"Hey, Mommy, do you know what we forgot to do?" - Tay
"What?" - me
"We forgot to pray!" - Tay
"Oh! That's right..." - me
"It's okay, Mommy. I do it. Hands together and follow me." - Tay
Led by a child in prayer is a beautiful way to come back to God.
I have become lazy in nurturing FAITH in my two children who have been named with the meaning of "faith." It's very suiting that Shingil - "path to faith" or "luck in faith" - is the one leading the way in rekindling that fire that has dimmed in my heart. Even at church two weeks ago, we were sitting in the cry room (where there was no audio) and she was very quietly sitting next to me. I asked her if she wanted to go play with the toys like the other kids. She shook her head, "no," and so I asked her if next time, she would rather just sit out in the regular pews and not come into the cry room. She said, "yes." Who knew?
At this point in my life, I am feeling content and therefore, I find myself getting lazy. I don't strive to make things happen like I should because things are comfortable - stable - easy...lazy. Why get everyone up early on a Sunday morning to get a bunch of cranky people dressed up and out the door? Why worry about packing snacks and small toys to make sure the kids are quiet and happy through the Mass? Why stress through Mass in a cry room where I can't hear anything or sing anything anyway? Why sit in the regular pews and stress about the kids getting noisy when I can just sit and let them play in the cry room and not pay attention to the Word at all?
It's just so much easier to just sleep in...have a lazy breakfast...spend a relaxing, fun day with the family. This is exactly what I did this past Sunday. But...at dinnertime, we are sitting at the table and starting to eat when Tay asks the question, "Hey, Mommy, do you know what we forgot to do?"
A path to faith.
This calls for some soul searching and a revamping of my motivation. An examination of my walk with God. Apparently I have decided to make a pit-stop and am lollygagging too long because God is using my three-year-old to remind me that I need to get off my lazy bum and begin rejoicing in Him again.
Back in July, our new priest started up morning prayer before work so I had started going every morning before going into work because it only meant I had to leave for work about 15 minutes earlier than normal. I got lazy and stopped doing that in August with the excuse that Tay was starting school so I had to use those extra 15 minutes in the morning to pack her lunch. To be honest, her lunch is packed way before I ever have to leave for work and I just spend those extra 15 minutes checking my FB or tidying the house before leaving for work. ::sigh::
Just because I am at a point in my life that I *think* everything is going swell, it does not mean that I am excused from worshiping - praying - visiting God's house every week, every day...every moment. It only means I should be praying even more with thanks and praises for all of His GRACE. It's funny how God sends subtle reminders to bring you back to Him when He feels you wandering into the distance...I met a lady today and we had a wonderful conversation about our kids and we had quite a lot in common. When I finally asked her name, her name was...Grace.
So, now I sit here and write about all my laziness and how I am reminded that I should not only seek God when I am in need or in sorrow. I should seek Him more because my life is full of His LOVE and GRACE.
With a thankful heart,
I praise you, Lord.
With humbleness,
I come to you.
On my knees,
I lift You up.
Lead me,
And I will follow.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
One Year Old...
So, Ri's one year birthday has come and gone in the blink of an eye, and she's almost 13 months old already. Slacker Mommy has failed to keep a record yet again. ::sigh::
There just aren't enough hours in a day...
Just a quick recap:
Umma arrived in Korea on the 16th, we prepped for the party on the 17th, and then on the morning of the 18th, I found out that there was some major bicycle race along the primary road that leads to Hello Kitty Town! ACK! So there I was contacting everyone who had comfirmed they were coming to let them know to come a bit later, find an alternate route, or take public transportation. All drama aside, the party was fun and interesting and entertaining for all. The traditional set-up was beautiful and worth every penny. Loved having the party at Hello Kitty Town because the kids could just go play and the adults could actually have some conversation and enjoy the food.
At the Dol-jahb-ee, she took her time looking and deciding on what to grab, unlike Tay who grabbed the money right away, and then casually picked up the "writing brush," which is supposed to be indicative of a future scholar on our hands...we'll see about that. :)
Thanks so much to all those who came and joined us in the celebrations!
As for her development and growth, she is now an avid walker as of about two or three weeks ago. She had been crusing for a while and just standing on her own for months now, but never really took more than three or four steps at a time and then preferred to crawl the rest of the way. Now, she prefers to walk EVERYWHERE and gets quite upset when you pick her up to get someplace faster...::sigh:: She also prefers to play on her feet, so even if all the rest of us are sitting down, she'll remain standing, or squat so she can play with whatever is on the floor rather than just sitting down.
She has begun identifying things with words and definitely understands way more than she says. The words she does say and know what they mean now are umma, appa, unna (unni - big sister), ata (tita - "aunt" for Beth), bah (ball), tka (cup...not sure why, but that's what she calls it and that's actually what Tay called it, too, but she put a p at the beginning - ptka), ah-ter (water), boo (book), eh-wo (hello), eh-tuh (thank you) and a handful of other words I can't think of at the moment. She's hilarious because she'll just chatter on in all sorts of nonsense and look at you like you're supposed to understand. And then if you look at her puzzled, she'll just go on about her business muttering to herself as if she's complaining that you're not understanding her.
She is also quite funny when it comes to getting dressed or putting on shoes. Whenever we get ready to go out and we get by the door to put on shoes, I'll set her on the floor and the first thing she'll do is lift up her foot and go "eh?" like she's expecting me to put on her shoes. As for putting on her pants, I'll have her lying down and say "Toes!" and she'll lift up both her feet and shoot them into the pants! It works half the time and the other half she has entirely missed the pant leg and I have to fight her into the pants! This results in an array of giggles and squirminess, but ultimately a dressed one-year-old, so all is well that ends well. :) When putting on the shirt, she will sit up and after getting her head in the shirt, she'll tuck her arm behind her with a little smirk on her face. When I give her the "look," she'll delay for just a bit more and then she'll put her arm through the sleeve I'm holding out for her. Then, she'll do the exact same thing with the other arm...this time with some giggling and a bit more resistence. Such excitement with wee-ones!
In other sweetness, she kisses when she WANTS to now...not only when she's asked. She'll just be playing and happy and suddenly she'll toddle over and plant a sweet one right on your face...even with the sound effect of mmmmmah! She even "tries" puckering, although it's just a cute little smirk that she gets. After she kisses you, she'll usually stand there and clap for herself with an embarrassed look on her face. Silly girl. Her favorite person to kiss is her big sister...go figure. She'll even hug nice and tight, but usually it's combined with a kiss where she'll wrap her little arms around your head and then kiss you as she squeezes...LOVE!
Another game she loves to play is rolling this giant fluffy soccer ball we have back and forth. Granted, she hasn't quite figured out how to get it further than a foot or so, but when she does, she is just SO excited and proud of herself. She also enjoys climbing. EVERYTHING. I find it quite amusing when she is trying to climb something taller than she can reach, so she takes a dvd case, puts it on the floor, stands on top of it and tries to climb up. Like that whole half an inch is going to give her any sort of boost. At least she's figured out that if she can climb on top of something else to get on top of something higher...that's cognitive development. :)
Whenever she sees Tay writing or drawing on something, Ri must also get in on the action so she will "joosayyo" her way to getting a piece of paper and a crayon and proceed scribbling (and tasting) happily, all the while looking at what her Unni is doing. She wants to do everything her big sister can do...must be a rough life not being able to do everything that the bigger kid does. She's pretty aggressive, though, so give her another year or two and I think she'll be running with the big girls in no time. ::sad::
On the "tantrum" front, Ri has a whole different technique to being "upset" than Tay did at this stage. When she gets mad or doesn't get something her way, she will plop herself down and dive into a belly flop on the floor, but being extra careful so as not to hit her face or head on the floor, and then she'll ever-so-gently set her face on the floor. Then she will proceed with the whining. Looking up from time-to-time to see if I'm looking at her and paying attention. Quite amusing. If she's on a softer surface, though, like a bed or a mat, she'll throw herself down a "little" harder, but then she'll find that amusing so she'll frequently forget what she was getting mad about and start giggling. Silly girl.
It's pretty scary how quickly she is growing up...I LOVE this age, though...so adorable and so fun(ny). I look forward to seeing her learn new things every day. Such a funny funny girl.
Love you, Shinah Riley Ryals.
There just aren't enough hours in a day...
Just a quick recap:
Umma arrived in Korea on the 16th, we prepped for the party on the 17th, and then on the morning of the 18th, I found out that there was some major bicycle race along the primary road that leads to Hello Kitty Town! ACK! So there I was contacting everyone who had comfirmed they were coming to let them know to come a bit later, find an alternate route, or take public transportation. All drama aside, the party was fun and interesting and entertaining for all. The traditional set-up was beautiful and worth every penny. Loved having the party at Hello Kitty Town because the kids could just go play and the adults could actually have some conversation and enjoy the food.
At the Dol-jahb-ee, she took her time looking and deciding on what to grab, unlike Tay who grabbed the money right away, and then casually picked up the "writing brush," which is supposed to be indicative of a future scholar on our hands...we'll see about that. :)
Thanks so much to all those who came and joined us in the celebrations!
As for her development and growth, she is now an avid walker as of about two or three weeks ago. She had been crusing for a while and just standing on her own for months now, but never really took more than three or four steps at a time and then preferred to crawl the rest of the way. Now, she prefers to walk EVERYWHERE and gets quite upset when you pick her up to get someplace faster...::sigh:: She also prefers to play on her feet, so even if all the rest of us are sitting down, she'll remain standing, or squat so she can play with whatever is on the floor rather than just sitting down.
She has begun identifying things with words and definitely understands way more than she says. The words she does say and know what they mean now are umma, appa, unna (unni - big sister), ata (tita - "aunt" for Beth), bah (ball), tka (cup...not sure why, but that's what she calls it and that's actually what Tay called it, too, but she put a p at the beginning - ptka), ah-ter (water), boo (book), eh-wo (hello), eh-tuh (thank you) and a handful of other words I can't think of at the moment. She's hilarious because she'll just chatter on in all sorts of nonsense and look at you like you're supposed to understand. And then if you look at her puzzled, she'll just go on about her business muttering to herself as if she's complaining that you're not understanding her.
She is also quite funny when it comes to getting dressed or putting on shoes. Whenever we get ready to go out and we get by the door to put on shoes, I'll set her on the floor and the first thing she'll do is lift up her foot and go "eh?" like she's expecting me to put on her shoes. As for putting on her pants, I'll have her lying down and say "Toes!" and she'll lift up both her feet and shoot them into the pants! It works half the time and the other half she has entirely missed the pant leg and I have to fight her into the pants! This results in an array of giggles and squirminess, but ultimately a dressed one-year-old, so all is well that ends well. :) When putting on the shirt, she will sit up and after getting her head in the shirt, she'll tuck her arm behind her with a little smirk on her face. When I give her the "look," she'll delay for just a bit more and then she'll put her arm through the sleeve I'm holding out for her. Then, she'll do the exact same thing with the other arm...this time with some giggling and a bit more resistence. Such excitement with wee-ones!
In other sweetness, she kisses when she WANTS to now...not only when she's asked. She'll just be playing and happy and suddenly she'll toddle over and plant a sweet one right on your face...even with the sound effect of mmmmmah! She even "tries" puckering, although it's just a cute little smirk that she gets. After she kisses you, she'll usually stand there and clap for herself with an embarrassed look on her face. Silly girl. Her favorite person to kiss is her big sister...go figure. She'll even hug nice and tight, but usually it's combined with a kiss where she'll wrap her little arms around your head and then kiss you as she squeezes...LOVE!
Another game she loves to play is rolling this giant fluffy soccer ball we have back and forth. Granted, she hasn't quite figured out how to get it further than a foot or so, but when she does, she is just SO excited and proud of herself. She also enjoys climbing. EVERYTHING. I find it quite amusing when she is trying to climb something taller than she can reach, so she takes a dvd case, puts it on the floor, stands on top of it and tries to climb up. Like that whole half an inch is going to give her any sort of boost. At least she's figured out that if she can climb on top of something else to get on top of something higher...that's cognitive development. :)
Whenever she sees Tay writing or drawing on something, Ri must also get in on the action so she will "joosayyo" her way to getting a piece of paper and a crayon and proceed scribbling (and tasting) happily, all the while looking at what her Unni is doing. She wants to do everything her big sister can do...must be a rough life not being able to do everything that the bigger kid does. She's pretty aggressive, though, so give her another year or two and I think she'll be running with the big girls in no time. ::sad::
On the "tantrum" front, Ri has a whole different technique to being "upset" than Tay did at this stage. When she gets mad or doesn't get something her way, she will plop herself down and dive into a belly flop on the floor, but being extra careful so as not to hit her face or head on the floor, and then she'll ever-so-gently set her face on the floor. Then she will proceed with the whining. Looking up from time-to-time to see if I'm looking at her and paying attention. Quite amusing. If she's on a softer surface, though, like a bed or a mat, she'll throw herself down a "little" harder, but then she'll find that amusing so she'll frequently forget what she was getting mad about and start giggling. Silly girl.
It's pretty scary how quickly she is growing up...I LOVE this age, though...so adorable and so fun(ny). I look forward to seeing her learn new things every day. Such a funny funny girl.
Love you, Shinah Riley Ryals.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Learning in School
Well, it has now been almost a month since Tay started school and I don't know for sure if she is enjoying every minute, but I do know that she is already learning things and putting many wrinkles in that brain of hers. In the first week, she learned the days of the week through a song she would sing over and over when she got home:
Seven days, seven days
In a week, in a week
Sunday Monday Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday Friday
Sat-ur-day
That's a week.
(sung to the tune of "Are you sleeping")
She also learned about the color yellow (she already knows most of her colors, but that was a color they covered last week) and this weekend she was singing "Yellow Submarine" over and over...:)
She learned about squares and learned to draw squares. She also learned about the numbers one and two. A few letters, too. She is also practicing cutting and glueing. Who knew she'd do so many things in the first three weeks of school. Last Friday, Tay had her very first "school assembly" that I had the pleasure of attending. When I arrived, almost all the children were already seated on the floor in their areas and many were looking for their parents to enter the assembly hall. When I finally got through the door into the hall, I saw Tay eagerly looking around at all the parents to see if I was there yet. I snuck up behind her and gave her a big hug...she was so glad to see me. I told her I'd sit back in the seats behind her with the other parents. As the little presentations went on, many of the children, noticing that their parents were there, began to cry for their mommies. It was almost time for her class to get up and go do their short presentation when Tay turned around and made eye contact with me...and she mouthed, "Mommy, Mommy" and her little eyes started welling up with tears. Panic! Do I run up and grab her and hug her or do I sit and wave her on to go up with her class to sing? Well, I froze in place and gave her a sad face (which I'm sure didn't help), but the teacher and the assistant helped shuttle all the kids up to the front, even as she started rubbing away the tears in her eyes. I summoned a weak smile and mouthed to her, "It's okay!" Not sure that helped at all either. Anyhow, once the kids were all lined up, the teacher motioned counted to three and had all the children bow. Tay just looked so sad and slumped up there, but as soon as the teacher said, "Bow," she followed the command and bowed and continued following along with the song and motions. Don't think she smiled through the entire event, but she got through it and came back to sit down in her seat. I met her on the floor and gave her a big hug and told her she did a great job! I told her I had to go back to work now (since it WAS the middle of my work day), she grabbed me tighter, so I sat down on the floor with her for a moment and held her. As the next class went up to do their presentation, Tay just sat on my lap and I held her for about five minutes. After the song was over, I told her again that I had to leave and go back to work. She then said, "Okay, Mommy" and climbed off my lap, kissed me a few times, and went back to sit in her seat in front of her teacher. My sweet sweet girl. I snuck out the side and went back to work. By taking those extra five minutes, I avoided a potential meltdown and got to cuddle a little while longer with my baby girl. Glad I made that decision.
That evening, Jeff and I attended our very first "Open House" as parents instead of the student. Quite a different experience, I think. All the teachers and faculty were introduced to us, a nice little table full of refreshments were shared, and then we went up to the classrooms to talk with the teacher. We got a brief rundown of the class's day, saw some of the art projects that the children have done, got some explanation of the teaching techniques, learned about the "discipline" technique (green, amber, red - associated with three minute time-outs), and the sticker chart.
I'm very excited to see how she progress throughout the school year. She has already had a few mornings where she told me she did not want to go to school, but it wasn't because she didn't like school...it was because she wanted to stay home with her Tita and her sister. She did end up missing three days of school, though, because she ran a fever and was sick. Hopefully we won't have too many sick days!
Well, life's just rolling along...faster and faster it seems...at least it's still slow enough to enjoy those few minutes of cuddle time every day with the family...<3
Seven days, seven days
In a week, in a week
Sunday Monday Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday Friday
Sat-ur-day
That's a week.
(sung to the tune of "Are you sleeping")
She also learned about the color yellow (she already knows most of her colors, but that was a color they covered last week) and this weekend she was singing "Yellow Submarine" over and over...:)
She learned about squares and learned to draw squares. She also learned about the numbers one and two. A few letters, too. She is also practicing cutting and glueing. Who knew she'd do so many things in the first three weeks of school. Last Friday, Tay had her very first "school assembly" that I had the pleasure of attending. When I arrived, almost all the children were already seated on the floor in their areas and many were looking for their parents to enter the assembly hall. When I finally got through the door into the hall, I saw Tay eagerly looking around at all the parents to see if I was there yet. I snuck up behind her and gave her a big hug...she was so glad to see me. I told her I'd sit back in the seats behind her with the other parents. As the little presentations went on, many of the children, noticing that their parents were there, began to cry for their mommies. It was almost time for her class to get up and go do their short presentation when Tay turned around and made eye contact with me...and she mouthed, "Mommy, Mommy" and her little eyes started welling up with tears. Panic! Do I run up and grab her and hug her or do I sit and wave her on to go up with her class to sing? Well, I froze in place and gave her a sad face (which I'm sure didn't help), but the teacher and the assistant helped shuttle all the kids up to the front, even as she started rubbing away the tears in her eyes. I summoned a weak smile and mouthed to her, "It's okay!" Not sure that helped at all either. Anyhow, once the kids were all lined up, the teacher motioned counted to three and had all the children bow. Tay just looked so sad and slumped up there, but as soon as the teacher said, "Bow," she followed the command and bowed and continued following along with the song and motions. Don't think she smiled through the entire event, but she got through it and came back to sit down in her seat. I met her on the floor and gave her a big hug and told her she did a great job! I told her I had to go back to work now (since it WAS the middle of my work day), she grabbed me tighter, so I sat down on the floor with her for a moment and held her. As the next class went up to do their presentation, Tay just sat on my lap and I held her for about five minutes. After the song was over, I told her again that I had to leave and go back to work. She then said, "Okay, Mommy" and climbed off my lap, kissed me a few times, and went back to sit in her seat in front of her teacher. My sweet sweet girl. I snuck out the side and went back to work. By taking those extra five minutes, I avoided a potential meltdown and got to cuddle a little while longer with my baby girl. Glad I made that decision.
That evening, Jeff and I attended our very first "Open House" as parents instead of the student. Quite a different experience, I think. All the teachers and faculty were introduced to us, a nice little table full of refreshments were shared, and then we went up to the classrooms to talk with the teacher. We got a brief rundown of the class's day, saw some of the art projects that the children have done, got some explanation of the teaching techniques, learned about the "discipline" technique (green, amber, red - associated with three minute time-outs), and the sticker chart.
I'm very excited to see how she progress throughout the school year. She has already had a few mornings where she told me she did not want to go to school, but it wasn't because she didn't like school...it was because she wanted to stay home with her Tita and her sister. She did end up missing three days of school, though, because she ran a fever and was sick. Hopefully we won't have too many sick days!
Well, life's just rolling along...faster and faster it seems...at least it's still slow enough to enjoy those few minutes of cuddle time every day with the family...<3
Learning things!
It seems the little one is rapidly learning things these days. Now that she's getting a little braver about letting go to take some steps on her own, she's getting around fairly well. Most of the time, though, she'll just stand up and stay in place...just looking around and grinning - I imagine 'cause the view is nicer from a standing position or she's just really proud of herself. Sometimes, she'll even clap for herself as she's standing.
Another thing she learned this weekend - how to receive with two hands! She's learning that by putting out two hands palms up with a cute expression on her face will get her things much faster from all parties (to include her big sister) than if she just tries grabbing things. Now that she's learned that, she's all about it! I must get a video and post it because she's just too cute. This morning, Tay was eating an apple sitting on the kitchen floor when Ri came up right beside her, sat down, and reach out both of her hands with palms up with an adorable "pleading" look so she could have a taste. Of course, sweet big sister breaks off a chunk and gives it to her and Ri's just so happy she sits there grinning and sucking on the apple chunk. She's gonna be pretty upset when the "joosayyo" technique doesn't work when she really wants something!
Ri's also been watching how big sister dresses herself every morning and every evening before bed. As I was folding up some clothes this morning, she was playing around in the clothes, and she picked up a pair of big sister's underwear and tried her hardest to get her feet into them. After a few minutes of struggling and toppling over a couple times, she decided that was not the right way to put them on and commenced putting the underwear on her head. Also unsuccessful here (since her arms weren't quite long enough to get the underwear on top of her head), she decided to just wrap the underwear around the back of her neck like a scarf (or neckerchief) and clapped for herself. Silly girl.
As for her solid food intake, she is pretty much game for tasting anything as long as she can put it in her mouth herself. She enjoys taking her own spoon, dipping it into the bowl, and then eating whatever is stuck to the spoon. She's getting surprisingly better at actually "feeding" herself! Mind you, it is not the neatest event, but she sure enjoys herself. She definitely enjoys fruit more than vegetables, which is different from what Tay enjoyed at this stage. Tay didn't care for sweets other than banana and her favorite was probably broccoli, but Ri really enjoys a variety of fruits. She also loves all kinds of meat, but Tay did not care for meat until she was at least 18 months old. It's funny how different the taste preferences are. Thankfully, both are eating well for the time being. Ri's favorite fruit seems to be peaches right now, but it may be because peaches are in season right now and they are just so delicious. The Korean white peaches are amazingly sweet and juicy and when just ripe, so incredibly soft! The whole family enjoys them!
This weekend was a little rough because the girls of the household were all sick, but it looks like Tay's on the full recovery path, Ri and Mommy are still down for the count, but functioning, somewhat, and Daddy's still going strong. Let's hope we can all be well before next weekend! Ri, even though she was sick, still managed to pull off some adorable pics at her one-year photo session at AIMIN photo studio. Getting antsy for her first birthday party!
Another thing she learned this weekend - how to receive with two hands! She's learning that by putting out two hands palms up with a cute expression on her face will get her things much faster from all parties (to include her big sister) than if she just tries grabbing things. Now that she's learned that, she's all about it! I must get a video and post it because she's just too cute. This morning, Tay was eating an apple sitting on the kitchen floor when Ri came up right beside her, sat down, and reach out both of her hands with palms up with an adorable "pleading" look so she could have a taste. Of course, sweet big sister breaks off a chunk and gives it to her and Ri's just so happy she sits there grinning and sucking on the apple chunk. She's gonna be pretty upset when the "joosayyo" technique doesn't work when she really wants something!
Ri's also been watching how big sister dresses herself every morning and every evening before bed. As I was folding up some clothes this morning, she was playing around in the clothes, and she picked up a pair of big sister's underwear and tried her hardest to get her feet into them. After a few minutes of struggling and toppling over a couple times, she decided that was not the right way to put them on and commenced putting the underwear on her head. Also unsuccessful here (since her arms weren't quite long enough to get the underwear on top of her head), she decided to just wrap the underwear around the back of her neck like a scarf (or neckerchief) and clapped for herself. Silly girl.
As for her solid food intake, she is pretty much game for tasting anything as long as she can put it in her mouth herself. She enjoys taking her own spoon, dipping it into the bowl, and then eating whatever is stuck to the spoon. She's getting surprisingly better at actually "feeding" herself! Mind you, it is not the neatest event, but she sure enjoys herself. She definitely enjoys fruit more than vegetables, which is different from what Tay enjoyed at this stage. Tay didn't care for sweets other than banana and her favorite was probably broccoli, but Ri really enjoys a variety of fruits. She also loves all kinds of meat, but Tay did not care for meat until she was at least 18 months old. It's funny how different the taste preferences are. Thankfully, both are eating well for the time being. Ri's favorite fruit seems to be peaches right now, but it may be because peaches are in season right now and they are just so delicious. The Korean white peaches are amazingly sweet and juicy and when just ripe, so incredibly soft! The whole family enjoys them!
This weekend was a little rough because the girls of the household were all sick, but it looks like Tay's on the full recovery path, Ri and Mommy are still down for the count, but functioning, somewhat, and Daddy's still going strong. Let's hope we can all be well before next weekend! Ri, even though she was sick, still managed to pull off some adorable pics at her one-year photo session at AIMIN photo studio. Getting antsy for her first birthday party!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Summer has come and gone...almost.
It has been many months since my last post. I'm not certain why exactly; it's not that there haven't been major events or milestones to chart...I just had lost the desire to write. I don't really feel the urge to write like I used to now either, but I'm taking a crack at writing again...just to see if the desire comes back. Perhaps I'll blame it on the new job I got in February...
This is hard.
I guess maybe I could just do a quick rundown of everything that I can remember that happened since the last post in March.
- Tay got off the wait list and into the preschool we wanted her to go to and had her interview for preschool (Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten).
- We made a trip to Cebu as a family of four for the first time, which was EXHAUSTING, but very fun and enjoyed by all. No injuries or burns to speak of from that vacation.
- Had a very very busy Easter weekend, but still managed to get the girls Easter baskets and some funny photos. The thing I remember most about Easter this past year was that the first thing Tay said on Easter morning had something to do with how sad it was that Jesus died, but that He is now awake again! Can't remember the exact phrase she used, but it related quite well to the day. What cued her in? The rosary hanging on my rearview mirror.
- We went to a bunch of baby showers and BBQs.
- We hosted another English camp student while Jeff was gone to Pittsburg - she was wonderful and fun to have around for the week. We also got to hang with some friends from back in the Army days...:) Tay especially enjoyed getting to know some fur-friends.
- The girls had a beautiful photo shoot (albeit chaotic in my mind) with the lovely KWM.
- Took an extremely long trip back to the US. We went to Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire, back to Virginia, and then to Georgia. Phew! Both girls did very well on the trip, but Ri did get an ear infection (second one) and had to go to the ER while we were in NH.
- While in GA, Tay learned how to hold her breath underwater and swing a few yards! It was amazing how quickly she picked up since we were in the water every day! She could swim as long as she could hold her breath...amazed.
- Ri did take her first solo "step" while we were in GA, but nothing more after that while on vacation. She's getting the hang of it now, somewhat, and has taken up to five steps alone, but I think she's still a little too cautious and prefers to crawl for any distance.
- I got to go FISHING in GA and caught enough for dinner that night with my FIL! SO much fun...hope to do it again soon.
- When we got back to Korea, we had some crazy weather and tons and tons of rain, but thankfully, our home and Beth's home was not affected so work continued through the downpours.
- We got to attend a couple birthday parties, too!
- August was a very very busy month because of work related matters, but the most important thing so far that has happened in August is that Shingil Taylor Ryals - my first born child, my baby girl - started preschool! On 9 August 2011, Jeff and I took our sweet girl to her very first day of school at Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten. The teacher told us that the parents could stay for a bit as the class got started on the first day, but Tay was shoo-ing us out the door after having kissed us a dozen times good-bye. Independent lady. I, on the other hand, was not so fine with all this, but kept it together enough to make it to the car and boohoo all the way home and back to work. :( My baby girl is growing up.
So, now that we are somewhat caught up with major happenings, I think, perhaps I'll keep up a little better. Maybe short daily or weekly entries will work better for me than trying to remember exactly what happened every day.
Today was Tay's very first "school assembly" where the parents were invited. It wasn't clear on the newsletter if parents really were supposed to come or not, so I went on the off chance that most parents did go, so Tay wouldn't feel like we missed it! Anyhow, I'm very glad I did because when I walked into the hall, she was clearly looking for someone to walk through the door and was so very glad to see me. This was all good and all, but some of those young kids were quite upset at seeing their parents and started crying for their mommies...this, I think, upset Tay as well and she realized she wanted her mom, too...right when her class was to go up and do their little presentation. Well, she did get up there with her little eyes watery, but once their song got started, she went right along and did her part. Afterward, she came back and I gave her a big hug and sat on the floor with her for a bit before taking off to go back to work. Phew. Meltdown avoided. What a milestone!
Tonight is Jeff and my very first open house as parents! Excited and anxious at the same time...
This is hard.
I guess maybe I could just do a quick rundown of everything that I can remember that happened since the last post in March.
- Tay got off the wait list and into the preschool we wanted her to go to and had her interview for preschool (Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten).
- We made a trip to Cebu as a family of four for the first time, which was EXHAUSTING, but very fun and enjoyed by all. No injuries or burns to speak of from that vacation.
- Had a very very busy Easter weekend, but still managed to get the girls Easter baskets and some funny photos. The thing I remember most about Easter this past year was that the first thing Tay said on Easter morning had something to do with how sad it was that Jesus died, but that He is now awake again! Can't remember the exact phrase she used, but it related quite well to the day. What cued her in? The rosary hanging on my rearview mirror.
- We went to a bunch of baby showers and BBQs.
- We hosted another English camp student while Jeff was gone to Pittsburg - she was wonderful and fun to have around for the week. We also got to hang with some friends from back in the Army days...:) Tay especially enjoyed getting to know some fur-friends.
- The girls had a beautiful photo shoot (albeit chaotic in my mind) with the lovely KWM.
- Took an extremely long trip back to the US. We went to Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire, back to Virginia, and then to Georgia. Phew! Both girls did very well on the trip, but Ri did get an ear infection (second one) and had to go to the ER while we were in NH.
- While in GA, Tay learned how to hold her breath underwater and swing a few yards! It was amazing how quickly she picked up since we were in the water every day! She could swim as long as she could hold her breath...amazed.
- Ri did take her first solo "step" while we were in GA, but nothing more after that while on vacation. She's getting the hang of it now, somewhat, and has taken up to five steps alone, but I think she's still a little too cautious and prefers to crawl for any distance.
- I got to go FISHING in GA and caught enough for dinner that night with my FIL! SO much fun...hope to do it again soon.
- When we got back to Korea, we had some crazy weather and tons and tons of rain, but thankfully, our home and Beth's home was not affected so work continued through the downpours.
- We got to attend a couple birthday parties, too!
- August was a very very busy month because of work related matters, but the most important thing so far that has happened in August is that Shingil Taylor Ryals - my first born child, my baby girl - started preschool! On 9 August 2011, Jeff and I took our sweet girl to her very first day of school at Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten. The teacher told us that the parents could stay for a bit as the class got started on the first day, but Tay was shoo-ing us out the door after having kissed us a dozen times good-bye. Independent lady. I, on the other hand, was not so fine with all this, but kept it together enough to make it to the car and boohoo all the way home and back to work. :( My baby girl is growing up.
So, now that we are somewhat caught up with major happenings, I think, perhaps I'll keep up a little better. Maybe short daily or weekly entries will work better for me than trying to remember exactly what happened every day.
Today was Tay's very first "school assembly" where the parents were invited. It wasn't clear on the newsletter if parents really were supposed to come or not, so I went on the off chance that most parents did go, so Tay wouldn't feel like we missed it! Anyhow, I'm very glad I did because when I walked into the hall, she was clearly looking for someone to walk through the door and was so very glad to see me. This was all good and all, but some of those young kids were quite upset at seeing their parents and started crying for their mommies...this, I think, upset Tay as well and she realized she wanted her mom, too...right when her class was to go up and do their little presentation. Well, she did get up there with her little eyes watery, but once their song got started, she went right along and did her part. Afterward, she came back and I gave her a big hug and sat on the floor with her for a bit before taking off to go back to work. Phew. Meltdown avoided. What a milestone!
Tonight is Jeff and my very first open house as parents! Excited and anxious at the same time...
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Eight Months Old...
I am a complete blogging slacker now. I can't help it. I'm just too busy at work and too tired when I get home, so there is just no time to write about my crazy beautiful children. What can I do? I am trying to at least keep up and write at LEAST once a month, but if I wait that long, then I end up missing a bunch of interesting stories because too much time has lapsed...
::sigh::
Okay, now that I am done sulking, let's get on with the entry.
The past month has been a "growing" one for Riley...not necessarily in the physical growth, but definitely in cognitive growth and experiential growth. Since the last post, we made our trip to Cebu, and it was fantastic, albeit EXHAUSTING. We spent a week at Plantation Bay, and we had a blast. Ri LOVED being in the water and would splash and splash while I carried her around. She didn't care too much for the float (or maybe I didn't care too much for the float because she would just suck the water off the part near her mouth) so I did most of the "floating" for her. Although we didn't get a good video or picture, we also used the "infant lifejacket" and she was actually floating there on her back in the lagoon by herself and when we said kick-kick-kick, she'd kick and Jeff made the flapping motion with his arms and said "move your arms, too!" she did! It was so adorable...I only wish we had our waterproof camera CHARGED. arg.
She didn't care too much for the sunscreen, but it had to be done with her sensitive and fair skin; luckily, neither girls got any sunburn the entire trip! She did pretty well with keep her hat on her head. We were able to get some really cute pictures. She didn't like being thrown in the air as much as Tay did when she was her age. She prefered the splash down and I think she enjoyed the slides (since I couldn't really see her face coming down).
---
Development. Riley has grown leaps and bounds in the cognitive development. She has mastered the "mama" and "dada" and has recently even started saying "ata" for Tita! If you say, "bye-bye" and wave, she'll raise her hand and say "ba-ba-ba." She knows if she bangs on something, it's going to make a sound, and she LOVES to do that. She's a complete copycat, too! If you stick your tongue out, she'll do it right back. If you blow a rasberry, she'll do it over and over! If you squint your eyes, she'll squint her eyes (and make a funny face), and if you go to kiss her, she'll open her mouth and try to eat you. :)
In the physical development, she has finally figured out the forward crawl so she is quite mobile. She combines the forward crawl with the roll and backward scoot to get exactly where she wants. Babyproofing the house has begun. I am finding it is MUCH HARDER to babyproof with a toddler in the house! Her fine motor skills are developing nicely as well. She can now pick up a Cheerio-sized piece of food with her pincer grab and get it into her mouth (most of the time). She has also almost gotten down the "flying kiss"...but she usually gets distracted once the hand is at the mouth and starts biting or blowing rasberries on her hand instead of letting the "kiss" fly.
I know this post is a bit rushed, but at least it's somewhat written, no? Man, I really need to put in more time to write...I miss it.
::sigh::
Okay, now that I am done sulking, let's get on with the entry.
The past month has been a "growing" one for Riley...not necessarily in the physical growth, but definitely in cognitive growth and experiential growth. Since the last post, we made our trip to Cebu, and it was fantastic, albeit EXHAUSTING. We spent a week at Plantation Bay, and we had a blast. Ri LOVED being in the water and would splash and splash while I carried her around. She didn't care too much for the float (or maybe I didn't care too much for the float because she would just suck the water off the part near her mouth) so I did most of the "floating" for her. Although we didn't get a good video or picture, we also used the "infant lifejacket" and she was actually floating there on her back in the lagoon by herself and when we said kick-kick-kick, she'd kick and Jeff made the flapping motion with his arms and said "move your arms, too!" she did! It was so adorable...I only wish we had our waterproof camera CHARGED. arg.
She didn't care too much for the sunscreen, but it had to be done with her sensitive and fair skin; luckily, neither girls got any sunburn the entire trip! She did pretty well with keep her hat on her head. We were able to get some really cute pictures. She didn't like being thrown in the air as much as Tay did when she was her age. She prefered the splash down and I think she enjoyed the slides (since I couldn't really see her face coming down).
---
Development. Riley has grown leaps and bounds in the cognitive development. She has mastered the "mama" and "dada" and has recently even started saying "ata" for Tita! If you say, "bye-bye" and wave, she'll raise her hand and say "ba-ba-ba." She knows if she bangs on something, it's going to make a sound, and she LOVES to do that. She's a complete copycat, too! If you stick your tongue out, she'll do it right back. If you blow a rasberry, she'll do it over and over! If you squint your eyes, she'll squint her eyes (and make a funny face), and if you go to kiss her, she'll open her mouth and try to eat you. :)
In the physical development, she has finally figured out the forward crawl so she is quite mobile. She combines the forward crawl with the roll and backward scoot to get exactly where she wants. Babyproofing the house has begun. I am finding it is MUCH HARDER to babyproof with a toddler in the house! Her fine motor skills are developing nicely as well. She can now pick up a Cheerio-sized piece of food with her pincer grab and get it into her mouth (most of the time). She has also almost gotten down the "flying kiss"...but she usually gets distracted once the hand is at the mouth and starts biting or blowing rasberries on her hand instead of letting the "kiss" fly.
I know this post is a bit rushed, but at least it's somewhat written, no? Man, I really need to put in more time to write...I miss it.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Almost seven months!
Let's see...Riley's now almost seven months old and next week, she'll be making her first flight to Cebu, Philippines. She's a little behind her sister in that Tay flew back to the US when she was 2.5 months old, Thailand at 6 months old, and Philippines at 9 months old. For some reason, we travelled a LOT that first year of Tay's life. I guess it's true that with two kids, it's harder to travel (and a lot more expensive, too!). Not to worry, Riley, because you'll get plenty of sky miles in your first year, too, because we're also heading back to the US this summer!
Anyhow, just wanted to write a quick blurb about what she's up to lately. She got sick sick for the first time last week where she was running a low-grade fever for about four or five days, but we didn't need to medicate because it never went above 101 degrees and she would cool down fairly quickly with a wet wash cloth and some down dressing. It all started with a little cough on Friday. Coughed a few more times on Saturday, but Saturday night, she couldn't keep any food down so she threw up about five or six times in the middle of the night. Yes, this made for two clothing and sheet changes, but after that I learned my lesson and finally just got a giant bowl and had it next to me as I held her so I could hang her over it. Survived the rest of the night catching the contents of her tiny tummy. I would have been more concerned if she was lethargic or wasn't wetting her diaper, but she continued to want to eat, her nursing was strong, and whenever she did get a bit of sleep, she would wake up happy and energetic. Long story short, Sunday, she started her low-grade fever with her continued cough, but again, no change in attitude or energy level from the little one and still nursing strong. Monday, she was able to keep down some solid food and more nursing, so it looked like she was on the up-swing, but she just wasn't shaking the fever. She ended up having a huge diarrhea diaper, and then her fever went down for a bit, and she seemed back to normal and then she got the snots. Yuck.
Anyhow, long story short, she's almost better; the fever is gone now and she's got the lingering cough and a snotty nose. But...now I think Daddy and big sister are getting sick. Arg...I hate when we share bugs.
On a happier note, Riley now calls me UMMA! Mostly when she's whiny. Like if she wants me to pick her up and I'm not moving fast enough, she goes "Ummmmma" in her sad little sick voice. She has also mastered the "bye-bye" wave...but she'll rarely pick up her arm to do it. She'll just open and shut her right hand. If you lift it for her, she'll wave perfectly and on cue. She also has figured out how to look really sad without actually crying so she'll squint her eyes and pout her lips and make a sound like "hmmhmmhmm" and then she'll open her eyes to check to make sure you're looking at her. If you're not looking at her or making an effort to "help" her, she will then shut her eyes again, open her mouth and let out a yell. Then, she'll open her eyes again and look at you once more to see if you're moving. This will go on for a bit before she actually gets mad and cries, but it's so darn cute when she does it, I can't help but just watch her to see her doing it again and again! Bad mama...
Riley also has figured out almost how to get from a tummy position into the sitting position, but she has not yet figured out how to get on all fours...it's weird how that works. I suspect she'll be crawling in the next couple weeks because she's quite the scooter and most of the time it's backwards, but every so often she'll scoot forward.
She now has two teeth, too! Both on the bottom. I can't believe this child has two teeth already! Tay didn't have her first tooth until she was seven months!
Anyhow, luckily, even through sickness, I have a very happy child, so I look forward to next week's vacation with the family. Work has been so TIME CONSUMING. Ugh.
Happy weekend!
Anyhow, just wanted to write a quick blurb about what she's up to lately. She got sick sick for the first time last week where she was running a low-grade fever for about four or five days, but we didn't need to medicate because it never went above 101 degrees and she would cool down fairly quickly with a wet wash cloth and some down dressing. It all started with a little cough on Friday. Coughed a few more times on Saturday, but Saturday night, she couldn't keep any food down so she threw up about five or six times in the middle of the night. Yes, this made for two clothing and sheet changes, but after that I learned my lesson and finally just got a giant bowl and had it next to me as I held her so I could hang her over it. Survived the rest of the night catching the contents of her tiny tummy. I would have been more concerned if she was lethargic or wasn't wetting her diaper, but she continued to want to eat, her nursing was strong, and whenever she did get a bit of sleep, she would wake up happy and energetic. Long story short, Sunday, she started her low-grade fever with her continued cough, but again, no change in attitude or energy level from the little one and still nursing strong. Monday, she was able to keep down some solid food and more nursing, so it looked like she was on the up-swing, but she just wasn't shaking the fever. She ended up having a huge diarrhea diaper, and then her fever went down for a bit, and she seemed back to normal and then she got the snots. Yuck.
Anyhow, long story short, she's almost better; the fever is gone now and she's got the lingering cough and a snotty nose. But...now I think Daddy and big sister are getting sick. Arg...I hate when we share bugs.
On a happier note, Riley now calls me UMMA! Mostly when she's whiny. Like if she wants me to pick her up and I'm not moving fast enough, she goes "Ummmmma" in her sad little sick voice. She has also mastered the "bye-bye" wave...but she'll rarely pick up her arm to do it. She'll just open and shut her right hand. If you lift it for her, she'll wave perfectly and on cue. She also has figured out how to look really sad without actually crying so she'll squint her eyes and pout her lips and make a sound like "hmmhmmhmm" and then she'll open her eyes to check to make sure you're looking at her. If you're not looking at her or making an effort to "help" her, she will then shut her eyes again, open her mouth and let out a yell. Then, she'll open her eyes again and look at you once more to see if you're moving. This will go on for a bit before she actually gets mad and cries, but it's so darn cute when she does it, I can't help but just watch her to see her doing it again and again! Bad mama...
Riley also has figured out almost how to get from a tummy position into the sitting position, but she has not yet figured out how to get on all fours...it's weird how that works. I suspect she'll be crawling in the next couple weeks because she's quite the scooter and most of the time it's backwards, but every so often she'll scoot forward.
She now has two teeth, too! Both on the bottom. I can't believe this child has two teeth already! Tay didn't have her first tooth until she was seven months!
Anyhow, luckily, even through sickness, I have a very happy child, so I look forward to next week's vacation with the family. Work has been so TIME CONSUMING. Ugh.
Happy weekend!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Three Years Old
Well, this is overdue, but I figure better late than never, right? So here goes...
My baby girl, Shingil Taylor Ryals, has turned THREE YEARS OLD. She is now a full-grown toddler just oozing with independence. Quick to tell me "no," but just as quick to run into my arms and tell me, "Momma, don't go to work." Three very short years ago, I walked into the hospital int he morning, saw my giant heap of a belly reduce to about half the size, and saw the most beautiful baby I had ever set eyes on in my life. That little baby, Shingil Taylor Ryals, changed my life - our lives - permanently.
On Thursday, March 10th, I still had to go to work, but I wanted to make sure I sang Happy Birthday to her before I left, so I woke her up and brought her to the kitchen table. Then, I went into the kitchen, put three candles in a Ben&Jerry's mini ice cream cup (Chocolate Fudge Brownie!), lit them, and brought it to her. We sang Happy Birthday, she blew out the candles, gave her a big kiss, and I was off to work. Yes, she got to eat chocolate ice cream for breakfast, but it was her birthday! That evening, I brought home a small princess cake (delicious!) made by the fabulous CakesBySweets Tonia and went over to Beth's house for dinner. Beth made a delicious birthday dinner, we ate, sang Happy Birthday once again and had her blow out another candle. We consumed the delicious red velvet cake and by then, it was the girls' bath time, so we drove home, washed, and went to bed. [Jeff was still down in Daegu supporting exercise at this time, so it was just us.]
Sunday, March 13th, was her scheduled birthday party. What a crazy morning. We got the girls up and ready, drove to pick up the cake and cupcakes from Gerry of ButterSugarCream fame, got lost enroute and almost got wedged between two buildings in a back alley of Itaewon, successfully got the GORGEOUS cakes and cupcakes (that probably took her like 100 hours to make), and finally made it to Olympic Park where Dalki Kid's Restaurant/Amusement was located.
While I set up the room and the cake with Riley, Tay and Daddy got to go play on all the play equipment with almost no one else around! JOY! I can't WAIT to see the pictures taken by the great Close To Home Photography's Jen Lucia!
I expected most folks to show up around 11, so I stood outside near the drive-in gate to the parking lot around 10:30...luckily the weather was NICE. I think had no one gotten lost, everyone would have been there by 11, but about four or five families got lost in the exact same spot (near Lotte World) and I was useless in guiding them in. Luckily, they all found their own way to the location, so the party finally got started around 11:45. The food started to come out...and boy, was that a surprise. A fancy course meal for the kiddos starting with soup and salad? Odd. I should have read the menu better. Anyhow, it was delicious and probably healthier than pizza (if I had a pizza option, I would have gone for that, but nay, that was not an option), although the kids didn't seem to enjoy it much. I will just chalk that up to the fact that they just wanted to get back to playing. :P
Another surprise was that there was a SCHEDULED PLAN for how the party was going to occur...with dressed up characters and all! Who knew??? I clearly did not because I thought maybe they'd come out and wish Shingil a happy birthday and be done with it, but there was an MC who did magic tricks and everything! Unbelieveable. Funny (and a bit sad) thing was that Tay was brought to stand on a chair in front of the cake and we all sang Happy Birthday to her (TWICE! 'cause we didn't sing it enthusiastically enough, apparently), and then after she blew out the candle, she was asked to make a wish. Then the MC asked her what she wished and she said, "I wished to go home." ::sigh::
I think she was having a great time, but I think she was getting tuckered out by that time...it was around 12:30 by then, and she usually naps at 1, so maybe that's what it was.
Another awkwardly funny part was when Sam (of the Withington clan) had to come up (by direction of the MC) and give Tay her first gift. The MC just kept talking and poor Sam was just standing there holding the gift and Tay wasn't receiving it because she was distracted by all the talking...anyhow, I finally just had to tell Tay to receive the gift and say "thank you" so Sam didn't have to keep standing there...::phew::
None of the kids wanted to take pictures with the "characters" that came out (a strawberry gal and a watermelon guy), so that was another odd part of the "party." They just wanted to get back to playing...which they happily did...all of them except...the birthday girl. Hahahaha...when Beth said she was going home, Tay said, "I wanna go with you, Tita." Hey, it's her party, so when she was done, she was done. So, we let her go with Beth and after the rest of the families went home, we closed out the rooms, packed all the lovely birthday presents in the car, went by to pick up Tay from Beth's house, and went straight home. She got to open her presents that night, which she LOVED...and yes, we are still working on thank you cards!
ANYWAY, all in all, I think she and everyone else had a wonderful time at the party, and we thank all of you for coming to celebrate our Shingil Taylor's 3rd birthday! I think maybe next year, we'll probably just do a small birthday at home...this one just WORE ME OUT. And I didn't even have to do any decorating!
Happiest birthday to my Shingil. I love you!!!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
The First Tooth! ...and sitting up.
Poor little Riley has been drooling and biting on things non-stop for the past week or so and now we know why: Riley has cut her very first tooth. It seems a little early for me since Tay didn't cut her first tooth until she turned seven months, but what can you do...
Tay's came with a low-grade fever and a bit of crankiness, but none of the drool and incessant biting(!). Riley had no fever, but she made it very obvious that her gums were itching by chewing and biting on everything to include (but not limited to) her spoon during feeding, her bottles during nursing, ME, and her fingers! Oh, and the drool! Her little mouth had a never-ending leak. :)...
Another milestone she has almost mastered is sitting up by herself (not from a lying down position, although she has been working ever-so-hard on those flutter kicks). She's very good at the "tri-pod" and now prefers that to any other placement (not her back, not her tummy). I still try and avoid sitting her up after she has eaten or nursed because she still doesn't sit up quite straight, so some of it comes right up when squished properly...ugh. Her back strength is getting very good, I think because she LOVED tummy time for a while, so she always wanted to be on her belly. I got a few really cute video clips of her sitting up and toppling over, but I want to merge them together because watching them in series is just that much funnier...if I can figure out how to do it.
Yay for developing! She's already starting to scoot around on her belly (with every bit of strength she has in that little body) and grunts all the while, but she doesn't get far...yet. She hasn't figured out that if her face is down on the mat, it's gonna hurt if she scoots too far. I'm hoping her "inch worm" maneuver transitions into a more of a face-up low crawl soon.
OH! I also forgot to mention that she CLEARLY knows who "Umma" is...if you ask, "Where's Umma?" she'll turn her head and look around for me and when our eyes meet, she gets this HUGE goofy grin on her face...then she tucks her little chin down to her chest and squints her eyes with a smile like she's being bashful or something...hehehehe...adorable. Riley's just starting to grow out of that immobile newborn phase and about to move into the uber-cute melt-your-heart charmer phase...Tay went through that transition and can still melt your heart in the blink of an eye...now we're gonna have TWO of them in the house! How am I going to get anything done?!?
Well, we've got another fun-filled weekend ahead of us, so here's to hitting a few more milestones! Yay, Riley!
Tay's came with a low-grade fever and a bit of crankiness, but none of the drool and incessant biting(!). Riley had no fever, but she made it very obvious that her gums were itching by chewing and biting on everything to include (but not limited to) her spoon during feeding, her bottles during nursing, ME, and her fingers! Oh, and the drool! Her little mouth had a never-ending leak. :)...
Another milestone she has almost mastered is sitting up by herself (not from a lying down position, although she has been working ever-so-hard on those flutter kicks). She's very good at the "tri-pod" and now prefers that to any other placement (not her back, not her tummy). I still try and avoid sitting her up after she has eaten or nursed because she still doesn't sit up quite straight, so some of it comes right up when squished properly...ugh. Her back strength is getting very good, I think because she LOVED tummy time for a while, so she always wanted to be on her belly. I got a few really cute video clips of her sitting up and toppling over, but I want to merge them together because watching them in series is just that much funnier...if I can figure out how to do it.
Yay for developing! She's already starting to scoot around on her belly (with every bit of strength she has in that little body) and grunts all the while, but she doesn't get far...yet. She hasn't figured out that if her face is down on the mat, it's gonna hurt if she scoots too far. I'm hoping her "inch worm" maneuver transitions into a more of a face-up low crawl soon.
OH! I also forgot to mention that she CLEARLY knows who "Umma" is...if you ask, "Where's Umma?" she'll turn her head and look around for me and when our eyes meet, she gets this HUGE goofy grin on her face...then she tucks her little chin down to her chest and squints her eyes with a smile like she's being bashful or something...hehehehe...adorable. Riley's just starting to grow out of that immobile newborn phase and about to move into the uber-cute melt-your-heart charmer phase...Tay went through that transition and can still melt your heart in the blink of an eye...now we're gonna have TWO of them in the house! How am I going to get anything done?!?
Well, we've got another fun-filled weekend ahead of us, so here's to hitting a few more milestones! Yay, Riley!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Date with Shingil
Yesterday, 27 Feb 2011, was a long-overdue Mommy-Shingil date since probably before I got pregnant with Shinah. We've always done things as a family whenever we had time off, and yes, Tay and I did stuff together when Jeff went away for exercise, but for me, it was mostly to fill time for her so she doesn't get stressed (and I don't get stressed) about missing Daddy. What we did yesterday was something entirely different. The day focused on her and her alone...and she's been needing this for at least the past five months.
As usual, Riley woke up around 6am so instead of just going to the living room as I usually do, I just went into the guest bedroom so we wouldn't disturb Tay from her slumber. She got to sleep in until 8:15 when she woke up on her own in a fantastic mood. Great start to the day! We got ready and were out the door by 9:15. We went straight to Beth's house to drop off Riley, and then we were off to start our mommy-daughter date. I was a little concerned that the rainy weather would put a damper on our day, but we decided to make it fun instead by trying to dodge the rain, splashing in puddles along the way, and driving safely. ;)
First, we went to the DHL for breakfast. We just went down to the bakery and I let her pick out whatever she wanted, so she chose a donut with chocolate glaze and sprinkles ("because [she] loooooves chocolate!"). I got myself a cinnamon roll. We some milk, too. We ate it right there in front of the bakery chatting about what we were going to do today. We finished our happy breakfast and we went to our next destination - the salon! We were going to get our nails done. :) She was so excited...this was her second or third time getting her nails done at the salon...so we got seated and they started. They first had her pick out what color nail polish she wanted with an array of different colors and as the lady flipped the pages, she pointed out a few she liked, but ultimately she settled on an unbelievably bright pink shade and then proceeded to ask me what color I would like. Then she asked if I would like pink, too. Okay! :) I thought, wouldn't it be nice for both of us to have the same color. Day-glow pink. Yeah!
After our pampering session at the salon, we make a quick stop at the toy store to take a look around, "dodged" the rain and made it to the PX to pick up some batteries and a pack of M&Ms (to keep her awake in the car ride to our destination), and "dodged" back to the car...only partially soaked. Who needs umbrellas anyway?
We plugged in our destination into the navigator, turned on some Disney princess music, and we were off to our special destination - Hello Kitty Town! She didn't know where we were going, to it was fun to keep her guessing, even up until we got all the way to the parking garage. She still had no idea (the signs are not so obvious). When we got there, we found a great parking spot (or so I thought) and then proceeded to get a little lost on our way to Hello Kitty Town. We went up and down a couple escalators and elevators...then finally found the right elevator that spit us out RIGHT in Hello Kitty Town! :) Now I know.
Hello Kitty Town...what a WONDERFUL place! It's definitely on a smaller scope than the Dalki Farmer's Kids Cafe, but it also had much less traffic (and younger kids) than Dalki, which worked great for me. Getting there is longer, but it's actually because of distance and not traffic. It's about 30km away, but pretty much a straight shot instead of a bunch of turns and such. Anyhow, on with the place. The play area, I think, is smaller than Dalki, but the seating area is much larger...or at least it seemed like it was because perhaps there were fewer people. There are a couple different ball pits, a train ride (just for the little ones), trampoline areas, small slides and climbing things, a book/puzzles/games/blocks room, and a dress up room with a few different outfits for the kids to wear around. Tay's favorite was this floor-length Cinderella dress. There was a full length mirror for her to admire herself, and she did that for about five minutes...turning and looking and turning and looking...very cute. While she was doing that, a little boy...probably about five years old...was watching her as his little siblings were getting dressed up, too...apparently he was quite taken with her many facial expressions in the mirror because after that, he'd periodically show up where ever she was playing and just watch her play with this goofy little grin on his face. He never did approach her or anything...the closest interaction they got was when they were in the ball pit and she was putting some in her "basket"...he helped her load up the basket a couple times and just grinned the entire time. It was really cute to watch...she said "hi" to him a couple of times, but I think it just made him grin even wider. He was clearly smitten. Back to the dress...it was slightly too long for her, but she loved it nonetheless, so she wore it around pretty much the entire time we were there. It got in her way when she tried climbing much of the equipment, but she still wanted to leave it on, so I let her...since it was her day. Just had to keep watching in case she slipped. For lunch we just shared a crispy chicken salad, fries (not impressive), and a mud ice cream pie slice. Delicious. Tay was so busy playing, she didn't want to sit down to eat!
Finally, when it was time to go, she REALLY didn't want to go, but she was so tired and on the verge of getting really cranky. I told her she could pick out two things she wanted from the store before we left, so she agreed and picked stickers and a small Hello Kitty cup. I promised her we'd come back soon so we could play some more. We made our way down to the car, buckled her up in her car seat, turned on some princess music again, and we were off. Five minutes after getting on the road, the Tay was out cold and slept the entire way back to pick up Riley. It took us about 30 minutes to get there with no traffic and it took us about 45 minutes to get back...with traffic. Not bad for a RAINY day. :)
My sweet sweet girl...we really needed that time together. My goal is to give her a little more personalized attention every day, even if it's only after Riley goes down for the night. I must get back to my rule of "no computer or internet (to include smartphone) while the girls are awake...especially during the week. So...please don't be surprised if I don't respond or see your email until late at night or only during the work day. I need to focus more on my kids...I miss out too much while I'm at work...::sigh::
I love you, Shingil Taylor Ryals.
As usual, Riley woke up around 6am so instead of just going to the living room as I usually do, I just went into the guest bedroom so we wouldn't disturb Tay from her slumber. She got to sleep in until 8:15 when she woke up on her own in a fantastic mood. Great start to the day! We got ready and were out the door by 9:15. We went straight to Beth's house to drop off Riley, and then we were off to start our mommy-daughter date. I was a little concerned that the rainy weather would put a damper on our day, but we decided to make it fun instead by trying to dodge the rain, splashing in puddles along the way, and driving safely. ;)
First, we went to the DHL for breakfast. We just went down to the bakery and I let her pick out whatever she wanted, so she chose a donut with chocolate glaze and sprinkles ("because [she] loooooves chocolate!"). I got myself a cinnamon roll. We some milk, too. We ate it right there in front of the bakery chatting about what we were going to do today. We finished our happy breakfast and we went to our next destination - the salon! We were going to get our nails done. :) She was so excited...this was her second or third time getting her nails done at the salon...so we got seated and they started. They first had her pick out what color nail polish she wanted with an array of different colors and as the lady flipped the pages, she pointed out a few she liked, but ultimately she settled on an unbelievably bright pink shade and then proceeded to ask me what color I would like. Then she asked if I would like pink, too. Okay! :) I thought, wouldn't it be nice for both of us to have the same color. Day-glow pink. Yeah!
After our pampering session at the salon, we make a quick stop at the toy store to take a look around, "dodged" the rain and made it to the PX to pick up some batteries and a pack of M&Ms (to keep her awake in the car ride to our destination), and "dodged" back to the car...only partially soaked. Who needs umbrellas anyway?
We plugged in our destination into the navigator, turned on some Disney princess music, and we were off to our special destination - Hello Kitty Town! She didn't know where we were going, to it was fun to keep her guessing, even up until we got all the way to the parking garage. She still had no idea (the signs are not so obvious). When we got there, we found a great parking spot (or so I thought) and then proceeded to get a little lost on our way to Hello Kitty Town. We went up and down a couple escalators and elevators...then finally found the right elevator that spit us out RIGHT in Hello Kitty Town! :) Now I know.
Hello Kitty Town...what a WONDERFUL place! It's definitely on a smaller scope than the Dalki Farmer's Kids Cafe, but it also had much less traffic (and younger kids) than Dalki, which worked great for me. Getting there is longer, but it's actually because of distance and not traffic. It's about 30km away, but pretty much a straight shot instead of a bunch of turns and such. Anyhow, on with the place. The play area, I think, is smaller than Dalki, but the seating area is much larger...or at least it seemed like it was because perhaps there were fewer people. There are a couple different ball pits, a train ride (just for the little ones), trampoline areas, small slides and climbing things, a book/puzzles/games/blocks room, and a dress up room with a few different outfits for the kids to wear around. Tay's favorite was this floor-length Cinderella dress. There was a full length mirror for her to admire herself, and she did that for about five minutes...turning and looking and turning and looking...very cute. While she was doing that, a little boy...probably about five years old...was watching her as his little siblings were getting dressed up, too...apparently he was quite taken with her many facial expressions in the mirror because after that, he'd periodically show up where ever she was playing and just watch her play with this goofy little grin on his face. He never did approach her or anything...the closest interaction they got was when they were in the ball pit and she was putting some in her "basket"...he helped her load up the basket a couple times and just grinned the entire time. It was really cute to watch...she said "hi" to him a couple of times, but I think it just made him grin even wider. He was clearly smitten. Back to the dress...it was slightly too long for her, but she loved it nonetheless, so she wore it around pretty much the entire time we were there. It got in her way when she tried climbing much of the equipment, but she still wanted to leave it on, so I let her...since it was her day. Just had to keep watching in case she slipped. For lunch we just shared a crispy chicken salad, fries (not impressive), and a mud ice cream pie slice. Delicious. Tay was so busy playing, she didn't want to sit down to eat!
Finally, when it was time to go, she REALLY didn't want to go, but she was so tired and on the verge of getting really cranky. I told her she could pick out two things she wanted from the store before we left, so she agreed and picked stickers and a small Hello Kitty cup. I promised her we'd come back soon so we could play some more. We made our way down to the car, buckled her up in her car seat, turned on some princess music again, and we were off. Five minutes after getting on the road, the Tay was out cold and slept the entire way back to pick up Riley. It took us about 30 minutes to get there with no traffic and it took us about 45 minutes to get back...with traffic. Not bad for a RAINY day. :)
My sweet sweet girl...we really needed that time together. My goal is to give her a little more personalized attention every day, even if it's only after Riley goes down for the night. I must get back to my rule of "no computer or internet (to include smartphone) while the girls are awake...especially during the week. So...please don't be surprised if I don't respond or see your email until late at night or only during the work day. I need to focus more on my kids...I miss out too much while I'm at work...::sigh::
I love you, Shingil Taylor Ryals.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Lazy Momma?
Perhaps I have become lazy now that I have two little girls to write about except one...
I feel sorry that I can't capture every developmental milestone like I did for Tay, but the world still knows what's going on because of Facebook. I think because it's so much easier to write short status rather than writing a whole blog entry for each event, I have resorted to doing that to let people know what's going on with our little family. Anyhow, that's just lazy, I think, on my part...so I really ought to get on it and write. Enough making excuses and on with the post...
Since November, Riley has hit quite a few milestones. She has grown like a weed, of course. At her two month check-up, she weighed over 15 pounds and was already rolling from belly to back. At her four month check up, she was 17 pounds and 10 ounces and rolling in both directions. We thought we had a thumb-sucker on our hands because for a while she constantly sucked her hands and her thumb, but now she has relinquished the thumb and just licks her hands or whatever happens to be near her mouth and sometimes she sucks it for a few moments and then resumes licking. Riley must have been born with an appetite for solids because even before she was three months old, she would drool and demand whatever food we were eating. We got a really hilarious video of her getting mad while her sister ate a cheese stick right in front of her without sharing. I decided to start her on solids just a little past her four-month birthday, and it has been hugely successful. I made my own rice soup for her and she ate it like a champ. One day after work, I was so hungry I was eating a pita and dipping it in some homemade hummus. Riley was watching me and drooling a waterfall...and then she started getting mad that I wasn't sharing. I decided to give her a taste, so I dipped my finger in the hummus and let her taste...oh my. She LOVED it. She was demanding more. I didn't think she could handle a lot yet, so I just gave her one more dipped finger, and she grabbed my hand as soon as she saw it and shoved my finger in her mouth! I knew she was definitely ready for more than just rice soup. Then, we introduced green beans and rice puree, which she loved even more. We introduced some prunes as well because she hadn't poo-ed in more days than I was used to...she made some interesting faces to that, but she did get to liking it. She has also had a couple tastes of banana, too, as Tay and I made some banana muffins one evening. :)
Riley seems to enjoy getting read to...especially if she can see the books and the colorful pages. I enjoy lying in between my girls and reading a book to them together...it doesn't last super-long, but it's so wonderful while it lasts.
I'd like to mention here that this post is not chronologically arranged...I'm just writing as I remember.
Christmas was a blast with the two kids. Of course it would have been nice to see some family, but it was also very nice having a nice cozy Christmas, just the four of us. Christmas was even more fun this year than last because Tay had a blast opening all the great presents she got and even helped Riley open her presents. We had a nice lazy day. I absolutely love the Christmas season.
Shortly after Christmas, on 29 December 2010 to be precise, Riley turned 100 days old so we got a little cake, dressed the girls up in pretty dresses and had our own little party in the comfort of our home. Also, that day marked the first day that Riley rolled from back to front! What another great way to mark a milestone. On a side-note, we didn't do a big 100-day celebration because our entire household was recovering from the sniffles...that nasty cough lingered for over two weeks! Yuck. For the first time ever, I had to suction a baby's nose so she could eat easier. Poor thing.
2011 arrived and I made us dduk-guk for dinner that night. I can't remember what we did that morning during the day, though...why?
I've noticed that Riley really enjoys being on her tummy for the most part. She sometimes seems to prefer being on her belly rather than her back. Perhaps it's because she's on her back the majority of the time, but she definitely gets a kick out of rolling over on to her belly and looking around. Now her arm strength is getting much stronger so she rotates on her belly as she needs to to reach toys and such. Just recently, (mid Feb) she has started to scoot on her belly by doing the "inch worm"...she puts her face down on the mat, scoots her behind up in the air, then pushes forward with her knees on her belly and face. She doesn't scoot far, so I'm not so concerned that she'll get mat-burn on her face, but it's a concern that we'll probably have soon enough...ugh.
This past weekend was the Coex Baby Fair. Riley and I were "live" models to demonstrate the use of the Moby Wrap for two shifts - Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. It was quite an adventure with SO many people, but because she's just so darn cute, she made an excellent model because everyone would first look at her and then ask me about the wrap! :) It worked out well...hopefully we helped make some sales.
Well, in other news, I have changed jobs and this week will be my first week at the new job. It'll be a steep learning curve, I think, but I will enjoy the challenge! Hopefully this job will also motivate me to write a bit more regularly...maybe. Or maybe it'll have me so busy I'll give up writing all together!!! Hopefully not...
Looking forward to another great month with my family and my ever-growing sweet baby girl. Happy five month birthday, Shinah Riley!
I feel sorry that I can't capture every developmental milestone like I did for Tay, but the world still knows what's going on because of Facebook. I think because it's so much easier to write short status rather than writing a whole blog entry for each event, I have resorted to doing that to let people know what's going on with our little family. Anyhow, that's just lazy, I think, on my part...so I really ought to get on it and write. Enough making excuses and on with the post...
Since November, Riley has hit quite a few milestones. She has grown like a weed, of course. At her two month check-up, she weighed over 15 pounds and was already rolling from belly to back. At her four month check up, she was 17 pounds and 10 ounces and rolling in both directions. We thought we had a thumb-sucker on our hands because for a while she constantly sucked her hands and her thumb, but now she has relinquished the thumb and just licks her hands or whatever happens to be near her mouth and sometimes she sucks it for a few moments and then resumes licking. Riley must have been born with an appetite for solids because even before she was three months old, she would drool and demand whatever food we were eating. We got a really hilarious video of her getting mad while her sister ate a cheese stick right in front of her without sharing. I decided to start her on solids just a little past her four-month birthday, and it has been hugely successful. I made my own rice soup for her and she ate it like a champ. One day after work, I was so hungry I was eating a pita and dipping it in some homemade hummus. Riley was watching me and drooling a waterfall...and then she started getting mad that I wasn't sharing. I decided to give her a taste, so I dipped my finger in the hummus and let her taste...oh my. She LOVED it. She was demanding more. I didn't think she could handle a lot yet, so I just gave her one more dipped finger, and she grabbed my hand as soon as she saw it and shoved my finger in her mouth! I knew she was definitely ready for more than just rice soup. Then, we introduced green beans and rice puree, which she loved even more. We introduced some prunes as well because she hadn't poo-ed in more days than I was used to...she made some interesting faces to that, but she did get to liking it. She has also had a couple tastes of banana, too, as Tay and I made some banana muffins one evening. :)
Riley seems to enjoy getting read to...especially if she can see the books and the colorful pages. I enjoy lying in between my girls and reading a book to them together...it doesn't last super-long, but it's so wonderful while it lasts.
I'd like to mention here that this post is not chronologically arranged...I'm just writing as I remember.
Christmas was a blast with the two kids. Of course it would have been nice to see some family, but it was also very nice having a nice cozy Christmas, just the four of us. Christmas was even more fun this year than last because Tay had a blast opening all the great presents she got and even helped Riley open her presents. We had a nice lazy day. I absolutely love the Christmas season.
Shortly after Christmas, on 29 December 2010 to be precise, Riley turned 100 days old so we got a little cake, dressed the girls up in pretty dresses and had our own little party in the comfort of our home. Also, that day marked the first day that Riley rolled from back to front! What another great way to mark a milestone. On a side-note, we didn't do a big 100-day celebration because our entire household was recovering from the sniffles...that nasty cough lingered for over two weeks! Yuck. For the first time ever, I had to suction a baby's nose so she could eat easier. Poor thing.
2011 arrived and I made us dduk-guk for dinner that night. I can't remember what we did that morning during the day, though...why?
I've noticed that Riley really enjoys being on her tummy for the most part. She sometimes seems to prefer being on her belly rather than her back. Perhaps it's because she's on her back the majority of the time, but she definitely gets a kick out of rolling over on to her belly and looking around. Now her arm strength is getting much stronger so she rotates on her belly as she needs to to reach toys and such. Just recently, (mid Feb) she has started to scoot on her belly by doing the "inch worm"...she puts her face down on the mat, scoots her behind up in the air, then pushes forward with her knees on her belly and face. She doesn't scoot far, so I'm not so concerned that she'll get mat-burn on her face, but it's a concern that we'll probably have soon enough...ugh.
This past weekend was the Coex Baby Fair. Riley and I were "live" models to demonstrate the use of the Moby Wrap for two shifts - Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. It was quite an adventure with SO many people, but because she's just so darn cute, she made an excellent model because everyone would first look at her and then ask me about the wrap! :) It worked out well...hopefully we helped make some sales.
Well, in other news, I have changed jobs and this week will be my first week at the new job. It'll be a steep learning curve, I think, but I will enjoy the challenge! Hopefully this job will also motivate me to write a bit more regularly...maybe. Or maybe it'll have me so busy I'll give up writing all together!!! Hopefully not...
Looking forward to another great month with my family and my ever-growing sweet baby girl. Happy five month birthday, Shinah Riley!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)