Family Time inTagaytay (Mellow Yellow Monday #6, Mommy and Me Monday#2, Ruby Tuesday #5 )

August 31, was a holiday in the Philippines, it was National Heroes Day. I expected it to be a house chores day for me since my husband did not allow me to go to church the previous day due to the sore eyes I acquired the past week.

To my surprise, my husband asked me where I wanted to go. I really had nothing in mind because I was already set to clean and organize the kitchen cabinets. Our son upon hearing his dad, suggested to go pitnic...hehehe, as what he heard and saw from tv...picnic, with sticks and marshmallows!!!

Good idea, coming from a 3-year old toddler...but the weather outside seems not fit for picnic...

Initially we thought of the La Mesa Watershed but since its a holiday, the idea might not be that good since most of the residents might be thinking just like us. La Mesa Watershed on most occasion is always crowded.

My husband then suggested Tagaytay. Tagaytay is located down south of Metro Manila, a two-hour ride from Quezon City. It is one of the most frequented by most Manilenos because of its cool temperature and proximity to the metro. It is in Tagaytay were you can perfectly view one of the Philippines active volcano, the Taal Volcano.


It was our children's first time to go to place as well as for our two home companions. It was also our first as a couple to visit Tagaytay. The last time I went there was like 7 years ago!


Leon had fun running around the lawn while Maia first experience stepping on a grass barefooted :)
After an hour or so, we went to the Good Shepherd Convent to purchase their yummy strawberry jelly and ube jam. The Good Shepherd Sisters are known for these deliciously-made sweets. There are more produce though aside from what I've mentioned, lengua de gato, choco flakes and peanut brittle are some of them. Purchase of these products supports their schooling.

Though we still wanted to go around, the long ride back home might take its toll on Maia, our four-month old baby. At about 4 in the afternoon, we called it a day but made a few stop along the highway to buy some fruits such as freshly picked pineapples and rambutan.

my entry to:

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Breastmilk vs. Sore Eyes

I came home from work last Tuesday with an itchy right eye. I didn't thought of it as sore eyes because I haven't been infected by it ever since. Yes, I had my first bout with sore eyes on my 38th year of existence in life! hahaha...

It was too late in the evening that I realized rather accepted that I was having a sore eyes infection, because of this, I was only able to buy an eye drop the next morning. Likewise, I contacted a doctor-friend and requested for Rx for my sore eyes.

Immediately on the next day, midday that was, my little Maia's left eye was infected as well...poor little girl, I really felt sorry about it. Of the many people at home, it was Maia who got it! Rx came late too for Maia, so to ease her discomfort, I dropped a few of my breast milk on her eye.

I've heard of breast milk as a good cure for sore eyes. I was hesitant at first what the heck, it was for my little baby girl...so I did. Maia had her infection last Wednesday, I had mine last Tuesday, yet, Maia's eyes are both clear as of today, mine still vampire red!

Here's what I'm thinking...time to shift to breast milk to clear my eyes as well...don't want to spoil the long weekend we're having this part of the globe :)

Another wonderful benefit of breast milk...not just for babies...

Five Question Friday #2: Aug 27, 2010

Here's my share to



1. How many pets to do have?
Pets - I have none really but we do have a guard dog, a local breed, he's actually my father's but since Papang is long gone, we're the ones taking care of him. We too have 4 house cats, all are stray cats that found their home in ours. Last but not the least are my son's pet fish, an angel fish, 5 gold fish and a pearlscale. I do want to have one for myself, a Labrador retriever, but I guess this is not yet the time to care for one...too busy with my wonderful kids!

2. If you could switch places with anyone in the world for one day, who would it be? This is hard...hmm...a scavenger with a slight schizophrenic behavior. I want to know what's going in their minds every single minute...

3. What is your favorite money saving tip? Think twice before you spend. This is definitely difficult specially for me who is such a spender but this time I really try hard for my kids and family's sake.

4. What do you want your kids to be when they grow up? To go for their dreams without hurting anyone. They must be God-centered and their values intact.

5. What is your favorite quote? Mahatma Gandhi's: Live simply so that others may simply live - no need to explain, I guess. This I hope I can live through and pass on to my kids

Toys & Gadgets (Mommy Moments, Ruby Tuesday #5)

Leon's interest is on CARS, any four wheel vehicle toy for that matter, he loves tanks and trains as well. He loves it more when Daddy M plays with him :)


He, too, is into computer games! (this is of course regulated)


Maia is too little to play yet, but she is attracted to bright colors already...she's fond of Leon's stuffed Mickey Mouse and some of my Hello Kitty stuff. She loves her Dumbo rattle as well.


Here are my kids and their toys and gadgets...

Most of their toys are given by relatives and friends, good thing they are also inclined to toys that are with educational value specially for growing toddlers.

Couple's Corner: When SORRY is not Enough

I hope my entry to this week's meme can still find it's way to Mr. Linky...

When saying sorry is not enough...Saying SORRY is difficult to us both...

Both me & my husband have our share of pride that's one reason why it's difficult to ask for an apology. Between the two of us, it is me who often admit my mistakes, but it still takes a while because I still defend myself till it's checkmate...my husband (between the two of us) has the more wisdom in analyzing what just had transpired, one reason why the discussion takes a lot of time, hours to be more profound while I'm more on the emotional side.

Sometimes, I even find myself apologizing for things that I really haven't committed, while he will likewise tell me not to because it's not my fault. There are matters in family life or relationship that one has to take the responsibility to admit the mistake not to put an end to the conversation but to take it to a higher level of discussion --- to find a solution to the problem and not to commit the same again.

My husband does not say the word often but his actions speaks for it. He cooks special meals for us or treat me out, or a simple peck on the cheek that one can feel the sincerity on it. I on the other hand put on extra effort not to commit the mistake again.

After a long discussion, more than feeling sorry for what just happened, both of us deepened our relationship as a couple and both matured as parents to our kids and as individuals. At the end of the day, what matters most is our family and our relationship. We often also look back at the promises we made on our wedding day.

5 Question Friday - August 20, 2010

1. Do you have any nicknames and if so how did it come about?
My real nickname is Girlie, given to me by my grandma being the first grandchild and a girl. But what I'm using now is Hahai ...my sister called me that name - she just made it out :), friends from highschool heard her call me that name and they followed suit.

2. What is your birth order amongst your siblings?
I'm the eldest of 4 siblings

3. In a movie of your life, who would play your significant other?
Will Smith - we're Asian but my husband's dark & tall & handsome ;)



4. What is currently your favorite song?
Our theme song...From this Moment by Shania Twain - mushy huh ;)

5. Are you saving your money for anything right now? Big or small purchase?
Yes, for the rainy days and for our son's education - he'll be going to school next school year and I hope to get a Digital SLR for my husband and a laptop for me :)

My first entry to



Saw this from Colleen of Shibley Smiles , found it fun so decided to join in.

Mommy Moments: Movies and Kids

We haven't brought Leon to the movie house yet, our hesitation lies on the idea that he might not want to finish the entire movie and considering how much a movie ticket costs, we find it quite impractical yet. Instead my husband buys DVDs of whatever movie there is for kids and we watch it at home.

The closest to a movie house that Leon experienced was at the house of one of his god father. His room was specially designed to having it's own mini theater with matching surround sound system - really almost like a theater. Leon picked a movie from his wide collection of DVDs and watched it while we were having fun with friends outside. I once in a while come in or my husband to accompany Leon.

Here are some of his photos, comfortably sitting in front of an LCD tv while watching Cars and Ice Age

Leon with Daddy

Leon with Ninong Rocky

But it'll be soon that Leon will be able to watch a movie in the cinema as we (me and my husband) misses going to movies already. A date with my husband and kids will be a great come-back for us, it'll be Leon's first and a somewhat first for us as well since 2007...looking forward to it.

Go Green Friday #1: Pacifier Buddy

I have a 4-month old baby girl, and since I gave birth to her, I still receive welcome gifts from friends. The most recent one is this pacifier buddy and rattle hatchet. Though I do not use pacifier with any of my children, I still attached it to her crib as it doubles as a toy...the green frog CROAKS!!!

It helps when Maia is uneasy, just press it's tummy then it makes its noise...at an instant, Maia keeps still wondering where the sounds come from :)

my first entry to Go Green Friday

Couple's Corner: When We Want Something

When we want something, we tell it straight to each other. There's really no spoken rules on it. Since both of us are financially independent, we both allow each other to purchase anything specially things that are for the household and for the car. We also allow (once in a while) each other to give in to some of our luxury, but this is more of me :)

Back when it was only the two of us, purchasing personal stuff was easy. Now that we have 2 kids, we became more responsible and practical. We normally think twice now before we buy anything. What we do now, whenever each one wants something and tells the other about it, we give it as a little gift for each other and usually it comes as a surprise.

Major purchases or expenditures are being planned and we normally talk about monetary sharing.

But for something that is not material in nature, action speaks louder than words ;)

my share to this week's topic on:

A Visit to Glorietta (Mellow Yellow Monday #5 Ruby Tuesday #4 Mommy & Me Monday #1)

I haven't been to Glorietta (in Makati, Philippines) since the infamous explosion that happened in Glorietta 2 in October 2007. Until last Sunday, after hearing mass at the Christ the King Parish in Greenmeadows, we decided to go to that part of the metro for a change. Quite a risk though coz we brought along our two kids and a nanny.

We had a late lunch at the Food Choices which is located at the 4th level of the mall. Here Dad and the kids are playing around while me and the nanny are having our lunch. Maia wont face the camera as she's fascinated
with the strawberries on her leggings

can you find Leon in the picture???

The half part of the mall is being renovated so we decided to cross to the adjacent mall so that Leon can have his time at the toy area of the department store.

At about 5 in the afternoon, we called it a day as Maia has fallen asleep and just in time before Leon dozes off to sleep as well.

here we are waiting for my husband
who got the car from the parking area

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Mommy Moments: We Love Books!!!

We love books! Me and my husband were brought up by parents who loves to read. My parents are educators thus part of our discipline was to read books and the daily news. I'm not so sure how my husband was brought up education wise but I know that both my parents-in-law reads a lot as well.

Our reading materials ranges from educational, spiritual, self-help, novels, biographies to the more lighter side, magazines and comics.

Kid's bookshelf

The same discipline is what we try to instill to our children. So far with Leon, we are on the right track. Leon showed interest in books when he was less than a year old.

Leon's with his current fave book

Leon, took some of his activity books when he saw me
taking pictures of it

Good thing that even relatives and friends values the learning we get from reading that there are some who gives books as a gift to Leon, which will eventually be passed on to Maia.

Here are (so far) the book of our kids:

Baby books that aids in the development of the infant

Books by Karen Katz

Spiritual books for children

Environmental books

Activity books

Various books such as God's favorites (Color, Shapes, Faces)
Sesame Street, Brainy Babies, Alphabet Book,
Blue Makes a Kite, First Tales, Billy Bunny, Early Readers,
The Night Before Christmas, Bunny's Noisy Book and some more...

my entry to:

Couple's Corner: Likes and Dislikes

I'm late...well, here's my share to this week's topic:

Likes

• we love eating, pasta is our favorite, M sees to it that we prepare a pasta dish at least once every other week, though we also love Pinoy dishes; one of our adventures in life is to try different dishes from other countries and cultures. My all-time favorite is Mexican dishes - tacos, nachos, echiladas, his is Italian - really a pasta lover; we love fruits and veggies as well, though we are not vegetarian
  
• we love nature, we are advocates of the environment, our charity goes to Haribon Foundation by being a member of the organization and supporting regularly their adopt-a-seedling campaign which aims to restore the 1 million hectare of the Philippine forest by the year 2020; this is also were the two of us met :D; nature-tripping, birdwatching, snorkeling
  
• we like to travel, check out the beautiful places of our country, the Philippines, before venturing into places outside the country, though M has been to UK already.
  
• for Sunday mass, though we belong to a parish, we go around the city to hear mass in other churches, my fascination since I was still single, it became his when we started going out. Now he sometimes takes the initiative to look for a church for our Sunday Mass.
• Shoes - the difference only lies on: I am for quantity, he is for quality
• we are both trying our hands in photography
• I'm into handricrafts
• we both like to read, he's more into this though, can finish a book in one sitting, while I take sometime. His fave author is Dean Kootz, while mine is Dan Brown

Dislikes

• Both of us don't like smoking but we have friends who are smokers...no offense to those who smoke :)
• we also dislike loud people, arrogant and back stabbers

I'm happy that we share the same things in life...he's really God's match for me

wedding reception at the Manila Orchidarium, Luneta
March 8, 2006

check out the rest at...

Mellow Yellow Monday #4 Ruby Tuesday #3

I've been checking out files and stuff to give some space in the house for new stuff specially those of the kids and bumped into this...

These are photos taken by a dear friend Michelle Morelos.She was our photographer for our son's Christening.She gave us a complimentary photo shoot at Blow Up Babies and this is what came out:

our Family Portrait

Leon a sunny side up

Funny how time flies...It's midway through August and a few days from now it'll be the start of 'ber' months...which means, the Yuletide season is on its way!!!inside a snow globe

We hope to come up with another one of this kind this year, a more complete family picture with our dear Maia joining us :)