Raising THE daughter

When I was pregnant with my first child, I prayed so hard. Not for the baby to be healthy and all that stuff because I know if I take care of myself, then the baby will be healthy but I prayed that my first child would be a girl.


My first OB-Gyn didn't tell me the sex of the baby. Honestly, I didn't want to know. Maybe because I didn't want to be disappointed. The whole time I was pregnant, I carried in my checkbook a picture from a magazine. It was a picture of the three Oil of Olay models at that time. Their names escaped me at the moment. I told myself that if I only look at THE picture, I will have THE daughter and THE daughter will be beautiful. I figured, I can't rely on genes only. I have to do everything in my power to make sure that this one will be the most beautiful great grandchild I could produce for my grandma and that my mom will be able to look at her sisters and brothers and say that she truly has the most gorgeous apo (grandchild) of the clan. I know. There is rivalry.


At an early age, my mom already conditioned us to marry an American or atleast half American, preferably White. Especially me. My mother told me that I am the ugliest among her children and that if I marry a fellow Asian, my kids will all be ugly. That scared me to death. My mom is not mean or anything. She tells the TRUTH. I know some of you will be screaming CHILD ABUSE but hey, she's my mom and she's always right and she is another story or should I say another blog?

With all the prayers I could pray, coupled with my husband's good genes and constantly looking at the picture, I did manage to produce a beautiful daughter, THE daughter. She became everybody's favorite. Named after my grandmother, her name suits her very well. Ana Celina. She's the first of my mom's grandkids and naturally, was spoiled to death, treated like a doll, showered with jewelry at the early age of 4 days old. Again, that is another blog.

She is now a teenager. We went through a lot together when she was growing up. First boyfriend, first "driver's license", first prom, and a lot of other firsts too many to mention but the most important one is having her as my first child.

Life sucks...that's what I heard.

Life sucks. Or so I heard. It really does but it depends on how you make the most of it. You could go and face it and kick its butt or you could hide like the coward that most of us are and let it take you down and kick YOUR butt.

I am going to make a major decision in my life happen in the coming months. Man, talk about being sooooooo afraid. I am inundated with so many small things in my brain that I'm afraid that it will burst open. So many decisions to make, so many phone calls to make and so many things to do. I think it is mostly the change that scares me. By now you would think that I am already an expert in moving, in starting my life every three years. Maybe nobody gets used to it. Why can't we just live normal lives? I guess that makes us special. I will just again charge it to experience and these past few months, I have already overused that experience card more than my Visa and Mastercard combined.

As one hiphop artist said "now that don't kill me, can only make me stronger. " Hopefully this mantra will still hold true these coming months. Talk about life...it sucks...that's what I heard.

Another Birthday....is it just another day?

So today, I woke up to the smell of someone cooking and too many voices in MY kitchen. I pretended I was still sleeping and waited for the outcome of the activity in the kitchen. My son came in my room and said it was time for breakfast. They cooked because today is a very special day as it is my birthday. My children cooked egg, toasted bread and chicken noodle soup for breakfast. What a combination. My son ended up eating the soup. I bet he cooked it because it was his favorite. The suprise breakfast was the best gift any mother could ask for. They also planned for us to eat out tonight but they said I have to pay for it first because they don't have any money as they spent it all during spring break. They promised to pay later. I told them it was okay. My treat.



Today is my birthday. Today is my birthday. I guess even if I say it repeatedly, it is not the same as my 7th birthday, my 16th or my 18th. I don't want flower, cards, candy or any gifts. I want my youth back not for any selfish reasons but so that I would have more mornings like this, when my children cooked me breakfast.

Back from vacation

We're baaaaaaaaacccckkk!!! Hawaii was just so fab. It was good seeing my brother, his wife and most especially my nephew, Nathan. He is four, very smart and very funny. He spent most of his time following my son around and staying away from my daughter because of her braces. It was nice being back in the States although it is not mainland. Good to see real Mcdonald's, English signs and malls. Nice eating "real" food, not guessing whether it is spicy or not. It was good just hanging out, shopping, buying newly released books, trying clothes in a size that actually fits, and just being outdooors for a longt ime and getting tan. My daughter had fun seeing old friends and visiting places where we would usually hang out when we still lived there. My son visited every Gamestop in every mall and had fun at the famous Aloha Swap Meet.

I know tomorrow is going to be a killer. This is the hardest part of vacation, putting away stuff and washing the dirty clothes that accumulated and most importantly, getting rid of the jet lag.

Friends

What is it that makes the show "Friends" a hit even after the series ended a looooooong time ago? I only ask because both my kids who are on spring break are constantly watching it. They have memorized the song, the characters, the plot. They could tell you which story belongs to what season, who was where with whom and other gazillion information.

Each child has a favorite Friend. My youngest likes Chandler Bing. According to him, he's funny in a weird way. My daughter loves Chandler and Monica because they are such a cute couple. They are very secure in their relationship, accepting each other's limitations and taking problems with a good sense of humor. I think she relates to them because they remind her so much of her and her boyfriend. My personal favorites are Monica and Ross. They remind me of my children. They fight, they compete, they have so much fun together and they have supported each other through thick and thin.

Each one of us has a favorite episode but I think the episode where they did "The Routine" was easily the most watched one even to the point of us learning the steps. Another favorite is where they played a game resembling Jeopardy for Monica's aparment.

This I can say much about Friends. It doesn't matter who your favorite friend is or what your favorite episode is, watching Friends together made my children and I closer and somehow closed a little of that thing we call "age gap."

Shopping

I am a certified shop-o-holic. There is no question about that. I have shopped everywhere, like literally everywhere. The Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the internet and of course, the good ol' US of A.

I have very fond memories of each of these places. I would have to say that the place that I enjoyed the most was the Philippines. It has anything and everything. the prices are cheap and the quality, if you know where to get it, is good. I remember my cousin and I were both in the Philippines for vacation and we went to SM Edsa, started at 10am and left at 8pm and did not even get to go to all the stores. My kids and I going to Mall of Asia when it was newly opened and spend two of our four days of vacation in that mall because we wanted to go to all the stores.
Or the time that we had to book a hotel to stay overnight in Makati because we just had to check all the stores in Glorietta.

Hong Kong is another favorite place of mine with its night markets and big department stores. Night markets are a big thing for us. Asking for discount and walking away when the seller says no always both impress and embarass my kids. The seller eventually calls you back and gives you your asking price.

Singapore is another exciting place to be. We went there during their National Day and all the stores were having left and right sales. We came home with two extra suitcases and ended up paying extra for baggage.


Japan was the most expensive place we ever shopped. You really have to ask the local people where to shop because it is really e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e. Shopping is a very frustrating experience not only because of the language barrier but also because of the size barrier. When I say size barrier, the clothes are small and are just meant to be for Asians. The only joy we find in Japan are the 100 Yen stores. There is one in Machida called Daiso, 5 floors of nothing but 100 Yen items.


South Korea is the latest adventure for us. Itaewon, Dongdaemun and Namdaemun, need I say more? For those of you who have been to Korea, you know that these places rock it as far as shopping is concerned.


We are back in the USA for spring break and went shopping on our first day back here. We were at American Eagle for 20 minutes and my daughter dropped a cool $150 for a couple of pieces of clothing. Ahh.. it just feels good to be back home.