kalia and maya visit

after the welcome stella party, kc, erik, kalia and maya came down for a week of fun with cole and stella. we went to legoland, the legoland waterpark, sealife aquarium and the safari park. it was a busy week but cole had so much fun with his cousins.

legoland!

 

on his favorite train at legoland!

 

thanks for the lift uncle erik!

 

driving an ambulance with auntie kc



kalia's driving was amazing! she was stopping at red lights and stop signs and going when it was green. she could seriously pass a driving test!

 

maya cruising in her blue lego car



watching tv way too close.



morning time with the girls!

backyard fun!

with his favorite auntie kc!

 

at sunset park

cutest dancers at obon!







 

stella 2 months/welcome stella party

geez, i'm behind again since stella is now 3 and a half months old. but here's what happened last month. (i don't know how kc does it with 2 girls, work and writes in her blog every few days?... i seriously need to get my act together...)

anyways, stella had her 2 month visit at the beginning of june. i thought she was HUGE and would be off the charts like cole. but she was only 11 lbs, 10 oz (72%) and 22.5 inches long (56%). she is so different from cole as a baby. she is so smiley and just hangs out. she also sleeps great. i only have to wake up once in the middle of the night to feed her and she goes right back to sleep. i read this book called babywise before stella was born because some of the moms in our moms group swear by it and i couldn't have another baby that didn't sleep. but it turns out i didn't need it because she loves to sleep! maybe it's the luck of the draw and not which method you use. she is just a sweet sweet baby :)



here she is at almost exactly 2 months old.



tummy time!



cole also likes to participate.



really likes to...



he's a good big brother!

on june 23rd, my parents had a party at their house for the family to meet stella. thanks mom and dad :) and thanks everyone for coming to meet her!
here are some pics...



yummy red velvet mini cupcakes - thanks mom!



stella m&ms

auntie kc and stella!

sarah and curtis ross (why didn't i know cr's middle name was ross? am i that dumb...seriously?...)



bobby and chelsey

the cousins. cole was uncooperative and would not get in the pic so this is the only one i have of the 4 of them.

stella cookies! they were awesome - thanks mom!

stella with great-grandma

dad making/drinking mango-ritas

 

it wouldn't be a party at mom and dad's without everyone taking shots



cole taking kalia to see something cool.

 

grandpa



yu-chen and tommy

 

oh yes she did...


i also finally finished both their rooms. here are some pics...

cole's room

stella's room



love love love this mobile! thanks bobby and chelsey!



cole turns 2!

On April 29 Cole turned 2 years old! I seriously cannot believe my baby is 2 and that I have a whole new baby. We didn't have a party again since we had just brought Stella home but I've promised him a BIG 3rd birthday party next year... one that he is lucky enough to share with Stella's 1st birthday party ;) wink wink...

Cole has grown up so much over the last few months. He is talking all the time. And I am understanding about 60% of it. He can do little sentences now like... "chocolate milk please" or like Cole says it "choco nilk pees" and "dayee go?" meaning "where the heck did daddy go?" And "trash truck" - actually almost any kind of truck you can think of he says "fill in the blank truck". He is understanding everything too and will actually clean up if I asked him in serious enough voice or will put things in the trash. He's also the most challenging he has ever been - really seeing how far he can push before he actually gets in trouble and often likes to call my bluff. Dr. Martin (their pediatrician) said that I need to be willing to carry out whatever threat I give or else I'll lose my street cred. And I'm really trying hard to be firm. But if I did everything I said I would do, Cole would spend his entire day in time out with no yummy snacks and no toys. He is also doing this thing where he says everything as loud as he possibly can or if he's just talking in a normal tone then he will end the word in a very high pitch screech. It's been going on for a few weeks. At first I thought we should just ignore it. Then I started asking him to not scream and to use a quiet voice. And now he's going into time out. It has progressively gotten worse and I don't know if it's because so have my reactions or because it has to run it's course and will get worse before it gets better. I should probably just ignore it. But for any one who experiences it - it's pretty hard to ignore.

Here are some pics from Cole's birthday.



opening his new pots and pans set from kc, erik, kalia and maya



vegetable cutting set that he LOVES - thanks kc and crew!

for his new retro kitchen!



new cars 2 characters!

helping put his tricycle together - he loves putting things together :)



riding the new tricycle - he just would not sit on the seat for some reason.



oreo cookie mini cupcakes... that he didn't eat.

but seriously, how could i compete against this?

 

car, truck, motorcycle and road cookies by tutu - thanks mom!



finally! i told him it would be fun...

stella - she was a real party animal!

stella emiko

On April 6, 2012, Stella Emiko came into our lives. She was a little over 2 weeks early and weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 18.5 inches long. I just love her! I wasn't sure how I was going to love anyone as much as I love Cole but it just happened, the second I saw her :) She is just the sweetest baby ever! She's spent most of the last 6 weeks sleeping but has started to be awake for an hour or two during the day now. Can I just say that after having Cole, the baby that never slept and was so crazy that he kicked his belly button scab off 3 times before it healed properly - having Stella is an unexpected surprise. I can only hope that she stays this way. For about a week after we brought her home, I had to actually set my alarm to wake up every few hours to feed her because we would've both just slept through the entire night. They called her a late pre-term baby and said that she's sleeping a lot because she still thinks she's in the womb but will probably start waking up around her actual due date which was April 22. And I'm pleased to say that at 6+ weeks, she still mostly thinks she's in the womb! And her belly button fell off on it's own and caused me no stress what so ever :) But she can definitely scream her little head off when she's not happy.



1 day old





tiniest feet ever!



She was so little when we brought her home. At 6 lbs, 11 oz, she was already a pound lighter than Cole when he was born. She lost weight in the hospital so she was only 6 lbs, 1.5 oz when we brought her home.

 
Even though having two kids is way more crazy than having just one, being a mother the second time around is so much less stressful. I'm really able to relax and enjoy it vs. living in fear and constant self doubt. Stella is definitely lucky that she didn't have to deal with me the first time around. I don't even think I left the house alone with Cole until he was a few months old. By 3 weeks, Stella had already gone to Legoland, Sealife Aquarium, the park, a birthday party and more!



Stella's first trip to the park.



Cole on the swing - still a fav!



Stella and Cole at Sealife Aquarium

 

Sea horses which Cole just calls horses with a slight lisp.



Helicopter ride at Legoland

 

Stella at Legoland. She had a blast!


Cole is adjusting well to big brotherhood. I was really worried about it. I went through a period where I felt really guilty about how Cole was going to adjust and thinking he wouldn't understand. But it was really all in my own head, and one day he won't even remember life without Stella. He did have a rough time at first though and basically ignored me for a few days. But I think it's because he didn't understand what was going on even though I had been talking a lot about baby sister Stella.We just left in a rush early one morning and then I didn't come back for a few days. And when we did, we had Stella. Even when he visited in the hospital he didn't want to come over to me. I should have known he might have been a little confused when I asked him where the baby was and he pointed to his own stomach. But we are back to normal life + Stella. He has been very gentle with her. At first he would just poke her feet and he thought it was funny. But now he will gently rub her stomach or arm. It's very cute. Sometimes I leave them alone for a few minutes to change the laundry or go to the bathroom or something. When I come back, Cole will be sitting at the foot of her swing smiling like he just got caught doing something bad. Sometimes I catch him reaching his arms towards her like he's going to pick her up but pulls away when she stirs. I think he just wants to pick her up like the rest of us do. He was so excited when her pacifier fell out yesterday and he got to put it back in her mouth. He's a good big brother already :)