Izzy's Baptism

If I have been absent for a while in updating this blog, this is not solely due to my balancing act as a career woman and a mom, this also partly because I was extra busy preparing for my daughter's christening.  Now that it's finally done, I can write...

Yesterday, my daughter, Charlize Ann was welcomed to the catholic faith at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Parañaque.  Her daddy and I were so happy that our family and friends graced us with their presence during the event.  We had the reception afterwards at Chowking and I am quite satisfied with their service, the crew were very polite and helpful.  Plus the food was delish and served just at the right time.  Our guests went home with their bellies full and their hearts light.  The giveaways were done by El Regalo and they were really nice.  The diaper cake from Party Fairies was a hit as part of the backdrop in a lot of our guests photos.  And the DIY tokens for the godparents were also well received.  All in all, it was a success!  Here are some of the highlights of the event in pictures:

Hearts Month

Today was my third (and thankfully, the last) day of "calling in sick" at work.  Over the recent weekend, my cough and colds got worse so I wasn't able to go to work since Monday so that I could recuperate faster.  As I was feeling a bit better, hubby asked me to go on a post-Valentine's Day movie date with him.  It has been quite a while since we've watched a movie (in the theater) so I said yes.  Plus I really, really am super excited with the sequel of Ghost Rider  so even though I was still coughing occasionally, I wasn't able to pass up on this.  I don't like to elaborate too much on the film as I might get carried away and give out spoilers... suffice it to say that you really should watch this if you liked the first movie.  I just love Nicolas Cage... next movie to look forward to would be National Treasure 3:

Since I have been in bed almost the whole time that I was home these past couple of days (my kids are with my mom at my parents' house so they wouldn't catch what I have) I was able to squeeze in reading a couple of books I have purchased a while back but has not gotten the chance to read.  "Call After Midnight" and "Stolen" by Tess Gerritsen were the ones I couldn't put down once I started reading them so I got to finish them.  Lately, I have been looking for more Tess Gerritsen books that my collection of Sandra Brown books may soon be matched by a new favorite author!

Also, since I had so much free time... I was able to research on how I could further stimulate my son's mind by giving him more educational activities at home.  I was already talking to my husband and my mom about enrolling him at a nearby school but my mom said it might be too early for him.  This article is also very helpful when contemplating on "school" choices for your kids.  I haven't reached a final plan yet, but this summer, I would definitely be looking for an activity to expose Adam to "school environment" so I could gently ease him into it and avoid the "crying" when it's time for him to attend "real school" already.

Tomorrow, I'll be going back to work... back to papers and deadlines...

Dropping By

Work has been quite hectic these past couple of weeks that I have not even visited my own blog much more visit my friends' blogs... Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to do that!  Anyway, I'm happy to report that life has been quite amazing.  My son, Adam celebrated his 3rd birthday on the 26th and got his wish!

My baby, Charlize is now 3 months and she often smiles and giggles when you talk to her.  She's getting so big, it's gonna be time to keep (or give away) some of her clothes to give room to her bigger clothes *plus we have to buy new ones, of course*.  On her last monthly visit to her pediatrician, she weighed 5.5 kilos already! And she got her ears pierced.

  I keep thanking the good Lord for all the blessings he keeps on giving me and my family... even for the stress of being busy at work, for without it, my husband and I wouldn't be able to provide for our kids' needs and the occasional luxury.

That's all I've got to report right now. (or that's all I can with so little free time)

Water Dragon

As far as I can remember, this is the only time that the Chinese New Year became a holiday from work... So here I am, just now about to go to sleep and it's about to turn 2am already... I let my little boy stay up also, we watched fireworks (on Television, hehehe) and shared a midnight meal of Ham, Barbeque, Sweet and Spicy Roasted Chicken, Herbed Loaf, Queso de Bola, Fruit Salad and Tikoy.  May the year of the water dragon bring all of us good luck!

Kiong Hee Huat Tsai!

2012

We have been blessed with so much this past year, 2011... I have only to pray that 2012 will be filled with as much laughter and happiness as the year that was.  And if there be trials that come our way, may we continue to strive hard to overcome them and remember the knowledge that we would gain from each experience, good or bad.  I pray for prosperity and good health for my family and friends... Happy New Year everyone!

2 months

Time seems to be flying so fast when you have a toddler who's about to turn three and a sweet baby to occupy your days.  My angel, Charlize Ann is now 2 months old!  To celebrate, I cooked spaghetti (which was consumed by Kuya Adam with gusto) and bought a chocolate cake.

Christmas 2011

Merry CHRISTmas to all!  May you have the joy and peace that can only be achieved from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the life and light through Him who is forever faithful!  Always remember, everyday is CHRISTmas because of what CHRIST  did for us.  May God bless us all in the coming new year too!

5 Years!

Happy Anniversary Honey!

The Graduate

My youngest sister graduated last Wednesday, March 30 with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. I must say, that it was quite a happy moment for the whole family since Mae, has been hard at work and study at the same time for almost two years now. She started out as a full time student her first two years of college and then became part of the Jollibee SEEDS Program that enabled her to work, study and earn a bit at the same time. Both my parents has been retired for almost three years now, so aside from the 12,000 per semester shouldered by Jollibee, we have to come up with the rest of the money that is needed to complete her tuition fee. I am fortunate enough to have been able to contribute enough financial and moral support to my very industrious sister who is now a full-pledged graduate! So you may understand how ecstatic I am that we have hurdled the worst, and she would now be able to support herself and maybe help out with my parents' household needs. I love you, Mae, we are so proud of you!

After the graduation rites, we celebrated with a monster meal delivery from Shakey's.  We were all so hungry but we didn't get to finish all of it even though the food was tasty.  Maybe we're just too tired or maybe there was just too much food. :))

While I Was Out

It's almost a month since my last post and I have been dying to write about what's been happening to me these past few weeks...  I'll just have to compress everything into one short post for now because I am still reeling with the flurry of activity that has been my world lately.

First, let me start with a big, happy bit of news:  I'm pregnant!  Yes, baby #2 is on the way... I am now 7 weeks pregnant and counting.

The thing is, I have been suffering from asthma attacks again.  I even developed skin allergies from I don't know what, a couple of days back and had to take my anti-allergy meds again.  That's something I haven't done for a couple of years now, so it was quite a surprise to me.  There's this constant feeling of nausea and drowsiness that I didn't experience while I was pregnant with Adam before.  I have gained almost a kilo of weight already and I haven't even reached my 2nd month of pregnancy!  I'm scheduled to have my first ultrasound next week so...

In the office, a transfer of offices has been already announced and I have to carefully pack and label everything before the big move.  I don't have a secretary/clerk to assist me so I have to do all these on my own.  It's a good thing that the office I'm moving to is just a couple of doors away from my current one so it's not going to be a huge adjustment, but still, the amount of documents I need to transfer is quite a lot and the office I'm moving to is relatively smaller so it's going to be a challenge to fit everything into my new space.

As for my talkative, active baby boy, Adam, he's just a little fireball that keeps me going.  Currently, he's into games in the I-touch like "Traffic Rush", "Sniper Strike", "Cops and Robbers", "Tower Bloxx", and "Pig Rush".  While Pororo, Pocoyo, Handy Manny and Cars are the cartoons he never tires of watching.  He's more conversational lately although some of his words, you'd have to strain your ears and imagination before you can understand.  Like one time he kept asking for "Picky Caws" when he was actually asking for his "Mickey Mouse" stuffed toy.  Then there was one time he said he wanted to eat "Pochik" when he wanted to eat "Pork Steak".  But most of the time we can understand him and is very talkative...

Well, I guess that's all the update I can give right now.  Hopefully I'd be able to post soon and report more often but I can't really say anything for sure these days.

Happy Hearts Day

Today marks "the feast of hearts".  We commemorate love and affection almost everyday but today especially... call it riding the commercial wagon, call it corny, call it whatever you want.  But I enjoy seeing lots of people celebrating their love, so this is one of my favorite days of the year.  Where you see heart decorations almost everywhere and you get sweets from your loved ones.  This year's sobrang cheesy gift by my hubby is a short AVP he posted on Facebook.  He says he didn't get to put as much time and effort to it as he wants due to his work (and probably my using the computer every chance that I get).  But it doesn't matter how short or long the time he spent working on this, it's definitely the thought that counts!

It's his rest day today and he usually picks me up from work on Mondays, so we'll see what else he has in store for us this Valentine's day.

Manila Zoo

It has been over a decade since my last trip to Manila Zoo so I was excited both for my son (who will see it for the first time) and for me too. I have been hearing good reviews of the renovations for this place that I have been wanting to visit for the longest time. Hubby and I were awake and getting ready for the trip as early as 7AM, unfortunately, we let Adam sleep late the night before so he woke up late (9AM), as a result, it was already past 10AM when we left the house. My mom, dad, youngest sister, Mae and my neice, Cheska, went with us on our "field trip".

Anyway, the trip itself was quick enough since it was a weekday and we didn't encounter that much traffic. Manila Zoo was... well, a bit disappointing for me since I was expecting a much improved place, but that's just me... what's important is that Adam loved seeing the animals for the first time (well, most of them, he saw for the first time) instead of just looking at them in his picture books or seeing them on TV and videos. He almost threw a tantrum though, when the "bebra" (his way of saying zebra) didn't come out in the open. It was the one animal he really wanted to see in person but Adam had bend over the fence just to get a peek. Good thing when went over to the tigers cage, they were roaring and moving around... he really enjoyed that and didn't want to go to see the other animals anymore. He loved hearing the tigers loud roars (while I was scared just hearing one roar) and even imitated them. We stayed in front of the tigers' cage for a good twenty minutes. The only reason Adam lost interest was when Charlie bought him a monkey stuffed toy from a vendor nearby. Adam hung the monkey around his neck even as we gave him his milk while sitting in one of the benches inside the park.

After the "field trip" we went to Congo Grille at SM Mall of Asia for a super late lunch and also to celebrate my youngest sister's birthday. We were supposed to go on the "Cruise" of Manila Bay right behind MOA but the kids were all tired out already so decided to postpone it to a later date. We passed by Dampa instead to buy prawns (my sister's favorite) which we later cooked in lemon butter sauce and ate to our belly's content for dinner.

P.S.

Kiong Hee Huat Tsai!

Adam @ 2 yrs.

Like I've mentioned before, we ditched the big party idea for my son's 2nd birthday.  Instead, I cooked spaghetti and we had cake and ice cream for my baby on the 26th and then we went on a "family day field trip" on the 28th.

The little boy woke up with a smile on his face as we were singing happy birthday to him the night before and he was super excited to blow the candles on his cake.

As soon as the spaghetti was cooked, we dug in right away...

The birthday celebrant ate lots! *syempre spaghetti's one of his favorites these days*

And then Tita Mae, lighted the candles on the birthday boy's cake *notice that the boy is already trying to blow them out even before we finished lighting the candles*

And then of course, we had to help him blow out the candles or they will melt until there's nothing to blow anymore.  But he asked to do it again (light the candles and blow them out) three times.  The only reason he stopped asking to do it over is when we told him it was time to eat the cake!

Oh, and he had to help cutting the cake, because no one's allowed to touch much less to eat the cake if he's not the one serving, hahaha!

It doesn't matter that there was more cake on his chin and cheeks *and on the floor* basta big boy na sya so sya na lang daw kakain on his own.

And after the feeding frenzy, we went to hear mass.

Soon as we stepped back home, he asked for ice cream!

And here's the birthday boy clowning around for the camera.

And here he is again, holding one of his favorite gifts *this one's from me*, a pillow in the image of his new favorite cartoon character, Lightning McQueen.

Note: Pictures and kwento about the field trip to follow.

Change of Plans

It's official... we're ditching the party idea for Adam's 2nd Birthday celebration and treating him to a family "field trip" instead... He hasn't been to the Manila Zoo, so we're bringing him there.  And then the whole family is going to eat out wherever we feel like it...  The decision was made last weekend when we found out my youngest sister needed money for school.  I just feel so wasteful to spend the money for a one day affair when someone I love needs it for something that will last her a lifetime.  So, I talked to hubby and we agreed that since, Adam got the big party bash for his 1st Birthday, we're going to celebrate in a more subtle way this year.  This way, I know Adam would be able to appreciate the trip more, plus we'd be able to give my sister a more meaningful gift.  By the way, my sister, Mae, is already in her last year of college and she's celebrating her 19th birthday on the 28th of January!

Welcome 2011!

I want to revive this blog from it's long sleep by greeting everyone a Happy New Year!  May the year ahead bring us more happiness, less troubles and abundant blessings!

Charles Adam

The 26th of January marked my son's first birthday.  It started out quite normal for me, I went to work as usual and thought I was just going to have food delivered when I get home that afternoon (I was going to go home early to be with my son) but my Dad had other plans pala.  At around two in the afternoon, as I was already preparing to leave early, my Dad brought my son to the office.  He said he thought that since it was Adam's birthday he should be with me, hehehe, mainipin si Lolo!  Anyway, since he was already there, I just had food delivered to the office for a birthday treat cum "merienda" for some of my officemates.  And then we went home at my usual time off.

January 29, Friday, I brought Adam to Kids' Hair Salon in Southmall, Las Piñas to have his first haircut.

At first, I said "wow, ang bait naman pala magpagupit ng baby ko", because he was really just his usual curious self.  Slightly "malikot" but he was letting the hair-cutter do his job.  He was even watching the Barney video they provided.  And then after several minutes, he already lost interest in the video and started to get uneasy.  I tried to divert his attention to the toy car that he was sitting on and I succeeded naman for about a minute or so and then he started fidgeting again.  When I didn't carry him off the seat that he wanted to get out of, he started crying.  Buti na lang the staff there were really patient and always ready for such situations.  They gave him a lollipop and Adam calmed down again until his haircut was finished!  After his haircut, he looked even more like his father (if that was possible) than before!

Then on January 30, Saturday at 4:30 in the afternoon, we had a small celebration for Adam's first birthday at McDonald's in Sucat, Palanyag.  It was a fun affair that was shared by our relatives and close friends.  There were also blunders like the video camera loosing its battery charge just at the start of the party (I checked it a couple of hours before the party and it was fully charged, the problem was I forgot to turn it off, thus...) and the fact that I forgot to have the tarpauline layout I made printed but aside from that, the kids and adults had fun, the food was ample and as usual, yummy and the appearance of the mascots were a hit!  I'm still sorting through the pictures and video and should be able to upload them by the end of this week, for now, I am just so happy that I got to experience yet another parenthood milestone and am looking forward to experiencing more!  Thanks to everyone who helped make my son's celebration a success!

All Set!

Tomorrow is my son's first birthday!  Here's a video of him trying to stay awake way past his bedtime:



He really is the happiness of my life!

Anyway, since his birthday falls of a weekday, we decided to throw the birthday party on Saturday, January 30.  Everything is set... The invitations already distributed, the giveaways done and ready, the reservation for the party place, food and cake already paid for... we are just awaiting the big day!  Of course, tomorrow, we're going to have a private celebration plus the much awaited first haircut for Adam (his bangs are always falling over his eyes).  Happy Birthday baby! Mommy and Daddy loves you so much!

I Love You, Goodbye

One of my best friends, Jaybee is leaving for the US on the 25th.  He has been a constant in my life since 1998 so it really is going to be quite an adjustment to not see him at the office or go on night-outs and weekend gimmiks without him.  But I am truly happy for him because he will be with his wife already.  As a send-off we (several of his friends and officemates) treated him to a videoke bar.  It was a lot of fun!

We will miss you Jaybee!

Welcome 2010!

2009 has been a series of ups and downs... an emotional roller coaster that is called life.  Now, as we usher in 2010, my wish is that may this year be filled with learnings and more happy events, and if trials come our way, may we be strong enough to hurdle them.  I cannot put into words the joy I experienced when I first saw my baby, Adam, January of 2009... now, as the anniversary of that day approaches, we will experience another first... his 1st Birthday!  We are "all systems go" for his birthday party preps that's why we didn't exert that much effort during the new year's celebration... anyway, there's still "Chinese New Year" to look forward to.  Here are some highlights of our Media Noche:

And here is Adam's first encounter with his paternal grandmother:

Since Nana, lives in Sinait, Ilocos Sur, and the last time she visited us here in Manila was December of 2008 (while I was still pregnant), this is the first time Adam and Nana saw each other.  Adam was cranky the whole time and I'm really sorry that Nana wasn't able to see her only grandson's cheerful side.

Christmas, 2009

However rushed our celebration of Christmas was, we still had a lot of fun!  Several days before Christmas, I got sick and had to go on leave from work... I got the 48-hour bug and I when I was able to shake it off, my head was reeling from the medications and the fact that I still had a lot to do before Christmas Day comes.  I wanted to make it really special since it was Adam's first.

Of course, the little boy was not able to wait until Christmas Day to open his and mommy's gifts!

And then on Christmas Day, he was dressed up and ready to go and hear mass when he messed up his clothes and so we had to change him again before leaving...

We spent almost the entire day at the mall... We bought him new rubber shoes (because all his rubber shoes don't fit him anymore) and a remote control toy car with lights and music which spins and spins and keeps the little boy quiet and entertained everytime his Dad plays with it.  By the time we went home, Adam was already tired and ready for bed.  All in all, it was a tiring yet happy celebration.  Next up, New Year and the little boy's 1st Birthday celebration!