Gung Hey Fat Choy!

Gung Hei Fat Choy to Everybody!! On Sunday, Caleb, Jay and I went out to eat at a the Chinese Buffet on Millbrook and we had some dim sum and some lucky steamed buns for lunch to bring in the New Year. Caleb seemed to love the sticky rice and 'sui mai' the best. He was getting very proficient at dropping the foods he didn't want underneath his high chair and making flirty eyes with all the little girls that walked by.

Still Only 7 Teeth

We still only have 7 teeth. I've been trying to get a good picture of it...but it's hard to get a toddler to open wide. The bottom picture shows it fairly well. 3 teeth on the bottom and 4 on top. He's still teething so maybe we'll have the 8th anyday now.

Jay's got Caleb in these matching sweatsuits everyday with the bright white sneakers. We've now graduated to size 5 1/2 and I swear he's got better clothes than we do. Whenever I see him like that I keep expecting him to start break dancing for me....or do a layup. :)

Isn't He Just A Cutie-Pie??

Isn't Caleb just such a cutie-pie? Of course, I have a biased opinion....but I LOVE his haircut. Now our bathtime ritual is minus the hair combing which used to cause us both such distress since his hair used to get knotted in the back where he slept on it.

This car toy (which Auntie Michelle bought last year) is still such a big hit with him. Now he climbs on and starts motoring around in it. He especially loves all the lights and the music. Everytime the music comes on, he shakes his body from side to side...it's his new dance. He used to dance up and down and have both hands up in the air....now his hands are by his side and he wobbles. I'm trying to teach him the 'harlem shake'....j/k.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Caleb's First Hair Cut!!

So yesterday, I finally convinced Jay to cut Caleb's hair....He tried to cut it first with his trimmers...and that didn't work out so well. So then we drove down the street and had the barber(ette) fix it. Now it's SOO Cute!!! Jay admits that it was a good idea to cut his hair even though he wanted to see how curly his hair was going to end up when it's long.

And because Jay cut the top a little too short....I couldn't ask for the mohawk that I wanted :)

Old DayCare Rant and Rave

So I was so mad about this that I couldn't even put it to words last week.

Here's what happened:

Tuesday (of last week), no fever, one loose diaper no other symptoms other than it looked like he was either teething or coming down with a cold since he wasn't as energetic as usual

Wednesday, I called daycare to say that I was going to bring him in later than usual and then called again after I had changed my mind and took him to the doctors instead. Once at the doctor, I called daycare to let them know that they were worried about Strep and to warn the other parents in case the other kids come down with fever.

Thursday, I stayed home with him

Friday, I stayed home with him and then in the evening Daycare called to ask me if I was coming by. I thought that since I owed her payment for the past two weeks that she wanted to get paid. So I had Jay drive over there and drop off the check and pick up the receipt. She never said anything to Jay but instead slipped a note in with the receipt to say that she has been emotionally and physically upset since none of her other kids showed up at daycare for the rest of the week and that she is terminating her services with us.

I told her that it wasn't anything other than a cold but now I've been so mad that I haven't talked to her since.

We went to the doctors today today for a follow-up and when I told them what happened they thought that it was shocking. They said that it was probably good riddance and that I could find better care with a daycare that had a better understanding with babies and their needs/illnesses.

So now we’re at a new dayare – Portia’s Home Daycare who is our neighbor and he’s been there for 3 consecutive days now. Caleb is much more relaxed and now doesn’t require any winding down time when we get home after daycare. Plus, since it’s been cold out here, his outside exposure is down to a few seconds since it only takes us walking him across the street to get to his new daycare.

I couldn’t believe that they could terminate his care like that and I was just so mad that she didn’t even tell me this to my face! I called the daycare licensee people and they said that even though it’s unfortunate, there’s little they can do since she’s privately owned.

All I can say now is that babies get sick and as for causing her emotional distress….there’s probably more to her story than what I’m getting. Whatever the case, hopefully this new daycare will be a better fit.

We're At A New DayCare Today...

We're at a new daycare today. Without getting into too many details, the previous one just wasn't as good a fit as we had hoped. The new one is our neighbor who is a 4 star licensed in home day care so we'll be trying that out. Today is his first day. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I have high hopes for this one so we'll see.

Also, Caleb has been sick for the last week or so. They thought it was strep so they gave him antibiotic shots everyday for three days and then now he's on a 7 day run of amoxillan. None of their cultures tested positive for strep so I think that the antibiotic is just a precautionary measure. He's gotten better just in the past couple of days so let's hope that it's over now. It's been the worse illness so far.

He goes back to the pediatrician on Friday for a follow-up.

Look At This HAIR!!!!

What in the world am I supposed to do with this hair??!! I saw a little boy who had a shaved head yesterday at daycare and I asked the mom when she first cut his hair. She said her son was a little over a year before they buzzed it. That's what I would do but Jay wants to let it just grow out.

And those ear muffs, he grabbed them off the table and put them on himself. He just thought that he was the coolest.

By the way, my sister has had her first co-authored paper published the other day!! Congratulations! It's really hard to live with such an overachiever. For anybody that's interested, her paper is called "Synergism between vitamin D and secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine - induced apoptosis and growth inhibition results in increased susceptibility of therapy-resistant colorectal cancer cells to chemotherapy". Whew, that's a mouthful. If any wants to read it, just email me. If anybody wants to EXPLAIN it to me, email me as well. I never have any idea what the heck she's talking about. When I read her undergrad thesis, I was thoroughly confused and convinced that I knew nothing.

Caleb & Auntie Michelle

I was looking back at the blog entries and I can't believe that I forgot to post a picture of Caleb & Auntie Michelle!

Well, here it is...it was in Vancouver and you can see the ever present camera in her hand....

Do you think that she looks like me? There's definately a family resemblance between Caleb and her right there.

Caleb On A Box

There's this box that was in our living room that we used to store christmas lights, stockings, etc. and Caleb thought that it was the best thing in our house.

He climbed up on it himself and just hung out. It took awhile for me to realizet that he was just going to keep hanging out there before I went to get my camera.

And did we tell anybody that he is now officially off the bottle and onto the sippy cup? He's using this one that has a really soft spout (you can see it in the top picture by his foot) so it's not the big kids sippy cup but it's definately a step in the right direction.

Some Action Shots...

Here's some action shots of Caleb at the Vancouver airport right before we flew back home to Raleigh.

He's starting to look like quite the athelete....they had a little play gym there and he was just having a great ol' time running around and screaming.

I particularly like the 'action shot' with him looking like he's about to sprint across the airport floor. I think that he get's that from Jay since I for one know that I wouldn't be running unless my life was endangered. :)...although, my sister and my dad are both runners so maybe he inherited some latent gene from the Tang side. Although, from what I hear from Toon, Jay was a very fast runner back in the Army days...

Communication is Key

"Communication is COMPLICATED. We are all raised in a different family with slightly different definitions of every word. An agreement is an agreement only if each party knows the conditions for satisfaction and a time is set for satisfaction to occur."

I read that quote somewhere and thought that it was very on pointe. This relates to all people that we have to communicate with: family, spouses, bosses, co-workers, friends....

Which brings me to thoughts on how to raise Caleb to be the best person he can be. As parents we strive to keep them safe, warm, fed and otherwise free of other baby worries....and as they grow into toddler-hood, we then strive to teach them right from wrong. But then comes the more abtract values. How to you teach them to be compassionate, kind, and giving? How do you teach them to be creative thinkers and how do you teach them to keep their minds open? How do you teach them to be hardworkers but also have fun and not to grow up too fast?

Don't all parents have these worries? I realize that we teach by example as they grow but are there things that can be done to make sure that all our bases are covered in case I forget a crucial lesson?

It's Been A Busy New Year So Far...

It's been a super busy New Year so far....

Caleb and I just got back from a very short visit to Vancouver....and to anybody that's surprised that I was in town, it was because my visit was so short that I didn't really tell anybody. It was filled with family stuff and visits with my parent's friends. I'll post some pictures later.

It really reinforced that I would love to move back to Vancouver....but it also reminded me of how expensive it is to live there....oh well,....maybe in a few more years I'll be back home.

Grandma Stella was so happy to spend time with little Caleb....don't you see the family resemblance in these two?

Merry First (Real) Christmas Caleb!!

Merry First (Real) Christmas Caleb!! Last year he was only a week old so it didn't count really....He was OUR Christmas present last year....

This year Caleb really didn't know what to do with the presents. Even upon urging, the wrapping paper tearing really didn't interest him that much. He was much more interested in the boxes that the toys came in. Daddy got him lots of stuff including a red wagon, an activity table for his trains, an art easel with a chalkboard on one side....and my favourite, his Thomas the Train robe. We were calling him "Hef" for Hugh Hefner (aka 'Puffin') all day long.

Pic That Stacey Took

I had to post this pic that Stacey took over the weekend (that's my boss in the background)....

Caleb sure has a funny expression on his face....

Happy First Birthday Caleb!!!!

We had Caleb's first birthday party yesterday and Jay and I both agreed that it was a success. We had just the right amount of people and we had lots of food and cake for everybody (more than enough cake) and even though Caleb slept through the first 2 hours of the party, he woke up in time for the presents and most importantly, the cake.

There were so many cameras going yesterday and Kristen took sooooo many pictures of Caleb eating cake and opening presents. I had to pick through and just post the highlights but I'm sure that I'll have to devote another blog entry just to incorporate the other photos.

We're so happy with all our guests that came and we hope that they had fun at Caleb's party. Being able to throw a party for Caleb is something that I think that we'll be looking forward to every year. It was so much fun and presumeably, this will be the only year where the party was really for Mommy and not really for Caleb since he really had no idea that the party was for him anyways.

We wish that Auntie Michelle was here since today is also her birthday (Happy Birthday Lil' Sis!) and we look forward to seeing her soon in the new year.

We are visiting Vancouver for a few days in January but we're not advertising that we're coming since our stay is so short, we won't be doing much other than letting Great Grandma hang out with her great-grandson (whom she's never met yet) and other family type stuff. I apologize to everybody else but we're working on another trip soon (hopefully longer stay) where we'll be able to visit with everybody.

Happy Belated Birthday Daddy...

It was Daddy's birthday on Monday! (No! I didn't forget,....I just didn't post a blog about it)...with Caleb going to the doctors and him having to work (he's usually off on Mondays), it just blew by.

He'll be sharing Caleb's birthday cake on Sunday when we celebrate Caleb's 1st birthday.

Pediacare Decongestant Plus Cough??

Yesterday Caleb went to the Doctors again since he kept us up all night whimpering and whining and wouldn't go to sleep. He appeared to be really congested and I was worried about another ear infection episode.

Turns out he had a viral something or other and he's on Albuterol (for his airways) again as well as an inhalation steroid and a oral steroid for his lungs.

Also, the doctor suggested "Pediacare Decongestant" (in the little orange box) and the pharmacist informed me that the no longer make that formula? Pediacare now only makes "Decongestant Plus Cough"??....I've searched the internet but have found no information on this. Anybody else know anything about this? From what I've read from before, the formulas are quite different and I thought that it was better (or safer?) to use just the Decongestant and not the one with the "Plus Cough"...??

The doctor assures me that babies who are 9-12 months in the winter time often do get sick a lot since this is the time in their lives where they lose all of the immunities they gained while they were in the womb as well as what they gained through nursing.

It just seems like he's always sick with something or the other. I just hope that he outgrows this stage soon.

Anybody have any tips on keeping him sick-free?

Who Me? I Wasn't Doing ANYTHING!

The Thomas Collection Begins...

I just can't believe that in 14 days, he'll be a year old. This year has flown by! That footed sleeper that he's wearing in these pics is an 18-month size! He just loves this little car thing that his Uncle Mattias let him have. Daddy pushes him in it all over the house and he just thinks that it's the best thing there is.

Right now, we're in the process of moving some of the things that he's outgrown (like the baby swing) into the guest room and we're starting to fix up his baby room to be more suited to a toddler.

We've also decided on his Christmas and Birthday presents. Over the weekend, we went to Target and got the Thomas take along tracks & some trains for his birthday....and for Christmas, we got another set of 'elevation' tracks and some more trains. All we need now is a train table and he'll be set. Thanks to my boss Stan's educational & extensive discussion on Thomas stuff, he was the one that told me the difference between 'take-a-long' Thomas and the regular Thomas.

From what I've seen in the stores, the take-a-long Thomas stuff is a little smaller and the tracks are a little narrower. It also appears to be much cheaper than the metal die-cast full size Thomas trains as well, which is a bonus. On the box, it says "exclusively for Target".....does that mean that from now on, we can only shop at Target to buy these trains? If so, that's a great marketing gimmick since new parents are the ones that are inclined (or have to) buy new toys for their toddlers since we don't have anybody to hand me down any toys.

Seeing the amount of stuff available for Thomas train collectors at Target, this will give us something easy to choose for all future presents until he figures out what he really likes and what he's really into. (At least that's what I'm hoping ...)