7.5 hours.

Of agony. Of torture. Of hell.

That was our trip home. Going up seems to never be a problem - 5 hours is manageable. It's going home that's always a crap shoot. As soon as we got on I-5, I knew we had problems. It was packed from San Jose all the way down to Orange County. Just as we cleared the Grapevine, it was a parking lot. I called my navigator (aka Shana) at home to check on the traffic on the computer and she said it wasn't a Sigalert. It's just a crapload of people heading home from Thanksgiving.

Adding on the long hours in the car and making it an even more memorable trip: I'm getting a cold so my nose is stuffy, my throat is scratchy, my head hurts; Malia is already sick and cranky and snotty; Mr. Ants in His Pants Kael ("For the last time... Leave those sleeping bags ALONE!!"); and Taede absolutely loathing the car seat (he screamed 90% of the way home) it was truly a never-ending trip.

We're heading back up in 3 weeks for Christmas. A thought I don't want to think about right now as I'm trying to recover from this trip. Truong suggested that I fly up with Taede and he'll meet us with the older kids in the car. Part me wants to - it was pretty hard on me.

I mean Taede. It was hard on Taede.

The other part of me wants to stick together as a family. How would Truong change DVD's while driving? Get Kael something to drink? Go to the bathroom? He'd have to take both kids to the potty at the same time!

No, most likely we'll do another road trip for Christmas. This time I'll come prepared with the help of pharmaceuticals.

Just kidding!

Maybe.

------------------------------------------
Here are the very few pictures I took of the trip. Which pretty much amounted to one night. For about 15 minutes.


Dad and Taede hanging out, waiting for dinner.


There's a smile!


Cousin Jackie and the kids. It was Jackie who taught Malia to say "No way!" last year. This year's saying: "That's GROSS!" Thanks Jackie.

The other new thing Malia picked up from Jackie: the Head Conk as a form of greeting.
Really, thanks Jackie.


They are looking at Alfie, my sister's 6 lbs dog. The dog caused Malia to let out an ear shattering scream as she ran down a very long hallway, with the dog in hot pursuit, thinking they were playing. The scream was piercing enough to cause 3 people to run out, thinking Malia had severed a limb or broken a leg or was trapped under the piano.


My Dad and Taede


My oldest brother holding Taede. He held Taede all night. I asked if he wanted me to take Taede (No). My sister-in-law asked if he wanted her to take Taede so he, my brother, could eat (No). Truong asked if he wanted him to take Taede (No). My mom asked (No). My aunt who met Taede for the first time that night asked (No). Eventually somehow, my aunt got Taede but he started fussing due to a poopy diaper. As I took him to change, my aunt took my arm, looked over her shoulder, and whispered "When you're done with him, give him to me. OK? Me!" Sheesh. I should start charging people.


Malia working her magic and Jackie looking her finest.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I can't believe in 3 weeks we're doing it again for Christmas! Ugh.

You want me to what?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was great - filled with food, family and more food. I spent the morning cooking and getting the house ready. I only had to do the stuffing but I helped my mom and sister with their dishes. I really cracked the whip over my mom because she tends to do things at her own pace and ends up still cooking while guests arrive. This year, for the first time in memory, we had food done and on the table on time! Of course as fate would have it, our half of our guests were late. Doh!

We timed for food to be out of the oven by 4:00pm. Guests were to arrive between 3:00pm and 3:30pm, which translates to 4:00pm. It would be perfect! We got my mom's baked sea bass in the oven, my sister's brined turkey was in the other, her cookies were done the night before, my stuffing was in the 3rd oven, sharing it with a tray of roasted vegetables. My sister-in-law was working on the mash and gravy and shrimp salad... it was as if we were all a part of a well-oiled machine.

Then I noticed a huge slab of meat on the counter. What's that?, I inquire. It's an 8-lbs roast, my sister-in-law tells me. I don't think we have enough food. Can you make a prime rib?

WHAT?! It's 2:45pm! Are you kidding me??

A "discussion" ensued between Mom, sister, sister-in-law and me about the merits of doing an 8-lbs prime rib. Did we need it? Is there time to cook it? Do we have enough food? Should we, shouldn't we? Meanwhile the clock is ticking and I'm running out of time.

In the end it was decided that we'd halve the roast, make it a 4-lbs slab and cook it in 90 minutes instead of... instead of... whatever 20 minutes per pound for an 8-lbs roast adds up to be. I quickly made a garlic rub and threw that hunk of meat in the oven at 3:15pm, praying that it would taste decent since I wasn't able to give it the love I normally would.

In the end, the timing worked great - it came out with the rest of the food and medium-rare to boot. I personally didn't have any but there was only a 1 inch slice left so I can only assume it tasted good.

I haven't been told that we're going to eat anything besides seafood today but I know we still have that other 4-lbs slab of meat floating around somewhere.

I'm prepared this time.

Help me! I'm stuck!

Malia had a total of 3 showers today -- and it was only 5:30pm.

Shower #1
My kids get a shower every morning. They are sweaty sleepers and quite honestly it's much easier to deal with Malia's hair when wet. Her hair is so fine that it's impossible to get it into any kind of style unless it's wetted down.

Shower #2
Truong got a haircut today and Malia just happened to wake up from her nap when he came home. She looked a little dopey and was a little sweaty from her nap. The REI sleeping bags they have are super warm and they usually wake slick with sweat. So in the shower they went.

Shower #3
It was dinnertime so I took Malia to the bathroom. She kept on insisting that she didn't have to poop. Kind of like a preemptive strike: deny the need to go before Mom insists that she goes. That kind of led me to believe that she really needed to go but didn't want to take the time away from her cousins. So of course I insisted that she go. A little reverse psychology that went awry on her part. However, she didn't protest much as I plopped her on the potty so I figure I was right. I leave her to her privacy and a few minutes later I heard a splash. Way to go Malia! A few minutes after that I heard her say: "Mama! Help me -- I'm stuck!"

I walk into the bathroom to see her -- how do I describe this? -- stuck in the potty with her legs up by her ears, trying to get some leverage to hoist herself out.

I have to admit I considered running to get the camera to snap a shot but she was slipping lower so I saved her instead. I asked her what happened, Baby?

Malia: "I fell in and got stuck! My bottom is all dirty now. I want a shower, Mommy."

So that's the story behind Shower #3. Hopefully we won't have to do a Shower #4 but it's still early.

Things that squirt in the night

What a title, huh? Parents of newborns know what I'm talking about. The dreaded midnight poop. What do you do? Do you wake up the baby to clean him up and risk him staying up? Or do you leave him to sleep in poop?

As much as I love sleep, I cannot -- CANNOT -- let Taede sleep in poop. As much as it pains me, I must clean him. No matter what time it is.

Saturday night was such a night. A night where I had to make that hard decision. It was even harder to do given the fact that we're at my parents' house visiting for the week. At home the midnight diaper duty is relegated to Dad. At my parents' house, I'm in the bedroom with Taede while Dad's in the library with the big kids. It's all on my watch for the week.

So it's 2:00am and Taede starts stirring. I move to nurse him when I smell it. Damn! I think. He pooped. I wait a bit to make sure he's done. There's nothing fun about a "3 diaper change in 5 minutes" routine -- especially in the middle of the night. This is also an excuse for me to sleep a little longer. Like hitting the snooze bar.

I get the diaper stuff and start changing him on the bed (we have a waterproof mat that he sleeps on). It's dark. Sure, I have a night light, but it's late and my eyes are squinty and I'm tired. I have his legs clamped together as I pull them up to clean his bottom. This is always the scary part because the aiming is just perfect for a major disaster.

However, as I learned this night, his bottom does not need to be elevated for a major disaster to occur.

I get the first wipe done and I start moving to get the second wipe for another pass. I hear what I guess you can describe as a little fart, the loose kind. I see some poop kind of ooze out. Breastmilk poop is like very soft yogurt in the tube: very loose, kind of runny but with some consistency. Almost like bird poop where it's kind of watery on the edges but has some mass in the middle. So I see more poop and first I think: "Oh man, he's still pooping." And then I think: "Thank god it's a low pressure poop."

My fingers touch a wipe when it happens. I don't hear anything. There's no warning. I just feel the rush of air as I get pelted. With poop.

My kid shat on me! He SHAT on me!

It was like artillery fire. There's a clear line of poop starting on my thighs (I was sitting criss-cross on the bed) going up to my stomach and ending at my chest.

I sat there in shock. Not quite believing -- or perhaps not wanting to believe, hoping it's all a bad dream -- that I have SHIT on me at 2:00am in the frigging morning. I quickly finish and then looked at the damage. It looked like I was attacked by a flock of seagulls in formation. Taede is in a good mood, cooing and smiling since he unloaded on me. Luckily, miraculously, nothing gets on the bed. Believe me, I checked. I strip out of my clothes and tried to get most of the poo off my clothes before changing and climbing back into bed. I vow that if he poops again, he's out of luck.

I'm all pooped out.

Taede's 2 month stats

I almost forgot! We had Taede's 8 week appointment today.

Weight: 10 lbs
Length: 23"

Pretty good considering I was thinking that he would be in the 9 lbs. range.

Kael
W: 11 lbs, 4 oz
L: 22.25"

Malia
W: 9 lbs, 10 oz
L: 21"

So far so good. Malia started dropping off the weight charts around 6 months while Kael stayed pretty much around 50% until he hit 12 months. He didn't have a drastic drop though, he just really leaned out. Which isn't surprising considering both Mom and Dad are stick people.

We've seen better days...

I have to say that Malia is pretty darn cute. Sure, she's my kid and I'll probably say that even if she had lopsided eyes and a squint. But, she doesn't have lopsided eyes nor does she squint... so, I repeat: she's pretty darn cute.

However, even the cutest of kids can have off days. Especially when they refuse to eat certain things without using their hands. Both Kael and Malia have this weird habit. They really don't like dirty, sticky hands so I guess it makes sense. However, it makes for really messy eating.


Here she goes... Face first into the chocolate cupcake. She pulled off her ponytails, leaving a crimp in her hair. Hair that's all over the place, in her eyes, in her food, in Taede's face when she kisses him... I hate it when she pulls off her ponytails.


And here's my cute little girl. Like the title says: we've seen better days.

She kind of reminds me of someone with that goatee... I just can't place my finger on who...

Road Trip from HELL

A picture says a thousand words:



What you really need for the full affect is audio as it was a 3 kid chorus: Taede was wailing away in his car seat too.

The sad part: it was a simple 20 minute trip home from Cortina's. My car was loaded down with food and 2 pizzas.

Even sadder: with the girls (and Taede) wailing in the back, Linda and I simply talked louder so we could be heard over the crying.

We are so heartless. Especially since we took the time to snap a picture of their misery and thought it was funny.

That's another buck or two into the Therapy Jar.

Answers to Name That Kid

Kid A - Taede
Kid B - Kael
Kid C - Malia

Erin - How long have you known my kids?? My friend Tracey guessed right and the last time she saw the kids was when Malia was a wee baby!

Mrs. Apple

A lot of people were affected by the fires that scorched a path through Yorba Linda, Brea and Anaheim Hills last week. We were lucky. Despite being under a mandatory evacuation order and despite having houses burn down the street from us, our house was untouched.

Mrs. Marilyn Apple was not so lucky. She's a secretary at Kael's school. A very warm, kind woman who always takes the time to greet my kids every day. It was a daily ritual last year for Malia to climb onto Mrs. Apple's lap for a hug and a quick chat while dropping off and picking up Kael from class. Mrs. Apple lost her home to the fires. It was a complete loss.

Fairmont Private School declared Friday a Free Dress Day in honor of Mrs. Apple and started a collection to help alleviate some of the financial hardship that she undoubtedly is going through. Kael asked that we help Mrs. Apple and I suggested that he draw a card for her.

This is what he drew:


A new house for her live in.
A large yard with a fish pond, a pool and a flower garden.
He also thought she would like to go on a plane ride and so he drew her a plane.
Lastly, since her name is "Mrs. Apple," he drew her an apple tree.

(BTW, the "Your the best" was part of the card.)

I thought it was such a sweet card I had to share.

The Spare

You know that saying: "The Heir and the Spare"? It applies to our family.

In the Mai Household, it's the Heir, the Princess and the Spare. Poor Taede. I've taken no pictures of him. I've hardly purchased any new clothes. He's got no new toys. He's made to nap on the run, around Kael's schedule first (the Heir) and then Malia's schedule second (the Princess). And if I feel I can squeeze another 30 minutes out of him, I'll do a run to the grocery store or Target.

Knowing that I may have to deal with some resentment from him when he grows up and realizes what a large shaft he was given as a baby, I hauled out my camera and snapped some pictures of our little bug.


Malia loves him so much. I'm pretty sure she knows he's a live person as opposed to a really cool interactive doll.

Pretty sure...


One last shot together before some solo shots of Taede.


OK Malia, Mommy wants to take some pictures of Taede by himself.


Malia is like white on rice with him.


And finally - Taede.

Our Spare.

Name that kid.

All about 8 weeks old.


Kid A


Kid B


Kid C

The Artist

Malia has always loved art. Less for the "creation" part of it, and more for the "messiness" potential. She likes to paint the most but not so much on paper. Unless you consider skin a natural form of paper. She didn't really get crayons and coloring. Not even the Color Wonder stuff. She scribbled some and then asked for paint.

I tried to help her hold the marker correctly but she refused to listen, preferring instead to grad them in her fist, like a butcher knife. Absolutely refused to take any kind of direction, suggestion or even vague hints.

But, while we were in Santa Cruz for the wedding, it **clicked**. Strange but true and pretty neat that I knew the exact moment when Malia realized that coloring books had pictures that were meant to be colored in and not scribbled over. Ever since then she's been holding her crayons and markers the correct way, while diligently coloring within the lines. The look of concentration on her face is so cute, so intent. And she's pretty good at it too!


Look at how focused she is. She would not talk to me or look at me, and I'm not sure she even heard me talking to her.


A close-up of her work. I colored the dude with the green hair. She worked on the mermaid all by herself. She's pretty good for a 2.5 year old.

Even though she's discovered coloring, that's not to say that she still doesn't love art and creating. In fact, her favorite art medium is... urine.

Yes, you read that correctly.
Urine.
Pee.
Piss.

At least it's her own. And before you get totally grossed out, let me explain. She doesn't touch it or stick a paint brush in it or do anything gross that would require sanitizing. She pees in her little potty and when she's done, she stands up and declares what it is:
"Look, Mommy! I made an egg!"
"Look, Mommy! I made a donut!"
"Look, Mommy! I made the letter 'C'!"

My personal favorite:
"Look, Mommy! I made a seahorse!"

And I'll be damned: it REALLY DID look like a seahorse. I should have taken a picture but her masterpiece was starting to converge into one big puddle in the pot.

Ahh, my little Picasso.

San Jose Trip, Part I (October)

I actually had pictures loaded up in Flickr days ago but couldn't find the time to write up the post to go with it. Between getting hit with the stomach flu (which was horrible and I'd rather go through childbirth again than get a repeat of it) and the fires (we were evacuated but obviously still had a home at the end of the day), I'm just now making the official post. Add on the fact that I'm thisclose to calling in for an exorcism of Malia and Taede wanting to nap but can't seem to (maybe the fact that he's screaming his head off has something to do with it?) I feel like I'm living in bizarro-world because no one's life could be this hectic and crazy, and yet strangely manage to accomplish nothing at the end of the day. It's weird.

Anyway, the pictures. My sister had my camera so I had a lot of strange pictures to cull through. Over 100 pictures, actually. And all from the Academy of Sciences (AoS). She went bonkers and I shudder to think what would happen if I had a film camera instead of a digital.

Having 3 kids, it dawned on me on this trip that taking pictures is virtually impossible. Especially with a gigantic DSLR hanging off my neck, banging into Taede, waking him up. This is the reason why I only have pictures of the one day at the Academy (thanks to my trigger happy sister) and none from the wedding in Santa Cruz.

We had a great time at the AoS. The exhibits were truly amazing, especially the Rain Forest with all the birds and butterflies. We got an annual pass so we plan on making a trek to AoS at least once each visit. It's one of those places where there's always something new to look at.

From San Jose we headed to Santa Cruz for my brother-in-law's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding, albiet a wet one. It rained and poured but that only added to the magical feel. The wedding site was in a remote part of the Santa Cruz mountains, with no cell phone reception, no TV, one pay phone and nowhere near a store or restaurant. I have to admit I had (a lot) of concerns heading up there with a newborn but I had nothing to worry about in the end. We stayed in the main house with 5 other families (17 people in all, including 2 newborns and 5 kids between 5 years and 12 months old). Luckily the house was quite large and very cozy. Much nicer that I envisioned. I guess that's the benefit of coming into a situation with a worst case scenario imprinted in my brain: whatever you end up getting is way better than your fears. I'll pull some pictures off other people's sites to share. It really was a beautiful wedding.

The kids had a great time with their family (Pham's and Mai's). We took a chance and drove during the day since Taede seemed to sleep well during the day (at that age anyway -- it's totally different now). Aside from flashing a few truckers while I nursed him, the car ride was pretty uneventful. Taede did great sleeping in his car seat. As for the big kids, all I can say is "Thank god for portable DVD players." I don't know how my parents road tripped with 5 kids every summer. They must be saints.

Or deaf.

Practice Preschool

I've been running out of stuff to do with Malia at home. There's only so much play-doh, floam, coloring and painting that I can do with her. Additionally, Taede is proving to be a true Mai Kid with his napping issues: waking up every 10 minutes or so. I'm constantly running up the stairs to coax another 10 minute nap out of him and then back down to Malia, hoping that she hadn't eaten any play-doh or painted the walls with her finger paints.

She's ready for school but I couldn't enroll her at Kael's school because she was too young. Instead I enrolled her at a Practice Preschool class provided by the city of Yorba Linda. I did this with Kael and he seemed to really enjoy it. It prepares the kids for Circle Time, sitting on your carpet square, playing with other kids. It's a parent participation class so Taede comes along for the ride.

The first day of class, after breakfast, I asked her if she wanted to go to school. She was so excited that she immediately ran to the car and threw out a "Bye Daddy! Bye Kael!" as she ran past them. Then she added: "I'm going to school to make some new friends!"

It was hilarious. I couldn't believe that came out of her mouth. Then I thought: "Boy, is she really that bored at home with me?!"

We get to the school and we wait outside until the class door opens. I purposefully arrive early knowing that Taede will most likely need a diaper change and a feeding. In the middle of nursing him outside on the bench, the teacher Mrs. Karla opens the door and invites everyone in. I obviously couldn't go in as I had a baby stuck on me. Malia however, could hardly wait and kept nagging me to "Hurry up Mommy! Let's go to school! All my friends are in school!" It was really cute. It also started making me feel like I was keeping her a prisoner at home.

We get in and she starts to play. We move onto storytime then crafts. More playtime then a final circle time. At the last circle time Mrs. Karla tried to get the kids to interact a bit. She had a large board with pieces of colored felt attached on it. She hid Cookie Monster behind a piece of felt and the kids were supposed to call out the color of the piece they thought Cookie Monster was hiding behind.

At first no one said a thing. I heard some parents trying to encourage their kid to call out a color. So I encouraged Malia to name a color. She quietly named one and Mrs. Karla whipped off the felt and announced "Oops! No monster here! Where do you think he is?"

Malia quietly named another color -- "Oops! No monster here!"

Then the game clicked. She started shouting out the colors: Yellow! Green! Pink! Brown! She was the only kid naming colors. It was funny as heck. Linda said something about it being the first day of school and already she's the teacher's pet. So academically, I'm pretty confident Malia can hang. It's the seperation part that we're going to have issues with.


Story time next to her buddy Megan.


Making her very own Monster.


The backside of her Monster. That's how she shows me something to take a picture of: always facing her.


Playing with Audrey. It's a Love-Hate relationship with these two.


Not quite sure what's going on here but it's a cute picture of the three girls.


Here she is yelling out the colors. She's even got her little finger out, pointing the way.


Music time. She's looking for me. I kept sneaking away to snap pictures. This is why I think we're going to have separation issues once we head to real preschool.

We are enrolling to start January 2009, Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30am - 11:30am. I've got a teacher that I plan on requesting (and actually just found out today the teacher already put in the request for Malia to be in her class) so we're all set.

I just have to let her go. That's the hardest part of all.