Alden is so funny. There are so many cute things he does, especially now that he's starting to talk, we just love him to death....
This morning, I was too tired after being woken up every hour through the night (yeah, not so cute when he does THAT), so Joe played with Al in the morning so I could sleep in a little bit. Well, it was time for him to go to work, and Al didn't want him to go, so Joe asked him if he wanted to go to work with daddy. So Alden starts looking around saying, "Al, socks, shoes, vroom vroom, daddy, work." And he kept looking for his socks and shoes, so I had to hurry and get ready so we could all go to daddy's work and drop him off together.. :) It would've been really hard for Joe to leave for work this morning otherwise...
At dinner, Alden coughed a couple times, so I pretended to cough to imitate him. He motioned and indicated that I should cover my mouth and cough into my elbow (yes, Joe taught him how to do that), which I did. Then Al said, "엄마, good job, 엄마." Joe and I just about died laughing.... Ha ha.
Here's a video of him reading the Book of Mormon (at least pretending to or trying to). You can't see anything because it's in a dark room, but you can hear him say gibberish. And after I ask him what Jesus said, he says, "@&* s&w@#, Jesus, Good night, w9@#UFs."
Monday, April 4, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Healthy sleep habits, happy baby
Joe's co-worker Nick recommended this book to him. We've always had problems with Alden's sleeping patterns, and we've also had so many problems w/ him refusing to take naps and being so cranky all the time. I have not yet had the time to read the book yet, but Joe sped read through the book and shared some main ideas that the book has.
1. Kids need a lot more sleep than we think they do.
2. Kids need to go to sleep a lot earlier than we think they do.
3. When kids get enough sleep, they should not be cranky.
We have not really put any specific things that the book recommends into practice (like enforcing a strict bedtime routine and shutting him in his bedroom), but we have realized that our children need a lot more sleep than we thought.
For example, Alden didn't used to go to sleep until 11pm or midnight and would wake up at 8 in the morning and be up all day because he hates taking naps. But then throughout the day, he'd be so cranky and miserable that we wondered his personality was that cranky. Another example is Ellie. In just less than 2 hours since she ate last, she'd cry and cry, and we couldn't figure out why she would be crying. She'd suck on her hand, and I would try to feed her, only to fail and end up frustrating me and her both.
Well, after reading the book, we found out that a 4 month old baby like Ellie shouldn't be up for more than 2 hours at a time... And we also found out that Alden should be going to bed as early as 7pm and should be taking a 1-2 hour nap everyday!
So we have been trying to be consistent in giving Ellie enough sleep time, as well as putting Alden to sleep early everyday. I've also tried to get Alden to take a nap everyday, and it works! Alden is a happy child (well, happier) and Ellie does sleep when we put her back after 2 hours of being awake. :D Alden loves playing and refuses to take naps because he doesn't want to miss out on anything (kinda like me), so I've been having him push the nap button on our alarm clock (yes, we have a nap button), and told him that we need to lie down on the bed and not get up until the clock goes, "Beep, beep, beep!" He doesn't mind lying on the bed with Ellie and me, so he's been taking a nap during the day for the last couple days. I usually fall asleep before he does, but wake up before he does, so I get to enjoy a quiet few minutes before he wakes back up. (In fact, he's taking a nap right now). But Ellie woke up just a minute ago, so I gotta run!
1. Kids need a lot more sleep than we think they do.
2. Kids need to go to sleep a lot earlier than we think they do.
3. When kids get enough sleep, they should not be cranky.
We have not really put any specific things that the book recommends into practice (like enforcing a strict bedtime routine and shutting him in his bedroom), but we have realized that our children need a lot more sleep than we thought.
For example, Alden didn't used to go to sleep until 11pm or midnight and would wake up at 8 in the morning and be up all day because he hates taking naps. But then throughout the day, he'd be so cranky and miserable that we wondered his personality was that cranky. Another example is Ellie. In just less than 2 hours since she ate last, she'd cry and cry, and we couldn't figure out why she would be crying. She'd suck on her hand, and I would try to feed her, only to fail and end up frustrating me and her both.
Well, after reading the book, we found out that a 4 month old baby like Ellie shouldn't be up for more than 2 hours at a time... And we also found out that Alden should be going to bed as early as 7pm and should be taking a 1-2 hour nap everyday!
So we have been trying to be consistent in giving Ellie enough sleep time, as well as putting Alden to sleep early everyday. I've also tried to get Alden to take a nap everyday, and it works! Alden is a happy child (well, happier) and Ellie does sleep when we put her back after 2 hours of being awake. :D Alden loves playing and refuses to take naps because he doesn't want to miss out on anything (kinda like me), so I've been having him push the nap button on our alarm clock (yes, we have a nap button), and told him that we need to lie down on the bed and not get up until the clock goes, "Beep, beep, beep!" He doesn't mind lying on the bed with Ellie and me, so he's been taking a nap during the day for the last couple days. I usually fall asleep before he does, but wake up before he does, so I get to enjoy a quiet few minutes before he wakes back up. (In fact, he's taking a nap right now). But Ellie woke up just a minute ago, so I gotta run!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Funny things Alden says
The other day, reading the Book of Mormon (he calls it "The Book of Mornin'."), he says, "Kelli, Anna, playdough, Al, fun, yes!"
"Oh, gosh, oh, man!"
The other day, he didn't want to get his diaper changed, so I told him he'd be put in time out unless he came to me. He came running towards me, and after I laid him down, he wipes fake sweat off his forehead and says, "So close!"
Alden's one of favorite TV shows is Go, Diego, Go. During the show, Diego rides on his hang glider or goes down the zip-line, etc., and he tells the kids to clap w/ him three times in a row. And Alden, being the enthusiast that he is, yells out, "Crap, crap, crap!!!"
I will add more to this list later...
"Oh, gosh, oh, man!"
The other day, he didn't want to get his diaper changed, so I told him he'd be put in time out unless he came to me. He came running towards me, and after I laid him down, he wipes fake sweat off his forehead and says, "So close!"
Alden's one of favorite TV shows is Go, Diego, Go. During the show, Diego rides on his hang glider or goes down the zip-line, etc., and he tells the kids to clap w/ him three times in a row. And Alden, being the enthusiast that he is, yells out, "Crap, crap, crap!!!"
I will add more to this list later...
Fun with Sophie
Sophie and Alden are like best friends, and they are always asking for the other one. They love to play together, so we, the parents, try as much as possible to get them together to play. It's kinda hard cuz we live an hour apart, but we can get them together at least 2, 3 time a month.
The other day, we went up to Bountiful for Joe's friend Elise's wedding, so we called Tom and Laura to see what they were up to that day. They said they were going to the park to fly a kite, so we decided to join them before heading to the reception. Laura said that Tom got a P-51 kite, and Joe and I wanted to get a kite, too, so I went to Costco to get the Buzz Lightyear kite I saw there the other day (both Alden and Sophie are big toy story fans). They did have kites, but just not he Buzz Lightyear one (they sold out!). So I decided to try different CostCo's since we would be driving up towards Bountiful anyway. I talked to Lehi, Sandy, West Jordan, Salt Lake, and Bountiful CostCo for at least 5 minutes each (because they had to send someone down to check)... Well, no one had the Buzz kite anymore so after spending like half an hour on the phone and another half hour online trying to find a cool kite, I gave up buying one altogether... :P
When we got to the park, Sophie and Alden weren't interested in flying kites at all. They just wanted to play on the playground. Ha ha. So the dads (Tom and Joe) tried to fly the kites and there just wasn't enough wind to fly the kite... ha ha.
Yeagi and her boyfriend, Jonathan, invited us to go to the zoo with us, and they invited Sophie and Laura, too. So we got to go to Hogle zoo in Salt Lake. We had so much fun. The kids had fun looking at the animals and eventually playing at the playground... lol.
Updates on Joe
This post is for Joe. So... a few months ago, Alden used to watch a lot of Mario clips on Youtube. He'd watch video clips from Super Mario Bros Wii, and any other game system. Well, that got Joe thinking about his old Super Nintendo, and made him really really want to play his old game again (Super Mario Bros on the Super Nintendo). He kept talking about how he'd love to get his games back from dad's house and play all night and finish the game in one day.
So finally, one day when we were up in Bountiful, he looked for his old Super Nintendo he got for Christmas one year. He couldn't find it anywhere, and he asked his dad where it was. Too his dismay, hJoe's dad told himt hat he had just thrown it away two weeks ago, along with all the other game systems that he didn't think were important to keep. Well, you should've seen the look on Joe's face when he heard that news. He said, "You WHAT!?" and he couldn't talk for like a full 30 seconds. And then started saying, "That was MINE!" Joe's dad felt so bad, he really did felt bad and said that's like the worst he felt in a long time.
Anyway... Joe was so sad that his super nintendo was gone, and since then, I'd been looking on KSL and checking out the Provo DI to see if there were any SNES's. We found a good deal in Springville but found out it had already been sold... So I suggested to Joe that we should pick a day to visit as many DIs we can around the area and see if we could find one. Last Saturday, we decided that we were going to visit all the between Provo and Salt Lake. We stopped off at the Provo, American Fork, Sandy, West Jordan, Murray, and Salt Lake Sugarhouse DI. As the day went on, I started getting nervous that we wouldn't be able to find any, and we got to the Sugarhouse DI 20 minutes before they closed. And after looking around about 10 minutes, we saw IT! In the electronics section! It was so funny, because Joe and I both spotted it at the same time, and I've probably never have seen Joe move so fast. He snatched it up so quickly, I couldn't see his hands move.. Ha ha.
Well, we wanted to test it out before the DI closed, and we had only 10 minutes to do so. We pulled out all the cords and the controllers out of the ziplock bag and started to connect it to the tv. But, there was no power cable! Joe quickly ran back to the electronics section to look for a compatible power cable (10 volts) and came back a few minutes later looking very disappointed... We stood there debating if it was worth $15 to just take the game home with a possibility that it may not work. And then, a blond girl walked up to us and said, "I think you are looking for this..." and handed us a power cable! And it was the perfect cable for the SNES! Joe was so excited, he told her, "You just made my year!" Later he told me she must have been an angel or something... Ha ha.
After that we dropped by Bountiful to visit Grandma and Grandpa, and then mom. We didn't get home until after midnight but he was so excited, he wanted to test out the game. We played a few boards. I was so surprised to see Joe play just like the guys on YouTube (flying through the board, knowing where all the secret passages are, never ever dying, etc.).
The console we bought is a little old and yellow, so Joe wanted to find a better one that didn't yellow. So just the other day, we bought another one from a guy in Woodscross for $20 (includes Street Fighter). Ha ha. We are gonna see if we can sell the one we bought from the DI. Anyway, I'm excited that Joe was able to find something he liked, we just gotta find a megaman game for him now. :)
Look at the smug on his face... Ha ha
So finally, one day when we were up in Bountiful, he looked for his old Super Nintendo he got for Christmas one year. He couldn't find it anywhere, and he asked his dad where it was. Too his dismay, hJoe's dad told himt hat he had just thrown it away two weeks ago, along with all the other game systems that he didn't think were important to keep. Well, you should've seen the look on Joe's face when he heard that news. He said, "You WHAT!?" and he couldn't talk for like a full 30 seconds. And then started saying, "That was MINE!" Joe's dad felt so bad, he really did felt bad and said that's like the worst he felt in a long time.
Anyway... Joe was so sad that his super nintendo was gone, and since then, I'd been looking on KSL and checking out the Provo DI to see if there were any SNES's. We found a good deal in Springville but found out it had already been sold... So I suggested to Joe that we should pick a day to visit as many DIs we can around the area and see if we could find one. Last Saturday, we decided that we were going to visit all the between Provo and Salt Lake. We stopped off at the Provo, American Fork, Sandy, West Jordan, Murray, and Salt Lake Sugarhouse DI. As the day went on, I started getting nervous that we wouldn't be able to find any, and we got to the Sugarhouse DI 20 minutes before they closed. And after looking around about 10 minutes, we saw IT! In the electronics section! It was so funny, because Joe and I both spotted it at the same time, and I've probably never have seen Joe move so fast. He snatched it up so quickly, I couldn't see his hands move.. Ha ha.
Well, we wanted to test it out before the DI closed, and we had only 10 minutes to do so. We pulled out all the cords and the controllers out of the ziplock bag and started to connect it to the tv. But, there was no power cable! Joe quickly ran back to the electronics section to look for a compatible power cable (10 volts) and came back a few minutes later looking very disappointed... We stood there debating if it was worth $15 to just take the game home with a possibility that it may not work. And then, a blond girl walked up to us and said, "I think you are looking for this..." and handed us a power cable! And it was the perfect cable for the SNES! Joe was so excited, he told her, "You just made my year!" Later he told me she must have been an angel or something... Ha ha.
After that we dropped by Bountiful to visit Grandma and Grandpa, and then mom. We didn't get home until after midnight but he was so excited, he wanted to test out the game. We played a few boards. I was so surprised to see Joe play just like the guys on YouTube (flying through the board, knowing where all the secret passages are, never ever dying, etc.).
The console we bought is a little old and yellow, so Joe wanted to find a better one that didn't yellow. So just the other day, we bought another one from a guy in Woodscross for $20 (includes Street Fighter). Ha ha. We are gonna see if we can sell the one we bought from the DI. Anyway, I'm excited that Joe was able to find something he liked, we just gotta find a megaman game for him now. :)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Updates on Alden
Wow, time does really fly and kids grow and change so fast, I don't even know where to begin. Alden is learning so much so fast, and he LOVES to learn. I remember when he was about 1 year old, he hated reading books, and we were so worried that he wouldn't like books for the rest of his life. Now, we have to set a limit on how many books he gets to read before going to bed, because he will just want to read one after another. Three used to be the biggest number he knew, and he always used to ask for three books, and he still does ask for "Three books!" But sometimes, he will try to bargain up to five books or even ten books. He likes to try to read words with me or just listen while I read aloud and help me turn the pages. His favorite book is still the Cat in the Hat, and he loves other Dr. Seuss books. We borrowed "Hop on Pop" from the library, and he liked reading it very much, we pretty much read it every night the whole time we had that book. We are thinking about buying one for him.
His vocabulary, which includes words he recognizes, understands, says, and reads, has improved tremendously, and he surprises everyday with a new vocabulary. He is starting to put more words together to make complete sentences, and sometimes put 5, 6 words together to make a coherent sentence. Yesterday, my mom went to IKEA and bought him a little igloo tent. He kept crawling in, pretending to sleep saying, "Sleep!" and crawling back out. He wanted my mom to join, so he said, "Alden, 할미 (grandma), all come in to tent." So my mom said, "Grandma's too big," and Al said, "할미 (grandma) too big no. Too big no. Too big no!" Then Joe offered to play with him and said, "How about daddy?" Alden said, "No daddy. Daddy too big." Ha ha. Later, after my mom left the room, Joe asked if Ellie could join him in the tent. Al said, "No. Baby too small."
So most of what he says is in English, I think because English is a lot easier to just lay out words. I am trying to get him to answer me in Korean more, and just love it when he does speak or answer me in Korean. The other day, I was too tired to get up (because Al woke up in the middle of the night, Ellie woke up early in the morning to eat, and I just plain couldn't sleep very well all night), and Alden was trying to get me to get up and play with him like most days... He kept saying, "엄마 (mommy) sleep no. Sleep no. Sleep all done. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up." I just kept lying in bed and sleeping, and he started saying, "일어나 (wake up)." After saying that many times, he saw that I was still sleeping, he said, "엄마, 일어나 주세요 (wake up, please)." That got me right up because it was soooo cute and I just coudln't believe that he'd said that in Korean...
I'm slowly starting to teach him the Korean letters too, and it's not going as well as the English, but I think Alden can at least distinguish Enligh from Korean and vice versa. He can also recognize a few Korean letters and written words.
As far as potty training goes, we still haven't succeeded. I'm kinda taking a break and waiting to see if he'd want to go by himself. Once in a while, I will get him to sit on the toilet with no success. I've figured out that the problem with Alden's potty training is not that he is too young, it is that he is just plain too smart! For some strange reason, he doesn't like to go in the toilet. And even though he will sometimes sit on the toilet for the candy or the popsicle we offer to get him to sit there, he will not go in the toilet at all. He knows that there are rewards (more candy, praises, ice cream, and most importantly, the Wii - we haven't played the wii in a long time because he's only allowed to play it if he goes in the toilet). However, he will hold as long as he needs or can if he is sitting on the toilet. Many times, he will sit there, enjoy the candy, the attention, games, songs, books, etc., and asked to get down only to pee or poop in the diaper right after. I have no idea how to motivate him to go in the potty, and right now the plan is to just see if he will want to go when he gets a little older... We'll see what happens..
He's also gotten into dancing lately, and he will dance to any song that has a beat and if he has another person to dance with. Most times he head bangs and moves his head up and down - I think because the only place we turn on the music is in the car and he can't move his body in the carseat. He's also starting to sing a little bit too, although a lot of times, he is very off key or just chants and lyrics (kinda like how Joe sings. ha ha). When Alden sings the ABCs, he just reads off from A to Z, and very quicky says, "now I ABCs, next sing with ME!" When we get in the car, he asks for his music. We have a Korean children's song CD in the car, and after listening to it probably 5000 times or more, he is starting to follow along with a couple of songs and saying the lyrics. I'm so excited that he is starting to learn Korean songs!
Alden's favorite TV shows are now Dora the Explorer and Go! Diego, Go! He gets to watch them on my mom's tv, and he always sneaks into my mom's room and makes a really cute face next to the tv, so my mom has to say yes. The shows are the main reason I think his English has improved a lot, and I think I even heard him count to 4 in Spanish the other day... He always asks for Mario story, Star (from super mario) story, and Mario Kart story at night. But lately, it's been either Dora story or Diego story.
I also bought him a few interactive learning CDs from DI like jumpstart, etc. Alden's favorite is called "Arthur's Reading Games." It reads him an Arthur story, and he can click on different things on the page to make them move or talk. He also likes to play this board game where you have to match the words with the pictures to advance on the board.
Now that the weather's warming up, I've been trying to take him outdoors a little more, and he loves to go to the playground. The other day, he went on the swing for the first time since he was less than a year old, and just loved it! He wouldn't get down, and kept saying "Wee!" every time the swing moved forward. He has also gotten very brave with the slides, and goes down them the right way instead of belly down like he used to. He can now go on the tall slides at the playground without any help and loves to go down them too. He's also gotten a lot independent and has become quite extrovert at the playground. He is still very polite and knows to wait until the slide is clear to go down, but is not afraid to get in line or stand up for himself if another kid tries to butt in line or something. (Probably because he can now say, "My turn!" and "Wait!").
His vocabulary, which includes words he recognizes, understands, says, and reads, has improved tremendously, and he surprises everyday with a new vocabulary. He is starting to put more words together to make complete sentences, and sometimes put 5, 6 words together to make a coherent sentence. Yesterday, my mom went to IKEA and bought him a little igloo tent. He kept crawling in, pretending to sleep saying, "Sleep!" and crawling back out. He wanted my mom to join, so he said, "Alden, 할미 (grandma), all come in to tent." So my mom said, "Grandma's too big," and Al said, "할미 (grandma) too big no. Too big no. Too big no!" Then Joe offered to play with him and said, "How about daddy?" Alden said, "No daddy. Daddy too big." Ha ha. Later, after my mom left the room, Joe asked if Ellie could join him in the tent. Al said, "No. Baby too small."
So most of what he says is in English, I think because English is a lot easier to just lay out words. I am trying to get him to answer me in Korean more, and just love it when he does speak or answer me in Korean. The other day, I was too tired to get up (because Al woke up in the middle of the night, Ellie woke up early in the morning to eat, and I just plain couldn't sleep very well all night), and Alden was trying to get me to get up and play with him like most days... He kept saying, "엄마 (mommy) sleep no. Sleep no. Sleep all done. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up." I just kept lying in bed and sleeping, and he started saying, "일어나 (wake up)." After saying that many times, he saw that I was still sleeping, he said, "엄마, 일어나 주세요 (wake up, please)." That got me right up because it was soooo cute and I just coudln't believe that he'd said that in Korean...
I'm slowly starting to teach him the Korean letters too, and it's not going as well as the English, but I think Alden can at least distinguish Enligh from Korean and vice versa. He can also recognize a few Korean letters and written words.
As far as potty training goes, we still haven't succeeded. I'm kinda taking a break and waiting to see if he'd want to go by himself. Once in a while, I will get him to sit on the toilet with no success. I've figured out that the problem with Alden's potty training is not that he is too young, it is that he is just plain too smart! For some strange reason, he doesn't like to go in the toilet. And even though he will sometimes sit on the toilet for the candy or the popsicle we offer to get him to sit there, he will not go in the toilet at all. He knows that there are rewards (more candy, praises, ice cream, and most importantly, the Wii - we haven't played the wii in a long time because he's only allowed to play it if he goes in the toilet). However, he will hold as long as he needs or can if he is sitting on the toilet. Many times, he will sit there, enjoy the candy, the attention, games, songs, books, etc., and asked to get down only to pee or poop in the diaper right after. I have no idea how to motivate him to go in the potty, and right now the plan is to just see if he will want to go when he gets a little older... We'll see what happens..
He's also gotten into dancing lately, and he will dance to any song that has a beat and if he has another person to dance with. Most times he head bangs and moves his head up and down - I think because the only place we turn on the music is in the car and he can't move his body in the carseat. He's also starting to sing a little bit too, although a lot of times, he is very off key or just chants and lyrics (kinda like how Joe sings. ha ha). When Alden sings the ABCs, he just reads off from A to Z, and very quicky says, "now I ABCs, next sing with ME!" When we get in the car, he asks for his music. We have a Korean children's song CD in the car, and after listening to it probably 5000 times or more, he is starting to follow along with a couple of songs and saying the lyrics. I'm so excited that he is starting to learn Korean songs!
Alden's favorite TV shows are now Dora the Explorer and Go! Diego, Go! He gets to watch them on my mom's tv, and he always sneaks into my mom's room and makes a really cute face next to the tv, so my mom has to say yes. The shows are the main reason I think his English has improved a lot, and I think I even heard him count to 4 in Spanish the other day... He always asks for Mario story, Star (from super mario) story, and Mario Kart story at night. But lately, it's been either Dora story or Diego story.
I also bought him a few interactive learning CDs from DI like jumpstart, etc. Alden's favorite is called "Arthur's Reading Games." It reads him an Arthur story, and he can click on different things on the page to make them move or talk. He also likes to play this board game where you have to match the words with the pictures to advance on the board.
Now that the weather's warming up, I've been trying to take him outdoors a little more, and he loves to go to the playground. The other day, he went on the swing for the first time since he was less than a year old, and just loved it! He wouldn't get down, and kept saying "Wee!" every time the swing moved forward. He has also gotten very brave with the slides, and goes down them the right way instead of belly down like he used to. He can now go on the tall slides at the playground without any help and loves to go down them too. He's also gotten a lot independent and has become quite extrovert at the playground. He is still very polite and knows to wait until the slide is clear to go down, but is not afraid to get in line or stand up for himself if another kid tries to butt in line or something. (Probably because he can now say, "My turn!" and "Wait!").
Race track!
At the playground
Reading the "Book of Mornin'."
Ellie is growing so fast!
A couple weeks ago, March 10th, we celebrated Ellie's 100 day birthday. In Korea, being a 100 day old is very significant. It is a tradition to have a big party and celebrate the coming of the baby. I guess the tradition comes from how a lot of babies didn't really make it to a hundred days, and if they did, their chance of survival was very high, and it was very likely that they'll live long. Most babies now survive well past the 100 day mark now, but the tradition still continues and we like to recognize the new addition to the family. We don't have baby showers in Korea (and you don't even get to see the baby when you go to a shower), and we didn't have one when I was pregnant w/ Ellie. So we got to celebrate Ellie joining our family that day.
My mom ordered a bunch of chinese food from a buffet, and we had dessert, fruit, and cake. A lot of family came to the party, as well as friends and some of Joe's co-workers. Joe's mom got work off that day and came down early with Sophie. Alden, Ellie, and I met up with her at Walmart, and bought a whole bunch of fruit for the party. Alden was so excited that Sophie came, and they were going crazy at Walmart, running around and chasing each other. Towards the end, they both got so tired but they both refused to take naps (neither of them slept all day..). We even went to the mall to find a dress for Ellie, and Sophie and Al behaved really well. After we got back from shopping, we got a table ready for Ellie. I decorated a table with some balloons and ribbons, put plates of fruit and cake on the table, and put a high chair behind it with a slideshow going on on the tv as background. Joe was able to get off early from work to help out.
Ellie did so well through the party and the picture taking sessions. She looked great in her new dress that Joe's mom bought for her. A lot of people took turns holding her (except me because I was busy hosting the party. lol), and she was just a doll.
So, she is approaching 4 months now, and she is such a good baby, I sometimes forget that she is even there. She is just so happy lying down on her play mat thingy, and when she wakes up in the morning, she just lies there quietly and waits for me to come get her (this morning I thought she was still asleep and found her with her eyes open in her bassinet). She now sleeps in Alden's room, and she will sleep through most nights. Rarely does she ever wake up before 6 am. She usually averages 7 hours of sleep, eats and goes back to sleep for another 4, 5 hours. When I go in the morning to get her from the room, she looks up and makes the cutest smile!
During the day, she will just lie on her mat and look up at the toys or look around and puts herself to sleep. She still loves to be held and be talked to, and she tries to talk back when I talk to her. She is so curious about everything and looks around at her surroundings, even when I am nursing her. Sometimes, it becomes a problem when i nurse her, because she will turn her head around and not eat very well. While she eats, she likes to look up at my face and smile. She is just sooo cute!
Shortly after she was born, she had congestion for almost a month and a half, but since then, she's only been sick once. She is very healthy and happy, and she makes everyone around her very happy. The other day, I went to the mall with the kids, and as I was holding her and walking around in the department store, the store clerks kept stopping me to ask me about Ellie and wanted to look at her.
She also started giggling, and although she hasn't giggled at me yet, our babysitters never fail to make her giggle. Since Joe is studying for the GMAT, and hiring a personal tutor costs anywhere from $30 to $50 an hour, we decided that it was best if we got a babysitter instead so I could tutor Joe. So we have a young woman in the ward named Kelli come twice a week to babysit while we study, and she brings her little sister Anna to help out. They are so good with the kids, and Alden just LOVES to play with them. If we mention Kelli or Anna's name, he will stop whatever he is doing and do what we ask him to do (like eat food, wake up, change clothes, go to church!). It's gotten to a point that he is now starting to almost cry when they have to leave... lol. Anyway, Alden likes to play ball with Anna, and Kelli watches Ellie while they play, and Kelli tells me that Ellie always giggles when she sees Alden throwing or kicking a ball with Anna. The other day, Joe also got Ellie to giggle at him while I was trying to put Alden to sleep. We were able to get some her laughing a little on video and I will post that sometime.. (it's on facebook already).
Ellie has been such a big blessing for us, and it has made having a second kid so easy on me and Joe. I don't even notice that having two kids is any harder than just having one, maybe even easier now because Alden is more independent and Ellie is so easy to take care of. I just have to remember to give her as much love and attention as I do to Alden even if she doesn't cry for it.
My mom ordered a bunch of chinese food from a buffet, and we had dessert, fruit, and cake. A lot of family came to the party, as well as friends and some of Joe's co-workers. Joe's mom got work off that day and came down early with Sophie. Alden, Ellie, and I met up with her at Walmart, and bought a whole bunch of fruit for the party. Alden was so excited that Sophie came, and they were going crazy at Walmart, running around and chasing each other. Towards the end, they both got so tired but they both refused to take naps (neither of them slept all day..). We even went to the mall to find a dress for Ellie, and Sophie and Al behaved really well. After we got back from shopping, we got a table ready for Ellie. I decorated a table with some balloons and ribbons, put plates of fruit and cake on the table, and put a high chair behind it with a slideshow going on on the tv as background. Joe was able to get off early from work to help out.
Ellie did so well through the party and the picture taking sessions. She looked great in her new dress that Joe's mom bought for her. A lot of people took turns holding her (except me because I was busy hosting the party. lol), and she was just a doll.
So, she is approaching 4 months now, and she is such a good baby, I sometimes forget that she is even there. She is just so happy lying down on her play mat thingy, and when she wakes up in the morning, she just lies there quietly and waits for me to come get her (this morning I thought she was still asleep and found her with her eyes open in her bassinet). She now sleeps in Alden's room, and she will sleep through most nights. Rarely does she ever wake up before 6 am. She usually averages 7 hours of sleep, eats and goes back to sleep for another 4, 5 hours. When I go in the morning to get her from the room, she looks up and makes the cutest smile!
During the day, she will just lie on her mat and look up at the toys or look around and puts herself to sleep. She still loves to be held and be talked to, and she tries to talk back when I talk to her. She is so curious about everything and looks around at her surroundings, even when I am nursing her. Sometimes, it becomes a problem when i nurse her, because she will turn her head around and not eat very well. While she eats, she likes to look up at my face and smile. She is just sooo cute!
Shortly after she was born, she had congestion for almost a month and a half, but since then, she's only been sick once. She is very healthy and happy, and she makes everyone around her very happy. The other day, I went to the mall with the kids, and as I was holding her and walking around in the department store, the store clerks kept stopping me to ask me about Ellie and wanted to look at her.
She also started giggling, and although she hasn't giggled at me yet, our babysitters never fail to make her giggle. Since Joe is studying for the GMAT, and hiring a personal tutor costs anywhere from $30 to $50 an hour, we decided that it was best if we got a babysitter instead so I could tutor Joe. So we have a young woman in the ward named Kelli come twice a week to babysit while we study, and she brings her little sister Anna to help out. They are so good with the kids, and Alden just LOVES to play with them. If we mention Kelli or Anna's name, he will stop whatever he is doing and do what we ask him to do (like eat food, wake up, change clothes, go to church!). It's gotten to a point that he is now starting to almost cry when they have to leave... lol. Anyway, Alden likes to play ball with Anna, and Kelli watches Ellie while they play, and Kelli tells me that Ellie always giggles when she sees Alden throwing or kicking a ball with Anna. The other day, Joe also got Ellie to giggle at him while I was trying to put Alden to sleep. We were able to get some her laughing a little on video and I will post that sometime.. (it's on facebook already).
Ellie has been such a big blessing for us, and it has made having a second kid so easy on me and Joe. I don't even notice that having two kids is any harder than just having one, maybe even easier now because Alden is more independent and Ellie is so easy to take care of. I just have to remember to give her as much love and attention as I do to Alden even if she doesn't cry for it.
At the party
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