Merry Christmas! (wk77)

Merry Christmas everyone! Oops, this entry is totally late, but I'm still going to post it as Monday 12/29 so I don't mess up my weekly practice. :)

This Christmas was tough and tiring - Tyler was super sick! I'm not sure if I had mentioned in the previous post but Tyler wasn't feeling so great the weekend before (12/20-21st). He had a fever, and even threw up! Poor little guy. We thought he was better though, but he got sent home from school on Tuesday with a fever of 103! Ack! His teachers said that he wasn't his usual happy/cracking up self - was super cranky and stuff. sniff sniff. We managed to squeeze him in for a quick doctor visit with his pediatrician, thank goodness, and they told us what we already knew: that he has a fever, a cold, and a bad cough. Tyler = miserable... Here's a shot of Tyler at the doctor's - he was NOT happy about getting checked out!
The next day, Wednesday, was Christmas Eve and we got to host this year. Yay! It made things a lot easier for us since everything Tyler needed is here. We had hot pot - yum yum, and Tyler even managed to sit through the whole dinner with the rest of my family (with the help of my iPhone videos of course). Here's a shot of all of us at dinner. I was very happy to have my own half a hot pot that no one was allowed to put mushrooms or tofu in. whew.Here's a family group shot. In the back is Kareen and Andy, on the left is my brother Lindon and his wife Michelle, then my parents (with my grandmother in between) and Me/Tyler/Will. This picture doesn't show it, but Tyler is getting pretty good at sitting still for the camera and actually looking at the flashing timer light! On Christmas Day we headed over to my In-Law's place for lunch. Here's a group shot from that day (gotta love Will's new tripod!) with Will/me, Will's dad holding Tyler, Will's grandmother, his aunt, and his mom. Tyler was in super-clingy mode as he got over his fever...like he wouldn't let anyone else hold him and would throw a tantrum if anyone even looked at him! Super exhausting. He did get better Christmas Eve night, but that was due to his super-tired-inducing delirium. Seriously, when it gets really past his bedtime, he kind of turns a little crazy and laughs at everything! Here's a family portrait with our Christmas tree. Tyler is totally looking at the camera! Of course, what would the holidays be without girlfriends! I got to hang out with some of my girlfriends (and meet a new one!) on Friday. I think a good New Years Resolution will be to hang out with my girlfriends more before baby #2 comes along ....
This weekend we visited the Orange County Zoo. A t o t a l snoozfest. We were looking for something close by and figured it couldn't be that bad, right? wrong! The zoo was TINY! but for a $2 admission, I guess I can't really complain. There were very few animals there. The bear they boasted about wasn't even there. Highlights would be an (injured!) bald eagle and burros... yes... donkeys! They had animals like owls and raccoons on display...however, they did have a petting zoo with some over-zealous goats that Tyler didn't like at all.There were still Christmas decorations up - like Christmas trees in the different exhibits. Here's a photo of Tyler and myself sitting in Santa's chair!Snowman Tyler! Poor Will, he gets stuck with funny expressions in photos as long as Tyler is looking. :)
The Orange County Zoo is part of the Irvine Regional Park - and they have LOTS of ducks! We fed some of them and Tyler "quacked" at them. At some point, he'll have to learn the names of the animals, and not just the sounds, right? Here's a video of Tyler watching the burros.

Monday we headed over to my parents' place for a BBQ to help celebrate my brother's birthday (he was born on 1/1!). Tyler was (thank goodness) feeling better. He hadn't been eating much at all the last week and it was starting to worry me - but now his appetite is back! We've been having a hard time getting him to wear a bib during meals - so we got him these Elmo bibs - and they've been great!My parents have a ton of fruit trees in their backyard (I've probably mentioned before). All mostly Asian fruits - persimmons, pomegranates, kumquats, loquats, dates, oranges, lemons, plums, etc. I've never been a fan of guavas in general, but they have a Thailand guava tree that Kareen and I are crazy about. They are SO delicious! Here's Kareen picking a giant one off the top. YUM!
Tyler and Kareen! Even though Kareen and I don't really look alike, we do catch Tyler with confused looks every once in a while. For instance, he'll be sitting on my lap, and Kareen will walk away and he'll go 'MAMA!' and I'll be like, um.. I'm right here...Tyler loves watching the fish at my parents' place. They have a lot of different kinds, and he'll sit there and make his little fish sounds (think sucking his cheeks in and out). Here's Tyler with Will's dad watching the fish.
Here's a video of Tyler checking out the fish.

Moms! Here's Will's mom, my mom (standing) and Kareen's husband Andy's mom. I guess it's pretty cool that Kareen and I married guys that have family all so close to each other and everyone can hang out and stuff.Last group shot! And lastly some random pictures of Tyler. His current favorite toys are dinosaurs - and I've learned all the names of the ones that he has (since they're printed on the bottom of each of them).
He still enjoys balancing things on his head. This was the top of a penguin humidifier in his room. He's getting good at holding still!Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!