Playdate, Physical Therapy, Lola's 100th Day, Michael's Birthday

Whoa, it has been a busy week since my last post!

Let's kick off with my first activity Wednesday last week - lunch with my two girlfriends and their babies at the restaurant Metropolitan in Sai Ying Pun!  It was Lola's and my first venture out by ourselves, and I was a bit nervous about it, but it turned out very well.  She had to eat as soon as we got to the restaurant, but then with the noise and commotion in the restaurant, she couldn't concentrate on eating and kept looking around.  Much to my surprise, she was pretty calm and didn't fuss, falling asleep pretty easily in her stroller.  She also handled being held by strangers very well.

Then we were off to physical therapy on Thursday, for Lola's head tilt.  We had noticed that she always leaned her head to the right whenever she was on her back or in her bouncer.  She also seemed to prefer sleeping facing the right (with her right cheek on the mattress).  Well, turns out it is torticollis, a pretty common condition in babies now that they sleep on their backs and not their bellies due to SIDS risk, and it is important to address before it leads to developmental issues, but can usually be treated with regular and consistent stretches and exercises.

Whoa, this is a new position

What do you want me to do?!

Ugh, this is not a fun pose.

Lola hated her session, particularly one of the exercises that caused her to turn bright red and cry inconsolably.  Her crying made me so sad, but I also knew it was good for her and I'm so grateful that we got it checked out.  We probably should have gone even earlier.  The good news, though, is that after not even a week of stretches and lots of tummy time, she seems to be gaining more strength and I think (hope) there has been visible improvement.

Here she is, cheating at tummy time... but being irresistibly cute while doing so!

It's now basically tummy time all the time around these parts

Then we had a little party in our apartment because Lola turned 100 days old on March 10!  In Chinese cultures, the 100th day is a really big celebration.  It coincidentally was also Michael's birthday, so it was a great day full of (too many) cakes.  Lola got pictures taken with her mommy and daddy.

A couple of my friends came over and generously brought a beautiful and delicious Earl Grey cake from la famille.

That night, to celebrate Michael's birthday (he's claiming it's his 32nd), I took him to Caprice.  We got dressed up for the first time in what felt like forever and made it a night!

 

 

Making a wish!

We opted for the chef's tasting menu, and while I really wanted to take pictures of each dish, I thought that was a bit too much for the occasion.  The restaurant brought out the biggest plank of cheese I've ever seen -  and asked us to select what we wanted.  We ended up with a selection of seven cheeses and ate the plate clean...

As if all of that weren't enough, we came home to a chocolate peanut butter cake that Jovie made for Michael from scratch.  Happy birthday to Michael, indeed!