For those of you who didn’t already see on Facebook…

We welcomed Baby Ian Yi-En into the world on Friday March 19, 2010 (2 weeks early!). He weighed in at 8lbs 2oz and 21 inches.

I can’t believe it has already been 2 years since Ethan was born. It seems like just yesterday I was changing blow- out -shit- up- the- back- of- his- onesie-diapers and today he is already asking to use the potty (sometimes). It’s just amazing how fast time flies.

I remember the day he was born, I didn’t think it was possible to fall in love so fast, nor that it was possible to fall in love even more, but I have, and I do with each passing day.

Happy Birthday, little man! Mommy & Daddy love you!

http://picasaweb.google.com/ethanloh.month24

Well, it is almost your birthday little Ethan, but it sure as hell is time for your birthday party tomorrow.

Where have I been lately you might ask? Well, up to my ears in birthday party planning, of course!

Location secured

Invites made and sent out

Nagging people about RSVPs

Supplies purchased (party hats, cups, plates, napkins, etc.)

Favor bags made

Favors made

Fondant for cupcakes made

Cupcakes baked

Favor bags filled & labeled

Buy fruit and veggie tray

Make punch

Am I missing anything?!

A little over 24 hours before the party starts!!!

They need 100k hits on youtube to get their video on MTV. Please watch and pass it on!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DC4PHvMTPc

PS. The Korean girl in the band (and playing cello) is a good friend of mine from HS.

Wow…I totally did not make NY resolutions last year for 2009  (oops)

2008 Resolutions

I never write these, but here goes… (I will cross out what I did acheive)

1. Have an easy, fast, painless labor (I wouldn’t say it was easy, or fast, and definitely not painless. It ended up in an emergency c-section. However, I will not complain as it could have been worse.)

2. Have a healthy baby

3. Be a good mom (this is an on-going thing lol)

4. Have my wedding

5. Be a good wife (this includes learning to cook  ) (eh, I just asked Charlie and he said “definitely not”)

6. Spend less $ on stuff I don’t need (quit starbucks?!) (same thing here…no way close)

7. Save more (major fail)

8. Lose all my pregnancy weight and get smaller than my prepregnancy weight

With that in mind…here I will start the 2010 resolutions:

1. Have a easy labor for bb#2 (scheduled c-section)

2. Have another healthy baby

3. Be an even better mom

4. Be a better wife, and learn to cook

5. Get a house

6. Complain less

7. Spend less on stuff we don’t need

8. Save more

9. Excerise

10. Eat healthier

11. Lose all my baby weight (this time was way more) and get smaller than my pre-pregnancy weight (and stay there!)

What are your resolutions for the new year?

This is totally only for my family members who are shopping for Ethan and asked for a list. It’s easier than mass emails back and forth with updates. Once either we have or someone else has emailed me what they’ve purchased, I will cross it out.

Happy shopping  Thanks in advance!

Ethan’s Holiday (And Birthday) Wish Lists

Rock Beat Rhythm Sticks
Yo  Gabba Gabba V-Tec Laptop 
Elmo’s peek and seak
Keyboard 
Imaginarium Classic Train Table with Roundhouse Wooden Train Set
Mickey Mouse Hot Dog Dancer
Melissa and Doug Geometric Stacker
Fisher Price Mickey Counting Car

Fisher Price Mickey Mouse Club House Raceway
Mickeys club house garage (mega blocks)

Playschool Busy Gears

Melissa and Doug Pound and Roll Tower

Boikido Percussion Table

Yo Gabba Gabba Plex Keytar

Sesame Street- My first reader  (also likes Ni Hao Kailan and Mickey for this)

Glow in the dark sensory ball

Hit toy let’s go Thomas

Sit and Spin 

Yo Gabba Gabba Brobee Microphone

Yo Gabba Gabba Boombox

Yo Gabba Gabba DanceTime Brobee

Yo Gabba Gabba Music is Awesome CD

Yo Gabba Gabba Toddler Blanket

Mega Blocks Ni Hao Kai Lan

Ni Hao Kailan Doll

Ni Hao Kailan DVD (Carnival—he has all the others)

Blue Box Musical (Yo Gabba Gabba)

Sesame Street Potty Elmo 

Little People Garage/Carwash

Jump Smart Trampoline

Thomas the train 24piece floor puzzle

Sand and water table

Melissa and Doug monster bowling set

Jammin’ Musicians Activity Foot-to Floor Ride On (Elmo) Thanks Burleise!

Step 2 Up and Down Roller Coaster Ride On
Drums

Toddler Bed (click the link)
Mammut Children’s Table (Light blue)  & 2 Mammut Children’s Chairs (Green & Blue) from Ikea

Baby #2 WishList

(we’re registered at Babies R Us: Registry # 43613836)

Please help me pass this on to anyone you can. I would love to see ICEC (Ethan’s special needs school) get the most votes. They have been so helpful to us and changed our lives in so many ways. I am forever grateful for all the teachers and therapists there. Below is more information:

Happy Holidays from the Intervention Center for Early Childhood
Greetings!


Help us with your VOTE!

Chase Community Giving is donating $5,000,000 to charities around the USA. Facebook users are voting for the recipients! Simply vote for your favorite charity ICEC and then get friends and others on FACEBOOK to do the same. Give ICEC the recognition it deserves and help us receive a donation from Chase.

Click on the link below for a video and FAQ’s from Chase.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=788843813613.

ICEC on Facebook
ICEC has created a facebook group to help you stay in contact with and linked in with your ICEC staff and friends. You may find us at “ICEC” – Intevention Center for Early Childhood. There is also an easy one-click link on our page to vote for ICEC.
Voting ends on December 11th, narrowing down the top 100 Charities that will receive a minimum of $25,000. Please hurry and vote now – and tell your friends!


Thanks so much for your participation,

Pam Alexander, Executive Director
Intervention Center for Early Childhood

[mood | exhausted ]
[music| Jay Chou- Hei Se You Mo ]

Happy Holidays…I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving  Despite the shitty economy and the huge paycut (35k!) I took this year, I am feeling the holiday spirit! Speaking of, I need to order holiday cards. I have some cute pictures of Ethan and was thinking to order them with just Ethan on them (I could do it tonight) or should I wait until we take some family pictures this weekend? I want to have time to send them out…hmm.

As many of you know, we’re expecting baby #2 in March. It’s another boy! I can’t believe my little Ethan is going to be a ge ge (big brother).

The above pictures are from my 22 week ultra sound in November. He weighed in at about 1 1/2lbs! I am still in shock…mostly financially since we’re totally starting over on this one (I donated everything, you name it from maternity clothes, to toys, car seat, etc. after Ethan) and still need big things like a double stroller. We’re still totally undecided on a name now…I think naming boys is really hard for some reason. Suggestions?

I really need to start updating more…

mood | Sleepy ]
[music| Rob Bass- It Takes 2]

I need to go to bed so I am going to make this entry short and sweet

It’s a….

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BOY! Errr…I should say…another boy! I am not too shocked since at the 13 week visit the high-risk OB who does the u/s said it was 75% chance of being a boy. Basically, she said “If that is not a penis then I don’t know what it is” LOL. The baby showed us his stuff today without any problems, but was kinda curled in a ball the whole time, so I need to go back in 2 weeks to check his heart again. She couldn’t get a good enough picture. He weighs about 14.5 oz right now (almost 1lb) and is still set for the due date of 3/25. My regular OB who will deliver me (she delivered Ethan) will schedule the C-section a week before, so he will be here before March 20. I am thinking she’s thinking March 17 or 18, but March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day. Wouldn’t that be weird? I think that all the elementary kids and college kids would care more about that than the bday and it would get overlooked….What do you guys think?

Since it’s a boy, I obviously again cannot use my favorite girl’s name. And I have already used my favorite boy’s name on Ethan….soooo it’s back to this again. What to name the baby? It’s so hard as a teacher to find a  name that you like (of course you never use ex bf’s names…blah) because  there is always some a-hole kid in your class who ruins the name for you.  I like names that end in -aiden but Charlie doesn’t. He likes Oskar (like Oskar Schindler) but I don’t. I like Tristan, but he says it is not ‘manly’. He likes Ezra, but I think it’s too old-fashioned. So far we agreed on Ian (or maybe spelled Eian), Elliot, Owen and Liam. We are unsure about Nathan (both like the name but it’s very close to Ethan). Any suggestions? Should I stick w/ E names?

[mood | Tired ]
[music| Digital Underground- The Humpty Dance ]

Long time no write, eh? It feels like it has been forever since I have blogged. There’s so much new stuff in my life now I am not even sure to begin…having said that, please excuse my rambling

H1N1

I’ll be honest. H1N1 scares the shit out of me. I have had 3 students with it so far. One who came to school every day with it, which really pissed me off. Seriously, WHY would his parents send him. Oh how I miss my old school district–parents did not send sick kids to school. Here I get emails about…Dear Mrs. L…sorry my child has the flu but I have to send him bc we don’t have insurance , or we can’t afford a baby sitter, I can’t take a day off, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I really do understand. I know it is HARD out there right now. Come on, I took a 30k paycut this year, my benefits are no longer free, and I am the only income we have (more on that later).Oh and we had to back out of our house and almost lost our entire down payment.  But, I would NOT ever send my son to school sick. Period.

To make a long story short…I ended up with H1N1. It was something awful. Seriously. I was in bed for 11 days and quarentined in my room. The worst part was being away from Ethan–he was constantly crying and banging on my door asking for mommy. I don’t even want to think about what psychological damage that might have done. My OB put me on Tamiflu 2x a day for 5 days. Tamiflu is an antiviral…kinda funny,  I kept wondering if I would turn into a zombie from it.  I still felt horrible for a few days after. I still am recommended to get the H1N1 vaccine, just in case, since the risks of complications for pregnant women are so high. My pediatrician, who does not recommend the seasonal flu shot at all, recommends it for my son. Since he has life-threatening allergies to eggs, he has to have it done with an allergist and be observed after. I hope it comes in soon.

Who has gotten the H1N1 vaccine? Who is not getting it and why?

Job from Hell New job

As I mentioned earlier, I took a HUGE paycut. My former school district laid me off in June, which was total BS considering I was already tenured. They ended up cutting my program, which impacted over 700 kids! Now they do not have a K-8 Chinese program. So sad. Anyways, I ended up being hired late start at another school in LA and am teaching Chinese to mostly Chinese and Hispanic kids. The program is not as well put together as my old school. It’s a lot of work for such little pay (like I said, 30k a year paycut, benefits are not free). It is soooo not worth it, but it’s all that is out there right now. Charlie is not working since Ethan was diagnosed w/ having a global delay over the summer and now attends therapy and a special school 4 days a week. It was a really rough transition for us–we had built a house we had to back of a few days before closing, we moved to the border of LA and Orange so that my commute would not be horrible (it is still 45 mins) and so we can stay in OC for Ethan’s services (they’re free through the OC regional center). The job itself is a pain–the district is very strict, I am constantly being observed, asked to do a lot of busy work like making data walls weekly, handing in weekly lesson plans, etc., but the worst part is that the kids are uninspired and quite frankly don’t give a rat’s ass about learning Chinese. For the Chinese kids it’s a waste of time or they’re sick of it bc not only do they have it at home, they have it afterschool and on Saturdays, and for the Hispanic kids, they just aren’t into it. Forthe first time in 6 years, I am out of ideas. And I also am becoming burnt out.

How many of you made a career change at some point?

I am thinking to go back to school and start over. Sorta. I toyed w/ the idea of just getting a Special Ed credential. Not sure if I want to finish that coursework (I don’t regret what I have taken as it has been helpful to me). I think I want to just get out of the classroom. I am sick of it. I would like to do something more administrative, but still with kids and in a school. And I want something that makes a hell of a lot more $$. I am thinking to finish my psych degree and get a school psych license. But that is another 5 years and lots of $. I have toyed with the idea of Occupational Therapy (3 years). I am leaning towards Speech Therapy-it’s another 3 yrs and will probably be expensive, but the starting pay is decent and it may be the best way to use my ability to speak a few langauges fluently.

Oh Baaaaaaaaaby

As some of you already know from FB or in real life…I am 21 weeks pregnant. I know that I said I never wanted another kid for many reasons: Financially it is hard to have a child. I worry constantly about being able to provide for Ethan. I want to be able to give him a house, pay for college, and live comfortably. The other reason is that since Ethan has special needs, he requries a lot of attention. I worry that bb#2 would take away from that. Charlie was even scheduled for a vasectomy the day I had to move out of my old classroom and he cancelled it to help me move and never got around to rescheduling. Anyways, lo and behold I found out the reason for my weight gain was not because I was weaning, or overeating, but preggo. Tomorrow we will find out if it is a boy or a girl. I really don’t care which one, I just want a healthy baby!

I saw something like this on a friend’s blog and thought it was fun.  I don’t really believe in these “Wive’s Tales” but find them entertaining:

Here are some of the old wives tales answered:

Girl if you’re carrying high, boy if your bump is low.
My bump is on the low side. Same when I had Ethan.

Girl if heart beats 140+ beats per minute, boy if below 140.
The baby’s heartbeat has been around 150. (I remember Ethan’s was always low)

Girl if you crave sweets, boy if you crave salty or sour stuff.
I crave both sweet and salty. I did for Ethan too. I loved chocolate and beef with him. This baby seems to like curry a lot

Legend has it that the Mayans determined a baby’s sex by looking at the mother’s age at conception and the year of conception. If both are even or odd, it’s a girl. If one’s even and one’s odd, it’s a boy.
With Ethan both were odd. With this one both are even.

Girl if your skin has been breaking out, boy if skin has been clear.
This was the opposite for me. With Ethan I broke out like crazy the first trimester and had great skin after! With this baby it’s been all clear.
Girl if morning sickness was severe, boy if there was little or none.
I did not have MS at all with either one

What do you think? Boy or girl for # 2?

Peanut Allergy Sniffing Dog

Ok. I want one. I will beg for it. Seriously. This has to be like the coolest thing ever. I would LOVE one for Ethan (most of you know he has a life-threatening allergy to peanuts, milk and eggs). I am not a pet person, but I would gladly clean up shit on a daily basis if it could help my son, protect him and make our life a little easier.

Any ideas on how to fundraise for this?