Today, Mushrush!

Not too much has happened since my last post, what can I say, this is the life of a mommy with a brand new baby. But I love it. Unfortunately I have to go back to work within two weeks. But what can I say, I can't complain too much, I've got most everything I want and need.
I really don't have anything specific to write about today, so here goes what's currently on my mind:

1. Mushrush. I'm stuck on that word. What a word.

2. I've been on this laptop all day. my new favorite site that I've come across so far is http://www.thisisindexed.com. Hilarious!

3. I know I just made a post about colic and my son. Well, for the past 3 or 4 days he has been an absolute angel! When you have a baby who cries inconsolably at least 6 hours out of the 8 that your spouse is away at work, and then all of sudden, he smiles at everything, you really notice a difference. I am so happy and relieved he is getting better.

4.I came across another great website, http://www.carbonrally.com. This site includes information on challenges that you and your family can create to help you live healthy and greener. Honestly I am nothing near a green freak, but I do like to think that I attempt to help preserve the environment somehow.

So I am off to enjoy the rest of my day, being lazy and spending time with my son.

Things To Do, Places To Be, People To Meet

Yes, there are so many things that I want to learn & accomplish by the time I'm...whatever age. I want to share my list and be able to say I have done every one of these things:

1. Learn to do Yoga, and use it as regular exercise.

2.Write a book on my life.

3.Rockclimbing. Snowboarding. Waterskiing.

4.Have my kiss at Times Square on New Year's Eve.

5.Wine tasting in Italy.

6.Plant at least five different types of flowers. Maintain.

7.Be on a game/reality television show, i.e., "The Amazing Race"

8.Meet an actor or a singer.

9.When the time comes, my children will pay for half of their first car. Whatever they save up to buy their car, I will pay for half.

10.Learn a type of dance that I don't know (salsa??)

11.Learn how to play golf.

12.White water rafting. That seriously scares me just watching it done on t.v.

13. Take my kids to Walt Disney World for a week.

14.Run a marathon. Hopefully for a charity.

15.Ride in a hot air balloon (ahhh!!)

16.Mardi Gras in New Orleans!

17.Get LASIK to have better vision (I am so iffy about anything that touches my eyes).

18.Read at least 25 "Classic" books.

19. Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

20. Visit my mom's home country, the Philippines.

I have many other goals to accomplish in my life, but those are just a few interesting ones that I wanted to share. I look forward to accomplishing ALL of them!

Information on visiting Walt Disney World: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/
How to start Yoga:http://www.yogapoint.com/info/basicmovement.htm
Beginniner's guide to flowers:http://www.gardenguides.com/plants/flowers/
Prepare to run a marathon:http://running.about.com/od/halfmarathonsmarathons/a/firstmarathon.htm

Babies-A Realization

So yesterday was my daughter's third birthday. My how time flies, and I don't say that just because most people say that ALL THE TIME, I really am in awe of how incredibly fast Betsy is growing up.In the mean time, my son DJ is rapidly approaching three months. Something I am really excited for, because he is a very colicky baby.

Practically from the time of my son's birth I realized something:I have an entirely different child on my hands. While I was pregnant I was "totally prepared" for everything that was to come from this second child, after all, I've gotten by with my first one, right?

DJ has almost slept through the night since he was one week old. On the other hand, Betsy woke up every other hour for at least the first three months. Waking up every other hour was pretty rough. They always say to nap whenever the baby is sleeping, but that was difficult for me because I have a difficult time sleeping when it's light outside and I was always wanting to do something like cleaning. Betsy never had colic either, nor did she ever use a pacifier.

Colic usually starts around three weeks of age and ends at three months, sometimes not until six or even nine months. If your baby has colic, some symptoms he may be showing are excessive crying (sometimes the crying spree[s] occur at the same time every day) or curling the body up (because he is having gas pains). Some things that you can try to help ease the babies colic is offering a pacifier (my son uses one), pushing on their legs, toward their stomach (this should help release the gas that's inside), or an over-the-counter medicine called "Mylicon", which helps to ease the gas pains.

My son is now nine weeks old, his colic started at about four weeks, and peaked to its highest at six and seven weeks. I know for a fact he is slowly growing out of this colic phase because he eats a bit less than he used to. He would try to scarf down 6 to 8 ounces per feeding every to hours or less! We also changed his baby formula to one that has 1/5 the amount of lactose. He may or may not be lactose intolerant, so we decided that he would probably need a more gentle type of formula. Taking your baby to the doctor about his colic didn't really help, and I'm sure that most people who take their colicky child to see their doctor gets the same type of answer: it will go away over time. Apparently, the number one cure of colic is to be patient.

Colic has been my biggest issue so far. But as I mentioned before, DJ has been going down from his colic episodes and all I can do is look forward to what's next. He is a very good baby otherwise. Honestly, I don't remember Betsy sleeping seven hours straight at night as a two month old!

Ahhhh.... the wonderful joys of parenting!

Here's some websites that I found informative.

From About.com:one of my favorite websites for information:
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/yourbabyweekbyweek/ss/baby_wk_three_4.htm

Colic Facts from Parents.com: http://www.parents.com/baby/care/crying-colic/colic-facts/

One more: http://www.realsavvymoms.com/parenting/article.php?category2=11&article=15

Keep Your Change!

We are all looking for the best ways to save money and make money. If you like to use your money to it's fullest potential, one thing you must do is keep your change.Every time you go to your favorite fast food joint to pick up a tasty burger for lunch, remember to pocket the nickels and dimes the cashier hands back to you. it doesn't seem like much, but it all adds up very fast. If you tried a little experiment with your change and an empty jar, wait a month and you will see for yourself how well you maximize the use of your money. Here are ways to make sure you make the most out of your change.

1. Check your couch. For sure you can find a dollar or two and a few quarters.
2.Clean out your car. Not only will you have a nice and tidy car to drive, you'll also find a few dollars worth of change in there.
3.Drawers. Kitchen drawers, bathroom drawers, sock drawers, there will be some coins!
4.Don't for get to empty out your pockets before throwing your clothes in the washer. And make sure you take out the chapstick and pen from your pockets, too.
5.Your purse will be carrying some change.

When you acquire enough change you can either take it to your local grocery store and convert the coins to dollars through a machine, usually near the checkout stands, or take the change to your bank. They will take care of the coins for you and deposit them into your checking or savings account.

I could name hundreds of things you can do with the spare change you find in your home. if you have a kid or two, you could use the change to deposit into a savings account for when they grow up. or maybe you could use the extra $40 dollars you saved up to go out on a movie date. Either way, it's your money, and be proud that you took the little bit of extra time to keep and utilize your spare change!

One More Thing

I have considered writing a story on my life a few times, I’m sure some would find it interesting. I think it’s incredibly unique and although I didn’t thoroughly appreciate everything I went through, I have learned plenty of lessons. This post is my life so far in a nutshell.

Commonly enough I was born nearly 23 years ago to my mom and my M.I.A. father. Evidently my dad knew about my existence but chose not to have practically anything to do with me. I’m sure my mom was aware that he didn’t care one bit so she kept me private from his side of the family, until I was three years old, hospitalized for anemia (blood transfusion, yeah!). He “finds out” about me three weeks prior to marrying my (cliche) evil step-mom, Shelley. Mom is still single and poor living in Garden Grove until I turn six. She meets a man who later became my abusive step-father. By the way, I would like to add that I am not looking for any empathy I am just telling it like it is. Life happens.

We move to the city of sin for about a year (as my step-father was in the great U.S. Air Force as a military COP and stationed at Nellis A.F.B.). We also move to cities like Sonoma, Tustin, Lake Forest, and Westminster. Yes, a lot of moving. Something I would NEVER do to my children.

Probably the worst part of my life (so far!) happens here. Being a victim of continuous abuse is agonizing yet it seems just a part of everyday life. To make matters worse, a child who is in an abusive situation completely throws off his or her perception of life and the way it should/could be. I chose to bring my story to the police when I was 13 years old. My step-dad went to jail for a while and my mom stayed with him.That fact alone is completely devastating. My mom is from a different country in Asia and I really believe that her choosing her husband over child is something she would have learned where she is from. Although the doctors stated they had plenty of evidence to put him away for life and beyond he did not stay in the pen. I chose not to testify against him. I know that I was afraid and ashamed of everything and I couldn’t bring myself to the stand. But I choose not to regret keeping my mouth shut.

Unfortunately I kept a few grudges during high school. Of course, because my mom chose her criminal husband over me I was forced to live with my real father. At this point I am 14 years old starting my first year of high school. I didn’t have too much fun or good memories during this era. I was very unhappy with what both sets of parents had done to me. I didn’t get along with my step-mom. I wasn’t popular in high school at all and I reverted back to what I knew. I had somewhat of a “boyfriend” who was very abusive also. In fact I carried this way of behavior on until my very last boyfriend. I’ve gone through three crazy partners. It has taken me 21 years to see that I am an important person and I should never stand for abuse or disrespect.

My last boyfriend is the father of my first child, Riley. He was a nice person at first, but eventually became very controlling. He was also quite a bit older than me (at 18 years old, he was 25). Living with him was “Jackie, do things this way” or “Jackie you better dress like that” et cetera. I am still not out of the abusive mode, and I didn’t realize that being controlled can be a form of abuse too. He was the first (and only, I will never stand for this again) boyfriend to cheat on me, with his ex-girlfriend. His explanation for his poor actions was that he felt so sorry for her having to go to Iraq for awhile (she is the mother of his first child, so they have ties. Whatever.)

I left him after three trying years, and now I am with the person I would pretty much call my husband. I couldn’t have it any better or be treated any sweeter. I will not stand for any form of abuse again. My two goals in life are to enjoy the ride and make my children happy. I am proud to say that I have endured abuse and walked right past it. No one deserves to live with abuse.

For help, or if you believe you know a victim of abuse please call:

The National Domestic Violence Hotline> 1-800-799-7233

The Childhelp National Abuse Hotline>1-800-4-A-CHILD

RAINN: Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network>1-800-656-HOPE

Hello, world!

I keep kicking myself in the butt to create a blog. Finally I have started one.

Well hello everybody! I am a young mom to two, a very brand new 2 month old boy, Dorian, and his big sister Riley, turning 3 years old this coming Monday. Oh how time flies (I can't believe that is part of what being a parent is about. It's a crazy concept.)

I like to write. I am a rookie at it by far, but in high school I used to write for my school newspaper. Very amateur, but I appreciated it. I hoped to become a journalist by trade after I graduated from high school. That hasn't happened yet, but I do choose to write as a hobby for the time being.

All I can really say about myself is that I am learning every single day. Luckily I am completely open to what is to come. I'm very into music, love to watch reality television, and I couldn't be any happier spending a day at home with a snack, a good movie, and a good friend.

My blog has no specific category or theme. I love to write about anything and everything I see or hear about. So at the very least, this should be a very interesting journey!