So-niele

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.

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!

For the life of me, I can’t remember where I put the Sleeping Beauty DVD!?!? Bought it at Target last month and I have not seen it since. OY!

I need to go through the girls’ clothes and put some away and give back or donate the smalleys from babyM. Been stocking up on some stuffs for her b/c there was a gap in the 6-18 handmedowns. And for some reason I need to go thru some things b/c onesies seem to be lacking. Where the hell did they go? Lilmiss was wearing stuff from when lilman was a baby, so where did those go?

Today I finally got J an appt for his flu shot. Thankfully it went fast. When we arrived at the office it was packed. Not a seat in the house. As soon as a seat opened up they called him in and I also made an appt for babyM’s 2nd dose for next month. Then we were off to the lab to get her blood drawn. OY! I can’t believe she even put a tourniquet on her. She’s so itty bitty. I had to hold her and she didn’t like that one bit. She let out a teensy cry from the poke and was more irritated that she couldn’t move.

Thanksgiving is next week. Weeee!!! I’m so excited. I’m appetizers and half of desserts. I’ve gotta roll lumpia next week and I need to think of another appetizer I forgot about the pigs in blankets those always go well at family gatherings. My mom ordered kutsinta and maja blanca and I’m making a pumpkin praline cheesecake. Mom’s is making the turkeys, yes 2 and the mashed ‘taters. My sister has side items. I’m wondering if anyone else is coming to Thanksgiving?

I want to watch Twilight, of course! But I think I’ll have to wait til AFTER the holiday weekend. So I can watch it in the middle of the day when all the screaming FANatic tweens are in school. I had to go back thru my archives to see when I read the stinkin thing. Over a year ago. And to think I was encouraging my niece to read it back then, did she heed my calls? Of course not, and guess who’s reading all 4 of my books now? HA! I told my sister she should read them now. She’s gonna try. Or so she says.

I missed bakesale Wednesday this week. I was busy Tuesday. But why oh why have I been itching for a cupcake? Not that we have leftovers or extras from the ones that go to school. So today, I made that itch scratchable . I baked up a box of Golden Vanilla. Yeah, yeah hate me and *tsk* me all you want. I use box cake. Plain and simple! I changed it up a bit from using a recipe in this book. A simple substitution of 1 cup of buttermilk for the water and an extra egg. Can I just say, that this cupcake is moist! Yum ! Of course I had to have a sample. After dinner I’m going to pipe some vanilla pudding in the middle and frost with lemon frosting. Lol. That’s was lilman’s choice. I was going to do buttercream but he said lemon. I would have preferred lemon puddin in the middle but couldnt find any. Pffft!

[edit] And here they are in all their glory! So pretty. I only sampled a cuppie straight out the oven. No filling. No frosting. It was delish. Lilman had a full on cuppie and wanted another. But he’d just about eat anything with frosting on it .

Tonight I tried the 10 minute stroganoff recipe and it was a hit with the 2 big kids. Next time though I think I’ll omit the ground beef and just go full on mushrooms! Oh yeah and also add another can of cream of mushroom soup! .

I also had my first go around with making homemade baby food for babyM. My mom bought me this book from Ross today for a whopping $7. When she first came out with the book I was skeptical b/c she claimed to be the originator of mixing veggies in kids’ food. NOT! Some of the recipes seem rather fake too (as if her kids would eat stuff like that), but it gave me some ideas for the kids. The kids eat veggies more or less but sometimes it gets challenging.

I knew how to make the baby food but after reading the book it inspired me even more. I couldn’t very well feed her what the other kids were eating and I had some things in the kitchen. So I busted out my bamboo steamer and steamed her 5 baby carrots, a small sweet potato, and one of my mom’s homegrown apples. It said to puree in a food processor, and we have one but it’s a frickin pain to clean that thing just for that small amount. I just smushed with a fork and portioned out about 2 teaspoons for her to try tonight. I put the rest in the freezer. Well she inhaled that stuff like a champ and may as well have licked the bowl b/c she was looking for lots more!

I can’t wait to try spinach and butternut squash!!!

With the lilman this book WAS my bible, with all things baby. First time parent, clueless. I turned to the books. And of course my ma! I knew to look there to see where he should be developmentally. What he should and should NOT be eating. What to do when he had that funny rash on him.

Despite the age gap, and I really needed the mind refreshing I didn’t use it so much with N b/c I had a handful of friends who had babies all around the same time. I just called on Mama Toots or followed her lead .

So now with babyM, in some senses I feel like I’m a new parent. Especially with the feeding thing. I can NOT for the life of me remember what she’s NOT s’posed to be eating at her age, other than honey.

In the room move, I miraculously found my book!!! Albeit outdated, but last night I flipped through it. Still didn’t find that section of the book but I seriously feel like I’ve uncovered some buried treasure or something.

For breakfast today the baby had ‘nanas and blueberry yogurt. Hey at least it wasn’t lemon! She’s not big on babyfood. What. So. Ever. She still not eating meat and I’m still holding strong on that one. Oatmeal cereal has to be given to her first thing, just so she’s fooled by the spoon. She’ll open her mouth to ANY spoon. She stares you down when you’re eating. She’s really good with the puffs. Yes! Despite her lack of teeth, she does well with the puffs!!! Despite teeth, she loooooves texture. So forget that strained mush stuff she doesn’t do it!!!

A friend had these at her daughter’s party but couldn’t remember where she bought them *rolls eyes*. Never bothered to look for them but came across them at the Super Walmart and had to buy them. So cute. So tiny. And just right to satiate the desire for ice cream! I even let the baby have ‘em, sans ice cream of course. She gobbles them up.

Speaking of the Super Walmart. Damn that place is looooooooove. One stop shopping. Seriously! Too bad I have to travel across 2 bridges to get there. And to top it off they’re building a Sonic’s in that very same plaza. Oh to live in the boonies and have all the luxuries of suburbia .

Yeah, yeah we’ve all heard that it’s expensive to live here. Makes sense. It’s a rock in the middle of the ocean and to get anything here, it either has to be shipped or flown. The other day we were at Thinker Toys at Alaz and we came across these super cute play sushi sets. I don’t think the lilmiss remembers sushi, but she likes it, more or less. I think it was more the novelty of getting something. I was thinking more along the lines, that her birthday is coming up .

Saw this one first and loved it. Loved that it’s wood too and has those velcro things so she can pretend that she’s cutting sushi. The only thing that had me put it back is the price $24.95. Not bad I know, but I passed on it anyhow. Her love for kitchen things comes and goes.

Also saw this one… and almost considered getting it b/c of the lower price, $14.95, but it wasn’t as “nice” and fun with the cutting and velcro.

Well looky what Amazon has… the velcro one for $14.20, AND the fun one for only $10.99.

I think I might just have to order her both of them as well as the dim sum one.

She loves her some pork siu mai or as they call it here in the islands, pork hash!

Okay this is kind of a funny post.

We have befriended the neighbors on the right of the house. I’m talking we have parties we invite them. They have parties they invite us. The kids get along, etc. We have extra things to share, we share. And we are reciprocated. It’s one family extended. The grandparents, their 5 children, their children’s spouses/ bfs gfs/, and the grandchildren. At any time there could be up to 15 people there, me thinks. Give or take.

Yesterday the kids were playing out in the yard. My kids were told specifically to stay outside with them! Somehow my kids and 4 of their kids ended up IN our house. OY! No one came looking for them. No one was yelling out the window b/c we can literally hear them next door. As I am typing I can hear them watching tv. Anywho they were here. Eating. Playing. Being all rowdy. I don’t remember how we got them out. But they left.

Today lilmiss heard them playing and to tire her out she was told to stay out there with them. But she’s not allowed to go on her own, her brother has to go to. He was reluctant to go but ended up going. He gets along with the oldest girl. She’s a bit of a tom boy. So, he was told that they were NOT allowed to come over to play. And the stinkin kid repeated it to them. How embarrassing! They were playing and we hear the door open. Hello. It’s not one of our kids. But the neighbor boy. He comes in with his slippahs on too!!! *shakes head* So he comes over to see what we’re going in the family room and goes looking for N’s scooter. My mom says to take it outside with him, mind you N was told she could only play with the scooter IN the house. My mom just didn’t want him inside. He leaves. He comes back and asks for a snack. I grab 5 and send him on his way. N comes back with another one of the kids and says she wants her backpack. They’re going to play school. Fine. She packs up her things and they’re on their way. Lil boy returns for the 3rd time. And then leaves. N comes back with friend to go potty. Then J comes back with 2 more of the friends while my mom is eating at the table. OY! J grabs a water stands around my mom, who is eating and they leave.

5:30PM rolls around and the kids are told to come in, it’s time for dinner. And we send the other kids on their way. J doesn’t want to eat b/c he’s got a headache but N gets her grind on. 6:30PM rolls around and it’s time for J to eat. There’s a faint knocking on the door and it’s the boy… again. He asks my mom if we have food and so she makes a plate for him. Oh man! No one is looking for him. Nothing. He’s 3. He’s here for a good half hour before we hear them calling for him. Oldest cousin comes inside the house and is just kinda standing around. She leaves. Boy still stays. By this time I’m cracking the hell up. He leaves, he only ate half of what was given to him. He came back… again around 8PM. He wanted to come in and watch tv, but my mom sent him home.

WTF??? A little too comfortable don’t ya think? I was telling my mom we need to lock the doors when our kids go out so the neighbor kids just don’t walk in. Shooots, what if I had been feeding babyM???

We’ve been here 1 week already. And it seems it’s gone by all too fast.

I still haven’t had any shave ice. No Zippy’s. Barely plate lunch. None of my fave garlic chicken or garlic mahi. I’ve had a teaser portion of haupia cake a teaser of poke. I’ve shared a plate lunch at Yummy’s and even shared an Apple Napple. Oh and I’ve been totally digging mama’s cooking. Oh hell yeah! Especially the dinengdeng, nothing better than fresh veggies and sweet Kahuku shrimp *slurps*!!!

We’ve gone to the pool once and it was an all bad experience. First the lilmiss lost her knowledge of swimming. Not that she had any real ones to begin with but her confidence went into the toilet. Last year she could “monkey walk” the pool and even dunk her head. That day we went she couldn’t even hold the sides of the pool and either wanted to strangle hold me or sit at the pool’s edge. Which meant no aerobis workout for me. Despite there being 2 lifeguards there, I was afraid she might fall in anyhow. So yeah, she’s not coming to the pool anymore. Pffft. Then I think the pool man must’ve overdone it with the chlorine b/c it tasted like crap. Ewww. And when we got home, the baby was NOT having anything to do with feedings b/c she too could taste the crappy chlorine water on me. Ewww.

The boy has been asking to go to the beach and being that the baby is exclusively @ the bo.ob, that can’t happen unless the mama comes along b/c a trip to the beach, takes a LOT of time. And the mama doesn’t like to be in the sun much, let alone the beach b/c she doesn’t go in. She’s allergic to the sun. Doesn’t that suck?

Yeah so 1 week down. Don’t know how many more we have to go, maybe like 6 or something. Heh.

aloha

If you’re pilipino or Asian for that matter. You know how rude relatives can be, right? Well I got an awesome compliment today that put me on top of the clouds. It don’t matter that my hair is a hot mess with the lack of a hot iron at the moment. 2 Walmarts and both out of the same iron! WTF? Everyone’s hair a hot mess? Anyhow back to cloud nine… I got out the car and my auntie kept complimenting me that I look “goooooooooooood” as she kept saying. *insert big cheesy grin* She kept complimenting me and I told her to check back before I leave b/c I’m sure I’ll have gained all that I lost from the breastfeeding with all the eating I’m planning to do . But strangely I’ve been holding back. I have yet to stop at Zippy’s or even get a plate lunch! There’s still plenty of time for that tho .

We’re back in the islands and it feels good. But I’m missing the mister something awful. We were s’posed to have an iChat date, right now actually but he had to do something for work and has rescheduled for 10PM HST, which is 1AM PST. Don’t think I’ll be awake then b/c I slept late last night, woke early this morning, and didn’t get any kind of sleep on the plane. But, I’m actually not tired now. The crappy thing is that the wireless is acting wonky right now so I’m restricted to sitting in the “office” wired. Pfft. This sux. I can’t watch my k dramas in bed.

The plane ride wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated. Thank the powers that be! Woo! I gave lilmiss her dosage of Benadryl while we were still at the airport and she fell asleep before the plane ever left the gate. The baby fell asleep on and off too, so my flight was awesome, here’s hoping that my return flight is just as nice. Lilmiss woke up just in time for lunch, but the crappy thing about sitting in the way back is that they ran out of certain lunches. We were all hoping for sammiches but ended up with pasta. Pfft. I didn’t even eat any of it. Sux and I didn’t get much of a breakfast to begin with. So surprise, surprise the first thing I wanted to do when we hooked up with my mom was to eat. She had some Nanding’s Spanish Rolls that she had picked up before getting us. So we just munched on those and headed home for some of her homecooking. Managed to take a nap with the baby but it was interrupted a number of times by the boy.

We’ve already managed a trip to Walmart and Times . Baby needed some diaper rash cream and I actually need to get a flat iron for here. I decided that bringing one back and forth is lame and that I’m better off getting one for here. They didn’t have the one I was looking for. Grrr!!!

Baby is having issues with the heat, but other than that it seems the kids have already slipped back into their usual routine here. They even went out to play with the neighbors. Heh.

Alooooooooooooooooooooooooha!

Funny how I had a “craving” of sorts for White Choco Chip and MacNut Cookies all b/c of that teaser I had from Subway. And so I was on a mission to make my own. My mom brought back HELLA macnuts from the Big Island. And of the baking variety too. Woot! B/c them suckahs is expensive. I just needed to buy butter and white choco chips! And then while out with my brother and his gf today they bought some at Mrs. Field’s! I told him I was going to make some and he said he wanted them right then and there. LoL. The recipe I used yielded like 6 dozen, and they’re NOT nibblers either. I’ll definitely be sharing these.

White Chocolate Chip MacNut Cookies

1 cup butter softened, 2 sticks
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups white chocolate chips
2 cups chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugars til fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla. Beat well. Blend in flour and baking soda. Stir in chips and nuts. Drop by teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes! Remove immediately and put on wire rack for slightly crispy slighty chewy cookies.

Nomnomnom.

Until we board that plane. Wo0t! I am so excited and at the same time anxious as to how it will be boarding the plane with 3 kids all by my lonesome. Let’s hope they’re nice to me and cooperate and not make me want to take the emergency exit. Oy!

Things to do/eat:
1. Leonard’s Malasadas! Yum!

2. Shave Ice!!!

3. Eh brah, gotta get da kine Zippy’s!

4. Kim Chee Tako Poke

5. Ahi Shoyu Poke

Are you noticing a trend here??? LMAO

6. Garlic Ahi plate lunch

7. Korean BBQ plate lunch

8. Garlic Chicken

9. Mom’s homemade dinengdeng made with fresh veggies from the Farmer’s Market!

10. A bowl of saimin from Shiro’s!

I know I’m missing some things here but I’m sure you can see what I’ll be doin a lot of while I’m there. There will also be lots of beaching and loafing and driving and shopping and just hanging out.

You’re jealous. I know .

Last night, the baby and I hung out with Mama Toots. The boy stayed with my brother and the lilmiss hung out with the rest of the Toots. It was nice just hanging out. We walked around the hip and happening B St area of San Mateo in search of dinner. We settled on Japanese food and it ended up being a good choice. Either that or I haven’t had Japanese in awhile.

Then it was off to the happenings at Bacio Cafe. Fun, fun, fun! Makeovers, trivia, drinks! All in honor of the release of Sex in the City in theaters. We wanted to watch the movie too but tickets were all sold out.

The makeover I got was a little over the top for my taste. LoL. I actually wanted to learn how to apply eye shadow. Yes. I don’t know how. Sue me. I still don’t know how. Lol.

I won something!!! I answered the first trivia question right. That’s from freaking watching reruns at night 5 nights a week for an hour. Lol. My Question: “Who was the actress that played Carrie’s boss at Vogue?” I knew the answers of most of the trivia questions. I like my tank top!

I really want to watch the movie, and I don’t know when that’s going to happen.

The baby did so well. She hung out with other people and didn’t have a hissy fit. She deceived people by being so good. LoL. They kept saying how good she was, and I’ll have to admit, she was… but still. They don’t see her when she’s home and complaining and driving me up the wall, like her siblings do too.

Definitely a good night out. I wonder when that’ll happen again? October 10? LOL

With the kitchen. Yeah, when Mama was here Mommy didn’t do much in the way of cooking. I occasionally helped her and baked things in her kitchen, but that’s about it. I was good about getting take out too .

BabyM doesn’t allow much in the way of using both my arms though. She does nap when I put her down, but they’re more cat naps instead of allowing me to cook elaborate meals. LMAO j/k! I made pasta this past week and it lasted quite awhile! I like meals like that. We also had sandwiches and we were invited to a friend’s house for loco moco. This week I’ve got a roasted chicken planned with rice. Meatloaf. And our own loco moco. Oh and I’m sure if those don’t make it the whole week, then probably breakfast for dinner. Shoot I’ve also gotta go through the freezer and cook up some of the stuff in there before we leave. I think we’ve got some pork in there somewhere. I’ve gotta get Mama Toots crock pot pork chop recipe.

I do want to get some ice cream too as we’re running low. Need to stop talking about food… it’s making me hungry and it’s nearly sleepy time.

Yesterday. My mom went back to her “home” in the islands. *sigh* And already with the missing. I’ve talked to her a number of times already since she’s left though and we’ll be joining her next month anyhow. Woot woot. Tickets have been booked we fly out on the 19th, which so happens to be my brother’s birthday. I caaaaaan’t wait. But those tickets did NOT come cheap. A big thank you to the BM for making this happen. Unfortunately he won’t be able to join us b/c tickets are so pricey. Damn gas!!! Pffft.

Spent some time with my brother today and thankfully he’s not acting like a little bitch. UGH! I hate when he’s like that! We went to Costco, had some lunch, and just hung out with him. We go back to “visit” on Friday. Heh. I’m leaving him the 2 big kids while I head downtown with the wee one.

Time to have some watermelon. I actually picked a sweet one. I was hesitant to get one, but they looked so good.

I saw this Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream @ Lucky’s the other day but had no desire for ice cream. What with the hot weather and all… I’ve been on the hunt. And so far no luck! And what more, I’ve got a coupon for $1 off purchase of 2. Hmmph!

I’m a sucker for cheesecake. Oh for the love of cheesecake. And brownies aren’t too bad either, I prefer them with nuts though, but plain with ice cream is yummy.

You get the best of both worlds….. lmao, in one bite.

The weather has certainly cooled down but the fan is still running and it’s nearly 10:30PM.

Actually I did though! Mama cooked up one of her delish batches of chicken tinola. Yeah she’s still cooking up the soups for me and I love it! But yesterday’s batch is still on my mind b/c there were little critters in there that I didn’t care too much to see. Found a bit too many creepy crawlies with legs and wings that just threw me off. Not that she put them in there and not that they purposely fell in there either, they were in the chili leaves that she used and didn’t wash out too well. Sucks man when I’m hella grinding and then this big fat juicy ant floats up amidst my rice and chicken and greens. ICK!

I had to kind of shrug it off though. I plucked all the ones I could see and just sucked it up and thought protein! It could have been worse, right? And hell at least I know where they came from. Shoot, you don’t know what kinda things fall in restaurant food, let alone if the cooks washed their hands.

Mama has also decided to delay her date of departure. Yay and nay at the same time! She’s staying b/c she needs to help my brother. He’s supposed to have surgery on his knee again and that would leave him all alone. Well not really though, as I will probably be guilted into caring for him. As if I don’t have enough people to care for. Sheesh. So she has decided not to leave next week afterall. She’s thinking that hopefully he has his surgery and then his girlfriend comes to take care of him. We’ll see.

…. my brain. Or at least the thoughts that are currently inundating them at the moment.

Mother’s Day was low key. Saturday we went to dinner with my fams @ Broadway Prime. It’s become an annual tradition. But this year the prime rib wasn’t as “melt in my mouth fantastic” as it has been in years past, my plate wouldn’t have told you otherwise though, b/c I was grinding on that like it was nobody’s business! No point in wasting the food . Then we went back to my mom’s to have dessert and exchange gifts. Mmm cheesecake! Costco’s cheesecake certainly does not disappoint. I especially like the nonthick crust. Nomnomnom .

Sunday the baby reminded me that I was a mother and that I would have to wake up with her at 6AM. *rolls eyes* In my feeble attempts at putting her back to sleep: sticking the boob in her mouth, patting her, rocking her, pretending I was asleep… she decided otherwise. She was all giggles and smiles. So as not to disturb anyone else, I brought her to the living room and played with her and we both fell back to sleep. Only to be awoken by the lilmiss looking for us. Tried to crawl back in bed but that didn’t happen. As again baby was awake and bright eyed and bushy tailed. Oh well.

Opened up my card from the BM and kids and just milled around the house. Read the paper and then we all got ready and headed out to visit BM’s grandma. Hung out there for a bit and then sent the BM to pick up lunch from Ono and headed over to my mom’s. She wasn’t even home and being as hungry as I was, the lilmiss and I started in on the grindz. She came home and we chit chatted a bit. Then somehow I ended up in her living room taking a nap with the baby. And somehow my mom managed one too.

A low key Mother’s Day surrounded by the ones that mean the most to me, that’s all that really matters in the end anyhow right? Oh yeah and good food too .

In other news, the keiki are getting baptized this weekend. Yes. All 3. I still need to order the cake. The Toots Fam is helping me with favors. And I still need to finalize/remind the reception site. It’s going to be a small affair despite all 3 kids being baptized at once. Which is better for me anyhow b/c I didn’t want to have to deal with all the planning and stressing.

Mom is leaving next week , she’s headed back to Oahu on Tuesday. What am I going to do without her? Who’s going to feed us? No seriously! I haven’t really cooked since she’s been back and I’m not even really sure if the baby will allow it. And then there’s the whole thing about us heading out to the islands for the summer. The plans are to leave a few days after Father’s Day and return sometime before my birthday. That’s a nice big chunk of time at our second home, but tickets have yet to be purchased. Waiting on the BM’s tax return for that. And we’re wondering where it might be?!?! Tickets are frickin expensive too. AUWE!

Oh well I’ve emptied my brain for the night. Time to go to sleep.

It took me an hour to finally decide on dinner. I had been bouncing back and forth with salad and Hawaiian BBQ. So I just asked the kids what they wanted to eat. Lilmiss said “SALAD!” Very enthusiastically! The boy didn’t hear the option of BBQ and was getting all excited over the prospect of unlimited bowls of clam chowder and ice cream @ Fresh Choice.

So we got in the car and headed to the closest Fresh Choice. The line was out the door! WTF! We could’ve driven to the next closest Fresh Choice but with the ridiculous gas prices we pay here in the Bay Area, I wasn’t about to do it. We could’ve eaten at Sizzler’s but I like the salad choices at Fresh Choice better. And I had already mentioned BBQ to the kids and the boy was all kinds of excited. Heh!

So as we were getting out of the car I told the boy to get a mini plate. The lilmiss responded very nonchalantly, “Well then I want a Mickey plate!” Did you get it? She’s so funny! At first I had to think about it. LoL. She said she wanted a Mickey plate, as in Mickey Mouse b/c her brother was getting a mini plate, or in her mind a “Minnie” plate.

Smarty pants fo’sho!

B/c my mom is in Las Vegas and I told my brother to shove it today (more about that later), we had nothing pressing to do and we had no where we had to be this morning. Stupid me though I’ve been downloading all these apps on the iPhone and I got stuck playing “Parking Lot” til 2:30AM. And the only reason I probably stopped was b/c the baby needed a feeding.

So of course both girls decided to wake up early. *groans* Thankfully the BM was still here to take the lilmiss potty and entertain the baby even for a second. I stayed as awake as I possibly could with the baby, it’s her normal “awake window” and then an hour and a half later she started to get cranky! Woo hoo , I knew that meant some more sleep. I warned N that we would be sleeping and she stayed on her bed and watched Nick Jr.

I got a teensy bit of sleep as lilmiss jumped on her bed. She found this toy that moos like a cow and over and over again she played with it. Then she would jump and move the foot stool that I have on my side of the bed, mind you we have wood flooring. The phone kept ringing too. Oh yeah and let’s not forget her LOUD calls of “Mommy” or “M….e” or “Hellllooooo?” But I managed to get a little extra sleeps in.

I wanted to vacuum the living room but that didn’t happen. I bathed the baby, dressed both girls, fed both girls, put baby to nap, jumped in shower, dressed myself, made myself lunch, washed the dishes, and now this is where I am. And the baby is still asleep. But I’ve gotta wake her soon b/c we’ve got the boy to pick up and then head over to my mom’s to hear about her trip to LV.

I relish days like this. It’s nice not having to be in a rush to be anywhere. But at the same time it sucks b/c unlike her siblings, babyM is a light sleeper and vacuuming couldn’t be achieved. I suppose those 3 baskets of laundry could’ve been folded though, huh?

Lmao… couldn’t think of another title. With the new belt comes the change of schedule. We’re back to Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I prefer Mondays and Wednesdays better b/c the latter end of the week is free. The boy is back to most of his friends which is nice and most of these people were surprised to see babyM. Most were thinking she’s only weeks old. Heh. Lilmiss of course was excited to be hanging out with her homies. Heh. TOo cute! They were giggling away in the corner, making tons of noise. But the nice thing is that no one complained and actually got a lot of smiles and laughs b/c they were being so cute. I was the one that was constantly telling her to calm down.

They started a yoga class at the school too, during the boy’s class, only upstairs. And I would looooooove to try it out but I have no one to watch babyM and the lilmiss. I’ve actually never done yoga and I’ve wanted to try. I could use some stretching and breathing exercises. I need to step up my game if I really want to keep up this weight loss. Funny as of late, I’ve been getting people tell me that I look like I’ve lost weight, which is always a nice thing . But it’s the maintenance that I need to keep up with. I feel like my appetite has been picking up again, which it should b/c I’m eating for 2. Literally. And I will be until she’s roughly 6 months. I’m going to hold off feeding her solids. Seriously. I just can’t handle the stink-ier diapers. OY!

But as an aside, I’ve decided to TRY and make the babyfood this time around. I came across the Beaba which looks like a very useful tool but @ $140, I think I’ll just need to stick with the Magic Bullet.

Today after running errands for my brother, the girls and I went trolling the mall. I had an exchange to do at Gymbo and then just decided to kill some time and do some laps and window shopping. Found out the mall is possibly getting a Trader Joe’s. How nice for the SFSU students! But it’s kinda crazy considering there’s one about 2 miles away. Hopefully then it’ll reduce the traffic @ that location! Went into H&M. I normally don’t go in there, but like I said I had time to kill. I only really shop for the girls there but they had some cute dresses! Didn’t but anything of course.

Spent quite a bit of time in the ladies’ lounges too. Had to do lunchtime feedings for the baby. Nordy’s is definitely nicer. There was a girl in the Macy’s lounge having her lunch in there. Literally. She was feeding herself which I thought was weird. Why would you want to eat in the bathroom with the sounds of the toilet flushing? I’m sure babyM felt the same way but I’m not about to air my goodies out to the public. I’m just like that. I totally forgot I should’ve gone into a dressing room! At least I wouldn’t have to hear the toilets flushing. Heh. But yeah the girl was just sitting in there enjoying her lunch. Even if I were alone, I would’ve gone outside to the mall to one of the benches or even the food court. Whatever floats your boat, I guess?!?!?

No plans for tomorrow and with the cost of gas here I really shouldn’t be going out. So I think I’ll stick to the homefront and try to get some housework done, here’s hoping babyM allows it. OY!

So as I said a couple posts down, I think I’m sick. I no longer think that. I know that. B/c I sit here with a stuffy dripping nose. Is that even possible? And my ears keep plugging. It gets worse at night. I don’t understand the logisitcs of that but it gets worse at night. You would think mama’s tinola made with love would help, it doesn’t.

I hate being sick. And I really hope babyM or any of the kids for that matter don’t get sick. BLAH!

I blame it on the weather. Hot. Cold. Hot. Cold. It was warm today. Guess what it will be 2mrw? UGH! And apparently we’re supposed to be on the lookout for rain!

This weekend is down and now to prepare for another week of busy-ness. Lilman is finally on Spring Break so I’ll have to anticipate for some headaches and fighting. AIYAH! Maybe I can mediate and make time for the park and outdoor fun. The weather was phenomenal these past 2 days but it looks like the fog and chill have rolled in.

BabyM is officially 2 months old today. Happy Birthday to her . Unofficially we had Beard Papa to celebrate . Yesterday @ birthday #1 we got to taste Sibby’s, and oh the yummy goodness! Birthday #2 had the most amazing Thomas the Train cake, too bad it didn’t taste as good as it looked. I looooooooooooves me some cake. Doesn’t matter to me how it looks, it has to taste right though. I’m not saying I’m a cake afficionado, I just know what I like.

Today it was just me and the girls hanging out at first. We headed to the mall for some orange chicken. Made a visit to the pet store to see the puppies, but apparently everyone had that idea so we couldn’t even see them. N now has a favorite visor from where else? The Disney Store! I asked her to choose between the Stinkerbell baseball cap or the full on Fairies visor. She chose the visor and surprisingly has been wearing it all day. She still is . Then got a call from my mom, she wanted me to bring her to my aunt’s house. So we did that and hung out there for awhiiiiiiiiiiile. She will be my hook up for Tagalog and Korean movies. Yay!

This week we’ve also got a Baptism class to attend, a birthday to celebrate, babyM’s 2 month WBC, and then a baby shower. Hope you had a good weekend.

We’re busy this weekend. Today, Saturday, we went to the Baby Toots 1st Birthday. I don’t know ’bout the rest of my fam but I stuffed my face with yummy goodness. I really ♥ parties with Pilipino food. Where else can I stuff myself senseless with lumpia. Mmm mmm good . Everything was delish and we got to take home a bunch of goodness too, which we shared with my mom and brother.

Tomorrow we’re off to a 3rd birthday. It’s a picnic in the park and I’m not anticipating any yummy goodness there but that’s okay. Just as long as there’s cake. Lol.

The kids are doing well. The lilman has become quite the helper and such a good Kuya as of late when it comes to the baby. He entertains her, carries her, etc when need be. There are just times where I can’t hold her all the time when I need to get things done around the house or go to the bathroom and it’s nice to have him here as opposed to having her scream her head off. Lilmiss gets too gigil for me at times though and just needs to be near the poor little thing or squeeze her hand, or touch her. AIYAH! The baby is growing. YAY! I’ve seriously gotta get on the move and set up her 2 month WBC b/c she’s due for some shots and I’m curious as to how much she weighs. I’m thinking she must be at least as much as her siblings when they came out. Heh. She is now 6 weeks and 3 days old *sniff, sniff* where is the time going? Her vision is getting better, thankfully, it was something I was worrying about b/c she wasn’t exactly tracking very well. I’m seriously hoping that it’s just b/c she came out early!!! I know that she’s growing b/c her clothes are getting snug. Lol. Thankfully she’s got plenty of hand me downs to last her But with all the parties, poor thing had no party clothes. As much as sleep n plays are cozy and all, they’re not all that cute for showing her off at parties. Thankfully I found some reaaaaallllly cheap little somethings. No seriously cheap I’m talking under $2 OUTFITS. With the way she’s growing it would be crazy for me to throw down any money on some $$$ clothes. Oh the life of the 3rd child. Right now she is currently sporting a Halloween outfit . Hey it’s jammies but I can’t help but feel the teensiest bit of ghetto for her. They’re actually super cute, too bad were in the midst of the beginning of spring. Heh. These hand me downs have seriously been lifesavers though!

In other news, thanks to Yano Christine I’ve been donating grains of rice by exercising my brain once again and building my vocab. I feel like I’m in high school again and studying for the SATs. Maybe I should share this with my niece, the little geek that she is, so she can practice. Try it you might like it too.

Hope you’re having a good weekend too.

I can’t sleep. Can you tell? And I got up fairly early this morning in anticipation to get out the door early enough and pick up my mom. I snuck out of the bed while both girls slept and managed to get a lot done before the baby realized I had been gone. Yeah! She’s difficult like that sometimes. It sucks.

Lilmiss woke up first, just as I had finished drying my hair. As I was taking her potty the baby started to stir and then as we were in the bathroom the full on howling ensued. Sheesh. I let her howl though, washed up the lilmiss and managed to get her dressed. Then it was the baby’s turn to wash up and change clothes. And then a feeding and we were out the door. Only to find my mom not even ready. Sheesh #2.

We finally headed out and about. As usual the keiki, at least the older 2, made out like bandits. Mama is cool li’dat . Such a spoiler.

BabyM has been having issues. Tummy issues that is. And my mom is saying that it’s coming from what I’ve been eating. Which makes sense, being that I am her food source, and whatever goes in my body goes to hers. On Easter Sunday my mom got a big taste of one of her blowouts. OY! It was a doozy. Not only did she get her Easter outfit, but she got my mom’s too! Luckily mom was only wearing jeans and one of her usual button ups. I thought it was from all the lumpia that I was stuffing my face with. My mom thinks it might have been the spinach salad that I had been stuffing my face with, . Either way something didn’t agree with her. She’s been having a bit of spit-up issues as well. I feel so bad for her. I don’t know what to do. So today I asked my mom to make tinola in the hopes that it would help baby’s tummy issues, only to have her be HELLA gassy and fussy. I nearly almost went out in search of gripe water b/c nothing could help her. Then to make matters worse, she had another big spit up. And everytime she spits up, it also comes out of her nose. Poor thing . Good thing she’s not on formula anymore, b/c those kinds of poops and spit ups STANK! I honestly feel like going back on the liquid and soups only diet for her b/c I don’t like seeing her (and hearing her) be all fussy.

Well I need to force myself to sleep now. G’nite.

Why am I not sleeping? My eyes are telling me I’m tired. But I’m not asleep. The girls are on either side of me ASLEEP. Sometimes when I realize I should be asleep already I figure I’ll just wait for the baby to wake and then go to sleep. Lame. I shouldn’t do that. I don’t even know how many times I wake in the night to feed either .

I wake fairly early most days too, averaging about 5 hours of sleep total. No naps for me. Not good. But I feel fine. Feeling fine and being fine are different though huh?

Anyhow today we swung by karate for a free picture with the Easter bunny. Sheesh mall bunnies are so stinkin expensive it’s ridiculous. I was hoping the baby could get a photo of her own, but it was madness at the school and there was a 1 photo per family b/c of the craziness, so it was all 3 monsters. The bunny there looked way better at karate and less ragged too. Heh. I was hiding babyM in the blanket and when I placed her on the bunny there were lots of Oohs and Aaahs. Heh. Probably b/c she’s still so small. She slept the whole time, of course. And surprisingly lilmiss was in top cheese form. heh. Last year she was sooooooo afraid.

After that we went to a birthday party in the city, at a CLUB! Was feeling kinda skeptical. But lilmiss had good fun and there were things for the lilman to do there too. BM even had fun, I thinks. He danced with the lilmiss while I hid the baby in her sling. Lilmiss even passed up lunch, who passes up lumpia? Heh?! To do what? Get her groove on. Crack. me. up. Oh yeah and I saw my childhood crush at the party. BM and MM of course had to tease me about it. All in good fun!

Tomorrow we go to my mom’s for fam bam lunch. I just need to get my things together for the deviled eggs as everything else has been cooked and prepped. Go me.

Have a blessed and wonderful Easter!!!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!! Yeah we represent b/c the keiki are part Irish. For as long a I can remember, my parents have been big on the whole corned beef and cabbage dish. And no I’m not talking about the stuff that comes out of the can! Although I’d much prefer the latter. I’ve never been big on the stuff and it cracks me up that the BM, who is actually Irish, doesn’t even eat the stuff, not even his grandparents. My parents always cook the stuff this time of year.

Having a bit of a late start this morning. I’ve gotta put gas in the car, *shakes head* It’s ridiculous how much we have to pay for gas! We pay the MOST than anywhere in the country apparently. Not fair! Considering we’ve got a refinery just on the other side the Bay! Then I was going to check out the new $1 store up the street. BabyM is napping and lilmiss is watching Ni Hao Kai lan.

Been watching a bit of movies as of late too. Finally got a chance to watch 27 Dresses and absolutely loved it. And then last night the lilmiss and I watched Enchanted, but I didn’t love it as much. It seemed promising and the lilmiss was totally into it at first but then we got bored towards the middle and then it picked up at the end. Next up on the movie list is No Reservations.

This week we’ve got an Easter get together on Wednesday, hopefully the weather cooperates. Then my mom is off to Arizona at the latter end of the week for a funeral. And then on Saturday we’ve got the Easter thing at karate and a bday party to attend. Then Sunday we’ve got the fam bam thing at my mom’s. So far I’m making bibingka malagkit and premade lumpia to fry over at mama’s. And then I’m debating between cupcakes and mini cheesecakes. Or maybe deviled eggs? I’m soooooo not big on coloring eggs and then eating them later… I’m big on stuffing the plastic eggs with chocolate goodness .

Okay I’ve got a few things to do before the baby wakes, b/c I hear some stirring… Happy Monday everyone!

As much as I like the regular PB cups… for some reason I like the seasonal stuff. It tastes different to me. I like the Christmas trees too. Yummay! Do they make ‘em in hearts too during Valentine’s?

They definitely taste different from the regular cups, probably b/c there’s less chocolate and more PB! Yum!

If it were up to me, the whole 6-8 pack would have been gone already. And it doesn’t help matters that they’re on sale this week at the Tar-jey for $1.66. But only 2 have been eaten b/c my mom has made me paranoid that chocolate is bad for the boobie feedings. I know it’s an old wive’s tale, but still… whatever mom says I at least try to do .

As an aside I totally forgot about this blog! All ’bout dat candy!