Xmas Xpress

Xmas

The B'Wood Yangs enjoyed another Xmas this year at the Macca household - now with fully extended kitchen, dining area and master bedroom. Aimee of course made thorough use of all the new space and scurried around the place like it was her own home.

Both Aimee and Dylan (his first Xmas...wow!) received bountiful supply of pressies, so many that our car was in danger of collapsing under the weight. Sadly, the untrusty jalopy that is my car did indeed collapse, post Boxing Day necessitating a tow truck and a mechanic that was thankfully open during Xmas. My New Years resolution will definitely include buying a new car.

That was not the only incident over Xmas. 92 year old Granny still had enough gas in her to cause upset and turmoil with her criticisms and comments, same as every year.

But it did not spoil what was one of the best Xmas's we enjoyed for a long time, with our super extended family.

Tantrums

Aimee is now officially in the terrible twos (TT) category. Over Xmas she developed a quite demanding persona, escalating to full blown tantrum stakes. Back at home I went to Tesco and of course, supermarkets and toddler tantrums go to together like fish and chips. She went into a full on hysteria screaming fit all because I couldn't cuddle her, push the trolley and pick out groceries at the same time. She wanted cuddles there and then and everything had to stop. So after doing every trick I knew, I had enough and just plonked her into the trolley and proceeded to check out, with her screaming more loudly and begging 'out, out, out trolley, no daddy no daddy'. You can imagine the pitying onlookers and perpahs not a few unapproving gazes as well.

Since then, she has threatended a few more TT tantrums, but we've averted them with distraction and concessions. I have a horrible feeling it is only going to get worse.

Return of the Yangs

My mum and dad came back from Thailand after a 3 month stay from looking after my sister and her newborn Oscar. It was great to see them again, and looking so healthy and well. ngand dad immediately, well it was that and the tons of presents they brough back. She is easily pleased is our Aimee. My parents went all gaga with Dylan straight away, with lots of cooing and complimenting about his healthy physique and handsome face (of course, like his daddy!). Dyls played his part superbly by smiling lots and being generally cute. But as always, the star of the show is Aimee and she played them her full repertoire of laughs, gurnings, dance moves, comedy acts etc etc.

The new year will bring many changes for our kids. We hope to find a good nursery. We will start Aimee potty trainng. Dylan will grow bigger and start bottle, then weening. And, towards the end of 2008, Cat will return to work and we will have to work out a new routine. Lots for us to think and fret over.

Brother sister

More weighings

Dylan, at 5 weeks old, now weighs an arm busting 4.74 Kg (10lb7oz).

Contrast the differences in differing boroughs, but the health visitor here seems to come round our house almost weekly. In Hackney, they just left you on your own after a week.

Dyls seems to be settling into a pattern of constant 2 hour feeds interruped by half sleeps during the day, coupled with long 5-6 hour sleeps at night. Great for our own sleep, but exhaustingly high maintenance during the day. But we've learned a few tricks from early Aimee days and any fussiness is quickly quelled with various rocking, shooshing and knee dipping (nicked from the one baby Pilates/yoga class Cat ever took) techniques.

I'm off on leave now and can help look after Aimee before the Xmas hols. So I used the chance to check out the local parent and toddler play group in the village hall. From the outside, the hall is a ramshackle tin hut, but on the inside, it is a warm, inviting bedlam of fun. Aimee enjoyed it but we got there too late and only had about 20 minutes. We'll certainly go again and for £1.50, it is a bargain and a vital service for local mums (and the odd dad).

Yummy Mummy

Cat, Aimee and Dylan became models for the new Tesco Direct catalogue (summer edition). Aimee of course loved every second under the spotlights of the camera. Dylan was also enraptured, then fell back to sleep. One of the Tesco media staff described Cat as a ‘Yummy Mummy’ which is a lovely compliment.
This evening, I was mucking around with silly faces in front of Dylan and I swear, he smiled, not just the first time, but several times and exactly in response to my silly faces. He kinda gurgled in pleasure too. This surely has to be a record – who’s ever heard of a 5 week old actually smiling. Some say wind, but I’m convinced it is otherwise. It’s an amazing experience to witness your bambino smile for the first time. I seem to remember Aimee smiling very early too but we didn’t believe it. She hasn’t stopped flashing her famous smile ever since.

Photo makes me look like I got my hands full! Well it's certainly true, but not as full as Cat, who looks after both all day every day...what a champ she is.

Dyls's tests came back normal, he is fine and I guess that means no UV phototherapy to treat the jaundice thank goodness. I reckon a spot of normal daylight would be adequate but with the really shite weather at the moment, I doubt he'll get out much.

Aimee was reported to have managed to unknot a tied up door key and very nearly make her escape from grandparent's house in MK. She's developing some very crafty and ingenious naughty tactics that her old man would be proud of in his own toddler days (child safety comes first now though, ahem.)

Billy Rubin

Poor little Dylan is still jaundiced so Cat took him to see the paediatrician. She took blood and urine samples (Dylan confidently filled his vial of weewee more than twice over!) and we'll soon find out if he has any underlying illness. The doc also noted from her careful Q&A that he has acid reflux.
This is when the baby's gut is not mature enough to stop stomach acid entering the upper throat and mouth, causing pain and discomfort. Cat did notice on seveal occasions that Dyls had sicked up transparent fluid which I said was acid. This was confirmed by the doc so we now have to slightly change the way we feed him and put him to sleep.
Having said that, Dyls has been sleeping pretty well at night - 4 hours a go with one major feed about 3am. I reasoned that it is because it is quiet and fairly cool and he can rest without his big sister trying to poke him in the eye. The sleep certainly helps Cat but, like a high pedigree Friesan, her boobs do get painful if she is not milked for more than 4 hours!
Despite the miserable December weather, we've been trying to get Aimee out and about as much as possible. It's not very healthy for an active toddler to stay indoors all day. Cat has found a number of toddler playgroups in B'Wood and Aimee now goes for walks with reins strapped to her (which she loves!). Photos of that to come soon.

Guess who?

All babies are roughly 4 weeks old. From top left going clockwise: Seymour (late '60's), Dylan (2007), Aimee (2005), cousin Oscar (2007). Can't seem to find a picture of a baby Cat, perhaps a raid through the Macca photo albums might yield something bribeworthy, erm I mean cute and interesting.

Aimee's Whining Hours

What is it with kids and sleep. They tear around all day so you’d think they would be tired enough to comfortably fall asleep the moment they hit the pillow. But not Aimee. No matter what time or routine we try, she still plays up big time at bedtime. Sometimes, she’ll only fuss for about 10 mins, but it's recently become real bad - she’ll cry and cry and moan and beg and scream for ages. We’ve learnt there’s no point running in and acceding to her demands (want teddy, want light on, want come out, want this, want that) because it only prolongs the affair and encourages her behaviour. Thank goodness she is still in the cot and contained within it, but I shudder at the thought that soon, she will be old enough for a bed and can then get out and get up to mischief all by herself.

Cat seems to be doing fairly ok during the day. It doesn't help that weather is cold and wet so Aimee can't play in garden or park, but there's enough entertainment at home for now. But it sure is exhausting. I come home from work and Cat is almost trance-like with tiredness. So I take over, but on a couple of nights, she wanted me to use the baby carrier (the brilliant Baby Bjorn) on Dylan. So after Aimee goes to bed (wailing as just described) I carry Dylan around.

Now this might seem easy, and for a short period it is. But Dylan is fretful at the moment. He can't sleep very long before his wind kicks on and fidgets and winces and then begins to cry. The Bjorn is the only thing that settles him. Probably because he is carried around in an upright position that keeps his stomach acid and excess milk where it should be, ie in his stomach. And of course he has my warm body to keep comfy in. The other night, he sat in the Bjorn eyes wide open refusing to sleep until 1am with me swaying and humming trying to lull him to sleep. All in aid of poor Cat who had not had any sleep the night before. You know, for a recent newborn (now weighing an impressive 9lb 3oz) he sure gets heavy after 3 hours in a baby carrier.

The health visitor came again and mentioned that Dylan still had a bit of jaundice in his eyes. It’s only mild but she reported it to our hospital paediatrician who may want to see him. Usually J goes away after a week, which is why she was curious, although not worried, by the lingering yellowness on a four week old. But the drinking machine that is Dylan is not letting a bit of pigment build-up get in the way of his milk. He now weighs 9lb 3 oz and looks a chubbier beast to when he was first born.

Warhol baby

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

The visiting health visitor parted our home the other day with a warning: on no account EVER leave your toddler alone in the room with the baby while you are not there. It seems obvious but it is like one of those stories where a dog owner swears – I don’t understand it, Rover never bites, he’s just always so friendly – as the dog savages a small child to pieces. However, on the practical front, it is actually very hard trying to avoid popping into the other room or going to the loo while leaving the children alone in the other room. It is easy to forget that in child-time, things happen about 20 million parsecs faster than in adult time. We got a small taste of what a toddler can do when we watched Aimee wander up to Dylan’s carrycot and peered inside. Within a split second, she started rocking it very hard, to the point where if we had not intervened, it could have toppled from its stand. On another occasion, Cat was carrying Dylan but Aimee wanted something out of reach to her and when Cat said No, Aimee started slapping Dylan hard. A swift rebuke brought tears (while Dylan thankfully was ok). And this is all within our sight. Imagine if she was left alone? Of course Aimee is too young to know the consequences of her actions. And all Dylan cares is when his next meal is coming from.

Silent Night

Blessed sleep. The commodity that no money can buy a new parent. Aimee is in bed by 8pm but can take up to an hour to wind down, she wakes at 5:30am. Dylan sleeps no longer than 2 hours if lucky and right now, he seems only happy unless he is suckling all the time. Poor Cat, she sleeps no more than about 2 hours a night. The regime right now is relentless. Since DJ was born, one or other member of our family has stayed over to help, but now the honeymoon period is definitely over. From Monday, Cat is on her own looking after DJ and Aimeesan. But the shimmer of light is that once the sleep thing has passed, you quickly forget how hard it is. Aimee took almost 9-10 months before she would sleep through the night. But now, she’s like any other toddler – using all her tricks to delay the event as long as possible but finally pegging out when fatigue takes over. We’ll occasionally ge a scream or a whelp in the middle of the night, but she quickly falls back to sleep. But I find the very early morning starts a shock to my system – a system highly trained from years of the discipline of the midday lie-in. As a natural night-owl I cannot physically sleep before midnight – 1am being my preferred bedtime. Factor in Aimee’s early mornings and I get no more than 4 hours a night. Which kinda reminds me of ole Maggie Thatchers oft claimed 4-hours a night sleep. She made that claim in Gordan Gekko like fashion ie sleep is for wimps. But if that’s the case, then please, please, let us be eternal wimps.

Birthday Girl

Wow what an amazing day at Planet Yangwood. We celebrated Aimee's second birthday by kicking off the day with a Skyped video session with Aunty Googoo, Uncle Mat, Granddad Ye-Ye and baby Oscar. Aimee missed her Nai-Nai of course and kept asking for her, but alas circumstances will have to save that for another day. Then over came all the family Maccas and friends Jennifer and Tony who brought down their two-year old Luke, who packs a hell of an impact in his tiny but chubby frame. Luke and Aimee spent the day tearing up and down the flat, playing hide and seek and generally creating noisy fun together. It was great to see Aimee really enjoy herself and slightly bizarre to see the two of them chatting with each other over what toys to play with (bizarre cos only when you see Aimee out of the usual at home context do you realise that she has grown so much). I think Aimee misses the company of other children being stuck at home all the time, but next year we plan to reintroduce her to nursery.

Aimee had so many presents that we had to stagger the opening sessions into several batches over the day. In fact the next day, there were still several waiting to be opened! And then there was the cake, sweets, biscuits and all manner of party food to send Aimee into a chemically-induced hyperactive frenzy. Throughout all the party commotion, diddy pretty much slept thoughout. Thanks to all the Maccas who came along, especially Sarah who helped us out tons during the past week. And also great to hook up with Aunty Googoo, Mat, Grandad ye-ye and ickle Oscar via Skype. We even had a visit from our elderly neighbours, who have done loads to make us feel welcome in our new home. Also props to Cat who, despite a lack of proper sleep, was a whirlwind in the kitchen, creating more than enough pizzas and snacks.

Aimee had a great time and it's only fitting that having felt a bit left out since the birth of Diddy, she was back to full Aimee-fun mode. I wonder what future birthdays will be like? Probably more mad and more noisy - and with both kids born in November - a potentially bank crippling time of the year too. Oh well, as long as the kids have fun, then me and Cat are happy.

Daddys boy

Piggie Wiggie

It's bathtime! Diddy enjoys his first dip and he seemed like he enjoyed himself. Must be like going back into the womb at a comfy 37 degrees. Unlike the November weather here, which is a less than comfy 7 degrees during the day.

Clever Aunty Sylvie sent me the translation of his Chinese name:

Chuan Yin.

Chuan = to propagate, to pass knowledge, to transmit.

Yin = to shelter under a tree, to comfort, to protect.

Chuan is the name as decreed by the family naming system, Yin was decided by his grandparents.

Chinese names can be so poetic, I think his chosen names are really lovely. Diddy is born under the Chinese Year of the Pig. And he sounds like one too when her is crying. Not the piggy squeals, but the piggie nasal grunts, erm, a bit like his Dad.

Blowin' in the Wind

We have a name, finally, at last. Dylan was always Cat's favourite name. It is closest to the Chinese word for little brother - di-di. But also wanted to maintain a family link, so he takes James from his Grandad. So new baby is now Dylan James Yang in English, Yang Chuan Ying in Chinese.
We call him didi all the time now but he may wish to be known as Diddy, Dyls or DJ when he is older, so there are plenty of options. Aimee can say Dylan perfectly, but then she is so fluent now she can say hundreds of words and numbers with no hesitation. It is like her vocabulary has exploded from out of nowhere. Maybe it helps being at home everyday, absorbing all the phrases and commands we utter. Often giving us back as good as she gets.
Sister Sarah is taking over the reins helping out with us this week. She's already proving to be a big hit with Aimee, playing and dancing non-stop (to the point where she refuses to go to bed!) and Diddy sleeps very well in her arms, giving us tired and exhausted Mum and Dad a much needed rest.
But poor diddy is a bit bunged up in the nasal passages making him very snorty and sniffly. I think the central heating disagrees with his sensitive little nose. He also has come out really flakey all over his body. But a bit of olive oil and maybe, his first ever bath will sort that out. The infant acne seems to be appearing in small places, but not as bad as when Aimee had it. Ew, I can barely look at the photos of that time, it gives me goosebumps.
So onward and upward. Many artisans share the name of Dylan, we wonder if he will follow their creative leads.