Happy 2013

Happy New Year!  One of the biggest things I learned this year is: with two kids, I have to give up getting everything done on time or at all.   So what's meant to be a Xmas letter is now a Happy new year letter.  Better late than never, right? :-)

2012 has been an exciting year as ever.  With Ling Ling born in Dec last year, we had our hands full just integrating her into the family.  While Isabel loves her little sister, sometimes, she can love her too much (when she tries to pick up or feed her crackers yikes, or hug her too hard).  All in all though, we survived.

Alexis has developed quite a personality.  She is a pretty mellow kid in general,a good sleeper and loves to smile a lot. Her signature move is the princess wave which accompanied by a big smile has melt many hearts.  Don't get her mad though.  On the rare occasions where she is mad, she has a booming, heart-wrenching cry. She has 4 teeth now, weights about 20 pounds, height 30 inches.  She hasn't started walking yet but she can crawl really fast.  She LOVES food and will pretty much eat anything (so far no allergies! YEAH!)

Isabel has grown into quite a creative, expressive little girl.

• By expressive, I really mean non-stop talking in the house, in the car, walking on the street, anywhere including with friendly strangers on muni.  She has made a friend, Victoria in Paris whose dad is our neighbor.  They talk by Facetime a lot and it's so cute to hear her conversations.  She also made many friends from school and all her social activities.  
• Isabel has a keen fashion sense and the ultimate girl - not sure where she gets that from.  I was a tom boy and liked to climb tree when I was 4.  She loves everything princess.  Luckily she also has just as much fun getting herself dirty in the sand at the beach.   
• Isabel loves to read and learn.  She thinks reading to her is as fun as watching TV.  She voluntarily does Math with me in Chinese and she has taken on the 100 piece puzzle.  It's amazing to watch her mind soak up all the information and figure things out.  Isabel is pretty fluent now in Mandarin.  Even my parents were impressed.

Jaime made it through a year in the corporate machine - SalesForce who bought the startup, desk.com, he

worked at in Sept 2011.  Luckily for him, Salesforce has kind of a Frat culture - many happy hours, young energy, so he fits right in.  He was also shielded from most of the corporate politics by his boss. Well, no more, his boss just left last week, so Jaime is taking over the marketing department for desk.com and will have a team of 4.  He is instinctively a good leader but we will see how long he can fend off or take the corporate BS.  2013 will be another exciting year.  Jaime continues to do Judo and Jiujitsu although not as often.  He hope to get back to a regular schedule in 2013.   

Agnes is as usual a life saver for our family's sanity and balance.  She is great with the kids and continue to teach us by example how to be better parents.  Ha!  She is also an amazing interior organizer.  Without her, our apt would probably look like a storage all over.  She manages to tuck away many things in our storage closet and on the balcony.  She loves her Netbook and iPhone so she can stay connected with her family in the Philippines, her friends around the word, us, and good shopping online :-).  Now that my sister in law, Em, is back in town, Agnes also parties it up with her once a month and get some girl time.

I am back at Wells Fargo working 35 hours a week since March.  I almost took a head of marketing job at a start up but luckily I wised up. :-)  Not a good fit as the CEO and I didn't have the same execution focus. Besides, I want to be there to see my kids grow up.   The Wells Fargo contract affords me flexibility, convenience and financial security.  Gives me more time to also work on my career success blog.  I have about 15K readers monthly and almost 1500 people receiving my email newsletters.  I have many ideas for next year - local events and maybe a book.  We will see how I can fit it in. Lastly, I am happy to return to my pre-pregnancy weight - losing 37 pounds over 8 months.  Yeah!  I know I am vain, but I am also a dancer.  The bigger me just didn't feel right.  I hope to do more salsa dancing next year. :-)

All in all, our family of five is doing well and want to wish you a very happy new year.  Let's get together in 2013.  Best wishes,

Lei, Jaime, Isabel, Alexis, and Agnes

Alexis 1 year check up

Alexis is growing up fast. She is

• height 29.75 inches - 55%
• weight 19 lb 13 oz - 25%
• head 17.75 inches - 55%

All very healthy and switching to cow milk plus lots and lots of food.  We are feeding her now 3 meals a day + 2 snacks + 3 bottles of milk of about 18 oz total.

Isabel first Santa letter

She wrote all the letters with a little coaching from mama. Santa got her letter and delivered her beautiful train set !!

A Very Merry, Busy Xmas

The holidays is just flying by. Between family, work, and friends gatherings, we have been dashing from one place to another non-stop all the way up to Xmas.
- Jaime's company party at SFMOMA
- Jaime's high school friends holiday lunch in San Mateo
- Diva dinner with Ajantha, Judy, and Tamara
- Adult couples night out with Kerry, Brett, Ena, and Chuong
- Early Xmas dinner at Bito and Bita and Birthday celebrations for Roy and Alexis \
- Birthday lunch for Bito at Bocce Cafe
- Decadent Xmas Eve dinner at Christina's house in Portola Valley
- Isabel's dance recital
- Jaime's jiujitsu friends holiday party at Angie and Matt's 

This is just to name a few things we been up to. Here are some photos from some of the festivities.

 Isabel of course got a lot of presents again although she seems to never be satisfied. We are trying to figure out how to teach her to appreciate things she gets instead of focus on the one or two things she doesn't have. One tradition I started with her is we went to feed the homeless on Xmas Eves Day. WE got 3 meals at McDonalds and went around our neighborhood to hand them out. I don't think she get the concept of homeless yet but she was sweet to go with me and we will probably do it every year.

 Now it's a little quieter at home so we can recover from all the festivities.. Enjoy the photos. First one has the kids. Second one are more adult parties
 Lei

almost walking

We went to a friend's house for holiday brunch. they have a lot of toys as they also have a 1 and 4 year old. Alexis had a lot of fun with this great little shopping cart. I think she will walk soon on her own - maybe in a month or so

Alexis Attends Her First Dance Show

Since big sister Isabel was performing at Brava Theater, we took Alexis to see it. this is her first show to watch. The show was at 5pm and lasted until 6:30pm. We were worried that she would be bored or cry from the noise. On the contrary, she loved every minute and was enchanted by all the dancing. A nice way to spend her 1st birthday :-) watching a modern dance watching belly dancing watching taiko - we were all so impressed. These were 12-17 year old. perfectly synchronized. Alexis loved it watching and dancing to hip hop

Isabel's First Stage Performance - Brava Theater

As you know, Isabel loves to dance. She has been taking a hip hop class at Dance Mission for 5-6 years old. She is the youngest but she loves it. Well, Dance Mission puts on a show at the end of each semester that include all the youth programs 5-17 years old at the Brava theater.

On Sat Dec 15, 2012, it was a full house of 300+ people in the audience. Isabel took on the stage with enthusiasm and no fear as she danced her heart out with her hip hop classmates. Congrats Isabel! Mommy is very proud of you.

   

My Dear Alexis

Dearest Ling Ling,

Mommy had a special bond with you before you were even born.  I used to loved to rub my tummy as you moved around inside waiting to meet the world.  I can't believe you are already 1 years old and I feel so blessed to have you in my life.

From the day you were born, I felt like my heart doubled in size.  You didn't take away any of my love for Isabel.  Instead you just added more love into my heart and created a permanent special place there for yourself.  I watch you with wonder as you learn how to move your head, roll over, sit up, crawl, and stand.  You never seize to amaze me with the wonder in your eyes - always curious and happy to explore the world around you.

Mommy feels so lucky to be with you and share all those moments as you explore this world and grow.  I will always be there for you, teach you about the world, let you explore, learn and make your own mistakes, and support you as you grow.

You light my day with your smile.  I love coming home to see you eagerly crawling toward me to greet me - Welcome home in your own sweet way.  I look forward to each and every day with you.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Alexis.  I love you always with all my heart.

Mommy Lei

Happy Birthday to Alexis - 1 years old

Times flies and Alexis is already 1 years old. I almost have to pinch myself to believe it. She and Isabel are both growing up so fast. She has not started walking yet and part of me almost don't want her to as then I will miss the baby part of her as she gets more and more independent.

 Alexis is a darling and very good natured. She loves to smile and is quite social. She loves to wave and clap her hands.

 We celebrate her birthday first with a lunch with Jaime's high school friends for the holidays and then Xmas dinner at Grandparents Lapena's house where both Roy and Alexis celebrated their birthday. Alexis was born on Dec 15, Roy on Dec 18.

A big milestone is we stopped feeding her formula yesterday and started her on Whole Milk.  so far so good. :-)


  Lei

Christmas spirit is alive and well

After work yesterday I went to the ATM to withdrawal money. I put in my pin, touch the quick withdrawal button for $200 and got my card back.

Eight blocks later, I realized I forgot to take the money as I was texting at the same time like a bone head. Imagine how stupid I felt.

I called Wells Fargo immediately to see what I can do. Well, they said the money will be retracted back to the machine if its not taken but it will beep first to remind you to take the money. Oh great!

They said no need to go back to the ATM just check my acct tomorrow. If its retracted my acct will be recredited.

I checked next morning and well it showed the deduction. Ugh. Someone took it after me. 😢

I had one more hope. Someone told me it happened to them and another person actually took the money and returned it to the bank. Yeah right? But I thought it was worth a try.

So I went the branch next to that ATM to ask. Well after they made sure my story was legit they told me Someone did return the money and then handed me the $200. WOW! Thank you whoever you were

Lessons learned.
1. Don't multitask. None of us are good at it and we end up doing many things halfway. In this case it could have been very costly to me
2. Pay it forward. Help others by returning things we find. Creates good karma!!

Happy holidays ! We are all human and make mistakes. It's also nice to know there are more humans with a kind heart than not. 😃

Lei

Sent from my iPhone

Last day of sunny weather on tuesday

> It's cold now but on tuesday it was 78 degrees at the beach. So I took them one last time. Isabel got nice and sandy in minutes and had a blast as did Alexis.
>
> Glad I took the afternoon off to take them.
>

Alexis loves red wine

I just gave her tiny drops and she keeps coming back for more. Like parents like daughter. Ha ;-)

Isabel dancing her heart out

Who let the dogs out? Waka Waka performance

Alexis loves her walking cart

Halloween photos and video

another fun neighborhood Halloween party.

Pueblo Bonito Los Cabos – Hotel review + videos

Overall, we enjoyed our experience and would go back again - 4 stars.  Here is what I thought overall including some videos of stuff

• Location: Awesome – 5 stars.  Right on the Medano beach with views of Lovers Beach.  We can do all the water activities right there and walk to Mango deck in 3 min.  10 min walk to downtown where all the night life is or $6 cab.  Very very convenient. The view is spectacular every day.  see video.  this is the smaller pool
• Room: 4 stars.  Henoc is very friendly and always there at the front desk and if you mention Tripadvisor and give him a good reason, he will try to give you a free upgrade to a better room.  We got an upgrade and had a nice ocean view.  The room arrangement felt a little weird at first.  The bedroom is separate with no views and the living and dining area has the view to the ocean, but it turned out better as hubby can watch TV in living room and I can sleep well in the bedroom.  I give 4 stars though as our safe broke twice.  We ended up just giving up using it.  Nothing was lost, more of a hassle to keep asking it to be fixed.  Our shower broke once but they fixed it in 20 min so no big deal.  Beds were comfortable enough.  Only have double beds – okay by us as we can snuggle in one if we want to or sleep separately if we want more space.  Here is a video I took at just after sunrise so you see a view from our room. 
• Food: 4 stars.  Lots of varieties.  Love the fact we can do a la carte or buffet.  At probably 5 times a day as we had the all inclusive deal (recommend this – great for my low carb diet) They asked us to make reservations but given Oct is not high season, we didn’t and got in everywhere with no issues.  We love the buffet breakfast in Mare Nostrom in the Rose with made to order eggs and they made me egg benedict twice even though it’s not on the menu.   We love doing lunch at Cilantro overlooking the ocean or at the pool at Rose hotel.  Delicious food.  Fish ceviche at Cilantro is awesome!!  Sushi bar is pretty good especially if you stick to Tuna.  We had Tuna Sashimi Serrantino, Fried Rice and Calamari.  Others say the other fishes are not as good so we didn’t try.  Dinner buffet are usually good with variety.  You can also order a grill for two with all kinds of meat on it.  They also deliver food to the room until 1am for a $5 charge.  That was useful as we get hungry at night and there is no food option except that after 10pm.  Only complaint is lots of flies and bugs in some areas of Mare Nostrom.  Makes me wonder if all the food is clean if they left it open.  We had a little stomach issue one day but it was mild and passed. Not sure it was from the food or the heat. 
• Service: 3.5 stars.  I think if you don’t tip extra, you will get a 3 star experience.  Service is slower and less prompt.  We decided to tip often about $50 total for a week and service was much better.  Waiter will remember your drink order from the day before and will also bring you a ice bucket for your water by the pool.  I dislike the fact that service is different based on tips but understand why it’s that way, I guess since this hotel is not all all inclusive.  The mix makes the service inconsistent.  
• Entertainment:  3 stars.  Best night was sat night Carnival night.  Show is spectacular and well worth it. Other nights are pretty dead.  Day time activities at the Rose are somewhat entertaining – water aerobic class is a bit better than at our hotel + volleyball + contests.  Wish they played more music.  here is a video of one of their game by the larger pool in the Rose hotel 
• Pool:  5 stars for the pool at the Rose.  The size is awesome and perfect 3 – 3.5 feet deep.  Love the cabanas which you can get if you go early.  No extra charge.  The pool at our hotel is smaller but also good. 
• Clientele: seems to have more older 45 – 60+ year old crowd and out of shape + some families.  30% younger crowd.   We didn’t mind it as it’s quiet and we can go into town for partying but would have like more eye candies at the pool.  J

We will stay here again.  Rooms have a better view and about the same price at the Rose. WE paid $2715 for round trip SFO to Cabo, hotel and all inclusive J for Sat to Sat stay.  If you know better deals, let me know J

Tips

• $32 massage 5 min walk to the right on the beach.  Just look for the big Massage sign.  Awesome deal and good
• Cabo escape sunset Fajita cruise is fun with lots of dancing.  Can get it for $35 a person down the beach, not at the hotel.  
• Everything is negotiable 
• Private taxi to and from airport $126 + tip from Cielito lindo.  Pretty good.
• No need for spike heels as most dress very casual.  Platform sandals are nice if you want to dress up one night. 

Go giants!!!

Even Alexis is excited for the giants.

Cabo remembered Oct 20-27, 2012

I can’t believe we haven’t been to Cabo San Lucas Mexico to vacation until now.  Being only a 3 hour direct flight from SFO, we had a blast this past week and are several shades darker  – came back just in time to see the Giants sweeps the Tigers to win the World Series.  Yeepy!!!

We definitely plan to go back.  This has been our first vacation in almost two years – a reward to ourselves for having Alexis – we did miss her a lot in the last few days.

Here are the highlights:

• Our hotel, Pueblo Bonito Los Cabos is in a great location – we had an ocean view suite – got an upgrade J.  It’s right on Medano Beach where all the water activities are and 5 min walk to Mango Deck – famous for their day time contest – We saw the push up contest on our first day there.  Stay tuned for our detailed hotel review in the next post with more videos :-)
• All inclusive deal was perfect  - no need to worry about where to eat.  We ate about 5 meals a day (definitely got our money’s worth). There are 5 restaurants as we had use of both hotels, ours and the one next door – Pueblo Bonito Rose. + pool grill & bar where they delivered food and drinks to our cabana or lounge chairs.  Imagine mango smoothies and shrimp cocktails by the pool and tuna serrantino sashimi by the sushi bar.  Yum!  We loved having lunch at Cilantro - it's got a great view of the beach.
• Beach massage - $32 an hour.   5 min walk from our hotel, we found a great little massage spot.  It’s upstairs but outdoors so we can hear the waves while we got our massage.  Only $40 with tip for an hour!  It was divine.  The massage in the hotel is priced at $130 a hour in comparison.
• Cabo Wabo – it’s happening every night in downtown with a live band that starts at 10:30pm.  We were there for 4 nights.  All with different people so it was fun.  The only thing was the crowd is on the older side.  But I enjoyed dancing on the raised platforms with some new found friends. 
• Winning contests:  I won the sexy dance contest the first night we were there.  Didn’t realize what I signed up for and ended up performing a little in front of 100 people and won first prize.  The prizes were lame but it was really fun and people started saying hi to us every day after that.  Jaime and I entered the ping pong contest a few days later and he won us a beach bag (which we forgot to pick up) oh well.  All in all, fun stuff
• Running with the Mexicans:  First night, we were tired so turned in early and I ended up getting up at 6:30 in the morning and decided to go for a run around 7:15am.  Well as it turns out, there is a local marathon going on that day as well.  So the main street was blocked off for the runners.  I ended up running with them for about  30 min.  It was so fun.  Will upload the video later to show you a clip.  I actually dropped my hotel keys without realizing it on the way there but luckily it was by the police station.  When I passed them again, they were all lined up on the street and waved at me to give me the key.  They were so nice!
• Sunset Cruise on Cabo Escape: I heard this was a party boat, but I had no idea how fun it would be.  It was an 2 hour cruise around the arch and lovers beach from 6-8pm with all you can drink and fajita dinner ($35 a person – I bargained this deal of course).  We took a water taxi to the marina which was beautiful and the boat crew welcomed all the guest first with a dance – so cute and fun and then it was non-stop music, booze, and fun. We had dances to learn (will upload a video), macho man contest, tequila shots which was not bad.  The upstairs was laid out like a club with large white couches all around narrow tables.  We got there early so got ourselves a great spot upstairs.  We also took fun pictures before the sun went down by lovers beach (see photos and video here - a little drunk dancing haha)
• Alyssa and the Gang:  One of the other guests at the hotel stopped us on our second day to comment on my dancing in the contest the night before.  She started calling me “salsa” since I did a little salsa during the contest. We found out she and her husband Jeff and a group of friends are also there until Sat.  They are actually from San Jose.  We spent quite a few nights with them for dinners, drinks and dancing.  Alyssa and Jeff Thomas, Derek and Josey, Matt and Pam Burke (Matt works in Wholesale at Wells – small world), then there are a few singles – John (who led the Kindle development at Amazon), Amy (works in sponsorship at Visa and knows Ajantha – small world) and Rob (the only really eclectic one we didn’t get along with).  We exchanged info so hopefully will see them again in the bay area.
• The pool at the Pueblo Bonito Rose – We spent most days at the larger pool next door.  It had more young people and fun activities.  Two days, we were early enough to get the cabana which had curtains to block out the sun if needed.  I was pleasantly surprised there was no extra charge for it.   I did pool aerobic at noon for 3 days.  It was a good arms work out surprisingly to fun music.  They also had modified pool volleyball and other contests through the afternoon. I took a video of one of them.  See uploads later.
• Seeing Carlos and Oscar & wifes in Cabo -  Carlos and Oscar are good friends of Jaime from Judo and he found out on facebook that they were also in Cabo when we were so we met up with them at Cabo Wabo our last night there.  Oscar and Sarah are celebrating their 10 year anniversary. 
• Late night local tacos joint - For two nights, we stopped by the late night tacos joint by the clubs and had our street tacos for $1.50 each.  It was greasy and good J
• Gorgeous weather – 88 degrees every day and  75-78 at night.  No rain at all.  We lucked out as it poured for 2 days the week before
• Water taxi tour - 30 min around the arch and lover beach and then dropped off at the Marina for some shopping
 

we also saw sealions on our way to the marina.
• No cover charge -  to any night life spots. 
• Got a nice tan and lost 0.5 lbs - bonus!

A few low-lights

• 24 hour stomach issue – I think I ate too much and then spent a little long in the sun as I had a stomach ache for 24 hours on my 3^rd day there.  Jaime had it for about 8 hours.  Good thing it passed but it was a little uncomfortable
• Tipping is necessary – even though our all-inclusive include tips and taxes, we noticed the service difference when we tip and when we don’t.  We decided to tip pretty regularly to get better service.  For $50 more for a week at $2-$5 at a time, it was no big deal.  It just means the hassle of bringing money with us.
• Mosquitoes – Cabo is more in the dessert and usually don’t have mosquitoes – but this year it rained about 45 days out of the year instead of the usual 9-10 days, so lots of bugs and their bites leave big red bumps.  I got about 10 of them and Jaime, poor honey, got lots the last night we were there.    Hydrocortisone helped a bit but we are hoping there will be less mosquitoes next time
• Limited hip hop clubs – Cabo is famous for its night life, but we couldn’t find any clubs that played hip hop for long.  Lots more plays the mind numbing techno music (music for white people who can’t dance).  That was a bummer as we would have like to dance more.  Friday and Sat nights seems better.  We expected more out of El Squid Roe but it was not that fun and music sucked. 

Other tips to remember:

• No real need for Peso at all.  US cash works fine.  Good to have lot of 1s for tips and taxies and bargain shopping.  Every where takes US cash and credit cards although most CC charges 3% for international charge.  C’est la vie.
• All prices in Cabo are high but you can negotiate it down and don’t use the service at the hotel.  Just walk down 5 min down the beach and prices will come down.  Some prices

o   Massage - $32 an hour

o   Sunset Fajita cruise - $35 a person

o   Water taxi tour to lovers beach and arch - $10 a person

o   Wave runner - $30 for 30 min (will try this next time)

o   Parasailing - $25 a person (may try this next time)

o   Water Skiing - $120? an hour (may try this next time)

o   Taxi to downtown from our hotel - $6 one way

o   Private Taxi to and from Airport - $126 + tip round trip for 2 people (may take up to 5 people)  by Cielito Lindo – cielitolindo2007@gmail.com   We paid by paypal in advance and tipped in cash.  One of the cheaper ones we found and they provide water and beer on the way.

o   7 days flight, hotel, all inclusive from SFO to PB Los Cabos hotel - $2715. J

•   Best nights to go out on the town are Friday and Sat with maybe Thursday and Sundays.   The other nights are less lively.  Day time entertainment are more water activities or drinking by the beach at the Office or Mango Deck where they have contests in the afternoon times
• Added $20 to my Verizon plan in order to call from and in Mexico.  Made things easier to talk to the kids, for Jaime to call work and for us to get in touch with each other. 
• Stay in Cabo San Lucas if you want to walk to everything.  San Jose Los Cabos is far from downtown Cabo and can have serious traffic.  For example, a friend was staying at Westin and got stuck in traffic for an hour and half to downtown. Ugh. 
•  Another place to stay at is Riu Palace – big all inclusive a little further from downtown but about $600 cheaper for the week.

 Lei

Isabel and Gabby having a Party

If you are wondering whether the kids are okay while Jaime and I went on vacation, well see for yourself. They had a real ball last week while we were away. Here is Isabel and Gabby dancing to party rock

avoid GMO foods

This is a scary article of the foods we eat (like corn and soy) in the US that can cause us long term harm but are not labelled

http://hippocratesinst.org/wp-content/magazines/flash/30-3_screen/  see page 38-39.

Vote yes on proposition #37 to require genetic manufactured food to be labeled. Currently we cannot tell.

Lei

Sliding together

Isabel loves playing with Alexis. here they are on the slide together although Alexis doesn't know what to make of it yet. Lei

Photos from Isabel's karate test

We all came out to support isabel including daddy and then we had dinner at Emmy spaghetti shack.

Isabel's yellow bell test

She was so awesome. check it out.

At Colin's baptism reception on Sunday

The girls all decided to do a swan dive. Kids are so flexible.

Alexis is 10 months old today

Happy 10th month old, LingLing. She is so responsive and getting bigger by the day

- she started mimicking my gestures and sounds. She loves to wave and clap her hands and kick. She waves everywhere she goes and draws adoring comments from stranger. She is more social than isabel at this age
- she now crawls fully on her knees. So cute to see her little butt sway as she crawls
- she loves peek a boo. And is curious about everything. Her favorite thing to do is to go through a bag and pick up everything in it.
- she tries to stand every chance she gets. Amazing to see how she balances , push up to stand and then move her feet to balance. She is starting to move around walking while holding on for support
- she is super flexible and will often hold on to one foot or both and being them to her face. She doesn't really suck on her toes just likes to play. She even points her toes. I still love eating those chunky feet
- her skin turned out less rashy which is a blessing. She got such baby soft skin.
- she is a great independent sleeper. Loves her crib. Sleeps before 7 and doesn't cry when she wakes up around 6 and will just wait for us to pick her up around 630
- she knows her name. Looks at me whenever I call her LingLing or Alexis or Lexi
- she is overall a very chill baby. Only complains when she has dirty diaper, hungry or sleepy. Otherwise, she is just happy roaming around the house as long as she knows one of us is nearby;-)

Morning with the Girls

Two weeks ago on a weekend day, Isabel and Alexis both got into bed with me to play. Isabel loves to play with her sister.

Alexis loves to eat Grapes

Fun day in sue Biermann park today

There was a great face painter and balloon maker there. It was a function to support david Chiu for supervisor. He was quite articulate and genuine - good supporter of initiative that will help retain families in sf.

Isabel had a blast with her friends and cousin gabby.

Finally learned to crawl with her butt

It's soooooo CUTE!

Afternoon at Pacific Beach

Last Sunday was a beautiful day so I finally got a chance to take Isabel and Alexis to the beach. Daddy had to work and watch football :-( It was a nice 78 degrees by 3pm and Isabel had a blast as her friend Alina was also able to join. Isabel got nice and dirty but she had so much fun! lots of running and screaming in this video

Russian Hills Academy - Most recent video Aug 2012

Russian Hills Academy - Aug 2012 photos

Isabel is getting so grown up. these are great photos of her in school

Russian Hills Academy Videos - March to June 2012

March 2012 - Isabel is not in it until about 2 min into it and the sound is a little off from the video for some reason but still cute. Isabel is not in all the videos because she only attends 2 days a week. april 2012 - Isabel is in it from the beginning and you can just hear Isabel's voice all throughout. May/June videos - frog dance May/ June videos - more songs

Russian Hills Academy - May June 2012 photos

Isabel continues to love her school and Her teacher "Jiali" also loves having her there. She said Isabel is a great helper and friend to other kids and is very creative and smart. Weston and Isabel are very good friends and always play together. Their birthdays are also in May and they celebrated it together at school. Lei

My favorite time in the morning

It's 6:14am, it's still dark out.  I always wake up right around this time for the last 5 month because my favorite part of the morning is about to begin.  I close my eyes again just waiting….

"Lei?" Agnes calls out from the dark.  I instantly wake up to see her carrying Alexis (LingLing) waiting by the bedside.  It's LingLing's first feeding time and our treasured time together every morning as I am still breastfeeding her in the morning.  Alexis smiles a big bright smile at me.  She has been going to bed by 7pm so at 6:15 am, she is wide awake and hungry.

My routine is I get up to go to the bathroom and wash up a little, put on my feeding shirt which is a long sleeve buttoned shirt left open while Agnes puts a little burp cloth on my bed and puts Alexis down to wait for me to come back.  By this time, she is always whining as she doesn't see me anymore and she doesn't stop until I come back to lie down next to her.

As soon as I am close, she aggressively goes after the boob and I feel relieved as well as she gets the milk.  Luckily she doesn't have teeth yet so nursing her is still an awesome experience.  We sometimes fall asleep again together while she nurses. I either hold her left hand as she likes hold on if she is wuite awake or I have my hand possessively on her back and little butt.  It's just a great feeling to have her all cuddled up and happily eating like it's heaven for her (also for me).

As she is 9 month now, if she doesn't fall asleep, she is done in 10 min on one side and I get on top to tickle her a little and then move to the other side to nurse her.  She doesn't feed as much on the other side.  Within about 5 min, she tries her darnest to flip over so she can be on her stomach – her favorite position and climb around and on top of my pillows.   She is now very happy and looks curiously around for fun stuff to go after – her favorites are my glasses which I promptly take away, the water bottle (I have it there in case I am dehydrated as milk does not come out if I am), but her most favorite is the clock with its bright digital dial and surprisingly the wooden headboard.

I would let her roam for 5 min holding on to one foot to make sure she doesn't fall.  She is quite agile and fast now and can easily fall.  Then I try again to feed her.  Sometimes she will start nursing again for another 5 min.  Once I tried again on both sides, I know she is done - at least with me. 

Next come my other favorite part – I put her on my belly and just kisses her all over starting with her cheeks and necks.  Her skin is sooooo nice and soft.  She is so good about this and just lets me.  It's awesome.  Even though she smells a little like pee as we haven't changed her yet from the night, she feels AWESOME on my belly.  She also usually flash that wonderful smile of hers.  I raspberry her belly and sometime she just starts laughing.  She eventually gets off of me and I hold her up to stand.  She loves to stand now.  I let go just for a sec and she giggles as she feels the feeling of falling but I catch her of course. 

By now, it's close to 7.  I bring her out to either Daddy who is up or Agnes to feed her the bottle some more.  Yeah, she eats at least another 4 oz more after me.  I either try to nap a little more before work or go workout depending on the day. 

This has been my morning routine with Alexis for about 4-5 months now.  I will miss it when I stop nursing her which will probably happen in less than a month. 

Ah.... Motherhood - I love these moments

Lei

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"Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare!"

Fun day at fairyland with Abi and Sloane

We went this past Wednesday. It was a perfect 70 degree weather. Isabel had a blast playing with her friends Abi and Sloane.

Mama Duck and Baby Duck song

Isabel is in singing mood today. Here is another Chinese song

Morning time with the girls

They love playing with each other