2015

Yet another year has come and gone. We are stronger because of our trials and hopefully a little wiser too. Our girls have grown bigger and have learnt a little more about life and the world. Our major accomplishment was buying our first home in May. We invite you all to come visit! Now, we’d like to share a bit about us. Enjoy!

Jane is now 5 years old. She's “big and strong” and is developing a soft, kind personality. She likes to help us around the house and even changes Kaley's diapers. We started preschool (Homeschool) this year and Jane knows about half of the alphabet and the numbers from 1 to 10. We do lessons online and together at home, sing songs, draw and color. Jane likes to pretend that she is Toothless the Dragon. Together with her sisters they play many parts from the movies they watch. Jane also likes to dance and sing and she enjoys painting and playing with her stuffed animals.

Alyss is 3.5 years old. She is still cute and cuddly and just a joy to love and hug. She is very independent and can do almost everything that her older sister does. She knows a few letters and when she can sit still she colors really well. She now stays inside the lines most of the time and loves to use many colors so that everything looks like a rainbow. Her favorite letter is letter "A for Alyss". She still loves Lightning McQueen and has tons of him and other cars. She also likes elephants, fish and cats and riding ponies.

Kaley is 2.5 years old. She is the sweetest and kindest little girl I know. She gives “Noapte buna” (good night) kisses to her sisters and kisses us better when we get hurt. She loves to cuddle and give and receive hugs. She still sleeps in our bed but sometimes she ends up in her own bed which is right next to ours. Kaley likes to color with her sisters when we do lessons, she loves to dance and sing and is really good at learning and singing a lot of songs in Romanian and English. She knows all the main colors and counts like a pro. She recognizes letter A and Km which she calls her name.

Dahlee is still the great mother that she's always been. She likes to think that she's even better now that she's learnt about the different types of people she read about in the book “The Child Whisperer” by Carol Tuttle. She knows how to treat the girls a little better and understands herself a little better too. Dahlee has taught the girls a lot about the world and about school and they did lessons together this year and learned a lot about teaching and learning ways. Dahlee took the girls to Thanksgiving Point quite a bit. They visited the gardens, the farm, the dinosaurs and the children's museum and had a lot of fun while learning new things and enjoying the outdoors. The girls had fun at the pool in the summer and at different fall and winter activities when it got cold. They love to go see Santa and the Christmas lights all over the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys.

David had a successful year at work. He attended an international technology and education conference in Philadelphia where he was a presenter and had a full house with people asking questions and learning lots of things from him. He continued to work hard for Jordan School District and had a supplemental job at Barnes N Noble. He also read a lot of books, which is one of his passions, went on hikes, including Mt. Timpanogos and developed a better friendship with Chris, Lia's husband.

We hope you had a wonderful year as well and that you kept busy and were healthy and happy. We wish you a joyous new year 2016, lots of love, health and accomplishments and wonderful relationships.

New Year, New Home!

Year 2015 proved to be a good year so far, after all. It didn't start out too good and we went through quite a few disappointments but we persevered and stayed together through it all and things did get better.

In February, after receiving our tax return and paying off more of our debt we decided to start looking for a new home to buy. We've been renting for years and buying seemed feasible and the next natural step in our family progress. So, I contacted my friend Serena Essuman who I remembered was certified as a real estate agent. It turned out that her husband David was too and practicing more than her who at the time was a Stay-at-home Mom of two young children and pregnant with the third. After searching and searching and searching some more, we found a 3 bedroom condo in Pleasant Grove. We liked it a lot and were so excited to buy it but after a month of going through the process, the loan officer realized that we didn't qualify for the loan necessary to buy the place. And so the process of searching restarted, though we were sad and disappointed that things didn't work out with the first apartment. Well, after more searching, in May we found another apartment we loved even more than the PG one. This one was in Saratoga Springs; still 3 bedrooms but nicer. It took us another month to go through the process again but by my birthday we were able to move. What a birthday present! :)

We've lived here for a few months now and we all love it. It's a nice neighborhood, we have stores and restaurants close and we are close to friends and lots of places where we can go have fun. We are only about 25 minutes farther away from Salt Lake. We got a membership to Thanksgiving Point, which is very close to us and we go there with the girls often. David doesn't mind the commute and we are happy that we live close to Lia and Eni and can hang out and have un with them a lot more than before.

Kaley Just Turned 2!

You are two, Kaley! TWO!!! Yes, I know, it's crazy and I still can't believe it. You are my little baby, and will always be but I'm not sure I'm ready for you to grow up.

You are so sweet and smart. You can count to 14 better than your sisters, you know a lot of songs, you love to dance and you know Romanian words. You are also a great talker. You know a lot of words and are starting to make sentences. What else could a mom ask for? You are pretty much perfect and beautiful and I LOVE YOU!!! Yes, I love you so much it's hard to explain.

I love to sleep next to you, I love your hugs; they are the best hugs ever, so filled with love and candor. You are so beautiful. You have beautiful blue eyes and blond hair and man, you can tan too! Perfect combination. :) This past year's been a little hard for you because of all the big changes that come with growing into a toddler. But you did so many great things this year. You learned how to walk, and run and jump. You learned how to talk. You learned how to put shoes on and you like to try on everyone's shoes, including daddy's. You learned how to sleep through the night without drinking milk from mommy. Man, was that hard to do! You sometimes cry because your sisters won't share their toys with you but a lot of times you all play together and have a wonderful time.

For your birthday party you were so lucky to have grandma here with us. We decided to have a Baymax party because you like Baymax and Big Hero 6. Grandma made you a Baymax cake and you got tons of Baymax presents. We all had a great time and loved seeing you blow the candle on your cake.

I wish you a wonderful 2nd year and I can't wait to see all the fun new things you will learn this year. 

I love you Kaley! Never forget that! I LOVE YOU!!!!!

How I night-weaned Kaley

Kaley and I co-sleeping peacefully

I'll start out by saying that Kaley's been breastfed on demand from day one. When I decided to stop feeding her at night she was just a couple of weeks over 20 months old.

I decided to stop feeding her for multiple reasons. First, her pediatrician informed me that her teeth were getting bad because of the night nursing. Second, she would literally stay attached to me some nights to the point where I couldn't move or she'd wake up crying. Third, neither one of us was getting enough sleep. I was tired and yelling at the girls and I didn't want that anymore.

So, after we went through a rough night where she nursed the entire time and my nipples were starting to hurt again, I decided that the next night will be it; we would stop nursing at night. I researched some gentle ways of doing it and I found Dr. Jay Gordon's advise. We cosleep and so our situation was a little different than that of other families. Dr. Gordon's advise is specifically designed for cosleeping families so I thought I'd follow his suggestions. I also watched some Youtube videos of moms who successfully night-weaned their toddlers without too much effort and read a couple of articles written by RIE advocates. I thought I'd apply what I liked from the different sources and hopefully it won't be too hard to do it.

Well, the night came. According to Dr. Gordon, you need to set a specific time when you're not going to nurse anymore (say 11 to 6) You can nurse before and after but not during that time. I nursed Kaley that night and then, at 11:30 I stopped and told her it was now time for bed. I had told her in advance that we would have to say "bye-bye" to the boobs at night and even though she didn't seem happy about it I don't think she really thought we would not nurse anymore. So, when she tried to get to the boob and I refused she started screaming. It was the type of scream that breaks your heart. She kicked and hit me and kept pulling at my shirt. It was one of the hardest things I've done but I stayed firm. When she hit me, I'd put her on the bed where she would just scream and call me. I always stayed calm and right next to her but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. After crying for about 30 minutes I picked her up and started walking in the room and bouncing her like a little baby. She eventually calmed down enough to fall asleep. I put her on the bed and she kept sleeping but whimpering too. I was so heartbroken but I knew that I needed to be strong for her. While she was crying I told her A LOT that I loved her. It took everything not to give in. Four hours later she woke up asking for boob. Again, I refused and offered her water. The screaming began again, I thought, even harder and more heartbreaking. It lasted for almost an hour but she eventually laid down and fell asleep on her own. She slept 3 more hours and then when she woke up I offered her the breast and we both kept on sleeping for another hour.

The second night I was terrified about the whole process and about our neighbors calling the cops on us if we torture the poor baby again. This second night was about the same just one thing was different. Daddy came in the room while she was kicking and screaming and she just stopped. I was holding her and she fell asleep in my arms. When she woke up 3.5 hours later daddy had to go stay with Jane and Alyss who heard the screaming and were not very happy. Thankfully they didn't fully wake up but Kaley did give us another round of screams.

The third night I thought I'd do things a bit differently. I was alone at home with all three girls and I was worried that no one will go to sleep and I'll end up with three screaming kids. So, after everybody was bathed, we all got into my bed, we read a story and I nursed Kaley while we read it. After everyone brushed their teeth we said "bye-bye" to the boobs. Jane and Alyss fell asleep pretty fast but Kaley found my phone and she started watching some Winnie the Pooh. Daddy came home from work and moved Jane and Alyss to their room and then came to lay down with us. Both he and I were getting tired so we kind of laid down and got pretty sleepy. Kaley watched Pooh a bit more and then she laid down all by herself, without any crying or fussing and fell asleep. I eventually fell asleep too and the next thing I know it was the morning. David had already gone to work. It was 9am when Kaley woke up and asked for boob. I gave her some and she fell asleep again for another hour.

On night four I decided to just stop nursing right before bed, contrary to dr. Gordon's advise. After I nursed her a bit we brushed teeth and went to bed. She started crying when we went to bed but she calmed down and cuddled with daddy. She woke up twice and whimpered a bit each time but fell back asleep within minutes. The next two nights she fell asleep with me without daddy and without any crying and slept through the night, about nine hours straight. When she wakes up in the morning she asks to nurse and I'm totally ok with that. 

So, I think we did it. I'm still a little nervous every night when I put her to bed but I think she learned now that we don't nurse at night anymore. It was hard the first two nights but I trusted her and she showed me that she can do it. Good job little angel and sleep well! I love you!

3 Years Old Alyss

So, today you turned 3, Alyss! THREE!!!! Where did time go? You are as sweet as ever and the strongest willed little girl I know. I love you to pieces!

For your birthday party, daddy stayed home to get things ready and I took you and the girls out to play and be out of the way. ;) We also wanted it to be a surprise so of course we had to be gone from home. When we returned, daddy had finished the McQueen cake and put up all the decorations. The theme for the party was Lightning McQueen since he is still your favorite. You were so excited to see all the McQueen decorations and plates, and table cloth and CAKE! Daddy made a McQueen cake for you and you loved it. You also got a lot of McQueen and Cars toys. It was so much fun. We talked with Charity on Skype and with Grandma and Grandpa, ate pizza and cake and just had a great time together.

Lightning McQueen cake made by Daddy

Alyss, I just want you to know today and always that I love you so much. I love your giggly laugh, I love your cute cheeks, I love your bright eyes, I love to zerbert your tummy and I love to hold you. I love your hugs at bedtime, I love to watch you pay with McQueen and with your sisters and I love seeing how loving and caring you are. I love you baby, with all my heart and I'll try my best to help you never forget that. Happy birthday Alyssuca!

Happy Birthday, Alyss!