A convo with Siri

Siri: I want to watch gymnastics!
Kim: Yes, I do too, Siri but it's not on right now.
Siri: But I DO want to watch gymnastics!
Kim: Yes, I DO too, but it's not on.
Siri: NO! You don't DO!  I DO!....{thinking}....you're a boy!

Wow, the worst insult that almost three year old could think of....you're a boy! Yikes!

2 1/2...a wonderful age!

Siri Ann is now 2 1/2 and it has become very obvious to us in many ways that she is now, indeed 2 1/2.  While she is like her sister when she was 2 1/2 in many ways, Siri has her own spin on being 2 1/2 that keeps things exciting.  For example, she told me when it was time to be potty trained.  She took her own diaper off and led herself to the toilet and peed in the potty before I was ready to accept this challenge.  But being that she was so ready, there was no challenge involved!  Now that is the way to potty train if you ask me!

Being number 2 adds to the complexity of this 2 1/2 year old as she has learned much from her older sister and she is seen less by her parents.  Oh, and her personality just allows for certain things her older sister would have never tolerated, like messy things and physical risks.

All of that to explain why I found this when I woke up the other day:

Yes, that is marker.  Yes, she is very proud of herself. And yes, after pictures and a bath she sat, unwillingly for her timeout.  But did she learn her lesson?

                                       

I'm just not so sure.

"Why no posts?" You ask.

There is an answer.  Well more of an excuse, really.  I haven't posted in over a month mostly because I have been sick for that long...well a little longer than that, in fact!  Yes, you guessed it!  I am expecting our THIRD baby!!  This baby is due to arrive about mid-october, and NO, we don't know the gender just yet!  I will let you know when we find out on MAY 9th! We are very excited to know our fate! :)  At 14 1/2 weeks along I already look probably closer to 20 weeks pregnant, but I suppose that's what happens when you've already had two.  Otherwise the course has been about par, with no hiccups, praise God!

It seems a common question is, "Does this pregnancy feel different than the others?"  I'm thinking this question is usually an attempt to try to determine without ultrasound whether or not I'm having a boy or a girl, and for those wondering, every pregnancy has been a little different given different circumstances.  So I can not say with certainty whether this one is drastically different.  I am in Taiwan and THAT is VERY different! ;) 

Another question:  "Will this baby be born in Taiwan?"  YES!  We will go "home" to America this summer (which will mostly be the second trimester for me, though entering into the early parts of the third) and then return for school end of July and have this baby mid-october! :)  So yes, the world will have one more product made in Taiwan!  :)

And yet another: "Do the girls know, and are they excited?"  YES and YES!  In fact, daily I seem to say things like, "I love my two kids!"  Or "I'm so happy I have two girls!"  Or something of the like and Ellie reminds me, "THREE, mom!"  Oh yes, now I have three kids, I guess.  And in addition to praying for a healthy baby, Ellie has been praying for a baby boy since before I ever got pregnant, and she is convinced that God answered her prayer.  Siri usually just points to my belly and says, "You have a baby in your belly."  Yes, she is now speaking in full sentences AND is potty trained, by the way (SHE insisted, not I! And when she started taking her own diaper off, getting her kid-stool and putting herself on the potty, we decided it was probably time! Haha!  Needless to say, this has been an easy transition as she was more than ready!).

And so that is our big news, and the reason...well...excuse...for the silence.

Speaking of the girls, here are some recent pics!  :)

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

Yes, we are "celebrating" Chinese New Year here in Taiwan! Basically for us it means a week off of school AND on Thursday and Friday we can not drive on the highways with only one person in the car as that would mean we are not carpooling and to avoid traffic overload on the elevated highways, you MUST carpool! YAY! So we took that as our warning to stay off the roads lest we want to sit in traffic all day.

After doing lots of entertaining over the Christmas and Gregorian calendar new year, we are happy to have a quiet break to ourselves, though it is only because we thoroughly enjoyed our guests that we now feel we can rest! (I WILL post pictures of the family visits!)

Here are some pictures I took a few months ago that I never posted. Two things the girls love to do: 1. Wear their fluffy skirts. 2. Play in their room and on Ellie's bed (For some reason when I take the sheets off of Ellie's bed to wash them, the girls think it's SUPER fun and that they then have permission to jump).

Valences and birthdays!

With the arrival of our stuff, life has become a bit busy around here, attempting to get organized. But I must say what a difference it makes! Amazingly, as a result of finally having our things, it seems (but perhaps also due to the natural progression of time) the girls are acting much more settled. And so am I! WOW! What a transformation! I was beginning to develop strategies for an attempt to cope with this new way of life I thought we were entering into: continuous melt-downs, tantrums, and an inability to fall asleep at night. But alas, that was short-lived! Praise God! It seems we all finally feel at home here now that our things are here. A wonderful feeling. The girls can sleep in their own beds and play in their playroom with their own toys and read their own books.....ahhh! Peace has come to this house! :)

And so, here are some pictures of the developments:

Ellie and Siri's room:

The girls' room with a view of the valence:

The playroom:

The playroom valence:

And two posts in one.....Siri turned TWO!! Happy birthday, Siri!

There are several MAK staff family members who had birthdays this week and last week, so we had a nice big combo party for all of them! And here they are:

Believe it or not, Siri was first to dig into her cupcake!

We had lots of fun! We even played a few games:

This game was called "musical mats":

Yes, even the dads got to play:

The bigger kids seem to really like Siri, and Siri seems to really like them (and perhaps all the attention):

Siri had a great party!

We thank God for our little girl and another precious year we were blessed to spend with her! May there be many more!

Where's your belly button?

Camaraderie (and snow)!

In effort to support and encourage camaraderie between the girls, Joey and I have decided to put Ellie and Siri in the same room! We had begun to notice jealousy (mostly on Ellie's part, though some on Siri's part too) in the last few months. It seems that once Siri started really walking, things changed around here. Siri began to receive a lot more attention and Ellie began to feel the competition! Ellie even regressed slightly in some of her recent progress and development (namely potty training and sleeping in a toddler bed). So following the advice of my aunt, we decided to let them share a room together in effort to support and encourage their friendship, and hopefully help Ellie return to her normal self again. It's been a bit of a rocky start but I suppose in a good way. They have had a hard time going to sleep because they've been too busy playing together! :) After 4 days it seems they are getting the hang of it and I do feel they have a lot more fun together during play time during the day. So though we've had crabbier children, they've at least had more fun together! :)

Also, Ellie is back on track! She has only had one accident, and she has vowed that she will "never pee in her pants again!"... so far so good. As far as staying in her bed, well she gets up to give things to Siri, but otherwise stays in her room, which is a start I guess! hehe

And just like nearly the rest of the U.S., we got snow this weekend!

Oct. 25th: A day in history!

I suppose the biggest reason to have a blog, for me anyway, is to mark monumental events in the lives of my children and to share the joy we experience with you all! And here I've forgotten to mention that Siri can walk!! I suppose I'm only a little behind but really this should have been posted a while ago!

On Oct. 25th Siri ventured out and took her first steps alone! She walked a lot before this as long as we were holding her hand (yes, just one hand is all she needed)! But she finally realized she could do it on her own, which was very exciting to us all! She is still slow in the process of making walking her new form of transportation as she still prefers crawling, but today I caught her walking from one place to the other without any of my encouragement! She stands extremely steady on her feet, but can still only successfully walk maybe five feet by herself. But she's on her way!

Enjoy the video! :)

Neighborhood friends

Our latest source of entertainment in the afternoons while waiting for Joe to come home is playing right outside our front door with the kids that live next door and just across the way! This is somewhat of a new thing, though they would all occasionally play together during the summer. But now that the weather's getting cold, they've finally all decided to be friends! It's been nice for Ellie to have some kids to play with right out her front door. So here are some pics of the kids (mostly Ellie) playing right outside.

Ellie and Reef (notice Reef's glasses!):

Reef and her parents moved to America recently to learn English so our interaction with them consists of very little (though increasingly more!) words.

Here Ellie is riding Reef's bike, a regular occurrence as Ellie does not have one!

The kids in this picture live right next door. The girl is 5 whom Ellie gets along with and plays with the most and the boy is just 3 months younger than Ellie. They also have an older sister,7, who they play with too when she gets home from school:

Another regular form of entertainment in our household is smoothies (oh and phones)!

Siri's Dedication

On March 28, 2010 Siri Ann Torgerson was dedicated to the Lord in our home church of St. Louis Chinese Christian Church. Joey, Ellie, Siri and I were very happy to celebrate this occasion with my mom, dad and sister, Tori as well as close friends in our church. Sophie Tao was also dedicated on this day right next to Siri, a very special moment for both of them!

Siri carried on our tradition and wore the same dress Ellie, my mom, her siblings, my siblings and I all wore during this event. :) Enjoy the pics!

Pre-dedication pics:

The Dedication:

Siri is staring at the camera and Ellie is staring at Pastor Mark! :)

Our dedicated baby:

A celebration is NEVER complete without some bubble tea! :)

The Proud Sister:

And for fun, here's a comparison of our two little girls at nearly the same age (6 mths):

Ellie:

Siri: