Category Archives: Milestone
Happy 22 Months Leo!
Happy 22 months to my sweet little Leo! Sorry for the late post Leo! Leo weighs in at 24.6lbs and stretches about 33 inches tall! He is getting so strong everyday and just a week ago he was able to pull himself up to stand and even cruised a few steps!! He also can now give kisses, which is most him opening his mouth and sticking his tongue on your face, but I’ll take his kisses all day any day! He doesn’t do it every time I ask but he does most of the time!! He still isn’t eating solids yet but he recently had a feeding evaluation and it was very informative and promising. He’s going to get a feeding specialist on top of his usual OT and in the meantime, I’m going to try to put about 10% of purée pears, or any subtle flavoring foods into his pediasure, using any-cut (or x-cut) nipple and see how he does. This will slowly introduce food to him in a familiar setting (in his bottle) so that he doesn’t aggressively turn it way before even trying it. I hope it works!!! He has grabbed pieces of bananas and licked it though, so that is progress!! Leo can give high fives almost every time you ask him now and I feel like he’s starting to try to talk! Whenever I change his diaper, I’ll give him a toy to play with to distract him so that he’s not squirming around and I swear he said thank you! My friends say they heard him say thank you at other times too so I’m not making it up in my head haha! I think he sees his bottle and tries to say “bottle” too! He is growing and developing and making amazing progress! I cannot be more proud of my little prince Leo!! We also got a swing for him that hangs in the backyard and he loves it!! It melts my heart when he smiles and laugh from pure joy! I love you Leo, you’re my inspiration!!
Enjoy these fun videos of the kiddoes!
Happy 21 Months Leo!
Blessed shirt is from the amazing Summer & Skye Shoppe at summerandskyeshoppe.com!
Happy 21 months my precious Leo! Leo weighs 23lb and 3oz, stretches 33inches tall and has a head circumference of 46cm. Leo has a recent GI follow up and he is growing just fine! He just now has to take MiraLax (8.5gm/day, powder mixed into his milk) instead of the lactulose medication. He is still on the Periactin to help increase his appetite. He has to come back in 3 months, and if he’s still not eating solids yet, then they’ll have to go in with a camera to see what’s going on physically in his esophagus and tummy. His results finally came back in from the EEG and I’m happy to say that his results came back all normal! He is not likely to get seizures and his head shaking isn’t abnormal and is nothing to be concerned about! He is such a trooper, he is such a strong little boy, I cannot be more proud of him! Leo is crawling much faster now, and pulls himself up to his knees very easily now. He is exploring the world on a higher level now that he is getting more stable and can stay upright a lot more. He really enjoys the pull up bar and gets such a kick out of seeing his handsome face in the mirror! Leo is very vocal and likes to squeal from happiness, but he is also explore lots of other sounds now too. He is so happy and chill, he makes my life so much better in so many ways. He is also starting to bite onto things (everything but food…) so hopefully he will start to eat solids soon! He is very curious and very tough and amazing! I can’t get enough of his cute little face, but please stop drooling soon Leo…it’s getting quite out of control…haha. Happy 21 months my petite prince, I love you so much!!!
Lily is as sweet as ever! Lily speaks very eloquently and I’m always impressed by how quickly she picks up new words and her level of comprehension. She’s very observant and very intuitive and compassionate as well. She is a little burst of happy silliness and her laugh and her smile is truly contagious! She loves going to the beach still and playing in the sand and running around and playing on the swings. She likes to help me garden and water the plants and then prune some flowers and put them in a vase inside our home. She likes to cut some flowers and put them in her hair as well, so cute! She loves doing arts and crafts, drawing, coloring, painting, cutting, gluing, all of it! She also recently got to visit the spaceship Endeavor with Khoa and she had a blast and picked out an astronaut barbie as her souvenir! I hope you aspire to do big things, I know you will be amazing at whatever you dream to be! I also found out that Lily got accepted to the Dual Language Immersion program at Walnut Elementary School! Space is very limited for that program and so I’m excited and feel very lucky that Lily got in! She will be learning Mandarin! Maybe she will be tri-lingual…? haha. Here’s hoping! Anyways, I can’t believe my little princess will be in kindergarten this fall! Until then, she will soak up the last several months at LePort! It’s such an amazing school and she’s growing up to be such a wonderful, smart, sweet little lady! I am always so proud of you Lily, you are my love, my light, my everything!
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 19 Months Leo!
Happy 19 months my little prince Leo! Leo weighs in at 22.4 lbs and stretchs about 33 inches long. Leo is now drinking about 6-7oz of Pediasure Grow and Gain with Fiber 4 times a day so he can gain more weight. He is still taking his medications twice a day and taking a medication to help increase his appetite right before bed since it makes him drowsy. He had his hearing test and he woke up when they tried to put the probes on his head so all they can find out is that both ear drums work, so that’s good, he just has to go back in April to see how much hearing he has. He also had a speech evaluation and his speech and understanding skills are mostly at a 3-6 months and some 6-9 month old range, but since it closely matches his physical development, they’re not recommending speech therapy for now. He has to come back for a follow up in 3-4 months, and if he is not showing any improvement, then he will probably need therapy. Overall, he is still always a happy playful and cheerful personality. He likes to play peek a boo and clap his hands, and he really likes interactive toys. He is doing so much better at drinking from his bottle by himself. He’ll drop the bottle sometimes and will need help near the end but he is doing so much better. He can also sit up now all by himself, yay!! He is crawling more and even pulled himself up to his knees in his crib too! He is making great progress and I cannot be more proud of him! He is still not eating solids, but he is starting to lick objects and discover the world through that sense and that is a huge milestone. I’m hoping he will eat solids soon now that he’s ok with licking things, it’s a great sign! Leo is also making lots of new sounds and loves to squeal with excitement, sometimes a little bit too loud…haha. Leo also had his first trip to see the snow and had a lot of fun and was very curious about the snow too! Happy 19 months old me sweet petite prince! I love you so much!!
Lily is always so silly, goofy, smart and sweet! She loves to dance and watch music videos and listen to music. She currently loves the movies Troll and Sing! She can play those songs and videos on repeat all day long if she could haha. She also is really enjoying karate more at school! Lily’s appetite has been increasing too and loves to snack on strawberries, raspberries, and cookies. She eats but then burns it all off so quick! She really likes to sing more now too and I’m very impressed with how well she can memorize songs after hearing them a few times. She likes a lot of modern songs on the radio but also school songs that she learns at school. She gets really proud and excited to show me what she knows but she’ll get shy if put on the spot. Lily is very into all sorts of toys right now, Shopkins, Num Noms, Legos, Princess Elena, shooting “alligators” (shooting nerf guns from upstairs down at imaginary alligators), and lots of arts and crafts. She also is getting much better and faster at riding her tricycle and balance bike too! Lily also had a blast in the mountains and loves sledding. She wanted to go with my first just to get a feel for it again and then she was all on her own non stop! She loves to get her nails painted and sometimes I’ll let her do it herself. She likes to brush her own hair now too and brush mine and try to tie my hair as well. She also loves watering plants in the garden still and cuttign some flowers to bring them inside to put in a little small vase that I have for her! She really loves her teachers at school and a couple of them left to work at other schools. She told me about it and told me that she’ll miss them a lot. She’s so sweet! She then told me she got new teachers and that she went up to them by herself to say hi and tell them her name, I’m so proud of her! You’re my giant ball of sunshine my Lily pad, I love you to pieces!
Here’s some video fun!
Happy 18 Months Leo!
Happy 18 months Leo (sorry I’m so late on this post)! Leo weighs 21lbs 8 ounces, stretches 2 ft 8 ins, and has a head circumference of 48cm. Leo had an appoointment with his neurologist, Dr. Lily (good name!) Tran, and she ordered an EEG scan to see how susceptible he is to getting seizures and seeing if any of his delays are due to that rather than just muscle tone issues. She said he has low muscle tone but it’s not AS bad as we think, she said she’s seen a lot worse. She also stated that since he hasn’t started pointing at things, he is showing signs of autism but we won’t really know until he’s 3 years old. Also, he’s not hugging or giving kisses yet so she feels there’s also social delays, so he just needs to have more therapy to work on those developments. He will have a follow up in 8 months and once insurance gives me authorization for his EEG, he will do that. So I just have to wait for insurance to get the authorization for it so that i can make the appointment for that. He also had his hearing test and did various tests and he’ll pass in certain ears in certain tests and then fail in others and so overall it’s inconclusive, so he will have to retake the test in a couple months. If they still can’t get conclusive results, then they’ll have to put him under to do a more accurate brain wave activity test for his hearing. Leo also had his GI appointment and she prescribed him medication to help increase his appetite, taken before bed on Mondays-Friday with breaks on the weekends. He also needs to increase his milk intake since he only gained half a pound in that last 3 months and she feels he needs to gain more weight. She said that if he doesn’t start eating solids by his 2nd birthday, then he will need to do an upper endoscopy where a camera goes down his esophagus to rule out eosinophilic esophagitis, reflux esophagitis or gastritis. She wants to make sure that his food allergies isn’t causing any irritation in his esophagus that might make him turn away from eating solids. Overall, Leo is so happy and is growing beautiful. He is army crawling a lot faster and I feel like he will full on crawl soon! He is clapping his hands a lot now and likes to squeal a lot too! He really likes interactive toys, but he also likes the tv remote control and my hair haha. Despite all his hardships, Leo is so happy, I cannot feel more lucky and blessed. Happy 18 months my petite prince Leo!!!!
Lily is a giant ball of sunshine! She is so sweet and caring and super smart! She has such a happy spirit and gets so excited about the little things, it melts my heart. She is always so sweet and attentive to Leo, and understanding of him as well. Lily is getting more excited about her Tajik karate classes and likes to demonstrate what she learns at school for me, and her gymnastics as well. She likes to show me her punches and kicks and her tumbling skills! I am also so proud of her at her LePort Christmas Show, where she actually sang most of the two songs! She sang a snowman song and Jingle Bell Rock! She told me Jingle Bell Rock is really hard but come the day of the show, she knew most of the words and sang proudly too! I cannot be more proud of her!! She is so artsy and crafty too. I like seeing all her art projects that she does at school, and she’s getting pretty creative and more advance in her drawings too. She’s going from rainbows and blobs to actual people and things now! I can’t wait to spoil her this Christmas with so much holiday cheer!
Happy 17 Months Leo!
Happy 17 months my petite prince Leo!! Leo weighs 21.5lbs, stretches 32inches long, and has a head circumference of 19.5inches. Leo has a minor cold right now and has a stuff nose and it makes it difficult to drink his bottle but he learns to take breaks for air. He still isn’t taking in solids but he did open his mouth a couple times with the OT when she tried to feed him some rice cereal, so that’s great progress. Leo still can’t crawl but he’s getting better at tucking his legs under him and will rock back and forth, so he’s almost there! He also is almost able to sit all the way up from laying down as well. His core and legs are getting stronger each day. He’s able to stand while supported now too! I remember just a few months ago he was completely like jello or spaghetti when you would try to hold him up to stand. Leo is such a fighter and I cannot be more proud of him!! He is always so happy and smiling all the time. He likes to squeal and babble a little bit too and he tends to say “mom” and “mama” but I’m not sure if it’s purposeful but it’s still something to be excited about anyways haha. Leo likes to play with Sophie the giraffe, and likes to explore all different textures of objects. He loves mirrors and like to look at his handsome cute face! I love you so much my petite prince Leo!! Happy 17 months old!
Lily had had a very eventful month! She (and Leo) got to go to Mickeys Halloween Party at Disneyland where she had a total blast! I feel like she’s really enjoying it more now and loves all the amazing parades and fireworks show and the kid (Lily) friendly rides. Her favorite is It’s a Small World still and she remembers it from last year too! Of course she greatly enjoyed all the candy she as well and special thanks to Ann for making her super cute and awesome tote bag to carry all her trick or treats in! She also got to go to a local harvest carnival and play some games and enjoy some snacks and festive activities as well! For Halloween this year, her and Leo had a matching costume photo op where she was Rey and Leo was BB8 from Star Wars the Force Awakens! Thanks Skye for letting us borrow your costume! At her school Halloween parade, she was super excited to wear her Cinderella dress made by yours truly! She requested to have that dress made months ago and she’s so excited she can finally wear it and show it off to her friends. It makes me happy knowing she likes my stuff and it makes me feel like she’s proud of it especially when she wants to show her friends! The kids also had a blast at the pumpkin patch with Skye and Summer as well! They also went trick or treating with their cousins Aidan, Brooke and Cameron. Lily did really well and if she got scared of a house, she just stuck back with Anh Hai Mike and waited for the kids to come back and continued onto the next house! I’m so proud of you Lily!! Lily is so smart, sweet, and loving, I love you so much my little Lily pad!!
Happy 16 Months Leo!
Happy sweet 16 months to my sweet little prince Leo (sorry for posting this so late Leo!)! Leo weighs in at 20lbs and stretches about 31 inches long. Leo is getting so much stronger each day and constantly making progress in his developments. He had his GI appointment and the doctor prescribed him some medication to help with his chronic constipation. She said that he needs to clean out his colon and he has to be on this medication everyday for about a year to get his system use to going number two once a day. His colon is probably enlarged due to the constipation and holding it in for days at a time, so he needs to allow himself a lot of time to get his colon back down to a normal size. She thinks that maybe if he poops more regularly, maybe he won’t have a tummy ache (even though he doesn’t see to be fussy about it, maybe his tummy has been aching) and maybe this will cause him to want to eat and try solids. Overall, the medication is working and he’s still not taking solids, but it’s going to be a process. The OT said she’s never met any non g-tube that’s be this orally defensive before. I hope you start to learn to eat solids soon Leo because food is SO enjoyable haha! Leo did have a great accomplishment though and that he’s starting to hold his own bottle during feedings! He’s not confident yet, it’s more like me propping his hands up and holding his hands in place, but it sets the motion and he would hold it for a minute or two by himself, and sometimes he’ll even tip the bottle up himself to get the last of the milk as well! He is also tucking his legs under him more when he’s on the floor on his tummy, and he’ll rock back and forth sometimes in that position too. It seems like he’s really wanting to crawl soon, fingers crossed!! He’s also getting stronger at standing. Sometimes he’ll pull himself upright but he still needs a lot of assistance and support when standing, and he’s still pretty stiff, but he’s improved a lot just in this last month. The two PT sessions a week now really helps! He also does this ridiculously cute thing where he’ll put his arm up and his hand on his forehead whenever he’s tired or doesn’t like something, and if he really doesn’t like something then he’ll pout, but it’s just so super cute I cannot resist his doe eyes when he does it! All his baby steps are huge leaps in my eyes and I cannot be more proud of my petite prince Leo!
Lily just so bright and sweet as ever! Lily is learning a lot at LePort and even though her Spanish class isn’t offered this quarter, she is still reciting numbers and words she learned and is very proud of it! She is always super silly and likes to use her giant imagination and create lots of elaborate stories during playtime. She is very loving and sweet to Leo still and still continues to give him lots of hugs and kisses and is still so good at making him laugh and smile. She also had a recent school field to Zoomars Petting Zoo in San Juan Capistrano for the first time and she had such a blast! She loves riding the school bus and she really enjoyed all the animals! She liked feeding all the guinea pigs, goats, and pigs, and she even got to brush a goat’s fur. She also conquered her fear of horses/ponies and rode on a horse with no tears at all! I am so proud of her and she even had so much fun and waves hello to me several times during the ride. There was giant corn kernel pit at the zoo too and she loved making corn angels in it haha. Lily really likes songs on the radio and is singing along to them more, I love her sweet soft little voice! She still has a slight accent when she says certain words, it’s pretty cute and unique haha. I don’t know where she gets it from…but it’s cute regardless! She’s so silly and always bursting with so much sunshine and happiness, you just help but smile and love her even more. I love you so much my precious princess, my Lily pad! Keep on shining oh so bright!!
Happy 15 Months Prince Leo!
Happy 15 months my precious petit prince Leo! Leo weighs 21.5 pounds (31%) and stretches 31 inches long (44%) with a head circumference of 18 inches (20%). Leo is getting bigger and stronger every day! Last month, my poor baby Leo had to be in the ER room and then admitted to Choc for 4 days because he was feverish for several days and then had a very bad cough. After the first trip to the ER room, he was prescribed some antibiotics but after a few days, he was not getting any better and so he got admitted to Choc. It took a couple days but the doctors finally figured out that he had a viral pneumonia and was able to give him the correct antibiotics that would help him, and he had to use the nebulizer 4 times a day to help clear up the fluids in his lungs. He is such a trooper and it’s so rare to see him so unhappy and melancholy, I knew he was not feeling so well. It was so good to see him smiling and happy a week later. His smile just melts my heart! It’s never easy to see your baby at the hospital, all hooked up to wires and monitors and poked with needles, but Leo is such a champ and is so brave through it all. He can face any challenge that comes his way, and look super cute at the same time! Leo also had an appointment with an opthalmologist and they said he’s near sighted with some astigmatism, and will most likely need glasses next year. The nerve in the back of one of his eyes was a bit enlarged I think but the doctor said it wasn’t anything to be concerned about. I’m glad that it’s nothing more serious and that he will be taken care of when the time comes! He also had a hearing test scheduled but due to his lung congestion from his pneumonia, he wasn’t able to complete the hearing test so he was have to come back in November for that test.
Leo is so much more active these days, and can sit with his legs straight out and doesn’t always have to prop himself with his arms! He is making progress and is making me soooo proud of him! He loves to kick his legs and waves his arms around, he is reaching for toys and objects so much faster. He is more interactive as well and seems to even respond when you call his name now! Since Leo still isn’t taking in any solid foods, whole milk is not enough nutrients for him, so he’s now drinking Kid’s Boost Essentials, which luckily is covered by insurance too. Hopefully this will help him grow big and strong! Leo is very happy all the time and just loves being held and played with. He likes to roll around and can almost sit up from rolling on the floor too! Leo is so mellow and chill, he still sleeps so well through the night and loves his naps too. He is such a sweet and wonderful little baby, I feel so blessed and lucky to call him mine. I’m so proud of my precious Leo, keep up all your amazing hard work baby, happy 15 months Leo!
Lily is always so sweet, silly, and loving, I cannot get enough of her. Unfortunately this last month, I wasn’t able to be with her as much as I liked due to my accident, but when I do, she just continues to surprise me with her spunky personality. She is so full of love and compassion. She’s constantly hugging me, holding my arm, putting her head on my shoulder, constantly giving me kisses and telling me how much she loves me. I feel like the luckiest mom in the world and I feel so humbled to have this sweet little girl love me so much. She understands so much, and told me that Leo is sick and remembers Choc and said that the doctors will help Leo feel better! Even when I was at the hospital, Lily was not scared to visit me and give me a hug and told me that I will get better soon. I love how smart she is and how positive and hopeful she is as well. I love her happiness and I can see the sunshine radiating from her. Lily is finally showing me what she’s learning from her spanish classes at LePort, and she can count to 10 and her favorite is still “frutas” (fruit) haha. She is warming up to Tajik Karate now too and likes to show me her punches and kicks with the sound effects! This month she will be starting gymnastics classes too. She really likes doing yoga so I really hope she’ll enjoy gymnastics, especially since I really liked my gymnastic classes when I was a kid! I’m so excited for her! She’s dancing and singing a lot more now too and I’m so excited for her to soak up all the activities that she gets to participate in at school. I sometimes feel like she’s so mature for her age, but when I look at her, I will always see my sweet little baby girl. I’m so proud of the beautiful person she’s growing up to be, I love her so much.
Enjoy this video of Lily demonstrating what she learned in her Tajik Karate classes at LePort!
Happy 14 Months Leo!
Leo 14 Months
Happy 14 months old to me precious Prince Leo! Leo weighs about 19.8 pounds, and stretches about 30inches long! Leo has been make slow progress, but still great progress! He is getting stronger with his core muscles and is able to sit propped up longer and sometimes he can even lift his arms to reach for things too. He is slowly getting more comfortable being on his knee and squatting (with assistance), and reaching for toys while sitting in his booster chair. He really like the crinkly texture toys, give him a piece of paper and he’ll be entertained for hours! He also is working on standing, you have to really prop him and hold him in place but he is starting to put pressure on his feet so that is definitely good progress. Before, he would just bend at the hips and not even let you hold his legs down, so this is wonderful progress for him! Also, he started to chew on his crinkly fabric book for a tiny bit, so that’s super great because he usually doesn’t like to put anything in his mouth besides his thumb and his bottle for milk. I hope he will start to explore the world more through taste soon!
Leo is in the process of being put on a wait list for a full time school program called Early Head Start. We don’t know if we qualify financially yet, we will know in a few weeks, but for sure we know that Leo qualifies since one of the specialty is that the program is offered for children with disabilities, and Leo’s diagnosis would qualify him, and since he is already receiving help through the Regional Center, he would get higher priority for the wait list too. Hopefully he can get in so he can get extra special attention and care while I’m at work! Grandma did a great job watching Leo but it’s getting time for him to start going to school. Leo also got his second hair cut, this time a home hair cut by Mieng and I think it looks pretty good! Leo looks so cute and handsome and very stylish!! He was very cooperative too, just hand him the phone and he’s occupied and calm. He likes to look at his reflection on the phone, or himself with you have it in the camera mode haha. Who wouldn’t like looking at that cute little face?? Leo has been sick with a fever and bad phlemgy cough for the last few days and it makes me so sad to see him not feeling so well. He would cry from feeling so uncomfortable in the middle of his sleep but even though he’s crying, I can’t help be think he’s so cute haha. I hope he feels better soon though, he’s always in happy spirits overall though. Leo is getting bigger (taller at least) and stronger everyday and I’m so proud of him! I love you so much Leo, you’re my rainbow at the end of the storm!!
Lily is so happy and always such a character, I can never get enough of her. Lily is always bursting with happy excited energy and she has a pure love and appreciation for everything! I watch her with such awe as I see her talk about things, her thought process behind all her actions. I feel like she speaks so maturely for her age. Her understanding and processing of information is just so impressive to me. All the things that I try to teach her, seems to really get absorbed by her, and she’s developing into such a beautiful little lady! I had a gift for her just yesterday and she didn’t even see what was inside but the fact that I had something for her, she was so ecstatic and grateful that she kissed the cardboard box it came in and said it’s so beautiful and she’s so excited!! haha. Lily still really loves to be hands on and help me cook. At her school they have a garden and grow their own veggies and so she learned how to wash and roast eggplants! She gets exposure to lots of different healthy foods at LePort, and it really helps her branch out and try new foods too. She loves working on puzzles too and is working on her writing skills. She knows a couple words from her Spanish class, particularly “frutas” for fruit and “bebe” for baby. She is such a sweet, smart and kind girl, and I love her pure innocence and happy nature. I cannot be more proud! I might be biased, but I don’t care, =P. I love her so much!
Here’s some video fun of the kiddoes!
Happy 13 Months Leo!
Happy 13 months old my little Prince Leo! Leo weighs 19.51lbs, stretches 29.72 inches long, and head circumference measures at 17.9 inches. We just had his annual visit with his geneticist and she is confident that he would be able to walk one day, without the aid of any medical equipment, so that’s great news! He will need to have another hearing test since his right ear canal seems to be very narrow. He needs to check to make sure there’s no seroma in there or else that could block his whole ear canal which would make him not able to hear. We also need to schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist to make sure his eyes are ok so that it doesn’t contribute to his balance and focus, in case one eye is near sighted and the other is farsighted or something, etc. Overall, the geneticist says Leo is about the age of a 7 month old in terms of physical development. She said we won’t know how mentally developed he is until he starts speaking and seeing how he communicates with us.
Leo is so mellow and happy and full of curiosity. Leo still isn’t taking any solids, so we are still working with the occupational therapist for that, but he is now drinking whole milk and we are trying to introduce the straw to him. I’m hoping that he will eventually learn to drink from the straw so that he can at least take smoothies to get some food content in him, if it takes a while for him to take solids. Leo can sit well on his own when he props himself. He is not crawling, standing or pulling himself up yet, but he is very good at rolling around and having lots of arm movements and kicking of his feet. Leo is also very ticklish and also loves being tossed in the air and hanging upside down haha. He is also getting better at reaching for toys, and playing with toys and my hair. He also seems to sign for milk now, but it could also be a coincidence, but it’s exciting regardless! He’s also being more social and doesn’t like to be left alone as much now, and likes to be held and interacted with. I’m glad he’s being social and he is just a great ball of sunshine to have. Overall though, Leo is growing strong and doing it all with the cutest smile on his face! Happy 13 months old my sweet little Leo!
Lily has such a cute spunky little personality that I just can’t ever get enough of. I’m constantly being impressed with lily’s thought process and communication skills. Lily is getting more proficient with the iPad since I have physical therapy twice a week, so she’s been pretty good at being independent and learning how to navigate on her own. Lily is very silly and loves to have fun and laugh. Lily is still always so sweet and loving to Leo, she’s such an amazing big sister! I’m very proud of her! Lily really likes to play new board games, draw and work with stencil works. She really likes to write her name and is starting to write out more words like all our names. Lily knows it’s my birthday soon so all of her art work at school is “for mommy’s birthday” haha. She’s so sweet! She loves arts and crafts, and also playing with her scooter and car outside. Lily also likes to play with bubbles and fireworks now too. Lily also loves wearing dresses, wearing flowers in her hair, picking flowers, and eating all kinds of ice cream (also known as yogurt haha). Yogurt and ice cream is pretty much the same thing to her, so that’s a nice little trick I was able to do and not feel so guilty about doing =P. Lily also had the pleasure of being in Lennie and Danny’s wedding last month as a pretty little flower girl!! Lily’s such a bright light in my life, her smile just lifts up my spirit and I can’t help but feel so happy when I’m in her presence. I’m so proud to call her mine. I love you to pieces my beautiful lily pad!
Enjoy a couple videos of the kiddoes below!
Lily & 360 Hair
I cannot be more proud of my Lily pad! The other night I told Lily that I’m going to give her a hair cut, like I’ve done every year since she was 2 years old. One of the first things Lily said after saying “ok” to me giving her a haircut was “It’s just hair, it will grow back!” That made me happy to hear because I didn’t want her to be too attached to her hair and be shallow or something. It was funny though because after I chopped off a chunk of her hair, she said “that’s enough mommy” haha. But she was totally fine and just watched her show on her Ipad while it straightened out her cut. She was very cooperative and sat still and everything! So after I finished her haircut, I told her that we will be donating her hair and said she has a lot of hair, and so we will give it to someone who doesn’t have hair and needs it. I wasn’t sure if she fully understood the concept, but kids are like sponges and they soak up every information you throw at them, so I figured I’ll just tell her and if she gets it, then cool, if not, then maybe she will later. So after I told her this, she seemed to be excited and said she wanted to give her hair to “them” (people who need it), and I said we have to mail it, but she insisted she wanted to go to their house and give it to them, haha, so sweet. I told her she can put it in the mail box with me and that was a compromise that seemed to pleased her.
So the next day at school, we walked past the reception desk and the reception commented on how cute Lily’s new haircut looked and she had a big smile and said thank you very sweetly. Then I asked her what we are doing with her hair and she said “anate it”, which I translated to “donate it” for the receptionist haha. The receptionist said that’s very special and so nice of her and lily skipped off to her class all excited. When she got inside her class, she had the biggest open mouth wide eyed smile on her face, waiting for people to notice her haircut! It was so cute to see her so happy. When I picked her up from school later that day, her teacher told me that Lily went up to her and said she’s “anating” her hair. So her teacher asked “what do you mean anate?” Lily said “I’m giving it to people who don’t have hair.” So her teacher asked her “who doesn’t have hair?” Lily says “sick people and old people” (I didn’t even tell her that part, she just got that all on her own!) and her teacher told me she got all emotional to hear Lily tell her that story! Then she said all day she was telling all her friends about how she’s “anating” her hair and all the other kids said they want to grow out their hair long so they can “anate” their hair too! That story just made me so teary eyed and so super proud of my baby girl. She just turned 4 years old and now she’s already inspiring others to be generous, kind, and help others.
When I wanted to be a mom, I always had visions of what kind of human beings I wanted my kids to be; kind, generous, smart, thoughtful, active, nice, caring etc. Then when I actually became a mom, I always tried to be very conscious of how to raise Lily and Leo to be that, and try to find opportunities where ever I can to teach her how to be kind to others, share, be caring, helpful, etc. Little did I know that Lily was all that and more! It’s a continuous learning process and I don’t know if what I’m doing would do much or if it’ll make a difference or not, but I just keep trying and hoping for the best. All these years I’ve been so delighted and grateful to watch Lily grow into this compassionate little person, and she’s just been more and more impressive to me that I feel so humbled to call her mine. I have so much joy in knowing that she is my baby girl, and that story about her haircut just filled me up with so much pride. It’s encouragement to myself to keep doing what I’m doing, and see how she’s growing so beautifully. It makes me feel really good as a parent and person. Lily’s pure innocence and caring heart just boosted my belief in the beauty and preciousness of life. Here is the LINK to 360 Hair with info on how to donate hair, and the minimum length needed is only 6 inches! I cut off about 7 inches of Lily’s hair. Sometimes, it doesn’t take much to make a big difference. I’m so super proud of my Lily, and I can’t wait to see what other amazing things she’ll do. I love you to pieces my precious Lily pad!
Happy 4th Birthday Princess Lily!
Happy birthday to my sweetest little princess Lily! Lily weighs 29lbs (6%), and is 39.5 inches long (63%). Lily had a finger prick blood test to test her iron levels and her levels are normal! This is an improvement from last year since she was low last year. All that fish is paying off! Lily also got 3 shots on my arm and that was really tough and painful for her and she cried her little eyes out, poor baby girl. Other than that, she is doing really well and is a healthy little girl! She is definitely on the smaller side but at least she’s healthy! Lily has a very cute eccentric sense of style, it’s a mixture of comfort, colorful, and cute style. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t match, if she likes it and makes her feel good, then go for it baby girl! You be you and I strongly encourage her to explore her of style to promote her sense of self and confidence. 
Lily loves to snack, to name a few, she likes potato chips, cheesy popcorn (Pirate’s Booty), strawberry Special K Crisp Bars, cookies, butter popcorn, all things candy, strawberries fresh and freeze dried, carrots, apples, cuties, brussel sprouts, and lots of cheese! Lily likes going out and doing things like playing at the park, running around and spinning in circles, making silly noises and being silly, and her imagination is really growing and she likes to play imaginary situations all the time with her toys. Her vocabulary and speech and is so big and eloquent, she doesn’t seem like a 4 year old at all, maybe a 5-6 year old! You can see how she phrases her sentences that she puts a lot of thought into her communication, it’s just so impressive to see. I’m so constantly proud of her!!
For her birthday celebration, I had the joint party with Leo for Lily. She also had a celebration at her school where the class sang a nice around the world song for her as she walked around and showed her classmates pictures from each year of her life. We brought yogurt, animal crackers, and mini blueberry muffins for her classmates to enjoy for a special birthday snacks and her teachers provided strawberries for everyone too. Lily really enjoyed passing out all the snacks to her friends and I was so impressed with how good the kids are there and how much Lily wanted to help and pass out the snacks. Lily’s been excited for her birthday for months now and I’m so glad that this day finally came so I can celebrate and spoil her (more than usual) and make her so super happy! It’s a fun age for birthdays since she’s so aware of what it is now, and all her friends have birthday celebrations, so it’s just such a happy time. I’m glad she looks forward to her birthday, I will make sure I always do whatever I can to make this day special for her, and to show her how this day changed my life forever in the best, most wonderful way possible. For more pictures from Lily and Leo’s birthday celebrations, click HERE! Special thanks to Mieng for taking the beautiful photos of Lily and Leo for their birthdays!!
I feel super blessed and lucky to have Lily as my baby girl! She is super sweet, smart, silly, funny, sassy, kind, compassionate, and everything I wanted in a daughter and more!! She is constantly impress and amazes me with everything she does and I can’t wait to see what else she’s going to teach me in life and what other adventures we will have together! My heart is so full when I look into her bright eyes and sweet smile. She is such a sweet, caring, and compassionate big sister to baby Leo as well. Seeing her interact with him, all on her own too, is so touching to me. Even when she see other babies, she just says “awww that baby is so cute!” and she will be so warm and caring to them. Lily is so good at sharing too and is always looking out for me and making sure I am careful walking down the stairs and tells me to hold her hand so I don’t fall! She is just the sweetest and I’m so proud and humbled to call her mine! I love you more than you’ll ever know my precious Lily pad!! Happy 4th birthday my sweetest angel!!
Check out some of Lily’s adventures this past year!
