Christmas, and our trip to LA

We went down to LA to celebrate Christmas with both sides of the family this past week. It was Simon's first trip :). He did pretty well, except for a little whining/crying in the car when we hit traffic in LA.

Here's a summary of our trip, day by day:

Dec 22 - drove down to socal. We originally wanted to drive down at night so that he would be sleeping, but decided that would be too tiring so we opted to drive during the day. Simon spent a lot of time napping in the car, which was pretty good. In between naps I sat in the back and entertained him. It was a little tricky nursing him in the car and he didn't really eat much that day. When we got to LA we hit traffic and he got kinda fussy, didn't want to be in the car seat anymore. I can't really blame him.

Dec 23 - visited Esther, Jason and their daughter Kayla! Kayla is 4 days older than Simon (they basically had the same due date). She's a little bit shorter than Simon but chubbier and very cute :)

Dec 24 - Dinner at Jeff's parent's house. Simon met Jeff's extended family for the first time!

Dec 25 - Dinner in Arcadia. Lots of mahjong was played.

Dec 26 - drove back up to norcal. No traffic this time, so less crying from Simon.

Dec 27 - not part of our trip but had more visitors - Grace & Joyce (my cousins on my mom's side) and their babies Owen (11 mon) and Sinjin (14 mon).


Overall the trip was really great except several things. First, Simon didn't sleep that well in his pack n play and basically slept with us in bed the whole trip. Which was ok except he woke up multiple times at night and made us both kind of tired. Second, Simon came down with this weird rash which, after consulting with my pediatrician friend, was probably a viral rash. I ended up catching whatever virus he had and got sick on Christmas day...only started feeling better today. Simon also seemed a little under the weather and threw up twice the day we got home. Seems better now though.

Simon also hit so many milestones this week. Must be a wonder week. He suddenly became very interested in everything he could get his little hands on, so he would constantly be grabbing stuff and looking at it, shaking it, etc. One of his favorite items this past week was a little bell on a red string (except when he would swing it around and hit himself in the face with it :P)

He also is very motivated to try to crawl. He can't yet, of course, but he sticks his butt in the air trying to scoot forward.

Lastly, and most entertaining of all, is that he started babbling. It just started out of nowhere and now he won't shut up :). Soooo cute. He just starts saying what sounds like "bah bah bah" and looking at you as if he's talking to you. He gets the best expressions on his face when babbling. He also learned to scream/squeal - very high pitched and loud!


Anyway, I will post pictures in the next post but it's time to go to sleep. To be continued!!

December already

The last two weeks have sure gone by quickly. The end of the year, with all the holidays and get togethers, always seems to fly by. 

For me, November/December always brings up lots of time for reflection and conflicting emotions-- regret (for another year gone, and things left undone, goals not accomplished), anticipation (for the new year and things to look forward to), and excitement (for quality time with family, a break from work).

This year there have obviously been lots of changes with Simon. The holidays seem to matter a bit more with family time. Besides that, though, I've been thinking a lot about finishing residency and work next year. My mind constantly wanders to what I'll be doing after graduation. Again, a mix of emotions - excitement to be finally done with residency and long work hours, but also apprehension and a sense of uncertainty about what I'll be doing, focusing on. It's uncharted territory for me since I've had a pretty clear path since college. Get into med school. Get married. Get into residency. Have a kid.

 I just don't really know what I want. I know what I don't want more clearly than having an idea of what I'll be doing. I suppose it will be part time work and part time mom. I suppose I will have time for extracurriculars/hobbies again? Everyone tells me it gets "so much better" after residency so I guess I should be excited. And I am, for sure, especially on those days where I've been in the hospital for way too long. 

Anyway. Enough rambling on my inner angst :) time for some Simon pictures! 

Simon is getting more and more aware of his environment now. He loves to look around and gets bored with the same stuff. He is really good at rolling back to front but sometimes get stuck on his belly and can't roll back. This happens almost every night now where he gets stuck and then starts fussing, which wakes me up. Hopefully he gets better at rolling himself back so he can go back to sleep by himself.

His two favorite things to reach for now are my phone and my water bottle. Haha. Can't believe he's already into screens! 

I've tried several purees now trying to get him started on solids, since he's really into what we're eating. So far I've tried apple, pear, oatmeal and avocado. He doesn't seem to be that into eating but he does a decent job of swallowing. So I'm just taking it slowly until he really starts picking up his interest. 

Laughing at me saying "ahchoo!!"

Getting so big now. I remember when this outfit was way too big for him. Now it fits just perfectly.