Calliope's First Christmas

A friend of mine once characterized parenthood as "long days, short years." Yes, the days can feel long. Today, for example, was veeeerrrrry long. Maybe it was because it began at 5:30 am when Calliope woke up (woke up for good, that is - she'd already awakened previously just to say "Wassup?" at 1 am and then again at 3am). But then the years seem to flash by. I feel like it was just the other day I was washing and folding newborn onesies in anticipation of the birth of a baby who would be so small that he wouldn't be able to wear them until he was three months old. Now, that same tiny baby is a raucous preschooler who enjoys stomping in puddles and tormenting his little sister. And his little sister... Well, once she was born, time moved from light speed to warp speed. The past ten months have been a blur of milestones, birthdays, and holidays. And now it's Christmas. Where did the time go? Thank God I have a camera (or three) to overdocument every single moment, or I might think that it was all a dream.

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Since becoming a family, Vince and I have developed a few holiday traditions. Each year, we send out our holiday cards right after Thanksgiving. Each year, we add a new ornament to the tree that consists of a picture of the family inside a frame with the year on it. But one of our favorite traditions involves going out for a holiday dim sum with our dear friends and neighbors the Bowens.
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This tradition started the first year we met them. Benjamin was 10 months old, and Nolan was just over a year.

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It continued the following year when the boys were about two.
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Now, it's not just the two boys anymore. It's three boys, along with a little girl. In another year or two, there might be another little boy or girl in the mix. Just kidding, Vince! I know you said the baby factory's closed.
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Despite the changes, some things do stay the same!

. Another wonderful tradition we have is spending time celebrating Christmas with our good friends Deb and George. They come over to our place to share a meal and also to spoil the kids rotten with too many presents.
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This year was no different - they came over for brunch on Christmas Eve and brought with them a ridiculous amount of gifts!
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Although the kids loved the new toys, what they really enjoyed was just hanging out with their favorite auntie and uncle.
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We spent the rest of Christmas Eve getting ready for the big day to come. That evening, we attended a candlelight service at my in-laws' church and then came home to relax.

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Rather, I relaxed, and Vince used some very un-Christmas-like language while attempting to assemble what was to be the kids' big gift.
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All that sweating and cursing was not in vain - their faces lit up when they saw the beribboned wagon on Christmas morning. We actually had to persuade them to get out of it so they could open the rest of their gifts. Actually, Benjamin was the only one we had to persuade. Calliope had no idea what was going on.
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Being only 10 months old, we expected her to enjoy the boxes and wrapping more than her actual gifts, but she surprised us by really taking to her new Remo floor tom.
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Benjamin's favorite gift was his Zoob set. He got to work right away building himself a little car.
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Calliope enjoyed playing with the Zoobs, too. Only she didn't build a car; she built a toothbrush.
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Later, we took the new wagon for a stroll around the neighborhood. There was almost no one out, and it was so quiet and serene. The only sounds were those of the wagon wheels turning on the hard concrete, Calliope giggling in her seat, and Benjamin giving us a running commentary on everything he saw. "Mama! Look!! A tree! A big tree! Mama, a car! A big red car! Car go VROOM! Oh, Daddy! DADDY, LOOK, A SQUIRREL! Squirrel go JUMPJUMPJUMP--" Ok, nevermind. Let's go back to that serenity.
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That evening, we went to Vince's parents' house for Christmas dinner. After stuffing ourselves silly with ham and sweet potatoes, we opened gifts. Tons and tons of gifts. It felt like each of us had a veritable mountain of gifts to get through.
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The kids definitely had fun unwrapping all those presents, but I think what they really enjoyed was just spending time with one another.

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So I guess I've learned a few lessons this Christmas...

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Lesson #1: Holiday traditions are awesome. Let's keep 'em going!

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Lesson #2: The presence of loved ones mean far more to us than their presents, which is a good thing, because...

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Lesson #3: Sharing Christmas presents can be difficult. For some of us anyway.

Happy Holidays, everyone!!

Orange You Glad It's Halloween?

Halloween... Ah, Halloween! As I love to say, it's the most wonderful time of the year. And I could hardly believe that it has been an entire year since we strutted our stuff as blue-haired punk rocker family. I'll admit that I went a little nuts last Halloween creating our ensembles, and I'd had big plans for our costumes this year. My original vision was that we'd be a glam-rock family - Benjamin would be David Boo-wie (get it? BOO-wie?), Calliope would be Baby Gaga, I would be Cher, and Vince would be a party pooper (he wasn't too keen on this theme). But now that I have two rugrats keeping me busy, I'm much shorter on time to devote towards creating a concrete manifestation of my worth as a mother-- I mean, I have much less time to spend designing and sewing costumes. So, I choose an easier vision to achieve - the nefarious Droogs from A Clockwork Orange.

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We had ample opportunity to wear our spiffy white costumes and black derbys. One of the first events was the Halloween celebration at the Boo's preschool. Most people "got" our costumes right away, and they absolutely loved it. I did have one mom comment that the costumes were "sick and wrong," but she was kidding. I think. In any case, I prefer to think that we dressed up as pop culture icons and not as serial killers.
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The next day was the neighborhood Autumn Festival. There were food vendors, face painters, and bounce houses. There was also a performance by aspiring ballerinas from my friend Tanya's So Fly Kids dance class. The little dancers wore puppy dog ears and adorable pink tutus. As I watched them, I wondered if I should done what any other normal mom would have done and chosen a more typically "girly" costume for Calliope. She didn't seem to have an opinion on the matter either way, so I guess it was fine. Besides, her brother probably would taken it from her anyway...
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...just like he's taken some of her other tutus. Suffice it to say, my son is in touch with his feminine side.

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In addition to parties and cross-dressing, what Halloween is complete without a visit to the pumpkin patch? Every year since Benjamin was just a baby, we'd gone to nearby Shawn's Pumpkin Patch. He seemed to enjoy himself the last two years, but this year, he became obsessed! Over the course of two weeks, we went to the pumpkin patch five times. FIVE TIMES! We went with...
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...Benjamin's preschool classmates and neighbors Maxwell and Novella...
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...best buddy Nolan...
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...and all by ourselves - not once...
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...but twice!
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We also made one final trip with Benjamin's school buddy James on the actual day of Halloween. I was a little worried that Benjamin wouldn't be able to handle the fact that the pumpkin patch would be gone until the following year. Luckily, there was trick or treating to take his mind off of this huge loss!
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That evening, the four of us donned our Droog outfits and headed to the park for a neighborhood costume parade.

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I was especially tickled by the sight of Daddy Droog and Little Droog walking hand in hand.
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And as though a family of cinematic serial killers wasn't enough of a spectacle, my best friend Deb joined us dressed as a giant yellow Teletubby.

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At the park, there seemed to be at least several hundred people milling about. We saw witches, superheros, princesses, and cartoon characters, but no other Droogs. In fact, a few people didn't even realize that we were Droogs. One person commented that she thought it was so cute that we were all dressed up as Charlie Chaplin. Hmmm. I guess that's what I get for dressing my kids up as random serial killers. Next time, I'll be sure to pick serial killers that most people are familiar with!
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New Year's (Not So) Rockin' Eve

Being hugely pregnant with a husband and toddler means that you're not going to be doing a whole lot of partying on New Year's Eve. Still, Vince and I had planned to celebrate in our own old-fogey way by spending a quiet evening playing board games with our buds Julie and Shawn. Not too terribly exciting, but it was still something that we were excited about. Unfortunately, our unborn baby girl had a different sort of excitement in mind.

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I'd been experiencing symptoms of preterm labor for several weeks, most of which I'd ignored. Why? Because I'm invincible! And also because I have a toddler who makes impromptu trips to the doctor very inconvenient. Two weeks prior, however, my symptoms were severe enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. Julie took me so Vince could be at home with the Boo. Several hours of monitoring, tests, and exams later, I was discharged with strict instructions to "take it easy" or else risk being put on bed rest. I did my best to listen to my doc - after all, I had a Roomba now, so daily vacuuming was one of the chores I could cross off of my list! I suppose I wasn't taking it easy enough, though, because on I woke up on the morning of NYE with abdominal symptoms so strong that I was having trouble walking. By the afternoon when the pain had progressed to the point where I was having trouble standing up straight or breathing, I knew it was time to call the doc, who told me to go straight to the hospital. Since Vince wasn't feeling well (and becomes so bored in hospitals that he drives me batty anyway), I called my best bud Deb to take me.

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As soon as I arrived, they hooked up me to the monitors and took samples for testing. As I lay there resting, my pain lessened and my tummy stopped contracting, which led to my getting a lecture on what "taking it easy" really means. Apparently, it doesn't mean being a jungle gym for my toddler. And I guess it also means that because I have a Roomba to do my vacuuming, I'm still not supposed to be moving furniture or rolling up area rugs to clear the floors for it. How was I supposed to know??

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Apparently, mine wasn't the only belly causing problems that night; the maternity ward was bustling! As a result, things weren't happening nearly as quickly as they had the last time. And as the hours ticked by, I started to worry. You see, Deb and her hubby had made NYE plans to meet some fabulous friends at a trendy restaurant in Hollywood. When I called her at 3:00 pm to ask for a ride to the hospital, I figured that since my previous trip there had lasted only a few hours, I could have her back with plenty of time to spare. Boy, was I wrong. After three hours had passed and we were still waiting on more tests to be performed, I urged Deb to leave and let me take a cab home. By the five-hour mark, I was begging her to leave. By hour seven, she was ready to tape my mouth shut. And not only did she insist on staying, but she told me that she wanted to stay - and she actually meant it! It brought tears to my eyes, but I guess that that's what true friends do - they give up the chance to get gussied up and mingle with the fab and famous in order to sit in their sweats and feed ice chips to their pregnant friends.

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In the end, I checked out fine and Deb managed to make it to her destination exactly one minute before midnight. The docs told me that my symptoms may have been caused by a purely mechanical issue: my abs stretching out and separating. Yikes! I was told that in order to avoid being checked into the hospital and put on bedrest, I really needed to try take it easy by staying off of my feet and getting some help with Benjamin. I was also advised to get some more support for my growing belly in the form of a maternity belt:

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Is this not the least sexy item of clothing you've ever seen? If Vince still finds me attractive after seeing me in this, then it must mean that he really loves me!

Christmas Extravaganza 2009

Having been raised in an interfaith home that included both Christianity and Buddhism, my family observed the major Christian holidays, including Christmas. Even so, other traditions such as Lunar New Year and the Chinese practice of honoring of passed relatives with incense and food took precedence in our family consciousness. Once I graduated from college, I became even less of a Christmas person. It was just hard to get into the Christmas spirit when the rest of my family was on the other side of the world. Now that I have a family of my own, however, celebrating the holidays has taken on a new importance for me. Although I am not very devout or exclusively Christian, I do consider myself to be a very spiritual person. For me, this time of year represents not just that spirituality, but also the sense of community I have with my friends and my growing family.
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Our holiday celebrations began the weekend before Christmas. We met Shawn, Julie, and Nolan for what was becoming a tradition of meeting for holiday dim sum. The boys exchanged gifts and then tried in earnest to grab the fish swimming in the koi pond in front of the restaurant.
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The next day, Deb and George came over to celebrate with us. In an effort to keep them to a reasonable degree of gift-giving, I told Deb that she was to spend no more than $15 per gift. When she showed up at our door with bags and bags bursting full of presents, she started sputtering explanations. "I stuck to the $15 limit, but you didn't specify who the gifts could be from!" Huh? Well, a peek at the presents explained everything. Not only were there gifts from Deb and George to each of us, but there were gifts from their dogs Seth and Kevin as well! As if their countless hours of Boo-sitting and familial support weren't enough of a gift already, they outdid themself with presents, too! Gift-giving rule-breaking notwithstanding, Benjamin had a wonderful time hanging out with his favorite auntie and uncle, and I had a great time kicking it with my sister.
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On Christmas Eve, we headed over to my in-laws' house for a family Christmas dinner and also to belatedly celebrate my MIL's birthday.

.Benjamin had a great time tearing paper off of his gifts. I think he may even have enjoyed that more than the gifts themselves!

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Christmas Day arrived, and I think that Vince and I were more anxious about the gifts than Benjamin was! We didn't want Benjamin to think that Christmas was just an orgy of gift-giving, but we were excited to watch him open the few gifts we did get him, which were some toy cars, books, and a new trike.

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Santa had left presents for Mommy and Daddy, too. Vince got a new video game and video game subscription, a framed photo of himself and the Boo for his office, and a limited edition Benjamin Chan EP.

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I received a beautiful jewelry holder shaped like lily pads (get it? LILY pads?), a Tiffany luggage tag (to tie to my sanity in case I lose it again), and - drum roll, please - a ROOOOOOOMBA!!!! See, our vacuum cleaner had gone on the fritz several months ago. Add to that the fact that the person to whom the chore of vacuuming belonged always seemed to suffer a sudden allergy attack or last-minute migraine whenever it came time for him to fulfill his duty, and the Roomba became numero uno on my wish list. Actually, the Roomba was more of a gift for Vince since it took one of his house duties away, but I suppose the decrease in blood pressure I get from not having to harangue him every weekend about vacuuming makes it my gift, too!
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Once we were done opening gifts, Vince set about the task of assembling Benjamin's new tricycle. Apparently, the Boo didn't think he was moving fast enough, so he tried to lend a hand. Half an hour and a minimum of cursing later, the trike was done, and the Boo climbed on...
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...without any pants on. Guess that's one way to make sure your friends don't touch your new toy!

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Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!

Scary Old Saint Nick Part 3

Last Saturday, we went for a stroll down "Candy Cane Lane" in nearby El Segundo. Candy Cane Lane is actually a regular residential street which transforms into a wonder of Christmas lights and displays each December.

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Our neighbors and good buddies Nolan and Kayla (as well as their parents, of course!) joined us for the stroll. As they say, the more, the merrier!

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The amount of work that went into transforming these homes was incredible. While the kids marveled at the blinking lights and colorful displays, we parents marveled at the sheer amount of extra space that must be necessary to store everything once the season is over.

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Benjamin seemed to be having a great time. He and Nolan ran happily from one yard to the next, pointing at the displays and excitedly babbling to one another. But then suddenly, Benjamin stopped cold and starting wailing.

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What had happened? Did he stub a toe? Accidentally get whacked in the face? Suddenly realize that the amount of energy needed to power all of these light displays was cruelly ironic considering that the Copenhagen Climate Conference was happening at this very moment?

And then we saw the source of his distress:

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I guess his Santa-phobia extends to Santa-themed shrubbery!