Sophia's First Housewarming

In November, Sophia was cordially invited to Tuan and Sally's housewarming. Here is my older sister - Aunt Le and Uncle Mark - posing with Sophia as she gives her funny half smile for the camera! Sally is quite a cook! We had great food, great company, enjoyed the grand tour, and some enjoyed the hired bartender!!! Aunt Le looks a bit rosey in this image :p Thanks to her nice long nap before the event, she was quite a social bug through the night.

Happily Nursing! Happy 5 Months!

100% Boob Baby! Our friends Niki and Daniel had baby Hunter 5 months prior to Sophia's arrival. We are very grateful to be able to learn and witness their parenting journey. When we see Hunter, it makes us look forward or mentally prepare ourselves :) for the next milestone. It's been fun to share and swap stories. Not all of our experiences have been a walk in the park, but witnessing a smile from Sophia is priceless. Seeing how Daddy plays and cares for our minicoop is even more priceless. Seeing how Sophia reacts to simple things in life makes us appreciate ours even more. I'm thankful for all of the advice which we have received from family and friends. We are also very thankful to have had great support through Centennial Medical Center. The support has enabled me to continue nursing. Sophia "Tu-Phi" is still a very happy boob baby!!

We love walking!

We love the Baby Bjorn carrier. It was a gift from Aunt Melissa. It has enabled me to get a great workout in while taking her grocery shopping, to the park, the mall, or short walks around the neighborhood. When we walk around the neighborhood she tends to fall asleep after 30 minutes. This past weekend, she helped us pick out Christmas presents!

Enjoying our new patio - 5 months

Sophia is now a few days older than 5 months and weighs 15.6 pounds! She now weighs more than kitten Carmine (14.5 pounds). We are impressed with how she quickly develops. She can sit up quite well. She is really good at grabbing toys and rolling over. Here is a recent video of her enjoying the weather in her new chair. Click on arrow to play.

Good Night Sophia

We are very lucky that Sophia is such a happy baby. As soon as the sun rises she is wide awake and is a burst of sunshine!! She always gives us her big gummy good morning smile. Ever since she was 3 months, she has been sleeping 7-8 hours straight. She tends to fall asleep around 8 pm, but we have had several occasions when she is still wanting to talk and play. When we take her out, she happily stays up late to socialize. Here is a video in low light as Daddy is getting Sophia ready for bed! I think she thinks it's morning!!!! Watch her copy Simon. Click on arrow to play.

Cross-eyed over "cookie"!!

She is grabbing and eating EVERYTHING these days! Daddy captured this with the iphone!

Lunch with The Lieus

Last Sunday 11/9, we enjoyed a late lunch with The Lieus. We dined at La Duni on Mckinney street. It's a fabulous Latin cafe. They have desserts to die for. Since the weather was perfect for patio dining, we moved lunch outside and savoured their huge epresso bar, a serving of the Mantecada Sponge Cake Topped with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, covered with Caramelized Swiss
Meringue, on a 3 Leches Sauce Mirror, Flamed at the table with Kahlua....and of serving of the Venezuelan Rum, Pastry Cream & Chocolate Truffle Cake. We were bad! However, Sophia was perfect in public while keeping Aunt Oanh and Uncle Richman company.

First Boo Boo

On Veteran's Day 11/11, Sophia was at daycare while we went to watch a matinee! It's been around 6 months since we've been to the movie theaters. We also went to Best Fabrics to pick up materials to make more curtains in our house. I love going to Best Fabrics. When I see the array of materials I get the arts and crafts itch!! When we picked her up, we saw her first boo boo. To help her congestion, Ms. Dez tried to use the aspirator on her. But Sophia does not like the aspirator and accidentally scratched her face.

Uncle Toan Babysitting

On November 12th Uncle Toan will be babysitting so Simon and I can go to the Sarah Brightman concert. At 5 months, it's a perfect age for Uncle Toan to see Sophia's skills in her new saucer toy.

Wish List - Neat Things

This is a run on wish list of neat things for Sophia.

-Gifts for her 529 college piggy bank.
-Toys from http://www.ebeanstalk.com
-Onestepahead.com
-Personalized Storybooks
-100% cotton clothing (she has mild excema)
-Educational Toys

-We just bought this really neat book for Sophia. We look forward to buying more of the same type in the future. "A first book of motion for kids, it shows a horse in full gallop and a turtle swimming up the page. A dog runs, a cat springs, an eagle soars, and a butterfly flutters. Created by Rufus Butler Seder, an inventor, artist, and filmmaker fascinated by antique optical toys, Scanimation is a state-of-the-art six-phase animation process that combines the "persistence of vision" principle with a striped acetate overlay to give the illusion of movement."

Introducing Baby Food

Start with cereal. Iron-enriched baby rice cereal is the best food to start with, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. It's easily digested, fortified with important nutrition, and least likely to trigger an allergic reaction. To prepare, mix a small amount of cereal with formula, breast milk, or even water to create a creamy "soup." Don't sweeten the taste by adding things like mashed bananas, applesauce, or juice. If you start off tempting baby with sugar, he'll soon want everything you offer to be just as sweet. Once baby has mastered rice cereal, you can move on to other varieties like barley or oat — but hold off on wheat, which is a common allergen for many babies.

Branch out to vegetables. Next stop: veggies! They're wholesome, nutritious, and not likely to trigger allergies. Start with milder yellow or orange options such as sweet potatoes and carrots before moving on to the green team, like peas, spinach, and string beans, which have slightly stronger flavors. If your baby rejects what you've got, try again tomorrow and the next day and the next. Some babies need to be introduced to a new food four or five (or more!) times before they'll accept it, so perseverance is key.

As with most cooked foods, they may be kept refrigerated for 2 to 3 days after being cooked. After freezing, it's better if you use it up in 1 month. Sweet potatoes freeze well! http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/sweetpotatobabyfoodrecipes.htm

Common Forbidden Foods for Babies:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/forbiddenbabyfood.htm

ALWAYS ensure that you are not feeding baby directly from the bowl and then storing the bowl you fed from back in the fridge - take out the portion you will feed, put it into baby's bowl and then put the bowl of food back into the fridge!


Dabble in fruit. Delicious, digestible first fruits include finely mashed bananas or baby applesauce, peaches, or pears (stick with jarred fruits especially processed for babies).

Starter foods: Bananas, pears, applesauce

Organic foods are grown without the use of commercial nitrate fertilizers and thus the risk of nitrate contamination/concentration is minimized, but not eliminated.

Expand the Menu Options

Those early-bird specials (rice cereal, applesauce, bananas, yellow veggies) get pretty old after a few dozen meals. Spice things up (at around seven or eight months) by adding minced meat (chicken, lamb, turkey, or beef), mashed egg yolk (no whites), and avocado to her repertoire. By nine months, whole-milk yogurt, cheese, pasta, beans, and tofu can make their debuts, and then (drumroll, please!) finger foods add a whole other dimension to eating. Here are a few more pointers:

Source: http://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/feeding-baby/starting-solids/introducing-new-foods.aspx

Sophia Exercising

These days, Sophia is really good with her hand eye coordination. She will spin around her saucer with no problems. We've captured how her motor skills have developed from 3.5 to 4.5 months. She is a bit short for this saucer toy(it couldn't have been my genes!).... so she stands on a beach towel!! :). Click to enter gallery.

Relaxing at Home

Sophia is really curious about new textures. She loves to play with her stuff animals and activity centers. Click on image to enter gallery.

Fun Fall Portraits 2008

We had such nice October weather. Before Halloween Sophia spent a weekend with her Aunts and Uncles. We soaked in some sun and played with the camera! Click on images to enter the gallery.

Next week, she will be 5 months!! These days, Tu-Phi is really aware of her surroundings. She loves to “talk”. I think her cubby-self is preventing her from rolling over!! It’s so entertaining to make her laugh! It tugs on our heart strings with all of here new facial expressions. It’s impressive with how fast she can grab things to put into here mouth. She is really good with pinching and pulling our hair! She continues to enjoy chopping on her feet and standing in her saucer toy!

Ladies Brunch

On October 24th, Sophia attended her first ladies brunch! On the weekends, she thoroughly looks forward to seeing Aunt Cindy and Aunt Le. Click on image to view the photo gallery.

Aunt Le matches! Sophia "Tu-Phi" has been melting our hearts with her smile.

At daycare, Sophia has joined the welcome wagon. She is no longer the youngest kiddo in daycare. Another baby Avery is on the block. Now, both of her neighbors are named Avery. She's a couple months younger than Sophia. This morning, I encouraged Sophia to show her the ropes with toys and reminded her to smile to help her feel welcomed :p

I think she has the Tran gene with being such a social butterfly :p

Brunch with Hudson

A week prior to Halloween, we had a relaxing brunch with Uncle Mark/Aunt Le, and The Hongs (Jim, Buffy, and little man Hudson).

I think Sophia enjoys being in Uncle Mark's hands!!

1st Halloween with Hunter

Sophia celebrated her first Halloween with her friend Hunter who is 5 months older. Click on Hunter and Sophia to view more pictures! The Euless, TX neighborhood was a perfect size for the kiddos. After a 20 minute power nap, she was happily ready! There were a lot of trick-or-treaters! Afterwards, Niki and Daniel graciously cooked a scrumptious Korean BBQ meal!! Uncle Mark/Aunt Le and our friends Amie/John(Hunter's Aunt and Uncle) joined in on the fun.

Chubster aka Chub-a-lub

Last week, Sophia had more vaccinations. Surprisingly she did not cry at all. Maybe being chubby helps with the pain!!! Aunt Cindy and Uncle Toan calls her Chub-a-lub! For the past month, her thighs have been sporting size 2 diapers.

Morning Walk

Early morning, Daddy played golf and we went on a walk while it was a cool 70 degrees!