L'Shanah Tovah! (Happy New Year!)

This weekend was Khai's first Rosh Hashanah. I took him to synagogue for the first hour of the holiday and he did very well. Perhaps next year he'll be able to stay for the second hour. On Rosh Hashanah, we attend services almost all day. Despite the fact that it is the New Year, it is not analogous to the New Year's celebration that happens in January. In fact, Rosh Hashanah is the holiest day of the entire year. It is a time to think inwardly about changes we would like to make within ourselves, and a time to really ponder G-d's sovereignty.

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Things have been so busy in my world lately. I'm teaching Kindergarten part-time this fall, and although I have to admit that I adore my class, missing Khai sometimes overwhelms me. When I come home I just want to hold him and not put him down. This past week was my first week, so I'm hoping I'll start to feel a bit better and more comfortable as the weeks go by. I treasure the days I get to stay home with him in a way I didn't when I was home with him every day.

And Khai is doing great! He's almost walking! He holds onto the sofa and walks, and he's even taken a few steps unassisted. He also waves "bye-bye" now, which is adorable. He opens and closes his hand as he holds his arm high in the air.

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I'll try not to be such a negligent blogger! I hope everyone out there is doing very well!

Another Meme

I saw this around the blog-o-sphere and figured I'd give it a go.

Three names I go by:
1. Sam
2. Sammy
3. Samantha

Three jobs I’ve had in my life:
1. Nanny
2. Waitress (Never again! That work is SO hard! And as a result of working so hard for tips, I always overtip when I go out to eat.)
3. Teacher

Three places I’ve lived:
1. San Francisco
2. Austin
3. Brooklyn

Three favorite drinks:
1. Water (My number one favorite! Can you believe how boring I am??)
2. Orange juice (I require a glass of o.j. when I wake up every morning.)
3. Earl Grey tea (After my o.j. I have to have a big mug of Earl Grey. My day is ruined if I can't have my morning tea!)

Three television shows I watch:
1. The Office
2. Family Guy (God, I know! I'm so immature! I'm so embarrassed! But my goodness, that show makes me laugh! I'm sorry!!)
3. The View (Every morning!)

Three of my favorite foods:
1. Pasta (My all-time favorite comfort food.)
2. Pad thai
3. Spring rolls

Three of my favorite restaurants:
1. The Thai place in my town
2. Guerro's (It's the most delicious Mexican food in Austin!)
3. The Vietnamese place in my town

Three things I couldn’t live without:
1. a toothbrush ( I brush after every meal and really dislike when I'm unable to do so)
2. A computer (I wish this wasn't true)
3. Books

Three things I can’t stand:
1. When people drive on the side of the road to get around traffic and then try to merge back in. (God, don't they know they're making it worse for everyone!!!!! It's so selfish!)
2. Toe rings (If you wear one, I am so sorry and I'm sure it looks lovely on you. But something about them just creeps me out.)
3. When Nghia kicks his shoes off in the middle of the living room and leaves them there. (Because just who in the heck does he think is going to put them away??)

Three things I’m decent at:
1. Teaching
2. Organizing
3. Decorating

Three things I’m looking forward to this weekend:
1. The county fair!
2. Eating junk food (At the county fair!)
3. A goodbye party for a neighbor who is leaving for college--a very sweet kid who we will miss in the neighborhood.

Three things I’m addicted to:
1. Reading (I stay up way too late every night reading in bed. It's one of my favorite things to do.)
2. The computer ( And I really do feel terrible about this. I think about just shutting it off for a week sometimes, but then I panic.)
3. Kissing my sweet little baby boy.

Happy to be home...

Khai and I returned from our trip to California a few days ago and I've been trying to relax and recover ever since.

In other words, it was exhausting. It was fun, but it was so tiring to be the solo parent for 7 full days. We stayed with family in their lovely house that is not baby-proofed. Until you have kids, it is just impossible to imagine how exhausting it is to watch a crawling, curious baby in a house full of choking hazards and beautiful objects that are right at his level. I couldn't take my eyes off him for a second for fear he'd pop a tiny object into his mouth or yank an antique off a shelf.



Plus, he slept horribly since we were in an unfamiliar place. He woke up every night many times, and because of the time change he was ready to start the day at 4am. He'd go down for his first nap around 7am, and I'd just go back to sleep with him.

Other than his sleeping being all out of wack, Khai really did an amazing job on this trip. He was perfect on both flights, and he was so sweet and social meeting new people. He'd smile and wave at everyone who said hi to him. He also cut his first tooth on the trip!

There were definitely good parts of the trip and it was fun to be in LA, but now that we're home, I'm ready for a vacation.

A Conversation With Khai

Me: "Khai, can you say Mama?"

Khai: "Dada."

Me: "Can you say Mama? Mmmmaaaaa-Mmmmmaaaaa..."

Khai: ................"Da Da!"

Me: "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaa-Mmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

Khai: "Mmmmm........ Da Da!!!!"

Me: "Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma mmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Khai: "Da Da!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Me: "You win."

Diane's Meme

Diane created this meme and I thought I'd give it a try. Here goes...


1.] How come I can never find: time to organize my desk drawers. They are seriously in need of some organizing. I mean seriously! I have papers from grad school, photographs, letters, important documents, not-so-important documents, and God knows what else in there. I really need a few solid hours to empty them out and sort through everything.

2.] I wish I'd never started: You know, I really cannot figure out how to answer this one. If I start something that makes me unhappy, I usually try to figure out how I can stop doing whatever it is. I really don't have anything that I can think of that I wish I had never started. I'm sitting here trying to think of something, but nothing is coming to mind.

3.] I wonder why: there are so many meanies out there. I really do wonder. I'm not talking about murderers or anything like that. Just those people who don't extend grace, the ones who walk around judging everyone and hurting people's feelings. Why do they do that?

4.] Mama always told me: to think of others first. When you help another, you are helping yourself. (Although since I'm from NY, I don't call her Mama. We say Mom around here. LOL)

5.] There's this one thing in my closet that I just can't seem to get rid of: It's a pair of pajama pants that I wore when I was ELEVEN YEARS OLD! They have small pink elephants on them and they are just the cutest thing ever. I can't throw them away. I just can't. They've moved with me every single time I have moved. The elastic is all worn, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you that they haven't fit me in over 20 years. But still, they're just so cute and I love them and I'm sure someday I will find a use for them. Right? There's gotta be something to do with an old pair of pajama pants.

6.] My favorite guilty pleasure is: After dinner I love to go into my office and read blogs and eat Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. It's a sacred nighttime ritual. (And I'm not talking about a package of peanut butter cups that contains two regular cups. I'm talking about one of those bags of fun-size cups. I sit and read and munch, munch, munch...

Then I feel sick. Then I do it again the next night.

7.] I always forget to: listen to my voicemail. It's a problem. Days and days go by and I suddenly remember that I have a phone and people call me sometimes. So I go check and I have about a million messages. Then I get all overwhelmed and frantic trying to call eveyone back. Then I forget to check my messages all over again.

8.] I have never: eaten sushi. I mean real sushi. I've had veggie rolls a few times. But the raw fish variety, I have never had. And I never will. YUCK!! I wouldn't eat it for money and I know this makes me very unsophisticated. I'm okay with that.

9.] I'm obsessed with: The View. I really am. I record it on the DVR and every morning when I wake up (early!!) with Khai, I watch the previous day's episode while Khai plays with his toys on the living room rug. It's a very important part of my morning ritual. (And there's one co-host that I CANNOT stand!! Absolutely cannot stand to hear a single word she says! Who could it be.....LOL)

10.] One of my favorite memories is: a trip my father and I took to Russia. It was just the two of us and we had a wonderful time, going to museums and palaces, going to the Opera, walking through different towns, eating exotic food, and just hanging out together. I remember a lot of laughing on that trip. I was 21 years old and had no idea that only 4 years later my dad would die suddenly. I am so thankful we got to take that trip together.

California here I come...

It's true. Khai and I are going to California! Just the two of us. Here's how it happened:

Nghia has a bunch of miles saved up because he traveled a lot for work last year before he was laid off. He can't really go on a vacation this summer because he can't take the time off, and we also can't really afford it since we're still catching up financially from when he was out of work. Really, we couldn't afford for me to go anywhere either, but with those saved-up miles I was able to get a plane ticket for free! I have family in L.A. that I am very close with and haven't seen in a very long time. When I was a kid I'd spend summers in LA with family, but I haven't been back in years. So I'm excited to hang out in that city again, and I'm very excited to see my aunt, uncle, and cousins.


But like I said, I'll be going alone with Khai! What in the world is it going to be like to be the solo parent for an entire week?! What is the flight going to be like? Is Khai going to wake up ready for the day at 3am because of the time difference? My aunt is so excited to meet Khai for the first time and I know she'll love playing with him, but I'm not sure it will be the kind of situation where I can hand Khai to her for a few hours so I can go take a nap.



So I'm excited and I'm nervous. And I'm calling all moms out there! What suggestions do you have for me? I'll take all the advice I can get. Plane advice, travel advice, jet-lag advice, any old advice you feel like you have to give, I'll take it! :-)

Oh, and by the way, Khai is crawling now! It's a completely different world around here now. But oh so fun. Sometimes I really can't believe I get to be his mom.

Travel

Well, you all are a supportive bunch, aren't you? I really appreciated all your kind words on my last post.

Have I ever mentioned that I love to travel? I think it's in my blood. My parents were world travelers throughout the early part of their marriage before they had kids. (They were married for 14 years before having my sister!) They put off having children for so long because they were so busy traveling. Six years after my sister was born, I arrived. My mom's travel had slowed down considerably by then, but my dad continued to go on trips a couple of times a year. His favorite way to travel was to venture off to remote parts of the world--places that hadn't been touched by western civilization. Both of my parents prioritized travel and education above all else. This means that we lived very modestly so that we would be able to travel. Because they placed such importance on travel, they sacrificed in other areas so that it would be feasible.

Therefore, I've been able to go to some places. In no particular order, here they are:

Canada
Mexico
Spain
France
Germany
Austria
Holland
Finland
Belgium
Russia
China
Japan

I think these are all the countries outside of the US that I've been able to see. Within the US I've been to every state, including Alaska and Puerto Rico, except for Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, and Idaho. I really want to take a family trip to that part of the US. Also, when our kid(s) are older Nghia and I want to take a family trip to Vietnam. He's been there a number of times (he was also born there), but I've never been and would love to see it. He still has a lot of family there, so I think it would be a good trip to take. Plus, I want Khai to understand and feel close to that part of his heritage.

Being from New York, I often tell people that I experienced greater culture shock in the southern United States than I did in China! I knew China would be different. I had no idea how different Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, and Georgia would be! It literally blew my mind to see those states! And it definitely made me realize how diverse our country is. Seriously, there are SO MANY different kinds of people living within our borders.

I think this is ultimately a very good thing.