Tag Archive for 'Melanie'

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Monkey Off My Back

It has been a month since I last put anything up. I had been busy working on my senior project (equivalent to a thesis paper in other majors), a do or die assignment. Between work, classes, other homework & Kaitlyn, there wasn’t really any time left for me to focus on the project. Luckily for me, Melanie was very understanding & supportive. About a month ago, we decided that after I come home from school at 9 or 10, I should eat dinner and then go to bed right away. She would basically take care of Kaitlyn all day by herself. Then I would get up at 3 a.m. or so and start working on the project. This way, I was able to get some sleep and then get quite a few extra hours of work free from distraction & interruption.

So, Mel-Mel, thanks again! You’re also why my project got picked for the senior show!

Just like me, Kaitlyn hates it when there’s a monkey on her back, too. Here are 2 photos to prove it. Enjoy.

She got a monkey on her back!Kaitlyn hates it when the monkey is on her back.

Quick Update

Yes I know we haven’t updated our blog in 2 1/2 weeks. We’ve been busy.. I have to finish writing up my talk for Stake Conference this Saturday. It’s due tonight so that the translators could translate them in advance. *sigh* I’ve never had to speak in front of 300 people before. It’s kind of intimidating. But at least after tonight I could have a few days of peace. Ether has been working hard on his portfolio and final projects. Sometimes even hardly getting any sleep. Well at least he only has a couple more weeks left and then he’ll be sleeping like a baby. =D

Here are some fairly old pictures that I never put up of Kaitlyn..

Kaitlyn in her pretty dresses on Sunday:

Kaitlyn looking pretty one Sunday.Kaitlyn on Easter Sunday.

Kaitlyn’s ugly tantrum faces:
Kaitlyn\'s frowning faceKaitlyn\'s fat lip when she\'s throwing a tantrum.

Kaitlyn w/ fingers in her mouthKaitlyn saying \

Swing time!

Last Wednesday, since the weather was super nice, we decided to take a walk to Carvel for their Buy 1 Get 1 Free Sundae Day. On the way there, we saw that the playground on 66th St was open again. (It was closed due to the devastation of the small tornado that hit last August.) So we decided to let Kaitlyn try going on a playground swing for the first time. She seemed to enjoy it a bit, but not sure if she was feeling dizzy or not.

"Ma, can't you push harder than this?"

"Ma, can't you push harder than this?"

Doesn't it look like she's stuck in a big trash can?

Doesn't it look like she's stuck in a big trash can?

That was some strong wind!

That was some strong wind!

Kaitlyn had no idea what's coming next.

Kaitlyn had no idea what's coming next.

Drew Carey Fan?

Kaitlyn loves to watch The Price is Right (mommy too!). Someday we’ll go watch the show in real life. haha.

(*Kaitlyn got cut off in the first picture so you’ll have to click on the picture to see the whole thing.*)

Kaitlyn watching someone spin the wheel on The Price is RightMel and Kaitlyn watching The Price is Right

Some old pictures

Ether found some old pictures we took of Kaitlyn probably back in January, before he butchered her hair. She seemed to like chewing the bottle nipple and playing with her bottle rack lid. What can I say — We have a strange child. She prefers things that aren’t toys over toys.

This is better than a paci!Hiding in the “corner” playing with the bottle nipple.Mel & Kaitlyn wearing their hoodies.Kaitlyn playing with the bottle rack lid.What she looks like on the other end.Silly girl.

A Nice Day To Be Home Alone… NOT!

Today is Presidents Day, so no school or work for me. Although it rained last night & it’s supposed to rain again later today, it’s sunny outside & it’s 62 degrees! Unfortunately, there’re too many projects that I have to work on, so I have to stay home pretty much all day. Mel wanted to go shopping, so she & Kaitlyn went to her parents’ house last night & she’s going to go out with them today.

I really don’t mind staying home alone working on projects, since I usually get more things done without the distractions. It’s hard to resist playing with Kaitlyn. Trust me. Besides, I love how our apartment has big tall windows & a high ceiling. They just make the place brighter & look bigger, so it’s very pleasant to be inside. The location & rent are the other obvious things that we love about this place. You can’t beat this anywhere else.

Sadly though, because the building itself is really old (probably over 60 years old?) & the last time that this place got a total facelift was probably 30 years ago, there’re all these gaps/cracks/holes in the house. I try to patch up as many as I can & we keep this place pretty clean, so we have no problem with ants & roaches. In fact, I haven’t seen one since I moved in here almost 3 years ago.

BUT, for some reasons, mice get in somehow. I am seriously a musophobe. I can tolerate any bugs: cockroaches, spiders, caterpillars, whatever. You can put them on my face, if you want. I won’t flinch. But when it comes to rodents, regardless of size, I can’t bare even looking at a photo of it. For real!

Since they are doing major renovation/construction just two houses down the block, we’ve caught almost 10 mice in the past month alone! We live in attached houses, so the construction makes the rodents move to other houses. Although we put all the food that mice would eat in containers, they have been biting on bags & plastic containers in the kitchen, trying to get to the food. Our two electric mouse traps have been doing a great job catching them most of the time.

Still, there’re more coming!

Every time I’m alone in the living room at night, even with all the lights & the TV on, a mouse has to run into the room!

And a stupid mouse ran in on me again last night! What’s there to eat in the living room?! I mopped twice yesterday! Or do I smell like food to them or something??!

WHYYYYYYYYYY???!!

I swear the first thing I’ll do, when I get a full time job after graduating this May, is to find a rodent-proof place to live in!

Anyway, enough bad news. Here’s a video Melanie took of Kaitlyn falling asleep after eating. It’s about two minutes but it’s pretty funny. It was the morning my mom & sister arrived, so you can see my mom napping in the background, too.

Our Big Girl (Now with pictures!!)

Happy 1st Birthday Kaitlyn!!!!!

My how fast 1 year has gone by already.. My baby is now a big girl… well sorta..

On Saturday, we had a mini birthday party with family and her 2 playgroup friends. Our apartment is WAY too small to accommodate everyone that we wanted to invite. So we apologize to those of you who weren’t invited, but we still love you!

Kaitlyn’s Mini Birthday Party on Saturday, Feb 2nd:

The princess makes her entrance..I’m here!German holding Keona & KaitlynKitna holding Keona & KaitlynThe yummy food!!!Ether & German enjoying the delicious crabs that Uncle Fai made..The daddies and their babies..Kaitlyn and KeonaThe beautiful & delicious cake that Auntie Jenny (Ling) madeThe babies, mommies and aunties posing in front of the cakeSinging Happy BirthdayEther trying to bite the cake as we’re cutting it..Mel & the birthday girlKaitlyn enjoying her cake!Kaitlyn and Nancy Pau-PauDarion getting his first bite of cake.Whipped cream all over Darion’s mouthWhipped cream on Kristie’s nose too!The only fairly decent picture of just the kids (they were all cranky)Kaitlyn at the end of the night

The escape artist

One day last week, it took Kaitlyn 2 hours to finally take her afternoon nap. I put her in her crib, hoping that she would eventually get tired and fall asleep. Nope.. she was definitely not tired. So I laid down on my bed, watching some tv while she was playing with her stuffed animals in her crib. I eventually fell asleep for a couple of minutes when all of a sudden I hear a sound of something falling down on the floor. I turned to look and Kaitlyn had climbed out of her crib and was standing on my night-table reaching for stuff & dropped some things on the floor as she was doing it. I was scared half to death because she had never done that before! I was thanking God that she didn’t fall onto the floor and hurt herself.

Anyway, here are a few pictures that we took of her as a re-enactment of what happened. Please excuse the mess that I have on my night-table. I will eventually clean that up. haha. =D

Kaitlyn standing in her cribKaitlyn standing by the side of her cribKaitlyn standing on the corner of my night-table reaching for somethingKaitlyn again standing on the corner of my night-table reaching for somethingJust a cute pic of KaitlynA cute picture of my 2 babies!

So we discovered that our child is pretty adventurous and likes to take risks, which is why she is already walking pretty well at 11 months. My how fast she has grown.

By the way, did you notice something funny about the first picture? Yup, she flipped the bird! =D

Merry Christmas

Melanie & KaitlynKaitlyn & Ether

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

We spent our Christmas afternoon at Melanie’s aunts/grandma’s place, and the evening at her parents’. It was a simple but relaxing day. The way we like it. :-)

Santa Kaitlyn 01Santa Kaitlyn 02Santa Kaitlyn 03Santa Kaitlyn 04Santa Kaitlyn 05

She looks like she was begging Santa to send her some new toys. “Please Santa, I’ve been very good this year!!”

We’re Still Alive..

Ether’s been busy with lots of final projects so I haven’t had much of a chance to use his comp to upload pictures. Here are a few that we’ve taken over the last couple of weeks:

Kaitlyn all bundled up & ready for the winter:
Kaitlyn wearing a funky hatBrrrrrrr…

Kaitlyn saying “Hi” to everyone:
Hi!!!Yo. What up.

Kaitlyn in a funky outfit that her dad put together while I was at work:
Look at my “unique” outfit!

W.Y.O.B.

We hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Ours was simple but wonderful.

On Thanksgiving Day, we hung out at Melanie’s Grandma/aunts’ place & had lunch (sushi) & dinner there. Afterward, we dropped by Diane’s (from church) house to say hi to a few people & had some more food.

Last night, Mel went to a wedding reception while Kaitlyn, Snow, & I went back to Diane’s house to see a few more friends, & had crab & lobsters (Diane’s husband makes GOOD food)!

Then tonight, we went to the Thanksgiving dinner at church. So, for 3 nights in a row, we simply did nothing but eat.

It was wonderful. :-)

Anyway, I noticed that my Mom’s been calling me & asking me how we are doing more & more, which is a sign that we hadn’t been updating our blog. So here’s a photo from may be 2 weeks ago. I call it, “Wipe Your Own Butt.”

“Wipe Your Own Butt”

It’d be SO AWESOME if she can actually do that.

But then again, I guess it’s a good thing that babies can’t really wipe on their own. Because when it comes to having babies, the thought of having to change diapers stops a lot of people from having babies, & that’s why the world still has room for parks, beaches, & giant Wal-Mart parking lots. :-p

Playdate #3

Last Saturday, Kaitlyn had her 3rd playdate at the Yau’s home. We all had a good time and we celebrated Ether’s birthday as well. He finally got better that day, so he was able to eat with us!

The moms (except Mel) with the cute babiesKaitlyn and Darion are up to no good!
Kaitlyn biting on a Snickers bar.. mmmmDarion watching Kaitlyn bite on his Snickers bar from trick-or-treating.Cutie pie Keona showing some teeth! Look at the 2 little trouble-makers in the back!The puppy with the Mini M&M’s in her mouth & Darion standing by the couchPuppy Kaitlyn giving Darion a pat on the back. He’s enjoying it!Pretty Keona w/ her dad. She’s always ready for a picture.The 3 Musketeers patting on the couchKaitlyn taking Keona for a ride“What did you say, Darion? I couldn’t hear you!”. Kaitlyn is wearing Darion’s bumblebee headband.Our family posing with Ether’s yummy Carvel birthday cakeGerman & Ether trying really hard to cut the solid as rock cake.

Sunday’s best…

…for sleeping in. Kaitlyn is no exception.

After getting her changed & ready for church last week, Kaitlyn just collapsed on our bed like this:
_mg_5218.jpg_mg_5220.jpg_mg_5221.jpg

Here are some less embarrassing & more flattering photos of her:
_mg_5225.jpg“Sweet Potatoes”_mg_5239.jpg

Sick on My Birthday

Sadly, I got the stomach flu & have been sick since Tuesday night. It was probably the Chinese takeout (beef & broccoli) that I had for lunch that afternoon at school. So I wasn’t able to take Mel & Kaitlyn trick-o-treating (SORRY!).

Today is day number 3. My head feels a lot better & no more fever, but everything that I eat still comes out much quicker than I would like it to. So, I’m still only eating plain congee & drinking Gatorade.

No crab, no lobsters, no shrimp, no buffet, no cake, no ice-cream, no pho, no roti, no pizza, no veggie, no mango pudding, no seaweed, no sushi, no sashimi, no kimchi, no nothing for me; for now.

Other than that, life is still good. :-)

Anita & Kyan’s Wedding

We attended Anita & Kyan’s wedding ceremony & banquet on 10/6. The ceremony was short & beautiful. The banquet was fun & the food was good. And yes, we are just posting up the pix now. =P

The ceremony:
Amy & LonnieTaylor pretending to feed KaitlynAnita walking down the aisleThe bride & groom at the altarKyan kisses the brideThe bride & groom looking into each others’ eyesNewlyweds walking down the aisle togetherAnother kiss down the aisleThe wedding cake & the dolls – notice the bridedoll’s dressJess & Betty with the NewlywedsUs w/ the NewlywedsThe lovely Anita & Kyan

The Banquet:
The bridal partyBetty & KaitlynKaitlyn watching whatever’s going onKaitlyn & IThe bridal party dancing #1The bridal party dancing #2The bridal party dancing #3The bridal party dancing #4Weird pic of usPeter & KaitlynEther covering Kaitlyn’s ears from the loud dish bangingKaitlyn thinks it’s funny that her ears are being coveredKyan is about to remove Anita’s garter w/ his teethBeautiful single ladies (including Kaitlyn) waiting to catch the bouquetThe newlyweds with Helen (Anita’s sis) & her bf KeithAmy & Harry dancing w/ KaitlynThe cute couple againKat, Ed, & HelenEther tring to put Kaitlyn to sleep during the noisy banquet (FYI she really did fall asleep)