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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