Happy 6 months!

It's been exactly half a year since Angelina was born! Hard to believe. I'm amazed that all three of us made it to six months! Our friends Mike and Oli from NYC came to visit and stay over this past weekend. Lina loved playing with them! Here are some fun pics that Mike took a few days ago. We're very excited for Mike and Oli's pea in the pod, due in a NY hospital next spring.

Just what the heck happened to you?

Good question. Lots of you heard that I was hospitalized this past month. I was - I was in the hospital for 12 long days/nights. I've been meaning to describe exactly what happened, which I'll get to some time this week. While I was lying there in my misery for those long days/nights I came up with a ton of blog ideas, but it's all starting to fade! I'll try to remember some of my thoughts from my time at Cedars and talk about them soon. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers - we couldn't have gone through this without all of your love and support.

Feasting at the Table of Taipei - NYTimes

Some of you know that Liz and I lived in Taipei from 2002 to 2003. This was before Philadelphia and NYC. It seems like a long time ago now, but it remains in my mind a really wonderful time. It doesn't take much to trigger nostalgia in me, so this article from yesterday's Times sent the nostalgia meter through the roof: Feasting at the Table of Taipei.

This opening paragraph is a great teaser...

LIKE any great restaurant, Old Wang Beef Noodle Soup King has no sign. It sits on Taoyuan Street, not far from Taiwan’s presidential palace, and there are pretty much only two ways you’d know to go there instead of the similar noodle shops that surround it. Either you spy the line, which is long but fast-moving, and figure all those families, businessmen on lunch break and fashionable college kids are onto something. Or you catch the scent of broth — soy, anise, chilies, beef — which draws you inexorably into the dining room, where your intrepidity is rewarded with chewy wheat noodles, a rich and clean-tasting soup and hunks of meat that shred juicily at the slightest pressure from your tongue. There may be no better beef noodle soup in all of Taipei.

And another paragraph to convince you to read the whole thing...

Which is a pity if you like to eat, for food is one arena where Taipei — the world’s most underrated capital city, according to Monocle magazine — blows Beijing away. Its food incorporates more influences, spans street food to haute cuisine with greater aplomb and is out and out more delicious than that of its mainland counterpart. Not to mention that its people are perhaps the most comestible-crazed Asians outside of Singapore — no excursion is complete without, say, a bag of stewed duck tongues at journey’s end.

I'm obviously biased because I happen to be Taiwanese, but I do agree that Taipei is one of the most underrated cities in the world. I miss Taipei. Here are some pictures for fun...

Our tiny little apartment near Shi Da (Taipei Normal University). Don't look too closely, I'm wearing boxers only. I was probably sitting there working on my business school applications.


Shilin Night market with our friends Tony and Sanli Yang who were visiting us from Beijing/Shanghai at the time. They are now in the Bay Area, expecting their first kid. We look so young and carefree in these pictures, ha!
The world-famous Din Tai Fung...what can I say? The most amazing Shanghai soup dumplings. The article mentions this place. There's an outpost in Arcadia, CA, which is really good. But just not quite the same.

This picture below is actually from 2006, not 2002-2003. Taipei has tons of these really hip cafe's. Cafe Melange is one of our new favorites.
Fried dumplings, or "guo-tieh." This place, called Overseas Chinese Dragon - or something like that (haha, Taiwan can still be a bit tacky), is one on of the best places for guo-tieh even though it's a chain. I'm salivating thinking about it...

If you've read this far, thanks for indulging me on my trip down memory lane.

Growing up fast

4 months

September 3, 2008 - Four months. Another month. I'm back-logged on photos, so here's a whole bunch of the little benevolent dictator. I wanted to write a post to coincide with this milestone describing the "top 5 (good) things that nobody tells you about before you have a kid" and the "top 5 (bad) things" but I'm too tired right now so I'll save it for later or never. Four months is significant for a couple of reasons. For one, we are now able to "sleep train." (what the heck is that?) More on that later, especially if we do it.

NY, NY

Interesting article - a fun read - in the NY Times from a couple of days ago: Newcomers Adjust, Eventually, to New York. It's the Number 5 "most-emailed" article on nytimes.com so I'm sure some of you have read it already. I was already feeling nostalgic today as I was watching the US Open on TV. The article was funny because we can relate to much of it. Here are some highlights (with my comments in bold):

"Newcomers suddenly realize either that the city is not working for them or that they are inexorably becoming part of it, or both. They find themselves walking and talking faster." LC: True. I used to walk at a very leisurely Cali-style pace. Now I walk really fast, even if I'm in the apartment or inside the office in Burbank. My Burbank colleagues, when walking with me to places, are constantly asking me why I'm walking so fast. What's the point of lingering? There's stuff to be done and the faster done the better. Even if it's just getting Starbucks.

"Every day until then, she felt as if she was doing battle daily with the city. But suddenly, on a night flight to Kennedy International Airport from California, Ms. Sirkin, 26, caught sight of the glittering skyline, and, to her great surprise, felt a surge of joy." LC: When we lived in NY, I/we traveled a lot - both for business and pleasure. Every single time we approached Manhattan on our way in from JFK, the skyline took/takes my breath away. Even now, when I go there for work, it's the same.

"Young people have flocked to New York City by the tens of thousands for generations, to chase their dreams and test their mettle." LC:[expanding on original post] This one line touches one of the core themes of NY, and one of the things I love about NY. Everyone in Manhattan is there for a reason. Everyone I met had something to prove or wanted something. Not all of it virtuous of course - there was plenty of greed, myself guilty of that for sure. But there were much simpler and virtuous goals as well. Folks like our dear friends Tim/Grace who had a simple life dream of living in NY and raising their kids there. They are doing it and thriving. Thrilling to watch. And our other dear friends Joseph/Theresa who moved back from Maryland several years ago simply to serve the city. It's energizing to be around people with purpose. Even the people that grew up there had a sense of purpose about them. Well, most of them...

"But for many, the thrill of arrival is often tempered by the sinking realization of what an alienating place the city can be, especially for those who are not wealthy or who do not have a pre-existing network of friends." LC: very true. Kind of different for me and Liz because we had each other and our built-in set of friends that transplanted from Philly to NY after graduation. But still, it was tough at times. And yes, it would help to be wealthy in NY!

"Ms. Sirkin’s friend Sarah Kasbeer also recalled being consumed by a common strain of existential New York City angst: the sense that no matter where one is, something better is happening — the real New York is in full swing — somewhere else." LC: I experience this angst even now. I always feel like I'm missing out. Tonight I wanted to be either in Flushing Meadows or Denver. It felt so exciting and I felt like I was missing out...

Enough of my commentary. The article is worth a read. I miss NY. I can't believe it's been over eight months.

My "Staycation"

I'm having a pretty good week.

With exorbitant gas prices and a bad economy, journalists have been throwing around the term "staycation" to describe vacations where folks choose to take time off, but "stay" at home instead of travel to exotic destinations. Irrespective of money, the fact is we are kind of limited right now in where we can go. Gone, for now, are the days of going to Paris, Barcelona, or Taipei and HK for a week or two. Sigh. Liz and I were fortunate enough to be able to travel to a lot of places, so I'm sure no one is feeling sorry for us now. Anyway, until the little critter is a little older, we are home-bound.

So what have I been doing this week? Nothing too exciting. Catching up on sleep a little bit. Lina's sleep routine is much improved since last month, but there are still some challenging nights. The daytime naps still have room for improvement. Anyway, I was able to "sleep-in" a bit this week. I've also been working on our taxes. Yes. 2007 taxes. Embarrassingly enough, I never completed our tax return. Yes, I did file an extension. To paint a worse picture of my own "not on top of it-ness," I'm not even doing it myself. But I'm still using an accountant in New Jersey, so it's just been a matter of pulling together all my documents, filling out a Tax Organizer worksheet, and FedEx-ing it over. What else? Insurance. I ranted about insurance a while ago. Trying to sort through all the mess and make sure we get all the claims checks we are entitled to. Finally, I've been filing. I'm a bit "OCD" about filing. I like having all my documents/mail organized - so much so that Liz bought me a nice (wooden) filing cabinet last year for my birthday present. Other guys want new golf clubs, plasma TV's or state-of-the-art BBQ grills. Not me. I like nice filing cabinets to enable and inspire my filing. Weird. So, with my trusty label maker in hand, I've been catching up on some major filing. This may all sound terribly mundane and boring to folks, but for me, it has been very therapeutic. It's just nice to have some time to catch up on these "life-maintenance" things, especially since our lives went into complete chaos almost four months ago. Speaking of which, yes, I've been spending a lot of time with the almost-four month old. And that has been, definitely a lot better than filing! Maybe I'll post some recent pics tomorrow.

Lina being playful around the apt

It's been a little while since I put up some pictures of Angelina. Here are some recent pictures of her around the house - she is starting to become very playful, which has been really fun!

Beijing 2008: Opening Ceremony's Darling was Lip-Syncing

Again, I'm sure you've heard this already too - the cute girl who sang the touching song "Ode to the Motherland" during the opening ceremony pulled a Milli Vanilli. Here's the article on CNN.

This is wrong on so many levels. First of all, the real talent was prevented from singing because of her appearance. According to CNN, "Lin was lip-syncing to the sound of another girl, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was heard but not seen, apparently because she was deemed not cute enough." It was the decision of high-ranking officials. Hmm, I wonder how you communicate that to the little girl. "Hey little Peiyi, you have been bestowed the honor to represent your country with your beautiful voice on the most important night of our modern history. But...here, can you sing into this microphone and...make sure you just stand behind the stage during the opening ceremony. Don't let anyone see your homely face and crooked teeth." I mean, what does that do this little girl? And what is the message to the rest of the country? It just confirms the hard truth: your looks matter. Just awful.

Secondly, it just leaves another bitter taste of the State over the Individual thing. A reminder that the state can do whatever they want to whomever they want whenever they want. Scary isnt' it. Lastly, it's just deceptive. Seems so "un-Olympic-like."

Having said all that, though, I am still floored by the Opening Ceremony. I watched the utterly amazing blocks sequence again tonight while trying to bottle-feed Lina. I guess my two posts on the Olympics have been pretty negative so far. I love the Olympics, always have. I'll try to write some more positive stuff later on.

Beijing 2008: C'mon Guys...

I'm sure many of you have seen this already: the Spanish national basketball team, posing for a photograph for an advertisement. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they are indeed pulling back the skin around their eyes to look "Chinesey." WTF. Pau Gasol, of the Lakers, is in this photo as well. Having spent time in the U.S., and especially in LA where there is such a large Asian population, you would think that he of all people would know better. The article (click on link above) claims that no one in the organization, or the company paying for the advert, thought this was offensive. Really? I mean, I kind of want to believe it...but you have to be really stupid not to think that this would not provoke some sort of reaction...

Shudder, I guess it calls up childhood memories of the chant: "Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these..."

some lee family pictures

After I posted my thoughts on JetBlue (a few minutes ago), Liz remarked that I should put up pictures. Your blog readers want to see pictures. I said, no, I'm sure they are interested in my fascinating and insightful commentary about insignificant things. Then I thought, hmm, maybe I'll put up some more pictures.

Emily and the whole family came over on Saturday for a bit. Emily, my sister-in-law, was trained at Vidal Sassoon and still does part-time work at their home (in between raising three kids, managing the household, being the eldest daughter, and pastoring a church). By the way, if you ask her for a haircut don't be cheap - people of her caliber usually charge big bucks because of their experience and background. Anyway, they came over so that Emily could fix my hair. I had just gotten a haircut on Friday, at the Japanese place next to Mitsuwa in Venice (I miss my place at St Mark's in NYC), that left me looking very '80's, and so it was nice of her to come and take out the tail portion of my do. Lina was taking (a very rare) nap, so the Lee's didn't get to see her. On their way out, Kay (the oldest, 5) said, "oh, the two best friends didn't even get to see each other!" I thought that was hilarious. Here's a picture from last week of Lina and Noah.

Another picture of the two nieces hanging out. One looks serious and contemplative. The other, well, not as much!

In the last picture of Uncle 1 (Jonathan), Lina was screaming. So here's a better one...Too bad Jonathan wasn't looking...

Say it ain't so!

JetBlue is one of my favorite airlines. JetBlue recently announced their new policy of charging $7 per pillow. Say it ain't so! Even with all the recent announcements of domestic airlines nickel and dime-ing air travelers, I didn't think that JetBlue would pull the same kinds of stunts. Liz and I are big fans of JetBlue. For several years, we were frequent fliers on the JFK to BUR / BUR to JFK routes. We usually took the 6:45am-ish (or something like that, which I think they may have canceled) flight out of JFK which means we would have to wake up around 4:30am in our little UWS apartment. This flight always sounds like a good idea when you're planning it months or weeks in advance. Usually, I'm cursing myself (a common activity) the night before, when it's midnight and I had not packed yet. Anyway, JetBlue ain't Singapore Airlines or BA's flat bed business class, but it's solid - decent fares, easy-to-book online, good entertainment (live broadcast TV through DirecTV is great except for the delay when changing channels), and decent seats for economy. They are a lot more on-time than United, American or the established US airlines. And there is still a sense of some order unlike Southwest, which has a lot of good elements but is basically a flying Greyhound to me. Anyway, all this to say that I'm a fan of JetBlue and a bit disappointed with this new decision. What are they going do next? Put a coin slot next to the screen, as a colleague remarked today.

To be fair, I'm sure they crunched the numbers and figured out that they needed an $X uplift in revenues per flight to make up for the ballooning cost structure. Let's say around 1/3 of folks usually take a pillow on a regular flight (not the red-eye). On an A320 with 150 seats, that's 50 pillows. I'd say the $7 hurdle immediately halves this pool of people. Now we're down to 25 folks paying $7 for the pillow. That's $175 extra per flight. Doesn't seem like much. Even if we double that to $350, I just don't see that really moving the needle. So I'm a bit confused why they did this.

Anyway, overall I would still be happy to fly JetBlue again soon. But if they start charging for the pretzels...

Three Months

Angelina is three months old this weekend. Unbelievable! We can't believe that we made it to three months, and that we've kept her alive for three months! It's gone by so fast, and it's been an eternity. Here are some pictures of her in different settings and moods.

Insurance Hell

There are a bunch of things in life that make me cringe just at the thought. Going to the dentist, tax returns, moving, going through security at LAX or JFK, etc. These things make me cringe because they are, in one way or another, painful. It's either physically painful or figuratively painful, and usually very time-consuming. Few things upset me more than having to deal with healthcare-related paperwork. To be clear, I am very thankful to have health insurance. Many Americans don't. The system is totally screwed up. Recently, there have been some health issues that we've had to deal with, and I just have no idea what we would do if we didn't have insurance. Not to mention that Labor and Delivery at Cedars Sinai cost $20,000 bucks - with insurance, we only paid $400! If we didn't have insurance, I would have been on www.howcast.com and wikipedia, learning how to deliver a baby! As usual, I digress.

My brother Timmy and sister-in-law Judy graciously came over to help out with Lina today so that Liz and I could take care of some stuff. Not go to dinner or to a movie. All we wanted to do was catch up on every day life, maintenance tasks, that we have neglected for a while. Liz went to CVS and Ralph's while I stayed home to finally look through some unresolved insurance paperwork. Basically, United Healthcare insurance has not reimbursed us for the Ob-Gyn services, which are pretty pricey. It's not like L&D, but it's no small amount. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND INSURANCE STATEMENTS. Maybe I'm stupid or just really slow, but I have never been able to read an insurance account statement and really understand it. First of all, the information is not presented in any real order. Secondly, they use really long indecipherable canned phrases to explain why did not process certain claims. There are too many columns with with confusing titles and numbers in them that don't seem to add up. Successive statements have redundant claims, but unless you read the explanation, it's hard to determine what's being repeated due to "updated information" for the said charge, and which one's are actually new charges. It's terribly frustrating. Then there's the insecurity of never knowing whether faxed or mailed claims ever really make it through the process.

Then I think about my parents and other immigrants from their generation. If you never mastered the language, how on earth can you navigate the confusion that is America's healthcare system and insurance system. I think I read and speak English pretty well. Yet, I am so constantly confused and disheartened by the documentation around healthcare. I can't even begin to imagine the challenge for a non-native speaker and immigrant. How unfriendly the whole experience must be.

I haven't even begun to talk about FSA - Flexible Spending Accounts. What a waste of my time on so many levels! Yeah, the pre-tax thing is nice, but I'm starting to think that all the time I waste on validating rejected charges, and all the time wasted with it hanging over my head, makes it not worth it.

Tomorrow I am going to call the insurance company and find out why they did not approve the claims for the OB-GYN. I hope they don't push back, or I am going to be really pissed...

Lina in her crib

Every day that goes by, Lina becomes more and more interactive. She likes to lie in her crib and stare at this artwork lamp thingy that Liz made and hung from the ceiling. Poor description I know. We also just got her another mobile which she likes too but gets a little to excited about sometime. We're also learning more about her. We know that right after feeding, she has a period of quiet alertness. She flaps her arms, kicks her legs, and smiles. Here's a clip!

Happy Anniversary, babe!

7 years! Can you believe it!?
Happy Anniversary, Liz!

7 Top* things I love about Liz
(*for those who appreciate nuance, not the top 7, because it's hard to definitively identify the absolute top 7)

1. She's a great friend, my best friend. After seven years of marriage we still really enjoy each other's company and have not run out of things to talk about. (at least from my perspective! ha)
2. She's a great mother. Nothing more attractive to me than seeing how much she loves our daughter. More on this later. I am floored by the capacity that she has to love Lina and to continue to give and give, even when the proverbial gas tank is way past empty. Way past. Even as I am at work today she's probably four hours into bouncing and rocking her endlessly, walking around the apartment with Lina in the sling!
3. She's beautiful!
4. She loves to travel - we had a nice run there. Four cities in five years. And lots of trips in between. Although we miss Taipei and NY (not Philly, mind you), we love being in LA with our families right now. Right here, right now.
5. She's smarter than me. But she's not showy about it - she's less arrogant and loud than me. Surprise, surprise. Not many people know she's Phi Beta Kappa. She keeps me sharp and in line. I make a lot of stupid declarations but it's impossible to slip my not fully-baked views past her! Keeps me on my toes and humble!
6. She has a great family. I really appreciate her family. In today's world of dysfunctional families, it is a great honor and privilege to be a part of the Liu/Wang clan.
7. She has a great taste for European (French, in particular) fashions - for babies. ; - )

that's just 7 off the top of my head!

I was going to list some other "7 top things" - 7 top memories, 7 top trips, 7 high/low moments, etc. But I am simply too tired.

Anyway, we are going on our first dinner date today since Lina came into the world. My folks are coming over to babysit. Wish us luck! We'll probably be anxious the whole time!

Update: Went out to dinner and back. It was nice, but we were really tired. Liz came up with a great idea. Hopefully an entrepreneur out there will go and build it. Yes, a quiet dinner in Santa Monica was nice. But what would have been way better for us right now would have been a place where we could go to relax, lounge, and take a nap. And get fed at the same time. How would that work? Oh, maybe padded lounge chairs, with relaxing music, and an IV for a nutritious meal. Who has time to nap and eat? We could bring our exhausted selves to this nonexistent place, relax and catch up on sleep in a nice environment, but also get a healthy meal via IV. And if we really wanted to taste the food but not do the work (chew/swallow), maybe they could just make a lollipop type thing we could suck and have the flavors (filet mignon, chilean sea bass, etc.). Haha. That's what we talked about on our first dinner date post-delivery!

More Angelina Pictures

More pictures from the last week - mainly for our sisters and my mom, who are my main consistent readers, as far as I can tell from the comments and Google Analytics. I do get a few hits from random places around the world, but not sure who those folks are.


Cute brown onesie from Auntie Tamara, my colleague at 75 Rock. Thanks Tamara!

The Phabulous Philly-LA Ladies Club (and their kids)

Liz and I lived in Philadelphia from 2003 to 2005. Wharton (and Lauder) was an amazing experience. But it was in Philadelphia. Before I go further, I'll say that Liz and I did enjoy Philly and still think that it is an under-rated city and frequently gets a bad rap. However, it ain't NYC and it ain't LA or SF. And so the main downside of getting into Wharton was that it was in Philly. Many people who went to Wharton had to "drag" their partners - spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends - to Philly for the two years. And to make it worse, business school was an all-consuming endeavor. Yeah, there was studying - but tons of everything else - business networking, social networking, socializing, running student clubs, trips, learning team meetings, pub, etc. It was a 24/7 thing. Liz was my biggest supporter, and I owe her big-time for coming to Philly with me. Well, one of the things I'm most thankful for is that fact that she befriended Charice and Janet.

The picture above is from this past week. Charice and Janet (and her beautiful daughter Agnes or "Ajou") came over to have lunch with Liz and Lina. (Charice's twins - Maddy and Max, were at home) Charice's husband, Ko Kobayashi (not the hot dog champ) and Janet's husband, Taos Huskey, were classmates of mine from the class of 2005. They all happened to be from LA. And the three Asian American ladies had a lot in common. I was grateful that - in the midst of being dragged to Philly and often abandoned by their husbands while they(husbands) were off doing whatever their pricey educations required of them - they found some common ground and could hang out. Charice even took Liz out on our anniversary during the summer of '04 when I was off in Singapore doing my internship.

Charice and Ko, and their twins, literally live minutes away. Taos and Janet are not that far away either. It's good to be back in LA with some friends who went through Philly with us!

Here's Ko, Charice, Liz and myself in Delaware at "Joe's Crabshack" - the desperate things we Californians did to get a taste of home. Couldn't find a picture with Taos and Janet, but then again I didn't look very hard. It's past midnight and Lina just went down. And I have to wake up in a few hours for a NY conference call.

Found this picture of me and Liz in Rittenhouse Square during winter. Good times in Philly...

3rd Gen American and ID4

On this Independence Day, it did not escape me that my daughter was born into privilege. I'm not saying that she was born into great wealth, as defined by Hollywood or Wall Street, or that she has some huge trust fund to her name. Well, my insignificant 401(k) is all her's if she wants it. It won't really move the needle for her when gas is $10/gallon and university tuition is half a million bucks (in 18 years).

Without any doing of her own, she just happened to be born into the most powerful and prosperous nation on earth. Yes, it is a nation that has weathered some very bad PR during the past eight years, and a nation not without detractors and critics. We have made some huge mistakes, not just in the past eight years but in our existence as a nation. But so has every other nation. We happen to be a nation that can self-criticize, pick up ourselves when we fall, improve, and move forward.

I'm digressing a bit - this holiday always brings about some reflection about this country that I happened to be born in. I estimate that I've spent a third of my July 4ths abroad (many of them in Japan with my cousins during childhood summers). I could be off by a couple of years either way, but nevertheless, I've been away for a lot of ID4's. In the past several years, I was once in Kyoto, Japan for the Fourth, and once in Bangkok, Thailand. I always feel especially patriotic, and proud, when I'm abroad. Although I spent this holiday indulging in BBQ's across LA, and trying to make sure Lina survived each outing, I did find a few moments to appreciate this country. Back to my daughter...

She has no idea, obviously, that she is a 3rd-generation Taiwanese American immigrant in the USA. She has a citizenship that millions only dream to have. She was born onto a very uneven playing field. In this case, she has the upper hand. Just because she was born on US soil, she is conferred all the "rights and privileges," associated with being a citizen. We all know what these privileges are when we stop to think about it. This country is the only place and context that would allow many of us to get to where we are and where we eventually want to be, whatever that means.

She also happens to be born into a family that loves her, with four grandparents, tons of uncles and aunts, and many cousins and second-cousins. All adoring fans of her, who will stand by her side through her life. That's a lot...and she didn't have to do a single thing. The complete opposite is true for millions...

Reflections on America, Independence Day, immigrant life, my daughter, family, etc.. all jumbled up without much flow...

Update...
After posting this a couple of hours ago, I have a follow-on thought. The United States is indeed a great nation. I certainly don't take this status for granted. Now that I have a kid, a daughter, I am even more hyper-aware of the perception of the United States outside of the country. I can't tell you how many times I have sat in bars, cafes, brassieries, and tea shops around the world listening to people rant and rave about our government. Much of is true, some of it is misconstrued. And I don't blame them. The decisions of the U.S. affect everybody. Well, now that Lina is in the world, I have more of a vested interest that this country stays great and doesn't do more damage than good to the world. As such, I am very very interested in this coming election. I'm definitely going to be commenting on it.

2 months / 9 weeks

What kind of look is this?
Hanging out with her goose...

Can't figure out how you technically count the months. Angelina is now officially 9 weeks and 1 day old. Does that make her 2 months and 8 days? Or is she only 2 months and 3 days, since her birthday is the 3rd of the month? Not that it matters. Supposedly, though, there are some really amazing "breakthroughs" at 3 months. I hear that she'll start sleeping 12 hours a night straight through and stop crying altogether. hehe.