The Pudge Factor

The Hsu family left after a few days. We got plenty of photos with Zoë before everyone left.
Because we took so many photos, Lisa and I noticed how much weight our peanut has gained since our earlier photos of her. She now weighs over 8 pounds but see for yourself. She certainly has the pudgy thing going for her.
We also snapped two other cute photos of Zoë: breastfeeding with her beautiful eyes open and of her enjoying tummy time. We've started placing her on her belly for a few minutes during the day so she can get some neck and extremity exercises. She seems to really enjoy it!

Zoë's first (Chinese) Thanksgiving

Zoë's first Thanksgiving was a relaxing one with the Hsu family. Grandpa Hsu, or Agong in Taiwanese, arrived last night before the Chicago snow advisory started. Though the snow accumulation, which was practically nil, was disappointing, it was Agong's first encounter and the excitement made up for the lack of snow.

Thanksgiving day was a day of complete relaxation. There were some flurries, and while the grandparents watched Zoë, Lisa and I went on our separate runs outside bundled in our thermal wear. I was actually surprised how many runners I encountered on the path because it was quite cold (about 25 degrees with wind chill). Our runs allowed us to give in to our Thanksgiving gluttony with significantly less guilt. We celebrated the holiday in a non-traditional style from an American standpoint - no turkey, stuffing or mashed potatoes. I'm actually not a huge fan of turkey but prefer duck or a fat goose. But we didn't have that either. Rather, Lisa and I opted for a traditional Chinese hotpot. Hotpot is a communal meal where people sit around a boiling stew filled with thinly shaved meats (chicken, pork and beef), various vegetables such as cabbage and mushrooms, tofu, glass noodles and seafood (whole shrimp, shrimp dumplings and fish/shrimp balls). All these delicious morsels are cooked in a boiling cauldron in the middle of the table. One simply scoops an item from the pot with a spoon and dip the item in a special Chinese dipping sauce. It's divine. Plus, there are plenty of leftovers for days to come. In fact, the flavors meld together much better with each passing day. I'm hungry just typing this.
Thanksgiving was therefore celebrated thus so. Zoë was dressed in her best Thanksgiving outfit. We went a little crazy with the camera (again) and therefore snapped tons of photos of her in her Thanksgiving wear. Happy Turkey Day!

The Many Faces of Zoë

My kid has definitely acquired a personality that has been very noticeable with each passing week. Lisa and I are now camera addicts and try to snap as many pictures of Zoë as we can. We've therefore acquired quite a diverse collection of Zoë pictures. It's awesome to see her personality developing, and you can definitely see it in this photo compilation I like to call, "The Many Faces of Zoë."

The Hsu family visits Zoë

My mom came into town from L.A. over a week ago followed by my sister from NYC a few days later. My dad will be here right before Thanksgiving. Everyone really has enjoyed meeting Zoë. Since birth she has gained exactly 2 pounds and therefore weighs exactly 7 pounds now. Lisa and I can definitely see the weight gain in her because her cheeks are like giant squishy apples and she has three, yes three, chins. She has become our little fatty and has therefore earned such nicknames as Piglet, pork roast, ham-hock, Christmas ham . . . come to think of it, we've pretty much given her every existing pork product as her nickname. Check out some of the recent family photos.

I've been on vacation and have enjoyed spending time with her tremendously. Her hours are getting a little better - last night she slept for about 4 straight hours!
This will be a fun Thanksgiving because Zoë has and will be really entertaining. I hope all you readers have a wonderful holiday too!

Sleep deprivation

It has been awhile since I've posted. The only reason is that time and sleep have been precious commodities in our household. Since Zoë has come into our lives, we have turned our lives around based on her hour-to-hour needs. On top of this, I have had to take overnight call every fourth night. I have been known on the gen peds team as the "black cloud". The black cloud in residency is known as the person who gets the most admissions, experiences the busiest call nights and therefore gets the least amount of sleep. I have averaged per call night 9-10 patient admissions meaning that I essentially have most of the patients on the gen peds service (the max number of patients is 15 patients). This also equates to about 0.5-2 hours of sleep per call night. Ironically, I get more consistent sleep on my call nights than I do at home. The person on call is expected to go home by 1pm the next day to catch up on sleep. Normally, I'd crash for about 3 hours but napping is dependent on how Zoë and Lisa are doing so sometimes I don't really get a nap in until bedtime when I'm actually supposed to get to bed. Sleep deprivation is a strange thing. My sleep is more deep which one would think would lead to more restful sleep, but actually, it does the opposite. I feel like I blink and 3 hours have passed.

Regardless, I love being Dad. It's hard work but has been one of the most fulfilling experiences. Furthermore, Zoë's personality has been maturing every week. It is such a joy to see her personality come out.
Zoë still gets up every 2-3 hours (if we're lucky she will sleep for 4 straight hours) to feed or have her diaper changed. I think I've gotten the diaper changing down to a NASCAR-like sport: I have a 5 second window between taking her dirty diaper off, wiping her clean and putting on the fresh diaper before she pees everywhere. Oh yeah, did I also add that I can sort of do it in the dark? Needless to say, she still is able to sneak one by us and pees between the diaper transfer. As a result, we have a high turnover in clothes. Thank goodness people got us lots of baby clothes. I will post all the wonderful clothes Zoë has received in another post soon.
We've also received a few visitors since the last post. Lisa's mom left about a week ago but we've had quite a few visitors right before she left and in the past few days. A fellow pediatric resident, Jen, has stopped by, my aunt Amy and uncle Ken, Lisa's brothers and her brother's girlfriend, and our friend Lisa G. have all stopped by to visit Zoë. She's a popular girl!