It has been a busy and activity-filled month for our Yaya! And very quickly she turned 44 months old. She has definitely come a long way from the little baby that we brought home from the hospital. She can even successfully blow her own bubbles! [[image:2012-yaya44month-03.jpg:Mari kita main buih sabun (Let us play bubbles):center:0]] *Mouse over the pictures for additional captions. As mentioned above, it has been an action-packed month for Yaya. She has gone to the pool almost weekly (and we are guaranteed a post-pool nap). Otherwise she seems to be giving up the nap, which really is a big change for us. It’s really a shame for Vin who has to give up that one-two hours of peace and quiet that he used to get daily. But, on the flip side, she falls asleep quickly and easily at night! Give and take I suppose. She is a helpful […]
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A Yaya and Adik Story – February 2012
When we were kids, Hisham and I went through a “Choose your own adventure” book phase. You know, where you read the story and at the end of a chapter, you decide what the character should do. For instance, cross the bridge, proceed to Chapter 5, or take the footpath along the river go to Chapter 7. Wiki says this about it. But I think of it as kind of a watered-down RPG. Perhaps it led to Hisham’s enduring passion (and my old love) for it. In any case, what does that have to do with Yaya and Adik, you ask? Simple. This entry contains nine photos of a single interaction between the two children. For my version, I have ordered Photos 1 through 9 chronologically. The captions tell my fictional version of the story. But If you were to reorder the pictures, what kind of story could you come […]
Continue readingRafe’s 2 Month Birthday
Despite the date on this entry, it has been a long time since the boy’s 2 month birthday. It’s been a crazy busy time, but definitely a wonderful, and exhausting time for Vin and me. Just look at this entry as a way to show some cute pictures of Rafe 🙂 [[image:2012_0229_rafe07.jpg:Bright eyed and a little drooly:center:0]] The above really shows off his gray-green eyes and is one of my favorites. *Mouse over pictures for captions Rafe is coming along nicely and quite recovered from his bilirubin difficulties. On this leap-day, he had his 2-month checkup. He measured 24 inches long (90th percentile, surprise!) and was at 50th percentile for weight. He recovered from his 3 jabs, heel poking, and oral vaccine in record time, barely crying at all. And then he got to show off his bandages to Kak Yaya (she had band-aid envy). He was a little feverish […]
Continue reading43 Months
So another month has passed. Another fast and hectic one! We are settled in and pretty well adjusted to the new member of our family, and Kak Yaya is doing a great job of being an older sister! [[image:2012_yaya_43months_04.jpg:Mama, look at me!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for additional captions Yaya is definitely becoming a good big sister. She still loves to pet, touch, hug and kiss her little brother. She even tries to whisper and be quieter while Rafe naps, which is a sweet effort. It’s hard for her to remember though, so Adik usually naps upstairs without her. 😉 She does like to help out, and for her efforts she’s rewarded with different activities. This month she has gotten to go to the playground and the pool (also courtesy of the mild winter we have been having). She also finds all kinds of things to do at home […]
Continue readingRafe’s 1 Month Birthday
And so the boy is a month old! (More than that by now but thank god for backdated blog entries, teehee!) This month has really flown by. Since Adik’s adventures in bilirubin, it has been fairly peaceful for us. Like most newborns, his activities are confined to eating, sleeping, pooping, peeing and crying. He does have a sweet disposition and is definitely far more mellow than Yaya at this age. In fact our challenge is mostly trying to get good pictures of him while he’s awake. Seems like all the pictures I post on Facebook is of him sleeping. Here’s one of him with his eyes open: [[image:2012_0129_rafe02.jpg:Awake on the nursing pillow:center:0]] * Mouse over pictures for captions Adik was completely cleared by his pediatrician about a week after being discharged from Dayton Children’s Hospital, and has been doing well at home with us. We are still supplementing with some […]
Continue reading42 Months
It has been a milestone month for everyone! Yaya spent her first month as Kak Yaya (big sister Yaya), and we all had to adjust to having Rafe in our lives. And now the girl is officially three and a half years old! Halfway to four! Craziness right? [[image:2012_yaya_42months_01.jpg:Our beautiful Yaya:center:0]] Note: Mouse over the pictures for additional captions. It has certainly been an eventful month leading up to Yaya’s half birthday. The big thing is of course Rafe’s birth and how that has changed all of our lives. Yaya has been awesome – rolling with the punches and still managing to make the best of everything and having fun. She enjoyed the attention of her cousins and of course Becky while they were here, and now she enjoys playing the role of big sister and interacting with her new little brother: [[image:2012_yaya_42months_02.jpg:Yaya and Adik ride the Papa express!:center:0]] [[image:2012_yaya_42months_05.jpg:Yaya […]
Continue readingWhile Becky was here…
As you know, Vin’s cousin Becky and her family were here for Rafe’s birth. Everyone arrived the day before Rafe was born, and everyone except Becky and Aunt Mary (Becky’s 98-year-old grandmother) left the day after he was born. Becky (and Aunt Mary) stayed to help us out for the next few days. Here they are with their beautiful smiles: [[image:2011_becky_10.jpg:Becky and Aunt Mary:center:0]] Note: Mouse over the pictures for captions Yaya had tons of fun with her cousins! When Gabby and Grace arrived, Yaya immediately roped them into playing with her. She even allowed them to do her hair (she hates when we try to do her hair): [[image:2011_becky_01.jpg:Grace, Gabby and Yaya:center:0]] [[image:2011_becky_02.jpg:Back view of Yaya’s hair:center:0]] I think they managed to use every single hair thing that we had available in the girl’s hair :-). While we cooked dinner, the girls made cookies together: [[image:2011_becky_03.jpg:Choosing cookie cutters:center:0]] [[image:2011_becky_05.jpg:Gabby […]
Continue readingThe Bilirubin Files
As mentioned in the previous entry, Adik was going to experience some complications in his young life. On Saturday January 7, we took him to see the doctor because his left eye was gunking up despite our best efforts. His usual pediatrician was unavailable given that it was a Saturday but we saw one of the other doctors in the practice. She looked at Rafe’s eye and prescribed an antibiotic ointment to put on his eye. She also expressed concern over his color and sent us to the satellite Dayton Children’s Hospital that was in our town to get a check on his bilirubin levels. So off we go where Rafe gets his feet poked and blood taken for said test. Then we got his prescription filled and went home. That afternoon we got a call from Rafe’s regular pediatrician, telling us that his bilirubin levels were too high (21.2) […]
Continue readingRafe’s 1 week birthday
Here’s an excuse for gratuitous baby pictures, Rafe’s 1 week birthday! I’ve included pictures of the boy taken over the past week, including some professionally taken ones that we purchased. 🙂 [[image:2012-0105-rafe01.jpg:Sleeping in his cot at the hospital:center:0]] Note: Mouse over pictures for captions Let’s start with the professionally taken photos. Here’s a subset of them. The company is called Bella Baby and we thought they did an awesome job! [[image:2012-0105-rafe08.jpg:Sucking his fingers:center:0]] [[image:2012-0105-rafe09.jpg:Winky!:center:0]] [[image:2012-0105-rafe10.jpg:Was he posing for GQ or what?:center:0]] [[image:2012-0105-rafe11.jpg:His tiny feet in my hand:center:0]] [[image:2012-0105-rafe12.jpg:Holding Mama’s finger:center:0]] Rafe is such a good baby, much more mellow than his high maintenance sister had been. (When you’re old enough to read, understand and resent this comment, don’t be mad at me Yaya. I am only speaking the truth.) For the first 2-3 months of Yaya’s life, she cried inconsolably for no apparent reason every night, ate in snack-sized portions, […]
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The Arrival of Rafiq Charles
The new member of our family has arrived. Vin and I welcomed our son Rafiq Charles Renstrom to the world on December 29, 2011 at 4:35 PM, Eastern Time. He weighed 8 lb 11.2 oz (3.95 kg), and was 20 1/2 inches long. In other words, he was 2 oz heavier but the same length as his sister Yaya was at birth. Here are some pictures of Rafe’s (a.k.a Adik) birth. Note: Mouse over the pictures for captions Like Yaya, Adik would be a caesarean-section, so we arrived at the hospital at 1:30 PM for the pre-op stuff. Yaya would stay with Becky and a whole bunch of Yaya’s Indiana cousins while Vin would stay with me and be there for the birth. We were all ready (including our OBGYN and her surgical team). However there was a delay due to the fact that there was a busy surgical schedule […]
Continue reading41 Months
Another impossibly quick month has passed. Don’t ask me where the time went. Despite my best efforts, this entry is quite late and (guiltily) backdated. My excuse: work. I had a lot to accomplish before handing off for maternity which meant that I had to work through the Christmas holidays even! Excitement and nervousness abounds – Yaya’s Adik is scheduled to arrive on December 29th, and we have much to do to be ready! Yaya was stellar throughout this period. She didn’t complain that Mama was always in the office, making me feel all kinds of guilt. But as always, she is an absolute joy for us. [[image:2011_yaya_41months_03.jpg:Got milk?:center:0]] Food status: she has proclaimed mangos to be back as part of her accepted diet. But it has to be “crunchy” – meaning pureed, frozen, and slightly thawed. She still doesn’t like normal mangos – she did surprise me by trying […]
Continue reading40 Months
So the girl is now 40 months old! Three and 1/3 years old. This month has totally flown by and it’s definitely been a crazy one! For one thing, we had our first October snowstorm during our last work trip out to New Jersey until after the new baby arrives. It was a fun time, and everyone was so kind to us out there, friends, co-workers, the hotel staff that has become like family to us. We will miss everyone until we get to go back on the road, the traveling troupe + Adik by then :-). But that won’t be for quite a few months, and we’re definitely looking forward to being home for the next few months straight. It will be different, and certainly new for all of us. Yaya has been part of the traveling troupe now since she was 13 months old, and I hope she […]
Continue readingBoy or girl? 32 weeks in 3D
Today we went to see Yaya’s Adik in 3D. He is 32 weeks old and was a bit shy so had to be coaxed to show his face. Unlike Yaya, he seems much more modest around the camera while Yaya was quite the show off, sucking her thumb and everything! I do think there’s quite a resemblance to Yaya, no? Sadly my OB no longer has movie recording capacity so no little movie of Adik. We tried though. Here are the pictures: [[image:2011-32week-3.jpg:Adik’s face:center:0]] [[image:2011-32week-4.jpg:Adik looking like Papa here:center:0]] Wait, does this mean that like Yaya, Adik will look 100% like Papa for his entire first year of life, leaving me to look like the nanny? 😛 Anyways, here’s a couple of the external view (Adik the Bump). I’m getting pretty big… [[image:2011-32weeks-1.jpg:Bump from the side:center:0]] [[image:2011-32weeks-2.jpg:From the front:center:0]] Believe it or not, I still have another 7 weeks to […]
Continue reading39 Months
At 39 months, Yaya is now becoming aware of the seasons changing – the need to wear jackets to go outside, the leaves on the trees turning color and falling off the branches, etc. It’s amazing since last year she really didn’t pay that much attention to these changes. Here she is playing in the leaves. She liked to throw it around and jump around in it, but eventually she did help Papa bag these autumn leaves. [[image:2011_alya39months1.jpg:Throwing leaves around:center:0]] Food status: no change. Potty training score: Yaya 5500, Mama & Papa 400. We had to move her potty chair onto the stage (gradually closer to the bathroom) as she was beginning to just hang out sans underwear on the froggy potty chair in front of the tv for hours on end. With it on the stage now, she only sits on it when she has to go, and for […]
Continue readingBoy or girl? Hehe.. 27 week pics
Yes, indeed, Yaya’s Adik is a boy, inshallah. Here is a of picture of his face from the 27 week ultrasound we just had on Thursday, 6 October 2011. [[image:adik-06oct2011-face.jpg:Is Adik smiling or frowning?:center:0]] His weight is now an estimated 2 lb 11 ounces (little over 1 kg) which is average for his age, and his thighbone apparently measured longer than average. Surprise, yeah? 🙂 12 more weeks before we meet him in person, people! I repeat my wonderment at the pot-bellied people of the world. How do you sleep? Because I for one am very uncomfortable. This time around I am experiencing some pregnancy-related carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms (yes arms, not just wrists) which is a bummer. But otherwise, we’re all doing well. Adik seems to be more physically active in utero than Yaya was at this same age, and earlier. His favorite hobbies are dancing on my […]
Continue reading38 Months
So Yaya had her 38 month birthday while we were in New Jersey. Another quick and fun month has gone by, and here is the girl lounging on the bed in the hotel while Papa calls in a delivery dinner order: [[image:2011-0922-yaya1.jpg:No barrettes for once!:center:0]] Food status: no change, although we did discuss when she used to eat more stuff (like plums which used to be her ultimate favorite). And she corrected me (I called plums red and she said they were purple) and she remembered that she ate it from a spoon and Papa stirred it around before he fed them to her. She also talked about mangos and other fruits so maybe if she’s in the mood she might try those fruits again. One day, she’ll eat more stuff. She will, god willing. Potty training status: jeng jeng jeng… Success!!!! She is diaper-free now, except for nap- and […]
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