Swimsuit Edition 2011

I'm not a fashionista, but with our upcoming trip to California, I realized that I do need a bathing suit, and I do need to look decent in one. This is different from jeans my friends.... this is all about body image, and not letting that saggy belly, or that jiggle butt, or extra boobage all hang out. Tucking it all in at the right places is of utmost importance.

I had to try out a couple different styles, but ended up settling a nice one-piece purple one from Old Navy. Unfortunately, (or fortunately?) I will not be posting any pictures of me modelling it. I will, however post some other swimsuit options that didn't make the cut.



This one is for the practical woman... the 'do-it-yourselfer'.



This one comes with a matching ball of yarn hat.



Let's leave this style to just Borat. This doesn't even look good on the best beach bod.


Sorry folks, socks and dolls not included.

The Difference Between Dinosaurs and Colins

I posted this in my facebook, but figured this was blog worthy and should be recorded in my diary.

Colin age 2

he has been walking around the house like a dinosaur all day long. more like stomping every waking moment. well, this dinosaur of mine wanted a hug, but i was changing cara. he kept whining for one saying 'mommy hug, mommy hug...', and i said, 'dinosaurs don't need hugs, they're strong and don't need their mommies.'

colin thought for a while... and replied 'colins need hugs'.

i gave him a hug.

Jeans Day

Today is a historic day. An incredible momentous day. This one is for the books.

I. fit. my. jeans.

Of course, I did have to starve myself with the stomach flu, and then marathon nurse my child so that I could shed as much as possible, but now they fit. The exception being... I can barely bend over to get my socks on, walk normally, or sit for that matter. I did have to do quite the jiggle dance, jumping up and down to shimmy my mass of being into these denim babies... muffin top and all.

I was lamenting about a month ago how I couldn't pull my jeans up even past my knees... but now I can proudly say I am back to my old physical self!

It's not really a self image issue though for me. It's the fact that I am moving on now from the 'pregnancy' (and giving birth) mentality, back to Sharon. I don't have the excuse, that 'it's just my baby weight', giving me a bit of a cushion (no pun intended) to fall back on if i wanted to eat a lot of junk and sweets, or not to be conscious of my health. If my body is able to get back into it's pre-baby state, it is my job and duty now to do my best to keep it as healthy as it used to be.

I've come to learn, that being a parent entails a lot of responsibility. But the biggest one is, I need to be the person that I want my children to become. I want my kids to be compassionate beings. So I have to be conscious of the beggar outside the Superstore, and offer him food. I want my kids to be patient. So I have to hold my tongue, and demonstrate patience with my 2 y/o, as well as my husband (trust me... that's a hard one) because they're always watching. And, I want them to live a long and healthy life, so I have to stop (or limit) shoving chips and chocolate down my throat. I want them to be a lot of things, and have high hopes... but that also means I have to be every little thing I hope for them to be.

It's not easy, because if I am not demonstrating any of these attributes at any point, it's like taking 10 steps back. This is a lifestyle I have to believe in and live by so that it is the only thing my kids know how to be.

So, my jeans fit, and it's great that my body can be squeezed into those suckers - but seriously I couldn't have been happier to take them off as soon as I got home from a long day out cause it's just hard work.

not complaining... but...

I want to blame facebook for the root of all my envy and jealousy. I often read other moms' status updates, and they go something like this: "off to the spa!", "great run today", "lovely time hanging with my girlfriend at coffee", "getting my hair done", oh, and the best is: "going to (fill in your favorite travel destination)! will miss my baby" (yeah... boo hoo hoo to you)..... etc.



1. who ARE these people?
2. where are their children?
3. who has them?

You know who you are. Don't deny it... it's okay to show off how great your life is - but little jealous ol' me just wants to know.... HOW?

Am I the only one that wonders this? Are all the other moms out there doing 'me' things and somehow just manage to clean the house, do laundry, change diapers, clean, and prepare meals among other things, and just 'pop' into the spa? tell me. please tell me. i want to be part of your exclusive club.

I have had a gift certificate for Spa Utopia, that was given to me as a gift.... before Colin arrived (so January 2009). Do you think I've used it yet? No. Do I want to? Yessssssssssss. Why don't I get a sitter? My mom does help watch the kids, especially when Joe and I are on weekend wedding shoots. How about dumping my kids on someone? I have 2 and one is only 3 months old. How about hubby watching them? His job is already as stressful as it is... I think watching 2 kids at once for a couple of hours would make his head pop like a pimple.... plus if he's awake and attentive I'd like to spend that time with him with the kids - it's very rare!

so. tell me. all you moms that have the leisure to do something by yourself... what is your secret?

Mother's Day

As I get to have somewhat of a quiet moment the day after, I'm reflecting on all the happiness that surrounded me on a day set aside for us mom's. But instead of gushing over how cute my kids are, or how darling Joe is (who made breakfast, fed the kids, did the dishes at dinner)... I want to acknowledge my own mom.

In typical Chinese fashion, we don't talk about our emotions with each other. We don't sit down, have talks over coffee, call each other up to just 'see how you're doing', or say 'I love you'. Even after all that our family has been through, we just don't do that stuff. But I do love my mom, and am saying it publicly on this blog - but you will not see me say it to her face with a hug either.

My mom really is an amazing woman. I don't give her enough credit, nor do I think I can ever give her enough acknowledgement for being a mom. You see, she has been a single mom for 24 years. My dad passed away suddenly in a car accident when I was 5 (my sisters were 11 and 14). She raised 3 young girls, and had to continue her job as a mom despite the hurdles that life threw at her. We didn't grow up with a normal life, but I certainly didn't feel like I missed out on anything. I had more opportunities and freedom as a child, tween, teenager... and for a mom who lost everything to still 'let go' of your daughters instead of overprotecting them astounds me.

I've learned from my mom, that you can only do what you can as a parent to protect your children. That is all we want to do for our kids - to protect them. It's easy when they're babies - you can protect them by physically holding them, taking them away from dangers, put a blanket on them when they're cold, give them medicine when they're sick. But as they grow, it gets harder to protect - they're going to fall (so we give them helmets). They're going to walk into corners (thank goodness for corner protectors). We start padding the whole house... but then they're able to get out of the house, and that is when things get scary. There are the things we can teach them (strangers, drugs, sex), but as they get older, the pains and hurts of the world get bigger.

But my mom made the conscious decision to just Trust. Trust in the Lord, and to trust her own kids (I'd say it's about 90% God though). Giving us responsibility from a young age, to learn things on our own gave us the ability to gain confidence. We aren't protected from the world, but we're not scared of it because of her. She had to let us go, but now her returns are 3 happily married daughters, 5 grand kids, (and counting!), and a fulfilling life filled with good friends and family. It wasn't an easy road for her, but boy she sure came out on top, and I am constantly amazed by my mom.

supermom

Normally I'm not supermom. I really am a lazy mommy, and the positive spin on that is - I want my children to be independent and they need to learn that at a young age. I'm not the soccer mom that can 'do it all'... in fact I am so far from that supermom that if she saw how I lived she'd gag and run away screaming in the other direction.

but. (proceed with caution... this does not happen very often in this house)

We woke up early, I baked muffins for breakfast, then went to Bible Study, came home and prepared a nutritious lunch, put the kids down for a nap, made won tons from scratch (to freeze for a rainy day), and then prepared a hearty and healthy dinner.

But don't think this is a regular occurrence... just a few days ago we had nothing in this house (I had been sick with the stomach flu so I wasn't eating or grocery shopping)... and this is what we made for dinner: frozen dumplings, 1 frozen portion of M&M's beef wellington, 1 frozen portion of M&M's French onion soup, and Cheerios.

I know I can't keep up with the supermom activity, but it does feel refreshing to be a little organized and energized. But there are definitely the days where I am far from that standard of perfection - and we still survive, and are happy.

On a side note, here are some of the recipes I used today:

Apple Cranberry Muffins
Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Won Tons: I made it up myself -
napa cabbage
shrimp
chives
lean ground pork
ginger
salt
egg
won ton wrappers

Debut Post

I've read many blogs. Blogs about food, pregnancies, babies, personal ones, the list goes on. Most are interesting, but I have decided for my own sanity and organization (both of which are very very limited) I should start journaling the going ons of my daily life. One reason being I often say, 'I should write that down". And I don't. The second reason being that I think there are things that I'd love to share on facebook but it my status updates don't allow for a clear explanation. So here goes - my own public diary of sorts. Just you wait... it'll blow your mind. (okay, it won't, but I'm trying to get you excited for it to make you a return customer).