Keeping my girl occupied

This blog was supposed to be posted last night ...

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I think I have a 'bored' kid in the house and I'm the one to be blamed for it. :) Before Lyle was born, all my attention would be with Tricia, we would play together, do some coloring, writing and other activities. But after the birth of my 2nd baby, things have changed. My 100% attention for her has only become like maybe 40%?? And I ended up just letting her watch cartoons ( not good!) while I take care of Lyle and do other things ( not to mention, internet..hehehe!). Sometimes, she goes with her Appa in the office which is good since there's a lot of toys in the children's room and there is this volunteer who likes her so much and really is so patient spending time with her and playing with her. But most days, she's just in the house looking bored (pity her!) .

It was just yesterday that I just realized that she must be so bored in the house. I saw her daydreaming and staring blankly on the wall. When she's not daydreaming then she plays and talks to herself, imagining Mowgli or Alladin with her. So, finally I decided that I need to keep her occupied again and let her do some activities. And today is the 1st day for such..:) Even if it entails more work for me since I'd be juggling between the 2 kids, but it's for the good of my daughter and maybe me as having a bored kid in the house isn't easy to take care too.

So, DAy 1 is baking day! After her short nap I told her she's going to help me bake some brownies. And immediatly her eyes widened and said, " I like that, Amma!"..then on the way to the kitchen she was hopping and said, "I'm so excited!".

Good thing I still have some cake ingredients left and even the butter was barely enough. So, I tried the Brownie Recipe from Hershey's kitchen. When we were baking she said, "Thank you amma for letting me help you". Hmmmm...so sweet of her and made me want to do more for her. Then, I just prepared all the ingredients and let her do the pouring and mixing. She was quite good in following instructions but...as curious as she is, as soon I turned my back from her she would do all the other 'illegal' things like licking the cake mixture and experimenting on her own. Hmmm,, have to always keep watch as things get messy real quick when she's on the 'loose'.

After we mixed all the ingredients together and put the brownie batter in the oven, she also helped me clean up and wipe the table. Hope she'll be this helpful even when she grows up. Then,we waited for the brownie to be baked but she was just so excited to see 'her' work that she asked me every 2 minutes, "Is the cake, finished already?", "Is the cake finished, already?", " Is the cake finished already?" Arrghh...help!!

Tricia bringing the used bowl and utensils to the kitchen.

Yes, she can wipe the table nowntoo. This isn't 'illegal' child labor, ok? :)

Frosting time!.As if she really knows what she's doing..

Eating time!

Our brownies...

looks yum but I think my sister's brownie recipe still taste better.

So, there goes my DAy 1 Activity for her. Tomorrow we will all be in the office for a meeting so, it'll give me a chance to do some lessons for her (when Lyle is asleep) as there are a lot of kids' materials available there.

So, I already planned out activities for her in the future. Next week, she'll have formal classes (twice a week) with Teacher Junjun. Then, we're trying to check out the cost of gymnastic classes at the public stadium (yeah, gymnastics, she just loves it! all the jumping, rolling and etc). Last year, we heard it only costs about 300-500 baht a month (unbelievable!) but she was only 2 years old then and they only accept kids from 3 onwards. She might have gymnastic classes once or twice a week. Then, I'll try to teach her piano lessons, twice a week (once she gets a small electric piano, the cheap one of course..hehehe!) . I've read at the Baby Center that once you teach the child how to play the piano as early as 3 years old, they will be good in maths and logic when they grow older. I was never good in maths even if I had piano lessons, but maybe because I was already about 9 years old (?) when I had my first lesson. Too late huh? So better try it out and start early with Tricia so, she won't be like her mom who cried in college coz she almost failed/dropped Math 11..hahaha!!embarrassing!

So, there goes the schedule to keep my 3 1/2 old girl busy. I just hope everything will turn out well; gymnastic classes will be cheap, we can get a good quality electric piano for a cheap price ( not the disposable one..I mean the one that gets broken after 1 use) and I'll have more time and motivation,( coz I can get lazy at times and just end up putting cartoons in the dvdplayer) to let her do some other activities. All the best for me and Tricia! :)

15 things that change when you have a baby

Found this from Baby Center and would like to share with you too.. this is just so true for me. Italics added are my own comments.

15 Things that Change when you have a Baby.

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms. - Actually the baby smells better than the sweetest roses..:)

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid. - hahaha! so true!! that's why my hubby keeps on wondering why I could drive the Lapasan Hi way before with our 'kagang, kagang (worn out) jeepy and now i'm so afraid to drive and even just to park the car in the garage. Is there hope for me? hehehe!

3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices. Everything is just so worth it.

4. You respect your body ... finally. - Imagine, God has given our body the ability to nurture and grow beautiful babies.

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way. - yes, they've gone through a LOT taking care of us too. I wonder if we were babies easy to take care.

6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own. - Countless of times I've been teary-eyed or felt like crying too when my baby felt pain..like Tricia's first immunization.

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

9. Your heart breaks much more easily. :)

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day. - Yes, now, I have 3 ( hubby and 2 kids) people to think of 234,836,178,976 times a day. hmm...I have a very occupied mind.

11. Every day is a surprise

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!) -heheheh! I remembered , several years back when I was still in my teens, I swore that I'll never have to wipe poop for anyone even my kids as I really disliked it. My siblings asked, what if i'll have my own kids, who will wipe their poop. And I retorted, my husband will!. hahahha!


13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself. - This one, I can't relate much. I'm not so fond of looking at myself in the mirror. I can even survive without one. But what I know, I couldn't stop staring at my baby and won't get fed up staring at him.

14. You become a morning person. - no choice..

15. Your love becomes limitless. - abounding

sparkpeople.com

I created this account last year in this website. Actually, that was before I conceived Lyle, but wasn't able to really use it ever since. This is actually like and interactive website on how to lose weight..hahaha!! Actually, it's quite nice since it motivates you to have a healthy lifestyle for you to lose weight and not like the 'quick and easy' diet fads we always hear. Healthy Lifestyle...yes, that's what I need..I can still hear my sister's voice echoing in my ear, "You're lifestyle isn't healthy, Love. Here, drink more of the fruit juice!" :)

Anyways, just this afternoon, I thought of dropping by the site again, and I got hooked! Been reading , reading their articles, member's blogs and etc for hours. So, I guess, I'm very motivated now and thinking to 'seriously' eat healthily and start my Spark Plan...no more junk foods, no more coke??? hmmm....good thing, this site doesn't encourage drastic change of eating habits or meals..but it encourages you to start sloooowww...

So, as I'm still in Level 1 of the plan, I just have to do 3 things consistently for two weeks and only then I go up to level 2..

1) drink 8 glasses of water everyday...yes, this may seem the very basic but only then I realize I fall short of this at times...

2)Eat breakfast rich in fiber...that's no problem for me coz I love breads and this includes wheat bread.

3) Exercise for 10 mins. a day....hmm..10 mins is quite reachable..but everyday??I hope so...hmm..does that include, carrying Lyle and walking up and down the stairs?

So, that's it..I just hope I can keep up with this...I'm usually so good and excited in starting things but not in finishing it...but anyhow, I'll keep you update in my diet/fitness plans..heheheh! I just hope I can continue with this and live a healthly lifestyle and not to mention keep off the extra pounds I've gained from chidbearing..:)

Missing Z....

" Amma, when I close my eyes, I see Z's face. Do you see Granny your Mother when you close your eyes too?" Tricia once said and asked a few nigths ago. Z is Tricia's cousin, who was here just about 3 weeks ago. And I think she's missing him without her realizing it. From time to time she would mention his name and remember him whenever she eats the jelly they used to eat together. There were good times for them as well as bad times as it's normal for kids to fight. They'll fight but them be giggling again the next minute and are like bestfriends! This is the beauty of children, they never hold grudges like adults..hehehe!

Now back to Tricia and Z. I could still remember their reaction the first time they saw each other at the airport. They ran to each other, were so happy and immediatly held each others hands. They looked so cute! Then, they continued to hold hands from the airport's arrival area, crossed the street, ...all the way to the parking lot until they have no choice but to let go since they have to get inside the car. Then, on the way, Z was trying to talk to Tricia but in our dialect (Bisaya) . So, his mom told him, " Speak English Z kay dili man makasabot si Tricia" Speak English because Tricia won't be able to understand you". But as 'show -off' as she is she showed off her very limted bisaya and asked Z.."Unsa imong ngalan?" What is your name?" hahahah!

During the first few days together, we really didn't have any problems with them. There fights only started on the 3rd or 4th day. I think they were too bored also, as we adults didn't really give them any activities to do as we were also busy chatting and doing our own thing.

Anyway, here are more pictures of Z and Tricia. It's not just Tricia missing Z but all of us here too (even his Teacher jun2). I miss his cute, chubby hands tightly holding mine whenever we are in the mall. I miss his " whatever to you!' line whenever he rans out of English words or couldn't understand what Tricia is saying. I miss his curly black hair and pouting lips whenever his angry. But to Z, we'll see you at the end of 2008 or maybe 2009.

Weekend with Friends...

Eversince our little boy was born, more friends either comes by to our house for a visit or invite us out which is really good. :) Two days ago, 2 couples ( 1 Thai couple and Thai-American couple) came by for Lyle's 1 month bday..:) Of course we didn't have any celebration but these sweet couples remembered Lyle's 1 'monthsary' and came, brought some snacks and we had fun chatting with them.

( Baby Lyle with Lung Sak and Na Nok....but who's that at the back with a messy hair??)

( Baby Lyle with Uncle Rob and Na Nui who's also 4 1/2 months preggy)

( Eye to eye with Uncle Rob)

Then just this evening, some more friends ( 8 of them!) came and we had dinner together. Then, next week, we're already booked with the same group to go to one of our friends' house and have a Filipino "Fiesta". Yes! and we are all excited. Over dinner we discussed what should be our 'potahe" and at the end of the 'meeting' we came up with : The ever-present Adobo, Eschabeche, Bistek, Menudo and Crabs ..with Mango float as our dessert and of course, COKE as our drink!! Hmmm...sounds great huh! I'm excited for next Saturday! :) Wanna join us?

It's really great to spend time with friends and praise God for the friends all around us. I'm looking forward for more weekends spent with friends.

Blogs...blogs..blogs..

Am I a blog addict now?..hmm...I'm not so sure..hehehe! But one thing for sure , blogging keeps me occupied and serves some kind of an outlet for me being a stay-at-home mom. Blogging or internet for that matter, keeps me in touch with the world even if most of the time I'm just here at home doing routine stuff. It's kinda funny though that even in my 'busy' schedule of the juggling act of taking care of the kids and stuff, I still find time being online. But as what I've said, it's an outlet for me so, I try hard to find the time and maybe that is to keep me sane too..hehehe! Just like the fact that I couldn't just stay in our house for a whole week without going out.. ( if that happens, that'll be a miracle but for sure you'll find a grumpy me.) So, that explains why we go out to Carrefour few times a week even just to buy bread.

But it was quite a comfort to know a few days ago, that I'm not alone. I was able to find out from my friend that she's like me too. She couldn't stay in the house for several straight days especially that she's homeschooling. She even said that in a week, they set a time for her to just go out alone ( without the kids and hubby) and have some time for herself to be refreshed and renewed. She finds it very helpful for her and for her family too because if she can not have her time alone, she'll really be very cranky the following week..hehehe!

My hubby also encouraged me to do that too and again been prodding me to pick up on my driving so I can go out on my own anytime..but I guess I've just been lazy of being 'independent' for the past years..so used to depend on my Hubby for everything and be like princess...but maybe, I will try to do that..go out alone, have time for myself without kids and all...but where will I go? What will I do then??? Maybe i'll just end up thinking of my hubby and kids the whole time while I'm out....hahaha! Hmmm...that just proves that I don't have a 'life' on my own anymore..everything is just about my family...okay..I'll do that next week..:)

Can anyone babysit my kids for an afternoon next week??

An Intercultural Day

Last Sunday was quite an interesting Sunday. It was Lyle's first Sunday in the church and many people were surprised that he was already born!..hahaha!It means we haven't been to church for a few Sundays because when our families were here, we just held our own services in the house and there was a Sunday that my Hubby was travelling too.

So, in the afternoon, a Korean family friend came over to our house. They had two kids and Tricia was just so happy to see them and play with them. Surprisingly, they invited us to go out for dinner with them and we did. We really had a good time of fellowship with them even if there were a bit of language difficulties on our part. The kids can speak very good english (since they're bot studying in an international school), that's why Tricia can really relate with them but the parents are quite struggling with English so, we all ended up speaking in Thai the whole evening. And oh my, their Thai is just excellent and mine is terrible..huhuhuh!! It's just like talking to a Native Thai speaker..so, at times I just ended up just smiling, nodding my head but still trying to figure out what they just said..hahaha!

Then, just as we were leaving the restaurant, our American family friend called us and invited us to their house! :) So, since we were already out, with kids in tow..we decided to drop by. And as expected Tricia was so excited too as they also had a boy who's Tricia's age. When we went there, they were celebrating a birthday with another American family and 2 single girls. Instead of just dropping by we ended up staying there for hours just chatting and chatting and with Tricia happily playing with the other kids and baby Lyle sleeping all the way even when he was being passed from one person to another. This time communication was not much of a problem as we don't have to speak thai with them anymore..hehehe!

It was really interesting being in fellowship with people from 2 different countries in a day. You can see big differences in culture and communication. The only common factor and which changes everything is that everyone has that Christ-like love and that's why we could all relate to them even with the cultural and language differences. :)

Racoon eyes,sleepless nights....ZZZzzzzz..

If anyone sees me now, they will surely notice my racoon eyes...yes, dark, deep circles under my eyes..the visible sign of having a new baby from sleepless nights..hehehe!! Baby Lyle sleeps sweetly the whole day and is fully alert and awake at night! aiyooo... he's a night person like his Amma and Appa. Or maybe more of a dawn person. By the time we would settle down to sleep , that will be the time he's awake! hahahah! But even when we're tired, so sleepy, dizzy and groggy we couldn't help but smile and adore him whenever we see him with his eyes wide open and ready to 'play'. Like his Ate Tricia, he wants to be 'entertained' when he's awake. Good thing though, he doesn't want to be carried much, so less backache for us now. :)

So, I guess we will somehow get used to these 'sleepless' nights until he can sleep throughout the night..When would that be? When he reaches 5 months? hmmm..so, that would be another 4 more months to go..:)

My Mother and Mom in Law

" Is it okay that you're Mother and Mother in Law are together in your house?", my American friend asked. I was wondering about this question because my Husband also had the same question from 2 of his friends. I think mother and mother in laws together in one roof used to be a recipe for disaster..hehehe!! As what my friend said, they couldnt put her Mom and Mom in Law in the same house!..hahaha!But, I'm thankful that my Mom and mother in law are such peaceful and loving people that they or we didn't have any problem at all. They were both in our house for 2 weeks and even shared rooms.

Even if they are both from different backgrounds (yes, entirely different backgrounds) and different cultures ( my mom's a 100% true blooded Pinoy and my mom in law is a Malaysian Indian) but they are like buddies and choose to adjust and understand each other. I overhear them talk about their husbands, their family and etc. It was a good time of fellowship together as they only seldom see each other. They even gave each other gifts..the same gift..hahaha!they had one mind..My mom gave my Mom in law shoes as pasalubong and my mom in law also gave my Nanay shoes as pasalubong!hahaha!joker! and the shoes are either one size smaller or bigger for them..hehee!

I'm just truly grateful to God for our loving Nanay and Amma, they are such a blessing in our lives and learning so much from them. We love you both soooooo much and we'll miss you!but see you soon!

Z and TRICIA

Bestfriends???.....

(Tricia and Z's first meeting at the airport..Love at first sight!)

or

ENEMIES??

(At the hospital, there were fighting over the hidden 'microphone' they're both holding.)

SWEET???

(Tricia feeding Z taken after Z's birthday celebration)

OR

BITTER??

( yes, they are arguing!!)

Ano ba talaga kids??..You both gave Amma, Appa, Mamay and Daddy alot of headaches..hahahaha!! But it was fun!! I'm sure you're both missing each other na!..But I know you''ll both be great buddies when you're older.

The Summary..

Yes, it has been almost a month since my last blog..and so many things has happened ever since: My family (Mom, Sis, nephew and cousin) came, my Mom in Law came, I gave birth to a handsome baby boy..:), my family went back home and so did my Mom in Law. huhuhhuh!!

I won't be telling much about my baby here since I've also created a separate blog for him..:) But my birth experience was really pleasant! My family was around and the hospital where I was admitted was really good!! The service was 1st class..the nurses and attendants treated me like a Princess! The facilities were excellent. We were like in a hotel. The room had cable tv, microwave, water heater, fridge and WI FI!!hahaha! That explains, why I was already chatting the day after my operation, which left a lot of my friends confused!hahaha! They were asking me, "I thought you just delivered, then why are you online now?".

So, all these comforts for only 34,000 Baht. By the way, I had a CS operation and stayed in the hospital for 5 nyts and days. When I calculated it in Pesos, the bill was almost the same when I delivered Tricia in the Philippines (without the Philhealth deduction) and we were in a WARD (with 3 other patients) that time..and my poor husband had to sleep on the dirty floor!! haaayyyy...and good thing we only stayed for 2 nyts and I got discharged immediately (which was a relief!).

So, the past few weeks was indeed busy. We were busy going around town too. heheheh! My family did their shopping and ate in a few restaurants to try the Thai food. :) I even had to go out for grocery a day after I got discharged to buy things for Baby Lyle's dedication. hehehe! (laagan gyd!).... to be continued