A Letter to My Firstborn

Owen's behavior has changed since we brought Henry home, naturally. He has been argumentative, has had public meltdowns, and has even refused to eat at times.

Fortunately, Owen is still very young and most likely will not remember how badly he has behaved or the number of timeouts we have given him...but that just means he also won't remember all the wonderful things he has done.

And that is why I wrote him this letter - to let him know that he was actually a pretty great kid during a pretty crazy time in our lives.

So here it is - a letter to my firstborn:

Dear Owen,

It's been about 7 weeks since you've gone from being an only child to being a big brother. And although the transition has been challenging for your Daddy and me, I know it's been rough on you too.

You no longer have my undivided attention...

Our mealtimes are almost always interrupted because the baby needs something...

When you need help putting your train tracks together, you're usually put "on hold"...

The moment Daddy gets home, he attends to the baby so that I can finish cooking dinner...

Our day dates have gone from every other day to once a week...

We don't go to Disneyland as much as we used to...

You don't take naps with me anymore...

And other things...

But you know what's so wonderful about you? You have never acted unfavorably towards Henry.

Henry is the first person you want to see the moment you wake up...

And when he's sleeping upstairs and we're downstairs, you spend a majority of your time watching him on the baby monitor. And the moment you see him fussing, you exclaim, "Baby cry!", and immediately rush upstairs to check on him...

And though you usually are a tornado tearing through the house, you are always so calm when Henry joins you for a bath...

And you love showing him all of your toys, even though he's too little to play along...

And when Henry is in his Dockatot while Daddy and I are doing chores around the house, you're constantly checking in on him and giving him so many kisses...

And when we're holding him and talking to him in our ridiculous high-pitched Mom and Dad voices, you happily join in and say, "Hanky Babbbyyy!"

So, despite all the crazy changes you've gone through, you remained our sweet and tender-hearted little boy; and your Daddy and I cannot be more proud of you. Never ever change.

Love always,
Mama & Daddy


Until next time!

Sweater Weather

It only took until the beginning of November for the "cold" weather to hit Southern California; BUT it's here, and I am so excited about it!

I truly love "Sweater Weather" and could honestly live in sweaters all year long if I could. (I guess I'm living in the wrong state, huh? ) So once it hit the 60's/70's, I busted out my sweaters from storage and got this super comfy sweater from PinkBlush.

Being 5'0" and a little on the chubby side, I opted for a larger size for a looser fit; however, the sweater was rather long for my stature, so I took it in for alterations (I asked them to hem it just below the booty).

And what I love most about this sweater is the floral accent on the arms - it totally brings a feminine look to this boy mom's daily attire of the usual blacks and grays. A sweater, jeans, and sneakers are my usual go-to outfit when I'm out and about, so I'm sure this sweater will be used often...as long as SoCal permits it!

You can find the same exact sweater HERE. Also, today only, you can take 40% off CLEARANCE items and shipping within the U.S. is always free. If you're not buying anything for yourself, you can always go gift-shopping. It's never too early to start!

**Disclaimer: The clothing showcased above was gifted to me by PinkBlush in exchange for a review. All opinions in this post are my own.**

Halloween 2017

I knew Halloween this year was going to be super crazy (with my folks still in the Philippines and Ralph at work the day of), so I tried my best to prepare for the holiday and start the festivities this past weekend.

As some of you have already seen on my Instagram and Facebook, I've been on a cooking/baking SPREE. I think it's because I've been meal planning/prepping the same foods since Henry was born (just to make life a little easier), so I've had this need and want to try new recipes.

I searched Pinterest for easy and kid-friendly recipes, and I found several that did not disappoint. Over the weekend, I baked pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls and pumpkin spice bread.

Pumpkin Spice Rolls recipe can be found HERE.

Pumpkin Bread recipe can be found HERE.

And on Sunday, I made Mummy Dogs to get Owen excited for Halloween.

Just use Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, cut them in strips, wrap them around hot dogs, and throw them in the oven. Use mustard or ketchup for the "eyes".

He loved everything I made, but he can't get the pumpkin spice rolls out of his mind. Every morning, he'll point at the oven and ask, "Pumpkin rolls?" *Sigh* I WISH we could eat those every morning too...

Halloween morning/afternoon was pretty nuts. Henry, my normally well-behaved and chill baby, was just not content unless I was holding him and patting his back. By the time I put Owen down for his nap, I was about ready to lose my mind until Henry, miraculously, decided to take a nap in our bed for 2.5 hours.

I used that time to eat my lunch, clean the house, get our costumes all ready, make myself look presentable, and bake a pie (I didn't have to, but I did because I'm insane).

Once Ralph came home from work, we got ready and drove to my parents' house down the street. (We've gone Trick-or-Treating in their neighborhood the last two Halloweens, so we figured we'd do the same this year). We snapped some quick photos before it got dark.

After that, Ralph went inside my parents' house with the boys to catch the first part of Game 6 of the World Series while I drove back home because my dumb ass (pardon my French) FORGOT MY PHONE ON THE SOFA AS WE WERE LEAVING!!! (So stupid...) I also picked up some dinner; after we ate, we finally went Trick-or-Treating.

I didn't get a lot of good photos because it was too dark...so I'll spare you a bunch of blurry images.

And because Owen is only 2 and doesn't need a ton of candy, we stopped Trick-or-Treating after about half an hour. We headed back to my parents', just in time for the 9th inning.

Owen's loot.

Chocolate Pie recipe can be found HERE. I used the left over cream cheese frosting from the pumpkin spice rolls to make the "spider web".

After he had a few pieces of candy, we had some of that pie I made a few hours prior.

Finally settling down...he did not want to take off his uniform!

And that was our Halloween night! When we got home, Owen had a second wave of energy and putting him to bed was a struggle; but after kicking the walls and singing loudly for 10 minutes straight, he finally passed out.

We all woke up this morning super tired, but Halloween candy (and coffee) can definitely fix that...although it seems that Owen has completely forgotten what he did last night and asked for his usual oatmeal with bananas and raisins for breakfast instead of M&Ms and Kit Kat.

*Shrug* Fine by this mama!

Until next time!