Be Our Guest

It has been a whirlwind guest month and we love it!!!!

Kalista enjoyed a good week with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Bill. Ironically, we had Flat Stanley for the same week as a homework assignment for our cousin, Ryan. For those who don't know, Stanley Lambchop is a book character created by Jeff Brown that was flattened in his sleep when a bulletin board fell off his bedroom wall.  Poor Stanley!!

Our first exciting trip was to the Birch Aquarium since we had it on our 'to do list" with family in town.  Kalista LOVED it!  We had to hold her in order for her to see all the creatures in each tank.  Depending on who was the closest, Kalista hopped from one set of arms to another.  She was exceptionally mesmerized by the giant sea kelp exhibit. Here are a few other images from our excursion:

 Stanley standing in front of the aquarium entrance

 Beautiful jellyfish in an ever-changing color display

 The stained glass window was gorgeous

 Kalista and Grandma enjoyed the Tangs and Clownfish

The best part of the aquarium was watching Kalista touch a starfish for the first time.  Okay....it was a fake toy starfish, but it took a lot of courage.  We're so glad it wasn't real because she drop that thing like a hotcake.  

We finished our visit in the Shark Reef area and played with all the eco-energy saving activities that were on display.  Kalista loved the Shark Cage because it made the best sound as she ran across the metal flooring.  boom boom boom boom.

Kalista posing in front of a wind-energy blade template

da un...da dun...da dun....eeeeee!!!!! We got chomped up.

Like we said earlier, the Shark Cage was a popular spot among the family. We had a mini incident with the Cage, but it ended up being no big deal.  Notice Kalista's big cheesy smile in the first picture....well...the head, that houses that big smile, got stuck in between the bars.  It sent us on a flashback to the days when we were young and got our heads got stuck in the bars within the stair banister. Every child has to experience it at some point. 

Grandma and Grandpa got caught up in the action too..except no heads got stuck here.

During the week, we made our usual trip to the zoo.  We kind of forgot that Spring Break equals craziness, so we had to brave through the crowds.  Flat Stanley joined us and we think he enjoyed himself. Kalista convinced Grandma to buy her a stuffed panda and would not let go of the little thing until we got home.

We made it to the zoo with Flat Stanley

Kalista clinging on to her new friend

This elephant knew how to pamper himself

Easter weekend was great since we had a chance to spend it with family and friends. We drove up to LA to visit Jen's old roommate from college for her little boy's first birthday.  We also caught up with old friends we haven't seen in a long time.  Kalista had a blast at her first Easter egg hunt and searched for hidden eggs with lil ones her size.  Her stamina was short and found not ONE....but TWO eggs and then called it a day.  It was the cutest thing watching all these little ones running around and comparing their new found treasures.  We hope everyone had a fabulous Easter!

These were the best cake and rice krispie pops!

Kali's first Easter egg hunt

December Already??

Hi everyone! I can't believe that November has came and went. Sorry for the lack of post entries last month.

Well...after Halloween came and went,it was only a few weeks before Jen's family came into town for Thanksgiving. It has been awhile since Grandpa Greg and Uncle Bill saw Kali over the summer so they were anxious to come visit. Grandma Susan was just down in October for a two week stay. Kalista has a good memory; she knew it was Grandma as soon as she saw her.

For pre- Thanksgiving dinner, Jen made her first turkey on the stove top. Yes...stove top. We invested in a cookware system called Saladmaster. It's a waterless and oil-less method of cooking and essentially uses a pressure cooking method to cook your food. So we threw a 12 pound turkey on the stove, added some vegetables and let it go for about 3 to 4 hours. We'll just say it was so tender that the meat started falling off the bone. Mmmmmm good!

Ironically, we spent Thanskgiving evening at a restaurant. We had dinner at Soleil@K in the Gaslamp since they have a wonderful buffet spread. We definitely enjoyed the endless supply of turkey and prime rib with all the fixings. Yum!

During our Thanksgiving week, we finally got a chance to meet up with Karsie Gene. She is one of Kalista's baby "O" friends. It was the first time we all met each other in person. We have been following each other's blogs for awhile and emailing back and forth. It has been so great being able to share our stories and our journey with each other.

We set up a play date/food date while they were in town to see if Karsie would rub off some good foodie vibes. We thought it would be such a positive experience to see another little girl, just like Kalista, eat yummy things like hash browns and scrambled eggs. And you know...we have to thank Karsie and her family because Kalista is now on this food kick. She started drinking "Icy Water" (watered down whole milk) in place of just plain water and today she ate 12 graduate puffs in a row. Not bad in one week's time! She has also accepted Fruit Loops into her repertoire of foods. We couldn't be happier! 12 sweet potato puffs...in a row....that's a record!

Kali at the park with her friend

As we transition into December, we have sadly caught this wicked little cold that has plagued everyone around us. We think this early Christmas present was sent to us by mistake. This time the grownups got hit harder than Kalista. Last time she got sick...it was a nice trip to the ER...times two. This time she got the sniffles for a few days, but seems to be doing fine right now running around the house. She is the only who got the flu shot this season..so maybe that helped. Hopefully, we can all rest up this weekend and be back to good health by next week.

I feel good.....let's conga!

November Updates

Kalista had her GI appointment at the beginning of the month and she is still on the growth curve...barely. She weighed in at 18 pounds, 2 ounces; which is actually a half pound more than last month. Pretty good! Her g-tube site didn't look that great since it has still been leaking a little every time she retches. The granulation tissue that formed at around the opening had to be burned with silver nitrate. The site looked fantastic for about a week as the area healed, but now it looks the same again. Bummer!

And yes..those teething woes again. Kalista has some new pearly whites We thought she had chunks of food in her mouth at first, but then did a second take to find that she had some monster huge molars coming through. She loves the tooth brushing part of her nightly regimen. It must feel good having the bristles massage her sore gums. Nonetheless, such a blessing that she knows the importance of good oral hygiene! Our dentist would be so proud.

It is official, the Tams have announced that they will be joining us for Thanksgiving. Yay! Now, it's time to go defrost that turkey of ours and give thanks for many great things that have happened this year.

Wishing everyone an early "Happy Thanksgiving"!

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!

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