Double Whammy

We're the House of Germs once again. Wei Wei was sick over Thanksgiving and got wallopped again. This time with a nasty cough/cold with a touch of a stomach flu. Boy has it been a hoot around here.

Our holiday cards are going to be late. We had three photo sessions with little success. Here are some photos from our first shoot:

Whew!

Leading up to the holidays, we've been busy! In addition to a trip to Westwood, Little Gym visits, and holiday preparations (or lack thereof), we've been:

> Grateful that Wei Wei is such a loving big brother


> Run an 8k race (thanks to Andrea's support) -- here she is on race day with Adelaide. It wasn't pretty, but at least I slogged through it.


> Spending time with Gong Gong and Po Po


> Visiting with Niko and Annoesjka. Niko is a big kid -- they were born only one day apart, but he weighed in at 15 lbs, 7 oz at two months (compared to Adelaide's 11 lbs). Zowie!

This one is for Kaixiang

Howdy Pilgrams!

We hope KX likes it.

Thanksgiving

It's that time of the year when we all reflect about the things we are thankful for. This year, our list is not as traditional as usual. Of course, we are thankful for family, friends and all of those things, but Turkey Day this year forced us to think outside of the box. So, here goes the list and it's not in any particular order.

1) Let's take a minute and thank the people that invented those waterproof pads used on a bed.
2) What would the world be without a washer and dryer. Gotta love those.
3) On-demand television, now that is helpful
4) The command center (that's our couch in the living room).
5) Lysol--Wendy may disagree, but I love the stuff.
6) Jello-the cherry kind without fruit
7) Children's Motrin--Magic, it really is amazing stuff.
8) M & M's
9) Hotwheel cars
10) It should only last 24 hours!

Yep, you probably guessed by now. Wei Wei came down with a stomach flu last night. I'll spare you the details, but it wasn't pretty. So, we stayed home today and had a lovely day despite the illness.

Happy Turkey Day!

Adelaide's Big Hair

We shot a little video of Adelaide. It's not really a Summer blockbuster...not much action. We were very impressed with her big hair. She's really trying to go Jersey at a young age. I wish I could dub "Hey, someone pass me the Aquanet".

Zzzzzzz . . . .

I'm not sure if it's a fluke or the start of a trend, but Adelaide slept through the night last night. Slept from 11:30 pm until 6:15: am! Of course, I still got up to check on her.

Could this be? Dare I hope?

Although my expectations are not high that this will last, but at ten weeks old, she's already sleeping a ton better than Wei Wei was at this age. He didn't sleep through the night regularly until he was about two years old.

Chutes and Ladders

Garrick has been trying to enter the realm of big kid games. So,we picked out Chutes and Ladders. It's a childhood standard. It doesn't require reading, you only need to be able to count to six and if you are like me, you can even be color blind (I always have a hard time with Candyland). Anyway, Garrick who is Mr. Let's Play, can't seem to get his mind around the concept of a board game with rules. It quickly devolves into playing with the little stand-up pieces.

We are considering bringing a class action lawsuit against Milton Bradley for it's false claims. It clearly states 3+ years of age. Garrick is 3+ years of age and while he's no Einstein, he's not exactly a Lenny. Wendy and I can hardly bring ourselves to open the box and play because it's such a mess.

Wendy took Adelaide in for her 2 month check-up. All is well. She is now a little over 23 inches and 11 pounds. She enjoys eating every 1 1/2 hours and recently she has been able to stay awake around the clock. She must get that from the Wong family.

Boo!

We have survived Halloween!

Wei Wei had a great time. He tricked, he treated, he got lots of candy. He dressed as a Secret Agent. Inspired by the Backyardigans and a little Mission Impossible, we were able to pull together a costume that met his high standards.

Adelaide, on the other hand, got a hand-me-down from her cousins. She went as a big pumpkin blob.

In other Halloween festivities, we made cupcakes for daycare. Check out our buggy cupcakes. Not too scary. We clearly need cupcake lessons from Ivanna!

Here's Wei Wei's attempt:

Baby and Kaixiang update

I love my little sister Adelaide, although I can't believe she's already seven weeks old. She still has some awful gas -- she could teach me a thing about burping and tooting. Thankfullly, her baby acne and cradle cap seem to be going away, so she's not as crusty.

Kaixiang turned two years old yesterday. We called to sing him happy birthday. He liked it so much he asked for two encores. I must have really been rockin' the song.

Here are some recent pics:

Play date with Keira

I was lucky enough to see Keira twice last week and had a good time playing with her. She just turned two, but she can certainly keep up with me. We played with play doh and painted too.

Here we are eating ice pops:
Here I am giving her a hug:
My Ma Ma and Ba Ba are working on my Halloween costume. I don't want to commit to anything yet. It will be a big surprise for everyone. I've noticed that Xiao Li has been wearing her Halloween costume for the entire weekend. I'm not sure what she is, but she has this yellow, crusty stuff on her head and her face is all red and bumpy...pretty scary stuff!

Fullers in New Jersey

The Fullers were in visiting last week. Wei Wei thoroughly enjoyed having an extra two people to boss around (and who were willing to be bossed around) and Adelaide was happy to have two extra people available to hold her.

We visited the zoo and the farmer's market and also put them to work. Continuing a trend, when Jerry and his dad replaced the sink faucet, the plumbing underneath broke, so we had to get a plumber out here. Also, the dishwasher broke, as did the lawnmower. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Getting along

Wei Wei and Adelaide have been keeping us busy. Some quick updates:

• Annoesjka and Niko (born one day after Adelaide) came to visit us last Friday: Adelaide's first play date! Niko is adorable.
• The Fullers are in visiting this week. Wei Wei loves having two more people to boss around. We went to the zoo on Tuesday. We also tried to shop for a Halloween costume for Wei Wei, unsuccessfully. He's said that he's wanted to be a knight, a cowboy, a ninja, and a dragon. Hmmmm. . . .
• We babysat Kyle and Nathan on Monday night. They are adorable. You should have seen us running around like crazy. And that was with four adults and four kids. We weren't even outnumbered!
• Adelaide is four weeks old. She's developed some baby acne, which I hope goes away soon.
• Wei Wei continues to be a great big brother. Here he is trying to comfort Adelaide:

Alice and Daniel's Wedding

The big day was this past weekend -- a whirlwind of activity, but what fun! So cute to see Kaixiang, Kyle, Nathan, and Wei Wei all together. Adelaide was too young to keep up with them, but just wait another year!

Wei Wei fulfilled his ringbearer duties. He did great. I was so proud of him. AND he looked darn cute while doing so:

We unfortunately don't have any photos from the wedding, but are hoping to rely on others'. Audrey, Judy, and I were in the wedding and all of the husbands were busy corraling kids.

Alice looked beautiful and the reception was a great party. We were all pooped by Sunday night. Ali and Dan are in China for their honeymoon.

A tux, a cake, and Adelaide

Xiao Yi and Danny's wedding is this Saturday. Er Yi and Kaixiang fly in tonight, so the festivities will be starting! We did a practice run with Wei Wei in his tuxedo:

While Ivanna teaches Justine and Vasco "real" cooking (see her blog to the right), we helped Wei Wei make a volcano cake. I don't think we've ever had that much food coloring in our house at one time. Wei Wei was disappointed that we wouldn't let him eat it.

Adelaide and I continue to live in two-hour increments. This child can eat. We had our two-week check-up yesterday and she's gained 8 oz since we brought her home. Nice! When she's not eating, this is what she's usually doing:

More baby pics

Hi -- getting some more photos posted of Adelaide.

Here's the oblilgatory photo from the hospital, where she's coyly peeking over the blanket:

And here she is relaxing at home. Jerry is the one holding her, in case some of you thought the pregnancy hormones had wacked me out.

Adelaide's Debut

O.K. here she is! Adelaide was born 09/06/08 at 3:17pm. She weighed in at 7lbs 2 oz and was 19 in long.

Wendy and Adelaide are doing well and we are now enjoying our first afternoon at home.

She is eating well and taking care of her "other" baby business in good fashion. Hopefully she will adjust to being at home and make her mother's life easy for the first few weeks.

I guess we will need a new name for the blog? Maybe not.

And waiting . . .

And still we wait. No baby activity to speak of.

We've missed Jerry's birthday, Grandma Cox's birthday, Sue's birthday, and Big Jerry's birthday. And today is Andrea's birthday.

We sure do have a lot of birthdays around this time of the year . . .

Wei Wei was asking me where the baby was going to come out and how. As I stammered for an appropriate answer, Po Po told him that the baby was going to come out in the hospital, neatly side-stepping the question. She's quick.

Still waiting . . .

No news on the baby front yet. No activity to speak of. Jerry made a request that the baby make his/her debut on his birthday, but with only 2 1/2 hours left, doesn't look like it's going to happen. If it makes him feel better, the baby decided to skip my mom's birthday too (8/28).

We were at Ali's tonight (Xiao Yi) to help with programs and favors for the wedding. It was quite the scene: everyone was there: Gong Gong and Po Po, Audrey, Badri and the twins, and us. It took several of us just to entertain the kids. Thank goodness we have a big family. Jerry got the knack pretty quickly of tying the knots. Mom and I gave up. She watched the kids and I worked on the favors. I'm better with menial labor, not the stuff that requires dexterity.

We planted some sunflowers earlier this summer and they turned out to be big! Here's a photo of Wei Wei (with Zoe, the neighbor's dog making an appearance too).

A tux and a party

Another busy weekend. Went into Flushing on Saturday with Xiao Yi to get fitted for a tux for the wedding. The nice ladies at the shop made a big fuss over me. I actually blushed for the first time. I look darn cute in a tux.

And then went to Kai's 4th birthday party on Sunday. I had a great time playing with him. I think my favorite was the moon walk. Here I am with Ba Ba learning to somersault. I don't think I'm going to be a serious contender for the 2016 Olympics just yet.

Bouncing with James (blonde) and Kai (red).

Looking pensive, with ketchup on my face.

Cutie Pies!

Some recent photos of the twins, Kyle and Nathan, who just get cuter and cuter. Seriously, just when you don't think they could get cuter, they do. Overachievers already.

Kyle took his first steps yesterday. I can't wait to see him in action this weekend. Here he is not in motion :

And here's Nathan:

A busy few weeks

Whew! Summer is in full swing. No pics for this post yet, but a quick update on the past few weeks from Wei Wei:

• Spent a Saturday morning at the beach with my buds Kai, Katarina, and Ethan
• Had the Lim boys and Sienna come over for a barbecue. I really do need to spend at least a weekend with the Lim boys to toughen me up. Or spend a weekend at a boot camp. Or, spend a weekend at a boot camp to train me for spending a weekend with the Lim boys.
• I'm pooping in the potty now. You should see how excited Ma Ma and Ba Ba get over that.
• Kaixiang came for a visit -- I loved hanging out with him
• Tried to get a photo at Sears of all four cousins. Ma Ma said she has a new appreciation for people who work with kids or animls because in 45-minute session, we managed to get only four photos of all four of us.
• Celebrated Gong Gong and Po Po's 40th anniversary with a surprise party
• Ma Ma and Ba Ba caught colds -- luckily I am okay (for now)
• Ma Ma and Ba Ba have been watching a whooooooooole lotta Olympics
• Ma Ma has about 3-4 weeks left until her due date (September 7), but remember, I was ten days early. This means I could be getting a new baby brother or sister the last week of August, which isn't that far away. Aaaaaaack!

Garrick and Ethan 4-wheelin'

Garrick and Ethan enjoyed taking the Jeep for a spin. They especially liked it when Steve (Ethan's Dad) and I figured out how to take the speed limiter off. That's when the fun really started!

They also spent some time cleaning up. Garrick really liked the backpack type water sprayer.

His favorite quotes . . . not ours

Recent quotes from Wei Wei:

• "I don't like [ma ma, ba ba, insert whoever]."
• "Why, ma ma?"
• "Why, ba ba?"
• "Can you buy me a toy?"
• "I don't want to eat. My stomach hurts."
• "I don't want to eat. I'm tired."
• "I don't want to eat. I don't like this."
• "I won't play with you."
• "I don't like anyone. I only like Ethan."
• [Sung, not spoken:] "I like to move it, move it . . . I like to move it, move it . . ."
• "I won! I won! Oh, yeah . . . oh, yeah . . . oh, yeah . . . slow motion." [Accompanied by gleefully jumping up and down. What a graceful winner.]

Ahoy, matey!

Here's Wei Wei sailing the seven seas . . . in our backyard.

Happy 4th of July!

It's not been the best weather, but we've still managed to keep busy: cookouts, friends, and family. Audrey brought the twins over for a bit yesterday. It was quite a sight to see Nathan, Kyle, and Wei Wei all in the tub together.

Here's a photo from last week when the weather was better. Check the pecs . . . KA-POW!

Tooth stress

Another rhetorical question: why is it when kids are running at full speed they are always looking over their shoulder?

Wei Wei ran straight into the couch doing that very thing. The lip looked okay, but the gum above the tooth was bleeding. We put ice on it, of course, but the worst is running through our heads: he knocked the tooth loose, the tooth is going to turn grey and fall out, he's going to have a space, which is going to mess up the rest of the teeth and when his adult teeth come in he's going to have Sponge Bob Squarepants teeth.

Jerry took him to our dentist and the tooth still seems solidly rooted, but unfortunately tooth damage might not show up for several weeks. So we wait and see. And worry . . . sigh.

Underwear update and other news

Big strides recently with the potty training. Big strides. Wei Wei has been wearing underwear during the day since Friday with only one accident. Woohoo!

Jerry tried to take him last week to run their first 5k race together. The weather was a little dicey, but Jerry took him anyway. They registered and were waiting around for the start, but then there was distant thunder and lightening, so they skipped it. I had headed over to Audrey's to help Ali with her wedding invitations. I get a call from Wei Wei, who is crying because he's upset and wants to be with me. So naturally I drive home, only to find out that it wasn't necessarily me that he wanted to be with -- he was upset because he wanted to go to Audrey's too. And here I thought I was the center of his universe. Apparently he missed Xiao Yi and Wei Yi. Luckily, he got his fix this weekend.

Busy weekend: Jerry and I were in NYC for dinner on Friday night, then over to Mona and Piyush's house for a BBQ yesterday, then family over today. We had the twins and Wei Wei in a blow-up pirate pool for a bit this afternoon -- that was cute.

Rhetorical question: why is it that it's always the favorite toy/book/item that you can never keep track of or find? We've been tearing the house apart looking for King (of Cars movie fame). Last week it was the "Go Diego" book.

Weedville 2008

This year's Weedville was hosted in Bloomfield North (Fuller-Wong compound) and Bloomfield South (Kain compound). The Rachfals (Amy, John, Zachary, and Zoe), Hollars (Mike, Ivanna, Vasco, and Justine), Diana, Jen, and Wong-Fullers were all in attendance. Highlights included the Jersey shore (plenty of sunscreen) and our annual Vermonster (six pints!).

We had 5.667 kids this year in residence (we did manage to corral four of them here): Zachary, Wei Wei, Vasco, and Justine.

Potty success!

I don't know what it is about staying at Po Po and Gong Gong's house, but it's magical and mystical. Wei Wei and I spent a few days there last week because our town lost power. During that stay, Wei Wei literally woke up one day and decided that the potty was more than an inert fixture in the bathroom and DECIDED TO START USING IT.

Many of you know the various cajoling and bribing we've offered, to no avail. But somehow, at Po Po's he needed no incentive and literally just started peeing in the potty on a regular basis (pooping is another story, but we'll take what we can get).

Woohoo! My fear that he was going to be 12 years old and still wearing diapers may not be realized after all!!!!

Summer!

I guess summer is here -- it's been 100 degrees both days this weekend. Despite the heat and humidity, Jerry and Andrea ran a 10k race (called Mountain Top, which tells you that it's not a flat course). Noooooooo way.

We also celebrated Nathan and Kyle's first birthday (which was actually last week). They are both crawling, pulling themselves up to stand, and generally being incredibly adorable. Wei Wei was so excited about their birthday because he talked about it all day. On the way over, Jerry asked him how old he thought the twins were. "I don't know, we should ask Wei Yi (Audrey). She'll tell us." He didn't think they were five yet because five was when you were big and got to go to kindergarten.

Also, here are a few photos from the Grandpa and Grandma's visit last weekend. Wei Wei enjoyed having two additional people to boss around.

Siggy's spa day and Wei Wei's debut

Jerry has been threatening to take Siggy to get groomed while I was away on business. This week, he kept his word. I came home to a sleek, more svelte-looking Siggy. Moxie (not-so-smart) hasn't recognized Siggy and has been growling and hissing at him ever since.

This weekend was the end of Chinese school. All of the classes performed and this was Wei Wei's big stage debut. He almost debuted early. When I told him it was time to line up, he scrambled right up on the stage and stood next to some students, except it wasn't his class. I had to go up and get him, but I give him points for enthusiasm.

Happy Birthday Aunt Laura

A birthday message from Garrick!

Our budding photographer

Wei Wei got a camera from the Lim family for Christmas and he LOVES it. He takes pictures of everything. And honestly, he's getting better. The first few hundred of the photos were completely dark -- because he insisted on holding the camera backwards, with the lens facing him.

Here are a few from the last month: