tubal_ligation's Xanga

updates....

Sat, 24 May 2008 15:21:31 GMT

at 18 months-(early this week) we discovered that Chloe knows some of her alphabet letters-if we point to one that she knows, she can tell us what it is! also, b/c of her big brother, she is one brave little 18mo old. Already, she can climb some of the monkey bars at parks all by herself. We only stand behind her just in case....

She's also learned the art of telling her brother what to do. Last night, while Richie was throwing a tantrum and crying, Chloe diplomatically went over to him and told him to "Shhhh...!".

A few weeks ago, we tried having Richie take violin lessons at age 3. Well, it didn't quite work out. After only 2 lessons, his violin teacher quit on him. Oh well.

Life is never quite dull being a mom!-although sometimes i wish it were.

HORMONES!

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:08:20 GMT

it's been awhile, but I"m back!

Who knew that estrogen came in such small packages? With Richie, you could give him a toy and he was good to go! Chloe, on the other hand, is much more complicated. So I applaud all men for having to deal w/ all the craziness of women. Today, I feel this way. Tomorrow is a different story.....

Richie's first gig

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 21:34:24 GMT

Absence really does make the heart grow fonder

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:31:20 GMT

I've recently discovered one of the many "pitfalls" of marriage......being so dependent on the other for things that once he/she is gone, you're not a whole person!

Richard's been away on missions and b/c he takes care of all the bills, savings, etc. that before he left, I realized that if something were to ever happen to him, I'd be broke, high in debt (b/c the bills wouldn't be paid) and unable to access my money. :P Job #1 was to ask him to write down all the codes/access info for EVERYTHING before he left.
Internet goes down right after Richard leaves.....not good b/c HE takes care of that. I call verizon and i'm sure they made fun of me after getting off the phone w/ me: modem? router? filter? how many phone lines in our house????AHHHHHH! Luckily, I've always been quick to pick up things, so as you can see, I'm on line again!
MY TV doesn't work....reset the receiver? what's the receiver? hahaha. Again, i'm quick w/ things. Working TV!!
Water goes down in Bergen county-someone asked me how I first discovered this. Well, my parents were over and both my dad and grandmother used my bathrooms w/o being able to flush after "hours or what seemed like hours" of being in the bathroom. Dad says, "see? aren't you glad I used your toilet or you wouldn't have known there was a problem?". No, not really. Not when I can't flush!!!!

So while discovering this, I've learned to appreciate my spouse, but more so, to value myself as an individual and do the things I used to do for myself when I was single!

Finally, how do single parents do it? I've been w/ the kids by myself for only a week and already I'm spent! I WANT TO GO BACK TO WORK!!!!!! :P

This just in.....

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:57:02 GMT

just a few milestone updates, mostly for me to remember when other moms ask.

6/23/07-chloe said her first word, um ma three times. This came as she hadn't seen me all day & night on saturday. Wonderfully, both Richard and Richie were all present to witness this moment. Since then she occassionally will say um ma, but who knows.

6/30/07-chloe started clapping! This happened at the retreat during our baptism ceremony. I was moved to tears both because of the baptism and b/c my daughter had reached another milestone at such a "spiritual" moment.

At 8 months, she has learned to get on her knees and pull herself along. So crawling may soon be on its way!

Her personality is also beginning to develop and we can see her stubborn streak come out. For instance, whenever I feed her, she first peers into the bowl to see if it's something she likes and if not, she clamps her mouth shut and nothing can pry those lips apart.

These are the joys of motherhood. One would think that the novelty of experiencing these moments a second time would have taken away some of the excitement, but it never gets old!

Tankini Time!

Tue, 22 May 2007 11:10:03 GMT

This past weekend the Lee family went swim suit shopping. I found this cute tankini at Old Navy for Chloe. It looked pretty harmless on the rack and even Richard agreed to this purchase as it wouldn't be revealing any bare midriff on his baby girl. I also figured that this would be one of the few times in life that she'd be able to pull off wearing horizontal stripes.

The next morning, I excitedly tried the tankini on Chloe. As we stood and exclaimed how cute she looked in the swim suit, Richie comes over and says, "Umma (mommy), Chloe looks like a zebra". And sure enough, my little boy was able to taint my view of how Chloe looked in that tankini. I still chuckle when I think of that comment.

I think that this is the beginning of many "honest moments" in store for Chloe. She'll have on outfits that she deems cute, trendy, etc and her older brother will be there to tell her like it is. :)

It reminds me of the times when growing up, I was the oldest "honest" sibling. My sister Susan had this horrendous perm and knowing that she loved it, I would ask her, "you really think you look cute in that perm? b/c you don't". See below for consensus:

Or the times that I'd tell Gloria to stop stuffing her face w/ food or she'd never lose her baby weight. (wish I had a photo readily available). Of course this was all back in the day. Nowadays, it's somehow reversed and I'm more likely to hear "honest" comments from my sisters. What can I say except that you gotta love siblings! :)

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Tue, 01 May 2007 23:34:29 GMT

So my little lady is not yet 6 months and she's already sitting & rolling from front to back and back to front! She is constantly on the move! I had her in her crib lying one way and no sooner did I leave her to hear her howling b/c she somehow got herself in the opposite direction with the blanket over her head! (I know I know...I can see the shaking heads of parents everywhere-rest assured, the blanket and everything else has now been removed from her crib.) She's also recognizing her parents. Yesterday, I got home from work at 8pmish and I said a quick hello to her. I then made my way downstairs to say hi to Richie and the whole time, Richard told me she was tracking me and gazing in the direction of my voice. When I passed her again, she then starting wailing. It's so nice to be needed/loved. :)

Meanwhile, there's my little man, almost 3. He still says the darnest things and sometimes I don't even know how he comes up with his logic b/c quite frankly, it's logical for a 2 yr old! For instance, recently, out of nowhere, he started murmuring, "Girls don't have wee wee; girls' wee wee inside". Not quite, but yes, I can see why from his point of view he'd think that. He's constantly saying things to make us laugh. Today, i had this statue of Jesus on our shelf and the first thing Richie says when he comes home from school is, "um ma, is that Jesus? " I exclaimed, "yes! it is! Who told you that?" to which he replied, "God told me that". Wow. He already hears God's voice. :P

It's moments like these and more that get me through the whining, crying, and the whirlwind of being a mother.

Kids say & do the darndest things....

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:04:09 GMT

Richie woke up one morning with his hair all crazy (now that he finally has hair, for those of you who knew him in his earlier "years"). He caught a glimpse of himself and immediately grabs his hair that's sticking up and announces, "cut it, cut it!". *sigh* I wish it were that easy, Richie.

Meanwhile....Richie made a new friend, Jaden, who has just as much energy as my son and they are about the same age. We were all at B& N (the hot spot for parents with kids) when the inevitable happens: Richie and another kid start fighting over a thomas train. Richie starts crying while the other boy happily plays with his train. Then Jaden comes in and hits the other boy b/c he caused Richie to cry (Jaden's new friend). So cute! But then I think Jaden realized what he did b/c he started to back away, as the kid was bigger than he was. :) Jaden's got Richie's back!

Chloe: My baby has started to sit on her own! She "talks" so much now too. (which is a good thing b/c now maybe Glo won't forget she exists. Glo always says "ohmigosh! I keep forgetting you have her!") It's so sweet to see her smile at Richie and try to GRAB his attention by clawing at him.

We're also teaching Richie the difference b/t a boy and a girl. We'll ask him, "Does Chloe have a wee wee?" to which he'll grin and respond, "yeah! hahahahaha". wink wink. He knows. He's just a jokester like his dad.

Crazy mom alert at GSP

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:51:43 GMT

Have you ever seen a scene between a mother and her kicking, screaming kid? well that was me at GSP 2 saturdays ago. I had a screaming Richie by the wrist with Chloe hanging on in her baby bjorn. To make matters worse, Richie actually bit me! Then I took him by the hair and started screaming at the top of my lungs! How embarassing. So if any of you were there, sorry for the scene. I'm just glad no one reported me as an abusive mom.

On a lighter note....I LOVE GOING TO GET MANICURES/PEDICURES WITH MY SIS. not only did they ask who was younger, but the girl doing my sis's toes wore a mask while mine didn't. :P I'm sure she'll try to retaliate when she reads this, but I'm married! Richard knows all my flaws yet still loves me. :P I love you SIS! (at least I hid your identity)

Fast forward to 2/10/07

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 10:05:54 GMT

It's amazing what changes have taken place since my one and only entry. I gave birth to Chloe Reese Lee on 11/3/07 and Richie is now 2 1/2 yrs old. On 2/6/07, Richie officially entered "humanhood". We were getting Richie ready for his usual bath routine when suddenly, while naked, he announced "pee pee's coming". Richard then scrambled to get Richie in front of the toilet, and sure enough, pee pee did come. Fast forward to 2/10/07-Richie took a dump (to put it crudely) in the toilet! I saw him straining and asked if poo poo was coming (you'll realize that once you become a parent, you start losing your vocabulary along with everything else). Initially he denied it until I bribed him with sour worms. Who knows if it'll happen again anytime soon, but i'll take what i can get!:P I think it's pretty good considering we haven't been active with potty training him.

some richie-isms: um ma's "humping"-translation: pumping (milk)
truck used to be F_ ck.
"gimme dick" translation: give me stick
"hey theresa and richard" - Hey um ma and ah ppa

Meanwhile, Chloe's been a handful! Before Richie was the difficult one, but now richard and i jokingly fight over taking richie over chloe. Chloe reached her 100 days 2/8/07. She can smile at you, roll over from stomach to back, coo, & occassionally even laugh. But what she excels at is......FARTING! Don't ever say that she didn't get anything from her father cuz she can sure let one out like her old man. *sigh* like father like daughter.

so with all these things going on, don't be surprised to find me disheveled, eyes bloodshot, and desperately needing sleep. :P I know I know....i need to treasure these moments. I'm just keeping it real.