Our first anniversary

One year flew by quickly. At this hour in 2006, we were dancing the night away at our wedding reception (Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone"? Journey's "Open Arms"?), partying with 255 of our closest friends and family.

In 2007, we celebrated our first anniversary at Skates on the Bay, watching the sun set over the San Francisco Bay, dining on Hawaiian BBQ short ribs and sea bass with seafood salsa. Dinner for three!

E is for Ethan

Yippee! Tai finally got to meet his (one and only) cousin, Ethan.

Actually, it was more like Ethan got to meet Tai. Tai was asleep for most of the night, content to let the conversations carry on without him. Next time, Tai will have to wake up. He's got a lot to learn from his older cousin, who's not yet even three, but seems to know his way around pretty good—reading books, using good manners, and hitting it off with young ladies (three girlfriends?!).

Week 5

So this is what Week 5 is like. Not the fifth week of Tai's life, but the fifth week after Tai's due date (June 21). Why is that distinction important? It's important to us because the fifth week after the due date, as defined in Dr. Marc Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, is known as the "Fussiness/Crying Peak" (along with Week 6).

The social smiles herald the onset of increased social awareness, and it may come to pass that your baby will now start to fight sleep in order to enjoy the pleasure of your company. This is natural.

The book is exactly right in this case. Those heartwarming smiles and gurgles Tai makes before we try to go to bed—and they really are adorable—come with a price. I guess it's good to know that Tai is developing according to schedule. But that's little consolation to us (and our neighbors) as he screams like a champion into the wee hours of the night, "fighting sleep" with all his strength (and what a strong boy he is!).

That said, this was yet another wonderful (calendar) week. It included a trip to San Jose, where Thu's cousins and their kids swarmed Tai and showered him with kisses and love; a weekend visit from his L.A. grandparents, who cherished every second of cradling their grandson; a brief but warm "hello" from big ol' Uncle Daniel; and dinner and a mathematics lecture on irrational numbers by The Professor, who paid us a visit before he moves away from California with his wife and begins his career at Georgia Tech. We'll miss ya!

Good morning everybody!

When he's wide awake, he swings his arms, ready to play. When he's tired, he screams and cries. Tai makes himself known to us more and more each day, intrigued by our faces, our voices, and the lights and objects around him. We think he wants to say something to us. But what? What do those coughs and cries, those puckered lips, those little smiles mean?

We do know this. When Tai's hungry, he enjoys his milk. The doctor said yesterday that he's a healthy 9 lbs., 6 oz.

Guess who's one month old

One month ago, if you told us that our Friday night would be spent feeding a baby, checking for poop, feeding and burping, feeding and playing, feeding some more and changing heavy, wet Elmo diapers; that the night would be filled with laughter over the thunderous blast that a baby expels from his tiny butt, not once or twice, but three times in an hour; and that by the end of the night we would be too exhausted to watch our DVD rental "Volver," but that we wouldn't care . . . we might have said "No way!"

Of course, that is what we did tonight. Tai turned one month old today. He's growing more alert by the day, more aware of his surroundings, communicating with us through sounds and arm movements. And when he looks into our eyes and recognizes his parents, and falls asleep on our chests, we feel happiness and joy.

Asleep on the Fourth of July

Not even the music and the food stands at the Berkeley Marina could wake Tai from his holiday sleep.