Weekend

This weekend I decided to take the kids out, since we've been sick for almost 2 weeks. I think they need fresh air. So on Saturday, after lunch, the first destination was library. Yes, I took the chance taking 3 kids to the library, I know it will be a disaster taking Nicole to library and I never wrong about it. But I have to do it anyway. Luckily that Daniella was fall asleep on the way there.

In the library I let Nicole down before she scream and yelling at her brother, because the brother got to walk around and she doesn't. But still, she can't be in the library, she is super loud when she get excited. We found some books for her and she is happy about it. I made it really quick one, Jeremy got what he want right away. As usually chapter book of Star Wars, like there is no other chapter book in the whole library. I was able to managed myself to get some books for me to read. I've been wanting to do it for a long time and finally got some.

When we went out from the door, I know I had to feed Daniella, so I said to Jeremy let's play in the water fountain for a little bit. I was hesitated for a little bit cause I don't want them to get wet. But then I thought, well, who cares if they get wet. It's a nice day and I just don't want to worry about anything. It's not a big deal to get wet and I just let them be kids...

At first Nicole was hesitated to get near the water. It was one of the fountain that you can run around and the water came up from the ground, just like splash water. The kids can actually get wet and they are allowed to run around the fountain and play with the water. Nicole watched what Jeremy was doing. She wasn't sure until I finished feed Daniella and walked with her. She was so thrilled when she finally not too afraid to play with the water. She end up got really wet. But I am so happy that they had a great time. Both of them were playing well and I am glad that they had the moment with each other. Nothing can make me happy when I saw they laughed so free.

After we finished, there was a man standing selling snow cone. Jeremy wanted one. So I said to him, ask the man how much is it? So he went and asked. It was $2. I said, well I don't think I have $2. I know I have $1 bill and I looked for change and found .50 extra in my wallet. So I said to him, well, I don't have enough money, but you could ask that man if he would sell it to you for $1.50. So he went. And the man was kindly said yes. I finally found $1.70 in my wallet. Hah! The man asked me if I wanted another one, when he saw Nicole. I said no...I'll be fine, I don't have enough money with me. But he can't resist to see that little girl waiting in the line hoping to get one too. Hahaha.... Nicole didn't want to share the snow cone with her brother. She thought she is going to have one too. The man finally made one for her. It was very nice of him. I'm so glad that there is still a nice man out there. ;p They both were so happy. They talked about the snow cone and what kind of flavor they got. It makes my heart melt. I don't care all the syrups was all over their shirt. Who cares. We sat down and enjoy the snow cone. Hahahaha..........

We spent 5 hours out that day. I took them to playground and played for an hour. Nicole got to play in her favorite swing and so did Daniella. On the way home they all so tired and took a nap in the car. While I run to get dinner. What a nice day. It was hot but had a really nice breeze. It was a perfect day.

Word of the day

I wanted to try to write or quotes the words that the kids has been saying. Some of them are funny and I wanted to put it on so one day when we look back we can laugh about it.

The other day Nicole made me so angry for drewing on the wall. She did it twice. The one she drew was above her crib and everyday when she go to bed, she always pointing at the wall she drew. One day I asked her...

Nicole : Pointing on the wall...

Mom : Who did that !

Nicole : Monkey... ( she is our monkey!)

Another morning for Nicole :

She keeps jump and run back and forth. I feel like dizzy watching her doing it. So while she is running, I asked her...

Mommy : Are you boy or girl?

Nicole : I'm Aca ( that's her nick name, she called herself that.)

Tonight the girls went to bed early, I think they are really tired. So it was a quiet night. Only Jeremy that still up and he is doing his homework and finishing some coloring. He came to me and asked me...

Jeremy : Mommy, does coloring count as an exercise? Like...finger exercise?

Mommy : Hhhmmmmm.....I dont think so.... ( well, I probably could say yes! but exercise for fingers? )

Have a great weekend...!

Ice Cream Time

Usually I always let myself get busy after picking up Jeremy. You know...it's time for them to have snack, preparing dinner, etc. I feel like between 4-6pm is a critical hours. Specially when you have other activity that evening. It's crazy.

So today I let myself enjoying the them and relax. I let both of them having an ice cream , just because mommy is craving for ice cream. hehehe.... We had a great time. We ate ice cream together in the kitchen, the kids starting to act silly. Specially my little girl, she has ice cream all over her mouth, it's so cute. Then we starting to sing, play the music and they all dancing like crazy. I sat there enjoying them and laugh with them. It was a fun evening. I thought to myself, I should to this more, enjoying them while I can. My chores can wait, but the moment that I have with them is different.

Here's some picture that I took, while they become silly.

It ends with helping mommy unload the dishwasher....!! Yey...!!!

Mommy ... I am ready!!

There are a lot of things that I wanted to share, but I think this is the precious moment to share to everyone. So I wrote this first....another story will come later. ;p

After 2 weeks Jeremy been asking me about God, heaven and hell. He constantly asking me, no matter where we are, even in the morning, on the way to school with the traffic and my heavy eyes, when my mind didn't work at all, when I feel that I wanted to shout his mouth, he just keep asking and asking tons of questions. I also keep telling him, whenever you are ready to accept Jesus, tell mommy and daddy to pray for you.

Tonight on the way back from DC, after meeting with a friend, he suddenly asked us again about why people could die and leading to the heaven's conversation again, until he said, mommy I am ready to accept Jesus. I think I am almost cry. That is a very special moment for us as a parents to hear him to said that. This is a previlage for us as a parents that actually leading him to Jesus. It's been my prayer for a long time...... I always pray that God will allow me to lead my own child to Him. I don't want him to do it with anyone else except his parents.

That night although it's kinda late, but we took sometime to talk to him, explaining to him one more time about why he needs to accept Jesus. He seems to understand. Both of us pray for him and he repeat the prayer after my husband. Thank you God for the opportunity to be able to lead our child to you. It is such a precious gift for us. To be able to know God and believe in Him in his young age, I just feel honor for being his parent.

17 Mos Nicole

Time flies, I can't believe that my baby girl will be 18 mos this month. She is a toddler now. Not a baby anymore. She also changed a lot. She understand things more than she does before.

There are couple things that she learn lately. First, she recognized the difference between trash in the kitchen and her diaper pail. Before she will throw all the trash in her diaper pail, but now she knows that only diaper goes to diaper pail, and regular trash goes to trash in the kitchen. For example, when she finished her snack she knows where to put the plastic's cracker. O she also know the difference between the hamper and diaper pail. Usually when I ask her to put her dirty clothes, she will put in her diaper pail, but now she knows where her dirty clothes goes. That is very exciting.

She also learn not to throw her plate, sippy cup,spoon and fork on the floor while eating. She used to do it and drives me crazy. Now, when her plate is empty she will hand it in to me. What a release for me not to clean all the mess anymore. She starting good at using spoon and fork too. Another cute thing is, whenever she is waiting for me to give her snack, she will find a corner in the kitchen and sit on the floor waiting for her bowl of snack. I think that is so cute. Well, sometimes she doesn't wait patiently.
She is a good eater. She will eat anything. If my pantry is open, my goodness, she will help herself with all the snacks. She will come to me and hand me a cereal bar and asked me to open it for her. Any kind of snack that she can get, she will ask me to open it for her. She is also a stealer. She will steal food from anybody. Specially unattended food on the table. She can just grab it. What a girl...!!

Potty train goes well so far, it's been couple weeks I almost never have pup in diaper. Yey...save the planet by saving diaper. Well, actually saving money from diapers. She loves sitting in the toilet now, cause we always play or read in the toilet. I show her flash card, toys and some books. So she is really enjoy it.

Another progress.... I've been teaching her sign language since she is 6 months. She finally now to do it properly now. At least now I understand when she start to communicate. Specially PLEASE and ALL DONE. Now I make her to give me sign PLEASE when she want something, although sometimes she can be really stubborn and do not want to do it, but I made her do it.

This is been going on a while, in her crib she has this musical kinda thing. When you pushed the blue shell the music will on. She loved it so much. She use it as a clue for me that she already up. If I hear the music from the door, I know she is awake already. When I pick her up from the crib, she will turn it off. That is kinda cute.

This is her favorite sandals. It's disney princess sandals. Almost everyday when we are at home, she will ask me to put it on for her, she will walk around with those sandals, although it's hard to walk, but she just go for it.

My baby is growing now...huhuhu....But I'm going to have another baby. So another baby to play with, meaning another baby to train again. ;p

She is not a big fan of TV, she can not stay in front of the TV for 2 seconds. But she does has her favourite TV Show, it's called Ni Hao Kai-Lan, it's for kids that wanted to learn chinesse. You can find them on Nick Jr. I made both of my kids watch them so they learn chinesse. She also likes Curious George.

Well, there are still a lot of things that needs to be done, one day at a time. I tried to switch her bottle to sippy cup. For a while it works, but then suddenly she wanted the bottle again. Last week I tried to take away all her bottle, but she refused to drink the milk in the morning and before bed. After couple day fasting from the milk, I finally gave up and give her the bottle again. She actually can do it without the bottle, after nap I usually give her sippy cup and she finish it. She just wanted the comfort laying down with bottle. We are going to try again next week.

Enjoy all her picture.

Park

After couple weeks of staying home, we finally decided to go to the park today. The weather was so nice. Considering it's summer, it was a really cool and breeze. The kids having fun in the park. Nicole starting to enjoy her time in the park. She walk more stable so she is able to walk around and do whatever she wanted to do. It was fun for us as a family to watch the kids play and also play with them. Time goes so fast, they are growing so fast.




Nicole trying to walk on the brigde that can move. She was a little scare. Jeremy was helping her , he make sure she doesn't fall down. They really had a great time in the park. We used to go to the park a lot during summer time, just to worn them out and get really tired. So there is none energy left at home. But guess what? They just have tons of energy that I have no idea where that come from. I wish I could have just 30% of it.



It's time to go.... summer is over soon. We still have 2 weeks to relax and have fun. After that Jeremy has to go to school. I'm glad they are having so much fun. Kids just love play outside. It seems like never enough for them to play in the playground.

Midnite cry !!!

Sudah beberapa malam ini Nicole nangis terus tengah malam. Ampun deh....rasanya emang kalau punya anak itu nggak bakalan bisa tidur nyenyak sepanjang masa. Biasanya Jeremy yg nangis gara2 mimpi buruk. Dia sempat kena yang namanya night terror sejak umur 3 thn. Katanya bisa get better pas umur 5-6 thn. Emang sih getting better, but still, skrg jd nightmare. Parah deh. Dah berapa malam ini Jeremy did great. Nggak mimpi2 buruk lagi. Eh malah gantian si Nicole.

Hari pertama, begitu nangis digendong trus dibawa masuk ke kamar kita. Eh, malah mau main. Begitu dibawa langsung ketawa-ketawa, gua jadi tau, ternyata dia nggak apa2, cuma mau minta pindah aja. Buktinya begitu dibawa lsg segar bugar gitu. Hari kedua, masih dibawa lagi sampai bolak balik 4 kali. Sampai akhirnya gua putusin buat biarinin dia nangis aja. Dia tuh udah dari sejak 5 bulan udah sleep through the night dan nggak pernah lagi dikasih susu pas tengah malam. Jadi nggak mungkin donk gua balik lagi ke masa2 infant. Ogah banget, secara beberapa bulan lg gua bakalan punya newborn, so boleh dunk sekarang tidur nyenyak tengah malam. Gua gimana nggak sleep deprive kalau gitu terus.

Hari ketiga, dah nggak ada lagi deh pindah memindah. Yang ada gua samperin, gua gendong bentar, gua suruh tenang, dan gua taruh lagi. Dia sih dah kasih sign suruh gua jalan ke kamar gue. Tidak ada lagi deh migrasi ke kamar gua. Secara gua n suami dah sepakat bahwa nggak mau anak2 tidur bareng. Kecuali sekali2 kalau lagi sakit or lagi weekend semua ngumpul bareng. Other than that, kita nggak mau jadikan habit. Kasian donk mami papi kan perlu intimacy and ngobrol2. hehehe......

Jadi skrg ini tiap malam gua dengerin dia nangis sampe gua nya ketiduran. Dia nya jg akhirnya sadar nggak diladenin ya udah dia tidur juga, kan cape nangis terus. Mana anak itu drama queen, jd kalau nangis kaya disakitin gitu, pdahal nggak ada apa2. Tadinya sempat kepikiran mungkin dia mau tumbuh gigi grahamnya, gua olesin orajel diseluruh gusinya, yg ada dia kelabakan ada rasa2 aneh dimulutnya. Dari dia 4 minggu mang gua sudah melatih dia buat tidur sendiri. Waktu dia umur 4 minggu, gua tahanin diri dengerin dia nangis, sampe gua pikir gua tuli. hehehehe......kebiasaan dengerin dia nangis sampe 20menitan, tiba2 one day dia pas ditaruh cuma nangis 5 menit, gua bilang ma suami gua, eh coba cek si Nicole dah tidur ya? Kok tiba2 hilang suaranya. Eh beneran ternyata dia dah tidur, akhirnya sejak itu tiap ditaruh dia cuma nangis bentar trus lsg tidur sendiri. Gua jadi dah spoil bgt karena dari kecil dia dah gampang banget tidurnya. Jadi sekarang rada stess kalau dia bangun2 lagi.

Mudah2an tidak berlangsung lama, kasian Jeremy 2 minggu lagi dah mau sekolah. Kalau dah sekolahkan nggak mungkin tidurnya terganggu. Stages anak2 itu memang ada2 aja.

Hand Foot Mouth Disease

Suddenly on Tuesday morning ? Nicole got up with a fever. I have no idea what is going wrong with her. She hardly ever had fever before. Not even fever from immunization. I though, well may be something going on in her body and will go away the next day. So I just ignored it. But then she became so cranky and drive me crazy. All she wanted is just being hold. When I put her down she will cry. That's not her. I gave her tylenol, it didn't work at all. Suddenly, her fever went up so high, about 102.5 F. It scares me. So I called the doctor and ask what should I do to help the fever down. They said I better bring her to the doctor, since the fever kinda high. So I made an appointment whatever time they have. They gave me like in 20 minutes. Thank God it is close.

I went there, she was kinda a little bit happy, I offered her cereal bar, and she took it. For half of the day, all she wanted is breakfast. She ate waffles and muffin and banana a little bit but refused to eat rice. I'm like,.... Ok I don't care as long as she eat something. So I'm glad she finished one cereal bar in the waiting room and drank half of her water from the sippy cup.

After we got called in, the drama start. Nicole is a drama queen. Her drama is always real. When the doctor check her heartbeat, she cried like it is hurt so much. Usually she never cried. Well, while she scream to her lungs, it's a good opportunity for the doctor to see her throat, and he saw some blisters forming in her throat. After some exam, the doctor said, it looks like she has Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. I'm like? What? Never heard of it before. He said it's just like a virus, since this is summer, a lot of things going on in the air. Plus since we are going to the park A LOT, that's probably where she got it from. Well, kalau di indo namanya penyakit jorok! hahahaha.....

I'm glad till today, she doesn't have any breakdown through the skin. But she still have a fever every couple hour. We just try to maintain it with either Motrin or Tylenol. Just alternate those two every 4 hours. I was preparing myself to stay up late, but I'm glad she slept well all night. She just get up super early. I guess cause she is hungry and the medicine start to worn out.

She doesn't need antibiotic. I'm glad she didn't need that. The doctor said her body can fight the virus by itself. Which is good. Her body never been touch by antibiotic yet. Thank goodness.

I have really traumatic situation once, when Jeremy was 2, he had a seizure from high fever, so I have to really watch Nicole when she has fever. They said it runs in to the family. So she might get it too, if I'm not careful. It was so scary. The worst part was, it happened in the airport on our way to US. We were in line to get in to the plane to Singapore, suddenly he had seizure in his stroller. I was so lucky that I was checking on him. When that happened, I wasn't thinking of anything I just picked him up and ran looking for a clinic, I ran like crazy, do not know where to go. We missed our plane, and catch the next one. While transit in Spore, he had to go to ER at 2am. They test him everything, but everything came out well. They said that's probably from the MMR shot he just had 2 days ago, but it shouldn't cause the fever that high. So after being admitted in the hospital for 2 hours, we have to rushed back to the hotel to catch the morning flight to US. It was a nightmare, flying with the sick kid. Trust me, I am really traumatize with that. On the plane while everyone wearing a sweater cause it's so cold, he only wear a sleveless shirt (aka. kaos singlet). Every couple hour, I brought him to the restroom to poor cold water in his body to keep him cool. He will scream...people think I'm abusing my child. I have no choice, I can't have him have another episode again on the plane. But the good thing is, when he is under the medication he slept well. It's kinda nice. Since we didn't get any sleep the whole night, the flight that took forever seems short. All the clothes that I brought all being used and dirty. He throw up again when we were in Japan. My goodness. I have to washed his clothes in the bathroom over there. The fever suddenly dissapered after 2 days we were in US. None of the pediatric knows what was happened to him. It was just a scary experience for me as a mom.

For all of you that have kids, be really carefull with the fever. Make sure you keep maintain the temperature. Bath them if neccesary. Yesterday I let Nicole stayed in the bath tub for 20 mins. When I picked her up, her body was cold. Which is good.

Batik

Kemarin ada temen yg kebetulan datang ke US, so my mom titip beberapa batik. Katanya di Indo lagi musim batik. So dia beliin deh masing2 buat cucunya. ;p Cute jg sih....

Kebetulan si Jeremy mau recital, jd perlu baju rada formal. Jadi pas deh. Trus si Nicole juga punya. Jadinya sekalian di barengin pakainya.

Batik sekarang dah nggak seformal dulu lagi ya, model2nya jg dah lucu2 dan bagus2. Kalau dulu pakai batik gimana gitu. Sekarang malah bisa buat gaya. ;p

Recital

After waited for Jeremy to turn 5 , we finally put him on piano lesson. He always like music. He also show interest to play another instrument. But I wanted him to be able to mastered the piano first, because I think piano is the basic for all instrument. Once he is good at piano, it will get easier to learn another instrument. He wanted to learn violin, guitar and drum. I said just take your time for piano and we'll see the next 2 year if you can take another instrument.

He made a really good progress. After only 3 months, he almost finished his book. It amazed his teacher. She offer him to use another book, so he can do two books at the same time, but I think one is enough. The problem is, it takes a lot of effort to make him practice every single day and teach him. Anyway, they had recital 2 weeks ago. He did so well. It was perfect. He memorize it, while other kids look at the book, he didn't. I was nervous, cause I afraid he will get nervous and forget about what he should play. I was wrong, he was calm and confidence. He played song called " Russian Sailor Dance".

It was his first experience and also mine as a mom. So proud of him. I can't believe that I'm at the point of take him to the school, piano lesson and all his activities. What a life.....!! It won't come back. But, I stil have 2 to go....;p

Lemonade

Two mornings ago, Jeremy got up and said, Mommy let's get ready and we are going to the groceries store to buy some lemons. I'm like.......what is it for? He said, I wanted to sell lemonade. I asked him, where are you going to sell? He said let's go to the city and sell it over there. My goodness, what another day with crazy idea. He so excited about his idea, he took a shower and had breakfast and keep pushing me to get ready. So, I finally said ok, let's go. After thinking for a little bit...I said, let's sell it in our swimming pool. He agreed with that. I went to the management and ask their permission. They were ok about it.

We went to the groceries store, bought some lemons, (since I work at a restaurant and they sell lemonade, I know how to make a really good one!). We went to Target for lunch and bought some diapers and wipes for Nicole and went home.

As soon as we got home, I made the lemonade and put Nicole down for her nap. After she fall asleep, Jeremy and I went down to the swimming pool to sell the lemonade. Beyond my imagination.....a lot of people like it, and it all sold out. I can see Jeremy's face was glowing and he is so happy. I am so proud of him. Within 10 minutes, everything was gone. He earn $4. We sell the lemonade for .25 per cup. It was a great day for him and I am glad that I can help him do whatever he wanted to do. He is so proud of himself. He asked me if this is called a job. I said yes. He said, can you call dad and tell him I have a job? Hahahaha........that's so cute.

I asked him what he wanted to do with the money, he said he wanted to buy a bible. It makes my heart melt. Thank God that he still can remember what is important.

What a day....!!!

My little girl

Having two is hard enough. I feel bad if I only talking about the oldest one without remembering another one. My little girl, Nicole, is now 15 months old....my gosh, where is the time goes? She is a great blessing. I just love to see her every morning. She always has this big smile for me. She also a disaster, since she start walking, her favorite place is toilet. If I forgot to close my bathroom's door, guess what, in 5 second you can hear someone playing with the toilet water and you can see toys in there....and she will try to flush them. She also loves dishwasher, as soon as she hears someone open the dishwasher, she will rush to there, and start playing with all the utensils inside of it. Sometimes it is yucky! BUT....she is a big help to. One of Jeremy's chores is unload the dishwasher. She will help him by passing all the spoon, fork and small stuff. She loves doing that. They are already a team in unloading a dishwasher. FUN!! but something Jeremy yelled at her because she over helped! It is so funny to see them both. I always love watching them.

New stuff that she can do now is bringing her own diaper to put in the diaper pail. This morning I took off her diaper, because it's already full. I gave it to her and asked her to put it in the pail. So she took it and put in there. That's so cute. She is always brightten up my days. She is such a sweet baby. She also a really easy baby to take care. She doesn't cry a lot... BUT... she screams. My goodness, at one point I think I will put chili in her mouth so she stops screaming.

I can't wait until she can do new thing. Jeremy always told me that he can't wait until his sister can talk. ;p That will be a big disaster. I'm going to have another non-stop talker in the house.
I just enjoy my time with them.

Voicemail

About couple months ago, Jeremy starting to learn how to use a phone. He tried to remember my cellphone and his dad's cellphone number. Since then, he always call one of us whenever we are out. Sometimes I only get out for 2 second, by the time I get down and start my car, I already get a call from him. After know how to use a phone, he started to know about leaving message. Before that, he keep asking if he leave a message mom and dad can actually listen to it. I said yes. So now every single night, when I'm at work I always got a voicemail in my cellphone from him. Either he is reporting what is going on in the house or he will tell me that he loves me. He will ask "mommy when are you coming home? When you come home can you give me a big kiss and hug?" or " Can I sleep in your bedroom tonight? if not can you sleep in my bedroom?" or " I missed you" or " I'm sorry that I made you sad this morning". Those are really sweet message. I always smile or something almost cry when I listen to it. It boost my energy when I listen to his messages. It's such a great blessing....!

My son is growing

Last week, after I decided to put Jeremy at Chinesse Immersion School, they have orientation for kindergarten. That day, when we walked in the hall for registration, they gave Jeremy a name tag and take their picture with the name tag. I almost cry.....my baby is not a baby anymore. He is going to school soon. In 3 months he'll be at school all day.

It was a great battle for me. I was struggling a lot letting him go. As a mom I think I need to learn to let go my kids step by step. I know that time will coming. Altough it is hard I have to face it. ;p

I believe that God has His own purpose by placing him in that school. I hope he will do great at that school.

Finally we get out!

Today the sky looks so beautiful. All I can see is blue with the white clouds spreading perfectly. It looks like someone actually draw that. It was a perfect day for a vacation. We finally decided to go to Philadelphia for couple days. The kids are having so much fun. Jeremy is very excited knowing that we are staying in the hotel. He said he wanted to stay for 100 days. ( I wish someone want to pay for that!) Thanks to Stanny that help us a lot to get a stay in Marriot.

We didn't do much today. We went to satisfied our craving for Indo food. Trust me, people will think we are crazy family. We ordered the food in panic mode! You name it.... Kangkung terasi, ikan goreng gurame (ala US), nasi cap cai, tahu telor, ayam panggang kalasan kecap. Hahaha....it's only the two of us that actually eat all the food. It was SO worth it...! Suddenly my nausea is gone. Haha..... We also visited some of Indonesian store that we couldn't find one in Maryland. Guess what we bought? Yes, a box of Indomie, a box of teh Sosro, srikaya.... I think again...I'm in my panic mode. Barang langka soalnya! hahaha......misses home so much.

This is the most relaxing day after all. We strolled to the Philly's down town just to enjoy the crowd. We stopped by at Rita's Ice cream. What a beautiful day. I don't have to think about what to eat today, no worries about cleaning, don't have to rush to work. Be able to get out from the routine is so nice. I hope we can do this again!!!

After we came back from all the places, we went down to the swimming pool. The 4 of us just enjoying the water in the hot day. It was so fun! I'm so glad all my kids are finally fall asleep and looking forward for what to do tomorrow. Hope we have a great day tomorrow!

Yey......!!!!