Got cheese?

As Andrew has been cutting more teeth, he tends to chew and gnaw on anything.  On a recent trip to the grocery store, this was no exception.

Andrew enjoyed chewing on this wedge of cheese so much that, yes, he nibbled through the cellophane wrapping to taste that yummy treasure inside.

Museum of Science and Industry

This was the first time we had ever visited the Museum of Science and Industry.  It was pretty awesome...although it would've been awesomer if I wasn't coming down with a cold.

The U-505 - gigantic and very cool.

Full-size airplanes...

Expanded human body...

Happy baby!

He's such a snaggle-tooth.  You can see his two top teeth coming in.  He has a third, but it's off to the side.  Andrew didn't nap all day until about 30 minutes before we left the museum.  He was a beast when he woke up!  Other than that, he did really well on our trip.  Can't wait until we can do it again!

Dustin *hearts* Rick Bayless

While on our vacation, we had to eat at Chef Rick Bayless' restaurant Frontera Grill.  Dustin is completely in love with Rick Bayless and would most likely give up our first born child just to kiss the hem of his apron.  In any case, Frontera Grill had fantastic food!  I was completely surprised and did not expect that Mexican food could taste this good.

We started with an appetizer of a ceviche trio.  Melt in your mouth good!

Dustin had the special - suckling pig...

I had the duck breast with mole...I have never had duck so well prepared - and I eat a LOT of duck.  By the way, Andrew is feasting on his cereal puffs in the background.

For dessert we had flan - vanilla and chocolate with chili spiced bacon.  It was so good!

I don't have any pictures of our drinks, but I had a tamarind margarita and Dustin had the Mezcal margarita.  Frontera Grill is not cheap, but well worth the money!

China Town

We decided to take a little mini-vacation up to the Windy City to eat some great food and enhance our museum education.  Here we are in China Town taking pictures of Andrew in front of his sign...the Tiger!

It was a little windy out and his hair looks fluffier than usual.

We visited our favorite dim sum restaurant - Phoenix!

One of Dustin's favorites is the barbeque pork buns...

Steamed shrimp dumplings...

and short ribs.  Yum!

We were happily/miserably full of delicious food that we couldn't even think about getting a bubble tea...even though I was so tempted to buy one because we were in China Town.  Oh, well...next time.

This was Andrew's first time in Chicago (outside of the womb) and I think he loved it!  We will definitely be back.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  Today is a very special day because 1) Andrew is 10 months old and 2) my family immigrated to the United States 30 years ago today. 

Andrew has quite the personality and you can definitely see that he is becoming more of an individual.  We were finally able to get him on camera sticking out his tongue.  He had stopped doing that for a few weeks and then all of a sudden today, he started back up.  It is the funniest thing watching him stick out his tongue.

Andrew is also standing up by himself and we expect that he will be taking his first steps very soon.  He is a very quick crawler and if you are not paying attention to him for even 30 seconds, he will be out of your sight. 

He finally started eating his peas again.  We tried broccoli and he ate it, but did not enjoy the texture.  Since I wanted him to eat more greens, I mixed his peas and squash together and that seems to be the magical combination.  Apple juice makes him gag, but he loves his applesauce.  We have added blueberry and peach yogurts to his list of foods and crackers!  He definitely loves that salty goodness. 

Andrew is a little talker and you can hear him every morning on the baby monitor having his own conversation.  He loves to give hugs and chases me around the coffee table.  He is beginning to have ownership of his toys.  He is very attached to his singing bear named Scout and his koala bear named Kiki.  He loves to give them hugs and sleeps with them every night.

He has LOTS of teeth coming in.  Last month, the pediatrician had lied to me about more teeth, so he has only been sporting the two bottom incisors.  This past week we discovered the two top incisors cutting through and yesterday saw a third tooth on top starting to make an appearance.  He is growing up so fast!

Thirty years ago, my family escaped from Vietnam, fled to a refugee camp in Malaysia and immigrated to the United States.  It was a freezing, winter day in Colwich, Kansas where there was lots of snow and blizzard conditions.  My parents, brother, three sisters, and cousins came to this country not knowing a bit of English.  I am very blessed to be here today and have many things to be thankful for.  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Happy (Vietnamese) New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  Today is officially the Vietnamese New Year according to the Lunar Calendar and is the year of the Cat.  This differs slightly from the Chinese calendar because, for them, it is the year of the Rabbit. 

We didn't get to celebrate Andrew's year last year because he was born after the New Year.  2010 was the year of the Tiger!

To celebrate New Year's, Dustin found this Asian beer, Tiger, made in Singapore. Andrew decided to celebrate with him.

 

It's a good thing that he couldn't figure out how to get the cap off.

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone has a very happy and prosperous year!

Bath Time!

Andrew has officially outgrown his infant bath tub.  We have been having lots of fun in the big boy bath. 

Although Andrew has plenty of bath toys, he has decided that the most exciting thing in the tub is the drain.