My Sister Is On My Thoughts

UPDATE

The baby arrived and all is well so far!  A true miracle at 7 weeks early.  She's big and strong and breathing on her own.  Check out the story here.

My sister Emily isn't due with her fifth baby until the middle of May.  Last Friday her water broke sending her into labor 8 weeks early.  Baby girl is still in there and we're hoping she can stay in utero for a few more days.  Emily and that baby are on my thoughts and in my prayers constantly.  Read about the details on her blog here.

Lately

Mark has been working on, thinking about, and riding his motorcycle.  A few years ago he had a different, but similar motorcycle you might remember from this post.  He sold that one in order to help pay for his Land Cruiser.  Last Spring his parents bought a new home and Mark was helping his dad negotiate with the home seller.  While they were viewing the house Mark noticed this motorcycle in the back garage and somehow got the seller to sell it along with the house.  So, he now has another 1981 Yamaha Virago.  As always, Brian is daddy's little helper.  He has to get so involved with everything Mark does.

Timmy learned to crawl on his hands and knees last week.  This has helped him tremendously to be a happier little baby.  I think mostly because he can follow Brian around and they have enjoyed playing together.

We've all been loving that berries are becoming more available in the stores at a more reasonable price.  Brian loves strawberries and Timmy goes crazy for blackberries.  He eats them faster than you can imagine.  All you can see in the picture are the remnants of his breakfast blackberries on his face.

A few warm days have brought the beginning of projects and fun in the yard.

We were able to go to the zoo two different times this month.  One day Mark was able to meet us after work.  We love the zoo!

This is a simple long video of some everyday happenings.  I wanted to show Timmy crawling and display Brian's cute personality.  I posted it mostly for Grandma and Grandpa's viewing pleasure.

Timmy: Nine Months

I cannot believe Timmy is over nine months old! He is growing so fast.  I took him to the doctor last week to see how he is doing.  Overall he seems to be doing well.  His growth has slowed quite a bit in the last few months.  He weighs 18 lbs 14 oz, which is good for his age, but low for his individual growth chart.  I think as he moves around more and grows older he'll just keep shedding that baby chub.

Timmy generally eats well, but sometimes he doesn't like certain textures and shows distaste by spitting and making faces.  He loves crackers, bananas and other fruit, and he has grown to like toast and noodles and certain meats.  He still likes most baby foods, but mostly he just wants to feed himself.  Each meal is very very messy, but he enjoys it so much more if I let him go to town and feed himself.

He has kind of turned into a little grumpy baby these last few weeks.  I think most of the grumpiness is coming from teething.  He has been getting four teeth on the top and they are cutting through at different times extending the torture for both of us.

Timmy is still army crawling to get from one place to another and he has gotten quite fast at it.  He's now very interested in trying to pull himself up onto any furniture he can. When he is able to pull himself up he is a little wobbly, but extremely proud of himself.

At night Timmy has been waking up frequently, and unfortunately I started going in to check on him, and now he is in the habit of waking up screaming wanting me to come hold and feed him.  I am so tired when he wakes me up that I just want to get him back to sleep so I can go back to sleep.  Consequently, we have developed bad nighttime habits again.  I am going to have to let him cry through it and stop going in there, because it's starting to get ridiculous.

Timmy is currently very attached to me and Mark.  He usually gets really upset when someone else is holding him.  He also cannot stand it when I set him on the floor and walk even a few feet away.  He wants me to hold him all day long or he wants me to sit on the floor and play with him.  Sometimes I can get him distracted with special toys and he'll play by himself for awhile, but most of the day I am on the floor with him and Brian or taking them out and about.  Timmy enjoys looking out the window and is especially happy to go places and he even enjoys eating at restaurants.  He is happier when there is a lot going on and a lot of things to see.

He is starting to learn a few tricks.  He will wave if you wave to him and he'll give high fives if he is in the mood.  He still has those darling chubby cheeks and we adore him.  One of our favorite times of the day is bath time.  He and Brian love the bath and they enjoy playing and laughing together in the bath.  Now that Timmy is sitting and mostly stable in the bath, it is a nice time for me to enjoy watching the boys have fun together.

Our nightly routine is dinner together as a family at about 5:30 when Mark gets home, bath time, getting pajamas on, and then bed.  I feed and put Timmy to bed first usually around 6:15 and then I brush Brian's teeth, we say prayers and I read books with Brian before he goes to sleep.  It has all been working out very well for us.  We'll see what the time change brings at the end of the week.  I am actually looking forward to it, because Timmy has kind of been out of sorts with his sleeping ever since the time changed last Fall.  He is now waking up between 6:30 and 7:00 am.  I am hoping that will change with the time change!

I know I say it often, but I love the new dimension and all the blessings Timmy brings to our family.  I am so grateful to have him.  Brian learns so many things he wouldn't learn if Timmy were not around, and I just can't get enough of watching them together.  I am so happy and so grateful to have our two little healthy boys.

Potty Trained

 I am pretty sure I can now say with confidence that Brian is potty trained!  How it all happened was a little different than I had envisioned.  Back in September when he was two and a half years old he seemed very interested, so we started the process.  He picked up quickly on how to use the toilet when I put him on it, but he could not recognize when he needed to go.  Not once during the next two months did Brian tell me that he needed to go to the bathroom.  Unless I bribed him to sit on the potty every half hour to an hour, he would have an accident.  After almost two months of many accidents and a little frustration on both sides I decided it wasn't worth the fight and Brian happily went back to wearing a diaper.  I decided to try again at a later date hoping he would have interest again in the future.  

For the next few months I would ask him periodically if he wanted to wear underwear.  The answer was always, "No, I want my diaper."  Then the day after his cousin Jordan's birthday party at the beginning of February, I asked Brian if he wanted to wear underwear and he said excitedly, "Like Jordie?"  He's been wearing underwear during the day ever since.  I guess in the last few months he matured enough and he was really ready.  He goes hours without needing to go and he tells me every time he does need to use the potty.  He's only had two accidents in a month and those were at the beginning when he was just figuring it all out.

The first potty training attempt was more difficult than I thought it would be, and the second attempt was much easier than I thought it would be.  I guess for Brian I should have waited until he was really ready.  In the end I'm just glad to have that hurdle out of the way.  Now we just need to get him night trained.  He does fine wearing underwear for his nap during the day, but he has never stayed dry at night.  This time I'll wait until he seems more ready before we attempt night sleeping without a diaper.

We are so proud of our Bri Bri!

Chinese New Year

My all time favorite Hsiao family gathering is always the yearly Chinese New Year Celebration.  It is a time to be together as a famly, enjoy each others company, make jiao zi (dumplings), exchange hong baos (red envelopes filled with money), and eat eat eat those delicious home made jiao zi and Suan La Tang (hot and sour soup).  Thank you Daniel and Alice for another fun party.  I love that Brian is old enough to start learning about and to enjoy these fun traditions that always bring the family closer together.  He is still talking about it.

 This was just before we left for Mark's parent's house.  Timmy woke up too early from his nap and was a little tired the rest of the day.

 Brian was so excited to wear his Chinese jacket to the party.

Brian learned quickly how to say the long Chinese New Year greeting "Gongxi Gongxi Xin Nian Hao."  He was able to say it somewhat coherently every time he received a hong bao.  Thank you family!

 Even the little kids joined in helping to make the jiao zi this year.  Rolling out (well mostly playing with) the dough kept Brian and his cousin occupied for a surprisingly long amount of time.

 

I sadly did not get any pictures of the final dumpling feast.  I was a little busy feeding the kids and myself to even think about it, but it was delicious and fun.  Brian ate so many dumplings and he even seemed to be keeping up with Mark for awhile.  I guess he is half Chinese after all.