A Thankful blog

Since this blog is hardly updated anymore, I am feeling like too many things have passed without them being documented outside of Facebook.

For our future's sake, here is a rundown of what's been happening with us:

-Gerard started school in October at 2 days a week. At first, he loved it and Aubrey really wanted to go too. But now he's refusing to go, and it takes a whole lot of encouragement before he stops refusing.

-Aubrey is still cranky, even moreso than when she started acting this way back in July. She doesn't like when Gerard or her papa get close to me. Her big thing to say is "NO GERARD!" even when he's not doing anything at all. It's a good thing Gerard doesn't fight back or even reacts to it.

-A few nights ago, while Aubrey was "sleeping" in bed, she walked off looking for me. I brought her back and laid down with her, but not before she wrapped her arm around my neck and her hand grabbing on to my shirt. I felt a bit like a prisoner ;-) Everytime I attempted to get up, she would only hold on tighter. It took about 30 minutes to successfully get out of her grip. I love her, but please, I have stuff to finish Aubrey!

-Potty training with Gerard is slightly progressing. He's apparently participating in potty time at school. But he's not very keen on it at home. Neither is Aubrey. She did have 3 days in a row a few months ago of using the potty consistently in the mornings.

-Aubrey is still obsessed with Ariel. Gerard is still obsessed with the same things.

-Aubrey has grown almost 5 inches since nearly a year ago!

-Both kids have been quite entertaining. Wish I could write them all :(

With that out of the way, it is my duty to write down that we are thankful for this family and our loved ones. Very thankful. I am thankful for having a husband whose commitment I am experiencing everyday and is growing stronger.

Halloween

The weeks leading up to Halloween were all about Star Wars and The Little Mermaid.

At first, Gerard couldn't decide on his costume: Fireboy, Prince Eric or Storm Trooper. I finally convinced him to be a Storm Trooper.

But since the beginning, Aubrey had maintained she wanted to be Ariel. So they both got their wishes.

I took them to work on Halloween day, and they had a blast. I entered them into the annual parade for fun. Then they collected candy from various officemates. Gerard ran everywhere, along with the other kids. I had to stay with Aubrey who was slow to catch up because she was admiring all the desk accessories and toys everyone had.

At night, we took them to Westlake where we collected more candy for the orphans. As a reward, they were to get 2 pieces of chocolate. But they already did that before any candy was collected, so we didn't give them any more. Our ever curious Gerard would peak into people's homes as he got his candy. Both kids did very well greeting with their "trick or treat" and/or "Happy Halloween!" and "good night, thank you!"

Even Aubrey got her "Happy Halloween" so clearly!

To conclude the festivity, we took them to Starbucks for a quick dinner and chocolate milk. One of the ladies in line noticed Aubrey and was quickly smitten by her. When asked what her costume was, Aubrey slid her jacket off her and started singing the Ariel melody. That was truly memorable.

These past few months we have seen Aubrey learn at the pace of a snowball, largely in thanks to Gerard. Only her second Halloween in life and she already knew what a costume was.

I feel so bad for not blogging enough. There are so many things happening. This whole summer passed and I rarely shared much.

Well let's see here....

Gerard is going to a pre-school 2x a week. He seems to like it a lot although he got lazy today about going because he wanted to play with the Delorean model car.

Aubrey has been snowball learning phrases. She is showing signs that she knows who her loved ones are because she doesn't like leaving any of us behind. If she thinks we are leaving someone, she'll coax them with "come on, _______, let's go!" Though her and Gerard bicker, she loves being with him. When she is separated from him on the days he's at school, she cries. I am told that she calls out to him all the time. I wish they could stay together the whole time but it can't be.

Recently, a friend of mine passed away. I attended all 3 days of memorial service, and on the 3rd day, I brought Aubrey with me. I had hear wear her punk rock gear because I once posted a picture of her in the same clothes and my friend gave it a thumbs up. I figure it was only appropriate -- he never actually met the kids except through my numerous pictures.

I also got to spend a whole day with just Aubrey. She was sick so I called in sick for her just to be able to comfort her. It worked -- she was happy and atleast for that day, I don't think she felt awful because I was with her. First we took Gerard to school (she wanted to stay), then we went to grandma and grandpa's house to eat breakfast and play with her cousin Bea for a bit. After that, we both attended the funeral of my friend where we met up with her BFF Bryce and ninang Bern, and she also met a bunch of my friends that have not met either of my kids. For lunch, I took her to Redwood City to meet more of my work friends and we ate a buffet. We winded down the day at her papa's work area, as he spent his lunch break with us at nearby Jack Early Park where we took pictures and just enjoyed Aubrey's company. Then we separated from papa and picked up Gerard from school, and that's how our mama-Aubrey day went. Would like more days like that.. She deserves it.

As of late, she's getting better about not crying for her milk in the mornings. Sometimes, she'll just wake me up saying "hungry!" other times she'll whine it out and start crying she's hungry. But it's nothing like the ear-piercing cries anymore. She had a bad case of that as an infant. I didn't think she'd get past it. Well, she did...and I didn't notice when it happened.

Gerard has been working on art projects at school and also now being potty trained there. Every morning, he's been using the grown up toilet (with papa's help) to pee, so he's on his way.

I had to leave the brats for about 5 days for a work event in LA. They managed well, I guess.

So Aubrey has been super polite about everything, saying "please" and "thank you" a lot! Tonight, I tried to put truck pants on her, but she refused and wanted something with flowers. What a girl!

Gerard will be starting school very soon. He's been so eager to start!!! I hope he does enjoy it.

Wish I could write more but I'm sooooo busy catching up with a lot of photography work. Feel kinda bad I don't get to spend more time with the kids, but I gotta do this.

The things they pick up from watching movies

We have been watching two-many movies at home, namely, of redheaded fish wanting to be human (Ponyo and The Little Mermaid). Both brats are crazy lovin' them and have started picking up lines. Both events below happened on back-to-back days (Sunday and Monday during Labor Day Weekend).

Here is Gerard's: We were sitting on the couch having an in-depth viewing of a photo magazine of natural disasters, which included photos from the Japan tsunami. Out of the blue, he commented, "I've never seen the ocean like this before." It took me half a second to realize the line came from Ponyo, when character Lisa said the same exact line as a tsunami approached their land. Of course I laughed and asked him if he stole that from the movie.

Here is Aubrey's: We were in bed, and told her I wanted to cuddle her. I then thought that "cuddle" rhymed too much with Scuttle, the seagull with a big mouth from The Little Mermaid. In one of the earlier scenes, he had a dialogue with Ariel where she calls out to him "Scuttle!" and he responds with "Ariel, sweetheart, how ya doing!?" Well, slightly different, but when I playfully shouted "Cuddle!" to the same tone as Ariel shouting "Scuttle," Aubrey responded with "Mermaid!" I am still chuckling over this.

After a few minutes of telling him it's rude and wrong to shout at me, Gerard was silent and eventually apologized for it. We hugged and I told him I love him.
He is growing up so fast!!

Meanwhile, our Aubrey is also growing up. A few days ago, when her brother was sleeping on the couch while sucking his fingers, she went up to him and tried to wake him up saying, "Fingers our, Darard!" Hearing this from the kitchen, I shouted for her to not wake him up and when I ran in, I realized what she was doing. She was just looking out for her brother.

They're pretty sweet, yeah.

what's up with us?

It's been a long while since we last blogged.

Well, we recently took a trip to Canada. Aubrey is still whining, and is very cranky for some reason.

I am left to hold the fort down while Egan made an emergency flight to Philippines. It is a sad trip, one where he says goodbye to his father who passed last weekend. I wish we could be there with him but I have stayed behind with the kids. So far, the kids haven't been giving me too much of a hard time here.

Tonight, when I went to pick up the kids from my parents' house, Gerard was asleep and didn't want to wake up. So I left him there, thinking he would be asleep all night. But I just got a call that he woke up and wanted to go home. Good =) I was feeling quite lonely even though I loved having alone time with Aubrey. Having two kids, it's just never right when they're separated. But I cherish our one-on-ones. It just drives me crazy that I can't have one-on-one at the same time with both of them! I love these brats and couldn't imagine where I'd be without them.