Thanks for everyone's well-wishes for J's health. We went to the doc on Monday. Good news was his ear infection was clearing up. Bad news was he also had hand-foot-mouth disease, which is a nasty form of a cold that includes a rash and blisters in his mouth. No wonder he kept saying "ouchy" when he ate! Poor guy! Good news is that he's almost back to 100%! Bad news is Mommy caught his nasty cold. Good news is she spent half of Monday and all day Tuesday in bed with Nyquil, so she's feeling much better today! Thanks again, everyone! Now, onto today's post...
I'll be the first to admit that it's our own fault. To soothe our infant, we'd bounce him on the exercise ball in front of the TV. He'd be soothed by the bouncing and mesmerized by the moving pictures. On weekends, when he got bored and we were tired, we'd sit in front of the computer watching YouTube videos of The Wiggles or Sesame Street.
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
The good months of parenting
First, thanks for all the encouragement on yesterday's post on self-portraits. Maybe I'll practice more with all the great momentum! During our son's (J) first 20 months (he's 22-mo now), I had a LOT to complain, er seek advice, about. Choosing an infant formula that sat well with our son (1,2,3,4, and 5). Getting him to sleep through the night, where was DreamyBabies when I needed it? Debates on middle-of-the-night feedings. Why does this baby complain so much? More recently, I've been complaining about discipline issues for throwing food, not getting in the carseat, and mis-use of the stroller. Finally, the latest parenting hurdle was trying to get our toddler to eat. Thanks for all your advice -- it's helped us overcome each hurdle!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Remember the little things
This post was inspired by Jennie at My 3 Ring Circus. She posted these hilarious snapshots of the things her kids have left around the house. Seriously, click over there and tell me that the pretzel on a paper towel in the freezer and a pool stick in a towel rack aren't hilarious. Jennie reminded me that when our kid(s) grow up, move out, and the house can finally be neat and organized, I might actually miss the mess!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Dealing with tantrums
A few weeks ago, J suddenly lost interest in eating meals. It was really odd considering he's been a great eater since he was born. We were really lucky. In a nutshell (details, advice from readers), he'd throw a tantrum when it was time to get in the high chair. When we finally coerced him into the chair, he'd take 2 bites and squirm to get out.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Favorite part of being a Mommy
I really need to change my watermarks to something that's not blog specific!
We were taking a walk outside and he wanted to hold my hand, not because I asked him to while crossing the street or something. This is one of my favorite parts of being a Mommy -- his little hand holding mine!!
What's your favorite part of being a Mommy or Daddy?
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Boredom - to fight or not to fight
The most unexpected objects capture our 19-mo old's attention. For instance, this empty diapers box. I guess I knew it all along, having heard the running joke that kids are more interested in boxes rather than the contents. He climbed in it. Tried to climb out. He wanted me to rock the box back and forth like it was some kind of amusement park ride.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Not holding a grudge
After a long walk and playtime outside Sunday afternoon, I kicked my feet up, closed my eyes and (almost) fell asleep after dinner. Even though I was half-sleeping, I heard the hubby and our 19-mo (J) reading Blue Hat Green Hat together. J babbles in "sentences" now and was expressing his concern for the elephant in that book because a similar elephant breaks the clock in this Hickory Dickory Dock video. Oh, how the mind of a 19-mo works! They were having a great time.
Left: shorts (surprise) gifted by AdamAlexMommy! Tks again!
More photos to come on my photography blog
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Showing and teaching compassion
I'm a selfish creature by nature. Especially at the end of a long day. Who cares about your problems when my shoes are cutting into the back of my feet, our son (J) didn't want to get in the car seat when I picked him up from daycare, and the dogs won't stop barking as soon as I step in the door?? Just leave me alone!
But that’s not the "me" I want the hubby, J, or the dogs to endure every evening. With a dozen-or-so things all going on at once, I'm learning to take a deep breath, step back, and see life from their point of view, i.e., showing compassion.
But that’s not the "me" I want the hubby, J, or the dogs to endure every evening. With a dozen-or-so things all going on at once, I'm learning to take a deep breath, step back, and see life from their point of view, i.e., showing compassion.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Parisian vs. American parenting
I wanted so bad to comment on the Tiger Mom debate of last year but missed the boat! So I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and provide my two cents on the Parisian vs American parenting discussion before it's yesterday's news. I'd love to hear your two cents too!
An American named Pamela Druckerman, living in Paris with her British husband and their kids, wrote a book called Bringing Up Bebe, which describes the differences she's observed between Parisian vs American parenting. I originally came across the WSJ article from Mommy Shorts, and then found posts on BlogHer and A Cup of Jo. Mommy Shorts believes pastries and Nutella are the reasons Parisian kids are better behaved than American kids. Josette over at BlogHer says that actually, all parents are better than you. And finally, A Cup of Jo takes a sincere approach and lists some takeaways from the book excerpt. *Note, the posts by Mommy Shorts and Josette are supposed to be taken with a grain of salt and also preferably with a sense of humor!*
So here's my two-cents.
An American named Pamela Druckerman, living in Paris with her British husband and their kids, wrote a book called Bringing Up Bebe, which describes the differences she's observed between Parisian vs American parenting. I originally came across the WSJ article from Mommy Shorts, and then found posts on BlogHer and A Cup of Jo. Mommy Shorts believes pastries and Nutella are the reasons Parisian kids are better behaved than American kids. Josette over at BlogHer says that actually, all parents are better than you. And finally, A Cup of Jo takes a sincere approach and lists some takeaways from the book excerpt. *Note, the posts by Mommy Shorts and Josette are supposed to be taken with a grain of salt and also preferably with a sense of humor!*
So here's my two-cents.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Day 8: Parents brag-plaining
What's brag-plaining, you ask? It's when someone is speaking in a complaining tone but actually bragging at the same time. And anyone can do it, not just parents.
I would always complain that J only slept until 5:30am or 6:00am, but then I read what Wired Momma wrote, and I felt bad -- there are kids out there that only sleep until 4:30am!? And I'm talking about after a kid is sleeping through the night, like mine at 10 months, not sleeping until 6:00am at 6 months or anything.
The next two aren't really brag-plaining, but still annoying to hear ;).
7. I’d like to think my attentive parenting is the reason Annie never throws a tantrum.
Oh, I'm certainly attentive. At 17 months, I know what sets J off into a tantrum -- don't touch that, don't play with that, don't go there, don't don't don't. You'd be annoyed too, right? If your kid doesn't throw a tantrum, congrats because he/she is just pushing it off until he/she's older *wink*. Psych. I don't know.
8. Little Sarah is just so advanced. Of course, we read to her every night, play puzzles and never let her watch TV.
Sometimes I buy into the whole "TV is bad for kids after 2" research. Sometimes I remember back to my childhood and how much TV I used to watch -- I turned out fine. So I'm going to try not to feel guilty if I let J watch Sesame Street for a few minutes, or if he wants to YouTube his favorite songs again. You should see the size of the smile that comes on his face when we watch Hot Potato or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. You should also see the tantrum/tears that start when we have to pull him away from it!
Alright, so maybe I'm a bit cynical. You can't stop parents from bragging about their kids! I do it. I know!
But sometimes the awesome Facebook posts and the I-love-being-a-new-mom posts in the blogosphere are just reminders of how surprisingly extreme parenting has been for me -- high highs and low lows. Though one wise parent pointed out to me that bragging about the positives of parenting is good for the survival of the species. Imagine if all we ever heard were complaints, we'd certainly stop procreating! I know I was duped *wink* -- nah, just kidding, I wouldn't trade being mom to J for the world!
Though please stop me if I ever start brag-plaining or bragging too much! I'm trying to keep a real picture of parenting here!
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Thursday, January 5, 2012
Day 5: Work-life balance schmalance
I was in graduate school when "work-life balance" entered my vocabulary. I'm sure I'd heard it before, but it wasn't until I was married (and wanting kids sometime in the future) that I paid attention to the phrase. As such, anytime I was on a panel with other female engineers/researchers speaking to a group of young women, the topic of "work-life balance" always came up. We would say things like:
Work-life balance means not having to do it all. It's ok to ask for help.
Work-life balance means having a helpful and supportive significant other.
Work-life balance means working with your schedule so that you have time for xyz.
Sounds easy, right? Sounds doable...
But then I read a series of posts from A Cup Of Jo. She interviewed a few moms, who work full/part-time from home and have young children, about work-life balance. They all seemed to take the last piece of advice above about rearranging their schedule for xyz. Only one mom, I think (I didn't get a chance to read all of them again), mentioned making sacrifices in her life, which brings me to a fairly recent article about the misnomer, "work-life balance".
Isn't it not surprising that moms who work full-time (outside the home, presumably) ranked themselves lower as parents than stay-at-home moms? It's also a shame because no matter where you work, or what you do, you are the best parent that your child has!
So for all you moms and dads out there, remember that "work-life balance" is a misnomer. You can't give 100% of your time to both work and family -- you only have 100% of your time, right? Like the article says, you're going to have to make sacrifices in one area or another. One area will hurt today and another area will hurt tomorrow, and that's ok, that's normal. So just go out there, and do your best in "work" and "life". Don't compare yourself to other parents. And above all, enjoy yourself 100% of the time!
As a test, rank yourself as a parent below -- anonymously, of course! Hopefully, we're all 9s or 10s!
Show some love. Leave a comment below
and/or share this post using buttons below.
Work-life balance means not having to do it all. It's ok to ask for help.
Work-life balance means having a helpful and supportive significant other.
Work-life balance means working with your schedule so that you have time for xyz.
Sounds easy, right? Sounds doable...
But then I read a series of posts from A Cup Of Jo. She interviewed a few moms, who work full/part-time from home and have young children, about work-life balance. They all seemed to take the last piece of advice above about rearranging their schedule for xyz. Only one mom, I think (I didn't get a chance to read all of them again), mentioned making sacrifices in her life, which brings me to a fairly recent article about the misnomer, "work-life balance".
Believing that work-life balance is possible promotes one thing: self-flagellation...When asked to self-score themselves as parents, on a scale of 1-10, a mere 28% of full-time working moms gave themselves a score of 9 or 10. 41% of part-time working moms gave themselves a 9 or 10 and 43% of at-home moms gave themselves a 9 or 10.
On the path to raising good, decent, law-abiding and respectful children, why do we perpetuate this expectation of parenting perfection instead of accepting good enough -- and being proud of what we do accomplish?
...there are choices and those choices have consequences...Own your choice, accept that on some days it might not be great for your kids...but you might enjoy your career. And in other weeks, your career might be compromised but your children's needs aren't.
On the path to raising good, decent, law-abiding and respectful children, why do we perpetuate this expectation of parenting perfection instead of accepting good enough -- and being proud of what we do accomplish?
...there are choices and those choices have consequences...Own your choice, accept that on some days it might not be great for your kids...but you might enjoy your career. And in other weeks, your career might be compromised but your children's needs aren't.
Isn't it not surprising that moms who work full-time (outside the home, presumably) ranked themselves lower as parents than stay-at-home moms? It's also a shame because no matter where you work, or what you do, you are the best parent that your child has!
So for all you moms and dads out there, remember that "work-life balance" is a misnomer. You can't give 100% of your time to both work and family -- you only have 100% of your time, right? Like the article says, you're going to have to make sacrifices in one area or another. One area will hurt today and another area will hurt tomorrow, and that's ok, that's normal. So just go out there, and do your best in "work" and "life". Don't compare yourself to other parents. And above all, enjoy yourself 100% of the time!
As a test, rank yourself as a parent below -- anonymously, of course! Hopefully, we're all 9s or 10s!
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Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Happy 2012!
In this New Year of 2012, I'll be joining L in her adventure of building our virtual home - expandng.com. For those who don't know me, I am L's significant other, commonly referred as "A" (Yes I am just "A", like in the movie Men In Black, just the first letter), and if you have been following L's blog in these past few years, you're in for a treat, because I am officially invading this "woman's cave" and gonna give this place some masculinity. "Muah-hahahahaha"
Silliness aside, coming back to work after the New Year always consist of a bunch of chit-chat with the co-workers about how your holiday went. This great conversation starter always starts with "Hey! How's the holiday, did you have a good break?"
Though this year whenever I get asked this question I actually had a new, mixed feelings. See, before we had J, my response is always "Oh it was fantastic, we got together with the family, saw some friends, ate like a pig and sleep till 10am everyday." And now with the little one, things had dramatically changed. We wake up early for J, and better yet, he's keeping us on our toes for the remainder of the day and we became his entertainment, so it was actually quite stressful. This usually involves reading his favorite Mother Goose book 10 billion times or playing that same music tune from one of his toys.
Then the inevitable question came to mind - Am I a bad parent? Why aren't I "enjoying" this? To be honest, as a new parent I just came to learn about this new feeling (yes, men have feeelings ladies! We just too cool to admit it) It is the fact that being a parent is a bittersweet thing. It has now gives me new insight when people say "I really enjoy watching my son/daughter grow".
See before I was a parent, that statement was simply what it states - watching his/her kid grow and changes. How fascinating, right? Now I am a parent, that statement actually starts to click with me. Watching your son/daughter grow is actually the fruit of the labor. In reality, this fruit actually takes A LOT of hard work and it involves many sleepless nights, stress, tears...etc. Ultimately, you help shape and mold your child and it will take work and dedication.
So, I guess my "enjoyment" for holidays has been redefined. I am thankful that it gave us an opportunity to spend more time with J and caught a glimpse of what our fruit will turn out to be. I should also thank J for helping us learned a lot about our strength and weakness, and teaching us patiences and perseverance.
Anyway, one day when you're able to read this blog J, just know this - Mommy and Daddy loves you, always.
Happy 2012 everyone!
Silliness aside, coming back to work after the New Year always consist of a bunch of chit-chat with the co-workers about how your holiday went. This great conversation starter always starts with "Hey! How's the holiday, did you have a good break?"
Though this year whenever I get asked this question I actually had a new, mixed feelings. See, before we had J, my response is always "Oh it was fantastic, we got together with the family, saw some friends, ate like a pig and sleep till 10am everyday." And now with the little one, things had dramatically changed. We wake up early for J, and better yet, he's keeping us on our toes for the remainder of the day and we became his entertainment, so it was actually quite stressful. This usually involves reading his favorite Mother Goose book 10 billion times or playing that same music tune from one of his toys.
Then the inevitable question came to mind - Am I a bad parent? Why aren't I "enjoying" this? To be honest, as a new parent I just came to learn about this new feeling (yes, men have feeelings ladies! We just too cool to admit it) It is the fact that being a parent is a bittersweet thing. It has now gives me new insight when people say "I really enjoy watching my son/daughter grow".
See before I was a parent, that statement was simply what it states - watching his/her kid grow and changes. How fascinating, right? Now I am a parent, that statement actually starts to click with me. Watching your son/daughter grow is actually the fruit of the labor. In reality, this fruit actually takes A LOT of hard work and it involves many sleepless nights, stress, tears...etc. Ultimately, you help shape and mold your child and it will take work and dedication.
So, I guess my "enjoyment" for holidays has been redefined. I am thankful that it gave us an opportunity to spend more time with J and caught a glimpse of what our fruit will turn out to be. I should also thank J for helping us learned a lot about our strength and weakness, and teaching us patiences and perseverance.
Anyway, one day when you're able to read this blog J, just know this - Mommy and Daddy loves you, always.
Happy 2012 everyone!
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
How much do you enjoy parenthood?
Around 10:15am on at Saturday, we got in the car to have lunch with a friend in D.C. I already knew J was tired, so it was no surprise that he fell asleep in the car. My naiveté convinced me that he'd be ok even if we woke him up prematurely. Boy, was I wrong!
He was CRANKY! I mean, whining, crying, trying-to-climb-out-of-the-highchair CRANKY. Normally, I would agree with my husband to let him be, but we were in a fairly nice restaurant and I didn't want to be a bother and kicked out.
I was noticeably peeved at J's behavior. At one point, I took him to the entrance to try to calm him down, but no luck. Eventually, my husband took him outside and luckily found Playseum across the street to hang out in. By the way, this location is much nicer and larger than the one in Bethesda.
Once the two of them left, my friend asked me how I enjoy parenthood. At the peeved-moment, I said "60/40", which now sounds so sad - only a bit above 50/50?!
Now that I have had time to cool-down, realistically, I'd agree with my husband and say 70/30...even 80/20, but that's on average. Some days it's 100/0 and other days it's 1/99!
Anyways, another new year's resolution for me is to remember to enjoy all aspects of parenting -- the good and bad. Also, to do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that I may become blameless and pure, a child of God (Philippians 2:14-15 NIV).
So...
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He was CRANKY! I mean, whining, crying, trying-to-climb-out-of-the-highchair CRANKY. Normally, I would agree with my husband to let him be, but we were in a fairly nice restaurant and I didn't want to be a bother and kicked out.
[source: MSNBC]
I was noticeably peeved at J's behavior. At one point, I took him to the entrance to try to calm him down, but no luck. Eventually, my husband took him outside and luckily found Playseum across the street to hang out in. By the way, this location is much nicer and larger than the one in Bethesda.
Once the two of them left, my friend asked me how I enjoy parenthood. At the peeved-moment, I said "60/40", which now sounds so sad - only a bit above 50/50?!
Now that I have had time to cool-down, realistically, I'd agree with my husband and say 70/30...even 80/20, but that's on average. Some days it's 100/0 and other days it's 1/99!
Anyways, another new year's resolution for me is to remember to enjoy all aspects of parenting -- the good and bad. Also, to do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that I may become blameless and pure, a child of God (Philippians 2:14-15 NIV).
So...
How much do you enjoy parenthood?
and/or share this post using buttons below.
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