Neil Yan Dot Com

At this stage in Ben’s life, there’s really not much going on. He feeds on the boob, burbs a lot, farts a lot, craps a lot, throw in the odd crying fit (which usually last for about 5 mins), mega diaper changes, the every-other-day bath, 3 outfit changes a day and you’ve got your typical day for Ben. It’s week 6.5 and I’ve noticed significant changes in him, aside from his usual weight gain. First, he recognizes his parent’s voices.  And second, he’s starting to make noises other than the glass shattering cry.  What never ceases to amaze me is how such a little body can make such loud burbs and farts!! They’re comparable to his dad’s!!

One thing that hasn’t changed is his crap. It’s always the same. Here’s several ways I can describe it:

1) Take a piece of toast directly out of a hot toaster, spread some crunchy peanut butter about 1/8″ thick all over, and wait 15 seconds for it to melt.

2) Take that honey mustard dip that you get for the chicken McNuggets. Throw it into a Magic Bullet. Add 1/4 of a piece of rice cake and blend for 5 seconds. Spread over a white piece of bread.

3) Open a can of Loblaw’s No-Name brand Cream of Corn and spread it 1/8″ thick layer over a sliced french bacquette.

4) Take a handful of Honeycombs and place it into a soup bowl. Add 1/3 cup of low-fat banana yogart and 1/3 cup of water. Let stand for 30 minutes. Once the Honeycombs have soaked up the liquids, take a potatoe masher to it. Spread over saltines.

Enjoy!

Our calendar was slightly off, but we finally celebrated Ben’s one month “birthday”. In the Chinese tradition, making it to one month is a big milestone. I’ll assume infant mortality rates were pretty high way back when, so making it to one month desired a celebration. We need an excuse to gorge on a 9 course meal, however small the milestone!!

So, Ben’s grandmother took the honour of organizing a party for 40 people at a local Chinese restaurant in Markham. We’ve been there before in the past, but like in other Chinese business fashion, the business is under new ownership (usually to avoid paying taxes). The food was really good (the little amount I did eat) and the wait staff fell in love with Ben! Even with a nasty winter storm going on, the restaurant was packed to the brim. I guess that’s a good sign the food will be good.

Like in usual fashion when Ben is around a large group of friends and family, he’s passed around like a baton. Lucky for us, he enjoys that little game! I’m getting to think he just likes being held, or he likes being away from home. Either way, he’s great with people! Maybe he’ll be a politician

Click here for some info about the one month tradition. More pics have been posted on the photos tab above.

Ben’s officially over 12lbs!! Yup. If you do the math, he’s gained more than 50% of his birth weight in about 6 weeks. A lot of his birthday clothes that were generously given to him no longer fit him. We’ve officially moved into the 3-6 month clothes. So, it begs to question, “Who set the standard for infant clothing size?”. It doesn’t seem to make sense. Not all babies are born the same size. Some are born 7lbs 12oz, most seem to be smaller, the odd few are much larger. Of all the babies that were born amongst my friends in the past 6 months, Ben’s the second heaviest. Our Montreal friends had a baby girl a few weeks earlier just over 8lbs.

So, how can one tell what outfit to buy when Ben has reached the “2nd” quarter milestone in half the time? Does that mean all the 12 month clothes he has already will be on him by mid-summer? I don’t think winter wear will be appropriate for the 30+ degree temperatures. It’s so hard to judge. Even some of his bibs are starting to get tight around his neck. How do we keep up?

What we’ve started doing is bring him shopping with us. Anything we buy, we can just “eye” it on him to see if it fits. A lot of winter wear is on sale now, but we’re moving into warmer temperatures. So, we’ll have to start buying “onesies” with short sleeves. Ben doesn’t like pants, so summer is going to be his favorite season (just like his dad).

With spring 28 days away, we’re all looking forward to going outside with minimal prep time. Right now, it takes us an extra 30 mins to get him ready, relaxed and secured into his car seat. I’m guessing in the spring/summer, we’ll be able to use our baby carrier more often. “Did you just hear my back scream…NOOOOO!”

Yes, Ben is continues to pack on the weight. That’s the great news! The bad news. SO AM I!! We have this scale in our bathroom and I’ve never had a need to use it. I’ve been 155lbs for over a decade. I’ve fluctuated over the last few years by at most 5lbs due to my running and race training, but I’ve always maintained a weight under 160lbs. So, I don’t know what got over me the other day, but I decided to step on the scale. I looked down and my eyeball almost popped out of its sockets! I was over 161lbs!! The scale must be wrong. It was sitting on a bath mat AND it wasn’t set exactly to zero from the beginning! But that didn’t matter, even if it was off by 2lbs, I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been.

So, off to the gym. I’ve been on the cross-trainer 3 times this week, for 30 minutes each. I’ve chosen to walk everywhere I can (like to get my haircut today in Markham). I’ve eaten smaller portions. I’ve started to drink more fluids again. So, this got me thinking. “Do all new dads go through the “freshman” weight gain?” You know, all new freshman gain a substantial amount of weight; I did! In the first 4 months, I gained 20lbs! It didn’t help that I/we drank pretty much every day during the first term at school; we were away from home for the first time in our lives. FREEDOM!!

So, a quick search on our friend the Internet shows that indeed, new dads gain weight!! It’s mainly due to the adjustment in lifestyle, ie. less time to prepare healthy meals, and less time to exercise! All this leads to more weight. A study shows that there’s a 4% increase in the risk of obesity with each child the father has. WOW!! That’s incredible! I’m going to buck the trend. So, back to my running several times a week. I’m going to look for a race to target for, and go from there. New motto this year, “NO WAY AM I GETTING FAT! NO WAY!!”

By the way, I’ve weighed myself on a proper scale at the gym, and I’m only 157lbs. Small victory!

Click here for the article on weight gaining new dads.

So, when “they” tell you that Ben will grow fast, I didn’t expect it to be exponential. Case in point, as mentioned in a previous blog, Ben’s weight is over 10lbs. When we first ordered diapers prior to his birth, we ordered enough for 2 months. The organic Seventh Generation diapers we ordered were for infants size 6lbs to 10lbs. Well, at birth, he was right smack in the middle! That’s good; that gives us some breathing room.

So, last week, when my sister was over for a visit (to give Sheila some rest while she watched the Ben), Ben “leaked” all over Jen’s leg. That’s wierd! He leaked on me the day before. Maybe my diaper skills are getting shoddy. How can you screw up on a diaper? Well, you can!! Maybe we’re not putting it on tight enough!?

The next day, I come home from work and Sheila’s telling me what a rough day she’s been having! Ben wouldn’t stop crying! He PEE’D EVERYWHERE! All over his new favorite sling chair, on the couch, on the nursing pillow and on Sheila’s pants!! So, let me see..he’s peeing, and the diaper isn’t holding the pee…all of a sudden!! So, I checked the diaper “specs”!! Sure enough, it says 6lbs to 10lbs!! Well, Ben is over 10lbs now! Ah, a light comes on! So, I guess the “specs” are not just recommendations, a little diaper actually has limitations.

Suffice to say, I made an EMERGENCY purchase across the street at the local Shoppers. Our Ben is finally at the NEXT STAGE of diapers! Since Shoppers didn’t sell organic diapers, I decided to go with normal everyday Pamper diapers. Who knew even Pampers had different “MODELS”? Some are more cushioning; other are less. It’s what you want to pay. I just bought enough to last us until our next Seventh Gen order. What’s not weird? Ben can’t tell the difference. But for us, we can. WE’RE DRY AGAIN!!

It was a big day!! Really BIG! Sheila had her first hair appointment since giving birth and so she was pretty excited about getting her lid cropped. But that’s not way it was a big day. After she finished her appointment, Ben and I picked her up for lunch. We didn’t really have lunch plans; if anything, we were just going to come home for leftovers. But as soon as she got in the car, I suggested Vietnamese pho. Sheila jumped at that opportunity! The worrisome part of that was if Ben would be ok with it. IT WOULD BE HIS FIRST RESTAURANT OUTING!

As it turns our Graco car seat has a secret “infant sleeper” spray. Every time Ben sits in the car seat, he instantly falls asleep! I’m going to go out on a limb and say that all car seat manufacturers put this secret spray on their seats. Whatever “Colonel’s secret recipe” spray they use, it works. It works so good sometime babies DIE!! That’s according to a recent coroner’s report in the US that said a baby died in her car seat because it restricted the child’s air passages due to an extended stay in the car seat. The short dig on the story, this woman found that when she put her child in the car seat, she would fall asleep (sort of like Ben). So, the woman would leave her infant child in this car seat all the time (not thinking it would be a problem). She even had the child sleep in the car seat and then place the car seat in the bassinet!! WTF!!? Anyways, sadly the infant died! Suffice to say, it’s one more thing we have to worry about.

Back to our BIG DAY!! Ben made it through lunch without an incident!! It was a success. I can attribute it to a few things, 1) the car seat “secret spray” 2) the 80ml of formula I gave him before we left or 3) a clean diaper (again, before we left). Either way, Ben’s first restaurant outing won’t be his last anytime soon!

We love pho!

Here’s a link to that coroner’s car seat story: click here.

When “they” say Ben’s going to grow pretty fast, I didn’t expect it to be this fast. Ben was born 7lbs 12oz three and a half weeks ago. Within 2 days, he dropped 9% of his body weight (whatever that math works out to be…some below 7lbs). Then, once we got him onto baby formula before Sheila started producing milk, his weight gradually returned to his birth weight within the week.

Now, Ben is 3.5 weeks old and he’s officially a heavyweight. His pediatrician said he weighs a whopping 10lbs 4oz!! She didn’t use the word “whopping”; I did!! I guess he’s going through his “week 3″ growth spert. Ben’s been requesting to eat every 1.5 hours. We’re changing him once every 2 hours or so. Suffice to say, Sheila isn’t getting restful sleep. But I think she’s getting use to the “power sleeps” she is getting. At least Ben is sleeping longer throughout the night. His mom is pretty stoked about that. His dad, I’m glad to report, is official a heavy sleeper!! I don’t even hear him cry and he’s on the other side of the bed in his bassinet. Does that make me a bad father?

No! It just makes me a tired father (but a loving one)!

If you asked me over a year ago to change a diaper or even hold an infant, you would have received a resounding “No Way” from me. How times have changed. With Ben, I have no options. I’ve got to get my hands dirty. Those who know me know I’m a hygiene freak. I’ve always been afraid of germs (must have been those commercials growing up). I shower at least twice a day, but that’s more out of habit. Now, I’m way better. I don’t have an issue sharing a bottle of water with someone, I’ll sit on a public toilet (if I really need to), and I’ll even share a bite of food with someone. That would have been hard for me to do in high school.

Now, I have this child of mine who is like a whoopi cushion. You touch the kid and he farts. And if he’s been fed within the hour, that fart would definitely be accompanied by some form of crap…usually the dark mustard colour type with “bits” (he isn’t eating solids yet, so I don’t know where the “bits” come from).

Looking back on Ben’s birth date (Jan 9th), it looked pretty silly for me to go for the blue latex gloves before changing his first diaper   My mother gave me an earful for that. And with the entire family watching me change him with BARE HANDS, that was a huge milestone. Today, 3.5 weeks later, I’m expecting the crap and piss on me before it even happens…and I’m ok with that.

After all, he is my son.

I don’t have many reasons to complaing about being Canadian, BUT I have one big one!

WE DON’T GET TO SEE THE AMERICAN SUPERBOWL COMMERCIALS DURING THE SUPERBOWL!! Every since moving to Toronto over a decade ago, I’ve been stuck seeing CTV/Global’s damn INGDirect or FritoLay’s fricken commercials!! I’m tired of it!! The only chance I get to see them is online now.

So, here they are…or at least some of them!! (Click Here)

What a  Super Sunday it was!! It was +4degrees out and sunny with clear skies. It was finally time to show Ben the neighbourhood, at least College Park. So, we saddled him up in his Graco car seat and stroller and headed out into the sunshine! If anything, it was for Sheila and I to figure out how we can maneuver a stroller in and out of College Park where our favorite Metro (mainly because it’s open 24hrs), Dollarama, and Rexall Pharma Plus is.

Since having a child, one of the things we have to consider is accessibility. Aside from carrying Ben in a sling or a carrier (which I also tried out on Saturday), we are limited to the buildings that we can access, short of 2 Asians carrying the stroller up and down stairways with child in hand. Now we sort of know how people with disabilities or confined to a wheelchair feel. Going to malls and restaurants can sometime be a little cumbersome. I found out, for example, that not all subway stops are handicap accessible. The College Park station we live next to has only stairs and all the escalators only go up from the platform. Well, THAT SUCKS!! We have to take a detour and walk one stop south to Dundas station where there is an escalator (and elevator, I think). So, for people with disabilities, the TTC is kind of a pain!! Lucky we love to walk and the extra few blocks won’t hurt, but you’d figure a modern system like the TTC would be accessible at ALL STOPS!

As for the carrier, we got a hand-me-down from Sheila’s brother. It works great!! The only problem, in the winter, I don’t have a jacket huge enough to cover him. My jacket is big, but I can’t button the buttons with him in the carrier. But aside from that, I think our boy Ben loves being outdoors (just like his dad)! Although, we gave him a soother, and he was asleep for most of the trip.

We’re going to declare the “seeing the neighbourhood” trip a success!

Oh ya, the Superbowl game was one of the best games too. In the end, the Steelers stole the game with 39 seconds left to take a 27-23 lead over the Arizona Cardinals. What an amazing comeback!

Here are some links:

For the TTC maps, click here

For Superbowl results, click here