Instant Toddler

I was wandering the house settling things down after returning from Disneyland. More on that later, i.e. another post. Mel decided to lay down and rest = sinus pain in a big way. I lost track of our little darling until I hear the call: "Honey, look at what our child is doing?"

A picture, well in this case, video speaks for itself! Enjoy!

Couple of Pictures

While learning video editing, I clipped these two frames. I know everyone is hurting for more pictures, so while I work on video I will throw a few of these up! Yeah!









Both of these were shot while Linda was playing with the lawnmower referred to in the previous post. Can you tell she is having fun?

Linda and Her Slide

How cool. Linda has her own slide! She also has her own little lawnmower. (Maybe some day I won't have to mow that lawn!)
Here is a little video of her trying it out. She still needs a bit of assistance on the top, but other than that it is all fun and games!



Linda is doing quite well and is having a great time in life, or at least she is when we aren't doing crazy things to her!

I Went To a Street Brawl and a Baseball Game Broke Out

I have to go back a week before I get to the real meat of this post. A week ago Thursday I took Linda to a day game at Petco Park. It was the Padres vs. Diamond Backs.

I was a little scared about taking Linda by myself but I thought what the heck. The worst that could happen is that she gets antsy and we’ll have to go to the “Park at the Park” and play.

I managed to score the first seat in a row on the Toyota Terrace Unreserved. The price was half off the norm because Thursday day games are two for one or half off one on the Toyota Terrace Unreserved section and only $10 parking in the 8th and Harbor Garage.

So I packed a lunch for Linda and off we went. I went to one of the snack bars to get a hot dog and found out they are also two for one. I thought great. I’m getting Linda a hot dog too. We sat down at this hidden section I know about where there is always an empty table and we had our hot dogs.

Then we went to the Toyota Terrace, put the stroller inside some railings between a beam and a trash can and walked four steps down to our seat at the beginning of the row. We had a blast. Linda was yelling “ball”, dancing with the music and clapping when everyone was clapping. I had a tear in my eye. She sat on my lap for about an hour and a half and had a great time.

I was so excited when we got home that I had to call my friend Martha and tell her about it. Martha loves baseball like I do and is also from L.A. During our conversation we decided to go to Petco Park for the Padres vs. Dodgers game.

Well folks that was last night. I think Martha was a little surprise at my Dodger gear and that I’m gutsy enough to wear it here in San Diego. We wandered around the park for a bit, got some food and drinks and went to our seats. We had a very nice conversation and watched the Trevor Hoffman festivities in peace.

Then the idiots arrived. I have lived here for ten years now and I still don’t understand the “fair weather” Padre fan (no I’m not talking about real Padre/baseball fans). You know the idiots that have no idea what they are talking about and just yell to hear their own voices. But after ten years (and I guess being a mom now) I have just learned to roll my eyes, grumble a little and ignore it.

Martha is not use to it. This idiot kept yelling stupid things in our ears. His kid is bopping me with his balloon hammer and they were just plain annoying. Martha turned around and asked politely to keep it down and it got worse. He was throwing the f-bombs and other things and Martha was upset because HE’S SAYING ALL OF THIS INFRONT OF HIS TODDLER!!!!!! Unbelievable!!!!

Then he just started to get personal. I don’t remember what he said but Martha got up in his face (you go girl). The guy behind the idiot had to hold him back.

At this time the Dodgers were losing so that was not helping things. We decided to leave our seats about the 8th inning (really because I didn’t want to deal with the idiot while trying to go down steps). We found an usher and Martha told him the story. He didn’t help much. Then we found another usher that basically said, “Sorry but we have to deal with bigger drunks than that.”

As we were leaving we saw on the screen that Trevor Hoffman was blowing the save and the game was tied. When we got to the car, the Dodgers won 6-5. Yeah!!! I bet the idiot was quiet in his seat now.

Gotta love baseball.

We Are Home!!!!!

Enough said.

Where Are We????

Well, the car is quite sick. Seems like it will get a new alternator and battery along with a new set of AC compressor bearings. Oh fun.

Linda? Doing great. Of course she is quite wacked out on any consistency when it comes to eating and sleeping, but she is hanging in there. Tonight is the first night she actually has fallen asleep before 9pm! This will last up to when this noisy air conditioner turns back on. We've had some good nights with minor whining, so the AC in this room has not disturbed her too much. Every time we ride in the car is a different story. Out cold. She doesn't last more than 10 or 15 minutes before falling asleep.

Today we visited my Dad as a family. He is doing great and is waiting to be released from the hospital. Looks like tomorrow is the day. What a bummer! he will get to go home before we do! Actually, that is awesome. Linda was her cute self on the visit. After a little time in the room, Mel took her outside in a courtyard where Grandpa was able to watch her run around a bit. All was good.

We hit the pool this afternoon. Only the second time on this trip. :-( Linda had a great time in the water once again. The floating duck chair is a hit. After we rinsed off and relaxed we treated ourselves to the Macaroni Grill. Nice place and pretty good food. Linda was such an angel. We had two elderly couples tell us how cute she is. How nice.

After a little work we are now ready to settle down. We can't wait to get home!

The Murphy's Spring Training Trip

Well, we are having "fun" on this trip, but I think Linda is having the most fun and I will start with this: Linda has been such a trooper and sooooooooo good!

We decided to start our trip a day early as a family crisis, mild but a crisis, occurred which landed my Dad in the hospital. Where? No place but Phoenix. BTW, he is doing very well and should be released sometime during the week. We started our trek on Thursday morning. A beautiful morning for SD. It was uneventful until we arrived in Phoenix. We get to the hotel and find that it is so new that the pool was not even open! "How long?" we asked. Another couple of weeks! There is no way in hell we are going to stay in Phoenix with another family and have no pool for the kids to play in, so the mad dash to find another place. We manage to get rooms in another place and got a decent discount, but we are going to be calling the customer relations folks as soon as this wacky trip is over. Thursday is shot. At least I got to visit my Dad.

Friday was a pretty good day. Nothing to report. Linda did not get to the pool for her very first swim, but she did get to see, and I use that term losely, her first baseball game. We had a good time running around, and she did OK sitting in our laps for a couple of innings. It was also a rare time that she was up waaaaaaay past her bed time. Well, that has become a common occurrence on this trip. I guess that is what vacations are for.

Today started well. Linda had her first dip in a swimming pool. No complaints. She had a wonderful time. I carried her in the pool without a whine or scream. We bought a floating duck that she can sit in. She loved that. She kicked and splashed. Linda does not like blow-up arm floaters. Oh well, back to the duck. She was so tired afterwards that she took a nap from which she did not want to wake up, but we had a game to get to. This game we decided on as a last minute one and we were to buy lawn seats, so we did not buy in advance. We were less than a mile away from the stadium when we got the call from our friends that it was SOLD OUT! We retreated to Peoria to see the Mariners play the Rangers. On the way to Peoria I misjudged a dip in the road. Mel was feeding Linda as she was starving. Wham! Pasta salad on the floor in the back and on top of Mel's Coach purse! Bill is on the shit list now. We finally get to the game and enjoyed the few innings we were there. Well, we played with the kids and just had fun.

After the game we decided to do the scenic route back to our hotel and cruise down through Phoenix to Scottsdale and then to the hotel. We never made it to Scottsdale. Murphy struck again and our little Mazda SUV dropped dead. After a number of phone calls and the battery on the cell phone was dying, we got a tow to the closest Mazda dealer. The dealer sent a salesman to pick us up and he waited with us until the tow truck arrived. While we were waiting, Mel took Linda to a Walgreens across the street to cool down while I waited in the 90+ degree heat for the drivers. We used the Mazda roadside assistance plan that we purchased and thus all the "rides". The dude from Mazda took us down to the airport so we could rent a car! Yup, we now have a rental while the Tribute gets checked, and that won't even be until Monday as the service department is closed on Sundays as usual. We drove out of the rental car lot at 7:20pm. How wacky and random that Mel and I discussed earlier how nice it would be to get Linda down at a reasonable time. NOT! We went to dinner and now, at 10:20pm, Linda is yelling for Mama and is showing no signs of settling down! She will when I am done here.

So now we are stuck here in Phoenix for what looks like an extra day as we were to return home on Monday, but Tuesday will be more like it if all goes well with the car. We still love that car, it's just a bummer that this happened on this trip with everything else that is going on. Another random thing is that I took the car in last Tuesday for a regular service! Talk about adding insult to injury.

I hope Murphy was only visiting today and the next couple of days will be fun and as normal as could be expected. Linda has been patient and just a little princess through all of this sitting in car seats, strollers, and unknown cars. I hope everyone else has had uneventful days and we are taking care of Murphy. We are now going to try and get some sleep.

A Conversation Between Mother and Daughter

Here is our daily conversation.

Linda: Mama mama

Me: Yes Linda

Linda: Uh


Linda: Mama mama

Me: Yes sweetheart

Linda: hehehehehehe


Linda: Mama mama

Me: Yes dear

Linda: Fish

Me: Not before breakfast sweetheart. Drink some milk.


Linda: Mama mama

Me: Yes Linda

Linda: Dog

Me: Yes the dog is over there.


Linda: Mama mama

Me: Yes sweetheart

Linda: Dada

Me: Daddy is at work. He'll be home later.


Enough said. :-)

Mommy Lessons

Linda is feeling much better now. She is almost her old self. We have been keeping a low profile this week. At the beginning of the week it was easy because Linda was very mellow. We would read books and watch Baby Einstein DVDs and Sesame Street. Of course as the week goes on and Linda is feeling better we have to get creative and play with lots of toys. Then she's getting cabin fever (like myself) and grabs her jacket and heads straight for the front door and points. So we do quick trips.

Today when Bill came home I took a quick exercise walk. On my walk I bumped into a neighbor with two little kids. I told her about Linda's bronchiolitis. She just kinda rolled her eyes and said that's a bummer. Then she goes on to says something like a couple of weeks ago her son got the flu and then a little while later her daughter got it. She just wish that the kids got the flu at the same time.

Okay, here I am practically in tears because Linda was feeling miserable. I was all concerned about her breathing and drinking enough fluids. The neighbor just wished her kids get sick at the same time.

Wow it just reminds me of that line in the movie Parenthood where the one mother says with her first child they really watch him closely. By the third child we were letting them juggle knives.

I guess I'll still be practically in tears when Linda is feeling miserable for a little while (18 years).

Chicken Broth for the Sick

Well we are dealing with Linda's first childhood illness. Linda came down with a runny nose and cough on Friday. Like usual she was her wonderful self. Still bright and smiley and full of energy... just with a runny nose and cough. Saturday was pretty much the same. But Sunday morning her breathing just didn't seem right to me. It was kind of loud and shallow.

So we called the doctor and went in for a 11am appointment. Yes on a Sunday (we love our doctor's office). The doc took one listen to her lungs and said we made a good choice coming in today. She was wheezing. She has bronchiolitist... ugh!!!! So the doc sent us home with some prescriptions and told us to give her plenty of liquids.

It's interesting to see how mother's intuition kicks in. Even though Linda just had a runny nose and cough, no fever and still had energy to play, I just didn't feel that her breathing was quite right. I hate the situation but I'm glad to see I actually have the knack for being a mom.

We are hoping for a peaceful night. Bill is just getting over a sinus thing. My sinuses are clogged up. And, the last couple of nights have been horrible for Linda. I've got to tell you Bill was a trooper last night. It was the worst for Linda. She could not get comfortable. Bill was there to calm her down while I tried to unclogged my sinuses and get some sleep.

One thing I have learned is that if you need a good liquid for your kid to drink/eat, chicken broth works great. I think between the first dose of medication and the broth, it gave Linda a good sneeze that was a real mess. But she was breathing better after that.

Linda Flying

Linda is really getting into her Tigger plane. We took it outside on Saturday and let her ride in the driveway. It is one of those push toys. Linda's legs are just long enough for her to move it. Since we have a slight slope in the driveway we discovered that Linda likes to move forward towards the garage and then roll backwards to be caught by one of us.

We did have an incident where she went forward into the lawn and do a tumble. It was quite entertaining as she went forward and over. Like a trouper, she was having so much fun she forgot to cry and got right back on for some more fun.

Oh No! And you Thought Bill Would be the Corruptor!

Well, after dinner I finished cleaning up. Yeah, like a good husband I do the dishes. Anyways, I wander into the family room and what do I find!


And you thought the geek, myself, would be the first to start the kid on computers! As I find out Linda likes to crawl into Mel's lap when Mel is checking email and reading the news. Who knows what else she is browsing! I guess it is all downhill from here!

As I understand it, Linda likes to look at pictures, so when Mel cruises over to blogs, Linda looks at the pictures that are posted. Cute.

Night all!

Baseball is Only a Couple Of Months Away....

So, leave it to Mel to get Linda, and me, to a baseball event. Today we went to Petco Park to visit the stadium and have some fun as it was Friar's Fest. Yeah, Mel is the Dodgers fan, but when it comes to baseball she is willing to do almost anything.


Today we didn't care to get autographs, but we did "walk the bases" with Linda and visit the team store and wander the stadium. After lunch we visited the Park at the Park and let Linda run around on the grass. We all had a good time.

On the way out, Linda wanted to push her own stroller, so away she went! This is her new favorite pastime. It is quite cute. It does slow us down a bit, but that is a small price to pay to tire out a youngster!

As Promised...

Linda's First Birthday

I’m not a very mushy person by nature. I’m not one for writing love letters. I know Bill and I were very happy to be able to celebrate Linda’s first birthday together. It was all I could think about for awhile after we received our referral.

We can’t tell you how happy we are that we got to experience some of Linda’s baby stage. There are so many transitions that Linda has gone through. We are seeing her change from a baby to a toddler right before our eyes.

Well Linda is now 13 months old. She is walking more than crawling around the house. She has fun at the playground now and even goes to her favorite (play) bus at the park and gets to the steering wheel by herself.

Linda is staring to mimic us. She likes to brush her hair and teeth and wants to put her socks on all by herself (of course she has a way to go on that but what an effort).

We went to the doctor yesterday for Linda’s 13 month visit. Linda is doing very well. She is 31” tall and 22.4lbs. She is above average for all the groups. The doctor was very please to see her walking so well.

I know I say this quite a bit, but it’s just amazing the changes that we see everyday in her. There is always something new.

(Don’t worry pictures will follow.)

Let me just finish this post by saying:

Linda, mommy and daddy love you very much!!!!!

Decmeber, Birthday and Holidays... Oh my!!!

Well we made it through our first December. I can see now that December will always be a busy month.

First we start off with Linda’s birthday. It landed on a Saturday this year so it was an all-weekend event. Bubby came in for a long weekend and even got to baby sit on Friday night so Bill and I could go to Bill’s Company Holiday Party. We had a nice evening and Bubby did a great job.

Linda’s birthday party was on Sunday. Zadie came in early Sunday morning for the festivities. We had Linda’s friends (and their parents of course) come over for a morning party. It was suppose to be at a local park but the weather did not hold up so it was at our house. Linda had a great time. (Pictures to follow)

Next was Chanukah. We had Lisa and Anton over for some playtime, potato latkes and jelly donuts. We also went to Jarrah’s house for some potato latkes and fun play time.

And last was our trip to Lake Havasu City to visit Grandpa and Grandma Ellen for a long weekend. We had a great time. Linda loved to explore the house. She did a lot more walking. Linda has also decided that she wants to brush her hair, her teeth and feed herself now. Wow, everyday is a new change in her. She is growing up so fast.

Grandpa gave her a little truck to play with at the house and she loved it. She would push it around and made a funny vroom vroom noise. It was cute to watch.

New Year’s Eve was pretty quiet. Linda stayed up till 8:15pm…. Wow! With Bill’s job, it’s not very often that we get to spend New Years together at home so we really enjoyed that.

Well that's it for now. Have a Happy New Year!!!!

FCC Holiday Picnic, 12/3/2006

It’s been some time since we’ve posted. You might say that I have been busy, but the real busy one is Melissa! Being a full-time mom sure takes its toll and Mel is handling it like a champ. Keep up the good work, babe!

Today we went to the FCC (Families with Children from China) Holiday picnic. The weather was awesome and we got to see friends that we haven’t seen in some time and meet new people. It was a blast to see Jinji, the new addition to Mary and Bill’s family. They’ve only been home two weeks! Jarrah was there. She is a bundle of energy to say the least. All in all, we had a good time.

Here we have Bill playing his part as the "baby whisperer". He has his hands full with Linda and Jinji!

Here are the newcomers to the FCC. Jinji is the newest addition. On the Mel's left is Molly. She came home the same time Linda did! Oh, and the young lady on the left in the picture is 15 years old, if I remember. As you can tell some of these children have been adopted years ago and they still participate in this group. Just amazing!

Linda is progressing very well. She so wants to walk it will occur any time now. She barely holds onto your fingers while she walks and I believe she is using it as a safety net as she is not too sure of the balance thing. We have witnessed her testing the waters of standing without assistance and there have been a couple of steps in there too. One day soon she will just motor right on off and bonk her head. I can see it happening. She has done some minor bonking so far, but the big one is to come!

Linda making friends!

Teething. This is the other major event happening right now. Wednesday evening she woke up wailing. It was not pretty and we ended up giving her some Tylenol. Sure enough, there is another tooth coming in up front and something tells me there are a couple of others right behind that one. She learned that the frozen chew toy is a good thing, though she does not use it for long.

We are pretty sure her first word was “dog”. She gets excited if she sees one on T.V. or when Amber comes around. She points and utters what sounds to be “dog”! One of these days she will get that Mommy and Daddy thing down, but we figure that will come soon enough. She doesn’t say, “no”, but she does shake her head when no is implied. It’s amazing how fast that one is learned!

You all have a good time and I hope to write more soon. More pictures. I know, more pictures. I’m getting there! :-)

Giving Thanks

It’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving and we have a lot to be thankful for. We have our health, our happiness, our family, our friends and most of all Linda.

It has been a little over two months since we have met Linda and just about two months since we have been home. I can say there have definitely been a lot of changes in Linda in only two months.

When we met Linda she already had a great personality. Linda could sit up straight, but you had to put her in that position. She would roll around or scoot backwards to get to places. And she never had any solid food.

Now she can sit up on her own from a laying down position. She can crawl very smoothly and even get up and down the little step we have going into the family room. She can pull herself up to a standing position from anywhere she can hold onto (including my bra strap :-)) and walk while holding onto things. She can even take a few steps on her own. I give it another week or two before she’s completely walking on her own… Yikes.

Linda is playing with blocks and putting them through holes and into slots they belong to. She is eating very well (I let her eat lunch with her hands).

The best thing of all is that she knows who mommy and daddy are. She even knows who she is… she’ll show you by pointing at her belly. Hey if she really likes you, she’ll show you her belly by pulling her shirt up. Go figure.

Of course her great personality is still there and even better. Linda has a sweet disposition. She doesn’t fuss much. She whines a little when she’s out of sorts. Now it’s hard to tell if she’s whining because she’s teething or has an ear infection. That happened to us recently. I thought she was teething on a Friday because she was in a bad mood. She had no fever and not tugging on anything. But Sunday she was in a great mood but all this stuff was coming out of her ears. We ran her to the doctor and she still had no fever… just an infection. She’s better now.

I have to say life as parents is very different than without children. You’re on schedules and you are drained by the end of the day. It’s a good drained, but drained. I sleep well at night now. Bill is great with Linda. He seems to know exactly what kind of playtime Linda wants at what time. Linda loves when he plays with her in the car seat and makes funny sounds. Linda also like when dad dries her off after a bath. And she loves when he carries her places. Bill is also great to me. He gives me the breathing time I need when he comes home so I can deflate before I make dinner. Bill is a great dad and husband.

Let me just finish by saying we had a great Thanksgiving at our friends Mary, Bill and Jinji. Yes their family made a nice dinner for them the day after they came home from China and we got to participate. Jinji is a great baby and I hope Linda and Jinji become life long friends like their parents have become.

Update! Oh we are so bad!

We have been soooooo bad at posting lately. Please forgive us. You might guess at how difficult it is to raise a child and keep everything else running smoothly. I must say that Mel has been doing an awesome job of mommy. I commend my beautiful wife for doing such a fine job.

In the last couple of weeks we have been quite busy. Last Monday Linda had her first visit to the Happiest Place on Earth: Disneyland! I had to work, yeah, touch life, and I brought Mel and Linda with me. It was very convenient as we also had a trip to LA to visit Mel's family. Linda had a great time. We hit It's a Small World and I never saw a kids eyes pop out as we floated through the show. She swayed with the music and clapped her hands. We also visited the Tiki Room. Oh, that was just as fun. She sure enjoyed the drummer dudes. We wandered around the park a bit and then we had to head out. No we did not try other rides as it was her first time and we did not want to over stimulate the little munchkin. That night Linda slept like a rock.

The daily routine I will leave to the hard worker of the family, but I will say that it is one busy schedule. My duties start when I get home from work. I just keep Linda busy and distracted until bed time! She is so close to walking it is scary. She holds your fingers and takes off. Once she has that self balance thing going we will not get any rest! In any case even though there are some frustrating moments, it has been a joy to have Linda around.

I will post pictures when I get them processed!

Catch Up!

We’ve been a little busy. No really, we’ve been a little busy. I know you don’t believe us, but we maintain that we’ve been a little busy.

As an update, Linda visited the doctor and got a clean bill of health on the second visit. Yeah! She has gained 2 pounds and though they said she has not grown, we think she has added an inch or two to her height.

While I’m at work, who knows what Mel and Linda have been up to, but I’m sure it is no good! ;-) Actually Mel has been a terrific Mom as I get home and Linda is pretty much wiped out from the day. Actually, that kid sure has a bunch of energy because I’m worn out from playing with Linda after I’m home! Mel has visited friends, going to play groups, and taking Linda to the park. They go on walks, too. Linda is getting better at being left alone, but the play pen (Pack N Play) is still not high on Linda’s “fun list”. She is only in that when Mel needs to get something done and doesn’t need Linda getting into trouble, e.g. shower time.

Since the last post, we had a good Halloween. No pictures from that day as we did not do much. A Tuesday night is not great for Halloween. We just went to a birthday party yesterday. That was fun. Thanks Joy!

One exciting moment last week was when I received a call from Mel. I was meeting with an electrician and Mel calls sounding serious, but with a sense of excitement. Mel was sitting in the office, the doorway is about 8 feet from Linda’s room, and tells Linda to come on down if she likes. Next think she knows, there’s Linda’s head poking around the corner. This is the first time Linda has ventured down the hall on her own! It is her first time doing the full on crawl, too! My thoughts: “Uh oh. We’re in trouble now!” Linda has gone mobile! Today we took a couple of pictures as she made her way towards the living room! Double Uh Oh!

We are at the point where we needed to add the glass doors to the stereo cabinet for obvious reasons. Here I caught Linda contemplating how to get past this little obstacle. Hmmmm? BTW, pull those pants up!

That’s all for now. We need to go for a walk and let the dog stretch her paws.