Chez Mui Richard

Great-Aunt Loretta came to visit for two weeks from Hong Kong and so we spent a long weekend up in Connecticut visiting Great-Uncle Savio. Packing the car was oh-so-fun as usual although not quite as painful as our last trip to Hong Kong. I figure it was practice for us to get ready for our trip to France in August.

Chloe was loving the grassy lawn, the wide open spaces… she completely rearranged practically everything in Savio’s house and we were able to avoid breaking anything! =0)

I know every mom says the same thing about her kids, particularly her daughter. But Chloe has a really special place in my heart and when she gives me these rare, little smiles of her, she melts my heart. She’s my sweetie.

Chloe having a grand ol’ time running around a huge grassy lawn. I think it actually might be her first “real” lawn and not that NYC astro-turf stuff…

And this video just makes me laugh. I buy some sidewalk chalk for Chloe and what does my mom draw? A hop scotch. Chloe’s two years old. How is a two year old going to grasp hop scotch? Ha ha. I think it’s even funnier that while my mom is explaining it, Chloe decides to EAT the chalk. HA.

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The picture on the left was one of forty I believe. That’s how many attempts it takes to get a semi-decent picture of both my kids at the same time. And the picture on the bottom right is my son asleep during a mid day nap and clearly there’s too much room in his crib because he has to warp himself into this contorted shape in order to fall asleep AND he has to bury the blanket in his face. Sigh. Silly man.

And this was a video while we were trying to get said picture above… as you can see, they didn’t sit well together for very long.

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Sebastien spent most of the weekend being abused by the adults – there was so much open space that we would just make him walk back and forth between us and he seems to be getting the hang of it! He’ll even let go and start walking on his own (granted of course there’s motivation… i.e. food that you have that he wants).

This walking video was the beginning of the weekend…

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And this video was when we returned and went to the schoolyard across the street. Lots of great progress in just a few short days! Although I think Sebastien was just running away from the crazy stalker girl…

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Rompers are amazing. I wish they made adult rompers and they were cool. Who doesn’t want one outfit on a summer day that’s a t-shirt and shorts in one?

 

My cool daughter with her too cool Dad, ha ha.

Chloe is a super fast learner. Show her something once and already she knows what to do. It might take her a few times on her own after she’s seen you do it but then watch out, she’s on the run.

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Laurent is the best. He sends me emails in the middle of the day at work with pictures of the kids. For instance, I got the medley of pictures below one day in the middle of work. I had just taken a big gulp of water when I opened the email and when I saw the look on Chloe’s face and the email caption from Laurent that said “Mom we miss you”, I choked, nearly to death, and had tears coming out of my eyes. My coworker had to stop by and ask if I was still alive, that’s how much water I swallowed down the wrong tube. But it was so worth it. These kids I tell you.

Daddy and Chloe messing around in the garden. Doesn’t she look just like him?

Some of Chloe’s crazy dancing…

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Cousin Abby came for a visit this month, she’s so BIG and look at her long hair! She’s so beautiful. Chloe, surprisingly enough, was so polite to her and shared her toys and wanted to play with Abby. I don’t know if it’s because Abby was a girl or because Abby was about her age or if it’s just not her brother, but why can’t Chloe be that nice to Sebastien instead of always beating him up? Sigh.

So we’re marking the heights of the kids along the door molding in their room. Not sure if you can see it clearly through this picture but all the way on the bottom is the length of the kids when they were born: Chloe at 18.5″ and Sebastien at 19.0″ and in the middle is the kids at 1 year of age: Chloe at 29.25″ and Sebastien at 29.50″.  It’s a tight race, although I’m sure it won’t be long before Sebastien is bigger than his sister.

And I don’t know what took me so long to finally put Sebastien in Chloe’s lap while having his bottle, but there it is finally.

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Love my kids. When they’re sweet, they’re so sweet.

 

How quickly a year goes by! Mr. Sebastien Richard Mui weighed in at 20 lbs 11.5 oz and 29.5 inches in length at his first year doctor’s checkup.

Thanks to all the family and friends that came by to celebrate Sebastien’s first birthday!

Here’s a quick video recapping Sebastien’s first year, enjoy! Sadly, had to cut the video into two parts due to upload limits. #technicaldifficulties Oh well, you’ll still see the whole thing. =0)

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I was so thankful that I was able to see Chloe’s first steps and catch them on film. I was worried I wouldn’t see Sebastien’s first steps but both of my kids blessed me with waiting till I was home to put on a show. Check out Sebastien’s first steps a few days before his big first birthday!

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