June 2009 Archives

Kitchen table fort. Unfortunately there was a lot of head-smacking going on here.

The girls with their "rain jackets" and "rain boots."

It has been rainy the past few days which has actually been OK for me since it hasn't been so terribly HOT. It would be nice to use the pool though...

Craig took the girls on a hike this morning while I got to work on some projects at home without interruptions (the big one was photographing the girls' art so I can make book of the art and get rid of most of the originals).

Anna created her first installation art piece on the freezer door with ribbon, magnets, and a tissue.

Sarah & I stopped by Playschool this morning to confirm she's on the list for next fall and to find out any other information we needed before the first day. She did not want to leave! I have explained multiple times to her that I will not be staying with her at school this fall and she claims to understand this. We'll see how it goes! She'll be going every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday from 9-12.

I set up the air mattress in Baby Boy's room (where my mom and Anita will stay when they are here in August & September) because our bed is too hard and the couch is too short. Unfortunately the air mattress isn't really working out for me, either. However, Sarah has been spending so much time by herself reading books in here that it's staying up! I really hope that she can maintain this level of self-entertainment after her brother gets here in August.

Baby Boy was sleeping and had an arm or a hand over his face so I didn't get a picture from tonight's ultrasound. He is measuring 3 weeks big and Dr. Lee seemed concerned about this. He also thought that Anna and Sarah were "big" babies (Anna was 7lbs 15oz and Sarah was 8lbs 5oz). I don't know what size is "normal" for Koreans but I always considered my girls to be "average" size (with Sarah on the higher end of that). Either way, I don't remember either girl ever measuring more than one week big. Dr. Lee also prescribed an iron supplement since my iron levels are low. (Perhaps that is why I'm so tired? or maybe I'm so tired because I just cannot sleep!) I really get the feeling that he's going to start talking about induction although he hasn't actually said this to me yet. We'll see what happens at my next appointment (in two weeks).

I have gained 29.5 pounds so far this pregnancy (I gained 34.5 pounds total with Sarah and 38.5 pounds total with Anna. I started off this pregnancy about 5 pounds heavier than I did with Sarah and about 10 pounds heavier than with Anna.) I guess Baby Boy and I are just going to be BIG! And two weeks ago a complete stranger basically told me I was wrong about how far along I was because I am "too big." I just told her that I will get huge and I had 8-9 more weeks to go! I guess it's good I don't feel sensitive about my (and Baby's) weight or that could have sent me over the edge!

I've been feeling pretty lucky lately as the girls have been highly self-entertaining! Sarah set up some friends by the window for a picnic and Anna had to join in. Then they brought over chairs and read books to each other while I prepared dinner.

I took the girls out for molten chocolate cake at ChoRo this afternoon to reward Sarah for not hitting her sister or the cats. Time-outs don't seem to affect her so we're trying the positive approach and food speaks to Sarah more than any other reward we've been able to come up with.

The girls have been on a major tea-party kick lately. Sarah actually started serving cappuccinos this week instead of tea. Anna is now Princess Cotton Candy and Sarah is Princess Sunset; I am Princess Buttercup and I'm going to start calling Craig "Prince Humperdink" (from The Princess Bride).

We could not find Sarah's water bottle this morning so I let her drink from a regular cup and she surprised me by doing a really super job with it! I knew she could do it but wasn't sure she would. Sorry to have such low-expectations for you Sarah, but I really thought you'd dump it out just for fun which was why I was hesitant. I found the water bottle later on in the day but we stuck with the cup for the rest of the day anyway. This is nice because I never fully trust that the valves, etc. get clean in water bottles. I do still have to remember to fill it up to take when we go out which is becoming increasingly difficult for me these days (I have been a major scatter-brain this week!).

I don't know exactly what Sarah was doing here but she moved all of the kitchen chairs into a line and got all of her "friends" on the chairs with her. Then she put them all back at the table. I love it when the kids think up games like this that keep them busy but I really wonder sometimes what they're thinking about when they are doing it.

Back in January of this year Anna asked to learn more about money so we set up a chore and payment plan for her. She gets paid 200 Korean Won per chore and her chores are typically to feed the cats, help fold clothes, set or clear the table, and then any other odd-jobs we can come up with. She finally saved enough money this weekend to buy this "ultimate princess set" at Lotte Mart and she is so thrilled with the thing and when she is wearing it she calls herself, "Princess Sunset." She was really upset when we told her she couldn't wear it out in public but that it had to stay home for dress-up only.

The pools were finally out today since it is officially summer. This tiny pool was 45,000 KW (about $45 USD!) and I know you can get something much larger for half the price in the US. It had better last all summer for that price!

Sarah has decided to name her cat from Build-a-Bear, "Mater." This is the first time she's come up with a name for one of her animals on her own. Thanks again to Corrine for the trip to Build-a-Bear; Sarah is still in love with this cat!

The last day of school isn't until July 3 but the Ladybirds had their end-of-the-year party today because a lot of kids will be leaving for the summer or for good before the last day of school. We went to the "rainy-day-play area" and the girls had a ton of fun. I haven't taken them there since last summer and now it will be on our agenda several times this summer. Anna tried the zip line and Sarah loved the ball pit.

I am so impressed with Sarah's potty training! We were having a snack in the park this morning when she told me she had to go to the bathroom. We had to pack up our stuff and walk through the park, across the street, and into the Okpo Shopping Center and she made it on time! I initiate taking her every 2-3 hours but she often tells me before that time-frame that she needs to go. She has been so much easier than Anna and partly because she is not afraid to use public restrooms. I'm interested to see if Baby Boy is as easy as Sarah has been (I certainly hope so!).

Tonight as I was helping the girls with their bedtime-bathroom routine, Sarah turns to me and says, "Let me tell you a story." Surprised, I said, "let's hear it!" Here is her story:

"I walked up to a wall. I bumped into a wall."

We had just read Days With Frog and Toad before this and something spoke to her from that book. Anna thought Sarah's story was hysterical which prompted both of them to make up new "stories" identical to the first one only changing "wall" to "shower/polka-dot/my sister/etc."

Craig took Anna sailing with some people from his office today. She says she enjoyed it but the picture above doesn't really show that. Anna & Craig also plan to rent a sailboat at the dinosaur park again this summer so this was a nice re-introduction to sailing for the season for her.

Sarah was a little upset that she didn't get to go sailing today (it was an all-day outing and we didn't think she could handle it) but she cheered up very quickly when I asked her if she wanted to go to the beach with me! She surprised me by not wanting to get a "big wash on my foots" and having me fill up her bucket and watering can with water. I thought for sure she'd be swimming ten minutes after we got there but playing in the sand and shell-hunting was just as much fun!

Sarah had her cat and Anna's dinosaur (which Sarah started calling "my gobble" today) so I told Anna to go get two of her friends and she chose her unicorn and her star.

Clementine came for some treats but wasn't into posing. Chopstick stayed safe under the coffee table.

Sarah at five days.

Sarah at two years.

Anna at five days.

Anna at four years.

Sarah's shirt today really accentuated her red hair which is why the camera came out to begin with.

I told the girls that if it is sunny tomorrow we are going to do their 2 & 4-year portraits. I was trying to explain to Anna how I wanted her to at least look at the camera and not do this weird chin-tucked-into-her-shoulder thing she's been doing lately. We'll see if I can get anything of either of them—I'm certainly not bold enough to hope for something good of the two of them together!

Anna's class performed The Very Hungry Caterpillar today during their school assembly. Craig came along to watch which was nice because he was able to wrangle Sarah. Anna actually did her performance and didn't act shy (all she had to do was sit down when the caterpillar "ate" the orange, but I was worried even this would be too much based on her last two performances in front of the school!). Sarah was yelling about the car in the Dolphin's class performance. She really wanted Craig to driver her around in it as I'm certain everyone in the assembly hall heard!

(need to insert u/s picture here--it wasn't anything interesting this time; I think Dr. Lee was a little rushed tonight.)

Anna has been jealous that Sarah has gone to most of my OB appointments and she hasn't been to any so tonight I took just her along with me. Baby Boy looks good and is measuring about 1 week ahead. He has been head-down and with his hips & bum up at my right ribs the last several visits. So, I'm hoping this means he is more compliant than Sarah is (she was flipping around until the bitter end!).

Dr. Lee asked if we took a tour of the labor & delivery rooms last time and I said we did but the nurse didn't speak any English so we didn't see all that we wanted to see. So, he took me and Anna up again. What we saw last time were just the recovery rooms. There are three labor rooms and directly across the hall from those are the delivery room. I asked if you push in the delivery room and he said, "no" so I take that to mean that you have to walk across the hall at the last possible minute and don't spend a lot of time in the delivery room (there is only one delivery table there). The emergency operating table is three or four feet in front of the delivery table. Some people I described this to thought that that was reassuring but it just made me feel scared! I'll be staring at that c-section table when I'm giving birth and I hope it doesn't make me nervous! I think I'm just going through some pre-labor jitters and I know I'll be fine. I'm still hoping I can just show up and deliver Baby Boy without a lot of hassle and without a lot of time spent actually laboring at the clinic. Dr. Lee stressed again that it is two hours in the nursery for Baby Boy after birth. The more I think about it the more annoyed I get so I'll try to not think about it too much right now and deal with it at the time.

There is a baby pool to vote in on the right-hand side of the blog so place your bets!

Anna & I have been playing "school" a lot during Sarah's nap lately. She is Miss Starsong and I am one of her students. Today she set up a whole class-full of animal students. Anna has a notebook and pen and calls attendance. Sometimes we're supposed to practice writing our letters, too.

Craig took the girls for a hike near our house and then for a walk on the boardwalk in town before heading to Prince Coffee to relax.

The girls set the chairs up like this while Craig was making breakfast this morning. I'm not exactly sure what they were trying to achieve but they seemed pleased with themselves.

Potty training is as much about training the child as it is about training the parent as I will attest to today. I took the girls up to E-Mart and Lotte Mart on a quest for a kiddie pool for the terrace (we didn't find one). I entertained the thought of taking Sarah to the Lotte Mart restroom before we hit the play area but thought she could make it until we left Lotte Mart. I had to communicate to one of the other moms in the area to get the attention of the Lotte Mart greeter to get someone to come clean up (I did the best I could with the stuff I had in my purse, of course!) the accident Sarah had on the play structure. By the time we got back from getting Sarah cleaned up the cleaning ladies were finished with their cleaning. This kind of public accident never happened with Anna so I need to retrain myself and update my purse contents to better handle this type of thing should it happen again (hopefully not)...

I do, however think this will be the last of Sarah's potty training updates since she's doing so well! Hopefully she continues as well as she has started without any major set-backs.

I finally ordered wall stickers for the girls room and got them hung up this past weekend. We are going to move Sarah back to her crib tomorrow though, however, because she is just not doing well in the bed and is asking to "please" sleep in the wooden crib again. OK! Baby Boy will have to sleep in the Pack n' Play for a while, I guess. (Sarah slept in that for the first four months so I don't feel too bad about it.)

Just a couple of things that Sarah mis-pronounces:

Whenever meals are ready she will announce it and my favorite is when she shouts out, "Breafkast is ready!"

I found a dandelion for Sarah at the playground this week and she acted like it was the greatest treasure ever known to man so every time we find one we pick it. However, she refuses to hear me and calls them "fairy lions."

Sarah says "jammas" for Pajamas.

Also this week she has started imagining objects. For example her doll was thirsty and hungry and instead of going into her little kitchen as I expected, she stepped into Baby Boy's room, stuck her hand in, and "grabbed" something to drink and eat for her doll and then fed it to her. This is the first time I've seen her do this and it is super cute!

I've finally convinced her (after an entire week) that she can hop off of the last step of each landing on the Ladybird staircase (there are three landings) and not off of each step. This rule also applies to the stairs to our apartment.

She does not want to be restrained by hand-holding but I insist on it in parking lots, crossing the street, and going down the stairs. She also gets very upset with me if I try to help her put her shoes on in the morning. I am trying to teach her to get the left/right shoes on the correct feet by placing them side-by-side the right way but she inevitably grabs the opposite one for her foot and it's a very delicate matter to convince her that I'm not going to put her shoe on for her, I'm just trying to help her get the correct shoe for the correct foot. She is so independent! This is good, I know, but she's definitely hitting this phase earlier than Anna did!

Accident-free again today. We even stayed out all morning and she used the toilet at Home Plus without a fuss. I will note that I sometimes have to coax her to "try" but she always gives in when I find a compelling (short) book to bring into the bathroom with us. And then she doesn't want to get up or wants to keep trying even though it's obvious she's finished. Anyway, this has (so far) been much less stressful than the experience with Anna!

Accident-free today! Sarah is doing so awesome!

Baby Boy is very active and strong! I'd still say this pregnancy has been relatively easy but it's definitely harder having two other children to take care of which doesn't give me enough time to really rest. As a result my back hurts frequently (but if I really back off when I notice it and lay down during the day it will go away the next day). My hips are starting to hurt and I'm not sure if it's from the super hard bed we have or just the stage I'm at. I am considering moving myself to the air mattress soon to see if it is any more comfortable. Sometimes the couch is slightly softer but it's not quite long enough to achieve true comfort. I'm not sleeping well regardless!

I still have a list of things I'd really like to get done before Baby Boy arrives but the I don't typically have the energy to work on anything at night after the girls go to bed so I'm not sure what will actually get finished before he gets here in 9-10 weeks. (The list of things itself isn't long but the things on them are very involved projects...)

Now that Sarah's heel has healed I decided we would go ahead with potty training. I asked her last night if she wanted to wear underwear today and she said, "yes." She was super excited to pick out a pair to wear this morning. We had one accident but I think it was my fault because I started talking about going to the bathroom before we were on our way and I think just thinking about it made her go! She didn't seem phased and we didn't have any more accidents. She also woke up dry this morning and I'm not sure if she always wakes up dry because she wakes up so early that we haven't been in the habit of changing her diaper right away. So, for now, she will wear a pull-up at night. If she actually is waking up dry every morning (now I will check!) then she can switch to underwear at night, too, after a week or so.

Anna has been playing Bookseller again. She has three sections in her store: Little Kids (2 and under), 4-Year-Olds, and Adults. "You can buy anything you want." Her store is closed on the weekends except in summer, then it is open on all week, apparently. She also has storytime as shown in the picture above.

Craig took Sarah to her follow-up X-ray today and the doctor says her heel has healed! We could have guessed by her improved mood and her extreme urges to JUMP off of everything and everything but it is great to have confirmation. Craig said she was a doll at her appointment now that she knows what to expect! We do not have to go back for further follow-ups.