Sundays With the Best Family Ever

Due to the generosity of my wife, I was able to sleep in this morning until the slovenly late hour of 9:00 AM.

Sarah had taken Margaret to the park, so I woke to a quiet house that was mine, all mine.

As I shut off the water, the thick silence of the steamy shower was cut by the jingle of what I immediately recognized as the bell on Toby's collar followed by the slap slap slap of what could only be my daughter's crawling.

Emerging from the bathroom, I took in the sight of Sarah pulling Toby by his little lanyard leash into the bedroom with a delighted Margaret following close behind, trying to catch him.

Never has there been a better start to my day.

On top of that, Sarah had put a barette in M's hair this morning, giving her something of an impish air that I found difficult to resist.

She was in my arms in a heartbeat.

It was only the second time that she's ever worn a hair clip and I LOVE it.


Not only had Sarah already fed Margaret, but she had prepared our entire breakfast while I was showering, so all I had to do was to sit down at the table and enjoy a leisurely breakfast of chocolate croissants and apple turnovers which we had picked up the night before.

All we had to do to keep Margaret happy was to cut off the occasional piece of food from our own breakfasts and throw it her way.

Absolute paradise.

Because of Sarah's incredible forethought and thoughtfulness, I really did feel like I had a weekend even though I worked both days.

I am the luckiest man alive.


I have to say this again, I love how Margaret looks with a clip in her hair. There's something about it that makes her seem a little bit more feminine and just a little bit more mischievous, a little bit more cute and more tomboyish all at the same time.

I LOVE it!

The Family Dog

Wait! Who's that?

Toby the Dog is happy in his niche

Toby the Dog loves walks

It's Toby, the Tsien!
Yes. Chien is another way to romanize my last name.

So even though Toby is French and cost as much as flying there, we got him for Margaret.

The fact that he shares a name with the old McLean family dog helped his case, too.


He and Margaret are already fast friends.



Video of when they met right here:

More Pictures and Video

Surprise! Here we are with more (and a hopefully more polished) video with some additional footage from today and yesterday.

Yesterday's video installment may have been a bit boring, so I thought I'd spice this post up a bit with some eating and cruising. At least she's doing something in these.

And as if THAT wasn't enough, I've posted some photos from tonight as well.

Going for the nonchalant look

"Love that Baby!"

"Love that Mommy!"

Some video and a chronology in pictures

Welcome to a random mid-week update.

Yes, there is a video today, but not the one I've been intending to make for the past month commemorating our summer vacation.

Instead, here's some footage from today, taken by SAM after school.

I came home this afternoon to an empty living room covered with the detritus of Sarah's pocketbook scattered all over the floor, and the camera lying nearby.

When I finally found mom giving Margaret a bath, Sarah said, "My wallet is her new favorite toy."

And how it is. Luckily, SAM caught some footage of the deconstruction of her wallet.



Basically, it's just two minutes of her pulling out the contents of Sarah's wallet, while sitting on the couch, but I figure since there hasn't been a video in awhile, this would serve as well as anything to show her recent growth. Look at those legs!

She continues to impress us with her advances. She continues to get more steady on her feet, and has just learned to "cruise" from one surface to another (say, bookshelf to couch) now. Not very far, but she can do it. It's cute to see her reach out to another object while holding onto the first, then negotiating the changeover by letting go of the first object and then almost falling into the next.

Her coordination and dexterity are also improving. You can see it somewhat with how she's handling Sarah's wallet, but it is more apparent during mealtimes when she is better and better at getting the food, actually in her mouth.

Also, I as per E's request, I've finally pulled out a number of photos of Margaret swinging so people could get an idea of how much she's grown in the past couple of months. You've probably seen them all before, but unfortunately, I don't have new photos of Margaret from this week yet.

I've posted them with their dates in chronological order below. There are only a few months worth, but the changes seem pretty major from April to just a couple of weeks ago.

Enjoy!

April 5 / 4 mos, 3 wks

April 21 /5 mos, 1 wk

May 18 / 6 mos, 1 wk

May 25 / 6 mos, 2 wks

June 8 / 6 mos 4 wks

June 29 / 7 mos, 2 wks

August 22 / 9 mos, 1 wk

August 22 (again)

The Busiest Weekend Ever

Us and Uncle James
The weekend is finally over.

PHEW!

Starting from Saturday, this weekend was simply non-stop with something seemingly scheduled at every time slot.

Sarah's weekend actually started on Friday with a big bash at school kicking off their 25 year anniversary.

Then, on Saturday, we had lunch with my uncle James who was in from Houston, Joy and her children. After that, spent the afternoon with Sarah's friend, Jessica from Taipei who was visiting with her husband Peter. Then we spent the early evening with my God Brother Howard who was in from Taipei before having dinner with him.

Today, we had Dim Sum at 11:00 before splitting up with Sarah going to drop off some things at a friend's house while I put Margaret to sleep (who did not go down willingly) before having a meeting with a realtor at 4:00.


By the end of the day, we were so tired, we ordered pizza. We couldn't even think about cooking.

Both Sarah and I are now feeling like we're coming down with something... likely what Daisy had this week which put her out of commission.

For now, we're pumping vitamin C and are going to turn in early tonight.


I'm really not sure how other people do it. Maybe Sarah and I are just the homebody type that needs downtime in order to function.

I am so glad we don't have a packed schedule like this every week. I just wouldn't be able to handle it.

At home this afternoon

Friday Morning Blues

The blue onesie on her, I mean. I was calling her "Cookie Monster" this morning in Chinese - "Bing Gan Guai Wu."

Here she is, happy as a clam this morning. The first photo is of her trying to charm her mom (who is sitting in the chair) out of her breakfast toast, whereas the second one (below) is of her with her toys after breakfast.

Margaret is really enjoying standing these days, and can now cruise from one end of the couch to the other while holding on to the couch. I saw this performed for me this morning as she started from one end and wound up on the other in pursuit of a colorful business card I had left on the couch last night.

Very fun.


She's also enjoying eating. This morning's breakfast consisted of two cubes (an ice cube's worth of frozen pureed food) of papaya, one of apple, three of pear (plus wheat germ), a stick of string cheese and half a Chinese vegetable bun.

She would have kept eating, but I decided to stop her after the experience of a couple of days ago when a combination of overfeeding and choking on a bagel caused her to lose her entire breakfast into her bib.

Thank goodness for Daisy because without her, I'm not sure I could have still gotten to work on time.

The flip side was that I discovered how incredibly much she does eat. Up until that point, I was constantly scared of underfeeding her. After seeing the sheer volume of what came out, that fear is no longer.

Quick Update

Just a mid-week teaser to tide everyone over. The above is from Tuesday morning before heading in to work. She had dumped all her toys out of the basket, so I thought it'd be funny to put her inside.

The below is from early in the summer (June-ish) before Sarah left for the US. I found it on my phone and it's from when Sarah and Margaret came and met me at my office for lunch one Saturday.

Busy Busy Sundays

Today, a family Sunday found us having delicious lunch at Joy's house with George's brother Tom, his wife Valerie and their son, E.

It was great to get together with so much family. It really feels like we're reaching some sort of critical mass, now, with more of our friends and family moving here. The only problem now is finding the time to hang out with everyone!


Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera to the lunch, today, so everything was taken by Valerie.

As a result, all shots you see are from this afternoon at our house, after Margaret's nap.

Surprise, a tooth!

During Margaret's feeding tonight, SAM stuck her finger in M's mouth to discover something surprising - an extra tooth on her right side. It's an upper and her fifth.

We were very surprised at this, though, in retrospect there were clues - the drooliness and the fussiness were there, but we were chalking that up to jet lag and other reasons.

Anyways, the discovery was great fun, and feels, essentially, free since we didn't know it was coming in at all and had already experienced the fussiness and attributed it to other causes.

Just wanted to share.

In other news, we went swinging again, today. The weather was great and we had some time before dinner.

As you can see, Margaret had fun.

Storm Signal 9

Storm? What storm? I'm hungry!
The Hong Kong Observatory advises us:

"Do not go outside. If you are reasonably protected, stay where you are and keep well away from all windows. Close all interior doors and make sure children are confined to the least exposed part of your home. On no account should you touch electric cables that have been blown loose."

It's a blowin' outside.

There's a weird harmonic in our kitchen on certain gusts and if you're in it, you can feel the air pressure change. Also, there must be a draft because the plants we have hanging by our living room windows are blowing around even though we can't really feel it.

Kinda' cool, actually.

Getting cleaned up after lunch
Of course, it didn't get this way until probably around 6:30 pm, meaning that while the whole day was rainy and dreary, it was actually quite calm.

It was quite eerie to look outside to see relatively calm weather but nobody on the streets.

Of course, inside, Margaret had a heckuva day, with Mommy home by noon and both her parents all to herself - not even Daisy, because we had sent her home.

"Why does Mommy have the camera?"
So we took pictures all day long. Well, there was slightly more to it than that.

We played a lot with Margaret and got a good baseline on where she's at now and what she is able to do. She is now able to pull herself up with only one hand, and is making attempts at standing with no hands. She can also almost scoot while hanging onto the couch but not quite yet.

We also napped for most of the afternoon.

I think that Sarah may have done some prep reading, but I can't be sure because I was zonked out in bed during Margaret's very long naps today.

On occasion I think about how today was a wasted day and how the weather would have been find to go out and do something, but then I realize that those types of risks just aren't worth taking now that we have Margaret.

Yeah, it wasn't very taxing.

"Hooray for storm days!"
Now it's almost 9:30 and Margaret is all snuggled into her crib, in her room - the least exposed part of the apartment, coincidentally.

Sarah is reading on the couch and I am seriously considering going to bed. I mean, what else is there to do?

And anyways, I'm likely to have to go to work tomorrow. Grump.

Looking heroically to the future
Anyways, we hope you all enjoy the bonus post and photos from this afternoon.

We sure enjoyed the day that made them.

Trying to charm dad

Looking like the cat who just swallowed the canary

Looking like she's about to ask a question

Typhoon 8

After breakfast with strange looking Daddy
Hong Kong is off work again due to a Signal 8 Typhoon Warning. Typhoon Nuri is forecast to score a direct hit on Hong Kong sometime tonight, and it is closing in on us as we speak.

We've been here three years almost and this is the first year we've had any days off for typhoons. I'm not complaining, but Sarah decided to go into school anyways in order to better prepare for the students coming in on Monday, leaving Margaret all to me!

Swinging up a storm
This morning, however, the weather seemed fine. It was overcast, but calm with no rain. So after breakfast, while Daisy headed out to get our dinner ingredients (so she could go home early), I took Margaret to the swings thinking it would be our only chance to get her out of the house for a bit today.

I realize now that this was rather ill advised. It was only after we got to the swings that, looking around at all the leaves and branches that had blown down in the previous hours that I realized that the danger came from more than just the rain.

This was probably why we were the only ones at the play park.

So after a few minutes of half-hearted swinging, which Margaret nonetheless enjoyed, I quickly bundled her back into the baby carrier and we came home.

Sad to be back home
Just as she finished her bottle, the rain started in earnest and as I write is now blowing in waves across our windows.

We got back just in the nick of time.

Now, all we have to do is to get Mommy home and we can retire warm and cozy in our home for the day.

One more for the crowd

Bagels fear her
In response to the overwhelming (sibling) requests for more photos, here's one I took of M this morning during breakfast.

Margaret is capable of putting away an incredible amount of food and enjoys some things that are... surprising.

Her new favorite is Gouda cheese which I would have thought would be too strong for her, but when presented this morning with grapes, gouda and blueberries, she ate four healthy slices of cheese before moving on to the berries. The bagel... that's her absolute favorite. She won't stop screaming until you put one in her hands (a half of a half) and she won't leave her high chair until she's done with it.

Measurements!

At Joy's house with Popo
Yes, we did go to the doctor and get M measured. The numbers are at the bottom, though, so you'll have to read through the rest of this post to learn what they are.

It's been awhile since my last post, with almost no recent news, I know. But it's been quite an exhausting time for us, readjusting to Hong Kong, work, etc. The worst has been Margaret's jet-lag, teething and cold. Yes, all at once.

On top of that, many of you have "just" seen Margaret. Margaret and Sarah left Roz's embrace to fall immediately into my sister Joy and her family, and my mom's.

That's right - my mother arrived in Hong Kong (in transit to Vietnam) an hour before Sarah and Margaret on Friday and so we had the opportunity to meet up at the airport and spend the weekend together.

Margaret and her cousins at Dim Sum
Margaret was luckily fairly well behaved during the day. However, the aforementioned jet-lag, teething and cold did a number on us.

We knew that it took her about a week to adjust to the jet-lag on the way there, so we were expecting it.

Margaret would typically wake up twice a night through the first week back. Sarah described it as like having a newborn.

Except for the fact that when Margaret was newborn, she'd go back to sleep immediately after feeding. Jet-lagged Margaret wanted to play after her bottle at 4:00 AM.

Family snapshot
On top of that, Margaret seemed to get over her jet-lag by mid-week, but after only a couple of nights of sleeping through the night, started waking up again due to some combination of a cold / congestion and teething.

There's nothing as sad as a plaintive, crying baby, standing in her crib with her arms outreached for you to pick her up.

Yes, even at 4:00 AM when you've already been up for forty five minutes with her and it's the fourth time you've put her back in the crib.

Teeth!

The tooth (upper) has broken through (see photos below) but unfortunately the cold is still creating gross, green runny nose on Margaret.

Hopefully, she'll recover from that this week.
It didn't, however, keep us from taking her swimming today.

She seemed okay in the wading pool, but didn't take to the big pool very well, today - even being held by us.

We're going to have to keep at it, for all her cousins like swimming, and it'd be a real bummer not to be able to go to the pool with them!

Flying!
Besides that, though, it's been great to have Margaret back home.

The teeth continue to grow out, which is really funny. She's going to be really buck-toothed, if that gap is any indication. I told SAM in a sad voice that she was going to be really ugly, and SAM's reply was, "It'll be good for her."

So true.

Gouda and Grapes for dinner
That's not all, though. She keeps getting faster and faster at crawling, is able to pull herself up to standing more and more easily now, and can manage to climb onto the sofa now using Mom as a stepping stool.

That part is very cool. I have video but that will have to wait until I have more time.

Anyways, life with M is now slowly moving back to normal. Sarah has been back at school now for a week, even though the kids don't arrive until the 25th, and I'm getting readjusted to the daily office routine again as well.

Summer vacation is really over now.

Climbing
Oh, and Sarah took Margaret to the doctor on Saturday for her final Hepatitis B vaccination and a general check.

All is as it should be, thankfully.

She weighs 8.3 KG / 18 pounds 4 ozs, and is 71 cm / 28 inches. Both in the 60th percentile. For those who care, her head circumference is 45 cm / 17 1/4 inches. That is in the 75th percentile.