Bad Mommy

Part of the purpose of this blog, is to give people the realities of parenthood. I want to set your standards and expectations so low, and erase all this desire to be that super mom. When you're pregnant, your worst enemy is to have ideas of grandeur about motherhood - cause you'll be in for a shock when reality hits you like a brick wall.

So, I'll have a Bad Mommy series.... because... it happens. And don't feel bad when you do it - because we all do it. Even the supermoms do it - they're just too ashamed. But I, Sharon Lo, am shameless.... just ask my husband Joe.

Anyhow, onto my first Bad Mommy post.

I left Cara on the play mat so I could... do some online shopping. Okay, with that said... Old Navy was having a 25% off sale only today, AND it's free shipping, AND you can return things really easily.... so I get excited about shopping online at Old Navy.

Well, as I perused everything (it was a good 10-15 minutes), I clearly ignored Cara (i generally don't pay attention unless I hear whining or crying). When I finally got up, she was literally right beside me, at my feet.

Big Boy Bed

I have the pleasure of bragging. Every mom should be able to brag, because at some point in the future, the very children we are proud of will be the same children that will make us tear our own hair out.

Colin has been sleeping in his big boy bed for a while now (since he was 22 months). We set him up in the bed before Cara came along, so that we could use the crib for her (sensible right?). Ahh... but as the theme of my blog carries on.... 'laziness'.... Cara is not yet in her crib. Why? because the crib is too wide to fit through the door, and we'd have to take it apart and set it all up again downstairs. So... she's been sleeping in a bassinet on the floor.

Anyway, it turns out that our laziness has once again prevailed as pure genius parenting. When we switched Colin into his big boy bed, the crib was still in his room, and yes, I used fear as a technique for keeping him in bed. Fear, in my opinion, is a perfectly fine parenting tactic. We told him, if he gets out of his bed, he goes right back in the crib. And the prison cage thing-a-ma-crib was in plain sight.




And what are my results? Dare I say.... the most pleasant mornings EVER??? He doesn't get out of bed until I get in his room (even though he's awake and shouting), and sometimes he's just sitting there reading a book (I do leave books and toys in his bed for him so he can play or read himself to sleep)??!?!? Yes, my friends, it can happen. Just a little bit of fear and your child will too.

When you let me loose...

The past week was a pretty challenging one. First of all, HUGE thanks to my own mom for helping out when my kids were sick, and then I got sick too on top of it! It turned out to be Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Not saying doctor's don't really know anything.... (and Joe, yes you are always right about doctor's being a little useless) - but every time I've gone in as a freakish mom that's worried (and stressed out from a sick kid), they just haven't been that helpful (and sometimes diagnose incorrectly!)

Here's what you do as a mom of sick kids. Survive the next 3-4 days, and they'll get over it. If the fever is really high and last for more than 48 hours, then go see a doctor... but otherwise Tylenol, and the tv are your best friends. In my case, get grandma to come over to help cook (my mother is on the neurotic side and goes full blown house cleaning and landscaping which I don't mind). If there's no grandma, hubby's pick up the slack and help cook and clean. The sicklings will ALWAYS want mom... just to be beside them... we're prisoners to our own children.

But they're all better now, and now I may blog my real blog. This was to sum up my week that I've been... a prisoner in my own home. On other weeks it's not so bad, but I'm still always with the kids... they are my social circle now. I'm hardly ever without them, and I hardly talk to other adults without them by my side.

Until this weekend.

I went to not 1, but TWO events. Joe was on super daddy baby sitting duty. The first was a bridal shower, and the second was a late night (so a real party I think??) Farewell party for a dear dear friend.

To put it nicely, when you let this mom out of her cage, I am a crazy social butterfly. I talk a mile a minute, I hug everyone, I am the life of a friggin party, and I talk to anyone and anything about everything under the sun. I don't want to toot my own horn, but if you want a serious fun time at a party - try getting together a bunch of stay-at-home-moms that haven't talked to other real life human beings older than 20 in a while.... it's amazing!! I have ACTUAL things to say, or I can keep that loner (you know, the friend that doesn't talk to anyone but you invite them anyway because you should?) company!!!

And the best part, I make my appearances brief so that I don't saturate the parties with too much butterfly talk. I do have kids to get home to, and a husband that probably is feeding my child goldfish crackers for lunch.

An Joe sure notices it - every time I come home from something social it's like I've gone to a fairyland and came home in a bubble. I'm just a pile of happiness and fluff and sometimes he doesn't know what to make of it.... but he's aware that this mom needs to be 'out' sometimes. Just to get a taste of what the world is like without kids, if even for only a minute.

Rock and Roll Baby Girl

She is just having a stellar month. In her lifetime she has achieved so much - being birthed, latching, learning to projectile poo, and most recently sitting (yet to be mastered). And today she did another amazing feat..... please enjoy the video!

Chingrish

We were just at a restaurant with PoPo, and since we are Chinese, the restaurants we eat at generally have chopsticks. And we let Colin play with them. He makes letters now (not just drums with them) and he was making the letter E.

Me: What words start with the letter E?
Colin: Elephant!
Me: what else?
Colin: ummm..... Eggs!
PoPo: woooww good job Colin!! and Ent! Ent!


Me: no no mother. 'Ant' starts with the letter A.

Good thing PoPo isn't the one teaching him the alphabet.

Indoor Playground - Part Deux

As I post this, I am actually dreading the next 24 hours to come. Both kids have fevers, and both kids are FINALLY sleeping (after a very stressful day of going back and forth comforting one, and then the other). I actually wrote Joe this email today at 1:30pm:

'it's been a miserable day. the kind of miserable that i want to just go out for dinner. alone. and drink a ton of wine. even though i don't like wine. it's been exceptionally challenging, and i'm just going to say they are both FINALLY not crying in unison, and asleep. so i'm going to sleep now. the play date JUST finished. so i'm going to not clean up, and just sleep. so don't freak out if i don't answer your texts or answer your calls. I am not in the mood for any moods. i am still friendly, but if you tick me off i will blow up like a bomb. i'm jsut warning you.'

And Joe.... oh my husband Joseph... he's a darling. He didn't tick me off. In fact he made me smile. I'm still smiling when I see it (behind me).

We gave Colin some medicine, so he perked up a little bit and Joe offered to build his indoor playground once again. And they were talking, and Joe asked Colin what he'd like to build. He wanted a swing. Hmmm... toughie. Apparently, not for my safety hazard family.

Indoor Playground

It's 12:30am on a rainy Saturday evening (well, now Sunday morning), and I write this post as I selectively shut out the disaster zone to my immediate right.



This is what happens when a little boy who loves LEGO, decides to build an indoor playground. This, is what happens, when that little boy's father gets a piece of shelving, to use as a slide, and a big empty box for his castle. This, aside from all the safety hazards, is a diaster of happiness.

And.... because it's 12:30am, I'm just going to continue to have my 'mindless time' (you know, that time right after you put the kids to sleep and you don't want to do anything, not even think... just nothing? yeah... that mindless time has been going on strong for 4 hours) and leave Colin's indoor playground as is because I really just don't want to clean.

Cara!

For those who have been loyal readers and followers of my blog.... we do in fact have another child. I just haven't really posted anything on her, because she's still fairly young, and doesn't do or say silly things yet!

But, that will change today! Cara, did something specatular today. She's only 23 weeks old, and she..... sat. On her bum! Oh, how they grow.... soon she'll be learning to drive.... *sigh*

My own little monkey?

I'm sure some of you have seen this lately, but on the lighter side of the news, a monkey in Indonesia stole a wildlife photographer's camera and started taking pictures of himself.



Well, these past couple days... I've noticed a lot of giggling. And Monkey see.... monkey do.


There are more than just these 4 photos... in fact there are probably about 50 (no joke) since he discovered the photobooth feature on the Air yesterday.

Here's video proof too that he actually does it on his own.

Photographers

We had a busy week and weekend, so I decided to make today a rest a home day. The kids need it, and I need it. It's also nice not to be breastfeeding on some park bench, restaurant, or mall... or do diaper changes in our trunk, ground... anywhere that's flat really. Home is nice.

While we're at home, we just take it easy, I do try to get things done, but I spend quality time with Colin too. (Don't worry, I do have another child, but all Cara does is eat, sleep, poo, looks cute, and jolly jumps).

One of the things he absolutely loves is to play with his 'new blocks' (i.e. LEGO). He builds a lot of stuff now, giraffes, airplanes, camels... mommy seals breastfeeding baby seals... the usual.

He wanted me to show him how to build a camera today. So I obliged, and build him a pretty awesome camera.

I thought I did a reasonable job building a camera that represented a fairly realistic camera. But Colin started to make some.... adjustments. He was happy I built it for him, but he wanted to make it... 'better'.

I was a little confused why he added so much. That wasn't normal... most of the animals or structures he builds are fairly realistic interpretations of the actual things. I totally thought the weird stick coming out the top was awkward, maybe he wanted to add a giraffe on top? Or he wanted a tower? But then I understood. He wasn't out in left field at all.....









He really did build a camera. One of Daddy's cameras.

Spinach Lasagna

I thought I'd start a series of 'Easy Cooking' recipes that I come across. As a mom it's virtually impossible to keep your eyes on your kids, and cook/clean at the same time. And to do it all under the pressure cooker of either whining, or crying, makes me think I could actually win an Iron Chef competition hands down.

Well, my sister actually introduced this recipe to me. It's a delicious Spinach Walnut Pesto Lasagna - and *gasp* it's.... vegetarian?!?!??! IMPOSSIBLE!!! You'd think my carnivore son and husband would protest... but Joe actually requested it yesterday, and Colin scarfed it down.... so it's a winner in my books.

I did make a few adjustments... because
1. I don't like to measure things
2. I buy what's cheap/on sale at the store.
3. I like to use the least amount of dishes/preparation possible to limit my cleaning efforts later.

Ingredients:
2 packages of frozen chopped spinach
1 container of cottage cheese
Parmesan cheese (howveer much you want)
grated cheese (one of those packaged ones... I buy 3-4 of them when they're on sale and freeze them for pastas)
1 prepared jar of pesto
1 big (i don't even know the size, it's just the big can on the shelf) can of pasta sauce
12 strips of lasagna (3 layers)


What you do:

1. get a big bowl.
2. put the spinach, pesto, cottage cheese, parmesan and mix.
3. get a casserole dish, and put some pasta sauce on the bottom
4. 1 layer of pasta
5. spinach mixture, then pasta sauce, then grated cheese. repeat.

Now - you can soak the noodles, or cook them raw. (there's enough moisture in the lasagna to cook it all in the oven), but I like to be just on the safe side and I just dump it in hot tap water while I make the mixture so it softens up just a touch.

Cook in a 375 degree oven for about 30-45 minutes.

Seriously, I was so glad I made it the other day... we got back from and outting at 5pm, I got it prepped in about 15 minutes, then while it cooked in the oven we just played with the kids. This, my friends is a family friendly recipe!!

Guess what the dinosaurs are doing?

I don't think I need to say much about this one. You should know the answer, if you've seen his latest video (How to Feed a Monster).... Lately he's been big on comforting all of his stuffies and toys :)