We Are Family

One of the greatest difficulty I have with B.boy a few months back is switching him to drink other milk. I find it hard to continue expressing milk while in the office because of the additional responsibilities I took on. I found it difficult to experience letdown because of stress too. And seeing the so little milk that I express makes me depressed even more.

But the problem is, the little boy won’t take any milk unless it’s breast milk. We’ve tried lactum, pediasure, nido, fresh milk among others but he makes a lot of excuses not to drink it. As a result, his weight dropped a little.

We discovered the new alternative when he tasted the sample of Bear Brand’s busog lusog. It’s a cereal drink pretty much like nesvita and the target consumer are kids. Bear Brand TV commercials helped a lot too. Soon I was making his own cereal drink from oats and BB milk. Then finally, he is now okay to drink the milk on it’s own. Nasanay na siguro sa lasa. M0rn1ng and I was so happy. Yung affordable pala yung gusto nya. At least di nya papahirapan ang bulsa namin.

Popularity: 8% [?]

I was tagged by Yen and Kelly a few weeks back. Sorry ladies if this entry is super late.

NOTE:  Please don’t laugh at me…my face isn’t really presentable.  I don’t know…I’m one of those “pangit” preggy women.  My face and nose became so BIG…my skin so rough, dull and dry.  Basta, nakakahiya!!!!

 What I Love Being Pregnant

:: I finally proven to myself that the husband loves me pretty or not.  hehehehe

:: I was pampered by everbody…that includes family, friends, and officemates.

:: Shopping for baby’s things.  I absolutely loved it.

Start Copying Here

Rule:
1. Copy from ::Start:: through ::End::.
2. Add your blog to the list.
3. Tag your friends. You don’t need to be tagged in order to join. Feel free to join the fun.
4. Don’t forget to let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE so I can add you to the Pretty Momma LIST.
5. Come back regularly to update your master list! You never know? This might help improve your ranking!

Pretty Preggy Momma’s

1.Fun|Fierce|Fabulous 2.Me,Myself+2 3.Confessions of a Supermodel Wannabe 4. Momiespace 5.Because Life Is Fun 6.Bits and Pieces 7.The Shopaholic in Me 8.When Silence Speaks 9.Everything About Deye 10. Etc Atbp 11.VanityKit 12.MindBubbles 13.Stripe&Yellow 14.Something Purple 15.Em’s Detour 16.Living the Healthy Life 17.Juls Random Thoughts 18.Thea is bloggerhappy 19.Thea is berry scrappy too 20.BigMoneyList 21. Me and Mine 22. Creative in Me 23. Little Peanut 24. Pea in a Pod 25. Sugar Magnolias 26. 100% Kelly 27. YOUR BLOG

END

Tagging everyone who hadn’t done this tag yet.

Popularity: 11% [?]

We saw one of our old acquaintance at the assembly yesterday and M0rn1ng noticed that she gained a lot of weight. I asked him what if I become bigger than her in the following years. His answer?

“You will never be that BIG mommy because I will take care of you.” I’m not sure what he means by that. I wonder if that includes letting me take in one of those best diet pills out in the market.

Popularity: 11% [?]

No one is allowed to be negative today!

What are your Happy Thoughts? No limits, no requirements, just tell me hap-ee thoughts today! (I need it!)
This is not a thankful post - I just need thoughts that make you happee!

Here’s mine:

The Spiritual Food we all had last week-end.  It gave me the strength I need to focus on the things that really matters.  Whatever life throws me, I’m in good hands.  I have to have faith in God that he will help me through adversity. 

The 4 days without work.  This is the much needed break that I need.

Little boy.  His kisses and hugs are the very things that keeps me going.  It is also the onlly thing that can take the tiredness of the day.

Loving hubby.  I don’t know what to do without him.

We were able to do much progress on our TIPID PLAN.  Our grocery expenses this week were down to 50%.  M0rn1ng and I are very proud!

Join the fun here. 

Popularity: 11% [?]

I have just been invited by Mitch.

On July 5 Mitch asks “Right after your husband proposed, what was the first thing that came to your mind?”

I’m really corny but I started visualizing how our life together will be like.  How happy I would be waking up each day with him beside me….his face would be the last I see at night and the first when I wake up in the morning.  Ironic because this did not happen.  M0rn1ng was working in a graveyard shift back then so we don’t go to bed the same time.  He sleeps in the morning while I sleepp at night.

At first it really burst my bubble because I imagine our married life as moments of togetherness and doing most of the things together.  Reality bites, we did most of the things apart because of our working arrangement.  We have to adjust and after a year M0rn1ng left his job.  Though, he earns a lot less now, we have no complaints as we felt that we were more together.  We are a family and we started functioning as one. 

Popularity: 11% [?]

I love this topic because I can relate to some of the anwers that Aggies posted. The question is:

What are the things you want them to know about life after the wedding?

Like her, our first year of marriage is a bumpy ride. There are times that I feel regret that I married my husband. It didn’t help that I became pregnant just 2 months after the wedding day. My hormones were crazy and we were always arguing. We were from two entirely different families and our way of doing things were really opposite poles so it took hard work to adjust to each other.

Good thing that we agreed to solve our own problems so there weren’t many people involved, just the two of us. Looking back, i realize that most of our problems and issues then were brought about by false expectations about what married life is all about. I’m sharing some of my realizations below:

1. It requires adjustment.
The marriage relationship requires adjustments. You both entered into it with at least some expectations and ideals that were not very practical and realistic. When these are not met, some disappointment may come after the first few weeks. But, remember, you have made a big change in your life. You are no longer living alone or with a family that you have been with all your life. You are now with a new person, one you may be discovering that you don’t know as well as you thought you did. Your schedule is new, your work may be new, your budget is different, and there are new friends and in-laws to get used to. The success of your marriage and your happiness depend upon your willingness to adjust.

2. Learn to be Flexible.
Both should be mature and realize that neither one has the time or the energy to do all the things that were done before marriage. Now is the time to show flexibility and accept the deeply satisfying responsibility of making marriage work. One person can ruin a marriage, but it takes two to make it work. Making marriage work is an achievement. Achievement implies accomplishing something despite difficulties. When the two of you join in this endeavor, a part of each of you blends into this achievement. This joint effort with a mutual goal ties you together; it binds you close; it makes the two of you one. In time this creates a bond of love surpassing anything felt in anticipation of marriage, and in such unifying happiness it becomes a pleasure to adjust to each other’s differences.

3. Disagree without being disagreeable.

4. Learn to communicate in a loving way. Communication is the life blood of marriage. So never never never take it for granted.

Popularity: 16% [?]

I saw this at Aggie’s blog that I found interesting….

How many sq meters is your place, and how many people live there?
I’m not sure of the exact size but this is just around 50-60 sq meters. My 2 sisters live with us and the yaya which adds to a total of 6 people. This is the reason why I always declutter because we have a small space to manage. It looks very hard to manage when there are a lot of unecessary things.

How much is your electricity bill monthly? Water?
Electricity - around 1,600 to 1,800. Last summer it shoot up to 3K because of the aircon but this year it broke down and M0rn1ng and I didn’t bother to have it repaired…so we endured the summer heat. In exchange, we don’t have to pay for huge electric bill. hahahaha!

Water - around 400-500 bucks. This is given because there are a lot of people in the house and we do our laundry here too.
Drinking water is around 500. My sisters and I are seldom at home so we just drin our home water in the mornings, evenings and during weekends.

Other utilities?
House Rent - 7,000. This is huge but since the apartment is very near everything then I must say na nakakatipid na rin kami. One is travel time and also sa pamasahe.
Phone Bills (mine and M0rn1ngs) - around 2,200 (cp Smart)
LPG - 635
Health Supplements - 1K
Rice - 1,800. I buy 1 sack of rice which is good for 1 and a half month.
Yaya - 2,500. But she stays until the end of the month na lang. More on tha later.
Laundry Person - 1,200.
Our allowances - 5K. This is where we get our transpo and food expenses whenever we are at work.

Groceries? Market?
I do them together in just one go. I can’t do wet marketing because of my asthma. So I buy our ulam in the grocery. Before we would average around 12K per month. But we recently able to cut it down to 10K. We found out that things are way way cheaper at Makro than Waltermart. We also cut down on meat consumption. Fish, chicken and veggies are not only cheaper but healthier as well.

Add them all together, malaki rin ano? So we decided to cut our entertainment allowance as well. Before we eat out to somewhere special once a month. We don’t do that anymore, instead we just cook something special here at home. We still go out once in a while pero di na kasing dalas ng dati.

Popularity: 18% [?]

I was invited by a lot of blogger friends to take part on this meme but I never got the chance to write something because of the busy schedule. But this is something that I’d like to do so eventhough it was late…here it is.

Many thanks to Toni, JennyR and Mitch for inviting me to participate.

{START COPY HERE}

Started by Mitchteryosa

Rules:

1) Copy from {Start Copy Here} to {End Copy Here}.

2) Blog Brag about your husband - yes, the father of your child/ren. As I’ve said singles may also join by bragging about their own fathers, or even grandfathers. It doesn’t matter! Of course, Daddy bloggers themselves may also join, but you have to blog about your fathers and not about yourselves, deal? Okay. Good.

3) Add your blog in the list below linking to the post that you just made. Or if you wish, do it as how I’ve done it in my other blog by adding a new page.

4) Leave some love here. Yup. Here. Thanks!

5) Let’s not forget Peppermint Creative for the corner border I used for the badge.

6) Lastly, let’s help each other by copying and updating the list of participants in your post. Come and visit once in a while for the benefit of the late comers who have also joined this meme.

Participants:

Participants

When Silence Speaks
Everything About Deye
Etc Atbp
Pinay Mommy Online
Coffee Cup Princess
Garden of Moments
Aeirin’s Collection
Never Dainty
The Long Journey Of My Life
A Mother Of Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
Everything That Has Breathe Praise The Lord
Can Of Thoughts
Anything And Everything In Between
No Place Like Home
Pinay WAHM
Only In Silence
Bisdak Footprints
Simply Me, Simple Life
Fun | Fierce | Fab
Confessions Of A Supermodel Wannabe
Embracing Health For Life
Raptured Dreams
Jona Thinks
Uncomplicated
Points Of View
Beauty Of Life
Hue And Hysteria
Leaf In Deforest
Just Me Eds
Momie’s Space At Momie’s Pace
Juliana’s Site
Purpled Sky
In Love For Life
All About Mye Life
Cookie Jar Of Entertainment
Faery Dancing
The Nambiars
CC’s Online
Precious Moments
Me And Mine
Little Peanut
A FilAm Journey
Walk2Remember
A Message From My Heart
Rhodilee

{End Copy Here}

Ok…the lyrics of this song best describes my feelings about M0rn1ng and how grateful I am for everything he is in my life…a superb husband and a great father.  :) 

It must have been cold there in my shadow,
to never have sunlight on your face.
You were content to let me shine, that’s your way.
You always walked a step behind.

So I was the one with all the glory,
while you were the one with all the strength.
A beautiful face without a name for so long.
A beautiful smile to hide the pain.

Did you ever know that you’re my hero,
and everything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle,
’cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

It might have appeared to go unnoticed,
but I’ve got it all here in my heart.
I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it.
I would be nothing without you.

Fly, fly, fly high against the sky,
so high I almost touch the sky.
Thank you, thank you,
thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings.

Popularity: 13% [?]

We left the house at around 5:45 pm. We were at the airport at 20 minutes later and much to our dismay, the flight was delayed for an hour. By 7:30 we were done with checking in and immigration. We had dinner and went to the kiddie lounge to kill time. B.boy had a great time playing with the blocks and slides.

We boarded the plane at around 9pm. We noticed that B.boy has colds but good thing that he is still his usual playful self. We had cup noodles and crackers on the plane. We dozed off after.

The plane landed at around 1:30am. Our friend was there to fetch us and we arrived at their home at 2pm. B.boy has a slight fever so we were a little worried. He wasn’t feeling well in the morning so he took paracetamol. He was better at lunch time so went to Singapore Zoo. We noticed that the fever went back so we decided to drop by at our friend’s house at Serangoon. We just had lunch at Ang Mo Kio and we boarded bus number 73 to our friend’s house.

They are our neighbors before and they migrated to Singapore last May 5. B.boy and their little boy are good friends so they are so happy to see each other again. The little boy dozed off. He woke up at around 5:30pm and we had an early dinner at around 6pm. We head off to Night Safari after.

We were there at around 8:30pm. We took the tram that will take you around the park. It was amazing to see those wonderful animals bathe in moonlight err, in subdued artificial light but it has the same effect. The tour took around 45 minutes.

We went to see the creatures of the night show afterwards. They’ve got trained hyenas, owls, otters and snakes on the show. The show lasts for 30 minutes.

We were hungry after that so we grabbed some burgers at Bongo Burgers and headed back to our friend’s place at Serangoon. It was around an hour travel without the bus waiting time. So we were dead tired when we reached home.

Since B.boy missed his friend, they played until 1am. Only when we reprimanded them that they got ready to bed.

Some useful info…
Night Safari Admission & Tram > SGD 32
** Children under the age of 3 are free

Stay tuned for Day 2

Popularity: 16% [?]

His gift…

It is what I absolutely wanted. Loved the size. I can fit all the necessities in there nicely. Thank you so much daddy! 

Popularity: 14% [?]

M0rn1ng and I had a post anniversary celebration last Saturday. We weren’t able to do anything on the day itself because we were very busy at work. I even went home late because I have to finish all my tasks before I take my week long vacation.

We bought a scrub and massage gift certificate from Fitness First Body Care a couple of months back and we are reserving it for this occasion. We went there at around quarter to six for our appointment. It is always good to arrive early so that you can still do a lot of things like have time for steam bath and sauna, which are truly relaxing.

I had salt scrub while M0rn1ng had coffee. Our therapists were so good. We had a relaxing scrub and massage. We felt good after the almost 2 hours session.

We were so sleepy after but since we haven’t had dinner yet, we went to Greenbelt 5. Initially, we are planning to eat at Cibo but when we saw La Maison, we changed our minds. Hahaha!

The interiors are really pretty.

We had seafood marinara (solo) @ Php 210.

Fillet Mignon Steak (250grams) @ Php 924.92

1 Green Mango Jumbo @ Php 169.99. This is good to share by 2 two people. They split ours into two glasses.

They also have these complimentary black and white bread.

Overall, we loved our dining experience. The steak was superb! It was juicy and mouthwatering. The pasta was equally delightful too. They also have fast service. We didn’t wait too long for the orders to come.

La Maison
Rating: *****
Unit 3-042 043 Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Makati City
Tel nos: 9166351 / 916-7069
Lamaison_detrinoma@yahoo.com

Popularity: 19% [?]

There are so many things that I intend to write here in my blog. But I don’t have time for everything. It is crazy here are at work everyday and I don’t have enough time to sit, think and compose any blog post.

But this one is worth blogging about. It is our 3rd year Anniversary today and I couldn’t let the day pass without me blogging about it. The busyness and the crazy schedules that I have seem to dampen my celebrating spirit.

Dear Daddy,

I should be very excited as this 3rd year is the smoothest sailing year for both you and I. We’ve adjusted to each other’s personality, styles, and quirks. We both enjoy our little boy’s stage and I felt that everything has fallen into place.

It is also at this year that we were challenged by the turn that you did in respect to your working and career. You’ve resigned from your call center job just to care for the family. It’s not only money that dads are supposed to give, there are emotional and spiritual needs that needs to be fulfilled too. It was a big leap but you took it and God blessed all your efforts. We felt united, every pieces fit.

As we start another year of togetherness we are again faced with another turmoil, that of my career. I hope we can make the same right decisions as we did last year. I hope we will still be unfrazzled with the uncertainty that lies ahead. I wish we still have that strong faith that so long as our decisions are guided by God and it is his will, we will surely receive his blessings.

You are right. We are blessed with so many good things: our relationship and our son are more than anybody could ask for. We should be thankful. And as the years unfold, I found myself being deeply in love with you more and more. We’re no longer those infatuated fools but our love has transformed to something deeper, more meaningful and that is grown by the everyday kindness, consideration, respect and admiration that you show.

I can say that I love you more each day. As each day unfolds, I find myself more and more bound to you as one flesh that only death can separate. I look forward to more years of sweet loving and togetherness.

Happy 3rd Wedding Anniversary Daddy!

Popularity: 16% [?]

I looked at the calendar this morning and I was surprised how fast time flies. We’re already halfway through May. And I only got a week to prepare for our 3rd wedding anniversary. I’m still thinking what to give to M0rn1ng.

I know he wanted to have one of those nice iPods. So I was searching online. It is cheaper to buy at online shops then I can have it delivered at his sister’s place. I found this great site called shopwiki.com. It is the best place to look for things that you want to buy. It will search all the stores in the worldwide web carrying the products on your search.

I also tried searching nike slippers and lacoste shirts and I was very pleased with the results.  I’m not telling what I’m getting, it’s supposed to be a surprise. 

Popularity: 19% [?]