Out With The Old...In With the New

"Goodbye 2010....Hello 2011"

We are definitely looking forward to 2011 in hopes it will be a fantastic year to come. Bring it!

Oooh....We are just minutes away from celebrating and we want to wish everyone an early

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!**

(just imagine we are throwing confetti in your direction)

We Love Hugs

Whew! Now that our house is slowly returning back to normal, we finally found some time to upload some of the After-Christmas pictures.

The family photo

Kalista with the Grandparents- Look she's waving!

Kalista with Grandma Susan

Oh my...the crazy professor look

Up close and personal

Kalista enjoying her new toys from Christmas

Since our guests have all returned home, Kalista has been very clingy and latches on like a tiny monkey. We think it may be from all the attention and extra hugs and love she got in the past week. She has taken full advantage of it since she loves to be held and cuddled. Jen can't seem to get away now for a minute without Kalista whining and holding her arms out to be picked up. She is too cute to resist at times and when we hold her the world stops and nothing gets done for the day. She is getting pretty smart and knows how to work the system...but who couldn't resist a face like that?!?

Christmas Recovery

Sorry no pictures today! We are slowly recovering from Christmas and cleaning the explosion of generosity that lay upon our living room furniture. Thank you Bay Area family for all the holiday wishes and gifts that came our way! Kalista thanks you all very much from the bottom of her heart.

Kalista had her second visit with Miss Tami, her physical therapist, super early this morning. We are thinking 7:30 am therapy sessions were a big mistake on our part. The good news is that it appears that Miss Kalista is on the right track and hopefully will be up and crawling on time. She has the foundation and stance for the crawling position, but she still needs to work on her upper arm strength. We brought in our "Belly Board" and gave her a real good workout on it. Poor Kalista did not like it one bit. We know it is super hard work for her and her tiny arms. Our homework for the next two weeks are: pivoting on our belly, side lying to sitting, slow crawling simulation and belly to side roll.

Today was eventful! We also had a great surprise visit from Jen's Aunt Betty and Uncle Alden today. They have officially joined the group of relatives that have seen Kalista in person. We are a little bummed that the San Diego weather decided to be a little hostile for their stay, but we can only hope tomorrow brings a better day. The wind has reeked havoc in our backyard and has scattered our belongs all over the place. On the positive side, the sound of the wind makes good background noise for sleeping.

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

Let It Snow Christmas Card

OUR HOLIDAY CARD TO YOU

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Singing In The Rain

This week has been damper than usual. We have had a mighty good down pour of rain in the past few days and it looks like it will be here for Christmas too. Jen's family is coming down for the holidays in a few days and we hope they don't hit too much of the bad weather on their drive.

Kalista has been couped up in the house because of the weather and hasn't been able to enjoy her usual walks outside. The dogs have also been a bit stir crazy since they miss the outdoors too. Bella and Kalista have been having staring contests to buy the time away.


Kalista had OT this morning and Matt was finally able to attend for the first time. As luck would have it, she was having a grumpy day and cried for the entire session. It could be those growing pains or she was tired or walking through the rain put a damper on her spirit...who knows?! It was a first for Kalista. She is usually a smiley gal and ready to try new things...but not today.

Santa Pictures Are Up

Our Weekly Update

It's the weekend before Christmas and our house is filled with Christmas music, presents and holiday cheer. We put our tree up and decorated it with all our favorite ornaments. Kalista loves the beautiful lights that cover the tree at night. She even helped wrap some of the Christmas presents this year....well...more like played with the gift wrap and tissue paper. The crinkle of the paper is much too enticing for her.

Here's the latest in the Lam house:

Kalista has been working hard in OT with feeding. She still uses her g-tube 100% of the time for nutrition and feedings, but she can now devour a teaspoon of baby food at a sitting with the help of Jen's finger as a spoon. She is a big eater in the evening and that is when we work the most with her. Her favorite is still applesauce. We tried veggies this week in OT...yummy green beans...but she didn't really enjoy it at home. We were also given Dum Dum lollipops to try as oral stim homework. Who thought babies and candy couldn't be in the same sentence?

This is Kalista's "I'm Done" pose after eating.

Kalista and her new homework item: Dum Dum lollipops

We had our first physical therapy evaluation this past Wednesday with Tami. We were given activities to work on: sitting side saddle, crawling pose, weight bearing on her arms while standing and transitioning from lying to sitting. Whew...just typing all that gave me a workout!

Because of the "O", we haven't had much tummy time and that is putting Kali behind in her gross motor development. After reading many posts on the MOOs site about how other families created special foam cut-out beds for tummy time, Matt and his engineering team decided to create one for Kalista.

Our special tummy time board
(made of an elevated wood slab with a hole cut out for the belly)

Tummy time is still not her most well-loved position

Kalista is also developing an elaborate vocabulary: ba, ma, oh, mmm, ga. No "mama" yet though! She giggles at us whenever we make the motorboat sound, pop, click or smack our lips. She has also started reading to us before we go to bed...just kidding. We do the reading, but she likes to turn the pages.

Enjoying her books before bed

Other than that...we are just chugging along with our daily routine and can't wait until Christmas comes.

I'm Seven Months Old!

Kalista is now a whoppin' SEVEN months old! She's become quite a little girl.

Newbies:
Her new thing is staring at people. She has turned into a sponge and is tracking your every move and word you say. Her personality continues to shine through and it seems like we have a little giggler on our hands. Kalista is probably the most easy going baby and laughs and smiles all the time.

Her new favorite toy is our dog, Bella. The two of them have become best friends and Kalista often gets upset when Bella ignores her. Kalista loves to pet her whenever they are close enough to interact and Bella loves to be pet and loved on, so it is a win-win situation for all. "Good doggie!!"

No teeth yet, but Kalista is doing a great job chomping down on our fingers whenever they make it into her mouth. She has a good bite going on! Kalista is doing much better with her tastings and can easy devour a teaspoon of baby food at a feeding session. Applesauce is her new love. The sippy cup has been more of a challenge, but today she let us give her a few swigs of water....so it's a work in progress.

We are still in awe that seven months have gone by in a blink of an eye.

We Made It Through Another Round

Kalista waiting to see Dr. Berent

Hidee Ho everyone! Yes...it was a long and grumpy day for the little one. We had a trip to the pediatrician this morning for her well delayed 6 month set of shots. She always takes them like a champ, but this time around, it made her feel a bit more under the weather than we thought. We are chalking it up to the flu shot, since that is the only thing different than her 4 month set.

Kalista weighed in at 15 lbs, 6oz and is now 25 inches in height. Her head circumference is in the 50th percentile, but her height/weight are in the 10-25th percentile. It must be her big brain that makes her top heavy!

"Toga a la blanket " is the new pediatric office style

We had our trial class at Gymboree yesterday and Kalista had a great time after the first ten minutes into it. She went in with her fists clenched and weary of all the other babies around her but eventually warmed up. Funny how every baby communicates differently. Clenched fists have always been her way of telling us that she is uncomfortable and apprehensive. It's way better than a crying fit. So after a good 45 minutes of singing and playing, Kalista crashed into a three hour nap. Gotta love the free parent time to catch up with things!

If you watch the show "Modern Family", our visit to Gymboree totally reminded us of the episode where Mitchell and Cam brought Lily to that playgroup. If you don't watch this show...you really should. Watch it on Zulu, because it is hilarious!!!

Rock On Christmas!!!

Rock on party people and enjoy the holidays!!!!
(Thanks (Uncle) Bill for being a part of this rock video)

Spread the Joy

We decided to go a little disco this year in our holiday cheer!

Cardiology Update

Kalista saw Dr. Perry today for her cardiology follow-up. He confirmed that she does have WPW (Wolff-Parkinson-White heart arrythmia) after further EKG testing, but it looks like it is not causing any SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) at this time. He told us we should not worry and if there are any symptoms that need treatment, Kalista will be old enough by then to tell us how she feels. So...we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

We have scheduled an echocardiogram in February 2011 to double check and make sure the PDA ligation surgery that was done way back in May is truly patched up. Not sure why this was not done while we were in the NICU since it seems like proper follow-up, but better now than never. The cardiology team wants to make sure Kalista is properly fit to undergo another surgery next spring.

Other than that....no other medical information at this time. They did measure her growth and she is at 25 inches in length and a little bit over 15 pounds. Her hair has to contribute for at least 2 pounds since it is so thick....just kidding.

SANTA!!!

Kalista made an early visit to see Santa this week. We're not sure what she wished for because she was sitting on his lap for a good 45 minutes. It must have been an extravagant story or a very long list. It was nice because Santa wasn't as busy as we thought he would be. When she saw Santa, Kali didn't cry, she didn't really smile, she just stared at him with a serious face. She even took home a souvenir...part of his beard. Oops or more like ouch (poor Santa)!!! Those little hands of hers have a mean death grip nowadays. Watch out for your necklaces, earrings, glasses...you name it...she'll grab it and won't let go.

Weekend Getaway

We just got to Anaheim. It's about 10 pm and we are starving since we didn't get our nosh on before we left. Ironic how we're staying right next to Disneyland, yet we aren't here to visit the "Happiest Place On Earth". We are actually up here for our cousin's wedding banquet. Yes....we have a lot of cousins.

Kalista is still in a deep sleep ever since we left San Diego. She travels very well by car. It will be very interesting to see how she does in an airplane. Maybe we will wait for a bit, since we don't want to be the family with the crying kid. She can't quite do the secret trick all parents seem to know about....taking the bottle while ascending and descending.

Let's recap:
During our mini weekend excursion, Jen got a chance to meet up with her old college roomie. We had a great breakfast with Karin and her family, including her parents. They were Jen's "parents" when she was at UC San Diego for school, so it was great being able to spend time with them again.

Although we didn't make it inside Disneyland, we at least stopped by Downtown Disney. Nothing is as magical as the Disney holiday spirit and those yum yum beignets from the Jazz Kitchen. Mmmmmm!!!

At last, we ended the day with our cousin's wedding banquet. Jana and Brian are such a cute couple! We had a great time and Kalista was finally able to meet a lot of relatives on Matt's side of the family that live in southern California.

As easy as it was to get away from San Diego...we came back in less than 48 hours. What a trip!

First Thanksgiving

It is Kalista's first Thanksgiving!!

In honor of the day, she had sweet potatoes for lunch...or at least a dabble or two to taste. To shake up tradition a bit, we decided to go out for Thanksgiving dinner this year. No cooking...no messy dishes to clean...no hours spent tending to a turkey. Although we do miss the smell and aroma of food in the house.

Kali loves to suck her fingers nowadays. How tasty!

Matt usually has to work on Thanksgiving Day, so we decided to join him and partake in the Thanksgiving buffet dinner at Soleil at K with our cousins (this is the restaurant in the hotel). It was a fabulous spread of salads, main dishes and desserts. If we cooked the same amount of food, it may have taken us at least two to three days of preparation. The highlight of the meal was definitely the chocolate covered strawberries at the end. Just thinking of them makes our mouths water. Yum-o!

Kali with Uncle Carey and Auntie Nhu

We truly wish we had the hallmark picture of Kalista with a turkey drumstick that everyone speaks of, but instead we have many pictures of Kalista enjoying Thanksgiving without the turkey. C'est la vie.

All in all, it was a great day spent with family and that's what matters. Happy happy turkey day!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!

Goodbye Bay Area

Kalista got to see many of her friends on our trip. Last night, we were invited for drinks and dinner at our friends' house, where Kalista finally got to meet Tyler and Ethan for the first time. It was adorable seeing the babies play with each other.

Ethan, Tyler and Kalista hanging out with each other

In our final days in the Bay Area, we spent a good amount of time with our families. We had a lot of visitors and we did a lot of visiting. We wish we could stay for Thanksgiving, but we all need to get back to San Diego.

Here are a few more pictures of our time there:

Kalista with Auntie Claudia and Uncle P

Kalista smashed her cousin Alex while he was sleeping

Hi Mui!

Back in the Bay

Hello from the Bay Area!!! Jen had an optometry conference in San Francisco this past week and we decided to take the whole family to visit all of our relatives up there....dogs too. Our extended family has not been able to meet Kalista until now and let's just say, she was the center of everyone's attention.

Jen was able to rack up 26 hours of continuing education (CE) credit in four days, while Matt and Kalista drove around town hanging out with family and friends. The dogs stayed at Jen's parents' house since they have a large backyard. We hope they had as much of a great time as we did.

We look forward in spending a few more days up here and meeting up with some of our friends and their new babies. Kalista gets to have one big playdate with all the new little ones this weekend.

Here are a few highlight photos from the first few days of our trip:

Jen's family (oops..we blocked grandma!)

Great Grandpa and Great Grandma were delighted to see Kali

Auntie Pauline and Kali

Four generations of strong women

Finally...a photo with Grandma and Kalista

Fun times with great aunt Barbara and auntie Kim

Geesh...sometimes being a superstar can be overwhelming!
(This is Matt's favorite photo of the trip...look at that face!)