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| Happy New Year! |
| Sunday, January 01, 2012 |
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How do you all celebrate your New Year's? For us, we chill! Haha. Hope to see you soon! | |
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| Happy Halloween! |
| Monday, October 31, 2011 |
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Yes we know this year is not the best time to be a pirate in the flooded Thailand but Jamie innocently picked out this costume so we let him be. And as you can see, his friend became Tin Man :-). And Woody too! | |
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And the pirate was attacking Woody The Mastiff! LOL | |
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| Happy 1st birthday, Peanut Butter! |
| Wednesday, May 25, 2011 |
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| Wency & Bobby's Wedding |
| Hong Kong |
| Sunday, March 20, 2011 |
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A few months after Uncle Sam tied the know, Uncle Bobby held his wedding. 3 of us went to Hong Kong to attend. It started in early morning with a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. Daddy & Mommy had no clue what to do. :$ | |
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As Uncle Bobby is the youngest in the family, he had to give tea to everyone of us. Then we all got together to take a family photo. ^^ | |
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An even bigger family photo with Grandma Eva's family:> | |
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Back to the 3 of us with the newly weds. | |
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They had an unique wedding. Most couples would celebrate with Chinese banquets at night but they had ceremony in an outdoor location by the beach. Jamie got to be the ring bearer again. :> | |
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Instead of dinner, we had lunch. | |
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A very nice photo of the 3 of us. ^^
Uncle Bobby, thank you for getting married so shortly after Uncle Sam so that Jamie could fully utilize his tuxedo. :P | |
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| Sam & Jenny's banquet |
| Friday, November 12, 2010 |
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The schedule was very tight. But we made it to Hong Kong for Sam & Jenny's banquet. | |
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Uncle Bobby & Wency who are engaged to marry next year. | |
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We met many people there. Uncle Wong. | |
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Even though Mr. Wong had met Jamie only once before that, they immediately got along and played kung fu fighting together. ^^ | |
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Playing iphone with cousin Anson. | |
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Surrounded by tons of young beautiful aunts. | |
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Jamie, I want you to remember this. Mommy's cousin Wo who's a young teen with limited allowance, used his $ to get you a pack of Yakult. Don't forget to thank him! | |
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| Happy Halloween! |
| Sunday, October 31, 2010 |
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We took Jamie to an indoor play facility to celebrate Halloween. It was so crowded we had to wait 1 hr to get in. This year he's old enough to be aware of Halloween and to choose his own costume. He wanted to be the witch or even Dorothy from one of his favorite movies Wizard of Oz but in the end he settled to be the Tinman. We got the outfit in North Carolina so we had a little photo session with Bailey before actual Halloween. | |
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Grandpa Herbie & Grandma Tonna's house was perfect for the shot cuz they had scarecrows too! | |
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| Congratulations for Sam & Jenny's wedding! |
| Saturday, September 18, 2010 |
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Welcome Jenny to the Chow family! | |
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The wedding took place in Chinese style in the morning. The groom Uncle Sam had to go pick up the bride Jenny at her place. Since we are from the groom's family, we waited at Uncle Sam's place for their arrival. | |
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Jamie with Auntie Jenny in traditional Chinese wedding dress. She looked stunning. | |
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For wedding celebration, the more people the merrier. Here with the Mar family. Actually, they let us used their home as "Sam's place". | |
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At night, the wedding turned to western style. Jamie had the honor to be the ring bearer. He did super well. He stood there holding onto the ring for the whole time! ^^ | |
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And Jamie had the honor to perform on the wedding. Jamie had been secretly practicing a song and a short speech with mommy for months already. The song is a Chinese love song from the 80s. We practiced almost every time we rode in mommy's car. He could have screwed up in so many ways: nervous in front of 10 tables of guests, sleepy, needed to go to bathroom, didn't want to sing etc but no, Jamie totally nailed it! | |
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Jamie performed amazingly for the short speech too. During practice, we usually ran thru the whole speech really fast. But for some reason, when it came to the real performance, Jamie knew exactly when to pause for laughs or transition. He even added his own favor by telling some audiences to be quiet! LOL | |
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We knew Jamie did a good job by the audiences' reaction. But most important of all, the groom & the bride looked happy and touched. ^^ | |
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| Happy Birthday Mommy! |
| Thursday, September 16, 2010 |
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Relaxing in Beverly Hills with the perfect weather was a really nice way to spend her birthday for mommy. | |
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Then had Italian dinner at night in one of mommy's favorite place in LA, Old Town Pasadena, which Uncle Bobby mistakenly pronounced as Private Dinner. ^^ | |
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Enjoying afternoon tea in open cafe. Felt like in Paris. So romantic. | |
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Jamie was more excited to see the birthday cakes than mommy! | |
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We blew out the candles together! ^^ | |
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| Happy Birthday Jamie! |
| Thursday, August 12, 2010 |
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This was a very special birthday for Jamie. Many firsts. First time to celebrate it with family. First time to have his own party. And first time he's actually old enough to appreciate his own birthday. | |
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Ice cream cake is actually quite messy. It was a bit hectic once the candles were lit and cake started to melt. Jamie blew the candles. Forgot to tell him to make his wishes beforehand. | |
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He received many gifts, mainly from Grandma Tonna & Grandpa Herbie. But he also received gifts from Koey, sent all the way from Hong Kong. Thank you very much for your thoughtfulness! | |
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Uncle Toshi played birthday song on his trumpet and taught Jamie how to blow. | |
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Bailey celebrated with us. ^^ | |
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After party at home, took him to a kid gym to exercise. The place wasn't big but it had enough attractions to occupy kids. The kids there all have great personality. They all wanted to play with us adults, trying to tease us with "you can't get me" game. The young ladies who work there did a good job in managing the kids. Parents can leave their kids there for just $4 per hour. Good value! | |
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Then we went to eat Mexican food. No, mommy wasn't drinking beer during day time. | |
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Went to Jamie's current favorite playground at Sonic, a popular fast food chained restaurant in this region. | |
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Ate Southern BBQ at Uncle Yammy's. Jamie thought this was his real uncle. :) | |
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On the way home, Grandma Tonna gave us a nice ride in her convertible. | |
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It was the perfect way to wrap up Jamie's 4-year-old birthday. ^^ | |
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| Happy Birthday Daddy! |
| Monday, July 26, 2010 |
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Today is not only his birthday, it's also the day he got hired by Dunder Mifflin. Congratulations! | |
| Happy Mother's Day! |
| Sunday, May 09, 2010 |
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| Happy birthday, Jamie! |
| Wednesday, August 12, 2009 |
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For Jamie's 3 year old birthday, we started off the celebration with breakfast in McDonald's. Yes, it's probably not the healthiest place for kids but it's one of the few places outside where Jamie could actually enjoy the breakfast (the food). We desperately hope there would be restaurants serving good pancakes in the morning but we haven't found one yet. And McDonald's here don't serve hot cakes. Actually, Jamie would be happy even with just blueberry yogurt at home but we wanted to do something different that day. | |
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After breakfast, we took the public bus because it's one of Jamie's favorite transportation. | |
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Then, we went to the park. Not only to let him relieve himself in the nature like in this photo but also to take him for a boat ride, yes, another one of his favorite activities. The weather was perfect. | |
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After the park, it was time for Jamie's nap. Even though there was no bus heading straight back to our house, we took a bus just so that he could enjoy another ride. We got off here to connect to a tuk tuk. Btw, Jamie has the same birthday as the Thai Queen so his birthday is also Mother's Day in Thailand! | |
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And thanks to Mother's Day, Jamie's birthday is always a holiday! That's why we had the whole day to spend with Jamie even on a Wednesday.
As we were approaching our house, mommy remembered a funny thing daddy told her. There is a dentist clinic by our house. All the dentists there have their own self protrait indicating who is who, 1 dentist per photo. But there is one photo where the dentist is holding a kid and that kid is Jamie!!! Daddy found out when he went in to fill in his cavities. Imagine you go into a clinic for a treatment and see your own son's photo among the dentist photos. And Jamie is not even a patient there!! He just hangs out there all the time. It's like his nursery. Hearing this story, mommy of course had to check it out too. Look at this photo and see if you can find Jamie. | |
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After his nap, time for dinner. Daddy tried to think of a place where they sing good and fun birthday song. We ended up in this Mexican restaurant. The birthday boy was thrilled and couldn't wait to blow the candle, skipping the making wish step. But daddy wanted more glamorous singing. Silly daddy suggested to go to another Mexican restaurant in a completely different area just to have desert and to have the live band sing Happy Birthday to Jamie again. | |
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Instead, mommy suggested to go to karaoke. Daddy liked the idea too knowing how much our son loves singing. So there it was, Jamie's 1st karaoke! But this karaoke turned out to be too fancy. It didn't have any Thai country songs which is his favorite genre. They didn't even have the Thai national song which is another one of his favorites. So, even though he loves singing, he didn't sing. But he held onto the microphone. He kept taking the microphones from us but not sang. | |
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He danced a little bit though. | |
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After karaoke, relaxed at home with Pizza. | |
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Then he did his English alphabet writing practice. Actually, he likes practicing his Thai writing especially with the book Nanny Pong gave him for his birthday. But daddy found the same series of books in English so he bought it for Jamie.
We are proud to say that Jamie already mastered all the Thai and English alphabets. He not only recognizes the sound and shape of each alphabet, he can also identify the object that is associated with the alphabet. For example, A for apple, O for Ostrich etc. This kid is really amazing. He truly loves languages. Perhaps, it's about time to introduce Chinese writing as well.
Looked like James McAvoy was starring right at Jamie haha. | |
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The final activity for his birthday. Watched the karaoke video of his favorite Thai country song "Kon Ban Duei Gan" which means "People From The Same Hometown". We have no idea where he picked up this song from but people on the street or at restaurants often request him to perform this song. When we go to 7-11, he runs to the CD/VCD/DVD rack and picks up this karaoke VCD out of many many items. We got to get it for him.
So, this was how we spent his birthday. Thank you for all the birthday messages! We appreciate all the wishes and thoughts!!! | |
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| Happy birthday, daddy! |
| Sunday, July 26, 2009 |
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Jamie had light fever on daddy's birthday so he stayed home to rest while daddy and mommy went out for a birthday date. | |
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| Happy Valentine's Day! |
| Saturday, February 14, 2009 |
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Jamie surprised mommy with a beautiful rose on Valentine's Day morning. | |
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| Happy Chinese New Year! |
| Sunday, February 01, 2009 |
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Chinese New Year is semi-official holiday in Thailand. Mommy's company had a day off but daddy didn't. To celebrate Chinese New Year, we had dinner in a nice hotel restaurant. | |
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The restaurant entrance was nicely decorated. They were very nice in giving Jamie a red envelope of 20 baht and a red bag filled with 2 fruit that represent good fortune. He looked even more like a girl holding a bag like this. | |
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| Happy Halloween! |
| Friday, October 31, 2008 |
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On Halloween, mommy brought Jamie to work to trick or treat. He physically rejected the reindeer outfit that mommy prepared for him so in the end he dressed as a cowboy. | |
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Mommy's coworker Tom is pregnant. She asked Jamie to kiss her belly and try to guess the baby's gender. Jamie guessed a girl. We'll have to wait to see because she plans to find out when the baby is born. | |
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After work mommy had to attend a work dinner, we rushed home to get change. Daddy also came home so we changed into Halloween outfits for the night. Mommy was security guard and daddy was cleaning lady. These were the 2 main types of persons that came to our mind when we thought about our daily life in Thailand. We borrowed real uniforms from workers in our building. | |
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We tried to include cowboy Jamie in the photo but he was too afraid to stand next to security guard mommy. The closest possible was this photo. He didn't mind kissing cleaning lady daddy though. | |
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Then mommy headed out for the work dinner and met up with daddy and friends later. We expected to see other people dressed up too but when we arrived in the bar, we were shocked to find that we were basically the only ones. Everyone looked at us but we still took the courage to be our roles - daddy cleaned the floor and mommy checked around with her skull flashlight. When we spotted our friends, we went up close, daddy swept the floor and mommy asked to check their IDs but even our friends couldn't recognize us. When we were at the club, daddy showed some cool semi-breakdance semi-floor sweeping moves. | |
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| Happy birthday, Jamie! |
| Tuesday, August 12, 2008 |
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First of all, thank you for remembering Jamie's birthday and sending the warm messages.
Now that Jamie is 2, he's old enough to recognize people around him and will know he's the special boy if we throw him a birthday party but on his birthday we decided to celebrate with just the 3 of us doing things he likes the most.
We started the day with swimming. Whenever possible on day-offs, we take him to swimming in the morning so that he'd be exhausted enough to have a good afternoon nap. One part he likes a lot about swimming is taking water out from the pool with his Anpanman bucket and pour it on the floor. | |
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After his nap, we took him to the restaurant where he has plenty to play with in the playground while we eat. We also let him eat food we usually don't let him eat or drink much like french fries, other fried food, cake, apple juice etc. At the restaurant, the character rabbit along with all the waiters and waitresses came out with a little cake with 2 candles on it to sing birthday song for Jamie. Jamie was about to eat his french fries but he stopped and looked surprised that people were doing this for him. | |
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Right next to the restaurant is a playground for kids. Kids need to be at least 90 cm to enter and we just measured him a few days ago and he's 90 cm with his shoes on so he got it. The sign said adults are not allowed but the staff asked Mommy Joey if she wanted to join and of course she did. | |
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Afterwards, we went to Ocean World, an aquarium that Daddy Steve claims Jamie likes but probably Daddy likes it more. | |
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Although Jamie was scared thru out most of the aquarium since almost everywhere was dark to create the deep sea atmosphere but there were also parts where he liked like this part where he can stick his head "inside" the fish tank. It was a simple yet meaningful birthday, at least for Jamie's parents. Oh and we had him wear Olympics shirt to celebrate the event in Beijing too since this would probably be his only birthday where Olympics is held at the same time in China. See more photos from this link. http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=heta005.8qtvkicl&x=0&y=-6kb5zs&localeid=en_US | |
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| Happy birthday Daddy Steve! |
| Saturday, July 26, 2008 |
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On Daddy Steve's birthday, Mommy Joey asked daddy what he wanted to do on his birthday. His answer was "I want to go to Paragon (a shopping mall) to buy books for Jamie because I like reading to him." What a funny answer. Before we went to the mall, we also did something Jamie likes. We took him to the bicycle park. | |
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We took turn to "drive" Jamie. | |
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At night we celebrated in one of daddy's favorite restaurant with Mexican cuisine. We surprised daddy with a tiny birthday cake. When the waitresses brought out the cake and sang birthday song, Jamie had this smile on his face as if all of these were done for him. | |
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After dinner, we went to see Jerry who was moving back to Taiwan the next day to be with his family. He was leaving many things behind in Bangkok and asked us to go to his house to see if there's anything we could take. Honestly we didn't plan to take anything but when we saw the so many interesting toys his daughter Kasia left behind which are kept in good condition, we couldn't resist and ended up taking quite a lot of stuff. Jerry happened to be flying on the same flight with mommy to Taipei. A big typhoon came to Taiwan during mommy's stay so mommy ended up not being able to work and has to go there one more time in August. | |
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| Happy birthday Yo! |
| Friday, July 25, 2008 |
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Yo is already 11 years old but he still looks so young! | |
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| Happy New Year! |
| Tuesday, January 01, 2008 |
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With Jamie, we didn't think we could go anywhere on New Year's Eve, not to mention the countdown. But we were lucky to have ran into our neighbors on New Year's Eve afternoon and were invited to their home party that night. We thought, hey if we live so close, we can go home when Jamie is sleepy, no worries about crowd or traffic jam, so why not go. So we went and were very happy we did. Jamie was relaxed in the setting that's very similar to our home. There was Kimmy who is close in age with Jamie to play with and there was Morgan who is 6 and old enough to help to watch Jamie. The other 2 boys who are around 4 to 5 years old were just a bit too crazy for Jamie with their spider man fight.
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Kimmy also had tons of toys for Jamie to play. From stamp to cooking to baby caring. Jamie picked up this stroller and walked around with the baby but soon threw the baby on the floor. He was more interested in pushing the stroller than what was sitting in it. | |
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So with all the kid company, toys and a "homey" setting, Jamie was able to enjoy himself and that meant we as parents could enjoy ourselves with other adults.
Jamie became sleepy at around 10-11pm, much later than his usual sleeping time already. We were thinking of leaving but the host offered to let Jamie sleep in one of their kids' room. We took the offer and Mommy Joey ended up falling asleep with Jamie in the room. Then when 12am approached, Daddy Steve woke mommy for countdown. We went out to the balcony. There was firework everywhere, all across landscape. It was amazing. We could not have seen it from our balcony.
Being able to celebrate the New Year's but yet not have to deal with the trouble that comes with it, it was a great New Year's Eve for us. | |
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| Merry Christmas! |
| Tuesday, December 25, 2007 |
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Merry Christmas to everyone!
Dear Grandma Tonna, this is as close as Jamie will get to a Santa this year. This electric Santa can sing and dance. It was taken in a hypermarket and Yo wasn't allowed in so Yo couldn't be in the picture :). | |
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| Happy Loy Kratong! |
| Saturday, November 24, 2007 |
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Loy Kratong is kind of like Thailand's Valentine's Day. This is the day when couples go to to the river and pray for their blessings. The legend goes, each person lets a flower floating floats on the water. If the couple's 2 flower floatings stay together as they float, this couple will stay together. But in reality, this holiday is not only for couples, from kids to old people, everybody goes to the river for fun. | |
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Time flies. This was already the 3rd time Mommy Joey and Daddy Steve spent Loy Kratong together in Thailand but every year we ended up celebrating it in the apartment. This year was no exception. We joined the party by the pool at our apartment. But we finally took courage to experience the real Loy Kratong at the river as well.
First, at the apartment. The floating flowers were released in the pool. | |
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There were Thai dance shows. Jamie danced along :). | |
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The organizer held a costume contest for kids. Each participating kid had to do cat walk. Afterward, audiences had to applaud and the kid with loudest applaud would become the winner. The rule is too cruel for kids. | |
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We were hoping the organizer would not follow through such cruel rule but they did. They really picked a winner each from the girl and boy sides. But for us, every kid was a winner. Look how cute they all were! | |
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On the real Loy Kratong night, we headed toward the river. The thought of getting stuck in super traffic really bothered us. We decided to go by motorcycle taxi and then the sky train. It was the first time Mommy Joey rode motorcycle taxi with Jamie. Wearing sling made it feel safe. Jamie sat still the whole time enjoying the wind and view. Surprisingly there was no traffic. | |
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We expected to see the river filled up with beautiful candle-lit flower floatings but instead what we saw was a trashed river. (wanted to upload a photo for proof but is experiencing technical difficulty) | |
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| Happy birthday, Grandma Tonna! |
| Sunday, November 11, 2007 |
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I send my hugs and kisses to you Grandma for your birthday. Happy birthday! | |
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| Happy Halloween! |
| Wednesday, October 31, 2007 |
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This year Jamie was reindeer and snowman. Yo was still hotdog. Mommy Joey was skull in jacket and ring. | |
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| Happy 1-year-old birthday, Jamie! |
| Sunday, August 12, 2007 |
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We were wondering for days what to do on Jamie’s birthday. Mommy Joey wanted to throw him a small party inviting close friends or neighbors to join but Jamie would be too young to remember any of it and he maybe overwhelmed by having many people in the house for relatively long time. Daddy Steve wanted to let him do his favorite activities such as swimming and train ride. In the end we went with daddy's idea.
We took him to the pool and swam with him. Because it was his birthday, we didn't make him go under water. After swimming he got really tired and ended up sleeping for 3 hours leaving no time for other day time activities.
For evening daddy prepared a special meal for Jamie with steak and mashed potato. | |
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It was difficult to pick a gift for Jamie. Again, he's too young to remember it plus he has enough toys already. In the end we got him his birthday newspaper as we also got him on his birth date. Daddy wants to continue this custom every year.
Jamie shares the same birthday with Thai Queen, which is also the Mother's Day in Thailand because it's the Queen's birthday. So Jamie will probably see the same face on his birthday newspaper in years to come.
Daddy also wrote him a special greeting card that he won't give to Jamie until he turns 18.
Our apartment gave him a greeting card and a birthday cake, in addition to the little one we got for him. He's too young to eat any of it though. | |
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When we blew the candle, mommy held up Yo to take the photo together but don't know why Jamie was very astonished by it which made a great funny photo. | |
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Mommy always imagined throwing a party for Jamie with everyone wearing a party hat. But Jamie hates hat from the time he was born. Don't know where he picked up this skill but he always manages to take it off very quickly after we put it on. Tonight, instead of a hat, we put on his head the nipple of his giantic bottle toy. It fits just right.
After a long day it was time for Jamie to go to sleep. Usually the routine is to give him a bottle with formula. He drinks and slowly falls asleep. But tonight Jamie pushed the bottle away. Mommy thought it was because the water used in the formula was too hot for him. She tried again and this time Jamie drank it. After he drank the whole bottle, the nightmare began.
He threw up vigorously on our bed twice. Poor baby, not only he had to experience throw up on his birthday but had to do it twice which had never happened before. The reason was pretty obvious. Mommy Joey overfed Jamie. She completely ignored the fact that Jamie just had a big meal before that. What was worse was she ignored the sign Jamie tried to give her. She still set her mind in the old days when Jamie had to drink milk to go to sleep while actually Jamie is already very advanced into solid stage that milk has become supplmentary.
Mommy of course felt very guilty for putting the birthday boy through this ordeal and wasting all the effort Daddy Steve put into preparing for the meal. Her punishment was to sleep on the floor next to a filthy bed. Poor Daddy Steve who didn't do anything wrong but had to sleep on the floor too.
This taught mommy a valuable lesson: read Jamie's sign more carefully and pay more attention to his developmental stage. And never overfeed him in attempt to put him to sleep!
To end on a more positive note, Jamie will never remember any of it! :) | |
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| Happy New Year! |
| Monday, January 01, 2007 |
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| Halloween (for Jamie)! |
| Tuesday, October 31, 2006 |
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Jamie is Tigger this year. This costume never meant to be for Halloween but Halloween came before he had chance to wear it so it naturally became the outfit for today. | |
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| Halloween (for Yo)! |
| Tuesday, October 31, 2006 |
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You would think it's pretty obvious that Yo is a hot dog but both grandpa Ben and a security guard at the apartment complex thought this is a floatie. Coincidently, we took Yo to a doggie pool today. | |
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| 1-Month Old! |
| Tuesday, September 12, 2006 |
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People in HK celebrate when a baby reaches 1-month old by holding banquets inviting many family and friends. Baby would usually make his debut in this event. This day also marks the end of the crucial postpartum recovery period for the mother.
With most of our family and friends being abroad, today we just quietly celebrated at home. We looked back at this one month and couldn't be more grateful how perfect this baby has been. For one thing, he has been sleeping for 6 hours straight in the past few nights. How many 1-month old baby can do that? :)
The most important thing is, he has been healthy and content. We'll continue to try our best so that he'll stay this way for months and years to come. | |
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| Happy Halloween! |
| Monday, October 31, 2011 |
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Yes we know this year is not the best time to be a pirate in the flooded Thailand but Jamie innocently picked out this costume so we let him be. And as you can see, his friend became Tin Man :-). And Woody too! | |
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