Flag Ceremony

Today I had flashbacks of when I was still in school and every Monday would mean standing under the early morning sun and facing the flag pole to pay homage to the Philippine Flag. Yes folks! I attended our office flag ceremony today - not because I had an inkling to wake up earlier than usual just so I could but – because I was in charge of the whole thing for this week. It’s not like we are not required to attend if we’re not in charge though... It’s just that I very rarely come earlier than 8am on Mondays and so it’s been a while since I was able to attend one.

I know, I know... some people reading this maybe already shaking their heads and saying “Where’s her sense of Nationalism?” But let me just say it has nothing to do at all with that... It’s just that I have always found it hard to wake up early in the morning (for as long as I can remember) but it’s specially hard these days when I’d wake up at around 3am for yet another trip to the bathroom and would not be able to sleep again until around 4 or 4:30am. So, by the time it’s 6am when I’m supposed to be getting up to see Charlie off to work and preparing myself to do the same, I’m still sleeping and hubby doesn’t have the heart to wake me up because he knows I didn’t get enough sleep... EXCUSES!

Anyway, my bosses and officemates seem to tolerate my absence during the ceremony quite well. I guess because they understand my predicament (or maybe they just got tired of reminding me to do so). But, like I’ve said, I was in charge of this morning’s progam and so I cannot make excuses today.

I woke up around 6am, took a shower before hubby and by 7am, we were both out of the house and on our separate ways to work. I arrived at the office at around 7:15am and started with the ceremonies right away. As this week’s leader, aside from assigning who among my “lucky” officemates would lead the singing of the National Anthem, reciting the “Panunumpa sa Watawat”, “Panunumpa ng Kawani ng Gobyerno” and saying a prayer, I was also tasked to choose and impart a quote or passage that would serve as our “Food for Thought”. I chose this verse from the book of Matthew (23:11): HE THAT IS GREATES AMONG YOU SHALL BE YOUR SERVANT. From which this quote was derived from (as found in God’s Little Devotional for Teens) “It needs more skill than I can tell to play the second fiddle well.”Explained: No matter how high you rise, never forget that you started out at ground zero. Even if you were born to great wealth and privilege, you still were born a helpless babe. Real success comes not in thinking you have arrived at a place where others should serve you, but in recognizing that in whatever place you are, you have arrived at a position where you can serve others.

Mommy and Me

They say a daughter cannot truly appreciate her own mom until she becomes a mom herself. I didn’t really believe this before because I thought I understood what my mom went through to have and take care of me and my siblings. I have always been thankful for having such a patient and self-less mother. My mom worked hard to help provide for us and give us things other children could only dream about. I wouldn’t say my brother and sisters and I had a luxurious childhood but we were very comfortable and didn’t really have to worry about stuff that other children would. My parents very rarely had fights in front of us and I could definitely say we were “blessed” with such a wonderful and happy childhood that we could only hope and pray that we would be able to provide the same for our kids.

For the past several months though (eversince I found out I was pregnant), I noticed a certain closeness my mom and I share… an understanding even deeper than what we shared before. I guess it is true… I appreciate her more… I admire her even more… I just can’t picture myself going through this pregnancy without Mommy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t think she was supermom before, but lately I just have realized that there is so much more to being a mom than I thought (and my baby hasn’t even come out yet, hahaha!). I definitely recognize the value of having someone to go to when I need to share something about being pregnant. She doesn’t always have the answers but her presence definitely makes everything bearable. I mean, of course hubby and the rest of the family are supportive and happy and excited and all that but it’s just different when I talk to my mom.

Nowadays, Saturdays or Sundays are usually spent with my mom, either just hanging around their house and being couch potatoes or going to the mall and browsing the shops for baby stuff. She even accompanied me to a prenatal check-up when Charlie was not able to come because of work... Thank you mom... for being the generous person that you are... and for being always available (specially now that she has retired from work) whenever I need to talk to someone who can be both sympathetic and objective as well. I love you mommy!

Going Through the Motions

Lately, I have been very slow in accomplishing work assigned to me. I feel tired and sleepy almost all the time plus the motivation just isn’t there these days. I guess because there are certain factors in the office that prevents me from being fully goaded into doing my best work-wise. Don’t get me wrong I still do the things assigned to me, but compared to what I can probably produce within an hour before… Let’s just say it takes me twice the time to finish a report I would normally accomplish way before the deadline. Nowadays, I would put off facing a certain report or task until I absolutely “have to”. Haay, I just pray that matters would improve in the coming months because I just don’t see myself working here long term anymore… It’s like I’m just going through the motion without really taking things to heart.

I read what I have written and I know I sound like I’m whining for no particular reason but believe me when I say THERE ARE REASONS! I just refuse to enumerate them and specifically pinpoint anything here in this blog because I don’t want to “incriminate” anybody and worsen the situation. Besides, for the moment, I have no other job prospects and intend to stay working here as long as I have to, if only for the monthly income (however low that income is). Times are hard nowadays even with both me and hubby working that I can’t really see us living the way we do now with just him working, specially now that we’ll have a little one to provide for soon. I guess I just have to stick it out here for a while longer…

Be patient, Heidi… There are others who have worse problems than you. And the way thing are now, I don’t think it could get any worse… Things could only be better in the future (however far that future seems right now).

Our Baby at 21 Weeks

I have been reading and reading about fetal development in textbooks (It's funny how I didn't find it as interesting when I was in College and now I dug up my old pre-med books just so I could read them all over again); maternity guides; and the internet and so far, this is what I know:

• The fetus now weighs about three-quarters of a pound/ 360 grams. Up until now she has been measured from crown to rump but from this point on the measurement will be from crown to heel. And from crown to heel she is approximately 10.5 inches/ 27 centimetres long. The eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed and the fingernails cover the fingertips.

I got this from babycenter.com... I'm so excited to have my 4D ultrasound this weekend! I can't wait to see the developments!

• Your baby can now hear your conversations. If you talk, read, or sing to your baby, expect her to hear you. Some studies have found that newborns will suck more vigorously when read to from a book they heard frequently in utero. If you want to try, pick a book now and read it out loud. Make sure you won't mind reading it over and over once the baby is here. It may be your baby's favourite bedtime story for a long time after birth.

For the past couple of nights, I have been reading different children's classic bedtime stories like, "Cinderella" and "Three Little Pigs" and sometimes I can feel the baby move while reading... Also, I have been repeatedly playing classical music on my office pc for the most part of the morning (Since I also read that classical music helps up the baby's intelligence).

I read somewhere that during the 5th month the nausea lets up and this the most pleasant you'd be feeling while pregnant but this isn't true for me because I didn't get the "morning sickness" bit during my first trimester (except for a couple of mornings and one noon when I threw up) but lately, the oddest of smells would trigger the onslaught of nausea! Anyway, I guess to each her own when it comes to these things... Basta, I'm super happy these days, and no matter how many problems I encounter in the office or with my new neighbors... They wouldn't be able to dampen my spirits!

Prayer for Safe Delivery

O great Saint Gerard, beloved servant of Jesus Christ, perfect imitator of your meek and humble Savior, and devoted child of Mother of God, enkindle within my heart one spark of that heavenly fire of charity which glowed in your heart and made you an angel of love.
O glorious Saint Gerard, because when falsely accused of crime, you did bear, like your Divine Master, without murmur or complaint, the calumnies of wicked men, you have been raised up by God as the patron and protector of expectant mothers.
Preserve me from danger and from the excessive pains accompanying childbirth, and shield the child which I now carry, that it may see the light of day and receive the purifying and life-giving waters of baptism through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

How big am I?

I received an e-mail yesterday from my cousin asking me to send him a recent picture because he wants to see how preggy I look already, hahahaha! If I know he just wants to see how big I have become now that I'm on my fifth month! Anyways, the obedient cousin that I am, sent him these pictures:

that's how big I am (taken a couple of weeks ago)

and this one was taken just this morning but I got the haircut last Thursday... I just felt so irritated with my hair that I had to go and have a cut!

Crib Choices

Lately, I have been looking at different possibilities as to how my baby's room would look like... (I could dream, couldn't I?) And these are a couple of the pictures I saw that I really, really liked.

Hopefully, I'd be able to set up a nursery similar to any of these two by December when we start renovations on our house in Cavite. But if our budget would not permit us to be as lavish as we want to be in setting up our baby's room, I would settle for a portable crib like this.

I'd like to thank Melisse for giving me this:

They all are charmed with the Blogs, wherein the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do Friendship. There are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize and then they help to cut these bows. Do we want that they are cut or that they propagate? Then let's try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to 8 Bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.

I'll be leaving messages to the blogs I'm awarding this as well...

The Return

Wow! Finally I'm able to update my blog... Anyways, thanks to all those who visit my blog and watch out for updates periodically... I have been itching to be able to update eversince I came back from my month-long leave from work in July but unfortunately, my internet connection at the office was suspended when I went on leave and it's only just now that I am able to get connected again!

Ok, first thing's first: About my pregnancy, everything going quite well... I am now 21 weeks preggy and although I am still having difficulty (like a bit of tummy pain and the occassional bout with morning, noon and night nausea) I am quite happy and content that my last check-up went well and I have stopped taking duphaston and am just now taking prenatal vitamins. My tummy is quite prominent already and people who see me often make it their business to guess my baby's gender. So far, a majority of the well-wishers and self-proclaimed "fortune-tellers" think that I am having a girl and only four people said I'm going to have a boy... Well, they would just have to find out later when I have my next ultrasound.

In the past couple of days, I have been feeling my baby move and this miracle continuously makes me smile and thank the Lord that I was fortunate enough to have been given such a wonderful blessing. My only prayer now is that my baby would be healthy... no matter what gender (although Daddy Charlie is saying it's going to be a handsome baby boy, hehehe!).

I guess this would have to do for an update for now, because work is currently beckoning and I have to answer. Hopefully I would be able to return bloghops later and continue with the updates as well!