Happy Hypatia

I love Hypatia. This kid always acts so pleasantly surprised to see me--even after I've been holding her for the past 8 hours. What's up with that? Whatever is up with it, I love it! So funny, adorable, cute and every other trite description one could give a baby's actions. But it's so true, though! It is extremely adorable...not to mention hilarious! She makes eye contact with me, her eyes widen with shock and she smile. It is as if she is saying, "Whoa, mom, where'd you come from?! I'm so glad to see you!"

6-month-olds were made for kissing and cuddling, indeed!

She has started to pull herself up to stand with the help of the sofa. Pictures to come.

Daphne Dreams

"Mommy, I had a dream about furry people and computers."
-Daphne

First Dental Visit

Today, Daphne & Lotus visited the dentist for the first time (which is horribly late because you're supposed to take them when their teeth first come in).

Lotus had her teeth cleaned and examined. It was pretty awesome! She was pretty awesome! She was very cooperative, sat in the examining chair and followed directions. I wish I had had my camera! No cavities!

Daphne was also very awesome. She actually had x-rays taken of her teeth. She loved that she had strawberry flavored paste. She was also cavity-free!

Lotus was a handful, though, when she wasn't sitting in the examining chair, and she kept telling me she "wanted to go home". When the dentist gave her stickers, she responded by saying, "Ah, stickies! Sank you! Sank you so muts!" Translated, this meant, "Ah, stickers! Thank you! Thank you so much!"

All in all, I think they were both very stoked about having their teeth cleaned.

Picnic!

Today we enjoyed ourselves outside by having a wonderful picnic in our front yard.



Daphne and Lotus enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches, crumble donuts, a berry cream cheese danish, and yogurt pretzels. Afterwards we went to the backyard, dug holes, watered the lawn and pulled out some old cement blocks that I had put up to surround our now defunct garden.

Red Ribbon Adventures and Illness

We went to Red Ribbon for lunch on Friday, just the girls and me. It was sort of nutty. I ordered them Sotanghon first, but they saw the Palabok of the people sitting next to us. We also enjoyed chicken empanadas. It was somewhat stressful, and I don't think I'm going to venture out to eat with all three girls in tow. Maybe when Lotus is a little older, it will be more enjoyable. The Palabok was tasty, though.

Nothing interesting has happened since the filming of that video. In fact, the baby has been sick. For the past three days, she could not sleep without being held. So, we've been holding her. The worst of it was on Sunday night. Emmanuel stayed up until 4 AM holding Hypatia. He was so delirious that when I asked him to give Hypatia to me, he just kept grunting and shaking his head. I think Emmanuel may be the most empathetic human being I know personally. He just couldn't stand seeing Hypatia in so much discomfort, so he actually insisted on holding her while she slept. I think he thought he'd be able to put her down, but she really was un-put-downable. Despite that, he just kept holding her. I wouldn't have been able to do it. Did I mention that Emmanuel has finals this week?

We went to the doctor yesterday morning. I really love the girls' doctor. He recommended that we just allow Hypatia's illness to take it's natural course, especially since there are no cold medicines that are approved for babies as young as 6 months. I love the girls' doctor. He is so awesome. He actually held a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic.

I don't know what else to blog about. The house is messy. I have to stay home all day today because I'm anticipating the arrival of a package that needs to be signed for.

One is Healing, the Other is Falling Ill & Potty Training

Daphne woke up without a fever today, but she had a persistent cough. Lotus woke up slightly feverish. It will probably peak tomorrow (along with her crankiness) and subside within the following two days. Hopefully, Hypatia doesn't catch it.

Hypatia consumed another 3 ounces of pureed squash today at lunch. She's a very enthusiastic eater. I think it really amazes Emmanuel.

For the past few days, Lotus has been going around the house knicker-less to help her get in touch with her bladder and to help with her potty training. So far, so good. The past week, we hadn't had any accidents. Yes, a completely accident-free week! Almost unbelievable. I thought today would be a good day to take it to the next step--training undies. What was the first thing she did after I got her panties on? She shut herself in her room and pooped in them. Great. Great.

We had lunch at Kick Back Jack's. For the most part, it went smoothly, and my eggs in my Eggs Benedict were poached to perfection. Lotus wet herself, though (yes, I was audacious enough to venture out in public with her in training undies). Thankfully, her training undies absorbed most of the pee. Emmanuel dealt with that fiasco, so my Eggs Benedict experience went unmarred.

When we got home, I had Lotus go around naked from the waist down, just as she had been. Total fail. She had diarrhea (courtesy of her fever, no doubt) and let loose in her room. This is just great. I really hate diarrhea. Potty training was put on hold last time because of her incontrollable diarrhea. Totally not her fault. I really hate diarrhea.

Daphne has started taking showers by herself as of last night. She really enjoys them. She soaps herself up and everything. It is really quite remarkable, and I have a hard time believing she has actually started showering by herself!

Integration is the Name of the Game

I am happy to say that I have finally and successfully integrated all the kids' blogs into my one family blog at Joy in Family. I am also having Facebook automatically publish my blog posts into the "Notes" application. Hopefully, I'm able to keep my commitment about writing at least every other day.

If you check my archives on my blog (accessed by clicking on "others" on the left panel), my posts now date back to July 2004. I've been blogging on and off about motherhood for almost 6 years now. Lol, I wish I had been more thoughtful, deliberate and regular in my posting. Well, I'll try to be from now on!

Hypatia Crawling/Teething...Baby Books

I forgot to add that Hypatia is starting to crawl. She is also starting to teethe. I'm on the fence about whether I should get some Baltic Amber for her teething. I wanted to do something where I got one for each of my daughters and one for myself, too. They aren't too costly but buying 4 of them will be.

I was thinking about purchasing the necklaces from Amber Artisans. Does anyone have any experience with this company or with Baltic amber and its analgesic affects?

I am so ashamed of this, but I haven't started on any of my daughters' baby books. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise, and I'll have 3 marvelous, completed baby books documenting each of their first years by the end of this year?

Updates & a Commitment

Hypatia is now eating solids! I'm feeding her organic, frozen baby food. Of course, it is thawed when I feed it to her. I started her earlier this week. I can't believe how much she's able to eat! It reminds me of how I started Daphne on solids, and she still had her tongue-thrust reflex, so most of it would end up on her face and chest.

Lotus is so hilarious! She is so great at imaginative play. She approaches me telling me about her imaginary glass slipper which is on her foot. I pretend to steal her imaginary slipper, and she is totally outraged until I return her invisible shoe. I need to film this! Lotus is exactly 2 1/2 years old.

Daphne has a fever. She'd had it since yesterday. I kept her from school today, and she's improving quite steadily. I'm probably going to keep her from school tomorrow, too. If the fever isn't gone by Thursday, I'll have to take her to the doctor.

I'm committing to update this at least every other day!

Daphne Says the Darndest Things

Here are a few conversations Daphne and I had this week:

Daphne: Do you like the sparkles on your strawberry?
Me: Sparkles?
Daphne: Yeah, there are sparkles on it.
Me: Where are the sparkles?
Daphne: These little things on the strawberry. *points to the seeds* They are sparkles.
Me: Ohhhh, those aren't sparkles. They're strawberry seeds.
Daphne: Oh. They taste like sparkles.

What an exciting month this has been!

This month has been so awesome! I feel like I'm finally getting into the groove of this. I hope this will hold up long after the new baby is born!

I've been planning lessons for Daphne the past two months (ever since June), and this month went particularly smoothly.

Allow me to summarize our lessons (usually grouped by a weekly theme):

July 1-6: Our theme was "Our Nation's Birthday". This week we did a flag craft that required Daphne to color a flag and then attach 50 star stickers in the correct place. She also colored and learned about the Liberty Bell and the Statue of Liberty. We discussed what a symbol was, and how those landmarks are national symbols. I hosted a 4th of July Potluck for a mom's group I am part of on the 3rd. The kids made noise makers, flag cakes and designed their own firework t-shirts. On the 6th, Daphne made a bald eagle puppet, google-y eyes and all! She's so adept at using scissors. Books we read: Happy Birthday, America!, Hats off for the Fourth of July!, and The Flag We Love.

July 7-10: Since July is National Picnic month, Picnics were the theme of this week! On Wednesday and Thursday, we made 2 baskets out of stock paper. Daphne and I explored the differences between fruits and veggies. I then had her cut out fruits and veggies from grocery advertisements and sort them using the baskets we made. Friday was National Teddy Bear Picnic Day so we read, The Teddy Bears' Picnic as well as crafted a little bear with a patriotic shirt (to help reinforce last week's lessons). She glued this onto a brown paper bag and we went on a a teddy bear picnic. Other books we read this week included The Bears' Picnic (Berenstain series) & We're Going on a Picnic!

July 11: We went on a 3 mile hike at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. They had a neat interpretive trail and interpretive center.

July 13-17: This week's theme was boats. We did a sink or swim activity on Tuesday. This activity required Daphne to collect a few items from around the house and predict whether they would sink or swim. We filled a dishpan full of water. Daphne then took each item and placed it in the pan to determine whether her predictions were correct. She then recorded the outcome of her experiment. On Wednesday, we went to the San Diego Maritime Museum. There, we were able to explore a REAL Soviet B-39, a replica of an English Frigate (the one they used in the movie Master & Commander), a ferry, along with many other historic ships. The kids were so thrilled because we actually got to ride on a historic boat! It was an hour-long boat ride, and Lotus held up pretty well! We read Boats, Boats, Boats, and watched a DVD called Paddle to the Sea based on the award-winning book.

July 20-25: This week, we're going to be learning about the earth, the moon, the sun & astronauts to commemorate the first moon landing on July 20, 1969. Yesterday, we read the following books: Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle, One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil Armstrong by Don Brown, Rooftop Rocket Party by Roland Chambers & Man on the Moon by Anastasia Suen (sorry I couldn't provide the authors for the other books, I forgot them). Daphne also colored a picture of the Earth, the sun and the moon. Lol, she pointed out how the Earth had arms. I had to clarify that the earth really didn't have arms. She kept disagreeing, citing her coloring page as evidence! Today (or sometime later this week), we'll be make astronauts using toilet paper rolls and affixing pictures of each girl on their respective astronaut. The top off this week's astronomy adventures, we'll be participating in the Louis Rubidoux Nature Center's Star Party and Evening Nature Walk this Friday at 6:30 PM. Here is a description from the Nature Center's page: Come view the night sky with telescopes from the Astronomical Society! Take a guided evening walk along the creek. Make a scrapbook page! Crafts, refreshments, and much more!

Needless to say, I'm very excited about this all! This morning, I tried on my Babyhawk Mei Tai and discovered that I can still comfortable use it while pregnant! Also, Lotus actually likes it. She was actually very upset when I took it off.

July 25-21: Our theme will be sea life. We'll be learning about octopi, walruses, dolphins and starfish. Crafts this week include making an octopus windsock, a jumping dolphin craft, and textured starfish necklace. This week's theme will actually spill over into the first week of August (3-7) when we will cover, sharks, sand dollars, eels and fish. This two-week theme will end with a visit to the Aquarium of the Pacific on August 8.

Daphne's Brother

Yesterday, Daphne introduced me to her brother, Donut Carly. She interacted with him throughout the day. Emmanuel even witnessed it.

Today, she wanted me to make a tiara with her. I was really tired, so I asked her to have Donut (as she often refers to her brother) to help her. She interjected, "But...but, Donut doesn't have skin. He's only pretend."

SO HILARIOUS.

Our Emmanuel-less Sojourn to Huntington Gardens

So, we got Free Day tickets to Huntington Gardens, and I took the kids ALL BY MYSELF! We stayed for about 2 hours, and then we went to the El Monte Library to return some books that we had borrowed a few weeks ago.

Enjoy the pics:

Making Money Jars

Today, Daphne and I made money jars. Hopefully, I find some time later to post pictures. It was a pretty fun craft. Crafts are becoming increasingly fun to do with Daphne.

We also went to Barnes and Noble. We're going to participate in their summer reading program. If Daphne reads 8 books, she gets a coupon for a free book from the store. Pretty neat.

Most Barnes and Nobles have stages set in a Winnie the Pooh theme. Daphne loves to dance and sing on the stage. I heard her sing some pretty hilarious lines today:

Little mermaid...wanted feet. She talked to the octopus and became a woman!!! She had no clothes.

Yes, she was singing quite loudly.

She also made a funny comment when I was dressing to leave.

Mommy, I like your fing (thing). I like your white fing. Your white boob fing. That white fing for your boobs. It's nice.

Yes. She was admiring my bra.

She's so hilarious.

Lotus was pretty cool today, too. She was so cooperative in the bookstore. She sat with me and watched Daphne perform, and she'd even clap at the end of each performance. Today, she actually did something she usually doesn't do--she returned a book on the shelf after I asked her to! Of course, I clapped, and she beamed with pride.

My girls are so awesome. I love them so much. I have a feeling they are just going to get funnier and funnier.

Daphne's Dream

Today, Daphne woke up and told me that she was in the jungle but "only in her eyes". I assumed this meant that she DREAMT that she was in the jungle. I told her to tell me more about it. This is more or less what she said...more or less verbatim:

I was in the jungle, but only in my eyes. I was with the jungle people. The animals were biting me. No one helped me. Then a squirt went into my mouth. A squirt is a bug. It was a sad, scary dream.

The humor in this lies in the fact that when she recounted this dream to me, she said it all quite matter-of-factly. Maybe she understood that it wasn't real!

In any case, it was really cool!

Videos in the Making & Lotus' New Phrases!

I have a crazy amount of videos I still need to edit. We've had lots of adventures the past few weeks, but I have yet to edit the videos.

I feel so ashamed about lagging in reporting this, but Lotus is now using phrases!

She's has been able to point and name her body parts for the past two months now, and it surprised us about two weeks ago when she woke up with Emmanuel, and while they were making breakfast together, she declared, "So hah-pee, so hah-pee, so hah-pee (so happy)!" This morning, when we woke up, she cuddled up next to me and said, "Hah-pee deh, hah-pee deh, hah-pee deh (happy day)!"

I think she does understand what she's saying because she repeatedly says "happy" over and over again whenever she seems pretty happy.

Here are a few other words/phrases she's been using the past three months:

I huh-gree, I huh-gree (I'm hungry)
Hurrt, hurrt (She says this when she's hurt)
Butt! Butt! (She says this because sometimes, she wants us to rub her bottom--go figure!)
Shoe (I don't know if this counts because I think it was her first word)
Whenever she puts on new clothes she still likes to rub her belly and say, "Preh-tee, preh-tee (pretty)!"

She's still is quite demanding when it comes to being read to (a few of my readers know this). She shoves books right in people's faces and says, "Read! Read! READ!"

I need to go because Daphne wants to go outside and ride her bike!

Dinner and a Movie

The whole family went to go watch our second movie together! Here's a clip to summarize our evening:



Enjoy the pics, too:

Fiesta Village

We went to Fiesta Village. Here's the video to summarize our afternoon. It says we went on February 29, but it was actually March 29!



Enjoy the pictures, too:

Santa Monica Beach

We went to Santa Monica. We had fun at the beach and the surrounding area. Reading about our adventures isn't nearly as fun as seeing it, so here's a neat little video that summarizes our time:



Hope you enjoy these photos, too!

Daphne Cooked Dumplings with Me Today

Today, Daphne helped me seal the edges of the dumplings that I made. She did a superb job. She was very proud of how careful and thorough she was. I'm so glad I had a little helper! It helped speed up the process a bit, and it kept my hands just a tad bit cleaner than usual. When asked about how the dumplings tasted, she responded, "It's sooo good!"

Lotus ate a few so they must have been decent!

No pictures, but I'll be getting my camera tomorrow. So prepare for a flurry of images then!