Teacher Mama

Ryo started calling me Teacher Mama a couple weeks ago since Aaron told him I used to be a teacher. I love it! Since Christmas I've have been doing "Calendar Time"with the kids. (Thank you to my sis, Marie for giving us a Melissa nad Doug magnetic calendar board!) This is something I used to do with my Kindergarten students @LAUSD West Athens Elementary. Calendar Time teaches and reinforces number recognition, counting, reading, and oral language skills. During this time we go over the current date, the months of the year, the days of the week, counting in English, Spanish, Japanese and Filipino. I also have them identify the numbers by point to numbers at random or I ask them to "find number ..."

 To date, Ryo can count to 100 by ones and tens in English. Rocco can count to 30. Aida can count to 20. Ryo can count to 30 in Spanish (maybe more...need to check again). Rocco can count to 20 in Spanish. Aida counts to 10 in Spanish. In Japanese: Ryo - almost 20, but not always, Rocco and Aida up to 10. They count to 10 in Filipino...but that is because I can only count to 10 in Filipino...guess I need to learn more!

It is fun for me and for them! I am so amazed at how fast they learn!

Rocco @ 21 months singing the ABC song

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Ryo Turns Three

Wow! Has 3 years gone by already? Ryo turns 3 today! We are so proud of him. He is a wonderful, smart, funny, active, creative, athletic boy! He couldn't be a better big brother to his siblings!

Ryo loves anything trains, yogurt, rice, toasted nori (seaweed), oranges (but he has a slight allergy to citrus!), strawberries, blueberries, ice cream, and his Papa's spaghetti!

He loves to recite his alphabet, the sounds of the letters, count to 40, sing, listen to stories and can even read a few words!

His favorite shows are Caillou, Curious George, an animal cartoon show that I cannot remember the name of at the moment, and Thomas the Train.

He also loves to watch/interact with Pete and the Secret of Flying on my iPhone and also the Nighty Night app and to play just about anything outside! He especially likes to "garden."

We love you Ryo!

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11 Month Old Twins and a 2.5 Year Old!

Aida is walking!

Triple the Fun on This Mother's Day!

What a great day for a mama!

Started with getting all the kids in our bed this morning,  a great cup of coffee from the huzband, a short morning jog with a great view of the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge, awesome waffles w/all the fixings at my sister-in-law's, enjoing the sunshine in the back yard, and then sashimi for dinner! Yay!

Lovin the supa' mama life!

A Pair of 6 month Olds (in a few days) and a 2 Year Old

So I am by myself with all 3 kids all day and evening today. Dropped off Aaron at the airport at 6 am and he won't be back until later tonight...so far so good, in fact as of 10 minutes ago all three are asleep! What's a mama to do? Awwww blog.

Ryo turned 2 the beginning of the month! It's so cool to see how much he learns everyday. He is such a good big brother- tries to be so helpful and I know he can't wait to play with these kids. 

The twins...some milestones:

-tried solids - rice cereal, avocado, squash, sweet potatoes and banana; like Ryo they didn't care for the cereal or avocado

-both can turn over; Rocco can do this a lot easier than his sis

-sleeping more, but not through the night

-they outgrew their crib (they shared it), and now have a toddler bed to share when they are not sleeping with me or on the couch

Almost 4 Months, Almost 2 Years

Two minutes until 5:00 am. Been up since 2:30 am (when I fed Aida). I keep thinking Rocco is gonna get up like he usually does..I hear him rustling in the crib every now and again, but two and a half hours later, he is still asleep! Everyone is going to be up in about an hour anyway, so might as well stay awake this Sunday morning!

Yesterday we had our longest family outing. We went to Japan Town in San Francisco with my mother-in-law (who was a great help!). We must have been out there for 3 hours. That is a long time with infant twins and a toddler. Got to do a little shopping for all the Japanese snacks I love and even had some Ramen (MIL watched the twins, Ryo stayed with us). To be with just one kid is a rarity for us. This is the 3rd time we've been without the twins for a meal. And we have yet to be without Ryo for a meal. Yep, it has been almost 2 years and Aaron and I have not had a sit-down meal together with just us! I hear about other couples who have "Date Nights" and wonder, wow, what's that like?

100 Days!

As of January 7, 2011 the twins have been with us 100 Days!!! As I type, I have Aida in the all-powerful sleep machine - The Swing. I'm thinking back to how different things are with raising the twins compared to Ryo and his first 100 days.....

- With Ryo I took a picture of him every day up until his 100th day. I never printed out much of the pictures, so they are sitting on a CD somewhere....I've taken lots of pictures of the twins, but not daily.
- Gave Ryo infant massages 3x a week. The twins are lucky if I think of giving them one every other week.
- Ryo slept next to us in bed....and he STILL is sleeping next to me (yeah, he needs to sleep in his own bed)...twins...are in the crib (RYo didn't have a crib)
- I went back to work once Ryo turned 10 weeks. The twins are 3 months and a week old and I am enjoying being with them at home. This allows me to breastfeed more too!
- By 100 days, Ryo took his first trip across the state..yeah, with twins and a toddler that is not happening for awhile!
- We used cloth diapers on Ryo up until he was maybe 6 or 7 months. The cloth diapers are neatly folded away in a drawer for the twins....

What things are the same:

- Messy home ALL the time.
- Middle of the night feedings.
- Smiles, cooing, laughing to melt your heart.
- Loving being a mom....

12 Week Old Twins and a 21 Month Old Toddler - Christmas Eve!

Happy Holidays Family, Friends and Colleagues!

What a wonderful year it has been! We have much to celebrate as 2010 comes to an end and we look forward to another year of blessings! 

Here are some of the year's highlights:

• Lani quit her job on January 22 to spend more time with Ryo. She doesn't miss the stress and crazy travel schedule she had!
• Soon after, Aaron and Lani received news that they were expecting.....TWINS!
• Ryo celebrated his first b-day on March 1. We threw him a party with a camping theme (even pitched a tent in the back yard!) at our house in Victorville. Family and friends came to party and grub on camping food (hot dogs, hamburgers, and pancit (Filipino camping style!)
• Took a vacation end of March in Kauai with Lolo, Lola and the Latrique family. Aaron surfed for the first time!
• Took a trip to Seattle, WA in June (work/play) and visited with one of Lani's best buds from UCLA, Rachelle, her hubby Marlon and kidz Kai and Emi. They've got boy/girl twins too! Washington is Ryo's 5th state he has travelled to!
• Lani was put on bedrest in July so travelling on an airplane was out of the question!
• Aaron sold his big red truck and bought a minivan!
• At the end of August, we packed up and moved back to the Bay Area.
• Just in time...Rocco and Aida were born on September 29 - 3 weeks early....

and the rest of the year is just a blur of little sleep, constant feedings, keeping up with a rambunctious toddler, home improvement work, and doing laundry daily. Phew! 

Indeed, there has been great change to our lives as we are now a Party of Five! We are so happy to finally have our little family and are extremely thankful to family and friends for love and support along this journey.

Peace and Love to All!

10 Week Old Twins, 21 Month Old Toddler

I am happy to say that Aida sleeps 6 hours straight now. What a huge difference it makes! Rocco still gets up every 3 hours, but he easily goes back to sleep once he's fed. They are both a little over 10 pounds now...almost double their birth weight. They are growing so fast...I am trying hard to soak up this special time while they are infants! Ryo is doing fabulous. He still has his moments of antics to get our attention....but it's so cute (sometimes...). Nonetheless, he is still a joy and we constantly remind him that he's our first born baby so he feels special too. He surprised us last night by naming the letters on Aaron's shirt that had "CALIFORNIA" stitched across. I just love being a mom....even though there are times we miss out on things...like the other night our next door neighbors invited us to their holiday dinner..their friend used to work at The French Laundry and was preparing a home-cooked 5 course meal. We couldn't get any one to watch the kids, and although our neighbors said they could come along, we just didn't want to change the dynamic of the dinner, especially because the other couples left their kids at home. Oh well....we had Korean food take-out instead...and hung out with the kids.

8 Week Twins 20 Month Old Toddler

Well, here is my first blog entry since the twins arrived. It is 3:14 AM and  I am b-feeding Aida as I type with my right hand. So much has happened these last 8 weeks, and I wish I could have found the time to write earlier...but its been impossible! Literally, I think about documenting this whole experience everyday, but its so hard to find a moment!

What's happening now....

Ryo is a great big bro. He is very loving towards Rocco and Aida...esp. Ai. He loves to rest his check on theirs and pat their bodies and say "baby" in his own "baby talk" way. It's so cute!
Here is Ryo with the twins Day 3

Here is a more recent pix..at 7 weeks

catching up....

Delivery went smoothly. got to  hospital close to 9 am and was 4 cm with moderate pain, contractions ever 3-4 min. soon after the pain increased but bearable. Had the epidural a couple hours later and it felt like bliss! Boy what a difference the drug made! With Ryo we opted to do it natural, so I felt that pain! For this labor, since Aida was transverse, there was a possibility to get a c-section....and who wants to feel yourself getting cut open?

Rocco 2:28 pm 5 lbs 14 oz 19 in

 Aida 3:42 pm 5 lbs 9 oz 19.5 in

okay...it's 4:07 am now and i already put aida down and just fed rocco. they'll be up again in a couple hours...so i'm gonna sleep! (i get about 4 hours of sleep a night!) will write more later!

37 Weeks 4 Days - Water Broke!

Finally...my water broke at 2:10 am today and labor should come in the next 10-12 hours! We've been having a heat wave hear in the Bay Area and I've been feeling very, very uncomfortable!

Last Tuesday, my mucous plug came out and I had the bloody show. At 3:00 am I had spotting and I called the on-call doctor. Since I was not having any contractions, he said to monitor for an hour and drink lots of water or juice. I did and since no contractions came, I went to sleep. When I woke up at 8:50 am, I went to the bathroom and filled the toilet with blood! So, I went to L&D triage around 10:30 am. Aaron dropped me off since he had Ryo and I didn't want him to just wait around in case I was not delivering. Long story short, babies were fine, just 1 cm dilated, apparently my capillaries burst in my cervix causing the bleeding.

On Thursday, I went to my regular doctor check-up and still was only 1 cm!

On Friday, I had NST (non stress test) testing and AFI (amniotic fluid index). Babies were fine, both vertex. Estimated weight was Boy: 6 lbs 9 oz and Girl: 6 lbs 11 oz! Huge!

Yesterday (Tuesday), I had the NST and AFI again and things looked good. But, my girl is transverse again. Hopefully as labor progresses, she gets back in vertex so I can deliver vaginally!

It's 3:43 am, I should rest, but I want to document how I am feeling! I feel good, relieved that labor will come, but a little worried that we are still living amongst boxes here. We are getting our roof re-tiled, have not put in carpet in the baby room, and still need to paint. Plus, it has been really hot the last few days (in the 90's!)...but I just checked the weather forecast and it should be cooling down....87 today, high 70's the rest of the week. Phew, considering we don't have air conditioning!

Well, it's hard to believe they will be here soon! I've been nesting over the last week, so it's time. Yesterday I even went to a twins and multiples support group: Twins By the Bay I am glad I went! very informative....I was able to ask lots of questions to others in the group (2 women who were preggo too, a coule who just had twins, and two other women whose twins are 4-5 years old).

I am getting tired now...so I'll sign off! But here is a picture I just took of myself 1/2 hour ago!

BTW, I did wake Aaron to let him know my H2O broke, but then just told him to sleep since I wasn't having contractions. So far, I've only felt two. I took a shower, called the doctor on call (Dr. Gentry) and she said to wait until I get the contractions, or around noon to go into L&D.

Excited! But...need to get rest, because I won't have that luxury very soon!

33 weeks....34 Weeks tomorrow!

It's 8:52, Friday night and I am sitting on the couch with my feet up enjoying a movie (The Bourne Identity) while Ryo is asleep. Aaron is probably on BART on his way back here (Wyndham Canterbury in Union Square, SF...been here last 10 days- very nice time share thanks to the Latrique's) from parking the minivan at our house (to park vlet here is $30 plus tax).

Another long day...did some consulting work online, hung out with Megan, Sami and the kids, visited our 812 house (we'll move in on Sunday). Ryo enjoyed playing with his cousins...he is so happy with them! I'm loving being back in Northern Cal! Just wish I were more mobile...I can hardly walk these days.

Had my ultrasound yesterday. My daughter is nearly 5 pounds (4 lbs. 15 oz.) and she turned! She is now head-down, yeah! My son is slightly smaller 4 lbs. 4 oz. Both are growing normally and have normal heart rates! Yippee! But they sure weigh me down! This pregnancy is definitely harder than when I had Ryo! 

So my prediction is that these kids will make their appearance on Sept. 19 when I am 36 weeks....yep, in 2 weeks. I just don't see me expanding much more after that! I'm huge!

27 Weeks Pregnant

Had a nice weekend....spent the day at the Glen Ivy Spa with sisters and mom. A much needed mommy massage was in order :-). Earlier this week, Aaron, Penny (my niece) and sister, Marie spent a few days at the beach in Oceanside, CA. It was great!!!!

Today was not as relaxing because I have a new consulting project. I'm enjoying it though. Aaron took Ryo shopping for the day so that I could work.

16 Months and a Pregnant Mama

Well, I thought that with quitting my job back in January that I would have more time to blog....but being a full-time stay-at-home mommy is so much more consuming than working a 60 hour work week. I absolutely love staying at home and watching Ryo grow. He is a joy, indeed!

At 16 Months he is....
- talking in Ryo talk a ton! He can say: what's this, hi/bye guys, love you, mama, papa, this, read this, eat, yes, doggie, woof-woof, moo, pooh-pooh, pee-pee, happy (tries to sing Happy Birthday), cheese, torti (short for tortilla), banana (okay, nana, actually), apple, up, off, lolo, diaper, shoes, eyes, ears, mwah (kiss), please (peez), thank you, cracker, blue... I'll need to continue this list...
- can climb onto the couch and other chairs and just sit and chill (for a minute)
- can balance his body standing on his push car
- does a teethy cheesy smile
- understands concept of being happy and tells us
- when he wants papa to get out of bed...knows to grab papa's shorts as to put them on
- knows how to tell us when he is hungry
- remembers parts of a story (can do hand motions, say words when being read to)
- recognizes streets when going to grandparent's house in Hesperia, CA
- tries to brush his teeth
- knows how to clasp hands in namaste

I am also pregnant with twins - a perfect combo - a boy and a girl. Due October 16th, but with twins I could come earlier. In fact, the average gestation period is 36 weeks! I am excited and a bit anxious of the thought of having 3 kids under 2 years! So here is how I'm feeling right about now:

- trouble sleeping (ah hem, it is 3:12 am right now)
- start off sleeping with Aron and Ryo in our room (yes, we still co-sleep), then in the middle of the night I move to Ryo's room to sleep because I toss and turn and don't want to wake them and with two in my belly...I need the space!
- I'm huge. I look and feel like I'm 8-9 months pregnant minus the feet swelling. I weigh about 158 pounds!
- last couple days I have been having more feelings of fatigue and exhaustion
- pre-term labor is a worry on my mind
- babies kick a lot, especially the boy
- practice pre-natal yoga when I can a the Pedroni Living Room yoga studio

11 Months

I finally QUIT my job! Hooray! Now I am a full-time stay-at-home mom! It has been officially one week, and I am enjoying being with Ryo everyday! Timing is everything; Ryo has had a tough week since he has 6 teeth coming in at the same time. Poor kiddo...has not had a good night sleep in days.

Ryo is fully walking now. It's amazing to see him go! When he falls (which is often), he picks himself right up and is off! He knows what "Stand Up" means, and I'm sure he knows what "don't go there" means, but he doesn't listen.

A month away for his first b-day. I have done ZERO planning! Yikes!

10 Months

It is 2010 and Ryo is 10 Months! Time sure does fly! This time last year I was mighty pregnant! But I will have to say, I had a pretty easy pregnancy and I enjoyed it! Maybe it's because I longed to get pregnant for sooo long! I'm not getting any younger, so I would love to get pregnant again soon and so that Ryo can have a sibling close in age!

Aahhhh 2009...what a year indeed! The best part was the birth of Ryo of course! The most difficult....adjusting to both mommyhood and my career. 2010 brings a new outlook in life, less stress, and more quality time with family! My theme for the year...

Go Confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined. - Henry David Thoreau

Updates:

-Ryo took his first step on Christmas Day! What a gift to mommy and daddy! He can take up to 5 steps on his own!
-Ryo can climb down the stairs...all fourteen steps by himself
-Had to take Ryo to the ER in Oakland on 12-29-09 because his eczema flared up pretty badly! he is on his way to recovery
-Hands me books he wants me to read to him
-continues to Ryo-talk, loves to talk in "tongues"
-enjoys watching mommy get back into yoga
-can say "All Done"

9 Months 2 Weeks

Ryo continues to amaze me with his growth! This month he's....

-standing by himself at most 11 seconds!
-added yes, more, up to his speech
-when I ask him to give me something...he understands and does it
-understands concept of "no"
-graduated from his infant bathtub
-can climb all the way up our stairs - 14 steps without help

8 Months and 4 weeks

Wow, this month just went by so quickly! Work has been crazy!!! SInce I last wrote, I've been to Chicago twice and Central and Northern California 2 or 3 times! So glad that the holidays are coming!!!

Mid-October was the worst... I was away from Ryo for 4 days. While I was away he got sick and his eczyma flared up. I really don't know how other moms do it who have to travel as much or more than I do....I am seriously thinking about changing this....

As I type this...Ryo is chasing me around to get to m keyboard. He is so speedy and agile....crawling, climbing, pulling himself on what he can to stand...Other notables:

-can sign more, milk
-can high five
-kisses on demand
-visited the beach (Oceanside, CA) for the first time ad LOVED the water!
-took his 5th trip on a plane this past week (we went to the Bay Area--I had a conference and we also visited his new baby cousin!)
-makes a grunting sound to get our attention
-can say Hi/Hey at least that is what it sounds like
-knows how to say Dada.. when he wants Aaron or a diaper change