The Senakams | Corgi + 3

The Pharaoh and the Sphinx

Why have a kid and a dog if you can't dress them up in ridiculous costumes for your own entertainment? (Isn't Bryson such a natural being a sphinx?)

And hey, she's enjoying it, right? The over-the-top headdress is a gift from my parents while visiting the King Tut exhibit at de Young before they left. It's then up to me to fashion the rest of the outfit in the 11th hour- raided my craft drawer for some gold-foiled paper and rhinestones, glue-gunned together with a cut-off bib with some elastics haphazardly sewn on the back. Voila! King Tut reincarnated! 

Miss Pharaoh, Mr. Elephant, Red Hot Chili Pepper and Miss Monkey mingling at the Halloween party (all saying "Are we done yet?")

Completely unrelated to Halloween. Just coz... 

Back to Work = Tears

Today's my first day back to work from my 4-plus-month maternity leave. *Sigh* 

I had a mini-meltdown last night, thinking about having to kiss her goodbye in the morning (ok, I do work from home mostly, but still it means handing her over to hubby, and trying to ignore her even when she's crying, which she did all afternoon). To make matters worse, I felt the urge to organize Eva's new closet and putting away clothes that didn't fit her anymore last night. Imagine me clutching a handful of tiny onesies and sobbing my face off on them. I was such a wreck.

When people with kids used to tell us when she was a few weeks old to enjoy them while they're small coz they grow up too fast, I thought that's absolute nonsense! All my sleep-deprived mind could grapple was that I couldn't wait for her to get bigger so she doesn't have to eat like 12 times a day and sleep only 2 hours at a time. But now, looking at these onesies that I can't believe she used to fit into just 3 months ago, and this giggling little thing beside me whose face lights up as soon as I walk into her room, I wish that time would stand still for just a sec so I can imprint this moment forever on my brain. (OK, the tears are flowing again... argh, what's wrong with me)

Just look at her and her little friends at a mommies' group gathering about a month ago (she was about 8.5 weeks then):

She looks so cute! So tiny! And so tanned! I swear I haven't taken her to a tanning booth yet. She is the youngest one there, but only by 4 days (the 2 cuties to her left and right are the 2 other youngest ones there, but they're all within about 3 months of each others).

Isn't this the most adorable line up ever? They look kinda wobbly that we thought they might all tumble like dominos. Good thing they didn't (but the slightly evil part of me thought that would've been kinda funny too. Tee hee!). Could you pick out the oldest baby?

Uh oh, Eva trying hard not to cry...

Where's my MOMMY? Waaaaah!!

Oh, she's right there. I'm fine now.

And this is her at her 3-month birthday celebration (she's around 14 weeks here):

Here she is with her little friends, Ili in orange who's 7 months, and Athena who's 10 months. Sometimes it still feels totally surreal when looking at a picture like this and think "wow, I have a daughter".  

And these are some pix just taken a couple days ago. Compared to these ones at 4 weeks, she looks so different...

 
"Hey Eva, say Dah-Dah"
"Hooo... Ooooooh... OOOOOOOOH!" (totally proud of herself)

By the way, Bryson had a small accident this morning, but really freaked us out at the time. Hubby was walking Eva and Bryson by himself, when he turned around and realized Bryson has fallen off a 5-foot platform onto some steps below. He said he just laid there and looked dazed. Hubby then picked him up (wth Eva strapped onto his chest) and frantically ran all the way home. Thank goodness when we took him to the vet that he checked out all OK, no broken bones that he can feel, just a very bruised belly. Needless to say, this has made my first day back to work even more interesting.

Here, you'll feel all better with a good rub down by your daddy and sister (BTW, don't you love hubby's T-shirt? So appropriate.)

 
 

Eva and Bryson's Most Excellent Adventure

Hey folks, we're back!

9 days of non-stop traveling with our 2 kids (2-legged and 4-legged), we've visited the most mangnificent coastal redwoods and pristine beaches, punctuated with feeding and changing Eva in the strangest places (on a tree stump in a redwood forest, next to a dead seal on an otherwise gorgeous beach, under a 30-foot Paul Bunyan statue, etc, etc...). That and Bryson eating and rolling in countless unidentifiable rotten objects (thank goodness the dead seal wasn't one of them), we've had one heck of a road trip!

Having just had a root canal today (ouch), plus dealing with Eva's latest "development", aka refusing to take the bottle all day (oh fun), I'm just too exhausted to write a coherent post. Just want to post some pix before they become some faded memory.

This is the view from the yard of the house we rented in Fort Bragg. Wish we had more time to enjoy it.

 

This house has a little glass-enclosed nook with a view of the ocean where this queen bed is. Hands down my most fav feature of this house. Even diaper-changing's more enjoyable here.

The first time Eva petted Bryson! And it's not staged, I swear! Awwww...

 Our sweet little girl at the house (seconds before she started wailing for something)

 

Hiking at Founders Grove, inside the famed Avenue of the Giants. We didn't drive through the drive-through tree, turns out there are many of them and I figure they're probably just as gimmicky as the Paul Bunyan theme park (ok, they're actually called Trees of Mystery), which we've already visited- hey, they're the only redwood forest in the area that's dog-friendly, you'll just have to overlook the Paul Bunyan-ness.

 Totally cheesy, but in a cute way

Ultra-man -girl 

Lion King Queen 

Beachside diaper-changing (the dead seal is just out of sight here, we didn't realize it until we sat down on a log on the beach and started feeding her after this diaper change... in fact I mistook the seal for a log, thank god I didn't actually sit on it. After we identified what "that funny smell" was, we quickly evacuated)

Taken just before we identified said dead seal. Eva was probably thinking, "Hey mommy, it doesn't smell quite right here and it ain't my poopy diaper"  

Dawn breaking over our rental cottage next to the Coquille River in Bandon, OR. There are salmons jumping in the river and cows mooing across the bank. Totally zen.

After reading some stories that morning with Eva, I propped her up on the couch so I can get a sip of water or something. She then proceeded to "sit" there and giggled to herself for the next few minutes, all pleased with herself. Next thing we know she'll be walking around and asking to borrow our car keys (like that TV commercial, ya).

Oh and good thing we're at a coastal town coz she's totally into fish and chips...

 washed down with some beer formula (which explains the slightly buzzed look)

Bryson totally enjoys strolling among the tide pools at Sunset Beach near Charleston, OR. I think he might have helped himself to some mussel sashimi.

Hmm, not sure what's so funny, guess you'll have to ask her

Bandon Beach, OR. Not only are Oregon's beaches drop dead gorgeous, they're all super dog-friendly. If my SAD isn't so bad, Oregon would be a great place to live in.

Going off to find some sea junk for dinner coz my people never feed me

You guys go ahead and go home. I'm staying.

And while we're gone, Picasso's parents (aka Auntie Rita and Uncle Brian) helped supervise the remodeling of our loft. We can't be happier with the result, but it's also mixed with sadness as this is their farewell project... they've just left to move to Florida. Bryson's already given Picasso his Skype ID, plus Picasso has just started his own blog, so we should be able to stay in touch. Bon voyage!

Making More Memories- Moo!

You may have guessed from the absence of posts in the past couple of weeks that we have withered from exhaustion caring for a newborn, which is partially true, but we've also been cooking up something new here...

So, what are we up to? Well, we're finally getting to remodel our place to make room for Eva! Why not do it before she was born? Well, that's a whole other post. Let's say I had an opportunity to relo for my job (worst possible timing), which for various reasons didn't happen.

Anyway, so we've been busy packing away so we can evacuate for this 9-day project, which Picasso's mom who own an interior design firm is helping us manage. Knowing our place is in capable hands, we're gonna take Bryson and Eva on a super-duper road trip up the coast, from lovely Mendocino, to Redwood National Park, all the way up to the Southern Oregon Coast:

Super excited!

We took a "test trip" over Labor Day weekend to Carmel, which is supposed to be a 2-hr drive away, just to see if Eva (or us) can handle it. Well, traffic was an absolute nightmare!! We ended up spending 7 hours in the car that day for a trip that lasted two. And instead of having a leisurely lunch with Bryson at Forge in the Forest, we had McDonald's, and that's while driving around and around the parking lot coz whenever the car stops, Eva starts wailing. But as soon as the car starts moving again, she zonks out. Lesson learned!

Here are the precious few pictures we got to take over our very brief visit to Carmel (we didn't even get to take Eva out to take a ceremonial dip in the Pacific Ocean *sigh*):

In case you're wondering, these are her super long toes, not to be mistaken for her fingers!

On a separate note, I'm kinda sad that I didn't get to letterpress Eva's birth announcement. Lack of time, my stupid tendonitis (it's been 3 months and I still couldn't bend my thumb), yada yada yada... But I'm glad to have found a "substitute" that'll work for now...

Moo cards to the rescue!

Aren't these mini cards totally adorable? You upload your photos, add some text to the back, add a keychain carrier if you like (we have both the plastic and felt one- the felt one is definitely my fav), and voila! Your newborn has her own business card :) The finish is a nice matte, and for $19.99/100 cards, it's a pretty good deal. We gave a set to each of our parents, and now they get to brag about their newest granddaughter too.

And here are some more of Eva's latest pix. It's true that they grow up too fast. I really wish that I have the time to take at least a picture a day of Eva, but time just seems to slip through your finger when you have a newborn in your hands. Some day I wake up and look at her and I swear her head looks bigger overnight. Too crazy!

Making Memories (and eating them too?)

Has it really been 2 weeks since I last posted? Well, all I can say is having a newborn is sort of like having a black hole for time- it just sucks it all away!

But apart from diaper changes and endless feedings, we've actually managed to venture out and start doing fun stuff with Eva these past couple of weeks. We've been to a few restaurants, went to the de Young Museum before my parents left (*sniff sniff*), and this past weekend, braved the crowd and hot weather and sampled "delicious and sustainable street food" at the Eat Real Festival at Oakland's Jack London Square. 

I was a little unsure about how the day would go, having to juggle a stroller among masses of people in the sweltering heat, but the day turned out much better than I expected. Not only did we survive breastfeeding in public (photo below if you're curious how it's done), and changing a thoroughly foul poopy diaper behind food vendors (probably violating a few health codes in doing so, oops), we actually got to eat and drink! And look, hubby's all smiles and not just for the camera either! Not bad, eh?

One of the highlights of the day (apart from the public diaper change) was the beer tasting. Before you yell at me, don't you know that hop is great for increasing breastmilk supply? :D Anyway, the deal here is you pay $25 for four 8-oz samples ($5 is for this commemorative "mug" below you are forced to buy, kinda a rip off if you ask me). But the beer was well worth it, so many yummy local brews to choose from... Look, even Eva appreciated it (J/k! Ha ha :D)

Ooh, look, and there's the yummy paella... that we sadly didn't get to taste coz the line was almost a mile long *drool*

So we resorted to corn-on-a-cob (drizzling in butter). And after that, there's a baby to feed, thanks to this Bebe au Lait (aka "hooter hider") I got, which takes some getting used to (it's like wearing a cape in the front but with a little person hiding under it), it's not the most pleasant thing when it's 80+ degrees out (for me and her), but oh, it does what it's supposed to do.

 

And then there's the even more unsightly... public burping:

{ Click here for more pix of the day on our Flickr album }

We didn't bring Bryson with us coz we thought doggies aren't welcome, but turned out they are. We were bummed :( And in case you're wondering how Bryson's doing with his sister, we're happy to say that he's somewhat adjusted to the new schedule, and even though he doesn't really interact with Eva yet, he seems to have accepted her as a member of the pack. Here are some of their recent pix together:

 
(Trying to give him a treat when he gives Eva a "kiss" gently)

On a separate note, these "special" m&m's came in the mail the other day, a total surprise from hubby:

Yeah! That's Eva on an m&m's! Totally nuts!! And the other ones say "Hi! I'm Eva", and "Nice to meet you". How cute is that? But I don't think I'll be able to eat that... could you eat a piece of chocolate with your daughter's face on it?  But then what do you do with chocolate you can't eat?? Hmm.

One month!

Hard to believe that Baby Eva just turned one month this past week already! She's literally grown right in front of our eyes- from that ball of dough that only eats, poops, cries and sleeps to this little person seemingly complete with her very own personality.

Take this day that she turned 4 weeks old- she woke up cranky as usual, but after a diaper change and a yummy breastfast of breastmilk, hubby put her on his lap, and all of a sudden, she broke out in this widest, happiest smile for the first time:

We were over the moon, playing with her and trying to make her smile and laugh some more. But of course that didn't last. Oh well, at least we got this precious moment down :)

I have to say that despite of the fact that I was convinced I was going to suffer from a mental breakdown when we first came home, we've slowly grown into our little family... 

We take Eva on our daily morning walk with Bryson so we can take a detour to Arizmendi for a cup of much-needed coffee while she naps peacefully (the world seems so perfect during this precious hour...)

We drive around all afternoon for errands, shopping trips, long lunches, sometimes aimelessly even though we want nothing more than a nap, just coz she's always nice and quiet when we're out.

When we come home, we deal with her 4-8 p.m. crying marathon with non-stop feeding, burping, holding, swinging until she finally passes out.

And here's more of our little bundle of trouble joy:

1. Baby Eva @ 4 weeks, 2. Daily a.m. coffee run, 3. 1-month birthday at Kirala, 4. Who are you and why are you running our lives?, 5. Hanging out, 6. I love grandma <3, 7. Cross-eyed, 8. Wink wink ;), 9. DON'T! LIKE! SKIRT!, 10. Mind control, 11. Sleepy mess, 12. Can we donate her?, 13. Early morning, 14. First time out, 15. I am cute :), 16. Public transit, 17. FIrst pediatrician appointment, 18. Would you pleae burp now?, 19. Tiny, 20. Gas

For more photos of our first 4 weeks home, check out our Flickr album here. Enjoy!

Breastfeed or perish!

Thank you everyone again for coming to this neurotic new mom's rescue!

All you comments and e-mails channeling positive energy and sharing your personal experience really helped get me through this past week, as I learned how some of you have gone through the exact same struggle with breastfeeding and the dilemma with formula.

I've since ditched the whole "breastfeed or perish" mantra (where did that come from? More later in this post), and accepted that whatever works for us will have to do.

But here's the ironic thing... no sooner than I semi-gave-up on this whole breastfeeding deal, that things started turning the corner for us. Maybe it's the more relaxed attitude, or the help (i.e. the super potent steroid/antimicrobial cocktail unguent) we got from the lactation consultant, or just sheer luck (or stubborness), breastfeeding has gradually become less like a contact sport (involving lots of sweat and tears), the pain more manageable (I no longer compare that to childbirth itself), and has gone from "there's no way I can do this" to "this is hard but it could be manageable".

We're still supplementing, and I still don't know what the future holds for us in this department, I'm just glad that feeding time no longer resemble interrogation at Guantanamo Bay.

At this eerily calm feeding session at 4 a.m. this morning, staring down at Eva contently attached to my breast, I suddenly realized why new moms (or at least I) am so emotionally charged when it comes to breastfeeding...

For nine long months, you're physically connected to this being in every way. You grow and nurture her without ever having to think about it. It just happens. But when she's born, all of a sudden she's no longer physically attached to and dependent on you. Everything that she needs- diaper change, burping, holding and loving, even feeding if formula is used, can be provided by someone else. It feels as if breastfeeding her is the last visceral connection you can still have with your baby. Being able to breastfeed provides the validation that emotionally vulnerable new moms (i.e. I) need in order to feel "needed" by their babies. In other words, I'm selfishly breastfeeding her more for myself than for her.

Well, at least that's my theory.

By the way, today's my birthday, which I almost forgot if hubby didn't remind me yesterday. It means so much more now that I've given birth to Eva to know what happened today 30 some years ago when my mom pushed me out to this world (and without an epidural too, thanks, mom!) Apparently my parents will be looking after Eva while hubby takes me out to dinner tonight. I've heard of new moms breaking down in tears at their first outings without their babies. I'll let you know how ours go!

Here are some random pictures from this past week (sorry for the poor quality as they're from hubby's phone, don't have time to whip out the "real" camera...) Enjoy!

 
Buckteeth! Naw, just a sucking blister that's coming off :D LOL!

 
Wide awake- with her eyes open, she's starting to look more like her daddy...

 
Fresh air and adult company- all I need to feel like myself again (thanks, Auntie Aimee!)

 
Bryson enjoying the fresh air too!

 
Out at a cafe- she loves being in a crowd. We should live out on the street.