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!