The Zhan Crew

Feb 10, 2019

Travel to the Midwest

February 10, 2019 0
Travel to the Midwest
Jimmy took a week off to travel with us across the Midwest, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. On the way, we visited several big cities including Cleveland, Detriot, Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Omaha, and Bentonville. We also experienced Polar Vortex 2019. At one point, we experienced -27F in Iowa! Some cars wouldn't even start! Our F150 survived the arctic weather!

We are big fans of Ford, so we visited our truck's birthplace in Kansas City. It is gigantic! I wish I could get another F150! 😉 Do you know that Sam Walton also drove an F150? We also visited Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for Jimmy's checkup.

Our less than one-month-old son also traveled with us. He was very cooperative. He enjoyed the white noise generated by our truck and the wind. He slept most of the way and occasionally cried for his milk. We couldn't sleep in our truck like the old days because of the baby, so we booked several hotels on the way. 

When we reached Arkansas, the weather was already in the 60s! We had a nice drive back from the northwest of Arkansas to the northeast of Arkansas. To be home on time, Jimmy drove 27 hours nonstop back to Upstate New York.

This was captured in Ohio. Baby Kieran feels safe in daddy's arm!
In the same hotel! After drinking and puking, he is finally happy!
Captured in Rochester, MN when daddy went to Mayo Clinic.
Captured in Arkansas. Daddy is showing baby Kieran a YouTube Video.
Caught my son opening up a pub in Minneapolis! 😜
Sundogs captured somewhere in Iowa!
So cold.........
Driving through Omaha, NE. What L Street?
Heading into Kansas City! Good weather!
Here is the Walmart Museum in Bentonville, AR.
Diaper, feed, and travel! Life is too good!
After this trip, I am one-month-old!!!

Jan 20, 2019

New Mom Experience

January 20, 2019 0
New Mom Experience
My baby used to be 100% nocturnal! That meant no sleep for me at all during night time. I had to try to open up my eyes without falling asleep to feed him and change his diaper. His digestive system was rapid at digesting. One bit of milk immediately turned into pee and poop. I am officially a diaper expert and knows exactly when to change his diaper without being sprayed.

Nowadays, in the morning when he is fully awake, I put on some classical lullabies for him to listen. Surprisingly, he loves music a lot! He becomes calmer and more relaxed. I also do activities with him such as the baby tummy exercise. He is already on his way to crawl! We have a super awesome monkey seat for him. He loves to dance through the songs from the monkey seat. I am so proud to be his mom. All these activities eventually tire him out. Now, he wakes up twice in the night. It is so awesome that baby Kieran cooperates with us. He is such a sweetheart.

Today was his first time to go offroading in the blizzard and dining out with us. He was surprisingly behaving! He loved riding in our F150 like he used to in my belly. After we came home, he gave me a big smile! He was such a happy and adventurous baby!

Yes! Kieran was dining with us in the restaurant!
New York State had gone mad with the snow!
Our adventure vehicle was covered with snow!

Jan 13, 2019

New Mom Lessons Learned

January 13, 2019 0
New Mom Lessons Learned
Sleepy Baby Kieran
My baby is so precious and perfect. I don't want anything to go wrong with him. One interesting fact about my baby at the moment is that he is nocturnal. He won't sleep until 5 AM. He wakes up quite frequently around nighttime, so that means a lot of feeding and diaper change. In this post, I am going to recommend several products I use for my baby and me to keep both of us healthy and protected.

My newborn baby has encountered diaper rash, dry skin, and jaundice. On the other hand, for me, I have encountered sore nipples from breastfeeding.

For the Baby

1. Diaper Rash

For his diaper rash, I use Vaseline and Desitin Rapid Relief. You can find the red diaper rash around where he pees and poops. The products mentioned here are recommended by Kieran's pediatrician. I use HUGGIES diapers, and I change his diapers very frequently just in case his butt is drained in poop and pee for too long which causes diaper rash. These two products can be found in Walmart and Amazon. Nowadays, I just order everything on Amazon! Free shipping is really good!

2. Dry Skin

We live in the north so the winter here can be really dry. I can see my baby's skin is peeling off on his hands and feet. I was really worried. However, thanks to our helpful pediatrician, we found a really great product to keep Kieran's skin moisturized: Aquaphor. Now my baby's skin is smooth again!

3. Jaundice

According to Mayo Clinic, infant jaundice is yellow discoloration of a newborn baby's skin and eyes. He was doing fine when he was just born; however, his jaundice level rose a couple of days later. He also lost weight. Later we learned that he was not drinking enough milk. Thank God there was supplement milk called Similac. He also had plenty of sunshine time! A week later, he did not only gained weight, but also his jaundice level decreased.


For Mamas

1. Sore Nipples from Breastfeeding

In the beginning, my baby was literally sucking my blood out of my nipples. I had really bad blisters. I then noticed his pee pee contained the blood he sucked out from my breasts. The hospital staff then introduced me to Lansinoh Lanolin Nipple Cream. It was great! Days later, my blisters healed. I also invested in a breast pump. It gives both the baby and me an easier time. The great thing about breast pumps is that I know how much milk I am producing. The pre-pumped milk can be stored or be fed right the way! One last thing, don't forget to burp your baby!