The Littlest Monkey

Happy Valentine's Day aka Friendship Day

2012-02-14T21:02:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day, or as Emma's preschool calls it, Friendship Day. I received some lovely long stem roses from husband, and Emma received a little brown "Friendship Bear" (well, the bear arrived with the roses, and so it became Emma's bear).

We all (except for poor Ethan) had a Friendship cookie after dinner, along with glasses of Friendship milk. Emma got a big kick out of the pink milk.

And just because, here's Ethan in the bath. So chubby and cute!

It's Nice to Be Wanted

2012-02-09T21:12:00.000-08:00

Today at dinner:

Ethan, lurking in background: Reaches over and pulls at my shirt, trying to get me to pick him up.
Emma, sitting in her booster, watching this happen: "Hey, Jung-Bin (his Korean name), that's MY mommy!"
Ethan: "Gurgle, gurgle, YAHHHH!!!!" Continues to tug on me, until I give him a snuggle.

It's nice to be wanted, I think?

Catching Up

2012-01-29T14:52:00.000-08:00

It's been busy around here. Both husband and I were really swamped at work, and for a while all it felt like was work, work, work, kids, (very) little sleep, then start all over again the next day.

Things have calmed down a bit, but our whole family is getting over a cold. I think I have been sick the entire month of January. It stinks. The kids usually just get a little sniffle, but I am knocked out by whatever it is that they pass to me. I lost my voice with this last one.

Ethan went to his 6 month check up in early January. He is big and healthy, and weighed 18.5 lbs. He slowed down in his weight gain though, dropping from the 90 percentile in height and weight to the 75 percentile in height and the 70 percentile in weight. His head, though, went up from the 50 percentile to the 75 percentile - yes, his head seems huge now.

He is sitting up on his own, probably started right around 6 months.

This ability gives us a little relief because when he sits up he can entertain himself for about 5-10 minutes before the bawling starts. Sigh. I love the little guy, but he is crybaby. I don't remember Emma crying this much at his age. In fact, it is so interesting to see the difference in their personalities already.

From the start, Emma was a pretty easy baby and "independent". She was content playing by herself while lying down or sitting up. She sort of sleep trained herself. She slept with us until she was about 4 months old, then she was ready to go into her own crib and slept for 5 hours stretches at a time.   She actually did not enjoy being held all the time and to this day, she doesn't like it when someone tries to touch or to hold her while she is falling asleep.

Ethan - weeeellllll, he is another story altoghter.   He is still sleeping with us, he wakes up all the time and won't fall or stay asleep unless someone is cuddling him. I mean, the kid has cried for over an hour straight.  Whenever I think he is about to stop crying during these crazy long crying jags, all it actually turns out to be is a small pause to catch his breath so that he can regain strength and volume. He nurses to sleep most nights and he uses the pacifier. As one of my friends put it, the pacifier is our frenemy. We are so dependent upon it. Emma, on the other hand, never used one.

Our pediatrician says that one day we will be glad that he has such a "cuddly" (euphemism) personality. She uses her own college age kids as examples. She tells us her daughter was similar to Emma when growing up and her son was similar to Ethan.   Now her son calls her call the time, visits often etc., but she knows that when her daughter calls, she better be sitting down for the news. I hope Emma won't be quite as dramatic, but I could see it happening.

Emma is a talker. She talks all the time (taking after her mother, I guess).

Her phrases crack us up. Here's a few of our favorites that we wanted to memorialize so that we can remember them in our old age:
"What's that noise from?" - whenever she hears some distant sound. She has excellent hearing.
"[Noun] went away? Tired?" - when something she likes disappears or is taken away.
"Umma, I am very tired now" - she actually emphasizes the "very". Where did she learn that drama?
"Umma, I'm bang bang" - this is a mix of Korean and English. Bang bang is Korean baby talk for "I am full."
"What's that you're eating? I want some." - usually happens when I try to be sneaky and put something like chocolate or a cookie or chip in my mouth when she is not looking. Shoot.
"Hey, [Umma/Appa/Hammi/Insert name here], don't do that!" - when we do something she doesn't like. Especially when we try to take something away.
"No, I am busy right now." - told to us when we ask her to do something she doesn't want to do.
"No, the big one." - when we try to give her a little piece of something she wants, like a treat. She points to the bigger piece and says this.
"I need a book first." - she is learning to use potty and she sits there, but wants a book. Where does she learn these things??
"My laptop, please" - when she wants to "work" alongside us.
"I am strong!" - one day I started to think about the types of compliments we give her. A lot of them are along the lines of "oh, you are so cute!" or "so pretty!" Of course, she is super cuties, but I want her to know that she is so much more than just those things. So I have started to tell her more often about how smart, how brave, how strong she is. One day, when I asked to her to clean up her toys, she picked up a big box filled with her blocks, and said "Look at me, Umma, I am strong!" I almost cried. Now, she says it all the time.

I realize that a lot of the phrases above make her sound like a demanding child, but she is a toddler, after all. Emma is a good kid overall, bright, good natured, and funny. She has finally gotten over ther violent stage toward Ethan, and shows a lot of affection for him. She often asks Ethan "to give her a hug", or if she can give him a "po po" (kiss, in Korean).

She also loves eating her veggies - what a blessing! Look at the salad she is eating. She actually asked for salad for dinner that night.

And, there's Ethan, lurking in the background of the photo. He will cry unless he is held during dinner. We have to take turns eating, if we want to eat in any semblance of peace. Ethan is very interested in the food we are eating. He started solids at 6 months. He basically spit out any sort of cereal we tried, but is now obsessed with squash, butternut or zucchini. He smiles when he sees the food, and then, cries (surprise) if the food isn't coming quickly enough to his mouth. All this crying - I tell myself, this, too, shall pass. I hope. I pray. I chant. Please, in the name of everything holy, please!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T21:09:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2011 has come and gone. It was a whirlwind! This year we stayed at home in San Francisco, got a tree and had a small intimate family Christmas. Emma, husband and I made sugar cookies to give away. For our Christmas lunch, I made ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, braised balsamic brussel sprouts (these are so good!) and the grown ups had a nice bottle of wine. We visited friends for dinner, then, I went back to work (yes, another Christmas with work, year end sucks, people, at least in terms of work anyway).

Life is crazy with two, like I mentioned above, work is going full on, no holds barred. Ethan is growing into quite the little chunk, and Emma is finally starting to get along with her little brother.

This year, we said a little prayer over our meal, thanking God for what we have and how blessed we are, and wishing that everyone can have peace and love for the holiday season.

Bay Area Discovery Museum

2011-11-14T15:20:00.001-08:00

I am remiss in posting our Halloween pictures. Emma was a bumblebee and Ethan was a skunk. Will have to post those soon.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from the Bay Area Discovery Museum. It is an awesome place to take kids, with lots of interactive exhibits and play areas. Located just over the Golden Gate Bridge, the drive itself is an adventure for the kids. Unfortunately, Ethan had a cold on the day we went, so he stayed at home with Grandma, while Emma, husband and I went to a birthday party which was hosted at the Museum.

Other than his cold, Ethan is doing well. He went to his 4 month check up recently and weighed in at a hefty 16.2 lbs and was in the 90th percentile for height. The nurse who first saw him thought he was there for a 6 month checkup!

Happy 100th Day, Ethan!

2011-10-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Ethan turned 100 days old on October 16, 2011.

Just like his older sister, Ethan had a Red Egg and Ginger/100 Day party. This time, the party was held at a Korean restaurant in the Central Valley. The Red Egg and Ginger part celebrated Ethan's Chinese heritage, while the 100 Day part celebrated his Korean side.

In Korean culture, we celebrate a baby's 100th day of life (baek-il) with family, friends and food. We also share a particular type of rice cake on this day, to spread luck and to wish the baby a long life. Typically, this rice cake is white, but we had a rainbow one ordered (the pink topped one in the picture). Unfortunately, the rice cake didn't travel well from San Francisco, where we had it special ordered, to the Central Valley. Pretty to look at, but it was dry.

He pretty much slept through the entire dinner party.

Meanwhile, Emma ate and sang at the table and then ran around outside the restaurant. She also managed to find a water source outside of the restaurant and played around with the water in the fountain.

She swam in her grandparents' pool since it was 88 degrees outside! She was a little unsure at first, because she hadn't been swimming in a while...These two pictures crack me up. Note her displeasure in each.

But, then after a little while, she decided she liked being in the water again and didn't want to come out.

Again, note her displeasure at being dried off and being told that swim time was over.

We celebrated another important family milestone with loved ones and lots of food, which is always a recipe for a good time.

Separately, I am returning to work at the end of November, after the holidays. I am totally reluctant to return, even more so than last time, because I know that a mountain of work is already awaiting my return. In fact, I have had to go into work a few times while on leave, and every time the question has been "When are you coming back already?!" My husband's advice "Don't psych yourself out before you even know what it will be like." Solid advice, I think, so I am going to try to keep a positive attitude and an open mind, and see how it goes when I actually am back at work.

Apple Puff Pastry Tart

2011-10-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

We have an apple overload due to this. The apples are lovely and crunchy and delicious eaten raw, but I decided that since we have an abundance, I would make a baked good. I had high falutin' ideas about making a pie from scratch, crust and all. Then, I realized I have two kids and one is only 3 months old and I am tired. I opted for this easy tart instead.

I used one puff pastry sheet, purchased from the grocery store, three large apples, one Rome, two Fujis, half a lemon, about 1/2 a cup of brown sugar (I am guesstimating here, since I didn't really measure the amount) and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

I don't have a fancy apple corer thingie, so I cut out the core by cutting into the apple wedges diagonally and then thinly sliced the wedges. The resulting slices still look pretty good.

I mixed the apple slices, lemon juice, brown sugar and cinnamon all together, letting the mixture sit a little bit until it got juicy.

Then I cut the slightly defrosted puff pastry sheet in half to make two tarts and layered the apples into each half.

I suppose you could add more sugar and some butter to make this even tastier. I have seen plenty of recipes with more sugar and melted butter added to the apple mixture, or with butter dotted over the top of the layered apples in the pastry prior to baking. However, I opted to cut the sugar and fat so that I wouldn't feel too guilty about giving a big piece to this little character:

I had leftover apple mixture, but didn't want it to go to waste. So, I threw in some walnuts and dried cherries, put the mixture along with the leftover juices into a saucepan, along with some water so that the liquid covered the apples just slightly, then cooked on the stovetop until the liquid was syrupy.

The resulting apple concoction is good and will taste great on ice cream or on our morning oatmeal.

Look at the twin beauties. I drizzled a little bit of the apple concoction syrup on top of the tarts.

I think if you want a more professional look, you could glaze the tarts with a little melted jam. Also, if you put in more sugar and/or butter, you would definitely get way more juice at the end. But, to us, these were very good, and not overly sweet. Husband ate half of one in about two minutes.

Pumpkin Patch October 2011

2011-10-13T17:31:00.000-07:00

For this year's pumpkin patch excursion, we left San Francisco and went to Half Moon Bay. And this time, we had this little guy along for the ride.

We went the first weekend in October with our friends and their one year old son. What fun we had! We rode on the "train" which Emma loved.

We saw some real ponies, but since she was too little to ride one, she rode a wooden pony instead.

She picked a pumpkin for herself (she finally chose the little orange one she is holding in the picture)...

But, only after she picked a larger one up and tried to run off with it.

Happy Autumn! This is my favorite time of the year!

Look Similar?

2011-10-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

Here's Ethan at 3 months!

He has been able to hold up his head without wobbling like this since week 10. Does this look similar to this?

He is pretty strong and also like to "stand" on his feet. He is almost 16 pounds already - my chunky monkey!

Apple Picking

2011-10-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today we went picnicing and apple picking in Sebastopol with friends. Fun and delicious!

Groovin' and Babblin'

2011-10-06T22:47:00.000-07:00

Back in May, my brother bought and sent us an old school boombox so that Emma and my mother could easily play their music. People, I live with a computer nerd who took away all our CDs after burning the music onto an external hard drive. Yes, it saves space, but sometimes, I just miss the simplicity of putting in a CD and pushing play, no turning on the computer, no searching for the proper directory, no searching for songs, etc. etc. And, yes, I know I am a dork and not with the times. But, do you remember making mix tapes and/or mix CDs? That, my friends, is a lost art...

Anyways, we keep this boombox in the living room on the floor. It only took Emma a few days to learn how to operate it and she has been using the thing ever since. She picks the CD she wants to play from a small CD case, puts it in the player, pushes play, and then starts dancing away.

Here's a video of Emma dancing to a song from her Pororo CD and to Wheels on the Bus. She *LOVES* her Pororo CD. I have heard this CD so many times, my head aches just thinking about it. Let me tell you, Pororo the Little Penguin is like cartoon royalty in Korea (warning! clicking on the link takes you to a site which plays one of the crazy-making songs from the CD). He is everywhere. I guess he is like the Elmo of Korea. Her new favorite song is Wheels on the Bus. She knows the hand motions that go along with the song. In the video, you see her looking off to the corner because that is where I am standing, following along with her motions. You will also see her running over to me a couple of times to make sure I am paying FULL attention to her. Did I mention she is having some jealousy issues since the arrival of baby Ethan??

Emma really loves to sing as well. She knows quite a few songs, but her favorites to sing are Wheels on the Bus, the Alphabet Song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep (all three of which have the same exact melody, just different words), Are You Sleeping, and three or four other Korean songs.

I don't know what Ethan makes of all this singing and dancing. I think sometimes he is just overwhelmed by Emma and all the noise a 2 year old can generate. Here he is, babbling away after his sister's bedtime, which is really the only time he can get a word in edgewise.

Recent FOs

2011-10-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, I posted stuff about my corporate peon role, books, knitting, cooking, travel, all sorts of things. But over the last year and a half, this blog has evolved to become a forum about my family and children. That's fine, I know the only people who really read this blog are our family and friends who are genuinely interested in our family life and long to see pictures of our oh-so-cute kids. BUT, sometimes, looking at my older posts, I am nostalgic for those freer days when both husband and I had more time for our personal hobbies and pursuits.

Because I don't really have that much time to knit anymore, I decided that instead of trying to start new ambitious projects that I know I will never be able to devote enough time to, I would pick up my old projects I started but never finished and actually finish them. Doing this, I have been able to clear out a bunch of things from my knitting basket and have ended up with some pretty cute things. Some things, like the Poppy Beret were started in 2008 and only had a few more rows to go before completion, but for some inexplicable reason, it languished in my basket for 2 years?!

The 2 year Poppy Beret which was originally meant as a gift for my sister in law, but now has become mine.

Here's the Vine Lace Vest which I gave to my mom. It's a horrible picture, but trust me the thing is pretty cute in person. I admit I have borrowed it once or twice.

The Noro Entrelac Scarf. Another well intentioned gift. Even if posting a picture ends up ruining the surprise, I am posting it anyway because I think it is pretty and the knitting technique is neat.

The Open Ribwork Socks for my mom. I have only knit two pairs of socks in my life, and one of those pairs was the pair I knit in sock class while learning how to make socks. People who don't knit will probably chuckle about handknit socks and wonder why anyone would bother in this day and age, but let me tell you this - the socks are measured to fit my mom's feet perfectly, the yarn is comfy and pretty and they are super warm. My mother actually likes wearing them to bed to keep her feet warm at night. Go figure!

I have other unfinshed sweaters and projects that will still take a while to finish. Maybe some will be finished in another two years (yikes!).

I did manage to knit three things for baby Ethan, mostly done very late at night/past midnight between feedings, diaper changes, etc. I felt like I had to make some things for the little guy because his sister got so many handknit baby things, but he didn't yet have any.

A plain ol' newborn knit cap which is already too small for my little guy.

The Garter Yoke Cardigan - probably will fit in another month or two. Still need to find the right buttons for it. Oh how I hate to sew buttons and seams...

The Sweet Norwegian Baby Cap. This matches the cardigan. It is a neat contruction, sort of like a bonnet because it covers his ears and the back of his head to the nape of his neck. It's a little too big for him now, but he will grow into it.

And the Hits Keep Coming

2011-09-25T00:38:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but this maternity leave has presented more issues than I care to admit. It started out with double mastitis, and this past week, it ended up with unscheduled surgery.

Last Friday, our family went to a corporate peon event - a backyard BBQ (except this backyard was like the kind of backyard you see in home and garden magazines where you wonder, who the hell has a backyard like that?? Well, this person did.). That night, I started getting horrible stomach and lower back pains. I had actually been having these bad stomach episodes throughout September but I put off checking it out, just chalking it up to tiredness and possibly postpartum kinks working themselves out. Well, this time, the pain was something awful. There was no position, no antacid, no pain reliever that was working. I decided I should go to the hospital, but fully believed that I would return home sheepishly after being told it was just a bad stomachache or maybe food poisoning.

Around 4 AM, husband and I walked me to the emergency room of the hospital which is 4 blocks away from our place. And once again, we felt how lucky we are to have my mother here since she was able to stay with the kids while we went. I was in a lot of pain by then, and nurses kept asking me to judge my pain on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst pain I can imagine. Personally, I find this pain scale ridiculous because pain is so subjective. I mean, to me, 10 would be like getting a limb severed or something, and so I would always just answer 4, because seriously, this hurt a lot, but it wasn't the worst kind of pain I could imagine, and I had had two kids after all. However, the first nurse who looked at my face judged me to be in such pain that she thought I should have immediate pain relief with morphine. That helped, haha.

Long story short, I ended up getting an ultrasound, and being diagnosed with an inflamed gallbladder, lots of gallstones, and one large stone lodged and immovable from one of the gallbladder ducts leading to the intestines. Ouch. What was supremely annoying was that the situation was bad enough that the doctors would not release me, told me that I had to have surgery as soon as possible, and that I had to remain in the hospital until the surgery could be scheduled. And on top of that, I was told that I could not eat anything until the surgery occurred since it would just irritate the gallbladder even further.

How could this be?? I couldn't believe that I had the same condition that led to my husband's same exact surgery over a year ago. Apparently, this condition is highly genetic and also influenced by diet. But, I eat healthy and there is absolutely no one in my family that has or had this condition.  Just bad luck, one of the doctors said.

Anyway, I was hospitalized around 7 AM Saturday, got surgery Monday morning, and came home on Tuesday late afternoon. So let's see - here are the highlights of my stay:
1. Between Saturday and Tuesday, I was starving! One nurse took pity on me and snuck me a popsicle.  Between Saturday and Tuesday morning, I ate two popsicles. I guess, in some sort of sick way, this jump started my post baby weight loss.
2. I got poked 6 times to get in one IV line because my veins are deep set and small, and ended up with an IV in my wrist, a very painful place.
3.  As I woke up from the anesthesia, apparently I immediately called out "Where's my baby??" over and over. I was disoriented and I guess I thought I had just given birth again! The funny thing is, I remember the post-op nurse saying "Your baby is fine, she is at home" and then me replying "But, my baby is a boy, where is my baby??"
4.  On the night after my surgery, I tried to go to the bathroom, unhooked the IV stand from the wall, walked to the bathroom and got the IV stand caught on the mesh top part of the draw curtain in my hospital room. I was too short and too sore from the incisions to unhook myself, so I stood there stranded for 5 long minutes, away from the nurse call button, trying to get the attention of the nurses at the nursing station right outside my door, but was ignored until a random doctor making some rounds walked by my room and I yelled out for help. He unhooked me, but I felt like an idiot.
5. One nurse, as she was helping me turn over in the bed post surgery, saw my ass (not weird given her profession), but then immediately commented that I had nice skin. Awkward.
6. The attending doctor told me that I was a tough woman, taking the pain of the gallstone attack and the post surgery recovery extremely well. This was further confirmed by husband, who reluctantly admitted that I handled the immediate post surgery recovery in and out of the hospital much better than he did for the same surgery. Face!
7. I am really proud of myself for maintaining breastfeeding throughout this process. I had to keep pumping to keep up my milk supply while at the hospital before and after surgery, but had to dump all the pumped milk because of all the meds in my body. Pumping after surgery was painful, sitting up to pump every three hours, and nursing Ethan was painful for a couple of days after the surgery since my stomach was so tender and he would sometimes deliver a not-so-well placed kick while nursing!
8. I am truly grateful for modern medicine. I was able to get laparoscopic surgery, instead of having to be cut open. The recovery time is quicker and the recovery itself is less painful.

I will go to the surgeon's office this Wednesday to get the dressings removed from the incisions (4 holes and one through the bellybutton) and to get the all clear. All in all, I am so glad this too has passed and that I am feeling pretty good.

Whaaaaat??

2011-09-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

This morning, my two year old said to me: "I need diamonds...please." Whaaaaaat??? At least she said "please." We are working on our manners, after all.

Our Harvest

2011-09-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

Our first harvest from our organic planter boxes in our remodeled backyard was...

Radishes.

These were hard-won veggies. Our neighbors' cats (yes, that is right, multiple neighbors, multiple cats) would come in and dig up the seeds and the seedlings. After each raid, we re-spread the dirt, re-spread coffee grounds, a method that is supposed to deter cats, and then replanted the uprooted seedlings. We still lost a crop of basil and chives, with only the radishes surviving. Annoying.

Look at our littlest farmer.

We planted the radishes as a sort of gardening experiment, since radishes have a very quick germination time. Unfortunately, no one in our family really cares for red radishes all that much. I mean, we aren't Fraggles, so what do you do with them other than slice them into salads? Well, our Korean side of the family decided to make kimchee, because we Koreans love to pickle things. Usually, this type of kimchee, called yulmoo kimchee, is made with young daikon radishes, using the root and the greens. Our version turned out very nicely and we got about three large jars out of the radishes from our yard. Delicious!

Ethan Says Hello

2011-08-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Ethan:

My mother says I have cute dimples.

This is my big sister, Emma (at least that is what her shirt says):

Sometimes, my big sister makes me feel like this:

But, my mom says that I have to be nice to her, and that she has to be nice to me. Oh well.

My Darling Little Girl

2011-08-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

My little Emma turned two on Sunday. It sounds so cliche, but I cannot believe how quickly the time passed. One of my friends reiterated the old parent saying that with raising kids, the days are long, but the years are short. How true.

My in laws and great grandmother in law came up to San Francisco for a quiet birthday celebration. We went out for a birthday dinner at Mayflower on Saturday, had cake on Saturday night, then opened presents on Sunday morning.

Just look at her eyeing that piece of birthday cake!

She doesn't really get to eat sweets very much, so anytime there is cake, Emma gets super exicted and starts to sing Happy Birthday, no matter whether it is anyone's birthday or not!

Here is my darling first baby on her actual birthday (ignore the smudges around her mouth, which is probably leftover from breakfast-oops!).

She took in quite the birthday gift haul - she got a puzzle set, hair ribbons (two of which she is wearing in her picture above), a cute ladybug bag, books, lots and lots of stickers (her current obsession), a Hello Kitty doll and coloring book, a lunch box set for preschool and birthday money from her grandmothers, grandfather, great grandmother, aunts and uncles and cousins.

From us and Baby Ethan, she got a play kitchen and play pots, pans and cooking utensils. She played with the kitchen, cooking and making thing all morning long on Sunday. I love her bed head look in the picture.

Emma also starts preschool tomorrow. She will be going two full days a week - Tuesdays and Thursdays. She had two trial run visits to the preschool last week, and she loved it. The preschool is one of the "right" preschools in San Francisco (one that is a feeder preschool for desirable San Francisco private kindergartens), and we were surprised that we were able to get in without having to wait over a year to be pulled off the waitlist. We just got lucky one day when we called the school and they told us that there was an immediate opening, and would we like to take it, since we just happened to be calling that day? I will never understand the San Francisco preschool admission process. The funny thing is that the opening happens to be in the preschool's Jewish traditions class (the preschool does have other non-Jewish classes). Hee hee. So each morning, Emma will participate in a Shalom circle. She will also learn about Jewish holidays and sing and learn some Jewish children's songs. Since she won't attend on Fridays, she will miss the school's Shabbat, where all of the preschool's children partake in challah bread and grape juice, and someone comes in to say a blessing. I think her preschool and special class will be interesting for Emma, and she will also learn some great communal values!

A Lot Has Happened! (Baby Ethan's Arrival and an Ode to My Mom)

2011-07-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

Firstly, and most importantly, our son, Ethan Jung-Bin, was born on Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 3:44 PM. At birth, he weighted 8 pounds 11 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long. From start to finish, the labor and delivery took about 14-15 hours which sounds long, but is still less than half the time it took for Emma to enter the world!

Look, he has dimples!

He looked so much like his big sister when she was first born. At birth, Emma's head was definitely bigger and she had a lot more hair. But, because of his size, at birth, Ethan looked like Emma at two weeks or older.

Here's Ethan a few days after we came home from the hospital:

Here's Emma, in virtually the same pose:

So why did it take so long for me to write Ethan's birth blog entry? Well, let me tell you - this may be TMI (too much information) for some, there will be talk of breasts and nipples!

I got home from the hospital on Monday afternoon. My in laws arrived for a three day stay on Friday morning. I was recovering from delivering Mr. Big Baby. I thought the recovery was going ok, certainly less painful (and fewer stitches!) than the recovery with Emma. But then, during the in law visit, I got mastitis in my right breast. For those who don't know what mastitis is, it is a breast infection caused by clogged milk ducts. It causes fever, chills, flu-like symptoms, including all over body ache, swelling and tenderness of the breast and exhaustion. Lucky me, I got all these symptoms in spades. To make matters worse, Ethan, just like his sister before him, had caused cracked and bleeding nipples during his breastfeeding sessions. On Sunday morning, my sister in law and brother in law arrived. My mother in law had a small birthday BBQ in our newly remodeled backyard (a post for another time), but I was too sick to participate. All our guests left late on Sunday afternoon, but I was still feeling very crappy. One of the remedies for mastitis, in addition to antibiotics, is to massage the affected breast with hot compresses. Well, when the breast is swollen and tender to the touch, the massage can be downright painful, and each time I fed Ethan (every two hours), I had tears in my eyes from the pain of the mastitis and his suckling on my raw, bleeding nipples.

On Sunday night, I got mastitis in my left breast. I couldn't believe it - both breasts were now infected and so painful. The fevers came back because of the new infection and it seriously took so much of my energy to move. Each breastfeeding session, with the massage, feeding and pumping out the extra milk, took over an hour, cutting into the time when I could sleep or rest between feedings. I think I was also just plain exhausted from recovery, staying up at nights with Ethan, trying to spend time with Emma, and visitors. It was all too much, too soon. During this time, Emma was being so great, kissing her brother on his head, patting him, calling him Baby, and coming to my bedside for stories. I felt horrible emotionally because 1) Emma was getting so little attention from me, and 2) breastfeeding, something which I thought would be easier than the first time around with Emma and would be a beautiful bonding experience, had turned into something so overwhelming and painful. I was so close to giving up breastfeeding Ethan, and I cried a few times from pain, sheer exhaustion and guilt.

Finally, on Tuesday, I started to feel better, where I could move around some. My doctor had warned me that I needed lots of rest and sleep to fight off the infections, but seriously, try doing that with a newborn and a toddler in the house.

On Thursday, we got notice that my father, with whom I do not really speak (for so many reasons which are not for this blog), was coming to San Francisco from Korea for a FIVE DAY stay starting on Saturday. He gave us two days notice - so freaking typical. For those who don't know my father, the news of his visit was not exactly good. He is not the type of guest who is easy and he is demanding and very high maintenance. Oh, you might think that this would change because he would know that we have a newborn and toddler in the house, and that I was still sick, but his behavior was pretty much as expected. I won't go into all the details here, but our entire household breathed a sigh of relief when he left for Korea this Thursday morning, without TOO many incidents during the visit. I will say that he was besotted with Emma (not so much with Ethan, but I guess that is because newborns don't really do very much in terms of being entertaining), and I was glad that he got the opportunity to spend time with her. She impressed him by knowing her letters and speaking Korean and English and just being overall cute. As a side note, just to make sure that the I knew the universe was laughing at us, during my father's visit, both my mother and I caught bad colds, from which we are only now just recovering. Still, a bad cold beats mastitis any day!

In addition to chronicling my crazy post partum, I also wanted to use this post as an ode to my mother. I swear she is like Superwoman, and I just don't know how I would have gotten through these past three weeks without her. She was there, doing all the things that I should have, or would have been doing, had I been feeling "normal." She cooked and cleaned for all our guests, and she made sure that there was always something to eat for Emma, husband and myself during these past three weeks. She entertained Emma when I couldn't and when husband had to go back to work after the first week and took her on walks and to the park everyday. She was the one who stayed up with me at nights, helping me with the hot compresses each and every feeding. She did the mountains of laundry that appeared from all the hot compresses and general messy post partum recovery. She calmed Ethan during the wee morning hours, just so I and husband could catch an hour or two of extra sleep. And she did this all in her quiet manner, rarely complaining, and just getting things done without me or husband or Emma having to ask. Once again, I am floored by her nurturing ways and her ability to power through difficult situations without keeling over from exhaustion. In addition to taking care of the household, the visit from my father wasn't easy on her, but she still managed to get through it all, even with the bad cold.

So here we are, on a Saturday, three weeks after Ethan's arrival, and our household is FINALLY quiet and back to normal, or as normal as it can be with a newborn and under two toddler. Emma's 2 year birthday is coming up soon, and frankly, I am glad that we made the decision to make her birthday a small and quiet celebration this year, because I don't think we can take much more craziness!

And because Emma is still my baby, no matter how old she is, here are some pictures of her, too.

From 4th of July weekend, in our newly redone backyard. Note her sunglasses. She insists on wearing them when she goes outside:

After she got caught pawing through my makeup - that is expensive lip gloss rubbed all over her cheeks. Well, at least the lip gloss was organic...

Coming out of her bath/shower. A hand towel is just the right size!

On a Rainy Day

2011-06-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

We fingerpainted!

Then, even though I am technically on maternity leave, I had to work so that I could finish up one last project. Boo. At least I get to work from home now until baby 2 arrives.

B-Day and Anniversary

2011-06-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

My birthday and our wedding anniversary came and went in late May. My husband and I went out to see a movie (our first in the theater, I think, in over a year), and then went out to dinner at Jardiniere, sans bebe Emma. The movie was "meh", but the dinner was fabulous.

Our waiter was pleasant and knowledgeable and the food was delicious. We had duck confit salad (crispy!), spring asparagus soup, gnocchi with goat butter and spring ramps (little pillows of goodness that melted in your mouth), wild boar prepared three ways and prime rib. Don't worry, the portions, while sufficient, were not so large that we couldn't handle all those dishes. Portion control is how the French can eat things like goat butter and still stay thin! Our waiter even poured me a half glass of wine with dinner (this is the time to get out your pitchforks, people, if you are going to have issues with a pregnant lady having a little wine, which incidentally, my doctor has specifically okayed). The wine was a German pinot noir (never had a German one before) and it was excellent - delicate, fruity, but still with some body and kick. We then had this ridiculous dessert of a chocolate peanut butter "candy bar", served with Kix ice cream. Kix cereal! And it tasted just like the cereal, except in ice cream form.

I meant to take snapshots of the food, but we dug in too quickly. All my husband managed to get was this shot of dessert.

Notice how the "Happy Birthday" is all smeared. That would be because of yours truly, running her finger through the chocolate writing even before the picture could be taken. Ha!

My husband and I don't often get opportunities to go out for a fancy dinner anymore, just the two of us, what with Emma, baby 2 on the way, work schedules, errands, you name it. And for the most part, that is fine. We love taking baby Emma out to eat, but eating with a toddler severely narrows down your eating establishment choices. Our birthday/anniversary dinner was all the more special because of this, I guess, and we both loved it. A special bonus - Tracy de Jardin, the owner of Jardiniere, is featured on Top Chef this season. We don't watch the show, but good to know that we got to try her cuisine. This is truly when living in San Francisco just rocks.

Inspirational Words for Women

2011-06-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

This is the commencement speech that Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook and one of the "50 most powerful women in business" according to Fortune magazine, gave to the 2011 graduating class of Barnard College. Read the speech - I know it is long, but it is worth reading. It's tough and challenges us women, but it is also inspirational. As a working mother in a rough and still male-dominated profession, I think about these issues ALL THE TIME, and especially how these issues and challenges will affect my daughter as she makes her way in the world. I don't know if I will always remain a corporate peon and whether I will continue to work in my chosen profession, but for as long as I can, and in whatever it is that I chose to do, I will "lean in" and put the pedal to the metal to set an example for my daughter that she can dream big and be a leader in whatever she chooses to do (just maybe not in my profession, ha ha). I am going to show this speech to baby Emma when she is old enough to understand. And one last thought, when Ms. Sandberg says that one of the most important career decisions a woman can make is whether or not to have a life partner and her choice in life partner, I couldn't agree more. I am lucky that my husband is so supportive of me and my career. He is a willing and equal partner in all family duties, and I couldn't do this all without him. I love my choice in life partner. Like my cousin and maid of honor at my wedding said, I "did good"!

"Thank you, President Spar. Members of the board of trustees, esteemed members of the faculty, proud parents, squirming siblings, devoted friends: congratulations to all of you. But especially, congratulations to the magnificent Barnard Class of 2011.

Looking at you all here fills me with great joy, in part because my college roommate, a member of your faculty, Caroline Weber, is here. Carrie, it means so much to me to be at your school, and in part because I work in Silicon Valley, let’s just say I’m not usually in a room with this many women. For the wonderful men who are here today, if you feel a little uncomfortable, we’re really glad you’re here, and no line for the men’s room. It’s worth it.

I graduated from college exactly 20 years ago. And as I am reminded every single day where I work, that makes me really old. Mark Zuckerberg, our founder and my boss, said to me the other day, “Sheryl, when do midlife crises happen? When you’re 30?” Not a good day at the office. But I am old enough to know that most of our lives are filled with days we do not remember. Today is not one of them. You may not remember one word I say. You may not even remember who your graduation speaker is, although for the record, Sheryl with an S. You won’t remember that it was raining and we had to move inside. But you will remember what matters, which is how you feel as you sit here, as you walk across the stage, as you start the next phase of your life.

Today is a day of celebration, a day to celebrate all the hard work that got you to this place where you can sit, kind of sweltering in that gown. Today is a day of thanks, a day to thank all the people that helped you get here, the people who nurtured you and taught you, who held your hand, who dried your tears. Today is a day of reflection. Excuse me, a little laryngitis.

As you leave Barnard today, you leave not just with an education, but you take your place amongst the fortunate. Some of you came here from families where education was expected and emphasized. Others of you had to overcome far more obstacles to get here, and today you become the very first member of your family to graduate from college. What an amazing accomplishment. But no matter where you started, as of today you are all privileged. You are privileged in the most important sense of the word, which is that you have almost boundless opportunity in front of you. So, the question is, what are you going to do with it? What will you do with this education you worked so hard to achieve? What in the world needs to change, and what part do you plan on playing in changing it?

Pulitzer Prize winners Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas Kristof visited this campus last year and they spoke about their critically important book, Half the Sky. In that book, they assert that the fundamental moral challenge of the 19th century was slavery; of the 20th century, it was totalitarianism; and for our century, it is oppression of girls and women around the world. Their book is a call to arms, to give women all over the world, women who are exactly like us except for the circumstances into which they were born, basic human rights.

Compared to these women, we are lucky. In America, as in the entire developed world, we are equals under the law. But the promise of equality is not equality. As we sit here looking at this magnificent blue-robed class, we have to admit something that’s sad but true: men run the world. Of 190 heads of 2 state, nine are women. Of all the parliaments around the world, 13% of those seats are held by women. Corporate America top jobs, 15% are women; numbers which have not moved at all in the past nine years. Nine years. Of full professors around the United States, only 24% are women.

I recognize that this is a vast improvement from generations in the past. When my mother took her turn to sit in a gown at her graduation, she thought she only had two career options: nursing and teaching. She raised me and my sister to believe that we could do anything, and we believed her. But what is so sad—it doesn’t just make me feel old, it makes me truly sad—is that it’s very clear that my generation is not going to change this problem. Women became 50% of the college graduates in this country in 1981, 30 years ago. Thirty years is plenty of time for those graduates to have gotten to the top of their industries, but we are nowhere close to 50% of the jobs at the top. That means that when the big
decisions are made, the decisions that affect all of our worlds, we do not have an equal voice at that table.

So today, we turn to you. You are the promise for a more equal world. You are our hope. I truly believe that only when we get real equality in our governments, in our businesses, in our companies and our universities, will we start to solve this generation’s central moral problem, which is gender equality. We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.

So my hope for all of you here, for every single one of you, is that you’re going to walk across the stage and get your diploma. You’re going to go out tonight or maybe all summer and celebrate. You deserve it. And then you’re going to lean way into your career. You’re going to find something you love doing, and you’re going to do it with gusto. You’re going to pick your field and you’re going to ride it all the way to the top.

So, what advice can I give you to help you achieve this goal? The first thing is I encourage you to think big. Studies show very clearly that in our country, in the college-educated part of the population, men are more ambitious than women. They’re more ambitious the day they graduate from college; they remain more ambitious every step along their career path. We will never close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap. But if all young women start to lean in, we can close the ambition gap right here, right now, if every single one of you leans in. Leadership belongs to those who take it. Leadership starts with you.

The next step is you’re going to have to believe in yourself potentially more than you do today. Studies also show that compared to men, women underestimate their performance. If you ask men and women questions about completely objective criteria such as GPAs or sales goals, men get it wrong slightly high; women get it wrong slightly low. More importantly, if you ask men why they succeeded, men attribute that success to themselves; and women, they attribute it to other factors like working harder, help from others. Ask a woman why she did well on something, and she’ll say, “I got lucky. All of these great people helped me. I worked really hard.” Ask a man and he’ll say or think, “What a dumb question. I’m awesome.” So women need to take a page from men and own their own success.

That’s much easier to say than to do. I know this from my own experience. All along the way, I’ve had all of those moments, not just some of the time; I would say most of the time, where I haven’t felt that I owned my success. I got into college and thought about how much my parents helped me on my essays. I went to the Treasury Department because I was lucky to take the right professor’s class who took me to Treasury. Google, I boarded a rocket ship that took me up with everyone else.

Even to this day, I have those moments. I have those moments all the time, probably far more than you can imagine I would. I know I need to make the adjustments. I know I need to believe in myself and raise my hand, because I’m sitting next to some guy and he thinks he’s awesome. So, to all of you, if you remember nothing else today, remember this: You are awesome. I’m not suggesting you be boastful. No one likes that in men or women. But I am suggesting that believing in yourself is the first necessary step to coming even close to achieving your potential.

You should also know that there are external forces out there that are holding you back from really owning your success. Studies have shown—and yes, I kind of like studies—that success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women. This means that as men get more successful and powerful, both men and women like them better. As women get more powerful and successful, everyone, including women, likes them less.

I’ve experienced this firsthand. When I first joined Facebook, there was a well-read blog out in the Valley that devoted some incredibly serious pixels to trashing me. Anonymous sources called me a liar, two-faced, about to ruin Facebook forever. I cried some when I was alone, I lost a bunch of sleep. Then I told myself it didn’t matter. Then everyone else told me it didn’t matter, which just reminded me of one thing: they were reading it too. I fantasized about all kinds of rejoinders, but in the end, my best and only response was just to do my job and do it well. When Facebook’s performance improved, the trash talk went away.

Do I believe I was judged more harshly because of my double-Xs? Yes. Do I think this will happen to me again in my career? Sure. I told myself that next time I’m not going to let it bother me, I won’t cry. I’m not sure that’s true. But I know I’ll get through it. I know that the truth comes out in the end, and I know how to keep my head down and just keep working.

If you think big, if you own your own success, if you lead, it won’t just have external costs, but it may cause you some personal sacrifice. Men make far fewer compromises than women to balance professional success and personal fulfillment. That’s because the majority of housework and childcare still falls to women. If a heterosexual couple work full time, the man will do—the woman, sorry—the woman will do two times the amount of housework and three times the amount of childcare that her husband will do. From my mother’s generation to mine, we have made far more progress making the workforce even than we have making the home even, and the latter is hurting the former very dramatically. So it’s a bit counterintuitive, but the most important career decision you’re going to make is whether or not you have a life partner and who that partner is. If you pick someone who’s willing to share the burdens and the joys of your personal life, you’re going to go further. A world where men ran half our homes and women ran half our institutions would be just a much better world.

I have a six-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter. I want more choices for both of them. I want my son to have the choice to be a full partner not just at work, but at home; and I want my daughter to have a choice to do either. But if she chooses work, to be well-liked for what she accomplishes. We can’t wait for the term “work/life balance” to be something that’s not just discussed at women’s conferences.

Of course not everyone wants to jump into the workforce and rise to the top. Life is going to bring many twists and turns, and each of us, each of you, have to forge your own path. I have deep respect for my friends who make different choices than I do, who choose the really hard job of raising children full time, who choose to go part time, or who choose to pursue more nontraditional goals. These are choices that you may make some day, and these are fine choices.

But until that day, do everything you can to make sure that when that day comes, you even have a choice to make. Because what I have seen most clearly in my 20 years in the workforce is this: Women almost never make one decision to leave the workforce. It doesn’t happen that way. They make small little decisions along the way that eventually lead them there. Maybe it’s the last year of med school when they say, I’ll take a slightly less interesting specialty because I’m going to want more balance one day. Maybe it’s the fifth year in a law firm when they say, I’m not even sure I should go for partner, because I know I’m going to want kids eventually.

These women don’t even have relationships, and already they’re finding balance, balance for responsibilities they don’t yet have. And from that moment, they start quietly leaning back. The problem is, often they don’t even realize it. Everyone I know who has voluntarily left a child at home
and come back to the workforce—and let’s face it, it’s not an option for most people. But for people in this audience, many of you are going to have this choice. Everyone who makes that choice will tell you the exact same thing: You’re only going to do it if your job is compelling.

If several years ago you stopped challenging yourself, you’re going to be bored. If you work for some guy who you used to sit next to, and really, he should be working for you, you’re going to feel undervalued, and you won’t come back. So, my heartfelt message to all of you is, and start thinking about this now, do not leave before you leave. Do not lean back; lean in. Put your foot on that gas pedal and keep it there until the day you have to make a decision, and then make a decision. That’s the only way, when that day comes, you’ll even have a decision to make.

What about the rat race in the first place? Is it worthwhile? Or are you just buying into someone else’s definition of success? Only you can decide that, and you’ll have to decide it over and over and over. But if you think it’s a rat race, before you drop out, take a deep breath. Maybe you picked the wrong job. Try again. And then try again. Try until you find something that stirs your passion, a job that matters to you and matters to others. It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution. It’s also a very clear path to happiness.

At Facebook we have a very broad mission. We don’t just want you to post all your pictures of tonight up there and use Facebook to keep in touch, even though we want that, so do a lot of that. We want to connect the whole world. We want to make the whole world more open and more transparent. The one thing I’ve learned working with great entrepreneurs—Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Google—that if you want to make a difference, you better think big and dream big, right from day one.

We try at Facebook to keep all of our employees thinking big all day. We have these posters in red we put around the walls. One says, “Fortune favors the bold.” Another says, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” That question echoes Barnard alum Anna Quindlen, who said that she majored in unafraid. Don’t let your fears overwhelm your desire. Let the barriers you face—and there will be barriers—be external, not internal. Fortune does favor the bold, and I promise that you will never know what you’re capable of unless you try.

You’re going to walk off this stage today and you’re going to start your adult life. Start out by aiming high. Like everyone here, I have great hopes for the members of this graduating class. I hope you find true meaning, contentment and passion in your life. I hope that you navigate the hard times and you come out with greater strength and resolve. I hope that whatever balance you seek, you find it with your eyes wide open. And I hope that you—yes, you—each and every one of you have the ambition to run the world, because this world needs you to run it. Women all around the world are counting on you. I’m counting on you.

I know that’s a big challenge and responsibility, a really daunting task, but you can do it. You can do it if you lean in. So go home tonight and ask yourselves, “What would I do if I weren’t afraid?” And then go do it. Congratulations, 2011."

No Baldies Around Here

2011-06-06T00:22:00.000-07:00

Emma's aunt got her a doll last Christmas. The doll is named "Baby", or at least that is what Emma calls her doll. She carries Baby around, feeds Baby with a cup, puts Baby in a doll stroller and pushes Baby all around the house, and gives Baby kisses.

For a while now, Emma has been traumatized by one aspect of Baby. Baby has no hair. Emma will point to her own head, say "'Air" (Emma still can't say "H", and that is why Hammi, a shortened version of the Korean word for Grandma, still comes out sounding a lot like "mommy" or "money."), then point to poor unfortunate Baby's head, and then say "No" and shake her head or make a hand motion that means "None."

So that is why Emma's newest endeavor must be viewed really as humanitarian, and not really that of a mischievous toddler:

Now Baby has hair. And Emma tries to even brush Baby's new head of hair.

P.S. Just to be clear, though, this is NOT an entreaty to people to get Emma a new doll with hair-you know who you are ;)

Cunning

2011-05-16T23:03:00.000-07:00

For various childcare reasons, I worked from home today. What I spied today: I put Emma down for a nap in her big girl bed (a twin mattress on the floor, as recommended by our doctor, who thinks toddler beds are unnecessary and just another extra piece of furniture). I went to the living room to do some work, and then hear some racket from Emma's bedroom. I get up to peer down the hallway and see Emma framed in the doorway, carrying a bucket of wooden blocks. She sees me, and I say "What are you doing, Emma? You should be taking a nap." She immediately drops the bucket and disappears from the doorway. I hear some pitter patter of feet. I walk into her room, and there she is on her bed, pretending to be asleep, sucking her thumb. I stood over her bed for a little while, and she opened just one eye, saw me there, and then closed it quickly. She obviously dropped her toys, jumped into bed, and thought she could trick me into thinking that she had been there the whole time, and not playing with toys during naptime. Hilarious, but also distubring in her early display of cunning! This is just the beginning of it all...

Our Weekend Project

2011-05-02T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here's the result of our weekend project:

Before:

After:

I am pleased with the way it came out. I took inspiration from a Land of Nod catalog, but wasn't willing to pay so much! We had to go to several places to find stuff that was similar and had the same overall feel. We junked and donated a lot of stuff, shopped, painted, organized and put together furniture. We are still waiting for the dresser and the bed for which I managed to find matching pink and gray Victorian style quilted bedding. We will probably frame some pictures that we took around San Francisco to hang on the currently bare walls. It took me and husband, with help from my mom, from Friday night to Sunday night to get everything together. But, given that we started from zero, I think we did a good job.

Emma already loves her new room - she wants to sit at the little play table all the time, and she was so upset when we had to kick her out while we painted and while we let the room air out. Tonight, she was drawing and playing with puzzles at the table until bedtime.

It's Come to This, AGAIN

2011-04-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

So here I am again, 7+ months pregnant, haven't been able to leave my desk yet (it is 9:20PM), haven't eaten anything all day except for a smoothie and 1/2 piece of toast this morning, and about to blubber openly in my office. It won't really matter if I do, though, because everyone else has left the office but me. I have a crazy client calling me at the office, on my cell and at home. I have another one for whom I have been abandoned by the people who matter and I am left to deliver bad news and is now sending snarky grams to me. And I still have about 2-3 hours of stuff left ahead of me. And after I just had to work straight starting on Sunday from about 5 PM to Monday 3:30 PM (that's right, almost 24 hours). I am feeling pretty sorry for myself at the moment. Thought I would share, and take the time to whine on my personal blog because it sure as hell doesn't seem like anyone at work cares or is going to care. And then go get something to eat out of the vending machine...

On the other hand, my baby Emma is the cutiest ever.

A Sad State of Affairs

2011-03-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

So, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, and we (or rather, I) was expostulating on the fact that our generation has totally undervalued the life skill of cooking. Even if you don't believe in self-sufficiency, there are the added benefits of knowing exactly what goes into your meal (so many pre-packaged or restaurant meals have added unnecessary salt and/or fat), waste reduction (from less packaging being thrown away), and simple cost savings!

Now, I am not talking about becoming the next Julia Child or mastering the art of French cooking, etc. but I am talking about how many people I know cannot put together a simple meal for themselves or for their families. They rely on pre-packaged, pre-delivered or take-out food. I know that with today's busy schedules (Lord knows that I understand the busy schedule!), there will always be a place for take out, or meal delivery services, and frozen foods, but honestly, I think that there is something to be said about learning to be self-sufficient and knowing how to hardboil an egg. I told my friend that I will never forget how one time, when I was living abroad in an apartment complex for students, an American woman came down the hallway, tentatively knocked on my door and asked me how to hardboil an egg, as in, did she have to crack the egg first, or do you put the whole egg, shell and all into the water? I said to my friend, that I couldn't believe how someone could think an egg could come out solid and peeled, prior to hardboiling it.

And then, today, just to rub in her point that we don't need to learn how to do such basic chores like cooking or laundry anymore, that everything can be outsourced, my friend sent me this picture from the grocery store:

Do you see that, people? Pre-cooked, already peeled, pre-packaged hardboiled eggs. Does this mean I have to stand corrected? I do note, that the price of the 4 cooked eggs, is not that much less than buying a dozen, cage free, eggs.

Surprise!

2011-02-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since my last post. Things have been really, really hectic around here for a few reasons. For one thing, on the work front, my project that I worked on for a whole freaking year FINALLY wrapped up and closed in early February. I couldn't believe it when it happened. It felt surreal and also very anticlimactic at the same time. I had a really large role in this project and this one is for the books. I can't tell you how many times this project made me cry. This project made me work until dawn so many, many, many nights, and the client and other people on the project were notoriously ornery people. But, I definitely learned a lot and it made me a stronger corporate peon for sure.

Then, in even bigger news (which we've kept pretty quiet around here), we are expecting baby #2! This baby is a surprise baby. Husband and I were thinking we would like to have a second, but perhaps not so soon after Emma. Oh well, that decision was taken care of for us.

We already know that surprise baby is a baby boy. It will be nice to have one of each, a boy and a girl (although, I guess we will have to face new challenges with raising a boy vs. a girl). He is scheduled to make his entrance into the world in early July. Everything looks good so far for surprise baby.

I have to tell you that this pregnancy has been different and a lot harder, actually. I remember with Emma that once the first trimester passed, things got a lot easier. But with surprise baby, there was a lot of nausea, headaches and tiredness way past the first trimester, and all these symptoms still appear occasionally even though I am at week 19. It also wasn't easy working those long nights until 3 AM on the above mentioned project while trying to fight all these symptoms! I just hope that the rest of the pregnancy goes a little better than these first few months.

I wonder how Emma will do with her new sibling. She is such a ham. She just loves being the center of attention. She has actually picked up a really bad habit of pinching and biting me if I don't pay attention to her when she wants me to. Those little fingernails and teeth are sharp, and her pinches and bites can be very painful. We are trying to break of these bad habits, but it is an ongoing process. Once again, I am so grateful that my mother is here with us. I really don't know how we would be able to balance Emma, our jobs, and baby #2 without her here.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

Goodbye 2010! Welcome 2011! Wishing everyone a great new year!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T12:18:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2010

2010-11-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

Halloween 2010 in San Francisco.

The first one where Emma dressed up - look at my littlest monkey! Last year, she was too young and small (only 2 1/2 months old) to fit into any costume.

In line for some candy!

We went to a neighorhood in San Francisco which is well known for its Halloween trick or treating. We are lucky enough to live within walking distance.

We got there early, and by the time we left, it was PACKED, and let me tell you, people in this neighborhood go all out. Adults were dressed up, there were haunted houses in people's garages, there were tons of decorations, there was a live rock band, and even people dressed up as Shrek and Puss in Boots dancing in their bay windows to the soundtrack of Shrek the movie. Crazy.

Halloween weekend was super busy - we had a baby shower, a birthday party, music class, and trick or treating. We were all exhausted, including Emma!

Here she is at the birthday party which was held at a My Gym. My Gym is like a little gymnastics playroom for toddlers and kids. Emma is a little young for many of the things there, balance beam, high bars, big wedges and slides, and zip cord, but she liked this:

"Hey, do you want these? I like to share."

"Why is my lot in life so sad?"

"See you guys, LATER!"

Fall Has Officially Arrived! (Well, for us, anyway)

2010-10-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know that the official start of fall has long since passed, but it is hard to believe autumn is upon us when last week it was in the 80s and 90s here in San Francisco. And although it isn't all that unusual to have a heat wave here in September and October, boy, are we glad that is over. I love fall, and I still reminisce fondly about east coast autumns with changing leaves and crisp autumn air.

But, just to prove that fall has officially arrived for us in San Francisco, here's some evidence:

Yup, Emma in her first Halloween costume at a pumpkin patch in San Francisco. We didn't dress her up last year since she was only 2 1/2 months old at the time.  And by the way, I think it rather amazing that we are able to find a pumpkin patch in the middle of a city.

Emma had a good time and we were able to meet up with friends.   Emma picked her own pumpkin - she is a strong little one, and actually picked up one of those little pumpkins in the picture by the stem.

In other news, I finally finished an adult sweater for myself. All this knitting and never one sweater for me. I am pleased with it and will post some pictures of me wearing it soon.   It took me forever and a day to finish the sweater because work has once again been kicking my ass (hence the long break between posts).

On the Move!

2010-09-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Back Home

2010-09-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

We're back home after an extended weekend trip to the east coast. We attended my cousin's lovely wedding in Brooklyn, NY. The venue was gorgeous, although it was a little tough to find and you had to drive through some pretty sketchy areas to find it. It was right on the water, with a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty in the background.

I was really worried about how Emma would handle the long flights there and back. She has flown before, but that was when she was tiny and didn't move very much. Lately, she has become super active, and is totally walking on her own and getting into all sorts of mischief. She actually started to walk (without holding onto anything, without holding anyone's hand, and taking more than a few steps) right before, and I mean literally right before, we were packing our car to head to the airport. She suddenly got up off her tushie and just toddled along like it was no big thing. She cracks me up. Anyway, she was so well behaved on the flights that we got compliments again about what a "good" baby she is. I put "good" in quotes only because I don't really believe that babies are "bad" on planes on purpose. And truly, to get annoyed with parents who are probably even more stressed than anyone else on the plane about keeping their baby in check is really not productive, or for that matter, very nice. And I have to say that I really did feel that way even before I had a baby myself!

Incidentally, on the way back to San Francisco, two passengers in front of us were speaking French, and their neighbor kept bothering them with cooking questions and tales of all her allergies and her daily cooking habits. I thought to myself that those two Frenchmen were incredibly nice and patient with the overly talkative neighbor. Then, when it was time to exit the plane, those two Frenchmen stood up, and who could one of them be, but Jacques Pepin (!). He and I exchanged smiles and he seemed like a very nice person, what with his patience, and even helping fellow passengers get baggage out of the overhead bins.

Knuckleheads

2010-09-12T00:09:00.000-07:00

So, what knucklehead decided that it would be a good idea to hold a mandatory training session on Saturday, starting at 9 AM, to last 4 hours, in a location that would require half of the attendants to drive an hour to the training site? Oh, wait, that would be my knucklehead bosses. It was the best Saturday morning ever.

Walking

2010-09-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday, while husband and I were at work (boo), Emma took her first "real" steps. She walked about 10 paces, then plopped herself back down on her tushie. She has been "cruising" for months (where she holds onto things and walks around), and toddling along while we hold her hands, but she has been really reluctant to walk on her own. She sometimes would take 2-3 tentative steps, look around, realize that she wasn't holding onto anything, then do a flying squirrel leap for the nearest solid object to hold onto. Sometimes, she would miss the object and fall.

My mom called me at work when Emma took her steps and I swear she sounded hysterical, laughing and jabbering at the same time. I thought she was going to say something along the lines of "HAHAHAHA, I have had it, and I am leaving!" - that is how exuberantly crazy she sounded. But, in the end, it was only proud grandma speak.

One Year Check Up

2010-08-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

Here's Emma at her one year check up this past Wednesday:

Emma is healthy and fine, but this experience has got to go down in our records as THE most traumatic doctor's visit by far. At the doctor's office, she started to cry as soon as she was placed on the scale. Immediately prior to that, the nurse had been cooing and commenting on how cute Emma is, and then BAM! screaming ensues. Then our pediatrician came in and Emma screamed and cried during the entire check up - it's a wonder how our pediatrician could do the check up at all! It was only got worse when I had to hold Emma in my lap as she got three vaccinations, which drove her into further hysterics. But, come on, who among us likes shots? No one. Poor baby. But, THEN, our pediatrician told us that Emma had to get blood drawn and that we had to go to a separate facility to do that. So off we go to the lab for a blood draw.

At the lab, the phlebotomist couldn't find a vein in Emma's arm. She acted like this was a surprise, but really now, small arm, layers of baby chub, how is this outside the realm of possibility?? She kept tightening a rubber band around Emma's arms, switching from one arm to the other, while Emma just cried and cried. The phlebotomist had to call for back up, and another phlebotomist was requested. It took forever for the second phlebotomist to show up, and Emma did not stop SCREAMING the entire time we waited. At this point, I want to call the whole thing off, but realized that we would only have to do this again if I called it off...Finally, when phlebotomist # 2 showed up, she chose Emma's left arm, and pulled out a regular adult sized needle for the blood draw and stuck Emma. GOOD LORD! The screams that ensued. Emma cried like I have never seen her cry before, and I had to hold her down while phlebotomist #2 JIGGLED the needle around in Emma's tiny arm because it didn't exactly hit a vien. By this time, Emma is almost hyperventilating and struggling so hard that she is slipping out of my arms. Both phlebotomists comment on how strong she is, and if she is going to be ok! The blood finally started flowing, and the process was over. Emma was so bright red, so sweaty and so traumatized, that both phlebotomists were worried and tried to give her some juice. I rushed out of the lab, went into the waiting room to hold Emma until she stopped shaking and hiccuping. I am sure the people in the waiting room thought we were murdering my baby in the back! In any case, so glad THAT is over!!!!

On a separate corporate peon note, work has been almost intolerable of late. I realize I work in a tough profession, where people are generally not very sympathetic about personal lives and schedules. I once had to go to New York for a work related meeting, and I was the youngest in the room, and the only woman. For god's sake, they had to get a receptionist to show me where the women's restroom was because none of the men in the room could tell me where it was in the building. And I have previsouly posted how even when pregnant I had to work 30+ hours straight and how that type of schedule isn't that uncommon in general. So yes, I know what I am dealing with. However, I can't think, that even in this profession, and even knowing that I work with a bunch of assses, that yelling over the phone to someone "This isn't that hard! F**K!!!" is very productive or professional. And this comes from someone I work with all the time. And I had to endure this ridiculous call for over an hour on Thursday. I know we are all under pressure, but honestly, this is a serious WTF moment.

Additionally, I can't stand getting calls or emails all the time at home on my technical "day off" since I am supposedly part time. People don't seem to understand that part time doesn't mean I just pick up my office and move it into my home. I need and want to spend quality time with Emma. So today, while juggling Emma with one hand, and the phone in the other, several co-workers got an earful of Old MacDonald and Do Your Ears Hang Low playing loudly in the background. I don't even care anymore whether THAT is professional or not.

A Phone Call For You

2010-08-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Baby Emma!

2010-08-14T21:57:00.000-07:00

Dear Baby Emma,

You have been with us for one whole year! You are the greatest blessing in your parents' lives. You make us laugh everyday with your cute little smiley face. Your Dol celebration was a great success!

You picked the stethoscope and the golf ball - we welcome our future golfing doctor!

We're so grateful that our friends and family could join us for your celebration today. I know we all enjoyed ourselves and ate so much Korean food. Thanks for being the best and sweetest guest of honor!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2010-07-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

Hi, it's me, baby Emma.

I just wanted to wish my daddy a happy birthday! Thanks for being such a good daddy and for being so nice to mommy and grandma. I'm just a little tiny, but I think you look great for being so old!

Pizza Party at Home

2010-07-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, I made pizza. From scratch. Not too hard, actually. Pizza dough is remarkably easy to make and pretty resilient. You really can't mess it up too badly. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that pizza dough will take time. You need to let the dough proof, which can take a couple of hours. I just went and played with this little character while waiting.

I used the pizza dough recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Very basic - flour, water, yeast, olive oil and salt! I doubled the recipe and substituted about half of the white flour with whole wheat flour, so my crust was a bit more rustic, earthy and healthy. I rolled out the dough into two pizzas. I spread on my homemade tomato sauce (so very simple to make), and then I loaded the pizzas with chopped veggies - onions, mushrooms, broccolini and olives.

I topped with some shredded mozzarella cheese (R, all of this was vegan until this point, sorry!).

Then, I put the pizzas in the oven on a baking sheet sprinkled with a little cormmeal and let it bake for about 15 minutes.

The pizzas came out bubbly and melty and cheesy, and yummy!

Happy 11 month birthday!

2010-07-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

Happy 11 month birthday Emma! You're almost a year old and I got home too late today to wish you a happy birthday. Mommy had to work late, but had time to take a picture of you while you were sleeping.

Home Craftiness

2010-07-11T22:46:00.000-07:00

After years of watching HGTV and these do-it-yourself-on-a-dime-or-you-are-a-total-inept-loser types of programs, we decided to reupholster our dining room chairs ourselves. Why do we need to do this? Because of these two culprits:

Claws, fur, and some hairballs later, our original cream colored seats were left looking sad and tired. I will forego my embarassment and post here a picture of one of the seats (note that I am posting one of the better looking ones in an attempt to retain some semblance of dignity):

We went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts and picked out some fabric on super sale. When we bought the fabric, I voiced some concern that it had stripes and that it might be hard to align them correctly on the seats. Someone who shall remain nameless poo-pooed my concern, but I was only to be vindicated later.

We cut the fabric:

Held it in place (again, as mentioned above, with some fussing and pulling to get the stupid stripes aligned):

Stapled it in place with a big-ass staple gun:

And voila!

But, wait! Stripes, breathe your last breath of fresh air because you are about to be...

Hermetically sealed. With vinyl.

My concession to my husband's valid concern that our two furry culprits would only strike again with a vengence. Freakin' kitties. I live in a place with plastic. covered. furniture.

75

2010-07-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

...is the number of bug bites I got over this weekend, give or take a few. My body is burning with itchiness!
Other than that, we had a relaxing family weekend in the Central Valley. We went to a surprise birthday party for my sister-in-law, had family dinners, Emma swam in the pool, and we brought back some apricots and peaches from my father-in-law's fruit trees. Will have to post some pictures later - we think that Emma is a water baby! She loved being in the pool!

My Dancing Monkey

2010-06-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

Emma loves dancing to music. She loves her little music table, and has figured out how to start the tunes by rolling the rattle feature on it. She knows when a tune is about to end, so will go over and roll the rattle again to keep the music going. She is hilarious.

Unfortunately, we could only get a video of the back of her head. When she sees the video camera, she is so distracted by it that she stops whatever she is doing and comes over to the camera. Which is why you get the extreme close up of her at the end of this video - you can tell exactly when she noticed the camera!

Black Cherry Boheme

2010-06-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

In May, I finished knitting a sweet little vest for Emma. The free pattern is called Boheme and it is well written and easy to follow. It's perfect for the San Francisco summer weather, just something to keep the chill away.

Pay no attention to the crazy mismatched outfit underneath! And the fact that I could not get a good shot with her face because little monkey kept squiggling around!

I made this using hand dyed sock yarn from Mary Jane's Attic which I purchased at Urban Fauna Studio. It is a bamboo, merino wool, nylon blend. The bamboo keeps the garment light enough for summer time (at least here in San Francisco) and helps with the color saturation. I think the colors are gorgeous and subtle, girly, without being obnoxious.

Because We Can

2010-06-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

And because we are cruel parents:

Of course, this will all come to bite us in the ass later because when we are both old and grey, Emma surely will be dressing us up in homemade knitted items, wearing overly large and strange sunglasses, sporting faux hawks, looking ridiculous.

First Pool Party

2010-06-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

We were invited to our first pool party last Saturday. We rushed out to get a little swimsuit for Emma's poolside debut. She did really well. She clung tightly to husband at first, but then she wanted to splash and play with the water.

An Older Video Unearthed!

2010-06-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

So here's an older video I am just getting around to posting. This is from April 12, about two months ago, which in baby time is like a million years ago. We finally managed to capture on video Emma standing up. She had been pulling herself up to stand for a couple of weeks prior with varied success. Now, a million years later in baby time, she can pull herself up easily and walk if she is able to hold onto something while walking. Her favorite thing to do right now is to hold onto the bars of her playpen and patrol the border by grabbing the rails and walking around the pen.

In the video, you can also partially see the hideous haricut that husband gave her at the end of March. Her bangs were poking her eyes, so he cut those, which came out ok, but what you can't really see is how he went TOTALLY overboard on the sides. Her hairstyle came out with uneven sides, one side much, much shorter than the other, resembling a sort of lopsided Moe from the Three Stooges bowl cut. Even he fully admitted the error of the cut immediately after he gave it to her. In fairness, it is pretty difficult to cut baby hair. Her hair has finally evened out now, but for a month or so she had a bad hair day, everyday. Poor thing.

Emma Kicks into Overdrive

2010-06-08T23:31:00.000-07:00

Look at Emma, kicking into overdrive and trying to break out of her playpen/baby jail:

What was the trigger you might ask? Do you hear the strange static noise in the background? It was husband blowing his nose. Emma does this almost any time she sees husband blow his nose. Very strange.

Also, for the past month or so, Emma has developed her own sort of baby sign language. We have not taught her any baby sign language (although I know that is a popular thing these days), but she seems to have created her own. Whenever she wants to be picked up from her crib, she will start tapping her chest in short bursts. When she wants to eat something you are eating, she starts to smack her lips and points or reaches to the food. And recently, within the last two weeks, she has learned the art of :fake crying when she wants something.. She will sometimes even reach up and rub her eye, all drama style, while she tries to get your attention with her fake crying. It is so amazing to see her learn something new and to witness her process all the surrounding information in her world each day.

Our Vacation in Mendocino

2010-05-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

This past Memorial Day weekend we took a family vacation up the North Coast to Mendocino.

We stayed in a vacation rental house with gorgeous ocean views, redwood decks and a hot tub (and perhaps the last place on earth with no internet or cell phone access)!

We went hiking on the headlands, visited a lighthouse and beach, and yes, even a local yarn store. We saw the local flora and fauna, all while keeping the mood lowkey and relaxed.

Emma felt sand underneath her little bare toes for the first time:

She rode around in the Ergo:

We all had a great time, and I will put up some more pictures soon!

My Foray into Crochet

2010-05-26T00:04:00.000-07:00

Here's Emma in my Cheri crocheted cap:

It's got a little brim and a crocheted flower on the side:

I wanted to make Emma a cotton sun hat for the summer months. I really like the result (it's a little big on her) but I think I will also make something with a floppier brim.

I learned how to crochet before I learned how to knit, and I find that crocheted items are a lot faster to create than knitted items, but I still like knitting more. My mother, an excellent crocheter and knitter herself, helped me make this hat. Having not crocheted in years and years, but skills were rusty!

I actually think this hat could be made for a boy, too, just remove the flower and use a different color, and it would look sort of like a newsboy cap.

Hey, You!

2010-05-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hey! Yea, hey, you! Come over here.

Last night, grandma made delicious sukiyaki. And last week, my doctor told me I could eat most of what mommy and daddy eat, so I got to try some, too.

But, this morning, I felt a litle strange, and I thought, "What could this be?"

So, that's why I am calling you over here, to tell you, that "Oops, I did it again, I pooped my pants."

But, don't be mad at me, I'm just a baby!

It FILED!

2010-05-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

My life can somewhat return to normal, at least for a little while. After a long series of fits and starts, the IPO that I was working on filed today at market close.

Oh, the Irony!

2010-05-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

I have been working like a madwoman for the past 10 days. In fact, while I had this morning "off," as a "reward" for my good behavior, I have to go back to work again tonight, most likely until dawn. What makes this particularly difficult is that right now, the work is located offsite, about an hour's drive from San Francisco. So for the last 10 days, I have been working about 16-18 hours straight, not counting the 2 hours drive time to and from the site. So if you calcuate: very little sleep+very little family time+ very little Emma viewings = very bitter woman.

The irony of all of this lies in the fact that last month, I asked if I could move to a part-time schedule so that I would be able to have more time for Emma and family duties. Ha! So here I am, being paid for part time, but doing more than full-time work. And having to cancel plans, and having my first mother's day as a mother myself being ruined, since I have already been told that we will be working all this weekend from morning till dawn.

I know this post sounds so complainy, but honestly, I can't help but feel this way at the moment. I know that others say that this is the profession I have chosen, and it comes with the territory. Hell, I tell myself the same thing, too. But, somewhere, there has got to actually exist this elusive notion of balance between work and life. I guess the good news is that this is only temporary and the end is in sight. Once this passes, I will (I hope) be on my part-time schedule and have more sanity in life. I am crossing my fingers.

All's Well That Ends Well

2010-04-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

My husband had surgery on April 22. Here he is pre-op. What the hell is he so happy about?

He had to have his gallbladder removed to fix what I used to call his old man stomach disease. The surgery went well, thank goodness, but then there were some strange blood test results so he ended up staying in the hospital post operation for two days. But, he is home now and recovering nicely.

I knitted to stay calm and sane while I waited for his operation to finish and while wating for him to recover in the hospital.

I knitted a whole pair of fingerless mitts. They are what my friend calls the "bum gloves." Good for chilly mornings and to keep fingers warm while typing in my very ridiculously cold office.

Emma was happy to have her daddy home again!

WHEEEEE!

2010-04-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

Lance and Emma going down a giant inflatable slide at Pump It Up!, a popular place for kid's birthday parties. We went to celebrate a friend's son's 4th birthday:

I swear, I think he had more fun than Emma. Just look at that huge grin!

A Gift for Mom

2010-04-17T19:17:00.000-07:00

The Wavy Ribbon Scarf, knitted from Tess' Designer Yarns Microfiber Ribbon in Enchanted Forest colorway.

The photos don't do the yarn justice. The microfiber ribbon has a slight shine (think shimmer, and not horrible 80's spandex kind of shine) and the colors are really vibrant. The look and feel of the scarf don't translate well into photos (well, at least the kind of photos my husband and I take anyway).

It's a gift for my mother. It's not a surprise because she and I went to Stitches West and she saw the scarf displayed there. She actually asked me to make her one! We couldn't purchase the yarn at Stitches because the vendor had sold out of the colorway, so I went home and ordered it online through the website.

Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater

2010-04-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

Good Lord, this one took forever. I started this one in November 2009. It still needs a button at the collar and it needs to be blocked, but I am calling this one DONE. The original pattern for the Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater only has short sleeves. I read a bunch of comments on Ravelry about the pattern's sleeves being very large, so I cut the number of stitches I picked up for the sleeves, and made them a few inches longer.

Since Emma is a petite baby, the finished sweater still fits her, thank goodness.

Sometimes I Wonder

2010-04-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder if my workplace exists in some sort of alternate universe or strange bubble. Here's what happened this morning in the office kitchen:

Someone: There's no coffee! (Flashing look of genuine rage.)
Me: Well, it looks like Mr. X (our office services guy) started some new pots. (Looking over to the coffee machine where two new carafes of coffee are just waiting to have the lids popped back on. They are the kind that look like cylinders with a lever pump on top.)
Someone: Well, let me go call reception to get Mr. X to set this all up. (Mr. X floats between three office floors, so this would mean paging him, then waiting.)
Me: Uh, well, here. (Take the carafes, snap the lids into place, which is very easy, since the lids are hinged and attached to the actual carafe, and move the carafes less than 1/2 a foot to the pouring station.)

Really? Many people I work with seem to have a hyperactive sense of hierarchy and entitlement. The above scenario is just one of the ridiculous situations I come across daily. It happens all the time that someone cannot walk literally two feet to a garbage can to throw away dirty napkins or paper plates, and just leaves these things in random places for Mr. X or office services to pick up. Honestly, I wonder how these people handle things in their own homes.

Laughing Like a Big Girl

2010-03-21T19:14:00.000-07:00

Emma here. Ever since my grandmother moved to San Francisco, things have been great. She loves me a lot, and I love spending my days with her. She makes my mom and dad delicious food every day, and she is teaching me Korean! Check out how happy I am these days. There's some funny lady in the background making weird noises and faces (that's my mom). She thinks I am laughing with her, but really I am laughing at her. Look at my shoulders jiggle when I laugh!

Look At My Moves!

2010-03-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

The Little Elbow Biter

2010-03-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

So our family is finally recovering from a very nasty respiratory virus. I don't think that we have been so sick in a very long time. Thank goodness that my mother arrived this past Sunday. I don't know how we would have gotten by without her.

Emma is happy as a clam riding around on her grandmother's back (my mother brought this carrier thing with her, and it is working out wonderfully). She is also getting to be quite mischievious. She has been doing her military crawl on her tummy for a couple of weeks now, and she is very adept at it. She can move around the entire room.

I still nurse her in the morning though, and this morning, I must have fallen asleep while nursing her in our bed. I woke up after a few minutes with this strange pain on my elbow. I looked down and there was Emma, looking up at me so innocently while gnawing on my elbow with her two little teeth! Ouch! That little imp.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

2010-02-25T22:12:00.000-08:00

I love fresh brussel sprouts. They are like little baby cabbages.

I like to pan saute them, or even better, I like to roast them in the oven. This time, I had some really large broccoli crowns, so I added them to the mix.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Brussel sprouts, ends trimmed, yucky outer leaves peeled off. Cut in half if they are huge.
Minced garlic
Olive Oil
Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your oven - I put my oven to 400 degrees, your oven might be different, so just experiment. Toss the brussel sprouts with the minced garlic, olive oil to coat, some lemon juice, salt and pepper. Spread out the brussel sprouts on a foil lined pan and pop in the oven.

Roast them about 20 minutes, but keep half an eye on them, just so they don't burn to a crisp. I don't mind if they get a little blackened, though.

Couldn't be simpler!

More Vegetarian Cooking - Lentil Soup

2010-02-23T00:07:00.000-08:00

We are still trying to live our veggie lifestyle, but I have to admit it has been hard to follow for the past month. For a variety of reasons, it's been difficult to find the time to cook. We have been eating out a lot and our choices haven't always been vegetarian, or even healthy, for that matter.

I am not stating any little known fact here, but when you have a busy schedule, the only way to make eating in and eating healthy work, is to cook all your meals for the week during the weekends.

So, this past weekend, I cooked up a storm, making big portions so that we can eat some of the stuff during the week and freeze some for later.

One of my favorite things to make and eat, even before we committed to being vegetarian, is lentil soup. It is so hearty and full of healthful ingredients. There is very oil involved, it has protein from the lentils, and vitamins from the vegetables. I keep a lot of the ingredients in the pantry, but, I hardly make it exactly the same twice because I use what I have on hand.

Lentil Soup (I think this probably serves about 4 to 5 people, if you are eating it as a main course)
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, diced
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed and picked through (I am not particular about the variety of lentils, I have used brown, green, and red lentils)
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
About 4 cups veggie stock
1 bay leaf (2, if the leaves are small)
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Sometimes, I add diced celery (this time I didn't have any), and sometimes I add diced potatoes, or quartered crimini mushrooms.

Heat some olive oil, saute the onions until translucent. Add the carrots and garlic and saute (make sure the garlic doesn't burn. If you have celery, add it now).

Add the lentils, the stock, tomatoes and bay leaf. Let the whole thing simmer for a while, until the lentils are soft and the soup has thickened.

This time around, I noticed the soup was a little salty from the broth, so I added some potato (do you know that trick? If soup is overly salty, you can add some potato to soak up the saltiness...). I put in some mushrooms towards the end, per husband's request. Salt and pepper to taste.
This soup is so simple, and so very delicious. We like to eat it with fresh baked bread. I hope you try the recipe. Make it your own, take out the things you don't like, add what you do like!

Look at My New Teeth...

2010-02-22T19:41:00.000-08:00

Fiery Milkweed and Wedge of Lime

2010-02-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

I finished a couple of shawlettes in the past two months. I guess I could sign up for the 10 Shawls in 2010 challenge on Ravelry, but I don't want to put pressure on myself. With work being as crazy as it has been and with little baby Emma, I feel like I could very easily be derailed on that challenge!

Here is my Milkweed Shawl. I bought this yarn a year or so ago, promising my mother that I would make a scarf for her. Well, a year later, I finally made something out of it, just in time for her arrival this week.

Here is the Citron Shawl (what I have renamed as a Wedge of Lime, because that is what it looks like to me). I know, I know, it is in the same color and yarn as the pattern pictures. No originality, but I love it. I wore it around even before I finished blocking it, because I love the color, the softness of Malabrigo Lace, etc. etc.

I will have to get some pictures to post with actual people wearing these shawlettes...

Both patterns are very well written and easy to follow. The Milkweed Shawl pattern is especially nice because it gives both written and charted directions. Milkweed is an incredibly fast knit (and I don't think I am a particularly speedy knitter) because it is all knit stitch, no purl (yay!). A Wedge of Lime is my first completed laceweight project. Very thin yarn = a long time knitting, but beautiful results.

And just because, Emma wants to say "Oh, hai..." (for those of us who love icanhascheezburger.com):

I'm a Model, You Know What I Mean...

2010-02-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

And I do my little turn on the catwalk! On the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah, I shake my little toosh on the catwalk...

Ok, ok, so Emma's 1) a little too young for that song, and 2) she isn't really able to shake her toosh on a catwalk yet. However, last month at daycare, she posed in her very own baby photoshoot. I had no idea that the daycare was going to be bringing in a photographer that day (no one told us), and that said photographer would be bringing his own baby modeling wardrobe.

Check her out in her strange Miss Muffett poof hat with weird shiny thing (is that a spoon, a giant locket, a mirror? Who knows!):

Then, she sat in a fake bubble bath tub, wearing another little strange bonnet creation:

As the sucker new parents that we are, we just had to shell over some cash to buy these pictures. So we have a whole bunch, plus the digitial photo rights (no copyright restrictions, yeah!). In some ways, these photos remind me of those Anne Geddes baby pictures, where she dresses babies up as food or plants, or whatnot. Not a big fan of those, but I guess it is different when it's your baby!

Kung Hay Fat Choi!

2010-02-14T00:26:00.000-08:00

EDITED TO ADD VIDEO!

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! It's the Year of the Tiger! And Happy Valentine's Day! And Happy Half Birthday, Baby Emma! February 14th is a special day this year.

We visited husband's family in the Central Valley to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We met other family members at a Chinese restaurant, ate a ton of Chinese food, and then watched as lion dancers pranced through the restaurant. Emma loved it so much, and smiled and laughed when the lion's head came right up to her and winked. She bounced on her feet and wriggled around to the drums in her lucky red dress. But, alas, due to iPhone video camera malfunction, all this was lost on video. Apple, there is a reason why you and I are not friends. If only our Flip camera had been with us, but for some reason we left it at home.

Here is Emma at six months:

She just loves sticking out her little tongue now.

She is even graduating to solid foods. We are starting with simple organic brown rice cereal.

Her Chewbacca gurgles make me laugh, and I wonder how much of her cereal is actually making it into her tummy. That huge orange thing in the video is the Boon spoon. So far, we really like it. You pour the food into the spoon, give it a sqeeze, and the food squirts out onto the spoon portion. Easy, fewer spills and less mess to deal with!

Teeth!

2010-02-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

Emma has two little teeth already - her two lower incisors have already appeared. She loves her teethers, but can't seem to get a good shot of her teeth.

She's Getting Too Big

2010-02-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

She is growing so quickly! We had to put away her 3-6 month clothing last weekend, including my favorite Dr. Seuss outfit with Thing 1 and Thing 2. This is an older picture, but it is one of the last of her in my favorite outfit.

Right before we snapped this picture, she was making noise, wiggling around, then suddenly the noise stopped. We looked over and there she was, half on, half off her playmat, thumb up nose, fast asleep, snoring because thumb-up-nose definitely makes breathing harder.

This Can't Be Normal

2010-01-28T11:00:00.000-08:00

So, I have held a corporate peon job before this one, although it was in a totally different industry and field. And I don't remember this ever being tolerated or normal, but maybe I just don't have enough experience out there in corporate land. But, I can't think it is normal to see or hear co-workers sobbing uncontrollably due to workload or because of the way they are treated at work. It happens way too frequently around here. I (knock on wood) have yet to be pushed to that point, but I have been close many, many times. I just can't think that this is how it is at other places.

Sleeves - The Bane of My Knitting Existence

2010-01-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

It's been going like gangbusters at work, and I have been putting in some very, very long days indeed. The higher ups complain about how they can't get any help, but perhaps they should have thought about the consequences of laying off half of your group during slow times, then expecting the remaining people to pick up twice as much work during the busy times, all for less pay. With work and little baby Emma, this means limited time for other pursuits, such as my knitting. It also didn't help that for about a week, poor Emma and I were sick as dogs - we just couldn't shake off whatever bug we had.

In any case, I have decided that it is time to finally finish this baby sweater, before it becomes too small for Emma.

The entire body is done, and all I have left to do are the sleeves. I don't know why, but when it comes to sleeves, I just hate them. I once started a sweater for husband (which I later ripped apart), but in the middle, I told him from now on all he would ever get are vests. No sleeves!

Ways to Help

2010-01-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

"Here and there, small tragedies unfolded. In the Petionville suburb, friends held back Kettely Clerge — 'I want to see her,' she sobbed — as neighbors with bare hands tried to dig out her 9-year-old daughter, Harryssa Keem Clerge, pleading for rescue, from beneath their home's rubble. "There's no police, there's nobody," the hopeless mother cried. By day's end, the girl was dead."

That is just a sampling of what the Haitians are going through right now. The above excerpt is from a recent article about the devastation that resulted from the earthquake in Haiti. We can all do our part to help - Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross are very good options. You can use your cell phone to make donations, too. You can give $10 to the Red Cross by texting the word "HAITI" to 90999. The donation is added to your cell phone bill.

Just be careful, because there are internet scams out there, hoping to take advantage of our good will. It makes me sick to think that there are people like that, willing to take away money from those is such dire need.

A Seaman's Cap for a Landlubber

2010-01-09T19:23:00.000-08:00

A hat for my father-in-law. He requested one over the Christmas holidays. I decided I had better make one quickly before he changed his mind about wanting a handmade knitted item. Here it is - the Seaman's Cap for a Landlubber:

It is being modeled by husband, so it looks a little large. My father-in-law has a big noggin (sorry, but, it's true)! I had to make a few adjustments to the pattern to make it fit a larger circumfrence. I hope it fits, and that I didn't overadjust. I made a hat with a fold up brim because my father-in-law wanted a hat to cover his ears while gardening outside. I didn't know how long the hat would have to be in order to do that, so I made a brim he could pull down as necessary.

Baby's First Christmas

2009-12-27T19:14:00.000-08:00

Emma spent her first Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the Central Valley, but her holiday season actually kicked off a couple of weeks ago when she took a picture with Santa:

Grandma and Grandpa waited for us to arrive on Christmas Eve to decorate the tree:

Look at all those gifts! Emma received a truckload of gifts from generous family and friends. There was even personalized wrapping paper for baby:

Emma, unfortunately, did not get to go to her great aunt and uncle's house for the actual Christmas festivities because she had a cold. She threw up (think fountain) right before we were scheduled to leave for the party. She's ok, though, and resting and recovering nicely.

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by for us and Emma. People commented that each time they see her, she has a new trick to show them. She is grabbing everything now and putting things in her mouth. She can sit up on her own, but it's hard work!

Surprise!

2009-12-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

Just arrived in time for the holidays...two CDs chock full of documents to review by this weekend. Ho ho ho!

Visiting the Country

2009-12-17T06:47:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you know, but living in California spoils you. You get accustomed to the temperate and gorgeous weather (Yeah, yeah, I know, there is something to be said about beautiful fall foliage and white Christmases. I mean, I did grow up on the east coast!). And you start to demand the freshest produce possible.

My in-laws live in the Central Valley, where Californians get a lot of their vegetables and fruits. My husband's family comes from a farming background, although most of them do not actively farm anymore. When I first visited my in-laws, this city girl was surprised to see the size of people's "backyards" and how much produce people grow in these yards just for personal consumption. Count my in-laws in this group. They grow oranges, tangerines, avocados, cherries, and until recently, plums (sadly, their plum tree bit the big one). Right next door to my in-laws, my husband's grandmother grows Chinese long beans, eggplants, persimmons, pears, and tons of flowers. I think I might have left some stuff out, but you get the picture.

Every year, my husband and I share in the bounty of my in-laws' crops. Right now, it is orange, tangerine and avocado season:

Delicious!

In Memoriam

2009-12-13T22:11:00.000-08:00

On December 5, 2009, my grandmother passed away peacefully in the middle of the night. My husband, little Emma and I flew out to the east coast immediately to attend her wake and funeral and spend time with family.

At the funeral, my cousin gave the eulogy. He described my grandmother and her quiet presence. When she was alive, she made sure that things got done, but without complaint. She raised five children on her own, with little help from others, and then she helped raise her children's children. She lived with grace, and truly believed in following the ways of Jesus Christ and the Golden Rule. Even in her last few years, when she slipped further into her dementia and stopped recognizing all around her, she still smiled and if she was suffering, she again did so without complaint and with dignity.

Although we all knew her time to leave us was imminent, it didn't make my grandmother's passing any less difficult or less heartbreaking. We will all miss her so much. I am grateful that Emma got to meet her great grandmother before she passed away. And even if Emma is too young to remember, and my grandmother was too far gone into her dementia to have realized the significance of the meeting, one day, I will show my daughter pictures of the meeting and tell her all about her beautiful great grandmother.

Turn a Square - Noro Striped Hat

2009-12-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

Here's my latest knitting creation:

It's the Turn a Square Hat by Jared Flood, aka Brooklyn Tweed dude. His designs are so stunning, and he himself is an excellent knitter. His blog is beautiful, with gorgeous photos of his knitting and designwear. I once told my cousin who lives in Brooklyn to try to find him and date him. Yes, like a stalker. I was having a crazy moment. Anyway, I think he has a girlfriend already and now my cousin is engaged to someone she loves very much.

The hat fits husband's head nicely.

It's hard to see in the picture, but the hat pattern has an unusual decrease structure which results in the crown looking like it has little striped squares, instead of the traditional circular decreases. I like it so much, I might "borrow" it. Of course, now that I am back at work, much of my knitting has to take a backseat. I hope I will get some Christmas gifts done, but not counting on it anymore. Those hopes went out the door with the hope of slow transition back to work!

I Spoke Too Soon

2009-12-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

Sigh. As the subject line reads, I was too quick to think that all would be fine and dandy upon return to work. I had imagined a nice slow December, allowing me an easy transition from maternity leave to the office, but I was so wrong. It has been crazy busy at work, and it feels like going from 0 to 60 without any warm up time.

In addition, when I dropped off Emma at daycare on Thursday, I think she finally realized what was happening. She looked at me with a betrayed look, then started to cry. It was like she was saying, "Mommy, the jig is up, and I know what is going on here. You stink." Heartbreaking. Two caregivers rushed out, told me to kiss her goodbye, and then swept her away, saying, "Don't cry, Mama**, she will be fine." I am sure she will be, but nevertheless, it was very hard.

In any case, as promised, here are some pictures from Thanksgiving weekend and Emma's Red Egg and Ginger and 100 day party. Emma's grandparents threw her the party. Emma met a ton of new faces, and received lysee (money in little red envelopes) and cute gifts to celebrate her entrance into this world.

There were red eggs and party favors for the guests - little cookies with her face on them (some people peeled off the edible paper with her face printed on it before eating the cookie so they wouldn't have to bite into her adorable little face), a mochi manju from a San Francisco Japanese bakery, and manju shaped like chicks handmade by my aunt, Emma's great aunt.

(Check out my mad photo collage skillz, yo! Just kidding, it is all Picasa. Thanks, people at Google. Now, if only I could figure out the damn spacing of picture on Blogger...)

Prior to the party, on Thanksgiving, she took a little plane ride.

Then, after the party, she felt like cooking a little bit.

Overall, my little girl had a busy and fun weekend, and her mommy and daddy ate a ton. I have to admit publicly that we fell off the vegetarian wagon on Thanksgiving and at Emma's party. It was just too difficult with already planned menus, and we might have starved. We were pretty careful (or tried to be, at least), and Lance did not suffer any deleterious effects. We are, however, back on our veggie diet now, and it feels pretty good.

** I find is hilarious that everyone at daycare calls me "Mama" and my husband "Daddy." I am not sure that they even really know our first names at all. They know Emma's name, though, and are good with her, so that's the important part, I guess.

Back to the Coal Mines

2009-11-30T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well, today was my first day back in the office after taking maternity leave. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be, although I had a weepy moment when we dropped off Emma at daycare this morning. True to her little self, she had a big poop right as we arrived at daycare. We were getting ready to change her ourselves, but her caretaker, Ling, came out and said, "Oh, let me handle of that!" She took Emma to the changing table in the infant room, changed her and brought her back out to the reception area for mommy and daddy to say goodbye.

We picked Emma up from daycare in the evening, and apparently, Emma had a very good day. She drank almost all her milk, smiled at the caregivers, did some rolls during tummy time, and didn't cry much. I am slightly offended that my baby girl didn't seem to miss me very much, but also very proud that she is such an easy baby (well, at least for now).

We returned yesterday after visiting husband's family to celebrate Thanksgiving and Emma's Red Egg and Ginger/100 Day party. Emma turned 100 days on November 22, 2009. There is a special significance to turning 100 days in Korean and Japanese culture, probably because way back in the day, many babies did not survive past 100 days. The red egg and ginger portion of the party celebrated Emma's Chinese heritage. We took lots of pictures, and I will post those over the next day or two!

We're Back

2009-11-23T15:55:00.000-08:00

We arrived back in San Francisco today from the east coast. My grandmother made a surprising and unexpected recovery while we were there, and no one can tell what will happen over the next month or two. Before we made this emergency trip, we had already purchased non-refundable tickets to go east for Christmas, so we will be going back again soon.

Emma did so well on the plane rides there and back. She had a little poop accident and some got on Daddy during the flight to the east coast (hee hee), but other than that, nothing disastrous. She was complimented on her good behavior by fellow passengers and the flight crew.

Our trip was very family oriented. The experience was strange, because everyone was upset about my grandmother, but so happy to see each other. We saw members of my family from Seoul whom I have not seen since high school. We went to the hospice everyday to see my grandmother, and just spent time with relatives and friends. I finally got to meet my friend H's baby girl. Adorable. Someone in my family received a marriage proposal while we were there, too! Eveyone was enamored with Emma, and I was grateful that my relatives met her while she is still a little baby.

Sad

2009-11-10T11:59:00.000-08:00

My beautiful, loving grandmother is not doing well. We don't expect that she will pull through this time. We (me, husband and little Emma) are flying out to the east coast this Friday. My mother is so sad. Hopefully, seeing her little granddaughter will help a bit, like a little cuddly care package arriving.

Smile, You're on Camera!

2009-11-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, smiling time is over. Now, it is time for "serious face."

The Every Way Wrap

2009-11-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

I am making the Every Way Wrap as a gift for my mother. She actually picked this pattern so it isn't ruining the surprise to post a picture of the progress.

Due to my lack of experience in reading cable charts, the 15-row repeat cable pattern and the severe errata published in the original pattern, this project had a tumultuous start. I ripped it apart five (!) times before I actually got into the groove and figured out the chart and the pattern.

The design is by a Korean knitwear designer, and it is really cool. It is a reversible cable, so it won't have a right or wrong side, as most cable knits do. It is also designed to be worn in a multitude of ways, either as a scarf, a wrap, or even, with clever placement of buttons, as a vest.

I can't wait until it is finished so I can give this to my mother. I hope to have it finished by Christmas time, but with a baby, and with my return to the corporate peon world looming on the near horizon, that might not be possible.

Flipping Over

2009-10-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we caught Emma on video flipping herself over.

She actually flipped herself over for the first time a couple of days ago, but we missed it. That day, we placed her on her playmat tummy side down, and turned away for a few seconds, only to turn back around and see her tummy side up, placidly smiling at us.

She is growing up so quickly. I have such mixed emotions about it. On one hand, I want her to stay a little baby forever, so small and cute. On the other hand, I can't wait to see all the fun interactive things she will do with us in the future. It's exciting and sad all at the same time.

About the video camera - Lance bought the Flip video camera (warning: clicking on this link will take you to the Flip video website which will play music and stuff) a couple of weeks ago. It is small, really easy to use (meaning even I can use it), and you can edit the videos using free editing programs. We don't really know what we are doing on the editing programs, but Lance was able to add music to the video in this post, and to take out our ridiculous proud parent exclaimations using free Windows Movie Maker.

We Finally Got In!

2009-10-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

Here's an unexpected benefit of having a small child - you can get a table at practically any restaurant because you have to eat early. And thus, we were finally able to get a table at Burma Superstar at 5:30 PM (half an hour later and the small restaurant was packed). We have tried probably three other times to go to this restaurant, but gave up because we were told the wait would be 1 hour or more. It is a local San Francisco favorite, serving up unusual foods like fermented tea leaf salad, samusa soup and other delectable Burmese selections. This restaurant has been featured on the show Check, Please! Bay Area and on the Food Network, which turned it into an even more popular spot. It is also nice that Burma Superstar has a fair selection of vegetarian foods, or foods that they can adjust to make vegetarian, including their famous tea leaf salad.

We started with the samusa soup. It has a deep, spicy, rich curry broth with vegetables and chunks of potato samusas.

Someone once told me that this soup is supposed to induce labor, and that many pregnant women who were desperate for the baby to come out have ordered this soup. One of the three previous times we tried to get into this restaurant was during the last week of my pregnancy. Perhaps if we had gotten in and eaten this soup, little Emma would have arrived on time, or even early.

We also tried the fermented tea leaf salad. It has a lot of ingredients - split yellow beans, sunflower seeds, peanuts, tomatoes, lettuce, jalepenos, etc. - but the real star of the salad is the fermented tea leaves. Our waiter brought out the salad, explained each ingredient, then mixed the salad at the table. The salad was salty, spicy, crunchy, sweet and delicious.

Beet Greens

2009-10-29T00:27:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am singing the praises of fresh lovely beets, and then I went and threw away the beet greens last time we had them. This time, we ate the delicious beet greens. They taste a lot like Swiss chard and can be prepared in much the same way. Some people discard the tougher stalk portion on the beet greens, but we like eating these. They just have to be thrown in the pan a little earlier and cooked a bit longer. The stalks are a lovely shade of purple red.

We sauteed the greens in olive oil with some onion, garlic, salt and pepper, and then a dash of balsamic vinegar at the end. These were a great addition to our meal of polenta with marinara sauce and sauteed broccolini.

We got the polenta at Trader Joe's. It comes in a little log that you can slice up and then pan fry in a little olive oil. Of course, you can just make your own polenta easily with corn meal, too.

Husband and I were talking the other day about how our new diet is leading us to experiment in new ways with food. We certainly are eating a much wider variety of vegetables than we did before, and finding healthy substitutes for many old standbys. It is also making us look harder at nutrition labels and thinking more about where our food comes from.and the choices we make in what we eat.

We Live in a Great City!

2009-10-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we took Emma to Ocean Beach. It was a gorgeous day, and all sorts of people were out walking the trails and the beach. While we were strolling around, we thought about how, sometimes, it is easy to forget that we live in one of the greatest cities in the world. Do bad things happen here? Sure, just as they do in any urban area, and when they do occur it is tragic and unfortunate. Is it ridiculously expensive to live here? Yeah, but we benefit from so much here. Tourists travel the world to visit San Francisco, and marvel at how you can find diversity, culture, haute and cheap cuisine and panoramic scenery all within one city's limits.

Here's a sampling of that beautiful scenery:

Emma took this all in from the comfort of her stroller. She fell asleep most of the time, chilling out in her little sunhat.

A Veggie Month in Review

2009-10-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Thought I would take an opportunity to showcase some of the delicious vegetarian/vegan meals we have had this month.

We made an awesome vegetable stir fry with just about every vegetable you can think of (broccoli, zucchini, eggplant, celery, carrot, onion, bamboo, corn, etc.) with tofu and a great hoisin sauce.

The sauce is pretty simple, if you have the ingredients laying around. I realize not every family has a jar of hoisin in the fridge...

Hoisin Stir Fry Sauce

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup water or vegetable broth

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 teaspoon fresh chopped ginger
corn starch to thicken the sauce

Mix all ingredients together in small saucepan and simmer for a few minutes. You can toss in the sauce when the vegetables and tofu are almost done stir frying, then stir fry for another few minutes to coat the vegetables. The recipe makes a fair amount of sauce, so you may have some left over.

Here's a simple roasted vegetable and pasta dish, made by tossing the vegetables in olive oil, roasting them in the oven, then mixing together with hot pasta and a scoop or two of part-skim ricotta, salt and pepper.

We also had roasted beets. For those of you who think you hate beets, have you ever tried fresh beets instead of canned ones? I will admit that canned beets can be offputting (although I do like those, too), but fresh beets are firm, sweet and delicious. They are also high in iron.

My friend, R, worked hard to create a vegan Thanksgiving dinner (early, I know).

The meal was complete with mashed yams, mashed potatoes, great stuffing, mushroom gravy, brussel sprouts and vegan sausage. Yes, vegan sausage, and it was pretty darn good. It's hard to capture these smushy foods on camera, although here is my best shot. It kind of looks a mess, but it was scrumptious.

There has been so much more, just didn't want to stuff it all into one little post!

As I mentioned before, we have been really good about our committment this month. Husband has cheated three times (!), and I cheated once at a baby shower by eating half of a meatball. (That darn meatball!! It burns in my mind). We are going to try to continue with this vegetarian diet. Husband has experienced fewer stomach problems, although ultimately he will probably have to get the surgery. However, even after the surgery, since gallstones can come back, a healthy diet is recommended anyway. We are going to be setting a great example for our Emma and getting her the right start to a healthy lifestyle.

Emma's Busy Social Calendar

2009-10-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Emma makes lots of friends. This past week she met mommy's friends, R from Ithaca, S from Seattle, and E from right here in San Francisco.

Here is Emma with E. Baby is looking pretty pensive here in her fauxhawk.

Emma also has to schedule in tummy time, so she can practice lifting and supporting her head. She's pretty good at it now.

Emma also went to visit Herbivore 3 times, 5 times if you count dropping in just to pick up pieces of vegan strawberry rhubarb pie (R, you better remember that we took one for the vegan team in visiting that restaurant so many times!), Enjoy Vegetarian, and Cha-ya (twice). We went to the new branch of Cha-ya that opened on 9th and Irving and enjoyed it immensely. It is a vegan Japanese restaurant serving cuisine based upon Buddhist vegetarian traditions. Trust me, you don't miss the meat here, and the food is absolutely fresh and delicious. We kept meaning to take pictures, but we ate the food so quickly that taking pictures only came as an afterthought.

Emma is scheduled to meet another of mommy's friends this Sunday, then attend a birthday party for E's little girl the following week. What a busy little baby!

The Dreaded Kale Smoothie

2009-10-22T01:25:00.000-07:00

Well, the vegan has flown back to New York. I am at home sick with a terrible cold. Can't tell if my cold has affected Emma, but she has been very fussy for the past three days.

Before R came to visit me, she wrote to me to tell me about her special kale smoothie. I thought it sounded absolutley gross, but it turns out that it wasn't so bad. She made it practically everyday that she was here for herself, me and husband. The ingredients are super secret, but it tasted quite good and was very healthful.

This past week was a busy week, full of new friends for Emma, and lots and lots of vegan cuisine from around the city and at home. We have had vegan cupcakes, pancakes, pies, Japanese and Chinese food. I will post more about the restaurants later, but sadly, I don't have any pictures of the vegan food.

Husband and I have been really good about the vegetarian diet. We both feel really good about it and proud that we have stuck to it for this entire month. We are going to keep to the diet as much as possible.

The Vegan Has Landed

2009-10-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

The vegan has arrived! My friend, R, arrived on Monday from Ithaca, NY to visit us. Emma has taken a shine to her.

Emma is growing quickly - she's got a large baby belly. She is also attempting to rollover.

On R's first night in San Francisco, we all went to Herbivore, a vegan restaurant. I admit I was skeptical at first, not because it is a vegan restaurant (one of my favorite restaurants is a vegan one), but because I had heard some negative reviews about the place. Happily, our meals were very good. R and I both had the "cheesesteak" and husband had the BBQ "chicken" sandwich. Here's the "cheesesteak" (yes, I know, a traditional cheesesteak does not have lettuce and tomatoes on it, but it was still very good):

The portions were huge, but we saved room for dessert and finished with a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie and German chocolate cake. The pie was especially delicious.

When Tigers Smoked Cigarettes

2009-10-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

So, this morning, I was reading Emma this Korean fairy tale:

(Roughly translated, "The Angel and the Woodcutter.") when I opened the first page and read the first sentence. Hmmm, I thought, maybe I didn't read that correctly, doesn't really make much sense. I read it again, and then later checked in on Babelfish. I was right.

The story opens with this first line: "A long, long time ago, in a time when tigers smoked cigarettes." What?

"Momma, everyone knows tigers don 't smoke cigarettes."

Getting Ready for a Party

2009-10-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

Let's get ready to go to a party! She is modeling her new red dress (a little big, but she will grow into it) with her little ballerina socks.

Since it is chilly outside today, let's wear the little ladybug sweater that mommy made for her.

We are all going to attend a small baby shower for Lance's former co-worker. Emma soon will have another little friend born into the world.

An Experiment

2009-10-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

My husband has gallstones. It causes painful stomach problems. Before he goes for the ultimate solution, which is surgery, we are trying changes to our diet, as suggested by his doctor. We have been more and more conscious of what we are eating ever since I got pregnant, but now we are going to try a vegetarian diet for a while. Now, this is huge. My husband has previously threatened a coup in our marriage when I suggested going vegetarian. But, on the way home from the wedding, we stopped and visited some friends in San Luis Obispo who are vegetarian. The wife has always been vegetarian, but her formerly carnivorous husband recently turned to a vegetarian, organic diet. He couldn't stop talking about the benefits and how good he feels. I mean, he used to almost exclusively eat red meat, didn't even eat chicken!

This isn't to say that we won't cheat once in a while. In fact, we probably will. And we will still include dairy and fish in our new vegetarian diet, but let's see how this goes.

Last night's menu:
Salad with romaine lettuce, candied almonds, dried cherries, pears and blue cheese

Ciambotta - an Italian vegetable stew

This meal, which really should have only taken about an hour or two to prepare took me all day since I had to prep the veggies, make the almonds and croutons all throughout the day between nap times! It was worth the effort, and delicious!

Greetings from the Coast!

2009-10-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

We took our first long trip with Emma this weekend. We attended my husband's sister's (my sister-in-law's) wedding in Nipomo, CA, near Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo. Having had a nuclear meltdown right before the wedding, Emma was on her best behavior during the ceremony and reception. It was a beautiful wedding at a very nice facility.

Beachwear Emma - we didn't really get to go to the beach, though, because it was a bit chilly on Friday and Saturday.

During tummytime at the hotel - gotta keep in shape!

"I'm ready for my close-uo."

And a picture of the wedding cake - very contemporary and pretty.

Baby Leg Warmers and Storytime

2009-09-30T01:17:00.000-07:00

Originally, I laughed at the idea of baby leg warmers because 1) leg warmers are oh so 80's and I can't believe that they are back, and 2) baby legs are so short, so how would these really fit anyway? I didn't want to shell out any cash for baby leg warmers. However, as many nursing mothers can tell you, holding a baby close during feedings can feel like holding a little fireball next to your chest. You get hot, and so I like to open windows. But, then baby gets cold. You could put on pants or tights over a onesie, but they do get cumbersome during diaper changes. I decided to give leg warmers a try. But, as a knitting mother, I figured I could make a pair easily, cheaply, and ones that were custom measured for my baby's little legs. Sooooo, here they are:

These are based on this pattern. Somehow, during late night knitting, I omitted row 2 from the pattern, but I like the way mine turned out anyway. Because I left out row two, the twist pattern is slightly different from the one in the pattern. These took a few late night knitting sessions to make, and I imagine that someone who doesn't have to worry about a screaming baby could make these even more quickly.

I also recently got a shipment of Korean storybooks from my uncle in Seoul. I read these to Emma. My Korean is workable, but not excellent. Reading these Korean books to to her goes at a slow pace, but I don't think she minds. In fact, she seems to like it!

The Face of Anger

2009-09-28T00:38:00.000-07:00

It's an older picture, but you get the point...

Tummy Time

2009-09-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

Little Emma is starting to enjoy her tummy time. She can lift and turn her head and smile already.

She also loves to sleep with one hand pressed up against her cheek, just like her mommy.

I have been putting my library card to good use these days. I need something to occupy my time between 11 PM and 1 AM, the time of night when Emma is the fussiest. She eats at 11 PM and then again at 1 AM and it just doesn't seem worth it to try to sleep for those two hours. So, I have been reading a lot, mostly mysteries. I gauge the success of a mystery novel by whether it can keep me from flipping to the end. If the pace drags or the plot is just plain boring, then I flip to the end, find out the name of the killer and that's that. I know, not the best way of reading a book, but just like life is too short for bad wine, life is also too short for bad books. I like the mysteries by Elizabeth George, an American novelist who writes British mysteries. She writes the Inspector Lynley mysteries which have been serialized on Masterpiece Mystery (one of my favorite television programs). Her novels are not high literature, but they are engaging, move quickly, and are fun to read in the wee hours of the night when one might be trying to get a crying baby to go to sleep.

I also just checked out In the Kitchen by Monica Ali. I heard a short segment about it on NPR, and it sounded interesting. Ali also wrote Brick Lance, which was turned into a movie. I am only about 1 chapter in, but so far so good.