amnesia

While cleaning out the hard drive on our old computer yesterday, we found a sleep log that we kept for Nicholas during the worst week of his sleep. Ever. It was us against Nicholas, with a very dog-eared copy of Weissbluth's book. We had neither happy sleep or a happy baby. It's a wonder we had more kids. A few excerpts from those sleep-deprived days:

11/13/05
7:30 pm - fell asleep with dad sitting next to him. He was in his bed with the big light off and the bright bulb on the night light on.
11:30pm - woke up asking for new water (was correct that his water was not new)
2:45 am - woke up and had peed in his bed. He said that he was calling for us (we’re sleeping in room next door with sound machine for Sophia, and no monitor, and considering how tired we were, it is unlikely that we would have been able to hear him with his door closed).
3:30 am - woke up (still awake?) and went into mom and dad’s room and dad went back with him and sat by his bedside while he fell asleep. Dad fell asleep in chair and left at 4:25 am, and went to the study to sleep. Nicholas came to study at 4:35 am and dad went back with Nicholas and sat in chair until 4:50 and then left when Nicholas was asleep.
5:30 am - Nicholas came into room with mom and Sophia looking for dad (who was sleeping in the study) and climbed in bed with mom and Sophia.
7:15 am - woke up

11/16/05
Napped from 1:00-2:15 pm (fell asleep with dad in the room)
8:30 pm - N finally fell asleep, dad stopped singing at 7:30 pm and waited an hour for N to fall asleep
10:30 pm - N woke up, mom put him back to sleep
11:30 pm - N woke up, mom put him back to sleep
1:30 am - N woke up and got dad, dad went in and sat on floor away from bed
2:40 am - N woke up and got dad again, dad went in and sat on floor away from bed (and feel asleep and left at 3:30)
4:40 am - N woke up and had peed in his underwear. Dad changed him and cleaned him up and sent him back to bed while dad sat on the floor away from the bed. N fell asleep and dad went back to bed.
7:15 am - N woke up

11/17/05
No nap
Tonight was the first night of trying the sleep poster. It says 1. Stay in bed 2. Pee in the potty 3. Close eyes 4. Go to sleep 5. ??
7:15 pm - N fell asleep while dad held him
10:00 pm - N moaned and mom and dad left him
10:30 pm - N moaned and mom and dad left him
11:00 pm - N called out for dad repeatedly and mom and dad ignored him until it seemed that he was really waking up. Dad went in and walked him to the bathroom and he peed and dad walked him back to bed and left the door open
11:30 pm - N woke up and dad went in and sat on the floor until N fell asleep
12:00 am - N woke up again and dad went in and sat on the floor until N fell asleep
1:30 am - N woke up again and dad went in and sat on the floor until N fell asleep
3:30 am - N woke up and dad went in and sat on the floor until N fell asleep
5:00 am - N woke up and dad gave up and went in and fell asleep on the floor.
7:00 am - N woke up for the morning

happy birthday, naomi!

somersaults and god

While kneeling on our bedroom floor on the verge of a time-out after being repeatedly told to settle down and go to sleep, Nicholas recounts the events that led to him and Sophia crying.

"I kind of hit Sophia by accident and told her I was sorry, and she kept touching me and then she did a somersault and landed on my eye."

"Sophia, is that true?"

"Yes."

Trying extremely hard not to bust out laughing, to no avail, I giggle out, "Are you supposed to be doing somersaults in bed?"

"No." She giggles.

"Ok, you guys need to go back in and I don't want to hear another sound from you and I don't want to come back upstairs again. If I do, you'll both get a time-out and be in trouble. Understand?"

"Yes." Says Nicholas with a semi-straight face.

"Yes." She giggles again.

"I'm serious, Sophia. If I have to come up here again, you're going to start losing stuff. What do you love?"

"God." (huh?)

"What?"

"God." (and here I was thinking she would say purple fairy wings, princess dresses, etc.)

"Well, don't you love your new flower girl dress? Your purple fairy wings that Kathy and John gave you that light up? Your flower girl basket?"

"Yes. And God."

"Ok, well, if I come up again, you'll lose the other stuff."

Clearly, that didn't go over as well as I had hoped. I should have known. Earlier when we came home from church, she said to me, "You know, Mom, when God is angry with me, he still loves me." Go figure.

happy birthday, dad!

After singing the happy birthday song to my dad on the phone tonight, Sophia asked my dad, "How old are you?" My dad replied, "I'm 69 years old today." Sophia giggles and turns to us and says, "Wow. He's 69."

And because she isn't quite ready to stop celebrating her birthday, she says to him, "I already had my birthday." To which my dad replies, "I know...and you're 4 years old now!" She giggles again and with a look of surprise and amazement, says, "How'd he know that? He knows I'm not 3 anymore."

say kimcheeee

A couple of weeks ago, Hyeson, Curtis, and Emma came for a visit. Hyeson had her 20th high school reunion that weekend , but they ended up going down later and coming up earlier to hang out with us. The kids had missed Emma terribly and were so excited to see her! And we'd like to think that Emma liked playing with us, too. My brother and his family finally came back from Shanghai a couple of months ago, and Melanie and the kids have been in Naperville getting their house ready to sell. And my poor brother has been going back and forth from Detroit and Chicago every weekend. They'll be glad to be altogether in Detroit soon, although we'll miss having them nearby.

Anyway, we decided to get together for dinner on Sunday afternoon (before Curtis flew back to Arizona and Puyol drove back to Michigan) and since this was the first time in three years that we had all gotten together, we decided to take some pictures. Of course, the idea didn't occur to us until late Saturday night, but fabulous Danielle (and Max) at Red Pearl Photography was able to meet us on campus and snap a few of our crazy bunch. It's hard to mobilize 14 people, including 2 babies, much less get everyone to look in the same direction and smile at the same time, but I think we managed to get some great shots. Thanks, Danielle!

The cousins

My siblings & me...don't we just look totally marvelous?

The babies--Emma was cute and kept trying to give Naomi hugs and put her arm around her, but Naomi wasn't quite as receptive...probably because she's fighting off her older siblings everyday who physically smother her with affection day in and day out.

The girls--Emma, Whitney, Sophia, Screamer (I mean, Naomi), and Nicole

The boys--Ethan, Nicholas & Tyler

Hyeson, Curtis & Emma...super cute family

Melanie & Puyol with Whitney, Nicole, Tyler & Ethan...another nice family photo...notice everyone smiling and looking at the camera.

Then there is us...look at my monkeys and their mugs...and Naomi's armpits. Nice.

One of the last attempts at looking normal...

...before the cold and wind started to get to us. And our true personalities came through.

Such a super fun day.

I hope Nicholas, Sophia & Naomi have as much fun with each other and their families when they grow up.

happy birthday, baby girl

After what seemed like a celebration of Sophia for almost a week, Sophia officially turned four today. And while she reminds me that she is no longer a baby girl, I can't help but still call her that sometimes. I had always hoped and wished that I would have a daughter when I had children, and I was over the moon when we found out we were having a girl when I was pregnant with Sophia.

At four, she is the consummate girly girl--she loves twirly dresses, sparkly and strappy shoes, purses, painted nails, and lip gloss. She believes in fairy tales (although she does not like the bad guys in them, especially Rasputin, Maleficent, and evil stepmothers) and that mommy and daddy kisses and My Little Pony bandaids (and bandaids in general) are magical and cures all things. She still loves all things pink and purple and is genuinely surprised when someone gives her something that is pink and purple ("how in the world did they know pink and purple are my favorite colors??"). She's still our sleep superstar who tells us that she's tired and needs to take a nap (if Naomi would only take her lead...). And like her dad, Sophia truly believes there is a dessert space in her stomach that must be attended to and filled up after every meal, including breakfast. She still sleeps with Bear and looks for him whenever she is sad, tired, sleepy, and everything in between.

Since her birthday party on Saturday, Sophia has enjoyed quite the week of celebrating. On Sunday, Greg's family came over for dinner and the kids got to play with their cousins. Among her presents--violin lessons, which Sophia has been asking for for months. On Monday, we went out to Naperville and spent the day with my brother and his family, and celebrated Sophia's birthday and Ethan's birthdays with a delicious lunch and more presents. Of course, we also got rear-ended on our way there, but that's actually not that exciting. On Tuesday, Barbie was sweet and brought Sophia a fabulous art kit, which the kids have used to make some super cute pictures. Barbie is great about doing lots of art projects with the kids and they love to draw, color and paint! And today, Sophia received a package from Halmoni and Harabuji.

See the row of baby clothes hanging on the bulletin board behind Sophia and Christine? The Upstairs Green Room had a week about their life as babies and everyone brought in a baby photo and a baby outfit. Sophia's picture is above the little purple dress just above the blue chair.

A bunch of little preschool cobras

Greg and I took the morning off and we celebrated the day by taking treats to her preschool class--chocolate donuts--and staying for their yoga class. There are few things cuter than a bunch of three- and four-year olds doing yoga. Sophia's choice for dinner that evening was pizza bagels, strawberries, and blueberries.

Sophia has been looking forward to this day for months and months. It must be so hard to look forward to something when you don't quite grasp the concept of days and months. We are so lucky to have her as a part of our family--she is fiercely loyal to her family and friends and when she tells us that she loves us and gives us a smile and a hug, it just makes you want to squeeze her and eat her up. It's hard to ever imagine our lives without her.

a celebration of sophia

We started our celebration of Sophia's birthday with a birthday party with her friends at Gymboree. She had been anticipating her birthday for months and she was so excited for her party day. Up until now, Sophia just had parties with family and a few friends at home, so we decided that it was time for Sophia to have a big party that she had asked for and let her have a special day of her own. (I have to admit that I was personally excited to host a birthday party that did not involve cleaning my house and doing much of anything other than showing up and bringing the birthday girl.) Sophia chose to have a prince and princess dress-up theme party (and cake) and I think she was pretty satisfied with the way things turned out. Nicholas had invited a couple of his friends who had siblings who were friends with Sophia, and despite his initial concern that he was too grown-up for Gymboree, he and his friends also had a great time (and even dressed up!).

When Sophia's friends started to arrive, she saw that they brought presents, and came up to me and said, "Look, mommy, presents. Who are they for?" She was pretty excited when I told her they were for her. After two hours of jumping and running around, we had cake and snacks and wrapped things up. It was great--the kids had a fun time and it was also nice for us to have a chance to catch up with some friends and most importantly, not clean up. Sophia chose dinner that evening...at McDonald's...and came home and opened presents from her friends. She was SO tired that she didn't even put up a fight when we told her it was time for bed and she could play with her toys the next day.

sophia ballerina

Sophia's ballet class - she's on the first row, second from the left. Her teacher, Ms. Allyson, is in the middle with the pianist. It is such a cute, cute class. This Saturday is their spring concert and Sophia's class will be frogs. A bunch of little frogs hopping around. Super cuteness.

delayed easter photos

Love these monkeys.And their dad.
Naomi thinks Nicholas (not in the picture, obviously) is hilarious.
Happy I finally have a picture of Greg's parents with the monkeys.

a mother's day morning

Naomi woke up again this morning at 5:30 a.m. That's two days in a row that Gnomers has slept in past 4:45 a.m. She must have known it was Mother's Day. Like most mornings, Greg went and got her, gave her a bottle, and took her and the others downstairs to get cracking on my breakfast. Nicholas and Sophia think it's so much fun to bring me breakfast in bed. Sometime around 6:30 a.m., I got up and went to the bathroom, and I could hear Nicholas creeping upstairs and then saying, "Dad! It's not Sophia, it's Mom! She's awake!! She can't come downstairs or it'll ruin the surprise!" Apparently, Sophia was still sleeping and I wasn't supposed to know that they were making me breakfast. So like the good mother that I am, I roll back into bed and burrow back under the covers to the warm part of the bed.

About an hour later, I hear the giggling as they bring up breakfast. Chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs, apples and oranges, and a icy cold Diet Coke. My kids know their mama well. Nicholas carrying the breakfast tray and Sophia carrying a pile of presents they had been working on at their schools and after school at home. Nicholas made a bowl with recycled paper, and Sophia made a purse with a graham cracker box. Super cute--my favorite presents so far. And lots of pictures and cards. I told them I'd take them to work. They love it when I take their things for my office. I love having their things in my office because on my bad days, they remind me of what is important and puts things in perspective.

Naomi crawls over to me and proceeds to reach for my chocolate chip pancakes. I try to break off the non-chocolate parts for her. She eats a whole pancake (they weren't very big) and then reaches and grabs a handful of scrambled eggs. She snuggles back and finishes her bottle. After 30 seconds, she crawls over and grabs Nicholas's recycled bowl (now filled with mini chocolate chip muffins from Sophia's graham cracker box purse) and tries to eat the bowl.

Since she woke up so early, Naomi goes down for a nap at 8:00 a.m. Nicholas and Sophia then join me in bed with their breakfast and eat. Then they go off to take showers and I am left alone in bed to eat my breakfast and read a book--a true luxury--while Greg goes downstairs to clean up the kitchen.

If my day ended there, it would have been a perfect day. Not that the rest of the day wasn't just as good. We went to church and Greg got to stay with us for Sacrament Meeting--Justin made arrangements for Elders Quorum so he and Greg could be with family today. Super. We miss him at church. Naomi took an afternoon nap for almost an hour and half and Greg came home early. Super super. Then we went to dinner with Greg's parents and his sister's family. A little late for Gnomes, but it was fun and we had a great time together. One of the most fun dinners we had together. When we got home, Greg put the kids to bed as he does almost every night while I talked to my parents. Super super super.

It's not easy to be a mother, and I have my moments when I worry that I'm not good enough. Or patient enough. Or fun enough. Or ___ enough. But at the end of the day, I am humbled to have been blessed with my sweet husband and three fabulous and healthy children who remind me how lucky I am to be a part of their lives.

the laughing gnome

While Greg was in Ann Arbor at a conference and Nicholas and Sophia were at Navy Pier with Greg's parents, Naomi and I had some good times together. It helped that on Saturday, she actually took two good naps. At one point when I was feeding her, I did a fake laugh and she thought that was the funniest ever. And somewhere in there, she also does her growl. Yes, the Gnome growls on command. Don't mind the food smeared on her face.

i told you she was loud

Nicholas and I were going through the flashcards from the cameras and came across this little bit of juice today. See, didn't I say she was loud from the start? She still sounds like that, except louder and a bit more forthright. You see, the Gnome owns her crying.

wake up, little gnomers

Whenever I hear Naomi stirring after her nap (notice, nap--not naps), I like to tiptoe upstairs and then open her door very quietly on the off-chance that she's not really awake, but just in between dreams or something. And as I peek in, I see this:

Followed by this:

And then, while I grab a clean diaper and pick up stuff around her room, she's like this until I pick her up:

I have to admit that I like it when she naps, but I also do love to get her right when she wakes up. She's all warm and cuddly and super happy to see me. Well, ok, she's super happy to see whoever comes to get her out.

life is great and i am happy

It's been 9 months and just a smidge more, since this little gnome graced our family with her presence. She is definitely the most opinionated and strong-willed of all three children and as mentioned on many previous occasions, still the loudest. She is not big on routine, especially for naps, but is a pretty good sleeper at night. She has no hesitation in telling you what she wants or does not want. For example, when feeding her, she looks down at the spoon to see what's coming at her mouth and if it's something she doesn't care for, she slaps the spoon with her hand. I suppose many of us would probably choose full-fat yogurt with cream on top over carrots, too, eh? And once she gets her little hands on something she wants (like a bin full of Legos), you have to be both smarter than her and the bin of Legos to pry those little fingers off. She's moved from army-combat-crawl to crawling on her hands and knees (except when on hardwood floors wearing long pants and her legs just splay out under her) and pulling herself to stand on everything. Like Nicholas, who started walking at just 9 1/2 months, we are convinced that Naomi will walk soon. Eek!

At her 9-month check-up, she was 19 pounds (50th percentile), 27 1/4 inches long (25th-50th percentile), and her head circumference was 45 centimeters (75th percentile). Perfectly normal, but we consider her our petite one. Only because we remember (correctly) that the other two were slightly bigger at this age--

Sophia: 21 pounds, 12 ounces (75-90%), 28 3/4 inches long (90-95%) and 48 cm head circumference (which was off the charts, as I recall).

Nicholas: 20 pounds, 10 ounces; 29 1/4 inches long. Sorry, no percentiles, although if I really wanted to, I'm sure I could look it up.

This is Naomi wearing my favorite shirt--if you can't read it, it says: "Life is great and I am happy. All smiles. All of the time." Whenever Naomi gives us one of those "we are so done having kids" days, this is the outfit I put on her and it makes us laugh.

And just so the record is straight, the picture above, was taken after this:

and this:

Despite all her drama, Naomi is loved and we can't imagine our world without her. Anyway, it's hard to believe Gnomers will be one soon. Gosh, it goes by so quickly.

heard at the dinner table

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day. Thank you for my school teachers. Thank you for my church teachers. Thank you for my ballet teachers. Thank you for my friends. Thank you for my school friends. Thank you for my church friends. Thank you for my ballet friends. Thank you for Barbie. Thank you for my family. Thank you for my brother. Thank you for my baby sister. Please bless that Naomi will stop crying and go to sleep. Thank you for my mommy and thank you for my daddy. Pause. Please bless the food. Please bless the drinks. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

One day last week, one of Sophia's preschool teachers apparently was home sick. And that evening, in addition to most of what she said tonight, Sophia also said, "And please bless my teacher Mary. Please bless that she will feel better soon." And depending on the day, she also prays for her grandparents, her cousins, and her aunts and uncles. And almost everything under the sun. And on the rare sunny days here in Chicago, she thanks Heavenly Father for the sun, her bike, her scooter, and the park.

whatchu talkin' 'bout, willis?

Apparently, Sears Tower (or the Serious Tower as it is fondly called in our family), will soon be renamed as Willis Tower when the insurance broker group moves into the building and takes over. Chicagoans are getting their undies all in a bunch, just like they did when Marshall Fields became Macy's, or when Comiskey Park became U.S. Cellular Field, or when the Standard Oil Building became the Amoco Building before becoming the Aon Center. But eventually, the undies get untwisted and life goes on.

and I would walk 500 miles

Some delayed posting here. My parents had grandchildren withdrawal and decided to come and spend the long weekend with us. Actually, my dad had taken the week off to visit our cousins and some family friends in Little Rock, but decided that they also wanted to visit us. Ok, really the kids. As always, good times were had by all. Since the Korean stores around my parents are not that great, we usually do a round of the stores in Chicago while they are in town and they stock up on things to take home. And my mom usually cooks up enough food for us to eat for days after they leave. The kids introduced my parents to Wii, and we even got Harabuji on the Wii to do a little bowling and archery. Nicholas and Sophia tried to get him to hula hoop, but no such luck there. The weekend went by super fast but we loved that they drove all the way to come see us for such a short time.

I mean, who wouldn't drive 500 miles to see this juicy mug?

Sophia insisted that we take a picture of only the girls. She is big into dividing up along the gender lines these days. And keeping count of whether there are more girls or boys. For this weekend, the girls won. Actually, the girls win everyday in our home.

home is where the heart is

The week before I went back to work, I took the girls to visit my parents. I love going home. We do a lot of relaxing and eating when we're home. Although I do pick up after my kids, the fact that I don't have to worry about my messy house or the million things I need to get done helps me to relax and just enjoy playing with the kids and catching up with my parents. I have to admit that it's just nice to go home and BE mothered after BEING the mother all the time at home. My sister and Emma came to visit, so there was a lot of girls at home. Sophia kept pointing out how Harabuji was the "only boy" in the house. My dad joked that he was just there to be the girls' chauffeur. But he has always been so sweet with the babies--something about him always makes babies calm down and often sleep.


Sophia had a terrible cold and a nasty cough--her coughs get so bad sometimes that she gags and throws up. So during our trip, she got in two good vomits in public places: first at an Applebee's, just as we were finishing lunch, and then again at the Sprint Store while we were upgrading our cell phones. Throwing up makes Sophia very sad. And being the one who somehow got covered in the stinky vomit, I was sad for the 30 minute ride home. But when we got home, she was back to her normal self, playing the piano and her guitar (a laminated paper guitar that my niece Whitney made at school, probably when she was not too much older than Sophia is now) and singing.


Naomi cut her two bottom teeth while we were there, but aside from chewing on everything, including my face (ok, maybe it was really a slobbery kiss) she was a peach and took great naps and was fabulous on the plane ride both ways.