Our baby is officially one month old, and we have barely survived to tell the tale. During Westley’s first few days at the hospital, Melody recovered quickly from her C-section, but did not realize how physically and emotionally draining the breastfeeding would be. We tried to break down the issues – latching, ankyloglossia, milk production – but got mixed information from the nurses and lactation consultant. With the baby losing more weight that first week, we struggled between pushing the breast and supplementing with formula. Melody was so exhausted, she thought her spinal headache and vomiting was due to her lack of sleep. With the exception of a short trip home to pick up clothes, I pretty much stayed in the hospital room, where I spent my few non-baby-dealing hours checking out a few new shows like Black Mirror, American Crime Story, and the X-Files reboot. By the time we went home, my in-laws were already there with a stockpile of groceries, ready for cooking and laundry duty for the next 4 weeks. We spent our days slowly building a routine – setting up our breast pump, a changing station, and a system for cleaning / drying bottles. Having enrolled as a control in a probiotics study, we also had free in-home lactation consultant visits to help us optimize the breastfeeding. Over the following weeks, we had frequent doctor visits for his circumcision, a frenotomy, and weight checks until he started to gain weight more steadily. We learned to cover his penis when changing diapers and our shoulders when burping him. We learned that a finger was a good substitute for a pacifier, and that we did not have to respond to every sound he makes in the night. We even managed a few trips out with the baby to the local Target, and despite warnings to avoid crowded areas, stopped for pho with him on our way back from the doctor. The rest of the time, we left him with grandma to shop for more additions to the house, including a new RH floor lamp, a sofa, and various wall hangings. Otherwise, we’ve done most of our shopping online, including bedside lamps, rugs, and chairs to go with our new dining table. My returning to work has been tougher for Melody, especially after my in-laws took off at the 1-month mark. My team at work was kind enough to throw a baby shower for my first clinic back, which also helped restock our diaper supply. Thankfully, my parents will be coming into town to tag team for house duties next week.

To celebrate Chinese New Year, I invited my retina colleagues and fellows for dim sum this weekend, which had a great turnout including everyone’s families and kids. Little did we know that this would also be our last meal out as a couple. Today, my wife called to tell me that our C-section had to be scheduled for this evening, 2-weeks before our due date. With the help of my awesome team, I got out of clinic early and made it to the hospital in time for our first baby’s arrival. We spent our last hours on the labor floor frantically finishing clinic notes, requesting coverage, and tying up loose ends at work and lab. Fortunately, our OB was on-call this evening, and Melody’s colleagues were all there for support before we rolled into the OR. Weighing in at 5lb 12oz, Westley Ka-Shing Yiu arrived into our world, just making the 2nd of the lunar calendar new year and just in time to get a red envelope from both sets of grandparents. We sat in the recovering room looking at each other. “I guess we’re doing this,” she said. Ready or not, here we go.

With our impending due date, we are preparing for the baby like a nuclear winter. Our new chest freezer has come in quite handy as Melody cooked up wraps, burritos, and hand pies that can be eaten with one hand while holding a newborn in the other. Knowing that our dining out days are limited, we also took advantage of Sac’s Dine Downtown deals and holiday gift cards at Paragary’s, Il Fornaio, and Mikuni. Too bad the quality of the food was not on par with the cost. We did enjoy the steaming hot pot at Boiling Avenue after work on Friday, however. Back home, we continued to amass gifts and donations of baby clothing which have been a big money-saver, especially with the recent stock market dive, but a nightmare to organize. Aside from our occasional outings for groceries and home decor, we spent most of our down time at home to let Melody gestate. Beside managing our network of Commonwealth settlements, we caught up on MasterChef Junior, now in its fourth season of precocious children vying to impress Gordon Ramsey with their culinary chops. I also finished up the first seasons of Netflix’s Marco Polo and Wet Hot American Summer, both of which provided some entertainment but were overall disappointing. One show that did catch our attention was The Man in the High Castle, a dystopian alternate historic drama where the Axis powers had won WWII. It has already gotten rave reviews, but we’ll have to see how this show fares.

This year’s Christmas and New Year holidays provided back-to-back long weekends which gave us a chance to venture through the Commonwealth wastelands, reminiscing about Boston while taking screenshots along the Freedom Trail. We also welcomed more furniture including a Crate & Barrel sideboard and a BDI media cabinet, while selling our old light fixtures off Craigslist. Sadly, the new dining table from Saloom was not what we expected, so we went to McCreery’s to order another one from Canadel. Our new spa cover also created the dilemma of disposing the old one. Rather than paying to have it hauled away, we decided to chop it up with a reciprocating saw, leaving our driveway covered in drifts of styrofoam particles, evoking memories of inclement weather back East. Meanwhile, I received more good news about another grant that was successfully funded, giving me good reason to celebrate the holidays with new toys including a PS4 system and a nice Def Tech soundbar. For the New Year’s weekend, although I did have to go in a few times for call, I was able to spend a quiet, relaxing New Year’s Eve with Melody back home.

With three holiday parties within the first week of December, it seems like the holiday season is starting earlier each year. For the ALTA party, we returned to Asian Pearl for banquet-style Chinese food and an OCT talk. Next was a holiday luncheon at my research mentor’s house, where he cooked up a storm for the 100+ guests in attendance. Our departmental holiday party relocated to Elk Grove this year, where we actually won the money tree raffle despite missing out on the dancing. Perhaps the most exciting holiday news, however, was the return of the Star Wars franchise. Having secured tickets weeks ahead of time, we left promptly after Friday clinic for noodles and ice-cream before getting in line with my fellows for the late night showing of The Force Awakens. The new cast of young actors was fun to watch, despite a somewhat dated script that felt like an Episode IV deja vu. We returned home seeking more retro fun and found it with Fallout 4. It has been 7 years since Bethesda’s last entry in this series, and the new journey through the Greater Boston Commonwealth did not disappoint. Playing a female lead, and this time accompanied by a canine companion, we set out of Vault 111 once again to battle raiders, ghouls, super mutants, and those darn bloatflies. With our upcoming long weekends, we’re looking forward to staying in for some hearty holiday gaming.

My parents came into town for Thanksgiving to check out our recent renovations and Melody’s baby bump. With the chilly weather resulting from El Nino, we decided to stay indoors to decorate our Christmas tree and celebrate Thanksgiving and my dad’s birthday over Chinese-style hot pot. Having defeated the Wild Hunt with Geralt and Ciri, we also set out for new adventures with the Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone expansion. On Black Friday, we went to Vacaville to shop for wall hangings, fake plants, and other home decor, including a nice armchair from the Restoration Hardware outlet. We stopped by Dixon on the way home to try out a new Korean restaurant which was pretty solid. Back home, while my parents played with their new Surface tablet, I spent the weekend tackling electrical wiring projects, including ceiling fans, bathroom fixtures, and bathroom ceiling lights that required some serious Twister action in the attic. While I did sustain a few shocks and bruises, I managed to avoid dying by getting our contractors to hang the new chandelier from our 20-foot foyer ceiling. We also took advantage of Cyber Monday deals to get baby stuff including a car seat, crib, and dresser that doubles as a changing table. Now that the word is out, we’re also getting an influx of hand-me-downs, from toys and clothes to carriers and strollers. As we began discussing possible names and the reality of parenthood start to set in, we can’t help feeling both excitement and anxiety for the times ahead.

It has been 15 years since my last visit to Vegas, and this year’s AAO meeting was a mix of familiar and new experiences. Despite ignoring all the slot machines, blackjack tables, and burlesque shows, I could not escape the massive, disorienting layout of the casinos, with over-the-top decor and prices that dazzle and horrify at the same time. I dropped Melody off at the airport for her own meeting on Veteran’s Day, and after some last minute meetings on Thursday, I was on my way to Sin City. After checking into my hotel, I made my way to the Tao to mingle at an industry event before turning in. Friday was spent mostly at Subspecialty Day, with an investigator luncheon for a clinical trial, and dinner afterwards with my old co-fellows. The evening continued with another epic Cornea Society party, and an afterparty with the fellows that lasted until 5 in the morning. Fortunately, I got to sleep in on Saturday before attending the afternoon session, followed by alumni receptions for Duke and MEEI. I was better rested on Sunday, and slipped out for brunch with a friend at Mon Ami Gabi before my OCT course presentation. With my obligations out of the way, I was able to relax at Madame Tussaud’s for a Zeiss presentation, then party away at the YO party at 1 Oak. I spent Monday catching up with friends over lunch at Sushi Roku and another chaotic CAOS dinner, where I volunteered manual labor for hearty Chinese seafood. Most people were gone by Tuesday, so I dined stag on stone crabs at Joe’s and a pricey prix fixe dinner at L’Atelier. Vegas is certainly fun but ultimately exhausting, and I’m more relieved than sad to go back home.

Our kitchen and bathroom remodel returned to full swing the moment we stepped back into our house. With most of the tiling completed, we turned our focus to paint colors and lighting. We were pleased with the built-in LED bookshelf lighting, but the bath lights had a greenish tinge, making us realize how sensitive we were to color temperatures. Luckily, we found out in time to return the fixtures, and went back last weekend to Lumens, Lamps Plus, and Ikea to look for other options, including chandeliers and ceiling fans. For paint colors, we went to Sherwin-Williams and Kelly Moore for paint samples, which resulted in a dizzying kaleidoscope of paint swatches on our walls to compare. There were also a number of finishing touches – towel bar locations, window caulking, glass shower handles, pull-out drawer height, spice rack dimensions, appliance installation – that kept me occupied for the last 2 weeks. Fortunately, things finally came together and we were able to get our cleaners in for a deep clean on Monday. Meanwhile at work, I had several grants due this month, one of which resulted in more headache to withdraw than to submit due to intellectual property issues that were mostly above my head. Fellowship interviews this year overlapped with Halloween, which did not seem to affect our applicant numbers, but did ruin two consecutive Saturday mornings. On the home front, we settled on Merryhill for our future daycare due to its proximity, lower cost, and importantly, a 6:30am drop-off time. We also went out for dim sum with my in-laws to celebrate both Melody’s pregnancy and my K08 grant. With these two major projects on the way, 2016 is looking like it’ll be a busy year.

Our first impression of Fes was that it was a more laid-back city than Marrakech. The narrow streets were less congested, and the hawkers less aggressive, while our riad appeared to be run by young, hip college kids. After a good night’s rest, we spent our first day navigating sites along the major thoroughfare, including the Medersa Bou Inania, Nejjarine Museum, Medersa el-Attarine, and Karaouine University. The mosques were closed to non-Muslims, so we were only able to sneak peeks from outside the doors. We completed our city tour at the Chouwara Tanneries, where we were led through the heavy stench of processed cowhides to one of the shop’s rooftops for a view of the dyeing process. After spending much of the afternoon web-surfing back at the riad, we dined at Cafe Clock’s rooftop terrace on couscous and a camel burger, rinsed down with delicious warm almond milk. The next day, we awoke early to catch a train to the ancient capital of Meknes, where we hired a cab for a half-day tour of Volubilis and Moulay Idriss. While our early arrival allowed us to enjoy the intricate mosaics at Volubilis ahead of the tourist crowds, we got distracted by shady street kids at Moulay Idriss and lost our way to the panoramic viewing sites. After lunch at a sandwich shop, we watched a stray cat make its home at the Dar Jamai Museum, then shopped for sunglasses near El Hedim Square before returning to Fes. Tired of all the tagines, we followed signs to a Thai restaurant for dinner, where the owner/chef explained that he had opened the restaurant for the same reason. A 4-hour train took us to Casablanca the next day, where we snacked on fried seafood by the sea before the last guided tour of the Hassan II Mosque, the third largest in the world. Despite the cliche, we dined at Rick’s Cafe with a pianist playing As Time Goes By for our last meal in Morocco. We returned to Sacramento exhausted and jet-lagged, but felt it was well-worth our one last adventure before the baby arrives.

Our 4-day journey from Marrakech to Fes was arranged through Blue Men of Morocco, with a private driver who took us through the countryside to visit the myriad sights and towns near the edge of the Sahara Desert. We left the chaos of Marrakech through Tichka Pass on day one, and were immediately transported to more serene surroundings. We arrived for a late lunch at Ait Ben Haddou, where the approach to the massive Kasbah evoked imageries of ancient kingdoms, but not the compulsion to climb to the top. A 4-hour detour along rough, bumpy roads led us to Telouet, where the dilapidated ruins concealed some of the most impressive tile and stuccowork we’ve seen. Bypassing the Hollywood-city of Ouarzuarzate after the long drive, we found respite over dinner and a comfortable bed at the Jardin de la Skoura. We awoke early the next morning to back-track to Ozuarzate for a visit to Taourirt Kasbah and a guided tour of the movie sets at Atlas Film Studios, known for such films as Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, and Game of Thrones. In the afternoon, we continued through Dades Valley and Todra Gorge without a lunch break before disembarking at Haven La Chance in Merzouga. Our driver got a break on the third day, as we spent the morning touring Berber villages and scavenging for fossils, followed by a sunset camel ride into the dunes of Erg Chebbi in the Sahara Desert. The sky was too cloudy for a sunset photo, but we enjoyed the quiet evening with the Berber guide in our private bivouac, learning to play tribal drums and dining on chicken tagine under the stars. The next morning, we hiked up the dunes again to watch the sun rise before returning to our hotel on camelback. Our final day of driving was long and grueling, with brief stops to buy dates at the market in Rissani, take panoramic shots of Ziz Valley, chase Barbary apes in Alnif, and hunt for bathrooms in Ifrane before our late arrival in Fes. Heavy rains, hail, and lightning made for a thrilling drive into the city, but we were relieved when the road trip came to an end in Riad Idrissy.