Statistics

Xander had his second visit with the doctor, and everything was wonderful. The doctor couldn't believe that all of Xander's hair was so full, without any bald patches, and that his head is so round and nice. His skin is very good, and his demeanor is very peaceful and easy-going. All in all, quite a successful visit.

Weight - 4kg (15%) - 8 lbs 14 oz

Height - 55cm (39%) - 21.7 in

Head Circ. - 39.5cm (69%) - 15.6 in

BMI - 13.2 kg/m^2

Where Did the Weekend Go?

Xander had a very pleasant and relaxing weekend in Grand Rapids, and Daddy and Mommy were able to get some R & R that they desperately needed. The transition back home is not terribly easy, and even a warm bath and lots of nursing time are little comfort, but Xander is settling back in at his own pace, and hopefully he'll sleep well tonight.

We took lots of pictures. We'll get them up eventually. Here are several. Figure out which one is the fake. ;-)

Happy Birthday G.G. Papa (and the rest of us)

Xander had a full day of family, with a visit from Uncle Todd and Aunt Ria this afternoon, and then a trip to the west side of the state to visit with Daddy's family.






Xander braved the long journey to Grand Rapids, and celebrated his G.G.Papa's birthday. G.G.Nana was very happy to see Xander, as were the rest of Xander's paternal relatives.



This was a new day of firsts, as he slept through a 2 hour car ride, and then was a gentleman in his first trip to a restaurant. Big Boy's! G.G.Papa's favorite restaurant.

Xander's nana went all out buying a fancy bassinet, and a changing pad, so it's looking like Xander will be quite comfortable in his home-away-from-home...and if Daddy and Mommy can get a bit of extra sleep, this may indeed be a repeat visit.

Bath Time...For Xander...

Xander had a very nice evening, topped off with a nice warm bath.

Xander likes his bathtime.

Xander likes to be dry, too.

Sleep...Sleep...Sleep...

Xander had a very busy day today...sleeping. Daddy and Mommy are so thankful! Maybe he'll grow big with all this sleep, so he can catch up with Keegan. :D

Daddy just can't resist taking pictures...such a beautiful family! Daddy's so lucky!

Sixth Week Peak? Uh, how far is that?

Today was a long day for Daddy (and therefore a long day for Mommy as well). Daddy was at the lab or in meetings and seminars from 9 am until after 5, and then tutored for a couple hours this evening. That meant Mommy had to go solo with Xander for most of the day. Uncle Rod stopped by for a quick visit, and that was nice of him.

Xander has a very difficult time falling asleep and staying asleep anytime there is any activity (or just in general). He really wants to just be awake and alert all the time. We have been trying all sorts of soothing techniques.

Xander discovering the deliciousness of Daddy's arm:

Daddy discovering the price of his deliciousness:

Booooo!

Mommy and Daddy let Xander cry tonight. Not the most brilliant of ideas. Blame it on our sleep-deprivation. Daddy ranted a bit in his personal blog, threw a book across the room, and feels much better now. It's been a very long day, full of house chores and errands, both Mommy and Daddy feeling like we can never quite do enough...

On the lighter side, Daddy's boss gave Xander a lovely knitted blanket made by his wife. It was a very nice gesture, and it is a beautiful blanket.

Happy 1 Month Birthday, Xander!

Time is flying by so quickly!

Nana and Saba

Xander needed a little nap this morning to prepare himself for the day's events:

Xander had a very busy day, packed with social events, meeting his adoring fans and groupies, signing autographs, performing various stunts...the usual. Nana and GG came in from GR, and brought some lunch for Mommy and Daddy. Meanwhile, Xander's Great-Aunt and cousin (1st-removed) came to visit for a bit, as well. Xander played on his Savta's quilt, and showed off his incredible feats of strength and dexterity for the crowd. Perhaps most amazing, was the fact that his Nana and GG were able to put him down long enough for him to play.

Xander with Nana:

Xander with GG:

Xander during his tummy time:

Later in the afternoon, Xander's Saba came in for dinner, and we had a very pleasant visit, with more playing and activity.

If only it was really this easy to get Xander to bed...

It was a very long and exciting day, with so many of his favorite people coming to visit, and Xander is not having an easy time getting to sleep. Poor Mommy!! She's at her wit's end!

Beautiful day for an outing

As planned, we had quite an eventful day, as we all headed out into the beautiful Spring afternoon, with our first stop being a visit with the lawyer, to sign various paperwork regarding our wills and the such. Xander was quite the gentleman, and was very quiet for the most part, but time was creeping away, as our next appointment was coming up fast. We parked in the parking lot at Borders, and while Mommy went to get her hair cut, Daddy was left to feed and burp Xander, change his diaper, get everything together and set out with diaper bag and stroller into the clear, balmy afternoon. We wandered around the diag, and Xander got to see U of M campus for his first time. Daddy explained the legend of the "M," while giving a full tour to the prospective matriculate, and Xander paid close attention to the back of his eyelids during the entire visit. What was supposedly a "30 or maybe 45 minute" haircut turned quickly into a 90 minute haircut, and Daddy's feet and shins started to ache, from pushing Xander back and forth across campus. Finally, a very hip and cool Mommy emerged from the salon, and we made our way back home. Xander is becoming more and more worldly with each passing week, and he is quite the adventurer. At this rate, he'll be planning his trips to visit Mars when he's Daddy's age.

Xander continues to impress us with his dexterity and agility, as he flips himself over onto his back from his tummy from time to time, and wiggles around for quite some time before tiring himself out. It makes diaper changing and bath time a bit more challenging, but it is fun to watch him figure out how to move about.

Tomorrow will be a busy day with lots of visits, so Xander needs his rest tonight so he can be nice and fresh (Daddy needs his rest, too...as does Mommy). I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures tomorrow to make up for the lack today.

Outing to the mall

Mommy decided to give daddy a break from posting and have him hold Xander. :D


Today Xander had an exciting day. Xander had his first outing to the mall with mommy and daddy. He did quite well until he got stir crazy sitting in his car seat and was hungry. He was wide awake and was interested in the sights and the noise.


Tomorrow will also be exciting because Xander will be heading out to the lawyer's office and spending time with daddy while mommy gets her hair chopped off.


No pictures today but here are some from yesterday.

Worn out Mommy

Daddy had a long work day today, and Mommy and Daddy have both been feeling pretty worn down lately. It would be nice to be able to feel like I could take a lot of time off, without needing to worry about time pressure for getting experiments done, and things accomplished in the lab. It's easy to talk about where priorities should be, but life has a way of pulling in different directions. In any case...Daddy really is trying to make things as good as possible for Mommy. He loves her very much, and loves Xander very much, and tries to make things comfortable for everyone.

Mommy took several great pictures today, but for some reason, Google seems to be broken, and won't show any new photos we upload, either directly or indirectly (from Daddy's IFS space at umich). Hopefully they fix the problem, since we've suddenly started to depend a great deal on this free service. Hang on, and we'll try to get you those pictures ASAP! (If you absolutely need a fix, you can check out the large image files at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~reiflera/Xander .

Let me know if this is anything but a red X in a box:

Chill Out, Dude!

With such long days, Xander gets over-tired, and has problems going to sleep. If only it was easier being a little baby. Poor little guy. :(

We had a surprise visit from Xander's Bac Yen and her family this evening. It was good to see them. We don't have as many opportunities to go out with our little man. Soon, we'll take some little trips out, especially when the weather starts warming up for real.

Well, no pictures today. Daddy totally slacked off. Maybe I'll take some and stick them here later:

A new baseline

Things definitely don't get any easier, but maybe feeling "zombie-ish" will eventually equate to feeling "fine." Daddy's not quite there yet...he still feels "zombie-ish."


We had a very welcome visit from Xander's Nana this afternoon, and Xander got to sleep in her arms for hours! I'm not sure who was the luckier one. :) Come back soon, Nana!


Xander gets bigger and bigger every day, and he's filling out his clothes much better. We can't believe how strong he's getting, too.

Sunday, Busy Sunday

What a busy day! We had two, count 'em, two outings today. We had a muy delicioso lunch with Keegan's family, and Daddy got beat really badly at Aton and Puerto Rico. Soon, Xander, you will be beating Daddy badly at a myriad of board games and video games.

After visiting with Keegan, it was back home to crash hard for a couple of hours before heading out again to Bac Thu's for her phantastic pho. Yum-O! We did a load of Xander's laundry, and visited with Xander's cousins for a bit. Nathaniel can't wait until Xander gets a little bigger so he can play with him.

No, Keegan is not much closer to the camera than Xander...he's just huge:

His excellency giving a benediction before one of our departures:

...But baby it's cold outside...

Sleepy Saturday

Today was a pleasant day, with a wonderful, albeit short, visit from old friends. We had lunch and dessert, and Xander got to meet a new friend whom he will hopefully see quite often and know well as they grow up together (they'll even have shared a bassinet in common!).

The day was interspersed with multiple naps, some with Mommy, and some with Daddy. Mommy went out on her own for the first time since Xander was born, and it really felt good for her to go out and stretch her legs. Daddy and Xander slept through the entire outing, even though Mommy hurried back, anxiously.

It seems like it is always hard to go to sleep at night, and it is the most trying and tiring time of the day for all of us. Hopefully things get a little better with time.

Beautiful, and more beautiful:

TGIF

This was a long week. There's nothing easy about going back to work after a long break. Mommy had to take care of Xander all on her own all day long while Daddy was at work. Not an easy thing to do, even for such a great Mommy.

Daddy was pretty lucky this evening to get to take a nice long nap with Xander, and then hold him and play with him for a while. Xander's so peaceful while he sleeps, and although we haven't caught it on film just yet, he makes the most beautiful smiles while he drifts off into dreamland.

Daddy's so happy it's the weekend...

Sing with me now...

Nights have become a bit of a creative time (and I'm not talking about the technicolor hues we find in Xander's diapers). Maybe it's a bit of a heritage thing, maybe genetic, I don't know. All I know is that people in my family sing to infants, and so do I. So, the challenge is to keep Xander interested in the songs, and figure out the perfect repertoire for beddy-bye. Xander's Saba brought a few oldies, but goodies, and a few oldies, but relatively inconnu, as far as I was concerned. Here are a few lines of the song that was stuck in my head for the past several days:

Mairzy doats, an dozy doats, an liddle lamzy divey,

Akidilly divey two, wooden shoe? [sic, ad nauseum]

Thanks, Saba. (And for those of you without a passion for amphibology, please don't trouble yourselves with deciphering the preceding mondegreen...Wikipedia can help you...) Now all I need is to find a sound clip of the song so I can have it on loop in the background in some bad midi format whenever someone loads the page, so that other people can suffer as I do. I should say, as WE do, since I sing it often enough to make Xander and Mommy want to cry.

Mommy's not sleeping...she just wants Daddy to stop taking pictures of her:

My, how 3 weeks go by quickly!

I can't believe that it's been 3 weeks since we were in the hospital, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our beautiful son. I'm sent back to the intimate moment, with just Mommy and Daddy...and Nana, and Bac Yen, and Dr. Michael, and Dr. Punch, and our nurses, Cheryl and Terri, and the residents, and the other nurses who came in and out, and the nurse anaesthetist...well, maybe not completely intimate...but the important thing was that everyone was working together to get Xander into the world as quickly and safely as possible.

I never did get pictures of the people who were helping us out at the birth. It just wasn't nearly as important as holding Mommy's hand and helping her, and encouraging her.

Ok, enough of that...back to the present...

Xander is getting noticably stronger and bigger every day. His latest thing is to wiggle up my chest while I lie on my back, by digging his knees into me and then extending his legs while he lifts his head. He's such a clever little boy. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he starts crawling by the time he's 3 or 4 months old. I guess it depends on how much time he spends on his tummy. He can't quite roll over on his own just yet. He can flip his legs, and roll to his side, but he can't figure out how to tuck his arm underneath or over his head. I'll work on teaching him that once he gets a bit stronger in the back and neck areas. I wish I could spend more time just playing with him, but he gets fussy fairly quickly, and needs his Mommy time (today it was almost every hour)!

I had to take a couple of pictures today, if nothing more than to satisfy his adoring public:

Colic? Oh please, please no...

Xander has been feeling yucky today, and although he doesn't come close to the "rule of threes" (3 hours of crying, 3 days in a row, lasting 3 weeks), as this is the first day he's been truly upset and almost inconsolable, we always seem to fear the worst. He slept for the better part of the day today, and wanted to snuggle for most of the time. There are all sorts of things that could be going on. It is terribly dry in our apartment, and rather warm, compared to the frigid air outside. Even in a T-shirt, I've been sweating, and we've had him in a onesie & T-shirt, so perhaps he's just hot. Or maybe he's had painful gas. Or maybe he's having a growth spurt. Or maybe...

Well, he's fussy, he's a baby, and we've been able to quell his crying quickly by holding him and moving around. Sleepy Xander:

...And sleepy Daddy:

Poopy Doo and Back to Work, Too

We had a very busy day today. Daddy went back into the lab to get some things organized for the week and to assess the damage left in absence. All in all, it wasn't the terrible experience that might have been expected. Yes, it was a bit like getting on a rusty, old bike, and trying to pedal uphill, but as the adage goes, something-something can't forget something-something about a bike...you know the one.

Well, Saba and Savta spent the night in a hotel, and came to visit for a few hours around lunchtime. Daddy had enough time for a very unproductive (even counterproductive) nap after coming home from his abbreviated work day, and Xander was well rested and ready to socialize. He definitely likes spending time with all his grandparents, and he can't wait to meet his Ong Ngoai and Ba Ngoai (maternal grandparents) soon, when they come to Michigan.

Daddy and Mommy had some errands to run this afternoon, and when we returned, we found a very large chest at our door with golden treasure inside! Well, it wasn't quite a chest...it was more of a cardboard box, and it wasn't really treasure, per se, but it was heartfelt. Cousin Janie (perhaps dit "auntie") sent a care package with loads of practical goodies! Now, normally I would not yield to corporate sponsorship, but I feel I have no choice in the matter here. This is one product that every parent (and doggie owner) should seriously consider. I'll just let the product speak for itself.

Result is one happy Mommy and Xander:

Les Paques

We had quite an enjoyable day today, with a visit from Xander's Saba and Savta. Mommy and Daddy had a number of naps throughout the day, whenever Xander went down. It's difficult to keep our energy up at such a high level all the time. It's going to still take some time to get used to the changes.

Xander had his first nap in his big crib today, and slept soundly for over an hour:

Xander had some priceless expressions today, most of which we failed to capture on film...here is his "Le Penseur":