Potty Training

Esme's been conscious of the potty since she was almost 18 months old.  For quite some time now she's been going at school with the other kids and at home only before bed.  We've been waiting for her to be ready but never really pushed the issue.  We also didn't want to make too many changes right before Chan was born so we've held off until now.  Allen was working this weekend but I decided to go ahead with potty training anyways since it's not like I was going anywhere else with the two munchkins.  Esme woke up on Saturday and was very excited about going to the potty cause I got her new panties to wear during the day.  And everytime she went she got a sticker on her potty and a mini gummy frog as a reward.  And this system worked great!  By the end of the day she went in the potty 11 times with only one accident.  On Sunday we started out a little rough with 2 accidents initially but then she got into the swing of things again.  She even switched it up with using her stand alone potty, the big potty and her travel potty.  And after awhile she stopped requesting her treat after pottying so that worked great.  I was wondering how I was going to break that habit if I had to.  

Chan's been very patient during this whole process cause so many times while I was nursing him this weekend she'd frantically tell me "I've gotta go pee" and start running to the potty while telling me to "come on, come on!"  She's excited to go to school tomorrow in her panties and I'm sure she'll do fine there too.  Now the pooping on the potty is a whole other story but hopefully we can get that underway soon too.

Esme's 3 potty seats

Sitting outside eating her watermelon

I've got one more week of maternity leave before returning to work.  Amazingly I've been very productive in the past few weeks and getting a lot of projects done.  I've also just been enjoying my one-on-one time with little Chan.  He's quite the little guy!  We're still working on his daily routine and sleeping schedule and I'm hoping daycare will actually help with that too.  He's still so inconsistent but I'm thinking he just needs more time.  

Out to lunch with my little man

One Roll At A Time

Chan Chan can now add rolling over to his list of accomplishments.  He went from his tummy to his back with daddy yesterday and we were all very excited.  He really enjoys his tummy time as long as someone is down there with him and showing him toys and stuff.  He can lift his head and chest off the ground while resting on his forearms for longer periods of time now.

We've been making sure to keep offering him a bottle of my pumped milk once in awhile so that he doesn't have a problem when he starts daycare.  We're two weeks away now so the countdown is on!  I've got about a weeks worth of milk stored in the freezer in case we need it but otherwise I'll just pump at work like I did last time and send that milk with him everyday.

Esme gets really excited when baby Chan smiles and talks to her.  Now we can even see a response from him when she talks to him or gets in his face.  It's so adorable!  Every morning when I drop her at school she very proudly shows everyone her baby brother.  I'm so glad they're both able to attend the same place.

I love spending one-on-one time with Esme when I can nowdays.  This past weekend I took her out for a quick trip to Trader Joe's and Costco.  She was sooooooooooo excited to go shopping with mommy that she was doing the splits in her carseat.  She also wanted to bring along her doggy purse of which she got tons of compliments on.

No Rest For The Weary

We just got back from Hawaii last Tuesday and on Friday night we loaded up the car and took off for Idaho for my cousin Brett & Jamie's wedding.  We decided to drive the 300+ miles instead of flying and that'll probably be the last time we drive that far with young children.  There was no way we could drive straight there since I'd have to nurse Chan at least once each way so the estimated 5+ hour drive turned into an almost 7 hour drive both ways and each way we had to stop twice.  We packed as many distractions as possible for Esme but she got fed up with sitting in her carseat for so long and baby Chan wasn't so happy at times either.  Allen and I switched off driving but I don't know who had it worse, the driver or the front passenger who had to constantly be tending to the kids in the back.

To make matters worse, Chan had his 2 month shots the day before we left and he didn't handle them as well as Esme did at that age.  The afternoon after his shots he cried for what seemed like forever and was only happy when I held him.  He didn't sleep well that night and was very restless.  I started giving him Tylenol and I think it helped the next day but then that afternoon when we left for Idaho he was fussy again and he puked everywhere when we stopped for dinner.  It was a mess!  We brought his travel bed for him to sleep in but he was only happy lying next to me so we shared one queen bed, Allen had the other one to himself and Esme slept in the pack-n-play in the living room of our suite.  We were all over the place!

Once we got a good night sleep we had a lot of fun with aunts, uncles, and cousins on Saturday to make up for the drive.  And Esme got to practice her swimming in the pool since we had such great weather out there.  She's really confident in her puddle jumpers and loves to get right in the water and do lots of spinning.  We also learned that she loves to dance because she was all over the dance floor at the wedding.  Unfortunately we didn't get many wedding pictures because as soon as the ceremony started Esme wanted to go walking around and Chan wanted to eat so Allen and I were both busy.

Swimming with mom

 

Aunt Trina meets baby Chan

This is what Chan did while Esme swam

Esme playing in Chan Chan's travel bed

The boys in their aloha wear

Looking for clovers with Aunty Soonie

Baby Chan and baby Kale meet

Hanging out with cousin Colton after the ceremony

 

Two Months Old

Baby Chan turned two months old yesterday!  It's amazing how much babies change in just such a short time.  Today we had his check up with Dr Hiegel and he met all his milestones - smiling, cooing, holding his head up, tracking, eating every 2-3 hours with a longer stretch at night, etc.  His weight was a whopping 13 pounds 8 ounces (almost double his birth weight!) which put him in the 85th percentile and his height was 23 inches which is the 65th percentile.  Our healthy little boy!

Life with two kids has been a challenge and I think it's finally starting to normalize for us.  I was a little shocked at first how hard it was to juggle the two kids especially when Allen would work the weekends.  And that's with Esme being a great big sister and helper.  She's never once showed any negative emotions towards Chan of which I'm thankful for.

Esme's been slowly adjusting to the 3 hour time zone change from Hawaii.  She's been sleeping in a lot in the mornings but it seems to be getting earlier and earlier each day.  Pretty soon she'll probably be back to her 7am waking.  Bedtime is usually at 7pm but it's been closer to 8 since we got back since it's so nice out in the evening and because she's not quite tired yet.  Tonight we picked the cherries in our backyard as you can see in the pics below.

Chan's sleep schedule didn't seem to be interrupted by our travels.  He's still waking at least once and sometimes twice at night.  Then about once a week he has a bad night and wakes all the time.  I can't even keep track on those nights.  I'm a little worried because he might not be sleeping through the night when I go back to work next month and that might make life a little rough.  

Everyone at Ms Faye's daycare was glad to have Esme return to school.  Apparently the kids asked where she was every day that she was gone.  And Ms Faye said that the teachers missed her too because she's always the one to greet people when they come in the door.  She's really good with the kids and adults names and even has some of the parents names memorized.    

Esme loves the cherries

Cherry picking

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Thanks to Nana & Papa we just got back from the most amazing vacation!  We spent a week at Ko Olina on Oahu with all of Esme & Chan's cousins and my siblings (except for Judd, Ness & newborn Mahina).  We could have been anywhere and would have been happy just to spend time with family but this place made it even better.  We had great weather everyday and made the most of it with walks in the morning, pool or beach time during the day, naps in the afternoon, and beautiful sunsets off the lanai every night.  We also ventured out to the waterpark, aquarium, zoo, and the usual Punchbowl and Oahu Cemetary visits to put flowers on the graves.  And Chan Chan got to celebrate his first 4th of July while we were there.  It was by far the best one we've ever had since we just had to step out onto our lanai in order to see the fireworks.  Esme was a little afraid at first but warmed up to the idea by the end of the show.

Like I mentioned before, sometimes it was a zoo to try and do anything with 9 adults and 8 children under the age of 6 but it was still worth it.  The kids transitioned well to our temporary sleeping arrangements and did fine.  Esme had a pack-n-play in a side room off our master bedroom and we took the travel bed for Chan Chan however he just ended up in bed with us.  Chan Chan slept so much and was held by so many relatives on this trip that I bet he forgot what it feels like to lay down in his swing or bouncer.  Everyone noticed how much he changed during our stay too.  He became much more responsive and started smiling when anyone talked to him.  And not just the Elvis smile but with his whole face and even cooing to go along with it.  He also found his fists and started putting them in his mouth.  It'll be interesting to see if he'll be a thumb sucker like his sister since he's not a very committed pacifier sucker.  At the end of our trip we noticed that Esme's talking had advanced a lot too.  She's saying so many new phrases and using a lot of descriptors/adjectives when talking about things.  

We had a few extra days to kill before returning to Seattle so we went to Hilo for a brief visit.  In the end it felt like such a tease though because I only wanted to stay longer.  Esme was happy to jump on Nana & Papa's trampoline though and see the chickens in the chicken coop, along with the rest of their animals.  The mosquitos were also glad she came cause they always love her despite the bug spray we put on her.  Ha ha!

And thankfully our return flight was even better than our previous one.  Esme slept for almost 3 1/2 hours which was not surprising since the heat in Hawaii and also the travelling really tired her out.  At one point my water bottle fell off the tray table on the plane and hit Esme on the head but she barely woke up, whimpered and then went right back to sleep.  Allen & I were shocked.  Chan Chan also did fine and slept a good portion of the plane.  When he was awake or fussy then he just calmed down with feeding.

Cousin Camp 2013 shirts

Chan Chan talking to Nana

Chan Chan has to grow into his camp shirt

The cousins - #5,6 & 7 are all born within 5 weeks of each other

The Shih Ohana

Uncle Ster, Tosh & Hunter

The Lyman Ohana - Malia, Amy, Charlie & David

The Honsberger Ohana - Josh, Makena, Hannah & Capri

Proud Nana & Papa

Look at those cheeks

Cousin playtime - Charlie, Tosh, Makena, Esme, Malia

One of many sunsets

Fireworks from our balcony

Chan Chan enjoying Aunty B time

More cousin time - Makena, Hunter, Tosh, Malia, Charlie

Puddle Jumpers are the best

Esme buried in the sand

Goofy kids - Esme, Malia and Capri

More goofy kids - Malia & Makena

Esme's first water balloon toss

Chan Chan did a lot of this

First shave ice

First 4th of July

Mommy and her siblings - Judd, Zoë, Amy, Hannah & Sterling

Uncle Chan & baby Chan

Firepit at Nana's house

Enjoying time with Aunty Amy

Meeting cousin Mahina for the first time

Ko Olina Cousins

Chan Chan ended up totally surprising us and slept most of our flight to Hawaii.  He was a little fidgety when he was awake but no screaming at least. And Esme did great as well and was content with the distractions we brought her and just walking around the plane. The worst was Chan's blowout right as we were landing but it was totally manageable.

Chan's been sleeping so much the past 3 days and I don't know if its from the exhaustion from the heat or just all the commotion. Regardless I think he's already grown a ton since we got here. He's also plumping up with an extra thigh roll now and he's even getting the extra rolls on his forearms.

Esme's been enjoying all her adventures with her cousins. This is the first time they've all been together - Malia, Makena, Charlie, Tosh, Capri, Esme, Hunter and Chan.  It's a zoo at times and takes all our eyes to keep track of them especially in the water. Esme's been getting more confident in the water with her puddle jumpers on and always requesting to go back out and swim.