Paris!

Paris!!  We spent Thanksgiving in the city of lights, as a complete Hu-Stein-Diep clan.  We started the trip off with a family bike tour - they all did great! In fact, the kids were fighting over the tandem bike when we thought they would be fighting over the trailer.  Paris with children is slightly different than 9 years ago when we were all simply DINKs, but enjoyable nonetheless.  Elie and Zoe were very open to learning French, whereas Ethan was reluctant - the one word he learned was "macaron" which he picked up as we stood in line at Laduree, peering at the multitude of colors and flavors.  After our fair share of steak tartare,  duck confit, and macarons, we are back stateside and already missing the romance of Paris. 

Washington, D.C.

CP's new school won the 2012 National Blue Ribbon School Award, so we took advantage of the opportunity to visit D.C..  After nearly 10 years in Alexandria, we finally made it out to vist Carol, Frank and family as well...from visiting great friends, seeing our national sites (Wilson's first time!), to accepting a prestigious award for CP's school, we had a blast in a whirlwind trip...followed only 3 days later by Paris!  Ethan and Olivia both did great with the travel, so we are going to figure out how to work in more travel for our munchkins in the coming years!  Click here to see our fun in D.C..

Fall Update

We are thoroughly behind in our posts, but here is a collection of photos from the end of our summer/early fall.  We both went back to work in August, Ethan started school, and Olivia went from being the sleeping queen (10+ hours at night) to the waking queen (every 2 hours!).  It's clear that she doesn't like CP being back at work, but alas, we need the pay check :P  Olivia is slowly learning how to sleep again, Ethan loves being in pre-school, and we are looking forward to the holiday season.  This album here is August - November (pre-Paris).  Stay tuned for the photos from Paris.

Summer Update!

June and July have flown by!  Wilson took paternity leave so I wouldn't have to spend the entire summer as a full-time mom while he worked.  I have to say, after having Wilson home in July for two straight summers, I think I could get used to it!  Since the last post, we've been busy, busy, busy.  We celebrated Ethan's 3rd birthday, had Olivia's Red Egg (no pictures since Wilson forgot his camera!), a family trip to Disneyland and California Adventures, a long weekend in Pajaro Dunes, a visit from our cousins from Ohio, a first birthday party, and lots of relaxing by the pool.  Click here to see the photos from our fun filled summer!

May/June Updates

It's been another busy month for the Diep household!  We start off the month with a visit from the Blakes and Broussards - it was nice to finally meet Adele.  She's only a few weeks older than Olivia, but you can see that it makes a world of difference at their age.  (Plus, Adele has much taller parents and was born more than 1 lb heavier than O!).  Next up, we celebrated Dolly's high school graduation - when did May become the season for graduations?  We ended May with an impromptu (on our part) weekend in Bolinas with the Hu-Steins - thanks for a fabulous weekend!  The kids had a blast playing together and exploring.  Finally, there are a few pics from hanging at home.  CPs at the end of her month of full time day care duty, and we are all looking forward to the rest of the summer (Ethan's 3rd birthday, Olivia's Red Egg, a family trip to Disneyland, and what's turning out to be an annual Hu-Van Reeth visit!).  Enjoy the photos :)

Oliva's first Photo Shoot

Olivia's first time playing as daddy's subject - I'm sure that she too will be a ham for the camera like Ethan.  It's hard not to be when your first photo shoot happens at 2 weeks old!  Check out Wilson's shots of our newest cutie pie. Click here to see the rest of the photos.

Olivia's First Month

It's hard to believe Olivia's already 6 weeks old!  Click here to see some photos from her first month at home.  Po Po was lucky this little girl came before she had to go back to China, and Om Noi and Ba Noi were also lucky this tims around - they timed their visit for after mom and baby returned home from the hospital :) 

Olivia was 7lbs 3oz and 19.5 inches.  At her 2 week appointment, she was 7lbs 9oz and 20 inches already.  I took her in to be weighed last week, and she was 9lbs 7 oz, which makes me think of our friends who had 9lb babies at birth! 

Wilson's constantly saying - was it this hard the first time?  I think we both forgot how painful it is to be woken up in the middle of the night, but Olivia really is a good baby.  She's already had quite a few long stretches of sleep, the longest being just under 6 hours long!!  Don't be too envious - those long stretches are always followed by short 1-2 hour stretches.  She's also cooing now and smiling a lot, particularly when her belly is full and when she's created diaper art for us :)  Enjoy the photos - if you haven't met her yet and want to, come on by!