June 28, 2013

5:30 am - Wake up to the sound of Baby Ying Ying asking for her breakfast. I did some quick math, and a double take, on my way into her bedroom. I hadn't seen her in about 8 hours. Way to go, Baby Ying Ying!! These "real" nights don't happen too often, but I'm always grateful when they do. Of course, when I came back to bed at 5:45, Lo Gung was a little confused, and then disappointed. It's summer, and it's just as bright at 5:45am as it is at 7:30am. His alarm was set to go off at 6am, so he could catch an early morning session of tennis before work. If you have never had an infant in the house, perhaps you don't know the despair of losing 15 minutes of sleep...

6:15am - Lo Gung is finished getting dressed, and kissed me goodbye. Ying Ying was still in her crib, jabbering to herself. (I had put her back after her feeding, because I don't like to encourage getting up before 7. It sets a bad precedent.) 2 minutes later, I hear Ying Ying stop jabbering...and in comes Lo Gung, with a bundle of Good Morning, Mama! "She wasn't going back to sleep." Uh-huh. Sure. You just wanted an excuse to cuddle her before work!

Good morning, Ying Ying! 

6:30am - Siu Jeun comes into my room, bleary eyed. "Hi, Mom. I just forgot that I'm not supposed to come out before 7 and I was supposed to read books in bed." Usually I would send him straight back to bed, but today I was still cross-eyed and trying hard to fall back asleep while Ying Ying repeatedly kicked me in the gut. "Oh, well...since you're up, you can play with the baby!" That bought me a whole 10 minutes of Eyes Closed. 

6:45am - I give up. It's unusually warm and sticky in Seattle right now, so I got up to take a shower before the rest of the house (Read: Ming Wai) was up. 

7:15am - It's time for breakfast, Mama! I think Siu Jeun had a Dead Eye*, and a bowl of goldfish crackers. I don't totally remember. I'm not a morning person, and everything before 9 am is kind of a blur, except for the clock. 

(*The story of the Dead Eye: When I was a kid, Dad made me One Eyed Pirates, otherwise known as Boston Eggs, Toad in the Hole, or whatever else you call it. A piece of fried bread with a hole cut out, filled with a fried egg. Well, Siu Jeun doesn't like his yolk running, and he will only EAT the yolk if it's scrambled with the whites. So we had a Pirate with a scrambled disc of egg in the middle. But it has to be cut up into squares and served with syrup to be tasty - duh. So, it just became easier to chop a slice of bread into cubes, throw it on the griddle with some oil and a scrambled egg, and fry it up all together. Voila. Dead Eye. Siu Jeun came up with the name himself. No idea why it's a Dead Eye, but now at least you know the definition!)

7:45am - Siu Jeun is done with breakfast, I've eaten a slice (or two) of cinnamon chip bread with Nutella (because, seriously - if breakfast can be sweet, YES), and now he's off to find Things to Do. 

Here he is, counting up the tallies on his "Yes Ma'am"** chart, to see how many more he needs to get to 40 (i.e. - earn a Happy Meal). 

(**"Yes Ma'am Chart" - Every time I ask the kids to do something, and they respond with "Yes, ma'am!" and do it with a smile, they get a tally. 40 tallies is a Happy Meal. 300 tallies is a family trip to Great Wolf Lodge.)

(Siu Jeun counted up his tallies, and surprised me when he told me he only needs 2 more for a happy meal. He actually needs 3, but I was surprised his answer was so close!)

8am - I remembered that a neighbor had requested a loaf of white cinnamon chip bread, so I got that started. 

8:15am - Ming Wai wakes up and gets her breakfast. If I remember right, it was a small bowl of goldfish crackers and half of an apple. (Lo Gung and I went to Costco last night - the lure of New Foods was too much for her this morning.) 

9:15am - Ming Wai leaves with my sister for the last day of Drama/Kids Camp, and my niece MiMi comes in to play with Siu Jeun.

11:15am - I take Siu Jeun and MiMi to afternoon Kids Camp. 

12pm - I remembered that Ming Wai has been requesting cherry clafoutis all week. I look up a recipe and decide to get crazy and sub in almond milk to make it dairy free so I can partake. (I am temporarily dairy free, as long as I am nursing Baby Ying Ying.)

It was a bad idea. Please note: subbing straight across almond milk for milk and cream is bad. I now have a delicious pie plate full of of cherries and vanilla scented watery scrambled eggs. Boo. However, there is no way that is stopping me from eating it. It -is- actually really tasty. It's just not creamy like it should be. 

I snapped this picture of my mother in law sweeping up just as I was finishing up my clafoutis dishes. My mother and father in law are spending their days hanging out with us, and their nights in my parents' guest bedroom down the street, while they wait to take possession of their new home here in Seattle. I think my mother in law (MaMa) is unable to sit still. My house hasn't been this clean in quite some time! Dishes stay in the sink for only moments before she swoops in and washes them before I can get to it. It's like magic. 

2pm - Picked up four tired and wet kids from their last day of Kids Camp (today's theme was Splash Day. There was a lot of water involved.) 

5pm - Dinner (chicken feet soup, per Siu Jeun's special request, fermented tofu noodles with cabbage and shitake mushrooms, and ma po tofu) (I'm going to get very, very fat now that MaMa is here for good!)

6pm - Back to Kids Camp, this time to watch the culmination of Drama Camp - a performance of The Golden Touch. Ming Wai was riveting as Secretary #2. Her three lines were loud and clear, which actually is a huge improvement for her. I'll mark tonight up as a success! 

9pm - All three kids are bathed, dressed, teeth brushed, stories and scriptures read, and tucked into bed. Lo Gung turned on The Amazing Spiderman, and I retreated to our room for a few moments of quiet. 

Happy Friday, y'all.