Ellie got on the plane for the first time this weekend, oh well, more precisely, since after she was born, considering all these miles she has already flown while inside of me. She did better than I would have expected and was curious the whole time about the people, the buttons on the seats, and she gave the flight attendant a big smile and earned a set of wings and a full smile back. We had a long layover in Denver, plenty of time for me to carry Ellie all the way from gate 33 to 85, seems like miles while you are carrying a 18 pound baby, a heavy laptop bag and a diaper bag that's about to explode. But it is all worth it, Ellie was just fascinated by all things around her and kept her smiles.
Landed in Huntsville right on time, grandpa took his brand new metallic Subaru to the airport to pick us up. He literary just picked the car up from the dealership that morning. Hmm, that's the smell of the new car, just love it. Ellie was the immediate star and center of the attention from the grandparents as soon as we got home. Uncle and aunt and their kids soon arrived and lots of fighting on who gets to hold Ellie the first. Grandparents' sister and her husband also got here not long after, they just adored Ellie.
Weather was completely gorgeous in Huntsville, it was balmy 80 degree all through the weekend. I even started dreaming about retiring here, why not, waking up by the birds chirping at 9 in the morning is so much more pleasant rather than the annoying alarm clock at 4 every Monday. Oh well. it is ok to dream at least.
4/08/2010
3/21/2010
Crawling
Ellie has been rolling around very nicely and effortlessly for the past few weeks. But yesterday she officially crawled, to the dancing penguin. She moved so fast that she got to it before we even knew it. It is all about the proper motivation I figured.
I spent the morning sorting out Ellie's pile of cloth, she had so many pieces that actually have not ever been worn even once, and she has already out-grown them. They say babies grow so fast and I am appreciating this fact every day.
I took Ellie out for a fun afternoon in the kite park after her afternoon nap. She was very impressed by the dragon and the lantern shaped ones, started giggling while watching them fly. But her attention moved quickly to the grass around her, the green and tender grass seems to completely mesmerized her.
I spent the morning sorting out Ellie's pile of cloth, she had so many pieces that actually have not ever been worn even once, and she has already out-grown them. They say babies grow so fast and I am appreciating this fact every day.
I took Ellie out for a fun afternoon in the kite park after her afternoon nap. She was very impressed by the dragon and the lantern shaped ones, started giggling while watching them fly. But her attention moved quickly to the grass around her, the green and tender grass seems to completely mesmerized her.
2/27/2010
Kronberg
Spent a whole week in Kronberg, very productive sessions with Fishbowl presentation ending on a very high note. Eager to come back home though to my family and see Ellie. It took a little while for Ellie to re-recognize me, I think this time I was gone for too long, a whole 5 days. I need to do a better job at spending more time with my precious little baby.
We went to Napa Valley on Saturday, had a nice picnic, Ellie had a bit of Gouda cheese and milk, she seems to be really satisfied. We visited my friend in Marin on the way home, it is so nice to be able to drop by friends' house without pre-arrangement, it is spontaneous and I wish people do it more often.
We went to Napa Valley on Saturday, had a nice picnic, Ellie had a bit of Gouda cheese and milk, she seems to be really satisfied. We visited my friend in Marin on the way home, it is so nice to be able to drop by friends' house without pre-arrangement, it is spontaneous and I wish people do it more often.
2/21/2010
Commisary and Frankfurt
It is Sunday today, I am on my way to Kronberg. Spent a whole day with Ellie and grandma yesterday, we went to the Commisary and bought a ton of stuff for everyone, Grandma also got a nice haircut from the same place that I go to, she liked my style and wanted to experiment on herself :)
Dan and I had two date nights this week, or more accurately, a date night that was executed in 2 parts: Friday we went out for a nice Korean BBQ dinner, and Saturday night we went to see Avatar in 3D. I have to say I was really impressed by the movie, they did not overdo the 3D effect, rather did it whenever it makes the most sense, the storyline was good and the acting was very nature. It is sad so many good people died but overall the good defeated the evil, the tree of the souls stood tall and the loved ones were united.
Dan and I took Ellie to friends' house last weekend to celebrate Chinese New Year of the Tiger. We had probably the most festival feast throughout the year, home made dumplings, Chicken soup stew, pork short ribs, grilled lamb, a whole salmon, mushrooms, and lots of little side dishes. Ellie had her first Durian, honestly, it was the first time for Dan and myself too. It smells funny but tastes really nice. It is full of nutrients and supposedly very good for babies and kids.
Dan and I had two date nights this week, or more accurately, a date night that was executed in 2 parts: Friday we went out for a nice Korean BBQ dinner, and Saturday night we went to see Avatar in 3D. I have to say I was really impressed by the movie, they did not overdo the 3D effect, rather did it whenever it makes the most sense, the storyline was good and the acting was very nature. It is sad so many good people died but overall the good defeated the evil, the tree of the souls stood tall and the loved ones were united.
Dan and I took Ellie to friends' house last weekend to celebrate Chinese New Year of the Tiger. We had probably the most festival feast throughout the year, home made dumplings, Chicken soup stew, pork short ribs, grilled lamb, a whole salmon, mushrooms, and lots of little side dishes. Ellie had her first Durian, honestly, it was the first time for Dan and myself too. It smells funny but tastes really nice. It is full of nutrients and supposedly very good for babies and kids.
2/16/2010
Learning
Client made an interesting statement that got me thinking, she said after all the intensive amount of work for the past few weeks, she learned many things including team work, methodology, etc, but most of it all, she learned about herself. I asked what was it, she said it is about her own limits, for stress, for managing ambiguity and her threshold for frustration. She did not know she could stretch herself so much until she did it during this project.
What an amazing statement, we often think the most learnings come from the subject matter at hand, the content and domain knowledge, and the "hard" stuff around this issue at hand. But it is the "soft" matter that truly inspire and inherently motivate people to push the envelop and defy their own limits. And companies either retain talent or lose them depend on if they provide these type of learning opportunities that allow employees to learn and excel.
What an amazing statement, we often think the most learnings come from the subject matter at hand, the content and domain knowledge, and the "hard" stuff around this issue at hand. But it is the "soft" matter that truly inspire and inherently motivate people to push the envelop and defy their own limits. And companies either retain talent or lose them depend on if they provide these type of learning opportunities that allow employees to learn and excel.
2/13/2010
Vancouver Olympic 2010
My co-workers and I sat at the high rise office building looking out the window on Thursday and observed the Olympic torch relay in Burnaby. Crowd was there, policy cars were there and what's most moving was that the torch was carried by a paraolympic athlete sitting in a wheel chair, no motor, just by her bare hands, rolling the chair for the 3 miles while carrying the torch. I missed watching the opening ceremony on Friday, need to catch up on the Internet some time, I heard it was wonderful.
One of my clients is going through tough personal issues, I can see how those things are getting through to her, wearing and tearing her down. She is a brave lady who survived cancer, a divorce and over ten years of a significantly handicapped child, so she said she can get through anything but still it takes toll on her. We chatted from time to time, I think women communicates different, we appreciate a pair of sympathetic ears and just someone who is willing to listen, and things feel better that way.
One of my clients is going through tough personal issues, I can see how those things are getting through to her, wearing and tearing her down. She is a brave lady who survived cancer, a divorce and over ten years of a significantly handicapped child, so she said she can get through anything but still it takes toll on her. We chatted from time to time, I think women communicates different, we appreciate a pair of sympathetic ears and just someone who is willing to listen, and things feel better that way.
2/05/2010
Bebepod
We bought Ellie another new thing: a shiny, soft, watermelon red Bebe pod. She loved it so much that she insisted on sitting in it the all night, played with the rattle that sit on the top of the table incessantly. Way past bedtime and there was no sign of sleepiness.
My parents did another 3 hours of Skye with Ellie, they got so good at baby sitting over the Internet that I could even go downstairs to cook a quick meal.
Today is cloudy and rainy, we stayed at home mostly and played with Ellie. Rolling over is so easy for her that she doesn't even bother to grunt about it. She just raise her hip, pull her hands forward and tilt, and there she goes. Dan and I think she will be crawling soon.
My parents did another 3 hours of Skye with Ellie, they got so good at baby sitting over the Internet that I could even go downstairs to cook a quick meal.
Today is cloudy and rainy, we stayed at home mostly and played with Ellie. Rolling over is so easy for her that she doesn't even bother to grunt about it. She just raise her hip, pull her hands forward and tilt, and there she goes. Dan and I think she will be crawling soon.
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