In Denial

For those of you who know my real age, you know that it just can't be possible! Or is it?

I think I am pre-menopausal! I have been getting hot flashes at night (granted it was during the heatwave and now that it has cooled down, I didn't get it tonight), my cycles have been weird, I am eating like crazy, but not gaining weight. If anything, people think I am getting skinnier...I have insomnia but I am always tired (it has been getting better with vitamins and iron supplements). I am also ridiculously emotional. Anything will make me tear up. This is stuff that my mom complains about with menopause. What the heck!?!

I'm in denial. I am too young, right? I mean, I just turned 29-ish!

Just to make myself feel better, I have to share the following: one of my co-workers at PB was shocked to find out I had three kids and said I must have started REALLY young. Okay, I feel better now...

The Invention of Lying

These days Joey lies...a lot. Unfortunately for her, Elysha rats her out...a lot. But instead of getting mad at Elysha, Joey becomes overwhelmed with guilt and confesses the truth. I honestly have lied in bed at night, wondering where I went wrong that my five-year old daughter is already so good at lying.

Then tonight, I read in Redbook the following:

"Your kid is going to lie...and that's okay. It means the child is cognitively advanced enough to hold in their mind both the truth and an alternative idea, which requires a lot of attention control."

Man, Joey is a friggin' genius!


First day of kindergarten. I totally forgot a camera so I took this with my phone. Bad mom...

Back on Track

Sorry for being so bad about missing out on the blogging world these last couple of months. I don't even remember what made the summer so crazy except that the girls were home for about a month. Yeah, I guess that would make my life pretty crazy having three kids home with me 24/7...

I completely quit Savvy now that I helped them transition over to their new format. It's strange not having anything other to do except just the normal household stuff. I feel like I have so much time on my hands now.



We've had to wake up earlier so that we can get Joey to school on time. I don't know if it is due to lack of sleep but we have all been really cranky. By the time the kids go to sleep, I am so tired that I just completely veg in front of the TV while eating ice cream. I have discovered the CW shows and I am officially in love with America's Top Model. I find it completely fascinating but I'm not sure why. Maybe it is because I enjoy hating these vapid pretty girls and their petty catfights...but that doesn't explain the tears of sympathy I shed for the girls who get kicked off, and why I am so looking forward to watching the new episode tonight!

Sam had a verbal explosion and he talks like crazy. It's really cute and a huge relief that he can communicate his needs instead of pointing his fingers and grunting. But he also says things like, "That's funny Mommy!" or "Stop it, Daddy!" or "I want ice cream."



We ran out of formula and I decided it's time to say good-bye to the bottle. I thought it would be a difficult transition since the moment he sees his little 4 oz bottle of formula at night, he would grab it, open the cap, start drinking it, go to his sisters and say good-night (and give them a big formula-tasting kiss), and then grab his blankie and a book, climb up the glider and get ready for bed. He loved his bottle and honestly, I loved giving it to him. It was my way of hindering his development and keeping him my little baby. Obviously, he was ready to move on because he hasn't had any problems with the adjustment. Now it is just the thin but super-absorbent line of diapers that keeps Sam in babyland. But that is something I would be more than happy to be done with so we'll start working on potty training. I have no idea how to potty train a boy so this will be a challenge I'm sure.



Joey has a loose tooth! She is so excited. "I'm going to get A LOT of money from the tooth fairy!" she exclaimed. Without looking at her I said, "Mmmm, maybe not a lot of money. Maybe just a quarter which you can put in your piggy bank and put towards your college savings."



We have also been working on Joey not sucking her thumb since August. For the last few years, she has said that she wanted to stop but it was hard for her to commit to it. I finally broke down a bought a thumb guard and it worked really well. Within a week, she didn't need it during the days. At nights, however, she pulls it off and sucks her thumb. But since her tooth came loose, she said that she stopped sucking at nights too because we told her that it might make her tooth come out too early and it will hurt. So Joey might have finally stopped with her thumb sucking which is a major achievement. She found her thumb at three months and has sucked it non-stop since then.

Recipe: Rachel Ray's Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Breasts

This is a fun dish for kids. I like to serve it when we have guests with little kids. Slightly modified to make it easier. Taken from 365: No Repeats Cookbook.

4 Medium (quart-size) plastic food storage bags
4 small whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 5-oz bag of salted pretzels, any shape
Ground pepper
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 eggs
Vegetable oil, for frying

Sprinkle a little water into the food storage baggies. Place 1 chicken breast in each bag and seal it up, pushing out excess air. Use a mallet or the bottom of a heavy pot and pound each breast until flat, just shy of busting out of the bag. Repeat with the other 3 chicken breasts.

Place the pretzels in a food processor or blender and grind until fine. Transfer the ground pretzels to a shallow dish and add the thyme and some pepper. Crack and beat 2 eggs in a second shallow dish with a splash of water. Working with 1 pounded chicken breast at a time, coat the breast in the ground pretzels, then in the eggs, then in the pretzels again. Preheat a large skillet with 1/4 inch of vegetable oil; add the pretzel-coated chicken breasts to the hot oil. Cook in a single layer, in 2 batches in necessary, about 3 or 4 minutes on each side, until the cutlets' juices run clear and the breading is evenly browned.

I use the Trader Joe's Whole Grain pretzels. I also like to add course sea salt to the pretzel mix if it doesn't seem salty enough. In place of the thyme, I use Trader Joe's pasta seasoning herb blend. Because I hate the thought of using multiple ziplock bags, I just use one one-gallon bag, put two chicken breasts in at a time, and pound away. The recipe comes with a cheddar-mustard sauce but you can eat this chicken without any additional sauces. It's so delicious and tender.

We are the World

Living in LA, you can imagine that there are a lot of people on street corners asking for money. Last month, as we were stopped at an intersection, Joey noticed a man holding a sign walking down the divider. She asked what he was doing. I explained to her that he didn't have a home and he was asking for money. Then I went on to remind the kids that we should be grateful for all that we have and not be greedy or materialistic. That night Joey wanted to pray for that man during our nightly prayers. I thought it was so sweet of her, so we talked about things that we could do to help people less fortunate than we are. We made a plan to break open the girls' piggy banks and donate 10% of their money to help homeless kids. I told her that it is nice that she was so concerned. As I kissed them good night, I felt secretly proud to be raising such good-hearted, generous girls.

After we put the kids to bed, Joey came out crying because she couldn't stop thinking about the man. "You better get back into bed or we won't be helping the homeless people anymore!" So Joey reluctantly went back into her room.

Yesterday, after hanging out at the LA County Art Museum, we saw another panhandler. Joey asked about this man also and asked why we weren't giving him money if he needed it. Chang was about to pull out some loose change to give to him, and I told him not to. He said, "I just don't want her staying awake again because of this!"

I tried to explain to Joey that it is good to donate to organizations to help people in need. "Mommy and Daddy give money to places like that so that they can help others. Like we have two children from Africa..."
Joey: Mommy, we're not African!
Chang just started laughing so hard and so did I. I couldn't finish my explanation that we support two girls who live in Africa through World Vision. It was just too funny. Then Joey started to laugh too, but for different reasons.
Joey: Mommy, we're not from Africa. We're Korean!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

The other day Joey and Elysha were playing horse racing in the car with their My Little Ponies. Joey pretended to be blowing past Elysha so she said, "See you later, alligator!"

So Elysha said to Joey, "See you later, hippopotamus!"

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We went to our elementary school's ice cream social for incoming kindergarteners. Joey was really excited and all day, changed her clothes, added and removed accessories, and decided she was going to wear her fancy shoes. When Chang got home from work, he put on a pair of shorts, but didn't put on a shirt since it has been blistering hot these days (we don't have any form of air conditioning so it's pretty hot inside our house). Chang was trying to corral the kids to get ready to go, so he said, "Come on, let's get going."

Joey was mortified and yelled at Chang, "Daddy put a shirt on! It's rude to go without a shirt!" Of course, Chang had every intention of putting on a shirt before we left the house. But that wasn't clear to Joey. I'm sure she was just concerned that the other kids would be jealous of her father's amazing physique.

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Sam's vocabulary continues to expand. The other day in the car he kept repeating something. I wasn't quite sure what he was saying but it sounded like he wanted something. Then we passed the Golden Arches and his repetitive cry became more emphatic.

"I want McDonald's!"

I'm too sexy for my shirt...