Find Your Happiness

The night before Nathaniel's third birthday, we all went out for ice cream after dinner. It is a tradition that started in 2009 when Hubby and I went to our last date before we officially became parents (I was being induced the next day). It is a little family tradition we have kept but really, any reason to eat ice cream is ok in our book ;) The (only) Cold Stone Creamery in our city is a very  special Cold Stone. If you look closely at menu, everything is $4.99. You want an ice cream in Like It size with two mix-ins? That will be $4.99. Love It with waffle bowl and four mix-ins? $4.99! Milk shakes? $4.99! $4.99! $4.99! When we first discovered this, we went a little too often. And I've bragged so much about it to my family that when they visited us, it's a no brainer that we had to go here.

While we were in Indiana for Thanksgiving, Nathaniel and his cousin Daniel had their hair cut together. Cookie Cutters (hair cut salon that specializes in children) usually does a great job cutting Nathaniel's hair but they just messed up big time this time. The lady gave Nathaniel what I have dubbed, the Cleopatra bangs (see last photo). I hate it. I think it's worse than the chili bowl the base in Monterey, CA gave him. It's just plain horrible and I cannot wait till it's long enough so we can fix it :(

This year, there are so many Christmas tradition and activities we just poorly did or did not even do at all. Going back to work (and planning Nathaniel's birthday party) has proven to be more challenging that I thought. I wanted to make homemade batch of cookies with Nathaniel for Santa but since I worked Christmas Eve, we had to settle to presenting cookies from the frozen dough we bought from a fundraising event. Our Elf, Krispie, did not make an appearance until four  days ago. Nathaniel wanted a blue Christmas (the actual color) from Santa and the blue lights Santa added on the tree last night are barely visible. Our Christmas packages for our family in Indiana were just mailed this past Saturday. Oh, Hubby's gift? It will be arriving after Christmas (and that's with Amazon Prime!). And we still have yet to see Santa... Every year, I am learning. And if I continue to work and maybe (hopefully) another little one added in the mix, I want to be finished with all the

This morning is a first for everything. I had to call the Poison Control Center because I had stupidly left these medications on our dining table last night. Last night, Hubby was in our bathroom (where I keep these) so I asked him to bring them on his way out. My eyes were super itchy and I needed to take my allergy meds now instead of my usual time (right before bedtime). Then I stayed up way too late wrapping presents (could barely keep my eyes open!) and forgot to put them up. So this morning, I woke up to the sound of Nathaniel, next to my bed, playing with the bottle cap. He was holding the Claritin bottle and it was unopened. I ask him to bring me my prescribed Folic Acid and my heart sank. It was loosely capped! :( I drilled him a billion times and every time, his answer is yes to taking the Folic Acid tablet. I immediately called the Poison Control Center. I was notified that Folic Acid is non-toxic and should be fine if he took a few (or even a lot!) of that. Now, Clarit

Originally written on December 15, 2012. His actual 3rd birthday. Nathaniel turned three years old today! We celebrated his birthday with family and friends with a Spider-Man party, of course. I cannot wait to share all the little details of his party but for now, we are enjoying this little boy and the company of my Mom, sister and kids, and friend Sheila. They are visiting us from Indiana this weekend, especially just for Nathaniel's birthday! We are so blessed and thankful to have a very loved boy. Nathaniel has a very strong willed personality and I struggle everyday with finding the right balance of disciplining and correcting him without crushing his joyful spirit. He is the sweetest boy I've ever met and often says how much he loves us. He is always hugging and giving us kisses. It isn't always raising Nathaniel but I could not imagine being a Mommy to anybody else. I am so, so thankful that God chose me to be his earthly parent. 1. What is your favorite c

Nathaniel is taught never to spit out food. So when he insisted he really, really  wanted to eat the Spider-Man gum paste figurine on his birthday cake, we knew this was going to happen. However, we did not expect this hilarious facial expressions/reaction. His cousin Daniel wanted Spider-Man too so we gave him the arm. He instantly spat that out! Soon, the other children who wanted Doc Ock and Green Goblin changed their mind ;)

At three years old, Nathaniel stands at three feet and two inches. He is a pretty tall 3 year old and often gets mistaken for a four year old. (I really hope he gets his Dada's height and not mine!). His vocabulary doesn't help either since he talks very, very well. Nathaniel speaks in complete, complex sentences and answers questions with "probably" and "possibly." Hubby made this life size ruler last summer and I can't wait to share a tutorial about how he did it. It's perfect for our military lifestyle since it can move with us whenever we relocate, oh... about every 2-4 years. Sometimes as short as 6 months to a year!

I am so thankful that both of our jobs allowed us to go to Indiana and spend the Thanksgiving holiday with our family. We were originally just going to be there for four days but it worked out that Dean was in Levantine class so he had the entire Thanksgiving week off. I am also thankful for the warm weather that day that allowed us to enjoy the outdoors without freezing our fingers off. For the second Thanksgiving in a row (2011: Carthage, MO in Dean's grandparents), we played football outside to burn off some of the Thanksgiving-food calories!

I am working on Nathaniel's July-September 2012 photo book and I came across these. They were taken in August but I never shared them. As a mother, I am in love with the top photo. It is so very  rare that I get photos of Nathaniel looking at the camera. But as a lifestyle photographer , I love the bottom one. It is just so genuine and so Nathaniel. Which one do you like?

Both photos straight out of the camera. All God.

My firstborn with my first fur baby. I am looking forward to the sweet days where I will be smiling instead of crying every time I think of Pepper. I really miss him.

Pepper April 4, 2004 to November 23, 2012 Here was Pepper doing what he loved the most: exploring the outdoors. This morning, he went outside for the first time in almost two months. And after I was done taking a few pictures of him, he walked towards me (which is what he was doing in the photo) and then went back inside the warm house. I really think he did this just for me: so I could capture the "real" Pepper. Pepper was a great cat. And he was deeply loved. I just really hope he felt that we gave him a good life.

My dearest beloved 8-year old cat was recently diagnosed with chronic renal failure. And he is dying. He is severely dehydrated and only weighs 5lbs. We have to help him clean his dry coat because he is too weak to do it himself. He is also incontinent and Mom has been very patient with him and I am so, so thankful for that (he lives with my Mom here in Indy). We brought him back to the vet last Saturday as soon as I arrived in town (literally an hour from the time when we arrived) and the veterinarian gave me four options: (1) Do nothing, in which he will die in a few days---we may witness it, we may not. But in between, he will be very ill, will most likely have a seizure and be in pain before he goes into coma and die. Not even an option. (2) Give him IV fluids since he is so severely dehydrated. Start a new strict diet, which can only be purchased at the vet office and continue IV subcutaneous fluid injections at home. He has a 50/50 chance of responding to this t