Okay, I just realized that I have written an update in more than two months now. Well, there's a lot to talk about then.
First, Halloween. Nicholas had a wonderful time during that night. As you can tell by the picture in October, we went with my older sister and her kids. We only went around our neighborhood. I think a total of four blocks. If you ask me, that was already too much judging from the amount of candy they brought back. So, what do you guys think about the customs? Aren't Nicholas and Zachary both adorable in them? Nicholas was always the first one to the door. We were afraid that he might get shy and not dare go up to ask for candy, but after a few homes, the shy little boy disappeared and the hyper, energetic one took over. Not only was he the first one to the door, he was also the first one to move on with the next house. He didn't even bother to look at what he got. He knew that the more homes he got to, the more candy he would get. Zachary on the other hand, fell asleep half way through the journey. I think he'll enjoy it a lot more next year when he's much older to understand the fun of Halloween.
Okay, onto Thanksgiving. We had two different Thanksgiving dinners this year. The weekend before Thanksgiving, we went to the Bay Area to have Thanksgiving with Richard and Irene. This year, Thanksgiving was a bit different and special. Instead of the tradition of having it at mom's house, it took place at Carla's parents' house. For those who do not know who Carla is, Carla is Richard's (Michael's brother) girlfriend. And the most special part of the whole event is that Richard and Carla were the cook. It was the first time Richard ever cooked a Thanksgiving dinner so it was very special. Dinner was really nice and good. They experimented with making egg rolls and they turned out great. I think everyone enjoyed it. Of course, Nicholas stole the show at the end after dinner by wrestling with his father.
The second time we had Thanksgiving was at my mother's house. Technically, it was not a Thanksgiving dinner because there was no turkey. My father was too busy putting up tents and everyone else had to help out because my cousins were going to be having a party that weekend. So no one was able to help with the dinner. At first we were planning on going out, but the restaurant that we were planning on going to was closed. It was only closed two days of the year and one of them was Thanksgiving. So, I ended up having to just whip up something. I made some spaghetti and a bunch of other side dishes. I guess the most important part of it was that we all had a good dinner together.
Okay, now onto Christmas. Christmas was a busy holiday. Making sure that we took the Christmas family pictures in time so that we can mail the Christmas cards on time. Making sure that I got presents for everyone that I was suppose to get them for and making sure that they were delivered on time before Christmas. Trying to figure out what to get for everyone was the most difficult part of the whole thing. This year, my family did something different. Instead of everyone buying presents for everyone else, we used the secret Santa strategy. Everyone was to pick a name out of the hat. Even the kids had to pick and the parents were responsible for getting the presents that the kids picked. Of course, that meant I had to get four presents in all for my side of the family, not including my parents. I ended up with two kids and two adults. The kids were the easy ones. The adults were the harder ones. After hours of thinking, surfing on line stores, and walking the mall, I finally found presents for everyone. And for those who we did get presents to, we hope that you liked what you got. I took the week of Christmas off. I had a lot of vacation and had to use some before I stopped accruing any more hours. I did nothing this week besides wrapping presents, help out with preparations at Karen's house, go to Christmas gatherings, and catch up on my sleep. That was all I did this past Friday. I slept through most of the day. There was a lot that I had to do and was planning on doing, but for one, I thought that I just might sleep instead. And it was so cool to be able to sleep without anyone else around. No one to wake me up to get milk for. No one tapping me asking me to turn the television on for him. I have not slept like that in a long time. Okay, enough about my sleep. Once again, like Thanksgiving, we had two Christmas gatherings. The first one was on Christmas Eve at Karen's house. This was when we exchanged presents. I wish everyone could have been there to see the stack of presents that were at her house that night. I think there were at least 40 of them. It was also fun to watch the kids open theirs. A few of the adults bought presents for all the kids besides their secret Santa. Nicholas got a lot of clothes has his Christmas present.
After the party, we went home and opened more presents. This time, all his presents were toys. He loved every one of them. He had so much fun opening them. I think the best one that he liked out of all the presents he opened that day was the remote control car that his father got for him. The next thing was the bath toy that Grandpa Lauren and Nanny Midge got him. He liked to blow on the dolphin and hear it whistle. He also opened up all of Zachary's presents. Zachary got a toy car and a circular toy that he can roll around.
On Christmas day, we went to Irene's house. Nicholas was extremely shy at first, but after a while, he warmed up to everyone. And after the present opening event, he was extremely friendly with everyone. He loved all the gifts that he got. The one toy that caught his eyes was the one the Carla got for him from Disneyland. He was holding it for the entire day. You can see him playing with it in his December page. Usually, he gets tired of his toys after a day or two, but he's still loving it today. We had a wonderful time at Irene's house. We got to see Richard's side of the family at the gathering. Irene did a lovely job at with the dinner table. It was so elegant and pretty. The food was great and the company was wonderful. Nicholas loved going to Irene's house so much that every day ever since we came back, he's been asking to go to "grandma" house. At first, Michael and I thought that it was to my mother's house, but we finally realized that it was to Irene's house. As I am typing this update, he has asked me four times today to go to "grandma's house and open birthday presents". He got a bunch of Star Wars toys from Richard and Irene and he loves it. He has so many new toys that he's playing with now that he has forgotten all his old favorites. Well, not completely. There is still one old favorite that he still loves playing with. And that is the PlayStation that he now has. We borrowed it from Karen when I was on bed rest so that I would have something to do, but now Nicholas plays with it every day. His favorite toy use to be his computer, but nowadays, he doesn't play on it that often anymore. He spends most of his time on the PlayStation instead. When Michael went to Maryland, we also borrowed Karen's Game Boy. Well, he's been playing with that a lot also. Nowadays, he rarely watches his Cartoon Network. I really don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing for him to be playing so much games at his age. The good thing is that he has learned a lot from the games that he plays. For example, he can count up to seven all by himself. The bad thing is that that's all he does the whole day.
We took a bunch of pictures from the two different gatherings. You can see them here.
Maryland. Yeah, Michael had to make a trip to Maryland for training two weeks ago. He was gone for one whole week. I was planning on going with him, but after further discussions, I ended up not going. I guess it was a good thing because according to him, it was quite cold there. It most likely would have been too cold for me. I really wanted to see the landmarks that Washington D.C. had to offer, but I guess there will be other opportunities in the future.
Zachary. Well, he's extremely big. He can sit up all by himself now. He is starting to show signs of crawling, but he just isn't there just. I think he has a cold right now because he's been quite fussy today. He didn't seem to sleep well last night so he woke up somewhat grumpy. I could hear him in the middle of the night. His nose was so stuffed up that it bothered him the whole night. He is able to mobilized himself when he's on the walker. He can get to almost everywhere in the walker and that's starting to become a problem. Every time he's on the walker, I have to remember to put up the trash can or else he will start grabbing the trash bag and will try to eat it. He also loves to go for the cat food. It's a good thing that he's kinda tall in the walker and that he can't bend down while he's in the walker. He has been dwelling a lot, but both Michael and I do not think that he's teething. Nicholas didn't teeth until he was 14 months so I'm not putting my hopes up for Zachary to start now.
Okay, I think I have typed enough for one day. But before I stop, I have to inform everyone of the wonderful news I heard last night. Remember Carla. Well, before Christmas, I knew that Richard was planning on proposing to her when they went on their little trip this weekend, but I didn't know how it was going to turn out. I was hoping that she would say yes, of course. Well, last night, Michael called Irene and Irene informed us that Richard had proposed and Carla said YES!!! We are so excited for them. We can't wait until the big day. It's the best news that I've heard this whole year!