The Impending Visits of the Michelles...

Good news,...after last week's really fun poopy episodes, Caleb has not lost any of his precious weight. In fact, it appears that he's gotten even taller! And his feet look enormous.

We are eagerly anticipating my bestest friend Michelle to come down next Friday. This will be her first trip to Raleigh, NC and I can't wait!! A week and a half after that, my sister Michelle will also be coming down for a visit for a few days. Both of my Michelles will be here in the same month....I'm so lucky.

Spring Cleaning

Caleb is such a trip. Everyday I look at him I feel blessed for having him. One of my good friends, Heather, is pregnant now and I can't wait until she feels the joy of motherhood. While I don't think that motherhood defines me, I think that Caleb is my purpose.

He's still a little 'runny' from having his 15-month shots last Monday so hopefully this will pass soon. It's been a week and everyday it's gradually been getting better. He's cheerful and it doesn't seem to bother him any but I've had enough with having to spot shamp0o the carpet to last me for awhile.

This past weekend, the house was spring-cleaned...furniture has been rearranged and LOTS of junk has been thrown away. My new resolution is to keep a more sane house. My mood is often reflected onto the cleanliness (er, should I say tidiness) of my house so I'm hoping that a clean house will aid in a sane mind. :)

15th Month Dr.'s Appointment & Growth Spurts

Caleb had his 15-month appointment this morning and we have great news! He's thriving and had hit a growth spurt since his one year appointment! He's now in the 10th percentile for weight and 75th for height!! We're on track and hopefully he'll continue to pack on the weight and keep on growing....he's looking much sturdier now and he's got some chubby cheeks coming out.

He's also got a few words under his belt. "Thank-you" (which is says whenever he gives us stuff becuase we always say it to him)...."Daddy" (which he uses all the time) and "Mama" (which he rarely ever says unless he's upset) and "NoNo"...(which he says to EVERYTHING).

We've Now Got Eight Teeth!

Caleb has been doing sooo much better at this new daycare! He hasn't been sick once since he's been there thanks to few kids to expose their germs and he's been filling out his little chipmunk cheeks.

We've now got 8 teeth! The fourth one on the bottom finally popped out and he just loves to show them off! He's been giggling a lot and just finding so many things amusing. This age is so fun!!

We're eagerly anticipating Auntie Michelle's visit in April. I can't wait to see her and she can't wait to see Caleb.

He's laughing in these pictures because I'm making fake burping noises (after he let one out) and he thought that was hysterical....funny kid.

Day At The Playground

Last weekend, we played on the playground for the first time. Caleb had a ball going down the slide and climbing and crawling through all the tunnels. I think that he had the most fun when he was sifting the playground sand through his fingers.

After this playground visit, he took a LONG nap! lol

Belated Chinese New Year Outfit

Look at this cheeseball...we dressed him up in his Chinese New Year outfit (belatedly...but better late than never) just to take pictures for Grandma & Grandpa. This is the outfit that I purchased in NYC while I was pregnant in their Chinatown. It came with that cute hat with the queue in the back...it was the smallest size they had and Caleb's finally fit into right now...

To me, it looks like his face is changing every day...

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.