Ruby's Baby Shower!!

This past Saturday I hosted Ruby's baby shower in her home and it was so much fun!  Ruby and Matt have been busy furnishing, painting and cleaning their house before this big event and everything looked perfect!  :)  We had fun decorating the inside and outside of her house and getting prepped for all the guests.  Here are a few pictures from the afternoon. 

The outside decorations

Our mom, me, Ruby and Mrs. Tong

Matt, Ruby, Brenda & Dale Baldwin

Me making simple syrup for the bellinis

All the girls playing games

One of the many pictures of Ruby opening gifts!!

The Mommy-to-be with her cute cake.  :)

Thanks Amee for coming early, helping set up and being a great photographer!

Ruby practicing holding a baby!  Lookin' good!

Abby's 1st Haircut!

This is looong overdue but Abby has been in serious need of a haircut for quite some time now and the stars didn't align until yesterday.  :)  I knew when Abby was born that I wanted my hairdresser, Nancy, of 10+ years to do the honor of cutting Abby's hair for the first time.  Nancy also cuts my mom, Kirk and Ruby's hair so she's quite familiar with the Chen hair traits (thick, coarse, straight, etc.).  We only got Abby's bangs trimmed and Nancy even textured it just like she does with mine! 

So here was the set up.  Abby sat in my lap while Bryce video taped (Abby won't ever know what an actual video tape is...but you know what I mean) the whole thing.  Nancy wrapped the salon cape around her (which to her, it was just a HUGE bib) and I was covered up too.  Nancy took the first snip and shamelessly, the tears started to roll down my cheeks.  :*)  I was so happy and sad all at the same time and our sweet, sweet Abby just sat there like an angel watching everything that was going on.  She never squirmed, never cried, didn't even make a sound the whole time actually - she was so good.  I had to hold her head to make sure she was looking forward but that was it.  And yes, we saved her hair.  It's in a little ziplock baggy which we put in her keepsake box.  The whole ordreal took about 5 minutes and by the end, we had a small crowd of on-lookers cheering Abby on.  :)  It was so sweet and such an honor that Nancy helped make yet another 'first', such a special moment. 

I couldn't decide which picture to post so here they both are.  In the latter picture, you can see Abby making her signature nose-squinting-tongue-sticking-out face.  :P

Ruby says Abby's eyes look bigger now that her bangs are out of the way and I must say I agree!  A lot more went on this weekend but I'm waiting on some pictures so stay tuned!

ni hao, kai-lan

About twice a week, Abby and I watch "ni hao, kai-lan" at 12:00 and 12:30 PM.  Ruby told me about this show about  a year ago but I never watched it (because I was at work!) but now we really enjoy it!  Abby gets SO excited when it's on - she screams and squeels and points at the characters on TV.  It's the first time I've ever seen her focus on something for more than a few minutes.  We never get through a whole episode though - she just doesn't have that long of an attention span yet.  Kai Lan teaches you Chinese and it will only add to Abby's vocabulary so far.  We just love it! 

Abby is 11 months old!

Thanks to everyone for giving input on the bathing suits!  The yellow suit won by a large margin.  But fear not, I have decided to keep both so everyone is a winner!  :)  Here is a better picture of my chubby no-neck baby in the yellow suit. 

Today is also Ruby and my 31st birthday.  I must say, turning 31 did not feel exciting at all.  It's not that I don't like getting older (I actually embrace the older age) but we just felt like it was so anticlimactic.  The one super nice surprise was that the baby gate we ordered came in 2 days early so Bryce installed it for us!  No more bad baby in the kitchen! 

I can't end this post without thanking everyone for all the sweet birthday wishes!  I have such awesome friends!  :)

What's been going on in the last 2 weeks, you ask?

Disclaimer: This is a lengthy post.  Read at your own leisure.

Wow, once again I entered that time warp where the next thing you know, 2 weeks have flown by in a complete blur.  Since I use this blog as a milestone tracker for Abby, I don't like being away this long because it's hard to remember when she did something new.  I feel like her progression is more exponential the older she gets so believe me when I say, A LOT has happened lately.  The engineer in me wants to make an Excel spreadsheet of her milestones but the innate lazy side of me has once again prevailed.  Consequently, the compromise is to organize things in my head with a bullet list - so here goes.  This is a list of new things Abby has done in approximately the last 2 weeks:

• My little xiao xiao now knows that I am Ma-Ma and Bryce is Da-Da!!!  Talk about melting your heart out.  I'm like butter on a hot skillet.  I just about shed a tear when I first heard it - so sweet.  Those that know me know that I'm not a sappy romantic person but when it comes to my baby Abby, I'm 100% pure goo and I love it.  :)
• My dad taught her how to say "hua" which means flower in Chinese.  She points at any flower now and says hua and she also points at non-flowers and says hua so pretty much everything is now a hua. 
• She LOVES saying "hi" (one of the few English things she actually speaks).  We were shopping the other day and she said hi to anyone standing next to us and people get such a kick out of it!  :) 
• She says "nai nai" which means 'milk' in Chinese when she wants her milk.  It's neat because she knows to ask for it when it's time to eat or she'll point at the bottle and say nai nai as I'm making it. 
• When she's done with the bottle she says "no more" in her sweet, sweet voice and then hands me her bottle.  Conversely, she says "more" if she wants more of something.
• She'll hug you when you say "lou lou wo" which means 'hug me' in Chinese. 
• She'll rest her head on you when you say "suei jiao" which means 'go to sleep' in Chinese.
• She says "du-dnt" randomly and quite frequently.  I would tell you what it means but she made that word up so we have no idea.  :)
• When I tell her we are going to change her daiper, she points us to her room (where we change her).  It's so neat because she is at the point where she understands what we say even though she can't speak back.
• She knows how to take her own clothes off before bath time.  Well, just the shirt.  She can't take her own pants off...yet.
• I always say "up" when I take her out of her clamp on chair so now she knows to raise her arms up because we are going "up!"
• Abby is getting braver and braver and standing a lot more on her own.  Miraculously, not only did I capture a picture of her standing but she was also looking directly at the camera!  Ten seconds later, she promptly plopped back down on her bottom.  :)

• BIG NEWS - ABBY TOOK HER FIRST STEPS TODAY!  It was only 2 steps towards Daddy but steps nonetheless.  The big bummer is that I was not home at the time.  :(  I also was not there for her first word ("cat", which she said to my parents).  What's the deal!?!?!  I quit work to be at home so as to NOT miss anything and I'm missing all the big milestones!!!  Boohoo!!! 

I told you she's learned a lot!  I had intentions of teaching Abby sign language but why sign "more" when you can say it??  So we're going to skip straight to talking instead. 

While visiting Lao Nian and Lao Yie 2 weeks ago, we went for a stroll and visited the ducks and geese again.  This time Lao Yie got to join us so it was extra fun!

Here are some pictures of Abby with family and friends.  :)

Abby & Jo Jo

Abby & A Yi

Abby & Kim

While at Lao Nian and Lao Yie's, Abby climbed stairs for the first time!  We live in a one story house so she had never been on stairs before but she crawled right up as if it was no big deal at all. 

Back when Abby wasn't walking yet, I got her a little fire truck to practice pushing and pulling up on and it was the cutest thing to see her analyze it and then play with it.  She gives EVERYTHING a once over before full contact - just like her mom.  I really wish I knew what was going on in her little mind as she studies things. 

 

 

Here she is inspecting the front:

The side:

The back:

And lastly, the buttons:

Here she is drinking and driving!

When the weather finally warmed up a bit, we met Grandma and Grandpa at the park and Abby got to swing for the first time and slide down a slide with me!  She wasn't too sure what to think about the swing at first (note the white knuckles gripping onto her seat) but she liked it in the end. 

Last weekend was extra special because Abby got to meet her Great Grandma and Grandpa Baker for the first time!!  :)  They made a special trip from Zapata, TX for the weekend and we enjoyed the family bonding time. There are currently 5 generations on the Baker side - yipee!

 

We were back in Pearland for a few days and spent one afternoon soaking up the sun and playing in the back yard.  So far it seems like Abby really enjoys being outdoors with the wind in her hair.

Last Thursday my dear childhood friend Vivi came to visit Abby and me and it was so much fun to catch up!  Thanks for the chocolate cake!  :)

And lastly, I need your opinion!  I got Abby 2 bathing suits and can't decide which to keep.  Leave a comment and let me know (blue or yellow)!  

  

That's it!  Congratulations if you made it to the end!  Now get back to work and stop goofing around!  :)

My little lady

Look at my lady-like baby at the dinner table.  I couldn't be prouder [sarcasm] of her gentile demeanor.  I mean really, how great is it that her little toes have decided to join us for dinner?  It only adds to her sweet facial expression and random finger pointing.  All in all, I think she looks down right angelic - don't you?

This is the longest I've been away from my blog - I promise to post soon.  Lots going on nowadays and this will have to hold you over.  :)

Random pictures and update

Abby has slept on her stomach since she was 3 months old and in the last few weeks we have been finding her on her back or sides.  I'm not sure if this is because she is congested so she's finding new ways to clear her nose or if this is just part of her discovering new sleep positions.  Nevertheless, here are a few pictures.  :)

Abby started taking her barrettes out of her hair and trying to put them back on (of course, to no avail) and then she proceeds to suck on her barrettes until they are sopping wet or covered in wet Cheerios to form one homogenous Cheerio barrette.  My OCDness cannot stand for this so I tried something new.  It seemed to work for a while until I later found this barrette in her mouth and nearly had a heart attack.  I decided I'd rather have a Cheerio barrette.  She also tries to brush her own hair now - too cute!  :)

Abby found a new way to play with her exersaucer.

This was too funny.  Daddy was trying to get some work done on his laptop in the living room (a big no-no).  Translation for Abby:  Oh yay!  Daddy got a fun toy out for me to play with!  Hey, why won't he let me play with it??

These are just some cute, quality Daddy-Daughter time pictures.  :)

Cuddling - Abby's favorite

Making fart noises with their mouth...aww...  :)

And lastly, look confused if you need a haircut!!