It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Ends Up in the E.R.

Dear Kids,
As Hailey as approaching 23 months old, I am finally feeling like my brain is coming back. The past 2 weeks you have been sleeping through the night more than 50% of the time and that stretch of uninterrupted sleep has been GOLDEN! Ya'll I even cracked a joke on the spot the other day!

So, this is a very late post, but I will make it up with lots of adorable pics of you guys, which is pretty much why people read this blog anyways, right?

For Hailey, going milk free has been amazing. Your eczema has been clearing up, your appetite is improving and you can actually eat all the fruit without getting horrible diaper rash. You are saying a few words in both English and Mandarin. "'meer" means come here. "Biper" means diaper. 

 And then I'll let you all guess the next 2.

"Vee Vee" 

Hint: sign language for _____. 

Yep, so the first one is TV and the second one is ice-cream. You pretty much ask for these all day. When you don't get what you want and throw a big tantrum, sometimes you'll just suddenly stop screaming, look at me and say "Vee Vee" with the most hopeful little look on your face. Or pretty much anytime you walk by the fridge, you'll stick your tongue out and lick your finger, which means ice cream. 

When you first started to talk, we would honor most of your requests to encourage communication. Now that you can undertand more, we've been starting to say "No" more often. Do you like it? 

Not at all, but you are starting to learn that no means no. You've even learned to negotiate a bite of food for one strawberry. You are just super fun to be around and you surprise me with new abilities every day. 

***

So 5 years later, we find ourselves back to the E.R. once again. This time it was due to a laceration in the scalp. Nathan, you attempted to do a forward flip into the pool and your head caught the edge of the pool. I later found out that Dad just reminded you the day before to jump out instead of up so this exact thing doesn't happen to you. 

You were very brave throughout the whole thing and you said that the most painful part was when they smeared the lidocaine on your wound. 

 When I took a picture to show you your cool "hat" you managed to give me an adorable smile.

 And in the end, the doctor put 4 staples on your wound. As you were lying there waiting, you suddenly said, "Mommy, you know, this is kind of like a date, you know, just you and me."
I chuckled, didn't know what to say at first, as I thought to myself, aw man, you don't have to split your head open for us to have one-on-one time! And then I thought back to the days when it was just me and you and now you have to share me with 2 other very demanding little sisters. I put down my phone, we played games together and then I decided to make this date official by stopping for some ice cream before heading home.

The next morning, we went to the playground in the morning before it got too hot. We also recently started to play Pokemon Go, so when we are out, we will spend some time looking for new Pokemon.

I just had to take a pic of this sweet moment. 

 On Wednesday, Nathan and Hannah, you both tested up in martial arts. Despite the staples in your head, Nathan, you did a great job performing all of the elements, rolling, and completing the physical challenge. Hannah, I was so proud to see you perform the same things with strength and confidence.

 You both are now Yellow with white stripes!

On Saturday I had my first roller derby bout. Daddy took the 3 of you to come watch. A few of our other friends came by and I felt so special to have people cheering me on. When I was a kid, Ama and Gong Gong were never able to come watch any of my school performances so when you all were able to come, it was extra special to me.

 On Sunday, Hannah, you invited the girls who you love to play with the most to a super sparkly princess tea party. Just wanted to point out that I made you rainbow cupcakes, and fancy French macarons...so I don't want you ever pulling the middle child card out on me! 

As my mini-me, you have also developed a passion for food, but unlike me, you've also developed a liking of rainbows. So I had you make up the menu with all of your favorite tea goodies and I tried to rainbowfy them all as much as possible.

Everyone got to decorate their own cupcakes, try different types of tea (including color changing floral tea) and snack on various tea goodies. 

Tea, scones, sandwiches, macarons, rainbow cupcakes and rice crispy treats. 

 We played a few group games, including frozen princesses, pin the horn on the unicorn, glitterfied everyone's hair and of course, had a princess dance party!

 I think both the young and older kids had fun. I had fun! Nathan, you had an idea of being the prince and possibly dancing with all the princesses. When I announced that we had a prince who was going to dance with them, they were all very excited and kept on asking when you would arrive. You made your presence, tried dancing for like a minute and ran back upstairs, overwhelmed. It was kind of funny, not gonna lie.

 For dinner that night, we went out to eat and then we tried a new frozen yogurt place that just opened up next to our favorite Slab BBQ. I let you all get whatever you wanted. You both pretty much just went down the line and put every. singe. flavor. in your cup. Then you both topped it with...too much stuff. As you scarfed down your delicious culinary creation, Hannah, you exclaimed, this was the best thing ever!!!

I really like All-Star because they actually store all the nut ingredients in a separate area so there's no chance of cross contamination. A plus for this family with 2 nut allergies.

 Hannah, on your actual birthday, which also happened to be the day before the first day of school, I decided to meet up with a friend up north at Catch Air. I had heard amazing things about this place, but had never been. I was pleasantly surprised as there were things to do for everyone!

 And a bonus was that my favorite bubble tea cafe is right across the street! This place doesn't give you the stink eye when you ask to split the cup for the kids. They understand and already have cups just for that purpose.

 And then that day we went straight from Catch Air to martial arts where Hannah, you got to sit on Sensei's shoulders and hold the pork chop.

 And then summer ended and first day of school. Both of you were pretty calm, not super anxious or as excited as some of your friends (who woke up super early that day). We are fortunate to have many of our neighbors in the same class this year.

 2 kids from across the street are in Hannah's class.

1 kid from across the street is in Nathan's class, and then 2 kids from your Kindergarten class are in your 1st grade class.

At first Hailey, you would occasionally ask  "Nay Nay?" "Nah Nah?" and when you finally figured out that they came back after your nap, you've stopped asking about them during the day.

We play at home, run errands, go to the gym, come home for lunch. You take a nap at 1:30 and then I have 90 minutes to myself before I have to pick up the big kids from school. I thought I would have so much more time to myself, but it seems pretty much the same.

Daddy snapped this sweet photo of all reading together before bed. Right now you all love to sit and listen to stories, but I know that this is not going to last forever.

Yesterday marked the end of the first week of school. We celebrated with frozen yogurt and double play dates. I'm so glad that this year has started without a hitch. You both are making friends and doing great at school!

 This morning, after martial arts, we went to the playground to take advantage of this overcast day. Hailey, you really love the swings and this combo swing made the experience even more fun. You two giggled non stop as Hannah pumped back and forth as you blew air into her face.

 And the next 2 pics just show the sheer joy of being on a swing together.

Well, that's about it for now. Oh update on the tantrum thing with Nathan.

We are continuing respond to "It's not fair" with "life is not fair." Another thing that I am being more conscious of doing is prepping you for changes in schedule or when you start to show signs of being upset, I'll step back and ask you what you really want and then try to figure out how to express what you are feeling verbally.

I'm really having to work on parenting after the fact, as I always want to try to stop or control the situation by trying to explain and teach when you are still emotional. I know I probably just sound like the adults do from the Peanuts, but the few times I've waited to talk to you about a previous tantrum, everyone is more productive.

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to bed!

Love,
Mommy

A Mish Mash of Fun

Dear Kiddos, 

The days after our last post were supposed to be lazy and unstructured, but for some reason, the empty days fill up quickly and we find ourselves busy once again. 

Since our last post was over 2 and a half weeks ago, I'll do my best to remember why I took each picture.

On the day that Auntie Momo was due to arrive, we went to the Thinkery for a bit before picking her up. Hannah, you drew a very detailed map on how to get to the Thinkery, along with a map of the Thnkery for us to follow. 

 We explored inside the weather room and Hailey, you didn't quite like the big puffs of air.

We sat down for story time and I just had to take a picture of the girls lounging and listening to the story. As the reader read Horton Hears a Who, Nathan, you pointed out that he skipped some pages, which caused all of the parents in the audience to chuckle. You figured out one of our most treasured secrets!

 After picking up Auntie Momo, we went to Kome for some yummy Japanese food.

 Hannah ordered sushi and sashimi. You enjoyed every bite.

Nathan and Hailey shared a bowl of ramen and Nathan you had your favorite salmon and avocado roll. Hailey, you almost always seem to be a more adventurous eater when we eat out.

 You still continue to love love love watermelon. Since we have limited your dairy intake, you can now eat all sorts of fruits, including the previously taboo grapes, strawberries, and mango. Life is fruity good!

Auntie Momo brought over some really cool chalk paint and we spent a few of our unusually cool mornings painting outside.

 Hannah, you are getting really good at drawing mermaids! 

 I also decided to pull out my "cool mom" card and we took Auntie Momo downtown. We went to the central library and checked out some books.

 And then to the Blanton to go appreciate some art. Ya'll were very interested in the gory pictures...

 except for Hailey, you seemed to get a thrill out of running away from us, or you just wanted to see where all the hallways were headed... One of the people who worked there came over and let me know that you all need to stay in the same gallery area as the adults, so from that point on, we tried to hold Hailey as much as possible.

 At one point, you all just wanted to lay on the comfy benches to view the artwork.

 And you girls all wanted to take pictures in front of different things.

 Hailey, you would randomly back up against the wall and yell out "cheese!" I guess this was the cue for me to take your picture.

 And I particularly love these geometric pieces so I snagged whomever I could to snap this selfie.

 We also went to explore the cool rainbow room.

The cool part about this was that you can cast rainbow shadows. This was very cool since you all are in a stage where you love rainbows!

 Another Saturday was our church's annual tea. This was the first year that Hannah could attend, so you got to dress up and have fancy treats. You loved it!

 This was the people who sat at our table. Fun lady times.

Soon Auntie Momo had to leave so it was just back to the 5 of us, but we still managed to fill our time each day.

One afternoon I had you guys help me change my wheels for roller derby. It was kind of nice because I showed you all what to do on one wheel and then the big kids took the lead. Hailey helped put the wheels on, and you big kids worked the nuts. I just sat back and relaxed.

 Hailey, you've been getting pretty good at signing "ice cream" so with your dairy sensitivity, I decided to try making my own coconut milk ice cream. I'd say it turned out pretty good! I may even start making it this way for us.

We also visited our friends who live in Kyle and Round Rock. The Kyle pool had a water slide, but Nathan couldn't pass the tread water and answer 3 questions so you were not able to use the water slide. The Round Rock friend's neighborhood pool is pretty enviable and I really enjoyed my time there and apparently, you all did too.

 And then as we get ready for belt testing week, we have been going to martial arts to work on skills. Hailey has been interested in giving everyone high fives after practice.

 This Saturday, while Daddy went to play hockey, I took the three of you to home depot for their monthly build. This one was a bit more involved as it required 8 nails and 2 screws. At some point, Hailey was "drunk walking" AKA toddling around with a screwdriver in her hands. I'm just thankful that we all left with our eyeballs in tact.

Nathan, you were able to complete your project with minimal help from me, but Hannah still needed me to help get the nails started.

 That evening, I saw this sweet sight as Daddy pulled out great-grandma's antique collection of children's stories and started to read them to you all.

And Hailey, you are too cute. In this picture, you are mimicking Daddy, carrying a "lunch box" and driving a car. You would walk up to each of us, say "bye!" give us a kiss and walk off. I found it pretty funny.

 Our friends from Round Rock drove down to meet us for dinner, but we did not take any pictures, but I thought I would record this here just in case...

And then this morning, we made edible slime. It didn't taste that great, but it kept Hailey busy for a good 45 minutes.

Nathan, you are still throwing tantrums when you think things are unfair. You almost will try to seek justice, even if it means hurting someone else. This scares me. We have always tried to make things fair for you all, but I think it's backfiring, so we have been answering your complaints of "It's not fair" with "Life is not fair."  I've also ordered a few books that have been recommended by the APA, so we will see if these books can speak some sense into you.

Hannah, you are truly Curious George in the flesh. This week you decided to cut some holes in your dress (that you wore to the tea) because you wanted to feel what the fabric felt like underneath the crocheted material. You are doing things like this all the time, but it's hard for me to get too mad at you because I don't want to squelch your curious spirit. We have come to a compromise that you can be curious, but you need to ask my permission before you want to test something out.

And Hailey, you are doing...OK. You are not sleeping through the night consistently...still, but your bowel movements are normal and you are eating fairly well. Your naps are in the average spectrum and most of the time, you are a happy kid. You love ice cream and broccoli. You prefer to eat meat off of the bone. You also know the concept of "bigger is better." Things are fun with you. I'm finally feeling like I can enjoy the real you as opposed to always trying to figure out what is going on with your body.

Well, I apologize if this post is not as organized as others, but I'm really trying to squeeze this post in as my newly self-imposed bedtime encroaches.

Until next week,
Love,
Mommy