This morning's expressions

A quick photo shoot from this morning to satisfy the regulars. She's been a bit off since the move, but we're hoping she'll start feeling more settled soon.

One of my most rewarding moments as a parent so far was seeing her recognize and smile at me when she came back from being at Joy's on the moving day. Since then, however, she seems to have saved most of the smiles for her father. She's all business with Mom and all smiles with Daddy. You can tell that Mommy was shooting this morning, as we're heavy on the contemplative looks.

New Apartment!

All of the boxes have been unpacked, but as you can see, the contents are now piled everywhere looking for homes. We thought you would like to see our work in progress, though. This may be our only post this week, as our internet will not be set up at the new house until Saturday.

Play Date

Margaret had her first real play date today with Freddy. First, they charmed Grandpa Barry and Grandma Dottie, Freddy's grandparents. Then, after eating, they had a good kick together on Margaret's play mat. Although Freddy has Margaret beat in the fist chewing department, you can see from the video that Margaret may have an edge on him in social conversation.


Margaret had a long conversation with Grandpa Barry


And a bit of a snuggle with Grandma Dottie


Then she and Freddy competed for the attention of the hanging toys


video evidence

The Expressions of Margaret

Interested

"Let me think about that one"

"You're crazy, Daddy!"

"Pbhpbhpbh"

Happy

"I see..."

Getting tired

"Yawn!"

Creative Solutions

While I've been at work playing with toys, it seems that Margaret's life has become more and more toy filled as well.

We've had plenty of nice, plush toys for Margaret but have had them put away because we're not supposed to let her sleep with them for fear of SIDS and she's not yet able to play with them actively on her own.

Readers of the blog will know that we'd discovered that she quite liked looking at the hanging crib and play mat toys, but we didn't have many of them (basically, we only had two) so we were resigned to simply waiting for Margaret to grow old enough before she would be able to take advantage of all her cool stuffed toys.

Of course, Sarah, genius that she is, struck on a brilliant solution.

Voila.

All photos today by SAM

Using some ribbon, she's turned many of Margaret's smaller toys into hanging crib toys.

As I've told SAM time and time again, my absolute favorite part of Sarah, the part I find the most desireable and most drool worthy, is the part right between her ears.

I am not exaggerating when I say that when I came home and saw this setup that I fell even more passionately in love with SAM than I had been in the moment before I saw it



As it turns out, oddly enough, Margaret's favorite item in this new jury rigged play area is the green, foam ball, an item which we almost threw out because it was a cheapie sample that I got at Toy Fair in NY last year. But I guess it's bright and green and has a repeating geodesic soccer ball pattern on it so it probably holds her attention.



Besides making more life more fun for her, Margaret has been making life more interesting and rewarding for us as well.

She's smiling more frequently and more easily than ever before and that puts us over the moon. Especially if coupled with some cute cooing or murmuring.



Life with Margaret has been an absolute gas and having her has been the most rewarding thing I've ever done. Stunning.

The only bit I don't like? Having to leave SAM and Margaret every morning, kissing them goodbye and knowing that I'm missing most of their waking hours. It's hard.

But then again, I love my job so far, too.

So in all, I think life is good.

Photos by SAM

I came home from work (where I was in China) today to discover a camera full of photos! Turns out SAM has deployed those photo skills she's been hiding and snapped quite a few of the little M!

Margaret has been growing out of her clothes (we just changed diaper sizes from "NB" to "S") and so SAM did a fashion show today where she put Margaret in many of her new 3 month items. A few choice photos below.

Incidentally, we didn't report it at the time, but Margaret got weighed on Tuesday and came in at 4.87 kilograms / 10.8 pounds and 56.5 centimeters / 22.24 inches.








It's great to have photos of Margaret without having to take them. However, the photographer part of me is looking over my shoulder at the new gunslinger in town!

Also, SAM says Margaret is looking more and more boyish, but I think she looks just like herself!

Quick Update

Just a quick update since we have a photo from today.

Photo today by SAM

Margaret just LOVES her toys. Here you see her in her crib with her friend Eli the Elephant hanging above her and these great baby art cards from a company called Wee Gallery. Here we have the farm set.

Eli is bright and has multiple textures while the art cards are high contrast with great looking images for Margaret to practice her visual acuity with.

In the mornings, SAM says she just sets Margaret up like this and she can jump into the shower, get dressed, blow dry her hair and Margaret stays entertained, gurgling and smiling the whole time.

Gotta' love products that can keep a baby happy.

Hey Team,

I know that some of you are anxious for new photos but there simply haven't been many, lately as the in-house photographer (me) has been busy at work.

Last Friday morn before work

I have to admit that I don't have too much to report on Margaret except to say that she's learning new sounds, is ever more awake and seems to be losing her hair. It's starting to get a little bit patchy and we see strands of it in her hat and crib. Oh well. It was good while it lasted.

Sunday after feeding - look at that neck strength!

On Sunday, we picked up lots of loaner baby stuff from our friend Asel who has been incredibly generous. One of the best items is the tub that she lent us. Margaret obviously thought so too and decided to christen it on its first usage by pooping in it at the end of her bath on Sunday night.

I suppose there's a first time for everything.

I had to hold a screaming Margaret over the tub, dripping poopy bath water while Sarah refilled the sink with warm water so I could give Margaret another bath. I have to admit, it was nice to be in charge of the bath because it was Sarah who was in charge of cleaning out the poopy tub. I suppose I had the poopy, squirmy, inconsolable baby. Probably a fair trade.

Aaah, fun stuff.

'Till next time.

Ringing in 2008

Happy New Year!

We've all been a bit quiet during the Holiday season due to us spending time with our families, but please know that those of you who could not be with us are not forgotten! We simply thought about you in a manner that was not online.

Rest assured, we were carrying you in our hearts this Christmas and New Year's and we hope that all of you had safe and joyous holidays full of laughter, fun and family.

So a brief rundown.

We had Sarah's mother Roz (Grandma name, Mimi) with us this Christmas which was absolutely great. She came in on Christmas Eve and immediately, Grandmother and Granddaughter shared a connection. Below, you see their first meeting.



After that, was of course, Christmas which you've already seen photos of. Joy pulled out all the stops and put together a dinner of Turkey, stuffing, Salad with Caramelized Bacon, Creamed Spinach, beans, mashed potatoes and for dessert, Pecan and Chocolate Bread Pudding. It really does not get better than that.



Then, the next day, Roz made Lobster Newburg which was prepared from the lobster meat she carried in from Maine. Delicious.

The 27th is the day on which we actually did "Christmas" at our house with Roz before having dinner out with my Aunt. On top of all the great gifts for the grownups, Margaret got her very first Christmas presents as well. We were stunned by everyone's generosity. Margaret is extremely lucky to have such a large, wonderful, loving family. Just a sampling of photos of Margaret trying out her gifts. Our apologies if yours is not highlighted with a photo - we loved all the presents but can only display photos of a few of them.





The 28th was an outing day! George rented his company's junk (a small type of Chinese boat) and took us all out on a day long cruise where we had a fresh seafood lunch at Lamma Island and tooled all around Hong Kong's waterways. It was simply an incredible time. We even managed to bring a bit of Maine to the traditional Hong Kong boat trip with a home baked apple "boat pie" that Roz made just for the occasion.











The 29th was spent house hunting where we managed to sign a lease on a small, ~800 square foot 3 bedroom apartment. The place has great light, is in a great part of town and is in our budget. Plus, Roz saw it and approved of it and that is a nice seal of approval to have.

No photos, but here's the floor plan.



The 30th (Sunday) we had Korean Barbecue with everyone but my mom and Gayle who were busy accepting an award in Vietnam for my dad. He posthumously was honored with Vietnam's "Friendship Medal," the highest award the government can give to a foreigner, and even then, to only one other person (his late partner, Mr. Lawrence Ting). Gayle also won a citation for her contributions to Vietnamese development. We are very proud and honored that both my sister's and father's work has been so recognized.

On New Year's eve, we had to send off Roz in the morning. We were all very sad to see her go after spending so much in depth time with her. Afterwards, we had delicious New Year's Eve dinner at Joy's house.




We went home before midnight and were in bed by 11:00 pm. Such is the life of new parents. But that didn't stop the kids, Koos, Gayle, Joan and mom from going to the Lobos for talent night and New Year's countdown. I hear it was fun.

Finally, New Year's day was spent, (where else?) at Joy's where she prepared the most incredible beef tenderloin I have ever had. I don't have photos of the tenderloin, but do of the delicious caramel crunch cake we had after for dessert.





That was the perfect coda for a wonderful Holiday season. Throughout it all, Margaret was a joy. She smiled lots, made lots of interesting noises and was fussy mostly only once we got her to our house.

Having all the family around was great in that we managed to get lots of advice when we wanted it and understanding space when things were tough. It was reassuring to hear all the other stories of similar experiences and to know that we weren't doing anything wrong - sometimes, babies just scream for 45 minutes.

As I write this, I've now been at my new job for two days and things have been going well. My new boss wasn't there on the first day so it was quite slow after introducing myself to everyone. It was great though, as almost everyone took me out to lunch that day and I've been happy to learn that the staff in the office are close, happy and supportive.

Today has been a bit steeper on the learning curve as I was thrown contracts, financial statements and more to digest and got a taste of the hefty travel schedule to come. China, Boston, Moscow and Dubai in the coming weeks/months. It's going to be interesting.

In any case, thanks to you all for continuing to read the blog even after the lengthy hiatus, for all the supportive emails and holiday wishes.

We're lucky to have such friends and family as yourselves and can't wait to see and reconnect with you all in this new year.