Matt + Janae

OK. It's true that Verene keeps us up at night and Janae and I occasionally suffer from sleep deprivation. It's not a pretty sight. Amazing how much our pleasant temperaments and basic cognitive abilities are tied to how much sleep we get. This brings me to sleep story number 2 for me (How come number 2 for me and not even 1 for Janae yet? Unfortunately I'm so out of it at night that I can barely function, let alone remember stories about Janae). According to Janae, while sleeping with my pillow folded over under my head one night, I heard the baby cry. To soothe Verene, I took the pillow from under my head, put it on my chest, and started to pat it gently. The crying continued as Verene gained no benefit from me patting the pillow next to her, so I put the pillow higher on my shoulder and continued patting her gently adding a "shhh" to the repertoire. Janae was busting up and could barely keep herself contained. In fears of waking me and ending her entertainment, she ran downstairs as to not make noise and grabbed the camcorder. I woke up shortly to see a her lying in bed next to me holding a camcorder in her hand waiting for me to calm my pillow again. It was a one time instance and she never got me on tape.

What keeps us going? Well, Verene smiles now when we pick her up at night and stops her violent wails for help. She's just too cute! Good thing because that's exactly what keeps her alive. Why are all babies so cute? I have a theory...only the cute ones survive. The not so cute ones, well, we just don't know. And the not so cute ones that we still see around? Their parents have different opinions and are probably thinking the same thing about ours.

While being up one night with her, I took out the camera and had a great time with Verene's night time activities! From the 1st picture, Janae calls Verene her little caterpillar because she looks like she's in a cocoon all swaddled up. The pics of her playing with the mobile are right before going to bed. She's gaining better use of her flailing arms which she loves to have up by her head or in the air.

Posted by Matt Huang at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

First Time Visitors...

We have been more popular than usual lately with neighbors, friends, and family all coming to visit Verene. Here are pics of a few visitors.

First time bath

First month celebration

In Taiwan, it is tradition to celebrate the 1st month of a baby's life because it is a huge feat to make it that long! This originated long ago when it was not uncommon for babies to not make it one month. We dressed Verene up as you can see and as with all baby related celebrations, we enjoyed the yummy traditional celebratory foods (chicken and rice) while we put Verene in her chair off to the side.

First time in church dress

We finally took her out to church a little after a month. The thing that everyone loves most about her? Her hair! Gotta love the dew.

First Halloween

Verene dressed up as Tigger for Halloween. Her cousin Celeste was a shark. We went over to YIwen and Tacheng's house with other friends and their kids. Finally, we don't have to dress up our dog to go trick-or-treating! This year Putter stayed home. Sad. He has been neglected since Verene came into our lives as all of our energy goes now to her. Good thing is he has been good about accepting his new status in the family behind the baby. The pic below is of him depressed in his basket - where he spends most of his days now.

Posted by Matt Huang at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)