The one ring to rule them all

Well, one ring to rule all of Lydia's toys, that is. Lydia seems to love the ring that hooks the hanging animals onto her playgym. Just yesterday, we saw her yank down the hanging elephant and take off the ring so that she could gnaw on it. Maybe it's because she's starting to teeth or maybe it's the size of the ring that she really likes...it's just the right size for putting into her mouth. She'd just spend forever moving the ring back and forth in her hands, making sure that one hand has it before the other hand lets go. It's honestly quite amazing watching Lydia develop her motor skills; I'm already sad to see her growing up so fast.

Ugh

So, I heard that there is some kind of stomach virus going around...too bad I already caught it. Saturday night after arriving home, we decided to get our complimentary dinner for two at Chuy's. We had gotten the certificate back in December when we got fajitas to go and they forgot to pack the tortillas, little sides (pico, sour cream, guac, and lettuce), AND the beans and rice! Sheesh! When we called them and told them about it, they offered the certificate or for us to come back and pick up the stuff. Um, yeah right...we'll go for the free dinner for two!

Anyhow, so later that night I had a hard time sleeping and then around 3 AM, I lost my dinner. From then on, I lost everything I ate, which was about ten Saltines and a few spoonfuls of Chicken Noodle Soup; oh, and not to mention the fact that I was nauseous all day. Okay, so I made it through the night and the next day I was feeling ten times better. At least I felt strong enough to pick up Lydia and it didn't hurt as much to nurse with her with her sitting on my stomach. The only thing worse than suffering a stomach virus is suffering one while breastfeeding. The little nutrients that you have in your body goes to the baby and basically leaves you with nothing, well, at least it felt like it.

Okay, so Monday was fine; I ate the rest of the Chicken Noodle Soup for lunch and made congee for dinner. I don't know if it was the Chinese broccoli or just the virus, but my stomach started making googly noises. I felt so gasy and uncomfortable and I couldn't get to sleep for a couple hours; I probably finally fell asleep only after taking an anti-gas pill.

Today I am pretty much good to go, though I'm sticking with the safe foods again. Lydia has been feeling just fine, thank goodness, but I think my milk isn't as filling because I haven't really been eating and she always seems hungry. Hopefully
I'll be able to eat better tomorrow.

Yeah, so, Lydia hasn't started eating solid foods, but that doesn't mean she can't join us for dinner. :)

I'm here!

I know I haven't posted in awhile, I've been busy busy busy since coming to Houston on Saturday (oh, and it doesn't help that the only accessible computer in the house has Chinese headings). When not meeting up with friends, I've been cooking for the family since my Mom has been working overtime this week. I've also taken the liberty to clean out the closet under the stairs at my parents' house. This closet is filled with old gifts that my Mom got and never used, hence, a haven for my Craigslist/eBay frenzy. So, that's about it. Oh, my postage scale came in...I can't wait to get back to Austin to try it out. I know this eBay craze will end eventually, but I figured, I could also used the scale to weigh Lydia because I'm always curious to know how much she weighs.

Oh, speaking of which, Lydia has been tripoding a lot lately (sitting with the support of both hands). Just today she was waving one hand and using the other to support her, so one down and one to go. She's also beginning to recognize people really well; my Mom was holding her when we arrived to Houston so that Trung and I could unload the car and she kept crying after having stared down my Mom for awhile. We're going to have to join a Mom's Day Out or go to church more so that Trung and I aren't the only ones she sees all the time. We'll see though because she has been opening up quite a bit ever since we've been here.

My brother Mike showed me this video in honor of my eBaying...

Upgrading

Lydia has now upgraded to her standard crib. We had been using a portable crib, but since she's so long, there was only a couple inches left from her head and from her feet to the ends of the crib. Lydia loves to kick, which we often hear her doing in the wee hours of the night/morning, so we needed to change her crib pretty soon before she started kicking the rails. Well, the new crib is awfully big, so I had to rearrange the nursery a bit, but everything worked out. Lydia has some getting to used to to the change; I think that's why she work up so early last night...the first time in a week! She has been sleeping eight+ hours lately; how did I figure it out? Well, now Lydia sleeps no later than 6-6:30ish and I give her a double feeding right before she goes down to sleep; it seems to be working mighty fine. :)

I also busted out the high chair yesterday. Lydia loves to watch us eat, even after she's been fed, so why not bring her up to our level? Trung tried sitting her in the chair, but she's still a bit small for it. Even though she's not eating solids yet, we'll probably sit her in the chair from time to time to help her get used to it.

Nice, Lydia is farting on my lap and I don't know when she's gonna stop. Well, gotta check it out though I'm scared for what I might find. :P

It's raining, it's snowing

Lydia got to experience her first snowy day today. I wonder what she was thinking as we stood next to the window watching the little flurries falling down.

So, today went by really slow for some reason, maybe because I didn't get any more bids on my ebay items, maybe because Trung was on a conference call ALL day, or maybe because I was stuck at home because of the cold weather. Whatever the reason, I'm looking forward to going to Houston for a week starting Saturday; a change of scenery is always nice.

Obsessed

Since I wasn't getting that many hits on Craigslist, I decided last night to start my own Ebay account. Needless to say, I'm now crazed about it and have literally gone through the entire house looking for things to sell. I'm even considering buying a digital postage scale on Ebay to help with the shipping estimates. We'll see, maybe this obsession will soon pass or maybe it won't and I'll make tons of money. Yeah, whatever. Well, at least it keeps me busy and I've got a little cash flow coming in; hmmm...now, about getting that user rating up, that's a different story.

Shopping for two

Now that I've been feeling better, I've been catching up on my shopping. Wednesday I hit Highland Mall, but was only able to stay for a little while because I didn't take Lydia with me and she woke up only after an hour. I didn't buy much, only a few lotions at Bath and Body Works and a Hello Kitty cup for my niece.

Thursday I went down to Barton Creek Mall for some serious damage. Babystyle ruins me...that store always gets me with their hype maternity clothes and matching mommy/daughter outfits. Yup, you read right: maternity clothes; I'm not pregnant, yet I'm already prepping up for my next pregnancy. Needless to say, I best be pregnant when Lydia is 12-18 months old or else I'll be wearing maternity clothes just to match her. :P

Today I drove up to the Round Rock outlet and did a bunch of exchanges for Lydia's clothes. My friend Betty met me there and we just walked around about a bit. We didn't stay too long because 1) the weather wasn't so great, 2) she had to meet up a friend on campus, 3) Friday traffic on I-35 is horrible, and 4) I don't need to be spending any more money. Overall, I really didn't spend that much; I just needed to get out because I've been stuck sick at home. Anyhow, I've got to do double the shopping now because I'm...

(From Babystyle, of course)

Sniff sniff

How is it that a little fourteen pound baby can get well faster than me? Lydia started out with the runny nose, and then gave it to me! Now she's been all healed up for the last couple days and has left me hanging. Trung claims she got this Wolverine-like ability from him, but I beg to differ. :P I don't know, but that little spitfire has got some unknown powers...she barely let out a cry (just like during her two month visit) when she got poked four times yesterday for her shots! On the other hand, she'll barely bump her head on my shoulder when I'm holding her and complain for awhile about it. She's a strange one, that Lydia Ly.

So I was looking at the gracelee.net website recently and read that another Grace Lee was inspired by the project and created her own little film. It's aight, just something to watch. Plus, this is my first time posting a video, which I just figured out and am really excited about. Soon, I'll have little clips of Lydia, once we figure out how to edit all our HD footage. (once again, something I have to wait for Trung to show me how to do...argh!).



Hmmm, I wonder what my friends really feel about me? Then again, maybe I don't really want to know. har har

So much for starting solid food

So Lydia had her four month visit today and the good doctor said that it would be best to keep exclusively breastfeeding her until she's six months old. Though it would have been nice to start the solid food, I was actually kind of nervous about it all; plus, breastfeeding longer supposedly helps with future food allergies and eczema, which Lydia has a little bit of on her legs. Here are her numbers at four months: length - 26 inches (95%) and weight - 13 pounds, 15 ounces (50%).

Our roadtrip pictures are finally filtered and up and running. You can go to Trung's Picasa Gallery link on the right and select Florida Roadtrip 2006. WARNING - there are tons of just Lydia pictures, so be prepared to get a babyful.

The Liquidator

Yes, that's what Jimmy calls me now that I've been helping him sell all his stuff on Craigslist. This morning I posted fifteen items (half of them were mine that were reposted) and I got hits on five items (all on Jimmy's items...sucks). I think that I am getting pretty good at this; I've sold items as small as laptop memory cards to as big as Trung's Ford Mustang. Jimmy's even digging through his moving boxes trying to find things for me to sell...hee hee. I get a percentage of the sales, so I'm making a little something, which is nice since I'm not working. A mother has got to feed her baby somehow; um, well, when I start feeding her solid food. If you've got something you want to sell and don't want to go through the trouble of selling it, bring it on! :)

So, Lydia has graduated from her infant car seat to a regular child car seat; she's actually been kinda sticking out of her current one, but we finally found the time for both of us to go get a new one. After some research, I decided on the Britax Boulevard, which is the latest and greatest in the Britax line. Of course, I wanted the purple one, the Shannon, ---> which Lydia would be using for the next few years, so the girly colors would be okay. Trung, however, didn't like the floral design, so we got the Park Avenue <--- instead; I'm just glad we didn't get an ugly solid colored one.

Brown bag special

Thank goodness Lydia was feeling better today; she slept well during her nap times and her nose didn't seem to run as much. At four months old, she's been doing great! After all the issues I had with breastfeeding, can you believe I'm still going at it!? We scheduled Lydia's four months appointment for Monday just in case we were still road-tripping; I can't wait because that's hopefully when the pediatrician will tell us that the baby can start rice cereal = a full night's sleep. Don't get me wrong, Lydia has been sleeping wonderfully through the night at six to seven hours of straight sleeping, and an occasional eight to nine hours, but a consistent eight hours would be great! I'll let you know how she takes to the food; I've heard some babies don't like the new texture.

Runny nose

Poor Lydia has got a runny nose again, but this time I didn't give it to her. I think the sudden weather change caused it; after all, we were enjoying temperature in the 80s a little over a week ago. Yesterday she slept just fine throughout the day, but today she didn't sleep more than 45 minutes at a time during her usual two hour naps. :( Lydia is still eating well and smiling, but you can just tell that she isn't feeling well. Hopefully she'll catch up on her sleep tonight and be good to go tomorrow. Heres to happier, healthier days!