Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! We wish you all good health, true happiness, and peace at home!

Here are some New Year photos of us with our photogenic lil’ girl.

In case you are wondering, we never tell her how to pose. I always tell her to “stand properly and look at the camera,” and she will figure out how she wants to look in photos.

It’s definitely not a genetic thing.

She is just very comfortable in front of the camera, probably because I have taken more than 15,000 photos of her in the past 5 years.

FINALLY… after 2 months, the conclusion to the Ling Family Visit in May.

Our trip to the city (Top of the Rock @ Rockefeller Center, NBA Store, & Central Park)

Taking turns to take pictures with the princess (we charge $100 per picture. haha):

Their final day in NY:

We miss you guys! Can’t wait to see you next month!

Okay so we’re REALLY behind when it comes to posts and pictures.. (our bad!).. so Ether’s family came for a visit last month and Kaitlyn had a blast. She really enjoyed the attention and good company. Unfortunately she caught a fever the day that they arrived and it lasted for 4 whole days. So we really didn’t get to go anywhere until after her fever passed. We were able to go to Downtown Philly and the Amish country for a day. Here are some photos from our trip. Just click on the thumbnail photos to see the bigger versions; click on the right-half of the large photos to see the next one.

Which photo do you like the most?

– while in the car:

– Downtown Philly:

– Messing around in the gift shop:

– Amish Country (Pennsylvania):

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.

Here are a few pics taken on Kaitlyn’s 1st birthday (my mom & sister were in town):

So Jen & co came to NY to visit us last week on New Years and stayed for a few days at mom & dad’s. They stayed with us for one night and La was addicted to our Wii. Talon had a blast running around, playing with Kaitlyn’s toys, and pushing Kaitlyn down. Nevertheless Kaitlyn was very amused by him and always wanted to give him kisses. Here are some pictures we took of the cousins in their Santa outfits:

…a hot dog!

She’s born in the year of the Dog, and was hot & sweaty in the costume, so she’s a hot dog! hehehehe

The skunk is the son of one of Mel’s co-workers.

This post is dedicated to those who have given her these outfits & blanket:

For Uncle Keith – our future rockstar:

For Grandma Ling:

For Auntie Ligia:

For Auntie Helen:

THANK YOU for your thoughtfulness and generosity!

On Sunday, Kaitlyn had her first taste of plain congee (Chinese rice soup). My mom made it and she didn’t add any salt, therefore it had no taste. Needless to say, Kaitlyn didn’t like it.

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！