A day of fun for a gloomy Saturday

when we first check the weather late on friday night, we thought, man.. another weekend ruined by the rain. but to my surprise this morning, the weather was a tad bit gloomy but very nice for a change. when i took chloe out for her morning routine, the weather was nice with a light breeze.

but later cherie had her migrane headache, which hasn't happen in a very long time. so, she started vomiting, pounding head, etc. it was very tough for me to see her like that, since i would always feel helpless to help her at all. usually, she would take a special medicine, but since we're breastfeeding, we have to be very careful of the type of pain relief to take. but unfortunately, even motrin didn't help :(

so after numerous times of vomiting later, cherie took a nap and we woke up at 1pm. by then she was all fine and dandy and ready to roll. thus, we took my mom in law to arbys for a late lunch. it was the first time haley has even dined in at arby's and as usual, she just laid there in her carseat and looked around.

afterwards, the weather go very warm and we had to make a quick run to costco for food. on the way there, haley fell asleep.. like deep asleep. she didn't even wake up when cherie strapped her on to our baby bjorn air carrier.

then saw a picture moment i had to take with my cellphone. take a close look at haley's face.. it's just too cute to pass up a kodak moments like this. look how high haley's chin is lifted up naturally. looks a bit snobby.. haha ;)

cherie and mom with haley.



a quick family photo of all three of us...



closeup of our sleeping beauty... by now, she's a bit aware that her daddy's taking the photos.. so you see a little frown.


after my numerous trips of sampling freebies in costco, i was nearly full. boy did they have a lot of samples today. but honestly the one i like the most was the organic baby carrots with johnny's ranch dressing. i had to go back a couple times. ;)

during that time, haley was awake and was having fun being carried around facing forward in the baby bjorn enjoying the view. she did try to steal my food samples but too bad she can't eat those just yet. at 6 months, she's very curious to taste everything. if not careful around her, she'll have your cake and eat it too. haha...

next trip was toward babies r us. we're in need of a high chair for haley, since she's starting to eat baby food. everytime, cherie would hold her while daddy me feed her. but from time to time, haley gets tired and want to move around, thus making her mommy uncomfortable.

we had our eyes set on the combi hero 3-in-1 but unsure if haley would like it at all. so, today was a perfect chance to put haley into the combi hero to see if she would like it. she was ok at first.. but then started balling her eyes out. our guess is that her "kimochi waruii"; which means, she was in a bad mood. even when we put her in other high chairs that was much more expensive or even cheaper, she would still cry her darling little eyes out.

what to do? mommy to the rescue... and picked her up and carried her around the store away from the high chair. haley probably thinks that we would just leave her in there and walk away. i read that baby at 6 months will start to experience separation anxiety, i guess that's why haley cried so much when she mommy is not holding her. too bad for this daddy... :(

later on, i found something that was super interesting. something that even i would want to sit in, but it probably wouldn't fit around my belly. it's called a bumbo. the name itself reminded me dumbo the elephant.. but the foamy material is super soft and comfy enough for haley to sit in.

so, i put haley into the driver's seat for a test drive. needless to say.. she did well for the first 30 sec. and then started to cry and wanted mommy to rescue her. she's such a sweetheart, even when she cries. plus, it was getting close to her feeding time, so probably that's another factor for the fussiness.

after that.. we went home and haley ate a TON!

if you look close enough.. u can see that haley's is just about to cry...

Photos on raining day...

for the past couple weeks, it's been raining quite a bit in norcal (northern california) and although it's good for us; i.e. no water shortage, thus lower water bill (i hope), but it sure does make my drive home a lot longer with increased traffic.

so, one night while driving home from work, i got stuck at this intersection (taylor & hwy87)waiting to hop on the hwy and then i see this melody of colors shinning before my eyes. red lights with the street light and the backlite dark clouds mixed with reflections from the wet road looks to have an almost christmas feel in feburary.



the following morning while driving on 880N and listening to depressing news of unemployment rising and more layoffs, i see a rainbow from afar. just when all may seem so dim and lost of hope, a rainbow shines as a promise from God that all will be fine in His hands.

we just need to have faith in Him.

Relaxing walk on a stressful day...

it's been a very stressful day.. actually, it's been a stressful week to say the least. economy's been bad and likewise, everyone (my customers) has been pretty tight with their spending for new projects.

in this day and age, but who can blame them? the sooner you come out with a new product launch and if no demand from the market, then the chances of you dying first in the market becomes that much higher of a risk; rather than a return.

since i woke up this morning, i've been having a migrane that i'd like very much to beat my head with a baseball bat with. but at the same time, i did not want to take pain killers until it was absolutely necessary. so finally... i did. the pain was just too much.

ok, enough of me whinning... so during lunch i decided to go for my lunch hour type of relaxation Oprah power walk. around my workplace, the air is generally horrible to breathe in, since across from the highway is a land dump fill (trash garbage collection site).

today, the air is actually clean and fresh for once... or maybe that migrane had already killed my sense of smell?

ok, back to our schedule programming..

while walking.. i was humming this song i heard this morning on Klove.com. it's called "The One True God", which i have plugged into this blog in the bottom if you like to listen to it. it's a very very lovely song. just when i was thinking about all the things that God has blessed me and my family with in all that He created, i see this view that i have never seen before in the 3 yrs that our company first moved here.

a view of the valley with green mountain tops and fluffy cotton candy clouds with sunlight shinning through to show the way. as i would like to think it, though the economy is tough, but God will lead the way.

there's a chinese proverb "留得青山在,不怕沒柴燒" which in rough translation means "as long as the mountains and valleys are green, no need to worry about not having any wood to burn for survival."

photo taken with my sony w810i cellphone.





Mark Harris - One True God
From the album Windows And Walls




lyrics source from my favorite radio station: Klove.com

I don't have a God I can put on a stand
Or a God I hold in the palm of my hand
I have a God that's holding me
And I don't have a God that I can create
In the place I live with the money I make
I have a God, He made everything
So I don't need a temporary man made deity
When I got the real thing
I got the real thing

He's the Lord of all the earth
The maker of all things
He alone is the one true God
Kingdoms rise and fall
But even through it all
He remains
The one true God

I don't have a thing that I got on my own
I don't have a care that I carry alone
But I have a God who's carrying me
I don't have sin that He doesn't forgive
And I don't have a heart that is worthy of His
But I have a God who still loves me
So I don't need a temporary man made deity
When I got the real thing
I got the real thing

Who is this King of Glory
The Lord strong and mighty
Who is this King of Glory
The Lord strong and mighty
Who is this King of Glory
Who is this King of Glory

Label: Provident Music Distribution

Lyrics may not be reproduced
without permission from the publisher.

The Family Stone

wow.. it's sure has been a while since i last posted. work has been quite crazy and at time difficult to manage. but nothing that a cup of joe in the morning and tea in the afternoon won't cure.

as i was looking past my posts from last month, i thought about the movie called "The Family Stone." it an old film released back in december 2005. if you never seen it, you should watch it.. its the bomb! Sarah Jessica Parker from "Sex in the City" is in that movie. let me tell you this.. never have i EVER seen a movie in which case i felt so embarrassed by the role that Jessica played. she was the bomb in that movie. it made me wanted to get off the couch and slap her silly.

so how does all this relate? well... it just reminded me of my childhood memory of our family taking a family trip together.

here's my mom and i fishing. * hey, no laughing at the hair.. it was in style then~ *

and here's one of my mom and i visiting a dairy farm.

and finally.. a family photo of our trip to Japan, Hokkaido to be exact, when i was 5 yrs old.
now time to play "where's waldo?"

Closeup of my baby teeth~

many babies will start teething near 6 months of age, but there are some that teeth earlier; such as haley.

but first a little bit of background on her mommy and daddy. we both REALLY love to eat. it's one of the few hobbies that cherie and i both share. back in college days, while working part-time jobs at yaohan, now called mitsuwa, whenever i get a paycheck, i would reward myself with a delicate japanese food. that's right... sushi, sashimi, uni, amaebi, etc... bring it on.

one time at band camp... (no i was never in band camp, but just love the movie american pie), i had just finished my finals and that day i had to work in the afternoon for about 3hrs. shortly after that, got my paycheck and bought some maguro sashimi and a bottle of sake for dinner. yeah, it was pretty lonely at times, but nothing like a good old japanese "long vacation" drama and sake to help pass the time.

anyway.. during college days, i was broke all the time cuz i spend too much on eating japanese food. there's a japantown in san jose that by my second year in SJSU, i had already gotten to know the owners and the people working in there. the food is just very yummy and comforting to the soul.

as for how much cherie loves to eat.. ya'll can ask her later on~ hehe

back to the teething part. yeah, i think the reason why haley started teething when she turned 4 months is because her mommy and daddy loves to eat. plus she's always watching me stuff my face full with food, i guess that motivated her to grow out her teeth sooner to eat with us.

this is a photo taken not too long ago. here you can clearly see her bottom two teeth showing. nowadays.. if you are holding a banana, apple, or an orange or anything edible, she will try and grab it and take a bite! that include your fingers too~

Bounce, Bounce, Bouncing Baby~

ok... confession time. we didn't buy much toys for haley. reason is because they out grow them so fast that with our little home, we really don't have much places to hide the stuffs.

so, one day i went to work and my coworker asked if i wanted a bouncer for haley. immediately, i said sure, why not. we had this for a while, but it wasn't until recently that we felt comfortable enough for haley to sit on there, as her neck is finally firm enough.

this is the first time she sat in there and after a while later, she figured out how to play with it. what surprised us more is that haley's soooooo TALL that her feet can touch the ground. so when we say "jump-pu" in japanese pronunciation, she jumps and make herself bounce, bounce, bounce.

see how happy and bless baby haley is?



woooohoooo.. look at me.. i'm bouncing...



voila~ see how easy that was?



here's a photo of haley's sister, chloe (our 4yrs old mini red doxie), eyeing her daddy asking to be on the bouncer as well.

daddy.. i wanna play too~

Haley's first Sweet Rice Ball celebration...

it's a holiday where family gathers together to enjoy sweet rice balls filled with seasame, red bean and/ or any others.

it's the first holiday after chinese new year. btw, i didn't make it, even though i know how to; but quicker to just buy it frozen and boil it~

i did however, arranged it...

a photo of my mom-in-law with haley and her mommy~

here, my mom-in-law with haley.. look how eager haley wants to eat it.. but too bad she can't. maybe when she's older.