Arvesito turns 3 months old

Another blue-eyed baby

Peekaboo!

Newborn babies are so cute and cuddly and for the most part very easy to take care of since they spend most of their day asleep. For some of us however the little awake time they have can be a challenge; the lack of sleep, difficulty adjusting to a new routine, the little interaction or reward we get from being with baby (let's be honest, they are lumps!), and with Arvesito we had a lot of screaming making us wonder what we're doing wrong.

Beautiful quilt by Grandma Stolpe, aunt Cynthia and aunt Lucy

We have now survived the first three months and what a difference that has made. Arvesito is a completely different little boy, in a good way! The screaming fits are very rare and mostly happen when he gets too hot in the car. He is a very happy and smiley boy and we love spending time with him.

Favorite things:
-Watching and interacting with big sister. The fondness goes both ways, Emily adores her baby brother and whenever he's awake she constantly asks to hold him, gives him lots of kisses and squeezes.
- Eating. Not sure if you've noticed from the pictures but this boy is big. He has rolls on his thighs, the double chin, the lizard belly that stretches to both sides, and man boobs! He loves to eat and has no patience for anything when it is time. He can go from happy to FEED ME NOW cries in seconds. Once he starts crying then he's too upset to eat which tends to get ugly.
- Mami. Finally my turn, this little boy looks like is going to be a momma's boy and I love it!

Milestones
- Strong enough to sit on the Bumbo
- Smiles and laughs
- Rasberries
- Pulling up head and chest
- Starting to grasp for things

Arvesito is so much fun and we love him the most. Although I am lacking a lot of sleep lately I wouldn't change it for the world.

More Butterflies

Mom and Katie are in town this week and we are taking advantage of their being here and going out to revisit some of the old-stand-by places here in Penang.  Yesterday we went back to the Penang Butterfly farm and had a really great time.

Emily showed us how to catch butterflies while Arvescito showed us his newest trick of palm eating and spent the morning without crying once!   It's really a feat.

As the day passed on, Emily became quite adept at catching butterflies, and we were all impressed by how gentle she was with them.  She would catch them and open their wings . . . and just when you would think she was going to rip the poor creature apart . . .

she would wind up and throw them up into the air over her head.  We would all breathe a sigh of relief that she spared another butterfly.

She was even able to catch two at a time a few times.  As you can see here, Grandma and Aunt Katie were quite impressed.

Emily also taught aunt Katie how to hold giant Malaysian Millipedes . . . even though I know they don't bite they still freak me out.  Anything with more than 4 legs should be left alone in my book, so I bravely let Emily first . . .

Emboldened by seeing her two year-old niece survive, Katie bravely put one on her palm and let all 1000+ legs crawl around on her.  Gross!

Deepavali

A few friends and I went for a walk around Little India in Georgetown the night before Deepavali in the hopes that we would find something festive to do.  However, while we had a good time, there wasn't much in the way of festivities for us to partake in - at least not in the normal Penang sense of the word.

We checked out some sweet scooters . . .

Saw a few monks . . .

 A few shoppers. . .

 and borrowed a rickshaw. . . we returned it promptly.

But aside from a few fireworks there wasn't much out of the ordinary going on for Deepavali.  But as always there were a few gems to admire during our walk.

Emily is 2 Years Old

This happened over a month ago and although it took us this long to write it up we actually even celebrated a day ahead of schedule.

It feels like this little girl has been with us all our lives yet she's just barely turning two years old. Needless to say she's the light of our lives and we're completely in love with her. She is a very loving big sister and rarely gets jealous when we have to tend to Arves' needs.

Until about a month ago she used to be this shy little girl who refused to say hi to people even if we asked her to. Ever since my mom came to help us for Arvesito's arrival, Emily has broken out of her shell and is now a completely different girl. She is much more talkative and friendly to everyone.

Here are some of the things to highlight:
- Talking talking talking...Emily can say anything she wants or needs and very rarely we struggle to understand her.
- She has a great memory and can remember things we've told her only once
- Emily loves to run, she likes us to chase her around, or run after balls and has a little circuit at our house that she does over and over again
- At school she continues to learn Bahasa (local Malay language) and is still exposed to Mandarin through her friends
- Loves music and singing. She had the chance to see a live band during dinner a LOVED it. She clapped and danced all night and did not stop smiling for a second
- English is still her primary language but she still understans everything in Spanish and sometimes talks to me in Spanish

Since I'm writing this now that she's a bit over two I get to highlight some of the new accomplishments that come with being two - Tantrums. She's been doing them for a week now and boy does she have stamina. She can go for over 30 minutes of intese screaming, kicking, and just plain frustration.

We had a great birthday celebration with our Penang friends and Emily had a blast. Here are a few shots from the party, pool party in November thanks to Penang's awesome weather.

Arvesito's idea of a pool party

Opening a few presents

More pics (5 Weeks)

Afternoon nap and snack

After a really rough two weeks Arvesito finally started to turn around this last week. Unfortunately he has a bit of colic but medicine is making him feel much better. Poor little guy has been so miserable the last few weeks.

Arvesito is 1 Month Old

Arvesito was a little angel this first month. He woke up twice to feed at night and would go right back to sleep. My mom was with us this month which made the transition to being a family of 4 that much easier. Arves (Sr.) and I still had enough time to pay a lot of attention to our little girl and therefore she hasn't really been very jealous. Mama Mechi is surely missed and we can't wait for her to come back again.

Emily is in love with her little brother. She asks to hold him anytime she sees him. Whenever he's awake and she can see his eyes she exclaims "He's wake up! Can I hold him?" She loves to give him kisses including a loving variation she calls 'doggy kisses' followed by a good smile. The last few weeks Emily has been holding his hand to touch her face and gets super excited about it. Couldn't ask for a better big sister.

Arvesito is still unaware of what's going on around him; he only has eyes for food like any good Penangite!

My recovery has been amazing and we've been on the go since week 1. Nursing this time around has also been a lot less stressful. I pump twice a day and have a fridge full of milk already. Almost ready to go back to work!

Stats and Milestones
- This little monster gained almost 4lbs in his first month. He's now 10.8lbs! (More than Emily at 2 months)
- 54cm long, up 2cm since birth
- Sneezes 3 times like mami
- Already got his first cold thanks to big sister
- Before the month Arvesito was able to turn his head from side to side when on his tummy and was able to hold his head up for short periods of time

He's the perfect addition to our family; we are in love and couldn't be any happier.

Mastering the piggy

Youth Park at 2 Weeks

A few shots from one of our first outings with little Arves. He seems to enjoy the swings almost as much as his big sister Emily!  New baby = not much time for writing, but enjoy the pics!

 

Baby boy at 2 weeks old

 

Emily requests her sunglasses anytime she gets on the swings and wears them the whole time she's at the park.


Excited to see what's ahead!

 

More pictures are uploaded here.

1 Week Old

A few shots to share of little Arves on his first days.



Beautiful, but grumpy baby boy

The real baby Arves

Happy big sister and Daddy