.

bailey's first christmas in michigan was a ton of fun! she was showered with presents as well as loads of love and attention (her favorite).

over the course of the few days, she became increasingly fond of prince poodle, who she excitedly called "do do." she even worked up the courage by the end of our visit, to crawl up to him and pet him.

she made herself very comfortable and grandma merry's church by talking through both services as the sole member of the amen corner. she even had her first and second communions here!

most days were occupied crawling around, playing with kitchen utensils and being entertained by grandma, grandpa, uncle john and aunt denise. she also was quite smitten with the entire hunt family including great grandma joy, great grandpa harry, uncle rusty, aunt ursula, uncle john, aunt pam, chloe, and uncle tom (and his cat missy). for all the photos of our trip to michigan, click here.

her favorite big girl moments of the trip were:
- being babysat by grandma merry and grandpa (while mom and dad got to see a movie. hooray!)
- riding in the seat of the grocery cart at walmart, meijer, and kroger
- learning to climb stairs
- learning to get out of a standing position by herself

just as the snow began to fall this weekend, we went up to the rockefeller center christmas tree for a family portrait.

since bailey won't get to see grandma lam for christmas, we opened presents via video chat a little early. bailey got 3 dolls from grandma! her favorite is the littlest one. she drags her around, talks to her and likes to show her things. thanks grandma!

true to form for Bailey, she started teething again right before a big trip to Dallas, cutting her first top tooth before we left and the second on the trip. however, she is a tough girl and didn't let it get in the way of having lots of fun at Grandma Lam's house. being in such a larger place than our apartment was very exciting for Bailey and she really enjoyed crawling all over the hardwood floors. she also decided that eating her meals had turned into a game where she tried to see how long she could keep her mouth shut. every trick in the book was pulled out by Mom, Dad and Grandma Lam to get Bailey to open her mouth for each spoonful. after weeks of dutiful training by Mom, Bailey finally learned how to wave. that's not to say she has learned when to wave, which in her mind is more likely to be when she is angry or frustrated than when a visitor is departing. she can also "high five" when the mood suits her. the plane flights down and back weren't all bad. all in all, very nice thanksgiving.

height: 27.5 in (42%)

after waiting almost a year to receive all the parts, this week was showtime. daddy built his dream bike! for a glamour shot of the bike, click here.

today marks the end of bailey's 2-day photoshoot for fisher price. to update you lovely blog readers, as a follow-up to my previous post "a star is born. perhaps?", bailey got a callback for her fisher price audition. she was booked for a 2-day shoot at $100/hr. not bad for a 9-month old. :-)

on wednesday, her call time was 1:45. fortunately, scheduling fit nicely with bailey's nap schedule. we showed up to pier 59 studios not really knowing what to expect. at reception, there were loads of models with legs that were awkwardly long and skinny and make-up that was absolutely flawless. i, in my unsightly sweats and baby-in-tow, was quickly sent to the back—studios 8 and 9. when i entered, 10 sleeping babies were wrapping up the "sleeping baby shot". they were bundled up by their parents and went on their way. i was then informed that the crew was breaking for lunch. so bailey and i sat alone on the couch, eating mum-mums, waiting for other babies to arrive. slowly, one-by-one babies and their parents came. one more adorable than the next.

after lunch was over, bailey was handed a lavendar onesie (size: newborn because she is so tiny and because they apparently wanted it to fit like a muscle T). we filled out a W-4 in bailey's name. then were taken to the back. my greatest fear came true when they said, "ok, we'll take bailey now" and disappeared with b behind a curtain. i knew that her separation anxiety would make her freak out in a matter of seconds. and sure enough, it happened. i quickly invited myself behind the curtain and informed them of bailey's separation anxiety.

it was tough to get her to pull out of her funk. but for a few magical moments, she was happy, curious, and engaging. they photographed her (and the other 9 adorable babies) for a new fisher price snail contraption. quickly, she returned to being miserable and i thought our chance at stardom was over.

to my surprise, we were called back today for another shoot! this time, i was invited behind the curtain off the bat. i got to see them put salve on her legs and arms to make her extra shiny for the camera and put a little (hopefully baby-friendly) blush on her already rosy cheeks. she jumped like a pro in the jumperoo and smiled for the camera. we were even asked to stick around for some closeups.

who knows if bailey will be selected for the ads. but it was a fun experience, and she is in my book always a star. but i must divulge a secret—i spied a wall of selects on my way out. having been in the advertising biz on the other side of the photo shoot, i know that this is hugely promising!!! bailey was the select for the snail contraption she sat in on wednesday. SO maybe, just maybe... you'll see b in an ad come january.

here are some pics of 2 of the other cute babies (blaise and lorelei) that were at the shoot.

stage-momery doesn't really suit me. so have no fear, i don't think you'll see bailey on toddlers and tiaras anytime soon.

i can stand (not really).

bailey's first halloween was quite a success. we created a buzzzzz as the honeybee clan—bailey as the bee, matt as the honeycomb, and me as the flower. i'm not sure who was more excited about getting dressed up, matt or bailey!

grandma lam came to new york with uncle sam (a.k.a. triple ju's) to celebrate her 70th birthday. after one night in new york (drinks at hotel griffou and pasta tasting at babbo), we rented a car and drove north to go apple picking at liberty view farms.

it was the first time apple picking for grandma, uncle and bailey! and as it was not a busy weekend day, we got a private tour of the owner's home, goats, chickens, and garden. after that, we went to a great organic restaurant in new paltz then drove north through williamstown to north adams. we stayed overnight at porches inn, a great bed and breakfast across from mass moca. bailey did better than anticipated on her first roadtrip. i cycled through toys on the ride and brought a lifesaving CD from her music class.

the next day, we went to mass moca to check out the sol lewitt exihibit then headed to boston where we met daddy. the drive through the berkshires was truly gorgeous. a few locals had warned us that the changing leaves had already changed. fortunately, they were wrong. the orange, yellow and red canopies were brilliant. again, roadtripping with bailey was better than expected but still challenging. i think my brother wanted to burn the CD by the end of the ride, but as soon as he turned the volume down on the CD, bailey would turn the volume up on her crying. after three hours of driving, we arrived in boston just in time for bailey's bedtime.

though a bit rainy, the next day was a great fun-filled, busy day of sightseeing in boston. we had amazing seafood at neptune oyster, went to fanueil hall, followed the freedom trail, walked along charles street and newbury street. the last day was a lazy day in harvard square as all of us were suffering from a bit of a cold.

all-in-all it was a WONDERFUL trip. happy 70th grandma lam!!!

one of my new pastimes has been surfing craigslist for baby gigs. about a month ago, i found a listing for a baby casting call for a language dvd series called little pim. so i sent in a photo of bailey and the next day got an email about attending a shoot!

one rainy morning at 8:30am, bailey and i took the train to park slope. in a huge brownstone, the basement was set up for the shoot and the dining room housed all the "talent." it was a fascinating scene. a lot of these kids were seasoned professionals. their parents had brushes in hand along with wardrobe changes. and after talking to a few, i realized that most of them had agents (including tate, pictured here with bailey.)

for me and bailey, it was a fun experience. they had toys set up and to bailey, it was just another play date. after about half an hour, we were called to the basement where bailey was ready for her closeup. in her short 8 months of life, it has become abundantly clear. bailey loves attention! she crawled across set. played with a few toys. and smiled for the camera.

whether or not she made the final cut has yet to be determined. but we went away with a $20 gift card and a pretty fun experience.

so... i did it again.

last night while on craigslist, i found another baby casting call. i emailed her pic and got a call at 10am this morning. the auditions were only a few blocks away, so after a quick bath (due to the most explosive poop to date), we were there by 11:00. this time, we were called in for a fisher price audition. after the elevator doors opened, we were greeted with a ton of screaming, smiling, nursing, bouncing babies. surprisingly, we didn't have to wait long. they gave us a sticker with the number 10 and soon called us in for bailey's audition. they had brand new jumperoos that aren't on the market yet and an odd looking froggy contraption that bailey got to test ride. she loved every minute of it and was told she "aced her audition." again, who knows what will come of it. but it was a fun hour spent away from home on yet another rainy day.

today bailey and i went to the children's aid society where they have open play every day from 1-3pm. it was a magical, padded room with filled with balls, foam mats, costumes, a baby water park, bubbles and a slide. initially apprehensive, bailey was frozen in one spot for a couple minutes until i coaxed her to start crawling with a big rubber ball. once she started moving a smile broke out on her face, and she was off. we had a blast. here's some video of her wearing a silly viking hat while crawling all over the joint and a pic of her in a merlin cape.

bailey started clapping the same day she legitimately started crawling. she has also been saying "mamamama" a lot. hooray! for the record though, "dadadadada" was first.

here are all the foods bailey has tried so far...

now that the fall semester has begun, bailey has started her new classes! i know, it sounds pretty ridiculous, but the classes allow her (and me) to get out and socialize and hopefully learn a few new skills.

on tuesdays, we have swim class at the YMCA. although the water is freezing (or "fresh" as our instructor likes to say), the babies seem to be just fine. bailey initially didn't love the water. she tolerated the songs, the kicking, and the baby freestyle. last weekend though, matt and i went together to family swim. with both of us in the pool, she really started to enjoy herself. she discovered that she could splash the water with her little hands and get water all over herself and us. by the end of our time in the pool, her eyes were all red from the chlorine, but she was happy as a clam. we will try to get some pictures and video next time we go as a family.

on thursdays, she has baby fingers, a baby sign language class. i've been trying to use the basic signs for "i love you", "milk", "water", "change", etc... the idea is that she will hopefully be able to start communicating with us before she is able to string together sentences.

we also have music class on thursday afternoon. the instructor is from the early ear, but comes to a friend's apartment around the corner from us. it is super convenient and a lot less expensive. every time, our instructor brings her guitar and lets the kids strum. and often, she brings other instruments for the babies to interact with. bailey has her own little music bag. and for now, it seems she has taken to the drums. her favorite song, by far, is "the wheels on the bus."

with our new premium membership to the wildlife conversation society, we decided to head over to the new york aquarium on coney island. after unsucessfully trying to get pizza at totonno's (closed for renovations) and instead stopping off at nathan's for a hot dog and cheese fries, we walked across the abandoned areas of the coney island amusement park (it was like a scene from The Warriors). the cyclone and the wonder wheel, of course, were still running, but everything else looked pretty sad. that is, until we got to the aquarium, which was, i'm afraid to say, even sadder. granted, the new york aquarium was founded in the late 1800's. some of the exhibits didn't look like they had been touched since the 1970s. we didn't feel too bad for the invertebrates, but the sea mammals could use a better facility for sure. lucky for them, we recently read that there is a $100 million renovation of the aquarium in the works right now. it will include one of those state of the art 1 million gallon tanks. bailey really liked the walruses. vina and matt really like the sea otter. there is already one new exhibit, for jellyfish, which is actually quite cool. we strolled up the boardwalk back towards the subway and had a sad glass of lemonade. back on the subway and back to manhattan with a tired out bailey, matt and vina.

it has taken me 5 days to get up the courage to even write about this. so here goes, i'll just spit it out.

today we went to the central park zoo where bailey got to see goats, pigs, sea lions, polar bears, monkeys, a snow leopard, rabbits, a red panda, a peacock, tamarins, and more. though too young to pet any of the animals at the petting zoo, bailey kicked her legs with excitement as she watch me and matt feed the goats.

in other news, she has had 7 poops in 2 days! i think it's the water that's really doing the trick.

b is going to be a bee. get it? haha.

here's a video of bailey being grossed out by bananas. what's funny is that most baby books warn against giving your baby bananas as their first food because they'll love it so much it might give them a sweet tooth! i guess we won't have to worry about that. clearly b isn't a fan.

in other news, bailey is constipated AGAIN. poor girl hasn't made a bowel movement in 6 days. last time, when she first started solids, she went for approximately 10 days. switching from rice to oat cereal and giving her water seemed to do trick that time. we might need to try prune juice tomorrow and will call dr. felix. not sure i'm ready for "the bath and bowel movement technique" described here.

bailey has been scooting backwards alot for a week or two. apparently this is a normal developmental first step towards crawling. the second step is getting up on your knees. here's an example of bailey doing that but then launching herself forward and plopping on her face. :-)

height: 26.5 in (73%)

bailey had her second trip on a plane (and knock on wood) was very well-behaved. she even got her picture taken with the pilots of our flight from nyc to dallas.

after being in dallas for only 1 day, bailey had a party thrown in her honor! she got to meet all her cousins, aunts, uncles, and great aunt and great uncle at her sip n see. quite the social butterfly, she ate every minute of it up! here's a picture of uncle sean holding b.

the party did not stop there. monday, we celebrated grandpa's bday then on tuesday, we celebrated my birthday. as is typical for family visits, there was plenty of delicious food to be had. grandma lam outdid herself and uncle sam even learned how to man the grill.

when not partying, bailey continued chowing down on solids. she tried avocado while in the big d but wasn't terribly fond of it. happily, she is quite a fan of her second veggie, sweet potatoes. here's a picture of bailey getting fed by both grandmas in her bumbo. bumbo courtesy of aunt jangila. :-)

over the course of the week, grandpa played many violin concerts for bailey. she accompanied him a few times on the piano and even lended her vocal skills. from time to time, bailey banged on the piano sans violin too and is apparently quite a fan of "jesus loves me."

nighttime sleep wasn't spectacular as b discovered she could be nursed again through the night. yes, i caved. might as well have had "open all night" tattooed to my chest. needless to say, we are now re-training her. fortunately she is picking it up much faster than round one. AND now that we have converted our apartment into bailey's palace, matt and i will hopefully be getting more sleep too. for those of you who haven't heard the news, matt and i moved our bed to the living room, giving bailey the run of the entire bedroom. though we have had to suffer constant ribbing from friends, doormen, and our building's maintenance crew, we are certain that the new layout is for the best! come on over for a dinner party (i mean, slumber party) some time to check it out.

in other VERY exciting news, bailey cut her first tooth in dallas and shortly after we returned to nyc, her 2nd tooth popped out too. hooray!

When Bailey and I (daddy) went on our usual weekday morning walk to Grey Dog Cafe (for coffee and a blueberry muffin) and then to Washington Square Park (for meeting new people and dogs and rides in the swing) we were in for a big surprise. While waiting outside the tot lot where the swings are to be opened, a big yellow jacket wasp flew down out of nowhere and landed right in a fold of Bailey's pajamas. As I saw my life flash before my eyes, I desperately tried to blow it away and not towards Bailey's face. I got it off of the pajamas and thought i had achieved victory until 3 seconds later when B started screaming bloody murder. I was practically ready to abandon the Bugaboo and flag someone down to goto an emergency room. Instead I bee-lined for our apartment and started saying silent prayers that B wasn't allergic. Well...after two minutes of crying, B went straight back to her normal laughing about everything routine and was practically asleep when I got back to the apartment 5 minutes later. I took her upstairs and there was a definite sting (big welt with about a two-inch red area around it...barely noticeable in the low rez pic). No more crying, and the welt was gone in a day. Tough girl. I would probably cry longer than two minutes over a wasp sting.

dodger has been a wonderful big brother to bailey. he has had to sacrifice alot. he is no longer allowed on the bed. he no longer gets snuggled like a big baby. his favorite ottoman (from grandpa harry) has been put into storage. his fancy dogwalks have been cancelled.

just as bailey has started to notice dodger and really love every single move he makes, poor mr. dodger is getting old and feeble. he is now wearing diapers, doesn't eat his food in 2 seconds flat, has the shakes, and sometimes goes to the wrong door from the elevator.

i guess with this post, i just wanted to give a little tribute to dodger. and if you happen to be reading this, please say a little prayer for dodger—that he may enjoy the rest of his days and not suffer. :-)

the day of couldn't have been better:
-friends and family surrounded us
-the service was warm, laid-back, and fun
-bailey didn't fuss!
-i didn't cry my eyes out (like i did at my baptism and wedding)
-friends and family surrounded us

since the last time i actually wrote on this blog, bailey has grown up quite a bit! here are some random thoughts about what's new in her life.

a word or 2 on (in no particular order)...

the baby ergo carrier
this carrier is outstanding! i can't say it's wonderful for tiny newborns, but as your baby gets to be big enough to hold his/her head up, i highly recommend it as it is a back-saver. also, your little baby will be like a little monkey that is latched onto you when you walk around. my little monkey sometimes even "grooms" my breasts/gives me a breast massage as i am walking. added plus is that bailey will actually nap in the ergo. hooray!

sleep training
ok... let me preface this by saying that when the words "sleep training" comes up, a lot of controversy is sure to ensue. if you don't believe me, click on my babycenter post here. most everybody was very against letting a baby cry-it-out. a handful of supporters of CIO, who were too afraid to post, e-mailed me separately. after all the advice, matt and i agreed we would not do it. we would let bailey learn to sleep in her own time. afterall, she wasn't going to be an 18 year-old that needed to be at my boob to fall asleep, right? well, while that is probably true, things got progressively harder and harder for us to get bailey to sleep. no amount of soothing seemed to help to the point of her "crying-it-out" in our arms. we felt left with no choice. after a few nights of matt's back being thrown-out leaving me to do mommying 24 hours in the day, we looked at each other and said "we're crying it out." having perused 4 sleep books with varying methods, we decided to follow the sleepeasy solution. essentially, we let bailey cry-it-out with interval check-ins. the first night, i too had to cry-it-out a bit. but after crying for 40 min the first night, bailey was down to 5 minutes by the 4th night. and best yet, she was able to sleep without waking until 5am. WOO HOO.
sidenote: last night, there was a bit of backsliding. boo!
so tonite, we shall see. it is a bit of an experiment. but i am HOPEFUL. and hope is most certainly a good thing.

electric breast pumps
holy cow... is essentially what i feel like when using my medela freestyle. with my hooters attached to 2 seemingly industrial-strength suction cups, i feel like quite a fancy cow. milk flows much faster and easier than my sad little manual handpump. with such an increased volume of milk, i now feel much more ready to experiment with giving bailey a bottle. my breastmilk, which was previously painstakingly harvested, now no longer seems like such a precious commodity. my sweet, sweet boob juice will now also be at the ready for experimenting with solids as it will be mixed in with rice cereal. stay tuned, rice cereal will probably be happening soon as grandma merry already helped us purchase our first box. huzzah.

playmats
do it. as soon as we set ours up, bailey started rolling all over the place. also, when she spits up on the mat, clean up is so much easier than having to launder the quilt. if you are less impulsive than i am, you can actually buy thicker foam from a gym supply store like this one.

recently, when i've been saying words slowly, bailey will laugh out loud. she's not full-on laughing here, but you get the idea.

the first part of our bedtime routine is a walk around the block. on nice days, we let bailey fully recline with the top down which she loves. she takes in the breeze, ogles the leaves in the trees and kicks her legs with glee. this firestarting leg action is a sign that she is really happy. she also does it in the bathtub, creating loads of splashes which makes her even happier! 

after bragging about how Bailey has never been sick all this time, i must have forgotten to knock on wood sometime recently because she got sick for the first time this week.  while we didn't know at first, turns out it was roseola, a non-itchy, non-dangerous relative of chicken pox common for babies.  for the first two days it was awful because you couldn't tell she was sick, but she got super duper fussy, really had a hard time falling asleep at night and during the day and just didn't seem like her old self.  we finally took her temperature and it was a couple degrees above average.  Vina took B to the doctor on Thursday who couldn't see that anything was wrong and that if her temperature went up another above 100 or 101.  She didn't seem quite as fussy Thursday night and lo and behold, red dots on Friday morning.  By mid-morning they were all over her body (and still are now).  Back to the doctor and he promptly diagnosed Roseola between seeing two other patients.  Bailey is a lot happier today but didn't sleep the best last night either.  Hopefully she can get over this virus and get back to a better sleeping routine soon.

i heart daddy shirt.
early church.
congee with roast pork.
coconut bun for dessert.
killing some aliens with his new playstation controller.
father's day is off to a good start.

grandma lam came to new york city again because she missed baby bailey so much. here she is at bailey's developmental movement class. this was the tactile sensation part of class with silk scarves and massage balls. in this picture, grandma lam is trying to convince bailey to try rolfing. ;-)

last night as we were walking home, we noticed a ton of police officers closing down 6th avenue. upon querying our doorman, we discovered obama was just a few streets away at blue hill, having dinner with michelle for date night. shortly thereafter, they were going to go to a broadway show by way of 6th avenue.