sleep-walking

We were all exhausted when we arrived at the apartment. The girls slept without a problem and I thought Curious George wouldn't have a problem either, granted he was too excited because of the 2 massive Legos Santa left for him here. At closed to midnight, while I was walking around the upstairs getting ready for bed, I saw out of the corner of my eye someone walking. I got startled since there was no lights on, just night lights. Curious George was heading toward the stairs. I grabbed him and called his name, but he barely glanced at me. So I held him firmly and I said kept saying it was Mommy. Finally, he stopped 'fighting' me. I had him pee and put him right back in bed.

It's the first time he has ever sleep walk, and it was a little scary because we're in a new place and he could have fallen down the stairs. I grabbed one of the wooden baby gates we have (thank goodness to Daddy for taking those with us!) and put it on the top of the stairs. Every night since then, I have to put that up. But there has been no more incident after that. Phew!

Speaking of Lego, we went to one of the malls around here today and went to a Lego store. Daddy promised Curious George a while ago that when he gets a job he would buy him a Power Miner Lego he had been asking for. Of course when we got there, Curious George got busy looking at other stuff.

One woman working at the Lego store greeted us when we walked in, eager to give recommendations I guess. She asked how old Curious George was, but when we told him he is nearly 5, she slowly inched away. I don't know why though. Maybe because she thought she wasn't going to get a big sale because there is not much Lego for 5 years old? How wrong she was. tsk tsk tsk Curious George doesn't have the patience to build a massive one at this time, but he does build them himself by following directions.

Texas, our new home state.

Our journey to Dallas, TX began on Dec. 27th. We planned on leaving at 9am and drive some 450 miles to get us to our first stop in Lebanon, TN. Well, the packing didn't get done the night before because we had so many things to cram into the minivan. Curious George, who sat in the 3rd row only had a little space. He had to crawl above many things stuffed everywhere just to get to his seat. The sad thing is, we didn't get to bring his fish, Punky. We'd told him we would take him but when all was packed, there were tons of things that didn't fit, including Punky. Curious George was sad at first, but he was very mature about it. We told him we'd get him another one and so he was fine. He said he would name the next fish, Punky also. The next day, we packed through the morning and didn't end up leaving NC until it was 11. We arrived in Lebanon, TN exhausted at 11pm.

The next day, we began our 380 mile drive at 9:30 after a complimentary breakfast. We were exhausted from the day before. We arrived in Little Rock, AK around 4pm, which gave us plenty of time to relax and rest.

Little Rock, AK

On the 3rd day, we only had to drive about 300 miles. We got to the hotel at 3pm. It had been nice the entire drive until we arrived in Dallas where it was snowing/raining. When we got to the apartment parking deck, our cargo top didn't fit. So Daddy had to empty it outside into the van, and then carry the cargo top by himself to the apartment. Poor man.

After all the traveling was said and done, here is Daddy and Curious George assembling Lego Police that Santa gave him.

And as usually, the girls could be found in front of the TV. They also immensely enjoyed the Lego Duplo Santa left them.

Eating sandwich while watching TV. (Thing 1 in orange, Thing 2 in red.)

Christmas 2009

On Christmas morning, bright and early at 6:15ish, Curious George woke up and asked if he could check to see if Santa has been at the house. In order to buy a few more minutes of sleep, we told him it was still night time and to go back to sleep. Of course he didn't go back to sleep. After 20 minutes, we couldn't hold him off any longer and told him to go ahead. He went up to the fireplace and saw that the cookies and milk has been eaten, so he came running down to us screaming, "SANTA'S BEEN HERE! SANTA'S BEEN HERE!"

(Thing 1 is in pink, Thing 2 is in yellow)

We didn't have as many presents this year, but it worked out for the best. They were able to sufficiently enjoy each toy. The biggest hit with Curious George so far was Buzz Lightyear. Santa delivered some of their presents in Texas because he knew we might not have enough room in the minivan.

The girls had some similar presents (different colors), and some different ones.

Snow!

OK, according to the news, Richmond area got around a foot of snow yesterday. This is unusually large amount of snow for the area. And we missed it! We're here in NC. We got about 2 in. of snow. But that didn't stop the kids from enjoying watching the snow flakes come down. And it definitely didn't stop Curious George from wanting to go outside to enjoy it. He asked about going out nonstop.

Here he is enjoying the snow. He cleaned the van a little bit and then took Daddy's body board to sled down the hill. By this time the snow is mostly icy. Surprisingly, the body board worked better this time in 2 inches of snow compared to the 8 inches of snow we got in February this year. Remember the pizza pan sled? Aah, that will never cease to make me laugh.

I didn't let the girls go out because they are under the weather with cough and asthma.

missing Daddy

Daddy has been apart from us for 8 days. Daddy talks to the kids at least once a day, and they are doing great with that. Curious George talks about he and Daddy's plan on buying Lego once we get to Texas. Thing 2 asks where Daddy is in the morning and at random times during the day. Thing 1 does the same thing and sometimes explains to Thing 2 that Daddy is downstairs. :)

But Thing 1 is ever so slightly acting different. Between her and Thing 2, she usually do not come to me unless she's feeling especially tender like when she's sick or hurt (she is usually more of Daddy's girl outside of those tender moments). But these past few days, she's been coming to me more often. Then this evening, they finally got to "see" Daddy again when we set up a webcam on both ends. I got my webcam first, so I've been having the kids have fun with it by letting them watch themselves make goofy faces and let them figure that they were indeed looking at themselves.

But tonight when they saw Daddy instead, everyone went crazy happy. After several minutes, Thing 1 began saying, "couch? fun? couch, Daddy?" I thought she was asking Daddy if he was sitting on the couch. But then we began to understand what she really meant, and Daddy began explaining that he couldn't sit with her right now. But in a few days, he will be here. At that point, Thing 1 began crying and crying and crying. She turned to me for a hug, and would quiet down, but then when she turned toward the computer screen and saw Daddy again, she would cry again. It's heart breaking to see her this way.

Only 5 more days and Daddy would be back here with us. As I was saying good night to Curious George he said to me, "Today is day 5. Tomorrow is day 4. When it's day zero, Daddy will be here."

change is not easy

Today is Curious George's last day at his preschool here in NC. He has not been there that long, only since June or July. But considering all the changes he has been through in the last 9 months, he has done exceptionally well. And he will continually face many many more changes in the coming months. I worry about him. It isn't easy making best friends and then leaving them behind to make new ones. But yet, he has been a trooper. While I was gathering his things at school, he paused and said, "Oh yeah, I have to say goodbye." He proceeded to say goodbye to his friends individually as he gave them a hug.

It's only slightly easier that he is social, independent, friendly and he throws himself 100% on everything he encounters. I guess that's why his preschool teacher is a bit emotional about him leaving.

And through this recent change, he has to deal with a grumpy pregnant Mommy. I confess, I am a little short lately and I am pretty sure that I will just get worse as my belly gets bigger and bigger and become harder to move. I also feel sorry for my girls. I pray for patience so that I don't emotionally scar my children too badly when we settle in our new town and in our new life.

an excited big brother!

Last night, as Curious George was watching TV before bed, and I was sitting next to him using the laptop, the baby was being very active. (as usual, at this time). I took Curious George's hand and placed it on my belly, and in the matter of seconds he felt 2 big movements. He was so excited! He said, "Baby kicked me 2 times!" Then we called Daddy and he told him all about it.

I've placed Daddy's hand on my belly, but he never got lucky.

Curious George is definitely the first to feel his baby brother move externally.

Introducing Little Man #2!

These are some of the pictures from my 20-week ultrasound a few weeks ago. I will need to eventually change the name of this blog and find an online name for him. :) Curious George is excited to see him because he can't wait to have a room mate. He says good morning, good night and shushes everyone when he things baby is sleeping. Curious George is already a proud big brother. The girls don't quite understand what is going on, but they do kiss my belly when we ask them to kiss baby.

The problem with the English language

Curious George is playing a computer game to help him with Math skills. He can count to 10 without a problem, but up 20 it's a little shaky, especially 13 and 14. Mainly, that he pronounces them the same way. He has had this problem for a while and I remember mentioning it to Daddy, but he didn't think there's a problem. Now there is. Ha!

The 'th' sound on thirteen, and the 'f' sound on fourteen sounds too similar. The mouth shape is even the same. The only difference is the tongue placement. But how do you teach the subtlety to a 4yr old? My initial solution was teach him that the number 13 starts with a T and that he should pronounce it as such - "Tirteen". At this point my husband would look at me and tell me to ease off as he really is pronouncing it right by saying "thaaa".

Now it's really a problem. Because he pronounces them the same way, he also has a problem differentiating by recognition. Understandably, if he were given a verbal instruction to pick the number 13, he may pick either 13 or 14 if both are one of the choices.

My solution - to teach him the Filipino way of pronouncing "th", which basically means ignore the "h" and say it as a hard "t". Thirteen is now henceforth called "Tirteen". :)

Now he knows the difference by sound. It shall take practice, but problem solved. ;)

Me and my sometimes funny pronounciations can come in handy.

To Daddy, I say "TIEF" and not "THIEF"! We miss you!


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Curious George in a church play

Curious George was part of a church play this weekend with 2 performances, Saturday night and Sunday morning. He enjoyed it, even though he barely knew half the words on the songs. But he sang them proudly. :) It's hard to miss him, he's always the one moving.

He woke up not feeling well on Sunday, but he still wanted to go. It's obvious on his face he wasn't quite himself, if holding his arms out when he saw me was any indication. He wanted Mommy.

Oh yeah, he also had the worst case of "Elvis legs". I just made that term up, but if you watch the videos, you'll know exactly what I mean.

You will also hear the girls in the background. The first couple of videos, Thing 1 wanted to go up in the stage and was a little upset. Then she wanted me to sing along.













Day 2 - very tired and not feeling well and coughing.

2 going on 20

Here is Thing 2 sporting one of my sunglasses and looking very mature.

I don't have pictures like this of Thing 1 because when she doesn't want to do something, you can't make her do anything. Trust me on that one. You wouldn't believe how many times we've already butted heads.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

they're not so little anymore

Sometimes these 3 drive me and their Daddy crazy. There are moments they make us want to claw my eyes out, stick pencils in our ears and pull our hair out (OK, maybe this last part doesn't apply to Daddy), but we do love them very much. Everything we've done and not done since these little angels were born are because we put them first. We've never sacrificed anything so easily and been happier for it.

It's about time to get a picture of all 3 of them together to show how much everyone has grown, but Thing 1 was slightly anti-touchy-feely.

So here at the 2 that didn't mind the closeness.

Then it turned out, Thing 1 only minded the fact that her big brother was putting his arms around her. After I told her to stand beside Thing 2, she was fine.

Though I must say, none of them mind cuddling with each other, but sometimes they like it on their own terms.

We miss you, Daddy! I know it's only been 2 days, but we're always thinking of you. Curious George ran to the kitchen and to tell me that he heard someone make a noise that sounded like Daddy laughing. :)

Oh Christmass Tree

Nana put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and the kids helped decorate it.

Curious George and Thing 2

Thing 2 was busy chatting while I snap pictures.

Notice Daddy on the phone in the kitchen. It's the weekend he was offered the Texas job.

We wanted to take a picture of the 3 kids together in front of the tree, but they all had other ideas. Sometimes I just take what I can get.

I'm growing an alien!

This is me, at my current state - 22 weeks with Mr. #4

This was me in Feb 2007 at 20 weeks with the twins (#2 & #3).

What the heck is going on?!?!?!

Curious George was 9 lbs 14 oz
Thing 1 was 5 lbs 6 oz
Thing 2 was 4 lbs 8 oz
(note that the twins' weight equals 9 lbs 14 oz)

But I'm afraid that #4 will exceed 9 lbs 14 oz easily. It's all roomy there, ya know? YIKES!

Beach vidoes

Here are some beach videos that went with this set of pictures .



This is at the beach house. We rented a beach house that has 2 separate units. This one is where Nana, Papaw and Cousin B stayed, which connects to our unit.

Notice Thing 1 stuffing an Oreo under her armpit. I guess it's a way to mark it as hers. Thing 2, sick with strep, cuddles with Daddy.



Daddy brought body boards for him and Curious George. But the surf wasn't that big until it stormed one day. After the storm passed, we crossed the street to the beach and enjoyed some stronger winds and bigger surf. The waves slammed Daddy on the sand a few times, but he enjoyed the successful ones.



Cousin B introduced Curious George to sand fleas, so he caught a bunch. He enjoyed them immensely. Curious George insisted we take some back with us, but we explained that it's not a pet we could keep because they need ocean water.

big changes on the way

Daddy accepted a job in Texas, to start in little over than a week so it's crunch time. He will go ahead and make the drive to Texas next week without us, and return to us for Christmas. We will then all make the drive there right after Christmas.

In the meantime, we need to return most of our belongings we took with us to live with the in-laws back to our house, so that the moving company can pack them all up. I want this done before Daddy leaves next week because it won't be easy for me to do all that by myself. It's exciting, it's scary, it's worrisome, but we are all eager to start this new chapter of our lives.

In the meantime, in the midst of all changes brewing, things are still the same...at least some of it. Yesterday, I took Curious George on an errand with me. While walking around at Kohl's, we passed by the intimates section. He grabbed a bra and snuggled his face against it, "Mommy, you need to get this, so your boobies can be warm and soft and snugly!" All I could do was grin. :)

Then late in the afternoon, I asked him to try some Pringles chips. He is very picky and would only eat orange chips (Doritos), so we always encourage him to try new things. But he absolutely refused to try Pringles. I kept on pressing the issue, being the stubborn mom that I am though. Finally, he got frustrated and said, "MOMMY, IF YOU KEEP MAKING ME EAT SOMETHING I DON'T WANT, I WILL RUN AWAY FOREVER!"

I looked at him with serious face, and said, "Well, if run away, you may get left behind when it's time for us to go to Texas."

He didn't have anything to say about that. :p

The other day, it was Thing 1 that provided the amusement. I was using my laptop browsing through purses, when Thing 1 sat beside me, crinkled her nose and cocked her head and asked, "dot com, Mommy?" It will only be a matter of time before this little girl become as savvy on the computer as her big brother.

Thing 2, on the other hand stays pretty much under the radar. Even she starts trouble, we happen to mostly miss it. But what's amusing is that when we tell her to go to time-out corner, she says, "Ok, Ok, Ok." She also continues to call Thing 1 "Jojo". We remind her that she's Jojo, but she does it anyway. Oi!

Topsail Beach (8/4 - 8/7/09)

A few days after our Cherokee Trip, we headed to Topsail Beach in NC. It was the first time the kids and I have ever step foot on a beach. It was a glorious experience and one that we hope to repeat again! But our trip started out on a bad foot. A few days before our departure, Thing 2 came down with a fever. We thought it may be just a garden variety fever and that we would still be able to head out, albeit a day later than planned. But on the day we were about to leave, Thing 2 stopped talking and stopped opening her mouth. I looked at her throat and it was red. Just the night before, my throat began to feel sore. For me, it was an impending strep-throat. This was the 4th time I had gotten it in 5 months. And because Thing 2's throat was red, I was pretty sure it was also strep throat. So the morning of our departure, Daddy brought Thing 2 to the hospital (the kids were still in VA medicaid at this point and could only be seen through the ER outside of VA). And I headed to the local Urgent Care. By lunch time, we headed to the beach packed with antibiotics.

This was our first evening at the beach. I coaxed the girls to get on the water, but they were scared. I worked with Thing 1 for a while, and got her to be confident of the water. But Thing 2 was not meant to be. She was not feeling well.
(Thing 2 in pink, Thing 1 in green)

Everyone enjoyed the sand!

Thing 2 looks for the perfect sand to play in.

Curious George was the most excited of all! He jumped right in on the water with Daddy.

In between playing in the water, he played in the sand and dug tons of holes looking for crabs.

We brought a canopy with us, which allowed us to stay pretty much the entire day at the beach the next day. Here is Thing 1 obsessed with sunscreen.

Poor Thing 2 conked out. Her was low grade after being on the antibiotics, but she was very tired. On our last day, she even developed scarlet fever.

On the 3rd day, a storm came. But after it had passed, we packed up the sand toys and chairs and headed back. Daddy and nephew got to enjoy the bigger surf and had fun body surfing.

Before bed one night, Daddy had the urge to to go the beach. I don't know why. But I went with him anyway. It was pitch black, windy, but very peaceful. All we could manage is blurry pictures though. The camera fogged up the moment I opened it.

It can't be a beach trip without someone getting buried! Thing 1 and I got busy burying a very giggly Curious George.

And of course, Daddy! I had to give him a sexy figure, complete with preggo belly. He is cupping his boobies here and was a little disappointed. He said he didn't mind boobs as long as they were ginormous. I thought I did give him big ones, but apparently they weren't big enough.
We just love Daddy's sense of humor!

Sexy Daddy!

Digging around with Cousin B.

Thing 1 got a beautiful tan!

Curious George outside the beach house.

Thing 1 in our room.

Incidentally, Daddy contracted H1N1 during this beach trip. He complained of sore body the last day we were there, but we thought it was normal considering he was on the water body surfing everyday we were there. But when the body ache lasted a few more days after getting home, he went to the doctor and tested positive for Type A flu. Being in the middle of summer, Type A flu was pretty much a sure thing that it was H1N1. A week after he got better, after Thing 2 recovered from strep throat, she contracted H1N1 as well. The poor, poor little angel. Both Daddy and Thing 2 didn't have high fever, but they had the severe body ache. In fact, Thing 2 couldn't even walk for a good week. We had to carry her around, she was so sore.

Also at this time, being that this was my 4th time with strep throat, I was given 2 very strong antibiotics to finally kill off this antibiotic-resistent bug. We didn't know I was pregnant. Thankfully, baby is just fine and the strep is finally gone!

(I will post beach videos next.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday, I had my 20-week ultrasound. I was worried and excited...worried that something may be wrong with the baby, and excited at the same time. Well, we found out that we are having another baby boy!!! Both Daddy and I are excited that now we have 2 boys and 2 girls. Who could ask for anything better? This baby is a surprise, coming at what many would thing is a "bad time", being that Daddy has been unemployed since February. But we see this baby as a complete blessing. Being unemployed for this long is unfortunate, but with God's help, we've survived.

A long time ago, Daddy and I have told each other that there is nothing we can't handle as long as our family is together. Family is the most important thing there is. We can survive with much less, and still be happy as long as our family is taken care off. Due to a series of decisions we've made throughout our marriage, this time of unemployment could have been a lot more stressful and devastating than it really has. This is not to say that it has been easy on any of us, but we can definitely see the forest for tress. (Is that how that goes?)

Daddy has received 3 job offers recently, and 2 of them are viable. We are now just thinking of what is best for our family: Texas, or Northern Virginia. There are a few more hurdles to overcome: driving with 3 kids, moody pregnant Mommy, and a Daddy who has to deal with us all. But it's a task we would gladly undertake.

This Thanksgiving, we can't help but think of the never-ending things we are thankful for:

• Daddy's parents who have welcomed us with open arm,
• time the kids have spent with their grandparents
• time the kids and I have spent with Daddy
• being blessed with one more healthy baby boy
• a smart, highly independent, strong-willed son
• 2 beautiful, fascinating, smart, sassy daughters
  
• great and soulful, going on 13-yr marriage (whoah, that's long!)
• all the people that love and care about us
• and many many many more.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Kiddie Festival (4/18/09)

Who knew I have pictures from April that I haven't posted. Back in April, there was a Kiddie Festival that we decided to bring the kids too. It's nothing big, but definitely enjoyable for the little ones.

The girls had their first encounter with mascots and surprisingly, they did just fine. They even played with them. :)

Thing 2 is showing off the pin wheel she won. Incidentally, this was the only time these dresses fit the girls.

Curious George and Thing 1. Notice the girls' hats. They were a part of their Easter Baskets.

Of course...Curious George in a fire truck and grinning like a fool.

We came home with a pet, too. This boy was beyond himself when he won a goldfish. He named it Punky. Punky is still alive and thriving today.

NC Zoo videos

10/31/09

Here are videos from the zoo (the pictures are posted here). How did these kids get so big so fast? Curious George is slightly over 3 1/2 ft tall, wearing size 11.5 shoe and 6-7 yr old clothes. His sisters are about 3 ft tall, wearing size 9.5 shoes (Thing 2's feet are ever so slightly bigger) and 4T clothes.

Thing 2 is wearing pink, Thing 1 is in white.



Here are the kids loving the colorful poisonous frogs. Notice Curious George holding the Zoo map. He planned our route the entire time based on which animals he wanted to see. We didn't see the entire Zoo since it is too big.



You can see in Thing 1's face how tired she is and hungry. Curious George's excitement is still going strong here. He loves animals! He has told us many times that he wants to be a Zoologist and Entomologist...among many other things of course.



On the move again, following Curious George. They were all hesitant to walk on the floor vents.

NC Zoo (10/31/09)

With Trick or Treating out of the way a few days prior, we were able to enjoy the Zoo on Halloween. The forecast was rain starting midday, but it actually started in the morning. But we went ahead with the plan to go to NC Zoo. Good thing, too. There was barely anyone around!

Fascinated by the Lions.

Thing 2 on the Carousel with Daddy. Thing 1 was with me, but the photo is too blurry to post.

Curious George chose this frog to ride on.

Thing 1 guzzling water. This was about 2pm. The girls were tired but were absolute troopers. She's wearing a necklace she won by tossing bean bags through a small hole (a fund raising for the Bats part of the Zoo).

Giant Bumble Bee!

Posing Turles.


I wonder who got scared first?

Crocodiles! They're all real!

Nana and the girls. Is Thing 2 showing her assets to her sister? I wonder.

Mommy and Thing 2.