Happy Easter, Lukas!

Here is a little video that Jon took of Lukas during the hunt:

Lukas's First Tooth Brushing and Bike Ride

Another beautiful day out today, so we took Lukas out for his first bike ride. Well, his first ride in his little chariot behind Edwin's bike. He loved the ride, but hated the helmet. Photos and videos to come. I've been trying to upload photos and videos, so here is one of Lukas brushing his teeth (he loves putting stuff in his mouth, so why not give him a toothbrush?) back in January:

Party! Party! Party!

So as most of you already know, Lukas celebrated his first birthday on Friday. I worked from home on Friday and spent most of it running errands to prepare for his party on Saturday. We stayed home on Friday night to clean the house. Saturday morning, we got up bright and early, cleaned some more and started the party at 11. We ended up hosting 20 kids and about 40 accompanying adults. It went by fast, but it was fun.

We had veggies, Cheerios, puffs, goldfish, potato chips, shrimp cocktail, pizza, mac-n-cheese, and cake. Everyone left by 3:30 for their respective naps and we spent the evening at home trying to recover. The cleanup wasn't too bad since we used mostly paper plates and disposables. He now has lots of books, puzzles, and toys to play with. We haven't given him everything so that he'll have some new stuff to play with every few days. He ate cake, but wasn't that fazed by it. To him it seemed like it was just something else to eat, so I guess it will be a while before I give him more of it. Why start a sweet tooth when he doesn't seem to have one?

All in all, I think everyone seemed to have a good time. The kids seemed to like the balloons and the giftbags that we put together. It was a beautiful day outside and we spent it with good friends, so what else could you ask for?

On Sunday, we attended another first birthday for Lukas's friend Katie. They were born about 45 minutes apart and we met them on our Friday stroller walks. Hers was a princess party which was more intimate and definitely less crazy, but still fun.

Pictures to be posted later, but here's a video of when we were in Hawaii:

Check out a video about our street!

So I guess that the local public TV station (KTVU) made this video about the Christmas lights on our block. You can actually see our undecorated and dark house next to the one asking Santa to come to their house. I find it so funny that our street has been on TV twice this year. Must be a slow news year... LOL. They didn't come last year.

Where Lukas Can & Cannot Go

So 2 weeks ago, we took Lukas to a children's concert. It is a local Caribbean style guitar player. He's very entertaining. I took Lukas a few months ago and he loved it, but it was during the day, so Edwin couldn't go. Here is a video of this concert:

I hope everyone had a good Halloween. I'm still waiting for photos from everyone to post our pictures. Lukas had a great time with all his little friends. We gave out 33.5 lbs of candy this year, though Jamie claims the number to be higher since we re-distributed candy from the ones that went trick-or-treating. I'll post photos when I get them!

In the meantime, you can enjoy a few more videos. Here is Lukas's first carousel ride with our friends Johanna, Marty and their son Mason:


So they finally openned up the Bay Bridge yesterday and today was the first day I went over it since it was closed. I would tell you about it, but I was asleep, so I guess I wasn't too stressed about it. Edwin saw it yesterday and claims that it looks like it's being held up by yellow duct tape.

OK- one final rant. So I am invited to a baby shower that is being held by the mother-in-law of the pregnant woman. The invitation said spouses were welcome. I indicated in my response to the evite for them to let me know if I needed to arrange childcare for Lukas. I didn't think that they would actually respond and tell me that I should "consider" finding childcare. Who doesn't allow babies at a BABY shower? Something about them owning a lot of antiques and a dog. Granted, it's not the mother-in-law's house, but still... I'm still going because I have to go since it's for my boss, but do you think I'll be staying long at this hoity toity shower in Tiburon? Sheesh!

Foodie in Training

So we've been a little remiss in posting Lukas's progress into eating solids. We started giving him rice cereal in August, but he really wasn't that interested in it until a few weeks ago. We couldn't figure out why he didn't seem to be that interested in eating. It just didn't seem to be possible given our voracious appetites. We added breastmilk, we added rice cereal, we made it thicker, we made it thinner, we ate with him... the only thing he seemed to like were rice puffs. Finally, one day, I decided to heat the carrots we were giving him. That was the trick. Lukas likes his food warm.

We should have known because Edwin had figured out a long time ago that Lukas wouldn't drink his milk from a bottle if it was cold. I always like my food warm too, so I don't know why it took us so long to figure it out. He now likes whatever we give him as long as it's either room temp or warm. He's had avocado, banana, carrots, squash, green beans, rice cereal, and oatmeal. His favorite seems to be squash and avocado. I wasn't sure if I would be making his food or not. It looks like I'm not really doing it. We have a Magic Bullet, but it just takes so much time and is a lot of work for just a little bit. I am fine with purchasing baby food that is just steamed veggies, so the carrots, green beans, peas, etc. However, I am a little more hesitant to purchase the chicken pot pie or beef and veggie stuff. For the fruit, I just mash it up at room temp like the banana and avocado, so I guess I'm willing to purchase somethings, but not others. For 50 cents a pop, I'm willing to pay someone else to steam my veggies and puree them. I think that I will be making him congee when he starts eating rice.

Here are some videos of his eating adventures:

Happy 4th of July!

Last weekend was a busy one. On Friday, we went on our weekly stroller walk. Lukas and I have been walking along the Alameda shore every Friday morning for the past few weeks with a few other new parents. This time, Edwin got to attend with us. It was a gorgeous day to be walking. Then, we all attended Freeman's first birthday party. Of course, everyone had a great time and it was a beautiful day out. Pictures will be posted later.

On Saturday, we attended the Alameda Parade. It's like a little slice of Americana. Lots of homemade floats, families with kids, local businesses, and marching bands. Lukas was of course a little too young to enjoy it, but as usual, he likes to be outside and seeing people, so he was happy. We walked to the parade from our house with our neighbor Leilani, Darryl & Susan, and the Schneiders. This year's parade seemed a little more crowded than last year, but it was still fun.

We also hosted a BBQ. The day was such a blur. We had a great time on a gorgeous day. This year, we had the BBQ in the front yard along with all of our neighbors. We had a little buffet table with 3 types of tri-tip, pineapple sausage, veggies, salad, apple pie, choc chip brownies, chips, fruit, and fresh lemonade. On Sunday, we did a little shopping and then went to hang out with the Schneiders and Banerjees because we simply don't see them enough.

Lukas had his 4-month check-up last week. He's now officially 16lbs. 2 oz. and 25.5 inches long. He is growing like a weed. We haven't posted any photos or videos in a while, so here are some recent ones of Lukas and Daddy playing "Stinky Feet" and Lukas in his new favorite toy, the "Jumparoo."

Happy Father's Day!

So we did another little video for Father's Day. This past weekend, we went to Mason's First Birthday on Saturday. He has changed so much since we last saw him in January. Lukas had a great time watching Mason eat his birthday cake. More pictures to come later. We also got to catch up with Chris, Dana, and Jayden. They come up from Santa Cruz unexpectedly and so we got to catch up with them as well. It was so cute to see the 2 boys together. They are about 2 monthes apart, so we get a little preview to what Lukas will be doing shortly.

Blink and You Might Miss It

People talk about missing their children's learning milestones while they are at work like their child's first word or first steps. Well, yesterday, I was home alone with Lukas and I missed one. I had put Lukas down on his play mat for some tummy time. I usually will either play with him or come in and out of the room to get other things. Since it's on the floor, he can't really injure himself too much since he can't crawl. So I stepped out of the room to go to the bathroom. Normally, Lukas doesn't like tummy time and will usually complain vocally while he is on his stomach. I noticed that he seemed a little quiet as I returned to the room, but I thought maybe he has learned to like being on his tummy or just stopped complaining. To my surprise, he had rolled over and turned onto his back! I think he was either stunned or just happy to be off his tummy because he was just quietly looking up when I entered the room. I couldn't believe it. I was there and I missed it!

As soon as I realized what had happened, I turned him over on his stomach and told him to do it again. (I'm not sure he understood me, but he probably knew something was up because I was talking excitedly and looking frantically for the camera.) He actually did it again while I was watching this time, but unfortunately, I couldn't get the camera to turn on fast enough and all I got on video was him lying on his back instead of the action of him rolling onto his back. Of course I tried to get him to do it a third time, but was unsuccessful. I tried to get him to do it again today and even demonstrated to him, but he still wouldn't do it. I guess it will be like his giggle- we'll get to see it a few times before he actually lets us catch it on film.

Here are a couple of videos that we did get. This is a video of a giggle session that Edwin and Lukas had before bedtime:


Here is a video of Lukas and Edwin playing Nai-Nai-Nai-Ba which is basically the Japanese version of Peekaboo (sorry it's sideways!):

Happy Belated Mothers Day!

So this was my first Mother's Day and it was very nice. We started the day off at church where we had an infant dedication for Lukas. Then, we headed into the city and went to the Asian Art Museum which was free for the holiday. Lukas enjoyed the culture by blissfully sleeping in his baby carrier. We had dinner at Suppenküche which is a German restaurant that I have always wanted to try. I still like Berghoff's in Chicago better (too bad it closed down a few years ago), but it was still very tasty.

So here is a video of a class that Lukas and I took a few weeks ago where they tricked me into exercising (I am in the black tank top and Lukas is in the zebra baby carrier sleeping):


So here is the class description that I read: Lullaby Exercises is a series of fun, easy-to-learn movements–dancing, swaying, stretching & relaxing–that are performed while holding a baby in your arms or in a baby carrier. It’s designed for new moms to share moments with their baby, put a little one to sleep, and to feel good emotionally and physically. Doesn't that sound like it's going to be pretty low intensity? This was more like a hip hop class with your baby. It was fun and I will go back, but I just thought it was funny because it was totally not what I was expecting.

Don't forget to vote in my new poll!

Traveling Dancer

Saw this video a few weeks ago, but I just love it because it reminds me of all the places that we have been to (and some that we would like to visit in the future!) and wanted to share. It always seems to make me smile.

Happy Mothers Day!

Here's a little video we put together for Mothers Day.

Free Tibet! No Torch(ure)!

So the Olympic torch was in SF this week. It was supposed to run down the Embarcadero according to this map. However, because there were so many protesters against China, they re-routed the path at the last minute along Van Ness. It was kind of absurd. I heard that someone in Paris grabbed the torch from the runner. I just don't feel like people should use the Olympics as this platform. Countries have been doing it for a long time, but I just feel like it's supposed to be about sportsmanship and the athletes. This is the time that we are supposed to lay down the arms and forget about the things that countries disagree on.

Here's a hilarious newclip from CBS about how some of these protesters for "Free Tibet" don't even know where Tibet is:

Anyway, here are some pictures I took with my coworker Renee. Note the police squad ready for a battle. I'm surprised they didn't have shields. People in SF love to protest. Free Tibet. Free Burma. Free Turkistan. What would people here do without the protests?

Olympic Torch 2008

Lights Up!

Some of you may be wondering why it's been a while since my last posting. Both Edwin and I got colds last week. I found out that Laura, Alex, and my dad all got colds. I guess that at least it did not ruin our holiday. I just uploaded some photos from our Thanksgiving in Cincinnati.

This past weekend, we put up the Christmas lights on our house. We spent most of the weekend shopping for lights and then putting them up. Everyone on our block was supposed to have decorations up by December 2. It was quite the experience. We have a theme, but I didn't realize how much work it would be. We're not quite done yet, but here are some photos of what we have so far. Edwin is in all black on the picture to the left and the right picture is a close up of our surfing Santa. He's going to get a surfboard and we'll be making a wave, but that's still in production.

We also attended our first block party on Sunday night. There were over 100 people that showed up for the potluck. It was fun and very interesting. We got to meet a lot of our new neighbors. I think that the remarkable part is that the party started at 6 and promptly ended by 8PM. We weren't even finished eating and they started taking down the tables.

So the Christmas decorations have been a little distracting from the home renovations, but this week we had a contractor install a new furnace. We're still getting used to it, but it's louder than the old one because it has a blower. However, we're hoping that it's going to be more efficient. This nice thing is that we got all new ducts and they moved the furnace to the crawl space, so now we technically have more room in our unfinished basement in case we want to finish it.

So the parade of cars has already started. They come to see all the lights. It was so embarassing to be one of only 3 houses on the block to not have their lights on Saturday night. Though we were told that we should have lights on by Sunday, there were a lot of people that had their lights up by Saturday. Note for next year. If anyone wants to visit Santa this year, Edwin will be making an appearance as Santa on our street this year on Monday, December 10th. I'll be the elf beside him.

This video was something that made me laugh. It really does describe some of the experiences I've had getting my nails done. Michelle- remember in San Diego? They kept trying to upsell me all these services and I would say yes, then they would tell me the price and I would say no. Funny how that works.

By the way, most of you were right on the poll- Edwin is 36 this year.

We are Homeowners! (Almost!)

It's official. We are in contract. They accepted our offer. We are on our way to becoming homeowners. We still can't believe it. I spent most of the day on cloud 9. Things going wrong at work? OK! No problem! I wonder how long this high will last. Here's a link to a virtual tour of the house.

We're starting to put together many lists. Things we have to do (schedule meetings, give landlord notice, move money to get the down payment liquid, schedule a move, pack, etc.), things we want to do before moving into the house (refinish floors, buy a refrigerator, paint, etc.), and updating our estimated costs template (mortgage costs, renovation costs, closing costs.) I think that the next 30 days are going to fly by.

Today is a good day to buy a house. Laura and Alex put in an offer and got their offer accepted today on a house in Cincinnati. Pretty funny coincidence. We knew that they were househunting last weekend, but we didn't know that they had made an offer. They didn't know we made one either.

Moving Violations

So I was driving down to Salinas to see my client yesterday, when I got pulled over by a cop. So I roll down my window with my license and insurance card ready. Here's the conversation that ensues:

Cop: So I saw you with my radar gun, and you were not speeding.

Me thinking: Really? I've been speeding the whole 2.5 hour drive down from SF!

Cop: I pulled you over because you were following the car in front of you too closely.

I respond: I'm sorry, officer. I do remember being behind that car and the reason that I was that close was that car had just changed lanes in front of me. (This really did happen.)

Cop: Well then, why didn't you slow down?

Me: I thought I did. (I don't normally slam on the breaks on the highway, but I will usually lift my foot off the accelerator.)

Cop: OK, well, I'll let you off with a warning.

So I guess that I should thank that guy for cutting me off because I probably would have gotten a speeding ticket otherwise! Speaking of tickets, we've been hit by SF DPT several times in the last few months for parking violations. Edwin got hit twice in our own driveway for not having a parking sticker. Our logic being- if it is not a public spot, why do we need a public parking sticker? Just another way for SF to take our money. Definitely feeling like we need to move out of the city! I got another one for an overrun parking meter a few weeks ago. The meter maid was still there printing out the ticket when I arrived and I know it was less than 5 minutes when that meter ran out because I had set my alarm on my phone to remind myself to go back. That was the same day I saw a fleet of tow trucks towing like 15 cars away. It made me think that I do not want to drive in SF on a Friday because THEY WILL tow you. This is after I had already been towed in Chicago in Feb. (I swear- we don't normally get tickets!)

So all this talk of moving violations made me think of this old, funny, 80's movie called Moving Violations. Here's the original trailer to jog your memories:

Moving Bodies

So has anyone seen this Hyundai commercial? I thought it was so cool!
I used to be pretty flexible, but I don't think that I could do this! They're a dance troupe called Pilobolus and they also did a little stint on the Oscars. They remind me a little of Cirque du Soleil.

So last weekend, we had a lovely weekend. It was like 75 degrees out. On Saturday, I had a Northwestern alumni event in San Mateo on Work/Life Balance, so Edwin went for a bike ride with Jamie while I attended the event and then we spent the rest of the day with the Schneiders. The seminar was pretty interesting in that she talked about how things have changed and how 13% of women are opting out of the workforce to stay home with kids. She also talked about how men are also staying home with kids. She mentioned that companies are now offering more paternity leave and flexible work options, but men are not using them- mainly because of the stigma that they will be seen as "soft" or not a teamplayer or not as dedicated to work. She said that they are starting to do more research on alternative families where gay couples are adopting. Frankly, I feel that they should be doing more research on families in general rather than focusing on such a small population. Like I want to know if children are happier/more successful when a parent stays home or when both parents work. Or if there are differences in parenting based on the age of the parents. Perhaps researchers are "bored" with the average family. Alternative familes are more of a "new ground" for them. So I guess I can understand why they might be looking for something new or different.

Jamie and Kaori helped us to do a little housing research on the peninsula. It was utterly depressing. However, it did spark some discussion between me and Edwin. We have always felt that we wanted to have one of us stay at home with the kids. (Which one of us will be staying home is still up for debate, but given that I'll probably be breastfeeding...) So given that, we started talking about how we don't think that we would be able to afford the house that we want without 2 incomes. So there's our conundrum. The areas that we were thinking of living, we can't afford on one income. So we are thinking of revising our strategy. We were hoping to get a 3 bedroom house in an area with good schools. However, we are now thinking of downgrading to a 2 bedroom in an area that may not have good schools, but has housing we can afford on one income with the intention of moving in the next 5-6 years to an area with better schools. The first thing we need to do is figure out how much we can afford for a house. Then we need to figure out which areas might fit our criteria. One potential area is Emeryville. We don't know which other areas might work. Any suggestions? Then, we will start looking at real houses. Maybe in the next month or so.

Chronic (What!)cles of Narnia from SNL

Here's funny skit I saw recently from SNL.
Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious!

White and Nerdy

You guys gotta check this out. It's hilarious! Remember Weird Al Yankovic from the 80's? Same guy. Looks like he's still got it. I think I know a few guys who fit this description....

Ah, nostalgia! Parents Just Don't Understand!

Remember this video? My coworker and friend Megan and I were having lunch this week and we were remembering how old we were when it came out. I think I must have been in junior high or something. Maybe even younger because I remember we were still wearing the stretch pants and 2 pairs of socks. I seem to recall suspenders being popular too...Yikes! Where were you? Enjoy!