Andrew's first Christmas!

On Christmas day, Andrew was so excited about all the gifts he received! He received a beautiful meal set from Uncle Arnold and Auntie Peggy, a huge school bus with blocks from mom and dad, and a very warm hat from Aunite Jennifer. And he also received his very own copy of "Ender's Game," personally signed by the author Orson Scott Card, addressed to Andrew. Andrew's dad was so excited about the book!!!

And of course, Andrew is such a good son. In return, he gave mom and dad a Christmas present as well: he vomitted right after the gift opening!


Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, is a must read! Follow Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, child genius, as he saves the world. (Of course my description makes it sound really boring, but it's not! It won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, prestigious honor for any Sci-Fi book! Read it!!) Auntie Jennifer got Card to sign the book to little Andrew!

Andrew meets Santa

It's Andrew's first Christmas... and of course that means that he must start paying homage to the jolly elf from the north. Of course, Andrew probably doesn't know Santa from a fat bearded guy at this point, so the trip was mostly for the parents' own enjoyment.

Anyway... Nordstrom has one of the best Santas I've seen...



Andrew: "Unhand me, you fat elf!"


Andrew: "Oh... I didn't know you brought gifts... In that case, I'd like..."


Andrew: "Really? You're going to give me all that? In that case, I've been a really good boy.

Responsibility

One of the most important value we want to pass on to Andrew is "being responsible." Unfortunately this value is graduatelly diminishing in today's society, and even people around us don't seem to believe in this value anymore. It appears that people are constantly seeking for an easy way out, relying on others to cover for them, and finding excuses to escape from responsibilities. To me, raising a child is a previlege, and parents should take pride in it.

給孩子一個好榜樣, a passage from 天下雜誌群
給孩子一個好榜樣，這是送給孩子最珍貴的禮物。因為孩子從出生開始，就透過模仿從父母身上學會許多事情，不管你願不願意，你的一言一行孩子都看在眼裡，也不知不覺中內化成他品格、價值觀的一部份。這也是為什麼許多教育學者會提醒父母，希望孩子成為什麼樣的人，父母就需要先成為那樣的人。在教育孩子之前，先面對自己。

Baby Fat

No one ever told me that it would be so difficult to lose these baby fat!

Even though Andrew is definitely worth it, my self-esteem is at the all time low. I made a deal with Andrew's daddy that no "fashion related" purchases until I lose the first 10 lbs. Speaking of a real motivation, Andrew's daddy counter offered a $2500 closet makeover when I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, how about that!

Andrew's First Christmas Gift

Andrew just received his first X'mas present from Grandma Tsai, all the way from Taiwan! Check out Mr. Rooster, with a cellphone on one hand, a soccer ball, and sunglasses! Grandma Tsai even recorded a personal holiday greeting!

Hanging Out With Michael

The sleigh is the coolest thing ever!

Andrew's Winter Wonderland Party

Andrew's daycare had a "Winter Wonderland" party, and Andrew and Michael both attended. Here are all the infants in the sleigh, how cute they are!

Giggle giggle, laugh laugh

Our silly boy really seems to enjoy laughing at his silly dad. In fact, Andrew pretty much enjoys laughing at pretty much anything catches his attention these days. See a 15-second video clip (3,808K).

It's cold!

After a couple days of shoveling snow in below-zero weather, I've come up with a couple of conclusions:

1. I'm glad I don't live in Buffalo.
2. Having a third-car garage is great until you have to shovel the driveway.
3. The earphone cord for the iPod gets frozen stiff into very weird shapes after 45 minutes in below-zero temperatures.

Piano man

I can feel it in my wallet already... piano lessons! I just hope Andrew will enjoy them later as much as he seems to enjoy banging away at the keys now. And boy does he enjoy music - always happy and giggly when Kathlyn's playing the piano. Now you may think Andrew takes after him mother (since I'm basically tone-deaf and music illiterate), but he bangs the computer keyboard pretty good, too!

Watch out Yo-Yo Ma!

Giving thanks

We celebrated Andrew's first Thanksgiving this year. Of course, no Thanksgiving is complete without stuffing yourself silly. For the past few years, we've had the fortune of spending a lot of holidays with the Chung family - so it's time we returned the favor. The whole Chung clan (those living in Denver, anyway) came over on Thanksgiving, and we pulled out all the stops for the dinner.

We slaved away for two nights and all day Thursday and managed to serve the following (all made from scratch, too!):

Maple-brined free range turkey
Harvest stuffing
Green beans with shallots
Candied yams
Garlic mash potatoes
Double corn bread
Giblet gravy
Roasted garlic puree
Cranberry sauce

Rum-raisin rice pudding
Creme Brulee

The dinner was fantastic, if I may say so myself. :-) I've always loved to cook, and it's been a long time since I've made a big dinner. It's not the usual whip-it-up stir-fry that I'm used to, but it felt good just to stand over the stove again.




There are too many things that I'm thankful for this year, I can't begin to list them all. Most of all, I think the photo above sums it up. I can not ask for anything more than Andrew being a healthy and happy baby, and to have the ultimate partner to enjoy life's journeys.

(Sidebar: It's the middle of winter, and neither I nor Kathlyn are getting much sun these days. That HAS to mean that Andrew is PALE! We look like sun-worshippers in comparison.)

(Also, thanks to Kelly/Janelle and Kelvin/Adah for the two pictures above - we didn't take any that night.)

Eczema - Latest Update

Andrew is seeing a dermatologist, Dr. Brent Sigler. When I walk in Dr. Sigler's office, I hesitated, because he is specialized in aesthetic dermatology. Most patients who come to Dr. Sigler's office are looking to be "renewed" or "makeoverred."

Surprisingly, Dr. Sigler and his Physician Assistant, Cara, are incredibly kind. Since Andrew is so young, instead of giving him agressive treatments, they really take the time to work with us and try to find the best way to treat Andrew. I'm so confident in Dr. Sigler and his staff that in the future, if I ever need any "work" done, I will go to his office, too!

Audit Family

Auditor Dad + Auditor Mom = Auditor Baby???