Ann's projects in progress

So I've decided that I need to publish my new mom's tip book. I found that you can self publish through Amazon.com and all I need to do is reformat the book to their standard size. The goal is to have the book published by my 35th birthday. It's mid March now, i think I can definitely make the deadline.

I just got our taxes organized and after looking at our finance for the past year, I thought it's time to take more responsibility on managing the money for our future. I've always been a saver so now it's just finding out more ways to make that savings grow. At the same time, hoping we can spend some money to take a real family vacation. It's been many years since we've done that and since Oliver will be starting school this fall. This summer feels like the right time for that.

Things are going great with the Moms Club. I've volunteered to redesign their website, but at the moment I'm making my book and home stuff top priority. The website is designed, I just need to work with another mom in the club to program it. So maybe that'll be done by May also.

I'm still not getting any freelance design work, but I've been more serious about getting the word out that I am available. Hopefully the freelance job with the church will return. That was nice to get a regular paycheck. I'm also thinking about trying to sell my RubyLove business on CraigsList. Although I can see myself turning that into something else later on, I feel like I won't have the same energy or drive for it. Maybe I'll put in an ad and see what happens. It sure would be nice to get the cost back and clear some space in our storage.

And last, I'm trying to plan a neighborhood brunch to meet some of our neighbors. Our street has become somewhat of a community for us. It's nice to know who lives near you, and maybe help each other out sometimes. I just found a neighbor who is also in the Moms Club who can do a babysitting swap with us. Yeh!

Baby Milestone - Twenty Months

Two-word sentences!!! These days Oliver is talking all the time. He knows quite a few words in both Chinese and English, and mixes them when he talks. He seems to like the contrast between big and small things, on and off, open and close, push and pull. Those are all very useful. His favorite movie changed from Winnie the Pooh to Toy Story. And I think his favorite color is blue. And favorite fruit is blueberry. He hasn't been the best eater because he can't stay in his seat for very long. Although if you give him a cup of water, he'll make soup out of anything and eat it.

We found out a few days ago that Oliver got accepted into the preschool we really liked. It was the only one we applied to so we took a big risk and hoped for the best. And can't be more excited about this fall. I'll be going to school with him 3 days a week, for 2 hours a day. It won't be much different from our days now being together, but it will be very interesting to see him in a school environment. Three of our friends' children will also be going to the same school, so that's really wonderful.

The weather has warmed up and we are back to going to the zoo. Now he knows the animals really well and can say their names and make their sounds. It's fun to see him almost having a relationship with the animals since we go there so often.




The temper tantrums comes and goes, and mostly under control if I have the time and patience to "reason" with him. Often I just need to keep repeating my message and eventually he'll hear me and stop acting out. He does seem to know and anticipate my reaction and it feels like he'll do things on purpose to get a reaction out of me. Luckily all the times we've spent together I've learned to not be so serious and just be goofy and make him laugh, which makes me laugh too.

Oliver continues to be helpful around the house when asked. I've started to draw on his chalk board with chores for the day and cross them out as we do them. I'm in the process of making a sign with rules such as no throwing things or pouring water on the floor. We'll see how that works out.