Christmas 2008

Mini Vacation to Sonoma

We went to Sonoma this week for a little getaway with my parents. It had been over a year since we had gone on any sort of trip. Sonoma was beautiful and very peaceful but for some reason, most of the pictures we took were in our hotel. We went a day before my parents with plans to take Hana and Alaina to Traintown. Disappointingly, Traintown was closed due to the rain.
Alaina has started to find her hands and tries to suck her thumb as much as she can. Hana also started sucking her thumb at this age and continues to do so - yikes. Coinciding with the thumbsucking is sleeping through the night! For the past week, Alaina has slept an average of 9 hours per night. We are so happy to be getting sleep again. We found some ducks in Sonoma Plaza. Hana was quite upset when we fed them some of her pizza crust-oops!

Hana loves Alaina soooo much. I love watching my girls interact.

It was so nice to get away for a few days. Kevin and I even had a couple of mini-dates while my parents watched the girls.

Daddy's Brother

This week Kevin's brother Nathaniel came for a 2 night visit on his way back to Korea to teach English for the next year. Hana had last seen him when she was 2 weeks old. We tried to get Hana to call him Uncle Nat but she usually just called him 'daddy's brother'. It was good to see Nathaniel again and a nice distraction for me to have a houseguest. We wish he could've stayed longer and hope it isn't 2.5 more years until we see him again!

Grandma

My grandma passed away on Friday. Hana has spent a lot of time with her this year and the last time that she saw her was on Thursday. We didn't know what to tell Hana. My mother simply told her that Grandma went bye-bye and that's all we decided to say. Hana responded, matter of factly, "Grandma went to Heaven". And later, "Grandma went to Heaven. She's going to miss Hana" We've never explained death or Heaven to Hana so it was surprising, but very comforting, to hear these words come out of her mouth. Many people don't get to spend a lot of time with their grandparents but I was blessed to have spent so many Saturdays, summers and holidays with Grandma. I will miss Grandma a lot but I have a lifetime of wonderful memories to share with Hana and Alaina.

Princess Pose

There is a certain way that Alaina likes to be held by her daddy that we have deemed the 'princess pose'. He holds her to his chest and she tucks her arm up and looks at the rest of us like she is the most important little thing in the world. Her little pose is so precious and Kevin just loves it too!

Christmas Decorations

We were so excited to get our Christmas decorations up this year. The day after Thanksgiving, Kevin and Hana went to the store to buy more lights for the house. Some how, Hana snuck an extra box of lights into the shopping cart. It turns out that Kevin needed that extra box of lights. Kevin is so proud that he got all these strands of light connected to one plug! Kevin and Hana went to a local tree lot to pick out our tree. Apparently, Hana had so much fun at the tree lot. I was a little leery about putting the tree in the middle of the front windowbecause I did not want to battle with Hana touching the tree everyday. Amazingly, she has not taken off any ornaments nor has she touched any of the presents under the tree. She keeps saying that the presents are for Baby Jesus and Christmas.

Now There's Two...

Kevin and I are reaching the point where the lack of sleep is definitely catching up to us and we are starting to lose our patience. The littlest of things can drive us crazy but in the midst of all the chaos, the best thing we can do is take a step back and think how very blessed we are with our two beautiful girls and remind ourselves how little things like cuddling with our children matter more than anything else. We could not ask for a better life and will definitely look back on these days years from now and wonder how time flew so quickly.

Firehouse Tour

This weekend some friends arranged a tour of a local firehouse. You might notice that Hana is the only toddler girl in the group. I suspect that this tour was planned with the boys in mind but am so grateful that Hana was included as well because she loves fire engines as much as any of them and had a great time! When the firemen showed us what was in their fridge, Hana said "I'm hungry too!" and sat down at their table. I could only laugh. Somehow, in our rush to get ready, I forgot to feed her. Oops! I guess the 5 animal crackers we gave her in the car was not a sufficient breakfast.
Hana had to take about 5 turns sitting in the driver's seat.

Hana even got to spray the hose. While the others were taking their turns at the hose, Hana was splashing in the water.

Luckily, little Alaina didn't seem too bothered by the sirens and the horns.

One Month

Hard to believe Alaina is already a month old. At her check-up on Monday, she measured in at 22.25 inches and 10 lbs, 8 oz. She's grown almost 3 inches and gained 2 lbs, 6 oz since her birthday. What a little chunk. However, she weighs only 5 oz more than me when I was born! The other night I went out to run a quick errand. When I came back, I found Kevin and Alaina snoozing. Too cute!Alaina and I are finally able ready to the house, yay! This is our first week out and about and so far we've gone to church, downtown, the park a few times, and the beach.

Daddy & the Girls

Kevin is a total guy and would probably have loved to have a son to enjoy all the 'guy' things. However, he was blessed with two beautiful girls and is the best father that any girl could want. Hana is his favorite person ever and knows that saying "I want to watch football" is the best thing that Daddy wants to hear on the weekends. Even better is when she grabs the Terrible Towel and yells 'Go Steelers, Go Steelers'! Our favorite player is Hines Ward because he is part-Korean, just like us :)!

Daddy is quite busy these days. He is so helpful with changing diapers late at night and then heading to work, in a great mood, the next morning. He also recognizes that both daughters need his attention. Below is an example of his solution to this!

Grandparents

I hate to brag but I am so thankful that my parents live two streets away. Hana could probably walk to their house all on her own! They are busy people but always make time to come see their granddaughters. My dad has started seminary and has class twice a week and my mother takes care of her elderly mother in law full time. In addition to those responsibilities, they try spend as much time as they can with the girls. I am especially grateful for my mother who comes to see me at least once, but sometimes three times, a day and also watches Hana at least once a week. We are so blessed to have the support and love of my amazing parents.

Halloween

Here is Hana in her little lovebug costume. I like to pick out costumes that will keep her warm when she goes out at night. I love picking out her costumes and hope I have a couple more years before she starts telling me what she wants to be. We spent the week counting down the days until Trick or Treat. On Halloween morning, the girls and I went to Hana's playgroup. Luckily, it was being hosted 5 houses up the street from us so we were able to walk. Kids, costumes and candy make for a pretty crazy morning!
We tried to explain the concept of trick or treating to Hana. Apparently, she didn't get it. When she knocked on our neighbor's door, she walked right in, sat on their couch and made herself comfortable. Funny girl!
Collecting candy is hard work and after a while, Hana decided she needed a break and sat down right where she was on the sidewalk.

Here is Hana digging in to her pile of candy before we took what we wanted and hid the rest.

Getting Settled

Alaina is 2 weeks old now and we are starting to get into a routine. Hana has been calmer since Kevin went back to work this week but it's still nice to know that I can take her to my mom's house if I ever need a break. The weather has been amazing and it's been so hard to stay inside. Following Korean tradition, I have been eating seaweed soup nonstop and haven't really left the house or done anything much but sit around since Alaina was born. I think I have at least a week or two before Alaina and I are going to be out and about.

However, I cheated a little yesterday when the four of us walked to the neighborhood park. We also had some good friends visit yesterday and I made them take the first pictures of the four of us together. I can't believe we are a family of four now! Our serious little girl
When Kevin was home last week, he took Hana to the mall to meet Mickey from Disney on Ice. We debated whether he should take her to see the actual show. All the shows were at 7:30 pm except for one at 10:30 am. He was going to take her to that one but it ended up being warm out that day so he took her to the beach instead. I'd like to think that she had way more fun playing in the sand than seeing Disney characters ice skate!
This morning we were still in our room when we heard the kitchen sink running. I went in and saw this. Hana had decided to wash dishes. She is really getting to be more helpful around the house, especially when it involves doing things for her sister.

Comparing Sisters

Before Alaina was born, we tried to guess what she would look like. Kevin thought she'd be shorter and chunkier than Hana and would have lighter hair. I thought she would look like Hana, long & skinny with dark hair. They have some similarities but I love their differences.

Looks like Kevin was right!Alaina @ 1 week old


Hana @ 1 week old

She's Here!

Off to the Hospital

Here is Hana helping us pack for our trip to the hospital. She dragged the infant seat all the way to the car for us. When I dropped Hana off at my mom's, she asked me "Are you ready?!" Our last picture as a family of three!

Waiting for Baby Sister

We have putting out baby items and explaining to Hana that they are for her baby sister. She is so excited! She has put her favorite toy in the swing. She also pretends to take the baby out of my stomach and put her to sleep in the playard. The other day she was bragging that no one but Mommy has a baby sister in her tummy. Whenever I carry her, she pats my belly and asks if the baby is okay. The baby is so lucky to have Hana as a big sis. All these little things that Hana has been doing makes me think that she is as ready for the baby to come as we are!

Fog Fest

This past weekend our town held its annual Fog Festival. Although Hana looks grumpy in this picture, she really did have a good time! This sand sculpture was created by world champion sand sculptors from Sandscapes. Very impressive.
Hana was so thrilled that she got to sit in this fire truck. She never fails to get excited at the sight of one of these trucks!
The highlight of Hana's day was the live music. She absolutely loves music and is not shy about dancing to the beat.

#2

At work, we girls sometimes joke about how icky it is to see guys head to the bathroom with a newspaper, magazine or book in hand. Well, Hana does the same thing! Everytime she grabs a book and heads towards her potty, we know exactly what will happen next.