OK, this is a little late. Shanna turned 9 months old when I was in US.
Needless to say, I missed my baby so much during the entire duration of being away for 10 days. My thoughts were always on her, and hubby, of course. Because of the inavailability of flight tickets, I missed celebrating our 4th year wedding anniversary... I was on the plane :( Yes, I have an understanding and kind husband...
It was a short trip filled with meetings, shopping, good food, COLD weather, and lack of sleep. I bought lots of toys and clothes for Shanna enough to last her until she's 2 years old... yes it's much more cheaper there... :P I also replenished myself and Tim with some new clothes (I needed new jeans as all my old ones can't be worn, too loose). It was good for me that the USD is weaker now :)
The weather this year was extremely cold by normal standards. On a few nights it even snowed! The car windows/glass frosted over in the night. That's very rare for Californian weather. It was around zero degrees in the evenings and mornings....bbrrr.... rashes developed on my legs due to the dryness and cold.
Lack of sleep cos I was too busy shopping :P I slept only 4-5 hours every night. As a result, I was so tired when I got back to Penang that I did not get any jet lag at all :D So that, is the BKM (best known method) people...
I continued expressing milk for Shanna throughout the trip, but I did not bring all of it back, most of it I threw away. It was a challenge as expected to find the suitable place/time to express while on the go... baby changing rooms, airplane toilet, shopping centre toilets, etc. End result? I get to continue breastfeeding Shanna, but with a much lesser supply.
One of the best meals in US at Cheesecake Factory - Chicken Medeira, Beef ribs and Grilled Salmon topped off with White Chocolate Raspberry Latte.
Look at the size of that potato! It was bigger than my steak.
View from airplane. The moon seemed to be in a lower altitude than the aircraft (that can't be possible, right), but that's really how it looked.
I wondered about Shanna's reaction when I was to see her again after 10 days of being away, would she have no reaction or would she be happy? Well, she was eating her cereal at the babysitter's place, when she saw me, she smiled so wide that her cereal almost came out of the mouth, and she laughed and waved her arms excitedly, she continued laughing and kicking after I picked her up.... that is the best reward of coming home. No less is the welcome I got from my dear husband, flowers for our anniversary :) Going overseas was fun, but being home with family is still the best place to be.
Shanna liked the flowers too.
Couldn't stop looking at the flowers.
Shanna continues to grow and learn at a very fast rate. She finally had her 2nd lower front tooth out, 3 months later than the 1st lower front tooth, strange huh. She also has one upper front tooth out, and the 2nd one on the way. She can crawl commando style and pick up the tiniest object off the floor, even an ant. She understands and responds to many words like fan, clock, etc in English, Mandarin and Hokkien :) She can also 'talk' in answer to questions like 'what sound does the cat/dog/cow/duck/car/etc make?'
She's down to 2 naps a day and 11 hours of sleep at night. She has a comfort object now... her hanky :) She loves her food too, which is good for us & babysitter :)
My pretty girl
~ Audrey
