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...

update

I've been working so much overtime the last 2 weeks, by the time I'm done work I really don't want to be on the computer anymore. 

Scarlet fever - It's NOT scarlet fever! Well, it mustn't be, since we never got a call about the swab results. Leni's rash faded away quickly after my last post and she is back to her usual self. In fact, I think she is making up for the lost time still, plenty of energy, plenty of trouble-making, plenty of annoying Gemma...

Leni's mastered our stairs and we have to really remember the close the gate at the bottom of the stairs or else that's where we can expect to find her. Fortunately (and knock on wood) she hasn't taken a tumble down yet. 

I don't know if Leni is also trying to make up for lost appetite, but it seems like she just can't eat enough. We are pretty much giving her what we eat minus the seasoning and I think she eats about as much as Gemma - and Gemma eat a LOT. She can't handle seeing food anywhere or anyone else eating. She throws some of her biggest tantrums when wants more food. 

The food thing - she's just like Gemma. Both kids just love to eat, it's hard to keep the fridge stocked. 

A way in which Leni is nothing like Gemma, though, is the fact that Leni eats everything off the floor - carpet fuzzies, a torn piece of paper, a leaf that has fallen off a plant, a piece of dried up food that fell onto the floor the night before, a piece of dirt, mini hair elastics, etc. Gemma always mouthed her toys, but she never would seek things out off the floor and automatically put it in her mouth. It's exhausting, trying to keep up with her so she doesn't eat something. I vacuum constantly, but it seems like there is always something for her to put in there. 

Gemma has been into two things lately: drawing and puzzles. She has always loved to draw and now, she can really draw recognizable things. Most of the time, it's still fluke, but if you ask her to draw a face, she will draw a big circle, two small circle for eyes (and a line connecting the two for glasses), a another circle for a nose, and either a smile or a frown for the mouth. She sometimes even squiggles in hair. It's amazing to me that at this age she can draw something like that. She also draws big spikes for mountains or small spikes for grass, and experimenting with circles and lines, writing "100" or "olio", etc. She can also do a 48-piece puzzle by herself and can sit for a long time just keeping herself busy in these ways.

Gemma has also really started to warm up to Leni in the last couple of weeks. She really likes playing with her now, crawling after her, putting stuff on her head to make her look like a "princess", etc. If Gemma is coloring or something and Leni comes over to join in, she's prompt to say "No Leni, that's my crayon" or whatever and gives her something else to play with. Ninety-nine percent of the time it doesn't work though and Leni still goes after whatever Gemma's doing. Oh, little sisters.