God is good! grumpy ladies part 2

God is so good... I went to Joanne's Crafts and there was a different lady there manning the register! thank you Lord! it probably sounds funny to thank God for such trivial things... but then it has happened so often that i know He is there, answering even the smallest prayers.
anyways, what was funny was the grumpy lady remembered me (i have no idea what she has against me) and she actually said "You want to stay in that line" not even really asking me as a question because she didn't wait for me to answer, just pointed a finger at the lady behind me and said "i can take you next".
bottom line, i got to apply my coupon retroactively and got a $100 cut of fabric for $50 YAY!... it is black velvet and should give us some great pics of thomas, especially once we get all his little clothes off :) heh heh...

audrey's bridal shower

this past sunday, we went to audrey's bridal shower. it was really nice to see everyone. cheyene, betty, angela, regina, naomi, liz and of course audrey. alan's sister, amy and audrey's friend, cindy organized the shower. thomas was yet again very coy with all the ladies. all smiles until he got sleepy - and then he fell asleep on audrey's lap. we played some of the usual bridal shower games, but we also got to make flower pens in little pots to keep them upright :) i am keeping mine in the car - a convenient thing to put in the cup holder! she had an arts and crafts theme, so she got a lot of really cool gifts around scrap booking, stamping, and knitting.

thinking about crafts...anyone that does any craft or hobby knows that it is very very easy to go overboard with the supplies that go along with crafts. they make it so easy when you walk into michael's or joanne's to scoop up every pretty thing you see, in all the colors you want and walk out. then you get home and realize that you have $100 worth of new crafts supplies and NO WHERE to store them. luckily i am not into scrapbooking - i was overwhelmed trying to buy audrey a scrap booking-related gift (which was my assignment). there is so much stuff it is mind boggling!! so i focused on wedding themes - so she could put together all of the photos she is sure to receive from friends & family on her wedding day.

i also love crafts, specifically knitting, sewing, painting and gift wrapping. i have 2 HUGE bags full of different yarns and 7 different size kitting needles. a sewing machine, 5 gallon rubbermaid filled with different thread colors, 3 different types of scissors, all sorts of tools to make alterations, and at least 70 yards of different fabrics (all slated for projects around the house of course). plus 2 - 18 gallon rubbermaids filled with ribbons/flowers/giftwrap. another 18 gallon toolbox full of paints and brushes, not to mention several large canvases. i won't even mention all of the other crafts i "just dabble" in. crazy! what i really need is a room, just for all of my arts and crafts.

for you guys out there, it is like the tool box. it starts out as one tool box. then you walk into the auto parts shop and admire all of the gleaming tool boxes and shiny rows and rows of wrenches and screwdrivers. soon you have a garage full of beautiful shiny tools and no where to put more except for on top of the other stuff you have. well hey at least you HAVE a room to put it in - the garage. crafts are trickier. your average house does not have spare bedrooms just lying around. if i could expand this house, it would be to make the kitchen bigger and add a large room just for all of my arts & crafts supplies!

beautiful weather! and grumpy ladies

it is so nice and sunny. finally!! ugh, a little nice weather does wonders for the mood. plus it makes going out to the garden with Thomas so much more pleasant. we have taken short walks outside so far but today we are going to take a longer walk. dad is "working from home" so when he comes back from beer thursday, we are heading over to Hacienda Crossings (maybe a mile away?) to get some jamba juice and maybe stroll around barnes & noble or scan through the sale items at old navy.
last week i bought a large bolt of black velvet from joanne's crafts store so we can get some nice photos of thomas. i was waiting for a coupon, but it has been awhile since they have sent any through email. we no longer get newspaper. so i thought, oh well, just get some - we are going to use it for a long time so it is a good investment.
well, of course, the week after i buy it, i get an email coupon. and it is a good one - 50% off the regular price of any one item. so now i have to go back, return what i bought and buy it back using the coupon. ordinarily, i have no problem returning things. but the ladies that work there are such a grumpy bunch, i am a little apprehensive. i mean, we have grumpy lady and really grumpy lady. we'll see if they let me use the coupon retroactively or not...

Thomas' Diary

Hi,

My name is Thomas and I'm going to write in mommy's blog today.





In the morning I helped daddy do some of my laundry. With my drooling, I go through a lot of bibs and here I'm helping daddy load some washcloths.



Then I helped daddy make some coffee that we ground from whole beans. Starbucks Italian Roast that daddy got free with a coupon from my aunt Helen (she donated some money to KQED and got free coffee in return).



Yesterday daddy William went to Crispy Creme's and bought a dozen donuts. Mommy ate 2 yesterday and 2.5 this morning for breakfast:


After a little bit dad decided to have some fun with 2 of the donuts:

Then I went with Mommy to Auntie Audrey's bridal shower. Lots of excitement there and I smiled at all the pretty ladies. I took a nap on Auntie Audrey's lap. Ethan was there too with his mommy. Then to church, then back home.

It was a long day and I got a warm bath and a big meal. Daddy is burping me but I'm already asleep... Good night!

peaceful sleep

When Thomas sleeps, William loves to just stand there and look at his peaceful face. William says that for some odd reason, watching Thomas sleep calms him down if he's had a hectic day...something very soothing about watching babies sleep....

Home for Lunch & Flying!

Thomas gets almost a daily visit during lunch from daddy who make it a point to come home as often as possible. Having work being only 1.5 miles away, it's a short commute and sometimes he comes home all stinky because he rode his bicycle instead of driving....

Here Thomas is having yet another episode of tummy time. Please note the red suit (his flying suit) and the red fire truck on his bib. If you look closely, you'll see he prodigious drooling... :)

growing so fast

all the parents we have talked to say "take lots of pictures. they grow so fast." sheesh they weren't kidding! here is a comparison shot that william put together. the one on the left is from the day we left the hospital - Thomas was 4 days old and had just been named. the shot on the right is at 3 months/2 weeks. look at what a chunky monkey he is :)

shout out to my mervyn's co-workers

on a different, much more positive note, last thursday, i went to visit all of my mervyn's co-workers. it was really really great to see everyone and catch up with what was going on with them. i stayed a lot longer than i expected... 4 hours! it didn't even feel like it was that long. i was talking to one, josephine, and thought that i had only been there for 1-2 hours and then another, jessica, reminded me that i got there a little after 12nooon. poor thomas was conked out in his stroller by the time i left at 4pm.
i have been out since last September and i kept running into people that i was glad to see. plus thomas was being so great - such a ham - smiling and talking to everyone. he was a very good baby that afternoon - maybe it was all the ladies, who knows!
i definitely miss the people there... just not the job :p ha ha... i'll just have to go visit every once in awhile so i can keep in touch. all the benefits of co-workers/friends without the 8 hour daily grind!



here is a great picture i managed to get of thomas soaking up all the attention with my old dept mgr, Nell. look at his rapt face! nell should sit in the pregnancy desk next :)

my mom... on the move again

as some of you know, my mom has some health issues. i try not to think about it most of the time, but it is a source of great worry for me when i do sit down and ponder her future. i know she is an adult and that she is in God's hands, but while she is still on planet earth, she has no one else for now. she will eventually need long-term care of some kind but for now she is pretty high functioning (she can still pay her bills and make semi-reasonable decisions). so even though she drives me COMPLETELY nuts sometimes, i do my best to stay in touch with her, as my way of letting her know that i care about her. it is probably a little unhealthy - i do have frequent dreams where i am just screaming at her. but at least i can get it out in my dreams and be patient with her in real life. anyways, she is more comfortable speaking korean (even after speaking english for 30+ years) but will probably not find many korean speaking friends in long-term care facilities. it is difficult to find good long-term care and very expensive when you do. blah blah blah, sorry to bore you with the details.

she moved again a week ago. when my parents got divorced in 2003, she sold their home (the home we have had since 1984...which was a little sad) in saratoga in 2004. since then she has moved every 4-5 months. she sold or gave away most of what was in the house so she has very little to pack when she moves. she has always found other divorced or widowed korean ladies to live with but this time she is living with a young korean couple in mountain view with a 2 year old boy and a 6 month old girl. they are in their early 30's just like us. they are all living in a 3 bedroom house and the place is very cluttered to say the least. yikes!
i am not certain about this new development in her living arrangements but there is one very positive thing that has happened. she actually complemented me on the state of my house and told me that i am doing a great job with being at home. wow... i mean WOW! for those of you who don't know, korean moms in general are not good at encouraging in a positive way. they love you but they seem to have this unending need to point out all of your deficiencies and areas where you could be doing better or handling more efficiently. ask anyone with a traditional korean mom. so after spending the day with my mom, i am exhausted from countering all of her criticisms. if you do not have a strong sense of self, it can really wear you down. however, after putting up with their clutter and disarray for two weeks and then coming to visit me, she said that the house was clean and was proud of me for what a good job i was doing with everything. i know she has had to live in a really messy house, so by contrast, mine wasn't so bad anymore. but it was still amazing to hear that from her with no prodding/poking. usually i am saying things to her like "jees mom, don't you have anything nice to say to me?" or "can we make a rule that from now on, whenever you pick on something you also have to say something positive?" then her response is "of course you are doing a good job. i am not criticizing, i am just being a mom". anyways, it is really nice to see her happy when she holds or plays with thomas. she doesn't have much to be happy about these days and i have to admit, lately she looks really old to me - more than her 56 years. sometimes i think her heart is tired.

Being alone with baby

sometimes it is very lonely being at home all day alone with just baby. especially with all of the rainy days we have had, it is tough not to feel a little down. Of course, i talk to thomas but sometimes i forget and it is quiet throughout the house. the first couple months i had the tv on constantly, but there is really not a whole lot on tv during the day so i haven't been watching much. occasionally discovery channel has something interesting, but they have so much chopper and FBI stuff, that got old. usually i will turn it on to check the listings for interesting shows. if nothing pops up, i turn to magazines or books.
on a side note, i just finished reading "the Davinchi Code". it was a fascinating read, very quick (like the harry potter books) but i felt a little cheated when i found out that half of the stuff in the book was made up or exaggerated. i guess that is a very good thing because if it was all fact, i think it would make me go hmmm..... anyways...

ever since thomas has been cooing, when it has been quiet for long enough, he reminds me with a little question mark coo to see if i am still there. that always makes me want to hug him and start up a semi-steady stream of one sided conversation again. before thomas i was a worker bee from 1995 to 2005. that's ten years of being able to do whatever i wanted whenever i wanted. spending days in the office and nights at home with william. from that to being at home 24/7 can make a person go a little batty. i know that i should be very thankful that i can stay at home and watch after him and i am. i thank God that william's salary is enough for our little growing family. but i have always wanted to start my own business. actually, it keeps me up at night sometimes, because i start thinking about business plans and what would work and what wouldn't. all that stuff starts getting my brain excited and then it is hard to get myself to sleep at 10pm or 6am. i just have to be patient and put it on hold for a few years. there are a ton of women out there who devoted themselves to kids and then jumped back in/got advanced degrees after kids were in school and went on to have fantastic careers. kids are truly all about patience.

of course, william comes home in the evenings and weekends, we all get to spend some time together. this photo was a lucky catch as i was snapping away. sorry dad, i cut your face out... wasn't thinking about you at the moment. :)

look at the joy on his face!!! seeing this, even with Thomas asleep in the other room, just gives me the most amazing indescribable feeling, that aching lovey dovey feeling in your heart i guess. words can't describe it.

Another flying picture...babies love flying :)

3 month update with mr. frog :)

look! thomas is as big as mr frog now. wow... he recently learned that he can grab onto things if he can coordinate his thumb with his fingers. so he now grabs at his bib, our clothes, our skin, toys on his bouncy chair and anything else that strikes his fancy. he is not quite a pro yet but it was so neat to see him really grab toys for the first time, with purpose, not the wild, wind milling, smash and grab job he has been doing.

almost all of the parents we know have been telling us "don't get too comfortable. just when you think you have a routine down, they change on you." so for a few weeks now, he has been pretty good about going to sleep between 9 and 10pm and waking up and 4am and 7-8am for food. 3-4 days ago, he has decided that is not good enough. so he still goes to sleep at 9-10pm but he gets hungry around 2am and 4am and 6am and 7am and 8am.... etc...
ok, that sounds funny, but it is not! we are thinking it is a growth spurt. if so, i hope it doesn't last too long. on saturday, we actually watched our first movie since the beginning of the year "Walk The Line" (it was a good movie). so we went to sleep a little late (1am). when i got up at 4am i could barely stay upright. luckily it was a good quick feeding and i was back in bed by 4:30. unfortunately, he decided at 5:30 that he was hungry again. so i stumbled into his room and fed him. well this time, he decided that he was awake. he just would not go back to sleep. i was so tired i couldn't really even walk straight. every time i would try to ease him from an upright position to lying down in my arms, his sweet little face would go from happy alert to red mad crying face. you know i LOVE loooove thomas but there are times when i want to run away screaming, run as far away as i can. poor thomas. william had a funny term for it. he admitted to me this morning that he was impatient with thomas early this morning. so had burped him pretty hard. he said that he was trying to stay calm but that thomas has a secret weapon! what was that? crying. or rather his piercing wind-up screeching. yes at 3 in the morning, that is truly a devastating weapon, even the best are fallen by it.

on another topic, thomas has recently learned how to fly. he learned from his friend sara and he loves it! notice his little arms straight back like little wings. although, he drools so much we have to hold our hands under his mouth to catch the drool... :p

15.5 pounds and rolly polly thighs

i started noticing last week that Thomas' skin gets really red right where the elastic from the diaper closes around his fat little thigh. so we actually decided today to return a pack of number 2 diapers (fits up to 16 pounds) and william picked up two packs of number 3 diapers instead. that claims to fit 16 to 28 pounds. pretty big spread. you know, he is not that long at all (maybe 23 inches) - just sooo very fat! i mean look at this photo - this is his left thigh - i swear i didn't doctor the photo! can you believe those rolls??? :0 it is truly like the michelin man.

the funny mark on his knee is actually the shadow of the camera cord hanging down (not a scar or birthmark). talking about birthmarks, he actually does have a funny birthmark right on his left butt check that coincindentally almost matches one that his daddy has... :) ha ha...

feeling 34 and a new hairdo

thanks to all for the well wishes on my 34th birthday. there is nothing like a baby to make you feel every year of your age. my body is just plain achy... i have come to accept it as part of parenting... *sigh* i wouldn't do anything differently regarding Thomas except for the age factor. sometimes i think it would have been nice to have the baby when i was younger simply because your body tolerates the abuses so much better when you are younger. anyways...

i wanted to change my hair up a little b/c it has been over a year since i have had it cut. so i got a perm today! :p the last time i got a perm was 1988 when perms left you smelling like sulfur for days afterwards and gave you slight burns wherever it got on your face. they were also really frizzy. it took 3.5 hours and half way through (with my head full of rollers and a plastic shower cap over it), i started to get really nervous and thinking "what am i doing?! this is nuts... i am going to end up looking like my horrendous 10th grade picture!" by then it was too late - i was sitting under a heat lamp playing music like the kind you get on baby mobiles. the hair stylist kept reassuring me that it would be just fine. yeah easy for you to say. you are not the one that is going to end up looking electrocuted.

lucky for me, times have changed and when she started taking the rollers out, these nice loose curls dropped down one by one - almost like they had been done on hot rollers. wow! plus it doesn't smell and there was no burning tingling where the solution got on my brow and ears. big difference. and i get a new hair-do that is flattering and not high maintanence. thomas doesn't seem to mind either. whhew...