Gung Hay Fat Choy

One of K's teacher is Chinese, so the children engaged in different activities to celebrate Chinese New Year.  They learned how to make dessert dumplings.  K got flour to roll out the dough.

Each child brought home a bag with their uncooked dumplings, a piece of ginger and some rock sugar with instructions on how to cook it.  K wore the apron Auntie Ali made her and was excited to help cook the dumplings.

Here's how it turned out. 

The students in her class also learned about Chinese characters and traced "Happy New Year."

Mommy's work also got in the spirit for the new year.  Her manager asked each team member to make a mask of the animal they represent.  Mommy is the horse on the far left.  The team had Chinese food to celebrate.  The funny thing is Mommy's boss is Caucasian and was so enthusiastic about the day and even passed out red envelopes.  Mommy's boss is the sheep.

It's been one of the worst cold seasons!  Bella has been sick contiously for the last 2 months with several colds, stomach bug, bronchitis and now an ear infection.  It breaks Mommy's heart to see her baby so miserable.  Bella made many trips to the doctor's office.  She is not happy when the doctor examines her especially when looking in her mouth and ears.  Poor baby is tramautized and will cry when the doctor first walks in.

Because Bella was sick, Mommy spoiled her by holding her to sleep to comfort her.  Bella would wake up at night and cry or scream.  Mommy would end up holding her hours at a time.  Now Bella is so used to being held.  She's not able to be put down awake anymore.  Once she is feeling better, it's time to sleep train her.

The girls stayed in pretty much all weekend since Bella was recovering.  They did have a chance to get some fresh air.  Bella loves riding in the car.  When it's time to come out, she will cry since she wants to stay in longer.

K rode her bike.  She is quite speedy.

She took a break and stopped off at the bars along the way.

Daddy took out some of the younger toys that were boxed up.  Bella loved playing with this elephant toy.  She liked to push the button, so the ball will pop out of the elephant's nose.  Bella is feeling better, but Mommy prays she can stay healthy for the coming months!

Happy Valentines Day

For Valentine's Day, K signed her name on 24 cards for each kid in her classroom.

 

Along with a card, each friend got a bag with crayons and stamps.  K was in charge of stuffing the bags.  Yes, she is wearing a princess dress.  She is super girly!  The first thing she asks when she comes home from school is to change into her princess dress.  This dress happens to be Rapunzel, from Tangled.

For a Valentine surprise, K made Mommy and Daddy flowers at school.  She said, here are some flowers on Love Day!

K also made Mommy a heart bracelet.  She wanted Mommy to try it on to see if it would fit.

Tao Po invited the family to Koi Palace for an early Chinese New Year dinner.  K was so proud to pick up her food using big people chop sticks.  

There happened to be a man selling balloons at the restaurant.  Po Po bought Ashely and K each a balloon.  Ashely picked a panda and K picked Hello Kitty.

Now that Bella is mobile, she can open cabinets and drawers.  She was caught red handed in the pantry.  She reached up on the shelf to grab a packet of applesauce.

Bella's new interest is bubbles.  She loves to pop them and K loves blowing them.  It's a fun activity for them to play together.

Don't Be Fooled!

Last weekend the girls visited Po Po and Gung Gung.  They have a park across the street and the girls decided to walk and in Bella's case take a ride there.  K loved pushing her sister and Bella had the best time sitting in the car.

Auntie Gabby joined the girls at the park.  K wanted to sit on the seesaw with her.

It was Bella's first time on a swing.  She seemed fine when she first sat in.

But once she was pushed a few times, she wanted out.  Not too surprisingly this girl doesn't like to be confined!

The girls celebrated Nat's first birthday.  She was gentle with her smash cake, but enjoyed the taste.

Does this picture remind you of the movie, Three Men and a Baby?

Daddy thought Bella was the mellow child.  She is usually pretty mild mannered, but when she is angry or upset, she will make sure you know!  She is not afraid to let out a loud cry or yell.

She definitely has a fiery side to her.  Don't be fooled by her sweet face.  The worst is when she does not want to do something or does not like something, she will throw her head back.  This is very dangerous if the person holding her does not expect her to do this.  What a horrible habit of hers!

Happy First Birthday, Bella!

Mommy can't believe her baby girl is already one!  Bella had multiple birthday celebrations for her big milestone.  First she had a circus themed party with all her friends.

It was so nice of Uncle Dave to celebrate his birthday with Bella.  Everyone sang happy birthday to him too.

Auntie Jenn and her family drove far just to see the birthday girl.

Auntie Lauren said these two were having a pizza date.

Uncle Dan wanted to see if he could hold two babies.  Not a bad job!

Bella had her very own smash cake. At first she was unsure of what to do.  She was very gentle and careful when she touched the cake.  Daddy had to stick her hand in the cake.



From that point on, she could not stop eating the cake as you can tell by the evidence on her face.

Happy birthday, baby girl!  You make our family complete.  We love you so much!

The next day, Bella had a party with her relatives.  Daddy set up the garage, so the kids could play and ride bikes.  Here's a picture of the girls before the party started.

It's pretty funny the messaging Chinese bakeries put on a cake.

Uncle Albert has 3 boys. When he sees Bella he likes to hold and hug her since he doesn't have a girl.

Sebastian was the life of the party.  He wanted to wear the hat and wouldn't take it off.

 Thanks to everyone for coming to help Bella celebrate!

 On Bella's actual birthday, Mommy took the day off to spend with her.  Auntie Lilian was still on maternity leave, so she joined Bella for lunch at a Japanese restaurant.  Baby Kalina was there too and she slept the entire time.

Bella was starting to feel under the weather, but Mommy  had already decided to still take her out.  Luckily she was still in a good mood. Who wants to sit at home on their birthday?

In honor of Bella's birthday the restaurant gave her a happy birthday hat and sang to her with a pineapple slice and a candle sitting on wasabi.

Later that evening, Bella went out again.  Probably not the best idea.  At that point she turned super cranky.  Uncle Derek joined in on the dinner celebration.  Bella did have a few bites of her spaghetti which is her favorite dish.

When she got home she got cupcakes for dessert.

At Bella's 1 year check-up, Dr. Mason said she had bronchitis.  It wasn't severe, but still she was miserable and started waking up at night from the coughing.  When Dr. Mason examined her, all she wanted to do was lay her head on his chest.  Her weight dropped by a pound this visit.  She didn't have much of an appetite when she was sick.  Her weight is at the 33rd percentile.  Dr. Mason checked Bella's gums.  Still no signs of teeth.  He said they will probably all come in at once in a few months.

Mommy is happy to report is Bella is on her way to feeling better.  Hooray to that!  She's back to her usual self.  Eating everything in sight!