Efficiency Post!

The last few months kinda got away from us!  We've been having a blast with Huelan and had some great adventures, but with me starting my new (old) job and chasing around an increasingly quicker munchkin, blogging got put on the back burner. 

But no more!  We've settled a bit and our major trips are behind us for now, so we are finally catching y'all up. 

In April Huelan met her great-grandfather, who was in SoCal for about a month visiting from Viet Nam.  Huelan is his only great-grandchild, and they had a BLAST. 

Some pics here

In May the big event was our Maui trip, which was even awesome-er than anticipated.  Huelan absolutely loved the beach and the pool, just couldn't get enough.  We were there for a wedding, and it was picture perfect, on a bluff overlooking the ocean. 

As you can tell, Maui treated us well.  We shared a condo with Melinda, Sienna and Yvonne, in a complex with a bunch of other friends.  We basically ate a bunch and spent a lot of time at the pool and beach.  The best move, however, was crashing the pool at the Four Seasons on our last full day.  Posh.  I even got to play golf.

Some awesome pics here

And I might as well throw in some vids as well:

Huelan and Sienna cutting it up at the Maui wedding:



First time at the beach- picked a nice one!


She gets this from her Ba Noi:



And finally, yesterday was Fathers' Day.  Great day with the fams- hanging out in the sun, occassionally checking in on Rory, and stuffing my face with BBQ. Happy Fathers's Day to me.

Catching up

We've been having so much fun with Huelan, even as she gets harder and harder to keep up with.  It's just fun to be around her as she finds new ways to entertain herself and to get us involved with her games.  A little while ago, she was obsessed with belly buttons.  She would point at her navel, then point to you and expect you to show yours.  Totally calling you out.  She would even look for belly buttons on her toys and dolls. 

She has moved on from that a little bit and is now into stairs.  Which is kind of scary, but she pretty much sticks to the bottom two.  She'll sit on that bottom stair, which conveniently faces a full length mirror, and kick her feet.  She'll come and grab one of us by the hand and bring us over to the stair and sit and play with her.  We climb with her all the way up, and help her down.  When we're out and there are stairs, she can play on them for a half an hour. 

One of the difficult things with her getting a little more aware is that she has developed considerable separation anxiety.  When either of us leaves the room, unless she is totally engaged in a game of her own, she gets a big sad face and might even cry.  It's totally endearing, but it can flip to heart-wrenching when
I have to pry her off my leg and go to work, leaving tears welling up in her eyes.  Boo.

But then, the minute we walk in, she lights up and dashes over - the payoff.

Feb and March Pics here

Horsey ride

Surprise ending!

Handpainted Original!

Childproofing...

...we are a little behind.

Goodnight Moon

She loves her bedtime storytime.

After this we watched PTI...

Life of the party

Wow the difference between 12 and 13.5 months is huge!  She has always had a personality, but she is showing us so much more of it now, especialy since we are bringing her out more and around more people.  She absolutely loves parties.  One of the things that we get a kick out of is that Huelan doesn't know that we're headed to a party until we get there.  But as soon as she sees the people and hears the chatter, she just lights up, eyes wide and toothy smile.  After that, she pretty much owns the party.

Gosia and Grandma have been very productive with Huelan during their days together.  She's getting to know her songs, and will show you her Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.  She learned how to operate many of her toys, and especially likes the loud ones that play repetitive music.  Again and again. 

Probably the biggest changes have to do with communication.  She has a very limited vocab, but she has a few words she really likes. And she can name pretty much anything you point at, as long as it's a bird, ball, duck or turtle.  Of course pointing and grunting are still mainstays.

January Pics

February Pics

It's My Party

We've had a tough time keeping up with Huelan the last couple of weeks!

I have a ton of pics to comb through still, but I figured I'd post these from her Bay Area Birthday today - thanks to all who were able to help us celebrate! Though the year went by fast, the great news is that we're expecting many more great ones.

Some pics from today

Also some pics from Dave's camera

Poor girl. At least she has her mom's hair and dimples.

Swinging without a care in the world

Huelan hairbrushing

Uncle Anh giving some grooming tips

Word to her Mother

She seems like she is getting bigger even faster than she was before.   We think that she's even said her first word- "Bye Bye!"  She's only done it a few times, but it's incredibly cute, especially when accompanied by her little hand wave.  She's definitly wants to communicate with us, but mostly what we get are grunts when she wants something (food).  Apart from that, she makes a ton of babbling sounds and these weird animal growls that we've been trying to catch on video, but so far no luck. 

She definitely knows when we tell her "no," but she usually just pauses to give us a glance, then proceeds with whatever trouble she was about to get into.  Sometimes when we give her something new to check out, she'll give us a look that's unsure of whether she is allowed to play with it, then a big toothy smile and maybe some grunting. 

Her growing awareness and desire to interact with us is making this time super fun.  It's almost like she is growing out of her baby phase and becoming more like a little kid.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks

Thankful

- For a great family, even though we don't see one another as much as we'd like to.
- For great friends, even though we don't see one another as much as we'd like to.

That pretty much sums it up.

Check out some pics from the last month or so, including the last Thanksgiving at Andrew and Candy's!

Visiting Mom in the office today

There's no turning back now