Halloween 2011

Rosie enjoyed her first Halloween in Willow Glen. Thanks to Ba Huong we were able to put together a great home grown costume. Since Rosie was born in the year of the Tiger, it was quite fitting.

 Here she was eager to trick or treat.

 Here she was ready to pounce!

Keepin' her eye out for ghosts and ghouls.

We had a wonderful night with friends, hundreds of trick or treaters, Ba Ngoai,  pumpkin beer, a projector and the movie Beetlejuice. All went well for Rosie's first Halloween.

Bobbing for apples, spaghetti, and bananas

Post-game with Daddy-o at his indoor soccer league fighting over the last tiny apple:



Post-spaghetti game with Ba Ngoai and someone is blissfully content:



Bobbing for bananas. Rosie has discovered how to use tools to help her eat!

Mail, pool

Checking for mail:


Swimming outside with Ba Ngoai:

Snapshot 10.25.11

On the grass at SJSU while Ba Ngoai went swimming



At DCP picking up Daddy-o from work

Little Frankensteina

First pumpkin carving

Rosie went to her first pumpkin carving party at L&L's new apartment. We stuffed our faces, and hollowed out gourds.

11 months

11 glorious months, and one more to go before this little peanut turns 1!

Here is what is happenin:

• Tooth number 3 in the house! Her top left tooth has poked through without any fuss or muss. Rosie showed no signs of teething until we felt the sharpness of her bite.
• Overly dramatic sad face. When Rosie doesn't get what she wants she scrunches up her face and boohoos in an attempt to get us to change our minds. But we know better than to let her fool us (for the most part). Picture to come, hopefully.
• Eats basically anything, and especially loves bread.
• Unpacking. Rosie now loves to take things out of her drawers and spread them out on the floor. We can't wait for the phase when she loves to put them back in as well.
• Peek-a-boo. Rosie is getting better at playing peek-a-boo now and will put a blanket over her head with even more coordination.
• Rosie has taken really well to being with Ba Ngoai during the day while both of us are at work. They are having a lot of fun taking long walks around the neighborhood, watching Curious George, and going to storytime together. Ba Ngoai did say once she was missing Mom and Dad and crawled to our bedroom and looked for us. She remembers!
• Love for the little ones. It is amazing how Rosie is drawn to little kids and vice-versa. When we walk by the elementary school yard she laughs if the kids are out playing. At the play area at the mall she loves to chase the other kids around. When her best friend BabyP is over she follows her around (and tries to take her stuff...we're working on sharing).

Our little girl is not so little anymore!

Snapshot 10.20.11

From Ba Ngoai:
Asleep again after a morning stroll:


After storytime at the library with the other babies:


Rosie loves her Daddy-o:

Dinner at Vavôs

Spent the evening with the Vavôs, Tio-Avô, and Ba Ngoai. It was a lovely and relaxing night. Rosie, on the otherhand, was lovely and full of energy. Especially when it came to the bread. But it was nothing a dust pan couldn't take care of.

Day 2

From Ba Ngoai:
Rosie sleeping in Ba Ngoai' s bed. At 6am

 Rosie's playing music with Ba ngoai's laptop with her foot

Afternoon nap after a long stroll around the neighborhood. It' s 80 degrees today

Guest blogger: Ba Ngoai

We asked Ba Ngoai to blog while she is here visiting. She and Rosie had a great day, with pictures to prove it!

Rosie eating breakfast with Mommy:








Playing on the bed with Rosie in my new room:



Rosie waiting for Mommy to come home from work:

The water buffalo has landed

We picked up Ba Ngoai from the airport tonight. Rosie was excited to see her Ba Ngoai. We are too of course!

2-day Snapshot 10.15/16.11

Yesterday we went to a flea market in SJ and stopped to smell the flowers:





Today, sunglass shipping at the outlet malls in Gilroy:





If you can believe it, Rosie did this to herself! Here she is, pretty proud of herself:





Rosie being coy/playing mermaid under the sea with crazy flowing hair:





Rosie laughing at her own joke:





Later we were in Livermore and walked downtown. Here is ghost baby by the lit water fountain (thanks Daddy-o for sacrificing dry feet):





Baby foodie in the making at First Street Alehouse:

Snapshot 10.13.11

We've been working on Rosie's nap time. She doesn't care much for the crib so has still been crying at the beginning of naptime, but it's gotten progressively better. For the most part. Today she napped real hard, as evidenced by the fleece marks on one side of her face, giving her a Two-Face-like look, except not scary and gross but adorable and bumpy. You might have to zoom. It reminded me of one of my favorite jokes (courtesy of MB!):
Did you hear about the corduroy pillow? (**answer below)



In the afternoon we went to a friend's house who was hosting a sign-language playdate. It was fun learning new signs (emotions, family members) and play with new friends. Then, after a long nap, we went for a walk and met Daddy-O at the park. Here they are playing on the play structure. Baby cage or Baby Lottery-Ball-Suction-Machine?! You be the judge:


p.s. Happy birthday Uncle M!

**It made headlines!!

Snapshot 10.12.11

Kinda blurry, but shows Rosie sporting her new Hello Kitty leg warmers she got from Baby P.


All bundled up in a sheet that used to belong to Ong Ba Ngoai! She was on the floor with our friends L&L playing hide and seek.

Snapshot 10.11.11

Rainy morning spent in a submarine


Then afternoon playing peek-a-boo

Sleeping beauty

After an eventful weekend, Rosie and I took it down a notch today and rested. It was a pj kind of day.

surprise for mommy

Today started off as a pretty typical Sunday. Daddy-o took the baby for the morning and Mommy went off to do some pilates/yoga. We reunited and prepared for a casual stroll through the Campbell Farmer's Market with H, C and baby P.


It was a glorious morning after the fog burned off. We returned to the house ready to grill with H, C, baby P, L and L. (A clever decoy!)

When Mommy opened the front door she was excited to see 40 of her closest family and friends yelling, "Surprise!"

[video courtesy of JN]
There were tons of people and even more food. Plenty of Vietnamese and Portuguese culinary treats for everyone to eat like kings and queens. With a large spread of tasty desserts already splayed out, we brought the cake outside to sing Happy Birthday.

[picture courtesy of LG]

It was a great day with family and friends. Many folks pitched in to make it a special day. Before laying Rosie to bed we all just held each other for a moment, thankful for all of our blessings.