Moms night out

Tonight a few of us, moms from the toddler's class at Torrance Adult School are planning to meet up after dinner at Coffee Bean by Del Amo Mall for a night out with out the kids. This will be my first time going out with them without Brandon tagging along. We went to several playgroups together but never without the kids you know? It will be fun to just chit chat among us moms and find out more about us instead of the kids. Will update after this outing of mine.

Christmas Party

Brandon and I were supposed to join a Christmas party today at noon at Wilson Park, Torrance, organized by SAHM in the neighborhood. This party was planned a month ago by LB Jenn, the organizer of this group. We were supposed to bring some types of food and if we chose to, our kids would be inlcuded in the gift exchange.

Yesterday, I received a mass email from LB Jenn. Due to the rain in the forecast for today, the location has been changed and the party would be held at her house in Long Beach. I called her to let her know we wouldn't be going since my son is not going to behave well when visiting people's house and on top of that, there'll be too many strangers for him. And with the rain, we would prefer to stay home.

Luckily, we decided not to go as Brandon woke up too early this morning and was napping by 1pm. We wouldn't able to make it to her house anyway. May be next time. ;)

Switched from queen to twin

Ahh ... big news! I am now sharing a twin size bed with my very tossy son. We officially moved from my bedroom to his and from a queen size bed to a twin size bed beginning of November. Wow, if I am not writing this, I don't even know that I've been sleeping there for more than a month!

I have to sleep with him because my son is very tossy, restless, 'lan fun'. When I put him to sleep, he will be cozy under the comforter. However, the next moment I go inside, he would be on top of the comforter like this.


Since it is winter now, I don't want him to fall sick so I have to sleep with him to ensure he is always warm and under the blanket. Also in the middle of the night, he gets thirsty (because he opens his mouth and breath through it making his throat dry). I am really like a 24hrs servant to him. *shake head*

A wonderful pre-Christmas gift for Mommy

Dear Baby,

Mommy just want you to remember this. Here you are posing happily with mommy’s pre-Christmas gift, a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer, from the nice and wonderful people at Hamilton Beach®.

Mommy was one of the lucky winners when she submitted her video post earlier last month with you starring in it. Although you were crying and didn’t show much enthusiasm by being Mommy’s little helper/mixer in our little baking adventure, our video post was selected to win a beautiful All-Metal Pineapple Hamilton Beach® Mixer. Thank you so much for being a sport in Mommy’s previous video.

Now with this new Hamilton Beach® Eclectrics® Mixer, Mommy can make cookies for snack in the morning even in her PJs. Most importantly, she doesn't have to make you 'cry' anymore during her baking session. And while the mixer is working on the cookie dough, Mommy can play 'Little Piggy' with you. You can have all the time you want from her now.

This extremely quiet Hamilton Beach® Eclectrics® All-Metal Stand Mixer is a great addition to any family. Mommy's next project would be to try different recipes for cupcakes and hopefully she is able to find a delicious cupcake recipe for your 2nd birthday bash early March 2008.

Love,
Mommy xoxo

Boyboy doesn't want milk

I know probably most babies gone thru this stage whereby they reject their daily milk out of sudden. My son went through that once when he was an infant. We were very concerned when that happened. Luckily, a few days later he was back on the milk drinking.

Last Sunday morning, he woke up like other usual day. I prepared and warmed the milk just like before. Gave to him, he drank for 1 oz and then stopped. We tried many ways to have him drink it - changed to straw and cup, changed the nipple to sipper, use cold milk instead of warm, let him watch tv, and cradle him to drink. The latter one worked but he only finished 3 more oz. So we thought he wanted to go #2 that's why he didn't want to finish the milk first. Let him finished #2 which took forever. We managed to give him the rest of the milk in the car on the way to see a client of mine.

The second feeding for that day was ok. He managed to finish about 7oz. The night feeding is when it happened again. He was so tired that he didn't want to sleep. We gave him milk, he finished about 6oz. His usual intake was a full 9oz bottle. But he didn't want to sleep. And he didn't want the pacifier.

Motherhood is very tiring.

Bye bye pacifier

My boy stop taking the pacifier since Sunday. It is good in one way but not good in another. Without the pacifier, it is very difficult for him to call asleep. With a pacifier and if he is tired, he can usually doze off very easily. But without a pacifier, even if he is very tired, he will be circling the bed round and round, doesn't want to lay down on the bed.

Last few days afternoon nap took very long. His usual nap time was supposed to be around 1pm to 2pm, if he wakes up around 8am in the morning. I brought him in the room at 2pm, gave him his milk around 230pm (another tough job - will post about it another day). But he only napped at 4pm the last few days. Slept only 40 minutes the most.

This is draining my energy - mentally and physically. Luckily, I was still able to cook a simple meal this evening for dinner. I hate eating out too much because eat until don't know what to eat.

Art work week 1 & 2

When we attend the parenting class at Torrance Adult School, we also do art after the first rug time. Well, it is more for Mommy to relax therapy actually. Kids this age still don't know much about making art yet. My boy can sit down less than 5 minutes and then he goes off running around the classroom playing with the toys. Just me sitting there in a small little chair trying to cut, glue and paste the papers togethers.

3 hours parenting class

On Tuesday we attend the parenting class from 9am to 1215pm at Torrance Adult School. We usually leave our home around 9am or later. It depends what time my son wakes up that morning. We never stay till the end of class. We leave after break/snack time.

Today, we left home around 910am. My son woke up 10 minutes to 9am but he already took his milk at 630am. After changing him, we would be able to leave at exactly 9am but our poolman parked his car in front of the garage so we couldn't back our car out. The poolman left at 9:05am and we left immediately.

Took us 15 minutes to arrived and another 5 minutes to walk to the school because we had to park off campus. When we got there, the class already half way through singing.

Like every other time, my son will bug me to leave after snack time around 1030am. His cue about leaving is pointing to the door and saying, "Bag." I tried to distract him to stay longer in the class but usually that will not work. He will continue telling me to take our diaper bag and let's go home.

So a 3 hours class is only 1.5 hours the most for us. But good enough to get out the house to spend sometime in a different environment.

So so soooo tired

I've been overly tired these few weeks. Brandon is getting older and requires even more attention and work. Besides taking care of him, I blog, do real estate, household chores, cook, and more.

I've been sleeping between 12:30am to 1am every night. I only get a long stretch of hours to myself after Brandon goes to sleep at night which is between 9:30pm to 10pm. Sometimes when I was putting him to sleep, I fall asleep myeslf before he does. I think many of you SAHM would agree with me on this. It is not easy to be a SAHM.

Lately, I've been babbling and my conversation as well as my body langugage are incoherent. Sometimes I don't even know what I was talking about. I need to give my mind a rest. It is now 10:20pm. I will sign out after posting this and head to my sleep early this evening.

What I do when my son naps?

These are the things/stuff I do when he is napping for 1 hour.

• Clear the toys away (I hate messy rooms)
• Wash his bottle
• Prepare and cook lunch (porridge, pasta, etc) for him
• Prepare and eat my lunch
• Wash the dishes
• Throw rubbish
• Do laundry (sometimes)
• Think what to cook/eat for dinner
• Checking emails, replying to clients (while eating lunch)
• Checking PPP
• Write opps if available (while eating lunch)
• Write interim posts if time allows
• Do my monthly expenses on excel
• Shop online if got extra time
• Edit pictures to upload

I don't get to do all the stuff listed above in 1 hour. Usually by the time I finish my lunch, he wakes up. Sometimes he wakes up when I am half way through my lunch.

How to wash cloth diapers

This is how I launder my cloth diapers (fitted and pockets).

When the diaper is soiled with urine, I will take out the insert (not the pocket) and rinse them with hands under running tap water. Then I will leave him hanging on the rim of the pail. Same thing with fitted diapers, if is soiled, rinse and twist dry it and hang it. If the pail's rim is full, then I place the inserts into the pail while continue hanging the fitted diapers around it. Pocket diapers I leave it on the laundry room's table.

If it is soiled with solid, then I slide it off into the toilet and then rinse the diaper under COLD running water until I don't see any stain/stuff on the diaper. If there is stain, I use a little earth friendly detergent to rub it down. And leave the detergent on the diaper until washing time.

When the time come to wash the diapers, I place them in several laundry nets. Run them on 1 regular cycle with high level on cold water with a little earth friendly detergent.

After that is done, I stop the machine and turn it back to the beginning of the cycle again. Also with high water level but with warm wash and cold rince. I place into the load, 1 scoop of detergent with 4-5 drops of Tea Tree Essential Oil for cleansing also for slight fresh scent. I close the washer's lid and wait till the whole cycle is done then the diapers are reading for hanging.

I do not use dryer as I do not have one. So I line dry outside under the sun.

Not enough sleep

Since the arrival of the baby I've been sleep deprived. I should be sleeping earlier but I can't. Because the only time I am able to do my own things are when he is sleeping at night. Only then, I will have a long straight 2-hours without distraction from my work (real estate, blogging, shopping online, etc).

He usually go to sleep around 10pm. I stayed up until around 12am. Watch some TV from 12-1230am then I fall asleep while having the TV sleep timer on for 10 minutes.

Why don't I take nap when my son is napping? I am the kind of person that dislike taking nap in the day time. Anyhow, when he is taking his nap, I'll be busying around the house with other stuff - chores.

Well at least now I can have a straight (sometimes) 6 hours of sleep. But still sleep deprive because they've accummulated from one and a half years ago.

No more TV for me

I hate to complain about this but I seldom watch TV now. As the fall season is starting, lining up in the TV schedules are the new season premiers. Last week, Hubby caught the season premier for Prison Break. I used to watch that in the first season but missed so many episodes on the second season because I couldn't concentrate. I dislike to have my TV time interrupted so I rather not watch them.

But there is one tv series I have to watch - LOST. Hopefully they are showing it at 10pm slot. That's time my son SHOULD be already in his dreamland. I can peacefully enjoy the show.

Daily Diaper Laundry

Sometimes I get fed up using and washing cloth diapers. The reason being I have to do the laundry every evening after my son went to sleep. My son can use all the 10 cloth diapers we have (6 fitted and 4 pockets) in 1 day. By that time in the evening, I am so exhausted and tired. I just want to hit the sack and sleep too. But I still need to do the diapers laundry and then hang them.

I had them done in the evening because the diapers can dry slightly over night and take less time to dry in the sun. As we are approaching fall season now, the sun is not as hot anymore. Even with overnight drying, the cloth diapers still need to be out there for 5-7 hours before fully dried.

Parking at Griffith Torrance Adult School

It is so difficult to find parking at Griffith Torrance Adult School when I attend the Parenting Class on every Tuesday morning from 9am to 12pm.

First week, I parked by the street.

Second week, I was lucky, and was able to find a car leaving when I was driving through the inside parking lot, which means a nearer walk for us to the class.

Third week, which was today, we arrived around 920am and it took me 10 minutes to find a spot. We drove around the school twice and then I decided to park off campus across the street. Yup, street parking was full too.

First time I had to use the stroller to take my son to the class. Too far to be carrying him and walking. Not good for my back.

Do I prefer working outside?

Sometimes I really wish I am. I wish I can be a Working Mom while having someone else taking care of Brandon. May be I can appreciate my boy more that way. Taking care of him 24/7 is tough, kinda drain all my energy and concentration, and mostly patient.

On top of that, I am do work from home, Real Estate, Arbonne and blogging. These also take up more of my braincells. It is not easy I tell you, but I am managing. What to do? I still want to have my own earning. Don't want to depend all on my lowgong.

How I wish I can have 1 day a week just for myself or may be just half a day. Probably go shopping and have a massage. The reason I can't let go is that I don't trust anyone to take care of Brandon. *sigh* I know, I should learn to let go easily but I can't. I don't even trust Hubby to care for Brandon for 1 whole day, may be an hour or two should be OK. But whole day - NEH!

So I am stuck because I can't trust anyone. End up, susah (difficult) myself loh.

School tomorrow

Registered for a toddler's parenting class beginning tomorrow, once a week until Dec 7th. It will be at Torrance Adult School at Griffith Center. I don't know but my son kinda sense there is something on tomorrow. He didn't want to sleep until just 5 mins ago, which was 1020pm. He only napped once today from 1pm to 2pm. That means he was up from 2 until 1020pm, close to 8.5hours.

He was supposed to be sleeping after his bath around 730pm. But Daddy couldn't get him to sleep and instead made him cried. I was trying to get some 'me' time then but ended up I had to put away the pear which I sliced and wanted to eat. Trying to enjoy a piece of fruit in a peaceful environment is so difficult. It was 8pm then Luckily, I was able to squeeze in a shower between then and now.

But my pear is still in the fridge since I already brushed my teeth. Will save it for tomorrow, may bring it with me and have it as a snack tomorrow at the school. It will be from 9am to 1215pm. Hopefully I will be able to wake up early to get ready before the lil one does.

No computer time for Mommy

Aiya, my boy very 'cham' one. He doesn't let me sit in front of my laptop. Everytime, when it's just me and him at home, he always pull me away from my laptop. He is tall enough now that his little fingers can reach my right hands on my mouse and grab one of my fingers and then pull me away from the dining table. A lot of times I stand to type my post or bloghop. Ya, you may notice my comments may have spelling error. Because he might be in the midst of pulling me away when I was trying to finish up the comment and quickly click submit.

So during the daytime, I only can do computer/blogging/surfing when he is napping or early in the morning before he wakes up. This little demanding boy wants mommy to play with him instead of sitting in front of her laptop.

Nap Nap Nap

This morning my boy woke up early, at 7am. I thought it was 6am but luckily is 7am, as the night before I was busy doing this new template and I didn't sleep until 1:30am. He was tired by the time 10am so we took him on a car ride.

We thought of going down to Irvine Spectrum, a long 40 minutes trip at least - good for him to sleep. But this little guy fell asleep 5 minutes we up the freeway. Told Daddy why don't we turn back home and let him sleep at home. Daddy has a wedding to attend this evening and it might be too rush to return afterwards from Irvine. We took a detour home and by the time we got back it was 25 minutes later.

The moment our car pulled on the driveway, I lef the car to open the house door. He woke up, Daddy said after I closed the car door. Man, he should be sleeping more than just 25 minutes. He didn't have anymore nap till 630pm when he slept till now, 830pm. Hopefully, he will sleep through the night. Please please don't wake up in the middle of the night. I need my beauty sleep!

My good morning

This morning I was able to get up early at 7am and finished my bedsheet laundry and my breakfast before my son woke up. I actually fed him at 730am so he was able to sleep in a little bit more. He slept until 9am. He is now sitting next to me watching the DVD. It is much better this way as I can get most of my stuff done before he joins me in the morning. This is the kind of morning I like!