Jalen is 7 Months Old!

Jalen spent his 7 month birthday in Vancouver, Canada. It had been 2 months since my parents last saw Jalen and they just absolutely gushed over him. However, they also had their first run in with Jalen's new stranger anxiety. When we got to Vancouver late on Friday night, Jalen cried at the top of his lungs when my mom held him while I was unloading the car. He wouldn't stop until he was in my arms again. Then on Saturday night, when I was at my friend Tina's house for her Christmas party, Jalen wouldn't go to sleep. He didn't sleep until I came home late at around 11:30pm. Poor grandparents!


Jalen is shy when he's naked!

Jalen Gets Elfed!

Click here to see Jalen and his cousins as elves!

Jalen Meets Santa!

Last week we took Jalen to meet Santa. We weren't sure how he was going to react to a strange white bearded old man in a red suit. It turned out Jalen wasn't fazed by Santa at all. We tried to get a smile out of him for the picture but he looked a bit stunned because of the crowd and strange surroundings.

Snowy Jalen

For my 30th birthday, Rick took me to Vegas. It was my first trip since the baby and my first time spending a night away from Jalen. I had started weaning Jalen off in preparation for the trip. Jalen didn't mind formula at all. I think the whole weaning process was harder on me than it was on him. I was struggling with giving up breastfeeding because I know that it's the best thing for the baby and I enjoyed feeling special because I was the only one that could give him that special nourishment. On the other hand, being a working mom makes breastfeeding really hard. And because I was the only one who could feed him I had to get up in the middle of the night and I couldn't be away from Jalen for longer than a few hours. It was quite stressful. Once I made the decision, I just had to make peace with it and make the adjustment. I was able to enjoy a relaxing, fun trip away from Jalen last weekend. I missed him immediately after I left. I think it was because I knew that I was going to see him for a while. By the time we were coming back I couldn't wait to see Jalen and hold him and see him smile. Now I know what Rick feels like when he's traveling for work.

The day we left for Vegas Seattle got about 3 inches of snow. Here's some pictures of Jalen's first snow!

Jalen is Six Month Old!

Last week we took Jalen to his 6 months check up. He is 20lbs 5oz (90%) and 28.5 inches (97%). He has another tooth popping out. Jalen got another round of shots this time but he's handling them much better now and wasn't fussy afterwards. Jalen is too big for his baby bath tub now so we've started giving him a bath in the grown up bath tub. After the bath, I hold him and rinse him off with the shower. He really loves being in the water and doesn't complain at all about getting his face wet. It's a lot of fun for me too!

Jalen's New Tricks

Just when I thought Jalen was a slow learner, next thing you know, he's rolling over both ways. He can now roll from front to back and back to front with ease. When you put him on the floor, he's rolling around like a little worm. It's amazing how quickly they learn to do new things! When you offer to hold him he will stretch out his arms to meet yours. He's also got a couple of teeth breaking through!

Jalen and Katelyn

Jalen had a play date with Trenton last Saturday. They're already fighting over the same toys! Here's Trenton loving the baby gym.

Jalen is 4lbs more than Trenton and they're the same age!

Jalen's First Week of Commute

Our little family finally moved into our new home in Bellevue last Saturday. Rick had a break from traveling for work and he was home for more than three nights in a row for the first time in about four weeks although it feels like it's been forever. We had no TV, no internet but Rick and I were happy to be back in our king sized bed. :) I had done enough unpacking in the kitchen and bathrooms so that we could have all of the essentials. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold that same day and had a hard time getting rest because Jalen woke up several times in the middle of the night. Nevertheless, spending our first night in our new home was a huge milestone.

Living at our new house means that now I have to take Jalen on my daily commute. Our schedule for the last week has been something like this:

5:00 am - first feeding of the morning, then put Jalen back to sleep
7:30 am - I wake up and eat breakfast, get ready dressed
8:30 am - wake Jalen up, feed him
9:00 am - leave the house
9:20 am - drop Jalen off at his grandma's
9:30 am - get to work
12:00 pm - feed Jalen at his grandma's
6:00 pm - get off work and feed Jalen, eat dinner at his grandma's
7:30 pm - go home
9:00 pm - feed Jalen and put him to sleep
11:00pm - I go to bed

This is the ideal schedule. Some days, Jalen decides to wake up at 7am. So I give him to his daddy so that he can either be entertained or be soothed to go back to sleep. Some nights, Jalen wakes up at 3am or 4am and I just go and try to put him back to sleep without feeding him. I decided to give up the scheduled midnight meeting and just see how long he can last after being fed at 9pm. When it goes well, he'll sleep until almost 5am which is 7.5 hours! I hope he will develop a habit of it.

Here's Jalen all bundled up and ready to go. Look at his penguin hat! The feet keep his ears warm!

Jalen's First Halloween!

Last Wednesday Jalen celebrated his first Halloween as Tigger! I took him to trick or treat at Amazon in the afternoon where he met a few of my other coworker's kids. He was very well behaved and didn't complain at all about being in his Tigger costume. We discovered that Jalen knew how to reach and grab a piece of candy and put it in his mouth! After Amazon, we took him to Vulcan where they had even more Halloween festivities. They had lots of amazing Jack-o-lanterns, a ton of candy and scary decorations. We took Jalen through the haunted house but he is too young to understand and be scared. All of Rick's coworkers thought Jalen was just sooo cute. After almost 2 hours of trick or treating fun, he came home and completely passed out for an hour and a half. Then we took him to Betsy's house where we took pictures of him in his costume with his cousins and their friends. When we finally got home he was so tired that he slept from 9:30pm to 5am! Almost 8 hours!


Tigger and Pooh!


Finally heading home after a long day of trick or treats.

New Milestones

Jalen now eats rice cereal a couple of times a day. His grandma mixes breast milk with rice cereal and feeds it to him with a spoon and he likes it much better than the water and cereal mixture we gave to him on the first try. Last Saturday, we also saw Jalen roll over for the first time. He was on his tummy and he leaned more and more towards the side and eventually rolled over to his back. Then he repeated it for his Dad a second time. He still doesn't know how to roll from his back to front. My theory is that he's a lazy kid and it takes more energy to be on his tummy so he learned to roll to his back. I've also been getting Jalen to practice sitting up. He can now sit with his hands on the floor for a few minutes without toppling over.

Jalen sitting up with his hands. He has that stunned look on his face because of the flash.

Jalen Eats Rice Cereal

Last night we gave Jalen rice cereal for the first time. We followed the instructions on the box and mixed one tablespoon to four tablespoon of water. It was really watery. When we fed him with a spoon most of the cereal came back out of his mouth. He made a sour puss face because I don't think he's used to the taste. The whole process was quite messy and I'm not sure how much of the cereal actually made it to his tummy. But I thought it was probably good practice for him for learning how to eat solid food.


Rick shows Jalen how to open wide!

Poopy Jalen

Today is Jalen's five-month birthday. We took him to the pediatrician because over the past week or so, he's been pooping a lot more than usual and we were getting concerned. At the doctor's office we found out that Jalen is now 19lb 3oz! The doctor said he seemed like a perfectly healthy and happy baby and we didn't need to worry. Phew!

I've been trying to get Jalen to practice rolling over. He can roll to his side easily but he is totally not motivated to roll completely from his tummy to back or vice versa. I've also been letting him sit up while supporting him lightly in hopes that he'll develop some stronger stomach muscles. I kind of think that Jalen is a lazy kid. He's discovered the button on the Jumperoo that makes the music and lights go on. So he kinda of leans on the button with his arm to turn on the music instead of jumping. Go figure.

Jalen enjoys sucking on his thumb and he likes to shove as much of his hands into his mouth as possible.

Jalen is Five Months Old -- Almost

My parents were in town last weekend to help us with our move. We gave a Jalen a bath.

Here's Jalen happily hopping away in his Jumperoo again.

Jalen in overalls.

Jalen in big boy clothes. Check out the baseball shoes!

Peek A Boo!

We played peek-a-boo with Jalen for the first time and he just loved it!

Jalen's Four Month Check Up

Today Rick and I took Jalen to his 4-month check up. He is still a very big boy! He is now 18lbs 4ozs, 27.5 inches and his head circumference is 17 inches. He is in the 95th percentile in all 3 categories. Jalen's infant car seat is only for up to 22lbs, I can't believe that I already have to upgrade his baby car seat soon when those typically last until the baby is 1 year old! He got 4 shots this time and tonight he was very fussy. He cried for about an hour before I finally calmed him down and got him to go to sleep. Poor guy.

I hope to take some more pictures of Jalen soon. Things are still a bit disorganized right now since we haven't moved into our new house.

Jalen is Four Months Old!

There has been a lot of things going on in our little family in the last month. We purchased a home in Bellevue in early August. We decided to put our current house in Renton on the rental market so I spent the rest of August packing things up to get the house ready to show. We moved some of our stuff into the new house a week ago and left some furniture in the old house for staging. Right now we're interviewing renters. We haven't moved into the new house yet because we want to do a few things to it before we move in. We're temporarily staying with Rick's parents. Rick was away for work one week in August. He's been away for a few days this week. We're not sure how much traveling is ahead for the rest of the month. It makes things hard since we're in the middle of moving.On top of all that, I went back to work full time on August 31st. I was really dreading going back to work because I wasn't sure about how things were going to be like. So far, things are been pretty good. Here's our daily routine:

5:00 am - 6:30am: first feeding of the day, depending on when Jalen wakes up. Then I put him back down to sleep.
8:00 am: I get up. Usually, Jalen is still sleeping. I pump, then get ready for work.
9:00 am: I leave for work around 9am. Jalen's Grandma gives him a bottle of pumped milk when he wakes up.
12:00pm: I come home from work to feed Jalen. It only takes me about 10 minutes to get to Grandma's from work. So after I feed Jalen I still have time to eat a quick lunch.
3:00pm: Jalen's Grandma gives Jalen a bottle of pumped milk.
6:00pm: I come home from work and feed Jalen. Then pump.
9:00pm: I feed Jalen and put him down to sleep.
11:30pm: I wake Jalen up for his last feeding of the day then he goes back to sleep. I go to bed.

Since we're staying with Rick's parents, we definitely save time on the commute so things are a bit easier. The routine will have to be adjusted when we move into our new house. Being back at work isn't as scary as I thought it would be. In some ways, it's a welcoming break because taking care of a baby is hard work. It's also comforting to know that Jalen loves his Grandma and that he is in good hands.

Jalen and the Jumperoo

We got Jalen a Jumperoo recently. It took him a little while to figure it out. At first he would just swayed around, or kind of skipped on one leg. But once he figure out how to jump on both legs to make the music come on, he just jumped away. One day, he played in it for 40 minutes!

Jalen LOL!

Jalen got into a giggle fit the other day staring into the mirror with Grandma.

Baby Talk

This is just too cute for words. Trenton came over today for a play date. He and Jalen had a lengthy little conversation!

Sporty Jalen

Here's Jalen in his soccer outfit.

Here's Jalen sporting his basketball jersey and shorts.

Jalen's grandparents threw him a 100-day party on August 18th. In Chinese tradition, 100 days is a big milestone for a baby so we invited all of our family and friends to celebrate. Here are some of the babies born this year (left to right): Jalen (5/15), Trenton (5/3), Tyler (4/22) and Katelyn (5/20).

Jalen is Three Months Old!

Our little piggy is now three months old! He's got a few new tricks now. The other day, Rick was playing with Jalen's stomach and he laughed out loud for the first time! Since then, both of us have been trying to get him to laugh by tickling him. He smiles many times a day now so the laugh is the elusive reward that both of us are after. At three months, Jalen is also doing much better with tummy time. Before he would just face plant on to the floor then whine about not being about to see anything. Now he can support himself with his arms and almost pull himself upright. He still needs lots of practice though. We've developed a night time routine for him for the last few weeks. I put him down to sleep in his crib around 9pm, then wake him up around 11:30pm or midnight to eat, then put him straight back down to sleep. He usually can sleep until 5am or 6am. His record is around 6:30am. Some nights, he wakes up at 2am or 4am, so I just give him his binky then put him right back to sleep. Since we've had this routine, Rick and I have been about to have a couple of hours of uninterrupted adult time at night, then I can get 5 or 6 hours of straight sleep! During the day, his routine is less predictable. I try to put him down for a nap about an hour after he feeds. He usually only sleeps for 30 minutes. Then depending on what mood he's in or how busy I am, I'll either hold him until he goes back to sleep or put him in his bouncer or swing to play. Jalen has also developed a very close attachment to me for obvious reasons. When he's in a good mood, he'll let anyone hold him but when he's cranky and tired, he can only be comforted by me. He will scream at his daddy for half an hour until his face is red and streaked with tears. Little does Jalen know, he'll have to learn to break that habit very soon because I'm going back to work in less than 2 weeks and he will have to let Grandma take care of him while mommy is not around.

Tickle, tickle!

Jalen asleep in his swing.

Tummy time for Jalen.

Tummy time for Jalen's daddy at 3 months old.

Jalen's mommy at 3 months old. When Jalen was first born, everyone said that he looks like daddy. Now he looks like a bit of mommy and a bit of daddy. He still has daddy's nose and forehead but he may just have his mommy's chin and mouth. What do you think?

Amazon Company Picnic

Last Saturday was the annual Amazon company picnic. Rick and I brought Jalen and Taylor, Grant and Grace with us. Jalen got to meet quite a few of my coworkers. There's not much at the picnic that he could enjoy except for the fresh air but the rest of the kids had a great time eating and playing games.

This year's picnic had a Latin theme.

Here we are at Mountain Meadows Farm in North Bend, WA.

Jalen is wearing his American colours.

Jalen's Second Trip to Canada

We took Jalen to Vancouver last weekend to attend my friend Abby's wedding. My parents babysat Jalen and took these pictures.

Jalen Says Hello

Jalen's Two Month Check Up

Last Tuesday I took Jalen to his two month check up. He is a big boy! He weighs 14lbs 9ozs and is 24 inches tall. His weight is in the 95th percentile and his height is in the 75th percentile. No wonder he's already wearing 6-month sized clothes. At the check up, he also got a round of vaccine shots. Jalen had to have 3 shots in his thighs. He handled it quite well and only cried a little bit. I was a bit nervous afterwards because the nurses told me to expect him to be fussy from the shots and possibly have a fever. He started acting a bit strange after dinner when he started making sad whiny sounds and he wouldn't look at anyone in the face. He just stared into space all night while drifting in and out of sleep. At night, he got a very slight fever, 100.9 degrees. I called the nurse to ask whether I need to give him some Tylenol but she said I didn't have to with this kind of low fever. So he just slept if off and the next morning he was his happy normal self again. Phew!

Jalen has really changed a lot just in the last two short weeks. He started smiling and cooing at me. At first he would only smile once or twice in the morning when I change his diaper or after I feed him. Now he smiles quite often when I talk to him and play with him. When he responds to me by smiling, it's such a wonderful feeling. I can only compare it to being in love. All the hard work of parenting definitely has its rewards!

Jalen's buddy T. Vo came over to visit. T. Vo just turned 3 month old and he's 12lbs. Jalen is bigger than him and a month younger!

Jalen is enjoying his new Bumbo. He can hold his neck up quite well so he can sit up in this cute baby seat.

Trish and Steve welcomed their new baby girl on July 23rd. We went to meet Sidney at the hospital on her birthday. She's so tiny!

Jalen Locke - bikini inspector

Jalen is Two Months Old!

Rick has been traveling for work since last Thursday so I packed up the baby and drove up to Vancouver to stay with my parents. I was a bit nervous driving with Jalen all by myself since he's in the back and I can't get to him if he cries. I had to stop half way to change his poopy diaper and feed him. Then we hit rush hour traffic after we crossed the border trying to get into Richmond! We were stuck for 1 hour in that mess and Jalen was getting hungry. So I broke out my emergency bottle of pre-mixed formula, reached back in the car and fed him with my foot on the brake. This coming Sunday is Jalen's 2 month birthday! Too bad his daddy is still in LA and won't get to see Jalen until we go back to Seattle next week.


Jalen's catching some rays at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver.

Bath Time For Jalen

Jalen used to hate bath time when he was first born. But now that the weather is warmer and we've learned to get the bath water to the right temperature, Jalen enjoys soaking in the tub while being scrubbed down.