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!