My Happiness

Last night was a good night.  Tyler unexpectedly didn't have to work so we got to spend the evening as a family.  We decided to go downtown to City Creek to check out the new shops and buildings.  It was nice out so we wandered around.  Greyson loved the fountains and wanted to swim.  We went to the Disney store and that lucky little boy got Red the firetruck from Cars.  We watched the "choo choos" (Trax) go by and went on the escalators.  Dinner was Chinese food in the food court.  While we ate, it started raining so we had to sprint through the unconvered sections to make it back to our car.  On the way home, we all sang the zoo song together and looked for lightning.

Reaching in!

I felt really happy.  I was thinking through the events of the night and wondering what it was that made me so happy.  And I realized it was the little things--Greyson's excitement to see the fountains, watching Tyler and Greyson interact and seeing what a good dad Tyler is, little eyes that lit up when we went in the Disney store, holding hands, laughing as we ran through the rain, the look on G's face when he got his new firetruck and then drove it everywhere while we tried to eat dinner, sharing really delicious bites of Chinese food, opening up fortune cookies and sharing them, listening to Greyson jabber in the backseat, pointing out the horse carriages so he could see them, watching G run (it's comical), the mutual understanding Tyler and I shared when we knew we wanted to get Greyson a new toy, and just being together as a family.

I love Tyler's smile in this

This morning I was still thinking about what a good night we had, and I started making a mental list of all the little things that bring me happiness.  And I wanted to record them as a reminder to myself, and as a way to count my blessings.  I don't think happiness comes in large packages (at least not consistently) so it helps to see the little things that create happiness and dwell on those.  Here is some of my happiness:
When Tyler holds me and I melt into him.
When I say, "I love you Greyson" and he answers, "I love you mama".
An unexpected kiss from either of my boys.
A compliment from a friend.
A compliment from a stranger.
Hitting green lights (especially the one off the exit at work--it's always red!).
Good hair days.
A clean house (even if I was the one to clean it).
Holding hands with either of my boys.
A feeling of accomplishment.
Tyler's thoughtfulness (this encompasses so much).
New clothes or shoes and having someone notice.
A better price than expected.
Surprises.
When Tyler gets home early from work.
When Greyson says, "hold you" and I can.
Eating out.
Cuddling with my honey.
Watching Ty and G wrestle and monkey around.
Being the "safe" mama that Greyson can escape to from daddy.
Feeling this little baby wiggle and move and push around in my belly.
A sincere thank you.
Hugs.
Knowing how incredibly blessed I am.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Favorite truck jamis

We were sitting on the couch, and Greyson walks up to Tyler and whispers in his ear and then starts laughing.  Then he walks over to me and tells me a gibberish secret, and again starts laughing.  Tyler and I are cracking up at him and he realizes that he's being funny, so he goes back and forth between the two of us telling us secrets and then laughing at whatever he said.  Those secrets will remain secrets though because we could not figure out what he was saying.


Daddy & Greyson

Recently, Greyson started referring to me as "the mama".  He got out his tool set and said, "Need to fix the mama" and then plucked at my clothes with some pliers.  "Tickle the mama."  "Get the mama."  "Need the mama."

Mama & Greyson

We had just gotten home from church and Greyson asked, "Daddy work?"  Tyler responded and told him that he was not going to work and asked, "Greyson work?"  Greyson said yes, so Tyler asked him where he works.  He answered simply, "zoo."

Reeses are delicious

We can't get enough tickling at our house!  G is a tickling FIEND.  He tickles everyone and everything--I've seen him tickle the couch, my phone, the toilet, his toys, everything.  It's also his mark of acceptance.  If he loves you, he will tickle you.  And his tickling is accompanied by him saying, "ticka-ticka-ticka-tah!"

G and I did 4 weeks of Parent-Tot swim lessons.  He did really well, but he shivered almost the whole time every time.  Poor boy!

For about a week straight, Greyson watched Monsters, Inc. every single day.  And he would really watch it; it wasn't just background while playing.  Part of it is because he gets to watch it on his own personal screen--the pad (more commonly known as an iPad).  Watching movies on the pad is way better than on the TV!  Anyway, last year when we went to Disneyland we got our picture taken with Sully.  Tyler got the picture out to show Greyson that he, mom, and dad were next to a monster.  We thought he would really like to see it and be excited about it.  Greyson looked at it, shrugged his shoulder, muttered a disinterested, "huh" and went back to his movie!

California Adventures 2011 with Sully

I thought Greyson was a counting genius.  He's had 1 and 2 down for awhile (more like, "2...1...go!!") and occassionally three, but that was about it.  I heard Greyson counting at the grocery store, "6, 7, 8" and I was so impressed by my little boy!  But in reality, we're still missing a few numbers.  Greyson counts, "1, 2, 6, 7,8".  It's a work in progress.

Big boy bed!

Our kind neighbors let Greyson jump on their tramp and play on their swingset, and Greyson basically thinks their backyard is his backyard.  He loves to jump on the couch, bed, floor, over cracks in the cement, over toys, on top of toys, when he is excited or happy, or for no reason at all.  So their tramp is heaven to him.  He doesn't get tired of jumping either; he just wants to jump all the time.  One day he was jumping on their tramp and asked if mama wanted to "jump tamp".  I explained that I was too big and couldn't because of the baby in my tummy.  He looked at me and said, "Big mama?"  Good thing I love that boy.

Blue delight

A Parenting Achievement

Since Greyson was a tiny baby, he has not been a good sleeper.  We struggled and struggled with getting him to go to sleep, and then with getting him to stay asleep for more than 45 minutes.  Every kid has their "thing", and Greyson's was sleeping.
I remember when he was still really little (maybe 3 or 4 months old) and Tyler was working in Sandy at 6 am so he got up at 4:30 to be to work, and I got up at 5:30 in order to have both of us ready, fed, to the babysitter grandma's house and to work by 8.  That little boy would NOT go to bed before midnight.  I tried everything, but it was a fight every single night.  I would dread putting him down for a nap or for the night because it was just miserable.  So much time was spent trying to convince that little man to sleep by very exhausted parents. 
There have been improvements and things have gotten much better since he was a baby, but we used to have to lie down with him until he fell asleep for naps, and we'd have to stay in his room until he fell asleep at night (which was sometimes 10 minutes and sometimes 50).  He finally got to the point where he would take naps by himself, and I knew something had to change at night so I wasn't spending an hour waiting for him to fall asleep every night.  After about a week of him crying and crying and me being the mean mom, Greyson will go to sleep by himself in his crib.  It is nothing short of a miracle! 
Bedtime is not the worst part of the night anymore.  We have our routine and he might hang out and talk for a bit in his crib, but he goes to sleep by himself.  I don't have to stay in his room or rock him or adjust his blankets every time he moves.  I feel like I have gained so much time at night because it's so much less effort to put him to bed!
Any parent can understand this is truly an achievement. :)

Hamburger or Hot Dog?

20 weeks.  It was time.
We had our ultrasound for Baby Q on January 18th.  I was both excited and nervous.  The tech examined this baby from head to toe (healthy! healthy!), leaving the best for last.  Then we caught a glimpse of some little legs.  And a hot dog.
Baby Quong is a BOY!!!

Hot dog shot

I was, well, shocked.  There's no question about it--he's a boy--but I truly believed this baby was a girl.  And honestly, that's what I wanted and that's what I thought so I was completely surprised to find out I was dead wrong.  Of course I am happy to be blessed with a baby and of course I want any kind I get.  I think G and new baby will be best buds and I love that idea.  We do have a lot of boy stuff already, but they will be born in opposite seasons so clothes-sharing won't work out so well until they're older.  It will be wonderful to have another little man in our lives.  And Greyson is so stinkin cute, this baby is bound to be completely adorable.

Left foot (on left side of pic)

Right arm and hand (top of pic)

Profile of our little man

Bring on the football team.

 20 weeks

Sweet little nothings

Best smile

Greyson was asking for cake and I told him he couldn't have any because I was making dinner.  I decided to make muffins and I got the muffin tin out of the cupboard.  Greyson saw it, yelled, "Cakies!" and started jumping up and down shouting, "Yay!  Yay!  Yay!  Yay!  Yay!"

Sometimes he won't eat dinner, but his cars will!

At Ashley and Kendall's house, we were all sitting in the basement watching TV.  Greyson went upstairs (it's a split level so we could kind of see him still) and climbed up on the piano bench.  He started playing piano and singing to his heart's content and to our great delight.  He entertained himself for a good five or ten minutes.

Car love

G probably learns at least one new word a day.  I am so impressed by how smart he is.  He tries to repeat what we say.  I heard him say "Woody" for the first time (he's already got Buzz down pat).  I was pulling food out of the fridge for dinner one night and said, "and we need the pickles" and Greyson copied me and said, "pick-le?"  He knows how to say colors (blue, red, green, yellow, orange, brown, white, black, pink) but still has a little trouble distinguishing which color is which.  He says "please" like "peas".  He says thank you without us reminding or asking him to.  It's kind of a "ank oo" but we know what he means.  Horse sounds like "herse" and helicopter is "copper".  When he wants you to hold him he says, "hold you".  Nose is "news" and because snow kind of sounds like nose, it's also "news".  His favorite Cars are "Mer" and "McCean". 

Shaving like daddy

A few weeks ago we were shopping at Kohl's.  Greyson heard a baby crying and he turns to me and says, "Baby?  Sad?" and then talked about this "sad baby" for the rest of the night.  The next day he remembered the sad baby and started talking about it again.  Now, even weeks later, we still have talks about the sad baby.  If you ask him what a sad baby says, he leans his head back and says, "waaaaaaa" with a sad look on his face.

Cuddled up

I was changing Greyson's diaper and gave him a dinosaur to keep him entertained.  He was playing with the dino on his tummy and I said, "Dinosaur, you do not bite Greyson's buttons!  Don't bite the buttons!" Greyson thought I was scolding him and burst into tears!  I felt so bad!  It was the funniest and saddest thing!

G and Mom

Cookies

Sometimes when are baking sugar cookies, we get so hungry that we go from this:

To this:

A Big Little Secret

I STINK at keeping secrets.  I will freely admit it.  I just get so excited about things I want to tell everyone!  It's hard to keep things in when it's good news!  Why shouldn't I share when it makes me and others happy?
But then I had a secret I had to keep.  And despite slipping up a few times, I did a really good job of keeping this secret for a LONG time.  I think it helped that there were a handful of people who shared this secret--the people who were most important knew--so we could be happy and excited together.  Because this secret directly affects Tyler and Greyson, so we all kept the secret.
And now the secret is out.
The Quong Dynasty is expanding!  We are expecting a new addition to our family June 4, 2012.  We found out towards the end of September and didn't tell our families until November!  It was a long time to keep a secret, but it was worth keeping.
We had our first doctor's appointment at 9 weeks at the beginning of November and both baby and I were healthy.  We got to have an ultrasound and see our tiny one and hear its heartbeat and it was beautiful.  I can't help but cry when I see that baby and it's really real!  Sometimes pregnancy is more of an idea that you're trying to grasp until you get a confirmation through an ultrasound or you start to look prego or you start to feel the baby.  After we found out, I couldn't stop thinking about it, but at the same time I would forget and then suddenly think, "Wow!  I'm pregnant!"
This pregnancy has been a lot different than with Greyson.  The biggest difference was morning sickness.  With G, I really wasn't sick and only remember a handful of times feeling nauseous (mostly when I smelled coffee--gross!).  With this baby, I had morning sickness almost every morning, but thankfully it was mild (if you can call nausea mild) and I never threw up.  I got better as the weeks progressed and I kind of figured out how to curb it, but some mornings were rough.  I think it's lame too that it's during the first trimester that you feel sick when you can't tell anyone that you're pregnant and explain why you feel sick.  My boss sits right next to me at work and I'm pretty sure she knew well before I told her because the all the signs said pregnant!
So far, I've had less heartburn than with Greyson.  There's an old wives tale that says if you have heartburn a lot during pregnancy, your baby will have a lot of hair.  That was definitely true with G.  I hope this baby comes out with hair too.  I like 'em hairy.  So bring on the heartburn.  And the Tums.
The plus side to morning sickness is that there is another old wives tale that says it's more likely that you will have a girl.  I want a girl.  I can't help it.  Tyler secretly admitted to me that he also wants a girl, but he teases relentlessly that we are having ALL boys--enough to staff a football team!  HA.  I feel like this little baby might just be a girl too....  We'll find out on January 18th!
I feel like the timing of this baby is perfect.  This is exactly when he/she is supposed to come.  Greyson will be two and a half so he will have more time to grow up and more mama & daddy time before things change.  And I'm glad that I won't be prego in the heat of summer, and that I will be able to take my kiddos outside.  It's just the right time.
I am really excited to have this new little baby in our lives....thrilled and scared.  Babies are blessings and I am grateful to be a mom and to have an addition to our family.  Yay for Baby Quong!

9 weeks: Head is on the left and body on the right.  Baby's arms were up by its face.