巨婴

昨天晚上我才真正认识到阿瑟是少有的巨婴。11点睡觉之前我们喂了他六盎司奶，以为应该够了，谁知他两点钟又起来闹着要吃奶了。Biajee只好和爸爸一起又喂了五盎司。当然这都是今晨起床之后爸爸告诉我的。他们没有舍得把我叫醒。照这个趋势，母乳很快就不够了，我们就要给阿瑟买高价婴儿奶粉了。

Biajee又粗略称了一下阿瑟的体重，大概已经超过十五磅了。爸爸来的这两个星期，我们过着衣来伸手，饭来张口的腐败生活。每天吃着不同花样的排骨汤，猪脚汤，小平鱼，红烧肉，水饺，云吞，猪肚，鸭胗，凉拌海蜇丝，凉拌黑木耳，菠菜，油菜，黄豆芽，绿豆芽，芦笋，肉丸子等等各种精致小菜。爸爸还请我们去红龙虾大撮了一顿海鲜，并给Biajee和我买了许多衣服。现在他正酝酿要请我们去吃很贵的法式火锅，大概要50美元一个人。只可惜我正全力减肥，不知该不该继续饕餮。

昨天和以前的同事共进午餐时被问及是否在狂花老爸的钱。我说：“是呀，他好不容易来看我一次，每天逼着我花钱，我都不好意思了。” 爸爸的理论是，乘现在他还有钱供我们挥霍，我们就应该多花一点，我们开心了，他就高兴。

爸爸现在有秘诀可以逗阿瑟笑，照全家福的时候就多亏了爸爸，否则都抓不到一张阿瑟大笑的照片。阿瑟白天醒着的时候全都是爸爸抱着，所以他现在和外公最亲，一看到Biajee和我就生气。阿诺在家的时候，爸爸又到处追着他吃饭，穿衣服，学功课。

爸爸说不能在我们家住太久，万一累病了，又要给我们添麻烦。这次爸爸来住两个多星期，是我来美国以后和他朝夕相处最长的日子了。以前我们只是每年见一面，每次不超过一周。我非常珍惜和感动。

Tax

I finally finished calculating our 2008 income taxes. This has been a very long process that involves crying babies, sleep deprivation for weeks. Each year it gets harder as we have to fill out more forms with more schedules.

We owe the US Treasury over $2000 this year. I'll have to mail the check tomorrow along with the forms. It's a huge release that I don't have to worry about it day and night.

I could really enjoy my dad's visit from now on. Dad's care and attention to our kids put both Biajee and me to shame. I've never seen any parent tendering their kids like my father. I took it for granted only because I was brought up that way. He wouldn't let the baby cry for one single second. He would always hold Arthur and talk to him during the day.

Now I suddenly understand what Dad used to say to me, "Your most loved ones in your life are probably your kids, but you're the one I love most in my whole life."

艰辛

“屋漏偏逢连夜雨，舟行又遇打头风。”

Biajee的公司终于象他这么多年一直担心的那样，发不出工资来了，并且还濒临破产的边缘。这就意味着我们全家又将像以前那样，靠我一个人的收入生活了。最令Biajee提心吊胆的是，万一公司破产，他的签证就会失效，在美国就会成为非法移民。我只好不停安慰他，工作签证失效，还可以立刻转学生签证，不必担心。难怪他最近改口喝绿茶了。茶的味道很像生活。我开玩笑说他可以去跳艳舞养活我们母子三人。

对我来说，这个世界上只有享不到的福，没有吃不了的苦。想当年刚来美国的时候，只有两只箱子，赤手空拳，举目无亲，没有美国学位，没有绿卡，没有工作，没有太多的金钱，不是也闯荡过来了吗。如今有了家，有了身份，有了孩子，有了太多太多的责任和牵挂，不会反而过不了现在的难关。所谓“天将降大任于斯人也，必先苦其心志，饿其筋骨，劳其体肤，所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能”是也。我们全家自然又要同舟共济，不离不弃了。

天气也像我们的心情一样，阴冷阴冷的。只有股市，疯了一样的狂飙了500多点。

每当我看到阿诺和阿瑟争着无辜的大眼睛看着我时，心里就决定为了他们遮风挡雨，付出一切。母亲对孩子的爱是完全无条件的。有时候有点怀念以前的单身生活，如果没有结婚，没有孩子，我现在已经在圆我儿时的梦想，周游世界了。

Sump Pump

Biajee fixed our sump pump yesterday. I haven't checked it for over nearly 5 years. It's very important if you own a house. Got to make sure it's working and the basement is dry. From now on, we'll check it every time we change the filter downstairs. We are still learning all the stuff we need to know on being a house owner.

We went to a neighbor's house for a party on Sunday. It ended up that we were the only family showing up for it so it became a family gathering of 2 families. However, a lot of families had replied Yes on eVite, but only we showed up. How weird!

Last night was a tough night. We almost got no sleep at all. Biajee worked from home till 2 am. Arthur didn't quite fall asleep until Biajee finished working. Then Arnold woke up before 5 am. We are both exhausted. The boys each got over 12 hours of sleep though.

No more kids for us for sure.

午餐

今天和订书器公司的同事们共进午餐,还把阿瑟带去给大家抱抱.结果这顿饭成了向杰夫和我的告别午餐.我们都将离开这间公司.我一月份就已经离开了.能免费吃到菠菜加烤虾沙拉是一件非常美妙的事.

出了月子之后,我发现自己每天忙得焦头烂额,根本没有时间做饭和找工作,连阅读电子邮件都成为一件大事.我的生活全部围绕阿瑟,他需要换尿片了,得赶紧喂奶了,这之外我已经没有力气做任何事情.每天出门一次准备的时间就要一个小时,好在我外出的约会都很少需要赶时间.

和同事们交流一番,大家把阿瑟夸奖了一通,之后谈谈个人的去向.很感激请我去吃这顿饭的同事茜茜,否则我今天就回去医院吃新妈妈午餐,还得自付12美元. 很多同事已经找到了工作,这使我觉得市场并不很糟糕. 但天气好得令人心醉,我实在没有立刻找工作上班的紧迫感.

Biajee听从了老板的威逼,上班时不敢喝可乐了.我说了他那么多年都没用.看来老板比老婆厉害.老板的儿子喝可乐喝出糖尿病了,所以大概对可乐恨之入骨,到不能见到可乐的地步.这真是一件好事.

阿瑟昨晚是4小时醒一次,所以我们不太累.他醒来的原因主要是需要换尿片了,并不是因为饿了想吃奶.真希望他的肠胃能将食品多消化些时候,不过那样他就不会长这么快了.

6 Week Check

I had my 6 week check up with Dr. Austin today. It snowed last night in celebration of my first going out of the house since the baby was born. It was cold and windy. Dr. Austin was an hour behind schedule so Gail told me to come back at 1:30 pm.

Biajee and I went to the hospital canteen and grabbed some vegetarian food. The soup there is pretty good. Then Biajee left for work while I nursed Arthur.

Dr. Austin said I had been recovering pretty well. The stitches are well grown, but the skin was very thin and my hormone level was still too low so I might feel sensitive. I could take a bath now. I doubt whether I'll do it with Arnold in the bath tub. He sometimes will poop in bath water.

I also had the pap test done today so I won't have to see Dr. A for another year unless something goes seriously wrong or I start to bleed. Gail suggested that I make my next appointment 3 months ahead for annual check because it's really hard to get in with Dr. A's busy schedule.

Guests

We're ready for guests. A lot of friends would like to come and see Arthur. Some of them have already done so.

Suddenly I feel that the house is in such a big mess that I'm almost embarrassed to have people visiting. We should definitely throw everything away, especially Arnold's toys. This house looks like a children's play land at the moment. There is a train track that takes up the whole living room. Lego pieces are everywhere and if you don't look, you could step on a toy that'll hurt your foot dramatically.

I don't know how other parents manage their house, but we're certainly very poor at it, mainly because we don't have time. We regret having accumulated so many toys in the past 3 years. Arnold and Arthur will have plenty of toys to play at day care so we never should have spent any money and space on toys. Now it's too hard to get rid of them.

I can't wait for the boys to go to college.

Permanent Marker

When it comes to raise kids, the days are long and the years are short.

Arnold painted the wall with permanent marker this morning. Biajee added to the mess by trying to wipe it out with some alcohol. In the end, the wall looks terrible, like one of those 100 year old houses in Boulder. Fortunately we bought some paint earlier. Maybe Biajee can mend the fences by painting over the stain after Arnold goes to bed tonight.

It just occurred to me that Biajee is a shopping freak. He shops for the whole house and he shops every day. Well, I can't leave the house for the past few weeks so that's quite reasonable. I'm so glad he enjoys it most of the time. He'd pick up some toys for Arnold when they go together on weekends. During the week days, he'll just buy groceries during lunch breaks and put them in his company's refrigerator.

We have been eating a lot lately. Biajee prepares roughly five dishes every meal and we will finish them all each day. We have four people in the family now and we just consume lots of food. We have to buy pasta, cheese, pirate booties, wheat thins and a whole list of things we'd never heard of before.

Peach Fuzz

Arthur's hair has grown out a bit that feels like peach fuzz. Arnold is trying to use my flash drive as a chapstick. He doesn't understand the difference between the two things anyway.

GM is on the verge of going bankruptcy. I think the big three should all go to bankruptcy.

I checked the courses in CU Denver last night and found I could start going to school on May 19th and I could select 3 classes between May and August. If I select as many classes as possible this year, I could start working next year and still finish school by May. The only nuisance is I would have to pump milk in between classes for Arthur since I'm planning on nursing for a year. There is no refrigerator or freezer on campus to store the milk. Maybe I just need to buy an in-car cooler.

Today is Amy's last day to come and help me as a doula. She'll have another client in Boulder next week, whose due date is March 10th. What a fun job!

Health Care Bills

CIGNA confirmed today that Arthur was added to my current health care plan. I had to call all the labs who sent me bills to refile the claim to CIGNA. Obviously I have nothing to do at home and getting on the phone with the clerks is very rewarding.

My cell phone bill went over 400 minutes in January and I was charged 40 cents for each minute I went over. I've changed my plan to 1350 minutes per month. If I still go over this amount, I should convert to unlimited minutes per month, which is only $99.99. I didn't think I was making that many phone calls, but I guess I also receive phone calls from friends and am always put on hold when I call the insurance companies.

Biajee took Arthur to see Dr. Wilcox today. Dr. Wilcox told us to make another appointment in 2 months at the Children's Hospital in Aurora to do another ultrasound and a test that involves inserting a tube into Arthur. The chances that Arthur will get better by himself is 50%, which means the chances that he need a surgery is 50% as well.