01.31.07
Livy’s ninth month check up
Height: 26 1/2 (25-50%)
Weight: 17 pounds 2 oz (25-50%)
HC: 43 (25-50%)
Baby girl is on the smaller side of the charts… Still shows no interests to crawl, but has a way to get everything she wants anyway.
01.21.07
A blossoming nine month old
Livy turned nine month old today. It seems like not long ago I IMed daddy and told him that we should go to the hospital together (for the record I would like to mention that daddy asked if I could go myself because he’s in a meeting). Half hour later daddy told the doctor that we can’t have the baby on the day because we didn’t bring the camera and Livy wasn’t supposed to come for another 6 weeks, and then the doctor left daddy in the room and rushed me to the surgery room because daddy ‘needed’ to email everyone about us having the baby on that day.
She came on her own chosen time, and has been the same way since then. She will only sleep if she wants to; she only eats if she wants to. Nothing can be forced on her.
But she is a charmer, and she gets away with practically everything.
She loves her big sister.. love might even be too weak to describe… she ‘worships’ Maddy and is a total copy kitten.
I don’t quite remember life before her arrival… probably more ordered, quiet, less stressed, and for sure less forgetful, but she completes our family. Just like Maddy, she brings blessings I know I surely don’t deserve.
She is from a different generation
I learned how to type on a typerwriter in high school, and didn’t have my first computer until I went to college.
Maddy typed her first word document today: learned backspace; space; enter; and found all the letters she needed in less than two minutes. Just like that, she has them down like she’s done it thousand of times… with ease and matter of fact mannerism.
They are from the new generation!!
01.17.07
First Dentist Visit
Maddy is almost 3 1/2 and I finally got my act together and made an appointment with a pediatric dental office near home/work. They are absolutely wonderful!! Maddy was unsure in the beginning, but she put up a brave face and endured her first teeth exam and cleaning like a champ. Then again, who wouldn’t when you got to wear cool sunglasses and watch a movie while holding all sorts of goodies during the cleaning. She has some plaque buildup on the top back teeth (mommy’s fault for not brushing them thoroughly) but no capavities.. yea!
I don’t really have too much luck with doctors of all sorts, but this one is a keeper.
01.16.07
Home Improvement Project 1 of 2007
Ever since our old friend Nhien convinced us (and painted) to splash some colors (family room; living room; Maddy’s room) on our new but only neutral blah beige walls two years back, we’ve wanted to continue and finish the rest of the house.
It was the perfect opportunity on MLK day since we had the day off but the girls’ shool was open.. plus auntie Betty was visiting, which mean free labor for us.. we started the makeover for the girl’s playroom. It is still working in progress: We need to put up the big corkboard for their artwork and photos; get some more needed shelves for toys/art supplies; go through toys and donate the ones they don’t play; re-arrange the furtures, and put some more decorations around. But we’re loving the transformation already.
01.14.07
Cheap Thrill
We didn’t want to waste a perfect 70 degree Sat in the middle of the winter all cooped up inside the house, so we did the Mento + Pepsi soda fountain (supposedly diet Coke works the best, but Pepsi was on major sale in the grocery store).
We thought about asking Maddy to sit on the grass (so she won’t have time to run) and putting Livy right in front of the soda bottle as well, but that would be very mean of us for having fun at the expense of our naive girls, plus it would create too much clean up work on my part afterwards.
It was fun while it lasted!
01.10.07
Somewhere in the middle
Joe is a hogger and I’m a minimalist: He still has all the email I sent him 13 years ago and all the receipts for the past three years (for what purpose I do not know) and I delete/throw away everything I don’t need the moment I think I don’t need them. After years of marriage, we’ve met somewhere in the middle: He has to donate equal pieces of clothings when he buys new stuff(if you havne’t worn a shirt for a year, you don’t need it so give to someone who needs it) and I agree to keep all of Maddy/Livy’s school reports and art work for a whole year (but every Jan 1, I throw them out in the recycle bin.. yepee)
I realized that it is ‘unfair’ for him because he gets to see the stack getting bigger and bigger only to be cleaned out just when the cabinet gets full, and the fact that it really doesn’t serve any meaningful purpose… I’ve decided to document the girls’ school work/learning progress in a way which is actually benificial; therefore, one of my goals for this year is to diligently put them on the web so that all of us can all enjoy for the years to come.
01.09.07
It is Beeeeutilful
Mommy: Maddy, that is a very nice coloring page you’re doing. I can’t believe how careful you’re with it.
Maddy: (Big sigh once…. big sigh twice)
Mommy: What?
Maddy: It’s taking a long long time because I’m so careful.
Maddy: (sigh a few more time to get my attention) Mommy, you should take a picture and put it on the computer so everyone can see.
Mommy: oh yea?
Maddy: Yea. Because it is BEEEEUtiful!
01.08.07
Say it like it is
Maddy: Daddy, member(remember) you didn’t hear mommy last time? member in the big tub and mommy screamed and you didn’t hear her for a long time? You should put on your hearing ears(hearing aids).
Daddy: All right [went and got his hearing aids]
Maddy: Daddy. Mommy has good ears, and I have good ears. We don’t have to shout to each other. And Livy has good ears too.
Maddy: daddy, I can’t hear (the DVD).
Daddy: [turned the volume up]
Maddy: Oh, you heard me this time.
01.06.07
Sleep training second time around
I’m ashamed to say that I’ve done EVERYTHING I said I would never do with regards to sleep training with Livy: Livy gets nursed to sleep; she is carried whenever she whines; she gets picked up within a few yelps; she had slept with us more than she slept in her own crib.
I guess, partly we’re just too lazy and too relaxed as second time parents; partly because we don’t want her to wake up Maddy; partly because she is our ‘baby’ and we baby her; partly she is so untypical: She would cry hours straight, with no breaks and no slow downs, just continuous screams, then she would fall asleep 10 seconds after we picked her up just to make her points known. We were totally defeated as advocates for sleep training our children.
It was terrible during the Christmas week. She had a running nose and was teething. The child was fussy and whining even when we held her for hours straight. The night she slept with ah-ma Livy ‘made’ ah-ma play with her from 2-3am. I was horrified. Yes, we created a monster and we brought it upon ourselves.
But something in her clicked this week. Perhaps all is better since her top teeth finally broke through. She became totally independent. She is so independent she puts all other babies who are sleep trained in shame:
I put her down in crib, hand her her blankie (which she immediately grabs onto and covers her own face), turn off the light and shut the door… and that’s it.
No cries!! Not even a whimper!!
The first night I thought yea, ok.. must be because it’s the first day back to school and she’s tired. The second night I thought.. ok, we got lucky.
But by today, Sat afternoon (went down for two day naps just like that), I’m starting to believe that she is ’sleep trained’.
I shouldn’t be surprised. It is the typical Livy thing: Everything has to be on her own time.
01.03.07
Because God has humor
I have many ‘deals’ with God. One of them being He will always remind me to depend on Him as a mom. When things are going bad, He will gives me the strength and wisdom I need to pull through. Even when things are going well, it is nothing short of His grace.
So just when I’m getting comfortable into the pumping routine at work, and started to feel that my nursing boobs are ‘all that’ and they can conquer the crying and whining plus give the crazy baby all the comfort she needs, God sends her teeth.
One bite and I came right back to humble earth (with cursings I withheld only because Maddy was around). I think it’s time I start to wean the child.
01.01.07
First Night Raleigh 2007
You know you live in a place that is so over the top family friendly when the city has two new year celebrations: one regular one at midnight and one at 7pm for the families with little kids.
Of course, it can never compare to the apple in the City as we have a drop of an ‘acorn’ in North Carolina and we easily got to the front row of the band and the ‘parade’ (90% just peope procession). Nevertheless, it was really fun for the kids.