Dear Kiddos,
The past 2 weeks we've had fun times with Ama who is visiting from Taiwan. She has definitely been helping me out a lot and I feel like I've been spoiled with someone to help watch Hailey so I can run errands, or having help with the dishes so I don't have to do anything after we put you all down to bed at night.
Nathan, you've been requesting that we bring you chick-fil-a during lunch, so one day, the schedule worked out and I made it happen.
Last weekend you both really wanted to go to the Thinkery, so during Hailey's nap, Daddy and I took you big kids to play. As I sat on the side with Daddy, watching you two play and explore on your own, I think about how far you both have grown.
On the way home Hannah, you asked Daddy to pick you up and from the back, I just saw this cute little girl and I just had to capture this moment in time. You've been waking up earlier than normal, which makes you pretty prone to tantrums that make no sense to us. We tried letting you take a nap, but then you don't fall asleep until 10 pm. Just sleep in. You'll wish you did when you become an adult.
Hailey, you finally finished your 10 days of special antibiotics. That's 40 doses of me having to mix foul tasting medicine with chocolate syrup and following it up with a few syringe-fulls of orange juice. The first few days were rough with you spitting things out and avoiding the medicine, but towards the end, we reached a good groove and it seemed like you really just looked forward to the OJ.
To celebrate, I took you to Souper Salad, which is pretty much my favorite place to take you because you have lots of options and I always find something new that you like to eat. That day, I found out that you like to eat kidney beans and seafood chowder. You ate pretty well that day and then you slept through the night (from 8 pm to 6:45 in the morning). Things were starting to look really promising.
But recently you've been sleeping from 8 pm to about 3-4 pm, wake up for a quick cup of milk and then go back down until around 7:30. And then in the afternoon you will take a 2-3 hour nap (granted that you don't wake yourself up by pooping).
Your stools were even getting to look pretty normal, but now that we are on day 3 off of antibiotics, they are starting to go back to what they were like before... which is not a good sign because we may not have killed off this extremely resistant strain of bacteria. I think we will have to do another stool study to see if it's the bacteria that's causing the problem or something else.
I don't think I have enough pictures of my precious moments with you guys so one afternoon when I was reading to you three, I asked Daddy to take a picture to help me remember these precious moments. This turned out to be an amazing picture because all three of you are smiling AND looking at the camera!!! If we've done one thing right as parents, its to instill a love of books in you three. I'll give ourselves a gold star for that!
Maundy Thursday: Hannah you guys had your Easter party that day. Before I showed up to volunteer at the party, Ama, Hailey and I got to catch a good bit of the Maundy Thursday service.
That afternoon, Nathan, your teacher had you all make extremely cute ladybug outfits for your class's egg hunt. You all were adorable as you zipped around, looking for missing eggs.
On Good Friday we went to a nearby newly renovated playground. Hannah went to school, but Hailey, you enjoyed some quality time on the swings (which seems to be one of your favorite things to do)
And Nathan, you enjoyed playing on the new merry-go-round. You even hung out with Hailey when she wanted to give it a whirl.
On Saturday we attended our church's Easter celebration. I volunteered to paint faces while Auntie Momo and Ama took you three around to all the festivities. I'm a bit sad that I didn't get to enjoy it with you three, but I'm glad that Auntie Momo and Ama got to spend some quality time with you guys.
After Hailey woke up from her nap, we dyed eggs. Auntie Momo had you both color the eggs first with crayon and then you guys dyed the eggs.
Hailey even got to dye 2 eggs.
Like most ordeals that happen at our house, shirts come off, liquid spills and someone throws some food across the room. But in the end, we successfully dyed over 2 dozen eggs with all natural dye...which takes forever! From now on, we will be using the standard tablets. Those dye quicker and more brilliantly.
Today is Easter. Daddy and I agreed to wake up extra early to attend the sunrise service at church. It's been awhile since I've done it and it was a first for Daddy. It was nice to just focus on the worship service and not have to worry about you three (who were safely sleeping at home with Ama and Auntie Momo). I saw another family who brought their older kids and vowed to myself that this will be us in a few years. Consider this your warning.
Right before lunch we went on a short hike and Hailey, you would point out the cactus and say "No, p, No!" which is a line from Dr. Seuss' book, Hop on Pop. I put you down to let you walk around and you would also point them out, being very cautious as you approached any cactus.
Nathan and Hannah, you both spotted this heart shaped one. Which was super sweet. I had Nathan take a picture of the cactus.
We looked for fossils and found some fossils that were once shells, fairy wings, spiders and unicorn horns. Hailey, you really enjoyed holding one of the wildflowers that I picked along the way. Hannah, you got really excited about showing everyone the cat's claw in each bluebonnet.
As we walked towards the car, I just had to capture this sweet moment of you with Daddy. You are only little for so long!
After nap, we held an Easter egg hunt mostly for Hailey. Since I had to wake you up from your nap, you were pretty grumpy, but as soon as I showed you an egg outside with your own little basket, your whole attitude changed. We found eggs, and re-hid them multiple times until our friends came over for an impromptu dinner. After watching Nathan and Hannah pick up eggs, Hailey, you knew exactly what to do when you came across a brightly colored plastic egg.
Tonight we had a family who we know from Chinese school and Mixed martial arts come over for dinner. You all seem to play really well together and so I thought it would be fun for us to get together for a meal. Daddy captured this sweet moment as Hannah, you are "reading" to your friend.
The 4 of you sat and laughed at the kid's table as the adults and Hailey had enjoyable conversation. It was nice.
Ama is here for another week and afterwards, she returns back to Taiwan. As always, it's going to be a busy week so hopefully we will all stay sane. And then when Ama leaves next week, expect some craziness!
Until next week!
Love,
Mommy
