See you at Christmas

Ma and Ba left this afternoon after spending ten days with the families of their two youngest sons. We had our fill of Ma's home cooked Vietnamese food and will have to wait until Christmas to get some more. :/

Hanging out

We started of the day at Zilker Park. Trung dropped the girls and I off at the playground and took his parents to the running trail to catch some views of downtown Austin. Wow, I didn't realize how tough it was watching the two kids by myself; Lydia ran all over the place and Sophie wanted to be held at times, so I couldn't run after Lydia. Fortunately, the playground was pretty open, so I could always keep an eye on Lydia.

Lydia going down the slide just a little too fast.

Sophie saying "cheese"

After long naps and a dinner of Vietnamese pancakes, I went to Erlander and Nina's house to catch up with our mutual friend Chris and to meet their baby Wesley. The girls always have fun in new places with different toys. :)

Hanging out with an old Baylor friend

Erlander giving Lydia her first guitar lesson

The Ly's and the Lo's

Beta thalassemia minor

Today Sophie got her bone age x-rays taken and had her appointment with the hematologist, a blood doctor, to find out why she is anemic. The x-rays were quick and painless, though Sophie didn't seem to think so as she cried the entire three minutes the six x-rays were taken. Then off to the hematologist, where the office had a train station theme and was quite empty compared to the radiology lab. The staff here was SO much better than endocrinology, that it almost...almost, made me forget how bad my last experience was.

The nurse was unable to get Sophie's blood pressure since she was so fidgety, but was able to get her whooping weight of 18 pounds, 6 ounces. After grabbing an Elmo DVD and being offered a toy drum by another nurse, we headed to our exam room. After discussing Sophie's history, the hematologist informed me that she had beta thalassemia minor, basically, a genetic blood disorder that causes at mild anemia. No treatment is necessary for thalassemia minor and it will cause no problems, but should Sophie have a child with someone that is also a carrier, there is a 25% chance that the child could get beta thalassemia major, a much more serious disease.

Trung always knew that he was anemic, but was told at a young age that he was just iron deficient because the situation does closely resemble that of mild iron-deficiency anemia. Also, a few years ago, Ba (my father-in-law) was hospitalized due to a sudden loss of blood, so apparently Trung's side of the family had some history, but we'll both get tested to find out for sure. Thank you all for your concerns and I'll keep you updated!

Lydia's new class

Lydia went to her new three year olds class today. She was a bit nervous at first and didn't even want the morning snack of orange slices and Lydia NEVER declines fruit! Sophie and I stayed a few minutes with her and she seemed okay when we left. When I went to pick Lydia up, her new teacher Paulette said that she adjusted well. Yay!

Lydia shying away from Paulette, while her classmate Landon was taking it all in.

Lydia made it through her first day in her new class! :)

Sophie trying to tell us what she wants, what she really really wants

Crabbing in Galveston

Trung and Lydia got some kind of stomach bug Friday before my in-laws arrived, but everyone seemed well enough to go to Houston to go crabbing the next morning; Sing & Maggie and Henry, Susanna, & Ethan joined us. We arrived at my parents' house around noon and had a nice big lunch. Then we rested a bit before heading out to Galveston Island and then to Port Bolivar via ferry. Almost everyone was able to catch a crab, though they didn't really come out until sunset. Overall, we caught 17 crabs (and lost or threw back a few more) and were able to have a nice dinner with them.

Lydia was all dressed for the occasion, but ended up staying with Sophie at Jimmy and Cora's house where it was nice and safe (and no big boulders).

Trung (in the sideview mirror) patiently waiting 45 minutes for the ferry.

Finally on the ferry!

Sisters-in-law

Susanna and Ethan feeding the seagulls at the back of the ferry

Sing and Trung feeding each other

Our march on the boulders to our crabbing spots

A sponge crab, a female extruding its fertilized eggs into a cohesive mass, that Maggie caught and soon threw back in to disperse and multiply. Trung later caught another one, but we kept it to see what would happen to the mass when cooked...it was spongy and not edible.

Our collection of crabs

Trung caught a whooping 6 crabs!

I caught my first crab with help from my Mom and then two others with Trung by my side.

The next morning we got to see Mike who was coincidentally home for a wedding. We sure do miss him!

A year gone by

Lydia did not have MDO today since the school is preparing for transition next week. I can't believe a year has already gone by! We were thinking about switching Lydia to another MDO program where 15 month olds, hence Sophie, are accepted, but decided against it because 1) we really like the current school and 2) there was no valid reason to spend that extra money when I stay at home; Sophie can wait until she turns too also. :) Too bad Sophie won't get Lydia's teacher, Tania, though since she will be in the older 2's class and Tania teaches the younger 2's.

Lydia and Ms. Tania at their first meeting

Lydia and Tania on the last day of school

Until we meet again

Sunday morning we met Jasmine and Trey, who were in town for a wedding, at Kirby Lane for brunch. The restaurant still had its infamous long waits and slow service, but the food was pretty good.

Trevor, Lydia, and Sophie chilling during our 45 minute wait

Group picture


A human chain while walking to the car

Shortly after we arrived home, Tiffany and Christian headed back to Houston. It was very sad to see them go because we had such an awesome time, hopefully they will come back and visit us very soon.

Just a silly clip of Sophie throwing away her diaper to cheer me up. :P

Tiff the tuber

I forgot to mention that I met Tiff when we were freshmen at Baylor and we have been close friends since; she was even the matron of honor at my wedding almost four years ago! After seeing pictures I posted on facebook after my last trip to Lake Travis, Tiff totally wanted to go when she came up to visit, so we did! It was the girls and Christian's first times on a speed boat and Tiffany's first time to go tubing; they all did great!

Sophie fell asleep on the way to a rest stop

Christian, not looking too happy, and me about to take "the plunge"

Bombs away!

Sophie, me, Christian (under his goggles somewhere), and Tiff


Lydia was never 100% sure about her life jacket while Christian became fully confident


Sophie observing everyone from atop the boat. Look at those huge feet!


Sophie eyeing the approaching Albert


Self taken picture of Tiff and Christian...too cute!


Ready to rumble! or not, I could never sync up with the driver to finally get up



Trung wanted to be better me, but with no luck either


Tiff on the tube; it took a lot of turns to knock her off!


Poor Albert didn't get the full effect since the boat kept stalling because we left the ladder down and our rental time was up


Sophie and Christian catching up on some homework at the Oasis afterwards

Wet and wild

I have heard great things about the splash pad at Brushy Creek, so Tiff and I took the kids there to cool off. The pad was nice and big; the kids ran around while the adults mainly stood nearby and watched. Nowadays I'm never sure what will scare the girls, so I was delighted that they had fun.

Lydia has this same facial expression on almost all the pictures I took

Sophie content with just observing from afar until she realizes it's not my skirt that she's holding

Encouraging Sophie to play with the little fountain...

just seconds before it shot up...into Lydia's face!

Lydia and Christian having loads of fun together

Sophie finally braving up to have some fun. She shut her eyes nice and tight every time before sticking her hand out to touch the fountain.

Sophie, Christian, and Tiff

Taking a break from running around the pad


After lunch, Tiff and I picked up Wendy and we went to watch "The Time Traveler's Wife". It was a good movie and lots of tears were shed; the ladies will enjoy it. :) Later, Tiff and I went downtown, first to my friend's party and then to a couple lounges. It was nice to get out since the last time we went out was my bachelorette party.
Prepped and ready to hit the town


The birthday girl Rukaiya and the triathletes

Right on time

Today Sophie and I went to visit the newest addition to the Huang family, Mackenzie Kayla, who arrived on her due date last Friday. What a cutie! We look forward to more play dates with Parker and now Kenzie too!

The sleeping princess


Catching some rays


Parker found a new playmate in Sophie



Sophie backing away from Parker's kiss attempts. Smart girl, hee hee!

Mother's Day Out

I can't believe Lydia has been in Mother's Day Out for almost a year now! She will be promoted into the three year olds class in a couple weeks, which I'm sure will take same adjusting. Now that Lydia knows her classmates better, we've being slowly invited to their birthday parties. We're still debating whether or not to have one for her this year; we'll probably just have a small gathering of some sort. Anyhow, Lydia attended Elizabeth's 3rd birthday party Saturday with a bunch of other classmates. Elizabeth lives off of 360 and Bull Creek, so her house had a nice view of the country. If was fun getting to socialize with the parents more since we rarely run into each other with Lydia's drop off at 9 and pick up at 2:30.

Sophie just hanging around.


The majority of Lydia's classmates

Lydia hugging Elizabeth so that she can get her bubbles party favor, which she has added to her sleeping collection.

Oh, and another thing I discovered...typically just the mother and the invited child go to American birthday parties, while the entire family usually goes to Asian birthday parties. Hmmm, must be a cultural thing.