progress

Today Rosie and I spent some time at the house organizing a little. She took her first nap at the house (and I joined her for part of it!).

First nap at the new house

In the afternoon Tio R dropped off the cousins who helped around the house. Cousin Ang kept Rosie busy while cousin Anth helped Mommy move furniture and boxes from the garage. A very productive day! We had to take occasional breaks to cool down since it was a hot one today. Here are the three cousins playing in the living room. Rosie was fascinated with the flashlight. And her cousins :)

Flashback for Mommy

 This summer Mommy started her path toward a Masters in Education. It's been great in many ways, and not-so-great in some. The not-so-great mostly revolve around the realization that procrastination is like riding a bike: it comes back to you instantly! Here I am, with a final assignment due and I've just submitted it at 2:30am. But for real I am going to shake this bad habit starting next semester!

Having just jammed out a 25 page report, my mind is reeling a bit so I will unwind with a quick update on our day.

Rosie had a good night's sleep after a previous awful night's sleep. She woke up curious about the room we are staying in (Auntie's old room). She quickly gravitated toward the snow globes, especially the one that lights up and plays Christmas carols. Rosie found comfort in it later on as she was trying to wind down for her mid-day nap and for the night.

Coming down the stairs for breakfast, we've been greeted by an awesome array of rainbows in the entrance of the house. Rosie's a little confused by it.

Mommy mostly felt nostalgic for Pollyanna.



Rosie got to spend time with the Vavos and cousin A came over to help watch Rosie while I did some work. Then we headed to Pleasanton to meet DaddyO and start cleaning and moving some of our things into the house. Bed has been assembled!

Then it was dinner in Downtown Livermore. Rosie was in a pretty awesome mood: silly and tired. Luckily, not too fussy. We love seeing her make people laugh.

Livermore livin

We're lucky to have Vavô and Vavó's place as a temporary home in between houses.

DaddyO and Rosie snuggling up with a book after a long day of moving.

Breakfast at Rosie's new table (awesome hand-me-down from Auntie).

Pretending to harvest Vavô's grapes (emphasis on 'pretend,' otherwise grapes would disappear quickly!).

"Rosie, mon. Don't kick the ball by the lemon tree."

 After a morning at the Vavo's, I dropped Rosie off at Auntie's place so I could take care of new house business and get some school work done. Pleasanton house update: fummigation tent has been removed, house aired out. Gas back on. Carpet shampooed and currently drying. All we have to do now is wipe down surfaces (taking extra precaution after fummigating) and then we're ready to gradually move our things in.

When I went to pick Rosie up, I found her cuddled up, napping, with cousin A on the couch. So sweet! They had a great afternoon together.

After a tasty dinner of fish with the Vavos, the three of us took a long walk to the store for milk. Rosie's asleep in the stroller as we unwind in the living room. I'm supposed to be working papers for my couses, so.... good night!

Moving Weekend!

Today we said goodbye to our amazing San José home. This house will always bring back special memories, including: our first home together, our wedding, bringing Rosie home for the first time, countless BBQs and game nights with friends and family, neighborhood walks, endless laughs. We have really enjoyed our cozy home, the connections we made, and the neighborhood that's treated us so well. You will be missed, San José!

The weekend's events:

Saturday morning we had a relaxing morning, meeting friends for breakfast down the street.

 On the way home Rosie was so relaxed in DaddyO's arms that she couldn't wait for home to nap:

The rest of the day was packed...literally. We began boxing up all our belongings, from the attic to the basement. Luckily Rosie took a really long nap (Mommy gladly joined for a portion of it) so we could get a decent amount done. Then our good friend L came back after breakfast to play with Rosie while we got more work done. We took a break from the boxes and walked down the street for dinner with neighbors.

After too little sleep, we woke up early today and walked down the street for a bagel breakfast, carbo-loading in preparation for what was to come.

We dropped Rosie off at her friend P's house while her Dad C came with us to load up the huuuuge UHaul truck. With the help of C, a neighbor and our good friend L, we worked tirelessly for a few hours. After a pizza lunch and cleaning up the last of our things, DaddyO and Mommy spent a couple minutes inside to say goodbye.

After some teary goodbyes to neighbors, it was off to Plesasanton! Mommy went to pick up Rosie and when they got to the Pleasanton house, it was such a heartwarming sight to see even more friends helping unload the truck. In addition to C and L (who we are forever indebted to), four friends from DaddyO's work came out to pitch in. Unloading is SO much easier than loading, that's for sure! The house is being tented so it was an easy job unloading straight into the garage. Once all the boxes were moved, the whole group walked downtown to the Dairy for some tasty soft serve ice cream.

Relaxing with new friend G:

 Exploring Pleasanton band stand:

Strolling with uncles L and C:

 While we will miss our SJ house, we are very excited for this next chapter! Did you know we're moving into a giant bouncy house (as our new friend G referred to it) :)  The tent comes off tomorrow and then we can start slowly moving in. Very exciting!

After parting with friends we headed to Livermore to have dinner with Vavó and Vavô. Auntie and cousin A came over to visit. We headed to Auntie's house for some TLChiropracty from Uncle G after two hard days of moving. Just hanging out with family and hearing Rosie's laughter throughout the night confirmed the reasons we decided to move.

Exhaustion is setting in so we'll call it a day.  Phew!

Time with friends

At the kids' table:


Baby swap!

toddler cirque du soleil

Rosie having fun with DaddyO. She loves spinning, balancing, and bouncing. Here's a snippet:


It's hard to believe it's been 16 months since her first appearance!

21 months

 Happy birthday Rosie!

Highlights:

• TALKING! Rosie is playing with words more and more. She's onto 2 syllable words and has started short, 2-word phrases like "I stuck" and "my daddy." We read somewhere that kids at this age learn on average 10 new words a day and I believe it! She is still in a "mine" phase but will still share. Bouts of stubbornness are usually short-lived.
• Reading. Kinda. Rosie is engaging more in books and will pretend read a little. Even though I know she's looking at the pictures it's fun to pretend like she's reading the words. She loves reading Orange Bear Apple Pear (Thanks baby J!) and Moo Boo La La La, among others. Current favorite bedtime stories include Are You My Mother? and Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock. She's joins in on the readings too.
• Singing. Rosie's starting to remember lyrics to songs and will fill in words here and there. She loves music, especially when they're interactive (Wheels on the Bus still a favorite).
• Numbers and letters: Rosie likes to pretend count and sing her ABCs. Right now all numbers are 2 (occassionally 3) and all letters are M.
• Birthday baby. Rosie loves the birthday song and pretend blowing candles. We realized she knew how to say her name when we sing the song, though it sounds something like "oh-zee".
• Car. Rosie loves playing in the car. She sits in the driver's seat and puts the key in the ignition. She's still not crazy about being put in her car seat. She always says "Chair. Buckle. Chair" making her request that we sit next to her. It's very sweet and heartbreaking at the same time.
• Tricycle. Rosie got her first trike, though her feet can't reach the pedals yet.
• Motor skills. Rosie's motor skills are developing and she managed to feed herself with chopsticks the other week. She's better at feeding herself and can drink out of a normal cup without spilling. She's a little more interested in drawing as well (and also says she's drawing a "meow"...something she learned from her Auntie N in Delaware earlier in the summer.
• Potty training update: this blog is in need for a little poop talk. We got Rosie a potty months ago but with the move, it's been stored away. Rosie showed very little interest in using the toilet but has started to let us know when she needs to go and will sit and try with varying success. And not without its accidents. Baby steps!
• Still a water baby. This little fish still loves being in the water. She will run into the sprinklers, take a 30 minute bath, splash around in a pool, and go head first into the water features at the park.

Rosie has developed such a sassy and funny personality. She loves joking around, wrestling (aka pouncing like Tigger), and cuddling. Some of the best times are first thing in the morning and right before bed when she is the most amazing mix of silly and sweet. She is so much fun!

Self-portrait

[Taking her picture is starting to be a challenge since she wants to be the one to use the camera. I got her to stand against the wall by letting her push the button in between me trying to get shots of her. Here's a gem straight from Rosie.]

San José livin

This morning we were facetiming with Ba Ngoai and Di Tien and I believe Rosie finally said a version of "I love you"! It was directed to Ba and she said it while doing the sign for love. Yay! Even though Rosie hears "I love you" more than any other phrase, she always gets shy when we ask her to say it. So this was pretty special.

After breakfast we decided to live it up a little and hit up some San José hot spots, with just one week left in the hood. Rosie and I started our day at Happy Hollow Park and Zoo.

This is Rosie's "I'm sitting on a rhino" face

Enjoying a ride on the Granny Bugs

WEEEOOOOWEEEEOOOOOO!

Stone turtle, beautiful flowers, funny face

Goat grooming

 Rosie promptly fell asleep on the walk back to the car and had a nice long nap. After lunch and relaxing, we went for a walk down Lincoln Ave. Rosie turned a lot of heads today, not with her cuteness, but with her smarts, as she read the whole way down. Moo Ba La La La is a very good read. Rosie recommends it. We ended up at the Willow Glen Creamery, which just reopened in the new building. We shared a black raspberry cone then played in the fountain.

Wafer cone just as exciting as ice cream.

On the walk home we stopped by Hicklebees, the children's bookstore. We had a good time reading, cuddling with Pooh Bear and a raccoon puppet, and ended up buying Where Is Spot?, a book that used to be at DaddyO's work. For dinner we hit up the food trucks, the Moveable Feast, where we met up with DaddyO. It was a hard choice but we ended up munching on a Korean BBQ burrito. Add "burrito" to her list of words.

A solid San José day!

weekend highlights

 On Saturday Rosie and I had our neighbors across the street over for lunch. It's been hard trying to figure out how to show them our appreciation and gratitude for their friendship. About 80% of Rosie's clothes came from Baby L, we've gotten a few dozens of fresh eggs from their chickens, they've watched and played with Rosie and became my go-to for if I needed a hand. So A and the 4 kids came over for pizza and an impromptu game of hide and go seek. It was such a special moment with all of us playing and Rosie running around laughing, elated to be with such good company. No picture of the afternoon since we were too busy having fun.

Today was supposed to be moving day but we've been given another week at the house (hooray!) so we decided to enjoy the day. We headed up to San Francisco for lunch and a concert. Lunch was at a restaurant called The Mayflower that is, surprise!, a Vietnamese/American place where you can get scrambled eggs, bacon, and pho ga all in one place. It as pretty tasty and fun eating in a place that was probably decorated in the 1950s.

Pre-pho reading at The Mayflower

 Next we were off to Stern Grove, where weekly summer concerts are put on for free for the community. Today the San Francisco Opera was performing and the place was packed! We found a side meadow for Rosie to run around and explore as she listened. Stern Grove is such a beautiful spot of the city. While it was foggy and quite cool, the eucalyptus trees of the grove provided protection from the wind. It's a pretty magical place.

Pluot. Yum!

Rosie singing her own version of opera.

Doing crazy leg splits in the stroller.

Afterward we headed across the Bay Bridge to a BBQ of DaddyO's coworker in Oakland. Rosie had a BLAST! Note to self: next time we need Rosie to be consumed for long periods of time, find a patch of gravel for her to play in! She really loved exploring the yard, chasing Marshmallow the cat (yes! another Marshmallow pet!), and getting new love from DaddyO's new coworkers. Rosie was quite mesmerized with the fire pit and may have indulged in her very first marshmallow (the sugary snack, not the cat).

Playdates

Playdate #1: BFF P! It was a magical day. Literally. I'm pretty sure my fairy godmother was watching over because it was a super calm and easy day. After a morning of playing in the house, both girls decided 11:30 was nap time and both fell asleep within 5 minutes of each other. Amazing!

 Some post naptime love:

 Lunchtime on the stoop:

 A wagon ride around the block:

 P convinced the car is made for two:

 Rosie on her new trike!

 Giving a push:

The girls are at a pretty special age where they were able to really entertain themselves. At one point they were playing in the backyard and I was reading a book. They love to wrestle with each other, with periodic breaks for hugs and kisses. The afternoon included a round of Baby Wrestle Mania in the crib, with lots of steam rolling and laughs....which resulted in Rosie's first (teeny tiny) split lip. This girl works hard and plays hard!

Playdate #2: DaddyO birthday celebration at San Pedro Square Market. We met up with a bunch of friends and family in downtown San José for a birthday gathering. It was a beautiful night and the scene was hoppin. There was live music (which Rosie LOVED), amazing company, and lots of love for DaddyO.

Rosie remembered Uncle N right away and spent most of the evening dragging him around the square. We're sad to be moving away from SJ just as Uncle N and Auntie J have moved into town. Uncle N made sure Rosie wouldn't forget her roots:

 More birthday cake!

 Cake monster:

 One of the highlights was the live band that was playing. They played everything from Poison (BelBivDeVoe), to Michael Jackson, to Bobby Brown. Rosie was mesmerized with them, especially the drums:

What a great day! It was nice to catch up with such loving friends and family.

happy birthday DaddyO!

Just realized I didn't post anything here about DaddyO's birthday. Got confused with a facebook post.

We are in the midst of Celebration DaddyO! Yesterday was his official birthday. We were lucky to be able to spend the morning with him. We started the day heading to the title office to sign papers for the sale of our house. Biggest birthday present DaddyO will probably ever get!

Such a cute house!

From there we walked to breakfast.

Cheese!

Bacon!

ABC letters on her new Kermit lunch/activity box

DaddyO then headed to Santa Clara University for a retreat for his incoming freshman. That afternoon we went to the park and hung out with friends.

Rinsing off after a sandy, muddy, and wet day at the park. This picture matches a beach photo of Mommy :)

With our good friends across the street.

Tonight we had some business to take care of at our new house in Pleasanton. Vavó, Vavô, and cousins A and A came to join us for a birthday dinner afterward. We walked down from the house to Gay 90's Pizza for some super tasty pizza and birthday cake from a SJ bakery. Rosie loves singing and blowing out candles.

Three generations of happy!

DaddyO in heaven

The beginnings of a career as a disc jockey

Tomorrow we will be doing birthday celebration #3 with our good friends in San José. So more on that tomorrow.

Happy birthday DaddyO!