We Got IT.

After several failed attempts of buying a house in my desired location, we finally decided to expand our search and guess what? We found a wonderful house and have a ratified contract!

(insert excited, shrill wEeEeeeeEeE!)

(And the location of our potential house is probably more appealing than where we were searching all along.)

It all went down like this: We saw the house on Tuesday night. By the time we went to sleep on Tuesday, we made our first offer. Among 2 other offers they received, they picked ours to work with and made a counter-offer. We counter-offered their counter-offer. They counter-offered our counter-offer on their counter-offer. (Are you still following?) And finally (!!!), we reached a number both parties are happy with and are moving forward.

We are so excited about this house. The location is prime - close to major interstates, yet still tucked away in a nice, established neighborhood without any traffic noise. We are literally minutes away from major shopping malls, restaurants, corporations, and future metro stops.

As far as the inside of the house, it's more or less perfect. Big enough for us to grow into, but not gigantically so that it will cost hundreds of dollar in heating and cooling. The original owners took great care of the 25 years old house, but will wait for the home inspection to confirm.

So here we go again with the home buying process. Lots of paperwork on the way I am sure. On top of all that, we close on the house the same week I return to work. And we are going on vacation shortly after that.

Oh boy.

But for now, it's time to do a little celebratory dance.

(I will share pictures with you guys as soon as I can!)

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Anna @ 4.5 months

Anna is 4.5 months old.

She has changed quite a bit since the last time I updated at 3.5 months and 4 months. But overall, she's still one smiley and cute baby.

Her appetite has increased phenomenally these past 2-3 weeks. She's eating on average 750-850cc a day! Luckily I am still able to keep up the milk production. Whew.

She continues to sleep through the night. However, since showing signs of crawling (butt in the air, knees up, and legs kicking) and rolling over, we hear her tossing and turning in the middle of the night. She lets out a bit of fuss, but we ignore her and she usually falls back to sleep. I am really happy about her sleeping habits. I get at least 8 hours of sleep myself at night!

Her position of choice is on her tummy. We plonk her on the floor, she immediately flips over, and lunges forward. I don't think it will be long before she starts CRAWLING. But to be honest, I am dreading the moment when she begins to move. It means I will have to watch her more carefully and all that dog hair on the floor is already giving me a headache.

Anna seems to recognize us and smiles SO BIG whenever she sees us. She loves the mirror and grins at herself. She has discovered her toes. There are 2 sure ways to get giggles out of her - 1) wave blankets and 2) say "pinku" over and over. If she's awake at the right time, we watch Sesame Street together. Her favorite kick-back buddy is Pesto.

I am sure there are a million and one other things I am missing in this post, but the bottom line is....

I am really, really enjoying this baby phase.

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19 weeks + weekend report

OMG...the heat. Isn't it pretty unbearable? How is everyone coping?

We are staying in as much as we can, but actually ended up going out for a few hours on both days. On Saturday we went to see a house that seemed great online (a front porch AND a screen-in deck AND a wooded backyard), but once we walked in, everything else about the house just didn't give us that 'wow' feeling. So we passed.

Today we visited more houses (very nice!) and may pursue on one of them. We shall see what happens...

Since we were already out, we decided to go to the mall to cool off and let Anna people-watch. The mall was packed and Anna was fascinated by everything. I guess the stimulation was a wee bit too much though because she clonked right out once we strapped her back in the car seat.


Photo: Until we take her to Disney World, hope this little visit to the Disney Store inside the mall will tide her (...or us) over.

{Happy 19 weeks, Tinkerbell!}

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new toys

I once said I wasn't going to be one of those parents who buy their kids tons of toys. Well...can I take it back? I mean, I don't think we are overbuying toys...(just yet), but it's definitely helpful to have some play things to make playtime more fun and silly.

So with a 'Buy 1, Get 1 Free' coupon on Fisher Price infant toys, we took Anna to Toys R Us for some new toys. She's much too young to appreciate a toy store, but sat patiently and chomped on her peacock while her parents deliberated on which toys to get.

Xylophone. Colored cups. Squeaky toys. Shakers. Rattles. Stacking blocks. SO MANY CHOICES!

We ended up getting a shape sorter toy and a tugboat set for bath time.

And on the way out, we saw some Kai-Lan stuff and bought them too on an impulse.

After we got home, we laid out all the toys in front of Anna and guess which one she went for?

The plastic bag.


Because we are teaching her life isn't just one big playtime, we took her to the local library last week.

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18 Weeks and First Trip to DC

We finally made the 30-minutes drive and went into DC today! We woke Anna up from her sleep, carried her around in the heat (it was H.O.T), and took some pictures!

The trip wasn't all smooth sailing. Before we even had a chance to take any pictures, one giant poop soaked the cute yellow bubble one-piece that I had dressed Anna in. After a quick visit to the bathroom of the Ronald Reagen Building, she was all clean, but had to wear a plain old onesie for the remainder of the day. Boo.

This mini trip included dining alfresco near the White House, cooling off at some water jets, and taking family pictures with the Washington Monument as the backdrop. Anna did great (except here)- she saw so many new things! The feeding took extra long because she was distracted by...everything.

We didn't make it to many landmarks this time. Did I mention it was H.O.T? But just as well because on the way back to the car, Baby A fell asleep in the Bjorn. The 2 hour trip was just right.

When she's older and 20 degrees cooler, we will definitely visit again.

{Happy 18 weeks, baby!}


More images from the trip here.

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4 months

Miss A,

Can't even believe that we let 4 months scoot on by. If I could, I would bottle you up to give to anyone having a bad day - you are such a joy to be around right now! You are a smiley and happy baby.

This month, you've officially rolled. Left, right, tummy, back. Been there, done that. Not quite a master at it yet, but getting close. You enjoy being on your tummy more than ever and can lift your whole chest off the floor. Your pediatrician commented that you have the strength of a 6 months old. And no, I don't think she was just being nice.

You are a fan of sitting upright and looking around and taking it all in. You actually sat on your own for a good 5 seconds the other day before falling on your face. You also love to walk (with us holding you, of course). You know the motion of putting one foot in front of the other to get to places. Good job, girl!

You've also started lunging forward. I know you are not crawling yet, but it's so fun watching you on the move. The other day you lunged forward to Pargo and brushed your hand against his hair. Maybe it was an accident, but it sure was nice to see.

You are a fountain of drool and absolutely obsessed with putting everything in your mouth. Everything that is, your slowly increasing hand-eye coordination can muster.

We are loving every minute of you. Seriously, there's nothing better than a cuddle with my soft+sweet Anna.

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17 weeks + update on our house search

Is there such thing as perfection when it comes to buying your first home?

I am starting to doubt it.

If it's not the house, it's the location. If it's not the location, it's the house. If both house and location are nice, it's the competition.

Did I mention that the other week we saw a house that I loved? It was the first day on the market and we met with our realtor that night to take a peek. Good location, check. Good floor plan, check. Love at first sight. We immediately put in a contract for the full asking price and I was sure that the house would be ours. Nope. Someone went beyond the asking price...and...wait for it...in cash.

So no, we are not close in finding a house of our own.

However, hubs' parents recently ended their house hunt! They are not moved in yet, but are busy fixing it up and making it their own. Lots of painting, scrubbing, and repairing. The house was DARK, brown everywhere, but they are making good progress in transforming it to something bright and airy!

I thought it would be neat to take pictures of Anna at the house while it is getting beautified and afterward when everything is all done. So...here is Anna at 17 weeks on the dot. In the middle of the family room. Smiling a lot. Looking sharp in her pink polo.

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A & P(esto)

Constantly keeping the baby stimulated or entertained is so tiring.

Sometimes when I am completely out of energy, I plop Anna down on the couch and let her stare at Pesto (aka the White Wolf of Antarctica).

Maybe next week I will let her have a different view and put Pargo (aka the Grizzly Bear of Canada) in front of her.

Have a wonderful weekend, my fellow bloggers! Got anything fun planned? I am meeting some friends (all mommies) for lunch. And we are not bringing the babies. And it's going to be so niiiiice.

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while rocking the baby to sleep...

...I made our Google Search Story.

(Want to make one for yourself? Just go here.)

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Third & Fourth Month of Mamahood (+ baby rolling over!)

More things I am learning about mamahood...

: That I should have tested out my frozen stash on Anna sooner. (Note: I recently found out that my baby doesn't care for old frozen milk so I had to toss away milk bags that were more than 2 months old. So instead of milk being good for 3-6 months according to the health guideline, Anna won't eat anything that is more than a month old. Girl has got a sophisticated palate.)
: That hubs and I mull over spending $10, but we bought this toy for our baby without batting an eye.
: That re-visiting old places are not at all boring with Anna around.
: That I would consider not going on the cruise because I can't imagine leaving Anna for a week. (...but we are going - paid the balance last night...)
: That my off-tune singing makes Anna laugh and I do it over and over again just to hear it.
: That I have the utmost appreciation for a 9-hour uninterrupted sleep.
: That I can train my dogs not to bark.
: That I would feel sad the day we switched to size 2 diapers and level 2 nipples.
: That mamahood is so exhausting, but very rewarding! Yes, heard it many times, but it's so true.

Rolling Anna from sugarlens on Vimeo.

Video: Anna has been trying to roll over (back to front) for a week now, but her arm gets in the way so we help her with a gentle nudge. Today (7 days away from turning 4 months old), Anna rolled over completely on her own. She did it twice before I finally grabbed the video camera. I love her little cute grunts and her persistence and the last few seconds when she pulled her arm out. She makes her Mama proud. Go Anna!

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baby gap

Little A and I went shopping with Grandma and got spoiled with some new clothes from Baby Gap! I am especially excited about the giraffe-printed bathing suit. So cute and fun. I had been eying it for the longest time.

And just so I can still dress Anna up like a giraffe, I got that tank-top onesie for when we are not in the pool.

The other two bodysuits are just out of necessity - you can never have too many of them!

FYI. I found the prices to be cheaper in store rather than online - especially with the extra 30% off the entire purchase promotion they currently have going on. The bathing suit, for example, is $18 online, but we paid less than $5.

What a lovely shopping trip. Xie xie Grandma!

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Sweet 16 and Burke Lake Park

Today is Anna's Sweet 16 {weeks} and we went to Burke Lake Park. The park isn't anything new to us - been there too many times to count - but Anna saw it for the first time and I think she enjoyed it. She did extremely well, even though she was overdue for a nap. We saw the lake + ducks, walked a bit of the shady trail, and rode on an old-fashion choo choo train!

I have to say, there is something about seeing your baby happy (or not fussy) and experiencing something new. Usually hubs and I don't do well in the heat, but it was smiles all around for us.

We didn't plan ahead this time...but planning on returning to the park with a picnic basket soon!



More images (& a video) from the park here.

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frapp goodness

Yesterday, with baby in tow, I had the pleasure of sampling the newly introduced however-you-want-it frappuccino at Starbucks. My pick? Mocha. 2%. Extra whip.

Cooling, creamy, and oh-so-yummy.

I managed to score my grande beverage for free. But it was so good that I will surely try out more combinations next time. I think they are worthy of the gift card that has been sitting in my wallet for the past 5 years.

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a little playground fun

It was a cool summer evening. The sun was just about to set.

We walked to the playground, hoping to take some photos of Anna in the dying light.

We sat with our baby on the swing, the seesaw, and the slide.

With all these foreign big play things, Anna was apprehensive and didn't crack a smile.

So I thought: forget the toys, lets just play like we do at home.

Here are the results:



(the only set of good pictures with the prop)
(On a separate note, I REALLY need to learn how to use my big camera.)

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