Wednesday

All the ladies in the house have a cold. Secondo got it first then it spreadd to Primero and I. We all have sore throat, stuffy and runny nose.
Today, Primero's school asked that each kid donates a brand new teddy bear for Children Hospital of OC (CHOC) so we picked out a cute bear last night. Funny thing is that when Secondo was born, she had severe case of Jaundice and had to stay at the Neonatal ICU for several days. I noticed that there was a peach beannie bear in her room but not sure who gave it to her. Now I finally have the missing piece of puzzle and I'm glad we are able to continue the circle and give back to kids in need of some moral support.

Sisterly Love

Icee, the blue dog in the stroller is Secondo's favorite Stuff animal. If I put another animal in the stroller, Secondo would take it out and put Icee in instead. Do you see the determination in this child's face? Icee was actually gift from Bulleye to Primero long ago but Primero was never interested in any other stuff animals besides her Green Bear. Speaking of Green bear, Primero took this picture and is very proud of how well it is holding up after 6 years. Green Bear is the only toy she will not allow Secondo to play with. Everything else she's willing to share.


It's fun when I asked Primero to pose next to Secondo. The disadvantage of being the older sibling is that when the younger one hits the older one, Primero can't hit back. From experience I know how unfair and frustrating it can be.

Next week: Red Ribbon Week

Every Thursday, We get lots of flyers from Primero's school. Yesterday, as I was feeding Secondo, I asked her to read the flyers to me.
Primero was reading them and asked
P: "What does 'Turn your back on drugs' mean?"
Me: "It means staying away from drugs but drugs can be also be medicines that we take when we get sick"
P: "Oh.. like Sav-On Drugs?"
Me: "Yes, that's one place to get medicines"
P: "Then why do we turn our back on drugs?"
Me: "We turn our back on bad drugs"
She lost interest and moved on to the book fair flyer.
This morning, after reading the flyers on my own I realized that her school wants parents to discuss the consequences of drugs to a 1st grader.
Now that I'm more aware of that's going on, I'll do a better job explaining the reasoning behind "Turn your back on drugs!" Sigh...
I assume it's better for her to hear it from me than from her friends at school but on the other hand, it's scary to think my child could be exposed to drugs at 1st grade.

Secondo: 17 month old

After Secondo passed her 1 year mark, I have not been keeping track of her age on the monthly basis so I would say she's 1.5 years old to strangers when they asked.
At my company picnic last Saturday with the kids, one of the moms asked, "How old is your baby?" After I replied, she said "My son in 20 months so she's only 2 months younger than Lorence.." Gauging by the size differences between the two kids, I had to correct myself and admit that she's only 16 instead of 18 months old.
At this age,

1. She loves to sing. Her favorite songs are : ABCs, and Elmo's World. When she naps at the sitter, she plays lullabies to put them to sleep. Lately, the sitter told me that Secondo would hum to the songs before falling asleep.
2. Her favorite toy is the stroller. She loves to stroll her favorite blue dog, Icee around the house and bumping into walls.
3. She's temperamental and can't take no for an answer. When she's frustrated, she would throw what ever she has on hand and then hit the person around her. If it happens to be me, I would scold her and walk away and she would cry and conceded that she did something wrong.
4. I need lots of help from hubby
   

Farewell tooth #6

Primero finally lost baby tooth F lastnight. It had been sticking out saying "hi" to everyone for a long while. She refused to wiggle it herself or let me get near it.
Last night, she was changing into her pajama smiling and I accidentally snapped off her loose tooth as I pulled her shirt over her head. Next thing we noticed was lots of blood on her gum, in her mouth and her tooth landed safely on the shirt. She didn't cry as she bit down on 2 Q-tips ( I didn't have any gauze handy.) to stop the bleeding but was somewhat relieved that it wasn't painful.
When I dropped her off this morning her teacher Tasha said "Yes! Finally.."
Now we are able to see part of her permanent front tooth which is about 1.5 times larger than the baby one.
On the piano front, she'll be finishing up Alfred's prep course by next Monday and she has a couple more pages on Dozen a day-minibook before moving on to the next level. Practice is more difficult during the beginning of the week versus the end after she learned all the songs. Next fun song to learn is Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars while polishing up Ode to Joy.

Communication breakdown

Below is conversation between Hubby and I this morning via email.

H:"Dung came back from his 10 days fishing trip in Cabo. I got some Mahi. It should be good for dinner tonight."
Me: "LOL. Don't call him dung. It's Doug. Make sure the fish is refrigerated."
H: "His name is Dung, He's Vietnamese. The fish is frozen. I'm thawing it for dinner."
Me: "I didn't know you have a coworking name Dung.. Sorry"
There's an incetive to have an American name if your given Vietnamese name is Dung.

Below is the dictionary definition for those who don't get the joke.

Definition of Dung:
1a. The excrement of animals.
1b. Manure.
2. Something foul or abhorrent.

What does it mean?

I don't remember when I last dreamed but I had a stressful one early this morning.
I was running late taking Primero to school so when we got there, we rushed to her classroom and I left the van in the parking lot with the doors open and everything inside including the car key. The thought was that I would run back in a flash. In the dream a body of water surrounded her classroom. To reach the classroom, we hopped on the stepping stone path that took us to the doorway. After saying hello to the teacher, saying good bye, I was ready to run to the van. As I open the door, I noticed the body of water gradually started rising and covering half of the stepping stones. Unfortunately there was another parent in front of me and she was going remarkably slow and I felt that she was intentionally blocking my path. I attempted to go around her many times and she would not let me pass by her. As I struggle with her, the water has risen to the point where I can no longer see the stones anymore so I can either get wet or wait until the tide goes down. I decided to wait for the water to subside but then the stones were replaced with industrial carpet. I ran to the parking lot and the van was replaced with an old lady standing in the spot with another man.
O Lady: "I saw an unattended van so I valet parked it" (In reality, there's no valet parking at school)
Me: "Thank you, may I have the key"
Man: "I also left my car here a while ago"
She showed us the key chain and it wasn't mine. I was still in denial so I went along with the man and when he put the key in the ignition, he started the car and drove away happy. Next think I know Secondo woke me up.

Preparing for winter

I had been contemplating about the decision for a while and finally decided to get a flu shot. The next decision would be if I should give the kids flu shots. Hopefully the decision makers guess the right killed virus for the flu shot.

Memory

Before having kids, I had better memory. Now days, hubby would say
H: "Do you remember the movie love story?"
Me: "Hm..."
H: "We saw it when we were dating starring Tony Leung?"
Me: "Vaguely.. I remember he was wearing a white suite but don't remember much about the plot"

The blame game

I've noticed lately that Primero likes to play victim. If she played the wrong note on the piano it's because I was singing along in the background and throwing her off or the scooter was hitting her legs. This morning, she had a minor episode. We put a safety gate by the top of the stairs to prevent Secondo from tumbling down freely so as Primero came through the gate said
P:"Mom..the gate pinched my finger"
Me: "Really.. How did it do that? Does it have crab like pincher?"
P:"NO. I opened the gate and my hand is too small so it pinched me"
Me: "Oh.. So the gate has a brain and said here comes Primero's tiny finger and I'm going to pinch it today because I'm not just a gate. I'm an alligator gate!"
She started to laugh a little and said "The gate doesn't have a brain"
I also told her that she controls her finger and can't blame the gate, anything or anyone else for her own action.

Another lightning speed weekend

I anticipated this pass weekend to be busy but it completely surpassed my expectation.
We went Holloween costume shopping Friday night. Primero got hers but there wasn't much of a choice for Secondo. We tried on an Elmo costume but it was too tight and uncomfortable for a walking toddler. While shopping, Secondo didn't want to be in the shopping cart so when I put her on the ground she had fun exploring and pulling stuff off the shelves left and right before I took her out of the store.
Saturday morning,I went to the Bootcamp class and burned off 500 calories knowing that I will be eating fun food such as chili dogs, burgers and ice cream at the company picnic. After bootcamp, my whole body was sore but there's no time for whining so I bathe both kids and off we went to my company picnic. The little voice in my head was saying I'm not young as I used to be. There were tons of food and games for kids and adults. Primero jumped on the swing and Secondo went into the bouncer. Secondo doesn't know how to jump yet or even stand in the bouncer so it was entertaining to watch her interact with other kids who were bouncing and summersaulting in there. Primero's favorite parts of the day were the puppet show, getting her face painted and arm tatooed via sticker.
Hubby and I were hoping to win the grand price of video ipod but my lucky co-worker took it home instead. When we got home, hubby worked on the yard while I watched the kids and he was surprised by our next door neighbor who invited us over for dinner. We accepted her invitation so the kids played and have fun while the adults chated about Dream Dinners, Speed racers over food wine and beer.
On Sunday morning, we had breakfast, dropped the kids off to grandma's house prior to our date to the car show. Now days when the kids are not with us, I consider our precious time alone a date. We looked that cars that are in our price range and also cars that we would love to have but don't want the responsibility. I really like the body of the new CRV. Hubby said it's a mixture of BMW, Volvo and Mercedes. Lately we've noticed issue with the new model of Camry so new CRV may have similar problem. I was hoping that by going to the car show, it will help us decides on which model to get but on the contrary, there are more research to be done before going for a test drive.
After the car show we hung out at my parent's house shortly , I got my hair cut, went grocery shopping, had dinner at my inlaws, went home, gave both kids a bath and put them to bed.
Today is Primero's picture day. She has two big gaps where her front teeth used to be so it's going to be a memorable picture.
Tonight is piano lesson and she didn't practice all the songs yet....
Note to self:
1)Set one day of the weekend aside to stay home and do chores.
2)You are an athlete in training. Healthy food helps you get stronger.

Health

I went and got my mamogram done yesterday. While in the waiting room, I see women coming out the door cheering "Yes.. I'm good for another year".
Part of the paper work was a disclosure for women with implants (Not me incase readers didn't know). It mentioned that in some cases implants would interfere with the xray and may not provide accurate picture of the breast tissue. The amount of pressure that is used to convert boobs in to a flat pancake was non-trivial and I thought it would cause implant boobs to burst and deflate. I didn't have enough courage to ask the technician if she ever popped one.
My result will be available in a week or two so hopefully everything is normal. Since October is breast cancer month, I want to do my part to remind my fellow lady friends and family to do self exam or mamogram.

Self torture

As I'm working hard to eat healthy and workout, I find my self checking out food blog pages, watching the food channel and start craving for stuff that's not going to get me to my goal. Why do this to myself?
The open eating season has started. We have halloween candy bowl by the receptionist and it's going to be Thanksgiving feast, Christmas get together & New Year celebration. The logical mind is saying to eat in moderation so by New Year, there's no guilty feeling and wider waist line.
I"m going to my company fall picnic this Saturday where they'll serve chili dog, burger,Tri Tip etc.. Primero will enjoy the lollipop Tree.

One month milestone

It's amazing how fast kids adapt to new environment and changes. Primero has been in her new school and she made some friends and got the hang of her teacher's schedule. There’s a girl in her after school program that has the same name as Secondo and she really likes Primero. She hugs Primero when they 1st see each other and said "You are finally here !!!" and showed lots of excitement where as Primero barely says hi to her with her anonymous waive of the hand. It must be her personality because no matter how hubby and I coached her, she's persistent about her own way of greeting people which is non-verbal and that pushes me over the edge some times. All I asked is that she says hi back to those who say hi to her. Mom in on me on this one but I've tried many different ways and no solution yet.
Piano is going well, her teacher (E) praised her weekly and that seems to motivate her to practice more this week. There's a boy who's lesson is ahead of hers and he hadn’t been practicing so they are at a standstill for at least 3 weeks. E spoke with his dad about stopping the lesson if he doesn’t learn the song by next week. Primero was there when this happened so I reiterated the fact that if she doesn't practice, she could be kicked out of the Miss E piano school. Her next assignment is to learn "Ode to Joy" and "Are you sleeping". Learning new songs seems to get easier for her compared to 2 weeks ago.

The magic number 8

Since my last feeling fat blog, I've been working out at least twice a week and cut out rice when I can. (Thanks hubby for watching the kids while I hit the gym) Sucking in my gut is still a chore but it's not as big as before.
In boot camp, I'm able to do more of the drills that she dished out but there are still some drills that takes my breath away. My legs had always been my source of strength but the amount of squats she made us do, made my quads shakes. Another drill she made us do is jump in the air spread eagle style and that is something I can't do continously 25 times yet. I believe a month from now I'll be able to do it in ease if I practice at home twice a week. Bootcamp instructor is 5 months pregnant so she can't do some of the exercise that we do in class. She kept us motivated by telling us not to waste time by cheating or not giving our 100%. She said also that it's not what we say aloud that keep us going but the little voice inside which rings true for me. When the going get tough, the old little voice would says "Pain.., I can't stand this anymore..take a short break and catch your breath". The new little voice now says "Just 8 more counts. One more phrase of the music" Once I get pass that then "8 more counts" until I can't breath anymore.

Family Stuff

When I got home from Vegas, I wasn't sure how Primero's piano practice sessions went so I asked her to play the songs for me and she did pretty good. She did practice with mom so I made minor correction on the tempo. She tends to count faster than her teacher and me. Her teacher is also stressing the need to play the notes instead of punching the notes which I'm guilty of doing my self. Last night, after she finished with her practice, I played a Sonatina for her and she liked listening for once. I would like to take piano lesson too in order to keep up with her. I can see that she will surpass my level in a year or less. It will show her that practice is necessary to play well and seamless.
On Saturday, I had dimsum with mom and dad then, we went to a BBQ/Karaoke party which was consist of mostly people with out kids. There were lots of flies in their backyard so Primero was not able to dine in peace. She covered everything with napkins and was making sure the flies didn't not land on our food. After the BBQ, we went back to my inlaws for dinner.
On Sunday, I took the girls to the library and it was abit stressful. Secondo wonders around the isles while Primero did not like any of the authors recommended by her school. We borrowed several books that she picked out and I picked out a couple for her.
I wanted to stop by borders to order a yoga CD but didn't have time. Sigh..


Exercise log
Saturday
Bootcamp: 60 min
Cal: 404

Sunday
Spin: 65 min
Ave heart rate: 150 b/m
Cal: 534

Glad to be home

I was in Vegas for a trade show for the pass few days and I really missed home. I'm glad that the hotel I stayed at was non smoking and it had a fitness center that they don't charge extra if you decide to use it. They did charge for the business center so I declined. As far as cigarette smoke, the airport waiting area and the casinos were the worst. People gambling while smoking which made my sinus run as if I had a cold.
I tried Rio Seafood buffet for $35 and it wasn't that impressive. Mostly shrimp, raw oysters, king crab legs. I will not go back again. The next restaurant was the Social Scene? Very trendy Japanese restaurant. The sashimi were excellent! but the service was extremely slow. We were hungry again waiting to pay our bill. I felt out of place there because they had secret service people around to escort VIPs around. I ate mostly healthy except for occasional coffee drinks.
People seems to think when I go these trade show, it's like a vacation which is totally opposite. I walk the show, on my feet talk with potential customers so my legs and feet are sore by the end of the day. What I really wanted is to be with my family who are far away.
Now that we are able to bring some 3oz size liquid, the security line is back to the long dragon style again with everyone with their carry on, me included. I got to the airport early so I didn't mind the wait.
When I got home, it was nice to see hubby, the kids, and mom and dad. Dad was feeding Secondo dinner so when she saw me, she wanted me to hold her right a way. Primero cared more about what gift I brought back from my trip. I didn't have time to get hubby anything this time.

Exercise Log
Elliptical: 45 min
Ave heart rate: ~ 140 b/m
Cal: 500

Competing for attention

My 2 girls are already competing for things eventhough they are far apart in age. If I'm hugging Primero, Secondo will run over and push her sister away from me so she can be hugged. If Primero is playing piano, Secondo wants to play also.
In short, I'm starting to do everything in twos. 2 cups of drinks, 2 plates of snacks and two bouncy balls.
One thing Primero will not share is her green bear so Secondo snuggles with green bear when her elder sister is napping.

Sunday & Monday

I wanted to take the kids to the beach but we had too many other things to do so we went to Costco instead. When I was checking out, they confiscated my card to tell me that I spend enough money to move up to the next membership level which cost me $100/year but I get 2% rebate for every dollar I spend. Based on their record, I already earned $40. The guy said that they want to sustain their customer based so this is one way of doing it. Unfortunately, it doesn't apply to car purchases because 2% of 30K is a good $600.
This morning, Secondo woke up at 5:30 AM so getting ready was quite a challenge with her wanting to be involve in everything. Fortunately, Sesame stree was on and she's into the show especially Elmo. She actually sang the Elmo theme song in her own way when it came on this morning.
Primero doesn't have a sense of time. When I say "Let's hurry so we won't be late" and she replied with "You always say that to me" I'll have to figure something out so she doesn't take time for granted.

Mom and Dad are staying with us for the next few days while their house gets tented for termite.

Exercise Log
Spin: 60 min
Ave heart rate: 150 b/min
Cal: 511

Saturday at the park

Bootcamp
Duration: 1:14 min
Cal: 456
Ave heart rate: 134/min

Me, me, me, it's all about me

I looked back at my old entries, I was religiously logging my exercise sessions. To re-motivate my self I'm going to start logging the days that I exercise.
Type: Yoga
Duration: 50 min
Calories: Doesn't matter

The game plan

Yesterday, I went to Primero's back to school night meeting. Take home message is that she's going to have lots of homework starting next week. The school mendates that the child reads 20 min/day for 7 days a week plus spelling and math AND extra credit. When I went to school, extra credit is not a requirement. For her school, it is a requirement because she won't get an outstanding on her homework section of the report card if she opt not to do extra credit. Sigh.. I'll get to see what the XC options are next week.
2 girls from her class were transfered to the combo class. Her teacher is really nice and she said that Primero is doing great. She's impressed with her artistic skill and handwriting so far. I met the other parents from her class but didn't make any connections.
Starting next week we are going to be busy the moment we get home. Here's is what I'm going to propose to the family and we'll test it out next week. We'll see if there's time for Chinese character writing.

Monday:
5:30 : Bath time
6:00 : Dinner
6:30-7:20 : Piano lesson
7:30-8:00: Homework & extra credit
8:00-8:20: Reading
8:20-8:40: Getting ready for bed
8:45 : Bed time

Tuesday:
5:30-6:00: Homework
6:00-6:30 Dinner
6:30: 7:00 Bath
7:00-7:30 Piano practice
7:30-8:00: Break
8:00-8:20 Reading
8:20-8:40: Getting ready for bed
8:45 : Bed time

Back to School Night

To night is back to school night for Primero. I look forward to meeting her teacher and get more information on what they will be learning and how many combination classes they will have. They are planning to put 10 kids from 1st grade and 10 kids from 2nd grade in one class. I don't know much about combination classes but my gut is telling me that her school is not willing to hire more teachers to accomidate the amount of students they have. Sigh...
Piano lesson went well, her teacher is impressed with Primero's ability to play. Her home work has 2 fun songs, "It ain't gonna rain no more" and "Bingo"
Her kindergarten teacher taught her that the word "heck" was not proper and in one of the song the verse goes "How the heck I'm gonna wash my neck..." cracks her up everytime she sings it.
I'm toying with the idea of taking piano lesson my self once I figure out when I'll have time to practice.
Secondo got her 15 month shots last week and on her leg where she got the shot is still bumpy and hard. I massage it when I can and hopefully it'll go away this week. She's been coughing and sounded congested this morning. Still contemplating if she should get flu shot or not.

Piano lesson: Week 3

As before, practice takes time but my new rule is if she plays well 5 times then we can move on to the next song but if it's not up to par, she has to play at least 12 times. That seems to work and sometimes she wants to practice more that I asked. She still doesn't like piano her comment was
P: "Why am I good at something I don't like to do? I didn't even know that I'm good at playing piano"
Me: "There are many other things that you are good at but you don't even know yet?"
My concern is that she doesn't like piano. I hope by the time she plays some music that she knows then she'll like it more.
Her lesson went well and next step is to learn the notes. I learned do re mi but her teacher wants her to learn c d e etc.. and that doesn't come natural to me.
More practicing tonight...
From her I learn to be patient with my self and others.

Chinese Lesson Karma

Mom gave Primero Chinese characters writing lesson this Summer so she asked that I continue during fall with the hope that Primero will be able to speak Chinese and read Chinese when she grows up. This brought back painful memories when I was in 3rd grade when mom forced me to learn Chinese by practice writing row and rows of Chinese characters which had no meaning.
On Sunday,
Me: "It's time to learn Chinese"
P: "NO!"
Me: "Why NOT?"
P: "''cause I'm hungry"

It was almost lunch time so I fed them and then
Me: "Let's learn Chinese"
Grudgingly agreed so we learned the character rain and the battle begins. Her body language was not happy nor positive and said
P: "I want you to sit with me"
Me: "When dad finishes with yard work, I'll sit with you. No one can watch Secondo otherwise"
P: "Hold my hands and show me how to write it the right way. Popo does it.."
While holding Secondo on left hand, I held her hand and traced the the character rain with her. She continued writing the characters in an snail moving through peanut butter rate.
After hubby finished up with yard work, I sat with her and she was still not a happy camper but she wrote one character that's recognizable so I said
Me: "That character is really close to the example. Can you write another like that or better?"
With a little positive encouragement, she was more interested in taking time to write or draw rain.
At the end, she asked me to circled 2 characters that I really liked and I circled 4 which made her happy. Luckily it was the last page so until I get a new book we both can take a break.

Long awaited Friday

Last night, Secondo was wondering around not ready to sleep @ 9:30PM so I took her to her room and slept with her there. She did wonder the hall once and fell asleep shortly next to me so I was well rested.
After 4 days of training, we got our morning routine down to the T. Both girls have their breakfast while I pack lunches and get all our stuff ready for the day.
Daughter said
P: "What day is today?"
Me: "It's Friday"
P: "Yeah, I get to stay up late tonight and do fun things?"
Me: "Yes, after you practice your piano of course"
I try to make practice fun so it's not a boring chore for her

3rd day of school

Primero had half day of school yesterday so she was a little disappointed. She said "I wish school was longer today so that I can read the 'Take me out of the bath tub book'". I told her school would be longer tomorrow and Friday so not to worry. I asked her about what she did in class and she said that her teacher was asking volunteers for sweeping and sponge duty (Cleaning their little desks). She raised her hand for sponge duty but teacher picked someone else for the job but she hopes to be the chosen one next week. I asked her "Did you raise your hand for sweeping duty?" P said "No.. I want sponge duty" Come to think of it, she did the dishes with me the other day so she can play with the sponge. Must be a new exciting toy for her at this stage of her life.
Piano practice was long yesterday. The lessons are getting a little bit complex with controlling her little fingers, sp we practiced 4 short songs over the span of 40 min. There are 6 more songs to learn so we'll continue with the rest of the lessons tonight. She did her Theory exercise, which I forgot to bring to her lesson on Tuesday. Her teacher said, "Well, we can't all be perfect" and I said "Not all the time we can't"

Let's move on to Secondo's life for a moment. She doesn't have fever anymore but still has runny nose and a cough. For some unknown reason, she was not tired during bedtime and refused to sleep last night. I put the kids to bed by 9:00PM and Primero was asleep within 15 min but not Secondo. In the dark, she was talking, walking around the room, singing, playing by her self. I stayed up with her until 11:30 PM when she finally went to her pillow on the floor and lay down. We put her on the floor because the crib is not her favorite place to be. She woke up several times during the night so when 5:30 AM rolled around, I hated life.
On a totally seperate note, I just found out that an ex co-worker of mine lost his 19-year-old son in a fatal motorcycle accident. He was wearing his helmet but it didn't save him from the deadly head injury. Grandma used to say is that it's heart breaking for white hair person(parents) to bid farewell to black hair person (child) so I don't pretend to relate to parents who had to put a funeral for their child. Just another reminder to appreciate our love ones today because they may be gone tomorrow and the my dramas are miniscule compared to others so be thankful.

2nd day of School

Hubby took Primero to school yesterday but today she's on her own. I dropped her off early morning at the day care and she said "Mom, why isn't any one here yet?" which made me feel bad as a mom. At day care she was the 2nd child so it didn't help the situation. I gave her watermelon for morning snack so I hope she ate it. Hopefully she made some friends to day so she feels more comfortable in the new environment.

She started piano lesson last week so her homework was to practice 6 mini short songs. We practiced 3 times a week for 30 min last week and her piano teacher was impressed on her progress. She commented "I don't know why but all my asian students pick up piano quicker than anybody". Hubby thinks she was stereotyping our child and was not happy about it. Since she did so well, we got triple the assignment vs. the week before. Piano teacher asked "Mom, does she have homework?" and I nodded if not she was going to assigned even more homework for both of us. Needless to say, we got lots of practicing to do this week.

As far as me, I've been eating healthy but have not done the exercise part which is cruicial to the plan. Still working on what type of exercise I can do at home.

So far so good

Last Friday, I set exercise goal of working out everyday which may be unrealistic so I modified it to 4 days a week. 2 days during the week and 2 days on weekend which is possible. I went to the gym 3 times last week and I'm happy to say that my legs were not sore like the week before. Sit up goal is 200 sit up/night started Monday night.
If everything goes as plan
Wed: Pilates or walking 30 min
Fri: Wt lifting
Sat: Boot Camp
Sun: Cardio & Yoga or Spin
For rewards, I bought these small exercise ball that helps me with stretching my back.
Secondo was sick last week with runny nose and fever so we didn't take her to the pool which is her favorite thing to do. Last night she woke up in sweats and saying "Hot.. hot.."

Feeling Fat

I swear that after the 2nd baby, my abs had been replaced with fat layers that I can't get rid off. I also lost the reflex of pulling my abs in and I must consciously remind my self to suck my abs in or it'll just pooch out like I'm 3 months pregnant. Doing sit ups doesn't seem to help because the fat layer is still there so the only option remains is to modify diet, exercise to get rid of them fat once and for all. I'm at the point where I'm ready to change.
When I saw my cousin's wife who had the baby about the same time I did and she's back to her skinny self which got me thinking about my own body and the possibility of it going back to the shape where it used to be 2 years ago.
I read the South Beach diet and it's a bit too strict for the 1st 1 weeks. It's not realistic for me to follow their recipe so I'm working to put something together to incoorperate the food I'm already eating but cut out the rice, noodles and bread. I can cut out rice but noodles and bread are going to be tough.
I'm tired of feeling fat. I want to feel fit where my body is tight and strong. It's just going to get harder as I'm getting older so be patient with your self please.
P.S.: I'm so odd. Even when I'm trying to eat healthy, I still go to those food blogsite to tempt my self. Must stop doing that.

Exausted

This pass weekend was so busy with events centering around kids and families that I didn't get to do any of my chores.
Saturday morning, I took an hour of boot camp at the gym. Instructor is 4 months pregnant so she had to keep her heart rate at a certain level but still goes pretty hard. "I want you to be exausted after my class!!!" She was tough and merciless similar to Jillian of the biggest looser.
After class, Secondo and I went to our last swim lesson. She was paddling with her hands and doing some kicking but not consistently. She's more used to being dunk under water but still doesn't like floating on her back. I decided to stop the lesson and start again next summer. She's getting really tan and I have sufficient training to teach her my self at this point. Primero is the one who should take lesson so I'm going to put it on the list. Their cousins came by in the afternoon so Primero went to the pool again while I stayed home with Secondo. She napped for 30 min and said "ma ma.. ma ma" That was the end of my hope to get more chores done.
When they got back from the pool, everyone was hungry except for my pregnant sister in-law who had been having terrible morning sickness. She had to hide upstairs where the smell food isn’t so overwhelming for her.
I cooked for 6 adults. The menu was soy sauce simmered baby back ribs, shrimp with ketchup and wine sauce (which I learned from Ang Lee long time ago watching an interview on TV), and baby bak choi stir fried in garlic sauce. I have not cooked for anyone since Secondo was born so it felt good when people liked my food and said how delicious they were.
After dinner I play cards with the kids, the guess left and we all went to bed exhausted.

The next day, I woke up with a sore body. My legs were the worst when going up and down stairs. (They are sore still today) We got ready and went to one of mom's cousin's daughter's 1st Bday party. When we got there, lots of girls in Primero's age group was running around playing. They have a dog fluffy who loved Secondo and the other kids but Secondo was afraid of it.
After that party, we went to visit my friend Steve who lived in that neighborhood so our kids can play together. We had pho for dinner and play badminton. It was really fun.

15 month old

We took the kids to "Build a bear workshop" and Secondo was ruffling in to all the different outfits for the bears. She's 15 months old now and she has mastered walking and is trying to run and jump. Itsy bitsy spider is her favorite song and I'm so tired of singing it for the 20th time. She's also a thumb sucker like her cie-cie (Elder sister) but she's more hard core and her thumb has blister already at this age. Secondo has higher pain level too. Sometimes she'll have a bloody broken toe nail and it doesn't phase her at all.
Here Primero at her cousin, E's house building their cookie and popcorn shop.

3 Iron

I traveled for business last week and due to the terrorist findings in the UK, I was forced to check my bag with my toiletries and be at the airport 3 hours before departure. My out going flight was @ 7:20AM so I was scheduled to wake up @ 3AM and be at the airport by 4:20 AM. Secondo had too much excitement that night so she was not able to sleep soundly. She woke up many times and I wasn't able to sleep until about 1 AM. Airport was a zoo even @ 4 AM but I checked in and went through security within 40 min so I was roaming around the airport waiting for Starbuck to open and get some coffee. It finally opened around 5:30AM so I was able to get some breakfast. The flight was uneventfull but I'm not used to waiting around for baggage claim etc..
While traveling, I didn't have to attend to anyone. I ate when ever I'm hungry and go as I please. It felt as if I was single again, freedom.. but it wasn't the same. There was something missing in my life during those days, my family. This one restaurant that I highly recommend is Paesanos. They have the best Italian food I have ever had. I heard that Pachanga Casino area has the same restaurant so I'm going to convince hubby to go to Pachanga sometime this year.
Returning flight was about the same and I was really glad to be home and see my kids.
This pass weekend, we rented a Korean movie "3 Iron". It's an interesting movie that didn't have much dialog between the main characters so it works well for a foreign movie. I would recommended this movie for everyone.
Secondo can say "ma ma" now but the thing is she says it to both me and hubby.

No longer a polluter

Last Saturday, hubby took the Accord for a tune up and CAT (Car talk for Catalytic converter) change and the Accord passed smog test! Hallelujah!! Now I can drive the car with out feeling guilty when I see the smog in the air.
Primero went to Boomers for the 1st time yesterday and she can't stop talking about it.
P: "Mom, can we go to Boomer this weekend? Can we, can we?"
Hub: "What ride was your favorite?"
P:"Oh.. all of them"
Last night, Secondo was really whiney so I scolded her and said "No more whining!" in the mad motherly tone. Next thing I heard was this loud cry. She was in the master bathroom so the crying was magnified by the echos our empty bath room was able to generate. Big mistake.. so I told her I was sorry and held her but she was still cranky the whole night

Swim lesson

This weekend, Primero was hanging out with her cousin, hubby was at work and I took Secondo for her 1st swim lesson. I decided to get there early considering I got to stroll her from parking lot to the pool and in general it takes an extra 10 minutes to do anything involving a toddler. When I got to the pool, there's a message on the gate "Swim Lesson is moved to another pool due to contamination" I was stressing out because I don't know where the other pool was. While panicing, I noticed that they had direction to the backup pool on the gate so I got there shortly. I knew I was at the right place because all the crying and laughing of children in the Air.
We all finally got into the water with our toddler and the lesson began.
Since a toddler can't comprehend what's going on, the swim lesson was more for the parent than for the child.
1. I sang the wheel on the bus and went round and round with the baby, up and down, swish,swish swish while dipping the child side to side so they get used to getting wet ears.
2. I got a floating toy and threw it to a distance and encaurage the kid to kick while getting the toy.
3. I helped the baby use their arm to make the paddling motion while singing row row row your boat.
4. The instructor springkled water on Secondo's head while singing it's raining it's pouring.
5. I helped the baby float on their back while they lay on my shoulder.
It was fun and short so we'll do it again next week.

Old Car

My accord is due for smog so hubby took it in for a test and it FAILED! Here goes the journey of making the car pass smog. 1st we went to a mechanic and he said to flush the ERG which didn't work. Now we think it's the catalytic converter so that's what we're going to do next

Wanting what I don't have

I borrowed another audio book on meditation by Jack Kornfield called "Meditation for beginners". It was the request of Primero because she enjoyed one meditation audio book I borrowed one time. This one however is different. It explains about the intent of meditation and how to manage when many thoughts are running in your mind and the "what if" or "if only" energy enters the mind. Bottom line is that meditation is a form of acceptance of one self with all the inperfections.
Another interesting quote I learned is "The greatest diappointment in life is not getting what you want and getting what you want" This ring alot of truth for me in many ways and I'm happy to say that I've learned to accept my self more as I'm older and wiser
Here's an example of what I did to meet a certain want.
In my younger years, I was never satisfied with my feet. They were wide and have bunions on both sides which made it difficult for me to wear cute or fashionable shoes. My friend who had similar bunions problem had them removed and she was so happy with the result. I saw how happy she was wear heels and trendy shoes so I decided to remove the bunion from one foot and once it recovered, I'll do the other one. Recovery for that surgery was true suffering. I had to crawl around for 2 weeks and hubby washed my hair for me since I couldn't really shower. After the foot healed, I was disappointed that my toes were shorter than before. I didn't realized that my toes would get shorter. I was not satisfied before or after the surgery so the quote is so true. Over time I learned to love both my feet as they are and buy shoes that fit my feet.

Rain is good

It's been so hot and humid lately that I was so glad when it was drizzling this morning. I slept by the an open window from 3 to 6 AM and really enjoyed the cool breeze. We took the kids to a new water park in the neighborhood and Primero had lots of fun. Secondo didn't enjoy it as much as the kiddy pool. Her latest habit is drinking pool and bath water. She knows how to say "up" now that she's 14.5 months old. She copies different things that we do such as hand motion, facial expression,and sound effects. She loves to blow rasberry on her elder sister's belly and made everyone laughs. She's independent and wants to feed her self during meal time. Because she's not so coordiated, the dining area is such a big mess after meal time.

Long lost friend

2 days ago, an old friend of mine T got a hold of me. We lost contact about 3 years ago. Since I moved to OC, I would send her Xmas card hoping to reconnect or asked people we both knew as of where she's at. The good news is that we got a hold of each other and we have so much catching up to do. I knew her kids when they were 2 and 3 years old. Now they are in college and all grown up.
I plan to visit her soon :)

Cooling down with Strawberry Lemonade

It's been hot and humid for the pass several weeks. I got to get this Strawberry Lemonade recipe from my friend Angie. It's delicious.




Her chocolate/strawberries dips are also to die for.

Getting lost

With starting a new job, I'm not familiar with the surrounding so I go and explore the area during lunch. I found a gas station with reasonable price and a target. My next mission is to locate a bank. I refuses to buy gas in my neighborhood which is typically 15-20 cents above average. My journey to the gas station was fine but, I got lost on my way back to work. The street name changes from one city to another so I ended up at this strip mall and spotted Coffee bean. I got my coffee with direction and got back to work OK.
I also found several a 24hrs fitness close by so the goal is to go to the gym twice a week and exercise for 30min/ session. They don't have any classess that I can take but my goal is to strengthen my abs.

Motivation

I hope that with me posting more often now, it will inspire Bulleye and Fresno's hot to at least post once every month or so. One can always set goal to stay connected with the ones you care about. I understand that both of them are busy with their career so one paragraph once in a while would be a treat.

I'm slowly easing back to the gym. Unfortunately my spin instructor Judy moved to Chicago so I go to the earlier weight lifting class instead of spinning. She battled cancer with Chemotherapy and she's doing great.

The other reason is that I want to be stronger and able to lift and carry the kids around with ease as they get heavier all the time. Sorry to admit but my abs is not as strong as I would like them to be and after Sunday's lift, my back was really sore and uncomfortable. I also realized that my upper body is not in good shape so sculpting my body is good for me.

Current goal is to hit the gym twice a week and take a walk once a week. There's a boot camp class on Saturday Morning, which is taught by a really tough instructor. For those who are in to reality show, she reminds me of Jillian, personal trainer of the red team of the reality show "The big looser". When I got tired and tried to cheat and she was on me and pushed me to my limit. It is pure suffering when I am taking the class and I am sore everywhere the day after. I plan to take this class this coming Saturday so I can burn up to 400 calories.

Secondo 14 months old

I've started a new job last week. I'm in training for the 1st and 2nd week and I'll have a project I assume on the 3rd week. This company is closer to home compared to the old one. It's different being the new person on the block but I'll managed the change.
Primero attended a birthday party on Saturday at a park. It was so hot and humid but it didn't bother the kids. They still jumped in the jumper, run around the park, having a great time. She hasn't seen some of her classmates for a month so they were happy to see each other. After the party we went to her cousin's house to play some more. By 8:30 PM she was yawning and had enough energy to lay down and watch cartoon.
Secondo is walking and learning to talk. She has her own language that she says to people but no one can make sense of what she said. She uses mostly body language to get what she wants. She's able to say mommy and daddy accidentally but not to get our attention. The new word of the week was "Let's go" which came out as "Le go"


PS
I totally forgot that Secondo was 14 months old on Monday. She's very active and loves to play with Primero. She copies certain things that Primero does and they play well together until someone is hurt which is usually Secondo falling or bumping her head. Her latest thing is to get a thing and give it to someone. She mastered walking but refuses to wear shoes so we put socks on her and I continue to experiment with different type of shoes. She loves the out door and water. Her swimming lessons starts in August. Hubby worries about her getting too dark.

It's been a while

Just can't to find any free time to blog anymore. Primero graduated from Kindergarten last week. We video taped the ceremony but we didn't really had good seats. She's out of school but will start summer camp next week. She lost 4 bottom teeth and still has all her top fron teeth. Secondo started to walk on her own at 11 months. She was bitten by her day care friend on the arm last week.

Secondo had Roseola

This pass week Secondo had been sick. She had fever since Monday and we figured because her top teeth are coming in. By Wednesday, her fever reached its peak of 105F so I raced home from work, picked her up from the sitter and she seemed OK but very cranky and clingy. On Thursday she was tired and clingy so I stayed home with her. The fever went away but I noticed some rash on her neck and upper chest. By Friday night, the rash was all over her torso so we took her to urgent care again not knowing what's causing the breakout. There were other sick kids there but the wait wasn't too long. Dr said that she had the textbook case of Roseola which I've never heard of. It starts with fever and ends with rash. Thankfully she was fine. Primero said that going to urgent care at night gave her a strange feeling. She felt much better after we came home.
Below is literature I found from kidhealth.org after goggling Roseola. I've included in the blog for others to recognize the symptoms because it could have gotten really serious and scary. We are fortunate that she didn't have any convulsion nor febrile seizure, Whew... Sigh...
Her rash went away today but my poor baby is still fussy and demanding.

"Roseola (also known as sixth disease, exanthem subitum, and roseola infantum) is a viral illness in young children, most commonly affecting those between the ages of 6 months and 2 years. It is typically marked by several days of high fever, followed by a distinctive rash just as the fever breaks.

Two common and closely related viruses can cause roseola: human herpesvirus (HHV) type 6 and type 7. These two viruses belong to the same family as the better-known herpes simplex viruses (HSV), but HHV-6 and HHV-7 do not cause the cold sores and genital herpes infections that HSV can cause.

Signs and Symptoms
A child with roseola typically develops a mild upper respiratory illness, followed by a high fever (often over 103 degrees Fahrenheit, or 39.5 degrees Celsius) for up to a week. During this time, the child may appear fussy or irritable and may have a decreased appetite and swollen lymph nodes (glands) in the neck.

The high fever often ends abruptly, and at about the same time a pinkish-red flat or raised rash appears on the child's trunk and spreads over the body. The rash's spots blanch (turn white) when you touch them, and individual spots may have a lighter "halo" around them. The rash usually spreads to the neck, face, arms, and legs.

The fast-rising fever that comes with roseola triggers febrile seizures (convulsions caused by high fevers) in about 10% to 15% of young children. Signs of a febrile seizure include:
unconsciousness 2 to 3 minutes of jerking or twitching in the arms, legs, or face loss of control of the bladder or bowels.

Contagiousness
Roseola is contagious and spreads through tiny drops of fluid from the nose and throat of infected people. These drops are expelled when the infected person talks, laughs, sneezes, or coughs. Then if other people breathe the drops in or touch them and then touch their own noses or mouths, they can become infected as well.

The viruses that cause roseola do not appear to be spread by children while they are exhibiting symptoms of the illness. Instead, someone who has not yet developed symptoms often spreads the infection.

Prevention
There is no known way to prevent the spread of roseola. Because the infection usually affects young children but rarely adults, it is thought that about of roseola in childhood may provide some lasting immunity to the illness. Repeat cases of roseola may occur, but they are not common.

Incubation
The average incubation period is about 9 to 10 days after exposure to the virus.

Duration
The fever of roseola lasts from 3 to 7 days, followed by a rash lasting from hours to a few days.

Professional Treatment
To make a diagnosis, your child's doctor first will take a history and do a thorough physical examination. A diagnosis of roseola is often uncertain until the fever drops and the rash appears, so the doctor may order tests to make sure that the fever is not caused by another type of infection.

The illness typically does not require professional treatment, and when it does, most treatment is aimed at reducing the high fever. Antibiotics cannot treat roseola because a virus, not a bacterium, causes it.

Home Treatment
Until the fever drops, you can help keep your child cool using a sponge or towel soaked in lukewarm water. Do not use ice, cold water, alcohol rubs, fans, or cold baths. Acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) or ibuprofen (such as Advil or Motrin) can help to reduce your child's fever. Avoid giving aspirin to a child who has a viral illness because the use of aspirin in such cases has been associated with the development of Reye syndrome, which can lead to liver failure and death.

To prevent dehydration from the fever, encourage your child to drink clear fluids such as water with ice chips, children's electrolyte solutions, flat sodas like ginger ale or lemon-lime (stir room-temperature soda until the fizz disappears), or clear broth.

When to Call Your Child's Doctor
Call your child's doctor if your child is lethargic or not drinking or if you cannot keep your child's fever down. If your child has a seizure, seek emergency care immediately.

Reviewed by: Wayne Ho, MD
Date reviewed: November 2003
Originally reviewed by: Joel Klein, MD

Things

Mom and Dad just got back from their trip. Primero is having her friend for a sleep over tonight. She's very excited. Secondo is almost 11 months now and is learning to stand on her own. She likes to eat everything that I've offered her so far. Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow.

Out of touch

It's been so long since my last blog. I felt that all of us are blog less and less now days and don't really stay in touch as we've had intended when this all got started.
My guess is bulleye is busy with his new Job, Hendog is busy smoking cigar with his wife and I'm eager to find some time to my self( other than going to the bath room).
Secondo is 10.5 months now and she's very active and demanding.

Primero's new school

Went and visited her elementary school recently and gotten the form for getting in the 1st grade. Can't believe she's going to be a 1st grader. I still remember the day that she was born in my arm with her long lashes.
The enrolment package is quite extensive. I'll try to have hubby fill out the form. I also want to make an appointment to meet the principal of the school and understand his philosophy on education. This will be a new environment for her so some adjustment will take place. Apparently, some kids bring their personal apple laptop to school and do their homework on the computer. I hope it's not mandatory because I want her to learn to write and have nice penmanship and also learn to type.

Bye Eric

Went home last night and and Eric was dead at the bottom of the tank. On the bright side, he lasted 3 weeks longer than our 1st fish.
P: "What should I get for my next pet?"
Me: "How about nothing?"
P:" I want a hamster or an iguana!"
Me: "We'll wait until you're older so you can take care of it."
Sigh..
Both kids got baptised last Sunday by the way. It was supposed to be for Sister Inlaw's boy but she said may be we should get Secondo baptised too at the same time. It wasn't planned and apparently it has been bothering my inlaws that our kids were not. Brother inlaw's comment is " Now they can dye in peace that all the grandkids are baptised so I didn't resist.
P: "What is the purpose of baptism?"
Me: " The priest said is to take away your original sin.."
P: " I don't have any sin !"
Me: "Ask your dad, I don't know why.."
P: " I thought mom knows everything..hm.."
Me: " Like you, I don't know much about original sin"
Hubby wasn't able to explain it either so hopefully it doesn't bother her that much.

Eric not doing well

This morning I found Eric floating sideways. Hubby said that he isn't eating his food. We got him beta bite but he doesn't really like it. What am I suppose to do?
Primero: "Is Eric dying? Is he going to be alive when I come home from school today?"
Me: "He doesn't look healthy and he's not eating. May be we'll buy a different kind of food for him"
Primero: " Can you talk to the man and Petco and ask him why Eric isn't eating and is dying?"
Me: "I'll do that today."
:(

Meet Eric

I tried but this is the best picture I took of Eric. It was hard to focus or I'm not good at taking pictures of fish. Hubby was laughing when he saw this picture.
We are happy that he is still alive and well. He likes to hang out at the bottom of the tank and blow lots of bubbles when he's on the surface of the water.

Eric, new addition to the family

We took Primero to the pet store yesterday and looked at the birds. She went in to this one small room that had 3 bird cages in it. It had Canary, Cockiteel etc. When she came out she said "It's stinky in there mom!" We talked her in to getting a fish instead so we got a purple beta fish. We learned that Beta is a good starting fish. Primero thought it was a girl but we informed her that all beta fish are male. She names him Eric. She's careful about feeding him so that he does not die due to overeating. She gives him 1-3 pellet/feeding. Hopefully it'll last 1 week.

Teacher of life

They built a new 24hours fitness by our house last November so I've started spinning on Sunday mornings and get to know the instructor Judy pretty well. She is a great spin instructor and she really pushes everyone to the limit and emphasize on training in different zones.
Last Sunday, she shared with us that she had to take 2 weeks off which is out of character for her so she shared something personal and shocking. At 40, she recently found out that she has breast cancer. The tumor was so aggressive that it grew from the size of a grape to a golf ball in 3 weeks. They took out the tumor ASAP and the next thing is chemotherapy. She's really optimistic and a real fighter. She promised that she'll come back in 2 weeks and teach even if she'll be just telling us what to do.
The last song she played in class was "I run for life" by Melissa Etheridge. I got really choked up as I listened to the words to the song. Starting 1/30/06 she'll begin her war with cancer. I'll continue to spin and support her spirit.
Get well Judy :)

Primero's plea for pet

Primero has been presistently asking for a pet. Her latest attempt is to get a bird. She now has an imaginary parrot that pirches on her index finger and she gets very angry when I sit on it accidentally not knowing where the bird is. Now she's asking for a real bird/parrot that can flies around the house, talks and listens to her every command. Hubby and I told her that it's a lot of responsibility taking care of bird poops and we don't want bird pooping everywhere in the house or Secondo will eat it. Secondo puts everything in her mouth at this age. Primero said that it's OK, she can handle bird poops because they are so small compared to dog or cat poops. She's also under the impression that she'll be able to potty train the bird so that it'll poop on a kitty litter box that we'll have to get from Petco. We said that we're thinking about it to give her some hope. May be we'll go back to the gold fish again since we have everything but the fish and it's not hazardous for Secondo.
Secondo is crawling now so she gets into corners of the house in a blink of an eye.
Last night, Primero found a long string so she tied it on Secondo's body and told me "Mom, I got a pet now.. it's mei-mei.. She doesn't crawl when I asked her to yet."
Secondo was sitting happily eating a platic coat hanger not realizing what's going on. The good thing is now if Primero is in the mood, she's able to play with Secondo for 5-10 min.

8 Months Old

A good friend of mine took this picture when Secondo was 7 months. He had this high resolution camera that took 5 pictures/second. We kinda skipped her 6 months milestone because the receptionist made an error on the appointment date and I didn't bother to fix it. It didn't hurt to be a month or so older for those shots. She's now 28 inches long and 18 lbs. The whole family went with her to the check up and Primero was concerned about her mei-mei(little sis) getting 3 shots so she did everything to distract her sister from feeling the pain. It worked. Secondo didn't cry that much and she was only fussy the night after the shot. Her two front teeth are coming out finally.

Lunch swap

Hubby took my lunch to work by mistake today. We usually make our own lunch via taking the left overs from the night before that was cooked by mom.
Me: "You took my lunch this morning"
Hubby:"What did you bring for lunch?"
Me: "It'll be a pleasant surprise.."
Hubby: "I hope it's not dumpling with seaweed"
Those are the food he can't stand.
Fortunately, I packed beef and chinese brocolli so he should be fine.
Secondo's baby sitter is telling me that Secondo is taking toys away from her older toddler mate and making him cry. She can't really understand sharing so they'll just have to work it out somehow.
I've been letting secondo chew on oranges in the hope that she'll get enough vitamin C and not get sick as often.
I wanted to spin today but I pay so the class was packed.

Lack of updates

Sorry about low posting activities.
Balancing family, work and sleep has been the top priority.
Secondo still wakes up in the middle of the night for one feeding. She's really interested in eating our food so mom made some home made kangi and she loves them. I also give her oranges and she chews on that while we have dinner.
Primero still fells that she doesn't get enough attention from Mom so she acts like a baby to get attention. I hope she grows out of this phase soon.
The transmission in our Odessey went out in December and it was quite costly to fix the transmission.
I'l post some pictures on smugmug when I get some free time on my hand.

Back Dorm Boys

Here's the link to Tian's blog with back dorm boys who are really funny. Primero's favorite is the third one from the bottom titled "Radio in my head" (Yellow and white shirt).

Primero

Saturday night, Primero woke me up @ 3 AM saying "Mom, I can't sleep... my tummy hurts.." I laid with her in the bed for a good half hour and now both of us couldn't sleep. I noticed my stomach wasn't feeling so hot either as I laid awake. Long story short we both felt better and went to sleep after we threw up and brushed our teeth. I thought we had food poisoning from my chicken carrot soup but Hubby thought that we got the flu.
On Sunday, Primero started to have fever and felt lethargic and didn't want to eat fearing that she'll throw up again. I showed her the back dorm boys video from Mir's page to cheer her up.
Today she's feeling better and she was trying on old slipper that is too small for her.
Me: "Are you trying to be Cinderella's step sister and force your feet into the slipper that's too small?"
P: "So I can marry the prince?"
Me: "You don't want to marry a prince"
P: "Why?"
Me: "There's no prince in America.."
P: "What about New Jersey?"
Me: "There's no prince there either. ((With an British accent) You may go to England and marry prince William"
She covered my mouth with her hand not wanting to listen to my bad British accent.
I feel bad that we didn't get a tree this year. She asked if we can get a tree on Friday so we'll see what happens.

Xmas shopping

I find that giving gift cards is the best way to do Xmas shopping but others argue that gift cards are bad because I didn't put any thought in to the give and the person is only worth X dollar amount. Coming from the Chinese background where I got money in the forms of Red envelope, I think it's a great idea.
Pros to giving gift cards or cash
1. They don't have to return the gift that they may not like
2. I spend less time wondering around malls guessing what people want

Glad to be home

This is what it looks like after 7-8 inches of snow from the night before. I was told that the snow is powdery, not good enough for building snow ball or snow man. I wanted to make snow angels on the ground but didn't bring the right type of clothing.
Got back from KCI late late Thursday night and by the time I got home the kids were fast asleep.
At the Airport, I met one retired man from OC who went to Missouri pick up his hunting dog from training. He sat by the window hoping to see the dog being uploaded in cargo area. I asked if it would be cold down in the cargo area. He said that Midwest has the best set up for pet and the dog will be comfortable during the flight. He also told me that it cost an extra $75 when the pet travels with a person but it'll cost $400 if the pet was to travel alone.
On the plane I sat next to a computer programmer who travel every other week to Kansas and visit client. Once he knew I was Chinese, he asked me what I know about Qi-gong and Tai-Chi. I found out that he's been practicing Qi-gong and we chated about yoga, kids and differences between airlines during the long ride home. As we landed on the ground, he called his wife right a way and found out about the Southwest incident in Chicago killing a baby girl. We were both glad that we arrived safely and able to go home to our family.

First snow of the year in Kansas

I'm in Kansas right now it snowed today. It's 11 degree F outside now but windchill is -10F and good news to all students: "No schools tomorrow". As I watched the news there were accidents on the highways just like us Californians not knowing how to drive during rainy season. Forecast says 7" of snow tonight. Beautiful, just like what you see in the movies but cold and slippery.
Note to self: Next time bring scarf, gloves, heavy winter coat and boots.

Happy Birthday Bulleye & Dad

Happy birthday Bulleye and Dad. I still remember the day Bulleye was born. I walked home with my friend and when I knocked on the door, no one was there to answer. I stand in front of the door waiting for mom to come home and it started to rain really hard. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go so I just stayed there waited. I don't remember how long I waited but one of my mom's teacher friend came and took me to her apartment on campus. I don't recalled if she explained why no one was home. I remembered that she blowed dry my hair so that I wouldn't get sick.

Secondo 6 month old

This picture of Secondo was taken today. Can't believe we've had her for half a year already. It's still not easy when both kids want your attention simultaneously. It was difficult to get her to smile so this is the best we have. She didn't sleep well last night, her nose was stuffed up so she woke up several times screaming. This morning, she didn't want any milk so we'll see how she does today at the Sitter. I hope she's not getting sick. Hubby was coughing last night so none of us slept well except for Primero.
Found out yesterday that Hubby's grandfather passed away. He had been in the hospital for weeks. At times the consesus were that he's getting better. The funeral is Saturday but not sure on the timing yet. It is strange that after being married for close to 10 years, I've never meet his grandparents so I'm not too heart broken about the situation. I wish that he could have seen the kids before his death.

Crawling combat style

Secondo is really fun to play with at 6 months old. She can sit with out support for 5 seconds and she'll fall forward or backward. One of here favorite toy is the remote control eventhough we don't let her have it. If she sees it, she'll crawl to it using mostly her upper body and her legs follows. She adores her older sister and cracks up with any little silly move Primero makes.
Secondo is doing better at the sitter. She's eating and sleeping well. Her bowel movement is back to 1 to 2 times a day. There's a 3 months old boy who the sitter calls Secondo's boyfriend. Secondo likes to crawl to him too.

Mom & Daughter hanging out

Primero (Elder daughter) and I went to see Chicken Little on Friday. The movie was OK.. I would give it a C. Primero thought it was OK too. She said Incredible was better than Chicken Little. I found the pig really annoying.

Happy Veteran's Day

I'm home with the kids today. I was hoping to sleep in but Secondo woke us up @ 6 AM with a poppy diaper then she went back to sleep until 8 AM. Unfortunately it's gloomy so Primero and will go see a movie.
My elbow started to hurt on Tuesday. I didn't bump into anything but it's all red and swolen. I went to the Dr. Wednesday because it started to send pulsating pain that can't be ignored any longer. When she was how swolen my elbow was, she asked the X-ray technician to take some pictures. She was concerned about how serious the infection was. Good news is that my bones weren't infected yet. She said that it was a good thing that I went in and if the swelling doesn't go down after 2 days, I'll have to go back again.
Secondo starts to say wa..wa..ba..ba..ba..la..la..la..
When she's on her belly she can move in a semicircle fashion if I put toys in a circle.

Amazing !!!

I'm so excited about the new and improved blog. Many thanks to Berklee who I'm sure invested lots of precious potential gaming time on my blog which now looks wonderful and professional. Credit also goes to Mir who hooked us up.
With that said, there are still some minor technical difficulties because none of the links are working yet. Unfortunately, I'm not sophisticated enough to debug the issue.

Screaming kids

Now I know how we loose our hearing as we get older. Secondo loves to scream now when she's happy and her older sister joins in the fun. After 10 minutes of screaming matches, my ears were ringing.
Thanks to Bulleye, I finally figure out how to post short movies.

Hunger Strike

Secondo has been protesting this week by not drinking or drink very little milk when she's at the sitter. Today I fed her 3.4 oz in a bottle at 6AM and as of 12 PM she refuses to take the bottle. 2 days ago, she drank only 3 oz between 3AM to 6PM.

Annoyed by advertisers

I've change my setting so only registered user can leave comment on the blog. I've been getting online companies adverstising their web pages on my comment section.
If any knows other ways to block out spammers, please let me know.

My exciting weekend

We started Saturday having Dim Sum with my parents. Secondo was cooperative while we were eating but the food wasn't that tasty. It's been months since I had Dim Sum and I thought that I would enjoy it more. After lunch Mom and I went grocery shopping and we bought lots of food since Mom generously volunteerd to cook many many dishes for the coming week. Later on we went over to my in-laws and hung out and had dinner.
Sunday morning, I went to my spin class and had a great workout. I was lucky to have excellent teachers for Saturdays and Sundays. Burned 512 calories and I'm sure others burned even more. The whole room was hot and you can see the steam on mirrors and the glass walls.
After lunch, Primero and I went ballet shoes shopping. We also got costume for Secondo. While we were shopping, Primero was playing with her other loose tooth. She won't let me touch it and not ready for tooth fairy to visit yet.
Sunday night, as I was folding laundry again (it's a never ending task), Primero came up to me and said
P: Mom, let me show you a new trick
Me: I'm ready..
She started to twist her tooth so it does almost a 180.
Me: Very cool, can I touch it?
P: NO.. I can feel the front of my teeth with my tongue

Before bed, Primero brushed her front teeth very carefully because she didn't want to disturb her loose tooth. When it was time to floss, I flossed the loose tooth last and it came out and fell on the floor. Primero was crying as blood and saliva drooled out of her mouth. Once the bleeding stopped she was fine and ready to put her tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

We all went to bed and Secondo started to cry bloody murder around 11 PM. She didn't want to lay down and only semi-happy when I held her upright. We were both stressed out thinking something must be wrong with her. No temperature, didn't want to chew on anything. Finally hubby got a musical toy was able to distract her and give her time to passed some gas and burped. Once the gas is out of her system, she didn't protest being held horizontally. She found her thumb and fell asleep in my arm.
Hubby: Let's hold her for another 5 minutes and make sure she’s in deep sleep.
In my mind: Not going to happen… Another 60 seconds is all my arms, shoulder and back can handle
After a minute or so, she was fine when I put her on the bed.

Prespective

As I was reading my blog from a year ago, I was complaining about gas price soaring up to $2.40/ gallon. Yesterday, I was so happy when I paid $2.67/gallon. Just found out through the grapevine that mother inlaw, sister inlaw, brother inlaw are all coming to our house on Halloween night. It would be nice if they call and let me or hubby know a head of time. It's Monday night for heaven sake... some of us has to go to work.

TGIF

I'm very excited about a childhood friend of mine started her own Lingerie business. The site is very cool and she's offering a 15% discount on all purchase type “Friends” in the Discount Coupon at the bottom of the shopping bag.
Bulleye & Fresno's Hot, please let your wifes know about the site.

I'm so glad it's Friday. It's been a really long and hectic week.
At 2AM this morning, I was asleep and noticed a crying child next to my bed and it was Primero.
Me: "What's wrong, are you OK?"
Primero: " Uh.. here hurt...whoa..."
Hubby: "Hush.. Please don't wake up secondo..."
I took Primero to her room
P: "I want tissue...whoa.."
I got some toilet paper from the bathroom in the dark and gave it to her.
Me: "Where does it hurt, inside or out side of your jaw?"
P: "Outside..."
Me: As I touch her jaw, "Here?"
P: " Whoa..yes...more tissue..."
I got more toilet paper from the bathroom and went back to her room.
P: Blew her nose " I don't want to go to school... I want tissue..."
Hubby got a box of tissue from downstairs
Me:" OK, Let's put some vicks vapor rub on your jaw and we'll go to the doctor tomorrow morning and check it out. Let's lay down and sleep"
P: " NO.!! It hurts when I lay down..."
Hubby got 3 pillows from the other room and she slept sitting up with her green bear. I slept with her for a while until Secondo woke up and was making noise in the other bedroom.
I went and fed secondo and the rest I can't remember.
This morning, Primero was fine and went to school. I don't know why she was in such pain last night.

Independent Movies

Quick post.
As I was folding laundry Sunday afternoon, I was able to catch a really cool sub-title movie. I would recommend "Run Lola run!".
Later on in the evening, IFC was showing "Bend it like Beckham" which was recommended by Mir long time ago.

Secondo 5 months old and Primero lost her 1st tooth

Can't believe my last posting was a month ago. Time flies when I don't have any to spend on me. Secondo is starting to recognize faces. She'll cry when she sees strangers and smile when she sees people that she recognize. She can roll from her back to the left side multiple times but not to the right yet. As far as feeding her, we started rice cereal last months, once a day and we switched from Gerber nuk nipple to Playtex (can't remember) nipple name that her baby sitter recommended. She drools constantly and likes to suck on blankets, shirts and anything she can get her hands on. She doesn't poop multiple times/day anymore. She actually now poop every other day or every 2 days. May be due to the rice cereal in her diet.

Primero lost her first bottom front tooth last Sunday. Her permanent teeth was growing behind the baby teeth so she had 2 rows of teeth for a while. She was really excited to have the tooth fairy visits her and when she got the coin under her pillow the next day she said
"Mom the tooth fairy did visit me.. I thought tooth fairy was just a story and not real.."

Secondo 4 months old

I finally can eat again after 2 weeks of suffering.
Here's is Secondo @ 4 months old. I blurred the background to bring out her face. She can turn to her tummy by accident but not turn back. She weighs 15.5 lb, that puts her in the 90% tile. She got 5 immunization shots but didn't cry as much this time. Her pain tolorance level is high because she accidentally scratches her ear and her face all the time until they bleed and it did't bother her. She sucks both her thumbs depending which side she faces.

Can't eat

I bit the right side of my tougue several days ago and now it so swolen that eating is such a painful task. I tried to rinse my mouth with salt water but it's taking time for it to heal.
Went for a massage this pass Saturday and she said that my body has too much hot chi and one of the sign the body has too much hot chi is formation of cold sore.
I've been eating watermelon to cool my body and it's not working yet. Sigh..

There's no place like home

I had to be in Vegas for a work related convention and I dragged the whole family with me. While I was working, hubby and the kids were in the hotel room most of the time so Firsto/Primero was bored and wished she was home after the 1st night.
I hated the smoky environment inside buildings because all of us were exposed to 2nd hand smoke when ever we were in the common area.
I wasn't impressed with the hotel room in Mandalay Bay. The shower door doesn't have the magnet so It can't be closed. When ever we're done showering, there was a big puddle of water outside the shower door. The toilet was in a small room where there's no exhaust fan to pull out the unpleasant odors. I expected better bathroom design with these new hotels.
We ate at the Noodle Cafe which had pricey authentic Chinese noodles and fried rice.
Everyone was so glad to be home and sleeping in our own bed

Secondo 3 months old

Secondo was 3 months old when this picture was taken. She's wearing her sister's old outfit. It was difficult to get her to smile for the camera. I used a 3.2 mega pixel camera. Bulleye has 8.0 mega pixel and I wonder if you can see a big difference in photo quality.

In this picture Primero was 3 months old. It was taken using Sony Mavica which used floppy for storing picture. I believe the resolution was only 1.2 megapixel and that was the top of the line camera of the year 2000.

Busy weekend

We went to Santa Monica this weekend to see my new nephew (hubby's sister's boy). He
's 11 weeks younger than Secondo but Secondo is twice his weight. He's like a little monkey. I'll post picture at a later time. Now that secondo is 3 months old, she starts to recognize people. She cried when her aunts and uncles tried to hold her. She's used to me and her big sis and my mom since we are her primary care giver. I want her to get use to hubby so hubby can deals with her crying sessions.

The need to cry

Every night around 9:00 PM, Secondo has a crying tantrum. Nothing we do can get her to stop. It's not just your sad cry, it's the type of cry that people think we are torturing her. The type of cry where there's a long silence..5-8 seconds before she take her next breath and her face turns purple. All we can do is wait for the crying session to be over and console her to sleep. Is it because during the day she didn't cry so all her crying needs are bundle up inside and finally she can't hold it in much longer so it becomes a tantrum?
Secondo's big sister, Firsto said "What if she never stops? Big sister love you Secondo, don't cry..."
So anyone out there who has or had a 12 weeks old baby, please share your secret on how to ease her crying.

Foot in mouth

I spoke too soon. Secondo still needs one feeding in the middle of the night so hopefully by 3 months she can sleep through the night.
I went to Target at lunch to buy some stuff and I wanted buy a rattle for secondo. This lady next to me started talking to me
Lady:" This teething ring actually vibrates!!"
Me: " How teething ring advances from year to year"
Lady: " I know..."
Me: " So when are you expecting?"
Lady:" Well, I'm not but I have a 6 month old baby."
Me inside my mind : Woops. I thought I will be able to tell if someone is pregnant or overweight.
Me: "I'm sure she'll like the vibrating teething ring.." and walked away.
Lesson learned never ask the question no matter how sure you are " When are you expecting.."

Important milestone

Since I discover that I can post picture easily,I went back and posted picture of Secondo sucking her thumb and when she was 4 weeks old. It's so easy.. Fresno Sucks, now there's no excuse for you not posting pictures on your blog.
Last night was an important milestone for both secondo and I. She went to bed @ 10 AM and didn't need any feeding until 4 AM. That's a six hour stretch of continuous sleep for me. She probably could go longer but my boobies were so engorged that I had to wake her up for feeding. She didn't take much so I had to pump afterwards. If she can last 8 hours, by 3 months old, I will be able to get more rest. Good job Secondo !! I'm rooting for you..

Secondo 2 months old

This is really cool. Now I can attached pictures with out using Hello anymore. Here is secondo 2 months old. It's funny how she doesn't have any neck which makes it hard to wash.
Here's S when she was 2 months old. Do they look like each other?

Recovery process & changes

It's been a week since S had her surgery. Overall she's recovering well. Her right eye lid is almost back to normal and her left bottom eye lid still shows redness and swelling. One more week of medication and she'll be able to let her eyelids touch water. Lastnight as I kissed her good night she told me "Mom, I think love only Nicole but not me.." "What made you say that?" I responded "You always take care of her but not me anymore.." "I love both of you the same. I used to feed, burp and change your diaper just like mei-mei (little sister) when you were that small. Now I have 2 kids to take care of so I need your help with taking care of mei-mei" Sometimes she looks sad because she doesn't get all the attention as before so the adjusting period is still going on.

Thumb sucking @ 11 weeks old

Today, secondo is 11 weeks old. As she tries to fall a sleep I give her a pacifier which sometimes falls out of her mouth when she stops sucking. This morning, I noticed that she was sucking her left thumb already. Her motor skill is not that coordinated but she's able to put her thumb in her mouth and sooth herself to sleep.
I asked S if we should let secondo sucks her thumb and S says "No!" "She won't be able to stop sucking her thumb later like me, remember?" This was S happily sucking her thumb @ 7 months old.
Brother inlaw Mike seems to think that my kids have hubby's thumb sucking genes. Note that as a child, hubby sucked his thumb for many years also.
At first I was totally against it but she seems so content and peaceful when she found her thumb so I'm caving in as we speak. Lately she's been having crying spells at night and nothing can really sooth her other exaustion from crying.
Today is her 2nd day at day care so hopefully she'll take the bottle from the sitter.
S's eye lids are healing well. Top lids heal faster than lower lids. She's good at not scratching her eyes eventhough they itch.

Longest hour ever

Yesterday, S went in for surgery for her eyelids to remove stys or chalazions that has been getting larger over the pass month. Sty is fat glands that the body treats as a foreign matter and causes inflamation. She was afraid and kept saying that she didn't want surgery. Before the anasthesiologist gave her the gas, the nurse gave her a medicine that's suppose to make her sleepy. She didn't go to sleep but she was acting really silly. After the procedure, she told us that she saw mommy had 2 sets of glasses and nose etc..
The surgery took 1 hour and that was the longest hour ever. When the Dr. came out and talked to us, he said that he found a total of 7 stys. We asked as of what is the cause of sty and he thinks it's related to a high fat diet. He did 4 chalazion removal that same day. We hope that it doesn't come back but there's no guarantee. When we saw her in the recovery room, she was out and had lots of wires hooked up to her. Her eyes were puffy and bloody. We stayed in the recoery room for about 1 hour and we took her home.
When she saw her face in the mirror she asked "What happened? Why are my eyes so bloody?" She had no recollection of the procedure.
She has to stay indoor for 2 weeks and no swimming for 1 month.

2 months check up

This pass Tuesday, Secondo had her 2 months check up. She weighs 11 lb and 10 oz which puts her in the 90 percentile. I had to take both kids to the Dr's office which is gettin easier everytime. At the office, we met another baby girl who was born 1 day earlier than Secondo but she's alot smaller in size.
She got 4 immunization shots so she was screaming bloody murder. Compared to S, Secondo didn't cry as long. After the shots, I gave her some breast milk and that calmed her down. When we got home she was crying more than usual so I gave her some infant tylanol to relief the pain.

S is quite jelous of her little sister. She feels that I spend too much time with Secondo which is true since I'm constantly feeding, burping and changing her diapers. I try to spend time with S when Secondo is sleeping but S knows that she's not getting the same type of one on one time as before Secondo was born.
By the time she goes back to school, things will be different.

S is taking swimming lessons and she's doing quite well. One of her classmate's mom freaked yesterday when she saw her son go under water. The kid was on the 2nd step of the pool is no deeper than 2 feet. I didn't see what happened since I keep my eyes on S. It was a big dramatic session, the mom cried, the teacher cried but the kid is fine. I think the mom over reacted and her son is in the wrong class. He should be in the 1st level class to learn the basic skills before moving on to the 2nd level. We'll see what happen today.

Exausting Sunday

This pass Sunday was the 1st Sunday that I've been out of the house since Secondo was born. We went to Costco to buy some diapers, wipes and things that we didn't know we need until we got to Costco. S was very attentive to the baby and wanted to push the stroller eventhough she's not tall enough to see where she's going. S was eager to test some free samples but we were there too early that the sample stands were not out yet.

Circle of life

Recently, my friend Patty told me that her mom is really sick to the point where the doctor told Patty that her mom has only 2 weeks to live. What we found was disturbing is that her mom was misdiagnosed for Altzheimer when her liver was the problem. By the time the correct diagnosis was done, it was too late. Patty said that it's going to take a miracle for her mom to get better. Now she's home taking care of her mom the best she can.

Today, I read on the news that Howard Flint II died on June 14, 2005 at the age of 66 when He recently retired in January 2005. He retired for about six month and died. Considering I don't know about his health, it just tells me that life is short and it is best that we live life to the fullest everyday.
This is a difficult task for me to do since I tend to not appriciate the moment. Case in point: When I was pregnant, I so.. look forward to the day for the baby to arrive instead of enjoying the pregnancy process. Keep in mind that it is not an easy task to enjoy pregnancy when you're 30 pounds heavier. Thanks to my mom's hard work on nursing me back to health with her Chinese post pregnancy diet, I have 5 more pounds to get to my pre-pregnancy weight.
Is it because I've been brain wash to plan for the future, work for the future and not take in what is going on right now?
During this month of recovering and caring for a new born, I have more time on my hand to reflect about my life and what I have, and think about the kids and what the challenges will be for the next 2-3 years. One of my goal is to help my parents enjoy their golden years and live a care free life or as much as possible.

Secondo 4 weeks old

I've decided to call younger daughter Secondo from now on on the blog. She's 4 weeks old today. Can't believe that 4 weeks a go she was inside my tummy and now she's out and my tummy is slowly shrinking. Segundo is more fiesty than S, Primero. She loves being held and cuddled. In the middle of the night when it's time to feed, she doesn't cry. She grunts and make funny noises as if she's constipated.
This pass month, my arms were still sore so I had a massage. Besides my arms she also massaged my belly. It wasn't relaxing at all. She worked my belly as if it was dough. As reflex, I tensed up what ever abs muscles I got left to counter her actions. After the session, I was in pain for 2 days.
3 more days and I'll be able to go out and about and be independent.
I look forward to Bulleye's visit in 2 weeks.

My Dad

Today, Dad came and dropped off mom to stay with me for a couple of days. He was helping by cooking chinese medicine for me but we let it cook in the backyard due to the odor. He was in such a hurry that he forgot that the screen door was closed so he ran into the screen door. Mom was glad that the glass door was open so Dad didn't run into to the glass.
It took a while for dad to fix the door but he fixed it.