Ready to Fly the Coup

My Dearest Aidan,

It is simply astounding to see you graduate from preschool this evening. I know, it is weird that you started kindergarten already then you graduated from preschool.

I remember when you started school. It was a very hot September day. I was due back at work after extending my maternity because I couldn't bear to not be with you, and also because your mother, had procrastinated SO much during gestation, that there simply was no place to take you. Nonetheless, God, the faithful one, provided, even when Mommy and Daddy dropped the ball. We packed your bags, of diapers, wipes, changes of clothes, peas, bottles, blankets, Mr. Hippo, emergency supplies (in case you had to be away from us due to natural disasters or something.) You were great, and I sobbed as I drove away. Teacher Melissa had e mailed me this picture from lunch that day, knowing how much I missed you.


We adjusted. You adjusted. You learned to drink from a bottle, to take naps with other children, to feed yourself, to gain lots of words, to control of your sphincters, to be a big brother, and most of all, to become more self sufficient day by day. I also learned a lot, to limit my frustrated screaming to inside our trusty Volvo, on my way to work after taking you to school, so that no one else had to listen. I also learned to let you make your mistakes, and to give you the space you need, day by day.

We were so blessed to have this preschool for you for the last five years (I am a little frightened to think of how much tuition- post tax dollars, that we paid for these very patient teachers to lovingly take care of you.) It was money well spent.


As you embark on your elementary education, we are excited for you. That you will learn how to read and write (perhaps in Chinese too), to master basic math, to make new friends, and of course, to become even more self sufficient day by day. We are so proud of you, Aidan.

Much love,

Mommy

From the Trenches

We have started a whole month of transitions. Yikes. I need a binky, just like Zoe.

Our sweet cousins came to visit, and baby V left behind her binky. Zoe, victoriously found it in between couch cushions a day later, grinned, and stuck it in her mouth. It was cute and all, except for the fact that she despised all things silicone as an infant. That, my friend, caused this mother many, many griefs. She wouldn't take a binky to calm herself down, she wouldn't take a bottle to stay hydrated. We had to give her bottle lessons (she refused to learn this lesson.) She sweetly used this binky, asked for it, put it under her toddler bed (where all good things go while she sleeps), and was becoming very attached. This mother, was not about to give herself something else to do in the next year, and thus, arranged for a rendezvous in a parking lot to 'return' this binky to baby V.

Alas, I don't get to have a binky. (Can you imagine, you go see your psychiatrist and she is busily sucking on a binky- so I do that in private.) And August is going to be PAINFUL. So painful, that I would almost rather retake my oral boards than do a month of August (at least oral boards would only last two hours.)

Aidan started kindergarten yesterday! We had talked about this, visited his school, and well, made it seem like Christmas. After kindergarten ends at 12:40, he gets picked up by his Chinese school and theoretically, will learn some Mandarin. (We will see how that goes.) His school is about 1 mile away from house, which is great. However, Zoe is still at her school about 8 miles away. The logistics of this will be tricky. Nonetheless, God has been faithful and opened up a spot for her at a facility about 1/2 mile away from Aidan's school. She will start there in about 4 weeks. Those four weeks, however, will be tricky. We need to get Aidan to school on time, minimize the time Zoe is in daycare, and well, get ourselves to work from time to time. That. Will. Be. Difficult.

The transition has been hard for Aidan- he woke up crying in the middle of the night, wordlessly, sobbing away. Zoe cries and asks for Aidan every time she travels along in my car. I am mildly (really, just mildly stressed about running this household. Yikes. Where is my binky?

What is it Worth to You?

Hubby and I have been knee deep in this crazy real estate stuff since early spring. It has gone on, and on, and on, and on. This endeavor has taken so much of our time, energy, and possibly, our money. Actually, I take that back, we have already spent money in the system. All in all, I have to say, that as much as I am looking forward to more space, this whole thing is really kinda ridiculous.

First of all, what is the big idea behind 'asking price'? Is the asking price just a starting point? If people start with some random number, what am I suppose to do? Convince them otherwise? But then again, I am not allowed to talk to the seller, and we have to go through our agent. Do I have my agent convince the seller?

Secondly, and a tangential point, what is up with the tightened lending practices? Ok, I understand why, but man, it is really inconvenient. Due to my job change this past spring, my income cannot be used for us to get a loan, apparently. The banks require a borrower to keep the same job for two years. TWO YEARS. That is a VERY LONG time.

I have been following the real estate trends for a very long time, as you can see, I have a few real estate blogs listed here. The housing market out here along the peninsula is just madness. My parents bought a simple ranch home in a good school district for $280,000 in 1991. The home served us well as we were growing up, and as my parents' ministry led them outside of the area, they eventually sold it for about $890,000 in 2006. Is that house really worth that much money, not in my opinion.

These days, we are shown various homes and we sometimes walk away thinking, "Man, these people are deluded." House after house, though, I find that the trend is price reduction. There is a home around here that started about $1.3 million dollars,
(not pesos,) in February. They eventually have to trim the price to $1.2, then $1.1, then the high $900,000s. There is another one that was $1.7 last November, and now, it is still languishing around $1.3. Why do people do this?

Our agent tells us, "You need to figure out how much it is worth to you." The problem is, once we are talking about more than $5, I don't know how much it is really worth to me. I know what $5 can buy- milk, waffles, and maybe a dozen of eggs for breakfast. A house that is $1 million, should be able to do laundry, raise children, make dinner, and I don't know, produce milk. (I think perhaps I should be trying to buy a wife.)

Meanwhile, Aidan has been hearing our discussions for MONTHS. He has been to SO MANY open houses- his requirement? "Is there a lemon tree for lemonade? " He also wants to be close to the CalTrain station, the park, the library, the mall, and his school. He is now in the phase of planning our move. Per his suggestion this evening, "We should start packing our kitchen, pack the fridge, and take it with us. We can have two kitchens, it will be so relaxing." (Two kitchens would be RELAXING? The boy obviously doesn't do his share of cleaning up.) The other night, he said, "We should buy the biggest house for the least amount of money."

In the end, we are thankful, that the God who is our shepherd, has been, and always will be, taking care of us. While we have an offer out there, floating around, we are ok with it. Because, our Master has many rooms in Heaven for us.

The Mystery of Mortgages

Before Hubby and I got married nearly ten years ago, we read The Mystery of Marriage by Mike Mason in preparation for committing ourselves to each other. It was a fantastic read, highly recommend it to all couples.

There ought to be a book called The Mystery of Mortgages by Me. Seriously. The system has swung SO hard to the other side, it is just ridiculous. (I realize that the fact that Hubby and I are looking for a house is actually a miracle, but you know, the lending system is putting a damper on this.) As a system, the appraisers are low balling the value of a property, then they have these requirements about keeping equity/down payments, then they scrutinize everything. It. Makes. Me. Want. To. Stop.

Never mind that Hubby and I also have our different perspectives. I want a house, as big as possible, as beautiful as possible. Hubby wants a house that is bigger than our current space, he doesn't mind ugly, and he thinks whatever we buy will be lovely.
Let's just say that there was a cop who saw our, hmm, loving discussion, at Herald Square in NYC a few weeks ago. While I cerebrally understand that we should buy a house that meets our current needs, not our needs in 25 years- when A&Z will bring their spouses home for Christmas.

This is where I want to live. Actually, this is the new dorm at Scripps College, my alma mater. I never got to live in this, since I was immersed in medical school by the time they finished this. However, I lived in something like this for three years. Hubby is somewhat surprised that the buildings had so much influence on my taste, but you know, once you live in a Spanish Mediterranean, you just can't go back.

Then there is the issue of patience. With unemployment SO high, how can housing prices go up? How can inflation kick in and drive up interest rates? However, I am reassured that if enough new money gets printed, inflation will happen. Unfortunately for Americans, there is just new money being printed... Should we wait a few months?

If you have an ability to look into the future, I would LOVE your advice. Even if you can't do any fortune telling, tell me your opinion anyway.

Dear President Obama

Dear President Obama,

How are you?

I last wrote to you around the time you were inaugurated, and now that you have been in office a few months, I want to check in and express some of my thoughts.

First of all, I am truly envious of Mrs. Obama's slender arms. You see, while I am glad to be blessed with 1/2 of my mother's genes, I suspect, the big arm gene is in there somewhere. I love my mom, she is great. (Although we do have our differences, why else would I have become a psychiatrist?) At our most recent visit, I am seeing how menopause and other factors have changed her arms. I do not want those arms to happen to me. Thus, at the gym, I am working hard- I am doing weights, particularly, the triceps extensors machine. My sweet husband, who knows a lot about weights and exercising in general, tells me though, that if I do this too much, I am going to be broad backed, with BIG, although muscular arms. So far, I am limiting myself to about 15-20 pounds, 3 sets of 12 reps. Maybe you can tell me the secret of Michelle's arms, how they are toned, but not big.


I do have a few concerns beyond the circumference of my arms. Namely, the economy.

1. While I didn't agree with the stimulus package- throwing money in companies that inevitably filed for bankruptcy, printing money, borrowing money, to make our economy better, I had also shared the somewhat delusional hope that things would be better. However, things are NOT better. It is disappointing that only about 10% of the stimulus is in infrastructure, which may possibly help America in the long run, sadly, much of the stimulus was simply pork.

2. To increase tax burdens for the middle class, let it be through the additional 1% for couples filing jointly with gross income of $350,000, or increasing taxes of small businesses (the kind of businesses that do hire people), seems like that would only worsen the situation. I realize $350,000 is a lot of money. However, an experienced teacher who is married to a firefighter would be making that kind of money (granted, that firefighter probably works a lot of overtime), but this IS the middle class!

3. It seems to me, that some of your supporters in the media, such as US News and World Report, have started writing rather unfavorable opinions about how the economy/health care is being handled. Will you listen and change? I am afraid that you wouldn't listen and change, then, you would be like the administration that the American people did not approve of!

4. I am concerned about the health care reform- aside from the very expensive price tag, where do you suppose new providers will come from? 45 million people would need a whole lot of doctors! With the educational system crumbling, just where will these nurses, physician's assistants, dentists, doctors, come from?! Also, it is just weird to say that there needs a government plan to hold private insurers accountable- will the government start making cereal just to hold cereal makers accountable?! And my favorite argument: The law of supply and demand- when the additional 45 million start needing care, the price of services will increase, simply because there is greater demand for it. How will you solve that? The law of economics will remain the same, but doesn't seem like your plan will account for this.

In the end, I am trying to make peace with the increase in taxes- which by the way, is A LOT in California. But I am a concerned citizen, and mother. Will your legacy be The One Who Saddled Our Children In Debt? For A&Z's sake, I hope not.

Sincerely,

A&Z's Mom

Must Keep Up

There are lots of news to share around here.

First of all, I passed my boards! I am now a REAL doctor, board certified and everything! (I have no idea what that 'everything' is, but don't you think that sounds better?) Hubby is relieved that I will not be leaving him again for days while I 'shop' in some random city.

Secondly, my sister is now MARRIED. The wedding was fabulous, the ring bearer and flower girl were especially delightful. The mother of the said children was BRILLIANT, if I could say that about myself. A few minutes before they were to walk down the aisle, Zoe was clinging on to me for dear life, AIdan was cranky and did not want to hold his pillow steady. God gave me a brilliant idea: Bribe them. I told the children, "It is important to walk down, slowly, while you smile. I will give you a piece of gum, you can chew it, and it is a delicious piece of gum. However, if you are not going to walk, not going to smile, you have to give it back to me. Here." Zoe was beaming. Aidan was so cooperative. He held his pillow steady, Zoe looped the basket through her arm, they linked their arms, and were totally awesome. I would show you a picture of this, but I promised the Phat Photographer that I wouldn't do that, until the bride and groom get to see their own wedding photos. Alas, I digress. It is so strange to say that my little sister is married. We were roomies until I left for college, when she was 10, and I know I had missed a lot of her growing up. She is an incredibly sweet, generous, kind, forgiving, person. Simon is one lucky guy.

Thirdly, our trip to NYC was awesome. So awesome that Hubby and I could not stop talking about moving there. We even picked out a neighborhood- Upper West Side. (We will probably live in a closet there, but you know, a girl can dream.) NYC is a fantastic vacation spot for families with young kids, actually. You wouldn't think the kids would like it, but it is simply so convenient. You can have your laundry done for 75 cents per pound, there is just so much good food all around, the kids love the subways/taxis/buses, and there is so much to do! Aidan and Zoe LOVED going to the Intrepid Museum (who wouldn't love to see an aircraft carrier?!), they enjoyed Toys R US, FAO Schwartz, Central Park Zoo, The Museum of Natural History. The children visited our old apartment, and they loved the firehouse next door. We ate at the Zen Palate, Breeze, Union Square Cafe, our old favorite Chinese take out, and of course, Magnolia Bakery. We were so busy that we didn't even swing over to the East Side at all! It was also great to keep the kids on PST, and we were out late, and had so much fun. Tucked in the children around 11 EST, went to bed ourselves shortly after, than woke up about 10 EST. Hubby and I had not felt so rested in a very, very, long time.

We also loved that we made new friends! It turns out that the pastor who wedded Mr. and Mrs. Tai knows some people that we know! His family is absolutely delightful- and they were encouraging us to move back too! =) Then there is that sweet family Aidan and Zoe started to play with at Central Park- they were visited NYC for work for 3 months. We chatted about this and that, and it turns out, they are Christians too, and are planning to go to Redeemer Presbyterian Church, where Hubby and I went many moons ago! (It is just amazing how God even provides fellowship for us on vacation!)


Finally, we are in process of prayerfully considering going to China THIS October for me to do some teaching there. While it is an inconvenient time, I suspect it is always 'inconvenient' when I am asked to teach anything. Pray for us, that we make a good decision about this, if you would.

I am also going to try to write a bit more. Hold me accountable, will you?

A Whirlwind!

We switched hotels and now, the internet connection is much improved. At the old place, it was free, but, we had to position the computer just so, by a window, tilted off some jars of Cetaphil, to get the connection. It was just not worth the trouble, and the risks of dropping this laptop, then Hubby would be in a world of pain as he needed to work on some photos...

Anyway, in order to guess which station we were at, one really had to be able to gather all the intel that I had been living behind here and on Facebook. The clues were:
1. We were keeping the children on PST.
2. We used to go to Redeemer.
3. We take our nap times very seriously.

Therefore, of all the Redeemer services available, we could really only make it to the 7 pm service, on the West Side. At 81st and Broadway, which means...drum roll please... The photo was taken at that station, for us to catch the 1 train.

Ok, so it was kinda of hard. A&S, I will give you $5, and Aidan would love to draw you a map to get his treasure of mango frozen treats.

Meanwhile, we have been so busy. I can't even think straight anymore. There was so much crying over the lost phone from Zoe. I probably left her new beloved pink cell phone at Artie's on the Upper West Side, or it might have ended up in a ditch somewhere.

When we get home, and life gets situated again, (you know, after the laundry is done, phone calls returned, house purchased...) I will post all the awesome photos we have, and tell you the whole story.

The Big Apple

The post about strong arms will have to wait.

It had been absolutely insane around here- Hubby had a lot of work to do, and I had a lot of work to do. Then we decided to put an offer on a house, which required Hubby to meet with the mortgage specialist and realtor on multiple occasions- I couldn’t meet with them since most of these meetings happened during the day, and I was, well, working then.

In the end, we didn’t get the house. In retrospect, it was a blessing. We probably wouldn’t have been happy anyway. We decided to look in the town we currently live in- while our town isn’t very charming, it meets our most important criteria: convenience. We absolutely needed the simplicity of being able to get to work quickly, to get to various stores quickly, and most of all, to be able to walk the children to get ice-cream after dinner.

Aside from all that, we were also getting ready for our vacation- it had been a very LONG time since we took a substantial vacation. (The last vacation we took was right after residency, and that, was a while ago!) Most importantly, this vacation is very important: My sister is going to get married!

Instead of switching the kids to EST, we decided to keep the children on PST- so that we could run around town late at night, avoid peak eating times, and also, for the adults to catch more sleep. The plan was brilliant- we would tuck the kids in around 11 EST, go to bed ourselves, and get up about 10EST. Awesomeness. I hadn’t felt this well rested in a very long time.


So far, we already visited Toys R Us, rode their ferris wheel, shopped at Century 21, visited our old neighborhood, played at various play grounds, ate Chinese Peruvian food, licked ice-cream, and of course, transported ourselves on the NYC subway system. Aidan had already learned the superiority of express trains.

As much fun as we are having though, it feels a little odd to be the only parents lugging children around at 10:30 EST.

Anyway, the lovely bride, groom, flower girl, and ring bearer, at the said late hour. If you can tell me which station this was taken at, I will give you $5. The bride and groom are not welcome in this contest.