Category Archives: New Years
Spring Update
Leo weighs in at 26.89lbs and stretches 38inches tall! Leo is getting better at eating with a spoon and is licking the puree off the spoon less, although the urge to do so is quite strong in him still haha. He is still very picky on what purees he will eat. He won’t be picky when it’s in the bottle but just by looking at the color and smelling the food, he will push the food aside and fight you if it’s not his typical plain applesauce. He is walking so much better, and he can finally get up to standing all by himself without having to hold onto something! He can also climb down the stairs very proficiently now as well! Soon he’ll be running and jumping all over the place! I already have the bandaids ice packs ready haha. Leo is starting to understand signing more and is better at signing “thank you” and “all done” as well. Sometimes I’ll blow him a kiss and he will do it back to me! I have been taking ASL classes to in hopes of furthering along Leo’s communication abilities with signing. I printed out cheat sheets and taped them on the walls to encourage and motivate Lily to learn with me and so we all can sign together as a family! I’ll often see Leo looking at his fingers and he will try to move them and make different shapes with his fingers and wave them around as if trying to communicate with me, so I really feel like signing will be his primary language as he’s trying to learn to speak verbally. He still hasn’t said any words with purpose or intention yet, although he likes to say “ball” a lot but he says that for everything so I doesn’t really count haha.
Overall, Leo remains happy and sweet as always! He loves giving hugs and he’s finally not needing a bib anymore from all the drooling in the past! He is getting so tall that his pants needs to be size 3T, but his waist is so small his pants sometimes slips down haha. Leo still likes to put all his toys and Lily’s toys in his mouth, and he’s still so amazed with zipper tags and likes to just flick them back and forth. He would lay on the couch and just play with that all day long! He loves being thrown in the air, he’s a dare devil. He likes swings and slides as well. He still doesn’t like when things/places get really loud. He is still an amazing sleeper and has such a calm and sweet demeanor about him. Since he’s walking now, he can enjoy so many more things when we go out! I took the kids to the Museum of Illusions, Candytopia, and game places like Neofun and Round One and he loves exploring and checking everything out! He is always a super cute bright ball of joy!!
Lily is getting smarter and sweeter each day, she’s growing up way too fast! Lily weighs 35lbs and is 44inches tall! She has a very big appetite and loves to eat veggies (spinach, cabbage, carrots, and broccoli) and tofu, and a bunch of crackers and snacks, yet she burns off all the calories in a flash! She has a very happy spirit about her and is so intuitive and thoughtful, I cannot be more proud of my baby girl. She is also now super good at showering by herself. She’s also able to make her own bed every morning and is starting to learn to vacuum the house as well! She’s been taking piano lessons for the last month. She’s definitely trying really hard, some of the concepts aren’t as naturally easy for her to grasp, but she’s trying and with some extra practice at home, she’s getting more and more confident with it. I’m very proud of her for not once wanting to give up, and her determination to keep focusing and trying. She also loves her gymnastics lessons which she has twice a week. She has so much fun and has been selected gymnast of the day 3 times now! She gets a nice little ribbon and gets to ring the bell at the end of class to announce her achievement to the whole gym! She’s almost ready to move on up to the next level once she gets more comfortable with doing hand stands and cartwheels! She also had her first jog-a-thon at school and did 26 laps!! She had so much fun jogging around and was cheering on her friends to come and go go go! She also forgot to get her lap marked off a couple times too haha. She knew that the more laps she did, the more money she would raise for her school for better supplies and opportunities. So she knew she was jogging for a cause and she tried her very best not just to have fun, but to help as well. I’m so proud of her and her great big ball of athletic energy!
Lily is learning to read really well and can read a lot of books all by herself now! She’s really good at sounding out the letters and putting the sounds together to form the word. Her favorite subject in school is still math, but I’m glad that even though writing and reading isn’t her strongest, she’s still enthusiastic about it. She really like Dr. Seuss, Elephant and Piggie, and Pete the Cat books! Her favorite shows to watch is currently Sofia the First and Pokemon! She likes to play with slime, dolls, and do lots of arts and crafts. Lily loves to help me cook and her teachers and aftercare teachers tells me she’s always such a great helper at school as well! Lily really likes the movie The Greatest Showman right now, and loves most of the songs from the movie. She has a mature taste in theater, it’s nice to be able to share common interests with her like this. Lily still has her happy go lucky spirit and is such a kind and sweet little girl. I love it when she would just randomly come up to me and give me a big hug and kiss and tell me she loves me, she melts my heart! She’s always thinking about others and I makes me really proud that she’s such a loving positive force in this world. 
Enjoy of of these videos of the kiddoes!!
Gratitude
Gratitude, it’s not happiness that brings us gratitude, it’s gratitude that brings us happiness – Unknown.
It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this blog so this will be a very long one…so brace yourselves haha. For Halloween I made Lily a Wonder Woman dress along with the leggings, arm bracelets, and a shield! Lily likes wearing her dress to school and going out and just for any ordinary day and it makes me happy that she loves it so much! She tells her teachers and that I made her dress for her and she just has such a big smile on her face too, it makes me feel happy that she’s so proud of my work for her. I made a cape for Leo to be Captain Underpants but it was way too cold for that costume, so He was a last minute Batman Pumpkinpants haha. Lily loved her costume and I bought her some Wonder Woman books before hand and so she loves the story of the amazing amazonian princess and brought the book while wearing her costume for her literary parade at school! Lily also had her first field trip at Quail Summit to the Santa Ana Zoo. She loved seeing all the animals and she said her favorite were the butterflies and monkeys. Lily really likes going to school, morning care and after care (aka Fun Club) and she’ll complain sometimes that I pick her up too early (5pm isn’t really that early…). I’m glad she gets so stimulated at school and is making friends with kids of all ages! Every time I come to pick her up, all the big kids know her name and always run to give her a hug before we leave. That’s so sweet and heart warming!
I had the honor of having our family photos taken by the super amazingly talented, and kind soul, Lisa Holloway. Here are some of the many favorites from that session. I will cherish these memories and I am so grateful to have these beautiful kids to call mine.
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. – William Arthur Ward
Lily really enjoys all her extracurricular activities after school. She has Jazz Dance, Baton Twirlin & Pom Pom, and Tennis. Her absolute favorite is tennis and she always ask if she can do it everyday! At least she gets to do it twice a week whereas all the other classes are just once a week. I’m more burnt out taking Lily to all those classes than Lily is haha! I’m very impressed with Lily on how quickly she learns and picks up choreography as well. She only attending 3 classes to learn her choreography for her Jazz Dance Recital, her normal weekly classes are just for learning techniques of dance. From just those 3 classes alone and lots of practice, she was able to dance through the whole routine for the recital and wasn’t even one bit stage fright or nervous!! She’s so great and better than I’ll ever be!! =) She also remembered her entire routine for her baton twirling parade and did so amazing well too! I’m so proud of her and all of her accomplishments! Leo is getting better at eating purees but he will still have days where he just doesn’t want to eat. He expresses lots of interest in music. He really likes the piano and likes playing with my keyboard and banging on drums. He has a special technique where he uses his mouth to play the keys at the same time as his cute little fingers too. The look of focus and concentration on his face when he plays the keys are just too cute and priceless. Every time I try to play on the piano, he usually comes zooming over and pushes me aside and takes over haha. He is signing more and more each day. He’s really good at clapping his hands for “good job”, he knows “open” and “close” really well, and understands “more” and “head/hat” as well. He’s getting better at waving bye more consistently too. He is a super fast crawler, and he loves to climb all over the place now. He likes to climb and sit on top of the kid’s table, on top of the couch, on top of anything he can climb onto really. He loves stairs and even though he doesn’t know how to climb down, he is fearless. He is able to take 3-4 steps on his own when you prop him up, and he is getting really good at walking while holding 1 of his hand. I really feel that the hippotherapy is helping him a great deal with his core strength and balance and over confidence in himself and his physical abilities.
It was so windy! This was the best selfie I can get of the three of us!!
Thankful for my two joys of my life!
Christmas blessings with my loves! Lily is understanding more the joys of Christmas and really enjoys getting into the holiday spirit. Lily got to go shopping at her school Santa’s Workshop for a whole week and she had a blast buying fun little toys for herself and Leo and even aunty Leilani! She has a lot of fun picking out gifts for her teachers and friends and she even said she forgot to buy me something and has the saddest look on her face. I told her it’s sweet of her to want to get me something but I told her all I need is her and Leo =). Leo loves playing with Leo and he seeing her playing the iPad and would like to imitate her tapping on the screen. He’ll see me working on my laptop and would come over and tap on the keyboard too. He’s so cute and is trying to imitate us and it’s great to see him observing and developing mentally like that. Leo is always so super happy, and Lily is the best person to make him laugh. He loves being thrown in the air, looking at silly faces, and is strangely amused with the window blinds haha. He also likes crawling into tunnels and small enclosed spaces, maybe it’s just safe and cozy in there for him, but he likes sitting in closets and the princess tent as well. He doesn’t like wearing socks for some reason so they don’t stay on his feet very long, the only way to keep them on is to put shoes on him. Apparently, he feels that socks should go in his mouth, not on his feet… Leo is super social and loves being held by anyone and everyone! Leo recently had a hearing test again and they couldn’t get any concrete readings on his hearing, but they did say both ear drums weren’t responsive, so we will have to take him to an ENT for further investigation. He also had a GI appt at Choc and for now, we just have to keep trying to feed him solids, there’s not much else we can do except continuing with therapy. He’s gained 1 pound in the last 3 months so at least he’s still growing and that’s the important thing. Lily loves to be a helper when Leo’s teachers come over for his therapy sessions, and she really pays attention to everything Leo can do, and likes to tell me all his developments with such pride! I’m so happy to see them together and so happy. My heart is and full and warm because of them. I’m so grateful for my greatest gifts in the world, I would not be the person I am without them. I try to give them the best love and care I possible can give them, to show them how much they mean to me, and I hope the feel my heart. I love you Lily, Leo and my angels!!! Can’t wait to see what 2018 adventures awaits us!
Gratitude is not only the greatest virtues, but the parent of all others. – Cicero.
Enjoy these videos of the kiddies!! They are growing up so fast, I’m glad I’m able to have these videos to look back on and relive those memories!!
Happy 20 Months Leo!
Happy 20 months old my little prince Leo! Leo weighs in at about 23 pounds and stretches about 33.5 inches long. Leo recently had an Electroencephalogram (EEG) scan (where they send tiny electrical impulses to brain to measure brain wave patterns, activity and responses) to see if it’s functioning like how a child his age should function and respond. I won’t get the results until another week or so, so stay tuned! Leo is getting much better at crawling and can go greater distances before falling onto his belly. He is also getting much quicker and stronger at climbing up to his knees. Leo still hasn’t made much progress when it comes to eating solids but he sure is putting almost everything into his mouth, everything except FOOD! I try to trick him and put some puffs on his high chair tray along with some toys and he’ll play but will lick everything else except for the puffs! What a clever little boy. He’s gonna be trouble later on! He’s getting bigger though, drinking about 7-8oz of formula each feeding, 4 times a day. He is making lots more different sounds with voice and loves (really loves) to squeal high pitched noises of excitement when he’s happy! He likes to blow raspberries and get drool EVERYWHERE too. I feel like he’s starting to purposely drop things now too because he’ll drop something and then look at me to see my reaction. Also, whenever someone asks Leo where mommy is, he’ll look at me! Yay, my baby boy knows who I am! =) I love you so much, happy 20 months, keep on shining and growing strong!!
Also, I am participating in a virtual run on April 29th called the Chromosome 18 Starfish Dash for my Leo and created a team page for him. Help me support Leo’s journey with Tetrasomy 18p and the Chromosome 18 Organization and Society! If you would like to participate and donate, click HERE. If you can’t donate at this time, then please help me by spreading the word!! Thank you so much for all your love and support for my precious Leo!
Lily gets more and more amazing each day. She recently had her progress report at LePort and here’s what her teachers had to say about Lily, “Lily is blooming this year with her bright smiles and animated conversations with her teachers and peers. She is making new friends of different ages, both younger and older. Her interest in engaging socially seems to be great importance to her and yet it sometimes inhibits her concentration and makes working on her own a challenge. However, when Lily is engaged in something she enjoys, usually in the company of a classmate, she can work with concentration. She has now started to seek out new lessons with enthusiasm and takes pride in developing skills such as writing! Once Lily has mastered a lesson, it is wonderful to see her enjoy repeating it, and some activities she revisits daily. Recently she has consistently been verbalizing her thoughts and feelings with confidence and is working diligently toward refining her penmanship, using the Metal Insets and taking her time to write correctly formed letters and numbers. Lily also continues to trace the Sandpaper Letters carefully, revealing a greater retention and knowledge of the shape, sound, and lowercase cursive symbol for all the letters of the alphabet. We look forward to seeing her long-term recall of letter sounds so we can work more in-depth with her on the Moveable Alphabet, an important work highlighting sound blending. We are thrilled to see Lily gain openness to taking on some new and challenging tasks. Well done Lily!” It’s so wonderful to hear all the great things about Lily and how she’s learning and growing into a beautiful smart lady! She even impressed me by pointing our some states on the map like Texas and California, and even all the countries on earth, except she couldn’t remember the name “Australia” but that’s pretty difficult to pronounce at first. I cannot be more proud of my Lily pad!! I love you so much Lily!!
Here’s some video fun of the kiddos!
Happy 7 Months Leo!
Happy 7 months old my precious Leo! Leo weighs in at 16.15 pounds (11 percentile) and stretches about 26.5 inches long (20 percentile)! Leo is still wearing size 2 diapers but will soon move on up to size 3 probably in a couple weeks, and he has also been upgraded to the size 3 nipple flow! Leo is babbling a lot more these days too, he likes to say “aba baba aaaaaa ummm” haha. He’s very social and likes interacting with us and if you walk away and he’s not done playing with you yet, he’ll say “AHHHH!!” and pout and tell you don’t go and to come back!” How can you leave that cute little face? He also has 2 cute little baby teeth growing on the bottom and he’s starting to drool more due to teething. He’s also sucking on his thumb a lot too because of it, and he makes it look so tasty! Leo still love the floor gym and he recently started playing in the jumper as well. He seems to like it and doesn’t mind staying in it for a long period of time, which is great for his neck strength and seeing the world in an upright position. We plan to start Leo on solids now so stay tune for that update!
Leo’s old teacher from Sunny Days got a new job opportunity somewhere else, so we are sad to see her go, but we got a new teacher Megan! Leo is doing really well with his therapy but will also be getting some extra help with a physical therapist to help with some gross motor skills soon. Leo is really good at rolling over without getting stuck, and he can roll back onto his side too. It looks like he wants to start crawling soon too cause he’ll kick his feet and reach for toys in front of him, it’s really cute! Leo is getting pretty solid at sitting up and can last for a few mins now before tipping over! He is also holding onto his toys a little longer too and shakes his toys a little bit! It’s very amazing to watch him grow and progress. I’m always amazed by him and by my Lily pad, they never stop surprising me!
Two years ago on January 4th, another baby of ours went to heaven. I try my best to live a happy and love filled life for my angels. Leo does not replace what we’ve lost, but he is proof that there is hope and that miracles do happen for he is my rainbow baby. So even though I mourn for my other babies, my heart is full. (30 wks 1 day old) 😍💙🌈✨
Merry Christmas! Leo got to celebrate his first Christmas and he was spoiled with lots of love and gifts! It wasn’t Lily’s first Christmas but I do feel like she enjoyed this Christmas the most, which makes sense since she knows a lot more now and what to expect. One of Lily’s favorite presents this year was the power wheel that I got her, you can see her driving it in the video below like a pro! She’s such a fast learner, I’m so proud of her skills! Leo didn’t know how to open presents yet but he love watching all the festivities and was adored by everyone! I can’t help but get emotional that we got to celebrate the holidays with Leo this year because just a year ago, we were told that this would be impossible. I’m so grateful for my amazing Leo and I feel so blessed and lucky to be able to celebrate all these big and small occasions with my prince Leo (and my princess Lily). You can see more pictures from our Christmas festivities HERE!
Happy New Year 2016!
Video Fun!!
Holidays 2014
I’m a little behind on my blogging lately, but better late than never! Here’s what we did during the holidays 2014!
This year for Thanksgiving I decided to take on the challenge of cooking my very first turkey! I brined it the night before with broth and seasoning and gave that bird a salt rub down massage too haha. It was pretty simple after that, just wash the turkey the next day when I’m ready to cook it and then put some season on it, stuff it with veggies , bay leaf and thyme, and surround the pan with veggies as well. Then just let the oven do the rest of the work with the occasional basting every hour or so. The turkey came out delicious and was a big success and I’m very glad I got to share it with some wonderful people!! I’m definitely thankful for many things in my life, but most of all, I’m thankful to be going through this crazy journey of life with the people I love.
In December, we took lily to the Queen Mary’s Chill for the first time to see the cool ice sculptures and walk around the Queen Mary as well. There were 2 million pounds of ice sculptures, even a 10 foot ice slide, and a bunch of fun activities that Lily was unfortunately too young and small for, but we will definitely come back for her to enjoy them. They had tubing, a carousel, swings, ice skating, and games too! The Ice Kingdom was 9 degrees inside and so they gave us all parkas to wear over our normal clothes, but be sure to bring gloves or else taking pictures in there will turn your hands into popsicles! It was a very “cool” experience though =P. We then took her to see some fun Christmas lights at IlluminOcean at Dana Point. She loved going through the tunnel of lights where they had bubble stations and blew bubbles everywhere. She also really liked looking at the light sculptures and pointing out all the sea creatures too! It’s amazing how lights can bring so much joy to a toddle, it’s very nice to see her eyes light up from wonder and happiness =).
Then all the Christmas festivities began and it was nice to be with all our family during this time of year. You can view more pictures from all our Christmas celebrations from this year HERE!
For New Years, we took Lily to her second trip to the snow and had a fun little getaway at Lake Arrowhead with some friends! We all stayed in a cozy little cabin and got to enjoy each other’s cooking and spend quality time with one another. It was fun to see the kids play with each other and create wonderful new memories. This is also the first time Lily was old enough to actually play in the snow, instead of just sit there and not know what to do. She LOVED sledding, thanks Emmy for letting her play with it, and it was so cute to see her pull the sled back up the hill be herself and climb on, hold on tight and ready to sled down with the biggest smile and silliest giggle down the hill. It melts me heart to see her have so much fun! You can view more pictures from our trip HERE!
