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:

Water Color

Last weekend, I let my son use his free water color set from Enfakid A+.  He had lots of fun, painting the coloring pages that I printed out for him.

Hubby and I got in on the fun too... Adam was so proud of his work that he put them all on display on our refrigerator door.  After that, he had nothing else to talk about but coloring the rest of the day.  Even during Sunday mass, he kept saying that he was going to show Mamu & Dada (my parents, his grandparents) all of his work and that we should print more coloring pages so he could paint more.  I asked him to be quiet at least during mass and we will do so... He was very good and quiet until the mass was finished that we rewarded him to a trip to the mall and his favorite arcade.  Afterwards, we had early dinner at KFC.

Countdown

In 20 days, my son, Adam, is going to turn two years old.  A small celebration is already in the making (and has actually been in the making for about a month already).  But more than the day itself, just the experience of being a mom to this fireball that is my son is quite a day-to-day momentous event.  It really is quite amazing how babies grow so fast and absorb so much information in so little time that you sometimes get breathless when you think about it.  In a blink of an eye, he's already 2!

This talkative and hyperactive boy is the love of my life.  He can be quite a handful at times but I guess that's just normal for kids.  His tantrums sometimes almost brings me to tears and the times he got sick caused my heart to break, but just a smile from him makes it all worthwhile.

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!

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!

Adam turns 1 month old

Time really flies when your having fun... Yesterday my baby is one month old. The fact that I already have a baby has hardly sunk in and yet here he is, my adorable little treasure. Next thing you know my maternity leave would expire and I would have to go back to work na... I still can't imagine leaving my precious baby every morning and not see him again until around 6pm but I know things will work out. So how did we celebrate Adam's 1st month? Well since hubby had overtime work, we celebrated it late at night - around 11pm na with just a simple late dinner and with hubby and I blowing a single candle on an icing-topped cupcake I bought earlier. (Too bad we don't have pictures kasi in all the excitement we forgot na).

~ * ~

Facts About Adam

• He would always calm down (even during a loud cry) whenever I sing "The Alphabet Song" to him (only me, kasi my mom and sister tried singing it to him pero he kept on crying, hehehe!)
• He can drink up to 3 ounces of milk every two hours now
• He can already hold his two-ounce bottle while feeding
  
• He becomes beet red when he cries or gets irritated
• He smiles a lot during the early mornings specially after his 4am feeding and even coos at you when you talk to him
  

A Youre Adorable - Unknown

Smilestones

These past few days has been a flurry of events making it uber difficult for me to find time to sit still and write about it here, but let me try to recap some of them as best as i can:

Feb. 8 was the day Adam's belly button stump fell off and so the next day, I was able to give him a full bath.  Slightly scary for me because it's a first but we were able to conquer that challenge quite well naman with the help of my sister, Hazelle.  Also, the same day I gave my baby boy his first full bath (Feb. 9) I was able to clip his nails for the first time.  But I still put mittens on his hands until now kasi his nails are still quite sharp and I don't want him to scratch his face.

Feb. 14 was Adam's first trip to his Pediatrician.  Yes, Valentine's day, I had a date with my son to his pedia.  Dr. Ong was so surprised to see Adam again (he's my boy's pedia na kasi when I gave birth).  His first question was "what have you been feeding him?" Ha?! As if I could feed him anything but milk na... It wasn't super obvious to me kasi how my son has grown in the past 3 weeks because he's with me everytime but for someone like his Pedia who hasn't seen him since he was 3 days old, Adam's growth is more pronounced.  My baby now weighs 8.9 lbs. and has grown to 52 cm. in length.  "Very good!" according to Dr. Ong.  Wow, buti naman my baby's growing well... my only frustration is that I am not able to breastfeed him.  I give him milk that I pump from my breasts once a day lang kasi I only get a couple of ounces of milk from me tapos the rest of the day I feed him milk formula na that was initially given to him in the hospital.  Anyway, it's the first time Charlie and I didn't celebrate Valentine's Day with a date or special home-cooked dinner man lang but he still gave me a cute flower arrangement with a teddy bear naman when he came home from work.

Feb. 15 was the day my nephew Ethan Lebron E. Mediante was baptized and so it was the first time Adam was able to attend a family gathering.  Actually, hesitant pa ako to bring Adam kasi nga di pa siya nabinyagan but my cousins and Aunts were insistent that I bring Charles Adam to Ethan's baptism since the reception naman is going to be at my Aunt's house so Adam isn't really making unnecessary gala.

 

 

Anyways, Adam was quite a good boy sa mga "outings" namin.  Unfortunately, he was specially cranky the past couple of nights kasi he was asleep the whole day.  Everytime we are in the car kasi kahit di pa time for him to sleep, he falls asleep na so pagdating sa house ayaw na niya mag-sleep.  Hay naku after his pedia visit 4am na kami nakatulog kasi iyak siya ng iyak.  Tapos last night naman 3am na kasi ganun din... he doesn't want to sleep yet.  Buti na lang ngayon dito lang kami sa haws kaso naman super init today so he's making a bit of a fuss din.  Sana lang di na siya irritable later.