Monthly Archives: December 2012
Lily’s 1st Christmas!
This Christmas is a very special one because it’s Lily’s first Christmas and our first as a new family!! I’ve always wanted a real Christmas tree because I never had one before. So Khoa and I made a deal awhile back, that when we have a baby, we can get a real tree! So, it’s time to cash in on that deal! We went to Home Depot and picked out this 6-7 feet Noble Fir beauty! We got brand new Philips LED Twinkling lights, (it was a big 
search to find then since there were sold out in 3 different Targets!), a Martha Stewart snowflake string lights we got on sale after Christmas last year, and bought new colorful ornaments and a bright changing color star tree topper! We decorated the tree with all our past ornaments as well. We originally had the tree where we normally keep our fake tree, right by the couch, but since this is our special first real tree, I didn’t want it to be stuffed in the corner, I wanted it to BREATHE and be free to show off it’s beauty, so I got the idea to move the love seat to the dinner area, and put the tree in it’s place! Now everyone can truly enjoy it! Lily loves to look at all the pretty bright twinkling lights as well. She’ll stare with a huge smile on her face and bat at the tree!
We started out festivities the night before Christmas Eve by letting Lily open her very first Christmas present from her mommy and daddy! You can see the video of her opening her gift below! Lily did really well and I was able to help her open her gift, and she pretty much did exactly what we all thought she’d do, which is put the wrapping paper in her mouth haha! We got her a floor mirror toy with a textured caterpillar and bee on it for her to play with! She seems to like it, so yay! We also got her a Bright Start Clack and Slide activity ball and a little froggie security blanket!
The next morning, Jennifer took our family pictures at the George Washington Park just a few minutes away from our house in Anaheim. It started to lightly sprinkle a little bit, but she managed to capture a lot of great shots for us within 20ish minutes, and then it started pouring! Such great timing we were able to get those photos done!! I was then able to use these photos for our Christmas digital card! For more pictures from the photoshoot, click HERE!
We went to our usual Christmas Eve mass at St. George’s Catholic Church in Ontario, and then went back to Fontana to my uncle’s house to eat dinner and open presents! My parents made Bun Bo Xao and my aunt made Bun Bo Hue!! Such yummy foods; it was very satisfying! They also made a green bean and aloe dessert! Yummies galore! We then gathered around and opened presents, and the tradition is always youngest opens first! This year, Lily and her cousin Tracy got to open their presents first since they are the babies of the family! The evening was filled with lots of fun and we all enjoyed laughing at each others silly gifts. I think the winning gift this year was the back scratchers our cousin Tiffany got everyone! However, the most fun gift were these flying led toys that Andrew got my dad from Garden walk! They were a big hit and we all played with them outside. My dad was a natural pro with this toy! We then headed back home and I made winter macarons (vanilla penguins and snowman, and chocolate gingerbread men, click HERE for more info on them!) and then we played some card games (Dutch Blitz and Sabatuer) with Jennifer and Andrew.
The next morning, we said our goodbyes to Jennifer and Andrew =(. My parents came and took them to the airport at LAX. We got ready and headed over to Chi Hai’s new house in Portola Springs and did our annual Secret Santa Exchange!! Chi Hai and Anh Hai Mike made some REALLY good spam bowls, so we all gobbled that up and then had the secret santa exchange! I drew Chi Ba, and since Thai Anh wrote her a poem last year, she was expecting another poem this year in iambic form…so I tried REALLY hard to come up with a poem, so I wrote one about her new precious baby Connor! Khoa just had to show me up though and say this whole long winded touching speech about Anh Hai Mike and totally stole my thunder. Thanks a lot Khoa! Haha. Either way it was loads of fun! We then ended the festivities by singing 12 Days of Christmas, each having a verse while Chi Tu played the accordion!! We were short on people so An had to sing verse 9-12 haha! What a good sport! After this, we went to Di Anh’s house to visit Ong Ba Ngoai since they wouldn’t be there later tonight. 
Then we went to Khoa’s parents house to eat dinner with the family. His parents grilled Omaha Steaks, baked potatoes, corn, and mashed potatoes. There was also yummy chocolate cake too! After dinner they all came to our house to open presents, since we have a Christmas tree and it’s more festive. I also made some homemade apple cider for all of us to sip on as well! Lily is so cute during all of this, she tried so hard to stay awake, and be with the party, but she pooped out and we made her nap. When she wakes up, she always has a smile on her face and ready to party some more! That night we ended the whole celebration at Di Anh’s house and celebrated with the family there. We are so blessed to have so many people who love and care about us and Lily. It’s tiring to do so many things for just one holiday, but we are so lucky and grateful that we have all these events to go to in the first place! Hopefully next year, we’ll be able to have time to squeeze in our own traditions as well. For now, we have all the way until new years to have our little intimate family quality time, so we will make every moment special! Click HERE to see our Christmas Album!
Lily’s auntie Jennifer surprised us with this super sweet video of Lily’s 1st Christmas! It’s so wonderful to see Lily’s face in all these shots and just see her personality coming through. Thank you so much Jennifer for capturing these special moments that we will cherish forever! I can’t wait to show Lily this one day! Enjoy and Merry Christmas everyone!
Lily’s 1st Christmas from J.N. on Vimeo.
Lily’s 1st Disneyland Adventure
This is Lily’s first time at Disneyland, at 27 weeks and 1 day old, and we purposely chose to go during Christmas time because that is my favorite time to go! We dressed her up in a Minnie Mouse outfit that our cousin Lennie gave her! It came with a matching beanie and shoes, so cute!
We took her in the morning for just about 1.5 hours, and she fell asleep RIGHT AS we got inside Disneyland, so we just walked around ToonTown, maybe for 30 mins until she woke up. We wanted to go into Minnie Mouse’s house and have her take a picture with Minnie Mouse, but she was still sleeping and the wait was too long. When she did wake up, we took a few photos of Lily in front of the castle, It’s A Small World, etc., and then went to lunch. Her trip was very short, but while she was awake, she seemed to like observing all these new things. We let her see the tea cup rides because of all the colors! Khoa and I came back later to enjoy Disneyland while Lily was with her grandparents! =) I say it’s a win win situation for everybody. Lily got to see some new things today, her grandparents gets to play with her, and Khoa and I got to FINALLY see Cars Land!! The whole time we were there, Khoa and I kept pointing things out “Oh imagine when Lily gets to ride on that…I can’t wait till Lily’s running around waiting to see this… Lily will totally love that!” I can’t wait to take Lily back her when she’s older and can remember and truly get excited about the whole experience! Until then, we have this nice photo for the memories! For more pictures, click HERE!
Lily’s on a Roll!
Last night, Lily (6 months and 3 days old) rolled over both ways for the first time (that we know of). Khoa was putting her down in her crib for the night, and lately she’s been rolling onto her belly cause she seems to like it there more. So he was waiting for her to fall asleep so that he can turn her back, but next thing you know, she rolled back all on her own!! I was downstairs at the time so I missed it, but I turned on the baby monitor and watched intently at the screen willing her to do it again! So after 5 minutes, she rolled back to her belly, and then another minute or so later, she rolled back onto her back! What a good girl!! She didn’t seem to struggle much either, so I wonder if she’s been doing this and we haven’t noticed? Regardless, it’s still very exciting to witness this new development! Finally, 2 days later, I am so happy I’m able to capture this on video, when it’s still a relatively new development of hers! =) Go Lily!
Lily and Peas!
Lily (6 months and 3 days old) ate peas for the first time last night, and this is her 2nd kind of “solids”! She actually seems to be ok with them and she’s starting to be an eating pro! She’s better than me, I don’t like peas that much haha! We’re so proud of our little lily pad! Bon appetit Lily!!
Watch out Rudolph, there’s a new reindeer in town!
Happy 6 Months Lily!
Happy 6 months Lily! I cannot believe half a year has already gone by!! We had Lily’s 6 month check up yesterday as well, and she weighs 15.6 pounds, she’s 25 inches long, and her head measures 16.5 inches in circumference! Her pediatrician said she’s a very healthy and strong baby, and knows exactly where to grow since she was in the 50th percentile in all areas haha! She got two shots, and she was super brave and good! She didn’t make a peep with the first shot, but then 2 seconds after the second one, she let out a short cry and once I picked her up, she stopped! She’s so good! She eats 6 fl. oz. in every meal except once a day we give her 7fl oz. We started giving her solids 2 weeks ago, so she’s been eating about 1 oz of that a day as well. She is still sleeping through the night, about 10-12 hours at night. She is able to sit by herself a lot longer now, but sometimes she’s still wobbly so she cannot sit unsupervised. She’s still very strong and just the other day we moved her up 1 level on the jumper! She’s growing so fast, and her personality is slowly coming out more and more each day. She’s so cute, lovable and fun, we are both in so much love with this little angel. Happy 6 months Lily!!!
Our 1st Family Vacation
We went on our first little vacation with Lily this past weekend at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes! I got a deal on travelzoo a couple months ago because we heard about this nice resort from our friend Kelsey who went there three years ago! When we first arrived at the resort, we were greeted with complimentary champagne talk about fancy! Of course, I took one and gave it to Khoa, the perks he gets for marrying me =P. Our room was really nice and spacious, with a nice balcony with an ocean view! 
There was lots of room for us to put her adventure gym and toys to make Lily feel right at home! We forgot her pack n play at home, but luckily there was a love seat with firm seats, that we used as her bed, and faced it against the wall and it was a perfect “crib” for her. We had dinner that night at Bashi, an Asian Fushion Restaurant! We ordered the shaken beef, garlic noodles, and BBQ spare ribs. I also got a coconut soda while Khoa got a “perfect pear” cocktail drink. We then got a milk chocolate banana tart, soooo yummy!
The next day we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast at the Catalina Kitchen. We then decided to go to the shopping center nearby. At first, Khoa “followed the directions” and we ended up at a Ralphs, and he insisted that was the shopping center…I told him to look up the directions again, and 5 minutes later we arrived at the REAL shopping center! It was sprinkling on and off that day and it was rather foggy, so I wasn’t pleased when the mall ended up being an outdoor mall, but it’s ok, we got to browse some stores and take a picture in front of a giant Christmas tree, we’re such tourists haha. After our stroll, we went exploring the little shops at the actual resort and we came across this store called Marea, and they had a really cute kid section. They had the cutest baby girl headbands, so I couldn’t resist and bought Lily 2 headbands, one which she will wear on her 1st birthday =P. They were a little expensive…but it’s all worth it for my little princess!!
Later that day the fog cleared up and the rained stopped so we rushed outside to see the sunset! It was an amazing view and Lily just woke up from her nap too so timing could not have been any better! We wanted to hike to the Vincente Lighthouse that was maybe 1-2 miles away, but we wouldn’t have made it before it got dark, so we just enjoyed the sunset and the amazing ocean view. We then went to dinner at Mar’cel, a fancy restaurant at the resort. They had really yummy food as well and the service was really nice as expected! Everywhere we go, everyone just had to stop and look at Lily, she’s such a show stopper haha. She sat in the little booster chair too and really enjoyed being at the table with mommy and daddy! But before our food came out, she got sleepy and spent the rest of dinner sleeping cozy in her stroller. That night we relaxed by watching a bunch of food network in our hotel room. 
It was nice and relaxing, and since we don’t have cable, I really enjoyed watching all the food shows I was missing out on, and I saw some new shows I never even heard of, like Sugar Dome and Sugar Genuis haha! However, the downfall of watching food shows late at night is that it makes me hungry…so Khoa went and got me a Truffle Mac N Cheese from Catalina Kitchen! It was so satisfying!!! Lily still was able to sleep through the night with ease, it was nice to hear her snore now and then. Since she sleeps in her own nursery, I don’t get that pleasure every night, so it was really a nice memory to have.
The next morning, Lily was being a little stubborn and didn’t want to drink her bottle but wanted to watch the food network instead. What a little couch potato! Haha! She’s so cute though, I must not fall into that habit, but how can you possibly say no to that face! After she finally drank her bottle, we enjoyed a yummy complimentary breakfast buffet at the Catalina Kitchen again. Since the rain stopped for a little bit and the fog cleared up some more, we decided to have breakfast in their patio with the ocean beside us! It was a nice day, cloudy, but still very nice! After breakfast, we checked out of our room and took a stroll along the ocean. We then drove to the Vista Point by the Vicente Lighthouse. We got some nice pictures to conclude our stay at Terranea Resort! For more pictures from our Terranea getaway, click HERE!
On the way home, we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach! Boeing had a sponsored event where all their employees get to go for free and bring a guest, so Khoa and I went, and Lily is free of course! She was so curious at everything and was really alert and observant! The aquarium had some Hawaiian dancers putting on a little show for everyone, and Lily was very intrigued by the dancing and the music as well! She loved looking at all these new things she’s never seen before! Finally after about an hour and a half later, she was getting tired yet she still tried really hard to look around, but she finally she started to doze off in my arms. That concluded the end of our wonderful vacation! We got so many great memories, I can’t wait till our next adventures! For more pictures from the aquarium, click HERE!
“Whoa…is it gonna eat me?” – Lily
Lily and “ma”!
Lily (25 weeks and 2 days old) uttered the word “ma” last night for the first time! I was changing her diaper and changing her into her pajamas when she clearly said “ma”! My first reaction was “that’s a new one! good job lily!” Then quickly after, I was like “wait.. she just said MA!” and I was super ecstatic!! I called Khoa up and she said it two more times, he was my witness!! At first he said “ma” isn’t a word, but according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, it is a word and it means mother! Also, word or not, it’s still quite an achievement and rewards a happy dance!! Right now she’s at an age where she starts to learn to mimic sounds and words she hears, and before this she would mumble a lot and say “umm” and “ahhh” a lot. This time, she pressed her lips firmly and had a very clear “em” sound and kept making her lips like that as well, like she wanted to keep saying it more! I’m sure she doesn’t know what she’s saying, but either way, it’s still very exciting for me and it’s amazing to see her grow and develop! It’s the tiny little things in life that fills up our world right now, and we cannot be more grateful for our Lily and how much joy she brings us! Until next time!
