To myself

Lately I have been so stressed out. Logan and I both have been sick on and off for about 2 months now, every time one of us caught a bug, we always managed to pass it on to the other person and eventually to daddy as well -- oh, the joy of parenthood. Weather has been terrible outside, always below zero, no way I can take Logan out anywhere in this temperature as least not when we are both still sick. The builder delivered bad news to us before the holidays that we can't have the house design we picked on the lot we liked -- come on, we signed a contract and paid the money, now you tell me this and point to the contract saying you are covered if you go back on your words, unbelievable! The bathtub issue is still not resolved, we pay condo fees which funds the condo building insurance, we buy home insurance to protect our own properties as well, but how can the bathtub leak not protected by either, and they both argue it's the other party's responsibility? Services are slow everywhere -- it takes forever for my lawyer to review a very important document, and forever for my employer to get back to me on my request for an LOA -- still waiting, does it really take more than a month to handle these things? Anxiety!!!

So I can't go anywhere during the day; I check my emails every now and then and I follow up but I don't get a response on what I am waiting for; and my dream house won't be perfect; and the bathtub issue won't be resolved ... so what? All of these things will work out eventually, and I still need to live my life happily everyday. Okay, I need to relax and be patient and occasionally just let things be, I think. Maybe I am a slow person, it takes me 31 years to realize this? Life is not perfect, and that's what's perfectly normal about it.

Done venting, feeling much better now :)

-Yang

Classic BBQ sauce

Okay, I rip this recipe from somewhere else, but with my own added twist. I often went to look it up over and over again when I needed it, so here it is for myself in order to find it easily next time.

1 whole chopped onion
5 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 cup spicy ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar

It's good for any meat dish calls for BBQ sauce and requires baking in the oven. Preheat oven to 350º. Pour sauce over 3 pound of meat. Bake about 1 hour give or take, covered, to desired tenderness, then half hour uncovered to reduce sauce.

For beef short ribs, bake 1 hour without sauce first, covered. Then drain the liquid to remove the brown substance and fat, pour the broth back to the dish with the sauce and continue baking.

-Yang

11 months update

I can't believe it has been 4 months since the last post. Life with Logan is definitely getting busier and busier. The last few months taking care of Logan was very challenging! He is now at the stage that he crawls so fast and he is so eager to explore everything, yet he doesn't understand dangers and "No". I have to constantly watch him, pull him away from things, and take care of his needs, as long as he is awake. Logan's sleeping time on the other hand is getting shorter now. He takes about 2 naps everyday, totaling around 2 hours, plus another 10 hours of sleep at night, to make up to 12 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. That means I have to do everything that need to be done within the other 12 hours, including cooking 3 meals, eating, cleaning up Logan's mess, shower, sleep, and whatever other household and personal maintenance tasks that cannot involve a baby. Time just goes too fast! Even though it's hard, I try to enjoy every moment I can! Because what's past with Logan I will never be able to experience again.

Winter makes me sad. I know it makes Logan sad too. But Logan gets so bored at home, so I try to get him out as much as I can, when the weather is not too bad. We used to go out 3 trips a day in the summer time, but in winter, I limit our trip outdoor to no more than once a day, due to all the overhead. It takes half an hour to get Logan dressed in order to go out anywhere. Then he has to be stuck in the snow suit, instead of crawling on the grass like what we did in summer. Here is a picture of Logan in his winter gear looking like an Eskimo.



It is so cold outside this season, and many people get sick. So did poor Logan, he caught some bugs and had an ear infection 2 weeks ago, and had to take antibiotics. I am not a big fan of drugs especially for little babies, so it was the hardest week for me having to feed him 3 doses of the medicine. It smelled nasty.

I am going to take advantage of the swimming pool though this winter. It is so convenient that we don't even have to leave the building, going to the pool becomes much easier than going outdoor and also more fun for Logan. Logan is becoming more and more comfortable with water too. He likes to float on my arms and kick his legs. I bet Logan thinks he can swim!



Logan sitting on the steps.


Logan being dunked in water.



Another big decision I have to make when Logan is approaching 1 year is whether I should go back to work right away. It's very hard to leave him to day care, since he is still a little baby. Logan has grown so attached to me, I know he will be very upset for a long time if he has to be with someone else. I have interviewed quite a few day cares by now and asked every detailed questions. The answers I got really are pointing me one way than the other. The food at day care can't compare to what I make for him, and he will not to able to get breast milk throughout the day. I think at this age, food and nutrition definitely outweighs the activities and social interaction they get at daycare. Plus I have been doing EC with him, the day care teachers won't be able to pick up the signals from him and be as diligent as we are. I am really leaning toward spending more time with Logan and just to make sure he is being taken care of, until at least he can walk and talk a little. It's a tough decision to make financially. But the reasoning around money is out of the window, husband and I both want to do what is the best for Logan. It's also a tough decision to make for myself. Sometimes I really just want a break and wish someone else can look after him. I imagine myself when I am 50, I know I will wish I had spent more time with my baby rather than working a few more months, because Logan is only 1 year old once! I will have to make my decision right, so that I won't regret later.

-Yang

Another Milestone

Yesterday Logan pulled himself up to a standing position for the first time. He was 7 month and 2 days old! Logan got up on to his feet pretty quickly, but he didn't stop there; he took a step forward to reach for the remote control. (what baby doesn't love remote control!!!) As soon as he can touch his prize, he grabbed it with both hand! Poor Logan forgot that he needed his hands to support himself while standing. Then he turned around in sheer delight -- probably looking for someone to show it off to, "did anyone see what I got!?!" -- but CRASH! I watched this video over and over and it made me laugh so hard every time I got to this point.




-Yang

Summer is fun!

We are totally settling back into our normal life now and enjoying the summer time! Since the weather is nice and hot, there are lots of activities that we can take Logan to participate in: picnic, BBQ, out for a walk, visiting farmer's market, visiting OEYC, going to the playground and swimming pool.

There is a new OEYC satellite location opened up at Yonge and Sheppard this month. Even though it's very small and only operates on Fridays, it's still a huge plus in terms of convenience. We checked it out on it's opening day, literally 5 minutes walk from our condo. There is a huge population living in the area, so it's about time to have an OEYC for the kids in the neighborhood.

Logan grew to love the swing this month! He was a little scared the first time he got in a baby swing, but he overcame the fear when he tried it the second time. Now as long as the weather is good, I always take Logan to the playground once a day. He will laugh when he gets a push, which is really cute!

Another sport that Logan enjoys in the summer is swimming. I love that we have a swimming pool in the building, with a sun roof -- so the whole pool gets warmed up so nicely! Especially on the really hot days that we can't go out anywhere else, I love going down to the swimming pool with Logan. The tricky part is taking him by myself -- because Logan can't really stay still by himself, it really is a challenge to organize all the swim gears and dress myself while taking care of him. I recently found this awesome "learn to swim ring" for Logan from Canadian Tire for only $4.99. Logan learned to balance himself inside the floating ring within a few minutes. At the beginning he puts his head in the water to play, but he quickly figured out he shouldn't do that and held up his neck instead. It will be nice to have Logan swim with other babies around as well, but so far I am a little reluctant to go to a public swimming pool for a few reasons -- our pool in the building is really convenient, has higher water temperature and is chlorine free -- one of the improvement our condo board made last year -- the pool is kept clean by a salt water system, which is healthier and more economical.


-Yang

Home again

We have been back from the trip for 2 weeks now. The trip was awesome, I didn't want to come back. There were just so many family to help and play with Logan back home, which made Logan so happy all the time. Here in Toronto we are alone again, and hubby is not the best at taking care of me and baby most of the time. Luckily we have the beautiful summer here, otherwise I would be more stressed out.

Logan is a lucky baby. He had been to many places before turning 6 month, including: Beijing Olympic Stadium Bird's Nest, Summer Palace, Tokyo Disneyland, Asakusa temple, Tokyo ueno zoo, and many more places. Here is a picture of Logan enjoying the hot spring in Japan.

Logan is now 6 months old, weighs 18.5 lb, measures 72 cm long. Logan's head circumference is 42 cm. The head is still on the small side, following the curve around 25%; but the height is off the chart, Dr. says it's at 100%.

We started Logan on solid food at 5 and half month. Now he is having one solid meal a day at lunch time. Logan had tried brown rice cereal, avocado, bananas, butternut squash, and peas. So far he liked most of the foods. Sometimes it takes a few days to try and adapt to a new flavor, but he always enjoys it at the end. I am a big believer of freshly made baby food from scratch, so now there is one more task for me to make Logan's lunch everyday. It's a new challenge to fit in the lunch and still be able to get out during the day. Hopefully I will work out some new routine soon and start to take Logan out to enjoy the summer!

-Yang

Ready to see my family

So this is Rajib. I've been stuck in Toronto for the past three weeks while Yang and Logan are enjoying themselves in China. Yang says she's more relaxed now as there are lots of family members happy to look after Logan; Yang doesn't have to entertain him every second of the day. That's great - she deserves some rest.

I'll be off to the airport to join them in just a few hours. There's no blogger (or facebook or picasaweb) access while in China, so we'll have the cone of silence on us for awhile. Which is fine since we'll be missing the Lost finale, the 24 finale, and the Survivor season finale while we're gone; I wouldn't want to accidentally hear something about them anyway.

Apparently, I've missed some big milestones of Logan's in the past three weeks. He is now regularly flipping over from back to front everyday. And he just recently discovered his feet and has been putting those in his mouth. I've heard he has grown so much that Yang has asked for even bigger baby clothes to come with my luggage to join them. I'm happy that Yang's family is getting to see these milestones first hand, but I kind of feel like I'm missing out!

I'll see them in just a few hours, though, hopefully in time to celebrate Logan's 5th month-aversary this Sunday, May 16th. I can't wait to see you guys!!
-rajib