2009DEC25 - Jordan's First Christmas

Continuing on with our LA festivities, our family celebrated Christmas morning with just the 8 of us. I know it sounds fabricated to say that Jordan was extra happy this day, but it was true. He kept his smile all day and "talked" to us. He was definitely well rested from the previous night's Christmas Eve party. Jordan received lots of new clothes, as well as 4 new pairs of Jordan socks. His collection is growing quite nicely, just like Daddy's... although I did miss out on the Jordan Retro XI Space Jams release the night before. Merry Christmas to all from the Cheungs, the Koos, and the Lees.

2009DEC24 - the 30th Christmas Eve Celebration Anniversary

So this was the big day for the Cheung family Christmas Eve party. For the past 30 years, Elaine's family has celebrated Christmas Eve with the Hsias, Tsengs, Wongs, Shens, Marrs, etc... and it's grown with marriages and families to include the Koos and the Lees.
The age ranged from age 3 months (Jordan) to 102 years (Grand Uncle Henry).

To aid in celebrating the 30 years, Valerie enlisted the help from two of her friends (Tiffany and Meredith) to create the detailed gingerbread houses. The Christmas tree in the back have photos of everyone's face as ornaments.

The night continued with a special dvd presentation created by Aunt Linda Hsia, modified Christmas carols by Jon Mack, and a surprise visit from Santa Claus. Jordan got his first photo with Santa later on that night.

The food of course was awesome, prime rib and various sides provided by the families. And it all ended with the annual photo on the stairs and the group photo...and Jordan was overwhelmed with excitement and passed out at the end.

2009DEC24 - Calabasas Lake

You never quite know what you'll see when you walk this lake. My in-laws frequent this private lake weekly. Sometimes you chase ducks, sometimes they chase you. It's all about showing them who's the alpha male. A quick morning trip to the Calabasas Lake included some duck/geese chasing, a glam hollywood photo of Elaine, and a forced 2 minute friendship that began with "boo-yau!" but ended with some hand holding. When you're parents of a 2-year old toddler named Evan, your goal is to find ways to tire him out. I think this did its job. Jordan slept soundly, but what else is new?

2009NOV26 - Family, the Next Generation

Much of this year's Turkey Day for us was about Jordan and his cousin Ava's first Thanksgiving. But an underlying significance was Jordan's first introduction to my side of the family, particularly Grandpa, Jordan's great-grandpa. Not that this really matters to me, although Ava is 6.5 months older than Jordan, he is the first male "Lee" to be born in my generation. So probably to my grandpa, it is a huge deal since it insures the Lee name will continue. On a larger scale, Jordan is just 1 Lee out of millions, but in my grandpa's eyes, he's our namesake. Grandpa is very hard of hearing, so communication has been difficult in recent years, but a pat on the back told me that he was very pleased. Here's to family, and hoping that Jordan won't mind the photo of me biting his butt. :p

2009NOV26 - Thanksgiving

This is Jordan's first Thanksgiving. This year we are going to head to Sacramento/Elk Grove to visit my family. However Elaine's parents are also joining u

s this year, which will be the first time both families will be together during a major holiday. We're looking forward to a lot of good eating a great time with family. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

2009NOV19 - Zoolander

Jordan is 11 week today, and he's really been a bundle of fun. It's getting harder and harder to leave him every weekday morning for work. It really makes me want to push myself to doing photography full time. That way I'd be able to stay with him at home while working on photos. We'll see how that goes the next couple of years. Jordan has a lot to say, especially in the mornings and later afternoons. He still has what I call "Zoolander Syndrome" where he is only able to look right. We try to make him look left, but he only holds that position for a few seconds and turns right back. A couple of our friends had their first babies two days apart from one another. It's a very exciting time for our circle of friends. Jordan now has more future playmates.

2009NOV10 - Our Little Bear

Halloween came and went, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to be here for Jordan's first Halloween. I know what you're thinking, already a deadbeat dad. :p But I had a good excuse.

Jordan didn't really have a costume, just a shirt that said "Frankenfish" and a bib that said "I love my mummy." Elaine also had him in this green-yellow outfit with a hood and ears. It's almost like a baby Shrek outfit, but we're content with calling him our little golden bear. :)

2009NOV08 - Smile for Daddy II

9 weeks sure came fast. So fast that I never even thought about trying take more photos of Jordan smiling b/c he did it so often. This time I didn't have hide in the bushes donning my camouflage attire to try to capture the elusive smile. All I had to do was put the camera in front of him and talk. That alone got Jordan excited to be alive...well that and the prospect of a mid-morning feeding. As you can see, he's really grown. His head has filled out and his belly is getting bigger. More evidence that this is my son. :) I'm just glad Jordan's beginning to enjoy his young life. We actually went back to church for the 1st time since he was born, and Jordan did quite well, sleeping through most of the sermon (also like Daddy. jk!) but awaken by our church's worship team. It was great to be able to socialize again outside of our home as well as introduce Jordan to some of our friends who hadn't met him yet.

We ended the night with Jordan falling asleep during a feeding while we watched the Amazing Race. Plus the Kings beat the Warriors 120-107. It was a great Sunday.

2009OCT20 - Photoshoot and Birthday

October landed on a Tuesday this year, so I took the day off from work to spend time with Elaine on her birthday. As happy as we were to be able to spend the day together as a family, our enjoyment met with trepidation knowing that we'd be taking Jordan to his first formal photo shoot at the the mall. Nothing has really changed since his "real baby" blog, so he is still awake and alert in the morning/early afternoons. But you just never know with babies.

To our delight, Jordan was on his best behavior during the shoot. I guess he knew it was mommy's birthday and he wanted to impress her. The photographer got some great shots in a short 20 minute session. My personal favorite is the one with Elaine and Jordan by themselves. Wife looks hot here. You would never guess that she had a baby 7 weeks ago.

After the shoot, we went to try a restaurant that Elaine always wanted to check out, Dish Dash. It's Mediterranean food. This was Jordan's first restaurant visit as well. Overall he allowed us to enjoy our dinner for 30 minutes, but we left as he got a little restless.

Overall a great day spent with the family. Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife!

2009OCT15 - The Look of a "Real Baby"

I made my daily check up call to Elaine yesterday, expecting to hear her tired voice respond, "Hey, Jordan is ok, I just fed him etc...." But to my surprise, Elaine sounded very upbeat and alert. I guess she was just projecting exactly how Jordan was. Elaine said Jordan looked like a "real baby" today, coo-ing and smiling, looking at the mobile, and even withstanding tummy time and showing off with a half push up. He was still his happy self when I got home. It's great to see how far he's come in the past 6 weeks. Hopefully this new milestone is a glimpse of things to come. I just can't wait for the time when we can put him down in his crib without him crying. I also can't wait till he gets drafted into the NBA.

2009OCT11 - "Road Trip"

Ok, so the title is a little misleading. But you know how new parents can be, logging every little thing, baby's first yawn, baby's first poop, baby's first "pee in daddy's face", baby's first blog page...uh well, you get the picture. I think it's funny that Elaine and I make a big deal about these little events. Take tonight for example. We drove out to Danville to celebrate our friend's birthday which is the farthest that Jordan has been from home. I think it's funny because when I think about Jordan's cousin Evan, he was born in New York, lived in New Jersey, flew to Los Angeles, back to New York, cruised the Carribbean, and moved to Hong Kong all within his first year. And here we are making a big deal about a short evening trip up the 680. Don't new parents just irritate you? :p

My parents also visited this weekend. Saturday they gave us a break and babysat Jordan for a few hours while Elaine and I "escaped" to the Great Mall. We used to frequent the mall quite often. Elaine would hit up her normal stores and I would make my round of the Nike Outlet, Champs, Finishline and Footlocker. I'll peek my head into Shiek once in a while, it depends how "street" I feel....and/or dress that day. Actually, my whole point in going to those stores was to find a cool Jordan Infant outfit. Jordan is growing so fast that he won't be able to wear those in a couple weeks. Mission Accomplished on that front. I'll post photos when they are finished.

2009OCT07 - Smile for Daddy

Now that Jordan is officially over 1 month old, I'm looking foward to taking more photos of his face. Aside from his normal cries, he's starting to make short sounds now. Such as sighing out loud. It's one of the cutest things to witness. One thing that many people have witnessed is when Jordan is in on the brink of blissful sleep, he somes times cracks a huge smile. The smile lasts for maybe 3-5 seconds, and then it's gone. One night he even was breathing a little heavier and caused a short little laugh.

Anyways, each time he smiles I try to look for my camera, but it's never close by. The other night I had my camera phone with me and I waited and waited and waited but no smile came across his face. I disappointedly set my phone down and grabbed the TV remote. At that instant he smiled as if to say, "I know what you're doing! You'll never capture this!"

This elusive smile was more difficult to capture than the rabbits that eat up my in-law's lawn down in Calabasas. But finally, last night I was able to photograph what you see above. It's not the best photo, but it's a glimpse of how happy Elaine and I want to make Jordan in our lifetime.

2009OCT03 - One Month Birthday

Today Jordan is one month old. And it's been a very fulfilling one month. Elaine and I have learned a lot about parenting and have adapted fairly well to Jordan's "lifestyle." This day also coincides with the lunar calendar's Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, so as a bonus we also get to eat Mooncake! :)

My parents along with Danny/Tiffany/Ava drove out again to visit Jordan, i think. As soon as they arrived the girls (including Elaine) left to go to a craft fair in San Leandro, leaving Ava and Jordan in the hands of the men. A combination of the kids sleeping and a few college football games on the tube made for a great afternoon.

Thanks to everyone who visited us during our 1st month as parents. We really appreciate your friendship and prayers. God is Good.

2009OCT01 - the Bottle

Elaine and I read that some babies never take the bottle. I'm constantly reminded from my own mother that I never had a bottle in my life and went straight from breast to cup. TMI, I know. So we wanted to see if Jordan was picky enough to reject the bottle. The way he had been feeding, we had a hunch that nothing could keep Jordan away from his precious food, and he "latched" on to the bottle without even pausing. We're going to try to give him 1 bottle every other day to ease him into it. Our hope is he'll enjoy his food regardless of which "container" is provided.

2009SEP29 - First Bath

Jordan's umbilical cord nub fell of a couple days ago, signalling a new phase in his life....no more sponge baths!!! Next up, half submergence. Elaine and I wondered how Jordan would react to the water. We had read and heard from friends about their various experiences with the first real bath. Some babies loved it, others freaked out. Given Jordan's track record of crying for "no reason", we weren't very hopeful.

To our surprise, Jordan actually enjoyed his bath. The warm water seemed to sooth and relax him. He had a very calm and relaxed demeaner...which made me think, "he's about to pee on my face." Fortunately, that didn't happen. We got him all washed and dried in his little "doggy robe." At least we found one thing that he seems to enjoy besides feeding.

2009SEP28 - Cry Baby

Life can be pretty chaotic when trying to take care of a crying baby. If there's anything that Jordan's been consistent on this week, it's his daily evening tantrums. We know that there's a reason why he's crying, but it's so hard to decipher why he's crying. I guess that all comes along with experience. In my frustration, I decided to give Jordan some "Tummy Time" to actually have something to cry about. I

thought, "Well, if he really

hates tummy time, maybe w

hen I flip him over he'll realize how great non-tummy time is and not cry

anymore." Eh, wishful thinking. Anyways, the

two photos are 1)

during his tantrum, and 2) as he rested b/t tantrums.

2009SEP27 - Home Alone

Generally, our Sundays consist of going to church in the morning, lunch with friends, and NFL football (in the fall). Now with Jordan, it's sort of a mixed blessing. We don't get to go to church (yet) so we don't get to see our friends, but I do get to plunk myself down in front of the tube and catch all the NFL action. The Niners were on FOX (vs the Vikings) and I was hoping to jump back and forth b/t that game and the Eagles game. But what's up with Channel 5 publicizing the Eagles game (Vick's 1st game back from his suspension) but showing crappy local home improvement shows instead? Very lame.

Anyways, Jordan slept for much of the morning, waking only to feed. Elaine and her mom went shopping for a couple hours and I stayed home to watch the games....I mean Jordan. Having the mother-in-law in the house has been great. Mom has been cooking for us which helps us tremendously so we can just concentrate on Jordan and football. :p

Elaine then went to a 2nd baby shower in the afternoon. I'm glad she got a chance to get out of the house this weekend. She's been a really great new mom and wife. She deserves more than a few hours out of the house. With Elaine at the baby shower, that left me with Jordan for the afternoon. He was actually very cute from 2pm-5pm. He was awake the whole time, just starring at the ceiling, photo frames, my face, my big nose, etc... He seemed to smile like he meant it too when I played with him. It was actually quite fun just seeing him awake and not crying. But I knew that as 6pm rolled around, the cries would probably start up again.

2009SEP26 - Colic Baby?

The past 5 days Jordan has really been unexplicably loud. Especially in the evening hours from 6pm-10pm. It's actually been quite frustrating trying to calm him down. In the previous two weeks he was still fairly fussy, but not as inconsolable. It seems that the morning / afternoons are his good hours. So yesterday morning our friend's the Wongs came to visit. Jordan was very cooperative, sleeping most of the time.

A few hours after the Wong's had left, the Lee grandparents along with Tiffany/Danny/Ava drove out to visit us from Sacramento. Danny was the 1st person to remark that Jordan looked like me. Everyone else that has seen him says he looks like Elaine, and I have no idea why. I honestly think he has more of my own features than Elaine's, other than the fact that Jordan is small and Elaine is small. :p It doesn't bother me at all, it just funny how different people see things. Again, Jordan was very well behaved till they left.

Then 7pm rolled around and he just totally lost it. This was the point where we thought that we had every new parent's fear of a colicky baby. I actually had thought he could have colic since the 1st week, but just thought his crying was due to a combination of his new environment and us trying to figure him out. Not that 3 weeks makes us experts, but the things that I used to do to calm him down don't seem to really work anymore. It was just a really frustrating day. And to top it off, Cal got demolished by Oregon. That's us in the photo sleeping as we watch the game.

Props to Elaine for using her Yoga ball to bounce Jordan to sleep. If it wasn't for that, we would have gotten no sleep Saturday night.

2009SEP20 - Best Nights Sleep

Jordan turns 3 weeks old today. Yesterday after I came back home from work, he was wide awake in Elaine's arms. I had never seen him so alert before. He had been fairly alert in the past, but according to Elaine he was like this for majority of the afternoon. Our friends the Hu's were paying us a vist and I wanted Jordan to be on his "best behavior" so I took him for a 20 minute walk around the neighborhood, just him and myself. It was amusing watching his face as he gazed at the sky, the homes, and the surroundings in wonderment. Multiple times his mouth contorted into an "O" shape as if to say,"Oooo, look that!" I think all babies do that, but it means so much more when it's your own son.

When I reached home, Elaine took Jordan up for a feeding before our guests arrived. When the Hu's did, Jordan was sound asleep. He was such a good little boy....until he woke up. Just as we sat down for dinner Jordan was probably at the worst that I've ever seen, crying like he was getting circumcised all over again. Normally a tight swaddle and a drop of vitamin D does the trick, but this time he was relentless. After about 20 minutes of trying everything, he finally quieted down as I swung him left to right like in those 70's/80's work out videos. What turned out to be a noisy evening turned into the best night sleep I've had since he was born. He only woke up 1x last night and Elaine and I probably got about 6 hours of sleep. Not bad for a 3 week old.

2009SEP07 - It's the Eyes!

Day 5 and Jordan is already opening his eyes like a goldfish. Elaine's parents have been staying with us since his birth. On this particular day Jordan was the most alert that we've seen. He sat contently in his "bouncer" for about 45 minutes without making a sound aside from an occasional fart or two. That's brings up another item. His farts really stink. Although the Chinese culture puts "blame" on the mother, medically there's no connection with the mother's diet and the baby's intestinal issues. We just have to do a better job with burping Jordan after each feeding. The extra 10 minutes of burping time will spare our nasal senses so it will be well worth the time. :)

2009SEP03 - Welcome Jordan Patrick Lee

It's been almost exactly 1 week since my son was born. This past week has been a true blessing. Sleepless nights and endless diapers changes have enveloped my life. It's true what other parents say, sleep when you baby sleeps. Otherwise, you just end up tired and frustrated when you actually need to sleep but baby doesn't want to sleep. Ironically, I haven't take that many photos of him yet. It's one of those things where I find myself wanting to be in the moment rather than capturing it. Below are a few photos from the hospital up until his 1st night at home. Welcome to the world Jordan Patrick Lee.

2009JUL25 - Photoshoot

Elaine was put in charge of a project at work to assemble a Pre-natal information brochure about the various tests that hospitals run on expectant mothers. Part of this project entailed taking photos of expectant mothers and young families. Since she was in charge of the project and was pregnant, she decided to have us included in their photo archive. They hired another photographer to take the pictures, but when there was some dead time, I snapped a few for ourselves.