OH! THE PLACES WE WILL GO.

milo's summer session at ECE ended last week SO HELLO SUMMER FUN TIME! we use summertime as an excuse to do more fun time with our little ones. well, it was actually last year we started this so called tradition since milo was old enough to go on adventures. so with the summer almost coming to an end, as i am constantly being reminded by the consuming world with back to school sale and pre fall season sale, i am going to share with you some fun places around us in the san francisco bay area. if you have any other places, please DO share and if you would like to meet up and join us, let me know too.

SAN FRANCISCO ZOO.

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. - we took milo last year and i think he was a bit too young but i think he is ready for it again.

HAPPY HOLLOW.

MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM. this place kicks my bum bum i tell you. i love going there. i would love to spend a night in a nearby town someday soon with my kids and make it a quick getaway that is not so far from home.

BAY AREA DISCOVERY MUSEUM.

FAIRYLAND.

PIXIELAND AMUSEMENT PARK.

STOW LAKE AT GOLDEN GATE PARK.

PARKSIDE AQUATIC PARK | SAN MATEO.

GILROY GARDENS.

LEMOS FARM.

HIDDEN VILLA.

PHIPPS FARM. well known around the bay for self-picking produce farm.

SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT MUSEUM. free admission. and you can always stop by your local fire station for a visit, they are usually pretty nice about you walking in.

CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM | SAN JOSE.

ROARING CAMP RAILROADS. - we took milo there for the first time last year for a special Day Out with Thomas and it was fun if your kids love train as much as mine. *and please try to bring your own food because the food is not good. i know when you go to zoos, amusement parks & kids places, the food is not only overpriced but its not so good. but seriously, when we went last year we thought the food was pretty nasty. they are doing another Day Out with Thomas end of July and August, so, get your tickets if you want to go.

TILDEN PARK STEAM TRAIN.

BILLY JONES WILDCAT RAILROAD.

NILES CANYON RAILWAY.

BARON PARK GARDEN RAILWAY.

PALO ALTO JUNIOR MUSEUM & ZOO.

i dont think we will hit all these places but this is the list we will be starting from. we will at least try to visit one of these places each week, and if its not too far, we could even hit two of these places a week. but then again, we will be using this list all year round.

and oh yes, for those of you who would like to take your little ones to a movie theatre, theres a family friendly screening of Winnie the Pooh this saturday (july 23rd) at Redwood City's AMC at 10:30am. its a good chance to take your little ones since they leave all the lights on and turn down the volume and you dont have to worry about your child crying or talking since its all about that. the Metreon use to have Reel Mom but they canceled that program a little bit ago. i have been trying hard to find more family screening/mom screening around the bay area but its hard. all i can do is to call each theater and unfortunately with the summer season and all summer part time job, most of the people that answer the phone has no idea what you are talking about. so, if you do want to inquire, ask for the manager and you can ask him/her if they are interested in hosting such events. good luck and please tell me if you know more places.

HAPPY SUMMER FUN FUN WITH YOUR FAMILY.
(and if you dont have little ones yet, some of these places are good places to take your date.)

MY LITTLE DUDE + MY LITTLE LADY.

ONE & TWO. matilda sitting inside a step chair. my mom's arm is holding her up. i recently purchased this H&M hat and i love it on her so much that i bought another one for her growing head. THREE & FOUR. matilda started teething when she was 4 1/2 months old and they started showing couple weeks ago and its been so hard to get it on film. but here they are!

matilda has been doing great. i have been taking her to her weekly baby class and milo tags along as well. i cant believe she will be 6 months this sunday. i wish i can keep her at this age for another year because she is so cuddly and giggly! they do grow up so fast. seeing matilda makes me wish that i can turn milo back to around her age. BUT with her 6 months coming up, it means she will be starting on those blend cereal. i would have started her earlier because she did showed interest in food but since milo has a high peanut allergy, her pediatrician recommends to wait till she is 6 months old. AND i decided to get a BÉABA to make life easier.

ONE + TWO + THREE. matilda loves to watch milo and i've been encouraging more brother sister time. i am asking milo to include matilda into his activities and asking him to talk with her and to show her his toys. we are teaching milo to make sure to make eye contacts with matilda when speaking with her, and to make sure that she can see his mouth when he is speaking to her. milo hasn't quiet done that yet but at least we are starting to get milo into the habit. milo loves superheroes and matilda's hearing impaired teacher came up with sign language for all his superheroes. as you can see in the pictures, matilda is highly attracted to the snack (PRETZ) that milo is eating. and milo is highly engaged in the iPad (the iPad has been a lifesaver ever since milo had his prosthesis. it is the one thing we still can use to get him to calm down and to open his eyes.)

THE MANY FACES OF MY LITTLE SUPERHERO.

milo is still dealing with his prosthesis. he pretty much has a bad day* once a week and he still complains about his eye or eyes everyday. he is still light sensitive and his vision teacher gave him a pair of fitover** sunglasses to put over his glasses (we called them his superhero sunglasses) and he would wear those and a hat when we go outside but a lot of times he would still keep his eyes closed until indoor. his prosthesis is still bothering him and its been a month since he had that put in. we talked with his occularist several times but unfortunately he doesn't have any immediate solutions for milo and he said that it is unusual that its taking so long for him to adjust to it. we just have to wait it out and milo just need to be super brave.

due to recent bad eyes drama, i called his glaucoma doctor to schedule an EUA***soon rather than in september. i hope by then he is able to tell us whats up and maybe even get a good look at his prosthesis since the occultist wont be able to make it.

my husband and i are sometimes at lost as to who we should go to for these questions since milo has three main specialist. if only they can all check on him while he is put under at his routine EUA, it would be so much easier. or better yet, if i could just have a little dinner party once a month for them so we can talk and discuss and not have to worry about them having to rush out to see another patient or teach a class. i guess thats what you get when they are such great doctors. i should start some kind of dinner-party-with-your-kids-doctor-thing. every parent deserves to learn as much as they can about their kids and their conditions. i think i am on to something with this dinner party idea. if any doctors are out there, what do you think?

as i am writing this blog, milo is having a bad eye day. we were on our way to the SF Zoo to meet Captain America and five minutes into the car ride, milo started feeling horrible. we made it to the zoo at 9am and with loads of tears, he kept saying he wants to go see Captain America. after a hand shake and a picture, he broke down and just want to go home and go to sleep. he has been in bed all day and no meals. he tried a bunch of times to open his eyes but ended with screams because of the pain of his prosthesis. he is a super brave little boy. i just hope tomorrow morning will be better.

wish me luck.


FOOTNOTES
*bad day means that theres some sort of breakdown where he would shut down and wants to go to sleep and not open his eyes.
**milo's vision teacher said that NOIR carries great sunglasses for vision impaired kids.
***Exam under Anesthesia

ME+MY PERFECT PAIR:The untold brief history of me, my children and what my blog shall be.

hi. lets get right into it.
my name is queenie. i am an illustrator, a designer, a wife and a mother of two. i love to create. i love to draw. i love fashion. i love patterns. i love all things cute. i love stuff. i love kids (especially my kids no doubt). AND i love to consume. oh! i almost forgot that i love bread and tart. basically i am human. i started this blog because i want to share with people my illustrations/characters and all the goodies i find from fashion to design to food to travel and pretty much anything that makes my eyes drool. the blog is my bff where i could just go and share all my findings and i could comment about it without having to stop and wait for feedbacks. i was able to let it all out (and my mansomedude a.k.a my husband did not have to hear all about it)without comments. he didn't really want to be my human blog.

just recently i decided that i wanted to find a better theme to my blog even though if you look at my past postings you get a pretty good idea of what its all about. i guess i should really say that i want to add something else to my blog and to do so i need to give you a little intro/update. i want to talk about raising special needs children and mainly from my own experiences.

i have two kids. milo is my three year old (just turned three last week) and matilda is my almost 5 month old. milo was born with a rare congenital eye defect where he has no vision on his left eye and very limited vision on his right eye due to glaucoma and FEVR. he has had many surgeries since he was 10 days old until now due to his conditions. he has these super cute blue glasses that he has been wearing since he was three months old (he is super near sighted). under the state of California milo is considered to be legally blind. matilda was born this januray and she has microtia in her left ear and conductive hearing loss as well. both of them are more powerful on their right side than their left side. i always say to milo: its okay if you cant see it, just listen. now i will have to say this to matilda: its okay if you can hear it, just look.

with milo's vision impairment since day one (on top of being a first time mom), i learned A LOT about the whole process from the State to different programs available and of course, dealing with your health insurance to just taking care of your special needs child. its definitely a lot of information to take in when you have a baby and especially when its your first one. i was very overwhelmed when we had to go through all that as milo is our first baby and with the very unexpected findings of his vision. with matilda, my husband noticed her deformation left ear as soon as she came out. i only noticed it when my husband said something to the doctor since i didn't see her left side when she was handed to me. we both acknowledged her left ear nonchalantly and was just thrilled that she arrived. milo had us trained too well with his conditions.

milo has been enrolled in Early Start Education with our county since he was 7 weeks old and he will be graduating from them after this summer because he turned three years old. then he can transferred into the district (which is a whole other system with meetings you have to go through). matilda got accepted into the same program due to her hearing loss. i got one kid in the vision class and the other in hearing class. we are the first family that the school has seen with 2 kids with a completely nonrelated conditions. in a way, i am happy to know that matilda will get to experience the same school that milo was in because the teachers are wonderful and its such a safe and friendly environment. and i get to see the teachers for another three years.

i told my husband that we should play the lottery because the chances of having both a vision and hearing impaired kids are very very rare especially since both side of the families have no history. maybe when i do go and get a lottery ticket and win you will see me on the news with those giant fake checks (wait, do they do that or am i thinking about the publishing clearing house commercial?).

i've been through it and still am and i want to share it with you and i think i am a pretty good advocate for families with special needs kids especially with hearing and vision impaired. we had no support when we first went through it (we had families to support but to be honest, its very different since its a whole new topic) and i want to be here for those families going through it.

i am not only going to talk about my kids on this blog, i will continue to do what i am doing but i want my blog readers to know that i am here if you have any questions. and i know this is the longest post ever but really theres no short brief way to introduce. (i am fancy like that.)

xoxox
me

TIME SUCKER:IVE BEEN GONE BUT I PLAN TO COME BACK SOON. (a.k.a - I SHALL USE THE WORD TIME MANY TIMES IN THIS POSTING.)

Dear Me Blog:

i know ive been missing for some time but i have the best reason of all time. i gave birth to a new fresh human earlier this month. enough said. but i have been thinking of you, blog. and i DO want to come back and filled your space with pages of goodies but please give me some time. time is super hard to find these days with my new human and my little dude. i just want to tell you so you know i have not forgotten about you. thank you for your time.

xoxo
me

*OH.HAPPY NEW YEAR BY THE WAY. AND IT AINT TOO LATE FOR ME TO SAY SINCE CHINESE NEW YEAR IS COMING NEXT WEEK. ITS ALL LEGIT IN MY BOOK.*

dear lovely blog readers of mine:

i just want you to know that i will be missing for a little bit since i am going to go off tomorrow and do some amazing stuff - like having a little baby. i will be back once i get myself back in the game with handling a new baby and taking care of my toddler and finding some shut eye time. *eek* i am SO excited (minus all the anxiousness of pain and hoping the baby will be healthy and all that scary stuff that you think about).

xoxo
me with a giant baby in my tummie.

p.s.- have some carrot while i am away and while you are reading other lovely blogs.

LUST LIST THREE: POSSIBLY THE LAST ONE THAT I WILL PUBLISH BEFORE THE DAY OF JESUS.

ONE: Maison Desalle's Paris Loves You chair

TWO: DwellStudio NEW DOTTED TRELLIS CHARCOAL PILLOW

THREE: Anthropologie DIY ( i will most likely do this since i would like to have more of these big chunky neck warmer.)

FOUR: how cute are these Collegien Slipper Socks. i want one for the whole family.

FIVE: Jack Spade Dipped Industrial Canvas. if my dude have one i can take it and use it too. a great gift for me and him. but you are only buying one. how great is that.

SIX: I love my Miffy. and i want to go here and take my little and big dude with me. so 3 tickets to the store please. PLEASE. I WANT.

SEVEN: Heal's Orla Kiely. anything from here will make me happy. anything.

EIGHT: Rebecca Coagan Scharlatt's morse coated necklace. this is super sweet and i love how small it looks on your neck. very cute.

NINE: sheriff PJ's for my little dude.

TEN: Tivoli Audio Model One AM/FM Radio.

ELEVEN: i spotted this skull necklace by made in the display window of Jigsaw several times and i really dig it since i keep thinking about it. i SO want it around my neck. OH. I WANT IT.

TWELVE: Zara dresses. i love me some zara shopping whenever i am overseas. and look at all these dresses. they are the perfect length and i want them in both black and red especially the tuplip dress. so perfect. so good. want want please.

THIRTEEN: Super Star earrings. not sure if my ears would be allergic to this but i like it. little tatoos on my ear lopes.

FOURTEEN: Fox. very cute. i just want him to sit on my shelf or i could share him with my little dude.

FIFTEEN: CC SKYE Lightning Bolt Necklace

SIXTEEN: Eggshell Zigzag Romper

EIGHTEEN: Brevity Horseshoe necklace.

NINETEEN: Johnny Cupcake + Hello Kitty. even though they were completely sold out pretty much right after it was on sale, i still want it.

LET THE WISHES COME ON FORWARD.

its been awhile since i did any posting about my recent new desires. i constantly see a bunch of new wants and below are some that i actually like/want that its worth for me to share with you. and besides, its almost that time of year where my most favorite holiday is coming up and i know ive been pretty good this year that mr santa claus would want to see some kind of wish list from me (of course this is just the beginning):


1. GLORY CHEN - these shoes!! i want them in my closet for sure. i want it in all the colors. it has the most perfect round toe ever. its my most ideal roundness in a shoe and i MUST have them. i will get them. but which color should i start with. what do you think, feet?






2. DYSON - no need to say more. if youve been following this blog, you know i love vacuums and i am not afraid to share it and shout it. if i could i would have a vacuum in every room and they would have to be a different kind since they would serve different purposes, just like each room serve a different purpose. i DO like the dyson so much. i dont have one yet but maybe i will get one for christmas? how about this little one? it can sit in a dark corner and you would never know about it. OH. I WANT IT SO MUCH.


3. this bag. i always like to have a nice simple black bag around. so whenever i see one thats worthy i would like to have it sitting in my closet for those days that i feel like using a black bag. its a very comforting feeling to know that you have it when you need it since they are pretty hard to find. kind of like a good pair of jeans or a nice basic tee or jacket or sweater or etc. you get the point.


4. i really dig this set up for my little dude's room. i would want it for myself if it comes in an adult king size. what i really love is the sheets combo. it makes me think of eating strawberries and having strawberry shortcake doll as a decor. i think my little dude would really like it. maybe someone can just make one for us? please? its not for me? its for a super cute little dude? anyone? make it for us? elves?



5. this bed would be pretty cool if the case of the latter wish does not get fulfilled.

true cute.

dear nephew:
welcome. i think you are super cute and i will not stop giving you kisses & hearts.
xoxo
me, your aunt.

another week another list of things i like to have.

i like -

the Clarity project (good place for someone who wants to buy something something sparkly and special for someone thats filled with bubbly hearts.)

Polarno Pyret's neck warmer for baby

Emerson Made - i want it all.

i like the bed but i really like the bed tent for my little dude.

the micuna furniture is nice and simple and the colors are so soft.

this BOW scarf is awsum but of course is sold out right now.

these 80%20 - women's eliotte suede boots is a must have especially with the toggles. i am a sucka for toggle.

i saw these Minnetonka® fringed low moccasins in store and they are pretty cute and the price is great.

just for kicks, i would like to try this Komenuka Bijin shampoo since my current shampoo will run out soon.

IF IT'S YOUR FIRST TIME, YOU REALLY SHOULD READ THIS.

i’ve been meaning to put this together for awhile and I finally did it seeing how one of my buddy is having their first baby next month. we were one of the first among our friends to have a baby and we didn’t have any tips as to what we should get and hence, we bought way too much and way too soon and ended up regretting some of our purchases. SO, i had made a mental note to self that i will create an essential must have/totally should buy list for first time parent. and please note to yourself that this is based on what i think is great to have. and i will for sure use the below items for my future baby.

1) PRIMO EuroBath - we’ve been using this since he started taking bath.

2) ERGO baby carrier - i wish i got this from day one since its super nice and easy to use and with my bad back, it does no harm. i would suggest this over baby bjorn any day (sorry baby bjorn but you hurt my back so much that i can’t deal with you). i would get the infant insert as well.

3) Floppy seat - you don’t really need this til the baby can sit up but i like it since it feels so much cleaner than putting your baby directly into the germ infested grocery shopping cart especially when they are touching and putting everything in his/her mouth. and you can also use this at restaurant's high chair.

4) Boppy - this is great especially if you plan to nurse. it can also be use to prop up the baby and let him/her chill out. this was great when i travel on the plane since you can place the baby on the Boppy and the Boppy on your lap. i like the Target Dwell collection (girl and boy version).

5) aden + anais - i LOVE their blankets and wraps and everything!!! unfortunately i didn’t find out about these til way later but i got them and am still using them. their muslin wraps would be perfect for a newborn to swaddle in since the material is super soft and the size is great. they last through washes after washes. we got a lot of receiving blankets and nothing compare to this material. we also got the four-layer dream blanket for our little dude to use when the weather is cold and he loves it. the generous size covers him completely even when he is tossing at night.


that’s all i can think of top of my head as the essentials for the arrival of a newborn.

AND OH as for clothing! I pretty much narrow down to 3 main brands (they have great materials and they last through many many washes) –
1) Boden - they have a great selection of everything from socks to jackets. and their pants are the best since its mostly elastic waist and this year they extended their mini boden sizes to 4 years old. WOOHOO.
2) Hanna Anderson their pj's is the best!! and their moccasins are great too. we tried other brands that have the similar style but they did not work as well.
3) Tea Collection
4) MUJI – they don’t have it online. i get them when i am overseas. don’t hate me.

p.s. - and of course i forgot to be lame and add my SUPERJUICYCHICKEN plush on the list of must have! look under WHERE TO BUY ME and get it. please.


bestbest + jollypop
me

p.p.s. – I didn’t bother with toys and books and other stuff since the list would go on forever. and i just wanted to keep this as the essential must have. but if you are interested to know/learn more, please feel free to contact me and i will tell you everything.