Getting Better

Baby Eczema

Joaquin has been having very bad skin lately. First we thought it was due to change of weather and his skin is not used to dry air but soon the condition spread to his body. Last week, he kept scratching himself awake at night every hour. No one was getting any sleep under our roof. During the day, he then goes into this perpetual grouchy mode. When we had our 6 months check up yesterday, the doctor was also concerned. He told us to carefully watch the types of solids he is having and to also switch his formula to soy-based formula. He also gave us moisturizers to alleviate his skin, which had started to peel. We cut out formula from his diet and also stick to only rice cereal and pear to make sure his skin does not get any worse. Thankfully, his skin is already a lot better today!
Sadly, I had to leave for the airport right after his afternoon nap and will be away for the next 5 days. Cannot wait to kiss his plushy, soft cheeks again.

P.S. 6-month stats:
Weight: 21 lbs (above 100th percentile)
Height: 70 cm (95th percentile)
Head Circumference: 47.5 cm (off the chart again!)

What Kind of Animal am I?

So yesterday I had to bring back almost 2 liters of breast milk from Beijing after a two-day business trip. I was sure that the security x-ray would not catch me but I was wrong. The security guy asked me what was inside my cooler and I said "breast milk". I had to explain to him how as a working mother I needed to make sure my baby at home gets fresh breast milk and how I'm scared of any types of formula.
He seemed moved by my plead but reiterated that the amount of liquid exceeds the set limit. He then took me to his supervisor. He said to the supervisor "we've got breast milk here" and she looked passed me and asked "from what kind of animal?" I answered with dignity. Luckily, my kind of animal was apparently on the pre-approved list...

First Solids

Joaquin has been sitting with us every evening when we have dinner and has been showing keen interest in food. I have been giving him some fruits to lick on and he gets really excited when he gets to do that. We wanted to hold off giving him solids until after he is 6 months old. He now eats 210-230ml each meal and eats 6-7 meals a day. However, lately he has been waking up at night every two hours since I guess breast milk alone can no longer support his 22-lb body. Yesterday we decided to give him rice cereal and see how well he can swallow. As expected, being able to eat is never an issue for him!

Public Transportation

For the past few days I have been trying to be a good citizen by attempting to take public transportation to go to work. First day I took the bus which dropped me off four big blocks away from work so it took me 40 minutes (vs. 15 minutes by taxi). On the way home, I took a taxi who took me to opposite direction and cost me twice as much taxi fare to go home. Today I took another bus which dropped me off two block away but I needed to walk 10 minutes to catch the bus. Total journey time is again 30 minutes. I had to take the taxi home again since Joaquin is hungry and I was running late. Luckily, this time I walked for 15 minutes first so my taxi ride will be short. Tomorrow I'm going to try out another bus to see if I can get to work faster. It's not easy but it saves money and reduces carbon emission. I'm not the only good citizen as I notice taxi queues are visibly shorter these days. Obviously the melting stock market is far more powerful than Al Gore's cry to save our melting planet.

Embrace the Financial Ice Age

When it began 6 weeks ago, it was called a financial storm. The general public were in shock but they were somewhat happy to see the Wall Street bankers punished for their greed. Then the storm became tsunami, swallowing up the other side of the Atlantic. Currencies fell in a record speed against the Dollar. Overnight, people see their wealth evaporate and purchasing power decrease. Fundamentals are thrown out of window. This week the tsunami turned into ice storm, freezing up emerging markets which in less than six months ago were over heating to now colder than your freezer. Many now are reported to be on the brink of bankruptcy. Much like Fuld of Lehman who didn't see it coming, we also didn't see it coming (even Mr. Greenspan was blind sighted). I now feel like I'm a character in "The Day after Tomorrow" standing cold in a frozen world and wondering why we were not given warning signs.

But warning signs were there, many can now point back to them with a perfect hindsight. I knew Yen was going to go up and bought into Yen more than one year ago but only to lose my patience and sold it 3 months too early. I should have sold my stock which six months ago were valued at 2 or 3 times their value today. Too many I should haves but the most important thing at the end of the day is to say 'thank you': thank you for keeping my friends and family being healthy; thank you for keeping me in good health; thank you for not having to worry about where to sleep and what to eat; thank you for having enough so I can afford to have all these "I should haves" laments; and thank you for giving me a happy and healthy baby and a loving husband so together as a family we can keep each other warm and be ready to embrace this ice age.

Who are you calling a gordito?