TheKimchster's Xanga

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:54:47 GMT

It is time....to say GOODBYE.... to xanga.....

For over 5 years, I posted on and off.....

I am very sad, but this is not the total end to my blogging world....

Please visit us from now on at http://eliseandchloe.blogspot.com/

It is much easier for me to customize everything over there....So I hope to see you all there!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:24:32 GMT

I know, I know....I've been terrible with updating....

I just got back from my trip to NYC yesterday morning, and I am still recovering. Very, very tired. But so so happy to be back home with E and the girls. I will use a future blog to write about my trip back east...But here are some photos of the girls to share in the meantime. We went to the Pumpkin Patch at Westminster Mall for a photoshoot. Thao and Duy were able to get some great photos of Chloe, Elise, and Morgan. Baby Morgan is only 17 days older than Chloe, and she is ALREADY WALKING! Talk about fast development!

There are tons more things we have planned for the gals and Halloween so stay tuned.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:46:54 GMT

Back in April, I was able to snag Playhouse Disney Tickets for our family to enjoy. The best part? They were FRONT ROW tickets! Yippppeeee!

Elise doesnt watch Playhouse Disney so much, so she didnt immediately identify Pooh, Mickey Mouse, or any of those characters. She did give a warm welcome to Handy Manny and the Little Einsteins crew (she watched that a lot when she was 1 ish).

There were a lot of "OHHHHH......WOW.....and YEA" from Elise along with claps here and there and we're so glad we got these tickets for her. Even Chloe was interested in the show and was amazed by all the lights and singing. It definitely helped that we were front and center so that there were no other distractions.

Here are some photos:

Now we cant wait until November....where we also got front row tickets to watch Sesame Street Live. Elise will especially like this show since she LOOOOOOOVVVEES Elmo, Bert, Ernie, Cookie Monster, and everyone else.

On another note, life has been going great and smooth for us. A bit hectic, but the key word? ROUTINE. Monday thru Fridays are work, work, work, and heading straight home to eat dinner and bike our girls arond the neighborhood. Weekends are a mixture of gatherings, family outings, or football and softball games. (Did I tell ya? Elvis and I are season ticket holders w/ the San Diego Chargers!!!!)

I'll end this post with a little greeting from our gals to everyone....Don't they look so adorable here? (Is it me or are they starting to look alike?)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:30:27 GMT

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:02:46 GMT

Exactly a year ago, we took Elise on her first roadie ever….to San Francisco. She was very well behaved and had a good time, so we thought we’d do it again. Only this time, we have the addition Chloe. Despite the plans being a bit last minute, we were able to work out a tentative plan. And guess what~ it all went smoothly!

With two girls now, Elvis and I knew that trips from here on out would need to be kid-friendly, so we had made a list of places that would be fun for the girls to check out. So this is what we did….

Friday

Our first stop in San Francisco was to the famous dim sum place, Yank Sing. (It was on the Michelin Guide’s ‘honorable mention’ list.) In comparison to last year, the food this time did not quite meet our expectations, but nevertheless, it was still good. We will maybe have to think twice about coming back here the next time we are in San Francisco. (If you do decide to go here to try out the food, be forewarned, it is $$$$!)

Next stop: our hotel. We decided to stay right in the heart of Union Square at The Westin St. Francis. The hotel is super old, but our room was surprisingly nice. We had a very nice view of the square and could hear the faint sounds of the crowds throughout the day (not so much so that it is annoying). Here is a photo of our room:

And here are some photos of us in Union Square.

In case you are wondering, Elise is pointing up to the sky, saying “biiiiiiirrrddddd!”

We then headed over to the Fisherman’s Wharf to walk around before our dinner at a San Francisco favorite restaurant, The Slanted Door. The place came highly recommended, and we could see why. The décor was nice, and the location of the restaurant was right on the water (at Ferry Building #3). What type of cuisine, you ask? VIETNAMESE. Overall, the food was very delicious. With exception to the soup (which I swear any of us could make at home), everything else exceeded my expectations. We had manila clams for appetizers, and for our entrees, we had a mixture of prawns, bo luc lac, and cellophane noodles w/ crab. This is the view of the Oakland bridge from our restaurant:

Saturday

We woke up early to make it to our tour of San Francisco. Having been to the Bay Area many times, but not really knowing much about the city, we decided it would be fun to go on a tour, just so that we’d have a better understanding and appreciation. And again, we decided to go with a place that came highly recommended, Mr. Toad’s Tours. It is extremely personal (no more than 10 people in each tour) and what makes it unique is that we ride around in a pre-1930s vehicle that runs on PROPANE!

Here is a photo of the car we were in:

We hit all the spots that we would have never figured to check out before- North Beach (considered the Little Italy of SF), Nob Hill, Presidio, Crissy Field, Haight Street, Golden Gate Park, Fort Point, etc. Here are some photos:

Transamerica Building

A stop at the Fortune Cookie Factory

The house used in the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire

And of course, the beautiful bridge:

The tour lasted a little over three hours, and at the end of it all, I was so so so SO glad that the girls were well behaved the entire time. Chloe woke up once to guzzle her milk, then she went on back to sleep. Elise was either flirting with other guests on tour, or gazing out the car going “ohhhhhhh”…..and “what’s thhhhhhhaaatttt!”. She did squeeze in a nap towards the end. (Poor thing had fallen asleep for only about 10 minutes, but we had to wake her up because we had arrived at Fort Point to take photos right under the Golden Gate Bridge.)

Mr. Toad’s Tour does come highly recommended from me. Our tour guide, Cathy, was extremely personable, and she made the tour very fun and exciting. The only complaint I would have about the tour is that it was FREEEEZZZING! With open air throughout, it was very hard to keep warm. (The girls had to be bundled up under us so that they wouldn’t catch wind.) Other than that, we had a great great time.

Right after our tour was done, we ventured on to the San Francisco Zoo. The person taking photos at the entrance to the park took an AMAZING photo of our family. I didn’t have time to scan it, so I took a photo of it:

We wish we could have seen a lot more animals. Maybe it was the late afternoon or what not, but a lot of the animals were hiding or just not cooperative. We did get a good amount of photos of them though, and Elise seem to be very excited about meeting her new friends. (She couldn’t stop quacking after seeing the pelicans, which we called duck for her.) Here are some other photos taken at the zoo:

That’s it for today….Stay tuned tomorrow for our adventures on Sunday. (Children’s Discovery Museum, Dennis the Menace Playground, Monterey Bay Aquarium.)

Friday, August 15, 2008

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:45:48 GMT

Us gals and Elvis are heading out on a roadie...

We will hopefully have a lot of stories and pictures when we get home.

Have a safe and fun weekend!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:58:48 GMT

I was dreading the arrival of my birthday (on Saturday)....but it turned out to be a wonderful, wonderful day! It was so much fun spending that time with my family and friends, relaxing and eating authentic Mexican food. (Our housekeeper cooked EVERYTHING for the party that day.....think enchiladas, fajitas, tamales, nachos!)

If you click on the following link, it'll take you to the photobooth pictures that we took that day. Our friend Duy is a super creative guy, so it should come as no surprise that he made a unique photobooth. It comes loaded with a button for photo taking, a screen for you to view into, and a printout of ur roll of photos! It was totally the bang to the already fun time! Thanks, Duy! I am sure you guys will see this photobooth again at future events.

http://www.elvisandkimchi.com/cp/thumbnails.php?album=194

The rest of my birthday photos can be found in a separate album. You can view it by clicking here:

http://www.elvisandkimchi.com/cp/thumbnails.php?album=195

Sleep time! Good night!

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:58:40 GMT

So much has happened since my last REAL blog. Let's see how long it'll take for me to catch up...

I had a ridiculously long blog prepared about Elvis' Bday in Vegas, but it'll have to be short, sweet, and to the point. Overall, it was one of the best mini trips we've been on since we've had the two gals. A much needed break for the both of us. Some photos:

Our group at Pure Nightclub. Table service for 13 please!

May this be an example of how a person looks when they are superly duperly intoxicated:

My boys:

A few weeks after this, our worlds turned completely upside down. When igniting our BBQ grill (which was completed just a few weeks prior), an explosion occurred, and Elvis suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns to his face, arm, hand, and legs.

His arm and hand was so severely burned that they had to cover it up for about a week to allow it as much time as possible to heal itself. This is how it looked:

And when we finally had it uncovered:

Thank God for the competent doctors, the covering of Elvis' hand and arm allowed itself to heal quite rapidly, and skin grafting was NOT needed.

Our spirits were quite low after all this. And to be honest, our family and close friends are truly the ones to thank for LITERALLY lifting us up. We were so overwhelmed (a good thing in this case) by the amount of support we received during this time, and we really have no words to thank them enough. It was such a dark, cold, hard time, and I am so glad we got out of it.

Elvis is getting better every day, and though he will need to be in therapy/rehab for the next year or so, things are beginning to go back to "normal".

A few weeks ago, this was picked up. After the arrival of Chloe, we knew the 7 series wouldnt be the ideal family car, especially when we plan on traveling wtih our girls alot. We had been planning on picking up the Sequoia for quite awhile, but the timing never seemed right. And finally....at this time....the perfect deal came along, and it was the right time to buy.

After Elvis' accident, I went from SAHM (stay at home mom) to full time employee literally overnight. With things taking such a drastic turn, I knew I was needed more at work than at home. So with that in mind, we decided to have a caregiver come watch our gals during the daytime. One of the things we did to prepare for her arrival was to FINALLY complete the girls' playroom. Here is a photo:

Here are other random photos that Elvis took of the girls w/ his Blackberry:

That is it for now....If you are interested in viewing other photos, I now have a gallery up on Flickr. You can view it by clicking here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimchivu

Elvis is also on Flickr. This is the link to his:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14803049@N03/

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:57:13 GMT

It has become so customary for me to share stories of my two little girls outside of Xanga that I forget to blog and share it with everyone else…So I guess it is time to do that….and I apologize in advance to those of you (i.e. ANNE) who has to read or hear this all over again….haha

Elise is nearly 17 months, and Chloe 5 months. Chloe still likes to be in her routine of eat, sleep, shit…..Eat, sleep, shit….And add in the occasional stretch that she’ll stay up to chit chat. She isn’t rolling over yet (I think that is still at least a month away for her), but she is kicking a whole lot. She also smiles so, so much now, and we are just counting down the days till she laughs just like her older sister.

This past week, I finally transitioned Chloe over to 100% formula. For the past month, I’ve been weaning her off my boobies. I began with 75% breastmilk and 25% formula (I still breastfed during the night though). From there, I then gradually changed to 50/50, and eventually 75% formula and 25% breastmilk. I am now giving Chloe Nestle Good Start formula, and she seems to be adapting well. (Elise was on the same formula.) We could actually see her face and thighs ballooning as a result of her transitioning over to formula! The only thing different between the two gals at this age is that Chloe needs to have her formula warm in order for her to enjoy it. (This is most likely because my milk was warm.) I am very happy that I was able to nurse 100% (no bottles at all!) for the first 4 months. I was so much more patient this 2^nd time around, and I am so glad that I stuck out breastfeeding for as long as I did.

The weekend of May 30 – June 1 was the FIRST TIME I had ever spent the night away from Chloe. It was tough- but it was also a much needed break. Elvis and I, along with a group of our close friends took a weekend trip to Vegas to celebrate his 28^th birthday. It was tons and tons of fun, which I plan to blog about next time.

Here are some photos that I snapped of Chloe today…..Look how much she’s grown!

As for Ms. Elise…..my my my….I do not know where to begin….Seriously….Everyday is a new adventure for her and us, and she is just constantly learning new things. I will try to list everything that she could do now at 16 months, and will probably forget some, but you will get the idea of how smart our gal has become….

In Vietnamese, “Wheres your big belly?”….Elise pulls up her shirt (unless it’s a onesie and she cant get it up) and rubs her belly.
In Vietnamese, “Sit down!”….Elise sits down
In Vietnamese, “Stand up!”…..Elise stands up
In Vietnamese, “Pick your nose!”…..Elise picks her nose
In Vietnamese, “Smelly!”….Elise waves her hand in front of her face scrunches her nose
In Vietnamese, “Bump heads!” and she will bump her forehead into yours
In Vietnamese, “Where’s God?” and she will point to the cross in our room.
In Vietnamese, “How old are you?” Elise puts up her hand and shows 1 finger.
If somebody is sleeping and you say in Vietnamese, “Wake them up!” Elise will hit them until they open their eyes.
Say, “OH NO!” and Elise will put both hands behind her head and shake them back and forth
Say, “Peek a boo!” and she will cover her eyes with her hands and then open them up
She could blow kiss
She could say Mommy (not mama), Daddy (not dada), ball, thank you (yes, thank you!), den (light in Vietnamese), and Mam (eat in Vietnamese)
Sometimes, we swear we could hear her say “Where ya going?” or “What you doing?”
She tries to say “all gone” and will put her hands in the air

Besides all of these commands, Elise can understand probably 90% of the things we say to her. It’s just so amazing to see the pace in which she could pick this all up. The only thing I think she’s a tad bit slow on is her walking ability.

Elise is walking more frequently now, but she still prefers to crawl. I’ve noticed lately that she’s not relying on furniture so much anymore to cruise around and is taking the initiative to stand and take steps all on her own. After walking for awhile though, Elise will just give up and sit back down. She is soooo lazy, more than anything else. Sometimes when she is NOT in the mood, and you are asking her to walk, she will just sit down and REFUSE to stand up!

Overall both girls are still good and calm. Elise is older though, and she has her moments. Those terrible two’s are definitely kicking in, and there are those few days where my patience is really tested by her.

Here is a recent photo of Elise, taken from her Daddy’s Crackberry. We recently had a swing set installed in the backyard for her, and she has been enjoying every second of it. She refers to it as the “park”. So if you ask her where the park is, she will point to our backyard.

And lastly, here is a photo of Daddy and Elise swimming....

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:46:37 GMT

At 15.5 months, Elise FINALLY took her first few unassisted steps. She decided it was time to stop being lazy daisy- but just for a few seconds. She still prefers crawling around like a mad man, but once in a while we'll catch her standing up and taking a few steps on her own.

Chloe is no longer a blob. Life is now more exciting in that she is communicating back with us. She looooves to coo and smile after meal times, and especially enjoys her swing.

Both sisters got their photos taken at Kiddie Kandids. Thought we'd share some. With the first few, you could compare both girls at 3 months. Elise is a lot chubbier at that age, as you can tell. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I am still 100% breastfeeding Chloe. (I remember when Elise weaned off the breast and onto formula, her face and body ballooned overnight!)

1st Pose

2nd Pose

And here are some of Lisee by herself. It was just too cute and funny!!!