Teething Demons

The teething demons are back in our house and this time in full force. We’re sure it is a combination of both the incoming of the molars and a virus that may have got the best of Katie’s sweet dreams these past few nights.

She wakes every couple of hours with inconsolable cries and screams or at least until she’s able to wake one of us to hold her to our chest. Then, she’s able to lay her head down and let the resonance of our heartbeats sooth her back to peace. The pumping probably reminds her of being comfortably snuggled in the womb a little while ago and listening to sounds of Mommy’s heartbeat. No matter whatever works even for a couple of hours works for us. Each time she wakes, we take her temperature which went as high as 104 last night and 103 just earlier this afternoon. Of course we’ve been sedating her with different brands of baby drugs and have retained the heat from rising.

All the while this little girl still talks, plays, eats and drinks. She’s probably doesn’t know what is hitting her and doesn’t really care as long as she gets to see her Elmo videos, her Elmo books, play with Elmo himself, and hears Elmo’s voice in the car at least once a day…she’s happy. Gotta love a child for keeping focus on the good stuff during bad times :o) Hint, hint you grown ups.

Keeping our fingers and toes crossed, all this pain and suffering will blow away with 2009 and in with an amazing new year 2010. Holy crap how did we get here?!

2nd XMas!!

Before we get to the bad news on the topic of teething, lets recap a great Christmas spent with all kinds of family this year!...Mommy’s immediate family, Daddy’s immediate family and a rare Christmas Day spent with Mommy’s extended family during which Katie got to meet many more Aunts and Uncles for the very first time aka my many cousins, Aunts and Uncles.

Our 2nd Christmas morning pix.

Katie’s 2nd Christmas celebration started on Chrstimas Eve Eve (12/23/09). We had homemade pizzas for dinner at my parent’s house. My brother John was nice enough to go out the night before to get the pizza stone for baking and a few essential ingredients. My sisters Annie and Tina chipped in with a few more ingredients and by sunset, we were ready to boggy. The first pizzas by Yogi and Tina were The Bomb…literally…hahaha… not bad though says Dad. Next up was Arnold and Lily’s OCD pizza…hahaha…it was perfect down the symmetrical rows of ham and pepperoni. Then Dad and John…it took them a little while but they managed to produce an eatable product :o) We had a lot of fun and Katie even got into the tasting. She loves nibbling on the crest!

The following night, we spent the evening at Uncle Derek’s (Yogi’s older brother’s) house. As usual, grandma made lots of yummy traditionally Chinese food. Plus, Auntie Jaynie baked Auntie Anh’s turkey and brought over all sorts of traditional American side dishes. Auntie Fil contributed a ham and we heated up meat balls from Costco. Best of all the nieces and nephews brought over jello shots and cases of beer…hmmm…. Guess they’re shooting for us old folks to make them more cousins?!...hahaha…

Bryan, last to arrive with the best stuff.

There were many high points to the Le Christmas. Auntie Jaynie led the Macarena dance with the nieces (with their bfs) and nephews which they did years ago when they were half the age they are now. Also, we were especially thankful for the safe return of our marine, Milton who was serving in Afghanistan just days prior. Then finally, the time to open presents. This year the two youngest in the family Tyrus (18 months) and Katie (16 months) were able to tear through their gifts like everybody else. They didn’t care much for the clothes or shoes but they sure loved their toys.

This year Christmas landed on a day to pay respect to my Aunt who past away a year ago. My Mom’s extended family and friends gathered to watch the demonstration of shamans do their magic in helping my Aunt in the after life. Afterwards, we mingled at the dinner table with cousins and caught up with one another. It was not the best of occasions but we managed to make the best of it enjoying eachother’s company and watching the Lakers get embarrassed by King James…haha…

Hope everyone had as memorable of a Christmas as we did. It never fails to get better every year!!

First for everything...

It’s obviously Christmas time and shopping is in full swing. It’s Katie’s second Christmas and she’s ready to open presents this year! My sisters gave her a trial run with a gift from my other sister in another state. With no training whatsoever, Katie killed the wrapping with a few rips and tears (should have probably caught it on video…uh how did we miss this one…it won’t happen again). Turns out, she got cute new Hello Kitty rain boots. Boy, are we going to put those to good use with the raining season getting on its way. Thanks Auntie Linda! She may not understand the meaning of Christmas this year yet; however, she’s not shy about diving into the presents and having fun!

We managed to finish our shopping list early this year with the exception of something for our little princess. I’ve had the idea of a tricycle for weeks in my head but wasn’t sure if she would like it, ride it, grow out of it in a day or not have long enough legs to enjoy it immediately. One day last week, we went into Sports Chalet to return an item. We also took the opportunity to check out the bike section to see if they had anything for toddlers. Katie spotted something her size with a big smile, eyes wide open and immediately started her gasps for ‘pleasessssssss Ba-Ba’…feet stomping with excitement and all as Yogi grabbed the pink one off the rack. Of course it was the very last tricycle in that color. These tricycles had a handle in the back so you can push, pull or just have the bike in reaching distance in case they ride into places they’re not suppose to. Katie got on and proved that she was a little too short for the pedal except we were able balanced her on the seat and push her around with her legs dangling on the side.

Whats the magic word?....TOUCHDOWN!!

Then, a customer service person advised the seat is adjustable and Katie may be able to touch the pedals if we move the seat up. And so the tantrum begins…it took us a few minutes to free Katie’s body, feet, head and every last finger off the steering wheel. No joke, this little girl cried harder and louder than she got her shots and it lasted till the sweet customer service rep was done checking out the seat adjustment. Everyone in the store was giving us the look and wondering why we're torturing this poor child. We offered her another tricycle in a different color while the pink one is being looked at. She didn’t want anything to do with it and continued her reached for the pink one on the table. The faucet finally stopped leaking as soon as she got back onto the bike and the customer service rep was a safe distance away from her and her bike.

Stamping away at the Children's Museum in Berkely celebrating Syndey's birthday.

We attempted to roll her around the store to see if she found anything else interesting that would steer her away from the bike. No chance since this was mostly an adult sporting goods store. And so, we gave in and rolled her to the register. The minute another rep touched her bike to scan the bar code and remove the security device, the faucets were in full swing once again. The guy removing the security device proceeded with caution all the while Katie screamed louder as he got closer…haha…I had to assure him a few times Katie is fine and to go ahead and remove it. I’ve never seen so many grown men scared silly faces all in one day….haha…

If the tricycle wasn’t a Christmas gift, we (parents) could have prevailed in this battle…really we could have!...haha… This was officially the first tantrum ever. We almost didn’t think Katie had it in her to throw it to us. It wasn’t a fun experience; although a sure learning experience to be wary of what our sweet munchkin can be capable of and her potential at working us with her kicks and screams….in public. It was pretty darn good but let her be warned, Mommy and Daddy will be ready for the next battle just hope it doesn’t come when we’re shopping her for her next birthday gift. Otherwise, we and the store reps will be in trouble once again.

Happy shopping people!

Daddy's Little Girl

Finally the truth comes out and quite apparently if I might add. She’s a DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL!! Did we have any doubt? No probably not, me, maybe a little bit.

Up until about two weeks, it was not obvious who Katie preferred more. She’s usually well behaved and both Yogi and I have interacted with her the same way like robots. Until recently, she has gained the strength to climb and play rougher which has prompted Daddy to enthusiastically do the same. Mommy on the hand prefers not to get down and dirty these days and play with the less physical toys. We suppose this all translates to her preference to be in Daddy’s arms to play, when she wakes up from a nap, when she’s tired for a nap, and when she wants to be carried for whatever reason.

Katie loves Uncle Arnold's puppy Molly.

Don’t get me wrong, my daughter doesn’t ignore me entirely but if Mommy and Daddy are in the room, she’ll prefer her Daddy the majority of the time. We expected this day would come and it’s just toddler nature that it did!

I don’t know how other Moms feel about this but I’m not too hung over it. Katie is my daughter whether she likes it or not and nothing can change that. If she prefers her Daddy, that just means less work on me…haha… And when Daddy leaves the room, she’ll cry until she recognizes Mommy can give her what she wants from Daddy which usually is food or turn Elmo on YouTube.

Never Too Young to Exercise

Sorry for the lack of updates with Katie but no worries, Katie is doing awesome as usual. Not sure if we have mentioned previous entries or not, too lazy to go back and check, probably not that we have enrolled Katie into a toddler gym class at a facility in Elk Grove right next to Strikes Bowling. The class started in late October on Friday nights; this coming Friday will be the last class for this session. Katie and her classmates share a huge gymnastics gym with children of all ages. In Katie’s class the toddlers are from 13 months to about 2 years old. There is an instructor who creates an obstacle with mats, bars, trampolines, ball pits, balance beams etc and has the parents guide their kids through each routine. The munchkins have an unbelievable time trying to find their way but the reality is they just want to roam off and play with things they’re not suppose to.

However, we have made improvements!! In the last class, Katie was not afraid to hold onto bars and give it a swing or two, recognizes terms for rolling and sticking her feet into the air, can walk through the balance beam (with assistance) without walking off to the ground, held onto the rope the entire time the instructor guided the kiddos to another room, and was happy to get her smiley stamps on her hands and feet verses running the opposite direction. As far as we’re concern, these are amazing milestones that we never thought she would be able to comprehend and do so early on.

Katie hanging out with Auntie Annie.

We intend to continue the class if not other classes that will help Katie develop her skills. By the way, her cousin, Tyrus is also in the class and they have a great time together. Once the class starts, it can get chaotic but Katie and Tyrus never fails to recognize eachother and help one another along the way. Besides playing with Tyrus, this class has given Katie an opportunity to interact with other kids in general. She still has her shy moments but a majority of the time, Katie is friendly and extremely enthusiastic to play with kids of all ages.

How has she been using her skills outside of class? She climbs onto the side table, over to the couch then slides her feet down of over the cushion to the floor. The routine is repeated daily at least 50 times. And, she’s able to grab and hold onto rods and bars with unbelievable strength especially to avoid being strapped into her car seat. Instead of holding a rope in class, she drags cords attached to small heaters and purses around the house.

(sigh)…Much more to come no doubt…

In other news, the potty trainer is at Grandma’s house as of last week and her aunties, my sisters have glued her bottom to it at least twice since. Not much success yet since she seems to be rather comfy on the seat while watching Elmo. We figure she’s too entertained to concentrate on doing her business.

Just Treats No Trick

So, Katie’s 2nd Halloween was a blast. We spent the weekend in San Francisco after crossing two bridges and paid two tolls to get there. But we’re glad we did, because the weather was amazingly warm and beautiful night and day.

Katie was a panda and we pretty much let her wear it all day since kids everywhere were doing the same. We started trick-o-treat street inside a nearby mall. The event was supposed to start at 4pm except when we got there at 4:15pm, a good majority of the shops had signs that said ‘no candy’, ‘out of candy’ or just gave out lame stickers..wtf. Consequently, that event ended fairly quickly not to mention it was quite warm for Katie to be in her costume indoors.

Afterwards we had dinner and off we go to the West Portal (nearby twin peaks) neighborhood for round 2 of our trick-o-treat mission. It was nearly 8pm and Katie was starting to show signs of fatigue. We figured, we’ll just stroll around a sleeping panda and do the trick-o-treating for her. Instead, all the excitement from the crowds of kids roaming the sidewalks and doorsteps lured Katie to stay awake and chime in on the fun. She immediately got into the routine of grabbing her own candy and the speech came after. She’s been able to say ‘trick-o-treat’ for a couple of weeks now and when asked to say it on Halloween night, she was a little shy. She would say it before or after the doors closed; however, she did managed to get it right once and the little o’witch behind the door was just as happy as we were to hear it. There after also came a ‘dor jea'…thank you in Chinese…lol…

Taking advantage of the beautiful bay area weather and hungout at the beach on Sunday.

In one instance, a vampire switched candy pails and he offered Katie to take a piece of candy out it. Instead, Katie reached for the handle as if it to take it all…haha… At another house, the lady looked a little weird (don’t they all on Halloween night) so Katie was slow to reach for the candy. Right before her finger tips touched the candies, she saw something short and fluffy move towards the door from the inside. She immediately formed a finger with her hands and pointed at it then said ‘dog’. And we said, ‘no sweetie, that’s not a treat you can take home!’ Funny kid… Towards the end of the route, an older lady in another witch hat offered us the rest of her treats (a good half a bag). She said, ‘she’s ready to close up shop’. I said, I am ready to close up shop too and took her every last piece of candy…lol… Wow, I can’t believe we actually made it through our first trick-o-treating trip with our own kid and we’re still doing the work!! How did that happen?! Of course, Katie was knocked out instantly on the ride back to Yogi’s sister’s house and of course with a piece of unopened piece of candy held tight in her hand.

Btw, the houses on that hill were amazing!! They were very grand, full of character one-of-a-kind estates with all sorts of architectural details inside and out. Can’t imagine taking a stroll through the neighborhood during the day time; although, the night lights seems to accentuate the best parts of the homes.

Better Late Than Never...

Finally finished a digital scrapbook for Katie's first year of life! Seems like a lifetime already...

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We're back....

I know…I know…I’ve been really terrible about updating the blog.

We went on a little family outing last night with my parents and siblings. A weekly event we’re doing with family to get out and about together. My Dad has not bowled in years and he enjoyed it thoroughly and rather good at it. He even beat this league player in a game or two.

Katie on the other hand could not get enough of the arcade games especially the car racing one with the seat, screen and steering wheel. She had an awesome time darting every one of us running ramped around the bowling alley. She was completely exhausted after dinner and did not take more than driveway to knock her out on the commute home.

Katie and her cousin Tyrus plans on meeting cousin Claudia in San Francisco for treat-o-treating this Saturday. Not sure what cousin Tyrus will be but Katie has her cutie panda suite to keep her nice and warm from head to toe.


Happy Halloween everyone!

Overdue on DC

Better late than never...

What a difference a whole week makes in a baby’s life?! Although, the physical growths are not as obvious, the intellectual side has excelled exponential. It’s growing at a faster rate now than ever before.

We spent the entire week of Sept. 19th on the east coast visiting our newlywed friends Hanh and David in Washington DC. Technically, we only visited Hanh because we only saw David for about an hour collectively. Hanh was a great help with Katie, came in handy when I wanted to switch from Mommy to photographer. Katie for whatever reason calls Hanh sister rather than auntie. Heck, Hanh didn’t mind being addressed younger…haha…

Anyhow, Katie did great at the airport and on the plane. She was able to nap to and from DC. She had to be entertained a bit up and down the isle but kept pretty quiet the majority of the time, at least no bad complaints from the neighbors.

We spent a few days in the middle of the week on a short roadtrip up-state to Philadephia. Along the way, we stopped at Baltimore (Maryland), Wilmington (Delaware) and Cherry Hill (New Jersey). Too bad we didn’t realize Atlantic City was only a couple of hours away; otherwise we would have definitely tried to make a day trip to see the lights :o)

We had a fantastic trip overall. Tried to learn as much as we can from all the Smithsonian museums but it was just too difficult to concentrate when you’re always focused on what your baby might break or what noises might wake her from her precious naps. Thus, the whole time we tried to stay low key and clear of expectations. It worked out great! We ended up doing a little bit of everything and enjoyed the company of our friend, the history all around and simply being away from home.

Speech Therapy

Katie has been working really hard on yapping the past couple of months. It’s especially helpful with more hardware, teeth! She starts out repeating words or at least parts of it when she is told to do so. In the past week or so, she’s been awesome at saying the words for really what they are.

She’ll point at pictures of Daddy or Daddy himself and says ‘Ba Ba’, Daddy in Chinese. These days she’s especially clingy to him so I hear it day and night.

And, when she wants something from us or even a stranger, she’ll go up to them and say ‘es’ for please…lol… The poor thing can’t quite get the ‘palee’ part yet but getting there. She is great at pronouncing ap-pole and ba-na-na or more often ‘na-na!’ :o)

Last furlough Friday, we went to Ikea with my mom and sister Annie. A guy walks by infront of us with a long bushy ponytail. Katie pointed at his back with a big smile on her face and said ‘wow wow’ for doggie in Chinese…lol!! Second time, she has embarrassed me in public but good thing the dude was not Chinese. Although, my sister and I probably laughed hard enough for him to notice my 1 year old was talking bad about him behind his back!

If you’ve never been around babies, young kids or know of someone who is verbally impaired, communication can be a very frustration experience. It is especially so for those of us who chat away constantly and think of it as a simple thing. When it doubt or the baby is whining out of control, move her finger to the object. Nothing works better than good o’ charades to the rescue. Works every time…lol! Ya, probably should go back to signing excerises :o)

A short blog to keep life going… We’re counting down to Katie’s first plane ride this Saturday to Washington, DC to visit friends, the pretty Fall weather on the east coast and solve all the problems on Capitol Hill…NOT!!

No Monkey!

I have to say one of the scariest things in life now is to see my daughter hurt in anyway; however, we realize it is inevitable no matter how hard we try to keep her away from danger or keep our environments safe. Knock on wood, the inevitable has not happened yet. In the meantime, she consistently surprises us at her height and level of intelligence with her abilities to find loop holes in our safeguards. There are times when we over complicate things and do more than we have to to protect her. And, there are times we undermine her abilities and she end up with a scratch. No matter, our first line of defense is to teach her safe ways.

Katie digging through our finances...

Last week while at my parent’s house, Katie took her afternoon nap. When she woke up, she quietly got off the bed (about 3 feet high) somehow without breaking any bones. She turned on the television and stood watching it as Grandma was lured into the room by the unexpected noise (from the TV). My sister said, what a crazy little girl…lol…

Our first ever CA State Fair visit with Yogi's bro and wifey, and now our kids :o)

Katie likes to play on the bed, sofa, and stairways at my parent’s house. We’ve tried teaching her how to get off safely on her own but recently, she seems to notice everybody else just walking off these things and so she tries to do it too. We’re forced to catch her many times in mid-air. So to help her practice her dismount routines, we've decided to put her bedframe back together and raise her mattress off the ground. Yogi reassembled the frame last Friday on his day off. Believe it or not, she literally walked off the bed the first couple times she was on it. The bed is only a foot high so no major injuries. She landed on her butt without even a squint to show on her anxious little face. She hops up onto her two little feet and continues on her way. It took a few practices to have her get off our way...turn on her tummy, steer her legs down the side of the bed, and push herself off.

Hanging out on Grandma's front yard.

Surprisingly, the very next day she figured out how to climb ONTO her bed with no assistance. I have to say the good thing about this is, when she gets really really really really tired, she goes to her room, climb into bed, grab her blanky and tries to nap on her own. But, she has not actually fallen asleep on her own. Somehow, she realizes nobody is around to watch her sleep (like usual) and so she would leave her room to find us. The second time I saw her climb onto her bed, she started jumping on it! And when cousin Tyrus is over, there’s no doubt we have two monkeys and a big circus. Now, how are we going to teach her to jump safely and stay on the bed?!...lol...

Spending furlough tomorrow taking Katie to her one year doc visit in the morning with SHOTS! Fun…fun… Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend everyone!! We'll be helping friends move and hanging out with family possibly at a picnic :o)

First Public Ooops!

Over the weekend, we stopped by Vacaville Outlets on the way home from spending the weekend in San Francisco to celebrate Yogi’s brother and sister’s birthdays also in August. We picked up a few items from Baby Gap for Katie and did some shopping for ourselves at Banana Republic. Yogi and I switched off bodyguarding Katie while the other shopped. Come my turn, I like to let her out of the stroller and walk around on her own. Have her touch and feel the clothes and get her familiar with being out in stores; although, I didn’t mean for her to be destructive while explorering. She quickly found her way to the accessories and the necklaces were too shiny not to at least give it a touch and feel. A quick thought shot through my mind thinking if the worst was to happen, the necklaces shouldn’t break that easy. My dream really was that Katie would stroke the necklaces and be fascinated with the sparkles than move on. Boy, did that turn into a nightmare! She stroked them once and stroked them twice, then before I knew it one broke and the beads shattered to the ground rolling in all directions. I was completely stunned and speechless. Another shooting thought told me to RUN but wait somebody must have seen what happened. I took a quick glance around the room for a sales associate and noticed a couple people in line were staring at us with a stern ‘does that woman know what she’s doing with the baby?’ look. For the most part, the store was not very busy but since we were at the front of the store, impossible not to feel embarassed.

Not the exact necklace.

I picked up the remaining pieces of the necklace and found a sales associate folding men’s sweaters. I told her remorsefully that my daughter accidentally broke this and I would pay for it if I have to. She generously said, don’t worry about it and preceded to the pickup the remaining pieces. I helped her track down what pieces I could find with Katie in my other arm and went to find Yogi so we can leave. I didn’t feel too bad afterwards b/c we spent a significant amount of money on a new coat for me and sweater and shirt for Yogi. What an embarrassing Mommy moment?! I came to work and told my co-worker on Monday morning and she says her boys embarrass her constantly these days. They are not shy to speak their mines about other people in public out LOUD. Thanks for the heads up Cheryl!

Happy Birthday Babies!!

Since I happen to be writing this on our Grandnephew’s birthday, we want to wish Jimmy in London a very happy first birthday!!

As for Katie on her actual birthday last Wednesday, Yogi and I took the day off to just hangout with no plans. Katie got a bike trailer from her Uncle Derek, Auntie Jaynie, Le cousins and their respective families. Yogi assembled it and did a test ride at Grandpa’s house. Katie seems to enjoy the rides very much and loved being on the move while Daddy rode around the neighborhood. We’re planning a longer ride in a couple weekends; hopefully by then it’ll be cooler. American River trails anyone?

Katie woke up on the morning of her birthday and picked from a pile of clothes she received for her birthday, this outfit. She brought it all the way into my room as if to say, this is what I want to wear on my birthday Mommy. Should I be worried, she'll be picky about what she wants to wear or wear anything at all?!

Afterwards, we meet up with Grandpa and Uncle Johnson for dim sum at a new restaurant in town. The food was ok. Grandpa may think otherwise having a couple unexpected items in and around his food. We treated Katie to a few bites of pork buns (just the bun, nothing unexpected) and she ate every bite.

We also let Katie explore her girlie side and sent her on a shopping spree thanks to all the generous gift cards from family and friends. Plus, it was a nice place to stay cool without having to pay for it…directly anyway. Katie picked out an airplane toy she can push or ride. My sister later took a picture of her riding it with her arms behind her as if to push herself at the same time. Silly girl… After shopping, we did some bowling with Auntie Annie and her bf then back home for dinner with the rest of my family.

Of course, we picked up a cake from Freeport Bakery. This time, we actually let the birthday girl have at the cake. The first few dips were questionable but once she got the hang of the sweetness, there was no stopping her.

Birthday kiss anyone?

How old are you Katie?

Awesome pic with her Grandparents :o)

Once we were done with cake, we had Katie play a traditional future telling game. We lined up a few symbolic items to represent what she may become as a profession when she grows up. We had items such as a ball for an athlete, a keyboard for a computer programmer, calculator for accountant, etc. As you can see from the picture, she picked up a bottle of pills…hmmm…so maybe a doctor, pharmacists or drug dealer?!...haha…but then, her second choice was a book and she kissed a picture of babies inside it. So most likely a Pediatrician!! Let’s revisit this in twenty-five years and see how accurate this game is :o)

Throughout the day, I couldn’t help but reminisce about our day exactly a year ago. What the whole ordeal was like, what happened in the hours following, the challenges, all the questions, the doctors who gave different instructions, etc. It was a tough learning curve but we did it and we couldn’t be more proud of ourselves. And the reminiscing continues…a year ago today, I was home enjoying the company of my baby. Today I’m at work and would like to be home except maybe she doesn’t need my company. She is officially a toddler and on her way to becoming her own little person :oD

Let's Party!

Katie had her first ever birthday party on Saturday, August 15th. It happened to land on Yogi’s actual birthday but the day was for Katie no less. We celebrated the festive event at our friend, Tom’s condo complex in their clubhouse which had a nice open living area, pool table, theatre room, full kitchen and a very popular swimming pool. In addition to all of that, we also hired Cotton Candy, the clown who did a magic show and created fun balloons for everyone.

Ms. Candy and her friends...

Katie enjoyed it as much as she could. Yogi was able to get her to nap for about thirty minutes before the party. She started the party fine roaming around the clubhouse and enjoying the attention from family. Then, as the guests started to arrive in waves, she got a little overwhelmed and wanted Mommy and while Mommy was busy, she was ok with Daddy or Grandpa.

We’ve been training her to blow her own birthday candle but as expected she freaked out with all eyes on her and got a little help from Daddy. She didn’t get her own cake but she did attempt to eat her own slice. She started devouring a piece of chocolate from the top of the cake which proved to be a very challenging mess and that was the end of it. We cleaned her off and suited her up for a dip in the pool. After 3-4hrs, Katie was ready for her nap so a dip was exactly all she wanted.

It was a busy day for us but we enjoyed every minute of it. There were quite a few people Katie met for the very first time! Hope we can reconnect with you soon and do some serious catching up. Thank you all for being patient with us and Katie. We’re sorry if we didn’t entertain you much but we know you were there and hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as you could!! Special thanks to our family and friends for helping out with the party.

This was truly a special party. A year ago, we were stressed with the biggest challenge thus far in our lives, learning how to be parents with no right answers. We’re happy to have arrived to our 1 year point and be somewhat confident that we’re doing a passing job thus far. Katie is happy, healthy, and improving in her skills every day. There were moments in the past year that may have appeared longer than others but realistically we all live by the same clock and speed. Once the sun sets, that day is over so best to make the most out of the good ones and for the bad ones, at least that bad day is over. Year 2, here we come!!