uudaddy

Some update: baby and iPhone app

omaha — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 04:18:57 +0000

I am sorry I have not updated this blog as much as I like to.

Baby is definitely getting more active and interesting: her favorite thing these days is flip over as soon as we put her down. And she will smile at us sometimes when we “found out”.

In addition to baby, I spent some time working on myNestEgg, my first iPhone app, a retirement savings calculator. I am wrapping it up and hope to submit it very soon.

How to install infant car seat on Nissan Altima

omaha — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 03:18:48 +0000

I wrote the following a while ago (before baby was born), thought it maybe helpful for the dad-to-be’s, although not very comprehensive.

Nissan USA has published a PDF document on compatibility of car seats with some instructions on Latch (lower archor points and tethers for children. Personally I only found two latch points at my 2001 Altima (the manual comes with the car does not say where is the latch/lower arch points), and I used it. I felt this is tighter and secure than the seat belt comes with the car.

I also found quite a few video when I searched “graco infant car seat installation” at Youtube.

Baby is 100 days old

omaha — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 03:51:09 +0000

She started the following new tricks recently: eat her own hands; she can raise her head for 10 to 15 seconds during tummy training; she can either smile (with or without stimulation) or giggle (with stimulation).

Ohio 529 plan update
I received 9 referrals, plus my own contribution (taking advantage of recent market volatility), the total contribution is $875 as of today 6/16/2010. You can take advantage of my Amazon gift card offer if you enroll the Ohio plan using my referral code 2568778 by 6/30, details here.

Baby is 2 months old

omaha — Fri, 07 May 2010 02:35:15 +0000

Yesterday we took our baby to pediatrician for 2 month visit. She weighed 11 pounds 14.5 ounces (79%), and 23 inch long (50%). Interestingly, her weight percentage jumped from 50% when newly born, while her length percentage kept the same. It’s almost all my wife’s effort (breast feeding).

After taking a few vaccine shots, she was a bit fussy in the evening, but slept well in the night. She is also got interested in the mobile set. She is more vocal nowadays, making a lot more noises, and sometimes in conversation with her mom.

We also ordered the official birth certificate from local authority.

Baby becomes more active

omaha — Sun, 02 May 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Youyang is more active nowadays, she is about 8 weeks old. She smiles more, esp. after waking up in the morning. She has more energy and from time to time I was surprised by her voice and kick (legs). When I tried to lift her up, she struggles as if I am lifting a big fish (so I have to be careful not to let her slip

Toy

We bought this mobile (music with moving stuff animals) from Amazon (recommended by ToddlerRecipe). But she seems like the black and white pictures her mom printed off the web better. She seems don’t care too much about the music and the stuff animals. It’s interesting the free stuff works better than the $36 toy. I guess love is more important: her mom put a lot effort searching and print the black white pattern pictures. From scientific point of view, the baby of her age is more sensitive to black/white than the colorful stuff animals. The soothing music does calm her down.

Baby starts smile more

omaha — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 03:14:22 +0000

We are seeing more interaction with our baby, who is about 6 weeks old. Recently her mom talk more to her, and sometimes we can see her response, either smile or making noise. Her smile is very much like her mom’s smile when she was little.

Yesterday we took her to St. Louis Botanical Garden, understandably she slept much of the time. Because the weather is a bit chilly, we wrap her around big blankets, and don’t want to expose her to the cold wind. She got a ride on our newly bought Maclaren triumph stroller. We saw quite a few babies at botanical garden, due to nice weather and family friendliness of the place.

Debating about air travel in May for our baby

omaha — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 02:49:40 +0000

I searched both google and bing.

It looks like it’s safe for our baby as she will be 3 months old (source: Indusladies.com). For new born, it’s almost a no-no (source: about.com). One factor, I saw from about.com and kidsgrowth.com, is the air quality in airplanes and the potential to exposed her to virus. Quote kidsgrowth:

The air in planes is not filtered and recirculates throughout the cabin. All the viruses and other nasty germs circulating through the cabin will increases your infant’s chances of getting an infection.

We also searched Chinese search site baidu.com keywords “新生儿坐飞机”. And we got similar results, such as this one from pcbaby.

Considering all the risk and inconvenience, we pretty much settled on her not travel, another reason is the travel is non-essential.

Better early than late: join college 529 plan

omaha — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:46:03 +0000

I was thinking about this for a few days, and I took the plunge today. The kicker is the referral bonus from Ohio College Advantage 529 plan, as I read from my friend theSunsFinancialDiary.

As to investment choice, I picked the Vanguard Winsor II (which I got to know from my 401k plan), because its relative out performance over S&P 500. But the investment choice probably is not as important as “start early” (snowball or compound interest effect). Similar things can be said for state tax deduction from 529 plan contribution.

In case you are interested, please use my number 2568778 as referral code when you open account at Ohio 529 Plan, that way you will get the $25 bonus, and I will also receive some bonus money (provided you open and fund at least $25 to the account, by June 30, 2010). A rare win-win situation in the financial world

(Update) PBS NBR Paying for college: the 529 plan. It also suggests “open an account as soon as the baby is born”. Another interesting thing is, 529 can be used for graduate school and re-training.

(Update 2) Comparing the fund options between Missouri 529 (MOST) and Ohio College Advantage plan, it seems to me Show Me State does not have much to show on this. Here is Morningstar’s best and worst 529 plans. One thing to note is while Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan is among the best, Ohio Putnam CollegeAdvantage (broker-sold) is among the worst. So keep this in mind: a state could have multiple plans. Choose the winner, not the loser.

(Update 3) I wrote the 529 plan in more detail at stlplace, and I will give additional $25 to those who use my reference code 2568778. So the total bonus for you will be $50.

(Update 4: 6-17-2010) I found this Kiplinger’s Find the Best 529 Plan to be interesting. One interesting point I noticed is the Show Me State (Missouri) offers state tax credit/deduction for any plan. In other words, we got lucky that we don’t have to enroll in the Missouri plan (which is not that good in my personal opinion), while get the same tax benefits. You can read the tax benefits of 529 plan at savingforcollege.com.

Little face, big face

omaha — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 01:26:19 +0000

These days because we paid much attention to our new born baby, both my wife and I did not have much time to look at each other carefully. This leads to an interesting point: both of us felt our faces are so big compared to our baby’s little face.

Guess that’s all relative. When I first met my wife 3.5 years ago, I felt her face is small and lovely at the time. Now of course all the attention are reserved for our baby. But I think it’s would be good we reserve some time for us.

Diapers, diapers, diapers

omaha — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:36:00 +0000

One of the main job for daddies is to change diapers. From my limited observations ladies are usually more sensitive to smells than men. I mean they don’t like that smell. For me smell is not a big problem. My only worry is sometimes during the change, when the new diaper has not been in place, she pees again (messed up the wrapping clothes etc.). In one case, when we just got back from hospital, she did both pee and poo, right on my T-shirt. After that, I am more cautious.

Another reason dads do this diaper thing more often, is they are more fearless. My wife is a little worried hurting the baby, not that I am not worried, but I learned the process quickly in hospital. Much faster then the “new parenting” class at St . John’s with the faked baby

Last but not least, the cost of diaper. This thing is expensive, initially we bought some from wal-mart, but soon I realized that we need to buy bulk at Sam’s club or Costco. I just did that yesterday. Nice thing a friend who have the baby experience sent us a large box of diapers. Very thoughtful gifts indeed