Night-Weaning Update

So...not much has changed in the sleep department. Sorry to keep going on and on about it, but I find myself obsessing more and more about sleep. The less I have of it, the more I obsess. Kora's canines are trying to pop through, and K's been having a rough time of it. On top of that she seemed to have had a little cold in the last couple of days. I'm hoping she is over that now and we can get back to business...which is, of course, sleep.

Kora is great in every other way, I want to add. So maybe it is good in a way that she doesn't give me this, or else I might be the envy of all other mothers for having the MOST PERFECT BABY IN THE WORLD.

Tonight for dinner I served her food in a little bowl along with a spoon and fork. I made a big deal of it, and I think she really appreciated it. She usually gets her food scattered on her table mat and she uses her fingers. Darren filmed her quite a bit, and we got some cute footage of her. We had to cut out all of the footage where she is reaching for the camera, which is quite often now.

Mom's back from Zombieland...kind of

People don't tell you how exhausting parenthood is. Sure, they'll tell you all day long how rewarding it is, how fun it is. But they steer clear of any negativity, lest you change your mind about having kids!

Not that I would have changed my mind...hehe.

Kora's nighttime activities include waking up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours and nursing back to sleep, usually on top of me. It allows me to get more sleep than if I had to go to her room each time, and truth be told I really do love snuggling up to her. However, after 15 months of this, I've realized that something HAS to change. For the sake of my sanity and health. It has to.

So, four nights ago we decided to partially nightwean her*. This means that from the time we put her to bed until about 3AM, I do not nurse her. I rock her, sing to her, cuddle her, beg her, anything BUT nurse her back to sleep. Since she is 15 months old, I talk to her so she'll understand. "Boobs are sleeping. We can nurse later, but not now." I have to say, she actually gets it! The first two nights she gave me very little fussing. And on night 3, she actually slept from 9PM until about 2:15AM! HUUUUGGGEE. She didn't come to our bed until a little after 5AM, and she slept until 7. It's been a lot of work but it's totally been worth it. If we can just get her down to 1 or 2 wakings per night I will be so happy.

Oh, and Enya works wonders. I just turn on her album on my iphone and it instantly soothes. Both me and Kora.

Anyway, now that I see a light at the end of the tunnel, I am committed to blogging more regularly. My goal is to update the blog at least weekly. So, if I don't do it, you have the right to bug me.

Here is an awesome video of Kora. I've been speaking more Chinese to her and she's totally getting it.

* We started to do this back in November and had a bit of success, but we reverted back to old habits quickly. Her teething was getting bad, and I refuse to put her through this when she's not feeling 100%. If she needs the comfort of nursing, I give it to her.

Bet you've been wondering what I've been up to

So sorry for the long delay. I wasn't told ahead of time that the holiday season was such a whirlwind of food, gifts and family. Fun times!

Just so you know, I have been racking up the developmental milestones like crazy. Mommy is convinced I'm a genius, but she tries not to say it too often because she's afraid I'll get a big head. Too late for that! haha.

Here is what I've been doing:

1. Teeth - I now have eleven teeth, with the 12th about to poke through any day now. Those molars were a pain in the a$$, I tell you.
2. Words - I have trouble with my S-words right now, but luckily mommy and daddy understand me most of the time. If you ask them they'll say that I can say, "woof, ball, boob, eyes, out, eggs, moo, meow, peas, apple, bubble, that, gou (Chinese for dog), yang wa-wa (Chinese for doll), lao-hu (Chinese for tiger). If you ask me, I can also say, "cheese, olives, outside, bread, bird, there it/she/he is". Just not clearly yet.
3. Signing - Signing makes it easy for me to tell mommy and daddy what I want them to do. Like, "bath, potty, eat, brush teeth, more, all done, help". Other signs I know are "bird, elephant, fish, thank you". I'm not sure what "thank you" means, but mommy and daddy have been trying to show me that you do this when someone hands you something. Weird.
4. I can run!
5. I am really good at dancing. Mommy and daddy embarrass me when they try to dance though. I try to show them how it's done, but alas, you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.
6. I continue to (mostly) poop in the potty. It is so much more comfortable than pooping in my pants. Because then it gets all smooshed. Yuck.
7. I am a little slow on signing potty when I have to pee. It's just because sometimes I don't realize I have to go until I'm actually going. I have had some success though, and I even peed in the potty for gammy one day! I finally made a believer out of her that you can use a potty early on.
8. I still don't like to be away from mommy and daddy for too long, but they've found ways to sneak away here and there. It's okay, as long as they come back!

I can't believe I'm going to be 15 months old tomorrow.

I'm taking over!

Mom is a very busy woman. Very busy. She would like to update this blog more often, but (truth be told) I've been a bit needy lately. Especially at night. These damn molars!

So, I told her that I would take over the blog. Just until she can get her act together, or I start sleeping more than 3 hours at a time, whichever comes first.

Now. To give you an update of my life since my birthday.

I'm learning learning learning. I recognize many words people throw at me, and the ones I don't, well, I just fake it.

I can say a lot of words now. Off the top of my head, I can say the following: woof (that's the sound a dog makes), bah-be (that's what I used to be...I'm a toddler now), and bubble. Of course I can say mama and dada, but I choose not to, since they're pretty much at my beck and call and I really have no reason to call them by name.

Speaking of mama and dada, they've been signing to me since I was about six months old. I could tell that they were getting frustrated that I wasn't signing back. I decided to throw them a bone and sign a few things (only when I feel like it, mind you). I can sign "nurse", "bird", "more" and "wash". I know they really want me to sign "potty". I prefer to keep them on their toes on that one.

I'm a pro at clapping my hands. I understand "clap your hands" in Chinese and English. I've now begun to try snapping my fingers. I try to learn from mommy on this one, since she is a much better snapper than daddy, and she can do it with both hands. If only I could produce the loud sound that she can, I could just snap my fingers at them all day and have them wait on me.

Wow, is it naptime already? I need to go upstairs now, but I'll check back soon!

Self Portrait

Happy Happy Birthday Baby

Happy birthday, sweetheart. You are loved and cherished beyond imagination. You have brought me and your daddy such joy this past year. We cannot wait to see what's in store for us.

I am so lucky to be your mommy.

Our girl, the genius

Yes, I realize I'm a bit biased. And maybe she is not quite the level of genius, but she is definitely smart. She's been alert since day one, and now I realize what she's been up to all this time.

She's been quietly observing us, every day, and filing all she sees and hears away into her brain, knowing that one day she would be able to imitate us. That time has come.

She takes keys and tries to put them in the door. She takes cloth diapers and "folds" them. She takes clothes out of one drawer and puts them in another one.

The one thing that blows my mind is something that most babies don't do at this age.

She pretends.

She pretends to eat something from an empty spoon and smacks her lips like she's really enjoying it. Then she'll scoop the spoon into an empty bowl and hand you the (still empty) spoon for you to enjoy. Darren and I have enjoyed plenty of air, smacking our lips like it was lobster. Once she even held the spoon to Kody!

She is one silly little genius.

Tugaloo State Park

I was totally dreading it, but we finally took Kora camping for the first time. Not that I hate camping. I love it. But the thought of taking a newly-walking, poorly-sleeping, almost-one-year-old on a camping trip just made me exhausted. And if that isn't enough activity, we invited our friends who have a two-year old boy along! Not sure what I was smoking when I agreed to this.

However. I have to say the trip far exceeded my expectations. We went hiking, played in the lake, played in the playground, ate good food. We even had a (gasp!) campfire despite the obvious danger to our toddling little ones. After the kiddos went to sleep the adults finished off a couple of bottles of wine and topped everything up with some nice smoky s'mores.

That's a pretty large bass if you compare it to Kora

Speaking of sleep, Kora had one of her best nights that night! I swear I would set up a tent in the backyard and sleep out there every night if I thought she would keep that up.

Hamming it up for the photo

Posing after dinner

Blowing bubbles with Andrew and his dad

Our McMansion Tent

Our campsite