(no subject)
hi everybody, its 2006!
okay, so you probably learned that 18 days ago - nevertheless, its my first post in 2006 so i just wanted to give you all a heads-up lest you be filling out your checks improperly or anything like that...oh, you can tell this will be a wonderful year to have me as your lj-friend, based on this great opening...
a-chan will be 4 months old this sunday & her japanese grandfather will be getting on a plane sometime around 1am tonight in order to see her for the first time tomorrow - well, he's coming here on business specifically, but thankfully we happen to live in the same area as his workplace - we'll be taking him out for a big family outing to the georgia aquarium on saturday the 28th, our first time there and hopefully it won't let any of us down...
as far as a-chan is concerned, the strangest experience happened to us - while we think she's generally been a good baby, she does go through some pretty vicious crying spells - we were told this would stop almost altogether once she passed 12 weeks, but it didn't happen - we then thought, "maybe it will happen at 14 weeks, since she came 2 weeks early" - it got better, but not completely...
nonetheless she started to act a little more properly, and we put her to the test of going out 4 times last week: first, nino's on cheshire bridge, a long-time favorite of ours - its a stereotypical italian restaurant: dim lighting, rat pack accompaniment, carafes of cheap chianti, big dessert trays, and my favorite gnocchi in town - we arrived way ahead of the crowd and she was well-behaved for the majority of the time, staring intently at the candle flickering away at our table...the next day, it was dim sum at royal china which she absolutely loved - a noisy, packed house in a restaurant so vibrantly red, with 4 or 5 fishtanks that she loved staring at - we were there with our friends A & J, both of whom were meeting A-chan for the first time, and she really liked both of them - she even fell asleep in J's arms, something she doesn't do for us...a few nights later, we ate at the carrabba's in peachtree city, commemmorating 5 years since S & i first met, at another branch of the chain near cumberland mall - A-chan slept through the first half of the meal and then woke up a bit too unpleasantly - we then took turns making laps around the restaurant with her in order to appease her, and she quieted down so it wasn't that bad - the next night at sushi yoshi, having a big dinner with S' workmates, was by far the worst of the lot - we ended up leaving after about 45 minutes because she couldn't be consoled...75% isn't bad, but its still a little upsetting - we don't want to be those kind of people who ruin everything by taking their crying baby out to places...
...yet that's exactly what happened on saturday - we were destined to go up to geebs' place (well, not his place, but since K isn't on LJ) for an evening party, and on top of that one of S' grade-school friends happened to be in atlanta and wanted to meet us at lenox beforehand - we loaded up the car with A very unhappy, but she finally fell asleep after about 10 minutes - she continued to sleep as we entered the mall and woke up near the end of our time there with S' friends - and she was great! we were so relieved...and then she went ballistic once we loaded her up in the car again and didn't stop until we arrived at the party - but as we took her out of the car, she stopped again and behaved really well at the gathering (perhaps helped by everyone's friendliness toward her) - she slept all the way home and woke up just a couple of times through the night...
...and then sunday morning i went to get her out of bed, and after a couple of "i'm waking up" announcements she broke out in a big smile and was perfect all day long! she got a tiny bit fussy on going to bed, but that's to be expected - and she's been this way ever since! she's constantly smiling, touching her fingers and hands together, making attempts to grab toys, making attempts to eat toys, speaking much more in elongated syllables, etc. could this be the turnaround we've been waiting for? we're afraid to jinx it, instead just choosing to enjoy our time while we have it...
we're getting ready to take her on her first extended trip - we have no idea where at this point, but if we are going to take her to japan in spring (something we still want to do) she needs to experience a multi-hour drive and a night spent in a foreign place - we're a little nervous about it but we're looking forward to it as well...
nothing much to say about me at this point - thanks to you movie kids out there, who compelled me to purchase essential cinema as well as 1001 movies you must see before you die - i bought both of them in the midst of a massive children's books spree online (for the most "awww" moment you'll have today, check out this book) - i also finally secured that shirley collins box set which may even be arriving today!
oh, resolution status: i'm still maintaining my journal (writing daily, keeping track of every meal i've eaten, every dollar i've spent, everything i've acquired, my daily weight (still just outside of my upper limit), every movie i've watched, and even every album i've listened to) i've flossed once this week, and am preparing to give $100 to the international campaign for tibet, a cause i fully believe in and the organization appears to be the one most in line with programs that i would like to support - i want to do something in central america next but haven't done research yet on who...any organization recommendations are much welcomed...
okay, so you probably learned that 18 days ago - nevertheless, its my first post in 2006 so i just wanted to give you all a heads-up lest you be filling out your checks improperly or anything like that...oh, you can tell this will be a wonderful year to have me as your lj-friend, based on this great opening...
a-chan will be 4 months old this sunday & her japanese grandfather will be getting on a plane sometime around 1am tonight in order to see her for the first time tomorrow - well, he's coming here on business specifically, but thankfully we happen to live in the same area as his workplace - we'll be taking him out for a big family outing to the georgia aquarium on saturday the 28th, our first time there and hopefully it won't let any of us down...
as far as a-chan is concerned, the strangest experience happened to us - while we think she's generally been a good baby, she does go through some pretty vicious crying spells - we were told this would stop almost altogether once she passed 12 weeks, but it didn't happen - we then thought, "maybe it will happen at 14 weeks, since she came 2 weeks early" - it got better, but not completely...
nonetheless she started to act a little more properly, and we put her to the test of going out 4 times last week: first, nino's on cheshire bridge, a long-time favorite of ours - its a stereotypical italian restaurant: dim lighting, rat pack accompaniment, carafes of cheap chianti, big dessert trays, and my favorite gnocchi in town - we arrived way ahead of the crowd and she was well-behaved for the majority of the time, staring intently at the candle flickering away at our table...the next day, it was dim sum at royal china which she absolutely loved - a noisy, packed house in a restaurant so vibrantly red, with 4 or 5 fishtanks that she loved staring at - we were there with our friends A & J, both of whom were meeting A-chan for the first time, and she really liked both of them - she even fell asleep in J's arms, something she doesn't do for us...a few nights later, we ate at the carrabba's in peachtree city, commemmorating 5 years since S & i first met, at another branch of the chain near cumberland mall - A-chan slept through the first half of the meal and then woke up a bit too unpleasantly - we then took turns making laps around the restaurant with her in order to appease her, and she quieted down so it wasn't that bad - the next night at sushi yoshi, having a big dinner with S' workmates, was by far the worst of the lot - we ended up leaving after about 45 minutes because she couldn't be consoled...75% isn't bad, but its still a little upsetting - we don't want to be those kind of people who ruin everything by taking their crying baby out to places...
...yet that's exactly what happened on saturday - we were destined to go up to geebs' place (well, not his place, but since K isn't on LJ) for an evening party, and on top of that one of S' grade-school friends happened to be in atlanta and wanted to meet us at lenox beforehand - we loaded up the car with A very unhappy, but she finally fell asleep after about 10 minutes - she continued to sleep as we entered the mall and woke up near the end of our time there with S' friends - and she was great! we were so relieved...and then she went ballistic once we loaded her up in the car again and didn't stop until we arrived at the party - but as we took her out of the car, she stopped again and behaved really well at the gathering (perhaps helped by everyone's friendliness toward her) - she slept all the way home and woke up just a couple of times through the night...
...and then sunday morning i went to get her out of bed, and after a couple of "i'm waking up" announcements she broke out in a big smile and was perfect all day long! she got a tiny bit fussy on going to bed, but that's to be expected - and she's been this way ever since! she's constantly smiling, touching her fingers and hands together, making attempts to grab toys, making attempts to eat toys, speaking much more in elongated syllables, etc. could this be the turnaround we've been waiting for? we're afraid to jinx it, instead just choosing to enjoy our time while we have it...
we're getting ready to take her on her first extended trip - we have no idea where at this point, but if we are going to take her to japan in spring (something we still want to do) she needs to experience a multi-hour drive and a night spent in a foreign place - we're a little nervous about it but we're looking forward to it as well...
nothing much to say about me at this point - thanks to you movie kids out there, who compelled me to purchase essential cinema as well as 1001 movies you must see before you die - i bought both of them in the midst of a massive children's books spree online (for the most "awww" moment you'll have today, check out this book) - i also finally secured that shirley collins box set which may even be arriving today!
oh, resolution status: i'm still maintaining my journal (writing daily, keeping track of every meal i've eaten, every dollar i've spent, everything i've acquired, my daily weight (still just outside of my upper limit), every movie i've watched, and even every album i've listened to) i've flossed once this week, and am preparing to give $100 to the international campaign for tibet, a cause i fully believe in and the organization appears to be the one most in line with programs that i would like to support - i want to do something in central america next but haven't done research yet on who...any organization recommendations are much welcomed...