Is Joel mad? :o

Facebook has took over my internet life, but this entry belongs here.

Joel turned 13th month yesterday. Today it's a whole new world. I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day, and he was crying outside the door. When i came out, he looked up at me, still crying. I squatted down and crawled over to him, but guess what???
he crawled away, sat down, looked at me while crying. I went closer, and he did it again. LOL (sorry baby, but it's kinda funny!)

Then he did it again this afternoon after his nap. He's clingy as usually when he first woke up, but the ride-on truck caught his eyes, so he proceeded over to play with it, but then he plopped down on the floor, pouted, and started crying. I walked over to him to ask him what's going on. He laid down on his tummy and rolled over to his side away from me as he's crying! My mouth dropped wide open with hand over my mouth, almost laughed out loud. Did he just threw his first tantrum? All he wanted was to nurse. Aww~ so cute! He's all happy again after nursing. hehe~

Why can't the twins be cute when they throw tantrum??? :P

What's going on this fall.

Joel is already 8 months old and crawling. He has also walked across the couch while holding on to it earlier this week, that's only 2 weeks since he mastered crawling!!! He just can't wait to join his brothers. The boys are in school, and they love it. At home, I'm working with them even more informally than last year. They can count up to 30 with very little help, recognize most lowercase letters, and we've started spelling this week. I love seeing how much they love to learn!

I've also introduced VeggieTales to them last week. Chick-fil-a kid's meal is giving away VT audio CDs. We collected all 5 of them <3 The boys absolutely love VT. That's all they listen to now, and it's almost on all day long. I hope they'll pick up on the lessons beside the silly songs :)

My sister's wedding is coming up in 3 weeks. The boys are supposed to walk down the aisle, but I'm really worried, especially Micah. You just about can't get him to do anything that he doesn't want to. He's my strong will child :)

Until next time.

The Joy of Nakedness...

Elias and Micah don't like to wear pants at home in general. So much of the day, they run around in their Thomas or Cars underpants. Every time I ask them or try to put pants on them, they'll ask if we're going somewhere. Now they're running around with just underpants.

It goes...Elias cleans the peach juice off the table with his sleeve while eating his Eggo. I take it off and ask him to go get a shirt. He says he's on the beach. Micah goes ahead and take his off, too. So I have two half naked kids running and jumping around. Great eh? :)

Micah wants...

Micah: I want to buy something.
Mom: What do you want to buy?
Micah: I want to buy mango.
Mom: Well, we'll have to go to Hmart then.
Micah: I want to go now.
Mom: Baby Joel is sleeping now.
Micah: I want to go by myself.
Mom:......oookay, how are you going to get yourself there?
by now, Micah went onto something else. That kid sure "wants" a lot of thing. I'm just glad he didn't throw an hour tantrum like he did last night over a cup of water.

My Tummy is What?

Elias looked at my post-baby-belly and asked me, "why is your tummy so grumpy?"
(Smile) "Because of you and your brothers lor."

I'm a Gentleman.

Elias made me laugh on my birthday.

On the way to lunch...
Are you Chinese or American?
E: I'm a gentleman.

Ordering dessert after lunch...
E: dessert make me stronger!
uh ah. I don't think so :D

I Like Daddy

There was thunders and lightning this evening. The big boys were interested in the lightning at first when they were still far away in a safe distance. But once the storm came closer, they were a bit concerned. Preston and I reminded them that they're safe inside, and mommy, daddy, and popo were all here with them. And if they're still scared, they could pray to Jesus. Elias put his hands together and said a prayer with me.

Micah: "Jesus not here."
Preston: "You can't see Him, but He is here."
Micah: "You can't see Him because it's dark outside."

Then Preston went out to the balcony to enjoy the lightning show, and Micah was REALLY concerned then. Elias was under the table, and Micah was hiding behind a chair. He was in tears when he said to me, "I like daddy." I knew he was afraid lightning might strike daddy or something. So I had to get Preston back in here. I almost cried... :P

Things They Said...II

At age 3, it is a year full of imaginations and explorations. Elias has started to ask "why" about everything, and he sure knows how to distract you when he's in trouble by asking "what is it?" at whatever is around him. They say the darnedest things, too...

EM were out on the balcony for the first time this season. It was very nice out today. Elias saw and pointed at a plane and said, " Gong gong is riding that." Gong gong was always on the plane when he's in HK ;)

Then they noticed the swimming pool was closed. E asked, "Yi yi not there." I laughed. Janice laid out by our pool a few times last summer, and the boys would say hi to her from the balcony.

I asked them, "where is yi yi?"

"Yi yi went work from uncle Peter." answered Micah.

He said the same thing last night when we're leaving po po's house. He was like, "Yi yi not here." I reminded him that yi yi is in Seattle, and he said yi yi working from uncle Peter.


Later this evening while I was cooking dinner, the big boys were playing with the foam letters. Elias used the letter "T" as a hammer to "scrap" bird poop off the windows :)


At bedtime, Elias said "he doesn't like baby" for the first time :( I think he was jealous cuz I was holding Joel, and Micah sat next to me, and he wanted to sit on my lap. He was just saying "I like baby" this morning while touching Joel on the face. Before when it was just Micah and him, even though they had to share mommy, at least they each got to sit by my sides, and I could still wrap my arms around them. I need another arm!

Funny Things

The twins were playing with hubby's beard stubbles the other day. They pointed at it, "White!"

One night while putting the twins to bed.
"I love you right now mommy." Said E
"I love you, too sweetheart." I was melting :)
"I love you Elias" Hubby said.
"You're not mommy." Said E

Ouch...my poor hubby :P
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

you know you have twins when they can finish each other's sentence.
you know your twins watched too much tv when they do this:
The twins singing, "lalalalalalala..."
one goes, "PBS kids"
the other one goes, "dot org."

Get Dressed

Despite of stepping backward with potty training, Elias is eager to dress himself. He expresses interest in putting pants on by himself. I'm glad to see that he's moving forward in other area.

He offers to help throwing Joel's diaper away for me when I change the baby. He even asks to hug and burp him. Micah will follow when he sees Elias does these things. Such sweet big brothers!!!

Potty Training Update

Micah stays dry overnight three days in a roll and poops in the potty the past two days! I think we can soon let him sleep in his underpants at night :o How exciting! As for Elias, he completely reverts and doesn't even want to try :/ Elias told grandma yesterday that he wants to be a little boy... aww~ that breaks my heart. Though as much as he might be envy of Joel taking up all my time, he is still very loving to Joel. They both are :)

Welcome Joel!

Baby #3 arrived just before the new year in whopping 7lb 14oz! I know he's not a huge baby, but he's big compared to the twins when they were born. And he's quite a hairy little one, too :o

The boys seem to like him. Elias adores him and calls him "my baby." Sweet~ but he has also been acting up a lot. Micah will come look at the baby and go back to playing, but he has been a really good boy. It's funny how they react to the new addition.

Now, it's time to snooze while hubby is at the bookstore with the boys, and Joel is sleep.

Happy Birthday to My Boys!!!

My boys turned 3 today! I can't believe it's been three years already. They've grown so much...sob~ No more little babies.

I had my 39 weeks check up this afternoon. I left early to pick up their birthday cake, and the cake was no where to be found! So they made another one for me right there and then. I was late for my appointment. I called the office to let them know I would be late, and they said it's okay. Thankfully, there weren't many people waiting. I was in and out within half an hour :)

We blew candles and ate cake after dinner. It was a construction site theme with actual toy trucks on the cake. Elias and Micah were thrilled. Micah ate all the whipped cream and only the whipped cream. Both grandma were here, along with my sister, and Mina ah yi and uncle Kelvin. They had fun opening all the presents!

Happy Birthday boys! I LOVE YOU ELIAS! I LOVE YOU MICAH!

Homeschooling Week 9 -13

The past 5 weeks, we learned about the 10 lepers, Jesus feeds 5000, Angel speak to Joseph, and Mary & Joseph go to Bethlehem for Bible Study. The story of Jesus feeding 5000 had become E&M's favorite Bible story, which we read every night on top of the Bible story of the week.

We traced letter A-E :) Elias could sort of write an E, and with a little help, he could write his name! We also did a lot of stickers and pasting. What fun!

For arithmetic, we were working on counting 1-20, which I believed we would be doing that the next couple months. Counting 1-12 was easy for them now though. We took every stairs opportunity we could to count. Micah was very interested in numbers. He would ask what number was on the page are while we read. He seemed to grip the concept pretty well. If we told him that's a "46" and he would point to 47 and say forty-seven! We were amazed!

They're getting better at following instructions at MyGym. Two weeks ago was our last week as it's getting quite hard with the growing belly. I could tell they were having a bit cabin fever already.

Since Advent began, we'd been decorating for Christmas. We put up the Christmas tree, the manger scene, and made paper chains, etc... Trying to make it as festive as we could, and reminding them that Christmas was all about Jesus's birth.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elias finally learned to poop in the potty when I had my "day off" a month ago. My sister said it's a man (daddy and son) thing LOL. I was distraught that I missed such a big milestone though. But he reverted as Micah began to potty train.

Micah was getting really good at tell me when he needed to go potty, and keeping dry most of the nap time! He even pooped one or twice since he began potty training!

Selecting Preschool

We visited two different preschools near by our home the past two weeks. I think the boys and I were on the same page as far as which we liked.

Now the decision is really whether I want to enroll them next year, or keep them at home for homeschooling. I ask them whether they want to do school at home with mommy or go to school, they both pick the latter. I guess the worst case is I will lose the non-refundable registration fee when it comes to enrollment in July if I decide to keep them at home for another year. It just seems like they don't cooperate well with me at home. I have to admit, though, that I'm not firm enough on the schedule with them.

Decision, decision, decision...

Birthday Party

Still two more weeks before my babies turn 3. I can't hardly believe that my boys will be 3 already. I survived the first three years raising twins, I should do just fine with the upcoming newborn right? ha...I sure hope so. Those two are getting more demanding each day.

Their birth day reminds me of the labor, haha, but there is more joy than pain. Their birth day reminds me of how tiny they used to be. Now they're talking and running. So much emotions running through my head.

The boys had a birthday party at Little Monkey Bizness today with their twin buddies and some church friends. They had a blast at that place. The place was clean and safe for little kids to play and run around. My only complaint was half an hour was not enough for both food and cake without feeling rushed. But that's just me. For the kids, I was sure that they just want to get back out there to play. Thank you for everyone who came to celebrate with us! :)

Thanksgiving 2010

We drove up to Chilton, WI to Preston's aunt's place for Thanksgiving Day this year. Their colonial log house sits on a 5 arces with horses, chicken, geese, and turkeys. Yes, turkeys! We ate homegrown free range heritage turkey for Thanksgiving. Best turkey EVER!

Aunt Janet had three turkeys. One ran into the wood for the night the night before Thanksgiving and didn't return until the next day. One flew up to a tree and slept there for the night. Thankfully, one made it to the dinner table. LOL~ I guess turkeys were not stupid after all.

The boys finally got to meet the other side of the family. Meeting all the grand aunts and uncles could be overwhelming, but their favorite person that night was Preston's cousin, Caitlin. They called her "the red one"... she was wearing a red shirt that night. Go figure right?!? She took them to see the farm, collect the eggs, and feed the chicken and horses!!! They had a lot of fun :D

Being Thankful

I swear the boys are regressing before the baby even arrives. They've been more difficult, clingy, whiny the past few weeks, and it's absolutely driving me nuts. I'm trying my very best to think positive and be thankful despite on how they behave...especially on this thanksgiving season.

After all, they're behaving what a normal toddler would react to the changes of a new baby. I should be thankful that they're developing where they should be, and that means they're healthy. What more can a mother asks her? They're pushing every boundary and button, and testing my patience every minutes of their waking moment. It's so hard to be thankful with toddlers sometimes, but I should be thankful.

Yes, be thankful!

Homeschooling Week 8

After the '"Elizabeth" incident last week with Elias, it's time for them to learn to spell their whole name. They're tracing the letters in their names this week. We didn't quite make it to the last letter.

As for math, Elias and Micah can count from 1-10 by themselves now...only when they want to though. Toddlers! Anything above 10 is usually 11 or 14. Anticipating that counting up to 20 will take the rest of the year to learn.

The boys are also working on putting their favorite shoes, that is if you count Crocs as shoes, on the correct feet. Elias even attempts to put his sneakers on by himself. They are also really interested in daddy's "string" shoes. Perhaps their next pair of shoes will be laced! Mommy is wearing Crocs or slip-ons right now. Baby #3 doesn't like me bending down.

I have 8 more weeks, technically, before baby#3 arrives. It is time to prepare lessons ahead of time...should have thought of that earlier, plus I'm such a procrastinator. I hope I have enough time.

Follow Him

This week Bible Study is Luke 3:21-22 the Baptism of Jesus.

As I was explaining to Elias and Micah what Baptism was yesterday, Elias told me that "Gougou (that's him) follow Jesus." Aww...I prayed that the seed would continue to grow in his heart.

I asked Micah today after we finished with the Bible story if he's a follower of Jesus, he answered, "No." Then I asked him why not, he told me, '"Micah follow God." Awww...that just made my day even though he had be different this evening.

My boys might not fully understand what it means to be the follower of Jesus/God yet, but I know God is in their lives. And that's the best thing to know as a parent. We try to explain trinity to them, but this might be a little bit hard for them to understand now. But the time will come. I know :)