1.31.2007

Switched Over.

I had to convert my blog over finally. Blogger has been bugging me to update over to the Google/Blogger. I don't know what it will entail to you,the readers, so let me know if there is any difference (shouldn't be though).

Jadon Wants To Be A Big Brother, Again.

The other day, on our way out to dinner, Fiona told me that Jadon said (out of the blue) that he wanted to be a big brother again. She asked him if he wanted a baby brother or a baby sister. He replied that he wanted a baby brother. When she told me this, I told him that it's not possible anymore because I had surgery. A few seconds later he busted out crying. Poor kid. I would do almost anything for him but I'm not in the market to add a 4th child to our group.

On a different note, Jadon has been learning (slowly) his states. My parents got him a U.S. States puzzles.

Me: Do you know what state this is? (showing him the California puzzle piece)
Jadon: California Roll.

He just busted up laughing. Silly boy.

1.29.2007

Catching Up On My TV.

It's not to say that I don't already watch a lot of t.v. When I flip on the tube, I just channel surf until I find something of interest. Lately though I have invested in getting TV shows on DVD. Fiona and I just finished Monk: Season 1 and believe it or not, we just started the first epsiode of 24: Season 1 last night. So far it's is intriguing. I'm not sure if Fiona likes it or not. Where the heck have I been the past 5 years or so? So now I have to wait until the rest of the seasons go on sale.

1.26.2007

Jadon's 4 Year Wellness Check Up.

I got home early from work today and Fiona took Jadon to the doctors for his check up. Here are the specs:

weight - 38 1/2 lbs (75th percentile)
height - 42 1/4 inches tall (90th percentile)

I am pleased with his growth. At this rate by the time he turns 20 he would be about 6'3" tall and weighing in at about 175 lbs! Wow. He's going to be a stud like his old pops =) hehehehehe. Ok you can stop gagging now. The only negative aspect of his check up was that they checked his eye sight and the nurse said that his eye sight is getting worse. The doctor told Fiona to wait until next year before we take him to go see the eye doctor. Most likely he'll follow in the footsteps of his parents and end up having to wear corrective lenses.

California Adventured, Yet Again.

Don't worry, not every blog (or every other one) will be about Disneyland. We decided to go visit the other themed park yesterday. We figured with the configuration of Thursday's schedule, it would be a good opportunity to go. Fiona dropped Jadon off at school, then dropped Natalie off at therapy, and took Vanessa out for a breakfast and shopping date. That meant that the girls would only be on one early afternoon nap. By the time I got home, Jadon was almost finished with school and the girls were almost done with their nap.

We made it just in time for C.A.'s 4:15pm showing at Playhouse Disney. The kids (especially Jadon) loved it. He recognized most of the characters from T.V. They had Bear, Stanley, JoJo, Winnie The Pooh, and all the other subsequent characters that go along with those shows. It's interactive in the sense that everyone (adults too) sit on the floor and every now and then they will have the kids stand up and dance. The girls were just as into it as well.

After that we strolled around and Fiona and I took turns taking Jadon on Muholland's Madness rollercoaster. He was actually fine going on it two times! He's definitely growing up =~) Then we called it a day (after two hours) and decided to grab some dinner.

1.25.2007

Getting Our Money's Worth.

We went to Disneyland yet again on Tuesday. We really hit up the rides this time. I took Jadon on the race track ride, Autopia and Fiona took Jadon on Alice's Wonderland. Jadon's driving abilities are still pretty raw. He was a little slow to turn the corners so our car kept jerking. I almost had whiplash. He told us that he wasn't a safe driver. =) We took all three kiddies on Peter Pan, Storybook, and Jungle Cruise. As we were about to head towards the exit we stopped and watched a singing quartet named the Dancing Dans of Disneyland. We are definitely getting our money's worth on our passports. We're even considering hitting up California Adventure today!

1.22.2007

Two Year Wellness Checkup.

I left work early on Friday to help Fiona out taking the kiddies to their Doctor's appointment. It's been a while since I have gone to one of the girls' appointments. The girls' immediately cried when the nurse called us back into one of their rooms. Here's the specs:

NATALIE:
weight- 20lbs (with clothes on)
height- 31.5 inches


VANESSA:
weight- 20lbs (with clothes on)
height- 32 inches

For those who are not aware, those numbers are still pretty low. They are in the 5th percentile (or less). Fiona was a lot more excited about them reaching 20lbs but that is still small by all accounts. They should be about 5-6 pounds heavier to be average.

After their measurements, we had some time to ask the doctor some misc. questions and then it was time for a couple of shots. They cried of course (with Vanessa being the worse), but it wasn't too bad. They both waived a relief-goodbye to the doctor and nurse when it was time to leave.

Normally their next check up would be when they turn 3 years old but the doctor wanted them back in six months to monitor their weight.

They Grow Up So Fast....

Yesterday, Jadon turned a whooping 4 years old. Where does the time fly? Last week I was fighting off a cold. Luckily it was mild and I felt just about better in time to celebrate Jadon's birthday.

On Thursday, Fiona brought chocolate cupcakes and baggy of treats to Jadon's class. Apparently his classmate size has dwindled. There was one other boy and six or so other girls. I have to say that Jadon is probably the messiest and quickest eater out of the bunch. All the other kiddies were taking their time and Jadon just gobbled his cupcake.

Yesterday, we took the both parents out to dinner at Jadon's pick, Elephant Bar. After that, it was home for cake and presents. I'll post some pictures on flickr when I get the chance. We held a Bob the Builder themed shindig. His cake was decked out with matching cups, napkins, and wrapping paper. He got a U.S. map puzzle and some cash from my parents, a Bob the Builder outfit and book from my inlaws, and a Imaginarium train set (to go with his other set) and a KidTough Camera from us. He loves his new camera, he just needs to practice not cutting off people's head when he takes pictures. All in all I thought it was a good celebration. I hope he had a fun time.

1.18.2007

Poor Lil' Natalie.

Natalie has succombed to being sick. Vanessa seems to have just about recovered. Jadon is still coughing but otherwise he seems to be doing fine. Natalie has been running a fever and her upper chest is irritated red because she's been scratching her throat area. Plus she has been coughing too. She has uncharacteristically been sleeping and napping a lot. Last night, during dinner, she didn't eat. She wanted to go to bed! Poor girl.

Fiona and I have been doing what we can to fight this (as we always do). I have resorted to taking Chinese herbal-type medicines (from my in-laws) and taking Listerine (from my mom) to combat any signs of colds and coughs, respectively. I figure if 'western' medicine doesn't do anything for me then I'd resort to anything. So far we have been doing pretty well except that last night and this morning I have very mild congestion. Hopefully that's the worse it gets. I don't want to be miserable for Jadon's birthday this Sunday.

1.15.2007

Birthday Celebration.

Today are my girls' birthday. Wow 2 years. Yesterday we ended up celebrating it. Unfortunately they were really sick. Both of them had coughing fits throughout the day. Both sides of the parents came over (which hasn't happened in a while) and we headed out to dinner at Claim Jumper (at South Coast Plaza). Then after we headed back to our house for the cake and presents. The girls' were just happy to be playing with the ballons (just as Jadon was too). But it wasn't until the girls' started to open presents when their coughs subsided. Hmmmmm...... Both Natalie and Vanessa got some red glinty shoes and money from my inlaws, puzzles and money from my parents, Cabbage Patch dolls (with accessories), Mega Blocks, and an Ikea puzzle like toy from us. Jadon, of course, wanted to play with them all before his sisters could get their hands on them. We had to constantly remind him that his birthday was next Sunday but he wanted it to be then and now.

1.12.2007

Picture Realm Update.

When I originally updated my pictures I forgot to make them public. So for those who attempted to view them and thought I was writing nonsense, I have now remedied that.

Sick 4x.

I'm not sick but Vanessa is as well as Jadon. They are both coughing once again which means that they have been sick 4 times in the past 2 or so months. It's probably just a matter of time before the rest of this family suffers this doom. What's worse for Vanessa is she still has her butt rash. It just won't go away. Fiona's considering taking her to the doctors yet again. Poor Vanessa.

1.11.2007

Finally Flickr'ed!

I have finally joined my brothers and friends in finally posting on Flickr. Please note the new link under the "Picture Realm." I have also updated the 2006 pictures as well. I spent the remainder of the day (after I got home from work) to get it current. From now on I will post my pictures on Flickr (from 2007 and on). Enjoy!

1.10.2007

Rejecting Experiences.

Yesterday, we hit California Adventure (that makes it twice now plus three times to Disneyland). We were there for a little less than 2 hours total. The first ride we went on was the enormous ferris wheel. It's different from all the other ferris wheels because they have rocking and moving cars/gondolas. Plus the view is pretty nice. We should have taken pictures, but when you have three kiddies clinging or being held it can be tough. Vanessa was just giggling and Natalie was a bit reserved but she was all smiles (after seeing her sister's reaction). Jadon was just clinging to me and kept asking me to hold him.

After the ferris wheel, Fiona took Jadon on a small roller coaster called Mullholland's Madness. It was a short compacted coaster with sharp turns and a few dips. Fiona was telling me that all was going well. On the first dip, Jadon was taken a little surprised. On the second dip, Jadon was telling Fiona "I want to go home." I found that to be amusing. Later I asked him if he wanted to go on it again some other time, his response "No, maybe when I am older." I thought that was a mature response.

After the ride we caught the tail end of the California Adventure Parade. It had all Characters from the more recent Disney movies (It's A Bug's Life, Toy Story, etc.). We'll have to catch it again and get a better view next time.

We headed over to Pat & Oscars for dinner (for their kids-eat-free-Tuesdays). Towards the tail end I wanted to have the girls experience drinking Root Beer for the first time. Fiona got the camera out and videoed the session. It was classic. Vanessa's expression was the typical disgusted look. Natalie sipped it and the sensation made her cry. I just busted up laughing. I'm glad we go that on camera.

1.08.2007

Bathin' & Poopin'

Last Friday (I think), Fiona had just put the girls in the bathtub when I heard "All man!!!!" I went to check it out and one of the girls (who will remain nameless) went poopie in the tub. Both girls seemed oblivious to what had happened. Vanessa was just giggling away and Natalie had a wondering look on her face. I was just disgusted. The girls were bathing in their own poop. It was finally that Natalie looked down and saw the poop when she started to bawl. So we moved the girls to our tub and Fiona washed and bathed them there (standing up in front of the faucet). I on the otherhand washed out the tub, clorox wiping down everything. Luckily it was hard and clumpy poop so it wasn't spreading out but it did turn the water a tinge bit darker.

1.05.2007

Stubborn Vanessa.

So as stated in my previous post, Vanessa did the same thing at dinner. She ate more bites this time but wasn't even close to finishing her dinner. We gave Natalie a teething biscuit with Vanessa couldn't have. She didn't even make a whining sound. So we finished up dinner at about 6:00pm or so and went out to Toys R Us to shop for the kiddies' birthdays. We got home around 7:15 or so and Fiona was undressing the girls for their baths. Vanessa began to cry and gag. Guess what she gagged on? She apparently kept the last bite of dinner in her mouth the whole time! How gross is that? Fiona thinks that I am fighting a losing battle, and sure I might be but I am going to keep on trying to find ways of getting her to eat. Vanessa might be really stubborn but I can be stubborn too! =)

1.04.2007

Where Dadda Go?

Fiona claims that yesterday morning, Vanessa asked "Where dadda go?" I am a little skeptic but if she did ask that, then (1) that is so darn cute and (2) I am impressed.

Dishing Out Punishments.

When it comes to giving out punishments, I think I do it more than Fiona does (even though she's around them a lot more than I). Part of it is because the kids have kind of tuned out their momma and when I start my angry tone, they listen. I hate to have to discipline my kids but I feel that I have to in order for them to learn some of life's lessons.

The past few months I have told Fiona that I will probably have to start implementing spankings for Jadon if he becomes really bad because timeouts aren't having it's complete effect anymore. I have set spankings for those rare rare occasions when Jadon is really naughty (I hope that I won't have to experience much of it). Well last week I ended up having to resort to spanking Jadon. Natalie wanted to play with Jadon's toy that he got from Christmas and he pushed her down and she bonker her head on the hard floor. That merited the extreme punishment. I didn't want to do it but he has to know that he crossed the line of hurting someone. Luckily he has some fat on his butt to cushion the blow.

When it comes to the girls', their punishments usually consist of lectures, putting them in their cribs (another version of timeouts), and little slaps on the hands. With Natalie, those are somewhat sufficient on trying to get the message across (for a short period of time). With Vanessa, I find myself trying to find more sophisticated ways of teaching her lessons. Lately I feel like there is a standoff with when it comes to eating dinner. She is such a little stubborn little girl. Once in a while she'll eat but a lot of times she will take one, or two, (maybe even three) bites before she shakes her head signaling that she doesn't want anymore. It's not like she is full either. I have had to resort in lecturing her, putting her in timeouts, lecturing her some more, letting the other kids play while she sits in her high chair. No such luck. She doesn't budge. She'll just keep that food in her mouth as long as she can (or until she gags). Yesterday she did the same and I tried a few more techniques. I refuse to give up (which might show where Vanessa gets her stubbornness from). She was in her chair with a mouthful of food (not chewing). We were going to go out so I put Jadon and Natalie in the car, turned off the lights (except the kitchen) and told Vanessa that we are going out. I said to her that if she wanted to go out that she had to finish her food. I waved bye-bye to her and she just waved back. It wasn't until she saw Fiona leave that she began to cry. Unfortunately she still didn't want to eat. I had Fiona and I wait in the garage while she was sitting in her chair alone but she didn't make a peep. So eventually Fiona took her out and we went out on a Costco run. I talked to Fiona about how maybe we should give Natalie and Jadon snacks just to show Vanessa that if she doesn't eat her dinner that she doesn't get any snacks. Fiona proceeded to do that and that seemed to have an effect on her. We kept on telling her that if she doesn't eat her dinner that she doesn't get snacks. Whether that will work on her remains to be seen.

Ah.....kids. I hate to punish them but I don't want to spoil them either and let them walk over us.

1.03.2007

Vanessa The Proud.

The past couple of weeks, it sounds like Vanessa has been putting words together to form simple sentences. The other day, I was surfing the net looking at Steve's Flickr site. Vanessa came up pointing to a picture of Steve's cutie daughter and said what sounded like "It's a baby." It sounded really cute the way she said it.

Lately, when we are out eating at restaurants, Vanessa will say hi to the waiters/waitresses and introduce her sister by saying "This Na-nee." She has said this in mutiple instances so I know that she is speaking in sentences. She also has done this with Jadon too "This Ja-da."

Other sentence phrases that she has said:

"Dude, what's up?"
"Dude, what's that?"

It's almost the two year mark and I bet she will just break out and start yapping away.

End Of Another 4 Day Weekend.

On New Years day, I took down the Christmas tree decorations and took the tree out. Jadon keeps telling me to get a bigger house so we can put up light decorations. I told him that if he buys us one we will.

Yesterday I took off to extend my 4 day New Years weekend. Jadon had school yesterday and so Fiona, the girls, and I went to a Japanese buffet called Hokkaido. I was quite surprised at how much the girls ate. They had these peach shaped red bean buns. Vanessa chomped down 5 and Natalie ate about 4 and half. Just watching them eat was making my stomach get fuller.

When Jadon got off from school we headed down to Disneyland. It was quite crowded considering it was a non-black out date. The park was actually full (as the signs had said). I think that the park wasn't selling anymore tickets and it was packed because it was the last day of the Christmas decorations. They finally opened the monorail (which we went on). We didn't really go on any rides other than that. We watch the parade which Vanessa was thoroughly enjoying. Natalie was enjoying by imitation and Jadon seemed apathetic to the whole scene. I think he was a little disappointed that we didn't go on any rides (although he didn't show any displeasure whatsoever).

So now marks the end of the major holidays and we have to plan the girls' and the boy's birthday. Holy cow, it's coming up!

1.01.2007

Happy New Years!

I can't believe that I am up past midnight. That's a rarity. Usually I go to sleep around 10:00p.m. Tonight was different. We didn't mean to be up past 12:00a.m. Fiona was able to get one of her parents' to baby sit for us tonight. So we put all the kiddies to bed and her father came over. Fiona and I had dinner reservations at Roy's at 9:15p.m. If you recall in a post "Fiona's Last Weekend" about two years ago, we ate there right before Fiona was admitted into the hospital for baby monitoring. Well at that time we broke our record for the most expensive dinner. Well tonight we smashed it. I think we actually broke a few records. This was a long dinner, just about 2 hours (hence the reason why we were up past midnight). This was probably the latest we ever had dinner. And the third record, the bill came out to a whopping $157.38 (tip included). Apparently the New Years Eve menu was a special one (in which the prices were probably jacked up), but at least it was a four course meal. It was a great meal though. Delicious. Plus Fiona and I got to enjoy each other's company alone. That last time was on our anniversary back in April.

I would go into detail about what we had but I am beat. So off to bed I go.