Seven Weeks Old

Lucas is seven weeks old today! Here he is wearing a shirt that says that he was delivered by our obstetrician, Dr. Schwartz.

Guess What Lucas Is Doing?

Try to guess what Lucas is so focused on doing in this video clip.

Kaelyn's 1st Birthday Invitation

Kaelyn's invitation is currently being featured at the Belly Bean Designs website! She's so cute and I can't believe that she's almost one year old!

Six Weeks Old

Lucas is six weeks old today. We're estimating that he's grown to about 10 pounds, based on a rough weighing-in using the bathroom scale and also based on his clothes. We've had to buy the size 1 diapers (8 - 14 lbs) and also several new 0 -3 month sleepers. He's growing pretty fast! Here he is with his new Carter's sleeper.

Happy Birthday Lediya!

Today is Lediya's birthday! We also took Lucas out to the town. We had a fun-filled day. First, we went to brunch at Din Tai Fung Dumpling House in Arcadia. They serve these super-delicious soup dumplings, which they are famous for.

After that, we went to the Huntington Library in San Marino to visit their botanical gardens. It was so beautiful there with the spring bloom in full effect. Lucas took it all in stride, napping most of the time. I think he liked the Japanese garden.

After the Huntington we went home where Kaelyn visited Lucas after her trip to Maui. She gave Lucas a new Hawaiian diaper bag!

For dinner, we went to Tantalum where we met up with Grace. I had New York steak, Lediya had the striped bass, and Grace had salmon.

For dessert, we went back home and had a huge slice of double-fudge chocolate birthday cake from The Great Dane bakery. It was so decadent and rich and a fitting ending to Lediya's birthday.

The Egyptian

Just started reading Mika Waltari's epic historical novel The Egyptian. It is set in a fascinating period of Egyptian history, mostly during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten of the 18th Dynasty, whom some have claimed to be the first monotheistic ruler in the world.

The hero of the novel is not Akhenaten, however, but the fictional character Sinuhe, the royal physician, who tells the story in exile after Akhenaten's fall and death. Apart from incidents in Egypt, the novel charts Sinuhe's travels in then-Egyptian dominated Syria, Mitanni, Babylon, Minoan Crete, and among the Hittites.

I'm a big fan of historical novels and I had read that this book is one of the greatest ever written.

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Five Weeks Old

Lucas is five weeks old today, and it's also Mother's Day. He gave mom a First Mommy's Day card with his picture enclosed. He's growing fast, and now he's getting pretty good with the bottle.

Top Baby Names For 2006

The Social Security Administration tips its hat to Mother's Day (this Sunday, in case you forgot) by releasing the top baby names for 2006. Once again, Jacob leads the boys' list and Emily tops the girls'.

"Based on more than 4.2 million Social Security card applications for children born last year, mothers and fathers have picked Emily and Jacob as the most popular baby names for the eighth year in a row," said Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue. Social Security figures that 1.0267% of girls born last year were given the name Emily, the most popular girl name for the past 11 years. Jacob (the name given to 1.1327% of boys last year) became the most popular boy name in 1999, replacing long-time favorite Michael, which has remained No. 2.

Incidentally, "Lucas" was the 59th most popular name in 2006.

1 Month Old

Lucas is 1 month old today! Grandma held a little Chinese ceremony for him at noon today. The 30 day mark is a very important milestone in the Chinese culture and we celebrated by having incense, fruits, roasted chicken, and barbecue pork. We also cut a snippet of his hair to mark the occasion.

Here's a picture of Lucas taking a bath yesterday afternoon! He seems to be indifferent towards bath time right now but I think I see hints of him liking it.

Lucas' Newborn Photoshoot

Click here to see photos from Lucas' newborn shoot taken on 4/19/07. The photographer's name is Jill Peterson, based in Cerritos. Let us know which one is your favorite as we might just select that to be printed!

Kaelyn is Crawling!

Here's a short video of Kaelyn crawling. Notice she's crawling "commando" style! Also, a picture of her at 10 months old.

The Road

I haven't read a novel in a while but decided to pick up Cormac McCarthy's latest novel The Road. It is a post-apocalyptic tale describing a journey taken by a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted years before by an unnamed cataclysm which destroyed civilization and most life on earth. The novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection.

It's a great read so far and I read it when I have some downtime with Lucas.