Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We went to Lia's one month check-up last week, so it's about time we got things started here.

Lia was born on January 11, 2008, at 12:12 pm, three days past her supposed due date. She was 8 lbs, 10 oz and 20 inches long and came out screaming. Jeff says that her head came out, then her right arm and she screamed right away. The doctor was laughing that Lia couldn't even wait to get all the way out before screaming. And her screams were very different from Ian's. She sounded like a cat screeching and was really loud. But just like Ian, she had a full head of black hair and sneezed right away.

I started having contractions the Saturday night before she was born and Abuelita rushed up from Manhattan to stay with us in case we had to go. Turns out I was having Braxton-Hicks and they lasted for the next few days. Once we got to the due date and nothing was happening, we decided to plan to induce on the 11th, which is exactly what happened.

So here are the pictures of Lia's first day in the world:

2008-01-11 Lia's Birthday

Who says that the second child doesn't have any pictures taken? We had Abuelita, Tia Cindy and Tio Dennis come visit us, as well as Auntie Andrea and Auntie Helen, so tons of photos were taken.

We were released from the hospital on Sunday, Jan. 13, and Wai Gong came back from Long Island in the afternoon, and then went to the airport in the evening to pick up Wai Po. Wai Po's timing has been pretty good -- she arrived the night Ian got out of the hospital as well.

Lia has been a pretty good baby so far. When she was released from the hospital, she was slightly jaundiced and had dropped down to 8 lbs. The following morning, we went to the doctor and she was down to 7 lb, 13 oz. Ian never dropped that much weight, but then again, he was on formula right away. Lia didn't take any formula until we got home. The doctor told us to give her formula to help with the jaundice. She had slept for 5 hours straight and the doctor said to wake her up to feed every 3 hours, just to get over the jaundice. She's given us a few nights of 6-7.5 hour stretches, so thank goodness for that. Generally, though, she can go for 3 hours or so between feedings and seems to be moving toward 4. She can suck down 4 ounces of formula in 15 minutes and we may be upping that soon. I'm happy to report that the jaundice has cleared up nicely and at her two week checkup, she weighed 8 lbs, 13 oz. At her one month checkup, she weighed 10 lbs, 9 oz and measured 21.5 inches long!

Here are more photos from the rest of January:

2008-01-12 Lia's January pictures

I also have to say that she is the snortiest, gruntiest baby I've ever heard. She started making noises from day one. When she slept, she would make these sighing and grunting noises. Jeff said they were the same noises I was making in the third trimester while I was sleeping. So either I was transmitting and magnifying her noises or she picked them up from me.

She's already following us with her eyes and she smiles when she's just about to fall asleep. She has laughed out loud while sleeping and it is just so cute! I could have sworn that she smiled at me consciously tonight, though, but it was probably just wishful thinking. They say that when newborns smile, they are actually just passing gas. She has a very sweet smile and I can't wait to see her first true smile.