Infinity Exhaustion

It's understandable that our days are a lot more exhausting than they used to be because of this bundle of joy, apple of our eye, cutey patootey....

but this weekend taught us a whole other level of exhaustion, one I have tokened (just now mind you) as infinity exhaustion.

Normally, a nap helps mitigate the intermittent sleep through the night and normally, my days involve boob feeding, sleeping, eating, reading, watching tv, talking on the phone, browsing the internet, a walk around the neighborhood, and some cleaning.

This weekend, we had three big events on Saturday and two big events on Sunday and these "events" came with short naps that did not alleviate the fatigue caused, resulting in a very tired mommy me.

Our family and friends came into town for Jordan's one month Chinese celebration and baby blessing. We started our Saturday morning with lunch in Little Tapei (Monterey Park), followed by a trip to a free carnival complete with bouncy obstacle courses, carousel swings, pony rides, cotton candy, popcorn, sno cones and a train ride! Jordan had a fabulous time in his stroller and slept through the whole thing while our nieces, Sophie and Violet, enjoyed themselves with Sophie going on the pony ride and the carousel swings! We were able to catch a quick respite before heading over to my hometown for a one month dinner celebration.

My way too generous friends, who have brought over gifts for Jordan every time they have visited (which has been 3 times over the last 4 weeks) brought more gifts again. They just are incapable of showing up empty handed but I am so grateful for their excitement, generosity and excellent taste!

My BFF Grace, aka the sister I never had (until Tammy came along that is...) got Jordan and me a CD with nursery rhymes and songs - how exciting since all I can recall is twinkle twinkle little star and part of the itsy bitsy spider... hehe
Julia and her husband Eric got us a jellycat rabbit from Yolk (hipster Silverlake store with really cute gift wrapping!) since Jordan was born in the year of the golden rabbit and 28 dollars for him being 28 days old (we had our one month celebration a few days early). This is on top of the two packs of Pampers they brought us, three pints of gelato, dozen of mini Dot's cupcakes (I know, I'm spoiled by my friends) and delicious - no scrumptious and mouthwatering homemade mac n cheese, cheese puff pastries and gooey cheesy and garlicy french bread! I'm bummed I didn't get a photo with the Chins but they are now infamous in our family and being invited to all our family "potlucks" and were even offered room and board if they flew out to Utah with their cooking creations.

My dad, true to the Asian stereotype, took a bunch of photos but Andy's uncle Ike, a professional photographer, took over some of the camera taking and we got a bunch of photos with everyone! My favorite photo of Jordan from the one month with OGO*.
He just looks so comfortable in OGO's arms. The first official photo with both sets of grandparents!

The set menu was a very traditional Shanghai banquet so I was not shocked when my brother in law and even husband were a little scared off by the sea cucumber but I was shocked when our friends Jeff and Passelly tried almost everything! The menu was even authentic for me but I'm glad there were some adventurous eaters! Needless to say, I was way to stuffed after the trio of desserts - eight treasure rice (my favorite!) sesame rice balls and slices of oranges that Yogurtland (which is right next door!) was only a distant and now unattainable dream. *sigh

That night, my infinity exhaustion began. Everyone was outside watching I Am Number Four and it wasn't that late, but I could smell the sweetness of sleep and I was OUT. But after a feeding at 4 AM, I could not fall asleep again. So unable to sleep, I started revamping our blog. Big mistake. Adrenaline still on my side, I took a shower at 6:30 AM, fed Jordan at 7 AM and realized, my timing is way off. Given his two hour feeding schedule, he would be hungry at .. precisely... 9 AM - which is when Church starts and the baby blessings are always towards the beginning of the Sacrament hour! Oh no! To counteract his hunger, I fed him again at 8:20 AM and kept my fingers crossed.

I was nervous whether my parents, brother, aunt and Grace would make it on time. I didn't want to pressure them about being punctual (given my own track record) but knew if they showed up a bit late, they could miss it all! As we drove into the parking lot, I saw my dad - couldn't miss him in his black dress shirt and red tie. We walked in and I saw my mom, brother, aunt and not far away, Grace was walking towards me in a cute vintage blouse, slacks and a bright turquoise sweater (she had been unsure what to wear and proudly told me she picked out a good conservative outfit for "church"). I breathed a short sigh of relief and was excited for them to be at Church with me - this was a first for me as well as them and throughout the meeting, I tried my best to explain to Grace what was going on just like someone had done for me my first time at Church but technically, it wasn't Grace's first time at an LDS Sacrament meeting. She had been to once at the Singles Ward to listen to me give a talk but now I was sitting next to her and able to give her more insight into the Sacrament prayer and sing the hymns with her.

The blessing was absolutely beautiful and touching. Andy blessed Jordan to grow, learn, know that his parents and Heavenly Father loved him, to choose the right, gain his own testimony, desire to do good, serve others, serve the Lord, find a good wife, get married in the Temple, be a good husband, be a good father, and devote his life to the Lord. Since I didn't grow up in any Church, it's hard to explain what a baby blessing is to my friends who did as they often ask me if it's a baby baptism. Not having seen a baby baptized before, all I respond with is that in our Church, revelation has advised us not to let children get baptized until they are eight, the age of accountability.

A baby blessing is a sacred, happy and family happy ordinance within our Church that is similar to the blessing that Jesus gave to the little children in Mark 10:16. When Christ did this, he had the authority from our Heavenly Father which we in the Church have through the Melchizedek Priesthood. It is a privilege for Jordan to be given his name and blessed by his father who holds the priesthood and that our son is recognized by God. Maybe Jordan knew this because he was an absolute angel during the blessing - not a peep, not even a poop or gassy moan/grunt that he often lets out.

However, Jordan was unable to stay quiet throughout the entire one hour and ten minutes of Sacrament meeting and about 15 minutes towards the end, he started moaning, grunting and farting. Maybe the sound was magnified to Grace and me because we both freaked out, and left to change him. After changing him, we realized he was hungry and I realized that my dress was not conducive to feeding him! We gave him a little bottle of boob milk and then, rushed to get a photo with the family before going home. It was cold outside and everyone was everywhere and of course, this photo depicts the frenzy in mommy me as I am trying to calm Jordan and get the family over for a photo together.
A picture can say a thousand words. Priceless isn't it?

Luckily we got everyone (except Zach who was running around somewhere) into a photo but unluckily, my bangs were a mess - attempted tuck behind the ears that puffed up resulting in a very odd little extra loop of hair that is in EVERY photo! Ack!

I wore red shoes to match Andy's red tie but the photo didn't capture it... bummer.

L-R back row: My brother Ray, Andy's dad Dennis, Andy, Jordan, me, Andy's sister Tammy, our niece Violet, Andy's mom May, our niece Sophie, brother-in-law Jeff, cousin Luke, Uncle James; L-R front row: My dad Hung, mom, Dee, BFF Grace, Aunt Jan, Uncle Ike, cousin Ania, cousin AJ, cousin Emily, Aunt Monica... and somewhere in the grass nearby Zach is running around.

After the blessing, we went home to get the house ready. Our delicious meal consisted of Cafe Rio barbacoa salad/burritos, mac n cheese, cheese puffs, french bread, a strawberry and blueberry dessert, a Cathy's Bakery Chinese chocolate strawberry cake and tons of drinks (we never have drinks at our house besides water so that was exciting too!). It was a great time with our family and friends and everyone overloaded on carbs with the freshly made cheese puffs (which kept coming out of the oven in batches so we just kept eating them).

Infinity exhaustion hit me again that night as I once again, was OUT while the family watched a movie together - this time an 80's flick - Mannequin!

Oh sleep, how I have missed you. Regardless of the infinity exhaustion, I had a blast this weekend! I am so grateful for all of our family who made it out. Infinity exhaustion and infinity fun!

*OGO - "oh great one," a phrase coined by Andy's dad for his grandkids to address him instead of Grandfather or Grandpa.