You gotta be flexible!

Flexibility is pretty important, and something that Daddy does not have. He's not flexible when it comes to schedules or timing, and he's definitely not flexible when it comes to his body. Kaylani, on the other hand, is flexible in both regards. She couldn't care less about a schedule or being on time (she got that from Mommy). But where she really shows off her flexibility is when she grabs her toes.

It's her newest trick, and it started about a week ago. Lately, she's getting even better at it and will spend a few minutes just grabbing her toes and rolling from side to side. It's really adorable to watch, and we wish it was warmer out so she doesn't always have to wear socks or onesies with feet all the time! Actually, I just wish it was March already so we can head to Puerto Rico! In PR, she'll be able to play with her toes all the time (as long as she's out of the sun that is)!

To grab her toes, it's really cute to watch her lift both her legs (and her butt) up towards the sky. Then, when her feet get high enough in the air, she grabs them with one or both of her hands, and just rolls side to side. Daddy, thinking that her rolling side to side while grabbing her feet/toes will help her roll over from her back to her belly, tries to help sometimes by pushing her. And when he does that, she either flops over on her belly or immediately straightens up so that she's flat on her back. And when she straightens up, it's almost like she's saying "stop pushing me!"

The downside to her finding her toes is tht she finds them in the middle of the night too. Maybe she did this pre-video monitor, but now that we have it, it's kinda fun to see her grab her toes in the privacy of her own crib. It of course means she's not sleeping, but if she's quiet in her crib, no complaints coming from here! She also finds them when we're changing her diaper, which is usually helpful, except when we have blowouts. Then it's not really that helpful!

Anyways, the last couple of posts have been kinda long, so I'll make this one short. But, since it ties in so well with this post, here are pictures from the last 2 days so you can see her in all her toe grabbing cuteness! Enjoy!

Her First Production

It's over. Kaylani's been baptized, and it's over. It sounds terrible to say, but I'm just glad it's over. And the funny part is, the actual baptism part wasn't the hard or tiring part. She actually behaved real well during the entire Mass/ceremony. It was everything else that led up to that point that was the hard part.

It actually started out a few weeks ago when we scheduled her baptism. With most of our friends and family living out of town, there were certain logistical challenges with having Kaylani be baptized at our church in NJ. So after weeks of planning and scheduling, we got to a good place (thank you Mom and Dad for voluntarily staying at a hotel) and everyone was squared away. We had a Mass scheduled with our favorite Priest (Father Vince) and a place to host a brunch at (our favorite restaurant, Sotto Ristorante in Princeton). All we had to do was get to Church, and then get to brunch on the day of the baptism, and we even had a plan for that.

We were going to wake up at 7am, shower and get mostly dressed (not fully in case of spit up), then wake Kaylani up around 8:00, nurse her, and put her in her beautiful handmade dress from Puerto Rico (thank you Abuela)! And then, she would nurse again before getting into the car, which she would fall asleep in on the way to 9:30 Mass at Church, which we planned on getting to by 9am so we could make sure she stayed asleep and was okay. That was the plan.

We actually woke up at 7:25am, showered and started to get ready before Cousin Alisha and Rohan woke up and required some attention. Mommy was ready enough to wake Kaylani up around 8:30 and start to get her ready. By the time we were even remotely close to get out the door, it was more like 9:15, and we ended up being at Church by 9:25am. Father Vince gave us the 30 second version of the 10 minute prep course on what we had to say and when we had to say it, and we headed in to present Kaylani to our Church.

The Mass itself went great, except for a few awkward moments. First, while Mommy, Daddy, Kaylani, Godfather Tim, and Madrina Maria were standing at the Altar in the front of the Church being introduced, Madrina Maria was mouthing "The Flash, The Flash" to Titi Glendalys to make sure she had the flash on while she was taking pictures. The funny part was that Titi didn't even have Maria's camera, but I'm sure anyone who saw Maria thought she looked pretty funny. Then, when Father Vince asked us "and to the parents, what do you ask of the Church?", Mommy and I looked at each other at a loss of words because we didn't remember what our line was (although we're pretty sure it was left out of the 30 second version at the onset). Luckily, Father Vince prompted us to say "Baptism" (duh!) and we moved past it. Kaylani even behaved when they poured water on her head, and basically slept through the entire Mass.

Brunch also went off without a hitch (although I think we overwhelmed the restaurant by seating 40 people at the same time and placing individual orders). At the end of the day, what I took away from all of this was that in 40 years when I let Kaylani get married (that's right, I said 40), this is what her wedding day will be like. We'll get up early, scramble to get everyone ready, and get off to the Church in time. And I'm guessing that we'll also be cutting time a bit close on that day too, but on that day, it'll be her day and her day alone, so time won't matter nearly as much.

Here are some pictures from the Mass, the brunch, and also of Kaylani dressed in a NY Giants outfit that she'll unfortunately never wear again. And before we move on, we must thank Godfather Tim for spending his birthday with us down in NJ and at the Baptism, so Happy Birthday Tim and thank you! As for the rest of us, it's on to the next big production, which will be her Moon Yuet next week in Boston (a traditional Chinese welcoming ceremony). So enjoy the pictures of today, and for all of you that shared it with us, thank you. And for those who did not, we hope this made you feel a part of the day as well. Until next time...