Party Time!

On her birthday, Kayley got to enjoy the Imagine Children’s Museum and the Rainforest Café. A few weekends ago she had her first birthday party! Many family members and friends were able to join us for the celebration. Her Maimie, Grandpa V and Grandma V even got to be there for the event.

Since Kayley loves animals so much we had an animal themed party. Mark, Andrew’s dad, created a birthday sign, and animal wall and table décor for us to use out of a clip art file I found. I personally think the animals were super cute, but nowhere near as much as the birthday girl. Andrew, his folks, my mom and myself set-up for the big bash while Kayley took her nap, and I am so thankful for all of their help. Right before the party began Kayley woke up and we got her dressed for her party.

Pointing at her birthday sign. She was very excited about it

Some of the yummy food, and the cakes!

This little girl is a social butterfly! Even though she’s only one, she made sure she said hi to everyone who came to celebrate. She was so excited to see so many people she knows. And she seemed to really like all the animals all over the place. We had some of her stuffed animals, and her blocks for the kids to play with. And for the older kids and adults we even had a craft area set-up to color your own animal mask.

Kayley playing with some of her friends

Party time!

The craft room

After some socializing and munching of food we played a game that included all ages. Thanks much to Andrew and his mom, a box with a secret prize (Cold Stone gift card) wrapped inside was wrapped in about 35 layers. Each layer of wrapping paper had a message written on it. Some said “prize”, which meant you got to pick a prize out of the prize bucket, and others said things like “act like a monkey,” “name 3 Disney animated movies,” “give the birthday girl a hug,” “give 5 people hi-fives,” etc. It was a fun game, and gave everyone an opportunity to unwrap the gift once or twice. Plus, we made sure each child got to pick a prize from the prize bucket. Thus I don’t think we were dealing with any jealousy when Kayley opened her gifts later one. 

Ray acting like a monkey

Quinn having her turn at opening the gift

Beckie naming 3 Disney animated movies

Hiroe giving the birthday girl a hug

After the game we set-up Kayley’s high chair so everyone could witness her and her first cake. I made a HUGE cupcake (milk and egg free) chocolate cake for her. She was a little shocked when everyone started singing “Happy Birthday” and Andrew was holding this huge cupcake with a number one candle burning on it. At first she looked around at everyone singing, but then she just stared at the cake. She had no idea what to do when Andrew put the cake on her tray (candle-less). 

I do NOT want to wear a hat

What's going on? Everyone is singing

She barely touch the frosting right away, but then examined her hand right away trying to figure out what the stuff was. She touched the frosting again and looked at it weird – she doesn’t like getting super dirty. I tried to offer her some but she shook her head no, touched the frosting again, and then shook her hand to get the frosting off. This happened a few time and she refused to take a taste. She only tasted it and realized how good it was after she fed me a piece. I guess she wanted to make sure we weren’t giving her poison.

What is this stuff?

You eat it mommy. Gotta make sure it's not poison.

Alright, I guess I'll take a bite

THIS STUFF IS SO GOOD!!!

She really went at it after she finally tasted it. I’m a little surprised at how much of it she ate. And man was she on a sugar high after that! She was nowhere near wanting her early evening nap after the party.

Yeah, she ate a lot. And this was taken while she was still eating!

Had to take her to the sink for a proper cleaning

And on a side note to a few particular people (you know who you are!), I would like to say that Kayley did not have any friends or family members who tried to sample her cake before or after she had a bite. 

Kayley's cake

The carrot cake

The orange-coconut cake

After the cake eating (we had carrot cake and orange-coconut cake for all the guests) Kayley got to open her gifts. She really liked reading all the cards people gave her, and had a lot of fun playing with tissue paper. She was super excited about everything she opened though, and if it came in a box, she wanted to give it to her daddy to open. Thank you everyone who blessed Kayley with time to celebrate with her and/or gave her a gift. They are all much appreciated. 

Aren't the animals cute?

Reading a card together

Tearing off the wrapping paper

We are so glad so many family member and friends were able to come and celebrate our little girl turning one. You all made Kayley’s first birthday party very memorable.

Ps. If you haven’t done so yet, don’t forget to vote on if you think Cub is a girl or boy. The poll is located on the right near the top and will be open until June 8^th.

Mother's Day

I know Mother’s Day was nearly three weeks ago, but I am only just finding time to write about it. We’ve been busy, Andrew’s folks came to visit, and Andrew, Kayley and I all caught a cold. So without further ado, here’s what we did this year on Mother’s Day.

As you know last year was my first Mother’s Day as a mom. It was filled with a lot of effort, and out of all that hard work I was able to meet my beautiful daughter, Kayley.  This year was another exciting Mother’s Day for us; Kayley was dedicated at church! 

All dressed up for the special day

Some of you might be wondering what that means. We’ll to sum it up as simply as I can, it was Andrew and I saying in front of our church family that we will raise Kayley to know God, and asking our church family to keep us accountable to that (Proverbs 22:6 Raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it). It’s different from baby baptism, which I disagree with, but that’s a whole other theological story and explanation. But we started off Mother’s Day with this celebration. And to make it extra special, Andrew’s folks came up from Cali to witness it, plus my mom, sister, bro-in-law and two nieces came to our church as well – we took up a whole row at church.

There were ten babies up on stage this year! Wow we had a baby boom! It was exciting and encouraging to be packed up there on stage up with little ones and their parents. Each family got to share a bit about their child being dedicated and then Pastor Craig prayed a prayer of blessing over the child. I’m surprised at how well Kayley did up on stage for so long. She kept pointing at all the little ones on stage, pointing at the screen that showed pictures of each baby, saying “hi” to everyone, and trying to get some of her adult friends (mostly Alli and Ray who we were standing next to) to play with her.

All the families

Kayley's turn!

Pastor Craig saying a blessing over Kayley

After all that Pastor Seiya asked us parents formally if we planned on raising our children to know God and in a way that pleases Him. He then asked the congregation if they would assist in this and keep us parents accountable. Then the elders of our church, plus grandparents, joined us on stage to pray over the little ones one more time. 

Pastor Seiya taking to the congregation

Praying over Kayley

It was a lovely service, and we followed that with a family picnic in the park. 

Enjoying our picnic

The cousins!

Thank you God for the wonderful sunny weather as an extra blessing to celebrate Mother’s Day. And please help Andrew and I to raise Kayley (and Cub!) in a way that is pleasing to you so that she (and Cub) will come to know you at a young age. 

Giving Cub some big sister love

All smiles ^_^

We love you, Kayley!

Checking out a flower while being grumpy about sitting on grass

Trying to keep her feet out of the grass

So cute and sweet

Don’t forget to vote on if you think Cub is a boy or girl. The poll is located on the right near the top of the page. You have until June 8^th to cast your vote.

K's 12 Month Check-Up

We visited Z for Kayley’s 12 month check-up today and received a great report! Like at her 9 month check-up, she was recorded to be tall, lean and healthy. Here are her 12 month stats:

Weight: 19lbs and 13ozs (25-50%)

Height: 30 and ½ inch (90-95%)

Head circumference: 18inch (50-75%)

She’s a tall one for someone her age. No wonder why people always guess she’s older than what she is. Z was impressed with how mobile she is, and her list of words and specific sounds she does for things; mama, dada, uh-oh, hi, and she recently started saying “ga” for books, and something that sounds like “woof woof” for dogs. Though she doesn’t do them all the time, she has those down pretty darn well.

She also can point at her nose when asked and her foot too. She also knocks when asked, claps, and she can “shake it baby shake it,” which is what we say when she has a shaker toy. There are a few other things she does when asked (like, “please give that to mommy,” and “can you share?”), but she’s still grabbing the concept of those. Today I actually asked her if she could “knock knock knock” while we were in the living room. She thus walked down the hall to the hall bathroom and knocked on the door. I was very impressed since she hadn’t done that before.

Anyway! Back to her doctor appointment! So Kayley is doing great for a little one her age. I told Z that Kayley had been fighting a temperature for about 4 days, and that when it went away her whole body broke out in a rash that doesn’t seem to both her at all. I was told this is very normal for little ones and not to worry about it and that it should be gone in a few days. I forgot what she said it was called, but it’s very common for 6 month to 2 year olds to get. So yay for being nothing else!

While at the doctors Kayley got three shots, one in her leg and one in the back of each arm. Oh I hate hearing her cry about it. =( I wish there was some way to explain to her that even though it hurts it’s to help keep her from getting sick. She recovered quite quickly though, though a pouty look was left on her face for a while. Before we left to go home, I let her have some time watching the fish so she could relax a bit more before being strapped into her car seat. That seemed to help. But she still had this look when I strapped her into her car seat:

Kayley's disapproving look

It seems very disapproving… Well, her next visit to see Z is when she is 15 months old.

12 and 16 Week Appointments

The day before we left for our CA adventure to help my mom move, I had my 12 week appointment for Cub. I was able to listen to Cub’s little heartbeat, which was 160 bpm. ^_^ Healthy and strong. I got my blood results back from my previous appointment, and it all looked good. Like when I was pregnant with Kayley, my thyroid level was near boarder line for having hyper thyroid. It’s what I expected, and we might have it checked down the road in pregnancy.

Today, I had my 16 week check-up with M. Cub’s heartbeat today was 156 bpm. My uterus is measuring right where it should be at this point too. Basically everything is going really well. M commented that my weight gain has been good and on the minimal side, and that I should keep doing what I’m doing. I don’t really know exactly what I’m doing, but I’ll do my best to keep it up. Hehe

As for nausea, I realized I haven’t talked about that for this pregnancy. Well, I’ve had it, but it’s been different and yet similar to what it was when I was pregnant with Kayley. Thankfully I have no felt like throwing up, or have had a gag reflex. But my stomach has been more sensitive, which has really been annoying. Basically my stomach would hurt really bad when I was hungry and after I ate. I felt like my stomach was constantly in pain. I tried eating different portion sizes, eating more frequently and less frequently, but none of that helped. Thankfully I am past that stage of pregnancy (though I have a sensitive stomach in general and a few allergies I get to continue to deal with).

My nose wasn’t nearly as sensitive this time, but we did ask some friends to help provide some meals for us (thank you so much!!!). I’m not 100% out of the stage of not wanting to eat food that has been at our home for more than 3 days, but have practically passed it. And I think I’m almost out of the clear for really wanting to eat something, eating it halfway through or less, and then loosing complete interest in it. That has been super annoying.

This little Cub though loves bean burritos with no cheese from Taco Bell. I know it’s not much, but they have recently been the best burritos I have ever eaten. One time I could have sworn my burrito was the best thing I had ever consumed in my whole life. Pregnancy cravings, go figure.

Well, in case you’re wondering what the bump has looked like these past months, here’s the pictures!

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

Also, if you look to the right near the top of the blog, you will notice there is a poll for you to cast your votes on if you think Cub is a girl or boy. We’ll (hopefully) find out on June 8^th during our scheduled ultrasound and let you all know. But go ahead and make a guess. You could end up being right, after all, you have a 50% chance of being right! ^_~

Happy 1st Birthday!

Yesterday was Kayley’s first birthday. It’s hard to believe she’s already a year old. We wanted to make it a day to remember (even though Kayley probably won’t remember it…). Thus Kayley and I started the day by picking my mom up and going to the Imagine Children’s Museum.

Kayley loved it! They had all these different play areas (i.e. Vet, tree house, Italian restaurant, farm, trains, water play, glow room, construction, music, etc.), and Kayley had fun exploring them all. We let her wander around and explore at her own pace mostly, but then a large group of children showed up for a field trip, so we started guiding her from place to place a bit. I was very impressed with how she transition from area to area. I would just say “It’s time to say bye-bye to ____ so we can go play with something else,” and then she’s wave bye-bye and moved on. This was just hard to do when we left the water play area (her favorite area since she got to splash around), and when we left the museum (she was totally ready to eat and take a nap).

Here are some pictures of our time at the museum. 

Leaving the tree house on the wood bridge

Kayley was dancing to the music as the camera caught her motion and put our images up on the wall

Clapping for the balls as the came through the air-tube

Going down the firetruck slide

The smocks in the water play area were a little big for her

Splash, splash, splash!

Riding the horse at the farm

The glow room. Yes, that blur is Kayley

Playing with a drum in the rooftop play area

Slide time with Maimie

She really likes slides

Checking out the stegosaurus with mama

Riding a car in the construction room

Hitting keys on the piano to make music

Taking care of the animals at the vet (aka. stealing their food bowls to knock together and make noise)

Picking out lunch for mama at the Italian restuarant

Petting the bronze dog statue outside

For lunch we ate at the Mermaid Market Café (yes, I picked it. I couldn’t resist because of the name). It had wonderful food.

Then we headed back to my sister’s place (where my mom is currently living too), and Kayley got to open a few gifts. She got some blocks, clothes, a baby doll, and an electronic turtle learning toy. She has been playing with them all morning so far.

Opening gifts from her aunty and cousins

Opening gifts from Maimie

Right away she gave her new doll a hug

Andrew was able to get off work early, so Kayley and I headed home to have some family time before going out for Kayley’s special dinner at the Rainforest Café with her playmate Kaylin and my friend Hsin-I. We were happy that the gorillas and thunder storms in the restaurant did not scare the girls. Kayley was most fascinated with the elephants and fish, and Kaylin really liked watching the fish too. For the first time, we order a meal for Kayley off the kid’s menu. She was at first curious and then excited to eat her own mini hamburger and fries. Before we left, our waitress brought the girls balloons, and sang happy birthday with some other waiters. Kayley clapped for them when they were done singing.

Kayley: What is this? Am I allowed to touch it?

Taking a bite by herself

Watching the elephants with dada

Balloon!

Kaylin checking out her balloon

Group photo!

I think Kayley had a wonderful first birthday celebration that we will remember for a long time. She hasn’t had her first cake yet, but we’re saving that for her upcoming birthday party. So, happy birthday my sweet baby girl!

Newborn Kayley