So-niele

I gave you fair warning with the title so move along if you’d like or read on if you’re that interested.

So with babyM I was going to let her do it for however long it is she wanted to breastfeed. As painful as it can be at times, it’s a nice bond that me and her can have together, JUST US.

I breastfed N for 17 months and then we went on a trip with my mom and she only wanted to sleep with my mom, which cut her off on the midnight snacking. It was hard in the hotel, thankfully no one was sleeping in the room next to us. I slept on a separate bed from them and that was that. Sure the first night was hard as hell, but then it was only at nights that she needed me. We cut out day feedings awhile ago. And it seems the same with babyM.

She will nap with my mom at the drop of a hat. My mom just pats and sways and she’s out. With me, she fights me tooth and nail, and this is only for a mid-day nap. Of course I don’t give in to her tugs and pulls at my shirt and lots of sweat, tears, and screams later she falls asleep but it’s such a tiring process that I end up wanting to take a nap with her but can’t b/c that’s the time I get to do dishes, finish laundry, cook dinner, or do workbooks with N.

So as I’ve said, we’ve cut out the day feedings and she gets the breast at bedtime and at around 5AM in the morning when she needs to be lulled back to sleep. Last night, I realized I think I’m finally going dry. She kept latching on and off in frustration so I squeezed to see what the problem was… and barely a drop emerged and that was after lots of pinching. As bad as it is, I went to the kitchen and warmed up some milk and put it in a sippy cup in the hopes that it would sooth and help her. No such luck, she drank some and then threw the cup across the bed and then she tossed and turned and tossed some more. I can’t even remember how long it took her to fall asleep.

Tonight was a completely different story. She fell asleep without her nightcap. AT. ALL! And hasn’t needed it thus far.

I know that the less feeding is done, the less milk is made. I always felt, from the beginning, that I wasn’t producing much milk to begin with. I never pumped this time around so I never really knew how much to “gage” what I was producing. And then her being on the itty bitty side made it all the more apparent that maybe I just wasn’t producing much. I took Fenugreek, Mother’s Milk tea, ampalaya pills, and did every “hokie” Pilipino superstition my mom has in the book for milk production.

Looks like I might just get my boobs back sooner than I thought. I was planning on just having her sleep with my mom when we head back to Hawaii next month. We’ll see if tonight was just a fluke. *sigh*

Summer is in full swing over here but we haven’t been up to much of interest to y’all.

I think I need a countdown for NKOTB and then the following day we depart for our Hawaiian Hiatus. Lilman is leaving next week with my mom though, to keep her company and so forth. I am so not ready for the concert or to leave for that matter. Ughz. And I am NOT looking forward to being on the plane with the 2 girls by my lonesome. At least if I had to go to the bathroom I could leave babyM with J. Guess I’ll just have to haul her to the bathroom w me. YUCK. And knowing N, she’ll want to come too. I am in need of a getaway though and as much as getting away seems selfish I really wish the mister could come with, or at least come for a few days and kick his feet up. I think the last time we went away as a family was before lilmiss turned 1 and we went to Disneyl.and.

In about a month, lilmiss turns 4. FOUR! And plans are for her to go to preschool in the fall…. and I am so lagging on getting on the ball with that. Pffft. So many things to do. So many other things to do.

That would be me. With all the other things that keep me occupied on the internets updating this here space is far from my mind. So instead I will update with random tidbits that pop into my head as I sit here bullet style.

lilman had his 1st Communion on May 03, now he no longer needs to “wonder” what the host tastes like

today is the anniversary of the date that all 3 kids got baptized.

mom was in Europ w Auntie V visiting Auntie S, she comes back on Wednesday

lilmiss drives me nuts

plans to go cherry picking, can’t wait! Fresh picked cherries FTW

I applied to 2 jobs, I have yet to hear anything from either

we’re heading to Hawaii this summer

need to get on point w a preschool for lilmiss in the Fall

I need a haircut

Random tidbits. I had been thinking about it last night and I think I had more thoughts but can’t think of them at the moment. Pfft. Expect more of these kind of posts in the near future.

A food that often reminds me of my childhood is ukoy. I spent a lot of time at my maternal grandparents’ home growing up. My parents worked and my grandparents often watched me, along with a number of my cousins. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but there would be big meals EVERY Friday with whoever could make it in the area. We’re talking no less than 15 people EVERY Friday! My grandma wasn’t such a great cook but when she did make certain things, I was sure to remember.

There were 3 things that she could make, that rocked my socks: ukoy, her banana fritters, and carioca. My mom swears my grandma didn’t make the carioca tho. I still says she did tho and keep it at that. Unforunately she never shared her recipes with anyone and back then I was far too young to even care to be in the kitchen to watch her with her “magic”. So now I’m on the search. The search for just the right ukoy recipe. I know I can buy it already made, and in fact we did just that today but it’s far too expensive not to learn. I mean shootz the bakery was selling 1 ukoy for $2.49 and it wasn’t even all that great. Pfft. So like my lumpia shanghai that I have mastered to a T, I’m going to do the same with ukoy!

In fact my old college roomie’s mommy has a damned yummy recipe. Actually her family’s recipes for quite a few things are quite yummy! But I only asked for the ukoy recipe via email just yesterday. Lol. Here’s hoping she shares the love.

Of course googling recipes for ukoy gets a lot of variation, but not quite what I’m looking for. And woo boy I never knew that you could put tofu in it. What an interesting twist! I know for sure I want sweet potato, bean sprouts, green onions, and onions in it… it’s just the batter. I got to get it just right.

Oh and in case you were wondering, ukoy is a fritter of sorts, normally made of veggies and often times with a shrimp in it. I actually don’t care much for the shrimp. And yeah it’s served with a yummy dipping sauce of soy sauce, vinegar, and a little garlic. Mmmmmmmasarap!!!!!!!!!

We’ve known since she came into this world, that she was going to be a handful. She’s such a character sometimes.

Yesterday we had lunch with my brother and mom and then soon after we went into an Asian video store. She walked in first and saw a CD from the TFC show Wowowee.

She grabbed it and the first thing out of her mouth was, “Look Mommy! Kuya Willie! He’s from Wowowee!”

There was a number of other people in the store and they turned to see who said it and saw how small she is and started to laugh.

The storekeeper, who was Chinese, asked her, “Do you know that show? Are you Pilipino?”

To which she responded, “NO!” and then huffed off. She’s got quite the attitude!

Believe me, I’ve tried to explain that she is Pilipino and White to which she shrugs off and just says, “I’m N__!”

Which makes sense at the age of 3!

So today I was recapping the story to S, to which he laughed and he again asked her, “What are you? You’re half what?”

To which she responded, “I’m half… an hour!!!!

The party has been done and over with for about a week and there are still remnants about the house. She got PLENTY of clothes and if I wanted, I wouldn’t have to do her laundry for a good while.

The party was a big hit. Everyone loved the location. Some of the kids I didn’t even see b/c they were outside in the playground the whole time. And YAY for good weather. *whew* It rained the night before and even as I left the house to pick up my mom but once we got to the party location it was clear skies the whole day. On the menu: steamed rice, Young Chow fried rice, Mama’s pancit, chow mein, my lumpia, broccoli beef, sweet & sour pork, pork guisantes, bbq chicken, chicken katsu, tri colored mochi, cassava cake, kankanen, broken glass jell-o, Pilipino fruit salad, fresh fruit salad, fresh pineapples, and even li hing mui powder to put on their fruit it they wanted. And the YUMMY cake was from She.ng Kee, a vanilla sponge cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream frosting. YUM! There was plenty of food to be eaten and plenty to be taken home!

The only bad things are that some cash went missing . It was in my back pocket and by the time I remembered it was there, when we were home already, it was GONE. And also a gift card was missing also. *sigh* It took me awhile to get over it, but I’m officially over it. Like my mom kept saying, “Hopefully whoever found the money and gift card, needs them more than M does.”

I am so proud of both the favors *beams* You’ll either have to check FB or Fli.ckr to see them bc they were personalized with her name and I didn’t bother to blur that out.

So glad the party went well, but moreso I’m glad that the party is finally over. I hate the process that goes into throwing a party and all the stress associated it with it. Next time, if I ever throw another party for the kids, it will definitely be low key.

Sunday is the day! PAR-TAY! Man this week has been hectic and thankfully everything is falling into place. YAY!

Food has been ordered. Cake is ordered. Whatever requisite things I told myself that I would make they’re made and marinating. Moms got a few things to make tomorrow herself and she’ll do that free of any kidlet interruptions. I just need to pick up a few more things tomorrow and we’re good to go. I’m just hoping this all goes smoothly.

I’m quite excited about the favors. YAY! I didn’t bother doing kiddie favors this time around. I’m just tired of all the lil toys and stuff and didn’t want to bother everyone else with the toys.

We are supposed to expect rain on Sunday *le sigh* But at least we’re in a hall. Only thing is that hall has a max capacity of about 50 ppl. And the guest list, according to the Evite, is in the 70s which isn’t including the peeps that weren’t on the Evite. I am still hoping that it will clear up at least of the rain and the kids will spill out to the playground *crossing fingers and toes*

So that’s where I’ve been. I’ve been neglecting this space as well as many other places as of late. Oh well at least the kids are taken care of tho, right?

BabyM’s birthday party is gearing up. I’m not quite stressing just yet, just wait til the week of I’ll be a frantic MESS! SO how I explain that picture? LMAO!

I had a bunch of errands to run today. The rain was pouring out there like cats and dogs. All of our shoes, with the exception of babyM, are downstairs. So before I put my shoes on, babyM gets strapped in her car. Then it’s back to make sure N has her shoes and then I get to put mine on. So M is strapped and N is sitting at the bottom of the stairs with one rain boot on waiting on her other. I grabbed 1 shoe for myself and put it on and couldn’t find the other, so I put N in her carseat. Then opened the garage and warmed up the Lex. I opened the trunk for my umbrella, and then reached back in there to grab the Ergo. And then I went back to grab the mate of my shoe.. or so I thought . I get back in my chair and then N groans that I promised to grab her a snack when we were upstairs. *ughz* So I even ran back upstairs and still didn’t even notice the shoes.

I’m at one of my many destinations for the day, run out in the rain, and as I’m getting back in the car, I realize… I’M WEARING 2 DIFFERENT PAIRS OF SHOES!!! WTF??? And of course, as I’m laughing at myself, my phone rings and it’s Mama Toots. I tell her everything and then I sit there wondering if I could get away with running my errands with 2 different shoes on. The spaz that I am though, I trekked back home and changed them. Lol.

Too many things on my mind I s’pose!

There’s just never enough time in the day.

The kidlets 365 went out the window. I can’t even recall the last time I took a picture of all 3 kids. I blame it on the sickies that invaded the house. They were being uncooperative and although I didn’t get sick, I just got lazy.I might just start it up again with that lovely little missing gap of photos. Heh.

J had his championship game this past Sunday and it was such an exciting game. Unfortunately they lost . It was srsly heartbreaking! They were ahead by 1 point, 2 seconds left in the game, and by LUCK the kid on the other team makes the shot and they win the championship *sigh* Now that basketball is coming to a close I don’t quite know what he’s going to do now? He doesn’t want to go back to karate either.

Lilmiss has been quite the handful and she’s only 3.5 years old. She drives me up the walls whenever she’s awake. She is B-A-D, bad! She tortures the baby to no avail. She cries and whines and always wants things to go HER way, who doesn’t? But still, there is no sort of wiggle room for her.

babyM, I think she might actualy be gaining weight! Feeding her 6x a day or whenever I remember seems to be helping. And feeding her fatty things too, but then it could all just be in my mind, b/c really I haven’t officially been weighing her. The whole buttah thing.. she’s just not into it. Unless it’s in cookies. So any of the genes she inherited from her daddy they don’t show in the way of food preferences. She won’t go anywhere near the buttah and rice or buttah and potatoes. No mac n cheese for her!

Her party!!! I am so excited to say that her party is coming under way! YAY! We have to give a big thank you to Auntie A! OMG, she hooked it up srsly. Remember when I was pissing and moaning about possibly throwing the idea of a party out the window? Well thanks to her, she’s making it all possible! Now it’s just a matter of feeding all these people. And hopefully have at least decent weather so that the kids can utilize the park and not be inside all day, b/c technically I’m only s’posed to have 45 ppl inside at a time.

*sigh* Today was her 1 year WBC and she weighed in at 16lbs 10 oz and 28″ in length. According to her 9 month WBC, she only gained 5oz and grew an inch *sigh* In 3 months time? Seriously? That’s all??? She eats! I swear I feed her. And as much as I didn’t want to feed her meat, I caved and gave it to her. Long time ago! She’s eaten the gamut too, beef (X) chicken (X) fish (X) pork (X) shrimp (X) lobster (X) squid (X). She eats whatever we eat in addition to her usual baby stuffs.

So according to the “charts” she is below the 5th percentile. Which, to me, raises a red flag and cause for concern. I do have to take into consideration that she came 4 weeks early and that she is mobile and more active now, but still. The other two were ALWAYS in the 90th percentiles for growth and in some cases even off the charts. M is definitely thriving just in her own way. So I have been encouraged to feed her good fats. Butter laced things , and such. Tonight she will have a freshly baked sweet potato mixed with butter and a little maple syrup. And if she wants she can have some steak and rice w asparagus too. She can have ice cream too. I had to buy her Pedi.a sure and that ish is expen$ive like heck. I was afraid that she wouldn’t like it, like with most other things like juices and milks, but surprisingly she likes it. YAY!!!

She has 6 weeks to gain 2 lbs! Otherwise she’s on the bill to get some blood work done to see what’s wrong. If there is anything?

I am in disbelief that my little mouse is a year old already! She arrived on a Wednesday at 6:54PM after being in labor for 3 days. I swear she really didn’t want to come out, being only 36 weeks and all, but it was a health issue and it was for the better. I actually remember seeing her literally “pop out” like a little ball after pushing. She was so teensy. I swear I was going to break her. And then those 2 scares where she aspirated and turned purple on me in the hospital. But she’s a thriving little thing with a personality all of her own.

She’s been walking now for a good solid month. Her mouth has 7 teeth in it thus far, 4 on the top and 3 on the bottom. She has her 1 year WBC next week but I swear she’s still under 20lbs. She wears anywhere from 3-6month pants to 12 month tops and is in size 3 diapers. Her shoe size is probably a 2.5/3. Her vocabulary consists of these words: “Hai”, “da”, “mumumum”, “ghey”, and lots of grunting. She waves hello or goodbye, throws kisses, and claps. Her favorite toys are still ones that aren’t really toys, paper and remotes. She delights in “playing” with her siblings even though most of the time they’re telling her no or getting her out of situations she shouldn’t be in. She loves to eat anything and everything and when she’s hungry will use “mumumum”. If there’s something you’re eating and she wants it she’ll grunt in your face til you give it to her. And yes she’s still nursing, whenever she wants. She always has some sort of smile on her face and has been dubbed “Smiley” by many. She’s a little more affectionate than her siblings and is so cuddly.

For her birthday we went to Kuya’s playoff game, they won and they’re going to the championships. Then we had noo-noos at Happy Palace T&T and enjoyed cake later with the fams & Uncle Rich and Tita A. She had a free little cake all to herself and smushed the heck out of it! YAY!!!

We’re holding her big birthday shindig next month when Mama returns from Hawaii.

babyM was definitely a surprise, but to me, she definitely completes our family. I know she won’t remember her day but it was special indeed b/c we were celebrating HER!!!!

Hello Kitty has been my BFF since way back when! I ain’t even gonna lie to you! I still buy things, for myself. Hell I’ll eat some Happy Meals just for the toys right now! And yes, I am guilty of brainwashing my own daughters to like the stuff.

So why have I been tryin to get on the damned Mac (makeup not computer goods ) site and have been denied, a number of times… b/c I am not the only grown woman trying to get some of this Limited Edition stuff. No I’m not buying everything under the sun. I can’t even put makeup on properly. PUHLEASE! I do have my sites on some lipglass tubes and a keychain though, just so that I have something from this collaboration.

So go to bed bishes… I need to get some Hello Kitty! Thanks and good nite! lol

babyM pottied in the toilet for the first time this morning! Wahoo. Although J and N sat and pottied at the age of 6 months, I did try at 6 months and her tooshie was just too small. She would have fallen in the darned thing. Her tooshie is still a little on the small side so we’ll have to maybe get her something smaller. But YAY is definitely in order!

Isn’t that so true? Can fit for so many situations but in our case, that would be in the case with money. UGH! Not that it’s pouring in but just the opposite. And here we are in the midst of trying to plan babyM’s 1st bday too.

Srsly! It’s stressing me out. To the point where I am losing sleep over it. *sigh*

Some people don’t believe in throwing lavish parties for babies. B/c they’re too young to remember it all anyhow. But the point is, she’ll only be 1 once in her lifetime! And her first year is definitely something to celebrate. Back in the day some kids never even made it past their first few days, weeks, or even months!

babyM is definitely one to celebrate. She’s come such a long way and I hate to think that we might just squash the whole idea of a party! It breaks my heart srsly! With the other 2 it was no problem. We never really had to worry about venues b/c they’ve always been outside! Hello Summer babies! But babyM is born towards the tail end of Winter and the start of Spring, which means the weather is VERY unpredicatable. I mean come on look at the weather patterns we had as of late. We were having summer weeks ago and then this weekend we had rain! Which in my book is what I’m expecting cold! And that’s not good to have your guests get sick bc you had a party outdoors. UGH!

Don’t mind my vent. It’s just been itching on my mind as of late *sigh*

Could it be that her sicky ickies are gone? I played it safe yesterday and still only fed her dry things and boobie juice. But when we got home from bringing J to bball I felt bad and felt like she was withering away. So I mixed up some rice cereal with pureed pears and fed it to her. She INHALED the stuff where normally she’ll take a spoonful or 2 and then turn her nose to the stuff. Lol. I still laid a towel down in the bed, just in case. 3 nights last week of not being prepared and having to change the sheets in the middle of the night. Is NOT fun! Especially with a sick baby.

Still going to play it safe and not give her anything tooooo harsh for her tum!

As so named by Mama Toots.

babyM has been having tummy issues and just when I think we’re in the clear…. BLEAAAAAA!!!! She’s a little barfing machine. Last week she was having the yucks before Mama left. And then it subsided for a good few days and then all of a sudden they were back and I was changing bed sheets in the middle of the night.

Sunday we were headed down to San Jose for baby DPJ’s baptism and 5 minutes into the ride BLEAAAAAA in the backseat and of course, the 1 time I didn’t pack extra clothes it happens. Right? So my luck. So we headed back home to change her and clean up her seat. We missed a part of the ceremony too. Things that are s’posed to stay put in that tummy of hers have seemed to make its way back out, so I was thinking virus. Hopefully the virus is gone now.

I was hesitant to feed her ANYTHING! So crackers, Cherrios, and boobie juice was it. And then today I braved it out and fed her some rice cereal and pureed pears. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let that stuff stick to her innards!!!!

Oh yeah and on the walking… sigh. Seems she has figured it all out and all she does is walk around the living room, from one side to the other side and back again. Today while we were at the library she wanted out of the stroller and walked around as if she had been doing it since forever. The funny thing is, she is so teensy/ petite so it just doesn’t seem right that someone that small is walking like she is.

I’ve been cooking more which is good on the pocketbooks. Less eating out. Although we did eat out as a family on Saturday and made it a two meal outing anyhow. And then we went to a baptism on Sunday and got food there, those are always nice.

Whole chickens are 79 cents a pound at Safeway right now and we’ve got 2. One is in the freezer and the other has been purposed for 2 meals. The breasts were ripped from it for today’s meal. I’m really rather excited. I started it late though so it’s not quite ready yet. I’ve got hungry babies. Lilman is not into it much so I repurposed the torta from last week with some old rice and WALA, fried rice. Big hit with him. Good! It’s annoying how much of a picky eater he is!!! The rest of the chicken is in the reefer. I’m not sure what I might do with it just yet, thinking maybe this. I’m on kick with using the Crock Pot again. I like 1 dish meals sometimes. Less clean up is nice!!!

I have some ground turkey in the freezer. Bought 4 packs the other day. On sale, $2.49 a pack. Not bad eh? Think spaghetti is in order. Haven’t made that in awhile!

I’ve been itching for baked goodies lately too. I’ve gotta do bakesale Wednesday cuppies tomorrow. Haven’t done that in awhile and surprisingly we’re only 16 points away from our 50 pt goal. Woo hoo!!! So it actually wasn’t as bad as I had complained about. But I’ve been wanting some peach crumble. Or some bread pudding. Things are rather hard sell in this house though if they’re not cookies, brownies, or cuppies. UGH! No fun!

Only 15 more minutes to go… let’s hope it’s as good as it smells up in hurrrrrrrrr!!!

Mama left yesterday *sigh* Only 2 months she’ll be gone and I’m sure they’ll go by fast too.

Yesterday was the first day in a long while that I’ve had to cook dinner for the kidlets. I didn’t really “cook” per se though. Lilman had bball practice and we were running around the majority of the day. So J and I had grilled cheese sammies with a side of cantaloupe. Lilmiss and babyM had Ichiban noodles. Which I totally forgot to look for when I was at Costco last. UGH! Good thing mama gave us her extra stash she had around the house.

Been stocking up on healthy snacks for the kidlets too. We’ve got bananas, strawberries, cantaloupe, and blueberries. If they ask for a snack it’s normally one of those or a cheese stick.

I went grocery shopping today so I could actually cook. We have some leftover mashed taters that ma made and the ground turkey is on sale at Safeway for $2.49 with the coupon. So I decided to make Shepherd’s Pie! We had some other leftover things in the fridge like ham and gravy so I threw those in too along with the frozen veggies. I think it’ll be good. But knowing the kids and their love of rice, they won’t eat it, so I made them something else. I made them tortang again b/c it was such a big hit. I figure if they don’t eat it all I can make some lumpia with it too.

Yeah so dinner is made just needed to turn on the rice and pop the “pie” in the oven.

The whole chickens were on sale too, 79 cents a lb. I picked up one of those too and I’ll have to think of a recipe for that.

My whacked out sleep schedule finally hit me last night. As I was fast asleep before 10PM. I managed to fail at my kidlets 365 and didn’t even get a picture of the lilman. That and I didn’t even post until this morning. FAIL!

The lights were ALL on. The money was ready for throwing and instead… Man down! Or rather, lilmiss was down *sigh*. Lilman had the job of throwing the loose change into the mancave. Which happens to be downstairs. I’m running down the hall with babyM in my arms and I turn around to find lilmiss on the floor screaming and crying, but nothing coming out of her mouth. Lilman was halfway down the stairs and I’m yelling, “What’s wrong with you?”

To which lilman responded, “She fell and hit the wall.”

And he did not include the fact that HE was the one who knocked her into the wall.

OY!!!

What a way to start the New Year!!!

My mom even told lilman before we departed from her house, “Do NOT make your sister cry. We don’t want her crying throughout the New Year.”

Please let THAT premonition NOT be true. B/c sadly, she was crying as the clock struck midnight and well past it too.

And what else do we not want? That b/c I was yelling hardcore at my kids that I won’t be yelling at them throughout the year either. I’m sure my neighbors would appreciate that as well.

Happy New Year to me, huh? *sigh*

In a matter of hours it will be 2009! Holy Moly!!!

As per usual we are without the Bm b/c he is working the clubs. No bother though b/c I’m so used to it already! He actually didn’t have something but I encouraged him to find something, b/c it’s really good money.

So right now we’re at my mom’s stuffing our faces. Gotta get it all in b/c she departs back to Hawaii on Wednesday *cries*. I made some binbingkang malagkit. Stopped off at the dim sum spot for buchi (sesame balls), sweet rice cakes, and char siu bao. Round round round= long life. Mom is making pancit as I’m typing, another long life wish. My brother made some carnitas for tacos and we’ve also got some tri tip. Grindz fo’shua. Tomorrow we have prime rib and mashed taters. Yeah you’ll certainly have to stick a fork in me later. But I swear, once Mama goes no more eating!

The year has been an eventful one, especially with the addition of babyM. Lilman started a new school and has participated in basketball and soccer. Lilmiss is growing like a weed and learning at leaps and bounds. The BM started a new job quit it while we were on our summerlong hiatus to the islands, and picked up another job; all in addition to his still holding strong at the station and clubs.

May 2009 be even more eventful for us as a family as well as you. May health and wealth be yours as well. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

More or less the toys and what not have found their places in the house if they’re not already being played with. As I type, lilmiss is enjoying her Hello Kitty tent that she so specifically asked of Santa. This Christmas was rather modest compared to those of Christmas past, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The kids received gifts from people whose children were NOT on my list. OY! SO I need to think of what to get those kids as well as my kris kringle gift for the exchange on the 3rd. Thankfully we put out “wish lists” so hopefully my Kk doesn’t stray from the list. All my Christmas cards are officially out. Albeit later than I had expected this year, but they made out of here before New Year like I had been anticipating. Heh.

Now time to work stress on babyM’s 1st bday party.

Still doesn’t feel like Christmas much around here, probably b/c of the lack of decor. I just realized I never even put up my wreath. No stockings to be filled this year b/c they never made their way out of the boxes. But I managed to wrap all the gifts that needed immediate wrapping. All that’s left are the Santa gifts. Wrapping gifts came at a price last night though as there was lots of yelling on my part, a lot scolding of children, and the baby. Oy! If she wasn’t trying to climb on boxes and get to me then she was putting something in her mouth that wasn’t supposed to be and if it wasn’t that, then she was crying and screaming bloody murder at her siblings. Fun, I tell ya. The holidays are supposed to be Happy, aren’t they?

Today we do the grocery shopping with my mom. My list is rather short, thankfully. Lumpia was rolled last night and I think I managed to roll a supply for New Year’s too. I just realized, I am in fact NOT done with shopping. I’ve still got my Kris Kringle to buy for. But that exchange isn’t until the 3rd so hopefully I can snag some good stuff during the AFTER Christmas sales.

My Christmas cards are in print at the moment hopefully I can pick them up sometime today. Envelopes were addressed yesterday and I realized that I don’t have a lot of addresses. Remember a couple months ago when the iPhone-Macbook sync went awry? Yeah well I emailed everyone and some people just wanted to be b!tches about it, hence they will be receiving GREEN cards this year, digital email ones! HA! Question- What do you do with your Christmas cards once the season is over? All the photo ones I save, of course. They’re compiled in a photo album. All the other ones are recycled. I like to go thru the photos later and see how everyone has progressed/ grown over the years.

Okay 2 more sleeps til Santa makes his visit. Have you been good? What are you hoping to get this year? Either way Merry Holiday to you again hopefully you’ll make it through the season. I’ve already got a few battle scars. Lol.

4 more sleeps and Santa will be merrily on his way. All the gifts that needed to be wrapped have been wrapped, but I still have the next round.

So glad we didn’t get a tree, b/c guess who’s climbing now? Yeah! Climbing! WTF? The corralling her shall only last much longer b/c she’ll climb up a “road block” and know how to maneuver herself down… hello back that ass up. Srsly WTF? 10 months old. I swear the others weren’t this advanced. Then again J was walking at 10 months without even crawling.

Speaking of blasts from the past, went through some photos in the harddrive archives and I forgot how chubba wubba lilmiss was. DAMN she had some cheeks on her!

Managed to do some cookie baking too and I have no clue what the hell I’m going to do with them either. We sooooooo do not need to be eating that many cookies. Lol. Tomorrow I roll lumpia.

Gifts are taken care of save for the Mister, and I’m feeling guilty and bad that I don’t have anything for him. What’s worse is that he’s like a little kid when it comes to Christmas and expects something to open. But funds are low, and my brain has been inactive thinking of something to get him. He gets everything and anything he wants for himself on a daily basis.

Okay my free time has winded down. BabyM crawled into a laundry basket full of toy goodness and was occupied for a good 45 minutes. Yeah! I know! 45 minutes. But the whining and crying is now calling me. Happy Holidays…

Holy Mother of GAH!!! 13 days until Christmas. And we have no tree! Still don’t know if we’re getting one. I like to use the excuse that it’s b/c the baby is into EVERYTHING and will just bring the tree down and put everything in her mouth. There’s also another reason why I don’t want to get a tree, I’m the one to put it up and guess what? I’m the one to put it away. Pfft! It’s babyM’s 1st Christmas and all but still. 3 kids don’t exactly allow me to get a lot done unless it’s at night and by that time I just want to veg and bring my brain to further mush with senseless television watching! So that’s the situation with the Christmas decor round these parts.

As for Christmas cards? Yeah! Uhm… well those might just be “Happy New Year” cards. No pictures in any kind of outfits have been taken. No visits to Santa. Nothing. I did however schedule an appointment for next week to have their photos taken. Go me! Outfits are all chosen and put together, all we need is for N’s booger nose to clear up, for M to not catch the booger nose, and for J to not have the “Chandler smile”. And since we’ll be at the mall anyhow, we’ll make an effort to visit Santa too. Hopefully M doesn’t freak out and have one of “those” Santa pictures. Although her siblings NEVER had them. In J’s 1st Christmas Santa pic he’s actually smiling.

Gifts… *sigh* well for the most part the gifts that need to go to other people outside our 5 have been bought. Wrapped is another story. I have 5 more on the list: a 4 month old baby that is bigger in size AND weight than M, a 6 year old who has everything under the moon, and my sister’s 3 kids. As for our kids N is taken care of, by not much but at least we have gifts. S is in charge of J’s gifts and so far as I know there is NOTHING. I am in charge of M’s gifts and there is NOTHING. S I do have something for but nothing for him to get excited for.

So that is our current update. J has 3 days of school next week and 2 of them are half days. WOo hoo! Why they aren’t consecutive half days is beyond me. LAME.

Happy Aloha Friday peeps!

Lilman’s basketball team has been practicing quite a bit and proof was in their first game yesterday! They won 18-5. Woot! I missed the game though bc it was an early game and all the way deep in the city. BM said that J was a very good team player. YAY.

If you talked to J when practices first started, he did NOT want to play. Now. Now is a different story. He loooooooves it. I’m so glad we don’t let him give up so easily. So now he loves soccer AND basketball. Yay!

That was my breakfast this morning. Egg in a basket, or as my ma calls it Popeye. It’s just a piece of bread with a puka, (hole) in it and the egg cooked in that puka. And on the side is the bread made from the puka. Sure it’s easy peasy but Ma didn’t make it for me all the time. Only on Sundays! Ma didn’t have all the time in the world during the week, she was a working mama Monday thru Friday. My dad did the dinner cooking as he had the graveyard shift, so my dad was the one home with me afterschool. Saturdays were spent cleaning the house and then off to the grocery store to replenish the reefer and cabinets.

So when Sunday rolled around she would sometimes indulge me and make me a Popeye !!! And as I’ve said, sure it’s an easy peasy recipe, one that I’ve even found in The Joy of Cooking, but she only made it on occasion. Which made it rather spayshal (special) to me!!! And I do the same for my kids! I don’t cook it up all the time, I’m trying to make it a special thing for them too. And when I do make it… you better believe their plates are licked clean. heh.

I made this one just for myself tho. *shh Don’t tell the kids. J is off to school and N spent the night t my mom’s. M is here but she don’t know any better. But I swear she was eyeing my food as I tried to feed her her fruit and oatmeal mush, that she refused to eat. She never liked to eat the oatmeal/ rice cereal but I have to force her to eat the stuff b/c she’s borderline anemic, so her ped encouraged me to just keep trudging on and feeding it to her. She also said to try the drops and she won’t even take those. So whatever I can do to help her.

Every morning she asks what we’re doing “today” or where we’re going. This morning was no different as I was getting the baby’s breakfast together. Honestly I have no plans. For the past few weeks we’ve been heading to my mom’s for Sunday lunch/dinner. And normally that’s b/c my brother is BBQing. My brother is on this weekend, so more than likely he’s sleeping, so no BBQ.

So I told her “Nothing and nowhere.”

She didn’t seem too happy about that. And then she realized that she’s gone a whole day without seeing my mom. “I miss Mama. I want to go see her!!!!”

That is honestly not in the plans. And really I hadn’t even anticipated it for tomorrow either. Only b/c I don’t have anywhere I need to go, no money in my wallet, and J has bball practice tomorrow so I don’t want to have to drive here and there and everywhere… and then back again.

Maybe she has cabin fever? We didn’t leave the house at all yesterday. I have plans to leave the house today either.

How is she going to handle things when my mom leaves in January to go back to Hawaii? I’ll have to admit that my mom spoils her to the point where she’s just plain and simple BAD. Everyone notices it too. She tries to get away with things with my mom that just don’t fly with me. It’s annoying. She downright protests to my mom when she says she’s leaving and has even said she’s going with her.

*sigh*

I’m tired, seems I’m always tired as of late. I blame the baby b/c despite having a full tummy, taking consistent naps, sleeping at the right time… she still wakes and OFTEN through the night as well as having her internal clock wake anywhere between 630 and 7AM. UGH. I’m not even going to ask what’s wrong with her not sleeping through the night yet. Her siblings didn’t do it, so why should she, right? It would be a nice thing, but I’ve accepted it!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was a good one. Being with the ones that matter the most and most importantly Mama wasn’t all the way across the ocean. Tummies were satisfied. Food was good! Now to figure out what to make for Christmas . I made piggies in blankies, lumpia, and pumpkin cheesecake. More than likely I will make lumpia and piggies again, but will do something different for dessert.

As in past years I braved the crowds with Mama Toots and did midnight madness. This year I didn’t. I just couldn’t fathom bringing the baby out at that hour of the night. I can’t leave her with anyone, especially not at night b/c I am her human pacifier, lest I be gone, sure as hell no one will sleep. Instead I woke at 530 and got ready and headed to Tarjey. Picked up a bunch of good loot for gifts and then headed back home to pick up lilman. For some reason the lilmiss had already been awake and was aware that I was heading out, she wanted to come too. Funny thing is she thought it was still night, b/c it was dark. And of course, had to bring baby along. They did very well. Then it was off to my mom’s to p/up mom and SIL. We headed down the peninsula and they went to town at both Old Navy and Guess. Crowds surprisingly weren’t bad at all the whole day. Thank goodness.

26 more days til Christmas!