Spencer's longest sleep stretch so far...

not yet 8 weeks old, and you slept 4.5 hours last night - yay! but after that you were up every hour or so... but then after you woke up, you took a 2.5 hour morning nap! you've been sleeping lots lately.. hope it's not because you are sick.. daddy's been deathly ill.. he stayed in bed and slept for practically 36 hours straight!

audrey - we went to art class at gymboree today to try it out... you wouldn't even pick up the paintbrush! and you would't touch the play-doh... you hate getting your hands dirty! :-)

the kids are sick..

audrey's been sick for about a week already.. we missed your mandarin class.. and haven't been to gymboree all week! poor little thing. but you love, love, love playing with wai-po.. so much so that you often go to her to play rather than mommy and daddy. i think that this 18 month to 2 years old stage is the *bestest* time. you are so cute.. you totally understand everything we say.. and you love getting attention by showing off your little tricks... rowing a boat, shing nian hao, dancing to the wiggles...

spencer... this last week was your sixth week.. they say peak fussiness happens at 6 weeks... so i'm waiting for things to start getting better.. but they just seem to be getting worse! maybe because you're a bit sick.. we used the reflux medicine for the first time.. it seems to calm you down.. sometimes you just spit up so much.. and other times you don't spit up much at all. and you have this typical evening fussiness that we didn't have with audrey. you cluster feed from like 6pm til 9pm.. you fuss.. you get all aggravated during nursing.. yet you nurse constantly during these three hours... you have lots of gas.. lots of burping and farting.. you sleep in a swing and bouncy seat at nights... i sure do wish you would start sleeping better... you are pretty regular though.. you typically sleep at 10am.. and 1pm.. 5pm... and of course there's the evening fussy period.

right now you are asleep on daddy, and we're watching tv.. that's what happens every night... :-)

a weekend of activity... and getting sick!

spencer is almost 6 weeks old now.. we went on our first shopping outing, and used the double stroller for the first time. spencer slept the whole time.. and audrey sat in her underneath seat for a bit before wanting to be carried. then we went to aunt jenny's for dinner. the next day, we went out to dim sum with wai-gong, wai-po, jo-jo, cousins kai and colby... and in the evening we went to john and shirley's place for dinner. spencer - you had the biggest poopy of your life.. big explosion.. guess it was to be expected.. you hadn't pooped in 4 days! audrey - you went straight for the cinderella tea set.. you just love playing with spoons and cups and plates!

mommy started feeling sick that day.. and that night - audrey - you woke up screaming and crying in the middle of the night. daddy had to go in and sleep with you.. he thought you had a nightmare.. but in the morning, you are congested and sniffly and just not feeling well.. poor little girl.

wai-po tells us that audrey just learned how to 'stomp your feet' (from the 'if you're happy and you know it...' song). and how to 'wo-wo so' (shake hands). wai-po is very good at trying to teach you new things. she's also very good at letting you have your way... ;-)

we learned "colors" in the mommy and me chinese class today... mommy has been trying to teach you colors since you were like 6 months old.. over a year later and i have yet to see that you actually get it.. ;-)

fussy fussy spencer...

is there really a six week peak of fussiness? i hope so... cause spencer is going to be six weeks in 3 more days... :-) on a grand scale, you're is actually a pretty good baby... but from about 6/7pm to about 9pm, you are awake and seem quite colicky. you get totally worked up.. seems like you want to eat and eat and eat.. but when i nurse, you start to flail and wail.. so maybe you just want to suck? the paci works somewhat. i made daddy go out and get gripe water for you... not sure it's working... plus we have mylicon for any gas discomfort you may be feeling.. i just don't know what might be going on.. :-( but after monday, i expect you to get less and less fussy! ;-) on another note.. you pooped today - yay! it's been 4 days since you last pooped.. i was getting worried! it was a smallish poop.. but a poop nonetheless... you're probably just good at absorbing all the breast milk nutrients.. not much waste :-)

we all went to studio grow today... your grandma played with audrey while you slept on mommy. audrey - you love playing kitchen and taking care of the baby dolls. you are super cute these days.. when you're not whining or crying or throwing one of your tantrums :-) you had a huge poop today too.. it even leaked out! and that's just one of the many poope you have each day.. ;-)

sleep - the bane of my current existence..

spencer - you had one of your worst nights.. so bad i had to wake daddy up in the middle of the night on a work night! you fall asleep... i put you down.. you wake up.. i pick you up.. you fall asleep.. i put you down.. you wake up.. that happened like 10 times... from 11:30 til about 4am.. when you slept for an hour and woke up again at 5am. grr. the night before was so good too. hrmph.

audrey on the other hand.. you slept beautifully from 7:30pm til 7:15am.. and then you play quietly in your crib until i come in to get you at 7:30.. beautiful.. you toss and turn and whimper sometimes in the middle of the night.. but we pretty much leave you alone until morning. naps on the other hand.. bad.. you sleep only a half hour! and wake up wailing!! you are napping now.. been down about 20 minutes.. we'll see how it goes! ;-)

a new baby brother!

ok.. it's been a loooong time.. so long, that a new baby brother has been born - spencer tsai! he's actually 5 weeks old already! audrey's blog posts were largely about sleep issues... well.. spencer is not the *best* sleeper.. but he seems to be better than audrey so far...! your stretches at night are about 2 hours.. i think i got almost 3.5 last night.. you cluster feed in the evening.. usually from about 7pm to 9pm... then daddy holds you while mommy gets an hour of so of sleep... then i feed you around 11/11:30.. it takes like an hour to get you back down... you're up again at 2:30/3:30... then again at like 6:30... that's the routine..! you actually should be sleeping more... at your one month doctor appointment, you weighed in at 11 pounds, 10 ounces.. that's how big a 3 month old is! i still can't believe that the 0-3 month old clothes i have are for babies up to 12 pounds! you are wearing 3-6 month clothes at 2 months.. while audrey is still wearing 6-12 month clothes at 19 months old! guess this is better than the other way around!

and speaking of audrey... you're so cute... yet can be quite whiney, often throwing little tantrums.. crying and we don't know why. you're not speaking quite as many words as other kids your age.. but you've got about 15-20 words.. let's see... here's what you're saying right now..

ba-ba (daddy - and your favorite phrase)
ma-ma (mommy - but it sounds like ba-ba)
di-di (little brother)
bay-bay (blanket - but it sounds like ba-ba)
bow-bow (pick me up - but it sounds like ba-ba)
bubbles
go-go (dog)
wa-wa (water)
wa-wa (socks)
ya-ya (duck)
puff-puff
moo
bye-bye
hi
night-night
row-row (row your boat)

okay.. gotta go for now.. spencer is on his feeding frenzy... i gotta go nurse him!

sleep.. wow! preggers? yea!

what did audrey give me for mother's day? the ability to fall asleep on her own! wow. daddy agrees to be on baby duty for mother's day.. and what do yo do? you sleep for 10 hours straight.. and then didn't get up until 7:30! you didn't make daddy work at all! and then all of a sudden, i'm putting you down after your bottle awake.. and you manage to fall asleep all on your very own! i'm still shocked. it's so nice to watch you fall asleep.. many times without even a whimper! you wiggle a bit.. toss and turn a bit.. suck on your blankie.. and then.. asleep!

of course, naps are still a challenge. i'm still rocking you to sleep for the most part.

and guess what.. i took a pregnancy test and it was positive! i'm gonna have to take another one tonight just to make sure.. but a little brother or sister could be on the way in 9 months!