Like Looking Into a Mirror

Four years have come and gone and I can't believe my "little" girl is already four. Yeah yeah I know it's July and her birthday was in May but this is the best you're gonna get these days! lol So here are the boring stats....33 lbs and just shy of 41 in tall. She is a total stringbean and only managed to gain 2 lbs since her 3 year check up but has grown almost 4 inches. Emma continues to be the worlds pickiest eater and this was my only concern with the pediatrician. Ms. Jennifer looked at me, smiled and said, "She is the product of YOU (while looking me up and down with a smile). Genetics are a big factor. Don't worry". I guess she's right. All legs, just like her mama. =)

She needed a finger prick to check her iron and two combo vaccines (dTap/Polio, MMR/Varicella). Since she seemed to be getting a cold the day before her appointment, I opted to just do one of the vaccinations and deal with the second one next year before kindergarten. We spent the morning bonding at breakfast and getting our nails done to soften the blow of having to get a shot. I told her it would hurt a bit but once the hurt part was over it was easy peasy. For a child that has dealt with CHRONIC constipation since she was a baby, she was able to relate this to a big poop, you know, once you pushed out the big log the hurt part was over and then it was no big deal. Glad we can relate shots to shit now. Got her through it though. She cried only 1 tear. =)

Low and behold, the day after the shot, she had a low grade fever and her cold turned into an icky cough/fever. She shook the fever after a day or two, while the cough and runny nose have annoyingly lingered. She toughed it out for a funfilled weekend with The Ratners (photos to come soon!). I am glad to at least not be working and get to spend time with her at home while she recuperates without worrying about missing work. 

The older she gets and the more she tests me and frustrates me, I see more and more that she really is a miniature version of me. It's actually kind of scary. Sometimes Emma will say something and Larry will laugh and look at me, "She is SO your kid." I guess there are worse things in the world. =) Here are some photos....

She wanted "rainbow" so she got rainbow indeed!

 Just jumpin around

 About to devour her rainbow cupcake

 Spent almost the whole day running around!

And playing tennis

 She is super focused!

 Time out for a photo with brother! I love them both SOOOOO much!

 Caught red-handed! PoPo giving Oliver candy at 6 months old. Shame shame shame!

 UNLIKE her mother, this child LOVES frosting!

 Present explosion

 Our "annual" Mother's Day pose...except she's giant now! I could barely hold her up. And yes, those are my busted toes that still needed to be taped two months after I broke them. My little ball of energy "may" have jumped on them a few times. Ouch.

 My sweet ballerina waiting for dress rehearsal. The ONLY perk of the class mom shenanigans was getting to hang out with my girl. Otherwise, note to self: NEVER get suckered into that crap again!

 Yep, that's my Dork-a-hontas with the silly pose

Sigh. I am blessed to have been able to experience the past four years with this beautiful, intelligent, strong willed, independent, loving little girl. I can't imagine life without her spunk and tenacity. Love you always always always Emma Kalai!!!

Emma Pocahontas

I have a lot to update on, but for those of you that have been waiting, here is the video of Emma's dress rehearsal for Pocahontas last week. I will post more pics from the recital and update on the whole family soon! =)

6 Months

I'm not sure where the time has gone but this little man is already six months old! He weighed in at 18.6 lbs (70th %) and was 20-something inches. Yep I forgot. The appointment was a few weeks ago. =/ Anyhow, Oliver is growing in size and fits comfortably into his 12 month clothes. The past several weeks have been challenging for him. The cold from hell turned into the relentless cough from hell. Eight weeks into this ridiculousness and it finally resulted in an upper respiratory infection. Ten day course of antibiotics seemed to clear the cough up but gave him the runs so bad. Poor guy had acidy diaper rash like no other. After finishing his antibiotics, he broke out in hives on his legs and got a rash on his torso. Had a low grade fever. Doctor assumed it was a delayed reaction to the penicillin. Just last Monday, just as he was starting to feel better, he sprouted his first tooth. Two days later, his second lower tooth came in. The he had his 6 month vaccinations. Poor guy just can't get a break.

Speaking of not getting a break....so this kid sleeps HORRIBLE lately. Well, more than lately. I pretty much haven't slept more than 2 1/2 hours straight in 3 months. His sensitive tummy can only handle 1 type of formula but he hates it so I can't even get him to drink it. I feel like  a slave to his chronic hunger. I am also not a fan of his new sharp teeth and his constant need to bite me while nursing. This is why I'm sort of stressed about alternate feeding options. I feel forced to have to suffer through this fricking biting shenanigans because he won't eat otherwise. He has begun to eat quite a few different solids. Not really a picky eater so far, as you can tell by his chunks.

He is super interactive and laughs all the time. He is a really happy kid. As of lately, he is going through a bit of a separation phase and will squeal and whine if he can't see me. He is a rolling and sitting machine. Way too lazy to attempt crawling yet. I'm okay with that. There are a million Emma toys that he could choke on. I'll worry about maintaining a cleaner house once he's mobile.

Emma's 4th birthday is coming up soon. I can't believe how quickly she is growing up. The boy is awake already so the next post will be dedicated to my favorite girl. =)

Our Crazy Life

It's been a long time since I posted. This is because the life of a working mom with two kids essentially means that there is not a moment of down time. If there is down time, then I'm ready to sleep. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mom, but the working part of it has really kicked my ass this time around. I feel like I transitioned back to work okay after I had Emma. Maybe that was because after maternity leave, I went back to work at the beginning of a new school year. My two months back to work have been HARD. I can't sugar coat it. I just had my ninth IEP meeting since being back. Work has been so busy.

And now another few weeks have gone by and I am trying, yet AGAIN, to update this dang thing! I guess I better get my thoughts out quickly. I have been off the past two weeks for Spring Break and it has been amazing! Larry and I spent a few days in Santa Barbara just the two of us. We realized that the last time just the two of us had gone away was for my birthday when Emma was about 1 1/2, so 2 years ago. Even then we just spent an evening away at a hotel in San Diego. Santa Barbara was about as far as I could stand to be. I loved the time away and sleeping several hours straight and taking a shower without seeing the face of either of my children. Although our conversations even when we're away often involved Emma or Oliver, it was nice to reconnect with my amazing husband. After 13 years together, there is no doubt that I love him more and more each day! We visited Lotusland in Santa Barbara per recommendation of a friend (thank you Ben Wexlar). It is difficult to explain but it is beautiful. Maybe some day I will actually download pics from our trip.
Check it out....it is worth the trip.
http://www.lotusland.org/

 

So while getting away was just what Larry and I needed, I missed the kids like crazzzzzzzy. The trip would have been a bit easier if I didn't have to still pump every 3 hours. Yeah, super romantic. =/ After more weeks than I could count of shitty sleep at night, I felt sort of guilty leaving Oliver. I was eager to get home to my little angels and was sure to smother them with kisses. 

One of the big focus points of conversation while we were gone was "WOW, it is CRAZY how fast the kids are growing up!" Emma will already be 4 next month (going on 15!) and Oliver is already 5 months and growing so darn fast at a whopping 18 lbs already!

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

5 months old: 1st school picture =)

 I'm not sure if it's because he's our second or because he's a boy or because he's "my baby" but I feel like the time is really flying by with Oliver. On top of being a big boy eating some new foods (sweet potatoes, banana, oatmeal, peas and carrot), he is also rolling both directions. He is pretty lazy about moving and it must be pretty challenging to roll over with those tree trunk legs, but he does a pretty good job! He can sit on his own for 2-3 minutes. My favorite thing about him is that he is pretty much always smiling and laughing. He really is a happy guy. He especially loves watching his sister. 

The older she gets, the more Emma is becoming my mini-me. I laugh about it on most occasions, but sometimes it's pretty freaky how much of a carbon copy she is. =) I love her for all of her spirit and spunk! She still goes to dance class once a week so that's always the start to our crazy Saturdays, running her to and from class. This is often intermixed with a birthday party or weekend playdate. Her social calendar keeps me pretty busy! =)

My ballerina

Work those abs girl

Move out of the way of the tapping train!

Who isn't happy in front of a wall of mirrors!?

There is no doubt about it....our life is busy, a bit crazy at times but I love it. There isn't really ever any down time. There certainly isn't time for myself. I will say that every moment, no matter HOW busy, is filled with love and laughter. My house may be a complete and utter disaster but it is a home. My brain may be the most forgetful waste of space, but my focus is my kids now. They will still live even if mommy can't find her wallet or loses her car keys at Target. And the world will still go on even if I manage to walk out of the house without a bra. It's a crazy life but it's the only life I know now.

Holiday Fun

Life has been hectic to say the least, so I apologize for the delay on updating the blog. I will catch up on the ongoings of the Lui household. Here are some of our holiday photos to hold you over in the meantime!

Picking our X-mas tree. Yes, Emma being a ham as usual!

"Dad, I think this one is good!"

Oliver was too tired of mama trying to take his picture!

My sweet angels!

We made our first gingerbread house this year. I think Emma ate more candy than actually went onto the house!

Cheese!

Someone got caught eating frosting off of the roof!

New toys from Vovo!

Mema and my rascals

Santa was very nice to our kids!

Wow! is what Emma said!

The "Hug-A-Bear" she hoped Santa would bring her! I guess she wasn't on the naughty list after all!

Helping to open brother's presents too!

Uncle Mike and Uncle Gary meet Oliver

The Horrible Rash

 First of all, I just wanted to send a huge thank you to all of the supportive comments and phone calls I got after my last post on breast feeding. It was an amazing help to have such an outpouring of love and support, so thank you to everyone for that!!  I took some photos to chronicle the horrible rash that Oliver got on his face to remind me of why I am not complaining about a dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, wheat-free existence. THIS is the rash that freaked me out and had me calling the pediatrician. I literally google searched "can infants go into anaphylatic shock from breast milk". I was super worried, which was interesting because I noticed that I don't tend to freak that bad with the second baby. =)


So Oliver's rash got to this point....This was last Tuesday morning.

 THIS was by Tuesday evening. Yeah, I FREAKED out. His poor eyes and lips were so swollen. My poor poor little man! Had to put mittens on his hands to keep him from scratching the hell out of his itchy little face.

This photo was two days ago, Saturday. The rash was starting to clear up but a bit scabby from where the bumps were a little bit oozy. =( His skin still felt really rough.

 

This is today, Monday. His face is finally looking better. It's a bit dry and scaly but thanks to several message boards on BabyCenter (Food Allergies, Babies with Eczema, Elimination Diet)  we discovered the cream CeraVe for eczema and it's been working wonders on his delicate little cheeks. 

 

I hope I NEVER have to see that scary rash again! So when I try to remind myself why the hell I'm subjecting myself to the "Air Diet", well, that face is not something I want to see again. We had decided to do formula while I pump to help Oliver's face clear up. That lasted for three whole bottle feedings! He took SOOOO long to drink the bottle and then by the time I pumped and cleaned up, I MAYBE got 30 min sleep before the whole process started again. Sleep deprived AND hungry were not an option so we went back to breastfeeding and have thankfully seen a major improvement already. He's back to my sweet, happy go lucky little man!

Emma Meets Oliver