More Vietnamese Food!

Last night I was busy packing a ton of things into boxes to mail off.

My best friend's little boy in Germany will turn 3 next week, so I got him a cute little shirt and jacket at Target (on sale here since winter time never showed up in Florida but hello... it's still cold in Germany, perfect!) and also some hex bugs. Julian loves these things, have you seen them?

You can check them out at http://www.hexbug.com/

We bought ours at Target, but you can get them at toystores or Amazon.

We first discovered these last year at my friend's house. I bought Julian his first two when we flew home to Thailand last October and he was entertained for hours.

My best friend and I were so thrilled when we found out we would have little boys just 5 months apart from each other.

A dream come true! Best friends, pregnant together, having kids at the same time.

But we were also so very sad that they won't grow up together... that we can't go on play dates together and really enjoy and grumble about motherhood together as we always had dreamed.

Pictures and emails of course help us stay connected, as well as videos and Facebook.

So every once in a while we see something that our son likes and we make sure the other "son" gets it as well :) Not overly often but this definitely made me think of my little man in Germany.

I also had a package for my friend in Mexico (they left their stuff in our stroller while at Disney), a birthday card for another friend in Germany, and a card that Julian made for grandma and grandpa.

And what did I discover when I got to the Post Office??

A new Vietnamese Restaurant!!

*Gasp*

Of course I had to head in there first, as I did not have any lunch yet.

Scanned the menu quickly, typical Pho and other items.

And yummy Banh Mi's!

Vietnamese sandwiches!

So I ordered one, as well as fresh springrolls, and then headed over to the Post Office to do my duty.

I didn't check the sandwich until I was back in the office... I was disappointed that the bread was kind of hard. I would have returned it at the store! But I have to admit, it was still very delicious.

I will be back to try out their Pho!



Friday with friends

Spring is definitely here in Florida.

Look at the beautiful blue sky... temperatures around 80 F every day...

I love how the pink/lilac blossoms cover everything.

Unfortunately whenever March comes around, it also means mad allergies for me!

Zyrtec is my daily friend right now :) without I would be miserable!

Friday's lunch date took my wonderful girlfriends and I to Ybor City... El Puerto, a local gem, a South American Grill. Famous for their skirt steak and chimichurri sauce.

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the food. It was so crowded and service so slow today that we were starved when the food finally arrived after over an hour of waiting.

Luckily we had plenty of thigns to talk about :)

Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend to everyone!

Almost Friday!

Took my supervisors out to lunch at Acropolis today as one of them got a promo starting next week. I love this place! Afterwards we stopped at a cute Yogurt place, one of the sups treated the group, yum!

Dinner for Julian tonight was Pad Woon Sen and Bamee Goong!! He loved it! Followed by caramel ice cream and a hot dog lol I did offer him healthy baby carrots but he didn't take one bite. At least he had broccoli for lunch together with a whole peanut butter jelly sandwich and two bowls of cereal as an afternoon snack. And a whole bottle of Pediasure before bed.

After Julian went to bed I made myself a pizza as we still had dough in the fridge from Publix. Plain with salami and red onions and omg sooo delicious!! I saved half for lunch tomorrow! Must do this more often! Publix had a BOGO deal, but really I just need to practice and make my own pizza dough. Flour, water and yeast... can't be that hard right?

Le Macaron

Macarons are delicious little things... so beautiful to look at, and always such a surprise when you bite into something new. So today I got some beautiful macarons from a little french store called "Le Macaron" in Sarasota... they are truely little pieces of heaven! One of these days I will have to try and make them... they are surely too expensive to continue buying all the time!

Too bad this place is so far from home :(

Happy birthday to my dad!

Sending you big hugs and kisses across the oceans between us! At least I was able to chat with my parents, specifically my dad for a while this morning. As it was still early when we called them, we also connected over FaceTime and my parents were able to see Julian and talk to him. That was really the major reason why I bought my dad an iPad in October when we flew back to Thailand. It's just so much easier to use Skype/FaceTime than on his older Laptop. He has also been complaining that his laptop is older and slower, and freezes up more often. According to my mom, the iPad rarely leaves his side, it's so easy to use, turns on and off so quickly, and it's much more mobile and they just love being able to see their grandson roam around at home! Julian still remembers Grandma and Grandpa from our vacation in October... he still asks for them, especially Grandma (because it has been easier for him to prounounce the Thai "Yai" I believe), and often is calling Grandma on his plastic phone, or packs his bag and wants to see Grandma in Thailand!

He is also getting used to talking to them on the iPad, at first he was a little skeptic, but not he talks to them, he shows them things, he feeds them, hands things over to them, kisses them, and I love it especially when he takes over the iPad and runs around the house because he wants to show them his room, something in the kitchen, etc.

We then picked up our friends from last night and headed over to North Tampa to eat lunch at a Vietnamese Restaurant. Pho here we come! At first we made our own fresh rolls (Nem Nuang), and Julian actually loved the fresh springroll skin, and the plain rice vermicelli with some hoisin sauce. Ahhh I am so proud of my little Asian baby :) At least he tries new things and actually likes to eat a variety of things including Thai noodles, etc. My worst fear was that he would turn out like his daddy!!!! When it comes to eating only! Life as a picky eater can't be easy or fun.

After lunch we visited the Pet store across the street and Julian had the best time looking at the kitty cats, the birds, and the fish. Oh, and we saw some dogs too :)

Our last stop before heading home was a Boba Team place. Again another thing that is hard to find around where we live *sigh*. Julian liked the boba tea and the tapioca pearls, and then he wanted to get up on stage with our friend, and they jammed to the music, dancing, singing into make believe microphones and bowing at the end of the songs LOL

At the end of a loooong morning, my little munchkin fell asleep in no time once we got home, and I cuddled up with him and enjoyed our Saturday naptime :)



Looking at Preschools

Oh the things I never paid attention to before becoming a parent! Add the fact that I didn't grow up in this country and am not familiar with the system, the process, etc.

Julian will be 3 in August, so it's time for Preschool. But first can I just tell you how confusing all of this was for me? I've got it down now (I think), but I had no clue what came first, and what was what... Preschoo, Pre-K, Kindergarten! *?????*

Here is why: In Germany, you first go to Kindergarten (that's Preschool & Pre-K), then you go to the Vorschule (literally translated Preschool, but really it's what they consider Kindergarten here) from there you go to First Grade. So everything is backwards for me!

So as far as I understand it, in the US the order is as follows:

Preschool, then Pre-K, then Kindergarten, then First Grade!

Back to Julian turning 3 in August, when he can start Preschool. Our babysitter told us about where her older daughter went, and where she wants their little one (Julian's age) to go as well. This Preschool is at a United Methodist Church, option of going 2x or 3x weekly, 8:30 - 11:30am. She asked if we wanted her to continue watching Julian afterwards, which would be great but we would HAVE to choose that particular Preschool for him.

You might think what the problem is. Really, these aren't real problems, but considerations we are looking at.

- Julian currently stays home on Mondays with daddy, since hubby isn't working on Mondays. It's been like this since Julian was born. Hubby is currently looking for a new job, preferably working Monday - Tuesday so we can have more Family time.

- Not sure if the babysitter wants to watch him fulltime, we started Julian off with her only 3 days a week, then it turned to 4 days a week when he turned 1.

- Expenses. While we don't mind paying a little extra for a private babysitter, who really takes great care of Julian and where he gets great personal attention and is very happy and we think loved, our salary doesn't grow on trees. It would be cheaper to take him to a regular Preschool with fulltime Daycare attached.

- Continuity. The church based Preschool doesn't have Daycare. While we are struggling to decide whether we should take Julian out of his current comfortable environment (Preschool at Church would only be 2 mornings a week, then it's back to the normal babysitter), we are pretty certain we won't need a private babysitter when Julian turns 4. I don't want to then move him from an environment and new friends he has made to a brandnew Pre-K program where he has to get adjusted again. Wouldn't be a problem if the Church had Daycare available, but they don't.

- Church based Preschool. While I am not against him learning more about Christianity, God, Jesus, the spririt of Christmas, etc. I am not sold on putting him in a Church based school. What happened to separation of State and Church? Or in this case, School and Church? Our babysitter assures us that the focus on religion is minimal - her 6 yr old daughter who attended the same Preschool & VPK there recognized her old school because of the "lowercase t" in front of the building, and told me they were told stories about gods and goddesses, hehe. Ok, apparently she hasn't been preached to :)

- Naptime. Yes, I know it's crazy but if you are a mom, I am sure you understand the things I worry about lol. So far naptime has been in the comfort of our own home, or the babysitter's comfy cozy, very family oriented home. To the point that he goes to sleep by himself for naptime without any problems... but then wakes up after an hour, calls for the babysitter, and she will go and pick him up so he can continue sleeping on the couch next to her for another hour or so. And I don't care if you think we just encouraged and allowed bad naptime routines to be established and continue, I love the fact that our babysitter doesn't mind giving him that personal attention and caters to him. It's something a mom would do, and since I am at work, it comforts me that she treats him in this little special way.

I also know that I am far more anxious about all of this than I need to be, and that Julian will adjust much more beautifully to anything than I will. But hey, I'm a firsttime parent, and I do obsess about this stuff, so will you just let me please?

When I tell my mom about these things and what worries me she reminds me (every single time) of my first week in Preschool (or Kindergarten in Germany). It was so traumatic that I even remember it!! I was such a mama's girl, the youngest, overly attached to mommy, very shy, very intimidated, very introverted, very unsure of myself. So the first day of Preschool I cried soooo hard when my mom left me there that once the teacher was able to pry my hands off my mom, I held on like a lioness to the nearest POLE at that place just so that I wouldn't have to fall into the evil hands of the teacher. Watching my mom walk away and crying my lungs out for her, tears streaming down my face. Yes, I remember this! What I don't remember, but what my mom loves to remind me of, is that I apparently cried so hard that eventually all the kids in Preschool were crying along and they had to call my mom and ask her to come pick me up LOL. For that first week, my mom had to sit in class with me every single day to help me get adjusted :D My point is - I know, I know, apparently I survived that traumatic experience and turned out to be a normal and independent adult. And Julian is definitely less shy and introverted than both hubby and I used to be as children. It doesn't make me worry less, but it does help aleviate some of my anxiety. I just worry that Julian is more of a quiet kind of child who sits back a little bit to observe first. He's easily intimidated by other kids who are a little louder and rougher. But he is also very kind, he is good at sharing, he is considerate and always checks on other people, and with family and friends so far, he gets attached and close to them very easily.

Hubby and I made an appointment to tour the Church based Preschool about two weeks ago. It was a very nice, bright, friendly place.

Pros are great ratios, 10 students to 1 teacher with a floating assistant. Many of their teachers have MBA's in early childhood development, they have a great curriculum and have lots of opportunity for parent involvement.

The director was very friendly and personable, eased our minds with Julian speaking three languages, our mixed faith family, etc. and we connected well.

And he gets to go home with the current babysitter afterwards and stay there the other days.

Also, she will take him with a lowgrade fever and even give him Tylenol if needed, so we don't have to take vacation time.

And we don't pay her if she doesn't watch him, so we always adjust the pay based on how many days she watches him.

Cons are no Daycare in case the need arises, and the kids going to Church for storytime once a month in Preschool, and once a week in VPK/Pre-K.

The other cons are that we are sometimes limited in how long he stays with his babysitter afterwards, and that we sometimes have to take vacation time to accommodate their vacations.

Julian has to be absolutely potty trained, no ifs and buts. They don't even allow pull ups. Yes, we hope that won't be a problem, but who knows??

Today I thought I'd take him to a Daycare/Preschool right in our neighborhood, recommended by one of my friends whose 3 year old son and 1 year old daughter go to, different branch but same franchise name.

Pros for this place would be location, schedule and hours available. Drop off as early as 6:30am, and pick up as late as 6:30pm. Which doesn't mean that we would leave Julian there for 10 hours, but it's good to know there is an option, just in case. And of course fulltime means Monday through Friday.

Price - definitely cheaper, especially on a fulltime basis.

More friends - who knows, Julian might enjoy having more friends to play with all day long, instead of just the limited amount of friends 2x a week, then back to his two buddies right now.

Adjusting to all of this at 3 is probably easier than at 4.

Cons - we pay no matter what.

Julian will probably come home sick more often than now, with so many children there.

I can't get over naptime... 15 kids together in one room each all sleeping on a mat instead of a cute bed in a cozy home.

Larger student to teacher ratio.

Teachers seem to be less advanced as far as their educational background.

Price - our babysitter is not the cheapest, and while it's not a big deal right now, we are planning on Child #2, then expenses will definitely have to be considered.

I wish someone could just hand us the perfect solution on a silver platter! I am sure we will figure it out though and make the best decision for all of us.

When we got back into the car, I asked Julian if he liked it there and he said "Yes!", in that cute little soft but excited way. Then I asked him if he would want to go back and play with all those nice kids and all those toys and again he said "Yeah!", soft but excited. Hmmmmm... do I trust him??? :)

On another note... we went to the mall afterwards and had a great time together! Rode the carousel, Julian chose a new buddy, his monkey "Bacci" at Build A Bear (he picked the name "Bacci" even though later I realized that's just what it sounds like when he tries to say "Monkey", and I asked him what the Monkey's name should be LOL), got new pyjamas on sale at the Disney Store, and a new Lightning McQueen car at the Disney Store.

And I finally had the chance to try the new Pho place at the food court. I was so excited a Pho-place opened last time we went to the mall, but had eaten something else already! And surprisingly, the Pho was delicious! Unexpected, but definitely great! Not many options, but who cares? Great affordable Pho at the mall, sign me up!