Being grateful - 20120531

I am grateful for Unblock Me.

I'm addicted, as you can see from my 200th game. I just got this (nerdy) app too. It also helps me pass the time during feedings.

Being grateful - 20120530

I am grateful for Krazy Glue.

It fixed this:

Being grateful - 20120529

I am grateful for Sarah Richardson.

Her new season of Sarah 101 started today, and they're airing two episodes every week. And I'm on mat leave. Awesome. While I can't say I agree with her decisions and design choices 100% of the time, I do like her style and find Tommy Smythe highly entertaining. If her choices aren't exactly top notch in my book, I find that the end snippet after the closing credits with Tommy makes up for it.

Being grateful - 20120528

I am grateful for organized mess.

D-nut plays in a fashion I've never seen before. He likes to group and align his toys. He does it with his food too. It's kind of awesome. And easy to clean up.

There's a reason why I'm picky about what I use in the kitchen

The eco-safe kitchen

Another sweet sweet proposal

Check this out:

Being grateful - 20120527

I am grateful for birthday celebrations with friends.

I finally celebrated my 30th birthday with friends today. It was nice to have so many there together and celebrate, well, me. Hahahahahaah! No really, it was nice to be able to do that with the people I've been closest to since I was in my teens. Here's what I wrote to them after we got home.


Hi everyone!

Thank you all so much for coming out tonight for dinner. And those who weren’t able to make it, thank you for thinking of me! [Mr.S], thanks for bringing everyone together!!

I know it’s been three weeks since my birthday, during which time many of you celebrated your own birthdays, but thank you all for your wishes over that time and today. Thank you for coming out on a Sunday night when many of you have to get up early tomorrow morning for work. Thank you for coming out to a family restaurant, to celebrate my thirtieth birthday, instead of a hip joint downtown with drinks and gourmet cuisine, and so, showing that you understand and embrace that my lifestyle is quite different from most thirty-year-olds (i.e. you guys)! I’ve been meaning to tell you guys this for a long time, but I’m so grateful that, despite how busy our lives have been and how much they’ve changed over the past few years with becoming parents to one and then two boys, our friendships with you all have never changed, never wavered, and that the only real difference has been that we just haven’t seen each other as often. You’re all such amazing aunts and uncles to our boys, and the love and care you extend to our kids makes us so happy.

That said, thank you most of all for being the most amazing friends anyone could ask for. We turned out alright, didn’t we? I’m so happy I got to celebrate turning thirty with my best friends, people I’ve grown up with, people I’ve grown to love and cherish, people who have been constants in my life for as long as I’ve known them. I am so, so blessed to have you all in my life. I love you all so much! Onward to FORTY! ;)

xo,
Treeh

Here are some pics from the night. We didn't manage to get everyone in, but I think most of us are here!

This is what our family looks like at 30.

Being grateful - 20120526

I am grateful for Asian grocery stores.

Don't you love how you can find foods there that can't be found elsewhere? And don't you love how some of them are delicious and some of them are, well, kinda, weird? And don't you love that some smell good and some just stink? I have yet to full on smell a durian. And taste one too. I also love how organized and neat some of them are.

I am also grateful for seasonal haircuts.

D-nut got what-will-be-his-annual head shave today. (I make him sound like he's a sheep who got sheared. Oops.) He looks so cute. And even more like his Poppa.

Being grateful - 20120525

I am grateful for hanging out.

We hung out with Brother today. It was nice. I feel like every time we hang out at his place, I'm baking, and usually to fill an order, but today we just hung out. It was nice. We ate at one of our fave Filipino diners and then headed over to his place, which is just up the street.

Being grateful - 20120524

I am grateful for friendly waitresses.

We ate at Montana's tonight. We haven't been there in aaaaaaaaaaaaages. As in, before we had kids. Wow, that feels like forevers ago. We introduced D-nut to the Despicable Me 2 trailer and he's been singing his own version of the song ever since, several times a day, and very loudly. He did not shy away from doing it at dinner tonight. It was nice that everyone around us at the restaurant found it endearing and complimented him on his nice voice (strange that that song brings out a good voice?)

Our waitress, in particular, was awesome. Some wait staff aren't very good with kids, and it's a shame. She wasn't like that at all. In fact, of all the good wait staff we've had with D around, she was the best. She was really amused by him and encouraged him every time she passed us. D really liked her too and kept trying to get her attention when she was nearby and would even talk to her after she had walked away. We gave her a good tip.

Being grateful - 20120523

I am grateful for big brothers.

D is already a really good big brother. Yes, he does have jealous moments and moments when he craves attention, but not nearly as much as we thought he'd have. He loves kissing his little brother and is enjoying watching him grow, right along with us. You can see him starting to itch for a buddy, someone to play with him, but he's being very patient and very gentle. It's so sweet.

Being grateful - 20120522

I am grateful for my Toms.

They are probably the most comfortable shoes I own (and hopefully the most comfortable shoes a child in Africa owns too!). They were packed away. Sad face.

Until today! Happy face!

With the changing weather and my body adjusting to not being pregnant (is this ever gonna stop? Haha!), I have been digging into bins of packed clothing, searching for suitable clothes for this weather, for clothes that fit me for now, and well, it's been difficult to not dig into the shoe box. No, really, it has been difficult. I don't know where my big box of shoes is. The only shoes I've had out are the ones my swollen pregnant feet could fit into, i.e. the function over form ones, and winter shoes. It's Spring.

So, since I need my runners (YAY!), I asked Mr.S if he could do some digging for me and get them out. And while there, he pulled out my Toms. Yipee!!!!!

Being grateful - 20120521

I am grateful for Queen Victoria.

D-nut doesn't like Queen Victoria. He watched "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" with Mr.S and some of his cousins and Tita, and is forever scared of/turned-off by Queen Victoria. He often talks about how the scary queen hit the pirates. I didn't watch that movie, so I have no idea if she really did, nor am I scared of her.

Anyway, I am grateful for her and Victoria Day, and her 60 year reign. Let's love her -- we have a day off because of her. Or well, most of us do (Mr.S doesn't, boo!).

Being grateful - 20120520

I am grateful for fireworks.

We introduced D-nut to Sparklers today, in the spirit of Victoria Day. And, just as expected, he was SOOOOO excited! We lit a few and put them in the ground and he loved it. We also saw some fireworks up in the sky and he liked those too. WyGuy slept inside the whole time. So excited to have the two boys up and about and do this for both of them some day soon. :)

Being grateful - 20120519

I am grateful for restaurant locator apps.

Being relatively new to the world of smartphones, I'm still marveling at how easy it is to find things these days. We truly are in the information age. Anyway, we were out today and I was craving Japanese food, only we didn't know where to find a place in the area we were in that wasn't all-you-can-eat (it's also marvelous at how there are so many places where you can get way too much food). And so, we used one of those apps and found a Japanese place that was good, inexpensive, and not AYCE. Amazing.

Being grateful - 20120518

I am grateful for stay-at-home days.

Let's face it. While it's nice to go out, it's also nice to spend an entire day at home doing nothing. Isn't it? Especially after a busy week. And, instead of going out, a couple of our friends came over to meet W. It was so nice to spend some time with them since we hadn't seen each other in months, since our friend's wedding in October. It was too bad we didn't get to see their misters too.

Being grateful - 20120517

I am grateful for good reviews and schedules.

We had some bffs over tonight for fun. I made dinner and dessert and also did some baking for Mr.S' work potluck. It wad hectic but I stuck to my schedule and felt awesome after it all.

And even better, I finally unleashed my White Chocolate Brownie to my girlfriends, who are the biggest fans of the Moxies version and they deemed it BETTER!! Amazing amazing amazing. (i would have had a pic but we ate them before I remembered.)

My Schedule for the day. Crazy, but I did it!

Key Lime Cheesecupcakes. Some for us, some for the potluck!

Being grateful - 20120516

I am grateful for good news from my doctor.

I had my first appointment after delivering today. It was good. First, I'm okay to go for running again. Second, I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Pre-pregnancy body is another story, which also makes the green light to run a good thing.

Bring grateful - 20120515

I am grateful for the ability to make cookies.

I am told that baking and/or cooking don't come naturally to some people. I like to think I'm not one of them and hope that years of watching and helping my moms, sisters, aunts, dad, Yan, Pasquale, and all those people on the Food Network and food blogs taught me something.

My favourite things to make ever are cookies. I love cookies myself, so I guess maybe it's somewhat selfish (I'm not much of a cake person) but they're so easy, so simple, and so delicious.

D-nut is a cookie monster. You should see him eat a cookie. He savours every bite and sometimes closes his eyes when he bites and chews. I often wish i could bake cookies just to watch him eat them.

And I did just that. Or well, for him and me and Mr.S. And then Mr.S asked me to make some for his work potluck in addition to the cupcakes I was planning to make. I guess I make good cookies. Watch out, Mr. Christie.

Being grateful - 20120514

I am grateful for strollers and nice walks.

I took the boys for a walk today to the store instead of driving. It was so nice. What would have been a five minute drive each way was a twenty to thirty minute walk. It was exercise too, of course, pushing around 30+ pounds plus the cargo back. D like being out and looking at the houses and lawns and birds and people and W, well, he slept the whole time. Must do this more often.

And I thought I'd already seen crazy strollers...

Being grateful - 20120513

I am grateful for beautiful days on beautiful days.

Happy Mother's Day, Mothers! I love Mother's Day. I think it's partially because I love being a mother, and partially because I like having a day a week or so after my birthday where I get more presents. Just kidding about that last part.

Wasn't it such a nice day out today, for you Torontonians/GTAers? It was a beauty.

I got to do things like this...

It was so cute. We woke up D and told him he could have some popcorn, and after, blow some bubbles. There was so much open area around for him to chase after the bubbles. He was so excited, and even made some friends with people sitting around or people walking their dogs.

Pinch little guys like this...

Argh, isn't he so scrumptious?!?!? Sometimes I find myself pinching his cheeks so hard, he ends up with marks on his face. I know, bad momma, bad momma, but I can't help myself.

 And eat cold, sweet things like this...

....from a sweet thang like this! Hahahaha!

I hope your Mother's Day was a beautiful one!

Being grateful - 20120512

I am grateful for patience and Creative Bag.

One of the things I'm learning as a mother is what true patience really is. There was this one episode of The Simpsons (Oh goodness, I hate that show) where Marge Simpson was telling Lisa (I think it was Lisa?) that when she becomes a mother, she learns to hold in her feelings. I remember hearing that and thinking, "Oh no, what's gonna happen to me?" Well, I learned that very well today.

We were at my nephew's First Communion, at church, and well, D-nut's nap for today took place in the car ride to church. We live maybe, 15-20 minutes away from the church. You do the math. He woke up and saw so many familiar faces, he started to get hyper. Add to that lack of sleep and a desire to snack. He was making a fuss about having milk and we left his sippy cup in the car (don't worry, the cup is insulated as is the bag). He stopped, looked at me with this look I had never seen and yelled, "MILK!!!!" in the middle of the mass. I think any colour I had in my face sank away at that moment. I had it. I looked at Mr.S who had a facial expression I probably had on my face as well and said, "Outside." With that, he swooped D-nut into his arms and brought him to the hallway just outside, where D-nut continued his demands for milk. (Mr.S ended up going to the car to get his sippy cup because of all the fuss he was making, disturbing other parishioners and guests. I also want to add that I couldn't take him outside because I needed to stay with W.)

Oh man, patience is definitely a good thing to have, and to have a LOT of when you're a parent. Oh man.

-o-

Anyway, my nephew/sister prepared some pretty cool goodie bags for all their guests today. Double butter popcorn in resealable bags with a window to see what's inside. You can even seal the top and use the tear notch. Awesome.

Being grateful - 20120511

I am grateful for the spread of good things.

One of my favourite bloggers, nienie (Stephanie Nielson of The Nienie Dialogues) just released her book, "Heaven is Here" (review/feelings to be posted soon!) and was on Anderson today. She was actually on several shows this week, taking New York by storm, and I was able to catch one. I was a superstar and put both boys to sleep in time to catch the show and to have complete silence during her segment. The show was on Moms and she was featured as a mother who overcame all odds in a deadly plane crash burning 80% of her body and coming back as an even better wife and mother than before. It's so nice to be a follower of a blogger who leads such an amazing life and is a wonderful example of how we should live ours, and to see that the media wants to spread her amazing story.

Being grateful - 20120510

I am grateful for conversations with D-nut.

Despite the Terrible Two+New Older Brother thing D-nut has going on at times, D is at a really funny age. He makes me laugh so hard sometimes. They say the Twos are Terrible because they're just starting to understand how things work but don't quite have it down yet. It's nice to see him understanding a little bit more every day. We have some pretty funny conversations sometimes, and when you think about it, it's nice to be able to have a conversation, period. You take things like that for granted, and well, conversing with someone who's just learning to converse is quite entertaining. Also, it's quite nice to talk to someone whom you've been talking to all his life, and finally have him understand you. The exchange is quite an amazing thing. I know conversations with him are going to get more and more ordinary as he gets older, so I'm doing my best to remember how fun our conversations are now, while he's still young and learning how things work.

Being grateful - 20120509

I am grateful for funny dinner conversation.

Tonight we met up for dinner with Mr.S' cousins. It had been a while since we had been together, and we thought it was high time we do something about it. So we did, and got together for Chinese food. And as is often the case, we came up with ideas for further plans for getting together as well as did some catching up. It was fun, it was funny.

Being grateful - 20120508

I am grateful for Maurice Sendak.

Where The Wild Things Are. We all know him best for that work of art that tells of the greatest time-out ever. Thank you for a wonderful story that tells it like it is, and for letting Max have dinner before sleeping, after all. Thank you for giving us a theme for our Wild Thing's birthday and bedroom. Thank you for wonderful stories and illustrations. Thank you.

Being grateful - 20120507

I am grateful for white chocolate brownies and girl talk.

I got together with two of my best(girl)friends tonight as a sort of happy birthday to me/catch up thing. We haven't had girl time in a while, with us getting together bringing our significant others (and in our case, the kids), so this was much overdue. It was so nice to get to talk about our lives, what's going on, and also the realization of how our friendship has matured over the past 15+ years.

Add to that Moxie's White Chocolate Brownie, the reason we end up there when we end up there. It was a wonderful treat from them. I love them so much.

Being grateful - 20120506

I am grateful for fam jams.

Today was one of those good days where you spend time with family, but not just one set. We had a much needed fam jam with my mom's side of the family today as our relatives from Jacksonville were in town. It's been a while since we were last all together, so it was so nice to be in each other's presence again. Good times.

Afterwards, we had a fam jam with my husband's side for the May birthdays we have plenty of. It was lots of laughs, lots of talking, lots of food -- you know, fam jam stuff.

It was a very full day, in every sense of the word.

Being grateful - 20120505

I am grateful for my twenties.

My twenties were really good to me. A lot happened in my twenties. I accomplished a lot, all of which I'm proud of. I actively set out goals for almost every year of my twenties and I was able to meet almost all of them, which makes me really proud. I'm not sure I'm going to do the same for my thirties -- we'll see. As I've gotten older, I've found that having several goals/projects, small and large, is just as fulfilling as having one really big one. I plan to write a series of posts with thoughts and insights on various important aspects of my life as I've gone through them in my twenties. It'll be nice to look back on those posts in another ten years and see what more I've learned.

To my dear Twenties,

Thank you for getting me to my thirties. It has been a wonderful ride. Thank you for getting me through university, as much as I had no idea what I was doing and what I was doing it for, and for ultimately getting me through to my degree. Thank you for years of adventurous dating with my now-husband. Thank you for seeing me through my courage and confidence to move out on my own, despite how tight my parents wanted to hold on to me. Thank you for accompanying me to my first job and the jobs that followed. Thank you for bringing me to several fundraisers for various causes close to my heart, and for being there when I grew and then chopped off a foot of my hair and later found out the shape of my head is pretty nice when I shaved my hair off for the cure. Thank you for witnessing one of the most romantic times of my life -- being engaged to my then-fiance-now-husband and then all the wedding plans. Thank you for sharing that special day when we got married, changing my life forever and fulfilling one of my lifelong dreams -- becoming a wife to an amazing man. Thank you for not laughing at me as I trained for my first marathon, a half marathon and countless other races and showing me that youth isn't confined to age, but to ability and outlook on life. Thank you for being there when I was pregnant with and the birth of our firstborn, who is constantly rewarding and challenging me, while enriching every moment of my life. Thank you for coming with me on travels to foreign places, places I've never been before, near and far. Thank you for being there when I was pregnant with and the birth of our secondborn, who is growing bigger and more and more quickly every day, and continues to teach us something new about life and so many other important things, even though it's only been a bit over a month. Thank you for sticking around through all the lessons, all the experiences, everything. You've been so good to me and now we say goodbye. You were an amazing set of years, and now I move on to my thirties, which will, no doubt, be at least as good to me as you've been.

Love,
Treeh

Being grateful - 20120504

I am grateful for clean cars.

As an early birthday gift to myself, I cleaned the interior of our car. I decided to do this before yesterday's fiasco, by the way.

After dinner, after Mr.S was home already, I backed the car out of the driveway and cleaned it. No more crumbs. No more dirt. No more dust. No more stray wrappers. No more receipts. No more clutter. All clean. All tidy.

Now to tackle the outside one of these days when rain isn't in the forecast every day...

How awesome is this?

The Singer 60th Anniversary Sewing Machine.

Being grateful - 20120503

I am grateful for disassembly of child products.

D-nut threw up in the car today. He was having one of his terrible two fits (ugh!!!) and was crying/screaming to the point where he was gagging and BLINK! He had vomit all over himself and his car seat.

NOT COOL.

Luckily we were on our way home (and if we weren't, we would be on our way home) and the extra clothes we always have on hand were quite handy.

We got home and I bathed him right away, while Mr.S took his car seat out of the car and cleaned up whatever mess might have lurked there (luckily very very little).

After cleaning up D, I tackled the car seat. All the pieces that needed to be washed came off, and I washed all the nastiness off. Ick.

Being grateful - 20120502

I am grateful for good shopping finds, child-to-child interaction and baby growth spurts.

Don't you love it when you think of something you want and you don't really know if you'll find it because you just thought of it and then you go out and find EXACTLY the thing you thought of? I do! I've been forced to look at my wardrobe and evaluate which pieces I like best, which are most practical, and which work with my current body (my "pouch" has mostly disappeared but left this flabby little thing and I'm not a fan of it), which fit in the space I have to store my clothes, which make sense...etc. In doing so, I've found that I don't have many bright/coloured pieces. So, I decided I'd like to add some colour. And I thought I'd look for a yellow cardigan. I saw a few, but didn't like the fabric, or the cut, or the make and then I found one at Marshall's. It was on clearance and it was a really good brand that makes really good quality clothes and it was perfect. Love that.

Today was also the boys' doctor appointment. It was an adventure. The most interesting things for either boy?

D pretended he didn't know who Toopy was from Toopy and Binoo. Why? Because there was another little girl in the waiting room whose favourite TV show was also Toopy and Binoo. I was watching him interact with her and they both heard the theme song and looked straight at the TV. And then I heard this come out of his mouth, "Who's that one?" WHATEVER, DUDE. You know exactly who that is. Ugh, why's he such a ladies man?

W had clearly gained weight in the eyes of his doctor. She guesstimated his weight and was off by nearly 2 lbs. The boy had a growth spurt and in a span of 2 weeks, he gained almost 3 lbs. You could also say that since birth, he's already gained 50% of his weight. Crazy. And well, I should know -- he's been eating every 1.5 hours!!!

Being grateful - 20120501

I am grateful for Mindy Gledhill and what we call Tag Team dinners.

Mindy Gledhill is just awesome. Download her music on iTunes. You won't regret it.

Mr.S and I sometimes like to cook together. We would both say our best "Tag Team dish" is our lasagna. Mr.S makes his sauce (it's really good...like really, really good...I dare say that I like it better than our friend's mom's sauce...and we all go crazy for our friend's mom's sauce) and I use my lasagna recipe with many kinds of cheeses. It's a very saucy and cheesy lasagna, and very flavourful, if I do say so myself. Yum yum yum.