Amazingly, Ether barely coughed for a day or two this past winter/spring. He was able to stay healthy for the most part. I guess, for him, work is just not as stressful as school.

Work-wise, he hasn’t been getting as many hours this year. Things have slowed down even more since a big project (a 2-year long project) that he was involved in is coming to an end in July. It was good in a sense that his work schedule and his awesome boss were flexible enough that he could basically take as much time off as needed. He was even able to work from home on many of the days that Kaitlyn was sick and had to stay home or go see the doctor. With the reduced hours, he’s even able to occasionally do the dishes, cook early dinners, and get grocery. Occasionally.

However, now that things are back to normal, he’s in the lookout for either more freelance work or a more stable full-time job again, here or elsewhere.

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.

Mel got onto the train but Kaitlyn & I couldn’t. Some guy was just hovering by the door after he got on, so I was trying to get around him. Since he had his headphones on, he wasn’t aware that there were people behind him trying to get on. Now thinking back, I should had just rammed him with the stroller! I’ll admit that I’m a “door-hoverer,” too, because I don’t love holding onto the poles. But at least I’m a responsible “hoverer!” When the train doors open, I always move out of the way & make sure that people can get on & off easily. And I’m always willing to move in to the middle when needed. But this guy just stood there, blocking half of the doorway with his 50-inch waist, 250-lb body!

Anyway, by the time—which was just 5 seconds later—Melanie realized that we were still on the platform, she turned around, and tried to get off, the train doors closed & I had to pull the stroller back.

We eventually got there. Kaitlyn was pretty happy as she walked into the classroom and excited to see other kids. She would walked up to them and looked at what they were doing. There’s this one boy (I think his name was Toby) who came in a few minutes after her. As soon as his mom said goodbye, he just started crying & screaming. At that moment, I was like “oh, no,” because I can just see Kaitlyn doing the same thing. Some time during our vacation, Kaitlyn became very clingy & attached to us at times. She would freak out when we leave her sight or when she sees “strangers” (my family, whom she has met many times).

Fortunately, she only acted shy and asked me to pick her up once (but I didn’t). When it was time for me to say bye to her, she was OK and would let one of the teachers hold her instead. I stayed for a few minutes outside the classroom looking at her through the one-way glass on the door. Although she kept looking at the door, she was calm & didn’t cry or anything—at least for those few minutes.

Hopefully she’s OK and is having a good time right now. I guess we’ll find out later today.

We’ll keep you posted.

By the way, I’ll try to start posting up photos from our vacation by Sunday, but not until I unpack first.

I once had a discussion with my dad about starting a graphic design shop here in New York someday, designing for the Chinese market.

I now realize that if I want to stick with the Chinese market, it will probably have to be another city — just not New York.

Let’s be honest. Most local Chinese-language printed materials (sales fliers, newspaper ads, business cards, product packaging, restaurant menus, etc.) here in New York are beyond ugly. They are unappetizing and hard to read. And let’s leave those horribly scripted and absolutely corny TV & radio ads for another day.

Having spent half of my life in Hong Kong, I know for a fact that Chinese know what good design is. From the look of things, I thought there may be a niche here, an opportunity wide open.

But then I realized that there isn’t a shortage of good Chinese designers here in New York. So why do businesses continue to waste their money on the nasty stuff?

The answer is that the Chinese community here has been “spoiled” by illegal immigrants. If restaurants have to start paying minimum wage to the cooks and the deliverymen, and that the workers can choose to work less hours or even elsewhere, there’s no way you can get any thing for under $5.

Here, illegal Chinese workers literally go begging for a “6 days a week, 12 hours a day, $5/hour”, non-stop, labor-intensive job.

Having gotten use to this kind of labor deal, Chinese business owners in New York naturally want everything the same way: fast and cheap. They make money anyway because of the low labor cost, so when it comes to things related to company’s image, advertising and promotion, they just don’t see the investment value in it.

Since there’s no demand for good design, local print shops hire people who know the software and have them “design” in-house by simply cramming every bit of information in a 5″ x 3″ ad space, slapping a photo on it, and then put it all on a yellow background to make it look “designed.”

In contrast, some overseas Chinese communities were started by educated, financially-established immigrants looking to maintain, grow, or invest. Thus, the “fast & cheap” culture was never really established. They understood the value of good design, good image. They value good investment.

So, until the culture here changes, I doubt the possibility of me seriously contributing, design-wise, to the Chinese community here in New York.

There’s always someday.

Happy New Year everyone! I can’t believe how fast time has gone. Feels like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant and I had to tell my parents & friends. Now I’ve got 6 weeks left in the pregnancy. It’s so soon that I’m almost freaking out. We have lots to do. Buy a crib, stroller, car seat, diapers and pack my hospital bag.. Who knows when she’s going to come. She might be early, she might be late. I just hope she’s healthy and that she doesn’t get caught in the umbilical cord. That’s what scares me the most. But I know God will bless us. I’m going to get a growth scan this Friday. I think it’s a special sonogram to determine whether she’s growing or not. I was told to do this because I was freaking out that my belly is still so small and I just need some reassurance that she is fine.

Well here are my New Year’s Resolutions:

1) Be a good mommy and wife.
2) Lose the extra weight and fat from the pregnancy. I hope I’ll be able to fit into my old clothes again!

Anyway, the past week was great. It was so relaxing not having to wake up early and go to work, although I still woke up early. I guess I just can’t sleep over 8 hours a day for some reason. I’m going to have to go back to work tomorrow. *sigh* I hope I won’t have too much trouble waking up. Well at least I’ve got 3 more weeks of it. After that, I’m just going to sleep and sleep and sleep (And watch soap operas in between.. hahaha) until the baby comes cuz I know I’m not going to get much after she comes. Last week I got to see my sister, her husband, and Talon, my 4 month old nephew. He is such a cutie pie. I love him to death. He is such a happy baby, except for when he’s hungry or tired. But what baby isn’t? =)

I’ve decided to post up some of the things that mainly Chinese people have told me to do or not to do during and after pregnancy:

During pregnancy:

– Don’t eat: Watermelon, bananas, seaweed, some Chinese leafy veggies, seafood
– Don’t eat/drink anything cold
– Don’t sit on the floor
– Don’t bend down
– Don’t take any medication
– Don’t stand near the microwave
– Drink “pork bone” soup

After birth:

– Don’t take a shower for 1 month
– Don’t eat beef
– Eat ginger chicken w/ rice or “ginger vinegar” for 1 month

There’s probably more stuff, but I can’t remember right now. Who knows if any of this stuff is even true. My doctor never gave me these types of warnings, and she’s Chinese! (Well, more like an ABC.) I wonder if my baby girl will come out like a mutant cause I’ve done lots of those things they told me not to do. *knock on wood*

Anyway, to update, I’m just starting to get over this cold & cough that I’ve had for the last week, which is also like the 3rd or 4th time during pregnancy. It’s hard not to get sick when you work around a bunch of kids who are sick. Sometimes I’d worry that I’d cough my baby out or that she’d be a mutant cause I coughed so much and took medication. Ether said he felt sorry for the baby cause she probably couldn’t sleep since I coughed so much. Thank goodness it’s starting to pass. I’ve got one week of school left and I’m done. *whew* I had a presentation tonight, so I took the day off from work to work on it. I think I did okay. Oh well if I didn’t. I’m just glad it’s over! Now I have to work on my final paper, but I’m not going to worry about it until the weekend comes.. hahaha.