A star in the making

Like her mommy and daddy and yaya, Isabel also love to sing and dance. She is so expressive when there is music.



- Lei

Her new favorite toys from Grandma Grandpa Han

Grandma and Grandpa Han dispatch their elf (me) to get many presents for Isabel this holiday including practical things like overnight diapers, rain cover for stroller, rain boots and overall for Isabel. The latest things that arrived in the mail are more fun and Isabel's favorite toys - a talkable tea pot and cuttable fruits. She plays with them every day. Here are two videos





- Lei

Isabel is learning many words

She is learning exponentially fast now. Just like when she started walking, after two weeks, she was running. Well, she started talking a month ago and now she can try to repeat many things we say. We really have to be careful what we say.

In this video, she learned to say "cookies pls" and "thank you"


The many words Isabel knows are Mama, Mommie, Dada, Daddy, Yaya, Bita (she says Bika), Bito, Lao Lao, Lao ye (which are grandma, grandpa in Chinese), socks (she say Duck), jacket, Meimei, Agnes (Aggie), Drink (she unfortunately pronounce it as d__k,  makes me laugh every time), oh oh, oh no, please, eat, more, up, down, out, open, morning, banana (she says nana), apple, ball, night night (nigh, nigh).  I am sure she will learn many more soon.  Lately she has been saying "buck"  We still don't know what she is trying to say but we hope she is not imitating Daddy.   Enjoy the video



- Lei

Isabel trying to sneak a cookie

This is so funny. It's the second time daddy is doing this to Isabel. The first time is when Isabel was only 2 month old. See link here for the 2 months old video and how much she has grown.  Isabel is such a good girl, always listening to Daddy



- Lei

Isabel with Gabby at Xmas

- Lei

Size 2 again - a 19 months process

I am happy to say that I have lost the last of my baby weight (8 pounds and 4% fat) in the last 4 months and was able to keep it off over the holidays.  Horray!

It's nice to fit into all my clothes again and I rewarded myself with a nice shopping spree of boots, sweaters, jacket, scarfs, pants, etc... :-)  I took this picture at Christmas.  I am wearing a dress I wore at my college graduation xx years ago.  I kept this one just as an incentive so I can always strive to fit back into it.

This has been a long journey but I am glad to be back to my old physical self.  :-)  Forget reading People or In Touch where Heidi Klum is on the runway after 2 months of giving birth and her fourth kid.  It's doesn't happen to us.  Also stop listening to those who says they lost more weight after giving birth and weight even less than before.  That definitely was NOT me.

Here are my 10 lessons learned.

• Breastfeeding helps - to reshape my body back.   I didn't lose much weight during breastfeeding but I could see that my body was shrinking back nonetheless
• Don't try to get on a diet during breastfeeding - it affected my milk and didn't make me feel good.  I made two failed attempts of a week each and decide to just focus on breastfeeding.  I breastfeed for 10 months.
  
• Bikram Yoga is a gentle way to get back in shape - When Isabel was 3 months old, I started Birkram yoga again after realizing I couldn't do even half of a sit up.  I waited until Isabel is 3 months old since I had a C section and it takes awhile to heal.  Now I still do Yoga 2 times a week.  Very good for my sanity too
• Incorporate Cardio after 6 months - Doing only one kind of exercise - Bikram Yoga -allowed me to cheat and so I added Cardio at 9 months.  I probably could have done it at 6 months.  I started dance classes, cardio kick boxing, or running.  It definitely gave my energy a boast.
• Be Patient and Don't be hard on myself - being anxious about losing weight doesn't help.  While pregnant and breastfeeding, I developed a habit of snacking at night around 11pm since I was hungry a lot.  That habit was hard to kick.  It took me about six months after breastfeeding to stop it.  I was hard on myself for a little bit but the more I resisted in snacking, the more I thought about it, and the more I couldn't sleep until I snacked.  you get the idea.
• Believing goes a long way and South Beach diet works for me - Prior to pregnancy, I lost about 10 pounds 5 years ago when I changed my diet to a modified south beach.  So once I felt more energetic, I tried again the modified south beach diet at around 15 month.  I lost about 5 pounds in 6 weeks.  The fact I knew it worked for me before help me stay positive.  Now that's is my regular diet and I feel great and energetic.
  
• Reward myself -  dieting is never fun so I rewarded myself in two ways.  1) I paid a lot more for lunch to get good low carb food like steak, lamb chop, and sushi.  that made the diet fun and I look forward to eating the food that is good for me.  2) Shopping spree incentive - I didn't shop much in the last two years since I didn't plan to keep the same weight, but I was looking forward to shopping again once I got my shape back.
• Starving myself did not help - after 4 weeks of low carb, I thought if I did low carb some more, I will lose even more weight.  WRONG.  My body started storing all the food and I was low energy.  It actually made me gain a pound or two back.  So after initial low carb, it's good to add carb back to give myself energy to work out.  
• Girls' trip always help - I went to Cancun with girlfriend Dawn for 4 days.  Ate whatever I wanted but danced 4 hours a night and lost 3 more pounds.   I was in a pretty happy mood too. 
• Lastly but not the least, I had great support  - my husband always complimented me regardless of how big I was and that made me feel good.  He definitely also noticed when I lost weight in the last 4 months.  That helps a lot.  Also having Agnes around to take care of baby gave me time to work out 3-4 times a week.

All in all, a long but good journey. The female body is quite amazing.  Hope this will work out if and when I have number 2.   Happy 2010.

- Lei

New favorite toy

I sometimes wonder why we as parents buy any toys at all. Isabel love this latest toy. It's big, it has holes /door, it's hours of fun and it's FREE!



- Lei

Busy little elf

We had a Xmas tree at our lobby downstairs and Isabel loved it all December.



- Lei

My dear Isabel - Happy New Year

Meimei,

This is your second new year.  Mommy is so proud of what a good little girl you have become.  You learned to play with your cousin Gabby, giving her hugs and sharing your toys.  You are learning new words, some faster than others, like "cookie." You got through surgery so bravely and healing so well.

Your every expression and smile warms my heart and I can't believe I am so lucky to be your mom.  Every parent think their child is the cutest.  Sometimes I just can't believe how cute and adorable you are.

I can't wait to guide you through all the amazing things life have to offer.  I am also learning to enjoy every moment the way you do, without worry about the past or the future.  It's now a new decade.  This decade will bring many changes for you.  You will be 11 years old by the end of this decade.  Wow.  I can't even imagine it and I also don't want to get ahead of myself.  I want to enjoy the present and your every new next development.

I can't wait to share 2010 with you.  Many hugs and kisses and love,

- Mom
p.s. I still can't believe I am a mom.  when I sign my name Mom, I actually think of my mom instead, but now I am a mom and it's a wonderful journey