Alana 21 Months; Alex 4 Months

Time seems to fly by fast with kids... but it really flies with two!  So many things have happened in the last 2 months.  In November, we said goodbye to one of Alana's teacher - Ms. Joanna.  She left to finish her internship to become an elementary school teacher.

We took Alana and Alex to their first concert - the Yo Gabba Gabba live show.  Alana was really tired and slept on the way to the concert.  When she woke up, she had no idea where she was or what was going on.  All of a sudden, her favorite characters are live on stage singing her favorite songs!  One of the best surprises of the show was the appearance of Biz Markie.  He did a session of Biz's beat of the day, but he also went all out with his beats.  It was awesome!  I think Alana enjoyed the show, and Alex didn't cry one bit. 

We also celebrated Alex's first Thanksgiving.  We took our first family road trip to LA and spent the weekend at Aunt Mana's house.  It was a full house this year.  My sister Somady and her family were there, Aunt Laura, my mom, and later Grandma Heng & Soklim arrived.  Nyah also joined us for the trip.   We spent two days at Disneyland.  The weather was just perfect.  There were lots of people there so we tried to avoid long lines.  We discovered that although Alana could ride most of the rides, a lot of the rides were really scary!  We took her on Pirates of the Carribean, and after the first drop... she said "done!"  But she didn't cry, and she just held on tight to daddy during the scary parts.  She liked the Haunted House, the Winnie the Pooh ride, It's a Small World, and the Rocket ship ride.  She loved the Carousel.  It was worth it to see the joy on her face as the horse went up and down.  Alex went on most of the rides with us.  He was really good the whole time and didn't cry unless he was hungry or tired.   

After all the worry about Alex's temperament... he is a completely different baby.  He no longer cries hysterically when strangers hold him.  He is really mellow now.  He still has a hard time in his car seat sometimes when we are driving home from school.. but it's usually only if the traffic is bad and the car is moving slow.  If Alex cries.. Alana says "Addie... are you ok?"  or sometimes she pity cries with him.  Alex has done really well in daycare.  I started him a week early while I was still on maternity leave because he was not taking the bottle.  I was so worried, but everyone seemed confident he would eventually take it.  It took over a week and a lot of patience for him to finally take the bottle.  He cried the first day we were there, but he got used to the teachers quickly.  It was comforting to be there with him the first week.  The teachers are very nice and they love him so much.  According to Jeff, they hold him a lot.  We were worried he would be left to cry, but they are very quick to comfort him.

Alana is really a toddler now.  She has toddler tantrums.  The best thing is, she can say words now.  Just this past week, she started speaking sentences!  She says so many things, and it catches us by surprise.  Like today, she was playing with the ipad.  Alex was watching her and she said "Addie, you wanna touch ipad?"  Yes... she actually said all those words!  It's so amazing. 

Just chillin

Alana learning to put on her own clothes

First time on bike

First time to Sharks game

Getting ready to go to the Sharks game

Halloween 2011

This year for Halloween, we decided to do the Star Wars theme.  I was Princess Leia, Jeff was Obi Wan, Alana was Yoda & Alex was an Ewok.  This was Alex's first Halloween and Alana's first time trick or treating.  We went trick or treating in "the Vineyards" here in Scotts Valley.  We actually ran into another Star Wars family, and later on in the night Obi Wan got into a light saber duel with a Darth Vador.  Alana was a really cute Yoda.  She had fun walking around and didn't care much about the candy.  Alex was sleeping most of the time. 

Alana 19 Months, Alex 2 Months

Today was Alexander's check up.  I was surprised to find out that he is in the 95th percentile in both height and weight!  He weighs 14lbs and he is 24 inches tall.  If he continues on this route, he will hopefully be a good height when he is older.   I am hoping.  He got 4 shots today, and he didn't even cry!  I was so proud of him.  I half expected him to since he can be difficult at times and hard to calm down.  I spoke to the doctor about that and about his evening fussy time.  She said that some babies just do that, and hopefully things will get better when he is 3 months.  I am looking forward to that.  I don't like feeling that we can't bring him somewhere because we are afraid he might cry or act up. Even though Alex can be difficult in the evening, after 1AM he is usually asleep for the rest of the night - so I get to sleep! 

Alana has been doing really well.  Her last 4 teeth are coming in now.  Alana has a great sense of humor and she loves to laugh.  Sometimes when we laugh at something, she starts laughing too.. even if she doesn't know what we are laughing about.  She is learning so many new words and I am just waiting for the day that she starts putting 2 words together.  She communicates very well with us and can usually tell us what she needs or wants.  She has given Alex a new nickname.  First, she couldn't pronounce his name, so she was calling him "Adex" instead of Alex.  From Adex, she started to call him "Addie".  So, we have started to call him that sometimes too now.

Alana 18 months; Alex 1 month

Alana is going to be 18 months old this week! She has been going through a lot of changes. Her final set of teeth are coming in so she has been a little more picky on food and eating. However, she still has not lost any weight, hanging in at the 90th percentile. She also started to talk more, but it's still mostly jibberish. Jeff and I really struggle to understand anything she says, even though she seems to really try to talk to us. I usually just stare at her and smile =).

Ever since the arrival of her little brother, she has been really caring and thoughtful of him so far. She constantly tries to hug him and even tries to carry him - with help of course. The cutest thing so far, is whenever Alex starts crying and if he is in the other room, she quickly gets up and runs to see what he is crying about. She also likes to pat him and help me burp him. She no longer gives me and Jeff kisses when we ask, but always gives Alex a kiss. It's very cute. When she says his name, it's "Adex".

Alex has been growing quickly. He is at the 95th percentile for weight, much like his sister. He is only 5 weeks, and already weighs 11 pounds! He's been relatively easy to handle, but sometimes has his days of crying and discomfort. Also, it seems every time I try to go to the mall with him, he decides to have a fit. I guess that's his way of helping me save money. He still sleeps most of the day, and I've been lucky this time around with his night schedule. He sleeps through most of the night! I put him down around 11 and he sleeps until 4 or 5.

9/15/2011