Month: March 2007

Finally, a new post

Posted by on March 21, 2007 in Thoughts

Sorry for the long delay between posts but it’s been a busy few weeks here at Li Li central. I finished up my last set of classes at school on Sunday.  When you miss 4 weeks of an 8-week class, the workload to catch up can be daunting. But thanks to my wife and my study group, I finally finished everything up in time to start a new group of classes. I’ve heard from Babson Fast Track Alumni that the biggest challenge after finishing school is how to spend all of one’s new found free time. I look forward to that problem.

LLSwing

While I was in California, Catherine took Li Li to the children’s park and Li Li loved the swing. We may have a thrill-seeker on our hands. Of course that would be payback for the numerous heart attacks I gave my parents.

On Saturday, aka St. Patrick’s Day, we had a party to celebrate all things Li Li. The party was a huge success with many, many friends and family representing 4 states all dropping by to eat, to drink and to look at our little girl. Many of our friends brought their children along and Li Li never had a moment alone since most of the children happened to be girls – and the girls loved playing with Li Li – while the few boys were the hit of the party. Of course the adults loved playing with Li Li too. Our dear daughter just soaked it all in, basking in the attention and having a grand time. I, of course, was exhausted, and without the tremendous help of our parents I would have been even more exhausted.

Li Li Bedtime

Li Li invokes Maggie’s protection to keep from going down for her nap. Plus Maggie acts as a backstop since Li Li still has a slight tendency to fall backwards.

LLMomReading

Gram Reads to Li Li before her nap.

My mom came for a visit in order to get her Li Li time. She of course fell in love with our little one. She read to Li Li, played with Li Li, put Li Li down for naps, and took more pictures than I even I thought was possibe. She even rescued me when my dear, beautiful, angelic daughter had a major, EPA notification caliber, toxic waste spill blowout involving a box of baby wipes, three changes of clothes, two changes of bedding and a household desmellification finally culminating in a cleansing bath for all involved. Of course Mom kept saying “this is nothing, when you were little…..” And Li Li was just wondering what all the fuss was about.

Birthday candle

“Li Li blow out the candle…”

Another milestone was reached when on Wednesday the 14th, Li Li had her 1st birthday. I was of course out of town on a business trip on an airplane with very mixed feelings. Yes, I needed to work but I didn’t enjoy missing her first birthday. The fact that Li Li had no idea it was her birthday, was a cold comfort. I didn’t like the precedent it set. We had a nice little dinner party Thursday evening when I got home with Catherine’s parents, her sister Christine, Li Li’s cousin Lila, my mom and the three of us.

Li Li Cake

Li Li likes merengue cake, but she isn’t too fond of Kiwi…

And our zen lighting moment of the day because I just can’t resist taking a picture of my beautiful daughter when the light is just right….

LLSunlight

That’s all for now. We’ll try to do better in the future. We promise. -t

Bar Hopping, Walking on snow and nature photos

Posted by on March 1, 2007 in Home, Thoughts

Another week has come and gone, and our dear daughter is more wonderful than ever. The brain fog from lack of sleep is gradually diminishing and we are finally starting to carve out a routine. Li Li is sleeping through the night now which we are very thankful for, in fact the biggest issue with sleep now is the fact that she sometimes will fight going to sleep and will scream hysterically refusing to console herself for several hours. If we pick her up and carry her around she’s fine, as soon as she touches the mattress though – the waterworks and noise return. We’ll all figure it out together.

Catherine’s sister mailed us a pouch which Catherine is thrilled by – Li Li hasn’t made up her mind about it just yet.

 LiLi Pouch

We thought she looked just like a little joey poking an arm and head out of her mother’s pouch – although she’s much cuter.

I had school last week and Catherine brought Li Li up at the end of the day so that I could show off my daughter to my classmates. So we took her to the bar after class where one of my classmates remarked – “she’s way too comfortable hanging out in a bar…”. Decide for yourself.

 BarLili

I’m six months into an executive mba program at Babson college and my classmates have been very supportive, in fact Li Li is the 3rd child among our classmates since we started. And we are expecting at least one more by June.

Our warm, snowless winter is no more as temperatures have been cold and we’ve had lots of snow and ice since returning home. We took Li Li out for a short walk in some nearby woods one recent morning before her morning nap. She of course loves being out and about and didn’t mind the snowflakes falling on her face.

 LiliSnowWide

Li Li has embraced the pouch and Catherine’s back is much happier than using the Bjorn.

LiliSnow

While walking in the trees a big clump of snow fell on us – Li Li just smiled, notice the snow on her chin.

LiMagCathSnow

Maggie is now Li Li’s biggest fan, especially once she realized that Li Li drops cheerios and other food – plus Maggie is now almost guaranteed a nice long walk every day, sometimes twice. Notice the happy lab in the distance standing guard as Catherine slogs through the snow.

SnowPortrait

A quick portrait – notice Li Li’s backward tilt. She likes to lean back or be carried with her body horizontal. Not sure why – it’s just what she likes.

The snow was pretty so I took a few “artsy” landscape photos. I couldn’t help myself.

snowleaves

snowtreebw

That’s all for now. The days of updating the blog every day are over. We’ll try to do an update at least once a week – although we’re not promising anything.