Back to Back to Back

It's been almost a month since our "last blog" (I'm not counting the other two that I just wrote today) and a lot has been happening, hence the lack of updates.

First off, we've had back to back to back full weekends. More to come on that below. Second, Ian's been busy grading and grading and trying to get some work on his dissertation. Third, I've been trying to get as much work done each week as I can, especially since there is more for me to learn and do now than when I first started. It's good, but of course, it keeps Ian more occupied (and he often watches E then). And lastly, E has been on quite a spurt of growth and discovery. She's doing lots of new things - making new noises, giggling, playing with toys by herself for short periods of time, blowing lots of bubbles, constantly chewing on her fingers, waking up in her bassinet and just entertaining herself - but also has been quite a handful as she is eating more, wanting to be held all the time (still), needing more naps (this is recent and she actually needs at least a 30 minute nap every 2 hours... of course fighting sleeping every time we try to put her to nap) and wanting to explore more of the world than our 2 room apartment. We think she's starting to teeth (hence the exorbitant amounts of drool and the chewing anything she can get to her mouth) and also hitting another growth spurt. We "weighed" her this weekend (by using a regular scale and getting on with her and then again without her and figuring the difference) and she is around 14.5 pounds. We've also had to move up the straps in her car seat to the top holes. And she isn't even four months old yet. At this rate, I think we might have to graduate her into a new car seat in 2 to 3 months!! But it is an exciting time and pretty fun as we can really play with her now. Only if we could have those "sleep through the night" nights again.... sigh. :)

So... the here's the breakdown of our back to back to back weekends. First we went were supposed to go to Stockton to celebrate Ian's sister's birthday. (She turned 22. Happy Birthday Colleen!). But that was cancelled as she had finals for their winter quarter, and how fun of a birthday can you have if you're crunched for studying time. So instead we stayed home, saw some friends, went to Babies R Us and had a pretty lax weekend. Then the next weekend we went out to Stockton. It was fun, but we could have used more sleep. Granted, most of the time the lack of sleep was because we stayed up too late (after E had gone to sleep at her normal bedtime). Sigh, we always need a weekend to get over our weekends.

Then this last weekend we went to the Yee home for Chinese New Year. (Gung Hay Fat Choy!) E got her first set of Lunar New Year Red Envelopes and that's good, as we might be needing it not too long from now for a new car seat. Oh, and in case you're wondering, this year is the Year of the Boar (also known as the Year of the Pig). Having shared that, I'm very glad E was born last year, so she could be of the Year of the Dog and not the Year of the Pig. This weekend too was exhausting... because of the same reason... staying up too late after E goes to sleep. Add on top the fact that she wakes up every 3 hours to eat... and we're back to Tired-land. We also ate a lot of meat... so much that we're meated out for now... and feeling a bit lethargic. And to end the whole weekend off, we got caught in half rush hour traffic and half long weekend returnee traffic... all with a crying hungry baby. Sigh. But we did make it to the Westfield Mall in Fairfield (see separate post on it's significance) and everything was good after that.

Long Awaited Red Egg and Ginger Pictures

I should be working.. but I feel the need to catch up on some blogging and sharing... especially since I had time to see the Amgen Tour of California (ok, it only took like 20 minutes) and post that blog. So ... here's the long awaited pictures!

For the first 30 minutes of the party, E slept soundly at the sign in table. Such a party sleeper!

Then she woke up and was cute, cute and cute. Oh and if you look closely in this picture, just to the left of her shoulder is a "lucky red envelope" ... these are usually filled with money.

Here's E with her aunts! Aunt Gigi above (on the left) and and Aunt Gennie below.

E with her grandmam. She's starting to get fussy...

Oh, what an unhappy baby!

E got hungry nearing the end of her Red Egg and Ginger party, so we decided to try giving E a bottle (instead of me nursing her). Boy was she angry! But she eventually finished her scarce 2 oz (it was just to hold her over till after the party)... and was in a better mood.

This is E's great grandma.

And last but not least, here's our families. Ian's above (If you're wondering where E is... someone else is holding her while Ian and I try to grab a bite to eat. It is a buffet after all.), and us and my parents below.

Amgen Tour of California 2007

So, we knew the Amgen Tour of California was coming into Sacramento today... but didn't realize until just last night that it would actually come down the street we live on in Davis. Wow! It's like the Tour de France for the US. So, we bundled up E in her bjorn and set out to Russell Blvd about around 1:15pm. In about 10 minutes the leaders came racing through and a few minutes later came the rest of the pack. It was a quick ride by as the pack was very tight. So here's our exciting pictures!

The pack as they race down Russell Park. This is right in front of our apartment complex!

If you've never raced (specifically road cycling), then this is a sight you've probably never seen... a line of 3 dozen cars carying extra bicycles and tires for the racers. Not as exciting as the pack of riders, but still fun to see.

New Blog

Check out Ian's new blog at http://philosophicalorthodoxy.blogspot.com/, my new site for philosphical, biblical, theological, and just plain weird ponderings. Come learn about the origins of the word "blog" again for the first time! (and maybe also learn how weird my sense of humor really is)

E's 3 month old "birthday"

It's like E has reached her "first" birthday, she's three months old!

This in and of itself is usually not cause for celebration, but we had a Red Egg and Ginger Party (the traditional Cantonese "Meet the Baby" party where people get to meet her, congratulate the parents and grandparents, and eat - of course), so it was definitely like a birthday. The Red Egg and Ginger Party usually occurs a month after the baby is born, but as the holidays were in full swing it was postponed to this momentous day instead. Overall, she did well... sleeping through the first half hour, being cute the second half hour, being hungry the third half hour and crying because she was tired again for the fourth half hour (it was two hours long at a chinese buffet restaurant). Hopefully it doens't look like she was asleep and crying in all the pictures, ha lol. (Pictures will be posted when we get them from the photographer... keep a lookout for them.)

Another reason why 3 months feels like such a milestone is I guess we've been noticing all the thing E is able to do now too. Sometimes she seems so grown up and then we remember, oh wait she can't eat by herself, sleep by herself, or even play by herself. Ha ha ha... I guess she is still our little infant!

[Oh, and just a random sidenote: a couple people that wanted to give E a gift from the baby megastore that is BabiesRUs said they couldn't find her registry. How odd, I thought, because I had looked at it just last week. Well I guess they took it down recently as her 3 month "birthday" approached, because it no longer exists. Yep, our baby girl is getting so "grown up" that I guess she doesn't need anymore gear (so says BabiesRUs). Odd because we have a bunch of gift cards to still use and a bunch of stuff we still want to get. Seems like that was not a good retail move on their part, oh well.]

So, as we revel in our baby girl growing up and discovering the world, we continue to look for that perfect balance and find some semblence of workable routine. Hopefully it will come sooner than later. But even if it doesn't, we are still so excited to have our little Miss E . Boy, do we love our little girl!