crosswordbebop

Apparently, my 3 year-old (soon turning 4) has been trying to call me in the office the whole day Tuesday. I couldn't be reached because I was out on client meeting and performance feedback discussions. Galit na daw siya sabi ng nakasagot! I hope he doesn't grow up too soon because i'll definitely miss these calls. "Mommy, I've been trying to call you all day. What were you doing?!?" "Mommy, please work fast fast fast. Then come home." "Mommy, why are you not working fast? I miss you." "Mommy, ate Lani (the yaya) is not listening to me!" "I love you mommy. See you later (tomorrow)!" And everyday, when he comes home from school at 10 in the morning, he goes to his daddy and says, Please ask my mommy to come home! And yesterday when I said I felt sick: You are sick Mommy. You should stay at home. See you after school. He loves it when we can't make it to the office. He is at that precious stage where he wants to spend...

Our soon-to-be 4 year old is very much fascinated with dinosaurs! "Roarrrr! Groooowl! Mommy, I'm a dinosaur! I'm a carnivore, I only eat chicken (and maling, too)!" He's a big dinosaur fan. He knows dinosaur names from A to Z! He was so happy when we bought a dinosaur egg. He couldn't wait for it to hatch! Akala nya siguro lalaki talaga. (We bought the egg in blue magic. I've also seen some in National bookstore .) He was a wee bit disappointed when it did not grow as big as he imagined. His daddy also bought him 4m Glow in the dark mould and paint dinosaur in toy kingdom . He kept bugging his daddy to make the dinosaurs until his daddy reluctantly gave in. Ang kulit lang talaga! He could hardly wait for the mold to set in. Akyat-baba sa hagdan at panay ang tanong kung okay na daw ba. Umeskapo na ang daddy! So I was left with the daunting task of painting the dinosaur. I managed to paint one before I feigned fatigue and sleepiness. Spot the difference! Ha...

We're done with TL#2's 1st birthday party. Whew! TL#1 enjoyed the party so much and was so tired that he slept until 9 am on Sunday. We hope the guests, especially the kids had a great time too. This morning, I had TL#2's cupcake for breakfast paired with nestle hot chocolate. The chocolate cake was moist, yummy and not too sweet. Nice way to start my day! Since I did not include backdrops in the budget for the party, the cake and the cupcakes were the centerpiece and the only thing that points out the theme for the party - baby tv characters. They were beautifully made by Emily Uy- Swing of Sugarbox. There's a lot of cake suppliers online that I did not know who to contact at first. A friend referred Sugarbox . I contacted Emily through email and she sent me an order form. After I made the payment, she emailed me the cake and cupcake designs. I made a few comments and sent some pictures for her reference since baby tv is not yet as popular as a birthday theme. She als...

Our Friday started early. At midnight, husband and I were putting on the finishing touches to TL#1's costume for today's school celebration of Nutrition Month. He is going to be a milk. It's the closest thing to a nutritious food that we are capable of making. No sewing involved! It was the husband's brainchild and he did most of the work. I merely helped put the word MILK. He even put a straw. 😄 The body is made of styrofoam from National Bookstore. Husband lined it with gray masking tape. We printed, cut and taped (double-sided) the nestle brand name and the word milk (which was a bit big but we had to make do). It even has 'nutrition facts' at the back. 😊 TL#1 was so excited to put it on and he wouldn't let mommy go to work. He wanted me to come with him to the Costume Parade. Unfortunately, Mommy's committed to meetings at work. I can't wait to hear his stories on the activity later today. Happy Friday. See you weekend. Hooray! - Posted using B...

Let's celebrate a small success! Our pre-schooler has been going to school for 3 days in a row without much fuss. Hooray! Mommy is able to get up as the alarm goes off (miracle!), wake TL#1 up and give him a bath. We leave the house at the same time and I see him off to school. Hopefully, I did not blog this 'success' too early and the whole week goes well and the next and the next. It is actually the hubby who is behind the resolution of our issue on TL#1's reluctance to go to school. Our pre-schooler used to throw tantrums and would even hide under the bed. Ang hirap sa umaga. Hubby discussed with our little boy the 'special steps' he has to take every weekday. Then they agree on something to do on the weekends as sort of a reward. Peg nila si Captain Oso. Here are the special steps they have agreed on written on the hubby's white board: 1. Wake up at 7:00 AM. 2. Eat breakfast. 3. Take a bath (with mommy). 4. Brush our teeth. 5. Put on our clothes. 6. Go t...

Apparently, we're going to spend our third night here in the hospital. It's our first staycation for the year, probably our 10th (or more) in the last 3 years. It's a becoming family tradition which we are trying and praying hard to break. This should be the last one. Our youngest is sick - down with persistent cough, fever and diarrhea. Oh, nothing serious really compared to our eldest son's bout with the kawasaki disease , the very reason we tend to border to paranoia when it comes to bringing our kids to the doctor. I was never confined in a hospital until I gave birth to our eldest son at 28 years of age. Therefore, it was traumatic for me to be back barely 6 months after and have him admitted for dehydration due to diarrhea. It stressed us a lot when he had to get treated again for same sickness before he was a year old. Then I had to undergo laparoscopic surgery to have an ovarian cyst removed. It proved to be benign. Shortly after (while I was pregnant with bab...

Here I go again, waiting for some miracle to happen. Somewhere along the way of the busy work season, getting and being pregnant, and dealing with one family health woe to another, I lost steam. Life is so unfair. The best intentions and wishful thinking don't get you to where you want to go, don't earn you the money you need and don't take care of domestic issues like rearing a toddler and keeping him healthy. All those negative thoughts are coming from a tired pregnant working woman who is currently nursing cough and colds and fears for her toddler suffering from the effects of kawasaki disease and for her unborn child. I can't say I could blame her. But still, this kind of thinking has got to end some time. Hopefully, that time is now.

I hate afternoon naps because each and every time I take one, I wake up feeling bad or nursing a headache. A lot of thoughts are running through my head but my emotions wouldn't connect, making them seem like a million miles away. But I don't want the day to end without me capturing some of those thoughts and getting in touch with my current feelings... some sort of breather, an outlet. Last Friday, our son's pediatrician finally (though awfully belatedly) confirmed that he has kawasaki disease. What's worse is that, his sickness is pass the so-called "golden period" of detection and medication of 10 days. The first questions to my and my husband's minds were: "what kind of pediatrician would fail to diagnose the disease even though the idea was already brought up by another doctor? and what kind of parents are we to 'allow' the doctor not to diagnose our son properly and not to have asked for more tests to be done, not to have been more obser...

Today, we learn about baby 2! I'm now 5 weeks and 3 days on the way, if the pregnancy test I took this morning is accurate. We still have to confirm the news via ultrasound on December 1. We'll see what happens then!

I've been having a good night's sleep since I got home from the hospital after my surgery. I can't say the same thing about hubby since he is temporarily fully in charge of our toddler while I am recuperating. Our dilemma over our son's sleeping problem stretched for almost two months. Thankfully, our toddler has begun to sleep early and soundly since the night of my 30th birthday. What a gift! He now sleeps by 9 pm, rarely wakes up in the night for a feeding, and gets up at 5 or 6 am. Hopefully, he will stick to this routine for good. Husband on the other hand is having a hard time adjusting to the change in sleeping pattern. He's been so used to having intermittent sleep that he involuntarily wakes up in the middle of the night or early dawn. Kawawa. Our son's pediatrician prescribed a vitamin called Mosegor Vita Syrup to supposedly help our child fall asleep. It's an Orexigenic Agent with Vitamin B Complex and it contains hydrogen maleate, thiamine, rib...

I am not feeling well today. My body is crumbling from the past sleep-deprived nights and I can feel my emotions near breaking point. Being a working parent is indeed not an easy role to fill. I'm grateful I have my husband to share the responsibility of child-rearing with. I remember when I was in high school and my parents would complain of how rambunctious I and my siblings were. Me and my big-mouth countered, in my knowing way, that if they wanted to have a quiet life, they should not have conceived seven kids. Witty and so shrewd! Now I understand more than ever that caring for a houseful of active kids is no bed of roses. Growing up, I have had my moments of rebellion to and resentment towards my parents and our situation. As a teenager, I couldn't fully comprehend then why I couldn't always have my way or the things I wanted. I remember moments where I would lock myself in my room, wallow in self-pity and swear at my parents quietly. There were times we argued and I ...

My baby just turned 23 months old! It's unbelievable how a newborn weighing only 2.7 kg (with length of 49 cm) can grow into a 13 kg toddler in nearly 2 years. I had a lot of fears in giving birth which prompted me to choose to have it in the province, with my mother holding my hand during labor. She gave birth to 7 pesky kids so I must say she's weathered and wise and knows the stuff giving births are made of. She did try her best to be by my side as I shouted and cursed and begged Ma, ayoko na!!!! Please. Please. Please!!!! Then she couldn't take it anymore... and left me, during my last moments before actually giving birth, to my sister, a certified nurse who held my hand as I writhed in pain, praying more than ever that I get through it as quickly as possible. I began spotting before midnight of August 10th. I called my ob-gyne and she said that it is normal and I should wait until my contractions come at near-intervals before going to the hospital. I woke up at dawn fe...

My toddler is becoming clingy to mommy. Ever since he learned to utter the words 'mommy', he's been using it to his advantage. Just yesterday, I woke up earlier than I intended because I can hear him crying and shouting mommy. Apparently, he wanted to climb the stairs and wake mommy up. Yaya was trying her best to distract him but he only wailed and shouted a little louder. This has been a long and tiring week for me and I had to cut back a little on time spent with my baby. We were both crying and frustrated the other day - baby because he wanted to play with mommy, and mommy because she just couldn't play with baby. I had a pressing thing at work to do. Sometimes working from home has its downside. I went home yesterday with a terrible headache. I worked 24 hours last Tuesday and wasn't able to catch up on sleep until last night. I almost cried at work at the thought that the job that kept me up for two nights was not done just yet. I'm guessing my tear ducts ...