The News is Just Embarrassing Now

It's really incredible how many different ways the US has hit rock bottom in the last two years. I started listing several of the events, and then I just got too bummed out and deleted it. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I am concerned for the future of the US. Thank goodness an election is right around the corner. 

I am so grateful to be living in Australia right now. I am grateful to hear different international perspectives on what's going on in the US, and to be looking in from the outside. No country is perfect, but most other countries are not having the same issues with the sheer abundance of violence, civil unrest, and growing inequality. 

It is still so beyond me, living in a country that guarantees healthcare for all, why anyone in the US is still fighting it. It's proven to cut costs and allow for a higher quality of care and quality of life. Period. 

It's beyond me why so many people are still fighting common sense gun laws. Again, every other developed nation in the world has come up with solutions to reduce the number of guns owned by private citizens with great success at reducing violence. Period. 

I'm tired of hearing the same arguments against common sense. I'm tired of hearing about the president's tweets that fall lower and lower below the dignity of the office he holds. 

It's really sad that the people in charge simply don't want to plan for the future of the country (IT'S THEIR JOB). If they don't want their job, I'd be happy to vote in people that are willing to do the work. Taking care of and improving things - to try to make the world a better place for the next generation - didn't used to be a radical idea. I know I definitely want to world to be a better place for Penelope when she grows up, but I can't think of too many ways that it will be. 

Sharp Objects and The Half Parathon

It was a mostly quiet week, with Penelope getting over her cold/cough, and Michael working long hours on a big project for work. The only thing worth noting is that a friend who moved to Perth is visiting town this weekend with her three-month-old daughter. We got to hangout with them a little bit, which was nice.

I finished watching Sharp Objects. It was slow to start, but once it got rolling I got into it. It wins for new show with the most psychologically messed-up characters. I hadn't also read the book, but those that I know who read it said that it was a pretty solid portrayal of the story. 

This weekend was "The Half Parathon", which our friends host and run annually. It's a half marathon, but it's broken up over several stops (running in approx. 5k chunks) throughout the afternoon. Mike ran it for the first time, and Penelope and I met up with him and our friends at two of the stops. Conveniently, the route ran right down our street, so I put a sign up on our balcony that said "KEEP RUNNING!". Both Mike and PJ fell asleep by 7:30PM and I'm the only one still awake - very unusual. I'm used to being the only one awake at 2AM after I feed Penelope and she falls back asleep, but not this early.

For some reason it feels like Sunday night, even though it's Saturday. That pleasantly surprised feeling of having one more day to the weekend is much preferred to when the weekend doesn't feel long enough. 

Warm Weekend, Cold Week

Over the weekend we got to do some fun family stuff in the neighborhood. Saturday, it was warm enough to go to the pool. Sunday, we went for a walk and ended up at a local art gallery. Then, we had a game night with some friends. 

Penelope has her first cold. Half the time, she is her normal self, happy to sit in the bouncer, roll around in her playpen a little bit, be social, go for walks, etc. The other half of the time, she's a little more grumpy than usual because she can't breath properly through her nose, and thus, sleep as well as she usually does. She also isn't happy with us when we try to clear her nose out with nasal spray, since babies don't know how to blow their own noses. She didn't notice we missed swimming for the week, but she probably wouldn't have been happy to find that out. Hopefully, she will get over it soon... for comfort, and for the sake of us getting enough sleep by association.

I've started playing in a weekly frisbee league again with some friends, something I haven't been able to do in over a year... maybe a year and a half? Anyway, it was fun to run around in the cool night air with some friends and change the plastic. Even though we lost our game at universe point, and had only one male sub and no female subs, everyone was still in high spirits and had a good time. 

Hurricane Florence

I'm seeing lots of social media posts and hearing lots of news from afar about the impending hurricane along the East Coast of the US. I think everyone is a little on edge after last year's exceptionally bad hurricane season, and there are already numerous active tropical storms around the globe at the moment. I sincerely hope that the US government and individuals are prepared, and even over-prepared this time. If you are in one of the areas affected, stay safe and make good decisions! Hopefully, these semi-regular natural disasters will cue lawmakers to allocate emergency relief funding appropriately, and make good infrastructure decisions for the future of major US cities.

Crazy Rich Asians

(Mild spoiler alert)

Penelope and I went to see Crazy Rich Asians yesterday. It was a pretty tame rom-com, and it was pretty entertaining enough. There were some really pretty scenes, like the wedding scene with the water flowing down the aisle. It was great to see an entirely Asian cast take center stage. I think my favorite line by Ken Jeong went something like, "There are starving children in America who would love to have your food" - a play on the old line all of us Asians heard as children about how there are starving children in [insert Asian country your family is from], so you should be happy for the food you have. On the one hand, it's funny because the roles are reversed; on the other hand, it's a little sad because it is true these days. One thing I thought was odd, for a movie where they make a big deal about how important family is in Asian cultures, was that there were no older male characters. All the male characters in the film were young and fit; all the family members from the older generation were female. I think this was partially because the main male characters looks half-caucasian, and they didn't want to have to cast a dad for him, maybe? Another thing I thought was strange was the ending. It ended how you'd mostly expect a rom-com to end, but I feel like the main conflict in the story (with the family completely accepting the son's love interest) was never actually fully resolved. 

Anyway, It's always good when we can get out for a "prams at the pix" session.

Wild Flour, Powerful Owls, and Sleep Style

Our little experiment of me going back to work for a day was a success! Work went well for me, and Michael and Penelope had a great day together. 

We had a quiet first half of the weekend, since Michael had a lot of work to do and the weather wasn't great. The only thing worth mentioning was that the new cafe nearby, Wild Flour, opened (where the Town Bike Pitstop used to be). I got to try some of their goodies for free - cinnamon soft pretzels, nutella scrolls, and sandwiches, yum! 

Sunday, when the weather was gorgeous, we had a picnic at Centennial Park and went for a long walk. The highlight was finding the powerful owls. Some time ago, maybe a year or two, one of the two resident powerful owls was, sadly, hit by a car. Since then, the surviving one has found a new mate and they've had a baby. We were lucky enough to see all three hanging out up high in a tree together. The baby is gigantic, but has different plumage to tell it apart. 

We finished off the weekend with a game night with some friends and Indian food. Penelope loves when we have friends over, and likes to try to stay up socializing until she just can't anymore. 

Since Penelope hit the six month mark, she has been going to sleep much easier. She still takes a few minutes to settle, and she still wakes up some at night, but her naps and wake up times are a lot more consistent. It saves a lot of my energy and time and it's also really nice to see that she has already grown enough emotionally to trust her surroundings and us. There's this big question in parenting these days as to whether or not you should let your baby "cry it out" to get to sleep more soundly through the night. Lots of professionals warn against it, and yet it is very common practice and there are different common methods. I'm very happy that we never had to do it for Penelope to get to where she is. It's not to say she doesn't fuss some when going down to sleep; she does mildly protest, rolling around or whinging a little. We just roll her back over, pat her on the back a little bit, and usually gets sleepy. Sometimes we have to do that three times, but it eventually works. I honestly don't know how some parents can listen to their kid cry and scream for a half hour or an hour. I have no judgment for the parents who teach their children to self-settle in whatever ways they need to in order to function as a family, since every kid and every parent have different needs. I just couldn't listen to my kid cry that long. Literally, our apartment is so small, I'd have a splitting headache and my nerves would be frayed in no time and it wouldn't be worth it. Maybe those parents just have bigger homes. 

Having said all that and making it sound like we are so great, for the first six months I did what a lot of people said not to do also - getting Penelope to sleep by feeding, rocking, or holding her. They say not to do all that stuff because you'll regret it that they won't self-settle. And you know what? I don't regret it, and most of the time I really loved it. The trade off is that there are nights that she is suddenly wide awake at 3AM, and you just have to take those moments in shifts, and then they pass. You find a way to make up the sleep later, or have a tea and do without it. Luckily, it seems like those nights will be less from now on (but time will tell). I'm sure someone will read what I said and judge us for our parenting decisions, but I don't care. People are going to do that anyway, so at least I'm happy about mine, and my kid seems pretty happy too. 

It's a warm and sunny start to the new week, and we already have a swim lesson under our belts. 

Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose. 

Muppets and Babies and Muppet Babies

Part of having a young baby is trying to get them onto at least a rough schedule. It's good for them to have predictability a lot of the time, so they can build trust in the people and in the world around them, and it helps them nap and sleep better because their drowsiness will get cued by the regular activities that come before it. I am pretty good at keeping things consistent for Penelope. I usually plan our little outings around when she naps, or try to time it so that she falls asleep in the pram.  It's one of the most gratifying, boring things you can do as a new parent, and it allows you to maximise my time when baby is asleep to do other things. When Penelope has three good naps in a day, and goes to sleep at a reasonable time, I give myself a pat on the back. 

When Michael has a few hours with her, he wants to take her on adventures. He is not concerned about getting her to nap, since he figures she will sleep when she needs to. He trusts that in the end, no matter the smaller day-to-day details, Penelope will end up okay. He finds nothing more boring and tedious than staying home just for the sake of following a schedule.

When it comes to parenting, I am an order Muppet, Michael is a chaos Muppet. In other situations, or around different groups of people, I am a chaos Muppet and Michael is an order Muppet. For example, I am a chaos Muppet when it comes to producing creative art, following inspiration and a more organic process, while Michael will plan and even strategise or write up spreadsheets before putting pen to paper. Then afterwards, he will categorise the work he has done and display it flawlessly. I am the Jackson Pollock, and he is the Da Vinci. In any case, there are benefits to both points of view in different circumstances. 

But, back to us parenting Muppets. Tomorrow is the first day Michael will be with Penelope all day while I substitute teach. This will not be a regular affair, but something I might occasionally do when we are able to pull it off. I have not taught in about seven months, so it will be interesting be get back into it. It's weird now, to spend a day with a bunch of other people's kids and not my own. Will Penelope eat and nap well when I'm out? I hope so, but I expect that their day will follow a different course. 

The question is, what kind of Muppet will Penelope become?

6 Months

As of today, Penelope is officially six months old. Most of the time she is smiling and has so much energy she can't stop kicking. She loves jumping in her bouncer and swimming with Mom or Dad. She can roll over like a champ, and she her eye-hand coordination is getting better everyday. She is starting to eat solid foods and guzzles water from her sippy cups. Her hair remains fabulous, but less spikey than it was in the first few months. She gets FOMO and can't sleep if she knows there is fun to be had. Sometimes she naps, haha. Penelope gets really excited when our cats come close, but she is still learning how to pet them gently. She has already taken her first flight (to the Gold Coast), and been to a few different beaches. She has been to the Sydney Harbour area, her first Vivid Festival, and taken a ferry to Cockatoo Island. She has mingled with native wildlife at Centennial Parklands and The Basin. She has a few different baby friends around town, as well as few grown up fans (like the people at the local coffee shop that literally dance because she is always smiling at them). The weekly farmers market and Facetiming grandparents are regular affairs. She is already an ultimate frisbee groupie. I could keep rambling about her all day, but she's just woken up from her nap, and it's time to be active. Life with Penny has been far from boring, and we are enjoying life with the little firecracker.