Two Bears

Here is Meliya with her friend bear.


Ok, this is a little wrong, but sometimes new parents need a little humor in their lives.  

Ready to be Back in the States

I am really excited to be back in the states.  We will be arriving back to LA around Dec. 1st and I already want to start packing.  Alvin keeps telling me that it is a little too early, so instead of packing I made a list of what to pack.

I can't wait to see friends and family.  I think I am excited to be mobile in a car, although I really enjoy walking to places now.  I am excited to go to a Target and to be able to be out in public without being yelled at for being outside with a young child.  (The other day some strangers told me I should go home because the baby is too young.)

Some friends have asked what foods will I enjoy eating when I get home.  Alvin says he really wants sushi.  I am torn between Rubio's Fish Taco or Noah's sundried tomato bagel with lox schmear.  Mmm.  I also look forward to eating fish at home.  Hmm, it looks like the theme is fish.  It is definitely hard to get fresh fish out here in the desert.

I also would like some fro-yo, but I have heard there are some new trends these days for Asian style desserts.  Any new foods you would recommend me to try?  If you were living out East for two and half years, what food would you crave?

Best Meliya Pictures from Day 44

Yes, we're becoming the kind of first-time parents who take pictures of their baby doing the absolute most meaningless things - "Look!  She's lying down!  How cute!" - and we shoot 80 pictures in a period of 3 minutes just to pull out that one split second when she was looking at the camera with an expression that might be interpreted as a faint smile.  And those pictures are pretty much the only ones that we post to the internet, so that everyone in the world says, "She's so adorable!  I just want to squeeze her cheeks!  How did you get her to smile like that?  Ahhh, so much hair!"

But oh well... Meliya is only 6 weeks old once.  So, here they are.  Enjoy.  :)

She is gaining weight and growing taller.  And in the last few days, she has begun making sounds other than those of crying or uncontrollable bodily functions.  She's starting to coo and say things like, "oooooh..."  When she's calm and alert, I can maybe get about a minute of dialogue with her where I make that sound and then she repeats it back to me (most of the time).  That minute has become one of the highlights of my day.

Each day goes by really quickly nowadays.  There's just quite a bit to do to keep a newborn continually well-fed, clean, and rested.  Our days are lived out in something like 3-hour cycles.  And before you know it, it's already past 9pm.

We have less than 3 weeks before we head back to the States for a bit.  It has been good getting into a routine over the past few weeks here - good for Meliya, and good for us.  But, we're about to see that routine get disrupted as we travel and then spend a few months in a much different place.  Nonetheless, we are excited to be back in the States for a bit, and we're excited to see our friends and family in person again (and for Meliya to be able to meet them all too!).

Anonymous Facebook Fan?

As some of you may know, I never was a big Facebook person.  Every few months I would go on just to check on the latest notifications. Recently though, some of you may have noticed my Facebook page has been consistently updated with pictures of Meliya.  The reason is because I have been hacked.  My husband, Mr. Anti-Facebook, now has interest in having the world see pictures of his daughter, so he has now logged on and started posting pictures.  The other day, I looked on the Facebook page and showed him a picture of one of our friend's new baby, and I said, "this is cute."  Alvin said to me, "yeah I know, you already said you 'liked' it online," implying that he clicked the "like it" comment to that picture.  Hacked!

Thank You Grandma

Today Grandma Lee left after helping out for almost a month.  She, along with Grandpa Lee, and Grandma and Grandpa Tang all were super helpful in Meliya's first month.  We didn't have to go in the kitchen even once, and the grandmas cooked wonderful meals.  Grandma Lee also was there to hold Meliya and even changed a couple of diapers (thanks Mom!).  Meliya even gave Grandma Lee a souvenir all over her pants when Meliya decided to burst out of  her diaper. 

We really don't know how we are going to survive without the grandparents help.  Thank you so much!  We love you!

Colic Hold

Right now, we don't suspect that Meliya has colic, but we do know that she is very gassy. One thing that Alvin enjoys doing is getting her gas out either by laying her across his lap and patting her back, pumping her legs, or holding her in what parenting books call the colic hold (see picture below). It is funny how we all get so excited when she farts. Good job gassy!

Halloween Party

Meliya went to her first Halloween party over the weekend. Unfortunately, her parents were too busy trying to keep their heads above the water, they didn't prepare her a costume. She went to the party as a baby.

During the party, even though there was chaos, she decided to take a nap in people's arms.
Here she is before her nap: