Photos

My babies are growing quickly. Terran grew another inch last month. He's also talking a lot more in complete sentences. He's passionate about trains and most of his sentences are about trains. He is creative and imaginative. Since we haven't had a chance to take him on a train ride in a month or so, he pretends that he is standing on the platform, watching trains of various speeds and sizes pass by, until the right train comes. Then he gets on his imaginary train and usually takes us all for a ride.

Sierra recently found her other hand. She brings both of her hands together in front of her face and curiously studies them for a long time. I also started giving her some baby food but she spits out 95% of it.

Here are some recent photos:

Terran loves to play with the Stereo. He knows everything about it and he can play whatever music he wants by himself. These days we are still stuck in December listening to Christmas songs and also the Beatles; Pat is sick of listening to the Beatles' upbeat tunes all day long.


Terran sometimes just wants to hold Sierra. But she gets angry pretty quickly.


Happy Sierra playing on the floor. Although I cannot capture her smiles on photo too often, she is usually very smiley. In the morning when I got into her room, she is so happy that she kicks and waves her arms around with a big smile on her face. She is just such a sweetie and so beautiful. She loves being held. In fact, she probably thinks I am an extension of her.


Sitting in her bouncy chair and swinging toys around. Her voice and her actions are very feminine.

I think babies look best in white. With girls clothes, it's hard to stay away from the pinks because 75% of baby girl clothes sold are pink. I love this white fuzzy sweater on Sierra. She looks so cozy and beautiful. During last doctor's appointment, I found out that she is short and chubby, just like her mom. She is also starting to express her opinion. She sits with Pat quietly in the morning while he eats his breakfast but as soon as she sees me come into the kitchen, she whines and calls to be picked up. I hold her a lot. Maybe because of that, she has not expressed any interest in rolling over.

Remebering past and present elections

Present 20008:
We went to a friend's house for Super Bowl yesterday. There, we met a guy who volunteers for the Obama Campaign. He says he passes out fliers at the mall. According to him, the county that we live in votes strongly for Obama. He said there were so many volunteers for this weekend that he was not needed. Probably true because when we were sitting around at home earlier that day, an Obama campaign volunteer came knocking on our door. On Republican side, the county votes for Ron Paul. Although he would be our Republican candidate of choice, this is a bit hard to believe....

Past 2004:
I made a bet with my colleague about who would win the election. My colleague said he is an independent but usually votes for a Republican. However, for this election, he was voting for Kerry and thought that he would win. I would have voted for Kerry as well but I didn't think he could win. So I won the bet, got a free lunch, and we all got another 4 years of Bush.

Past 1996:
Second year, first semester in college. I took a Intro to Political Science class to fulfill a requirement. I was very new to this country and did not know much about American Politics but this was the perfect time to take this class since it was election time. In my discussion session of 30 or so, 29 were Democrats. The last one grew up believed he was a Republican because his parents were, but now felt stupid and shameful that he actually thought that way and will now vote for a Democrat. Having no other exposure to America's political opinion other than this classroom in Berkeley, I naturally thought this is how America thinks. Although Clinton ended up winning the election, I was blown away to find out that almost half of America voted against him. Later, I learned that how Berkeley thinks may be a bit different from the rest of America. Although my ideas were formed during this time in life, I now find comfort in having Republican friends. With people of various ideas coexisting, I found a more normal environment when we moved out of the Bay Area. Now I think that the differences make for a healthier city.

Past 1988:
I am surprised that I vaguely remember this election. I was only 11 years old and living in Farmington, New Mexico with an American family. I remember that no one wanted to admit to who they are voting for. For some reason, I thought that they would be voting for Bush.

Past also 1988:
I remember Jesse Jackson in the primaries. We were watching TV in Yokohama, probably in the summer time when we went back there for a couple months. My dad was eating dinner late and we watched the news. Photos of the candidates came up on the screen and one was black. My dad commented on how important it was for America that a black candidate was running. I had no understanding of American politics. I did not understand why it was so special that there was a black candidate. I thought they were all the same.

There's something in the air

I can't even vote and I am following the campaign more closely than most Americans. Mostly because I am at home all day and what am I suppose to do when Sierra is asleep and Terran is at school? Patrick and I are both Obama supporters and it surprises us to hear that New Jersey is leaning so strongly towards Clinton. I suppose it's the proximity to her state of New York. To us, the choice is obvious.
I remember first hearing his speech in the 2004 Democratic Convention. We sat there in front of our little TV saying, "wow, who is this dude. He should run for President instead of the Old John Kerry." Read his 2004 key note. Since then, I saw him on Oprah introducing his book, I saw him grooving on Ellen; and now all the channels I flip through at any hour of the day. I read both his books, The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father (although I did read Hillary's autobiography as well). Seeing him on TV and reading his books definitely made me a captive audience and a supporter. It's clearly obvious that even the media is enamored by him. Their words are always so harsh towards the Clintons but with Obama, there's very little of that. Fox news, the republican channel, is the most fun to watch, since they love to trash Hillary and say things like "I wish the Clintons would diappear" but to Obama, they say "I'm a conservative and he inspires me."

I recently found this little video clip and this is what I really like about him. OK, I can't figure out how to upload video so you have to go there yourself and check it out.

With all this said, on Tuesday, Pat will get up at 6am and run down to the fire station to be one of the first to vote. I will just stay in bed.

I watched the California debate with Terran last night. I taught him to be an Obama supporter. Now he says, "go Obama!" and to Hillary, he just shakes his head. So cute.

Another thing that I wanted to mention is about experience. Hillary boasts on her years of experience and that gets to me. When I go to job interviews and they tell me that they are only going to offer me so little money for me to work there, the reason is always due to my lack of experience. But I always argue that I picked up so much more and know more than the years actually shown on my resume. Even though I believe strongly that this is true, not many people buy it. But I just think that experience is often over rated.

Shoot, only 10:30am and Sierra is up already from her nap....