September 2007 Archives

I get Anna the (all white meat) chicken filets at Loteria when Craig & I want Quizno's. We got these wind-up toys from the kid's meal even though we didn't order one, I guess the lady thought the kids were cute.

We've had a good week so far with Craig being home. The apartment is almost ready for photos (although there is still a bit of stuff we're not quite sure what to do with yet) and we're just enjoying each other.

The water was pretty cold today but Craig & Sarah braved it (although we did not keep Sarah in long). Anna barely got in at all (and I just waded my feet).

Nice arm rolls, Sarah!

A kiss from Anna.

Photo by Craig

Photo by Craig

Anna helped me make a mess in the kitchen our favorite oatmeal cookies today and I let her eat some dough off of the beater. I will post the recipe to the recipe blog sooner or later (along with the others I've promised...).

A gift set of soju from the apartment managers for Chuseok which is next week (and why Craig has the week off).

Sarah has been testing out her voice this week: it's pretty squeaky!

Of course her laugh isn't as big for the camera as it was for me alone (what made me want to get the camera!) Sorry for the movement on the camera, what was making her laugh was me getting near and far and shaking my head... (The banging noise in the beginning of the video is Anna drawing stars on the chalkboard.)

A new fun noise!

We got our "Baby Shipment" today. This means we have everything that we just had to have with us now. We also got two additional bookshelves for our office/playroom so I can start putting things away. I have been feeling really frustrated with the mess here this past week because there wasn't anywhere to put stuff. Craig is off next week (he has not been home much at all the past two weeks so I am totally wiped out!) so we will hopefully get everything in order then.

Sarah cannot stop rolling onto her tummy. The instant she is put down on her back she is rolling. She does not roll back to her back though, even when she gets frustrated. She cannot be left un-restrained in the bouncy seat as she will try to roll herself out. I caught her trying to launch herself out this afternoon so it was good thing she was strapped in! Diaper changes are a challenge because she can't stop trying to roll onto her tummy. This is not something Anna ever did so it is a new challenge.

I can't tell if she rolls onto her back or just scoots a lot in her crib because she is always more than one roll away from where I put her down when I go in to give her a pacifier or when she wakes up in the morning. She has also done some 180s in the crib. She seems more physically motivated than Anna was at this age (she also has had much more tummy-time since Anna had to remain upright for 45 minutes after eating due to her reflux).

Anna made "a butterfly on a chopstick!" today at school. I think this helped a lot to make her day her best day so far.

Anna had her third day of preschool today. At her school they have to have indoor shoes to wear so I bought her a pair of pink Crocs because she loves her red ones so much. Also, I don't mind her wearing the pink ones at school because I don't have to see them! Anyway, I told her that when she's at school and she looks down at her shoes she should remember that "mommy loves me." I don't know if it helped or not, but she was so excited to wear the shoes this morning she was really excited to go to school. She did cry and want me to hold her when I dropped her off but her teachers said that today was her best day yet and she calmed down easily/faster. Another little girl, Gwenn, helped Anna eat her snack today! What a sweet little kid helping her out like that. I told Anna that Gwenn is her friend now. Hopefully this will help and Anna will adjust. Of course, no school next week so we'll start over the week after that.

Sarah sat for seven seconds today.

I am beginning to wonder how long the pink phase will last.

I finally got some good shots of Sarah's smile. I'm excited to do her four month photo shoot once we get this apartment cleaned up!

It took us (me with Sarah in the Baby Hawk and Anna walking, holding my hand) four minutes to get to the top of the stairs tonight on our way to the car for dinner.

Craig and I have been married eight years today! We went to Chicken on the Mountain with the kids to celebrate.

Look ma, no hands! (Craig's hands are not touching Sarah here, but are just behind her for the catch.)

It was next to impossible to get this shot through Sarah's crib slats as her room was really dark and my autofocus wouldn't work (and I couldn't see to focus, either!).

Last night at four in the morning Sarah started fussing so I went in to give her the pacifier but what was new was that she was on her tummy. I decided to not roll her back to her back and just gave her the pacifier. Of course I was not able to sleep well because I was worried about her on her tummy. Then today she decided that she was going to take a nap on her tummy. If I tried to roll her back she instantly went back to her tummy. So, I guess there's nothing I can do (except keep giving her the pacifier) and I'll try to not worry about it since she can roll both ways.

This afternoon Craig tried sitting Sarah up and she sat really well for maybe three or four seconds. I had to get my camera but she wouldn't stay as long so it was hard to get a shot. It will be fun to watch her progress in this area!

In case it's not clear, Anna has drawn each of us in our beds (with blankets), each of us with smoothies (even Sarah) at the table, a pizza, a full moon, and some stars.

An hour of my day today was spent drawing with/for Anna today. She actually spent a little time doing her own drawings so I thought I'd better capture it. Most of the time she is the art director and I do her bidding.

Last week Anna had a cold so she didn't go to school. Today school was cancelled because of the typhoon yesterday. Too bad I didn't find out about this until after I waited outside the Playschool door for 15 minutes in the sunshine. (Obviously they canceled school a bit prematurely since this morning was gorgeous.) So, her third day of school will be on Wednesday and then next week she has off for Cheusok. I guess we'll be giving school a go until at least November at this rate!

Sarah rolled from back to tummy today! She made it look so effortless and casual, too, like I hadn't seen her struggling all week and getting stuck in the same spot. She woke up from a nap stuck on her tummy as well (I guess she's forgotten that she knows how to roll from tummy to back?). Her problem is that she will not relax and put her head down if she's on her tummy. She'll figure it out sooner or later, I suppose.

We're still drowning in boxes here. I did make some progress today but I think with Craig here this weekend we'll really get things looking good. Sarah is sleeping in her crib for the first time tonight. Poor kid has been in that Pack n' Play for four months (minus the 2.5 weeks in the crib at my mom's in Colorado). It's weird to lift her up into the crib instead of straining my back to set her down in the Pack n' Play (she outgrew the bassinet attachment a while ago!). It's also nice to have a higher changing table for her. Hopefully tomorrow I can get her room set up better (Anna's is mostly set up already).

Before the boxes were opened, it doesn't even look that bad. Too bad I didn't take a picture of the place at its worst. Note that Sarah is checking out the Megasaucer for the first time and liking it (Anna thought it was pretty cool, too, and was telling Sarah all about it).

The shippers arrived an hour early and the apartment people came down a little late (I had asked them to come get Anna's bed, the desk, and a table & chairs out of our apartment so we would have room for our stuff). It took the shippers two hours to get our 115 boxes down the stairs and unpack a few. I kicked them out instead of having them unpack everything because I was alone with the kids and we needed our house back. I think if Craig had been here and I could have gone out with the kids it would have been nice to have them unpack everything but, oh well. This way I have also been able to hide a few things from Anna that I am not ready for her to see yet.

Craig came home just to build Anna's bed and then had to go back out for a work dinner. Sarah's crib will have to wait until tomorrow night.

Our sea shipment is coming tomorrow! Unfortunately, Craig can't come home to help out so I will be directing boxes and checking them off the list on my own with Anna & Sarah. The items I know I'm most excited to see are: Anna's bed, Sarah's crib & bathtub, and all of our kitchen stuff.

A couple of views of our backyard (Sarah is in the bouncy seat on the porch).

These are the seventy-five stairs we go up & down.

We have been enjoying having a little yard so much! We never really spent a lot of time in our "yard" in Doha because it was either too dusty or too hot. The weather has been pretty nice lately so we've been stepping out a bit more. Hopefully the apartment managers will return our grill soon (they were supposed to yesterday although we don't know why they took it in the first place) so we can do some grilling, too.

Anna set these books up for Sarah to look at this afternoon.

Craig had a business trip this week to Ulsan so I am proud to report my first two overnights on my own went well. I had both kids in bed by 7 PM both nights. However, Anna fell out of bed last night and had a hard time getting back to bed after that.

This morning Sarah woke up just about on her tummy and was working really hard at getting there all day today. She did a couple of tummy-to-back rolls (hasn't done that since Colorado) but never did make it completely on her tummy on her own today. She got super close though!

I took the kids into town to get "a big carrot" and to pick up some lunch. Basically, we needed something "to do" and I haven't gotten a system down for carrying much more than Sarah (I've been wearing her in the Baby Hawk which is working really well) and holding on to Anna's hand as we come down the stairs so I just bought two big carrots and a bag of onions at the market today.

It was fun to hear the reactions of people when they noticed Sarah in the back of the stroller today. I switched her to the back so she is more visible than she was before. She seems to like this position better, too, since she can see out a little better.

Anna will be two and a half years old on the 14th. She has been speaking since she was eleven months old. Today, for the first time ever, she said, "Mama-Mouse, I love you" and she gave me a hug totally out of the blue. How sweet was that?

Anna helped pack up her own things by putting them in this (new) trash can.

One of the first things Anna & I did was hang her flowers back on her wall (she was really excited) to make it feel more like home until we get the rest of our stuff.

We moved down stairs today! I've been re-arranging furniture and unpacking suitcases. It's hard to decide where to put everything though knowing so much more is coming in the sea shipment. It's also a strange feeling knowing that we're living in this apartment for two years. I feel like we've been in temporary accommodations for so long now (I'm including Doha since the villa was "temporary") I don't know what to do with myself! I'll take photos of the whole place after we get the sea shipment unpacked.

Sarah slept from 7 to 7 again last night, that's twice this week! Her naps have gotten so much better since we've been in Korea that I am really happy. We are starting to see a more consistent timing/schedule which is nice so we can plan ahead a little. She still throws in the occasional 45-minute nap but has been doing 2 hours very nicely so we're doing three naps (around 9 AM, 1 PM, and 4 PM) . Bedtime is between 6:30 - 7:00 PM and wake-up is between 6:00 - 7:30 AM.

She has also settled into a nice routine of only eating every 4 hours during the day and we will be waiting until six months to start solids. Cereals aren't available here as far as I can tell (although the Import Lady has a few boxes of Gerber rice cereal) and I think we're going to skip them and go straight for avocado and sweet potato for her first foods. Once I get my food processor I might start making some things and freezing them since produce isn't necessarily available year-round here like it is at home.

For a while now Sarah has acted like she doesn't want to lean back, especially when you're holding her. She wants to sit forward/up. She doesn't last very long in the Bumbo though. Today I sat her on the floor (see photo above) and she balanced better than I thought she would, so I guess we'll add practicing-sitting-up to our wake-time routine. She is grabbing things and holding on pretty well (better with her left hand than her right). She is also really good about shoving whatever she has in her hand into her mouth. This is a big difference between Sarah & Anna. Anna never really mouthed things where Sarah sticks everything in and is super drooly. I can't wait to get our bibs in the sea shipment! I didn't need them when we left Doha and Anna only wore them because of the spit-up so I didn't anticipate the drool (Anna never drooled this much even when teething as I recall).

We're getting some little laughs out of her and she is totally in love with Anna. Anna is a good big sister but doesn't give Sarah as much attention as I'm sure Sarah would like. Surely as Sarah gets more interactive Anna will give her more.

"Just two more books before it's time for bed, Sarah."

Smile courtesy the "Chili's Baby Back Ribs" jingle.

Our sea shipment is supposedly in Busan now and we are supposed to get it maybe next week or the week after. So this should be the last bearless bear photo session.

Anna clung to me this morning as I was leaving Playschool. So I had to leave her crying again today. However, Craig picked her up from school and said that the kids were all on the couch and Anna was on the floor in front of them as the teacher read Dr. Seuss' ABC's. She didn't eat her snack again but says she sat at the table with the other kids when they ate theirs (I don't know if that's true). Craig says her teachers told him that she laid on a mat on the floor again for a while but that she wasn't angry this time, but curious and that she calmed down faster today.

Craig & I took Sarah to the pediatrician for her four-month check-up today. The doctor spoke English well enough but I was un-impressed with the exam; there wasn't really one. The only question he asked me is if she is rolling over. He didn't put her on her tummy to see how she's holding her head, didn't take off her clothes, listen to her heart, or check her ears, etc. She got five shots today (two in each leg and the BCG vaccine in her arm) but her reaction was not as bad as at her two-month appointment.

Here are her stats:
Weight: 7.15 kg (15.76 pounds; the gym scale is off here at the apartment, apparently!) 90th percentile
Length: 62 cm (24.4 inches) 75th percentile
Head Circumference: 42.5 cm (15.7 inches) 75-90th percentile

Anna, Sarah, & I got to watch this crane lift a little excavator down to the bottom terrace level. Apparently they had to do some work on the sewage lines (good thing they are fixing this before we move down!).

We are moving down to our new apartment on Saturday. We have 19 stairs up to our current apartment and we'll have 75 stairs down to our new apartment. Who needs the gym?

I like to put this little blanket on Sarah and call it her hat and then play peek-a-boo with it (she thinks this is pretty funny). I did this with Anna, too, I'll have to see if I can find a comparison photo.

The report from Minnie & Ana, two of Anna's teachers, was that Anna was sad/angry for about 1.5 hours and did not participate in any of the activities even after she finally calmed down. When I arrived, Anna was lying down next to a doll with her lunch bag nearby watching the kids from afar. She was not upset anymore though, just observing. She did tell us the songs they sang: "The Hokey Pokey," "The Muffin Man," and "Give the Dog Some Food." I have no idea what that last one was; my best guess was "This Old Man" but Anna says that wasn't it.

When Anna & I have done a new thing together (even at six months when we went to JW Tumbles) it has always taken a few weeks for her to relax and that is with me there. So, I'm guessing it's going to take at least the first month for her to be comfortable at school but we'll see. Officially I've stated "we're trying it for a month at least" and then go from there. I just know that once she goes a few times and "gets" the routine she will start to enjoy herself so I hope that Wednesday isn't harder to get her to school.

Sarah & I dropped Anna off at Playschool this morning. She first seemed OK as I walked around with her to remind her of all of the fun toys but started to cry when I left. But I kept walking and did not look back. Hopefully her teachers will be able to distract her. There was one other little girl who was crying harder than Anna so I was glad that I wasn't that mom.

I put Sarah down at 6:50 last night and didn't hear a peep from her until 6 AM and then she slept until 6:40! I'm not counting on this happening on a regular basis yet but it give me hope and it felt so good to sleep all night long! The only other time Sarah has slept through this long was when we were at my parents' house in July.

Still trying to catch her smiling...

Anna got this camera as a party favor from the birthday party and loves it. Someday I'll get her a real one.