February was filled with snow and fun memories!

First, so much snow in New Jersey it surprised me! We got I think 12 inches, Jon almost broke his back shoveling. He made a snowman for me on our deck. Okay I was there too, but Nem only lasted in the snow for 10 minutes and then he demanded to go inside and watch Daddy from our giant glass window. The snowman, actually snowwoman, gets to wear my red head and pink-reddish scarf. She looks really cute!

Then, our Tet holiday was on a Thursday this year, so we postponed the celebration until Saturday the 13^th. The nest was filled with flowers from the beginning of the week (which is MY tradition!), a 5-kind fruit bowl, and some red decorations. On Saturday we had a feast of traditional cuisine. We kept remind ourselves that “can you believe if we were home now we’d eat like this everyday in 3 to 5 days straight!”. My heart aches as we can’t be home for Tet, but we look forward to bringing Nem home to Vietnam when it’s safe to travel again.

On the bright side, my mom aced her interview and got the visa without any problems! We got her the ticket and she will be in the US at the end of March! This means so much to us, but probably more to her, as she will get to spoil her first grandchild. As a Vietnamese grandparent, she’s been joking (or perhaps she’s very serious) that she’ll bring Nem back to Vietnam and his grandpa and she will take care of him for a couple of years so Jon and I can work and make money. It sounds so strange in American culture, I could tell from Jon’s face when he first heard this, but it’s a Vietnamese grandparent thing I guess. 

Finally, this pumpkin has learnt so many more tricks this month! He finally figured out how to roll over, so he’s on his tummy most of the time and screams when he’s tired but doesn’t know how to roll back yet. Poor thing he has eczema on his cheeks as the weather is too dry and cold. He’s been eating well, and slowly started solid food! He has tasted, for the first time in his life J, sweet potato, spinach, corn, banana, and avocado, and didn’t refuse any of them, yet! He giggles and laughs at silly things and it melts my heart. He smiles when he sees either of us walk by. He probably started to notice Root Beer and loves watching her chasing her toys. We can’t wait to see what milestones he will reach in March!