Josie Kaye

Thanks for visiting ...

2011-07-08T01:21:00.002-04:00

For those of you who've been expecting a new post, well, here it is. This is going to be the last entry ever here as I've officially decided to retire this blog ...

and replace it with a new one! Click on Ralph to check it out. Don't forget to update your bookmarks!

Manual URL -> http://laughoutlau.blogspot.com

Just like her Baba ...

2011-07-01T14:58:00.005-04:00

She's a natural when it comes to sleeping.

Jordin spends most of her day growing out those eyebrows. Can't you tell?

Going home

2011-06-09T11:41:00.006-04:00

Last night was a bit trying, but no where near how the first night was with Josie. I took Josie home after dinner to get her settled in for the night. I gave her a bath, we played, and tried to get her to go to sleep. She was initially very resistant to leaving the hospital; she doesn't realize why Mama and baby Jordin couldn't come home with us. With a bit of distraction and Baba charm, I was able to sidestep that topic until lights out. That's when she brought it all up again asking to see Mama and mui mui. After a while I left her on her own fully expecting for a blow up. But I waited and eventually she fell asleep. I got a shower, did some laundry, and headed back to the hospital. Mimi was staying over again and as it turns out, Josie woke up shortly after my departure. I haven't gotten the full scoop, but they didn't have a very good night either.

When I got back to the hospital, little Jordin was nursing again. Mama was super tired and just wanted to go to sleep. The next couple of hours consisted of holding the tiny tot, listening to her cry, and trying to nurse some more. It was clear that she was hungry and simply wasn't getting enough. We've concluded that we have yet another impatient sassy pants (sound familiar?) on our hands. When she's hungry, she wants to eat immediately, and she wants to be full right away. She does NOT want to have to work for her food.

We were completely drained from the night before and it was clear that no one was going to get any rest at this rate. We called in the nurse and decided to get her some formula. In the end, that did the trick. She drank some and eventually calmed down enough to sleep until morning. She's been nursing quite a bit since she woke up and it's going relatively well. We're hitting some rough patches due to Ms. Instant Gratification, but the lactation specialist showed up a few pointers to help move things along. Overall, I think we've already made more progress in the past day than we did the entire time trying to breastfeed Josie.

We're heading out here shortly after lunch. Everything has checked out and we've been cleared for discharge. We decided to go home early because this is really hard on our little Josie and we know that being home will get her back in the swing of things.

I'm so proud of my strong and beautiful wife. I'm honored to call her my mine and we're so blessed to have created such an incredible family. What she's gone through mentally and physically in the past 36 hours is truly amazing. She hadn't slept in over 24 hours and still tended to baby Jordin's every need the very moment she arrived. It just goes to show that although Baba's are great and all for quite a lot of different reasons, we'd truly be nothing without our Mama's.

Eyes open for a change

Nothing like a Mother's love

Quiet afternoon

2011-06-08T17:43:00.005-04:00

Other than the nurses checking in on us, there hasn't been a whole lot of traffic in and out of our room. It's quite a welcome change compared to how the day went the last time we did this. I got to sneak in another nap, and so did little miss Jordin. She's still eating well and sleeping like a rock. Josie got to meet her little sister for the first time as soon as she got out of school. Mimi and Pappy brought her over and Josie was so excited to meet her. Josie was immediately concerned with every little thing that was going on with her little sister. She wants to help with every aspect and is naturally fulfilling her role as big sister.

Getting some shut eye

My 3 JKL's

Hanging out

2011-06-08T12:26:00.001-04:00

Rested ... for now

2011-06-08T11:13:00.007-04:00

P.S. - Jordin Kaye Lau is the name that we settled on.

I'm not gonna lie ... after breakfast I passed out. We moved over to maternity and things finally quieted down. They took Jordin to get her washed up and to monitor her temperature. She was a bit on the chilly side so it was a good while before they brought her back to us. When I woke up Mama and Jordin were all snuggled and getting their bonding on. I took over for a little bit while Mama went to freshen up. I had completely forgotten what it's like to be able to hold a child with just one arm. 7 pounds literally feels like nothing when you're used to carrying around 30 day after day. She's an amazing little thing; a head full of hair and a plethora of facial expressions.

They woke her up shortly after to take her temperature and she measured just fine. If it starts to drop then they'll have to take her back to the nursery to warm her up, but I don't think that's going to have to happen. It was also time to eat and man, does this little girl like to eat. She's so eager and we're just thrilled to see how well she's taking to breastfeeding.

Yawny yawnerson

Ready to eat!

Check out that wig!!!

7 pounds 2.8 ounces

2011-06-08T06:31:00.005-04:00

Arriving at 5:40 AM, weighing in at 7 pounds 2.8 ounces and measuring in at 18 inches, we're proud to present our brand new baby girl. Her name has yet to be determined, but we'll figure that out momentarily. Both Mama and baby are doing great. The breastfeeding is going really well. She latched on right away and has been feeding for the past 20 minutes straight. We are both shocked at how easy that was especially after all the trials and tribulations we endured during Josie's tenure with breastfeeding.

She has a ton of hair but and has been crying quite a bit but everything has checked out normally. She has already figured out how to pout so I'm guessing we're going to be in for a real treat. As I'm going through these pictures I'm amazed at the similarities between her and her big sister. They definitely have the same facial features ... especially the nose!

Josie Kaye Lau

Jordin Kaye Lau

After she's done eating we're gonna get Mama some breakfast and rest up. Baby Lau will get a bath and we'll be reunited shortly after. Check back for more pics and updates!

Little eyes

Funny face

Here we go again!

2011-06-08T01:03:00.008-04:00

P.S. - It's 1:43 AM and we've officially been admitted.

P.P.S - It's 4:55 AM ... just woke up from some shut eye. We thought her water broke but the nurse thinks it only partially ruptured.

It's 1:03 AM - 6/8/2011. We just got admitted to labor & delivery (for monitoring) here at the hospital about an hour ago. It appears our little one has decided that it's just about that time. Mama started experiencing heavy duty lower abdomanal pains starting at around 10:00 PM. As soon as I saw that initial contraction, which was nothing like the ones she's been having, I knew it was time. We got our stuff together while we waited for the doctor to call back. Once we got word to mobilize we loaded up and took off. Mimi came over to spend the night and will have to deal with our Josie monster in the morning. I can't wait to hear about how that's going to go.

It's hard to believe that just 12 hours ago, we were left wondering whether or not she was going to have to be induced. We just had an ultrasound this morning which checked out great. They told us that the amniotic fluid levels were good and that everything was looking normal. The non-stress tested that followed yielded nothing that was to be of any concern. They sent us away waiting for something to happen. And now, something's happened. Whether or not this is the real deal we'll find out shortly. But it's amazing how quickly things can change in a matter of hours. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

Speaking of how quickly things change:

Country Girl, Shake it for Me!

2011-05-24T11:02:00.006-04:00

Josie loves riding in the car with her Baba ... nothing better than a mouth full of Skittles and a fun country song! In less than two weeks this dancing diva will be a BIG SISTER! :-)

Click here to view this video on YouTube.

And there's also the giant blue slushies ... this stuff doesn't happen when Mama's around!

Circle Time

2011-04-06T23:42:00.005-04:00

Usually when we ask Ms. Sassypants about her day, we're greeted with a wide range of responses. While some are straight forward and to be expected, there are times when we have to take a few minutes to process what it is she's trying to tell us. Her signature move is to throw in some random memory about something that happened months ago during the middle of a conversation. More recently though she has made us aware of Circle Time and how much she enjoys it. According to our sources we found out that she actually took over the class and ran Circle Time on her own the other day, making everyone sit in a circle, picking out the story, and handed out the snacks. It isn't clear whether or not she read the entire story to the class on her own, but I'm going to guess she had help with that part.

And the other night, we had our own Circle Time. Check it out. I dare you to tell me it's not freaking adorable.

While this is only a small glimpse into her munchkin sized world, it is reassuring to see that she's really enjoying school; so much so that she's emulating one of her favorite activities with us at home. Props to Mama for getting her into this fine institution, and to those that continually teach her day in and day out.

Who's more Chinese?

2011-03-24T21:44:00.002-04:00

I sure can't tell ... how about you?

Swimmy Time!

2011-02-25T11:55:00.007-05:00

Josie is gearing up for swim season! She and her Baba began swim lessons on Monday and they both had a great time. I had no desire to purchase a maternity suit for this occasion so I'm watching from the sidelines and in charge of taking pictures/video. Notice that Mama's pictures are taken with an iPhone and not Baba's fancy camera (I would certainly drop it in the water!). Check out our little mermaid!

Playing in the snow

2011-02-03T10:25:00.006-05:00

It's official ... snow does NOT make her any less Chinese.

Baba: Hey JKL, what are you going to do with that snow?

JKL: eeet it.
Baba: Is it good?

JKL: yea.
Baba: RLY?
JKL: YEA!

Baba: ORLY?
JKL: .... no

Yut Yee Som

2010-09-10T09:23:00.006-04:00

So you thought Josie saying her ABC's was the cutest thing you've ever seen in your entire life?? Well get a load of this one. Oh yea ... you'll need to understand Chinese to fully appreciate it =D

Edit: For those who don't speak Chinese (I mean who doesn't speak Chinese these days?) here's what she's saying:

Josie is counting from 1 to 10.

1 Yut
2 Yee
3 Som
4 Say
5 Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm (our favorite)
6 Look
7 Chut
8 Bot
9 Gao
10 Sup

And here's a few from our fashion show this morning. Our mini Redskinette was sporting her new 'Skins gear to show her support for our boys for our upcoming opener Sunday night. For those who don't know, I've made it mandatory that she sports 'Skins attire to school each and every Friday during the entire Football season. Enjoy!

Elma ... PEE!

2010-08-26T00:29:00.002-04:00

What's elma pee? Well, you'll just have to check out the video and find out for yourself! P.S. This will probably be the cutest thing that you've ever seen in your entire life. If it's not, let me know and I'll be sure to give you all your money back.

Loved the video? Want more? You got it. I'll be putting lots of videos to help fill the void in between picture updates now that we're all iPhone'd out here at the Lau's.

Shoot, upload, and embed. Isn't technology awesome?

Oh noes!

2010-07-15T16:18:00.004-04:00

Josie's reaction to me telling her that her blog hasn't been updated in a while.

Then I told her she could eat ice cream ... and everything was right again.

Happy Birthday Ye Ye!

2010-07-02T17:22:00.001-04:00

May all your birthday wishes be short, cute, and half Chinese!

Little farmer girl

2010-06-18T14:22:00.001-04:00

Totally fell in love with this picture right away. For those wondering, we were out doing our photoshoot for the 2010 Corn Roast invite!

Memorial Day Weekend Wrap Up

2010-06-15T22:01:00.004-04:00

Going to keep this short and sweet because let's face it, you're just here for the pictures anyways. Here are the ones from Saturday. We went down after lunch and headed over to my brother's house to spend some time with them and the baby. They bought Josie a Tickle Me Elmo which she fell in love with right away. Bella was asleep most of the time but I did get one of her bright eyed and bushy tailed. We head out right before dinner to go to Jeff & Libby's for Jeff's birthday party. It was hot and sticky but a ton of fun. There was a ton of food, a bouncy house, and a whole slew of other activities. Seriously a great time had by all.

New ELMO!

*** SMOOCH ***

Nom Nom Nom

More noms

Precious sleepy Bella.

Awwww ...

And back to sleep.

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Serious Bryce is serious.

Weeeeeee!

His expression is priceless.

This guy knows how to party.

Bubbles!

More bubbles!

She hasn't quite grasped the concept of the watergun yet.

Winding down with a snack.

The Floating Zoo

2010-06-01T23:06:00.005-04:00

Check out these pictures from last Thursday night's open house at Josie's daycare. We knew that they had been cooking up something just for this occassion but we didn't have a clue as to what it was going to be. Well her class, "The Floating Zoo," along with all the other classes put on quite a show for everyone. There was singing and dancing and counting and we were very impressed at how well they all followed directions. No one freaked out about being on stage in front of a fairly large crowd; they just did their thing and gazed into the audience. It was quite a production considering the amount of kids involved but it went off without a hitch. The teachers obviously put a lot of time and effort into it all and it certainly paid off.

We did get some video of the performance but I'm not sure how watchable it'll be. I might throw it up once I go through it and do some editing.

Trampoline!

2010-05-28T17:31:00.004-04:00

We spent some time over at Brent & Kelly's the other day and got to play on their trampoline. Josie loves to bounce and she had such a good time being thrown around inside like clothes in a dryer.

Hmmmmmm, must figure out a way to bounce AND eat at the same time.

And then we got some Addy hugs ...

And Addy kisses ...

Check out the new Elmo shirt! Got it at Sesame Street Place. You don't want to know how much it cost.

SESAME STREET!!!

2010-05-25T09:17:00.016-04:00

Ok so it wasn't epic like how I had imagined it should have been. Josie didn't bust out of her stroller like a crazy person and touch everything in sight. But it was still a very very fun day to say the least. Our little munchkin behaved so well and it was clear that she still had a great time. She wasn't too sure about the life sized Cookie Monster that we saw, but then again, we weren't all that suprised at her reaction. The park wasn't very big but it was big enough to keep us busy. Any bigger and I don't think we would have been able to do everything that we wanted to.

It was fairly packed that day but the wait for stuff wasn't too terrible. Of course, little miss instant gratification made it seem like it was the end of the world everytime she had to wait in line for anything. But she did her best being patient and got to do every attraction that she wanted. I was disappointed though at the lack of Sesame Street characters out roaming around the park. Other than a brief sighting of Cookie Monster upon our initial entry, I saw no other signs of giant furry characters out for public interaction/enjoyment for the remainder of the day. There was a spot where you could go to get your picture taken with Elmo & Big Bird, but it was very systematic and impersonal. The only other time we even saw Elmo was in a theater for his live Elmo show. The closest we came to him was when he passed us going up and down the isle. I really would have loved to see Josie's reaction had we randomly encountered Elmo out in the park somewhere. The pictures on the website lead me to believe that it would have been possible. Maybe next time.

Get your wallets ready!

Getting lubed for the unforgiving sun.

Cookie Monster!

Not impressed.

Giant net tunnel climbing thing.

Seemed exciting at first, but her little feet kept going through the net.

So we sat.

This was her favorite. It was a huge inflatable bouncy playground.

Check out that toosh noosh.

And then we moved some blocks around.

Which is very tiring work.

That thing went up really high, but Josie loved it.

Elmo Live!

Lunch time. For everyone. In the entire park. At the same time.

Finally scored a table and it was chow time.

She ate quite well actually.

The mac & cheese sucked and was expensive, but hey check out this awesome Elmo plate that it came in!

Big girl held on all by herself the entire time.

The water park.

Oh hay giant bucket and other water excreting contraptions.

I wonder if the bucket moves.

Wait ...

OH

MY

GOD!

That thing went off every 15 min or so and it was awesome. What's not awesome is making sure that we weren't under it when it went off. I almost soiled myself at one point when I had to scramble to get Josie out from under there and save my camera at the same time all within a matter of seconds before it came down on us.

So happy.

Not sure what she was doing but one of my favorites from that day. It looks like she's dancing.

Oh there's a reason.

Wait for it ...

Tada!

Oh Elmo you're hilarious!

Speak!

They did some really cool stuff with plants and flowers. This was one of them. Josie was infactuated with this one.

The waterpark was definitely the best part. We spent a good chunk of time there and had it not been for her needing her diaper changed, we probably wouldn't have gotten out as soon as we did. That part really was awesome and it was a great way to cool off. I wanted to go back in but since we had already changed and dried off we decided to hit the gift shops instead. After looking around and not buying much of anything (thank god), we hit Josie's favorites one more time and started to wrap things up. We stopped to get some ice cream and refill our drinks on the way out and she was practially asleep by the time we got to the parking lot.

I'm glad that we went and got to experience it. If it were closer, we'd definitely go back again soon. But for now I'm going to file this away as a yearly trip at most. I hope that Josie remembers this for many years to come and if not, well I certainly have enough pictures to help jog her memory a bit.

All better!

2010-05-20T10:28:00.008-04:00

By Saturday and Sunday our little miss Josie was finally feeling much better. She was less cranky, in a better mood, and eating a lot more. There were still a few visible sores left from the virus so we played it safe and kept her home for one more day on Monday. By Tuesday morning, she checked out fine so back to daycare she went. She was starting to miss school and her friends so she recovered just in time.

The weather over the weekend was fantastic so we took Josie to the park and out for ice cream. She wasn't into the ice cream for whatever reason, but she did have fun at the park. Mama also picked up a slide (which she loves) at a yard sale that's just her size. Being stuck at home for so long made us all excited to be able to finally get out again. Towards the end of the week, every now and then, Josie would go grab her coat, walk over to the door, point and say "out." It felt like we were holding her in captivity.

Oh and tomorrow we're going to Sesame Street Place. I've already cleared all my memory cards because I know I'll be shooting non-stop. There's no chance I'm going to miss a single moment; not if I can help it. I have a feeling it's going to be an epic day. Check back in a few days for those shots and who knows ... maybe even a video or two!

FREEDOM!

Peek-a-boo!

In case you all forgot what I look like.

My beautiful girls.

Oh hello again.

Picked a flower for Mama.

Cheese.

Weeeee!

Pooffy cheeks.

Laying low ...

2010-05-15T02:39:00.008-04:00

I wish I could say that it's been a quiet week for us but it's actually been quite the opposite. Josie came home with a fever Tuesday afternoon and hasn't been feeling well since. I took her to the doctors today and it turns out she has a bout of hand foot mouth disease. Symptoms include sores inside the mouth, loss of appetite, fever, and sore throat; all of which she has. As a result, she has not been sleeping well and has been very irritable. I'm pretty sure that it's starting to work its way out of her system though. Afterall, it's 3 a.m. and she's only been up once, and I was able to get her back to sleep without much protest. Unfortunately, the doctor says that she's still very contagious at this point. That's why we had to cancel our what was to be a funfilled weekend in Virginia. Even if she were feeling better, it wouldn't have been wise to have her around all the little ones that we had planned on mingling with. It's for the best; this way Josie and Mama can catch up on some much needed rest.

Speaking of Mama, I just finished going through the pictures from this past Mother's Day. Check them out, they're freaking adorable. Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day!

Cutest aprons ever. Oh and Josie has recently decided that Grammy is now to be Mimi.

My little photographer wannabe.

Pantsless.

Amazing how much fun a ball can be.

That tongue seemed to have a mind of its own.

See?

April

2010-05-11T22:13:00.016-04:00

It seems like the rest of April just flew by with the blink of an eye. Between work, Josie, studying and my camera acting up, posting updates became somewhat difficult. The camera trouble though is really the main reason why things went stale. I struggled with it for a few weeks but fortunately, I think I've finally macgrubered something for the time being so we should be back in business.

We're glad that you're checking in so here's what you missed. Josie's bank of vocabulary has really skyrocketed in the past month. She's saying so much these days and trying to say even more. In addition, her Chinese comprehension is simply astounding. Believe it or not, there are some things that she can understand better in Chinese. Her ability to learn so much and so quickly continues to amaze us day in and day out.

And then there's Elmo. We've always known that she loves Elmo, but it's only recently that she’s started asking for him on her own. Whether it’s playing Elmo games online or watching Elmo DVDs, she just can’t seem to get enough. It's exciting though because we're taking her to Sesame Street place in a few weeks and I have no doubt that she's going to have a blast.

A few other tidbits worth mentioning:

- Josie started her swimming lessons again and she seems to be enjoying it a lot more this time around. It’s fun watching her “swim” to toys that she’s locked onto.

- On April 30th at 11:38 am, we welcomed Josie’s baby cousin Isabella Michele Lau into the world. She weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs & 4 oz. Congratulations Denny & Sammi.

- Donovan McNabb is now a Washington Redskin (who saw that coming), and Jason Soup (Campbell) was traded to the Oaklan Raiders!!!

- And lastly, after weeks of studying, I spent over 3 hrs grinding through 50 questions just to completely bomb my latest Microsoft certification test. I wasn't even close.

Well now that you’re all caught up, let’s move onto the pictures.

Making a mess ...

Move over iPhone ... introducing iPlate!

So Chinese.

Less Chinese.

eEeEEeeEEE!!

OoOOoooo!

He did WHAT?

Ms. Ashlin's last day at daycare.

Jelly babies.

Hey gimme back my monies.

I can't believe that zebra ate all my monies!

Chillin'

- Isabella Michele Lau -

I'm back! You know you missed me!

Easter Update

2010-04-18T10:36:00.020-04:00

- Good Friday -

Didn't do a whole lot on Friday expect enjoy the beautiful weather spending the majority of the time outside playing with the little one.

Look NO THUMBS!

- Holy Saturday -

Took Josie to an Easter Egg hunt and to see the Easter Bunny. Let's just say she loved the Easter Bunny as much as she loved Santa Claus. Then we got to spend the afternoon with Evan and Addison. The three of them are so cute together and it's really interesting watching them interact with each other.

I'm not touching that grass.

She's just oozing with excitement.

Seems like more work than fun.

Oh noes, not that thing again!

It's getting closer.

I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO TOUCH ME!

** Smooches **

What's up Addy?

Oh hai again.

You missed.

Didn't we just do this?

You're doing it wrong ... let me show you how.

- Easter Sunday -

Josie got some really cute stuff this year for Easter. She's really into Elmo and Mommie made her day by getting a bunch of Elmo eggs and a giant Elmo basket to go with them, all of which Josie adores. Her outfit was incredibly cute as well. Everything from her turtle purse to her turtle dress suited her perfectly. Josie had so much fun playing outside all day but I think the best part for her was all the candy that she got to eat, thanks to a certain Grammie who forcefeeds her sweets every single moment she gets. But I digress.

Making a list of things she should have gotten but didn't.

How am I supposed to know why Elmo has bunny ears?

All dolled up!

Mmmm ... what's this?

Oh it's sooo good ... normally I'm not allowed to have this.

Moar!!!

This is hard work having to find all the eggies.

Aww ... that's it?

Ok I'm done ... take me away!

Life's good.

18 Month Stats

2010-04-16T12:24:00.003-04:00

Since Daddy is being a slacker with posting this week, I decided to share Josie's stats from her recent 18 month appointment. She continues to be right around the 50th percentile for her height and weight, and her little noggin (head circumference) is in the 26th percentile. Her vocabulary continues to expand each day, this morning she saw my purse and said "bag." She can also say "shoe." Do you see a theme?? Hehehe :-)

Weight: 24 lbs, 10 oz
Height: 32.25 inches

I can't believe the little pumpkin is 18 months old already ... only 6 months for mommy to plan her Elmo themed birthday bash!

What can possibly be so captivating?

2010-03-31T10:48:00.002-04:00

This looks interesting ...

Getting closer ...

Well it's about time!

I got it Mama.

Nom nom nom.

Taking a moment to reflect on the Rita's journey.

Terrorizing Toys "R" Us ...

2010-03-28T15:28:00.014-04:00

One toy at a time.

Ah ... the infamous Elmo chair.

What do you mean I have to pedal?

So after spotting this next toy, Josie's eyes lit up and she immediately removed the box straight off the shelf. It's not light by any means (for her) but she made it seem like she was picking up a stuffed animal. Into the middle of the isle it went and then the poking, prodding, and scheming began. It took me a minute to figure out what the infatuation was and then I realized that it was very similiar to the one that we have at home (which she loves), just with different characters on it. She started out playing with the exposed portion but quickly realized that wasn't going to be enough. Seeing that it's all boxed up, I proceed to tell her that she was not going to be able to ride it, which is what she ultimately wants. Well Josie was determined to get on this thing one way or another, so here's what happened next.

Yea, that's right. She wedged herself INTO THE BOX and sat down on the car. I guess you can't blame her. I mean ... it does say "TRY ME" right on the freaking thing.

Oh and here's proof that Josie can make anything look good ... evenly over-sized aviator sunglasses.

Pimpin'

Another life lesson learned ...

2010-03-27T10:57:00.004-04:00

And now Josie knows that if she ever runs out of paper to color and draw on, there'll always be eggs to take its place.

Mommie's masterpiece. And yes Josie recognized it right away as Elmo.

Please see shirt for proper identification.

We got a trampoline!

2010-03-26T13:54:00.000-04:00

No we didn't. But Josie thinks that her bed now doubles as one.

She was so happy we couldn't help but let her have a little fun. What you don't see is that she pee'd all over her bed after about 10 min of jumping around. She was promptly removed and placed into the germ removal chamber a.k.a bathtub.

It was all worth it because otherwise I would have never gotten this shot.

Dramaticus

2010-03-24T10:07:00.011-04:00

Although it may appear that she's being eaten alive by her brightly colored activity table and the giant brown seating device, she freed herself just seconds after this moment was captured.

Need proof that she made it out unscathed from that life altering ordeal? Here she is exactly 7 minutes later.

No matter how busy we get ...

2010-03-22T14:45:00.001-04:00

There's always time for TV and veggies.

Spring has sprung!

2010-03-21T11:12:00.000-04:00

As the streak of nice weather continued, we continued our own streak of spending as much time outside as possible.

For those who struggle with weaning their little ones off of a pacifier, here's a trick we just discovered. Buy them a giant red ball. She seriously wouldn't let go of the thing.

But giant red balls can lead to this ... a scraped knee. It was her first one so we took it harder than she did. It didn't even phase her one bit.

And since there's only so much enjoyment one can extract out of a red round plastic object, we picked this up.

First road trip :D

Quick pit stop.

Wagon's in the shop already. Maybe it's really a rebadged VW?

All that wagon time can really drain a girl. Spent some time on the swing to unwind.

Even a ham like Josie wants some privacy from time to time. This picture is a result of me interrupting something very important between her and her giant red ball.

The playground ...

2010-03-20T13:29:00.000-04:00

Is where some of the greatest thinkers throughout the history of mankind spent most of their time.

It's BEAUTIFUL!

2010-03-19T12:21:00.001-04:00

Dinner time?

2010-03-18T09:59:00.000-04:00

Or play time?

Mommie says ...

2010-03-16T11:06:00.001-04:00

That you can't eat yogurt with a fork. Well what about two forks?

Dog ... the bounty hunter.

2010-03-13T10:33:00.001-05:00

Or is it Bounty, the dog hunter?

Cleaning up the world ...

2010-03-12T15:57:00.001-05:00

One rock at a time.

Worst GPS ever.

2010-03-10T11:19:00.001-05:00

Where's the snacks & Elmo locator on this thing?

Hmm ... I don't know ...

2010-03-08T21:48:00.006-05:00

This burrito sure isn't getting any smaller.

What do you mean "no?"

2010-03-06T23:11:00.000-05:00

Nose to nose ... kind of

2010-03-05T21:53:00.000-05:00

Hey old man!

2010-03-03T21:44:00.003-05:00

A long time ago today, our very own Uncle Denny came into this world. So if you haven't already, send some happy birthday wishes toward his way.

Here it is!

2010-02-26T10:10:00.047-05:00

Hey there everyone. It's been a stale couple of months on here, I know. We went through a really busy time at the end of last year and unfortunately, I again fell behind with updating this page. The good news is that I never stopped taking pictures. The bad news was that I ended up with an enormous backlog of content to sort through and process. It took me a while but I’m all caught up now. Hopefully they are well worth the wait.

Anyways, our little Josie continues to amaze us every single day on so many levels. She’s growing right on target and now weighs in at around 23lbs. I don’t know her height exactly but I do know that she can no longer fit under my legs without creating significant discomfort for me each and every time she darts through at what seems like 30mph. Her hair is coming in nicely as well. Bath time seems to have tripled now that she has a relatively full head of hair. It should be even more fun a few years from now.

And what about teeth? You betcha. In the past two weeks, she’s amended to her arsenal of teeth artillery going from 8 to 12. And a couple of them are big molars too. It stinks that she got them all right around the same time, but she’s a little trooper and isn’t letting them bother her too much.

I keep saying that this is such a fun age and we know that it’s only going to get more fun from here on out. Sure she has her bad days where she’ll stomp her little feet and scream and her legs magically turn into jello the moment you put her down. But the majority of the time, she’s such a happy and outgoing little nugget. She can say a few things now, and we can see that she’s trying to repeat a lot. I know I’ll regret saying this but I really can’t wait until she can talk back. I can only imagine what’s going to come out of that adorable little mouth of hers.

- November -

To celebrate the spirit of Thanksgiving, we ate … a lot.

Yes that is, in fact, a cheerio in the back of her mouth.

Heisman! Oh how we miss football.

Chief Whinney Whinnerson.

May I present ... spaghetti ... the official food of Native American Chinese Indians.

- Law Law's 85th Birthday -

Deem Choon Choon!

Leila was so cute with Josie. She simply adores her.

- December -

In December, we discovered Cliffords.

And we also remembered how scary Santa Clause is.

Still don't like Santa ... really.

Christmas with cousins Addy & Evan and their new chairs!

Oh haaaaaay guy I don't like.

It's just Grandpa!

- Christmas Day -

Kicking it with the new Elmo slippers.

Christmas dinner ...

All over.

All cleaned up!

- January -

It was a confusing time ...

New Hello Kitty backpack!

Huggies for cousin Addy.

Story time with Grampie.

Completely focused ... not at all.

I'll be right back.

HeheeheHe ...

Check out that cute tooshie!

For those who don't believe it, she does actually cry and throw fits. But look, she'll still eat!

But it usually doesn't last very long. Happy girl again!

- February -

All bundled up ... ready for fun in the snow.

So this is it? What's the big fuss about.

Eh it's not so bad I guess.

Ok I can't feel my legs. Get me, I'm done.

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

- Chinese New Years -

Well here's your problem.

No words needed for this picture.

Totally Chinese'd out!

All worn out.

Goofing around at home.

I got it MaMa.

Avaya Government Solutions, how may I help you?

I need this basket immediately.

So I can ...

Do this.

AHHH BASKET MONSTER.

Just kidding Ma Ma ... it's just Josie. Kisses!

Wet ...

Or dry, it's always crazy.

Yes, I know I'm adorable.

Kisses for BaBa!

Oh hay mao mao.

EEEEE!

- Latest Virginia visit -

Oh nom nom nom.

Who needs ice cream when you have the ice cream cone.

Cheesy Chex Mix ... the official snack for track star champions.

Josie? No I haven't seen any Josie.

I swear I didn't do it. It was like that when I got here.

And that's it! Thanks for stopping by and getting caught up. From here on out, I'm going to be doing DAILY UPDATES. My goal is to put up at least one picture everyday, or every other day at the very least. So come back and come back often. There'll always be something new to look at. I promise.

Oh hai everybody

2010-01-19T11:57:00.002-05:00

Leave it to this guy ...

2009-11-11T10:11:00.011-05:00

So a couple Saturdays ago (right before Josie's recent bout of sickness) we headed down to VA for another day trip. Jen had a birthday thing to attend so Josie and I were going to have to fend for ourselves for a few hours. She dropped us off at Dan's, dished out some hugs and kisses, and off she went. Josie had slept almost the whole way down so she was well rested and ready to tear into everything.

We started the morning hanging around the house playing and goofing around. Josie got into to the usual selection of electronic devices which were strewn about the living room. Things got interesting as she made her way over to the stereo system and found the plethora of buttons and knobs right at her tiny little finger tips. She LOVES buttons and the only thing better than buttons is buttons that makes stuff light up. That thing had more buttons and lights than she knew what to do with. She had so much fun with it that she began pulling off some of the controls off the front fascia. For some reason though she quickly lost interest shortly after. Perhaps she thought that she broke it and decided to bail so that she wouldn't get in trouble. I mean ... that's what I would have done.

Overall, I just sat back and left Dan in charge. Aside from changing a few diapers, he ran the whole show. I was more than impressed with how he handled everything. He was attentive to Josie (and me) and was able to keep her entertained and on her regular schedule. He stayed on top of her faucet of a nose, and kept everything in check. Prior to lunch we had a quick snack and headed over to the park to play for a little. We didn't get to stay long due to the rain so we ended up having an early lunch.

While Dan was cooking up his famous cheesy pasta for lunch, Josie decided to rock out with Stef (Dan's brother) on Guitar Hero. It was freaking adorable, and Stef thought so too ... until she beat him. Once lunch was ready, we all sat around and stuffed our faces. We had to leave shortly afterwards to go see my family. I'm so happy that Josie and her Uncle Dan got to spend some quality time together. He seems to be a natural with this kid thing and it's great to see that they already have such a strong bond between them.

Yup ... this guy was in charge ... the guy taking a picture with the lens cap on.

Guess what ...

2009-10-31T09:16:00.003-04:00

Josie's sick again. It seems like that's all I get to tell people these days when they ask me how she's doing or what's new with her. If it's not her, it's us that's sick. More often than not, we're all sick. But that's just the way it works. The majority of the kids in her daycare class have been sick the past few weeks as well. It was inevitable that Josie would catch something sooner or later. There's only so much her tiny immune system can handle when she spends 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week in that cesspool of germ laden bacteria filled borough also known as daycare.

So what does she have exactly? Well according to the doctor the other day, she's got an ear infection, again, and some sort of virus that's causing her cough and runny nose. She also had a fever, which the other night, got up to 104.8. That was not a fun night for anyone. But that seems to have worked its way out of her system now that she's been on medicine for two days. She still has a runny nose and cough, and she's been very fussy at night.

So we've been doing a lot of this ...

Check out that crazy hair! Still puts on a smile even when she's not feeling the greatest.

Birthday Party recap

2009-10-20T21:27:00.003-04:00

Here they are, finally! These definitely took longer than I had anticipated to put up but you know how it is. We’ve been so busy lately that we (mostly mommie) just finished going through all her presents the other day. Jen can’t clear out her old stuff fast enough to make room for the new stuff! I think it's amazing how such a little person can have so much already. But it just goes to show that a lot of people love and care about her and for that we're very thankful.

I hope that everyone who attended enjoyed themselves. There was a lot going on that day and I wasn't feeling the greatest so I may have missed some of you who came and went before I had a chance to catch up. But I do want to take a minute to thank everyone for being a part of such a special event. It meant a lot to us. Josie may not realize it now, but one day she'll look back and appreciate the strong network of friends and family that has surrounded her right from the very beginning.

I also want to thank my lovely wife, and her sister and parents for everything that they did to make this party possible. A lot of time was put into the preparation and no detail was left out in order to make sure that it all went as smoothly as it did. While Jen spent countless hours making the cake, putting together gift bags for all the little ones, shopping for decorations and setting them up, arranged to have a real live pony there, etc, I had a set of challenging and demanding tasks of my own. I was responsible for entertaining Josie during the morning of and making sure that she napped before her party. She gets pretty crabby when she’s tired, and well, let’s just say I’m a pretty good napper taker. That’s right, not only did I have to watch her all by myself, but I had to get her to take a nap, feed her lunch, play with her, and get her dressed!!! Clearly I had the tougher task.

And after all that, Josie had a great day. She held up all afternoon without getting fussy or melting down. She didn't dig into the cake as much as we had hoped, but with a little bit of help, she managed to make quite a mess. Little Macaroni was awesome, but Josie didn't quite know what to think of him. Perhaps next year,when she's a little older she'll find him more appealing. Same with the opening of the presents. She was more interested in the stuff that she already had. I didn't get quite as many shots as I had hoped because I was struggling with my sickness. So if you took any that you'd like to share, shoot me an email or leave me comment and I'll post them up.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

2009-10-06T14:59:00.004-04:00

Dear Josie,

My oh my! Who would have thought that a year can go by so quickly? Your Mommie and I can still remember the days of lounging on the couch anxiously awaiting for your arrival. I'd pound on Mommie's belly demanding for you to come out and play with me. I made scary voices and growled at you hoping to get a reaction. I'm sure you figured out quickly that it's just your silly Daddie trying to get you all worked up. Every now and then you would kick and wiggle around but more often than not we were greeted with nothing more than your signature hiccups-a-thons. Just like Mommie, you never quite figured out how to get rid of them did you? It made me laugh everytime.

And then the doctors said you had to come out. They wanted to make sure that you and Mommie didn't get sick so off we went to get the labor process started. They gave Mommie some stuff which should have made you want to come out pretty quick but you had a totally different agenda. Just like your Daddie, you wanted to do it when you were ready and you wanted it done your way. So you decided to hang out in Mommie's belly some more and well, I certainly couldn't blame you. That's where you've setup camp past 8 months and I'm sure you had quite a setup going on in there.

But all of a sudden, you were ready. After confining Mommie for almost 3 full days to that backbreaking piece of mechanical device known as a hospital bed, you made your grand entrance. In a little less than a half an hour, you were outta there. Your first order of business once you were out was to give Mommie a swift kick to the face. And that's when I knew. That's when WE knew, that you were going to be trouble. We've certainly lived up to it haven't we. We're bad enough seperately, but together, we make Mommie want to pull out all of her hair, set it on fire, and put it back on her head.

So here we are. One year has passed. Countless hours of crying, laughing, snuggling, and this is just the beginning. I wish I can do a better job of putting into words how much we love you, but I don't think it's possible. One day, when you become a parent yourself, you'll know exactly what the feeling is like. Each day with you is better than any gift we've ever received. You're the world to us and we can't wait to watch you grow up.

Love,
Mommie & Daddie

We're sick

2009-10-01T21:22:00.001-04:00

All of us. Coughing, flem, sinus headaches, runny nose, and throw in a bout of pink eye as well.

We got drugs. We're taking them. Stay tuned.

Check out my teefers!

2009-09-25T16:05:00.002-04:00

Sunny Saturday

2009-09-21T10:34:00.004-04:00

I love this time of year. The weather is simply perfect, giving us ample opportunity to spend lots of time outside. And that's exactly what we did Saturday afternoon. We ran some errands and then headed to the park. It was actually a bit warm out with the sun beating down right at us but I knew that once the cold hits, we're going to miss the warm weather. As usual, the majority of the time was spent on the swing. It's Josie's favorite thing to do. She was all smiles with the wind in her hair and Elmo in her crotch (she wouldn't let us take Elmo so he went in the swing too.) After swinging, we tried taking her down the slide a few times but we didn't get much of a reaction out of her. I don't think she gets that yet. So Jen took her around the play area while I snapped a few more pictures.

My plan was to lay out in the grass for a little bit and play but no sooner did we lay out the blanket we turned right around and packed it up. She was starting to get fussy for dinner so we got a move on and left. But not before I got a few good shots of my big girl, standing all by herself!

Exhausted ..

America's Oldest Fair

2009-09-17T14:38:00.004-04:00

Fat guy on a scooter, rebel flag apparel, bearded women, mullets, single mother with way too many kids. If you've ever wondered where you can experience all that in one place in less than a span of 10 minutes, then head over to your local Walmart. Now, if you wanted to go on some rides, eat an endless combination of fried stuff, listen to country music all night, and get up and personal to a llama, then where would you go? To the annual York Fair of course!

And Josie got to experience her first York Fair last night. Boy did she have a great time. She laughed and screamed and threw herself around in her stroller the whole time. I'll admit, I didn't have much desire to go at first, but once I got there, I quickly realized how much fun this probably is through the eyes of an 11 month old. We didn't stay long since it was close to her bed time; basically we made a loop around the arena and stopped only to eat. I do wish I could have stayed longer because events like these create endless possibilities for memorable candids.

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-15T14:57:00.003-04:00

We didn't do a whole lot Sunday or Monday, mainly because we were still tired from a long but fun Saturday. What did we do Saturday? We finally made a long overdue trip down to VA to see some important peoples. It was a day filled with driving, eating, feeding, changing, more driving, shopping; the works. Our itinerary wasn't much different than our usual VA trips except for the fact that we left a little earlier and stayed a bit later. We don't get to go all that often so I wanted to make the most out of the day and make sure that everyone got to spend as much time with each other as possible.

Josie did very well. She slept the whole way down, and again on the way to lunch. We first stopped at Uncle Dan's who got her a bunch of new toys to play with. After about 3 min she lost interest and went after his collection of remotes. It was really nice out so we decided to hit up the park that was across the street from Dan's house. I got some great shots of them at the swing and on the slide.

Then it was off to dim sum with my parents and brother. Josie ate pretty much everything that we put in front of her. She didn't seemed bothered by the loud and hectic environment. Usually when we take her out, we're always worried that she'll start screeching and yelling for no apparent reason. At that restaurant though, no one would have heard her.

After lunch, we took a stroll over at Tysons Corner and did a bit of shopping. And I must say, the mall was a big hit. Josie was, literally, at the edge of her seat the entire time. She pointed and laughed and had a great time looking at the people, the stores, and everything else in between. We left Tysons and spent the remainder of the afternoon at my Grandmother's house with the rest of the family. We stayed and went out to dinner with everyone and then left right from there. Up until now we'd leave prior to dinner so that we'd get home just in time to put the baby to bed. But now that she's older, it's nice to be able to stretch the day out a tad every once in a while so that my family can get as much Josie time in as possible.

Right after dinner, we changed her, put her in her pj's and off we went. Mommie gave her a bottle and she was asleep in no time. She stayed sleeping the whole way home and I was able to transport her from the car into her crib without disruption. All in all, it was a lot of work, but it was well worth it.

M.I.A

2009-08-31T12:56:00.006-04:00

Hi! We're back, again. Sorry for being m.i.a for the last few weeks. It's been extremely hectic both at work and at home. I've been trying to get a few side projects wrapped up but fell behind and missed the deadlines that I had set for myself. As a result, I had to reprioritize and set aside less pressing matters. Unfortunately, updating the blog went into the mix and it took a hit too.

But we're caught up now and are moving foward. Josie has been growing up so fast before our very eyes. She hasn't gotten sick in quite a while and for that we're thankful. For those who haven't seen her lately, she has stretched out a bit. She's still putting on the LBs but she has shot up quite a few inches. Her top teeth (a total of 4) are coming in faster than her bottom 2 ever did. I'm convinced that she'll be able to eat an entire Chipotle burrito with me sooner than I had originally anticipated.

Oh and she's getting loud, especially when she gets excited. She clearly enjoys the sound of her own voice, and admist all the screaming and jibber jabber, sometimes, we can actually make out a real word or two. It's going to be so cool once she can talk. But before she talks, she'll be walking. And she's getting really close to doing it on her own. Right now, she can walk really well if we hold her by her arms, or if she has something to hold on to. We think she's really going to take off once she figures it out. She already tries to take off on her own now, but ends up face planting most of the time.

So now that you're all caught up, it's picture time. They're not really in any particular order. Just ones that I've shot over the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Oh noes! The rice is attacking me!

Sporting the pink Skin's jersey. Go COOOOLEY!

All ready for the big game. Might as well get her used to the frustration and disappointment of being a Redskins's fan while she's still young.

New sneakers ... courtsey of Uncle Denny & Aunt Sammi!

And what do we do with new sneakers? EAT EM!

Strike a pose!

And we're back

2009-08-04T16:24:00.009-04:00

It's been a crazy past couple of weeks here at the Lau's residence. Two weeks ago, Josie ended up sick again. She had a bout of what's known as hand/foot/mouth disease. It's a viral thing that causes blisters, fever, and loss of appetite. Jen had to keep her home all week and we were told that Josie wasn't allowed to return to daycare until her fever and blisters went away.

In usual Josie fashion, being sick meant round the clock attention (yes more than the usual amount.) Mommie took the day shift, and I took the night shift. She wouldn't eat much and she couldn't sleep for more than an hour without waking up, drenched in sweat. It was important for her to get her rest and stay hydrated so that meant staying up with her throughout the night to feed her and put her back to sleep.

Eventually though it did work itself out of her system. By the end of the week she was back to her normal self. It was really good timing because we ended up having a great time at the Corn Roast.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!!

2009-07-22T10:39:00.003-04:00

Not really ... it's actually just another typical Wednesday. But I needed an excuse to put up this picture. Oh heck, when you're this adorable, do you really need an excuse?

Recovered ...

2009-07-20T15:20:00.004-04:00

Last week was quite a long one. We all got sick one after another. First it was Josie, which resulted in several sleepness nights for me. She had some sort of viral thing which gave her a cough, fever, runny nose, and sore throat. We thought she was teething some more at first due to the massive amount of drool which descended from that cute tiny little mouth of hers. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't sleep, and she clung to us like a dryer sheet on a sweater.

Fortunately, the sickness finally did pass and we were able to catch up on a bunch of stuff over the weekend. Everyone's feeling better and our schedules are back to normal. Never a dull moment I tell you ...

Serious Josie is serious

Typical summer cookout

2009-07-13T12:25:00.003-04:00

This walking thing is pretty tough

Gangsta ...

Rollin down da street ... in my Dora cart ... sippin on jin & juice

uh oh this doesn't look good

For cereal ... it was THIS BIG!

Oh hai!

3 faces ...

2009-07-08T10:37:00.001-04:00

Pictures are worth a thousand words right? Decide for yourselves.

Watch me!

2009-07-01T16:02:00.004-04:00

Giggles from Martin Lau on Vimeo.

Peeek-a-boooo from Martin Lau on Vimeo.

Snack time from Martin Lau on Vimeo.

Testing out the new flash

2009-06-26T13:28:00.002-04:00

Best Father's Day Weekend ever

2009-06-22T14:12:00.003-04:00

This past weekend was a lot of fun. Even though Josie was up sick during the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, we managed to sleep in a bit after getting her cleaned up and put back to bed. After seeing no signs of her getting sick again after breakfast Saturday morning, we decided to hit the road. It's been a while since we were in VA last, and my family was very excited to get to spend the whole day with the baby (and us.)

Sunday turned out to be a georgous day. All that rain really cooled things down and we ended up spending most of the day outside. I had so much fun with my little girl and I didn't want it to end. Uncle Dan surprised us by dropping in on his way back from NY. He hasn't seen Josie in a while and they were able to catch up on some much needed quality time together.

And that was my first Father's Day with my baby girl. I couldn't have asked for it to unfold any other way. Although there were no big surprises or extravagant plans, it was perfect in its own right. What I'm going to remember most from this weekend isn't going to be the steaks that we had or the presents which were given and received. It's going to be the 3 of us rolling around Sunday morning in bed, playing and laughing until our sides hurt. It's going to be my little girl, passed out on her Uncle Dan's shoulder completely relaxed without a care in the world. Or Josie, having the time of her life for those 2 minutes that my brother had her up on his shoulder.

She's growing up so fast right before our very eyes. If there were only a way to slow down time ...

Street rods ... swimmie pool ... naps

2009-06-17T15:01:00.004-04:00

Josie @ her first ever Street Rods outting, looking cuter than ever.

She did much better than I had anticipated. I figured she would have been startled by all the loud cars everywhere.

And then it was time to cool off!

So much to do yet so little time. Oy vey!

Worn out

No place in the world better than Mommie's shoulder ...

Happy Monday

2009-06-08T20:06:00.006-04:00

Not a whole lot happened over the weekend. Josie's really got the crawling thing down and now she's working on pulling herself up. She's also started whining when she doesn't get what she wants. Once she has her sight set on something, she'll do everything she can to get it. If she's not successful, we definitely hear about it. Same thing with being attached to us; if she wants one of us when she's with someone else, she'll whine and cry until we get her. I really think this is the point in her life where she get really spoiled if we tend to her every desire. Fortunately, she is easily distracted so I can usually make her happy again by giving her something else when she isn't allowed to have what she originally wanted.

But all in all, it was a pretty mellow weekend.

This picture is a few weeks old but I don't think I posted it before so I'm putting it up until I can get some of the newer stuff edited.

Here are a few more older ones that I never put up.

We're still here

2009-06-03T13:01:00.006-04:00

I realize it's Wednesday and that this page has been stagnant for the past week. I've been extremely busy at work so I haven't had to time to sort through and process all the media. I am going to try to stick to a schedule from here on out so check back every Monday to see what we've been up to. Of course, feel free to check in during the week too and you just might find a few extra updates (if I get to it.)

Weighing in at a hefty 17 and some pounds, Josie will be 8 months old in a few days. Her two bottom teeth have come in quite nicely and she's now nawing on just about anything that she can get her chubby little hands on. In addition, she's figured out how to do a couple of new things. Check out the video below. Everything's right on schedule!

Such a little diva ...

Laid back Memorial Day weekend

2009-05-26T15:29:00.005-04:00

This past weekend was a mellow one here at the Lau's residence. Instead of having a big cookout or taking a road trip somewhere, we (and by we I mean me) veered from the norm and made use of the long weekend to catch up on chores around the house. Jen and her Mom took Josie shopping Saturday (while I cleaned) and bought her an insane amount of stuff. Will she get to wear it all? Probably not. If it's going to be anything like her newborn stuff, she'll be too big for it with the blink of an eye. Then I'll have to find a place to store it all.

We weren't cooped up in the house the entire weekend though. On Sunday, Jen's best friend Julie and her husband threw a birthday party for their little boy Timmy. He turned 1 year old. Even though it was a bit hot and humid that day, it was still an enjoyable time. Seeing Timmy and how much fun he had made me that much more excited about what Josie soon will be capable of. He's only a few months older than Josie but it's really cool how well he was able to interact with everyone.

Burffday boy!

Birthday cake before:

Birthday cake after:

But a big part of me wishes that she would stay little forever. Just the other morning, she fell asleep on me after I gave her a bottle. We were laying on the couch together all snuggled up and I simply couldn't hold her tight enough. I watched TV as she dozed off into her own little world. A half an hour later, she begins to wake up. I kissed her little cheeks and her soft little hand grabbed on to mine. She wiggled around some more and finally woke up. With her head propped up she looked right into my eyes with that signature half confused half smirk look. Our heads just inches apart, I couldn't believe who this little person was that was looking back at me. A wave of emotions came over me and my eyes began to water. I think this was the first time I've ever come this close to shedding any tears out of sheer happiness. I finally snapped out of it and gave her a big smooch right on the mouth. I was immediately greeted with a big gummy smile as she proceeded to lay her head down back on to my shoulder.

It was one of the single happiest moments in my entire life.

Laughter is the best medicine

2009-05-18T08:46:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone, but I've been sick for the past week. Having a baby really does give your immune system a run for its money. I don't ever remembering being this sick this frequently before little miss Josie arrived. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that we send her off everyday into that cesspool of germs and bacteria breeding ground which we refer to as "daycare."

I know ... but no one really gives a crap about Daddy or how he's doing. You're here to get your Josie fix. Well I'm here to feed your addiction. So happy Monday morning everyone. Whether you're unemployed, have a broken femur, contracted the swine flu, own a Chrysler dealership, or simply dread Mondays, take a few minutes and watch the following clips and I'll guarantee that you'll instantly feel better (although that feeling is not guaranteed to last for any specific amount of time.)

Anyways, here she is, live and in living color!

Oh and for those wondering, the clikity-clank in the background was the dryer in the background.

Josie in action - 7 months today!

2009-05-06T09:12:00.005-04:00

I was lazy last night and didn't do a whole lot of shooting. This is the only picture that came out decent. But I do have something new ... VIDEO!

Check out the little turtle chasing after the little turtle!

Stay tuned!

2009-05-05T21:43:00.002-04:00

It turns out that the blog is a bit more popular then I had realized. I just found out yesterday that I had exceeded my Photobucket's bandwidth cap for the month. That's quite astounding seeing how the cap is 25GB. That's GIGABYTES!!! The monthly bandwidth resets every month on the 10th, but I hope to have the pictures restored before then.

More water action

2009-04-28T15:48:00.005-04:00

Sunday turned out to be even hotter than Saturday. We were all over at Grammie and Granmpie's house and we decided to bust out the duckie tub so little Josie can get in and cool down. Our little pumpkin loves to be outside but it was just getting too hot to hang around. So we move under the covered patio, filled up the tub, stripped down the chubster, and threw her in. She had the time of her life :D

Here's proof!

Splish Splash ... Quack Quack Quack

2009-04-23T08:07:00.003-04:00

So Tuesday night was Josie's first swimmie lesson. That's right. For those of you are now throughly confused, feel free to go back and re-read that first sentence again. It won't cost you anything. Welcome back. Now you may be wondering "Hey you good looking Chinese man what's your baby going to swim lessons for? She can't even walk, let alone swim!" My thoughts exactly. However, SOMEONE, who shall be called "mommie" from here on out figured it'd be a good way for her to develop her blah blah blah. That's about all I could absorb when I posed the same question not that long ago. Of course, being the second in command around here means that in the end, "mommie" shoved MY doubts and reservations aside and went ahead and paid a ridiculous amount of money for some less than mediocre "lessons."

As a result, Josie got to play in a giant public puddle for the first time Tuesday night. We weren't sure how she was going to react; we figured either she would hate it and kick and scream the whole time, or she would love it and have the time of her life.

We never really took into account option C; zero reaction. Josie was completely cool, calm, and collected. If she could talk and and respond to the question of how the experience was, she'd probably say "meh".

But hey, we got a whole 15 minutes out of it. Yes, the lessons are supposed to be 30 min long, but due to the storm, they made us all get out, cutting our session short. Between the 3 min introduction and another 3 min of getting in and out of the pool, I'd say we got a good solid 10 minutes of floating, I mean, instructional time. Being the kind of guy that I am, I immediately asked the lady whether we'd get a make up lesson since this one was cut short. Her response was "no but maybe we'll add some extra time to the next ones" It was very convincing. I totally believed her. If you ask me, I say it's money well spent.

Most of the pictures didn't really come out all that great. It felt like I was in the middle of the Costa Rican rain forest. I brought the wrong lense to shoot with so I had to get right up at the edge of the pool. I spent most of my energy trying to make sure that I didn't drop the camera in to the pool.

Disclaimer: This entry has been one laden with sarcasm. It's simply my take on this matter. I do really support everything that "mommie" does for baby Josie. We both want what's best for her and strive to provide her with every opportunity that we can.

Happy Belated Easter! :Gobble Gobble:

2009-04-15T16:54:00.009-04:00

Hope everyone had a great Easter doing Eastery things with their Easter loved ones. I spent the better part of Easter weekend working on our taxes. Thank GOD (pun intended) those are done. I actually just finished them yesterday so that's why I'm late uploading pictures.

Here's the first batch. The rest will be up tomorrow. Enjoy!

Painting eggs take a lot out of a girl ...

Here are the rest ... as promised!

First time eating mashed potatos ...

MmMMMM ... better than expected!

Blessing Ceremony

2009-04-07T16:13:00.006-04:00

This past Sunday we had our Blessing Ceremony for little Josie. It was a small gathering of close friends and family celebrating the birth and life of Josie. We planted the tree in her honor and designated her "Godparents."

The weather couldn't have been nicer and it seemed that everyone had a great time. Josie was perfect the whole time and everything went according to plan. Given that we had never done anything like this before, I don't think it could have turned out any better.

Being that I had to be a part of the ceremony, I was unable to shoot the event myself. As a result I asked a good friend and fellow VW enthusiast Nate to shoot it for me. He did a great job and I appreciate him taking time out of his busy schedule to do so.

So here are the pictures from Sunday. Thank you all for those of you who came and for those who couldn't make it, thank you for the blessings/gifts. Enjoy!

6 Months

2009-04-07T15:32:00.003-04:00

Josie is 6 months old and had her check-up yesterday. Seriously ... where did the last 6 months go?? Time to start planning her first birthday party!

Despite some mild Eczema she is doing great and is growing, growing, growing! 60th percentile for both her height and weight.

Weight: 16 lbs, 6 ounces
Height: 26 inches

Some from the weekend

2009-03-23T13:54:00.001-04:00

Weather was perfect and we got a lot done. Still sick but better than before. Here's a few for now. I'll get the rest up later.

Battling a cold

2009-03-18T17:07:00.004-04:00

Not too many updates lately. Little Josie and myself have had a cold for over a week now. Can't exactly shoot a whole lot when I have to wipe my nose every other minute. Besides, who else would see a slobbery snotty baby and still think she's the cutest thing in the whole wide world? Oh yea, mommie & daddie =D

Here's more as promised!

2009-03-02T16:48:00.009-05:00

oH my GOD ... did you see that?

aaAAaAhahhhHHhHHHHhhhhhh...

mMmMMmmmmmmm...

i can do it myself!

seeeee?

heheheHEHEHEHeHEhe...

OH!!! Here's the new Josie-mobile!

Moar ...

2009-02-13T14:14:00.008-05:00

Because no one can get enough of Josie pop ...

The shirt says it all ...

Nom nom nom ...

Oh hai!

I hippo!

More Milestones

2009-02-11T09:47:00.002-05:00

Josie turned four months old last week and had her four month check-up yesterday. She is getting to be such a big girl and is smiling, laughing, and cooing more than ever. She has also started to grab her rattles and teethers and actually hold onto them. Next up, starting rice cereal! That should be a fun adventure! :-)

Weight: 14 lbs, 6 ounces (75th percentile)
Height: 24 3/4 inches (75th percentile)

Oh hai

2009-01-28T17:11:00.001-05:00

My cuteness ... let me show you it.

One from this morning ...

2009-01-22T09:37:00.001-05:00

All bundled up for daycare.

Hi Erin & Suzi ...

2009-01-08T16:16:00.007-05:00

Ok girls ... you win.

Getting Bigger Every Day

2008-12-09T15:03:00.005-05:00

Josie had her two month check-up today and was a brave little girl for all of her shots. She is growing by leaps and bounds and is now in the 75th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight.

Height: 23 inches
Weight: 10 lbs., 13 oz.

Daddie edit: Here's a picture to prove it ... milk drooling and all! I'm so proud :D

Monday, November 17th – Redskins no longer Josie’s favorite team

2008-11-18T17:35:00.002-05:00

That’s right, she told me so herself. After our abysmal loss against the Cowboys Sunday night, it was clear that Josie no longer wanted to have any sort of association with the team. In fact, she actually gathered up all of our Redskins paraphernalia, took it out back, and burned it. That’s how embarrassed and disappointed she was. And I agree completely. To come out and display such a lack luster performance against a huge interdivisional rival on a nationally televised Sunday night game at home just plain hurts. The offense is struggling with getting it done. The Redskins have now lost two consecutive home games, and have scored just one touchdown in the last 8 quarters. How does anyone expect to win football games with those kinds of stats? But I digress.

I didn’t get to make it to Josie’s check up the other day but I was glad (and proud) to see that she’s doing so well growing. I just can’t believe how she has practically doubled in weight! It must be because I see her everyday but for whatever reason, I just don’t think she’s all that much bigger than when she first arrived. I mean I know she is getting bigger; she’s filling out her clothes nicely and her cheeks are getting chubbier practically every time she eats. It’s just the change that has taken place isn’t quite as apparent for me. Everyone that sees her always comment on how much bigger she’s gotten, so I guess I’m on my own with this one. I think the change will be more noticeable for me once she starts to grow in length.

Josie’s sleeping certainly has improved compared to the beginning, but it’s still no where we’d like it to be. Jen’s up with her most nights, while I take over once the weekend hits. Basically, she sleeps just fine during the day, but she’s wide awake right when we’re ready to hit the sack. She will eventually go to sleep and sleep for 4hrs or so, but it’s just the time prior to getting her the sleep that’s the hardest. She also doesn’t eat as well during those hours either, so it feels like all that’s happening is feeding and changing, feeding and changing. It’s ok though because we know it’ll get better. It just takes time.

We’re going to be taking Josie on her first road trip next week for Thanksgiving. Now that she’s bigger and has gotten her first round of shots, we feel comfortable taking her out. She’s already been out a few places but this would be her first long outing. We’ll be heading down to Virginia to celebrate Thanksgiving with my side of the family. It should be a lot of fun since everyone other than my parents will be meeting her for the first time. They’re all eagerly awaiting her arrival so I hope she’s ready. As some of you are aware, I have a pretty big family.

A Preemie No More

2008-11-12T14:21:00.001-05:00

Josie had her one month check-up today and she is “perfect” (the doctor’s words, not mine, although I whole-heartedly agree!). She is growing so quickly and is in the 25th percentile for her height, weight and head size … you would never know that she was a preemie now!

Weight: 8 lbs. 12 ounces (she gained 3 lbs, 14 ounces since birth)
Height: 20.75 inches (2 inches longer!)

YAY Josie, what a big girl you are!

Monday, November 10th – Oh let me count the ways

2008-11-10T22:27:00.005-05:00

Little Josie has been doing her share of growing as of late. Her cheeks are puffier, her legs are chunkier, and her hair is coming in nicely as well. Most if not all of the outfits that have been in circulation since she was born are starting to fit perfectly. In fact, there are even a few that are a bit snug when she fully extends herself. Although these are all signs of that she’s blossoming quite nicely, there’s a part of us that’s sad to see her grow. I can only imagine what it’s going to be like years from now.

Speaking of signs of development, Josie is steadily gaining strength in her neck and back. Holding her now no longer feels like holding of a 5lb water balloon with a mind of its own. In fact, we’ve noticed that she’s starting to lift and hold up her head, all by herself. According to Jen’s fancy baby books, this isn’t supposed to happen for a while longer. Naturally this means that she’s gifted and talented, and probably at the very least will have the combined intellect of a supreme court justice and a neurosurgeon.

We had a pretty laid back weekend. The Redskins had their bye this week so my blood pressure stayed at a relatively normal level. We did have a special visitor come by for the afternoon. Dan (aka Uncle Dan) and his brother stopped over on their way back from New York. I won’t go into the details of his visit. All I’ll say is that sauce was made, and cuddling was involved. That’s it for now!

FYI: I’m currently working on a separate page on this blog which will contain a compilation of the interesting tid-bits which occurred during those first few weeks when I didn’t have a chance to update the blog. Look for that shortly.

What a strong grip!

Bonding with Uncle Dan

Big girl holding her own bottle!

With Mable

aaaaragaowuwrharaaaaa

Thursday, November 6th – Happy 1 month birthday Josie

2008-11-06T22:07:00.006-05:00

As of 7:18 PM this evening, little Josie Kaye officially reached 1 month old. It’s been an eventful month to say the least. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had so many new and exciting experiences one after another in such a short amount of time. We’ve had our share of trying times, but it has been everything that I had hoped for, and more. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. It’s amazing how this tiny little package has brought us so much love and joy from the very moment that she arrived.

I realize this blog has dried up a bit in terms of content and updates; it’s been a lot harder to keep up than I had originally anticipated. The initial week when I returned to work was rough. I didn’t feel well at all and that’s really when the blog began to fall off track. I was barely getting any (good) sleep at night, and I ate at most just once a day. When I got home, all I wanted to do was to crawl into bed. The last thing that I wanted to do was sit in front of the computer, gather my thoughts, put them into words, and try to make sense of it all. It just didn’t happen.

Being at work in general has also put a damper on things because I no longer have the ability to be around and to make note of each and every little thing that happens throughout the day. I get just a few hours each night to eat dinner, shower, take care of things around the house, and spend time with Josie before it’s time for bed. That in turn has made it quite easy to put off blogging, among other things. Honestly speaking, most days I just don’t have the time, and some days, I’m just tired and laziness gets the better part of me.

A lot of people have told me how much they enjoy this blog and that they continually check back for updates. I really appreciate all the positive feedback that I’ve received. It makes all the time and effort that I’ve put into this really worth-while. In order to restore some consistency with the blog while retaining part my sanity, I’ve decided to make weekly updates (most likely on Sundays) from here on out. I had originally intended this to be a daily blog, but clearly that’s not going to work. So check back at the beginning of each week for the latest happenings and developments on our little Josie girl.

P.S. I changed the commenting feature to allow anyone who’d like to say a few words to do so without having to sign in to a specific account. Simply write in what you’d like to say, select the ‘anonymously’ radio button, and publish. Don’t forget to include your name so we know who you are. Feel free to drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you!

Monday, November 3rd - What a big girl ... 4 weeks old today!

2008-11-03T12:42:00.009-05:00

Josie is four weeks old today. I have no idea how that happened. The days have flown by (which is why this blog hasn't been updated quite as much as we had hoped) and she has grown so much in just 28 days. She's also a very busy girl: eating, napping, pooping, peeing, baths, etc. Today though, she wanted to take time out of her busy schedule to wish her daddy a very happy birthday.

Love you, Daddy Duck! Happy birthday!

Trick or Treat, what cute little feet!

Friday, October 10th - Well this ain't so bad

2008-10-10T22:51:00.003-04:00

Believe it or not, I’m a freaking genius. Since getting Josie on the bottle, we’ve found ourselves settling into a bit of a routine. That in turn has allowed a bit of normalcy to return back into our lives. Everyone is happier, less tense, and more able to enjoy the time we’re spending with each other.

We had an appointment with the lactation consultant back at the hospital today and I went over with her everything that’s been happening since being discharged from the hospital. I told her about our struggles with breast feeding and that we broke down and gave her formula in a bottle. It was reassuring to hear from her that I was not a complete idiot for doing so and that in fact supplementing formula along with breast milk (pumped or naturally expressed) is perfectly fine. The main goal at this stage of her life is that she thrives.

So today we had the opportunity to kick back a bit and relax. Everything has been so hectic for quite some time that it was nice to be able to just sit around and lounge a little. Aside from our appointment earlier in the morning, our day mostly consisted of changing diapers, feeding, burping, and napping. Josie’s able to go a little over 2 hrs between feedings, which when you’re having a lazy day, is just about enough time to get nothing significant done. I was fine with that even though our house looked like a baby had just moved in and all mommie and daddie have had time to do is to feed and change her … oh wait.

Brent, Kelly and the kids (Cole & Caleigh) stopped by after dinner and the kids got to see the baby for the first time. It invoked an almost surreal feeling seeing each of them hold little Josie in their arms. I couldn’t help but to think of how quickly they’ve grown, and they’re not even my own! After all, it wasn’t that long ago when they were just tiny tots themselves. I guess it just makes it that much more evident that we need to cherish all the time we have with little Josie right now, as we’ll certainly look back one day to this part of her life and wonder how it had pass us by so quickly.

Off to see the doctor

Cole and baby Josie

Catching a few Zzzz's

Thursday, October 9th - Out comes the bottle

2008-10-09T22:00:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone! So Josie's first night at home turned out to be quite an exhausting one. Breastfeeding didn't go exactly as planned, but then again I had a feeling that was going to happen. For whatever reason, it all seemed to have worked better when we were still in the hospital. The entire night was centered around feeding. The hardest part is getting Josie to latch on. As you can imagine, it's a very tiring process for both sides.

She's hungry and all she wants to do is eat. Unfortunately, it's not natural for her (yet) and she struggles to lay still and latch on. Sometimes it's obvious she's not comfortable and we have to reposition her and try again. Other times it looks like she’s finally got it but we get nothing more than a few sucks and she'll push away. This goes on for 20-30 minutes at a time. Once she finally latches on though, she tends to fall asleep. And understandably so. She just spent all her energy trying to get going, and now she is worn out. Then we have to try to wake her up, and that in itself is a real fun game to play. She's just like her daddie and anything short of a bomb going off right next to her ear isn't going to get that girl awake.

That's not to say we haven't had our fair share of successful feedings either. However, after carefully monitoring all the feedings I came to the conclusion that she simply wasn't getting enough. One of the major contributing factors to our sleepless nights was that she needed fed often. Also, during the feedings, I noticed quite a bit of sucking but not a whole lot of swallowing. Given all that was going on I finally put it all together and figured out that when she was latched, she wasn't getting the amount she needed. She'd go for as long as she could before she'd tire herself out and fall asleep. She wouldn't stay sleeping very long though because she'd wake up hungry. And then it would start all over again.

So at around 4 AM during what felt like our 10th feeding of the night, I finally suggested to Jen that we should bust out the bottles and give her some formula. Now after taking the breastfeeding class and talking to all the pro-breast-milk nurses and doctors, we were a bit hesitant to introduce formula into the equation. But we needed Josie to eat and sleep, so that we could sleep. Lo and behold, giving her that bottle of formula ended up knocking her out for a good 3-4 hrs. She was happy and full and we finally got in a good (albeit brief) nights rest for the first time since she arrived.

On some level I still feel a tiny bit guilty going the formula route since we were adamant about sticking to an all breast milk diet. But things don't always work out as planned and we needed to adjust accordingly. Josie was 3.5 weeks early, so her feeding ability isn't where it should be compared to a fully termed baby. Also, Jen’s milk supply hasn't fully come in yet (and isn't likely to anytime soon) so that doesn’t help. We've been told that this is a common problem for parents with preemies but that it usually gets better as the weeks go by. We just need to let it happen naturally as opposed to repeatedly forcing the issue.

I'm pretty sure this is the way to go for now ... look how happy she is!

Wednesday, October 8th - Running on fumes, but we're finally home

2008-10-08T15:47:00.000-04:00

Last night turned out to be another relatively sleepless night. Josie had her fair share of meltdowns, but Jen and I managed to hold ourselves together. I can't speak for mommy, but I quickly came to realize that a crying baby can make me feel like the most useless person in the world. When it's 3 in the morning and she's screaming her lungs off even after you've checked and rechecked anything and everything you can possibly think of, it can create such an empty void inside. The sense of detachment is unreal. But as always, patience and love pays off. Once you track down what's really causing her to be upset, you simply file that away under "experience." There's nothing worse than a crying baby that won't stop, but there's nothing better than being able to stop that crying baby, and calm her down. Believe it or not, it's very rewarding.

As morning drew near, I managed to sneak in about 2 hrs of shut eye. Josie and mommy have been nursing on and off pretty much the entire night, and I definitely have to give credit where credit is due. Keep in mind that prior to Josie's arrival, Jen's already had her fair share of virtually sleepless nights. The combination of medication in her system, wooden slats of a labor bed, and general pregnancy related discomforts have really taken a toll on her physically and mentally. She got a slight break after delivery, but the R&R time had been minimal. This would be the 4th day since being admitted to the hospital, and even after all this, I couldn't believe how much more she had in her to give to our little one.

Sometime during the night, Josie and mommy got their final checkup and were given the go ahead for discharge. We were finally ready to go home. After a few more rounds of feeding, packing and loading up, and checking in with what seemed like to have been an endless string of nurses and doctors, we made it out of there at around 12:30 pm.

Once home it was more of the same; constant nursing. At some point, mommy and daddy snuck in some lunch, a shower, and a nap. The rest was again, a blur. Grandma and Grandpa Shue stopped over later in the evening with some more new outfits and to spend some time with Josie.

We want to thank everyone who's sent some sort of congratulations our way. The flowers are beautiful, the phone calls were entertaining, and the gifts were put right to use. Your thoughts and gestures mean the world to us and it's wonderful to know that there are so many people out there that care and love us.

So that was pretty much day 3. Believe it or not I didn't get too many pictures of anything. We had so much to do and I didn't get around to unpacking the camera and gear. But that's not to say I didn't get any pictures. As usual, enjoy ...

Tuesday, October 7th - Barely a day old

2008-10-07T19:58:00.000-04:00

Last night was full of commotion. Between breastfeeding, checking her vitals, and running her to and from the baby toaster, it seemed like none of us got very much sleep at all. In actuality ... none of us got very much sleep at all.

For me, today was much more of a blur than yesterday was. I think it was because we were more on our own. No longer did were we on a semi-predeterminded schedule of admistering medication every 12 hrs, doctors checking in every 2, etc. We had to do what came natural; and we had to do it by ourselves.

Despite having only had 3 hours of sleep the night before, I think I held up fairly well. The day began with yet another feeding marathon. Now that she's been out for some time, she's starting to develop quite an appetite.

Breastfeeding is truly an art. Even though I had absolutely zero knowledge on the topic of breastfeeding prior to attending our class a few weeks ago, I'm confident to say that I now have a pretty through understanding of it all. It's not easy for any baby, not to mention with preemies. It takes time, patience, and energy. Lots of energy. Lots of energy that neither mommie or daddie have much of. Fortunately, our little one is doing quite well in this area. She just needs a bit of convincing every now and then. Like I've been telling Jen this whole time; for me, it's terribly frustrating when it doesn't work and all I want to do is blow my brains out. But it's one of the best feelings in the world when it does. It totally makes it worth the struggle.

Aside from feeding, we had a good group of visitors. They got to see a cleaner, sleepier, more relaxed side of Josie, compared to the day before. Greatnan made her first appearance; she's been so anxious to meet the little one and she definitely got in her fair share of bonding time. Also, Grandma Shue went out and got Josie some new attire. Due to her size, virtually nothing that we've bought or have been gifted will fit her at this point. I hope she doesn't expect me to go out and buy her new clothes like this when she's 16!

All cleaned up with no place to go

With Greatnan

That's about all I can remember for now, so I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Monday, October 6th - Welcome Josie Kaye!

2008-10-07T06:05:00.000-04:00

Well, after what seemed to have been forever ago since we first set foot here at the hospital early Saturday morning, our beautiful baby girl finally graced us with her prescence at 7:18 pm. Weighing in at 4lbs 14oz, Josie Kaye is certainly a bit on the small side. However, she is ever so alert. Shortly after her arrival, we heard her first cries. Then her eyes opened and she began to assess the new and unfamiliar environment. She settled down quickly and seemed content and well situated until her first ever exam started. Once all the poking and prodding began, the cries quickly resumed.

The initial exam showed that her body temperature was a smidge on the lower end. According to the nurse, preemie babies usually have trouble regulating body temperature on their own. However, her breathing seemed normal, and her blood sugar was at an acceptable level as well.

Once the exam was over, baby and mommy were reunited. We were on a tight schedule due to the fact that the nurse wanted to get Josie over to the nursery as soon as possible to get her temp up.

As a result, we got the meet and greet going right away so that we could get in the first feeding immediately afterwards. Josie got her first glimps of Grandma and Grandpa Shue, as well as Aunt Tiffy. After everyone had a chance to hold the baby and the initial photo op was over, we had to send them on their way.

Our first feeding happened a lot like how they said it would. A little bit of sucking and a lot of falling asleep. It was a lot of trial and error, but we got her to latch on a few times. It wasn't as big of a success as what I wanted, but we were hopeful.

After feeding, the nurse performed another quick exam. Even though her body temperature did go up a little, it was still not enough for us to keep her with us. So off to the nursery she went; under the baby toaster. Her blood sugar level had dropped a tad as well, so I was informed that a little bit of formula would be given to her. While I made my way over to the nursery, Jen was back in the room recovering. She finally got something to eat for the first time since early this morning. Needless to say she was estatic.

Once the baby arrived at the nursery, they began to check her out right away. She was weighed, measured, wiped, and pricked. I stayed until they finished with her and then it was back to the room to pack up. We were being transferred to the maternity ward (from labor hall.)

The room here at the maternity ward is much better. We settled in quickly and off went the first batch of emails and phone calls. I must admit I did turn the Monday night game on pretty much right away to get a quick look at the score. In fact, the first question that I asked the nursing assistant when she came in was how to get the volume to come out of the TV.

I decided to create this blog because I realized that there was no way to distribute information about what's going on with us and the baby widely and effectively to everyone via emails and phone calls. Please check back frequently as we'll try to update it as much as possible. Before I could fully create the blog though, we needed to give her a name. I had insisted prior to Josie's arrival that I would need to see her before I could decide on a name. Well she came and that didn't happen. We had a few names floating out there, but it wasn't until we said it out loud to each other that we knew we had landed on the right one.

Josie Kaye Lau

So now it's 1 am. Josie was returned to us about an hour ago, and Jen did another feeding. It went much better this time as she latched on well and stayed on longer. Since her body temperature has gone up and stabilized, we'll be keeping her with us here.

That pretty much sums it up for day 1. Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to be able to give something back to everyone who has been with us through this journey thus far. We're very fortunate to have so many friends and family that care and love us so much. Your thoughts and prayers are very much appreciated.

I'm going to sign off now but I will leave you all with some pictures. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Until tomorrow ...

Please feel free to drop us a line in the Comments section. We'd love to hear from you!