2009SEP29 - First Bath

Jordan's umbilical cord nub fell of a couple days ago, signalling a new phase in his life....no more sponge baths!!! Next up, half submergence. Elaine and I wondered how Jordan would react to the water. We had read and heard from friends about their various experiences with the first real bath. Some babies loved it, others freaked out. Given Jordan's track record of crying for "no reason", we weren't very hopeful.

To our surprise, Jordan actually enjoyed his bath. The warm water seemed to sooth and relax him. He had a very calm and relaxed demeaner...which made me think, "he's about to pee on my face." Fortunately, that didn't happen. We got him all washed and dried in his little "doggy robe." At least we found one thing that he seems to enjoy besides feeding.

2009SEP28 - Cry Baby

Life can be pretty chaotic when trying to take care of a crying baby. If there's anything that Jordan's been consistent on this week, it's his daily evening tantrums. We know that there's a reason why he's crying, but it's so hard to decipher why he's crying. I guess that all comes along with experience. In my frustration, I decided to give Jordan some "Tummy Time" to actually have something to cry about. I

thought, "Well, if he really

hates tummy time, maybe w

hen I flip him over he'll realize how great non-tummy time is and not cry

anymore." Eh, wishful thinking. Anyways, the

two photos are 1)

during his tantrum, and 2) as he rested b/t tantrums.

2009SEP27 - Home Alone

Generally, our Sundays consist of going to church in the morning, lunch with friends, and NFL football (in the fall). Now with Jordan, it's sort of a mixed blessing. We don't get to go to church (yet) so we don't get to see our friends, but I do get to plunk myself down in front of the tube and catch all the NFL action. The Niners were on FOX (vs the Vikings) and I was hoping to jump back and forth b/t that game and the Eagles game. But what's up with Channel 5 publicizing the Eagles game (Vick's 1st game back from his suspension) but showing crappy local home improvement shows instead? Very lame.

Anyways, Jordan slept for much of the morning, waking only to feed. Elaine and her mom went shopping for a couple hours and I stayed home to watch the games....I mean Jordan. Having the mother-in-law in the house has been great. Mom has been cooking for us which helps us tremendously so we can just concentrate on Jordan and football. :p

Elaine then went to a 2nd baby shower in the afternoon. I'm glad she got a chance to get out of the house this weekend. She's been a really great new mom and wife. She deserves more than a few hours out of the house. With Elaine at the baby shower, that left me with Jordan for the afternoon. He was actually very cute from 2pm-5pm. He was awake the whole time, just starring at the ceiling, photo frames, my face, my big nose, etc... He seemed to smile like he meant it too when I played with him. It was actually quite fun just seeing him awake and not crying. But I knew that as 6pm rolled around, the cries would probably start up again.

2009SEP26 - Colic Baby?

The past 5 days Jordan has really been unexplicably loud. Especially in the evening hours from 6pm-10pm. It's actually been quite frustrating trying to calm him down. In the previous two weeks he was still fairly fussy, but not as inconsolable. It seems that the morning / afternoons are his good hours. So yesterday morning our friend's the Wongs came to visit. Jordan was very cooperative, sleeping most of the time.

A few hours after the Wong's had left, the Lee grandparents along with Tiffany/Danny/Ava drove out to visit us from Sacramento. Danny was the 1st person to remark that Jordan looked like me. Everyone else that has seen him says he looks like Elaine, and I have no idea why. I honestly think he has more of my own features than Elaine's, other than the fact that Jordan is small and Elaine is small. :p It doesn't bother me at all, it just funny how different people see things. Again, Jordan was very well behaved till they left.

Then 7pm rolled around and he just totally lost it. This was the point where we thought that we had every new parent's fear of a colicky baby. I actually had thought he could have colic since the 1st week, but just thought his crying was due to a combination of his new environment and us trying to figure him out. Not that 3 weeks makes us experts, but the things that I used to do to calm him down don't seem to really work anymore. It was just a really frustrating day. And to top it off, Cal got demolished by Oregon. That's us in the photo sleeping as we watch the game.

Props to Elaine for using her Yoga ball to bounce Jordan to sleep. If it wasn't for that, we would have gotten no sleep Saturday night.

2009SEP20 - Best Nights Sleep

Jordan turns 3 weeks old today. Yesterday after I came back home from work, he was wide awake in Elaine's arms. I had never seen him so alert before. He had been fairly alert in the past, but according to Elaine he was like this for majority of the afternoon. Our friends the Hu's were paying us a vist and I wanted Jordan to be on his "best behavior" so I took him for a 20 minute walk around the neighborhood, just him and myself. It was amusing watching his face as he gazed at the sky, the homes, and the surroundings in wonderment. Multiple times his mouth contorted into an "O" shape as if to say,"Oooo, look that!" I think all babies do that, but it means so much more when it's your own son.

When I reached home, Elaine took Jordan up for a feeding before our guests arrived. When the Hu's did, Jordan was sound asleep. He was such a good little boy....until he woke up. Just as we sat down for dinner Jordan was probably at the worst that I've ever seen, crying like he was getting circumcised all over again. Normally a tight swaddle and a drop of vitamin D does the trick, but this time he was relentless. After about 20 minutes of trying everything, he finally quieted down as I swung him left to right like in those 70's/80's work out videos. What turned out to be a noisy evening turned into the best night sleep I've had since he was born. He only woke up 1x last night and Elaine and I probably got about 6 hours of sleep. Not bad for a 3 week old.

2009SEP07 - It's the Eyes!

Day 5 and Jordan is already opening his eyes like a goldfish. Elaine's parents have been staying with us since his birth. On this particular day Jordan was the most alert that we've seen. He sat contently in his "bouncer" for about 45 minutes without making a sound aside from an occasional fart or two. That's brings up another item. His farts really stink. Although the Chinese culture puts "blame" on the mother, medically there's no connection with the mother's diet and the baby's intestinal issues. We just have to do a better job with burping Jordan after each feeding. The extra 10 minutes of burping time will spare our nasal senses so it will be well worth the time. :)

2009SEP03 - Welcome Jordan Patrick Lee

It's been almost exactly 1 week since my son was born. This past week has been a true blessing. Sleepless nights and endless diapers changes have enveloped my life. It's true what other parents say, sleep when you baby sleeps. Otherwise, you just end up tired and frustrated when you actually need to sleep but baby doesn't want to sleep. Ironically, I haven't take that many photos of him yet. It's one of those things where I find myself wanting to be in the moment rather than capturing it. Below are a few photos from the hospital up until his 1st night at home. Welcome to the world Jordan Patrick Lee.