Three Weeks Old

Lucas is three weeks old today. He's doing pretty good weight-wise, he's now at 7 lbs. 5 ounces (as of last Thursday), so he's gaining about 1.5 ounces per day. His jaundice is also almost completely gone. We're still adapting to the new routine, but I think we're slowly getting used to it.

Online Mii Editor

We haven't had much time to play with our Nintendo Wii for a while now that Lucas has taken up most of our free time, but I did find a cool online Mii editor to create online versions of our Miis. In case you didn't know, a Mii is an avatar that is used to represent the player in the Wii world. If you have a Wii, this is worth trying out! Here are the Beltran Miis.

Fatwallet.com

One of the websites that I visit daily is Fatwallet.com. I make sure to check out the Hot Deals forum for any great deals and coupons before I do any B&M (brick-and-mortar) or online shopping. I also check out the latest online savings rates and certificate of deposit rates in the Finance forum. Plus, I've received tons of free stuff (like the Caring for Your Baby and Young Child book) just by checking their Free Stuff forum.

Also, I've received cash back from online shopping by first linking through the "stores" section of Fatwallet. For example, I just purchased a new pair of Nike Shox running shoes from Finishline.com. What I did was to first visit Finishline's storefront at Fatwallet, then clicked through to the actual Finishline.com site. Doing this nets Fatwallet a percentage of fees due to the linkage, and the best part is Fatwallet gives back this profit to the shopper - in Finishline's case I received 5% cash back of my purchase price (which Fatwallet accumulates in an account that you can request payment from anytime). Plus, I was able to use a coupon code that I found in the Hot Deals forum. In total, I saved $42 total on that one transaction alone. Can't do that at the mall!

You can also "subscribe" to specific search topics so that Fatwallet will send you an email regarding deals just on those topics. For example, I subscribe to "diapers" so that I am instantly notified of any diaper sales going on.

It's an extremely useful site - I recommend it to anyone who wants to get the best deal when shopping. It's also a very useful personal finance site. It's where I got the idea for my favorite rewards cards, our 6.01% CD, and our 5.25% online savings account. You can also subscribe to the forums via RSS to make finding the deals easier.

Two Weeks Old

Lucas is two weeks old today! Here's a picture of him when he was just two days old taken at the hospital.

Earth Day 2007

Tomorrow is Earth Day 2007. What are you doing to help save our Planet Earth? Here are ten things we do to help:

1. Nearly all of our light bulbs are CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs). Not only do we save money on our electric bill, we also help prevent additional carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
2. We recycle nearly all of our plastics, aluminum cans, newspapers, junk mail, and glass bottles. Not only does this help reduce landfill usage, we also make some money - about $30 per month.
3. While we still use plastic bags, which can take up to 1,000 years to decompose, we also use them to line our trash cans, reducing the need for us to buy additional plastic trash bags.
4. We live near our jobs, meaning that we consume less gasoline commuting. We also bunch our errands together on one or two car trips. This results in an average gasoline cost of $150 - $200 per month for two cars.
5. We use the Energy Star settings on our refrigerator, washing machine, and dryer.
6. We run the lawn sprinklers manually once a week, drastically reducing unnecessary water usage.
7. We use low flow shower heads and low flow toilets in our two bathrooms.
8. We've installed fiberglass insulation to help keep the internal temperature moderate throughout the day.
9. We try to purchase consumable products in bulk - helping reduce packaging and waste costs.
10. Finally, we try not to be wasteful in anything we do and anything we use.

Our household electric/natural gas bill is about $60, and the water bill is about $20. This is not just about saving money though - it's also about saving the planet. Every little thing counts.

Caring for Your Baby and Young Child

An excellent reference book for all parents, especially first-time parents, is Caring for Your Baby and Young Child by renowned pediatricians Shelov and Hanneman. We're thumbing through this book now, learning the intricacies of caring for a newborn. In there you will find:

• Basic care from infancy through age five
• Guidelines and milestones for physical, emotional, social, and cognitive growth
• A complete health encyclopedia covering injuries, illnesses, congenital diseases, and other disabilities
• Guidelines for prenatal and newborn care
• An in-depth guide to breastfeeding
• A complete guide for immunizations and updated information on vaccines
• A guide for choosing child care programs and car safety seats

Luckily, I was able to score a free copy of the book online, but you can pick one up for $16 at bn.com or also from eBay. Highly recommended.

Grandparents

Here's a collection of Lucas' pictures with his grandparents.

One Week Old

Hard to believe but Lucas is one week old today! He's doing great, just a mild case of jaundice that we're hoping to clear up this week. He's feeding every 2 hours and he's almost like clockwork. Lediya and I are getting more attuned to his schedule so we're getting a bit more sleep at night. We've also learned to take naps while he's asleep during the day.

Baby Bargains

We're now flipping through Denise and Alan Fields' Baby Bargains and wish we read it a few months ago. It's an excellent reference book that covers the whole spectrum of baby items - cribs, high chairs, car seats, formula, diapers, nursery furniture, strollers, clothing, etc. They review the items and, based additionally on thousands of reader feedback, give the products a rating grade. They also run a cost-benefit analysis of the products and provide links to where the products can be bought for less than retail. The authors promise that the average reader will save 20 - 30% off retail prices.

We highly recommend this book to expecting parents-to-be to get before the baby shower! I picked our copy up from bn.com for $15 shipped.

Happiest Baby on the Block

We've been kind of "forced" to read Dr. Harvey Karp's The Happiest Baby on the Block (thanks Tek) to help us out with Lucas. The book has five main tenets on how to activate the calming reflex on babies called the five "S's." They are:

1. Swaddling - tight and snug swaddling helps set the stage for the rest of the five.
2. Side/Stomach - rolling the infant into his side or stomach (ie "football hold") can activate the calming reflex within seconds.
3. Shhhh - Shushing crying babies mimic the sounds of shushing in the womb, but this needs to be done at the same loudness level.
4. Swinging - energetic and vigorous swinging can result in a trance for the baby. 5. Sucking - the breast or pacifier leads to soothing.

We've tried all five and can attest that it works. We can usually calm him down in a minute when he cries.

Kaelyn and Lucas

Kaelyn and Lucas met for the first time today. They are almost 10 months apart (Kaelyn just turned 10 months old last Friday) and you can totally tell the size difference in the picture. Kaelyn does acknowledge that there is a little baby there. It's great to see the first cousins together for the first time. They will be growing up together and Lucas will respect his ate (Tagalog for big sister) for the rest of their lives. This is the first of many pictures together.

Lucas Is Now Home

We're now back home with Lucas. Let's hope that he gets adjusted quickly and easily. Here's a picture of mom with Lucas on the Boppy pillow. Wish us luck!

Meet the Beltran Family

Here's our first picture as a family. Lucas is now 1 day and 3 hours old. Quick summary of events: last night Lucas was mostly quiet but he didn't sleep that well as he had some congestion throughout the night. So, we both only ended up sleeping about 2 non-continuous hours.

There was a lot of action today for Lucas. First, he was circumcised, then he was administered a couple of shots. He also took a hearing test. He was also examined by several different people who had cold hands. He's fussier today because of the pain from the circumcision, which makes changing his diaper way more difficult and heart-wrenching from the little fella's cries. But, it should heal in 10 days or so.
He just got back right now from a bath and a weighing in - as expected by the pediatrician he's lost 10% of his birth weight. He's now 5 pounds 8 ounces. He will gain the weight back in 2 weeks as he adjusts to the milk. He's feeding well though, mom is close to nailing down the latching technique. Tomorrow, he's got one more blood test to go and then we go home!

Also, we found that holding and swaddling Lucas tight calms him down. From his perspective, it's a strange new world so recreating that snug environment that he was in for 38 weeks is comforting.

Finally, thank you everyone for the support and congratulations during this exciting time!

More Pictures of Lucas

Here are more pictures of Lucas from tonight!

Lucas Patrick is Here!

Born April 8, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. 5 pounds, 13 ounces and 21 inches long. Both mom and baby are doing great!

Off to the Hospital!

Happy Easter! Lediya's water broke early this morning (4:10 a.m.) so we are now at the hospital. She's feeling great with contractions starting to kick in. Wish us luck for a safe and healthy delivery for mom and baby!

God of War II

Picked up God of War II for the PlayStation 2 yesterday and just started it today. So far the game is pretty awesome. It continues right after the events of the original game, with the main character Kratos assuming the throne of the former god of war Ares. This time, he exacts revenge against the mightiest Olympian god of all, Zeus.

This game has been dubbed as the PlayStation 2's swan song and it does not disappoint. Graphics are unreal (480p) and the storyline is filled with the best of Greek mythology. I think it might even be better than the original. It uses up every ounce of processing power of the PlayStation 2 and in my opinion is one of the best titles on it ever.

I thought that I could squeeze this last game in before Lucas arrives later this month, cause I won't be playing any video games for a long while.

Week 37

Lediya is officially full-term this week! We have another appointment on Wednesday, after that it will be weekly until the due date. She's doing great!