Grandma's 91st Birthday

Grandma's 91st Birthday

Cookie Exchange

I hosted my first cookie exchange. The cookies were AMAZING! I made Melt-In-Your-Mouth Shortbread Cookies, Pauline made the Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie, Anna made Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, Nancy made Stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Janice made Holiday Rice Crispy Squares, and Anita made Oatmeal Coconut Cookies. Don't worry, I didn't eat all the cookies - I shared them with my friends.

2010 Highlights

All in all, 2010 was another year of great blessings.  Everyone is healthy and we welcomed a new addition to our family.  Here are some month-by-month highlights:

Jan - Got pregnant
Feb - Found out I was pregnant
Mar - Got super sick with a cold/flu that lasted 4 weeks
Apr - Landed a job back in the PR department
May - Worked 2 jobs as I transitioned out of my old job and into my new job and juggled major crisis/issues management at work
Jun - Continued to deal with major issues at work
Jul - Jeremy turned 36
Aug - Went to the JW Rosseau for vacation to decompress after 2 months of VBS
Sep - Keith turned 3, celebrated our 7th year wedding anniversary
Oct - Ainsley was born and started mat leave
Nov - Celebrated Ainsley's 1 month birthday
Dec - Will be celebrating Jeremy's grandma's 91st birthday

Mom is leaving soon

Despite all the complaints that I've had about my mom being here for 2 months during my "confinement" period, she actually has been more helpful than I expected.  She has held the baby in the afternoons to allow me to have afternoon naps most days.  She folds all our laundry.  She makes soup for me and tries her best to cook the few dishes that she knows how to make.  Spending so much time with her in the past 2 months have made me realize that my mom really is getting old.  Her hair is actually all grey/white but she colours it black.  She often has aches and pains - I even took her to a few sessions of acupuncture while she was here.  She sometimes forgets things which makes me wonder if it's the early onset of Alzheimer's.  While I still look forward to having my life back, I am thankful that she has come to help me these past 2 months.

Christmas time is here!

Every Christmas, my husband and I give each other an ornament.  The ornament is supposed to remind us of something that happened during the year.  Since we've been married for 7 years, we now have a decent collection of ornaments but we have never bought a tree to put the ornaments on.  We simply don't have space in our living room for a full size tree and we also don't have space to store a fake tree in a box during the other 11 months of the year.  This year, I figured out a solution!  I bought a real tree but it's table top size so that it can sit on top of our side table in our living room.  Merry Christmas!!

Potty success!

We've been potty training our 3 year old on and off for about 6 months now.  Part of the reason why it's taken so long is because I've been procrastinating.  I don't want to deal with accidents and I also dread having to take him to the bathroom when we are out.  But now that we have a newborn, I'm pretty tired of having to change his diapers.

Last Saturday, we tried to put him in underwear and within 2 hours, he wet/dirtied 4 underwears.  We didn't even get any pee/poo in the potty.  I was absolutely disgusted with having to clean him up after the poo accident.  Today, I decided to try again with Pretzel snacks (to make him thirsty and to act as a treat), apple cider (to quench his thirst, to fill his bladder, and to act as a treat), and the iTouch (to keep him entertained on the potty).  It worked!  He peed and pood in the potty while playing on the iTouch.  After he went, he got a pretzel and apple cider treat.  In the same way, he proceeded to pee in the potty after lunch, after his nap, and after dinner.  Yay!

Steamed egg custard dessert recipe (dun dan)

I love this dessert.  I'm trying to improve on this recipe each time I make it.

Ingredients:
- rock sugar (size of a golf ball)
- ginger, crushed with a cleaver (size of a golf ball)
- 400mL of water
- 1 tsp custard powder (optional)
- 3 eggs


Directions:
- boil the ginger and rock sugar in 400mL of water.  Let cool for 10 minutes and strain out the ginger.
- Stir custard powder into the sugar water to make it look more yellow.
- beat the 3 eggs and mix into the cooled rock sugar mixture
- strain the mixture into 2 bowls
- put plastic wrap on the bowls ensuring that the plastic wrap doesn't touch the mixture.  poke a few holes into the plastic wrap to let the steam out
- put the bowls into a steamer and turn the steamer on
- steam for 20 minutes
- eat while it's hot!

Makes 2 servings

Chinese steamed fish recipe

I love Chinese steamed fish.  It's so easy to make and very good with rice.  Here's how I steam my fish...

What you need:
1. A live fish that has been gutted and cleaned. I usually buy the white Tilapia from the Chinese grocery stores because they are fresh and relatively inexpensive.
2. 1/4 cup Lee Kum Kee Seasoned Soy Sauce for Seafood (or dissolve 2 tbsp of sugar into 1/4 cup light soy sauce)
3. Ginger and green onion
4. 2 tbsp of oil

How to do it:
1. Clean and wash fish.  Ensure there are no scales left on the fish and dry both inside and outside with paper towel.
2. Put some ginger slices into the stomach of the fish.
3. If fish is already at room temperature, steam for 10 min for 1 lb, 13 min for 1.5 lb, 16 min for 2 lb.
4. Cut some ginger and green onion into slivers and set aside
5. When fish is ready, heat oil in pan.
6. Place ginger and green onion slivers on fish and drizzle the hot oil on top.  You should hear a sizzle sound.
7. Pour the soy sauce mixture on top.
8. Enjoy!

Reno update

Yay!  After 1.5 months, the renos are (almost) done.  The results are amazing.  I have new kitchen floor tiles, potlights in the living room, a 'Harry Potter' closet under the stairs (aka Swiffer closet), a brand new bathroom with a super strong industrial flush toilet, a super deep tub, an undermount sink with quartz countertop, rain shower, triple shower door, and hardwood stairs.  The only thing remaining to be done is my ensuite bathroom (toilet, air vent, and medicine cabinet), and a few more steps for the stairs.  I love my newly renovated home!

My mom

I have to vent about my mom.  She is here to "help" me during my "confinement period".  Sounds nice other than she doesn't know how to cook, she doesn't like to clean and all she wants to do is to go out, talk on the phone, and watch TV.  She tries to be helpful where she can, i.e. fold clothes, do dishes, burp the baby, etc...  Here are a few snippets of our interactions so far:

Interaction #1 (first thing in the morning)
Mom: when your cleaning lady comes, tell her to clean the fridge.
What I thought: Why don't you clean it, it's not like you have anything to do.
What I said: The cleaning lady is here for 3 hours every other week.  Do you want her to clean the bathroom or clean the fridge?

Interaction #2 (while I'm cooking fried rice for myself as she holds the baby)
Mom: is that all the rice you are going to have?
What I thought: Since I haven't even taken the rice out of the fridge yet, she must be referring to the three eggs that I just scrambled to put into the fried rice.  She can't even tell the difference between eggs and rice?!
What I said: These are eggs.

Interaction #3 (while she's preparing a steam fish because she just told me that she knows how to do it)
Mom: do you put the oil in with the fish to steam?
What I thought: I thought she said she knows how to cook the fish.
What I said: No, I have to cook the oil separately and pour it on the fish after it has steamed.

Interaction #4 (the water has boiled and she's getting ready to put the fish into the steamer)
Mom: do I put the whole plate in?

What I thought: No mom, you have to cut the plate in half in order to steam the whole fish.

What I said: Yes.

I have to endure this until Dec 6th.  

it's like riding a bike

ACL is 4 days old today.  As a 2nd time mom, all the memories from being a first time mom is coming back.  I remember breastfeeding, dealing with engorgement, being (TMI) constipated, feeling like a human pacifier, enduring the sleepless nights, being amazed at the tiny little fingers with ultra sharp nails, and most of all, staring at this brand new human being that God has entrusted us with to bring up in this world.

Introducing Ainsley Charlotte Law

Ainsley Charlotte Law was born on Thursday Oct 7, 2010 at 10:18pm
Weight: 6lbs 7oz

My original due date was Friday Oct 22.  On Thursday Oct 7 at noon, I went to my 38th week doctor's appointment. I had had some spotting since the night before and when he checked my blood pressure, it was slightly elevated (145/95). So he did an internal exam (ouch) and I was already 3cm dilated. He told me that I should go into the hospital today to get induced. So he called the hospital and they told me to come in at 3pm. This was actually a blessing in disguise because I was most nervous about how to get my son taken care of when I go into labour but this way, we were all very calm and we were able to get my son from preschool and settled with my SIL before we went to the hospital. We got to the hospital and they started to monitor me. I was having mild contractions that I couldn't feel so they told me to come back when there was a room available. At 6pm, they finally put me into a room and they broke my water and started the pitocin around 6:30pm. I was 4cm at that time. By 8pm, I still couldn't really feel the contractions and by 8:30pm, my doctor checked me again and I was still at 4cm. He said he would be back at 10:30pm. As soon as he left, my contractions started to pick up and by 9:30pm, I started feeling a lot of pressure in my rectum. I asked the nurse what I should do and she said I shouldn't push. A few contractions later, I told (or screamed at) my husband to push the button to call the nurse because I felt like I needed to push. She came and checked me and I was fully dilated. They called the doctor right away and the next 30 minutes was the longest 30 minutes of my life. He got there at 10:15pm and Ainsley was born at 10:18pm after just 1 push.

I got what I wanted with no epidural and recovery has been so much better this time despite getting a 2nd degree tear. Ainsley is perfect (of course I am biased), no jaundice and is already a great latcher.

the little things in life

I recently bought a Bounce Dryer bar and I'm so happy with it! Usually I'm not so excited about laundry products, especially since I work at P&G, but this one is such a brilliant idea that i can't believe it took P&G so long to launch it. Basically, it's a bar of fabric softener that sticks to the inside of your dryer. you don't have to remember to put in a sheet each time you do the laundry and, better yet, you don't have the leftover Bounce sheet to throw out when you are folding the laundry!

I'm easily satisfied.

36w2d and reno status

i had my son at 37w1d. if i make it 6 more days from today, i would be more pregnant than i have ever been in my life! i don't want the baby to come until at least the due date because renos are still continuing. the majority of the dusty part is now done. the kitchen tiles are done, the living room potlights have been installed, the upstairs bathroom is just missing the toilet and the shower door. what remains to be done are the stairs, enclosing a storage area under the stairs, installing a vent/medicine cabinet/light fixture/toilet in the ensuite bathroom, and painting. it's been a month of renos now but it's all worth it.

B&J ice cream

there's something about eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream straight from the carton. Some thoughts and feelings that come to mind: Exhilaration, over-indulgent, guilt, claiming one's rights, self-acknowledgement, lack of self-control, I deserve it, will pay for this later, just this once, no one will know, pure joy.

baby dropped?

On Friday, I started to feel really pregnant for the first time. I've gained 30lbs so far which is great but I think the baby dropped on Friday because I now feel like there's a basketball between my legs. I'm walking slower and there's no avoiding the waddling, no matter how hard I try. I'm at 34w2d today so I'm hoping that this is not a sign that baby will come out soon. We are still severely under renovations.

labour & delivery hopes and fears

6 more weeks to my due date, here are some things that i'm worried about...

- labour will progress so fast that we won't have time to: pick up my son from daycare, drop him off with someone, and head to the hospital
- getting an epidural
- having bad nurses/doctors... or even worse, students!
- someone making a mistake
- need for an emergency c-section
- birth complications
- tearing/episiotomy
- the pain post-delivery related to tearing/episiotomy
- baby will come before my last planned day of work (Oct 8)

here are my hopes...
- vaginal birth
- quick labour so that i won't have time to get an epidural
- carrying to full term
- healthy baby
- good latch and being able to breastfeed without supplementing with formula

Super tart lemon bars

This recipe is adapted from The Joy of Baking. I've cut the amount of sugar in half so it makes this recipe super tart, just the way I like it. :)

Shortbread Crust:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup confectioner's (powdered or icing) sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Lemon Filling:
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (approximately two large lemons)
Zest of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter an 8 x 8 inch pan. I only have an 8 x 6 inch pan so my shortbread crust (my favourite part) is super thick.

Shortbread Crust: Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough just comes together. Press onto the bottom of your prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

Lemon Filling: Beat the sugar and eggs until nice and smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest and stir to combine. Fold in the flour. Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filling has set. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

To serve: Cut into squares and dust with confectioner's suger (I usually don't do this because I find that the confectioner's sugar melts anyway and it just makes it more sweet). These are best eaten the day they are made but can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Very moist blueberry muffin recipe

These muffins are super moist and easy to make. You only have to use 1 bowl, 1 measuring cup, a fork, and an ice cream scoop. Makes 8 muffins.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line muffin tin with muffin cups.
2. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. I think this is the trick of the entire recipe. Instead of just using 1/3 cup of milk, use enough milk to make it 1 cup of liquid to make the muffins super moist.
3. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries.
3. Divide into 8 muffin cups. The easiest way is to use an ice cream scoop with a lever.
3. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done. Don't over bake or else they will not be as moist.

mini cheesecake recipe

I like these individual size cheesecakes a lot. They look pretty when presented, are quick and easy to make, and each recipe only makes 6 mini cheesecakes so even if you have left overs, you can store them as individual servings.

Crust:
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup graham cracker or oreo crumbs

Filling:
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F
2. Mix crumbs and melted butter; press onto bottom of 6 muffin pan lined with muffin cups. Or you can cut strips of parchment and have it hang over the muffin cups so you can use them like handles to remove the cheesecakes.
3. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until well blended. Add egg just until blended. Spoon over crust.
4. Reduce heat to 300°F. Bake 20 min. or until center is almost set. Turn off the oven and leave it in for another 20 min. Cool at room temperature for 20 minutes. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
5. Serve with blueberry sauce or fresh fruits.

Blueberry sauce topping:
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, bring blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt to a boil for 1 minute. Add vanilla. Serve hot or chilled.

money I don't spend

I wish there was a way to track money that I don't spend. I sometimes think about all the money I save because I don't have the following habits:

- drink coffee daily (~$2/day)
- drink alcohol regularly (~$50/month)
- smoke (~$100/month)
- use a diaper genie (~$10/month for the refills)
- subscribe to newspapers/magazines (~$15/month)
- have a data plan (~$20/month)
- shop all the time (?/month)
- have a zoo/science center/wonderland/ontario place membership (~$400/year)
- have a subscription to a theatre production (~$50/month)
- have a gym membership (~$30/month)
- have a premium cable package (~$50/month)
- have 2 cars (~$3000/year in maintenance, insurance, gas, parking)
- have hobbies/collections (?/month)

That's at least $10,000/year that I am saving! With all this money I save, we should be able to go on more vacations! If only it worked that way...

Mac & cheese.... with cauliflower?

i just made an amazing mac & cheese with cauliflower puree. Even my son liked it and he is a very picky eater. You can't taste the cauliflower but it gives the macaroni such nice texture. And it is low fat too because you don't need to use any butter/flour to make the sauce. I didn't really measure but just to make it easy, this is roughly the recipe:

1 cup of macaroni (uncooked)
1 cup of milk
1 cup of cauliflower puree
1 cup of grated cheese
Salt/pepper to taste

Cook macaroni in salted water. When it's almost done, stir the milk and cauliflower puree in medium heat. When the macaroni is fully cooked, drain it and add it to the milk/cauliflower mixture. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese. Let it melt a bit in the pot. Serve while it's hot.

waddle

I'm resisting the waddle. With my last pregnancy, at one point, I suddenly noticed that I was waddling. I can't remember exactly when that happened but it would have been some time in the last couple of months. Right now, I'm in my 30th week and I'm already feeling like I need to be waddling but I'm resisting the urge. I'm consciously trying to walk normally. Good thing God only made the human gestation period to be 40 weeks.

Frozen Custard

On Friday, my co-workers mentioned this new place at Yonge & Eglinton that serves frozen custard. I've never had frozen custard before so after dinner tonight, I googled it and off we went to Jedd's Frozen Custard for our first frozen custard experience. The three of us (four if you count the baby that was moving madly inside my tummy as I was consuming the frozen custard) thoroughly enjoyed the experience. They only had 3 flavours: Chocolate, Maple, and Mint Berry. My husband and son shared a chocolate frozen custard in a cup and I 'shared' my Maple frozen custard in a waffle cone with our unborn baby. Compared to ice cream and gelato, the custard is very smooth, silky, and rich. The staff were really nice and we had a great time. I will happily be going there again.

3rd trimester

Wow, I can't believe I'm heading into the 3rd trimester already. This pregnancy has gone by so quickly. If I delivery 3 weeks early again this time, I only have 2 more months left!

The baby is moving a lot - to the point where it can get distracting when I'm at work. I love putting my husband's hand on my tummy when she's moving so he can feel her movements. He prays for her as part of the family which I think is so sweet.

I've gained 20lbs so far (@ 27 weeks) so it's a bit on the high side but with my son, I gained over 40lbs - I lost track after 40lbs - so I guess I'm on track. A coworker of mine only gained 13lbs for her entire pregnancy, I'm so jealous.

I'm starting to get anxious about the birth. From what I hear, labour and delivery is much faster the 2nd time around. Based on my friends' experiences, most people's 2nd baby is delivered in half the time vs. their first. If that's the case for me, I will have a 7-hour labour and delivery this time. I want to try not getting an epidural. Seems like recovery is a lot better without it but I'll probably cave once the pain gets too bad. The best is if the labour is progressing so fast that there's no time for the epidural, then I don't have to make the decision. I guess I'll just play it by ear.

learning to read

My almost-three year old son is starting to show off his reading abilities. the other day, he looked at the little label on my Crocs and proudly proclaimed, "C-R-O-C-S...spells SANDALS!"

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX

 

Just bought a Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX for my D40x on Kijiji. I've been wanting to get a fast prime lens for while now. This one is very compact and lightweight. I like being able to take pictures in low lighting situations without relying on the flash, especially for newborn pictures.

I did some test shots on my lovely orchids today. I love this new toy!

wifebeater

As I slowly begin to prepare for our daugher's arrival, I've been gathering things that I need/want either from friends or by looking out for good sales. One item that I've been thinking of buying are nursing tops to cover my "side fat" when nursing. I didn't use nursing tops with my son because my "side fat" problem wasn't as bad as it is now so my bebe au lait nursing cover was sufficient.

The only problem with nursing tops is that they are expensive and they look ugly. I don't want to get too many but I also don't want to wear the same thing over and over again. So anyway, I just found a great and cheap solution to this problem. In the men's section, they have summer tank tops or undershirts (aka wife-beater tanks) with wide arm holes. I just discovered that these can be worn between your nursing bra and regular top and when you need to nurse, you simply lift your regular top up, move the arm hole to reveal your breast and voila!, you get unobstructed access to the boob while "side fat" is completely covered.

I just bought a 3-pack of Hane's men's tanks today at Wal-Mart for $9 and it totally works. I'm going to tell all my breastfeeding friends.

Sew Good

 
 


I learned how to use a sewing machine from my Gr 8 Home Ec class and I didn't touch a sewing machine again until 3 years ago. To say that my sewing skills are limited is an understatement.

Three years ago, I decided to hem the drapes in my son's room. I went to my local drycleaner/alterations place and was shocked to find out that it would cost $50 to hem the drapes. So I decided to invest in a little $20 sewing machine from Canadian Tire and do it myself. Since then, with my limited sewing skills, not only have I hemmed the drapes, I have made an ottoman cover, cushion covers, duvet cover for my friend's son, 2 halloween costumes for my son, flaxseed heat pads, carry bag for my son's stroller's sun shade and rain cover, a cover for my breadmaker so it doesn't get dusty, and hemmed one pair of my husband's pants.

Today, I made a nursing pillow cover and a body pillow case for a friend of mine. The top picture is the nursing pillow "before" and the bottom picture is the nursing pillow and the body pillow "after". I'm sew impressed at myself!

Names

I am very particular about names. I think it's very important to choose a good name for your child(ren). Afterall, they will live with it for the rest of their lives, or at least until they are old enough to legally change their name.

The way we did it for our son was we came up with a Chinese name, then found an English name that sounded like the Chinese name as the middle name, then found a first name that sounds good with both the middle and last names. We were planning to take the same approach for this pregnancy so I've been trying to come up with Chinese girl names but since my Chinese name vocabulary is quite limited, I don't like anything that I've come up with so far.

My husband and I have also been brainstorming the first name ever since we found out we are having a girl. The conversation usually goes something like this...

Me: Do you like "xxx"?
Him: No.
Me: Do you like "yyy"?
Him: No.
(repeat 20 times a day)

However, today, we had a breakthrough. We met a little girl at a friend's BBQ and when I heard her name, I thought, "That's a nice name". Then, a while later, my husband said, "These kids have really nice names". It turns out that he also really liked the little girl's name. We're not going to tell anyone in case we come up with another name that we both like better or if it doesn't go with the middle name which is dependent on the Chinese name. We still have 3.5 months to make a final decision but at least we have something we both agree on...for now.

Olivia's 3rd Bday

Another successful children's bday party to add to my portfolio!

High Tea was a success!

The food was great, the friends are awesome. What more could a girl ask for?

High tea

A bunch of my mom friends wanted to throw a baby shower for another mom friend who`s due in July with her 2nd baby. One mom suggested a catered high tea which would have cost $20-25 per person. Unfortunately, the caterer was already booked for all the dates that we were available so I volunteered to be the caterer since I have a set of fine china that we hardly ever use. This will be my first time hosting a high tea.

Here`s my menu:
Smoked salmon and capers finger sandwiches
Cucumber and cream cheese finger sandwiches
Egg salad finger sandwiches
Classic scones with devon cream and raspberry jam
Platter of cheese, crackers, and berries
Mini blackberry shortbread tarts
Lemon bars
Mini brownies
Mini cupcakes
Variety of teas
Cream and sugar

I`m making everything except for the mini brownies and mini cupcakes which another friend is bringing. Can`t wait to eat it all up. Yum!

Big boy bed

Tonight was the first night we let our son sleep by himself in his new double bed. We've been sleeping with him in the bed for the past several days to get him used to the bed and to make sure he doesn't fall off in the middle of the night. When I left him tonight, I told him that he is going to have to sleep all by himself and he started to cry. I gave him a hug and a kiss, reassured him that mommy loves him, and left the room. I was so sad to leave him. he looked so small in a double bed. I'm going to miss putting him in a crib. Children are forced to grow up too fast.

Well, turns out he cried for only 5 seconds after I left his room so maybe he's not that sad to be transitioning from his crib afterall.

Conversations

I was changing my son's diaper at toys r us today. After changing his diaper, I washed my hands and he said he wanted to wash his hands too so I put soap on his hands and proceeded to dry my hands so I could lift him up to wash the soap off his hands. Then he freaked out and said, "I don't want to wash my hands!". I told him that he has to wash the soap off his hands and he said, "I don't want to dry."

then I understood that he was scared of the hand drying machine, probably because it made a loud noise, so I told him that we would dry his hands with a paper towel. Then he let me wash and dry his hands; he was happy as a clam. What a difference communication makes. I'm so proud that my son is now able to carry meaningful conversations.

Now, on to potty training...

Transition from crib to big boy bed

We bought a new bed for our son over the weekend. After looking at many different stores, we decided on an Ikea Brimnes double bed. Despite the fact that the computer room where the new bed is going into is really small, my husband really wanted a double bed because he wants to sleep with our son sometimes and he didn't want our son to grow up in a single bed. he is convinced that our son will live at home until he is 35 and it's kind of embarrasssing to still be sleeping in a single bed when you are 35. I digress.

So we spent Sunday afternoon putting the bed together. It took about 2 hours but it was relatively painless. The last step was the slats. We bought an upgraded slat base (Sultan Laxeby) because I think it's important to have a good foundation for the mattress. It's like getting good bras. I digress again.

We quickly discovered that the assembly instructions
were missing as well as one of the components and we had a dinner to go to so we stopped for the day. So today, we went back to ikea to get the part and the instructions. We got home and started to put together the slats. It took us 1.5 hours to put half of it together and then we discovered that half the screws were missing. Very frustrating. We'll need to go back to ikea again tomorrow to get all the screws. Argh...

The moral of the story: pay for the assembly service (15% of purchase price, min $50) or don't buy an ikea bed with laxeby slats.

We're having a girl!

We found out on tuesday that we are having a girl. I feel so blessed to be joining the "one boy and one girl" club. Since we already have a son, we wanted a girl for our second one so this worked out perfectly. We'll see if having a girl is what I think it's going to be like: dressing her in pretty clothes, doing her hair, dealing with boys when she gets older, etc... I'm also looking forward to my kids playing together, hopefully they will play together more than fight together.

The best parenting advice

I think the best and most fundamental parenting advice that I've gotten is this: work on your marriage. It has nothing to do with parenting but, at the same time, it has everything to do with parenting. Commitment, respect, and love for my husband is the best gift that I can give to our children.

Please and thank you

I'm so proud of my son. We were at a restaurant for lunch yesterday and, unprompted, my son said "thank you" whenever the waiter gave him something or took something away. He even said "can I have a plate please?" when the waiter came around with the bread plates. I was very impressed.

No gender yet

We went for our dr appointment and a detailed ultrasound last week. My OB has an ultrasound machine in his office but when he looked, he couldn't see the gender. At the detailed ultrasound, the tech said she wasn't allowed to tell me but she took lots of images and it would be read by the radiologist and I would find out at my next doctor appt, which is in another three weeks.

However, the ultrasound place called me back and told me that I have to go back for another ultrasound because they didn't get enough images for the heart. So I'm going again next Tues and hopefully I'll get a tech who will tell me this time.

Victoria Day

We had a great day at the beach on Victoria Day. We packed a picnic of egg salad, a loaf of bread, strawberries, pringles stix, juice, and water. We got there at 9:15am when it was relatively empty. As the day went on, more and more people came and it got really crowded. But I had a good time dozing off a couple of times, my son had a good time playing in the sand, and my husband had a good time eating egg salad sandwiches. We left at 2:15pm and our son fell asleep while we walked back to the car. We let him nap for 2 hours in the car and then went to my favorite restaurant on the Danforth, Mezes, for an early dinner with the in-laws. What a great day!

dinner at Ikea

My son and I went to Ikea for dinner today. For $1.99, he had 5 meatballs, french fries, and a carton of 2% milk. Also for $1.99, I had a plate of penne with marinara sauce and a glass of water. You can't even buy the groceries for $4! We had a great time.

flattered

My 2.5 yr old son actually commented on my dress today. As we were walking into Loblaws, he stopped, touched my dress, and said something along the lines of "Mommy is wearing a dress". I don't wear dresses very often and this is probably the first time that he has noticed me wearing a dress. I hope it'll be a long time before he notices other girls wearing dresses!

Page 28

Last night, my son wanted me to read him something from his nursery rhyme book. Specifically, he wanted me to read/sing "Hush Little Baby". So I turned to the table of contents and found it listed as being on page 28. Tonight, he asked for the same book and said "Hush little baby 21" and then quickly corrected himself, "No no, 28!" I must have said page 28 last night when I looked for it in the table of contents but I was surprised that he picked it up and actually remembered the page number. It's amazing.

Not as careful

For my first pregnancy, I was really careful about not eating stuff that the books told me not to eat: steak unless it is well done, sushi, runny eggs, soft cheeses, etc.... This time around, I haven't been as strict with my diet, maybe because I haven't been reading the books either. I have eaten a few pieces of sushi, I ordered a medium rare steak, I had a runny egg in my instant noodles and I ate two portions of an oh-so-good homemade lasagne with feta cheese. Yum. These kids are tougher than we think. A little can't do any harm, right?

Happy Mother's Day

My son gave me the best present for Mother's Day ever. He poo'd in the toilet for the first time yesterday! I didn't even have to prompt him. I was about to give him a bath and he always requests to go potty before a bath, even when he doesn't have to go. So I put him on the toilet. He was playing with my iTouch so I went to the room across the hall (where I can still see him) to check email. After about 2 minutes, I picked him up from the toilet and put him into the bath tub. To my surprise, I saw my 'presents'. We flushed and celebrated.

Flutterings

I think I felt the baby move today. I'm in my 16th week which I think is a bit early so maybe it was my lunch?

South St. Burger company

I'm part of this group called bzzagents. Periodically, they will send me samples and coupons to try out and then tell my friends about it. A few months ago, they sent me a $10 voucher and a bunch of buy one get one coupons for the South St Burger Company. Jeremy and I had tried it in the past and we didn't think it was that great so I was a bit hesitant on whether we would try it out again even with the coupons. Anyway, Jeremy went yesterday and he gave me a pretty good review of his burger, poutine made with NY fries, and milk shake. He said that it was better than the jetsun's burger that we had last week and one of the best high-end burgers he ever had. Granted, he had a $10 off coupon so if value = quality/price, he felt it was good value since he only paid $4 for his meal. Would he pay full price for heart-attack food? Time will tell.

We're gonna find out

Everyone always asks if we're going to find out the gender. With my son, there was a lot of pressure for him to be a boy so we had to find out in case he wasn't going to be a boy. Thankfully, he was a boy and the inlaws were happy. This time around, we are going to find out because based on our track record (of one), we are not very good with coming up with names. We were still trying to come up with names the day I went into labour. Finding out the gender will require us to only come up with one set of names.

Naming is complicated to begin with but I think I complexify it even more because I want an English middle name that sounds like the Chinese name. The reason is because I have a hyphenated Chinese middle name but for whatever reason, on official documents, it is sometimes hyphenated, sometimes one word, sometimes two words. On top of that, non-Chinese people can't pronounce my middle name (Yuk-Pui) properly. I don't want my children going through that their whole lives, hence the need for an English middle name.

This forces us to choose a Chinese name first, then figure out an English name that sounds like the Chinese name which also has to go well with the last name. Lastly, choose a first name that goes well with both the middle and last names.

Right now, we don't have any of the three names picked out, we are not even close. My next ultrasound is on May 28 so we're hoping to find out the gender then and have almost 5 months to work this all out.

Something borrowed...

With our son, we had friends who lent us all their baby gear. It worked out great because by the time we were done with the gear, they needed it back for their 2nd child. Here's a list of what we borrowed:
- bucket carseat
- bouncy chair
- exersaucer
- playmat
- bumbo chair
- infant bath tub
- baby bjorn
- hip hammock

other items that were donated to us:
- crib and mattress
- baby swing
- bassinet
- toys
- variety of clothes

thanks to all my friends with baby gear! Looking forward to borrowing all this stuff again!

Burgers

Friends of ours wanted to have burgers for dinner tonight so we went to this new retro-looking burger joint called Jetsun's Juicy Burgers. I had a burger, onion rings, and a diet coke. It was a pretty good burger, kind of like a Lick's burger but afterward, I felt like I just ate a big grease ball. I think we are getting too old to eat food like this. I need to detox now.

Pastor's wives conference

Being a pastor's wife does not define me. People are often surprised when they find out either because I don't fit the stereotype or because it's just so uncommon nowadays to meet a pastor's wife. Nonetheless, I've signed up for a pastor's wives conference for next weekend. I have no idea what to expect other than it's going to be a weekend away from my husband and son. It sounds bad but I'm really looking forward to having the whole weekend to myself, to recharge, without having to take care of someone else, and to be taken care of (no cooking, cleaning, and laundry!) for a change. It's ironic that I have to go to a pastor's wives conference to take a break from being a mom and (pastor's) wife.

Emotions at tonight's dinner table

fatigue
hunger
stress
frustration
anger
sadness
powerlessness
loneliness
exhaustion

You know you are pregnant when...

...You make (and eat) 2 packages of instant noodles for breakfast because your stomach was growling all night from thinking about how good MSG tastes
...you inhale 3/4 of a big bag of Lay's potato chips in 10 minutes
...you ask your husband to buy you pretzels because you crave them but then when he brings them home, you don't want them anymore
...you are blogging at 2am because you were sleeping from 7:30pm to midnight and you are now wide awake

Singing

My son loves to sing. He is really good at learning new songs (although I really have no one else to compare him to). As I'm typing this, he is in his crib for naptime but instead of falling asleep, he has been singing a new song that he must have learned from church today because I don't think my husband or I have ever sang it to him.

"Praise him praise him, all you little children, God is love, God is love!"

Fever

Our son had a fever last night of 103-104F, the highest he's ever had. When we went to bed, there was nothing to indicate that he was going to have a fever. He just had a bit of a runny nose which is normal given that he goes to daycare. Fortunately, my husband decided that he wanted our son to sleep with us which is how I realized, in the middle of the night, that he had developed a fever. I wonder what would have happened if our son slept in his crib last night? Would he have slept through the night with a fever? Would he have started crying, long enough to cause us to check up on him? Sometimes the little decisions we make in life can have such a big impact. Thank God that my husband allowed our son to sleep with us last night.

The first trimester

I had been tracking my periods and I knew it was due Feb 8. I anxiously waited until Feb 10 to test and got a Positive! However, it was an expired test (leftover from 3 years ago when we got pregnant with our first) so there was a chance that it was a false positive. Too cheap to buy a new test, we saw the doctor to confirm on Feb 18. We told our families and Malisa over CNY (Feb 14).

Here's a record of my first trimester:

Have been very tired and fell asleep at 8pm on Feb 22. Feel a bit of nausea but can't and don't want to throw up. Although it will probably make me feel better. Want to enjoy this pregnancy which sounds crazy given all the symptoms I'm getting. Already started having insomnia which is why I'm blogging at 3am on Feb 23.

Made appt with prenatal doctor for first ultrasound on Apr 5th. Doctor is close to home for convenience.

Started wearing maternity pants at 6 weeks. I am not getting big yet, I am just getting fat.

I bought 3 new pairs of maternity pants and 1 new maternity top on Mar 8th because there was a sale at Thyme: Buy 4 and get $50 off. I am totally starting to show.

I finally kind of threw up stomach acid this morning (Mar 9th). It was gross and not fulfilling like a real throw up.

Today is Mar 10th and I'm now 8 weeks pregnant or in my 9th week of pregnancy. I have been having nausea everyday and even though I'm hungry, I don't feel like eating anything. To make matters worse, I have developed a dry cough which makes me even more tired than normal, whatever normal is.

I told my manager today even though i am only in my 9th week.

Ill be 10 weeks pregnant tomorrow. We are anxious to start telling close friends but also dont want to jump the gun before our 12 week ultrasound in case anything goes wrong between now and then.

Unlike my first pregnancy, I have had many food cravings this time around. So far, I have craved for Filet o Fish, gherkins, and Tom yum soup. Because I have been sick with a terrible cough this week, Mar 10, I have also lost 3lbs. I cough so bad that I cause myself to want to throw up. So I am not totally sure if it's the cough or pregnancy that is causing my nausea.

I have been sick for 3 weeks with a bad cough/cold. I had a fever on Mar 25. Went home early and then slept until the next day into the afternoon. The fever was 101-103 so I had to take tylenol to control the temperature. I hope the baby is fine.

I'm 11 weeks now (Saturday Mar 27). My 12 week ultrasound isn't until Monday Apr 5. I now wish I kept the original appointment of Thursday April 1 so that I can officially start telling people next weekend.

Second time 'round

Yup, we are expecting again. We had our 12 week ultrasound on Monday and saw the heart beat and the little blob was squirming around. Everything looked good. I feel really different this time around because I know what to expect compared to last time when I had no clue. I can't decide if knowing what to expect is better or worse than not knowing. One thing for sure though is that I'm a bit sad that I'm going to be using up my second (and most likely last) "get out of jail free card" aka mat leave!

2 minutes of research probably helped me save hundreds of dollars

My Direct Energy renewal form just came through the mail. I don't know anything about natural gas which is why I signed up with this guy that knocked on my door 5 years ago. However, i remember hearing the riterate.ca radio commercials with the tagline of "Those who get it, save" so I decided to take a minute to check out their rates vs what Direct Energy was offering me in the renewal letter. Turns out that Riterate.ca is cheaper than Direct Energy so I was going to cancel my Direct Energy contract and sign up with riterate.ca. Fortunately, I took another minute to find this thread on redflagdeals.ca. Based on the info posted on this thread, I also checked out energyshop.com which confirmed that riterate.ca was indeed the cheapest out of all the gas marketer rates but I also ended up checking out the Enbridge Gas distribution rates (the rate directly from the utility) and it turns out that their rate is almost 50% cheaper than the fixed rate that is offered by riterate.ca.

Net: I am cancelling my super-expensive-I-can't-believe-I-have-been-with-them-for-5-years contract with Direct Energy and going back to the variable Enbridge rate. At least I know (from my 1 minute of research) that Enbridge does not make profit from the price of the natural gas. They only profit from the delivery of natural gas which you have to pay regardless of which natural gas supplier you choose.

Living vicariously ...through your child

I think generations of parents have tried to live vicariously through their kids. For example, my parents forced me to take piano lessons because they never had that opportunity. Now that I am a parent, I think about how my son is going to be a great jock, how he is going to be able to sing and play multiple instruments, and be the most popular kid at school. That pretty much sums up the complete opposite of my childhood.

Who knows, he may very well end up being a nerd that can't throw or catch a ball. Or worse, he may end up hanging out with the wrong group of friends and get into all kinds of trouble. At the end of the day, I guess we really don't have any control how our kids turn out. Thank God for His protection, grace and mercy!

Sick

I have been sick as a dog. I worked from home on Friday and half of Monday but decided it was time to get back into work today. This decision turned out to be a mistake because as soon as I got to work, I already felt like I was run over by a truck. Nevertheless, I soldiered on until 4:30 when my husband offered to drive me home. I took a nap until dinner time and now I am ready for bed again. Goodnight and good health to you all.

True Olympians

I was watching the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic games the other day. As the athletes entered the stadium, some walking and some in wheelchairs, tears began to stream down my face. As the commentators gave snipets of the athletes' background, I was so overwhelmed by their stories. I can't even begin to imagine what each of them has had to go through to get here. These athletes have had to overcome all the obstacles that life has dished out for them and still manage to emerge as champions. These are true Olympians.

My bucket list

In no particular order, here's my bucket list:
- go to Las Vegas and stay at a 5-star hotel
- take my kid(s) to Disneyland/world when they are old enough to remember it
- run a marathon
- write a book
- go to Europe
- stay in a hut that is floating on water like the ones they show in travel brochures
- volunteer at the Olympics
- celebrate our 10 year anniversary on a cruise
- celebrate our 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, etc.. wedding anniversary
- get an annual subscription to a live theatre production
- go on school field trips with my child(ren)
- pay off our mortgage
- start my own business
- have another kid
- take my kid(s) to live theatre
- become a stay-at-home mom
- become a children's bday party photographer
- join a synchro skating team
- go to a 5-star all-inclusive resort
- take my kid(s) camping
- get a zoo membership and go once a month
- sing in a real choir
- learn to play an instrument
- read through the whole Bible
- read the Bible every day for 1 year
- become a godmother
- volunteer
- retire in Vancouver
- become a board member for a non-profit organization
- live in another country
- throw my son a bday party at McDonald's

Stuff that I've already checked off my bucket list:
- get a driver's license as soon as I can
- learn to drive standard
- finish high school
- work in Hong Kong
- get a degree
- get a good job with a great company
- take a bartending course
- show my husband where I grew up in Calgary
- skate at the Olympic oval in Calgary with my husband
- take my husband to Hong Kong
- get married
- go on a cruise for our honeymoon
- go ziplining
- go on a biking/camping trip in PEI and Nova Scotia
- buy a house
- run a half-marathon
- get an MBA with honours
- have a kid
- go on mat leave for a year
- breastfeed for at least 1 year
- go to NYC with my husband
- take my son to Hong Kong
- get a job in marketing

Tom yum soup

My husband made me Tom yum soup today because I was craving it this morning. The soup had the perfect blend of spicy and sour flavour. It was even better than at the restaurant because it had a lot of chunky vegetables which made it a complete meal all on its own. tom YUM! :)

$30/month

We hardly ever watch TV so I called to cancel our cable now that the Olympics are over. This will save us $30/month. Last night, I turned on the TV to see if they have disconnected our cable yet and ended up wasting an hour watching Jeopardy and the Shopping Bags. Until they get around to disconnecting our service, I can still indulge in mind-numbing TV programming and waste my time so I don't waste my $30/month.

Practise makes perfect!

 

I really enjoy being a children's birthday party photographer. It's great to have all these opportunities to practise and to build up my portfolio!

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentines Day just gets better and better each year for us. This year, we ended up ordering pizza, enough for lunch and dinner, and watched the Olympics all day. It was a great way to spend time together without the hassle of cooking or going out for a fancy meal and having to find babysitting. Works for me! Happy Valentine's Day!

conveyor belt

One of our favourite things to do now is to get our son to be a conveyor belt.  Can you pass mommy the remote control?  Can you give daddy the grapes?  Can you put this into the recycling bin?  It's an unexpected perk of having a child.

The significance of one mushroom

My son had a mushroom at dinner today.  He is a picky eater and typically refuses to let any kind of vegetables near him.  Tonight, he picked up the mushroom with his fork, proclaimed "mushroom!", put it into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed!  I couldn't believe my eyes.

It's one small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind.

The toothbrush battle - I lost

I yelled at my 2-year old son today because he didn't want to brush his teeth.  He always wants to hold the brush himself because he likes to suck on the toothbrush so he can eat the toothpaste (it's baby toothpaste so there's no floride).  Usually, I would let him hold it, watch him swish it around his mouth, and then make funny faces at him so he would let me finish brushing his teeth.  This works most days. Today, I clearly had no patience for him.  When he tried to take the toothbrush from me, I yelled at him and hit him 3 times on his hand.  I have only ever hit him on the hand because I don't believe in spanking.  However, I felt bad after I hit him (3 times) because I knew I had hit him out of anger instead of discipline.  It's a fine line and I crossed it.  Later, just before he went to bed, I said sorry.  I don't know if he understands but I apologized anyway.

Salvation vs. Sanctification

If sanctification is tuning the radio, then salvation is turning the radio on.

The Bible Times

I've been reading through the Bible and some bible stories are really pretty strange when you think about it.  So I came up with this idea to turn Bible stories into newspaper articles.  I started a new blog called "The Bible Times".  As I'm reading through the Bible, and when I have time, I will turn some Bible stories into news articles and post them here:

http://thebibletimes.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

More personal financial planning advice

In addition to the Wealthy Barber, here are a few more personal financial planning tips that I have collected throughout the years.

1. When getting a mortgage, get a mortgage broker for the best mortgage rates.  Ask a friend or your realtor for a recommendation.  
2. Don't get mortgage insurance.  Mortgage insurance only covers your mortgage balance which decreases over time but the premium remains the same.  Instead, get enough life insurance to cover your mortgage balance and any other consumer debt that you may have.
3. Hold your rainy day fund in a TFSA so you don't have to pay tax on the interest you earn from your savings account.
4. If your annual income is above $73,689, a $1000 donation to a charitable organization actually only costs you $577.85 after the tax savings. 
5. File your income tax as soon as possible so you can get your tax refund back.  Filing it online will get you a faster refund than mailing it in.
6. Pay your credit card balances in full, on time, every month.
7. Get a no fee credit card that pays you back.  There are many options out there.  I use the PC Financial Mastercard because it works out to getting 1% cash back for groceries on every dollar I spend.  A lot of cash back cards says "Earn up to 1% cash back" which means it has a graduated cash back schedule so you don't get the full 1% cash back until you spend a certain amount of money.
8. Open a no-fee bank account.  The banks make too much money as it is.
9. Don't get suckered into group RESPs (i.e. Canadian Scholarship Trust or Heritage Education Funds).  They may have good sales pitches but I didn't like it mainly because they don't provide much flexibility if you have to miss payments. 

The Wealthy Barber

I think everyone should read "The Wealthy Barber" by David Chilton.  It's a book that discusses personal financial planning topics but through an easy-to-read fictional story.  Here are the lessons that I have learned:

1. Save 10% of your income with a monthly contribution into a mutual fund or some other investment vehicle.  Dollar cost averaging is your friend.
2. Everyone needs a will.  Get one done with a lawyer.  Keep a complete, up-to-date net worth statement and keep it with your will.
3. Get the right amount of life insurance to cover your mortgage, car loan, other consumer debts, funeral expenses, dependent's living expenses, childcare expenses, and children's future education costs.  Buy term life insurance and invest the difference.  If you don't have dependents, you don't need life insurance.  
4. Max out your RRSPs each year to save on income tax.  If you invest in equity, start converting them 5-7 years before retirement into guaranteed investment vehicles.
5. Home ownership is a good investment for most people.  Take a 5-year term, a 15 year amortization, and pay weekly if you can in order to pay down your mortgage as fast as possible.
6. A dollar saved is 2 dollars earned.  Thrift is a virtue.
7. Take advantage of income splitting by opening savings accounts in the name of the lower income earning spouse and contributing to a Spousal RRSP.
8. Get disability insurance.  If you are covered under a group plan, check to see if it's portable if you change jobs.
9. Invest in your child's education via an RESP to take advantage of the 20% government grant.  Start converting them to guaranteed vehicles about 3-5 years before your child needs the money.
10. Have an emergency fund of no more than $5000 and a line of credit that you can draw from if you really need it.
11. You don't have to worry about your day-to-day spending habits as much if your financial house is in order.

iPad

Why would Apple name their new product iPad???  Maybe their marketing department or branding agency is all comprised of men?  How could they not have anticipated all the feminine protection jokes that are now all over the web?  The iPad is ultra thin - does it come with wings?  Here's a great iPad Spoof.  How about the next generation that you can swim with, the iTampon?  Mac's iPad = Max-I-Pad.  No, not subtle at all.

Anyway, the iPad is just a giant iTouch - not a revolutionary product.  What a disappointment.  The best is this: I have an iPad mini.  It even has a phone and a camera.

Excuse me

The other day, my 2 year old son said "Excuse me" for the first time.  Daycare must have taught him that.  It's funny to think that we were refered to a speech therapist just 9 months ago because he didn't meet his 18 month speech milestones.  He may still be a bit delayed in his speech but he is quickly catching up.  For now, I'm enjoying his babbles and baby talk before he outgrows it.  He's growing up too fast.

A confession

I haven't told very many people this but when I was 2 months pregnant with my son, I went tobogganing.  At the time, I didn't think much of the risks.  We got pregnant so easily, I took my pregnancy for granted.  I went tobagganing because I was selfish.  I wasn't thinking of my unborn baby, I was just thinking about myself.  However, I now officially declare that pregnant women should not go tobogganing or do any other high risk activity.  Tons of people either can't get pregnant or their pregnancies end up in miscarriage.  Pregnancy is a precious gift.  Handle with care.

Why I blog

Some people are really good at keeping a diary or journal.  I'm not one of them.  That's why I blog.  Blogging is easier than keeping a journal because 1) I can blog anywhere as long as I'm online, 2) I can edit my writing with cut/copy/paste functions of modern technology that pen and paper lack, and 3) I can pretend that I am writing for an audience of more than just myself.

Babysitting

I'm babysitting my friend's 2 yr old today because she is going to have a baby.  I got a call from the husband at 4:40am and before I knew it, I had taken a shower, gotten dressed, and was at my friend's house by 5am.  A new life is going to come into this world today and in a small but important way, I am enabling that to happen.  Life is good.  God is even better.

Gift

Allowing our son to sleep with us is a treat... for me.   I love listening to his sleep sounds, seeing his little body inhale and exhale, and feeling his warmth beside me.  I love opening my eyes and marvelling at this wonderful gift that God has entrusted to us: this cluster of cells that grew inside of me for 37 weeks, fed from me exclusively for 6 months, and now has the capacity to walk, talk, sing, dance, create, love, laugh, learn, and much much more.  What a miracle.

TTC

DH and I are in our 2nd month of TTC.  We were hoping for a BFP next week but AF came yesterday.  I'm a bit sad but better luck next month.  I'm going to eat some sushi and maybe even drink some wine this week before we have to do the BD again.

Birthday Party Photography

It's official. I'm a Children's Birthday Party photographer.

Flattered

I was flattered to be asked this past week by a friend of ours to photograph her daughter's bday party today.  I've been the self-appointed official photographer for many-a-events but never before have I been the official 'organizer-appointed' photographer.  I was the self-apoointed photographer for her daughter's bday party last year and I guess the pictures turned out pretty good.  It even got me to dream of becoming a professional photographer specializing in children's birthday parties.  If only the financials will work out...

There's an app for that

Every year in January, I get all gung ho about setting up new routines revolving reading the Bible, losing weight, and saving money.  They are not really new year's resolutions but just merely actions that I would like to develop into habits.  I have renewed optimism this year that I will be able to keep my new found routines... at least until the end of January.  "How?", you may ask.  "Apps", I respond.

You see, since I inherited my husband's iTouch (he got an iPhone for Christmas), I've gone 'app crazy'. As I browse through the 'app store', I discover there is an app for just about anything.  To help me stick to my new routines of reading the Bible, there is a Bible app that is taking me through the Bible in one year.  To help me with losing weight, there's an app (Lose It) where I can track my calorie intake and output.  To help me to save money and eat better, I have an app for meal planning with grocery lists (Epicurious).

How did we manage to survive pre-iDevices?

Blessings

I met a women today who has a 7 year old with a disability and a failed marriage. As I listened to her story, I was overwhelmed with sadness. I couldn't even begin to imagine what she has gone through over the past 7 years. She has such strength, courage, and grace despite her circumstance. I felt so unworthy and blessed for having a healthy son and a happy marriage and I was reminded once again not to take anything for granted. Each day, I thank God for keeping our family safe and healthy. We are so blessed.

Random Rants

Sometimes I just need to rant. I would be like, "I wish I could tell someone this." But inevitably, I would have no one that I could immediately spill my guts to or the moment will pass and the matter in question would seem too trivial so it just gets buried or lost in Neverland - never to surface again. I'm hoping that this blog will serve as a forum for these moments.

Thank you, whoever you are, for reading.