Lily and Amber meet and raw fish abounds

Just about five years ago Gordon and I met through our friends Lindsay and Dave. Lindsay and I were dorm-mates and sorority sisters in college, and Dave and Gordon worked together for a short while. Oddly enough Dave and Lindsay welcomed their daughter Amber into the world just 18 days before Lily was born. So we like to joke that Amber and Lily are like sisters now. Dave & Lindsay left Boston to live in Manhattan for a while, but we got to see them for the first time since the girls were born for Jon & Michael's annual sushi night! There were babies, dogs and lots of yummy fish. We had a great time introducing Lily to Jon (shown feeding Lily below), Michael, Mike, Lynne, Lindsay and Dave. We really enjoyed meeting Amber and are so excited that Lily already has a playmate. Now if we can only convince them to move back to Boston....

Smiling

Yesterday Lily gave me her first real smile. We've all suspected that she's been kind of smiling for a while now - a cute little upturn in her mouth, seemingly in reaction to something. But yesterday, after she ate, we were playing with some rattles and she suddenly broke into a real open-mouthed grin. It was awesome. I've gotten a few more out of her since, but it's not predictable enough to snap a picture yet. Now playtime is REALLY fun. On our trip to New Jersey we received some hand-me-down toys from Lily's cousins and the Holzes. So far my favorite are these little socks with rattles attached that Tammy gave us. Lily seems to enjoy having them on her feet while she kicks around. I promise to post a picture of our smiling girl as soon as I can capture it!

Road Trippin'

This week we took Lily on her first road trip. We packed the Forester to capacity and headed out to New Jersey. On Wednesday we drove from Boston to Bridgewater New Jersery to stay with our friends Andrew & Tammy and their two children, Julia and Nate. The Holzes are like family to us and we always enjoy spending time with them. Julia was very excited to meet Lily. The trip down was pretty easy - Lily slept most of the time. We had one rest stop feeding experience that was less than fun, but otherwise it was easy going!

We spent Wednesday night at the Holzes and then on Thursday left to continue our drive to Vorhees, NJ where Gordon's brother and his family live. Gordon's parents and his Dad's sister, Goo Ma, met us there as well. Everyone was so excited to meet Lily - she was like a little rock star. Lily will know Gordon's parents as Yeh-Yeh and Ma-Ma, the Chinese titles for the paternal grandparents. Goo-Ma, who is Gordon's Dad's sister, will be Goo-Pau to Lily. Here are some pictures of Yeh-Yeh, Ma-Ma and Uncle Gabe with Lily.














Gabe and his wife Que recently bought a beautiful new house. It was a real treat for us to get to stay there with them and check it out. It's a great house -lots and lots of space for big family gatherings like this one. It was also great to see our neices, Valora and Sera. It's amazing how fast they are growing. Valora is a real little lady now and Sera started walking on her own consistently while we were there!













On Saturday we had a one-month birthday party for Lily. The girls all got dressed up in their Chinese outfits, we dyed red eggs and Gabe did a great job decorating the dining room for Lily. There was a big sign with her Chinese name on it, lots of great food and a yummy cake. Que's parents and brother came over to join in the celebration as well. Lily wore a red and gold chinese outfit that was made by Que's Mom for Valora when she was a baby.


























On Sunday we packed up our stuff, said goodbye to the Wongs and drove back up the NJ turnpike to spend a final night with the Holzes. The Karchers - David, Kris, Greta and Duncan - came over to meet Lily as did Julia's Uncle Matt and Gordon's friend Joanna. Sunday became more "exciting" than planned when Nate got his pinky caught in a door hinge and needed a trip to the emergency room. It was tough on everyone, but Nate was a brave little guy and afer some stitches it looks like he will be okay. He'll be walking around with some bandages on his hand for a while - as Julia says "he's like Captain Hook, but with a club instead!". Monday morning we all had dutch babies - or as Julia calls them "baby dutchlings" and then it was time for us to pack up once more and head home. We had a great time on our trip and Lily is looking forward to seeing her New Jersey family again really soon.

To see more of pictures from our trip check out our flickr set.

Kiss Daddy Good Bye...He's Going to Work!

Well, tomorrow I go back to work after a much too short break. The last 4 weeks have been precious. Becky and I are just getting to know Lily, who is getting to know herself. Already she's changed so much in that time. She's much bigger, eats tons, knows how to complain when things aren't going her way. I know she's probably hasn't done anything that babies haven't been doing since the dawn of time but its the first time for me.

Hope I don't miss her too much :( Then again, hope I do :)

its tough having a dope as a dad

Do mothers have an intuitive sense of what's pajamas and what's day time clothing? I mean, I can tell my pajamas from my jeans. The former have drawstrings and the latter I always find crumpled up in the corner. Easy. But with kids clothes, it all sort of looks the same to me. I admit to being lazy....I reach for whatever looks the easiest to get on the kid (she hates being changed), is on top of the pile and is suitable for the weather. If you think considering the weather in Jan should be easy, think again. In the last 4 days, the day time temperature has varied from 70+ to just under freezing. The weather is so wacky, even the plants are confused. I hear that flowers are starting to bloom.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Having a newborn at home in Jan in Boston and yet still being able to go outside is a real treat. Going stir crazy is a serious danger otherwise. But with the great weather and the bike path almost outside the door, our little Lily has already become quite the sophisticated diner. So far, she's been to:

• Anna's (best quesadillas in town)
• Rosebud's (great corned beef hash)
• The Diesel (mmm, Vietnamese style coffee)
• S&S Deli (cream cheese stuffed french toast)
• JP Licks (ice cream...'nuff said)

Hmm, not bad for only being 19 days old. It took me 30 years to discover JP Licks and I'm still miffed about that.

sitting bad, walking good, zooming great!

Ok, so this kid likes motion. I guess they all do. But its really funny how Lily much prefers you to be standing, rather than sitting when you are holding her. If she is fussy, a little walking around the house usually calms her down, sometimes in seconds. If she's really fussy, which generally only happens at 2AM, doing a few high speed laps around the kitchen island, with suitable race commentary, seems to do the trick. Its alway a challenge to think of some new 'snappy patter' to keep up while we are racing. I think I might switch to hum triumphant parade music. The theme to the Olympics seems to work pretty well.

diaper tipping

Ok, note to self. Don't tip the baby on its side with a full diaper. You only get pee in your bed.

chirps and gurgles

Wow, babies are noisy little creatures. Lily makes all kinds of noises, night and day.There's gurgling, burping, farting, grunting, chirping, yawning, sighs, breathing, wheezing, coughing, sneezing and of course crying.

Crying isn't all the same. There is the half-hearted, "I wish you would stop that" cry. There's the "I'm hungry, why aren't you feeding me" cry. Another frequent one is the "you put me down while I was sleeping and tried to abandon me!" cry. And finally, my personal favorite (favorite in the sense that I will do anything to make her stop) is the "Help! Help! These terrible people are making me take a bath. Pleeeeease, someone make them stop". Yup, that's a good one.

But the little chirps and sighs she makes while sleeping are the best. I think every newborn parent worries that something terrible is going to happen to their child while they are sleeping. Rational or not, you worry about this. Lily's little nocturnal noises let us know she is right there beside us and let us sleep just a bit better. Better in the sense of not lying awake worried ;)