Results matching “baby” from Jeanette Hada's Wellness and Happiness Blog

It's 2:16 a.m. and Aislee is sleeping in my lap.  She's growing amazingly fast and is really active these days.  It's been challenging for her fighting her first real cold.  She'll wake up several times frustrated with her stuffy nose.

I've been thinking how incredibly different life has changed with the baby.   I wouldn't have it any other way.  It's almost frightening how much I love this tiny human.  The funny thing is, before she was born, my dear friend told me that it's important to not neglect the husband when the baby arrived.  It's been non-stop taking care of her that there really is no time to pay attention to Naoki or really myself these past several months.  Taking a shower uninterrupted is a luxury and I'm thankful when papa is able to take Aislee for a walk while I handle a few household chores.  He spends most of his free time caring for the house and garden.  What's interesting and a little funny, is that after you have this cute little one with small everything and inquisitive expressions, anything that was remotely cute or appealing in your partner ceases to be...well, cute.  Suddenly, the baby has taken control of all that is cute.  Not even Lucky, our comedic bird, can compete.

Other observations of life with baby...  Buying new clothes, shoes, makeup is no longer a necessity.  It has been replaced by buying food, toys (for baby), and diapers.  I wear mostly what's comfortable now.  Her comfort and well-being is my top  priority.  So far, I've been blessed with clients who are baby-friendly. She comes with me everywhere -- even to tour properties.

I never thought becoming a mother would incur so many changes.  The pressure cooker Naoki purchased is a lifesaver.  It makes healthy baby food in minutes!  I'll try chubbing Aislee up with avocados, sweet potatos, and bananas.  She loves Japanese pumpkin, kabocha, which cooks beautifully in the pressure cooker.  I add a little cinnamon sometimes.  She seems to enjoy it.

Finding time to eat for myself has been difficult while juggling caring for the baby and working.  Making sandwiches enables me to eat and have a free hand while eating.  My current addiction is Trader Joe's Garlic Cheddar Sourdough toasted and smothered with avocado on one side and thinly sliced cucumbers and cream cheese.  Sometimes I'll slather raspberry jam and a savory speadable cheese on the same bread which is super good as well.

Ok, time for us to move to the Sun Room to sleep.  This is where we now have our bedroom.  The Star Room is our library/office, the Moon Room is also an office (that's in serious need of cleaning).  I work in the Fire Room most of the time and the Sky Room (aka the dining room is used for gatherings.  We'll be hosting Aislee's first birthday in July and hope to see some of you here at our gingerbread house.

...is beautiful, but cold.  Partially due to the original old lead glass windows still in place, it's drafty and gets quite chilly.  During the summer, it was wonderfully cool most of the day and only became unbearably hot on a few days. 

After our last PG&E bill reached close to $450, Naoki started keeping a log of the gas and electricity meter readings.  We no longer use electric heaters. He monitors how often we use the gas heater; however, we can no longer use it all now that he purchased a kotatsu.  The house is only a few degrees warmer than outside, even at night.  It varies from 55 - 60 degrees farenheit.  I bundle the baby up in snow gear and keep handwarmers in my pockets to stay warm. 

While I'd like to decorate the home in lights for our first Christmas here and with Aislee, Naoki is against anything that might increase the electric bill...although he was kind enough to give me the option taking over payments.

If you're ever considering purchasing an older home, I would strongly suggest making sure it's well insulated, has a newer heating/cooling system, and proper ventilation.  I love the beauty of this old Craftsman, but hope our next home is newer...I mean warmer.

My baby girl, Aislee, was born on Monday, July 21, 2008 at 8:35 a.m.  It's been a rollercoaster ride adapting to life with this tiny human.  She is almost 11 weeks and looks more child/infant-like than a newborn now, though she's still technically a newborn til three months.

Here's her birth story...

Our baby girl, Aislee Reika Hada, was born unexpectedly this past Monday, July 21 at 8:35 a.m.  She weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 inches in length. (Estimated Due Date: 07/28)

...

We had originally planned early on to have a home/waterbirth, but along the way Aislee's growth and amniotic fluid levels became a concern, so my midwife declined my request for a homebirth at 37 weeks due to possible risks.  Scrambling to find an OB closer to home, I was referred to one that determined it was necessary to schedule an immediate inducement with a possibility of a cesarean.  I consumed large amounts of water and supplements and went to a specialist for a second opinion the next day. They found the baby to be in perfect health at the appropriate size with plenty of fluid, which the inferior ultrasound equipment did not pick up at that OB's office.  (Thank God for second opinions)

This past Friday after having issues over giving birth at a hospital, I requested my midwife to reconsider my birth plans.  She replied on Sunday that she was leaning towards granting my request if I would make additional preparations for postpartum care.  Later that evening after eating a bag of oatmeal cookies and a half loaf of lasagna, I went into labor...which I thought to be just a digestive problem from overindulgence.  I called the midwife at 3 a.m.  Her assistant arrived at 4 a.m. when active labor kicked in.  The midwife came around 6 a.m. and Naoki finished filling the birthing tub at 7 a.m. (too late, I wasn't about to climb into a tub at that point - thankfully the task had kept him busy though).  The baby was born on land naturally, not in water as planned, at 8:35 a.m.  She's healthy, alert, and very feisty.

Pics can be seen at http://www.aislee.net

One of the biggest perks of living close to my mom is having access to her wonderful home cooking! During my first trimester, I experienced a loss in appetite and could barely eat anything that wouldn't make me nauseous. The only dishes I could truly indulge in were prepared by my mother. Garlic and onions would turn me green, which is strange since my mom used both of those ingredients to make her lasagna. My baby is probably made of 80% lasagna / 5% oatmeal cookies / 10% white peach cobbler / 5% pickles. Of course, I've made it a habit to take my vitamins, extra calcium (w/magnesium and D), folic acid, plus a consistent amount of omegas for her development. I falter a few times a week when it comes to eating low-glycemic, and really try to monitor my sugar intake. At nearly eight months, I've gained 18 pounds and will continue to watch the scale and what I eat to insure this little girl is getting proper nutrition and gaining weight in a healthy way. In other news...we finally closed escrow on our home last Friday. It was a challenging experience purchasing a bank owned fixer upper, but the lovely little gingerbread craftsman was well worth the wait and huge pile of paperwork! I've dealt with many REO (real estate owned) properties this past year and am always amazed at what they previously sold for and how much attention or lack of was spent on maintaining the home.

As a parent-to-be, I'm both concerned and torn over when and what to vaccinate. I understand that we need to protect our children from illnesses and disease, but don't feel comfortable taking everything a doctor says as truth (perhaps, it is as they know it, they've been known to be wrong before), it seems negligent to leave the safety and well-being of my baby without doing more research.

So far, since I plan to work from home and will not have our daughter in daycare, we will have her immunizations start at age 2. We'll request vaccines to be free of Thimerosal and order them ahead of time and have her shots spaced apart. This is thinking way ahead. Hopefully by the time she's due for her vaccinations, most of this mess will have been sorted through.

"If a dirty bomb exposed a large segment of US citizens simultaneously to Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, Pertussis, Tetanus, Diptheria, Haemophilous Influenza B, 3 strains of Polio viruses, 3 strains of Influenza viruses, Measles, Mumps and Rubella viruses, the Chickenpox Virus, and 7 strains of Streptococcus Bacteria, we would declare a national emergency. We would call it an " Extreme Act of BIO-TERRORISM" . The public outcry would be immense and our government would act accordingly. And yet, those are the very organisms that we inject through vaccines into our babies and our small children, with immature, undeveloped immune systems. Many are given all at the same time. But, instead of BIO-TERRORISM we call it protection. Reflect a Moment on that Irony." -Dr. Sherri Tenpenny

In recent news: Families will make case for vaccine link to autism
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080512/ap_on_re_us/autism_court_case

After an excellent appointment with my midwife's assistant/doula in Menlo Park, my friend and I headed to downtown Los Altos to indulge in something light and sweet at Satura Bakery. If you've not yet been, I highly suggest taking a trip there on a Thursday afternoon. After eating one of the best choux creams in my life, we walked over to the farmers market. This is one of the rare markets that stays open later in the day. We sampled different types of flavorful cherries that were sweet and not the least bit sour, hearty Jersey Brand milk cheeses, super sweet sweet peas, and dark juicy red strawberries. I left with five small, but crisp and sweet, organic white peaches from Kashiwase Farms, organic Spring Hill Farms garlic curds (made from fresh mozzarella), and also one of their pesto jack blocks, melt-in-your-mouth roasted rosemary fingerling potatoes (we ate those there), and a small basket of unusually pointy, but remarkably sweet strawberries!! Oh, and I also purchased five of Satura's choux creams for Naoki -- three vanilla and two green tea flavored. Forgive all of these foodcentric posts. Occupying my mind most of the time is food, house hunting for friends/clients and ourselves, and this baby.

Sometimes you get something better...

Meet the newest member of the Kim family.  I'll add his stats (dob, weight, name, etc.) once his family has made a formal announcement.  Often newborns are not the cutest, and I'm not sure if it's because this tiny guy is part of one of my nearest and dearest friends, but I am really overwhelmed by how cute he is.

One of my dearest and oldest friends will soon be a mother. To celebrate her lucky golden piggie, we held a celebration with her closest friends and family at the beautiful Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. The food was pretty and delicious, but what really made it special was the impeccable and absolutely wonderful service the staff at the hotel provided. The baby shower was held on the second floor in the Promenade Room. I noticed each of the banquet rooms there had a peep hole in the door that let you see who was inside. One of the staff people noticed I was peering through the wrong side of our opened door and allowed me to take a peek in the other rooms. (None that were occupied...because that would be weird, right >_o )

I'm not sure how clearly you can see these photos (taken with a Treo phone), but the tiny dinosaur looking creatures in the first photo are parrotlet hatchlings and the second is of Green Cheek Conures. They're different than Lucky, who is a "Yellow Sided Fancy Green Cheek Conure". His coloring is a mutation (a good kind of mutation that is..).

After spending time at the birdshow, we came home with Lucky's new toys and immediately showered and washed the clothes we attended the show in. We then washed all of his goodies and set them outside to dry.

Our friend Chie purchased a conure of her own. She found Takeshi, a Rosie Fronted Conure, from one of the breeders at the show. We helped her find a suitable cage, which needed to be large enough for him to roam around in, a large play gym made from a manzanita tree branch, and a Happy Hut for him to sleep in.

This is news to celebrate! Send me an email from now until the end of the year and I'll send you great health information and a free piece of my favorite dark chocolate :) jeanette337 at gmail dot com or visit my site and complete a contact form for two pieces of dark chocolate!

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By Maggie Fox, Health and Science EditorTue Nov 14, 6:38 PM ET

They were so addicted, they just could not give up their favorite daily snack -- not even in the interest of science.

But chocolate lovers who flunked out of a Johns Hopkins University study on aspirin and heart disease helped researchers stumble on an explanation of why a little chocolate a day can cut the risk of heart attack.

There's something about the sound of laughter that's contagious, especially when it comes from a baby. Have you ever laughed so hard it hurt? The worst/best is when you can't stop laughing. I don't know how that affects health, but some of my favorite memories are of times like those. A few of my good friends have the best laughs, which are sometimes peppered with snorts as they try to catch their breath.

I love it when people laugh with abandon!

Nothing beats the taste of a freshly picked strawberry or tomato grown in your garden, or in our case, balcony planter. I never believed it til actually trying it for the first time! Our local farmers market carries a fabulous assortment of tasty, organic produce, which I believe probably tastes even more amazing right after it's picked.

We purchased organic baby tomato seedlings and wild strawberries plants from Whole Foods in Campbell earlier this spring. It was the first time I'd ever grown something edible.

Do parabens (preservatives) in skincare and cosmetics cause cancer? I'm not sure, but there have been a number of studies to show they do. Of course, there are still skeptics and a handful of people that say they don't and that the small amounts in their products aren't significant enough to cause any longterm damage. Others, including myself, wonder about the accumulative effects over time with multiple products. Parabens are in almost everything, even products that are touted as safe and natural. For those with a history of cancer in their family, I think extra care and consideration should be given to what we put in and on our bodies.

When our company recently launched a new paraben-free skincare line that uses a new technology utilizing bacteriostatic water to prevent bacteria growth, I thought it might be a good idea to do a little research. Aside from finding information online, what better way to learn about a new product than to use it?

There are seven (7) products total in this interesting assortment of skincare.

1. Cleansing oil
The idea of rubbing oil of any kind on my face to remove makeup seems foreign (and it is!). Many Japanese and Korean cosmetics have a cleansing oil in their line to gentle take off makeup. The texture is very light and not at all like olive oil or even baby oil. It does a fine job of lifting embedded dirt, foundation and eyeliner.

2. Cleansing cream
Included in our pack was a "foaming net" made from corn husk. It's a light and airy little net that does an amazing job of creating well, foam. It made the most luxurious lather which I couldn't seem to do with water and my hands alone. The cream contained fine particles of a special stone that does an excellent job of exfoliating and evening the skintone.

3. Skin lotion
When I think of "lotion", I think of a cream-based liquid, but this is a clear and very light moisturizing toner without any alcohol. It's cooling and moisturizes well without any heavy feeling.

4. Skin serum
Oh this contains vitamin C and a few other key ingredients meant to help with dark spots and improve dull looking, saggy skin. It's supposed to restore elasticity from within. (We'll see...)

5. Skin cream
This is the other product I really liked! It goes on light, but gives that extra moisture without feeling oily or heavy. It comes with a handy little spatula to pull out the perfect amount. I'll use this day and night.

6. Eye cream
I LOVE this stuff!! It's far better than anything else I've tried and really does live up to the hype. It's only been a few days and I've noticed significant different in a reduction of puffiness and definitely lightening of the dark circles.

7. Aftershave milk (for men or women to use as body lotion)
Haven't done this just yet, so stay tuned...

These products were developed and are currently only available in Japan. We are importing these products into the states until they're launched in the U.S., which is around a year or so from now. If you are interested in ordering them, please let me know. We can usually have them delivered directly to you via air shipping.

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