Big Day Out!

Well, today we got out of the house and did all kinds of exciting things. We actually made an effort to be up and out of the house at 10, and missed that goal by only a hair. We were off to brunch at Savor in Noe Valley. We got a cozy corner table with enough room (barely) for the 5.5 people in our party. Then we walked around Noe for a bit, doing some very relaxed shopping. By relaxed I mean that it was nothing near a shopping trip that would require Brent and I to
bail out and find a bar. After some time, we piled back into the car and headed up to Twin Peaks to get a view of the city, which was great, but man was it cold up there today! Then we came home and Korin gave Charli a bath - she needed it bad. Meanwhile I established a successful video link between our living room and "jerryschair" back in St. Louis.

Now, we are all back in the car to drive Kim & Brent to the San Jose airport. And we are stopping for Bi Bim Bap on the way!

Here is Charli's take on the day...


-B

A little musicality!!

We piled into the car on Saturday afternoon and went to a music store down near Fisherman's Wharf. Brent tried out his violin skills on this Strohl Violin. Korin & Charli listen on in fascination...


The banjo is ok, but I think the bagpipes are really where its at!

-B

Chillin' on Christmas Eve...

Kim has been designated to be Charli's caretaker while Korin finishes up her shopping. She's doing a pretty good job!

-B

1 month checkup...

Well, today was Charli's 1 month checkup. Korin went it alone this time, as I went to work and tried to get something done before the holidays. The two notable items from today were:

• Korin found out first hand that Charli really hates shots. She got her Hepatitis B shot today and was none to pleased...

• We have a weight update! Last night we had a little "guess the weight" game. The low guess was 7lbs2oz, the high was 7,7. We were all blown away to find out she is at 7lbs. 12oz!!!

So it looks like everything is going pretty well! We also have our webcam set up for Xmas tree visitation, so hopefully the Schweisses will come through with their side of the bargain!

-B

Auntie #1...

The rest of the Yangs have begun to stream in! Sam is tentatively holding Charli, but they seem to be hitting it off pretty well so far.

-B

Grandpa's here!!

Ray arrived at Oakland airport this morning just in time to join for another trip to the farmer's market. It wasn't until we finally got home that he was able to properly introduce himself though. As you can see from this picture, they hit it off pretty well.

-B

So sorry for the delay!!

Well, now that I am back at work, the frequency of iPhone powered emails is certainly on the downturn. I can assure you that the quality of photos being taken is up, as is the number, but alas they are all sitting on the memory card in Korin's camera. Just the extra step of getting them off there to send is enough of a barrier to cause the drought that you have all been forced to endure...

At this point we are all starting to settle into a routine that has a whole lot to do with spoiling Charli. She is turning out to be a good eater, a good sleeper, but a tad fussy in the evening. I will gladly endure the latter in exchange for the former.

Korin and Shirley have been going on daily adventures. Nordstrom yesterday, Ikea today, and I am proud to report that Charli hates them both! Maybe some of my genetic footprint snuck through after all (clearly hating Ikea is a dominant trait)!

The attached photo is my current perspective on my daughter - looks like she may be down for the count! We'll see what happens when I put her down...

-B

Love like our refrigerator has never seen...

After the farmer's market, we were off to Safeway, just to make sure we didn't miss anything. This picture is of our fridge once I had managed to cram everything in. We should be good thru Wednesday.

Shirley is already cooking again as I write this note! We found some chicken in the freezer that is like two years old -- trash it?? No sir! That's the makings for some good soup! 2 year old frozen
chicken breasts and farm fresh ginger - and lots of rice - is all you need!!

-B

Charli's first Farmer's Market...

In the middle of the picture we have Shirley, Korin, and Charli picking out some veggies... Also another newborn there on the right side. Apparently the late crowd (we got there around noon today) is for the young ones.

-B

Look ma! No hands!!

Korin has found the new secret to a hands free child raising experience - the moby. Korin, Shirley, and Charli went out on the town today and from the looks of it, they wore Charli out! I was at work so I didn't bother with sending pictures from there.

-B

First visitors

We got our first visitors yesterday - Pete (a guy that works for me) and Bethany (his wife) came by bearing gifts of footwear. Charli seems to like visitors a lot. Whenever someone new comes in, she is totally quiet and attentive, listening to this new person and checking him/her out. It was the same thing with doctors and nurses at the hospital.

Anyway, we brought the tree in yesterday and began putting the lights in it in preparation for the rest of the family showing up in a couple weeks. We also mixed up a batch of eggnog whose recipe calls for a months worth of "mellowing" in a dark place. We'll see how it turns out.

More exciting episodes of the Charli Show coming soon!!

-B

Confusion...

Charli isn't so interested in sleeping tonight, so we thought we would try out this moby thing which you are supposed to be able to us to carry your kid around, hands free. It's just a big long piece of fabric, that you wrap around and around and somehow a kid carrying device emerges...

We gave up and ate on the couch.

-B

daddy pictures (and grandma too)

Just took these this morning - pick your favorite!




And my mom is here now, so here's the first grandma picture. She's already done the dishes, and we've been talking about what she should cook later. I think I'll let her stay. :)

At the doctor...

So far, we have done the weighing and Charli has gained back a couple more ounces, which is good news. The only bummer is that we are just sitting here in the doctors office with an increasingly hungry child and no doctor to be found. Well with Charli in here making a fuss at least we can be sure that they won't forget we're here!

-B

first bath

Brian gave Charli a sponge bath while I sat around wishing it was time to take more Vicodin. It was highly successful, and she looks so cute with clean hair - we can style it just like my dad's hair (comparison picture included)!

Flower day...

Apparently, day 6 is the say where flowers arrive! It seems like I was answering the door and cutting flowers all day. The funny part was that 4 vases worth of flowers (and a LL Bean personalized "Charli" bag) came from the same person - my VP at Cisco! Hopefully this means that he will look kindly on any extra time I take off!!

We had another pretty good day today, although it would appear that Korin maybe did a little too much yesterday... Taking it easy the next couple days will be key - Shirley your visit will be just in time!

Got a bath coming up soon as tonight's fun first. Charli got a total of 3 baths in 4 days at the hospital - none administered by us. Should be interesting...

-B

i can't even STAND how cute she is

Dad says that at this point in development, it isn't a SOCIAL smile, it's just a reflex, usually done during REM sleep. He must be right, because that is when we usually see it. But really, who cares?

I can take pictures too!

See! And I can mail them out in email too! Of course, it's a lot more manual labor, which is why Brian will continue to send 10 times as many pictures as I do...

He's downstairs checking Charli's diaper right now. Someone is doing a lot of screaming - I'm not sure which of them it is... :)

Basinette in action...

Shirley, just wanted to let you know that the basinette is working!! Can't wait for everyone to get out here and meet this one.. She's getting sweeter by the minute, or maybe by the feeding. Whatever the case things are looking good!

-B

Chillin'

Day 5, also known as Ray and Katy's birthday (happy birthday Katy and Ray!!!), has been pretty relaxed. We had to go back to the doctor today to weigh Charli again to make sure she has started to gain back her weight (she is) and we also went back to the newborn connections store at the hospital so Korin could pick up some stuff. Overall, we were out of the house long enough for Korin's meds to wear off, and have now made the decision that that was not such a good idea - until Korin is a little more healed and in less need of pain medication we probably won't be spending too much time away from home.

So the long and short of it is that we are settling in to things and it's going well. Korin is getting really quick at nursing and Charli equally good at eating. She eats a lot and then sleeps a lot, and we sit there and look at her a lot.

Since we'll probably never have another chance, and probably won't want one, we watched some daytime tv today! Man did it suck! We watched like 10 minutes of Montel Williams. It was awful. I am sure you guys all knew that already, but they mentioned at one of our classes that part of "taking it easy" is watching Oprah. Blech..

Anyway, that's all from here.

-B

Satisfaction...

I have had many good meals in my life, but I don't know if I have ever been quite this satisfied after a meal...

-B

All clear...

We have been transferred to the post partum room, where we will be staying until Monday noon. The breast feeding is going really well - this girl is a natural born Fong!! Korin is improving rapidly too. She will be having solid food again for her next meal.

-B

Korin getting the hang of it...

The doctor came in to check up on korin, she was medicated, and they changed her sheets. Now she's much more happy and comfortable, and Charli is getting good at eating!

-B

First dr's appt!

Here you have it! First Dr's appointment and a clean bill of health!

Let the record also show that at 11:15am on 11/23, I changed my first
poopy diaper.

-B