5 months

Can someone please tell me where the last five months went? It goes by so fast with the last baby...

Mad skills.

All my kids have been learning new skills lately. Did you know that Pearl scored the HIGHEST in her class on the spelling bee qualifier test (and I bet you can guess who volunteered to be the spelling be coach:). Sam, after watching a two minute video on the internet, can add three digit numbers with carrying. Max knows all his letters and sounds, and has recently started writing letters and gleefully reporting his progress in the steam on the shower door. But, I'm sorry kids, unless you are a cute little rolly poly baby that I get to dress up in tiny little skirts, your accomplishments will not be as celebrated/photographed/recorded as hers. Not that I'm not proud of all of you, it's just a fact of life.

Miss Ruby Lu is 5 months today. I wonder, if it wasn't leap year, would she have to skip a month? Anyways, I laid her down on her tummy to get some five month pictures, and this is what happened...

Look! A window!!!
Hey look! There's my mom!
Wow, I really have to twist to see her!
Thud.

Ok, people, what just happened here?

Big girl, rolling over on your 5 month old birthday!!!! Now we have to work on the other direction...

Adoption

My brother and sister in law, John and Lora are looking to adopt a sibling for their little Maya. They are wonderful parents (I must admit, most days I'm pretty sure she's a better mom than I am) and are hoping and praying for a new little one. If anyone has need of an adoptive family, here is the link to their website

Matching.

I have a thing with matching the boys. I love to get them matching jammies and they match EVERY sunday... now that I make ties, this is the uniform: khaki pants, either a blue or white shirt, and a tie. Today was Max's turn to pick, Sam prefers the stripey ties. They are always SO handsome:) Max even says so.

Pearl always wants to match with Ruby too, and this has been some of the impetus for some sewing projects. I mistakenly went to the local quilt shop on saturday after kickboxing... due to a sale, I HAD to buy at least 3 yards of fabric... so I got some to make the girls matching church outfits. As well as the fabric that I meant to go there for... that project isn't done yet, but this one is:
How cute are they? I started sewing at about 8:00 Saturday night, and was done by 10:00. I think Sherry will add some embellishment to Ruby's dress and maybe a headband for Pearl, but I made the girls wear them to church today anyway.

These girls are so pretty... and I love them so much. I'm SO glad Pearl got a sister to match with:)

Plus I get to feed my sewing addiction much more easily with a couple of little girls around!

Skills

Ruby has developed some awesome toy grabbing and chewing skills this month.

... and she's very proud of it!

Belt Test

Pearl, Jared and I had our latest belt test a week and a half ago. Jared tested for his green belt, and Pearl and I tested for our senior green belt (green with a black stripe). It was fun to test with Pearl... I skipped a belt at one point, and was ahead of her, but she tested up while I was out with Ruby, so we've been in sync. I must say, she's getting a LOT better at remembering her forms, and just at Taekwondo in general. We started learning our new form last week, which is MUCH harder, and she actuallly remembered the part we'd been taught when she got home. So so good for her!

Lora wanted a weight loss picture, and since I'm really only down 6 pounds since she last saw me, this will have to do. I will say, I've lost enough weight that I finally got to buy a real uniform, in a size down from what I'd been using. It looks and FEELS so much BETTER!!!! I really see the difference in Jared when he wears his uniform too... really, his tummy used to fill out the dobok shirt pretty well, and now it's downright baggy (like it's supposed to be.) Yeah!

Master Yi made a big deal about how nobody else had their mother testing with them and how it was so special. I'm glad I get to do this with Pearl, though I wonder if the other mothers out there wish they could do it too, or if they're pretty sure I'm crazy. Maybe a little of both.

Pearl got to do some "promise fighting." She giggled and backed away the whole time:)
Pearl breaking her board:

So, here's to us. We can't wait to test for blue belt!!!!

New Dress

Sherry bought me a serger for Christmas. I think she's created a monster. Since I got it, I've made 2 skirts for Ruby, 3 for Pearl, 1 for Maya, 1 for Katie, and one for Lizzie. I've also made 2 dresses for Ruby and one for Nikki. Add to the list 12 little boy ties (only 6 for my boys, those are REALLY fun to make). I'm a little bit obsessed. What's so fun is that I can sew knits so easily, and I love how I really have the ability to finish off the projects so nicely. Add to all of this the part where Sherry likes to go to the thrift store on half off day and buy all the yards and yards of knit fabric... I have a mountain to work with:) I currently also have a 10 yard piece of yellow courdory in my dryer... oh the plans I have...

This was last night's project. I like my babies to wear comfy clothes. Usually this means onesies and knit pants or babylegs. But lo and behold my latest discovery: The onesie dress.

All one piece, cozy, comfy, and CUTE!!!! Plus it's a great way to use up the small pieces of cute fabric I have - this piece was all that was left of the dolly nightgowns Pearl and I made for her and Makayla for Christmas. I'm a fan.
And it looks like Miss Lu is too:)

WW update.

I have officially lost 21 pounds. Jared has lost 25. This means that together, we've lost almost half of our weight. I'm down one pant size for sure. Since all of my weight is labeled, I have now (well, almost) made it through the "my husband lived in korea for a year" weight. In a few pounds I'll move on to the "I was YW president for 2 years" weight, then to be followed by the "Sam's fault" weight and lastly the very last ten pounds of baby weight from pregnancies #2 and 3 between Pearl and Sam. See, look, only 30 pounds to go!!!! I keep wanting to shop, but stop myself, because let's face it, I'm on a roll, virtually unstoppable, and will be shedding another size or two or three very soon. So why shop? Right? I'm loving my extra energy and LOVE LOVE LOVING my workout routines... kickboxing, taekwondo, and walking with the kiddos. Who knew I was so athletic? I certianly didn't.

Sometimes when I look at Jared, I think, he's dissapearing (somebody at work said something similar to him, 20 pounds seems to be when people start noticing). I'm so happy we'll no longer be the short pudgy couple (in both of our families, really, we're the only ones). And I'm glad he'll live a little longer. Plus, I think he's hot:)

So here's my challenge... mostly to a nameless sister in law... (who had a baby the same time as me, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have to give random names to her weight [which isn't even very much, laughable actually, she once joined Weight Watchers with 5 pounds to lose. FIVE!!!!] because it really is all the fault of her children...) my goal by the time I see you again (hopefully at the end of April...) is to be down another 10 pounds. I dare you to do the same:) And no, I won't make you fill out a daily chart to see if you've met your goals. And you won't be punished for eating treats, I could care less if you eat all you calories in maple cookies. Or if you go to bed. Or read your scriptures. But I will look AMAZING next time you see me, and you will feel bad if you don't look better than me (because you usually do:).

Anyone else want to take the challenge?

Sam. At school.

The following is the contents of a recent e-mail between Sam's teacher and I...

I sent:

Can you help me understand why Sam says he didn't pass out his valentines, but they ended up in the recycle bin? I can never figure out what happened by asking him, I'm pretty sure he's not paying attention half of his life:)

Thanks!

She replied:

Good Morning!!

Just another Sam moment!!!!!

I asked several times if anyone else needed to pass out Valentines and he didn't respond. I don't even know where he had them, because I didn't see them!! Right as we were walking out the door to go home he brings me the Valentines and tells me he didn't pass them out. I told him we didn't have time and he would have to pass them out the next day. They ended up in my recycle box just because it's by the door, we were leaving and I quickly tossed them in there so they wouldn't get stepped on!!!!! He'll have a chance to pass them out today!

Have a great day!

Really, what am I supposed to do with that kid?!?!?!

Later that day, I recieve one more e-mail:

OK, he’s driving me crazy, but please laugh!!!!

He doesn’t pay attention when I’m trying to give him directions, but when I’m testing someone else he pays attention and answers for them!!

Calgon take me away!!!!!!!

Homophones

Max is very into "mine" lately. The other night at the dinner table, he went around possessing members of the family. "My mommy. My daddy. My Pearly. My Sammy. My Ruby."

I said back to him "your Ruby, huh?"

He replied, with a smile like I'd made the funniest joke... "No, mom, I'm Max! I'm not Ruby!"

This is why I love two year olds so much:)

Big.

Her first press on nails. Getting so big! (sniff sniff)

P.S. They stayed on for about 20 minutes, then came off in the shower. That was fun:)

4 months

She's four months old. Where has the time gone? She's mastered some new things, like thumb sucking, toy grabbing/slobbering, and general alertness. She refuses to fall asleep while in the jogging stroller now, becuase she might miss something. She's still the sweetest of babies, and loves to share her smiles. Boy do we love her!!!!