The Terrible Two's the Second Time Around

J is closing in at turning two years old. But that doesn't mean that he hasn't thrown a tantrum before. In fact, he has. A lot. On a daily basis. Every half an hour. Most of the time he looked too cute we couldn't help our giggles, which was probably DEFINITELY a wrong move. Of course the little guy started to think that it was funny.

And so he kept doing them. We've ignored the tantrums for the most part. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! BLIBLUBLAHBLAH!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!" He'd keep going to no avail. (Yes, we left him doing that for 2 hours straight. Of course, not!)

But today was a different day. Although we've only recently started putting him on time-outs [other moms, insert book reference here about the proper age for time-outs], today was one of those days that we had to stand strong to it. It was hard for me to watch it, but he threw a lot of fits today more than usual. My spouse and I were on the same page that it was time to really really REALLY (yes? YES!) implement it.

And time-outs he got.

And in comes the ear-piercing shrieks! Boy was he mad! Someone get me a pair of noise-cancelling headphones! AAAH!!!!

He threw total outrageous fits each time, and screamed his heart out. And then he banged on the door the moment his Dad closed it. (Okay maybe next time we shouldn't close the door). And although this is our second time going through this process, it felt all too foreign and unfamiliar to me all over again. I don't remember at all how C did with time-outs. Did he bang on the door? Not sure. Did he cry his heart out? Oh, well, almost like someone stole his candy. But J - poor kid sounded so sad. I tried my best not to approach him until the 1 1/2 mins. was up. Or even after if it was my Better Half who put them on the time-out. I ALWAYS let their Dad talk to them and soothe them if he's the one who put them on a time-out to avoid making him look like the bad guy.

Aaaanyway... I am looking for something else to AID us in our way of discipling our children. And despite my very sleepy state and my half-way open (or half-way closed?) eyes, I remembered one easy peasy DIY help. Have you seen this on Pinterest?

Time-out Jar
Photo Credit: Hillary
(Click on image to visit the tutorial on how to make this jar)

I have never tried this before. Have you? The idea is the kid (who is on time out) shakes this jar and watches the glitter settle down. It seems it has this magical powers to make the kid calm down as the glitters settle down on the jar. Like some kind of voodoo. Ha!

I feel like I need to get one of my mason jars (okay, maybe three - one more for me and another for Daddy) and find a tiny bucket of glitter from the dollar store NOW. I think I've just found our (me and the little kiddies) craftsie daisie activity next week. (Did I just sound like we do crafts every week?... In my dreams and goals that just seem to never happen, we do). I just hope they won't end up acting like they were hypnotized or something. I wonder if C will pick blue food coloring?

What are your tried and tested tricks to do time-outs? And no, you don't have to be the Supernanny to have had the best disciplining method to your kids, right? Right! Here's to hoping for a more disciplined future generation with time-out jars as our shield!

{C's Daily Prayers} - Shooting Hands

We recently purchased a Lego Star Wars III The Clone Wars Playstation 3 video game (one of the two videogames we own, the other one is LittleBigPlanet Karting) and C loved seeing the spacecrafts and light sabers and the clones.

Today, I thought I should try watching something else with the boys other than cartoon movies. So I put in Star Wars Episode 1. It was so cool when he knew what we were watching, thanks to the kid-friendly video game. If you know my eldest, he loves movies with racing and action. He loved watching the pod race scene. "Oh no he crashed, Daddy!!!" It was so intense for him, he couldn't take his eyes off. He also pretended his hand was one of those clones' guns. Sometimes he pretended it was a light saber.

Tonight, he volunteered to say the blessing for our dinner, "I am thankful for this food. I am thankful to watch Star Wars. I am thankful to have my hand as a shooting gun. I am thankful to play with [J]. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

He never fails to mention that he's thankful to play with J. But his comment about his pretend play with his hand made me giggle a little bit during the prayer.

 

J's New Words and His Random Things

I love little kiddie babbles. They sound so cute! My second son had just turned 22 months old and has been saying new little cute words CLEARLY.

"Abbawockees" (Jabbawockeez)
"Dud-dee" (Daddy)
"Yeah, yeah!" (In a very excited tone. He got this from his cousin, Max, I think?)
"Amen."
"Wah-yer" (Water)
"Ah-shurn"(My turn)
"Okay."
"Oh, soweee!" (Oh, sorry!)
"Aaaaaaaay" (sounds like "eye" - I say this when they do something bad)
"Ta-tu" (Thank You! - okay, this one's been around for a while now)
"Shoos" (Shoes)

And many others I can't pick out of my brain right now. Also, his favored word between "Mommy" and "Daddy" is the latter. It's always this scenario:

Me: "Can you say Mommy?" (Oh he can say it!)
J: "Duh-dee!"
Me: "No, say Mooommy!"
J: "Duh-Dee!"

... and the cycle goes on. It's pretty hilarious! His older brother did the same when he was this age. That's what I get when they have such an awesome Dad!

Tonight, he tried to copy his older brother by folding his arms and pretending to pray (babbles) - quickly - and said, "Amen." I like how he gets the idea now that we pray to bless our food and at bed time. Also, another thing he's been copying from his brother are the dance moves as evident from this video:

I love watching them grow and being there for them as they go through it as well. I love how they get along so well (with little fights here and there) and that they love playing with each other. I love being a parent to these two totally different but definitely similarly sweet children.

{C's Daily Prayers} - Despicable Me

Thank you for those who read and commented my previous post. Comments make me smile! ^^

I have a journal meant specifically to write down the funny things or sweet things that my kids said. But I keep forgetting to write in it, or sometimes I get caught up with something else. So I thought of making another category/label in this blog called "C's Daily Prayers" and maybe write those prayers down.

C has started saying his prayers (with our help) when he was about two years old. He started saying it on his own by around three-ish. I always meant to write them down in my "things-they-said" journal because they're just the simplest yet sweetest and most expressive prayers ever, and I want to keep those memories. Children are such sweet spirits!

Well, he recently celebrated his 4th birthday (had a great morning with his grandma and his cousins. We were gonna go to Cars Land as a surprise for him but plans changed and we spent his birthday driving home from CA). We let him pick some toys at Target with his grandma's birthday money gift on our way home (she also gave him a Cars puzzles and book gift). Of course, he picked Cars and he was delighted to have new ones. By "new," I mean race cars other than Lightning McQueen and Finn McMissile (spelling?). It's been 4 days since then.

Tonight, after Daddy brushed his teeth, he walked into their room and sat down beside me and just started saying his prayer. I was not quite ready for my thoughts were flying everywhere before he came in, but I immediately wrapped my arms around him as he said..

"Dear Heavenly Father, I am thankful to watch spickable me [Despicable Me]. I am thankful to play with [J]. I am thankful to play with my cousins and friends, [then names two of his cousins]. I am thankful to go to the store and buy new race cars [that one four days ago]. I am thankful for eating brownie [it has blueberries and carrots which they don't know]. I am thankful for Mommy and Daddy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

So sweet. I love hearing him pray. So honest.

P.S. J also prays with us. He knows when it's time. Sometimes he'll keep wriggling before we start it but once we start it, he'll stop. Recently though it's been more obvious. He'd fold his arms, like those cute pictures of little kids folding their arms during prayer. He won't talk, but he'll have his eyes open looking at everyone [okay, mom was peeking at him.. haha!]. And just this week he started saying, "Amen" after every prayer. So cute!

 

The Introvert ME

I haven't blogged in a long time, obviously. Honestly it's because I lost the interest and got lazy because nobody else was reading but my sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law. But considering that my kids still take their naps, the 1.5 - 2.5 hrs. that I am alone was quite long enough to not do anything else but read books and/or write in my journal. So I've decided to try to at least get back into blogging bit by bit.

Well, I got bored [seems like I always am] of my old blog title "Mommy Musings" so I changed it into something more fitting for my personality. Anyone who knew me REALLY well will agree that I am an introvert.

Growing up, I always preferred being with a small circle of friends rather than a huge crowd of acquaintances. I was never fond of going to youth activities in our Church because trying to strike conversations with other youths and socializing was never my favorite thing to do. If it was a youth dance, I was basically a wallflower... all. night. long.

I overcame a bit of my introversion when I left my family and my country to take up my undergraduate degree in BYU-Hawai'i. I was in a strange land with a totally different culture. And though I knew English well enough, I knew I wouldn't last long if I kept on being an introvert. So I made friends. And friends I had but not to the point that all of them were my close friends (unlike someone I know from there, too! She's a sweetheart!) I had a handful of really close friends prior to being a "Mrs." - 3 of them exactly. The rest I knew because it was a small University and you almost know everyone there. And when the 3 close friends left and moved on (one got married, the other two went on their missions for our Church), I struggled to find new close friends. So I just remained FRIENDS with everybody else I knew. It didn't matter that I didn't hung-out with them like the way I did with my three friends. It was good enough for me that I was not keeping to myself so much anymore.

But an event in my life happened and ... I lost that trust in friends. So now I am back to my introversion again. And ever since we had our firstborn, it seemed like I really just preferred being by myself and with our boys rather than arranging a playdate and trying to be sociable, or trying to make friends all over again. I was happy in my own thoughts most of the time, and just playing with my kids. Heck, even my husband and I don't talk much after the kids go down to bed because I don't talk even though my brain was exploding with ideas of things to do, or to talk about, or just random thoughts [and he likes my silence sometimes so he could "watch" some baseball games in peace.. haha!]

I am not saying I am a snob. No. I don't even mean to be one if I come across as such. I like talking to people. But almost ALWAYS I will not be the first one to strike a conversation. It's like a stage freight for me. Sometimes I could do it, sometimes I couldn't. I realized that more when I became a mother. I am so quiet you could almost say I'm a snob. But once someone talks to me, I talk to them like I wasn't ever shy at all.

So, yes. After decades of thinking that I am probably just shy, I've finally come to accept that this is me. I am an introvert who likes to chatter away by writing!

When I was trying to come up with a new title for this blog (and it might still change), I wanted to add the word "introvert" because you wouldn't know I am one by just reading this blog. I chatter so much in my blogs and journals. So I decided to google the definition of the word to see if it is really my personality.

Here's a couple:

• What is an introvert?
• 10 Myths About Introverts

And just for fun... are you an introvert or extrovert? Take the quiz and see! 

And lastly, my boys today, doing what boys do best - BEING BOYS! They love playing with each other. And no, my little J (the baby on upper shelf) is 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days younger than C (the kid on the lower shelf) even though he doesn't look like it in this picture. He's so big! I love them both.

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!

Things I Wanna Do

I was sitting here all caught up with my journal again, and the boys are still taking their naps. When they are sleeping and I'm all by myself, I just seem to contemplate on many things. But today I was thinking of the things that I really want to do and that I really plan to do along the way..

* Teach C how to spell and write his whole name (and maybe how to read even just the basic words). 
- I've been pretty good at home schooling (in a way) this little smart guy before J was born. But since after having his brother, I feel like C has been stuck with what he knew before his little brother was born. The Alphabet, counting to 20, puzzles, love for reading books, shapes, colors, etc. I think it's time to move him up a notch and teach him how to at least write/read. He knows the sounds of the letters now so maybe teaching him how to read someday won't be as hard.

* Teach J the Alphabet, numbers 1-10, shapes, puzzles, colors, etc.
- It was about this age when C started recognizing these better. With C, I used to draw the letters, numbers, and shapes for him and then asked him what they were. For colors, we used crayons or any colorful thing. I know we shouldn't compare and I'm not. J can grow on his own timeline, but I want to provide him the learning experiences, too. The other night J said "A, B, C" on his own while holding out a rubber B for the bath tub. I told him, "B." He replied, "B! A... B.. C!" So cute!

* Teach the children their other language
- I know I've talked about this on and off, and it's been on and off in the house. They have more Filipino blood in them than anything else. I got used to seeing them as Americans. I haven't been seeing them as half-Filipinos. I need to be more consistent when I speak to them. Getting used to speaking English to them in a non-Filipino environment just makes it harder for me to REMEMBER to speak Tagalog to them. I need to do better.

* Read more books with my boys. Go out more with my boys. Play with them more. Be more kind and patient to them. Give them my full attention. Provide them with better exploration experiences like I did when I was young (playing in the rain and mud, looking closely at plants and tiny insects, catching a dragonfly, etc). All the good parenty stuff. Love them better. Be more involved with them.

* Make my projects.

- So far these are:
(1) Making a growth chart. This was originally planned for right after Jesse finished all his CPA test, but it still collects dust in our garage. We have the wood and a few sanding things. We need the paint and whatever else we needed to make it. The wood is not straight so it's kind of a little unmotivating.
(2)  Repaint the wall shelf for the bathroom or somewhere else that we got for $1.50 (that shelf that sticks against a wall and there are hooks underneath it. I don't know what it's called).
(3) J's Photobook of his first year. 
(4) Photobook of the years I haven't done which are 2011 and 2012. I haven't been organizing my hard drive and editing our photos, thus not being able to upload to Shutterfly (I want our uploaded photos looking nice so they're ready for printing). I can't tell you how many Free 101 4x6 prints and free photobooks from Shutterfly that I've missed. This (editing and uploading photos) is my main project this year.

* Deep clean our house. Hang picture frames on the wall (haven't done so since we left Hawai'i in 2010).

* Get our children's double citizenship
- Yes, they are automatically American citizens and at the same time Filipino citizens. We just need to do the paperwork for it.

* Cook more yummy and healthy dinners every day right before my husband comes home from work. 
- I was getting good at meal planning before this month came. But ever since we all got sick and are still trying to get better, and my husband's so busy with his Ethics test and his motorcycle licensing, I kind of put the dinner-making on hold. Maybe I can try making freezer meals one of these days.

* Learn how to make myself look pretty and presentable
- Yes, my husband tells me all the time that I am pretty. There was one day, though, where I asked for his honest opinion and he said, "Yeah, I'd like to see you try sometimes." If you know me, I'm the kind of gal who doesn't wear make-up. I used to at least fix my hair and put on cute outfits pre-married life. But even straightening my hair went out the window after I became a mom. Right now this "make me pretty" thing is kind of unmotivating because I don't like shopping for make-ups and nice clothes - and those are what I don't have at the moment. I live with just my hair brush.

I recently bought several tiny nail polishes from Amazon, though, and started growing my nails out a bit. I'll start from there, I think. Then maybe I can thread my eyebrows someday but that just looks tricky right now. I want to look nicer for my husband especially for when we have dinners with his boss(es). He deserves so much more than what he sees right now.

There are really so many more things besides these that I want to do for my family. I am honestly just usually lazy. My boys are the easiest children to take care of, ever, and I have all the time to myself if I wanted to do these. Sometimes I just like to beat myself hard for not being the kind of wife and mom that I could and should be.

This Is Me Challenge {Part 2}

Okay, so I was reading over some more of the questions from the "This Is Me Challenge" and I thought of just answering a few questions on different categories, not just one. Again, I didn't do any proofreading so excuse my grammatical errors.

What games did you play as a child?

Besides our FAMICOM (Nintendo Family Computer) games such as Super Mario Bros., Battle City, Galaga, etc., we also had plenty of outdoor games with our friends after school. My favorite one was called "moro-moro." Other people call it other names such as "agawang base" (base-stealing). The idea was to capture the enemy's base while at the same time trying not to be captured by the enemy. And if you have teammates that were captured, you try to save them, too. It had a lot of running around which was fun!

There's also mataya-taya (tag, you're it!), langit-lupa (heaven-earth where the "it" guy tries to touch someone who "goes down to earth" by stepping on the lowest level of ground, usually where the 'it' guy is), tagu-taguan (hide and seek), hopscotch, chinese garter (you make a loop of rubber bands and do this routine leg movements around it but it goes higher and higher as you move on to another round), and "sipa" (means "kick" in English).

I was really good in "sipa" when I was in 5th grade. There were different ones for the boys and for the girls. For the boys it was a bottle cap and a candy wrapper (the candy wrapper inserted right through the bottle cap). For the girls, it's this big whole bunch of rubber bands wrapped together until it's heavy enough. I loved it! We made our own rules. You kick it up and down the air, it can't touch the ground or you're out. The first 5 kicks, you can't catch the "ball." The next round (10 kicks), you can only catch it ones (to sort of pull yourself together before kicking it some more). The next one is 15 kicks with two catches, and so on. At the end (say the 5th kick at the first round), you try to kick it as far as you can so the opposing team won't be able to catch it with their foot. It's really fun!

What activities did you participate in (teenage years)? Explain what you did with each activity.

I will just list the one thing I did in high school: I signed up for Cadet Officers Candidate Corps (COCC) when I was in my junior year in high school (15 years old. We used to start high school after 6th grade at 12 or 13 y.o. They're going to change it now with middle school, too). COCC was like a high school level of ROTC. I remember waking up early on Mondays (I lived 1 hour away of commute from my school) to get ready for the pre-flag ceremony exercises. The sun was always still down when I arrived in school at around 5:00am, my fellow COCC's and our officers already shining their pins and wiping their "swords." I loved being able to be one of the main participants in our flag ceremonies. We always did it with the scouts.

After a Monday morning flag ceremony, with all the accessories taken off.

We had a training every Wednesdays at 1500 hours (3:00 pm). Most of the time we were left for half an hour with our arms folded across our faces, and our faces facing up to the sun. And if you've been in the Philippines long enough, you'd know how hot it was to be there. Sometimes we were told to "drop like a log and produce [number], [closed or open fist]" which meant we dropped to the ground from standing up, and doing push-ups. If they said open fist, we had our hands wide open. If the officer(s) said closed fist, we pushed with our fists closed.  We also did a lot of marching dances, sometimes with our eyes closed. It's pretty funny when it's like that because by the time we open our eyes, we are all spread apart and not in one square. We had a lot of fun even though it seemed to non-COCC's that we weren't fun people.

We also did some marching parades at some point but I can't remember. I think we did it three times for three special people from the government. All these just to avoid taking a boring P.E. (Physical Education) class.

This Is Me Challenge {Part 1}

I found this "pin" on Pinterest called "This Is Me Challenge." It's some kind of a challenge to write about yourself in your journal or personal history records or anything. I eventually want to add my answers to these questions in my binder of personal history records that I made in my class when I was in college. But I also thought to share some of them here in my blog - the not-need-to-be-kept-private ones.

Since she has a lot of suggested questions, I'm going to divvy up this post into several series. So here goes Part 1:

My Family

* What are the lessons you learned from your parents?

Several things:

(1) I learned that money doesn't REALLY matter. We grew up either not having enough or just having enough. Sure it's nice to have a little extra to spend here and there, especially in an emergency, but you don't have to be rich to enjoy each other's company or to be able to serve other people. There are so many more other ways to be able to do these and a lot of them are free! We didn't have fancy things at home when we were youngsters, but we had what we needed. Food, shelter, clothing, and each other.

(2) Have faith. Being poor, we always counted on faith. Faith is all we had to lean on to. And being faithful is always calming. It gives you a sense of hope. Just do what you need to do and leave the rest to the Lord. He will never leave us alone in our ordeals.

(3) Instant gratification doesn't satisfy, working for it does. If we wanted something either from them or from one of our siblings, we had to work for it. Most of the time, my payment is loads and loads and LOADS of laundry. And I'm telling you, it's the kind of laundry where I sat outside and rinsed them all by hand. Our washing machine only had a washer, it didn't rinse. And our dryers back home didn't dry clothes completely as how they would here in the United States. Once the dryer is done, we hung the clothes up outside on the clothesline. Too bad for us if the rain came too quickly and we didn't have time to get the clothes inside the house. When I finally finished working for what I wanted, it felt 10x better to receive it.

(4) Do housework. I remember when I was really young, around 6 years old maybe, when my mom used to have a chart of house chores to be done every day by someone in our house. The little ones like me had the easy chores, the older ones got the harder ones (like doing the dishes). This was taken away after a few arguments between siblings had been made, and by then we were old enough to do chores on our own without a chart.

(5) Listen to the counsels of Church leaders. We didn't miss a Sunday to go to Church either unless we were really sick. Modesty and chastity was taught to me and my sister as we grew up.

(6) Have family time. Lots of them. Growing up, my mom was always busy. She had a job outside the house, several callings at Church, and seven kids. When we were little, we always went out during the weekends. It was either to the Temple, to go swimming, or to go (window) shopping at the malls. Whichever as long as we're all together. Family time! And then when we grew up, she became a Stake Young Women President when I was in the YW Program, so we got to spend time with her as she did her calling especially for Youth Conferences. She was also our seminary teacher at some seminary classes. But we always tried to do some other family activities, like simply going out together, or playing games together, or the usual Sunday School answers: Family Home Evening, Family Prayer, and Family Scripture Study. Once in a while, a family council (or counsel?), too, which sometimes feels like someone's initiation day! xD

How about you? What did you learn from your parents from what they taught or did not teach you?

Part 2 coming soon. Oh and check out my family update in our family blog if you want.

Filipino Leche Flan

Leche Flan is a sweet egg/milk custard that we Filipinos like to have for dessert besides fruits like the sweet yellow mango (mmm, miss those!).  Sometimes leche flan can also be mixed to other sweet treats like halu-halo.

I haven't made some in a long time. Practically months before we left Hawai'i in 2010. So I was kind of scared to do them again, thinking I might burn the "caramel."

Well, my husband told me the other day that Costco has 60 pcs. of large eggs for $8.00. And that day I was craving for some leche flan, I actually bought one from the Filipino store in Maryland Pkwy. So when he told me Costco has 5 dozen eggs for $8.00, I told him we should get it and I can make leche flan at least three times (36 eggs) and we'll still have enough eggs for regular meals.

So to Costco he did buy those eggs. Darn it's a lotta eggs! I googled some recipes because I wasn't sure if I remember it right. I only remembered the improvised steamer version of it, but I forgot the ingredients. After reading a few of the recipes, I came up with my own. So here's my own way of making it. It's not yet perfected, a lot of other people can make better batches. But mine tasted good enough. I also like how there weren't bubbles and the flan was creamy. My dad said the sweetness was just right.

Please excuse my poor grammar in the directions. Just hit me a comment if you have any question.

(serving size - 3 pans/llanera. Divide each mixture into the three pans/llanera).


CARAMEL:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

CUSTARD:
12 egg yolks
1 (14. oz.) condensed milk
1 (12. o.z) evaporated milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract


* Preheat oven at 375 degrees F.

* Combine sugar and water in one boiling pan. Boil in low heat until sugar dissolves. Switch to medium heat and caramelize the mixture until the color turns amber - at least 10-15 minutes. Poor the caramel into the pans (try not to make it too deep or too high or too much), making sure you spread it to the side of the pans as well. Just line the pans with the caramel, basically.

* Mix the egg yolks, condensed milk, evaporated milk, and vanilla extract in a big bowl. Don't stir too hard to avoid too much bubbles from forming. Pour the mixture into the caramel-lined llanera/pans (or in a separate bowl first) by straining it through a cheesecloth or a fine-meshed strainer to capture the other solid particles and bubbles (I used a fine-meshed strainer). I find it easier to strain the mixture in a different bowl first before pouring it into the llaneras.

* Cover the llaneras with foil.

* Place llaneras in a larger baking pan half filled with water (or the water being as high as the custard in the llanera). Place pan in pre-heated oven, and bake for about 1 hour or until firm. Use the toothpick method to make sure it's done (the toothpick has to come out clean).

* Once you've taken the llaneras out of the oven, place a plate upside down on top of one of each llanera. Hold the plate and the llaneras tight together, then invert! I find it easier to do this if I put the llanera on top of a couple of pot holders first, then put the plate on top of the llanera upside down. I can then hold the pot holder and the plate together with the llanera sandwiched in-between them (because the llanera will be hot) before inverting.

* Let the flan swim in the caramel and enjoy! MMmmm!!!!

Amazing How Far a Little Compliment Can Go

It's really amazing, especially when it's sincere. It makes one feel good about himself. And in most cases, chases away uncertainties about oneself.

When our Stake (Las Vegas South Stake) at Church was reorganized, we were one of the families who were moved to a different ward. The bishopric were - and is - awesome! They actually came out to visit us, all three of them, during the first few weeks of the new changes in boundaries. Their ward (which is then our new ward) lost a lot of families, too, mostly the ones who held bigger callings at Church (not that other callings aren't as important, they all are. I just meant, you know, the presidents in RS, EQ, YW, or something along those lines). They asked us if we are able to help through our callings once we are given them, and my husband and I both said, "Yes."

Fast forward a month later, I was sitting inside the clerk's office with the Bishop's first counselor and was given the calling of a Den Leader to the wolf cub scouts. I have never turned down any calling. I firmly believe that each calling, being given by right authority, is from God, no matter how obscure the calling may seem, or how hard it may seem, or even how unknown it is to me.

Well for this one, it was very unknown. I had never been in scouting before. Well, twice (but I don't count them as being in the scouts). Once when I was a very young girl and I only know one bit of it and I'm pretty sure I didn't stay in cub scouts for a long time (or whatever the name was for the little girl scouts). Then second in high school but I only stayed for a week before I switched to C.O.C.C. (Cadet Officers Candidate Course). It's like the high school version of the college R.O.T.C.

So, since I was never really into scouting from the beginning, I didn't know how I would do my calling as the Den Leader to the young 8-year-old boys. I was clueless about scouting, let alone being a den leader. When I hear the word "scouts," I automatically think about camping and learning different rope ties and what-not. That's all. But still, I accepted the calling even though there were many uncertainties in my head. Tackling the unknown is something I am not good at.

The first few weeks of 2012 was kind of a wing-it thing, because the first people who held those callings before us (who were moved to a different ward) didn't keep a record of what the boys had done. And I didn't have my 8-year-olds, so I was just taggling along the Bear Scouts. But I went to each Den Meeting and Pack Meeting because I know I had to even though I didn't have my own scouts yet.

When 2013 came, the panic began. I still didn't know much, I was still hanging in the air, I felt so lost in everything. I didn't know what the awards were or what the kids had to do to get them (I just know there are a bunch of activities in their book), where to sign their books or what to do with them. I didn't know anything at all, not even the Pledge of Allegiance. I have one scout, and 2 on the way this month. I missed the first Den meeting because I thought we were gonna combine with the Bears, and I didn't feel good so I just stayed at home. But the conversation I had with one of the Scouts leaders (who's in the Primary Presidency) that night made me feel so bad. She didn't make me feel it, I did it to myself. Since then I promised myself I'll try my best to come to every meetings.

The following weeks since then, I tried to come to every meetings and a weekend Stake training that I missed (it was moved to different location which my leader and I didn't know until I got to the old location, and my leader told me to just go back home since she doesn't know where the new place was at either). I asked to be set apart and listened carefully to the blessings the next day. One of them was, "People are willing to help you and those who know are willing to teach you. You are not alone in this calling." How the cheese did he know what I wanted to hear? Having that stuck in my head, I knew I could do this and I will do this. I will try and do this. I skimmed through the books and tried to figure out about awards (and asked the Cub Master about it). I didn't combine with the Bears anymore even though I only had one cub scout with me. Two boys have been joining us even though they aren't going to turn 8 yet until sometime this month, which made our meetings more fun for the one scout I have.

There's a banquet coming up and I was looking at some things my scouts could do before then so they could get some awards, and handed a list to their parents and explained to them that they can do anything else with the boys, the list is just ideas. One of the moms thanked me and told me, "Wow, you are so dedicated."

As soon as she told me that, my doubts about myself flew away. I felt good about how I'm trying to fulfill this calling, no matter how unknown it was to me. At the same time, I thought to myself that I should compliment C's Primary teachers (and J's near-future Nursery teacher), too. Pass-it-on, pay-it-forward kind of thing. A compliment to a church leader can go a very long way. We never know how much uncertainties they have about themselves, or anything else we aren't aware about. But a simple compliment can help them push through.

When a Song Used to Make Me Cry

It's been 17 months today since I gave birth to our second son. 15 months since the last time I was really depressed (them baby blues). I was depressed way until the first four months, but the first two months were the worst ones. You know, when you've just given birth, you just feel ugly and dirty and not human - more like a zombie cow. I didn't like to look at myself in the mirror. I was losing some hair, my hair was always tangled and sticking out everywhere, I had big circles underneath my eyes, and I just looked plain tired.

Each nursing session was a love-hate feeling for me. I loved it because I was cuddling with my boy at the same time. I hated it because it was just too long (yes, I gave him both sides all the time) for the other toddler who was waiting for us to get done. I always listened to Boyce Avenue on every nursing session just to have something to watch. And what do you know, this song always got me crying (I always blamed the hormones):

I always soaked in all the words, imagining my husband saying them to me even though I felt ugly about myself. And even just the imagination of being appreciated (thanks to this song) made me cry! Hahaha! Looking back now, I think I was too cheesy back then. My husband did tell me all those times that I still looked pretty. Most of the time I felt like he was lying, but I did appreciate his appreciation of me.

The Engagement Story ... 5 years after.

I was reading through my old blog several months ago and I stumbled on a couple of posts about how I met Jesse and our engagement. So, with a little bit of proofreading and re-writing, I am pasting it here again to remember that very sweet day:

"Another chapter of our book of life!

Early morning of Dec. 27, I jumped off of my bed and had Jesse in my mind because he's coming back! The whole day felt like forever because his plane was supposed to land at 12 midnight. I was getting more and more excited as the sunlight disappeared slowly and the time slowly crawled it's way to midnight. But before that, Jesse told me his flight is delayed (almost an hour). I was a little bit upset but it's okay. 

At exactly 12 a.m. of Dec. 28th, I took my friend BJ with me to the airport. He was so tired so I drove (he has a license, I only have a permit - that's why I needed him). I drove... on the freeway again! The rain was pouring hard that night. We were driving at 60 mph. I was so scared but we made it to the airport. Still, Jesse's plane took a long time to land. The baggage claim was very slow in delivering their passengers' luggage. I was getting more and more impatient, but oh well! When it comes to things like these, I just tell myself, "patience is a virtue." 

At 2:30 a.m., he finally came out! I was so sleepy yet I was so excited to see him again. We were back at Laie by 3:30 a.m. I gave him my belated Christmas gifts which made him happy - and so, made me happy too. 

After our work that day (still Dec. 28), we watched a movie in Waipahu (about an hour drive from Laie). Then headed straight back to Laie afterwards. This rarely happens to us, but he asked me if I wanted to watch the sunrise the next day. Even though it was kind of weird for me that he asked me first (I usually do), I still said yes (I love sunrise!). We agreed to wake each other up at 5:30 or 5:45 a.m. 

And that's what we did. We watched the sunrise at the Bikini Beach, the beach across from PCC. It was a cloudy morning but we still tried to enjoy it. We read Alma 33 in the Book of Mormon when the sun was up (behind the clouds). 

After reading the chapter, he asked me if I knew what Doc. & Cov. 4 was. It was a very weird, random question for me but I still answered yes and we talked a little bit about it. Then he pulled out a little note out of his right pocket and read from there what he wrote for me. At first I thought he just took a chapter from the scriptures and changed the names  there to our names. But when phrases like "raise the bar" came up, I figured he made it all up! Everything! It was a little bit funny yet sweet. I thought it was just a random, sweet, cheesy, romantic note from him to me so I just smiled. Then he handed the note to me so I can keep it. 

We were quiet for a while. Then all of a sudden, he turned to me, looked right into my face and said, "Lois, I have a question [started digging into his left pocket] to ask you." The moment I saw him dig into his pocket and heard him say the word "question," I started freaking out. I was just screaming, "OH! NO WAY!!!" Things rushed to my mind so quickly I couldn't remember them. He had this little black, square thing in his hand and just held it out right in front of me. I couldn't even look at it. I was just freakin' out and saying, "NO WAY!!!" He thought I was going to turn him down. He opened it, and I was still freakin' out but I gave it a glance... and I saw a ring! And I freaked out even more! He just stared at me for a few seconds not knowing what to think but still managed to pop the question (and I started to calm down). Of course, I said, "I WILL! I WILL!!!" Then we gave each other a hug. He put the ring on my finger... while shaking! The ring was one size bigger (7) than my size (6) so he took out this rubber thing that you put on the ring so you can fit it for a while. But as he was trying to put it on the ring, he was shaking so bad, so I did it myself. Then after a few while, the clouds parted just enough for the sun to show up and shine on us... coincidence! Hehehe!"

My Message for You

... through a song ...

Dear C and J,

This song is for both of you from me, your Mommy. I know you're still young and are still oblivious to the dangers and heart aches of this world. I love how your world now in your own minds is just so peaceful and wonderful - and that the only heartaches you get is when Mommy or Daddy said "No." or when the other sibling stole the toy you were playing with.

But someday you will lose that innocence and will get hurt and feel pain. You will grow up and see the world as adults. Maybe as teens first, of course, but on the way to adulthood. When that time comes, when your own wonderland leaves your life, remember I am here for both of you. I will always be here, either close by (as long as you want me to) or far away (if you want me to keep my distance from you, but will still be looking after you from afar). You are my most precious treasures, the greatest gifts I have ever received. I'll always "stand by you." I love you both!

Oh, why you look so sad?

The tears are in our eyes.

Come on and talk to me now.

Don't be ashamed to cry

Let me see you through

'Cause I've seen the dark side too.

When the night falls on you,

And you don't know what to do,

Nothing you confess

Can make me love you less.

I'll stand by you,

I'll stand by you,

Won't let nobody hurt you,

I'll stand by you.

So, if you're mad, get mad.

Don't hold it all inside,

Come on and talk to me now.

Hey, what you've got to hide?

I get angry too.

Well, I'm a lot like you.

When you're standing at the crossroads

And you don't know which path to choose,

Let me come along

'Cause even if you're wrong

I'll stand by you.

I'll stand by you.

Won't let nobody hurt you,

I'll stand by you.

Take me in into your darkest hour,

And I'll never desert you,

I'll stand by you.

And when, when the night falls on you baby,

You're feeling all alone.

You won't be on your own.

I'll stand by you,

I'll stand by you.

Won't let nobody hurt you,

I'll stand by you.

Take me in into your darkest hour,

And I'll never desert you,

I'll stand by you.

Oh I'll stand by you.

I'll stand by you.

Some Good in this World

So I was thinking today about how bad this world is getting, and how much I don't want my kids to grow up in this cruel and wicked generation. But they are in here now, and they are a choice generation. They're going to have to face a more wicked world than my generation did. 

As long as our children in this generation are raised in the way God would have us raise them, no matter what the outcome may be, then we could at least say to ourselves that we tried our best in giving something good to this world.

(A little bit of a cheesy clip to make a point... hehe!)

I have a long way to go. I have many things to work on myself. I can say I've improved even just a teeny bit, but there are still many things to work on my personality so that I can be a better example to my kids (the best way to teach them is to let them see me live what we teach them). I may not know now how they will turn out as teenagers and adults, but I'm hoping that when we get to that point, they will be the good examples to their friends and not the bad.

A random picture because I wanted to plaster it here in this post.

I saw this next clip from a friend today which is perfect for this post (which has been in draft mode for a while now). It's actually pretty sweet. Yes, there are still good (things and people) in this world...

Just a little bit of a random, out-of-topic note - if we ever are only allowed to keep two other series of books to read other than our scriptures, I would have Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter in our shelf. Good books for the kids to read when they grow up.

Thank-You Cards

J turned one a little less than two months ago. His birthday was celebrated MUCH MUCH simpler than his older brother's first birthday. But the feeling's the same - we, as his parents, are happy and blessed to have him in our lives. He brings us so much joy and happiness everyday.

His awesome relatives didn't forget him on his birthday, though, despite the simplicity of his birthday celebration. My in-laws helped us with his birthday cake, and sent him some gifts, too. So did his cousins from my sister-in-law, and his great-grandfather (my mother-in-law's father). 

I haven't crafted in a long time, but I figured I wouldn't let this one pass without a thank-you note to all of them, for remembering our boy on his special day. So here they are:

For my in-laws.

For J's great-grandpa.

And for his cousins.

I tried hard to think that day on how to make them look great, but nothing came up in my mind. I guess I am out of practice. I made the butterfly one first, then the yellow card, and last the one with the bunting. The butterfly one wasn't actually blue/turquoise at first. The original card blended great with the red color, but as soon as I finished making it, I accidentally put my stamp pad upside down (which was open) on top of the card, and I didn't have anymore extra of the same color to use, so it became turquoise.

Making these in one day was therapeutic to me (it takes me hours to come up with a template/layout because I'm a visual person when it comes to things like this. I have to take all my things out and lay them out in front of me to see if this color goes with that, etc.). My husband even took the kids out to the park when they got up from their naps that day, so I could finish the second one I was working on then (the yellow one on the very top).

I love my family from my husband's side. They are really involved with us and our kids. I need to be better in sending out cards on special occasions just like they did for us.

Pinterest Find - Salt Dough Foot and Hand Print Keepsakes

I found several recipes for this awesome keepsake. It's so easy to mix and make. Unfortunately, neither of my two batches turned out well. I know it was just me. The first set (just my 12-month old's hand and foot prints) were fine pre-paint period. It baked all right. But the prints weren't deep enough so when I painted them with white acrylic paint, you could hardly see the prints.

That didn't stop me. I made another batch, this time I had enough for both kids. I got their prints done nicely and deep enough - thanks to my husband's help. He did the printing so much more efficiently with the second batch than I did with the first batch. I also tried a different recipe for the second batch. And the instruction said to either bake them or air dry them so I chose to air dry them - outside. Well the bottom remained a little doughy and soon enough, they started to crack. I couldn't be more disappointed.

But anyway, maybe you'll have a turn of luck unlike I did. Here are the pictures of the first batch and the second batch:

FIRST BATCH

I don't know why the picture turned out like this - like a negative side of the film. If you look to the left side of the saucer (top of the toes), the picture turns into how it looked like in real life (positive side of film kinda).

The recipe for this batch was:

1 cup plain flour

1 cup salt

1/2 cup warm water

Mix the flour and salt together and slowly add in water to get the right consistency - not too sticky and not to crumbly either. If it's too crumbly/dry, add some more water. If it's too sticky, add a little bit more flour. 

Use a shallow dish to use as a template for the dough. 

Bake at about 200ºF for 3 hours. Make sure the oven is not too hot or else the dough will rise and cook. If the bottom is still doughy, turn it over and bake it for another two hours. 

She said to use wax paper on the cookie sheet so the dough will not stick, but I think it's the culprit for my wet-bottom doughs that never dried (I used wax paper for both batches and both batches had wet bottoms that never dried). If you'd like to look at the main tutorial, here it is.

SECOND BATCH

J's hand and foot prints

C's hand and foot prints

 It's pretty obvious that C's feet was too deep. Anyway, my recipe for these was:

4 cups flour

1 cup water

1/2 cup warm water

I didn't use oil as the original recipe called for, and that's probably why these ones cracked. She also didn't mention about using wax paper underneath (since she used oil) and I did. 

Poke the doughs with straws prior to baking them or air drying them. 

She said you can put it in the oven at 150 degrees (didn't say if it was C or F) for an hour. Since I didn't know which temperature she used, I opted for the 24-hour air-drying - er... right. It became 72 hours actually since the bottoms were wet (up until now). Within the first 24 hours, I saw a crack in front of C's foot print. Three days after, all four prints had tons of cracks at the back. I almost cried. Maybe I should have used that oil and stopped using the wax paper! :(

Well, I'm going to try again next year on their birthdays and see if I get lucky with a decent recipe. 

Pinterest Finds - Breakfast Burritos

My husband made these for himself a couple of times already. He found this on my Pinterest board, Food - Breakfast and the direct link for the recipe he followed (if not exactly) for these burritos is here. You can practically put anything in there. I know my husband put ground beef in there, too. It only takes a little amount of time to make and lasts a lot of easy breakfasts. It's definitely worth a try!

For Every Mother

I just finished a book by Janene Baadsgaard called, "For Every Mother." My dad gave it to me as a random gift. I liked the book in that the stories were short. There were so many wisdom learned as I read from a fellow mother who's been where I am now, have raised ten kids, and are now enjoying her grandchildren through them.

I will post quotes from her books every day (or whenever I can) on my blog as part of my thoughts, but here are some things that stuck with me from her book that I may or may have not already known in my early motherhood stage:

* Our family is the most important thing in the whole wide world.

* Being a mother is the most important role in life one could ever have. Every woman in this world is a mother in many other ways other than having children.

* Every good thing we do for our family now as mothers may not be noticed immediately and sometimes it seems like they are in vain, but don't give up. Someday we will see the fruit of our labors.

* Memories made in the home are more important than acquiring current and trendy things, or keeping the house "up-to-date" with modern designs.

* Time really flies. You barely had a newborn in your hands, and then he'll be leaving home before you could even blink.

* We never have to do it alone. We are never alone in this journey. Our Savior will always be there for us if we just turn to Him & let Him help.

If you don't have time to read a long novel, this is a good book to read. Even just one story a day is good enough. It kept me in the good mood, and motivated me to be a better, non-materialistic, non-whining mom, and made me appreciate this gift of motherhood so much more than I ever did before.

Having Little Boys

I grew up being outnumbered by boys in general. I have more brothers than a sister (five brothers, one sister). I was supposed to be the last one but my parents felt bad for me being the only girl so the little sister was born (good thing she is a girl). And then my little brother was a surprise.

Growing up, I preferred making friends with boys more than I did with girls, though I eventually accidentally ended up hanging out with girls in high school who had almost, if not exactly, the same personality as me. When I went to school in Hawai'i, my first workplace had more boys than girls except for when I worked in the Luau. But then I was the only girl in my last job in Hawai'i as IT-Hardware worker. Talk about being outnumbered by boys all the time.

When my husband and I got married, I always thought of having a little girl someday but I preferred having a boy first. And so, even though we've only had all girls' names prepared, we were happy to find out we were having a boy. My husband, when our boy was born, was so happy his protective fatherly instinct came into effect immediately.

With our second child, I was kind of hoping for a girl since we had a boy already. A few months of pregnancy revealed that we are having yet another boy. At first I was a little sad but then it immediately reverted back to the fact that we are having a baby! And it was such a blessing, I felt thankful and loved that growing baby inside of me.

Well, we're not planning to have a third one yet, of course. But I am hoping to have a girl this time around. But then again, it'll be as happy for me to have a boy again as how it was with the first two.

One perk of having boys that I like so much that I really appreciated a lot more recently is how easy it is to get them dressed. C was getting ready for Joy School this morning. He had a nice shirt on, but had a house shorts on. So I just changed his shorts to jeans and VOILA! All done! No skirts, ribbons, headbands, etc. I'm sure I'll have fun doing that to our little girl someday, though, if we do have at least one girl. Haha!

Another thing I liked about having two boys is that we didn't have to buy a whole new set of outfits and other clothes for J all over again. Seriously, it's only been a handful of times that we bought J some new outfits just because we wanted to. All that he's wearing now are from C. It's awesome! Saved us a lot of money - though that probably went to all the formula we bought (that we never bought with C until he was past 12 months old). 

Toys! Oh yes, toys! I've never been a big fan of girly-girl toys ever since I was a little girl. I always preferred my brothers' toy cars and army men. Anyway, so yeah, it's fun playing with my boys with the kind of toys they like and I like (LOL) but I still would love to play dress-up with our little girl and her barbie doll someday.

The only thing I don't like is, even though it's super easy to shop for their clothes, it's absolutely frustrating with how much fewer selection they have than girls' outfits. But that still doesn't overpower the fun I'm having with these little boys. I love them to pieces! I'm excited to have a little girl someday and watch these "kuya's" be protective of their little sister. That'll be so sweet! I'm sure she'll wrap her fingers around her Dad immediately, too. But for now, these little boys fill my daily life and routine with laughs, yells and screams (against each other), giggles, hide-and-seek, silly maneuvers, and pure joy. Of course there are ups and downs, but it just makes parenting easier to just count the ups instead of the downs.