Dear Aidan,

I know you have no idea why you cannot breathe, or sleep, or eat. I know you’re not clear why liquid keeps running down your nose and you keep coughing. It’s called a cold, son. The liquid shouldn’t bother you too much since you do that on your own from your mouth which prompts me and your dad to change out at least 5 bibs a day for you. You should be accustom to extra liquid dripping off your face. But I am so, so sorry you cannot sleep at night and that you have no idea why you’re so uncomfortable. All I can do is wake up and hold you every single time you wake up crying at night to tell me something is wrong.

If I could take it away, I would. But you need to get sick once in a while. This will only make you stronger.

Love,
Mom

P.S Try not to cough on your sister so much. I love you.

There’s really no real substance to this video, it’s just cute. What it illustrates is just how much stuff goes on at our house these days. Notice Brooke is whining for attention now. They grow up so fast!

We got the Incrediblock off Craigslist and it’s the greatest thing! A steal since it retails at $100. I like it because it’s sturdy enough to support the kids when they use it to stand up.

I love Glee. Quote of the last episode that kills me came from Puck:

“Are you questioning my badassness? Did you see my guns?”

But this post isn’t about Glee. It’s about the word ‘ass’. My sister who will remain nameless (not Van) called me a kiss ass based off my touchy, feely posts about parenting. I’ll have you know that my parents do not read my blog so I’m not kissing ass. I’m just reflecting. Back to the case in point. I hate being called a kiss ass. And it’s not the meaning of kiss ass that bugs me as much as the word ‘ass’ is in it. So I told the nameless sister,

“Don’t call me anything with ass in it.”

Being that she is a smartASS, she asked, “How about badass?” I said, “No, it still has ass it it. What part of ‘don’t call me anything with ass in it didn’t you understand’?”

Why would I want to be a badass? By definition, two wrongs do not make a right:

Definition of Bad:
Bad – having undesirable or negative qualities

Definition of Ass (my favorite from Google query: “define ass”):
Ass – buttocks: the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on

As children, we are annoyed at our parents’ ridiculous worries and fears:

We didn’t understand why we need to be home by 10pm. “What’s the point? You’re asleep anyway!”

We didn’t understand why we had to wear a jacket or stay out of the rain. We barely got sick from the cold or rain.

We didn’t understand why they got mad when we stayed on the phone with our boyfriend/girlfriend until 4am. “So what if I see them at school tomorrow. This is my time and I’ll do what I want with it.”

Now I’m a parent, but still their child and I work for a newspaper.

I read about the things that happen after 11pm and realize, “Oh, hence the curfew.”

I’m also older. I get sick when I’m out in the cold or during the rain.

I’m a parent of newborn babies. I fantasize about sleeping 8 hours.

Now I’m them.

And suddenly, those worries and fears are not ridiculous anymore…

Mike, Tina, babies and I walked the CHOC Walk at Disneyland this year. Jokingly, when I filled out the registration information, I said we did it in honor of Van, since she was saved by CHOC as an infant from milk allergies. The truth is, we did it because (1) it’s in Disneyland…I’m not gonna lie, (2) we donate to CHOC every year anyways around Christmas time, so might as well get some exercise out of it (3) the most important: to remind ourselves how lucky we are to have two healthy, thriving infants when others were not so fortunate…and by supporting this organization, we can help give future families a chance to be just as fortunate as we are. Children are a gift — we want to make sure nobody takes that away from those who deserve them.

We plan on walking CHOC every year. It’s a beautiful walk since it’s through the Happiest Place on Earth and it’s definitely for a good cause. Call us if you’d like to join us next year!

We took the kids to Irvine Regional Park to take pictures at the pumpkin patch. Hong said it best, “All you need is one good picture and it’s worth it!”

It was so worth it.

Happy 32nd Anniversary to my parents! Two people who are so quirky, they are made for each other! So glad they got knocked up (with me) and had to get married. LOL. (Hope you’re not reading this, Mom/Dad…I love you. Hahaha.)

We visited the Hogans while we were in the East coast and it was so nice to see them! Baby Madeline is gorgeous! So is their home…hahaha. Mike’s tempted to move us and our parents and Bao out to Florida so we can live in a mansion with a pond for a backyard.

Us in the Hogan’s ‘backyard’

The boys living the life…

Our families…humidity and my hair = fail

We flew out to Washington DC for the Ngo/Oberly wedding. After many, many months of being nervous, it wasn’t so bad!

On our flight there, Jackie and Khoa flew with us and we luckily had empty seats by us so we had more room and the help of our great cousins. The babies did great. Very little fussing so that made us happy. The worst part was put car seats into the rental car while it’s raining heavily on our Californian a**es (we were wearing shorts and flip flops of course.

After the wedding, we flew out to Florida to visit the Hogans and their newest addition, Madeline. At take off, the kids were both fussy and wanted Mommy! I was able to get Aidan to fall asleep then I traded him for Brooke and got her to sleep too. It was smooth flying after that since they slept the entire flight to Florida!

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Congratulations, Van & Eric! The entire family flew (babies first flight) out to Washington DC for Di and Duong Ba’s wedding! The wedding of course was fabulous and beautiful but it was also a lot of fun! It’s always a good time hanging out with the family, making new friends and celebrating a joyous day. We only wish we had more time to hang out and get to know everybody. We miss everybody already!

Gonna be sad when we don’t have a wedding next weekend to go to. LOL.

Here are some links of all the albums I know of out there for pictures:

Mike and Thi’s Photos

Co Muoi’s Photos

Di Hai’s Photos

Jackie’s Photos

The Ngo immediate family — look how our family has grow!