i’m easy!

No, this isn’t a post about my bedroom shenanigans . More like I’m bored, I haven’t posted in ages, and I thought this title would catch your attention! Did it?!

There’s been a lot of goings-on in my life –some I can’t really share here (although I’d love to), and some that I do want to share. Life’s been good. Like I said, I’m easy and I’ve been more or less content. Work and the kids keep me busy. The kids especially are a hoot. I can spend hours gushing about them, but no, I’m not the kind of mom who can only talk about her kids and nothing else. I do want to share some of their cool tricks:

Rockstar baby (or rather, rockstar boy):

After turning 2.5 years old in the summer, he can do a 20-piece puzzle by himself!

He likes picking out his own clothes and shoes (although I feel he’s been doing that already)

He likes singing along to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” –especially the “oh-oh-ohs” and the “put a ring on it” part.

Once, when I threatened him with a time-out, he actually said “So?” back to me!

He can identify the letters: O, X, and J!

Lil C (aka, the Bean):

Lil C has been very busy. She started standing (using props) at about 7.5 months!

She can now stand by herself without any aids and can use a walker and take steps!

She can wave goodbye, claps her hands, shake her head to refuse something, and is very high-maintenance.

No one can make her laugh like her kuya!

She’s learning to pick up food and trying to put it in her mouth.

What else is new? Well I got into a car accident last week. Not fun, but I wasn’t seriously injured and the kids weren’t in the car thank goodness. I was rear-ended by a car going about 30 mph. The other car’s airbags deployed and everything and had to be towed away. This is probably the biggest accident I’ve gotten into. I have back and neck pain galore (I’m actually standing while typing this because sitting is not comfy), and will be going to physical therapy. But other than that…I’m taking it easy –especially since the holidays are coming.

Speaking of holidays, I’m easy to shop for! Hee-hee. Gift cards from Starbucks, Target, Toys R Us (for the children’s use), Amazon or Sephora are always good. Nothing fancy. Like I said, I’m easy!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving to everyone!

P.S. I’ll start posting on a regular basis again!

the last post of the year!

Just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR filled with hope, happiness, health, wealth, many blessings, and fun adventures! Have a great 2008!

oh yeah!!!

The Transformers movie kicked arse!!#&*#$!! Run, don’t walk to your nearest theater to see it!! It was fucking sick!!

I’ll leaving for San Franciso tomorrow and will be back on July 10th –hurray for holidays!

I’ll be one year older when I get back from my holiday! I will officially be a “thirty-something” on July 9. Yikes. But hey, I still feel like a kid and I’ll celebrate like one!

When I get back, I get to celebrate my birthday with a Harry Potter Party! I’ll be watching Order of the Phoenix on IMAX with my friends! That should be another kick-arse movie!

See you all when I get back!

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Motherhood and Other Musings Part 3 Rockstar baby…

Motherhood and Other Musings Part 3

Rockstar baby is now 3 months old. He’s grown so much in such a short period of time. When we brought him from the hospital, he was like this tiny, tiny, little kitten. Now, he’s a rolly-polly guy who coos, chuckles, and makes a hundred facial expressions! Many friends ask me how motherhood is. It’s a great experience so far. The first 6-8 weeks are probably the hardest, especially if you are nursing. There were a couple of weeks when baby was nursing for hours at a time! There was a period of time too when baby woke up every hour during the night!

Now, we have a routine going since we’ve gotten to know each other very well. I even know when to expect his morning poo and afternoon poo! Plus, baby is sleeping for up to 5 hours at a time at night –waking only once during the night, and once in the early morning for a feeding. But of course, the minute you think you know what you’re doing, that’s when other things pop up!

Lately, baby has been on a bottle strike. I’ve been nursing him about 90% of the time but will feed him a bottle if we’re out and about. But for the past week now, he’s refusing to feed from a bottle whether it’s formula or breastmilk. This is a big change. Before, you feed him anything and he’ll eat it. Now, when the hubs and I try to feed him from a bottle, he’ll scream bloody murder and cry and cry and cry. It’s so funny, the minute he sees the bottle in our hands, he will start squirming around, fidgeting, and making sound of protest. The other day, he even knocked the bottle from my hand! The poor hubs is bearing the brunt of this bottle-strike since he has to take care of the baby when I go out at night to practice. I’m also playing 2 shows this week, so I’ll be out at least 3 times this week. The hubs is even hesitant to celebrate our anniversary next week. Hopefully, baby will stop being such a rockstar and drink his bottle by next Thursday!

Other than the bottle issue though, taking care of rockstar baby is the best. I love playing with him and reading him stories, and I love it when he babbles back! He also enjoys taking baths, getting his hair blow-dried (since he has a lot of it, the hubs and I blow-dry it a bit for a couple of minutes), playing in his bouncer and swing, and loves eating his hand. I am already dreading putting him into daycare come September!

Other News: I’m back to playing with my band Plastiq Passion, and we’re playing 2 shows this week! I haven’t even practiced that much since I don’t have the time during the day or night, so I hope I don’t mess up! The first time I practiced, I couldn’t remember my parts –and this was for a song that I wrote! Wish me luck!

Mother’s Day and Other Reunions Belated Mother’s …

Mother’s Day and Other Reunions

Belated Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. I didn’t get a chance to greet a lot of women since I had a very busy weekend. This past Saturday, we had a mini-reunion with some of my titas and cousins I haven’t seen in a long time. My tita and cousins from Kentucky were in town for a wedding and we gathered for an early brunch in Chinatown. My other tita from NJ was also there, along with my cousin Mao who just arrived from the Philippines. It’s always a fun and boisterous event whenever my mom and her sisters get together. We cousins always get a kick poking fun at our titas because they are such crazy characters! Wish all our other cousins could’ve been there!

Cousins Unite!

Girl Cousins Unite!

Then on Sunday, we hosted a small party at our house for my very first Mother’s Day. We invited both families over and spent the whole day eating, chatting, playing Texas Hold ‘Em, and watching basketball. We gave our moms photo albums of rockstar baby’s first three months and they loved it.

Me and My Momma

Me, the Hubs, and Rockstar Baby

Rockstar baby gave me a sweet card that read:

Dear Mommy,

Thank you for being patient with me,

taking care of me, teaching me, and cleaning me up after I poo.

I’m very lucky to have you as my mom.

Happy Mommy’s Day!

Your favorite son, Jakey

The hubs gave me a great gift: JBL speakers for my iPod! And a whole slew of thoughtful friends sent texts wishing me a Happy Mother’s Day. Thanks to my friends: Alina, Trish, Girlie, Jill, Sol, Jesica, Priya, Gail, and Dearly for the greetings! Thanks to Christina for sending me a card, Renee for a fabulous e-card, and Jaz, Analyse, Bugsy, and Evi for their greetings! (Thank you and sorry if I missed anyone!)

Mom, I’m Sorry: True Stories from My Wonder YearsG…

Mom, I’m Sorry: True Stories from My Wonder Years

Growing up the eldest of three kids, I certainly bore the brunt of my parents’ strictness. First of all, I am female. Secondly, we moved to the U.S. during my adolescent years, so my parents were doubly strict: because a) I’m a girl and b) I’m a girl growing up in this whole new environment. I matured with a quickness since I had to help out with our new life here. This meant that I couldn’t go get pizza with my friends after school, but I could take public transportation by myself to pick up my little brother from the babysitter. This meant that I could not go the mall with my friends without one of my parents with me, but I could go the laundromat by myself and do the laundry for the family. So of course, growing up, I had to rebel in my own “still-obedient-to-my-parents-way” with a side of up yours!

• When I was 12, I *trimmed* my little brother Eric’s eyelashes. He was 4 years old at the time. It was in part because I was sick of having to take care of him all the time, and partly because I was jealous that his eyelashes were way prettier than mine (and they still are, dammit!). They are thicker and curlier than ever. Serves me right.
• When I was 13 and in the 7th grade, I ditched school for a day through an elaborate plan of mine, just so I could spend the day with this guy who was not quite my boyfriend, but someone who I really liked at the time (but of course, turned out to be a loser). Yes, I got caught after the fact and my mom did not speak to me for several months. She didn’t even let me go to school for a week. (Later that year, I finally did meet a boy worthy of becoming my boyfriend.)
• When I was 15, I started my “Goth” phase and wore black all the time and listened mostly to “Gothic” music. (Aside: “Gothic” is in parentheses because the music I listened to shouldn’t really be confined to that one genre!) I dyed my hair every color of the rainbow and constantly got detention at my private school for breaking the dress code. I was sullen, mostly “depressed” because I couldn’t spend time with the boyfriend (or other friends for that matter), and loathed my parents for their strictness. Oddly enough though, my parents did like this boy and knew how much he meant to me (even though they were in denial about the relationship). A couple of years ago, my mom even asked how he was.
• When I was 16, I pretended that I had school (even though we were off for a special teacher’s meeting day) and instead, spend the whole day with the boyfriend roaming the streets of Los Angeles. What a great day that was.
• When I was 19 and in college, I started to “experiment.” I started to smoke cigarettes, drink a lot, and experiment with let’s say… some “organic” products. Funny enough, I was quite a late bloomer in comparison to my peers. Heck, I got buzzed off one Midori sour the first night I tried my hand at social drinking! Two years later, my mom found out about the cigarette-smoking when she caught me smoking a butt out in our backyard. So much for the breathmints and air freshener technique! But then she couldn’t get that mad since she was a smoker herself for several years before quitting, and I only smoked for a couple of years and quit.
• When I was 20, I went away for a holiday with my then-boyfriend (let’s call him ‘The Loser’) and told my mom I went with some girlfriends instead.
• When I was 22, I went away for a holiday with my then-husband-to-be and told my mom I went with a group of girlfriends.

As you can see, most of my shenanigans involved boys (but just to clarify, I only had 3 boyfriends in my life (the third is now my hubs). My mom doesn’t see “dating” as a proper thing for people to do (but if it involves people other than her own children, she’s so quick to be a matchmaker).

Of course in retrospect, I know it was wrong to lie to my parents. Now, my mom and I are close in our own way. It took us a while to get to where we are now, but at this point, yes I can finally turn to her and confide things regarding love and relationships. It started when I realized she needed to know how I felt about my then hubs-to-be. Now, we’re a little more open with each other. Growing up though, it was very hard.

I can only hope that I can be a kind of mother than my children can confide things to –even when it’s a touchy subject. My mom and dad did an excellent job in raising me. I know I am morally responsible because of them, and I can only hope to instill good morals in my children as they have done. I know they were strict because they wanted to protect me and I understand that. To a certain extent though, kids will one way or another get into a little bit of ‘trouble’ –it’s a part of growing up and that is something all parents will experience.

Sorry for all the shenanigans mom! I swear, I won’t do it again!

My Fridge This pic is for Toni. She took a photo …

My Fridge

This pic is for Toni. She took a photo of her own fridge and invited others to do the same –thus starting the Ref Door Project! My fridge door, unfortunately, isn’t as organized as hers, but it will be once I do a thorough cleaning on the kitchen (whenever that is! =).

My fridge has magnets that I acquired as souvenirs during my travels. There’s not a lot since I only recently started collecting the magnets. Prior to that, I collected shot glasses from my trips (and I have more than 50 of those before I realized I didn’t have that much space for them!) My fridge magnets hold up pictures and cards from our friends and family (as well as assorted coupons, receipts, etc). I also have random magnets from businesses, and a “vaci-wheel” that helps us remember when rockstar baby should get his vaccinations. I actually have more magnets somewhere, but can you believe I still haven’t unearthed them from when we moved to our house in August 2003?!

Happy Monday I got a new haircut this past Saturd…

Happy Monday

I got a new haircut this past Saturday. I went to Salon 5, and this was the first time I have been to a proper salon in a looong time. I don’t have a regular “stylist” or someone to go to for haircuts. My hair is very thin and fine and I figure no cut will ever change that. So I go to places like Supercuts for trims here and there. I’ve never been the type to go to their hairstylist every 6-8 weeks. Once in a while do I go to a salon if I want a change. I’ve been living in sweats and t-shits since becoming a mom, so I thought I’d try to make myself look fresh. Well, my new cut isn’t so drastic, but I did get it shaped with chunky layers and some side-swept bangs. I like it! And I love the chica who gave me the haircut, so I’ll be going to her from now on. I finally have a proper hairstylist! Next items on my list are a nice pedicure (it’s open-toe season my friends!) and a facial for my poor clogged pores! I may even get some punky highlights later on!

Here’s the cut though you can’t really see the layers in this pic (pardon my goofy smile):

Last Friday, I went to see Plastiq Passion, my former band! Yes, they have tossed me to the curb since I took a maternity leave from the band! Boo-hoo! It’s all good though. They said I can come back anytime and we’d just work out the new line-up. It was fun to watch them. My replacement, Deniz, was pretty good (though I’m still better! and it was great to get out and bob your head to the music. They also had a new song which I dig. I’m going to start practicing again with them and will most likely do guest vocals at their next show in Hoboken, NJ on May 10th at the Whiskey Bar. Do come check us out! The best part of the evening was… I had my first alcoholic drink since June 2005! Nothing major, just a Stoli Orange and cranberry –but 2 of them already put me in a nice buzz! Talk about lightweight! I guess I’ll have to work on my tolerance all over again!

My band without me

Milestones Rockstar baby got his first set of sho…

Milestones

Rockstar baby got his first set of shots (immunizations) yesterday. Poor little guy cried, of course, when they put the needles in (there were 3 shots in total)! But he toughed it out and was fine as soon as they were done. Luckily, he didn’t get any fevers of anything that night, and he was only a little more cranky than usual. He was also weighed yesterday and he was 10 lbs and 6 ounces. He’ll be 2 months old this Friday. I’m trying to fatten him up since I feel bad that he came out so little (at 6 lbs, 13 ounces). Then again, he decided to come out earlier than predicted! He should’ve been baking more a couple of weeks!

Today, I took him to get his Easter pics done. I have officially turned into a parent who takes their kid to get photos done. What a money-making machine, I must say. I went to Kiddie Kandids inside the Babies R Us store near me. The cheapest package they had was around $75 without tax! Of course, silly me didn’t check out the pricing until after the pictures were done –I had just assumed they would start around $30 or so. The good thing is you can get pics a la carte – which I did. Since rockstar baby can’t sit up yet, he had to be propped up. He was also very sleepy since I rudely woke him up from a nap, so he didn’t smile that much. In any case, I think the pics came out nicely.

Happy Easter!