Ky-An almost drowned!

Hieu took the kids out to the back to swim today and we had a scary experience. We are usually very careful with the kids but I guess that’s how accidents happen. Hieu was swimming with Ky-An, Ai-Vy and my nephew, Ethan. They were sitting on the steps and asked for their floaties that got drifted away. Hieu was holding Ai-Vy and went after the floaties. I thought he already got it and give it back to them so I turned away to gather up some towels for them. I turned back and saw Ky-An in the middle of the pool with only his eyes above water!! I yelled for Hieu and he tried to walk back as fast as he can. I froze a little and quickly snapped back and jumped into the pool fully clothed. It’s probably just a matter of seconds but it felt like minutes. Fortunately he’s fine when I got him out. Just coughed up some water and threw up a little. I know how unbelievable lucky we are and thank our lucky star that nothing more serious happened.

We are usually very careful with the kids around the pool. We rarely take our eyes off them. This would have been those unfortunate accidents that we so thankful didn't happen.

Week in Pictures

Trying to put her bathing suit on to go swimming:

Chomping on a fresh corn..she loves corn like her auntie:

Swim break!

She just loves the see-saw. Can you believe our neighbor gave us this see-saw??!! It was still in the box. She didn’t use it at all!

Ky-An and his cousin, Ethan, getting ready to jump into the pool together. I don’t know how many times they did that and they had so much fun!

Here..we..go!!

Time for Ai-Vy’s swim break. Notice she has a piece in each hand. Whatever she holds, it has to be two. It’s one of her quirk.

More see-saw time. It took the both of them to balance out Hieu on the other side.

The sun went down so they had to come up from the water and played with water gun instead.

Ai-Vy helped clean up the pool while the boys played.

I love how the light highlight her eyes here:

The family enjoying my grilled chicken and Hieu’s crawfish. (Sadly that big patio umbrella is broken the next week due to high wind.)

Mother’s Day swim

It was such a great weekend for swimming that I virtually swim all weekend! I am determine to enjoy the pool this year and get a nice tan. After all, a tan is suppose to make you look thinner. :P

Ai-Vy’s first swim in our pool!

In her new swimsuit:

Ky-An having so much fun with his cousin!

Jumping from the steps:

He had so much trouble manuveuring his float though.

Lots of fun!

Splash splash!

This is their favorite game, jumping into the water with their floats:

Ai-Vy's First Swimming Lesson

Ai-Vy has her first swimming lesson today and as expected, she did really well.  Ky-An cried so hard his first lesson that he threw up.  He then proceed to continue to cry for about 3 months, it was really hard to watch.  Ai-Vy woke up early today and skipped her morning nap so I was concern when it's time for her lesson.  She was already cranky and I was afraid she won't be so receptive.  It was chaos to get ready in the morning since her class is at 9:30 and Ky-An's is at 10:30.  I also have to pack clothes for myself because Ai-Vy's is a parent-child class and I have to swim with her.  We took 2 cars to go since we don't think Ai-Vy would last after her class and we were right.

 

Happy Father's Day!!!

Hieu just wanted to spend the day with the kids this year so we didn't do anything special. He said he wanted steak for dinner so that's what I made for him. We spent the day with the kids, and everyone swam a little. It was Ai-Vy's first time in the pool and she just loves it. I know she would because she gets so excited whenever it's bedtime. She would stand next to the bathtub and jump until I put her in. I offered for Hieu to spend a day doing whatever he wants and I'll watch the kids but he rather spend it with them.

My sister got a talking card for me to give to Hieu and he loved it. It's the card where you record a message and it plays the song "So Happy Together" afterward. It took my about 20 tries to get Ky-An to say "Happy Father's Day! I love you dad". At first he keep whispering the words and I couldn't get him to talk louder. I then realized it's because I asked him to repeat the whole sentence and he's not confident enough to do that. I broke it down to 2 words at a time and he repeated it just fine. Several other times Ai-Vy was screaming in the background and 3 more times he keep saying "I love mom" instead of "I love dad".

After playing with my brother-in-law's Wii in Dallas, Hieu seemed to enjoy it so I mentioned it to my sister that I may get him one for Father's Day. Well her and her boyfriend, Chi, really got on it and he started calling all the GameStop around us. One had it available in another city about 30 minutes away. They instantly hopped in the car and run out to get it before I can even say "let me think about it!" It was really nice of them so I didn't want to be ungrateful. Hieu seemed to like it so it turned out well.

Wii party:


I am letting Ky-An eat the mango seed. It soon went all over his shirt:




Gummy smile!


I am not sure what to call this expression..


Ai-Vy's first swim in our pool. She absolutely loves it!








She didn't like being in here too much. I think it's a bit cramped for her.


Ky-An and my little sister:


Family pic:


Ky-An loves jumping off the step and dunking himself (with us catching him of course).

Ky-An gets to face front in the car!

Ky-An has been fussing a lot whenever we put him in the carseat. He would cry the entire trip or would try to twist his head back to see us and then get mad when he can't. I had plan to keep him rear-facing as long as possible, maybe until Ai-Vy is born, because it's safer but I think it's time. I finally made the decision to let him face front this weekend and he loves it!! I did have to remind Hieu to drive carefully and don't brake too hard since his neck is still weak. Ky-Andoesn't fuss in the car anymore because he gets to see everything and see us! He loves talking to us and pointing to things out in the steeet or on the road. The carseat goes up to 60 pounds so I hope to keep him this way for a while.

Hieu has also been taking swimming lessons with Ky-An and both are doing really well!! I still tag along every Saturday and sat on a chair poolside to watch them. He's actually participating in all the songs and activities now. He even look around and is more interested in things. He laughs and hugs the teacher and doesn't cry when she takes him anymore. What a dramatic difference from a month ago! The only thing he still doesn't like is when the teacher make him float on his back. He keep trying to flip back around. I told Hieu he has to practice that with Ky-An more. I don't blame him though because I don't like floating on my back either. I hate the feeling of water getting into my ears!

While sitting on the poolside, I get to observe what the other kids are doing and it's just amazing! The class above this one the kids are about 3-5 and they jump into the pool themselves, swim for a little bit and then flip over to float and then back to swimming again. This is also when they'll be doing the floating test where they throw the kid in the pool full-clothed and they have to float for 5 minutes or get to a side of the pool. This is to test if they happen to fall into any body of water if they can float and wait for help or get to safety. That's a great piece of mind but Ky-An won't be doing it for another year or so. I am not even sure if we are going to keep him in their that long because I read in Parenting magazine that kids can't physically learn to swim until they are 4 years old.

Ky-An won't sleep!

Ky-An was such a bad napper this weekend, I am not sure what's wrong. He nap for only about 30 minutes each time on Friday and Saturday. Then on Sunday while we were out grocery shopping, I figure maybe he's doesn't need 2 naps that's why he's not sleeping much so we let him skip his morning one. We went to all these stores while I shopped and bargain-hunt. Went to eat Pho for lunch and got him home at about 1p.m. Well I tried for 2 hours until 3 p.m. but he refused to sleep! He just got more and more wired and can't settle down. I finally gave up and took him out of the room. Hieu took him for an hour walk but it didn't help either. He just won't settle down to sleep.

You'd think he'll be tired by the evening so I did his bedtime routine a little bit early so he can get some rest. I was in the bedroom with him for another 2 hours and he just won't sleep. I had to get out to prepare the steaks to cook since my parents are coming over for a late Father's Day celebration and to also celebrate my sister's birthday. Hieu took him for a drive and he finally fell asleep after 40 minutes drive! Hieu said he has to drive to Rosenberg, which is a city right next to us. He finally slept as I was preparing dinner and spent some time with my mom, dad, and aunt. However, he kept crying throughout the night and woke up at 4:30 the next morning!

I hope he's getting some rest at the babysitter. I am going to ask her what her how she gets him to sleep today. Maybe the inconsistency is what's causing him to not sleep. I'll have to work out with her a plan to be consistent with him during naptimes.

As Ky-An is getting more comfortable with his swimming lessons, I let Hieu took over this past weekend and be in the water with him while I sat at the poolside. Poor guy keep looking at me and whined. I guess daddy is not doing it right yet. I am sure he'll be used to Hieu soon enough and as I get bigger, I have to get him to be less dependent on him. He's so sweet though..poor guy. :(

NOT a lazy Sunday

What a crazy weekend this week has turn out to be. I had no rest whatsoever!! Yesterday we went to Babies R' Us to get Ky-An some clothes from their big sale and then we went grocery shopping. Today was suppose to be a relaxing day but my little sister wanted a bar-b-que and Hieu wanted to swim so there goes our day. Hieu had to go to the grocery store to get all the food and here I am preparing them so he can throw it on the grill.

Since I am trying to stick to our budget, I bought a bunch of grocery to cook yesterday and have been on my feet all day trying to prep all the meat so I don't have to do it afterwork next week. I am a marinating, cutting, and freezing mad woman! It's sooo tiring!

Ky-An was out swimming with my sister's boyfriend, Uncle Chi, and daddy for about an hour or so while I am having my prep marathon. I finally came out and fed him plus swam a little. Poor boy starts fussing and I lift up his sunglasses to find his eyes are half-closed. He didn't take a very good morning nap and it's already 3p.m. We were trying to have him wait for his cousin Bao to come and they can swim together but my poor man is just too tired. I took him in to change him and put him to sleep. The boy was out in the sun for about 2 hours and got all dark!!! I took off his swim shorts and he's dark inside-out even though we lathered him up with sunblock before he goes into the pool each time and a hat. I need to get him one of those sunscreen swim shirt before I can let him swim in our pool again. I think he had a good time but mommy and daddy are just so tired!

My big boy lounging:


Swimming with daddy:


So happy with my little sister:


Taking a break to eat:


My favorite..watermelon!


My little sister's boyfriend, whom she teasingly call "Shamu". LOL


My older sister and my nephew, Bao: