The process.

ART

Looking back it is THE small choices of change made along the way that created the final piece. It is the courage to paint over a piece. It is the decision to keep trying when I have given hope on a piece. I learn by the process. It is the process of painting that makes it a therapeutic outlet of expression for me. I am a beginner. I am learning. I'm not great at it. But wanted to share the process. I wish other artists would do this more. I feel I would learn so much more about a piece and the artist if I knew what was under the final layer. Or how they arrived at their final piece. Here is a bit of the process. I'll start taking more pictures for my next pieces.

This artist inspired me to paint the thick lines. I used my rug for inspiration ;)

 I decided to add the iconic images of my childhood city. Hong Kong. With Oil Pastels.

This piece was inspired by a piece in an Art Museum during the Sundance Festival. I decided to capture the essence of my Daughter. She recognized her dress!

The colors of this piece was from my color study pieces. I decided to portray tulips, our wedding flower. It began with two tulips but it didn't seem complete till I added another four ;).

I organized!!

These three deserve an I love you post!

We can start with the littlest . I can't believe you are already 7 Month's old!. You are so squishy and lovable. I love that you smile a lot of the time when I glance your way as if you have been waiting for me to look at you! You have the best laughs and Kiera does a good job getting those out of you. You are not a picky eater at all! I don't think you have said no to any flavors yet! I love it when you do your little fast excitement kicks when you see Baby food.You are a great sitter but aren't a fan of being on your tummy at all.Your favorite thing to do is to pull things out of the box. I love that you love people. You lighten so many people around  you with your contagious smile. I don't know how I got so lucky to have you! You are such a content happy baby. You learn quickly to adapt to schedules and have mastered falling asleep on your own! Either in the car seat or in your crib. I love you!

Kiera I can't believe that you are this running talking little miss. You are so fun to be with. You have such a kind heart. You are a great older sister and love to tell little sister what she can or can't do. haha. You are so gentle with Liana and I don't have to worry much about you hurting her at all. My favorite is when you sing songs to her. You have become so much more independent and can play by yourself! Your imagination is growing. I love playing pretend with you. For example this morning while we had our time together. You face painted my face. With all sorts of shapes and animals. You have developed this laugh that is just out of this world. All your friends love it. ( I think especially the boys) You have become more and more social. For example this week a bunch of I think 7 year olds were on the other side of the street and you were so excited to say Hi to all them. You make me laugh all the time. Oh don't grow up too fast.

We celebrated our anniversary this week! I can't believe I got so lucky to find this man and marry him 4 year's ago. He got me the prettiest flowers I think yet . We got to go to Knott's berry farm ALONE! One of the best dates we have. I'll save all the amazing things about him between us ;). But just thought he needed a special blog post love ;).

Probably should update on the rest of the amazing adventures we have had recently. Another time ;)

Diy fabric growth chart!!

Pretend city inspired felt food :)

Guest room to play room!!

This was my big project recently!  I converted our guestroom to a play room! Don't worry you can still come stay with us but just upstairs instead :) I am so happy with it. Toys are so much more visible which invites her to play and create on her own! 

Successful color sorting activity

Gratitude

Having two is definitely Harder than one especially when you have added hormonal issues. Hence the need to be grateful. Some sweet moments this week. Liana responds very well to smiles now. Kiera loves her five little monkeys jumping on the bed book so much that she hugs it when she goes to bed. Fried raviolis are pretty delicious. My husband is amazing and is getting buff which is a nice bonus. Liana took a breast milk bottle today and drank it super fast!! Kiera did fabulous at her model/ company photoshoot today. So proud of how well she can follow instructions. Kiera can play herself without me a lot longer than before. Kiera is starting to become interested in the potty again. Getting food poisoning helped loose some pds. Having a bad foot means husband helps me more. Many great things this week. All about perspective right? ;).

Dec/ Jan

These past two months flew by! We had my WHOLE family in town! It was amazing. It was fun to be in one house together again plus the extra few in my family. I think I have finally achieved my goal of overcoming their fears of L.A to LOVING IT! There were even hints of possible retirement at this location ;). I couldn't agree more, my love for this place grows every week. There is just something about that ocean ;) Kiera embraced in all of the attention! I miss her calling their names every morning. We did so many fun things as a family. We even took a two day trip to Palm Springs. Even if all of the activities were fun my favorite thing simply is just walking with my family, snuggling in the girls room for a chit chat session, teasing the brothers about girls, prayer/ family gatherings right before bed and battling my siblings in determination to win our newest board game. Also I really really loved being able to see them love my children and admire them the way I do.

So how is it with two?

 I am still in awe that I am a MOTHER of two. I still haven't gotten over the fact that I am married. I am just so grateful that I am at this stage and have the blessing of them. They have changed my life and have added purpose to a different degree. Kiera has adapted well to her little sister but is jealous at times and I have to work hard at giving her individual attention. Which Liana has made it easy to do since she is such a good baby! I was nervous that she would be hard since Kiera was easy! But I guess Heavenly Father wants to encourage me to have more ;). haha Liana is growing fast! At her 5 week check up she was already 10 pds. She can focus her eyes on me now and has started to smile! Which just melts my heart. Kiera attempts to make her smile too. Kiera is such a mommy at heart too. When Liana cries she tries to comfort her I even heard her tell her not to worry since mommy is coming. She has started to last 6 hours without a feeding at night which is nice :D. I hope this pattern continues to 8. What has made the biggest difference to this adjustment is of course my amazing husband who has been helping out a lot. It's so sweet watching him get up in the middle of the night if Kiera has a nightmare or something odd. It's also incredibly helpful when he takes the kids in the morning if they wake up before 8! There are diff moments when I am just too tired to handle them. Usually at 5pm when both are crying at the same time. I have realized that breathing helps and letting one cry for a while is really no big deal. Oh how I love our growing family :D

Liana Chen ( lee-ah-na)

Jonathan's story of the delivery :

So to keep everybody in the loop. She was born around 9:19 AM this morning. She was 7 lbs 4 ounces. and 19 inches tall. I will post up pictures later today. 

Chelsea was feeling contractions around 10:00 PM last night and then we went into the hospital around 1:00 AM.We were lucky that we could get the attention really quickly as we are one of the only deliveries this morning. When we were admitted we were already 5 CM dilated. Chelsea progressed pretty quickly and then slowed down. They had to give her some pitocin in order to get her contractions and other stuff going more consistently and at the same level. The doctor came and did a regular checkup on her thinking that she wasn't close. After Chelsea described her pushing feelings and checking that she was dilated to 10 CM they started the delivery processes. Pushing lasted for about 20 to 30 minutes, maybe quicker. It was noticeably faster than Kiera's delivery. 

The baby was delivered very smoothly and peacefully. She did not scream or cry very much and she was a happy baby from the get go. Hopefully that stays like that through her whole life. We will send out more information later and maybe any details I left out. We are very excited for all of you guys to see her. When Kiera first saw her, she was kind of scared and didn't know how to react. She just stared and touched her hands slightly. She was also very happy that Liana gave her a small gift. We'll give you more updates as time goes. if you have any questions please ask away just incase we forget something. 

p.s.- Thanks Reuben for watching Kiera and taking Casey to the airport.

Update from Chelsea : 

We are doing well and are loving sleepy new born Liana. She is so easy so far! Very easy going and doesn't mind not being held all the time and falls asleep on her own and does not have awake time at night! But it's only first week! So who knows I am sure it will change soon. I just feel so blessed of the gift we have been given. Having a second child has made me realize that you just increase your capacity to love. I love my hubby even more after watching him step up and take care of Kiera. I love Kiera even more after watching her love Liana and giving me time with her. She really seems so much older now! I now also have a new love for this brand new angel. Liana is so sweet and I just stay up at night sometimes just to watch her. Having a new born at Christmas gives this whole season a new meaning. Really the best Christmas gift ever. I also feel so humbled being on the receiving end of so much support and love. From my family from afar and close by. From friends all over. 

Love you guys!