Week in Pictures

The kids has been exhausting but so much fun. I love every stage they are in. Ky-An is in a talking stage and asking what everything is. It's amazing what he can pick up and we are constantly surprise at what he can understand and what words he know. They are our constant source of entertainment. Ky-An is obsess with bubbles and train. The weather is warmer now so he loves to go outside and blow bubbles. I also got him a pair of slippers and he loves slipping them on to go outside. His little toes all curl up whenever he wears them to grip the slippers so they won't fall off. It's so cute. He also loves Thomas the Train and when he's not watching the DVD, he'll lay on the floor playing with the trains or make trains out of blocks and push them around. He keep leaving his trains everywhere and sometimes he'll want them and walk around hysterically asking for "frane, frane". We had to calm him down and Hieu and I will scurry around looking for his train. The look on his face when we found it for him is just priceless.

Ai-Vy is still the sweetest girl, still smiling every chance she gets. She just recently discover her feet so she grabs it whenever she can. She also can sit so loves to try and get up to sit. Whenever she stirs in the night, the first thing she does is kick her legs and then picking up her head trying to sit up. All this with her eyes closed!! So cute. She has also learned how to blow raspberries so she would do it when she doesn't want her bottle anymore or just for fun. If she doesn't want the bottles, she would also gag so I'd have to take the bottle out. Little stinker. She would also grin and giggle if you let her stand and bounce. She is on solid food and has tried cereal, carrots, peas(hates), green beans (absolutely love it), bananas, zucchini, acorn squash, and squash.

This is what he does when Hieu told him to "smile":




Check out his slippers. My son is such a FOB!!! He absolutely love those things. Would slip them on to go everywhere and when he walks on them, his toes are curled up trying to grip the shoes.


Playing bubbles with my younger sister:


Playing with little sis. He would pull his chair over to this bassinette looking for his sister all the time. If he sees her in there then he would run around bringing her toys or just touch her.


These balloons make a whistling sound when you let go of them. Ky-An loves to ask us to blow them up, hold it and goes "Ready?" and lets it go. However, this is how he looks like whenever he lets the balloon go:


This is how he likes to play with his toys nowadays. I am not sure if he's constanly tired and need to rest or it's a phase:





Poor thing is teething so bad...



Whenever she sits or if you are holding her, she likes to lean forward like this:


Got my foot!


Supper gummy smile:

New mattress..or mattresses

Ai-Vy is still waking up several times a night. Sometime all she need is for me to put my hand on her chest. I'll have to stand next to her crib until she goes back to sleep. Other times she needs me to feed her and I feed her in her crib because picking her up will wake her. I end up not getting a good night sleep because I have to get up and out of bed every time she stirs. I often put my head down the rail to get some rest while I wait for her to finish her bottle.

It would've been easier if she's in the bed with me and I can just reach over to tend to her. However, our king size bed is barely enough room for Hieu, Ky-An, and I. Whenver I am too exhausted, I would wake up Hieu and he'll move to the floor so I can have Ai-Vy in the bed with me. After several days Hieu move to the floor because I needed some rest due to numerous night wakings whenever Ai-Vy stir. I feel horrible everyday because we get to sleep in this big bed and he has to sleep on the floor. In addition, when Ky-An woke up and didn't see his dad, he starts crying and wake up Ai-Vy.

Even on the king size and both kids next to me, the still manage to keep falling off the bed. One night I was fast asleep when Ky-An fell off the bed. I somehow jumped out of bed and look down to see him on the floor and he starts whimpering so I know he just fell and is in shock. He starts crying but everything seem okay. The next night I open my eyes to find myself aleady standing next to the bed and Ai-Vy crumpled with her blanket on the floor. As with Ky-An, she must have just fell because she starts whimpering as I pick her up and then fell back to sleep again. Everything look okay so I put her back t bed. Hieu heard about it the next morning and he was worry so he checked out every inch of her body to make sure it's okay.

It's at this point that I realize it's not working and we need a new solution. I had a great idea of getting rid of the crib and put another twin size next to the bed so Hieu can sleep in. The twin size bed can be Ky-An's when he's ready to move into his own room. We put the twin right next to Ky-An as a barrier and bought a bed rail to put on Ai-Vy's side.

Hieu just finished up a contracting job and got several thousand dollar. He wanted to get something nice with it and we are in desperate need of a new mattress. Our old one creaks so much that I wake up the kids everytime I change position. Even though we need one, I still feel financially irresponsible to spend extra money on a mattress instead of put them into savings. Hieu convinced me that it's okay to splurge once in a while so we went mattress shopping. Overall we bought 2 Sealy posture-pedic mattresses. One king size and one twin. We were going to get the memory foam that was on clerance but after testing it out, I decide I am not used to stillness. It would've been great because I could move around all I want the the kids wont't feel it. However, I am too used to the buoyancy of the spring mattress and hate the sinking feeling everytime I lay down. I am not too heavy so I don't sink much in the first place but it still gives me a funny feeling in my stomach whenever I sink. If the funny feeling in your stomach when you are taking a dip in the roller coaster.

Sealy supposedly control all the pricing on their mattresses so they can't give us any discount. We manage to buy a nice memory foam pillow for $120 and get one free. I've never heard of anyone spending $120 on a pillow though but Hieu said the nice down ones are already that much. We also got another contour pillow one for free that I gave to my parents. They gave us free delivery and an extra 10% off the twin's mattress.

We advertise the crib on Craig's List for $150. It sold almost immediately. There's this sweet old grandma who came to buy the crib for her grandson. She saw the bedding set I had and bought those for $80 also. Now we have a king size bed that the kids and I slept on and Hieu is in the twin right next to us. All is well in the world again. :)

I really love sleeping with the kids and woudn't change it for the world. I love climbing into bed and can watch both my kids peacefully sleeping and their angelic faces for as long as I want. I love to be able to lean over and hug them or give them a kiss. I especially love that I don't have to get out of bed to comfort a squirmy baby or make a nightmare less frightening.

Coupon and deals

I am finally caught up with my coupon clippings and manage not to be so obsess over Hot Coupon World (or so I led myself to believe). I really am enjoying my new hobby. It is time consuming but I just love getting all these stuff that we need/use for a fraction of the price. We have so many things stock up that sometimes I have a hard time finding things to spend at CVS because I have ECB expiring. Yesterday I wander around CVS for 30 minutes just looking for what to spend my $5 on. I finally bought some International House instant coffee that I like.

I've also turn into a Freebie snob. Because of my stockpile, I find myself getting a little pickier of what I will buy. I a cabinet full of shampoo/conditioner that I will not buy anymore unless I can get it for free or if I make money off of them. Same goes for bodywash, only if they are free or I make money. I will not get diapers unless they are at least 40% off and I'll wait until CVS has a sale so I can use my Extra Bucks and less money out-of-pocket. I have a $2 off $10 purchase of diapers at Krogers. Add that to my $2 off manufacturer coupon for pull-ups and I can get a Jumbo pack for $6. That is still too much for me..hehe. It's nice to be able to be picky about the things I buy and not having to pay regular price for these things anymore.

I've turn my oldest sister to CVS'ing and couponing. I bought her a 6 month newspaper subscription for her birthday and let her know whenever there is a deal. She's been in it for a month and is building a stockpile for herself. She bought 12 packs of pull-ups for my niece, about 20 bottles of shampoo, 10 bodywash, 30 gift bags, and a bunch of other stuff for $50! On top of that, she has about $40 in Extra Bucks after all these transactions. She's doing so great and I am so proud of her. She's very excited about her stuff also and I giggle whenever I hear her excitement.

Here are the deals so far:
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Walgreens - $4 for 2 packs of Oil of Olay and get $4 back. I have 2 $2 coupons so it's free and I got $4 back. Too bad I didn't have much coupons to buy a lot and it was such a hot coupon that everyone bought it up like crazy. I wasn't going to pay the price that people are buying these coupons for on eBay.

CVS - I got some free monthly items this year. Bought the Lypsil that is free and I had $1 off coupons from being a Bzz agent. I love these lip balms! Too bad I was in Dallas when the deal started or I could've got more. I got 10 tubes of toothpaste for free after ECB and I had $.50 or $.75 coupon for each of them. Also got 4 Crest mouthwashes for free this month and a bunch of razors. I think I have a 2 box full of these things now. I also got more free Garnier shampoo, conditioner, and hair styler. They were free after ECB and I have $1 coupon for each of them.

3/18 - I got 6 bottles of Dove Shampoo/Conditioner at CVS paying nothing and was even -$1.74 under so I HAD to grab 2 packs of Puffs with Vicks trial size tissue. I had $38 in Extra Bucks that expire today so I ran out at lunch and got 1 small can of formula, 6 containers of Kandoo wipes, 8 cans of Glad air freshener, 1 CVS toothbrush, 2 packs of Mach 3 disposable razors, 6 bottles of Dove shampoo/conditioner, 2 packs of Puff with Vicks tissue, 2 Johnson & Johnson Buddies soap, and 2 Neosporin. Spent all my expiring Extra bucks and got $14 back.

Kroger had cereal and granola bars for cheap. Buy 4 and get $4 off instantly. I end up getting lots of Nature Valley granola bars and Cheerios for $1 each. Randalls also have a similar deal on cereal but I didn't need that much more so I jus got 3 boxes for free.

3/30 - CVS has SoftSoap spa bodywash for $4.99 and get $4.99 back. There are $1 and $1.50 coupons out so it's a moneymaker! I got 10 bottles on 2 cards. There was a sale on Windex, buy $15 get $5 back. It came at a good time because we were running low on Windex. I did the deal on both cards using $1 off any Windex coupons and te $5 off $15 purchase. We have enough Windex to last over a year now.

3/30 - Walgreens is also having a big sale weekend. You can buy $50 worth of P&G products and get back $25 in Register Rewards. I did the deal once because I don't like to pay too much out-of-pocket and those Register Rewards can be a pain to use. However, 50% off of products is hard to pass by. I bought a big bottle of Tide, 2 packets of Mr. Clean erasers, 6 Dawn Simple Pleasures, 6 Bounce (running low on those) for about $17.

Walgreens also had Advil PM got $3.99 and there is a $2 peelie coupon on the box making it $1.99. Then there is a $3 Register Reward so you made $1 off the purchase. I bought 2 boxes but didn't bother to go back anymore because as I said..using those Register Rewards is just a pain. That's one of my dislike for Walgreens and love CVS.

4/2 - Everyone is going nuts over this deal at Kroger but I wasn't too keen on it. Part of it is because we don't eat a lot of these food and second because I don't have an extra freezer to store all this stuff. The deal is buy 10 items and instantly get $5 off your purchase. You can do the deal 3 times per transactions. That and add coupons to them and you got a pretty good deal. Hieu had to go to the store to get water so I sent him off with coupons and a list to do the deal. He bought more items than he needed and some extra stuff off the list that I had coupons for. Oh well..he tries.

The deal extends for 2 weeks and I did it about 7 times. I sent Hieu to go get Minute maid juice intially, then I got some Betty Crocker brownie mix. Not good for my weight but I just love brownies! Then Hieu noticed the Gatorades are only $.50 so I got 10 of them for my brother-in-law because he loves it. I also found $1 off Welch's grape juice and it's on sale for $2 a bottle with the expiration date in 2009 so I did another deal to buy them. When I was buying the Gatorade for my brother-in-law, I notice this Vietnamese lady load her cart up with a bunch of Crisco oil that was on sale for $2. I asked my oldest sister if it's a good deal and she said yes. That's half off the original price. Of course I had to go and get some to stock up so I sent Hieu to go out and do another transaction last night.

Kroger also had Cottonelle bathroom tissue 4-pack on sale for $.99. I only have $.25 and they triple it so I get each pack for $.25. Unfortunately, they will only triple one coupon at a time. I tried looking on eBay for some $1/1 coupon to get it for free but people were bidding ridiculous price on them. A set of 20 $1/1 off coupons people were paying $10 for. Crazy..

They have the Softsoap handwash on sale for $1 again (like I need anymore handwash soap). With the $.35 off coupon, I get each bottle for $.05 so of course I can't resist. At least they will all go to good use when my parents go back to Vietnam this June. I am sending a bunch of stuff with them and my parents doesn't have to make the purchase for these gifts. That's a great deal!

4/3 - Hoa wanted to make some gift bags for her co-worker in Carthiege before she leaves and lucky for her, I found out CVS has a deal on their Beauty of Essence gift bags. The deal is buy 3 Essence of Beauty Products and get $5 ECB, limit 5. Well these gift bags work for the deal and so are the toe separators that cost $.99. I went out and got 12 toe separators and got $15 back. Got 18 gift bags for $26.82 and got $30 back. The gift bag also has a package of matching tissue paper in there. I also found some cellophane paper on clearance from Easter for $.42 each. They are great for making baskets. I was excited about the deal and told my oldest sister all about it. She ran out after work and got a bunch of gift bags also. This is so much fun!

There was an incident at one of the CVS near my house. I went there to purchase some Windex and they told me I can only use 1 CVS coupon per purchase. That was fine with me beause I only had one. Then I gave her the extra bucks to pay and they said that ECBs are coupons and they'll accept it this time but next time I can only use one. I questioned the cashier and said that's the first time I heard of ECB being coupons. It's suppose to be like cash to use in the store. She was very snide and said no they are coupons and even ask her manager and she confirms it. I asked if this is a new policy because I never heard of it anywhere else. She told me in a condescending tone that it was THIS store's policy.

I made my purchase and left but was upset so I called the corporate number to ask them if their policy had changed. I just want to make sure I comply by their rules if this is a new policy. I talked to a customer rep and she ensure me that it is not corporate policy and she'll forward my issue with the store's District manager and I can ask him. They said to expect call from him on Monday (it was Friday when I called). That was fine with me, I just want to ask him why his stores are not complying with the corparate policy. I never got the call from him and forgot all about it until I got a gift card in the mail along with an apology letter from him. In the letter it states that the issue has been resolved. I kept the letter in my coupon binder so that I can show it to them if that store gives me anymore problem. This is why I love CVS, their customer service is just magnificient!

Ky-An's first time-out

We have not put Ky-An in a time-out up to this point. For the most part, we didn't have to because after we tell him no or not to do anything, he listens and don't do it. Lately I've notice he's getting more defiant and know that I need to be more assertive in his discipline very soon. I've also notice that my sister and my friends discipline their kids more than what I have done with Ky-An and I worry that I've been spoiling him. I certainly do not want him to grow up to be a spoil brat so I've been keeping an eye out on his behavior and whether or not it's an opportunity for us to implement time-out.

This weekend there was an opportunity for it because he was cranky before naptime and spilled water on the floor. Hieu went to yell at him and tell him that it's not acceptable and he hit Hieu! Hieu immediately took him to the corner and tell him to face in for a time-out. I've been watching Supper Nanny (love that show!) and tell Hieu what to do. Hieu got down to his level and explain why he's putting Ky-An in time-out. We let him stay their for 2 minutes (one minute for each year of their age) and not talk or look at him for the duration. I was expecting a screaming match or us having a hard time making him stay put but he just stood there without a peep. Didn't even protest! I was pleasantly surprise and he has a look on his face knowing he did something wrong. After 2 minutes, Hieu got down to his level again and explain why Ky-An was put in time-out. Hieu made him say "sorry" and give him a hug.

So far time-out is working well with Ky-An and I hope it continues. I hope we continue to use it effectively. The other day I gave him a timeout because I was trying to get him to go into the bedroom for his nap (pre-nap meltdown again), he didn't want to go and hit me. I put him in the corner and it helped because he was much calmer and more compliant after that. It was so cute when he was standing in the corner because he keep turning around to look at us. I just make a motion w/ my finger to turn around and he immediately listen. Hieu was trying so hard not to laugh because he's so darn cute.

Ai-Vy and Ky-An's Development

Ky-An and Ai-Vy has been sleeping horribly whenever they are home with us. At our babysitter's place, Ai-Vy sleeps for at least 4 hours and Ky-An sleeps for at least 3. At home she sleeps about 2 and he sleeps for 1. I doesn't make me feel very good knowing we can't adequately take care of our kids and give them the rest they need. They also eat horribly at home. Ky-An barely eats at all and Ai-Vy would only drink about 3 bottles and have 2 meals. Even with that, she keeps throwing them up and I am not sure what I am doing wrong. She eats 3 big meals and drink 4 bottles of milk everyday at our babysitter's house.

Hieu said they are just used to the routine at our babysitter's house and not ours. I know he's trying to help but it's not making me feel any better. I am the mommy! I am suppose to know how to make my kids go to sleep and how much they should. I am glad they are doing well at our babysitter's place because it gives me a great peace of mind whenever I am at work. However, when they don't do well at home with us, it makes me feel like I've failed.

Ky-An:

Ky-An is at the defiant stage where he wants to do stuff for himself but easily gets frustrated if he can't. He's definitely testing his boundaries so it's important for us to set it at this time and be consistent. Hieu and I try to back each other up and agree to never disagree about discipline in front of the kids. So far it's working okay but Ky-An hasn't really put it to the test either.

• He loves birthday and gets the concept ever since his second birthday. He loved it that we sang "Happy Birthday" and he hears his name in the song. He also enjoyed opening presents and now whenever he hears the word "birthday" or see a present, he gets really excited. We have some Christmas lights that are in the shape of a present still sitting in the dining room. Whenever he sees it, he dances around and excitedly point to it saying "Habby bid-day, Habby bid-day". He would also try to blow if he sees a cake, fire, or something that looks like a candle.
  
  
• He can communicate his wants for the most part.."want milk", "want dad", "want down", "go outside", "bath bubbles", etc.
  
  
• He understands us more and more and it's so exciting to hear him reply whenever we ask him a question.
  
  
• He still likes to go to sleep with a toy in his hand but now gets the concept of putting it down and says 99 to it. One day he has a train in his hands during naptime and keeps playing with it instead of going to sleep. I told him "Ky-An, it's time to sleep. Put the train down and say 99 train". He whimper and had a hard time putting it down but he did it anyway.
  
  
• Ky-An continues to build on his vocabulary and surprise us everyday with the words he know. He is using more abstract words now such as "sang" for bright, "xe nho" and "xe lon" for small cars and big cars. He also knows "ngoai" which is outside. He is also putting his words together to form a sentence. "Want to go outside", "want to watch Einstein", "want milk", "want more"....
  
  
• If he gets excited about something, he'll do this little criss-cross dance. It's hillarious.
  
  
• He has a bad temper and is not very patient sometimes when he plays with his toys. One time he was trying to put his animal puzzle pieces in its place. He keep trying and can't get it in correctly so he got frustrated and throw the piece across the room. I made him go pick it up and then calmly help him put it in again. He also gets mad when he tries to carry three blocks at a time. If they drop he'll get so mad. He starts screaming and flinging the blocks.
  
  
• Because he can communicates more, he's also throwing more tantrums. I am watching to see when I can enforce timeouts on him. He's pretty good at listening to me after I yelled at him the first time so I haven't had to do it yet. The other day he wanted more milk so I told him to wait on the bed while I went outside to get him some more. Well he got off the bed and tried to run outside after me but as soon as he saw me walking back to the room, he quickly ran back to the bed and scramble onto the bed. It was so cute and I was laughing seeing this flash of a little person quickly running so I won't catch him.
  
  
• He likes to lay on the floor to play with his toys. Whether it be a car, train, or blocks.
  
  
• His new infatuations are trains. He loves is Thomas the Train dvd, toy, and book. He would take blocks, put them in a row to push around and pretend it's a train.
  
  
• Ai-Vy was sick this past week so I kept her home with me for 2 days. He walked around the babysitter's house to the room Ai-Vy usually sleeps inand look for her.
  
  
• He can build and stack things very well now. He especially love the marble runs and has a blast whenever I take him to the Children's Museum.
  

Ai-Vy:

Ai-Vy is still the sweetest baby ever. She hardly ever cry unless it's extreme. If she's hungry, she would sit there and suck on her lips or her hand but still give you a gummy smile if you talk to her. If she's tired, she'll just rub her eyes but still as happy as ever. Whenever she's extremely tired or hungry, she'll whine but won't cry. We call it her dolphin noises because she'll talk with vowels "aaaaaaaa, eeeeeeeeeeee, iiiiiiiiiiiiii" and it'll progressively get louder depending on how tired or hungry she is.

• Can sit up supported for a long time. She loves to sit in her Bumbo and her chunky thigh keeps her in place..hehe .
  
  
• She is trying to blow raspberries and love if you do it.



• She learned how to grunt and would do it for everything, especially if you do something she doesn't like. She'll growl at you letting you know so. This little girl reminds me so much of myself that I have to laugh sometimes. Ky-An totally takes after Hieu and she takes after me. Even when she frowns, I can see myself in her everytime.
  
  
• She is more aware of her surrounding and would fight to go to sleep. She also like to feel things by scratching them.
  
  
• She doesn't like me to hold her for feedings or to be put to sleep anymore. She rather lays on the bed to be fed and then I caress her scalp to go to sleep. I don't know if this is from her being used to our babysitter feeding her this way or if she's exerting her independence
  
  
• She's growing more attached to Mr. Pacifier. It developed when she's teething and wanted something to suck on. Now she needs it before she goes to sleep and whenever she wakes up in the middle of the night, I'll have to give it to her before she settles down to go to sleep again. It's great now because I just have to get up, plop the pacifier in her and I am done. For Ky-An, I had to pick him up and rock him before he would go back to sleep. I am not sure how hard it'll be weaning her from it later on though. Hieu and I has many frantic moments looking for the pacifier before she wakes up. We already bought 3 new sets but they keep disappearing. The only kind she likes are the Soothies that they gave away when she was in the hospital.
  
  
• Whenever she smiles, she'll wrinkle her nose. It's so cute and it cracks everyone up.
  
  
• She discover her feet now and loves to grab them.
  
  
• She can control her hands pretty well now. If she doesn't like anything then she'll swat it away and if she likes something, she'll reach for it. She still won't hold her own bottle though.
  
  
• She is starting to sit unassisted and long periods of time.
  
  
• She loves it when you let her stand and bounce. She will smile and talk the whole time if you let her stand.
  
  
• Today Hieu let her lay a little bit on the side and she rolled over. He was so excited.

Weekend in Dallas

It's a been a busy week! We've tried to pack and go to Dallas for the funerl. However the kids are sick all week and I was extremely busy at work. I was off with Ai-Vy Monday and Tuesday because she was sick. I took off early Thursday to pack and we left Friday morning after the kids woke up. That wasn't a great idea to start off. Hieu and I woke up at 6 to load the car hoping to leave early. We end up not able to leave until 8a.m. Ai-Vy was already tired byt that time but we had to get some breakfast before driving out by the time we are done it's about 9"30. By this time Ai-Vy was beyond exhausted and starts screaming her little head off in the carseat. Nothing could calm her down and I've never seen her like this. Hieu stopped at the side of the road and I picked her up but since I couldn't bounce her, there's no way she'll calm down. We realize we'll just have to bite it and let her cry for a bit and go to sleep. It worked and she fell asleep after maybe one minute (of course it seem way longer to us.) Ky-An also fell alseep and we drove peacefully for an hour or so. Ky-An then had a dirty diaper so we had to stop and change him. Because we stopped, Ai-Vy woke up so I had to feed her. By that time, it's time for Ky-An to eat lunch so we stopped by a Sonic and let him play a little. I told Hieu to just take it slow on the trip and let the kids relax. We end up taking more than 5 hours for less than a 4 hour trip but at least the kids were happy.

The way home is much better. We went during their afternoon nap time plus they were tired form the lack of sleep all weekend so they sleep 2/3 of the way home. The last hour of driving was the toughest. The kids were restless and did not want to be in the car any longer. I had to sit in the back and kept them entertain but they were anxious to just be home. We had to stop by a restaurant for dinner even though we knew they wanted to be home but everyone had to eat. Needless to say we were so exhausted by the time we got home. Hieu and I then had to stay up until midnight because I had to pack their clothes for the babysitter and Hieu was cleaning out the car. We have a new respect for my sister who travels with two kids to Houston all the time!

We booked a hotel to stay because my sister has so many family from her mother-in-law's side with them. It's a good thing because the kids are pretty comfortable and we packed everything we can think of to make them comfortable. First of, I am so glad someone on the Babycenter forum gave us a tip of paying a little extra for a suite. It's totally worth it. Luckily Hieu's company booked the hotel for us so we got a nice price break at Holiday Inn Express. The suite was so nice, it has a bedroom with doors and then a pullout in the livingroom. I slept with the kids in the room and Hieu took the pullout bed. Their bed is so comfortable and it's nice to have the separate room to clean bottles, pack, get ready for bed, or have an awake child outside. I really can't imagine how we would handle the weekend if we booked a normal room.

Cuddling up to the couch at the hotel:


My sweet little princess. Here she is asleep at the funeral. She may look sweet here but she fought me tooth and nail for over an hour before going to sleep.


Let's marvel at the innocence of kids during this difficult time:

Primary..who to vote for?

Today is the big primary vote in Texas and everyone is buzzing about it. I feel horrible that I didn't go vote but I had to rush home after work to take care of my babies. All the media was talking about it, even the Vietnamese radio station devote the entire day introducing the candidates and encourage people to go vote. I couldn't decide who to vote for until I listen to the Vietnamese radio station. They had a panel of 3 community leaders who each endorse a different candidate. Each person is to introduce their candidate and have a debate about them.

Through them I learned more about McCain and am very impress with him. He was a Viet Nam war veteran and was a POW for 5 years. He also sponsored an immigration program as a senator allowing Vietnamese vet and POWs to relocate to the US. So many people are grateful to him for that and feel that the Vietnamese community owe it to vote for him. Anyone who helped us fight the war and have to be in the communist prison for 5 years deserve my gratitude. Even my boss who is a strong Democrat is voting for McCain.

My family (mom, dad, sisters) are strong Republicans ever since we could vote. We believe in a strong defense for national security. Coming from a country with a weak army that gets attack all the time, that is important to us. Another reason I tend to vote Republican is because I don't agree with all the domestic programs Democrats tend to implement. Every time there is a new program helping the poor, I feel like some money has been stolen from me because it will be taking out of my tax. I know there are impoverish people out there who need help but I've seen too many abuse to trust the system. In this country you either have to be really poor or really rich to catch a break. It's the middle-class like us who always get screw. For example when my older sister was single and pregnant, let's call her Sister B, and was on Medicaid. My oldest sister and I were also pregnant the same time but we had to pay everything out of our own pocket. My oldest sister and I had to pay the fee for our health insurance every month. We had to pay the co-pay every time we visit our OB. We had to pay 20% of our deliver and prenatal care as well as the hospital stay. If we want a private room then we will have to pay for that also. On top of that we are also paying for the Medicaid my other sister is receiving!!! Sister B who is getting Medicaid doesn't have to pay for anything. She even gets token to help pay for parking, taxi fare if she needs to get to the hospital when she delivers, free room and board, and a private room cost her $30. I understand this is very helpful to someone who has doesn't have the means but it's frustrating that we have to pay for everything while someone can decide they want 10 kids and we have to pay for it.

Despite my history of being a Republican, I was coming into this election with an open mind learning about the candidates. One person I knew I would not vote for is Hillary Clinton. I knew that ever since she announced her candidacy. I didn't like her since she was the First Lady. People were admiring her for standing by her husband after the whole Monica Lewinsky scandal, I say she's just power-hungry and standing by him for this current purpose. Other people argued that if you vote for Hillary then you get Bill Clinton. It's like a two-for-one deal. Well I don't like Bill Clinton to start with so that doesn't sound like a deal to me. :) I didn't like Clinton when he was president and think people give him way too much credit for his reign. He was fortunate that the economy did well during his presidency but no president really have any control over the US economy. Even the Department of Treasury can't turn it around so what makes people think Clinton single-handedly make the economy prosper. He was just at the right place at the right time.

I also don't agree on Hillary's plan to provide healthcare for everyone. Hieu's boss was from Canada where they have it in place and hated it. He broke his knee once and couldn't see a doctor for months. That's just the kind of healthcare we will be looking forward to. Doctors will have more patients with less pay and no motivation for customer service. Hoa's boyfriend was lived in Canada for 10 years and didn't like their healthcare system either. In addition, about 50% of your income will be taking away for tax. Basically you'll have to pay more for less care if you are middle-class but it will definitely benefit the poor. My uncle is a doctor is Australia where they also have national healthcare in place. He told us about how horrible it is and how he has no time for patient care. In order for his practice to survive financially, he has to see more than 50 patients per hour. He said sometimes he just look at them and make a diagnose instead of taking the time to examine them. It was so stressful and so bad that he became a plastic surgeon to survive. I agree something has to be done about our current healthcare situation but nationalized it is not the answer. I fully support having a woman president in the United States. However, I also don't blindly vote for someone just because she's a woman. That woman will also have to be the best for the job to represent all the smart, strong women in the nation.

I was mesmerize with Obama and debate about voting for him until I learned more. The more I learn about his platform and what his plans are, the more it scares me. According to Ken Blackwell from the New York Sun, Obama "...emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists - something no president has ever taken off the table since we created nuclear weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security condemned all of those remarks." How crazy is that??? He's a liberalist and has lots of plans for domestic care. Unfortunately his answer to all these new programs is to increase tax. I am not for government controlling too many aspects of our personal life either. They really need to stay out sometimes. I will say that I am impress Obama has only been a senator for 1 year and is now one of the frontrunner for the presidency.

I know there are a lot of you who will not agree with my opinions here but that's what I love about this country. We can all have our own view and support our own candidates and that's wonderful. Regardless if you agree with what I write here or not, please just vote this November!!!

In Loving Memory of Doan Kim Xuan

My oldest sister's mother-in-law passed away this past week. She has been battling pneumonia in ICU for the past month and her body just gave up. She had so many complications from the pneumonia that I was worry for her. First it was high blood pressure, then liquid in her lungs that they had to drain out, then bleeding out that no one knew why, then blood infection that she need dialysis for. After that her body just give up and the organs start failing. The doctor told the family that her organs are failing and her lungs keep getting a leak over the weekend and they'll do the best they can but they are not optimistic.

My second oldest sister, Tran, called me Sunday night with the news and said my parents and her will be coming up on Monday to visit her. She asked if we would like to come. I told her I can't pick up and leave with two young kids. I called my oldest sister to confer with her and to see how she's doing. She advise me to just come up for the funeral so I won't have to make 2 trips so close together. I asked about the kids and she said they are not allowed to see grandma because she's still in ICU and grandma has been asking for them. I said maybe the nurse would let them see her soon. Unfortunately she never get the chance but I am sure she's watching over them right now.

Monday morning my sister Tran called me again to inform me that she had passed away Sunday night. All her kids were there with her so she's very blessed in that part. I think the worst thing in life is dying alone or not able to see your loved ones. I called my little sister and the whole family made plans to go up to Dallas for her funeral.

Even though it sounds like our relation is so far away, we are actually pretty close to her. We see her often whenever we visit my sister or sometimes when she comes to Houston with my sister. She's a very sweet and thoughtful woman. She always send presents to my parents and the kids on every holiday, before we even get a chance to do so. She came down for Lan-Vy's funeral and to express her condolences to Hieu and I. On Ai-Vy's one month, I didn't invite her because I knew she couldn't come and didn't want her to send a present. However she knew my sister was coming down for the event and sent a monetary gift with her anyway. That's the kind of woman she is. She's sociable, kind, and generous.

She loves my sister like her own daughter and so cheerish her grandkids. They are the apple of her eyes. When my sister was pregnant, she sew comfortable clothes for my sister to wear at home. I know how comfortable they are because my sister passed them down to me! She also sew my sister a maternity Vietnamese dress to wear to temple. She cook congee when my sister was in the hospital and took care of her the month after when my sister got home after each birth. Whenever she goes out shopping, she never forget to buy my sister or niece something also.

Our whole family loves her hot cayenne pepper and she plant lots of them in her garden. Every year when it's "harvest" time, she'll send down a large bag of it for the whole family. I still have a small bag in my freezer that I have everyday. Whenever I eat them, I always think of her. She knew how much I love the pepper and gave me a large tree so I can have them anytime. Of course I can't keep up with the watering so it died. She found out and gave me 2 more smaller ones but I couldn't take care of them like she does.

She had a hard life and devote her whole life to her kids. I can only hope to be as a devote mother as she is. She was so loved that the whole funeral room was filled to the brim with flowers from all her friends and family. The room was so packed at the funeral that people had to stand outside. You can only hope that you make some impact on someones life before you leave and she clearly touch a lot of people and will be missed by many.



You can tell from all the flowers how well-loved she was:


My sister and her brother and sister-in-law in mourning:




My nieces and nephew paying their respect:


The room was packed with people wanting to say goodbye to her:


My sister deliver such a touching eulogy that had everyone in tears:


Procession to the cremation house: