Appetites have been growing around here for outdoor fun, new foods, and lots of family time. Timothy is busy exploring and picking up new things, learning how to be a big brother with an increasingly opinionated little sister, and making our family laugh. Grace is standing a little bit more each day, super busy exploring, enjoying new foods, and babbling tons. Some days, I’m quite overtaken by my own selfishness, and the children’s forgiveness and graciousness help me to see how much I desperately need what I am trying to teach them. On a related note, our family also attended our first homeschooling/discipleship conference last month. While it was a bit daunting to take in so much information, it was quite nourishing for my soul to sit under the teachings of Pastor Voddie Baucham, Dr. Tedd & Margy Tripp, and Rachel Jankovic. We also had a fun visit from Andrew’s sister in April and even went to Bainbridge Island on a lovely day together. We enjoyed the ferry rides, beautiful beach, and great food. It’s neat to see our children enjoy their time with extended family and we look forward to more this year.
It was a good month around here with the weather warming up, lots of weekly activities, and Spring upon us. Although some days still feel long with a toddler and baby keeping me on my toes (and knees for prayer and cleaning!), I’m impressed with how precious this time is while they’re still little, and how quickly it’s passing as they grow just a bit more each week. I’m thankful to be with them during the day to catch the sweet moments of sibling tenderness among the many teachable times. Andrew and I have been taking some opportunities for more one-on-one time with the children, and it’s been fun to enjoy those special times with us. Timothy often asks for our entire family to do everything together, but it’s also been great to hear him excitedly recount some of the outings he has with Andrew.
Grace is learning more words and showing avid interest in almost everything, especially new places and foods. Her newest words are “bye-bye”, “yes” (in both English and Cantonese), “baaa” (sheep sound), and “voom” (when playing with vehicles). She makes efforts to sign for more food, and to reach out for hugs now, too. She’s also a very fast crawler and cruiser now, getting into anything her little fingers can reach to shove into her mouth. Grace also enjoys cooking up (or just causing) a storm in their little play kitchen. Meanwhile, Timothy continues to insist on helping in the kitchen, trying veggies as I chop them, and especially likes making cookies with me. His imagination, humor, and communication is growing so much, and it’s especially cute to see how he likes making us laugh with his jokes. I also love he plays getting ready for work by filling his backpack with play food and jumping into the Cozy Coupe or waiting for the bus, just like Papa. We continue to enjoy hearing him “read” (memorized) large portions of or entire smaller books. Timothy is continuing to spell a lot, and at time it seems like he really knows how to read words, but then it’s evident he’s actually just recognizing familiar words and logos (like Costco!). He takes many opportunities throughout the day to smooch and hug his baby sister, sometimes even when she really doesn’t want it, though. He’s also pointing out in recent months that she’s not walking yet, and that he wants her get older and start doing it soon – funny! If she’s anything like him, it’ll be a few more months of waiting. I’m willing to hold off on that extra busyness anyway. 😉
We visited the cherry blossoms nearby at UW on a nice warm day and were glad to see Timothy and Grace enjoy themselves. Andrew and I hadn’t seen the blooms in years so it was nice to do a picnic dinner there, take some photos, and watch our little guy run happily around the Quad. Grace tried to eat some of the leaves and fallen blossoms, but that’s about par for the course these days with her exploration. 🙂 Our own fruit trees are blossoming well this year and we look forward to hopefully enjoying the fruit they bear later in the fall. Big brown snowshoe hares have also been appearing around our home lately, to our collective delight, especially since this is our first Spring without a bunny of our own to watch hop around outside.
Holy Week is upon us and it’s been so neat to see Timothy start to recount more of some parts of Jesus’ journey to the cross and the Resurrection. While he seems more obsessed with the little trinkets at this point, I still enjoy using our old set of Resurrection Eggs with him this year as we navigate his Bible together. As we look forward to joyously proclaiming the most important event in history, I’m eager for that hope to penetrate my heart since my due date for the baby we lost has come and gone recently. I’m amazed at how God is bringing comfort, truth and conviction through His word and people. Our heartaches aren’t for naught and they’re ultimately not even about us, which is surprisingly encouraging to my introspective and selfish soul. While I stumble along in learning to treasure Jesus, celebrating the journey to the cross has been especially meaningful this year. I pray that Easter means so much more than candy, baby animals, and cute pastel outfits for you, too! 🙂
Timothy turned 2 this month and it was such a joy to seem him understand and be excited about celebrating this year. I love hearing him sing “Happy Birthday”. He anticipates getting to eat cake at any celebration now. =) He had a lot of fun with his little friends over for cake and some fun. It was a nice week of celebrating for him with cupcakes three times – on his actual birthday, for celebrating with his toddler group classmates a few days after, and at his birthday party with friends that weekend. I hope he doesn’t expect so much cake every year, although it was actually fun to do some cake-baking this time for me. It’s funny how having children helps me enjoy things I used to avoid, like baking. 😉 The little guy continues to learn new vocabulary at a quick clip and build more complex sentences. He can now even distinguish between his left and right in both languages! I’m suprised since I get mixed up on that pretty often. He’s so eager to explore outside, throw balls (or really anything), ride his bike, and pull wagons in the nice weather.
We enjoyed a quiet Father’s Day together. It’s been an amazing blessing to watch Andrew’s involvement and intentionality with his son and daughter. Grace’s sweet gushing smiles with her Papa make me cry; they’re just too precious. It’s beautiful to see her affection for Andrew already and I love when she holds on to him tightly with her dimply little hands. I pray that she gets a deep sense of a father’s protective and empowering love as she grows up in our family. Timothy asks often about when Papa is coming home to play with him, and talks so much about their activities together nowadays. He pretends to drive to work with a backpack, just like Andrew. He loves telling me what things he’s doing just like Papa or with Papa. He’s still very much a mama’s boy for now; it’ll be (bitter)sweet to watch him grow into an all-about-Papa stage later.
Andrew and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and enjoyed a nice night out with some delicious sushi. It’s odd how it doesn’t seem like we’ve been married for half a decade(!), but it feels like we’ve had our children for a long time! I’m thankful for the gracious, clever, industrious, gifted, faithful, sacrificial and generous man Andrew is, and look forward to many more years with him as my husband and partner in life. It’s been an incredible journey so far and I look forward to building a legacy together. I pray that I will grow as a wife to be more of what he needs and wants, by God’s grace and strength. Here’s to the next 55 years! =)
Sweet Grace
Now 4 months old, baby Grace continues to be an immense blessing to our family. We love snuggling her delicate little face and making her giggle and coo at us. She loves watching Timothy be run around and their little sibling “conversations” are very cute. She is a champ at occupying herself with her cute little hands is getting good at grabbing toys to nosh on lately. Grace also enjoys watching her brother’s charming dance moves and basketball dunks. Her happy smiles and easygoing disposition brightens our days so much. However our hearts have also been heavier since learning that Grace needs surgery soon for a condition she has that won’t heal by itself. =( We’re thankful for the experienced and excellent doctors who will be caring for her, though. It’s so sad to me that our baby girl needs surgery at such a young age, but we’re trusting Jesus will continue to take care of her and help us rely more on Him in this health challenge for our family.
Summer is in full swing here and it’s been so nice! We’re enjoying nearby splash pads on the increasingly warm days and the many farmers markets that take place throughout the week nearby. It’s so fun to point out the amazing creation God has made and see Timothy take it all in with his penchant for learning and ability to express himself. Grace seems to enjoy the outdoors quite a bit too and while she’s a great sleeper at home, she’s also quite a trooper when we take the occasional nap on-the-go. I look forward to outdoor concerts and more summer activities in the coming weeks!
Chowing down on a play date
Timothy’s 1st big Trophy cupcake to celebrate 2!
Fun at Juanita beach
Big cupcake #2…a few bangs may have been singed – oops!
Timothy sharing jellybeans with buddies
The baby sisters getting their party on.
They had more fun partying than their faces indicate here 😉
This month brought many outdoor activities for us. I’ve been excited to see our garden continue to bloom and Grace grow so much. Timothy’s sentences are getting longer and more varied everyday in both languages. The sounds of pitter-pattering feet, toddler chatter and laughter, and baby coos and laughs fill our home and delight us daily. Mother’s Day was especially sweet this year as we dedicated Grace with our church family and enjoyed a nice brunch afterwards. We realize we’re in a sweet spot of convenience with eating out as a family now since Timothy eats most table foods with us and Grace’s meals are always ready to go. 😉
Taking Grace for a spin
Andrew wrapped up his time at Amazon this month, and took an extended long weekend with us before starting at Groupon. We look forward to visiting him at the new office in the International District soon for lunch dates. Timothy will definitely miss visiting all the dogs around Amazon when he discovers that Papa’s new workplace doesn’t have dogs-a-plenty. I’m happy for Andrew in this great management opportunity and look forward to him settling into his role there.
Taking Stewie for a spin
Our flowers are beautiful this spring, giving extra good reason for us to be outside exploring and taking them in. Some helpful birds or bees brought deep purple and white irises as elegant additions to our garden. The pink peonies have grown in yield and are as gorgeous as ever this year. We’ve been enjoying picnics on our front lawn and at the nearby parks. Timothy asks to picnic outside and continues to enjoy playing with the kids in our neighborhood. The baby bunnies in our yard are also fascinating to him – they’re so fast compared to Stewie rabbit who hops around leisurely…or maybe it’s his old age. 😉
Summer is just around the corner – yay!
He loves to lean his face in to hers
Our happy growing girl
Bumbo entertainment
Me, too!
Thursdays are exciting around here
“Let me pet you, baby bunny…”
Splash pad fun
Shooting water is such a thrill
Grace hanging out while brother runs around
Hello little dog!
Of course frogs are for climbing
That was fun!
3 months old!
Jamming just like us
Snuggles with Snuffles
A Happy Mother’s Day!
Dedication Sunday for Grace
Ready for puddles
Focused on his craft
Fishing at the water table
Timothy got to ride a forklift!
Sister’s not always sure about the hugs
Still lots of sweet hand-holding
Dressed for work with Papa
Probably the cutest badge-wearer at Amazon that day
Appetites have been growing around here for outdoor fun, new foods, and lots of family time. Timothy is busy exploring and picking up new things, learning how to be a big brother with an increasingly opinionated little sister, and making our family laugh. Grace is standing a little bit more each day, super busy exploring, enjoying new foods, and babbling tons. Some days, I’m quite overtaken by my own selfishness, and the children’s forgiveness and graciousness help me to see how much I desperately need what I am trying to teach them. On a related note, our family also attended our first homeschooling/discipleship conference last month. While it was a bit daunting to take in so much information, it was quite nourishing for my soul to sit under the teachings of Pastor Voddie Baucham, Dr. Tedd & Margy Tripp, and Rachel Jankovic. We also had a fun visit from Andrew’s sister in April and even went to Bainbridge Island on a lovely day together. We enjoyed the ferry rides, beautiful beach, and great food. It’s neat to see our children enjoy their time with extended family and we look forward to more this year.
