Maya is 9 Months

At her 9 month check up, Maya weighs 17.10lbs (29th percentile) and measures 27 1/2inches (49th percentile). Yep, she's a bit small, but has a big personality. She can:
Climb the stairs very fast
Makes many different vocal sounds including a well pronounced "mama"
Crawls very fast
Can stand without holding to anything for a few seconds
Has 2 new teeth
Eats anything, including onions
Makes lots of messes, pulling things out of drawers
Can pull doors open
Snuggles up so nicely
Says no with her head
When she gets upset she groans and protests
And more...

She's so much fun.

My 28th B-day

Yep, I'm a year older. Our morning started off a bit rough. Maya decided to be awake from 3-4:30AM. She was fussy and cried a lot. I think she might be teething, again. So, Newel and I were pretty tired. Oh yeah, and then she decided to be up for the day at 6:50AM...too early for me. For a minute I though, "it's going to be a tough day."
However, as the day went by, it became more pleasant. I wanted to have a nice, uneventful b-day. After doing laundry and cleaning up our house, we went swimming. It was Mayita's first time in a big pool. We had so much fun. Arden and I swam together and chased Newel and Maya around the pool. It was great. After swimming we took naps, and after naps I went to get my hair cut, fed the kids dinner, and put them down for the evening. Then, we got dressed and went out to dinner, just Newel and me...It was nice to hang out, just the two of us having adult an conversation with no interruptions. And that's how I spent my b-day.

A friend of mine did a b-day challenge, which I believe it's doing the things you like/think are fun to do, and do it to the extreme all in the same day...related to the age you're turning. Anyways, I'm making my own b-day challenge, my way... I haven't finished compiling my list, but so far, this is what I want to accomplish by my 29th b-day.
1. Train and do a sprint triathlon (not related to my age, but I've wanting to do this for a long time, and now it seems like the right time).
2. Go down to 128lbs and maintain that weight...that one might be a bit challenging for me.
3. Read 8 new/fun books this year (parenting/cooking books don't count).
4. Learn 8 new words a month (I wanted to do 28 new words, but who am I kidding? I know I won't do it, but 8 seems more realistic).
Any other suggestions? I thought about doing, eat 28 cookies a month =)...hey a girl needs her sweets.

A Day Out with Daddy

Last Saturday it was really hot here. Newel and Arden decided to escape the heat, while Maya and I stayed home and packed.

So, the boys got on the Caltrain and headed to San Bruno. First stop, the helicopter show. Arden really liked it, especially the model helicopters.

Here's Arden cooling off underneath a tree and eating a yummy treat.

They got on the train again...as you can see, Arden is not a fan of the noisy train, but he loves riding it. Their next stop, San Francisco.

The boys didn't have an agenda for the day...well, their only agenda was to stay cool. Palo Alto was about 95ish, while SF was in the 70's, I believe.

So, after getting off the train, they started walking, walking, and walking.

Climbing Nob Hill.

They walked all over SF.

Up to the Cathedral and the park.



There is an airplane in the background.

Union Square

Ahh, to be young again. To sit anywhere...even in the middle of a busy sidewalk, and not a care in the world.


Near Union Square

The Embarcadero

This was one of Arden's favorite spot on this trip.

Yep, Arden is comfortable anywhere. May be he'll make friends with the homeless dude on the back.

After a busy day...get back on the train and relax by the window and read a bug book.

Newel said this was one of his favorite days since we've been here.


A message for G-ma!

Nodding No

This past week Mayita has been learning to nod no. The other video is funny too. She immediately learned to use her new skills. We've already started to work on the "yes."

Standing Up

The past week and a half Mayita has been learning to stand. It's been fun seeing her progress.

Arden Feeling Sad

My little guy. He's been acting a bit "funny" this week, after his best friend, Ellie and his grandparents left. We've been telling him where his friends are leaving to. He keeps assuring us, we're going to Chicago. I hope it's true. We'll find out in about 4-8 weeks.
However, this week, Arden has been...mellow. That's not his usual self. He hasn't wanted to go out and play much either...that could be because there's another ridiculous heat wave. At night he's been having meltdowns during bedtime, which I can't remember the last time he's had a series of meltdowns like this. It's kind of sad for me to see this.
Yesterday, as we were walking to the library, we had a conversation. It went like this:
"Arden, do you miss Ellie?"
"Yes."
"Are you a little bit sad?"
"I'm mad."
"Yeah, I also miss Ms. Abbey, Mr. Chris, Kevin and Ellie too. But we'll see them again some time. Do you know where they went?"
"To Dallas."
"Yeah, soon we'll be going to live at a new place. Daddy is done with school."
"We're going to Chicago."
"I hope so. May be we'll meet other people there."
"No. I don't want new friends."
"What?"
"I don't want new friends."

It broke my heart. He doesn't often express his deep emotions, but I know he's taking this hard. Any suggestions?

Today Newel and Arden went to an air show and SF to escape from the heat. I hope this will cheer him up a bit. I stayed home with Maya. I'm starting to do some packing.

Saying Good Bye

Saying Good Bye...I don't think it's hit me yet. The first set of friends we said bye to were the Cuffs.
Arden loves his friend Lydia.

Such good friends!

Chris and Newel at the b-b-que

This was my attempt at reenacting how it all began...Tin Tin, Ellie, and Arden, together. It didn't turn out too well. Ellie didn't want to give hugs, since she thinks that if you say good bye, the person won't leave.

The kids were so tired, but cute still.

Laura! Such a cutie. Arden and her played really well together. We're going to miss them.

One last hit at the playground.

It was weird saying bye to our friends. We would see each other just about everyday, and now they're gone.

We love you guys and we'll miss you. I hope we can see each other soon.

Graduation

We knew the day would come when Newel would graduate...I just didn't know it would be like this. I expected after two years of being on "vacation" at Stanford, I would be crying my head off. We arrived to the amphitheatre just in time for the ceremony to start. We rushed to find a place to sit. On my way to find our seats, I lost G-ma and Paka. Our friend Xiao Jing and her kids were with me.

It all started great. We set up our blanket, toys, and snacks. However, being the outdoors, Arden and his friends didn't want to sit and watch their daddies walk across the stage. They wanted to run around, play, run around, argue, run around, yell, play, eat snacks, more snacks, run around, argue with each other...etc. After a while, I finally said it out loud..."I'm not having any fun...this isn't what I expected to be...I haven't been able to sit and just enjoy the ceremony...when is this going to end?" Yes, I was whining. I finally went to look for G-ma and handed Mayita over to her...that gave me a little break.

Then, it was time. A GSB tradition...to walk across the stage with the kids. That was really neat. Arden liked doing that. They looked so cute.

The ceremony was over, we took some photos and went to the Deans's Reception. We congratulated our friends and took more photos.

While Newel and family were finishing up at the reception I went to pick up our babysitter. After we got the children ready for bed, we went out to dinner, just the adults. We had a really great time.

Even though we were pretty tired from all of the day's events, after dinner, Newel and I went to a small gathering with some of our friends. It was really nice to hang out with them in such a relaxed environment after such a hectic afternoon.

Looking back, it was good to be busy during the ceremony. I was so busy dealing with the kids at the ceremony and tired the rest of the day, I didn't have time to get sad.

G-ma and Paka's Visit

What a treat to have Paka and G-ma visit us for Newel's graduation. Our adventure started with lunch at the Counter...the best hamburgers around. G-ma absolutely loved the vegetarian burger...made to perfection.




After enjoying our lunch, we went to the playground to play. Newel took a nap and the kids and I enjoyed hanging out with G-ma and Paka.


The following morning we went to hike the Dish. We also took our friends's children with us...their parents were packing to move back to Beijing. In the picture, it's Tin Tin, with G-ma and Paka. The kids were really well behaved, despite being tired and out in the sun. Three of the four kids took a nap during our hike. Paka thought it was funny how they got some funny looks from people. I guess by looking at these photos it does look a bit funny (the older couple with a young Chinese kid).

My little guy, so talented. On Friday morning he asked Newel to help him with him K-nexx pieces to make a sea horse. Newel was busy, and I wasn't around. So Arden, all by himself, with no help from us, made the sea horse, just like in the paper. We were really proud and impressed by this. He was also proud of himself and wanted to show it to G-ma.

After our hike we relaxed for a while before graduation.


Saturday afternoon was graduation. I'll go into more details in another post. However, I do want to mention that it was exhausting, for me.

Doesn't G-ma look so cute? Sorry, Paka, you look like you're on dope. May be next time we'll put Mayita in the picture so you can smile for the camera.













Sunday, we went to church...yes, we decided to skip the big graduation with Oprah...too hot and hectic to go with children. After church, we relaxed for a little while. While Mayita took a nap, G-ma, Arden, and Newel went to the cactus garden.

Now, that's a better picture of Paka and Maya.

Arden was really good at remembering the rules of not touching the plants, since you could get pricked. He mentioned that to G-ma and took good care of her.










Arden showing off his muscles...how adorable!

New discovery for us and Maya...the car she's riding on, she loved it!

In the late afternoon, we had a little get together with some of Newel's classmates and their families. Diego from Argentina was the grilling master and cooked some very delicious meats. Paka loved using his Spanish with the people there. G-ma, Arden, and Ellie played together.


Our courtyard is being renovated...so the kids got really dirty. I love dirty kids. By the end of the evening, Ellie's dress was no longer white with stripes...it was more of an off white/brown with stripes.

G-ma and Arden made bug catchers and had a treasure box where they placed an array of insects.

The following morning we went to say our good-byes to our friends the Carters. It was sad for me to say bye to them. It felt a bit surreal. I didn't want to stay at home feeling sad, so we went out and wore ourselves down. We started our trip by driving through San Fran to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It was cold and windy. After that, we mostly enjoyed the views from inside the minivan.

Isn't this view amazing?

Funny, for not having an agenda...we sure did a lot of stuff. After our drive to the bridge, we took a back route to Sausalito. It was really neat, and we even went on a one way tunnel through the hills. I know that (previous sentence) seems silly, but when you have kids, tunnels and trains are very exciting.

After our drive through Sausalito and lunch, we drove back to the City, walked around Fisherman's Wharf, and we even drove down the crooked street. Good thing the brakes worked well in the van.

Arden's attempt at taking a picture of G-ma(with mommy's assistance). This was taken at the Coit Tower.

After our trip to Coit Tower, we got on the van and headed to Pillar Point, north of Half Moon Bay, via Route 1. And anyone who has been on Route 1 knows the scenery is fantastic. There, they enjoyed the view of the ocean from the top of the hill. Maya and I stayed in the car...too cold. Funny weather. One minute it's warm in Palo Alto, but cold in SF and by the ocean, all on the same day.

Arden with G-ma at Pillar Pillar.

The following day, we we're all pretty tired, so we stayed home and relaxed.

While G-ma and Paka stayed with us, Newel and I even got to sleep in. Thanks guys, that alone, made the trip worthwhile to us. I can't remember the last time I slept in until 10AM.

Mayita getting in some remote control time with Paka.