Joy's baby

Joy really loves her babies. If I tell her to go and find her baby she will and give it a little hug. It is a great distraction for her when I am doing dishes and she is headed to play in the dog water. We are trying to teach her to give the baby kisses, not bites. She gives us pretty good kisses but every now and again she will bite us also!

Watch our garden grow

Brad is a gardener and would love to have an orchard with fruit trees and acres of land for a garden. However we live in Hong Kong and and don't have acres of land....just a roof with lots of space. Since we will be here this summer Brad decided to plant a garden.  He planted SEEDS about 2.5 weeks ago and look at how big they are. He has had to thin them out several times. I guess since the weather has been high 70s and sunny the little seeds are very happy! Who knew you could plant a garden in FEBRUARY.  Since taking these pictures he added three more pots so that he can thin out more. We have 2 variates of tomatoes, tomatillios, cucumbers, peas, spinach, hot peppers (not up yet), cilantro and basil.

Far back left: 1st pot: peas, cucumbers,2nd pot: tomatoes 3rd pot: tomatillios, 4&5: spinach

 Cucumbers (below)

 Spinach (below)

 Tomatillios

  

Peas, cucumbers (above) 

Orange tree (below) that is finally coming back to life!

We have more than we can handle of some seedlings.  If anyone  in HK wants seedlings of cucumbers, tomatillios, tomatoes or spinach then come by and get them!

I love fruit

This girl of ours could eat as much fruit as an adult if we let her. She will eat a whole banana on her own and then cry because she wants another one. Her favorites right now are: kiwis, bananas, mandarin oranges, dragon fruit, blueberries, grapes.....


This video is a little long but you know, Grandma and Grandpa like boring videos like these :-)

Joy and Rudy playing

Joy and Rudy are finally figuring out how to play with each other. Rudy will bring her toys and she is getting coordinated enough to pull hard enough. She gets the cutest giggles with they play.

A few pics

Joy and her dolly matched yesterday. Also the Trans-Siberian Railroad book is her favorite, a girl after her daddy's heart

The birthday fun continues....

Joy just got a birthday present in the mail from my college roommate Kalina. Here is a video of Joy enjoying her new toy.





Also here is another video of Joy enjoying her second attempt at a cupcake. Not too messy of an eater (unless she is eating dinner :-) and at the end she did cry a bit when I took it away!
Beware...it is a little long :-)

One year old....where has the time gone?

Joy you are one! We all survived this first year. It is amazing to think back to last February 17th. Your dad and I felt very nervous and unsure of ourselves as parents (we still do but about different things than that day). You were so tiny and helpless. Now you are the happiest, most adventurous baby I know, full of smiles and giggles. Your joyful heart is good medicine to all who interact with you (Prov. 17:22). You are determined and have lots of little opinions already. We love you and love watching you grow and change each day. 

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

What Joy is doing 

• Joy has started to learn how to climb....watch out pack n play, book shelves and chairs! This girl has some amazing upper body strength.

• Joy's first words are "dada" (dog) and "dadaa" (daddy). They sound very similar but in context it is easy to distinguish. Joy says "dada" every time she hears a dog bark, which is OFTEN as our neighbors dog is very excitable. We spend about 15 minutes each morning and afternoon looking out the window to see if we can see any dogs. She also has been saying something that sounds like "this" as she points to stuff. * note: in the video you can see our daughter's obsession with eating fuzz , fluffy stuff (paper, lint, hair the list goes on)....I must be missing some key nutrient/fiber in her diet :-) HA
•  
• Joy had her first fever three weeks ago (103F for three days). She still had an appetite and all she wanted to do was read books on the couch. It was very cute but I didn't like having a sick baby, made me one worried mamma. 

• Joy has one new tooth (on the left next to her top tooth). We just discovered it today, so getting this tooth has been pretty painless! Total tooth count: 5

 

Joy using her new toothbrush. Much easier than the one you put on your finger...since this girl bites!

Eats

• Nursing: Weaning is in full swing! Joy now only nurses first thing in the morning and right before bed (that nursing time is going to be hard for her to get rid of!)She hasn't even noticed that I cut out two nursing times during the day.
• Solid food: Joy is still our adventurous eater.  She LOVES fruit and actually squeals with delight when we bring out oranges or blueberries. She is a girl after her daddy's own heart.
• Loves: pumpkin, carrots, green beans, apples, pears, bananas, peas, zucchini, egg yolks, oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, flax seed, eggs, pasta, lentils, kiwi, chicken, turkey (tried on Christmas day), bread, pancakes, tortillas, blueberries, oranges, dragon fruit, grapes, spinach, plain yogurt, broccoli
• Verdict is still out on: Cupcakes :-),  avocado, cheese, cooked blueberries (although she loves raw blueberries)
• Introducing this week: We are going to switch to whole eggs this week. 
• Joy still can't hold the sippy cup herself, but has started to want to try to hold it herself.  She has had cow's milk for about a week. The first day she wouldn't really drink it but now she will take sips. I can get about 4 ounces in her.

 

Open your mouth wide Joy! 

Joy's first bite of blueberry pancakes on her actual birthday (Grandpa Paul always makes pancakes on the weekend so I thought I would carry on the tradition). 

Her face was blue all morning!

Sleeps:

•  Night time: She still sleeps for 11.5  hours, 7pm to 6:30am. We have successfully helped her learn to sleep through the night (no more nursing yay!). Our whole goal over this Chinese New Year staycation was to get her sleeping through the night. 
• The first night was terrible, she cried for 2 hours and when we went in it made it worse.
• The second night for 40 minutes. 
• Third night  30 min...
• Now she cries in the middle of the night for about 1-5 minutes. We don't even really wake up to it anymore. So success!
• Naps: Joy is taking 2 naps a day, 8;30/9am and 12:30/1pm (one hour each). 

Weighs: 18 lbs 12 oz

Likes:

*Reading! Joy goes over to book box and will choose books bring them over to us to read to her. It is very cute! 

Why yes Joy does love playing with dog toys....and we have officially given up caring :-) Especially since Rudy licks her hands all the time and then she sucks her thumb, it was a loosing battle.

* My bathrobe is still in her bed....and I tried to take it away and then she refused to nap. So I guess my bathrobe is now a permanent blanket in her bed.
 

*Stroller rides are much more pleasant, as long as we are moving :-)

* She loves dogs, adults (unless they want to hold her) and little kids.

* She loves to crawl around the house and explore rooms on her own. This girl gets into trouble! But she is getting much better at listening when I tell her no, or something is "not for Joy".

She is always trying to escape onto the balcony!

Dislikes: Joy still dislikes playing alone and having people hold her (except for mommy and daddy...who she loves to have hold her).

Favorite event: Joy had her first birthday on Saturday. It was so much fun!

Happy 1st Birthday Joy!

We celebrated Joy's first birthday today. What a fun morning celebrating with friends. Her birthday was a rainbow themed party, so there were rainbow cupcakes, red salsa, yellow tortilla chips, green spinach puffs and rainbow fruit skewers.

 Joy had a fun time playing with her little friends.

We packed in 10 adults and 5 kids (all under the age of 3) into our little living room.

We sang Joy "Happy Birthday" once everyone arrived. She wanted to touch the candle....fire is very exciting.


Joy wasn't sure about eating the cupcake. Playing with the frosting was fun...but she wouldn't really eat it.
 

 "The frosting feels great between my fingers....but I'm not sure I like how it tastes..."

 "I don't want to eat the cupcake mom!"

Joy, the boys will show you how to eat a cupcake!

 

 A photo with all the cute kids...quick while they are all sitting still and looking at the camera......

 And....they it all fell apart (except Mathis and Elena who must have been bribed with more cupcakes to sit still!)

Oops we forgot to get a family picture or a good picture of just Joy and the cupcake. As soon as she woke up from her nap, the dress went back on and so did her hair clip. Thankfully I had extra cupcakes and a candle...perfect!

 "Hmm this second cupcake tastes pretty good!" Joy actually ate a lot of the frosting and even a few bites of the cupcake.

 We also opened presents once she woke up from her nap (which by the way was 2 hours long, twice as long as usual....I guess she was tired from all the partying). It would have been a little hard to open presents when everyone was there. She also only lasted through opening one present, the dolly from Grandma and Grandpa Condie. Then she only wanted to play with the dolly box and all the paper.  Thanks for all the new toys friends and family!

We love you Joy and are so happy you are our daughter. We can't wait to celebrate more birthdays with you.

13 weeks with baby #2

Joy is going to be a big sister in August and we are very excited to be parents again. 

 When we found out: I took a pregnancy test over Christmas break, on Christmas eve morning. I had a suspicion I was pregnant but was avoiding finding out because I was (/still am) a little nervous with the idea of having two babies under 18 months.

 (don't worry the part that had urine on it was covered)

What is different this time: This pregnancy has been very different. I have barely been sick but have been more tired. I have had a lot of insomnia this time and lay awake for hours at night...very annoying! I am very excited about the fact that I have had little nausea and only one day of vomiting. What an amazing difference. I have to eat every few hours so I don't feel too sick but I'll take that over being so sick any day!

Summer time baby: We don't know if this baby will come five weeks early like Joy or not, so we can't go to the US this summer. We were sad about not being able to see our family and friends but we are going to make the best of it. We will buy a kiddie pool for the roof so Joy can escape the heat. Brad already planted a vegetable garden on the roof and new plants in anticipation of being here. Brad and Joy will hang out during the day and I will teach summer school for a month in July.

(Joy in her Chinese New Year outfit and mommy 13 weeks pregnant) 

Weight: 99.6 lbs (five pounds heavier than with Joy at this time...not vomiting 6 times a day for 16 weeks will do that to you!).  I am showing more this time than last time and I feel like growing a baby and nursing another one makes me always hungry.

Size of baby peanut: About the size of a medium shrimp.The baby was moving around so much that the doctor had a hard time getting not fuzzy pictures. Thankfully the baby is healthy and growing just like the baby should! The 3D pictures are a little too freaky to put on the blog (once the baby has a better defined face I'll put them up).

Doctor's predicted gender: The doctor gave us a 90% chance it will be BOY...yay! Having grown up with all sisters, I'm not sure what to do with boys but all my friends love having a boy. Brad is exciting because boy toys are much more fun than girl toys.

How Joy is getting ready to be a big sister:

*Joy is learning to ride in the stroller because carrying her in the ergo with my protruding belly is getting a little more tricky.
* I have started the weening process with Joy (I need a little nursing break before the next one comes). I dropped the 10am feeding and she hasn't really noticed it. She has been drinking a little bit of cow milk...sometimes she likes it sometimes she spits it out.
*We have also started (as of last night) nighttime sleep training.  We waited too long for this but better late than never. Last night was very hard and Joy cried for 2 hours.....but we are hoping that we have more perseverance than our determined little child.

Joy is going to be a big sister

Joy giggles

Our little tiger cub

Joy loves to ROAR when a lion or a tiger are in a book. I got it again this morning. Disregard my silly reading voice (I didn't realize it sounded so weird until I watched the video). We really dislike this book but Joy loves it...so we read it! The roar is pretty cute.

Play dates

Play dates are always fun because you get to play with friends and new toys!


Then we came home and all Joy wanted to do was feed Rudy her lunch :)

Our little lion

This video took us about 6 tries...because of course as soon as Brad started videoing Joy wouldn't roar! Our little girl sure has her own opinions already

Joy clapping

By popular demand (Joy's aunt Julie loves to watch videos of Joy) here is another video of Joy clapping. It is funny the things that we as parents get excited about. The past two weeks Joy has learned to clap when things are fun or we say "yay" and to wave bye bye (she still only likes to do it when she wants to do it :-)