Merry Christmas

Mason's train set

Gong Gong and Bu Bu are going to California for Christmas, so they wanted to give Mason his gift this weekend. We had selected this train set from Costco and picked it up a couple of weeks ago. It was sitting in our basement.

We knew it would take assembly, and a 2 1/2 old would not sit through that. So, after he went down for his nap on Saturday, Bill and I assembled the table and metropolis. The box said "easy table assembly" on it, and that was correct. It only took 10 minutes to assemble the table. However, the metropolis made of 100 pieces took more than 30 minutes. I was exhausted after we were done. Maybe to some "100 pieces set" is a good feature, but to me, I just think I have 100 pieces to keep track around the house.



As expected, Mason loves it. We hope he will get many years of playing out of it.

I would like both Mason and Audrey to have a limited set of toys, learn early to share with others and pass on the toys they don't play with any longer. He seems to be good about playing with each one of them and rotating them. Audrey is now playing with Mason's baby toys and when she is done, we will give them away.

I know our kids are getting so much more than many other kids out there, and we hope they grow to appreciate what they have. Bill and I made a sizeable donation to Toys for Tots this year, they are struggling to meet all their toy requests this year.

9 to 7

Great news - For the past 3 nights, Audrey slept from 9-9:30PM until 7:30 AM!! YAY
For about 4 months now, she has been sleeping through the night, but we still had a feeding around 11 PM. Last week, we noticed that she wasn't as interested in that feeding so skipped it. Bill and I woke up at 7 AM before both the kids on Monday and high-fived each other.

Christmas card pictures

We took our Christmas card pictures today. I thought it would be easy, but Mason started throwing a fit the moment he saw the camera. He has been feeling a little jealous of Audrey today. Gong Gong came back from Brazil and Mason doesn't like Gong Gong holding his sister instead of him.

I won't share our final pictures, you will have to wait for our Christmas card. But here are a couple of shots that didn't make the final cut.

Mason in the middle of his meltdown:

Audrey today - 8 months old:

Our stockings on the stairs (we can't use the heavy stocking holders on the fireplace mantle yet):

Vroom vroom...

The other night, we asked Mason:
- What does Daddy's car say?
He prompty replied:
- Vroom Vroom...
We agreed, since Daddy drives a turbo-charged WRX. I wondered what he would say for my car, since lately that is the minivan or the 4-Runner, so we asked him:
- What does Mommy's car say?
He thought for a few seconds and said:
- Beep Beep
Hahahaha - I guess he has observed that Mommy likes the horn!

Thanksgiving

Bill and I took the whole week off of Thanksgiving. We had a few days to relax and run some errands before Thanksgiving. Yaya and Mimi were coming to visit. We, or I, decided to keep Thanksgiving cooking and cleaning to a minimum this year. Instead of making lots of food at home, we choose to do lots of eating at the Boulderado's Thanksgiving Buffet. The food was delicious and they even had a chocolate fountain.

We did cook a half turkey already marinated from Costco that evening, mainly so we could have yummy leftovers for sandwiches. It was great!

Mason had a great time with Mimi and Yaya. They built a gingerbread house and Christmas cookies, all a first for Mason. Bill setup the lights, and we setup and decorated our tree. Vacation went by too quickly, and too quickly it became Monday again.



I had my first trip away from Audrey, a 3-day business trip to San Diego, leaving very early Monday morning. I got to see our friend Gerry (best man at our wedding), Alison and their 2-year-old son Ben while in SD at their new house in La Jolla. I wish we lived closer to all our friends. On Wednesday, I took the analytics development team I work with in our SD office out to lunch. We went to Poseidon in Del Mar and sat in the patio by the beach. The weather was perfect. Wednesday evening I got on a flight to come back to Denver, to freezing temperatures in the mid teens! I had only packed a light jacket, oops. I ended purchasing a San Diego sweatshirt at the airport.

It is cold in Denver, but I am so glad to be back!

Josie's Birthday Party

We went to Josie's 3rd birthday party on Sunday. The kids made aprons, chef hats, and their own pizzas. There were games, activities, dancing, plus fantastic pizzas and yummy cupcakes made by Josie's Daddy (chef Jef). We had a great time. Bu Bu came along, as she is staying with us while Gong Gong is in Brazil.

MDs

Since Mason was born, it feels like we are constantly at the doctors. Between the well checks, sick visits and follow ups, I count around 30 visits in the past 2 1/2 years. Mason is a healthy kid. Part of it was us being more cautious as first time parents. But the rest were very needed visits to check for ear infections (he had 6+ ear infections in a few months, during the time he first started daycare) and other conditions. It feels like every few months we are not only back at the doctors, but we are seeing a new specialist for something.

Early on, he had a hydrocele, so we had a visit and few follow ups to the urologist. That has resolved itself since.

Before his first birthday, we had noticed that his eczema was getting worse and he was constantly scratching his skin. As a result, after going to a regular dermatologist with not much improvement, we took him to a great pediatric dermatologist at Children's Hospital. What he prescribed Mason made him feel better in a matter of days, but we continue maintain his condition with loads of aquaphor twice a day, prescription hydrocortisone ointments and zyrtec. He also had Molluscum Contagiosum around his ankles and got treatment from the same dermatologist.

Recently, we had discovered a small bump on the roof of his mouth. Bill said he had noticed it many months before, but it had definitely grown in size. It is hard and feels like a bone. Bill promptly called and sent his dad (a doctor) a picture. Yaya thought it could be torus palatinus, but told us to check with his doctor, so sent us to a pediatric ENT. It is slow growing and Mason was not bothered by it. But I did a lot of unhelpful searches online and worried as any mother would in the weeks in between our appointments.

At our first appointment, the ENT thought it could be one of two things: an osteochondroma (benign bone tumor) or a torus palatinus (although that happens rarely in kids Mason's age, and he was leaning towards the osteochondroma). The word "tumor" is not something a parent wants to hear, even with the word "benign" in there. He said that if it is a osteochondroma, we would need to get it removed. Oh no, surgery! He ordered an CT scan to be sure and to see where exactly it is growing.

We had our CT scan scheduled for this Monday. We decided to try to get it done without any anesthesia. Mason is normally pretty calm in new situations, watching and studying everything around him. We were hoping that would be the case with his CT scan, but it was not to be. He was very happy before the CT, but once he entered the room and saw the machine, he said "No" and stopped walking. We laid him down and strapped him down - he wasn't happy. We stayed with him during the procedure in our lead vests, and I had brought his favorite stuffed animal and blanket, but that didn't help calm him down. He was crying and screaming, and I thought for sure we would have to go back for another CT with him under anesthesia. But after a few minutes, the radioligist came out and said we were done and they had gotten a good shot. The new machines are very fast and Mason stayed still enough for what the doctor needed.

We went home and awaited the results. The ENT called us today to let us know that the bump is just bone, a torus, just as Yaya suspected! It is the best news we could hope for, since it doesn't need to be removed. I can breathe again.


This year, the kids are on my health insurance, a PPO plan on Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. It is a reasonable plan, although as a family we still spend around $5K-$6K per year between premiums, copays, coinsurance and prescriptions. My company is pretty much forcing all employees onto a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) next year by eliminating other reasonable options. In my research, it is a good deal if you don't get sick or see the doctor very mcuh, and that is not us. Many of my coworkers are very unhappy and I don't blame them. By my estimates, if we had this HRA last year, we would had paid $2-3K more out of pocket. It is amazing that a $1B 50-yr company like FICO cannot provide its employees with a better health plan. We need to do something about the healthcare system in this country, even if you don't subcribe to what is being proposed by Obama, something must change! Thankfully, we have the option to go under Bill's healthplan, a zero deductable EPO plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield and keeping our costs about the same.

Another winter storm

We had another snow storm this past weekend (our 3rd or 4th this season already). We got about 6 inches of snow on Saturday night and Sunday morning. The sun came out Sunday afternoon and it is a nice sunny Monday. All the snow will probably be gone by mid week. We stayed in most of the weekend, except for a shopping trip to Target.

On the cold days, Mason asks for his gloves and hat, a set my aunt in China knitted for him. When we ask him to smile for the camera, he does his "fake" smile (see below)

Video of Audrey laughing at Mommy.




You can see Audrey's second tooth that came through last week (11/10).

Updated on Haircut

I got my anticipated haircut this past Saturday. My hair is short, but it feels great and light! Many bundles of 10-inch hair are on its way to Locks of Love.

End of Breastfeeding

Just like with Mason, Audrey has gotten to the point that she doesn't want to be breastfed any more. She'll feed for a few minutes, but then pushes me away. With Mason, I stopped breastfeeding him at 6 months. After I went back to work at 3 months, I would pump a couple of times during the day and he was only getting supplemented with formula for the first 6 months. With Audrey, I had decided early on not to pump once I returned to work. Instead, I breastfeed her in the mornings and evenings and she gets formula during the day. It has worked well and it has been less stressful and time consuming for me, and it has lastest over 7 months.

I had hoped that she would breastfeed for longer to get her through the Winter and flu season. But clearly, she has gotten to the point where eating from the bottle is easier. That is okay and good timing for my business trip to San Diego at the end of the month.

Audrey has always been very sensitive to what I ate. My diet has excluded anything that may upset her stomach, and that includes spicy food, gassy beans and veggies, and milk. I've tried eating those things once in a while to she if she has outgrown her sensitivity to them, but she never did. You can clearly see her get upset from gas or not want to nurse at all if I ate those foods. I've also stayed away from caffeine and alcohol, and recreational drugs (just kidding - seeing if you are paying attention!). I look forward to eating and drinking those again, without worrying about her reaction.

Aside from the diet and schedule constraints, breastfeeding has been a rewarding and a great bonding experience with both kids.

HINI shots

H1N1 (or as I call it the "hini" virus) continues to make headlines, we are happy that both kids got their shots. We believe the shots are perfectly safe and best way to protect our kids, but respect those who believe otherwise. From what we heard from our pediatrician, who has seen many cases already, it is not as scary as the news report. The cases they have seen have not been worse than the regular flu. In any case, we were concerned mostly for Mason and Audrey, especially since Mason goes to the germ sharing environment of a daycare.

Mason lucked out, because during a check up a few weeks ago, related to a bump on the roof of his mouth (we will blog more about that after next week's tests), his pediatrician had the flu mist. The flu mist contains the live virus, but the pediatrician thought it actually worked better than the shot. Since I had been calling around and I knew how hard it was to find, we didn't hesitate to give him the mist.

The search continued for Audrey. I called around and looked at the scheduled flu clinics at local schools. My pediatrician was hopeful they were getting the shots in soon, but didn't know exactly when. I was calling daily checking their automated messages, and finally last week the message said they were ready to schedule the hini shot clinics. I promptly got Audrey on the list for the first clinic they had (yesterday Thu 11/12 from 4 to 7).

In the last week, Mason had some bleeding on the line of his penis circumcision, so we had to make him another appointment. Bill got us in with Dr. Jordan (not our usual doctor, but in the same practice) also at 4 pm, so we could take both kids at the same time. Although he is not our regular doctor, we love Dr. Jordan. He is very friendly and great with the kids. We even have thought about switching, although I think that would be rude.

We showed up just a minute past 4 pm, to see a line that extended into the hospital of about 50+ parents and kids! They told us not to show up for the clinic early, but I hear ppl started showing up 45 minutes ahead to line up. I wasn't shy to cut in front to tell them I was there for Mason's appt with the doctor and that Audrey was on the list and needed a shot. They got us in after only a 10-minute wait in the lobby. SCORE! The nurse and doctor apologized for the chaos. They had scheduled 600 shots for that day and everyone decided to show at once. Bill is happy to report Mason's penis is just fine. (I am sure he will love this entry in his blog book when he grows up) And Audrey cried for less than 2 seconds after her shot.

Audrey is 7 months

Audrey is 7 months - healthy, happy, and a great baby. She is learning how to sit and gets up on her arms, but hasn't figured out how to get on her knees to crawl yet. That is ok, we are in no hurry for her to move.

She doesn't have much hair yet. We have a bunch of hair pins that Bill's step sister-in-law Stacey sent us from her daughter Emily. My parents put one on for inspiration. Here are a few pictures of Audrey at 7 months.

Growing out my hair

While I was pregnant with Audrey, I decided to grow my hair to donate it to Locks of Love. It is something I've thought about doing in the past, but especially while pregnant, my hair was growing strong and never fell out. I thought it would be a perfect time to grow it out and donate it.

For months now, I have been watching my hair slowly grow out. They need at least 10 inches, and I don't want my hair to be too short after the hair cut. It has been a long 8 months since my last hair cut, which was also only a trim! I had told Jessica, my hairdresser, then that I intended to donate my hair. I prefer my hair on the short side, it is more manageable and light. It was especially difficult to have long hair in the Summer months and right after Audrey was born, since my hormones made me feel even hotter! I've been keeping it always on a pony tail around Audrey, otherwise, she just pulls on it. Many times I thought of quitting and getting a hair cut, but reminded myself of my goal and the smile it could give a child getting a wig after losing their hair due to their treatments or illness.

So, finally, I think I am ready to donate the 10 inches and have a new light short haircut. My hair hasn't been this long in at least 10 years. I made the my hair appt for Nov 14th! I am counting down the days.

Here are the before pictures.

First Time Trick or Treating

Mason went trick or treating for the first time this year. He has been seeing Halloween themes of Nick Jr shows for a couple of weeks now, he has seen decorations and pumpkins around the house and neighbors' house, and went to the Fall Festival at his school last Friday. He was scared a few times through the last couple of weeks: he didn't like the "Haunted House" room Bill took Mason through at his school's Fall Festival - in fact there were tears and we left shortly after; there was one Dora episode on Halloween and he got upset every time the clock came on (not sure why); and our neighbors across the street go all out on decorations for every holiday (we call them "the Griswolds") and they had a big blow up cat on top of their roof, which Mason could see from his room and he didn't like that very much.

Aside from the scary side of Halloween for Mason, we were excited to have him trick or treat around the neighborhood and get candy. He had his monkey costume on and we were ready to go around 6 pm. We figured we would just take him to a few houses on our own street.

The first 3 houses went fine and he even made a monkey sound and said "trick or treat". The 4th house was our Lisa and her mother Pearl's house, two very nice ladies that have met the kids, have two little poodles and spend a lot of their time tending to their perfect and beautiful flower gardens. Last year, Lisa didn't even pass out candy and had her lights off. This year, she had her lights on and I saw her open the doors to other trick or treaters. Lisa was not only passing out candy, but she was dressed up in a ghost costume with a very scary skeleton mask on! It took about 3 seconds for Mason to break into tears and ran into my arms. Lisa felt so bad, she kept giving Mason more candy, but that didn't help calm him down. She couldn't take her mask off easily to show him it was just her under the costume, so I just picked him up and walked away, Mason was still crying with his eyes shut!

Bill and I agreed we needed to visit one more house, to end his experience in a positive note. In the house right across from us there are two toddlers (ages 3 and 4) and knew they wouldn't be dressed up in anything scary. Mason still refused to open his eyes, especially after we rang the bell, thinking another ghost would show up. It took a couple of minutes to convince him to open his eyes to check out the cute costumes the kids had on. Afterwards, we went home for a break, and he wasn't interested in any more trick or treating. Instead, he played and watched TV for the rest of the evening, and came by the door occasionally to check out the kids coming to our house for candy.

We got about 120 trick or treaters, 30 to 40 more kids than last year. We were just about out of candy by 8:30, so we turned off the lights. Some kid actually had the guts to ring the bell at 9:30, twice! I went to the door, not to pass out candy but to give him a earful, but he had ran off by then.

Here are pictures of our pumpkins, Mason and the snowman that we had built on Thursday and was still standing (missing eyes and slightly smaller head) by Halloween.

Sleeping Baby

Audrey has been a good sleeper from the start. I think by 8 weeks, she was giving me 5 hours stretches at night. But she was still waking up about 4 or 5 am to feed and that continued for a while. I would go into her room, feed her and sleep in the queen size bed we have next to her crib, and feed her again in the morning before getting ready for work. Since we started her on cereal and veggies, I had hoped she would sleep longer. But instead, in the beginning she was actually getting gas from eating solids, so was waking up even more often. We figured it was just something she would have to work through.

In these past 2 weeks, we decided we would let her cry out if she woke up in the middle of the night. On the first night, she cried for about 10 minutes, we didn't go in, but watched her on the video monitor and she fell back asleep. On the second night, about 3 minutes of crying. On the third night, no crying! We had more crying since, as her 2nd tooth is working its way out and she has been a little sick and congested. But, we haven't had to go into her room in the middle of the night and the crying never lasts for more than a couple of minutes. Yay!!

Next, we hope to teach her to fall asleep on her own when it's time for bed. We did that with Mason around 8 months and has worked wonders ever since.

Snow days, but no break for us

It has been snowing since Tuesday night around 10 pm. We've gotten around a foot and a half of snow. Our first major snow storm of the season.

Both Bill and I worked from home yesterday and today (Thursday). There is no "snow days" with the advancements in telecommuting (instance messages, email, VPN, web conferences). Most of the folks I work with are all over the states and world, so they won't even know I am not in the office.

Mason went to daycare yesterday, but they were closed today. We were going to keep him home anyway, since he had a low fever yesterday, side affects from getting his H1N1 mist on Tuesday morning (got lucky that our pediatrician had those, but Audrey needs the shot, which they still haven't received). My parents are staying with us and taking care of two kids - we are lucky to have their help. Mason is watching a lot of Nick Jr, which is ok for a sick kid and snow days.

Here is Bill clearing our driveway yesterday around lunch time (we didn't have that much snow yet) and the picture I took this morning (Thursday morning) with more snow on our patio table. Today a couple of kids just came by offering to clear our driveway - making some money since school is out. Bill made them deal (discount) and we will let them use the snowblower. :-)

Oh yeah, we got the mail on both days. How does their motto go? "Through rain, sleet and snow..."

Kid activities

Here are videos of the kids burning some energy.

Audrey loves the Jumperoo! Our friends Jef and Michele gave us the Jumperoo after their daughter Josie was done with it. Mason had a lot of fun with it when he was little and recently we got it out of the basement for Audrey.

When Mason was little, hula hooping used to make him laugh histerically, so we got a hula hoop. Now he still enjoys it.

Fall Festival

We went to the Fall Festival at Anderson Farms about 20 minutes from our house. We had planned to go with a few friends and their kids (the Forsbergs, the Prices and the Bienzles) on Oct 11th, but it was too cold. So, the day before we changed our plans, and they came to our house instead to try out my new ham and potato soup recipe.



We and the Bienzles ended up at Anderson Farms on Oct 18th. The weather warmed up to the low 80s just days after we had our first snow of the Season - that is Colorado weather! It was windy at times, which turned Mason's white shirt brown from the dust. Everyone had the same idea, undoubtedly after missing the weekend before, just like we had. There was a line 15-minutes long to get tickets, and a line for most of the activities inside too, but we had fun. Here is Mason at the pumpkin patch helping select our pumpkins (we ended up with a "mommy" pumpkin and a "baby" pumpkin that we'll blog about as we carve them).


There was also a Fall Festival at Mason's school. He got to wear his monkey costume, which he was been very excited about. When we first bought it weeks ago, he wanted to wear it to sleep. We hid it in his closet (a door he still can't open on his own since we put a child-proof door knob on it) and several times over the last few weeks he pointed to the door waiting to get it out. He finally got to wear it.



I was going to stay home with Audrey, but decided to go at the last minute. We dressed Audrey up in Mason's Pooh Bear costume from when he was a baby - barely fit.


Although he was excited, you can't tell by the photos. He seems to get into his stare-at-everything mode every time he faces a new situation. He is not being shy, he doesn't run to us or want to go home, but just can't get a smile or a word out of him. The moment we are back in the car, he starts talking and telling us about everything he saw.

Every classroom had a different game the kids could play and get candy. Mason has been through at 3 different classes at this school, so he knows many of the teachers there. We joke that the girl in the Super Girl costume (Julia) is his "girlfriend", because she is always the first one to greet him when he gets to his class in the mornings.

Audrey's first tooth

Audrey got her first tooth on Oct 16, her lower left central incisor. We had felt two little bumps on her lower gum for a few weeks and the doctor had said he thought she would get her first tooth soon at her 6-month visit. But drooling had actually lessened of the past month (she was drooling a lot between 4-5 months), she has not been fussy or chewing on her teething toys, so no one could have guessed she was teething. We are not complaining! :-)

More pictures

Here are some new pictures of the kids.

Orange

We started Audrey on her first fruits and veggies. I bought a few options - pears, sweet potatoes, carrots and peas. I asked Bill which one he thought it was best, and we decided on carrots. I should have thought of starting out with something colorless (like pears) until she learned to swallow her food better. It is a game of one spoon in and two spoons out, and food everywhere on her face and bib. Needless to say, we have orange stains everywhere. Yesterday, she sneezed just after I loaded her mouth with a spoon full of carrots!

10/25 - Update blog entry with pictures
Audrey is eating much better now. Her favorite is sweet potatoes and peas.

Rank Order

My parents, Bill and I often joke about our ranks with Mason. Gong Gong (my Dad) and Bill are often number 1 and 2 (or vice-versa). Believe me, it is not easy to be number 1, there are no breaks! He will follow you and want you exclusively. Poor Bu Bu (my Mom) is constantly at number 4. We tell her it is mainly because she is always telling him to be careful and doesn't play with him the way he wants to. Whenever Gong Gong or Daddy is holding Audrey and Mason wants their attention, he immediately calls for Bu Bu to hold Audrey instead. It is hilarious.

To Audrey, I am currently number 1, or I suspect for as long as I am her food supply. Bu bu is the one that givers her the bottles during the day and holds her more than Gong Gong, so she is number 2. We will see how that rank order changes when she gets older.

Audrey is 6 months old

Audrey turned 6 months old yesterday, and today we had her well check visit. Here are her stats:
Weight: 16 lbs 12 ounces (75%ile)
Length: 27.5 inches (97%ile)
Head: 17.1 inches (70%ile)

We met our goal to breastfeed her for 6 months. She still nurses in the mornings and evenings and gets two formula bottles during the day while I am at work. It has been an easy experience because I don't have to pump and just nurse her when we are together. The only difficult part at the beginning was that she is a slow eater. Due to the flu season ahead and a toddler bringing germs home, I've decided to continue our breastfeeding schedule for as long as we can. She's had two little colds so far, each with a bit of congestion but no fever.

She is rolling, mostly from front to back (she still hates being on her tummy, so after she rolls over she stays that way). We are trying to work on her leg strength with the exersaucer and need to bring out the jumperoo for her soon. Unlike Mason, who got his first tooth at 4 months, we haven't seen any teeth yet. The doctor did feel a couple of bumps and thinks we should be seeing the first one soon.

She is generally a very happy baby and smiles all the time, unless she is hungry or tired, and the whole house hears it when she is unhappy!

Here are some updated pictures of our little girl.

Trying cereal again

It's been more difficult for Audrey to adjust to eating cereal. When we first tried that at 4 months, we tried giving her a little bit of rice cereal at her last meal of the day (around 10:30 or 11 pm). After a couple of days, it was clear that it caused her stomach pains, as she was waking up around 3 or 4 am, while without it, she slept happily until morning. So, we stopped to give her a little more time before "solid" food.

We resumed again a week ago, as she is now almost 6 months. This time, we are trying oatmeal cereal, hoping that should be better than the rice cereal when it comes to constipation. We also switched to giving her the cereal at her 7 pm feeding, hoping she would do better having some wake time to move around and digest (and so we wouldn't have to deal with any side affects in the middle of the night).

We hope that adding cereal at night and other meals during the day will be the ticket to her dropping the 10-11pm feeding and sleeping 10-12 hours straight. Then, we could put Mason and Audrey to sleep at the same time. Fingers crossed!

Gong Gong and Bu Bu's new place

After more than 2 years living with us, my parents are moving out. They won't be far, they will be renting a 1-bedroom in a senior apt complex about 4 miles from us, close to Mason's daycare. They will still come in the mornings to help Mason get ready, take care of Audrey during the day, and probably eat dinner with us a few times a week.

We are very grateful for their help in the past 2 years and the help they will continue to provide. With their help we have been able to keep the kids home until they were ready for some social interaction at daycare, save a lot of daycare money, run an organized and clean home, cook most of our meals at home, and go on the occasional date without kids.

When they moved in, my main concern was for Bill. I lived with my parents, so I knew what I was in for, but he would need to adjust to living with his in-laws, try to communicate with them, and get used to eating a lot of Chinese food. After 2 years, I would have to say he has adjusted not only well, but maybe better than me. He has learned at lot of Shanghainese (still play Charades with my mom to communicate sometimes, but he and my dad can communicate just fine), has broadened his food horizons (I'm so proud of him), has adjusted although he doesn't like my mom's nervous expression when he drives (I make them too these days - Bill is just a crazy driver! j/k). If you ask him about living with his in-laws, he will tell you it is awesome, and he has it good!

It was hard for me, since I hadn't lived with them since I was 17, before I left Brazil to come study in the US. Although I went back every year or they came to visit, spending a month or two together is very different from moving in together again. Roles have changed - my parents had to adjust to me not being a kid any more (yes, I can cook and do my own laundry) and I had to adjust to them being independent and taking care of things (they don't need my help in everything). I would be the first to admit I am not easy to live with - there are things I want done my way and I have a bad temper. But, I've learned to pick my battles and let go of some things. All in all, I think the last 2 years worked out great.

They adjusted well to Colorado, which was very important to me. I wanted them to be happy and see this at their home. The key things that make this work were: they were together and had each other as company, we didn't have to worry about them getting bored; my dad drives and we have an extra car for him, so they were independent and could go out wherever and whenever they wished; my dad is quite savvy on his computer, from which he can stream Chinese TV, read the latest news, watch movies, and talk to friends; we also set them up with their own cell phone and international phone plans; they found two Chinese churches they like and met people through their churches.

We always knew it would not be a permanent situation. We talked on several occassions about getting a place near by, and they had visited a few places, even a few condos they were thinking about buying. Finally this place came available - great location, very efficient use of a small space, and reasonable in rent. They got their keys last Friday and furniture is being delivered today. They will probably need another week to get everything ready to move in.

Burnsgojevich

Months ago, when Illinois' ex-governor Blagojevich was on the news for trying to sell Obama's senate seat to the highest bidder, Bill and I joked about his hair and how it looked like Bill's hair in the 80s. But just a week ago, as Mason was getting ready in the morning with the TV on the background, he points to the TV and said "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!". I turned to look what was on the TV, and it was Blagojevich doing an interview. Hahahaha... Mason must have seen Daddy's picture from High School days.


I guess that is better than our friend's 2-yr old that pointed to the TV when North Korean's Kim Jong-il was on and said "Daddy".

Some new pictures

Here are some new pictures from 9/6, when Audrey turned 5 months.

Injury to Audrey's thumb

Audrey's nails grow incredibly fast. I've been trying to keep up with them since she was born. I remember that Mason's nails when he was a baby were paper thin, I usually just peeled them off instead of using clippers. Audrey's nails were hard and required clippers from day 1.

I try to keep the kids' nails short so they don't cut themselves while scratching. This Saturday morning, I saw another scratch on Audrey's forehead, so I decided to cut her nails. I've always been the one to clip the kids' nails and never had any reservations about it. The kids never suffered any injuries under my care, until this past Saturday! I laid Audrey on the changing table, the window near by provided good lighting. As I was finishing the first hand (right hand) and got to the thumb, she innocently laid there staring at me. Soon, her eyes got bigger and I could see the scream come out even before I heard it. I stopped immediately as I realized I was clipping into the skin of her thumb. I was in shock!

My Mom was too horrified by what I had done and left the room to get Bill. By the time Bill came to the room, Audrey had already stopped crying. I was still in shock! I was holding the tissue and applying pressure on her finger. It was still bleeding, and Bill pointed out I should not apply too much pressure, that I was "squeezing the blood out of her finger". Oops. A band aid was quickly put on after a clean up of the wound, and a sock over the hand (we didn't have a mitten) to stop her from getting to her thumb. Bill tried to make me feel better with "this is a good test to see how her blood clots" or "remember, Pete told us this was going to happen, not a question of if, but when". Audrey was smiling and had already stopped crying for a few minutes. But I was still in shock!

After a few more minutes of her smiling at me, I finally felt better. She didn't seem to be in pain. She didn't seem to hate me for what I had done. I laid her down and clipped the nails on her other hand very carefully, to my Mom's protest - she wanted me to leave her nails alone, but I couldn't leave one hand with long nails. Got to get right back up on that horse after you fall, right?

We have removed the band aid the next day, she is fine and I don't think it will leave a scar, other than the one in me.

5-yr Anniversary

Bill and I have been married for 5 years! Can you believe it? It seems like yesterday when we welcomed our family and friends in Crested Butte for our wedding. A great brunch with my bridesmaids, mothers and sisters, the cold rehearsal dinner at the wedding garden with cows going down the aisle, the amazing rehearsal dinner hosted by Bill's parents at The Timberline, the crazy snowy weather we got the day before the wedding, and the wonderful time we had on our wedding day. I wish I could go back in time to eat another cupcake!

I had a wonderful time being married to Bill since. We have our ups and downs as any other couple, but many more ups than downs - I hope Bill will agree. And I am very grateful for our two wonderful children. I hope we can continue to provide them a happy family unit for many many years ahead that starts from a strong marriage.

Here is what we looked like back then. We look a little "wider" these days - no pictures needed, I am sure you can imagine or stretch out the picture below.


We left the kids at home with my parents and went out for our first date since Audrey was born. We looked up nice restaurants in Denver/Boulder, but since we don't really eat seafood (I am allergic to shellfish) and don't really like French food, decided to go to a nice steakhouse. We chose Elways at the new Ritz in Denver. The food and service was fantastic! Bill actually said his steak (the bone-in filet) was one of the best he has had ever.

We should have brought a camera and taken some pictures, but sadly we did not. Perhaps at our 10-yr anniversary. :-)

Siblinghood

As an only-child, siblinghood is a bond that I didn't get to experience. Often in my childhood I wished I had a brother or sister, but I am not complaining. I've always known, however, that if I could, I would want to have more than one child. I would like them to have a special bond between them.

I'm sure the day will come when they will fight, drive each other to tears, and maybe even wish they were an only-child. For now, I am enjoying watching Mason be nice to his little sister, come by to kiss her, and bring her pacifier or blanket.

Here is are a few pictures of just the two of them.

Laughing

There is nothing better than the sound of a baby laughing. Audrey smiles and laughs all the time. Here is a video to brighten your day.

Vocabulary Explosion

For weeks now, Mason would point and say "this?", wanting us to tell him the word for whatever he was pointing. Finally, it seems he remembers the words and is now saying everything back, even words we don't remember teaching him in both English and Shanghainese. Last night he wanted to go through the flash cards and could say 80% of the words. He knows more English than my parents and more Shanghainese than Bill - he will be a good translator between them soon.

My parents and I are trying to switch to Mandarin, which would be more useful for the kids in the future. But it is hard to speak Mandarin all the time, we always end up reverting to Shanghainese due to force of habit.

We now need to watch our language around him ... Damn, it's probably already too late! :-)

*knock* *knock*... hey, let me out...

We wanted to keep Mason in a "closed" crib (all walls up) for as long as we could. Since we had a video monitor, we always knew when he was awake or asleep. We could see his entire crib. He never got the opportunity to try to climb out, because we were in his room shortly after he starts waking up.

A few weeks ago, while Bill was in Vegas, Mason just didn't want to go down for his nap. My parents kept going in there when they heard him cry, which didn't help. I kept telling them to leave him, but after a couple of times in there, he was even more resolute to stay awake. If I thought he could have made it through the rest of the day happy, I wouldn't had forced him to nap. But, I knew he was tired and he was going to get increasingly unhappy at night having skipped his nap. So, I devised a grand plan to pack up both kids and go for a long drive.

I left Mason in his crib (crying), and went downstairs to I packed Audrey and loaded her in the van. By the time I went back up to Mason's room, he was completely horizontal on top of the crib rail. He was looking down, thinking of his dismount, with piggy in one hand and his blanket on the other. I wish I had a camera, but was too horrified and grabbed him before his fall. (My plan worked, he fell asleep within 5 minutes of being in the car. Both kids took a 1-hr nap as I drove towards Boulder and back.)

At that moment I knew, that was the end of "little jail crib" days. We converted his crib to a toddler bed (just by taking the front off), added a bedrail that allows him to climb in and out around it.

In the crib, he slept in all directions (and would flip flop many times a night), so we were not sure how he was going to do in his new bed format. But by giving him a pillow, he seems to know that is where his head goes. He sleeps mostly in one direction now.

I was afraid that with the new bed configuration, he wouldn't go down for naps or sleep at night, knowing he could get out and play with his toys a couple of feet away. But, we haven't had any problems. A couple of times in the mornings, Bill (who monitors Mason's video) woke up to an empty crib. Mason was already awake and playing with his toys. And these past two days, he would get out of bed and knock on the door from inside his bedroom - a "hey-I-am-awake" or "is-anyone-out-there" knock. Because we have round door knobs, he can't open his door yet. I'm sure that day will come... it will be another blog entry.

Choo Choo Train

Planes, trains and automobiles are deeply ingrained in little boys, at least in ours. Most recently, trains are his favorite, so we decided to take him on a train ride. There is a historic train in Georgetown about 1 hour from us in the mountains. We coordinated to go with our friends Jef, Michele and their daughter Josie.

All Mason could "talk" about on Saturday night and Sunday morning was the "choo choo". But once he got there, he was a quiet observer. He didn't even smile the whole first half of the ride, but when the train stopped he said "more choo choo train". We had a great time.

It was a bit chilly on Sunday in the mountains. Michele sent an email reminding us to bring jackets, and in the frenzy of getting the kids packed up and their jackets, Bill and I forgot ours. Audrey had her cute knit hooded sweater from the Yangs (thank you!). I entertained wrapping myself up in baby blankets, but we decided to get two fleece sweaters from the souvenir shop instead. They made a pretty buck on us, but kept us nice and toasty.

Now Mason walks around the house saying "choo choo" and "all aboard!" while playing with his toy trains and watching Thomas on TV. I have a feeling we'll be coming to ride the train again.

Here are some pictures.

Audrey is already 4 months

Audrey went in for her 4-month well check today. She is doing great. Here are her stats:

Weight: 14 lbs 3 oz (65%ile)
Length: 26 inches (97%ile)!! She is long, but Mason was even longer at 28 inches at the same age.

She is not as happy getting formula these past couple of days. We are not sure why. We tried different bottle nipples, tried burping more often in between, but she just starts to cry half way through the bottle. We think it may be due to teething. Mason got his first tooth around 4 months, and we think she may teeth early too. Overall she is very happy, smiling and laughing, and interacts with us more and more.

Here are some pictures.

More words... Please

I can't wait for Mason to grow his vocabulary. We expected delays in speaking since he is getting two and 1/2 languages thrown at him: English, Chinese and a few Portuguese words here and there (my parents and I don't even notice, but Bill does as we intermix Portuguese words in our conversation). Mason understands us well. Most of the time, we can also understand him. But some times we can't understand what he wants, and when we ask him, he says "this"... not very helpful. When we ask him to tell us again, he will either say "this" again or "please". We have been teaching him to say "please" as the polite way to ask for things. But when we don't understand what he wants in the first place, being polite doesn't help. He will follow with more "please", "please", "please"... and he'll get frustrated and throw himself on the floor and cry. Luckily, we have 4 in our team playing Charades and we are getting better in figuring out what he wants. But I can't wait for him to be able to communicate with us with words we can distinguish.

As a parent of a 25-month old, I can now fully appreciate how advanced a 22-month old needs to be to understand the question "how many sides does a circle have?", and even more advanced to reply "a circle has no vertices" (even though the correct answer is that a circle has infinite vertices). That was our niece Nikki at 22 months. She is now a Junior in HS, still incredibly intelligent, just recently awarded a $50K college scholarship, having her pick at the best colleges, and that is just the beginning for her bright future.

I hope this is Nikki passing on some of her brain cells to Mason.