As for Mel, she’s still working at the same school that Kaitlyn goes to and is always exhausted. Besides all the drama that goes on there to give her a headache and make her life stressful, she loves the children that she works with and might be moving up to the next class with them. We’ll have to see what happens. Continue reading ‘The Last Few Months: Melanie’
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We’re back.
No, we didn’t abandon technology & move into a cave, nor have we decided to let Facebook replace our family blog, at least not completely. Continue reading ‘Hello, world—again.’
It’s been two days now & Kaitlyn’s been doing pretty well at school—at least from what I’ve been told. The only times that she cried, kicked, & screamed during the day were whenever she saw Melanie pass by or when a “visit” was over & Melanie had to leave. Other than that, the teachers said that she plays well both with other kids & by herself, she feeds herself, and she lies down without a fight when it’s nap time. My favorite thing is that two days of school has helped her master picking up & putting away toys! Tonight at home, I witnessed her putting away more than just three toys before she wandered off!!
It’s either the toys, the teachers, the other kids, or a combination of things that she likes about the place. As I dropped her off on both mornings, although looking nervous & hesitant, she also had this curious & excited look on her face. May be that’s why a big hug & a kiss was good enough, and that she didn’t cry when it was time for me to leave.
So, there here you go. That’s the update on how she did on her first & second day of school. Now, it’s time for me to go to bed, or I’ll have a hard time staying awake at work again. 
Today Kaitlyn turned 19 months old & started Pre-K “pre-Pre-K”! It was both hers & Melanie’s first day of school. To those of you who didn’t know, Melanie is going back to work & that Kaitlyn is attending the same school that Melanie teaches at (but a different class).
We were still very tired from the red-eye flight that we all left the house @ 7:30 this morning, a little later than we were supposed to. The trains were packed and everyone was sweating as usual. As we transferred from the N to the 6 Train at the 14th Street station, we got separated.
Kaitlyn will be 18 months old tomorrow. How time flies! She’ll soon be in school, learning how to swim, taking the SAT, going out with boys…but of course, she’ll need to be potty-trained before all that can happen.
Anyway, here’s a picture taken just 6 months ago today, when we threw her a wonderful birthday party.
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.
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.
If you have an older TV without a digital tuner built in, it will go static by Feb 2009. If you go to dtv2009.gov, you can sign up for up to two $40 coupons & use it to buy digital TV converter(s). The converters will cost between $50-70 each.
One more thing: buy the converters as soon as you get the coupon(s). They expires in 90 days.
Well, “everyone” who bought a diamond jewelry in the past 14 years, that is.
If you bought it here in the U.S. but didn’t buy it from De Beers, you may be qualified for a cash refund (and still keep your diamond) resulted from a class action lawsuit settlement.
Here’s an excerpt from the Arizona Republic:
- “De Beers, the world’s largest diamond supplier, recently settled a $295 million class-action lawsuit that charged it unfairly monopolized the diamond trade and fixed prices for years.
Customers who bought a De Beers gem between Jan. 1, 1994, and March 31, 2006, have until May 19 to submit a claim to the settlement’s administrator to get money back.
How much anyone receives in the settlement will depend on the value of diamonds purchased and the number of claims filed.
Under the formula, a consumer who bought a diamond worth $2,000, for example, could get as much as $640.
The class action was born from several lawsuits claiming that De Beers broke antitrust and consumer-protection laws by monopolizing diamond supplies, controlling diamond prices and disseminating false advertising.”
To sum it up, you should file a claim if you meet ALL the requirements below:
- Purchased a diamond between Jan. 1, 1994, and March 31, 2006.
- If it’s a Mixed Stones Jewelry with combined purchase prices of $165 or more OR a Diamonds Only Jewelry with combined purchase prices of $95 or more.
- You can provide proofs such as a receipt, invoice, credit card statement, insurance statement, appraisal, certificate or any other documents showing the diamond’s or the diamond jewelry’s cut, clarity, color, number of carats, authenticity or the person or business from whom the diamond or diamond jewelry was bought.
Here is the same story that appeared on MSN Money.
With all the recent toy recalls due to unsafe level of lead, I’ve to admit that whenever I see Kaitlyn put something into her mouth it gets me thinking twice. It turns out that the Consumer Product Safety Commission only has 15 full-time field inspectors inspecting products that enter the country through its 300+ ports of entry. That means most of the contaminated & unsafe imports get into the country anyway.
So I was happy to hear an NPR’s “Your Health” podcast yesterday about lead test kits currently available on the market. In contrary to what the Consumer Product Safety Commission says, Consumer Reports concluded that the kits are reliable. The reason the commission disagree is because the kits point out toys with any amount of lead, while the toys can still meet the current (but outdated) law & regulations. However, experts & health professionals agree that any traces of lead is still unsafe for kids when ingested.
The only “drawback” is these kits only test for lead on product surfaces. But for concerned parents, that’s all you need know.
Two of the lead test kits mentioned on NPR were the Lead Inspector (8 tests for $12.99) & the Lead Check (8 for $18.45).
You can also read & listen to the stories on NPR here:
– Testing Toys for Lead
– Do Home Lead-Testing Kits Work?
Consumer Reports’ result: Lead Test Kits
If you are looking for some practical stocking stuffers for people with infants & toddlers, you certainly may want to consider one of these.
So Kaitlyn is 10 months old now. She has 2 teeth on the bottom. She can stand on her own for up to half a minute, or forever if she has something to hold on to. She can take a couple of steps but then gives up and sits down. She can clap her hands. She laughs when I say “NO! NO!” to her, but when Ether says it to her, she gives him the “puppy eyes” & fake cries. We just can’t believe how fast time flies. She’ll be turning 1 very soon. She’ll probably be running around by then. Yikes!!
The signature smile/laugh when mommy says “no-no!”
Where did her eyes go???
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. 
Just want to wish the hubby a Happy 29th Birthday! One more year and you’ll be over the hill!! puahahaha!! =D We love you!!
My 2 very talented cousins Benjamin & Jonathan Chan just came out with a CD titled Quiet Inspirations. So of course I’m promoting it on our blog! If anyone is interested, check it out at www.ChamberHymns.com.
Check out this video clip of them appearing on KSL Channel 5 in Utah. We’d appreciate it if you could rate it after (preferably 4-5 STARS!!). Thanks!
Kaitlyn has been sleeping in her new crib for a week now. As we mentioned before, the old one that we got from a friend was a “porta-crib,” between the size of a bassinet & a full-size crib. It was quite low so it was getting harder for us to pick her up & put her down in it. Kaitlyn was also beginning to pull herself up, kneeling on her knees, so we needed one with taller side rails.
2 weeks ago, we finally upgraded it when my parents won the fight in paying for the new crib. It was a nice one that can be converted to a day bed & a full-size bed. But it was out of stock, so we placed an order. Last Friday, the store called & said that it arrived. So that night, Melanie’s dad & I went to pick it up (thanks Dad!).
These are of her in the new crib last Friday. She wasn’t able to stand up at the time.
These are from yesterday (Oct. 11):
阿爸，阿媽，多謝晒呀！
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