Look What Kylie Can Do!

Don't blink you might miss it! We have a much better video but it is so long it takes too long to upload. Happy Friday Everyone!!

Great Uncle Jeff

Kylie was so excited to meet her Great Uncle Jeff last night. He is in town for business and came up to see us last night. We ordered Chinese Take-Out and all walked over to the Chinese restaurant to pick it up. Kylie enjoyed taking a walk with her Great Uncle Jeff and spending some quality time in her bouncing seat staring at him! She looks forward to meeting more Straub's next weekend!

Gung hay fat choy (Happy Chinese New Year)

For all of you whom have asked. Here is some information on Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is a holiday that celebrates the beginning of a new year according to the lunar calendar. It is considered to be one of the most important holidays for Chinese families. The holiday is celebrated with big family gatherings, gift giving, the eating of symbolic foods and display of festive decorations--all focused on bringing good luck for the new year and celebrating the coming of Spring.

Prior to the first day of the New Year it is customary for families to thoroughly clean their homes from top to bottom. Doing this is said to clear out any back luck from the previous year and to ready the house to accept good luck for the coming year.
All cleaning must be finished before New Year's Day so there is no chance of accidentally throwing out the good fortune of the new year. Before New Year's Day you want to buy new clothes or cut your hair in order to have a fresh start. Wearing black is not allowed due to its association with death, however, wearing red is encouraged as the color is associated with warding off bad spirits. Red means prosperity.

It is a traditional practice for adults to give children little red envelopes--hong bao in Mandarin or lai-see in Cantonese--filled with money in order to symbolize wealth and prosperity for the coming year. It is also common for elders to bestow red packets to unmarried members of the family. It is a sign of respect to bow three times in order to accept the hong bao. Envelopes are not to be opened until the recipient has left the home of the giver.

YEAR OF THE OX - Stands for strength and prosperity through hard work!

Kylie's Shirt and matching pants (not shown) were handmade by her Great Aunt (A -Yi pronounced I E) Pauline. Aren't they beautiful?? Doh Je (Thank You!!)

4 Months Old Today

Where does the time go? It is so hard to believe that Kylie is already 4 months old. It just seems like yesterday that we were leaving for the hospital in contractions. Okay well maybe not but the time is going by so fast and she is growing so fast. We didn't have a chance to go to the post office today to weigh her so we will have to wait till her doctors appointment next week. She is starting to reach for things, laugh and half way roll over. I am sure in a blink of a eye she will be crawling, walking and talking. Kylie loves school and her big smile comes out everyday when we arrive. She is a very very happy baby.

This weekend we went to a volleyball tournament where she was happy to watch all the people and a party at a friends house with homemade Mexican food! Yummy (Too bad we didn't take any pictures, as we were too busy jamming guacamole in our face!)

We also introduced her to Rice Cereal tonight. She wasn't sure what to do with it and after a few spoonfuls got the whole chewing motion pretty good. Although more ended up on her then anywhere else. Mac got a little jealous so we had to give him some rice cereal as well!

Wednesday Jeans Blues

Kylie wanted to show off her blue jeans and cardigan. Although if she could walk or crawl those jeans would never stay up. She has a little growing still to do. Thankfully she didn't flash anyone at daycare!

Here just relaxing in her special chair

First Day at the Beach

Kylie made her first trip to the beach this weekend. She was super excited about the sand between her toes, the sounds of the ocean and just relaxing.

Relaxing with her Godmother Dani

Some Tummy Time and Sand Eating

Walking in the sand

Here is a video of her in her lounge chair just relaxing. A possible Royal Caribbean commercial? WHY NOT?

Baptism

This weekend was a big weekend for Kylie as she was baptized on Saturday January 17th. It was an awesome day filled with family and friends. Uncle Paul, Aunt Judy, Aunt Gloria and Dani flew in from Chicago. They were very happy with positive temperatures. My parents and Brian's parents drove into town. We were also joined by our wonderful friends Hugo, Hugo Andre, Jess, Nancy, Krista, Billy, Wendy, William and Isabella

Kylie did really well through the whole ceremony but fell asleep prior to the water being poured over her head. Unfortunately it woke her up and she was a little cranky. We are so happy to have Hugo and Dani (Danielle) as Kylie's Godparents. After the ceremony at the church we all went over to Maggiano's (a family favorite) for a nice luncheon.

Kylie not too sure about the outfit

Father Frank, Brian, Kylie, myself (Tricia), Hugo and Dani

The Godparents just realizing what they got themselves into as Kylie screamed

This Church thing is pretty cool!

Kylie meeting William and Isabella for the first time

Make sure to check out the friends and family section for other pictures :)

Bad Hair Day??

I think the chill in the air caused Kylie to have a bad hair day today. Here she is right when I dropped her off on daycare on the play mat. She is sporting her purple Adidas Track Suit today :) Have a great day.. Stay warm!

Future Volleyball Star???

Tonight was one of the first nights that Brian had volleyball practice right after work. Therefore, Kylie and I came home from work and did the whole routine without her Dad. She was fine (I was pulling out my hair! - Thankfully you can drink your dinner!).

Anyways, Kylie wanted to practice her volleyball skills so one day she could play on her Dad's team. I think we made a lot of progress. She enjoyed laying on the volleyball and practicing her dive sprints. Diving she has down sprints not so much. When she tried to lick the ball I figured she had enough. You don't see many volleyball stars licking the volleyball. I also found out that if you put the pacifier in there is a lot less whining, especially when your running a lot of drills.

After all that practice Kylie needed a bath

Greek Amulet

Kylie received this awesome Greek Amulet the other day from one of our friends / accounts. Makis brought this back from his trip to Greece just for her. It is supposed to ward off all evil. We are so fortunate to have so many friends from such different backgrounds which brings so much culture into Kylie's life!

Thanks Makis :) She picked it up in her hand on her own...

First Week of School / Work Complete

We did it, first week of school / work done! Kylie loves her school and mainly stares at the bigger kids trying to figure out how they are moving around and rolling over. She has a spanish nickname LA CHINA pronounced chee-na (meaning china girl). Anytime anyone says it to her she smiles and almost laughs! She has made a few new friends in her class as well. Bianca likes to take off Kylie's socks and no matter where they put Bianca she manages to get over to be near Kylie. It is pretty cute. She doesn't seem too interested in the boys right now! The drive has been manageable and Kylie sleeps to and from school for the most part.

Kylie's teachers gave her homework for the weekend. Here are a few of her assignments:

• Learn to spit up less
• Practice sitting up (she does very well with something to support her)
• Practice rolling over
• Spell Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
• Master Spanish

Here is a shot of Kylie and I resting after a long week. Guess she didn't need much rest!

First Day of School

Today was my first day back to work in Miami and Kylie's first day at Little Cruisers (the daycare center in my work building). The day went GREAT. I went downstairs to check on Kylie once and she was playing or other kids were playing on the mat near her. She slept all the way to work and for the most part the way home from work.

As we pulled into the port of Miami I taught her right away about the best cruise line out there Royal Caribbean and she seemed to get fussy when she saw the Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line ships. She also seemed excited that her daycare was on an island and she can see the ocean from her daycare center. Not a bad place to be.

Kylie and Her First Day of School Outfit

Kylie and Her Cardigan
(It does get cold here. Only 80 today but seriously like below zero in daycare!)

Kylie and I about to leave for work/school

Kylie and Her Teacher Mama Zeda
(She has worked in Little Cruisers for 13 years - I would say she is an EXPERT!)

Happy Birthday Po Po

外婆

Po Po
(Grandma Lum)

Just a quick message to say Happy Birthday!

Here is Kylie getting ready for a walk wearing her hat and sunglasses!

Happy New Year!!

New Year's Day Celebration

This is Kylie on New Year's Eve. She fell asleep standing in her ExerSaucer and was in bed by 10pm. She had quite the fireworks show though, as the neighborhood boys lit of fireworks for several hours right in front of her bedroom window. Thankfully she slept through them! Although it was a very long night with Mac (our dog).