Family day & happy birthday Annie!

On Saturday Josh didn't have to start work until 4, so we decided that we could sneak in a family day before he headed to work.  It was so beautiful out so we decided to head downtown and spend a few hours there.  

The whole drive down Brandon probably asked about 50 times "Are we going Downtown?" We made the mistake of telling him this before we left and quickly regretted it.  He's going through the ask the same question a million times phase currently. Josh and I feel like we're a broken record sometimes answering him.  Sometimes we try to be funny by asking him his questions back and he just starts to laugh. 


It was such a beautiful day out so we Josh wanted to check out a few shops before we had lunch.  For lunch we decided to go to pike place market and pick up a few of our favorite things...

Enjoying his juice box and street band

Brandon's face!

Piroshky Piroshky!

After lunch we headed back home. Josh had to work and I had made plans with the girls to celebrate Annie's 25th birthday. We went to a local winery in Woodinville and had dinner at The Commons after. It was a great place and they served great food, but the last place you ever want to go on an 80+ degree day in Seattle is somewhere with no air conditioner!!  There were no ice cubes in the water they were serving us and I decided to have a warm chicken burger with fries that just came out of the fryer!  Besides the sweaty experience it was great to have some girl time without the kids! 

Happy Birthday, Annie

Daddy Brandon

Brandon has recently acquired a new obsession for babies. It started last month when he held his cousin Zia. He's met and played with many babies before and the only time he would give them any attention is when he doesn't want mommy holding them. He gets extremely jealous and would want me to hold him as well. Oh, the struggle of being the only child.

During a family party while I was holding Zia I was curious to see how Brandon would react to holding Zia. I asked him and he suprisingly said 'ok!'

It was just so cute! He was so gentle with her holding her hand and rubbing her cheeks! He kept saying 'Aw, she's so little' and 'She's so cute.' He held her for a good while. I let him hold her until she started to feel uncomfortable laying on his bony legs. He got sad when I took her away. It was just so cute! 

Moving forward to a few weeks ago, anytime he sees a smaller version of anything he calls them babies. Just this week he found a miniature Mickey Mouse and he has been playing daddy ever since. It's so funny to see him take care of Mickey. A lot of the things that he would say or do to Mickey are the same things we would do to him. Talk about a good example of how you treat your child. I was worried he was gonna start putting Mickey in timeout for not listening, but thank goodness Mickey is quite and seems to follow directions well. 

Memorial Day short but sweet!

We've been planning this trip to Whidbey Island for a few months now and all week we were worried about the weather since the forecast called for rain. Of course it would be nice ALL week and once the weekend comes it turns like poop. it was a little cloudy, but the weather was warm enough that we got to spend the whole time outside.  The kids ran around, played in a fort by the beach, found baby crabs, and topped it off with s'mores! The adults hung out, snacked, drank, and played games. It was such a wonderful little get away. The only thing missing was Josh. He had to work all weekend. Oh the life of retail. 

Besides our missing sidekick we still had a wonderful time. Brandon and I came home with more memories to share with daddy!

Sweet Ryan helping Daddy gather up some firewood

Hallie, Brandon, and Ryan

Just for the record...

Dearest Brandon,

I'm posting this to prove to you that at one point in your life you loved Mommy way more than daddy :D

Thursday fun day

This year I promised that I was going to collect more memories not things. With Josh's crazy schedule at work we don't get the opportunity to spend much quality time as a family. Every few weeks we will get lucky and have a day off together, so we take the opportunity to make plans to be outside if the weather permits or just hang out as a family! Even though Josh and I haven't had a date night in months (3 months to be exact). We both agree that spending time as a family with Brandon is more important. Although, I do miss having dinners without having to cut up a little person's food or blow on it to make sure it's not too hot. 

I believe that the best thing for Brandon right now is the opportunity to make memories with his family (and friends too of course). He is at a very curious stage right now. Constantly learning and asking about... Well, EVERYTHING! Josh and I enjoy being able to be there when he's experiencing new things, or answer any questions that he may have. Currently he believes we know ALL and we would like to keep it that way for as long as we can. Because I'm sure it won't be too long until we get the 'You don't know what you're taking about!' Attitude... 

But for now we will enjoy this crazy little Threenager Brandon...

On to the new phase!

I feel that as soon as I get a hang of Brandon's new phase he's onto the next one. He's keeping us on our toes to say the least. With his personallity continually growing and his independance strongly developing, Josh and I are constantly putting a game plan together on how to keep Brandon from becoming a little nuisance. It's a little challenging, but so rewarding especially seeing him figure things out on his own. He's talking A LOT more now and become a little copy cat. He repeats basically everything we say...good and bad, so now we have to be a little more cautious about what we say around him. His favorite phrases currently are: "Oh, what the heck?!" "C'mon mayne!" "whatcha doin?" He's so funny now with his little voice and funny little personality. I feel like he's at the in between stage of being a baby and being a little person. He doesn't need the constant attention like a baby, but he still needs the love and cuddles like one! I sometimes find myself feeling like he's growing right before my eyes. At times I feel like he wakes up with new things that he's learned!  You've been such a good kid (for the most part), daddy and I can't wait to teach you more new cool things!

Cake pops will put you into labor (Brandon's birth story)

My last day of work was on a Thursday and had Brandon that following Sunday!

I always had this feeling that when I went into labor that it was going to start with my water breaking somewhere, and I was totally right!

It all started Friday night when I realized that I was beginning to lose my plug. I wasn't feeling anything out of the ordinary, no cramping, no pains. I remember mentioning to Josh that I may be losing my plug, he really wasn't too worried because I had also told him that labor can start days or even months after a woman loses her plug. So we went on with starting our busy weekend trying not to think too much of it. We had a pretty busy weekend planned for ourselves. We had a planned c-section that following Thursday, so we really wanted to take advantage of this last weekend before we became a family of 3. We had our cousin Michelle's house warming. Josh and I wanted to have our one last date night.  I made plans to have breakfast with my girls, and Josh planned to work that Sunday for extra hours!

That weekend was jammed packed of activities! So why wouldn't he throw a wrench in the gears and come early?! Silly baby!

Ok, so let's fast forward to Sunday! That morning I woke up feeling huge! I was 38 weeks and 4 days and I had lost my plug completely!  I was pretty nervous about the c-section that whole week and thought that maybe going to church would relieve some of my anxiety. So I promised Josh's Mom and Aunt that I would go to church with them that morning. After church I met up with a few of my girlfriends for breakfast. After breakfast we went back over to Merrie's to hang out for a little bit. I was getting a bit tired and was craving a nap! I was planning to leave and then Debbie called to see if I wanted to help her make cake pops. We were talking about making them earlier that week for both our co- workers. So I decided to leave Merrie's and forego the nap! Which I'm glad I did because this is where it gets good!

So when I got to Debbie's there she had already began making the cake pops and wanted me to taste one to check if it was ok...and I of course gobbled one up... and shortly after I took my first bite I felt this gush of water in between my legs! I grab my crotch and looked at Debbie and said "I think my water just broke!!"  She looks at me and then the floor and says "um, no it didn't!!" I think she was expecting a gallon of water to come out of me!  With my hand on my crotch I run to the bathroom and sat on the toilet and in no time that's when the "big gush" came!  I was just beside myself and couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Brandon was on his way...

I'm so glad that I was with someone when this happened because I wouldn't have known what to do, and I felt even more relieved that I was with Debbie!  She was so calm and cool the whole time.  She called Josh and got me packed up and to the hospital in no time!

We got to the hospital around 2:30 and I was gowned and in the triage within 15 minutes!  They checked me to see if my water did break and it did.  The on call Dr came in shortly and did an ultrasound to see if Brandon was still breech and he was!  He asked if I had anything to eat just recently and I said that I had a cake pop and joked that it was so good it made me pop!  Then the anesthesiologist came in and informed us that because I had just eaten we had to wait for 8 hours to perform the c-section.  So they transferred me into a birthing suite where we were able to wait and relax.  They told us that we were looking to deliver him close to 10:30 that evening.  I was a bit relieved because I was really beginning to panic about the surgery part!  I really wanted to have those 8 hours to really prep myself emotionally.  I've only ever had one major surgery and it was when I broke my leg and was put to sleep when they did it.  My biggest fear was having my arm strapped down and not being able to feel my legs!  I'm a bit claustrophobic and just the thought of my arms being strapped and not having any control while I'm being cut open terrified me!

So around 8:30 I get up to go to the bathroom for the 30th time and realized that I was bleeding.  I tell my nurse and she leaves to get the Dr.  When she came back she tells us that the bleeding is a sign of my cervix opening up and that's something that they didn't want happening.  Since Brandon was breech they didn't want me dilating any further due to the chance that his umbilical cord may come out first which is not good! The anesthesiologist came back in and said that due to the bleeding they were going to go ahead and get me prepped to go into surgery!

Shortly after receiving this news, the time seemed to go by so quickly. My mind and body felt numb… even before she administered the anesthesia. I remember beginning to cry as soon as they put up the barrier between me and my belly.  I felt like I wasn't ready, I wasn't ready to how quickly things were moving along.  I felt like I wasn't in control of my delivery… as the tears began to collect in my eyes my anesthesiologist grabs my hand and says "ok the hard part is over, you did great, your baby will be here shortly."  She said it with such calmness and sincarity that I began to calm down.  Josh looked and me and gently rubbed my head. I could tell by his face that he knew that in one short moment our lives were gonna change forever. 

Josh 'Here he comes...' I remember holding my breath and then all of a sudden I heard Brandon cry for the first time! Josh immediately leaves my side to meet Brandon. All I could see was Brandon's hands and feet flailing around and nurses cleaning him off. I remember Josh's and I'd conversation going a little something like this:

Me: How is he doing?

Josh: Ya! 

Me: Who does he look like?!

Josh: huh?

Me: Who does he look like?!

Josh: YEAH!!

Um, I think between the excitement and adrenalin it may have caused Josh to

lose his hearing temporarily... Cause I don't remember the operating room being very loud. I just laid back and giggled and waited patiently to meet my little boy! When the nurse finally brought Brandon over all I remember seeing was this little ball of blanket with the cutest little face sticking out of it. The very first thing I noticed was how cute Brandon's nose was... And how much he looked like Joshua!! I was in love!! 

There's just something so beautiful and amazing about bringing a little human to this world. You realize right then and there that the world just became bigger and scarier. You realize that your problems weren't really as big as you thought they were. That the little things and flaws in your life don't matter anymore. The relationship with this little person is nothing to be taken lightly. You have to put your big girls panty on (well besides the awesome post pregnancy undies they give you at the hospital) and raise this kid to be a good and loving person that has good manners. To keep him out of jail, harms way, and sticking needles in his arms... 

Dearest Brandon, 

Please be patient with daddy and I. This is our first go in the parenting thing. Please always know that we do the things we do for your best interest.  We love you so much! 

Love, 

mommy and daddy

Brandon the toddler

Well it has been a long time since I've blogged. Between work, school and being a mommy, and wife, time has become very limited these days. So please be patient with this super lengthy blog since I have so much to catch up on.

Brandon is officially a toddler! This past year has gone by so quickly. While I was putting some of Brandon's old cloths away I came across some of Brandon's newborn cloths. I held it up to Josh and said 'Look how small Brandon used to be!' It made me realize how quickly our little man is growing! Now he's walking , laughing, and blabbing away.

Brandon loves playing with his toys. His favorite toys are his B you Zany zoo box, drum set, and elephant fun that shoots balls out of the top! If he's not sleeping or eating he's always playing! It's so entertaining to watch him play with toys and watch his little eyes light up when he figured out how they work. He loves to bang things together to hear them make different noise, he loves to dance when he hears music. His Ninang Merrie got him an electronic Mickey Mouse book that reads to him and he absolutely loves turning the pages and reading along with it. He still loves being read to. We were really fortunate that along with toys and clothes he got a lot of books for his birthday!

Brandon has become more and more vocal everyday. Although he only knows a few words (dadda and mamma) it has not stopped him from trying to communicate with us. When he wants something he usually points to it and says some type of gibberish. It's funny cause anytime he talks to us it seems like he's always asking us a question. For example when he's telling us something it usually sounds something like this 'golly gosh blah dat da yaaa huh???'

I love this age so far. He is slowly becoming more independent now that he's walking everywhere. He gets into everything and we have found him stuck underneath our kitchen table and crying in our bedroom cause he closed the door behind him.

He is learning new tricks now. He has mastered the 'bye,bye' wave. He still loves giving hugs, and just recently he has learned to pat our backs while hugging us. I think he learned it from us cause we always pay him to sleep. It is just the sweetest thing!

Our little foodie! Brandon is definitely not shy when trying new food. Just like his mamma and dadda there's not really anything that he doesn't like. He loves Filipino food (no surprise there) he loves anything with rice and ulam (main dish) his favorite may have to be Nilaga or Tinola. He also loves noodles or any type of pasta. He can eat non stop. Ever since he upped his solid food intake his bottle feeding has gone down. Speaking of bottles I'm not really sure when we should start slowly taking the bottle away from him. Our pediatrician told us that he should be completely off the bottle by 15 months! I just think that's a bit too soon! I still consider Brandon a baby and babies need there baba! I'm thinking just a little bit closer to 2 would be a good age to stop. By then I won't feel like he's being deprived from the proper nutrition he needs from milk. I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there, but for now were perfectly fine with this baby/toddler phase that Brandon is in! 

9 & 10 months

It's just nuts to me that I have been responsible for the well being of this tiny little person for almost a year!  I sometimes can't even wrap my mind around the fact that I'm a mom and to think, from here on out I will be responsible for him for the rest of my life!  NUTS!  Josh and I always have this conversation and it always begins with "Gosh, can you imagine when Brandon starts to (enter a verb here)?  I feel like Brandon has done a pretty good job and checking off those verbs lately.   He has grown into such a funny, sweet, and clever little boy.  Lately my favorite thing is to just sit back and watch him play.  It is absolutely amazing to see his eyes grow big when he first discovers something.  He is honing his fine motor skills and has learned to pick up the tiniest crumbs on the floor (and putting it directly into his mouth)!  Speaking of which I should probably think about taking a CPR class just in case he decides to choke on something.  We have officially baby proofed the apartment from the waist down.  By baby proofing we mean that we just use our fancy couch pillows and use it as a wall to keep him out of certain non-baby safe areas.  We purchased one of those rubbery table corner things and they worked well up until Brandon wore out the stickiness from them and have now used it as a teether.  Hey, a 2 in 1 safety/toy combo, well worth the 15 bucks that we paid.  Our living room has become Brandon's play yard, I was talking to my friend Marie today and mentioned that I would love to get one of the whales from the kid area at the Alderwood mall.  That would really save me a trip to the mall on rainy days!  It's so funny cause I remember before I was a mom...whenever I would pass that play area I would think "Aw, sick, that place is just filled with germs!  I would never let my kid play there!!"  Now, I look forward to having play dates at that germ pool!  I think I may have to thank that place for possibly giving my son a kick-ass immune system!


So since his first 2 teeth that he grew back when he was 7 months, he has yet to get another set!  I think that Brandon is convinced that he no longer needs to grow anymore.  Josh and I constantly joke that his teeth will only come in every 7 months, so by the time he's 8 he'll officially have all of his teeth! Totally normal right?

I know that I am down to the wire on the boob feeding part and it totally does not help that he has learned to blow raspberries while he's on my boob! He accidentally did it one day when he was forced to breath out of his mouth cause he was a little stuffy and we both thought that it was the funniest thing, now he does it to be funny!  This guy!

It's so cute to me how much of his personality has developed over the last few months.  I love everything about this kid.  Yes, even down to his meltdown moments.  Josh and I have noticed that he feeds off of our reactions.  Brandon is beginning to test his boundaries in what he should and shouldn't do.  For example, the other day Russy was quietly sitting next to him and out of nowhere he decided to just pull on Russy's fur.  Russy cried and I grabbed his hand and let out a stern "NO!"  Brandon started to cry and shortly after he stopped, he began to reach for Russy again!  Right before he put his had on Russy he turned to look at me to see if I was looking! He literally gave me the over the shoulder look-check to see if I was looking!  What the heck?!  How are kids so damn smart at this age?!?!


He is slowly learning his environment.  He loves to explore every little nooks and cranny of our 1000 square foot apartment.  I have left him in the living room to play for a few minutes and come back to find him missing and in the kitchen! I officially know what it feels like to have a mild heart attack...Seriously this kid!

Oh, Brandon, you are one funny kid!

Brandon at 9 months

He's  a great furniture walker!

Brandon at 10 months

His 1st Halloween

Mr. Clark Kent

Trick-or-treating with Mommy

His first Halloween treat!

Trick-or-treating with Ninang Merrie, Hallie (Tinkerbell), and baby Ryan (Peter Pan)

With Isaiah the Lion

Cousins! Piper (Merida), Skyler (Iron man), and Prue (Bell)

One tired superhero! 

With Lola and Lolo

With Mommy Cynn and Lola

8 months

He's going to be 10 months tomorrow and just realized that I haven't done an 8th month blog!  Sorry, but this is super short and sweet...plus seeing that I don't even know what day it is at times, it would seriously be impossible for me to remember all of his milestones from 2 months ago!!

Play date days...

I always cherish my Fridays with Brandon cause I always reserve it for play dates. I love the fact that a lot of my friends have children around the same age as him!

Whether its spending the day at the zoo or just inviting people to our little apartment, I love that Brandon already has a good amount of friends to play with. It makes me smile when I daydream about Brandon growing up with his friends and having the same great relationships as I have with their parents.

I cherish each and every relationships I have with all my friends and especially now that we are all mothers. Our relationships now have grown to another level. We are all genuinely happy for one another and have become more patient and understanding. There's just an automatic bond between mothers that is unexplainable, and I am just so thankful to have the chance to be a part of it!

Here are just a few pics from our Friday play dates!

This will NEVER get old!

From 1 week old to now 41 weeks... I will always love this feeling. I can stare and hold him in my arms forever. I always try to remind myself to take these moments in, but time is going by too quickly and each amazing moment are always replaced with better ones!

38 weeks and 4 days

Today marks the day that Brandon has been out as long as was in. Brandon was born at 38 weeks and 4 days and he is officially that old today! It's also crazy that in a 5 days he will be 9 months old!  When I told Josh he said "Wow, that was crazy fast!"  He could not have phrased that any better!!  It has been such a crazy ride for the both of us and we could not be any happier!  Josh and I take a lot of pride in the fact that we haven't screwed Brandon up just yet.  He still has all of his limbs in tact, hasn't eaten anything poisonous, and seems to still like having us around...

Gosh, I remember rolling my eyes when parents would tell me that kids grow super fast...Oh, how naive was I?  

Anyway, this has been the fastest and most amazing 38 weeks of my life! I never knew I would love being a mom this much or let alone function with such little sleep. There's never a dull moment with Brandon...life is much more meaningful and I am never sad when he's around... How did we become so blessed with such an amazing baby boy?! Josh and I could not have asked for a better 1st baby!!

Me and B and 38 weeks 

Brandon at 38 weeks old

What makes me happy

Love these two so much!

Baby Ryan is here!!

Gosh, it seems like it was just yesterday when Merrie told me that they were expecting!  On Tuesday morning baby Ryan arrived!  I was scheduled to work that evening, but was lucky enough to find someone to cover my shift for me.  I would've had a little time before work to go visit, but I really didn't want to have my time be limited.  

I've known Ron and Merrie for over 13 years now and not only are they like a brother and sister to me, but they are also Brandon's Godparents.  They also have a 3 year old daughter Hallie who we just love and adore!  I remember Merrie and I making a pact that if we both had daughters they would be best of friends just like us or if we had a boy and a girl, that they would still be best of friends or maybe even get married!!  Who knows maybe Hallie will end up marrying Brandon, and Ryan and Brandon will be best of friends/brother in-laws!  Haha! Oh gosh, well either way they will be seeing lots of each other cause their parents are BFF's!

Anyway, I couldn't wait for Josh to get off work to see baby Ryan, so Brandon and I just went without him.  We got there around 3sh.  I got to hold Ryan for what seemed like only seconds because lets face it, you can never hold a newborn long enough!  I also had Brandon with me so our time was limited with nap time quickly approaching.  I did come back the next day without him and was able to hold baby Ryan A LOT longer!! While I was holding him it made me think that only 8 months ago Brandon was that small. Now he's crawling, babbling, and laughing!  It's really bitter sweet.

Ryan is one perfect baby and we could not be happier for Ron and Merrie on their beautiful growing family!!  They truly are blessed!!

A visit from Mr. Sandman

Well, I'm marking this day as the 1st time that Brandon slept through the night!! He did cry a few times, but he went straight back to sleep after a few seconds! Oh my, I could totally get used to this!

Sunday fun day!

Due to our scheduled family vacation to Hawaii in October, Josh and I decide that we were just going to stay pretty close to home for labor day weekend.  Sunday is usually our designated family day, but this Sunday felt extra special for some reason.  We started out our day pretty slow, we lounged around in our jammies for a few hours, had breakfast, and around 1:00 we finally got out of the house.  Our first stop was Marination station.  I've heard people rave about their kimchi fried rice so I had to try it!! 

I had the Kalbi beef kimchi fried rice with egg... and oh, yes it was amazing! 

After our yummy and over-filling lunch outside we decided to head down to the waterfront and check out the big ferris wheel! It was such a beautiful warm day in Seattle.  As many of you know, we don't get a lot of beautiful days like this so we really wanted to take advantage of it (and so did the other thousands of other people).  Ya, it was kind of crowded, and the line for the ferris wheel seemed a bit long, but we thought, now is a good time as any. Brandon was super happy, he loves sitting in his big boy stroller.  I think that he loves that fact that he's facing out and able to see more.  He is at this perfect little age where he is just taking everything in like a sponge.  

Daddy and Brandon waiting in line

Leave it up to Brandon to ruin a perfectly good family photo!  Look at this kids face!!

The view was worth the wait!

He loved the view

We didn't get a chance to ride the carousal.  That's next on our list!

My favorite picture from the weekend!

Oh and one last little story for you.  So on our ride we shared a carriage with a nice little European family.  They didn't speak english very well, so our conversations were very short.  As we were all enjoying the nice quiet ride, Brandon thought that it was a good time to take a big ol' fart and shortly after decided to take the stinkiest poo!  Oh those poor people...I'm not fluent in french, but I'm pretty sure they were not very happy inhaling the smell of baby poop in the last 10 minutes of our ride!  Oh, Brandon you really are one funny kid!! Happy 37 weeks!