Sunday, April 27, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Nene's First....
The day of April 19th was just another day until this important event happened. Nene took her first step!! At first, she took two wobbly step... she sat for awhile, then another two wobbly step. THEN 6 BIG STEPS!!! I wonder if she felt like Neil Armstrong when she took those steps, but it was definitely something to celebrate for. Unfortunately, Daddy was not there to witness her first steps, but he was able to see her walking a few steps every once in a while, when nene is in the mood.
Another important event that had happened is that Sumahi had her first haircut!!! We had waited and waited for Daddy to come back in order to witness her first haircut... but it turned out to be very painful to watch, for we had to hold her still when her nina cuts her hair... and that just made her cries her heart out. We took some video... but I'm not sure if we should post it...
In addition, Nene is growing out her 7th and 8th teeth! Though that makes her extremely cranky sometimes, it is still nice to watch her cute little teeth grow out, I guess it is also her declaration to the world that she is ready for shortribs!!
Another important event that had happened is that Sumahi had her first haircut!!! We had waited and waited for Daddy to come back in order to witness her first haircut... but it turned out to be very painful to watch, for we had to hold her still when her nina cuts her hair... and that just made her cries her heart out. We took some video... but I'm not sure if we should post it...
In addition, Nene is growing out her 7th and 8th teeth! Though that makes her extremely cranky sometimes, it is still nice to watch her cute little teeth grow out, I guess it is also her declaration to the world that she is ready for shortribs!!
Securing Sumahi's Future: Of Hopes and Disappointment
Since Daddy came back to visit, there were discussions of how things will go when he finally returns from the States.
The first was "When" will he comes back, I asked about it several times before, and the answer I got was usually "I don't know." I had always assume that he would be returning with his mother and Alina during the Summer, which would approximately be in July. Then we would have the big Sumahi party. Unfortunately, I was being overly idealistic. I was told that he might ended up coming back in late August instead, for he wants to see if he could continue working during the Summer for his department. And I'm left with the dilemma of whether to have the party while Sumahi's grandmother and auntie are here but without her Daddy, or to wait 'til September to have the party with her daddy but without her grandma and auntie. And I honestly don't know what to do, for it is not very often that Sumahi's Grandma Rita and Auntie Alina could come and visit from the States, and I want those important people of Sumahi's life to be there for her big party, but how can I have a big party without her Daddy being here... and to have to repeatedly tell the guests that "Oh, her Daddy is not here." when they ask where's Sumahi's Daddy. I can't imagine.
The second was about Daddy finding a job. For me, it was about Daddy finding a job with benefits so that he could cover Sumahi in his insurance. However, I learned that it is more important to find a job in which Daddy could finish his dissertation, which most likely would not come with benefits.
The last but not least was about my sale. I've been working on selling a house for a few months now, I had secure a buyer, completed the contract, the loan was approved... but the closing date just keeps extending and extending and extending... it has just been a long and winding road, with many long phone conversations explaining things again and again of why things aren't happening, with being yelled at many times from both parties, and with many times of close to terminating the contract from either side. If the sale goes through, then I would get a good amount of commission which would provide the financial securities, in case Daddy is not able to find a job right away when he comes back. And I keep seeing this security of Sumahi's future, slipping in and out of my hands, slipping in and out... and in and out. And it is just.... very frustrating.
I guess my problem is me being often overly idealistic, and my burning desire for a better future, a secured future for Sumahi, and with that not falling into place without a struggle. I guess I just need not to be bummed about things not happening, but instead learn to deal with it.
The first was "When" will he comes back, I asked about it several times before, and the answer I got was usually "I don't know." I had always assume that he would be returning with his mother and Alina during the Summer, which would approximately be in July. Then we would have the big Sumahi party. Unfortunately, I was being overly idealistic. I was told that he might ended up coming back in late August instead, for he wants to see if he could continue working during the Summer for his department. And I'm left with the dilemma of whether to have the party while Sumahi's grandmother and auntie are here but without her Daddy, or to wait 'til September to have the party with her daddy but without her grandma and auntie. And I honestly don't know what to do, for it is not very often that Sumahi's Grandma Rita and Auntie Alina could come and visit from the States, and I want those important people of Sumahi's life to be there for her big party, but how can I have a big party without her Daddy being here... and to have to repeatedly tell the guests that "Oh, her Daddy is not here." when they ask where's Sumahi's Daddy. I can't imagine.
The second was about Daddy finding a job. For me, it was about Daddy finding a job with benefits so that he could cover Sumahi in his insurance. However, I learned that it is more important to find a job in which Daddy could finish his dissertation, which most likely would not come with benefits.
The last but not least was about my sale. I've been working on selling a house for a few months now, I had secure a buyer, completed the contract, the loan was approved... but the closing date just keeps extending and extending and extending... it has just been a long and winding road, with many long phone conversations explaining things again and again of why things aren't happening, with being yelled at many times from both parties, and with many times of close to terminating the contract from either side. If the sale goes through, then I would get a good amount of commission which would provide the financial securities, in case Daddy is not able to find a job right away when he comes back. And I keep seeing this security of Sumahi's future, slipping in and out of my hands, slipping in and out... and in and out. And it is just.... very frustrating.
I guess my problem is me being often overly idealistic, and my burning desire for a better future, a secured future for Sumahi, and with that not falling into place without a struggle. I guess I just need not to be bummed about things not happening, but instead learn to deal with it.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Sumahi's Comment on Daddy's Return and On Her 1st Birthday
April 16th is coming up soon!!! In just a few days, Sumahi would not only be celebrating her first birthday, but will also be seeing her daddy again!
Sumahi expresses all her excitement in the following video:
Sumahi Birthday Wishes:
On her Daddy's Return:
8 more days 'til Daddy comes back!
Sumahi expresses all her excitement in the following video:
Sumahi Birthday Wishes:
On her Daddy's Return:
8 more days 'til Daddy comes back!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sumahi Turning One Year Old!
Sumahi would be turning one in just a little more than two weeks, on April 16th to be exact, and Daddy would be returning on the same day too, just in time to celebrate Sumahi's birthday.
We would be having two small parties for Sumahi, one for some of our close friends, and one for families. We'll prepare for a big party (aka the Campaign Party)for Sumahi during the Summer when everyone is back.
Since Sumahi is turning one years old, we'll be making some little changes, such as switching from breastmilk to formula. I'm planning to feed her formula for maybe two months then we will switch to milk and soymilk (will be alternating between the two). I'm also planning to give Sumahi her first haircut, her bangs are getting too long so I'll trim that a little. We'll also be getting Sumahi her passport when Daddy comes back, for we are planning to go on a vacation to Bali maybe in May or early June.
Since Daddy is back to celebrate Sumahi's birthday, we had a lot of activities installed. Such as going to Underwater World with Sumahi, seeing the Magic on Ice show at the SandCastle. But most of the plans involve eating ... eating at Cappriciosa, SamChoy's, Tepanyaki, indulging in shortribs, milkshakes, cinnamon rolls, gelato, sweet-n-sour chicken... *I could see the food flowing around in mid air right now... this is making me hungry* But we would be doing important things as well, such as looking for job opportunities for Daddy, planning for the Campaign party, discussing the Sumahi Storybook, preparing for Sumahi's Campaign video...and the list goes on.
I was thinking that maybe we should take Sumahi to a studio and do a photoshoot or maybe a family photo... maybe we could do that every year on her birthday, so that we could see how much she grew, how much older, fatter, balder, numbers of grey hair we've got as years goes by. I thought that would be a cute keepsake for Sumahi. But Daddy doesn't seems to like the idea, he was more like... "what's the photoshoot for while we have our own cameras" kind of attitude. So... that is still undecided.
But I'm still really excited for Sumahi turning one, for Daddy's visit, for eventually when Daddy finally comes home.
Here're some pictures taken of Sumahi during Easter:
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Sumahi and Her Used Car
Sumahi just got her baby driver licence!! Since her driving skill is still not to be entrusted with, we got her a "brand new" used car!
28 more days 'til Daddy comes back!
28 more days 'til Daddy comes back!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
11th Month Birthday!
Sumahi will be 11 months old tomorrow! That means... just one month from her big day and also means just one more month 'til Daddy comes back for his visit.
For me, every month is special, every month is a reason to celebrate. For her 11 month birthday, we are celebrating by bring her to Umatac for the Discovery Day Celebration. I was hoping to go with Uncle Kuri, Nicole-Sumahi's nina, and a few of Sumahi's cousins. I'm currently still trying to get a hold of Uncle Kuri, for I had call him about it on Thursday, but he hadn't gotten back to me yet.
Anyhow, we did went to watch "Horton Hears A Who?" today. Sumahi especially enjoyed the scene where Horton was crossing the bridge.
>31 more days 'til Daddy comes back!
For me, every month is special, every month is a reason to celebrate. For her 11 month birthday, we are celebrating by bring her to Umatac for the Discovery Day Celebration. I was hoping to go with Uncle Kuri, Nicole-Sumahi's nina, and a few of Sumahi's cousins. I'm currently still trying to get a hold of Uncle Kuri, for I had call him about it on Thursday, but he hadn't gotten back to me yet.
Anyhow, we did went to watch "Horton Hears A Who?" today. Sumahi especially enjoyed the scene where Horton was crossing the bridge.
>
31 more days 'til Daddy comes back!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Nene's First Concert
We were given two concert tickets from Uncle Kuri for a concert in UOG a few days ago. Being Sumahi's first concert, and first time that we had ever watch Uncle Kuri perform (unless we count him practicing at home, blowing a few notes, a performance), we were utterly excited. I told Daddy about it on the phone, and he asked for me to take as many photos and videos of Kuri's performance as possible.
The concert took place last night at 8pm, at the UOG Art Theater. It was much smaller and less packed then I thought it would be. We picked a comfortable seat and waited for the performance to start.
The first to appeared where the Tumon Bay Choir. Kuri made his first appearance of the night when they perform the second song, though not with his trombone, but with some kind of percussion. I took a short video of it, thinking that it is only his first appearance, and that I should save the camera's memory for Kuri's real performance. That... proved to be a bad move, for when Kuri finally performed (which was an hour and half later), he totally hid his face behind the stand for his music notes. All the videos of him that I took afterward only showed part of his head, and for most of the time... his hair only....
During his performance, he sat on the left hand side, right behind the saxophone player that had a lot of solo through out the night, and behind him, a trumpet player that had a few solo too. I looked at the seating arrangement and wondered if, though very unlikely, they were going to do a bold experiment with a trombone solo also. That would be very exciting, though as unlikely as such a thing as a trombone solo to happen, it is even more unlikely that Kuri would actually do a solo. And as it happens, that night wasn't one of the nights that miracle happens. No trombone solo, no Kuri solo. Maybe that's more befitting of Kuri anyway, not taking the spotlight, but humbly supporting his band members, enriching their music with the deep, low sound of his trombone.
Unfortunate as that I wasn't able to get a head shot of Kuri while performing, more unfortunate it was that Sumahi fell asleep through out most of his performance... it had reach her bedtime by the time that Uncle Kuri performed. Hopefully, next time, when Sumahi gets older, she would learn to appreciate instead of falling asleep at Uncle Kuri's performance.
The concert took place last night at 8pm, at the UOG Art Theater. It was much smaller and less packed then I thought it would be. We picked a comfortable seat and waited for the performance to start.
The first to appeared where the Tumon Bay Choir. Kuri made his first appearance of the night when they perform the second song, though not with his trombone, but with some kind of percussion. I took a short video of it, thinking that it is only his first appearance, and that I should save the camera's memory for Kuri's real performance. That... proved to be a bad move, for when Kuri finally performed (which was an hour and half later), he totally hid his face behind the stand for his music notes. All the videos of him that I took afterward only showed part of his head, and for most of the time... his hair only....
During his performance, he sat on the left hand side, right behind the saxophone player that had a lot of solo through out the night, and behind him, a trumpet player that had a few solo too. I looked at the seating arrangement and wondered if, though very unlikely, they were going to do a bold experiment with a trombone solo also. That would be very exciting, though as unlikely as such a thing as a trombone solo to happen, it is even more unlikely that Kuri would actually do a solo. And as it happens, that night wasn't one of the nights that miracle happens. No trombone solo, no Kuri solo. Maybe that's more befitting of Kuri anyway, not taking the spotlight, but humbly supporting his band members, enriching their music with the deep, low sound of his trombone.
Unfortunate as that I wasn't able to get a head shot of Kuri while performing, more unfortunate it was that Sumahi fell asleep through out most of his performance... it had reach her bedtime by the time that Uncle Kuri performed. Hopefully, next time, when Sumahi gets older, she would learn to appreciate instead of falling asleep at Uncle Kuri's performance.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Best of the Best
As I mentioned in my last posting, Sumahi was working on a poster ad last week Sunday. We did another photo shoot later on that day, and we took another bunch of pictures. The first batch of photos were taken at Hilton Hotel, the second batch of photos were taken at Outrigger Hotel. Here are the best ones that came out...
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Sumahi's Road to Stardom
Daddy and I had an ambition, which is to start Sumahi's career in modeling at an early age, so that she could pay for her own college and... more importantly... Daddy's student loan.
In pursuit of her career, I had enlisted her in a model listing page online... see link below:
http://www.newfaces.com/bihusauras
Previously, while Christmas was around the corner, Sumahi was on an newspaper insert ad for Tic-Tac-Toe, a children clothing store in Tumon. It was on going for 5 days, 200 copies were given out each day. Although the job was pro bono, it was good publicity for Sumahi.
Today, Sumahi had her first modeling photo shoot. Early in the morning (10:30am, early for a sick person), Sumahi and the huge camera crew, a total of 5 people, headed out for the Natural Trail in Hilton. The photographer, Sumahi's Grand Aunt Candy, selected a spot on the lawn with a nice sceneric background. However, though out the entire photo shoot, Sumahi displayed the utter most unprofessionalism, and constantly go on strike, which turn the shooting into a disaster. Finally, we had to pack our bag and hope for a better shooting next time around.
In pursuit of her career, I had enlisted her in a model listing page online... see link below:
http://www.newfaces.com/bihusauras
Previously, while Christmas was around the corner, Sumahi was on an newspaper insert ad for Tic-Tac-Toe, a children clothing store in Tumon. It was on going for 5 days, 200 copies were given out each day. Although the job was pro bono, it was good publicity for Sumahi.
Today, Sumahi had her first modeling photo shoot. Early in the morning (10:30am, early for a sick person), Sumahi and the huge camera crew, a total of 5 people, headed out for the Natural Trail in Hilton. The photographer, Sumahi's Grand Aunt Candy, selected a spot on the lawn with a nice sceneric background. However, though out the entire photo shoot, Sumahi displayed the utter most unprofessionalism, and constantly go on strike, which turn the shooting into a disaster. Finally, we had to pack our bag and hope for a better shooting next time around.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Biba Ha'anin Guinaiya!!
Hu guaiya hao nene!!!!
Despensa na gi este ma'pos na mes, sen malangu hao!!
Un na'gof luhun yu'.
Lao sen magof hu pa'go na mana'homlo' hao.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sumahi the Germ Spreader
Ever since Sumahi started Day Care, she started catching different illnesses one after the other. First, it was a stomach flu which turns into pneumonia, then she catches an eye infection which had yet to completely heal, now she is having a cold with an extremely runny nose and a low-grade fever that had come and go for the last two days. The result is a skinny nene that no longer has her previous glory: the thunder thighs, the chubby arms with folds of fats, and the pinchable cheeks that weight a ton. All of those.. gone... Daddy commented that she no longer looks like a chubby eggplant, but a lollipop. I argued that she is not skinny like a lollipop... maybe just a microphone.
As I agonize over the lost of her chubbiness, Sumahi is quick to pass her germs around. First, she gave everyone a stomach flu, that includes, me, my father, and Janell (a friend and the niece for my landlord who is currently staying at our house with her two kids until the end of February ). Then she gave the Janell's daughter the pneumonia. Now she got me, my mother and my father the cold.
Sumahi is as cute as she is deadly.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sumahi and the Pikachus
Here is a video with two of my favorite things.
I've decided, that as a loving and caring father, Sumahi will love Pikachu as much as I do. I've started this process, by making sure her life so far is full of Pokemon. I know that there is a chance that she will hate me for this, but I'm hoping that Pikachus will be so natural to her after a while, that having them around will be as normal as breathing or drinking water.
I've decided, that as a loving and caring father, Sumahi will love Pikachu as much as I do. I've started this process, by making sure her life so far is full of Pokemon. I know that there is a chance that she will hate me for this, but I'm hoping that Pikachus will be so natural to her after a while, that having them around will be as normal as breathing or drinking water.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Betsu
For those of you who don't know it, I am sort of a poet on Guam. I've had the privilege of reading several times at the Sinangan-Ta events over the past few years. Sadly, I never win the prize at the end of the contest because my poems are always too long.Here is one of my biggest crowd pleasers, "I am Chamorro," which isn't too long at around two pages long.
Some of my poems sprawl out of control and end up at four or five pages, such as this one, gi entre i mas ya-hu na betsu-hu, "Time Machine Native."
Over the past few years though I've begun writing shorter and shorter poems, mainly in Chamorro, about less explicitly political things such as guinaya yan triniste. You can find most of these on my blog. One of the few "political" Chamorro poems I've written though is titled "kinattayi yu' ni' sindalun Chamorro giya Irak," or "I was written a letter by a Chamorro in Iraq."
Anyways, how does all this relate to Sumahi? Taimanu chumetton este na sinangan-hu yan i hagga-hu?
Well, Jessica took Sumahi to attend the most recent Sinangan-Ta in December of last year, and I think that the love of poetry reading might be in her blood. Check out these pictures.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Sumahi's Nine Months Birthday
Today is Sumahi's Nine Months Birthday, it had pretty much became a habit that we celebrate her birthday monthly. But nine months is particularly special, it means that she had survived 3 quarters of her first year of life with me!
Since it is her special 9 months birthday, I called Daddy yesterday to discuss how we should celebrate this special day. I wanted to read to her one of the Dr. Seuss books that I had brought for her for Christmas, titled "Happy Birthday to You", then open her toys that are for nine months old, so she could play with them. I also wanted to bring her some place, Daddy suggested the beach, and also that I should give her a new food for her to try.
So I picked up Sumahi from the day care after work, and headed to Matapang Beach with Grandma Winnie tagging along. We brought two sets of swimsuits for Sumahi, the red bikini which is only for picture taking, and the other one is for when she gets into the water. I put Sumahi near the shoreline for her to stand and pose for the photo shoot... unfortunately, Sumahi hated it. So we decided to slow things down and have her crawl on the sand instead. She hated that too... and started crying and crawling to me. We realized that it wasn't really the water that she hates, she hates the sand. So we picked her up, walked into the water, and repeat the process of dipping her into the water and then lift her up high in the air. She gradually warmed up and started paddling in the water (her paddling didn't get her anywhere, of course.) We didn't stay at the beach for too long (we only stayed for approx. 30 min.) for we didn't want her to catch a cold.
After a warm bath and eating regular baby food, we fed her a strawberry. Yes, that was the choice I made, Daddy suggested something healthy, so I picked Korean strawberry, sweet and packed with Vitamin C. Well, from her expression, she didn't seems to like it, but she keeps eating it anyway. By the time she was done with the strawberry, she was too exhausted for the other plans that I had install for her, so we let her go to bed instead.
Since it is her special 9 months birthday, I called Daddy yesterday to discuss how we should celebrate this special day. I wanted to read to her one of the Dr. Seuss books that I had brought for her for Christmas, titled "Happy Birthday to You", then open her toys that are for nine months old, so she could play with them. I also wanted to bring her some place, Daddy suggested the beach, and also that I should give her a new food for her to try.
So I picked up Sumahi from the day care after work, and headed to Matapang Beach with Grandma Winnie tagging along. We brought two sets of swimsuits for Sumahi, the red bikini which is only for picture taking, and the other one is for when she gets into the water. I put Sumahi near the shoreline for her to stand and pose for the photo shoot... unfortunately, Sumahi hated it. So we decided to slow things down and have her crawl on the sand instead. She hated that too... and started crying and crawling to me. We realized that it wasn't really the water that she hates, she hates the sand. So we picked her up, walked into the water, and repeat the process of dipping her into the water and then lift her up high in the air. She gradually warmed up and started paddling in the water (her paddling didn't get her anywhere, of course.) We didn't stay at the beach for too long (we only stayed for approx. 30 min.) for we didn't want her to catch a cold.
After a warm bath and eating regular baby food, we fed her a strawberry. Yes, that was the choice I made, Daddy suggested something healthy, so I picked Korean strawberry, sweet and packed with Vitamin C. Well, from her expression, she didn't seems to like it, but she keeps eating it anyway. By the time she was done with the strawberry, she was too exhausted for the other plans that I had install for her, so we let her go to bed instead.
I think those should go on the Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.
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