Toddler lunch: Smoked Turkey Slice & Spam Spring Rolls

Whoa, it's been a while since I've posted anything. Doesn't mean that I don't cook, though. I've been cooking a lot but in repeat, as in I haven't tried any new recipes lately. Too lazy. Ha.

Patrick has been wanting to bring his own lunch box to school for several weeks now. I never take it seriously because the reason he wants it is because his BFF brings one every day. Since the school provides free breakfast and lunch every day, I further see no point in giving him a lunch box.

I gave in last week. I figured if he's not gonna eat his food given by the school then I'd wanna know what has he been eating. With the lunchbox I hope at least I could "spy" and control what he's eating. Problem is, I have absolutely no idea what to include in the lunch box. It has to be good to eat at room temperature. It has to be fuss free. It has to be nutritious enough and yet fulfilling. Argh! My head almost exploded. I finally settled with the thought that even crackers and cheese and some kind of meat would be good enough for lunch for my kids.

I tried this one because I have leftover springroll skins, and don't want to waste them. Patrick seems to like them, so I guess I can add it to my list of food I can include in the lunchbox. As the title suggested, the ingredients are pretty simple.

Smoked Turkey Slice & Spam Spring Rolls

Sliced smoked turkey (I use 2 slices per spring roll)
Spam (cut in sticks)
Grated mozarella cheese
Spring roll skins

How:
Layer spring roll skin, smoked turkey, spam and grated cheese. Roll, and sealed off the edges using water. It would also be a good idea to brush skin with egg wash before layering with smoked turkey, just to keep it stay put when eating.

Fry until golden brown.

moving day

i've changed my address again. no.. not my actual address. but my blog address. it's been several months that i'm feeling that blogger's a bit annoying. so i'm moving to wordpress. i've managed to export all my previous posts to the new place too, so that's quite convenient, although i would've liked to move it to a different page rather than mix everything together. oh well. one step at a time. i barely even have time to clean up the house and unpack, although it's been 3 months already that i live here.

anyway, check out the new blog if you're interested. i'll be abandoning this one soon.

ciao.

heart broken

lately patrick wouldn't let me carry him out of the bath tub after bathtime. he wants his dad to do that. so i asked him why.

patrick: "i want dadda.."
me: "why? dadda is busy right now. how bout mommy?"
patrick: "NO!"

this could go on for several minutes until he feels cold. And then he would relent and let me wrap him in towel.

me: "why don't you let mommy carry you? don't you like mommy?"
patrick: "no."

*audible gasp from me*

me: "why??"
patrick: "nyanya too busy.."

my heart broke.

me: "you mean i'm always busy to play with you?"
patrick: "yessssss.."

my heart just shattered into pieces. he did, however, ended the conversation with a happy note, giving me kisses and a big hug (he likes that barney song 'i love you you love me we are happy family'). but i'm still speechless. i vowed there and then to give him more time and be more patient with him. it's hard, but i'm going to do it. for my boy's sake.

summer slumber

what, it's june already? sick! time flies when you're having fun (or not?). a lot has happened since last time i wrote, of course, but lately it's been difficult trying to use the computer lest i wake up really early. son keeps hijacking whichever gadget i'm using at the moment, laptop, ipad, phone, wii.. and i've also been jugling between him and babygirl. when he's taking a nap, babygirl would suddenly wake up and fuss. and when she's finally quiet down son would wake up from his nap. hence no nap time for me.

life's been good though. true, it's hot as hell outside. but we're moving out soon enough. hubby accepted the offer from Georgia so we're moving there in september. i can't wait to go house hunting. initially the town is not my preffered choice (I preffered dothan, alabama just because the town is bigger and has more stores, including target!) but Douglas, GA offer is the highest, so we can't really say no to that. not when you have to fill out 2 college funds and 2 retirement funds.

other things? well.. let's see. patrick has started (and finished) his swimming lesson. he forgot the whole kicking and blowing bubbles things so we had to start all over again but after a week he got used to the water and started to enjoy himself. i actually like taking him to the pool.. it's our special time. and on tuesday i start taking him to the library again. he's doing better surrounded with lots of kids, i must say, although it still need some improvements. he's still shy and not as brave as i want him to be. really need to work on that as he's starting school in a year. maybe i can enroll him in a day care once we're in the new place.

he fell off the stairs the other day. i was in the kitchen when it happened, and heard only loud thumps. i'm telling you.. it stopped my heart!! nothing will ever prepare you for that. luckily no serious injuries. only a small bump on his right eyelid, and a few minutes of shocked cries. after that when he had to go upstairs to change his diaper, he spent 5 minutes telling his dad where he bumped his head and where he landed. 

olivia is doing really good. 12lbs 12oz by the time she was 2months old. i don't know how much she weight right now (3 mo) but she's outgrowing her #2 diapers. i don't know how that happened. she's also wearing patrick's 3-6mo clothes, and it fits her like when he was 6mo old. i'm raising a huge baby. she looks cute though. :D and she's generally good except when she's pooping.. oh gosh.

i love it when hubby's burping olivia. he would sit olivia on his lap, and he would talk to her. olivia can coo now, so it looks like she's having a conversation with her dad. cute. patrick has been good to olivia too, giving her binkies and blankets eventhough she doesn't need it. haha. i have good kids.

let's hope this shall

happy easter!

this easter marks olivia's second week old. so far i've been struggling really hard, with myself, baby duties, other family duties (son, husband, pets), and house chores. but there are things to be thankful for:

- great husband who doesn't clean up, but doesn't protest a messy/dirty house either. and he helps with patrick, which is a LOT. i don't know how i'll manage when he goes back to work.

- my son patrick who doesn't seem to mind that his momma suddenly has way less time for him than before. one time in the morning when hubby and olivia was still asleep, i took him when he woke up, fed him breakfast, and then took him back to my bedroom. i accidentally fell back asleep. when i woke up an hour later hubby and olivia were still asleep but patrick was no where to be found in the bedroom. i found him in the living room.. quietly watching pocoyo on his ipad. i felt so guilty, and yet he didn't seem to mind. maybe he understood mommy's still not feeling very well.

- olivia is pretty much a good baby. on good days (which is most days) she'd eat, sleep, wake up 3 hours later, be alert/poop/whatever, eat, then sleep again for 3 hours. it's nice knowing you can depend on her to be sleeping so good. although when she's gassy/constipated she could cry for hours and couldn't sleep very well unless i hold her on my chest. during that time i have to keep reminding myself that it's a small price to pay considering how good she is most of the time.

AND i gotta say she's looking very cute. especially when she stretches and pouts. ^_^

- after the disastrous indomie incident (the dogs ate a whole box of indomie.. yes, a whole box.. the entire 20-30 of them) the boys have been pretty good. i also feel guilty for not having a lot of time for them. no rubs, no hair brushing, no walks/runs.. and they spent all day outside the house (eventhough this is by choice.. they seem to like the weather).

- after almost 10 days being on pain medication, i finally feel good enough to skip my medication altogether. not pain free yet, i'm still waiting for those days to come, but in the meantime i can be patient. at least if i lie down instead of sitting up, and only sit on a cushiony pillow, then i'll be alright. but i do hope my warm/cool relief pack arrive soon. nursing is no easy matter.

alright, i'm rambling. let's see if i can come up with shorter dot points.

- frozen food

- nice weather outside

- ipad, iphone, draw something (to keep me up while nursing at night) and youtube

- mortrin (or ibuprofen)

- spray bottle

- nursing pillow

oh well.. i can go on and on but i do miss several things or wish they were more readily available...

- food delivery (i live outside town limit, and they don't deliver here.. tsk!)

- all those warungs and tukang kaki lima that sells endless variety of food at the convenience of opening your front door

- all indo 'heavy' snacks: bakcang, syomay, mpek2, sate, and many more

- massageur

- and a maid. :)

and i do wish for my good night sleep but i suppose i better enjoy life as it is.

baby Olivia

rejoice, for a new baby was born to this household. :)

meet Olivia Marie.



born march 24th, 2012. weight ( i don't know why people always ask) 7 lbs 3 oz. already bigger than her brother was. :)

the delivery wasn't as smooth as with patrick. my water broke friday 6.30-ish pm just as hubby was going to work. so we rushed to the hospital thinking within 24 hours we'll surely have a baby. nope. 25 hours later i was still stuck with a 4cm dilation. so i was induced.

then there was the epidural drama. when the epidural was administered somehow it only flowed to my right side. anestheciologist said my backbone might be curved, which caused the epidural to only cover the right side of my body. hmph! so there i was in severe pain only on my left side, while completely numb on my right side. took her about 20 minutes to fix the issue (rolled me to lie on my left side), but by that time i was exhausted. after the effort worked i slept (passed out?) for 1.5 hour.

i woke up when the nurse came in and said she wanted to check my cervix. lo and behold she couldn't find it. so immediately she prepped me for delivery position. feet up. practice your breathing, and finally practice pushing. so i pushed. once. then the nurse looked at me and said "OK, i need you to NOT push again..". i was like .. what, did i do it wrong? well apparently not. i was so spot on on the pushing that the baby's head was already crowning. as in she's coming out! eek! so she made one call: "she's ready!!" other nurse came in and hurriedly prep the room. but we still had to wait for the doctor.

while waiting hubby asked if he could deliver the baby. surrreee, said the nurse. so they prep him. gave him gloves, refresh his memory on delivering babies (hubby is doctor himself), and letting him know the hospital's standard procedure. doctor came in, everybody took their position, i pushed and pop! out come the baby.

baby olivia marie, weighed 7lbs 3 oz

then there was drama #2, unknown to me at the time for i was still busy with my baby. apparently when i pushed her out, i tear an artery and it sprouted blood all over the place. ok that might've been an exaggeration, but it really was one of those bleeding that just wouldn't stop. suddenly everybody was tense and move faster than normal speed. i only realised that something was wrong when i thought it odd that it took quite a while for the doctor to stitch me up. and then one of the nurse grabbed a small hose and started sucking my blood out. and another nurse urgently tried to drew blood from my vein, but failed twice because the blood kept clogging (oh the irony) so she called another nurse from surgery department, and she managed to do it. and they put a clogging agent in that portion of blood, and injected it into my ruptured artery. what seemed like an eternity and a dozen blood-soaked towels later doctor pronounced all was well, shook my hand and congratulated me on the baby, and walked out whistling some happy tune.

i still wouldn't know the seriousness of my condition that night if it weren't for the morning nurses who checked on me. they all said i gave them a pretty serious scare last night. and judging by the soreness i was in in the morning.. yeah i pretty much think they had to stitched me up pretty good. as i'm writing this almost 5 days after, i'm still sore. maybe the doctor didn't just stitched me up, he knitted me up.

but now that we know all is well, it's time to rejoice. for i have a beautiful baby girl in addition to my already perfect little family.

freedom of speech

so sorry if i've been neglecting this blog for too long. i've been away, back, away, back, away and back again for many times this past 2 months. hubby got several interviews on the east coast and we try to go before i'm banned from flying. so we've been living out of suitcases (literally!) for quite a while, and only came home for a few days in between (sometimes a week) so hubby could work, i could clean up the house, and we got to see the poor boys who had to live in a kennel all the time we're gone.

glad to say that's all over now. i'm 37 weeks and therefore can't fly until i give birth, which is pretty soon said my obgyn. indeed, i've been feeling very bloated and had a lot of braxton hicks already, not to mention the back pain .. aahhrrgh.. i wonder how i could forget that.

anyway, today is one of those unusual day when i unexpectedly got a few hours of me-time. the house is pretty clean (at least i vacuumed the carpet), the laundry's been folded (still need to be put away though but that can wait, right?), and both daddy and son is napping quietly. bliss. so what to do beside browsing for some gossip?

i came across this article. who doesn't know kirk cameron? if you're up-to-date with your gossip columns you'd also know that he's now a pastor. so i wasn't surprise about his anti-gay opinion. what strikes me odd is the comments from readers.

i'd actually expected the comments to be harsh and condemning, following the footsteps of GLAAD. especially when nowadays there are more and more openly gays out there, and more states are permitting gay marriage. but i was wrong on this one. they (the comments, and people) are surprisingly understandable and i kind of agree with the commenters. it was Kirk's personal opinion and he was asked. who are we to condemned anyone for their opinion anyway? as long as he doesn't cause others harm, then so be it. i'm sure GLAAD thought protesting was the best action at that time, to defend themselves. but then again, (as mentioned several times in the comments) why ask us to understand you when you don't try to see and understand our point of view?

that's what i like about living in the US, i suppose. i can say what i feel without having to worry about being prosecuted by others who don't see eye to eye with me. and believe me, strangers can be mean. once i tweeted about charice, who got a botox in preparation for appearing on Glee. i commented how she's stupid to have done it, seeing as she didn't need any except that it was offered for free as part of a promotion of a beauty clinic. i got tons of tweets back saying nasty things about me. it's like hell had decided to raise an army to defend charice's decision. believe me when i say the tweets they sent gave me the chills. and to think i'm not even sure charice herself gave a damn. lol.

i wish i can have the ignorance to not think about what others say, though. words can be pretty hurtful, especially when paired with hateful acts. on this case, i agree with every beauty contestants. i just want world peace.