Good News Mama!

Some of the strongest memories I have as a child involve friendships. Really, friends just made life more fun and meaningful! So you can only imagine how much it means to me to watch my firstborn daughter go through this journey as well. She is turning 4 soon, and some of my earliest memories began around this age. I want Evangeline to look back on her childhood with fondness and joy. Earlier this year, I was overwhelmed because when I brought Evangeline to playdates, she would completely shut down, clam up, or act up. Honestly, a lot of the times she wouldn't even interact with other kids. At one point, after an especially stressful situation at a park playground, we knew this problem had to be fixed. Kevin and I were afraid these kids at the park would injure her! She didn't know how to talk to them or defend herself. At one point, we thought she could possibly be a selective mute. Some of the kids would ask me, "Why won't she talk to me?" Also, her speech t...

I can't believe Evangeline is going to turn 4 in exactly a month! Sometimes I look at her and think, "When did you get so big?!" It hurts my heart bc time is a thief, but it also makes me so happy because she's been growing and developing so beautifully. Before she turns 4, I want to write a few of the things she's said recently that stand out: "Aww, that's so KYOOP!" (her way of saying "that's so cute") "Hey, what is daddy doing? He is soooo si-wee!" (her way of saying "silly") As I start to put Elianna down on the ground for tummy time, I tell Elianna not to cry because I'm gonna be nearby and she has nothing to worry about. Evangeline is watching and says, "But mommy...Na-Na is a BABY! She doesn't know! She has to LEARN." (this is basically what I say to Evangeline all the time whenever Evangeline is frustrated with Elianna!) "I give daddy my chicken nugget because I love him." ...

Our Mamang  Rufina Angara Teh 1928-2018 This past Sunday, my grandma Mamang passed away peacefully in her sleep. She was 89 years-old. When Mamang's heart stopped beating, time seemed to stop. And it did, for many of us, because how can we continue living our lives when someone who's literally been there through it all suddenly just STOPS being in it? I think dealing with the present is difficult because we have to come to terms that nothing will ever be the same...Mamang won't be there when I go to my mom's house. Every birthday for as long as I can remember involved somebody singing a birthday song along with Mamang making some funny comment. And when she gave gifts it was always in an envelope along with some money, and sometimes, if you were lucky, it would have an index card with a sweet handwritten message on it, like this: "July 25/15 Happy Birthday to Evangeline! I hope you are always in good health. Because health is wealth! And Be...

Today I was going around asking some friends what's on their bucket list for their futures. I guess I've just been feeling super excited lately. It's crazy to think that Kevin and I are turning 30 this year...there's something so MAJOR about it. Seriously, it feels like the ending of a chapter of our lives since a new decade is sneaking up on us. In our 20's we: graduated from college, worked full-time jobs, got married, had two children, plus a lot of other great and heartbreaking events in between. Here are a couple of things I'm HOPING will happen in our 30's: Kevin gets into a PhD program ! And becomes a professor like he hopes. He will apply at the end of the year and will find out by March of 2019 if he gets into any of those schools..I want to see him succeed in this area of his life. Crazy thing is, he is applying all over the United States! I wonder where we will be in a few years because there's a chance we won't be in California after ...

Tonight I was on the couch with my husband, venting about how I feel like I am so strapped on time, and that for nine months out of the year in 2017 I felt like it had been wasted. For nine months all I did was vomit, feel dizzy, struggle to walk and do daily activities. I dropped out of school when I wanted to pursue a graduate degree. I lost nine months bonding and spending time with Evangeline, because I was too sick to play or bond with her. For nine months, I barely socialized and missed my friends. 2017 was full of doctor appointments, tears and me struggling to trust God. I said to Kevin, "I feel like I lost 9 months doing nothing!" He responded, "Leigh, you spent most of the year making a baby!" Defeated, I muttered, "Yeah...but I also lost a baby." There are times when I feel like I'm being punished or forgotten by God, all because life didn't happen the way I wanted. I struggle because while I prayed for pregnancy and a safe delive...

If it's not one thing, it's the other...or so they say. Evangeline and Elianna are so different from each other! I am having a very different experience not only because Elianna is a healthy full-term ish baby, but because their temperaments are so different! Evangeline has ALWAYS been very calm and we have very few memories of her crying. When she was a newborn she never really cried at all, and it wasn't until she was older that she cried out of her own volition. She's so content and chill with everything. She actually started crying more after we socialized her at our church nursery (I didn't let her play with any other kids for the first year because I was so paranoid she would catch germs and be re-hospitalized again!) For Evangeline, I was so stressed because I wanted her to stay healthy and I had to be on my A-game with all her medications and appointments. Evangeline has never been needy or clingy. I don't remember her ever crying to be held or comfo...

Evangeline's such a funny kid. I can't believe how fast time goes...I wish I had written out a lot of her mannerisms these last few years, so I'll begin now. Not only is she humorous, but she is so kind and strange! Here are a few of the things she says and does at age 3: Evangeline pronounces "Daddy" as "Daddin" and loves to greet him at the door when he comes home from work. Kevin and I frequently talk about the day when she will say "Daddy" correctly and it makes us both sad. She recently started calling me "Mommy" which might not seem like a big deal..but she said it so slowly and intentionally. It took me a few days to get used to, bc for over 3 years she only called me "Mom" She points to Kevin and says "Mommy" and then to my brother Billy and says "Daddy" and then to me "Olaf!" and starts laughing hysterically. She likes to point at people and call them something else on purpose. She ju...