So-niele

Thanksgiving 2009

A few minutes shy of the “holiday” but we survived.

This year was very low key and absolutely perfect. No uncomfortable “unwanted” family members. No forced situations. Just good people. Good company. Good food. With the people that matter the most, save for Mama.

Mama was s’posed to be home on the 19th but extended her stay so that she could take care of some things before her extended stay here. As much as I miss my mom, I’d much rather her take care of that business and stay longer than rush back right after the holidays, which was the case last year. So with that news we were at a scramble as to what we were going to do this year.

We threw around the idea of going out somewhere to eat. But then it dawned on some certain football fans that they’d much rather be in close proximity of a television. Then the idea of purchasing a whole meal and forgoing all the hardwork was thrown around as well. MollieStone’s, Boston Market, and Honeybaked were big contenders… but in the end it was homemade teamwork that won out…. and it was all for the better.

I ran around looking for a damned turkey with my brother. We hit up 3 different places. LMAO! And we ended up getting it at our 1st spot and with a bigger bird than he anticipated.

What was on the menu: roast turkey, fried turkey legs and thighs stewed in duck fat, corn bread casserole, Sto.ve T.op stuffing (my fave ), mashed potatoes, lumpia, spinach salad, rice, gravy, pumpkin flan, pumpkin pie, and apple pie. And I’m sad to say, as much as I love me some Thanksgiving eats only ONE plate was had. But it was good eats!!! And plenty of leftovers were taken home to be enjoyed for the next few days.

What am I thankful for:

1. My siblings, we might not always get along or agree (b/c really who does) but we work and we know how to work together. If it weren’t for the 3 of us getting along then today would not have happened.

2. My family, they keep me grounded and they make me appreciate the people I have in my life.

3. S, b/c he’s ever so supportive and allows me to watch our kids and stay home with them. A luxury that some can’t do and as much as I complain about the kids I love them to death. S is also my best friend and for as many years as we’ve been together he can still make me laugh even when he’s being stupid. And even though most of the time he’s being stupid and I’m not laughing on the outside, I’m certainly laughing on the inside (just don’t tell him.)

4. My kids, they make me who I am today. They make me proud, they make me smile, they bring joy to my life… as well as aggravate the hell out of me… but I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. They. Are. My. Life. Not to say I don’t have a life outside of them but I love what I do and I know for certain I am not perfect at my job, I think I do a damned good job sometimes.

5. A roof over our heads and the small (and big luxuries) that we have. Food on the table, warm blankets, electricity, running water, cable tv, and cellphone service to name a few. I take for granted of them all the time and I could certainly be content withOUT some of the things we have but I am VERY thankful for them.

6. Friends old and new that make me laugh, make me cry, and make me remember some of the good and bad times in life but they give me an outlet outside of my kids and the mister and my family.

7. Waking up every morning and thanking God that I’m alive to be thankful for all these things and experience them another day.

I was trying to go for top 10 but those are the things I am most thankful for. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving… I did learn something thanks to FB today, there are quite a few people who do NOT like turkey *gasp* WHY NOT??? They must not have had a good turkey and with that thought I have #8. To my parents for always making us good food to eat and the appreciation of a good plate of food. It’s no wonder I am so pudgy. Not only do I looooooves me some food but damn I can cook up some good eats too.

Posted in babbles, keiki, cooking, eating, lil man, lil miss, ohana, work, celebration, complaints, funnies, big mister, baby M | No Comments »

OPERATION PT

The PT, well that will stand for potty training!

Today I bought a box of diapers at Costco. That’s 180 diapers not counting random diapers we have around the house and in the car and diaper bag. babyM has graduated to size 4. We’ve been having too many leak out the side mishaps with the size 3s so I’ll finish those off first and then graduate to size 4.

I have been steadily prepping her and myself for potty training. If she ever requests to sit on the toilet, I make sure I put her on there. 3 out of 5 times something actually does come out of her. YAY! When she wakes up in the morning, it’s right to the toilet she goes. Before bed, while we’re brushing our teeth, she sits on the toilet. 5 out of the 7 nights of the week she will wake up with a dry diaper. The poop tho… that’s another story. I can never read her “signals”. Lilmiss would grunt and turn colors. Lilman would hide. babyM she just does it, as if it’s nothing. But once she done… she’ll come over and tell you, “I caca.. Change?!” And before even her times would be predictable… now not so much. UGH! So frustrating.

So I’m hoping this will be our last box of diapers that we have to buy. EVAR! As sad as I might be that she is our last baby… I can’t wait to be done with diapers!

OPERATION PT! I am hoping to be done before she turns 2. I have 3.5 months to go. READY! SET! Goooooooooo!

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Halloween Festivities

4 costume parties this year. Trick or treating. 2 different school events. Pixi.eland’s 1st ever pumpkin patch. Our usual pumpkin patch. A kid friendly event in the city tonight. DAAAAAAAAANG!

Lilman, who didn’t seem very enthusiastic about dressing up this year, is going to be a zombie. An easy peasy costume. We found these shirt/ bandana combos at Wa.lmart the other week and it was either the zombie or the vampire. He was leaning towards the vampire but I didn’t think it looked as cool as the zombie… and well the zombie is easier to outfit than the vampire anyhow. I had him dig up an old pair of his jeans and I took some scissors to them and shredded them. $6 costume. Woot!

Lilmiss is where the money was spent. Of course right? When we were in Hawai’i for the SUMMER Cost.co busted out their costumes and automatically she wanted to be sTinkerbell. I opted NOT to buy it there tho and waited til we got home to pick up the costume. But I didn’t wait long either. We’ve had her costume since late August and since then she’s been trying to get OUT of being sTinkerbell. Good thing we got it when we did tho, b/c by September they were already out. I think it was around $21, way cheaper than the D-store and the party/costume stores. Buuuuuuuuut we also picked up some sparkly shoes $12 @ Target and some glittery tights $2, Target.

babyM has 3 choices for costumes. I dug up N’s old mermaid dress up thing that we picked up a long time ago for like $2. My cousin also “loaned” us their daughter’s old lady bug costume. And I also happened to be looking in the girls’ closet and found a Chinese outfit that N never wore. I picked up M some sparkly shoes when I got N’s, M’s are red and can go with either the lady bug or Chinese ‘fit.

I don’t dress up for Halloween and I’m not quite sure what S is going to be. He has to “work” that night and he needs a costume.

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Kitchen sink fried rice

This meal is a common occurrence in our house maybe every other week and sometimes every week. The kids really like it and it’s so easy to make. I like repurposing leftovers too which is always nice. Good for any time of the day even, especially if you come from an Asian household and rice is always available.

Sorry no exact measurements:
leftover cold rice
chopped garlic
chopped onion
eggs
meat of your choice (Spam, bacon, chicken, steak, hot dogs- whatever you have on hand)
frozen mixed veggies
salt
oyster sauce (optional)
soy sauce

If the rice is a little hard and clumped together I sprinkle a little water on it and mash it up so it separates a little bit, and then set aside. This is a one pot/pan method so… I normally cook and scramble the egg first and then set it aside. Depending on which meat you choose I throw that in the pan next. Of course bacon is going to take the longest to cook, unless you already have some cooked up. I normally cut up the meat into small pieces so you get a little in every bite. If using bacon, there will be some fat/oil rendered from that. KEEP THAT IN THE PAN, it gives you good flavor. Once your meat has been cooked or heated through, remove it from the pan. Add a little oil (unless you’re using bacon then you don’t need any). And throw in your chopped garlic and onion. Let that brown up a bit and then throw in your rice. Mix and stir, mix and stir. Then add your veggies. FROZEN. Straight from your freezer. It’s up to you how much you put in. And then again mix and stir, mix and stir. Season with salt and cook through until veggies are no longer frozen. Add your meat and eggs and mix and stir, mix and stir. At this point you’ll want to season with your choosing. Sometimes I use soy sauce and sometimes oyster sauce. The oyster sauce goes a long way tho in flavoring so be wary. Depending on how “crispy” you like your fried rice is up to you, so leave it on the heat for however long you like.

In this household it’s normally a one dish meal. The kids love the stuff and I can count on clean bowls/ plates EVERYTIME. And the veggies are in there too. YAY! Lately the baby has been hard to please when it comes to food. She only ever really asks for rice and it’s really hard to get her to eat any meat. Veggies are hit or miss these days and even eggs can even be a chore. She refuses to eat pasta. So it’s nice that she’ll eat EVERYTHING when it comes to this fried rice.

“Throw everything in there but the kitchen sink” Have you ever heard that phrase. It’s kind of the concept with this dish and that’s why it’s called “Kitchen Sink Fried Rice”!

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babyM is speaking in sentences

She has actually been speaking in “sentences” for 2 weeks now. Her first put together was “More milk please, mommy.” Everytime the garage opens or closes, “Daddy’s home”, regardless of he’s coming or going

She’s such a puppet sometimes it’s hilarious. Lilman is constantly telling her to say stuff and for the most part it comes out sounding right with a lil splash of babeinese. One thing which boggles me tho is that she won’t say “Thank you” after given something where she has said “please” over and over and over again for. So instead I’m teaching her to say “mahalo” and it comes out more like “ma-lo-lo” but better than nothing I say.

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Playing catch up

So Hawai’i was good as it always is. Celebrated Ma’s 75th bday, my bday, and lilman’s 10th bday while we were out there.

Came home only a few days before Lilman started 5th grade. Yikes! Soon he’ll be in middle school.

Lilmiss followed suit the following week and started preschool. 2 days a week for 4 hours w Lil Toots. Her first day went well… her 2nd day? Not so well… Lil Toots wasn’t there . I felt so bad leaving her and never really expected her to react that way. She acts like that when he’s not there before her *sigh*

babyM is getting into everything and anything and drives me nuts and is so adventurous. One nice thing is that I get 1-on-1 time with her when N is at school. It’s funny she doesn’t seem to know what to do with herself when the 2 big kids are at school, but I’m sure relishes in the fact that no one is yelling at her or taking things from her.

The 2 big kids went on their annual Dr’s visits too as well as babyM for her 18 month check up. Lilman is huge-ish. I won’t say how much he weighs b/c he’s quite embarrassed about it, but the Dr did say that it’s nothing to worry about after summer time and once he gets back into his “activities” he should be fine. The Dr also said that by the time he’s 18, he should be well over 6 feet. Possibly 6′2″. WOWSERS!

Everyone has been mentioning how lean N has gotten. She’s sprouted in height quite a bit and has lost a bit of her chub… but her cheeks still remain. At her appt she weighed in at 37 lbs, which is the 50th %. I can’t recall her height. A few days after her appt, I had to rush her to the ER… b/c she stuck a bead in her nose and there was no way to get it out. UGH! The triage nurse told me that I could probably get it out myself by plugging up the unobstructed nostril and covering her mouth with mine and blowing. SUCCESS. The bead shot out at my face as well as some boogers. Oh joy of joys… at least now she knows NOT to put things in her nose.

babyM is also in the 50th percentile for weight, 21 lbs. WOO HOO!! A long way coming from her eensy teensy self when she was born. I’m contributing this to all the good food she ate in Hawai’i. Lol. Her height has her in the 20th or 30th percentiles I think.

I’ve been working on purging and donating. It’s a slow process. Like molasses slow… but it’s happening. I’m so proud of finally purging all the junk that we’ve accumulated. And I’m happy that it’s going to people who need it instead of collecting dust here in the house and just taking up space.

Tomorrow S tackles the backyard… small steps. I am really hoping to have the girls’ bedroom set up before Christmas *crossing fingers* It’s been almost a whole year since we bought that super kitchen, and sadly it’s been sitting in my sister’s garage. Lol.

Posted in babbles, keiki, lil man, lil miss, ohana, celebration, weekend, big mister, baby M | 2 Comments »

Aloha Day 19

Beach Day. It’s not our usual beach Thursday, instead Beach Tuesday. We have other plans for Thursday so we squeezed “beach day” in for today.

The rain had woken me up around 530am-ish. I thought I wouldn’t get any more snoozes in, but managed to fall back asleep for another hour. When I finally got up Mama said that it was raining. Looked in the direction of the beach and it looked fine to me, in the other direction though it looked cloudy. No bother anyhow, the rains are just normally a passing thing. So I packed up our “lunch/snack” and got everything together.

Still clear as blue skies… up until we set up “camp” and the kids headed out to the water. Not even 5 minutes and a light shower started to pour. And then the sky opened up. Not a down pour but little more than a passing sprinkle. You could tell b/c the waters were a little “rough” even. The kids remained in the water though. BabyM and I had to get out b/c it was just too cold for me. We sat up at “camp” with Mama and waited for the rain to pass, we watched a number of other families pack up and head home. The thought had crossed my mind but the kids weren’t leaving the water.

I don’t even know how long, but it finally passed. YAY! And then the sun was beaming hot. Took babyM back out to the water and she was having a grand old time. Tried to work on my tan but it’s difficult when the wee one wants to be in the water all the time. And when I say working on my tan, I’m only talking about my legs. Pwahahaha.

We were there a good 3 hours and then came home. That was “Beach Tuesday”

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Aloha Day 15

Woke up bright and early and headed off to the open market (aka Farmer’s Market) in Ewa. When my dad was still alive, we used to make the trek all the way out to his old stomping grounds in Wahiawa. Thank goodness we found the one in Ewa b/c Wahiawa is a bit of a trek and once the horn sounds at 9am, by 915am everything is pretty much gone.

It was HOT that day w no tradewind to speak of, so the 2 big kids and I headed down to the library to soak up some free a/c. Mama wasn’t in the mood to go and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with babyM. The kids got a handful of books and we spent a good hour in there reading random things and such.

And that was Friday!

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Aloha Day 14

Beach Day! Mom wasn’t too keen on going as the skies were gray and it appeared to be showering in some areas.

Me and the kids weren’t having any of that though and packed up the things, made a lunch, and headed out to lagoon #4.

As we were driving through the parking lot, it seemed crowded, but luckily we have the little blue pass that can normally guarantee us a spot. We found a nice spot under the usual tree and set up shop. babyM already knew what the beach was all about and set off on her own, until she remembered sand and that she didn’t like walking in it much. So I carried her out to the shoreline and she did her thing. As we were there, the beach started to fill up.

After awhile of playing in the sand and water with the kids, it was time to head up to Mama and have a bite to eat, and from there we really realized that the beach had filled up.

Did the beach thing and then headed home.

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Aloha Day 11

Recovery from party day.

Just a bit of tidying up needed to be done and a little bit of loafy-ness.

We finally headed to the local library and got Mama and J library cards. Damn that place is BEE-YOO-TI-FULL! 2 stories. Lots of space. Lots of Hawaiiana. Lots of books. Found Mom her essential areas of the library and J found a handful of books and so did the girls. I took out some DVDs too. The only thing that sucks is that “rentals” are $1, whereas back home DVD “rentals” are FREE.

Anyhow came home, to find the DVDs so scratched up that we weren’t able to watch them. It was 430PM, library closed at 5PM. So J and I hauled butt back to the library and explained what happened. She tried them out on their equipment and 1 of the discs out of 4 was able to play but she gave us the refund back anyhow. Woo hoo.

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Aloha Day 9

Saturday like I said is really rather nothing day. We prepped the house for tomorrow’s party and did any food prep that could be done.

Went to church, and stated that we (the girls and me) would not be attending next week, it’s a longer mass b/c of baptisms and the girls are just out of hand naughty some times.

Came home had dinner and then babyM and I stole some time away together and went to Target for some necessities. The heat has been wreckin havoc on her and I forgot to get some diaper rash cream. Also got some anti itch cream for the kids b/c the mosquitoes are still feasting on us. Also got some crackers for J and popcorn for N. And some small bowls for the party tomorrow. Mom realized she didn’t have any cake plates.

Tomorrow… we PAR-TAY!

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Aloha Day 8

We have been here 1 week now and it all feels so natural. Like we’ve always been here. Lol.

Today we just ran errands for Sunday’s upcoming party.

First a trip to the Open Market in Ewa Beach. Fresh veggies, fresh fruits, and fresh from the mornings catch seafood. Oh yeah and even baked Pilipino goodies. I love going b/c I hear all the Manongs and Manangs speaking Ilokano (my family’s dialect). Something you don’t hear all too often back home in the mainland b/c everyone speaks Tagalog. Brings me back to the past at old family parties with my grandma or even when I would go to her house. I would hear her talking on the phone to someone. LOVE IT!

Then it was off to Foodland to pick up some water for the 3 day sale. Remember sticker shock here.

Back home we went to unload and teeter around the house for a bit and then we were off to Pearlridge. I wanted to hit up Price Busters for goodie bag things for the kids that are coming. I decided NOT to get a pinata this year, well b/c funds are low.

Also hit up the babyGap. Dang I always find good stuff here that the kids can wear. I guess things that they don’t necessarily wear here b/c of the weather. Found a cute sweater for the lilmiss, originally $29.50, marked down to $12.99 +25% off. When I got to the register, it was actually $7.99 +25% off, so it was a whopping $5.99 with only a 4.??% tax. Unlike back home it’s 9.5%.

There is a bug exhibit @ Pearlridge and it’s pretty neat. The bugs are huge.

We parked by Macy’s and so on our way out I hit up the kids section there too. Deals upon deals. AGAIN! Finished off babyM’s gift cert. Found her some Hurley stuff. So cute. A sweatshirt that was originally $36 for only $7.99 and a tshirt that was originally $14, for $4.99. And a really pretty Guess blouse that was originally $21.50, $4.99. I’m telling you. I always find such good stuff for the kids in Hawaii.

Then it was off to Costco for some finishing stuff for the party.

Came home, had dinner and then it was to work I went. Rolled lumpia and made spinach dip. Whew!

My toes and fingers feel like sausages. I hate the water retention and the heat. It does things like that to me here. I feel so swollen.

Tomorrow is Saturday, and as you know it’s clean up and church day… so we won’t be doing much of anything.

Posted in babbles, keiki, cooking, shopping, ohana, getaways, out&about, baby M | 1 Comment »

Aloha Day 7- Hau’oli la hanau lilmiss

Big old 4 years old! She will embark to preschool in the fall *sigh* Where does the time go?

Today she woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed and yet still with much attitude. Her daddy called and wanted to talk to her and she wanted NOTHING to do with the phone. My sister called. Same thing. UGH!

Packed up the truck and headed to Ko’olina. YAY! The kids have been dying to get out there. And as soon as we plunked down and found a spot they were gone for the water. Last year babyM was much to small to even care about the beach, but this year she was on the shore playing in the sand and water. And then when I brought her out in the inflatable honu, she wanted nothing to do with it. She kept trying to get out and get MORE in the water. Lol.

Had a small picnic lunch at the beach, rested up a bit, and headed back into the water. For some reason the sunblock didn’t work on the 2 big kids, despite lathering them up again. They’re both sporting lobster backs. Pwahahahaha.

Came home and Mama fired up the stove and cooked up some pancit (long life). Then we headed out to buy her a pink cake. Guava cake from Napoleon’s Yummy.

All in all I think she had a good birthday. She just needs to work on her grumpiness factor. UGHs!

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Aloha Day 6

B/c of Mama’s decision to have a party for N afterall, today I made a few small errands and got out of mom’s hair for a little bit.

We were out and about early today and got so much accomplished. Lol

Headed out to Walmart to make a return and look for some invitations to give to the neighbors. I was afraid that it would be too late to send out invites, but hey the neighbors sometimes just tell us to come over day of, so what then? Lol. There were Princess invites (been there done that), Hannah invites (no), and Tinkerbell invites. So then I went in search of something non-commercial. Why on earth were those so much more? $3 more. So we settled on the Tinkerbell invites.

Then it was done to Times to buy some Capri Sun’s for our beach trip tomorrow. It’s always good to have portable/straw drinks for the kids when we’re out and about anyhow. They were on sale for $1.99. Which to me isn’t really a sale back home, but I’m not back home and sometimes just have to suck up the inflated prices that they pay out here for living out in the middle of the ocean.

Then it was off to Cost.co. I needed to get ground pork for the lumpia that I have to roll up for the party as well as some paper plates and ended up picking up a book and a case of water and some other snacks for the kids. Lol. But I do like the new Co.stco that is closer to mom’s house. Nice, new, and empty! But I’m sure that’s a different story on the weekends. Picked up some hot dogs and made our way back home and it was still only 11AM.

Came home, had lunch, and then took a nap with babyM. Only to wake up and have the neighbor kids running amuck in the house. Had dinner and then lilmiss and I made a trip to order her ice cream cake at BR.

Went to Rad.io Shack first in search of a case for “beloved”. But came up empty handed. When we got to BR, we flipped thru the book only to find NO Tinkerbell cake decor. ARGH!!!!!! How ghey is that? So lilmiss picked Litt.le Mer.maid. I’m a bit peeved that the invites do NOT match the cake, but pfft lilmiss don’t care so it shouldn’t matter right?

Tomorrow she turns 4. *sigh* They’re growing too fast. We have plans for a beach day. YAY!

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Aloha Day 5

What started off to be a nothing day evolved into a trip into town.

Before we left, S gave me a giftcard to upgrade my 1st gen iP.hone for the new 3gs. Everywhere in our area they were out of the white 16gb. So I had been checking online the stock out here. All weekend no one had them. Low and behold this morning I went to check and there was stock. So with no coaxing at all, what was supposed to be a Friday trip to Ala Moana, we made it a Tuesday trip.

We waited for the traffic to die down to make the trek out there as well as time it right so that our trip back home we wouldn’t be sitting in traffic either. Been there, done that, and it’s no fun. There’s only 1 way home, unlike back in the mainland there are varying ways to get home. Not here.

First stop. Apple Store. Was crazy like a madhouse in there but it seemed everyone was just playing with the merchandise and feeding off the free internet. Finally flagged someone down only to have him tell me that they were out of my beloved white 16gb 3gs. BULLSHIT! I told him that I checked that morning online and they had them in stock. With much relunctance he decided to check the stock room for me. I told S this very story, and he told me I should have asked for the manager. Anyhow he comes walking out with my beloved. Lol. The process took awhile and he was annoying me b/c he wasn’t a very good salesman. He cared nothing for what I had to say, not even a smidgen of small talk. I know for certain they don’t work on commission but bitch PLEASE! Appease me, I’m plunking down funds here not chump change. After all was said and done I walked out with my beloved and her new Hawaiian style air jacket.

Next stop was just a few steps away at Macy’s, mom’s little indulgence store. I actually still had some gift card left to spend on babyM so we hit that up and successfully found some deals. Then to Shirokiya for their White Taiyaki event. Yum.

We walked the mall some more just seeing what’s new and what not and then headed to Don Quixote Daiei for dinner first and then a bit of grocery shopping. I saw my DVDs that I want. Buttttttt….. not at $105. AUWE. I saw someone selling them online on craigslist for $65 so I might have to try that route.

Hit up Nordstrom Rack on the way out of town. Found some shoes for the kids and saw that Marukai had closed . And finally headed back home.

A very successful trip into town. And I am in absolute love with my new phone, especially the video. I think I’ve been sending S far more videos of the kids than photos as of late.

When we got home, my mom played catch up on the phone with my auntie and in turn ended up deciding that we would have a party for N afterall. So there is a birthday party scheduled for Sunday.

Happy 15th birthday to JWS!!!

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Aloha Day 4

Bear with me, it’s not my fault that blogsome has been down. I’ve been itching to post just for memories sake, but they wouldn’t let me. And now I can’t even remember what we did on Monday….

Mom was forcing me out to get the truck washed, for free. When they bought the truck they got a book of free carwashes. They’ve barely made a dent in that book, but that’s b/c the carwash place is all the way out in Waipio by the Cost.co. But I made a day trip out there for all of us. I dropped her and lilman over to Cos.tco first so they could get the new coupon book and the girls and I headed to the carwash. babyM fell fast asleep before we even made it in. Lilmiss always gets a kick out of the conveyor belt style and sitting in the truck whilst it gets washed. By the time we got out and it was time for the boys to spiffy it up, mom and lilman were sitting there waiting on us.

From there we put some juice in the truck, since we were in the area and then headed to lunch at Zippy’s! Finally. Had the chili and of course picked up an apple napple and a long john for later. YUM!

Then it was off to Waikele to hit up Kmart. Mom needed some candles and I wanted a few things from the ad. Remember when things are on sale here, you have to jump. Lol. The spaghetti sauce that I wanted was almost gone. WHew for picking up 2 cans. Then it was off to Border’s to let the lilmiss spend her hard earned gift card that she got at the “study” we did a couple of weeks back. She ended up finding 3 books and I had to spend $4 out of my pocket for them.

Then it was back home for the usual monotony.

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Aloha day 3

Another day in paradise.

So I did wake early and apparently so did the girls. My mom said once again babyM was scratching at her shirt but managed to get her back to sleep. The nice thing is that babyM doesn’t “bother” me with the scratching. The magic word hasn’t been said since we departed the plane!

I made it to the market only to once again NOT buy any chxn bc damnit I needed to get a raincheck. Got some other things tho and found that mom had some chicken in the freezer. BBQ was on.

Didn’t do much of anything, went to Walmart and Sam’s Club. Sad to see that there aren’t any new books out. So yeah it was a nothing sort of Sunday.

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Aloha day 2

As with all Saturdays with my mom we don’t really do much other than church. Today is normally clean the house day. People always rag on me or ask me what we’re doing today? This is essentially our 2nd home and had we been home, if there are no parties or functions to attend then we stay home.

Lilman pleaded to go to the pool but I’m just not in that mode yet. And that would have required toting the lilmiss along and she’s a pain in the butt at the pool b/c they don’t allow any sort of flotation device.

After dinner we took a trip down to Safeway b/c there were a few things in the ad that I wanted to get. Yeah. There weren’t anymore. And the stupid man who works the counter, who is supposed to work the poke counter was NO help whatsoever. And holy hot damn did I have some sticker shock. I was jonesin for some chips but I guess with these prices it’s best that I don’t have any. Lol. 2 bags of Lay’s for $9 and normally back home sometimes it’s 2/$3 OH HELL!

I’m going to try and sleep early tonight and hit up the market early in the morning, I have big plans to bbq up some chicken *crossing fingers*

Operation “weenie” is going well. My mom managed to keep her in bed with her all night. She said babyM woke up scratching at her shirt around 4:30am, so she got her a cup of milk and a little tossing and turning and she was back to sleep. I actually miss her, but I’ll let her sleep with my mom until full weaning is ensured.

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Aloha from Hawaii

It’s already the 11th on the mainland but here on Oahu I’ve still got 3 hours to go. I’m seriously surprised that I am not knocked out like the girls are b/c I only got 3 hours of sleep last night, and any hope of catching any winks on the plane did NOT happen.

Back to last night. The concert was awesome sauce and our seats were the BEST EVAR! We went from nosebleed seats, to okay seats, to the best seats EVAR. Thanks to BM and his radio connections. We met the boys, held the boys, took pics with the boys, and I even got a private little conversation with MR DW himself. Seriously I was a giddy little high school girl all over again. And back then my seats WERE in nosebleed. Heh. But last night, we were closer than you could possibly get!

As for the plane ride, ugh! Both girls were bad. Lilmiss was taking everything and anything away from babyM which in turn pissed her off. Which in turn pissed me off b/c I was afraid what other people were thinking of a screaming unruly child. Lilmiss refused to nap when babyM napped. Then she had to use the bathroom, luckily baby was sleeping but I was afraid of leaving there alone. What if she woke up? What if she fell off the seats? babyM was a wriggly little worm and couldn’t really be confined. But when I let her out onto the aisle all she wanted to do was crawl around on that nasty ass floor and pick things up to eat *gag* At one point they were being so unruly that I spilled water on the boy in front of us. Of course the drop down trays were a lovely “new” attraction to babyM and felt bad for the people in front of us. I think the mom just wanted to sleep and if babyM wasn’t putting up and dropping the tray she was pushing and kicking the back of the seat *sigh*. She also wanted to nurse and make sure everyone could see it too. Ughs. I’m not about letting people see my bits, that’s just me. I’m okay with public nursing but I need to cover my shit up. We made it safely to Mama and lilman tho.

Speaking of lilman… as much as I missed him, he has been annoying me to no avail. AIYAH! All up in my grill.

Back to the nursing thing. So…. tonight we are in full attempt mode at weaning. She is in another bed in a whole ‘nother room from me. I told lilmiss that she would sleep with me and she wasn’t having it. She said her place was in bed next to Mama. So we let her fall asleep there but moved her stealthily back next to me, I’m wondering what kind of shit fit she’ll have in the morning and hopefully not in the middle of the night.

I always forget how hot and tropical it is here. I had to take a shower tonight to get that sticky ickiness off me. I’m really hoping the mosquitoes stay AWAY from me. Lilman has enough bites for all of us so hopefully I can get away unscathed this summer.

Was hoping for some tako poke but a las I settled for some home cooking. Made it out to the new Tarjey already and DAMN that ish is HUGE! Funny the things I take for granted, I forgot a toothbrush and deodorant so I made a run out that way.

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The final countdown.

We are in the home stretch. Today is the 5th of July and NKOTB is in 4 days and we leave for Hawaii in 5. HOLY MOLY Batman I am so not ready for this.

Yesterday we spent our freedom at a picnic in the East Bay with my sister and her friends/family. S and the girls swam while I sat around. Food was good and plentiful and everyone seemed to have a good time. We were s’posed to stay and watch the fireworks out there until my niece said we would be walking up some hill that wasn’t very child friendly, so we decided to make the trek back home. Lilmiss was none to happy about it b/c she made a friend and was hoping to watch the festivities with her. I already knew she was beyond tired though and making that trek up and back would not have been a fun one. We caught a few random fireworks on the drive home though and she missed them ALL b/c she was knocked the heck out!

So guess what? BOTH girls are sick and so am I. Ughz. I have that achy all over feeling and congestion and gala galas. Ick! babyM has the faucet nose and cough and lilmiss has a cough. Fun, fun, fun! NOT! Just what I need huh? The house is in shambles and all I really want to do right now is flush my system with a steaming hot shower just so my head can feel clear.

Hope your 4th was nice and you enjoyed your day.

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Where I talk about breastfeeding

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*

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Summer

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.

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A week later

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.

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Dude, what is wrong with me?

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!

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You’ve heard it all before…

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.

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babyM’s 1 year WBC

*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?

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Happy Birthday babyM

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!!!!

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A first

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!

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When it rains it pours!

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*

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Could it be?

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!

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