Uuuh? (aka "what's that?")

It's Izzy's favorite word. From the moment she wakes up, she points all around the house asking -- Uuuh? Uh? Eeh? Eh? We respond -- it's the giraffe, the lion, the ipod speakers, the bookshelf, the blue devil, the ketchup, the yellow mustard, the ketchup again, the clock...and so forth and so on. Don't worry, we're trying to break her out of this unending cycle. We think the key has something to do with Punxsutawney Phil, but we're still working on it.

Halloween

It's Izzy's first Halloween, and we decided to dress her up as Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh books. She didn't seem too unhappy with the costume, except that she hated having the headpiece on her head. She's usually pretty good at pulling things off her head, but didn't have much luck getting the hood off the costume.

So we've got a few different jokes here, and couldn't decide which one to go with. In the spirit of democracy, we'll leave it up to you, the reader. You can vote in the poll on the side of the page.


Political
Andy: I know the election's coming up, so it's not surprising that we went with a pro-Democratic costume.
Ming-Hsuan: You mean the donkey, symbol of the Democratic Party?
Andy: Oh . . . that works, too. I just thought she looked like John Kerry.



Scatological
Looking back, I'm guessing we subconsciously picked Eeyore because we have such a strong mental association between Izzy and poo(h).



Mean for no Reason
There's the jackass, in all her glory. Oh, and Izzy's there, too.


Sadly, no trick-or-treating this year. Izzy was just exhausted by the time we got home, so we'll have to wait until next year. Hopefully, she can go as President Obama next year.

The Babbling

Mem. Ba. Baeesch. We all know that these are not words. We do not say them to each other, and we would not understand them if someone says them to us. Ming-Hsuan and I are in total agreement on this. And yet, this child, who is made up entirely of our combined genetic material insists not only on saying these things, but on saying *only* these things.

She has been saying things like this for some time now. Aaaahhhh. Bweh. We can tell that she wants to communicate something to us, because sometimes she points as she says it. Sometimes she looks at us very meaningfully while she blathers on in unintelligible baby nonsense. And sometimes she gets visibly angry when we don't respond correctly.

Now, I get it. Talking is hard. It takes a long time to learn, and I'm sure that not being able to talk is very frustrating. But seriously - if you can't use real words, you should just keep your mouth shut.

There. I said it. Now I feel much better. And Izzy, if you're reading this, I . . . what? She can't *read* either?!? Oh, come on!

. . . And Now Walking

That's right, people. Ever since Izzy was very small, it was obvious how much she wanted to walk. And those tree-trunk thighs were going to help her do it as soon as she got the whole balance thing down. So once she started standing on her own, we were just counting the days until she started stumbling around the house.

And now she is. She was standing near the changing table, fussy and looking for her mommy. She looked over at Ming-Hsuan, who was standing about 4-5 feet away, and just started walking right to her. She took about 6 little steps before falling headlong into mommmy's arms, at which point Ming-Hsuan and I looked at each other with some surprise. What in the hell was that?!? We're supposed to have another month or two before she starts doing that!

Nope. Izzy has now officially crossed the line between "wants to walk" and "walks very poorly." I'm sure a lot of you are looking for investment tips these days. My advice is to invest in band-aids, because this baby is about to single-handedly double their sales.

9 Month Check-up

We went in for Izzy's 9 month check-up today -- apparently she has a normal body (75%) and a giant head (circumference - 90%). Ba Chomp Ba Chewy Chomp. Unfortunately, she discovered that she hates when the doctor pokes and prods her. In the past she had been content to sit or lay down quietly during her physical - not so today.

Izzy Stands!

Izzy has begun pulling herself up and cruising around with the help of furniture. She can also let go and stand on her own now for 5-10 seconds at a time. When she does it, she puts her hands in the air like she's just stuck her landing! But, we haven't gotten a picture yet.

Update: Here she is, standing all on her own.

Daddy Gets a New Job

Yesterday was Andy's last day at the public defender's office and today marks the first day of his new law practice -- Elders & Zinicola, PLLC. Izzy celebrated by eating one of Andy's new business cards.

Izzy has fun on the swing

Izzy bonds with Aunt Pei-Yuan

Food

Just before her 6-month birthday, we started Izzy off on rice cereal and slowly started introducing other baby foods. We've opted to forego all the pre-made baby foods and feed her as much regular food as possible (noodles, squash, yams, carrots, etc.). You can see that she loves fruit, as shown by her chomping down on a white peach.

Hangin' Poolside

Alaina invited Izzy over to her pool on Sunday so Izzy got to swim for the second time in her life. Izzy kicked her feet like crazy roadrunner-style when we moved around in the water.

Izzy sits up on her own and crawls!

Chung Family Vacation

Izzy took her first extended family vacation out to Massanutten, Virginia -- home to mountains, mini golf and a water park. We all went out for July 4th weekend and rented a vacation home to celebrate her Apo's 60th birthday -- Happy Birthday!

Six Month Birthday

Today marks Izzy's six month birthday and also the first day back at work for Mommy. Luckily, Izzy has her Apo to take care of her during the day, which makes her happy. She also loves to practice walking...

Six-Month Checkup

So we went to see the doctor today for Izzy's 6-month checkup. Nothing interesting, really. 27 inches tall. 17 pounds, 14 ounces. Heart is beating, still breathing regularly. Good stuff. One notable item -- her height percentile is now higher than her weight percentile, though both are over 80%. That means she's now tall and fat, rather than fat and tall. Basically, she's now a fat power forward, rather than a tall offensive lineman. Good times.

Oh, and they stuck her with a bunch of needles again. She really likes that. Jab, jab! Jab, jab! [pause] Cry. Izzy loves the doctor.

Izzy Liebowitz

Izzy takes her first picture and shows her artistic style. Next time you see her, she'll be wearing a black turtle neck and talking in a german accent.

This Bites.

One of the first experiences I ever had with Izzy was her sucking on the back of my knuckle while we were waiting for her to be cleared to go back to the hospital room after she was born. Now, she likes to grab my finger in her little hand and pull it to her mouth so that she can chew on it. Aw. Only one problem:



Yes, that's right. Those are teeth. And they hurt like hell when she bites your finger with them. Seriously, I'm going to have to pull those things out soon. I mean, she'll grow new ones, right?

Elders the Third

We discovered that Izzy looks like baby shrek. Oh, and she has discovered her favorite yoga position -- downward facing dog.

Next?

So it seems that the next big thing for Izzy to do is sit up on her own. I say this not because I read it in one of those baby books, but because she's constantly trying to do it on her own. We started her on the path by pulling her up from her back by holding on to her hands and encouraging her to pull up with her arms. This eventually led to her automatically lifting her head up towards us whenever we took both her hands while she was laying on her back.

But now, she's taken it up a notch. Now, whenever we so much as lean over her, she lifts her head up, reaches her arms up, and actually strains to sit up. So, desire is there, but she's lacking the abdominal muscles. Kinda like Daddy . . .

Milestones

So Izzy had her three-month birthday on a plane flying to California, which was two milestones in one. Her first plane ride was a long one (Dulles to LAX - about 5.5 hours), but she was really great on the plane. She nursed and slept mostly, causing few problems for anyone, which was quite a relief. Nonetheless, traveling with her was pretty crazy, mostly because of all the thinking ahead we (mostly Ming-Hsuan) had to do to make it work.

Izzy has also passed another milestone, namely the discovery that she has hands. As you may recall, she has grabbed things in her little hands since a few hours after she was born. But now she's doing it on purpose - seeking out things to grab and grabbing things with a purpose (usually to put the item in her mouth), which is pretty cool. The other thing she's doing recently is grabbing onto and playing with her own fingers, as seen here:



Still cute. Such a relief - every morning, I expect to wake up and see that she's begun looking like me. It's every father's worst nightmare...

We're Back! Again!

Wow - taking care of a baby is a lot of work. Just realized that I haven't posted in a month! We've had family in town two weekends ago, then went to California last weekend. Apart from that, we've had lots of free time. Updates to come . . .

Back from the Doctor!

Izzy's two-month checkup was today. 12 pounds, 7 ounces and two feet tall.

She was totally healthy when she got to the doctor, but then they gave her a round of immunizations: polio, diptheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, and some other stuff. So now she's FDR, but with lockjaw. Not a pretty sight.

Actually, she's still cute...

Happy Birthday, Isabelle!

Yes, that's right. It's Izzy's two-month birthday.

She's like a totally different person now. 'Cause she's so old.

Here's what she looks like in a bear suit...

Everyone's Tired

People keep asking us how we're doing, and the answer is always the same: we're doing great, but we're really tired. I'm not getting enough sleep, and Ming-Hsuan is getting even less. That's because I'm a deep sleeper, while Ming-Hsuan wakes up pretty much any time Izzy makes a noise. That, and she's an integral part of the nighttime feedings, whereas I am merely a sleepy onlooker. When I was on leave, I would take care of the baby in the morning so that Ming-Hsuan could catch up on sleep, but now she's on her own in the morning.

We've already read a couple of books in an attempt to learn how to make Izzy sleep at night. One of them was really easy -- it said to ignore her cries until she gives up. Now, that sounds pretty convenient. But we hate to see Izzy cry for even a few minutes, and this book was telling us that she might cry for 30-45 minutes. We don't want to spoil Izzy, but we're not capable of letting her cry that long. So, on to book #2.

The second book seems much less structured, basically offering a lot of solutions for getting babies to sleep. Some of it's pretty basic - put her in her crib before she falls asleep, work on developing sleep cues, etc. Useful stuff, but she's not sleeping through the night just yet.

And neither are we...

We're Back, Baby!

Okay, so tonight officially marks the last night of my paternity leave. Back to work tomorrow, so that seemed like the best reason I could think of to get back to blogging.

For now, I'm just going to say hello and fill you all in on pictures for the last 8 weeks. You'll find those below (with approximate dates)-- read them from bottom to top.

New posts to follow!

Last One!

Deep in Reflection

Izzy (still looking a bit frog-like) contemplating what the future may hold. And also getting ready to sneeze.

Laughing Buddha

This picture is one of the first in a series where one of us falls asleep, then the other puts Izzy on top of the sleeping spouse and takes a picture. Nice.

Compare this picture with the actual Laughing Buddha:

Stretch!

Hey, you'd be stretching too, if you'd just slept for three days. Except at 3 in the morning of course. Wide awake then.

Sleeping Baby

Seriously, does this baby do anything but sleep? Wake up! Get a job!

Daddy and Baby

I assure you, this baby is fine. Just sleeping. A lot.

Enter Fat Baby

This is about the time that Izzy entered her Marlon Brando stage. Seriously, ask her a favor on the day of her daughter's wedding. She can't say no!

Bath Time

That's pretty cute. This is not the time she pooped on me while we were toweling off. That was a different time. I did not like it.

Grandma and Baby

Izzy with my mom, who we're teaching Izzy to call "White Grandma."

Mommy Cleans Up a Little

Lookin' good, Mommy. Lookin' good.

Local Baby Takes Nap

Yawn

I cannot begin to understand how someone who sleeps all day can still get tired.

To clarify, I'm talking about Izzy.

Behold! Baby Elvis.

This picture brings together two of our favorite baby-related activities -- posing Izzy to look like she's sitting up on her own and taking embarassing pictures of her.

Genetics, Be Damned!

This baby is substantially cuter than her father. Eat it, Gregor Mendel!

Daddy Crosses a Line

Jealous of the mother-baby bond brought on by nursing, Daddy tests Izzy's latch in a less conventional way.

Already Tired of All the Pictures

Napping on Mommy

I believe this is the alien-headedest this baby ever looked. I want to believe.

Izzy "Smiles" for the Camera

One of many "smiles" we've caught with our camera. Welcome to the digital camera age, people. We take 700 pictures, 3 make it onto the blog. The rest get deleted.

Somebody Shaved Daddy's Head!

When not staring at Daddy's head, also note how very small Izzy was. Aww...

At Home - New Year's Eve

You can see in this shot how frog-legged Izzy was for a few weeks after she was born. That's our little breech baby!

Coming Home