Sick, sick and sick...

Yes, that's exactly what's going on in the house the past week and still going on...

It seems started with Kaitlyn, then daddy, along with this wet and cold weather. Then Meghan got it, she was hit hard this time, with running nose, itchy throat, pink eyes, coughing, etc. Knock on wood, she has no fever! I feel so bad for her, since she can barely breathe at night, woke up almost every hour for 2-3 nights. So sad to see a baby being sick, being so helpless. All she can do is crying and rubbling her face, can't tell you how she feels, can't blow her nose, can't breathe while asleep.

Of course she is not as playful as before, not talking as much, no more cute double chin. She seems like lost a couple of Oz's(better not in lbs) already. The good thing is she is smiling sweet at us still during the daytime, like nothing happened. So I know she is fine. Such a sweet baby!

Here Meghan is ready to step outside for sunshine today! Her face cracks me up, doesn't look like sick at all!

Hello everyone! I'm ready to go! Are you ready for me?
Haha... Mommy!! (She's not screaming, I can tell you that...)What's so funny, girl? Haha... I can't stop laughing... See... now grandma is so cracking up! What's so funny?

I can't decide which photo to pick, so upload all, since I love her expression - curious, sweet, smart, and looks like talking to you! Also, she is so fascinated by our fridge, have no idea why! Might have something to do with black and white paper.

Just when she is getting a little better, I got the cold from her, and this time, it knocked me down totally for one day. I can barely get out of the bed. Before I got any better, Kaitlyn and daddy both got sick again after their trip back from Austin. Kaitlyn stayed home for an extra day after the long weekend, which is not a bad deal! Thank goodness my mom is here and she is not as sick as we are. So she pretty much took care all of us, cooking, caring Meghan and Kaitlyn while I nap, and cleaning and laundry, etc. Thank you so much, MOM!

Since I didn't go to Austin, didn't know what's going on. But I'm sure they had fun, looks like spring time in Austin!

Playing with Aunt Lynn's piano:

Family portrait - reminds me of those pictures taken when I was little back in China in the 80s, for some reason.
With Aunt Lynn and her doggy:
Wow, spring is here already? I don't feel it here yet... Here are couple of pictures of grandpa coming back from HK, with his sweet grandkids.

Interesting they both looking at the same direction, what's going on there? It's Meghan's first time meeting grandpa, she doesn't feel strange at all.
So comfortable...

She becomes more and more interested in moving objects - our dog, Feizai.
Poor Feizai, hope he'll enjoy playing with the second little "monster"

Here are some pics took on Sunday before Kaitlyn went to her DI meeting. Her final competition (well it's non-competitive for 1st graders, but still a big deal for the kids) is this coming Saturday, so they're having their rehearsal on Sunday. The kids wrote the whole script and came up with stage design and performance by themselves. The 5mins show is so cute and I'm so proud of them! Kaitlyn likes this special activity a lot, although it took her so long to bring out her personality. She plays a cute little mosquito visiting north pole! Before heading off to the meeting, two girls had some fun:

Of course here is Kaitlyn's little royal fan, can't get her eyes of the kids... She was the most exciting audience, jumping up and down!

Still staring at the kids...

No matter what...

How can we miss Kaitlyn's Valentine's party on Friday - Everything went well

until the moment I look down - kids running, crawling in the classroom. Sugar High!!

What a fun party!

4month check up and wiggly tooth

Meghan turned 4month today. Her checkup went well. She is 75% on both height and weight. Her head is 90-95%. Funny that both girls have big head even though I don't think they're that big! Does that mean they're growing out-of-proportion? Haha... She did pretty well - be very quite in the waiting room, then ate and took a nap, and didn't even cried when given two shots and she likes sucking the rotavirus drops. Brave girl!

Here are couple of highlights of the week. Seems like I should have a lot to write about since I'm staying home, but I have to look at the pictures to remember what happened. Bad memory!!

Kaitlyn is getting so much better at piano! Thank goodness we switched to this teacher that brings out her interest. She is so looking forward to practicing piano everyday. She finds songs books on the shelf and figures out how to play those songs. Even her teacher said she is really good at using both hands while reading songs that don't tell left/right hand positions.

Here of course little Meghan has to get into Kaitlyn's business! Meghan's favorite part of the day is watching Kaitlyn doing things, running around, talking, etc. She jumps up and down and cheers loud. So funny!
Here Meghan is so interested in Kaitlyn's piggy tail. I caught you grabbing big sissy's shirt!

Good sign - Meghan starts showing interest in bottle. So I can train her drink from bottle and eventually transition to cereal and baby food.

Well, in this picture, poor little girl was bundled up all day since she had cold over the weekend. She has running nose and sore throat. I can tell she has trouble breathing at night. This weather changes too quick, hot and cold often changes within an hour. With daddy came back from HK, every one's schedule is out of routine.

Ohh, another thing - Meghan showed interest in table food the other day. Grandma put a slice of apple on her lip, she loved it and started licking! She gets mad and started screaming when the apple was taken away. The next day, she licked my bread again. Since then she checks out what's on the table at dinner time! P.S. I love how her toes stretched out like a fan. So cute!

Today, after coming back from Dr. office, Meghan had a good long nap. (Can't believe how long the wait time was even with appt. It drives me nuts in that waiting area.) Here Meghan sit up by herself! I'm so amazed. Unfortunately, bad mommy didn't catch her one time and she felt to the floor. Cried more of scare than hurt.

I can't believe I'm making fun of my own daughter here, but can't help it - she have very few hair in the front, looks like her hairline curves backward a lot. Looks like she has a heart-shaped or "mickey-mouse ear" shaped hairline... LOL

Here is daddy with her two sweethearts watching Superbowl! To my surprise, Meghan remembers daddy after Chung went back HK for 10days. She gave him a big smile as soon as she saw him the first morning Chung came back. That just made daddy's heart melt!

Of course Kaitlyn is so excited about daddy's coming back as well! Daddy is so spoiled on her little princesses! Kaitlyn kept asking when is daddy coming back while he was gone, especially when I told her do things she doesn't want to! Umm...

Here is after Kaitlyn came back from school today. She wants to put Meghan on her tummy for massage. I don't know how, but they both enjoyed it.

Meghan also remember more things than I expected. We took her upstairs to Kaitlyn and grandma's room twice this week. Now she gets so excited when she sees the stairs and looks upstairs, with sparkles in her eyes! Funny...

Last, Kaitlyn has a wiggly tooth now! I'm not sure if she is having her first loose tooth or just a bad tooth. Hopefully the first one. She was decorating her Valentine shoebox and preparing valentine cards for her classmates over the weekend. She can't help chewing an Airheads gum. The next thing she noted was the candy was too hard and too sticky, one of her tooth at the bottom hurts. She told me it hurts when she eats. So when I checked it this morning, that tooth sure is wiggly! She is so happy. Guess she's been waiting for her tooth to fall out! We'll see...

Another big things I have to write about is ever since I "forced" Kaitlyn stop watching DisneyChannel about a month ago, she starts behaving much better. Disney might not be the only reason, but I have to it has many negative impact on her. I have big issues with those preteen/or teen TV shows on Disney, I can complain about it for days! Long story short, I let her watched some during summer, she felt in love instantly, such as Hannah Montana, ICarly, The Suite Life, Sonny Chance, Waverly Place, etc. I can stand her being more drama, more crazy about dancing and singing, being silly, and likes makeup and cloth-changing, etc. I can't stand her picking up the attitudes from those show, which makes me feel like dealing with a teenager already.

I can't stop her growing fast, but I don't want her loose being simple innocent girl this early! She can watch the shows to know what's going on out there, but there should be a limit! I have to say Disney has some good preschool programs, but lacking good programs for Kaitlyn's in-between age. Glad Kaitlyn loves reading and has many other interests, so we're able to direct her to participate other activities. Parenting is a life-long learning subject for me...

Want to know what I've been doing last couple of days?

Time flies by quickly, I'm almost 4month old. In case you're wondering what I've been doing the last couple of days, let me tell the story -



Where did my hair go? I'm not too happy even the little pony's hair is longer than mine, so I've been pulling her hair off... shh, don't tell mommy!

When I go out with both girls, they entertain each other in the back. I asked Kaitlyn what're they doing? Kaitlyn took some pictures of what they're doing:

Meghan staring at window outside:
Meghan looking at Kaitlyn:
Kaitlyn took a picture of herself:
Say "peace" - I got mommy's handbag and found some candies:
These pictures lost focus, but are cute and Kaitlyn took it by herself:

So nice to have a big sissy!

Just when I sat down to write, Meghan cried. I went to calm her down. This girl sure can cry - once she opens her mouth to cry, she will make sure everyone can hear her from any corner in the house, no monitor needed! Well, since she likes music that much, she might as well try singing American Idol in the future?! Haha...

It's a wonderful thing to have a big sissy, a nice one! Why I say this? The younger one gets to preview everything before deciding what she wants to do. She gets to make mistakes with no excuse because she started younger. She gets to show mommy/daddy how smart she is by "stealing" big sissy's idea. She gets help from big sissy since she was born. She gets unconditional love from big sissy all the time...

So here are couple things happened this week to proof this:

Story one: At the playground - I got to try a big swing with my sissy, and I don't need to do any work. Lala..

Story Two: Um, yummy! How to get things I want:

First - you see my big smile? Am I sweet?! (click on the picture to see enlarged view)

Then - What is it? Does it taste good? Can I try some? please.....

Next: Look at my eyes... How could you say no? Last: Ahh, nice! I love you! I want more!!

Story three: At the gym - Meghan gets to watch Kaitlyn's gymnastics class tonight. She loves it! My mom just can't get her eyes off the girls on the floor!

Also to show mommy's double chin...

Sister talk

First day daddy is out of town, everything went well. Kaitlyn started missing her daddy already. I told her to write journal about what she missed daddy about. Sure FishWorld is on the list! She draw a card saying she missed daddy. Umm, that makes me a little jealous. What about if I leave for a few days? Will she be celebrating that mommy is gone so she would have more freedom to do whatever?!

It's so much funny to watch two girls talking to each other! Amazing and melts my heart! I always wonder how they get along with each other before Meghan was born. Now, when I see them getting closer everyday, I feel so relieved and so happy. There will be good sharing and rough conversations down the road, I'm sure...

What's new with Meghan? Everyday I noted something new with her, seriously! Like today she sucked her bubbles back while playing on her tummy. Guess won't be far from the day she eats real food :-)

What else?

1. Since she tries to sit up whenever possible, she gets frustrated if she can't . What she does is she will pull up her shirt in the front to try to lift herself up. So cute, guess she hasn't learned physics yet, doesn't know that even the strongest person in the world cannot lift himself up. Haha...

2. When playing on her tummy, she can use one arm to hold up and spare the other hand to reach things. Good try!

3. She likes sticking her whole hands into her mouth and licks fingers. Doesn't look like she likes sucking anything, not even a pacifier ( I tried... ), instead just licking things. Does it relate to the problem that she refuses bottles since 1 1/2 month? Spoiled baby!

4. Ohh, she bites me already! Although she did it before every now and then. But today, she bites hard and did it at least 4 times in a roll. Hey girl, don't do that if you still want mommy to feed you!

5. I can't really swaddle her tight anymore, she always finds her way to get her arms out. I often find her outside her blankets (even it's like three layers) in the morning.

6. And she grabs things so tight. She pulls my hair off, and pinch me so hard. Ur...

7. Not sure if she starts recognizing strangers already. When my friend Emma came visiting us over the weekend, she burst out crying/screaming when she hold her, twice! Maybe she was just hungry then...

This is gonna be a tough girl - strong-willed, persistent, active, and very focused when watching something for mins. (like things she finds out on the wall, on the floor, and any person talking).

What's new this week

What's new this week? Meghan is busy practicing her roll-over skill, eyes/hands coordination (grab and holding things). Of course sitting up, talking, and observing everything. So interesting to see her changes everyday. For a lot of her developments, once you miss it, it's gone. She learned it and will not go back again. It reminds me of many things about baby Kaitlyn. But the same time it makes me feel guilty theat I wasn't around Kaitlyn that much.

I feel so blessed to stay home taking care of her at this age. Of course we make less money now, but by making little arrangements, our lifestyle haven't really change much. I get to experience all the growth milestone of our little girl, plus participate more daily activities with Kaitlyn both at school and home. No money can make up for this! Things I do miss from working is me interact with outside world, have more free time doing things for "ME", feel free taking more vacations, and some worries of "IF". Anyway, enjoy while I can, life is never perfect. This balance point will be shifted between career and family from time to time.

Holding key set really well:
My favorite things to play - my fingers:

Here is just an example of babbling. She carries the "conversation" way better after feeding, on my lap. But its hard to catch it, because she's very sensitive to the camera. As soon as she notice the camera, she stops talking and smiling. I need to find sth. to disguise my camera.

By accident, I found out she really likes books. Whenever I hold a book in front of her (when she is not tired or hungry), she gets excited and starting reading, talking a lot. I have no desire to teach her read at this age at all, just fun to watch her reacting.

Right around 3 month, Meghan started sitting up by herself a lot more. Here are two clips taken right around the holiday.

First one was taken a week before 3month - my car seat baby. Since she won't fall asleep by herself in the crib, we walk her to sleep in car seat a lot during the first three month. Better than holding her to sleep.

Another one was taken a week after 3month. Excuse the mess on my bed...

Here is another clip I took during X'mas time, I got to show it. Kaitlyn has been such a great mommy's helper/big sissy. She wanted to push the stroller so Meghan won't cry. One time, she rock her to sleep! Half way in the video, I can hear Kaitlyn asking how much money does she get for pushing stroller? "Better be more than $1", as she said - that's a lot of money for her already! Haha... Funny - smart girl thinking about personal finance already! Haha...

I want it but my hands don't listen!

See how determining Meghan is when she wants to get something! So funny!

And towards the end, you can hear Kaitlyn saying "tug-of-war". Does it mean conflict started early already? I'm so happy to see Kaitlyn's kindness and patient to her baby sister.



See if the video works.

Afraid of blogging again!

After almost a year of not blogging, I'm a little nervous to re-blog again. Why? Don't know where to start, don't know if I will stop again, feel guilty I missing a lot or even more... (Well not that much since I did write things down on paper notebook after Meghan was born). The longer I don't write, the more I'm afraid to write again. Well, it's better to start tonight then just thinking but not doing anything at all!

So this past week was fun and busy. Kaitlyn had an early piano class on Friday, since she had a b-day party on Saturday. We drove 30mins in rain for a 30mins class dragging everyone in the car... Then, Saturday was grandma's b-day, Meghan's 100day celebration, then Sunday was Kaitlyn's half-birthday. We didn't really do anything big to celebrate, let's assume Cody's b-day party is also for us, since we all had fun together.

Here are some cool pics of Kaitlyn before going into the laser room. I was surprised to know she won the first place. We missed it because we had to take Meghan to restroom for diaper change - good timing, she was screaming after pooped while we watching. I don't know how Kaitlyn did it, she doesn't either. I believe she runs fast, but she had never played this before, she is not the one that's like shooting or chasing after others, she is not that active in public either... maybe she is calm and good at aiming others while hiding herself.

Let me see what else happen to Kaitlyn this month so far:

1. She sent out her first artwork to publisher - National Geography Kids. We're not aiming for publishing (but sure hope so), but to practice and have fun. We were reading NGKids the other day, and she saw the magazine ask kids to draw a picture of "what do pets do when they're home alone". Kaitlyn loves dogs and cats, she was all excited to draw it. Well, I decided not to put any pics for this since it had too much personal information. I have to say I really like her drawing. Not matter she gets selected or not, I'm so proud she is interested and willing to try.

2. First day back to school, was cold!

3. Making recycle paper by herself.

4. She loves playing with Meghan. Her favorite sayings for now are 1) "Hello, chubby chubby cheeks!" when she sees her; 2) "It's ok, little buddy!" when she sees Meghan crying. It's so cute to hear her saying that.

As far as Meghan, sure time flies by quickly. She is 100days old now! (Doesn't mean much here, but big deal in China) Ever since she turned 3month old, she seems having major development everyday. She is very alert to surroundings now, she loves Kaitlyn's voice/action. She babbles more and drooling more, she tries hard to sit up, she enjoys going out and so busy observing everything. She loves smiling, but the same time, her temper grows bigger as well. It's so funny to see her gets mad within a second and scream loud. Ohh, she also giggle a lot. Sometimes one giggle a time, sometime one after another. It cracks me up!

A funny pic of Meghan - sure enjoys her ride, with fingers all sucking in her mouth singing for herself, and one foot high up on the cup holder...

She is very attracted to TV and computer screens - we put her in front of BabyEistein for the first time, sure another fan is here on daddy's day off: (I promise I won't let her watch much TV!)

More pics of threesome playing together:

Kaitlyn wants to put Meghan's hands on her tummy, I was afraid Meghan may hurt Kaitlyn. Funny to see Meghan's face - sees like she is saying "I don't' want to, she asks me to... "

"Am I cute?!" So comfortable sitting on top of daddy's belly.

Busy looking at everything at the grocery store with grandma.

Three women in the house: