Elise - Sean - Ava: September 2007

The Strausses and Wus Visit

We were thrilled to have visits from our dear friends from business school. The Strausses moved to Japan over a year ago and was soon followed by the Wus to China. We always dreamed of having our kids grow up together and become lifelong friends so it was great to see them all together again.

Elise and Miya starting their own band

Elise and Miya showing some love

Elise wearing Kush's tiger hat which he was very nice about sharing

Zara, Ben and Monique's latest addition

Elise playing lead guitarist

Zac Strauss, Kush Krishnappa, and Isabella Wu

Happy 3-Month Birthday Sean

Officially no longer a "newborn", Sean has entered into infanthood and is growing in leaps and bounds. He loves to be on is back and scoots around sometimes a full 180 degrees. When he hears your voice, he breaks out in a foamy, bubbly smile and tries to talk back which sounds more like a owl hooting. He is already swatting at objects in front of him and has a death grip with Mom's hair.

It is strange to back at square one again having gone through this stage with Elise. But knowing what is to come, we anxiously look forward to the next developmental stage and can't wait for Elise and Sean to really start interacting with each other. So far, Elise has been a great big sister. She is always anxious to help out and wipes up Sean's drool every chance she gets. She wants to hold him all the time and when she does, she gets very nervous and hands him back to us. Sleepwise, he's doing great putting himself to sleep without any assitance. We're on a pretty strict schedule which has made our lives easier and harder at the same time. Easier because we don't have to rock him or hold him while he sleeps but harder because we don't want to ruin a good thing by messing with his routine which means we never leave the house much. At night he's down by 7pm and doesn't usually wake up until 7am the next day. We're getting so spoiled by this that when he does wake up infrequently in the middle of the night we forget how perfectly normal this is.

Peering over his bathtub

Bathtime is his favorite time

A small smile

Elise and Sean

A few weeks ago, he found his fists and has been sucking on them ever since. We can hear him in his room sucking away putting himself to sleep.

Here he goes again with self-soothing

My what a serious baby!

Santa Cruz Holiday

We went on a short weekend getaway with Auntie Truc, Uncle Gil and Cousin Jake to Santa Cruz. It was a very relaxing and fun-filled 3 days in the sun. The kids swam in the pool, played on the beach, and rode some kiddie rides on the Boardwalk. We stayed at Seascape Resort in Aptos which was perfect for our growing families. Complete with kitchen, living room and upstairs bedrooms, we had plenty of room to hang out and watch the kids run around. At the end of our short vacation, we were sad to say good-bye and wished for more vacations like these.