip there and back. The travel back home was another journey, but it was uneventful. We didn't have the bassinet so T had to sleep in Mommy or Daddy's arms the whole time. But, he was well behaved and slept a lot.
Here are some random photos from our trip.
Crazy hair
Japanese Summer Outfit (Jimbei)
Meeting Obachama's cousin's family
Meeting Suechan
Laughing at Mamachan's cousin
Laughing at Daddy
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Lap Nap
Just a quick post. We had lunch today at Mission Beach Cafe with Tita Len and her friends. After being a fun, little guy, Tyler decided he needed a nap so he fell asleep in Tita Len's lap in his "thinker" (Buddha belly) pose. Daddy does this pose too (minus Buddha belly)... One day we'll do a side by side photo. =)
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Sleep Torture
For several nights after Tyler was over his jet lag, our evenings went something like this. Tyler would get a bath, put in PJs, read to, fed, fall asleep feeding, and placed in his crib. Then, 30 minutes or so later, he'd wake up crying and Daddy or I would spend the next 30 minutes or more trying to get him back to sleep, only to have him wake up again about 30 minutes later. It was a vicious cycle that we needed to stop. So, we talked about sleep training, watched the "Sleep Easy Solution" DVD (Daddy fell asleep watching it), and dove right in.
Basically, the DVD, like many other methods said babies don't know how to put themselves to sleep and need to learn. To do this parents must establish a sleep routine so the baby knows bedtime is coming and then put the baby in the crib awake and let them cry and figure it out. Ouch. The differences in the methods seem to be how much attention you pay the baby while they are crying. This method said to go in at 5 minutes, reassure the baby from a distance for less than 30 seconds, wait another 10 minutes, reassure the baby again, and then go in every 15 minutes until the baby falls asleep.
OK, we can do this. It's for T's own good. He needs to learn to self sooth and sleep. And, the women on the DVD said "sleep nutrition" is essential.
Night One: We decided our bedtime routine would be bath, jammies, feed (making sure he doesn't fall asleep while feeding), read, sleep. The feeding and not sleeping was hard. Tyler kept dozing off and the poor guy had us doing whatever we could to keep him awake. Then, we read a short book knowing he was tired, kissed him lots and lots, and put him into the crib and walked out of his room. The crying promptly began. We did as we were told. Daddy went in first at 5 minutes. Then Mommy 10 minutes later. Daddy thought that T howled a lot louder when Mommy tried to sooth him. When Daddy went in 15 minutes later, Mommy thought the same. So, we decided we should let him be. As we approached the hour marker (yup, that's right, ONE HOUR of non-stop whaling), we discussed giving up. But, then it seemed awful that we had already let T cry for so long so we decided to go 15 more minutes. At one hour and twelve minutes, he gave up crying and fell asleep with really loud hiccups and didn't wake up for almost 7 hours, before needing a feed. Not bad.
Night Two: We dreaded having to do this all over again. We contemplated quitting, but then decided that would be mean since we already made him cry the night before. So, we did the same routine again, but with no check ins. 39 minutes later, he was asleep, again with really loud hiccups. This time he slept for only 5 hours before waking for a feed, but that's OK. I actually think he might have not eaten enough during the day.
Night Three (tonight): Sleep training works. We did our routine and after many kisses, into his crib T went. After only 8 minutes of some tame crying, he fell asleep. Seriously? Could it be?
I've been told that at this point (5 months and over 15 lbs), T should be able to sleep through the night. That is, that he should be able to sleep a full 11-12 hour stretch. Honestly, though, I don't mind having to wake up once a night. He nurses in less than 10 minutes and is back asleep in no time. I have to get up anyway to go to the bathroom. If anything, I need to sleep train myself to stop doing that first. =)
Now that it seems we have the night time sleep sorted out, the question is, do we work on his naps... I quite enjoy taking a nap with him a day when possible and letting him take naps whenever he falls asleep, but apparently, good naps equals good night time sleep. Ugh.
Basically, the DVD, like many other methods said babies don't know how to put themselves to sleep and need to learn. To do this parents must establish a sleep routine so the baby knows bedtime is coming and then put the baby in the crib awake and let them cry and figure it out. Ouch. The differences in the methods seem to be how much attention you pay the baby while they are crying. This method said to go in at 5 minutes, reassure the baby from a distance for less than 30 seconds, wait another 10 minutes, reassure the baby again, and then go in every 15 minutes until the baby falls asleep.
OK, we can do this. It's for T's own good. He needs to learn to self sooth and sleep. And, the women on the DVD said "sleep nutrition" is essential.
Night One: We decided our bedtime routine would be bath, jammies, feed (making sure he doesn't fall asleep while feeding), read, sleep. The feeding and not sleeping was hard. Tyler kept dozing off and the poor guy had us doing whatever we could to keep him awake. Then, we read a short book knowing he was tired, kissed him lots and lots, and put him into the crib and walked out of his room. The crying promptly began. We did as we were told. Daddy went in first at 5 minutes. Then Mommy 10 minutes later. Daddy thought that T howled a lot louder when Mommy tried to sooth him. When Daddy went in 15 minutes later, Mommy thought the same. So, we decided we should let him be. As we approached the hour marker (yup, that's right, ONE HOUR of non-stop whaling), we discussed giving up. But, then it seemed awful that we had already let T cry for so long so we decided to go 15 more minutes. At one hour and twelve minutes, he gave up crying and fell asleep with really loud hiccups and didn't wake up for almost 7 hours, before needing a feed. Not bad.
Night Two: We dreaded having to do this all over again. We contemplated quitting, but then decided that would be mean since we already made him cry the night before. So, we did the same routine again, but with no check ins. 39 minutes later, he was asleep, again with really loud hiccups. This time he slept for only 5 hours before waking for a feed, but that's OK. I actually think he might have not eaten enough during the day.
Night Three (tonight): Sleep training works. We did our routine and after many kisses, into his crib T went. After only 8 minutes of some tame crying, he fell asleep. Seriously? Could it be?
I've been told that at this point (5 months and over 15 lbs), T should be able to sleep through the night. That is, that he should be able to sleep a full 11-12 hour stretch. Honestly, though, I don't mind having to wake up once a night. He nurses in less than 10 minutes and is back asleep in no time. I have to get up anyway to go to the bathroom. If anything, I need to sleep train myself to stop doing that first. =)
Now that it seems we have the night time sleep sorted out, the question is, do we work on his naps... I quite enjoy taking a nap with him a day when possible and letting him take naps whenever he falls asleep, but apparently, good naps equals good night time sleep. Ugh.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Oh, How You've Grown
For over a month, T's swing had become a basket for all of his small toys. But, today, I decided to try it again (which didn't last long as he decided to grab one of the sheep above making the motor rattle). Check him out in his swing the first week he was home and look at him today. He's really grown quite a bit! He doesn't look like the same baby...
Excuse the bag of dirty diapers in the older picture. We were shocked at how often a baby could pee and poop. Now, he just pees a lot. His pooping is on a strange schedule... apparently, this is normal for babies. I'm sure when T starts to read this blog he's going to love that I like to share stories about his poo. =)
Which we do have a little story about from Japan. But, I'm going to save that for the Japan post. I still haven't gotten around to uploading pictures from our week away as we've been dealing with T's massive jet lag all week. Still, his jet lag was worth the trip to introduce him to his Japanese family (who, of course, adored him =P).
Hope everyone has a happy weekend!
Excuse the bag of dirty diapers in the older picture. We were shocked at how often a baby could pee and poop. Now, he just pees a lot. His pooping is on a strange schedule... apparently, this is normal for babies. I'm sure when T starts to read this blog he's going to love that I like to share stories about his poo. =)
Which we do have a little story about from Japan. But, I'm going to save that for the Japan post. I still haven't gotten around to uploading pictures from our week away as we've been dealing with T's massive jet lag all week. Still, his jet lag was worth the trip to introduce him to his Japanese family (who, of course, adored him =P).
Hope everyone has a happy weekend!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Fun with Video Editing
We've made it to Japan. The flight was uneventful and the Japanese family has been obsessing over T. A proper post will be coming soon. But, in the meantime, this is what Daddy's been doing with his time here. Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)