Ed, Laura & Matthew – Our Family Blog

Matthew will soon be one year old. My goodness, how time flies! In his first year, he brought stress, surprise, laugh, joy, tears, and much more to our families. While it has been a learning curve for us, one thing we know without a doubt is that we love him. We couldn’t ask for anyone better. Matthew is the star in our life and we look forward to his many milestones to come. Let’s hope he doesn’t get too spoiled by us, if not by his grandparents. Click here for his first year’s photos.

Ever since the September ‘08 market crash, I feel like the bad news has been non-stopping. Everyday I read something new and it’s something that makes me just sigh. Now it’s May and next month Matthew will turn 1 year old, I tell myself to pause for a moment and just reflect a little bit on the recent months.

~ Stock market crash leading to financial crisis
~ Unemployement and recession
~ Housing crisis
~ Frontline: Inside the Meltdown
~ Frontline: 10 Trillion and Counting
~ Matthew sick during Christmas ER1
~ Matthew sick during New Year ER2
~ President Obama
~ Matthew sick in Feb ER3
~ 5% Rollback
~ Matthew sick in April ER4
~ Refi
~ UBS layoff
~ Swine Flu
~ Globe vs. Union
~ Laura will be an aunt in Jan 2010

Mommy’s new fav pic:

It’s time to catch up. So much has happened in the past few months that I haven’t been able to keep up. I’m at a very happy stage in life where things are falling into places. I can honestly say I’m feeling content like I never did before. Some key events were:

9/15 – Mommy returned to work and Matthew started daycare
10/6 – Stayed and worked from home for the first time. Matthew was having some running nose problems so we wanted to make sure he’s 100% for the upcoming trip
10/11 – Matthew’s first trip and our first family trip to Lake George NY
10/28 – Matthew survived his 4-month checkup and had more shots. Did he cry…of course he did
10/30 – Matthew’s first Halloween
11/1 – Matthew tried rice cereal for the first time

Mommy’s fav pic:

Matthew went on his first “date”. We met baby girl Masana and her mom Tomoko yesterday in the hall way. Apparently we live on the same floor. We strolled around the park just outside of the condo and played on the grass. Finally ending the day with two sleepy heads each sucking on their pacifiers. Oh yeah, they held hands…sorta. *_^

Frist “Date” Photos

View Complete Photo Album

Lots have happened in the past few weeks. Matthew is now 5 weeks old and growing well. He is a lot of work but overall a very sweet baby. He sleeps a ton which is great. The past weekend we celebrated his full month dinner with family and relatives. Here are some of my favorite pictures of Matthew as of late.

Smiling at crib mobile

A moment with daddy

Chubby arms

While we took a lot of pictures of Matthew by himself, I realize that we are so busy we haven’t had a chance for a family shot. This is the only one we have which was taken at the OR. This may appear that I had a c-section but luckily it didn’t happen. Our little Matthew really hung in there, making his parents proud.

Daddy made a birth announcement card for Matthew.

We liked too much the fact that Matthew could sleep 4.5-5 hours straight. As a result, he only gained 3oz in one week because we were under feeding him. Now we are catching up and doing some serious growing. His chubby little legs and arms are forming fast by the day, even the double chin.

6/22 – 7 lb 3 oz
6/30 – 7 lb 7 oz
7/07 – 7 lb 10 oz
7/11 – 8 lb 2 oz
7/22 – 9 lb 9 oz (one month)

Baby Matthew Ng finally arrived on June 22. It’s been a crazy busy three weeks and counting. Mommy can not afford the time to write much at the moment but will soon…hopefully.

Matthew was born at 4:48pm at Mass General Hospital. He came in at 7lb 3oz and 20″. He is one healthy little boy who sleeps a lot. Here is a picture of him and daddy at the hospital. He looked so tiny.

Where are you, little one?

Grandma-to-be Mrs. Luo hosted a baby shower for us on May 10th. Many friends/family came to celebrate with us. We had a wonderful time and feel tremendously thankful for all the generous gifts Baby Ng received. He is already spoiled as he’s yet to make his big entrance. Today he’s 38 weeks and 4 days old, only 10 days left! More Photos

No wonder I’m feeling miserable today – Pollen Levels Astronomical! =( I have been sneezing and my nose running all day. I just hope the poor baby inside of me is okay dealing with my uncontrollable sneezes. It probably gives him a good startle each time.

Our short list of names got even shorter after my lovely coworkers poked fun at it. It was a good laugh though as I knew Joan would give me some great feedback. Frankly, no name has come up so far that we both liked immediately. Hopefully we’ll settle on something soon. Only a little over 2 months to go! I can’t wait.

My dearest friend Chantima has done it again. She always picks the most unique things when it comes to gifts. Her first gift for baby is a pair of chopsticks and I just love them. Needless to say how thoughtful she is, any mom or mom-to-be can appreciate a gift that’s both useful and practical. Thank you girl, I will be sure to teach the little man on mastering chopsticks.

To get ready and prepared for his arrival, I had asked my friend Liyong to get me some books. There is so much to learn and it can be overwhelming. Sometimes I get the feeling that no matter how much information I take in, I will not be ready. Baby, I hope you will appreciate all the work that has been put in for your arrival. I hope you will be a good baby.

Our trip to Salt Lake City was a much needed getaway. It never felt so good to just do nothing but relax. The boys had a great time on the slopes. Even though I couldn’t go up there with them, I enjoyed the wonderful pictures they took. I’m now getting bigger by the day and I’m also getting impatient with the pregnancy. Three more months to go and hopefully everything will be fine. It’s scary to just think that in a short amount of time, we will be holding our first child for the first time. I wonder what that feeling is like.

Had my last ultra sound on Friday which revealed that we are going to have a boy! Technology is really amazing these days. Not only we saw baby’s brain, heart, liver, bladder, but most importantly, yes that little thing. I feel relieved knowing the gender of the baby and excited that I can start shopping now. I’ve been eyeing some clothes for a while but didn’t want to buy gender neutral colors. Now it turns out that boy’s clothes are quite boring, lots of blues, greens and browns. That’s okay though I managed to find some cute outfits by Carter.

After several trips to Babies “R” Us, we finally decided on Maxi Cosi car seat and stroller. Its neutral color is good as we don’t know the baby’s gender yet though soon we’ll find out at the next ultrasound. I’m quite anxious and nervous about it. I haven’t felt the baby’s kick yet so I’m really anxious to get another ultrasound. Lately the weather has been so cold that it makes me really uncomfortable. I’m getting bigger and more clumsy everyday especially in my big down jacket. I keep saying to myself that it will all be worth it when summer arrives.

Laogong put together baby’s crib and changing dresser yesterday. When I saw them after work, it’s becoming ever more real to me that a new life will soon be part of our family. There are still moments when I don’t feel I’m ready for all this but I think I will be fine. I will have to be ready whether I like it or not. For now, I just need a better night sleep. I should really get one of those maternity pillows, they look so comfy.

What a day! My friend Caroline finally responded after my several attempts at reaching her. She gave me the biggest news of her life that she is going to be a mother next June. I was so happy and right away I phoned her. After all, I just had to give her my biggest news, too. It really can’t get any cooler than having our first baby in the same month. Shortly after, I found out that Dave is expecting his second child and guess what…it’s also June. Having said all this, my heart really goes out to Beth. I wish for her to be strong and I look forward to the day when she delivers her good news.

I received the cutest card today from my most cherished friend Chantima. She is such a master at picking cards. When I saw the card, I immediately smiled. Her wonderful wishes and genuine words just melt my heart. It’s rare in life that you make friends with whom the connection is so strong that you just know, no matter what, we are always in each other’s thoughts. I can’t wait to get together with her and Mek in March. See you guys in Utah!

Another couple announced the birth of their first child today. It must be so exciting for Elaine and Rupert! 这几年内，大概也有多过十个小孩了吧。似乎没几个月就有小孩出生的消息。想来也是正常，我们和我们身边的朋友都到了这个年龄和阶段。到底有孩子的意义是什么呢？是个让你既要花银子但也令你人生更充实的小东西？We will have to see about it … here you come!

最近参加了一个 baby shower 和 Ariel 的两岁生日派对，让我感觉到下一代是多么的幸福。真的是无法阻挡年龄，进入了生孩子的阶段，身边的小孩们逐渐的越来越多。希望这些孩子们长大能体会和珍惜他们父母的付出和爱心。