Two firsts

Guinness had two firsts; his first Christmas vacation and his first sunburn :) Probably not too many babies have that combination. Our first day at ChinChing Farm was rainy, but the second day was sunny and gorgeous. A perfect day for checking out the beautiful mountains. All of us got some red in our cheeks from the sun and wind, and Guinness has quite the little apple nose and tips of his ears. He doesn't seem to have much affinity for animals; wasn't a fan of the sheep. He LOVED all the people though, which was good as a deflector for Gemma.

First Christmas

Guinness is having an exciting first Christmas. His first party was down in Wanhua, the inner city of Taipei, to an OMF Christmas party for the ladies who work in the teashops. Some of these teashops are, hmm, shall we say special teashops in that they provide special services to a male clientele. It's not what you would expect when you think of prostitute though. Most of these women are older; in their 50's. Business was of course good when they were younger and it was a good way to make a living. But as a 50 year old it is not as easy to make money. Lots of these women have serious drug and alcohol problems. Men often just want their company and bring beer or alcohol for them and they sit and talk and talk. (these women also have serious lying problems, too, because they are so used to saying what people want to here and talking up the egos of lonely men) They are in debt to local lenders who charge outrageous interest. Anyway, our women's brunch group at church did a bunch of baking and got presents for them for this party. The party organizers wanted us to come and be a part of things so Guin and I went there with another friend this morning. There was singing, food, and a great speaker who shared her testimony interspersed with songs. We didn't stay for the presents but hopefully they were well recieved. Guinness was a star of course, being very friendly and nice. That is something so wonderful about babies; they bring joy wherever they go. A blind lady held him and her face lit up, she was so excited. He got passed around the room and made everyone happy. Except this one lady who was passed out stoned or drunk: he scratched her knee a bit as he walked by and she gave him a dirty look.

We also had a Christmas Eve party at church which was so fun. Guinness was his usual happy self. I'm sure there will be more tomorrow as he opens presents for the first time.

AHH!

Dear Guinness,

STOP EATING GARBAGE OFF THE FLOOR AND OUT OF THE DUSTPAN!! PLEASE!


In the last 2 days I removed from his mouth a coke zero lid, a pompom, the back of a sticker, a piece of kleenex he bit off, a piece of popcorn, and some unidentifiable substance that was sort of salty... GROSS!

Yes, we should have a cleaner house, hide the garbage, etc. But he fast! And I can only clean so fast, literally things get messy around here as soon as I am done cleaning it. There's no keeping up. I do not wish him to grow up faster but this stage is wearing me out :)

Baby Food

Baby food party tonight was a success! In 2 1/2 hours we made mashed potatoes with carrots and peas, chicken and broccoli, beef and spinich, and applesauce. I got 5 trays of the vegetable/meat ones and about 6 cups of applesauce yet to cube and freeze (no more ice cube trays). Plus we made supper. It's always more fun to work with someone else, and my friend Kristie who came over is very nice and sweet and we got a lot done between the two of us. Her son is 9 months old and her daughter will be three in February so our kids are pretty close. Our sons actually look a lot a like; same size, blond, blue eyes. It was cute to watch them interact because for both of them it was a first experience with a same aged 'friend'. The girls were well behaved, not sure how well they played together but there was no fighting at least.

The aftermath is all cleaned up, well ok not the floors but the dishes and the stove that I boiled over potatoes onto. Doh.

First Day at Work

The little man of the house went out for his first day of work today. He did about a dozen outfits; I didn't see it because I was at school but Ping and Gemma went. I was asking Gemma about how it went when I got home; did Guinness smile, was he cute, hat did he wear? And she answered to the last question, "He wore a funny hairband! With flowers right here (motioning to the side of her head, above her temple...)" Um, you guessed it. They couldn't find a girl baby the right size so Guinness did double duty today. Well, cute is cute and babies are babies... Can't wait to see THOSE pictures, though.

The things I am learning about advertising... Every time I look at a catalogue now I will be wondering, boy or girl?

New shoes!

Guinness got his first shoes today, thanks to Annabelle! They are very cute and soft, and he needs them since he is a walking machine now. He can get himself to standing from the floor with no support and he is picking up speed and gaining coordination. Of course the new shoes have thrown off his gait; he can't quite get them off the floor right and he looked like a drunk trying to walk in them tonight! It was really cute. I'm sure he'll get better once he practices a bit.

What do you do when...

...you are in a store and your baby barfs on the floor? We had no bag with us, so no wipes or blankets or anything like that. I just had the two kids and my wallet, because it was a just a 1/2 block trip to go get 1 thing. So I'm looking at the spit up, looking around. It was too big to leave it there, but I had no idea how to communicate my need for paper towel to the store keeper. So, since it was close to bath time and all, I just sat him down on it and wiped it up with the butt of his pants. Is that so gross?

talking is overrated

The last thing any harried mother needs is her kid to say in a completely desperate tone of voice, "mum mum mummm mum" when she leaves the room.

The "hi" and wave is super cute, though.

New stage...

Uh oh...

We are entering the Mommy stage. Daddy is pretty good, and Guinness loves his girlfriends Annanbelle and PIng, and his aunties, but when he wants mommy, he WANTS mommy. He is starting to cry when I leave for school. And in the evening if I go out. OH boy...

Double Dipping

So now that we have begun solid food I have all the work of nursing/pumping plus the added work of making baby food, feeding the food, and all the extra laundry and dishes that go with that. I wash about a million little plastic bowls in a day. Good thing babies are so cute and lovely, because they are tonnes of work :)

Step by step!

The boy took 3 steps yesterday!

Making food

Guinness is into food. He loves sweet potato, hates banana. Tonight I made peas and applesauce. (I cheated with the peas though and just bought two bags of green giant frozen peas...) Baby food is like 60 NT a jar here (2$) and I can buy the whole bag of peas for 65 NT. So I did that and bought all the sale apples, too. A few spots that I cut out, chopped 'em up and cooked them into 6 cups of applesauce. Yum yum. I did carrots last week and sweet potatoes. The potatoes I can buy at the market though, and they are so good; they've been slow cooking in these stone ovens all day so they are super soft. Less work for me, to not have to cook them myself.

He started standing this week, too.

I hope I haven't blogged this already. I didn't check what my last post was before I began.

What's he doing...

Lots of eating; he is so into solid food. Sweet potato, squash, avocado, banana. Going to make carrots and peas this week, and then some applesauce.

He can crawl under the coffee table in pursuit of an object and then can't get out. It is so funny! He has also been lunging/diving... He gets so close to something and just throws his whole self forward to try and grab it. LIke little Simba practicing his pounce!

Today, he said Dada! In context, too. That was Chris' welcome this morning. He almost said I love you, too (OK, it was more like Ay leaf oo) but it was after I said I love you and so I give him partial credit.

It's cold here, so I need to buy him a toque.

Weight; 17.6 lbs. Height; 72 cm.

Still has this cold. Needs his DPT third dose so will take him to the Dr. maybe friday.

Dr. visit

First sickness; a cold. Our little man was grouchy and fevery yesterday so we took him to the doctor. Got some medicine, and poor Guinness got his boogers sucked out, no fun. It is really amazing to me how far up your nose a hose can be pushed. Seriously, it looks like it going straight into his brain.

He started acting better after one dose, but the new doctor I am trying to go to wasn't in so we had to go to our old doctor who prescribes the poison medicine, so poor Guinness is being tortured with that 4 times a day. And he is so innocent; he loves eating and food so much the poor guy licks his lips and opens his mouth so wide for me when I hold the syringe only to get a mouthful of bitter death juice. Awww.

Danger Baby

Sigh, we have entered the danger age. Guinness can pull himself up, and has this compulsion to do it whenever he can. He will crawl to the closest object and climb up it. Doesn't matter if it has wheels (like his walker or Gemma's car) and will roll away on him. Doesn't matter that it has square edges, like the coffee table. He is not too bad, but as with every beginner, he has his slips. And of course he hits head first on the floor. All it takes is to lose concentration for a second. Or a slight slip of the foot, and bang! I got out the foam squares today and made a huge rectangle to cover as much area as I could, and of course he managed to work his way away from the foam so he could hit his head 6 inches from the foam on the floor. I tried so hard! Today he hit his head on both sides, so at least he will be even. Oh, and then he was trying to crawl but his hand slipped on his drool and he hit the floor again.
Do you cover everything with foam; every edge, corner, square inch of floor, etc? We tried that with Gemma and she would rip the foam edging off of stuff, so it was a constant re-taping of it till we finally quit. Do you keep them confined? Bring his pack and play out and let him only play in that? Or in his walker or saucer, where he can't fall? (Just kidding, I know spending too much time in walkers isn't great) Cover the whole floor in foam for the next 6 weeks? This is a terrible stage to be living in Taiwan for; what I wouldn't give for a wall to wall fuzzy carpet, or at least slightly springy laminate.

Goofball

Guinness was so funny today. He was up really earl, like 5:30, but being so cute Chris and I were both giggling at him in bed. He was climbing all around, trying to get our attention, and sticking out his tongue and figuring that out, with lots of zerbert sounds too.

Then tonight he was playing in his walker, tearing apart Gemma's bedroom of course, and when I go in to check on him, he is trying to drag out the baby stroller. That is every kid's favourite toy, even at 6months old! He had the handle in one hand and he was trying to manouver it out. When he finally gave up on that he got hold of a piece of paper, and he was just so proud of himself, he came racing out of the bedroom holding it high up above his head with this huge goofy grin, like it was the greatest treasure in the world and he had found it.

He is started on oatmeal cereal and LOVING it. Love does describe it; he is driven, passionate, completely excited by food!

Really Crawling!

He's got it! Full fledged real deal crawling. He's not a racer but he's got this confidence about him as he plots his course and heads off.

I love how he has a mind of his own, and has his own likes and dislikes. For example, when put in the walker he will choose to leave the group and go play in Gemma's bedroom. He loves to be in there, pulling the toys down, etc. So cute how he has his favorite things to do.

Pack n Play

Guinness is in his pack and play now. It is set up in the middle of his bedroom because he can pull himself to standing in his crib, and Chris and I haven't had time to lower the bottom of the crib. He can't grab on to the top of the pack n play yet, so he's been sleeping in there.

Watch your ankles!

Guinness is a mean machine in his walker, and can really get going. He can pretty much take anyone down, and was even ramping it up over the little ledges between the door from the dining room to the kitchen. He loves his 'car'.

Also so cute to watch him chase stuff. He gets fixated on a toy, and worm his way over to it. He lifts up his hand and tries to grab it, usually sending it spinning away. So he goes for it again. He's so precious and determined chasing balls around or Gemma's toy bottles and plastic food.

2 new...(technically 3)

Our little buddy got his first tooth! 2 actually, one popped through on Saturday and the other one yesterday. The bottom middle ones. He's not too fussy, gave him some tylenol twice but seems to be ok. To me the getting teeth is a tear jerking milestone. Its the end of the newborn stage, the little baby stage. I love the gummy toothless grins of babies, and their helpless cries with toothless mouths wide open. Its so sweet and innocent. My little baby is growing up, sniff sniff.

The 3rd new thing is we have some crawling action. It is the most unsophisticated crawl you've ever seen, sort of like an injured soldier throwing/puling/dragging himself through the line of fire but he is moving forward now. He puts his hands forward and pulls himself up, and then digs his feet in, one in front of the other and pushes them forward and lunges forward. Sometimes he catches himself with his hands, sometimes he ends up on his face. You can put him in one spot and he'll move about 5 feet. He gets so excited and proud; the desire to MOVE is so there. Especially when he hears my voice, or sees me across the room, then he smiles and digs in and uses every little muscle he has to get going.

So friendly

Guinness is a very sweet and easy baby. Goes with anyone (eve the Teppenyaki lady). He is getting up on all fours a lot now, but trying to move with his bum. He pumps it up and down with his legs straight. So sweet to watch. He loves to wrestle with blankets too, just grabs them and pulls them in tight and chews them and rolls and squeezes.

Crawling??

Guinness was up on all fours today! He still prefers using his forehead as a prop instead of his hands, but I couldn't believe when he was up like he was ready to crawl. He is quite the inchworm/bulldozer, digging his feet in, lifting his bum way up and pushing forward n his head/face.

Maybe now his bald spot will grow in :) But hopefully he doesn't flatten out his forehead.

Slept all night!

Yay, he slept from 8pm-5am, had a snack and is back asleep.

Thank You Lord!

Mommy??

Poor Guinness!

He is in his walker right now, 'cause we don't have an exersaucer yet and he needs a place to 'sit' and hang out. Well Gemma just realized that he is now portable. You should have seen the look on the poor boy's face as his sister walked up to his chair, grabbed it and announced she was taking him to her room, whisking him away down the hallway. "Mommy? Where am I going? You're not going to let her take me are you???? Mommy????"


Sigh, I should stop blogging and go make sure he is ok :)

8 hours

Our sleepy star went 8 hours straight last night. Did I mention how much I love this baby??????

He is also smiling up a storm. It is so cute to watch him interact with his people; his face just lights right up when someone smiles at him. He even got the 'Oh he's so cute' treatment when we are out on the town yesterday, something I wasn't expecting in the land filled with cute blond blue eyed babies. What a prize.

Guinness has slept a lot in Canada. Didn't get our usual sleep through the night last night, and he is sleeping a lot today but I am still hoping for a long sleep tonight.

I was just thinking, 1 year ago I wasn't even pregnant yet. We will still in the final rounds of 'should we/shouldn't we' debate, and now, here he is. Amazing!

HURRAY!

MY BABY SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Insert happy dance and songs of praise here!

He went to bed at 10:30, and just woke up now at 6. Of course I've been waking every half hour since 4, waiting for him to wake up and getting up to check on him (remember those days, mommies?)

Is it weird that this joyous occasion moves me to tears? Sleep deprivation is a cruel thing. Even more special is Gemma slept through the night, too.

Knock on wood fingers crossed that it happens again.

Barf Machine

He has thrown up his last 5 meals. He seems perfectly happy, still sleeps and does all his normal stuff but he can't seem to keep anything down. I just fed him a half hour ago, only for about 4 minutes and then I left him where he lay, in hopes that maybe a small meal and no jostling/moving around will help it stay in.

Uggghgg for projectile milk barf on everything!

1 month old!

I can't beleive a whole month has gone by, wowsers.

His one month checkup went fine. He screamed like crazy at the needle, poor thing! He weighs in at 11.2 pounds, and 22.5 inches. He also has hydrocele, which is pretty common in newborns and no big deal (unless it gets swollen or doesn't go away in a year.)

Guinness is fussier than Gemma was, at least that we can remember. I spend almost every evening, from 6-midnight feeding him and holding him. He doesn't want to be put down, and he cries and fusses most of that time. He is good in the day, and good at night but the evenings aren't his thing. Oh, and he can tell when he is being held sitting down, and then he cries. He likes to be held upright and to be walked around the house. He ate like a pig today so hopefully he has a good sleep now, and not too much tummy trouble.

Bath time fountain

So I was giving Guinness a bath tonight, mostly for cleanliness but also because it was 10:30 pm, not feeding time yet but I was getting tired of pacing the house with him and needed something to do. And I found the advantage of fountain peeing; he peed and it went right up over the edge of the tub, so hardly any got in the actual bath water. Nice!

Of course he pooped minutes later... drats!

Guinness News

We have belly button! The stump fell off earlier this week. Gemma kept calling it poop, so I am glad we can put that behind us.

He has been a little fussy lately, crying when he is awake and wanting to be held. But he can tell if you are not standing up and holding him, so despite my million efforts to sit down in the rocking chair he insists on being carried around the house. I think he is having gas issues, so I am examining everything I eat, and trying to not overfeed him. Also had two projectile vomits this week. Nothing like the sound of gagging followed by the SPLAT of milk hitting the tile floor from shoulder height.

AND he smiled at me yesterday! Might have just been a well timed gas smile, but I looked at him and said Hi Guinness and I got a great little grin :) How sweet.

Guinness' first Easter

Passports and Penises

Yay, we did it! With only one trip to the Canadian Trade Office, Guinness will have a passport in 2 weeks and citizenship in about a year. The people were so kind and friendly. What a relief, I think it took us 3 trips with Gemma by the time we got it all right.

Took Guinness to the Dr. tonight; he's all stuffed up and makes these snorting sounds when he is eating because of all his boogers. Nothing serious, just a cold so that is also good. Pray it goes away soon!

And a Dr. Lee story... You have to know that Dr. Lee really likes Chris and always jokes around with him and converses with him a lot when he is there. So when Chris went in today to get Dr. Lee to be the guarantor for Guinness' passport, Dr. Lee told Chirs, "You know, your son has a pretty big penis. Much bigger than Chinese babies." So of course Chris got into the manly game and said "good good" and Dr. Lee said, "But don't worry; I didn't charge you more." (in reference to the circumcision) What a joker, eh? (I hope this story is as funny online as it is in real life)

Passport photos

It is time for Guinness to make his way into the bureaucracy and the paper trail begins... We will begn his passport application process and Canadian citizenship application stuff hopefully tomorrow. First step; passport photos. I am sure I blogged about this with Gemma too, but it so silly. The whole mouth closed, eyes open, both ears visible. He had a snack around lunch time and stayed awake and alert so I ran to the photo shop on the corner and said Quickly! He is not crying or sleeping and we managed to get a good shot in about 5 minutes. I draped a white blanket over me and then try to hold him up on my chest with my hands under the blanket, trying to keep his head sort of looking up and straight and praying he does his part by keeping his mouth closed. Then we did some more reading and citizenship photos are different than passport photos, so I printed off those regulations and went back to the photo shop to order those.

What else to do? Chris went and picked up the English birth certificate today. I got all of our ID out. Next on the list; print off neccessary paper work and fill it out. Then a trip to the Canadian trade office. Hopefully only one trip but I am not getting my hopes up.

Guinness has been so great, pheww! He sleeps well at night, only waking up once to eat. He sleeps most of the day, too, but wakes up to look around every few hours. Gemma always exclaims, "His eyes are open!!!".

He has some gas issues and he cries out when he is trying to poop and fart; poor thing! Ovul seems to help. Mostly though he is very cute and sweet and I just can't get over how awesome he is. I can't believe he is 2 weeks old already; it seems like just a day or two ago.

New McKenzie Website

New website address: http://web.me.com/chrismckenzie/themckenzies

With the arrival of Guinness (our new son) I realized that we would need a new blog for the little guy. I also started thinking of you the readers (potential readers) and how bothersome it would be to jump back and forth between 4 blogs and a Flickr site. So what I've done is created a website that hosts all four of our McKenzie blogs and that gives us an opportunity to share so much more....like photos and videos. I'm using a hosting service that tends to be a bit slow loading, so I apologize for that, but I hope you'll enjoy the new look. Please remember to "bookmark" this page or save it in your "favorites".

From now on rather than going to our individual blogs just head to our one main website and everything you need is there.

Hi I'm Guinness!

I was born on March 27 at 8:08 am. My full name is Guinness Ross McKenzie. I weighed in at a whopping 3840 g/8 lbs 4 oz and I'm 52 cm/20.5 in tall. Thanks for reading my new blog...check back in for regular updates and pictures.