Ups and Downs...

There are definitely some ups and downs to being sick all week. Ayda has experienced many of those this week. She started with a mild cold two weeks ago. She lovingly gave it to me and I'll say it was pretty brutal. Then we both seemed to be on the mend mid week last week when it came back with a vengeance on Ayda. By Monday she was feeling pretty crummy and thus began day one of house arrest! She started running a fever monday night and I was actually thankful. Finally, she would hopefully beat this thing. This is only Ayda's second fever ever but she is just pathetic when she has one. It breaks my heart but I tell her it is good to have one so it can kill the yucky germies. And it means she gets away with more! And so begins a journey of Ayda's Ups and Downs to being sick and at home all this week!

(Excuse the quality of some of the pictures...I took a few with my iPhone)

DOWN: 102.5 fever means you just feel rotten. But you get EXTRA cuddle time and tv time with mommy in bed!

UP: Mommy feels bad that you have not stepped foot outside in a few days so she pulls out some markers and lets you go to town coloring. Poster board mainly, but hands and face got some color too! Her first art project is framed and will be hanging in the kids room in Kevin's office!

UP: Mommy announces that you have been fever free for over 24 hours and your cough has improved so we are going on an outing!!! Yippee!!!

DOWN: We only walked to the mailbox and back and you had to wear your "ski" jacket and hat. The temp outside? Oh about 55 degrees...but mommy was not taking ANY chances!

UP: Mommy pretty much let you eat anything you wanted just to get something in you. Your appetite was less than impressive for a few days. So you figured out real quick where the left over goodies were from Chinese New Year!

DOWN: Due to house arrest the closest you got to fresh air and playing outside was sitting at the window that was cracked about 6 inches and playing with your toys in the window sill. Poor Steven was found, still standing, there a few hours later!

UP: You get to relax on Mommy and Daddy's bed as much as you want! And you have gotten to watch Baby Einstein: My First Signs quite a bit (Side note...Ayda has learned lots more signs because of this too!).

UP: Mommy is allowing you to hold on to the Blankie and "Nigh Nigh" (ie Pacifier) throughout the day. Starting next week it is back to only at bed time!

UP: Mommy is so thrilled you are back to your spunky self that she laughed and QUICKLY grabbed the camera when she found you standing on the night stand! Mommy will now have to make sure that is a No No from here on out though!

So...even though we have been on house arrest for days now, we are making the best of it. We did venture to Target today for a quick stop. That was enough to wear Ayda out and she came home and slept for 2 hours. Definitely not 100% but I almost have my baby girl completely back to normal. Whew!!!

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Chinese New Year is a big deal in the Chinese house. There are lots of traditions and it's a big celebration. We celebrated last night with a big family dinner. Kevin's Aunt Ivory made a delicious meal and we enjoyed spending time together. I want so badly for Ayda to learn about her chinese culture. It was fun to watch her be a part of the festivities. She even got to wear a cute outfit for the occasion.

She was politely begging me to let her eat some of the yummy treats. They were just so tempting sitting on the table like that! I didn't let her dig into the sweets and junk food but we

compromised with a Mum-Mum!

She and her Grandpa Lin are two peas in a pod. She LOVES spending time with him!

We love playing Mahjong anytime there are four of us around to play but on New Year's Eve it was a must!!!

Ayda helping Aunt Ivory cook dinner! (Or just being a ham and giving her lots of love!)

Being silly with Daddy. I think she will be just like me in that she just "loves her little family"! I absolutely love spending time with my family or Kevin's family. Ayda seems to just light up when she is with her family too! I love it!

A quick picture with momma!

Ready to dig into the yummy dinner! Even Ayda has an official seat at the table now. We still use the highchair 90% of the time, but she loves to sit at the table with the adults too!

The traditional Red Envelopes. It is tradition for the "children" (kevin and I got one too!) of the family to receive Red Envelopes with money in them. We gave Ayda one this year (forgot to last year...OOPS!) and she got one from her Grandparents. She is rather fascinated with money these days. So last night the fun just continued as she played with more money! But...this week she will learn savings too as most of it will go into the bank! hehe!!

Kevin's mom is in LA visiting his sister, Sherry! She had a baby a few weeks ago so she is much needed out there to help the family get settled. We missed having her but it sounds like she is having fun spending time with the grandkids out there!!!

Quick Catch Up

I had a few minutes and thought I would sign on and do a quick recap of our week. My close friend Lauren came for a visit this past weekend. Ayda LOVES Aunt Lauren and was tickled to wake up on Friday morning to find her in the kitchen. From that point on in the weekend she really could care less if I was there or not. She was busy playing with Lauren. I love that even though we moved down here, Ayda still recognizes and adores people we were so close to in ATL. Ayda and I have a cold that has hit us hard since mid week last week. This is the longest Ayda has had anything and as always she is handling it well. It slowed her down a little this weekend but she still had fun. Lauren left on Sunday so Ayda and I have taken it pretty easy since. We have managed to get out of the house a little. I don't want to expose other kiddos to the crud so we have mainly stayed at home. We went to the park Sunday morning to get some fresh air and take a few pictures and then to target yesterday. Other than that we have stayed in. I am longing for the day to get out of here, work out again, have playdates, etc. Soon though, I hope!

Here are some pictures from the park!

Simple Pleasures

A blog I follow posted today about simple pleasures. I thought it was such a neat idea to write down some of life's simple pleasures. With the deep sadness of Haiti, general ick always occurring in the world, watching dear friends struggle, etc. I thought even my spirit could use this to just remind me of God's blessings throughout my day. The little things that make me smile. So here goes!

Spending each day with this little girl! Hearing her giggle, watching her explore, seeing that sweet personality blossom everyday!

Looking up into the sky and seeing a beautiful sunset

Rain showers when the sun is still shining.

Curling up under a blanket (even in FL) and watching tv or a movie with my hubby.

Cooking a good dinner.

I cool breeze on a hot summer night.

A nice dinner out with Kevin.

Butterflies.

Reading bible stories to Ayda and watching her carry her bible around.

Chats with my mom.

Warm brownies with ice cream.

Linery Dinery.

iPray (a mom's bible study)

Wow. I could probably go on and on with my list. Perhaps I'll do a part two, but for now I will rejoice in these simple pleasures. And continue to pray for those that are hurting. Good night!