3,400 miles and 20 days later

We were finally back in Austin as of Friday around dinner time. Since then, we've been doing random things here and there...tidying up the house, giving the car an oil change, and doing much needed weeding. Right now we have some friends and family over to celebrate the New Year. We had barbequed chicken, shrimp, and salmon; salad; and sweet potatoes for dinner. MMMmmm.

I can't believe this year is already coming to an end (though for the most part, I was pregnant), but we look forward to the next year and many more memories with Lydia. Here's our own little countdown...3...2...1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Introducing...Nathan

Congratulations to my cousin Grace and her husband, Edward, on the birth of their son, Nathan Ian, born yesterday at 1:51 PM. Lydia has a little playmate now! :)

Homeward Bound

Yesterday morning we started our journey back home. Rather than staying the night in New Orleans like we did on our way going to Tampa, we decided to stay in Pensacola, FL because it was a couple hours closer. I think those last couple hours really make a difference for Lydia's napping. So last night we arrived in Pensacola around 5:30 PM central time. We drove to the beach, which is supposed to have the whitest sands in the United States, but too bad we couldn't see them. Dinner was at a place called "Crabs", where we, of course, had crab and some raw oysters; I can't seem to have enough of that stuff.

Lydia had a rough night last night even though she got her own full size bed. The temperature finally went down a bit, so she got a little cold during the night. After eating and a little rocking from daddy, she was good to go...until a few more hours, that is. We plan to be in Houston by dinner time, so tonight Lydia should sleep much better; I think we all will. It's kinda sad seeing this road trip come to an end, but I'm sure there will be plenty more to come (with more passengers). :)

Santa baby

We are enjoying a very wet Christmas in Tampa today. There was a tornado watch all morning, but at least that has passed and it's just sprinkling now. Toan had heated up the pool yesterday so that we could go for a swim today, but we may have to pass even though the entire pool area is screened. I guess we'll have to wait and see if the rain lets up because we all know it's not safe to swim when it's raining. Well, tomorrow the weather should be a little bit better so that the drive home to Texas won't be so bad.

We've been over at Toan's house since about 10:30 AM; we had breakfast and lunch, and we opened Christmas gifts. Lydia was content just watching Mommy open the presents for her. Merry Christmas from all of us to you!

Christmas time excitements

Saturday Lydia learned to roll from her back to her tummy, which I've heard takes a few months longer to do, but she managed to do it in a few weeks. She was just laying there on her play mat and one of her favorite toys was just a little out of her reach, so she stretched and stretched and ended up flipping herself. Lydia can pretty much flip all the way, except for the inner arm, which gets entrapped under her body. You go, girl!

Sunday Lydia took her first dip in Toan's sauna, which was warmed up to body temperature. Though she had no expression on her face the entire time, we could tell she was having a blast, kicking the water and stuff.Soon, Lydia got hungry and started eating her fingers, so we cut the swimming experience short so that she could eat. After she ate, she slept really well, after having been in the nice warm water. While she slept, we watched Superman Returns, which was okay, though Brandon Routh looked darn good in them tights. uh-huh. :)

Back in Tampa

Yesterday we gathered all our belongings and said good-bye to Pompano Beach. After Lydia took her nap, we had lunch at what might have been the best restaurant yet, a place called Whale's Rib. We ate raw oysters and split a blackened prime rib with whale fries (homemade potato chips); the only downfall was that we ordered the steak "medium" when we probably should have gotten "medium rare". Oh wells, it was still good...oh, and we especially enjoyed the "whale juice", which was some kind of yellow concoction to dip the whale fries in; Trung couldn't have enough of it.

We arrived in Tampa just in time for dinner at Ma and Ba's house. It was some kind of Chinese holiday where everyone turns a year older, so we had all the dishes that were customary for that occasion. Poor Daniel just got his braces on Thursday, so he couldn't eat much, except for the broth. Everyone else was stuffed from lunch, so there were plenty of leftovers, I guess we'll be eating them today...all day. :P

Today we plan on taking the kids to the mall again to 1) return the gift we had gotten their parents since they already ordered one...a smoothie maker and 2) help the kids get their parents' Christmas presents. It will probably be super crowded today since it's the last Saturday before Christmas, but that could make shopping all the more fun, despite the long lines. That's about it...we're just hanging out with family during this Christmas weekend. Ya'll go on and do the same. :)

Chillin'

Thursday we went to Pompano beach, again, but this time to stay for awhile. Trung and I smothered ourselves with sunscreen and watched the kite surfers hit the waves. Later, my brave husband hit the waveswhile I was happy to just watch from a distance; Lydia enjoyed her first nap on the beach... We chilled in the condo the rest of the afternoon, just relaxing on our last day here. Then for dinner we had stone crabs and might I say, they were quite delicious. The meat was sweet and separated easily from the shell, which was much thicker than your typical crab. I'll miss the awesome seafood here. :(

Miami and its heat

Wednesday we toured Miami and South Beach, but this is how the morning started off for Lydia...For reals! That was exactly how I found her, shirt over her head with one sock and all; Trung said she looked like Mother Teresa.

So, I expected there to be tons of bikini-clad girls, rollerblading around South Beach like in the movies, but there really weren't any. The beach was a nice though, with soft white sand. Too bad it was a bit cloudy and rain kept coming and going, but at least Lydia got to ride her first swing...We had lunch on Miami Beach at a lovely little cafe facing the Atlantic, drove around downtown Miami to check out all the construction going on, and ate dinner at a lovely seafood restaurant. On the way back to the condo, we rented the movie A Scanner Darkly which was confusing, yet interesting. I guess we'll be renting that one again so that we can analyze it better.

The Florida Keys

Tuesday we hit the Florida Keys. We had lunch at Key Largo at a place called Buzzard's Roost, which tasted better than it sounded. We finally got to Key West, which felt like forever, and visited the southernmost point in the US...After stopping by Ernest Hemingway's house and getting some delectable ice cream, we quickly drove to a park to capture the sunset. The entrance guard was really nice and didn't make us pay the entry fee of $3 a person (does Lydia count too?) since we were going to stay, like five minutes. We've been getting free stuff all over the place...free drinks, free side dishes, and a free soup at lunch...these Florida waiters should really double check their orders. :P Oh well, their loss, our gain.

I wish that I could have captured the seven mile long bridge, which was quite breaktaking, but I couldn't get a good shot. I was taking a little nap when Trung woke me up just as we went over the "hill" on the bridge. As we drove down the incline, all you see is the bridge and water; the Atlantic Ocean on the left and the Gulf of Mexico on the right. I'll have to buy a postcard and scan it for ya.

More of Pompano

Monday we slept in a very long time because Trung couldn't sleep and I was a bit engorged (too full of milk) that I kept waking up. So when the baby got up at 7:30 AM, I fed her and laid her between us on our bed in hopes that she would go back to sleep. Fortunately, she did and we got to sleep another couple of hours. I had a headache when I woke up, so I took yet another nap when Lydia napped after having some cereal. We finally got out of the condo at 1:30 PM to have lunch at Panera so that we could use their wi-fi. The wireless connection was undetectable during our entire meal, but we finally got access right when we were packing up to leave, so we stayed so that I could publish a post and do a bunch of miscellanous things.

We visited the beach again during the afternoon where a bunch of kite surfers were hitting the waves. Here's one of them getting lifted up by the wind...By the way, in case you're wondering, I do most of the posts because, frankly, Trung has nothing important to say (not that I really do either). Actually, it's probably because he's too busy playing his PSP...

Exploring Pompano

After a few hours of browsing, I finally decided on a pair of slippers and Trung got some sandals. We were unable to find slippers small enough for Lydia, so I just put a pair of her really cute socks on her. Can you tell which ones are mine and which one are hers? By the way, it's a yellow duck and a blue bear on the socks, which match a Peek-a-Boo outfit. Trung's sandals were plain Jane, so I didn't bother with them. :PWe've also been able to continue with Lydia's tummy time though she's been really into putting things into her mouth lately. Poor Mr. Elephant, I thought he was your friend!So we finally hit the beach just before dusk. Our condo is only a block away from the Atlantic Ocean, which is very convenient. Lydia got to visit her first beach and she seemed pretty excited about it, laughing and drooling all over the place.Soon after, we had dinner at Damon's Grill and made it back in time to watch the Survivor finale. I couldn't decide who I thought would win, but I didn't think poor Becky would get no votes at all! How embarassing! Congrats, Yul...by the way, I think you should ask Becky out. *wink wink*

Fourth stop: Pompano Beach

We'll have pics posted soon, we just need to upload them to the laptop. We arrived around 8:30 PM last night and picked up some italian food to-go. Our condo is not too bad, it's got a kitchenette and microwave, which is convenient for those evening snacks. This morning we ate at IHOP since we didn't find anyone who could tell us any good local restaurants. Now we're at the nearly opened mall here in Pompano Beach at Panera using their free wifi; we'll be back, I'm sure, to take advantage again. The main reason we're here...we need slippers for walking around the tiled condo and I want some flip-flops for the beach. Once we accomplish our mission, we are off to the beach. I'll have a picture of Lydia in here little swimsuit regardless if she goes into the water or not. :)

Third stop: Tampa

We arrived at my in-laws’ house at 9:30 PM Tuesday night and, boy, were we glad to finally get there. After a quick “dinner” of chicken curry and banana/coconut milk dessert, we hit the sack. Wednesday we slept in, had brunch, went to a fruit market (wow, fruit here is cheap!), and visited Toan’s lovely new home about 15 minutes away from Trung’s parents’ house. Our nephew Daniel just so happened to be done with his finals and wanted to watch Eragon too and niece Amanda didn’t, so we took him to the movies with us. The in-laws were kind enough to watch Lydia for a couple hours as she took her early afternoon nap. The movie was very good and reminded me of the “Lord of the Rings”, except with dragons. Toan, Teresa, and Amanda met us at Ma and Ba’s house for dinner; we got to introduce Lydia to them, which is always fun.

Thursday we slept in again…hey, we’re on vacation! :P We picked up the kids at 10:30 AM and headed to International Mall for some Christmas shopping. Trung went with Daniel to “research” aka playing around in electronic shops and buying a gift on-line. Boys will be boys. We girls were much more productive and hit all of Amanda’s favorite shops and got something at each one. Spending money, yes, that’s what I call a productive day.  I even got a little something something for myself at Banana Republic courtesy of the hubby. For lunch, we each ordered a pizza from California Pizza Kitchen and had a piece of each other’s pizza. All the pizzas were good, now I’ve got to try four more new pizzas next time. We headed back to Ma and Ba’s house afterwards, where the kids waited for their parents to pick them up and Trung and I packed up to head off to Miami, well, Pompano Beach actually...close enough. As Will Smith would say, "Bienvenido a Miami, Welcome to Miami".

Second stop: N'awlins

We had a great start Tuesday morning, leaving Houston exactly at 9 AM as planned. I took the first shift driving since I had already eaten breakfast and was wide awake from playing with Lydia for an hour. We made really good time and only stopped to have lunch around 1 PM; Lydia didn’t wake up until we reached the little diner. After feeding the baby a couple times and eating a lovely lunch of gumbo and cabbage rolls, we headed off again for New Orleans. Trung drove the second shift and we arrived only a couple hours later. So far, this whole driving with the baby has been a breeze; Lydia must love sleeping to the vibration of the car. When we got to the hotel, Lydia took another little nap while we settled in. Here she is in her first hotel room...We soon ate at a nearby restaurant since Acme Oyster House was packed and we felt strange walking around the French Quarter at night with a baby stroller; I have to admit though, it was a sight to see. :P

Wednesday we slept in, well, I kinda did. Lydia didn’t sleep too well, probably due to the unfamiliarity of the place, so she woke up a couple times during the night. It was nice that the Marriott set up a crib for her though because she’s been waking up scrunched up in her travel bassinet. For breakfast, um, brunch, we had beignets at Café du Mont, which was quite yummy. The only place in Austin that sells beignets (that I knew of) closed down, so I was really looking forward to having them again. After a quick stroll, we headed back to the hotel for the baby to nap. We caught lunch at Acme Oyster House, which my friend Jeff highly recommended…great choice, Jeff! J Lydia was napping just fine in the stroller, so we walked down Canal Street and in the French Quarter to check out the shops. Nap time again for baby, then dinner at one of the famous Brennan family restaurants, Bosco. Trung had tuna and I had redfish; the portions were mighty small but very scrumptious. It was bath day for Lydia, which was definitely interesting since we had never bathed here in anything other than her baby tub. She looked so small in the adult bathtub, but we managed and she came out squeaky clean.

Thursday…one word: driving. Dang, Florida is long! We headed out 9 AM and stopped at 12:30 PM for lunch at Cracker Barrel in Crestville, FL. Lydia woke up once on the way to lunch, but just played with the car seat mobile and fell asleep again. Now we’re back on the road again, and probably won’t get to Tampa until night. I actually wrote this post in the car since I’ve got lots of time on my hands. See ya when we get to Ma and Ba’s house, um, actually Toan (Trung’s oldest brother) and Teresa’s house since they’ve got internet access.

Hmmm, strike that; we found wireless connection from one of Ma and Ba's neighbors.
Shhh...don't tell!

Roadtrip...first stop: Houston

Trung had a great turn-out for the LAN party, maybe too good; it was hard coordinating games with 15 guys at times (so I've heard). Lydia and I stuck around the house during the morning and later met up with the girls at the mall for lunch and some shopping. When they went to watch a movie, the baby and I headed home; I did some laundry while she took her late afternoon nap. Lydia actually slept through the night just fine considering that the guest bathroom is right next to her room.

Sunday morning, the baby and I kept it on the down-low so that Daddy could catch up on his sleep. When Trung finally got up, we all finished packing and headed off to Houston for the first stop of our roadtrip to wish my family a Merry Christmas. We made it to my parents' house in time for some hot pot. Today Trung and I took it easy in the morning and then we went to Costco and Chinatown in the afternoon. He also got his first haircut in a salon in years; he even cut his own hair for our wedding! Now Jimmy's family is here for dinner and we'll be off to bed not long after. Early tomorrow we're off to New Orleans, let's hope Lydia doesn't mind the ride. Wish us luck on our eight hour trek to the French Quarter.

Done for the year

YAY! Trung is done with work for the rest of the year; we're officially on vacation! Typically we would head out to Houston to hang out with my family, but Trung's got his fourth LAN party to host (fifth to participate) on Saturday; we'll be going to Houston on Sunday instead. So, the rest of today and tomorrow we're cleaning up the house and getting ready for the "party" and our road trip to Tampa.

I finally cleared out my maternity clothes to make room for my winter clothes and it was kinda sad, but I'm sure I'll be seeing them soon (soon enough :P). Also, I was filtering out Lydia's baby clothes that are too small...now that was very sad. Just seeing the itty bitty clothes that she barely used to fit into as a newborn really made me want another baby. ALREADY! I know...sikes! But as Cora said, I don't want to be a Britney, so we'll be waiting for a good many months. :) Plus, even though I miss the tiny-ness of everything, I am enjoying the sleep tremendously.

Rolling rolling rolling

Lydia proved today that she is a big girl now at three months by rolling over for the first time all by herself. She was having her second tummy time session this morning and decided that today was the day to roll onto her back. I personally think it's to avoid tummy time (which is to strenghten her neck muscles) because she often gets frustrated, even in the company of her friends Elephant and Butterfly. I just know that half the time that Lydia's babbling during tummy time, she's complaining to them about me. :P

Okay, so here's how the roll-over progressed...TA-DAH! Too bad the pacifier went MIA. :P

SOLD!

After months of my nagging, a handful of Craigslist posts, and an Ebay auction; Trung has finally sold his mustang. I posted an ad on Craigslist Saturday morning for, I believe, the fourth time, but this time put "no haggling" for the price. Tyler e-mailed that day saying that he was "very interested", so we called him and set up an appointment on Sunday. You know, I almost didn't open the e-mail because the name read "Hibnotic" and the subject read "Very Interested"; it just didn't sound right. Anyhow, he came and test drove the car and said it was exactly what he was looking for. A few hours later, Tyler was driving off in the car that Trung was driving when I first met him; ah, the memories we had. *sigh* Now we get to make new memories with Lydia! :)
So long, red mustang, it was nice driving ya! (well, just riding for me...I never did like shifting in that car)Oh, by the way, the whole reason why we sold the car is because Trung works from home and now that I'm a stay at home mom, we have no use for it. Plus, it's not what you would call a "family car"; car seats don't go in and out too well. We'll eventually get a bigger car, but are content with my Maxima for now.

Okay, so I finally figured that I'd let Lydia have her thumb to suck on to help her sleep through the night without waking us up. Back to the whole pacifier versus thumb-sucking...well, I only let her have her thumb at night because chances are, the pacifier will fall out and she'll want something to suck on if she wakes up in the middle of the night. Since it has been chilly lately, I put a mitten on the non-sucking hand, so at least that hand doesn't freeze; and let her have her other hand should she need it.

Experiment time! Lydia went to sleep with her pacifier last night and I could hear her babbling around 4 AM. It was soon quiet again and she didn't get up until 8:30 AM. This morning, her thumb looked a little raw, but otherwise in good condition. I considered alternating hands so that the thumb doesn't get all messed up, but I think she really favors her left thumb; maybe I'll try it out tonight. Anyhow, if I hadn't forgotten to turn her baby monitor off in our bathroom, I probably would have slept through the night as well. Let's see if this works again tonight!

Argh

When we came back home to Austin, I was excited that Lydia was consistently sleeping until at least 4 AM if not through the night. The first night back last Saturday we all went to sleep at 9 PM due to the buildup of sleep deprivation from the previous few days. Lydia woke up around 6:30 AM; the next evening she did even better...7:15 AM! So, it's understandable why I was so confused when the next three days she kept waking up around 2 AM! Sometimes I would have to feed her, and other nights she just needed her pacifier and then would be fine.

So nowadays, every night I keep Lydia up from 6:30ish (it used to be 7 PM) on until 10 PM, I feed her as much as possible, and I try not to put too many blankets on her (I'm just paranoid she'll get a chill). She has been sleeping a little bit better considering that she has a little bit of a runny nose. Hopefully that's all she's got because let me just tell ya, it's awfully hard to not face and breath on your baby when you've got cold symptoms and are nursing.

Today someone is coming by to see Trung's mustang, which is currently for sale on Craigslist. We specifically said "no haggling" and the money should be readily available, so we're hoping this guy's the one to get the car off of our hands. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Contact

Here's that group picture I was talking about...Okay, so when I was staying with my parents in Katy, I dropped by my former piano teacher's house to see if she still lived there. I hadn't seen her, much less talked to her, in over seven years, so it was a long shot. Well, as it turned out, she no longer lived there and the current owners said she moved to Austin. After a few phone calls and many google searches, I managed to come up with a phone number yesterday. I called it a couple times, but since I wasn't sure if it was hers, I didn't leave a message. Come 8:45 PM, I thought I'd give it once last try and what do you know...I found her! We talked for a good thirty minutes and planned to meet up sometime next week. If you can't tell already, I'm one of those types of people who when determined to contact someone, I eventually do. Hmmm, I should be some kind of private investigator or something.

Surprise!

Thanksgiving day was pretty uneventful; my family just had our annual Thanksgiving dinner with my dad's church members. The food was good, but the turkey...not so much. The lady in charge of making the turkey this year apparently didn't think about making stuffing and gravy, so it was very very bland, and as my nephew Jason would say, "blah".

Friday I ran a bunch of errands with Mike and Cora with Jocelyn, and made Trung stay home with the baby. Little did he know that I was buying food and what not for his surprise birthday party that night. Poor guy didn't think I had planned anything at all for his big 3-0, just dinner on Wednesday with my family. Well, I got Mike to ask Trung to go watch that Borat movie to get him out of the house, which, of course, he immediately agreed to. So, come 6:40ish, Trung walked into Jimmy's house and was greeted with a loud "SURPRISE!"I quickly handed Lydia off to Trung , so he could get some pictures with her and her "I 'heart' Daddy" shirt.My mom made egg rolls, fried shrimp, noodles, and brought a fruit platter; I made pumpkin bread and prepared veggie and mini quiche platters; and Cora made cookies. So, we had plenty to eat...oh, and peanut butter ice cream cake for dessert. After playing a round of Guesstures with some friends, I went home to pick up Lydia, who had left earlier with my Mom, and stayed the night at Jimmy's house so that the Ly boys could have their fill of video games. Thank you to everyone who came and made this party a great success! I'll have a group picture posted just as soon as I get a hold of one.

Happy Birthday

Today is Trung's birthday...yay! We're going out to eat at Taste of Texas tonight with my family to celebrate. Happy birthday, honey!

Oh, did I ever mention that I'm too scared to clip Lydia's fingernails? Yeah, so I made Trung cut them and then made Cora and my mom do it while he was out of the country. My mom didn't do a very good job and left some sharp areas on the nails, so Lydia got a few scratches on her face for a couple days. When Trung got back, he was clipping those little nails again...Lydia seemed to find it pretty fascinating. Lydia has been doing great during her tummy time sessions. She has been able to hold up her head for over thirty seconds now; when she also lifts up her legs, she looks like a plane. :P

He's back!

After almost two long weeks, Trung has finally come home to his wife and baby. He arrived in Houston at 7:30 PM Saturday night and was exhausted. Trung had some Lydia time when he got to my parents' house and hit the sack soon after. He's been kinda nauseous (I can never spell it correctly...whatever), but his sleeping pattern has improved. Tonight he should be able to sleep just fine; maybe I'll slip him a Benedryl just in case. :)

Lydia doesn't seem to like it when Trung kisses her, maybe because his stubble scratches her face. She also likes to suck on her bottom lip.Anyhow, so Trung had a bit of catching up to do with Lydia...
Lydia has also been having interesting sleeping patterns. Friday night she seemed a bit warm, so I gave her one dose of Infant's Tylenol, which seemed to clear her "fever", but she woke up around 2:30 AM. I went ahead and tended to her needs because she hadn't been feeling well earlier, though I usually would have waited until 4 (per the N.P.). Saturday night she woke up around the usual time 4-5ish, but this morning (Sunday night) she didn't wake up until 7:45 AM! Trung and I heard her whimpering and sucking on her thumb from 4-6 when Trung got up to go to the restroom, but she never really cried, so I let her be. I eventually fell asleep and didn't get up until she did. I thought it was a gigantic breakthrough, but Trung was a bit concerned that she went too long without food. So, I called Lydia's pediatrician, and according to the nurse, it's totally fine, especially since Lydia did eat tons when she finally did get up. I wonder what time she'll get up tonight...

Baby's first word

Last night my mom was singing and talking to Lydia. At first, Lydia was babbling and "singing" along with my mom. Then my mom said in Chinese "Daddy is coming home soon" and kept saying the word "daddy" (ba ba). Then suddenly, Lydia repeated "ba ba" right back to my mom. My mom and I both looked at each other in amazement. We're sure that Lydia did not know what she was saying, but the pronounciation was so clear that there was no doubt she had said her first word. Okay, so Trung gets the first Chinese word, maybe I'll get lucky and get the first English word. :P

Lydia has also been able to hold up her head for several seconds now during "tummy time". I've been trying to help her to raise her head and turn it from side to side, but last night, she just raised her head on her own. She was all looking around, showing off what she can now do. That's my girl!

Sleeping through the night

This morning when Lydia woke up, I thought that it was still about 3 AM; I don't really know the time until I check my cell phone next to my bed. Well, when I checked my phone, I was delighted to find that it was 5:37 AM...my little one has finally learned to sleep through the night. It has been nice getting the extra sleep, but I've been waking up in the middle of the night lately due to some unusual dreams, so I haven't been been able to fully enjoy the sleep. Before coming to Houston on the 5th, I used to sleep until 11 AM AND take an afternoon nap because my body was not used to waking up several times during the night. Okay, this is coming from someone who used to sleep no less than eight hours a day and averaged about nine hours of sleep while pregnant. Since starting training, however, I've been able to wake up between 8 and 9:30 AM (depending on what time the baby gets up) and stay up for the rest of the day.

Trung and I are truly fortunate to have a good baby. Just about everyone that has met Lydia has commented about how good she is; I think she gets it from Trung. :) She never cries to have her diaper changed, so it's usually for attention, for food, or for sleep. It's even easier at night...she's just hungry, though I do change her diaper while I'm at it. She's so good that I'm afraid the next baby is going to be a real booger. :P Oh well, I'm just going to enjoy this while it lasts and deal with the next one when the time comes.

Ah-ha, caught in the act of sucking her thumb! She woke up when the flash went off and responded with this...

Plays and dances

Tonight I went to Jocelyn's Thanksgiving play at her daycare. The performance was short, but sweet; she was adorable as a little Indian. After the performance, I dashed home to watch the last half of the Dancing with the Stars finale. Just this afternoon during lunch, I had discussed with my friend Anne that I thought Emmitt should win. Well, what do you know... the Cowboy did win...yeah! Sorry, Mario, you've got really cute dimples, but Emmitt's just got it all. :)

So, it has been a bit chilly, so I bundled up the baby in a nice warm fleece blanket...
She's pink and full of goodness. *muah*

Talking and sleeping like a baby

Lydia has been babbling a lot lately. Just a couple days ago, I was talking to Trung on the phone and Lydia kept interrupting us. I had to finally just give her the phone and let her talk it out with daddy. She only really talks when we're at home or at my parents' house; she talks the most when she's very content (after waking up and eating).

The baby did so great her first week of training. She slept until 4 AM or after (though not always straight through) everyday except one day, when she woke up at 3 AM. It's almost as if she knew that she needed to be sleeping longer the very day I started training. Lydia likes to prove me wrong too...every time I think she doesn't get enough to eat during the night, she ends up sleeping just a little longer than normal. Just today, she did not eat as much during her 4:30 AM feeding and I was all like "you're going to wake up at 7 AM" rather than 8 AM. Well, she didn't end up waking up until 10 AM!! I woke up at 9 AM panicked, thinking that maybe she slid down her sleeping pad, under a blanket and couldn't breathe. When I checked on her, she was squirming around, but still very fast asleep. WHEW!

We are family!

I am trying to organize the pictures in the blog a bit, so you may think you're seeing "repeat" pictures, but I'm actually just moving them around. For some reason, ever since I've been in Houston, I cannot seem to move the pictures around within the post, so it is a hassle when the pictures download out of order. Oh, and it doesn't help that everything is in Chinese; good thing I remembered all the links based on their locations.

So anyhow, Lydia and I have hung with Jimmy's family everyday this week. I would like to think that Jason and Jocelyn have grown a certain fondness for Lydia. Jocelyn has been helpful by giving the baby her pacifier whenever she gets irritated or whenever it drops.
Here's my brother Mike on his moving day. He had been staying at my parents' house since his return, but moved out last night to a friend's townhome in downtown Houston because it will be closer to work, which he will start on Monday. He will be missed, though I'm sure we'll still see him often since he loves my mom's cooking.

Last night Lydia slept until 5 AM, her longest stretch yet! She actually woke up at 2 AM, which is earlier than usual. Well, I did what the nurse practicioner said and waited fifteen minutes before going to her. I only ended needing to wait ten minutes because Lydia fell asleep again. I am so proud of her, and she will continue to improve from now on. Yay! Oh, and when I picked her up at 5 AM, she was sucking her little thumb.

There has always been a debate whether or not to let a baby suck his/her thumb or to give a pacifier instead. Pacifiers fall out easily and babies will cry until someone puts it back in their mouths, but they can be taken away when the child gets older. Thumbs are useful because the babies always have them if they need them to suck on something, but they are harder to wean the child off of. Okay, so I was going the pacifier route...it was tough having to get up at night to stick the pacifier back in Lydia's mouth, but nowadays, she doesn't cry for it as much; well, that's because she's found her thumb. Ah, the good ole thumb, that's how I've been getting all that sleep! So, as you can see, it's a toss up. I think I'll start her off with the pacifier when I put her to sleep for the night and just let her suck on her thumb/hand during the night...it seemed to work last night!

Pictures Galore

I've posted a bunch of new pictures throughout the last few blogs, so make sure to scroll down and check them out! :)

Cuteness

Babies truly radiate cuteness; here's a picture with Grandpa Lee: and a picture of Lydia in what I like to call her "Orphan Annie" outfit...
Here's me and the baby!
Okay, so Lydia has always used her purple and pink pacifier because it was more bulb shaped and longer, so easier to grip. Well, I was at my brother Jimmy's house the other day and couldn't find the baby's pacifier, so I had to use the spare flat-shaped pacifier that I always keep in her diaper bag. And what do you know...she was all sucking on it as though she had been sucking it since day one. It's really cute because it lays pretty flat against her cheeks, so it looks like she's got a flower on her mouth. Here, see for yourself...

Shopaholics

Lydia and I have been shopping at the mall these last couple of days...what can I say, you've got to start them young. hee hee. Yesterday we went with Mike to Memorial City Mall and had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen and today we went by ourselves to the same mall after having lunch with Grandpa. We paid White House Black Market a few visits because after all, it is one of Mommy's favorite stores. I was hoping that being out a little while would get Lydia really tired for her nap when we got home, but instead she was extremely restless. She would only sleep 10-15 minutes at a time and would wake up very upset. I guess it didn't help that her rowdy cousins were over for dinner either. Well, Lydia finally got some rest laying on top of me as I watched Dancing with the Stars. Speaking of which, it was a three way tie so it's going to be a close call. I personally think Mario needs to go because he's always been good and hasn't really "improved". Anyhow, so I learned my lesson and am only going to go out for a few hours at a time, so my little one can get some rest. This motherhood thing sure is an experience and I sure am loving it!

I got to talk to Trung this morning at 8:30 AM our time, 10:30 PM his time. Poor guy's luggage didn't get transfered, so he had to wear his traveling clothes to work. Well, at least he finally got it and is getting plenty of sleep, considering the lack of sleep with the baby. The good thing is, by the time he gets back, the baby should be sleeping until at least 4 PM and will soon be sleeping through the night. I can't wait for that, but especially for Trung to come home. He's only been gone for a couple days, but I miss him immensely. I think my hormones are still out of whack too. :P

Back in Houston

After being away from my parent's home in Houston for almost four years, I am back again in my old room, except this time with my baby girl. It has been awfully nice getting to hang out with my entire family everyday; we haven't been in the same city in a very long time.

Getting to this point was quite an adventure...let's begin with Saturday early afternoon. Trung and I were running a little behind schedule in driving off to Dallas for Jasmine's wedding when our neighbors, Jonathan and Grace, came over to watch Lydia before our Calvin picked her up to take her to Houston. We got to Richardson just in the nick of time and would have been late had we not changed our clothes in the parking lot of the church. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a blast at the reception, um, at least what I could remember...hee hee. Congratulations to our friends Jasmine and Trey!

So, we had a great time and ended up getting to the hotel and sleeping at 12:30 PM. Our wake-up call was at 5:15 AM because Trung's flight to China from DFW was at 8 AM Sunday. After dropping Trung off, I headed for Houston. I arrived at my parent's house at 10:30 AM with no caffeine, which was surprising because I thought I would need a venti coffee at Starbucks. I guess these last two months of staying up with the baby helped me out.

While Trung and I were trying to get some sleep in Dallas, where's what was going on in Houston:
When I got to Houston, my brother Mike made me some lunch and then I headed to bed. I didn't get much sleep since Lydia was restless, but we ended up sleeping at 9 PM that night. Lydia slept for the longest time ever...6 hours, but 7 hours if you include the occasional whimpering. She must have known that I was exhausted or something, she's such a great baby! :) Oh, so Lydia turned two months old yesterday and is 11 pounds and 24 inches tall. She had her two month old shots on Friday and did wonderful considering that she got four shots and and oral dose. Now I've got to train her these next couple weeks to sleep through the night. It's going to be hard, but someone's got to do it...it's probably a good thing that Trung is in China because he's a sucker for her cries. :P

Unemployment

Today I am officially unemployed. The head HR lady called me today and asked if I knew if I was returning to work or not. Though I was going to e-mail everyone later today or maybe even Friday (since I've got until the 18th to notify the company), I decided to go ahead and tell her that I was going to be a stay at home mom. She took it very well and asked that I still send something in writing. Well, I sent her and some other folks an e-mail and within the hour, my access to company e-mail was caput. So long...farewell!

After sending the e-mail, I was looking at Lydia and decided that I truly was glad to stay home with her. Only I can raise my child the way I want, ya know? Anyhow, here's a picture of my mom giving Lydia a bath this past weekend. Looks like Grandma is going to be bathing her during our Houston stay, which is totally fine with me :)Lydia really does love taking baths even though she's got a weird look on her face. Hmmm, maybe it's because Grandma made her hair all funky.

Breakthrough

This weekend we went to Houston so that Trung could get his business visa for his trip to China on Sunday. Yup, that's right, Trung is leaving us for two weeks to train his new team members...boo hoo hoo!! Nah, it's okay, Lydia and I will stay with my parents in Houston until he returns. We set up the webcam while we were in Houston, so that he doesn't miss seeing us too too much.

Lydia slept for more than five hours without waking up Sunday night for the very first time. She has been sleeping a consistent three to four hours, so Sunday was a breakthrough. Too bad I was up at 1 AM trying to tame my hives; they seem to flare up everytime I eat fish. So anyways, I always look at the clock when I feed her, so when I saw that the clock read 3:40 AM ( I put her down around 10:15 PM), I thought maybe my dad had not yet adjusted it for Daylight Savings. Well, when I looked at my cell phone, it also read the same. I knew this day would come when she would sleep longer, but some nights it seemed that it never would. Now, let's just hope that it stays consistent.

She smiles :)

This morning as I was feeding Lydia, I noticed that she was smiling at me as I was burping her. Up until this point, she smiled due to gas or as she was falling asleep; she never knew what she was doing until today. Every time I smiled at her, she would voluntarily smile back at me. YAY!!! Here's a close up...

This new discovery has almost helped me forget about the hives...almost.

Last night right before I went to bed, my face was a mess. My eyes were swollen and red and the rest of my face was blotchy. Trung was helping me put Benedryl gel on the hives, which believe it or not, covered about 75% of my body. Once again, if not for the Benedryl, I don't think I would have been able to sleep from not only the itch, but also the burn. Every time I got up to feed the baby, I could tell that the hives were gradually going away. When I finally woke up for the day, the hives from my midsection and arms had pretty much cleared, which left my legs and face. Right now I am presentable, though I certainly wouldn't mind if these hives disappeared once and for all.

Breakout!

AHHH!!! I started breaking out into hives Monday after having Banana Macadamia Nut pancakes. I noticed a small red itchy patch on the right side of my abdomen and thought it was a mosquito bite, so I scratched it a little bit. Bad idea! A couple hours later, it had spread to my entire right side of my abdomen. It began to clear up afterI took a Benedryl, but eating clams for dinner made it worse. By the end of the night, my entire midsection was covered in large red patches.

Yesterday, the hives began to spread to my upper arms and thighs. I took Benedryl throughout the day and after consulting my doctor friends and the pharamacist at Walgreens, I applied a Benedryl gel over the hives. By nighttime, my legs and arms were covered with red patches. If not for the Benedryl, I probably would not have been able to sleep with my whole body itching. During one of Lydia's early morning feedings, I noticed that the hives were on my toes, fingers, and face and not so much around my midsection. It is so crazy how the hives gradually moved away from my abdominal area out to my limbs. I'm just glad it does not affect my breastmilk, though I do have some stored up for emergencies. I would post pictures, but I'll spare you the horror.

The hives should hopefully clear up by tomorrow. Now, the question is, what am I allergic to? I've never been allergic to anything before, oh, except for bad shrimp, but those hives were only on my face and would go away in just a few hours. This was a pretty bad break-out and I definitely want to know what to avoid. I'm thinking that it was the macadamia nuts that done me in, and the clams just made it worse. Maybe one week when I'm not going out at all, I'll experiment and find the culprit. Until then, I'm avoiding all nuts and shellfish, which I oh so love...boo hoo hoo.

Visitors

Friday night my sister-in-law Mai and her husband Be drove up from San Antonio to come see the baby. They are from Albany, NY and were in Texas for Be's work. We had a great time chatting and catching up and Lydia loved seeing her aunt and uncle.

Brother Be with Lydia...Mai with Lydia...Lydia is thinking "hey, you look familiar" :P

All in a day's work

I think we've basically got a routine (but far from a schedule) down now with the baby that kinda seems to work. Basically, we put her down to sleep for the night around 10-11 PM. (Some people would disagree and have the baby sleep earlier, but Trung and I are late sleepers...to each his own). Lydia wakes up a couple times throughout the night, about 3-4 hours between each feeding and I, of course, being the food source, get up to nurse her. If she wakes up within an hour of a feeding, I usually go find out what she needs, unless Trung is awake, then sometimes he goes. Then if Lydia wakes up and is not hungry after Trung starts working for the day, he takes her and puts her in the swing in front of his desk, which usually puts her to sleep.
During the day, she takes a couple naps for a couple hours and "plays" during the in-between times. Then during the evening time, I feed her every hour from 7-9 to stuff her so that she sleeps longer through the night. Every other night, we give her a bath, which is followed by her daily final feeding for the night.

Here's a daddy moment during an in-between time...
This is what we call the "Praise the Lord" pose; Grandpa Lee would like that. Every time we undress Lydia to take a bath, she spreads her arms straight out. I caught her a few seconds too late, but here's a pic to kind of give you an idea...I'll try to snap the picture faster next time.Um, I just thought this was cute. :)

Six weeks and counting

Today I went in for my six weeks appointment, basically a check-up to see how I healed up after the delivery. I am good to go, but don't tell Trung that, cause then we might end up with another baby in nine months. hee hee, j/k, I ain't no Britney Spears. Nah, we have discussed it...we want the kids to be about two years apart, so we're thinking that we'll have baby number two by mid-2008, but that's thinking ahead. Here's what we've got now:

Mommy was having a bit of fun in this picture.

This is what I like to call her Rod Stewart hairdo because the hair near the back of her head just recently started standing straight up. Well, what do you think? :P

Okay, so Sing and Maggie went to New York City for a break (Maggie is from Queens) , so we've been cat-sitting Fuzzy for a few days. The cats, overall, get along alright, but they definitely have their moments. Here's one of their nicer moments...