i saw rollie polllie beanbag on pinterest a while back.  and i knew i had to make it for T. 

but on her website, you have to buy the sewing pattern.  

so i decided to wait to have time to make the pattern myself.  it looked easy enough, but i didn't have time to actually do it. 

the other day, i was at joanns fabric store.  not the best place to shop for fabric but def. most convenient.  i was just browsing through home decor fabric section and i saw this!

 

and i knew i had to have it.  super cute NYC themed fabric and it was on sale!  even better :) 

well, now that i had this fabric, i caved and bought the sewing pattern.  figured, she already made all those rollie pollie bean bags, she knew what she was doing when she made the pattern.  

 here's the pattern, printed from my printer, taped together. 

 inside rollie pollie (made of ivory cotton canvas fabric) filled with mounds of soft poly-fil stuffing. 

 

finished product with colorful slip cover which can be easily zipped off and thrown into the washer

... and the monkey is keeping it warm for T

 

T Loved it!!! he jumped on it, threw his monkey on it, laid on top of it... then finally sat on his very own rollie pollie to watch his most recent favorite movie "toy story"

tony's mom passed away from cancer.  she's been in the hospital for the past 2 1/2 months in so much pain.  she's had multiple treatments and surgeries.  she had one round of chemo but it wasn't enough to fight off the aggressive cancer cells.  and she lost her battle against cancer and passed away on 4/9/12 at 7:48 pm. 

we are back in NYC for the funeral service and the burial. 
funeral service was on 4/15 at 8pm in fort lee, nj
burial was on 4/16 at 10am in rockland county, ny

it doesn't seem real yet.  even after the viewing, and the burial.... it doesn't seem real.  my heart aches for my husband and my in laws.... my heart aches for my FIL... going back home and not having his wife there...  my heart aches for my sister in law... giving birth to her first child and not having her mom by her side. 

tony's mom was the youngest of her siblings.  2nd oldest aunt told me and tyler... tyler's grandma loved him so much.  her face would light up whenever she spoke about tyler!  sadly, tyler will have almost no memory of her.  he will only have several pictures to remember her by. 

i keep forgetting to post about this...

tyler's been sleeping without pull up at nap time for a while now.  but we keep him in pull up at bed time.  for the past couple of months, his pull up would be dry in the morning.  so, last week, i was brave enough to put him to bed without pull up and there hasn't been a single accident!  but he does still need it to go #2 unfortunately!  soon... hopefully, he'll be pull-up free

another little update about tyler.... as he's getting older, not only is he becoming more talkative  but he's also becoming more afraid.  he's latest fears are of bugs and birds! he won't go out into the backyard if there's a bird sitting in the yard.  when we lived in NYC, tyler would run and scare away all the birds by running or jumping. 

tonight, he sat on my lap, wrapped his arms around my neck because there was a fly in the house.  he kept saying "spider everywhere!"  he was so scared and refused to let go.

its interesting to see how tyler was so fearless as a baby.... who even attempted to pet dogs that were twice or three times his size to being afraid of a tiny bug.

imagine if....

we still lived in nyc and tony had to go and visit his mom in vegas.... i would have to do all this on my own.

i don't know what that would be like.  i think i would be exhausted!!!
even though it'll be just a few months, it'll be difficult.  but i keep reminding myself that it's learning time for the both of us. 

***

little T got sick after we came back from visiting my in laws.  i feel like he just got over the last cold after our trip out to vegas early february.  i'm sure it's exhausting for him.

so, he's been home.  both of us tired.  he's not sleeping well at nights, which means, i don't sleep well.  and he's not napping. BUT, today, i caught him dozing off in the car as we were driving back from dropping my mom off at the store.  so as quietly as i can, i took him to his room.  but of course, he woke up.  and refused to go back to sleep!  i wen to lay down with him.  i did fall asleep until i felt his little finger up my nose, his little hands going up my sleeve to tickle me, "driving" his car  and train over my head and my face.... nap for the both of us today... total fail! 

not about a post about what i made but a post about my little one.

as soon as he was able to eat, he's always been a picky eater.  outside of the very few things he LOVED to eat, trying out new flavors and foods was not an option with him.  and he was very adamant about this by keeping his mouth shut, turning his head a far as his neck would allow him to or even cover his mouth with both hands. 

3 years later, it's still a huge struggle. 

back in nyc, i had to pack tyler's lunch every day.  and it was the most stressful thing i had to do. 

in his new school, they provide lunch!  thank the LORD!  all the burden of packing his school lunch is off my shoulders.  and i thought he would eventually give in and eat the food they provide with his friends and his teachers.  nope!  he still refuses.  despite the variety of food they provide, he will only eat rice, chicken nuggets, hot dogs and sometimes quesadilla.  everything else, he will not eat.  and the days he doesn't eat, he comes home starving! 

so now, he eats his dinners at 4-4:30. 
his new schedule is
3:30 - pick up from school
3:30 - 4:30 go to the park
4:30 - dinner

and he's been eating so well.  granted, i've only been giving him his favorites - fish, pan fried anchovies (the really small kind), rice, eggs and soup.  once a week, we'll go eat his favorite cheeseburger at in-n-out.  i do try to vary up his meals, but for the most part, he prefers asian foods, especially korean foods. 

we've been following this schedule for about a week now and it's been amazing!  i'm so happy he is eating all his food at home.

meal time is still challenging. he would much rather play with his toys than eat.  may be this is the norm... may be not.  i'm just really happy that i have figured out how to feed him meals that he will actually sit through. 

every night at bed time we sing jesus loves me this i know.  tyler loves this song.  today, instead of singing it the same way i replaced all the "me" to tyler and he thought it was hilarious and kept asking for me to sing it over and over again. 

jesus loves tyler, this tyler knows,
for the bible tells tyler so
little ones to him belong
they are weak by he is strong

yes, jesus loves tyler!
yes, jesus loves tyler!
yes, jesus loves tyler!
for the bible tells tyler so.

i hope one day, it will no longer be amusing but he will learn the truth of this song and how valuable he is to his savior. 

i spent so much time pinning away on pinterest for the past several months. there was just so much DIYs i wanted to do. but it wasn't realistic living in a small NYC apt. 

well, i'm back in sunny so cal with SO much space, and enough free time to start on some of the projects.  and i'm so excited!!! :)


project one: 
last summer, i was browsing through the necklaces at Free people.   silver fringe necklace caught my eyes.  but i couldn't bear to spend $50 on a necklace.  i've been looking everywhere for a knock off and unfortunately, i couldn't find it anywhere.  all i wanted was a silver fringe bib necklace.  fast forward 6-7 months, i'm back in CA, back in my parents house, digging through all my old stuff.... found all my arts and craft, sewing, jewelry making tools.  and of course, michael's just few minutes away.  i bought two different silver chains and just about an hour later (probably less)...

 

project 2:
i LOVE the look of bracelets. and i'm thrilled to see all the DIY bracelets all over pinterest.  here's one that i made today - total cost of the chains and ribbon - $5 from wal-mart! 

i have few other projects going on now.... skirts, pants, bracelet.... too many to count.

i'm also tidying up and "decorating". 
my parents have a huge bathroom with two sinks, separate bathtub and shower with mismatched rugs that refused to stay put and my son who didn't like touching the cold marble floor with his bare feet. 

so i spent hours and hours trying to figure out how to solve this problem without spending too much money.  and of course, all the bath mats i liked in quality and the look would cost too much. 

then, i went to marshalls to look through their bath mats.  then i came across this towel.  i love the print and the color.   so i used anti-slip mats under the towels.  

yes, i did buy two bath towels for this little project. 

 i didn't think i would use both towels.  but i did.  

and it covers the entire length of the bathroom.