Halloween

This was Zoë's second Halloween, but the first one she was only a couple of weeks old. Zoë went as a little piglet. She was too young for trick or treat, but her daycare did have a special event with the children dressed up in their costumes. Lisa is also in her pediatric physical rehab rotation so she dressed as Indiana Joan for the young patients. Though I work in a children's hospital, I'm currently in the NICU where the patients are babies, they're intubated, paralyzed, blindfolded under a UV bili light or hidden inside an isolate. So I didn't dress up. And I decided this year not to go to our annual Halloween party hosted by my resident program. Instead, Lisa and I took Zoë on a brief walk to pick up food while she was dressed in her piglet outfit. Besides, Chicago was crazy tonight with late nighters.

The Butt Sign

In pediatrics we often will joke that a baby who has been admitted to our inpatient service to be ready for discharge when we observe what we call the "butt sign". It's a term when the baby falls asleep with its derriere in the air. It's kind of a non-specific, non-sensitive way to indicate that the patient is healthy and perhaps ready for discharge. Zoë fell asleep last night exhibiting this very sign. Lisa and I had a good laugh taking this picture in the dark, and it came out nicely with the flash. We both knew she was a healthy girl.

From Butt Sign

From Butt Sign

New arrivals in the group

One of my friends in the residency program had her baby over a month ago. Vittoria is a beaufitul baby girl born to our favorite German-Italian couple. Our friends, Lauren and Marian, were kind to organize a baby shower for Ursula and her baby this past weekend (Vittoria's dad was out-of-town). Zoë and Lisa were able to make it to the baby shower, but I unfortunately was working the night shift in the pediatric ER. Lisa did snap some pictures of the event with some familiar faces from the residency program. In addition to Vittoria, another baby was present - Grayson who is our future chief's baby boy.

Ravioli!

Zoë got up from a nap and was hungry so Dad decided to feed her ravioli from our fake Italian friend, Chef Boy R Dee, despite Mom's disapproval (she was taking a nap so I thought she wouldn't mind). Zoë was cautious at first but then really enjoyed the raviolis though I think she enjoyed finger painting with the sauce more.





Needless to say, she had to get a bath right after lunch. I think I'm going to reserve pastas with sauces until dinner from now on (when Mom's not looking).

Zoë turns one!

Our girl turned numero uno this weekend. Grandparents from both sides of the family came to celebrate. It wasn't a big celebration since we agreed a long time ago that we thought it was silly for a one year old to have a huge family party. It worked out to be even smaller than we thought since none of Lisa's or my siblings were able to make it. The Hsu grandparents flew in the night of Oct. 10. Lisa was unfortunately on-call but we were able to get some pictures of Zoë playing with Grandpa/Grandma Hsu.



The next day we had breakfast dim sum in Chinatown at the Phoenix Restaurant followed by a brief stop at the Chinese grocery store.



Grandpa/Grandma Preston drove up that afternoon before Zoë's birthday to share in the birthday dinner. We all had dinner at a Cuban restaurant (Cafe 28). Afterwards, it was lemon/lime cake made by Grandma Preston and gift opening for Zoë. Zoë got to spend lots of quality time with both sets of grandparents and got lots of books, toys and attention. Of interest was a cloth rattle hand made by Aunt Cathy. We all thought it was cool in a creepy way. Grandpa and Grandma Preston returned home shortly after eating delicious birthday cake.





Zoë's official birthday was Oct. 12 which was also Chicago Marathon day so we walked half a block from our home to the 6.5 mile mark and saw the elite runner run by. Zoë enjoyed waving. Our plan is to get her interested in running early so she can run with mom and dad! Grandpa and Grandma Hsu left shortly after the marathon was over.

We're a classy family

The family was putzing around in bed today during a lazy afternoon after church. I like to think Lisa and I set good examples as role models for our daughter. Here's a frank video of what the Hsu household really is like. You do have to admit, after watching this video, Lisa is impressive. Yeah, that's the woman I married.

Standing on her own

Zoë has been standing on her own for awhile now but since I just got this on video I thought I'd include it to show how well she has been progressing with her feet.