Just yesterday as I was speaking to my friend about her settlement check for her car accident, I checked my email to find multiple emails (I’m talking 16 to be exact) from iTunes saying ” Your receipt #” with an order number following it.  At first, I thought it was spam mail, but then my gut told me to open one.  I opened the email to find out that a purchase was made in the amount of $149.99.  My stomach dropped to the floor and my body froze.

After going through a moment of shock and my friend still on the line, I opened all 15 emails that followed the first one.  As I opened each one to see the same $149.99 charge ($149.99 x 16, you do the math), I was speechless.  I told my friend of the situation and got off the phone immediately to make a call to iTunes.  Unfortunately, iTunes/Apple had closed shop for the day, at least the customer service end of it.

I had to think quickly and immediately and called Paypal, since the payment transaction, happened through them.  First, I had to go online and chat with an automated customer service chick about my situation (I probably have not sworn that much in my life).  Seriously, getting a phone number should not be that hard.  The whole process just infuriated me (Note: Paypal just put a phone number on the Contact Us page).

After getting the number and almost losing my sanity, I called Paypal to let them know what was going on.  I spoke with a guy named Al who was a representative for Paypal Credit Card.  Eventually, after both of us being confused for a good 4 minutes, he transferred me to the appropriate people.  Once I was on the line with them, I had to tell them the situation all over again and guess what?  They passed me onto the security department.  It just felt never-ending.

By the time I had reached the security department, my mouth was dry from speaking to everyone along the way, I just wished it was a bad dream.  They reassured me that this was an ongoing issue with iTunes and it was more common in recent months.  Apple?  Aren’t they a multi-qua-trillion dollar company?  Security Breach?  What?

So after they canceled the transactions and requested a refund, I went onto Google to do a search on “itunes hacking” and it came up with 16,500 results. Wow!  Everything from iTunes developer being kicked to the curb,  Facebook site dedicated to iTunes hacking, and real stories of victims like me.  It’s quite scary that a company like Apple can’t get rid of a problem like this.  Do something quick!

After losing sleep, calling Paypal again, calling my bank to stop payment, speaking with my credit card, I finally received an email from iTunes.  The email sounded like they were trying to cover their backs and made it seem like it was a non serious matter (this lit a huge fire under me).  I was pissed and wrote a really nice email back to them stating that they should refund my money because clearly my account was compromised.  Moreover, I have not used iTunes for a couple years and don’t even have the app on my computers to have access to my account.  The last purchase I made was a couple years ago for a music download that cost me 99 cents.  Common people!

I received a reply towards the end of the day saying, “A refund in the amount of $x,xxx.xx will be credited to the PayPal account used to pay for the order. Please note that this is a one-time exception to our sales policy.” Seriously, this was their fault and they made it seem like it was my fault.  Anyhow, it’s definitely a lesson learned, and I am canceling my account, plus changing all my passwords on everything.

So if you have an iTunes account, make sure you keep your eyes wide open because it can happen to the best of us.  I hope my experience can save people from having to experience the shock of feeling violated.  Unfortunately, we live in a society where we constantly need to watch our back (that includes powerful hackers) because it literally takes a second for our lives to be turned upside down.  Take all precautionary measures!

When I was young (let say 10-14), I really never thought about dating, much less think about sex.  Call me a prude, conservative, abstinent, hormone deficient, whatever, I just never sat there thinking about boys at that age.  I was more about my dance, gymnastics, and musical activities.  If I did have some spare time, I would hang out with my best friend at the mall or the local swimming pool. 

Of course, I had little childhood crushes here and there, but nothing my parents would’ve been worried about.  It was as far as, “You know so and so likes you, do you like him?”  As young as I was, I always thought that having any relationship with a boy should be saved for when I was older, or when I was independent from my parents.

So the other day when my preschooler came back from school and said, “So and so said that they were going to kiss with their tongues because they were going to get married tomorrow,” I was in shock.  Wow!  Okay, first off, my daughter is 4 years old and so are her friends.  I listened to what she was saying and was surprised that 4 year olds these days were saying things that I never even knew when I was 4.  I distinctly remember when I was 4, I was scared that I would wet my pants during naptime because I didn’t use the bathroom.

After listening to my daughter, I tried to figure out what would be the “right” thing to say to her.  I didn’t want to say that kissing was a bad thing because it’s not (I’ve watched on Tyra where adults were scared of intimacy because their moms told them it was dirty when they were young).  But I also didn’t want to encourage it either (I’ve seen enough Lifetime to know that).  Suprisingly, I learned a couple months ago from her teacher that it was normal for children between the ages of 3-4 to start discovering their sexuality and begin to differentiate body parts.

My initial reaction was that I freaked, and then I was like okay, let’s roll with the times.  The truth of the matter is that kids are developing a lot faster these days (mind & body).  By no means do I think 4 year olds should be engaging in any non-childlike physical activities (that includes mouth to mouth kissing involving tongue), but I do feel that parents should be prepared to teach their kids about different things as they happen, regardless of age.

Fortunately this time around, I was able to explain to my daughter that kissing was a beautiful thing between two people who love each other, but should be saved for when she or her friends were much older.  She understood and said, “I’m only going to kiss you, daddy, and my sister.”  I am glad she is at the age where she is responsive and understands.  However, I am not looking forward to puberty and or talking about the birds and the bees, in the near future!

Five years ago when we moved into our place, I thought I wanted a French country theme in our dining area.  So I went to a furniture store and bought pieces that went along with my interpretation of what a French country style (royal with a hint of shabby chic) would be like.  Although it was very luxurious and everything I had imagined, the dining set was massive and it was not practical for our budding family.

Flash forward to today and things are very different.  I have two children and everything has to be simple, clean, and child friendly.  What was my inspiration this time around?  My daughter’s Svan High Chair.  It’s very modern-sleek and almost something that you would see in an Eames inspired room (very mid-century modern).

Once I knew what sort of style scheme I was going for, I looked to find examples of the dining room I was envisioning.  The whole process took about 2 weeks from start to finish.  During that period, I had to match wood tones, test out chairs for comfortability, and made sure I wasn’t sacrificing taste in order to stay on a budget.  So how did it turn out?  Fabulous for my family!

(Disclosure: This post is in conjuction with a review I will be doing for CSN Stores.  CSN will be providing me with a $40 promotional code to use towards a larger purchase for my future review.)

As usual, I was picking my daughter up from preschool and she did her usual skippity hop towards me.  However, this time she waved at her friend, looked at me, and then pointed her fingers at her.  I looked at her friend, smiled, and proceeded to grab her bags to head home.  My daughter stopped me in mid-transit and said, “Mommy I want her dress and her sandals.”

I stopped, looked, and smiled again.  She was wearing a very cute red dress with green sandals.  My daughter proceeded to tap me and say, “Mommy can I have it. Please. Please. I will share all my toys!”  Hmm…I have been trying everything  and anything to teach my daughter that sharing with her baby sister is a wonderful thing, so we may have a deal.

I asked her friend where she got her dress, Mexico (go figure), and her sandals were bought at some store.  So I thought the odds of finding the sandals would be better than going to Mexico and trying to find a red dress that was purchased by some street vendor.

After a long day of begging, I decided to go online and go to every popular merchant’s site.  I looked everywhere from Amazon.com to Target.  Where did I hit jackpot? GapKids.  Thank Goodness (well not really).  I tried to put my daughter’s size into the cart and they were all out.  So then I called every GapKids store within a ten mile radius and found one that had exactly one sandal in my daughter’s size.

What did I do?  I literally drove cross town to get those suckers in Los Angeles rush hour traffic (which means driving at about 2 mph).  Once I got there, the sales associate said that they were out. No way!  I did not go that far to come out with nothing.  I asked her nicely if she could check in the back.  I thought she would say no because she looked like she was having one of the days (possibly PMS).  However, her manager was around the corner, so she had no choice.  About 5 minutes later, she walked towards me with the green sandals that my daughter was dying to have.

I quickly purchased them and drove back to pick my daughter up from preschool.  When I arrived, it was everything that I had imagined and even more.  My daughter screamed, kissed her sandals, kissed me, told me I was the best mom in the entire world, and told her baby sister not to touch it.

It reminded me of when I was a couple years older than her and Keds were such an “in” thing.  Every girl from my school had to have them and the real ones (you know the blue tags on the back), not the generic copies that were sold at Kmart or Venture (do you remember that store?).  After exhaustingly begging for them, I got one.  It was probably one of the best moments of my life (well, that’s how I felt at 9 years old).

When my daughter begged me, it brought me back to my childhood, and I could totally relate.  That same feeling prompted me to find the sandals and ultimately buy them.  I did have moments of, “Am I spoiling her?”  In the end, I wished that I would’ve saved the sandals, as a positive reinforcement, when she started sharing with her sister.  Everything happens for a reason and it’s definitely a lesson learned!

So what do you do when you haven’t seen Aunt Flow in almost 2 years?  Cry?  Laugh?  Jump for joy?  Or roll your eyes?  For me, I rolled my eyes over and over again.  Being pregnant for exactly 10 months and nursing my baby (around the clock) for almost a year, had me in the clear for almost 2 years. 

Recently, my nursing schedule changed drastically.  While I still nursed my baby 3 or 4 times a day, I stopped doing the round the clock nursing because I started a full-time job.  The first week I started training for my job, I thought I was going to die from engorgement.  What was I thinking?

If I was a sane mother who wanted an easier physical transition, I should have planned this transition to be a gradual process.  However, I love to make things super tough on myself, so there was no planning involved.  I just thought I would wing it.  Well, when it comes to kids, especially babies, you just don’t wing it.

The same week I was dealing with engorgement, I thought I was going die from nipple pain.  Whenever my baby latched on, I felt like I was back to day one nursing the baby, just simply painful.  After months of easy nursing, why was I hitting this road block?  I went online and googled just about every terminology and came up with some textbook answers.  I could either have a yeast infection, my milk duct could be clogged, I could be pregnant, or I could be starting my menstruation. 

I went down the list to start checking off things one by one.  I checked my baby to see if there was any thrush in her mouth or privates, and no sign of any (check).  My milk duct was not clogged and if it were, it would be one nipple, not both (check).  Pregnancy?  No way.  I took a pregnancy test from the dollar store and it came out…negative (check).  So finally, I came to terms that I was probably going to get my period very soon.  First, I was dealing with the boob pain and then I started to get pelvic pain.  I was also dealing with some nausea, light-headedness, and feeling some PMS that I haven’t felt in a long time.  On top it, I wasn’t doing my round the clock nursing, so bingo, it was going to be menstruation.

So I wake up today, and guess what?  Aunt Flow made her arrival.  I jumped up in bed and as I proceeded to check, I heard a little voice from right behind me say, “Mommy are you going to die?”  I laughed for a minute and then reality set right back in.  Oh no!  I am back on the PMS market.  I am not emotionally ready!

So it has come to this day when my little baby crawled over to my laptop and pushed it off the couch, to see what would happen to it.  I should have seen it coming and placed it accordingly.  My baby is in this phase where she likes to drop food from her high chair, to see pureed food splatter, carrots and peas bounce around, and crackers become crumbs.  Just recently she has taken that curiosity into other parts of our home.  She will drop toys from the bed, dig through my bag and flip it around, and she will push anything off an edge.

Thinking back, I should have put the laptop on my desk, high and far away from those tiny little hands.  Curiosity is definitely a developmental process and I should have known better.  Of course,  I’m quite upset that my really expensive laptop broke, but I am super happy that I bought an accidental warranty coverage with it from Best Buy, so it’s basically in the Geek Squad shop.

If there is one advice that I can give parents, get a warranty plan with anything expensive because things break easily with kids around.  Before having children, I hardly purchased warranty plans because I thought it was another way stores made a good buck off of me, but now I definitely save money for having it.

My whole life is on my laptop, so it was a pain to backup all the files onto a disk, but it was definitely a learning experience.  I will never leave out anything expensive or anything I am attached to because it can be gone, broken, or pooped on.  I should have known better, especially after I had 3 of my Blackberrys dropped in the toilet and sink.

So I am waiting on my laptop to come back from the service department and hopefully I will never make the same mistake twice (technically it’s been my 5th error in judgement, but you get the point).  If you are a parent and own something that can easily break, definitely get a warranty plan.  It will save you a ton of money in the end!

I thought I didn’t have time for myself before, but now it’s pretty much over!  With the whole economic crisis and my husband’s line of work suffering significantly, I took it upon myself to look for a job.  Although, over the years I have worked on and off, it was nothing like having a full-time job.  With the line of work I did, I got paid a lot (most people’s 3 or 4 months pay) for only one day’s worth of work (and no I was not a drug dealer, stripper, or anything illegal for that matter).  When I had my daughter, I was lucky to book a national commercial and I made some good dinero on it.

Before having children, my husband and I hardly budgeted.  We were both working and made good money, saving was not at the forefront of our minds.  Gosh, if I had planned for kids at that time, I would have probably saved every penny, dime, and quarter that I came across.  Kids are very expensive.  I have two, so I’m sure you could do the math on that.

I was very fortunate to find a really sweet job with a really sweet dotcom company near my residence.  On top of that, I get to work from home.  I’ll probably get into more detail in the near future, once I become more familiar with everything.  Anyhow, it’s definitely a blessing for my family.

This week has probably been the busiest week of my life.  Here was my schedule everyday:

• 6 am: Wakeup (Get ready).
• 7 am: Wakeup my older daughter. My younger one wakes up at 5 am and crawls around. Get my daughter ready for preschool.
• 8 am: Make breakfast for both my children and feed them.
• 8:30 am: Take my daughter to preschool.  My baby stays at home with my mother.
• 9 am: Drop my daughter off at preschool.
• 9:30 am: Arrive at work for training.
• 10 am-5:15pm: Training
• 5:45 pm: Pick up my daughter from preschool.
• 6:30 pm: Arrive home.
• 6: 45 pm: Wash up and nurse the baby.
• 7 pm: Get dinner ready for everyone.
• 7:15 pm: Eat dinner.
• 7:45 pm: Get both my children ready for bed.
• 8 pm: Baby is in bed.
• 8:15 pm: Read a book to my preschooler.
• 8:45 pm: My preschooler is in bed.
• 9 pm: Read over training manual for an hour.
• 10 pm: Wash up and get ready for bed.
• 10:15 pm: Chat with hubby about the day.
• 10:45 pm: Head to bed.

Everything starts all over again!  So as you can visually see, this week has been packed.  I have had no time to do anything other than the listed things on my schedule.  My hats go off to all mothers, but my hats definitely go off to mothers who work (how do single mothers do it?  Man, do I have the utmost respect for you).  This week has definitely been fun, interesting, and very tiring, but working definitely has it’s beneficial aspect to it.  All I can say is, I feel EMPOWERED!

My husband and I purchased my SUV in 2006, a month before our first child was due.  We wanted a strong reliable car that would protect our children, if we ever got into a car accident.  The problem was that the car had problems from the get go. 

We purchased the car new and was scammed on pricing because we fell into the trap “how much can you afford a month?”. My husband wanted to walk away from the deal but I wanted to make the purchase because I was convinced that the baby would come sooner and the car we had was not ideal for a baby.

After purchasing the new vehicle, my husband and I came home and looked at each other like it was a big mistake.  Nothing felt right about it and on top of it, there were additional costs added on that we didn’t even know of.  At the time, I didn’t know we could return the car after purchasing it and thought it was a decision I had to live with. 

A few weeks after purchasing the car, the rear brake lights went out.  How did I find out?  The Santa Monica PD stopped me at night and gave me a FIX IT ticket.  I took it to an auto shop and replaced the light.  After I got that replaced, a couple months down the line my husband said that my brake lights went out again.  So then I called the dealership to let them know what was going on and they told me to bring it in.  They looked at the car, test drived it, and said that they were going to look at the electricals.

So hours after inspecting my car, they said that it was a steering wheel alignment issue (are you kidding me?).  On top of that, they didn’t write up my issues on paper or even note that I came in that day (probably because they sold me a Lemon).  Their reason?  When I brought the car in, the lights were fully functional, so they couldn’t write up something that was working.  Really?  So pretty much I should be stopped by another cop for a malfunctioning brake light and then bring it in when it is broke.  Plus, it’s a new car, shouldn’t the lights last years not a couple months.

So after having problems with my brake lights for the third time and my brakes working improperly, I took it into the dealership again.  They did their hours of inspection only to find out that my brakes needed a disc replacement.  In their service papers they wrote about the brake disc needing a replacement but failed to write about the brake lights.  Everytime I went in, I felt like they were more about covering up their tracks rather than giving me the best service.

Flashforward to a couple weeks ago when my brakes did not work on the highway.  To be precise, my brakes accelerated when I tried to stop it.  Both my kids were in the back seat and my 4 year old said, “Mommy that was really scary.”  A half a year prior to that happening, the same thing happened on a local street but I thought it was because the car hit a bump or a hole.  However, when it happened on the highway, it was really scary (I could not sleep for days thinking about it).  The next day I had to leave on our vacation, so I waited to call the dealership until I came back.

When I came back, the first thing on my TO-DO list was to call the dealership.  They were very hard to reach and after a day or so, I finally got an email to bring the car in.  I told the service person in detail what was going on and he told me that they would drive it around and try to replicate the problem in order to fix the problem.  So I left the car with them, rented a car (on my own expense), and the next day I received a call saying that they couldn’t replicate the issue so the car was ready for pick-up.  After I received that call, I called the customer service number for the car manufacturer.  The gal behind the line was on a defensive mission, so I received no help, and went to pick up my unfixed car.  Basically, unless I buy a new car, I am waiting for a fatal accident to happen.  How is this legal?

So what do you think?  Do you think I bought a Lemon?

My neighbor next door came back from China (where she is originally from) and she was telling me about her experience with her new baby niece.  Since the time her sister found out she was pregnant, she asked me for advice on products, books, and misc items for her sister.  One thing I have to mention is that China has the one child policy meaning that you could only have one child.  More than one child results in a heavy fine only affordable to the Riches. 

With that law in place, every child in China is an only child.  For that reason, parents feel that they have one shot to get it right and do everything in their power to raise the best child they can.  Asians in general have an international pride about education.  The competition to get into top universities is like winning the lotto and trying to get into any university is almost as difficult (the odds are not in their favor).

One day my neighbor came over and observed my 10 month old for a good hour.  My baby was crawling all over the place and she told me to keep my baby crawling for as long as I can.  When she said that, I smiled, but in the back of my mind I was wondering why she said that.  As a parent, the next developmental milestone is for her to be walking.  I know that when developmental milestones are not reached by a given time frame, some parents tend to freak out.

The next time my neighbor was over, I asked her why she told me to keep the baby crawling.  She said that her sister read in a book that the longer the baby crawls the smarter the baby will be.  I had never read or heard of such thing.  Of course I had to go online and do my research to see if this was true.  When I did a general search online, there were tons of information that linked crawling to brain development.  If I had known this information before, I probably would have continued to crawl myself (it would have helped me with high school Calculus).

One site that I found to be helpful had an article from Child Genius Magazine that said that every baby has genius potential.  Moreover, physical activity stimulates brain growth.  The article also advised that parents should not aid in walking because the more the baby crawls and creeps the more brain development will take place.

Wow!  Did you know that crawling babies equalled baby geniuses?  I didn’t.  Currently, my baby is crawling like an athlete, so I will continue to let her to do what she knows best.  I have never been a fan of aiding in walking because when the time is right she will do it on her own and on her time.  For now, it’s good to know that her crawling benefits her own brain development!