Children’s Hospital

This picture was actually taken about 1 1/2 months ago. About a couple months ago, while bathing Vincent, I noticed one of his testical was bigger than the other. The difference was so significant that I didn’t think it was normal. After showing it to Bill, we decided to take him to the pediatric the next day. Sure enough, my two year old got hernia!!! Apparently it’s pretty common to a toddler, especially for boys. Basically the substance from his intestine somehow went into his testicle. So he needed a surgery to remove that substance and closed out the connection between his intestine and his scrotum. At first I was really worried; I just couldn’t imagine that my baby actually needed a surgery. But the pediatric assured me that it was going to be a really simple surgery. Plus, children recover much faster than adult. So I made an appointment with the specialist at Children’s Hospital and I got the surgery scheduled on May 21.

On the day of surgery, we arrived at the hospital around 9 am. Vincent was not allowed to eat any sold after midnight, and the only thing he was allowed to drink was pedialyte or apple juice before 7 am. Being in the hospital was an experience within itself. Vincent was so scared about the whole experience. The nurse couldn’t even take his heart beat and blood pressure. He was screaming and crying the entire initial check up, and wouldn’t let go his blankie. He calmed down a little bit after the nurse was gone, but as soon as she came back trying to take his blood pressure, of course he was screaming again. Below is the picture we took right before they wheeled him into the operation room.

The procedure was about an hour. The incision is just like c-section, it’s right across his below the belt belly. The anesthesia was inserted right on his tail bone, unlike when I got my epidural it was a few inches above the tail bone. The IV was inserted on his toe and luckily they did it after they put a gas mask that made him asleep. They kept him about two hours after the surgery was completed just to make sure if there are any side effects. I guess they don’t want the parents to be frantic if something goes wrong.

After they let us in, Vincent was still asleep. We waited for about an hour and when he woke up, he was so weak and in a little bit of pain. The nurse gave him tylenol and we were ready to leave. After getting a few instruction here and there, got him dressed, we were dismissed. He was still weak and cranky, just wasn’t being himself, but I could tell he felt a little bit better. He chuckled a little bit while I played puppet show with his teddy bear while waiting for Bill to get the car.

After we got home, he was really really hungry. He ate two bowls of rice and three bananas. He was bouncing off the walls and acted just as hyper as he always was. I must say I’m very pleased with the Children’s Hospital. Great facility, the staffs are very helpful and the cafeteria is very cheap (I had 3 pieces of chicken fingers and fries for $3). Outside the waiting room they have wifi, computer with internet connection, tvs and magazines. Trust me… three hours went by quicker than we thought.

2009 Indonesian Vacation

Enjoy this photobook.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Random Pics

I found some pictures that we took around the house from the last few months we got back from Indonesia.  I just love his expression in some of these pictures.

big belly

let’s vacuum

just love this naughty smile

macho in leather jacket

I like to eat

like playing blocks

and read

and watch tv

and riding tricycle

look out!

One Fine Saturday Afternoon

Last Saturday was such a beautiful day.  The temperature was around 70-ish, breezy but not too cold.  It was just perfect!  We decided to go  to Inniswood Metro Garden and have a picnic.  My mission is to find the tree house in which I still couldn’t find it for the love of God.  Turns out they don’t allow you to bring food inside the garden, so we ended up not having a picnic but decided to bring down the basket anyway for picture purpose.  The garden is beautiful….all the flowers are still blooming….and Vincent had a blast!  He loved running around the garden, and in the end insisting on pushing the stroller all by himself.  We definitely will come back before it gets too hot during the Summer.

sighhh…. so much to do in the weekend… so little time….

catch me if you can!

I’m going to eat you

pretty in pink

us

check out the waterfalls

gorgeous purple

Niagara Falls & Day Out with Thomas 2009

On Memorial Day weekend we went to Niagara Falls to visit our family.  We left on Thursday evening and spent one night in a suburb of Cleveland to see Thomas the Tank Engine.  My friend was telling me about Day Out with Thomas event that she went last year, and it just sounds so much fun.  So I had been waiting for Thomas to visit Ohio and was looking forward to finally go there, especially since Vincent has been so much into Thomas lately.

Day Out with Thomas is definitely worth for a visit, especially if your kids love Thomas.  It’s basically an old train that the people turned the locomotive into Thomas.  We skipped the train ride and saved $18/person ticket price since we know Vincent wouldn’t enjoy it; he just wanted to see Thomas.  Vincent had a blast.  He loved seeing Thomas and enjoyed the activities.

We spent about a couple hours there, had a snack and drove away to Niagara Falls.  We spent one night at the Falls before driving to Mississauga to spend time with our family.  Both Bill and I have cousins and aunts who live there.  I was a little disappointed with the entertainment venues around the Falls.  It was the first time we actually visited “The Fun House”, which is basically a shop that was set up with 8 different rooms with some obstacle courses, mirror maze, among other things.  The ticket is about $8/person with kids under 3 are free.  It was too pricey and the set up was poorly made.  It almost looks like they just put things together and charges high price just because of the location.  The best part is our hotel room is facing directly into the horse shoe.  The view is spectacular and we only paid $25 from the hotel’s promotion (regular rate is $199/night).  The next day we left to Mississauga, spent a night with my family, eat good Chinese food, went to Bill’s cousin and had a nice barbeque.  My cousin took us to a park near Lakeshore and Vincent was running around like crazy.  It was a nice weekend gateway and we definitely will make it as our annual trip.

Thomas the Train

Us

This is made of Lego

walking around downtown Niagara Falls

At The Fun House

The Falls

Lakeshore Garden

The Falls at night

View from our hotel room

Indianapolis Trip 2009

For those of you who have not been to Indianapolis, you should check out The Children Museum and Indianapolis Museum of Art.  We had such a blast!  Indianapolis is only 3 hours away from Columbus, and its Children Museum is much better than the one in Chicago.  The only drawback is your COSI membership does not apply to this museum, you have to pay $15/person.  Children under 2 years old are free. 

On Saturday Vincent and I went to the children museum while Bill went to the museum of art.  I have very little interest in art, and since the children museum is huge, we figured we need more than a day to explore.  The museum opens from 10 – 5pm.  So we have to coordinate our schedule accordingly.  Luckily Vincent is trained to be flexible, so he can nap early if we tell him to do so.  He napped from 10:30 – 12:30, had lunch, and we were off.  We got there around 1pm, spent about 4 hours until the museum closed and Bill picked us up.  After that we decided to go to the museum of art.  But since the art museum also closes at 5pm, we decided to explore its garden.  I’m telling you… everybody who knows me know very well that I’m not a flower person.  I don’t even like getting flower from Bill.  But this garden is gooooorrrgeeouusssss!!!!  It’s almost like Buchart Garden in Victoria, BC (Canada).  It’s just so amazing!!!  Right in the middle of the Garden, there’s a mansion that once belonged to a wealthy businessman.  Unfortunately I couldn’t check it out since it’s closed.

The next day we went back to the Children Museum but this time was with Bill.  There were certain things that Vincent was too young to enjoy such as the comic exhibit (he could careless about batman or spiderman) and the Lego Castle (although he loves building blocks).  The thing I loved the most about this place was the playhouse.  There are several playhouses and they are sooo cute along with the pretend food.  There is playhouse that looks like a diner, one that looks like a doll house and a tree house.  I played a tea party with Vincent in one of the doll house.  I guess it’s sort of compensating my childhood dream.  The one that looks like a diner was the busiest one because kids love taking orders from their parents and pretend to be the waitresses.  Vincent loves watching a train set and riding carousel. 

It was one of the best weekend I ever had.  I wished I had friends who live in Indianapolis, so I can get the membership and go there on a regular basis.

riding feet, the game I loved the most as a child

in front of my house… not!!

my little dinosours

tea party

I wished I had one of these at home

ready to rumble!

Let’s eat these plastic food

Mothers Day

Mothers day this year was really special for me because I got to celebrate it at Vincent’s daycare.  The daycare center invited all mommies for “Mommy and Me” tea party.  I must tell you that they worked really hard to make the event so special for all of us.  I got there right on time (around 4 pm) and the classroom was already packed with all the mommies.  Vincent had a huge smile on his face when he saw me, and immediately running towards me and gave a big hug.  I chatted a little bit with other moms until the teachers guided us to go to the dining room.  The dining room was decorated in pink and we were told to sit on the assigned seat based on your child’s picture.  After we all sat down, the children were supposed to sing “We love mommy” song that they’ve been practicing for a whole week.  Of course Vincent had to cry because he wanted to eat cookies that were sitting in the middle of table.  Then we’re supposed to decorate the cookies with icing and sprinkle, and of course Vincent ate all the cookies without even bother to decorating it.  As a part of our gifts, we got:

• “About Me” four pages book which contains my color is red (it’s not his color, he just happen to have a lot of red shirts and pants), I love doggie, I love playing with blocks, and I love French Toast.  This is a very nice gift considering I didn’t know the last one since we don’t eat french toast at home.  But I do know he likes dog and blocks.
• A cup of dirt that they planted flower seeds on.  We’re supposed to water it and watch it growing, and transfer it to our garden after it gets bigger…. very symbolic.
• A card
• A list of mom’s job description

Everything this daycare did was very thoughtful and meaningful, so kudos to the daycare!!  There was one child whose mom was the only one didn’t show up, and that broke my heart into pieces.  I really didn’t know what’s the best way to handle this situation as his mom did sign up to come.  But even if she didn’t, should the daycare remove him from his friends?  Wouldn’t he feel isolated too?  Bottom line is, I would’ve worked extra hours or in the weekend if I had to, or even sent a family member or a friend, just so that my child wouldn’t be by himself.  It also made me thankful that I have a job that gives flexibility to this kind of thing, and made me realize what my priority is in life.

Mommy and Me tea party

Mommy Gifts

Vincent is eating cookies

with Ms. Ashley

Christmas 2008

Last year’s Christmas was pretty special to me because Jerry (Bill’s cousin) was in town.  It’s not every year that we can celebrate Christmas with family, so I always treasure every minute of it. 

Due to the current economy, we cut back our spending on the Christmas presents.  We agreed to give two presents at the most to each other, and a maximum of 4 presents for Vincent.  I have a huge ordeal with buying Christmas present for Vincent.  I waited till the last minute to buy his presents thinking maybe with this current market, the retailers might throw some deals for the last minute shoppers.  Well of course that didn’t happen.  I had been eyeing this vacuum toy that looks just like a real vacuum only smaller.  I know he loves vacuum and I really want to get it for him.  A couple weeks before Christmas, I went to Toys r’ us to get it and the item was out of stock.  I was completely bummed.  I tried to find it at Wallmart, Target, you named it…. nada!!  So I checked up online and the price at amazon is ridiculously expensive.  Other online retailers would charge me outrageous shipping that costs almost the same as the vacuum itself.  I was really really upset, then my husband told me to get a different kind of vacuum.  So I said, “But that’s not what I want”.  Then he said, “it’s not what you want or it’s not what HE wants?  You know he just wants a vacuum.  He doesn’t care what it looks like”.  I was like, he does have a good point.  So the next day, I went back to Toys r’ us straight from work with the intention of buying the alternate vacuum.  And there it was.  My beautiful dirt devil vacuum that I had been wanting for a long time.  Immediately I got that along with a couple of Melissa and Doug puzzles, and a doodle magnetic drawing board.  I was so so happy, you have no idea. 

Anyway, we went to church on Christmas morning.  Jerry stayed at our house the night before, but he and Genny had Christmas lunch with John’s family in the afternoon (around 2 pm).  When John and Genny came over to our house to pick up Jerry, we opened up our presents.  I got a book from Genny, a box of chocolate from Jerry, a box of chocolate covered peanuts from John and a pair of boots.  I guess people know I love chocolate.  I gave a PJ and buckeye hat for Bill, a t-shirt for John and Jerry and a blouse for Genny. 

In the evening, Jerry, Genny and John stop by at our house again and had dinner with us.  We just had a really small party.  Jerry cooked delicious chicken dish with orzo and salad with homemade dressing…. very fancy.  We also had the left over ham from John’s family dinner party.  I know myself well enough not to cook this time.  Even if Jerry didn’t offer to cook, I would’ve had it catered anyway.  I tried to cook festive dinner on Thanksgiving and it didn’t work.  I guess have a toddler and cook fancy dinner for a party just don’t go hand in hand.John made me hot chocolate with marshmallow and a sprinkle of peppermint…. very delicious.  The whole thing is very humble but intimate, just the kind of party I enjoy.

 

Our Christmas Tree and presents

Opening presents

trying his vacuum

all his presents, very humble isn’t it?

My very favorite ornament :)

Another ornament he made at daycare

Genny and John

Us minus Vincent who was napping

Visiting Sesame Street at COSI

Early in January, we went to COSI on lovely Sunday afternoon.  We weren’t planning on going to Sesame Street exhibit that day because there is an extra charge.  But after playing at kidzone for awhile, all of us actually got bored.  So we decided to check it out.  Boy was I glad we went there.  I’ve never seen Vincent so happy before.  He was running around, screaming and laughing.  In fact, I had a fabulous time myself.  Not only they have obstacle course, some props that show how our body works, etc, they also have this little pretend market with baskets of pretend fruits and veggies, a shelve full of pretend food, cash register, scale to weigh your veggies, and so much more.  I felt like I was a kid again.  But the whole time I was actually busy chasing him around and show him how to do stuffs.  It was one of the best trip ever, and we’ll definitely do this again when they have another exhibit. 

welcome to Sesame Street

He did really good using his motorskills

Let me scan these grocery items

Look, I’m making my sandwich

At the obstacle course

What a happy face

Learning on how to brush my teeth?

Quick Updates

I know I haven’t updated this blog for a very long time… and here’s why.  My husband just bought a DSLR camera and for the longest time, we didn’t have the converter to transfer files from the camera to our computer.  We got the camera back in December for our trip to Indonesia.  When we got back, I got so overwhelmed with the number of pictures we took as a whole.  So, here we are…. just enjoy tons of pictures capturing a trip to Body Sesame Street at COSI, Christmas, and the whole month of trip to Indonesia.