Big Smart Baby

Hubby and I heard a lot of comments about Claira that she's a big and tall baby. When she's 4 months old, other people thought that she's 9 months old already and was surprised when we said that she's just 4 months old. Aside from her physical appearance, people noticed how advance Claira was in her development. When we visit my MIL's place, the workers there who have kids and grand kids went to my MIL's room to see Claira. There were 3 of them and all of them were surprised to see Claira trying to crawl and roll over all the way. One said that Claira is very advance when it comes to crawling and rolling over all the way. Well, that's what Claira's Pediatrician said almost 2 months ago when Claira fell from the chair coz she roll over. Then a friend of mine enjoyed playing with Claira when we had our dinner at the Chinese resto coz Claira was imitatiting her. A woman in the church (behind us) also enjoyed watching Claira imitating her while she's singing. After mass she told us how cute Claira was trying to imitate her singing (but no voice). She said that Claira is big which is the sign of a happy baby coz her kids were big when they were babies.

It's nice to hear wonderful comments from friends, neighbors and strangers. It seems like babies do catch people's attention no matter what race they are. How I wish that Claira will stay cute and small but it's not gonna happen. She's not a little baby anymore. Time flies really fast. Claira is now 5 months old and a big baby who's trying to learn many things. She wants to be part of the conversation when hubby and I talk or if we're talking with friends. It's funny hearing her trying to communicate with us.

I miss my little baby Claira but I'm glad that she's growing and learning a lot of things which makes me and hubby happy. What a joy in the family! ^_^

Addicting game

Yeah, I'm now crazy with farmville and farm town games. At first I like farmville but now I like farm town more. These games really made me nuts. hehe I met new friends thru these games. It's really fun! I need more neighbors though. Anybody interested? ^_^

A little Peace of Mind

After the sleepless nights thinking about the situation of the house, I finally have a peace of mind. The meeting with the foreman and our agent gave us more knowledge of how the house will be built and if it's dangerous or not. The agent asked the foreman to put some more nails in the area where hubby said that he saw most of the nails didn't hit the stud. Hubby fix some of it before the meeting just in case they won't fix it. At last, we have a little peace of mind now. I hope there will be no more problems in the future.

Longhorn's dessert

I was craving for chocolate cake yesterday after seeing a post of chocolate cake recipe. hehe I've been avoiding to eat sweets lately but yesterday I was tempted. So after meeting the foreman (of our future house) and the agent yesterday afternoon, I told hubby that I want to eat Longhorn's chocolate stampede. We had our dinner there and was happy with my food. I had a mix green salad and Longhorn's salmon. Man, the salmon was very delicious! I'm glad I tried ordering it. I really miss eating fresh fish and the salmon I had yesterday is the answer for my fish craving. Anyway, we had some Longhorn's bread which I like and I didn't eat all the salad and finish half of my entree so I still have room for the dessert. I love Longhorn's chocolate stampede dessert. The cake is huge and the ice cream really goes well with the cake. It's absolutely to die for! It's my fave dessert that looks fancy, taste great but affordable. Love it! Yum! ^_^

Mix green salad with thousand island dressing. Yummy!

The tasty fresh baked bread and butter.

The delicious salmon and steamed veggies. Fantastico!

And the best among the rest... Chocolate Stampede! Excellent!

Yummy! yummy!

The nails are saying hi to me

The pictures shows how bad the workers were working in our future house. Building a house is a pain if you have complains that the builder will just ignore. I know that the builder wants to save money so they want to make the work done fast. That's fine with us as long as the workers are doing it right. Hubby mentioned that to the broker MANY TIMES that we prefer slow improvements with great results not fast with lots of problems later on. But it seems that they want our house to finish really fast. And the worst thing will soon happen. Yesterday we saw the bricks and cement outside and the sheaths inside for the inside walls. That means they are probably working on the inside and outside now which also means there's no way to fix the nails anymore. Everything happened so fast that we didn't even have the time to take a picture of where the wires go. I just hope that nothing has been done to our house today.

Almost everyday we go to the house and check if there are any improvements. Two weeks ago I saw the nails showing inside the house saying hi to me coz they didn't hit the studs. We told the broker and our agent about it but the broker said that it's okay coz they are going to put bricks outside. I was like "WHAT?" I was thinking that covering the problem is not good. We want them to fix it. I'm not a civil engineer but if the walls outside are not that strong to hold the cement with heavy bricks on it then what will happen? But then the broker said that she'll mention it to the builder. So we've been waiting and waiting for the workers to fix it but nothing happened. Our other choice was to pound the nails ourselves to make the house stronger. Hubby did some of that but he got tired of guessing where the problem areas were coz the workers put the insulation inside which covers the nails. Hubby thought to complain about it AGAIN and hoping for a good answer but the answer is always IT'S OK, THAT'S NORMAL.

Well, today hubby called the inspector's office so they'll know of what's going on. The inspector said IT'S OK as long as the corners are done right coz that's what is important. How dare them say it's ok! They probably didn't know anything about building a good quality house. It really pissed me off. Hubby read the rules of the sheathing company and it says that the nails should be (i think) 3 inches apart and told hubby that the inspector might have a different rule regarding the nail thingy. Hubby asked the inspector about the rule and the answer is 6 inches apart. We are still not satisfied with the answers. It might be ok for them but not for me. I sleep at almost 5 am today searching for answers thru the internet about complains with the same builder. It seems that the builder doesn't want to do more work in our house and the inspector doesn't want any headache that's why they're ignoring our complain. Grrrrrrrrr (nindot ipabarang kung pwede lang) We still have plan B and C. We don't want to end up fighting in the court coz it will only give us more headache. Oh boy, what a mess.

Veggie again

I had scrambled egg over asparagus for my brunch today and a multi-grain bread. I'm feeling better after eating but tired from not having enough sleep.

Cooking mode...

It's more than a week already that I didn't feel like cooking. I tried to come up with easy and quick recipes coz I can't predict Claira's mood every hour. She still didn't have a nap schedule every day and if she's awake, she like me to play with her if she's already bored watching tv or playing with her toys. Last weekend I tried buying frozen meals from the store that has vegetables in it coz I am still breast feeding Claira and was feeling weak. Hubby feels weak or malnourish if he can't eat vegetables everyday so I thought maybe I am experiencing the same thing. I bought 3 frozen meals (in a box) and they didn't taste as good as the home cooked meal. After that experience, I'm thinking of going back to cooking again so I can eat healthy foods that taste good too. So last night I was looking for the recipes I printed out from food network and taste of home so I can start cooking again. For tonight's dinner I cooked asparagus soup and chicken curry.

Asparagus soup

Chicken curry with coconut milk.

Planning to buy a House

It is my dream since I was a child to have my own house that I can call home. Hubby and I talked about it a couple of months after we got married so our future kids can have their own room. But after hubby told me the responsibilities and expenses of owning a house, I decided to just continue renting in an apartment where we live now. The advantages of renting an apartment is that it's cheaper than the monthly mortgage, no house insurance needed and if there are things needed to be fixed, all I need to do is call the apartment office and they send the maintenance guy to fix whatever is broken in our apartment. Easy right? As of now we're living in an apartment on the second floor. But after giving birth to Claira, I noticed that carrying a baby with the car seat and going up and down the steep stairs outside is dangerous plus Claira needs to have her own room when she grow up. So hubby and I talked about it again. We decided to find a bigger apartment and start shopping for a house. We went to a couple ON SALE houses before and I easily fall in love with them but the best house I like the most is the newly built houses. Hubby wants bigger rooms and I want a big kitchen. We had a hard time looking for one coz the two didn't go together. Good thing that the builder we visit before is now accepting some suggestions of what the client wants. We found a model house that has a big kitchen (that I love), screened in porch (that hubby love) and a good size family room (that we both love). Two months after choosing what we want in the house, we saw the SOLD sign at the lot that we choose. Almost everyday we visit our future place to see if there are any improvements going on, checking if the workers are doing the right thing or else we'll complain. We didn't buy the place yet. The buying will happen after the house is finished and checked by professionals. I'm excited about moving into our future house that I can call home. But we'll see if everything will turn out okay. (crossing my fingers)

The SOLD sign.

The Magic Stick

I'm sure you're wondering what's the magic of the stick. I just read an article in the magazine about a grandma who told her grandson to not play with the stick. The grandson didn't forget that day coz his grandma said it with a different tone of her voice. The grandma said that playing with a stick is an accident waiting to happen. I kinda agree with it coz you don't know if your child can poke somebody's eyes or hurt him/herself. But as I keep on reading the article, I learned that playing with a stick is good for your brain using your imagination.

I remember when I was a kid that I play with the stick and use it as a magic wand. I had a lot of fun playing with it pointing my cousins and saying that they become a frog, pig, and anything that I can think of. In the article that I read, some parents share how their kids play with the stick. One said that her child use the stick as a guitar in one day, the next day it becomes a microphone, drum stick, laddle and etc. That's why I call it magic stick coz you can do many things with it. I was thinking before that I don't want Claira to play with a stick when she grow up coz she might hurt herself but thinking about my experience of how fun it is to play with a toy for free plus she can use her imagination then I guess I'll allow her to play outside even if she'll use a stick as long as she already knows the do's and don'ts. :)

Are toys important for the baby?

Toys are good for your baby if the toys can help your baby's brain. That's what our Parenting Class Instructor told us. She said that babies don't need expensive toys. She remembered that her kids play with the empty diaper box. So what she did is let them play with it before throwing it away. You really don't have to buy toys, just be creative. If you want to save money like me then print out something from the internet like different shapes with different colors too. Babies like the bold color first before the bright colors. So that's what I did and hubby printed out the one with bright colors. A friend of mine told me before that her kids are not interested with the toys that her husband bought. She said that her kids enjoyed playing with their kitchen utensils like plate, spoon, lid of a cup and etc. Hubby bought some toys for Claira. Something that she can hold, touch or reach coz that's part of the motor skills. I bought a musical toy for Claira coz she likes music and the toy helped her put to sleep. So before you buy toys, ask yourself first if your baby can learn something from it.

I noticed that Claira like to play with the empty cup of butter because that's what I use when I give her a bathe to pour the water on her. Babies do like to play the stuff that mom and dad use. Why? Because babies are good imitators. They want to do what mom and dad do probably thinking that they can do the same thing too. :)

What is Claira's best Toy?

Is it her Blankie?

The toys on her high chair?

The toys on the floor?

Or Mommy and Daddy?

Well, the correct answer is Mommy and Daddy. There's no toy that can replace Mom and Dad. According to our Parenting Class Instructor... we the parents are the best toy for our baby and I agree on that. I know how happy Claira is if hubby and I are playing with her or the one entertaining her. She really enjoyed us the most than with her toys. Toys are just substitutes when mommy and daddy are not available. So we make it sure that we have quality time with Claira every single day. As what the Pediatrician said, you cannot spoil a baby until 6 months old. After that, we'll start being serious. :)

Claira's 4 months appointment

Claira had her shots again for her 4 months visit to the Pediatrician. According to her Doctor everything is okay. Claira's height goes up to 75% and the Doctor showed us the graph again. Claira's height 2 months ago was not that high and the Doctor predict before that Claira's height might be 5' 4". The Doctor told us that in a few months Claira's height will go slow and go back to normal. Well, I hope so coz I don't want Claira to become a 6 footer lady.

The first shot wasn't that bad coz Claira didn't cry but the second and third shots made Claira cry and scream. As usual, I nurse her after the shots coz that's what the nurse told us before that nursing Claira will help. It worked the second time around and hopefully it will still work the next time also.

Here she is the next day after her shots.

I'm an Octopus

The picture shows how SAHM's can be an octopus sometimes. Well, hubby told me one time that I'm an octopus coz I was doing more than one thing at the same time and he was impressed. He said that he can't be an octopus coz he can only do one thing at a time. hahaha That made me laugh and he was right on that. Sometimes if he hands me stuff to carry and I was carrying something already I tease him and said "I don't want to be an octopus today". hahaha Even my sister told me once "so you're now like Leah Salonga" while we're having a conversation on the phone coz I was doing something else while talking to her on the phone. It was a movie of Leah Salonga and Aga where Leah came here in US and got a good job and very busy that she was putting socks on while talking on the phone. I forgot the title of the movie but it's a nice one. Well, that's our life here in US especially if you don't have a family or relatives who can help to take care of your baby. So now I'm use to talking on the phone while doing something else whether I'm washing dishes, putting away dishes from the dishwasher, washing clothes, hanging clothes, folding clothes, cooking, nursing and etc. It's tough but who wants to pay for somebody to do things that you think you can do? Not me. hehe Though hubby is ok if I can't clean the house but I want to accomplish something everyday. Hubby said that he knows Claira is a handful already but I think we the SAHM's thought that it's our responsibility to take care of everything. That's the reason why Oprah said that the average salary of a SAHM (if the SAHM has a salary for the hours we spend working) is I think if I'm right it was $168,000 more or less in 1 year. That's a lot of money! Again, SAHM rocks! ^_^

Are you a happy SAHM? I know I am! ^_^

I just finish commenting a post from a blogging friend Twerlyn about her friend's comments that she's not happy because she's a SAHM and a wife material, no job which means no money (as what I understand it). Actually, it's none of her friend's or anybody's business if we have a job or not as long as we're not begging for food or money. A person who mind other people's business are pitiful. These kind of people are mostly not happy with their life and nothing to do but find faults in other people's life. I can understand if it's your own family who's worried if you have debts and doesn't have a job. So I disagree with Twerlyn's friend's judgement. I certainly know that there are SAHM's who are not happy being a SAHM but not all.

I have a pinay friend and Uncles here who also told me to work and their reason is it's different to have our own income coz we can spend our money the way we want to. I was at first irritated hearing those comments but my friend's experience being a SAHM who haven't experience working here in US when she didn't have the baby yet made me think twice that maybe I should take her word. She told me that it's hard to find a job once I have a baby especially if hubby want me to be a SAHM. I know that the only reason why they want me to work is... MONEY. I told hubby about it and his opinion is ... his money is my money and my money is his money. In short, there's nothing to worry about not having a job coz I can still buy what I need. All he wants is when he comes home his wife is waiting for him at home and not coming home with an empty house. Sweet isn't it? Yeah, even if hubby and I didn't have Claira yet he already told me that I don't need to find a job. So I asked, what I'm gonna do at home if there's no baby to take care of or if I'm bored? His answer is "Go shopping, visit your friends, go to the fitness center, go swimming, go to the park. Do what you want to do". Yeah, right. It's easy for him to say go shopping when I'm bored but a person like me who feel guilty every time I shop because I shop his hard earned money, no way! Shopping for me is really expensive coz I spend $$$ and not Pesos like in the Philippines. Hubby also told me to go out everyday so I can practice driving which I complain because of the gas expenses. hehe He told me not to worry about the expenses of gas coz that's part of driving. I then realized after going out almost everyday shopping and driving that the only thing I can stop the money from going out is to work. Yes, going out is expensive. Hubby and I talked about it and he was okay that I work part time as long as the reason is I'm bored. I got the job and stopped working when I was in my second trimester. I still wanted to continue working when I was pregnant coz I thought it's good for me and the baby but being sick at work everyday made me sick.

Now I enjoyed being a SAHM coz I can do anything without anybody telling me to do this and that. I can sleep late and wake up late, do chores at home if I want to and go out if I'm in the mood. Being a SAHM is not easy coz you have to juggle things from taking care of a baby, a house and of course yourself but it's the most rewarding job. Seeing my family happy also makes me happy. In short, I'm a happy SAHM and so are my friends here. I guess you noticed (if you're an avid reader of this blog) that I go out with my lady friends as our ladies night out and that's one of our husband's idea to give the wife a break, go out with friends and have fun (in a good way). I can say that we are lucky to have a husband who thinks that making the wife happy will make everybody happy. SAHM rocks! ^_^

Update about our little Claira

Claira is now heavier than ever and get heavier everyday. In fact, the other day I had a really bad body ache from (i think) carrying her. She was 16 lbs. the last time when I weighed her and carrying her with her car seat is a total of 31 lbs. or more. A good exercise for me and hubby every time we go out. Last night I have to take advil because of my body pain and I still have body pain today which I think I just have to accept that it won't go away or maybe I'm getting old already. haha

Claira is now learning new skills every day. Hubby and I were surprised last night when we saw her playing with her toy that I hang on her car seat's handle. So now she learns to grab stuff, roll over to the place where she wanted, make some new sounds, interested to join any conversation even with strangers and sometimes she answered too as if she's part of the conversation. It's interesting to watch her grow. :)

Claira watching the Food Network show. :)

Try New Panini Products and Win!

Have you tried Panini already? Well, I think most of us do but if you haven’t tried one then you better try it now. Why? Panini’s are not only good stuff but it’s also ready when you are hungry. Yeah, I’m talking about the Stouffers-panini that you can buy in any grocery store. I want to share something. Though I like to cook and experiment in cooking but there are times when you don’t want to cook and just want to relax which I think some of you will agree with me. Sometimes I have that laziness in me or just not feeling well to cook from scratch and what I did was heat the store bought frozen meals ready in minutes. I can’t believe how delicious they are and I tried them not just once but many times! And if their meals in minutes taste good then the Panini’s taste good too. Stouffer’s Panini is running a contest that will put a smile on your face coz you could win one of the three $10,000 cash prizes, Sony Digital Camcorders and instant product prizes. But first, you have to register here. Offer is available to Canadian residents only. Sorry. How I wish that the contest is available for everybody around the world. I know you’re excited to join coz I am too. But who knows, there’s a contest for us too someday. So Canadian residents, this is your big opportunity to win. Try the Bistro Meatballs & Peppers, Bistro Chicken Souvlaki, Lean Cuisine Grilled Vegetables & Goat Cheese, Lean Cuisine Mango Chicken Tikka. The 3 Grand Prizes are choice of India, Greece, Italy and France destinations worth $10,000 Gift Card. One of the 12 Secondary Prizes is Sony Digital Camcorders $500 value and Daily Instant Prizes of Free Stouffer’s Product coupons.

High Chair for Claira

We put Claira in the bouncer on top of the dining table so she can join us if it's dinner time for hubby and me. Lately we noticed that Claira doesn't like to stay in her bouncer anymore. Last Saturday we decided to buy a high chair for Claira so she can join us at the dining table. I also started to introduce her with solid foods coz she's already 4 months old. She now look like a big girl sitting in her high chair. Time flies really fast. And soon she'll start to walk. How I wish she'll stay as a baby but that's not how it works. Oh well, that's life and I have to accept the fact that babies grow and will become parents too. :)