Welcome to the second half of my “Day in the Life” with a 18-month-old and a 5-month-old. You can go here to read the first half. When we left off, the girls were both napping while I was enjoying some alone time…

1:45pm: Both girls wake up from their nap at the same time! (This is very unusual.) However, I must note that Aerin did not sleep the whole way through — she woke up a couple of times, but I could tell that she would be able to sleep more if I let her, so I just popped the pacifier back into her mouth, turned on the mobile, and left the room. And both times, she had fallen back asleep after a few minutes of fussing.

(I would also like to say that Claire’s nap usually lasts 1.5 hours. Everyone told me that when your child transitions from 2 to 1 nap per day, he/she will sleep 2.5-3 hours…yeah, that did NOT happen with us. She’s always been a crappy napper, so I can’t say that I didn’t expect it.)

When both girls wake up at the same time, I usually go tend to the one that is crying first. (If both are crying? I go to Claire first, because they say that you should always go to the older child first in cases like these.) This time, Aerin is full-on crying while Claire is just babbling, so I go to the littler one first. I change her diaper and lay her on the playmat while I go to Claire. I change Claire and bring her out to the playmat too. Aerin doesn’t seem that hungry yet, so I leave her on the mat so that she can continue playing with her feet while I start feeding Claire. She finishes half a bowl of the seaweed porridge and a third of the sweet potato.

2:00pm: I sit with Aerin on my lap, encouraging Claire while she plays with some toys. Claire has recently started to show an interest in wooden puzzles (and is starting to get pretty good at them!). We have received many as gifts since she was born, and this one makes the corresponding animal sound when the correct piece is placed into its hole. The sounds are pretty annoying and drive me and J bonkers, but Claire loves it.

2:30pm: Claire suddenly seems to realize that I’ve been holding Aerin this entire time. She makes a devastated face, and comes toward me with her arms out — obviously asking me to hold her instead. I can’t resist. I quickly put Aerin in the Bumbo and place Claire on my lap. I read to both girls. (And because I don’t want Aerin to feel left out, I hold her hand.)

2:45pm: Both girls are starting to get fussy. It is time for our daily walk. I try to go out with them at least once a day so that they can get some fresh air as well as a change of scenery. (This is why I hate rainy and/or extremely cold days.) I am a complete hermit who loves being home — I would be perfectly happy staying in for weeks at a time — so this is a big sacrifice for me. But my girls’ happiness is worth it…and besides, it’s good exercise.

When we go out and it’s just me at the helm, I usually strap Aerin to my chest and push Claire in the stroller. There is a small park a few blocks from our house, but it’s only some grass, benches, and a nice view of Manhattan — nothing too interesting to little kids unless there are lots of people out. (And with 2 little ones, it is difficult for me to physically play with them at this park by myself because it is right beside a busy street.) Since the weather is a bit chilly, I am guessing that there won’t be too many people out at the park so I decide to go to the pharmacy instead (8 blocks away) to pick up a new bottle of St Ives Apricot Scrub. Here is a shot I took of us from a poor reflection off an office building:

We leave Walgreens and although it’s a little cold, the air is crisp and fresh and the girls seem to be enjoying their time outside, so I decide to walk 10 blocks in the direction we came from, passing our street on the way, to our local Dunkin Donuts. I get my favorite drink of the moment — Vanilla Chai Latte — and hang out a bit, chatting with the cashier who knows us well.

On our way back home we pass a construction site and I point it out to Claire as I always do…it is an urban water park, slated to open this summer and only two blocks from our place!!

3:50pm: Our walk has lasted a little over an hour and it is now time for Aerin’s last nap of the day. I give Claire some diluted apple juice and hand her her new Ni Hao Kai-Lan sound book to keep her busy while I put her little sister down to sleep.

4:30pm: Aerin wakes up after only 30 minutes. Normally if this happens I will try to get her to sleep more, but I can see by her eyes that she is wide awake.

…..

The next two hours are pure pandemonium. Okay, so it isn’t that bad. But there is a reason I don’t have any pictures from this time period. I’m not sure what it is, but babies and toddlers always seem to hit their breaking points between the hours of 5 and 7pm (at least mine do). Both girls are fussy and whiny and DEMAND my attention. There are a few tears, but this is expected.

…..

6:30pm: Daddy is home!!!

6:40pm: After J is settled in, we discuss our “divide and conquer” plans for the girls’ nighttime routine. That night, J takes Claire and I get Aerin. I manage to get this shot of Claire, happily in her bubble bath (her new favorite word is “bubble!”), before going off to prepare Aerin’s bath:

6:50pm: Aerin is especially smiley during her bath. I notice that she’s really starting to resemble her father.

7:30pm: Both girls are bathed, fed, and sleeping!

J almost immediately goes back to work. (The only way that he is able to come home from work so early is because he finishes his work at home. Sometimes he’ll even work until 1 or 2 in the morning.) Since the office has an issue that needs to be taken care of asap, and because I am starving, we decide that it will be better if we eat separately that night. J will eat leftovers from the fridge when he gets a break from work, and I decide to have some jjambbong (Korean noodles and seafood in spicy sauce).

I eat my jjambbong straight from the pot. There is no need to add to the dishes when I am eating alone.

8:30pm: I load, and start the dishwasher. Remember when I said that I don’t trust the dishwasher to properly wash baby bottles? Well, my fatigue and lack of time won over. We use the Munchkin Deluxe Dishwasher Basket for our Dr. Brown bottles and it rocks. Almost the entire top rack of the dishwasher is filled with baby stuff, while the bottom rack — although you can’t tell from this picture — is only about half full. Claire and Aerin’s laundry is always quadruple the size of mine and J’s too. How do two tiny humans create so much work?

8:45pm: I take a bath. I manage to catch up on Draw Something while lying in the tub.

Once I am out of the bath, I finish up, and schedule my blog post for the next day. 

11:00pm: I unload the bottles from the dishwasher and place them on the bottle rack to dry. Although we love our Dr. Brown bottles, they are quite skinny so they do not dry properly in the dishwasher. (Don’t you love these pink Dr. Brown bottles? It’s a BRU-exclusive color.)

This is also when I tend to our home a bit: tidying up all the scattered toys, wiping down the table and countertops, sweep the floors (if needed), take out the garbage, and so forth. I also pre-prepare the girls’ bottles for the night and the next morning (two for Aerin and one for Claire) — filling the bottles with water, assembling the necessary pieces, and measuring out the powdered formula so that all we need to do is pour and mix and not have to worry about these things when we are at our sleepiest and klutziest.

Normally, I would also be preparing Claire’s meals for the next day at this time too. But my mother is supposed to come over the next day to help out, and she has offered to bring us some food, so I am in the clear for the night.

11:30pm: I kiss J goodnight and head to bed. I know that I should sleep, but I can’t resist…I watch the previous night’s episode of Mad Men (Betty got fat!).

12:15am: J comes to bed. We fall asleep sometime between 12:30 and 1:00am.

Aerin gets up twice that night, at around 2am and 5am. I take the first feeding while J gets the second. Our day starts all over at 7:30am, when Aerin wakes up for the day.

#  #  #

Although I had stated at the beginning of the Part 1 of this two-parter post that this was a “typical” day, it was not. This day was a very good one, meaning that it was a fairly easy one for me. I had actually been planning to write a “Day in the Life” post for a while now, but every time that I had started to plan one in the past, things got too hectic and I wasn’t able to continue taking pictures and/or jot down quick notes.

Do I have easier days than this? Yes. But they are rare, and typically my days are a bit more difficult than the one chronicled here.

Sometimes I am so exhausted that when Aerin is down for a nap, I turn on the TV and lie down, while holding Claire tightly (so she can’t cause mischief elsewhere) and take a 5-minute power nap. Sometimes, when both girls are screaming their lungs out, I just cry along with them. And sometimes, I call J at work and beg him to come back home.

But we do have our good days like the one recorded here. And even on the tough days, there are moments that make everything better, even if temporarily. (For instance, when I say “saranghae” — Korean for “I love you” — to Claire, she comes over and gives me a big hug. She only does this to a couple of people in her life, so I know that she knows it should be saved for those she cares about, and makes me feel all speshurr for being one of the privileged few. )

Ever since I became a mother of “two under two,” I have received a few requests for a “Day in the Life” post, detailing what a typical day is like for me.

Better late than never, right?

This post chronicles the first half of Monday, April 2, 2012. Claire had just turned 18 months old, and Aerin 5 months.

(Please excuse the poor quality of some of these pictures as they were all taken with my phone and I usually only had one chance to get a shot!)

6:54am: Aerin wakes up, which means that I must also get up for the day. I keep her sound machine on so that there is less chance of our waking J, and quietly change, feed, and play with her, waiting for the rest of our family to awake.

8:15am: Claire wakes up. She usually wakes up between 7 and 7:30, so she’s slept in a bit today. I leave Aerin in the Bumbo on the floor of our living room while I prepare Claire’s morning bottle (yes, we know we should wean her from this) and go say hi to my firstborn. She giggles when she sees me and throws her arms up so that I will pick her up. I change her while she drinks her milk.

8:20am: J wakes up. He takes over for a bit while I brush my teeth and wash my face. Then I entertain the girls while he gets ready for work.

8:45am: J leaves for work. Claire calls out “Bai!” while waving a hand.

9:00am: It is time for Aerin’s first nap. I turn on Ni Hao Kai-Lan on Amazon Instant Video (we have a computer hooked up to our TV) so that Claire can sit still while I put Aerin down. Luckily, it only takes 5 minutes for Aerin to fall asleep.

9:05am: I prepare breakfast for Claire and I: scrambled eggs and yogurt. I also make a cup of coffee for myself, and we eat — or rather, I eat and feed Claire— while sitting cross-legged on the playmat while watching Kai-Lan solve yet another problem her friends have caused. (Rintoo is a jerk, Tolee is a wuss, and Hoho is just plain annoying.) When we’re finished eating, I continue to keep her entertained with books, toys, and stickers.

9:50am: Aerin wakes up. I give Claire some Korean shrimp-flavored crackers to munch on while I go tend to the youngest member of our family with a diaper change and a bottle.

10:30am: Aerin has taken to cluster-feeding as of late. I am hoping that it is just a phase, because breaking a habit like this can be heartbreaking (i.e., letting your child cry from what they believe to be hunger). Here you can see Claire looking at us with some resentment in her eyes. Also notice that she’s placed her giraffe in the Bumbo. Lately, whatever she sees Aerin doing, she wants to do it herself or have the giraffe do it too.

10:45am: Here’s another example of Claire acting jealous. She started to cry when I placed Aerin in the activity gym so I had to scoop her back up. (We’re working on disciplining our toddler, but it’s a slow process with Aerin in the picture!) And as soon as Aerin was gone? She placed her giraffe there and turned on the lights and music, as you can see below.

11:00am: Ni Hao Kai-Lan is Claire’s favorite show so when I saw these Beanie Babies on Amazon, I immediately ordered them. I know that television is not recommended for toddlers, but mama needs a break sometimes. Claire obviously loves these little guys and has played with them all the time since we got them last week. She will take Rintoo (the tiger) and make him “Rowr!”, throw Hoho (the monkey) into the air because he is always hopping on the show, and even tries to tie a balloon to Lulu (the hippo)’s horns because that’s how she flies on the show.

11:45am: The past hour or so has mostly consisted of me playing with the girls: giving Aerin tummy time, reading to them, singing, playing with Claire’s toys, helping build Claire’s vocabulary by pointing out various objects, etc. Aerin is usually okay for about 10-15 minutes by herself on the Bumbo or on the mat, but after that I will have to carry her. After 15-30 minutes or so of this, she will get fussy and I will put her in the Bjorn. During the times that she is being carried or in the carrier, I try my best to keep Claire from getting jealous by paying extra attention to her and being overly energetic. Needless to say, this is very tiring.

12:00pm: It is time for Aerin’s second nap, and Claire’s only nap of the day. I try to time it so that they overlap, and today I am in luck. I turn on some Pororo music videos to keep Claire entertained, and go put Aerin down for her nap.

12:05pm: In the 5 minutes or so I had left Claire alone, she has gotten ahold of the baby wipes and pulled out a bunch. I save the ones that are on the floor in a ziplock bag so that I can use them to wipe up minor spills, as well as spot-clean our microfiber couch (apparently, baby wipes are what furniture stores recommend to spot-treat microfiber).

12:07pm: I change Claire’s diaper and put her down for her nap. As always, I enjoy watching her wrestle with her giraffe before falling asleep.

12:15pm: I finally have some alone time to myself. I sit down for a few minutes with my laptop, baby monitor on one side and a cup of instant coffee on the other. (I love Asian instant coffee, because they include creamer and sugar in the powered mix without making it too sweet.) I quickly check email for the first time that day, and start researching and writing my blog post for the next day.

12:20pm: Before I get too comfortable, I start preparing Claire’s lunch: miyukgook (Korean seaweed soup) with chopped clams, boiled with rice so that it has the consistency of jook, or rice porridge. I know that she can have soup with regularly cooked rice, but she likes it better this way.

12:25pm: I also pop a Korean sweet potato into the steamer and set it for 40 minutes. Claire’s a very fickle eater these days, so I try to have as much variety as possible available for her to eat.

I go back to my computer and savor my coffee with a piece of toast. I feel horrible saying this, but sitting here, in the peace and quiet without the girls, seems pretty darn good.

Stay tuned for part two, which will be published this Friday…

This weekend, as he does every year, J will be decorating our home for Lunar New Year with various Chinese paper cutouts and prints which are meant to ward off bad spirits and bring good fortune to the household in the new year.

For those who may be unfamiliar with Chinese culture, the Lunar New Year is a BIG deal in China. Workers usually take an entire month off so that they can travel to be with their families, and the weeks-long celebrations are loud, exuberant, and can be pretty intense. Since J’s birthday falls in the same week as the Lunar New Year Day this year, he will be taking the entire week off next week to properly celebrate both.

Koreans are not quite as into the Lunar New Year as the Chinese are, so I usually just sit back and watch him do his thing and only participate when asked to. However, when I happened upon these adorable paper crafts by Canon, I just knew that I needed to add to our New Year decorations with them.

The best part? They are all FREE and available on the Canon website! All you need to do is print them out and follow the accompanying instructions.

Message Dolls (Wealth Dolls)
Chinese Lantern
String Decoration: Lion Dance	String Decoration: Fortune
Chinese Dragon	Lion Dance

I had no idea such a fun section existed on the electronics giant’s website. I am particularly in love with the Milky Way Decoration Set, which is inspired by one of my favorite tales from childhood. (I thought for sure that this was a Korean fairytale, but apparently the same story exists in China and Japan too.) You can be sure that I will be making it for — or even with — my girls in the near future.

Be sure to check out the rest of Paper Crafts by Canon site for more great projects! 

I have decided to implement some regularity to this blog. I believe that not only will it give readers something to look forward to on a weekly basis, it will also force me to be more creative as well as provide a focus when I am struggling with writer’s block.

The new schedule will not be too rigid, because anyone with kids — heck, without kids too — knows that life is anything but predictable. So for now, I plan on doing the following:

• Cool Tool Tuesdays, where I feature a favorite item from my life and spotlight it so that others who are not familiar with the product may also benefit from it. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, hardware, material, or website that I have personally tried and love.
• Bloggy Thursdays, where I share with my fellow bloggers tips and tutorials to maximize your own blog. While I do not consider myself an expert, I do like to think that after 10+ years of blogging — in addition to my technical knowledge — I know more than the average blogger when it comes to making your blog better and more attractive to readers. (Except for content. I have no real tips on content. ). Since I currently use WordPress and it happens to be the most popular blogging platform in the world, these tips will mostly cater to the WordPress crowd.
• Reverent Sundays, where I write about an aspect of my faith. This can deal with recent books I have read on Christianity, my thoughts on religion and current issues, as well as particular messages I find touching and/or powerful. I am aware that most of my readers are not religious, and that is fine — you are more than welcome to not read these posts if they make you uncomfortable, enrage you, or bore you to tears. I am open to debates and discussions in the comments section as long as everyone remains respectful.

Now, on to my first installment of Cool Tool Tuesdays…

The two most-used appliances in my kitchen are our rice cooker and the Panasonic NC-EH30PC 3-Quart Electric Thermo Pot.

The rice cooker is a no-brainer for an Asian household that eats rice practically every day. But the electric water boiler and dispenser? I personally had no idea such things even existed before I got married.  However, a water boiler/dispenser was the first appliance that my MIL bought for us and it quickly became one of my favorite items in the kitchen.

We use the Panasonic Electric Thermo Pot to easily prepare tea and other hot drinks, as well as instant dishes that require boiling-hot water. It became indispensable when we had babies — instead of purchasing a bottle warmer or running the bottle under hot water from the sink, we just fill a mug with hot water from the Thermo Pot and let the frozen/refrigerated bottle sit in there for a couple of minutes.

As you can see in the picture above, there are 4 temperatures to choose from (we usually keep it at 190°), and the built-in sensor ensures that your water will stay at that temperature unless specified. The “Lock/Unlock” button guards against unintended dispensing (it automatically locks after just a few seconds after dispensing), and the power cord is the magnetic kind that breaks away easily under pressure. Additionally, the Thermo Pot automatically shuts off if the water level gets too low.

J can’t believe that I never heard of these types of electric water boiler/dispenser units until I got married. He says that they are a staple in all Chinese households — mostly for the tea — and wonders why not all western households have them.

My MIL had actually purchased for us a Tiger brand when we first got married, but it broke after about three years of continued use. The specific model we had has since been discontinued, so we got a Zojirushi brand to replace it. However, Zojirushi had one major flaw: there is a big hole at the bottom of the boiler where particulates get caught, so it constantly needed to get cleaned.

My MIL ended up comparing various brands in person before choosing this Panasonic version. We still like the discontinued Tiger one the best, but this is a close second. (It also doesn’t hurt that the Panasonic is the cheapest of the three brands! )

I love my Panasonic Electric Thermo Pot so much that I gifted it to my parents for Christmas two years ago, and they in turn liked it so much that they purchased an extra one so that they could keep one at home and another at the store.

The Panasonic Electric Thermo Pot comes in three sizes: 2.3 quart, 3 quart, and 4.1 quart.

Disclaimer: the links in this post are Amazon Associates links, where I will get a small percentage of the purchase price if anyone orders through these links.

IKEA has once again teamed up with photographer Carl Kleiner for a new campaign that highlights its kitchenware. Evoking the successful Homemade is Best campaign, Kleiner, in conjunction with stylist Evelina Bratell, has beautified simple bowls, plates, utensils, and the like into divine works of art.

For more information, be sure to check out www.carlkleiner.com and minkmgmt.com.

Via Trendland.