It's a peaceful night

Landus is sleeping in our new bed soundly. Well, occasionally he squirms around to exercise his legs/arms muscles. James is studying at the dining table quietly. I am waiting in our Son's room, waiting for his wake-up so that I can give him the last breast feeding before both he and I can go to our respective bed.

Landus has been a super good boy to us. Last night he fell to sleep around 10:45pm and didn't wake up until 4:45am. Almost 6 hours. Can you believe it from a one-month old baby. Well, he is much demanding during the daytime. He needs cluster feeding and attention/holding all the time. We just went to his one month check up on Thursday and everything went well. He has been growing quite fast:

Length: 24 inches (95 percentile)
Weight: 10 lb 9.4 oz (75 percentile)

This is the biggest reward for my occasional painful breastfeeding. I developed mastitis last week and the pain was not less than child birth. But now it's getting better and the breast feeding is much easier. Now I am doing exclusive breast feeding. I am wondering whether I should start to store some breast milk, to be ready for my return to work in a couple of months.

I enjoy taking care of Landus most time, but sometimes I do feel I am stuck here, at home. From time to time, I use baby carrier to take him down hill to visit James in the library, or do some grocery in a small farmer's market near campus. But it will be great if I can take him to the mall, to the city library, or somewhere else that requires more than 1 hour. But I worry he will need to be fed and I don't know how to handle breastfeeding in the public.

From last Saturday, we formally started our life of three after my parents' departure. It's not too bad. I managed my lunch to be simple and easy to cook. James always takes the last shuttle back home to cook or watch Landus so that I can cook. Every night, after Landus has the last feeding, James needs to comfort him before putting him back to the crib. Then we can spend some time in our room, talking while holding each other, which reminds me of our wonderful twosome life. Afterwards, James goes back to study and I try to get some sleep before being waken up by the monitor. Just like one of Landus's favorite song "Beautiful Boy" said, "every day in every way, it's getting better and better".

Veteran's Day

Wow, it's crazy how fast time flies. It's already been two weeks since our last entry. Well, I hope you will excuse our busy schedules. This past week, UCSF threw its annual class play, hosted by second year med students. The whole play was very funny, even for non-med students. I took part in it; my job was to sing the Tony Bennett standard, "I left my heart in San Francisco"...

...Changed slightly to "I left YOUR heart in San Francisco". (I play a transplant surgeon who mistakes the organ run box for his lunch. Oops.) Singing in a crowded, packed, standing-room only hall, you just have to assume you don't sound too foolish, and hope that you don't get thrown off by all the noise. Actually, with all the spotlights, it was quite easy to imagine that I was singing in an empty room, since I couldn't see a single thing in all the white light. Overall, it went pretty well. Can't wait for the DVD, so I can show Yu, since she wasn't able to make it.

On Friday, we celebrated our last night that we could feasibly go out on our own for a long while, because Yu's parents were still around to babysit Landus(they left on Saturday). We went to Aziza in the Richmond District. The chef and owner describes his own cuisine as "upscale moroccan with californian influences." It was listed as one of the top restaurants in the Bay Area, and I would definitely have to agree -- really well done moroccan dishes blended with a light californian flair; a hint of Chinese greens here, a beet reduction there, and everything done organic and sustainably. But the coolest thing about Aziza was the setting; it's not often that high-class food is served in a laid-back lounge setting, replete with comfy couches and extra-thick pillows. It's enough to make us feel like Moroccan royalty. Check out their webpage and tell me you're not interested in going there!
Aziza
I particularly like this part: "after receiving his master’s degree in economics (and a great deal of positive input on his cuisine), lahlou had intended to continue his work towards a ph.d. however, recognizing that his potential in the kitchen was not to be taken lightly, lahlou postponed his academic career in order to supervise the kitchen at kasbah." Excellent decision, mate!

Yesterday, Veteran's Day, was Landus's 1-month old date. It makes me wonder about all the soldiers serving this country, and how many of them are unable to see their wives and children. What a damn shame to die in the desert, thousands of miles from home and no end in sight. God bless them all, I hope they come home safely.

Today, we took Landus on his first journey using the stroller to Spreckels Lake in GGP.
More pics can be found on our Picasa site.