Romp-o-Rama!

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Today was the first time in a looong time that I, alone, was able to take Owen out for some fun! I've either been sick, or the weather has been unfavorable. We met up with Auntie Nina and cousin Elijah for a play date at Romp-o-Rama; and let me tell you, this is the best indoor playground that I've been to so far...granted, I've only been to 2 other ones prior to this one. Heh.

At first, Owen was pretty hesitant, but once he realized there were slides, there was NO stopping him.

He started off small...

...and then he and Elijah...

...discovered the BIG one. 

Nina and I went up with the boys only a couple of times before Owen decided he was fine to go aaaallll by himself. (Who the heck does he think he is? A BIG BOY OR SOMETHING?!) Elijah explored the other parts of the playground and really enjoyed the ball area, which Owen was scared of (kids can launch balls at each other through a "canon"). Owen just stayed at the big slide.




After half an hour of NON-STOP sliding, I forced him to take a break. He was bright red in the face and sweating like crazy.


Took him to the "Pretend City" area, where he spent a whole 2 minutes before running back to the slides.

After more time on the slides, I took him to play in the trampoline area with Elijah. I was not able to get a decent picture of the two of them together; they were always at different places until the very end, where they spent their last moments of play time at - you guessed it - the slides.




FINALLY!


"Owen! Look!"

"Elijah! Look!"

Annnnnd this is the best we could do. Elijah wanted to sit on the orange cube, LOL!

Such a fun day, and I'm sure these two will be sleeping early tonight. Thanks for the recommendation, Auntie Nina!

2017 Resolutions

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

It's been a while since I've sat down and actually given good thought to what my resolutions ought to be for the new year. (And yes, I'm well aware that January is already halfway over.) For 2016, all I wanted to do was lose weight. For 2015, I was 7 months pregnant when I rang in the New Year, and resolutions were the last thing on my mind. And for 2014, well, I don't remember a thing.

Now that life has fallen into routine, here are my resolutions for 2017 (with the help of Owen pictures)...

1. Spending More Time Outside/Getting Active & Healthy



Last year, from January to mid-October, I lost about 25 pounds or so. I was also eating right and often went out for a nice jog/stroll, but once we got back from our Florida trip, all that came to a stop. Moving and settling into our new apartment, the holidays, and my multiple sicknesses played a huge factor; but, let's face it, I did get lazy. So once I'm feeling 100%, I WILL be more active and spend less time on the couch.


2. Keeping My Temper



I'm known to lose my cool, and it's not always a gradual process. I can go from a 0 to a 10 in a second, and I usually say/do something extremely stupid; and 90% of the time, I regret it almost right away. With that being said, I will be more mindful of what my actions could lead to and if it's worth it. This incident happened a couple of days before Christmas, and it's been hanging over me ever since.


3. Reading


If your child does not own "I Want My Hat Back" by Jon Klassen, then you need to go out and get it. Now.

There WAS a time (long, long, looooong ago...) when I read a novel every month. Last year, I only read ONE book. Several months ago, I started reading "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and I just can't get myself to push through and finish it. It's not that I'm disinterested in the story, but I would rather do other things during my (limited) free time...but I realize that these things - watching TV, browsing Pinterest, playing pool on my phone, etc. - are not very productive and, at the end of the day, a waste of time. I'll shoot for 6 books this year, since 12 maaaay be a little too ambitious for me.


4. Spending Time with Matthew



I have a 19-year old brother, and his name is Matthew. We are a whopping 10 years apart, and that has had an impact on our relationship. When I was learning about tampons and maxi pads, he was learning how to crawl. When I was a reclusive and brooding teenager, he was a little boy obsessed with video games. And by the time he was 16, I moved out of the house and got married. I never felt that we had that super tight sibling bond, and I sometimes (regrettably) acted as a third parent to him when I shouldn't have. I really hope that he and I get closer because he's the only sibling I have.

Today, he came over, and I made all of us a pancake breakfast. Afterwards, we watched a couple of movies, I introduced him to Bob Ross, and then he treated us to lunch. It was a great day, and we promised to try and have a nice sit-down meal AT LEAST once a month.


5. Living Simply/Clutter-Free



While we were moving into our new place, I realized just how much stuff that we had, and it gave me anxiety. I also unearthed some things that made me ask myself, "Why do we still have this?", or, "Why do we have 10 of these?" Before having Owen, I loved collecting things - nice coffee mugs, cute little trinkets, cool figurines, etc.; and then after having him and having bought/received ALL the things that came with him (toys, books, stuffed animals, baby stuff, blah blah blah), my want of having "stuff" decreased tremendously. So when we moved, we purged (a LOT) and also rented a storage unit (for Ralph's collectibles). So far, I'm liking this minimalist/simple lifestyle. People may find it "boring" or "too plain", but it really helps when there's a toddler around. :)


6. Promoting Positivity



I'd like to consider myself a "glass half full" kind of person, and I think now, more than ever, is a good time to promote positivity and add value in others' lives. And now that Owen is a little older, I will do what I can to teach him kindness, gratitude, and love (among other things). If I could help improve the life of just one person this year, then I'd be good with that.


In my mind, I thought I had more than 6 resolutions, but I think this is plenty. Let's have a happy and prosperous 2017!

Owen's First Hockey Game

Monday, January 9, 2017

Yesterday, we took Owen to his very first hockey game, which is something Ralph and I had been dreaming of doing ever since Owen was born. We weren't sure how he was going to take it or how he would behave, but we were super excited to finally go to a Ducks game as a family.


We arrived early enough for warm-ups; there were two ladies sitting at the front row who were kind enough to let me and Owen stand right behind the glass so the players could see the sign we made. Owen actually made an appearance on the scoreboard not once, but twice! (We weren't able to get a picture...Ralph and I were too slow, lol.)

Bah, it got smudged!

Owen was mesmerized. He couldn't take his eyes off the players, and whenever a puck would hit the glass, he would shout with excitement. Towards the end of warm-ups, he started to really get into it by slamming his hands on the glass. Jonathan Bernier saw Owen and his sign and gave us a smile. I could've died.

Thank you, nice ladies (with the cameras), for letting us stand in your row! <3

After warm-ups, we made our way to our seats, which was several rows behind the goal...good job, "Datton", for scoring such great seats! While Ralph went to go get us food, Owen took it upon himself to walk down to the glass so he could watch the Zambonis smooth the ice one last time before the game started.



Throughout the whole game, Owen was, for the most part, well-behaved. The seats to our left were empty half the time, so Owen was able to walk around and act all cute to the people sitting  in the row behind us, hahaha...he sure knows how to ham it up.




About halfway through, Owen started getting sleepy and just sat on Ralph's lap during the rest of the game and just chilled. He only started to get nervous/anxious during the last 10 minutes when the game got exciting and the fans cheered/booed/yelled/groaned.

"I can't watch!"

"Still can't watch!"

"Ugh. Mommy is so loud."

Unfortunately, we lost 1-2, but I'd like to think that Owen had a great time. Can't wait till we go back; and next time, we'll buy a seat for Owen. That kid is getting too big to sit on our laps.


Until next time!

Christmas and NYE 2016

Monday, January 2, 2017

And just like that...the holidays are over! I don't know about you guys, but I was just NOT into it this year. I think a majority of it had to do with me being sick, which started just a few days before Christmas. Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching Owen truly experience the magic of the holidays this year.

Before we were blocked out for the holidays, we went to Disneyland to look at all the Christmas decorations. As usual, everything was beautiful, and Owen kept saying "Woooooow!" at everything.





I wanted all of them, but they were expensive! I can buy 5 churros for the price of one of these things!


Thank you, Disneyland, for letting us experience "snow" every 15 minutes LOL!

Owen also enjoyed ALL the sweets he got to eat. We made sugar cookies, which was so much harder (and messier) than I thought it would be. We also made a gingerbread house, but...let's be honest, I was the only one making it while Owen just kept grabbing candy from my hands and shoving them into his mouth.




Ralph contributed by putting that green Gummy Bear.

On December 20th, my company gifted me a "shopping day", which is basically a paid day off before Christmas. The 20th also marked a whole 10 years with Ralph; unfortunately, I got sick the night before, so I spent the next couple of days in bed or on the couch, nursing a fever, headache, cough, and sore throat. *Sigh* What a bummer. Hopefully I can make it up to him on Valentine's Day or something.

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, and then we spent Christmas Day with Ralph's families in Riverside. Owen was spoiled rotten, and he was very happy to receive a lot of "cohs" (cars). I was also very happy to see that he received a lot of "bear" items (books and stuffed animals).





We didn't quite wait till midnight to open presents because Owen would not have lasted (and frankly, I wouldn't have lasted either). Still, he slept past his bedtime, and he struuuugled to get out of bed Christmas morning.


He did get up, eventually, and he went downstairs to get his gifts from his stocking. We also gave him our present, which was a Radio Flyer 2-in-1 scooter.

He didn't care for his chocolate or Elmo...

...he just wanted his Hot Wheels.

And he was kind enough to show us that he cared for his scooter for a whole minute before putting all his attention back to his cars.

We spent the whole day playing with cousins and just eating (actually, Owen played; Ralph and I ate). I hardly took any photos, but that only meant that we were so busy having a good time...though I did manage to get a photo of Owen and his cousin Ryanne, which is great, because we always miss this little girl during family gatherings.



The day after, we all just stayed home so I could recuperate (I was voiceless and coughing all hours of the day AND night). Owen, on the other hand, was just having the time of his life with his new batch of toys, including his scooter. He proved that he was too big for the sit-down version, so Ralph changed it into the standing kind.






He'll get it...eventually.

On New Year's Eve, we headed for Vegas to spend time with my Uncle Ian and his family. We left home at 5am and hardly hit any traffic. Thankfully, Owen slept a majority of the time.


It was Christmas (again) as we exchanged gifts; and at this point, Owen finally understood the meaning of opening presents. A week ago, he would open a present and would want to play with it, disregarding the other wrapped gifts; but at my aunt and uncle's, he wanted to unwrap EVERYBODY'S.



He loved the bear that Emi got him!
Soon after opening presents, Owen went to bed. We rang in the New Year without him, but just a few minutes after midnight, I snuck upstairs to give my baby a New Year's kiss and to snap this quick photo.


On New Year's Day, we ate, played games, and later had a bonfire to make s'mores. Again, I didn't take too many photos because I was truly enjoying the time with family (but I did, at my mom's request, take a bunch of photos of Owen and his "Wowo" during their morning walk).







Emi and Cawee. <3

Chopper! (Emi and Cara's dog...isn't he CUTE?!)


I don't want to get too emotional, but spending New Year's Weekend with my family meant so much to me. I have family in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and the Philippines, so it's hard to have all of us together under one roof during the holidays. The last time we were all together was Christmas 2008. Only one person was missing, and that was my grandfather, who passed away just a few months before. It was the best Christmas I ever had, and it makes me sad that it can't be like that every year. Hopefully, that can happen again.

As for the year 2016, it was a rough one, but I will forever be grateful for the many blessings and memories that it has given me. Here's to 2017 and all that it will bring!