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A toddler in Hong Kong

Bringing Natalie to Hong Kong was an awesome experience. Not only did she get to meet a ton of relatives who just ooo’d and aaaah’d all over her, but she got to eat really great food (can we say fresh steamed fish everyday?). Her usual diet of chicken nuggets or fish sticks from home was no where to be found the whole time we were there.

I had only read a little bit about having a toddler in Hong Kong before visiting. It was overall a really pleasant experience and I think it’s a lot of fun to bring a toddler to Hong Kong. Here are some of my notes/tips/advice/observations:

1. It’s not as stroller friendly but it’s possible

Before going to Hong Kong, I perused a bunch of expat websites and tripadvisor about tips for bringing a toddler to Hong Kong…and there was one theme: use a baby carrier instead of a stroller.  Hong Kong is not stroller friendly.  Yikes – we LOVE our stroller.  We are fortunate enough to have a child that somehow gets all zen when in the stroller and naps easily in one.  I figured it was a sign when *gasp* on our way to the airport I realized we completely forgot our stroller and left it in our garage.  Argh!  It’s okay, I said, we have the Ergo.  The websites told me that that’s the way to go anyway!  On our first day, we strapped Natalie into the Ergo onto Matt’s back and, miraculously, she fell asleep in it (she’s fallen asleep in it before but not since, like, before she was 1…and certainly never on the back).  Success!  The Ergo will do! How wonderful and convenient it is as we manage the narrow crowded streets of Hong Kong.  However, at the end of the day, we were tired.  See, when we go to Hong Kong, we walk A LOT and we walk a lot of stairs and escalators and what not.  Sure, Natalie can walk on her own but it’s tough carrying a 27lb toddler on your back all day. 

The next morning, the buckle on the Ergo broke.  It was a sign.

We found ourselves at the Harbour City shopping mall on Canton Rd in the chidren’s section looking for a stroller (the same mall where Gucci Kids and Burberry Children was located, I kid you not).  After surviving the mad rush of Toys R Us, we walked into a pretty big chain in Hong Kong called Mothercare and came out with a nice Maclaren Volo.  We wanted a light umbrella stroller that we could probably resell easily in Seattle…and Maclarens are hugely popular in Seattle (we ended up reselling it for $80 when we got back, not bad!)

We loved the stroller.  Not only did Natalie nap in it every day but it held my hugely heavy diaper bag plus all the shopping bags we would acquire during the day.  It was so light and easy to fold and collapse, which proved very handy when jumping onto a bus and carrying her down stairs to the MTR station.

Now, it’s not easy but it’s do-able.  Hong Kong is full of escalators and stairs.  There are elevators but they’re either jam packed or out of the way typically.  We frequently pushed the stroller onto the escalator (*gasp*) out of convenience and usually had to lift her over the turnstile at the MTR station (if you’re lucky, you’ll come across a wider turnstile that accommodates strollers)….but it was all worth it.  If your child loves napping in strollers, stick with a stroller.

2. Most high chairs are just boosters

Surprisingly, most restaurants in Hong Kong have high chairs; however, their version of a high chair is what look like a booster seat that (sometimes) is strapped onto the chair.  More often than not, there are absolutely no straps to hold down the child…which, when you have a squirmy toddler, spells trouble.  Fortunately, I had read about this and got a Totseat in anticipation.  Thank goodness – that thing came in sooo handy.

3. It’s culturally normal for people to take photos of your child

I had also read about this ahead of time and mentally prepared for it.  We would often be taking a photo of Natalie and then some stranger would pass by, whip out their phone, snap a picture too and say “cute!” and carry on.  There wasn’t any “mind if I take a picture of your child?”.  It was just perfectly normal for them to take a picture!  Even stranger was that people would come up and want to hold her and take a picture with her.  When we were on Victoria’s Peak, a line even formed of others that wanted to also take a picture with her!  Odd.

4. Children’s menu? Hah

Restaurants don’t have children’s menus, unless it’s a really Westernized restaurant.  If you go there expecting mac’n’cheese and chicken nuggets as options next to your Beef and Broccoli, you’re out of luck.  Fortunately for us, Natalie LOVED eating steamed fish which we often ate.  Otherwise, I did keep a healthy supply of vegetable pouches in my diaper bag for the times that she refused any of the food.

5. They love kids, whether they’re happy or having a tantrum

This one is hard to describe—it’s not like Americans don’t love kids…but there’s this unspoken “your kids are really cute until they start crying in which case they are invading my personal space so please remove your chid until they are a cute, smiling kid again”.  As a result, when your child is having a tantrum, you just get these “poor you” looks from others.  In Hong Kong, it’s the opposite – when Natalie would cry, the waitress, people at the table next to us would jump at the chance to talk to her and help calm her down.  It was really reassuring feeling like it was okay if she cried in a public spot.

6. Babycare centers — a palace for diaper changes

It’s pretty standard in the US to walk into the ladies restroom and find the Koala changing table attached to the wall somewhere to change your baby’s diaper.  Well, in Hong Kong, they sometimes have those…but more often than not, they have “babycare centers”.  This is usually in a mall (and malls are everywhere in Hong Kong)…and range from being a small room for one family to a large facility designed for several families.  What’s inside is usually a soft, rubberized changing table, a separate small room with a comfy chair for mom to nurse or pump and a bottle warmer.  In some, there would be a small potty for the newly potty trained. It’s really amazing.  The one in the Harbour City mall is ridiculous and contains like 8 changing stations.  It really is a palace for diaper changes.

7. Need milk?  Go to 7 Eleven

Milk is not a normal drink for most Chinese in Hong Kong…as a result, it’s usually not anywhere on the menu in any restaurant (again, unless it’s a more westernized restaurant).  So what do you do?  Pick up milk at the 7 Eleven.  They sell them in small containers that are just the right size for a sippy cup…and don’t worry, there’s a 7 Eleven every few blocks and in every MTR station.

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Jetlag: 1 Sousas: 0

We are back in Seattle now and the jetlag is absolutely killing us.   Going to Hong Kong was a breeze, as if time never changed…but coming back has been a completely different story.  We got back at 2:30pm on Thursday and so far, this is Natalie’s sleep schedule:

Thurs (traveling most of the day)
12pm – 2pm: nap on plane
3-4pm: nap in car
7pm: asleep for the night
10pm-1am: waking up every hour
1:30am: up for the day

Friday
11:30am – 4:45pm: nap
7pm: down for the night
11:30pm: waking up every hour
3:30am: up for the day

Saturday
1:30pm – 7:30pm: nap (we overslept ourselves and fell asleep too!)
12:30am: asleep for the night
5:30am: woke up for the day (but at least no wakeups!)

Sunday
10:30am – 3pm: nap
5pm: fell back asleep
3am: woke up
4am: up for the day

Monday
1pm – 4pm: nap
8:40pm: night night

And this is where we are now. She will sleep for as long as we let her when we put her down for the afternoon nap because as far as her body is concerned, it is “night night” and she is OUT. Just yesterday, we went to Whole Foods around 5pm and she completely fell asleep after we put her in the grocery cart. I’d never seen anything like it. She was flopping around like a bunny and could not for the life of her stay awake.

Anyway, her waking up very early has not made it easy for me or Matt to really catch up on our jetlag…I’m hoping she’ll adjust soon!

Hong Kong was wonderful. I have much to say about the trip, in a future post. For now, I’m off to wake Natalie up. She will NOT be happy.


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Made it to Hong Kong in one piece!

I’m writing this from Hong Kong right now and am happy to report that our trip over was a lot easier than we expected. At first, I thought it was going to be hellish as Natalie would NOT sleep and had this sudden burst of night-time-owl energy. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise and made her transition to Hong Kong time a cinch.
Our flight left Seattle at 11pm to go to Vancouver. We thought for sure that she’d fall asleep on the way to the airport as it was past her bedtime and she sleeps in the car easily….but nope. Then on the airplane, she was hyperactive. In Vancouver, we had a 2 hour layover from midnight – 2am. Well, unfortunately, our first mistake was completely forgetting to bring the stroller which she sleeps easily in. Without that, she was bouncing around the airport. Yes, she was literally up til 2am and wasn’t cranky at all. We boarded our plane at 2am and at that point, it hit her that she was super tired. For the next 15-20 minutes, Miss Crankypants came out and she was soooo upset, but by 2:40am, she fell asleep, sprawled out on our laps. She then slept for the next 7-8 hours. Upon waking, she ate, watched and played with the iPad and was generally pleasant. Then, 2 hours before landing, she fell back asleep until we landed. Sweet! I mean, it was soooo much easier than we expected. Matt and I each got to nap and even each watch 3 movies on our own!
We arrived in Hong Kong at 7:30am…and with that 2 hour nap at the end of the flight, Natalie was feeling great…and practically rolled right into her regular routine, but on Hong Kong time! Her afternoon nap was longer than usual (12-3:30pm) but then she woke to go out, have dinner, meet her great grandmother for the first time, and then was back in bed by 9pm…waking up at 7am the next day. Ever since, her routine has been completely normal, amazing.
PS — after one day of using only the Ergo and walking blocks and blocks, we decide to get a stroller here. We had to choose between super cheap with a brand no one’s heard of, and a bit more $$ with a more well known brand. Due simply to weight (which is a huge factor when folding strollers constantly for getting into taxis or lifting to go up many flights of stairs), we chose the Maclaren Volo. It’s pretty awesome although I wish there was a recline but that would’ve been more expensive. Natalie naps really well in it and we’ve been using it a lot. We will try to resell it when we get back to Seattle

Natalie meeting her great grandmother for the first time

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Travel travel travel

The last few weeks has been a crazy amount of travel for me–

Oct 29 — Los Angeles

Nov 3 — San Francisco

Nov 10 — San Diego

Nov 13 — Boston

I got a really great opportunity to attend a number of events that are part of the Windows Phone Inner Circle night events, helping to demo new phones with Windows Phone 7.5 running on it. These are typically PR/Marketing events but they reached out to the engineering team to see if anyone wanted to participate. I jumped at the opportunity and am so happy that I got the chance to experience these events. We’ve gotten some great feedback — positive and negative — and it’s just interesting seeing what life is like for PR guys at Microsoft.

Of course, each city has been an amazing experience, even though for the most part, I was in the city for barely 24 hours:

Los Angeles — stayed in the ultra retro-cool Standard Hotel with its amazing rooftop bar/pool and waterbed pods (yes, waterbed). Also got to have brunch with Betina and fam, which was a treat.

San Francisco — soaked in the sun in this amazing Bay Area city. Got drinks with college bud Sab and had some much needed girl time with her catching up on our lives

San Diego — first time here! love this city, gotta return. Lunch with my uncle too…and had the most amazing sushi at Nobu.

Boston — this city will always have a special place in my heart. I spent the most time here since it’s on the right coast. Flew in early, hung out with the little brother for the day, outfitting his apartment. Oh–and totally random — we had lunch with Stephen Tobolowsky, his wife and David Chen (the co-host of the Tobolowsky Files) Also had lunch with the youger cousin (who paid for lunch! awww–love it when the younger in the generation pays for the first time….it’s like they’re growing up for realz) and then learned way more about mixology than I ever thought I knew over drinks with Aaron and coworker Greg. Took a morning jog along the Charles. Breathtaking.

Of course, now I’m home, you’d think I’d have some time to breathe…but I leave in a few days to fly solo with Natalie to visit the parents for Thanksgiving (Matt is joining us later)…and then when we return, we have 1.5 weeks before we brave a 17+ hour journey to Hong Kong with Natalie as a lap child. Lord have mercy on us.

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Constant surprises

I swear Natalie keeps surprising me all the freakin’ time. Apologies as I take the time to gloat…but well, I just have to gloat. This age is so much fun — she is learning so much and soaking everything up like a sponge. It’s incredible.

Just tonight alone, a few firsts (at least for me)—

  • She looked at me and said “sorry” after I gave her a timeout for throwing some food
  • After giving her a bath, she looked at me and then counted from 1 to 10 without me prompting her for the next number.  I about fell over.
  • While reading her bedtime story, I described what humming was.  While re-reading the book, when we got to the part about humming, she started to hum.  It was adorable — she was smiling and so proud of herself.
  • It’s truly fascinating seeing her language develop.  Lately, she speaks in sentences all the time — at this point, it’s still random toddler babble with a real word here and there…but it’s several words with the inflection of a sentence.  Seriously amazing.

    Anyway, we had her 18 month check up recently — 24 lbs 9 oz and 33″ long.  Have to admit she’s lighter than I thought…she just feels so heavy in that left arm lately!

    Posted in parenting.

    My parent’s visit

    I’ve been meaning to write a post about my parent’s visit a month and a half ago. They were here for a good week when the weather was amazing and fabulous. There’s so much we did but I wanted to highlight two things: our Labor Day and a day trip we took to Whidbey Island.

    On Labor Day, we headed out early over to Golden Gardens Beach Park. I had read that they just opened up a brand new playground so I was eager to see it. Our timing was perfect as there was plenty of parking–within 2 hours of our arrival, there was no parking anywhere close so that was a good call! The playground was nice but really full of other families with the same idea as us. I personally found it to be geared more towards older kids but fun nonetheless. Here’s a video of Natalie on the swings:

    After hanging out in the playground, we headed over to the beach, lay down some towels and just soaked in the sun and view. Surprisingly, Natalie was enjoying just sitting in the sand, snacking, playing, etc..

    But of course, we eventually changed her into the proper baby-UV-fighting outfit and let her walk around.

    I was surprised to learn that after living in Seattle for 12 years, I had never taken my parents to Golden Gardens! It was nice to show them the “beach” side of Seattle. We got a nice lunch at Anthony’s afterwards, headed home briefly then Chinese food in the ID.

    Over the course of the week, I also realized that I’d never taken them on any ferry in Seattle. I didn’t want to do any overnight trips, so I planned a day trip to Whidbey Island with them. It was a VERY short ferry ride — 15 minutes I think? We still got some fun pictures out on the deck during that short ride:




    After arriving, we immediately went into the town of Langley for some lunch. I wanted to check out the Prima Bistro from the reviews I had read–all in all, charming, nice deck, food was decent but maybe a little bit pricey. We walked around the town for a little bit afterwards–Natalie loved having her grandparents walk her around!

    We then drove over for some more beach time — this time to Double Bluff Beach. It is of course famous for its Double Bluff but also for having a great high and low tide. When at low tide, the water is of course quite shallow for quite awhile. It’s a really popular beach for locals, children, pets. Again, we lay down some towels and just soaked in the gorgeous view and the smell of the salty sea air. It was low tide…and it was moving so fast that we found ourselves having to relocate our towels within 45 minutes of arriving.

    Natalie changed into her swimsuit and we started to explore around.




    By the time we were done, it was high tide again and much of the beach was no longer visible. We had to walk through the water just to even get to the stair entrance. We cleaned up (thank goodness for remembering a tip to bring a baggie of cornstarch — it does wonders for removing sand off of the body!) and headed out for a leisurely drive through the rest of Whidbey Island so Natalie could take a nap.

    In the northern part of the island, we took an obligatory stop at Deception Pass to walk along the narrow bridge and take in the views. The sun was setting so it was beautiful.

    We crossed the bridge and were back “on the mainland”. It was close to dinnertime and we were hungry–so we decided to swing down to the historic waterfront town of La Conner to eat dinner on our way home. I’d never been but had always been curious. It’s such a cute little quaint town and there are a number of waterfront restaurants. We just randomly picked one and were lucky enough to score a nice table right on their deck so that we could watch the sun set. We had some delicious seafood too!


    We still had an hour drive after dinner and it was well past Natalie’s normal bedtime, but she fell asleep in the car and miraculous remained asleep after we got home…even after bringing her in, taking off her clothes, changing her diaper and putting on her pjs. We just easily picked her up and put her down in the crib! What a great ending to a nice day!

    So anyway, the rest of my parent’s visit was just full of good food and lots of taking Natalie out to parks and such. Good times.

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    In this last month…

    Argh, been delaying blog posting again because I wanted to write about some of the cool day trips I did with my parents when they visited…..a month ago.  But so many fun things have happened over this last month and I better write them down before I forget:

    • This isn’t new but Natalie loves saying bye bye all the time now.  As part of our bedtime routine, we change her, then mommy brushes her teeth, mommy gives her a kiss and leaves the room, daddy reads her the book, rocks her and puts her to sleep.  Lately though, after mommy brushes teeth, Natalie will just look at me and give me a dismissive “buh bye”.  Like, “okay you’re done, be gone”. Ha Ha.
    • This morning, after she woke up, she just lay there babbling.  At one point, she started saying “bye bye” and waved at an invisible person over and over.  It was hilarious.  I caught it on video–forward to start around 45 seconds to see her start her bye byes.

    • She’s getting better at going up and down the stairs via walking.  As long as she’s holding onto a railing, she can balance herself better now that she can do it.
    • She’s really picking up on comprehension. We can open a book of animals and ask her to point at the cow and she’ll point at it.  Or, we’ll say “where’s the thing that says moo?” and she’ll also point at it.
    • She’s slowly getting better at utensils.  I recently gave her a bowl of yogurt and a spoon and she fed herself the whole bowl!  It was messy but she did it.  We also gave her some eggs and a fork and she did pretty well with that.
    • She’s tried actual sipping from a cup which she finds fun.  She’s also gotten better about drinking from the default plastic cups with straws that you typically get in restaurants for children.  She would previous just squeeze it or tilt it back like a sippy cup so it didn’t work.
    • Signing manners — she can sign please and thank you now.
    • At the playground, she’s really good about climbing up to the slide and then going down by herself.  It’s incredible.  Natalie is really a little climber.

    • She can really pick up on words now — her current vocabulary includes: mama, dada, nat, katherine, mauer, please, more, no, bath, potty, yucky, peepee, wa wa (water), ba ba (dog), moo, apple, nana (banana), bunny, all done (she says this a lot), bye bye, hi, socks, shoes, baby…..I’m sure there’s more but you can see, it’s really incredible how many words she’s picked up recently!
    • We’ve gotten her used to sitting on the potty now.  She doesn’t go at all — it’s too early for potty training but for now, we just want her to feel comfortable sitting on the potty.  We got her a Potty book and read it to her.  When she sees us go, she says “potty!” and “pee pee!”.  So she understands what’s going on.  Crossing fingers that this may lead to early potty training!
    • Her sleep was really crazy in most of September….waking up 1-2 times a night, inconsolable and often sleeping in bed with us.  It was miserable.  This lasted for weeks…then suddenly, a few days ago, it stopped and she started to sleep through the night again…if not for longer! I’m talking 12-13 hours…even 14 hours one night (she slept in til 10am this last weekend!)  I swear there is a tooth there that I just can’t see that must’ve been causing her pain all this last month.

    Anyway, that’s all I can think of for now — hopefully I’ll have time to write about recent day trips.

    Posted in parenting.

    Blowing raspberries

    Blowing raspberries isn’t a new thing.  However, tonight as I started to put Natalie to bed, I did the usual routine — brush her teeth, read a book, say night-night and then proceed to turn off the light and turn her around so she can lay on my chest while I rock in the rocking chair for a bit.  I was wearing a tank top…and a couple minutes in, she moved her head back and forth…and in the middle of the quiet, she turned her face onto my chest and blew a raspberry onto my bare skin!  It was too funny!  She did it a few times after realizing this new trick of hers and then I had to stand up to concentrate on falling asleep. [sigh]

    My parents just visited for a week and we did so many fun things while they were here — primarily because the weather was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S (in Seattle, that means it’s sunny and in the 80’s).  They babysat for us last week while we attened the wedding of Mohit and Shalaka out at Snoqualmie Ridge Golf Club.  On Labor Day, we went to Golden Gardens..then over the weekend, we did a day trip to Whidbey Island and another day exploring wine tasting in Woodinville.  I’ll have to write an individual post about each of those experiences.

    Anyway, their timing was perfect as Matt was away all week while he went off to summit Mt. Rainier with one of his good friends, Steve.  I haven’t gotten the details from him but it sounded like he made it as far as 11,000 ft and then had to turn around due to the altitude.  Maybe next time?

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    How my cloth diaper routine has changed

    This is really a post for those CD’ing mommas that care.  I was thinking recently about how my cloth diapering routine has changed as Natalie has gotten older.  I went into CD’ing assuming everything would remain the same (except for the introduction of solids & poo)…but more has changed than I expected (which is fine!).  Here goes:

    • Her urine is much stronger now–and often there is just much more urine than before.  As a result, I’ve regularly had to add doublers to the diapers.  For her nighttime diapers, I now have TWO hemp doublers.  Even then, some of her diapers still come out soaked and heavy.
    • I’ve had to change my wash routine (probably because the inserts are much more concentrated with urine now).  I used to only need to throw in a tablespoon of Rockin Green detergent.  Then I started to get rashes. Over and over.  Finally, someone suggested to change up my routine and add more detergent.  I got some Country Save and now put in an entire scoop.  I also rinse one more time as a precaution.  Haven’t had rash issues since.
    • I finally got a diaper sprayer (which I may’ve mentioned before).  I was under the assumption that solid poo goes from peanut buttery texture to ploppable and that’s it.  No sir–it can totally go back..and especially as toddler gets bigger and moves around a lot more, it gets messier.  The flushable liner wasn’t cutting it because she moves so much.  I was always having to still dunk’n’swish because poo always got on the outer edges.  So I got a diaper sprayer.  Don’t know why I didn’t get it sooner.
    • I’m using cloth liners now.  Those flushable liners were getting expensive!  Plus, I like these liners have a stay-dry feeling on top which helps…AND because it’s cloth, it tends to stay flat on the diaper way better than the thin, rice-paper flushable liner…so it tends to catch poo way better…and it’s really not that hard to clean liners with a diaper sprayer.
    • After my stint of rashes, I now ALWAYS put some sort of diaper rash barrier on top — my choice: a big canister of coconut oil.  It’s great, is natural (if Natalie accidentally gets some on her hands, I don’t mind) and it’s really cheap.

    Posted in parenting. Tagged with .

    Summer’s finally here

    Oh my, August just flew by…but that’s because we’ve finally had a pretty decent run of nice weather this month. Each weekend has been jam packed with fun activities to enjoy what we can. Matt’s parents came out for a visit for a week which was very enjoyable. Because of the long week, Natalie really got a chance to get comfortable with them. Natalie’s just so interactive now so it’s pure fun.

    I asked them what their biggest surprise was on this trip—and it was Natalie’s verbal skills.  She really picks up on words now!  For example, George often says “oh boy!” and before we knew it, Natalie started mouthing “oh boy!”.  She also got a gift of a little Minnie Mouse doll from them which we’ve been giving to her often.  One week later, she often points and says “Minnie!”  Her comprehension skills are amazing too–simply saying “come here” or “lay down” or “no, stop it” goes a long way.  She really understands.

    She’s also learned body parts!  When I say Foot, Hand, Head, Eyes, Ear, Nose, Mouth, Teeth, Belly (yes, all of them) — she can point to that body part!  We thank the nanny for helping with that!  I thought I’d take this opportunity with the little Chinese I know to teach her the same body parts in Cantonese.  So far, I’ve gotten lucky enough (or is it just coincidental) to get her to point to her feet and hands when I say the corresponding in Cantonese.

    My favorite new skill of hers over this last month is the help-with-chores skill.  One day, I pulled out all the freshly laundered cloth diaper covers from the laundry to hang dry on my standalone drying rack.  I brought the diapers into the room in a pile then grabbed a diaper, walked over to the rack and started to hang it with the clothes pin.  I turned around and there was Natalie holding another diaper!  Nice.  I took it, hung it up, turned around and there she was with another.  The routine continued — I hang, she grabs a diaper and brings it to me.  So. Very. Awesome.  She also likes to help me transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer.  It’s really adorable.

    Anyway, we just got back from a relaxing weekend in Suncadia with friends — 5 other couples, including 2 other children.  We rented this amazing house with a beautiful view and just relaxed…and best of all, it’s only 70 miles from Seattle!

    My parents are coming out to visit in a week and then Matt (with his buddy Steve) head off to summit Mt Rainier!

    Oh, and in some great news–Matt is going to start a new job at the end of September working as a consultant at Accenture!  We are really really excited.

    Lastly, huge congrats to our friends Jocelyn & Ivan in the birth of their son, Valentin Joseph, who was born last week.  It’s absolutely adorable.

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