Picnic with Auntie Jane, Uncle Ton and Uncle Mike

Today was a busy, but fun day for the Wong family. Early in the morning, everyone was awake by 630 am. Baby Kara had her bath shortly after breastfeeding from mama Lyanne. Everyone was dressed and ready to leave the door by 9am. Papa Matt had to be at UCLA by 10am for his co-chair duties for the UCLA Freshmen Scholarship Interviews. When they got to UCLA, mama Lyanne was so tired that she decided to take a nap in the parking lot before meeting Auntie Jane and Uncle Ton, since it was still early. Mama Lyanne had a good 45 mins of nap time. 

After that, she headed over to Auntie Jane and Uncle Ton's apartment to play with cousin Ellie while papa Matt was at UCLA interviewing students for the Scholarship Program. When mama Lyanne and baby Kara arrived at their apartment, Uncle Mike was already there greeting mama Lyanne and baby Kara as she parked the car. The first half hour or so, baby Kara was still asleep from her 8am feeding. But shortly after that, baby Kara was awake and everyone got to play with her. Auntie Jane wanted to use the sling on baby Kara.  

Soon after that, papa Matt was done with his volunteer co-chair duty and was ready to be picked up. Uncle Ton drove to UCLA to pick papa Matt up, because mama Lyanne was busy feeding baby Kara at the time.  When papa Matt arrived at Uncle Ton's and Auntie Jane's apartment, it was the perfect time for burping.

After Ellie woke up from her nap, it was picnic time!  We took 2 cars.  Uncle Mike did not want to ride with baby Kara, so he split up Auntie Jane and cousin Ellie.  Cousin Ellie must have missed her mommy because she cried the entire car ride. For the picnic, we went to Auntie Jane's work, the Kinross building at UCLA. They have a small grass area, giving it a private VIP feel to our picnic, because no one else was around except for us!

During lunch, the grass area had no shade so we ate at the tables where it was still shaded. As we ate by the tables, the shade slowly went away, and the grass area slowly became shadier, thanks to the fence providing the shade. The weather was hot in the sun, but cool enough in the shade. It was a perfect day for a picnic! We all got to relax on the grass. Uncle Mike got a chance to feed baby Kara and gave her a little bit of belly time, while cousin Ellie was enjoying her toy on her daddy's lap! 

Shortly after, the Wong family headed over to Alhambra so papa Matt can do his weekly Sacristan volunteer duty. Normally, they would go visit Great Yee-Ma at least an hour before church. However, since papa Matt was running late, he drove mama Lyanne and baby Kara straight to church and decided to visit Great Yee-Ma afterwards. After church, they headed over to Great Yee-Ma's house and found that she wasn't at her house, but was at Uncle Ho's house eating dinner with the family. When they arrived at the house, baby Kara was sound asleep. Great Yee-Ma and Great Auntie Winnie waited patiently for baby Kara to wake up so they can play with her. However, after 30-45 minutes of chatting with Great Yee-Ma, Great Auntie Winnie and Great Uncle Ho, baby Kara was still sound asleep! Even Great Yee-Ma was surprised that baby Kara slept through the loud TV noise and people chatting. By 8pm, Great Yee-Ma told us to go home knowing that baby Kara wouldn't be waking up any time soon. Sure enough, she slept the whole ride home!

Play Time with Kara

Today was just a quiet ordinary day. Baby Kara's routine is mostly eat and sleep. During the night baby Kara has been good about sleeping through 4 hrs, 5 hrs, and some times 6 hrs straight. However, during the day time, she is awake more frequently and sleeps only about 2-4hrs each time. Right around noon time is usually when she gets a bath. Every time baby Kara is awake, mama Lyanne would spend extra time to play with her and stimulate her mind (usually before and after feeding). Baby Kara is now more alert and active. She smiles a lot more. And, when you talk to her, she'll try to 'talk' back with her baby noise. It's quite fun to hear her! 

Since papa Matt is usually at work all day and only have a few hours to bond with baby Kara when he gets home, mama Lyanne would let papa Matt do all of baby Kara's bottle feeding. Mama Lyanne also have papa Matt bond with baby Kara at every chance that she's awake, that way she can bond with him as well. 

Visit from Grandma Before Heading Back to HK

Today, papa Matt and mama Lyanne went with Kara to Alhambra and visit Great Yee-Ma and Grandma.  This was Grandma's last weekend here in Los Angeles before she goes back home to Hong Kong.

When papa Matt got to the house, he went with Grandma to go grocery shop, while baby Kara and mama Lyanne stayed at home with Great Yee-ma.  Papa Matt and Grandma purchased a small live red fish for dinner.  They also bought 3-4 portions of pork meat to make soup.  After grocery shopping, Grandma and Great Yee-ma went to church while papa Matt, mama Lyanne and baby Kara rested at the house. During that time, Great Aunt Winnie came by to see if baby Kara was awake so she can play with her, but with no luck. Baby Kara was asleep and she didn't want to wake her up. Shortly after Grandma and Great Yee-ma came home from church, we had dinner. Baby Kara was a good girl because she slept through the hour during dinner. 

After dinner, baby Kara, mama Lyanne and papa Matt drove Grandma back to their house.  Grandma was going to spend the night at the house, so that papa Matt can drive her straight to the aiport and send Grandma off on an airplane. When they got home, baby Kara was awake, allowing Grandma to have play time with her. Grandma also had the chance to take pictures of baby Kara with her eyes open!

The next morning, after dropping Grandma off at the airport, papa Matt met mama Lyanne and baby Kara at New Capital Restaurant for dim sum.  They were meeting mama Lyanne's side of the family for baby Kara's "one month" celebration.

After lunch and a big get-together, everyone went home to rest.

Visiting Relatives

Today, baby Kara went to visit all her relatives on mama Lyanne's side of the family. Since baby Kara missed Great Grandma's birthday party on Feb 28th, Mama Lyanne promised to bring her out to see her relatives as soon as she reached one month old. All this week and last week, papa Matt have been working very late (almost until close to midnight on certain days). Since papa Matt hadn't had much time to bond with baby Kara because of working late, mama Lyanne had planned to be out all afternoon and well into the night visiting relatives and then surprise papa Matt at his work before heading back home.


The first stop was to see Great Grandma and then Great Aunt Van since their houses are literally on the same block, 2-3 houses apart. Mama Lyanne purposefully picked Thursday to go visit relatives because it was the only day Great Aunt Van had the day off. Mama Lyanne stopped by Great Uncle Benny's house first to see Great Grandma but Great Grandma wasn't there. Great Uncle Benny came out to let mama Lyanne know what Great Grandma was at Great Aunt Van's house, and at the same time, he got to see baby Kara for couple minutes.


Next stop was at Great Aunt Van's house. Both Great Grandma and Great Aunt Van were very excited to see baby Kara. Mama Lyanne and baby Kara spent a good couple hours there. Even Great Aunt Jeannie was able to see baby Kara, after coming home from work. Twice removed cousin Kevin, Katherine and Jaden were also there to see baby Kara. For the most part, baby Kara was a good girl. She was awake for a good 30 minutes or so for Great Grandma and Great Aunt Van to play with her. At one point, baby Kara was able to show Great Grandma her ability to interact with people and follow her gaze to the sound of noise. For example, baby Kara was laying on her travel bed, facing the wall, until Great Grandma came by to talk to her. Within seconds of hearing Great Grandma's voice, baby Kara turned her head towards the direction of that sound, curious to see who was talking to her. Great Grandma was so surprised and happy.

Next stop was at Great Aunt Dau's house. Before leaving Great Aunt Van's house, baby Kara just had her feeding. So while at Great Aunt Dao's house, baby Kara slept the whole time. Only cousins, once removed, Leslie and Joanna were there to see baby Kara while Christian and Christina were out with friends. Mama Lyanne and baby Kara stayed for an hour until 10pm, waiting for Christian and Christina to get home, but with no luck. Oh well, there will always be a next time!

One-Month Dinner

Mama and Papa Wong are now starting to realize that for every outing trip with baby Kara, they would need at least 2 full hours (or more) to get ready. The 1st hour (or an hour and a half), mama Lyanne would nurse baby Kara for 20 minutes and then give baby Kara a bath. After that, baby Kara gets bottle feeding until she's full. While baby Kara is content, Mama and Papa Wong can now get themselves ready. Also, the new routine for Mama and Papa Wong before getting out the door, is to make sure they have all the diaper needs, enough milk bottles, and extra change of clothes for baby Kara. With all these things to bring along, including baby Kara's travel bed and mama Lyanne's breast pump, being a first time parent, mama and papa Wong felt like they were packing for a big road trip.

Today was baby Kara's longest car ride, 45 minutes to Great Yee-Ma's house. She slept through the entire car ride. Soon after we arrived at Yee-Ma's house, baby Kara woke from her nap and cried for her feeding. After breastfeeding from mama Lyanne, Great Yee-Ma bottled fed baby Kara (this is her 2nd time feeding baby Kara since her birth). At this time, Great Uncle Ho, Great Aunt Winnie and cousin once removed Prisca came by to see baby Kara for the first time (Great Uncle Ho's 2nd time). It was a day for baby Kara to be in the spotlight!

Baby Kara soon fell asleep after her feeding. Shortly after, papa Matt went to church for his weekly Sacristan volunteer duties at St Therese's Catholic Church while mama Lyanne and baby Kara stayed at Great Yee-Ma's house, allowing more time for Great Yee-Ma to bond and see baby Kara.


For dinner, we invited everyone to Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant to celebrate baby Kara's one month old birthday. To make sure baby Kara doesn't fuss during dinner, mama Lyanne had planned to wake baby Kara up for feeding just before driving to the restaurant so that she would sleep through the entire dinner. Baby Kara must have read mama Lyanne's mind because she automatically woke up on her own an hour before heading out. Surely enough, baby Kara slept through the entire dinner just as mama Lyanne wanted! Great Uncle Ho complimented baby Kara for being a good girl during dinner.  Dinner tonight included twelve red eggs, lobster with noodles, chicken feet soup, and fresh fish.