With Hubby out on business trip, Mommy got lazy and drove - rather than walk - to the playground in the park across from our community. Granted, I have good reasons - it is a good few miles to walk there, we have to cross a pretty busy road (dangerous with only 1 adult with 2 young ones), and there have been sighting of a coyote so I did not want to risk it. As skinny as I am right now, a larger coyote can probably drag all 3 of us away with little effort…

Anyhow, here’s a video of the 2 brothers enjoying their time on the slide together. I am starting to really appreciate the perfect distance between the 2 children (3.5 years) as Owie is just big enough to “carry” (half-carry really, and wobbly ;P) his baby brother away from dangerous missions that the little one attempts to try but the two still plays together constantly.

Thank and praise God, Kevie is speedily recovering from croup…Wed evening was murderous, with him running a pretty persistent high fever of 103-104, rendering poor Mommy sleepless the entire night as she was on stand-by mode in the bed, ready to take temperature/give medicine/wake Kevie and dunk him in yet another bath to cool down through the long night.

Kevie has not really gotten sick before this…sure, he has had his share of coughs and sniffles, but he’s only had maybe 1-2 days of low-grade fever that went away with just 3 or fewer doses of acetaminophen. Wednesday was another story. Didn’t have any symptoms (though as always, Owie was the culprit and the chain reaction trigger ) until lunch time when he started running a fever…by evening, he started coughing and it wasn’t a normal cough, but one with a barking sound that left his voice hoarse and him seemingly struggling for his next breath. Other than the high fever, that was what was most frightening…I prayed continuously through the night to stay sane. So as soon as 8:30am rolled around (when his pediatrician’s office opens), I called for a same-day sick visit.

Doctor did the usual diagnotics, and said he has croup and that since it sounds pretty bad (even during the day), to give him a shot (2-day worth) of steroids. She and I both aren’t big on this, but considering the potential threats of a blocked airway, we thought it was worthwhile. I trust the doctor’s judgment as I had already prayed for her beforehand.

Kevie was finally able to get a good 2 hours of sleep when we came home and broke sweat and his fever began to subside.

So grateful to God for watching over my baby…

Sigh…as I was just saying yesterday, today, we missed the bus.

Just when I prided myself in packing Owie’s lunch and have everything ready to go by the door and Owie finished his breakfast in a timely manner, we rushed upstairs to brush his teeth (he has only been rinsing these past 2 days since we were running late). We were coming down the stairs when I heard the dreaded bus back up sound and sure enough, when I looked outside the window, parents were waving goodbye and bid was shifting to forward drive and driving away.

Fortunately, we live within 5 mins of the school (driving) so I hurriedly packed my breakfast and dropped Owie off. Teacher laughed when I told her we missed the bus and comforted me that many parents are in the same boat as we all are trying to get the routine down.

Whoa, only Owie’s 2nd day of kindergarten and we almost missed the bus…again.

When Owie went to preschool, we were REALLY flexible. We’d go in anywhere between 9-10am…now, the bus rolls around daily at 8:30am and we’re always running out of the house after Owie shouts, “I see the bus! I see the bus!” from INSIDE the house (yeah, there’s obviously something not right with the picture ;P). Then both of us would dash out like mad dogs with whatever is closer to us - yesterday, I carried Owie’s backpack and today, he carried his own, unzipped with the cover flapping up and down as he ran. We’ll always be the last one, thankful for the long line at our bus stop to allow us extra time to reach the bus.

Today, I was concentrating so hard on getting Owie on the bus I almost forgot to give him his lunchbox (I had grabbed it on the way out and had totally forgotten about it until I wanted to wave goodbye and noticed my right hand was occupied ). Thankfully, he made it and hopefully is happily learning at school now.

Now that I think about it, it must be pretty hilarious to onlookers though it was incredibly nerve-wrecking for us. It is going to take a few weeks to get this routine down…in the meantime, I am just thankful to God for the location of our house (literally right across from the stop sign)..another testimony to the fact that He DOES know what’s the best for us.

The kids are now spending every night in the basement…during the winter, we rarely went down to our basement since it was so cold and party also because it is very empty (though fully finished with carpet). Despite it still being empty, as we had just finished carpeting the movie theater room, it now feels “complete”. As the weather heats up, it also is very comfortable in the basement and the kids love running around chasing each other and occasionally throwing a few baskets. Now we are actually enjoying the spaciness…a friend of ours gave their ping pong table to us since they weren’t using it anymore and we decided not to put it out since it would take away too much space.

Here’s a video of them tap dancing on their own in front of Daddy’s home made photography backdrop…

From BabyCenter for this week: “Being little is tough, especially when someone bigger than you dictates what you’ll wear, and when you’ll take a bath, go to bed, and eat meals. One of the only ways your 15-month-old has to assert herself is to say “no” or refuse to cooperate. To cut down on the number of no’s you hear, try to limit your own use of the word — toddlers are great mimics, after all. You may be pleasantly surprised by the results.”

Can’t be more true…have noticed Kevie is starting to deliberately do what you tell him NOT to do…then he will smile at you. When you don’t smile back and look at him sternly, he’ll start looking guilty. It always makes me want to laugh watching his face transform…from his mischievous grin into a guilty gaze…

Here’s his new favorite transportation (click on images to see larger pictures):

Owie scared Daddy and Mommy this morning by waking up with a nosebleed…this is the first time he had one and it was terrifying for all of us (including Owie himself) as he seems to be bleeding a lot. Luckily, I remembered from my own experience to keep his head down and we just applied pressure to his nose with a tissue. It stopped for a little while and then came back. Naturally, Mommy now wasted no time in calling the doctor’s office to schedule an appointment…

Doctor did not seemed alarmed by the episode. She said that due to the weather (including allergy season), it is very common to have nosebleeds now and since Owie also had puffy eyes but no fever, she thinks he has allergy (*sigh* guess all that breastmilk still didn’t help prevent him from developing allergy) and to do the following to prevent nosebleeds in the future:
- Don’t pick on nose
- Don’t blow very hard
- Rub small amount of vaseline inside his nose, especially at nose
- Take Zyrtec
- Remove all his clothes after coming in from outside and wash his face and hands
- Take a bath

If he does get a nosebleed again, to pinch his nose for 5 minutes (without peeking) while leaning slightly forward (do not tilt head) and NOT to clean his nose afterwards.

One of my goals for 2011 is to uncover Owie and Kevie’s God-given gifts…

Already, I think I may have discovered one for Owen: a very keen taste bud.

In an effort to make our entire family more healthy, I bought a $150 Breville juicer last month and started juicing vegetables…started with carrot juice and apple…as we got used to the taste of raw organic carrot juice, I wanted to add even more vegetables, so 2 weeks ago, I added celery (only 1 stalk) just to try and noticed Owie didn’t drink his juice that morning (he usually eagerly gulps it down). I asked him why he didn’t drink his carrot juice and he answered, “But it is yucky - you added vegetable (tsai tsai) to it.”

Both Xiaohu and I could not taste the difference and I KNEW I added celery to it! Think our little boy may have what it takes to be a Connoisseur…he appears to be the kind that can eat a lot but not gain too much weight so it may just be the perfect job for him.

Last week (week 6), Kevin started smiling…real smiling, not the newborn type where he has no idea he is smiling. A few days ago, right before I was going to feeding him during one of the 1am feedings, he looked up at me and beamed an all-gum smile straight at me. It was as if he was trying to thank me for getting up in the middle of night to feed him - it melted my heart and did made the nighttime feedings worthwhile…though I am still very tired.

Last night, Kevin slept from 9pm-4am (it’s the longest lapse between feedings he’s ever had). He usually wakes up to feed at 1am, but skipped that feeding yesterday. Am holding my breath and hoping that it is a trend, and not just a one-time deal, though it won’t make too much difference to me as I will still need to get up and pump. I never pumped at night when I was nursing Owen, but for whatever reason, I am even more paranoid about my milk supply with Kevin than with Owen. Perhaps has to do with me getting older.

In prep for the arrival of Kevin, we have been trying to get Owen to start loving his little brother, even before he arrives! Through numerous efforts, including spinning it so that Owen considers Kevin a little student he can teach rather than an intrusion into his territory, Owen has started to develop brotherly love toward the baby inside Mommy’s tummy. Just 2 days ago, he came up to me himself and said he wanted to kiss Kevin (his Daddy has taught him to kiss Mommy’s tummy to display his love for the baby) so I turned my tummy toward little Owen so he can kiss Kevin; then to my surprise and great joy, he added, “I love you, Kevin!” It was sooooooo sweet!