Group Dance

Below C-bao and C-Pop enjoy a moment dancing.

Sister K-bao, who is never one to sit on the sidelines, then joins in rather forcefully.

While initially startled, C-bao resumes smiling quickly; she has quickly gotten used to the (forcefully) affectionate ways of her older sister.

Blur

Here is C-bao trying out her swing for the first time. She appears to enjoy it. Though when she's in a good mood these days, she smiles every time C-Mum or C-Pop calls her name, so it's a little hard to tell.

Charmed

C-bao has thus far been blessed with a fairly sweet disposition, and her good nature shines through  particularly after she's had a good feed and nap (whose wouldn't?).

The C-folks have been particularly charmed by her delightful expressions recently.

Grandmum

C-bao has been lucky to have C-Grandmum here with her over the last month.

A woman of infinite patience, energy and love, C-Grandmum has been working her magic with the little one, cooing her to sleep, cleaning her royal behind, and generally spoiling her to no end.

Up

C-bao was recently introduced to the sit-up. After some initial difficulty - due undoubtedly to the weight of her hair - she got the hang of it, and now is showing less and less patience with lying flat.

3 Months!

Happy 3 month birthday to C-bao!

C-bao was chatting away quite happily to C-Pop this morning about her milestone, but clammed up immediately in front of the camera. Not quite as much of a ham as her sister K-bao, whose own 3-month video revealed some slightly different dynamics (e.g. the signature "flamboyant flatulent sign-off" which she was pro at by that age).

Coo

C-bao is growing more interactive every day, and will now engage in 10 minute cooing sessions with C-mum where they will look intently at each other and make little dove-like sounds. What they are saying to each other is beyond C-pop's realm of understanding, but C-bao appears to be satisfied with what she hears and will smile knowingly at C-mum throughout.

Taste

C-bao has finally found her hand, and will now bring it up to her mouth regularly for a taste.

Unfortunately, said hand doesn't taste too good. A result, undoubtedly, of long hours of tight and sweaty fist-clenching inside of protective mittens.

C-bao had a try this morning and got a strong whiff of moldy goat cheese, forcing an immediate and bewildered pull back. Sadly, her short term memory isn't fully developed, so after a few seconds she put it back in...with the same result. This little dance went on for a while, much to the C-folks' bemusement.

Eventually, C-Mum had mercy and gave the hands a good wipe-down.

Grace!

C-bao has a new cousin! Little Grace, who shares a name with C-bao, made her grand entrance this afternoon - but only after her mother C-Aunt E coaxed her out with about 1,200 grams of sugar. The whole C-fam is pretty excited to meet her - welcome Grace!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Gentle

The C-folks have started to give little C-bao some tummy time, much to the little one's dismay.

C-bao's gentle personality shines through in this video: even while voicing her disapproval, her cries never rise above a relatively quiet whimper. To the point where the C-folks almost wanted to say: "Lady! Thou dost protesteth not enough! Be more aggressive!"

Labor

Here is C-bao chilling out with C-pop - and looking less than amused strapped into the old Baby Bjorn.

On the other hand, as a few have observed, she looks plenty...healthy. Maybe the two are related. Perhaps it's just the angle.

Happy Labor Day!

Expressive

Now that C-bao has hit the 2-month mark, she is starting to demonstrate a fuller range of emotions, from terror to delight to bemusement (her previous range was (1) dazed; (2) bored; or (3) gassy)

She has also shown the capacity for lighting quick transitions from one to the other - keeping the C-folks on their toes.

Sisters

Sharing a moment with my big sis, K-bao. 

Picnic

Here's C-bao chilling out at a recent picnic, sporting a "Too Cool for You" attitude + hairstyle combo package.

Grandpop

C-bao scored a visit from C-Grandpop recently, but was unfortunately too sleepy to properly greet him. Ever gracious, C-Grandpop nevertheless took the opportunity to snap a few mementos of the somnolent interaction.

Affection

If ever Little C-bao is wanting for affection from her folks, she knows where to turn. Big sis K-bao is a deep well - a never-ending source of hugs and kisses.

By the way, as you can see below, C-bao has recently enjoyed sporting the high-fashion "Pterodactyl Head" hairstyle.

Bright

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed our little C-bao has been over the last couple of days. "Here's looking at you, Mommy." 

Church

C-bao made her first visit to church this weekend. Not being the instinctively pious type, she got bored halfway through the sermon (no fault of Pastor Dave! He was doing great) and began to demand an audience, at which point C-Pop was relegated to a quiet corner of the church by the nursery to rock 'n read instead of listening to God's word.

Gruntophile

C-bao is a champion grunter, in a way that would make Maria Sharapova proud. She grunts when she sleeps, eats and poos, which covers about 95% of her daily activities. She will also snort with equal facility. At one point C-mum even called a nurse hotline, fearing that the little one was being overtaken by some baby version of sleep apnea. The latest diagnosis? She is just one of those little noisemakers.

Hands & Feet

The C-folks are continually amazed at young C-bao's miniscule, intricate, still-wrinkled hands and feet. Little works of art they are.

By the way, those little hands have unusual grip strength, as noted by doctors shortly after birth - bodes well for future firm handshakes.

C-Mum has been eyeing those long fingers and fantasizing about future piano concert halls. Meanwhile, C-Pop is hoping that those slender pedal digits will give the little one a good jump off the blocks (that's right, good sprinters have longer toes).

Arise

It's looking like the blissful days of C-bao's perpetual sleepiness are coming to an end.

For the first week of her privileged young life, other than waking up reluctantly when life-giving sustenance was literally shoved into her mouth, or protesting angrily when we cleaned her royal behind, C-bao slumbered like a baby log.

Yesterday it appears someone flipped a switch. Her baby brown eyes refused to close, and she would stare intently up the nose of whomever was holding her.  She bleated like a lost sheep when we put her down. All manner of odd expressions began appearing on her face (though, to her credit, some were undoubtedly attributable to the strong vinegar we were boiling in the kitchen as a disinfectant).

Alas, it looks like the peaceful days are behind us.

Small

Here is C-bao on her daily trip to the lab to get her bloodwork done, looking awfully small in her baby carseat. K-bao has grown so fast that it's easy to forget that she was once just this size too. And in just the last few days C-bao has tripled her food intake - so the C-folks better cherish this time before she triples in size as well.

Uncanny

Although C-bao has only been around for a week, and still bears some likeness - as all newborns do - to a wise and wrinkled little monkey, the C-folks already see even more an uncanny resemblance to her big sister K-bao.

Indeed, looking back at some of the pictures from K-bao's first week of birth, it's hard to tell the two apart. See if you can - which one is Baby #1?

Baby #1:

Baby #2:

Baby #1:

Baby #2:

Baby #1:

Baby #2:

Baby #1:

Baby #2:

Welcome!

C-bao arrived with pomp and fanfare this weekend. As predicted, she decided not to wait for her scheduled induction and instead opted to exit the womb on her own timetable. Yes, the C-folks are already looking forward to those adolescent years.

On a high note, she was heartily welcomed by her big sister K-bao, who showered her with balloons and gifts even as she was barely opening her eyes.

Unfortunately, like her sister, she has battled high levels of that fiendish chemical product bilirubin (associated with jaundice), which has necessitated daily blood draws at the lab and repeated trips to the doctor's office. However she is facing down the enemy like a champ - including sleeping through a heel prick blood draw session.

Welcome, little one!

Day 0

It is the final 12 hours before C-bao makes her grand entrance. She is either coming by scheduled induction tomorrow at 7 a.m., or more likely - with her already apparent obstinate streak - will demand out of C-Mum's tummy tonight. ("Try and control my schedule? I think not!")

Here is K-bao giving the final foot and facial massages, as well as a final shot of C-bao's famous home over the last nine and a half months.

We're all looking forward to seeing you!