March is here! Spring is near!

It looks like I'm on a once-a-week blogging schedule these days.  I'm okay with that.  March is off to a good start.  The kids started chore charts on Monday.  I know it's long overdue, but even if my kids were ready for them, I wasn't.  It's hard work to keep children on task, much harder than just doing everything myself.  But we all know that can't last.  I love how the kids' rooms and the basement are always vacuumed and tidy nowadays.

I'm participating in the March photo-a-day challenge on Instagram (Are you on Instagram?  Can I follow you?).  Yesterday's theme was "up":

Not a cloud in the sky, buds on the pear tree, and sixty-something degrees.  It was a beautiful day.

Today's theme is "fruit":

Stephen is a fruit lover like his mother.  Most recently, he has found joy in eating grapefruit with a spoon (no sugar) and then squeezing the juice into his bowl for drinking.  Rachel tells me this is a favorite of Grandpa Z.'s too.

Stephen is doing pretty well with his chore chart.  He drags his feet sometimes and sometimes I raise my voice (I hate when I do that), but the kid is four.  I think he'll get used to it.  It just takes fourteen days to start a habit, right?

Mei Li is doing well with her chore chart.  She just goes down the list, checking off each one until she's done.  It's pretty remarkable to me because I am not like that at all.  I wish I was.

Mei Li told me the other day that she wanted to be a mom, a fabric store lady, an artist, and a musician. Of course, the fabric store lady idea came to her as I was cutting fabric for some bunting.  I wonder how her dreams will change.

Mei Li has become quite the little mother.  The other day, she gave Mi Na the incentive of a bumpy ride if she would hold still while I got her dressed and did her hair.  When Mi Na did hold still, she exclaimed, "Yay, Mi Na!  You earned a bumpy ride!"  Mi Na knew the drill and toddled over to sit on Mei's tummy for the bumpy ride. 

Mi Na is talking up a storm.  Her knock-knock jokes have evolved.  Blankie, orange, cheese, and others now knock on the door.  The punchlines range from silence to a huge cheesy smile to a big, fake "ha ha ha!" said in her deepest voice to sound like her dad. 

She asks me probably five times each day, "Where's daddy?"  When I respond that he is at work, she just says, "oh" and then smiles.  I love the stage she is at.  I love her little toddle, smile, voice, and laugh.

Just in the last couple of days, Mi Na started saying "yes."  Well, it's more like "yeth," which means we might have yet another lisper in the family!  I can't wait.  It think lisps are so cute for little kids.

Steve is busy with tax season, but at night we get to be together after the kids are in bed.  Top Chef just ended (I'm so glad Paul won), and so now we just have Parenthood.  Steve usually comes home earlier on Mondays (for Family Home Evening) and Fridays (just because) and then we have him all day Sunday.  So far, it's been very doable, but then again, what choice do we have but to just do it?  I don't complain like I used to, so I guess that means I'm growing up a little.  Isn't that great?

Little Royalty

Mei Li is betrothed.  No, not to S, but to J.  J goes to our church and his mother, Marci, is my visiting teacher and my dear friend.  Although it's much too early for marriage talk, I admit that I'm secretly hopeful that this union will come to pass (at the appropriate time and place).  

Mei Li confessed once that when she and J were sitting next to each other, watching the fourth graders perform a dancing scene in their play, it made her want to talk about marriage.  (Oh help me.) 

On Fridays, I watch J and send him on the bus with Mei.   One Friday, on their way out the door to go to the bus stop, J turned to Mei Li and said, "My mom told me that I need to treat you like a princess." He said it with a look of earnestness and duty.  My heart melted.  I wished Marci was there so I could hug her and thank her for teaching her boys from a young age how to treat girls with respect.  

This experience impacted me so much that I started telling my children to treat each other like princesses and prince.  Whenever there is any conflict, I remind them.  Somehow, without any additional explanation, they know just how to alter their behavior to reflect love and respect for each other.  I hope they'll always remember how to do this, but my reminders alone won't be enough.

When I became a mother, I realized that the best thing I ever did for my children was to marry Steve.  Mei Li will feel her whole life what it is like to be treated like a princess from her father, and Stephen will have a wonderful example of what a real man should be like-kind, gentle, faithful, humble, and selfless.  My children think I love Steve a million kazillion drillion, which is a lot, but not quite enough to describe how deeply I love and respect him.

The beginning of this video made me cry.  I hope my children will understand, recognize, respect, and seek the kind of beauty Sister Dalton talks about in this video.

Mei Li Ballerina 12/14

Mei Li had a ballet recital last week.  We were on our way to the ballroom, running late, when I realized that I forgot to bring her ballet shoes. Nice one, Ie Li.  We didn't go back for them either because we were so late.  Mei Li assured me that she would be fine without them.

The whole recital was adorable.  Mei Li was wonderful.  The ballet teacher was on the side, reminding the girls what steps came next.  I loved how Mei Li had her eyes on her teacher almost the entire time. 

Since I was only focusing on her with my video camera, I didn't notice until after I watched the video that she had one really awesome spin that came three seconds after the other dancers' spins.  I thought she was even more wonderful for it.

She looked so graceful and sweet through it all. I was a proud mama.  Move over, Gene Kelly! I've got a new favorite dancer.

"Welcome, welcome to our house!"

I'm guilty.  I lost the true meaning of Christmas sometime last week.  I am buried in a pile of to-do's and my mouth is stuck in a perpetual, painful grimace.


I called Steve at 5:15, and asked if he was leaving work soon.  He always leaves around 5:15 these days so I'm not sure why I call.  Sure enough, he said he'd wrap up and leave, but I sensed that he had much more he would have liked to finish.  So I told him to stay and just get some work done.  I would get the kids to bed early.


This year, I am doing a Christmas book advent with the kids, an idea I got from my friend, Eliza. Tonight, the book they unwrapped was Who is Coming to Our House? by Joseph Slate.


It's the story of stable animals preparing their home to welcome some special guests.  They clear the floor, dust the beams, sweep the earth, and stack the hay.  The spider spins new webs, the goose lines the crib with eider, the hen lays an egg, and the peacock spreads its tail.  We all loved the book so much that I read it to them again, with Stephen repeating after me.


The rhythm of the verse feels very busy and very much like my long to-do list.  It actually gave me quite a lot of comfort, reminding me that all of my busyness is not for nothing. The animals, however, did seem much more cheerful in their service than I do presently.


After Mi Na went to bed, I went to work with Mei Li and Stephen cleaning up the explosion of toys in the basement.  We were only about halfway through when we all just quit cleaning.  It was Stephen's bed time and I was exhausted.  So I put Stephen to bed.


I started addressing Christmas cards, not wanting to finish what we started in the basement.  Mei Li came up to me and told me she had a surprise for me.  She took me to the basement, which was sparkling clean once again.


I felt immediately like a huge burden had been lifted.  I wept and hugged Mei Li.  I couldn't stop thanking my sweet daughter for serving me that way.  Honestly, why would she do that for such a grumpy mother?  I certainly wouldn't have done it.  Clearly, my daughter is a much better human being than I am.


So, I still have a ton of stuff to do, but I have renewed strength.  I do believe that by Christmas day, we will be ready to say, as the stable animals did to Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, "welcome, welcome to our house!"

Cute little things from Mei

As soon as Mei Li got home from school, she started doing her homework, filling in the calendar month of December with numbers.  As she got to the number eight, she "made an S, then closed the gate."  Her eight was slanted a little, and she said, "that eight looks like it's dancing."  It really did.  She then proceeded to dance how the eight might dance.

Then it was time for reading.  She was doing great, but when she came to the word "writing," she paused.  Then she correctly read, "writing."  She said, "I had a hard time saying that word because the 'w' distracted me."  So true!

While I was putting Stephen and Mi Na to bed, Mei Li was happily playing by herself.  When I was done, she said, "Mom, come down to the basement, I have something to show you."  When I got down to the basement, our nativity set immediately started playing "Away in a Manger" and Mei Li revealed a clean basement.  The basement wasn't very messy to begin with, but it was sparkling after Mei Li got done with it.

In Mei Li's nighttime prayer, she prayed for exactly one thing: for Dad to return home safely.  He's out of town and she's pretty sad about it.  She loves her dad a lot.


I just love my little Mei.  I am so proud of who she is becoming.  

First Field Trip

I volunteered to be a chaperone for Mei Li's field trip to the farm.  Interestingly, if you volunteer, that does not guarantee that you will get chosen as they do a lottery to fill the limited chaperone spots.  I felt really lucky that they chose my name.

I was responsible for four adorable girls, including Mei.  Two of the other girls' mothers were there to tag-along, which made my job pretty easy, certainly easier than taking my own three children to the farm.

We took a little tour of the farm.  We all received yummy apples and the kids got to feed the animals.  Mei Li really didn't want the animal tongues to touch her hand, so she did a lot of food sprinkling.

Then it was time for the hay ride to the pumpkin patch.  It started sprinkling on the hay ride, and once at the pumpkin patch, we really wished we had our rain boots.  Mei Li started walking through the mud to find a pumpkin, but was discouraged when the mud sucked one of her shoes off of her feet and her sock got all wet and muddy.

My little Korean friend didn't want to go in the mud either, so I forged through the mud in my Sperrys to find them both pumpkins.  One of the teachers assistants sheltered them with an umbrella while they waited for me.  I picked out two very ugly pumpkins.  The selection wasn't very good where I could walk.

Then we ate lunch in the barn.  Mei Li looked exhausted as she ate nearly every last bite of food that I packed.  The girls wanted to go on the jumping pillow for their free time.  They jumped and they jumped and they jumped until it was time to go back to the bus.

I couldn't find my camera so I had to use my flip phone camera.  Does anyone else still have a flip phone?

Back at school, I signed Mei Li out for the rest of the day.  Steve was waiting for us back at home with our kids.  Thanks to Steve for making this day possible.  It was a really easy and wonderful day.

First day on the job.

Today was Mei's first day of kindergarten.  The morning was spent packing her backpack, repairing a tear in the dress I made especially for Mei's first day of school, and cleaning up after Mi Na's many messes.

Mei Li has been so excited for this day for a very long time.  I've been dreading it.  Consequently, she did had a better first day on the job than I did.  I melted down after she rode away on the bus, then again in the parking lot of her school as her bus passed my car, and then again after she walked into the school. Stephen said, "Are you crying?  Don't cry!  It's too princess-y." 

Once she was inside the school, I took Stephen's face in my hands, told him I loved him, and told him that he was the big boy now.  His face was serious and he nodded.

 

I took my big boy and my baby to the grocery store and they behaved like angels (mostly).

I played monster trucks with Stephen while Mi Na napped and then we waited for Mei at the bus stop.  She was the first one off the bus.

She was happy to see us.  She told me all about kindergarten, reported that a boy from church is in her class (hurray!), and then pretended with Stephen that the curb was a tightrope all the way back to the house.

I was sort of stressed out when the kindergarten papers flowed into the kitchen.  The kitchen wasn't clean.  Note to self: the kitchen HAS TO BE CLEAN when the school papers flow in.

The rest of the day was kind of crazy.  Stephen and Mi Na were super cranky and tired most of the day.  I felt pretty stressed with all of the crying and whining going on.  But Stephen and Mi Na are still little, and I anticipate this won't be the last of it.

We had family home evening when Steve came home.  It was a good ending to a very eventful day.  As disorganized and emotional as I was today, I was so comforted as we sat together on our living room couch, that we have a happy family and we all love each other so so much.  I have the best kids and the best husband.  (By the way, so do you.) My heart is filled with gratitude for each one of them.  Hopefully tomorrow is a little more organized and less stressful.  It's kindergarten, after all.

A Big Day

 Ears pierced.

First father and son camp out.

I really am thrilled for Stephen.  He's been looking forward to the camp out all week.  I feel a little sad about such permanent decisions as ear piercings.  Even though I could take those earrings out now and let those holes close, it wouldn't change the fact that I took her to Claire's and let somebody poke holes through her perfect ears.

I felt the same way about cutting all of my babies' hair for the first time.  When I trimmed Mi Na's bangs a few months ago, I instantly regretted it and cried.  They didn't curl the way they used to and there was no going back.  I suppose there's a name for my disorder.  Mei Li and Stephen are certainly happy to be growing up.  I will be too.  I just need a day or so to get used to all of it.

Still not over

For five days, Mei Li took several naps a day, had to be carried almost everywhere, and only consumed Gatorade and water.

On Monday, I was thrilled to see this:

Mei Li was pretending to be a ballerina! She hadn't touched her toys or dress-ups for so long and it just made me so happy to see her smiling and playing again.



Well, now it's Stephen's turn. He got the bug and he's been unable to keep any food or liquid down. He's been lying down whenever and wherever he can and he wants me to hold him all the time. I kind of love that. He took a couple of naps today and watched Cars. Mei Li seems all better, except for the pink eye part!

When both Stephen and Mi Na were napping, I weeded our garden and put mulch down (finally!). Mei Li helped me a little, but she mostly played in the sun and built a dirt castle. At one point she said, "Ah! Spring is good!" Spring is good. I loved being out in the warm sun gardening. Spring will get even better once we're through with the sickness and tax season.

When I put Mei Li to bed tonight, I asked her to pray. She prayed this sweet prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Please bless that Stephen won't be sick anymore and that he won't get anyone else sick.

Please do it now.

Please help him to get better.

Haven't you ever done that? When something is so hard that you just need Heavenly Father to put a stop to it right this instant! Mei Li wasn't in any pain herself, but she sure does care a lot about her little brother and his well-being. I love that little girl.

I just really hope that Mi Na doesn't get sick. While I'm at it, can I not get sick? Steve too?

I'm going to count gardening as my workout for the day. That and running up and down the stairs a gagillion times for laundry. I'm wiped. I'm going to bed now.

Clarification

Steve thought I should clarify that in this video from 2008, Mei Li is singing, "When you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything....Together!" She really knew her Sound of Music stuff.

Girls' Night

Friday night was girls' night. I took Mei Li to the mall for a carousel ride and cupcakes. Mei Li chose to sit on the carriage seat.



We bought a couple of cupcakes. Mine was chocolate mascarpone (from the stand upstairs) and Mei Li's was chocolate with pink frosting (from the store downstairs). She didn't like hers so I gave her mine. Mine was a lot better.

Mei Li said that we were like twins because we both had ponytails. She's so cute.

We walked around the mall for a bit and we passed Claire's. I asked her if she wanted to get her ears pierced. She said no. We browsed the store for a bit and she asked me if she could get some nail polish. It was five bucks! My poor-newlywed-BYU-student-self was screaming inside at that price, but then I got over it. She chose some blue sparkly mood color-changing nail polish. Now she can know if she is "loved" or "lonely."

I love being with my Mei Li. She is a delight. I am blessed to be the mother of such a special girl.

Gal Pals

For an hour this afternoon, both Mi Na and Stephen were napping. I don't think this has ever happened before. It was very nice.

When Mi Na woke up, I nursed her in my comfy chair, and Mei Li played quietly in my room.

As I started to doze off, Mei jumped up and said, "Do you know what would be a good idea? If we made princess hats! TWO princess hats. One for me and one for Mi Na. We could roll up paper into a cone and THEN we could stick ribbons on the top! Wouldn't that be a great idea? Come on, Mom! Let's go make princess hats!"

I didn't feel one bit like doing anything but sleeping, but I got up and made her dreams come true with some paper, tape, and ribbon.


Sorta ghetto, right?

Mei Li asked me, "Mom, could you draw a heart on my hat that means you love me? Could you draw another heart that means I love you?" Then she asked for hearts to represent her love for Mi Na, her Papa, and Stephen. She drew butterflies on both hats and said, "I hope Mi Na loves butterflies." She also drew some flowers and one very special dancing flower.

Before the kids went to bed, I put some clean sheets on Mei's bed. She has the top bunk and it is difficult to put sheets on up there. Mei Li did her best to help me.

Mei: Do you know why I'm helping you, Mom?
Me: Why?
Mei: Because I love to hang out with you.

Mei is my BFF. This one too:


P.S. Do you see that double chin?! I can't stand the cuteness.

Sisters, sisters

This picture makes me smile every time I look at it. These sisters are so happy, sweet, and loving with each other. Tonight I was giving baby Mi Na a bath and Mei came over to watch. She ran over to her bathtub and retrieved her little plastic pig that she loves. "Can I give Mi Na my toy?"

"Sure," I said.

I took the toy from her to put it in Mi Na's bath, but Mei grabbed it back and said, "No, I want to put it in! I want to put it in that chubby cheek spot." And she placed it in the space bordered by her cheek and shoulder. Mi Na smiled at her.

I told Mei Li that Mi Na's smile meant that she loved her. I reminded her that she had to be a good example for her and choose the right.

Sisters are so important. I hope they'll be the best of friends and help each other when they are in need. My sisters have always done that for me and I will do that for them.

So Cute

This morning, I put Mi Na down on the floor in our basement to do something (can't remember what) and Stephen sat down next to her and said, "she's so cute." Then he lied down, scooted himself as close as he possibly could to her, and endured her arm flailing and pushes on his face.

This evening, I wiped Stephen's face and he said, "you're so cute." No Stephen, you're so cute.

Do you know what else is so cute? Mei's recent practice of setting up the kid table with napkins, a tablecloth, and a centerpiece.

She grabbed a scrap piece of fabric for the tablecloth, which I think looks beautiful against "araucana teal." The car is the centerpiece, which is funny and so cute. Confession: this was at dinner time. Two days in a row of cereal for dinner. When will I cook for real again?

Steve and I watched Top Chef tonight. I'm totally inspired. I want to have those skills and I want to be in Singapore! Singapore seems like a perfect place to explore. I could practice my Mandarin, but rely mostly on English. I'm in love with the way Singaporians speak English with a slight British accent.

Steve and I went on a three-week tour of Asia when we were newlyweds. The opportunity to go back there seems distant.


Steve is so cute.

Do you remember when I wrote that three kids is not much harder than two? Well, I LIED! What compelled me to write such a falsehood? Was it a miraculous week? Or was it just wishful thinking? I can't remember. Even though it is really hard, we still have some great times together.

It is late and it is always around this time of night that I quote Anne Shirley: "Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it." Yet.

Sometimes life can be de-Stephen

In Jack Johnson's "Better Together," Stephen thinks that Jack is singing "and sometimes life can be de-Stephen" instead of deceivin'. Today when we were listening to it, it came to that part and Stephen said, "That's me!" It was pretty cute. Stephen is definitely in his terrible two phase, but he still loves to cuddle and feel like a little baby sometimes. I like that.


Mei Li likes to dance around the house in funny skirts. She's also quite creative. This morning she tied a string to a pair of shoes, put the string over a handrail, and pulled the untied side of the string to lift the shoes. Then she said, "Look, it's a shoe pulley!" This afternoon she tried to make a "twirly whirley flyer" with zip ties. It didn't work too well, but I still think she's wonderfully resourceful.


Then there's Mi Na. My sweet, cuddly, scrumptious little Mi Na. She weighed in at 10 lbs 13 oz at her two month appointment. She's in the 50th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for height. She sleeps at night, cries loudly, loves to be held, and has a beautiful smile. We're all totally in love with her.


And Steve. He recently bought some new glasses and I think he looks a little like Clark Kent. Mmmmmm. He's been so supportive and patient since Mi Na's arrival. I've needed that. He's always been able to give me just what I need. I hope I'm doing as well for his needs.

We made s'mores for Family Home Evening tonight and it was completely delightful. Life is amazing when I can forget the unimportant and focus on my family. There have been a lot of unimportant worries and thoughts floating around in my head since we moved into our new house, and it feels nice to let them all go, if only for an hour at a time.

What a day!

Ie Ling came back to Virginia! I am so happy she's here. We accomplished a lot today with her help.

Our first stop was a flooring store. We still have some things to figure out with our kitchen floor.

We loaded the kids into the car and Stephen went for Mei Li's car seat instead of his.

Stephen and Mei Li's car seats look identical. Mei Li informed me last week that they were different. She was right. One of them has an oval-ish red button on the buckle and the other one has a square red button on the buckle.

For the most part, Mei Li sits back left in the oval one and Stephen sits back right in the square one. When Stephen went for Mei Li's car seat, Mei Li FLIPPED OUT!

I tried to get Stephen to get out of Mei Li's car seat, but he wouldn't budge. Next, I tried to convince Mei Li to sit in the square one, but that didn't work either. So, because I could more easily put Mei Li in the square one than I could Stephen, I buckled Mei Li as she kicked and screamed.

As we drove away, Mei's funniest and loudest tantrum began.

"The oval one is my favorite! The square one is NOT my favorite! Aaaah!"

"GET-ME-OUT!"

"Mom, you are being so rough!" For the record, I was actually very cool and calm, but Ie Ling and I were laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"WHY-ARE-YOU-LAUGHING?!"

"This is SOOOOO ridiculous!"

Mei: Stephen, is the oval one your favorite?
Stephen: Yeah.
Mei: NO! The oval one is MY favorite!

"Mom, stop driving!" (Side note: I can't remember when I became Mom instead of Mama. I miss being called Mama.)

She did cool down eventually, but would still whimper, "I don't like the square one."

It was a rough day for my Mei. I hope that she feels happier tomorrow. She is a delightful little girl.

We went to Costco for lunch and bought some produce and the "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "Singin' in the Rain" DVDs. I love those musicals.

We watched "Meet Me in St. Louis" together in the late afternoon. "Skip to my Lou" is a favorite scene of mine. Sometimes I dream about living in 1903.

I nursed and held Mi Na for most of the movie, but I handed her off to Ie Ling and cuddled with Mei Li and Stephen. They are so big.

When Steve walked in the door tonight, he looked so good. He helped put the kids to bed. He's been really busy at work lately, so that was a nice treat.

Here is a picture from yesterday of my children in a happy and peaceful moment.


Here is Mi Na, smiling sweetly.

Doodling

How cute is this?

Sharing

A week ago, Mei Li and Stephen sat down next to Mi Na and shared their favorite things with Mi Na. Mei Li's is a yellow gingham bear, and Stephen's is a little bear blankie. Mi Na was a little distraught over having these things shoved in her face, but someday she'll know how intensely they love her.

Z Girls

Yesterday morning, I found Mei Li next to Mi Na with a stack of books. She read to her and showed her the pictures. Darling.

Today, she put her old baby headband on Mi Na's head. I have a feeling that these girls are going to be great friends.

I'm looking kind of gross these days, but Mi Na looks so awake and cute in this picture.

Tonight I'm wishing for one of those magical six hour stretches of sleep.

Hair

Mei Li's bangs are gone.

Maybe she can wear this paper hat all summer?

Ie Ling wrote about it here. Is there a support group for mothers of daughters who cut their own hair?