Namaste

It is hot and stifling
I can feel my body complaining
My mind is racing
"Should I have skipped this?"
"Maybe I am too tired to come today."
My skin feel a little itchy too. no sweat yet, just itchy

It's been only 10 days but all the poses feel a bit foreign to me.
My muscles are tight - must be the new kickboxing class I did Thursday
I vaguely hear the teacher telling us to do the next pose
Counting the minutes - only on our 3rd pose

My mind is darting around everywhere
thank goodness my body knows all the poses well
It can just move automatically
Just breathe - I remind myself - breathe deeper longer
....
60 minutes in, I am dripping in sweat
A sense of calm finally washes over me
My body feels more flexible, just finishing the standing poses
It was a relief to be on the ground for the last half hour
my mind is more focused, slowed
My body is finally enjoying the heat, the stretching, the poses
.....
90 minutes and I lay there in perfect peace
thankful I made it today
thankful I came despite being tired and my mind undecided, racing
I walk out of class, taking a rewarding bite into a sweet Chinese pear
The cold air feels exhilarating
Another awesome Bikram Yoga class!
Namaste

- Lei

Playing with the puzzle

Every mom thinks their child is brilliant. I know I am biased but in this case I think you will think she is brilliant too. A week ago, we started noticing she can do all these puzzles. She practices and practices over and over again. She doesn't just try to fit the pieces. She seems to look at them by shape and color and just knows where they go now. We finally caught her doing the whole puzzle on video. I think this puzzle is for 3 years old and up. I know I am bragging and I am just so proud of my Isabel.



- Lei

Reading Wired Magazine

she loves to read and here she really looks like she is reading it. such a big girl.



- Lei

On the phone with mommy

I was in Hawaii when I called and Isabel has become such a little person and love talking and holding the phone.



- Lei

Happy 1st Birthday Gabby!

Gabby,

We love you and miss you! Have a blast at your party! We hope to see you soon. Isabel misses you and keeps saying "Baggy" when she sees Gabby's pictures.  It's so cute. We have tried hard to get her to reverse the G and the B, but no luck yet.  So happy birthday Baggy, from Isabel.

Enjoy your video photo story, courtesy of master photo story creator, Agnes. :-)



many hugs and kisses,

- Lei, Jaime, Isabel, and Agnes

Playing in the rain

It was pouring buckets 2 weeks ago, but that won't stop us from playing outside. Well good thing Isabel is well equipped with waterproof pants, shoes, and jacket + beanie. Enjoy!



- Lei

Isabel washing hands

Such a big girl. she loves doing this.



- Lei

Future WNBA Star

look at that height. Look at that form. :-)



- Lei

Her One Bedroom Apartment

The best toys are those that are free. Welcome to Isabel's one bed room apartment. Everything in it, on it is build with stuff we have around the house. She absolutely loves it and goes there every morning when she wakes up.

This is how it looks when she first moved in.


This is how it looks now.


Agnes was truly inspired. Isabel says thank you to yaya for the beautiful apart.

- Lei

Already a Karaoke Queen

- Lei

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