More Baby, G Pix

G has been really cute with baby T. Here we see her hugging baby brother T in her Christmas outfit. She is constantly asking to "bao bao" him; we have to restraint her because sometimes she is too rough. At the same time, we gave her an Asian doll as a gift from baby T. She now loves to carry the baby doll around with her, especially in a sling which is really her Pei-Pei. One night she wanted to sling both her doll and her bear, one in the back and one in the front, and she was carrying around some other toys as well!!!

Welcome to the World, Baby T!

Born to this world on December 23rd, weighing in at 5.5 lbs, and God's surprise Christmas gift to us. We hadn't been able to decide on a Christmas present for ourselves. God had a sense of humor. :)

2009

2009 has been an exciting and adventurous year for the Chan clan!

In April, Evan had the opportunity to finally go to China to volunteer with an organization called International China Concern (ICC). If you remember, he had tried to go in 2008, but had to back out at the last minute because of work demands. But with Gabi just over a year, the timing was just right this time. His three-week trip was an amazing opportunity for him to work with disabled orphans and also use his Mandarin skills translating for the team.

In November, Stephanie was also able to go overseas to do volunteer work. She spent two weeks with a team of 12 people to Thailand and Burma to work with women and children who have been or are at risk for being trafficked or forced into the sex industry. This was an incredible life-changing experience for everyone involved. The team also brought technical skills and, in addition to lots of gadget donations like video games, cameras, and cell phones, we updated their website and computer networks (check out their new site at thegardenofhope.org, some of Steph's pics were also used on the site!).

Gabi has been growing and changing by leaps and bounds this year. As she approaches the big TWO, she is talking up a storm, mostly in English, but some Chinese and signing too, freely sharing her opinions and observations all the time. She has also become quite independent, wanting to do things all by herself, all the time. She is discovering zippers, buttons, buckles and snaps, loves to draw and read, build with her Lego Duplo blocks and Mr. Potatohead, and play pretend cooking/shopping with her stuffed animals. She still takes classes at The Little Gym, where she loves hanging on the bars, going upside down, jumping, and climbing up the rock incline.

While we did not make any big family trips this year, we were happy to do small local road trips, including Lake Tahoe (Jan & Feb), Santa Cruz (Mar), Sausalito (May), Yosemite (July), and Santa Barbara (Oct) for Stephanie's cousin's wedding. Our tent is now too small for family camping trips, so Gabi has inherited it as her play & reading area where she keeps lots of stuffed animals.

Maybe the biggest news of all for this year is that the Chan clan is growing! We are expecting Baby Chan #2 to make an appearance in January 2010. The pregnancy has been smooth, though more tiring with a toddler around. We are all excited and looking forward to our new addition, including Gabi, who excitedly points out babies all the time and is learning to be very nurturing and caring through her stuffed animals and dolls.

We hope this Christmas card finds you and your family well. 2009 has been an exciting and adventurous year for the Chan clan! Please check out our family blog at friedcalamari.blogspot.com for our Christmas Update and future family updates, adventures, and musings!

-the Chan Clan

PS, Baby Chan #2 decided not to wait until 2010 to make an appearance! More details and photos coming soon!

Nutcracker

We took G to see a small production of the Nutcracker today. It's shorter than usual - two 30-minute halves with a 15-min intermission. G was totally mesmerized and very well behaved. She would get excited once in a while and shout something. At the end when the performers came on stage and started leaving, after everyone clapped, she yelled out in a loud voice, "ba-bye!" and eveyone cracked up. She wanted to go join the dancers several times. Well, next year she can start ballet lessons. ;-)


Today was a busy and productive day getting ready for baby no 2. I moved a set of drawers into the baby room to make space for clothes for both G and baby. Moved the nursing chair into the living room. Installed the base of the infant car seat. To do that, I had to switch G's car seat to forward facing. G loved it and was talking the whole car ride about it. "baby. Seat!"
I also took G out to walk around the block. She walked around the whole block - I didn't have to carry her at all. Since she is curious we would often go on detours so it was quite a bit of exercise for her. Also got the chance to teach her a bunch of Chinese inclding airplane, and dog poop.



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Winter photo blog

Here's some updates:
-G is getting ready for her baby sister/bro.: at her friends house she is always carrying the baby around, putting it in her friends toy stroller and pushing the stroller around. We also ask her to hug the baby and she knows what to do. :)
-it's been raining and G says "rain, picture" then points her toy cell phone towards the window to take a pix:



Here she is playing with her potato head:


G recently really wanted to try eating a banana. Yesterday I finally gave her one so she wouldn't have to try chewing on the outside. She ate 1/2 of a banana. Then she put together a three-word sentence, "Babbi eat nana. ". Where babbi is herself. :)


- oh, we finally ordered infant sized diapers. :)

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Frost!

It was so cold last night that there was frost on the ground. It was 31 deg F!



I took the above while walking out at 9am.

G is sick :( coughing and got a fever; had a tough time last night and had to sleep in our bed. She is better today, fever is down. Please pray she will recover soon. Rest of us is fine, so far. No chance it was from the vaccine as that was dead.

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Vaccinated!

Today G got her H1N1 flu vaccine shot. She was very brave, didn't cry, and even said "Bye!" to the nurse. We had to wake her up at 7:30am though, two hours earlier than normal (and the only time I can remember waking up earlier on a Sunday morning than a weekday) -- and despite that, we nearly got turned away! Even though G's nurse called to say that she should be eligible, th person at the door claimed she was not high risk. I would say siblings of a newborn (one more month!) definitely qualify! And when we got to the area for under-2 shots, it was empty! They ended up having a shorter line than anticipated and opening up the clinic to non-high-risk patients the rest of the day. We ended up exhausted in the afternoon. Most of us slept but E went on the roof to install Christmas lights.

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Reunions

Thanksgiving is a time of reunions and family, and that has been equally true for G and I; but personally for me this has been extra special -- I am riding the Caltrain as I am typing this, returning from the 20th Reunion of my San Fran elementary school. That's how long i haven't seen them. These guys remember so much - my Chinese name, all of our teachers, and even the ones whom had only been there for a year together remember me. They say I look the same. Most of them are recognizable as well. To say that they are strangers since I haven't seen them in 20 years would be a mistake. Nothing could be farther from the truth, it was like family. They remember my parents first names, playdates, etc etc. I met my math teacher and my English teacher who brought Apple IIs into our classrooms and defended our playing the game of pong against parents. That same teacher is probably partially responsible for the fact that I am a software developer today.

It's funny that I'm the only one in high tech. A lot are in finance; two live in Hong Kong now; one is a tattoo artist and another a Hollywood director. Anyways I'm very thankful to the Wo's for babysitting tonight.

Thanksgiving was a day full of yummy food thanks to the generosity of my sister-in-law's family. That was a reunion in many ways too since I've barely seen them since our wedding and I haven't spent any time with my brother lately. G was the star, they kept saying how well behaved she is and how cute. She would climb into her chair by herself and start eating food on her own G managed to sleep 3.5 hours in her tent - which amazed me as she really only sleeps well in her crib these days. She got comfortable after a while:




She also had fun playing with rocks in the backyard:


Today my cousin and her daughter A came over to play with G. They love her and even follow this blog! Sorry I don't have any photos but it was a fun time for everyone.

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Broom broom

G helps daddy sweep up the leaves! Actually more like daddy trying to
sweep, and G bitterly saying "NO!" and wanting the broom to herself. :)

Doing everything herself

So, G is really becoming independent. She wants to do everything herself. Some of that is really good: she can almost use a spoon by herself now. If I hold her yogurt right next to her, so there's no spillage, she can spoon feed herself a little bit at a time. I also taught her (OK maybe she knew already?) to use her finger to help push food into her spoon, so she can spoon feed herself ramen. She asks for a napkin so she can "cha cha" -- clean her own hands. She then uses it to clean her area of the table in front of her. She also always gets her plate for breakfast and wanted to carry my laundry basket in for me. The problem is that she _insists_ on this and won't do anything unless you let her. She won't let me spoon feed her. She won't let me clean her hands. She keeps coming back to the dishwashing rack and taking additional spoons out and I have to stop her. She even complained about me putting a diaper on her -- she wants to close it herself.

Sometimes I combat this by letting her discover that she can't do it herself, but I have to be really patient. Sometimes I get impatient and say, "Daddy bang," and then tries to help her but she then gets frustrated.

Speaking of eating, I've decided that bribing is really bad and to put an end to the practice. It's hard though. Really really hard, not to bribe. However today I did not bribe her with hardly anything, definitely not crackers (but I did say, "Do you want a cracker?" once). It just teaches the wrong habits and teaches G to hold stuff in her mouth rather than eat things.

G continues to say "sock" with an F at the beginning. Ai-ya! So, I'm teaching her the Cantonese for sock. She says it like "Mutt". Much better. :) Also, I'm teaching G to turn her pages in a gentle way, instead of smashing and crinkling pages when she turns her books.

Our day in reverse order (iPhone apparently mails photos in reverse sometimes -- or maybe I selected them in reverse, who knows). Went over to G's favorite friends house to hang out and have dinner and apple pie. G kept yelling "PIE! PIE!" as soon as she saw it on the table. I don't even know how she picked up that word. Anyways this is C, G's favorite friend, pushing her in a cart.

We all have such an abundance of food now, thanks to all our wonderful friends. S may not have to cook for a while when she gets back.

Earlier in the day I took G to the park and went in the swing. While she enjoyed it, she gets tired of it and wants out much quicker than in the past. She then played with the sand, but I cleaned her hands afterwards well.. I've been cleaning her hands before and after every meal.

In the morning she caught sight of squirrels on the backyard fence and got so excited she kept yelling "WATCH! WATCH!" She also dragged her two little chairs to the back door, and asked me to sit with her to watch the squirrel. I thought it was so sweet and cute of her that I had to take a photo. These are the moments I really savor.

Finally, G pulled my jacket over her on the way to the park in the stroller, to hide from the shade, but then decided she only wanted to shade her forehead :)

Locked out and blacked out

So, the first 24-hours of my parenting Gabi alone ended at 1pm today. Yesterday, S's mom left for the airport after church. The 24 hours seemed to begin ominously: as we left for church, getting a ride with a friend, I forgot to take the key and so was locked out when coming home. I won't share here how I got back in, but suffice to say that I've learned my lesson. Then today, the City of Santa Clara shut off electrical power on our street to do repairs. Plans to go to the zoo and backup plans to hang out at a friend's all fell through, but it was a great opportunity for me to learn that I could still take a warm shower when the power was off; to walk around the neighborhood with G and look at the big trucks doing repairs and talk to neighbors who had been here since the 1950's; and to stroll to the local Domino's to get hot pizza (since I can't use the microwave, ovens or stove, and didn't really want to open the fridge). BTW I really didn't care to go out and eat since we have lots of leftovers.

BTW, G loves pizza. She ate two slices of my personal pizza. She especially likes mushrooms and the crust. I tried to get her to eat the peperroni as well but she didn't really take to them. Olives she's fine with. It was really good for me to see her eating well; one of my nightmare scenarios of single parenting really just involves struggling to feed her and getting in power battles all the time. That would be extremely draining.

She also loves oranges. These are more like tiny mandarins, which friends had brought for me. I think it's great timing too since over the weekend she seemed slightly constipated, Sat no poo, Sunday only a tiny bit, but I think the fiber helped.

G is getting into doors. She said "pee pee" today, and I took her to the bathroom, but all she wanted was to play hide-and-seek with the bathroom door. I thought she was just faking it to play hide-and-seek, but minutes later she repeated 'pee pee' and then 'poo poo' and started for the bathroom, this time for real. With some patience, out came an adult-sized piece, still a little dry but getting better.

I would say despite the power outage and lockout and everything that the first 24 hours of true single parenting have been going well.

G is waking up from her nap, so it's time to go.

-Evan

Ramen

So G loves ramen noodles. I went shopping at Whole Foods and had lunch
with a friend whose wife is also overseas. Feeding her ramen is easy
and she loves the soup as well. Problem is there aren't veggies to
feed her. At night she played Chinese checkers with her great-
grandpa. Ok not really, I mean cmon she's only 21 mos!!!!

Friday fun

Tonight we headed over to G's favorite friends house to hang out. G is
totally into food and play cooking. She served me four plastic potato
chips and took her time to use a fork pretending to put some dip on
each one. She even served them to me on a plate. Then she decided to
share my chips with others. :). Here she is jamming herself into a toy
pack and play! That thing is dangerously unstable.

Can't believe S has been gone for 6 days. She's called me every night,
even said goodnight to G together.

Playing airplane

The first photo shows G being helpful and putting her potato head toys
back; she's been pretty wild today though. The second one was where I
made a Lego plane for her and played airplane with her, making
wonnnnnn nnnnnnn diving and swooshing sounds. She loved it, grabbed
the plane and proceeded to run around, making her own noises.

G is doing well in general but really wanted to see Mommy, and got a
chance today when we were able to video Skype! It's amazing that S
has been in Thailand every day and we've been able to talk every day.

G has woken up past midnight these last few nights but gone back to
sleep. Not sure why.

Finally we have been just blessed by so much food, between the Wu's
giant ham and all the curry and other food S left behind, that we are
still eatin leftovers. Tonight I made fried rice with bell peppers,
carrots, ham, and other Chinese leftovers. Probably not as good as the
fried rice S makes.

Second day

Today I went back to work. Awesome to have Grandma watching G at home. I was talking to my friend whose wife is also gone to Thailand. He is working from home, and even though his aunt came over to help, he still had a hard time trying to feed his baby and work at the same time. Anyways an anonymous friend came over and brought this awesome huge roast ham. What awesome friends we have!

G had to be bribed again during dinner to eat her veggies. She loved her rice and ham. She played a lot, and while putting her to bed, really loved to play with me and push my head around like her new toy.

I redid yesterday's post. It got messed up when posting from my iPhone. Learned my lesson - sending in an email post while mixing text and photos doesn't work.

The first 24 hours without Mommy

In the morning I started hearing "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" uh-oh, she knows now I thought. Turned out to be her normal cry for attention. As usual she had thrown everything out of her crib during the night, and I was too tired last night to pick it back up. It's Sunday morning and I went in to get her up. I put a long sleeve with snow pattern blue (can see it in the first photo, where G is feeding grandma a cheerio), warm brown pants, and tied her hair into two ponytails with blue hair thingies. I fed her yogurt - breakfast is the easiest meal of the day.

At church I dropped her off at Nursery without a cry. In fact she didn't even look back! This pix is actually from Saturday when we were at church for Operation Christmas Child.

We went home for lunch to have leftovers. I must say it's such a blessing to have grandma here. She fed her noodles for lunch and has really taken care of the hardest thing - feeding her. And much more. Grandma is doing all the driving since I can't drive.

G was tired and we had to wake her from her nap to drive over to tai-gong and tai-pos house. She was very shy, refused to let them hold her (even in exhange for a cracker) and kept hugging my leg.

G kept wanting to "mo mo" (feel) their dog and said "kai" - wanting me to open the door, but whenever I did she would get scared!

We went out to dinner and G had a hard time. Very fuzzy and clingy, making a big mess. Grandma did most of the feeding.

Overall G seems well adjusted and herself mostly. I think Mommy is the one who has it hard for these first 24 hrs, sitting in a cramped plane seat for 13/18 hrs, then arriving in 90deg humidity.

Two weeks without Mommy

So Mommy just left for two weeks on her missions trip to Thailand. This is going to be interesting. G has been more clingy lately, and friends ask me if she knows. I reply that she sorta does, but they think she has no idea. We just came back from the airport sending the whole group off (it's an entire team from my church) and G dozed off on the way home. She could just as well be thinking, like some other nights when Mommy has dinner with friends, that Mommy wasn't around when she fell asleep, but she still expects to see Mommy the next morning. The real test will thus come in the morning. When I left for China back in April, G cried every morning for a few days.

So begins two weeks of single parenting -- well I have it pretty good actually. Grandma came this week to help out for a week. The following week my company happens to have a shut-down, just when Grandma will be leaving, so I can take care of G during the day. My church is doing a "meals for dads" program so I won't even have to cook some meals. Not that I mind cooking when I don't have to work - it might even be fun. There will be other dads around who are single parenting - our wives all went on the trip -- I've made plans with one to visit the zoo.

Let the adventure begin. In the meantime, it's off to bed for me. It's been a long week with lots of late nights.

long overdue update...

I don't even know if anyone is checking this anymore... the quick update is that G is now 20.5 months. She knows about 15 words in sign language, about double that in Chinese, and double that in English! She continues to amaze us every day by how much she is absorbing! She has also started potty training herself, telling us when she wants to sit on the toilet. G continues to go to Little Gym class, where she is now learning how to rotate around the high bar, as well as swing/hang on it by herself. Her balance on the balance beam is also getting really good, where she can walk with very little support.

In other news, G is going to be a big sister in January, just shy of her 2nd birthday. We do not know whether it will be a didi or meimei. Also, I will be heading to Thailand for a short term missions trip in a week, where I will be working with women and children who have been or are at risk for being sex-trafficked. I'm excited but also a little sad to leave G and Evan behind for 2 weeks, but I know they will be well takedo itn care of, by G's Wai Po who will be helping us the first week, and also by all the church family we have supporting us.

Here she is as an octopus for Halloween.

This is from the summer, from our church youth group picnic. She was a bit young, but enjoyed playing with the leftover water buckets and water balloons.

This was from we wedding we went to in Santa Barbara in the beginning of October. She preferred walking around the lawn rather than sitting through the beautiful outdoor ceremony.

17 lbs 4 oz

Hey, this is E, writing my guest post after coming back from three weeks in China.   When I left, G was just starting to stand on her own, and we were trying to encourage her to take a step.   I carried her photos and others on my iPhone and constantly and very proudly showed them to my tripmates.  Skype is the best thing in the world, being able to video chat once or twice was a treasure.  When I came back I felt she had changed SO much:

• She's gained weight (17 lbs 4 ounces!), and her legs feel chubby!
• she loves to drink (more water than milk) and can hold her water bottle, I get scared how much she drinks.
• She was walking!  (Though expected)   Last weekend we went to the park, held her hand and she walked around for a long time.
• She is so opinionated now.  She points to every different thing in her room and tries to tell me what it is.  At the dinner table, she makes it very clear when she doesn't want something and sharply points to what she wants.
• She can stack blocks -- we have these big foam blocks.  I would then hide on the other side, and she loves to knock the blocks over so they fall on me.  She gets a big giggle out of it -- a few days ago she became really upset after dinner but I played this with her and got her to laugh
• She's gotten into reading, particularly her "Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "Jesus Loves Me" books - sometimes by herself, and when I come into her play area she hands the Caterpillar book to me.

Perhaps I feel the change because I've been away and working with very malnourished, disabled kids in China.   I remember S and I stressing about G's being at 0% weight curve and frying her egg yolks in butter, and we still stress about her not finishing her food sometimes and get tempted to force feed her.  After seeing the kids in China,  I assure you that G has nothing on them.   G is so healthy, moving around, getting into books, just developing in every single way, and we are so fortunate for that.    In China, the kid I worked with was 5 and could not even sit up, I would have been happy if she was able to track finger movement with her eyes -- a milestone here for one-month-old infants.

I realized while overseas that as parents many of us get stuck into the parenting rat race.   We ask ourselves, why isn't our kid walking yet, look at our friend's!    We get stressed if our infants don't roll over at 3 months, don't sit up by 6 months, don't clap by a year-old, and the development timetable is drilled into our heads by pediatricians, by parenting books, by other friends's kids (probably subconsciously).    It took being away and working with disabled kids to shift my perspective.  Kids here are blessed in ways that most people overseas cannot even imagine.

"Which of you by worrying can add a single day to their life?"  --Matthew 6:27

SP Day 17, 2 days left!

Today our Little Gym class got cancelled, so instead, we went over to our friend R's house. R is expecting a little sister in a few months, so her parents got a few new double strollers, and G came over to help R test them out. The two rolled around the block in a Peg Per-whatever, Aria 60-40, with G in the 40 seat and R in the 60 seat (which was only fair since G weighs about 16 lbs, and R weighs about 26 lbs). They had fun exploring their neighborhood visiting with people, and G enjoyed reaching over to R's side, which R didn't seem to like very much. Next time, we will try out R's backyard play area.

I also started putting up some of the flowers that I have been cutting out (on and off for the last year or so!) for G's bedroom. G loves looking at her new flowers, and points up toward them and talks about them.  Sorry, didn't take a picture of it yet. 

For dinner, we went over to some friends' house for yummy shrimp pasta (which I was surprised G really liked the shrimp, probably b/c of the garlic), and strawberries for dessert. G also enjoyed watching their dog, and even helping to feed the dog (a big biscuit treat). After the dog took the biscuit treat from G, she fed her some veggies as well, but G decided that she would rather throw the food at the dog instead of having the dog get it from her hand.

Here she is eating strawberries, and making a mess, at their house. Since they don't have kids, I think it was a bit of a shock to see the kitchen table (and floor) so messy.

We also had a treat during dinner, E called us! I think he was calling from Xian, but who knows, I think he said something about a Starbucks w/ wifi. We're both excited that he'll be coming home in just 2 days!

SP Day 15, 4 days left!

Sorry, no pics today either. 

After a big breakfast of strawberries, mangoes with oatmeal, G had a short nap (I woke her up) so that we could go to a playdate at a friend's house, the one that came over a few days ago, and another friend we've played with recently. G had fun at her playdate, tho she did have to eat lunch first, which was hard for her to watch the other kids playing while she was stuck in the high chair. I purposely gave her less food for lunch, and stuff she liked (yogurt with lentil soup) so that she would eat fast and be able to play. 

G held her own playing with the two boys (older and bigger too). She got hit (lightly, more like a little smack) on the face, but didn't cry. Later, she got into a tug of war over some balls, and won. G also bullied her way to pushing around a fire truck toy. Even though we tried to keep her a little separated from the one who wanted to keep hitting her, G actually would fight her way past us to get to him. Go figure!

For dinner, we went to visit Tai Po and Tai Gong again. She definitely remembered them, as she had a significantly shorter warm-up period than the last visit a few days ago. G loves how Jio Gong cuts up super juicy sweet oranges for her (cuts out the segments without the skins). 

Anyways, we're happy that Daddy is coming home soon. G talks about Daddy (daaaa-yeee) all the time.

Part 2

With E in China, I haven't looked at our online calendar. I figured I know what G's schedule of classes is (we only have 1 class now, the music class ended). I know when I have bible studies and home group meetings. What I forgot about was our friend's Red Egg Ginger party for their baby. Darn it! So instead of meeting up with friends, celebrating the birth of their second baby (a miracle baby), I was at home with G doing nothing. I'm so mad at myself. Oh well.

Today I have no pictures. We had a long drawn out breakfast, went out to run errands and go to the store (very productive for 2 stores, very unproductive for the 3rd). G had a nap on the go, which was nice. We had an impromptu lunch, at Johnny Rocket's, while we were still out. After playing for a little bit at home, G took a nap for 2 hrs while I dug some holes in the front yard on the edge of the lawn by the garage. I've been wanting to move some flowers from the backyard to the front. I was going to do it myself, then with a friend to help, then asked the gardner to do it, but after the recent rains, the plants are growing, and buds have already formed, and I want to get them moved before they bloom.  So I couldn't wait 2 more weeks for the gardners and started digging. There was a big root (from a little tree stump), that was a bit difficult, but luckily, the neighbor came by and helped get it out. By the time I finished, I didn't have time to dig up the plants from the back, so for now, there's just a row of holes in the front. 

Dinner was more long and drawn out than dinner. I have no idea why G has suddenly returned to her bad eating habits. Maybe it's because she knows that everyone has been commenting on how she's such a good eater. Dinner took almost 2 hrs, with much crying and complaining and refusing of food (it was something we've had before, so I know it's not because she doesn't like it). Cleaned up the kitchen while she played, then gave her a bath. She's also been a fussy nurser too, the last day and a half, which is making me think of weaning her. Why bother doing it if it's just frustrating for both of us (and painful for me)? Right now, G is nursing about 3 times a day. We'll see.

Her favorite toys today were the lego blocks and her Easter eggs/baskets, along with with her Elmo airplane that drives me crazy (and not in a good way). 

5 more days!

Saturday night, E skyped us, so we both were able to see and talk to him, which was great for G, who kep waving at daddy and showing him whatever was in her hand.

Sunday we were late for church and missed the Easter pancake breakfast. But at least G got to participate in the Easter egg hunt that was after church on the lawn. She "found" 5-6 eggs for her basket. Then, after a nice long nap, we went over to visit Tai Po and Tai Gong. After dinner there (G ate so well, she especially loved the juicy oranges that Jiu Gong was cutting off the skins around each segment for her), we went for a little walk with their dog too. G loved looking at their dog, and whenever I said gogo (dog in chinese), she would point to the dog. 

I let G play a little before bed, when we got home, but maybe that was a mistake (I also remembered to take some photos of her in her pretty dress). After changing her and getting her ready for bed, G cried for like 25 minutes, refusing to nurse or do anything, she was sooo tired that she was falling asleep while she was crying. Finally, she fell asleep, and I was able to nurse her for a little bit. But it was quite draining for me, so after putting her in her crib, I needed a break, so I didn't blog, didn't clean up her toys, didn't wash the dishes. But I did collect all the trash and take it out to the curb. 

These are the pics I took before G's major meltdown. It may look like her foot/shoe is crooked, but it's actually just her sock.

This almost looks like her dong-dong face, but if you look closely, it's actually the beginning or end of a smile. She already had 2 dong-dongs that day, so no more for her.

Look at all my eggs!

SP: 8 Days left!

Now I can start counting down and getting more excited for E's return.

Today, G had a playdate with one of her little friends (he's not so little, at 25 lbs!). It was so funny to watch them interact. When sitting in their high chairs (G was eating lunch, H was sort of having a snack but mostly playing with his food), they totally seemed to be talking to one another, and reaching out for one another, so cute! Playing was a different matter, though! Their version of playing together was wanting to play with whatever the other baby was playing with. G held her own, despite being smaller, and we were somehow able to give them enough things to share that no one cried. They did enjoy passing toys back and forth between them, which was also really cute.

For dinner, we went to our bible study group, which is just down the street from us. G loves any food that she eats there (she won't eat peas at home, but apparently she will eat them there!). Tonight we had a yummy chinese pork stew that G totally loved!

G is taking more and more steps every day! Today, she took so many steps that I lost count, maybe 6-7 little ones, not to go anywhere, but mostly for stability, but at least she was lifting her feet off the ground. 

Here she is getting ready for Easter with her bunny ears :)

SP: Day 10 Almost 2 wks down!

This morning, I added a strawberry to her oatmeal b/c the mango seemed to be not as sweet as I had hoped. After she finished, I gave her part of the mango seed to eat/suck on (I eat most of the seed but leave a little chunk on the skinny end of the seed for her to work on).  As you can see from the pics, she loves it!

Everything becomes "hands free"

Afterwards, I was distracted on the computer while she was supposed to be drinking her milk. When I turned around, this is what I saw (notice the milk everywhere)! That's what happens when she's quiet... getting into trouble!

Here is G after dinner playing with her octopus chair. After several months of basically ignoring it (and E thinking it was a waste of money for me to buy it b/c I thought it was soooo cute!), she is finally playing with it. G loves to flop onto it and climb on it too. Sometimes she sits on one of the legs.
She had a bath tonight too. And after her bath and putting her to sleep, I did the laundry, put away her toys, finished cleaning up the kitchen, made a new batch of oatmeal for her (it's a little lumpy because I ran out of the original oats that I had ground up, so I bought a mix of oat flour, oat bran, and steel cut oats. It also has barley, the last of the millet, and quinnoa. I haven't been using the brown rice or buckwheat because of her constipation, but I may start using it more now). Speaking of her constipation, G's been off any prunes for maybe 2 weeks now, and has been ok with her poops. I still bought a pack of them just in case, but it looks like that phase is finally over, yay!

G also looks like she's gaining weight from the supplement. It mostly goes into her oatmeal and yogurt meals, so two of her three meals will have it, and some goes into her water and milk, but it's still a struggle to get her to drink much. Anyways, I noticed today that her cheeks seem to be a little chubbier (if it's even possible for her cheeks to be any bigger than they were before). I had hoped that the supplement would put weight on her body and arms/legs, and not in the one place she already has chub, but oh well. And when I was giving her a bath, I could see her little tummy. I'll probably call the dr tomorrow or early next week to schedule a weight check and also to finish up her 12-month shots (I think she still needs 2-3 since we only did the MMR one). 

SP: Second Week!

(BTW, for those others who have been reading this, I skipped yesterday b/c I actually got to talk to E on the phone! Unfortunately, G was so wiped out from not having a second nap that she was already sleeping and we were having issues with skype so I didn't end up getting her up to talk him.) 

I've survived my first week of single parenting, and I must say it's hard. I'm tired a lot more, and have to remind myself to rest more. Plus, I'm so fortunate that E does soooo much to help me, not only w/ G, but around the house as well.

We missed our bible study this morning b/c G slept in (probably from missing one of her naps yesterday!). By the time she woke up, I figured that we'd miss the entire bible study by the time we got there. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that today was a social, so even though I would have missed the bible study, I still would have been able to hang out with the other ladies. Oh well.  So we just had our usual breakfast at home (multi-grain oatmeal w/ mangoes, again, b/c I have been too tired to cook the pears).

Lunch didn't go over so well for some reason (lentil soup w/ yogurt, which she inhaled last time), so we went out to run errands. I seem to be more forgetful these days (not entirely my fault, sometimes the store doesn't have what I want/need so I have to go back) and end up having to make multiple trips back to the same stores. Lately, I've been putting G in the shopping carts, as it's easier for her to take naps at home and then go out (translate: it's harder for her to nap while out b/c she wants to see everything!), so since she's awake, she might as well be in the cart instead of me Ergo-ing her. G loves being in the shopping cart, I have her snacks with her, and she loves being able to look at everything and everyone. She smiles and waves at people, and grabs at things (like oranges, today).  At the grocery store, she helped give the cashier our shopping bag (which she had been pulling up from the back of the shopping cart) for bagging up our groceries.

For dinner, a friend came over (her husband is out of town too) and brought us dinner (yay!), and after G went to bed, we watched a new favorite movie, Stardust (a modern Princess Bride).

This picture was taken while I was trying to cook some veggies for our dinner and G was playing in her area. I always try to look over every now and then, especially when it's quiet, to see what she's doing, and this is how I found her:

It was so funny I couldn't resist grabbing the camera. Just after I took this picture, she started to fuss so I had to help her out.