passed out

I've never seen Luca fallen asleep upright before - too cute!! and Marco was working too, talk about multi tasking!

the Merrill's

we got all bundled up and head off to visit the Merrill's in San Jose.

i love this knitted hat :-) our neighbor Cynthia knitted for Luca!

Luca's Corner

Luca watches us as we finish painting the wall.

Luca loves to sleep in the carrier.

Well, finally we're done with his little corner. We painted the birds on the wall (papa bird, mama bird and baby Luca bird) right after the New Year to finish his little corner. Luca only has what he needs a crib, dresser with changing pad at the top, diapers & etc. bins on the wall and a few of his little friends around his crib. Then his mama and papa sleeps next to his crib.

Luca at work?!

we visited my office and Marco's, my office is actually right across the street (the white building) and we can probably see from each other's office. Here are some images at Marco's new office, that's Natalia in the back changing his diaper on Marco's desk - NICE! no accidents on the fabric panels - thank God.

mello-hello

this was taken a few days ago.

Luca is so big now just look at the size of his head! and he's so tall that we have to wear the next size up. we just weight him and we think he's about 16lbs (he was 13lbs 8oz at 8 weeks).he loves to smile and "gaa" is his favorite word right now and when he's sad he cries out "umm--maaaa". Luca is 11 weeks old, sleeps about 4-5 hours at night both Marco and I still gets up once in the middle of the night to feed and change him. 7:30AM is usually the time he gets up and he'll just look around and play for about 20 min. until he makes loud noise to wakes me up-what a good baby he knows that mama still need her sleep! he's really a good mello baby and i think this picture captured the best.

couch POTATO

Luca loves to watch TV (already!!!) and loves his remote control.

"Hefner" style

This pooh robe came with booties and i thought -- hey it's like Hugh Hefner with his matching robe and slippers! thanks auntie Amanda for my warm fuzzy robe!!!

knitted hat

i started knitting this little hat for him when he was still in my tummy and now i'm all done and his head is just too big for it :-( oh well time to start knitting another one.

Merry Christmas + Happy New Year!

We had Marco's mom, aunt and uncle visiting us (Luca) this Christmas. The celebration was at our place well... next door to us since Unit #3 is selling and the house is empty for the holidays, so we rented the place for the family to stay. Luca was the star, of course and his cute little reindeer and penguin outfits were a hit!!! Luca was being passed around the room like a prop for everyone to take pictures with. Luca had a great time, but towards the end of the day he was just exhausted from getting all celebrations that the cried and cried and drove everyone home at 7 PM. Santa dropped off a cute little reindeer for us and we are truly blessed to have him in our lives. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

6 hour nap..?

so we're trying 2 shifts to get us some sleeps... i go to bed around 8 or 9 PM after feeding then will be up at 3 or 4 AM until dawn. Marco will bottle him at 11 PM then goes to bed and sleep through the night. Tonight will be day 2 ... we'll see how long this will last or if it works...
Good Night!

at 1 months old

This was taken at 1 month old (12/3/2010) and that was baby Ty visiting us. She's a month ahead of Luca and she's all filled out- just the cutiest thing. Thanks for visiting us Ana, Jason and Ty.

sleepy time

Luca is so cute! when he sleeps he smiles from time to time. Apprently it's just reflex, I wonder what is he dreaming about?!
I think Luca was about 2 weeks old here.

afternoon walk

Marco has been home for a month now and he'll be going back to work starting next week. We usually take a short walk around the neighborhood and Luca loves being in the carrier it keeps him nice and warm.

let's Tango!

faces of Luca at 1 month

Luca Tsao Alves

The name Luca came about it was because I was trying to give him a chinese name (still undecided yet) the meaning Light/Bright (明) was a character in my mom's chinese name. We really like the meaning of the word and I like the chinese character of the word with Day 日and Night/Moon 月 = Bright 明

so... with that in mind we looked for a name..and Luke, Lucian, Luca came up and here's what we found out about the meaning of Luca.

Origin: Italian

Meaning: The Italian name Luca means - a form of Lucius. The Latin name Lucius means - light; bringer of light Surrounded by light.

Impression: most people would imagine a person with the name Luca to be: Out-going and quick-witted chap

Hospital visit

here's my grandma visiting us at the hospital and she's 98 this year and here's Luca at 2 days old. Amazing!!!

here are some pictures from the hospital. He's tiny...

hello comfort food

my friend Lisa gave a list of her Favorite Breakfast restaurants in Oakland and thought to share it with you. This week i've been thinking we should try all of these yummy restaurants in Oakland since we never have the time or forget to try new restaurants, so Marco and I will explore some new places this week- can't wait!!! (a treat after each Dr. appointment :-) )

here's Lisa's list:

Aunt Mary's Cafe - Southern style. They have a rotating brunch menu with more unique dishes, but be sure to go after 10am to get them.

http://www.auntmaryscafe.com/

Montclair Egg Shop - specialty crepes and build-you-own along with more basic breakfast dishes. All the parking is metered street, so be prepared on Saturday.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/montclair-egg-shop-oakland

Diggery Inn - good basic breakfast food, CASH ONLY!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/diggery-inn-oakland

Blackberry Bistro - Never been there, but my best friend says it is great and the crowd on the weekends does too.

http://www.theblackberrybistro.com/

Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe - Big menu, lots of choices. I like the Popeye which is hashbrowns smothered in melted cheese and topped with egg.

http://www.rudyscantfailcafe.com/

And for your Southern baked goods...

Marita's Sweet Potato Pie Co. - You can get full dishes or single servings. Everything I've had there has been great!

http://www.buylocalcampaign.com/maritasSweetPotatoPie/

I think we're ready for him

We packed our hospital bags and Marco packed his snacks (beer too). We've test drive the stroller and the baby car seat is in the car. Marco finished up some last minute crib modifications over the weekend. As you can see the baby will just going to be right next to our bed (baby gets a corner). I went to the doctor today and it doesn't look like he's ready yet.... we're counting the days... 12 more days to go.

Chinese Post-Partum recipes

My friend Ana was asking me about the chinese post-partum recipes that my mom is getting ready for, but she had her baby a month ago so her diet will be a little bit different than as if you were to do the 30 days after birth diet.

my Taiwanese post-partum cook book has a section on what you should eat at what stage of your post-partum, the below are recipes for 30 days after birth.

here are some basic concept for the ingredients:
sesame oil = detox
sweet rice = regain your strength, help with digestions, avoid your internal organs to drop/misplaced
red bean = help with more frequent urination
black or red color fish = help you with your scarring
tropical fruits = help with digestions and constipation
barley = help with swelling

here are recipes:
sesame chicken - eat 2x a day
it was too hard to translate from my book, so i found a recipe online. i would skip the wine ingredient.
http://www.momsinmind.com.sg/chicken2.html

sesame fish soup - eat 1 bowl a day
1 whole fish
ginger with out skin 15g cut in slices
sesame oil 60cc
water 100cc

wash the fish, sesame oil in the pan in high heat then put the ginger in,then turn the heat down until the ginger floats up but not blacken. then turn the heat up high put the fish in with water until it's boiled, then turn the heat down-covered and steam for 5 min (or until it's cooked).

sweet rice - eat once a day
if you want to make it savory you can add cut up small steak meat or pork belly meat or chinese sausages and dried shrimp, mushroom, and carrots. soak the rice 300g (serves 4) for 8 hours then drain and throw all ingredients in the wok and stir fry it with 2 Tbs of sesame oil until you smell the aroma (will not be fully cooked) then transfer it to a rice cooker and cook as usual.

barley rice - eat once a day

sweet rice dessert congee - eat once a day
soak the rice 150g (serves 2) for 8 hours. then boil 2000cc of water with the rice and bring it to boil then turn it down to simmer covered to cook for 1 hour. i would stir here and there and feel free to add more water to your liking. once the rice is cooked put in brown sugar 200g and dried dragon eye 100g stir and cook for another 5 min. and serve.

red bean dessert soup - eat once a day
soak the beans 200g (1 serving or i use 1/2 cup for 4 serving) for 8 hours. cut ginger 30g with out skin in small slices. combine the beans and ginger with 1000g of water then bring to to boil for 20 min. then turn it down and simmer for 1 hour. i would stir here and there and feel free to add more water to your liking. once the beans are cooked add brown sugar 150g stir and serve.

Nursing
i think any of these dishes will be fine to help you with milk production.
http://www.momsinmind.com.sg/milkrecipes.html

i also come across these 2 websites that i think are pretty good and have some classic chinese post-partum dishes you can try.
http://www.101healthyeasyfoodrecipes.com/healthy-easy-traditional-chinese-confinement-food-recipes/healthy-easy-traditional-chinese-confinement-food-recipes.php
http://www.momsinmind.com.sg/confinementrecipes.html

oh and also my chinese dr. said to not drink any water but to drink red dates water. it will help your liver to detox for the first 30 days. you basically boil a day worth of water that you normally drink (72oz) and just throw in a handful of dried red dates (10-20 pieces to your liking) and the end result is this sweet drink. serve warm or keep it in a thermo so you'll always have it warm (we bought a thermo). whatever you don't finish keep it in the fridge and warm up the next day in a pot never reheat food or this drink in a microwave.