Calling Ansel Adams

Kael has been showing a great interest in my camera lately so we decided to buy him his own. It's the Fisher Price Kid-Tough digital camera so we sacrifice quality for durability. It's a great camera that teaches him the basics of taking pictures while being very kid friendly (for example: it's got a view finder for each eye so he doesn't have to wink one eye shut). He's pretty good at it although he still sometimes forget to point at what he wants to shoot and ends up taking a picture of his feet. Or the ground. Or his tummy. We're going to work on standing still while taking a picture to eliminate the fuzziness but I have a feeling that's going to be a tough one for him to handle.

Kael + standing still = in my dreams

He and Dad went for a walk after dinner and he happily snapped away. At everything. I mean EVERYTHING! Back at home, I plugged it into the USB port and Kael described to me every picture he took. Here are some of my favorites - the descriptions are verbatim from Kael:


Our new grass
We just put in new sod and it's been off limits for 2 weeks. He's very excited and can't wait to run across the new turf when the ban is lifted.


Daddy's car.














The box.
I don't know what the significance of this box is, but apparently it's not 'a' box, it's 'the' box.





Daddy.
From Truong's posture it looks like Kael requested Dad to pose and Dad's a little embarrassed to do so in front of the neighbors. Honey, you look cool as always!


Daddy again.
A close up.
A little too close!










Leaves in the water. The dirty water.
My personal favorite.
We started calling the street run-off water "dirty water" to keep him from splashing in it. It worked for a little bit until he started wearing his rain boots to splash (unbeknownst to me - the little stinker). We've since given up on stopping him but the name stuck.



My feet and shoes!
I'm pretty sure this was taken on purpose as I have another picture of Truong's shoes in it.

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Sauce Dispensing Chop Sticks
Soy sauce on the left, hot sauce on the right - just squeeze to get the perfect amount.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Fourth of July!

It was such a treat to have Dad home in the middle of the week. He's been working so hard and coming home so late that the kids are starting to wonder who this guy is. It was a sweaty 96 degrees and of course Truong had to take Kael to the golf course. But first they stopped by Target to buy Kael his own real club ("real" meaning: non-plastic, non-primary colored club made of a hard enough material to cause serious damage) to take to the driving range. I haven't had the chance to ask how that went but since they both came home without any injuries I'm guessing it went fine. I did notice that Kael is definitely growing up: he was sporting the eau de Sweaty Boy scent after their outing. phew!

We had a sudden change in plans that allowed us to attend July 4th parties. However, due to nap schedules and such, we weren't able to make appearances to a couple of parties we had planned on visiting. The party we did make it to was great - very low key, very relaxing, very good food. The kids had a great time and our hosts Jean and Ed Bell were so very gracious.


Malia and dad taking a dip in the pool. She could hardly wait to get in and once she got in, she didn't want to get out even though I could tell she was getting chilled.



Malia splashing away. She looks like she's having an absolutely wretched time in the pool.





Ryan and Kael having a swim race.















Kael swimming with Patrick.

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The Cuddle Arm


Are you feeling lonely tonight? Do you miss your husband when he's out of town? Well, worry no more - the Cuddle Arm will keep you company. And the best part about the Cuddle Arm (besides coming in different colored shirts): it doesn't snore!

Food is for eating.

What is it about eating that my kids just don't get?!


Kael eats a variety of foods but he takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to finish a meal. He stores food in his mouth like he's saving it for later. Or he sits at the table and stares off into space. It's not unusual for a meal to drag on for 2 hours.

Malia eats everything.... but just one or two spoons then she's on to the next item. She prefers to self-feed but likes to wave her spoon around like it's a flag so we've retired the spoon in favor of the spork. She's definitely a carnivore and she seems to go in cycles with the other food groups. She went on a veggie binge a few weeks ago and now it's a fruit binge. But she will always eat meat.


With a face like this, I can't be mad at her for making such an awful mess.









She also likes to rub food in her hair. It drives me crazy! Especially when rice gets really stuck in her hair and I have to pick it out like I'm picking nits.








This is what happens when she rubs Earth's Best Summer Vegetable Dinner in her hair. I can't wait to see what she does with her hair when it starts to grow longer. If you look at her arm, you will see what happens when you give her a spoon with baby food.


Squeezing watermelon to make juice. After she makes juice, she lays it on the tray and then smashes it with her hand, splattering juice and watermelon remnants everywhere.












Another mealtime favorite is to flick her straw, spraying milk in every direction. I should get combat pay for each mealtime I go through with her.




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Pee Goal - for the sports enthusiast.

Too bad I can't get one of these for the house. It would definitely help with Kael's aiming.

The Adventures of Lucy & Ethel

Today was a weird day. It started off track and never quite caught up. Malia woke up at 6:12am and didn't go back to sleep (she's usually up at 7:00am or later). Instead she nursed and then spent the next hour playing in bed with me. Kael woke up at 7:00am (again, unusual as his normal wake-up is 7:30am or later) but was content to lounge lazily in bed. By 7:20am Malia looked tired and dozed for a bit so I decided to put her back in her crib to see what she would do. Surprisingly, she fell back asleep after fussing for a couple of minutes. And so started my "off day" since Malia's first nap of the day was at 7:20am instead of 9:15am.

I get a phone call from Shana at 7:40am and she tells me that she's taking her Suburban in to be serviced and could I please take her later to pick it up? My mouth said "of course!" while my mind was thinking how in the heck was I going to fit FOUR car seats in the Expedition?!

Malia wakes up and it's at an odd time. So now she not only napped at a weird time, but she also took a short nap: just an hour and 15 minutes. So I decide since it's already 86 degrees outside and it's only 10:00am, I'll take the kids to Babies R Us and run some errands before it gets really roasty. Being a good friend, I call Shana as I drive away to see if she needs anything since she's stranded.

I get no response.
Then I get a "I love going to Babies R Us."
So I say "Do you need anything?"
Shana: "No, not really but I like to walk around and see what's there."
My turn to not say anything.
Then I say slowly: "Do you want to come?"
Shana: "YES! Come on by and pick us up!!"

Crikey! So I make a U-turn and I'm mentally trying to configure where and how we're going to fit 4 car seats in my car. Get to Shana's and start hauling out all my crap: stroller, wraps, slings, extra water bottles, crackers, extra clothes, wipes... all the basic stuff any mother has in the back of her car to enable a family of four to survive for several weeks in the event of a natural disaster.

The good news: with a lot of sweat and grunting, I managed to install the DiDodo car seats on the third bench. The bad news: the only way to get to the seats was through the trunk and over the back of the back row bench.



We finally pack the kids in and head over to Babies R Us. We make our purchases and as we head out, Shana wonders out loud "I hope all this stuff fits in the car." DOH! Between the two of us, we bought two big boxes of diapers, a booster chair and two bags. Wouldn't that just be our luck?? As it was, the diaper boxes barely fit in the back and the booster had to be placed under Malia's feet.

Afterwards, we head next door to Walmart. I don't know what we were thinking because we didn't have any room left in the car for any more purchases! Luckily we didn't see anything of interest. By now, it's lunchtime and we decide to head to McDonald's where there's a nice indoor playground for the boys. Shana suggests we walk there. This makes sense since it would have been a pain in the butt to load up the kids, drive across the parking lot and then unload them. So there we were: two women, four kids, two shopping carts, walking across a large parking lot pushing the aforementioned shopping carts to McDonald's in 95 degree weather. I don't know if it was the heat or what, but the vision of us in this parking lot was enormously funny. All we needed was to fill our carts with soda cans and rolled up sleeping bags and the picture would have been complete. We get to McDonald's and then we had a small discussion of where to park our carts without someone taking them. This was quite a concern for us. It was decided the best place was in the shade by the large garbage bin. We go in, set the boys free and got/ate lunch. I admit I was embarrassed at the mess we left there: we took over two tables and the girls left more food on the ground than went in their mouths. Unfortunately, since the place was packed, Malia was getting tired and the boys were amped up, we were not able to bus our table so we scurried out as quickly as possible.

I am embarrassed to say that I was greatly relieved to see our carts still by the garbage bins where we left them. It would have been very difficult to haul 2 preschoolers and 2 babies across a large parking lot during lunch traffic with all the other crap we had. We put the kids back in our precious carts and slowly push our way back to the car.

The story should end here but there's still another part to this that needs to be told. At 4:30pm I picked up... well, basically the DiDodo family to get their Suburban. Shana takes out Ryan and unhooks his car seat from my car. I put Ryan in his car and toss his extra seat in the back. I notice Gina's car seat is missing and make the connection that her seat in my car needs to be hooked up in her car. Remember that the seats are in my car, in the back row, wedged in. I turn around to get Gina so Shana can take out the seat. Instead, I see Shana taking out the car seat with Gina still strapped in! My gosh, Shana - take the child out for goodness sakes! As we strap the car seat in with Gina still in it, I made the comment that we should change our names to Lucy and Ethel. Shana is a little insulted by this and replies "why can't we be Bonnie and Clyde?"

No, trust me, we are definitely LUCY and ETHEL.

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Pick Your Nose Cups: The cheap man's nose job.

These actually would be pretty funny to have at a party.

And she's off!

I am beat tonight! Thao, Robert and Thai have left and are now staying at Ong/Ba's house so life is back to normal. It's a little quiet but it will be nice to get the kids back on routine. Then I forgot: Kael's on summer break. Ugh, that means I have to find something to occupy him until I sign him up for summer school. With the weather in the 90's, I can't just go to the park and stick him on a bike like I usually do. What I wouldn't pay to have a pool now. As much as Kael loves swimming, he's such a pampered kid (his swim class pool and his friend Westin's pool are heated) that the water from the garden hose is too cold and he won't play in our little blow-up pool for long. Malia on the other hand, will happily splash around until she turns blue.

We are entering the second week of Gymboree for Malia. It was so nostalgic to go back. We spent much of Kael's life there: from 9 months until he turned almost 3 years old. It's so funny to hear what some of the first time moms talk about. Seeing how they interact with their babies (unless my kids show blood or bone, I'm now pretty blasé about bumps and knocks) and listening to them talk about baby issues makes me feel like an old pro at baby-rearing. I hear the typical concerns: sleeping, eating, growth rates, milestones, etc. and I chuckle because I know I sounded the exact same way with Kael. Even though Malia is a totally different kid with a completely different set of rules, the confidence I feel after having one kid under my belt (figuratively not literally) is immeasurable. While I feel like telling them "kids will will eat when they eat" and "all sleep-training will result in some crying - no matter how gentle the approach - your baby will survive" I don't say anything. One of the joys of raising your firstborn (any child for that matter) is in the unexpected, what each day brings and of discovering just how stubborn your child can be.

Anyway, back to Malia. I think she likes Gymboree. She's never still long enough to play with anything or interact with any of the other kids or instructors for me to gauge her enjoyment. She enjoys wandering around the grocery store as much as she does at Gymboree - but the grocery store is at least free! I don't know if I have mommy amnesia or what but I truly don't remember Kael being this... mobile, this "let's walk laps back and forth really fast across the room for 45 minutes." She is by far the smallest baby in there but I think she's the fastest. Or perhaps it just feels that way since I'm constantly following her around. With Kael I was able to hang out, meet the other moms, talk about his sleeping, eating, growth rates, milestones, etc. Truong thinks we should velcro her butt to a chair and feed her all day so she's not burning all her calories wandering about. You have to love a Dad's "what's wrong with that, it's a great idea" idea.

Totally off topic: I'm going to start signing off by posting some of the hilarious things I find on the internet. Why? Because it's funny and I have to share it otherwise no one will believe me when I talk about it later.


The cardboard crib
Made for the green parent who values simplicity (no tools needed) and efficiency (folds down flat).