Connie and Oliver's new life

2007-04-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
We treated ourselves to an unbelievable evening at the cirque du soleil. No, we did not go to las vegas, we had them right here in houston. It was a very casual encounter that led to our discovery of their coming to town, but surely people who believe in fate would say,"Everything happens for a reason". As soon as we heard about it, we could not let it pass, especially not after we found out the tickets were as cheap as $40! This message is for you, my friends, who haven't found it out yet. Go buy a ticket for the show, it is so worth it. And I am obligated to point it out that this blog is not sponsored in any way, or affliated with cirque du soleil.

Even though I had never been to a live circus before, I have seen a lot on TVs. Some typical acts are walking on ropes, throwing people in air, balancing on objects (ladders for example). With all that in mind, I was still impressed by their performance. Apparently, cirque du soleil is well known for their artistic integration of music, light, dance, and acrobat, which was very much appreciated that evening. The show we went to see was "Corteo", about a festive funeral imaged by a clown of his own, watched by angels. I don't think it is necessary for me to describe to you how each act went, and why they were great, because words from me can't do the justice (I am not a writer!!). What I want to discuss here is the reason why I think their show was successful.

First, they really made it look very easy and graceful. (a) They look like they are dancing the whole time, smooth and musical; (b) They have group acts, which require a lot of coordination among them, and when successful, just blurring your eyes. Second, the constumes rocks. Everyone knows how much I like those fancy dresses in that historical time. And this setting put me right in the dreamland. Third, those angels in the air, who are supposed to be watching the funeral proceeding, came so handy as Fedex services. Whenever someone needed something high up in the air, an angle showed up with the right stuff. And it didn't look out of place either, because they are angles, and they are supposed to help.

And their gift shop! Cool stuff all the way..... If only I had the money!

2007-04-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

Baby Drool Contest
With the huge number of contests out there, you would think they have come up with everything. Apparently Japanese people have contest of how much tear you can shed within a certain amount of time. Here is a bestseller: Cute and easy: baby drool contest.

2007-03-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

Three legged doggie

In a recent event, Onion Ring has damaged one of his hind legs. Specifically speaking, but maybe not medically precise, he has dislocated one of his shoulder sockets. It happened after an exciting shower time, when the doggie got so excited, and landed wrongly on the hard floor. In retrospect, I was also partially responsible since my belly muscle might have contributed to the speed with which he was bounced back to the ground after he jumped to give me a push. Remember a saying like "some small event can determine the outcome of the whole war", this incident has also changed his life for ever.

The doctor's verdict was that Onion Ring was to have his leg back into the socket, but unless he stopped the reckless way of his in jumping around, the same event was bound to happen again. Several scenarios could happen: 1. By miracle, the dog understood what the doctor said, and changed his way of behaving, and became a placid dog; 2. The dog breaks his leg again, and needs a surgery to replace the sack; 3. The dog stops using his wounded leg altogether. None of the above, NONE, would enable him to be the same again. Our poor doggie, is therefore, going to lose his trademark: jumping around like crazy. We were so sure the second scenario was to occur, but on the contrary, even though his bondage was taken off, Onion Ring still walked around with three legs. Therefore, the correct answer is No. 3!!

How can he function like this? Wouldn't he prefer to use all four legs when they are all accessible? Intrigued by his choice, I looked it up with two key words: three-legged dogs. And I discovered a whole community of dogs who only have three legs. Some of them lose one of the front legs, and some of them lose one of the hind legs. I drew a conclusion from these observations: four legs are not necessary for a dog's survival at least in a domestic environment, however, losing one of them jeopardizes their complete functionality: we have to carry Onion Ring to get in our bed now:(

Even though Onion Ring walked around in a funny way these days, I am sure he does not think there is anything funny about his whole situation. His spirits, which we used to cherish and complain about the same time, are compromised. Hopefully, one day, he will recover completely, to be a happy doggie once more, who thinks he can take on the world...... without the jumping and barking part, of course!

2007-03-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Spring time for the backyard

I am sorry this is not necessarily true for some of you, my friends and family, but in houston, we are deep in spring time, which means no snow, no sweater, suns all the time, flowers blooming everywhere, and everyone gets their lazy asses up and drives down to a home store: it is time to do gardening!! I certainly did my share, and I know that because my body muscle hurt for a week afterwards.... Here is a picture as proof, see those nice flowers on the corners next to our beautiful deck (Thanks, Papa for giving us a beautiful deck, we enjoy it all the time). But I still have half of the work to go, because inexperienced as I was, we miscalculated the numbers of bricks we needed for the border:) I am sure that happens to everyone, right?

So we put the flowers we haven't yet put in the soil on the top of two benches around the corner. In this beautiful artistic picture taken by my mom, you can see the angle the artist chose to express her view of the backyard, with the baby in the center of the attention, as always. In this picture, lucas happened to stroll down in a walker near the flowers, and he grabbed one with his tiny hand, in the most unexpected way. I guess it will take some time for him to realize flowers are for watching, not eating. Until then, I hold a firm belief that Lucas is to grow up as a lady's man, picking flowers for his girl friends.

2007-03-09T20:35:00.000-08:00

Finally, the day we have been looking forward to is within reach: Lucas is turning 6 months old!

Now here comes the one-million-dollar-question: who does he look like? Does he look like his daddy?

Or his grandma?

You can obviously see where his beautiful genes come from...

According to some people, if you get rid of the age factor, these two could be twins!

There is definitely some chemistry between these two!

We are cousins!

Hi, grandpa, grandma, auntie Nena, Chara, Uncle Sam, Bernhard, Frida, how come I don't have a picture with you? Don't you want your pictures taken with me? Look how cute I am.

2007-01-27T16:32:00.000-08:00

What we are up to lately

The new year of 2007 has started without any warning, and it is the end of January before we know it. How did time fly away? What have we done in this first 1/12 time of the year? I guess the answers reside in our chinese phrases, "happy time passes fast" and "they are all chicken hair and garlic peel kind of stuff".
Remember how I mentioned we felt our time stopped at the time when the baby was born, fortunately, we have got used to the roles of being new parents now. We got used to the late night shifts, we got used to staying in all the time, we got used to leaving a party or a place early every time, and we got used to the boredom, because we have made progress.....
The baby still stays high, 90-95% in weight, 75-90% in height, 50% in head size at 4 month check-up. He is transitioning into the crib to sleep now with a lot of breaks on Mommy and Daddy during the nights. He clings to us when we carry him as if that would make a difference in case he fell. And he communicates more than ever.
After we made a toast on New Year Eve, we continued our small but significant life style: we made many trips to grocery stores, many many times; we went shopping for the after-christmas sale; we went to memorial park arboretum, and walked in mud for a while.
What did you do?

2007-01-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

For your delight

2007-01-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

Picture perfect

You know the pose you always choose when someone shoots a camera at you and say "Che-ese". Some people smile showing the whole profile of their teeth, some give a slight curving of their mouths, some raise their chins to hide that little extra fat, some also raise up their chins, but to look down on you to be cool, and yet, there are the others, who stare into some hollow distance, as if the camera does not exist. I found Lucas' pose look, which is a mixture of confusion, and inquisition. I took some shots of Lucas' and I swear most of them turn out like the above pictures. Can you tell the difference between them?

2006-12-31T20:57:00.000-08:00

Lucas is 100 days old
Up to Dec. 30th, Lucas is 100 days old. For those who are not of Chinese origin, I feel that I ought to explain this tradition. I have a theory why Chinese consider a baby's 100th day being a worthy date to remember, however, I do not recall where I formed this idea or where I got it from. It is very possible I simply just made it up, which wouldn't be a surprise for those who know me because I don't really have the reputation of double-checking my resources. But it does not make any difference in this case, because you are in my world, and I have warned you from the very very beginning.

Here it goes: Just like the superstition that you shall not announce a baby's name until he/she is born in case something shall happen, it is maybe even a safer idea to wait until the baby is 3 months old before you celebrate his/her birth. On the 100th day after the baby's birth, all relatives and friends gather to congratulate the parents.

What did we do for Lucas' 100th day then? Not much. Since we already celebrated his ever existence (baby party), and a safe birth, a 100-day celebration seems (well?) redundant. We couldn't pass the tradition of documenting the baby's portrait because my parents feel pretty strong about it (in fact, the 100th day picture was the earliest documentation of my life). We went to a studio for some professional works. They are expensive!!!! More expensive than wedding pictures!!! We spent a good solid 100 bucks on five picture sheets. And I don't even have a digital version of the pictures. Therefore, I can only post the pictures we took ourselves on Lucas' 100th day. If you like my works, and would like to hire me to take your baby's pictures, I only charge 50% of the commercial prices, and you get the digital version for only $9.99.

2006-12-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

Bring home the christmas tree

There is no doubt the year of 2006 is special for us in many ways. Therefore, letting this important year go in our normal lame way is not acceptable, even in the smallest trivial detail: how we get our christmas tree? In the previous years, we have dealt with the tree issue by enjoying other people's trees (most of time), or picking up a left-over tree from my department, or buying a tree from a local dealer. This year, we decided to go to a tree farm and cut our own christmas tree:)

The tree farm is far far away. The reason why I put two fars in the sentence is because the road trip seemed super long when we had the baby in the car seat. Eventually we arrived at this cute farm place, with a cabin (which has a baby diaper change station upstairs), a fire (where you can cook the free hot dogs), and woods (where they have labeled all the extinct snakes or underground spring). The prices of the trees are very reasonable in their own way: trees labeled with 8 different colors have 8 different prices, regardless the sizes. A message to my viewers, if you have a high ceiling house, or you just want to put a gigantic christmas tree in your backyard, this is the place to go. You can get a 20 feet tree for $39.95. Great deal!

The rest was easy. It took us 2 min to decide on the tree; 30 sec to cut it down; 5 min to get it ready to go; 20 hours to bring it home; 1 hour to dress up. Tada! We've got a beautiful christmas tree.

2006-11-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

A day out in the moody garden

We finally took the baby out for a road trip, not to a restaurant, not to a store, but to galveston. Since my parents are here to help with the baby, we couldn't really sit around in the house on a four-day weekend, so we set off for the moody garden. Interesting choice, you would say. But Connie does not make random decisions. Ideas grow in her mind, get calculated, with advantages and disadvantages measured, and then she sells the idea to Oliver, who for a good portion of time, supports her unconditionally. The reasons why this idea worked were as follows: 1. It was a beautiful weekend; 2. The moody garden is a family destination suited for all ages; 3. The majority of the activity took place indoors with some outdoor touch (like the rainforests), so my young baby could handle it; 4. My parents had never been to an aquarium, which was a shame everyone could agree on; 5. If needed, some of us could go to some activity while my baby takes a little nap. (Lucas is a party-pooper when he lacks sleep. This fact has been proven twice).

The day turned out to be a success, a little expensive, though. We had bought the day pass for everyone, but realistically we went to the rainforests, the paddleboat, and the aquarium. My parents enjoyed the trip very much. Lucas made some noise in front of the huge tanks where seals swim around. He was either laughing, or crying. I am just happy he had some response to it. My mental note: Buy a one-year family membership which holds up to 5 individuals, and bring as many under-3-year-old as possible (they are free).

2006-11-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Official results

"Weight 90%; Height 75%; Head size 50%" is the official report of Lucas's stats at his 2-month check-up. In short words, he is a fat baby with a small head. Starting from 6 lbs 14 ounces at birth, he has doubled his weight to 13 lbs 14 ounces, not mentioning the fact that he has grown out of his 0-3 months clothes more than two weeks priorly.

We are shocked, even though we did see it coming considering he has been having his growth spurt for most of his lifetime except for 3 to 4 days at some point. He eats so much as if there was no tomorrow, just like a dog. But 90%! That means a lot of babies whose parents are taller and bigger than us, and who were born at heavier weights, fall under my once-so-little baby. Just imagine if Lucas was not a heavy-spit-up baby with the stomach reflux. We could be 95%......

As parents, we are very proud of him for doing so well at his only job: Growing. And I think it is very good news for me. Think about it, all his nutrition comes from me, and my nutrition has nurtured a big baby, instead of staying on me. Assuming that I eat the same amount as I always do, I think I much prefer them to go to baby lucas to lingering on me. Thank you, my baby, for taking it for Mommy. If you don't believe me, just look at the results above:)

2006-11-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

Happy 2-month birthday

How are YOU doing!

I am talking to you!

2006-11-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

Chubby baby

At the age of 6-7 weeks, Lucas is a smiley chubby baby.

2006-11-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

Scheduler and schedulee

We talk about scheduling babies a lot. Experts recommend it, parents dream about it, and babies defy it. Little do we know that step by step, we, the presumed schedulers, are actually trained by the babies and transformed into "schedulees". The baby, such a little creature, used both positive and negative reinforcers, has turned us into remote-controlled suckers, who would do anything to change the little frowning face to a big smiley one. When all adults are brain-storming about the ways to get babies to do what we want, the babies have figured out the simplest way like a electrical light switch: crying or smiling. I guess biologically speaking, it makes perfect sense. We are smarter than the babies, therefore, like dolphins are more intelligent than sharks, the intellectuals learn faster. Hence, we are put on a schedule by babies. Now, look who is laughing?

2006-11-11T20:37:00.000-08:00

Reviews on italian restaurants

I was never a big fan of italian food in italian restaurants when I was a poor student. Understandably, when I had to choose a dish from the top five of the "least expensive list", it wasn't that exciting:Pasta, pasta and pasta. For those who know me, I love meat, the more the better. But you can't put too much meat in a pasta dish. Consequently, italian restaurants mean one thing to me: boring food at expensive prices, until I decided one day, that I would shift my budget from under $10-$15 to $15-$25. The food was amazing!! They do deserve the title as a cuisine. Here are some of the opinions from my dining experiences in three popular and decent italian restaurants in houston. (P.S. The restaurants who don't make to this review can be very good too, I just didn't have the chance to try:)

Carraba's italian grill
Fantastic combo appetizer dish. Salmon entree: disappointing. Too salty and not enough volume. I think it is over-rated.

Maggiano's little italy
My favorite. Fantastic salad. And the salmon dish, was like heaven melted in my mouth. A lot of food too. A must-try.

La vista
Great food. The beef tenderloin was tender and exquisite. Though I could have left with a one-quarter empty stomach without stuffing myself with the free bread. But the bring your own wine feature is a bonus.

Warning: All three reviews were carried out under the influence of at least two glassed of wine. Please lower your expectation if you plan to go sober......

2006-11-08T15:08:00.000-08:00

A happy day

Just when I thought there was no hope in the American public to see through the lies and deceits; Just when I had to admit to myself so unwillingly that the general public prefers bullshit covered with chocolate to the black-white truth, which they seem to be blind to: Don Rumsfeld is leaving the office. Yes, the most arrogant, dismissive, incompetent donkey head is going to stop wasting our tax money. This is the one single most delightful piece of news I have heard for a long time. Yet, it took so long to finally realize, I feel like I am in the wonderland. Join me and raise our imaginary wine glasses and wish we would never have another Dumb-Runs-Field again!

2006-11-08T13:37:00.000-08:00

Back to work

I never knew I liked to work so much, nor did I know that I was fond of seeing the faces of my colleagues so tremendously. After six weeks of staying with Lucas, I was so eager to go back to the lab. My O.B. doctor assured me it had nothing to do with the baby, so that I don't feel like a bad mother. This brand-new discovery re-shapes my future, for me to think about what I am going to do with my life (career/baby).

The baby, frankly, didn't seem to miss me that much for the first couple of days. I guess, the realization that my baby can survive without me makes me a little empty. As it turns out, one little pacifier brings him the comfort which I thought only I could provide him with. On one hand, this proves that I and my baby are independent of each other to some degree, on the other hand, it also shows undoubtedly, that I need to have him all to myself sometimes to win him over. A mother-baby relationship does not just come from the cord which once connected us, it needs work.

Another important discovery I made concerns the people around at work. We take for granted everyone working in the same places as we do. The people working at the cafeteria, the people working on the same floor, and etc. They are always there, like a knot on the chain, working, but we don't know them. We don't know their names, we never talk to them, we are invisible to each other as people. And then one day, they ask, "Did you deliver? How is your baby?" So they did notice, and they remembered. The fact that I am having a baby brings niceness and friendliness out of other people who we don't even know. Isn't that just nice?

Maybe this kind of social interaction is what we all need to feel we are cared about. Maybe we are not so indifferent after all.....

2006-10-29T19:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween

Be warned! This little one is going to show up at your door to trick or treat. And believe me, you'd better have some candies. He can rock your world......

Cash, personal checks, and credit cards other than candies are also accepted. You can also mail the treats to P.O. box 123, Houston, TX 77000.

2006-10-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday, Oliver

2006-10-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

It has been a while

My dear friends, you must be wondering what the heck I have been doing all this time. The good thing is that this whole thing doesn't charge subscription fee, otherwise I would have been sued a million of times!! Wait, now I think about it, it is kind of flattering if I get sued, which means I have viewers who care......

As you can imagine, if you have followed my blog story line, we have had the baby. Despite the fact that I dedicate all my time now to taking care of him day and night, my physical exhaustion also deprived my brain of any nutrition or energy, necessary to write an intellectual piece of work, such as my blog. I am sure you could understand, and find in your heart again the desire to read my postings, which I promise will come again!

Our baby lucas is very very very cute. We are thinking of picking up an acting career for him when he is 6 months old (what is the minimal age for babies to act again?). So what if he has some baby acnes? Our modern makeup artists teamed up with our majestic photographers can fix that right away. In this way, I can quit my job and become his manager, and use the money he makes to hire a nanny......

To describe our new life (reflecting the title of the blog), I want to use an old chinese expression which goes something like " life has different tastes: sour, sweet, bitter and spicy": Sour describes the milk he spits up or shoots out and the way we smell all the time; Sweet is the taste of the chocolate and ice cream we indulge ourselves with (and the baby of course); Bitter is our feeling of under-appreciation by each other because we each feel we are doing a lot of work ; Spicy, my absolute favorite, is the excitement in every new happening, from the open-air pee and farting during diper changes, to every first emotion on the baby's face.

What more can we ask for?

2006-09-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Dotlicious Walli $50
Lounger $100

Picture frames $20
Baby Priceless

Mobile $50
Turtle $25
The ultimate nursery

2006-09-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

Ten reasons why you should buy a big-flat-screen-TV when you also have a baby coming

We are rational animals, therefore, whatever we do, we try to find good reasons to justify it. Otherwise, our names would always be crowned with words like "impulsive", "irresponsible", and etc. Therefore, since we did one of "Don't Dos" in the "what you should prepare yourself for if you have a baby coming list", I feel obligated to find ten reasons why it is a good thing, and hopefully, release us from the guilt that we might have done something wrong to our incoming child.

Long story short, we bought a big flat screen LCD TV.

Now, why? Because-
10: It distracts us from the anxiety of waiting. Everyone knows how hard it is, it takes for ever. A new baby is big, almost nothing else can compare to the excitement, and the freshness of a brand new baby coming home, except for an even bigger, more expensive big flat screen TV.
9: Let's face it, we are staying home more and longer now. Having a nice TV only makes it easier.
8: Babysitters love big flat screen TV.
7: It helps balancing the budget, so we don't go baby shopping crazy.
6: Babies also like big flat-screen TV.
5: It also helps Mommy and Daddy overcome the post-partum depression (preemptive strike).
4: Financially, it makes sense. Let's assume that we have $2000 extra money in the bank all the time. Would we rather spend it now, and enjoy the TV for 20 years, or would we rather wait for 20 years till the kids finish their college and then buy a TV? The answer is clear, my friends.
3: Did I mention we were going to have a baby, which would give us a huge tax cut? Just consider the TV as the bonus materials that come with the baby!
2: Also, did I mention the features of the digital cable, including pictures still, instant play-back, and a smaller window inside the big screen? They will all come handy when you have a baby in your hand. Trust me.
1: We are going to have someone to take care of us when we are old!! Who needs to save money?!

2006-09-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

Is it a good thing?

I know, I know, it is too early to draw any conclusion regarding whether we, as a married and responsible couple, should have kids. Despite the fact that we are two intelligent people, and the passing-on of our good genes is a good contribution to the great society (the next Einstein could be in my belly right now), more importantly, my clock is clicking..... That is just the internal part, the external clock is pounding even more heavily. Just like our circadian rhythm, our activity is determined by our internal sensors and the light-dark cycle of our environment.

As a new mother, even though I was fully prepared for the dramatic changes which are bound to happen to me and my little family, I am still little shocked. My entire wardrobe is useless. And my body is going through a kind of metamorphosis that is anything but similar to the process where a beautiful butterfly comes out of her cocoon. The worst has yet to come, but I already strongly feel that my little one owes me a treat at a spa on every single mother's day from now on.

As for our little family, the promising junior has been nothing but joy and hope. We try not to look too far into the future like the teenager years. There is a little monster in every child, but the problem arises when the little is no little any more. With such joy and hope in mind, we managed several revolutionary changes to our way of living. We gave our house a makeover, and started housekeeping. The fruits of our effort are so delicious just like the ones you get from the whole foods.

I guess it is a good thing, then, calculating the gain and the loss at this stage, not that we have any choice to go back time. Therefore, my single or proper aged-friends, I recommend this to you. But no warranty......

2006-09-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

I am not sure of the purpose of this blog, except that I got jealous of other people's blogs, and thought it was a really good way of sharing without me making too much effort (because I am lazy). Without a clear vision of this blog, it was very difficult to come up with a title, so I conveniently took advantage of my current condition, and announced the birth of my blog as a milestone of our new life with an addition to our little family. However, the scope of the blog should extend beyond the purpose of recording our new child. Therefore, dear viewers, even though you might not have a baby fever, you shall still find something worthy of reading as long as you care what is going on with us and what I have to say. So far, this article hasn't been very interesting, but I felt I had to outline some objectives of this blog, which I also failed to do. Now you can tell you are entering a scattered mind, so, consider yourself warned:)