Chinese New Year and Craziness (Sleep Regression, Mental Leap, Growth Spurt...whatever you call it) of Week 21

Dear Hailey, 

Things have been a bit crazy this week. When I thought last week was crazy with the feedings every 2 hours, you upped your game and started to fight sleep too. You seem like you are insatiable, irritable, and at times just inconsolable. 

I gave you another try at yogurt, and you absolutely love it. You will grab the spoon and immediately shove it in your mouth. If I take it away, you fuss. I've also tried letting you suck/bite on pieces of cooked asparagus and cauliflower. You seem to like the flavor of those things as well. You are definitely a foodie baby, because whenever you smell food, you want to eat. So I guess I'll just have to have something ready for you at meal times. 

 Putting you down to sleep is getting quite difficult. Sometimes I'm spending just as much time putting you down as you are staying asleep. When I walk into our bedroom with you and turn on the white noise, you immediately know it's bedtime and you start to cry. Sometimes I will nurse you until you calm down, sometimes you will suck on a pacifier for a few minutes and then calm down, but I've started to just carry you around and bounce you in the baby carrier until you get drowsy. I then put you down and you will slowly fall asleep. If I put you down too early, you will cry and protest. It took me 1.5 hours to get you to nap this morning...exhausting.

There is a silver lining, however. Starting yesterday, you have generally just been more happy. Your naps are at least 1.5 hours each and I think you've grown in length. Suddenly your 3 month onsies absolutely don't fit you anymore, so I've pulled out the 6 month clothing. 

Hopefully things start to settle down and we can start establishing a good schedule. Maybe I'll be able to leave the house and plan on being able to get things done. 

It's been frustrating for me because much of what I did with Nathan and Hannah does not work with you. Luckily I have a great arsenal of what has worked for other moms to try on you. A part of me feels like I need to parent all three of you the same way, but I'm learning, very quickly, that this is not going to happen. I pray that God will continue to remind me of this. You are each unique and have different needs. 

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

The weather these past few days (up until today) has been amazing. 70 degree weather, cloudy days, and no more cedar pollen! So, we've been spending lots of time outside. I just had to take pictures of these colorful drawings that you guys drew on the drive way. 

Family Movie Night Backwards

Cat and the Hat along with Nick and Sally

 On Sunday, Chinese school had a Chinese New Year celebration. There was food traditionally eaten on new years,

 a photo booth where you can dress up in traditional chinese clothing,

I really wanted to get a picture of both of you looking all cute and dressed up, but Hannah was not in the mood for pictures. 

 Eventually you warmed up, but boy, getting both of you to smile at the same time sure is tough.

 There was also a station where you could try to write traditional Chinese characters for decoration. The Chinese hang pieces of red paper with auspicious words and phrases written on it in calligraphy. I remember my grandfather putting up new ones each new year.

 You guys also raced paper jumping frogs, which was super fun.

 And even participated in some traditional night market games.

 And the teachers also had prepared a Chinese version of head banz.

 And there were plenty of crafts to be made. Overall, Nathan thought it was the best day of Chinese school ever, and Hannah was happy to be able to join in on the fun.

 Recently both of you have gotten really interested in playing with your babies.

 One windy afternoon, I took all three of you out to the school fields to fly kites. It was pretty hectic for me because helping a 3 and 5 year old fly 2 kites on a small field is a lot to manage.
1) "Mom, it crashed, again! Help me!"
2) I needed to make sure you guys didn't get too close to each other.
3) There were trees to contend with.
4) I kept yelling, "Make sure the wind is on your back!"
5) Hailey

 We survived for about an hour. When kite strings started to break, kites got stuck in trees, and babies started to cry, I decided it was time to go home.

The next day, it drizzled a bit in the afternoon so you guys decided to go outside to wait for puddles to form. While you were waiting, you two were too cute and just talked.

I'm slowly starting to get the hang of coordinating the chaos of life with 3 kids, along with all the other responsibilities that I'm committed to.

Well, that's it for this week.
Until next time,
Love,
Mommy

Hailey 20 Weeks Old

Dear Hailey,

One of the things that people always say when they first meet you is, "Wow, look at all that hair!" 

For comparison, here's Hannah at 4 months: 

 And Nathan at 4 months:

 So, you've been going through a growth spurt, which explains all this craziness in sleep. It turns out you've been crying because you are hungry. For awhile I thought it was gas caused by something I ate, because the screams and grunts are absolutely heart wrenching. And since it could've been gas, I didn't want to feed you too much. But I think you were actually just hungry, because after awhile, I would just give in and feed you and eventually you would just drift off to sleep.

This was 2 nights ago after you woke up screaming in pain (we thought). We let you hang out in the office while we got some work done. You would cry, we'd hold you for a bit and then you'd be happy again. 

Yesterday you took 2 naps around 3 hours in length each, which is not normal. You usually take one long nap and 2 shorter 30 minute naps. We'll see how much you grow after this spurt. The reward for extra-disrupted sleep and fussiness is a cool noticeable growth and maybe some new skills like..........sitting up.

Last night, you went to bed at usual 8:00. But 30 minutes you woke up, like it was a nap, hungry, but afterwards, happy. So while Mommy and Daddy completed our Crated with Love (date night in a box) activities, you just sat and observed as we played crazy games like feather soccer. We noticed that you kept wanting to sit up in your bouncer. We would lean you back, but then you would pop right back up. Kind of cool. Did you want to wake up so you could try out this new ability?
 You've also been more interested in putting things in your mouth. If you are awake while I'm prepping, I will usually give you a little piece of the vegetable that I'm cutting up for you to explore. Here you are getting your first taste of asparagus. You've also tried little licks of avocado and yogurt without giving me a "yuck" face.

 You are definitely more aware of your surroundings. You really love the sound of jingle bells and you giggled really hard for the first time while I was working with Teddy on his tricks. I'm going to try to load the video at the end of the blog.

 Your brother and sister love you very much and want to keep you. Some days they will use you to be slightly hurtful to one another. They say things like, "I am angry with you. I like Hailey 100 stars and you 99 stars."

When you get fussy, often the sight of Nathan or Hannah will stop your fussiness and tears. You see them and your eyes light up. It's cute. But sometimes they get too loud and they startle you. You get this look on your face as you shudder and then you pause, and then let out this loud wail.

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

It's been a crazy week with holidays. Tuesday was fat Tuesday. Wednesday was Valentines day and Friday will be Chinese New Year. 

Hannah, I've been trying to lengthen your attention span for completing tasks. It seems like when we play games or are doing a craft, you have the attention span of Dory the fish. It could be just normal for a 3 year old, but at least finish a short game. When we play games, you always say you want to be on someone's team. I don't know why you tend to do that, but I want you to start playing for yourself soon as well. You are now capable. 

You continue to enjoy insist on wearing Nathan's old jammies and shoes. They can be torn up and battered, at times too big, but you really love wearing his stuff. Does it make you feel like a big kid? *shrug* I don't know. You are definitely my most strong willed child. And often I have to remind myself that when you cause chaos, paint with yogurt, cut up paper into 100 little pieces, you are like Curious George. You are simply exploring and not meaning to make me angry. 

Nathan, you continue to learn ways to deal with Hannah's stubborn behavior. Often you will try to reason with her and show her why this toy is better than the toy you are playing with. She still wants to play with whatever you are playing. I don't think that will ever end. Sorry for the bad news. You have started to pinch her, or in your words, "Whack her very lightly on the head." when you absolutely get frustrated. I understand, you've tried using your words and she still doesn't follow directions. 

In this case, both of you get sent to time out. There was an extremely sweet moment this past weekend when Nathan was asking Hannah to stop moving a piece of track, Hannah continued to do so and then Nathan "lightly whacked her very lightly on the head," causing Hannah to cry. (Most of the time you cry not because it hurts physically, but that the fact that Nathan is being ill-willed towards you, hurts your feelings). 

I intervened and sent both of you to time out. After a few moments. I heard the following dialogue: 

Nathan: Hannah, I'm sorry I whacked you lightly on your head. 

Hannah: I forgive you. 

Nathan: [Waiting for Hannah to say something but she doesn't] Well, why are you in time out? Is it because you didn't follow directions? 

Hannah: Yes. I didn't follow your directions. I'm sorry. I should follow your directions. 

I hear hugging and then giggling as they both crawled into the guest bed, making a tent. 

All I did was send them to time out. 

On Friday, we had our monthly family service group project meeting. This month we made cool sun catchers for residents at a senior assisted living facility. I don't know if this is related, but at the event, we talked about why it would be nice to make these for the seniors. That evening and a few days following, both of you had lots of thoughts about death and being sick. 

Nathan, you expressed that when you die, you want to die at the same time as we do. 

Hannah, you were very worried about various parts of your body falling off or breaking. Luckily we have God's promises to help comfort us when we have doubts like this. I've always feared death, not the actual act itself, but the unknown void that comes after dying. But as I learn more about God, his promises and his will for us, those fears have slowly dissolved away. 

Nathan, lately I've noticed that you are slowly starting to let society's expectation of gender roles influence you. Suddenly pink and purple are girl colors. You are OK with wearing Hannah's jacket in the privacy of our own car, but as soon as we stepped into public, you would take it off and refuse to wear it.  There have been other instances where something similar has happened, but it's interesting to me how early this starts. I didn't think this started until later. In the meantime, I try to tell you that we shouldn't worry about what other people think, but I know that is a tough struggle, even for myself.

The world that we are going to send you out into is full of temptation, selfishness, and hurt. I pray that God will use us to mold you three into people who will bring light into this dark and scary world and will be a beacon to lead others into seeking, serving, and loving God.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Sleep Training Hailey Take 2

Dear Hailey,
Whew, when it comes to bedtime, you put up a good fight. Before we left for Christmas, we did a short session of having you cry it out in order to learn how to fall asleep on your own. That worked pretty well. But then we went on vacation and things got a bit more hectic, so we decided to officially start sleep training you after we got back from our California trip. I think you had gotten over your 4 month sleep regression before we left, so I was comfortable giving it a go when we got back. For both Nathan and Hannah, we sleep trained after we returned home from our Christmas trips.

Tuesday night: You cried 45 minutes before finally settling down to sleep.
Wednesday night: You cried 30 minutes.
Thursday night: You cried 60 minutes and then I went in and helped you fall asleep by patting you.
Friday night: You were calm and quiet for about 15 minutes and then cried for 30 minutes. This totally faked us out.
Saturday night: You fussed for 20 minutes before falling asleep.
Tonight: After going through the routine, as soon as I turned off the lights, you started to cry. I could not calm you down. It was as if you knew you were about to be left alone. So, I put you down to see if you would eventually fall asleep, (since you were going to cry anyways). Well, an hour later, you are still crying on and off so I pick you up and nurse you some. I try to put you down again and as soon as you realized what I was about to do, you cried again.

I decided to change the scenery a bit, thinking maybe you have developed a bad sleep association with your crib, so I brought you down, nursed you a little more, and put you down in our bed. You looked around and fell right asleep.

Nathan and Hannah were both trained in 3 days. Textbook cases. God gave me you to remind me that all children are different.

So, we are going to reset. I'm going to follow my mom instincts and do what I think works best for you. I need to remember that you are not Nathan or Hannah and not feel like I need to do things exactly like how I did with them. You are a different kid.

Here's the plan. I'm going to continue to establish a stronger sleep routine in your bedroom, but then put your down to sleep in our room. I feel like you are more comfortable in our bed (mentally) so I'll sleep train you in our bed. Then slowly, for naps, I'll sneak you in your bed once in awhile to get you used to sleeping in your crib. And maybe in a month, we'll do another session of cry it out in your own crib (after you have learned to fall asleep on your own in our bed) and hopefully, it won't be as bad.

It's been a tough few evenings. For now, my nerves can rest.

Love,
Mommy

Our So Cal Adventure (Lots of Pics Long Post)

Dear Kids,

We found a really great deal on airfare from Austin to Ontario via Frontier Airlines, so we decided to go visit southern California. We were able to explore Disneyland, San Diego, and Lego Land in Carlsbad. 

Tuesday Morning, we all got up early to catch the flight. I had made you guys these shirts a few weeks ago, thinking that the weather was going to be in the upper 60's. But no, forecast predicted weather in the low 80's. So, I had you all wear your shirts on the trip from Austin to Anaheim. 

So with 3 carseats, 2 backpacks, and 1 suitcase, we made it work. Packed clothes for 4 days and planned to do laundry once.  Hailey did great on the flight.

 When we arrived, we stopped by a Taiwanese restaurant for some snacks and then we checked in early to Homewood Suites right by the Disney resort. Let me tell you, this place ended up being such a great pick (Thanks, Dan!)  because 1. They offered us free breakfast AND dinner with free beer and wine on the days we were there. (This saved us SO much money) and 2. It's located right next to a Disney parking lot, so there were free shuttles that took you straight to the park. (We didn't figure this out until the second day). and 3) They are suite rooms, which means no hanging out in the bathroom while the kids fall asleep.

We didn't have anything planned for the day we arrived, which on hindsight, we should've got another Disney park ticket for that day, but it's always fun to explore and take advantage of the cool things at the hotel like mini-golf.

 It was borderline cool, but you two wanted to go swimming.

 Hailey and the parents just hung out by the pool.

The next day we arrived at Disneyland! The girls dressed up in their princess dresses.

 But by lunch time, both dresses came off, due to a diaper blow out, and it being too hot. You can probably guess what happened to which girl.

 We spent the day standing in lines and getting on different rides.

 Nathan really liked being able to control this one... which was surprisingly scary as the rocket ship descended. The squeal of joy that came out of Nathan on this ride was definitely magical.

 Afternoon, we let you two pick out a special treat. Of all the cool mickey mouse themed stuff you could've picked, you two picked regular popsicles. Hannah, you dropped yours, but luckily you did it in front of the vendor, and he gave you a new one. That was so nice of him.

By the afternoon, Nathan, you were tired and wanted to go back to the hotel. I never knew any kid would want to leave Disney and go back, but you were truly tired from walking around. The next day we rented a stroller for you and you could've stayed for the entire day. Lesson learned.

 By the afternoon, someone was completely exhausted and conked out.

 And before we left the park for the day, Hannah got to talk to Tink and take a picture with her at Pixie Hollow. Hannah's convinced that she's the real Tinkerbell and you will argue with us til this day that you met and asked the real Tinkerbell how she flies. Answer: Pixie dust, (of course!)

 On our way out, Nathan got to take a picture with Goofy, and boy, is he as goofy as his name implies. Nathan, you saw him and immediately ran up to him to give him a great big hug. It was super cute.

 We tried to take a family picture with Goofy, but someone threw a tantrum and didn't want to join in.

 Disneyland is a big park. Even though we never had to wait more than 20 minutes in line for anything, we didn't get to do everything that we wanted to do. I think rushing around without a detailed plan really detracted from the magic, so on day 2, I had a general plan for how we were going to explore the park. That ended up being a much better experience.

So on day 2. We explored California Adventure Park. Overall this day ended up being Daddy and my favorite day. We had strollers for both of you. The park was just big enough for us to do everything in one day. And we had figured out how to take advantage of the fast pass system along with rider switch. We also figured out that you two did not like the dark and loud rides; they were too scary for you, so we avoided them.

One of the first rides that we did after exploring bugs land was the famous Radiator Springs Racers. Nathan and Daddy were able to each ride it 2 times. The wait time on this ride can get up to 2 hours. We waited about 10 minutes both times and probably could've rode it 3 times with very little wait.

Most of the time, Hailey, you just rode around in the baby carrier. Sometimes you were awake, and you fell asleep when you were tired.  Sometimes you got to go on a ride with me but there were some silly rules when it came to going on rides with babies. Here are the different rules that we were told, all different at each ride:
1. She has to be awake. (But for some, you could be asleep)
2. She has to be able to sit up beside us. (but for some, you could stay in the carrier)
3. She had to wear either shoes or socks. (but for some, it was OK that you were barefoot...we lost a sock)

Here's that pose again at Buzz lightyear blasters. This was Hannah's favorite ride of the day.

This was one of Nathan's favorite rides. Bumper cars.

I didn't think you guys would like the spinny rides, but both of you really enjoyed them. They were right up your alley as far as thrill factor goes.

 My favorite ride to watch. The cars were choreographed so beautifully and creatively. The cars don't move on a track or anything, so half the time, I'm just hoping that they don't crash into each other.

 I loved walking through radiator springs. They did a great job making you feel like you just stepped into the movie. That was probably the most magical moment for me, standing in the middle of the street and soaking it all in.

 While waiting for you all to get through with rides, I was able to spot Mater and Lightning, so I took a few selfies with them.

 Hannah went on the racers, but ended up not liking it too much during the racing part because it was too fast. On the fast roller coasters, Hannah gets scared, but you don't cry and you seem to be fine afterwards, almost a little proud of yourself, but when asked if you want to go again, you quickly say, "no."

 One of our favorite rides as a family was Ariel's underwater adventure. Even Nathan enjoyed it. We went on this a few times.

 This is Hannah's favorite scene.

 It's almost the Chinese new year, so we were lucky enough to visist Disney while they had a special program.

 At the end of the day, we got on Goofy's Sky School. This was another one of Nathan's favorite ride of the day. We got to ride it twice. Score!

 On the third day, we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed towards San Diego. Hailey was not doing so great in the car, so we stopped at a scenic point on Hwy 5. You guys went and visited the coastline so I snapped these sweet pictures of you guys while I was nursing Hailey.

I don't know where Hannah got this, but you've been doing this pose for a lot of pictures.

Our first stop was the San Diego Safari Adventure Zoo. This attraction is part of the San Diego Go card, which we purchased through Costco. We got 4 days for the price of 3, which was perfect for our itinerary. The zoo reminded me a lot of the Taipei Zoo, where there were not many cages. The cool part of the tour was the safari tram ride through "Africa." We saw giraffes, flamingos, and a camel that joined a sheep herd. We also saw zebras and rhinoceros.

 There were a few cool play areas for the kids to explore, climb, and pretend.

Yeah, Nathan, Not Cool! 

 That evening we checked into our AirBnb house near Mission Bay and got some yummy Chinese Food from the Ranch Market 99 food court. Hannah, you keep saying that you like Spicy Shrimp, which you've never had before, but when you tried it, you actually liked it.

The next morning, we got up and went to visit the Birch Aquarium.

 They had a cool tide pool exhibit where you could touch sea anemone, a sea hare, and sea cucumber. Nathan did not want to have anything to do with touching.

 It's so close to the beach, you could see surfers through the binoculars.

 Hannah was extremely excited about seeing seahorses.

 Afterwards, we went to a dumpling restaurant and ordered a bunch of dumplings. It turned out one of the dumplings had peanut oil, which generally is ok with peanut allergy, but alas, Nathan reacted and the rest of the day, we just took it easy. Bought some bubble teas and returned back to the house.That evening, we ordered take-out sushi for the girls and teriyaki chicken for the boys and had a relaxing dinner at the house. Eating out with three young kids can be quite stressful.

That evening after you three went to bed, Daddy and I had a nice soak in the hot tub right outside your bedroom. It was a nice way to end a semi-stressful day.

The next morning, after breakfast we drove to Old Town and boarded the Old Town Trolley to tour downtown San Diego.

First stop: USS Midway Aircraft Carrier.

We got there just in time for the 10:00 opening time and were one of the first ones to get it. We decided to skip getting the audio tour headsets, and headed directly below deck to explore. We were pretty much the only people down there for awhile and got to talk to some pretty cool volunteers.

After the tour of the ship, we hopped back onto the trolley and headed towards Coronado Island. Ever since you two saw the shoreline on the way to San Diego, you've been begging to go to the beach, so we had bagel sandwiches for lunch and walked towards the beach just to dip our toes in the water. 

But somebody didn't heed our warning when a wave came in and got soaked. Luckily we had an extra change of clothes with us and continued on our tour. Next stop: Balboa Park.

 

We didn't bring the stroller on this particular adventure, so half way on our walk you both started to complain and whine. We resorted to bribery to keep you two going. "Let's look for a treat stand. Keep looking..." Eventually we found a lady selling popsicles and you each picked out one.

After you both were recharged with sugar, we continued onto the science center, which kind of ended up being a bit of a disappointment (considering the amount of walking/tram riding that we had to do to get there). If you are reading this and plan on doing something similar, go to the air and space museum instead, it's actually maintained by the Smithsonian, so it should be much better (we found this out on the trolley on the way out of Balboa park. Nonetheless, we spent about 45 minutes and you guys had fun pressing buttons.

We returned to Old town station around 5:00 and decided to pick up food from Ranch market 99 again to take back to the house. We knew it was good and it was just easier.

The next day, we checked out of our AirBnb and drove towards Carlsbad. Since Lego Land didn't open until 10, and we have mainly stayed on Texas time, we decided to make a quick beach trip in the morning to Carlsbad's warm water beach. Don't let the name fool you, the water was still pretty chilly.

We brought along some plastic containers and you guys set out to build a sand castle. I'd say it turned out pretty good. 45 minutes was the perfect amount of time to spend at the beach, so by the time you were beached out, Lego Land was about to open its doors.

Lego Land was not busy at all. We learned our lesson, so we immediately rented another stroller. We were very lucky to do all the rides that Nathan is eligible to ride, which is almost all except for 2 or 3. The longest we had to wait was maybe 15 minutes and then after lunch, we could pretty much just walk up to the front of the line.

Hannah was very excited to take a picture inside the lion's mouth, but when it started to roar, she quickly turned around and ran away.

This was Hannah's favorite ride. The safari. You went on this with grandma 2 or 3 times.

Hannah, when I asked if you wanted to try a roller coaster across from the safari, you looked super excited, clapped your hands and jumped up and down with excitement, "Yes!" So we got on the ride.

You did ok, during the ride, and lucky for us, the conductor let everyone go around the ride twice. When I got to go (using the parent switch perk) I asked you if you wanted to go again, you quickly shook your head no. It was the perfect amount of scary for you to ride it once.

We happened to come across this show as it was about to start.  Lots of lip syncing and dancing, which you both enjoyed dancing along.

A cool part of the park is that there is a lego factory tour. This goes through the entire process of the making of a lego kit. It was pretty interesting.

Nathan's favorite ride was the technic roller coaster. We ended up doing this one twice. It reminded me a lot of Goofy's sky school.

We stayed until the park closed at 5. Headed to oceanside for some bubble tea and snacks and then drove towards Ontario airport. On the way, the traffic was pretty bad and then we figured out why.

It was probably a bad call to order bubble tea because we had to make 2 pitstops during a 90 minute car ride for Nathan. Hannah fell asleep, so we just put a diaper under her in case she had an accident. It ended up being a good call.

Our flight didn't leave the next morning until 11:55, and we were staying right next to the airport. So, after breakfast, you guys went swimming while I stayed in with Hailey. She took the best nap of the trip that morning.

The trip home was smooth. You two had screen time the whole trip again, and Hailey snoozed on and off. Traffic on the way home was a bit terrible, due to it being drizzly, but we made it home safely.

This trip had its fair share of stress, tantrums, and sugar. Was I glad we took this trip? Yes. Will we be taking another one of this magnitude in the near future? Probably not.

So there, documentation that we took you guys to Disney and other cool places because you probably won't remember it.

Now to unpack and get back in the swing of things.
Love,
Mommy