Wednesday, September 29, 2010

the hoodie gang

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="K, Big M, J, Little M"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="K, Big M, J, Little M"][/caption]

I love taking pictures of all of these kids together, especially when they are all smiling.

Kids, it is my wish that you all stay close as you are now throughout your lives. It his highly likely that you will disperse throughout the country, and even perhaps outside the country but I want you to stay in touch even if it's just by email. I want you all to be friends, to be able to call on each other in times of need, for support and to cheer each other on. If I give you nothing else of my culture but this, I will be very happy. Family is important.

You don't need to jeopardize your own stability in order to help each other, like many other Filipinos do. Enable each other to do better. Always repay your debt; financially, or emotionally.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Big M, the cowboy



He is now a true Texan and is very familiar with the Texas State Flag. I lived in IL for 5 years when I went to high-school there, lived in VA for 9 years and I can't tell you what their state flag look like. I probably could recognize VA on a multiple choice, though.

Friday, September 24, 2010

the amazing Ergo baby carrier

izzy.minti.com

The Ergo is pretty amazing. I bought the first one out of necessity with Big M, then I bought a second one when the twins were born (one each for Daddy and I) and now I get to use it for Little M. For the most part, Little M is an easy baby and is happy on the floor as long as someone plays with him. But he is cranky lately, so I've had to wear him. The girls thought it might be cool to be the "baby" so here they are. If memory serves, Ergo claims to hold a baby up to 45 lbs.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="351" caption="K - approx 45 lbs."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="419" caption="J - approx 40 lbs"][/caption]

Thursday, September 23, 2010

showing off art & school work


izzy.minti.com

In order to keep up with the school art and school work that a mother should be keeping (but I don't), I have created another blog. I don't consider myself a pack rat, though I do keep a few things (actually, they're mostly the hubby's things). But the things that I do keep are becoming overwhelming. Having to lug boxes and boxes of things from state to state, house to house is becoming very tiresome. So the idea here is to scan and post selected school work, not only to keep them forever, but to see the children's progress. I also think it would be fun for them to browse through when they are all grown.

Just click on the "Little Picassos" link on the menu bar.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

sisters


These two are the perfect example of the "love/hate" relationship. But even with all the nonstop bickering they do (which drives me crazy), they find strength and peace in each other's presence.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Balloon Festival

We witnessed our family's first ever Balloon Festival last weekend in this Texan heat. We saw parachuters first which were really just a tiniest speck in the sky until it got close to the ground. I wish I had more than a point and shoot camera for this day. The kids thought they were cool, for a moment anyway. Big M found a girl catching crickets and so they bonded over that most of the afternoon. It was a good thing really. The crickets were better off in the little girl's container than hopping around freaking me out. Although I kept pretty calm since we were with new friends. Didn't want them thinking I'm weird and all.

The girls stayed in our blanket playing with their new friend, also 3 years old. We tried to keep cool, but you can only do that so much in this humid hot weather. At one point in the evening there was absolutely no breeze at all. K and Big M were soaked with sweat.

The balloon launch was pretty to watch, but not as cool as the balloon glow. That was beautiful. What's not beautiful is the fact that the kids had to go potty. It's never a good thing when you have to use a port-a-potty. With 50,000 people roaming around... well, yuck.

When dark came we oohed and aahed  at the beautiful glowing balloons while trying to avoid all manners of bug life forms. Thank goodness for our new friends coming prepared with bug repellent wipes. Daddy took Big M to slide on a few inflatables and then we were out of there. Three hours in the hot humid weather and we were all spent.

Friday, September 17, 2010

first baby food






You would think this baby is being starved the way he attacks my hand.







Big M had fun shooting this video, not to mention highly amused by his little brother's enthusiasm toward the rice cereal.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Lessons learned this week

Raising four kids is a tough job, especially when there is a pair of twins. Raising twins is a lot of trial and error. Here are some life lessons I learned this week:

1. Make sure they potty before biking because biking gets the motion going.

2. Make sure they go potty before taking a walk because walking gets the motion going.

3. Watching 2-3yo twins on bikes and pushing a baby in a stroller while going around the neighborhood is foolish. Go back, abandon the bikes and let them walk instead.

If all else fail, don't be afraid to stay home until the children are 18 yrs old.

That is all.
izzy.minti.com

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

baby, slow down!



My youngest, my baby, is speeding through his infancy. It makes me both sad and happy. It's a strange feeling. I snuggle him and think wow I'm not going to have this for very long. Yet I marvel at how fast he is reaching milestone after milestone. When I pick him up from his bed, he reaches out both his hands to touch my face. I can easily imagine the gesture to mean to soothe me as if to say, "Mommy, it's Ok. I love you!"

Three weeks ago, he started sitting on his own for a few seconds at a time. Today, he can sit up even longer.  And of course he is in the process of trying to figure out how to crawl. Today Little M is 5 months and 5 days old.

















Monday, September 13, 2010

a 5-year old's morning routine

It's that time again to brag about my first born. About 2 weeks before Kindergarten started, I gave Big M a list of things to do before he comes downstairs in the morning. He must go potty, brush teeth, and change his clothes. Amazingly, he loves it so this has been his morning routine ever since. Oh, and how it makes my life so much easier! All I have to do is wake him up at 6:30 in the morning, and he does his own thing while I go and get J and K ready and doing the same thing. By 6:45, the kids are all downstairs eating breakfast and by 7:25 we are out the door. Big M's morning routine doesn't stop on weekdays either, come rain or shine and weekends he comes down all dressed up.

I knew I had something special here, but didn't know exactly how much until I hear some of his friends' parents complaining about how difficult it is to get their sons/daughters out in time in the morning.

I don't show him enough, but I am super proud!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

spent more but had lots of fun



On Labor Day we decided not to fight the crowds and go biking in the park instead, and it would be cheaper. But the girls have outgrown their trikes so we needed to buy bikes and helmets. But the 2 bikes and 3 helmets ended up costing more than going out, but we definitely had fun, that is, after the girls figured out how to pedal. We somehow didn't anticipate that pedaling would be a problem. Big M went on ahead and had to wait for the rest of us, while Daddy worked with K, and I worked with J. They both put weight on the pedals backward which not only prevented them from going forward, we couldn't even push them forward. After a few minutes, we switched girls, and after much frustration, I was able to help K finally get it. So K was cruising along and Daddy and J were far behind. Daddy was about to lose it, so we switched again so I could work with J. I was so frustrated I just ended up laughing like a lunatic. Then she finally got it! So for the second half of our time, we were able to walk while the 3 kids biked. While waiting for all of us to catch up, Big M hunted for bugs. He found a cricket which he planned on scaring me with.



Thank goodness the cricket had other plans and hopped off before getting to me. Big M then proceeded to look for his cricket friend. When they were reunited, cricket hitched a ride on Big M's back.

Big M's bike was inherited from Daddy's friend. He loves it because it looks like a motorcycle. He gets to be a cool dude. He still needs training wheels though. We don't allow him to bike nearly enough to work on balance. I'm planning on making the trip to the park a weekly event, so hopefully he can master his balance soon enough.



About a quarter through the path when the girls have mastered pedaling, the kids were soon raising each other to be in the front. Thankfully we didn't have to work on steering!

The weather was not as hot as previous days and because we went to the park early at 9:30. By 10 it was getting warm so we set up a blanket and had some snack, and to check for stinky diaper. Little M quiet the entire time. He was enjoying the sights and sounds.


Little M scratches his face very hard at night!



By 11am when the temperature was hitting 80 ish, we let the kids play in the playground and then hightailed out of there to get ice cream!


The kids had a lot of fun. They've been wanting to go outside, but it's just been so hot. We are starting to hover in the 9o's now, so maybe, hopefully, it'll cool down soon.

[gallery link="file"]

Saturday, September 4, 2010

could it be that we have our very own easy baby?

I hope I don't have to eat my words when we reach the terrible 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s, but Little M proved to be an easy one today, at least when it came to taking formula for the first time since he came home from the hospital. Daddy played Mr. Mom to Baby M, J and K today when I took Big M to a friend's party. It was fairly far from home so I knew I may be gone 3 hours or so, so I bought formula and a set of baby bottles this morning. I was pretty considerate with Daddy and breastfed before I left so he didn't have a cranky one to deal with. But he was apparently cranky anyway. Two hours after I was gone, I told Daddy the go ahead. Daddy made 8 ounces of formula and Little M chugged 3 ounces in no time. I didn't want him to eat too much, so I told Daddy not to give the whole thing....which then made for a crankier baby.

Regardless of the crankiness, we were pretty amazed at the drama-less way in which he took the formula and the bottle! I remember Daddy making several trips to the store just to get different kinds of bottles for Big M just so we could get him to take formula. This was before my milk came in, which took 2 weeks.

Could we really finally have an easy baby? Not that we didn't deserve one. Every family should have one of these. Strong-willed for a first and twins for second and third. Yeah, we deserve one.

belting it out at the grocery store







What's hard to tell on this short video is that K was singing very loudly. Perhaps she will get discovered by a music producer this way and then Mommy and Daddy will never have to work ever again.