Happy Mother's Day!

To all the Moms and Moms-to-be....wishing you a day of much love, thankfulness, and pampering from those who love you the most.

To my Mom, thanks for always being there for me. I love watching my daughter's face light up with joy when you're around. Thank you for all your sacrifices and love through the years. I wish I was there to hug you today.

To my sweet, sweet Sophie. You were the greatest gift I have ever been blessed with. I treasure our time together...even on those tough days.

Super Moment with the Super Moon

Yes, I know, the "Super Moon" was last weekend but it's been a little busy....

While awaiting the rising of the moon over our horizon and mountains, S and I were outside gazing at the stars. My Dad had been on my mind and in my heart a lot last week as a close friend lost her Dad to cancer just a few days prior. While S and I were chatting about the stars I told her, "Grandpa is up there in the stars. He's watching you every day. If he were here right now I'm sure he'd be showering you with hugs and kisses."

S continued looking at the sky deep in thought. She then looked me in the eyes then back up at the stars and in her sweet little voice said, "Hi, Gampa!" while waving her sweet little wave. Tears formed in my eyes while I gave her a big squeeze. She has no idea how much her acknowledging her Grandpa meant to me.

Unintended Hiatus

Hello dear readers! Thanks for sticking by through my unintended hiatus.

Mid-July we took a two-week vacation to spend some time with family in Missouri. While we didn't escape the desert heat (it was HOT and HUMID our entire stay) we did get some FANTASTIC quality family time.

Poor bug was SO sweaty!

 

My intent had been to schedule some posts for the time we were away but it just never happened. The Little Miss has been working on her four canine teeth for what seems like MONTHS. The top two finally popped through last week but she was all over the place sleep-wise. Add to that our usual work schedule and some other chaos thrown in and this poor blog was pushed to the back burner. Seems to happen more often than not despite my good intentions!

The Little Miss is really developing her pretend play lately and was such a riot with family. Makes me long to be closer to them as she just adores her Aunts, Uncles, Grandma and Cousins.

 Sophie cracking up at her Cousin.

On the home front I'm on a mission to simplify and PURGE our house of all the STUFF. Stuff is everywhere and we're running out of space. In the three days we had to purchase a home five years ago, we didn't consider the amount of storage we'd had in our NY home vs. what we would have in this home. Needless to say, storage space is very sparse in this house. While it had most everything we needed, storage was not one of them. A fact we begrudge a lot these days. I'm not the biggest pack-rat in the world but piles tend to collect when life gets busy. Those piles then get moved to a room we're not in 90% of the day. What I need is my sister who is so good at utilizing what space is available and purging unnecessary clutter from your life. Now to convince her to take a short leave from her job and family to come help me. What do you think, Internet, can I make it happen!?

In the meantime, if you'll stick with me, I promise not to disappear again for so long. I just have to get caught up with life!

A Lesson in Chinese Heritage

Y is half-Chinese. His mother was born in China and his grandfather served as Ambassador to China in several different countries over the years. Those of you familiar with the Chinese culture know that they have specific name designations for each family member and the name changes depending upon birth order and whether the person is male or female.

When Sophie was born, we spent numerous conversations with Y's mother and the various family members to determine just exactly what everyone should be called.

Here's what we came up with:

First there's Sophie' grandparents (Y's parents) known as Yeye (yay-yuh) and Nana:

Next there is Sophie's Aunt (Y's sister). A quick aside - when Y and his sister were born they were given an English first name and Chinese middle name. Y's sister chose to go by her English name, Leslie, but is called by her middle name, Tchi, when she's around her Chinese family. Y, on the other hand, chose to go by his middle name. Confused yet? Anyway, back to Sophie's Aunt, known as Gou Ma (Goo-ma):
Then there's Sophie's Great Grandmother, whom she has yet to meet, known as Da Nana:

(I was pregnant in this picture with Da Nana. She looks great for 89, huh?)

Lastly, there are Y's aunt and uncle. To us they are known as Ayee (I-ee) and Jojo. To Sophie they will be Da Ayee and Da Jojo. Sophie has yet to meet them as they live in Massachusetts and Florida respectively.

Da Ayee and Great Uncle Ven (don't ask why he has an "American" designation when he's Chinese, too. Our family is weird!):

Da Jojo and Hong (Jojo married late in life and we're not sure how to refer to his wife who is Vietnamese):

We're still trying to determine how we will teach Sophie their real names since most families refer to their relatives as "Aunt Mary" and "Uncle Bob". The child has a chance to learn their real names. In the Chinese culture, the relatives are just known by their designation. I've been a part of this family for 11 years now and there are times I'M still confused!!

Hello, Blog World!

This is me, coming up for air, after what seems like weeks of endless time-sucking activities. I'll fill you in and, hopefully, along the way I'll share some pictures.

First up: Our trip:
We had a good time. There were numerous battles over whose turn it was to hold Sophie. Between Grandma, two sets of Aunts and Uncles, four cousins, numerous "honorary Aunts" and the multitude of friends, Y and I stood no chance of spending any time with our daughter. Little Miss S was spoiled rotten, not only with gifts, but the onslaught of attention. She was held, daily, for her naps, entertained constantly by her cousins who were head over heels for her, and the center of everyone's attention. No one cared that Y and I were there, S was the star of the show. And, really, who can blame them? But then again, I'm biased.

Sophie and her Aunt Amanda and Uncle Dave

The Grandkids all together. L to R: Justin (16), Kiana (11), Sophie, Danielle (16) and Mariah (12).

Sophie with Aunt Angie, Uncle Jonathan and cousins Justin, Mariah, and Kiana

Grandma and Sophie.

A note about my Mom. She was released from the hospital just 3 days prior to our arrival. She had pneumonia and was on the mend - she was definitely worn down!


Grumpy, Sleepy, Dopey and Sneezy:
Turns out, not spending much time with my daughter ended up being a good thing. On the second day in Missouri I ended up sick. Sore throat, ear ache, stuffy nose, sneezy...you name it, I had it. I was worried it was turning into strep or something similar so I did my best to not infect everyone. I thought I was doing a good job of this until the Friday before our flight back. Sophie was getting a snotty nose and by Saturday it was full-blown. We didn't have our super snot sucker nasal aspirator with us so I had to rely on whatever was handy to clean out her nose a bit. This included burp cloths, napkins, my shirt, my fingers, etc. The poor bug looked miserable but remained in decent spirits. A few days later, just in time for Y to head back to work, he got it. Just when I thought I was done, I got the sore throat and ear aches a second time. I swear it was the Land of the Germed around here!

Don't let this picture fool you. This was day 2 of Super Cold. I felt miserable!


See Kai Run!

Prior to leaving for Missouri, I had entered a contest on Babble for a pair of Smaller Shoes from See Kai Run. I was SO excited when I found out I'd won! Just a few days after we'd returned home, the shoes had arrived. Sophie is now the proud owner of the Lisa shoe.

Aren't these the cutest shoes?! And the best part is they were FREE! Many thanks to Babble and See Kai Run for this fabulous prize!

The Rest of the Story:

We also had Sophie's 4-month check-up when we returned. All was well. I'll actually do a seperate 4-month update...now that she's days from being 5 months old! We've also been dealing with sleep and more constipation issues. I'll detail those in the 4-month post. In addition to all of this I've had a huge work deadline (have I mentioned I only work when Little Miss naps? Sleep issues = no work time for Momma), I was summoned for jury duty (was excused, thank goodness) and Y got a flat tire while out running errands last week. Ahhh, gotta love those unexpected expenses!

While you await the 4-month update (you're on the edge of your seats..I can tell!), I'll leave you with some of the activities Sophie enjoyed while we visited family and friends:

There were walks with the cousins:

Storytime. Lots of storytime:

And her favorite activity of the week? The Wii, of course!

More updates to come! Have a great weekend!