Mom's back from Zombieland...kind of

People don't tell you how exhausting parenthood is. Sure, they'll tell you all day long how rewarding it is, how fun it is. But they steer clear of any negativity, lest you change your mind about having kids!

Not that I would have changed my mind...hehe.

Kora's nighttime activities include waking up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours and nursing back to sleep, usually on top of me. It allows me to get more sleep than if I had to go to her room each time, and truth be told I really do love snuggling up to her. However, after 15 months of this, I've realized that something HAS to change. For the sake of my sanity and health. It has to.

So, four nights ago we decided to partially nightwean her*. This means that from the time we put her to bed until about 3AM, I do not nurse her. I rock her, sing to her, cuddle her, beg her, anything BUT nurse her back to sleep. Since she is 15 months old, I talk to her so she'll understand. "Boobs are sleeping. We can nurse later, but not now." I have to say, she actually gets it! The first two nights she gave me very little fussing. And on night 3, she actually slept from 9PM until about 2:15AM! HUUUUGGGEE. She didn't come to our bed until a little after 5AM, and she slept until 7. It's been a lot of work but it's totally been worth it. If we can just get her down to 1 or 2 wakings per night I will be so happy.

Oh, and Enya works wonders. I just turn on her album on my iphone and it instantly soothes. Both me and Kora.

Anyway, now that I see a light at the end of the tunnel, I am committed to blogging more regularly. My goal is to update the blog at least weekly. So, if I don't do it, you have the right to bug me.

Here is an awesome video of Kora. I've been speaking more Chinese to her and she's totally getting it.

* We started to do this back in November and had a bit of success, but we reverted back to old habits quickly. Her teething was getting bad, and I refuse to put her through this when she's not feeling 100%. If she needs the comfort of nursing, I give it to her.

Some fun videos!

You've been patient, I know. Here's what you've been waiting for!

Kora having a grand old time with her puppy Sadie

Kora demonstrating the proper way to eat pho noodles

Kora pushing her stroller around the house with Daddy

Kora reading her ASPCA magazine (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals). She likes it because it has many pictures of cats and dogs.

Swimming in our friends' pool. This was her first time in a pool

Very short but very cool update

Last night Kora was nibbling on a cucumber at dinner. She stuck it out to me so I took a little bite out of it and said thank you. Then I said, "Can you give some to daddy?". She hesitated for just a second, looked at Darren and stuck the cucumber out towards him!! Wow! She understood!

Oh my sweetness.

Aaaand she's off!

We knew it wouldn't be long before she started crawling. I suppose she is more or less "scooching". One foot is walking while she drags her other leg underneath her.

This video was taken on the 14th of June 2010.

You can see at the beginning how much she wants to touch the door stopper, but she doesn't actually do it. She whines a bit, turns away, but keeps looking back at it with longing. About a week prior it scared her with the boing-oing-oing sound, and even though she is attracted to it, I think she's afraid it'll make that sound again.

In related news, she is standing up a lot now, and last night even stood for a second on her own! She wants to be walking so badly. D and I think that she'll never really master crawling, and will probably be walking in the next month.

Uh oh

She can now pull herself to standing very easily in her crib. T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Yeah, I did it.

Ha ha ha, you guys are totally in for it. I'm bustin outta here soon!

(Kora's evil laugh)

two!

I realized that we had not written about this.

One of Kora's teeth poked out on May 4th. Well, it now has a partner! Four days later, her other bottom tooth poked out! She has two visible teeth on her bottom gum. No wonder she's been a bit fussy lately!

Got a photo to prove it!

Baby Led Weaning, or How to Introduce Foods to Your Baby in a Fun Way

Now that Kora is over six months old, the question many people ask is, "has she started solids yet?". Well, the answer is yes and no. Yes she's had some solids. No, not the kind (or way) most people think.

We are using the "Baby Led Weaning" approach. It allows us to let her eat pretty much what we're eating with her own hands. For example, last night we had a stir-fried squid dish (thanks honey it was yummy!) and some stir-fried bok choy. We sat Kora in her little booster seat and put a piece of bok choy on her tray. She picked it up, tasted it with her tongue, and started sucking on it. When she was done (bored) with one piece, we would give her another. We can tell she is done by the way she dramatically tosses it away.

This method allows her to go at her own pace, exploring the foods that she sees us eating, and swallow some of it (which we find out a day later). It's non stressful for her and for us. We're able to all eat at the table and eat our own food. Darren and I actually have conversations at the table!

ooh look! something orange. i wonder what it is...

oh, yum.

She has gagged a few times, but the gag reflex in babies is close to their mouths, so they very rarely choke. Of course, we keep an eye on her at all times.

To date, she has had apples, boiled carrot sticks, boiled green beans, bok choy, lettuce, avocado, and Japanese sweet potato. It can get pretty messy, but it's so much fun. Plus, I think Kody is starting to like her more since he found out she'll drop food.

Why won't you paparazzi let me eat in peace!

Now to answer the question on everyone's mind: Are you going to feed her rice cereal? The truth is, I don't know! I bought a box just in case, but I haven't felt the urge to give her any, especially now that I hear the whole sleeping longer on rice cereal is just a myth. As she eats more foods I'll update the blog.

Kora working on her crawling skills

This was taken the morning of April 11th at Tim and Stephen's home.

Kora working on crawling from Minh-An Pence on Vimeo.

Australia Holiday

Wow, so jet lag this time around really kicked my ass. We've been home for a week and last night is the first night I had a good night's sleep. Well, as good of a night's sleep you can have with a six-month old, i guess. Speaking of which, Kora turned six months old on Tuesday! I can't believe that just six months ago she was a tiny infant. Now she's a little girl with a definite mind of her own.

Our wonderful holiday in Oz was just over 3 weeks. Our hosts, Tim and Stephen (Tim is Darren's brother for those of you who don't know and Stephen is his partner), made sure we had an incredible time.

I have to admit, Darren and I had no idea what to expect. We'd heard that this is the best time to travel with a baby, before they get mobile, but we really pushed the limit by opting for such a faraway destination. The total trip time was right around 32 hours (this includes 3 flights and the layovers). Well, I have to say that Kora did really well. It was exhausting keeping her happy and entertained, but we succeeded. Mostly. The last leg (Sydney to Melbourne, about an hour flight) was the one that pushed her over the edge. It was extremely bright and she was tired. She cried and screamed for about 10 minutes at the beginning of the flight, then again for about 10 minutes at the end of the flight. During the flight I kept her quiet by holding her and bouncing her in the aisle. I was ready to cry myself. Oh well we got through it. I'll also add that she was not happy to then spend another 20 minutes in a carseat after all that!

The first few days were spent relaxing and recovering from the traveling. We took walks into one of the local villages. Such a cute town. There's a butcher, an organic produce shop and a few bakeries. Love it! Walkable communities rock.

Stephen cooked for us every night which was a big treat. He's an exceptional cook. Of course we had Australian wine every night.

We took day trips to Healesville animal sanctuary and the town of Daylesford (known as a spa town). We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather for our many hikes and walks. We took the train into downtown Melbourne many times. I love that city. Darren told me before we went that I would love it. I didn't realize how right he was. It is such a vibrant city, but it also retains so much European charm as well. It is the opposite of Atlanta. Atlanta likes to bill itself as a vibrant city with a lot to offer, but whenever someone visits I try to think of the places to take them in Atlanta, I can barely think of anything (aquarium anyone? Coke museum? how about a big granite rock?). Melbourne is just so alive. We barely scratched the surface of the city...I can't wait to go back.

Darren, Kora and I on the waterfront

The second week we started our road trip along the Great Ocean Road. We were nervous about how Kora would do in the car since she is usually not happy being strapped in the carseat. Tim and Stephen routed our trip so that we wouldn't have to spend more than 3 hours a day in the van, and those 3 hours were further broken up by stops. It turned out fine. Yes, she cried a bit. When that happened we would usually pull over and I would nurse her to sleep and put her back in the carseat.

So, we went first to Torquay to stretch our legs and go to the visitor center to route the rest of trip. This is also where Kora went to the beach for the first time. I think she really loved the squishiness of the sand. She wouldn't stop bouncing! Then the tide came in and scared her! Baby steps...


Our next stop was Apollo Bay. Again, we walked along the beach and around the town. We stayed overnight here. I have to add that this was the only night we did not have wine. :-)


The next day we did a beautiful hike through a rainforest in Otway National Park.
Halfway through the hike Kora decided she was hungry and wouldn't stop fussing. So, I nursed her while hiking! That was a first.

Later that day we stopped at the Twelve Apostles. Beautiful! Darren counted and I think there are only 8 apostles left, due to erosion.

Twelve Apostles

Around this time Kora's GI system decided it would change things up a bit and go from pooping once a day to 5-7 times a day. This was oh so pleasant while on the road. I think it had to do with a change in my diet. She still has yet to change back.

We then left the Great Ocean Road and headed north to Penola (leaving the state of Victoria and entering South Australia). This town is smack dab in the Coonawarra wine region. Since South Australia's wines are far superior to Victoria's (thank you to Stephen's indoctrination), we were not allowed to taste wine until we were here. It did not disappoint!

Daddy sneaking a sip of wine while Kora's not looking

Finally we headed towards the Grampians National Park. Here we did some beautiful hikes, and we stayed in a creaky cabin on the outskirts of the park. Right outside the cabin at least 30 kangaroos congregated. I was so in awe of this cool animal. Kora was too. But then again she is in awe of any animal, as long as it is moving.

Mommy kanga with her joey. We watched her nurse him. Being a huge fan of nursing, especially in public (shameless!), I loved it.

Kora and mommy in the Grampians N.P.

Kora, mommy, uncles Tim and Stephen in the Grampians N.P.

That ended our roadtrip. It was nice to come home (well, Tim and Stephen's home) and relax.

Kora playing with Bruce the wombat

We went into the city several more times before we had to leave. We even went to Tim's work where all the ladies ooohed and aaahed over Kora. I think Darren and I could have slipped out the door and come back several hours later and nobody would've noticed.

Kora and uncle Tim at the nursery in Treasury Park

Kora, mommy and uncle Tim waiting for the train at Southern Cross station

Lunch at St. Kilda

We had such a great time. Tim and Stephen were wonderful. I know Kora fell in love with her uncles.

Some of Kora's firsts while here:
She rolled over from tummy to back and back to tummy consecutively. She's very quick!
Her grabbing skills are really spot on. She wants it; she gets it.
Her, ah, output has changed.
First time on a plane, a train, a beach, a swing, and down a slide
First hike and first roadtrip
First time eating a veggie (I gave her a cooked carrot stick to gum...and she ate some of it, as we saw later on in her, ah, output)
First sporting event (we went to an Australian Football game)

For more pictures please go to Darren's MobileMe Gallery.