Happy Mother's Day

Here's a few Mother's day related things I've seen on the "www" this week. Happy Mother's day to all women! :)

If You Need a Pick-Me-Up Video...

I saw this video a while back, and saw it again tonight. Never fails to make me appreciate the little things in life.

Total Opposite

I really feel J was born to balance my motherhood life. C gave me such an easy time (except when it comes to feeding him) when it was just him. I really think J is born to give me some more experience in this parenthood thing and take me out of my bubble ("I have such an easy life as a parent because my son is so easy-going.") J is not that much of a troublemaker, but he's been the total opposite of his older brother. Except for one thing - sleeping through the night at 2 1/2 months old (C did it at 2 months old). And by sleeping through the night, I mean from 8pm - 5am. It was probably around 3-ish month old for both of them before they started sleeping 'til the sun was out (say 8pm-7am). That was one common thing they had. But everything else is different.

Okay, I'm not comparing them at all. I'm just seeing their differences and I really like it. I like how they have such different personalities and yet get along so well. Like all siblings, they fight most of the time. But they play with each other more.

So I took J to his 18th month wellness checkup today (it was an annoying long wait, by the way, but I'll post the details in our family blog). C was always easy to talk to with these kind of things once he was older than 8 months old. If you told him don't move, he won't move. But with J, no. Oh no. He just kept wiggling that finger that gave his vital whatever to the device that was clamped onto it. The nurse tried to take his oxygen through his foot instead. He wiggled that part, including his toes, and wiggled it 'til she gave up and took the device off. When it came to taking his weight and height, she didn't take us to where you lie the baby down and they measure the height (they don't have such a device!) and on another one for the weight. It was the usual grown-up way of standing up and they move the thingies around the rulers 'til they balance out (I feel so dumb not remembering what it's called). So naturally, he wanted to get off the shaky pad. I had to kneel in front of him on the floor and let him cuddle with me 'til the nurse got his right weight. With his height, I had to show him the numbers in front of him (he's into numbers and letters lately) and it was enough to keep him occupied to get his height.

When the doctor finally came in to check on him, J struggled for a bit when the doctor needed to check his ears. Then he wouldn't open his mouth. "Stick your tongue out like this and open your mouth," the doctor said. As if my 18 month old understood what that means. He did stick out his tongue, trying to imitate us. But he didn't open his mouth. I don't know if he's purposely doing the exact opposite of what we needed him to do but he is such a boy!

Here are some other things he did differently from his older brother:

• Drinking from a bottle very early (C refused bottles until 11 months old)
• Eating solid foods for the first time easily (C pushed them out of his mouth all the time)
• Transitioning to a sippy cup quickly (C didn't like most of the sippy cups I tried when he just barely got used to the bottle)
• Eating REAL solid foods and not being too picky (C is really picky. He's still picky right now but it's been lessened a bit).
• Opening kitchen cabinets, taking books out of the bookshelf multiple times, climbing up on the kitchen table and chairs, etc. no matter how many times we said no (We never had to put fence around our tv set when we just had C, or hide our dvd rack, because he never touched them after we said 'no' for like less than 10 times in spread out in different days)

Oh J, you complete my life with so much more fun! Thanks for spicing things up a bit. I love you tons!

Thoughts About Having Another

Just opening up again. I just need to vent this out. I have a teeny weeny little problem that's been bugging me lately: baby number 3!

I love babies. I love the age when they can actually interact with you. The age before they turn two. I just love their chunky physique, cute smiles, and total innocence! Such beautiful angels! I love watching them reach milestones after milestones on their own timetable. This is one of the reasons why I want to keep having more kids. We're closing in on that moment when it's time to have another one. But I have one thing that scares me to death - my baby blues. 

How do some moms easily decide, "Oh, let's have another one! And another one!" Why is it that for some people, the first few months with a newborn goes by like a breeze but for others (like me), it's like the longest months of their life?

The thing is, I am not even sure if I had a postpartum depression with both of my births even though I cried a lot on a daily basis - some had reasons, some had no reasons at all. Whenever I heard my husband drive away to go to work, I cried. The thought of being left alone without anyone to help me or to talk to made me really really sad (my gosh, I just cried while typing that out, and I'm not even pregnant). 

I just always thought to myself that it was just the hormones kicking in and I was just exhausted, that's why I was emotional. I never ignored both of my babies when they were newborns. They were constantly in my head. I always made sure they were okay and that I gave them what they needed. I always checked in on them.  All I know is that I was having a hard time coping with all the sudden changes of having a newborn: the sleepless nights, not being able to go out much or do what I want to do, being "FULL" all the time and how much it hurt, being a feeding machine, not being able to find a good position to sleep because it hurts my breasts, the cramps during nursing, the body pains, etc. I also always got so sick like having a mastitis (chills, fever, painful breasts, muscle pains especially by the spine, bad headache) which, in my opinion, is the worst kind of sickness that's not life-threatening. I hated having that! I had the symptoms multiple times when we had J but I never went to the doctor once. It was really terrible, though.

I was thinking maybe it wouldn't be as hard with our third child. C didn't have anyone to play with when J was a newborn. Each nursing session was boring for C because he loved to be with me and didn't leave me until I was done nursing (and nursing always took an hour or so, same with C when he was a baby, because they just both ate a lot but took their sweet time nursing, napping here and there). But with baby number three, C can play with J! They can keep each other occupied when I nurse. The problem is the quiet time I need when the baby naps. I'll have to find my footing again.

I guess what I am really scared of is the physical, emotional, and social changes we'll all have to go through for each new baby that joins our family. When I become comfortable in one part of my life (like I am now) and then lose that comfort zone, it takes me some time to find the right footing again. And it's hard on me emotionally, usually. I always wanted a big family. But my baby blues during the early months of the newborn is making me terrified of having more than two. But deep inside, I still want more. If only I could skip those first three months...

What's For Dinner?

Tonight was one of those nights. "What's for dinner?" is probably one of the many constant things I ask myself on a daily basis, and is usually not done in a timely manner and most of the time not done AT ALL (breakfast for dinner, anyone?)

Well, yesterday I didn't make anything for dinner. I wasn't up to the task. I was lazy and I gave in. So my dear hubs went out and bought the ingredients for our tortilla soup - and as usual (when it comes to meals like this), the kids had something else.

I was stuck with "what's for dinner" question all day today, AGAIN! My meal calendar was blank. I was scanning my head for anything I knew what to make but they didn't seem appealing. "STIR-FRY" is what my head always said. Still clueless after the kids' nap, I threw one frozen chicken breast on a sauce pan and boiled it, not knowing what I'd make of it. "Stir-fry" is what my brain still told me. So stir-fry it was! But how will I make the stir-fry? "Easy! Just let me tell you later," is what my dear brain replied.

I made some rice. Got the chicken out and shredded it. Took out some frozen broccoli florets, LUCKY we had a red bell pepper in the fridge, and the usual onion and garlic. No measurements, just basic guessing. No sense of smell, so I couldn't smell what I was cooking. All I knew was to throw in whatever came into my head. Sautéed the onion and garlic in olive oil, unthawed the broccoli quickly in the sink with cold water, threw it in the pan, sprinkled it with whatever spices I found in my cabinets (lemon pepper, chicken rub, season-all, salt, pepper). Stirred/mixed it with the sautéed garlic and onion for a little bit.  Covered the pan for a little while, hoping the taste of the spices will stick to the veggies and the little steam will make the broccoli soft because it's frozen. Threw in the bell pepper, and the shredded chicken - and stirred!

But omigosh, it's getting too dry! I opened the fridge, and voila! Some leftover chicken broth from last night's dinner. Poured a bit in (again no measurements, just guessing) in the frying pan. Sprinkled some more spices (same ones) hoping this will turn out good. Covered it and left for however minutes on low heat until I thought it was good enough to consume.

My heart almost melted during dinner when J attacked the broccoli and the red bell pepper first before anything else, and C ate BROCCOLI without any tantrums thrown, and he finished his whole bowl! (J ate a lot, too, but played with the rest). My picky-eater liked my experimental dinner! It's this kind of night when both kids love the meal, that makes me say it was all worth it.

Sorry, no pictures. I was kinda lazy to take a picture of it, but it was honestly yummy!