Mason turning 3

I love going to kids' birthday party.  It's always so much fun.  Kids are all so happy, good food, and the best of all, you don't have to do any planning!  Ali was pretty excited about Mason's birthday party as his parents are taking them to a gymnastics class.  Fun!  After taking a few gym classes, Ali is a pro now.  Most of the stuff that the coach asked them to do, she can do it pretty easily.  

Usually all the gyms are pretty padded, so it's perfect for Nate too.  

N: "Hi daddy, you wanna play?"

D: "Of course, my love!"

Ali on a monkey bar.  Can you see Nate?  Yup, that tuft of hair is him!

A party is not a party without some yummy snacks.  Kids are pretty happy with the veggie chips.  Actually, I was pretty happy with the veggie chips.  Sorry, let me correct myself.  My WHOLE family enjoyed the chips (yes, including baby Nate!) Yum, yum, yum.

My future son-in-law enjoying the birthday cupcake. 

And what did Ali think??  She is giving the "thumbs up".  It is funny to notice my girl only likes the icing.  She always licks the icing off and never finishes her cake!??  I wonder why!?

More gym time after snacks.

Nate was so happy crawling around and playing with all the toys.  I should bring him to a gym class when he is a bit older!

N: "Hi mommy!!!"

 

Happy birthday Mason!!  Thanks for inviting us to your super cool birthday party!   

Happy 1st birthday, Nate!

I should have posted this earlier, but late is better than never, right?  Baby Nate is now 1 year old!  Happy, happy birthday my little puppy!  We originally planned to have a small birthday party, having his friends (and their parents) over for dinner, but because he was sick, we had to cancel!  Boo!!!!!  Poor Nate wasn't really in the mood to celebrate.

My girl now understands birthday = cake + presents.  As soon as I mentioned it was Nate's birthday, she immediately demanded to go to buy Nate a cake.  Oh and presents too, mommy.  She was reading some toy magazine and deciding on the present Nate was going to get.  Funny. 

Family pic:

 

Nate and a few of his presents.  Look at the "not-so-impressed" look on his face! 

N:  "Mommy, is this really for me or for you?" 



 



Baby boy wasn't too happy posing for pictures, but he was feeling much more alive when he was opening his presents!  Ripping paper?  Fun!!!!  Being a good big sister, Ali helped Nate to unwrap the present. 

It's a puppy driving a car!  How appropriate!  I often called Nate a puppy because he always pants when he is excited.  And lately, he seemed to be drawn to cars. So here you go, baby boy!!!  Happy, happy birthday, my sweet little man!  Get healthy and start packing on some weights, okay???!

 

Nate's first week of daycare

Nate started gradual transition the week before I went back to work.  Ali was super hyped that baby bro was going to be in the same school.  She has been talking about this for quite some time and I think she was more excited than Nate.  Haha.

My two babies in uniform!  

The first day was really nothing.  I was there the whole time playing with him.  He just wanted to explore and played with all the toys.  The only part that was a bit rough was the fact he needed two naps.  We didn't leave until 11 and by that time, Nate was pretty tired.

Tuesday was also only 3 hours long, with me staying next door.  He was not too bad either.  On and off crying because someone took his toy and that he was pretty tired. Nate also hated the outdoor hat and the extra layers.  He was crying so much when they were changing him.  The teachers eventually held him when they got to the playground and he was much happier.  As soon as I made eye contact with him when I went to pick him up, he cried so loud...poor baby!!

Wednesday was worse.  Baby boy didn't want me to leave.  He was crying so much that the teacher called me to pick him up early.  He was supposed to stay until 2 ish, but they called me at 1.  Nate didn't really sleep (only for about 40 minutes) and he was super, SUPER tired.  He was so incredibly upset that he refused to eat.  I fed him a little bit of food when we got home and he just passed out.  Poor Nate couldn't really keep his eyes opened!

Day 4 was supposed to be a full day (until 4).  I was so paranoid that the teachers were going to call that I checked my cell phone excessively (like every minute).  Finally, they called me around 10.  My heart almost stopped when I saw who was calling.  In my mind, I was thinking, "Really, really???  Nate can't even last until lunch time????"  The teachers told me Nate was really upset and they tried to let him take a morning nap, but he wouldn't.  Basically they were telling me, be prepared to pick him up after lunch.  I was fully anticipating the pick up call around noon, but they did not call!  I decided to go early, just so I could see him earlier and again, as soon as I walked in, he just lost it.  Apparently, he fell asleep in the stroller when they went out, so he was less cranky.  It also helped that I packed some cheese cubes for him and according to the teachers, that also helped to soothe him a bit.  Whew...we can do this!?!!

 

Massages for mommy and daddy were way overdue.  We actually wanted to get a body massage for quite some time now (remember the crazy Hong Kong trip?)  So hubby took half a day off and both of us sneaked out for a massage while the kiddies were in school.   I had to say Absolute Spa at Century Plaza Hotel was freaking AWESOME!!!  It could be because we were just so tired?  But really, it was really really nice.  We went to pick up the kids early and both had a decent day (well, an okay day for Nate, I guess)

We were so spoiled by Ali that we were expecting similar experiences with Nate.  Guess we can't be lucky twice.  That would not be fair, right?  Nate is definitely more clingy baby than Ali.  And he is definitely a mommy's boy.  I really really hope that my little man will get used to daycare soon.  With him staying home for the last week and a half, I really don't know how much he would cry.  

We were pretty sure he got sick from his friends at daycare.  (I saw one kid threw up multiple times on our first day there.  They called the parents to pick up the kid right away, but still, Nate was not able to dodge that bullet!)  I remembered Ali was sick so so often in her first year too.  I took so many days off.  Hopefully, Nate would be strong enough to fight off some the bugs now.  My dear baby boy, be strong and stop putting stuff in your mouth now!

Now, when should I schedule another massage??  :)

 

Halloween fun (part 2)

The monkey costume was a bit too think for Ali to wear indoors.  So instead, we gave her a tutu, wings and a bumblebee wand.  It wasn't a very cool costume, but my girl was just happy to play dress up of any kind.

It was raining cats and dogs on the day of Halloween.  Luckily, it stopped briefly after supper, so we took advantage of the break by doing some quick treat-or-treats around the neighbourhood.  The thick monkey and duckie costume kept them warm.

Look at my adorable monkey (and a banana in her pocket)!

My little duck at work.

A:  "Baby Nate, stay put, mama is trying to take a picture!!!!"

And as you can tell, my girl was successful in holding onto my boy (Poor Nate looked kind of defeated).  Nice pic, Ali and Nate!

Happy halloween, everyone!  Hope all your bags/baskets were full, just like mine!

 

Worst. Week. Ever.

I was not looking forward going back to work this round.  Did not do any prep until the very last day.  And boy, things went horribly wrong in the last couple of days.

Sunday:

We had a decent morning.  Everyone was pretty happy...until Nate woke up for his snacks.  He vomited after, but we didn't think about it too much as he sometimes had too much gas and would vomit after he had eaten.  We decided to go out for Korean food before I went back to work.  And Nate vomited non-stop.  At first, we thought it might be the smoke (lots of people bbq there).  We tried feeding him more when we got home, formula, breastmilk....they all came back out.  We were so worried that we took him to the ER.  And of course, he was super dehydrated and needed to get oral rehydration therapy (ORT).

Basically, we had to feed him 5 mL of pedialyte every 5 minutes.  It was super painful to do as it was late at night and he was so so so tired.  On top of that, the doctor wanted to run blood test and urine test.  My poor, poor baby.  He so wanted to sleep.  I had to stay home and work on my prep while hubby took him to the ER, but I went to meet up with him as fast as I can.  I stayed until 2 am when things settled a bit, but hubby and baby didn't come home until 5.

My girl knew baby was not feeling well and she woke up in the middle of night crying for us.  We were lucky that my mom was in town, but still she was not able to console her.  So they pretty much stayed up until I came home at 2.  Ali woke up again at 4, looking for Nate, and of course, he was still in the hospital, so I had to lug her to my room.  Poor Ali.  My two poor babies!!!

Monday:

I had to go to work.  Hubby took a day off, so he and baby boy can get to rest a little bit after the ordeal from last night.  It's my first day back and there was SO MUCH STUFF to do.  I really do hate going back after the school year started.  So much paper work and crap everywhere.  And on top of that, no break.  I pretty much started my day at 6:30 and didn't get to leave until 5.  And then, Ali got sick too. She started to have a fever and again, her fever almost always is accompanied by vomiting.  My house was like a puke-fest.  If it is not Ali vomiting in one room, it's Nate throwing up in the other room.  Hubby and I were constantly cleaning and washing the floor.  What on earth?!  On top of that, my mom got sick too.  She started to feel nauseous and had a stomach flu.  So I had to go out in the middle of the night trying to get her meds.  Finally, I was able to crawl onto bed at 12.  I can...do.....zzzzzzzzz....

Tuesday:

Not a restful night.  Ali woke up multiple times and at the end, I thought it would be best if she slept with hubby and I moved to the couch.  I really didn't want to go to work and abandon all the sick people at home, but I really did not have a choice.  Timing was just impeccable.  If this was not my first week back; if this was not the week my student teacher was there, if this was not the week EVERYONE got sick....  We called Grandma, so hopefully, the two of them will be able to take care of the two sick kids.  Both hubby and I tried to go home early so we could take the kiddies to see our family doctor in the afternoon.  Ali successfully passed the test, but Nate, not so much.  The doctor (not the usual one we see) suspected Nate had pyloric stenosis.  It is the condition which the stomach narrows and it requires surgery to fix.  Terrific.  And he said we should go to the Children's ER right away.  Freaked out of my mind, I drove Nate to wait in the ER.  And thank goodness, the pediatrician told us that he was way too old for that.  And that they suspected that it's just a stomach flu and he should be better in a few days.  We got home just around bed time.  This must be our lucky break!  Things got to get better now, right?

Wednesday:

Mom was feeling better.  Ali was good enough to go to school again.  And it's just Nate that we worried about.  He was really really lethargic.  If you ever met him, you would know he just didn't look right.  He was so sleepy, so tired, not moving.  He just wanted to be held.  My heart just broke into thousand little pieces.  And still I had to go to work because I had to watch my student teacher taught her first class.  Damn!!!  Hubby worked from home, so it was a bit of a relief.  And then, it hit me.  Whatever, my mom had, I had it too.  I was paralyzed at work.  Really couldn't walk around because I was in so much pain.  My stomach was cramping like crazy.  Went to bathroom quite a few times.  Wanted to throw up and couldn't eat.  But I was still able to stay until the bell went.  Am I really just a robot?  Anyways, things got a bit worse when I got home.  By the end of the day, I was completely out.  I couldn't move a muscle.  I was so sick that I had to lie in bed the whole time.

Thursday:    

After sleeping for 14 hours and drinking bottles of gatorade, I felt much better, but still very weak.  I was so sick that I could not even give the instructions to my TOC verbally.  So I had to go into work.  My mom and I took turns holding Nate.  My poor boy.  He was sleepy the whole day.  So tired.  No smiles.  He is usually a really happy baby.  We kept on giving him formula every now and then, but he ate so so little.  His face is so tiny!!  Things got tiny bit better in the evening tho.  He was interested in playing with his toys, again...although for a short time, I know he is showing signs of recovery.

Friday:

So thankful of the district closure days.  Another day at home with Nate.   He was semi-interested in playing with Ali in the morning.  Again, a great sign.  It's Nate's birthday and Ali was super excited to celebrate his birthday with him.  He was happy to get hugs and kisses from his big sister.  It was super awesome and sweet seeing how the two little ones interact with each other.  The whole day, he was still a bit tired and very grumpy.  We had cake and opened presents after dinner and the boy was pretty happy again.

Saturday:

Except for the eating part, Nate is pretty much back to his normal self.  I really don't understand my little guy.  He is more interested in formula than solids.  At first, we thought he had a throat infection, but the doctor checked him this morning and said he looked fine.  Anyways, I am glad to see my kids are finally getting better.  I just hope that he will start eating more solids soon!!!

Moral of the story:
1. Do not procrastinate on your work, especially when you have young kids at home.
2. You can't really plan when you have kids.

Pumpkin carving 101

Gotta carve those pumpkins before Halloween.  These were the two pumpkins we got from the pumpkin patch.  Ali drew on the pumpkins.  She was really into this pumpkin carving business.

Look at those pumpkin faces.  Ali approved!

Now the super fun part - removing seeds from the carved pumpkin.  

My little girl was really into it.  Look at her face.  So serious!

And lighting the candle.  This part must be done by an adult.

Ta-da!  Aren't they cute?  We turned off the light after we lit up the candles and Ali started singing.  Guess what song she was singing as soon as the lights were out? Scroll to the end of the post for the answer.

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My little pumpkin girl all proud of her carved pumpkins!  Happy Halloween, everyone! 

 

Answer:  Happy Birthday to Pumpkin!

Halloween fun (part 1)

We have been going to yan-yan's house for a halloween get-together for the last two years.  It was definitely more fun this year because we now have 4 kids under one roof!

The proud big sisters:

My cute little duckie:

N: "Yan-yan, do you want to play with this yellow ball?  I will share with you!"

Y:  "But it's mine!?"

Adrian: "YOU!"

The two boys seemed to really like to put things in their mouth!  Adrian was "eating" his bib, while Nate was chomping down on his spoon.

All 4 kids in action.

Before we left their house, I suggested to take a picture of all 4 kids in costume.  It was actually really hilarious seeing the 4 in costume.  And to top it off, the girls really made an effort to hold down the boys.  Yan-yan was a bit more gentle with Adrian, but Ali was giving Nate a head-lock so he couldn't crawl away. LOL

I know it wasn't good.  You can hardly see their faces, but this was my best shot.  A&A, got better ones?  Thanks again for hosting!  Looking forward to next year's!  (And it's our turn to host!)