Baby dolls

Maddy's and Paige's Christmas dolls.  Eleanor provided for scale.

First Best Buy trip

William's been to Best Buy a few times, but he was too young to understand the pull it will have on his boy soul. We made a Saturday morning of his first trip and ate at Chik-fil-a beforehand and played on the playground a little bit before walking over to the store. I was a little bit shocked by how much he loved the place. We weren't even in the TV or video game section, and he was still gaga over the rows of boxes of Apple products, and he loved the headphone display. They were playing his favorite song - The Blackeyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow."

Surprise!

The iPhone camera flash is a little surprising to a two-month old. Who knew?

Two months old

Eleanor made two months today. We celebrated by visiting the pediatrician and getting three shots in her thighs. Sorry, baby! She weighs 10 pound 11 ounces, and my back thanks her for not being as beefy as William was at this age.
William grows daily in his role as big brother, and takes his job seriously. Every morning, he asks, "Mama, how's baby doin'?"
"She's doing great, William."
"Dat's great, Mama!"

Oh, happy day!

Eleanor now smiles during naps, in response to funny sounds (Papa Bob's seem to be her favorite), and when she sees a smile that tickles her fancy.

"Watching" football

Sunday football used to be Nang watching and me sleeping on the sofa. Someone has taken my place...

Look at these guns

Deep in thought

Pondering some deep stuff...

Big boy underwear

Haphazard potty training continues with William's first pair of big boy underpants!!

Via Colori

Mimi, William, Eleanor, and I went to Via Colori to see the chalk drawings. William helped with the navigation and read the map, but the highlight for him was "driving" a Mini convertible.

Coked out

Last Sunday Mimi, Nang, William, Eleanor, and I ate lunch at Revival Market in the Heights. We got a great table on the patio and took advantage of a rare day of perfect Houston weather.

The lunch date reminded me that William is always observing us and determining the behaviors he's allowed to adopt. There's no better way to feel sheepish than to have a 2 1/2-year old mimicking a bad habit. Cussing, spitting, and general lewd behaviors abound, and he has developed an interest in Coke. He hates it, but he'll give it a try every once in awhile. The first picture is the try. The second picture is the gagging.

One month old

This flew by...

Today's big boy outfit

For about the last six months, William loudly expresses his opinions on his daily clothing ensembles. Mimi spearheaded a clothing organization campaign immediately after Eleanor's birth, and big brother's clothes are now hung in his big boy closet at big boy height for him to select from each day. He is very excited that Mimi hung all his clothes in his closet, and enjoys selecting his outfits each day. Definitely Nang's child.

Here he is wearing Spiderman-inspired leg warmers to accent the blue hat, shirt, and shorts. Definitely my child.

Potty training

The three houses (ours and both grandparets') have all started to introduce some idea of potty training to William. Before his shower at our house tonight, he fell in the toilet. Twice. Because he was preoccupied with READING while on the pot.

Monkey mask

Mimi bought William this monkey mask when they went to the zoo last week. She said it was the most fun trip because she followed him wherever he wanted to go. They ate lunch (pizza pie-ah for Big Dub, of course) near the giraffes, and he came home with this terrifying monkey mask that he LOVES to wear. I can't look at him when he has it on because it is so frightening. He's also sure that he is supposed to look out of the mouth hole instead of the eye holes. I want to throw it away, but that would be wrong...right?

October 23

Today is my due date.

Stretch

Stir crazy

I've been dealing with an infected incision, changing dressings and monitoring healing which makes me sick to my stomach, and having to take it easier than a regular C-section recoverer. No walks around the block, limited trips up and down the stairs, and not picking up anything heavier than Miss Eleanor. I'm a naturally lazy person so these orders would seem to suit me, but instead I'm going stir crazy. Top it off with non-functioning cable/Internet, and Nang has joined my stir crazy train (Sunday at noon was a sad sight around here with no football). We are both pouty puppies.
Ellie's only 8 days old, but this little peanut is making it all not feel so bad.

Dance face

William and Nang car dance to rap when I'm not along for the ride. When Nang tries to get Big Dub to dance to other types of music, little mister informs his driver and DJ that it isn't the right music. This is his dance face. I wasn't sure where he came up with the idea that duck lips were essential to getting his groove on, and then I looked over at Nang's car dance, and found the source.

That's why they call it labor...

It isn't for sissies!

Welcome, sweet pea!

Nang assumed creative control of the pics of Eleanor, and this is the first he gave "official" permission to publish. Welcome, BGN!
Born 10/12/12
Weighing 6lbs 8ozs
Measuring 19-1/4" long
Mom's hanging in there (C-Section babies are sweet and round but leave behind alot of healing to be done), and baby is thriving - sleeping, eating, and pooping (Nang already had a talk with her about the price of diapers, and not wasting them by pooping 3 times at each feeding). Just wait, Ba. Looking good ain't cheap!

Ahead of schedule

Eleanor arrived a week and a half early, and I was completely unprepared. William cooked almost perfectly to his due date, so we expected the same of BGN (baby girl ngo). This morning, reminders came up on our phone that she should have been just entering the world. Guess she was laughing at our plans!

New shoes and fake smiles

Finally some flip flops that fit (he's been teetering in a pair that were 2 sizes too small for weeks). Nang thinks he doesn't need new sandals because winter's coming, and I say that a Vietnamese baby NEEDS his open-toed footwear. Duh!

Why prego shouldn't go to Sam's by herself

FOUR boxes. Yeah.

Size matters

Regardless of what the title illicits in your dirty mind, I'm talking about sunglasses.  Yes, William is all boy, and has developed a healthy appreciation for his package in the last few months, but that is beside the point.  He has embraced the oversized sunglass trend, and flexes his inner fashionista as soon as he can swipe a pair from an unsuspecting adult.

The original gangster - Om Noi's sunglasses...a BIT big

Sporting an athletic look with Papa - the boat driver NEEDS the glasses because squinting is dangerous.  Safety first!

 Thank you, Ba, for passing down your enormous noggin, so these adult-sized glasses fit me

Hamming it up in the hipster peepers trend

Two more minutes

William is beginning to learn the fine art of negotiation.  Not from me.  My negotiation skills are laughable at best - it makes me sick to my stomach and sweaty to ask for a better deal or lower price.  Luckily, Nang's an old pro and practices his skills daily.  The problem with Nang teaching William negotiating tactics is that Little Man uses them on us, specifically on me, and I don't even know that I'm being dealed down until I turn around, and Nang is laughing at me. 

Let me lure you into my web of manipulation

As his first lesson, William learned to add "That's a good deal" to the end of what he wanted.  It works like this:  "William, it is naptime.  We need to change your diaper."  William replies, "Ahhhhh.  No change diaper.  Stroller ride?  That's a good deal."  Then he walks to his stroller, gets in, and assumes that his good deal is THE deal.  Nang claims that this is a classic Asian negotiating strategy.  Weird thing?  It works!

Let me lure you into my web of manipulation

Now William knows to reply with "Two more minutes" to stall an inevitable event.  Originally, he learned this from Mimi and Papa.  It started out as one of us telling him he had one more minute doing what he was doing before we needed to move on to something else, but he realized that one minute went by too quickly, so when he learned about two being bigger, he added it to his repertoire.  "William, turn off the TV, it is time to go upstairs and take a shower."  "Two more minutes."  "OK."  And he can get a good ten minutes out of this.  Such. A. Sucker.

Tiny

Two-week old fingers wrapped around my finger.  Tiny.

Ooops!

Nang biked his third MS150 from Houston to Austin in April, so William and I drove up to see him cross the finish line.  William and I wound up stranded on the side of the road when our car's brake line failed, and I realized it while trying to slow down from 70 miles per hour to merge onto a cloverleaf highway entrance behind another car.  There maaaay have been a rapid fire succession of hysterical phone calls to a husband who was RIDING A BIKE from Austin - honey, please come pick baby and me up and handle this.  Right.  NOW.  Yeah, handled very well.

Ba?

Fast forward to the finish line and big mom failure of the day #2.  I was so consumed with spotting Nang and the guys approaching the finish line that I forgot to tell William when they passed, and he missed the group, so I pretended another group of riders contained his Ba, and had Little Man cheer for and wave to that group.  Big ooops!

Sign

In addition to Baby Ngo #2 (Elouise? Clara? Elizabeth?), I'm now incubating a cold AND a bad case of dog fever.  Some of the places I go for work are a little "edgy," and I always run across some rough looking stray dogs (of the pit bullish variety which Papa has verboten), and it is taking alot of willpower not to lure the little/big/cagey-looking/mangey boogers into my car and bring them home.  Logically, I recognize that this is not the appropriate time or way to go about getting a good family dog, but I'm not the only one that is sporting a burgeoning love of dogs.  The signs were all there from the beginning.  Would Nang be able to say "no" if the Wildebeest brought home a stray/shelter/rescue dog?

 3 months and hitting the dog hard

 Holding paws

Controlling two ferocious beasts on a walk

Flirt

In March, William "ran" his first 1k with his best-friend-who-terrifies him, Paige.  He hustled to stay with the crowd in the beginning, requested to be carried for the body of the race, and hit the finish line on his own to shake his money maker (and suck his paci) to the music blaring at the end.

 Hey, grrrrr.

Geeeeez!  Can't you see I'm trying to close the deal?  Buzz off with that camera. Embarrassing!

Shaking his groove thing for Mimi

Scoop

I looove having the scoop - a juicy tidbit no one else or only a select few know is delightful.  My famous friend, Meg, and her sister/photographer extraordinaire, Kate, call it "fo."  For the longest time, I thought they were talking about Vietnamese noodle soup, pho, but then they let me in on the scoop.  Today's fo: I FREAKED out fo real when I saw this cheese's expiration date.  Baby Ngo #2 (Harper, Jane, Caroline?) will be two weeks old by the time I forget to throw this away. Freaking out.

Pastoral scene, lower-fat calmness on the front 

Panic-inducing computer stamp on the back

Guilty pleasure

I succumb to an embarrassingly high number of guilty pleasures for myself, and feel appropriately guilty for each one - caloric content, time wasters, productivity zappers, etc.  William's guilty pleasures are cuter, and will therefore be our subject, but cause me more guilt than my own.

• Melted ice cream in a coffee cup that he sips while repeatedly telling his audience that he's drinking coffee.
• Too much screen time - Sesame Street, Thomas the Train, and cartoons he asks for by name ("Cats" (Puss in Boots), "Penguins" (Happy Feet 2), "Girl" or "Eugene" (Tangled - the Rapunzel cartoon), "Car" (Cars 2), "Elephant" (Ice Age), and "Elephant. Dinosaur" (Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaur (?))
• Pacifiers (but at this point, ONLY when he is going to sleep or sleeping).
• "Medium shoclat" (Whataburger chocolate milkshake), "Shoclat" (M&Ms or expensive chocolate bars Nang gets on out of town business trips), "Bacon" (beef jerky stolen from the stand at Om Noi's convenience store), and "Canny" (candy).

Summer loving

Summer will officially be over on Saturday, and William had himself a BLAST!  He swam at least twice a week, and his dark tan earned him the nickname of Little Pecan from Aunt Carolyn.  The pool's are closed during the week now, so Mimi and Papa won't be taking him swimming on their days watching him. Summer bummer.

***BUT***

William's first beach trip happened in the nick of summertime!  Nang and I missed it due to our responsible adultiness and jobs - booo/hisss.  Mimi and Papa said he had a BLAST from the car ride up there to the car ride back.  SO MUCH FUN that he didn't take a nap all day.  He also had his first McDonald's chicken nuggets, apples, and chocolate milkshake.  Oh, no!

 Uh-oh - the beach's a little dirtier than the swimming pool!

No problem

Summer loving had me a blast

Summer loving happened so fast

I met a girl crazy for me

Met a boy cute as can be

Summer 2012 - we'll miss you!

Labor

3.6.2010

This is the call to the doctor's answering service once my contractions were within the proscribed timing and consistency.  Getting to this point took all day with contractions on and off, getting closer together and then further apart, and then closer and closer and more intense (and I felt like I would die if I didn't make it to IKEA, but I can't remember what I wanted to buy).  Dad's nervous.  Bailey's stoked because everyone is in one room and not spread through the house AND she gets to be on the ottoman without her blanket.  I'm just thinking about all of the needles and prodding and poking and strangers that are going to be involved in the next hours of my life (thank goodness I had no idea what was actually coming).  

I did not handle this stage of labor gracefully.  Contractions HURT.  They are not simply "pressure" as books and pregnancy blogs suggest.  They are pain.  And the breathing trick that my mom (Miss Au Naturel with BOTH kids) taught me - more time breathing in/less time breathing out or vice versa - stopped working.  

If all goes as planned this time around (cough, cough), I will be checking myself into the hospital a week before my due date, and having a planned C-section.