the Guy Smiley series

This gives a more accurate visual of how my little friend is every day than all of the scowly pictures we get.

When the camera is not pointed at him he's all smiles.

But when the camera comes out he has to study it. And just like his mother, he seems to scowl when he concentrates.

Seriously. Did any of us have any idea he'd be this cute?!

a note on pictures

We have about four hundred million pictures of Edmund.

And I realize the ones I usually post on this blog are the ones that make me giggle, and are not necessarily the ones that showcase his cuteness.

Be assured, there are wicked cute ones.

And a lot of funny and wiggily ones.

Heath*

(*That's "Heath" as in the first part of "Heather" not, "heath" as in "Heath Bar Crunch".)

Heather was the second person from my family to get to meet and snuggle Edmund in person. My mom being the first. She got that privilege when he was just ten days old.



Heath was kind enough to leave her two adorable girls behind in snowy New England with their dad and hop on a plane to the Valley of the Sun.

We're good friends, Heath and I. And it was awesome to have her here. Mostly I just wanted to sit around and talk to her and have her adore my baby. And sometimes hold him. It turns out I get a little jealous when other people hold him, even if I've been holding him all day. Good grief. I'm obsessed. She certainly adored him. She agreed he's 1000x cuter in person than in the pictures.



I felt like we got out and about and did tons of stuff, but for someone with two active little girls, it probably felt like we did a lot of sitting around feeding.



We did go to a spring training game, Mariners v. Reds. We sat on the lawn. Well, Heather and Mr. Yin sat on the lawn and I stood and walked around with Master Edmund in the Ergo to keep him asleep (it was nap time after all). It's funny to go to games that aren't Red Sox games. They're so chill and relaxing. You hardly know there is a game going on. Especially at spring training. And especially in the lawn. For future reference, when you have a baby in tow you get to bring all kinds of food and water in your bag even if your baby is still just nursing. We got to snack on apples instead of hot dogs. Truth be told, we did stop at In n' Out Burger right before for some heartier fare. And milkshakes.





She was here when my little guy got sick and we took him to the doctor. She was a sport and even accompanied us to the appointment, in Yin family tradition. He wasn't totally himself that weekend, so not as many smiles and kicky feet as usual. But she got a pretty good share. He is pretty smiley and kicky. He might have also been a little confused at the woman that kind of looks like his milkmaid and kind of sounds like his milkmaid, but doesn't provide the milk.



We did a bit of shopping and she even bought the boy some cute new clothes. He was born in the year of the tiger, so he has a tiger outfit now.

One thing she really wanted to do was go to Cafe Rio to satisfy the hankerin' she had for some Cafe Rio pork. After the trip to the doctors, we dropped Mr. Yin (aka Mr. Study Pants) off at school and headed east with the address typed into the GPS. I've never mentioned our GPS before. Probably because I hate it. It fails me all the time. Sends me on the most roundabout routes and asks me to exit on exits that don't actually exist. And yet I keep using it. This time the GPS--I hate it so much it doesn't even have a name--landed us in no-man's land about 30 minutes from the actual destination. Enter Brittany, a true friend and Mesa resident with internet access. She kindly guided us to the actual location and we were able to enjoy some of the aforementioned pork. It was tasty, but not quite as tasty as college memories allow. In college everything is awesome.



We then headed to Brittany's to thank her in person and show off Tedmundo a little bit. She's a big fan of his. As is her cute daughter. We sat around chatting and I fed the lad. After his feast, he had a big blow out while Brittany's husband, Matt, was bouncing him. That's my boy! During our chat, I mentioned how I wanted to get the little man a Bumbo so he could join me in my pursuits of baking and sewing, since he's so curious and loves to see what everyone is up to. It just so happens Brit's daughter had just out-grown her Bumbo and they let us borrow it. Hurray for saving a few bucks! Little Abby was so excited to share, she kept sharing and brought out all of her favorite toys out and piled them up on Edmund. It was pretty adorable.

We also visited some old college friends who just moved into the area. We haven't seen them (or met their three boys) in about nine years. It's funny how people change and stay the same. It's also funny how seeing people from a different part of your life brings back floods of memories. There were some doosies seeing as how both of these friends were in the acting program with me.


One thing Heath really wanted while she was here was some fresh citrus. Turns out they don't sell local citrus in the supermarkets. We checked. I sent an email out to the ward seeing if anyone knew where to get some, and it didn't go out until it was too late and all gazillion responses I had inviting us to come over and pick all the citrus we could ever want from peoples' trees came just 15 minutes after we left for the airport. Boo. (Edmunton and I did go pick the next day, and fresh citrus is tasty! And super juicy. Turns out it's the end of the season, things really start up in November. Note that for next year if we're still here.)



We loved having Auntie Heath come visit. She's also known as San Yi, in case you were wondering what her Chinese name is. Everyone needs a Chinese name.

I had two goals before Heather came: vacuum and put the sewing machine away. Neither happened. She pretended not to mind. That's a good sister.

third mesaversary

Our little guy weighed in at 15 lbs. 3 oz. yesterday to mark his three months.

a rough time

Two days after Heather came into town to meet our little man, he came down with a hacking cough. (That is no reflection on Heath. She was perfectly healthy. I just was sad she didn't get to see him at his happiest.)

Wait, let's go back to the beginning of last week. He learned to cough. Like it was a discovery and he got such a kick out of it every time he did. It was his new trick. He tried it while in his car seat, while getting his diaper changed, and, delightfully, while nursing. He'd cough and then smile really big while milk spilled down his face.

Saturday morning he woke up with a real, hacking cough. He'd cough this awful cough three times and then sigh really big. And it wasn't as entertaining to him anymore. It kind of was, but it made his sweet eyes turn red, and it sounded pretty bad. Since it is RSV season and we're new parents, we made an appointment to visit the pediatrician that afternoon. I wasn't super excited about hanging out on the "sick" side of the pediatrician's office because I didn't want him to pick up something else. But luckily we were the only sickies when we showed up, so there was no one there to share their germs. All three adults and one tiny little man. (In the Yin family we go to doctor's appointments together. No one goes alone. It's a policy we developed after Mr. Yin went to his first MRI alone. That didn't go so well, so never again.)

The (male) nurse said they'd seen a lot of babies with upper respiratory infections lately. That wasn't encouraging. But when the doctor checked him out, she said there was no sign of an infection and that it was just a cold. Just a cold. She recommended elevating his mattress and using a humidifier. And to bring him back if he sustained a temperature of 101 for 24 hours.

So we all schlepped home and cuddled the cute coughing baby. And elevated his mattress. And finally remembered to buy distilled water for the humidifier.

And the next morning? He sounded 85% better. Not so much hacking, mostly just a snotty nose.

And then I started coughing. Hacking coughing. And losing my voice. A developed a headache. And a stuffy nose that dripped. And I learned when you are someone's primary caregiver, it doesn't matter if you don't feel 100%. You still have to take care of your charge. And you don't get to nap.

But we managed. He's feeling so much better. His nose is still a bit stuffy, but he's back to coughing to entertain.

He also sustained his first injury this week. That was the real heart-breaker.

We were bathing the tiny guy in his tub, within the tub. I was in the tub holding him, Mr. Yin was doing the washing. And somehow, something fell and whacked him upside the head. We weren't sure if it was the shower head or the bottle of shampoo. We just know he got whacked. And neither option was something soft. I swooped down and scooped him up before he had a chance to realize what happened and Mr. Yin ran to get ice. And then his scream came, and the goose egg appeared.

I stood there holding his naked little self, crying with him and he peed on me. (The little guy must have a giant bladder because he peed for quite a while.)

It's so sad to see the tiny little person you love like crazy be hurt. But he was fine after a few minutes. I kept testing to see if he'd follow me with his eyes (because I'm slightly paranoid when it comes to him) and he did. He was fine and we, the parents of this little wonder, were pretty shaken up.

I know this is the first of many sicknesses and injuries and that they weren't especially dramatic in the scheme of sickness and injury. But we did not love the experience. And don't look forward to the many more that are sure to come our way over the years.

I just pray none of them will be serious. We've done that in our family, thank you.

***Heather B. that's the cute outfit you sent him in the top pic. Very cute!!

sleepy time

After writing a big post about writing more, I sat down to write and I can't think of anything to write!

So we'll talk about sleeping.

One of the first questions people ask about Tedmundo is "How does he sleep?".

Why people care, I don't know. I'm sure I asked the same questions to some new, sleep-deprived mom before. But why? Do they really want the full story? It's a many nuanced reply if it's to be sincere. But can't they tell by looking at me wether or not it was a good night? If my hair is wet and combed (ie. I opted for a shower instead of a nap), it was a good night. If I'm my hair is a frizzball around my head and I'm wearing the same shirt I did yesterday, it probably wasn't a good night.

Truth be told (and since maybe you would ask the same question!) the babe has been sleeping lately. (Knock on wood! Seriously find some wood and knock on it. Do it. I need my sleep!) Last week he slept three nights in a row for six straight hours. This week he's gone one eight hour, one six hour and one seven hour night. In a row. I never thought I'd be so happy about six hours of sleep.

I do have to play mind games with myself. Every night when I put him down I say "Okay, time for a 20 minute nap." Then anything beyond 20 minutes feels like a gift.

Napping has been another story. We've started to figure out a nap routine wherein he naps about an hour after waking up for the day around 8. Then again around 11ish, then around 3:30ish and then again around 7 ish. Sure it's odd to take a nap at 7 o'clock at night. But we've had luck going to sleep sleep around 10, so we stick with it. Trying to lay him down before 10 just results in me trying to put his down for 2.5 hours. And that makes for two tired, grumpy people. Plus then his six hour sleep has him waking up at 4 instead of 2 or 3. So I'll take it. And who knows, maybe one day that 7 o'clock nap will turn into bed time and he'll sleep until the morning!

Getting him to sleep has been an adventure. One that ends best in the Ergo Baby. (I cannot thank my sister-in-law enough for recommending it, and then for gifting it to us!) It works so well I need to find a carrier that he doesn't fall asleep in so I can carry him all day and not have to worry about him going to sleep at night. Recently he's stopped fighting sleep so much and will nod right off while we're holding him, as long as he's faced out. No snuggling. And the other day I needed to do something and put him down on the Boppy and he fell asleep after fussing (not crying--that breaks my heart and I whisk him right up--yes, I am that kind of mother. But if you saw his sad face, you'd do the same.) and then slept for about 30 minutes. And the other day he took his 7 o'clock nap in the stroller as we walked to and from campus for a dinner. Our options seem to be expanding!

So there you have it. Sleeping. Yes he does it. But like everything with a baby, I'm learning, it could all change tomorrow. In the meantime I'm grateful for whatever sleep I can get.

Note: No, that isn't the magical Ergo Baby. It's a wrap I borrowed from the Lactation Consultant. Despite his cute sleepy face, he did not love it.