Playing Together.

I love love love when Liam and Violet play together all day long.

For Christmas we bought the kids a Wii. Liam loves playing the New Super Mario Brothers game and has gotten quite good at it.

However, yesterday, Liam broke his daddy's Christmas present from last year. An expensive pair of headphones that David absolutely loves and uses almost daily. They are "gaming" headphones, so they cancel out outside noise plus have a mouth piece to chat with fellow players during games... or give instructions on how to play... which is what David actually does, lol.

David had been very good about putting them high up so the kids don't play with them. But he thought the kids have been so good about not touching his stuff that he could leave them out. When Liam saw them he put them on and I could hear him pretending to be an airplane pilot. Cute, until suddenly I also heard a loud *snap*!

He broke them beyond repair.

I was proud of David. When he found out he sent Liam to his room. If it had been me I would have screamed and yelled first... later apologize because my kids are more important than any material thing, which would no doubt confuse them. So we decided to take away the Wii for a week. And also, on top of Liam's normal chores, we made a chart to keep track of how Liam would earn money to pay his dad back. So Liam doesn't get monetary credit for cleaning his room or setting/clearing the table... but he will get credit for other chores until he "pays off" the headphones.

I digress. The playing together part... today, when the kids woke up they were running around the house. When I listened to the dialog I realized they were playing Mario Brothers. Liam used all sorts of things he called his "power ups", like a crayon, or a golf ball. Makes me smile.

12 Dates of Christmas: On Our 7th Date of Christmas...

Two of the three kids are currently sick. So even though David is on vacation and we could go on a real live date with just the two of us, we can't because who do you call to watch over kids with a cold? Nobody wants to catch a cold.

So David went out and bought us some Indian food from our favorite Indian restaurant. They make the absolute best naan I've ever had. I've mentioned before how when I first met David he didn't care for Indian food, now it's one of his favorite meals.

We enjoyed our meal immensely. We got to talk a bit and chatted about finally starting our food storage and emergency supplies this year. about 3 and a half years ago we were hit by a hurricane. Though we got safely out of town, when we came back home all places of business were, understandably, closed. Lots of people around us were without power. We were very blessed because our home wasn't damaged, well our fence in the backyard was down, but we had been wanting to replace it anyways. We had neighbors with holes in their roofs. We also had power. We never lost it, which was a huge blessing as well, because it meant that all of our food in the fridge/freezer was still good to eat. We were also able to cook the food in our fridge/freezer and pantry. I think, if I remember correctly, it was over a week before any stores opened, and when they did they had limited supplies.

And at the risk of sounding paranoid, you never really know what can happen these days that would cause a family to rely on a food storage. It could be from bad weather, it could be from the loss of a job, it could be from an epidemic... though that sounds the most paranoid, deadly epidemics have happened in our history... and with the deadly mutation of the avian flu, who knows? That recent article shows some scientists have successfully mutated (in only 5 mutations) the avian flu to spread more quickly among humans and be deadly. Even scarier is when they state that any biologist could mutate it... they don't need hard to get ingredients or use special equipment to do so.

But why live in fear? I'm not saying let's all be fearful for things that may or may not happen. We just want to be prepared. Not zombie proof house prepared, lol, just prepared.

Oh Yay, A Real Date!

Oh, but it was with my sister Maureen, aka Mo... so I'm not counting it towards my 12 Dates of Christmas.

Mo and I met up for some Sushi/Sashimi. Lots of people think sushi is cooked fish and sashimi is raw... but really sushi means vinegared rice and sashimi is without rice... so it just describes if your fish is coming with rice or not. Just a little tidbit for those who didn't know... whether you wanted to know or not.

We also met with my brother Ryan and his wife, Amber. We had lots of fun eating and talking. I don't see Mo or Ryan too often these days as they live elsewhere, so it's nice to catch up with them.

After lunch Mo and I decided to go see Breaking Dawn, Part 1. I was so excited when Maureen told me that she hadn't seen it yet either. How fun it would be to go with someone who isn't crazy about the characters and won't take it so seriously. Mo also pointed out that anyone at the movie today probably has either seen it already or also doesn't mind poking a little fun at it.

Maureen and I can be pretty obnoxious when we get together. Lots of giggling and talking. Though I normally try to keep my thoughts to myself during a movie, with Mo we can't seem to help but make comments to each other. This time around we did try our best to whisper very quietly and laugh as silently as possible.

Luckily we were with a fun audience. At one point a scene in the movie made someone in the audience audibly gag, this made me and Mo laugh out loud. Maureen laughed quite loud and this loud laugh caused other people to laugh. Mo said she often finds she helps people realize a funny situation. Haha, I think it's a gift most of my sisters and brothers have.

But a big thanks to my hubby who stayed home with the kids. David has NEVER ever ever ever complained when I leave him home all day with the kids. He never calls or texts me "when are you coming home" because he can't handle it... usually he does text if I could bring him some food home, lol. But I know after hanging out with other moms, how awesome he is for not complaining or making me feel like I need to hurry back. He can handle a crying baby too for long periods of time without getting frustrated. Love him.

12 Dates of Christmas: On Our 6th Date of Christmas...

We caught up on a series we like to watch together.

12 Dates of Christmas: On Our 5th Date of Christmas...

We took the kids for a walk around the block to check out the lights in the neighborhood. I love taking walks with the family and if I lived in a colder climate, I would do so more often.


Kids are ready to go. Violet claims the sunglasses helped her see better at night.


Drake slept the whole time.


This was the "best house on the block"... well, I don't know about best, but it certainly had the most lights... of course we didn't go around the whole neighborhood.


This picture doesn't make this cul-de-sac look as cool as it does... it's fun to see them all coordinate their lighting decor to match each other.


Back home to our plain Jane home. I'm lucky I got David to put those lights up at least.... guess he's taught me that we really need to put them up the week of Thanksgiving, other wise he doesn't feel like it's worth the effort. :)

All in all a nice walk, a nice time with the family.

Neglected Garden

Check out my poor neglected garden :( I didn't water this garden once during my pregnancy, not only because I was so sick for the first 5 months, but after the sick period I was so big and it was just too hot to go outside. But I learned that Swiss Chard will STILL grow even when it's not being watered and one is experiencing a drought so it's also not getting any rain. Liam's broccoli still grew too, but now it's flowered and can't be eaten. Violet's garden grew green onions... not sure if they are any good... but I will try them. I think one of the herbs I planted grew, it's flowering too... wonder what herb it is and if it's any good to eat. My asparagus is still growing. I think it has 2 more years before I can really start to harvest it regularly. And to my surprise and delight I found that my grapefruit tree has FINALLY produced fruit! For the past two years I've made sure to prune and fertilize the tree. I thought this year was another bust, but here we are in December and I have 4 grapefruits. They are full size, just not the right color yet... I wonder if they will ripen and be edible... I hope I hope!

Hot Chocolate "tea" Party

I have been neglecting my poor children lately. Weekends I try to sleep in, having had 2-4 hours of sleep each day during the week. I was constantly woken up with pleads to "play with us"! So when I did finally wake up (hmm hmmm 12 p.m.) I handed baby Drake to daddy and surprised the kids with a hot chocolate tea party. They loved it. I made pb&j sandwiches, cream cheese and jelly sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, hot cocoa that you could add milk and a few lumps of marshmallows to, Christmas sugar cookies that were made for us by one of David's coworker (or his wife and daughter actually).

Violet ate just tuna sandwiches, Liam had the pb&j, I ate the cream cheese and jelly, the pb&j and the tuna. I can't believe they wouldn't even try the cream cheese... when I was their age I LOVED cream cheese, and would eat cream cheese and dates that my dad always put together, just to eat the cream cheese (I hated the dates, yuck).

We had a lovely time talking and eating.

Love

Daddy took a crying Drake from me when he got home. They fell asleep together, Daddy is snoring loudly (David rarely snores except when he is laying on his back and has a little congestion) and Drake is in his arms, letting out little sighs now and then. So cute!

Drakey Drake Update

I LOVE this baby! He has a hold on me and it's a good thing because he doesn't let me get much sleep at night. Poor little guy has digestive pains and spends most of his awake time crying and crying until he is exhausted. Some of this crying happens around 11 p.m. until 2 a.m., then he is back up at 3:30 ready to eat some more. At this hour he is barely awake so he isn't screaming crying, but he is fussy and wiggly. I usually get back to sleep around 5 or so... and only because I go lay on the couch. David can sleep through Drake squirming, but I cannot. He sleeps best in a swing but I don't want him to rely on the swing to get him to sleep... especially at night.

Today I was holding him after he ate and I was watching tv because he appeared to have fallen asleep. But I have that feeling like a little someone is watching me so I look down and he is staring intently at me. As soon as our eyes lock, he gives me the biggest grin and it lasts for nearly a minute. For the first time I understood what people mean when they say their heart melted. I didn't want to break the spell but I had to say something to him, that made his little mouth go from smile to Ohhhh with wide eyes. I then started to sing to him. Drake started to drift off to sleep and every time I started a new song he would smile again... this has convinced me that he LOVES my singing :)

I will be a happy mom when the "colic" phase is over, but at least I still get those happy moments with him that help remind me how much I love him.

12 Dates of Christmas: On Our 4th Date of Christmas...

Tonight we rented Cowboys & Aliens to watch and enjoyed some cuddling time.

12 Dates of Christmas: On Our 3rd Date of Christmas...

The third date of Christmas... finally a planned one... but not that exciting, haha.

David agreed to watch "The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs" with me if I agreed to make him that oh so special "world's best" french toast.

I asked David "if you want me to ever lose this baby weight, you'll have to stop asking me to make that". David responds with "baby, you have no idea how much I have been dreaming of your french toast". Hmmm dreaming of my french toast... sounds like a line a man might say when the sizzle has gone out of the relationship, lol... well I did just have a baby... haha.

So we watched the show, had fun talking about it, made and ate some delicious french toast.

12 Dates of Christmas: On Our 2nd Date of Christmas...

Another depressing date. Wish I had pictures of this one but I don't...

The day we get out of the hospital. David had spent the next night at the hospital with Violet so I could be with the baby this time. I get to the hospital at noon the next day after dropping Drake off again at Tata's and giving Liam some hugs and kisses.

David looked exhausted and his hair looked greasy having not showered in 24 hours. Now that Violet's fever was down and neck was no longer swollen and unmovable (thanks to the antibiotics) she freely moved her head back and forth on her pillow creating a horrendous bird's nest with the back of her hair that she absolutely would not consent to being brushed (which I don't blame her given how many times the poor thing had to get poked with a needle and have blood drawn... she is now terrified of needles fyi). So me, being such a nice mama, decided to give her a day before I attempted to brush it out.

She was being released and we were once again, hungry. Even though David doesn't like to go anywhere without a shower, he agreed to taking Violet somewhere to eat. If either of us had been thinking clearly we would NOT have done this. Just the fact that Violet's white blood cell count was still extremely low, well below normal, which meant her immune system was also very weak, we should not have taken her out to eat. But not thinking, we did.

We ate at BJ's for our second date. We walk in and the hostess says "you guys must be really hungry"... no doubt she said this because of how disheveled David and Violet looked... like we are so hungry we couldn't even bother showering or brushing our hair. Violet was still tired and not feeling great so she just laid down on the booth seat (great, no germs there I'm sure) and didn't eat more than a few bites of food. David and I didn't talk or really even look at each other... he looked at the games on the many tv's. I kept my eye on Violet. We got our check as fast as our forgetful waitress could remember to get it to us, and went to fill Violet's prescription and pick up the boys.

This date was rather lame, but we don't get a lot of chances to eat out together in an actual restaurant, so it counts!

12 Dates of Christmas: On Our 1st Date of Christmas...

Doing the 12 Dates of Christmas that I got from a blog I read. That my friend, Lisa, is also doing and blogging about

On our first date of Christmas the "plan" WAS to go to his work Christmas party together, which I had previously said I didn't want to go to because of the extra baby weight I'm carrying. But I changed my mind realizing it was a night away from the kids, I even went and bought a new dress for the occassion. Unfortunately the day before the party my daughter, Violet, got sick and ended up in the hospital.

I am counting the 1st hospital day as date one (as depressing as that is) because it's the most time we've spent together in a while. Given that we also have a new baby, most (if not all) of our dates will include our kids.

So date 1 we drop Liam and Drake off at Tata's house. We take our sick little girl to the doctor. While we wait around we talk while David snuggles with Violet on his lap and I draw pictures for her. Doctor sends us to the imaging center to have Violet get a CT scan. Then they send us back to the Doctor for the results. Then the doctor tells us we have to admit her to the hospital. By now about 5 hours have gone by and we are getting pretty hungry. We know that checking into the hospital can take some time so we decide to go get something to eat together before we go.

We go to eat at Wendy's, Violet manages to eat a few fries and one chicken nugget. David and I scarf down our spicy chicken sandwich (me) and burger (Dave) while discussing who will stay with Violet and who will take the baby home and what our plan is the next day.

After we get checked in, Tio Kenito shows up to give his niece a little stuffed penguin. About an hour or so later David leaves to take the baby home, Liam stays the night with his Tata. We get some hugs, kisses and "I love you"'s in before he leaves. So depressing date, yeah maybe... but a good reminder that family means everything and as parents we would drop anything for the good of our children. It's also a nice reminder to me that I can always count on David who had left work early because I was so worried about Violet before her appointment and didn't want to take her to the doctor's alone in case we got bad news. He is always there for us.

Drake's Birth Adventure

The week before Drake was born was not fun (like most full term pregnancies). And with Drake, every single day that week I was sure was the day. David even opted to work from home just in case. I was really nervous because my previous labors progressed so quickly, I didn't want to be one of those stories of having the baby in the car. So on Monday the 7th at my doctor appointment, when the doctor said I have the option of waiting for labor to come on naturally or of being induced, I agreed to having an induction.

Tuesday night the whole family stayed the night at David's parents home. This way we could easily make my 5 a.m. appointment without having to wake up the kids. I woke up about every hour that night.

We arrived on time. They didn't have my appointment scheduled ... first telling me I am supposed to come in next week, later changing the story to the next day, Thursday (which I would have happily agreed to). Either way they were fine with taking me then, especially since they had zero other patients. It was later confirmed by my doctor that I had the date right... in fact another doctor said "of course he scheduled her on a Wednesday ... that's why we call him Nguyen Wednesday".

After lots of paperwork, setting up an IV, taking some blood and checking to see if I'm dilated at all (I wasn't... which convinced them it was going to be a long labor that I might not even have the baby that day)... they finally started the pitocin. This is around 7:30 a.m.

Around 9:30 a.m. after two hours of very mild and uneven contractions the doctor checks me and I'm "almost" dilated to a 3. He decides to break the water. I was worried this would hurt some but it didn't and after it was just gross and wet feeling. The doctor said it would be a while still. About 20 minutes later around 9:50 the contractions become incredibly painful and regular ... I would call this active labor. Around 10:30 a.m. the contractions were nearly unbearable and having had two children naturally I would've bet my life I was in transition ...

now the reason I didn't have an epidural with my first born is because I had a very bad feeling that something would go wrong with ME and I try not to ignore those types of feelings when I get them... but try to get anyone to understand that logic... instead I found myself having to defend my decision while friends who got one became defensive over their decision... sad we feel the need to do that though. Friends who had one would say "why feel pain when you don't have to?" Or "I guess I don't tolerate pain well" and almost all... save a few who it didn't work for... said "it took a few minutes and it was such a relief". Taking all this into consideration when I became pregnant with Violet I prayed about getting one with her to see if I still had those bad feelings... I did. So I prayed that somehow I could make it once again without one. Sure enough I arrived at the hospital ready to push.

But this time was different, in a different hospital too. I had assumed I would have to go without so I hadn't yet prayed on it. So while going through these horrible contractions I said a quick prayer and asked Heavenly Father if it would be safe to have an epidural this time around. I didn't get a bad feeling so I asked David what he thought and of course he said "it's up to you, I think you should get one if you want to".

So when the nurse checks me around 11:20 and says I'm only a 5 and still have a long ways to go, I tell them I want an epidural. It doesn't take long for the anesthesiologist to arrive and start prepping me. He tells me it will only take a few minutes to get in. Meanwhile painful painful contractions are happening. Don't know how to keep from moving while this needle goes in my back near my spine. The anesthesiologist, frustrated because he cannot get the line in (or whatever the proper term is), tells me I have a mild form of scoliosis making it harder for him to get past the spine.

He keeps telling me to curve my spine more.

Now imagine if you will, me with a huge belly with baby inside trying to curl my body into a ball. knees up into my belly *nurse pushing on them, me with head tucked down to my breasts. I could curl no more... yet he keeps telling me "you need to curve your spine out more"... I finally yell "I can't curve it any more, I can barely even breath!" ALL the while, horrible, painful contractions that last for a minute at least with only about 15 seconds of relief in between.

David was scared. He said blood was just pouring out of my back. Nice.

The nurse tells David to hold my hand so that I could squeeze it. But David starts squeezing the heck out of my hand. I rip my hand away and say "No! Let me squeeze YOUR hand" I take his hand back. He starts squeezing mine again... like he was going to break it! I yell again "NOOO!!! Let me squeeze YOUR HAND!" once again he crushes mine. So I say "JUST FORGET IT!" and take my hand away. I hear the nurse say "he's just worried about you, sweetie".

The doctor tries for about an hour to get the dang thing in.

Finally they make me sit up. I can't even describe the pain here. I don't even want to remember it. But I hated it. And I wanted to just stop and leave. The nurse puts a pillow in my lap and tells me to hug it, she presses her body on mine, crushing me down to try to get as much curve as possible.

He finally gets in. But he can tell it might not work. I can feel the medicine and it's strange. It kind of starts to numb one of my legs... just barely. It takes the edge off of the next contraction. It's good enough for me. It still hurts a lot, but not as bad as it was. I think I might just live through this. It's close to 12:30

Nurse checks me right after and says "She's a 9! Go get the doctor!".

It is quite obvious that they were not expecting that.

THIS MEANS that I was going through TRANSITION whilst getting the stupid epidural. Had I KNOWN this, I would have just not bothered with it. It's my fault. I know that I progress quickly, why couldn't I trust that?

The doctor arrives about 5 minutes later and declares that I am a +1, ready to push. He says "we are going to do a practice push on the next contraction, how long did it take to push your last baby out?" I say "about 3 minutes" he says "oh, then this might not be a practice push!" I push. And his head appears. Next push, he is out.

Phew. Took like a minute. Awesome. 12:39 p.m.

He cried right away. He was so red and so beautiful. He started to pee all over the doctor. Everyone laughed.

They put him on my belly. David got to cut the cord. 1st time he was able to do this for any of our kids... probably the last time too as it is our last planned baby...

Then when they were cleaning, weighing and whatever it is they do, he peed on the Nurse. He kept crying and crying.

I tore a little bit because he came out so quickly. Just a few stitches were needed.

The anesthesiologist comes in. He seems annoyed. He asks "what time did she deliver?" they say 12:39. He shakes his head, walks over to me, asks me to sit up, pulls the stuff out, walks out. I'm thinking "yeah, I'm at least as annoyed about that as you doc".

Every nurse that helped me the rest of the stay told me I was a superwoman. They had heard about going through transition while getting the epidural.

In the end I'm grateful for a safe delivery and my beautiful little son.

Teacher Ornaments

Made these for the kid's teachers. They have pieces of cinnamon sticks stuffed inside so they smell good :)

* World's Best French Toast

* according to David who is extremely picky and doesn't hand out food compliments often... and it's usually "it's pretty good"... so "world's best" was quite unexpected.

I can't take credit... I got it here at cooks.com. Below is my slightly modified version... modified in that I made less and cooked it a tad longer.

6 slices of Texas Toast
1/4 c. butter
1/3 cup of milk plus 2 and 2/3 tablespoons of milk (which is about half of a third cup if you want to eyeball it)
3 eggs
1/3 cup of sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
dash of vanilla
dash of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in 9 x 13 pan in oven while it's preheating, it will only take a few minutes to melt, pull it out once it's melted so the butter doesn't burn. Mix sugar and cinnamon and than sprinkle evenly into melted butter pan. Mix eggs, milk, salt, and vanilla. Dip bread on both sides, soaking well and lay in the pan. Bake at 400 degree oven for about 20 - 25 minutes. Let stand 1 minute. Lift out sugar side up on serving platter.

I should note that I didn't use all of the cinnamon/sugar... I maybe used a bit more than half.

The cinnamon/sugar/butter mixture will caramelize on one side of the french toast giving it a delicious sweet chewy side, the center will be fluffy, the other side will toasty but plain which I find is a nice break in the sweetness... but some people like to add more cinnamon/sugar mixture to that side or butter and some add powered sugar or fresh fruit or syrup etc... whatever suits you.