Dentist

Liz took her to her first dental appt. Clean bill of health, and Liz said that there was just a little moment of hesitant nervousness when the power brush turned on. Otherwise, no sweat. 

Mother's Day

What a nice Mother's Day!  Some nice BBQ awaited us in San Jose, where we dined al fresco and were treated to some perfect weather. And a big surprise (on Mother's Day, wink wink).

But first, we kicked the day off with a quick visit to one of the world's newest mothers- Auntie Patty! She had the baby after a early and protracted labor.  I'll leave it to Anh to fill in the details, but the beautiful, healthy baby boy who had been keeping them nearly sleepless since Wednesday finally decided he was ready to join us Saturday morning.  Huelan is very excited to be a Medium Cousin (she's not a big girl yet), and Vansen said, "Bye, Bye, baby cousin."  Really super cute.

Also, Huelan was surprised at how small her cousin is, and was even more surprised to learn that she was even smaller when she was born ("I was as long as his toe to his ear!").

Spur

Liz got her some (awesome) tickets from someone at the office, so she went to a baseball game with Sophia and SuHan. Great seats, sorry game. 

I didn't feel lkke chasing the lids around the house by myself all evening, so on the spur of the moment, we made an evening out of getting Vansen his first haircut from someome other than my mom (I was in college before that happened), grabbing some pho (Huelan's request), and finishing the LAST of the Skittles. 

Another day in the books. 

A Few More

I'd give it a few more months til these fit. Five or six max. A few months after that he might even figure out which foot to put them on. 

This is just too precious. Taken by Laurie while Liz and I were at the Warriors game on Sunday. How she caught both of them in perfect poses is beyond me- she must have found the Skittles. And of course, Sophia always looks great. 

Unlimited

Of course Huelan had to go and tattle on me right away. Liz comes home and Huelan says, "This morning, when we had Skittles for breakfast, baby brother ate more than me."

Well, it was the truth. That boy loves Skittles. 

Aside from jacking up their blood sugar levels, we got into a lot of other things this weekend while Liz was with the girls in Healdsburg. My philosophy is to be out and about with them as much as possible when I have them by myself. We kicked off the day pretty early with Huelan's gymnastics class at Clark Kerr. I got spoken to twice about letting Vansen run and jump around on the pads and stuff while we were waiting, but there was really no way to stop him. 

We went straight from there to the Spring Fair at the elementary school, which is basically a fundraiser with carnival games. Huelan is pretty good at winning junk; whether it's popping balloons with darts, ring toss, or picking rubber duckies, she had her luck rolling that day, and she was super proud of herself.  Vansen on the other hand was solely interested in the bouncy house and took at least three trips in there. 

After heading back for a short nap and lunch, we hit the park. A birthday party was there and they had a drum circle. Very Oakland. They even let Huelan and Vansen bang around a bit, and they had an absolute blast. They didn't sound too bad either. One of the guys leads a kids' drum session downtown on Saturdays- i think I might bring the kids by. 

Saturday night was the May-Pac fight, and a few people came over to watch. Vansen went to sleep a little late, but Huelan was up til 11:00 almost. Must have been the Skittles. 

This morning, Liz broke off her weekend early to go to the Warriors game while Laurie and Sophia watched the kids. They both sacked out early tonight. I shoud too, but I'm too tired to sleep. 

I Think We're Alone Now

When we're alone I give them all the candy they want. 

Baby Shower for Baby Ly

Our baby shower was held last Sunday at Hung and Liz's house. Patty's sisters Kristine and Karla, Bi and Liz all planned and organized the awesome event. It was completely secretive like a covert ops mission, even through all of the interrogating that Patty and I done, they did not crack. Pretty good.

The shower was everything we hoped it to be, great food, games, decor, weather, guests. It is something that we will never forget. There was even a photo-shoot set up with back drop and everything. 

Thanks again to everyone and a big THANKS to everyone that helped organize!

Here are some of the photos. Once we compile the photos from the other cameras, we'll share them too:

Baby Shower Photos

Only 23 more days until our DUE DATE!!

Pre-School

Huelan's preschool has been great.  We were kind of bummed last year when the oldest kids matriculated to Kindergarten and Huelan was the biggest one left in the school, but there soon came a couple of kids about her age and she was able to show them the ropes.  The teacher, Ms. Jan, runs it out of her her house, and her house is just 4 houses from ours, which is supremely convenient.  We are going to miss it.

On Monday, Huelan went to an assessment appointment at the school she'll be attending next year- Joaquin Miller Elementary, where they have three Kindergarten classes.  We met one of the teachers- Ms. Savage, and she took Huelan for her assessment while a parent volunteer led me on a campus tour.  I figured that the assessment was just going to be some simple questions designed to help sort the kids who had more academic preschools from the ones who haven't yet learned their letters and figures.  Huelan said that there were lots of questions, but she thinks that she "got every one right." So she's either well prepared or delusional.

She was so excited to see her new school.  Ms. Savage took her on a mini-tour and she beamed the entire time.  

We made a day of it.  I took her out of school early for the assessment, and after we went for lunch, candy, and Cinderella in the theater.  Pretty good day.

Here are some pics of her preschool from a little while back.

This is one from when I picked her up during nap time. 

All the kids love the calendar. She proudly tells us everyday what part she put up. 

Sophie, Bella, and some other kids I don't know. 

Bellies and Buttons

She had a phase around at around 16 months old when she was obsessed with belly buttons.  She would try to get at everyone's belly button, just walk right up, lift a shirt, and poke.





He's been in his phase for a few months now.  He's not as assertive as she was, but he definitely likes to get at a belly button when he can.

Pic Catch Up

It took us a while to get this done.  Traditionally, the baby wears a white sheath dress-like thing. He probably wouldn't have fit in it when he was two months old, so he had no chance now.  Oh well, better late than never and he got to rock the preppy look.

Baptism Pics!

Campus Tour

I thought that we lived closer to campus than any of my other friends, but it turns out that one of my friends lives in Rockridge and another lives just four houses up from the Claremont Hotel, and his wife walks to work at Boalt.  That is legit access to campus.

Even though we don't live quite as close, we're still plenty close to walk around campus on a sunny day. I actually think that this is the first time Vansen has been on campus since he could walk (it's been probably 10 months).  Huelan was at a gymnastics birthday party at the Golden Bear Rec center at Clark Kerr, so we took advantage of the sunny morning and hit up some of the spots.

The kid loved it.

Some more pics here

Sometimes

She's just in the mood to be a ninja princess turtle fairy. 

Dancing Queen

She may not end up as a professional dancer, but she has no problem putting herself out there.  Vids from the most recent "recital," about three weeks ago.  For a quick hit, the third and fifth vids are probably the funnest.

Time Capsule

This is the scene pretty much every night- standard kids getting ready for bed action sequence. Jockeying for step-stool space, negotiating for a toothpaste refill, and needing to be reminded to brush those back teeth. 

It's hard to compare these daily moments to the big ones- first steps, first words, road trips, and big memories yet to come, but we put all these mundane moments together and that's our day/month/life. I think down that road these daily moments will be as fun to remember as the big ones, and I hope I'll be able to recall the echo of the bathroom, the hiss of the faucet, and the tapping of the toothbrush against the sink. The silliness that happens in between and around those daily moments and routines.

Great to have this blog as a memory aid when the ol' noggin starts a foggin.