Christian's Favorites

This is Christian's favorite napping position (bottom up). He almost always naps in this position, but almost never sleeps like this at nighttime. Maybe he's just readying himself to spring into action during the day!



This is Christian's favorite lookout. It's the bay window in our condo hall, where he 1) looks at cars, 2) pounds on the window and 3) contemplates life.

Information

This will be an information post. No pictures, just pertinent (or not so pertinent!) information:

1) Christian ate his first bites of salmon and strawberries (not together) this week. He didn't refuse either one, was very excited about the strawberries, and was ambivalent about the salmon.

2) Christian loves brown rice and loves bananas. He now detests baby food in a jar, which is good and bad. Good because the fresh stuff is always better, bad because when we're in a jam we can't easily whip out a jar of baby food.

3) He now knows how to wave his hands, but he does it kind of backwards. It's almost like he's saying "What's Up?" - haha!

4) The nanny has taught him the new trick of Gong Xi, Gong Xi which he does with his hands. Today, he pulled out all 4 tricks at one time (clapping his hands, Gong Xi, Da Wa Wa and hitting his head).

5) The last week or two he was very crabby. Pulling small temper tantrums and waking up at all hours during the night. Last night he must have sensed that Dae was out of town (in San Diego, taking his Oral Boards exam) so he was very cooperative and only woke me up for a feeding at 4am. A good night indeed!

6) He is very behind on feeding himself. I have been trying to teach him how to feed himself Cheerios but he just doesn't get it. I guess food is not a huge priority in his life (unlike his mother and father).

7) Dae and I just booked a trip to Chicago without baby! Dae has another conference in Chicago in March so we decided to make it into a fun trip, since neither one of us has been there. We are very excited and my mom is going to come down and watch the little guy. Yay!

Swinging in Grant Park

Dae is at the library today studying for his Oral Boards so I took Christian to Grant Park to try out the swings for the first time. He loved them. He was laughing so much, I couldn't stop laughing! I sent the iPhone photos to Dae, who said "He's all head!", which of course we know already.

Thursday the moms met for another potluck. These photos are pretty much exact replicas every month, but just to chronicle the progression of the kids I like to include them. There's a new addition to the bunch, Adelaide. Also, you can see Ronan (second from left on the couch) and his hilarious, quiet crying.

A hint of leelee's crinkly face

I pulled out Christian's Roy jersey today since he was already wearing Blazer-red sweatpants. Coincidentally, last night Dae and I went to the Blazer's game since it was Husky Alum night, including a Q&A with Brandon Roy after the game. He was so nice and humble! He brought out his son and daughter who were really cute. We didn't get to shake his hand or anything, but in going with my February theme of "how many star sightings can I have and talk about", I thought I'd include it! Here's Leelee with his jersey on, practicing standing at the couch. He doesn't dare move an inch when I place him there, but he loves to practice drumming on the couch and laughing. After that, a very blurry photo of Brandon Roy from last night, holding his daughter. P.s. the game was terrible...Blazers lost by at least 20 points from what I remember.

Xiongmao

I learned this Chinese nursery rhyme from Mal a few months ago. It's called "Da Xiongmao" and it means "Big Panda Bear". Well, I guess that I say it enough to Christian that Dae has actually caught on and knows most of the words, although he speaks absolutely no Chinese. So, the first video we say it together, and Dae sounds like an old pro. The second video I made Dae go solo, and it is hilarious (This will probably only be funny to those who actually speak Chinese).

Adventures in Maui

We just returned from our second Maui trip in about 5 months, courtesy of the lovely Vascular Surgery department at OHSU! We were pretty ecstatic about staying at the Ritz Carlton, where they call you by name the first time you pull up (how in the world do they do that?)!

We always have a bed photo with Leelee manning the remote

The trip was very, very nice. The weather cooperated and hovered around 80 degrees even while the health of the family fell apart. Leelee was plagued with diarrhea and vomiting the first two days we were there. We think it has something to do with a diet that consisted entirely of yogurt his first day (he wouldn't take anything else for some unknown reason). It was so bad that after our second night, he woke up and had soaked his pajamas as well as his sleepsack with diarrhea. Poor guy!!! And yet he still managed to smile and do his new "crinkly face", which is something dad coined when Leelee makes a mixture between a smile and a cry. Meanwhile, I contracted some sort of ear infection the last day there and had to make a pit stop at the Lahaina Kaiser Permanente. Funnily enough, they mentioned it might be a bit of a wait, so we asked if it might, just might, be possible to just sneak back and have Dae use the otoscope. Well, the girl was very accommodating so we snuck back, Dae took a look at my ear, diagnosed me with otitis externa and we walked over to the pharmacy where Dae "phoned in" (voiced in) an Rx for some drops. (I knew that having him around in Hawaii would have some perks! haha)

Dae and Leelee...very excited to be at Kaiser

Christian seemed to enjoy his second trip to Hawaii and showed his excitement by promptly falling asleep at all times and locations, i.e. anytime while in the Beco carrier with dad. Here he is in all his drowsy glory...

This was his face right after he woke up. He had had a run-in with the straps.

We had been told that the Gazebo restaurant in Napili was gorgeous and worth the wait for breakfast. It was, so we waited in line...twice! An hour+ the first day, and only about 30 minutes the second. The pineapple, banana and macadamia pancakes were my fave, the corned-beef hash was Dae's fave. We both enjoyed the coconut syrup, even Dae, who doesn't like coconut! (who doesn't like coconut?)

Leelee checked out the menu and gave us a thumbs-up

A close inspection of the Gazebo jam passes the test

Dae had signed us up for two physical activities through the conference: A Fun Run and a Golf Tournament. He was very excited about the latter and totally and completely dreading the former. In fact, Dae thought he was signing us up for a "Fun Walk" and told me he felt very deceived upon arriving at said walk and realizing it was a full 5K run through some rough terrain and with some very competitive surgeons (including a 70 year old wearing a head lamp that passed us both and helped me carry my stroller up some stairs). Anyway, Dae barreled through, as his competitive nature would not allow him to walk. He about died, but made it across the finish line just a few minutes behind me and Leelee. Here we are in our post-run bliss.

Dae fared a little better at the golf tournament, even winning a prize for Longest Putt! (funny side note: they gave out the golf prizes at the President's Dinner that evening. Dae had Beco'd Leelee in the carrier so that he would sleep through dinner, so when they announced that Dae was the winner he had to walk up to the podium at this fancy dinner with a little rascal attached to him! It was so funny)

At the President's Dinner with Erica Mitchell, one of Dae's mentors

Hawaii really is the rainbow state. We saw so many beautiful rainbows there and never quite captured a great picture of one, just a whole bunch of subpar ones (surprise, surprise). Here they are...

There is a store right next to the Ritz called the Honolua Store. Given the proximity to the Ritz, you can imagine our surprise that this was one of the cheapest breakfast and lunch places around! We loved dining on the deck, and the last day we were there this nice man insisted on taking our family's photos. He was very serious about it, waiting until a family passed that was behind us, asking me where the zoom was, asking how to turn off the flash, waiting until Leelee was turned his way. We had to suppress our laughter when all the pictures turned out blue! He really was the nicest guy, though.

Christian subsisted on bananas and rice after the yogurt fiasco

We took Christian swimming for the first time in quite a few months and were none too surprised when he put up a fight! I just love his swim shirt. For some reason I think it is the cutest and funniest shirt.

He looks like he's putting on his game face (or water face)

And finally, some miscellaneous photos and miscellaneous musings:

1) We love POG
2) Our rental car was a Lincoln Continental (read: old person's car) and we kept wondering why old people would drive a car that is so huge and difficult to maneuver or park? Seems counter-intuitive.
3) Laundry at the Ritz costs $8-12 per item!!! Talk about highway robbery! We scampered down to the Kahana laundromat and did an entire load for $5 after Leelee's bout with intestinal issues.

Billy Joel and Elton John

So this post has nothing whatsoever to do with Leelee but was just too juicy to not post. Dae had bought tickets to Billy Joel and Elton John in concert for me and Ev last year (thanks Dae!). Well, tonight was the night and Ev and I drove down to the Rose Quarter. We were pretty excited and knew we had great seats (16th row) but had no idea what was in store. We arrived at the Rose Quarter, got our tickets scanned at the entrance and were walking to find our tunnel when we were tapped from behind by what appeared to be a random guy. He told us he was affiliated with Billy Joel, showed us his badge, and gave us two complimentary tickets on the floor. He said something about us being pretty (and 'exotic') - embarrassing but true - and said they would like to have us on the floor. He assured us he was legitimate. We were skeptical at best, but we were headed to the floor anyway so we held on to his ticket and our own. When we got to the floor level we asked the usher if the tickets were legitimate and in fact they were. We were ushered to the second row, probably about 10 feet from the stage, and dead center! Imagine our shock! We seriously could not stop smiling/laughing the entire time. The usher told us that once Elton John sang "Rocket Man" we were allowed to stand at the stage but not before then. Sure enough, when "Rocket Man" came on the front two rows were allowed to go to the stage and no other rows. We touched Elton John's hand! And Ev got Billy Joel's guitar pick that he had flicked out to us! We spent about 3 hours literally 5-10 feet from Billy Joel and Elton John and they were AMAZING. Talk about talented musicians. I don't think I will come down from this cloud for a long, long time!!!

FYI these are all iPhone photos (no zoom, no flash). Therefore, no clear faces since the strobe lights were so bright.

Our complimentary tickets


Billy Joel with his guitar

Billy Joel at the Piano (he played a piano by a Long Island Company)


Elton John at the Piano (he played a Yamaha)