Merry Christmas...

from our family to yours. And a happy and healthy 2014!

Look who just turned 1!

I can't believe it's been a year since little Chase came into our lives. It has definitely been one fun, exhausting, fabulous year. There were lots of firsts. 

First ride on Jane's Carousel at Brooklyn Bridge Park, NY.

First time on the swing in Park Slope, NY. 

First trip to Puerto Rico and thus his first airplane ride. Here he is lounging around on Paloma Island Beach, Puerto Rico. 

First time at the pumpkin farm. 

First Halloween as an Ewok. 

Video of Chase's First Year!

Can't wait to experience many more firsts with Chase.

First Day...

of daycare for Chase.

Ten month old and he's leaving mommy already. *sigh*.  I got this strange feeling like I'm missing a part of me. But Chase didn't care. He wasn't crying when mommy and daddy waved good-bye to him. He just stared at us thinking, "Strange place, but it looks cool. Bye guys."

The decision to leave him at daycare was a hard one. There are days earlier in his life that I wanted to send him to daycare and leave me to sleep. But I also enjoyed being there for his first of everything- first laugh, first "mama"/"dada", first crawl, etc. I didn't want a stranger to be the one to experience his FIRST's.

So what led me to decide finally at 10 month old that he's ready? I wanted him to interact and socialize more with other kids. I wanted some time to clean up the apartment that looks like a scene from Hoarders. ok. Not that bad, but getting there. I've been collecting lots of baby gears and toys. I must say it's not Chase's fault. He doesn't care if he didn't have any toys. It's me. It's all me.

I also now have time to write you this post! Time to catch up on my doctor and dental check-ups, which is what I'm doing today. Hopefully daycare doesn't call me in the middle of getting my fillings done!

Another reason why we spent money to send Chase to daycare when we really don't have that much money (especially for daycare in NYC) is because I'm planning to return to work part-time in the next month or so. I rather have him acclimated to daycare now then when I have to rush out the door to work. I need to work to earn extra money for all the "mommy and me" classes that are available in the city. They're not cheap! Yes, I know I can take him to the library for free storytelling and to the park for free fun, but the weather is getting colder and the park is not an option. The library used to be a great place for us to spend our time, but Chase's naps now land right smack in the middle of storytelling time. So that's out the window. And mommy can only entertain Chase for so long. He needs friends near his age.

Yes, my son is in daycare, leaving me alone to do my own thing. *sigh*

And I forgot to take a picture! :(

No Room for Bullying

Question: "What is a bully?"

Answers: "Someone who bothers you...wants to hurt you...pushes you around..."

Those were some answers given by 3-10 year-old kids who attended the first annual, "#NoRoomForBullying event" held at Gracie Barra of Long Island in New Hyde Park, NY. This great event was made possible by Vida Lok (@mommylok), Maria Adcock (@biculturalmama)  and the wonderful staff of Gracie Barra Long Island (@gblongisland). It was educational and fun for the kids and parents. 

I think every child should attend an anti-bullying event like this one, as it is important to learn how to stand up to bullies and also to prevent a kid from becoming a bully. Adults should also be taught about bullying, as it is not something that happens only in childhood. Bullying affects the child's emotional psyche and social life deep into adulthood. 

The "No Room for Bullying" event was very structured and kid-friendly. The instructors interacted with the kids showing them practical ways of self defense against bullies while exercising and having fun. 

Warm - up exercises:

Chase warming up!

The kids answering questions regarding bullying:

Example of verbal bullying:

Instructors demonstrating how to defend oneself when pushed to the ground: 

The kids practicing how to defend themselves:

How to break free when pinned to the ground by a bully:

Practice! Practice! Practice! Helps give your child more confidence to defend himself/herself against bullies. 

Learning the importance of friends in fighting bullies:

Miriya's friend telling the bully to back off. 

Chase looking out for his new friend.

The amazing instructors at Gracie Barra of Long Island not only taught the kids how to identify and defend themselves against bullies, but also self control, self confidence, focus, respect, and discipline.

Shaking hands with the instructors at the end of class.

The lessons learned at this event should not end with the hand shakes. We need to discuss bullying and practice self defense with our children throughout their lives. Through practice, our kids will gain confidence in themselves, thus becoming less of a target for bullies. 

Thank you Vida, Maria, and Gracie Barra of Long Island for a fun and educational day. 

Life is full of great moments! There's NO ROOM FOR BULLYING!

But there was room for a good snack!  After a great lesson on anti-bullying, the refreshments, provided courtesy of Honest Tea, Little Bird Chocolates, Funny Face Dried Cranberries and The Gourmet Bake Shop, really hit the spot!

Update: Just received the anti-bullying guide from Gracie Barra Long Island. Click on link to open: "The Bullying Repel Guide: How to Transform Bullying into a Positive Experience."

Summer time, Kids, and the BIG CITY...

If you have a kid you know that FUN doesn't come cheap these days...especially during the summer when there are so many places to go and things to do. Here are some of my suggestions for having a FUN summer for cheap or FREE.

1. Visit your local library's event calendar as there are tons of free programs such as reading for babies and toddlers, yoga, knitting, family movie, and summer meals.

2. Take a Music Together free demonstration class, which is normally an hour long. Be forewarn that there will be some talking from the instructor as this is an introduction to what the program is about as well as singing and playing musical instruments for the kids.

3. Check out Museum Free Days for times when attractions in NYC accept suggested donations or has partial/full free days.

4. Form a play group on Facebook and ask local moms and babies to meet at the park or other locations with some toys and games.

6. Ebay and facebook group might have coupons for big attactions like Sesame Street, Land of Make Believe, etc. for free or at a low cost. It might be strange to buy a coupon for $4-5, but the coupons can be $25-$30 off the admission price.

5. Check out NYC Parks for free movie nights around the city, which normally starts at dusk so you might have to wait until 8:00 for a movie. Grab a picnic basket and head to your nearest park.

6. Time Out NY Kids has tons of activities for kids of all ages around the city  to do for free.

7. For the mommies and daddies who need to see a grown-up movie once in a while but can't find a babysitter, certain movie theaters offer "mom and me" screenings for the first showing of all their movies on certain day of the week. Check out Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that offers Hawks with Babies every Tuesday afternoon. You can order brunch at your seat and there's a bar in the lobby! Also features adult theme brunch and a movie for when you can get away without the baby :)

8. Dance under the stars or take in a concert at Lincoln Center. Visit Lincoln Center Out of Doors for their schedule of free concerts.

ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!

I've been Plated.

I've never been much of a cook (Worst at baking). For those of you who don't know me, I basically saute everything! Once in a blue moon I'll make pasta and soup. And on very very rare occasions I might fry a salmon. That's the gist of my cooking.

When mommy lok referred me to Plated I was a little bit apprehensive and excited. Apprehensive because I can't really cook. Excited because if mommy lok wants me to try it out, it must be cool!

Before I go into what I made, let me tell you a little bit about Plated:

What is Plated?  It is basically a meal program. You can either become a member for $10 a month and pay less for each plate or order your meal as a non-member with higher per plate cost. You pick a recipe from their website and all the fresh ingredients are delivered to your front door ( In my case the mailman placed it downstairs and my kind neighbor delivered it to me!!).  Every ingredients are packed in their own little bags with labels and then in a big freezer bag along with a recipe. Each week there's a new menu.

For my Plated meals, I ordered the London Broil and the Cod. I had cod the first night.  It was very easy to make and took around 30 mins from start to finish.  The meal itself was good. I rushed through the instructions and I missed a few steps, which was my fault. I'm sure the meal would have been better if I wasn't so excited about cooking that I skipped instructions.

The next night I made the London Broil. That turned out great because the recipe was a lot simplier. The tricky part was making sure I don't overcook the steak, which would make it rubbery. I love the fact that Plated don't marinate the meat in advance since I don't like a lot of spices in my food. The spices are in their own separate bags so I get to decide how much to put in my meal.

My version of London Broil

Overall, I like the idea behind Plated. All the fresh ingredients you need to make a meal in one bag. No more rummaging through the fridge and cabinets searching for the necessary ingredients for a great meal.  Best of all, you get to cook something that you never would before if you had to think about what to cook on your own.  Plated is slightly pricey especially at $15 a plate for non-members, but there is only a 2 plates option and you have to order 4 plates in order to check out. That's a total of $60.  While it is slightly pricey, Plated is a good way to learn how to cook and also increase your recipe collection.

Happy cooking everyone!

Save our libraries and foster reading in our kids...

The Brooklyn Public Library is an integral part of Chase's life, even before he arrived in this world . I borrowed pregnancy and baby books to read to Chase while he was in my tummy. When he was born I continued to borrow books out so that we can "read" them together.

I want to share with you what Chase and I did yesterday that made me write this post today! Yesterday Chase and I went to story time at Bay Ridge Library's Babies and Books. I was just expecting babies sitting on a mat and a person reading them a book. Boy, was I surprised! There were lots of singing, rhyming, playing, and storytelling. Chase was definitely interested in the other babies as well as the storyteller. I was happy to be talking to parents whose kids were in Chase's age group going through the same milestones and issues. 

What is Babies and Books?

Babies and Books is a story time event that takes place once a week and last throughout the year. Their schedule changes so check their calendar. You have to go to the library 15-20 mins early to get a ticket because the slots filled up quickly. Babies and Books is 30 mins long. During the first 20 mins there were a lot of bouncing, singing, and rhyming. Then it was story time! The storyteller actually sung the story and used a baby doll to imitate the actions in the book. That took less than five minutes.  Then came the bubbles and music. The older kids loved it. They were trying to catch them, while the younger babies were staring up in amazement. Free play came next. The library provided the babies with blocks and variety of toys. Story time ended with a good-by song. Everyone also got a free book. Since it was the last activities in the room we were allowed to mingle and let the kids continue interacting with each other. Everyone had fun!

A friend of mine who lives in Brooklyn Height said that story time and other activities at her library were cancelled for the summer because there's no money in the budget to fix their broken air-conditioner. I was shocked by this because as a stay-at-home mom I'm always looking for something FREE to do with Chase and it's such a valuable activity to foster future readers. Apparently, there will be a budget cut to all Brooklyn public libraries by the end of June if there is not enough funding. So what can we as parents do to help our libraries?

Every time I go to the Brooklyn Public Library website to renew my books I got this message:

I'm sure like most Brooklynites, I closed the tab and went on to renew my books. Not today!!! I signed the online petition and donated money to the library. It's not a lot of money, but I hope it's enough to keep Babies and Books and other wonderful services at the Brooklyn libraries going!

Please help the Brooklyn Public Library by signing the online petitition and/or donate money so that our kids have somewhere to go for free activities and a good read!

07/03/2013 update:

Happy news. The funding for our libraries have been restored. 

"We've received full restoration of the proposed budget cut to the Brooklyn, Queens and New York Public Library systems. By restoring over $106 million, the New York City Council and Mayor Bloomberg have saved hundreds of BPL staff from layoff, making sure that your library is open at least 5 days a week and guaranteeing that millions of New Yorkers continue to get books, homework help, access to technology and life-long learning opportunities in their local library. Thank you to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Finance Chair Domenic Recchia, Cultural Affairs & Libraries Committee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer and Libraries Subcommittee Chair Vincent Gentile, along with the entire City Council, for standing up for public libraries." - Brooklyn Public Library website.

Happy Reading!

Stamping away.

My friend Jean from Stampin - Scrapper shared with me her stamping passion and some of her stamps over the weekend. She's wonderful at what she does. I LOVE her shabby chic style.

Jean gave me tons of stamps and inks to make room for new ones. Thanks Jean! Once I got home I went straight to stamping these two cards for Mr. T and my friend whose birthday is on Tuesday. Happy Birthday Lora!

Father's Day card

Birthday card

The cards are very basic, but I like the clean look. The  "Happy Birthday" card didn't have the lace originally because it was done at 3 in the morning.  I was very tempted to find some, but I don't think Mr. T and Chase would appreciate me rummaging through the closet at that time. I also don't have all the tools (Die-cut machine, embossing powder, heat gun) needed to bring my cards to the next level. MAYBE I'll get them for Christmas (hint hint MR. T).

I hope you enjoyed the cards. Check out Jean Martin on Stampin-Scrapper and Pinterest for inspirations for your next card.

Happy Crafting!

Fabric Birthday Bunting

My best friend's baby is no longer an infant. She officially became a toddler at the tender age of ONE on June  5.  Happy Birthday Cecilia!

To help celebrate the day she was borned I made her the lovely no-sew fabric bunting you see above.

These gorgeous fabrics are from the "Little Red Riding Hood" collections by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake Design that I bought from Southern Seams Fabrics.  Instead of smooth edge around the bunting, I used a pinking shear to make the jagged edges for a more decorative touch and to prevent fraying. Turned out better than I had hope. However, I never realized how heavy and hard it is to use a pinking shear. Mr. T had to help me a little at the end. Ok. More like I said, "Here honey, cut these!" :)

For the letters I just cut them out of hard felt and then use Scor-tape (great tape for every projects) to attach them to the bunting. It is actually double sided without the letters on the back. This bunting would look lovely over Cecilia's crib and then over her bed when she's older (If mommy chooses to do that!).

Here are some detailed pictures of the bunting because I love these fabric so much:)

Happy crafting everyone! TGIF!

New York Baby Show

Went to the New York Baby Show this weekend with Mr. T, Chase, and my mom. We had a wonderful time collecting free baby food :) Other than that it was just nice to be with the family on a nice rainy day.

The biggest hit at the NY Baby Show to me is the NYC Dads Group. Why you ask? Because they were the only people with any sense to have changing tables at a baby show! NYC Dads Group hosted the Dads' Lounge for daddies to hang out while mommies were out browsing through all the different baby vendors. It wasn't fancy; just some chairs, a table, a sofa, and two changing tables. Comfort and Harmony sponsored a Moms' Lounge that was very chic, but had no changing tables. At least not one that I could find. I'm thinking it's because Comfort and Harmony were trying to sell their products so they couldn't have changing tables that weren't their brand. NYC Dads Group wasn't there to sell any products except support and information for dads.

Here is what they are about:

"NYC Dads Group is a diverse community of over 700 members created to give fathers an opportunity to socialize and support each other as we navigate parenthood. We meet at various venues around the city including museums, parks, zoos, indoor play-areas, parent-and-me classes, etc.  We also organize evening events for dads to socialize, learn from each other, and meet with journalists, authors, and other experts related to fatherhood and parenting" ----NYC Dads Group

We met some amazing dads at the lounge. It's no wonder that the changing table ideas came from these dads! Hooray for dads!

Mr. T signed up for the group. I hope he takes advantage of it and go to one of their meetup. I'm always telling him he needs to hang out with his friends before our lives get busier than it is now. The group would allow Chase and Mr. T to bond more and socialize with other dads as well.

I also want to give a huge shout out to the Babyganic representative who supplied baby supplies for the changing tables at the Dads' Lounge.  NYC Dads Group had the changing tables but no supplies so Babyganics provided them with some.  Good PR for Babyganics as well. It's a win-win situation.

Update 05/22/2013:

We collected a lot of baby food at the NY Baby Show for Chase to try since we feel that he's quite ready for solids. Chase never had the chance to try any of them out. Our dog, Pippy, had the first taste while we were out for a 2 hour stroll. Came home and I saw trails of plastic wraps and baby pouches all over the living room and bedroom. I had forgotten to put up the gate for the dog.  Reminder to self: PUT UP BABY GATE FOR THE DOG, NOT THE BABY!

However, there is a happy ending. I wrote emails to all the different baby food companies with the "My dog ate my baby food" subject line. I got some responses back and am ooking forward to the samples in the mail. They will be stored in a very high place this time!

Happy Mother's Day!

I am sick on Mother's day. Nothing major. Just a runny nose and lots of coughing. Still, I want to feel well to hug and kiss Chase on this special day. It is my first Mother's day after all. But then I realized there are so many more Mother's days to come. And I look forward to when he makes me his first Mother's day card. I look forward to him saying to me while I lie in bed, "Happy Mother's day, mom. I love you". Although I'm sick I'm so happy that he is well on his first Mother's day. 

Happy Mother's day to my mom for all that you do. Happy Mother's day to all my mommy and mommy-to-be friends. Motherhood is a great journey and one that's worth traveling through. 

Here are two great videos that I want to share with you on this special day. 

This video makes me cry every time I see it. So touching. Love that it's from a child's perspective.
I guess we all copy our son or daughter! :)

This will be me and Chase one day :) I don't even have a smart phone. I use my phone as well...a PHONE. 

Mothers do amazing things every day that go unnoticed. Notice her today with some loving. 

THANKS MOM!

P.S: As I was writing this post Mr. T woke up. Asked me what I wanted to drink. Went to the kitchen. Came back with a cup that he presented very close to my face (I'm oblivious to certain things sometimes and he knows it). My hubby got me a Mother's day cup with pictures of Chase on it. How sweet is that?! Made my day. I'm all better now.