More December cuteness

Here are a few more pictures from December. The weather has turned really cold here in HK and without central heating we are all huddled around our radiator heaters.  Wasn't it just yesterday we were sweating to death? It is great to have come cold weather for Christmas. 

Joy adding the first ornament to the tree (she calls all the angels..."ladies")

Simon playing with some toys while sister naps

 Getting two kids to look the same direction, let alone smile...is hard!

 This picture encapsulates our children's personalities!

mom's group Christmas party

This week we went to our mom's group Christmas party. It was a fun, and crazy (there was a double booking of the room!) morning. There was a nativity relay, a cookie decorating station and a Christmas story station.  Simon took a nap in the carrier while I chased Joy around. Joy didn't quite understand what was going on with the relay so she walked over to join the story station. She also enjoyed eating the sugar cookie! Hopefully next year she can join the bigger kids who learned a few songs and sang them to us.

Joy is 22 months

 What Joy is doing 

• Joy is consistently cracking us up with the funny things she says or going to time out for disobeying. We are in the throws of the highs and lows of toddler-hood! 
• Says love you....which melts your heart!(Daddy was actually the first person to get an unasked for I love you)
• likes to drink out of a cup with  no lid  
• She says "goodbye" or "see ya" to bear when we leave him at home.

• Total teeth: 16! i teeth are in....now on to the 2 year old molars. Does this ever end??
  
  

What Joy is saying: Joy is a talker and gets frustrated if we can't figure out what she is trying to communicate

• I dunoo
• Pood "spoon"
• Waloo "water. "
• Ammo "oatmeal"
• Rabbip "rabbit"
• shaushaa "sausage"
• Chilly-willy when she is cold and then says cozy-willy when she is warm! ha
• When you ask her where Joy is she points to herself and says "right here" 
• She will also randomly say "Happiness...Cocos" which is the name of her favorite restaurant (also ours!)
• Our other favorite: she will walk around saying "mommy happy...Joy listens" which is true, mommy is happy when Joy listens! 

 Eats: 

• Loves: Our girl loves to eat: Her favorites are: eggs with spinach, homemade chicken noodle soup, pumpkin soup and shaushaa (sausage). The girl is a carnivore! 
• Dairy Free: We are going to see if she still has this issue during Christmas break. 
• Still gives us trouble: when she eats too much fruit or nuts!

Sleeps:

•  Night time: 7pm-between 6-7am. On the weekend she sleeps until 7 and during the week she is up at 6.....no one likes daddy's alarm!
• Naps: One afternoon nap (2 hours-if I'm lucky 2.5 hours). 

Likes:

* Loves to sing "Frosty the Snow man" and play with her "new toy" aka the nativity set!

* Books...and I am so thankful for a library that we can go to and get new books...or we would be going crazy reading the same one over and over.

*Swings

* Loves to read her Bible and pray....

Is learning.....
* to hand us things instead of chuck them in our direction (especially BOOKS!)
*to say sorry when she hits her friends or brother

Dislikes: Being left in mom's group with the babysitters....something we are going to work on after Christmas break. She hated her first time with the stomach flu...oh wait, she was a trooper...I hated it! Cleaning up toddler barf has got to be one of the grossest things in the world. She loved getting to watch Curious George on YouTube(since she never gets to watch tv) and drinking "special drink" Gatorade (since she never gets anything but water and almond milk)

Favorite event: Going to Ocean Park and seeing the pandas. We pray for pandas each night now (along with crocodiles, pigeons, Simon, rocks, her friends....got to love the free flow thought pattern of a toddler)

Friends birthday party

Today joy and her little friends celebrated Elena's birthday. We went to the museum to play then to ruby Tuesdays for lunch and cupcakes. Joy had such a fun time. I was impressed that me (and Joanna) handled two kids at a restaurant without our husbands! Joy has been singing happy birthday to you all afternoon. Cute!

Simon is four months

 

Who he looks like: Well he still favors his mom but he is starting to just look like himself. He doesn't have the fat rolls that Joy had. He is one lean boy who loves to kick his legs the whole time he is awake. His eyes are getting more brown each day...and his hair hasn't grown at all (but it is dark)

What Simon is doing

• He is a very smiley baby and will smile at whoever glances his way
• Laughs when you kiss his neck 
• Has discovered his hands more and that he can grab things although he is still pretty uncoordinated 
• interested in toys  and enjoys the baby gym (when his sister isn't trying to play on top of him)

Eats: Eats every 2-3 hours during the day. He has always been a quick nurser and he is getting even faster (about 5 min!). He likes to nurse to sleep before bed and will go a long time. During the day he nurses in the Ergo when we are out and about.

Sleeps: Simon starts going to bed at 7pm and is asleep for the night by 8pm. Nights have been all over the place this month. A few nights he gave me 9 hours, then was up every 2, then was back to 7.....the last week he has been up three times in the night. I'm not a fan.....
Naps: He is still at 3-4 naps a day. He is getting much better about napping in his bed. He hardly fusses anymore. He is swaddled with one arm in one arm out. The last week he has taken 1 hour naps each time in his bed instead of the regular 45 minutes. Joy did this whole 45 minute routine too....so I;m not worrying about it or fighting him to sleep longer. He is turning out to be like Joy and likes the burp cloth over his face when he sleeps....

Weighs  (I realized I never weighed him at 3 months, next week we go to the doctor so I'll get the official weight!)

At 4 month appointment : 12.9 lbs (5.88kg). Simon only gained 1.5 lbs since 2 months. It is a bit less than the norm but the pediatrician said he is just going to be a slender fellow and isn't worried since he is achieving milestones and charmed her with his smile. 

Length : 24.8 inches (63cm)

Likes: to smile at Joy, play with his toys, suck on his hands, ride in the ergo (no more infant insert, just the pillow part).

Dislikes: He really dislikes his sister bashing him in the head (yes Joy is still adjusting to having Simon around and this week she has had a cold so she has been extra rough).

Favorite event this month: Going to Ocean Park over Thanksgiving weekend......and anticipating daddy being home for two weeks during Christmas break!

Simon at Christmas time

My mom brought to my attention that there was no mention of Simon in our Christmas festivities. Poor neglected second child! He was actually around for all the fun either in the carrier or bouncy seat. He is a mellow laid back dude and enjoys watching us chase Joy around the house :) 

Simon does love the Christmas tree and will stare at it for a long time. He loves the warm sweaters that grandma Susan knit him too (it has been in the high 60s after all)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! It is our first Christmas with just Brad and I (and our kids of course). We are trying to do festive things and not get too sad and miss our extended families. We took family pictures and already mailed our Christmas cards over Thanksgiving weekend. 

We decorated the house for Christmas. Joy has been great around the tree and hasn't pulled it down.  Joy is enjoying her sticker advent calendar sent from Grandma and Grandpa in England. It has been keeping her away from Daddy's chocolate advent calendar (although she does get a chocolate if she goes in the potty)

The tree is wedged between the furniture! 

We busted out her nativity that she got from Grandma and Grandpa Condie last Christmas. She loves it and calls it her "new toy"

Joy has also enjoyed choosing a small ornament to put on the below advent calendar that Grandma Susan made. It is identical to the one that we had growing up!

Joy posing by the mall's Christmas decorations. This is the face she makes when I ask her to smile these days!Reminds me a bit of Aunt Julie's monster face :-)

Cookie exchange and decorating! Joy enjoyed eating the sugar cookies more than actually decorating them.

Joy loves reading her new Christmas books. Frosty the Snowman is a favorite...

Every once and a while she gets to have a hot chocolate (made with almond milk) treat with mommy. She is great about drinking out of a real mug!

Ocean park

Since not many schools aren't off the day after American Thanksgiving we took the chance to go to Ocean Park (zoo + amusement park). It was a beautiful sunny and a bit chilly day (I know we never thought the cool weather would come!) Joy loves animals and she is still talking about the dolphins and pandas.  

We were able to catch the dolphin and dancing sea lion show. 

A sleepy Joy watching in amazement

Took a peak at the penguins and the walrus

Joy took a great nap, while we walked around and saw various exhibits.

She looks mad in the picture but that is because the sun is in her eyes. She loved that the pandas were taking a nap (we pray for pandas now at meals and bedtime!)

Joy LOVED the merry go round. She got off and immediately wanted to go on the "horseys" again.

Simon got a turn in the stroller while Joy walked around. He is such a happy little camper!

The two times we have gone to Ocean Park Joy has been asleep when we go by the 'Garden of Joy" one day we will take a picture with her and the sign :-)

Playing with the toys in the gift shop