Monthly Archives: October 2009

What the Doctor Ordered!

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- True by Black Eyed Peas. I love this new feature. Happy listening!

I have long known that I get very sad around the winter time and holidays. It’s been that way for many years and i have learned to accept it. It has been really bad this year (even though winter isn’t even in season yet) because it’s gotten so cold so fast. I really want to be truly happy for the holidays because I am now blessed with not one, but two little angels. Last year, I didn’t have our traditional XMAS Eve+Birthday Party that we’d have for years. All my family was kinda expecting it and people were calling all day if there was something going one. I want this year to be different.  It’s really hard to go outdoors because I hate the cold weather. It is now exacerbated by the fact that not only do I have to bundle myself up, but TWO other kids. I always hate the potential of making them sick… and it is a lot of work. This adds up to a worst type of depression of being indoors all the time during the cold months. So I did some research hoping to find a medicinal cure in the wonderful world of Google, but could not find what I was looking for.

So I asked one of our psychiatric doctors for some help. What prescription medicine do I take to cure my winter blues? He gave me the same sad response I had found from my computer research and I was a bit saddened. Winter blues is a direct effect of less sunlight due to shorter days. People are less likely to go out and therefore, they feel “blue” from a lack of Vitamin D from the sunlight. Many people’s brains don’t respond to this change in a negative way, but in select few people, the response is depression. I AM ONE OF THOSE SELECT FEW. Go figure! His response was to GO OUTDOORS. I told him my scenario and told him about the two kids and there are not very many outdoor activities during the cold months and blah blah blah. Here I am thinking he would pop me a prescription paper. He then said buy some Vitamin D supplements and go tanning- like in those tanning beds! WTF!?! Are you kidding me? Of course, he wasn’t. So I bought me my supplements and I am pleased to announce that I will be sporting this tan+glow for the winter, so don’t be surprised. I’m though with these bouts of crying and feeling these winter blues- especially when it’s not even winter yet!

Speaking of which, it has FINALLY been beautiful out these past couple of days. Hope it lasts through the weekend. Jasmyne and Janelle will be going to their first Halloween Party with pumpkin decorating this Saturday. I have to work, which is sad. I’ll have to trust that daddy can make them look extra “halloweenie” special.

Thanks to the beautiful weather, I got me some much needed direct sunlight today and ordered Janelle’s birthday cake for her coming party too! Yay! I love cakes. I love fondant icing- but I HATE the way it tastes. Oh well. Sometimes some things suffer for beauty- even when it comes to food. LoL!

Single Ladies

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So two days and two video, but I just had to post this one too. It was going around on Facebook a couple of  weeks back and I thought it was hilarious. Jasmyne has always loved this song and now Janelle starts bouncing up and down when she hears it. Oh and had to add the second video, which is NOT as cute. Enjoy everyone.


Street Photography and You Tube

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Image and video hosting by TinyPic

That baby from the YouTube video is so lucky. I have yet to take my girls to the subway, but this definitely was a warning to me to be more cautious when I do go. Thank God. Well that’s my daily dose of the day. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. One more day with the kiddies after having them all to my lonesome all weekend. God has definitely granted me the patience thus far.

Addicted to…

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I always seem to say this often, but that’s how it works I guess. I will finish the sentence: Before I had kids… I was big on reading books.

There- I said it! I’m slowly getting back into the love of reading. I used to read before bed time or while I would lounge around in the couch watching TV. As some of you may well know, after having kids (especially two), most of that time is gone. You can’t always lay on the couch to watch TV AND read a book. Now I never said never, but it is very rare because you would rather do something else with that time- like SLEEP or chores. Since I’ve started reading that Sleep book I’ve been talking about, I have had more sleep and caught up on it most of the time. More recently, since my parents left for the PI, we have decided to use Method #2 of that book. It’s a method used by many parents, but one that Dex and I were hesitant to try. It’s the “Let your baby cry it out until she can’t cry anymore so she can go to sleep all by herself” method. Okay. Okay. Okay. I may have made it sound worse than it actually is. If you actually read the book and all the logic behind it- it’s not too bad. They are actually not crying themselves to sleep. I was just kidding. They are just learning to understand that mommy/daddy will not come back no matter how much they cry. Through that, they just learn to put themselves to sleep.  Method One worked for us, but it was just too time consuming. Sometimes it would take an hour and a half for us to put Janelle to sleep. Granted she would sleep through the night, but still, we spent so much time putting her to nap and sleep at nite. So this “meaner” method worked. We lay her on her crib and VOILA, she goes to sleep without a fight. A week ago, she cried for up to 40 minutes. Slowly, but surely, that time has decreased. Now she may cry a max of five minutes, but she basically gets the point now. Her crib means sleep time! Now if only we could use that trick for Jasmyne. Darn my luck.

Anyway, this new found freedom during nap and bedtime has given me more time to myself. The nite time is usually also my one on one time with Jasmyne, so this afternoon break is great. I’ve been addicted to going to the library since discovering its goodness over the summer. I’ve checked out more books than I can handle. I’ve bought books from Barnes that I think I wouldn’t mind reading again and again. Oh reading- how much I missed you. Okay. I’ll stop myself from being too nerdy for the public press now.

Here’s a list of my current reads:

90 Minutes in Heaven

The Time Travelers Wife

Act Like a Lady. Think Like a Man- by Steve Harvey

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Peace and Quiet

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I don’t get this very often, so it deserved a title of it’s own. It’s called PEACE AND QUIET! I don’t quite remember the last time this happened. Dexter is at work. Jasmyne is at school. Janelle is sleeping. My parents are in the Philippines. My brother moved out. Wow! I’m alone in the house with no TV or other people talking. I cleaned the first floor, well most of it anyway. I was staring at the wall for like a minute soaking in all the quiet. I kid you not. I literally was staring at the wall like a crazy woman. I think the last time this happened was just before I had Jasmyne, when Dex and I were still living in our town home. Crazy, huh? Well I’ve got another hour of it before it ends. Then I have to pick up Jasmyne from school and run some errands. As usual, errands usually means going to Target and entertaining the kids at the library or other places.

We just returned from our little vacation over the weekend. We wanted to trek out somewhere before we had to work opposite schedules due to the fact that my parents will be gone. I didn’t expect it to be as cold as it was, but we had a great time. The resort we stayed at in Wisconsin had everything indoors. I love The Dells for their downtown area, but it’s okay. We’ll just have to revisit over the summer. I love The Wilderness Resort. We also drove to Minnesota to the Mall of America. I must say, I enjoyed it more this time around. Jasmyne definitely enjoyed it more too. Maybe because I was pregnant when we went there over a year ago. Now we’re back to reality.

I must say that I miss my parents a whole bunch. With my mom as an extra hand and my dad doing the cooking. Them being gone in these little bits of time every now and then, however, I think rejuvenates me. It gives me that space that I need and it DEFINITELY makes me more independent. At the same token, it also helps me to appreciate their presence more. Sometimes, you can take things for granted when it’s always around you. I have to wake up early and make breakfast for the kiddos. I have to do the laundry. I spic and spanned the house. I have to do this and that without relying on my mom to have to hold the baby so I can do one thing or another. We usually take turns doing something when my mom is here. Without my mom, obviously I found ways to do it on my own. I’ve been alone with the kids before, but it’s not usually starting from the morning. Normally my mom will be here in the morning and leave in the afternoon or something like that.  Nothing beats them being here though, but like I said, the itty bitty breaks do wonders for me. The one thing I can’t do is cook, so when Dex comes home, we’ll be eating the adobo he cooked two days ago. The one we’ve been eating since two days ago. HAHAHAHA!

This weather kills me. I can’t believe that it’s this cold already. It’s not even November yet. Hopefully it”ll still warm up a bit in time for when we go to the pumpkin patch. I can’t wait. I think both of my girls will enjoy it this time around.

Things I’m looking forward to this month: Janelle turns ONE and her first birthday party after Halloween. Jasmyne’s Halloween party at school with her classmates. The pumpkin patch. Our work Halloween get together with the kiddies. Everything Halloween. I think Halloween is making it’s way up to my list of favorite “holidays” of the year!

Anyway- stay warm and have a safe one!


October Already

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I still can’t believe that October is already here. I NEVER know where time is going, but everyday is bringing me faster into tomorrow. October means fall and coldness, which I hate. I do love the changing colors of the leaves, but that is about it.  October is the birthday month of the hubby. October is also Janelle’s birthday month- which means, she is turning ONE this year. Yes ladies and gents. The party planning has been in the works and almost done. I’ve done the invites and booked the place. We knew we didn’t want it at our place this year. I wanted it at a children’s place and Dexter wanted it at a restaurant. The hubby won and the date is set.

I was watching some old videos of Jasmyne the other day. It dawned on me that we rarely take videos of the girls. I have NONE of Janelle and very few moments of Jasmyne. Those few moments we did capture of her brought back some tears. Those are memories frozen in time through that video. There were so many of those memories that we did not capture- and how I wish that we did. So starting now, I have vowed that as important as pictures are, so are videos. Those are the times that I cannot get back. Janelle is not walking yet, however, if you left her for an itty bitty minute, you will see that she made her way to the second floor of the house or that she is sitting on top of the couch. She is not talking, but she is babbling a whole lot. She can also “sing” a song copying your tone of voice. I gotta get all these cute little things she does on video.Jasmyne already started preschool and she loves every moment of it. I secretly enjoy taking her to school and picking her up. The whole process is so emotional for me, even after so many weeks. She is going to miss her first field trip next week due to our scheduled mini-cation, but it’s okay. There will be plenty more to come.

Janelle’s  first birthday is a milestone for not only her, but for us as parents. It has been a tiring year, not so much because of Janelle, but because of the fact that she is the second child. I thought having one was tough- but obviously the second one made life even tougher. I feel like Dex and I battled a war and we are so very close to coming out of it alive! Many people think that just because my parents are around we got it good. I ADMIT, we have it very good in a way that we have a second set of hands most of the time. We can go to work without worrying about the babysitter. My mom is great and I appreciate it all, but people don’t know that when we are not at work, we are home with the kids. We have rarely left them with my parents to go out and party or go to the movies or go on a date. We know that is our responsibility and we’ve owned up to it. If we are not at work, we are with the kiddies. Dex and I were talking about growing old together a couple of days ago. How 5 years from now, I will be 35 (I let the cat out) and that is still pretty young. The girls will be 8 and 6. WOW! It’s amazing that we will still be young and the girls are already that old. We not only get to enjoy our youth together, but also enjoy our kids as they get older. Then I feel at ease that we made the right choice of having them when we did. We had a chance to enjoy each other before having kids and we’ll still enjoy each other after having them too. There is always a rainbow at the end of a rain- and I believe that all the more now.

Currently reading: 90 Minutes in Heaven

Looking forward to: Wisconsin Dells and Mall of America Trip