My two sisters

I’m lying here on the couch kicked out of my own bedroom not because of my daughter’s crying who is sharing the room with us but because of my husband who is snoring up a storm that even my earplugs cannot block out the sound.  So since I couldn’t sleep my mind began to wander and it wandered to the past.  About my days growing up in DE, about my teenage years in SG, and my adults years.  My thoughts settle on my two childhood friends whom I have known since I was 5 years old and they have grown to be my two older sisters.  I don’t have any real sisters but these two are as close as I can get to having sisters.

As I was thinking about my past memories with them it occurred to me just how much I was their younger sister.  As we were growing up and they were getting older and going through their struggles of dealing with boys, and learning how to drive, and working high school jobs, and then college, and then more boys I don’t think I ever saw them cry or heard them complain or talk about their heartaches.  But they always saw my tears and heard all my complaints and all my boy stories…

After my first year of high school I even spent a whole summer living at their house.  It was like my dream vacation after a hard year of feeling alone in a new country and new school.  I don’t know about them but I had a blast.  It was like one big long sleepover with my two best friends for me.  For them, they lost all their privacy, they lost all their free time, and had to drive me around and take me around everywhere they went.  When they were going through things I wouldn’t know it and would probably say totally insensitive stuff and be just always wanting to play with them.  And of course, I was probably too young that even if they did try to share with me I wouldn’t have understood… and besides I was too used to being the youngest around them.

It is now 25 years later from the time when I first met them…  I now have my own family as do they and yet even now they still take care of me.  When I had my son they sent me gifts at the hospital and asked me all throughout my pregnancy how I was doing.  When they had their first kids I can’t even remember if I sent them a gift.  When I have questions about being a mom I often think of asking them my questions.  When we talk or when I see them I’m sure I still say insensitive and careless things and never ask enough questions about them and their family.

I tend to have a very short memory but with them there are still years of so many memories both happy and painful to recall.  They’ve been wonderful to me and I’ve been blessed with two great sisters.  And while I may never be as close to them as two sisters really are (probably because I’m so bad at keeping in touch) God has blessed me with more than I could have hoped for in these two friends.  And besides, I still have my older brother.

Sleeping early

Besides the obvious reasons on why we need to get to sleep earlier I found another reason… and hopefully this one will be the reason that is compelling enough to get me to bed earlier and in turn nag my husband to sleep earlier as well.

When the weekend arrives we always like to tell our kids and ourselves that it’s family time.  A time when we can all do fun activities together as a family.  But actually we really only have time on Saturdays since we go to church on Sunday mornings and then the afternoon is usually taken up with some football watching.  But recently we’ve been going to bed really late and our kids unfortunately seem to be getting up earlier.  The hubby and I are always so tired on the weekends that often times M lets me sleep in in the mornings and then when I get up it’s his turn to go and get some shut eye to catch up on some lost sleep as well.  So with the kids needing to nap in the afternoon and it getting so dark early because of daylight savings time there really isn’t much time left in the day to do anything together as a family with all of us sleeping at different times throughout the day.  So now if/when we do take the kids out it’s usually either just one of us taking the kids out while the other one rests.

And so it was again today…  I got up and let M get some more rest.  Then we had to put MeiMei down for her morning nap and that was when I decided to catch up on some extra zzzz’s.  She woke up as she usually does after about 45 minutes.  I was so tired though that I thought I would try and nurse her to see if she would go back to sleep.  And indeed she did… and so we both slept in another hour.  And it was some great sleep.  M and J were already out of the house cause it was late and so I gave them a call to see where they were.  It’s a nice warm sunny day today so they took the bus to UCLA and sat on a green grassy area to picnic.  It sounded so nice and now I wish that I slept earlier last night so that we all could have gone on the picnic together instead of me getting meimei to go back to sleep so that I could sleep some more.  And on top of all that, since she had a long morning nap now her and J won’t be going down for a nap at the same time in the afternoon today either.  And there goes our family day…

In need of a coffee shop kind of day

Today was just one of them days, that a girl goes through…  well, actually just one of them days that a mom goes through.  The day started off well enough.  Had a playdate with two other moms and was looking forward to it even though we’re always in a rush to get out the door in the mornings.  I really enjoy playdates but for some reason they are also extremely draining on me.  I think my son’s aggressive and just more physical nature stresses me out when we’re with other kids that seem to be gentler and have more self control.  Makes me question my parenting skills (which is far from perfect)…  although many other moms have shared their experiences with me with their aggressive kids and assure me that it is a phase and very normal.

J played fairly well all things considered and I was totally looking forward to coming home and putting both kids down for a nap so that I could also take a break.  But for some reason it must’ve been an off day today…  maybe cause their naps were pushed back and they were both overtired.  So instead of a nice long break where I could relax and surf the web and maybe also get a quick power nap in it turned into a half hour of doing I don’t know what and then both kids were up.

My patience was running thin in the late afternoon and the kids were acting up and it was almost more than I could handle.  I was constantly looking at the clock and counting down the hours and then the minutes until the hubby would come home.  Almost tempted to call him and ask him to come home earlier today if he could!

But ahhh… the kids are in bed now and I can relax!  And when I really need to relax and enjoy myself I always want to go to a coffee shop.  I don’t know what is it…  but it’s like my sanctuary.  Everything seems so peaceful and life feels so unrushed when I’m there.  The hard part now is getting myself off the computer or the TV and out of the house to get to a coffee shop.

So nothing terribly traumatic or monumental happened with the kids today but tonight is a night where I just really want to grab a cup of coffee and read a magazine in a coffee shop and forget that I have two kids at home.

A historic moment

Yesterday was election day and around 8pm yesterday night it was announced that Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States. I was bummed that I missed it when CNN first announced it because I was in the bedroom nursing C and putting her down for the night. I wasn’t expecting an announcement to be made until much later in the night. But thanks to Tivo we were able to rewind and watch CNN make their projection that Obama had been elected as the next president. M took pictures of our kid in front of the TV that night so we would all remember the night. As I let the words sink in that our next president would be Obama the more special and the more amazing and the more emotional the night began to feel.

I remember just a couple months ago when a bunch of friends were sitting around our dining room table and we were discussing the chances of Obama becoming the next president. One friend commented, as much as he would love to see that happen he just doesn’t think that America is ready to elect a black president… there is just too much racism here. And we all nodded our heads in agreement.

I admit that I’ve never been very interested in politics and have never been too familiar with the economic policies of either side but listening to Obama speak at some events and hearing his acceptance speech last night was… inspiring. And he has made me want to take more of an interest in politics and government and the people… in wanting to at the very least be more informed of what the government wants/needs/intends to do in the coming years. I have voted in years past but last night I felt proud that I voted and happy for America.

And by the way… M you are right… it is not ‘an’ historic moment but ‘a’ historic moment.

Whatever the grammar, it is indeed historic.

The Blitz with Boomer and TJ

We are well into football season in this household.  And I must admit, after being married to a die hard Eagles fan for 6+ years I have really come to enjoy watching football on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Especially nowadays, when we come back from church and we put the kids down for a nap I look forward to sitting down in front of the TV for some quiet kids-free football watching.

Before kids I used to watch every single Eagles game with the hubby and then hop on to philly sports online and read all the articles about them as well.  It was always a plus when I found an article about the players personal lives and who was friends with who on the team and who hung out with who outside of practice.  Those were always the feel good articles that I enjoyed reading.

I didn’t always want to watch NFL football on Sundays.  I used to feel like it was such a waste of time and such a waste of a Sunday.  It took a lot of coaxing from my husband and a good year for the Eagles for me to jump on the bandwagon.  He asked me to watch one season with him… and if I didn’t want to watch it anymore after that he would never ask me to watch another game again.  But now that I understand the rules of the game and am able to follow how the game is played I am able to appreciate it more…   and tonight when the kids are in bed and the husband is in the bathroom taking care of business I sit down on the couch, turn on the TV, and turn on Sportscenter to relax and enjoy the recaps of the day’s games…  and watch my favorite recap session, The Blitz.

stepping into the world of blogging

So after talking about it for weeks, maybe even months with my husband I have finally decided to set up a blog.  I’m not even sure what I’m going to write on this and what I want to write for my first post.  Something in me just finally nudged me to start one.  I don’t really have a specific reason for wanting to start one except for the fact that I just feel like it.  I’ll probably write some mommy moments, some inner emotional turmoiled thoughts, hopefully something witty too… or this might be my first and last post…  I’m new at this blogging thing so I’m not sure.

It’s late and I should be in bed but instead I’m blogging.  Is this how it all starts?  Well, at least it’s daylight savings tonight and I get an extra hour of sleep tonight.  Not that my kids know that it’s daylight savings and that they should sleep in an extra hour tomorrow morning.

The kids are in bed, the hubby is in bed at an early hour and I have the family room to myself where I’ve just enjoyed reading my magazines, surfing the web, and now…. blogging.  It’s not often that I’m the last one up.  Although recently it’s been happening more and more…  I think it’s ever since I got my new accessory, the ipod touch, thanks to my hubby.  And to think when he first gave it to me I was thinking of returning it cause I didn’t think that I would ever use it?  That and the fact that I had no idea how to set it up and didn’t want to try and figure it out.  I’ve gained many hours of sweet entertainment (have you played the bubble wrap game?) from that thing and have lost many hours of sleep from it as well.

Okay, enough for tonight.  I think I need to shower and go to bed and get some sleep.  Should I wash my hair tonight?  I really don’t feel like it but am thinking that I might have to since I was out at the park today.  But then again, I didn’t really sweat or anything.  But I guess we will be seeing people tomorrow and maybe giving out hugs here and there too.

Well, I have read and edited and re-read and edited my first blog post.  Now I just need to hit the publish button…