Preggo at 38 weeks

I've been meaning to do this more throughout this pregnancy, but here i am.. 38 weeks and this is the first attempt.

It is different the second time around. When i was carrying Tyler, any day you could ask me how far along i was and i could tell you exactly how many weeks and day. But this time, i don't know how many time i've embarrassed myself when people ask, "how far along?" and i hmm and haw to even come up with approximate month!!!

So, here it is, my very preggo self both physically and mentally!

Picture taken after Tyler's Birthday Bash...

Halloween Trick-or-Treat

This year was the first year we were going Trick-or-Treating as a family(adopted and in-the-belly included). For days, I racked my brains to think of some good outfit for all of us. Finally out of desperation and a huge belly, i decided on a full Teletubby family! Quite ingenious, i thought!! :) How many more outfits can you find that will fit all the funny and odd shapes in this family???!

Check us Out!!!

This activity took place right after Tyler's birthday party. A few of the guests stayed back and went with us though they only had the stamina to do half the route. Tyler who was reluctant to get into the costume at first quickly gained interest once we've done the first house. Soon, he was wrestling with other kids and shouting "Mine!! Mine!!"

The initial bunch of trick-or-treaters....

Tyler getting the hang of it..

Tyler screaming "mine.. mine!!!"

Our family on the prowl for treats

Tyler and Daddy on a successful Trick-or-Treat adventure

Anybody who had any doubt that the costume was anything but awesome will just have to take a look at the pictures below to be convinced!! Funny or sad, these pictures were taken without any arm twisting and completely voluntary!!!

Big Po and Small Po

 Happy Halloween!!!

Tyler's 2nd Birthday

How time flies! Tyler is 2 yrs old and had his birthday party on Oct 31st. As it was Halloween and we didn't know what everybody's plans were, I decided on a simpler affair and opted for a tea party at 3:00 pm. That way, everybody can show up, eat some cakes and stuff and blow a few candles and go off to do their Halloween activities or join us for our neighbourhood trick-or-treat activity.

However, an overwhelming response of 27 yes's sorta put me into a panic mode and my simple affair once  again turned into a big party!!! It just means Tyler is popular, right?!

Anyways, everybody showed up and lots of them in cool costumes(yay!!) and i think Tyler had a good time. Not sure if he understood everything but he got really excited about his cake which in the shape of his favorite thing in the world - BUS!!

Our little toddler and his cake

Daddy helping Tyler with cake cutting

Actual cake eating!!!

Tyler and his Cake

Tyler and Daddy

Here are some of the cool costumes...

As usual, all my very kind friends and Tyler's grandparents were more than generous with gifts. We actually had to break the present opening sessions into multiple days just to finish them!!!!

Tyler is quite familiar with opening presents by now..

Once it became dark, all of us(including me) got into our family outfit and got ready to go trick-or-treating. As you can see, we were the family of Teletubbies! Steffen(our adopted son) kindly stepped in appropriately as Tinky Winky!! More trick-or-treating pictures in another blog.

We are ready!!

Tyler's party went on till 12 am that night(he went to bed much earlier than that!!). I think I'd call that party a success!!!

Halloween at Mommy's office

Tyler made quite the impression at my office last year as the "cute teddy bear". So, he was requested to come back and visit by lots of my colleagues.

Anyways, here is our little Teletubby that day. He didn't get as many "awww.. so cute" this year. Many didn't even know what Teletubbies were!!

Mommy's little Teletubby - Po

On the go!!! (without shoes)

Check out what i found!!!

How can i escape from this mad place..?

Sitting at mommy's work desk

Wreaking havoc down the aisle

Fireman mode

I'm not sure what brought this on. But since a week ago, Tyler has been doing this gesture where he puts his hand on his forehead and sometimes making a whoo'ing sound. He usually does it when i asked him what he wants to watch on tv. Took me a couple of days that he's doing a salute for firemen, like they do on a Wiggles video! ha! Of course he also supplements by pointing at his firetruck puzzle.

All so clear when I finally get it! But it droves me nuts for days!!

But again, i ask. What brought it on coz i obviously haven't showed him the video for some time.. hmmm...

Here's my little fireman..

 Managed to get him to stand still for a few seconds for this shot!

A little bit on Potty Training

We haven't really done anything with Tyler for potty training apart from getting him a potty and making him sometimes pee in it before he takes a bath(otherwise, he likes to pee in his bath water!!! Grosss!!). Unfortunately, that doesn't always work. I even resorted to sticking his feet in warm water for simulation purposes, which worked like charm a few times.

Anyways, since his new class is also doing potty training, i was looking forward to a diaper free toddler within 2 weeks. But each day, as i eagerly look for his potty training progress, there was none. :(

And since Alan has been away for a week, i once again got to spend more time with Tyler. I decided that i should put a little more effort into this potty training thing. So, i made it nightly routine to do it and sometimes in the morning when i can afford some time. I'm not sure if that helped, but there WAS some progress in his day care sheet this week and a couple of times this weekend, he came to me all hurried and shouting "push push" while pulling down his pants. We rushed to the potty and lo and behold, he peed and even pooed!!!

This is pathetic as heck, but i was soo proud and i think so was he!

p.s. I haven't done this yet, but how wrong is it to take pictures of your child on a potty? It's so cute!

My brand new niece

At last some pictures of my new beautiful niece. And from what grandpa reports, she's as good as gold!

Such an angel

Awww.. bliss...

Doesn't she look like her Daddy??

Halloween Sneak Peek..

It was hard to pick out an outfit for Tyler this year. But i found this inspiring picture. Look at it, how can you not want to buy that costume!! He's so cute ( i just hope i don't get sued for using this picture)

My inspiration

Anyways, the outfit came and Tyler was slightly interested and amused by the outfit for like 2 mins and then he had enough. Everyday i will say to him, do you want to be "Po"? He says .. "NO!" Hmmm..

But today i started to let him try on just the head part, get his feet wet sorta thing..

And of course i had to get him some friends..

Steffen who loves his little brother was little too happy to comply.. hmmm...

This is how i look when Mommy dresses me..

Side view

Front view, i think he looks like his cousin Jake here..

The casual look...

Tyler adapting to new baby

How is Tyler getting used to the idea of a new brother? That's quite a common question i get these days. The truth is, i'm not sure he gets it. ha! I'm not sure if i know how to explain the concept of a brother to someone who never had one and someone as young as Tyler.

Anyways, I started making it a daily comment to say, I'm going to bring you a baby home. Would you like it? *blank look back at me* I figured, if i keep it up for a few weeks, i might get some sort of response.

But he does point to my tummy and says "baby" and kisses it sometimes.

Anyways, we were setting up the pack and play and Tyler had to go check it out!

Pictures from the Baby Shower

As promised, here are some pictures from my baby shower. Also present were Addy, Sabrina and Diana who didn't make it to the initial picture session! :)

Thanks again to you all my beautiful chicas!!

My ever stylish host and I

All my beautiful chicas

Pressies time!!!

I'm an aunt again!

My sister just had her baby girl! But somehow my family in Malaysia seems a little technologically challenged, so no sighting of the new baby yet for me!!! Seriously, come on family!! Learn to download and upload pictures! It really isn't that hard!
But anyways, Congratulations Chui Li and Yew Kim for your little bundle of joy!!!

Sabrina's Birthday Celebration

Sabrina had a birthday celebration last Saturday and invited our personal chef Hans to cook for all of us. We were all excited because we hadn't seen Hans in like gazillion years and his food is not to be missed.

We arrived all ready to eat only to find that nothing was cooked yet! Oh well, how else are we going to steal Han's recipes, eh? So, all of us jumped in and started cuttting potatoes, peeling brussel sprouts, chopping mushrooms, wrapping tuna and all the works. All of us minions working under Hans specific instructions.

I'm always trying to check out the secret ingredients to everything..  hehee...

Soon, the appetizers were done - World's-Best-Tacos, and Holy-Crap-It's-Good mussels! I parked myself in front of the mussels and kept telling myself to stop. But I couldn't!!!

While eating the appetizers were getting devoured, the main course gets started in the background. Potato au gratin, brussel sprouts with bacon and sake flavored salmon with fresh shitake mushroom, all baking in it's glory in the oven. At about 10 o'clock it was finally ready!!!

The production line for Sake flavored Tuna wrap

We all sat down in the Chandrasekara's new setup special dining area and salivated while the food is served. It was worth every minute even though I was about to burst from too much food at that point.

The little area set up for eating..

And just when we thought it was over, out came the dessert which was fresh fried dough in powder sugar, chocolate covered bacon and ice cream which came together perfectly.

So, all in all, it was a nice of good food and great company!!

Happy Birthday Sabrina!!!

Mid-Autumn Festival

When i was just a little girl(a long time ago), one of my favorite festivals was the Mid-Autumn Festival. I loved going to the local stores which were usually packed to the gills with all kinds of beautiful lanterns. Dragons, butterflies and birds in myriad of colors and glitters. I had to have the most beautiful one, of course! :)

And on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese Calendar, we would carry our beautiful lanterns and go for a walk under the full moon, hoping that our candle lit lanterns would survive the journey(sometimes they would catch on fire).

And thru the years, these memories remain as a sweet recollection of the past for me. So, this year, i decided to introduce this little tradition to Tyler and Alan. And since we're a little deprived of lanterns over here in Broomfield, I only managed to get the basic accordian type of lantern, which Tyler tore up within seconds!!! Ha, but I was smarter, I bought more than we needed!

So, with our lanterns lit(we had real candles, Tyler had an electric candle), we ventured out to the cold night and went for a romantic stroll under the bright full moon.





So, 1 broken lantern(Tyler's), 2 burnt out candles and 3 frozen ears later, we finished our first lantern walk as a family!! Let's see if we can make it an annual tradition for years to come.

Our party cup overfloweth....

That's what our social calender always end up to be. We could go on for weeks with no parties, and suddenly BAM! more parties than we can go to!

That was what last Saturday was all about. 3 parties in a day!

It started with a beautiful brunch hosted by my hostess of the mostest friend Veronica. Not only did she volunteer to throw me a baby shower, she went all out with food preparation and made me feel all pampered. And all my other girlfriends also came by to share the joy of the upcoming new baby and showered him with gifts. If i wasn't prepared for the arrival before, i am now! :)

I don't have pictures from the Baby Shower yet but will post them when i get them. Thanks Vero and Adam!!! You guys are the best!!

Later that evening, we were off to Ben and Michala's wedding celebration. It was held in a nice little park in Golden. Perfect for people with kids! B&M had their wedding in Vermont a few months ago and this was just a little celebration for their friends in Colorado which i thought was really sweet.


A picture moment with the couple..

Tyler found a nice little playmate called Owen and they had a grand time running around, playing catch and being all goofy! Very cute.

Then as the sun went down, we bid the new couple farewell and off we went to our last party of the night which is Rohit's birthday celebration. It was held at East Moon Bistro and about 12 people showed up for the celebration.

At some point, Tyler went off with Addy and came back with a fancy drink in hand(Tyler's hand!!). Even had a flaming umbrella on it!! Tyler was of course over the moon...


Tyler and his fancy drink..


Tyler chilling out with Daddy...