Hello Again Sweet Blog

Where do we even beginning?  February went by in a blur.  Here is a mini recap for all of you:

Kalista got an early birthday present in the form of an egg chair.  She absolutely loves this swivel chair from IKEA and enjoys closing the cover on us whenever she gets the chance.

Kali had a home spa day with Jen. Her bathtub toys ended up teething items since a few of her teeth are still coming in.

This was her "diva" face for immediate attention. "Help Me NOW!!!"  Just kidding...she was actually upset that her toy fell on the ground. (** notice her little finger)

With sad news, Joey was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma in his mouth and found out that it had quickly metastasized along his tonsils at the beginning of February.  After many visits to the vet, we decided to spare him from extensive chemotherapy and radiation.  Because he is almost 14 years old, we are making him as comfortable as possible at home. Luckily, he doesn't seem to be bothered very much and is still eating well.

On another pet note, Bella injured her little short toe a week ago and had to have the abscessed area lanced and cleaned out.  Oh yes...we had to find her "Cone of Shame" so she wouldn't pick at her wrapped tootsie.  Since then, we had the wrapping removed and have been soaking her foot daily in a disinfectant bath.  She is pretty much back to her normal self.  Our poor furry babies!!!!

In between the dog madness, the Lam and Martinez families came to spend a long weekend with us. Kali loved showing off her kitchen and playing house with all our guests.  It looks like Mrs. Potato Head might be on the menu for dinner. Oh no!

Matt and his mom were surprised with a belated/early birthday cake.

It was a tough set of candles. It took a few extra lips to blow them out.

Kali and her cousins enjoying a fantastic day in Balboa Park. We walked through some of the International Houses, since we have honestly never visited that part of the park.  Each little bungalow highlights a particular country and their traditions.  We had some yummy ethnic nibbles and enjoyed a great Irish jig. We also discovered that hot dogs represent the food item of the United States.

Besides working on our feeding trials and tribulations (which seem to be improving by the way), we have been working on potty training while we can.  Don't think Kali is ready quite yet, but every little step helps.

Matt finally made it to one of our weekly zoo-ventures.  Kali got to enjoy a better view in the backpack since Matt is a good 12 inches taller.  We even took our first ride in the Skyfari sky tram with Kalista to see the polar bears.

When we got home, we asked Kali if she had a good time at the zoo and she showed us this beautiful smile.  The answer must have been ...YES!!!!

In our toddler group yesterday, the theme was "crafts" and letting your child explore without worrying about what the end product looks like.  Kalista skipped finger painting and gravitated to  her two favorite things - coloring with crayons and playing with stickers.  At the end, she made this beautiful sticker-clad vase. It's now our Happy Leap Day vase!

Full House

Whew...this week is dragging.

On the bright side, we have guests in town....again. Yes....Hotel Lam is in full service! The Lam and Martinez clan have graced us with their presence. It is definitely a full house at the moment.

Kalista is super thrilled to have guests her size to hang out with and play for hours on end.

Wonder what the main event is tomorrow while everyone is in town?

Back From the Bay (updated*)

We are officially back in San Diego after our mini trip to the San Francisco/ Bay Area.

It was a pleasant, yet non-stop family and friends filled five days. It seems like we need a vacation from our vacation. Maybe it is because we took the road trip route instead of flying.

I'm home everyone!

We made it in a record time of 7 1/2 hours (which included our 45 minute gas and rest stop break). Matt did all the driving since Jen was sandwiched between Bella and Kalista in the middle row. Poor Jo-Jo had to ride in the back of the car in his crate with all our luggage. Let's just say it was a well packed car.

We stayed the first few days at Matt's parents' house and spent time visiting friends and family. The remainder of our trip, we stayed at Jen's parents' house and enjoyed some down time. Kalista got to meet up with her baby friends while she was up there and even met some new ones.

Kalista and Beya had their first playdate

Spending time with Beya and her mommy

Kalista likes touching (more like poking) eyes and mouths now.
Watch out!!!

No tears for Tyler this time around

Kalista with Kylah's mommy

Kalista and Kylah also had their first playdate together

On our trip, Kalista got a chance to catch up with her cousins and play with them since they had the week off for spring break. Cousin Alex has a way of getting Kalista to smile when no one else can....he must have the magic touch! She has a natural migration towards him when he's in the same room as her.


Even Joey and Bella took some time to absorb the Northern California fresh air.

Joey sun-tanning again

Bella snoozing mid-morning

Kalista found one of her favorite items...the remote control

She even decided to do some yoga

We had many large dinners....three to be exact. We got to see pretty much everyone on both sides of the family. Jen's mom also celebrated a milestone birthday and turned 20 again for the third time. Kalista finally got to meet her aunt Dorothy and second cousins "once removed (???)", Naomi, Ethan and Ryan. This whole "once removed" family tree labeling is mighty confusing and ended up being one of the table topics ironically.

Grandma Susan's birthday banquet

The Lam Family banquet

Kalista with Grandma Susan and Great-Grandma Tam

As timing would have it...we were up in the Bay Area in time for a Chinese tradition similar to "Dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead)" called Qingming. This is the day where you tend to the graves of those who have departed and pay homage to their spirits. We took most of Monday on our trip to visit our loved ones who have passed; Matt's step-grandmother, maternal grandparents, Jen's paternal grandfather and maternal great grandparents. We burned incense, gave our respected bows, brought flowers and food (oranges, in our case) as part of the Chinese tradition. We even went to the temple in San Francisco Chinatown to pay respect to Matt's great relatives. At the end of the day, never did we imagine how tiring it was traveling to every resting place. We are trying to show Kalista the various Chinese traditions our family has followed in hope that they do not get abandoned as we move on from generation to generation.


On a different note...we have some medical and milestone updates for Kalista:

1. This IS the month of doctor appointments. Our visit to the dietitian is next week and we will be starting a new formula pretty soon instead of breastmilk and milk-based formula. Now that Kalista is getting older, we have been recommended to change her over to a higher calorie packed formula/nutritional drink called Peptamen. It looks like an expensive form of Pediasure, but is more easily digestible. We'll let you know how it goes in the next few weeks. As you may know...the ultimate goal is to end the gagging/retching and get Kali to eat and drink by mouth. Kalista has been more willing to put things is her mouth since we can see two little bottom teeth sprouting and the gum massages have been well received.

2. Our appointment with Dr. Gosman, our plastic surgeon, got pushed back another week, so we will have to wait until the very end of April to see if we are ready for tissue expanders as a precursor to Kalista's final stomach flattening closure surgery.

3. We have a sedated echocardiogram and cardiology appointment also planned to make sure her little heart can handle another surgery because of the WPW arrythmia.

4. Kalista can also show off her standing and partial crawling skills at our next physical therapy session in two weeks. She can pretty much scoot herself to any piece of furniture now and pull herself up to standing without any help. Ms. Tami is going to be so proud!

Standing next to the sofa after pulling herself up

Whew...that was our trip in a nutshell!

The Weekend Already?

It is a restful weekend all right. Matt and Kali are picking up Matt's parents in Los Angeles this weekend and bringing them down to San Diego for the week. Jen is holding down the fort and caring for the dogs, since it is wet and wild here with the recent storms.

Kalista attended her first individual occupational therapy session this past Thursday and cried through most of it since she is just in that phase. We swear she does eat and drink at home. Occupational therapy via Skype may be the answer...too bad OT involves hands-on activities with Kalista though....doh!

Kalista and her teacher, Ms. Jodi, get along very well and we have been working on a little sign language, mirror play and possibly getting Kalista more mobile on a scooter board. Jen found a great deal on a plant stand on wheels at IKEA for under $5....so we'll see if that will work for now. We are thinking since Kalista doesn't want to crawl, she can sit on the scooter board and use her legs to scoot around the house. Obviously, we want her crawl, but that tummy sure gets in the way when she stretches out her legs. She is definitely motivated to get going, we just need to find a way. She is starting to hop on her butt to get from one spot to another. It works but it takes 15 minutes to get 3 inches....not very efficient.

Kalista's First Christmas

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukah and holiday of sorts. We know we did!

Kalista enjoyed her very first Christmas and loved having her grandparents and uncle in town. It was priceless seeing her face light up when she opened her first gift and attacked the tissue paper, leaving the actual gift alone...go figure, right? We kind of knew that would happen.

Kalista waiting for Santa to come

Are we waiting to open presents?

Matt woke up early to start on the infamous "turducken" and Jen made all the other side dishes throughout the morning and early afternoon. The turducken turned out well! Needless to say, it is quite impressive that one can fit a chicken into a duck into a turkey and it looked just like a good 'ol regular turkey. Kalista had a taste of some sweet potatoes, smoked ham and cranberry sauce. She definitely did not make a dent in the amount of food we had. We were all so stuffed from dinner that we fell into a two day food coma. Later that evening, we joined the Lam family via Skype and web chatted with them, so they could visit with Kalista.

Our Turducken (turkey-duck-chicken)

Matt doing the honors of carving the "birds"

Here are a few other memorable family pictures from this holiday season:

Bella tearing into her wrapped present

Joey (left) and Bella (right) with their gifts

These presents are bigger than I am

Oh my...where did she go?

Santa left some goodies for Kalista in her stocking

Kalista loved her first Christmas

Grandma and Grandpa Tam's visit

We had our very own Christmas elf