Last Friday I was so glad school was out for Thanksgiving break. I was already packed up all of my things and dashed out of the school gates by 3pm. I felt like a jailbird who just got out of prison.
One of the things that I badly needed to do was get my car washed, so I went to Valero's car wash (it's the gas station off the corner of Sepulveda and Avalon after work). I have never taken the new car in to get it washed since I got it back in September. The lady working in the gas station was super nice, I had a pretty nice conversation with her and she even wished me a good thanksgiving. We were complete strangers, but she and I spoke as if we were long time neighbors.
The car wash service wasn't the only thing I bought. My pregnancy cravings called for gas station munchies--Flaming Hot Cheetos with Limon, Planters Honey Roasted Cashews and Minute Maid Cranberry Apple Juice. I know, it sounds like a weird combo of snacks but it's what the growing baby wanted at the moment at the gas station. Funny thing was that I also had the sudden urge to buy $5 worth of Super Lotto Quick pick. I can count on my fingers just how many times I've tried to be "in it to win it". This was a rare moment for me.
The crazy thing is that I had a strong gut instinct feeling that I will win something...and I did! I won $11 by hitting three lotto numbers. I missed out on $8 million, but I had no regrets. All in all, I won a net worth of $6 this past weekend. I guess I can count my winnings by considering that I got a free carwash out of Valero.
Question: Have you ever experienced winning something?
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thanksgiving Week
I'm really enjoying my Thanksgiving furlough. Sure, the paycheck this month has been drastically reduced, but the time I have been spending with my family is priceless. Priceless.
As I fold Maddy's laundry, I can't help but notice even more that Maddy is growing up too fast. Just an anecdotal record about Maddy.
As I fold Maddy's laundry, I can't help but notice even more that Maddy is growing up too fast. Just an anecdotal record about Maddy.
- Maddy just turned 10 months old.
- She can't keep still and quiet for longer than 1 minute and 13 seconds. It's really hard to bring her to places where you have to sit quietly for a long time. We haven't brought her to our church because we don't enjoy seeing an overly rambunctious Maddy disturbing the adult worship program. She's too small to sit in the adult worship, and too little to be with the elementary school aged kids in Junior Worship. Unfortunately our church doesn't have enough of a baby population yet to re-start a nursery. It makes me really sad that our church lacks this because we miss seeing all of our church family.
- We also don't eat out at restaurants very much anymore, unless it's kid friendly and the waitress doesn't mind the mess. Last time we ate at Cheesecake Factory in Brea, Maddy left a scattering of bannana puffs cereal on the floor. I'm pretty sure the waiters felt crunchy things under their shoes. We leave the waiters and waitresses a nice tip because we feel sorry for them.
- I had to throw all of her 9m clothes into the XXL Ziplock bag because she has already outgrown them all. She's ready to wear 18m clothes! WHOA!
- Maddy is now standing and cruising around the house...and she never gets tired!
- She babbles all day long with "ma-ma-ma" and "da-da-da". She also does consonant blends like "brrrrr". Maddy shouts at the top of her lungs. This girl has LUNGS! There have been moments when she has shouted into my ear and it left a ringing noise in my ear. Thanks a lot, Maddy!
- What I love the most is that she points to what she wants and knows how to clap her hands. She gets angry when we teach her "Close Open" with her hands. Maddy doesn't want you to make her do things she doesn't want to do.
- She is studying the Laws of Gravity. Maddy loves to drop things from her high chair, her exersaucer, the crib and hear the sounds of different objects crash. She thinks it's funny when we pick things up that she has dropped on the floor.
- It's hard to change her diaper. I have to give her something to shake or rattle while in the middle of the diaper change, otherwise she will want to sit up or crawl away with her bottom exposed.
- Because of Chewie the dog at her Lolo and Lola's house, Maddy thinks that every dog to her is Chewie.
- Maddy still has no teeth, but she loves to eat everything.
- Eczema is hardly even noticeable anymore, even in this dry winter season.
- She is terrified of the vaccuum cleaner.
- Maddy is still my carpool buddy. She only is 4lbs away from outgrowing the infant carseat carrier.
- She loves YouTube. My mom always plays Nora Aunor's tagalog folk songs, some Beyonce and Elmo's World.
- Maddy still enjoys Baby Signing Time and Sesame Street.
- I have yet to experience Maddy have a fever or a terrible flu. Erwil and I still keep opting not to let her have any flu shots. This girl stays really healthy, even when she's playing around other sick kids. Looking back, I didn't take any flu shots either while I was pregnant with Maddy. She has the immune system of a cockroach, just like her mommy.
- Even though Maddy doesn't talk, she understands little bits and pieces of cartoons. I was watching YoGabbaGabba with her and she laughed at a funny scene. I hit the rewind button to see if she would laugh again, and she did it again! Maddy is beginning to comprehend what's funny to her.
- Maddy always laughs at Chewie (the dog).
- We need to take her to meet Santa Claus. Hope she doesn't cry!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Kicking Off the Holiday Season
I realized that since I've been so focused on trying to prepare my students for back-to-back district exams, parent conferences and report cards I lost track of time. My students haven't done anything creative for Thanksgiving. They're just 9 years old, but they're expected to perform as if they were all college students! I'm feeling burned out as well. I'm tired of being the grouchy drill sergeant day after day.
After I turned in my LAST two sets of assessments into my grade level chair, I'm pulling the plug on pressuring these students and let them just be kids. It's time to make the classroom a place for kids to let their creativity shine. We are going to enjoy the last day before Thanksgiving break by doing lots of arts and crafts. I don't care if it's not related to CST's! I feel that we all worked hard enough and we need a special treat! I'm fortunate enough to have a great group of students who were able to persevere with me through this month.
Can't wait for Friday! Whoohoo!
After I turned in my LAST two sets of assessments into my grade level chair, I'm pulling the plug on pressuring these students and let them just be kids. It's time to make the classroom a place for kids to let their creativity shine. We are going to enjoy the last day before Thanksgiving break by doing lots of arts and crafts. I don't care if it's not related to CST's! I feel that we all worked hard enough and we need a special treat! I'm fortunate enough to have a great group of students who were able to persevere with me through this month.
Can't wait for Friday! Whoohoo!
The Countdown Has Started...
Dear Maddy,
You will be called Ate Maddy in 31 weeks! You're going to be a big sister!
Love and kisses,
Mom and Dad
Our family is growing! The countdown has started. Maddy will be an Ate (older sister) this coming June 2011. We couldn't be happier for the newest baby. Lots of parenting thoughts race through my mind just imagining how close the age gap between the two will be--18 months apart! Erwil and I will be even busier parents. We have to get ourselves reorganized and readjusted again just after finishing off with settling into a pattern with Maddy.
I must be the first one to admit that Erwil and I are just not good at waiting things out too long. Just look at how we blitzed through dating, engagement, marriage and having Maddy. We blazed through such huge life-changing milestones within the course of 2 years. You think we'd wait around and let time lapse around the best opportunities? That's almost highly unlikely for a happily married couple like us. God is masterful at orchestrating how such blessings arrives to us. Through it all, this 2nd pregnancy is teaching me a huge lesson that there's really no time or reason to waste away my short earthly lived life in doubt and worry.
It's not exactly a huge secret that I'm pregnant again. We wanted Maddy to have a sibling soon, but we just weren't exactly sure about when that would happen. I just remember being so concerned that I burned through all of my sick leave time this year when I had Maddy. While Erwil and I had a family planning conversation, I half-jokingly-and-half-truthfully told him that the ideal time to have another baby would be exactly at the end of the school year so that I can stay home with the baby the entire summer, and not have to be so concerned about leaving my 4th grade students mid-year. Lo and behold, I had gotten my wish! I am experiencing the perfectly timed "Teacher's Pregnancy." The baby's expected due date falls on June 25, 2011. Should I start bragging that my ovaries have such awesome timing in releasing egg cells? No, I swear we didn't do this on purpose! It just happened that way. Praise God for His perfect timing!
Everything about me health-wise is going smoothly. I just had my first ultrasound and listened to the baby's 8 week old heartbeat on November 10th. Wow! I was speechless while watching the monitor. Erwil sat there too, holding my hand throughout the event. I guess we're just so thankful that the baby's heartbeat is so strong and everything is checking out well as far as health. I still have to go in next week to get a prenatal blood test to rule out any severe genetic diseases. Hoping that will also go well, since the baby is still in the delicate 1st trimester stage of growth.
So many changes have started happening just in our household alone. Erwil packed up most of his action figures to make room for Maddy's new bedroom, which was our old office. I swear the days he took time carefully packing his GI Joe, Star Wars and Macross robots reminded me of the scene in Toy Story 3, when Andy had to decide what will be sent to the attic and what goes with him to college. Funny how our nesting phase begins much earlier this second time around because we are both so busy and tired from work. Erwil and I both know that we won't be able to take too much time off from our jobs, so we're using weekends and holiday breaks just to reorganize all baby stuff and clean up around the house. More importantly we do want to spend this remainder of time for Maddy, enjoy her as much as possible. Time does go by so fast!
Maddy is doing fine. She will be transitioning into her new bedroom just as soon as we get rid of our old office furniture and find a crib for her. She is too little for a toddler bed. My mind still can't wrap itself around the idea that there will be 2 baby cribs in the house! I think it's just denial that we will be twice as busy. The big consolation is that Maddy has such an easy-natured personality from the day she was born and still even up to now. I can't believe how a tiny soul can be so chill and always smiling about the world and the people around her. We're fortunate to experience having Maddy as our first child. Maddy has no idea or concept of what it is to be an older sibling yet, but we do know that she is happy being around other babies just watching her interact with her cousins. Hopefully, this doesn't change.
The new baby will inherit Maddy's nursery and everything else. We still have no idea if this one is a girl or boy, but thank goodness I chose lots of gender-neutral stuff that can be re-used again and again. Each time I pack away Maddy's tiny clothes into the storage containers, my heart goes, "Awwww!" The question is, will this be worn again? I can't help but wonder. Part of our whole entire family's excitement is guessing if this baby will be a girl or a boy. My intuition was strong enough to know that Maddy was a girl even way before the ultrasound confirmation. I wonder if I my Spider Senses will be right again the 2nd time around? Athough I feel the occasional flutters in my stomach much earlier now than what it was before with my first pregnancy, I have absolutely no idea who this person is growing inside my belly. We shall bond and see.
Erwil and I figure we'd just keep the two babies separated at first, being that Maddy is already set in her sleeping, playing and feeding routines and we have to implement new ones for the littlest one. I just keep hearing from many parents who had children back-to-back that it's nice seeing children grow up very close. I also hear how busy and hard it is at times to juggle around two little ones, but it gets better as they both get older. I sure hope so!
You will be called Ate Maddy in 31 weeks! You're going to be a big sister!
Love and kisses,
Mom and Dad
Our family is growing! The countdown has started. Maddy will be an Ate (older sister) this coming June 2011. We couldn't be happier for the newest baby. Lots of parenting thoughts race through my mind just imagining how close the age gap between the two will be--18 months apart! Erwil and I will be even busier parents. We have to get ourselves reorganized and readjusted again just after finishing off with settling into a pattern with Maddy.
I must be the first one to admit that Erwil and I are just not good at waiting things out too long. Just look at how we blitzed through dating, engagement, marriage and having Maddy. We blazed through such huge life-changing milestones within the course of 2 years. You think we'd wait around and let time lapse around the best opportunities? That's almost highly unlikely for a happily married couple like us. God is masterful at orchestrating how such blessings arrives to us. Through it all, this 2nd pregnancy is teaching me a huge lesson that there's really no time or reason to waste away my short earthly lived life in doubt and worry.
It's not exactly a huge secret that I'm pregnant again. We wanted Maddy to have a sibling soon, but we just weren't exactly sure about when that would happen. I just remember being so concerned that I burned through all of my sick leave time this year when I had Maddy. While Erwil and I had a family planning conversation, I half-jokingly-and-half-truthfully told him that the ideal time to have another baby would be exactly at the end of the school year so that I can stay home with the baby the entire summer, and not have to be so concerned about leaving my 4th grade students mid-year. Lo and behold, I had gotten my wish! I am experiencing the perfectly timed "Teacher's Pregnancy." The baby's expected due date falls on June 25, 2011. Should I start bragging that my ovaries have such awesome timing in releasing egg cells? No, I swear we didn't do this on purpose! It just happened that way. Praise God for His perfect timing!
Everything about me health-wise is going smoothly. I just had my first ultrasound and listened to the baby's 8 week old heartbeat on November 10th. Wow! I was speechless while watching the monitor. Erwil sat there too, holding my hand throughout the event. I guess we're just so thankful that the baby's heartbeat is so strong and everything is checking out well as far as health. I still have to go in next week to get a prenatal blood test to rule out any severe genetic diseases. Hoping that will also go well, since the baby is still in the delicate 1st trimester stage of growth.
So many changes have started happening just in our household alone. Erwil packed up most of his action figures to make room for Maddy's new bedroom, which was our old office. I swear the days he took time carefully packing his GI Joe, Star Wars and Macross robots reminded me of the scene in Toy Story 3, when Andy had to decide what will be sent to the attic and what goes with him to college. Funny how our nesting phase begins much earlier this second time around because we are both so busy and tired from work. Erwil and I both know that we won't be able to take too much time off from our jobs, so we're using weekends and holiday breaks just to reorganize all baby stuff and clean up around the house. More importantly we do want to spend this remainder of time for Maddy, enjoy her as much as possible. Time does go by so fast!
Maddy is doing fine. She will be transitioning into her new bedroom just as soon as we get rid of our old office furniture and find a crib for her. She is too little for a toddler bed. My mind still can't wrap itself around the idea that there will be 2 baby cribs in the house! I think it's just denial that we will be twice as busy. The big consolation is that Maddy has such an easy-natured personality from the day she was born and still even up to now. I can't believe how a tiny soul can be so chill and always smiling about the world and the people around her. We're fortunate to experience having Maddy as our first child. Maddy has no idea or concept of what it is to be an older sibling yet, but we do know that she is happy being around other babies just watching her interact with her cousins. Hopefully, this doesn't change.
The new baby will inherit Maddy's nursery and everything else. We still have no idea if this one is a girl or boy, but thank goodness I chose lots of gender-neutral stuff that can be re-used again and again. Each time I pack away Maddy's tiny clothes into the storage containers, my heart goes, "Awwww!" The question is, will this be worn again? I can't help but wonder. Part of our whole entire family's excitement is guessing if this baby will be a girl or a boy. My intuition was strong enough to know that Maddy was a girl even way before the ultrasound confirmation. I wonder if I my Spider Senses will be right again the 2nd time around? Athough I feel the occasional flutters in my stomach much earlier now than what it was before with my first pregnancy, I have absolutely no idea who this person is growing inside my belly. We shall bond and see.
Erwil and I figure we'd just keep the two babies separated at first, being that Maddy is already set in her sleeping, playing and feeding routines and we have to implement new ones for the littlest one. I just keep hearing from many parents who had children back-to-back that it's nice seeing children grow up very close. I also hear how busy and hard it is at times to juggle around two little ones, but it gets better as they both get older. I sure hope so!
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