My 8 weeks leave had finally came to an end. It had been an eventful 8 weeks taking of you and your older brother Kiệt. You were born on 12/6/23 at 4.23pm with a weight of 7lb2.3oz. You are one happy and healthy baby except when you’re hungry, but all babies are like that.
In Vietnamese, your name, Kiên, means ‘strong’ and/or ‘patient’. You were born during a somewhat challenging time. Perhaps I’ll tell you when you are older.
In the coming weeks and months, you might find yourself having to cry a bit longer and harder before I can get to you. I can only try my best but your brother is not old enough to care for himself at the moment. I promise that we all will get through this period. The night is darkest before dawn, but I am hopeful each day passes us as we’ve been blessed with kindness from everyone around us including strangers that I’ve never met. So to my dear Kiên, be strong and be patient as we navigating our ways out. Hardship builds characters and will well prepare you for the future. Don’t give up!
In a blink of an eye, another spring is upon us. Spring is your season, and when spring comes, you’re a year older. Your transformation this past year had been a mixed of fun, emotional, excitement and challenging. On your first birthday, I don’t have much to give but this short poem:
Tôi yêu mùa xuân
Mùa xuân là sự khởi đầu mới Khởi đầu từ tôi, từ những mầm non Khởi đầu từ những nụ hoa rực rỡ Khởi đầu với ngày dài và nắng ấm
Tôi yêu mùa xuân
Mùa xuân là một hi vọng mới Hi vọng của một thế hệ xáng đẹp Hi vọng từ những tình yêu đơn giản Hi vọng từ những giấc mơ ngây thơ
Tôi yêu mùa xuân
Hẹn gặp bạn dưới dàn hoa tím Hẹn gặp bạn bên cành anh đào Hẹn gặp bạn trên thảm hoa dại Hẹn gặp với vòng tay yêu mến
Tôi yêu mùa xuân,
May your life be colorful and vibrant as spring. Open yourself like a flower soaking in the sun. Be happy and bring happiness to others.
Spring came when you arrived and quickly gone. Soon without much notice, summer, too, will end as you grow and grow. In a blink of an eye, you’re now 5 months old. Time fly! In contrast, the first couple of months, some nights seem extremely long and last forever. Looking out at a dark and quite street in the middle of the night while feeding you, I wondered when will all these sleepless nights end? Here’s life lesson for you: everything looks easy until you actually do it. How hard can it be to care for someone? Pretty hard actually. As the youngest member of the Le, I’ve been spoiled with getting away from providing care to others, until you came along. And that changed everything.
As you are adapting and learning the new world around you, we are doing our parts to play catch up and outsmart new changes. From eating habbits to sleeping pattern to diapers blow out, every week comes with surprises. No two days are the same. To stay sane, I keep telling myself this is a marathon and not a sprint. Things will get harder before they get easier. Some of the things we try out of desperation to keep you quiet or to fall asleep include: bouncing up and down the yoga ball, driving around in the car…etc. When all songs are sung, I make up a new one. Here is one of it:
I am little Kiet with little feet
I will walk million miles
To moon and back
With my little feet
And to be fair to you, each of your new development makes life a little easier for everyone. For example, when your neck gets stronger, carrying you around is much easier. When you get used to the carrier, I am able to take you places like hiking, grocery stores…etc. The biggest benefit for everyone happens when you can recognize day vs. night, and that you can sleep in your own bed from 9-5am without feeding in the middle of the night. For so long, the only way for you to stay asleep is laying on my chest. And now that you can sleep on your own, some nights I awake afraid that I might have dropped you on the floor. It is quite amazing how little things can have long lasting impact.
This week you start on your solid food. It’s time to get messy. You don’t seem to like baby oatmeal so much. Banana, on the other hand, disappears quite quickly. It must be the sugar. Guess what else grows before summer ends? Teeth. 2 lower front teeth and they are quite sharp.
Kiet is going for a job interview 🙂
Until autumn, stay health and grow strongly little Kiet.
Near and far, everyone was excited and happy to welcome you on March 16th, 2022 at 1.16pm. You were measured at birth with 22 inches and 9.5 pounds; people considered you as a reasonably ‘big’ baby. Your Vietnamese name is Kiệt. Your name has several meanings and the most important take away I want to emphasize with the name is [masterpiece] – that’s because every living thing on this planet is precious, and every precious creation comes with extreme care and lot of patience. One day, soon, you’ll create your first masterpiece (big or small, or just as simple as your first drawing) you’ll understand all of this.
Growing up and even now as an adult, I’ve spent a lot of time in the hospital for various reasons. I’ve always hate the hospital settings. I am afraid of needles. I can’t stand these tubes and wires all get tangle up around my body. I hate the beeping sound from the monitoring machines. Those 7 days at the hospital to welcome you had somewhat changed my perception about the hospital setting. It’s more than a place for ill people or to say goodbye to someone you love; you can actually say “hello” and “welcome”. Those 2 words are simple and yet packed with so much meaning.
For now little Kiệt, hello and welcome from everyone who has ever known your parent. You’ve brought joy and happyness to everyone through the echo of your first cry. In return, so much love and blessing were poured upon you. From this day on, you should lead a life with purpose and do not take anything for granted.
I stopped counting because it just makes the situation more depressing. It is like asking “are we there yet?” would make the drive longer and longer. The good thing about working from home is that I can sometimes prepare dinner while I am in a meeting, so I can stretch my time out a bit more. With the extra time, most evenings we walk around the neighborhood after dinner.
Flowers are in full bloom in some local parks but it’s eerily empty and quiet.
I saw this during my bike ride and thought it’s sort of funny.
One day I had craving for Vietnamese foods so I drove to South San Jose. Most shops are closed. Those that open serve only take out with maybe 30% of their menu. Shop owners are just trying to stay afloat at this point.
Here are some countries that I am following since I have friends and families over there. The chart is linked and update automatically daily. Deaths rate is simply total deaths/total cases. Infection rate is total cases/population. And test rate is total tests/population. Nothing seems to make any sense these days.
Spring is here in the valley. Wild flowers are in full blooms. I was rewarded with colors that we don’t typically see in town. Spring and autumn are my favorite seasons; but they both exhibits similar weather patterns – unpredictable. It was cold and foggy up in the mountain while sunny and warm at home. Three more weeks and we’ll be back in the office? I am actually getting used to this settings. I don’t have to worry much about what I dress, no need to make small talks with co-workers. This new normal for most people is pretty normal to me. Besides the content of my work had changed a bit, everything else is business as usual for me.
Well the fact that I just rolled out of bed and watched Sunday Easter mass on my laptop is pretty convenience.
Before ‘flatten the curve’ becomes a new buzz word, I’ve already flatten my cycling curve a few years back. With a few minor injuries like golfer elbows and feet problems (metatarsalgia and morton’s neuroma), I decided to ride less now so I can continue to ride longer in future years. Believe me, it’s not fun to have metatarsalgia. It’s like walking on needles. So, be kind to your body. Buy cheap clothes but never skim on footwear.
This past weekend might be the last big rain we got for the season; and maybe just maybe things will get better once the weather warms up. One can only hope.
I dug through my closet and found two pristine masks I bought 3 years ago when we were in Viet Nam. If you ride on a scooter in Viet Nam (especially Saigon), you definitely need one of these. They are actually well made and very comfortable. So glad I kept them.
There are enough bread to go around at the supermarket but we tried to make our own anyway. Since all the barbershops are closed, we cut my hair at home. I found some old vegetable seeds laying around so we planted them down. I have grew a fair amount of vegetables in the past, quite liked the convenience of not having to go to the stores, but it took a lot of work and with work travel, it was not worth it.
Social distancing signs contest at the stores.
Last photo: sign to limit 3 customers inside at a time at Hung Vuong Tofu.
The winner of the above sign contest issssss Asian Supermarket. Just put the tape on the floor and called it done. We’re in the ghetto, no need to get fancy. My style :)! Lucky also put up a clear plastic barrier to provide and extra layer of protection for the staff. Bagging is not longer a thing. I actually have always bag my own grocery for at least a decade now, so self bagging is not new for me to adjust.
Before this whole social distancing became the new normal, I never had the urge to stand next to some strangers at the store. On the other hand, I’ve encountered a few moment where people were breathing down my neck and I could feel it – super gross!
One afternoon we walked around the neighborhood and found the basketball courts were full of people touching the same ball! Even a rebellious person like myself found it was unacceptable.
The cows are happy on the green hills. Miracle March is what we skiers/boarders always called it. For the past couple of weeks, we got a few feet of fresh snow in the Sierra, unfortunately all the ski resorts closed. Staying home biking is just as good for me. It’s a win-win.
I made it through my first 6 days of the lock down with only one interaction with an outsider, a check out clerk at the grocery store, on Sunday. Both of us had our masks on to protect one another. Before the pandemic, there aren’t that many riders on this side of the Bay, and it’s definitely fewer on the road these days. Most bicycle clubs had cancelled their group ride. Sometimes I pretend to be a professional cyclist, I would take the entire road on a sharp turns. Nothing lasts forever, I am sure this crisis will end. And I will be back in a tiny bike lane. I’ll be ok with that :).
There is no significant difference between weekdays or weekend anymore, in term of how life goes about. Every day feels the same. I assume everyone follows the news closely and we all hope for a rainbow after the rain. We saw one beautifully displayed in our backyard last night during our super.
Riding is great these days. No car. Less pollution. But then no friend(s) either.
Cloudy day somehow channeled my thoughts to this old song.
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