Welcome Ellie!

Eleen Sihyun Rigby was born November 30, 2010!!! Sorry, she's already 3 weeks old, and it's taken 3 weeks for me to update everyone on the news. We are so excited that she is here, and she is so cute! She is very adorable, and Alden loves the new baby and is being a great big brother.

November 30 was our last regular check-up with an OB/GYN. I had been feeling that she would be coming really soon, but I wasn't really sure because the due date was still a week away. The due date was December 6th, and we were supposed to go to Salt Lake on December 4th to see the people from Korean consulte so that I could renew my passport. Because they require a finger print scan, you have to actually go to a consulate in person and I would've had to go all the way to San Francisco if I had missed them on December 4th. We were really worried that Ellie was gonna come a couple days early and I would have to either try to escape from the hospital or fly to San Francisco to get it done... :P  Well, when we went in for our check-up that morning, the doctor did a vaginal exam and was very surprised that I was already at 4 cm! He said Ellie would probably be coming pretty soon, either that night or the next day.

All day, Joe and I were very anxious all day and waited for the sign. Joe had a big final presentation for his class next day, scheduled for that day because the due date was next week, but he had to postpone it to the week after because we were very likely to be in the hospital the next day... He even came home early from work that day because he couldn't focus on his work. But he did have a group meeting scheduled that night to prepare for the presentation at 8 pm. After having dinner, we decided to go to BYU campus with Joe because Alden had been sitting at home all day. So we wanted him to get out and be able to run around a little. We also put the basket of library books so we could return those to the library. There was little chance that we would have had to go to the hospital that night, so we packed our hospital bag in the car.

Well, while we were busy packing, I started having cramps. I had been having false labor, and I just figured they were cramps from running around and trying to pack. Well, they didn't go away and they just kept coming in regular intervals. I kept glancing at the clock while I was packing, and noticed that they were about 6-7 minutes apart. I still didn't think I was going into real labor because I thought real labor was supposed to start really slow! I mean, they tell you to relax and wait and count the contractions for an hour or two. I thought I was supposed to start having them like 20 minutes apart and have time to shower and maybe even take a bath..

Anyway, we proceeded to drive to BYU, and on the contractions were now about 5 minutes apart. We kept driving to Campus and went to the Tanner building where Joe was having his group meeting. He started having his meeting, and Alden and I went around the building once, throwing a ball and running down the hall to pick it up again. By the time we had gone around the whole building once, the contractions were 4 minutes apart, and I decided it was really time to go. Joe had to leave his meeting early (he had been there about 10 minutes), and we drove straight to the hospital.

We got there around 8:30 pm, and a nurse came and checked me and told me that I was at 7 cm already. As soon as she told everyone I was at 7 cm, we noticed that everyone started running around and prepping me. The anesthesiologist was in the room in 3 minutes or so and got started on giving me the epidural right away. The nurses called my doctor, and he called the hospital twice on his way over to make sure I hadn't delivered yet.

We were kinda hoping that Ellie would be a December baby, but the nurses and the doctors told us that we had no chance. :P Well, I started pushing around 9:30, and at 9:43 pm, Eleen was born! She was 19.5 inches and 7 lbs 6 oz. All in all, the whole labor only lasted for about 2 hours, and we barely made it to the hospital in time for me to get the epidural.

The next two days at the hospital were full of adventures, talking to financial office and stuff, but I'll save that story for later. (Right now, I'm really distracted because Joe and Al are playing Super Mario Bros on the Wii).

My family made it to the hospital very quickly, and my brother and sister-in-law watched Alden in the waiting room until Ellie was born.

During labor (of course, in between contractions... lol.).

Welcome Ellie!

Holding daddy's hand.

Meeting the big bro for the first time.

Cutie pie Ellie.

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun halloween this year. Alden dressed up as Woody from Toy Story. It was his favorite movie for a while, and he loves playing with his Buzz toys and reading his Toy Story books. I am a really cheap mom, so I didn't buy him the nice Woody costume from the Disney store. (It's like 40 bucks!) Since I buy all of our stuff from the DI, I decided to gather some costume stuff from the DI. So in the last couple months, I've been trying to find anything related to Woody's outfit whenever we went to the DI (and trust me, we go there a lot). I was able to find a pair of cowboy boots for $2 and a hat that looks cowboyish enough for $2 (even though it looks completely different from Woody's hat). I also found a bunch of cow-print fabric to make the vest with for $3 (there was about 50 sheets of 12x15 in fabric in there). I only used 4 of them (2 to make the actual vest with and 2 that I experimented with) so I have no idea what I'm going to do with the rest of them... (any ideas?) I also found a red handkerchief at the DI for 50 cents that I cut into a smaller size to fit Al around his neck. And I bought one of those foam sheets from Michael's (It was 99 cents and I got additional 40% off with a coupon) and made his sheriff badge and his belt. Anyway, the original plan was to have me dress up as Jessie and Joe as Andy, but I ran out of time (I spent too long sewing up his vest by hand - the sewing machine is broken and I don't know how to use it anyway). But I think his costume turned out okay enough (even though no one realized he was Woody and all thought he was just a plain cowboy... lol). The best thing ever was that Alden learned how to say "Woody" and loved going trick-or-treating. Here are some pictures from the day. :D

Getting ready to go to the ward party.

Sheriff Woody with my mom. :D

Only picture I got of Al alone with the hat on.... lol.

And the only family picture we got that day... lol.

Inspecting/enjoying the day's harvest. He actually got a lot more but I hid the ones i didn't want him to eat. lol. Joe and I will eat those....  (Joe says they are tax)

Alden reviewing the alphabet

Yesterday, Alden surprised us by repeating after me saying the letters in the alphabet. He had only been saying A, D, and O, so it was a big surprise for us. Today, Joe got him to do it again, so we had to get it on camera!!!

2 year check up

Today we went to Alden's two year check-up. It was at one o'clock and we didn't have time to have lunch, so we went to McDonald's drive through and got some food. The doctor was running late, and it turned out to be a good thing because we had time to finish our lunch in the waiting room. Al had McNuggets, fries, and apple juice for lunch. I don't know what it was, but on the way there, he was really tired and almost fell asleep, but as soon as we got there, he got really hyper and started running in circles and dancing. Anyway, he was very cooperative with the nurse checking his weight and height and everything, and I was so proud of him (until I was told that his height was only on the 5th percentile.... lol.).

When the doc came in, I was explaining to her how Alden had been pooping three times a day for the last couple days. At least it wasn't diarrhea but he was starting to get a rash. Right in the middle of me telling her this story, he pooped right in front of the doctor... And it was a nasty diarrhea... The rash had gotten so bad, and he leaked through the diaper so I had to strip him and change his diaper in the middle of the appointment.... :(  Alden wasn't so happy about the diaper change, probably because it hurt a lot, and started refusing to be touched by the doctor and was whining... But as soon as the diaper was back on and he had calmed down a little, he was back to his normal self and was being so good with the doctor. The doc even let him play with the ophthalmoscope, and Al turned the knobs and enjoyed himself a lot.

At the end of the appointment, he was so excited and hyper, he waved his hand at the doctor and also bowed to say goodbye to her. She thought he was so adorable. :D  Anyway, he followed her out to the hallway and was dancing and running in circles and was being so happy. It was so nice to not have to hold him or deal with a cranky kid.... :)

His height is in the 5th percentile, weight in the 50th percentile, which puts his BMI at 95th percentile.... He has only gained a couple pounds in the last 6 months, and I was worried about him not gaining weight, but I guess it doesn't really matter if he's not getting much taller either.... Ha ha.

Lately, he has been saying some new things and making up sentences. He likes to say "No" as usual, but now he can say, "No way!" He also likes to form sentences by combining some words he knows with his sign language. As an example, he can say "marble" and "go", so he will say "marble go" as he does the sign language for "all done (turning both hands in the air)" to say that he is done playing with his marble toy.

He also likes to tell stories of what he has done or what he saw happen. For example, I fell asleep the other day on the couch while Alden was playing with his toy, and when I woke up 45 minutes later (oops), I found that he had completely dismantled his marble toy. So like an hour later, he said, "엄마 (mommy) 코 (Koh - snoring sound), marble kah (crash), marble uh-oh." I think he was trying to tell me, "while mommy slept, I knocked the marble toy down and made a mistake." Ha ha.

I don't have any pictures right now because they are all on the other laptop. I will post them when I get to them later... :P

Happy Birthday Al!

Yay! Alden is now two!

As soon as he woke up, I started asking him how old he was and taught him to hold up two fingers instead of one. He was confused at first but started picking it up pretty quickly. By the afternoon, he was holding up one finger first then quickly holding up the other finger as well. lol. Since he is two now and is a big boy, we decided that he doesn't need to use the pacifier anymore, so we had been telling him that once he turns and blows out the candles, he wouldn't be able to use the binky anymore. At first, he didn't understand what I was trying to say but he started to get it and would nod when I explained it and asked him if he understood. And at random times, he'd sign to himself that he would have to give up the binky once he turns two. He did this by holding up two fingers, then pointing at his mouth to indicate binky, and then either shaking his head or waving his index finger to mean "no."

Anyway... his birthday was pretty uneventful during the day. Jamie came early to hang out with us because he had to leave early to go to a meeting. Alden was really friendly to Jamie and wanted to hang out with Jamie while I got ready for the party (yes! He didn't used to really like Jamie. I think he was afraid of him a little.). Jamie got him a pack of otterpops (already frozen!), and Al got to eat it right there and then. He was pretty happy. The highlight of the day for him was probably having Sophie there for a big chunk of the day. He had so much fun playing with Sophie, and they were running around and playing with toys. They had too much fun together, Alden didn't want her to leave at the end of the day and even wanted to leave with Sophie!!!

One of Alden's favorite things to do is to blow things... Blow bubbles, blow up a balloon, or blow out candles! We had been telling him that he'd be able to blow out candles on the cake, and when we bought the cake the day before, he wanted to blow out candles right away! I had to tell him he had to wait until the party and hide the cake in the fridge. Funny thing is, Sophie was so eager to help Alden that she blew both the canldes out before he had a chance to get to them! Ha ha ha. We had to relight the candles so that he could blow them out. Fortunately, he didn't get upset or anything at Sophie for blowing his candles out. He was happy to see daddy light the candles again for him.

He received many gifts from friends and family, and he was very excited and grateful for all the love he received from everyone. Sophie helped Alden open the presents by bring them over to him, and Alden ripped off the wrapping paper and had much fun doing it. He got lots of toys, books, clothes, etc.

 

Following last year's tradition, Sophie and Alden put on their Korean traditional clothes and posed for some cute pictures. They did a lot better than last year, although it was still pretty difficult to get a picture of them where neither of them was blurry or looking other way. I actually don't think I got any pictures of them both looking at me. :P Maybe next year...

After the party, Sophie and Alden were having so much fun running around and tumbling on the couch. They are so cute when they play and they play so well with each other. Alden always get so excited whenever he sees Sophie or pictures of Sophie, and when I ask if he would like to play with Sophie, he always says yes. When they had to leave, he wanted to put his shoes on and follow them out to the road, so we went out to say bye to them. After Sophie got in her carseat and everyone else (Tom, Laura, and Joe's mom) got in the car, Alden pat himself on the belly and looked at me as if saying, "What about me?" He really wanted to get in the car and leave with Sophie... We'll have to schedule another time to have them play again soon!

Helping with the laundry

Alden loves to help with laundry. We throw down all the dirty clothes over the rail from the second floor to the family room, then come down to collect them and take them to the washer. He likes to put the clothes in the washer/dryer and push the button. As he puts each item in, he says "daddy" or "엄마" depending on whose clothes it is. Yeah, he still needs to learn how to say his own name. Ha ha. But he pats his belly to mean himself.

Alden's speaking in sentences!

Finally! It's about time, too. Everyday, he adds more and more words to his sentences and makes very long and complicated sentences. Here are some examples of his sentences. (I've added the translation so it's easier for you to understand.)

"Daddy daddy daddy marble daddy marble daddy marble marble!" - while pointing back and forth between Joe and his marble toy.
(Daddy and I played with my marble toy, and he made the marbles go down with me!)

"엄마 (mom in Korean) 엄마 bubble 엄마 bubble bubble bubble daddy." - while pointing at me and outside and himself.
(Mommy and I went outside earlier today and blew bubbles in the backyard and I popped some of them.)

"mm mmm hmm mm umm mm mmm mm mmm hmm mm." - while pointing at himself and making circles in the air with his hand.
(I got to play with my fishing pole today, and I reeled it in so that the bait came in!)

Well, these are some examples of what he can say and does all the time. Pretty amazing, huh? Ha ha ha. He communicates mostly with us through made up sign language and pointing at things. His own made up sign language consists of water (pointing at his mouth and jerking his head up), get down (pointing at the ground), hold me (patting on our legs with both hands), eat food (putting end of his index finger in his mouth), binky (repeatedly pointing at his mouth with his index finger), change (making circles in the air with his hold hand), slide (slowly lowering his hand in the air), jump (tiptoes up and down - he can't really jump yet), draw (holds his hands up and pretends to draw with a crayon in the air), brush teeth (holds his hands up by his mouth and moves it across back and forth), where (holds one hand up next to his head and cocks his head to the side a little), outside (points at random direction, just far), please (puts both of his hands out in front of him).

There are words that he made up as well. "Kho... (sleep, it also means pillow and bed sometimes)" "Huh Hoo (balloon - sucks air in and out)" "dady (baby - he exchanges b with d)" "Dah dah dah (stairs - that's the sounds he makes when he goes down the stairs)" "Dee Dee (TV - He can't say T or V yet, plus when we watch DVDs, he can only read D and the other D)" "Ya yee ya yee ya yee (Fluoride pills - that's the sounds he makes when he chew something, and his pills are chewable)"

Anyway.. I will keep adding to the list later. He does actually say real words, and his learning more and more. He recently learned how to say "marble" and he just learned to say "go" this morning. He's also been saying "해," which literally means "do" in Korean. He likes to say "엄마 해" meaning, "Mommy, you do it." All day, he has me do stuff for him, and it just has to be me, and me only... (sigh) For example, we hide his binky behind his pillow in bed so he can grab it before going to bed (he's only allowed to use it when he goes to sleep and has to give it up in the morning), and if Joe acts surprised and makes sounds, Alden says, "No!" and puts the binky back behind the pillow. Then he says, "엄마 해" and has me act surprised instead. Same with turning off the lights before bed and turning on background music, along with getting out of the car, getting him off the high chair, etc., etc....

Speaking of being insistent... Alden's been really adamant on doing everything on his own. If we do something for him that he wants to do himself, he will say "NO!!" and will want to redo everything. So we've been working on trying to teach him to tell us nicely that he wants to do it himself, and he has to pat himself on his chest then put his hands out to mean, "I want to do it myself." And he's been doing pretty well at it (when he's in good mood).

Watch him say "marble" in the video below!