Taylor's 5 Month Update

Taylor is 5 months old and doing great! Here are some highlights:

• Taylor is still bouncing away on the Jumparoo! He is obsessed with bouncing. If you hold him upright he just starts bouncing his legs and literally gets fussy if he doesn't get good bouncing time everyday. Crazy strong legs on this kid!! I swear he could stand if he had better balance.
• He still LOVES to be on his tummy. He has rolled a couple times from tummy to back but is not very interested in rolling.  
• He is wearing 6-9 month clothing and even some 12 month stuff. He is weighing over 17 lbs.
• Tay is just a happy kid - super smiley and laid back. He loves to hang out with us and watch Avery do Avery stuff. He is very attentive and really seems to be paying attention to what people are doing. just cracks me up how he is our little sweet observer.
• He is really chatty - talks away all day. And gets really excited about it.
• He is getting more into toys - reaches for them and plays with them. And mostly chews on them! His favorite is this caterpillar chew toy that Avery got him before he was born.
• Tay still loves the carrier and really loves being bounced on the exercise ball. If I am not the one putting him to bed, he always gets bounced on the ball and it's a great way to calm him.
• Sleep is up and down. We got through crying it out and he goes in his crib with no issues between 8 and 9. Sometimes he sleeps great and only gets up once a night but lately he has decided he wants to get up every hour or two and hates being put back in his crib so I end up bringing him to bed with me when I get sick of getting out bed. Hoping it's a phase and he'll go back to staying in the crib all night. I think part of the problem is I am a super light sleeper and react to every noise he makes.
• He finally got his first cold - very runny nose and has made him a little cranky but he's handled it pretty well.
• He has 2 bottom teeth and I bet the top 2 are on their way based on how much he wants to chew and teeth on everything - especially his fingers and ours :).
• Taylor still loves bath time! Kicks and coos and loves to have water poured on him. Does not always like being taken out of the tub.
• He refuses to take a bottle - We have tried about 5 different kinds. But he is loving his rice cereal 2 times a day and also like water from a sippy. Sometimes he will take milk from a sippy and sometimes it makes him mad.
• Tay is a great nurser - but sometimes gets distracted by his surroundings. Like if the TV is on he whips his head around to watch TV or look at my phone. In general, he loves TV and iPads!
• He likes to be read to and look at books.
• Avery calls him Tay Tay - He is usually called that or Tay Man and sometimes we sing "His name is Taylor Man Trieu. He likes to be super weird".

Ashley finally got him smiling - he loves his nanny :)

You can see the cute little teeth here :)

Avery Worried About Nate and Debbie

We had the TV on in the background on Sunday morning and they were talking about the giant snow storm that hit NYC overnight. They were showing the damage done and the floods that happened further south with cars floating by. Avery was REALLY worried about Nate and Debbie - Got really upset that they wouldn't be OK and Hung had to turn the show off because it was scaring her so much. She wrote a letter to Nate and Debbie that said: 

Debbie
Nate
Snow
Be OK
I love you
Love, Avery

And she made them a video. It was so sweet.

Some Funny Avery Stories

• Hung gave Avery one of our old iPhones so she can take pictures. She takes it very seriously and is always asking where her phone is. And she asked to have a password on it and is always asking us what our passwords are. I took her to see the new Chipmunk Movie and as we were driving there, she goes "Crap! I forgot my phone." And now I totally am catching myself saying Crap and need to watch it.

• Hung took Avery to Costco to get new tires put on our car. They were getting a snack and an employee walked by and another employee asked where he got his hat and the guy goes "Oh I stole it from the office" - In a laid back and joking way. Avery's eyes got wide and she says to Hung "Daddy, that guy stole something! We need to tell someone." She was just appalled even when Hung tried to tell her that he was joking. "No Daddy, he stole and we need to tell someone about it."

• We were reading a book called "The Little Princess" and in it the Mom and Dad both die so I got worried it would upset her and maybe we should stop reading it. I asked her if she was OK and she goes "I mean Hershey died, Aunt Jeanette died, it's fine. I don't care." Very compassionate Aves!

• It was my birthday and Avery and Hung went shopping for my gift. She really wanted to keep it a secret so she kept saying things like "Sorry we didn't get you a gift mom" "We are just getting you a card. Sorry mom." And then she said at one point "Sorry we didn't get you an infinity scarf." And "I know you really wanted an infinity scarf. Sorry mom." It was so cute - And then she would look at hung and cover her mouth and giggle and "wink". Her wink is closing both eyes tightly. It was just so sweet how badly she wanted to surprise me but just couldn't keep it in. And then on birthday she told me I was really old and almost a Grandma :)

• She has gone from calling Taylor "Baby Brother" to "Tay Tay". And she just loves him being around him and is always trying to make him smile and has to give him a hug and kiss before bed. It's so sweet seeing her be sweet with him. If I ever say something like "I love you so much Avery" she goes "MOM. What about Tay Tay??" And she calls him her playmate. 

• She is so lovey lately - Always wanting to give hugs and kisses to all of us. And saying how much she loves us. She told Hung "You are just the best Daddy" - All the love and compliments are just so honest and wonderful and appreciated. "I need a tight huggy and kiss!"

• Her new favorite thing is to have a dance competition. She wants to have one EVERY night. And she takes it very seriously. Fist Hung or I have to dance and then the judge gives them a score. She has to stand in a certain spot that she calls the background to wait her turn to dance. And then she always wants to dance to Katy Perry or Taylor Swift and she shakes her booty and then gets her score and ALWAYS has to win. She hates any song where a boy sings.

• We went shopping at Nordstroms - My mom got me a new purse for my birthday and as we were looking one of the sales guys was playing with Avery and helping her pick purses and model them. He was super sweet to her - He was probably 18 and did have some bad acne. When we walked away I said "Wasn't he so nice Avery?" And her response was "Even though he had Chicken Pox he was really nice." I tried to explain acne but not sure she cared.

Happy 2016 - The First Couple Weeks

I am back to work and things have slowed down since the holidays. Our nanny Ashley has been amazing and we feel very lucky to have found her. She takes great care of Taylor and Avery and keeps the house clean and organized for me :) The kids really like her and they are finding their routine together - It has made going to back to work a lot easier. It's so nice to be able to feed Taylor and play with him when I have breaks and to have Avery home with us a couple hours earlier after school. We are lucky to have such a nice set up.

Here are some snap shots from January

After Michigan Won Their Bowl Game. Go Blue!

Avery and Jade's PlayDate - We painted nails, played Zingo, bounced in the bounce house and played Doctor where Hung was the patient

New Years with Uncle Du

Snuggles with G

 Taking a Paci for 5 min - he actually hates them!

Getting Ready for Bed

Tummy Time - Tay just loves to be on his stomach. He rolled again once the other day but is so content on his belly he sees no reason to roll too often.

Avery Introducing Tay to her love of TV and Shows

Tay Man Trying Cereal

Taylor is still refusing bottles so we are trying to find ways for others to feed him and tide him over til he can nurse. We tried rice cereal and he LOVES it!! He likes to watch us eat and seemed interested so figured it was worth a shot and it has gone well. He also likes taking water and sometimes milk from a sippy. 

Taylor's 4 Month Stats

Taylor had his 4 month check up today and he is doing great!! Him and Avery weighed the same at 4 months :)

Height: 25.5 inches (75th Percentile)
Weight: 16 lbs (75th Percentile)
Head: 41cm (20th Percentile)

Christmas With The Hopkins Crew

Grandpa, Grandma T, Aunt Maddie, Uncle Nate, Aunt Debbie, and LuLu the dog came to visit and celebrate Christmas in Indy. We loved having everyone stay for a few days!! This was the first time Nate and Debbie met Tay so it was great to finally introduce them. And Avery was in absolute heaven - especially playing with Nate and Debbie and Maddie. They just go into pretend Avery land with her - they loved playing with the bow and arrow and sling shot and fighting monsters. And there were lots of puppet shows, dance shows, plays and playing with the doll house. Nate and Debbie brought her a bounce house so we also had a lot of fun playing with that. Aunt Maddie get her a scooter - she was super timid at first and is now really enjoying it. We also played lots of Go Fish, Old Maid and Crazy Eights. Debbie also made Tay and Avery some amazing Michigan themed winter hats - I LOVE them!

We had a wonderful 3 days just relaxing, watching movies, chatting, eating great meals (lobster, baked ziti and homemade gnocchi by Debbie) and playing with the kids. Wish we all lived closer and could do it more often. But am very thankful for this time together!

Avery helping Tay with his tooth/gum pain :)

Sweet Brother and Sister

Rocking Their New Hats from Aunt Debbie

'First Snuggles with Uncle Nate

Future Mickey Mouse

Card Shark!

Siblings :)

Tay in his new outfit from Debbie and Nate

Aunt Maddie Snuggles

Sibling Selfie!