Monday, June 25, 2012

Brandon In Repose

I never get tired of watching babies sleep. There's something so innocent and peaceful about it...well, plus I get jealous that I'm not sleeping like that. Oh well. All in good time.
 


Quiet contemplation about his next feeding?
Justin and Auntie Sandy playing while Brandon is--you guessed it--sleeping.

 

Brandon's First Paparazzi Photos

It must be traumatic for newborns...after going through the indignities of delivery, then they have to survive all the paparazzi :) Good thing newborns are sleepy for the first few days...I don't think the cameras bothered him *too* much.

Our first family photo. I look forward to a proper family photo where I've actually taken a shower!

Brandon and Naih-naih

Brandon and Yeh-yeh

Brandon with Grandma and Grandpa (Grandpa is holding crackers for Justin)

Justin and Auntie Sandy (who was nice enough to entertain him while everyone else was fawning over Brandon)
Brandon and Aunty Bubbles

Brandon and Auntie Ashlee


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Newest Wong

I'm a bit behind, but perhaps I can be forgiven since this past week has been a blur of nighttime feedings and diapers.

We are proud to announce the arrival of Brandon Archer Wong on Sunday, June 10, 2012 at 11:46 am, weighing 9 lbs., 1 oz. and measuring 21.5 inches. (By comparison, Justin was 7 lbs, 7 oz and 21 inches).

Delivery was relatively smooth. I started having contractions on Saturday at lunchtime, but they weren't too painful, just uncomfortable. By dinner time, they were about 8 minutes apart so we decided to have dinner in Santa Clara near the hospital, *just in case*. After dinner, I decided to go in to get checked out. Normally they would have sent me home since I wasn't progressed far enough, but since I told them we lived 35 minutes away, they let me walk around and get rechecked. I was finally admitted that night at 11:30 pm. Jay dropped Justin off at my parents and came to the hospital.

It was a long, uncomfortable (but thankfully not painful) night. I got my epidural at 4 am (THANK YOU to my Nurse Anesthetist!). It wasn't until 11 am on Sunday that I could finally start pushing. Luckily my OB happened to be on duty that day and was able to deliver Brandon. It seemed to be a party up in that room as she was making jokes with Jay. (Let me tell you, it's HARD to push when you're laughing). She even let Jay gown up to help deliver Brandon. At least one of us was having fun. My labor nurse was busy taking pictures ("Tasteful" she swore) of the scene. I'll spare you most of them ;) Brandon was born at 11:46 am after about 30 minutes of pushing. At 9 lbs., 1 oz. he was declared the biggest baby of the day (lucky me)

Lots of people have been asking us about Brandon's name. As with Justin, Jay and I had THE hardest time coming up with a proper boy's name. For a long time, I was rallying for another "J" name to match with Jay and Justin, but we couldn't agree on another one that we both liked. So then we moved to "A" names to match me, but no luck there. Then we started thinking about Brandon, since Brandon Lee was Bruce Lee's son. I guess it's a Chinese American thing :) Archer came about at truly the last minute after we had delivered him and were talking in the hospital. Jay was surfing names on his phone and came across Archer and we both liked it since it started with A and was a little bit different. *Whew*

We came home last Monday afternoon and are still trying to settle in to some kind of routine between Brandon's feeding every two hours and trying to get Justin off to preschool in the mornings. Brandon had a bit of jaundice and ended up also being "tongue-tied" (where the skin under your tongue is attached too far forward). We had to get it clipped (sounds much worse that it is) so that he could nurse more efficiently. Luckily all is well by now. Jaundice is on the decline and the little monster has climbed back up to his fighting weight after losing a pound after delivery.

Justin seems to have adjusted well enough. He's full of questions about what Brandon is doing. He seems to be testing his limits with us though, but I suppose that's to be expected.

I'm really hoping that Brandon is as good as Justin was at sleeping through the night by 6 weeks. I'd really forgotten how miserable it is to function on fragmented sleep. But at the least, we know generally what to expect this time around. We're not as scared to handle a newborn this time ;) 


So Week One is in the books. It's hard to believe he's only been around such a short time - we're trying to absorb and enjoy every moment (well maybe not the explosive diapers...that we can move on from...)


My last day being pregnant
Thank goodness for iPads

I'm glad someone was having fun in the delivery room!

I can't believe he was actually this big inside my tummy!

The newest little Wong

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Grandpa's Birthday

Justin is fully on board with the birthday concept. Balloons, cake, and candles are must. So Justin lucked out that he got to celebrate my dad's birthday twice - once at my parents' house and once at our house...I'm still not sure how he finagled that...

Exactly WHOSE birthday is it?


Waiting patiently...


No spit on the cake - success!

Nesting Part 2

When I came down from my cooking and baking nesting kick, I turned to architecture. We had ordered a patio set from Target which came in this great big box. My first thought was, "This would make a great playhouse!"

So with my box cutter and roll of packing tape in hand, I carved out a new house :) I got tired by the time I got to the roof so it's a bit incomplete, but luckily Justin thought it was totally cool. He spent a good portion of the weekend in there, bringing in his sleeping bag and his various dinosaurs. Good thing I made the door bigger than needed, because he also dragged Jay in there to play with him :)

There were so many good cardboard pieces that came with the shipment...I really wanted to create a whole play area. But alas, late pregnancy won out and I had to stop with the house. :)

Anyone need a room for rent?
 
Setting up camp
Justin really wanted to pose with his Apatasaurus


 

Nesting

Now that I've been on maternity leave for several weeks, I've gotten most of my big nesting to-dos accomplished...washed the baby clothes, bought diapers, sterilized bottles, etc. That got me through the first week and a half. Even with all the naps I've been taking, I still find myself twiddling my thumbs, wondering what to do next.

So I turned to baking and cooking all those foods that you never have time to make normally because of the time involved. Well, I've got nothing but time right now...I made a gallon of pasta sauce last week - yikes! That took me all day, between the prepping, sauteing, and simmering. Then I turned to yeast bread and made cinnamon rolls. I usually don't work with yeast since I never have time to let the dough rise once, let alone twice. But the house was filled with a great bread smell all day - yum!

Oops - let it rise too much while I napped!

Ready for the second rise!

All done baking! I couldn't make the frosting since I forgot I didn't have confectioner's sugar. Oh well, next time!
 

Mother's Day 2012

I'm a bit behind (as usual) on this blog. In my defense, I left on my maternity leave from work the Friday before Mother's Day, so I was busy trying to tie up all the loose ends at work. :)

In my never-ending quest for a good brunch buffet, we ended up at the Sofitel in Redwood City. I had high hopes, but it was only okay. The food was decent, but the logistics were a bit crazy as the food wasn't arranged very well. Oh well, Justin had a good time as always, whenever there is unlimited food. He was, of course, quite taken by the chocolate fountain, which my dad was happy to oblige him with.



Marshmallows dipped in chocolate

The waiter gave Justin his milk in a water glass, while all the other kids got plastic sippy cups - yikes!

The hotel gave all the moms some French macarons - yum!