Moments in My Life

Surprisingly we had a smooth haircut for Brandon this evening.  Usually he would fuss and cry and scream during the haircut but today he has been such a good boy, sat rather quietly while watching his favorite Hard Hat Harry Helicopter DVD.  The washer was on as well, may be that helped to reduce the noise from the trimmer.

It was not a total smooth process.  In the beginning, he didn’t want to sit on his booster seat but I pulled him into it and locked him down.  Put the cover over him and kept telling him it’s going to be fast if he sits still.  Turned on the DVD for him.  At first, he didn’t want me to use the trimmer and kept insisting on the scissors.  I told him that we had to start with the trimmer first.  Then he let me do it.  He moved a little here and there but as long as he doesn’t scream or cry, it’s good.  After trimming the back and sides bottom, I used the scissors to trim the rest.  It only took me 15 minutes total to finish his hair cut.  During the time, I praised him over and over again on how good he was sitting so quietly.  The result of this hair cut is one of the best I’ve done.   

This definitely by far is the most less stressful haircut we ever gave him.  Thank you so much Brandon.  I even gave him a thumb up sticker for his good job!

My hubby’s birthday is coming up in a little over a week.  Brandon and I will not be in Los Angeles on that day so he may have to celebrate this time by himself or with his friends from work. Since we will be away, I already gave him his gift unwrapped.  So what gift I gave him for his birthday?

My husband likes beef jerky and I seldom let him buy it at the store. It is not a healthy choice of snack so I don’t want him to eat too much. But two weeks ago I placed an order online for 3 boxes of Slim Jim Beef Jerky from Amazon. It was a very good deal. On top of the discounted price, there was a promotion with $25 discount if the total purchase of participating items is worth $49 or more. I bought 3 boxes and after discount, it is about $8.50 a box of 24 pieces of Slim Jim. He will have 72 pieces of beef jerky to enjoy while we are away … I think he may want to share some with his sister too. I may also steal some to bring back to KL to share with the people there.

I almost wanted to buy skis, snowboards and related products at cheap prices from Salomon, NILS Skiwear, Atomic, Patagonia, Burton, Columbia Footwear, Spyder, SmartWool and Sorel but luckily I didn’t place the order yet. I think my Hubby will enjoy this beef jerky pressie of his more than the skis or snowboards.

Brandon doesn’t nap on the same time everyday because he wakes up at a different time every morning.  And on the weekend, it is harder for us to follow any schedule as we are usually out from the home.  Sometimes he naps in the car for 15-30 minutes  and that’s the nap for the day.  He doesn’t get too tired even after short naps.  He still sleeps around 10pm at night. 

Yesterday he was able to nap at 1:30pm after his milk.  He requested his milk and then slowly dozing off while finishing up the milk.  That’s the easiest way for him to fall asleep and I am happy if he can sleep like that everyday but no.  Today, he woke up about the same time as yesterday and had his milk at 1:30pm.  But this time, he was all enegertic after the milk and was running around.  I told him to get up to his bed and rest his eyes.  He did it but after 2 minutes or so, he would come down from his bed and again I had to bring him to his bed again.  All the while I was sitting next to his bed.  This happened a many times and I decided at 2:30pm I needed to go wash his milk bottle and told him to stay in the bed.  And if he comes out of the bed and out of the room, I would close his bedroom door. 

 As I suspected, the moment I walked out his bedroom, he came down from his bed and walking towards the door.  I reminded him again to be on the bed that I just go out to wash the milk bottle.  He didn’t go back to the bed but continued walking towards the door.  So I closed the bedroom door and went out to wash his milk bottle. 

 He was crying behind the closed door.  I quickly washed the milk bottle and returned to open his door.  It was probably only 2 minutes the most I left him inside.  Why did I bother to go back so quickly?  Because I was afraid that he might throw up after crying too much.  But luckily it didn’t happen. 

I carried the crying boy to his bed, wiped his tears and face with a face towel and told him to sleep.  Less than 5 minutes … he went to lala land already.  Now I have to wash dishes … finish up typing posts which are pending … continue packing … and get ready for my dentish appointment at 4pm. 

That was my title before Brandon. CFO - Chief Financial Officer. Sounds cool rite? Then I was my household CFO. I manage the finance of the money coming in and out. Most of the months we have a little savings except for December and April when the property tax installments are due. It is good to keep track about your family finance so you can plan for future. Now this title has been taken over by my Hubby because I am not able to allocate time to this task anymore. So for more of our big expenses, I have to ask the new CFO before I made the purchase. Usually he will give a green signal.

I know many families don’t manage their finance well enough and they will borrow more and more money to cover the debt. And when this happens, the family may become distress and may be broken apart. If you are in debt, you may want to look into ACA to help stop debt. They can help with debt settlement, credit counseling, debt consolidation and if you need, they can help with bankruptcy too. They have a toll free number that you can call to speak to a representative to find out more about how they can help with your debt relief.

So how far along I am in my packing? Not much. I still have more to pack because of the laundry. We need to wait till almost the last day before I can finally pack all clothing necessary for the trip.

Anyway flying with MAS Airlines, each passenger is allowed 2 pieces of checked-in luggage. Each luggage should weigh 70 pounds or under with a maximum linear dimension of 60″ (height+width+length). My brother brought two suitcases with him, so he will be bringing two suitcases back. And between me and Brandon, we will be allowed 4 pieces total.

This below here is my brother’s suitcase which I already helped to fill it up and it is 55 pounds now. The items in this suitcase are not for me but for other people including 10 boxes of 1 pound See’s Candies chocolate. This suitcase is all done packing now.

This is another bag which I almost done packing. A car seat bag. I will be packing in this bag the Portable Fisher Price Booster Seat too which will be packed on the last day.

We probably have a total of 5 checked-in luggages and one car is definitely not enough to fill up the passengers as well as the luggages. We may need my SIL assistance to help driving some of our luggages to the airport on that evening.

The number of identity theft is increasing. Even though you have registered for credit monitoring system that offers by the credit bureau you are still not protected fully. If your or your family identity has been stolen, this credit monitoring system will only alert you about it and may not be able to help you to recover and correct the problem. Instead you will need to pay all the fees related to bring back your good credit history.

So I thought we all should sign up with Lifelock. They help to protect your identity as well as help you to recover your good name if your identity has been stolen including paying attorney fee, hiring investigator or a case manager, and more, for up to $1 million dollar. They will also help to remove your name and address from the junk mailing list including the pre-approval credit mails which I receive at least one a day.

Start protecting yourself and your family today from identity theft. Sign up with Lifelock now.

Logo credit: Copyright © Lifelock.com

Poor thing.  Even napping also he felt very uncomfortable because of his teething.  He cried a few times already since he started napping just now and one time he coughed so loud that he almost threw up the milk he took down before his nap.  It has never been this bad before … may be because the molar coming out is the first molar (between the cuspid and the back molar).  And since both the cuspid and back molar were already out, the first molar is probably squeezing in between.  Just thinking about it already giving me a toothache.  I hope the tooth cepat cepat finish coming out before we board out flight next Monday. 

On a side note, my brother just called and said he is now in New York.  Seems like he is having much fun with his friends.  He will give me another ring before his flight this coming Saturday to return to LA.

It is less than a week away from my trip back to Malaysia visiting my relatives and friends. I am so looking forward to this trip as it will be a first trip I am taking just with me and my son. My hubby has no intention of coming over even on a later date. It will be a fun but also a tiring trip as I will be going solo on taking care of my boy 24/7. Anyway … I’ve been thinking what I should be bringing back for my relatives and it has almost give my brain a breakdown thinking what to give them. But I came up with the solution. I will probably give them a memory instead.

The last time we had a really formal family gathering was back in 2005 when my uncle moved into his new home in TTDI Hill. We had a Chinese New Year gathering when all relatives came by and visited. The dinner was great. And after dinner, we took family pictures together but not professionally. So that was like three and half years ago.

This time, we are going to have a family gathering as well. I had planned ahead and made reservation for a catering service to be served at my uncle’s place during the lunch hour. All family members have been informed about this. It will be on June 7th. My cousin brother has also arranged for a professional photographer to come over to snap our family portraits. I can’t wait for this big day as it will be the first time for my son to meet everyone. My son wasn’t in the previous family picture as also with a few other little babies whom were born after January 2005.

The photographer will provide us with a DVD with pictures he will be taking that day and we will make the print ourselves. I am considering ordering Photo Cards from CardsDirect. At CardsDirect, I can personalize every detail on the photo card. The only problem is they don’t ship internationally at this time. I will have to ship to my home address and have my hubby to ship to me in Malaysia. Each family member will receive a photo card once the order arrive and I think this will be the best gift to give them - Aamemory of us as a family.

This morning I woke up and realized that the crying episodes may due to his molars eruption.  So when he woke up, I asked him to open his mouth to let me check.  I saw the white coming out from the gum.  No wonder he has not been sleeping well. 

His symptom when teething are:

1. Crying for no reason at night.
2. On and off fever could be as high as 102F.  But go away once given Children’s Motrin. 
3. Very grouchy and uncooperative during the day time.
4. Not eating well.  Reduction in appetitte.
5. Easier throw up when eating becos can’t chew well (pain?)

On another hand, due to his crying episodes last nite, he has been coughing reallybadly since this morning.  I gave him the Triaminic Thin Strip to ease his coughing and it works but not immediately.  He has to endure a series of coughing before the medicine kicks in. 

It is really hard as a mom to hear him coughing so badly, like until his lungs are almost coming out.  He doesn’t want to go to the doctor.  Even though if I call the doctor, the nurse would have asked me to monitor his condition for a few days then only bring him in.

If he had listened and stopped crying last night, he wouldn’t have hurt his throat and have to go through this coughing episodes. 

It is 12:09am.  For the last few nights, I have not have much sleep and get tired easily during the day time.   

The crying episodes are back.  If you remember reading this and this, it is similar but with a different twist.  This time he woke up crying (for no reason), and because he has been having a slight irritation to his throat I know if he persists crying, he will develop a coughing episodes.  So I ‘tried‘ to calm him down but the more I told him not to cry the more he cried.  And then he would start coughing.  He would continue crying louder and more counghing persisted.  He didn’t know how to stop crying and I don’t know if he understand when I told him to stop crying that he was supposed to stop and not continue crying.  I got so mad at myself not able to stop him from crying that I walked outside the bedroom biting my own teeth. 

I knew that if he starts crying in the middle of the night, he will not stop until something happened (like a vomit).  So I know he has to stop but he just doesn’t listen and don’t get what ’stop’ means.  I tried to find out what is wrong but he wouldn’t tell me, he would just continue crying.  *sigh*  Our travel date is just in a week time and if he continues to be like this the next few days, I don’t think I will be able to finish packing or ready for the flight. 

 It is time like this that makes me think if I want another baby in the house.