Category: Family

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Albert’s 50th Birthday Weekend

So first, thank you to everyone for their birthday wishes, and to Erin for trying to plan dinners with friends – since canceled or rain-checked. We were derailed because Curie got the flu the night before on Elia’s birthday and we have been worried and taking care of her since. Good news is that she has been fever free for the past 36 hours, so we are grateful, and grateful Elia seems flu-free and grateful we got our flu shots – the Type B going around was not part of the prediction this year but her flu lasted about 3 days instead of 7 as they say. BTW here is a picture of the girls, Elia from Sunday, and Curie from yesterday – evidently feeling better.
 
Before you begin about how sorry you are that this happened on my 50th birthday, 1) we already celebrated in Japan earlier this year, 2)Julie was willing to brave the flu and babysit for us for a few hours so we could see Star Wars on opening day. And 3) the silver lining is this – we did some Chengineering (check out those pictures too), we held Curie every night to soothe her to sleep, played with Elia while Curie slept, and held Elia in the guestroom so that she wouldn’t get sick. Playing with your kids and holding your kids while they sleep? Not a bad birthday weekend at all.
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Elia December 2019

“It’s snot, It’s not. It’s NOT! It’s SNOT! It’s not snot, It’s NOT! It’s SNOT!” This is Albert and Elia’s conversation for almost 20 minutes in the car driving Curie nuts, driving Erin nuts. “It’s snot….” Peals of laughter goading each other on. “It’s not…” Doesn’t matter where or when, they will start and get frustrated protests from the other two. If Elia is upset or crying or anything, Albert just has to make a potty joke and she will burst out laughing. And if you say anything like “It’s not funny…” Watch out because you may just start them off again. Continue reading “Elia December 2019”

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Curie November 2019

IT is fascinating to write blogs in such retrospect; it is January 24 and we are just writing the November blog; to be fair we have been sick and work has been stressful. To write blogs so far past we rely on any notes, if any that we took on Erin’s Google Docs, and Google Photos for the daily description. We we miss though are all the funny things that the girls say each day, the real reason for these blogs, to capture those things because you will forget even by the next day. 

Curie continues to develop and grow, she has lost her front teeth and will need orthodontic work, but she is a trooper and her smile is relentless regardless of having her front teeth or not. Sometimes she smiles with her mouth closed, self-conscious, but invariably life lets her laugh and smile all the same. Of course all kids go through this, but when it is your child it is an important reminder that we must let the joy rise. Continue reading “Curie November 2019”

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Elia November 2019

It takes time to blog and often you find yourself months behind in the work. The end of the year is weird for Elia’s blog as you will find Halloween in her November blog, Thanksgiving in her December blog and her birthday and Christmas in her January blog. Perhaps it is time to cycle the blogs together but for now this is how it is. For Halloween, we had inclement weather so we took the girls to Pentagon City Mall to trick or treat. Elia was Jasmine and Curie was Cinderella/and the Fairy Godmother. We had a great time actually (except forgetting that we don’t like the Chinese street food restaurant there) with most stores participating and being good sports. The best was the Lego store but the kids got a pretty good haul. Continue reading “Elia November 2019”

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Happy 12th Anniversary!

Erin once asked me, “why don’t you write letters to me any more?” To which I laughed and replied, “because you never wrote me back.” She laughed also and said “I guess I needed to do that.” I once wrote Erin a love letter to our kids that we did not have yet apologizing to them that I will love their mother more. 

Parenting can be amazing, full of joy and fulfillment watching your kids find joy and grow. Parenting can also be trying, each putting in 110% and yet seeing the house still messy or finding your spouse still asleep at 10 AM,  or passed out on the couch at 8 PM feeling like the other is not pulling their weight, even though both of you are trying to do their best and not everything is getting done. Parenting can feel filled with guilt that you are doing all you can yet feeling as though you are doing nothing well. And even when you forgive yourself for all those feelings, parenting can feel transactional doing what needs to be done and not finding time for each other. 

There are parents who have date nights or weekends away, but we feel so away from our kids when we are away from them that we don’t really do it. There are too many trips for work that we spend away, and time can feel so short. So we find other ways, we sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and talk for two hours like we did when we were dating. We hold hands in the mall as the kids run on ahead of us. We kiss in front of our kids eliciting knowing glances and “ooohs” between them. We laugh at our own foibles and forgive each other’s angers. We step in when the other is exhausted, we pull our weight to get the kids to the bus. We take care of each other when we are sick or tired, or sad. We take the time to say “I love you” every day and talk every day for the past 14 years. We learn to laugh at ourselves and with each other to grow together, and in growing together, we work to fulfill our vows we made 12 years ago. What can be more romantic than that? Happy anniversary Erin. I love you.