Mom's 60th birthday

Today would have been mom's 60th birthday. I cut some lilies from the backyard that I had planted earlier in the spring this year. The dining room smells wonderful! It's a good thing I had cut them earlier during the week because I was out in the yard today and someone/thing had been chomping on the other flowers!

My smiling/crying little Monster!

Little Graham is starting to learn how to smile at 5 weeks. He's so cute when he does smile! But then of course, the crying comes REAL easy and naturally!!! Just like what his little onesie says... I'm a Little Monster! :-)

Another successful outing!

My sister is in town right now and we decided to go to Panda Express for a quick meal earlier this evening. We took little Graham with us and he was asleep all throughout our meal, even with additional time to chat a bit! I'm so glad we didn't have to chow down our food and rush out because of a crying baby. Phew!
We then went to the local supermarket and again, a quiet sleepy baby! He did cry a little at the end... but I think it's because he had to poop - his face was all red! :-)

Our first family outing

Last Friday, Bob and I finally figured we were ready to take little Graham out. So, off we went - grocery shopping at Walmart! Just as we walked in, a lady commented on how "dandy" little Graham was :-)
Bobby was a proud papa - pushing Graham around on the cart. Graham did really well in his carseat... sleeping pretty much all throughout our shopping! Bobby had to be constantl on the move though. Seemed like Graham would fuss when we were stagnant. I wonder how we're going to eat at a restaurant if this is the case!
Graham did let out a little cry right when we were about to check out. Thankfully the store is so huge that his cry only sounded like a whimper. However, it was just a little cry... I'm sure it would have been more audible if it was a meltdown! Guess it's only a matter of time when that happens!

Happy Father's Day!

Bobby got to celebrate his first Father's Day this past Sunday! We really didn't do too much. We were going to take little Graham out for the first time today - to Home Depot to run some errands, but figured it was too hot outside. There has been (and still actually is) a heat advisory in Tulsa for the next couple of days!
We did, however go for our first family walk around the neighborhood! Now that Graham is a month old - which is a big milestone in the Chinese culture and I'm out of my one-month confinement (minus all the ginger I was suppose to eat!), we packed little Graham in his stroller and went for our walk at 9pm. Yup... 9pm and it was still 88F outside! And for the first time this season, I got bitten by the biggest mosquito ever!!!
Well, the night did not end until Bobby was presented with his Father's Day gifts. He was obviously emotional about it, as you can tell in the pic. Before little Graham was born, he had mentioned that all he wanted was Old Spice and a tie - sort of a first Father's Day gag gift. And... that's exactly what he got! The tie is a collage of Graham making the funny :-o face and I had his mom buy a bottle of Old Spice aftershave while she was here a couple of weeks ago. It had been hidden under the dresser in our bedroom all this time! :-)
Happy Daddy's day... We love daddy! :-x

Remembering Mom

It was 3 years ago on June 19th when Mom moved on to a better world. I was going through some old pics and have always like this one. Check out those boots! I believe this was taken when she was at university, in New Zealand.
As with the previous years, I have started the tradition of buying her flowers and lighting a candle for her on her anniversary. We bought yellow roses this time and they smell wonderful in the dining room!

And right about this time last year - June 16th to be exact, I had buzzed 18" of my hair for charity (Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign). Here's a pic of me and my sis at the golf tournament site in Mason, Ohio - where the tournament organizers were kind enough to help out with the special "hair donation" occasion (that's the Malaysian flag, by the way). I was able to get 3 other Futures Tour players and 3 volunteers from the Mason, Ohio area to donate their hair as well for the good cause - where Pantene Beautiful Lengths makes wigs for women with cancer.
I can recall how hot my head got when I was out in the sun! I remembered having to spray sunscreen all over on my head before heading out to play my rounds of golf. So no, it was not cooler with less hair!
And here's a pic of me now - a year later... with a baby!!! My hair has grown just over 8" long and little Graham is a month old! It's amazing what can happen in one year. :-)

Happy Birthday... to me!

Yup... another year older! Wait... I mean, 24 years old all over again! :-) Didn't really do too much for my birthday. I did get to sleep in the day after, which was really nice as Bobby was able to look after Graham on Sunday.
For my birthday, I was presented with a really nice card from Bobby (I always seem to cry when I read cards from Bobby these days), a super-loaded ham sandwich with chips, a yummy cheesecake, and the Avatar DVD. I really wondered about the choice of the DVD. Bobby later mentioned that it was between Avatar or the series of Tom and Jerry cartoon. So, guess what... I got my Tom & Jerry DVD! And Bobby got his Avatar DVD. Haha! And of course, we can't forget those cupcakes for Graham's 3-week old birthday! As you can see, he is out like a drunken sailor on the nursing pillow :-) He loves sleeping on that pillow. Hope it won't do too much damage to his posture as he looks so scrunched up! But at this point... whatever that will keep him sleeping so I can catch some zzzzzz's too!
Little Graham also received his first letter in the mail this past week! It was his social security card... which means we can put him to work right away! ;-)
Another first this week was Graham's first bath! And he did really well! When I was pregnant, I told Bobby that little Graham was going to be a swimmer because he was constantly squirming in my belly during my showers. Guess I wasn't too far from the truth!
By the way, my sunflower in the yard finally bloomed!
The plant itself is over 5 feet tall. Unfortunately, the ants are having a jolly good time eating up the seeds of the flower! Oh well... guess I'll just have to enjoy them while they are in bloom.

More cupcakes!

To celebrate little Graham's 2-week old birthday last Saturday, Bobby bought some more cupcakes (as per my request of course :-)! But instead of just regular store-bought ones, he stopped by a specialty cupcake store and got some fancy ones! And they were yummy!!! Looks like he has just up-ed the stakes for Graham's 3-week old birthday this Saturday! :-)

By the way, here's the cake from the baby shower that was thrown by Bobby's coworkers on April 30. I swear that cake was responsible for little Graham's weight of over 9lbs!

Little Graham continues to just get heavier each day. He did lose some weight after his discharge from the hospital, but he was back up to 8 lbs 10 oz after our doctor's appointment Tuesday of last week. I am already suffering from aches and pain along my left shoulder and arm and neck area - having to feed him all the time and also trying to hold him in one arm and performing errands with the other (which includes learning to type with one hand!). And I haven't even started practicing/playing golf yet! But how can you be mad at a little guy that has the cutest smile!
Of course, mommies are allowed to be bias in their opinions ;-)

Thank you Grandma & Pop-pop!

Bobby's mom and her husband just left on their 2-day drive back to New Jersey from Tulsa. They were here since Day 1 when little Graham arrived home about a week and a half ago. Grandma and Pop-pop was of great help while I continue to recover and with Bobby going back to work earlier this week. Bobby and I were able to take naps during the day while Grandma and Pop-pop supervised and fed little Graham. We would take the night shift while Grandma and Pop-pop got their sleep. It worked out great!

Pop-pop was also nice enough to keep everything watered in the yard, especially with the temperature rising. I finally had my first blueberry! It was really tiny though but tasted pretty good. I can't wait for the blueberry plant to bloom some more in the summer! Hopefully the birds and deers won't get to it. The deers did get to the Asian lilies as well as my rose plant. Bad, bad deers!!!

Speaking of Asian lilies... I was rather emotional when I saw these finally blooming in the backyard when we returned home with little Graham from the hospital. I had bought some Asian lilies for my mom last summer, as she always loved them and we would always bring some when visiting her grave-site back in Malaysia. Anyhow, the deers had gotten to them last year when the flowers were blooming, so all that was left were just the leaves of the lilies. Thinking it was a weed, Bobby had pulled them out while clearing the area!
Well,... while I was preparing to mulch the deck area this year, I saw a plant growing and wasn't sure what it was - weed or a flowering plant. Well, I'm glad I decided to keep it because when it finally bloomed, I realized it was the same Asian lily that I had bought for my mom last summer! What makes this so special is that the lily flowers probably bloomed when Graham was born, as the plant itself was in full bloom when we returned with little Graham from the hospital. So glad that Bobby isn't very good at weed-pulling! :-)

Happy Birthday Bobby!

It's amazing how a baby changes your life! Bobby's birthday was about a week ago and with all the commotion going on, I'm finally able to take a few moments to update my blog. Although, I can just hear my mom-in-law saying... "When baby sleep, you sleep!" I am known to dilly-dally around the house when it's my naptime :-)
Anyhow, it was Bobby's BIG birthday on May 30th. Yup... the BIG 40! His mom and her husband bought some "Just for Men" hair coloring product. Bobby seems to be getting more gray each year (and nope, I have nothing to do with it!)
I didn't get a chance to buy Bobby a birthday gift. I was going to wrap up little Graham with some ribbon but decided to make a little card instead. Bobby took the card into his office before I had a chance to take a picture of it. I basically traced out my left hand on the front of the card and on the inside, I traced out little Graham's hands. It was a little bit more difficult as I expected as Graham did not want to spread out his fingers, so his left hand looked a little bit awkward. Haha!

Bobby was a busy-bee on his birthday. With the help of her mom's husband, they dug up a trench by the garage where water is always prone to accumulating after the rain. He then put the borders around it and lined the bottom of it with some weed fabric. And then, topped it off with some river rocks. He still has to top it off with more rocks but overall, I think it looks great! And the best thing is, it works!!! We had some heavy rain earlier this week and the driveway was nice and puddle-free!
The dog pen has also been removed and the area cleaned up. We will need to start thinking about putting a shed there so we will have more room in our garage. Unfortunately, we can't just go out and buy a pre-assembled shed. The Home Owner's Association here requires that sheds are built in the same design as the house!
Well, the hard work paid off. Bobby was rewarded with his favorite - peanut butter pie - courtesy of his mom, of course!