Let's get this party started!

One year later

2009-08-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

Blogging is tiring.

Trip to San Diego

2008-08-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

We took Natty to the San Diego Zoo. Natty can't hold back her excitement.

In case you are confused, the real elephants are in the background.

Surprisingly enormous hippo butts.

Surprisingly dirty panda butt.

A panda tree bearing panda fruit.

Our new Ergo baby carrier gets a workout.

The most popular chrome polar bear in the world. About 20 people cut in front of us to take a picture just like this one.

Humprey's Half Moon Inn & Suites. Highly recommended.

On the balcony overlooking the marina.

Eating brunch at the Hash House A Go Go with Rhon and Esther. We miss you guys!

Sunny's biscuits and gravy. My hand is there for scale.

Dancing Queen

2008-07-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

davy will be very surprised that I'm writing a post. it will be very short unlike davy's witty and humorous ones with links to obscure and somewhat disturbing images.

so, our little girl definitely has rhythm. these days you can find Natty groovin soon as music is playing. she sometimes move from side to side to start then she moves forward and back while moving her head. it is the funniest thing. she sure is like her mama in lot of ways. she LOVES food, LOVES parties and LOVES to dance. here's a video of her dancing. she was being modest since the tape was rollin. maybe y'll can come see for yourself when she really turns it on. watch out kristi yamaguchi.

Perfect 10

2008-07-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

Natty is going to hit the big one-oh. 10 months. It seemed like yesterday that she was just a tiny little baby who could only sit and say gibberish. Oh right, that was yesterday, and the last 2 months for that matter. She is still under 14 pounds and just a little over 2 feet in length. She is trying to compensate for those meager measurements by having an enormous head in proportion to her body. Just kidding, Natty... you're perfect in our eyes.

Mother's and Father's Day have come and gone. As first time parents, we took special pride in these two holidays although we didn't go over the top in celebrating. It will be nice when Natty is old enough to genuflect before our parental majesty but until that day comes, we are in total servitude to her. For now, she is a pretty low-maintenance infant. She cries only when she is tired or left in a room alone. She's not very discriminant about who is in the room with her as long as someone is there. Little by little, she is becoming more forceful about the things she wants but those who have spent some time with her often remark about how "easy" she is. It won't last, we know. But it's wonderful in the meantime.

In other developmental news, she does NOT:

crawl

stand with help

sit herself up

have teeth

She does:

stay in a seated position
laugh at our silliness

like to splash in the tub

eat lots of fruit

babble like a Pentecostal
scratch at everything and everybody near her

We introduced Natty to our friends' dog, Piper. Piper is a female pug and when she got up in Natty's grill, Natty freaked like Julia Stiles did when Matt Damon put a gun up to her noggin in the Bourne Supremacy. Piper could have been on fire and sprouted tentacles and I don't think Natty could have been more scared. Since then, though, we've been trying to get her comfortable being around our friends' dogs. She felt pretty comfortable with this one:

Maybe it's because all pugs look like they've been victims of those exploding cigars you see in cartoons.

We've begun preparations for Natty's 1st birthday party. It will be on the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 13, at a park in Temple City. Hopefully the temperature will be below 110 degrees.

Enjoy your summer!

9 months

2008-06-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

Just checking in. I'm losing the battle with bloggers-block...

Day Trip #2: San Diego

2008-04-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

I took a week off from work last month and on one of those days we decided to visit the 2nd largest city in California. We learned a lot from our first day trip to Santa Barbara on how to manage a road trip with a baby. In Santa Barbara we were paranoid about trying to stick to Natty's feeding and sleeping schedule so we cut the trip shorter than we had liked. In San Diego we enjoyed ourselves a lot more by just going with the flow. It helped to have good friends down there who absolutely love Natty.

In fact, visiting friends was the main part of the trip. We didn't do any sightseeing or go to the beach or "get our drink on" in Tijuana. We met up with our friends Rhon and Esther who recently moved down to SD for Rhon's work.

They're food people just like Sunny is. They have a passion for good food that I, as a person with very unrefined tastes, can't get on board with. You would think I was a food person if you got a look at my waistline and puffy face but I usually eat only to stave off the stomach growls that so often embarrassed me in my classroom days. Sure I enjoy the occasional steakhouse now and then, especially when I'm with my brother (another notorious foodie), but I'm just as content with a frozen burrito as I am with a Chipotle barbacoa burrito with guacamole. Sometimes.

Rhon and Esther took us to the Cottage in La Jolla for lunch. Characteristically, I don't remember what I had but I remember that it was pretty good. Sunny could tell you what everyone had like Rain Man could recall phone book entries. She'll often remind me if I liked or disliked a menu selection when we go out to eat.

"Hmmm... I think I'll try the sesame chicken," I'll say.
"No, you didn't like it cuz it had bones in it."
"Oh."
"You liked the mochiko chicken when you had it 2 months, 12 days, and 7 hours ago though."
"Oh."

If Sunny could harness her food memory into say, Jeopardy memory, she would be the next Ken Jennings.

I digress. After lunch (and dessert) the girls went to visit Joanie and her daughter Cyan while Rhon and I watched Live Free or Die Hard on Rhon's Blu-ray. There's no better time in San Diego than watching a really good movie from the year before. After all, it's not like Natty is going to appreciate LegoLand or SeaWorld at her age.

It was a fun trip and it was just what Sunny, Natty, and I needed.

I'm still here.

2008-04-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

Your eyes do not deceive you. This is a new post. Actually I don't know why I'm even bothering anymore since my lack of posting has driven both my regular readers away. But I'll soldier on in the hopes that one day Natty will read and appreciate these sporadic posts.

All in NatalieLand is fine and good. There may be a painful experience ahead but these last two months have been marked by developmental milestones and lots of smiles and laughs. Since my last post Natalie is now:

1) Sitting up. She finally has the neck muscles to prop up that big 'ol head of hers. She can't sit up by herself but when we put her on her tush, she can stay there for a long time. It's entertaining to see her sway from one side to the other as she instinctively tries to compensate for her big 'ol head pushing her center of gravity up her tiny body. It's like balancing a baseball bat vertically on your palm. With a bowling ball crazy-glued to the top of the bat.
Viewer note: Prepare to turn your head to the side in 8...7...6...

2) Rolling over. She can roll over from her tummy to her back. I'm fairly confident that she can roll from her back to her tummy but she refuses to do so because she absolutely detests being on her tummy. I have no idea how she is going to learn to crawl if she can't stand to be on that side of her body. The fact that she hates that position didn't stop us from putting her on her stomach over and over and over again just to watch her roll over. Trauma for her, good fun for us.

3) Eating solid foods. Or should I say, "solid-er" foods. Sweet potatoes, carrots, and bananas are probably her favorites. She had a bad reaction to single-grain rice cereal (ostensibly the food least likely to make a baby throw up). We are going to see an allergist to find out if she has a food allergy and we're praying that the vomiting episode was just a freak coincidence. The other extreme is that she may have celiac disease. I'm dreading the blood test that she will have to take because the doctor warned that finding a vein in a baby's arm can take a while and it can involve some poking around. It makes me sad just thinking about it.

But Natty is oblivious to all of that. She's been a joy, laughing and smiling with more regularity. It's hard to express in words how blessed we feel for being entrusted with her. Thank You God!

5 month progress report

2008-02-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

This picture was completely staged.

This isn't an excuse for not posting as regularly as Sunny probably wishes I would, but Natty appears to be in a state of suspended animation. I don't get to spend as much time with Natty as I want to (because of this whole job thing I have going on during the weekdays) so I may not pick up on the subtleties of her growth and development. She appears the same to me at 5 months as she did at 4 months. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about that. On the contrary, while I look forward to her walking and talking, I want to soak up all her immobile and mostly silent cuteness for as long as possible.

Unlike me, Sunny spends ALL her time with Natty and she raves about the changes in her. So here is a progress report for Natty at 5 months:

She weighs over 10 pounds

She is getting a lot more snug in her clothes
But she ranks under 10% (and usually less than 5%) in weight/length
She babbles and squeals especially when left alone
She sleeps 11 hours (from 8pm to 7am) regularly (YAY!)
She hasn't learned to roll over
She doesn't crawl
She can grab objects
She can raise her head when on her tummy
She smiles and giggles more

That last item is a tough one for me. Natty makes me WORK to get a laugh from her. I think she is like me in that aspect: I don't laugh very easily. (Sunny is really the only person that can make Natty laugh with any consistency but even then, Sunny still has to put in a lot of work.) But it gives me tremendous joy every time she smiles when she sees me for the first time in the morning or when I come home from that job thing.

Here are a couple of pictures of Natty kickin' it on her boppy:

***

One of her favorite toys is the talking Cookie Monster given to her for Christmas by her Uncle Wei. Actually it is hard to tell if she really likes it or not because she doesn't really smile or laugh at it; she just wants to eat Cookie Monster's eyes.

This next picture is when I dangled a doggie treat in front of her and asked her to beg.

Just kidding. That never happened.

Speaking of doggies, this picture is from our day trip to Santa Barbara last month:

We went to Santa Barbara to eat at one of our favorite breakfast spots, Sambos, and to catch up with my old friend, Eli. That's NOT Eli in the picture with the dog.

Eli was my first boss, back when I used to work at a monthly comic book convention. Yes I used to be a comic book geek. I don't read or collect them anymore but I still have a soft spot for them. I enjoyed panned movies like Daredevil and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman even though I can't think of anyone else who did. I'm hoping the new Iron Man movie won't disappoint...

It was a beautiful day to go to SB. It was such a nice day that I simply stuck the camera out the car window and took this picture:

This was our first trip with Natty and we had to get used to being parents on the road. Sunny nursed Natty in the car (parked of course) and we forgot to bring any sunblock whatsoever. We'll get better at this but we had to cut our trip a little short. It was still refreshing to get out of the house and out to the beach.

On a final and totally unrelated note, Natty is really excited that the Lakers got Pau Gasol and dumped that Kwame guy.

I [heart] New Years

2008-01-11T23:20:00.000-08:00

I think Natty received more Christmas gifts on her first Christmas than Sunny and I have received in the last 3 Christmases. I guess she's pretty easy to shop for and she always reacts to every present in the same way: stoic indifference. But it was still fun for Mama and I to wrap her presents and unwrap them in front of her. It was also fun to buy our first Christmas tree (first since we've been married). It was actually kind of a sad tree, fake, cheap, and adorned with two strings of lights and a single ornament. Our own Charlie Brown Christmas.

Natty must be thinking, "Man, I can't get over how ghetto this tree is..."

FUNGUS UPDATE!

Several weeks of Prescribed Medicine #1 did nothing. A couple more weeks of Prescribed Medicine #2 tasted better, but still did nothing. Then a friend turned us on to Over-the-counter Medicine #1 and the fungus had met its match in a few days. The trade off was that Natty's mouth turned purple and some clothing and sheets got stained.

We had our usual late lunch with Sunny's family on New Years. We took Natalie out for a walk after lunch and when we came back, Sunny's grandma scolded Sunny for letting Natty get so cold, her lips turned purple. True story.

Anyway, the thrush is gradually going away and Natty's mouth will continue to be Laker colored until all the fungus is gone.

Oh yeah, this past Christmas marked the first time in forever that we sent Christmas cards out. Because we weren't too experienced with this, we didn't order nearly enough so if you didn't get a card from us, here it is. Please print it out, magnetize it to your fridge, and then throw it out next Christmas. Natty is now 9 pounds, 8 ounces of Sanrio-like cuteness. If you enjoy the sight of chubby baby legs as much as I do, you'll appreciate the next photo more if you look at the photo from a previous post. We hope you will have a blessed 2008!

Giggles!

The Lazy Post

2007-12-10T15:49:00.000-08:00

Natalie is at that age where she can just sit in a boppy for a good long time and just coo and take in the little world around her. She's been sleeping very well lately despite the sometimes very loud upstairs neighbors. She is smiling a lot more and even manages a giggle now and then. This is definitely going to be one of the stages of her life that we'll cherish... and miss the most when she grows out of it.

She still is fighting her thrush. The medications she's been taking to get rid of it haven't been ultra-effective to say the least. But we'll thankful to God that thrush is the only real problem she's had lately. Hopefully by the new year I won't have to give these fungus updates anymore.

I have major blog-writing block right now. That includes trying to format these pictures into an eye-pleasing layout. Maybe it's because I just joined Facebook and I spend the majority of my time there taking the never ending movie quiz. Anyway, I will try harder the next time I post. Promise.

My First Thanksgiving (and all I got were my daddy's chins...)

2007-11-19T19:40:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to write this since the day Natty was born. I was reminded by this Thanksgiving holiday to give some public shout-outs to the many friends and family who have made us feel loved and supported by their actions. Some of the people Sunny and I would like to thank simply emailed a congratulations after receiving the news of Natty's birth. Others have offered their help in running errands for us, dropped off meals, or given us gifts. Still others have spent their time helping coming over to help Sunny hold, feed, and comfort Natty while I was away at work. All these things from small to big have a lasting impact on us. It impresses upon us to be better people and better friends. It shows us that God has given us all we need and more and that even the smallest gesture done by one person for another person can have a huge impact. We've been the recipients of those gestures for the past 11 weeks and on behalf of Sunny and Natalie, THANK YOU!

Yeah, I'm a girl!

2007-11-10T22:40:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize how androgynous Natty looks until Sunny put this clip in her hair. I've always seen her as this beautiful little girl but I bet from an outsider's perspective, if she was dressed in neutral colors in a unisex outfit, they would have to guess at her gender. I think the clip helps a lot in emphasizing her girliness. Or someone might just wonder why a little boy is wearing a hair clip.

Our little girl is a fungus magnet. At the time of my last post, she had cradle cap (yay, it's gone!) and that was marked by scaly fungus covering her whole forehead. Now she has fungus covering her tongue. We had thought it was maybe immature taste buds or milk residue. Nope, it's fungus (yeast to be more exact). The condition is called thrush and it's enough to make her hair stand on end.

Lord, we pray the fungus demons will go away. Amen.

Natty had her first round of immunization shots this week. As you can tell, she took it like a champion. She is now 7 pounds, 12 ounces and almost 21 inches long at 9 weeks old. For some reason, every time I look at this picture, I imagine her torso is a nice juicy meatloaf. I should stop looking at this photo.

Tomorrow, we go to church for the first time since Natty was born. We're looking forward to it.

Half Asian, half Klingon?

2007-10-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

Natalie had some flaky skin on her forehead. Initially, it was just dry skin but then something weird happened. What used to be dead white skin cells turned into thick crusty scales. It is a sickly green color and even worse, it has a rotten cheesy smell to it. The doctor says it's cradle cap although a very severe case of it. She also said that she has never seen cradle cap so widespread on just the forehead as opposed to on the scalp. Imagine our pride in having such a unique baby.

We can live with the stinky, crusty forehead. What's really stressin' us is Natalie's new favorite activity: wailing uncontrollably through the wee hours of the morning. Our doctor warned us that Natty might get colicky. I guess that's why they get paid the big bucks. We've been able to narrow down the cause of her colic to gas pain. Or acid reflux. Or hunger. Or exhaustion. Or pure spite.

The cruel thing about Natty's colic is that she's an absolute angel during the daytime. She hardly makes a sound when the sun is up and when she naps, she can sleep through a ruckus. At night, a spider could fart and Natty will wake up screaming bloody murder. I've never valued sleep more than in these past two weeks.

Still, it's hard to be mad at Natty because she just can't help herself. And she's such a cute crusty-headed kid. These pictures are from her last doctor's visit. She's now 6 pounds, 14 ounces at a little over six weeks old.

Pull my finger...

2007-10-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

I guess all parents think their babies are cute. I am no exception. I look at Natalie and I see past the hairy forehead, baby acne, and flaky skin. All I see is my daughter whom I love more than anything.

Having said that, here is an unflattering picture to keep Natalie (and me) humble.

Oh, who am I kidding. Natty is adorable.

Alien Baby

2007-09-30T16:51:00.000-07:00

Alien baby says, "Quit typing and put more pictures up!"

tiny blessings

2007-09-21T21:57:00.001-07:00

In late 2005, Sunny underwent surgery for her Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS). The surgery involved removing the first rib and part of the scalene muscle in order to decompress the nerves running through there.

It didn't work. Sunny still experiences pain and numbness in her neck, shoulders, and arms. She is unable to lift heavy objects and the condition causes clumsiness. Amazingly, the hormones generated during pregnancy dramatically lessened the symptoms of her TOS; the trade-off was a nine-month long morning sickness. Now that her pregnancy is completed, the TOS symptoms are coming back.

I sometimes wonder if God gave Sunny the intense morning sickness to make Natalie small. I see Sunny holding Natalie, establishing that unique mother-daughter bond. I wonder what would have happened if we had a bigger baby? It's a small blessing the way Natalie perfectly fits her mommy. We love Natalie just the way she is.

(The blasphemous dark side of my personality wonders why God didn't just heal Sunny of her TOS, make her pregnancy easier, and make Natalie bigger. This same side of my personality also causes me to waste money on MegaMillions tickets.)

On a closing note (and to end what I started in my last post), I don't worry about Sunny taking care of Natalie while I'm away at work. Sunny is one tough cookie. After the delivery, Sunny experienced what we thought was normal postnatal bleeding. She passed a small blood clot. Then she passed a larger blood clot. Then she threw up and passed a blood clot the size of a softball. Then her blood pressure dropped to around 80 over 30 and she was fighting to stay conscious. Nurses started buzzing around her and the air in our room became leaden.

Our doctor rushed her into the operating room after saying things like "Call Dr. So-And-So" and "There's a chance we may need to remove the uterus" and "Please sign the consent form". I'm left standing there, alone, staring at a document called something like "Uterine Artery Embolism Procedure" mistakenly left behind by one of the nurses. An hour later, Sunny is wheeled back in and the doctor gives me the good news that they found a large vaginal laceration that they were able to sew up without needing to operate. Sunny would tell me that while struggling not to black out, she thought about how she wouldn't let herself die because Natalie and I would need her. I'm thankful that God is merciful and agreed with Sunny. Despite her TOS, Sunny has a strength that has been tested many times over. She's going to make a great mom.

She's here!

2007-09-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

Natalie was born on September 6, 2007. She weighed only 4 pounds, 11.8 ounces and was 17.5 inches long.

Sunny and I had checked into Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena at 5:30am that morning. Natalie's due date was actually today but all her ultrasounds indicated that she was a tiny baby and our doctors decided that inducing early would give Natalie the better chance for development, especially since Sunny's morning sickness was lasting her whole pregnancy. Yep, a lot of the food that was intended for little fetus Natalie was actually being flushed away.

After some Pitocin, a welcome epidural, and maybe 45 minutes of pushing, Natalie was out and crying.

Ok, that's not entirely accurate. Sunny did push for a relatively short time but she had some help. Our OB-GYN attached a vacuum to the top of Natalie's head to help pull her out. And I won't describe the use of scissors.

Everything seemed perfect. Natalie was healthy, just underweight. Sunny and I were sharing tears of joy (and relief). I wish the story would stop here but it doesn't. A lot more tears would have to be shed before the day was over, and not the happy kind.

But this post will end on a happy note: Natalie is here!