Ushering In The 30's

Kelly turns 30 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Honey!!

Perhaps now Kelly will find comfort in answering the same question her many patients ask her: "How old are you anyways? [You seem too young to be a DOCTOR]", by replying: "Well, as a matter of fact, I am in my THIRTIES."

Congratulations, Honey. You know I am so very proud of you, and make it my personal duty to brag about you as much as I can on my blog. :-P

For Kelly's birthday, this morning, I bought a Chinese money plant in a nice white ceramic pot, with itty bitty black stones on the surface of the soil, and a band of bamboo around the pot (very asian looking plant/pot) to keep in her office. Dinner tonight will be at a local Italian restaurant called Cusina Rustica. This restaurant is family owned and operated, and in fact, it litterally feels (or is?) a part (extension) of the owner's home. Their hours of operation is only from 5-9pm and they have seating for about 20 people (or at least it seems this small/quaint the last time we were there).

Tomorrow will be the Tidman's annual summer Lake House party. It is expected to rain with scattered thunder storms starting at around noon. Still, I hope to pop in for a visit, and perhaps in the afternoon the family will go down to Atlanta for some shopping for Kelly, and activities for Ethan (Children's Museum, Aquarium, etc.. to which we have annual family passes that we rarely use).

Looking forward to soon join you in this decade milestone, Honey. (My 30th comes but a couple months later on September 23rd).

One Year In Blue Ridge

We have now been residents of Blue Ridge, GA for an entire year! In fact, July 16, the one year anniversary of our moving day, came and gone as uneventful as ever. Gosh, it really has not felt like a year. Looking back on this past year, it has certainly been a year of learning, and a lot of drama, mistakes, and a few friendships. Woo hoo, looking forward to the next year! Yee-Haw!! Though I joke, and in all seriously, it is a miracle we have not been lost in all the craziness. So many things to be grateful for indeed ...

Ethan Is 22 Months

Ethan turned 22 months this past week, and his mama turns 30 years on Friday. [sorry no pic as apparently I have reached my allowable limit for loading photos on this blog ... time to start another one?]

Ethan's speech is developing more and more each day, although for the most part we still cannot understand what he is saying. He can now put two words together with his more favorite sayings being "all gone" and "my car". His most favorite thing in the world right now? Cars. Every waking moment is "kah", "kah" - like a British person not pronouncing the letter "r".

He runs faster, and is starting to test his jumping abilities.

He can identify certain letters of the alphabet like "O" and "U" and "Q", among others. He can also count to ten. Well, sort of. He "skips" four and quickly says "five", does the same with seven for eight, but otherwise says the other eight numbers.

He weighs 24 pounds and his eating habits are still hit or miss. Oh well. What can you do?

2,044!!!

I just posted a short video of my garden on YouTube and couldn't help but go back to my older video uploads of Ethan. One video, titled "Allah'u'Abha" has received 2,044 views! Hahaha .. I seldom check up on my videos to see if people are viewing them, since I only really post them on YouTube to then get the HTML code to embed the video on this blog. 2,044!!! In case we all forgot what this video looked like, I post it again here :-P

Mwah! (kiss) My noomsie.

Georgia Garden 2008

[Debra H (back) and Deborah A (front), my two research study coordinators, assisting me with planting several baby plants one Friday early evening after work in May]

Spring in Georgia has meant a new season for gardening - my first in the Peach State. Experimenting with new perennial flowering plants, and having received several donated plants from my co-workers (everyone does gardening!) I have created this garden in the front of our house, that still needs a lot of work, but is growing like crazy. One thing that is certain is that EVERYTHING seems to grow to incredible sizes here in Blue Ridge - weeds and all. Hopefully this rings true with the plants I have carefully planted.

I planted Angel Trumpets, Gerber Daisies, Echinacea (and double-Echinacea), Carolina Jasmine, Cannas, Elephant Ears, Hibiscus, Ginger, and more. Having been known to get right to the planting and little with the planning (of where to place plants), I am not sure how the final blooming garden will look like.

But anyways, I include here a picture in the month of May when I first started clearing the garden bed and sought the help of two co-workers to help me plant some 200 baby plants and ornamental grasses. Also included (below) is a short clip of what the garden looks like, as of yesterday, a couple months after the garden was started. Some have grown rather quickly (Angel Trumpets, Bee Balm, etc..) while others are slower to develop and bloom (Echinacea, Ginger - not shown, etc..).



Will post updates probably towards end of this month or mid August and again towards the middle/end of summer in early September.

Long Journey, But Now Back Home

Who knew it would take 24 hours from the doorstep of my cousin's home in Coquitlam, BC to ours in Blue Ridge, GA. We arrived at the airport in Vancouver with just under three hours before our flight, anticipating that my usual interview with immigration would keep me for a while and we may miss our flight (as has happened to me in Toronto one other occasion). Instead, there was no U.S. customs and immigration to go through at the airport, and no place to do my "special registration" notification.

Waiting for our flight, instead, I was thinking of the missed opportunity to attend Carlie and Barry's wedding dinner celebrations at SFU. Even without having my interview at the airport it would have been a task to attend dinner, drive back to my cousin's house, get changed out of our formal attire, then drive to the airport. Witnessing their wedding ceremony, including a touching moment when Carlie fought back tears when reciting her vows to Barry (and Barry responding by pretending to wipe his brow with relief that Carlie got through it all) is something I am honored to have been present for, and I wish them both the best. (still, would have been nice to have made the dinner too... darn!)

Our flight from Vancouver was rough at times. We flew through numerous thunder storms in the upper midwest of the U.S. before arriving a few minutes late at the airport in Chicago. Knowing instead that I had an interview with US customs and border protection in my port of entry at the US meant rushing. We were greeted by a rude (woman) officer. No surprise really, is there? I've done this so long now it hardly phased me really. She escorted me especially to the place where I would have to report and prove my identity (which I am already in the "system" and have been for years). Quick and out, off to claim baggage and see if we can miraculously catch our connecting flight to Atlanta.

No such luck. Several minutes too late, our connecting flight had left, and we were booked into the next flight to ATL -- a 7 hour layover at the Chicago O'Hare airport. We ate. Slept. Ran after Noomsie. Ate some more. Slept some more. All the while building that "freshness" that comes from not eating or sleeping all that well and not showering, though sweating, exerting, rushing, that is traveling.

A ha! At last we made it to Atlanta. Hotlanta did not disappoint - 97 degrees and nearly 5PM. Downtown was a parking lot with traffic barely moving due to construction that reduced a 6 lane interstate into a single lane. No, 7 hour delay at an airport truly is not test enough. But whatever. We were a mere 2 hour plus drive away from our home sweet home in the Blue Ridge mountains.

We arrived about an hour ago making our journey about an entire day. Smile :-D

Now showered and clean, and our house so fragrant from all the wood scents, no greater pleasure is there, surely, than my head now touching my soft, soft pillow.

Congratulations Carlie & Barry!!

Carlie and Barry's wedding, July 11, 2008 in Port Coquitlam, BC.

MANY CONGRATULATIONS to you both!

More to write soon.

Back "Home"

I have to write. An entire month has elapsed since my last entry. Several friends of mine met Ethan for the first time have said how they love following his development through my blog. Ahem, hence my renewed efforts in trying to write more regularly again.

I am writing (typing) sitting here in my aunt's and uncle's home in Coquitlam, BC.

Our trip has been pleasant, and I have seen many of my old friends, and driven through many of my childhood neighborhoods and places I frequented in my youth.

BC is a gem of a place. Lush mountains. Mild climate. A multi-cultural shmorgasborg. Over the past 48 hours, for example, we ate Japanese, Thai, Persian and Mediterranean/Greek. I got my wish for a Slurpee, and attended the rehearsal dinner for my friend's wedding (which will be on Friday). I can't complain.

With all the "homely" comforts of returning to BC for this trip, still, there are many things that have changed that contribute to a feeling of "a home no more":

(1) as much as I have grown up with Asian cultures predominating in BC, the singleness, and overwhelming presence in numbers (in the airport alone) made me feel like I had just landed in Southeast Asia, as with our trip back in December to Singapore/Malaysia -- I am one for diversity, don't get me wrong, so long as there is unity. And one obvious way to display a more outward presentation of this unity would be to identify with the very nation they dwell in. Sadly, for me, a lack of "Canadiana" also means, all these strangers, can gladly keep my old home where once my roots grew deep;

(2) my parents no longer live here -- and up until this stage in my life (where I have my own family), home has always been defined by where "mom and dad" live;

(3) a once close knit group of friends, I may still have contact with all of them, but few are in contact with each other -- this point is not surprising in the least, since everyone is prone to "separation" when significant time is allowed to go on without effort made to keep contact. Life gets in the way. Marriages. Children. Professional obligations. And it is impossible to keep in contact with everyone. Nevertheless, this just shows how much friendships formed and nurtured through one's formative days can really shape the person one becomes as an adult and the long lasting influences in one's life -- and can equally define where "home" is.

With two more days remaining in our visit, I look forward to a dear friend's wedding, and to eat some more of my aunt's delicious cooking.

I will also try to convince my close friends to take on a journey to a small Japanese-style cottage in the USA's "deep south".

Kiddie Pool

The past few days have been really hot. So hot, in fact, and yielding much to my going crazy, it was better (if not safer) staying indoors.

But who wants to be cooped up at home on a weekend when there are places to go, things to be doing? By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, and realizing that in a short, few hours we'd be back at work, we braved the 95F degree heat and headed for the swimming pool.

About 5 minutes from our home is a local park that has a pool - a large one, and a small one for kids. A small admission fee later (kids under 3 go in for free) and we were soaking in the warm water, baking under the summer sun. Sorry, no pictures.

After getting Ethan all lotioned up with sunscreen, we were well on our way to splashing around in the water and having some fun. At least given what Ethan normally does during bath time I expected this from him. But, no. Instead, Ethan was content just wading in the pool, very apprehensive about moving even a step or two away from me (or Kelly).

It wasn't long when someone recognized us. A coworker noticed Kelly and immediately joined us at the kiddie pool, and other kids followed. This only made Ethan more clingy, intently staring down anyone who dared come close to him. When a couple children left the small pool for the bigger one, the renewed or vacated space was destined for exploration.

With trepidation at first, Ethan took his first step in the water (as if learning to walk for the first time all over again). I have to say, even now, walking and running, Ethan doesn't have the greatest of balance. He's a wobbly kid, always prone to tripping over (himself). A few minutes later, Ethan was splashing! Ethan was laughing. Ethan even tried to "dunk" his head under water. Actually, it started first when Ethan tripped and his face went under water. Not really "knowing" what to do, I took my hand to his head and just pushed his face back above (water) surface. Gasp. Sputter. Whine. And a couple more of these incidents, then Ethan started getting the hang of having water up his nose and in his eyes and ears. Not until all this did he start trying to get his face under water intentionally, which later on reduced to kissing the water surface, to stopping 2 inches from the water altogether.

An hour was all we could manage, and probably for the better. Still wet with my shorts, and wrapped in a towel, we got back in to our car and drove home.

And It's All Quiet Again...

Mom, hope you had a safe and uneventful flight back home. Please call us when you get the chance. Thanks for everything. Our home is no longer in order as we expected just minutes after your absence. Or, rather, the usual "order" has been restored. But thanks anyways for everything you always seem to do and provide for us. It is very, very quiet now at home as you can imagine. Probably also because Ethan is not feeling too well, though he is the most lively of us three (Kelly not feeling too great either, and me, well, blogging away -- really what else to do?). I've read all of Ethan's favorite books to him already and his bedtime routine is looming. Our NetFlix is in ("The Holiday) so maybe we'll watch that once Ethan is put to bed - IF he gets put to bed on his own, and IF Kelly does not fall too tired or sleepy in the process.

Calling on anyone who wants to come up and visit us? I know the Lakhanis are thinking of seeing us some time in June and our BC trip in July is but 6 weeks away. Looking forward to that (though not the flight with Noomsie!) :-P

I often wonder why we put ourselves so far away from everyone. Sigh.

OK, maybe I'll try out the treadmill for once.

Pictures: Ethan's World (And Friends)

The Thrills Of Toddlerhood

Ethan turned 20 months old on May 21st. He still has only just 8 teeth with no obvious signs his molars are coming. As a result he eats very slowly and methodically and "chews" his food with great care and attention.

Everything revolves around Ethan these days. With mom with us the past couple of weeks, I have been fetching Ethan from preschool after lunch to bring him home to be with grandma some afternoons. Grandma has enjoyed having Ethan around, and has done very well introducing him to new foods - like eggplant! (khoresh-e-bademjoon... yum!)

It hasn't been easy, however, the past week or so. Ever since I left for my conference in DC/Virginia, Kelly tells me Ethan has been very cranky and whiny. Ethan rarely eats unless held (unless seriously distracted with other things). When thirsty, he calls/cries/whines/points for his straw cup, gets a hold of it, and passes it off to Kelly for her to hold the cup to Ethan's mouth for him to sip. Talk about picky. Only a mom-held-beverage will do!

Sleep time is a whole other adventure. Ethan's been through sleep-training so many times now, and he is back to the beginning it seems. We have our night-time routine that consists of a bath, some playing, milk, reading books, reading prayers, brushing of teeth, and then goodnight kisses and off to bed. But lately, even as early (in the bedtime routine) as drinking his milk, or being offered his milk, Ethan now realizes he is soon reaching his "curfew" and anticipating the final few steps in his routine, he resists and cries and gets all upset.

Kelly has had to put him in his crib while staying in his room, and often falling asleep in Ethan's room (we have a futon mattress on the floor next to his crib). Usually it is Kelly who sleep trains Ethan (since I cannot stand to hear him cry) but we will wait until after mom's visit to re-sleep train, Ethan.

Just now the crying has started, as Kelly calls Noomsie for his "nay" (milk).

New Video: Ethan Reading

Here's a video mom took of Ethan (20 months) "reading" a brochure/manual. This is just 30 seconds long. Not sure if I can post the 3 minute version. In that longer version, Ethan stops to "catch his breath" and then continues to read "wawawawawa" ..

CRCP

I attended a conference in DC/Virginia last week for four days. The conference was for clinical research professionals - investigator sites, sponsors, CROs, and everyone else in between.

Having been "on the job" now for 7 months, it was SUCH a great learning experience. I would even go so far as to say it was the most enjoyable conference I have ever attended (granted all other conferences I have been to were academic by/in nature and enjoyable for other reasons).

I learned the ins and outs of the clinical research profession - specifically about contracting agreements/budgets for clinical trials research. The conference was set up in "tracks" with parallel sessions covering different topics: Track A - budgets, Track B - regulatory, Track C - etc .. There were many great sessions that I had wanted to attend, but they were being offered at the same time, and so I had to be very selective.

On the last day of the conference, I took a qualification exam to be a Clinical Research Contracts Professional. I just received notification that I passed my exam. The exam must have been graded on a curve, since I answered all of 8 questions (out of 20!) Actually, I answered most questions, but had to rush answering 12 of the last questions in 5 minutes. So much for pacing. It clearly showed just how much exam-writing skills I have lost since my days as a student.

Time to put all that learning to practice and build a successful (and profitable) research program.

May Is Running Away

Ok, wow, time is just going by too quickly these days ... I can hardly keep up!

Just "the other day" I was typing an entry welcoming the month of May, and now, we are a day or so shy of the half-way point for this month.

Anyways, my mom and aunt are in town and staying with us. It has been so nice having family over. Coming home to a clean house and home-cooked meals is a bonus for sure, but just to have grandma around to play and care for Ethan has been really good.

I've started doing some gardening for the season. What an enormous task it is (compared to my previous living situation with our home in Durham, NC) to take care of weeds and prepare garden beds and plant. Everything just grows so quickly - that is, everything you don't purposely grow yourself, usually characterized by thorny branches or leaves, deep root systems, a lack of aesthetic or beautiful foliage or flowers and a tendency for being invasive.

Otherwise everything else is going fine. Ethan is just developing leaps and bounds and just today "conversed" with Papa Joon for a good few minutes on the phone!! Ethan was carrying the phone and holding it up to his ears, and "talking" to his grandpa in Canada. Kelly captured it all on video, so it will be a task for this week or next to have it posted.

I have a conference in Arlington, Virginia in a few days time that I have not prepared for. I have an exam. Hahaha ... I mean, yikes! I better study.

We have lots of pictures of Mother's Day we hope to post soon too. So stay tuned!

The Month Of May, Mother's Day & Memorial Day

How exciting! May is just 'round the corner (tomorrow!). And hopefully this means consistently warm and gradually, hot, temperatures. Last night was hopefully the last cold night for the next few months. It got down to about 35F, just above freezing. There was a "frost advisory" and so I had to move back all of my house plants which I purposely brought all out since we'd been enjoying 70s and even a day or two in the 80s the past week or more.

It took a lot of work to bring them all back in, and although starting today already the warmer temperature begins, I think I will wait until this weekend to bring all the plants out again, and do some gardening for the first time this season/year.

Actually, I had planned to do some gardening last weekend, but it rained a lot (which I will never complain about again, given last summer's drought). A bush/shrub on the side of our home that has really grown out of control (i.e. I have not pruned since we moved in) fell over (presumably because the roots were so shallow still and it had grown so quickly?? and wind pushed it over?) and I had to do a rescue operation to get the plant upright. Hopefully it will strengthen it's roots and thrive again. So nice. Not sure what type of plant, but it produces TONS of white flowers that are so over fragrant (smells kinda like Jasmine??) .. so much for being a gardening enthusiast when I don't actually know any of the names of the plants I have around the house.

So anyways, May, May ...

Mom is coming to visit on the 10th. Yipee!!! Will celebrate Mother's Day in Blue Ridge. There's a quaint little "Victorian" style lunch place we discovered a couple of weeks ago that we would like to take Ma and Tita Flong (my auntie, mom's sister) for lunch.

And of course Mom will be staying through the Memorial Day long weekend. Kelly is on call that weekend, so we have to plan something local, but at least we can spend time together. Perhaps another excursion on the lake with our canoe? Speaking of which, the lake (Blue Ridge) is soooooooooooo full and looking picturesque. Just this morning it was "glassy", completely smooth surface reflecting all the trees and docks and boats, and because last night was near freezing, there was a mysterious "fog" rising from reflective surface .. I wish I had taken a picture.

A conference for me (18-21st) in Arlington (VA) will mean I will be away while Ma and Kelly and Ethan will be together. I have this CRCP exam to take (stands for Clinical Research Contracts Professional ???). Wish me luck. When was the last time I took an "exam"? This conference is for business professionals in the clinical research/pharmaceutical industry, and since I jumped straight to work without any previous knowledge or training of how to negotatiate budgets and contracts, I figured it would be nice to supplement the experience I have now gained, with some formal understanding of the process. Who knows, I may learn a thing or two on how to increase revenue for our company.

Chunky Monkey

Ahh .. looking back at old videos of Ethan, it is surprising to see him so rolly-polly actually. What a wonderful stroll through memory lane. You can check all my videos on YouTube. Just search for maxwelleblaghie (I think). Or watch the video (blog entry below) and at the end of the video, you will find small thumbs to other videos (links). Not all are mine, or of Ethan. Just FYI. A full head of hair and just roundness all 'round. Noomsie. Wish we took a more consitent effort to video his progress though. With our family having gone through a lot of life changes in recent past, we missed out on videotaping Ethan from roughly 10MO until the video I just posted with E at 19MO. Will try to do more. Unless I have the video at home but have not posted them? Hmm .. I'll check!

Ethan 19-M.O. Video

Finally, it took sooo long to upload this video but here it is. Ethan at 19 months old. In this video I ask Ethan what various animals say (animal sounds) and Kelly quizes him on his body parts (in chinese). For translation purposes, Kelly asks the following body parts in this order: nose, mouth, teeth, eyes, ears, hair, hand, tummy and foot. Kelly then asks "where are daddy's socks?" to which Ethan replies (in english) "socks" (but you'll have to turn up the volume to hear it). And last, Kelly instructs me to get a box, since Ethan can say "ba-ksss (box)" - again have to put up the volume for that one.

I am not sure how to get the HTML to embed that is specific to my video of Ethan; you will notice also other "Ethan" videos that others have posted (along with older videos I have posted) .... better than nothing :-D

Growing Up

Our Ethan is growing up. He turns 19 months today, and is now in full-time preschool. Today was day one back from "spring break" and Ethan and all his preschoolmates were excited to be back in school. Linda has done a fantastic job the past 7 months or so caring for Ethan. Transitioning to The Learning Depot, we had Ethan with Linda twice weekly (Mondays and Fridays), and now he will be at TLD 5 days a week.

Ethan's favorite or commonly used words are (Ethan's pronounciation in brackets): hi, hello (owww), bye (bah-yee), box, dots, baby (day-dee), mama, papa, ball (bow), deng (din; chinese for 'light'), socks, nay (chinese for 'milk'), si-sieh (chinese for "thank you") ... and of course his favorite word of all, NO!!

Animal sounds: mooo, meow (maow), baaa (ba-ha), woof (woah-woah)...

He understands the following body parts in chinese: hand (sho), foot (tsiao), belly (du-tze), hair (tow-fah), mouth (tsway-pah), teeth (yah-chuh), nose (bee-tze), ears (err-duah), eyes (yen-tsing) and not a body part but related ... socks (wah-tze) ... he doesn't say any of these words (yet) but points to these ..

We have a video but are finding it difficult to post currently...

Deck & Dogwoods

Our deck is finally screened. And the dogwoods are in bloom.