Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Birth & Beyond


Wow, I can't believe I have two little girls. I'm sure many who know me can't believe it either! And for those who don't know me - it doesn't help that I look hella young and I'm sure many believe I'm a teenage parent despite the fact that I am approaching my thirties! Dang - I can't believe I'll be 30 in a couple of years!

Anyhow, Thevy is quite affectionate with her sister. She's always talking about "wittle sistah" and sometimes she refers to her as just "Thea" (remember, that would be pronounced "TEE-ah"). It's quite cute the way she gives her baby sister eskimo kisses, kisses her on the cheek, caresses her head, rubs her cheek against her sister's head... She touched Sothea's hair and said "hair soft". I love the way she's talking more and more each day, surprising me with the things she knows.

Thevy uses the word "beautiful." I imagine she got it from me when I comment on her drawings I tell her they're beautiful. So, one day she touched her head and said "Thevy hair". Then she touched my head and said something like "Mommy's hair" or "Mommy hair." Then she said "beautiful." I thought that was sweet, but then again, it also mean she's already a skilled liar because my hair is a mess! lol

Another day she was looking out the window talking about the birds. And she said they were beautiful, too. :)

She also understands that the word "baby" has something to do with size. I guess from looking at animal pictures, I talk about the babies and the mommies and she has started to associate the words with size. One day while eating clementines, there was one particular wedge that was quite smaller than the rest. Thevy declared, "Baby clementine." I thought that was adorable.

Another thing Thevy has said that surprised me was when she picked up something rope-like. I believe it was a cable (for connecting a VCR to a TV type of thing) and she said she wanted to jump or jump rope. Then another time she picked up an AC adapter and said the same thing, except this time she said she wanted to "skip rope". Obviously, she's only two and doesn't know how to do it and I've been pregnant, I surely wouldn't have shown her. Had to have been the boob tube that's been teaching her all this vocab.

It sure is gonna be fun once Sothea learns to talk and to have these miniature me's conversing. But I'm rushing ahead. Sothea is only a week old. I'm still worrying how quickly I can shed the pregnancy weight! I gained 65 pounds with Thevy and it took me more or less a year to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Then with Sothea, I gained somewhere around 45 pounds. The other day when I weighed myself, looks like I only lost 10 pounds of that. Only 35 more to go. I think - or at least I hope - I'll lose this weight much more quickly, simply because I hope to be a little more active, plus I'll have one extra child to chase after. :)

Friday, May 25, 2007

Introducing...


SOTHEA!!

Sothea (so-TEE-ah) was born May 21 at 2:46am. She weighed 8 pounds, 8.6 ounces and measured 21 inches long.

She arrived 2 days after the due date and I wasn't sure what to expect for this second pregnancy, as my first one was not "typical". That is, my water broke and I had no contractions. They had to induce my labor and then when I began to feel the contractions and as they intensified, I finally asked for an epidural. I felt like a wuss cuz I wanted to go hardcore. :-P

Well, this time around, my contractions came first. And nobody believed I was in labor - not my OB and not the nurse - since I wasn't behaving like most other women do at that stage of labor. I wasn't acting as if I was in pain or screaming or what have you. But that's also not my nature - I am not a screamer. I suffer in silence. =)

Anyhoo, I actually managed to go sans anesthesia. There were points when it was unbearable, but in the end I made it! Oh, and this time, they had to break my water for me. I sat in the bed leaking for about 40 minutes until we started pushing. Then little Sothea came out 15 minutes later. Luckily, big sister Thevy fell asleep before all the excitement. :)

So, Sothea does look like Thevy as a baby, but at the same time, there are some major differences. I wonder how much alike/different they'll look as they get older. Either way, I think they'll get along great. Thevy's already a good big sister. I can't wait to see how they grow!

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Mmm: Bánh Mì

Peter brought me some bánh mì today. Bánh mì are Vietnamese sandwiches, basically. I for some reason got a craving for them yesterday. Vietnamese food has been very satiating for me lately. Get full real quick.

Speaking of food... No more Filipino soy sauce! Peter and I are not loyal to any one brand of soy sauce. We usually buy some Taiwanese brand. It's a tall bottle with a yellow label and says "soy sauce" in English, Chinese, French and Vietnamese. Anyway, one day Peter had wanted some Adobo; the Filipino version. So we ended up buying a Filipino brand that we saw in Safeway since we also had no soy sauce at home at the time. Well, since we purchased at a big chain, we paid a lot more than if we had gone to an Oriental grocer. And then on top of that, Peter never even ended up cooking the darn dish!

And then, for reasons unbeknownst to man, Peter bought another bottle of a different Filipino brand of soy sauce when we hadn't even finished up the first bottle. All I know is that these soy sauces only seem good to add to the rice you're eating, but doesn't seem to do so well as an actual ingredient in a recipe. It's too salty or something. (Yes, I know soy sauce is inherently salty, but it's even more so in these Pinoy brands, I think!).

So, never again will we buy Filipino soy sauce. Gonna probably stick with the tried and true Taiwanese kind or this other Vietnamese soy sauce. In an Asian household, you've always gotta have a bottle of soy sauce on hand, about a liter's worth. And rice. Always gotta have rice. We purchase 50-pound bags. 25 lb. minimum. I've also realized there are a few other condiments that we don't always have available in our pantry or fridge, but they always seem to be necessary for some authentic flavors: cilantro, Thai/Taiwan basil, ginger, garlic, limes... I hope Thevy will get to grow up eating mostly Southeast Asian dishes. So far it's a mixture of Asian and American... I didn't grow up with a lot of different ethnic dishes and feel a bit deprived. :-P

And about Thevy and foods... This girl is so cute. Well, let me start with a little "pre-story". We were looking at a Max & Ruby book (Max and Ruby are these brother-sister rabbit characters. We discovered them on a cartoon, but I think they may have been storybook characters first.) . So there's this book we were reading called Max's First Word. In the story Max is a little bunny who only knows how to say the word "bang". His big sister tries to get him to say other words as she shows him different objects. Max's response is always, "Bang!" In the end, Ruby gives him an apple and tells him to say "Yum yum!" That's when Max finally says, "Delicious!" Thevy and I both laughed at this. I don't know if she got it, but I was a bit amused.

Anyway, the other day Thevy was eating this peach dessert and I was trying to talk to her, asking her if she liked her food. I asked her, "Is the food good? Are the peaches yummy?", or something along those lines. Thevy responded, "Delicious!" And I've heard her use that word a couple more times when eating. She's so funny...

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Thevy Turns Two


Today is mini-me's birthday. It's been 24 months since my first overnight hospital stay. Wow, where does the time go?

The picture above was taken a couple days ago. I don't know what she's doing in the pic. She might be trying to come for the camera.

She's learning to talk better each day. I notice now that she makes an effort to form sentences and declare things. The words she used to pronounce all wrong, after I say them correctly, she repeats the word more correctly.

And she still saying funny things that I have to assume she learned from the TV because 24/7 with me, I know I didn't teach her. For example, she often crosses her arms and says, "No fair!" She's even got an appropriate facial expression to accompany the phrase. Sometimes she stomps her feet talkin' about "Hup/hut 2-3-4". And then there's her spouting out some numbers and saying "Blast off!"

I've gotta stop using certain words around her. I don't use profanity around her. A whole lot. But sometimes I say "stupid" and "crap" and she has imitated me. Oops!

But she's so bright, reciting her alphabet and pointing out letters whenever/wherever she sees them. I'm so proud of her! But she's gotta stop introducing herself to every stranger. She puts her hand on her chest and proclaims to random people, "I'm Thevy!" But it's cute. :)

The picture to the right, Thevy is enjoying a Canary melon. It was our first time buying it; we'd never even heard of it or seen it before. It caught my eye, being bright yellow and placed with the other melons, but looking sort-of like a squash. Well, it's not bad. Tastes just like a cantaloupe to me. So, I guess if I want fresh fruit, depending on whichever is cheapest, I'll get a Canary melon or a cantaloupe.