holiday rush

haven't had the chance to blog since the holiday rush started. rush to do the shopping, rush to take the kids' pictures for christmas cards that were never made, rush to bring micah to the doctor for an asthma exacerbation, rush to wrap the gifts, rush to go to church, rush to relatives' houses, etc. too bad i was never rushing to get into bed for a good night's sleep. but as always, everything just seems to fall into place, we had a wonderful christmas. micah could have cared less about opening presents while lia always seemed to be looking for more. santa gave malia a sharpay doll and a dress up game this year and micah got a leap frog guitar. we gave the kids a train table set, but haven't gotten around to setting it up yet. i give it a few months. so i think i can relax for a bit, until it's time to put away all the decor. surprisingly, all of the ornaments are still on the tree. micah pulled a couple off because he thought they were balls, but wanted to put them back. i really don't want him to grow up!

highlights from our christmas rush time:

jumpitz xmas concert @ horton plaza
jonah giving a high 5

cursillo xmas party, malia played an angel with

her friend ella in the kids nativity scene

OVC xmas concert @ st. rose
brown eyed girl...

christmas eve @ the sousa residence

christmas morning! love the cheeks!
malia showing her outfit from micah

micah trying to taste some candy

christmas lunch @ the bringas residence
christmas dinner @ jonah & joelle's house

cousins pic take 1
cousins pic take 2cousins pic take 3
finally, a decent picture. there's always next year!
happy 1st christmas cousin joelle!

last lunch

while packing malia's lunch this morning, i realized that it was the last lunch i'd be packing for her in 2008. where has the time gone?! she'll have her school christmas party tomorrow and then she's on vacation until 1/5/2009. i could have sworn i was just dancing to prince's song 1999, but here we are 10 years later! anyways, malia will be happy today because i made her a nutella sandwich. it's her favorite sandwich i pack. i only give it to her once in a while. believe it or not it does have iron, calcium, protein, and fiber. (of course i check!) her sandwich is shaped like a christmas tree today. i also put in a banana and some graham crackers to even out the sweet. after i pick her up today, the 3 of us are off to daddy's work to watch his performance with the "think positive" teacher band and with OVC. hopefully micah is doing better with his cold, he would love to dance to all the music. malia will be able to burn off the sugar from the nutella sandwich. oh let's face it, that girl is never out of energy!

she's 31

pounds! at last, malia has reached the 30 pound mark. her annual exam was today. she is 0.2% for her weight and i think 0.4% for her height, which was 39.5 inches. such a petite filipino girl. "little" brother micah has only 8 pounds to gain and 8.5 inches to grow to catch up. i've always said i would have a party when malia reached 30 pounds. so how are we going to party? disneyland, of course!

tantrum tuesday

had another tough tuesday today. it started in the car on the way home when the kids were "sharing" a book in the back seat and one of the pages tore. malia had a raging fit that started as we were halfway home and didn't stop until we were in the house and i taped up the page. i don't know what it is about tuesdays but the kids seem crankier than usual, even when daddy stays home from class. and micah is quite the toddler and not my baby boy anymore, screaming when i take something away he's not supposed to play with. it's not fun when both kids are having tantrums at the same time. hats off to those who run daycares, i really don't know how they do it. sometimes their tantrums make me laugh, but by the 5th one (mostly malia), it's a real challenge on my patience. that's when i force them to go to bed early so i can have some peace and quiet before bed. that's when they look like angels, and i can once again count my blessings. 

no more target

first black friday outing for the kids. we decided to go to the mall so we could hit more than one store. it went well at first, we found parking right away and the kids were fine in the sit-n-stand stroller. but of course after 30 minutes, micah wanted out. then malia started whining. they were fine again after we ate lunch. but then daddy needed to visit another target since the target there sold out of what he was trying to buy. so off to a 2nd target but they had also sold out even though they told him at the 1st target that they still had some. malia was really getting impatient at that point since she really wanted to enjoy her things we had bought at the mall. finally at the 3rd target, daddy was able to get what he wanted. but micah just wanted to run all over the store. didn't want to hold my hand or be carried. and when i picked him up he would scream. so, we were all happy to get home. malia will probably never want to go to target with me again.

thankful for M&M

we had arts & crafts this morning, turning the pumpkin into a turkey. the other turkey was made by malia at school. it's made out of paper plates.

i am a man

malia wrote out that sentence for me today. pretty impressive for a 5 year old, but a funny sentence for a girl. she's also trying to spell words by sounding them out. it's great that she's so interested in learning. micah is busy trying to pull her crayons and pens away. he's learning to scribble on paper and not the walls. before we know it, he'll be writing out the same sentence.

crooked toe

i completely forgot about malia's crooked toe until i saw her walking around with no socks and she stopped to get something. it's hard to notice since she is always running, dancing, changing clothes, and jumping around. it's the fourth toe on her left foot. it's actually kind of cute. i wonder if she'll hate it when she gets older. it's just a reminder that she was another miracle preterm baby who came out just fine.

seaport

of course we love going to parties on weekends to spend time with family and friends, but we really enjoy our free weekends for quality family time. went to seaport village today, micah's first time. he called the pigeons ducks, i mean "guck." i brought some left over bread for malia to feed the ducks, but i think she enjoyed feeding the little birds more. then it was micah's first time on the carousel awake. his actual first ride was at disneyland, but he fell asleep right when we got on. it was a really hot day so it was nice to go there for a little breeze, and some ice cream. and we always leave with cookies in hand, yum!

micah loves fish

goldfish that is, the original flavor. he knows the package and will bring it to us and say "fish." it's cute, but a little frustrating when he wants goldfish instead of a real dinner. at least he eats well at daycare. i'll have to hide the goldfish until after dinner for now. 

the earth goes around the sun the sun, now she is 5...

malia celebrated her birthday at school today. since she was sick on her real birthday, we decided to do it today so we could all be there. i had to supply a picture and some facts about malia for each year from birth until now. after every year, the class would sing "the earth goes around the sun the sun, now she is 1" and so on (wheels on the bus tune). the picture is of malia going around "the sun." micah enjoyed the visit. we brought the kids krispy kreme and milk, as suggested by her teacher, ms yoli. and of course, we also brought goodie bags.

vote today!

for our kids' future...

happy 5th birthday malia

although malia was sick on her birthday, she still enjoyed herself. she didn't go to school today, just stayed home with daddy in her ariel costume. can't believe how much time has passed.

pooped from pump it up

malia's 5th b-day party was today at pump it up. i don't know if was the kids or the big kids that had the most fun. oddly enough, some of the big kids ended up with owies. malia had so much fun, we kinda had to force her to open her gifts. thanks so much everyone!

pumpkin station

we missed out on the pumpkin station last year due to the fires and sickness, so malia was looking forward to going this year. i have such a bad memory, but sometimes i remember that it's great to take the kids photos with the same pose every now and then to see how much they've changed. here's malia with her pumpkin today... compared to 2005's visit...
why do they grow so fast?

it was micah & joelle's first visit. micah enjoyed walking around, but didn't really want to pose with the pumpkins. and again, hard to get a group shot, so there isn't one.

harbor excursion

went for grandpa rollie's birthday. the kids loved it. thanks dad!

no more shots please

micah had his 1st year check up today. he got measured, weighed, and then it was off for the blood test. i remembered this one, they prick their finger. that didn't bother micah. it was when the nurse told me he didn't bleed very well and proceeded to try to squeeze the blood from his finger that it all went downhill. micah screamed at the top of his lungs, screamed my name, screamed "owie"", and even tried to push the nurse off of him. i felt so bad, i was even in tears. oh yeah, i forgot to mention that my brave little helper malia chickened out right before they pricked his finger and said, "i can't watch, i'm out of here." when micah finally gave enough blood, i found malia chatting with dr garcia as we headed back to the exam room. when dr garcia came in, micah had a look of fear on his face, but was okay as long as i was holding him. of course malia was talking throughout the exam. then it was time for the immunizations and the flu shot. so he got poked 4 more times after the finger prick. once again, brave malia turned into a chicken. she couldn't leave the room this time, so instead she covered her eyes and mumbled to herself. and poor micah was screaming again. it only took a few minutes to calm him down afterward and he was back to his baby talk. then malia announced that she was ready for her sticker and lollipop as if she had gone through the whole ordeal. what a girl. micah was just happy to get home and roam around, same happy boy. i think i'm the one traumatized by the visit.

1st haircut, 1st visit

micah got his 1st haircut today at pigtails & crewcuts.

this is the before picture. notice his hair touches the bottom of his ears. we call him a lion when he wakes up in the morning because it's everywhere.

this is during the haircut. he did really well, only wanted to see where the noise was coming from. the animal crackers they gave us helped him stay put. and he enjoyed driving his racecar for a little while.

the after picture. wait, who is this little boy?

today was also m&m's 1st visit to see their cousin joelle. joelle is 2weeks old now, but since we had germies, we weren't able to visit her until now. malia was so excited to be able to hold her, she practiced with her dolls all morning. we attempted to get all the kids to take a picture but that didn't happen since the 2 boys don't stay still. but the 2 girls are just sweet. i'm sure they'll grow up like sisters.

no moo for micah

micah got a little taste of regular cow's milk mixed in with his formula this morning. 30 minutes later he threw it all up and then broke out into hives. thank goodness for benadryl.  hopefully he grows out of it. so he'll remain a soy boy for now.

happy 1st birthday micah

micah is 1 today!!! he woke up in a good mood and i was able to greet him before he left for daycare. he had a celebration there. ms beverly is so sweet. she made him banana muffins (which he didn't eat) and a card that had his friends' thumbprints on it.

when i picked him up, we headed to grandma's house so daddy could meet us there before his class. i bought micah superman cupcakes, and again he didn't want to eat his cake, didn't even want to touch it. but he is feeling a lot better and is all over the house again. happy birthday boy!

not doctor friendly

poor micah is sick, and it's the day before his birthday. took him to the doctor this morning. the minute the doctor touched him, he was crying, yelling, and even screaming. i tried distracting him, but it didn't work. as soon as the doctor gave him back to me, he was fine. this is the same doctor malia has, doctor garcia. malia loves him, and he adores her. we went to pick up his antibiotics afterward. and unlike malia, micah will take his medicine like it's candy. according to doctor garcia, it appears that we'll be having nebulizer parties every night with both kids every fall/winter. micah has a checkup again in 3 weeks, we'll see if he's doctor friendly by then.

new cousin

m&m's new cousin, joelle, was born today! it's exciting for malia since she will now have someone to play tea party and dress up with. although m&m can't see her just yet because of all the germies going around this season, they are looking forward to meeting her. meanwhile, we have welcomed new big brother jonah into our house to take care of him until his sister goes home.

tough tuesdays

this semester, daddy's school schedule is tuesdays until 10 and thursdays until 7. so on tuesdays we only see him for a brief moment in the morning. so that leaves me with one cranky girl and one mama's boy on tuesday nights. so far 2 out of 3 tuesdays have been exhausting. today especially, malia threw a big fit, complete with yelling and stomping her feet. after a long time out, she was able to tell me that she was mad, but knew that what she did during her fit was wrong. micah was just looking at her, hopefully he was taking notes on what not to do. but he is everywhere now. Hi-5 won't even keep him completely still anymore. amazingly, i got them both in bed by 8 tonight. which reminds me, i need to catch up on my Jon & Kate plus 8. that show really puts me in my place. it could be worse, at least i only have 2 kids. well, hopefully next tuesday will be a good one.

micah's 1st party

micah's 1st birthday party was today at Harvest Park. we haven't done a big party in a while so it was a challenge, but we had a lot of help from family and friends. the theme was baby einstein since the characters always make him smile. anyways, the party was fun, micah had a blast. he was walked everywhere, he got to ride in someone's buggy, and he grabbed his cake but didn't eat it. i don't want my baby boy to grow up!

RAD

in our house, it doesn't mean cool or awesome. it means Reactive Airway Disease. unfortunately both m&m have it. it's like asthma, but not as severe thank God, and it typically acts up from september to february. when i picked up malia from school this afternoon, she told me she didn't feel good. then when we picked up micah, beverly told me he had a cough attack this morning but was fine afterward and the whole afternoon. so this means RAD has officially started again, time to bust out the nebulizer and the albuterol. it's sad that kids have to go through this. there's definitely nothing 'rad' about it.

KINDer in KINder

malia was ecstatic to start kindergarten today. of course it makes me sad to see how fast she's grown up. but it's my last year to pay tuition, so i'm excited too! when i brought her to school, she immediately went to hug her teachers. she greeted her friends. malia is very sweet & friendly. she's the girl who will ask you if you want to play. she will hug you if you're sad. she will hold your hand and walk with you if you let her. she is quick to point out wrongful behavior such as hitting and kicking. BUT she can be bossy and sometimes mean. traits all girls possess i believe, but not until they start liking boys ;) ? so anyways, her school does emphasize respect and we've had multiple talks about not being bossy this summer, so hopefully she'll climb a notch on her level of maturity this year, hopefully she'll understand what it means to be kind and polite.

1-2 step

all baby milestones are exciting, but there's something about a baby's first steps that make you smile from ear to ear and make your heart race with anticipation. micah took his first step last wednesday with his 'pacifier' in hand, and today he took 2 steps! of course micah gets most of the credit, but credit is also due to his daycare provider, beverly. she's so great at practicing walking with him. i'm so proud of him! it's such a joy to watch his chubby feet take those 1-2 steps!

pacifier

until he found his hands, micah enjoyed his soothie pacifier. it was great because that meant i wouldn't have to wean him off of it later on, but at the same time i wanted to have it help him sleep better at night just as it helped malia. he's been fine without one. instead of a pacifier, i just have to pack toys for him to bite on. but for a month now, we've noticed that he likes to continue to suck on his bottle long after he's finished his milk. he doesn't seem to want more milk, just wants to suck on his bottle. i've tried giving him the old pacifier and even other kinds, but he refuses, just wants the empty bottle. and it's funny because you can hear him just getting air. so i try not to let him do it too much, but he likes it. this week, i did a little experiment. since he still doesn't sleep continuously through the night, i left a clean bottle in his crib. when he woke up a couple of times and rolled around, he found the clean bottle, put it in his mouth for a bit, and fell back asleep. so i guess that's his pacifier? works for me. what a funny boy.

layered look

everyone that has come to the house has experienced a malia fashion show. this girl changes up to 10 times a day if we're at home all day. thank God she's not packing a bag of outfits to change into while we're out. she'll go through dresses, skirts, and princess dress up outfits. at first it was cute, but now i have to turn my head so she won't see me rolling my eyes when she's standing in front of the mirror and turning to view every angle of her outfit. i wanted to put a stop to the whole ordeal, but it's probably just a phase, and she seems to be developing her own sense of style, so who am i to stand in the way of that. this past week, it has escalated to another level. the dresses are now being layered, one dress on top of another, sometimes 3 dresses at once. i told her that no other girl wears 2 dresses at the same time. she seemed proud to be the first one to do it.

not a picture of her layered look, but the headband as a belt look

milestones

happy 10 months to micah today! my little man can crawl, stand, dance, say dada/mom/ball, cruise, shake his head 'no', "sing", wave, and today...he clapped! of course i'd like to take the credit for teaching him to clap. it's hard to see him grow up, but it's amazing to watch him learn new things. it's also sad because i know these are my last 'firsts' since i probably won't have any more kids. so i don't want to miss any of it! my heavy, happy boy. i wonder what he'll do next.

21

the number 21 means lots of things to people. for us right now, it means micah's weight. he had his 9 month check-up today and he is a whopping 21 pounds. big sister is only 27 pounds! people are always asking us, how did he get so big? we are asking ourselves the same question! he is quite tall for his age though, 29 inches, whereas petite malia is about 37 inches. so we're hoping he surpasses all our heights. but he is happy, he is healthy, he is showered with love. so maybe he is just bursting with all of that!

i want mama

that's what malia's been saying a lot lately. we knew that when the baby came, it would be different for her, sharing the spotlight. so far she's done great, and understands most of the time. she's a smart girl. but it's when there's a change in the normal routine that she turns from girl to diva. she's still tons of fun, but turn your back for a second and she's a completely different malia. so there's been a lot of whining and tears, some demanding, and some sulking. motherhood is a continuous learning experience, so i've had to try to view life from her perspective. and it's helped, especially with my patience. i know it's a phase, it won't last forever. so it's weird to say that i'm almost grateful she wants to spend so much time with me, even though it's coupled with the attitude. and i've come to realize i feel the same way, i want my mama too.

shamu on the 4th

took the kids to sea world today. didn't have plans for the 4th until i found out my good friend/old roommate would be in town and going there with her family. malia was thrilled to see shamu again and it was micah's first visit. we also had the chance to take our new sit and stand stroller for a test drive. of course it was very crowded and hot, but we had a good time. it's so nice to meet up with old friends and just pick up where you left off. (picture above: m&m with new friend riley)

mobile little man

micah is on the move now, crawling, scooting, trying to stand. it's so cute because his chubby legs kinda get in the way sometimes. he was baptized on saturday. got to spend time with family and old friends. it was also dad's birthday. and tiger woods won the us open today. so it was a good weekend. he also says mama now, which i love, even if it's mostly when he wants his bottle. i love my little man!

micah is baptized

it was micah's special day today, he was welcomed into the church at corpus christi. although he slept through the entire ceremony, it was still so sweet. he just shook his head a little as the cold holy water was poured onto his head. he woke up in the car on the way to the reception at d'lish. even though he couldn't eat the yummy food, he was talking and having a good time. what a blessing!

thanks to vic for the great pics!

malia loves disco

malia & i had a date today at Baby Loves Disco. i won tickets from a website and had heard about the event, so i was excited to take her. jos & jonah joined us. it was downtown at the Aubergine. we parked at Horton Plaza and walked there. the dancefloor is first when you enter. they play music from the 70s/80s, and there is a bubble machine that goes on every so often. they have hula hoops, egg shakers, and scarves you can play with on the dance floor. the kids were dancing/playing and the adults were firing off their cameras and video cams. i danced with lia for probably a minute and we were there for 2 hours. they also have another room where snacks are, tents for the kids to hide in, face painting, and a balloon artist. it was pretty cool and malia is already asking to go again.

flower girl malia

malia was a flower girl for our friends' wedding last saturday. i took her to get her hair done. she absolutely loved it. she's SO girly. when it came time for her to walk down the aisle, she walked ahead of the other flower girls, put some flowers on the aisle, then decided she would go back halfway and do it again. not what we practiced, but flower girls at any wedding are sweet no matter what they do. of course, during the reception, she was all over the dance floor. so not shy!

da da da...

over this memorial day weekend micah started babbling da da. which is fair i guess since malia said mama first. but c'mon, i do deserve it =). so everything is da da da, when he's complaining or even when he's happy. i guess i have to be patient, my name will come eventually. maybe he's just giving me a break since malia says mama a hundred times a day.

my joy

every day my kids amaze me. malia is 4 and a half now. it's starting to be more obvious when she wants me to spend one on one time with her. so we sat and watched old disneyland trips. and it's when we watch home videos that i realize just how much she's grown in so little time. she still has that same sweetness about her that i hope she never outgrows. when it was time to go to bed, she asked me to stay for a few minutes, which i didn't mind because i was sleepy myself. so i sat beside her bed and put my head on her pillow with her. and she whispered,"i love you mama." of course i cried but she didn't see. she really is my joy, my malia joy.

daycare mom

so micah is now in daycare. technically malia is in her second year of daycare, but i never thought of her preschool as "daycare". we were blessed to have the grandparents watch the kids for so long, but we knew the day might come when we needed daycare. he's in good hands. he is rolling all over the place and will definitely crawl soon. malia loves picking him up and showing off that she is the big sister. so i'm alright with being a daycare mom, but my wallet isn't.

mama's day at disneyland

what a perfect way to start off a blog by saying we went to disneyland for mother's day! for us, it's a tradition that i started 2 years ago. i'd like to take the kids to disneyland as often as my mom took me and my sister. and i'm sure this tradition won't be one the kids won't object to even when they're older.

malia was so excited because she hadn't been back to disneyland in almost a year. we woke her up early in the morning. she was hesitant at getting up, but as soon as i told her to get dressed because we were going to disneyland, her eyes widened, and she started jumping up and down and screaming with excitement. of course micah didn't know what was going on. but it was so special, because it was his first time. we had breakfast with minnie and friends in the park. micah really liked the characters, especially tigger. he also enjoyed people watching. his first ride was buzz lightyear, it was also malia's first time to ride buzz. it was a bit crowded and of course we move slow with kids, but we had so much fun.