Milestone

At a little over 6 months, Parker is starting to sit! i can't believe he's sitting and playing with toys already. i watch him with so much joy and i am so grateful to have such a wonderful baby whose been a blessing to have in our lives. 

6 months

my little baby is still little, but 6 months old now. he is precious beyond words and i could not love him more. at 6 months, Parker's stats are:

Weight: 15 lb 8 ounces

Height:

Favorite books: baby animals and baby colors - i noticed that he gets really into the books and loves looking closely at the pictures. in the baby animals book, there are tabs on each page that you can pull out to reveal the answer to the question asked on each page, Parker would crab the tabs and with a little assistance, would pull it out. it's amazing to me. 

Tummy time: he doesn't mind tummy time anymore and continuously roll from his back to his front all the time. being so much stronger, he's completely fine lying on his tummy for an extended period of time.

Separately anxiety: Aey apparently says Parker is starting to get separation anxiety, i didn't really notice leading up to 6 months, but def noticed it last week when he was a few days over 6 months. he'd cry real tears when i wasn't by his side for a few minutes. maybe he was being fussy that day, because i don't notice it anymore. i found it both cute and alarming at the same time. cute cuz i was flattered that he wanted and needed me, but alarming because i disliked the stage preston went through when he'd cry every morning when i was leaving for work. it was heartbreaking and i was late a lot because of it. 

Eating: we had to take a step back from solids leading up to 6 months. Parker was constipated a lot, and so we switched to an all veggie and fruits diet. it helped him i admit and he eventually started having bowel movements again on his own. took about a good month to work through it, and it was agonizing every day waiting for him to get back to normal. so lesson learned, take it very very slow when switching a breastfed baby to solids. i think due to this issue the past month, Parker didn't get as much weight as he could've and so he's fallen to the 10-15% :( height wise, he's in the 75% :). he has tried avocado, dragon fruits, and peas this month, as he enjoys all three! 

i'd say starting from about 4/5 months or so, he stopped spitting up and having to be burped as much. we finally got the carpet in his room cleaned because here was milk spit up everywhere. i am so glad that phase is over. getting baby Parker to burp took a long time and a lot of effort, i do not miss it. 

Bedtime: these days, it can be as early as 8am. wow. i will take that every night please. i am finding more time to work on this, like this blog now :) he's not exactly sleep trained as he falls asleep on me while nursing after bath time. but when he does wake up a little when i put him down, he quickly falls back to sleep. my heart sinks when he doesn't because i really want to get some things done at night! Parker's sleeping through the night for the most part, but due to the constipation, he was waking up once a night to nurse, and sometimes i pick him up to nurse so he can get some extra milk in his body. his milk intake has def decreased since starting solids. the doctor said as long as he's getting 16 oz in 24 hours, it should be fine. so with night time nursing, i think we are there.  

he certainly looks happy, and we're so glad he's got through his tough month like a trooper!

Taste the Wangbow

it's Parker's first halloween this year! i originally wasn't planning on making a family costume this year, but the thought of Parker missing out on a family costume tradition made me decide otherwise. so at the last minute, we decide to be Skittles, simple, cute, and easy to make when we only had one day to make it. our slogan was "taste the wangbow." preston helped me pick out the colors for everyone and cut the fabric. he's such a good little helper, so hands on, although i admit it took me pretty much the whole day to make these costumes between taking care of the boys and working on it with preston's "help." i hope he's picking up some good arts and craft skills for later on in life! so we attended Loan's bday/Halloween party like so:

Preston had a Halloween party at school on monday, oct 31st. being that it was his last Halloween at Goddard, i had to go. there were 3 catboys, 2 geckos, and 1 owlet in his class. funny thing is, preston doesn't even watch this show. 

we went trick-or-treating with Benjamin, Gracie, Robert, and Luke. even Parker came along and was fine for the most part sleeping in his stroller, wearing his dragon costume. towards the end though, the parents had to pee really badly, the kids were getting tired and didn't want to walk anymore, and parker woke up and wanted to get home and in bed asap. Preston, with his stamina trick or treated until the very last house.  note to self: start earlier next year if it's on a weekday. we wanted to leave at 6:30, but didn't really get started until close to 6:45 and were done by around 8.

Parker, wore preston baby dragon costume. preston was about 8 months when he wore it, and parker almost 6 months in this picture. he looked adorable and he loved the attention he was getting while in costume. one big difference between the boys, preston despised the headpiece, always hated wearing hats and such (even in the winter time when it's so cold that you need to wear a hat). when we put the costume on preston, the headpiece came off right away. parker on the other hand, didn't mind at all. he wore it the whole time and didn't even seemed bother that much when the head fell over his face and covered up his eyes.

Parker, Parkski, Parky...my sweet little baby turned 5 months old. we started solids this month, including sweet potato, butternut squash, and rice cereal. it didn't exactly go too well, but i will leave that detail out, we will more slowly ease into it now. he is also sitting up a lot better with less support. he's touching and grabbing toys, dinner plates, hair, you name it. he was not interested in touching anything prior to this. he's rolling onto his sides, but not interested in rolling over from his back to his front, and just gets too pissed when on his tummy to roll over onto his back, oh well. bedtime these days is around 8-8:30pm, let's hope it stays this way because i am loving it! preston's going to bed early too, so we have a nice quiet house for a few waking hours each night. finally, after 4.5 years, we  can sleep like normal people, thanks to accelerated pre-k.

Here are some pictures of Parker at 5 months. he's such a sweet boy, he laughs and smiles easily, sometimes, he can be quite loud and talkative too. just screeching and yelling at this brother during dinner time. it is such a joy watching him grow bigger and cuter every day. 

Parker is 4 Months

Our little angel is 4 months now. parker is such a wonderful, precious little human being whom i grow more in love with each day. recently, in the past 2 weeks or so at around 3.5 months, he's been sleeping through the night, yay! he'd fall asleep around 9pm and wake up at 6am to nurse, and then he'd fall back asleep. or when he wakes up a little later at 6:30am, he'll tend to stay awake afterwards.  we start his bedtime routine at round 7pm.

on the day he turned 4 months old, i started sleep training him. i was originally going to wait until he's 6 months old, but goodness, as much as i love holding him and watching him sleep, i need my nights back to do more than just shower, pump, and go to sleep. i couldn't keep on going to bed at 11:30pm and waking up at 6am. i was mostly motivated by a book i am listening to, "bringing up bebe," yes listening because i can't possibly stay awake long enough to read it on the metro if i wanted to. anyways, how i wish i remembered this book when i was pregnant and read it then, maybe sleep training would've been a lot easier. apparently, the key is to delay picking up your baby from the start by about 5 min or so, so they'd learn patience and learn how to fall back to sleep on their own. 5 min is not that long and they said a good point to do this would be from birth to 3 months. well by the time i started listening to the book, parker was almost 4 months old, so sleep training would have to involve one of the more harsher methods of crying it out. i did apply delaying picking him up when he cries right away, and that seem to be helping him a lot in terms of learning how to fall back asleep. however, him falling asleep during the initial bedtime is still rough, it's been 3 nights. the first time, i couldn't take his crying anymore, 2nd night, jack was home and he gave in while i was in the shower, and today, we kinda did it painlessly. he cried for a few min and fell asleep,  but only to wake up around 8:30pm because i think he didn't eat enough earlier during our bedtime routine. so i nursed him, and he fell asleep while nursing..so that was kind of cheating. so let's wait a few more nights before we can declare sleep training success.

well in other developments, parker will laugh at funny sounds, i no longer have to tickle him to get a laugh anymore, yay! his laugh is just so beautiful. soon after discovering his hands at 2 months, parker has taken tremendous liking to sucking his fists. it's so sweet. he is also starting to get distracted when we are nursing in new environments or when his big brother is around. he'll stop whatever he's doing to watch preston. it's so sweet to see him literarily looking up to his big brother, he is fascinated and often times bewildered by his brothers animated and rambunctious behavior. i can't wait till they can play together. preston is certainly very loving to him, giving him hugs and kisses every day. parker is a curious little guy. at dinner, he only has so much patience sitting in his bouncer, he really wants to see what we're eating most of the time. he's very content and happy to sit on my lap during dinner and watch us eat. look at that big beautiful smell, this is going to melt my heart for the rest of my life!

Parker at 2 Months

Parker is 10 weeks old now, he's growing right before our eyes. he's been such a good baby so far, pretty much sleeping, eating, and pooping through the first 2 months. recently, he's been awake a bit longer during the day and what we love most, is his interactions with us. once he's fed and awake, he's all smiles and coos for a good 10-15 minutes. then he gets cranky again and cries because he's tired out! the other day, i saw him noticing his hands while laying on his bouncy chair. i remember when preston first discovered his hands, he was laying on his change table. they held their fists in front of them and just stared at them, amazed. it's so simple, but it's wonderful to watch them discover themselves and the world around them. parker tracks the baby mobile as it spins, he watches the birds flying around on his bouncy chair, he's amazed by the fans and the lights on the ceiling.

the most challenging part about parker at this point is the putting him to bed routine. he still has his witching hours from about 8-midnight during which you have to hold him the entire time and he'd feed every hour. man, it's exhausting, it takes away the entire evening that i was just starting to get back with preston going to bed at a decent hour now, like anytime between 8-9:30. a lot of times, i'd fall asleep holding him. this is not going to be fun once i return to work...currently, i m working from home, and i can't get up until like 8:30am. it's going to be interesting, but it somehow worked out with preston, i don't remember how...i suppose it's all part of the experience. just need to remember it's temporary and before i know it, he'll be going to college one day and i will wish for these baby days when he depends on me so much. it is a special time in our lives, and it will only last a year or so, which is really nothing in the grand scheme of things. i need to cherish these nights. 

Welcome Baby Parker!

We welcomed a new addition to our family on Mother's Day, May 8th, 2016! Parker Jameson Wang was born at 7:32am at the Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. He weighed 7 lbs and 19 inches long (although at his 2 weeks appointment, he measured at 21 inches, so i think he might have still been a bit compressed at birth and finally stretched out to his full actual height later)! Labor lasted 2 hours, i remembered looking at the clock when i felt something 'pop' and it was 5:47am. From there, it was a fast delivery and all of a sudden, we were holding our baby in our arms. i loved the baby from the moment he was born and heard him cry. the second time around, i definitely felt more confident and prepared to welcome a new one. with preston, it took a little while to get used to the idea that we now had a baby and that we would love him so much.

Parker arrived 4 days early, so we actually didn't quite settle on a name by the time he was born! it took the whole time we were at the hospital to finally select Parker Jameson Wang. everyone seems to love the name Parker, and it was the only name that jack and i could agree on at the end of the day. it's amazing how picky we were, but i guess when you have the right name, it just seems right, all the others didn't seem right for one reason or another. sometimes it was even hard to explain why we didn't like those names.

Preston and jack's mom waited in the waiting room for about 3 hours before we were settled in our private room and were able to accept visitors. i was so excited for preston to meet his little brother, and he was definitely ready. he was so loving and gentle from day one and has continued to be so. it's a relief he understands the concept of a baby and doesn't expect much from his baby brother just yet. they look lovely together.

Look whose 4!

It's unbelievable, another birthday. this year, preston turns 4 years old, and he's a happy, bright, curious, and energetic little boy. he makes us laugh and sometimes, makes us feel like crying inside. i guess it's part of the joy and journey of having a child.

right now, preston is still at goddard and he is in preschool. he is in room 11, the orioles, with ms. bassett and ms. miranda. during the summer, he'll transition to pre-k. he knows all his alphabets and the sounds each letter makes. he knows his numbers pretty well up to 30, and we're working with him to get beyond 30 and learning to write them. preston knows how to write his first and last name and a few small words. i am working with him to learn sight words so that hopefully, soon, he'll know how to read. this year marked a lot of achievements and progress for the little guy.

he played soccer in the fall with i9 sports and enjoyed the games, not so much the drills. we signed him up to do it again in the spring, but this time, with a few of his classmates like benjamin, gracie, ethan, and joshua. hopefully, being older and having one season behind him, he'll be more engaged during the drills. he will be signing up for swim lessons and karate soon as well.

he learned at about 3.5 years old that he will be an older brother come may 2016! his jaws dropped and he was so happy to hear the news and help me tell his daddy. he wanted a baby brother, and that's what he's getting. this means preston will be moving rooms soon and getting a big boy bed.

these are some of preston's favorite things to do these days: he loves to play fight, he loves painting, cutting up papers, helping fold his laundry, helping cook/bake, playing sports like basketball, playing in the snow, cuddling in the morning, and pirates! his bday party this sunday will be pirate themed. can't wait. happy birthday my little boy!