a quarter-roll

This afternoon I put Leona down on the floor so she could wriggle freely (so, on her back), turned away for a second, and turned back to find this:

She spent quite a while just laying there, sucking on her knuckles sometimes, stretching her legs and toes or moving her arm and hand.

After about five minutes she started to get a bit frustrated:

Maybe she was frustrated about not getting back to her back~

[Calm before full-force storm]

In any event up she came, had a snack, and then conked right out. Seems first quarter-rolls are exhausting - perhaps more mentally so than physically ;P

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the double-jointed thumb

So, I caught a picture of it as she was stretching in her sleep:

Not a huge display (she can do more), but enough that if you're not double jointed and you try to replicate this mini-angle you shouldn't be able to (I'm not able to at least).

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the two month mark

So, time flies when you're exhausted having fun!

Little miss Leona's two months old today, so I thought I'd give a quick rundown of all that's changed.

• At our 2 month vaccine-visit she weighed in at 5kg and measured 58cm long. That's a weight gain of 1.6kg and growth of 7cm [not that it is necessarily 100% accurate, as I feel the ladies helping out at the Health Center are a bit casual in their measurings].
• In the morning she can lay on the floor for up to half an hour on her own just investigating how her limbs move and her environment.
• After eating she will sometimes lay there and coo and ah and gurgle and smile at me for several minutes.
• She fusses almost all day it seems, due to burps and spit-ups needing to come out...and perhaps due to overtiredness, over-stimulation, and for other reasons I'm still unaware of. 
• Usually if she falls asleep and we lay her down she will wake again within a few minutes, unless it is her night-sleeps (once she gets to them), or we hold her arms down so she can't flail them (she doesn't like being swaddled though).
• She tends to super-fuss between 9pm and 2am, and then sleep for 4 to 6 hours straight.
• Our day tends to begin around noon.
• It's been weeks since I last saw my purple baby (she used to scream so hard that her entire body would turn dark purple).
• She has double-jointed thumbs like her dad (but the rest of her hands look like mine - just a smaller, chubbier version of course).
• Her hands and feet are often cold (she has my bad circulation).
• She has been working diligently on finding her self-soothing capabilities for a while now (trying to get a thumb or finger in position to suck on...not an easy task I tell you)
• We are on our third attempt at cloth diapers. So far I have not found them to be a success for us, but haven't given up hope yet.
• She's a feeding champ, and has caused me no pain nor suffering. 
• We still have a majorly leaky and spray'y eater - super cute but not conducive to public eating, so life is not as convenient as it could be when we're out and about ;)

And there she blows.

The day before her two-monther we took a trip way, way up into the mountains (like we had to register in case we didn't come down kind of way-up). While my mom was visiting we had driven part-way in, to enjoy the lush greenness. On this trip we went so high up that there was a Vancouver Island feel to the greenery. And the air was deliciously cool (not need-a-jacket cool, but not sweating-because-I'm-breathing hot any more either).

Once we got up to the top, to a place so applicably called "View Fog", after a quick outdoors diaper change, we checked the national-park trail-map and picked a short 1.5 walk to a waterfall (as it was already 4:30pm). We started walking down the road to the trail-mouth...and after 1 min turned around and decided to drive as we didn't know how far it was.

Turns out that was a smart decision, as the trail-mouth was about 3 km away~. Before heading out we saw a sign that said this part of the park was open until 5pm, and that we should leave as quick as possible at that time. By then it was 4:45pm. We snubbed our noses at the sign and off we went.

It was so comfy being able to walk in the forest, hear the birds and angry squirrels, smell the freshness, feel the coolness, not hear any city-esque sounds, just the three of us and nature.

I thought we could do 3km round-trip in half an 45 min or so, but hadn't really thought it through as this was rugged nature ... well, nicely cleared forest path. Because we didn't want to be caught out there in the dark, we first decided we'd start heading back by 5:10pm. But by 5:10pm we could hear the waterfall and felt it would be unfortunate to have come so far and not actually see it! So on we went. I started to get a bit nervous about the return trip towards the end, as it was steeeeeeeeep steps down-down-down. But by then there's no way we would turn around before hitting our destination.

Once again I have learned that my expectations usually are way out of proportion when compared with what it actually looks like - nature-wise:

[The piddly, far away (though high) waterfall]

I think I am forever scarred from growing up in places like Norway, Hawaii, Vancouver Island and Vancouver area (and Alaska though I don't remember much of it). These places have some really amazing natures. Not that Taiwan isn't beautiful, but the tourist places tend not to do it for me. Except for the mountains. The mountains are different than any other place I've lived. They rock!

Anyhow, thankfully my energy post-birth  has pretty much returned I think, but seeing as I wasn't in great shape before giving birth, I was still huffing and puffing all the way back (it was 90% up-hill).

Right along the last 100m it started drizzling a very tiny bit (typhoon was almost upon us), and it was getting very dusky. The drive down and back was completed in *pouring* rain.

Overall I was super content with the trip - despite the piddly waterfall. Being out in nature:

Being with these two:

Life is good!

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sleep

Our little girl has been fussy/screamy from the start. Now that she's almost two months old we kind of have gotten better at understanding what she needs, and more often than not it is to burp (and after burping to eat). Also, the screaming has gotten a *lot* less than it was during the first month, and we're better at rocking her (again, chicken or the egg kunundrum, but in any event screaming = less).

However, a struggle we have come across is getting her to sleep. Well, we have been facing this since day one (or day 8 to be exact, when we got to bring her home with us). She usually is wakeful/fussy all evening and doesn't sleep until around 2am. Throughout these hours she will feed, fuss, we will walk/burp her, she will fall asleep, we will put her down, she will wake up within a few minutes and start to fuss, we will walk/burp her and/or feed her, etc etc. Often once we get a last burp out of her she can fall right asleep, but that is after hours of this routine.

I thought that since she is able to fall asleep when we lay her down after 'the last burp' that it may just be that she needs to burp, and that this is making her uncomfortable and thus waking her up after we lay her down, etc. But perhaps it is rather that by then she is exhausted and ready to sleep finally.

Lately I have begun to wonder if we perhaps have been developing in her the need to be walked/rocked/bounced to sleep as it is not only during the evening fuss, and more worrysome the need to sleep in our arms (though every night she is able to sleep on the bed, it is just that it takes us so long to get to that stage, and by then she is way over-tired - as are we, making me think perhaps she just doesn't have more energy to stay awake after a certain point).

Last night by a bit after 2am I couldn't deal with it any more - having to hold/rock/bounce/try-to-get-rid-of-her-fuss - after she had fallen asleep on me and then suddenly woke up and started crying really hard and rocking/holding her didn't help at all when it usually calms her at least. So I just laid her down beside me to take a breath.

Previously during the day we have found that sometimes when she is fussy if we lay her down she is happy and content (!), so we have tried that at night, but it's been very unsuccessful, where during her first month she'd go to instant 100% purple-screaming with writhing.  But last night she just vocalized her displeasure half-heartedly - along with some squirming.

So instead of picking her up again thinking she needed to burp I just sat beside her and patted and stroked her chest/tummy and spoke softly to her (I do something similar in the morning sometimes too, after Judge goes to work and I still need sleep but she doesn't seem to be able to fall asleep after a feeding...she lays there and kicks and squirms and I make sure we're in physical contact and then sleep on-and-off).

Last night I did this for maybe 30-45 min, and she fell asleep (well, she fell asleep a few times but finally by around 3am it was the real-deal)!

I also sometimes think about how rocking/swaying her seems to make her zone out (and fall asleep eventually) rather than be present, and so become unsure if it is the best solution. Of course sometimes we need a break and her zoning out provides this if she's been fussy for a long time (well, break from fussiness, not from tiredness from walking/holding/bouncing/rocking). And I know that me on a hammock makes me feel a bit zoned out and pretty darned comfortable so it doesn't necessarily have to be a negative~~

Anyhow, I know that by now she developmentally is able to fall asleep on her own, and that it is helpful if we create a bed-time routine. Well, I guess we have created a routine already - just not one I really want to continue with.

Before she was born I envisioned the routine to go something like this:
- bath
- story and lullaby
- lay her down and be close to her
- she falls asleep

With her fussiness however such a quiet, peaceful routine just won't work. I am hoping that I can repeat yesterday's success however, just a bit earlier in the night, and eventually she will become better at falling asleep on her own.

Of course I am more than willing to go through the feed/burp/fuss if it's what she needs, and more than happy to hold her and cuddle her if that's what she needs too - day and evening, but it seems sometimes it is my assumptions about what she needs that leads my actions rather than her actual needs (ie. sometimes she seems to rather want to lay on her own than in our arms, as long as we're close by and she can engage us instantly by looking towards us if she feels the need).

Anyhow, currently as of right now, in order to get some editing (and blogging) done, she is sleeping in a sling on my lap~~. I don't mind it, as being close, feeling my heartbeat and breathing, is good for her (and me) I believe. But I am hoping that also this can be adjusted for some of her day-naps, so that she can have some of them laying on her own allowing me to get a bit more stuff done...sooner rather than later ;)

Ah, the adventures we are on!


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doomed

Seems our little miss Leona is doomed to have imperfect ears and an unsymmetrical back-of-head due to my neglectant mothering~.

See, I am told I should have pinched her ears into shape during her first month, and to be honest I am not sure if she was born with the back-right of her head flat while the back-left is nicely rounded - and that she thus sleeps more on her back-right side because it's nice and flat - or she's ended up like this due to her sleeping more on her back-right (chicken or the egg kunundrum).

[One of the 'offending' elf-ears - along with little miss practicing/exploring 

getting her thumb or some fingers in her mouth]

[Oh how she is growing!]

[Little chubby goodness]

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repair time and 7 weeks

You know how it goes. With appliances in your home. With your scooter or your car. You come up to a certain time when everything seems to break down and need some fixin.

We've arrived there with the stuff in our apartment. Thankfully we're not the ones that need to pay for it though ;P

First it was the bathroom fan. Somehow it suddenly started blowing air into the bathroom instead of sucking it out.

This caused perhaps extra humidity to hang around, and the bolts that connected the toilet seat and lid to the toilet kind of rusted off. Took a long while for us to get around to calling the landlord, so there were countless times when after I had balanced the toilet seat on the toilet and sat myself down, it slid back and I was basically sitting on the pee-rim. Yuck.

Next it was our fridge. When I got home from sit-a-2.5-weeks at my mother-in-law's my freezer no longer freezes even at its max coldness, and the fridge no longer keeps fresh at *its* coldest.

And then when Cecilia and Owen (my sister-in-law and her 17 month old son) came to visit us and stay at our place our air-con stopped working. Now it is already June 13th today (happy birthday to a certain awesome someone who I am sure wishes to remain un-named :P), which means we're in the hot-hot-heatness of summer. Our upstairs air-con still semi-worked until this morning - though I sometimes heard some water sounds. It will no longer be turned on any more either now though, until it is fixed, as all of a sudden some dirty ice popped out and landed on Leona's blanket at the end of our morning-sleep-in.

Thankfully the landlord got us a new toilet seat which my mom and Judge worked together to install, and tonight he will bring someone to fix our fridge and hopefully check out the air-con.

In other news, Leona's 7 weeks old today. Went to get her second round of hep B shots wearing her awesome onesie given to us by our doula, which brought about a chuckle from the doc. Success!

[sporting her 'Made in Taiwan' onesie]

[Leona with a shadow's likeness of aforementioned birthday girl]

[Yep. She's a cutie-pie]

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and this is how the days go by

So, my mom has been here almost three weeks already - just two more days before she has to return to Norway.

During these three weeks our days have basically just been super late mornings, Leona sleeping with her mormor when she'd kind of restless so I can get some more sleep, us hanging around at home, taking walks around the neighborhood, buying groceries, her over the first two weeks doing a super deep-spring-cleaning overhaul on the apartment for us, her making food, her hanging up and collecting laundry, me feeding Leona and resting with her and sometimes doing some editing cases, Judge working 12 hour days.

The great thing about my mom is that she enjoys just 'living life' in new places - doesn't enjoy so much tourist activities - which has been perfect as I do not have a car-licence here in Taiwan, and we cannot go on scooter adventures with Leona, and I'm hesitant to head out on the bus still as it only goes about once an hour - and Leona is not quite good at eating out yet (still a dramatic eater where lots of milk ends up outside her rather than inside her).

That being said we have had some excursions. For example we went cruising in the mountains one day (car cruising of course...) so my mom could experience the lush greeness, and this last week Judge has taken several days off work, so we've been doing more travellings/mini-adventures too.

For example, on Sunday we drove down to Taichung and met up for lunch (A-Kuan hotpot of course!) with two of the three amigos who've been faithfully visiting me up here (I have now known them already for five years - worked with them at the language center), and then after hotpot we all met up with one of my previous Chinese teachers whom is super sweet and that I have similar love of animals (she has a budgie, fish tank kind of like me and Judge were doing in Tainan, and she also loves to feed the squirrels and sparrows in the square on campus):

[Frozen yogurt enjoyment time]

[Back row: Ms Ning, Judge, Leona

Front row: Me, April, Season

Photographer: My mom :P]

[Squirrel feeding at Feng Chia campus]

[Grab, scamper up, hang on, eat]

Yesterday - Monday - was also just a perfect day. Late wake-up as usual (we sleep around 2am every night as Leona settles then, and every 2.5-3 hours I wake to feed etc), Leona's aunties (Judge's sister and cousin) and her cousin Owen came to visit and eat some waffles before heading off to the high-speed-rail, and then we went cruising to a temple Judge and I had stumbled upon during our scooter cruising last year - by the coast, hidden along some back-roads, a new temple section being built, kind of like a hidden treasure for us:

[New section of temple with older section behind it...

oh, and our three generation of Drageset-Owen ladies]

When we got there we heard what Judge thought were tortured animals, but my mom knew from around her house in Tromsø were car-racing, and we walked down the road and stumbled upon this (totally making Judge's day = HUGE grin):

We then did our scooter-style cruising where we just drove around randomly checking out new areas/roads. Brought us by a scenic-temple we have visited before as well:

[The view]

[The temple]

And then we stopped by Judge's parent's place and ate sticky-rice-wrapped-in-bamboo-leaves (it was Dragon-Boat Festival day and that is a must to eat] and my mom got to meet Judge's dad for the first time...well, sit and chat with him for the first time at least (she had briefly met him at Leona's full-month dinner); and Judge's dad held Leona for the first time:

Today was yet another wonderful day. Again woke up around noon, got ready and headed out at around 2pm for my birthday lunch which my mom was treating us to (a day early as Judge's dad is inviting us out for lunch tomorrow in honor of my mom visiting). Of course we went to our favorite bbq restaurant:

Finished around 4pm, bought a drink (bubble tea), stopped by a famously cheap baby-stuff store to pick up some baby stuff, and then headed to the (windy) coast for a look:

And then we headed home.

Such is the way our days are going. Late mornings, small excursions to our favorite spots, then home again for chill evenings.

Tomorrow is the lunch, a vaccine shot for Leona, a visit to the company I worked for before giving birth, and then some kind of eats I'm sure.

Day after tomorrow we will head up to an Ergo baby-carrier shop in the late-afternoon as my mom wants to treat me to an Ergo (thanks mum!!) before heading to the airport to drop my mom off in the early evening.

And thus a wonderful visit (my mom's first visit to Taiwan) will come to an end.


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