Lub You

tonight, i received the best welcome home hug EVER! my baby grabbed my head and held me in an endearing head lock, and said, "lub you." i hugged him back and said, ' i love you too." thinking it was going to be a short-lived moment, i prepared for him to let go, but he continued to wrap both of his tiny little arms around me, held me cheek to cheek and said, "lub you, lub you." i soaked it all in. it was the best darn hug in the world and i never wanted it to end. it lasted a good few minutes. 

preston is really becoming a little person of his own and he has his moments like all little kids do, but he is such a lovely, loving child to his family. he is fair to all the grandparents, and loves each and every one of them, even jack's dad who he hasn't seen since he was maybe 10 months old. how the heck he remembered his grandpa and just naturally bonded and accepted him with open arms and heart baffles me, but it's as if no time ever passed when in fact, it has been almost a year since he saw jack's dad. and even though he doesn't see jack's brother that often, when michael comes over, preston acts himself, will play with michael and there's no awkwardness at all. i think this all means he's going to be a family oriented man when he grows up. he sure loves us, because he probably feels how much we all love him. 

Happy Meal = Happy Family

For Halloween this year, Jack and I thought long and hard, debated on several ideas, and finally..we decides that Preston would be a hamburger and we'll be the fries and soft drink that complement him. I had no idea where to get a hamburger costume for Preston. Luckily, my coworker told me about Old Navy's burger costume, which I searched for and found only on Ebay. It was a few years old I guess, so all were used that's in his size. I started watching and bidding and got out bidded twice! It was a nightmare! so finally, i had to resort to ordering a buy it now that's a size too big for him, and then pay $15 in expedited shipping to get it to us on time. It was ridiculous.

However, all that hard work paid off because Preston wore it a handful of times (Loan's bday party, Wholefood treat-or-trick event, Andy's church fall festival, and his school parade), it kept him warm, he didn't mind wearing it, he was in a unique costume (only hamburger oh yea!) and best of all, he looked so darn cute in it! Everyone wanted a bite of my baby.

As for silly, ole us, we made our costumes. Jack was a McDonald's soft drink and I was the french fries. I found my inspiration from someone else's family picture online, but did it my way and with a few suggestions from Jack, we had ourselves a pretty neat family costume...tada!

For Jack's costume, instead of using poster board to make the cup, we just hot glued the felt design material onto a plain white t-shirt. This was a great idea because he was comfortable all night and was able to carry Preston without ruining his costume. How the heck do you not ruin a cardboard costume if you had to chase a kid around all night and hold him 70% of the time? The only thing was the cardboard hat (cup lid) was difficult to keep on, so he didn't wear those for too long, but people still got the idea.

For my costume, i went shopping at Forever 21 and found myself a red skirt, yellow tank top, and a red head band. Then, we bought foam board and paint from Michael's and made french fries. I hot glued the fries onto the tank once they were dry and positioned them so they look like a bunch of fries. I cut out the remaining foam board almost like an upside down triangle, painted it with yellow stripes for the inside of the fries box, and all red in the back, hot glued some velcro onto the board and onto my shirt for easy attachment once the shirt is on. Otherwise, the shirt is hard to put on as is with the stiff foam stuck on it. Finally, i sewed my arm warmer using felt.

It was  so much fun dressing up as a family. Although it took many hours to put together, it was worth it because we made a pretty good happy meal family :) and "i'm lovin' it!"

17 Months Old

preston at 17 months is the most joyful, delightful little boy that is all mine! he is turning out to be a wonderful child who loves to repeat words that we say, loves to identify his mama and baba in pictures, imitate our actions, loves to play outside, and of course, loves water play. sometimes, well almost everyday really, he surprises us with doing something we had no idea he could do before. i am pretty sure he learns these things from day care, which is exactly why i am such an advocate of sending him there. for example, one night i sat at his table and watched him play with his crayons and helped him line them up when they fall out of place. he got incredibly upset when they weren't lined up (got me thinking my kid sure is meticulous). it was a lot of work for me because his still jerky hands and his little temper got in the way of him trying to put it together himself. so i sat there and lined them up over and over, and then out of the blue, instead of crying, he said in the cutest, sweetest little voice, "oh no!" with both of his hands cupping his round chubby cheeks. it cracked me up and made my night.

after school on tuesday of this week, i saw with my own eyes, preston using a spoon to scoop food and successfully feed himself. when the spoon wasn't getting the food into his mouth as fast as he would've liked, then his hands came in very handy. what a moment to watch my baby proudly showing me how he can utilize a spoon now. i never thought this day would come.

we love him and his little big person personality so much. his smile is just so contagious and beautiful to me. when he is about to do something bad and he knows it, he'd smile and you can read the mischief in his eyes. all these little detail are so precious and although so tiring sometimes to be a mom, i can't  get enough of him.

you realize how fast he's growing and i just want to be here to see all of it. now a days when i hold him, i see me getting smaller and i see more of his arms and legs dangling in the air. it hit me again the other day when sitting in his room, i saw that preston's entire head was above his window ledge and he was able to see outside his window all by himself. i remember the days when he tried to stand on his tip-toes and pull himself up in order to peak through the window. he's so independent now, gets in and out of his now toddler bed by himself, gets on and off his ATV, knocks on his door when he gets up before we do so we'd open it for him and give him good morning hugs and kisses. one day, his door was left ajar and he ran out after he woke up and knocked on our bedroom door. needless to say, i was so proud, and relieved he didn't go down the stairs!

everyday is something special and i feel incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful child to call my own. 

Cover Baby

i just put preston on the cover of the national geographic magazine. check it out. it's a free app on Facebook.

14 Months

Preston turned 14th months last week! i am trying to remember some of the things he can do and say now. it's amazing how his little personality, likes and dislikes, even hobbies are emerging before our eyes.

from what we can tell, preston loves cars, and i don't mean toy cars. he has plenty of those that he doesn't play with right now, but real cars. he loves pointing them out to us and say 'car! car!' he loves getting close to the wheels, pointing, touching if he could get away with it, and saying 'vroovroo.' i am not very good at remember sounds, but essentially, car noises.

preston also discovered our blender in the kitchen and loves pulling it out of the cabinet and pressing the buttons while making blender sounds. this boy is so good at imitating sounds, whereas, i am challenged in this area. must be a boy thing? we have to cover it up with some towels so he doesn't see it and keep pulling it out to play.

he also loves playing with the handheld vacuum and will grab it every chance he gets, and once again, make vacuum sounds. he insists that we turn it on and vacuum the floor with it. then he'll happily go about his way while we move the vacuum around the floor. what a bossy little boy!

we noticed that preston seems to be a very clean boy, or at least he likes the act of cleaning. for example, he'll grab wet naps out of his bag and wipe down tables and the floor. he'll pick napkins up from the floor and throw it away in the trash. the other night, i gave him his clothes after i took it off of him as we were getting ready for a bath and he walked right over to the laundry basket and tossed it in there. i give him his diaper too and he'll waddle to the diaper decker (now in the bathroom for odor reason) and toss it in his diaper pail. when i fold clothes, he helps hand them over for me to fold. i am loving this so far, let's hope he is a neat and tidy boy as he grows older.

being more mobile this past month. i think preston is really enjoying exploring his surroundings. oh and now preston has 12 teeth, his molars on the top and bottom have come in. life is starting to get a little easier..no more pureeing food, lugging around the car seat, or feeding him or changing his diaper every other hour. being a new mom was challenging for sure, but there are days when i look at his baby pictures and miss him at this baby baby stage. so the best advice is to live in the moment and enjoy every second of the baby, whether it's difficult times or good times. you will miss them all just a tad once they quickly grow out of it.

Spring Fun

the wangs have been busy having too much fun during the past month once preston started walking. the nice weather here and there helped with the fun factor too! so far, i am liking this walking stage. it's been so fun watching him improve his skills day by day. initially, he fell a lot, but now, he walks around so confidently, especially  around the house. i haven't witnessed this myself yet, but apparently, he walked backwards at my mom's house the other day. crazy!

so the past few weeks, we made another trip out to DC with our friends rasha, ivan, and their cute son joseph! we hoped to catch a glimpse of the cherry blossom, but the cold weather around here this spring kept them hidden until almost mid-april, so we missed them completely this year. we did catch the kite festival and had a nice, sunny picnic on the mall.

preston went to little grace's 2nd bday party. he wore his first tie, and looked so very grown up, my little man. 

preston got to ride his new atv which he received as a birthday present. at first, it was a lot of stop and go and jerkiness, but now, it's a smooooth ride. that is, until he hits the wall, furniture, stairs, or people. he hasn't quite gotten the hang of steering yet..but doesn't he look like such a cutie pro on his bike?!

we went to a puppet show at the rockville library where preston made the most adorable angry face. it's on my phone lock screen and i smile whenever i see it.

preston and jack came to support me at my 2nd cherry blossom 10-miler race! this year's extra special because of so many friends who ran in it too. the weather was just perfect and i ran the whole way with my annie. we did pretty awesome! afterwards, we celebrated at la tasca in chinatown!

we also played at the discovery room at the quince orchard library for the first time! we love it and will be going back for more fun this weekend. check out his baby crocs! cutest things in the world and he loves wearing them all the time haha 

13 Months and Walking!

hello baby...someone started walking today! what a great way to start your 13th month. i was at work when at around 4pm, I received a text from your daddy that said, "just got home and this is what preston does." i thought he was going to show me a big mess you've made that day, but to my disbelief, he sent me a video of you getting up from a squatting position, standing all by yourself, then turning around and walking to your walker. it made my day and i shared the video with all my co-workers announcing to everyone that you started walking today! i am sure they think i am nuts..well nuts about my baby, and they are right. i am so proud of you!

3.18.13 3 from jin wang on Vimeo.

We Luv DC!

this weekend, we packed ourselves a little picnic and headed to the our nation's capital for an afternoon of dc chilling. the weather was beautiful, warm and sunny, although it's never really warm enough for me until it's in the 70s. however, i am extremely ready for spring, i look forward to longer days and spending more time with preston outside now that he's a little more mobile. i love dc in the spring and summer...we really need to spend more time getting to know good old dc better. i feel like i never fully appreciated living so close and i still don't know it well enough even though i work there everyday. well, i m excited to learn and explore it with my family, starting this year!

so anyways, away we went and we had ourselves a picnic on the mall, took some pictures and some videos, we rode on the carousel, walked around the natural history museum, and had ice cream at the sculpture garden while preston napped. it was so nice i didn't want the day to end. lovely way to spend a beautiful day with 2 of my favorite people on earth. 

12 Months...Last Tie

We did it! We finished taking pictures with all of Preston's monthly ties. I have to say, I am going to miss these sessions. Initially, I remembered Preston just laid there and it was so easy to snap pictures of him. I loved it best when he was able to sit but not crawl yet because we could see him better sitting and he'd give us his winning smiles and we'd just snap away. Then, one day he learned to crawl and was falling off the couch every other shot. It got progressively harder as he got closer to one, to the point where we could only get non blurry pictures if we put him in his high chair. The boy just wouldn't sit still!

Well, here is the fruit of our labor from his 12 and last month shoot..I am sad that it's over. However, as the saying goes, "every end is a new beginning," so I am excited for what's next. What sort of photo fun will we have in year 2???

Important Things to Note at 1 Year Old

At 1 year old, these are the fun facts about Preston!

• Weight: 20 lb 8 oz
• Height: 29 inches
• # of teeth: 4 fully visible teeth on top, and 4 on the bottom, 2 more on top is coming out, you've been drooling big time!
• Favorite Food: Strawberries and bananas
• Favorite Snack: Puffs
• Favorite Toy: Walker 
• Favorite Book: I Love You Stinky Face (however, shortly after your first birthday when you received so many books, you started liking "Duck Goes Potty" and "I Love You Through and Through"
• # of Haircuts Since Born: 2
• Shoe Size: 4T

Entertaining things you do: 

• Clapping when you're happy (i.e. after you dunk a ball into the basketball hoop)
• Giving kisses.
• You took your first 3 tiny steps the day after your birthday (we've been working on it since then, but still not walking yet).
• You can blow kisses goodbye.
• You like to kiss the teacher in the Brown Bear Brown Bear book.
• You raise your hands in the air like Little Nutbrown Hare when we get to the page of the story where he's showing Big Nutbrown Hare that he loves him as high as he can reach!
• You're holding your own sippy cup and drinking milk out of a straw, it took you a little while to like drinking anything but water out of a straw cup. 
• You imitate mommy when I shake my fingers at you and say "no no no!" You point your index fingers and wave them side to side too.
• You can can climb up the stairs all by yourself..and recently, you've learned to carefully maneuver your way down by either going backwards on your hands and knees or holding on to the stair bars. We supervise you super closely when you do this..I think it's a good workout and you need to learn how to do it eventually.
• You started bouncing up and down to music, can't wait until you show us some of your moves Preston!

Preston's Baby Video

At Preston's 1st' birthday party, we played this video which shows him growing up so fast in his 1st year. I know I will watch this video countless times during my life and will remember all the wonderful memories of our first year together. 

Preston's 1st Birthday Video from jin wang on Vimeo.

Birthday Letter to Preston

My Darling Preston,

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year already since we first met. I can still remember that night, at 11:58pm, you were officially my baby to love, hold, and cherish forever. I couldn't wait to see your face, and to hold you in my arms. After the nurses cleaned and checked you, your daddy finally handed you over to me, all bundled up in the hospital blanket. I was in awe of you then, and I grow more in awe of you everyday. You were an amazing baby to us, never too demanding beyond the basic needs, showering us with your real smiles and beautiful laughter since 3 months old. Now, at 1 year old, you are a toddler now and we are rewarded with your sweet kisses that make our days.

Daddy and I are so very lucky to have you as our son. We love you so much and we adore you beyond words. We tell you how much we love you every day, never a day goes by where you didn't hear those three words from either of us during the past year. I can guarantee that you will never ever, not hear those three words from us or feel the lack of love radiating from us to you, from head to toes. You are a gift that takes a lot of our energy and time, but what you've given to us in return is priceless.

Now, in the upcoming year, I know that you'll only get smarter and more mischievous. I can see that in you already as the more we say "no preston!" the more you act up sometimes. In case you've forgotten, like the way you drop things such spoons and cups from your highchair, the way you do the raspberry and laugh like it's so funny when your spit gets all over our face. At 1, you are starting to throw little tantrums when we take things away from you that you shouldn't have by flipping backwards if in our arms, or folding over with your face to the ground if sitting. So your daddy and I will have to be a little tougher on you this year now that you're a big boy. You may not like us at moments, but you will thank us for it later.

At 1, we can see already that you are giving, easy going, loving, smart, energetic, and most importantly, you're a good boy. I can't wait to see you develop into your own person over the many years to come. I hope that you turn out to be a good person, is polite and respectful, ambitious, inquisitive, outspoken but tactful, and loving to all those that care about you. We are so proud of you today, and we know there will be many proud moments to be have tomorrow.

Love you more than you will ever know.

Mommy and Daddy