Valentine's Day

Jo, MJ, and I spent Valentine's Day together and we had a beautiful day! First, we went to Mya's ear appointment at the California Ear Institute in Palo Alto. They did some more tests to confirm that she can hear (although I had no doubt because when Mommy and Daddy are arguing or when Daddy is singing like a banshee in the shower, she always reacts with a frown). The results came out positive. She can hear better than average on both ears; it's just that her ear canals are so small that the ear probe could not properly register the results of the data.

We decided to make a day of it in PA, so we went to Tamarine for a Valentine's lunch. It's Joanne's favorite restaurant, and after eating there, I could see why. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was nice. They even had some trip hop and drum n' bass playing on the stereo. That helped calm down Mya, so much so that she was asleep the entire time. The presentation was simple, yet elegant. The food was sumptuous and flavorful. It wasn't trying to be "fusion" for the sake of being unique. It was just plain good. The soup was in a coconut milk (w/ a slight hint of vinegar and ginger) broth and the dumplings were filled with crab meat. They were also very juicy. We had calamari with a lime-infused dipping sauce and sesame beef over rice noodles on a bed of lettuce for appetizers. For our main entrees, we had sheking beef and mai fun noodles with beef and eggs. Both were very delicious, and pretty good-sized portions for a tapas-style restaurant. With drinks and no dessert, it all came out to be 70 bucks. Not bad for Valentine's lunch. We chose to have lunch instead of dinner for a couple of reasons: it's cheaper, we gots MJizzle to take care of, and Valentine's dinner is too much of a cliche for me. All in all, Valentine's came out to be relatively inexpensive this year. Jo got me a cute Valentine's card, signed by Mya. It was titled, "Happy Valentine's Day, Daddy". I still can't believe I'm a dad. I got Jo a dozen roses, and it came out to be only 30 bucks with delivery (although they delivered it on Feb. 13 for some odd reason). It was so cheap because I ordered it in the beginning of January. The only gifts we gave each other was a DVD of the Notebook and Nicholas Sparks' new book, The Wedding. The movie was quite a tear-jerker, but I can't read another Nicholas Sparks book. His writing puts me to sleep. It's too banal.

Afterwards, we went to Palo Alto Square and watched Phantom of the Opera at the movie theater. Been dying to watch this, since the musical is not only my favorite musical, but one of my favorite life experiences, period! Yup, Daddy's a homo. I also like long walks on the beach and interior design. Mya was pretty good in the theater, save for a couple of times that she needed to eat and have her diaper changed. She slept through almost the entire movie, but I had to soothe her in my arms for the last hour.

It was raining cats and dogs, so we had to cover up MJ in the car seat. I didn't realize how much of a logistical deal it is to take a baby out. Between the feedings, changings, bottle warmings, burpings, car seat retrievals, and car seat preparation, I felt like a secret service agent. Red team, go! Since we were already in PA, we decided to visit my Dad, or Lolo (grandpa in Tagalog) at his job. He works for the Peninsula Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, so the movie theater was literally a block away from his office. Dad's co-workers got a kick out of little Mya. She was pretty calm and being her cute little self. Dad's boss commented on how thin Joanne was already. Little did she know that MJ was adopted, but we just brushed the comment aside. We don't really advertise to everyone that she is adopted, but we also don't conceal it. If it comes up, it comes up. It was pretty funny though, because Joanne is rail thin, and it would be physically impossible for her to lose that much weight if she were actually pregnant. She must have been mesmerized!

Finally, we went up the Bayshore to Foster City and visited my old co-workers. It was really good seeing everybody. Unfortunately, we came a little late in the day, so not everyone was there. Bob, my former officemate and good buddy, actually had a huge stage platform drop on his foot earlier in the day. He went home early. I formed a really good friendship with everyone at that office, and I'm glad that we still keep in touch. Kevin, the Director of P&R, was there late (as usual), and he's got two daughters of his own. He told me that one is at Cal and the other's at Oregon. I wonder who he roots for when they play one another? Barbara, who is infamous for making little children cry and staring down parents with unruly kids, loved little Mya! She was talking to her and playing with her. Granted, Mya was being really good, but I really think her dislike of kids is all an act. All of the coordinators were there, and they were happy to see Mya. She was a little fussy at first, but we figured out that she just needed to be changed. Afterwards, we all took some pictures.




L to R: Tiff-dawg, Stace, Jo and MJ, Manny, Michele, Diesel


Mya with her Auntie Diesel