Illnesses

It's been over a month since this household has been sick-free, and it's not quite over yet.  I am usually the healthiest of us four, and even I have not been immune to whatever virus has been floating around.  The kids have had colds and coughs for a few weeks now, M got hit with the same as well as a stomach bug, and I had a fever two weeks ago, which turned into a cough so bad that my chest now hurts when I take deep breaths or move in a certain way (though I went to the doctor and he ruled out pneumonia).

The kids:
Big sister K came down with a fever two days ago and it got so bad that M had to go out at 2:00 in the morning to pick up some children's ibuprofen for her (thank goodness for 24-hour pharmacies!).  I ended up taking her to work with me the next day because she couldn't go back to daycare and neither M nor I could take the day off.  I made sure she brought enough markers, crayons, and coloring books to keep herself busy, and it worked... for about the first 30 minutes.  Then my nook color occupied her for another 20 minutes, followed by my desk calculator (who knew she'd get so much enjoyment just pressing on the numbers?).  A few trips to the pantry to refill her cup of water, a few trips to the potty, and the whole morning was gone.  I'm surprised I was able to get any work done at all.  I had planned to take her to the cafeteria for lunch, but by noon, she got very fussy and just wanted to go home.  I relented and ended up working from home in the afternoon while she napped.  She was well enough to return to daycare today, but I kept bracing myself for the phone call telling me I had to pick her up.  Fortunately, the call never came and she was fine when I checked on her in the afternoon.

Baby M has been waking up in the middle of the night for a few weeks now, and we don't know why.  It could be teething, but I suspect he just has nightmares.  He does it about five days out of the week... the few nights where we are able to sleep in peace is such a welcoming gift.  Last night, big sister K woke up at about midnight with her fever spiking again.  I gave her some ibuprofen and brought her back to bed with me.  Then soon after, baby M woke up crying.  I picked him up and carried him for a bit before putting him back to bed (he's fine as long as he's being held, but would instantly start crying the second he gets put back into bed).  We tried letting him cry it out, but it continued for three hours straight (yes, that's three hours of non-stop hysterical crying) before I finally went to get him.  I brought him into big sister K's room (since she was sleeping in our room) and after a bit of coaxing, he went to sleep (no doubt exhausted from all the crying).  Of course, by this time, it was already 4:30 in the morning, so it was only a few short hours before I had to get up again.  Oh what fun.  Thank goodness today is Friday.

Museum of Natural History

We took a trip to the American Museum of Natural History on Saturday.  Unfortunately, we didn't get there until 3:30, so big sister K only had about two hours to spend there.  She loved seeing all the dinosaur bones and animals.  Coincidentally, my nephew happened to be there with his cub scouts class, so it was an added bonus that we got to hang out with the M family for a bit.  Someone even offered to take a picture for us...

We stayed at the museum until closing (had to maximize the hefty $34 we paid for parking), then made our way downtown.  If we didn't promise big sister K we'd drive by to see the tree at Rockefeller Center, we would've made it to Chinatown a lot quicker... but because we did, it took us an hour to get from 79th Street to my mother-in-law's place.  We took 5th Ave down from the 60s to 51st Street where we'd be able to see the tree, and it took us 10 minutes just to move one block.  I haven't been in that area in years and was surprised to see all the new stores there.  M and I kept pointing out all the attractions to big sister K; I think we were more excited than she was.  We saw the huge snowflake hanging across 57th Street by Tiffany's, the glittery snake in front of Bulgari, the Christmas lights at Harry Winston, etc... I felt a bit nostalgic as we moved at a snail's pace down 5th Avenue.  Once we got down to Rockefeller Center, it was like a mob scene... hundreds of people just congregating in the streets.  Big sister K saw the tree from a distance, but because we were so far away, I don't think she had an appreciation for how big it actually was.

As we headed downtown, we gradually noticed an increase in the number of people dressed up in Santa outfits.  At first, we thought people were just getting dressed up to go to a holiday party, but it didn't take us long to realize it had to be more than that.  As we neared St. Mark's Place, we stopped at a red light and I actually saw someone I knew crossing the street in front of us, dressed up as Santa.  I yelled out to him and it was only then that we learned of "Santacon," a day where people dressed up as Santa Claus and in essence, bar-hopped around the city to get drunk (yeah, try explaining that to a 4-year old!).  Personally, I don't see the point... maybe it's because I don't drink, but I just don't understand why people would rather get into a drunken stupor than do something more worthwhile and meaningful with their time.

Haircuts

I was supposed to take big sister K for a haircut at Snip Its today.  She's been there once and loved the experience.  Unfortunately, I had a meeting come up last minute and couldn't leave work early enough, so I called her up at the daycare and told her I'd take her tomorrow.  She was fine on the phone and didn't seem to mind.  Apparently, that phone call did squat; it didn't register in her head that she wasn't going to get a haircut today, because when I went to pick her up and she realized we were going straight home, she had a total meltdown.  Baby M saw her crying and then he started crying too.  Not fun.  Eventually I was able to get them both to quiet down.  During the car ride home, big sister K looked so sad, like she was constantly on the verge of tears... it totally broke my heart.  At one point I stopped at a red light and turned around to talk to her, promising to take her for a haircut tomorrow.  That didn't do much to change her mood, so then I promised to take her out for lunch (on a school day).  Now that did the trick.  Big sister K started talking a mile a minute and any broken promises were immediately forgotten... my cutie pie was back!  Lesson learned: Don't make promises you can't keep with your child.  (And if you do, take her out to lunch to make up for it.)

On a related front, I gave baby M his first real haircut today (I've only snipped a little of his bangs in the past).  This kid moved around so much that I don't know how I managed not to stab him with the scissors!  Considering I had to cut his hair without actually looking (couldn't let him see the scissors otherwise he would've kept trying to grab them), I think it turned out fairly decent.  You can't tell from the picture, but I cut off almost three inches in the back. Hopefully it'll be a while before I have to give him a haircut again.

And M just reminded me before: Happy 13 Months to my baby boy!

12/12/12 Update:

Big sister K got her haircut today!  I'm surprised she agreed to cut it this short, but it looks a lot better from the mess she had.  Here's the end result:

And this is what her hair looked like before:



Parent's Night Out... Or Not!

I should realize by now that things never go according to plan.  M and I had taken the day off today, thinking with Parent's Night Out, we wouldn't have to pick up the kids until late.  We took it easy despite the long list of errands I had written for us to accomplish today.  Then at 3:30 in the afternoon, I got the call from daycare that all parents dread... baby M had thrown up all over the place and I had to go get him.  So much for Parent's Night Out!

I picked baby M up from daycare, brought him home, and of course he's fine.  No fever, no more vomit, not even the usual fussiness.  I honestly think the boy somehow knew he was going to be staying in school late and this was just his ploy to get out of it (yes, he is that smart!).  M and I ended up taking him shopping with us, first to Target (check one item off my list of errands), then Hong Kong Supermarket, followed by take-out sushi for dinner.  Baby M was happy the whole time and kept babbling in the car (that's definitely a step up from the usual crying).

Big sister K stayed in school (I stopped by her classroom when I picked baby M up and gave her the option to either come home, or stay there until after dinner), so now daddy is on his way to pick her up (refer to previous post).  I was able to spend some quality time with baby M before putting him to bed, which is a rarity these days since I'm usually focused on big sister K while M is tending to baby M.  Going through the motions day after day, I forget how precious these moments with our children are... how we need to take advantage of them every chance we get, because before we know it, they'll be old enough to talk back to us and won't want or need us anymore.

So... things didn't turn out the way we planned, but maybe they worked out for the better.  Now I have to figure out how I'm going to tackle the rest of the items on my list of to do's!

Parent's Night Out

Friday is Parent's Night Out at the daycare, and this will be the second time M and I are taking advantage of it (we get to leave the kids there until 9:30pm).  Big sister K loves spending the extra few hours in school (at least she did the first time).  She gets to wear her pajamas, have a pizza party for dinner, hang out with her friends (as if she doesn't get enough of them during the day)... what's not to love?  Baby M probably doesn't enjoy it as much as she does: disruption to his daily routine, missing mommy and daddy (especially daddy!) in the evening, different teachers feeding him his dinner... ehhh, I just keep telling myself he'll be fine.

We told big sister K she would be staying in school Friday night for Pajama Day, and...
Me: Daddy's going to pick you up from school on Friday.
Big Sister K: YAY!!!  I want daddy to pick me up!
(proceeds to dance all around the kitchen)
Me: Hey, what about mommy?
Big Sister K: But mommy, you pick me up every day!  Daddy never picks me up.
Me: LOL!  Can mommy come pick you up with daddy?
Big Sister K: Yes.

My cutie pie... oh how I love her!

Counting Christmas Lights

In the spirit of Christmas (and being the typical Chinese parent with the need for her child to excel in math), I started having big sister K count the number of houses she saw that had Christmas lights on during the car ride home.  The first time she did it, this was the conversation that followed:

Big sister K: 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6...
Me: Wait, wait wait!  You're only supposed to count if you see Christmas lights on the houses!
Big sister K: But mommy, I do see Christmas lights!
Me: You do??  How come I don't see as many as you do?
Big sister K: Mommy, you're driving!  You're busy paying attention to the road!

First Steps

Baby M took his first steps on Sunday!  It was very exciting watching him cautiously move his tiny little feet, one after another.  He collapsed to the ground after 2-3 steps and decided to crawl for the rest of the night, but I am very proud of him nonetheless.  I'm in no rush for him to learn how to walk, but after seeing those first steps taken, I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the night.

A major milestone reached... now to wean him off the bottle... (it's been so long that I've forgotten how I did it with big sister K!).

Birthdays...

We celebrated both kids' birthdays this past Saturday, first at JerZJump for big sister K, followed by dinner at Sunny Palace for baby M.  It was a busy day, but everything worked out well (for the most part) and more importantly, it seems like everyone had a good time.  With the gas restrictions currently in place, I'm glad all of the New Yorkers who made the trek out here were able to fill up (regardless of license plate number) before heading back home.

Some highlights from the day...

The birthday girl is all smiles as she bounces away.

The birthday boy is stuck to daddy like glue.

The M family (where are my sister-in-law and niece???).

Our feeble attempt at getting all the kids together for a group picture.  We're missing about a quarter of the camera-shy kids here.

Being silly...

Queen for the day!

Cake cutting for big sister K.

Cake cutting for baby M.