Happy Holidays

Wow! This holiday season has really flown by. Hope you all have a great holiday and new year. Here are a few shots of Noah in San Francisco and the big tree in Union Square.

Tis the season . . . to vomit (warning: gross post)

Whew! We just went through probably our worst 3-5 days since Noah was born. He caught a stomach flu that apparently is ravaging many kids all around the country. For us, that meant lots of vomit and diarrhea. The first night, Noah starting vomiting at 2am and threw up every 15 minutes for about 3 hours. It only took us four times before we wised up and put towels all around the floor. Although things calmed down in the daytime, he started up again the next night at 2am on the button. The third day, he decided he had enough vomiting and decided to shoot things out the other end. Yup, explosive diarrhea. We're talking about the kind no diaper can contain. Fortunately, that wasn't very frequent, but it lasted for almost 3 days.



Noah is almost back to normal now. He caught a cold as soon as his flu passed, but even a cold seems like heaven compared to what he had before. Let's hope he can stay germ free for the rest of the winter.

G'day Mates

For those who didn't know, we just returned from a week-long trip to Sydney. It was a great trip, but really tiring. This was my first time travelling by air with Noah, and it was about what I expected. The 14-hour plane rides each way really sucked (more on that below). Also, the jetlag was tough because Noah wanted to run around in the middle of the night (and is now doing that all over again here). Finally, he missed a lot of naps because we were out running around the city. Still, Noah was very patient and pretty nice overall. Here are two pictures taken around the Opera House/waterfront area. I'll try to post more about the trip in the Hobie blog (which I never use), but I'll just say that the Opera House, the Harbor Bridge, and the entire Sydney Harbor is as beautiful a city sight as there is -- and that's from someone in the Bay Area.

Ok, enough positives. Now, more about the sucky plane ride. Since Noah was born, I've, of course, become quite sensitive to the many aspects of daily life that are family (or kid) unfriendly. I would put airline travel right up there at the top. Here's the story: for some reason, we could not reserve seats on this flight. I don't know if that's an international rule or something, but we just couldn't. We couldn't two months before our flight, we couldn't a month before, we couldn't the week before we left. I kept emphasizing to the airline that we are travelling with an infant and need to sit together. So what happens on our way back? Mariam and I are booked into row 32. Noah is sitting in row 51. Nice. Of course, one of us could've switched with Noah, but we wanted to sit together to share the burden of handling him. I pointed out to the woman at the desk how obsurd this was, and she basically had no response other than telling us to try to get someone near us to move. Well, of course neither of the two jerks sitting by us wanted to move because we had a bulkhead seat with a few more inches that a normal seat. Come on people! It's not like I just want to trade your minimally comfy seat for my horrendous space. Obviously, we have a child with us. Well, finally, one person was willing to trade, albeit begrudginly. And as for the person in 32G: you're an asshole. I know you'll never read this, but you're an asshole. This guy wouldn't even look at me as I asked him to trade. He just said "No", then went back to reading his book. No explanation, no "Sorry, but my knees hurt" or something. Just "NO". Dickhead.

The airline workers were horrible also. They didn't really even try to help convince the other passengers to move. Nor were they helpful at all with Noah. Note to all stewards/stewardesses: when you see a family coming down the aisle with a carseat, two baby bags, a baby food cooler, a stroller, a backpack, and a child on the hip, give them a fucking hand. Don't just stand two feet away smiling and watch as they try to put stuff in the overhead bin. Oh, and United is officially the worst airline in my book. just to put that out there.

Muir Woods

Ok, so it's been close to a million years (ok, not quite 2 months) since I last posted. I just figured no one ever looks here. But then Jennifer down the hall said I need to update this damn thing. Ok, here are a few quick pictures from our recent trip to Muir Woods. Noah wasn't as interested in the huge redwoods as he was with all the pine needles on the ground. I guess when you're that short, you focus to things closer to eye level.

Fairyland

Ok, it's been another long stretch. I guess this is just how it's gonna be. Anyway, we took Noah to Children's Fairyland in Oakland this weekend. Even though we live 5 minutes away, I've never really known what it's like inside. I was pretty impressed. Supposedly , it was the inspiration for Walt Disney to create Disneyland. Fairyland certainly is no Disneyland (which may be good or bad), but it wasn't bad for a small city park. It may be a few more months before Noah can really appreciate a theme park, but he seemed to have fun. Plus, I enjoyed the free Fenton's ice cream.

What up, G?

Doesn't Noah look like a grown up boy here (or at least a little gangsta)? He seems to have grown up so much in the last few weeks. Admittedly, the picture is a little deceiving and doesn't give a context to show how small he is, but he definitely has transitioned to boyhood.

Toddler days

Since the last post, Noah has rapidly changed into a toddler right before my eyes. He is now fully walking and even trying to run a bit. More noticeable, though, is his mental development and understanding of everything. It's getting more fun everyday.

WALKING!!!

Another long overdue post, another huge change in Noah's development. He's officially walking now. He's been able to cruise and take steps for what seems like months, but he's always seemed so cautious. He would only take steps if we pushed him to. Well, last week, he made a switched and started letting go of things on his own. Now, he's at 40% walking, 60% crawling, but the walking is increasing everyday.

In other news, Noah has been examined by an endocrinologist because of his small size. She has basically concluded that Noah is just a small guy with no physical or hormonal problems. However, if he doesn't continue to grow, we may make a visit to Balco and get him on the same stuff Barry Bonds takes.

Cooking along

It's been a long time since the last post, but that's actually a good thing. Nothing too eventful (meaning bad) to talk about. Noah has been doing great. He was pretty small at his checkup last month, but he seems healthy.

We're suckers

This weekend, I learned first-hand why kid-centric marketing works. We got a coupon for a free sitting and large photo from one of those kiddie photo places. Of course, they take many photos and give you the option to buy more. Well, of course when we saw the photos of Noah, we felt like buying all of them. Judging by the other parents looking at photos of their kids, every parent feels this way. Ok, so we're suckers, but not entirely. We still got some nice pictures of our cutie pie.

Happy birthday Noah

Noah celebrated his Valentine's birthday a few days early by having some of his friends over. It's hard to believe it's been one year already. Noah has changes so much every day that it never gets routine, and I'm really looking foward to the next year.

Turtles are short

Last night, Noah said his first word that wasn't "mama" or "dada". While reading a book to him with the line "turtles are short", he said: "turtle" very clearly. Maybe talking is just around the corner.

Standing tall

Thought I would just post a few pictures of Noah standing even though he has been doing that for several months already. Now, though, he's starting to cruise, or scoot while standing against furniture.

Happy New Year

Noah's back for the new year. I guess my frequency of posting is pretty low, but hopefully it will improve now that Noah is back to his old self. This week, Noah's grandpa gave him his very first haircut. It was sad to see his curly locks go, but I think he looks as cute as ever with his short hair. Judge for yourself.