Back in the Saddle?

I've been thinking about writing again. Now that I have my wonderful iPhone (no, they are not paying me for the plug), I feel like I should try to be more productive. Aside from raising the kids, caring for our puppy, working a small part-time job, running two school fundraising programs, volunteering multiple times each week in the girls' classrooms, cooking, cleaning, exercising (running a 10k tomorrow!), I feel like I could be doing more. It's shameful that I squander away my spare time each day having bowel movements or sitting down to eat a meal for 15 minutes. So maybe in those small pockets of extra time, like when I am waiting for a signal light to change or while I am taking the dog for a walk, I will try to whip up a humorous, didactic, uplifting blog post. And if I can learn to type with my toes, I should be able to write the next Twilight series.

My Swan Song...

As you can tell, I haven't been posting too furiously these days. I think I might be hanging up my blogging cap for a while. It's been fun and I have enjoyed writing again. But I feel like I can barely keep up with everything else.

I toyed with not letting Sam take naps for the last few weeks because he has been staying up after we put him to bed--usually singing in his crib (today he was singing Beyonce's "Single Ladies"). Sometimes he wouldn't sleep for hours.

But the nap moratorium was painful for two reasons. One, my days were 12-13 hour days with no breaks. Two, Sam was excruciatingly grumpy because he didn't nap. Last week, however, Sam finally decided to jump out of his crib, come out of his room, and start unloading the dishwasher in the mornings--which would be fine except he often takes things out of the dishwasher and put his mouth all over it. So we moved him into his toddler bed, decked out with new Disney Car's sheets. Now that Sam knows he can exit his room whenever he wants, he has been waking up at the crack of dawn. Thanks to my brainwashing, he only wants Chang in the morning. So even though Chang has more reason to complain, I am still exhausted by the fact that Sam wakes Chang up earlier than before (cue the rolling of eyes from Chang).

These days, Sam has been a terror (yes, my sweet angel baby is the thorn in my flesh at the moment). I'm sure it is a combination of terrible two's and getting significantly less sleep than before, but I am ready to ship him off to a boarding preschool.

In August, Sam will start preschool, so long as I tackle potty training. But honestly, I am sending him in August, no matter what. I'm sure the teachers will hate me because he will have several accidents daily and he is supposed to be fully potty trained. But I am ready for freedom. I have a long laundry list of things that I want to do--finally get fit and fabulous, clean every nook and corner of my house, and meet friends in the middle of the day for cocktails. That is it--no more lofty goals of going to school or writing a book. I just want to enjoy my freedom. I am envisioning myself breaking into a song as I go along the day. Birds will come and sit on my shoulder, people around me will suddenly dance with me in a choreographed ditty. I want to get dressed every day looking like Carrie Bradshaw--no more mommy uniform for me. I am going to wear heels and carry a gorgeous purse because I finally won't have to worry about carrying diapers or a sippy cup in it. La la la laboutin! I can't wait!

So I might post pictures of my kids on occasion but this could be my swan song. The end of the school year is almost here which means I will have all three kids home with me a lot this summer. Then Elysha will be starting kindergarten, Joey will be in first grade and Sam will be going to school on the other side of town. This means, three different schedules at two different locations. It is going to be crazy and though I will finally be childless for the first time in over six years, it will really only be a couple hours every day and that includes the 90 + minutes I will be driving back and forth between the two schools. Freedom finally, yes, but just a little bit.

It's been fun and I appreciate you coming along in my journey of honest parenting. It sucks sometimes...but I still love them...especially when they are sleeping...

Dinosaur Train Guest Stars

Sometime last year (not sure when since everyday is a blur but I can say with certainty it was last year), I took the kids to the Jim Henson studios to a promotion for mommy bloggers. I thought we were going to preview their new show Dinosaur Train and the kids would sit in the audience. But it turns out, they actually wanted to use our kids for a brief explanation clip after the animated segments. I brought Sam into the recording studio as well but the director took one look at him and asked me how old he was. I said, "almost two," which the director repeated back in a mocking tone. "Does he talk?" he asked. "Not that well, but he can talk," I replied. The director turned to Sam. "Sam, can you say Tyrannosaurus Rex?" Sam looked at him blankly with drool coming down his chin. I immediately picked up Sam and said, "Never mind."

Anyhow, the girls almost didn't pull it off. It was really intimidating being in that big room with all these hot lights on them and a stranger asking them to say words that weren't part of their everyday vocabulary. The director almost kicked out our whole group but decided to give them one last shot. Here are the results (if you just want to watch the girls' segment, move the timeline to 3:50).

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.

Almost Famous (Again!)

I was looking at the Savvy Source newsletter that gets blasted out to everyone registered at the website and lo and behold, they featured my "How Dancing Saved My Day" blog on the newsletter.

BeingSavvy
Give me the beat, boys & girls

» A vintage gem takes your little one on an unforgettable world music tour

» Our best musical activities, songs and dances to get your little ones learning

» A Savvy inspiration: Use music to open up your child's world

» These toe-tapping musicals are sure to be your family's faves

» One mom's story of how dancing saved an upside-down day

» From Being Savvy St. Louis: 25 ways to say "good job"

It is nice to know that the powers-that-be are reading the local content and felt that my writing was good enough to feature nationally. Okay, enough with the false humility. I am one blog away from the Pulitzer prize (do they have one for bloggers?).

Green Eggs and Ham and other Milestones

I just wanted to remember this stuff...

My friend was talking about doing a mother/daughter book club and I thought that only real book that Joey could possibly read is Green Eggs and Ham. So that evening I told Joey that I thought she could read it by herself. At first, she gawked at the idea. "It's too long!" But then she got excited thinking about the challenge and said enthusiastically, "Okay!"

She ran to get the book and began to read. I had to help her with a decent number of words but she did it! I was surprised that she sat there and persisted through the whole book in one sitting.
I am really proud of her and I'm sure it won't be long before she is reading Twilight.

Elysha brought home her first set of letters (red letters) that she phonetically mastered a couple of weeks ago. When it crosses my mind, I go through the letters of the next set (blue letters) because it would be nice if by the end of her first year of preschool, she knows the sounds of all the letters. I feel that since Joey is self-motivated, I don't need to worry about her as much with school work. Elysha, on the other hand, needs more attention. I am slowly realizing that I need to give it to her. I don't think it is a matter of mastery. I think it is a matter of helping her realize that she is as capable and competent as her sister. I hope this won't be the theme for the rest of their lives. Because they are so close in age, I think that Elysha thinks that there is no difference between her and Joey. So when she sees Joey excelling at something, Elysha believes that she should be able to do it to at the same level of aptitude. When she can't, she gives up.

Sam is starting to speak a little more. He says hi and bye while waving, he says nigh-nigh for bedtime and of course uhmma (mommy in Korean). He does the few sign language words that I've taught him though with milk, he just refuses. He finds it more effective to grunt and point wildly until I give him what he wants. He also appears to be saying, "what's that?" and "all done." The one word that he has definitely mastered is "uh-oh." His comprehension, on the other hand, is really good. If I tell him we are going outside, he will run to the door and grab his shoes. If I tell him to sit down so I can change his diaper, he will find a book to peruse and then plop his big bootie on the changing pad. And when I tell him that I'm going to turn on the TV, he gets all giddy with excitement, runs over to the TV and starts giggling.

Time is just flying by and because I am a planner, I am looking forward to sending Sam off to school so I can get on with my plans for myself. However, I feel like Sam is getting so big so fast, and all he has done for his first year of life is watch me run errands or organize the house or work on the computer. I have made a mental commitment to do something fun for him every morning. I have made a mental commitment to work with Elysha more on her work. I have made a mental commitment to challenge Joey more. I keep thinking it is just one day...I can work/play with the kids another day. But I don't want to keep putting them off.

So Sam and I danced together today.

First Post is Live--Yipee!

My first post is live on the Being Savvy website. I am still waiting for my bio and pic to be up but that is okay...millions of people (give or take a million) will be reading my thoughtfully written, astute post about Christmas trees.

I have always wanted to be a writer or be involved in a publication. I tried to do the whole publishing career route but my few feeble attempts to get my foot in the door were squashed. I was one of two finalist to be an editorial assistant for Stanford magazine--a job with a meager wage and a ton of grunt work. I was lost it to a Stanford Law graduate. One of the guys who interviewed me loved me so much he tried to get me a different job very distantly related to the magazine. But it was too late. I became so embittered by the whole experience, I went 180 degree different route with my career and went to school in the evenings to become a systems administrator. I sold myself out for the money and shelved my dreams of writing.

Flash forward nine years later, I am going back to my first love. And it feels good.

Another Part-time Job

Well, it looks like I will become a City Editor for The Savvy Source blogsite. I'm very excited but nervous about how I am going to juggle yet another ball. I just got off a five hour shift at PB and boy, oh boy, the holiday spirit was NOT oozing out of the customers today.

In any case, I fancy being able to call myself a professional blogger now. Yup, I'm moving up in the blogging world.

Just wanted to share the good news...though this will definitely cut into my personal blogging time. Sorry folks, but it is nice that I can get paid (a meager wage) for something that was/is a hobby. Besides, I need another job to support my PB habit.

Oh, and also shameless self-promotion (he he), please click on the link for Savvy Source DAILY for local activities ideas and information on preschools all over the country. There should be new posts coming soon for the West LA site.

100th Post

Wow, I have actually posted 100 times. Amazing that this "thing" that I wasn't so sure I wanted to do has become a favorite past time.

In honor of this momentous occasion, I wanted to just post a few pics of my precious family. I know that I rib at this whole motherhood life a lot, but I really do cherish my life, my role, my ball and chains. I am who I am because they came to be.

The future rock trio--watch out Jonas Brothers!



Sammy with granny. An amazing source of strength.

The love of my life and me at Wicked--Pantages Theatre.

What my princesses chose to wear when I told them they could wear whatever they wanted. Of course, an outfit is not complete without a tiara.

I love you!

Almost Famous

I just got a new tracking tool for this blog site because I am so curious who is reading it. Well now, I see you.

When I first started this blog, I assumed that my husband and I were the only ones reading it. I didn't announce to everyone that I started this blog. Just a few friends. And I didn't want it to be searchable. I only wanted people who somehow had a connection to me reading it. After a few months of sporadic blogging, I became curious about how many people were reading my blog. 5 friends? 10? So I got statcounter to track page loads and visitors. I was really surprised to see that I had a modest loyal following. Suddenly, I felt pressure to keep posting regularly to keep all my adoring fans happy. Instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour, I would be posting blogs and even scheduling blogs in advance to ensure fresh content regularly. With great power comes great responsibility.

Some friends have put me up on their Blog List which is cool and totally welcomed. One day my visitor count doubled and I thought, they love me. They can't get enough of me. People are being charmed by my eloquence, unique insight, and wicked humor that they are clicking in droves! I am becoming famous! Well, it turns out my dear friend Nina linked my vacation post. Cool. Even more people to feel better about their own mothering skills compared to my own inefficacy. That's why I do it folks. To make you feel better about yourselves.

But now, I have entered a new level of blogger celebrityhood. After another spike in my friends' count, I have installed sitemeter. It tells me how people came to my site. I noticed a lot of people were coming from kimchimamas. If you look under "ban chan" which is on the right side of the Kimchi Mamas blogsite, there is a link to me. I am so flattered. I just want to thank you, all my fans, for without you, I would not be linked. mwah! mwah! Pageant wave. I love you!