Xiaoniu 小妞

It’s over, finally over. It is time to rest. The past week has been very busy. Plenty of things going on, lots of running around and many miles of driving. Just for a change of pace lets start from today and work our way back to the previous Monday.

Yesterday, was a day of rest for us. With everything that we had going on and staying up late to boot we were shot. I went to bed (couch actually) just after midnight and woke up around 8am feeling exhausted. I spent Monday morning reading a little, playing with the baby and packing for the trip home.

Sunday was the big day for Jason and Lily. The day they’ve been waiting for. Their wedding! I started off the day by waking up at 4:30 in the morning to drive Sue and Amy to the city for hair and makeup. We made it there just in time to see the owner opening the door at 7:05am.

They were opening the store up for us early so that they could get done up for the wedding. By 7:30 Lily and Sherry arrived for their hair and makeup as well. Somebody brought food so I had myself a snack. Shortly after 8am we were on our way out. A quick stop to stock up on crullers and coffee and we were on our way home.

A couple hours of rest in the car and we were home in time to clean up and get dressed for the wedding. I had the pleasure of attaching the boutonnieres onto every tuxedo in the house and playing chauffeur for the family.

The wedding went off without a hitch. The ceremony took place at the Marist College Chapel. I watched from the back of the chapel since Emelia found the most inconvenient time to dirty (fill up) her diaper and dress. Keeping her calm and quiet long enough so that I could make a run for the car to wash and change her once the ceremony was complete. I wish it didn’t happen at that time since I didn’t get a good chance to congratulate the bridge and groom, but it is out of our control.

I almost forgot to mention that James was the ring-bearer. He did a great job too. He walked slowly down the aisle and stayed up there the entire time. He walked back when it was all done. For a 2.5 year old he did great. If he was bored he didn’t show it and he followed directions perfectly.

After the ceremony we made our way back to the house for a rest. I was planning on napping, but instead ended up running to the pharmacy to get Sue some cough drops (she was losing her voice for no reason) and to pick up some pizza for lunch. By the time I got done I had 10 minutes to rest before having to dress up again and get everything ready to make our way to the reception.

The reception was in Queens (NYC) so we met up with my parents and drove down together. It worked out well too. Sue was in no condition to drive and dad was willing to follow me down. We made good time and arrived 30 minutes early, which was good since we had supplies for the reception in the van.

The reception started off with fruit and California rolls. We spent the time mingling waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. Between 6 and 7 was supposed to be picture taking time, but so many people showed up late that picture taking didn’t really start until after 7.

After pictures the DJ cranked up the music and started a slide show of pictures showing Jason and Lily’s family and friends. Emelia was asleep at the time and was completely freaked out by the noise. I had to grab her and run out of the place. She’ll probably have nightmares. I don’t think she was expecting to be woken up that way. We watched the show from outside the room through the glass.

My memory is already starting to get fuzzy, but I remember that they cut the cake and had the first dance not long after. Some time well after 8 they started to serve food. 10 or so courses of traditional Chinese wedding foods; suckling pig, sea cucumber, abalone, shark fin soup, etc.

During dinner different things were going on. Some games and the tea ceremony. I feel bad for the bride and groom since they did not sit at the table long enough to each much at all. We were at one of the head tables because Sue is his brother and their seats were empty most of the time.

After dinner the music was pumped up again and dancing proceeded. Emelia was still spooked so we spent most of the rest of our time in the lobby.

Overall it was a long, but very full wedding. Lots of pictures were taken, but not many by me. I spent a lot of time with Emelia so picture taking was at a minimum. I’ll try to post some of the pictures that I do have and that Sherry has shared with me as soon as I can.

After traveling to the city twice (once for makeup and the once for the reception) I was exhausted. It was a tough ride home, but we arrived safely.

Saturday is almost a blur right now. I know we worked part of the day and did running around and errands the rest of the day. I was hoping to go see Jon and Shannon Saturday afternoon, but we were not free until well after 8pm and we had to the hay early for the big day Sunday.

Friday was a lot of fun for me. I had a 4 hour creative design meeting off site to start off the day. I was able to wear normal clothes instead of a shirt and tie and the session was held offsite. It was quiet and had no distractions.

At noon we broke away and most of us, including I, made our way to a local golf course for our yearly, union picnic. This is my first work picnic/dinner that I’ve ever attended. It worked out well. The place was near our house and daycare was on the way there. I picked up Emelia and went for my meal.

It was pretty fun. Emelia was in a great mood. I popped her into her Bjorn carrier and she danced the time away. I thought the music would have scared her (this was before the wedding reception), but it didn’t. She just danced and laughed making sure to be the shining star of the show. I got so many compliments on her.

A friend at work helped hold her while I ate. Shortly after she started getting fussy so we made our way out of the place. Despite having to pay $15 to get in I did get a meal, a free stainless steel thermos and got to leave a little early. Not bad. My friend came over to the house for a little bit.

Lastly (firstly?), on Wednesday we made our way to the Altamont fair. It’s turning into a yearly tradition to go there. This year was our first with Emelia (duh) and she enjoyed herself. We did all of our usual stuff like eating deep fried veggies, deep fried dough, deep fried chicken and sirloin sandwiches. I brought James to look at the fire trucks and old cars.

During the entire time we were there a band was playing away. By 9pm we finished up with a couple rides for James and Emelia was absolutely exhausted. She was up at 4pm from a nap and didn’t sleep at all the entire evening. She was zonked out on the walk out, but keep waking because of all the noise and the concert. Although it looked like I was strangling her I kept my hands over her ears. She seems to have appreciated it since she kept still and slept that way.

As I said, what a week. With everything going on I had no time to post about everything. If I get a chance I’ll try to get some wedding pictures up.