Turban Girl

.

I was just having fun with Alyson this morning when I had to wash her after another poop incident. She is only two and four month old but look much bigger than her age, especially in this photo. She tests her boundaries these days and Mike and I are determined this time to be firm. She didn't get dinner last night because she refused to come and wash her hands. She cried and begged later, but we stuck with the decision. She was more cooperative today.

Our friend Liz brought a Gluten and Casein free brownies she baked this morning. They are very good and taste indifferent to the ones with wheat flour. I bribed Sean to eat his lunch and dinner, using the brownies as the prize. It worked beautifully! Later when I went to Albertsons, I found a gluten free cake, brownie and cookie mixes from Betty Croker. I think they are new. I was pretty happy to have found them and bought a box of yellow cake mix. I am beginning to think that GFCF diet isn't so bad.

I feel a lot better today. I think the low calorie stint was making me very tired. I did a quick run around the neighborhood at 9:00 pm, watched a TV show with Mike and off to bed now!

Rainy Long Weekend

Girls getting ready for lunch.

Lunch Time for Saya and Noah!
Saya with a little bow.

I am getting very big!

Sean during lunch today.

Aly enjoying watermelon.


Finally, the gloomy weather is getting to me. I had enough of this gray drizzly weather!! I deserve a sunshine at least after all I do!! Or maybe I am not doing enough? Suddenly, everything isn't going well for me. Kids spilled juice and milk three times yesterday, I dropped one of my favorite dish and broke it, Saya spits up all over her crib, Alyson's poop leaked and had to wash everything, etc... Maybe I took these incidents lightly if it were sunny outside, but boy did I take them personally!! It doesn't help that I am in a middle of low calorie diet, either. I am quite irritated that I can't run every night due to rain and even if it is not raining outside, I cannot run on my favorite trails because the path is flooded. My knees and ankle ache when I run on the pavements and I don't enjoy it as much.

My weekend started out nice with hitting the happy hour with my friend, Jen. We went to a hip Vietnamese place in old downtown Bellevue and feasted on fresh oysters and fusion dishes. I think I went crazy on them because I've been starving myself with only salad for dinner diet. The food tasted so good and I had a really good time chatting with Jen.

Saturday was a little boring and I was in a foul mood most of the time. We went to the Factoria Mall just to get out of the house and ended up exhausted chasing around Aly and Sean. We did not dare letting Noah and Saya loose, so they stayed in the stroller. We saw Hanae, Ayrie and Rion, looking so cute together. We keep running into them, Mike saw them at Mojo Sushi on Thursday.

Today was a little better, thanks to more sleep and a very special friend, Hanae. She came over with a huge beautiful bouquet of flowers just because I told her that I feel depressed over the phone! Thank you so much, Hanae-chan! The photo on the cover is the photo of the flowers. So gorgeous! We were going to have Sean's little classmate Andy and his family for a playdate in the afternoon, but unfortunately Andy's twin brothers got sick. We will set up another playdate very soon. I think things will look up from today and we will have a better week. I've decided to let myself eat more food at night other than salad and I had a very good Thai food from our favorite Thai place, Thai Chef. I did lose about 4 pounds in 3 weeks, so it's not too bad at all.

Cookie Face

Mike always makes fun of me that he can tell what I ate by looking at my face. I guess my kids took after me. I have varieties of snacks at hand in the cupboard these days because I am trying out different gluten and casein free products. Whole Foods carries a decent selection but Trader Joe's has quite a bit of salty snacks without the allergens. The sweets are the tough to find as most of them do contain wheat flour or milk. I found a brand called Udi's http://udisglutenfree.elsstore.com/ and their breads and even muffins are superb. I certainly can't tell the difference and nor can Sean.

On another note, Saya has finally started to sleep longer at night. She now sleeps from 9 to 5 straight and it is a big improvement. She also sleeps in her own crib in my room. After 13 months of interrupted sleeps, I finally can sleep longer than 5 hours now! If I only go to bed earlier...

Sean's teacher called me to thank me for the snacks I donated to his class. She said that Sean's a super sweet boy who follows directions very well and never disruptive. I am glad he is doing well at school. I just can't figure out why he acts out so much at home. Malawina, Noah's ABA therapist, is going to start working with Sean on Fridays, so we'll see what she suggests us doing. At least he is capable of listening to adults.

Going to Grandpa's House

Grandma Marie, always helping out in the kitchen.
Grandma Marie and Alyson looking at pictures on a magazine.

Saya and Grandpa bonding time on the couch!

Girls and Grandpa, cannot get sweeter than this.

Some adult conversation time.

Noah is complaining about something - grandpa and grandma Marie looking on.

Sean and Grandpa sharing a cartoon time.

Finally Grandpa looking at the camera not making a goofy face!

Some of the more peaceful moments on the road, thanks to two portable DVD players!!


I should be in bed right now after a long road trip back from Lewiston, but I wanted to post these so that I can share the photos with my loyal readers ASAP! :-D

We were at Lewiston this weekend, visiting grandpa, Shasha and Grandma Marie. It takes about 5 and half hours from Bellevue eastbound on a country highway passing through tiny farming communities. We always stop in the town of Othello, about half way between. This time, we let the kids play in the play area in Burger King right off the highway. I wasn't impressed with the sanitary condition and we will not stop there ever again!! We arrived at grandpa's after 8 pm and we all were pretty tired.

The weather was a little on the cooler side in Lewiston, but that didn't stop kids from venturing outside and play in grandpa's big backyard. They were running around everywhere inside the house, too, and they were excited to be away from home and get a lot of attention from all of us. Bob cooked us delicious meals and I forgot that I was on a diet. I really like your potato salad, Bob! I need the recipe!

Aly enjoyed reading with Grandma Marie and Shasha gave them plenty of cuddles. Grandpa is funny because he talks to the kids in a normal tone as if he's talking to an adult, even to baby Saya. We had fun visiting them and Aly in particular was asking about grandpa on the way home. I am sure Sean will be talking about Grandma Marie, Shasha and Bob tomorrow. They really had a good time and it was well worth the drive.

Thanks guys!!

The Weather Stinks Again and dreaming of half marathon!

Nice rainy day activity!

I let the kids play in the garage. I leave the minivan doors open on both sides and kids crawls around in there like a mini jungle gym! Anything to keep them busy!

We have had a fabulous weather in upper 60s to lower 70s up until last week. When Jan left, the weather decided to go sour and we have been having a cooler and rainier days ever since. You thought it turned sunny and then it rains the next minute. I was running in the evening yesterday and was chatting with a neighbor but it started to pour and had to dash back home. Thanks to the change of weather, the three younger ones got sick. We are supposed to go see Grandpa, Shasha and Grandma Marie tomorrow, but we'll see how they are tomorrow.

It's been 11 days since I started jogging every night. I missed once last Saturday when I had a headache and then today because it started to rain when I reached Spiritridge Elementary and had to turn back. I mainly train in the trails near by. I sometimes go to Weowna Park and sometimes go to the nature trail by the new Microsoft office. Both locations have lots of hills, so they are very good places for strengthening my legs and lungs. I didn't think I enjoy it this much. I am experimenting to see how I can run a little faster as most joggers pass me and they disappear from my sight so quickly! I get a little annoyed about that but one must be patient. I only started to run a week and a half ago after a looong absence. But I did discover that if I concentrate on kicking back with my heels instead of moving my legs forward, then I can take bigger steps. I also try to swing my arms straight back and that seems to help bring my legs forward in a nice rhythm. I suppose that keeps me in a better posture, too. I have not lost much weight, only 2 lbs, but I think I will lose a lot more if I stick with it. Who knows maybe I will try out for a half marathon next year, if all goes as planned. That would be a lot of fun!!

Jan/Nana's visit and Gluten Casien free diet!

Looking at him eating a cupcake made me feel very happy!
He didn't much care for the icing -- I need to find a way to make creamier icing without using milk.

After the cupcake, we went to Molly Moon's ice cream parlor in Wallingford. (Sean ate a milk free ice cream, but it seemed to have coffee in it and he didn't like it)

Aly eating sorbet.

Saya had her first ice cream.

Spinning around with Daddy.I took about 20 pics to get this shot!

Mike giving Nana an iPad lesson!

Finally, I am in a photo!!

Mike's Mom, Jan, Nana for kids, visited us from Minneapolis last weekend. She arrived on Thursday afternoon and left on Sunday morning. We kept her pretty busy from the time she arrived - just the usual schedule for us - and I hope she didn't get too exhausted. The kids were happy to see her and it was good to catch up with her.

The highlight probably was going on a field trip to the zoo with the entire preschool on Friday. Most children went together with one parent, but Sean was able to go with Nana and Daddy, too. That made him pretty happy. We also took the entire family to check out a gluten free bakery in Greenwood, Seattle on Saturday. Sean sat at a little table outside the bakery and savored the cupcake that doesn't contain wheat or milk product.

Mike and Jan played a lot with her new iPad. She was excited that she now knows how to use some of the apps on it. Thank you for coming Nana. It was fun having you here. We are looking forward to the next visit in the fall.

On Gluten/Casein free diet... Sean's peptide test result came back and it showed that he is highly allergic to milk and moderately allergic to wheat. Poor guy cannot eat most foods that are sold out there (except for veggies and fruits which he doesn't eat anyways). I've been studying online, visiting health food stores and stocking up on items that I've never heard of before like Safflower Oil, Sorghum Flour, Xantham Gum etc... They are quite costly, too! I found some recipes for cookies and cakes and I needed to collect all those weired sounding ingredients to bake them. It is all foreign to me. I now carefully read all the ingredients that are labeled on the package. I didn't know that even sausages contain lactose and so does Furikake, the Japanese rice sprinkle that Sean loves. I feel sad about this. I feel sad that he is not going to grow up with the same food experience as many of us do -- grabbing pizza after school, enjoying ice cream on a hot summer day etc... Sean's accepting it way better than I am. I need sometime to get used to it myself...

Mother's Day and My New Resolution!

Kids like to play outside when the weather's nicer.
Aly with sand table

We took the kids to Issaquah Salmon Hatchery on Sunday

Being a mother of four is an incredible experience and I feel very grateful for the path my life has taken. I've always wondered what it would be like to have brothers and sisters and here I am watching my children grow up having three siblings. My first impression is WOW! The competition is fierce and even my little Saya's learnt to push over her brother or sister to claim the ultimate prize, my laps. Sometimes, I feel like I had them too close too soon. I would love to spend more time individually with them. However, I do feel like their bond will be stronger because they are close in age. They fight and fight, but I know they feel perfectly happy with each other's company.

I felt very happy and blessed on Mother's Day, reflecting on my life and thinking of our future together.

Mike had an interesting Mother's day though... I won't go in details but let's say he had too much fun the night before. He did give me a present though.

One gift I decided to give myself is health.

I've finally decided to be serious about losing weight and came up with a two weeks intensive plan.

It's actually very simple.

1) Run every evening

2) eat only salad and chicken for dinner

3) no unhealthy snacks

4) cut back on carbs

My plan is to lose 15 lbs. I am trying to see how much I can lose in two weeks and decide what to do next then. Running is tiring but I feel super good later!