Time is just FLYING!

Who has time to blog anymore? Kids, work, chores, errands... not to mention catching up sleep are what's keeping me away from blogging.  But that's perfectly ok with me! I blog when I can, and I do it for myself.

So we're into the month of March! Just last month we were celebrating Ericka's 3rd birthday! Well, soon... we'll be celebrating Evan's 1st birthday and it's an exciting milestone!

Learning from Ericka's first three years and attending other kid's birthday parties, we have realized as parents, sometimes these birthday parties are done for the parents themselves rather than the child. That's fine! It's a social event for parents and friends to get together to enjoy food and some cake! However, I think it can be a bit overwhelming for the birthday child. It all depends on the child, so it's your job as parents to recognize if they're suited for big birthday bashes at such a young age or if a small family gathering is just what they need. Whatever you decide, just make sure the birthday child is well rested before hand or you'll have a major epic meltdown at the party.. The song "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to" will be sung in the background if that's the case!!



So much has happened in the past few weeks leading up to Evan's 1st birthday.
He's walking now.. full out walking! He looks so tiny compared to his sister when he's walking around but he looks like such a pro doing it.

It's amazing... one day you're asking him to take a step towards you only to have him fall after half a step... then the next day, you watch him stand up from sitting on his bum and he's taking several steps! Tomorrow, he's going to be running!  I know I've been through the motions with Ericka when she was younger, but it's truly an amazing feeling watching your baby walking. He's so much closer to becoming an independent guy!

He is even saying a few words now. The obvious "mama" and "baba" are already mastered. He's saying others such as "bubbles", "pumpkin" (as in our cat pumpkin), "yeah" and others I can't think of at the moment. It's all a blur but he's starting his communication with words!

Next, Ericka's drawing abilities have me in awe. I'm not sure if she's ahead or behind the curve, but it doesn't matter. What matters is her imagination running wild and she draws what she sees.

What do you see in this unfinished drawing?

One morning, mama was a wee bit tired and the little man was napping so I plopped Ericka beside me on our bed with the iPad and I laid down and closed my eyes. Minutes later, I hear her waking me up saying "Mama, I drew a jelly fish!" I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't in a daze but there it was.. a 3 year old drawing of a jelly fish. Talk about proud mommy.

There are other drawings where she is trying, but of course, her skills need a bit refining. I asked her one day as she was drawing on the kitchen table what her picture was of and she replied "Water park! Sliding down water."  Amazing. She still had her birthday adventure to the water park still on her mind!

And then there's the time I was napping (yes, again! Alright, let's call it laying down in bed) and she was on the iPad and she was randomly typing things on a toddler app. She's typing "Ericka", "Evan", and other words. She even knows how to spell "Hello!" Such wonderful milestones to reach.
One day she got a hold of my husband's phone and was texting me. All by herself.  I took a screen capture of it. It was AWESOME to read while I was at work and the kids and Norm were at home.

Finally, we celebrated Chinese New Year in February. We all had our *new* red clothing to wear that day! We snapped a few pics as we always do every year on the computer and on our phones. Fun times!!

So I hope to update again soon, especially with a birthday blog. We have a very busy week ahead with March Break/working and preps to getting things for Evan's birthday.. otherwise, I hope it's not another month or so until the next update!