Goodbye June BBC Challenge!

So, this is the end of June's BBC Challenge. I had a blast, although I wish I could have blogged and read more blogs than I did. That's okay, I'll just start using this blog for it's original intention... LIAM!

Okay, so, I'm feelig like a bad mom... Everyone keeps asking me how old Liam is... and I can never remember. I can give an approximation... like I know he's around 4 months old, but I don't know how many weeks.... Is that horrible? Have all of you other moms experienced this? Or should I call Social Services on myself? I put one of those counters on my scrapbook.com profile, so I can look and he is exactly 4 months, 1 week, and 2 days old, but I would never know if it hadn't been for that! It's not just his age either.... I can never remember anything. I can't remember birthdays, someone actually had to tell me my birthday is coming up this week. I forget everyone else's birthdays! Last year we were almost through Thanksgiving, before Trey and I realized it was our anniversary! I'm a total wreck. See my days are categorized by school, work, or home. I never actually can remember what day it is. Oh well, at least Trey doesn't get upset, when I forget his birthday, he understands... (I hope!)

So last week we took Liam to his 4 month check up. He is 14 lbs. 12 1/2 ozs. (just in case I forget), and.... crap how long is he? Oh yeah, 25" Long. That's pretty darn long to me! I mean I'm only 48 3/4" long (4'10"), so hopefully my child will be taller than I am! What other great milestones... Oh yeah, the other night he was fussing in the bassinet, and then he got real quiet! When I went to look, he had put himself back to sleep... I was shocked. He is also sleeping longer... He goes about 3-4 hours before he needs a feeding!!! He still doesn't take many day naps, and he still won't go to bed before 1 a.m., but since we're all night owls, it fits our schedule! He can also grab stuff with his hands, especially my hair. I think I need a short haircut, but my face is too fat, I just can't pull one off. He also started rolling at 14 weeks, which kind of sucks for him, because whenever he finds himself on his tummy he gets mad!

At night, I've started letting him sleep on his tummy if he rolls on it, because we got one of those motion sensors to put under his bassinett pad. If it doesn't detect motion in 20 seconds it sets of an alarm! What else! Oh he loves to laugh, and he is starting to like toys, especially if he can put them in his mouth. If he can't put them in his mouth, he gets angry! He still hates pacifiers, but he takes the bottle when I am at work, thank goodness. He also likes to be "flown" in the air (airplane game). I am not sure if I should be doing that, because I am scared I am going to shake his brain too much. He just laughs, and laughs when I do it, and I am not rough with him, so I hope it's okay (mommies feel free to give me advice)!

When I get to the grocery store this week I am going to get some rice cereal, and start giving him some at night, the doc gave me the okay last week.

Well on to my life (like there was a life before I became a mommy). Work sucked really, really badly last weekend, and I only made $40 on Friday, so I was really upset. I ended up doing really well on Sat, so I'm not stressing so badly. The beginning of the month is always so tight for us, although I think it is probably tight on everybody! This weekend I am working 3 twelve hour shifts, so I am hoping I can make good money, unless I just keel over from exhaustion. Ladies, carrying a tray full of drinks is noooo joke! Especially when it's busy and you're practically running all night to get your sections done! I can't complain too much, I would rather it be busy, than it be slow!

My birthday is Wednesday, and I have to take a huge exam in Pre-Calc. I asked my teacher if he would just go ahead and give me an "A" since we both know I was going to make one. He just rolled his eyes at me, and said he couldn't wait for the day I made a B; he can't wait to see the world end! LOL, I better quit bragging, or I will jinx myself and end up with a B! Although I am trying very hard not to take my grades too seriously. It's only school, and there are more important things in life then making straight A's. I realize that now, more than ever, with my son. I would rather be playing with him, then studying.... Unfortunately, that is why I have become such a slacker in school this summer! I will probably be up til 4 in the morning tomorrow studying!

I think I have wrote (or is it written? I can never remember)... enough for one night!

My Top 25!

Big Blog Challenge for today is 25 of my favorite things, so here goes....

1. My child.
2. My love, Trey.
3. My family.
4. Scrapbooking.
5. Snuggling in bed with my family.
6. My camera!
7. A Great Song.
8. Grey's Anatomy.
9. My friend, Kat.
10. Ramen Noodles - Oriental Flavor.
11. Pepsi.
12. The color red.
13. Money!
14. The movie, Rent.
15. The movie, Juno. (which I never thought I would like!)
16. A clean house (that is very rare around here!).
17. An organzied scraproom (another rarity).
18. Blogging.
19. My blogger friends, who always leave me great comments!
20. My hair right after I've been to Lori, the most amazing hair person, ever!
21. Shopping for scrapbooking supplies!
22. Math homework!
23. My Pazzles Inspiration.
24. Going to the Japanese Steakhouse.
25. Lego Star Wars on the Wii!

Get To Know Me!

I saw a forum topic on scrapbook.com posted by *julie*, and I decided to use it as a blog prompt. Julie if you ever see this, thanks for the prompt! Feel free to answer these questions in your own blog, and then send me a link so I can read it!


1) What inspires you to scrap? (Feel free to list more than one thing!)
2) What's your ideal scrapping environment?
3) If you had to describe your creations in three words, what would they be?
4) What's your best scrapping quality or technique? (Such as Journaling? Color coordinating? Photography?)
5) When did you start scrapping and why?
6) If you could only work with FIVE scrapbook tools/supplies, what would they be and why?
7) What's the best compliment you've ever received about your scrapbooking?

1) What inspires you to scrap? (Feel free to list more than one thing!)
I am inspired to scrap by many things. In highschool and until I became a mom, I wanted to tell my story. Now that I am a mom, I want to tell the story of my son, and of my family. I am especially inspired by old heritage photos that I come across. I love to listen to stories of the good ole days. I wish I had known this a couple years ago. My grandfather (a hero in my eyes) passed a couple years ago, and I never took enough time to hear his story. How I wish, I had taken the time to ask questions, and to listen. So I guess I am inspired by the stories of the world.

2) What's your ideal scrapping environment?
I like to be in my scrap room, alone. I like my supplies organized (that happens rarely), and I love to have a DVD going for some background music. I have to have my computer turned on (need it to scraplift those awesome sb.com los).

3) If you had to describe your creations in three words, what would they be?
timid (a little scared to try new things)
simple
colorful

4) What's your best scrapping quality or technique? (Such as Journaling? Color coordinating? Photography?)
I believe that my photography skills are really starting to shape up! I get so excited when I get that ONE really great photo!

5) When did you start scrapping and why?
I started scrapping in middle school. I had just left Spain after 4 years, and I wanted a way to celebrate those 4 years of childhood. They were a great 4 years.

6) If you could only work with FIVE scrapbook tools/supplies, what would they be and why?
My computer - endless possibilities
My Pazzles - again endless possibilities
Basic Grey Patterned Paper
Flowers
circle cutter


7) What's the best compliment you've ever received about your scrapbooking?
my mom teared up @ her mother's day card

My Chunky Monkey

Our Blog Challenge today was to "Animal Time." Since I started my blog to keep myself updated on Liam's progress as a baby, I figured now is as good a time as any to talk about my lil chunky monkey.

First off, everybody lied when they said "newborns sleep most of the day." My child does not believe in sleep, not since day one. The doctor said he would sleep 16-18 hours a day. Not my little man, he thinks he is missing all the fun! In fact, the only time he will sleep for long periods is if the me and daddy lay down with him. If we're in bed with him, he knows he is not missing out on anything! Even now my child hates sleep. If we're lucky he'll take one nap of about an hour during the day. At night, he goes to bed anywhere between 1 and 3 am. On the plus side, he sleeps late in the morning. Sometimes he will even sleep til noon!

The second lie... they told me breast fed babies are smaller than formula fed babies. My darling child is not the chubbiest baby alive, but he has his very own set of fat rolls, and "man boobs" as we like to call them.

Another thing I have learned since being a mom is that I would get very irritated and very annoyed by everyone around me. It started with the pregnancy, "Are you carrying twins, you're huge!" Or the million questions people liked to ask me. I never thought I would get irritated by, "what are you having, when are you due, oh my gosh you're huge." But I did. And the advice! Oh my goodness everyone has something to say, even people who don't have kids. Both of our parents love to tell us we're spoiling this child. Honestly, how do you spoil a baby? Is it wrong to hold your child when he wants to be held? Is it wrong to attend to his needs in a timely manner? P.S. I checked with doctor and he says it's impossible to spoil a baby this young.

Everything from breastfeeding to immunizations everybody has something to say. Especially the breastfeeding... I didn't know this was such a controversial issue. I, personally, do not care whether a mother formula feeds, or breast feeds it is her choice. Unfortunately, no one else agrees with this. A supervisor at work told em breastfeeding would make my boobs sag (seriously, I'm an A cup, they couldn't sag if I stretched them out everyday). An in-law said I was enjoying it too much.... You can tell who has never breastfed before.... there is nothing enjoyable about the intial bleeding nipples and soreness. (I do enjoy the bonding now, but I'm not "enjoying" it in the way she thought). Although, I do hear women can experience the big "O" while bfing, unfortunately I am not one of those women (dude, my kid would be HUGE). I chose to breastfeed for many reasons.... 1. the doc said it was best for the baby 2. have you seen the cost of formula (I would be the woman on the news stealing formula from wal-mart) 3. it is so convenient!

BTW, here's a big thank you to all of the mothers out there. I never fully appreciated the job you do, until I had a child.

Okay back to the little man (the point of this post). I am slowly trying to get my child to sleep in his bassinet (mostly cause I am tired of sleeping above the covers). I am extremely paranoid of SIDS so I bought this sensor that goes under the mattress and sets off an alarm if there is no movement in 20 seconds. It really seems to work, the only time it has gone off is if I forget to turn it off before I get him out of the bassinet. Initially, he hated his bassinet and would scream when I put him in. So, after a couple of hours of a continous repetition of a. nurse him to sleep b. sneak him in the bassinet c. hear him cry and get him out, he would usually win and I would fall asleep bfing and he would be where he wanted to be. Lately, he has been sleeping in his bassinet for a couple of hours at a time, and I don't have to put him in our bed until the early morning (around 7 or so). That has been really nice! Last night I put him in the bassinet, and I heard him fussing after about an hour or so.... I went to the bathroom... I was going to pick him up and nurse him to sleep, and "woot, woot" he had found his thumb (something else he found this week), and fell asleep on his own (very unusual).

At another point I went to check on him, and my lil boy was asleep on his tummy! He hates being on his tummy, so I was in shock! With the sensor under the bassinet, I don't mind if he sleeps on his tummy so I just let him be.

Okay, okay I am sooo sorry for this unbearably long post. Feel free to skim! Also feel free to post "good" advice on what I should or shouldn't be doing. I will read it all, but I may or may not use it! Thanks all you great ladies!

BTW, all of you mothers out there that feel

My Unaccomplishments.

This was the only New Year's Resolution that I had. I probably chose only one, because I knew this would be extremely hard for me.

My goal for 2008 was to become a non-smoker. I have smoked since I was 18, and I hate the expense, the smell, and the effects that it has on my health. Unfortunately, I never realized just how hard it would be to quit. I never realized just how addicting this nasty habit could be. I crave it, I yearn for it, nicotine is a drug, and it's the only drug that has had a hold over me.

I didn't do so bad during the pregnancy. I stayed away from cigarettes, although I can't honestly say that I was completely good, I slipped a couple times. I figured if I went for the duration of the pregnancy I could conquer this addiction. I haven't. As soon as I started back to work I was back to smoking. It's so hard to work at a casino, and not smoke. Honestly, you're smoking just by walking around inside. So, I am a smoker again. Cigarettes are expensive, and the cost sucks, but I am more scared that I will do irreparable damage to my body. It was never that important (I mean 27 is still young), but now that I have a child things are different. I don't want him to grow up and see his parents smoke. I don't want him to have this habit. I don't want to die from a bad habit I couldn't give up. I want to watch him grow up, and I want to watch my grandchildren grow as well.

I have all these great aspirations, and all of the best reasons to quit smoking.... Why can't I? How can this thing be that much stronger than me? Why am I so weak?

Dogwood Tree

So I know it's not a picture of a sunset, but I really like this picture. It was taken from my front porch! I love that we rent a place in a semi-secluded area with lost of greenery surrounding us! This is a picture of our dogwood trees, last year the frost killed them, so this was the first year we actually got to see them! Thank you for looking!

Father's Day

LOL as usual I am always late! This has been an extremely long weekend with school projects being due Sunday, and two 12 hour shifts....

I am going to blog about my sweetie's first Father's Day, because I am sure it is something he wants to remember and because I may forget the details by the time I get to sbing the event. We met up with Trey's family that came in from Oklahoma. Trey spent the whole day catching up with cousins, and hanging out with his kinfolk. I got to spend the day visiting with his HUGE family, and we both had a great time. I am very lucky, Trey's family has always welcomed me with open arms, although I think they love me more now, because of the baby LOL. The baby got passed from family member to family member, and he was pretty cool with it. He especially liked all the young pretty ladies who oohed and aahed over him.

I spent the day hanging with the women, and I even got to discuss scrapbooking with one of the cousins. That's pretty exciting since no one that lives near me scrapbooks.

Trey spent the day hanging with the guys and drinking.

All in all it was a really good father's day. I enjoyed meeting all of his family that I hadn't had the chance to meet before.

Sorry this post is late, and my grammar is probably horrible in it. It's like 5 am and I wanted to get it down before I went to sleep!

Grateful Letter

I am putting a twist on this letter. This letter is to my little brother Kris, a brother that I am grateful for, but also to my little brother who is not grateful enough.

Dear Kris,

This is a very hard letter for me to write, but I hope that maybe one day you will read it. I hope that maybe one day you will get past your anger, and want to become an active part of our family again.

I am your big sister, and as your big sister it is my job to protect you. I know that I did a lousy job of it. I know that our childhood was not a normal, happy one, and I am sorry. In my defense, I was only a kid myself. While that provides me a little comfort, it doesn't not comfort me enough, knowing how angry you are at the world. I know that our childhood was full of anger and abuse. I know that each of us three older siblings carry the scars from that abuse, but I believe that the scars you carry are the most dangerous. Every one of us deserved a childhood full of good memories. We should have memories of opening presents at Christmas, of trick-or-treating, of telling scary stories to each other, but we don't.

You dislike Roger, and I am so saddened by that. I know that Roger has made his mistakes, and that he is very much a kid himself at times, but he is our older brother, and he loves us so much. He has a very kind heart, and he would do anything that you asked him to. Like you, he is angry. He is not very nice to the women he dates, and I pray that one day he will realize that he is too much like our father. While he is disrespectful to his girlfriends, he has so many good qualities that you are missing out on. He is such a wonderful father. He loves his children, and he would do anything for their happiness. He is a good brother, he helps me out whenever I need him. He is a good son, he runs around like crazy making sure mom has everything she needs. He is a good friend, we spend a lot of time hanging out and enjoying each other's company.

You dislike mom, and sadly you don't speak to her very often. It makes her sad, and I am sad that she has to ask me how you are doing. I know you don't agree with the choices that she has made in life, but everyone makes mistakes. I know that you feel like she abandoned you, and you have every right to feel that way. It hurts to look at my new son, and think that one day he, too, could possibly hate me. Forgive mom, you have made your mistakes and she still loves you.

Even me, you don't even like me. That hurts the most. You barely tolerate my phone calls. You call me only when you are mad at the current people in your life, because you know I will listen. You call me and tell me that you would be happy if you just didn't exist, and it breaks my heart. I would be upset if you didn't exist. Many people would care.

There is a point to this letter. I wish you weren't so bitter and angry about the past. I wish you didn't have so much baggage. I wish you could remember the good times as much as you remember the bad. There are a few good times, but they are still there. Remember when we would all sleep in the bed together and tickle each others' feet? Remember when we would hang out, play cards, and watch movies? Remember when we sang kaoroke at a party in the Phillippines, and we won like 50 cents? There are some good times, but there could be many more. I am your family, and no matter how long we go without talking I will be there for you. I also wish that you could be more grateful for what you have. No matter what has happened to us, it could be worse. We are all alive, and we have much in life to look forward too.

I am grateful for you little brother. I wish you could find it in your heart to be more grateful for the good things that you do have....

All my love,
Margy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnfigQ43EjE

I am not sure if I did this right, but I couldn't figure out how to put it in my blog LOL. Okay my summer song is "Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms. I absolutely think this is the best driving song in the world. I can roll my window down, put the song on repeat, and sing my lungs out.... Yes, I am that weird driver that does that! This song just makes me so happy with its "upbeatness."

What I Love!

Things That I Love

Scrapbooking

My Darling Son

My darling fiance.....

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=129898132&MyToken=6255f7da-72fb-45e5-9c30-0ae2f311d0e8

LOL these are not in order of importance! Sorry it's mostly pictures!

My Darling Son

HOT STUFF!

June 02 Challenge: Write about "HOT."

Okay, okay I had no idea what to write about, and then there was an epiphany! I have never, ever liked hot food until about 9 (it's been 9 years!) ago. I was in the US Army, and stationed in Wonju, Korea for a year and a half. Now Korea is a great place to go to (shopping is fabulous), but the Korean food was an interesting experience. I am up to try anything, so I decided to try this food called kimchi. It is cabbage that has been pickled (I think) in this hot, hot, hot juice stuff. For some strange reason I really started to like the stuff, especially after I added a little bit of salt. I was amazed that I could enjoy something so very HOT. So I decided to try other hot stuff and see what I liked.

In Korea there are these little restaurants that serve soup (like in the picture), which is basically Ramen (who doesn't like Ramen @ 10 cents a pack). This soup is extremely hot and spicy, but is just like the Ramen soup. I would order this soup, which you can get with chicken, beef, or cheese on top, and rice (I'm Asian and always have to have rice), and I fell in love. I was extremely happy when I discovered this soup back in the States; I also found some kimchi at a local Asian store. To all of you readers you should definitely try this stuff out! Beware it is very hot. Also try some kimchi, if you like sauerkraut this is like a spicy version. Also beware kimchi stinks to high heaven. My bf has to leave the house when I eat it!

Thanks for stopping by!