I've Moved!

I still really love this blog and I'm still keeping it...however, I've moved and renamed! Come visit me at 3 kids, 1 husband

Jr. Peanut's Classmate

Ugh. So my last post was a celebration of my son's life. Well, since then, I've found out that my son's classmate has a rare liver cancer that he has been battling for a couple years now. The cancer has now spread to his brain and he is in a lot of pain. Oddly enough his classmate has been having severe headaches. I am so thankful that my little boy is okay from his headaches because after reading his friend's story (which I didn't find out about until this week and I didn't realize how severe it was) I've been so sad. I'm totally crying just thinking about it. He's 4 years old-- Jr. Peanut's age. I can't even begin to imagine what he is a going through, let alone his mother and father. It breaks my heart.

His family just found out last Friday about the tumors in his brain and he has been given 2 months. If you're reading this...please say a prayer for him and his family. Then go hug your little ones and be glad they're healthy.

Jr. Peanut-isms

My son recently gave me a frightful scare. He was having headaches for almost two weeks that weren't accompanied with a fever. They were so debilitating for him that he would just lie on the floor wimpering. If I didn't give him ibuprofen or tylenol for the pain...he'd throw up. I was so worried that I woke up one morning crying and thought of all the horrible things it could be. Aneurysm, tumor, meningitis, really a whole slew of things. So we took him to the pediatrician and then the emergency room to get a CT scan. The CT scan showed nothing and he's better...so I'm not as worried. Honestly, I think it's a reaction to sugar (candy). So, in celebration of Jr. Peanut here are some of the silly things he says. I am so very thankful that God gave me this silly little boy!

After eating a meal, he grabs his belly:
"Mom, my baby is growing bigger and bigger. It's almost coming out."

---

Or when he's hungry:
"Mom, my baby is making noises."

---

Peanut: My bottom still hurts.
Me: It does? What happened, did you fall on it?
Peanut: No, it cracked...all by itself.

---

On the pot:
Peanut: Mom, my poo poo is not coming out. Can you wipe my bottom?
Me: Why do I need to wipe your bottom if your poo didn't come out?
Peanut: It doesn't come out unless you wipe it.

This is because Jr. Peanut often (about 80% of the time) calls me over to wipe him before he's truly done. I think the record for false finishes was 3 times. I've learned to tell him I'll come in 5 minutes.

---

After a shower, Jr. Peanut is running around naked:
Me: Peanut, go get your underwear and Jammies on.
Peanut: You go get them
Me: I'm not your slave. You go get them.
Peanut: Then where's my slave?
Me: I don't know. Go ask your dad. I just know it's not me.

Dinner/Dessert Conversation

Jr. Peanut:I'm going to marry The Princess (his sister)

me:Are you going to marry The Princess or Cassidy (a classmate)

Jr. Peanut:Cassidy

me:Are you going to marry Cassidy or Brooke?

Jr. Peanut:Brooke

The Princess:Are you going to marry Karson or Jack?

me:He can't marry a boy (at least not here in California).

The Princess:Oh. That's right. In Paris, you can though.

me:Who told you that?

The Princess:Daddy did.

Thanks, breadwinner for that stellar piece of unnecessary information for a 6 year old.

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Links That'll Save You!

So...in keeping with last week's post, here are some links that will help you pinch your pennies! Enjoy!!!

• Joann's Coupon (exp. 04/17/10): 40% off one item
• Michael's Coupon (exp. 04/10/10): 50% of one item
• Staples: (exp. 4/10/10)Free Ream of Copy Paper
• Aaron Brothers (exp. 4/10/10): 50% off one item/25%off custome framing
• Local Coupons for Dining & Services: Bogopod --This once saved us $150 for a large party.
• Bath & Body Works (exp 4/18/10): Free Shower Gel
• Gap (exp 4/30/10): 15% off
• Justice 40% off entire purchase
• Macy's (exp 4/15/10)$20 off 100 for a registry item
• Office Depot$20 off 100

I Feel the Recession

I know they say that we are no longer in a recession...however, here in California, I feel like we still are. I think most everyone is still house poor...including myself. These are some of the things that I've done during these recessionary times.

• I've reduced the number of channels we get from satellite TV.
• We no longer do toll or long distance calls on our land line.
• I clean my own house :(
• I've called and gotten my DSL rate reduced.
• We're not doing large birthday parties for the kids anymore.
• Got rid of my satellite radio.
• Cut back on the eating out.
• Husband brings lunch twice a week.
• I follow people on twitter that offer bargains.
• We've limited the number of times we use a babysitter.
• I no longer buy books new. I either borrow them or buy them used for a $1

These are just a few things that I've done. What do you do? I'd love to hear and get more ideas. :) Hope you're surviving!

I'd Like to Take My Kids to D.C.

A few years ago, my husband and I took our first child with us to Washington D.C.. My daughter was too young at the time to know where we were, but it was AMAZING for me! I had never been there but of course I've always seen replications of the places there on TV or in film.

There are so many things for them to see. Most of which they've only seen on TV...the White House, Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Building, Arlington Cemetary, and of course all the many FREE museums!!

I recommend watching some films that feature Washington DC before you go because it makes your experience more fascinating. For instance, if you watch National Treasure -- it will help you create an itinerary of places you may want to see...and there are sooo many. Just think about it...there have been hundreds of historical events that took place at our nation's capitol. It's like walking around one huge landmark. You can teach your children so many history lessons here! Show them old pictures of historical events like MLK's famous speech in front of the Washington Memorial.

I also recommend not going during the summer because it's extremely hot and humid. If you can-- try finding someone that could get you into the White House for a tour. It's a lot harder to do now (a lot of security/background checks) but it's totally worth it!

TV Show Update

So...I'm giving up on Fringe and Brothers and Sisters. Fringe is always on the brink of getting the axe and I'm so behind on the shows that I've decided to let that one slip though the cracks. As for Brothers and Sisters...that's just too much drama for one family and besides, I hear Rob Lowe is leaving.

Another Rendition Of I Watch Too Much TV

I used to read a lot of books (as you can figure out from the name of this blog) and now, I'm lucky if I read one a month. I always ask my friend how she has time to read so many books and she Facebooks a lot. You know what she told me? She doesn't WATCH TV!!! So that got me thinking...I really watch a lot of TV:

1. Brothers and Sisters
2. Chuck
3. The Mentalist
4. Modern Family
5. Fringe
6. Lost
7. Cougar Town
8. Ugly Betty
9. Friday Night Lights
10. Grey's Anatomy
11. Private Practice
12. Shark Tank
13. Hung
14. Entourage
15. American Idol

Sadly, in addition to these shows, I am also enrolled in a movie rental program by mail too. *sigh* I guess you now know why I am a FORMER bookworm. So please help me...which shows do you think I should give up? 15 shows is way too many!

The Winter Season

I'm not sure if I've ever described the winter season on my blog before. It's truly the worst season for me. My two youngest children have perpetually dripping noses that generally turn into ear infections within one to two weeks. They generally are not contagious after the first week but people always think they are sick. It's such a nightmare for me though because:

1. I can't hang out with my friends and their kids (so I go stir crazy)
2. I can't send them to school (such a waste of money!)
3. They generally have to go on antibiotics (and how healthy is this really?)
4. Which means I have to take them to the doctor
5. which means now that we have crappy health insurance, I have to pay $100 to the doctor and $40 to the pharmacy
6. I often catch their illnesses.

You see where I'm going with this? It's just an expensive and miserable season for me. I think I'm basically paying my children's preschool money to get my kids ill and have me keep my children at home with me. I almost think that I should just take my kids to the doctor's office and just sit in the sick room. At least it would be free and I'd get the same "immune system build up." However, I think if the CDC or news ever heard about that, they'd be up in arms. I remember watching the news the other day and they were talking about how people were having swine flu parties when people had mild cases of it. That way-- they'd only catch the mild version of the swine flu. Needless to say, the CDC sent out a message quickly that that was a terrible idea (they didn't want virus mutations).

Ho hum. What's a mom to do?

It's Been a While

I haven't written for a while. I actually misss blogging but sometimes life kind of gets in the way. When I saw Julie and Julia, I was totaly inspired to start blogging again but then I got kind of busy. I've been organizing a lot of things but I've kind of been on hiatus of late.

What have I been up to? Hmm, let's see. I've been volunteering at my daughter's elementary school. My middle child has started preschool and I've been dragging my baby on all sorts of errands or putting her down for a nap so that I can clean my house...(I sooo miss having a housekeeper *sigh*). I also have gone back to school (slowly though). I took a photography class last semester (totally fun! Maybe I'll post more pics now...). This semester, I'm taking a programming class and we'll see where I go from there.

Hopefully I'll write more soon! Probably something a little more thought out.

Are These the Rules?

When I was in college, I was in a sorority. It was my first experience in a women's group and I didn't know what to expect. In my sorority there were about 120 young women (I think these days, my sorority has closer to 200 women because the number of sororities has dwindled). It's supposed to be a sisterhood but quite often, there were quite a few arguments and some ladies that just didn't get along. Perhaps it's as simple as there being too many "queen bees" in a nest. There were power struggles, disputes about guys, stealing, people eating other people's food, revenge, the whole gamut of crazy stuff and not to mention the gossip.

I almost feel like this is the norm when you get a large group of women together. I've seen the same kind of things going on in the mom groups that I belong to. Women get catty and often they get mean. Now, granted it's a little bit more subtle, as we get older. It's more of the passive aggressive kind of stuff. After having kids, you'd think that we'd be better people but many of us are not. I think I'm a better person after having children and I try to teach my children not to be mean, but sometimes I wonder if it will work. After all these years and all the different parenting books/techniques that have been introduced, it almost seems like we as a society are no better than we were 30 years ago. In fact it almost seems worse with the introduction of the internet into the picture. People still get terrorized.

I mean really people let's get a life and act a little bit more mature. In my mom's group alone, a couple really surprising incidents happened. One mom-- a great mom that is completely involved and absolutely nice person was treated rudely despite all the work she put into the club. Another mom-- a smart, amazing, fantastic mom that fosters so much imagination in her children, received horribly mean anonymous letters. It's all so petty and annoying.

So STOP!! Make a decision to make it stop with you and remember that the bystander is almost as guilty as the bully.

A Lecture

About a month ago, I went down to San Diego to visit my best friend from high school. My kids love both her and her husband as if they were their Aunt and Uncle. We stayed there overnight and she got to see inside my chaotic, whiny, temper tantrum and crying filled world. That may be why, before we left, she gave me a book about living life. She gave me Randy Pausch's book, titled "The Last Lecture."

I had heard of him previously around the time that he passed away. The last lecture of this Carnegie Mellon professor was circulating around YouTube like wildfire. I saw bits and pieces of it but I never actually SAW the lecture. After reading the book, I would definitely like to see his last lecture. I found the book to be quite inspiring. It's about a man that is trying to enjoy life and help others enjoy life despite the his grim pancreatic cancer diagnosis. His love of life could be seen in spite of his cancer within this book and in his last lecture, which was ultimately for his young children to see. It's filled with many life lessons that are useful to any person at any stage of their life...a teenager, a recent college graduate, and even a mother of three that sometimes loses track of time. :)

I think Randy Pausch's life lessons and legacy for his children can be best summed up with a quote from the end of the book:

"It's not about how you achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the Karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you."

So, with Mr. Pausch's words in mind, live your life well, do the right thing and be an awesome role model for your children.

Freeze!

Last week, my husband and I took the kids to Disneyland. During the ride there, I looked back at the kids and saw the excitement on their faces. It was all they could talk about. At that moment, I just wanted to freeze time and keep them little forever. Everything has flown by so quickly. I can't believe I have THREE children and the eldest one is Kindergarten age.

The ages that they are right now are absolutely perfect:

The Princess is old enough to be a little independent and be a big helper. Everyday, I ask her to help me do things...and she actually says YES! Granted, there are times when she chooses to ignore me, but for the most part, she does what I ask. She's also learning to read (Bob level books) and it's so exciting to me. I'm hoping she learns to enjoy books as much as I do.

Jr. Peanut is now 2 and a half. He's still little and I absolutely LOVE the way he talks. When he's watching a DVD and I need to press play, he always shouts out "Mama come press butt". Or how he covers his right eye with his hand and says "I'm a pirate." It's also fascinating to see how his mind works and let me tell ya, it's totally different from how girls think. He's just so cute these days that I always feel this need to just pick him up and cuddle him (much to his annoyance).

Little Sissy is now 7 months. She definitly is developing her personality. She's still little enough that I can easily hold her and I love the squeals she makes when I tickle her belly. I love the baby smell that she still has and the way her face lights up when she sees me.

They are so fun. I hope I remember these days forever (although at the rate that my memory is failing me...I may not).

Aggravated

When I was about 12 years old, I had a best friend that I would alternate sleep overs with. I always loved staying at her house best because I thought she had the perfect family. Her family was what I would call the "perfect white family". Growing up Filipino American, I often was embarrassed of my roots and tried to embrace as much of the White American culture as possible. I loved my friend's family because they would take me out to eat and play board games together. I can't remember what her father did but I know her mother was a teacher and they embodied those families that you would see on TV like Keatons in Family Ties.

As a college student, I admired my dorm floor friend (and later roomie) and her family. Her family had this huge pantry stocked with every college student's favorite foods. We spent the night at her house and her mom made this huge breakfast that we didn't eat because we didn't wake up in time. Her mom THREW IT ALL AWAY! I LOVED the ability to throw all that food away without even considering the waste (I was always told to not leave the table until I ate all my food). Her family home also had a beautiful pool that I would only see in homes featured in magazines. Her parents were hilarious, crass and easy to talk to. I also loved how close knit the family was.

Well, years later, I spoke to my friend that I used to have sleepovers with via email. Her perfect family sadly became a divorced family with other quirks and neuroticism. The family that I admired as a college student actually became my family when I married into it (I married my dorm floor friend's brother) and the same things that I used to find enduring about them are now the very things that irritate me.

I have come to realize that even though I often was not enthused about my family, I still love them the best. I like that I can yell at and complain about them without having repercussions. On the other hand, I've come to resent the over bearing, passive aggressive, hypocritical, self serving, and favoritism tendencies of my husband's family. I also realized that the perfect-ness of his family was just a facade. A lot of things got swept under the rug and they are every bit as neurotic (if not more) than the rest of us.

So, to make a long story short. I am annoyed and aggravated. I wished I lived closer to my family. At least my mother actually helps me out and treats her kids/grand kids with some semblance of equality.

Sooo Many Things to Be Paranoid About

Why is it so hard to raise kids today? Hmmmm. It could be the many gazillion things that we have to watch out for. Why can't companies just make things that are healthy and safe for us? Why is it so hard to be the kind of company that is socially responsible? Why do they put these things in? Below are some of the things I've been worrying about.

• Lead in toys
• Lead in balsamic and red wine vinegar
• BPA being leeched into our food and drink through unsafe plastics, tin cans, soda cans, baby bottles
• Hormones in milk causing early puberty
• Household-phthalate-exposure causing my son to possibly be feminized
• Nitrates in our meat
• Toys that cause children to go into coma after swallowing them
• Teflon poisoning my food
• Parabens in our sunblock

With all these things to worry about, it's no wonder I'm getting all these gray hairs!

Few and Far Between

I've been tired and lazy about posting on my blog. Sorry. There's a little something called life that sometimes gets in the way of blog writing. The entire time I've been gone, I would think of something to blog about and then I would just be too tired to actually blog about it.

Everyone has always told me that going from 0 children to 1 child is the hardest. Then 1 to 2 children is hard and then from 2 children to 3 children is a piece of cake. I really would disagree. Increasing your brood by one is hard each time. I'm not quite sure how Brillig does it with 4 young ones and STILL has time to blog.

Little Sissy was born on July 24th at 4:34am. She weighed 6 lbs, 3oz and was 20 inches long. It was an easy labor. I only had one half push and she was out (I guess the birth canal gets more slippery with each successive birth). The Princess and JR. peanut both love her very much. They are constantly wanting to touch, hug, and kiss her.

Thanks everyone for inquiring about me.

So Blessed

This year, my family and I participated in the March of Dimes' charity event, "Walk For Babies". It was an event that I feel very strongly about as do many of my family members and the women of my mom's group. Most of us have experienced or at least know someone that has experienced miscarriages (including stillborn), premature babies or birth defects (my nephew died from a genetic blood disorder called Thalassemia). If you don't, well, by reading this blog-- you now do.

I currently have two beautiful and healthy children with another baby on the way, but it wasn't always that way. I also never understood the plight that women felt when they miscarried or lost an infant that didn't live for very long. I didn't think that they spent enough time with the child to grow emotionally attached to him or her. Boy, was I ever wrong.

I am not one of those women that get pregnant just by "thinking about sex". It always took a while for me to get pregnant. Between the births of my daughter and my son, I think I had about 3 or 4 miscarriages. The first was the hardest though and it occurred at 12 weeks-- so by then I had seen the heart beat. It was also hard because I let it pass naturally (as opposed to a D & C) and it's kind of a creepy thing (I won't go into detail).

After that, I think I kind of lived in a daze and didn't really enjoy my time with the Princess. We kept on trying to get pregnant for a year and failed miserably. I thought that was it-- I was only 30 and couldn't have another baby. To help get myself out of the wallows of self pity, I began to look for a job. Soon after I was given a job offer, I learned that I was pregnant. I accepted the job because I wasn't sure I would be able to carry the baby to term and I really wanted to go back to work.

Well, Jr. Peanut was born the next year and I feel like he was what really saved me. I finally enjoy being at home with my kids (even though it's sometimes a little isolating). I have a lot of mommy guilt (a whole other post on that)about what my going to work did to the Princess after being at home with her for more than a year, but over all, I feel blessed. I am thankful that my friends and family helped me raise money to go toward the health of future babies so that others don't have to experience the tragedy and heartbreak that my family did.

Enjoy your life my readers and be grateful for all that you have. Also, if you're trying to have a first OR second baby, know that there ARE happy endings--it may take a while and there may be some disappointments along the way.

My Niece, The Queen Bee

We were over at my brother-in-law's house the other day, when I discovered that my niece(his daughter) is a Queen Bee (QB). There were two incidents that occurred in which she excluded either my other niece (R) or my daughter, the Princess and made them cry.

I don't know the full story about what happened to R so I'll just tell you what QB did to the Princess:

The girls were playing with a toy of QB's brothers when QB decided to bring out a game to play. She brought the game to R and the Princess and asked, "Who wants to play this game with me?"

Quickly, the Princess responded, "I'll play it with you QB."

QB ignored the Princess and kept asking who wanted to play the game with her until R said that she would. Once R said that she would, QB promptly said that the Princess couldn't play because that would be too many people.

The Princess walked over to me and started crying (HARD) and said "QB won't let me play that game." I heard and saw the entire thing, so I knew what happened. It took a Grammie intervention to get QB to let the Princess play the game. QB had LIED. The game allowed for FOUR players-- so there would have been enough pieces to go around.

QB is only 5 and I thought that that's a pretty young age to being doing the whole "exclusivity girl thing". I don't think I started doing that until I was 9. But I think QB has been doing it since preschool. I vaguely remember her mom telling me that QB did it with a play house at her preschool.

Do you see the makings of a future bully?

Top 10 Reasons Why Stay At Home Moms Might Think Their Toddler Son May Be Gay

10. He comes walking into the room wearing his sister's princess shoes.

9. He loves carrying a purse.

8. He gets excited everytime he sees a picture of a Disney Princess.

7. He prances around on his tippy toes.

6. He sees his mommy putting on nail polish and insists that you put it on him too.

5. He loves carrying multiple purses.

4. He's just to sweet too be straight.

3. He's such a snazzy dancer.

2. He gets into your make up drawer and you catch him putting on make up.

1. Your son comes to you begging to put on his sister's Barbie Princess Dress.

Now, not all these things have been going on with my son, but I will have to admit that most have them have. Not that there is anything wrong with him being gay . . . but I find that a lot of moms think their sons are gay for the same reasons listed above. It kind of cracks me up. I'm pretty sure my son is just mimicking the two people he's around the most.

I was also going to put up a picture of my son in a princess dress, but the Breadwinner thought that would be a little too much. Sorry folks.