valentine's day recap

So on valentine's day, we had plan for homemade candlelight dinner. Unfortunately, we spent out evening in ER after my one year old c-section incision got infected. That incision had been swollen and red for a few days, but that night, it broke open and bunch of pus came out. Here are the pictures, nah, just kidding. I called my OB doctor, but didn't hear back for a while. I decided to go to ER when I started thinking about the worst scenario. My mother-in-law came over to watch Eli. Going to ER with a baby is not fun. Luckily, I didn't have to spend the night at the hospital. They prescribed me two different antibiotics and sent me home. We went to TGIF for our valentine's dinner. I had a berry mojito and some food. I can't remember when the last time we had a date. It was really strange to be sitting in a restaurant without a baby. I still remember the first time we took Eli to a restaurant was for my birthday last year at the Cheesecake factory. I remember how nervous and embarrassed I was. We are not afraid to eat out with Eli anymore. He will be good as long as he has food in his mouth. He loves his food.

Happy Valentine's Day

hands dancer

He makes us laugh every day.

baby sleep screams

Does anyone know why my one year old baby screams in his sleep? Eli does it every night. We are not talking about that kind of screaming bell that may suggest night terror. His scream usually lasts no longer than a minute. It's annoying if I'm awake. Yes, I said it, my son is annoying sometimes. Still love very much regardless, in case he reads this when he's older. The only think I can think of is that his dad sleep talks sometimes. It's creepy when you are not prepared to hear someone sleep talks, because it usually comes on very sudden and loud. Sometimes it's all gibberish. So maybe Eli got this weird habit from his dad. So if anyone has any idea what this is and how to stop it, please leave a comment.

photography

Some of my friends are amateur photographers. Every time I saw their photos, I wished I could do that too. I think photography is underrated. Photos often say so much more than words. I want to be the photographer of my family. I want to record our lives. Someday when we look back at our photos, we will remember all the memories that would not have been genuinely captured with words. With that said, I hope to be able to buy myself a nice camera maybe with our tax return. Not the point and shoot kind, I already have my sony cybershot. I will have to discuss this with the husband and hope that I will get his support too.

we just all look similar

The other day I had a patient asked me if I knew this Asian friend of his who also works at the hospital I work at. He said I reminded him of her. This happens a lot. People from time to time ask me if I know certain Asians that live in town. I just don't know what to say to that. I told this patient I don't know his friend, but throughout the night, he would tell me his friendship with his Asian friend. At the end of my shift, he asked me again if I was sure I didn't know his friend, I finally said, "no, we just all look similar." I wasn't trying to be rude, but I thought that would an end to that conversation, and it did.

Sick baby

My mom asked me for a recent video or photo of Eli. Unfortunately, the only recent photo I have of Eli was taken today, but he's sick. Poor thing has a cold. You can see his skin gets worse from him rubbing his snot all over his face.

When he's not sick, he's usually a happy dancing baby.

My favorite things

So I was inspired by my friend Amanda's recent post "my ten favorite things". I used to make youtube videos about my favorites of the month. I think this is fun and helpful to those who want to try new things. So here are my ten favorite things of this month.

1. LUSH godiva solid shampoo. The smell is amazing.
2. LUSH angels on bare skin. I have been using this for couple months, it exfoliate my skin so gently. My skin has never been softer. I'm a new LUSH fan can you tell?
3. These mugs I got from target. I love them cuz they are so cute and tall enough for water.

4. Animal crackers. Perfect snack for Eli.
5. Online shopping. My all time favorite. Life can't be any easier.
6. My curling iron. The barrel is big to create nice soft curls.
7. CHI silk infusion. This makes my hair shinny and less tangly.
8. O.P.I. nail polish in metro chic. It's a gorgeous purplish gray color.

That's all I can think of for now.

the new president

I'm so behind on my blog. As I'm watching the president inauguration, I see people weeping and so enthused over the new president Mr. Obama. Peoples' reactions uis strange to me. They worship this man like he will do no wrong. It's good to have trust in your president and hope that he will do well for your country, but don't get your hopes up people. He's not God. He's human just like everyone of us. He will too make mistakes. To be honest, I think people will have a hard time criticizing him because they think he's "just perfect". If I were able to vote, Obama wouldn't be my choice, neither would McCain, but this is what the people decided, so let's hope and pray that he will change this country for the better as he promised.

holy crap what happened

What happened to 2008? Were there really 366 days? Time really flies when you are having fun, or when you have a baby. I have no idea how my husband and I managed to survive our first year as parents. We probably would have died if my mom wasn't here for the first six months. She's a little upset that she is missing out all the cute and funny things Eli does now. When she left in June, Eli was still just a baby that ate, pooped, cried and lay around all day. Now he's walking, talking, laughing, all that good stuff. If she had a choice now, she would come see Eli everyday. I don't have any resolution for 2009. I just want to make it to 2010. I look back in 2008, here are some of the things I experienced.

I miss...
Staying up til five in the morning and sleeping pass noon.
Going to movies and not worrying about having to get home soon.
Being able to just grab my purse and go.
Enjoying my meal.
Peace and quiet.

I'm grateful for...
Waken up to Eli's babbling.
Poopy diapers because that means Eli is healthy.
Eli's baby teeth.
Bananas, Eli's favorite snack.
Strong arms to carry Eli around.
Warm weather that is good for Eli's skin.
Hand held shower head for Eli's bath.
Cheerios.
Cuddle time with Eli.
Hugs from Eli.
The big happy smile on Eli's face every time he sees us.

In 2009, I look forward to...
Hearing Eli's words.
Eli being able to feed hinmself.
More baby smiles.
More cuddling.
More hugs.

And more hair.

In 2009, maybe another baby? Nah, we will save that for 2010.

Eli's first year

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our boy turns one today. This has been the best year of our lives.

thank you uncle Jon

Eli got a package from his uncle Jon yesterday.

Christmas tree

You know what's crazy? That we got rid of all the food I cooked for the Christmas dinner. (see previous entry) We ate all the chicken wings, sickening I know, and I took most of the lettuce wraps to work this evening.

We went to the mall yesterday, and we finished our Christmas shopping yay! We only had a few people to buy for. I hate mall shopping these days. Eli was good, but really, there's no place for babies or little children at the mall during holiday seasons. It's too crowded and too much stimulations. I'm sad that I can't put up our Christmas tree this year. We don't need to have a fake tree filled with lights and breakables for Eli to destroy.

Christmas dinner

We had our church Christmas dinner party last night. The theme was national cuisine. We were supposed to bring dishes from different countries or heritage, preferably our own. I didn't have any family recipes, but I picked up one of the suggested recipes from church the other day. I was going to make chicken lettuce wrap ( I ended up making turkey because I couldn't find any ground chicken) and chinese marinated chicken wings. The recipes were very simple and didn't require much time. I didn't start cooking until three, and the party started at six. I did have enough time, but I didn't defrost the chicken all the way. Some of them were still frozen inside. They were delicious, just weren't cooked all the way. So I thought at least I had the lettuce wrap. On our way out the door, we were in such hurry that my husband grabbed the lettuce and the chicken wings. I didn't realize until I got to the party that I had lettuce, no fillings, and half cooked chicken wings. I quickly carried my food back to our car. Not too many people noticed. Some asked me about the food, and I had to tell them this embrassing story. I actually got really sick on the way to the party that I didn't feel well enough to be embrassed. Also, I had never cooked for fifty people before, so I overestimated the ingredients and got tones of chickens and round turkey left. We know what we will be having the next few months. We had to much fun at the party. The food was great. There were plenty of food that my little mishap didn't runin anything. After dinner, we all sang Christmas hymns. Eli was good most of the time. He wasn't happy when he had to sit in the high chair. All he wanted to do was walking around. After the dinner, there was piñata. Eli got scared from people hittimg the piñata. Haha... Silly boy. We had a blast.

happy days

The low gas price is the best Christmas gift this year. Everyone is smiling at the gas station, well not literally. The other day, it only took twenty bucks to fill up our suv. No more "back in the good old days when gas only cost...". I hope this will last for a long time. At least until our economy improves.

Eli is walking, and he's loving it. He's very skilled too. We have hardwood floor, and we always put socks on his feet. Sometimes they are very slippery, but Eli learned to balance himself most of the time.

ignorance

[I just want to make it clear that this post is not supposed to offend anyone. I'm no better than any of you. This is just my two cents, so you can take it or leave it. Also, this post is somewhat incoherent, because that's how my thoughts are.]

My college roommate came to visit this past weekend. It was nice to be able to catch up. We both have been really busy, her with career and my with changing diapers. On the last day of her visit, she asked me how I can live in a place that has so little diversity. I can see why she asked such question. I live in a caucasian dominant town. During the three days she was here, she only saw a few asians and few mexicans. She also mentioned how borthersome it is to be around people that are igorant. I was agreeing what she said, but now I have time to think about it, I have a different view on that. It's easy to quickly assume small town people are ignorant because of their lack of exposure to other cultures. If that's that case, aren't we all ignorant on some level? Big city people aren't necessarily less ignorant. When we city people laugh about how the country folks know nothing about the world out there, do we know anything about their culture? Wouln't we seem complete idiots when we walk into their daily lives and know nothing about it? And aren't we a little arrogant to assume just because they prefer the small town life style, they are automically narrow minded? I have lived and been to quite a few places around the globe, but there are still so many cultures I haven't been exposed to. I can pretend to be an expert if you ask me topics about Asia, but when it comes to other parts of the world, the Middle East for example, I know very litte. From my personal experience, it is safe to say that people from big cities can be just as ignorant. While most of my asian friends often talk about how americans are always wrong about their asian knowledge, I have to laugh, because if you ask the people in asia, most of them are probably wrong about their american knowledge too. They probably think all women in america wear stiletoos and sip on cosmopolitant like those in the "sex and the city".

Nowaday with the magic of internet, there's really no excuse to be ignorant. I think the worst kind of ignorance is the arrogant ones. There are people who are ignorant because they too prideful. They can never admit that they ignorant. It's okay to not know about something, just don't assume you know everything. Those are the true ignorant people that I can't stand.

awkward childhood

This picture makes it look like I was born in an old era. I'm only twenty eight.


There are so many things wrong with this picture. Why were my cousin and I eating apples outside, why did my mom allow me to wear that, and why was this taken???


I look a lot like Eli in this one.


I'm not sure what we are trying to capture here. Maybe to show that we love climbing on metal bars.


I was thrilled.


Look at the makeup our moms put on us. I got an expression to go with it too.


Classic pose of the 80s.

By the way, do people know it's wrong to have Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving?

tickle

I'm sorry I have been MIA, but there's not much to update right now. Eli is doing great. His skin has been clear since he started taking zyrtec. Finally baby soft skin. He just started walking today. I know, I should sound more excited, and I am. Even though it was just a few steps, we are so happy for him. I didn't take a video of his first steps, but here's a video that may tickle you.

daily dose of cuteness

it's winter again

I was sitting by the window today, all of a sudden, I saw snow flakes coming down. I said to myself, "Is it really snowing? It can't be. It is!". I forgot it is November already. We have had a beautiful fall this year, now it's time for winter. Last year this time, I was still pregnant. I remember the anticipation of the birth of our first child and how exciting it was. The mood is a lot different this year. There's a baby in the house! I still feel strange sometimes that I'm a mom. Watching Eli crawling around, standing on his own, trying to talk to us with his own baby language are the biggest joys in our lives right now. We are so excited to share this Thanksgiving and Christmas with him. That alone has made the winter my favorite time of the year regardless of the snow and the cold.