Family outing on the golf course

It rained earlier in the day yesterday and by the time Bobby came home from work, it was rather nice out. So, I decided that maybe it would be a good day to all go out and play some golf!

And off we went! We secured Graham on the golf cart and he was quite contented. But obviously, it didn't last very long. By the time we got to the driving range to warm up, he started to fuss. So while Daddy warmed up, I drove him around. Then, it was my turn to warm up and Daddy's turn to drive him around.
He started to fall asleep but when we got to the first tee, he started to cry! We decided to tee-off anyway (are we bad parents??!). By the way, it does take some concentration to hit while there's a crying baby in the background! But once we started to move to our next shot, Graham was quiet and went back to sleep.
It was nice being back on the golf course with Bobby again. It's been a while since we last played a round of golf together - I think our last round together was when I was at 38 weeks. It was great too that Graham could join us this time. As you can see, we didn't forget the diaper bag either! It's tucked between both golf bags and strapped on to one, so it doesn't fall out :-)
Graham did start to cry again in the middle of the round. But we started to realize that as long as we kept the golf cart moving, he would be quiet. And so, by the end of the day, we were getting good at jumping out of the cart while it was still in motion and grabbing a club... yes, while the cart was in motion. Then, one person would hit their shot while the other drove Graham around! Unfortunately, we did have to leave him crying when we had to putt!
In the end, I think it worked out pretty well. Graham fed at the club in the ladies locker room and was quite happy. He did have a red nose and rosy cheeks. Not sure if that was from the sun or from all the crying he did!
Well, he did cry all the way home too! When we got home, I fed him again and he was out like a light! He slept for 12 hours... till about 9am the next day!

My new car!

Amazingly... after 11 years of owning the Honda Civic, I finally got a brand new car! Yup, Daddy bought Mommy a new VW Stationwagon last Saturday!
It's the TDI model and runs on diesel. It sort of sounds like a clunker when you start it or when it's idle, but it drives really well. And it's fast! I guess anything would be faster than my Civic. I have to be more aware of my speed now and make sure I stick to 4th gear when I'm on the surface streets!
We have not sold the Civic yet. At 214,479 miles, it has definitely served me well.
Throughout all the road trips, it has never broken down on me. I've never had to change a flat tire on it. It's been stolen once (in west Phoenix) and I've been in one fender-bender and it wasn't even my fault! And so far, it has only cost me one ticket for aggressive driving - I was changing lanes without using my blinkers - everyone does that, right!!?!
Anyhow, I think that's a pretty darn good track record for my first car of 11 years! I'm definitely going to miss it, but "he" is getting old. The sun visors are really worn out so I've sewn covers for them (not very good looking ones, I'm terrible at sewing!). The radio/CD comes on or switches stations on its own, the sunroof opens well but can be stubborn when I try to close it, the light in the trunk works every now and then,... and just last week, the passenger window quit working! Come to think of it, the driver's side window quit working on me once when I pulled up to a golf course during a golf tournament. I had to put a towel over the door while I went out to play!
The list does go on (even growing tomato plants in the car while on the road!... as seen in pic above taken March 15, 2009) but the main reason for getting the new car was because it was not convenient to have baby Graham in the backseat of the Civic. And of course, Daddy got tired of driving my old Civic when I needed his Volvo stationwagon where we have the carseat base installed. We basically traded in one wagon for another. I feel quite bad because the main reason for trading the Volvo in was because once the baby's carseat was in, there was barely enough space for the front passenger. And unfortunately, with our miscalculation, it's almost the same case in the new VW stationwagon! Ops!!! But after a few crying spells on the way home, Daddy has decided that Mommy can continue sitting in the backseat. That way, I can soothe Graham with his pacifier and Daddy can continue listening to the Grateful Dead on the new satellite radio. Ahhh... we ARE spoiled!

Aaaiii...!!!

For the longest time, Bobby and I have been trying to capture Graham sneezing on camera. And we finally did! He does the funniest (and cutest!) sound after he sneezes!


Graham has been crawling like a crazy person in his crib! Again, I started him out at the right side, with his body lengthwise with the crib. When I entered the room this morning, I knew he had moved because I could hear his cries from a different part of the crib. I started laughing when I saw where he had ended up and just had to grab the camera for this photo op!
Graham now has his first set of clubs! A good friend of mine (golfer, of course!) got him the cutest set of Snoopy clubs. Can't you just see the excitement in his face!

Thank goodness for...

Thank goodness for crib bumpers!
Graham has started crawling in his crib recently. As you can see, he started on the right side of his crib where his blankie is and ended up turning 90 degrees and crawling head on to the bumper! Earlier in the morning, he ended up at the very corner of the bed. He had basically crawled the entire length of his crib!
And he has been sucking on his hand/thumb a lot more these days. I think it soothes him to do so while he tries to fall asleep or when he's asleep.
Graham is also getting better at grasping things like his new monkey teether (of course, it had to be a monkey!). I believe daddy bought this one for him. Graham has yet to put it in his mouth but I'm sure it will only be a matter of time when he starts to put EVERYTHING in his mouth!
He has also started to pick his head up quite well when he's on his belly!
I'm not sure what the "standard" age is for a baby to start picking their head up, but I think he's doing a pretty good job at 9 1/2 weeks old!

The other thing to be thankful for is the internet! I had to take a ceiling fan down and only got this far. I was trying to take a bolt out but it just would not nudge, so that's when I got on Google... "how to remove a ceiling fan" and voila! Clicked on a video... and moments later, I was able to take the rest of the fan off! By the way, I didn't even need to take that bolt out. Good thing I didn't get very far! :-)
Now to put the new light fixture on. Sometimes the tough part is just trying to figure out which switch in the circuit breaker box! The light fixture was a little tricky to install so I needed to wait until Bobby returned home from work to give me an extra hand. It almost turned ugly as I almost "fired" Bobby from the job (unlike the bathroom curtain rod job where I did actually fire him!). Thankfully, a few extra deep breathes later, it all worked out. Now we can take a swing in the "golf room" without taking the ceiling fan down or breaking any light bulbs! Although, we think the light may be a bit dim for the room. Hopefully a higher Watt bulb will take care of that. If not, guess I'll just have to take a few more extra breathes for the removal process! I still love you though, honey! :-x

Baby Graham's 2-month check up

Graham is just over 8 weeks old now and was due for his 2-month check up today at the pediatrician. The nurse had to take our picture for his file and since we had our camera handy in the diaper bag, I had her take our #2 family picture!
All is well with Graham. He now weighs 12 lbs 1 oz and is 22 1/2 " tall. His vaccinations were due today. One vaccination was by mouth and the other 3 were by shots/needles - two shots on the right thigh and one shot on the other thigh. When he got his first shot, he immediately started screaming and his face turned bright red! When all was done, he got two Garfield band-aids. Ha ha!
The feeding afterward calmed him down a little and when we got home, I fed him some more. That pretty much put him out for a little while...
By the way, Graham is finally sleeping a little bit longer through the night. So far, for the past 3 nights, he's been averaging 8 hours of sleep! That makes a very happy Mommy!!! :-D

Video of Graham laughing

Baby Graham just turned 8 weeks last Saturday! I was going to make cupcakes to celebrate, but didn't get around to it. So it was back to Walmart. I don't think Graham minds it all that much... yet :-)
Graham has been smiling and laughing a lot, especially early in the morning after he feeds. And of course, all I want to do is get him (and myself) back to bed! I did get a chance to take this video later in the morning today. He is our cutie pie! :-D

Best pout ever!

And the winner of the best pouter in the Lee-Pridgen household is... baby Graham!

Graham's first passport pic

Yesterday, we took Graham to have his passport pictures taken as we may soon have an international trip coming up. Thankfully, the timing was perfect! I was really worried that he would be asleep (or worse, crying!) when we got to the studio. But he had just woken up from his nap and his eyes were wide open! Luckily, the studio's associate was able to take us in immediately as I mentioned to her that we might have a really narrow window of opportunity to have photos taken. She immediate got down to business. She laid a piece of cloth on the ground and once Graham was on the floor, we had to try and get his attention to look into the camera. I also had to make sure that his head was straight as he has been favoring a tilt to his right side. Miraculously, it only took 3 shots before we finally got the right passport pic! Funny enough, he actually decided to give us a big laugh during the photo shot (as we were all trying so hard making funny noises to get his attention) and obviously we won't be able to use it for his passport. The lady was nice enough to give us a copy of the "rejected" pic :-)
Not long after his photo op, as Bobby was paying for the pictures, little Graham decided to start crying. Yup, mommy was right! There goes our small window of opportunity! Thankfully it all worked out for everyone!
By the way, Graham's outfit was a gift from one of Bobby's brother, Kenny - who is the head pro at Liberty National Golf Course. It's an amazing golf course with spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty on some holes. I figured the golf club's logo would fit best for the occasion :-)

Dresser finally complete!

For the past 3 1/2 months, this is what little Graham's dresser looked like - with a missing left front drawer.
And since April 1st, I had sent an email to Delta Enterprises, the manufacturer of the dresser - asking for the part. Finally,... 3 months and three other incorrect part deliveries AND 20 emails later (out of which 12 were mine!), the dresser is finally complete! The stain color of the new drawer front is a bit darker than the rest but at this point, I think I'm quite satisfied. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so nice and patient in my emails. Maybe if I sounded more "bitchy" they would have gotten it right the first time and sent the part a lot sooner!

First outing to the Golf Club

Bobby and I decided it was time to take little Graham to the golf club! So last Sunday on July 4th, we packed him up and headed out. It was a rather warm day so we were planning on hitting balls in the indoor shed. When we arrived at the club and drove our golf cart to the shed, it was locked! We figured it was cool enough under a tree, so we parked the cart with Graham's carseat on it and started hitting balls on the grass section of the driving range instead.
After about 5 shots, I decided to check on Graham. Just as I was approaching the golf cart, he starting crying! So I picked him up and that was almost the end of it. Thankfully, after a few minutes, one of the bag boys showed up on the driving range. We asked him to head back to the pro-shop to pick up the key to unlock the shed. For some reason, I thought the shed would have an air conditioner, but I was wrong. There was this dinky fan on the side... guess it's better than nothing! Little Graham finally calmed down a little, but then after awhile he started crying again! So while Bobby was trying to calm him down, I would hit balls off the indoor mat. Needless to say, that didn't last very long (as I was feeling so out of shape too!). We finally figured out that he had a poopy diaper and he also stained his onesie! But even after a clean diaper, the crying continued. Then we figured out he was hungry. So after feeding him in the shed, Graham finally decided he was tired and went to sleep.
By now, a couple hours had already gone by and it was pretty much time to go. We wanted to get to a restaurant for dinner before the crowd. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed, so we ended up going to a Vietnamese restaurant close by instead. That was probably a better idea because the restaurant was really quiet and Graham started to fuss again! I ended up holding him in one hand and trying to eat my noodles with the other! Let's just say by the end of it all, we were all pretty beat by the time we got home! Of course, little Graham got a head start - he was out by the time he got back into his carseat in the car! Little stinker!

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!