I owe an apology to Huggie.  Actually, it didn’t really leak.  It was just that Baby Roo grew out of the Huggie Newborn diapers in fewer than 5 days.  We didn’t finish even finish the first package of Huggie Newborn diapers (72 count).  We are now using the first package of Target Size 1 diapers (70+ count?)…. down to the last 10.  Next will be Pampers Size 1 diapers (56 count?)  If Baby Roo finishes the Pamper Size 1 diapers as well without growing “out” of them yet, we will need more Size 1 diapers.  We already have 3.5 packages of Size 2 diapers and 1 package of Size 3 diapers ready!

Baby Roo is Born!

Both Baby Roo and I are healthy.  Baby Roo eats and sleeps well.  I try to eat and sleep well.  =)

Quick info: this labor and delivery went a lot smoother and “faster” than the one with Baby Koala.  Breastfeeding is going pretty well.  Hopefully it will be successful this time around.

Note to self: stupid Huggie leaks!  I knew either Huggie or Pampers doesn’t work with my babies.  I guess it’s Huggie.  Oh well, at least I know exactly when he peed.  Why it leaks in the back for a boy???  oh well.  I couldn’t find Target Brand newborn size.  Also, I think Target is getting rid of the Target Brand diapers and replacing them with Up & Up.  We will use up all the Huggie Newborn and Target Size 1 (2 & 3) first, then we will try out Up & Up if Target truly is getting rid of Target Brand diapers.  Very sad…

Wow, has it been a week already that I haven’t posted?  Sorry!  I can’t really blame myself for being busy as I’m not really busy.  However, as you know, we co-sleep.  Usually, even when we co-sleep, Koala sleeps on her side of the king-size bed and I sleep on my side of the bed.  Lately, Koala likes to sleep hugging my arm or having nearly her whole body touching my back.  I love that feeling of being so close to her!  So, I didn’t get out of bed to go on the internet.  =)  Who knows how long she will do this for, you know?  After not being online for near a week though, I guess even if she was super close to me today, I had to get out of bed to go on Facebook and check out other blogs.

You may not see me for 2-3 months!  Baby Roo will be born any time now, I guess.  So, I will actually be busy caring for a newborn and a toddler with my hubby’s help.  Hubby will be a great help as he will cook for the whole family, feed Koala, and put her to sleep.  I will try to post here and there.  Take care!!!  See you next time!

I read an article about the Tea Parties that are happening around the country.  I still don’t know the details but commenting on a general remark: I disagree with tax increase to bail out banks and other companies who had bad businesses.  The banks should know better than to give out interest-only loans.  Come one!  Even before I studied MBA, I already knew that interest-only loans sound very “suspicious”.  Interest-only loans is like giving money to the bank for a few years.  The person is not even paying any part of the principle!  Granted, I have a CPA Dad and an engineering background, so it may just be “natural” for me to sense “suspicious activity”.

Auto companies… well, if you haven’t been improving your cars to stay competitive, maybe you should deserve to go bankrupt.  Yes, it will be a huge domino effect if a whole auto company shuts down but believe me, the economy will survive.  We still need cars, right?  It’s a necessity in the U.S. and in many other countries.  Other auto companies will need to buy parts, although not necessary the same parts.

Good move by Chase.  I feel very, very sorry for Washington Mutual.  Really!  It had a good business running and it had awesome ideas and practices.  I walked into the branch and I knew immediately it had the best branch customer service than any other banks I had been to.  I don’t know the details, but I felt that it was just unlucky.  Why else so many other big banks who also offered stupid loans survived?  Chase was really smart to buy it.  Just driving by, Washington Mutual (WM) has nearly as many branches as Bank of America.  Buying WM is the fastest way to grow Chase’s prominence in California.  Plus, all those clients who took advantage of the WM heavily advertised “Free Checking”?  Chase saved a lot of marketing cost.  I feel so, so, so sad for WM… partly because I had stocks in them.  sniff… sniff… sniff…

And… Yes, I do believe government should have little or no interference with the market.  Market stabilizes itself eventually.  Government interference actually prolongs this process.  With super geniuses in the government, they should already know where the market is heading.  If there’s any government interference, it should be an act to speed up to the worse.  Believe me… if we dive for the worse, then government comes to the rescue… it looks a lot more heroic for the government.

Oh, I really don’t care how much the millionaires are making so there’s no need to tell me how much the Obamas made last year.  Even if the millionaires pay a flat income tax, they still get to keep plenty of their hard-earned money.  Of course, they wouldn’t pay the “flat income tax” as they hire excellent accountant to reduce their income tax so much that they may actually get money back!  =)

As a person who saved years of money for a dream house, I really feel unfair to have to pay more tax to bail-out bad companies.  It was really hard to save those money!  No luxury, no nothing  for many years.  I had to keep transferring money from account to account to get the best interest rate when the interest rate was so low!  I did the same when interest rate went up.  It was a big hassle.  I had to make risky runs at the stocks to earn money too.  I paid income taxes to those earnings and the dividends.  As most of you know, I’m house hunting.  Guess what I heard from Hubby?  Some of the “homeowners” (banks or construction company, etc.) who got bailout money from the government and stuff actually demolish the houses to keep the house prices “up”.  So, once they got bailout money for the “house”, they immediately destroy the house so that it’s not on the market any more.  Also, many houses are in default but the banks delay the process of default and foreclosure so that it won’t flood the market with houses.  Again, a way to keep the house prices “up”.  Oh well… what can a lower-middle-income class citizen do except to rant on her blog?

I recently received 9 safety tips in a forward e-mail from a friend.  I obviously was very tempted to forward it to my friends since it sounds quite useful.  However, as usual, with all forward e-mails that I plan to forward, I look it up to see if it’s a hoax first.  Just “google” the “title of the e-mail + hoax”.  Sure enough, I actually find even better tips on snopes.com.

I often enjoy reading from websites that catch hoaxes because they are quite informative and can be very funny.

Too bad the important stuff is actually at the end of the webpage.  So, be sure to read all the way from top to bottom or just skip to the bottom:

“If attacked or threatened, run, and if you can’t run, scream.”

There are other useful tips after this sentence too.  Take care!!!

Our city/state increased Sales Tax by a whole percentage point last month.  Hubby said they will increase it by another percentage point in June.

My reaction?  Let’s go shopping!  Hubby is like, “No!!!  That’s not what I meant.”  LOL.  Well… That’s what I did though.  $150 of purchase at Target last week!  Sales Tax increase was one excuse; of course, the other excuse is Baby Roo is coming.  I got a 4-drawer Sterilite cart (~$25), 2-1.1 Qt Thermos (~$25 each), 3 packages of diapers (2 Size N Huggies and 1 Size 1 Target Brand), and other stuff.

The drawer-cart is for Baby Roo’s clothes.  Koala has the same one but older design.  The 1.1-Qt Thermos is for my fish soup.  People have been telling me fish soup is good for breastmilk supply.  2 lbs of fish pan-fried until dry.  Then put them into a big pot with a few pieces of ginger and water 1-2 inches above the fish.  Boil for 1-2 hours.  Drink 5-6 bowls of the soup everyday after the baby is born if you plan to breastfeed.  Pick small fish to reduce chemical and mercury in-take.  My mom’s advice: give the fish a good squeeze afterward to make sure ALL the soup come out.  =)  I plan to start drinking this on my expected due date just to ensure there’s milk once the baby is born!

Now, back to shopping… I heard there’s usually a mid-year sale at Target in July.  Let’s see what else can I buy…  =P

A few days ago, Koala played with 2 neighbor friends since it’s their Spring Break and they are home during business/school hours.  They are 5-yr old and 8-yr old sisters.  We were talking and they brought up their b-days then I said, “Oh, that’s the same as my sister’s b-day.”

The 5-yr old said, “my mom has a sister too!”

First thought that came to my mind, “why did she bring up her mom?”

Of course, I quickly forgot about it and continued the conversation, “really?”

Believe me, there’s no time to “think” when talking to 3 girls at the same time!  As I was driving home from work that night, I thought about the conversation again: “why did she bring up her mom?  The 5-yr old has a sister too!  She is right there!”  Then I realized, “I’m Koala’s mom.  Of course she will compare me to her mom.”

Wow… I never thought about being compared to someone’s mom!  It is kind of weird.  I guess I rarely talk to children so it’s pretty much the first time I hear someone compare me to his/her mom.  I guess I’m a mom now; not a child any more.  I will always be seen as Koala’s mom in front of Koala’s friends.  I guess I still was wishing to be seen as “friend”.  Nope, that wouldn’t work.  Oh well…  At least they are not comparing me to their Grandmas…  =)

Recently I got in touch with my 4th cousin on Facebook after 10 years of not contacting each other.  When I say 4th cousin, it means that we were related by blood more than 4 generations ago.  Due to the family-connection within my grandparents’ village, any one from the same village is considered “family”.  =)

I obviously told her about Koala and Baby Roo right away!  She was like, “Really can’t imagine you are a Mother now.”

Well, I can’t imagine I’m a Mother also!  Me?  I have overprotective parents and sister and husband.  I was always well taken care of.  I never needed to grow up.  I just need to study, graduate from college, and get a job.  Hubby and I love kids.  So we got married and have kids.  Bam!  I’m a Mother!

Really?  Am I really a Mother?  My life certainly changed after becoming a Mother, no doubt about that.  Light out before 9pm, no TV, no junk food, no instant noodle, chemical phobia.  What is a movie theatre?  Disneyland is no longer a place where I try to get on as many ride as possible, catch the parade, and decide rather to leave before midnight.  Disneyland is now a place where I try to get Koala to stay through 2 rides, call it a success, and head home.

It’s no longer me who has emotional meltdowns; the one who does complaining; nor the one who annoys Hubby until he jumps up and down and throws his arms in the air.  Koala has this “responsibility” now.

Still, a mother?  I giggle and laugh while Koala has her emotional meltdowns, complains, and annoys Hubby.  I talk to Koala like an adult.  I am still very persistent, especially with Koala.  I still need hugs and kisses to feel better.  The hugs and kisses no longer come from Hubby, but from Koala now… even better: I can get it 24/7!

I guess my daily routine and part of my personality show a motherly side: preparing breakfast and lunch; feeding milk and potty-training.  I’m a lot more protective of Koala, Hubby, and myself.  My caring nature and patience show through Koala.

Oh well, I AM A MOTHER no matter if I seem like a mother or not.  I no longer just live for myself.  I live and stay healthy for Hubby, Koala, and Baby Roo.  I guess that’s the only feeling needed to make a person feel like a Mother.

Koala is very shy.  She is particulary scared of male adults.  I don’t know why.  It’s fine with me.  This reduces the chances of kidnapping because as a male adult is 8 feet away from her, she would scream and run to me.  It’s a bit hard for any male adult to approach her.

Living in an apartment, things get broken, and repairmen come in to fix stuff.  No gender discrimination… but most people who come up to repair are men.  Any how, when they are at our place, Koala needs me to carry her.  She won’t even let me sit.  I guess she must think if anything happens, it’s faster to run from a standing position than a sitting position.

Being pregnant, it gets pretty tiring carrying her for the whole length of someone fixing “stuff”.  I sat down.  Koala demanded me to stand up.  I said to her, “Mommy is holding you.  Don’t worry.  No one would want to approach Mommy maliciously.  Remember how Mommy can be very mean and scary when you are bad?  That’s why no one want to approach Mommy.”

It worked!  I don’t feel guilty as a mean and scary Mom any more.  It provides the safe reassurance for Koala.  =)

I have always donated to different “groups” since I was very little.  Of course, when I was a child, I gave my money to my parents and told them to donate them to the “needies”.  My guess is good that they probably pocketed my money!  LOL.  oh well.

Ever since I got pregnant with Koala though, with limited budget, I only donated to groups related to children; like children’s hospital, children’s cancer/diabetes/heart disease research, etc.

A few days ago, I went to In N Out for burger, fries, and strawberry milkshake.  I saw that they are doing a 3 to 1 match if you donate to their foundation.    “100% of what you give goes directly toward local organizations that provide residential treatment, emergency shelter, foster care and early intervention for children in need.”  They are doing their part for this month: Child Abuse Prevention Month.  You can donate online, in-store, or by mail.

If you are REALLY tight on money, you can also “donate” by just clicking on TheChildHealtSite.com on the right under “Click to Give”.  Once you click to give, you can go through the 6 tabs on the top to continue to click to give.

Have fun!