Kiddie updates

I don't think I've been keeping this blog truly updated at all. Don't blame me... blame, uh, time is too fast!!

In a nutshell, here are the kids' updates.

Aubrey: had a recent bad week with getting one of her fingers cut on an exercise bike, got sick with a fever, loves to sing so much (favorite song is "Tomorrow" from Annie), eats like a slob, loves to eat, loves to dance, gets annoyed with her big brother

Gerard: getting in trouble a lot, also got sick, developed a very bad spoiled habit (tell him to go to time out, and he'll tell YOU to go to time out... or, tell him to stop asking for cookies and he'll tell YOU to leave/go to work/go away)

All is well in camp Hernandez. Except for mama, who is having a real hard time keeping the house immaculate due to logging in more work hours than usual and adding more to the plate with her hobbies.

Friends to grow with

Well, that was a lot of fun.

Tonight was my friends' son's birthday, and it was also the first time I've seen some old friends in a while.

These were the cool cats I used to see almost every weekend when we were in our 20s. Now, we only see each other during our kids' birthdays or special occasions. Whereas before, we were talking about guitars and drums and concerts, now we're giving each other advice on brushing teeth and how to feed toddlers.

It's amazing when your friends also grow with you into parenthood. Just one of life's wonderful gifts.

Legoland with the brats

This past weekend, we took the kids to Legoland. This was Gerard's second trip to the area, but both his and Aubrey's first times there.

I will say that the place is much more worth going when the kids are bigger. At the same time, we wouldn't have had time to get to every ride in one day. We had just enough time in the day to drop by all the age-appropriate attractions for them.

We had a real fun time. Gerard became a crybaby on a couple of attractions. Aubrey enjoyed the only 2 rides she was able to get on, and poor babygirl also bled from the mouth at the Duplo playground from bumping it.

The rides to and from weren't the smoothest. On our way there, we left on Saturday afternoon and we were mostly met with snow and rain. On our way out, it was all sunny but both kids seemed brattier than ever. Whatever Gerard had, Aubrey wanted too. And then Gerard wanted whatever Aubrey had as well. They cried and whined, and we had vomiting to take care of, but all in all, we got home in one whole piece.

I would totally do it again.

Walking

It is with much pride and joy that we announce, after 14 months since birth, that Aubrey is finally walking! While we didn't invest in much time teaching her how to walk, I got a little concerned that at 12 months, she wasn't picking it up on her own nor was she showing signs that she wanted to walk. We gave her more time to do it naturally, but she relied too much on crawling.

We then began to encourage her to walk more, and she much preferred to try with her indoor shoes on. Then one morning at the Farmer's Market, I let her walk while holding my hand. She enjoyed walking that she got mad when I picked her up, and when her brother tried to hold her hand. Later that day, we took her to the Marina park, and there, she really went off at it. She walked long distances on her own, and since then, she's been more courageous about walking.

Go Aubrey!

What every working mom needs is a humanlike computer-based assistant. To do all the extra things that get in the way of spending what few hours are left after the work day with kids.

My ideal robot assistant does not have emotions, but can make sound decisions without me having to direct it much. For ex, it should know what useless things in the house can be donated or thrown away and then it actually going out to take action. My robot assistant would not be having much interaction with the kids -- it would not be a babysitter. But it would watch my kids when I need to shower and no one else is home. It doesn't even need to cook, but it needs to clean up after each time we eat meals. You know-- doing things that really just take time away from the kids.

Working moms all around the world deserve one.

Well, it's well past Christmas but my dear sweet Aubrey has been looking for "tanta." It's the first thing that comes out of her mouth in the mornings. Perhaps, tanta is the only thing she really remembered because of his beard and red suit. Whenever she sees her picture with Santa (she's crying in it), she laughs. 

Ok, girl. Let's see how you'll like Santa this year when you see him face to face again on Christmas. 

I'm so so so in love with my girl. She's lovely.

And here is another Christmas! We didn't have much time to send out cards or put on decorations besides the tree and the Nativity scene. 

While we don't want to push a commercial-hungry season, we did get the kids some toys that we swore off for the most part of this year. We don't buy them toys all the time (or we try not to), but what really is Christmas if we passed on the gifts? Even Jesus got gifts. And well, the underlying meaning of the season is to give... so take note, people: it's ok to give. Just don't go crazy with buying for yourselves even though it's tempting with all the sales out there. The kids are now quite familiar with Santa, but today I explained in the simplest words why there is a Christmas. And I will be doing this for the rest of 2011 so by next year, the kids will associate Jesus more than Santa with Christmas. 

Many will criticize that this holiday is overly-commercialized and so they un-celebrate it by using other terms to greet with. Which is true. But hey, for those of us who know why we're celebrating this holiday in the first place, don't be scared to use the word CHRISTMAS. If you don't want to participate in buying a gift, that's fine. But don't knock those who actually do BUY so they have something to GIVE. I do hate shopping any time of the year, but I buy gifts with meaning or use or would stir a laugh or create genuine happiness; I don't like to buy a gift just to buy something that would be left unopened. And for those who aren't even Christians yet are celebrating the holiday or greeting those of us that celebrate it, that's cool too. But I hope they understand why we have this holiday. If you just want to be a scrooge or a grinch, then that's how you feel.... but can you not spread that around? ;-) I'm not sure what good it does to make people somber. We want to be happy all year long, but since we're not, Christmas is here to hopefully cheer everyone up together. 

With that said, Merry Merry Christmas from our family to yours.