With sunny days to enjoy, a meaningful baby shower thrown to welcome Grace, and the big blessing of having Grandma Ma already here to help us out, it’s been a great month+ counting down to the second child’s arrival in our family. It seems Timothy is more aware of a big impending change about to happen, so some days have been especially challenging with fragile moods and clingy tendencies. Unfortunately this also means Timothy experiencing more of his mama’s selfishness and impatience these days. However, we’re also having more sweet moments together and I’m cherishing the more frequent and affectionate snuggles, kisses, and “conversations”. Timothy’s language development has really taken off and it’s been fun to hear him communicate his thoughts and desires through strings of words. It certainly has kept me on my toes as I explain more situations and reasons behind rules and try to discipline consistently. He remembers a lot and shows understanding now so that’s been helpful, too!
Enjoying Redmond Toddler Group
I’m amazed at how much Timothy has grown since his little newborn days, and even since several months ago. While grateful for the technology we have to document some stages, I’m sad that once many cute phases are over, they’re truly gone and live only in our fallible memories. Spending more focused attention on Timothy has felt more precious, and I’m thankful I’ve gotten to enjoy this time with him. Although it’s hard to remember sometimes, I know I’ll miss that he sometimes begs for food all day long even after eating, doesn’t like being without me, requests lots of songs to be played and sung, flips through books to hunt for animals and food, and asks for hugs when he is older and outgrows needing us (especially me) so much.
We can’t wait to announce Grace Elizabeth’s arrival in our next post to this blog and appreciate you keeping up with our family!
Mama’s most favorite guys
Treat for Stewie rabbit
Our big eater
A nice visit with Aunty Alex
Wheee!
Thrill-seeking these days
Look what I found!
Lots of fun with Papa at our favorite park
He insists on bringing a ball with us to the park nowadays
Enjoying the moment
Play date time before they meet their baby sisters this month =)
Snacking on a grocery run
Time with fluffy Bella and Aunty Elaine
Timothy is such a dog lover
Added “pumpkin muffin” to his vocabulary this month
Loving his goat milk
Passing out valentines @ Redmond Toddler Group
Enjoying the discovery table @ RTG with Grandma Ma
Reading with Elian
Happy 2nd Birthday, Abigail and congratulations on your baby sister!
We had so much to be thankful for this last month!
A quick road trip at the beginning of the month to celebrate friends’ wedding allowed us to enjoy a bit of time in Vancouver together. We were also happy to have some beloved visitors this month in our home. I entered my third trimester with baby #2 so we’re pleased to be in the home stretch of the pregnancy and meet little Grace Elizabeth next year. We’re anticipating the good news of our second nephew’s arrival at any moment now and look forward to being able to introduce Timothy to his new baby cousin after Andrew’s brother and his wife have their second little guy.
He takes after Papa in being industrious and helpful
We celebrated Andrew’s birthday this month and it was a nice relaxed day of hanging out and enjoying some of his favorite foods. It’s such a pleasure to see Andrew grow in his love for our family as an outflow of what the Lord is doing in his life. I’m blessed to witness God grow him as a husband, father and church servant this year and am excited to see what’s coming in the years ahead for Andrew.
Our Christmas tree and decorations have been up and it’s so fun to see Timothy enjoy them more as we try to share with him the great meaning and hope of this season. He especially loves the singing/dancing penguin and snowman animatronics we have – so much dancing and clapping goes on with them throughout each day!
It seems he’ll hug anything fluffy
Timothy started giving kisses to people (instead of only stuffed animals, dogs he meets and books) while Grampa Ma was visiting this month so that’s been sweet. It’s one of my absolute favorite forms of affection from him along with his daily hugs. He moves to all sorts of tunes and really rocks out to Christmas music; we can’t help but join him in the goofiness sometimes. It’s gotten too cold to go out much, but we did get to take in the last of the newly fallen leaves and nice weather before the month ended.
“Hello?” – Silliness in a box
We ventured into the world of larger family vehicles by purchasing a new car this month. You can find us cruising around in our red Mazda5 nowadays. My pregnant body is grateful for the ergonomic height of the car and the sliding passenger doors are terrific to have with some of the cramped parking situations out here. As with other changes happening around the house lately, Timothy appeared to adjust quickly and happily to the new vehicle. I’m glad to make use of the increased space with our growing family.
Timothy’s personality and busyness continue to delight us and we’re eager to see how he transitions into being a big brother. He already seems pleased with his new title and still loves to hug and kiss his baby “妹 妹” (little sister) everyday. It’s hard remembering not to call the little guy “baby” so much anymore since he points to my belly and actually says “baby”…but we’re pretty sure we’ll think of him as our little baby for a long time to come.
Enjoying the last sunny days
We enjoyed abundant Thanksgiving celebrations with several sets of friends in the last week of November. It was Timothy’s first enjoying the holiday table foods (directly anyway ;-P) and it was fun to see him continue to expand his palate by gobbling up turkey, ham, and stuffing. I am immensely humbled with our numerous blessings this year as we enter the Advent season in anticipation of Christmas. As Grace Elizabeth grows and moves actively inside of me, I think more about the wonder of Jesus’ coming to us in the form of a helpless baby to save us; a wholly undeserving and rebellious people. We’ve been in the book of Malachi lately with our church family and it’s hit me hard again that we truly don’t deserve any of the blessings we receive. Every gift is a sign of grace from God and He alone deserves the glory and praise, no matter how much I try to clean myself up and put on a good front. With my outbursts of impatience and ingratitude, I pray that God would redeem my days with Timothy and help me to point him to Jesus in my sins and shortcomings.
Enjoy this season of reflecting and celebrating the Savior’s birth!
Congratulations, Bily & Karen!
Partying at the wedding reception after a road trip to B.C.
October sure flew by for us! We are enjoying the beautiful autumn colors here and curious little Timothy is relishing all the pine cones and leaves he gets to pick up and examine. There are still enough dry breaks with all the drizzling around here that we’ve been able to take walks and explore outside, which is great for our busy little walking guy. Books, toys, indoor chores and yard work just isn’t getting Timothy’s energy spent enough at home sometimes so we’ve taken to roaming malls during rainy and cold days…some of you may be (understandably) surprised to learn I’ve become a bit of a mall rat lately.
A few highlights in Timothy’s development this month are his asking for many hugs each day, the loud smooches he gives to stuffed animals and (wants to for) dogs, and the snuggles he gives to his baby sister already while she’s growing inside of me. We’re pretty sure he probably doesn’t understand his big brother status, but it’s still very sweet that he likes to hug my growing belly and pet it affectionately… although, I probably won’t feel quite the same way if this continues after Baby Grace arrives. 😉 His little toddle looks like it’s going to develop into a run soon so we’re mentally gearing up for that, too.
Timothy’s languages are really coming along now and it’s so fun to hear him add “car”, “bus”, “truck”, “meat”, “bird”, “tiger”, “owl”, “bear”, “apple”, “pear”, “banana”, “avocado”, “hug”, “Bible”, “book”, “tree”, “eyes”, “pants”, “hat”, “shoe”, “socks”, “cat”, and the Chinese titles for all of his grandparents to his vocabulary as well as make lots of animal sounds. One of my favorites is the leaf-chewing sound he makes for giraffes – it’s so hilarious! I didn’t know what else to teach him for that animal but it cracks me to watch him remember that sound and repeat it when he sees a giraffe. He’s quite fixated on fruits and animals lately and it’s amazing to watch him absorb and learn so much through books, toys and interacting with us.
We truly hope you enjoy celebrating with loved ones and giving thanks in these upcoming weeks and months – thank you for keeping up with our little growing family!
September brought some beautiful days to enjoy before Autumn officially arrived and it was so nice around here! Rains have hit Seattle hard now, but I’m savoring the color changes and crisp air; I love this season! I was blessed to celebrate a birthday with my two favorite guys on a nice day (nice enough anyway; it wasn’t raining and was warmish) filled with family time, extra rest, and yummy food that I didn’t have cook. 😉
Timothy’s officially a toddling little guy and it’s been enjoyable to watch him grow into walking recently. While he still prefers crawling for efficacy, he’s definitely developing into a strong little pedestrian, especially with hands often full of stuffed animals, books, balls or random items to bring around the house. He makes us laugh so much with his playing, dancing, (seemingly incessant) eating, babbling and growing sense of humor each day. We love witnessing Timothy continue to learn new Chinese and English words, too. His current favorites include “grapes”, “milk”, “ball”, “doggy”, “pen”, and of course “Papa”). It’s crazy to me how he picks up new skills each week too, like hammering, jumping, hair brushing, blowing his nose, climbing and improved spoon feeding – it seems that each stage of growth just keeps getting more fun! We also delight in how sweet he is with hugs and kisses in between all the exploring and playing. Some compassion, persistence, and goofiness are emerging in his personality and it’s such a joy to witness. We get a kick out of when Timothy intentionally makes us laugh with his comical gestures like rubbing his belly and raising his arms in surprise/excitement.
I’m continually humbled as I learn to care for this little one through the great and not-so-fun days, realizing how much I need Jesus’ grace to have joy through all the messiness of mealtimes and tantrums (both Timothy’s and mine!). Sometimes, I’m brought to tears at how incredible it is to see Timothy’s little dimpled face smile at me everyday and be a big part of his learning and discovery of the world. I’m amazed to catch a glimpse of my Heavenly Father’s delight in me as his child; just because he made me his own in Christ – AND he doesn’t get easily annoyed at my foolish willfulness – such grace to me!
It’s also been great to have Timothy start helping with chores like moving laundry from the washer to the dryer, emptying the dishwasher, putting away up toys, and even wiping the floor. This is all quite handy since he may have to start pitching in with housework more here soon, because…
Andrew and I are so happy that, by God’s wonderful grace, our little family is continuing to grow. We’re thrilled to announce that we’re excited meet our babygirl next February!!! We’re grateful for this blessing growing inside of me and are pleasantly surprised at the prospect of raising a daughter (honestly, I’m actually scared). This pregnancy has been more tiring that the last but otherwise pretty good, so I’m enjoying that as well! We look forward to how Timothy will grow as big brother after he meets his sister, and are trying to make the most of this season while we can still devote more time and attention to him (and each other!).
Thanks for reading this month’s update and Happy Autumn, all!
Lots of ball-throwing these days
It’s no wonder he says ball so often!
Papa’s breakfast special – cheesy eggs
Black bean beard
Balloons thrill this guy
He actually drags the PikStik around the house
Learned habit from video calls with family – waving at cameras
