Something cute

Heads up

It's hard to believe that Sophie is already almost three months old! She weighs over 12 pounds and has definitely gotten longer. Here she is showing her favorite toy...Mr. Monkey.

Wedding pics

Here are a couple pictures from Hieu and William's wedding this past weekend. FYI, Hieu is Trung's second cousin (I think) or AKA his aunt's granddaughter. Special thanks to Sing and Maggie for the pictures.

Sleeping beauties

Our hectic weekend must have finally caught up with Lydia because she has been sleeping so much! She usually wakes up by 8:30 at the very latest, but yesterday morning Trung had to wake her up before he went to work at 9 AM. Then she napped for three and a half hours and I had to wake her up then too! So far today, she woke up at 9ish again and is currently taking her nap (I put her down at 12:40). It is no wonder she has so much energy, huh?

After two and a half weeks, I have finally gotten Sophie to sleep eight hours straight at night again. She has, for the most part, been sleeping through the night, but ever since our Michigan trip, she hadn't slept more than six hours at a time. After Michigan, the girls and I were in Houston for almost a week, and then all the relatives came into town for the wedding this past weekend; but finally our life is back to normal and we can establish a routine. Here is Sophie's sleep schedule:
8 AM - wake up
10 AM - 10:45 AM - nap
1 PM - 3 PM - nap (Lydia takes her nap at this time as well)
5 PM - 5:45 PM - nap
8 PM - go to sleep
10:30ish - dream feed

I tried this schedule yesterday and it worked like a charm; Sophie didn't wake up until 7:45 AM! The only problem is keeping her awake and cooperative enough for the dream feed. I know several people that have done it with great success...can you help me out? By the way, Sophie is quite the little snorer.

A Family Affair

Trung's aunt, uncle (Ma's younger brother), and cousin got into town around midnight Thursday night. They were very nice and aunt even did my hair for the wedding since the salon didn't open until 9 AM on Saturday and we needed to leave for Dallas by 8:30 AM. I was just expecting a simple French twist, but being the professional that she was, she added an intricate weave. Too bad I didn't get a picture of it because I have really no idea how the back looked. Anyhow, Lydia was a bit tired when I took the following picture, but here's aunt and uncle with the girls.

Okay, so we all got off on a late start Saturday morning to Dallas and ended up changing clothes in our cars and arriving at the church about fifteen minutes late. Trung and I spent the rest of the ceremony tending to the kids; Lydia was crazy as usual in the forum and Sophie was eating sporadically in the ladies' room. After the ceremony, we went to the hotel to eat and rest before the reception at 6 PM. The reception was very nice though we left soon after the wedding party visited our table because Lydia was exhausted. I thought that I would be slightly disappointed about not being able to stay and dance at the reception, but I honestly had a great time just hanging out with my man and girls in the hotel room. It's interesting what having kids does to a person. :)

Sunday morning we had some Vietnamese "breakfast" and then hung out at the hotel for awhile. We had already loaded up our luggage onto the car, so we just crashed in the lobby.
Lydia enjoyed watching the waterfall in the lobby and wanted badly to waddle in the surrounding pool. Here's a family group picture with Ma's older sister's family at our house after the wedding; some of the family members flew in from Switzerland!

I apologize for the lack of pictures from the wedding. Trung and I were preoccupied with the kids, plus he forgot the camera in the van during the reception. I'll post pics later when I gather them from other family members who attended the wedding.

Grandparents Ly

My in-laws (in addition to my brother-in-law and his wife; Trung's uncle, wife, and son) are in town for Trung's second cousin's wedding in Dallas Saturday, and the girls went with me to pick them up this morning. Lydia just loves her "pau pau" (Dad's mom) and "ye ye" (Dad's dad).

And she's back

Sasha the cat has returned to the Ly Family household because, apparently, the new owner's kids did not appreciate Sasha's protective nature. We all did miss Sasha, so it is nice to have her back temporarily. Lydia still gets upset at times when Sasha hisses at her, so I still have ads posted for a "tabby looking for a loving home"; if you know anyone wanting a cat, please do let me know.

Speaking of Lydia, she is officially signed up for Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting in September. Trung and I think that Lydia could use some more interaction with others kids and adults, plus it would give me a little break during the week. We checked out the Gethsemane Lutheran's Children Ministry (GLCM) facility today and were quite pleased. Good thing we thought about signing Lydia up too because she took the last opening for that time/day slot.

Little girls' man

I had initially planned to return to Austin Saturday after lunch, but Cora's mom invited us to a surprise birthday dinner Saturday night. I hadn't seem most of the invited guests in quite awhile, so I decided to attend; some people didn't even know I had Lydia, much less Sophie. The food was a bit salty, but the birthday cake was divine. Oh, and Sophie got her first marriage proposal...a seven year old boy at dinner asked if Sophie would be his wife one day. Sorry, kiddo, she's only two and a half months old, but how about her older sister?

As my parents, the girls, and I were driving back to home, I decided to head back to Austin that night. Both girls would sleep the entire time, and we would be able to celebrate the entire Father's Day with Trung. When I called Trung to tell him, he seemed happy as he admitted to being a little bit bored without us earlier that day. We got back home at 12:30 AM, but it sure was nice to be home again.

The girls and I took Daddy to The Omeletry for brunch today. Then we got to see his new office, where he had to do some work and connect to some sites. After the girls' naps, we went to the Arboretum and hung out for a little bit. Lydia got to spend some quality time with her favorite guy, while Sophie hung out with Mommy and slept in her stroller. Happy Father's Day to the best father ever. We love you, Da-da!By the way, I have finally updated my blog with various posts and/or pictures from the Michigan and Houston trips. Enjoy!
Until we meet again
Top place to live
Exploring Michigan
Soccer Mom
Splash Day

Splash Day

Sophie and I met Tiff at Starbucks, and after having a nice cold drink, we raided Gymboree next door. Then I had lunch with Cora at Berry Hill where I tried a spinach and corn tamale, which was delicious. This was my first time eating there, and now it will certainly not be my last. We got to my parents' house just in time to welcome Jocelyn and Lydia back home from VBS. After eating chicken quesadillas, Lydia went down for her nap; Sophie soon joined her.

Once the girls got up from napping, we went to visit my college friend Anne. We checked out her awesome new home and said our "see you laters" as she will be moving to Australia in two weeks for a year. We'll miss hanging out with you when we visit Houston, Anne!Anne just so happened to live only three miles away from another college friend Thomas. His family and mine had pizza from Houston's only coal baked pizzeria; you really could taste the difference. Then we hit their neighborhood splashpad where Lydia and Daniel had lots of fun.

Soccer mom

I took our minivan out for the first time yesterday and it was surprisingly a very smooth ride. I took both kids to the Galleria with me since my Dad felt bad about taking Lydia to VBS. VBS is only for kids entering kindergarten - 5th grade; children younger than that are only allowed to attend if a parent is working in VBS. Technically we were bending the rules a bit, but later, Lydia's VBS teacher called and asked where she was and after giving her the reason, she said that we shouldn't feel bad at all and that she expected Lydia at VBS the next day. Lydia had cried and complained practically the entire time we were at the Galleria, so I had no problem letting her attend VBS the next day.

I have not been to Houston's Galleria in a long time, so I had to take a moment to figure out where everything was nowadays. Janie and Jack is having their semi-annual sale, so we went there first and discovered a cool water feature.

After a quick look inside Gymboree, Lydia and I enjoyed a pretzel and blue raspberry chill. Then we went back to my parents' house where both girls took naps. After they woke up, we met Jennifer and Calvin at this new teahouse across the highway called Ka Teahouse. The bubble milk tea there was so-so, but the smoothie wasn't too bad. I am just glad that someone finally built a milk tea place on the west side of town, so that I don't have to go all the way to Chinatown for a drink. Jennifer and Calvin hadn't seen Lydia since November and had never met Sophie, so it was nice "reintroducing" the girls to them. Lydia had a blast playing with Uncle Calvin in the water fountain feature, while Sophie just slept away.

Foreshadowing

Both kids are finally down for the night. Whew! Man, it is hard taking care of two kids pretty much by myself; Trung left for Austin last night to start his new job today and my parents are worn out from the past several days of watching them. I am exhausted and I even got a five hour break from Lydia this morning when my Dad took her to Tallowood's Vacation Bible School (VBS).

The exhaustion is initially from waking up at 3:45 AM to feed Sophie; unfortunately, her sleeping schedule got messed up while I was away. Sophie and I met up with Tiff briefly later this morning and then had lunch back at my parents' house. Lydia and my niece Jocelyn soon came home from VBS, so I got them fed and then put my kids down for their naps. Sophie wasn't sleeping well and Lydia was too wound up from playing with Jocelyn, so I barely got to rest before they were both up and going at it. Somehow between Baby Einstein videos and Leap frog books, we managed to get through the rest of the day. I hope the days will be easier once I am back at my babyproofed house and not having to watch Lydia every second. I am, however, getting a glimpse of reality since Trung will no longer be at home to help me with the kids when I get home. Hopefully it can only get better from here. :/ By the way, I'm sticking around town to catch up with friends and so that Trung can catch up on some other work.

I don't believe my Dad has the application for me to upload pictures and videos onto his computer, so I'll just write and not post my blogs until I get back to Austin this weekend. I'll have all the new posts linked up, so you won't miss a thing. Until then, you will just have to wait to hear all about our trip to Michigan...call me if you really can't stand the anticipation. :P

Live from Detroit, MI

I've only got a few minutes before we head off to meet Trung's friend Bijo for breakfast and then board our plane back to Texas, so this post will be short and sweet. We had a great time here in Michigan, attending Bijo's wedding, checking out the Henry Ford museum, and biking around Mackinac Island. The rain and wind have now arrived here, so it is time for us to go home, plus we miss the munchkins. I'll have plenty of backdated posts and pics, so check back soon. See ya'll back in Texas!

Exploring Michigan

We slept in Sunday morning and enjoyed a Chicago styled seafood pizza at Pizza Papolis for lunch. The pizza was stuffed with shrimp and crabmeat, which made it a unique meal to say the least.Then off to the Henry Ford Museum. I enjoyed the Chocolate exhibit, while Trung lingered in the Automobile section. Ford was quite the collector; he had historical pieces like the bus in which Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat to fun pieces like the wienermobile. All in all, it was an interesting place to visit, though I honestly might not have found it as interesting without the chocolate. Oh, here's a video of something fun we found in the museum...yes, that's me on the right side.

Immediately following our museum visit, Trung drove the first leg of our five hour trek to St. Ignace, a city between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and located just north of Mackinac Island. We stopped at a gas station to fill up and happened across one of the best ice creams I've ever tasted. The flavor was called "Bear Claw" and consisted of dark chocolate ice cream with cashews and caramel. YUM! Trung feed me the ice cream as I drove the rest of the way, arriving at our hotel around 9:30 PM.

The next morning, we woke up "bright" and early and boarded the short ferry ride to Mackinaw Island. Our trip to Michigan was coincidentally during the time of the island's annual Lilac Festival, so of course, we had to go. Though the weather had been nice and warm during the weekend, it was now wet and chilly. The first hour on the island, Trung and I went in and out of shops to stay warm; we checked out the famous fudge too while we were at it. Then we took a carriage tour that took us to Arch Rock,the butterfly house,

and the fort. After the best fish and chips lunch I've ever had (the whitefish was one huge piece!) at an Irish pub, the sun finally came out and the weather warmed up. Trung was finally able to convince me to rent bikes, on which we rode around the entire island. I think the last time I rode a bike was in college, which might explain why we had to take frequent breaks or maybe it was because of the super fattening fudge. :PAfter a quick picture with the lilacs (did you know they grow on trees?), we were off again...on the ferry, through the five mile long suspension bridge, to Detroit we go.

Top place to live

Trung and I arrived at our flight departure gate Friday as the people were boarding. We honestly might have missed the flight if our shuttle driver hadn't floored it getting to the airport and going to our terminal first. I had forgotten how bad Houston traffic is, and the construction and accidents didn't help either. So we made it to Dallas alright and after a two hour layover, we had an hour and a half delay because the captain refused to fly the plane. Ummm... Apparently the plane's maintenance was not up to par and he had to fill out a bunch of paperwork to move us to another gate and plane. We didn't arrive to Detroit until 11:15 PM and to our hotel until 12:30 PM. It was a long night, but at least we made it!

Ann Arbor, MI is named one of the best places to live and though we didn't get a chance to see much of it, what we did see was quite nice. After a quick breakfast at Einstein's Bagel, we attended Bijo and Beena's wedding ceremony at a catholic church near the UM campus. Then we ate delicious Indian food at the reception and Trung got to catch up with his old college pals. One of his friends, Sunny, sat at our table and we got to enjoy his company longer as we explored the campus and headed to town for dinner together. Michigan is located on the west side of the Eastern Time Zone, so it stays light out a long time, which was really cool. I wish you a long and happy marriage, Bijo and Beena, and nice meeting you, Sunny! Ya'll come and visit us here in Texas now, ya hear?

Trung and I with the newlywedsThe RPI boys: Sunny, Bijo, & Trung

Until we meet again

Trung is not only jobless, but petless and childless as well. We gave our dear cat of almost eight years, Sasha, away to a nice couple yesterday. It was a sad moment, but as my long time readers may remember, we've been contemplating giving her away for quite some time now. Lydia had been bothering Sasha quite a bit and the poor cat just did not receive the love and attention (from Trung and I) that she used to. We hope that she will be much happier now with caring "parents" and even a girl pal. We'll miss you, Sasha.We dropped off the kids with my parents in Houston and are already missing them. I am so glad that Trung took some pictures and a video of them before we left because I've been watching it every day. *sniff sniff* I honestly needed a little break from them because Lydia, at least, totally wears me out and wears my temper thin at times. I hope to return home refreshed and with plenty of energy. :)

Sophie sucks

Literally! We are trying to avoid Sophie getting attached to a pacifier, which Lydia currently cannot do without during her nap and bedtime, so she has resorted to sucking her thumb. I honestly cannot complain because she has slept through the night four days in a row, like from 10-6! I followed the baby book almost to a T on Monday, but she actual slept better on the other three days when I just did my own thing. So, my own thing it is! I just hope Sophie does just as well sleeping for my mom this weekend as she does for me.

Sophie had her two month visit yesterday and per the nurse, she is following in Lydia's footsteps measurement-wise. She weighed 10 lbs, 7 ounces and is in the 75%tile for her height. I just put away some of her baby clothes that she has outgrown...time sure does fly!

Speaking of which, after nine years, tomorrow will be Trung's last day at IBM. Thanks for the memories. :)

Queen of returns

This past week I went on a major shopping spree...I mean MAJOR; I went shopping every single day for crying out loud! I have finally gotten to the size that I am comfortable with and decided to buy some new outfits for upcoming weddings and for my little trip this weekend. I have finally gotten all the shopping out of my system, though an experience today made me not want to shop ever again.

First of all, I have a very bad habit of returning clothes, anything actually. I have noticed that nicer stores like BCBGMaxAzria, Arden B., and Betsey Johnson are final sale for their sale items, which has helped me get over this vice of mine. Anyhow, so I wanted to return a shirt at the Banana Republic (BR) outlet store and purchase a couple of sale items, one of them having a minor defect for which I was hoping to get a discount. As I am about to reach the counter, I pull out my return, a shirt, and receipt from a BR bag under the stroller and the cashier asks "what's in that bag"? I was like, "all my returns" probably in a puzzling manner, so she dropped the topic. Next, my return was only $6.99 to which she asked "you do know that this is only $6.99, right?", but I already had the exact same shirt in another color and liked it better and YES, I knew the price. Then, I asked about the discount for the broken strap on the inner slip of a dress, which a manager approved even though the dress cost about ten dollars. I then busted out my 15% off entire purchase coupon that I received from completing a survey, to which the cashier annoyingly asked "another 15% off?" She asked if I wanted to save it since I was only saving about $4.00, but like I said, I had been shopping way too much already, so I just wanted to go ahead and use it. Apparently she said that she could not take 15% off the dress again, but when she scanned the coupon, it did take the discount off again. Me and my big mouth, I told her it discounted, so now she HAD to redo the entire transaction so that I would not get the extra discount. There were about eight people in line, mind you, couldn't she just give me the extra buck fifty discount? So then I finally swipe my credit card and sign...she cleared it and asked me to sign again. So I did and then asked what was wrong with the initial transaction. "Your signature didn't match you credit card", she responded. WHA!?!?!?

I honestly don't know what this girl's problem was but she didn't have to 1) basically accuse me of shoplifting, 2) question my return, 3) get annoyed that I wanted a bargain, and 4) make me sign again when I was obviously the same person on that driver's license and credit card. Sheesh!