Back to work and new kitchen

Friday, June 18th was my first day back at work. I had been dreading that day because I knew that it'll take quite an adjustment to get into a new routine. At the same time, I was looking forward to it because I was getting lonely being at home all the time. We started out kitchen remodel on June 1st and I was praying that the remodel would finish before I get back to work. Luckily, it wasn't too much behind schedule and finished on the day that I went back to work.

This last whole week, I was worried sick about Max because he had been refusing to take a bottle! At times, he would cry for 30 minutes and not drink. As soon as you take the bottle away, he would stop crying. I couldn't believe that he stopped taking a bottle because he didn't have any problems with it before. It seems like he changed his mind just as I was about to go back. So last week, I'd try to give him a bottle twice a day and I would be so happy if he would drink from it. On Friday, Max spent half the day at Rick's mom's house and half the day at Auntie Betsy's house. He cried a little bit at one of his feedings but otherwise he did OK. I was so relieved to hear that. Next Monday, it'll be Max's first day with our part time nanny. I really, really hope it goes well.

Here's a cute picture of Jalen holding Max. It's been so sweet seeing these two start to interact. Max really reacts to Jalen's voice I think because it's at a higher pitch. Sometimes, Jalen talks to Max and makes him laugh out loud. So Jalen keeps doing it and Max just goes gah gah with giggles.

Our kitchen is almost done. We're still waiting for 2 special ordered cabinets to arrive in a few weeks. It's been so much work moving everything out and now re-organizing. I hope soon, I'll finally get to relax and enjoy cooking in my new kitchen.

Max is 4 months old!

I took Max to his check-up on his 4-months birthday last Monday. He was 14lb 12oz and 24 3/4 inches. Both his weight and height are in the 50th percentile. So Max is just an average, healthy boy. I don't know whether it's because I'm an experienced mommy now, or if Max is just more laid back but I find Max is an easier baby than Jalen was at the same age. I've already stopped swaddling Max whereas Jalen was swaddled until about 10 months! I can just put Max down in his crib and he will fall alseep on his own. We always held Jalen until he fell asleep then we'd very, very carefully put him down. If he happened to wake up, we'd immediately pick him up again and rocked him to sleep.

One thing that I'm still working on with Max is getting him to sleep longer at night. Nowadays, Max eats about 6 - 8 times a day, about every 3 - 4 hours. His last feeding of the day is around 8:30pm and he goes to asleep at 9pm. He can sleep until 3am and somethings even 5am! After his 3am feeding, he often wakes up around 5am so I bring him in bed with us. The challenging part nowadays is that daylight starts around 5am. Sometimes Max wakes up Jalen and Jalen hops into bed with us. But since it's so bright, Jalen can't fall alseep. All I can do is hope that Jalen sleeps until a reasonable hour, like 7:30am. I'm going back to work in less than 2 weeks so I'm pretty nervous about how the lack of sleep will affect me at work!

Here's Max in his exercisaucer. He tries to reaches for the buttons but a lot of the time he just ends up chewing on the cloth covering on the harness.


Max smiles all the time now. He loves looking a faces, even strangers. He is the happiest when I take him out for a walk or shopping.

Here's Andy and Aimi's son Rylan, who is about 2 weeks older than Max. Rylan is a big boy, he's already 17lbs!

Here's Auntie Betsy making Max laughing out loud! Max has a laugh that almost sounds like a cough sometimes. I love tickling him to make him laugh!

Max is 16 weeks old!

This is the newest gadget for me...er... I mean for Max. It's the Nap Nanny. I'm hoping that Max will take lots of long naps in it!

Here's Jalen insisting on showing Max how to do tummy time...

I've been trying to consciously give Max more tummy time and he's been doing great!

Happy 3rd birthday Jalen!

After hosting Jalen's 2nd birthday last year at home, I swore that his next birthday party wouldn't be at home. Yet this year, I changed my mind and thought it'd be better to have the party at home instead of at a jungle gym or something. Now, I'm saying again that next year's birthday party won't be at home! We spent Saturday afternoon shopping for groceries, Saturday evening tidying and cleaning, Sunday morning prepping, then Sunday and Monday cleaning up. I think I just recovered from the party on Tuesday. But at least the kids had lots of fun!

I was expecting about 10 - 12 kids aged 2 - 4 at the party so I knew we needed an outlet for all that energy. So this year, we had Dizzy's tumble bus come to our house. It was a good thing that we got the tumble bus too because it was raining at the start of the party.

The kids had a ball, literally. It took them no time to warm up and start having fun. The bus was only here for about 1 hour but it was plenty of time to get them worked up, tired out, then ready for some food and cake.

Jalen went down the slide head first into the balls. He loved it!

This year, for the sake of ease, we got giant cup cakes from Costco. Man, it's a lot of butter and sugar even for an adult!

Happy Mother's Day!

This past Sunday was my first Mother's day as a mother of two. Jalen made a card for me at school that says "I love my mommy so much because she play toys and play Legos". I think the best gift would have been a real day off! But since little Max is still nursing every 3 hours, that day off will just have to wait. We went to brunch with our family then went to the park in the afternoon. The weather was beautiful in Seattle so overall it was a great day.

I was so excited to see how great Jalen is doing on his balance bike. I've been taking him to the park every week and each time he's getting more confident with balancing on his bike. It's such a joy to see how quickly kids learns new things and how fearless they are.

Max is 14 weeks old!

At 14 weeks, Max likes to smile when he has a full tummy. He likes to watch the mobile on his swing but he won't sleep very long in it. He started sucking on his hands and fingers but he still finds his pacifier more comforting. Max loves car rides and stroller rides and in general he loves being out of the house. When I take him out to run errands, he can take long 2 hour naps. At home he only takes 30 minute to 1 hour naps. I've started putting Max down for the night around 9pm in his crib. He can usually fall asleep on his own. This is a great victory for me since I think we held Jalen until he fell asleep when he was this age. It's hard to believe that he's already 3.5 months. I must remind myself everyday to savor this time when he's still little and wants me to hold him as much as possible.

Max is 3 months old!

Max celebrated his 3-months birthday in Vancouver, Canada. This was Max's first trip to Canada. Rick couldn't leave town because of work so he stayed back with Jalen and I took Max by myself. I didn't know what to say to Jalen when I was leaving. He kept on asking "where are you going?" And the only thing I could muster was "I'll be back!" Having just one child to take care of was a piece of cake! I talked to Jalen on the phone when I was in Vancouver and he wasn't too upset about me being away. Phew!


These are the mandatory bath time pictures. I took Jalen to Vancouver by myself when he was around 2 months old and we also took bath photos. My parents kept on comparing Max to Jalen. Finally, I had to tell them, please don't compare them in front of Jalen! You're going to give my kids a complex!


Of course I didn't make it any less easy to compare Max to Jalen. Here Max is wearing Jalen's old Roots Canada shirt for his first trip to Canada. Jalen was in this shirt when he was 1.5 months and here Max is 3 months old. Obviously, Max is a lot smaller than Jalen.

Come on Joming, don't you want one of these cuties too?

Hey there Tina, why are you sooo far away? Come closer and give my cheeks a kiss!

Here's Ivy showing Max lots and lots of huggy love.