Hikaru's New Bed

Hikaru's been sleeping in the same bed ever since he was a newborn infant. However he used to have "sleep problems", and slept in our bed most of the time. Now he's able to sleep "on his own", and asserting his independence, so we thought it was finally time for a "new" bed. Yes this is a major life transition.

The photo below is Hikaru sleeping in is bed (crib) a week after he was born...



Yesterday, we removed one of the side rails on the old crib. We attached a piece of wood on the side to prevent him from falling out. Hikaru really likes his "new" bed. He can go in and out by himself. This is how the bed looks like now...



I was testing out the new bed by sitting inside, and he told me "Daddy go outside!" (Ok, I can take a hint.) However, the ultimate "test" was last night's sleep.

As usual, Hikaru turned 360 degrees and flipped around during his sleep, but he didn't fall off the bed. I was also a bit concerned that he might trip and fall over the rail getting out, but he managed it just fine. So this morning, he came over to wake us up, saying "Mommy, Daddy -- wake up!" Who needs an alarm clock?

Does It Snow in LA?

People don't usually associate Los Angeles with snow. But after a major storm, we can often appreciate the beauty of the snow-covered San Gabriel mountains. I just had to take this photo the other week before I left for work.


Note: If you click on the photo, you can get a larger view.

Over the Rainbow

Welcome to the new year 2008! It feels much like the old year 2007, but we learned a thing or two over the past year. Our symbol of hope for this coming year is the "rainbow". Hikaru is singing his new song called "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", but right now he only knows the first line.



Our past year was a year of transition. We do appreciate Hikaru a great deal, but there was a downside in health. We're slowly moving away from the poor health resulting from sleep deprivation. The lack of sleep does very bad things, like causing memory loss, emotional instability, lowering our body's immune system and resistance to stress.

Like many new parents, we've never been so frequently sick from the colds passed around the family. However, Hikaru started to sleep a little better at night, and sometimes even going to sleep "on his own"! When Hikaru sleeps, we sleep, and it feels like a happy new beginning. We're slowly getting our life back.

When we visited Hawaii in November, we saw rainbows -- including a very spectacular display from the airplane window after taking off from Honolulu Airport. The arc made almost a complete circle! People often look for signs in nature to tell them where their lives are going, and the rainbow could be ours.



The photo above is a rainbow over the lava flows at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It might be an appropriate place to represent our "new year" with a rainbow over some of the newest land that has emerged from the molten depths under the Earth's crust.

As everyone knows, rainbows are created by a change in the weather. As the sun emerges from behind the rain clouds, the light falling on the rain internally reflects and refracts around inside the rain droplets. It disperses into the various wavelengths of light, and creates a colorful arc.

In our world of constant change, we wish that the new year will bring many happy transitions for everyone! We hope 2008 will reveal the rainbow of beautiful colors -- and the year where skies are blue and where dreams that we dare to dream really do come true!