It was a GREAT night

We have no idea what's been going on with Alex. From about week 3 till now, he'll be 7 weeks on Monday, he's been screaming crying after he eats. When he cries, it's like he's in pain and he cries for a long time. Sometimes he latches on and pulls off after a minute and cries. He's on medicine for reflux and I've taken dairy out of my diet as of Wednesday.

By the way...worst timing ever!!! The day before Thanksgiving. Now that's just plain old cruel, but it's worth a try.

In the last 2 days I've noticed a difference. I don't know how permanent it is, but we are thoroughly enjoying it. He went to bed at 8:30 last night. Usually he's asleep, and so are we, somewhere around midnight. The nights usually have been that he cries like he's in pain and then nurses for a bit, then cries. Maybe he settles down a bit, but then he's hungry again b/c he's not getting enough at each feeding to really settle him to sleep.

Well last night was AMAZING. I went to bed at 8:30 too b/c I'm getting a cold. I woke him up at 1am to eat. His previous feeding was at 7:30pm. After he was done he was smiling and happy. It was so joyous! He went back to sleep pretty easily. Then I woke him up again at 6am to eat. (They say not to let him go too long with the reflux.) He was again really pleasant and went back to sleep on his own easily.

You don't understand...this has NEVER happened. It was so glorious. I don't know if he's growing out of things, if my milk let-down is better regulated, if the dairy was a problem, but I'll keep doing what I'm doing. It may not last, but we are finally enjoying our son instead of just getting through each hour.

Aunt Karen reading to Lilia

Tea Party With Alex

Our guests

Here are our guests. Each one was born in China. They all came to the states at different times and their English was great. We had a wonderful dinner. The girls even helped make the gravy, carve the turkey and put stuff on the table. We loved it! After dinner we played Apples to Apples, which was really fun.

Alex is so colicky at night and so we prayed before our guests came. He only fussed a little here and there. We were so thankful that God chose to have him be more relaxed than usual. The girls loved the dinner and we all had a really fun night.

My helper

We got a gift the other day of matching aprons. They are the cutest things I've ever seen! We put them on yesterday while making our Thanksgiving dinner and Lilia was my helper. Dave was the peeler, I was the chopper and Lilia placed the potatoes into the pot of water. We had so much fun as a family.

The table

My 1st Thanksgiving

This is the first time I am cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. The really funny thing is that it's not for my family (extended). Tonight we are having a Christian Chinese student and some of her non-Christian friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. Somewhere around 75% of international students will never enter an American home. So we are giving some of them a chance to do that as well as experience a traditional holiday dinner

The turkey scares me the most. It grosses me out. My mom picked one up from a turkey farm for me that was all ready to go. We'll see how it all goes!

Dave is home today to help me with the kids so it's been great. Lilia helped me put the potatoes in the pot of water and get the corn muffin mix ready. As of right now, everything is pretty much made and I'm sticking the turkey in the oven. Wish me luck!

We think Alex has colic...bummer

Ice Princess Lilia

Lilia and Alex in my bed

Our New Car

We have outgrown our Honda Civic. With two kids in the back, our knees are in our chest. Plus trunk space is minimal.

Last weekend we bought a 2003 Buick Century off of a friends mom. It is in good condition and only has 27,000 miles on it!!!

We love it! Our car rides so nice. We are getting ready to go to Sandy Cove, MD for a conference with Crusade. We are so excited to take it on a road trip!

Thank you God for providing yet again!

The picture says it all...

Drawbacks of breast feeding around a toddler

Lilia singing to Alex

Princesses

So you know how Lilia loves dressing up as a princess. Well I put on my wedding dress so we could both be princesses. (Don't worry...I couldn't zip it up.) Anyway, she loved it. Her eyes lit up and she was so excited. She took my hand and we walked down the hall holding hands as princesses all the way to her room. She was so upset when I took it off!

Our friend's daughter Cameron

Our friends Bryan and Melissa came to visit last Saturday and this is their daughter Cameron. She is 6 mo old. Lilia wanted her to dress up in her Tinkerbell costume. Cameron didn't really care either way, but Lilia liked it!

Ice cream boobs

Sorry, this isn't a story about Lilia. Yesterday I took Alex to the doctors for an evaluation. It turns out he has reflux, which is causing him to scream and cry either not too far into eating or just after.

So they weighed him, he's now 1 month old as of Thursday. He weighs 9lb 11oz. I texted Dave because I couldn't believe how big he got in just 2 weeks. (He was 7lb 15oz 2 1/2 weeks ago.)

Dave texted me back saying, "You must have ice cream in your boobs!"

The craziness ensues

Last night Lilia came into our room at 2:40 am saying she couldn't sleep. She's never done that before. Dave went into her room with her to sleep in her bed. (So thankful we have a full size bed for her!)

I woke up around 3:30 to feed Alex. After he was done I peeked in on Lilia and Dave and Lilia was sitting up in bed playing with her favorite Cinderella barbie that Ava Manni gave her. Dave was zonked out next to her. I told her to come down stairs with me while I still had Alex.

She was super pleasant and played with her farm for about an hour while I got Alex calm and back to sleep. We went back up to bed at 5 and I slept with her this time. I told her a story and then fell asleep. I guess she fell asleep not too long after that.

Thankfully she woke up at 9:15. Alex had a good morning feeding and went right back to sleep. Dave and I enjoyed a quite breakfast and some nice down time.

For as odd of a night as it was, it wasn't too bad!

It's getting worse

Yesterday was complete chaos!!! Our morning was fairly good, I got Lilia some lunch, but I didn't have a chance to eat. I got her upstairs for her alone time, which leads to a nap. So I put her up in her room, read a little and went downstairs to heat up some leftover soup. It was finished and I was just sitting down to eat when I hear, "Mom! Mom!"

I go upstairs to find that Lilia has taken off her diaper...and pooped on her floor!!!!!!!!! I didn't yell at her, I was able to keep my cool. I ran her to the bathroom where she soon after peed on the floor. I cleaned her up, cleaned up the floor and explained that we can only poop in our diapers or on the potty.

After that craziness was over I was able to eat lunch and start over with her alone time. She ended up napping for at least 2 hours. Alex had a good feeding so I could nap and rest on the couch and spend some time with God.

Frustrations

Lilia insists on wearing her big girl underwear. She takes off her diaper and puts on her underwear. Sometimes she wears it over her diaper so I don't always check. Several times during naps or before bed I have caught her with just underwear. Tonight she did it and made a puddle on the floor.

I'm assuming she's ready for potty training, but now's not a good time with a demanding 4 week old little baby to take care of.

What's the ONE question you never ask???

Today after church I stopped into Michael's Arts and Crafts store. I had to pick up some ribbon to hang pictures in our living room. I also picked up a scrapbook kit for Alex. I did one for Lilia and had so much fun.

Dave was in the car with the kids. I was checking out and I was wearing a long sleeve shirt that was fitting. The women who was scanning my purchases asked me the ONE question that you never ask..."So when are you due?"

I responded that I just gave birth 4 weeks ago. The women behind me in line broke what would have been incredibly awkward for the sales women with a comment about her pregnant daughter with twins.

I left the store laughing. Dave had a good laugh too!

Polite Chinese Gangsters

The following is the end of an Americans tale of rehabbing an apartment in China from last weeks NY Times.

The total cost of the project, once everything was added up — materials, labor, furniture, fixtures and appliances — was about $60,000. But the final chapter of the construction story didn’t occur until several weeks after we had moved in.

One morning, I found a letter to Andy in the mailbox, handwritten in Chinese. It said, in effect, “We are a large gang of dangerous men. We know you are rich” — we are not — “and unless you give us 10,000 yuan” — about $1,500 — “we will kidnap you and torture you and then ask for an even larger sum. If you pay, we will leave you alone.”

From the details the writer had provided about us and our belongings, it wasn’t hard to figure out that the “gang” members were among the local laborers who had been in the apartment during the post-construction decorating process.

In the family powwow that followed, I argued that if we conceded, they would be back for more. Andy’s parents thought it wasn’t worth the risk and insisted that Chinese criminals are usually men of their word. So we paid.

A week later I found a nicely worded thank-you note in the mailbox. So far, we have heard nothing more from our extortionists.

Drawbacks of breast feeding with a toddler around

Lilia got this awesome present from Lauren of these huge princess coloring pages. Tonight she was coloring in one of the pages. I looked over at her drawing and said, "Oh, are you making her dress have polka dots?"

Lilia replied, "No, I'm drawing boobies."

Most kids mimic their mothers by breast feeding their baby dolls. My daughter draws boobs on coloring pages!

Bride Princess trick or treating

Alex the Giraffe

A carriage ride

I went to my parents house Friday with the kids. We went to Peddlers Village late in the afternoon and then had dinner. We went on a carriage ride before dinner and my mom left my dad's phone on the carriage. Everyone was stressing out and trying to find it. By the time we finished dinner the carriage was gone. My dad was so mad and my mom was frustrated with herself. On our way out we stopped by the central desk and they had it. My mom was so happy she was waving her arms walking back to the car. When she got in all excited Lilia sang this song...

"We found Poppy's phone and now we're so happy!"

We all burst out laughing! Thanks for making us smile Lilia.