Quality vs. Crap

A couple of people have mentioned that I haven't updated my blog lately. That's because my life isn't all that interesting. I would prefer to fill my blogs with entertaining posts rather than update you about my mundane life. That means quality over quantity. That being said, I'm going to make an exception just this once. This post is for new moms, future moms and any gadget loving person just itching to buy me a gift. I was browsing through a Williams-Sonoma catalog today and came across the Beaba Babycook. According to the website, it's "A steamer, blender, warmer and defroster in one compact appliance". What a wonderful, convenient and time saving invention! When I used to make baby food for Noah I had to use a large pot and bowl to steam the food then transfer it to a plastic beaker so that I could blend it with my hand blender. The cleanup was tedious. Large pots, bowls, beakers, spatulas, blender, ugh! Then when Noah was ready to eat I would have to put the cubes of baby food in a glass container then immerse it in hot water all while pushing the little cubes of ice until they melted. It took at least 3 changes of hot water before those darn cubes melted. What a waste of time and energy! Now with the Beaba Babycook I could just put the food in the steamer, add water, turn it on and walk away! Then when it's done I could blend it in the same appliance. And when it's time to eat I could pop the cubes in and defrost it. How cool is that? I only wish I knew about this before I had Noah. At $149.95 I can hardly justify buying one if we were to have another kid. And now for something completely useless - Boon Squirt, the food dispensing spoon. Squeeze the bulb - voila, food on the spoon.

Lesson Learned

Ever since I had my son I feel more like "Noah's Mom" than Jessica. So I started this blog thinking that it would be the one thing in my life that would be separate from him. Something all to myself. But he is such a large part of my life, it would be futile to try and exclude him. So instead I'm using this blog as a diary for Noah to read one day. Hopefully he'll find humor in today's blog entry and forgive me for my flaws.

It's been scorching hot lately so we decided to make a play date with another mommy and her toddler to go to the beach. I changed Noah's diaper and put on his SPF and decided to put on the rest of his clothes outside while we waited for our play date. With everything in hand I told Noah "Let's go". He was having such a good time sitting in his pool float that he didn't want to budge. So I told him, "Okay, Mama's leaving" and went into the garage to load the car. Once or twice before I have done the same thing in hopes of teaching him that I mean business when I say I'm leaving. Like before he followed me to the garage and jiggled the door knob. With a little smirk on my face because of his predictability, I walked to the door to let him out. But the door was locked!!! He locked himself inside when he was jiggling the knob. I felt my legs go weak and I started pounding on the door calling "Noah! Noah! Noah!" No response. I grabbed my cell phone from the car and called Bryan to come home immediately. I started pounding on the door again and calling his name. Still no answer. I go to the back sliding glass door where the blinds were slightly opened and started pounding and calling his name over and over. I didn't see him and still no response. It's so unlike him that I started to freak out. I go back to the garage door and pounded frantically. Nothing. I took a second to compose myself and calmly said, "Noah, you locked Mama out. Mama can't open the door. Can you open the door for Mama?" Then I finally heard him make a peep. He jiggled the knob but he couldn't open it so I tell him to meet me at the back glass door. He goes to the back and swings the blinds open a bit further. There we stand separated by glass trying to touch each other's hands. For the next 40 minutes I talked to him, played peekaboo and waited for Baba to come home. He's wearing nothing but diapers and a head full of sweat and I have sunburned calves. Our play date arrives and she brings me boba iced tea. He looked at me longingly as I took a sip. My poor baby. Just then Baba walks up from right behind him and unlocks the sliding door. I rushed into the house, gave him a big hug and noticed that the music was on. He had climbed on the chair and turned on the radio! I guess he was enjoying being home alone. I have learned my lesson and am grateful that he is safe and sound. But can you believe a few days later we saw him flip the lock to the unlock position on the sliding glass door?

Beach

I love the ocean. In fact, my dream house would be perched on top of a mountain with a magnificent ocean view. A little 2 bedroom in Laguna after we retire will do just fine. Unfortunately, we don't go there enough especially since we had Noah. Kids love playing at the beach but I just don't want to deal with the cleanup. First I'd have to drench him in sunblock every 20 minutes, then deal with sand in the hair, feet and butt crack. The car seat would be covered with sunblock and sand until I'm able to figure out how to remove and wash it. Then as soon as we'd get home I would have to bathe him which would cut into dinner prep time. And I don't even want to imagine trying to get the sand out of his hair since he hates it when we wash his hair. Just a little too much effort for 1 hour at the beach. But yesterday I saw some photos of friends who brought their 3 young boys for a week long camp out at the beach. THREE BOYS! WEEK LONG! Boy, are they brave - yes you know who you are! Then today Noah was watching one of his videos and it had kids running around on the beach. With summer coming to an end it inspired me to make an impromptu trip to the beach. After all the preparation, i.e., sunblock, towels, toys, snack, water, camera, sunglasses, jacket, change of clothes, diapers etc., we were finally out the door at 5pm. Even though we live only 10 miles away, I did not anticipate we'd be stuck in rush hour traffic. Noah was nice and patient with his shades on and holding his bucket and shovel. After half and hour he took his first steps in sand. We walked all the way to the water and got his feet wet a few times but he did not enjoy that too much. Then we sat and played with his shovel, bucket and truck. He enjoyed chasing the birds, watching the helicopter fly by and pointing out all the dogs. Luckily, Noah didn't seem to like getting all that sand on him so he stayed pretty clean. So with a quick diaper change, a sip of water, his fish crackers and a wipe of his hands and feet we headed home. In hindsight, it might have been more fun if there were more people and kids out playing but the heat and the battle for a parking space would make it a lot less fun for me. The weather was perfect, no jacket needed and it sure beats our usual stroll around the neighborhood. Tomorrow, we'll bring a ball.

Lick!

Is it weird that I sometimes have an urge to lick my son? Sometimes when Noah is snuggled up next to me with his head and hair against my cheek trying to fall asleep, I feel an instinctive urge to groom him like a mother cat does to her kitten. I've never owned any pets other than fish and I never particularly liked cats so I find it quite weird that I'm relating to them in this strange way. I don't know, maybe next time instead of telling him "I Love You", I'll just give him a quick lick on his head.

Smack Down

Noah's starting to hit other kids. I think he picked it up from our mommy and me class. The kids in his class are a bit older and every time we'd go, he would get picked on at least once or twice. He always seems confused as to why they would growl at him, push him to the ground, hit him in the head with trucks or throw temper tantrums. In fact, he walked over to a kid on the ground throwing a temper tantrum and bent over to observe her. It's either that or he's just at the age where kids do that naturally. Well, he's been swatting at his cousin Daniel lately. I always say "No, no, Noah", but I always follow it with a little pat on the head and a whispered "Good job". For those of you who don't know I grew up with 2 older brothers and was the recipient of many swats. All I can say is revenge is so sweet. (By the way, sorry Aunt Lydia, I told Noah he can only hit Uncle John's side of Daniel not Aunt Lydia's side.)

Being Your Mom

I woke up tonight from your constant stirring. It's been hot the past 2 days so I awoke feeling unbearably hot. I thought that you might be feeling the same way so I quickly took off your socks - which you dislike wearing when you sleep and your poofy blanket pants. Then I went and laid by your feet so that I'd remember to put on a lighter pair of sweats and to change your diapee because you've been peeing out of your diapers consistently for the past few months. Luckily the poofy blanket pants usually absorbs most of the leakage but without those tonight you definitely need a diaper change before dawn. Sensing that I was by your feet you kept kicking me in the face. After a dozen or so kicks I got up to check if your dad was still awake. It's around 2AM and he's better at wrapping you in your diapers to minimize leaks. He's not, so I'm on my own. In an attempt to wrap you up tightly I constantly check and adjust the diaper which of course wakes you up. I put on your sweats and lay next to you. You look up at me with your big angelic eyes and I couldn't resist but give you a kiss on your green Soothie pacifier. You smile at me behind your paci. I tell you "Swai jao" (Go to sleep). Your paci pops out and being thirsty myself I sit you up and offer you your water. You take two long aggressive sucks of water and I pop your paci back in. There goes the diaper change. You're having a hard time falling back to sleep tonight. You crawl on top of me and lay in the cradle of my arm, you lay on my side using my tummy as your recliner, you lay perpendicular to me on top of your pillow with your head next to mine, you lay in front of me and grasp my cheek and play with my nose. I pretend to sleep in hopes that you'll fall asleep quickly. But of course I can't sleep. I can never sleep when you're still awake. Finally, over and hour later I pull you close to me. With you cradled in my arm I tell you that it's time to sleep. You lay a bit then you started to kick your leg up and down. I tell you to stop moving. You start up again so I tap your leg. You snuggle up next to me with your forehead on my cheek and your hair tickling my eyes. Your left leg on top of mine. Your breathing deepens and in a few minutes you're asleep. You paci falls on my chest and I savor the moment. I love Being Your Mom.

Random Things

I didn't realize how much work it would be keeping up a blog. I find it difficult keeping it interesting. So whether you find it interesting or not I'm going to tell you 15 random things about Noah. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the note going around Facebook. I did mine a couple of days ago (which is listed under Noah's) and thought it would be fun doing one for Noah.

Noah's 15 Random Things
1. He fell out of bed this morning which explains why I'm up at this ungodly hour. Then an hour later while half asleep, he crawled to the end of the bed and looked at where he fell off and went back to sleep.
2. He has 4 teeth on top and 4 on the bottom. They're pretty screwed up. I've never seen such teeth on a child but I'm pretty sure he gets it from me.
3. He doesn't like his feet covered when he sleeps. Everytime I put the covers over him while he's sleeping he'll keep pulling until they're off.
4. He doesn't like fruits or fruit juices. What kid doesn't like sweet juice??
5. His favorite toys are sticks and balls. When we go out shopping I'll give him an orange or spatula to keep him happy.
6. During mealtimes I have Elmo and Mickey videos to keep him distracted. I got the Mickey videos to get him psyched for out upcoming Disneyland trip :)
7. In addition to videos during mealtimes he needs to have something in his hands or he'll get restless. Remote controls, utensils, baby magazines, toys - you name it.
8. He picked nose for the first time yesterday. It was very cute. Since he's sick he got some mucus out and then tried to put it in his mouth! Why do kids do that? Is it instinct??
9. Even though we speak mostly Chinese/Cantonese at home Noah's first words are all English. He hasn't said anything consistently yet but he attempts to say "Open, Bubble and Baby".
10. He falls asleep easily for naps but it takes him 40 minutes to and hour to go to sleep for the night.
11. He started walking on Bryan's birthday.
12. He loves his pacifier. He would suck it all day if he could but we only give it to him when it's time to sleep.
13. He has a problem with constipation. His last poop was the size of a baseball and the consistency of Play-Doh. Poor boy :(
14. He is at 55% for height but less than 10% for weight compared to boys at his age. He doesn't have much fat on him except for a little fat line on his inner thighs. I love that fat line but it's fading a little everyday...sigh
15. When he hears music he'll flap hand up and down. It started when I used to have music on in the house and I would jump around while holding him. That made his free hand flap up and down :)

Jessica's 25 Random Things
1. I generally dislike eating Chinese food when I go out to eat. I eat it all day at home so why would I eat it when I go out too?
2. I broke my left arm, right ankle (where the bone came out of my skin) and fractured my eye orbital when I flipped my mom's car when I was 20 yrs old. I was in a wheelchair for 6 months.
3. I gained 20lbs since high school, 10 of which were leftover from the pregnancy. I think they're here to stay...sigh
4. I sleep with Noah every chance I get which sometimes adds up to 16 hours in one day!
5. After 5 years of marriage we just got our first home phone last year. Before that we just used our cells.
6. I flunked out of CSUF before graduating from UCI.
7. I was on hospitalized bedrest for 7 weeks for preterm labor, shot up with drugs to prevent contractions, given steroids so that Noah would grow faster and gave myself 2 insulin injections daily in my belly because of gestational diabetes.
8. I avoided going to places like Disneyland, Sea World and Zoos for the past 10 years in fear that once I have children I'd be really sick of those places. On a side note, we are taking Noah to Disneyland for my bday this year :)
9. I've had 6 full-time jobs in a span of 8 years. In addition, I also worked part-time for 2 wedding planners on weekends.
10. I am thinking about going back to school for to become an Ultrasound Technician. I found out that my BA is useless in finding a good paying part-time job.
11. I told my friend Jeanine I was pregnant before I told Bryan :) He was on a plane coming back from Kuwait, I couldn't help myself!
12. Bryan and I have been out 3 times without Noah since he was born 15 months ago.
13. I didn't realize that I love cheese until I met someone who hates cheese.
14. I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 10 years old and I haven't riden one again since I was 13 years old. I didn't gain much confidence in my riding skills so whenever I passed by pedestrians on the sidewalk I'd start to freak out and weave from side to side.
15. I watch all my tv shows on the internet after Noah goes to sleep. My current favorites are Top Chef, Top Design, Project Runway, Hell's Kitchen, Rachel Zoe, America's Best Dance Crew and How I Met Your Mother.
16. I the past 30 years I've lived in 8 different homes within a 5 mile radius.
17. I cannot sing, drink or dance. But with a little alcohol in me I'll dance a bit :)
18. I had a fear of cats and dogs. Now I like little dogs and I tolerate cats but I still fear big dogs.
19. I don't like being in individual competitions because there's always a winner and a loser, and I'm usually the loser.
20. I have a hard time making new friends. I think it's from an irrational fear of rejection.
21. I also have a hard time making "small talk", I feel very fake when I do it and I don't like that feeling at all. See #20.
22. I am proud of the second place ribbon I won for the bean bag throw in the first grade and the Presidential Award in the 6th grade. I also won 3rd place trophies for Poetry in 7th and 8th grade.
23. I won the grand prize laptop at the China Airlines Xmas party. Haven't won anything since.
24. I've never rollerbladed before in my life.
25. I left work without telling my boss so that I could get Aaron Kwok's autograph. I got a photo with him too :) I'm too lazy to scan the photo so you'll just have to believe me on that one.

That's it. I hope you found it "interesting". If not, I'm sorry I wasted your time. That was one long post!