dancing shoes

caleb dances when he hears the law and order song. it's so funny. he really recognizes it cuz i watch it so much. when he was a baby and i was home, i'd watch it on netflix on the computer. he definitely recognizes the music.

right now he's obsessed with wearing dave's basketball shoes and my tennis shoes. he will sit for a good ten minutes (LONG time for him) trying to figure out how the shoelaces work. he's actually getting pretty good at walking around with dave's size 11 shoes...it's soooo funny.

caleb 18 months

this guy is crazy. once they called us to the room he started freaking out. it was the first appointment after lunch so no one was there and it was library-quiet...and then caleb started SCREAMING bloody murder.

screamed when he got weighed and got his height taken. screamed when his temperature was taken. screamed when i took off his clothes. screamed and held on for dear life while the nurse asked me questions. screamed while doctor did developmental tests with him...impressed doctor by screaming while stacking blocks...lol. screamed as doctor checked him out. screamed when he got his one shot. screamed, screamed and screamed some more. went out in the hallway to go down the elevator...happily pressed the button and resumed his cute, normal self. garsh.

seriously, his head was sweaty and so was i from holding him. it is NOT hot in there.

anyways, he is now in the 10-25th percentile in height and weight. he started off a big boy, now he's a normal asian boy...sucks. oh well. he's 30 5/8 inches and weighs 24 lbs. what did i expect when i contribute a whopping 4 ft 9 inches to the poor kid. please let him be taller than me...lol!!!

we'll have to monitor his words...if at 21 months he doesn't have a good 20 words, we may see a speech person. doctor said with him it's nothing to worry about since he understands so much...his speech will come quickly when he's ready to talk. i'm sure we'll be wishing for him to shut up after he starts, just like my family wished for me to shut up when i started talking...lol.

his new favorite thing to do is mess the freakin house up. mess up my canned goods cabinet, mess up all his toys and books, mess up anything and everything. if you stop by my house randomly, you'll see the biggest mess ever. i can just imagine what this house will look like when brynna's his age and he's 2 1/2.

brynna 4 months

today was brynna's 4 month check up. she weighs 15 lbs 7 oz and is 25 1/4 in tall. average size for a 5-5.5 month old, 90-95th percentile for both height and weight. head is super small. caleb was the same way too.

developmentally she's doing good...good neck muscles, follows objects, turns to sounds.

in the next few months she'll probably up her eating to about 35 ounces per day (currently she's at 25-30 per day). once that happens, we'll start her on rice and vegetables...probably after her 6 month check up.

two shots today and one oral vaccine. she screamed, of course, then passed out. that's the usual for them when they get shots. the most embarrassing thing was that she pee'd on the nurse after she was weighed. got pee all on the nurse's shirt and on the bed. my kids...they're so memorable.

tomorrow's caleb's 18 month check up. warned the nurse that the screamer will be there tomorrow. lucky her. gets pee'd on one day, gets the screamer the next day. lol.

dang it...

this morning dave and i were searching for caleb's bag of kix cereal. it was on the table yesteday. we searched in the cabinets, around the living room...no cereal. dave says, "caleb, i hope you didn't throw your cereal in the rubbish can." i tell him to check cuz caleb has been known to throw stuff in there. he checks, and yes, his whole 3/4 full bag of cereal is in there. luckily the trash was pretty empty, so i transferred the cereal to other containers...i'm not wasting a new bag of cereal!

i'm pretty sure my comb, which i haven't been able to locate in a while, got thrown away too. who knows what else...

tgif

whoa...a five day work week is rough! lol. i better get used to it since we won't have furloughs this year!

i'm freakin' tired and for some reason my allergies are acting up so i'm sneezing and all stuffed up. great. i should've taken an allergy pill this morning. oh well.

kids are taking a test right now...i really, really, really hope they do good...they have notes and specific examples of how to do all the problems right on the test. we'll see.

i think we're going to end up finishing early today. maybe i'll turn the tv on for them. great, one guy is pau his test already. smarty pants.

phoneless

God decided that today i had to suck it up, teach, and not complain. why, you ask? because He made me forget my phone at home so i can't text dave or leish to tell them how irritated or grouchy i am at how the kids just don't get it. lol.

today we're reviewing for tomorrow's test...and it's stuff that's kind of confusing and to me, it's just a matter of practice, memorization, and exposure for the kids to get it. sheez, a rule is a rule...you just follow it and get the right answer. i don't know how better to explain it. well, maybe if i were dave i would know how to better explain it, but i only know one way. that's probably why the kids don't get it.

it just trips me out at how clueless some of the kids are. it's interesting too, though. i love the kids who try so hard but still don't get it...at least i know it's not for lack of trying. there are other kids, though, who i just want to strangle cuz if they put their damn antenna up once in a while, they might actually receive some of what is being taught. then there are the other kids, the ones that are probably bored as hell cuz they get it the first time. admittedly, this math class is moving at a way faster pace than regular school...i just hope that when they're exposed to these same concepts in 8th grade they'll get it...or at least remember that they saw it before...wishful thinking, i know.

trip thoughts

i've heard on more than one occasion peeps giving their opinion about both dave and i going on a trip for school and leaving the kids behind. today i heard it again from one of my mom's friends...he didn't say it to me, but he said it to my mom and she relayed it to me.

i'm gonna say it now....it frickin irritates me. first of all, when we agreed to the trip, we didn't envision it this way. our first thought was that we would take my mom, brynna and caleb with us. we asked my mom if she'd be willing to come with us and she said yes. we'd be in our conferences during the day, but we'd be with the kids after we were done. after some thinking about it and the age of brynna and the idea of my mom being cooped up in a hotel room all day for a week, we decided that it would be better to leave them home...caleb with my mom, brynna with dave's parents. that way, if they got sick the doctor is here and it wouldn't be like we would have to make emergency room visits. they'd be in environments that they'd be more comfortable in, with all the equipment that they need.

so...i know that it must irritate me for a reason...and part of that reason is that i do feel bad for leaving them. i know that they'll be in good hands, but i still worry that something will happen and i won't be here to take care of it. i know i'm going to miss them like crazy and i don't look forward to the trip at all. i do feel judged when people make comments about us going...like we're bad parents, or more so, i'm a bad mom, for going. i'm putting my career ahead of my family. anyone who knows me knows that i've wanted to be a mommy more than anything else...so it does feel really shitty to be judged as a "bad" mom.

if i could back out of the trip now, i probably would. the closer it gets, the less i want to go. i love avid, i think it's an awesome program, and i really want to be a part of it....but at what cost? i know i'm going to learn a lot on the trip and i know that's going to help me implement the avid strategies in my class and when i become an avid teacher next school year. still, there's the nagging doubt about if i should really be leaving my one and a half year old and my 4 month old for a week.

anyways, i know it's damned if i do and damned if i don't. whatever...the decision has been made, dave and i are going to the conference, caleb and brynna will stay with our parents for a week. all i can do now is pray that everything works out as it should and we made the right decision. i always said i didn't want to work and be a mom at the same time because i wouldn't know how to give my 100% to both sides...but i can't not work cuz we wouldn't be able to handle it financially...so i'm sure this won't be the last time i'm criticized or feel bad about not giving my 100% to one side or the other.

fever free today

caleb's been fever free today...not fussy free, but at least fever free. he is starting to sound congested and having a little bit of a runny nose....doctor said it's okay, the virus is coming out, and don't be surprised if he breaks into a rash. he's glad the fever is gone so far and so are we. if he starts to get too congested, though, we'll have to call him again.

it's scary when they get sick...you just never know what it could be and all the worst case scenarios start creeping into your mind....what if this, or what if that. just gotta pray hard and have faith it'll work out the way it's supposed to.

so far, so good

yesterday when i got home from school caleb was running a 102 fever...we gave him meds and after a while it went away. at bedtime he didn't have a fever but i gave him a dose of acetaminophen anyways to ward off any fever during the night. at 2 am he was up and fussing...gave him a drink of juice/water but he wasn't feverish so didn't give him any meds. dave went to sleep with him after this and he asked to drink a couple times but still didn't have a fever. this morning, no fever. let's hope it stays that way.

brynna slept through the night the night before last. in fact, she slept for a solid ten hours. last night she got up around 430...i then switched places with dave and slept with caleb while he handled her (hehe...eh, if i gotta come work, he gotta get up!). she had made a whole lotta doodoo, drank some milk, then went back to sleep. luckily dave stayed up and watched soccer cuz at 615 he came in the bedroom to wake me up...apparently i didn't turn on my alarm last nigth so if he wasn't up, who knows when i would have gotten up!

at least it's wednesday...man, these five day work weeks are LONG!!!!

lingering fever

caleb started his fever on friday after lunch....all friday and saturday he was running a fever, brought down by doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen. yesterday he seemed better, but still had a slight fever (100) throughout the day. this morning at 345 he was up, crying and hot. temp was 101.1 and i gave him a dose of ibuprofen. at 430 i gave him a dose of acetaminophen and woke dave up. dave took him, i went to sleep in our room around 515 and dave and caleb slept in caleb's room. luckily brynna slept through the night so we both were able to get sleep.

he doesn't seem to have any other symptoms...no real runny nose, no real cough, doesn't seem congested. he'll eat...not as much as when he's not sick, but he's not refusing food. he drinks his milk, water, and some juice. he's fine and happy at times, fussy as heck and clingy at other times. doodoo and shishi seem to be fine. no swollen hands or feet, no red eyes or lips, no strawberry tongue. he does have a little sore on his lip that looks like it could be he bit it or it's a little cold sore.

doctor called yesterday to ask how he was...dave told him he still had fever so doctor said to call him today if the fever is still there. it's kind of scary because i don't remember a fever lingering this long before. hopefully we'll be able to take caleb in this afternoon and figure something out. luckily dave's mom is on summer break too, so if we need her to watch brynna for a little while to take caleb to the doctor, we have the luxury of that.

caleb definitely knows once we get in the office that we're at the doctor and starts getting all anxious. once we're in the room he starts panicking and when doctor walks in he starts screaming bloody murder. it's quite embarrassing and the poor boy was there on saturday, will probably go in today, and has his 18 month check up on tuesday next week. brynna's is on monday, so he'll probably have to go in with us then too. poor guy. he's REALLY going to hate that place. i just want him to get better.

work week...blech!

hehe...caleb seems to be getting better so that means i'm at work this week and dave gets to stay home with the kiddies.

yesterday, after the second restless night because of caleb being sick, i was pooped. i actually passed out on the couch when dave's parents were over and didn't even get to say bye to them. oops. caleb also seemed pooped and he put up no fight whatsoever when it was time for bed. since i knew i was coming in to work today, i decided i better get to bed early too and was passed out before 10.

now i'm at work...it's the second period and the kids are working. summer school, even with some guys who need to make up credit, hasn't been too bad. we have three weeks left (counting this week) and the pace of the class is pretty quick so it doesn't get too boring. the kids have now been exposed to both dave and me and so far i haven't heard any complaints. i think they recognize that dave has more ways to explain different concepts...hopefully they notice that i'm more organized and neat...lol.

i've always struggled with math...not like being in the lowest class kind of struggle, but always not getting the concepts and needing a lot of extra explanation and help. i wonder if i would have felt more confident in math if i hadn't been put in the "top" class...probably, since i always felt like such a dummy compared to these math whiz kids! looking at how some of these kids really, really, really struggle with basic math facts, it amazes me. i mean, i know you can always use a calculator, but why do they not know their multiplication table to twelve?? i thought that was just a given...you just memorize it. and forget about working with negative numbers...holy smokes. in a way, i kind of get "tracking" in math because i see some kids cruising and others flailing at the pace we're going and i don't know how to differentiate for them. since everything builds upon something else, when you lose several steps along the way, you're seriously lost. i dunno...i know the whole "against tracking" movement...but i feel for the kids who are barely grasping even at this point.

if i ever had to change from english to math...i'd only want to teach remedial math...lol...

sick baby...hopefully just one!

poor caleb. yesterday we went to lunch with aunty leish and aunty deena and he just wasn't his usual happy-boy self. when we were going home i noticed his head was hot...and yep, he had a fever of 102. gave him some tylenol and he took a nap and it came down to 100. last night at around 2 a.m. i noticed he started to feel hot again...finally at 4 i gave him another dose of tylenol. both of us had junk sleeps. this morning his fever was still 101 so we called the doctor and made an appointment. at the doctor's his fever was 102.3...doctor told me to keep giving him alternating ibuprofen and acetaminophen and watch for rash, red eyes, red lips, swollen hands and feet, which could be kawasaki disease. hello, super scary. he said he doesn't think that's it, but just to be on the lookout for it. if it's roseola, which caleb had before, the fever should break in a day or two and then we'll see the rash come out. if it's just a cold, he'll get better as it passes.

the scariest part is him getting brynna sick. so far we've tried to keep them separated for the most part...he's in his room with me, brynna's with dave. when i bring him out and she's out here he wants to touch her but we keep him away. i know it's inevitable that we'll have both kids sick at times, but i don't want her to be sick at such a young age.

looks like dave might be going in to work on monday...i don't wanna leave sick babies...

busted lip and potty

last night we went to target for a little bit and instead of putting caleb in the cart, which we usually do, we decided to see how he would be walking around instead. i put his panda backpack/leash on and off we went. he mainly held my hand and was really good...he attempted to touch many things, but listened when we told him no. he only had to be pulled off from climbing a shelf once. brynna was in the stroller and she was fine for the most part and when she started crying we took her out to carry and put caleb in the stroller.

today we went to wal-mart and decided to let caleb walk again. i was holding his hand and i guess i wasn't holding tightly enough because he ended up falling down and biting his bottom lip. it looked pretty bad and he was crying pretty loudly...dave said he's glad it was me holding caleb's hand so that he didn't get busted for it...lol. caleb likes to pull your arm and walk quickly and sometimes he gets all excited and starts doing a little dance which makes him fall. of course, if i was holding him more tightly it could have been prevented. dave said this will be only the first fat lip of many...yuck. i hope it's not too sore when i brush his teeth tonight. he's been fine since then, and i see him licking or sucking on his lip, so hopefully it's alright.

we bought him a little potty seat last night...decided to try it out after i heard from others that they were starting to use the potty. sat him on it for about 15 minutes today and though he didn't do anything, he wasn't scared either. he was most interested in reading his magazine and fake wiping with toilet paper. of course, at the end he wanted to flush the toilet, which i let him do. i'll put him on for a little bit tonight after i brush his teeth and we'll see what happens. i told dave for now lets just try to put him on when he wakes up, if we think he needs to doodoo, and before he goes to bed. those of you with boys...when do they do the stand up shishi? i'm scared of that cuz i hate that stink pee smell you get when there's boys in the house.

weekend happs

this past weekend my dad came to visit the two kids. since my parents are divorced and my mom is usually with us, my dad comes to visit when my mom goes home for her vacations. ah, the life of divorced parents...lol.

anyways, my dad definitely enjoyed his time with the kids...of course, brynna isn't very interactive yet, but he did get to carry her and talk to her some. caleb, though, definitely has my dad wrapped around his finger. caleb's such a social little boy and very inquisitive, so he would often go to y dad when he was sitting around, which my dad just loved. my dad also took caleb walking outside...far...i think he was more tired than caleb when they got back because he didn't realize prior to leaving that caleb is a fast walker and will drag you around!

friday we ate lunch at genki sushi and went to costco. caleb is getting so much better at going out and behaving...and brynna was her usual mellow self. saturday we went to chinatown. on the way to pick up tash there was a ton of traffic...and brynna hates traffic (like caleb did at that age) and she cried the longest and the loudest that i've ever heard. when we got to tash's house i discovered that she had made doodoo...so i dunno if the crying made her doodoo or if she was crying because she doodoo'd. (i dunno what caleb pressed but now it won't go off italics...grrr.) anyways, chinatown wasn't nearly as bad as i expected, especially with caleb in his umbrella stroller and brynna in the other stroller. she only started crying when she wanted to eat, then fell asleep as we walked back to the car.

sunday was a cruise day...we had visits from my aunty, uncle, cousins, and the kids, which was really cool, and dave's dad came and had lunch with us. now it's back to the grind...dave's at school and i'm at home this week so at least the kids will learn more math and the chores will get done...lol.

brynna...best baby ever...lol

so i don't mention brynna a lot because there really isn't much to mention. she naps wonderfully, cries when hungry or tired or needs her diaper changed, and sleeps through the night like a champ. everyone told me how much easier the second one would be, especially since she's a girl and caleb was crazy...and they're right.

she's starting to interact more...talking, laughing, smiling...it's so cute. she definitely gets way less attention than caleb...from everyone...but i think she'll start to pull attention away from him as she gets older. we'll see how he deals with that.

she's also getting fat...not quite as fat as caleb was, but definitely getting there. she used to have cute little skinny legs...not anymore! and her little mochi cheeks are so funny...

see, look, i don't have anything more to stay about brynna girl...

crazy caleb, rocks aren't for eating!

i think it was yesterday...yea, i'm pretty sure it was yesterday...man, my brain sucks...

anyways, as i was sitting at the computer, caleb comes over and i hear a crunching sound. my first thought is that he's eating a snack, but quickly my mind registers that there is no snack that would make that sound against his teeth. i turn to him and ask him what he has in his mouth. he quickly clamps his mouth shut, which tells me immediately that he has something in there that shouldn't be there. i pry his lips open and stick my fingers in his mouth...and pull out a little rock. it's smaller than a benadryl pill and thank goodness he didn't swallow it. i explain to him that this is a ROCK, not food. usually he picks up stuff from the ground (rubbish) and throws it in the trash. dunno why he decided to stick the rock in his mouth. gosh.

caleb's been being naughty when it's bedtime too. he doesn't want to go to sleep anymore....so we'll go in the room around 8:30, read him his books, turn on his music and move to the other side of the room while he falls asleep on his bed. this was working well until this week...now he doesn't want to go to bed. the other night dave was in there with him. dave lies on the ground while he's waiting for caleb to sleep...so dave turned his back to caleb (who is lying on the bed), and when he turned back, caleb was standing up on the bed, trying to be all sneaky. dave tells him to lie down, caleb rolls his eyes and dives down to his pillow. dave wanted to laugh but had to scold him and tell him it's bedtime. last night caleb didn't want to go to sleep so we just left him in his room. he whimpered at the door and tried to get our attention, but we didn't want to stay in his room with him, waiting for him to fall asleep. eventually he fell asleep on the floor by the gate...and we left him there until he woke up crying and dave went to sleep in the room with him.

all i know is that this first week of work has tired me out. dave loves staying home with the kids, taking naps, playing bejeweled, chess and wii baseball uninterrupted. i told him staying home isn't all fun and games...so he said if i tell him what he needs to do, he'll do it. yesterday i told him to fix our bed and vacuum...which he did. today he has to do laundry. i also told him that before he plays, he needs to make sure all the chores are done...lol. next week he's coming to work and i'm staying home.

so damn tired

i'm so damn tired that i wrote a post, put it on the wrong blog, thought i copied it to paste over here, and realized i never copy um. oh well, i'm too tired to think about what i wrote.

goodnight folks. caleb better be sleeping and better not have wrecked my mom's drawer again. dang eye rolling rock eating kid. i'll talk about that later.

updates

caleb sleeps in his big boy bed...if we put him to bed and wait in the room until he falls asleep. he usually wakes up anywhere between 3-5 am and cries loudly until one of us goes into the room with him. he wakes up at around 530 or 6 now...soooo early.

brynna's been sleeping through the night again for the past few days. we hope it continues. her cries are getting a little bit louder, but she still mainly only cries when she's hungry, needs to be changed, or wants to sleep. she has more wakeful periods now and is becoming more observant and interactive.

caleb has learned that he can only have his paci and blanket in his bedroom...so he asks us to go there when he wants them. before we pick him up to let him out of the room he puts his paci and blanket down on the side.

dave thinks caleb is ready to be potty trained because for the past two days he's asked to go to the bedroom, goes in, makes doodoo, then asks to come out again. i do not think caleb is ready for potty training at 18 months old...

summer school starts on monday...i'm going to go in for the first week to set the class up and lay down the law. after that, we'll see. dave says he wants me to teach the whole summer and he stays home with the kids...i dunno about that. we'll see how he feels about that after the first week.

i'm still apprehensive about our trip, especially for brynna...