From battleships to bubble bath.

I got a "buy 2 bottles and get 1 free" deal on bubble bath soap so, There Will Be Bubbles!

Minami California Hula

Minami is the little hula girl up front and center! She actually beat my expectations (that's me not being bias).

Zombie Kids

As I was leaving Minami at school I overheard the teacher tell another kid, "Don't put your legs on the other girl's lap when sitting... No biting! No biting!"

California natural spring water.

Lady in the lake.

Day in the life of Minami, March 2011

Minami Notes

9:00 am - Minami wakes up.

1:00pm - Minami eats lunch.

2:00-3:00pm - Minami sleeps (1-2 hours).

7:00pm - Minami eats dinner.

9:00pm - Minami brushes her teeth.

9:00-10:00pm - Minami goes to sleep.

Food:

• She eats regularly, 3 times a day. Sometimes some snacks in between if we are traveling. She can be picky with what she eats but if you leave her strapped in her seat for awhile, she will eventually eat her food. If she doesn't a lot for eat one meal, she'll usually just eat a lot during the next meal.
• She drinks about 4-6, 6 oz bottles of fluid (juice/soy milk, not including water) a day. She should consistently have a bottle available that she can drink from - I usually leave it on her chair so that she can grab it whenever she wants. If her pee is very smelly, it is unusually an indication that she is not drinking enough. When I go out with her I usually pack 2-4 bottles in a cooler for her to drink on the road.
• Minami currently does not drink milk (due to a rash on her legs) so she drinks the following instead:
• Soft water, soy milk (she seems to like Silk, Pearl, and Soy Dream brand - I usually buy vanilla, chocolate, or green tea and mix half a bottle with plain flavor so that she is not drinking too much sugar), orange juice (must be calcium fortified), Naked Juice Green Machine and Berry Blast, apple juice. She's not limited to these drinks but in general she is supposed to avoid dairy products (she can eat some yogurt).
• Her favorite starch food tends to be udon (I usually boil it with some dashi, let it cool and then cut it up into bite size lengths).
• Her other favorites: tomatoes, strawberries, ikura, watermelon (most things red), blueberries, black berries, most fruits, natto (mixed with rice), cucumber salad from Kress Market.
• Minami does eat rice but unless it is in the shape of a small onigiri, I usually feed her myself.
• Minami brushes her teeth before going to sleep at night.

Diapering:

• Once place her on the changing matte and remove her dirty diaper, I use the spray bottle (purple bottle) to wash her butt and a cloth wipe to clean her butt (if she poops I sometimes use 2-3 cloth wipes). I will sometimes use the package of moist wipes, especially if we are outside (I refill the red container that is in the diaper kit).
• Minami still uses cloth diapers but the cloth diapers need to be doubled up or else they will not absorb enough. I use the larger diaper to wrap around her while the smaller diapers I roll up and place in the center. Once wrapped, I secure the diaper with the Snappy 3 way hook and then put the plastic water proof pants over that. She then wears the velcro diaper cover over everything to secure it all.
• Miho also uses a Baby Genius diaper - during the day these diapers work well for pee but they will always fail during the night and when she poops, so please be careful using these diapers.
• I usually check her diaper every hour and will usually change her diaper every 1.5 to 2 hours. 
• When she poops her face usually goes red and she stands still.
• Many times when she cries all of a sudden, it is usually because she has pooped or her diaper is leaking. 

Rash:

• Minami currently suffers from a rash on her legs. The doctor thinks it is from drinking milk but after over a month of her not drinking milk, it still hasn't gone away. But withe proper care, it can be minimized.
• In general the idea is to keep her legs clean and moisturized. After every other diaper change (once the clean diaper is on her) I will usually wipe her legs down with a moist baby wipe (this sometimes stings Minami but she usually recovers right away). After cleaning the rash areas, I apply a generous amount of lotion to her legs. Even though her legs are wet from the lotion, I put her pants on to cover her legs so that she cannot scratch the rash directly. 

Fun:

• Minami loves to go out for a walk although she tends to prefer riding in her stroller.
• If she is going to be out in the sun for long periods of time, i apply sunblock on her face and any exposed areas. If she is going to be covered in her stroller (if it is cold), I don't apply sunblock. Sunblock can giver her a rash and make her skin rough so if I do apply it, I will usually giver her a bath at the end of the day.
• I avoid letting her walk on her own in the parking structure and near streets with car traffic.

Dr Tosu visit

25 1/4 inches, 14lbs 3 1/2oz.
Immunization shots.
Everything good.
Minami in 25th percentile.
Foot is fine.
Redness and scratching normal.
Can feed other fruits and veggies.
Expect crawling at 7-8 months.
Be careful of hazards and small things she can choke on.
Forgot to ask doctor about wheezing.

By almost 4:30pm...

Minami drank about 12oz. There were some holes in the freezer bags, most likely from me shoving them into the freezer where sharp edges might have cut the bags. Minami's body is officially too long to sleep sideways in her crib. She must sleep along the length of the crib.

A little better but not really

By 11am Minami drank about 4oz. I fear she'll get grumpier as the day goes on and she doesn't drink enough.

Progress

So this morning she drank about 2.5 oz, and then this after noon she drank about 1.5 oz + 2 oz + 2 oz for a total of 8 oz by 3pm. That put her to sleep.

goal

The goal was to feed you 4 oz every 2 hours but it looks like it's going to take some effort to get there.

Pappa

Nipple Confusion

So I spent 2.5 hours trying to get Minami to feed from the bottle properly and she only managed to drink 2.5 oz. I'm considering a sippy cup to feed her instead of the bottle.

Pappa

11:20

Drank 2oz (almost)

Too big for her pink carter body suit with flower print.

Foodie

From time to time I wonder what your 1st food experience will be. I imagine that's still a few years away but I imagine it could be purees of some kind. I'm not sure about commercial baby foods but time being shorter and shorter these days I think we may feed them to you as the occasional "fast food."

Samu Papa

Week of Visitors

You had a busy week of visitors, on Tuesday 11/10 Virginia and Susan came to see you with gifts. On Wednesday Matt and Anne came with cute clothes (many of which you will be wearing when you're older). On Thursday Uncle Sean visited fresh from his Cuba honeymoon. And on Friday, your Yano grandparents visited bringing all sorts of sushi for lunch.

Samu Papa

Pee Princess

On Tuesday 11/10 as I was telling the nurse at the pediatrician's office about how you like to pee on me while I change your diaper, you peed on my arm, shirt, shorts, and slipper. Not to mention the counter and the scale they used to weigh you.

Samu Papa

3rd Bath

I'll try and go back to recount the exciting days that preceded and followed your birth but since I am starting this blog 2 1/2 weeks after you were born I'll be mixing in current events. Today your face kind of broke out in pimples - I believe we were told these are just your pores developing and hopefully it will clear up - I will work hard to keep your pretty face clean. Preserving that pretty face is important to me, so I gave you a bath in the way we learned at the baby class at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. 1st I wipe your face down with a soapy towelette while you're wrapped in a towel, then your chest and back, then your legs and feet - all the while keeping most of your body covered from the cold air. Your face was nice and clear and soft in the 1st few weeks. I enjoy kissing you on the lips - when you're hungry, you like sucking on my lower lip.

Samu Papa

The Beginning

You were born Minami California Yano at 11:13am, Tuesday November 27, 2009. You weighed 6lbs 15oz. You cried a little but when they put you down you were alert and quiet with your eyes looking around.

Samu Papa