Carissa's Blog

My baby is 8 weeks old today.. She's getting bigger and heavier. She loves her bath time & changing diaper time. Also she loves to stare at her daddy's face, taking a nap in her bouncer from auntie Catherine and she loves to stare at the fish on her other bouncer downstairs. She doesn't like being cradle when she's awake, she can support her own head, but sometimes she's still wobbly. I called her the bobble head :). She's a chatter box in the morning when she's full. :)

Nothing really new these days... same old stuff.. except we took Carissa to Lowe's and Sam's Club on Sunday, she did good.. except I have to carry her on my sling.. other than that she's okay.

Here are some random pictures that we took on daily basis :)

From Meskwaki Trip

We went to Meskwaki Casino to meet with grandma & grandpa, it was an awesome day. Carissa got to see her grandma again. We went out to eat at Rube's steak house and then we went back to Ames while Oma & Opa spent a night at the Casino hotel. Here are the pictures from the trip. Seems like Carissa likes her new car seat pad. Also she likes her soothie too :).

This is our bath time routine :)

She likes to smile at the camera these days and make funny faces... check out her today's album

From 8/23/07

Since oma bought Carissa so many clothes, so now there's 1 rule regarding clothing. Carissa will try to wear all the clothes that she has. So mommy doesn't have to do laundry for a while now :). And daddy LOVES to take picture of her after her bath, because she looks so cute. Tonight she's wearing the ballerina sleeper from oma vonny.



Today was kind of a rough day for mommy & carissa... we took oma & opa to Ankeny to shop a little bit. I thought maybe Carissa will fell asleep on the way and usually she will fall asleep during shopping time. But no no no... she was awake most of the time.. maybe she slept 10 mins only. So she's laking some nap time.. once we got home around 3-ish she got a lil cranky but after daddy took her, she fell asleep until 7:30pm.. she slept for 3 hrs! so we'll see what's going to happen tonight whether she will sleep for complete 8 hrs or she will be awake in 4 hrs for another feeding. We'll see... time for mommy to get some sleep now..

g'nite

more pictures...

Carissa got her new bouncer today!! this is the one that Alexander has, since she likes it a lot when she went to ringga's house so I decided to get her one. She fell asleep on her bouncer twice today :) at least I can put her down somewhere that I can have my 2 arms :).

Yesterday I finished washing and folding all her new clothes from people back home so now she has more PJs. Tonight she's wearing one from oma vonny.

For some reason since Saturday, Carissa actually has been sleeping from 8:30-ish pm until 4:30-ish am in the morning!!! she slept 8 hrs!!! how in the world...??!! but we're thankful for that.. :) she's been so good.. except I just need to feed her every hour from 6-8pm. Hahaha I guess she's preparing her tummy to sleep for 8 hrs.. so pretty much during her sleeping time.. she only wet her diapers.. not poop..

But during the day she's busy pooping :P heheheheheh okay she needs a diaper change now...

byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Today oma vonny & opa robert come to Ames to see Carissa for the very first time. My mom scared holding her because she said Carissa still so tiny... but it's a must for her to hold Carissa.. her granddaughter. Carissa got a LOT of presents from back home.. you can see from this picture.. she pretty much got so many clothes from everyone! and she also got some indonesian books and some children DVDs with indonesian subtitle so both Daddy and daughter learn how to speak indonesian language.


After that we went out to eat at Hickory park.. oh BOY.. I have to say this.. I will never ever bring her out during her fussy time ever again until she's 3 or 4 mos. old (or at least until she passed her fussy period). I experienced for the very first time feeding her in the car.. and then in the restroom... it wasn't pleasant.. *sigh* and then for some reason she overheated herself again in the car seat, so she was screaming the whole time from Hickory Park to home.

As soon as we got home, we did her routine... bath time.. and then changed her to her PJ and then feeding time.. then she fell asleep that instance... no fuss no cry.. just sleep I only rocked her for 2 minutes and then she's in her deep sleep... *piuh*

Alright time for me to relax now... and yes.. no more going out at night.. unless one of us need to stay at home. Carissa is pretty 'strict' with her routine... I guess she just knows... she's like her mommy :)

Here is Carissa after feeding time... she looks so content and peaceful. So I bought a boppy swaddle happy thing from Taraget. Since it has velcro so I thought she won't be able to get her arms out. The item arrived today, I tried to put her in it.. she was okay... for a while and for some reason she did manage to escape her tiny arms out! I couldn't believe how smart she is... she actually figured out how to do it, she bend her arms and then she wiggled em out! *sigh* I gave up swaddling her.

It's Thursday!! tomorrow is Friday! :) woohoo... I'm so glad Carson such a good daddy, usually after work he comes home and he holds her so I can have my 'me' time. So I can update this blog :) or take a shower :D.

Hello everyone! I'm 6 weeks old today! in 2 more weeks I will be 2 months!!! wow... time goes by really fast.

She's a good baby, she only fuss when she's hungry and between 6-8pm. I have no idea how am I going to go back to work at night? but I heard these are just some phases that baby will go through and once it hits 3 or 4 months she will change. We'll see...

This weekend my mom & her husband will come to Ames, I'm worry.. what are they going to do in Ames..??!! my mom already called and asked me where can she go shopping in Ames.. *oh my...* I thought she come to Ames to see her grandaughter.. I guess I can make my mom run errands for me since her husband can drive around town.. Maybe they can help me get food.. diapers.. groceries.. etc etc...

Anyway here's another video of Carissa being a chatter box in the morning.. especially when she's on her changing table.. I have no idea why but she does like her changing table so much.

I just realized that we have a camcorder but we haven't used it that much for Carissa. So today I decided to tape her when she's a chatter box in the morning. But she's a lil bit camera shy.. so I got a lil bit of her talking.



Here are pictures from today.. tomorrow she will be 6 weeks old!! :)

8/14/07

We went to Des Moines visitin Ringga & Alexander :) Carissa fuss a lil bit on the way there but once I cranked up the radio she went back to sleep.

Here are the pictures :D

AJ & Carissa

Dearest my baby girl,

Mommy just want to let you know that we love you so much. Even though you have your fussy time between 6-9pm, your midnight wakes up to feed, your random scream out of no where when you sleep.

You're 5 going to be 6 weeks old now, when you're 4 weeks old for some reason you started clinging onto mommy the whole time during the day. Mommy can't put you down on your crib during day nap. Even though mommy's hands tired from holding you, mommy loves to see your facial expressions when you sleep. Sometimes you smile and laugh when you're asleep and mommy cherish all these time because you're small once and I think there's no such a thing as spoiling you.

Even though you won't remember any of these when you grow up, but I hope one day when you have your own baby you will know what kind of baby were you when you're little.

Mommy loves you so much, holding you in my arms is the greatest thing in the world. Mommy couldn't believe how mommy can love you this much even though we only been met for 6 weeks.
O by the way, you are a noisy sleeper... it's 10:14 pm right now and you're asleep.. when you're not in your deep sleep stage you make a LOT of noises. Sometime mommy & daddy think that you're awake because you grunts and whine.. and your feet were flying around everywhere... but your eyes were closed.

Anyway, we love you no matter what baby girl.. love you sooooo soooo much!!!

Love ALWAYS,
mommy

From 081207

Today mommy went out with auntie Ringga, since they both need some adult interactions. So daddy watch Carissa for 3 hrs! :) mommy was kind of worried a little bit, but daddy did awesome! Anyway today Carissa slept a lot, I guess she was so tired from yesterday, playing with grandma & grandpa.

Now mommy feel much better leaving daddy alone with Carissa. So I pumped and got 4 oz since I thought that how much she eats these days.. but WRONG! she still hungry after that 4 oz milk. Before bath time mommy weighed herself and she weigh 106.5 lbs and then I hold Carissa and it's 115.5 lbs. I guess Carissa now weigh 9 lbs!!! wow.. such a big girl!

We went to Target today but it was too hot for Carissa.. she was crying :( note to ourselves... never take her outside wearing long sleeves! what mommy was thinking!!! :(

Anyway... that's our Sunday.. tomorrow is Monday again :(. But this weekend we accomplished a LOT. Thanks for grandma Bev and grandpa Mike... We love you!!! :)

Today grandma Bev and grandpa Mike came to town to help cleaning the house. Grandma Bev basically cleaned all the carpet around the house. Our house is sparkling clean now, after done cleaning we enjoy some DQ treats but Carissa didn't get any she only get to eat milk :D.

Here are some cute pictures of her from today. I love weekend.. weekend is my feeding only time.. since Carson play with her and hold her more during weekend. :)

She's happy being swaddled.. and I finally can put her down... for 10 mins! and her arms are out again!! maybe I do need those miracle blanket...

She was acting up last night, I think she's just so sensitive of what I feel.. when I feel stressed out or angry.. she's acting up.. she doesn't want to go to bed without me holding her.. for some reason I feel like she's afraid to sleep by herself.. once I pick her up and hold her.. she fell asleep in my arms from 5:30-ish am to 9 am! :)

More pictures from yesterday and today:

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So if you read my regular blog, we let go both of our pets to a loving home... it's sad I know and I feel like an evil on this. But it's for the best.

Anyway, now I can let Carissa play on her play mat on the living room by herself without worrying anything. I went to wal-mart with her today and got her a new playmat that has stuff to see on the side... seems like she likes it. I could cook & clean while she play by herself.

She still need to be held when she's taking her naps during the day.. I tried to put her down a lot of times and always ended up she's waking up and cry, but once I pick her up again she went back to sleep on my chest. hmmm... I don't want to let her cry it out since she only 5 weeks old... and I read that you're not supposed to let her cry it out before she's 6 months old since she's just learning to live in this big world and we have to gain her trust as a parent.

Anyway, here are some pictures from today (you still can click on the image and go to the photo album by the way)

Happy 5 Weeks old baby girl! :) She does love her soothie, she doesn't like pacifier (yet) :). My daily day is pretty unpredictable these days. Sometime she awake all day and only take a nap for 2 hrs, but other day she could be a sleepy head who sleeps all day and only wake up for feeding.

Since Tante (auntie) Putri will go back to Indonesia for good this Thursday, she came over to see Carissa before she left. So here they are.. from left to right:
Tante Putri (wearing navy blue shirt) - Tante Ramona - Tante Karen (holding Carissa) - Tante Fira - Om Hara

Tonight we will try to use this new bottle, we need to find a bottle that won't be confusing to carissa. So when we went to Target on Saturday we bought this. Hopefully this one will help, so when I have to go back to work Carson can feed her.

Here are more pictures..

Vone came by on Saturday, probably Carissa heard her voice so many times when she was in my belly.. so when we were just sitting and talking. Carissa went to sleep right away... which I found it really weird since she does that all the times.. she likes to sleep when there are crowd talking.

I also just found out that she likes my off-key singing. I sang her some indonesian kids songs that I still remember the lyrics and she fell asleep right away when I sang her a song. Maybe we could try to play her some song while she's sleeping huh... :)

Anyway here are 2 pictures that Vone took when she's visiting.

Happy 1 month old baby girl!! :) Today we (Carson, Carissa and I) went to Target and Borders together.. she was kind of fussy at first, so when we arrived at Target I have to get her out from the car seat and hold her for a few seconds, and then she fell asleep.

What's new with her, hmm beside the baby acne which is irritates me not her :(. She can hold her own head for a little bit, and even though she doesn't like tummy time she actually can lift her butt and wiggle herself. She does has strong legs, last week when we were at Carson's parents house she managed to move from horizontal position to diagonal position by herself.

Anyway here are more pictures of her:

It's weird how we know that she likely to be fussy between 9-11pm everyday and yet we still easy to get frustrated. We just never really let her cry more than few minutes, so when she cried non-stop we're just frustrated. I just found this article which actually make me feel better knowing that she's normal.

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussy-evening.html

Cluster feeding, also called bunch feeding, is when babies space feeding closer together at certain times of the day and go longer between feedings at other times. This is very common, and often occurs in the evenings. It's often -but not always- followed by a longer sleep period than usual: baby may be "tanking up" before a long sleep. For example, your baby may nurse every hour (or even constantly) between 6 and 10 PM, then have a longish stretch of sleep at night - baby may even sleep all night.

Cluster feeding often coincides with your baby's fussy time. Baby will nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry, nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry... on and on... for hours. This can be VERY frustrating, and mom starts wondering if baby is getting enough milk, if something she is eating is bothering baby, if EVERYTHING she is doing is bothering baby... It can really ruin your confidence, particularly if there is someone else around asking the same questions (your mother, your husband, your mother-in-law).

Hello.. I'm 4 weeks old today...

What's new with our princess... hmm.. she's more alert during the day.. and she sleep 3-4 hrs at night. She found her lungs so now she can scream really loud. But she doesn't know that she has hands yet. Yesterday she pulled her own hair and scream her lungs out. Poor baby... so at night we put her mittens on so she won't do the same thing again.

She developed baby acne on her face, I read it's normal between 3-4 weeks baby.

Fleshy or red pimples can be present at birth, but typically appear at 3 to 4 weeks of age. They occur predominately on the cheeks, but are also quite common on the forehead and chin. Whiteheads are sometimes present. This condition tends to come and go until the baby is between 4 and 6 months old.

more pictures:

4 Weeks Old