Cool Mommy Product Reviews

What a game on Saturday night! My 10 year old is in Cubs of the Keystone Baseball League, PA. This is only his second season (he skipped last year) and he is fortunate to be on good team & has good coaches.

They have wonderful teamwork & display good sportsmanship. All the kids on the team seemed to know the baseball rules well and usually throw to the right bases to stop the play. We think that is one of the reasons they have been not lost a single game the whole season – and I might add – they deserve to be at the championship.

The night before the game, the coach gathered everyone at the baseball park – a different one (has the real dugout) from the regular ball parks they are always playing in. Then the coach announced that there is no practice. he wants them to “check out” the field and gave a little pep talk. He told the team that he doesn’t care whether they win or lose tomorrow. Most important thing is to have fun. They have worked hard all season long to get there, so no pressure now. Just have fun and from past experiences, he found that the team that have the most fun wins. Told you I love this coach.

Coincidentally, my 5 year old princess was having her first ballet recital and my husband was scheduled to go for his soccer coach training course on the same day as the baseball championship. Luckily we can reschedule my husband’s training so he went to the game while I attended the recital.

My daughter’s recital was almost at the end of the program line-up so I made my husband text me the results at the end of every inning. At my son’s level, they only play 6 innings.

It was 0-0 after 2 innings and by then they were up 3-0 at the 3rd. By the time my daughter and I reached the baseball park, the other team scored 2 runs and it is now 3-2. Very exciting. So, we’re going into the 5th innings & my son’s team is up. Th team is hitting and loading the bases. Unfortunately, my son got struck out. He is the only out. They managed to score 5 runs after that & they called the game because they have to stop the game after 5 runs (Little League rules) & since the there is no way the other tam can catch up, we win (at the 5th inning) !

As a parent, words cannot express how happy I am to see him win a championship. As their banner says : “dreams do come true”. He have been dreaming of going into the championship since the season started. Although he hits well in practice and at the batting cages, he only got one or 2 hits the whole season. He always got walked or struck out. However, he is a good catcher & knows the play very well. In fact, I am proud to say he “stopped” many plays & saved the game because he caught the ball in time or threw to the right person always.

It is such a wonderful game to teach a kid about team work. We always reminded him of his strengths and weaknesses and reiterate the importance of teamwork in baseball. His fellow teammates and coaches have also been very respectful of each kid’s limitations. Not forgetting the parents, they are an awesome awesome bunch. We all cheer for each other’s kids and got along very well. We are all happy to see them progress.

I never enjoyed baseball until last year when the Phillies were playing in the World Series. My sons taught me the game and this year I learnt even more. I conclude that a successful Little League baseball game is really all TEAMWORK – teammates, coaches & parents and now I love it!

Introduction, Kids

This spring, all hells broke loose at our house. My 5 going on 6 (or 16?) year old daughter joined in the Phillies Phever (we live in the Philadelphia western suburbs) and wanted to do teeball while my 8 & 10 year olds signed up for baseball.

So, 3 evenings every week, dinner has to be ready by 4pm so that they can have an early dinner & go for their practices or games by 5.30pm. My oldest stopped practising chess which he loves very much because it would take too long as his bedtime is 9.30pm.

Then, our Saturdays are spent on the ball field all day too. Luckily for us, we live really close by (across the street) and could walk back and forth to get things done, or my husband or I would take the younger kids home earlier to bath and get ready for bed if the game goes too long.

Sometimes, we have games going on at the same time and they (usually my youngest) get upset that I didn’t watch her whole game. Take last week for instance. it was the last game of the season for everyone. When I was getting ready to take my little girl to her teeball, I decided to stop by the 2nd son’s game to see if they were finishing. So, we drove over, she was waiting in the car & I ran over to the ball park seeing that the assistant coach was helping my son to warm up. He was pitching the next inning – which is the last. This is his first season playing baseball and 2nd time pitching. I missed his first time pitching last Saturday because I went to queue up to sign up for summer swimming lessons. So, I was not going to miss this one. I told my husband to get in the car & take our daughter to her game. (She is still complaining that I didn’t watch her whole last game!)

I grabbed our Canon Rebel extreme, position my nervous self and aim. The team was losing already but their spirits were high and they are all having a ball of a time, literally. My son is the second smallest kid on the team and does not have strong arms either. But he pitched pretty accurately. Although I expressed concern that his ball does not have speed nor power, another parent commented that at this age, accuracy is more important.

In between cheering “go Marshall, you can do it, buddy”, I could hardly breathe. Then, the moment of truth. He walked one kid (coach takes over if they walk 2 kids), let in runs and already struck out 2. The atmosphere was electrifying. The moms on our team & his team mates were all cheering him on. Now, the bases were loaded, Marshall took a deep breath and pitched. (his exact words as he told me while walking home) He struck out the third without letting any runs in the last inning! What a rush of adrenaline! He was so pleased and smiled as he walked back calmly into the dugout while I was screaming & jumping up and down. That is Marshall – my cool 2nd grader. I am soooooooo proud of him!

His coach -who also happens to be the commissioner of the league congratulated him and named him the Closer! We have been lucky as his coach and team mates were great. So, they all learn and progress so much in the season and even though they didn’t win many games, they all had fun at every game!

I will no longer complain about how hectic it is for me to get everything ready & sit at these long games anymore. It was all worth it.

Now, soccer and baseball moms take on a different meaning to me.

Kids

I have been involved in my children’s elementary since we moved to the USA 4 years ago. I co-chair the International Committee for the last 3 years and I am so glad that finally I can let it go.

Don’t get me wrong. I lovvvve doing it. It’s in my nature – I’m very sociable, enjoys meeting new people & organizing events is my strength. However, I got in way too deep this year and stretched myself so thin that I totally neglected my children’s homework. Luckily for me, my “superman” husband helped out and made sure they get their homework & projects done on time.

There would be weeks in a row where I would be at school doing stuff, preparing for an event, decorating etc etc. My Kindergartener’s teacher jokingly said I should have a bed in school!

I am working part time – another internet website which I am involved in marketing. Thankfully, I work from home & hence juggling it involves sacrificing our family social life.

So, let me list the activities & events I am involved in.

1. I organize the monthly meeting – coordinating with the host on EVERYTHING including email reminders to members about the meeting. (We have a different host each month)
2. I write the announcement for our committee to be published in our school’s monthly newsletter.
3. Attend monthly PTO meeting explaining our committee’s activities for the month
3. I coordinate our committee’s participation of our school’s craft night – involve selecting one or 2 craft with an “international or cultural” theme, getting supplies & recruiting volunteers to man the booth
4. I organize a school wide Chinese New Year celebration, including decorating the school to make it look festive, a presentation during lunch hours for all 5th grader levels and food tasting.
5. This year, I coordinated an Asian Food booth (the 1st ever in our SPring fair) and we made & sold sushi, dumplings & vegetarian curry & rice. I had to canvass for cash & food donation so that 100% of the sales proceeds go to PTO. I also had to purchase ingredients, help to make the food & sell them at the fair.
6. I co-chair the International Week committee and organize events for everyday of International week, including decorating the entire school, securing artists for lunch time performance, meeting with principal, getting “passports” for kids, re-sorting passports as children changed classes every year, etc etc etc… In addition, during International week, I spent approximately 4 hrs every day at school running the event. I even helped to write the press release, contact news media to cover our events, produce video & slide show.
7. Lastly, I helped to organize our committee’s Potluck Dinner for the school which took place tonight.

I love doing it but man – did it suck all my energy. So, this summer is like a whole new me is taking over. I will not worry about those PTO events anymore. I promised the new co-chairs that I will always help out but I am just so glad someone else is responsible & making decisions.

My New school year resolutions are :
1. to organize our house,
2. de-clutter
3. spend more time working with the kids academic needs (I have high achievers)
4. spend more time speaking & working on their 2nd language to them
5. Seriously decorate our “minimalist” house although I suspect we’ll move in 5 years
6. spend more time building contents on mycoolmommy.com

All the above is Priority One. However, I signed up our kids in 4 different half day camps & daily swimming lessons for 4 weeks & hence I will also be driving them around, alot. I will update you by the end of summer on how I progress on my resolutions. Wish me luck.

Kids

There was a coupon to save $30 off a LACK shelf from Ikea that my 2nd son wanted badly (because my oldest got one – a very nice used one). It was $49.99 after discount and that is definitely more worth it. The special offer ends is only for a week so I took my little girl shopping on Tuesday after kindergarten ended at noon. I also brought along my $25 kidstuff coupon from kidstuff coupon book in case I end up spending $150.

We went to the Ikea Restaurant for lunch first and then my daughter went to Smallland to play while I shopped. But 1 hour wasn’t enough. So, after I picked her up from the play room, we continued shopping. While I was browsing the “organizer” section looking for a sock & underwear organizer for my boys, I met a woman with her teenage daughter shopping in the same section. In fact, I saw many pairs of mother & daughter teams shopping at Ikea, must be getting ready for college.

I left my daughter sitting on the LACK shelf in the cart nearby while I was browsing the organizer section. As I hear my daughter singing her favorite songs of the 80s (her K club friends gave a year end “80s concert” last week), I am also listening to this team of mother & daughter arguing over the choice of organizer & how many she should get. Then,

mom said “can you please stop texting and concentrate on what you supposed to get”
daughter said “I am not texting and it does not affect my shopping anyway and will you please grow up on me”.

Then I stopped listening and walked away – back to my daughter. I gave her a big hug & kiss and is thankful that she is only 5 ! I (turning 6 in 3 weeks) I have 10 more years before this “scene” happens to us.

As I slowly walked back into the “organizer” section, they are still there, discussing very cordially & respectfully on the same issue, then we all hear my daughter yelled “are you done, mom?”. The 3 of us looked at each other and burst out laughing. Yes, my little girl is so sweet and I guess we all saw the innocence of youth at that point.

When we were checking out, I saw that same pair of mother & daughter too. That mom & I gave each other a wink – as if saying enjoy it while it lasts!

Yes, I did save money and achieve my shopping targets. Instead of paying $193 for my total purchase, it came to $138.

Introduction, Kids

Well, it finally happened. My 10 year old (or rather soon to be 10 year old) son told me that one of his church mates talked to him about SEX! Oops! Looks like the time has come for us to explain the birds and the bees to him. But before I tell you what we did, said or our action plan, here is a brief background on how I learned about sex.

I did not learn them from my parents. My parents did not speak to me about sex at all. Guess I picked it up myself. Same goes with hubby. I spoke to hubby about it and he decided to do daddy’s duty and talk to our eldest son about the birds and the bees.

At 9:00pm last night, I called hubby and said it was time for the “conversation”. He was obviously caught off guard. “You mean right now” he said. But he got on to it and according to him, the conversation went something like that.

Hubby: Son, you want to know about sex?

Son: Yes, my friend spoke to me about it.

Hubby: Well, this is a complicated matter and I will need a few weeks to explain this fully to you. So consider today session one. I will not talk too much about it, but I would like to lay down some ground work. Is that cool?

Son: Why can’t you tell me everything now?

Hubby: That is because I have to prepare what to tell you. It’s just like your teacher. He or she has to prepare for your semester during summer. They have to know what to teach you during the first week, second week and so forth. I need to plan what to tell you and how to teach you as well. Understand?

Son: Yes

Hubby: Well, before I go on, here are the ground rules. First, you are not to bring up this matter to anyone because this is a private matter. I do not want you talking about this to your friends. That is because if your friends tell their parents that you talked to them about sex, they may not like it. Also, like I mentioned earlier, it is a private matter. Friends may also tell you the wrong thing. If you have any questions about sex, I want you to ask either Mommy or Daddy, understand?

Son: Yes.

Hubby: Well, today, I’m just going to give you an introduction. Sex is something Mommy and Daddy does. In fact, it is something married couples do. It is from sex that we produced babies and that was how you were created. In the next few weeks, I am going to describe to you in more detail of what happens during sex. I will also find a couple of books for you to read. But for now, take it as something that married adult couples do.

Son: Daddy, I have a question. My friend says that sex is disgusting. Is that true.

Hubby: No it is not. It is a wonderful thing. Son, right now, you do not like girls right. (Son nodding his head). You prefer to play with guys. In a couple of years, you may actually start to like girls and have feelings for them. You do not understand it now, but in time you will.

OK – that is the end of today’s lesson. Over the next few weeks, I will give talking to you more about the matter.

Well, I guess hubby was glad session one was over? How have you handled such matters. Would appreciate if you could share your thoughts and tips.

Kids

Spring is here and all my three kids are enrolled in baseball. Our youngest daughter is going to play T-ball this year. So our schedule has become more hectic.

Aside from that, all of our 3 kids just started piano lessons. So they each have three piano lessons a week. They have also been taking swimming lessons.

I would to stress that they activities are really for fun. We put absolutely no pressure on them to excel. For swimming, well, we simply want our kids to learn to swim. My hubby is more particular in terms of wanting them to learn their strokes properly so they can swim effortlessly.

I insisted that my kids take up piano lessons. My youngest daughter loves her ballet and she wants to learn piano – seeing that my husband sings in the church choir. My second son was OK when I told him that I wanted him to learn piano as well. My eldest son is actually very talented music wise. He learned violin at the age of three at some music teachers urging and was very good at it. But he just did not want to continue. I managed to persuade him to start piano because his two other siblings are also learning.

So here are their full schedules :

Eldest Son – Swimming at 10:10am Saturday Morning (last lesson last week)
– Piano at 1:30pm Saturday Afternoon
– Baseball practice at 6:00pm on Tuesday and at 4:30pm on Saturday.

Second Son – Baseball on
– Swimming at 10:10am Saturday Morning (last lesson last week)
– Piano at 1:30pm Saturday Afternoon
– Baseball practice at 6:00pm on Tuesday and 4:30pm Saturday Afternoon.

Daughter – T-Ball at 6:00pm on Tuesday Evening 9:00am Saturday Morning
– Ballet at 4:00pm Monday Afternoon
– Piano Lessons On Wednesday Afternoon
– Swimming at 10:10am on Saturday Morning (last lesson last week)

So this is how a busy mom’s schedule for kids look like. Fortunately, baseball training is at a park opposite of us. Our family takes a 7 minute drive to the high school for swimming lessons. Piano lessons is just 5 minutes away at the Art Center.

Are we doing too much?

Kids

I don’t know about you but I am constantly struggling with clutter. Paper clutter – 3 kids bringing home crafts & papers, toy clutter (even though I insisted all toys in the basement) my own mail clutter & my husband’s never-ending junk (cos’ he brings them home & never looks at them). But the thing that gets me most is the photos piling up and waiting to be organized.

At Schuyler’s Ballet today, I mentioned to the other moms that I am such a “bad mom” as my pictures are not organized up to date. I am probably at 2005. Boy, am I glad that all of them are in the same boat as me ! Jennifer is the only one who has one child and she has pictures of her child in the album for up to 6 mths old. Her child is now 4 & a half. The rest of us has 3 kids, obviously much more photos to organize. I truly felt better.

When there is so more “scrapbooking” stuff in the market & everyone seem to take a vacation every 3 months – even if it is for 3 days, I always thought wow – these people are so organized. As for me, a short trip to NYC – which is an hour & a half away takes me at least one month to plan. (in between all that distractions). Then comes the pictures. Another thing to do.

From the moment I had my 2nd child, I started wondering if I should keep different albums for each kid and how should the overlap (meaning 2 or 3 kids in the same photo) show ? As I wanted them to each have a baby album that is special to them, I decided the I will make one for each of them reflecting only their first year. Then, it’s all in one big album and they can go fight for it after I passed on

Now that there is digital pictures, it is easy to “organize” if you are technology savvy. But you still have the problem of which one should I print out for the album ? Photo book – is the latest trend. I like that but still think it’s a bit costly. I have 270 plus picture from our disneyworld trip we made in Dec of 2007 and I am still undecided if I should just put them in regular albums or do a photo book.

Another mom who has 3 kids told me her mother day’s present has been a family photo book made by her husband. He will compile the pictures by month and gives it to her every Mother’s Day – that and a breakfast in bed ! Now that’s a great and useful present. Fortunately or unfortunately, my husband would rather send me to a spa for the day.

OK – admit it . I am not a super mom but at least I cook almost every meals (from scratch) and I read to my kids, put them to bed, do laundry every other day, volunteer at school & church, help with their homework, drive them to ball games & ballet. I decided I will not beat myself up just because I cannot organize the family album. Feel better already.

Kids

Jordan has always been a late bloomer in video games. When he was 6, we all couldn’t understand why he was not interested in electronic or computer games like all other kids his age. We thank our lucky stars as we did not like them to get “hooked” on the hand held or computer games.

While visiting our neighbor’s at Thanksgiving in Nov 2006, my boys played with the latest in electronic games – Wii. He was raving about it and has been talking about it. Finally we decided to buy it for christmas and they started playing it on Thanksgiving Day as we were going away for christmas and can’t bring it with us.

They can only play it on Friday evenings, Saturday & Sunday. Of course, I have to peel them away from the TV and limit the time they spent on playing. As I mention in my earlier blogs, it became a big problem.

Recently, Jordan started asking for a DS Lite for his birthday (in June) – the popular hand held game device that probably all kids have. My husband and I decided that maybe it is time he gets one unlike 2 years ago when he was totally disinterested in video games and it would be a complete waste of money. Now, my 6 year old son is also keen. Problem is – I don’t want to buy 2 DS Lite. It’s definitely wasteful as I am a firm believer of sharing. However, if one is playing, then the other one just watch ? Can you imagine a 6 year old keep asking, “can I have a turn” ?

Hence, I would like to buy my second son something similar but not DS Lite. Any suggestions ?

Kids

Last Saturday at our regular Ballet session, I shared with the moms our Chinese new Year celebration at my sons’ elementary school. We approached the school district food service to prepare chicken noodles for food tasting and I suggested the easy way to do it. Made chicken broth – from stock cubes & boiled spaghetti noodles. The coordinator agreed and he even made the noodles and broth himself. It was a big hit. Now, I am hoping that the school district will consider introducing it into the lunch menu.

The moms were so surprised that it was so easy to make “instant chicken noodles” soup. In fact, I told them to add leftover Rotisserie chicken and spinach. If you have sesame oil, you can add a drop or 2 to enhance the flavor. Of course, the noodles can be substituted with the different kinds of pasta.

In Singapore – you will see macaroni soup at many food centres and it’s basically chicken broth with macaroni pasta. Many kids love it. I even used the tricolor rotini in the chicken soup.

Try it and let me know if your kids love it.

Kids

I loved babies and was secretly hoping to have more. But, our babies don’t sleep well for at least 18 months so it will be hard for me to function with 3 other ones. Also, my last pregnancy was a risky one – placenta previa – and I was ordered to bed rest for 10 weeks. I think I had enough.

At my daughter’s ballet studio today, we talked about the our pregnancy and childbirth experiences. It brought back many fond memories.

We were living in Tokyo, Japan for 7 years and all my 3 kids were born there. We met a wonderful doctor – Dr Hideki Sakamoto from the Tokyo Medical Clinic and he delivered all my kids. He is very well known in the expat community in Tokyo and fluent in English. He even earned a nickname as the Godfather of foreign babies. However, the hospital that he is affiliated with is 45 minutes from downtown (without traffic) and nobody speaks English except for a Sister. (It is a catholic hospital). Dr Sakamoto offers patients the option of an epidural (an option not available to Japanese women) which he administers and this made him very popular.

In the spring of 1999, when my husband & I first visited the hospital – Seibo Byoin and saw the delivery room, I was so disappointed. It looked old, sparse and basic. The decor was so 60s. Square, green ceramic tiles in the delivery room. There was no bathtub for women in labor to use to elevate contraction pains. I really wanted my husband by side during the delivery so returning to my home country was not an option. I called his aunt expressing my disappointment about the hospital & delivery room. Her reply was :when the time comes, it doesn’t matter as it is just another room where you “do your thing”. Most importantly, she said, the doctor must be good.

As you might have a pre-conceived idea that everything Japanese is state of the art and modern. So did I and I was wrong. Everything in that hospital was so antiquated looking and they don’t even have a NICU. Thankfully, all my births were uneventful. Our friends and I joked that Dr Sakamoto had so many foreigners clients (we pay cash) that the hospital was able to build a new maternity wing. By the time my little girl was born in 2003, I was in a new delivery ward. However, the new private rooms were not ready so I shared the room with 3 other moms which was heaps better than the old private rooms.

Although we heard horror stories of how Dr Sakamoto didn’t make it to deliver their babies – usually because he was out of town, we were lucky that he was there with me from the minute I had contractions till I delivered.

With the first pregnancy, I was having pains & was in great discomfort towards the end of the term. Hence, on my check up at 40 weeks, he met us at the hospital and we decided to induce the birth. It was a Friday night & the whole thing started at 8pm & Jordan was born (assisted by the vacuum) the next morning at 7am. He stayed at the hospital all night checking on me every few hours and administered my epidural when I was 8cm dilated as I “caved in” to the pains .

Marshall – was 3 weeks early. I woke up one Sunday morning (May 6, 2001) and found myself leaking – right after I went to the bathroom. Thank goodness, my husband had just returned from a business trip the night before. Called the doctor and he told me to meet him at the hospital by 9am. Took our toddler to my best friend, bought some sandwiches and off we go. Dr Sakamoto came in at 10am. As I still had no contractions, this could be a long wait and suggested that I induce the birth. Contractions started almost immediately after pitocin and Marshall was born at 2pm. It was fast and furious.

Schuyler was a miracle baby. I had a miscarriage after Marshall. So when I discovered that I was staining at 18 weeks, I thought I was losing my baby again. It was placenta previa and I was ordered to bed rest and it went on for 10 weeks. God answered our prayers almost instantly. Our part-time help was able to switched to work full time and she lived in with us from Monday to Saturday morning. She was a fantastic housekeeper, child minder & a great cook. 2 other moms from Jordan’s preschool also helped me with transporting him to & from preschool.

I had to see Dr Sakamoto every 2 weeks and it was such a great relief to carry Schuyler to full term. With increased risk, I decided she would be induced. We chose Sunday – June 22, 2003, went to the hospital to meet Dr Sakamoto at 10am and Schuyler was born at 7pm. He also collected her cord blood – a service he started to provide. There was however a little scare. During my recovery, I haemorraged a little & the nurse called him. I was given a pill to take & the haemorraging stopped.

I told everyone that if the births are on weekends, chances are good that Dr Sakamoto will be there for you the entire time. In the day, he has teaching commitments at the Nihon university & he is also an oncologist. We were so lucky to have his undivided attention for all the 3 births.

I found out Dr Sakamoto now has a website. http://www.sakamoto-obgyn.medem.com/

Kids