Happy year of the horse

Not sure why there is a cow during year Of the horse. 

Joy and daddy by dragon statue  ( year joy was born) 

Chinese New Year is here which means two things : 1) Brad is off work for 10 days.. Yay 2) our village is insane! The wishing tree is a major destination during cny because of the tree and the huge fair they put on. It makes leaving our village during the day hard because of all the crowds. Today we went to take a look at all tr decorations  

Mommy and Simon by year of the snake (year Simon was born)

Down by the bay

Joy is in full swing Raffi mode...we start it at 7am and some days we listen to him all day. Yes...in the middle of the night I do find myself singing baby beluga and feeling a bit insane (or is that the sleep deprivation?)

Here is Joy singing Down by the bay!

A little late....

It takes me a long time to get pictures off the SLR camera....but today I finally did. Here are some very late pictures from Christmas :-) 

 Christmas eve turkey dinner as a family (yes we cooked a 12 pound turkey in my tiny oven!)

 Opening stockings on Christmas morning 

                               
Joy opening presents...we only got pictures of her opening one because then we were on skype with family in the US opening the rest

 2012 Christmas in England (Joy 10 months)-2013 Christmas Hong Kong (Joy 22 months Simon 4 months) 

Joy is 23 months

What Joy is doing 

• Joy loves to stack her blocks and put away her toys 
• She will play alone...IF Raffi is playing (so some days we listen to a lot of Raffi) 
• Has stayed twice in with the kids at mom's group (huge for her!)
• loves to play with her dolly

• We are going to attempt potty training soon, we will see how much energy this tired mommy has for that. She is excited that grandma and grandpa are bringing undies for her to wear. 
• Total teeth: 16! Just waiting on the 2 year old molars
  

What Joy is saying: Joy is a talker and gets frustrated if we can't figure out what she is trying to communicate. I can't really keep track of her word list anymore because she is talking so much. She has fixed almost all the words she says wrong. She listens to everything we say so Brad and I have to spell a lot!

 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 have reintroduced dairy and Joy seems ok. She loves plain yogurt and really sour keefer (with tons of bok choy in it..kind of gross but healthy). She hasn't drank a whole cup of milk yet but we are starting to thin out her almond milk and see how it goes. She doesn't like cheese much, especially melted. 
• 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 listening to Raffi songs. Her favorites are "down by the bay" and "the more we get together"
* Animals
* Watching Simon bounce in his bouncy seat (she wishes she could do it instead of him!)
*Tolerates me putting pony tales in her hair, although she still thinks she should get to watch "Curious George and the Chameleon" every time
* Skyping/Facetiming with Auntie Lulu (Joy always asks if she is in the library), Kalina (Joy always wants to see Esther, Isaiah and Sophie dog) and Grandma and Grandpa who currently are staying in a house with lots of cool animal statues. 

Is learning.....
* to be gentle will Simon...it comes and goes. Currently she wants to be with him on the baby gym and in her crib...which is a tight space and she is always rolling on top of him. 

Dislikes: Not getting her own way! Having to leave a place she loves before saying goodbye to it. Time outs (which is good because when we would threaten time outs she would say OK!)

Favorite event: Having daddy home for Christmas break. We went to the zoological gardens and she was mesmerized by the monkeys. The girl is a true animal lover

Simon is five months

What Simon is doing

• Smiles at everyone who will look at him. 
• Has rolled over three times(back to tummy)...once was off the couch! He was ok and now he is not allowed to stay on the couch anymore! Poor chap the floor is a vulnerable position for him so he doesn't get much floor time. Big sister is always ready and eager to play with him aka: sit on him
• Screeching! We hardly heard a peep out of him (except for the occasional cry for the last 4 months....now all of a sudden he has found his lungs) 
• Sucking two of his fingers....not all the time but pretty much every day. 

Eats: Eats about every two hours. Although he doesn't like to nurse when he first wakes up...he likes to eat about an hour after he wakes up, then have a little break then eat again before he goes down for his nap. He nurses for a grand total of 5 minutes. He really could take it or leave it, the whole eating thing. Opposite of his big sister! He is wetting his diaper/pooping enough and gaining weight (although not tons) so the doctor isn't worried.

Sleeps: Simon has had some major sleep regression during this fourth month of his life. He is up 3-6 times in the night (will nurse for 10 minutes then go to sleep for an hour or two....the longest stretch I get is 4 hours at the beginning of the night). In one word it has been: TERRIBLE. Chinese New Year (two weeks away) holds some major sleep training for the little man.

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 no longer swaddled. He loves his blanket that was knit by Grandma Susan. Although this week he has been all over the place. He will do a couple days of 1 hour naps then the next day only sleep in 20-30 min stretches. I thought after three months the whole sleep thing was going to get better. Sadly it was much better the first three months if his life than now!

Weighs 13.3 lbs

Likes: when Joy interacts with him, riding in the ergo, riding in the car, generally happy to be along for the ride.

Dislikes: When Mommy tries to force him to nurse (he bites and arches his back!) Ouch! He doesn't like to ride in the car at night... So weird Also he doesn't much like tummy time

Favorite event this month: Christmas break with Daddy home. He was ambivalent about Christmas presents :-) 

our little guy

Simon's smile is instant upon eye contact and his giggle melts your heart. He is quite the charmer!

Videos of Joy

Here are some overdue videos of Joy. I have been trying to capture some of her cute talking on video.

Video 1: She was explaining to Brad that she had hit Simon on the head and he was crying "a little bit"




 Video 2: Joy nursing her baby and singing "rock a by baby"




Video 3: Joy and the Christmas tree (ps. Cocos is a Japanese Curry restaurant that we go to and Joy loves it.....)