The perfect pumpkin!

Happy Halloween!

Sleeping like a baby!

Our house helper put Grace down for a nap the other day and covered her with my vest. I thought it was hilarious how her hands worked themselves into the arm holes. When I first noticed, her arms were frozen straight up in the air. I wasn't quick enough with the camera, though.
She's still a swaddled sleeper. Right now, our house is a little chilly at night so she's sleeping in 6-7 layers (including blankets). It'll get better when they turn the heat on (soon)!

And they're off: Celebrating a girls' weekend!

They're off! Hunt and Archie just climbed into this nice taxi with our favorite driver, Mr. Zhao, and are now en route to the airport. (They're headed to Hong Kong for Archie's eye checkup and lung checkup.)

Will I be lonely? I doubt it. Sure, I'll miss my two favorite guys, but I have lots planned. Topping the list is PERSONAL TIME! I have blogposts to post (y'day was Grace's 3 month after all), blogposts to read, photos to edit, naps to take, possibly some photo shoots with Grace, and more. Oh, and I do have some useful things to do like covering an English corner for Hunt tomorrow and hosting a cake baking and movie party tonight. I'm contemplating going to town early tomorrow for a little roaming around. I think Grace will be up for an adventure!

What do you do at 6:30 in the morning? A breakfast story

I'd love to know what you do with your early rising toddler. (It might give me some good ideas.) But, I take mine out to breakfast several times a week followed by a trip to the park. We usually spend about 50 cents and have a great morning.

Here's one of my favorite restaurants. The brown baskets you see behind Archie are where they're steaming the pork buns.

This is my other favorite restaurant. Here's the cook making some fried long donuts. They're not sweet at all, though. It's more like fried bread.

Here are more cooks stuffing the steamed buns.

A close up of the buns:

Ummm. I guess this restaurant might be considered a little messy by some. You can see where they're preparing porridge, boiled eggs and a bunch of other stuff right by the tables. The best thing they're preparing: fresh soy bean milk. I LOVE it! There's another popular drink/soup that I believe could literally be translated "tofu brains." I'm less fond of it.

Here's a case of vegetable side dishes. On top are some "sugar pancakes" They're ok, but I'll take my fried bread and steamed buns any day.

The face of Grace

How many expressions can a two month old make in a matter of a minute? A whole bunch of really precious ones :) Below is my favorite!

Grace and the Giant Tuzi

A tuzi (rabbit) is a pretty giant creature when you're only 2 months old. Compare Archie's old tuzi pics (yesterday's post). Don't they look a lot alike? And, just like their Daddy?

9 weeks

7 weeks

Watch me as I grow: The tuzi tale

I just felt like it was time again. We measure Archie's growth by the stuffed tuzi (rabbit) we got right after he was born. It's been awhile so here we go. But, I must confess, it's actually my tuzi. The lovable creature sits on our bed all day in lieu of throw pillows we've never bothered to purchase. She's much easier to take care of than a pet.

24 months

17 months

11 months

7 weeks

Coming soon: the Grace tuzi tale

Who needs a gym?

Who needs a gym when they can do toddler bench presses? You build muscles and get a toddler giggling simultaneously. Good deal!

Talking Grace

Grace's new hobby is talking. She gets a little camera shy, though so this video is pretty short. We're not sure how we feel about having two verbal children. We weren't expecting our two month old to talk this much. (I love to hear her voice even if it is quite loud.)

I READY!

"I ready, I ready" is Archie's cry when it's time for him to fly.

HAHA! Bad poem I know, but he is cute when he says it.



In other exciting news, Archie, on his 25 month b'day, uttered his first subject-verb-object sentence. "I love Archie!" (I was hoping for a different object - maybe Mommy or Daddy, but I guess we'll take what we can get. At least it's grammatical.)

Here we go up the playground slide!

The best thing about the park by our house are all the little friends Archie has made. Some of the smaller friends are scared of his white skin (and possibly crossed-eye) and run in terror. Most treat him like any other little friend. However, a lot of the older kids are exceptionally good to their little foreign friend who's "really white" in their words - a compliment. They have successfully taught him to climb UP the playground slide so Archie sometimes forgets the usefulness of stairs. HAHA!

Sibling love!

I finally got a chance to sneak off again to my favorite place ever. It's a pizza restaurant with $2 pizzas that actually taste like - pizza. They also have really good milk tea. It's also the ONLY place that I can access my blog with a fast enough connection to do posts (especially videos) and read the posts of all my blogging buddies. I'm going to go video posting crazy and schedule a post a day until I run out of all these videos I've been posting. (Or, until Grace becomes too discontent laying on her chair-bed behind me. Archie is with Hunt.)

Random Grace pics

Grace finally got to meet Hanzhu and Lauren's baby, Rachel. Aren't they sweet?

Hanging out with Daddy:
I was going to give her a bath the other day and I got a little distracted making pictures...(Don't worry. She eventually got clean.)

Archie goes to the park!

I love photographing my boy! He wasn't too thrilled about sitting still when he knew the slide was just ahead, but this is what I was able to capture before he would start bolting toward the playground! (Yes, he was rewarded with the slide afterward.)

Leslie's never ending quest

My never ending quest is to master Photoshop (and I just have Elements - not the real deal). After receiving it for Christmas last year, it took me several weeks to work up the courage to order the Missing Manual series guide to it (love it!). Then, it took me much longer to work up the never to use the book. (I don't know why I was so scared. I used Photoshop for my job in high school all the time.) It's not that learning it is that hard, it's that there is SO SO much to learn. It also takes practice to acquire the skills of the art...I went back and doctored up some two week shots we took of Grace. Still not completely satisfied but much better...

Re-do

Original
Re-do

Original
Now for the funny one! Hunter says nobody could Photoshop Grace, Archie and me (and an extra hand) into that picture without it looking fake, but there has to be a way.) I originally just wanted a pic of my friend Christina holding Grace since I forgot to take one of her when she came over. Then, there was the problem of needing a hand to support Grace. Then, there was the problem of what to do with Christina's original hand. So, I moved Archie and me over from another part of the pic...Advice anyone?

Happy Two Months!

Grace turned 2 months about a week ago! Among her new accomplishments is thumb sucking. Yes, she can now reliably maneuver the much wanted digit into her mouth with remarkable accuracy. Good-bye pacifier! The new skill is serving her well. I heard a little peep from her room around 3 a.m. the other night. I thought "oh, no" but then there was silence. My guess is the thumb served as the great comforter. Speaking of sleep, she's doing great! Nine hours seems to be the average. I am LOVING it! Her other favorite hobby is smiling. (Fun for everyone.) She likes to be held. A lot. But, as long as she can sleep independently, I'm ok with that. I like holding her, too. If you're not holding her, she wants you to put her infant seat in the room with you just to be near you. Awwww.

Showing off her new skill:

Caught! (Once she knew I was taking pictures, she quickly stopped the thumb sucking.)

A day in the life of Archie! (Just a pic)

Birth day and Birthday presents

They FINALLY arrived. The long awaited Grace "birth day" and Archie "birthday" presents from my parents and the Grandparents DeJs. Oh, and Archie finally got his b'day present from Mommy and Daddy, too - a praise Baby DVD we had ordered from the States! A big thank you to our friends who carried everything over for us.

Archie opening his Leapfrog alphabet toy from my parents. Way cool! It teaches both letter names and sounds. Archie and I started having "school" a few weeks ago. We sit at the kitchen table and color, play Play-doh and learn. (Although, we take frequent field trips because it's easier to learn colors when wallowing in a colored ball pit than sitting at the table.) Archie identifies colors and simple shapes now. He had just gotten to the letter C before the toy arrived. I am eager to see how it helps him progress.

Grace got clothes, clothes and more clothes! Cute stuff. Thanks!

Family fun with Daddy!

I walked into a room full of laughter and this heartwarming scene the other day! Archie is surprisingly gentle with Grace. He will softly touch her face or stroke her body. I am so proud of what a good big brother he is. He also enjoys holding Grace, but this requires a lot of adult help.

Special father-daughter time: (Her jammies say, "I love Daddy")