Remembering 2008

In 2008, Lydia (boy, I really do miss that smile since she shys away from cameras now) became a big sister to Sophie...who is now 9 months old!

Sophie will be walking in no time!

Also in 2008, Trung finally left IBM and started working for Internet Brands, thus starting his daily commute to work instead of working from home. At first I thought the transition/lack of extra help would be hard, but keeping up with the kids kept me busy. Months later, I opened an eBay store called LeeLy's Closet to keep me even busier. BTW, I was searching for a picture of just Trung and I to post, but apparently after you have kids, there seems to be a lack of just adult pictures...hee hee. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2009 will bring in addition to all the new babies being born; I know of eleven so far! :)

19 months apart

Moments like these make me glad that our girls are close in age...


I sure do hope that they continue to get along as they grow older.

Santa babies

We didn't do much Christmas Day, but the girls had fun clowning around.

Merry Christmas!

In and Out

One of Sophie's favorite things to do...

maybe she just likes rubbing the sides of her head...who knows, but it's dang cute!

Sophie just wanted to say "hi"

Well, more of a suck my finger, play with my hair kind of "hi". Sophie loves waving during her mealtimes and she finds it amusing when I wave back.

Christmas is almost here!

Besides the Christmas decorations and music, it hasn't really felt like Christmas for me this year. We normally travel out of state during the holidays, but with two young children and Trung having started a new job this year, we're just hanging out with my family in Houston for a few days. I can't believe Christmas is next week; hopefully I can get rid of this lingering cough and get more into the spirit by then.

Lydia had her Christmas party this afternoon at MDO. Sophie was a mini-celeb with all the other kids as they crowded around her and showed her their stuffed animals. Apparently, when they say "everyone loves a baby", it applies to people of all ages. :)

Lydia loves to eat (and has the tummy to prove it). She was the only one standing as she ate, probably to help the food go down faster. :P Lydia is always hanging out with the twins, Stella and Alexandria; they are so cute! (pictured in the foreground)

Everyone loves a juicebox, though Lydia had a crazy one that started spouting out by itself; hence, the wet spot.

Gift time! Lydia gave away a Santa Mr. Potato head and got a puzzle of a bear. It was fun watching all the kids open their gifts and showing them to everyone!

Picking up where I last left off, Lydia ended up having a fever on Thursday, so I picked her up early from MDO. Her head and body were hot, but after a couple days of rest and a few doses of Motrin, Lydia was back to her normal naughty self.

Our little blanket hoarder when she passed out on the living room sofa Friday morning

Attending Rachel's first birthday party on Saturday.

Sophie hung on to Trung most of the time,

while Lydia ran around making new friends.

We introduced Sophie to Cheerios this weekend, which kept her busy during dinner out with friends Friday night at Red Robin. Apparently they are having a promotion where kids eat free, though Lydia seemed more interested in our burgers than her chicken fingers. She also kept calling the red robin mascot "Big Bird"...that girl watches way too much Sesame Street. :P
Then tonight we went to Eddie V's for dinner and enjoyed their happy hour menu of 50 cent oysters and 1/2 off appetizers. I've been craving oysters since Scottsdale and wanted to eat something yummy after having lost my sense of taste for over a week and this meal of scallops, crab cakes, and chowder hit the spot! I'm hoping to make this oyster feast a monthly thing, but Trung thinks otherwise. The restaurant was quite nice and had only bar tables, so not the best place for kids...good thing we ate at 5!

Pearly whites

Sorry Santa, it looks like Sophie's already got her two front teeth this Christmas.

It's all coming back to me

After nine days, I can finally smell and taste! The girls welcomed back my senses with dirty diapers this morning...how sweet. :P Though I am feeling much better, it seems that Lydia might be coming down with something else. She got sad around lunchtime, but after her nap, she was cheery again. Then about an hour later, Lydia got really sad, randomly just bursting out into tears. Her head seemed quite warm, so she took another nap and didn't wake up until Trung got home from work. Apparently he had not been feeling well either and his co-worker went home sick. I'm hoping that we won't get another round of sickness.

Resting and watching Sesame Street before dinner

Accessorizing

Lydia always messes with the inventory for the eBay store, so I thought I'd let the girls have some fun for once; don't tell my customers! :P

Sophie and Lydia giving their wicked witches' looksFunny, funny

The earmuffs are one of my current best-sellers, so I had to take a quick picture of the girls in them before I sold out. They are SOOO cute, oh, and so are the girls. :)

2.5 out of 5

... that's how many senses I've been functioning on since Monday. I can't taste or smell, and my hearing is reduced; my ears pop regularly. I don't know if Sophie has similar symptoms, but her nose isn't running as much and she seems happier, though she still has trouble getting to sleep for the night and wakes up at least once in the early morning. Please pray for our health and for my Dad , who was involved in a car accident the day we left for Austin. A young college student in a SUV drove into my Dad's lane/car just a mile away from my parents' home. My Dad's airbag deployed and though an x-ray revealed no fractures, he has chest pains whenever he coughs.

Remembering sick-free and pain-free days...

I know this clip is quite dark, but I just love the little song and well, the love.

Better days

Though Lydia woke up sick last Monday morning, then Sophie showing signs of sickness on Thanksgiving Day, and me getting sick on Saturday (waking up at 3:45 AM on Black Friday to hit the Galleria probably didn't help), we did have a great time in Houston. We spent some quality time with my family and look forward to catching up with friends when we are back in town for Christmas since everyone was too sick to visit this time around.

During our trip, Sophie officially learned to crawl on all fours...

and blow raspberries. :P

Lydia had a blast hanging out with cousins Jason and "Jason" aka Jocelyn. It was so fun watching them copying each other while running across the living room.

Cousins Jocelyn (age 7), Jason, (almost age 5), Lydia, (age 2), Sophie (8 months) and Grandpa (age ?)

In all the world, only one

As mentioned in an earlier post, Tiff, Cora, and I took a much needed mini-vacation to Scottsdale, Arizona. Not only was work crazy for each one of us, but as mommies, some time away for the kids is always nice. :) We arrived in Phoenix and realized while driving to Scottsdale that my GPS system that I brought along wasn't charging. Fortunately, Cora's cell phone had GPS and we arrived to our hotel safely. After a quick break, we explored and got a snack at the Borgata shopping center next to the hotel where we enjoyed live music and the first signs of Christmas.
Then after a short wait, we had a scrumptious dinner of sushi and panko-crusted soft shelled crabs at Ra. Afterwards, we walked down to Sugar Bowl for probably the best ice cream that I've ever had. The girls and I shared a parfait of coffee and chocolate homemade ice cream covered with lots and lots of almonds!

The next morning we headed off to world-renown Camelback Inn for facials and Swedish massages.

We spent the day in true relaxed fashion, lounging by the pool, eating at the spa restaurant Sprouts, and chilling the day away...all in just a robe! We didn't even bust out the cameras until it was too late to get the sunset! We headed to Wildfish for a dinner of raw oysters, lobster bisque, and sauteed bay scallops; then took a walk to the Gelato Spot where we got some gelato that really did hit the spot!

Before heading to the airport, we took a hike up North Mountain and got some spectacular views of the city. Here we are looking pumped before our hike...

A quick break during our hike; I didn't notice that Cora was sticking out her tongue until I uploaded this picture...hee hee.The Rocks of the Valley of the SunYay, we made it back down though we didn't have time to make it to the summit.
After some famous grilled cheese sandwiches at Chloe's Corner and some shopping at Kierland Commons, we were off to the airport. What a wonderful (though too short) trip! Let's do this again soon, girls!

Extremes

These last few days have been pretty rough. Lydia woke up sick Monday morning and has gotten worse each day. It's quite an adjustment hanging out with gal pals all weekend without the kids to watching the kids by myself AND with one of them sick...I feel like I need another vacation already!

Pool Lydia keeps wiping her nose with her hand (and shirt) and then rubbing her eyes, so she's just a mess. She also keeps waking up from her sleep and just complains instead of communicating; so we both end up frustrated. Needless to say, I was so happy to see Trung tonight when he decided to surprise us by coming to Houston a day early. It really has been tough trying not to get sick, keeping Sophie healthy and happy, and nursing Lydia back to health. Hopefully Lydia will feel better in the morning; I've learned so far from this experience that I need to be more patient and loving. Being a mother certainly can be hard work at times.

Taking a break

A couple girlfriends and I headed to Scottsdale, Arizona Friday for some major R & R. Trung, the girls, and I drove to Houston Thursday night so that I could fly out with Tiff and Cora and so that he could get some extra help from my Mom for the weekend. My girlfriends and I had a wonderful time chowing down, getting facials and massages, and hiking up a mountain. I'll have plenty of pictures and details once I get back to my home computer on Saturday. For now, the girls and I are just chilling with my family in Houston; Trung went back to Austin on Sunday to work, but will return for Thanksgiving. Of course I'll be hitting the children's clothing stores on Black Friday to stock up for the eBay store, and maybe do a little clothes shopping for myself. By the way, Dancing with the Stars fans, don't forget to watch the final results show tonight, but don't tell me who wins! I thought that the show would skip this week for Thanksgiving, so I didn't watch last night...darn! Oh wells, have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!

Humidify

We purchased a couple of extra humidifiers since it is so dry at night and everyone seems to need one in their room. We let Lydia choose between the pig and the cow; she was afraid of the cow so the pig is now hers. We think the little horns on the cow remind her of Darth Maul from the Star Wars commercials, which freaks her out...you can't really blame her. So, here are the girls playing with their adorable new humidifiers; and they actually supposedly work really well too! :)

Coming through

Funny how on Sunday I was just making a comment that Sophie was going to be getting teeth soon and Trung saying that he would miss her toothless smile, and what do you know, I felt inside Sophie's mouth to discover that she was cutting her first tooth! So, I quickly took some pictures of Sophie's final toothless smile days and even tried to get some of her little tooth, but with no success.Yes, I know, mean Mommy!

Sophie got her revenge later that night, keeping us up with her upsetting cries. We think maybe her new tooth was bothering her since she had never cried like that before.

Everything spells "baby"

I know it seems like I've been blogging about Sophie a lot lately, I guess kids tend to go through so much physical development their first year of life. Though not mentioned as often, Lydia is growing smarter every day; I just don't want to brag. :P She loves singing to "ic", watching "Dance" -ing with the Stars with Mama, and helping Dada unload the dish-"washer". Lydia know her ABC's , 123's , her well-loved fruits, and much much more. She enjoys spelling out letters whenever she seem them, though everything spells "baby"! :)

Sophie's first "Chinese" word

FYI, "ba ba" means "Dad" in Chinese. Oddly enough, Lydia's first word was also "ba ba".

Pigtails and Craziness

Today I experimented with pigtails on Lydia's hair and they didn't turn out too bad. I couldn't believe I was able to keep Lydia still long enough for me to tie up her hair.

Lydia enjoyed shaking her pigtails around.

We checked out the new Target in town and the girls got to ride in their new, sleek shopping carts.
After a few errands, we had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which was honestly a bad idea because the kids got restless and fussy; Sophie had to be held and Lydia wouldn't stay seated. Now with one kid at least one parent can eat while the other holds the kid, but with two kids, basically no one eats. Trung and I rarely eat out and when we do, we usually go to Asian restaurants because they don't mind our noisy girls and they are fast. I seriously think that the nicer the restaurant the rowdier the kids get; we better stick to our Chinese food or get a sitter next time. :P

Please stand up

I turned around and there Sophie was, standing there like Hamlet's father...drooling.

Locomotion

Sophie is beginning to really move around. Sometimes I'd look away for a moment and she'd move several feet away or she'd be in the sitting position when she was just on her tummy. We call the move in the following clip the "worm".

Daylight Non-Savings

Just when I thought I'd get an extra hour of sleep, the girls decided to take turns waking Trung and I up starting at 5 AM. First, Sophie woke up and after being rocked by Trung a bit, passed some major gas and went back to sleep. I don't know if it was the broccoli I had for lunch yesterday or the greens that she has been eating, but the poor thing was very uncomfortable. Lydia came to our room a couple hours later, so I laid with her on the futon in the living room to see if she would go back to sleep. We normally walk her back to her room, but I wasn't really thinking this morning. Trung got up an hour later and watched the kids while I went back to bed for a couple more hours. What a morning!

In the afternoon, Lydia attended her first real birthday party where kids were her age and she got to eat cake. (Notice the cut next to her right eye where she walked into a Mercedes while trick or treating. Clumsy, that Lydia, just like her mama)



Lydia ate only and all the chocolate icing on the cupcake. Nice beard!

Costume changes

Lydia started off with a ladybug costume that she wore to the Halloween party at Mother's Day Out, but the velour was too hot for the suddenly warm weather. Where did the cold front go? Plus, it was a tad short and I didn't have any shoes to match it. Then Lydia tried on a purple flower fairy costume that was in my eBay store. I promised my peeps at Gymboree and Janie & Jack that I would give them a Halloween picture of the girls, so they had to represent.

Then finally Lydia went trick or treating as Lilo from the movie "Lilo and Stitch" because the fairy headpiece was choking her double chin. Sophie stayed a pumpkin throughout the day and was perfectly content with being held the whole time while trick or treating.

Sophie with pretty pink poodle Amy

Graces and their kids

We went to my cousin Grace's place yesterday and the kids had a grand ole time playing. Nathan loved hugging Sophie, maybe because she is too young to refuse him...
but not too young to complain.

I never really got to hang out with my cousins at all while growing up since we were living on opposite sides of the globe. Now that we are in the same city and especially with kids about the same age (Nathan is three months younger than Lydia), hopefully we will be seeing more of each other. :)

The girl next door (or a few houses down)

Sarah, our neighbor across the cul-de-sac from us, has her parents living with her and John to help out with baby Amy for a few months. Her mom likes to hang out with us; I don't know if it's to have somebody else to talk to (in Chinese) or because Sophie and Amy are only a couple weeks apart and she likes comparing the two. Regardless, it has been fun talking walks around the neighborhood or having them over, even though I don't understand half of what she says. (The smile and nod method seems to work really well most of the time.)

Taking turns doing the "airplane".

Feeding Sophie

Sophie started eating carrots on Sunday since her rice cereal was established, so I thought. The next day she started downright refusing all solids. Sophie had been sleeping 7-7 without a dream feed recently, but without that extra rice cereal dinner, she began waking up hungry around 3:30 AM. I think my timing was off because she was just too hungry to be spoonfed, but I think we are back on track again.

Sophie's first taste of carrots

That wasn't so bad...

Eating is hard work

Lydia offers Sophie a peace offering

Hanging on

My parents come to visit us on Friday and as always, the girls had a mini photo shoot with my picture-crazed father (and me :P ). I wish that I had taped the following in its entirety, but this is close enough.

Falling...

falling...

DOWN!


Sophie has a death grip and Lydia, who has been shying away from cameras lately hence the lack of pictures of her, just wanted to get away.