Visiting Portland

We have had a lot of fun visiting family in Portland. The snow fell on Monday and Tuesday and it was such a beautiful sight from Alvin's sister's house. Today we go visit my cousin's family, hopefully the roads will cooperate. This was the first time Meliya has been in the snow. Actually, she was only in the snow for about 30 seconds, maybe she will play more today.

3 Months Old

Happy New Years friends! Meliya just turned 3 months old and we just went to her 3 month doctor's appointment. He said that she is 13 lbs. 13 oz. and is 24 1/2 inches. Highlights: She now knows her nights from days for sure. The rest of the family have all seen Meliya roll over by herself, but I still have not fully witnessed it.

Date Night

Last Friday, Alvin and I went on our first date by ourselves since Meliya was born. Alvin's mom has been super helpful with Meliya and she also has been pushing us to go out more and have a date. So last Friday, she announced that she wasn't going to provide any food for dinner, and that the two of us will have to go out for dinner. At first, we had a little of push back. Yet, after thinking it through, we finally planned out our date. We would go right after I fed her at night, and put her down for sleep. At night, she consistently can go for 2-3 hours without waking up, so we left for the date around 8:15. We went out for sushi where we really went overboard eating rolls. The people next to us at the bar even made comments that we went all out. We even gave the guy next to us some of our leftover sushi since we were full. At first I was a little nervous leaving Meliya at home, but as the time went along, we both started feeling better. We heard that new parents, when they go out, usually talk about the baby on the dates, so we tried not to talk just about Meliya (we also talked about Top Chef). We didn't even call home to check on the baby, because we knew that even if Meliya was crying, mom wouldn't tell us. We tried to find a fro yo place but two of the places we knew before closed down and one place was closed already at 9:55 at night. We got back at 10pm, and mom said Meliya never woke up. It turned out to be a fun night and we are very blessed to have a mom who would allow us to go on a date. Thanks Meliya for also letting us go out too!

Grandparents

We had a fun time going out to see my grandmother yesterday. My parents also were in town and Alvin's parents also came. Meliya had a fun time because she was surrounded by all her grandparents and even her great-grandma. So much love flowing around! (Thanks also to Carol for coming and taking the pictures!)

Dangerous

Today, we went took Meliya to the doctor for her 2 month checkup. The doctor said everything is fine, and then put her on her tummy.  She was able to lift up her neck and push up a little, which she just started doing yesterday.  The doctor said that was good, but it makes her "dangerous" because she could unexpectedly roll over anytime now even though she is young.  Alvin and I thought that was funny, and we started quoting, "I don't like you because you are dangerous."  Quiz: Where is this quote from?

We also told the doctor how Meliya is often gassy.  We often call Meliya the "gas man" and use the quote:
"Gas man. How the [heck] did they know that I got gas?" Extra imaginary points if you can name this quote too.

So Meliya is now 2 months old, weighs 12 lbs and 12 oz and is 23.5 inches.  Even though last month she figured out her days and nights, she is again trying to retackle that milestone.  She has been to four cities already and has been spoken to in many different languages. 

Food!

After being back for a couple days, I have had some good "American food."  Well the first night we had Chinese food, but over the last few days I had my Rubio's fish taco (unfortunately not on 1.99 Tuesday), a hamburger from The Counter, sushi, and Noah's bagel.  Mmm.  I was having some digestion problems the day we had sushi, so I didn't actually have any. 

I haven't had many other cravings for food.  We did get to a Trader Joe's and it was so fun.  Since Alvin and I don't eat pork out of respect for our Muslim friends in the city we live in, we had fun picking up some turkey bacon and chicken sausage.  Alvin really likes eating the candy cane Oreo's from Trader Joe's.  Delish!

As for jetlag, I was struck with it for 4 nights, only sleeping about 4 hours total from 4am.  Meliya and I would kind of stare at each other in the middle of the night since neither one of us were sleepy.  Yesterday, I was finally able to get some sleep, of course with some wakings from the baby.  She also was able to be tired at night.  Yeah!  Hopefully we are finally adjusting to the time zone. 

Back to the States, Jinx on Sleeping

We have arrived back to LA.  The plane trip was pretty uneventful, which is great when you have a newborn. She slept most of the flight and only had three short crying periods (two of them were in the beginning while the lights were still on.)

In Torrance and Palos Verdes, I sometimes forget I am not in China.  Yes it is a lot cleaner, and the cars actually allow you to cross the street first, but there are also a lot of Asians and Chinese writing around.  One difference is that when we went to a Japanese restaurant today, they had a sign that said, "Pray for Japan."  Oh, we are for sure not in China.

Of course, after you write about good sleeping, that night everything gets messed up.  The last few nights, she has been getting up 3-4 times a night.  Last night, she was going through some jet lag, at least I hope we can blame it on jet lag.  Let us hope she can go back to her great sleeping at night schedule.