Day After Christmas

Well Christmas came and went this year, although this year we didn't experience much day-after letdown since Christmas was (sort of) a bust! haha! It may sound like a complaint, but it's more a matter of fact, and we are still laughing a bit over our Christmas. Here's why:

1) I totally insisted on a Douglas Fir because, even though they aren't as pretty as Nobles, I had heard they are the most fragrant. Dae griped a bit but I did get my Douglas Fir. Well, it held up and emitted a hint of a pleasant scent for about a week, until we realized it was no longer taking up water and was starting to smell a little bit like rotten fish. Major mistake. We now can't wait to get rid of the thing. Next year, we are going with the Noble!

2) Dae got me an iPad for Christmas. I appreciate the thrills of an iPad, but I just could not justify another electronic gadget when I am more than content with my iPhone and my laptop. Plus I know that iPad would be junk the minute Leelee got his paws on it. So I am returning it. :( Major debbie downer, I know! Anyway, in keeping with the theme, Dae told me he's going to 'start being frugal too', therefore we are returning one of his two gifts (he's keeping the Columbia ski outfit but is foregoing the Panasonic wet/dry shaver). So when all is said and done, I am going to make out with a couple of books, a DVD and the Josh Groban CD and could not be happier!

Leelee got an art easel and a 'cell phone' for Christmas. We're trying to take it easy on the gifts while he's still not insisting on them!

Grateful

Things I am grateful for that I didn't really realize I am grateful for:

1) Christian is not afraid of dogs. I was terrified! I think this terror caused my mom many a grey hair.

2) His hair is curly and wavy, which means there is a lot of forgiveness when we do home cuts.

3) His voice is very loud, which means we have never needed a baby monitor.

4) He is very cautious. We don't have to keep an eagle eye on him, as he does not "get into everything" as we always hear other parents saying. (Certainly he gets into his fair share of things)

5) Naps: Christian is taking one right now. I think I'm going to pop in a little 'when harry met sally'!

And other things I am grateful for:

1) Christmas, my absolute favorite!

2) Christian, also my absolute favorite!

3) Dae, pretty high up there and possibly an absolute favorite! (haha - just kidding Dae!)

I am also thankful for little 7 pound babies (we met Dawn's baby Andrew today) and cannot believe Christian was once a few ounces smaller than that. Andrew is a beautiful and dreamy little guy. Sigh!

6 days 'til Christmas

Stuffed himself full of blueberry muffin, then fell asleep on the way up to Seattle

Leelee just woke up from a 3 hour nap. Far and away the longest nap he has ever taken! I would be absolutely thrilled except for the fact that a) I can never nap when he's napping because I am afraid he will wake up at any moment and b) I was worried from hour 2 on that something bad had happened to him in his crib.

Anyway, it has been an eventful and festive week, so I think the sleep was much needed.

We just got back from Seattle this morning. My mom had her 2nd Annual Weekend-before-Christmas Christmas celebration and went all out, as usual! Tons of food, presents for the kids, lunch at Din Tai Fung in Bellevue (see Beijing posts from June), and an all around great time. Leelee also got to see Lisa's son Zach for a quick visit, which is always nice!

Many takes later, this was the best it was gonna get.

And one more note: Congrats to Dawn and baby Andrew!!!

iPhone photos

A collection of 4 recent photos.

He insisted on a 6:00am waffle (and polished the whole thing off...a rarity)

Holding onto Christmas ribbon at the new Camas Costco

Asleep, and blind, in the Bob

Lunch with cousins at the downtown Portland Food Carts

We Promised Phil (+ Our Christmas Tree)

We promised Phil Keoghan (host of Amazing Race!) we would not post this photo of us three in South Korea until the episode aired on TV. Well, it aired tonight, so here it is!

Me, Phil, Dae, Leelee at Namdaemun Market in Seoul (June 2010)

Here the Amazing Race workers are preparing for the challenge (none of the teams chose this one, unfortunately - good thing we didn't stay around and wait!)

So here are my observations after our encounter with the Amazing Race folk:

1) They were super nice. They allowed us to take a photo with Phil even though this was 6 months before the episode was going to air, and we potentially would have known which teams made it to the final episode. They asked us not to post the photo until the episode aired and to not tell anyone where they were.

2) Phil was better looking in real life than on TV. hehe

So back to our real life weekend. This is the first weekend in what has to be months that Dae was not on call or one of us was out of town. We did all things Christmas this weekend. We went to the Christmas tree farm and cut down our tree. We stood in line at Washington Square mall for 1 1/2 hours in order to get a picture of Christian with Santa, and decided that neither of us is really into an annual picture with Santa, therefore 2010 may be the last year of picture with Santa. Actually, the only reason I had a real interest in getting one is because I had purchased a Groupon and wanted to get my money's worth (and that's how they get you!)

Leelee trying to squat to copy me. See our Husky gear!

Heehee

Tricked!

I was absolutely delighted to look over at Leelee's tray tonight and see an empty tray. I thought "Could it be? Did he finish his entire dinner (brussel sprouts, lasagna, and apples)?"

The answer...Nope! If it looks too good to be true it is likely worse than I imagined. I came around the kitchen counter, looked down and sure enough found this mess of veggies and stuffed monkey. Deceived!

Thanksgiving 2010

My mom, Rong, my uncle Chi and Sandra from California came down for Thanksgiving. It was a really nice time. We got together for dinner on Wednesday, ran the Turkey Trot on Thursday morning and had Thanksgiving dinner at Ev and Jeff's house. On Friday we decided against the craziness of WalMart and Target and instead got in on some great couponing deals at Walgreen's and Macy's (If I do say so myself, my mom and Ev were pretty impressed at my couponing abilities! haha!)

Meanwhile, Christian has been waking up a couple of times every night and wailing nonstop. Argh. During the day, however, he is a fun little guy to hang around. He is really into picking up new words, mostly in Chinese (I don't think he speaks much English, and I often have to translate what he is saying to Dae). He still can't enunciate the "k" sound at all. I love to say the word "Coke" to hear him say "Dote" back to me!

Also, he loves stuffed animals. Loves hugging them, sleeping on them, sleeping under them, and rubbing his nose on their face so that their faces get brown and dirty (Ching-Wa took an overdue trip to the washing machine a couple weeks ago).

So anyway, Christian's napping and once he wakes up I am going to attempt a trip to H&M...wish me luck. Below, pictures of Thanksgiving festivities...

Dumplings, pizza and a whole lot of wine on Wednesday

On the MAX to the Turkey Trot. Leelee's big head squeezed into last year's hat.

Helping roll and shape the sweet potato biscuits

Happy on his helper's stool

Hidden bunny ears

Planning our Black Friday

Tryptophan and too many ribs: the Aftermath

The hosts

Kona in November

Kona in November is glorious! Megan and I met in Seattle and readied ourselves for 5 days of the beach, reading, mai tai's and snorkeling.

I would venture to say Megan is more organized than I am. Usually I am the trip-planner in our family so it was actually pretty nice to take a backseat! She had a game plan and we arrived at the Kona airport, got our rental car, went to Costco and split up and went to Safeway and split up, each with our own lists. We were in and out of Costco in 15 minutes, less at Safeway. All in all I think we spent $100 per person for the entire trip on our food and beverage! OK, so that's not counting the one dinner we had out and several ice cream excursions, but we were very proud of ourselves!

And finally...we spotted turtles! Two trips to Maui last year resulted in no turtle spottings, so I was definitely overdue. Megan is a seasoned snorkeler and could seriously sniff out a turtle a mile away, so I just followed along.

Happy Hour at Huggo's on the Beach

Our daily breakfast on our balcony

Salt Water pool outside our hotel that all the locals frequented

Scandinavian Shave Ice

Hiking along the lava to the remote Makalawena Beach (it took forever)

My perch at Kua Bay

At our hotel (Mai Tai's in hand, naturally)

Caught offguard by the wave

These yellow fish are bright and everywhere

Megan on the prowl for turtles

Fatigue

This is what happens when Christian cries for a majority of the days, refuses naps, and wakes up in the middle of the night for hours, inconsolable (our life the past few days).

Yes, that is a toothbrush lying amidst his dinner - he insisted. And yes, he's wearing Christmas pj's already. And yes, we have our Let It Snow Christmas decoration up already. I guess you could say I'm looking forward to Christmas. :)

Today we returned in a zombie-like state from visiting Dae in Lincoln City over the weekend. Sleep was nowhere to be found. Anyway, we got home, Leelee was crying and whining over who knows what, and then he started to hit my computer keyboard with his bottle. So I closed the computer, looked at him and said "it is not ok to hit the computer". I thought he would cry, but instead he looked down and sat completely still, barely blinking, for a good 30-40 seconds. Normally he would at least look up at me or have some kind of reaction. I felt so bad!

So, the poor guy is completely passed out. He spent the afternoon at Mal and Didi's house as I ran errands (and had the most glorious 2 hour nap of my adult life)!

Back to work tomorrow, but heading to Kona in 3 days!!!

Antics

Here is an assortment of photos from this week. He took a spill down Ev's stairs and got a bruiser on his upper lip. Dae and I have been calling him Charlie Chaplin. haha

Walked in to find Leelee embracing Ho-zi (monkey) in his sleep.

Wearing my headband, his favorite accessory.

Trying on my shoes. I guess he's on a feminine kick!

Asleep at Ev's beach house in Gearhart. We loved it there! Leelee took his first nap in a big person's bed. Although I had to lie down next to him for a bit in order for him to fall asleep, he did manage to get a good nap in.

Halloween 2010

Today, Halloween, began well enough with the drive back from Seattle. Things started to deteriorate at our mom's Halloween potluck when Leelee quickly became hot, sweaty, and cranky due to lack of a good nap.

hehe

We did manage to keep Leelee up until 6:15pm when we headed out to make the rounds in our condo. Trick-or-treating, condo-style, is seriously nice. Warm, quick, and dry!

A new friend dressed as Luigi in the hallway

Leelee and Marci-Rose from the 6th floor

Yup - riding the elevator to trick-or-treat!

Yesterday we drove up to Seattle to watch the Huskies vs. Stanford. Although the game left much to be desired, it is always great to go back to Husky stadium and my mom watched Leelee so Dae and I could spend a few extra hours meandering the U-district.

My mom and Mr. Wong tried to introduce Leelee to cotton candy, much to his dismay.