BIG TWO

I always think moms should be the ones to be praised and remembered on their children's birthdays. That is the day they had roller coaster emotion. First, being in pain for the labor, then emotionally happy when meeting the baby, then frustration of all sleepless nights, and in between, they have to deal with baby-blue, changing diapers, feeding the baby, and burping and rocking and feeding and bathing and washing bottles and feeding again...the list goes on and on...

So, why did I still exhaust myself to plan a mini Birthday party for Alvin? The answer is simple - we just cannot spoil them enough!

This last minute party was held at Urbana Regional Park and was joined by our Frederick friends. Mom made the last minute BIG TWO RACE CAR cup cake for Alvin and his loyal friends.


After the short celebration, we went to the Carnival fair together. Carnival fair is nothing but excitement for the kids. For us, we just love to be there to feel the polluted air, the humidity, the heat, the noise, the crowd...they are so real.

Alvin loves his Choo-choo train ride.

Recent Trips

We made quite a few trips over the past weekends. Mason has been a great traveler. He sleeps all the time no matter where we go, only wakes up when he is hungry (very different than when he is home). Following are some pictures from those fun trips.

===== Clemyjontri Park =====

This park is kids paradise. Although it is in McLean, it is worth for the driving (and gas!).

Mom couldn't find Dad's size of this T-shirt so she bought one for me instead.

===== National Arboretum =====

Mom's aunt and cousin were visiting us over the July 4th weekend. We spent just a little bit over an hour at the National Arboretum. It is all Ikea Summer Sale's fault!

===== Sunflower Field at River Road =====

It maybe too flowery for the boys, but we enjoyed embracing by the flowers (not the bugs)!

Walkie Talkie

Alvin is turning Two this week! Amazingly, in just a year, Alvin has learned how to walk (catch me if you can) and talk (can you turn the volume down?).

All these don't happen overnight - it took us efforts and time to train him! Of course, for walking, we didn't do that much except buying shoes for him - he just learned to walk by himself in a day! But, to encourage him to talk, Dad spent days and nights teaching him from 1-100 to A-Z to 50 states to shapes to colors to animals to cars...Who say engineers are not talkative???!!!

Alvin used to love dancing. But now his focus is on singing. He can sing quite a few songs. He has found this is a good way to entertain our guests and himself (to sleep). Reading is still his favorite. Every morning, the first thing he does is to look for books to read. Every night, the last thing before he goes to bed is to ask Dad to read books for him.

Just like any parents, we are very proud of big boy Alvin. He has been such a joy for our family.

Then...and...Now

Mason had long shining black hair when he was born. And, as days passed by, the tip of his hair began to show a little bit brownish, just like it has been professionally highlighted. His unique hair had been a signature feature for him.


Although the summer has been hot and humid and people keep referring him as "she", Mom hesitated to have it trimmed. Till one day Dad told Mom, "Mason looks like Hedgehog from this angle."

And, you know the next day Mason looks like this:


What can he say? He doesn't really have a choice (of picking parents).

Party Animal

Alvin was so honored to be invited to 2 birthday parties for the past week.

=== Preston's Birthday Party ===

Preston is Alvin's best friend in the Daycare. He is turning to TWO this month and his parents invited us to his Birthday party held at Chuck N' Cheese. It was the first time Alvin went to Chuck N' Cheese and it was a lot of fun to him! There are many cars Alvin enjoyed and he was fascinated by all the flashing game machines.

You know, "Buddies" do everything together...

Of course, Alvin didn't forget to give the birthday boy a big sweet hug.

My conclusion after seeing Alvin playing with Preston: if you want to be Alvin's best friend, you need to do:
1) never take away toys from him
2) take care of him just like his brother
3) call his name "Alvin" all the time and don't feel abandoned when he walks away from you - he is just playing with you (see following video).

It is fun to watch stubborn Alvin wasting all the coins to just learn how to insert it under rocking condition...

=== Brennan's Birthday Party ===

Alvin "played hooky" last Thursday morning to attend Brennan's Birthday Party. Brennan is turning FOUR this month. He is a big boy now!

The birthday party was held at BlackHill park playground. Of course, every guest gets to workout in the playground before the party.

Looks like Brennan got more girlfriends than boyfriends...

Alvin doesn't care about anything else but his juice and goldfish cracker.

Mason met his new friend also...

As you might know, Mom never misses any party opportunity, the same with Alvin! Thank you for inviting us!

Father's Day

We invited the Zhao family over for Father's Day. How to celebrate? We let the boys play with water and sand, and the dads enjoyed watching them having funs (except that Mason is not mobile yet).

Our Happy Family

Dad professionally applied the suncream ....

The boys are having some water funs

The Zhao boys really enjoyed it...

Alvin is OK playing water with hands. But, when it comes to his face...

Clayton is the brave one...

We just got this Sand & Water table for our boys.

Remember, Clayton and Alvin used to have a little disagreement when it comes to sharing toys (please click here to view previous blog entry), but this time, they played nicely together.



Thank you, Abbey and Da! We love to have you over and Alvin loves to play with your boys! Please come again soon!

Mason Special

(Following pictures were professionally taken by Dad's colleague Ming. Many thanks to Ming!)

*** Mason's Update ***

The first two weeks of Mason's arrival, he was a very quiet baby. He slept almost 23 hours a day and the parents couldn't be happier. But, once he hit the 2 weeks mark, the honeymoon is over. He is now a very alert baby and needs parents' full attention constantly. What can we say? That is baby life. Enjoy the parenthood!

*** Alvin's Update ***

There is no better brother than our Alvin. He shows nothing but loves and care towards his younger brother. Everyday he comes home from daycare, Alvin will look for his little brother and see if he is OK. Every time Mason cries, he is the first one to check on him and yells to us "brother, brother...". Every time Mom burps Mason after a feeding, Alvin will get up to his stool to help mom to pat Mason gently.