Saturday, February 26, 2005

Dining out

Bulleye and his wife were in town visiting and we went to a northern region Chinese restaurant in Hacienda Height. I don't remember the name but in Chinese it is Kou Bing. We were there around one and we still had to wait for a while.
Here are some of the dishes we shared. We brought home the left overs and ate it for dinner also.

Figure 1. Steam dumplings stuffed with clear noodles, eggs, veggies and meat.


Figure 2. Fried dumplings (Guo Tie) stuffed with meat. This is bulleye's favorite.


Figure 3. Moo-Shu Pork wrap stuffed with eggs, beansprouts and mushroom. I tried taking picture of the fillings but I was not successfull. I didn't think it was that tasty but others liked it.


Figure 4. Beef Fried Rice. I mainly order this for hubby since he wasn't fond of the northern style of Chinese food.


Figure 5. Spicy Seafood noodle soup. This one is my 2nd favorite.


Figure 6. Green onion pancake. A simple dish, similar to tortilla with green onion but thinner and very tasty. This is my favorite dish but quite greasy.

Eventhough the visit was short but it was nice to reconnect with my brother and sister inlaw.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Playing


Here's S and her cousin E scootering around the neighborhood.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Breaking the habit: Day 2

I checked daughter's finger nails when she got home from school last night and I did see missing polish on the left thumb (The one she sucks). When I checked her other hand, I noticed missing polish on the other fingers so may be nail polish is not an accurate indicator after all. She told us that she didn't suck her thumb during nap time so we praised her and gave her positive reinforcement on how well she's doing.
Sleeping was still challenging but over time she'll get used to the new habit.

There has been lots more activity in my belly now that I'm in my close to 7th month of pregnancy. She's moving more and definitely making her presence known. The only comfortable position for sleeping is sleeping on my side. S thinks it's funny that my belly is getting bigger everyday.

I'm attending a wedding in March and I still don't know what I'm going to wear. Sigh..

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Breaking the habit: Day 1

Last night was a struggle for S. She had difficulty falling asleep with out sucking her thumb. We laid in bed for at least half an hour and she was wide awake. She was exhausted, yawning repeatedly and finally I fell asleep before she did. I was exhausted too. When I woke up around 11:30 PM, she was asleep with nothing in her mouth. I gave her an incentive that if she successfully not suck her thumb for 1 week, I'll get her a pokemon stuff animal name Minum.
I have no choice but trust that she will not suck her thumb during nap time at school. If I see missing flakes of nail polish, that will an indication that she didn't stick with the program.
From this experience, thumb sucking will not be an option for child number 2.

On a different note, I found out that my sister inlaw is also expecting. Her due date is August 2005 so our kids will be 3 months apart. She's very excited and she's hoping for a girl.

Monday, February 21, 2005

Trip to the Dentist

Today, we took S to the dentist and had a routine check up. She really likes sweets so I'm expecting some cavities that will pop up this time. Now that she's 5, the office did this 360 X-ray which shows all her teeth, baby and permanent. Those permanent teeth are big and ready when ever her little mouth is ready for them. The good news is that she doesn't have to go back until another 6 month. The bad news is that she does have a cavity between two molars. I'll continue to floss her teeth and the dentist will assess the situation again in 6 months. Her dentist also told S that she has to stop sucking her thumb or her permanent teeth will be crooked and ugly.
S has this thumb sucking habit since she was born so today daughter and I decided we will break the habit for good. I put nail polish on all her fingers and toes. She had a hard time taking a nap but over time she did managed to fall a sleep with out sucking her thumb. I caught her putting her thumb in her mouth and scolded her. We'll have to take it day by day and hopefully after 21 days, she'll be able to break the habit for good.

Friday, February 18, 2005

More experimentation

I tried to post pictures from smugmug and didn't have any luck.
Bull eye, I copy the text and point to my gallery and it didn't work.
Must consult you some more.
This painting was done by a childhood friend of mine. Very nice.

Monday, February 14, 2005

Dishes from the Party

Warning !! You might be hungry after reading this blog.
Here are some of the dishes we had this pass weekend celebrating daughter's 5th birthday.

Mom's famous Chow Mien with chicken and shrimp. Eating it will bring long life to the birthday girl.
Figure 1. Birthday Noodles

Mother inlaw's famous eggrolls which has ground pork, clear noodles, shrimp, carrots, and onions. Very yummy. She made over 100 of them so everyone took some home with them after the party.

Figure 2. Vietnamese Eggrolls

This dish is not so popular among the kids but is one of my favorite. The beef goes well with American broccoli or Chinese broccoli.

Figure 3. Beef and broccoli

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Happy Ending

It rained all night Friday night and Saturday we got a break from the weather. S's party started @ 11 AM but people didn't show up until about 12. We had a total of 6 kids which was a good number. They had fun jumping in the bouncer, playing playdooh and hitting the pinata. None of the kids were strong enough to break the pinata so the adult broke it for them.
The sun finally came out around 1:30 PM so that a treat.


Castle Jumper

Friday, February 11, 2005

Rain, rain go away

It's been raining constantly all day and the forecast predict more rain tomorrow. Daughter's birthday party is tomorrow and hopefully it won't be so wet that they can't bounce in the jumper.
Planning for S's party has always been a challenge since I can remember.

sigh..

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Memory

After a workout, I usually see this older lady, June. We chated frequently but she seems to not remember me at all. Am I that forgetable?
Here's an example of our conversation last Tuesday as I was changing back to my street clothes

J: "Are you pregnant?"
Me: "Yes, I am"
J: "How far along are you?"
Me: "6 months"
J: "Do you know what you are having?"
Me: "I’m having a girl"
J: "Is this your first?"
Me: "No, this is my 2nd"
J: "What gender is your 1st born?"
Me: "A girl"
J: "I have 2 girls and 1 boy"
Me: "That’s great!"
She went in to details about her grand kids etc..etc..

Today, as I was getting ready to jump into the shower, I noticed that June was staring intensely at my belly as if she was seeing it for the 1st time.
When we had eye contact, she started with:
J: "Are you pregnant?"
Me: "Yes I am"
J: "You look like you have 4 more months to go?"
Me: "About 3 more.."
J: "Do you know what you are having?"
Me: "I'm having a girl"
J: "Is this your first?"
Me: "No, this is my 2nd"
J: "What gender is your 1st born?"
Me: "A girl"

Then I head off to the shower and thoughts, if I see her again next Tuesday, are we going to have the same conversation again? May be she suffers from Alzheimer? May be not because she shows up to the gym to exercise every Tuesday and Thursday unless someone picks her up and drops her off based on a set schedule. Hm...

I’m thankful that my parents still have good memory.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Year of the Rooster

Today starts the year of the Rooster. Doesn't feel much like New Year since I didn't get any new year related food or decorations. What's interesting is that in the Vietnamese culture, they do eat chung to celebrate new year. Today, one of my co-worker gave me one and it tasted really good. They put salted green bean and pork as fillings. I'll have to buy some from him so I can let hubby taste it.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Better Days

S was invited to a birthday party this pass weekend but we didn't go because I was still a bit sick and didn't want to spread my sickness around.
Luckily most of the aches and pains went a way for now and I was able to sleep and get some rest. What I've learned is that when I'm experiencing unbearable pain, the only thing that helps me is deep breathing.
S's cousin came over and they had fun playing with each other. They played ponies, cars, cooking and had a blast.
This coming weekend is daughter's birthday party. I've invited some of her friends from school, very last minute so I'm not sure how many will actually show up. S and I made the invitations last night and she was happy. She tailored each invitation to each of her friends personalities and got really excited about passing it out today.
I have 3 more days to pull everything together.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

It sucks to be me

Being able to get some decent sleep has been a challenge. Because belly has been growing larger, I've sleeping on my sides. Unfortunately sleeping on my side caused my arms to go numb and ache for days. Now my only option is sleeping while sitting up in an angle.
I went to my reflexologyst and told her about my problem. She massaged my back and arms this time and did not concentrate on my feet. After the session, the pain did not go away completely but I felt better on my right arm.
In addition to my arms being sore 90% of the time,I've been coughing for a week. When the infection got to my eyes, I went to the doctor and got some antibiotics.
I isolated my self from the family so they don't get pink eye. I'm so glad that there is an antibiotic that is safe to take while pregnant.
I've accepted that suffering is part of life but this is the 1st time that I had to deal with on a regular basis.