Truffled Ruffle

Baby Make Up?

2012-02-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

Lately, Miss Clingy aka the Munch sits on top of the bathroom counter while I get ready for work (the Hubs or my mom is in the bathroom with us making sure Munchie doesn't tumble down) and I'm always amused at how much she as picked up. This week she grabbed one of my lip liners, removed the cap and proceeded to "line" her lips. She had lip liner all over her chin, BUT I was so proud because she figured out the lip liner goes around the mouth. She also picks up my foundation brushes and sweeps it across her cheeks. So cute, but it gives me a glimpse into the future and I'm not ready for my little girl to grow up so fast.

I always tell her that she's beautiful and she doesn't need any make up, but then I look down at my multiple bottles of foundation and palette after palette and eyeshadow and cringe for being hypocritical. I ran across this article from Fashionetc.com this week and started to slightly panic. Make up for a 7 year old? Cha right!

It will be interesting raising a girl in our hyper-everything world, but all we can really do is to hopefully instill a strong sense of self, confidence guidelines and hope she makes the right choices.

No Go

2012-02-07T15:57:00.000-08:00

Our realtor advised us today of what our offer for the house should come in at and it's about 30K above what we're comfortable paying based on our research of recent sold comps. We have a pretty intense spreadsheet factoring all sorts of things like upgrades, lot size and all that fun stuff. So we're going to pass on the house.

Home buying and selling is probably the most emotional transaction a person makes. We're used to seeing people price their homes above comps - "Well, this house has hardwood floors, this house has ." I know short sales are a pain, but banks don't have an emotional attachment to their assets, they just want to lose the least money possible. The search continues!

Potential

2012-02-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

Our home tours this weekend were fairly successful. There's one that has a lot of potential and we're hoping to make an offer this week. Eep! It's a standard sale and the seller is motivated, so we'll see what happens.

The first home we saw was a TOTAL dud. It's an older home and everything about it screamed 1970. I mean, carpet in the bathroom?!?! WUT. Why did people ever think that was a good idea?! The Hubs remarked to the listing agent that everything looked original i.e. freaking old and she kept saying, "But it's so well maintained." The Hubs rolled his eyes and replied, "Well maintained is updating your appliances every 40 years or so." I mean, take a look at the ovens:

Ugh, the floors and counter tops were terrible. Blerg. The listing agent kept going on and on about how clean it was. Er, dude, just because it's clean, doesn't mean it's 40+ years on it doesn't show.

The 2nd house was MUCH better. It's kind of move in ready, except for the bathrooms. We would have to gut and totally redo one bathroom before moving in because both of the bathrooms in there now are just gross. Other than the bathrooms, but house is fab with a super open floor plan AND potential for a huge master walk in closet with is something I thought I'd have to forgo with an older home.

I'm started to get really excited, even if we don't get this home, more and more keep popping up on the market as Spring nears. This is probably cheesy, but I really feel like we'll end up in the house that's meant to be, so we'll have to wait and see what's in store for us!

Catching Up

2012-02-03T09:17:00.000-08:00

At almost every daycare drop off this week, Munchie has cried, which is not like her. Usually, she leaps from my arms into her teacher's and barely even glances at me when I say bye. Another mom was walking out with me Wednesday and I mentioned how unusual it is for Munchie to cry when I drop her off and she said she's probably a developmental thing and she's might just be more clingy at this age.

I suddenly realized that I don't know much about the toddler age at all which shocked me. Before Munchie came, I read everything I could get my hands on and I perused multiple parenting message boards soaking in all the information I could. Ask me about breastfeeding, co-sleeping, introducing solids, first vaccines and I could give you all the multiple theories on each topic.

I only read up to 1 year and haven't read much for this next stage for Munchie. I felt so prepared before Munchie came and the first 12 months of her life, but now I feel so behind. Anyhow, dropping her off at school and trying to get ready for work is more a challenge because Munchie is so clingy, but I'll take it. She's not really much of a cuddler and that's all she wants to do right now and I'll take it because I'd deal with her wanting to hang out with me all the time instead of complaining she's totally over me. ;)

I'll just have to catch up on my reading when she's asleep.

Strings

2012-02-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

My parents are generously helping us with the down payment for our future casa, which is awesome, but doesn't come without a few caveats.

I sent my mom a link one of the homes we're checking out this weekend and immediately she was full of questions.

"Is it a good school district?"
"When did they do the upgrades?"
"Is it a good deal?"

The kicker came when we were discussing the price and I said I thought their asking price was fair, but we would negotiate. My mom went on to declare, "I don't want to pay market value, I want to pay below market value." Er, ok, but you're not the one buying a house, we are.

My parents are the quintessential Asian parents who have yet to realize their adult children can make adult decisions.

I know they are very anxious about us leaving the nest, actually scratch that, they are anxious about Munchie leaving the nest. My parents are always bragging to their friends that they just have to go down the hallway to see their grand kid anytime they fancy a visit.

We'll see how things go, but I'm SO READY to be in our own place that I'll deal with whatever I need to.

Showings

2012-02-01T15:50:00.000-08:00

This weekend we're going to check out a couple of potentials homes and I'm so excited. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but there is one home in particular that I love! Well, so far from the MLS listing. We're getting all of our financing in order and even though we've been looking for so long, it feels much more real now because we're on the cusp of finally graduation from our boomerang kid status.

I know my mom is going to be very sad about not having access to Munchie all the time, but she also knows we need to move into our own space.

Spring is quickly approaching and more and more homes keep popping up on the market, so let's hope we make it to our goal of moving out by June 30th!

The Ferbs Fail

2012-01-25T21:27:00.000-08:00

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but we're back at square one with the Ferberizing. Sigh. We were doing good and then Munchie got sick and the Hubs got sick blah blah. When we first decided to Ferberize, the Hubs agreed to read Dr. Ferber's book to completely understand how we would go about doing it.

When Munchie started deviating from the plan, Hubs had no idea what to do. I read most of the book, but that was 8 months ago and I didn't retain much.

Anyhow, I know this process will take at least a couple of months, so a few nights of set backs isn't the end of the world, but it would have been awesome if it did only take a couple of weeks.

Blerg

2012-01-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

Last week was a bit rough. Munchie and I got sick - bronchitis to be exact. She also had yet another ear infection. Blah. Dr. Awesome put Munchie on some super strong antibiotics and she was not a happy camper. We've never had a problem with her taking her medicine, in fact, most of the time she enjoys it and gestures to us to give her more, but this one was gross. The first time she drank it, she barfed and not the regular baby spit up, but the hurl from the gut throw up. I was holding her and suddenly felt her stomach roll and lurch. Poor baby!

We suspended our Project Ferbs and she slept with us Wednesday night. Thank goodness, because I woke up around midnight and she was burning up! I took her temperature - 103.5. *Cue parental freakout.* She was incredibly lethargic and did not want to wake up, but I made her so she could take some baby Tylenol. It took a while, but after about 90 minutes, the fever finally started to go down. She was so listless, she couldn't even muster up the energy to cry, which made me feel good about our decision to have her sleep with us.

We got back on track Friday night with the Ferbs. She cried for about 10 minutes before conking out. She did better Saturday night, but Sunday night was a mess. She a 3rd super late nap, 6:45-7:30. For a little bit, I thought she was going to go down for the entire night, but nope, she was up and playing around at 7:30. We went through our usual routine a mere 30 minutes later and this time, she cried for a while - maybe 20 minutes before just sitting and whimpering for another 45. At one point I thought she was out and wanted to check on her, so I crawled into her room just in case she was up and she saw me. I don't think she recognized me because I had my glasses and one of these bad boys on:

{via}

Hopefully this week is much better!

The Ferbs: Night 3

2012-01-11T10:43:00.000-08:00

Awww yeah, night three was another success! We went through our usual routine, except Munchie had a lot more energy than the night before. She took a late afternoon nap 2-4, so it made sense that she wasn't as lethargic as the day before. We put her in the crib and she WAILED! I immediately readied myself for a tough night, but after 2 minutes, she passed out!

Just like the past two nights, she woke up twice, but was able to put herself back down to sleep before conking out for the rest of the night. She woke up at 4:00 a.m. and the Hubs changed her diaper and put her into bed with us while she nursed.

Now, that we're three nights in, I'm resolved to keep going even if she starts crying a lot again because this seems to be working. I don't know how long we'll keep bringing her into bed with us at 4:00 a.m. but right now, that's fine with us, especially with me because I get a couple of extra hours of cuddle time a day.

Driving home from work yesterday, all I could think about was getting home and hugging my little girl. I think her sleeping on her own makes me miss her more during the day. I wasn't expecting that.

We're going to try to start sleep training her naps after we get a handle on the night time routine. I heard naps are tougher than nights. Eep!

The Ferbs Part 2: Wut?!

2012-01-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

The Hubs and I prepared ourselves for night #2 as all our reading indicated it would be worse than night one. HOW?! I don't know. Shockingly, Munchie went down easily! She took a shower and then I nursed her, but she only nursed for <10 minutes. She was exhausted. We put her in the crib turned on her seahorse and she whimpered for a minute and then totally conked out!!!! We were in total shock.

She woke up around 10ish crying a lot. We went into the room and assured her everything was ok. On our way out, we turned on the sea horse and again, she whimpered for a minute and then passed out!!! When I went to check on her, she was sleeping on top of her sea horse, too cute!

Right before we went to bed around midnight, she cried again, but as soon as her seahorse started going, she was out like a light. Serio, that thing is MAGICAL. Whoever created it needs a Nobel Prize, STAT.

She woke up at 4:00 and we took her into bed with us, which I needed because my boobs were rocks! Man, I didn't realize how much she dream fed when she was sleeping with us.

We'll see how things go tonight. I fear that because last night went relatively smoothly, tonight might be cray cray.

The Ferbs

2012-01-09T14:19:00.000-08:00

The Hubs & I decided to finally Ferberize Munchie yesterday and UGH, it was AWFUL. There was a lot of crying and yelling, and that was just me and the Hubs. We followed the standard sleeping training guide and her cries were heart wrenching. It took everything for me not to just rip her out of the crib and cuddle with her all night. I actually gave up half way through and went downstairs while the Hubs kept going. We agreed that if she cried for more than an hour, we would stop and start again in a few weeks. Around the 45 minute mark, her cries turned into whimpers and she passed out. I tiptoed into the room to see her curled up in a ball, butt in the air. Her face was still damp from her tears. HEARTBREAKING.

She woke up twice crying, but was able to fall back asleep. When she woke up crying the 3rd time around 4:00 in the morning, she would not go back down, so we put her into bed with us. I know, I know, but I'm not 100% ready to have her totally sleep on her own.

I realized last night that it's probably me that will miss the co-sleeping the most. Munchie is a super active toddler and doesn't have time to cuddle with her momma like she used too. I also realized that part of the reason I kept putting sleep training off is that as a working mom, co-sleeping is one of the ways I have to keep a close connection with Munchie. By the time we get home from work, daycare, we only have a couple of hours together before she goes to bed and that extra snuggle time was important to me.

Tonight is supposed to be harder that last night. I think I will sit out the entire process and let the Hubs take charge. We'll see how it goes.

auntie a

2012-01-04T15:37:00.000-08:00

They sure are going to miss each other when Auntie Dot moves after her wedding.

Progress?

2012-01-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

When I saw my 78 year old uncle last week. He stopped and exclaim, "You lost weight, no? You look smaller!" I smiled and said, "No, I'm still the same." to which he shook his head, "You much smaller."

I weighed myself that night for the heck of it and turns out I lost another two pounds. Awww yeah! I was shocked because of all the holiday treats I've indulged in the past month. I think what is helping is the Hubs' Paleo diet, which I'm not doing. However, because of his diet, I find myself eating differently. He cooks his own dinner, usually baked chicken and veggies and since I don't have to worry about him, I just eat whatever is around the house which last night was salami, cheese, crackers and olives (NYE leftovers).

Also, I'm still nursing. Apparently Munchie is not ready to wean and at first I was freaked out about not weaning on time, but I set a lame arbitrary deadline just because that's what I thought I was supposed to do. I cut down to one feeding a night, so I'm hoping easing into the weaning will help with the pounds I know I will pack on once I quit.

We're going to regularly hit up the local farmers markets and incorporate as much fruit and veggies into our diet as we can. We'll see where this goes, if I don't hit my goals for the wedding, I can't freak and just give up. I want to lose weight for the long haul, so I have to be consistent.

Family Tree

2012-01-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

We haven't figured out all our family traditions, but we do have one that I love. A pic in front of the Christmas tree on Main Street at Disneyland. We actually took this one today, barely making our deadline. I hope we remember to do it again next year! Dude, I was lumpy last year.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe how much Munchie has grown over the past twelve months. She is transforming into a little person and constantly amazes me. I don't have many resolutions this year other than to lose some weight, but I do have one big one. To take things one day at a time. I can easily get caught up with work, home, or whatever else is going on and while this year will be a busy one, I need to remember to soak it all in. Time keeps moving at warp speed and if I don't slow down to enjoy life, I'll miss out on so much. Look how much she's grown from April to December, crazy!

Is it over yet?

2011-12-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas is my most absolute favorite season of the year, but man, it sure kicked my ass this year. I'm e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d. Between last minute gifts, entertaining our out of town family and a mini trip to Vegas, I'm beat! We have absolutely zero plans this weekend and I LOVE IT.

I plan to spend the four day weekend cleaning and organizing our rooms and mapping out the gazillion projects I have on my radar.

Despite the exhaustion, this Christmas was fabulous! It was so fun to have my cousins in town and I loved taking them to Disneyland. I love that I'm taking a whole new generation to enjoy the magic of Disney! (I totes realized how cheeseball that sounds, but it's so true!)

This was also the first time I spent with the Munch all day at the park. I don't think we've ever been there for more than four hours and to be honest, I was terrified. She actually did pretty good! She napped twice, each time for about an hour. I think the fact that E & J were with us helped a lot. She loves other kids and they were no exception. Here's one of my fav photos from the day. You can't tell, but we're on the Mark Twain ship.

Love those girls!

Long Distance

2011-12-20T05:50:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, I LOVED having Canadian cousins. I loved that for two weeks to a month every summer, they would set up camp at our house and we would have nonstop activities, Disneyland, Universal Studios, multiple trips to the beach, you name it, we did it. The main reason for their trips was to visit our grandparents who lived with us. My grandpa passed away in 2001 and my grandma in 2007 and with everyone in college or moving forward in their careers, we just don't get to see them as much anymore.

Today, one of my Canadian cousins is coming out here with his family and his two kids, one of which I've never even met and she's already 4! They'll be with us over the holidays and we've made sure the kids have presents to open on Christmas day. I wish all my cousins could celebrate with us. We've never all been able to celebrate the holidays together. Most of them haven't even met Munchie which breaks my heart a little. Anyhow, maybe that will be a goal for 2012, Munchie World Tour! At least we'll have a place to crash when we're on the road. =)

Coming Together

2011-12-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

We had a relaxing and productive weekend. I feel bad aboutpostponing our trip up North, but we got plenty of rest and much needed sleepthis weekend. We’re ready on take onthis Christmas week!

The Hubs & I are almost finished withfurnishing/decorating our room. Weheaded down to Living Spaces yesterday to look for a dresser and I’m always surprisedthat I actually like quite a few of the pieces they carry. Maybe because their jingle is so cheesy, Iexpect the same from their furniture.

We decided on the Lombard dresser and chest. It's a little bit more traditional than I wanted, so I'm in search of pulls that will spruce it up a bit. It's also well made for the price and the best part? It'll be delivered ASSEMBLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right, we will not be sprawled out on our bedroom floor trying to figure out 309843247 separate pieces. Can't wait to see everything come together!

Wide Open

2011-12-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

Munchie finally kicked her fever!!!!! I was freaking out a bit because she's never had a fever for this long. However, we made the executive decision Thursday morning to postpone our Sacramento trip. I'm relieve because frankly, I'm exhausted. Last night was the first night in almost a week I was able to sleep 5 hours before Munchie woke up fussy. SCORE.

We don't have any plans this weekend other than to rest up and hopefully squeeze in a visit to Santa. We'll see if they become besties or mortal enemies ;)

Blerg

2011-12-13T13:23:00.000-08:00

Life has been kicking my ass as of late. The Munchkin has had a cold for about a week and despite me trying to be proactive and take her to the doctor right when the cold hit, we still ended up with another ear infection and back at the doctor's office yesterday. She is also having gnarly fevers. She work up last night super hot. She felt like a (what I would imagine) a piece of hot coal. I don't think I've gotten more than three hours of sleep in a row. I feel zombie-ish. We have a trip planned this weekend to Sacramento and I'm exhausted just thinking about it. On top of all this work has been crazy busy which I'm super grateful for, but dang, it's rough. I'm too tired to even try to move my siggie to the right place. Hopefully Munchie starts feeling better and we can all try to get back to normal.

Clingy

2011-12-07T13:05:00.001-08:00

For the past few days, the Munchie has been super clingy. I'm not sure what's going on. When I dropped her off at daycare on Monday, she cried when I said bye and usually she can care less if I say bye to her. She also freaks out whenever she thinks I'm going to leave her alone with my mom. This morning, she did not want to go to her teacher who she usually always lunges out of my arms for. I'm hoping it's just phase while she battles yet ANOTHER crappy cold. Poor kid, I feel like she's on an endless cycle of colds. At least she still looks cute!

To Santa or Not to Santa

2011-12-06T05:30:00.000-08:00

{Photo by the fab Catherine Tang}

Munchie’s first Christmas was fun, but since she was stillteeny tiny, she didn’t get it. She stilldoesn’t quite understand what’s going on, but I know she’ll have a blast openingall her presents. The awesome part isthat she’s already seen all of her toys, but she’ll still be surprised when sheopens them open on the 25^th! This is probably the last Christmas I’ll be able to do that.

Being 2^nd generation children of immigrants, wedidn’t get to experience Christmas like most kids in the States. We always had a tree and presents, but Santanever came to our house. My parents hadno idea what to do in terms of Santa other than take a picture with him at the mall. Ijust figured Santa always skipped our house because we didn’t have a chimney.

The debate on whether or not to tellyour kids about Santa rages on, but the Hubs and I both decided we’ll keepthe tradition going with our family. We’llmake sure to put aside any money for therapy she may need once she learns thetruth. Kidding. Kinda. :)

5 Months

2011-12-05T11:03:00.001-08:00

Five months from TODAY, my sister is getting hitched! Which means my diet should have started abouta month ago. EEP! Shocking, I lost 2 pounds in the sinceThanksgiving. I have NO IDEA how thathappened since I’ve been eating like there’s no tomorrow AND I’m weaningMunchie. I’ve stopped pumping completely and only nurse her at night whichmeans I’ve stopped burning all those extra calories. SADS!

I really need to get on the ball and the holidays are nothelping. I just discovered this:

A SPREAD MADE OF COOKIES, yo! Dude, the stuff is the soooooooo addictive. I’m glad it’s just around for the holidays.

Meep, how am I going to do this?

mom fail

2011-11-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

For a while I was so good at taking Munchie's monthly photo and then she started to crawl and be super active and I couldn't take the photo alone and needed the Hubs to help make sure she didn't roll off the couch. One missed month turned into two, then three and now the last time I took her monthly photo was 8 months. I'm so sad I don't have the other months because I just looked at photos of her from the end of September and she's already changed so much since then. Sigh. Even though she's past a year, I'm going to keep taking the photos. I need to make up for it somehow!

water girl

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

We had such a busy but awesomely fun weekend. We started off Friday night with Disneyland with Megan & Nick and J&J and mysister! Munchie passed out while we werein line for Toy Story Midway Mania, but she woke up when we got on the ride,because they made me face her forward. Oh well.

Saturday was Ellie’s 3^rd birthday and we had ablast! I was SUPER tired after waking upat 5 in the morning to head up to Downtown LA for the Spendid/Ella Moss samplesale. SO GLAD I did. I picked up so muchstuff for the Munchie as well as for a bunch of munchkins we know.

Sunday we cruised up to Long Beach to the Aquarium to meet with K and hercousin M who is a couple of months younger than the girls. We had a ton of fun despite the rain. Munchie had a field day poking her hand inthe shark tanks. Don’t worry, thesesharks were teeny tiny and she couldn’t reach them anyway.

I don’t know why, but girlfriend is obsessed withwater. I can’t tell you how many timesshe’s splashed her hand in the toilet. Disgusting. Speaking of toilets,yesterday, I was watching the Munch and putting her laundry away when I saw herdart into the bathroom. I ran after her,but before I even got to the bathroom, she was already running out,giggling.

Suspicious, I went into the bathroom and saw that she hadthrown her cape Auntie Helen made her INTO THETOILET! She must have known she didsomething bad because she was hiding from me when I came out of thebathroom. I couldn’t do anything butlaugh at her mischievous face. Somedisciplinarian I’m going to be =P

mimic

2011-11-21T13:44:00.001-08:00

This morning, Munchie was a little clingy when I dropped heroff at daycare. She wouldn’t leave myside – even babies get a case of the Mondays! Her teacher came over and asked her if she wanted to play with thebabies (doll) and she instantly took off and when straight to one of herfriends who was already playing with a baby doll in the swing. They looked SOCUTE together playing with the baby doll.

I have this in my Amazon cart which is the closest to thedolls she has at daycare. I can't wait for her to open it on Christmas.

It blows me away that even 13 months she likes playing with dolls. It cracks me up, because I guess she’s just mimickinghow we take care of her. Which remindsme, the Hubs & I have really start to watch our potty mouth :I

fotos

2011-11-18T08:28:00.001-08:00

I’ve become neurotic about backing up photos. Two failed external hard drives will do thatto you (WD SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It blowsmy mind that they are still in business when every.single.product I’vepurchased from them FAILS*). Anyhow, Iwas uploading pictures to a 2^nd online gallery when I ran acrossthis one from June.

Ugh, I love her so much.

*ETA - I bought both WD external HDs at the same time and they both FAILED. Never again!

The One with the Baby Doll

2011-11-16T13:23:00.001-08:00

I love our day care. Originally, I was very apprehensive about sending Munchie, but I wascomforted by the fact that a good friend worked there in college and highly recommendedit. I know Munchie loves it too. She goes happily to her teachers and has agreat time playing with all the toys and activities they have for her.

All that said, sometimes I still get “mom guilt” that I’mnot the one taking care of her all day. Like this morning, I decided to ask one of her teachers what toys shelikes for some Christmas present ideas and she started rattling off a long listand I was super surprised when she said, “She loves the play with the babydolls.” I was like, “Really?” She answered, “Oh yeah, she loves to carrythem around and she puts them down for a nap and she pats their butts to getthem to go to sleep.”

I walked out of the classroom feeling like crap because itnever even occurred to me that she already likes to play with dolls. I have a huge list of dolls I want to get hersaved in my Amazon account, but figured she was still too young to play withthem.

HOW DO I NOT KNOW SHE LIKES DOLLS?!?!

Off We Go!

2011-11-11T09:22:00.001-08:00

We have a jam packed weekend! Tonight, we’re heading out to A+C’s weddingand then we leave bright and early for San Francisco tomorrow! We haven’t been to the city since NYE 2009. We went big that NYE, our lasttrip of debauchery before we started trying for a family, and 8 weeks later wefound out we were pregnant with the Munch. Can’t wait to show her the city.

Our flight last month was a bit crazy because Munchiedecided to go wild on the plane :/ Also,we were in the ER Wednesday night and found out she had ANOTHER earinfection. I’ve been reading everythingabout flying and so far it looks good. By the time we get into the air, she will have been on antibiotics for60 hours and she doesn’t show any signs of pain or discomfort so we should begood to go. I’m also going to buy one ofthe things to check the redness in her ear. MEEP!

I am also ready this time with a ton of snacks and toys.Thank goodness the flight is only an hour. May the force be with us.

Car Dancing

2011-11-10T10:59:00.001-08:00

I'm totes doing the opposite of NABLOPOMO and not posting. My horrible failures in past NaBloPoMo have taught me to not even try anymore. Too.much.pressure.

Anyhoo - Munchie LOVES to dance, especially in the car. I finally caught it on video since the Hubs was driving. I have a feeling we're going to have a lot of dance parties in our future. :)

Dilly's Awesome Super Hero 2nd Birthday Bash!

2011-11-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Our weekends have been jammed packed which is great for our social life,horbs for getting actual chores & whatnot done. The Hubs and I are FINALLY getting out thankyou cards for Munchie’s birthday this week. Meep!

We had SO MUCH FUN at Dilly’s2^nd Super Hero Birthday. I loved loved loved the photobooth. Pictures of the three of us are not easy to come by so I love these! Mosey on over to Catherine’swebsite for more fab birthday shots!

Super Mama & Papa Dang did an AMAZEBALLS job. I seriously cannot stop thinking about it. Best.Party.Ever! She is my Martha Stewart :)

Munchkin Decorating

2011-10-31T15:24:00.000-07:00

I’m super bummed that we are not spending this Christmas inour own place. Despite that, I’m forgingahead with buying furniture and decorating the digs we’re in now. I want to drive up to Santa Monica to check out thisWest Elm rug in person one more time, but I might just order it because whoknows when we’ll have time go head up there. I’m dragging my feet because of the final sale status. Ugh, lame.

My other concurrent project is our family room. We spend most of our time there because ithouses 99% of the Munchkin’s toys, which by the way are EVERYWHERE. I saw this cute sling bookshelf at a friend’shouse.

It will be PERFECT for displaying all of Munchie’s books andI love the storage bins. Along with the book sling, we need one of these bad boys:

I know it’s sort of hideous and all the toys are justhanging out, but if it’s not out in the open, I forget it exists. At least this way, I can keep track of a lotof the toys and not buy dupes (yes, this has happened :|)

We’ll eventually get a toy chest, but we’re in the marketfor a new couch, so I’ll hold off until we figure that out.

I always thought I'd be able to keep all toys out of the way and out of sight so the room wouldn't look like it was taken over by an army of babies. Bwahahaha, how little I knew....

Halloween Time

2011-10-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

We have another busy weekend! Two birthday parties tomorrow and we FINALLYhave time to go to Disneyland to check out theHalloween decorations. It’s the lastweekend, so we’re going just in the nick of time. It’s going to be a blast!

Happy Friday!

Oh yeah....

2011-10-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

Me: Ugh, Munchie won't watch her sign language videos! How is she going to learn how to communicate with us!?!

Hub: Huh?

Me: She won't sit down for more than 5 minutes to watch the videos, how is she going to leeeeearn!

Hubs: Uh, you know, you can teach her yourself instead of just relying on those videos.

Me: =O

1st Time

2011-10-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

I’m going away for a friend’s Bachelorette in Sandy Eggo today andI can’t wait! I’m also a bit nervousabout my first night away from the Munchkin. I know she is in perfectly capable hands and that it’s totally normaland healthy for me to get a dose of personal time, but I’m still a littleanxious. Perhaps that just comes with theterritory. I know I’ll have a blast and I’ll be with a great group ofgals, can’t beat that!

Success!

2011-10-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

WHEW! We survivedMunchie’s first birthday party and it was a blast! I am still recovering by hitting the hayevery night at 9:00 p.m. Yes, that’sright, 9:00. After staying up into thewee hours of the night for the past month working on multiple design andcrafting projects, I crashed hard.

In fact, I crashed DURING the party. Right before the first guests started toarrive, a wave of exhaustion washed over me. I couldn’t even muster the energy to change into my party outfit andjust stuck with the t-shirt and shorts I wore for the party set up. I don’t even remember half of theconversations I had with people. This ishow I still feel:

I’ll do a proper reap of the party soon, but I will say weare overwhelmed with the love and generosity of our family and friends. Munchie is truly a lucky girl to have such wonderful people in her lives.

I didn’t get her a candle for her cake (mom FAIL!), but Idid make a

wish on her behalf. I wishedthat all the people who celebrated her first birthday will be in her life for along time to celebrate all her milestones to come.

Munchie's Birth Story

2011-10-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is an epically long post. I started writing it a few weeks after Munchie was born and JUST finished it this week. Not because I was editing, but because I kind of didn't want writing this story to end. I have so many memories of one of the most incredible days of our lives and I wanted to make sure I remembered everything, so this is a VERY detailed post. This is mostly for me and for Munchie. So on her birthday, here's her birth story! Happy Birthday, my Love!

**********************

Iwent to bed Tuesday (the 12th) night excited because the Hubs and I had plansto cruise up to L.A.to go to West Elm to make our final purchases for the nursery and lunch atDoughboys, which I was UBER excited about. During the day, the thoughtthat Le Bebe might show up Wednesday and squash our plans crossed my mind, butI was convinced that she would be late, so I pushed the thought aside.

I went to sleep at11:00 as usual and got up around midnight to go to the bathroom and when Iclimbed back into bed, I heard two popping noises down there. I laidthere for a minute recalling a post on my birth month on The Bump about otherexpectant mommies who had the same experience when all of a sudden I felt agush of warm water. I went to the bathroom to check and sure enough, itwas a clear pink liquid. I woke the Hubs and he was completelydisoriented. I had to tell him four times that my water broke before itfinally registered. He went off to call the OBwhile I took a shower. I took my time, taking an extra long showerknowing it would be a while before I would have the chance to do it again. Ialso did my hair and put on make up as the Hubs incredulously looked on. I wasn’t feeling any contractions so I just took my time. Ialso started to pack my hospital bag - I just shoved random articles ofclothing in there and at the last minute grabbed a preemie outfit. By 1:30 we hit the road.

When I got to thehospital, the waiting room was full! I’d been there a couple of timesbefore for monitoring and never saw anyone there, so I was surprised when I sawthat it was jammed packed. We went back to the nurses’ station andanother couple was waiting in front of us and remember thinking the other momlooked nervous, but all I felt was excitement. They checked me in and ournurse walked me back to the room where I changed into a gown. The nursehad me lay down so she could check how dilated I was and a huge gush of watergame out and she called the nurses station and told them to admit me. Iwas dilated to 3cm and 80% effaced and my contractions were coming 5 minutesapart, but weren’t too painful yet. My nurse said I could have myepidural at any time since I was already at 3cm, but advised to wait until mycontractions got more painful as I was still laughing and joking at the time.

I settled intolabor as the nurse inserted my IV. I remember thinking it was painful,but not as bad as I thought. I think just the idea of it was more painfulthan anything. My first nurse was called into surgery about 15 minutesinto labor I was bummed because she seemed super nice, but another greatnurse came in.

Around 4 a.m. Ihad my first nurse shift change. The nurse was super sweet. At 7a.m. she asked me if it was ok to have a student nurse shadow her and I agreed.The student nurse was awesome.

At 5:00 a.m. thenurse decided to insert a monitor so they could track the strength of thecontractions. She tried her best, but could not get the monitor in so shecalled in the OB making the rounds.

O.M.G - that wassome of the worse pain EVER. The nurses kept apologizing for how muchpain I was in. Even the OB had a hardtime getting the monitor in - Le Bebe’s head was in the way. Finally,after about 15 minutes, he got in in and I could not be more relieved. Idon’t remember much else between 3:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. when I finally askedfor the epidural. The contractions were getting much more intense andpainful and when the nurse said they would get much stronger, I immediatelyasked for the epidural. Within about 10 minutes, the anesthesiologist wasthere and he was AMAZING. I was laying on my side instead of sitting uplike I’ve seen most epidurals administered on A Baby Story and I didn’t feel athing!

Everyone one saysthe numbing shot hurts, but I didn’t even feel it. Five minutes in, thenurse asked me if I felt the last contraction and I said “No, that’s awesome”and both nurses started laughing. I couldn’t believe I didn’t feel anypain at all! I also couldn’t feel my leg or anything from the waist downfor that matter. That’s when they had a student nurse insert my catheter. Uh, all I can say is thank goodness I couldn’t feel anything.

I continued tolabor from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 intermittently taking little cat naps here andthere, but never really getting any good rest. I progressed nicely and by 3:30I was 10 cm and finally started to push. Dude, this was the hardest partof the labor. Since I couldn’t feel anything from the epidural, I didn’tknow what I was doing. I was pushing mostly with my face instead of downthere and it was exhausting! Anyhow, at 4:00 the shifts changed andanother labor nurse came in and started pushing with me. I pushed with her forabout 45 minutes before she decided to let me continue to labor longer to seeif Le Bebe would move down more on her own as she was still high.

I labored forabout 30 minutes and then I started to push again. Pushing is seriousbusiness. I was so tired at this point being up all night and day and addto that the fact that I couldn’t even feel what I was doing, I was exhaustedafter every set of pushes. I was so tired that I asked the nurse whatwould the chances of a C-Section be because even with all my pushing, Le Bebewasn’t making any progress. The nurse assured me that we just need togive it more time and that a vaginally birth was totally possible.

I pushed foranother 90 minutes or so until the nurse had to change shifts at 7:00 p.m. So, here I was on my third labor + delivery nurse and had been pushingfor 3+ hours. The third nurse came in and I pushed with her for an hourbefore she had me stop. She wanted to really figure out what was going on- I had been pushing for a while with little progress. She checked meduring a contraction and noted that my pelvic bone was very narrow. She couldfeel all the soft parts of the Le Bebe’s head coming through, but noticed thatthe bones were hitting my pelvic bone. She had me do one more set of pushesand then she said that it would be very difficult for the head to come throughand even if it did, Le Bebe might break a shoulder coming through. Atthat point I was done. I had been in labor for 20 some odd hours andpushing for four with no progress and I just wanted Le Bebe out! AND, hello,newborn with broken shoulder, hell to the no!

When talk of aC-Section came up, I wanted to go for it. My OBwas called and everyone started to shift gears for surgery. My epi wasrunning out and the pain/pressure was getting intense so much that theanesthesiologist was called in again. It took him a while to make it backin since he was stuck in surgery and I was dying, but once he upped the dosage,I felt so much better. I do remember feeling the cold rush that I’d heardabout which I didn’t feel the first time around.

My OB showed up around 9:45 to see how I was doing and I waswheeled off into surgery. She asked how I was doing and commented howgreat my make up still looked. <3 They wheeled me into the roomwhile the Hubs went to change into his scrubs. The surgery tech and theanesthesiologist were in the room and they had the radio on...loud. Theroom was also very cold. The anesthesiologist got to work numbing me andto test he took a alcohol swab and ran it up and down my arms and below myelbow I couldn’t feel a thing, but above it I felt a slight coolness from theswab. I told the dr and he was like “really?!?” He upped the medsand then did it again. I *thought* I felt something and told him so andhe said I should be completely numb in no time.

By that time moredoctors had filtered in including Dr. Lee, the other OBon duty and a third one who was there to observe. They introduced me tothe neonatalogist who I remembered looked like a sweet older gentleman. Ialso had my labor nurse and a baby nurse in there. There were so manypeople in the room and they were all chatting and laughing. The hubs camein and sat down beside me. I can’t remember what we said to each other. Dr. Lee started the surgery and she was happily chatting with the other OB who was assisting her. I think at one point theywere talking about golf, vacations and other doctors.

I was exhaustedand trying so hard not to fall asleep. The Hubs was right there with meencouraging me. He glanced over a couple of times at the doctor, butdidn’t say much. Dr. Lee did a great job of telling me where she wasi.e., “I’m moving everything over to make way for baby!” She kept tellingme what a great job I was doing. LOL, I had the easy part, I was the onlyone not doing anything.

At some point theanesthesiologist started asking me if I wanted him to hold up a mirror so Icould watch the process.

Um, NO THANK YOU! He was incredibly sweet, but I was already starting to feel nauseous andlooking at my uterus did not sound like a good idea.

Dr, Lee announcedthat she almost had the baby - the anesthesiologist asked me again and I said,“NO!” but he’s like, “I’ll do it really quick, you’ll just see the baby!” andbefore I could turn my head away, he put up the mirror and saw my purple coneheaded baby. All I saw was baby, so I was relieved.

I heard Dr. Leesay, “It’s a girl!” so my first thought when I saw her in the mirror was, “Whydoes she have balls?!” Turns out she was a a little swollen. lol.

They showed me toher right away and I *thought* I would cry, but I didn’t. The Hubshowever turned red and had big tears in his eyes. I think I didn’t getemo because I was feeling so nauseous. They started to take her away andI mumbled, “I’m going to throw up.”

I didn’t thinkanyone could hear me, but the anesthesiologist sprang into action and put abowl next to me and immediately had some anti-nasuea medicine in my IV. I feltbetter instantly.

The neonatalogistfinished his examination and baby girl had an apjar of 9! Can’t get anybetter than that. He could hear him saying over and over how beautiful she wasand before he left the room he came towards me and said, “You have a gorgeousbaby girl!” I was out of it, so he repeated himself because I think hethought I didn’t hear him, I said thank you and he left. He so so nice. Iremember thinking, is he just saying she’s gorgeous or does he say that to allthe babies.

The Hubs left withthe baby nurse and Munchie and I was left alone while Dr. Lee put me backtogether. This took A LOT longer than I thought. They had gottenher out pretty fast, but they took about 3 x as long to sew me back up.

At one point, Iremember trying to stay awake because I didn’t want the anesthesiologist to bebored, so I kept the small talk up. LOL. Um, I should have realizedmost of his patients are usually unconscious.

I finallysuccumbed and fell asleep and woke up when they rolled me into recovery. There the Hubs was holding Munchie and the nurse took her away from himand immediately put her on me to nurse. She was a champ and startednursing right away. The nurse was a little suprised that Munchie took toit like she’d be nursing forever.

I cannot sayenough how AMAZINGLY wonderful the entire staff was from the moment I checkedin to check out. I’ve already heard wonderful things about the hospital -even stories that people would fly in from different states and PAY OUT OFPOCKET to deliver there and now I know why. I think if I ever had todeliver anywhere else, I would be completely devastated.

My favorite memorywas in the postpartum room. The room nurse gave Munchie a bath settledher into the bassinet next to me. Munchie started coughing so the nurse proppedher onto her side where she was facing me. I remember being so utterlyexhausted, but I couldn’t stop staring at my little girl. I was still ina bit of shock (and totally medicated), but I couldn’t believe she was here. The Hubs was passed out on the little bed in the room and I kept lookingfrom him to her and thinking, “Holy crap, this is my family. How did Iget so lucky?”

A year later, Istill think I am so very lucky.

Warning: Super boring post ahead...

2011-10-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

This Friday our new bed will be delivered and get this, thedelivery guys are going to assemble it for us. Fancy, huh? :)

To accompany our new fancy bed, we’re upgrading our linensand since The WHotels have the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept in, I’m going toorder thegoose down comforter from their store.

I pretty much kick myself in the behind when I found outthey also sold mattresses, but ours is still newish, only a couple years old sowe’ll hang onto it until it doubles inweight. (it’s been disproven, butdang if that wasn’t a genius marketing campaign.)

This concludes the most boring post ever.

Aunties

2011-10-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

We are down to the wire for Munchie’s birthday extravaganza. I just took a look at the RSVP count andwhoa! I feel so lucky we have awesome friendsand family. I know October is a busymonth for a lot of people, so the fact that so many people are coming to help Munchiecelebrate is amazing!

We were out of town this weekend, but I have the bestfriends in the universe and they worked all weekend on projects for theparty. Crystal & Catherine – we loveyou and are so grateful for all your help! Munchie really has the best aunties ever!

Here's Auntie Crystal working feverishly away at one of the many craft projects. <3

Happy Anniversary!

2011-10-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

Dear Hubs,

I remember seeing an awesome tennis (random, eh?) themedwedding on The Knot and lamenting that we didn’t have a shared hobby that wecould incorporate into our wedding. Ispent hours trying to think of things we had in common to put into the wedding,but didn’t come up with much.

Fast forward to this last year and I’ve come to realize wehave so much in common. It only tookfour years of marriage! Keke,kidding! Seeing you become a father thispast year has been nothing short of amazing. We’ve always talked about having kids, but I realized we didn’t reallytalk that much about how we would raise them. It has been awesome to find that we are always (well, 98% of the time)on the same page.

Watching Munchie’s face light up when you come into a roomand hearing her squeals as you two cuddle is always a highlight of my day. I can’t look at her without thinking of youand knowing that we are so lucky to have you.

Love you to the moon and back!

Wordy Wednesday: In honor of the first storm of the season

2011-10-05T04:30:00.000-07:00

{Via }

Personalized

2011-10-04T04:30:00.000-07:00

I nearly drove myself bonkers looking for custom printable signage for the Munchkin's party. Since I couldn't find anything I liked, I thought I'd give it a go + it's turning out to be so much fun! I'll be hanging on to my day job, but it's nice to know I can at least crank out simple projects like this:

Found!

2011-10-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

The APB worked!!!!!! I was cruising around the interwebs Friday night and bam! There was a pop back for t he blouse I was dying for.
Next APB, a Mega Million winning lotto ticket. Thanks universe! :)

APB: Free People Blouse

2011-09-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

Missing: Sheer Cream Free People Blouse

Details: Size Medium

Last Seen: Freepeople.com

If you've seen this blouse for sale, LET ME KNOW!

I'm OBSESSED with Equipment blouses, however, I'm still struggling to find one that fits properly without pulling across the chest. If I size up to fit the chestal (Not a real word) region, it looks ridiculously boxy every where else.

Enter this Free People blouse which would (hopefully) solve my problem. I have a few tops with the same v-neck drop and fit across the chest without requiring me to size up. However, it's sold out everywhere! MUST FIND!

This is what we're dealing with peeps.

2011-09-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

I LOVE listings like this because it shows how clearly disengaged and lame the seller is. Take a look at this price history.

So they list the house at $599,000 August 20th and GASP! They probably weren't beating back offers with this fantastic price, so they decide to lower it to bring in more potential buyers. Hmmm, what about a $100 discount.

WHAT? You mean there isn't a sudden deluge of offers with this AMAZING price drop?!?! Ok, we'll lower it again. ANOTHER $100!!! Totally a bargain!

I'm sure they are currently inundated with offers.

p.s. We toured this home - TOTES not worth the asking price. Especially when you can buy an brand new house that's 1,200 sq ft bigger for about the same price right down the street. If they are serious, they'll drop the price at least another 40K - but then with fees and whatnot, they'd be upside down.

Decor: Master Bedroom

2011-09-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

I seriously just spent a solid 6 minutes trying to figureout that gem of a post title. Anyhoo, weare finally getting around to getting some real furniture. We’ve kept our furnishings sparse becausemoving to some new digs was always on the horizon.

Well, HOPEFULLY we’ll move sometime in the next six months(but with the Eurozone falling apart,who knows what the heck is going to happen), in the meantime, we decided tostart buying some pieces now that way we’ll at least have more than justnursery furniture when we finally do move.

Perfect timing for us to take advantage of Crate &Barrel’s annual sale and finally pull the trigger on the bed I’ve been piningfor since last year. It pains me tospend so much on a bed, but I have not been able to find any substitutes. There are a few that come close, but nothingmakes my heart go pitter patter like the Colette bed. *Swoon*

I'll give you guys a minute to recover from my amazing Photoshop skills. I know what you're all thinking, WHY AM I NOT A GRAPHIC DESIGNER? Perhaps in another lifetime.

So we have:

1. Colette Bed

2. West Elm Channel Rug

3. West Elm Curved Upholstered Chair (isn't this name so snazzy?)

It's neutral and perhaps a tad on the boring side, but I like that we can add pops of color with bedding later. So I should totally submit a video for the HGTV's Design Star, right?! Ha!

House Hunting Dud

2011-09-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

The town homes we anxiously waited for all summer turned outto be duds. They are priced much lowerthan what we anticipated, however, a bunch of cons popped up:

Crazy high mello roos taxes. We expected mello roos on these town homes, but not to the tune of 1.1%, that is just crazy.
No new schools – initially we were ok with paying for the new mello roos because they were supposed to go towards brand new elementary, middle and high schools. However, the city scrapped plans for all three and kids in the neighborhood are being filtered to existing (crappier) school. What’s the point of the MRs?
Halfway House – uh, yeah. It’s right around the corner from the neighborhood and there’s no chance it’s moving any time soon.
Meh floor plans – we expected better from the builder since we loved the previous track they built in the neighborhood. These are just ok, we didn’t love them and if this is going to be the biggest purchase of our lives, shouldn’t we be more than just lukewarm about them?

Oh well. We havehowever, found a super cute house in a brand new community that we didn’tconsider before. The price is right andthe home is everything we want, the only thing lacking is location. I know, in real estate, it’s all aboutlocation, location, location, right? However, we can do with the location in the short term. The floor plan we want isn’t available toreserve until January with a tentative move in date of May, so we have quite awhile. Take a look at the kitchen!

In the mean time, we are going to aggressively look at theresales in our target areas. Who knowswhat will happen with those new homes. We don’t want to be stuck without any choices. Maybe we’ll find something we love and jumpon it. Here's to hoping!

The Last Week of September!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-09-26T13:56:00.001-07:00

Um, wasn’t it just Labor Day?! I have a feeling from here on out, the rest ofthe year is going to fly by! Ourcalendar is jammed packed!

Oct 1^st + 2^nd – Prep, prep, prep forthe Munch’s party. It’s the onlyweekend we’re free before the party to get as much as we can done. I’m already anxious. EEP!

Oct 8^th + 9^th – We’ll be up north forour niece’s birthday party.

Oct 15^th – Munchie’s 1^st Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oct 16^th – hanging out with family that will bein town including my uncle and cousin coming in from Vancouver. Can’t wait to see them!

Oct 21^st - 23^rd - Bachelorette Party in San Diego. I haven’t had a girls weekend since before the Munch arrived. So excited!!

Oct 29^th – Birthday Party

November 4^th – BREAK!

November 11^th – A’s Wedding!

November 12-14^th – San Francisco?!?! We’ve been trying to figure out flights andhotel, but gotta ask the Hubs what’s going on with that trip.

In between all that we have to fit in a couple of trips to Disneyland, the Pumpkin Patch, preschool meetings/activities, house hunting oh, and work :) The next 9 weeks are going to be crazy, but I can’twait! So much fun stuff, I’m alreadyexhausted just looking at that schedule.

Big Girl

2011-09-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, as the Munch and I drove to daycare, I looked backat her and didn’t see a baby anymore, but a little girl and I *almost* startedcrying right then and there.

I cannot believe how fast this past year has gone. When we were in Costco last night sheinsisted that I put her down, so I held her hand as she wobbled down theaisles. It felt so weird not to carry,wear or push her in a stroller. She waswalking like a big girl right next to me. We had a few tumbles, but she would get right up and keep going.

Sometimes I get so sad that the baby stage is ending, but Ihave to remember we have so many fun things to look forward to. I can’t wait for our conversations and tolearn what she thinks about the world. Iheard the cutest quote recently, “A daughter is a little girl that grow up tobe your friend.” <3

Gonna Get Over You

2011-09-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

How cute is the new Sara Bareilles vid? <3 her!

Double Trouble

2011-09-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

The Munch has battled a cold/runny nose for the past 3almost four weeks now. She was in goodspirits and the cold would subside here and there so we didn’t take her to thedoctor, not much they can do for a cold anyway. Things took a turn for the worse this past week. She woke up every 3 or so hours Monday-Thursday,nothing big, she would fuss and cry and it’d take her 20-45 minutes to get herback to sleep rather than the usual 5. By Friday, she was up all night coughing.

The weird (to me) part is that during the day, she wasfine. Beside a runny nose, she wascrawling, walking, playing up a storm. By Sunday, I noticed a marked decrease in appetite which prompted meto schedule an appointment today and I’m so glad I did! Turns out her cold has turned into a doubleear infection.

I was in the middle of kicking myself for not taking makingan appointment earlier after the doctor declared, “Double ear infection!” whenour Ped said the infection looked about 3 days old and that she’s glad we camein before Munchie started to develop a fever. WHEW!

The Munch is on amoxicillin for the next ten days. I’m bracing myself for side effects;hopefully they won't be too bad. The cherry on top is that the Hubs, who is never sick, is sick!

Meep! I better stay healthy so I can take care of them!

Service Call

2011-09-08T13:51:00.001-07:00

After switching to the new Blogger interface, I tweeted lastweek that I loved it! Well, holdon. I just checked my blog in GoogleReader and the formatting is super funky! Words are jammedtogether <--like this and letters are missing! So annoying because it looks fine when I editor when viewing the blog not in Reader.

Blogger, do you hear me? Please fix this, STAT!

Thanks!

Pugs not Drugs

2011-09-06T10:57:00.001-07:00

Paaaaarty!

2011-09-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

Plans for Munchie’s party are in full swing! I should be getting the invites within aweek. Catering has been booked,decorations ordered and guest list completed. In conversation last week, I actually referred to Muchie’s party as her,“wedding.” Uh, yeah.

I’ve heard the whole, “What’s the big deal, why go so bigwhen she won’t even remember” spiel, but you know what? As much as it’s a party for her, it’s also an“OMG, WE SURVIVED THE FIRST YEAR AS PARENTS AND OUR KID IS STILL PRETTY OK”celebration.

Also, this party is a thank you to all our awesome familyand friends who have supported us this past year. So awesome, that besides one pack of newborndiapers and a pack of swim diapers, we have not had to buy any diapers thisyear! I just did an inventory and wehave been gifted enough diapers to last through the end of the year and maybe afew months beyond. I know, we’re spoiled.

In turn, we're spoiling our friends and family with what I hope will be a fabulous party! Right now I'm o the hunt for some cake stands and DUDE, who knew they were so $$$$. I've been looking and looking, but it looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy the one I have my eye on because I cannot find a cheaper dupe elsewhere. The only thing consoling me on the price tag is that I'll also be able to use it for the sister's bridal shower next Spring. Isn't it CUTE?!

{via}

Staycation!

2011-09-02T05:54:00.000-07:00

At the last minute we decided to do a quick trip over the LaborDay weekend. We mulled over Palm Springs or Santa Barbarabefore deciding on…PASADENA! Keke.

Palm Springs was out becauseif we could barely handle the heat surge around these parts last weekend, Palm Springs would becrazy hot. If we went to Santa Barbara – stayingin the city proper was out because we weren’t keen on dropping $400/night on ahotel. So the other option was stayingin Ventura or Oxnard (or as it is affectionately called,The Nard) – but the hotel options were sparse. The Hubs’ suggested Pasadena and of course I was all in because hello!? Dots Cupcakes? In Pasadena.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Hubs is also trying toavoid any trips to the outlet mall that would be a mandatory part of ourexcursion.

We’re also hoping to squeeze in a visit to hisgrandparents. They’re a bit finicky withvisitors, but how can they say no to this face?

I plan on spending most of my time here:

Have a great long weekend!

Thankful Thursday

2011-09-01T04:44:00.000-07:00

I’m very thankful for what I know will be an awesome relationship between the Hubs and the Munch. When I went back to work, the Hubs was able to stay home with the Munch two days a week and I am so grateful he did.

Sure, he took care of her for a few hours here or there, but having two whole days where he was the primary care giver really solidified not only their relationship, but gave him a better appreciation for all that goes into taking care of a baby. I remember the first couple of weeks she was home, he didn’t understand how I could be so exhausted from taking care of Munchie.

I get home about an hour before the Hubs, so lately our ritual is to sit outside and wait for the Hubs to come home. There is nothing better than seeing her face break into a huge grin and her legs start kicking as soon as he gets out of the car. Most of the time, her arms are already outstretched for him as soon as she sees him making his way towards her.

I cannot wait to see to see their relationship grow – she is going to be a daddy’s girl for sure.

Loooooove!

2011-08-26T11:30:00.001-07:00

Here's a preview of the shoot Sarah did for us a few weeks ago. Love love love love!

Happy Friday!

The Other Side

2011-08-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

Over at A Cup of Jo, Joanna's husband Alex shared his version of the birth story and it was lovely! It makes me want to have the Hubs jot his thoughts down. I would love to hear his version and what he was thinking when the Munchkin came into the world. <3!

Booked!

2011-08-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

After being engage for an eternity, my sister and her fiance have FINALLY booked their venue! The date is set - May 26th 2012! I missed out on blogging during my own wedding planning, so I'm totes going blog about her wedding. Also, she's super lazy and methinks she'll look back and be glad someone documented the craziness of it all.

The venue is PERFECTION. Modern and sleek, yet it has rustic, historic charm to it, too. They will be trying the knot at the Bowers Museum. The ceremony and reception area is a gorgeous Spanish style courtyard.

Cocktail hour will be on the opposite side of the museum where the vibe will be a modern. I couldn't snag any pictures from this site, but check out the Bowers Wedding Palos Studio shot. Gorgeous!

Let the planning begin!

*Photos from here and here.

doing something

2011-08-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

The images of famine in Africa are beyond heartbreaking. I've been distracted by the debt ceiling circus and totally had my head in the sand about other world news. 29,000 children have died from this famine. That is a crazy number. What's crazier is that something as basic as food is what could have prevented their deaths. Every child should have enough to eat. Every single one.

I just donated to Mercy Corps. I hope it made even a tiny bit of difference.

Thankful Thursday

2011-08-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

A coworker unexpectedly gave his two weeks notice this past Monday and I was surprised at how sad I was about it. It made me realize I work with some fantastic people and I can't imagine not seeing them every day.

I'm thankful for being able to work with such a great bunch of people. It really does make going to work so much easier when you actually like the people you work with! ;)

What's for Dinner?

2011-08-02T04:33:00.000-07:00

Last week, as I kept the Munckin entertained while the Hubs paid for our fourth (!) dinner out in four nights, a wave of guilt and anxiousness washed over me. Sure, Munchie is fine now because her diet is still primarily milk, but what happens when she needs to eat big people food?! Like, for reals?

As a kid, the bulk of our dinners consisted of drive through fare because my (working) mom was too busy to cook. I don’t want the Munchie to grow up ordering her dinner out of speaker. I am well aware of the link between obesity and fast food in kids, so we need to figure this out. Also, after four days of eating out, I was starting to feel pretty gross myself.

The Hubs has been at the new job for three weeks now and trying to find balance for everything is a lot harder than I thought. He went from a super flexible come and go as he pleased schedule to a rigid 7-5 routine.

I didn’t realized how much we all depended on his flexible schedule to get by. If I suddenly remembered during a meeting I needed bleu cheese for dinner, a quick text assured it would be waiting for me upon my arrival at home.

I am super grateful that the Hubs has an fantastic job in this craptastic economy, but I didn’t realize juggling everything would be so hard with him not being available as much. I used to be able to sneak out of the house for work with everyone still sound asleep, but those days are gone.

This weekend we picked up salmon and chicken from Costco to keep in the freezer and hopefully I won’t be too exhausted to whip up a quick dinner. I definitely do not want the Munch learning to read off take out menus :/

This whole work life balance is way harder than I thought.

Debt Ceiling in a Nutshell

2011-08-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

I've been following the debt ceiling debate rather closely. My evening reading tonight will be the text of the bill being voted on today (It's only 74 pages!). It always cracks me up when people talk about the length of bills - dude, the margins are like 2.5 inches in each side.

Anyhoo - this post is a hilarious summary of the debate over the past few months. It's awesome and you don't even need to know what the debt ceiling is to follow!

Here's a preview:{via}

Wordy Wednesday

2011-07-27T04:57:00.000-07:00

Nice to know I'm not the only one ;)

mini me

2011-07-26T05:06:00.000-07:00

More times than I can count, as the Munchie and I leave the house, I look down to realize we totally match! It goes without saying that I buy her what I think is cute, so naturally, much of her wardrobe is a reflection of my style.

I found the cutest jacket at Baby Gap and my sister observed, "Don't you have a jacket that looks just like that?"

I took a second look to realize I totally do. Behold:
I know my time as Munchie's exclusive stylist will be short-lived. Before I know it, she'll be making her own wardrobe decisions and deciding what she wants to wear. In the mean time, I'm enjoying styling my little fashionista!

Adieu iPhone

2011-07-25T07:32:00.001-07:00

After two years of constant companionship, my iPhone 3GS bid adieu this past weekend. Sigh. I should have known the end was near. Starting in January, I was unable to receive or send picture./video SMS and no one could figure out why. The last three weeks were the roughest. Constantly coming in and out of service, failing to send out emails and texts, randomly deleting emails on its own. The last few days none of the apps would open and Friday night THIS appeared:

UGH – the dreaded restore.

I spent a whopping three hours transferring all of my photos/videos off the phone – the only thing I really cared about.

When I’m bored, I love love love scrolling through all the photos on my phone. It’s a great photo diary of the past two years – our trips – New York City, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco. Countless shopping trips ;), meals, pregnancy, the arrival of the Munchie and her first 9 months.

I was on my iPhone all.the.time. during my pregnancy when I was bedridden with morning sickness. I read the entire “What to Expect” book on my phone and also found a ton of mommy/pregnancy blogs. It helped me get my mind of the constant nausea. I seriously would have been so bored without it.

I will be smartphone-less until the new iPhone 5 (at least the rumor mills say) comes out in September. We’ll be switching to Verizon. W00T! Maybe with the new one, I can actually use the Phone part of the iPhone. ;)

Nom Nom: Watermelon Agua Fresca

2011-07-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

{via}

I had THE BEST watermelon agua fresca last week at Native Foods and that’s all I’ve been able to think about this past week.

I’m going to make a giant batch this weekend to enjoy at home and for a beach birthday party. Can't wait!

Thankful Thursday

2011-07-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Now that I’m a mom – childrens’charities tug at my heartstrings more than ever. One in particular is childhood hunger. I worry about where we’re going to send Munchkin to school, I worry she hasn’t slept enough, I worry about all the planning for her first birthday, but I’ve never had to worry about how I’m going to feed her. Being a parent is stressful, and to add a worry like this is so sad.

It breaks my heart to think that families out there are struggling to feed their children. This economic recovery is more lopsided than any other recovery and there are still a lot of people who need help.

I’ve always wanted to help out with more volunteer work, but never found the time. I want to start getting actively involved so Munchie can see how awesome it is to help those around her. I hope when she’s old enough, she’ll be eager to hold a bake sale to stamp out childhood hunger.

For now, we’re going to donate to our local food bank and do whatever we can to help.

Wordy Wednesday

2011-07-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

{via}

Good Home Hunting

2011-07-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

It feels like we’ve been looking for a house f.o.r.e.v.e.r. We first started our search soon after our wedding. Right around that time, the housing marketing was slowing starting to implode with the fall out accelerating by the end of that year. We decided to take a break to see where prices would land, and poof! Three years later, here we are!

Since we’ve been looking for an eternity, we’ve honed in on exactly what we want and what is important to us.

Turnkey- Initially, we thought we could buy a fixer-upper and we’d able to put our stamp on it. Having a brother that works in home construction definitely pushed us in that direction. However, we realized that’s not going to work for us. 1) Banks aren’t exactly giving away HELOCS like back in the heyday so we’d have to finance any construction ourselves. 2) Knowing us, projects would constantly be put on the backburner. 3) The Munchkin – living in a construction zone with a soon to be toddler is anxiety inducing.
To dovetail on the previously point – we’re looking for something built 1990 and later. Not only will it (hopefully) mitigate work we might have to do on the property – but we love the details of homes built more recently – especially brand new homes (open floor plan, giant closets, laundry room on the 2^nd floor !!!)
Community – this one became much more important with the arrival of the Munchkin. The Hubs grew up in an awesome neighborhood. Since it was a brand new house, their neighborhood was filled with young families and he had a blast. We would love for the Munchie to have her friends just a hop, skip and jump away.
Grow – we need a place we can grow into. Gone are the days during the Housing Bubble when people bought, turned around a couple of years later and sold their house for 30%, 40%, 50% more. We’re in it for the long(ish) hall. We want a home we’ll be comfortable in for at least 10 years. A place where the Munchie can have her friends over to a tea party and hopefully where we’ll welcome home Munchie 2.0.

Hopefully we’ll be able to move into a new home by the end of the year. I CANNOT WAIT!

Fall Essentials

2011-07-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

Baby Gap has been killing it lately! I've been anxiously waiting for a sale and I hit the mother lode this weekend. Everything in store (except, denim, lame!) was 40% off. To say I got a little carried away is a bit of an understatement. Above is just a sampling of what her haul. Gotta love a good sale!

Happy Friday!

2011-07-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

The Munchkin did GREAT yesterday at daycare. When I called in to check on her, Miss L said that she was having a blast and hadn't stopped since she got to the classroom. She was crawling up a storm, making friends and talking non-stop to her toys.

The only time she cried was when I came to pick her up because she didn't want to leave. What a party animal =)

This is the first weekend home for us in two weeks. Finally! We're going to spend it house hunting, going to the fair and maybe catch some 'Arry Potta.

Thankful Thursday

2011-07-14T05:21:00.000-07:00

I have a ton to be thankful lately. I don’t even know where to begin. I guess a bullet list will do.

1) As I mentioned earlier, the Hubs landed a fantastic job, there was even a bit of a bidding war between two companies for him.

2) We found a great day care for the Munchkin. I can’t believe this place had an opening for us – we totally lucked out as there is generally a 6-12 month waiting list. Someone dropped out at the last minute – it was kismet! I went to transitioning day with the Munchkin Tuesday and I think she will do great! I feel totally confident and comfortable with the teachers/caregivers. The kids all look happy and well adjusted AND they are flexible and will follow Sydney’s schedule. If she’s tired, they’ll put her to bed, if she’s hungry – she’ll eat. If she wants to party like a rock star, they’ll let her boogie down.

Ok – so it looks like I only had two – but they are two HUGE things to be thankful for. Here's the Munch showing her relief things are settling down.

Awesome + Bombdiggity

2011-07-13T05:54:00.000-07:00

This summer is proving to be pretty fantastic. I used to be ambivalent about summer. Yay for time off from school, boo to the boredom. My parents both worked, so summers were epically boring for us kids save for the two weeks our Canadian cousins came to visit. Those two weeks were filled with trips to Disneyland, the beach, movies.

This summer is like those two weeks on steroids! We’ve been to Disneyland almost every week we’re in town. Two road trips down, Sacramento + Vegas, a Hawaiian vacation and there’s still more! The OC Fair starts this week and I have a couple of fun concerts with the girls.

I really, really want to go to San Francisco in August. August is the month that the SF Farmer’s market is choke full of Arctic Queen (not positive of the name) white peaches and nectarines. They are the juiciest, sweetest, best tasting peaches/nectarines IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. Like, for serious. They are hella expensive, about $40 for flat, but are worth every penny.

I was on the verge of tears last time when the Hubs ate MY last peach. I think the word divorce was thrown around. I kid, I kid. They are THAT good, though.

Anyhow, yes, this summer has been like sitting on the corner of Awesome and Bombdiggity. Hopefully the fun continues!

The Hubs

2011-07-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

The Hubs starts a new job this week, huzzah! His office is business casual, but more emphasis on the business part since it’s a finance gig.

He has suits and jeans – not much in between. I’m thinking of buying him a few things for the new jobby job and I love me some John Varvatos. Impeccable tailoring with and rock and roll edge. I love that the Hubs loves Varvatos, too.

A Cup of Jo

2011-07-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite blogs is A Cup of Jo – by Joann Goddard. I can’t remember how I stumbled onto her blog a couple of years ago, but ohmygosh, I’m so, so glad I did! She is a newish mom herself and some of her posts have seriously saved my sanity.

A few weeks after the Munchkin was born, I was having a particularly bad day with breastfeeding. It wasn’t a supply or latch issue, but I felt completely trapped. I remained a hermit at home for fear that the moment we went somewhere, the Munchkin would be hungry and, “OH MY GOD, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO IF I HAVE TO BREASTFEED WHILE WE’RE OUT?!?!” I was terrified.

Enter Joann’s post on the EXACT same day that I was feeling so desperate and I instantly felt better. It still took me a while before I actually BF in public, but it was incredibly comforting to know that it’s ok and it kept me going. I credit that post for helping me to keep going with BF. I was seriously *thisclose* to giving up on it entirely.

This week she is posting a series on working moms. Perfect timing because for the past few weeks, I’ve been feeling super overwhelmed. It’s like she’s in my head or something! I can’t wait to read how other moms juggle work/baby/life.

Wordy Wednesday

2011-07-06T12:15:00.001-07:00

Despite being about 10lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight, I still feel large and in charge. I think any muscle mass I had during my pregnancy completely disappeared. For me, being a working mom and trying to find time to work out - reconciling being away from my kid for another couple of hours a day on top of the 9+ hours I'm already gone is tough, but I have to figure it out!

The best shape and healthiest I've ever felt was during the two sessions of boot camp I did right before my wedding. I can't believe I used to get up at 4:45 am every day to work out.

As much as I loved the results of boot camp, I cannot muster the energy to wake up at the butt crack of dawn, so enter pilates. I did a month or two reformer pilates a couple of years ago and it did wonders for my back (bowling injury :).

The Hubs and I are also on the lookout for a good jogging stroller. We're leaning towards the City Mini.

I'm hoping a combination of pilates classes and jogging with the Munchkin will get me back in shape! Here's to hoping.

Wordy Wednesday

2011-06-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

For the Munchie:

Open Road

2011-06-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

{via}

The Hubs, Munchie and Dot (my seester) are heading out on the open road to Sacramento this weekend. To say that I’m terrified about how Munchie will do on a 7 hour car ride is an understatement. Girlfriend is not a fan of her car seat and I’m hoping things will go smoothly. She did great on our road trip to Santa Barbara, but she was just a wee 4 months and still slept a lot and the ride was only 2 ½ hour ride.

Wish us luck!!

Wordy Wednesday: Totes

2011-06-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

First Date

2011-06-13T05:15:00.000-07:00

Henny* and I met through the magic of Facebook through our mutual bud, Catherine. Our little girls are just one day apart! We've been commenting on each others pics and finally met in person for a Hapa baby play date. Her baby girl is so adorbs! I just want to eat her up!

The Munchkin also tried out the swings on her own for the very first time. At first, she wasn't sure about it....

And then she started to get into it...I love love this picture, she is so excited!
The girls spent a little time gabbing.

The Munchikin somehow lost her audience for a bit. She must have been trying to discuss Greece's impending financial default like she does with her daddy all the time. Those two and finance, sheesh!

She tried to reel her back in by eating her new friend.

Girlfriend was knocked out before we even got back to the car!

The Munchkin's first play date was a roaring success. Thank you to Auntie Catherine for setting it up and taking such fab pictures! Can't wait to do it again!

*names have been changed to protect the innocent ;)

It has come to this...

2011-06-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

New sign on my door:

DO NOT ENTER

THIS OFFICE IS NOW A LACTATION ROOM

Mooooo

Wordy Wednesday: Teehee

2011-06-08T05:20:00.000-07:00

uncharted

2011-06-06T14:29:00.001-07:00

Uncharted came on the radio today and I'd forgotten how much I lurve Sara Bareilles. I randomly checked her tour dates and lo and behold she is coming next month with Sugarland! I quickly sent off an email and 15 emails back and forth later, Catherine, Crystal and I are going to the show at The Greek! I can't wait for a girls' night out!

maxi

2011-06-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

Check out my post on ffabulust!

Wordy Wednesday

2011-06-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

Hawaii Haul

2011-06-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

We had a little down time this long weekend and I organized and did a little spring cleaning in my closet and realized I have NOTHING to wear for our upcoming Hawaii trip. OK, so I do have a pair of shorts and a couple of tanks, but my wardrobe definitely is not beach ready.

So I made a list and hit the mall, er internet. I was disappointed in the sales. I managed to pick up a dress from Madewell on super sale – way cheaper than the interwebs price. Super cute print with wide straps AND pockets, I’m in love….And that’s about all I managed to scrounge up at the mall. Lame sauce.

I fared better online. I stocked up on a bunch of basics over at Gilly Hicks, tanks, hoodies, etc.

I jumped on the chambray shirt bandwagon with this little number from Banana. It’ll be perfect to throw on after the beach or out over a summery dress.

Next up, a swim suit. Shoot me now.

**the layout options for photos in blogger is killing me! Need to figure out HTML code stat!

Must Make

2011-05-31T04:33:00.000-07:00

I made these strawberry cheesecake bites for our BBQ this weekend and they were fan-freaking-tastic! Perfect light sweet treat for summer and they're not that bad for you if you sub in light cream cheese and cut back on the powdered sugar. You will love these, trust.

{via}

Aloha!

2011-05-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

{via}

We booked a trip to Hawaii!!! Aww yeah! Let the shopping being! That’s what vacations are for, right? Shopping with reckless abandon in preparation for the trip?

We’ve been going back and forth on when and where to take a vacay for a month or so now. The Hubs was holding out for Costa Rica (insert eye roll here) and even though I love it there when we went for our honeymoon, I doesn’t exactly strike me as a kosher place to take an 8 month old.

We batted around a few more locales (Cabo, Carribean, etc) before we decided Oahu is the place to go. We are living it up in total tourist fashion and staying in Waikiki. Aww yeah! I’m a city girl through and through and when we went to Kauai a few years back I was bored.out.of.my.mind. So Oahu is right up my alley with the perfect mix of city + beach.

I can’t wait to hit up Costco and stock up on 5lb boxes of dried cuttle fish and Spam flavored macadamia nuts (trust, it’s better than it sounds). I just may or may not take advantage of the lower tax + prices of some handbags I’ve had my eye one.

The only thing we have on the agenda is sleep/beach/eat – Repeat.

CANNOT WAIT!!!!

Thankful Thursday: The OC

2011-05-26T05:39:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, the Hubs and I are house hunting and I cannot imagine living anywhere else. Sure, the traffic blows and the COL is annoyingly high, but I love living behind the Orange Curtain.

I love that we are a short 15 minute drive from the beach, I love the awesome weather, I love being Disneyland Annual Pass holders. Even though I curse myself every time I drive down Bolsa Ave, I love being so close to Little Saigon and some of the BEST Vietnamese food on Earth. I love (despite homogeneous shoes like RHOC, Laguna Beach, and The OC) our county IS diverse. We are a short drive away from fabulous authentic Mexican/Indian/Korean/Thai/Japanese/Vietnamese/Thai/whatever else you can think think of food. I love being close L.A. and getting to do stuff like attend the MTV Movie Awards (which I did a few years ago and sat RIGHT BEHIND Steve Carrel) and go see a screening and round table of Justified (which we’re doing in a couple of weeks). I love shopping at the most awesome mall ever, for reals yo, where else can you shop for washers and drivers at Sears and then cruise on over to Chanel for a new handbag? SO AWESOME!

So yeah, food + shopping, that’s why I’m thankful we live where we live ;)

{this movie was not as funny as it could have been}

Wordy Wednesday: What the Pho?!

2011-05-25T05:11:00.000-07:00

I NEED to get this for the Hubs.

Partee!!

2011-05-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

Munchie's party planning is in full swing! I've bookmarked a million cute ideas for her party and then came across the PERFECT image for exactly what I want to re-create. LOVE!!

{via}

What's for dinner?

2011-05-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Anytime I'm in a rut and can't think of what to make for dinner, I turn to my Nom Nom - Pinterest board (which far outstrips any of my other boards in pins, natch). Tonight, I'm whipping up this:

Nom, nom indeed.

Sun Diego

2011-05-20T05:08:00.000-07:00

Today we are heading down to San Diego for a much needed getaway. We need it, bad. We’re both feeling burnt out it will be fab to get away for a weekend and just relax. I wish the weather was warmer so we could hit up the pool, but I’ll take it.

Just a few weeks a go I remember thinking, “Dude, this working mom thing is a piece of cake! Easy peasy!” and then BOOM! All of a sudden I felt stressed and anxious – out of no where! Strange.

ANYHOW…..

I can’t wait to stuff our faces with giant waffles and watch my sister “run” in her first 5K. I use the term “run” very loosely as this chick hasn’t run a mile since freshman year of high school. It will be pure comedy!

I can’t wait! Hope you have a fabulous weekend!