Kevin has been taking the kids swimming just about every week. Mostly they go to Grandma’s house, but the picture above was taken in my cousin’s backyard. Thanks to Daddy’s tutelage, I’m proud to announce that as of 3 weeks ago Alex is a swimmer! He can tread water, doggy paddle, and swim underwater!

Here’s Ana carefully portioning American cheese into bite size pieces. Of our two older children, she’s the one who shares Daddy’s love of cheese. Other than American she also likes cheddar and Gorgonzola.

Ana went through a pirate phase, walking around the house growling, “Arrr! I’m a pirate!” then summoning us to her bedside telling us she couldn’t sleep for fear of pirates, despite Kevin’s assurances that pirate ships can’t sail into the Inland Empire. Finally I learned that Alex had been telling her scary pirate stories at bedtime. I asked him to quit it, and Ana’s worries about pirates disappeared overnight.

Two weeks ago I cooked up 8 lbs of pork that Kevin bought on sale. I made Chinese bbq pork, carnitas, and chile colorado. Ironically, the Chinese dish turned out extremely mediocre, but the two Mexican dishes turned out fantastic. Kevin said they take him back to a little village in Guadalajara. I said just call me Rosa Chen.

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And now for something completely different. A post about some of the things going on this summer that aren’t baby related!

Since I’ve been put on a 4/10 (ten hours a day, M-TH) schedule at work for the summer, I’ve had Friday off to take the kids swimming. Yesterday was our second lesson and the kids are doing GREAT! Ana is motoring all over the pool in her little inflatable ring and occasionally dunking her head to blow bubbles. Alex just went from non-swimming to being able to swim half the length of the pool underwater in one visit. I’m so happy with their progress and really looking forward to all our remaining trips to the pool this summer.

Alex yesterday while in the pool: “This is more fun than playing video games!” And that is what they refer to as Epic Win.

The fireworks pictures were shot from our driveway with a 50mm lens. One of the advantages of living about a mile West and thirty or forty feet up from the local HS where they put on an outstanding show every year is that we don’t need to leave home to enjoy the best seats in the house.

Julie’s birthday fell mid-week this year so she got two celebrations. One today with all the family here and one last Sunday with just the five of us. For dinner last Sunday I took the two big kids out shopping and helped them cook dinner for Mommy. They got semolina flour from our local Italian market and made fettuccine from scratch with a hand-crank pasta machine. I’ve got to make this a tradition because I didn’t get any pictures of Alex cutting and Ana hanging the noodles! The sauce was mushroom vodka and the zucchini was fried in parmesan beer batter. We got rave reviews from the birthday girl and the chefs alike so I’ll call it a success.

Happy Birthday to the kindest, wisest, and hardest-working mom/best friend around.
Love, Your Four Biggest Admirers

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This weekend was Ana’s birthday party. Friday night when we went to Costco to pick up her birthday cake, we stopped at a Taiwanese cafe called 三年２班 (Class 302) in Rowland Heights for dinner. It’s an adorable little place decorated with school paraphernalia, down to the desks and chairs. One of the dishes we ordered even came in a stackable tin lunch box that I recognized from having spent some of my elementary school years in Taiwan. The food, though not the cheapest, was pretty good, but I didn’t like sitting in those awkward wooden chairs. Maybe we can go back when I’m not so uncomfortably pregnant.

This year we rented facilities for both of the kids’ birthdays because I got tired of worrying about it raining on their winter parties and because I’m too big and tired to host them at home. There are some downsides: the limited menus, the strict time limits, the restrictions on the number of guests, and related to that, the uncertainty over whether the people we do invite will come. I was utterly thrilled about the turnout at Ana’s party though, especially when Peg brought Ashlyn and Summer!!! It’s been ages since we’ve hung out with them, and I really appreciated them making the drive up from the OC.

Now we can relax until next year. With baby number 3 slated to show in late April, I wonder if we should have a joint birthday party at home for all three of them next spring, when the chance of rain is next to nil here in So Cal. We’ll see…

Here’s a picture of Kevin giving Daisy a bath. Being a straight haired dog, Daisy always looks pretty good even when she hasn’t had a bath in *mumble mumble* months. What most people don’t realize is how much basset hounds shed. Back in the day I used to be the main producer of the hairy tumbleweeds that we find around the house, but ever since Daisy joined the family, she’s got me beat. We’d been wondering if she’s been shedding even more due to lack of baths, but she proved that theory wrong. Immediately after her bath she shed enough hair to fill a Swiffer Cloth just by doing a few laps around the dining table.

So I’m now 31 weeks pregnant and +18 lbs. Only 9 weeks left, but it feels like an eternity. The bad: I’ve been sleeping very, very poorly. It’s supposed to be normal during the 3rd trimester, but the last two times it didn’t start this early. I’m also constantly congested, and my taste buds seem to have a mind of their own. Everything tastes off. The good: I’ve been keeping the horrid leg cramps at bay just by standing up regularly. Also, at my checkup last week I learned that my 3-hour glucose tolerance test came back negative. Hooray, I’m not diabetic!

Categories: chinese, food, kids and parenting, pets, pregnancy
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This is how my new year is going so far. Friday after work I staggered home and collapsed on the couch. I didn’t move again until bedtime, when I took massive doses of Sudafed, Robitussin DM, and Tylenol, then zonked out. I don’t remember eating anything for dinner.

Saturday morning I woke up and still had no appetite. I forced myself to eat a piece of toast with peanut butter then lay on the couch until it was time to collect ourselves and go over to my parents’ house for Chinese New Year dinner.

We took the combination hot pot/grill that my parents had given us for Christmas over to their house so we could use the grill feature alongside their hot pot. Unfortunately I couldn’t eat anything, but I did drink a bowl of soup.

This morning I had another piece of toast with peanut butter. After dropping off the kids at my parents’ house, we headed downtown for a matinee showing of Tristan und Isolde, Wagner’s 5-hour operatic masterpiece. The tickets were part of our Valentine’s Day gift to each other. It was the first time either of us had seen an opera live, and we both loved it. The music was complex and demanding, and the set, designed by David Hockney, was gorgeous. Unfortunately we had to leave before the final act because I was still feeling ill.

Since Thursday I’ve been waking up every night around 2 or 3 am when the drugs wear off, at which time I have to take another dose of everything or not be able to fall back asleep. I doubt it will be different tonight. Sigh. I just hope this time my cold doesn’t turn into a sinus infection and also that Alex, as the lone healthy member of the family, doesn’t catch it.

Needless to say I didn’t have a chance to go buy 年糕 (nian gao / new year cake) from 99 Ranch this weekend. But I swear I WILL go sometime this week before they stop selling it, even if I’m still sick, just because I am that obsessive dedicated to celebrating my Chinese heritage.

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This morning I gave the kids each a 红包 (red envelope) after instructing them to say 恭喜發财 (gong xi fa cai / wishing you prosperity) and 新年快樂 (xin nian kuai le / happy new year). At daycare Ana’s teacher gave her a 红包 and me another one to pass on to Alex. For dessert tonight I got us a few goodies from the Chinese bakery.

All day today my throat hurt and I kept coughing up loogies. This is probably not the best way to welcome the new year, but it couldn’t be helped. First Kevin got sick. Then Ana caught it. After a couple of nights of her crawling into our bed and disrupting my sleep, I came down with it as well. Sigh.

At least it happened right at the same time as my monthly baby checkup. Today I was able to confirm with my doctor that I could take all the good stuff: Sudafed, Robitussin DM, Tylenol, etc. But I also got a stern lecture for asking whether I could skip the 3-hour glucose tolerance test. (Because I tested negative the last two pregnancies!!!) Oh well. It’s not my fault the paperwork they sent me via USPS 2 weeks ago never arrived though. I picked up a copy today and made the appointment for next week.

Hopefully this weekend my cold will get better and we’ll have time to go to 99 Ranch for some 年糕 (nian gao / new year cake).

Categories: chinese, food, pregnancy
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