Pinata, Poppers, Candies and Babies!

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Happy 1st Birthday Quynh-Anh!

Quynh-Anh and Baby Eden

She's so adorable! I can kiss those cheeks all day.

This past weekend, my family attended my cousin's birthday party and it was a blast. She turned 1 years old. I haven't seen her since her 1 month party and she just got bigger and cuter. It was a busy day for me from sunrise to sunset. We had to make a long drive down to LA and with that comes a lot of planning for a day's trip. Starting from the crack of dawn, I had to get Baby Eden ready for the three hour commute. I nursed her for about 45 minutes, changed her diaper, pumped for about 15 minutes, then I finally got to eat breakfast while she slept. After that, I get her changed and freshened her up. I made sure I had enough diapers, burp towels, blankets, and extra outfits for her in the diaper bag. It's a lot of work. Most importantly, I made sure I had enough milk stored so I'll usually pump extra and store it in the freezer the day before. There's a lot of pre-planning from the outfit she's going to wear to how much milk to pump days in advance. We left about 10AM and headed south. 


We arrived at our first stop at 1PM at the Ponce Residence in Northridge. Baby Eden got to visit her grandparents and her Daddy which she had so much fun. We had a nice lunch with them and her grandparents got to catch up from the last time they saw her. It's been two weeks since they last saw her and they all said she got bigger and was filling out especially in her cheeks.Our next stop was to visit my little brother who wanted to see Baby Eden. He's so great with her. It was a quick visit. We then headed to my baby cousin's birthday party in Glendale. The commute from Northridge to Glendale wasn't to bad. Baby Eden is so good in her car seat. She falls asleep right when the car turns on. We finally arrived at the party and we were welcomed by my uncle and aunt. I got to play with the birthday girl, Quynh-Anh. The party was so much fun although Baby Eden slept through the entire party (she tends to do that a lot). The food was AMAZING! It was all Vietnamese food! I don't get a lot of Vietnamese food back in Fresno so I took advantage of this and ate two plates. It was fun to catch up with my cousins, meet some of my mother's cousins and uncles, and mingle with the other mothers there. 

The kids having fun with the pinata

Go Riley! You can see the determination in his eyes!

That's a lot of candy :)

The little kids got to try their hands at the pinata, pulled the party poppers, and basically run around playing with their friends. My cousin, Riley actually broke the pinata so props to my little slugger. It was so fun to watch the kids go for the candy. I can't wait until Eden is old enough to be able to experience all that. What's even more surprising is that I didn't even face any discrimination from the extended family as my grandparents had said I would get. Everyone was so pleasant and inviting. They wanted to see Baby Eden and they all thought she was the cutest baby with a full head of hair.

Very interesting person

I got the opportunity to sit down and talk to my mother's uncle, Ong Chang (grandfather's brother) who is the patriarch of the family. He explained to me the origin of our last name, Vu and it was interesting because he said our last name actually dates back to the 9th century. He asked me how I decided on Eden's name, what school I went to, and what I plan to do in the future. He was very genuine and a good Christian. He gave his blessing to Baby Eden and I. I also got to meet my mom's cousin, Co Nga who is very hip and modern. She totally understands the young generation and was giving me a lot of useful advice. Overall, the birthday party was a blast. These family gatherings are supposed to be that way. It's not often that we get to see our family members so we should enjoy each other's company. That's what it's all about. Everything for the family. On our way home, Eden of course falls asleep. She slept the entire day! I should have guess because she stayed up the entire night!

Grace, Aunt Bao, and Eden

Auntie Grace and Baby Eden

Photo Op :)