A little nauseated

I just saw a TV advertisement for "Buzz Ballads 2". The song excerpts made me cringe - these are mostly the songs I call "Creed or sounds like Creed". You know what I mean.

I was sickened a little more when I realized it is the 2nd release. Enough people bought "Buzz Ballads" that the producers released "Buzz Ballads 2".

I have to lie down now.

The most special birthday of the year

Happy Birthday, Mom. Thanks for everything.

Some Christmas photos

We did a nontraditional Christmas this year. The whole family (7 adults, 11 kids) went to an indoor water park for two days of fun. It was a good time and the Mouse got her first dose of the swimming pool. It wasn't warm enough for a baby, so she just got her feet wet.

A happy birthday - a little late, and more

Very special happy birthday to my niece, Suzy. We missed her birthday while on the road to Omaha, but are very glad to wish her happiness even if it is a little late.

*****

The road trip to Omaha was fairly easy. Most days on the road by 10am, stopped by 5pm when the Mouse couldn't take anymore of riding in her car seat. We saw our very good friend Ann (see her blog here) in Columbus the first night and she treated us to Texas Road House for dinner. She also very kindly gave Mouse a Christmas present of some pretty new clothes. She wore one yesterday and it looks great! No, I was too lazy to get a photo, but I'm sure I'll get to one while the clothes still fit.

Our second night was in Peoria where the wind was howling and the temperature was around 0F. It was a whole new experience in cold for GP as she's never felt that kind of cold before. On the way to Iowa, we were kicked off I-74 by the state police as visibility was about an eighth mile and there was some ice on the road. I know as we slid a little sideways when driving over a bridge at 75mph. Yikes!

Luckily, we were able to pick up speed again back on I-80 and made it to Des Moines just a little late. Our friends Steve and Kathy showed us their new house and treated us to some tasty (heavy on the cheese) pizza. We will have to catch Scot on the way back to Philly. Thanks again, Steve and Kathy, for the hospitality. They also gave Mouse a nice present, this one penguin flavored for her father's tastes. We'll break it out as soon as she can bowl :)

Now we are in Omaha (viz Waterloo) and enjoying time with the family. Tomorrow (Christmas) we go to the water park for a nontraditional Christmas frenzy and some relaxation.

*****

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and other holiday greetings to all of our dear readers and friends.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to nephew Ben, the oldest of many nieces and nephews. We're looking forward to seeing all of the family soon.

A few more photos

In proof of great friendship, John not only took photos of our little family, but also emailed them to me. AND reminded me that he did so that I could post them. If he hadn't poked me (via email, thanks), I would have forgotten until long after Christmas.

John with the Mouse

Daddy with the Mouse

The whole family

New Mouse photos

I don't think I posted these before and some are very new (today) so I KNOW I didn't post them before.

Today we went for a drive north of Philly along the river, through the rain. In the morning we visited Santa Claus where we took the first every Mouse and Santa photo. Now I can concentrate on teaching GP that the man is named "Santa Claus" not "Santa Clara".

Last day in Suzhou with Guo Qing Qing.


The Gao family: GP, baba Gao with Mouse, younger brother


our Mouse on the airplane to the US



Mouse meets Denise


Mouse in her new coat from Target. 6month coat fits just right.


Two babes in Horsham, PA.


The Mouse takes a bath.


Mouse meets Santa for the first time.

Mouse's checkup

The Mouse went in for her two-month checkup today. The new office was suggested by our good friends and their opinion means a lot to us, so we went. The place and people were very nice and we were in and out pretty quickly.

The Mouse is, of course, very healthy and happy. She weighed in at 12lbs 9oz and about 23 inches long which puts here in the 97th and 75th percentiles. Doctor said everything looks good (which we already knew - look who her parents are!).

The low point was the vaccinations - 4 injections and 1 oral. She was a trooper, though, and only cried for a few minutes. I attribute it to the massive thighs which absorb injections with little problem.

******

Still waiting to hear about jobs, though I did have a "part B" type interview Saturday afternoon. The Silicon Valley job has a different opening, more managerial, so the hiring manager had new questions. I guess nothing will happen with this or any other jobs until after the new year, so I'll just try to relax until then.

******

We had a fun weekend, I hit the storage garage and dug a few things out on Saturday. GP got to see my baby pictures and decided that the Mouse *really* looks like me when I was a baby. Sunday we visited Erin and Trevor and their 2.9 kids. Number Three should arrive Wednesday. Number One and Number Two are terribly adorable and we would have whisked them away for a week or two if we had any extra space.

Sunday afternoon we visited Uncle Horst and had a good time snacking and catching up with him. We decided he can teach the Mouse German so she will be trilingual. Can't hurt in the future.

******

We considered an overnight trip to DC this week, but scrapped it due to very cold temps. It's unusual for GP to be in sub-freezing temps, but she said it's actually easier than where she's from in China. At least here, houses and business are heated well. We saw school kids going in this morning and GP was surprised they only had coats, hats and gloves. When I told her they took coats off inside the school, she said in China, they mostly wear coats all day because the schools are heated much. Wow, makes me glad I grew up in the US.

Car shopping is complete

After only a few days looking, we've bought a car. I had said it was fortuitous that Alamo gave me a Rav4 as a rental vehicle this trip as it gave me an extended test drive :^D Besides the base Rav4, I also tried the Lexus RX330, the Infiniti M35 and a couple of other Rav4s. I kept coming back to the Rav and we decided to spend a little extra and get a new, 2008. I'll pick it up Thursday and get rid of the rental.

This isn't it, but looks just like it.