Busy Weekends

All of our free time these days is filled with getting ready to move, saying goodbye to friends and family, and tying up last minute things/appointments/projects.  Allen and I are working till the end so that doesn't make it any easier.  Ha ha!  Last Saturday we ventured down to Portland to say goodbye to some of my family.  We were greeted with nice sunny weather so that we could picnic at the park on the water.  We also took Esme to the Children's Museum for one last adventure and Chan Chan was even able to enjoy it this time.  Since Allen was busy with Esme and I was busy with Chan we didn't take a whole lot of pics on this trip.  Oops!  As much as we'll miss all of our family down there I sure won't miss that 3 hour drive!  

On Sunday we had more nice weather in Seattle too.  Esme woke up and said, "Mom!  It's like summer outside!"  She was so excited to bust out her tank tops and play in the cul-de-sac!  She got to ride on her bike and then also enjoyed being pushed and pulled around in her old wagon with Chan.  

Unfortunately Esme must have picked something up over the weekend because she ended up staying home from school today with croup.  So far Chan seems okay even though he slept an entire 13 hours last night!  I hate to jinx us but he's been sleeping through the night for almost 2 weeks now.  Strangely though I've been just as tired if not more since this happened but I think that's from all the stress of moving.  If it's not one thing it's another!  I just keep telling myself, "in less than a month we'll be in Hawaii, we can do this!"

Chan trying to bust out of the Children's Museum

Esme riding the train at Oaks Park

The kids are loving my papasan couch I brought home from my office

A family outing around the beighborhood

Our street - we're gonna miss this place!

Just love this little face!

Staying hydrated in the warm weather

   

One Month To Go

In one month from today we'll be flying off for Hawaii!  It's amazing how fast everything is moving.  After only 2 1/2 days on the market our house was sold.  Allen and I were super excited!  And so were the kids cause that means the toys can move back in the house now that we don't have to worry about showing it anymore :)  Now our bigger task is cleaning out all our stuff before the movers come to pack us up next month.  Every weekend is filled with activities so we can maximize all of our time left here in the mainland.

Faye and her staff are also enjoying their last month with Esme and Chan.  Faye said that she's had a lot of interruptions from Esme during circle time lately.  Apparently when Faye's going over the daily lesson (in English first) Esme likes to interrupt her and tell her how to say it all in Mandarin.  I'm in the process of trying to find her a tutor in Hilo so she can keep that up.  Chan's also understanding a lot of what they're saying at school also.  And both kids have very hearty appetites - yesterday they both ate multiple servings of potstickers at school!    

Big Changes In The Shih Household

We've got big news everyone - we're moving back to the Big Island!  Allen recently got offered a job at Hilo Medical Center and starts on May 15th.  It's been a whirlwind trying to coordinate everything - packing and shipping the house, shipping our cars, selling the house, etc.  Esme asked me, "If we move to Hawaii then we don't have to wear jackets anymore?"  Ha ha!  It's already been sort of a transition for Esme since our house has been stripped of all the kids toys and stuff while we've had it on the market.  She seems to be handling it okay and we just keep talking about all the fun things we'll get to do once we move to Hawaii.  At school they were studying the letter V and they talked about volcanoes "like where Esme's gonna live."  Chan has no clue what's going on but we're excited that we'll get to celebrate his 1st birthday in Hawaii since we leave just 2 days before it!  He's taking more and more steps by himself and enjoying all the free space in our house right now.  He's also been grinding his teeth lately and it's driving us nuts.  More updates to come later...

We had to hang out at the park a lot after work this past week while our house was being shown.

Esme and Chan enjoying the nice weather on our deck.

Esme's been getting in lots of last minute playdates with her friends. 

She had her first tea party with Natalie.  

And of course, hanging out with cousin Tabby is always fun! 

These girls are gonna miss each other.  

Too Busy...

Phew, it was a busy weekend.  I'll fill you in later but in the meantime here's some pics to get you by.....

Esme's recently enjoyed wearing hats like mom

Chan's also found the drumsticks and thinks they're great toys

He's also enjoying walking around with Esme's shopping cart.  He's starting to take his first steps!

Seattle Sights

Chan's left upper lateral incisor came through this week and he also had another ear infection, this time a double one.  Sounds like a recipe for disaster but thankfully by the end of the week he was doing much better and has even slept through the night for us a few times!  We're hoping this is a new trend that he keeps up with.  Ha ha!  He loves rubbing his tongue over all 5 of his teeth and his favorite word right now is "bee-duh."  He's sporadically been signing "milk" but otherwise that's it.  He's bound to get a few more teeth in the next few weeks as so many of them are almost poking through his gums right now.

Ms Faye recently told me that Chan's been participating in circle time each day for awhile now.  Ms Faye usually sits against a wall and the children sit in a half circle around her on the carpet.  At the beginning Ms Faye goes around the circle and says hello to each of the children in Mandarin and bows to them.  The children then repeat this greeting and bow back to her.  Apparently whenever it's Chan's turn Esme goes up behind him and pushes his back down to help him bow to Ms Faye.  Little miss bossy!  Esme's been talking a lot more in Mandarin lately which is neat to see.  She's even trying to teach me words.

For the past few weeks we've been using a star/reward chart to help Esme with some things.  One was getting out of bed in the morning.  When she transferred to her big girl bed she used to always call us to come get her out of bed when she woke up.  We put a stuffed animal in her room that lights up when it's "time to wake up" and it's set for 7am so that's when she usually called us.  Well all of a sudden she realized that she could just get out bed by herself whenever she woke up, even if it was 4am!  Yikes!  We decided to use a reward system for her staying in her bed till her light alarm went off.  The other issue was peeing in her bed at school during nap.  She's so stubborn and was refusing to go to the bathroom before nap and so she was going pee about every other day even though she was dry at school for months before that.  It was so frustrating for us because we had to wash her bedding all the time and send it back the next day.  And since we started the reward system she hasn't done it once!

We told her she could get a prize if she collected lots of stars for her chart but she had no clue what that meant and was just happy to get the stars to put on her chart.  Regardless we took a trip to the Space Needle this weekend as part of her reward and also because it's been in some of her books lately and she always like to find it in the Seattle skyline when we're driving around.  The funny thing is that after we got to the top Esme said "I want to go to the Space Needle."  Because we were in it she couldn't see it and so she had no idea where we were.  We could've just gone to Seattle Center to hang out below the Space Needle and she would have been fine.  Sheesh!

Can you find all 5 of his teeth?

Family photo opportunity!

The view from down below

Spring flowers at the Space Needle

Snacks on the observation deck

The view from 520 feet high

It was a little bright for Chan

Running back and forth from the fountain at Seattle Center

Esme's star chart that started it all

Mommy's Mini-Me

At home playing ball with Chan

An Esme action shot

Chan seems to be teething a lot these days cause he can't stop drooling and he's been a little more restless at night.  He's waking up more than normal again which makes for a very sleepy household in the day.  Right now Chan has his 2 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth so the next ones to come through are the top 2 lateral incisors.  We can see them through his gums but they haven't broken through yet.  I just hope it happens soon!  He's getting a lot more independent with foods and loves to eat ANYTHING that we're eating.  And he can chow down too!

Esme's eating habits go up and down all the time.  She still loves making smoothies in the morning and most recently she learned how to use the juicer with mommy.  We made a carrot apple juice that she really liked.  Then she helped mommy use the pulp to make muffins.  She's quite the kitchen helper.  

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Esme loves her new rose colored glasses

Morning smoothie making 

Making carrot-apple juice

Chan keeping busy while we're making smoothies

Chan's rockin his sister's old car

Hanging out in the Lego box

He didn't even want to get out!

Welcome Spring!

We turned our clocks forward this weekend, the trees around us are blooming and we're hearing the birds chirping in the morning again so it looks like spring is here!  Woohoo!  Along with that comes the rain and so we decided to make the most of it this weekend and go find some puddles to stomp in.  Esme wanted to try out every umbrella she could find :)

Esme's also developing quite the fashion sense ;)  She's adamant about what she wants to wear each morning and comes up with some pretty interesting combinations.  She's been really interested in dresses and tutus for the past few months and that's fine with us as long as she layers them with shirts, tights, etc.  

Legwarmers from when she was an infant

Cardigan, tutu dress, and purple leggings

It's hard to tell but she has 3 pony tails in

Then she decides she'd just rather go naked.  Ha ha!

Chan is doing well and still fine with whatever we dress him in even though he's squirlling all over the place in the process.  It can be a workout to get him dressed in the morning!  Finally he's starting to sleep better at night and waking up about once.  It's slowly getting closer to the morning time so I'm hoping we're getting towards the end of all this.  It's been a long 10 months!

After getting this outfit on him I realized it was too big but didn't want to bother taking it off and trying again with something else cause he's such a wiggle work!

Chan Has Hair!!!

We've got big news everyone!  Chan has hair!  Well it's actually just A hair to be exact ;)  Ha ha!  While playing by the window today I noticed just one little hair about an inch long coming out of the crown of his head.  There's hope for his bald head yet!

Can you see it!?!?!?  Truth is, everyone loves his bald little head and always loves to rub it so it'll be strange one day when he has a full head of hair.  Maybe this sudden hair growth is from all his new foods lately.  Just this past week he's enjoyed potstickers, wonton, rotisserie chicken and salmon.  He loves to eat whatever we're eating.   

Esme still loves making her banana smoothies in the morning.  This past weekend we had some kiwis leftover from a box of home delivered organic fruits and veggies.  I'd never given them to her but as soon as she saw them she said "just like Faye Faye's!"  Apparently she's had them at school (this is one of the many reasons that I LOVE the kids school, they experience all kinds of new things) so she was excited to eat two whole ones as soon as I peeled them for her.  The rest were a new addition to her smoothie that day.  

Reading her morning magazine at the table

Riding in the toy basket with Chan

Getting ready for gymnastics class

Chan got to suck on a rib bone and loved it!

Sporting her new rose colored glasses before school

  

Season Of Illness

The kids have had their fair share of illnesses this year, which is to be expected since they're in daycare.  And they've always bounced back without anything major but this wasn't the case last week.  Esme stayed out of school all week with fevers up to 103 degrees and a cough.  I originally thought she just had the flu since she had no other complaints but on a random visit to my office I noticed she had an ear infection.  Then later that weekend Chan spiked a fever on top of his already thick runny nose and so I checked his ears just to make sure and of course, they were infected too.  So now both kids are slurping up their Amoxicillin antibiotics twice a day and we're hoping to get rid of these bugs for good!

When Esme was really sick we ended up pulling her into bed with us because she kept waking up at night.  That meant Chan got booted from our room (he usually wakes a few times at night so for the past month or so we put him in the pack n play in our room because we got tired of always walking to his room to get him/feed him) and back to his crib in his room.  Well turns out he sleeps better in there and has been waking much less since that happened.  I'm super excited about that!  I'm hoping this trend will continue and he'll be sleeping through the night by the time he's a year old.  It's crazy to say that since Esme slept through at 8 weeks!  We were so spoiled last time.

This is Chan cheezing it up like his sister used to do

Watching the front loading washer and dryer

Esme loves wearing my glasses at night

Just getting a carseat snooze in

This was Esme at her worst when she was sick :(

This was the day she popped into my office and I checked her ears