The Younger One

I feel so bad for Leni sometimes. She definitely hasn't received all the "oohs" and "ahhs" of her firsts like Gemma has. For example, I noticed every tooth that popped out in Gemma's mouth. Leni, I have no idea. Like suddenly one day I noticed she had all her teeth. With Gemma getting to be school age, we never really gave a second thought to teaching Leni the alphabet or numbers like we did with Gem. Gemma is and was always super inquisitive and wanted to know everything, so naturally we taught her a lot just by answering her gazillion questions. Leni, on the other hand, never asks... so we never tell. We just figured she was like any normal kid her age and Gemma was always more curious for answers. We never even gave her the chance, it turns out!

Yesterday Leni wrote her name. WHAT. I know. She wrote her name. She told me how she spells L-E-N-I and she wrote it. I guess Gemma's been doing a little tutoring of her own! So then we tested her to see how much of the alphabet she actually knows and - she knows most of the letters! Still gets confused with S, D, W, B.

We had an eye appointment for the kids today and Gemma went first. When the doc tested Leni's 3D vision (or stereopsis, i think they call it?), she just randomly asked Leni two letters on the page - L and R she never asked Gemma during her test) and Leni answered her correctly! Then the doc just looked at me, almost glaringly, and said "What is she doing knowing her letters?" LOL.

18 month update

I have my laptop back! Hopefully I can journal regularly again.

The last post from 18 months ago was potty training Leni. Well, needless to say, that was a great success and came much faster than it did with Gemma. She has maybe had three accidents in the last 18 months, maybe once at nighttime.

Preschool has come and gone, Gemma had a great year. After talking to her teacher, we decided to put Gemma into kindergarten this year instead of next. The school board changed their age cutoff to Dec 31, so Gemma will definitely be one of the younger kids in the class. But honestly I think I would be doing her a disservice not sending her this year. She is so bright, smart, inquisitive, and SOCIAL. I don't know where she gets it from. She just loves making new friends - almost too much. Her preschool teacher was Ms. Sandi, her best friends this year were Grace, Mina, Charlie, Wyatt. I actually enjoyed my volunteer days and it was great to see Gemma interacting with her teacher and peers. Definitely surprised to see how quiet she is at school compared to home.

Gem also did dance -jazz, ballet, and tap - in the spring and even got to participate in the recital! She did great, cracked up the audience by covering her ears every time they applauded after a routine.

Leni did the Ms. Pat classes at the rec centre. It was a bit of a hit and miss for her, definitely a miss in the beginning. The first class, she didn't like it when I was leaving and I figured she would cry for a bit. When I went to pick her up, Ms. Pat just patted me on the shoulder and pointed to where Leni was - passed out on the couch. She threw a tantrum over changing activities and got sent to the couch to calm down, where she just cried and screamed until she fell asleep. I was just dumbfounded to see her there like that.

After scooting around on the balance bike and getting better at it, Gemma turned to a real bike with training wheels. Mom had a brilliant idea of having the bikes in the basement so the kids could practice over the winter. By the time summer rolled around, they were pros at pedaling. Right now we are in the midst of getting Leni to get on the training bike instead of the tricycle, which I gave away behind her back.

They also did their level 1 of preschool swimming lessons recently and, to my surprise, Gemma passed! When she did her swim lessons with Ms. Sandi's class, she was the second worst swimmer there, so scared of everything. I figured she wasn't going to pass, but she was really brave in putting her face in the water and doing floats, etc. Leni was a bit more hesitant, so she will be repeating it, but she also did pretty well in the class. Bribing them with popsicles after their lesson didn't hurt either.

The summer is almost over already, even though it feels like it just began. I dreaded summer thinking the kids would be bored to tears, but they have been inseparable! I love the age they are at right now. Leni looks up to Gemma so much and Gemma is so eager to teach her. Don't get me wrong, they still fight A LOT. But now they're at a point where they will almost give in to compromise to make the other one happy. It's heartwarming to see them play together so well. Now I wonder how Leni is going to handle Gemma's full days at kindergarten.

We just spent a week in Toronto visiting my brother and sister-in-law. I gotta say, every time we go on a trip, it gets easier and easier. Not having to haul a stroller and a box of diapers is also nice. We had a great time and did so much, Wonderland, Toronto Island, science center, taste of Danforth festival, and even a birthday party.

I hope I can keep up with the blogging again, I miss reminiscing about my day this way. My kids are evidently growing up way too fast and I don't want to forget so much of it. 

Preschool

A few posts back I wrote about trying to decide on a preschool for Gemma, whether to even send her this year or not. Well, we decided we would. Through some moms in town via a facebook group, I heard a lot of great feedback at the preschool within one of the public schools. I didn't even know public schools had preschools. Jesse and I went to an open house and met the teacher, saw the classroom, etc., and we both really had a great vibe from it all. I could see Gemma having a great time and really truly enjoying "school". The big plus is that it is significantly cheaper than a private preschool. For 9 hours a week, we are paying $125.  A parent is required to volunteer once every 6 weeks or so and on that day that parent is responsible for providing a snack for the entire class. I don't mind the volunteering so much, but the snack thing really bugs me - not that I have to provide one, but that I have no control over what Gemma is getting for a snack except when it's my turn to be the parent volunteer. If you know me, you know I'm extremely anal about what my kids can and can't eat. No juice, nothing deep fried, no cold cuts with preservatives, no pickles, no candy. And while it was crystal clear in talking to the teacher and the handouts she gave us that the snacks needed to be healthy, I didn't love some of the examples of "good snacks to bring" on there - pepperoni sticks, pickles, pure juice - these just made me cringe. I know, I know... I can't hover over my kids for the rest of their lives to see what they're eating, but i hate that I have to give up control already. 

Snacks aside, I can't WAIT for September. I know plenty of people who are against the idea of preschool at 3 years, bringing up reasons like "why do you want them to grow up so fast?" or "but they learn most when they're with their parents" or "they'll be in school long enough, why add an extra year?" etc. Well, this has nothing to do with me wanting them to grow up faster (who wants that?). This is 100% based on the fact that she is bored to death at home and I cannot do these "preschool"-type things at home with her. I work full time for crying out loud and their caregiver (my mom) isn't obligated to be a teacher. This way Gemma will be socializing, playing, learning, experiencing new things that I just can't provide her being a full-time working mom... and with Gemma especially, she just craves knowledge and new experience and it would be bad parenting to keep her at home just for the sake of not wanting her to "grow up too fast". 

Potty training Leni - end of week 1

Seriously, I am blown away. Since day 2, Leni has had one poop accident and one pee accident. We've even taken her out of the house twice without her having an oopsy. I am still so amazed at how well she has done. About four times we napped her with no diaper and the rest with no diaper. Each time she napped with the diaper, she peed in it. Each time we napped her sans diaper, she woke up dry. Yesterday though she napped no diaper and woke up only a half hour later... 

So I am completely thrilled at Leni's progress. Now the challenge is what to do in the mornings while I work. With Gemma my work desk was on the same floor as her play area, so i could always hear her say she had to pee or else she would come and find me quickly. In our new house, my office is on the main floor while the kids stay upstairs to play. This will be an interesting week while I try to figure out how to do this. 

Potty training Leni

Pretty much since I began potty training Gemma when she was 17 months old, I swore I would not do it so early with Leni. I would hear of these 3-year-olds who would just "get it" in mere days and never had an accident again. It was a good month before I braved a trip out with Gemma, I think, and that was with many extra pairs of clothes PLUS her potty shoved into the bottom basket of her stroller. Mind you she didn't have an accident, but it just took a while for her to really "get it". 

Seriously, I look at Leni and she is like... a baby. Maybe it's having this 3-year-old smart-aleck always talking back to me, but Leni really seems like such a baby. I don't recall looking at Gemma at 19 months and thinking "she's just a baby", but then again, I guess I never had an older kid to compare her to. 

Back to potty training. About a month and a half ago, we ran out of diapers and I had to run out. For the first time EVER, I really noticed how stinking expensive diapers were! A pack of 120ish Pampers Cruisers are $40! So I re-contemplated my feelings on early potty training and booked a week off work to try potty training Leni. Even before beginning, I said that if by the end of the long weekend things were seemingly hopeless, I would just let it go and try again another time.

We started Saturday morning. I tried the tactic that worked BEST with Gemma, which was taking her to the bathroom with me while I'd pee and she's sit on her potty. Well, I peed. Leni didn't. Then Jesse took a turn. She didn't pee. Gemma took a turn. About a minute or two later, Leni peed. We jumped up and down for joy and we praised the heck out of her, gave her some Teddy Grahams. 

Our joy and praise was short-lived as she spent the rest of the day peeing everywhere but the potty. But interestingly she would flip out and cry if she peed her pants (or in her case, her bare legs). She would really get disturbed and just scream and cry, then stop peeing, only to repeat it just minute later. She was literally walking around the house squirting pee and screaming her head off for hours. At suppertime we sat her upon folded towels on her booster and she soaked right through that and there was pee all over the floor by the end of the meal. Taking her with me to the bathroom didn't work anymore, she would just get up and throw a fit. 

By the end of the night, i was SPENT. As much as I told myself I wouldn't stress out over this, it was hard watching Leni pee and get so upset over and over and over again. And I couldn't figure out why she was doing that like every 10 seconds instead of just peeing and letting it all out, and THEN crying. I worried about her getting a urinary tract infection and it was just a completely new territory - Gemma never did that during her potty training process, at least not that I can remember now. We thought maybe she just physically could not feel the urge to pee or whatever, leading to the conclusion that maybe she is too young... but then again, Gemma did it at a younger age, so why couldn't she? Anyway, I went to bed stressed, but telling myself again that I could start over some other time if by the end of the long weekend things were just as hopeless. But honestly, I couldn't see this getting any better...

Day 2 began and Leni had her first pee in the potty. The second time, Jesse tried to take her into the bathroom and she threw a fit in there, rolled on the floor, and in the midst of banging on the door trying to get out, she peed on the floor. Jesse was super frustrated and I decided I'd better take over for the rest of the day, seeing how it was my idea to begin with. 

Jesse took Gemma to church and then they ran errands all afternoon. I obviously stayed home with Leni. 

I had Leni bare-bottomed with just some leggings on. So I could see that each time Leni would say "poop" and point to her crotch, she would already have started peeing but literally like a squirt. Each time I just grabbed her right away and put her on the potty and she actually started peeing the rest of the way in the potty. It was like that for most of the afternoon - she would wet herself just a tiny bit, point to her crotch and say "poop", then I'd rush to put her on the potty and she would finish the pee there. At least we had figured out some kind of a system. After her nap, we had one real "accident" where it was more than just a squirt, but by bedtime, she wasn't even wetting herself anymore. She would say "poop" and point down and would pee when we'd sit on the potty. Going to bed last night was a completely different feeling than the night before. I couldn't believe how far Leni had come along and I was so incredibly proud. I went to bed optimistic. 

Today was Day 3. Leni has had ZERO accidents. Every single time she would point and say "poop" without wetting herself and we would sit her down and she would pee, clapping and smiling, saying "I did it!". Of course each pee is rewarded with a Teddy Graham or a piece of banana bread or whatever and plenty of clapping and praising and hugging and kissing. I am just in awe of how well she is doing. 

I guess I should mention that No. 2 of course has been much more difficult. We caught her standing and about to push on day 2 and sat her down and she had the tiniest poop. Day 1 she didn't poop at all. and this morning when she woke up, she had pooped in her diaper. I was super relieved because i really don't want her to get constipated. I know No. 2 is a bigger challenge, but I feel optimistic that it will come along soon also. The funny thing is that she normally has a very regular poop schedule, but that's all changed in the last 3 days... 

Wish us continued luck!

Preschool, Potty, 18 months

I know I'm going to really regret this lack of posting later on, when i have nothing to look back for for a significant chunk of my kids' lives. I hope I can be more vigilant in keeping up with this blog...

Gemma. 

Turning 3 has brought with it some new things to think about and maybe even a couple of challenges. I think the main item has been preschool and whether I should send her in September or whether I should wait another year so she only goes to preschool for 1 year or whether to send her to a formal preschool at all. This town has so many wonderful preschool programs offered by the Town and it is much cheaper than sending her to a formal preschool. Having said that, I myself have never been to preschool and so I am not sure what she would be missing if she didn't go. Would it put her behind at kindergarten? Do I want her to go to preschool for 2 years or just 1 year? What age do I want her to go into grade 1? I realize it seems early to be thinking about real school already, but I need to kinda think about that too in order to figure out when/how long she will go to preschool, when she will then go to kindergarten, etc. Then it all snowballs into - well, which school will she go to? I am not sure if all towns/cities have this area boundary thing, but here the school you attend depends on which part of town you live in. If you want to go to a school outside of your "boundary" then you may be waitlisted as those kids who live in that boundary get priority. The problem with us is that we would love for our kids to go to Catholic school as apparently they have a really great program and the public school in our "boundary" sound less than desirable. Unfortunately neither Jesse nor I are Catholic and so our kids would get the very bottom the list. Once all the baptized Catholic kids are in, they take in the kids whose one parent at least was baptized, then the non-Catholic kids. The two Catholic schools in town have just exploded with students in the last few years as more young families move to town and more people are moving their kids into the Catholic system after learning how much better the program/teaching is. So basically I am afraid that when it's Gemma's time to go to school, she will not be able to get in. Thus, thinking about preschool has become much more complicated than it seemed at first. 

Last week Gemma started her first 2-hour unparented preschool program offered by the Town. It's called "Create and Play" and basically they do crafts, maybe play with some play-doh, some new toys, play a game, etc. I had no idea before, but it has come to my attention that these kids need to be able to go to the bathroom on their own. I mean, completely on their own. Climb up to the adult-sized toilet, wipe, come down and re-dress, then wash their hands at the big sink - all on their own. Maybe we are completely behind in this aspect, but until now I've always helped Gemma in the bathroom, mainly with lifting her up onto the toilet seat and then wiping. I was completely surprised to learn that she had to be able to do all this on her own. I know Gemma is physically not able to climb up on to the toilet (thanks to my lack of upper body strength she has inherited) and frankly I don't know that I want her to be touching the toilet seat with her hands/arms trying to get up on it. They do have a small stepstool in the bathroom, so we've been practicing at home. Still, i think it's rather absurd that they expect 3-year-olds to be able to do this on their own. and I know that it could very well just be MY 3-year-old as I hear stories about 2-year-olds and not even 2-year-olds who will climb the toilet to pee. I still think it's absurd. 

Leni.

She'll be 18 months tomorrow!

• She understands pretty well everything you say to her, but whether she does what you say is another thing entirely. 
• She always tells me right away if she pooped, she doesn't like a poopy diaper. 
• She has to have/do everything Gemma has/does. 
• She is sooooo cuddly and will sit on your lap for hours just like that.
• She sleeps at about 7:30-8 PM until 6:30-7 AM. She naps about 1.5 hours during the day. 
• Toki ("akki") is her bunny that she loves and can't live without. 
• For several weeks now she has been very adamant that she feed herself with a spoon. She has gotten pretty good!
• We recently stopped giving her bedtime milk. A rather surprisingly smooth transition.
• She loves to play hide and seek. 
• She is very good at copying what you say.
• She still throws tantrums and rolls on the ground with every "no".

the "problem child"

Someone please tell me what to do with Leni.

She hits Gemma. 

She bites Gemma. 

She pushes Gemma. 

"No" has absolutely no meaning to her. 

Slap her on the hand and she looks at you with a smirk!

If she doesn't get her way, she lays on the floor, face down, and starts screaming and crying. 

I swear I don't ever remember Gemma being this way. Sure, Gemma doesn't like being told "no" either, but she never reacts to this extent. I am at a loss as to how to deal with Leni. She is just so different from her sister, it's a completely new territory for me. 

but you should her Leni say "I dunnoooo". It's the cutest thing ever.

Gemma's third birthday!

What chaos. I don't even know why I thought it was a good idea to throw a birthday party for 10 kids, their parents, and their siblings within 1 week of moving into my new house. I had no seating (sold our couches unexpectedly just before moving) and so we just had rugs and a mattress on the floor to sit on. No toys downstairs, just a couple dozen balloons, which, I have learned, is enough to keep kids crazy happy for 2 hours.

Initially I had an entire Dora theme in mind since Gemma is going through a huge Dora phase right now. I didn't even know she knew what a Pinata was, but she made it a point to tell me she wanted a "horsey one". Unfortunately with all the craziness of the move, the only "Dora" remained the books I forgot to hand out as part of the "goodie bags". 

The thing that really mattered anyway was that Gemma had a tremendous time screaming and running and just going crazy with her very good friends that she cherishes so much. She can't see enough of them and I wish I didn't work so she really could see them more. 

Happy birthday my darling, goodness how time flies...

Leni's Words

My girls sure have the gift of gab, if nothing else. They just love to talk, talk, talk...

This is what Leni is saying these days:

mine
bubble (she means bath)
Dora
foot (in korean)
tickle
food (in korean)
what's that?
over there
Elmo
mommy (in korean)
dada
puppy
quack-quack
bap (she means diaper)
pee
poop
big sister ("un-nee")
please
stop
here you go ("hugo")
water (in korean)
no (in korean)
hi
bye
snack (in korean)
lion (in korean)
hippo (in korean)
ball

Gemma, my little genius!

On the weekend, Jesse and I were taking the trampoline down and packing it up. Gemma was out there with us the whole time, wanting to help. Obviously there wasn't much she could do, but once I had the net and mat packed up into boxes, I just told her to come and write on the box for me. So I started calling out letters and telling her where to write them, not really expecting anything, just thinking that she would just scribble all over the place. To my complete surprise, she wrote down all the letters!

I don't know if the "R" is supposed to be lower case and the "P" looks a bit odd and the first "N" is backwards, but Jesse and I were just peeing our pants with pride (is that even an expression???). Completely unexpected. My little smartie pants.

can... but won't!... and vacation

So, Leni can officially walk. I think we stopped counting after 27 steps in a row. However, she still much prefers to crawl. Hmmm? 

Gemma's first two-year molar has completely come through! 

Last Friday, Jesse took Gemma to Vancouver to his parents' house. Leni and I joined them on Sunday and we flew back together on Wednesday. Gemma was having such a great time there - beach, playground, boat, fishing, play-doh (which we don't allow in our currently for-sale home), walks, etc. When I got there on Sunday, she basically was so disappointed that I had come and ruined her time (mommy is the only one to say no to anything). She pretty much told me flat out to go home. 

Surprisingly, Leni played "strange" right to the end. Actually, I think that is the wrong word. Even to the moment we were leaving, she didn't really care for my in-laws too much. It always had to be either Jesse or me. I think that was partly due to the fact that we left the kids behind for our anniversary supper and my in-laws took care of them during that time. I think the fact that we just snuck out of there was semi-traumatizing for Leni. I remember when Gemma was younger, she would always play strange with everyone, but for some reason she always was quick to warm up to Jesse's family, even though we only saw them twice to maybe four times a year at most. It was as if you just couldn't fool blood with her. I think Leni too will come around soon, especially when she begins to realize just how much funner grandma, grandpa, auntie, and uncle are compared to mommy and daddy. 

I have to say though that Gemma hasn't listened as well since we've been home. 

Flight-wise, Leni did very well for her first flight. Jesse took the camera so I didn't get to take one of those cockpit pictures like I did with Gemma. She did really well until we landed and were just waiting to leave the plane. Then, she just wanted to get the heck out of there and started losing it when it was taking too long to get off. But other than that, she was pretty good on both plane rides. 

It definitely was a really nice trip out there. My in-laws moved to their new place a little while back, but we haven't been there with the kids yet. They are super close to the beach and even though it's only the next province, it feels like a completely different place. As the kids get older, we'll visit more and more.

Three steps

I think Leni is getting more motivated to walk. She is standing up all the time without holding anything and will take steps on her own. Three is far as we've gotten so far, but it's encouraging to see she's more willing now to try. Maybe there's still a chance she'll be walking by my brother's wedding on Thanksgiving weekend!

Two-year molars!

Gemma's sprouting her molars! Right now she has the bottom left and top right molars coming through. She's handling it like a trooper, not cranky, not sleep-disturbed.

What? It's mid August???

Has it really been a month since the party? Crazy. I know I've been slacking big time with this blog, but with the construction of our house, I hate to admit it, but that blog is getting more of my attention.

Gemma is finally getting her 2-year-old molars. I noticed she has been a bit more of a crybaby as of late and also she is more willing to nap, even though she is getting up slightly later. For a little while there, she was getting up right around 6 AM, but now she is back to her usual (and my preferred time) of 7-7:30. Today I looked into her mouth and saw the tooth really close to the gum surface. I think it will poke through soon ???? and hopefully it won't be too hard on my poor little Gem. 

Gemma's so funny. Each and every day I have moments where I'm dumbfounded by the things she says, like where the heck did she learn these things???? She wakes up in the morning and knows exactly what shows are on in what order until Harmony comes home. She'll just turn the TV on herself and knows that 17 is Treehouse and 115 is Disney Junior and so just changes the channels on her own. We try to not have her watch too much TV after Harmony comes home though. I know this is poor excuse, but I let her watch TV in the morning so that I can get some work done, so I don't have to work til the late hours of the evening...

Leni is such a little ham. She really likes to tease you. She loves to climb up the slide we have and just lean back, barely hanging on, maybe swinging a foot out to the side, all just to give you a heart attack. I know that reacting to this makes her do it more, but she scares the bejeebers out of me when she does that! 

She loves the neighbor's dogs and always points to the window, wanting to see out into their yard to see if the dogs are out there. She says "pa-pa" for puppy and it's so cute. She gets so excited when she hears them barking. I think maybe Leni would've liked Reggie more than Gemma ever did. 

She is still extremely reluctant to take steps on her own. She is much better at walking while holding one hand though. It's weird because she is so proud of herself when she is just standing, not holding anything, but she's so scared to take steps. I sometimes wonder if it's because her one foot is turned in a bit, whether that hurts her to put weight on it like that or what. Or maybe it's just because she is the fasted crawler in the world and feels no need to put all that effort into walking. LOL. 

Both of the girls are absolutely crazy about daddy and when he's home, Harmony and I might as well not exist. But really, I don't blame them. He is the ultimate dad - full of love, nonstop play, nonstop attention. They really are lucky.  Then again, so are we.

Little Piggies

Last week, I took the girls for shots - Leni for her 1-year immunizations and Gemma for her third and final hepatitis B shot. The nurse asked if I had any concerns before she began the actual appointment and I asked if I could see a dietitian.

You see, my kids... they love, LOVE to eat. As soon as they make eye contact with me (or any of us for that matter), they ask for food. When they eat, it's never enough. For the most part, unless we've just had a meal, we can't even stay downstairs because both kids just whine for food around the kitchen. I myself feel like they eat more than plenty and am really conscious about trying to feed them healthy food in proper portions. I really put in a lot of effort and even so, Gemma has always been in the 90+ percentile for weight. I'd imagine she'd be off the charts if I let her eat as much as she wanted, when she wanted, what she wanted.

I know it may seem crazy to obsess over my kids' weights when they're not even 3 years old, but I really don't want them to have to struggle with weight when they're older. I myself don't really have a sweet tooth or a snack tooth, and really that's my only saving grace that I'm not bigger. I love fat more than anything and have such a hard time controlling portion sizes. I am always struggling with my weight and unfortunately, other than my mom, no one is naturally "thin" in our family. I just know the kind of a toll weight issues can take on a young girl and I just want to prevent as much of that as I can.

But anyhoo, the nurse commended by concerns but felt that the girls were within the normal range and charting appropriately and so she felt that as long as I was feeding them healthy foods, I didn't need to worry. Of course, I knew she was going to say that....

So I guess that really is all I can do - keep them off the junk and control their portion sizes for as long as they let me...

Happy Birthday!

Gosh, it's been 4 days already since the part. Just goes to show you how I don't seem to have any time to sit and catch my breath these days. We still have Jesse's mom and dad over and so it doesn't feel like everything is quite "over" yet. 

But anyhoo, what a fun little party. I think we had about 40 guests come, only one family of no-shows and one surprise guest. Leni did very well the whole time, no screaming, just enjoying the attention. Gemma was being a bit of a drama queen and cried a couple of times, but she too had fun playing with her cousins, friends, and balloons. 

The main event of the part, the doljabi, was an interesting one. Gemma didn't hesitate and went straight for the pen and pencil. Leni was really not sure and would crawl a couple of "steps", then stop, then whine a bit, then crawl up again, then sit, then whine. Then, my mom sat her up in front of the items to choose and she still couldn't make up her mind. We sat around for like 5 minutes waiting for her to pick. I picked up each item briefly just to get her interested, hoping she'll get the hint that that's exactly what she's supposed to do, but still no. I could see her eyeing the book and the bowl of rice, not sure which one to pick? then finally... finally! she picked up a grain of rice that had fallen out of the bowl. LOL. So that's it! RICE! I was happy because that's what I had hoped she would pick. Abundant/healthy life. 

Anyway, the party ended, but we had my brother and jesse's siblings here until yesterday, and as mentioned above, Jesse's folks are still here. It's so nice having all these extra people to watch the kids and I've been able to work starting early in the morning and finishing early! 

Anyhoo, at 1 year old, Leni is not yet walking and has no interest in it. She is sleeping about 10 hours, then we give her a bottle, then she goes back down (usually) for another hour or two. She has gone back to the two naps and has seven teeth. She loves any affection from Gemma, but most of the time they fight and Leni ends up crying because Gemma has stolen a toy she was playing with. Equally, she always wants to have/do what Gemma has/is doing and so then Gemma gets annoyed and cries. She is now drinking homo milk (since 2 days before her birthday because that's when we ran out of formula) and doesn't like to drink it straight out of the fridge. She says "umma" (mom), dada, kkot (flower), hi.

As much as she screams, she is incredibly affectionate and loves to cuddle. Her smile and nose crinkling just makes my heart melt. I love you Leni! Happy Birthday!!

and.... ready!

I can't believe it, but I think we're ready for Saturday. Last night, Jesse finished the last DIY project for the party and I think we're good to go!

Leni is unfortunately working hard at teeth #7 and 8, the two bottom lateral incisors. She is a drooling mess and I hope she can keep her chin clean for the party! 

I think she is trying to lose her afternoon nap and it's driving me crazy. Gemma, right when she turned one, decided to go down to one nap a day too (right now, she is no-nap). In a way, it makes life easier in that I don't have to try to work my day around two naps, but just one, but still it just goes to show how quickly my baby is growing up and it makes me sad. She is at the perfect age right now where she is just so cuddly and sweet and curious (even though she screams). 

On Sunday, we had our family photo session with Debbie from Debbie Wong Photography. I only have a few pics to look at so far, but they seem alright. 

Family stars pouring in Wednesday, i think? We're expecting 46 people for the party, with 9 of them staying at our house, at least for a night.

Bring it on!

Dol..dud.

I suppose it's my own fault for procrastinating.

With Gemma, I had most of the DIY projects for the party done before I went back to work. Now I'm scrambling, trying to do overtime at work while we have it and at the same time trying to organize this party. I still have so many missing details, forget the DIY stuff. I'm trying to do things a bit more different this time, but it all seems to be ending up to look the same as Gemma's dol. 

i haven't even decided on whether I should do a cake this time or do cupcakes again! 

I feel so bad... my brain is constantly elsewhere and when I get a moment to relax, that's what i want to do - RELAX - not sit for another hour burning the crap out of my fingertips trying to glue tiny beans onto a cardboard cylinder... 

But I promise you, Leni, IT WILL GET DONE! 

lol...

Leni

I can't believe my BABY is 11 months old. I mean, she's going to be turning ONE in a matter of weeks! This time last year, I was so uncomfortable I couldn't sleep in my own bed and I could hardly walk from hip pain. I remember just wanting the pregnancy to be over and being anxious to get my own body back. Well, I should've known that my body would never return, but that's an entirely different post... 

At 11 months, Leni is... hmm...

hmm....

i know that seems a bit weird, but i don't really know what to say to describe her. If I try to think of just one word to describe her, it would be... SCREAMY. 

she screams. ALL THE TIME. happy, sad, mad, hungry, excited, frustrated, annoyed, etc. As much as I love her, I find I just really need a break at the end of the day from all the screaming. She is incredibly stubborn and actually really needy - I wonder if that has to do with her being a second-born in that there has always been someone there her entire life, whereas Gemma is very independent and i wonder if that's because she is used to spending short amounts of time by herself. I don't know if it's separation anxiety or just her personality, but she cannot be left alone. As soon as I turn around to walk away, she is screaming. Then, she follows me around, just screaming and crying until I pick her up. 

Leni also loves to eat. TOO MUCH. She can't get enough of food! She eats as much as Gemma does (and Gemma eats almost as much as my mom) and I swear both of my kids (and me too, I guess, hehehe) lack that communication between the stomach and brain where the stomach tells the brain it's full. Frankly, the only times that Leni isn't screaming is when she has something in her mouth or when she is sleeping. Every mealtime, it's a struggle trying to get her out of her high chair - she gets so mad! 

She's not walking yet, but she is standing more and more everyday. I am hopeful that she will walk soon, mostly because then she can go to forward facing and I figure that will make her like being in the car a bit more. She is an insanely fast crawler and she loves to climb up to the top of the stairs and then slide down as quickly as she can on her belly. We also have an indoor slide that she loves to play on. She is so strong, she can pull herself up on the slide part and then slide down on her belly. 

It's hard to believe she's going to be one so soon. As challenging as she is, she is cute as a button and I just love her to bits. 

Gemma

My dear 2-1/2 year old... Everyday she surprises me with how much she knows. Who says kids don't learn from TV?? LOL. Good excuse, I know. 

When do kids start to be able to carry a tune? Gemma just loves to sing and she sings ALL THE TIME. About a month ago or so, I really noticed how much more she can carry a melody than she used to be able to. Now that she can do that and she realizes she can do that, she puts random words into melody. Her favorite melody is for "Clementine" and she'll use this tune to sing almost anything. For example, "have to go pee, have to go pee, have to go pee go peeeeee" or "peanut butter, peanut butter, peanut butter and jelleeeeeee"

Totally different topic now ...

Last Sunday, we took Gemma to church. A Korean church. Oddly enough, it was Jesse's suggestion for trying to get her to retain Korean outside the house and to know that other people speak it too. It's about 40 minutes away. When we got there, Gemma was in great spirits. All the old people would compliment her on her cuteness when she would walk by and she was just sopping up all the attention. We were greeted by a nice man, who recognized that we were visitors (even though it's quite a big church) and took us down to the Sunday School downstairs. It was for kids 2-1/2 years and maybe up to kindergarten age? I dunno. But anyway, I think at this point the attention got a bit overwhelming for Gemma and she started to freak out. She got really shy and wouldn't leave my side or make eye contact with anyone and basically cried anytime anyone tried.

I have to say, though, that Sunday School program was really great! They sang songs with actions, then a Bible story (about Joseph), then a snack, then another story. The kids had to raise their hands to speak and follow certain rules within the classroom. Gemma has never been in a setting like this before and obviously she had no idea what the rules were or what rules ARE even, but then again, she cried nearly the entire time (other than snack time). I'm not sure if me being there the entire time was helpful to her or not. I wonder if I should just leave her there next time - would she just get over the fact and just join in? 

I myself had a really good time, LOL. Anyway, we were hoping to go again tomorrow (and keep going), but half of this household is sick and I think it's best we stay away. I think it will be good for her though to make some Korean friends, GO TO CHURCH, and learn what preschool is kinda like...