Sean's Big Weekend Continues

Sean's having the best time of the year right now. He's been talking about it for weeks and finally the day came on the past Saturday. Pakrer had his 5th birthday party at Samena Club! He was so excited, he made up a song about it, he was playing with the wooden cake and pretended it was Parker's birthday cake etc... They have big pools at Samena and Sean enjoyed swimming with Daddy as well. I didn't take him to the party, so I don't have much details. But I know that he had a lot of fun at the party. I had to go to an appointment with a nutritionist, so dropped off Noah and Saya (Aly went to the party with Sean and Daddy) with Mike in Samena. As I was pushing Noah and Saya in the double stroller, Saya started to scream because she was afraid of the pool. Mike said Aly was scared of the pool as well and I am seriously considering swimming lessons for all my children. I am sure it was a lot of work for Mike, but everyone had a good time.

And that is now all! Mike and Sean left to stay overnight at the Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor family friendly water park and hotel located in Grand Mound, south of Olympia. Better yet, Paker and his Dad Kevin went with them. Mike bought a brand new swim suit for Sean that has built in floaters. Mike sent me two pictures from the lodge already and Sean looks so happy. He's working so hard every day with therapies, so this is a nice break for him. I am glad that he's able to enjoy himself with two of his favorite people, his Daddy and his best buddy!

Farmer's Market

Apart from the blue sky and sunny weather, I love summer because it's the farmer's market season! Every Tuesday, Sean and I go to our local Crossroad Farmer's Market to buy our fruit and veggies. Sean loves going to the market because he gets to help me pick which ones to buy. He loves picking cherries and putting them into the bag. He carefully chooses only the big and undamaged ones and he lets me know when he thinks I put the "bad ones" into the bag. I am a little sad that the ranier cherries are going to be out of season soon. That is my favorite cherries of all and that is on my top 10 list of why I love Washington state. I am moving on to peaches though and looking forward to tasting all the upcoming merchandise!

Tuesday

We have a "Table Time" to do their own project almost everyday. Today, Saya joined us, practicing drawing with crayons (she liked eating them, too).

Today was somewhat peaceful and I want to give myself a pat on my shoulders for working hard to do the right things. I've changed the approach to manage children's behavior and it seems to be working. I've realized that no, it's not OK for my children to act disruptive at home and outside, it's not OK for them to not respond to me when I talk to them, it's not OK for them to not share etc... In a way, I was giving them excuses like "he just doesn't understand" or "she is overtired". I am now more serious about correcting their behaviors and teaching them how to act appropriately. My previous approach was not working because the disciplinary actions were inconsistent and I did not teach them the correct behavior effectively.

I've taken Sean up to his room about five times today to let him cool down. He was kicking and screaming every time I carried him upstairs. He is skinny but I swear he can make himself heavier on demand! He almost seems like (just almost!) he has a new respect for me for being firm with him. I am in a neutral mood while doing this so that he is not getting any emotions out of me. I asked him if he needs help calming down and until the last few times he was very defiant and said no. By the fourth time, he asked me to help him calm down and I did so by reading a short story. He calmed down right away and agreed to try his best to be a good brother downstairs. I did it with Alyson once today. She kicked Saya in the head and wouldn't apologize to her. She was sent upstairs in her room and she was stunned because I rarely put her on time out up in her room. I had to put her in time out outside Sean's school yesterday because she refused to sit down in her car seat. It's a lot of work, but a battle worth fighting! I am so glad that I am spending more time with my kids now to make sure they are on a right track to become a responsible and respectful adult.

Non-sleeping child

I think I overdosed Noah on Vitamin B12. He drinks soy milk fortified with Vitamins B6 and B12 plus I have been mixing Benefiber with added VB6 and 12 in his drinks. I did a quick research now and found out that it can cause insomnia! That is why he is not sleeping these days! Noah has been waking up in the middle of the night screaming, refusing to sleep and he is climbing in and out of the high chair as I type this at 10:45 pm! I was wondering why he's been this way for the past 4 or 5 days and I now know that he's been taking too much Vitamin B. I was so puzzled as to why he's been like this and I knew something was wrong because he is normally a very good sleeper. He's also been poking at his eyes at lot these days and I am not sure if that has something to do with Vitamin B overdose as well. But I can say for myself that when I feel unnaturally energetic my eyes feel unsettling and maybe that is what he is feeling, too. I will have to switch his soy milk to a regular kind and stop the Benefiber. Poor kid. I am so sorry Noah! I am glad I found it out though. Hmmm.... now what to do with a widely awake 2 year-old... Help... Not looking forward to tonight. Sigh.

Random Pics from my phone

Just posting random pictures I took with my phone. Not in chronological order.

This was taken when I took Sean and Parker to Crossroad Mall. They each had sand witches and were happy eating out at the mall. Later we strolled to the farmer's market and bought some veggies and fruits.
At our front yard -- Sean was pretending to be a monster and terrorizing the little bugs.

Saya at about 10 months. She was sick with a bad sinus infection and took her to the doctor's. She fell asleep in the car.

Saya at the doctor's office. She suffered a lot with the sinus infection.

We were at Maneki's in the International District on our date night. Look at the beautiful sashimis!! We ordered too much and the waitress was impressed we ate all of them.

Sean on the greenbelt between Bellevue and Issaquah a couple of weeks ago. Mike took this one and sent it to me. It was a slight downhill so going back was hard for Sean. He eventually started walking and what was meant to be an hour outing became two hours. Sean was exhausted.

Aly and I went to Costco today. She was so cute wearing her sunnies as she calls it (Aussie style). We went to Trader Joe's after Costco and she was singing loudly mostly her made up songs. Everyone thought she was really cute.

Playing on Deck

Aly being a little Mommy. She says "Aaah Noah, Aaah!!"
Kids having snack in the new play house.

Saya loves being on the deck. too.

Now the weather is hot and sunny, all the kids enjoy playing out on the deck. We bought a big play house about month and half ago and kids are in and out of the house, drive away in their "cars" to go to work, and sits inside and hang (put their fold up chair inside). I like watching them play and listening to their funny conversations. Sometimes they sound exactly like me or Mike!

List of words Saya says:

Mama

Dada

Grace

Hai (yes)

Yes

Wanwan (dog)

Waaao (bear)

This

Ta-da (bye-bye)

Gochi-da!! (thank you for a meal)

Tadadai (Kudasai - please give it to me)

Saya saw a tiger on TV and excitedly exclaimed "Grace!!"

New Shoes!

Mommy's newest midnight impulse buy... a pair of Blowfish Slouch Boots!

I don't know where I would wear them to but they are comfy and adorable!! Girls fought over it and each got a turn to wear it. So cute!

Somewhat Peaceful Weekend

Andy and Sean
I think this is Charlie??

If that was Charlie, this is Finn! :-)

Sean after his bath. Mike wraps him up in his towel and Sean calls himself a Mr. Burrito.

We had a pretty good weekend. We had another date night on Sat evening and Mike and I went to Home Depot to do some shopping first (did you know they are open until 10 pm?) and headed to downtown Bellevue for happy hour. We went to Daniel's Broiler which is on top of Bellevue Place and has a sweeping view of the city high up on the 21st floor. The place was packed with old people dressed like young people and it was really fun to people watch. We sat at the piano table where Mike's friend, Martin, was playing beautiful music but he was super loud. It was impossible to talk with my super soft voice, so I was observing the patrons there. Lots of interesting people in a different way. It seemed like this bar is a hang out place for a rich older crowed.

Liz and her three adorable boys, Andy, Charlie and Finn, came over for a play date on Sunday. Liz kindly brought us a GFCF banana bread that looks so moist and yummy and GFCF chocolate cookies she found at a store. Sean liked the cookies a lot. We'll give him the bread tomorrow morning for breakie! Liz and I were chasing the kids around to different rooms as they roam, but we put in some good talk time and had a very good visit. The kids had a very good time playing together. Thank you for coming Liz! We'll set up something very soon again.

Parker and Sean

Parker and Sean are best of friends. Sean thinks Parker is the coolest kid in the universe! Sean often begs to go play at Parker's house and Parker the other way around. He lives just around the corner from us and I am sure they'll be good friends for years to come.

Finally, the summer is here!

Saya learned to go down the stairs on her tummy. She also nods and says "da" when we ask her a question.

Lunch for kids at the Campbell's household. I regularly make meatballs with broccoli in them and chicken nuggets with cauliflower coated with white rice flour for Sean. That's pretty much the only way he eats veggies.

I often find a sight like this after they'd all gone to bed and get chuckles. Aly often puts her dolls on chairs, on changing table and in a baby bath tub.

We had two days of 90s weather in the Puget Sound. Although we feel for the people without A/C in their homes (it's pretty common in houses around here), kids are enjoying the change. We set up the kiddie pool and water table on the deck and the kids played for hours transporting water to different areas in the deck, pretending the pool is a beach etc... The Dutts came over on Thursday and Ayrie and Rion had a good time on the deck, too. So happy we have a large deck with enclosed railing! Hope to do lots of summer activities like this in the short hot season. Gotta absorb sunshine and make those Vitamin Ds!

Has Been A While!

At a Beir Garten having lunch!
Sean enjoyed listening to the band on stage.

A rare shot of me and Sean!

Cute store fronts of the main street.

Sean was very curious about the German yodeling.

Aly befriends dogs everywhere.

Strolling the town.

Window shopping

We had a fun day! Look at those thighs Saya's got!

Well, it's been a while.

Now that Sean's school's out, I don't have very much time being online, plus by the time the kids are in bed, I am exhausted and all I can do is slouch on the couch.

We had a tough couple of weeks, I must say. Noah's teething and he cries uncontrollably occasionally. I don't know when his molar would come out completely, but it sure is hurting my poor Noie. He would just scream and scream for eternity and it was very tough. Sean's misbehaving a lot these days and I think it has something to do with the schedule changes we had due to being on summer break. I am hoping the boys will be their normal selves very soon because I could just go insane.

Saya is starting to take a few steps here and there. She can now climb down the stairs at home on her tummy. I tell her to "turn around" and she says it and does it. It's really cute. She is starting to sleep better and when I am lucky, she is out until 7 am. For the last few days, she's woken up around 3 am for brief whining. I weaned her 100% now and she's done it fine. I didn't have much pain nor embarrassing leakage issue. I kind of miss seeing my baby nursing, but I am very happy to my boobs no longer have agendas on their own.

We spent our July 4th in Leavenwoth, an old railroad town that went through a complete make over in 60s to a German Bavarian town. It's located about 30 mins passed Stevens Pass and as soon as we passed the mountains, we had sunshine. We stopped at a fruit stand and bought a 3 lbs of local rainier cherries. Mike and I ate the whole three pounds on the same day. It was that good! Once there, we stopped and had our packed sandwiches at the beer garden of course with a few pints of beer while kids watched a band perform on stage. After lunch, we went to explore the town. There was an event for kids going on at the main park in the middle of the town and we had fun watching the German band play very cheerful music. There were lots going on but with a huge stroller and a kid that wanders off while you blink, we just strolled around town. It was a really cute town. We were pretty tired by the time we got home, but we had a really good time. We will definitely go back when the kids are older.