Friday Finds..and Happy Birthday to My Love

Fridays are usually reserved for lounging at home with the bébé, as I try to catch up on my domestic duties. Yesterday was different, though. We started way too early so we can go to the 'parentals'. This is so I wouldn't have to wrack my brains figuring out how I could get to an appointment while maintaining less than 1 hour distance from the little cutie. Why?

       #1: We're still exclusively breastfeeding. And I don't have much stash saved. Yep! She still
             drinks as much, even though she's heavy on solids now.

       #2: Friday traffic situation are usually soooo bad. Much worse on payday weekends. Equally a
             nightmare during rush hour in the Makati / Taguig area #boo

       #3: I truly will miss my little Z :)

So after having the appointment rescheduled from 12nn to 2pm (ehgadddd...so close to rush hour, abot ba tayo?), we hurried to Avida in BGC (more like, Kalayaan area na) to have the client sign the documents. We finished at around 4pm so I was contemplating if I should take a cab and go straight home...Or, wait, what about the Conti's Mango Bravo cake I promised Daddy A? I decided to follow my cravings too and took the jeepney from the Avida office to Serendra. 

I got the cake, an adobo roll and water for myself, and some more dinner rolls. I was about to order the roast beef but I'm so glad I decided against it. The next question was, "where's the best spot to get a nice, friendly taxi to drive me home?" Well what do you know, it did not matter! I lined up after 3 groups who were all waiting for cabs too. One by one, we were being "rejected" by these drivers. I'm not sure why (for them) but the drivers would give me these "reasons": a) Mam, coding pa po ako, b) Sa Makati / Taguig lang po biyahe ko, c) Grabe po ang traffic. 

Mmmmmkay...frustrating and a bit harsh, especially since I had a Mango Bravo cake that I have to refreeze within 2 hours!!! The funny thing is, Taxi B actually stopped again after making his rounds, lowered his window and actually told me, "Mam, di ba po sa Makati/Taguig lang ako?" Ay nako si kuya, trying to be funny pa. And what about the other passengers? Suffice to say that we were all left waiting for that godsend of a taxi. I got tired of standing and decided to sit, people watch and just eat my adobo roll already, I saw the other couple (with the lady who banged the last taxi's door) waiting and still looking frustrated. I called hubby to vent and he insisted that I should just jump in a taxi, regardless if they don't like my destination; and that I should report those who refuse passengers. Firstly, ayoko ng pilitan; second, I didn't have the energy to get the plate numbers and details of those drivers. Ang dami kaya nila!! I also explained the situation to my parents and it was a good thing they were able to come and "rescue" me.

After a few minutes, the couple's sundo came. Realizing my own sundo would take quite a while, I hopped to Fully Booked to check out books. Three years ago, I would've been up there in the management / self-help area. Now I'm more drawn to children's books...aren't they the cutest? The usual offering of Boynton, Dr. Seuss and other board books welcomed me but I was looking for something different. I almost did not find it until I went to the obscure corner near the TV. These books were housed in a glass panel and if you don't look closely, it's very easy to miss them. Presenting...

Chinese Fables by Shiho S. Nunes and Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes (with CD) by Faye-Lynn Wu (both by Tuttle Publishing, available at Fully Booked)

An excerpt: Chinese Fables by Shiho S. Nunes (by Tuttle Publishing, available at Fully Booked)

I realized I haven't gotten Z anything for her birthday. Since she loves (loves!!) books, these are unique finds we could add to her library. Don't you just love the illustrations, too? It's also a nice token for her to learn more about her heritage. For now Z, let mommy read and learn from these first, K? :)

Ahhhh, the effect of books or buying new ones is something else! I could almost forget my frustration from the #choosytaxis and traffic in general. Another thing I looked forward to was Z, being in the car to fetch me...it was so nice to receive hugs from my baby. 

It took us close to an hour to reach home. Waiting for us were Max's goodies - Kare-kare with bagoong, Fried Chicken, Pancit and Crabs from my Aunt G! I normally don't drink softdrinks anymore but it would have been plain wrong not to get one for this feast! Haha, yah I know, excuses :p

Max's Kare-kare, bagoong not in picture

Max's Pancit...long life!

And finally, the birthday boy arrived...

 I know you don't like me being all mushy in public and I'll try my best.

Thank you so much for being you. Everyday I thank God for giving me a family like ours. I count it as a big blessing that I have you and Z (and our future children, and grand children haha) in my life. I used to sleep so worried about the future but now, not anymore...at least, not so much. Because of you and your love, there is much more happiness in my life. 

Even if we are starting to crowd our "big bed", it is truly comforting to me that every night, I get to sleep surrounded by you and Z, and I wake up to our morning kisses. Even if I have to wrestle it from you, at times! Hahaha :) 

Thank you for being so supportive, patient, giving and forgiving. Thank you for always making me feel accepted and loved. In you I see and feel God's mercy, compassion and love. Mama and Papa did a fantastic job, raising you..I'll always be grateful to them for bringing up such a fine man. 

And let's not forget. You're doing a great job yourself with being a daddy to Z. When she goes easy on breastfeeding, you'll see. She adores you! :) I promise, she really loves your way of story-telling! 

Wishing you a very happy birthday, dear A. May God bless you with your heart's desires, may He keep you happy, healthy and full of hope and love. I love you so much! :)

[Will you give me a kiss after reading this? Just so I know you did! :p] 

I already gave you my specially dedicated song during Z's birthday bash but here's another one I was too shy to belt out. If you read the comments section in Youtube, you'll see a joke that you'd think was from me (but really isn't)..here goes:

Q; Ano ang tawag sa Intsik na maputi?
A: Chinito
Q: Eh ano naman ang tawag sa Intsik na maitim?
A: E di, Prinito
Nyeeee!!! :)

Promise ^^ never would I have thought of that :D

Conclusion: Please use sunblock! Para di ka maging prinito :D

Happy Birthday Daddy A, we love you!

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Happy First Birthday, Z!

And now she's officially a toddler! Ang bilisss!!! :)

Okay so rounding up how she's doing so far...parang report card lang ang peg! Hahaha!

Walking - still tottering around and cruising on furniture and our headboard. Sometimes she does let go for a few seconds before she's happy to crawl and climb back up again. She's such an active baby and while we would have been thrilled to have her stand/walk during her birthday celebration, we're okay to wait a little bit more. I'm sure in a few more weeks / months, she'll let us in on this newfound skill :)

Talking - Super YES! Maybe it helps she has a chatterbox for a mom..or that she's always surrounded by family. Or quite possibly our nightly reading habit is really paying off. She's very good at mimicking too and she's doing this funny thing when she overemphasizes some syllables.

    APPLE - Ahhhh (while rounding her mouth) - Pu! (with the lips pursed)

    DOG - Du! or Di!

    MILKIE - Dede (Pinoy na Pinoy!)

    CAT - Meow

    BALL - Bu!

    MOMMY - Papa (hay naku anak, you're sooo funny!)

    and many more!

Gesticulating - okay this is the part that has us all wrapped up in her tiny fingers. She's just tooo cute when she does her actions! She can already do 'BLESS' while reaching out for our hand and putting it to her forehead. She can do her 'AMEN' but sometimes it ends up in 'APPLAUSE'. She likes to show her grandparents her 'KILI-KILI' and can do a sweet 'SLEEP' pose while putting together her hands to one cheek and tilting the rest of her tiny head. She can't quite follow us with the 'YES' but her 'NO' is so emphatic! She'll continue doing her 'no, no, no, no, no' even if we were actually saying it to her. :p Hay kids these days, sometimes I feel like a grandma, super nakakaaliw talaga si baby :) Oh and before I forget, she can already identify the nose from the mouth and eyes and points at our faces with much gusto!

Okay so a few times she got sick (see here) and I hate it when it happens because she looks like a poor baby, mostly inconsolable when it hits hard; therefore, hardly any sleep for this mommy! And of all the times it had to be on her first birthday? Ayayay...what will the grandparents say?

So on the day of her [actual] birthday, we planned a small salo-salo among her closest family members only. It was supposed to be a no-fuss dinner but I couldn't help but get a few party knick-knacks when I was doing a last minute shopping at the mall. That explains the Sophia the First decors :) And since we had a few other decors from her Baptism day, we used it also for this get-together.

Arch't A, Ninang B and Baby Z a,k.a. styling supervisor hahahaha..

We ordered the cake from Estrel's and we decided to just order our food rather than inconvenience ourselves to do the groceries and cook.  I searched online for reliable and yummy suppliers of party trays, something that would cater to less than 20 people. What I found is ALGO or Almost Gourmet. When I saw their ALGO SALO menu, I knew instantly that I would be ordering from them!

Courtesy of Almost Gourmet's FB page (https://www.facebook.com/almostgourmet)

Daddy A wanted the Mac & Cheese but because we were having mostly adult guests, we changed it to Spinach Lasagna (no meat). I also wanted to try their Beef Salpicao but we decided on the Spicy Beef Caldereta. And finally, a non-negotiable for me was the Creamy Chicken Shiitake. The food was delivered (for a fee) at the appointed time. My only regret is that we should have used chafing dishes to keep the food warm. Because some guests came late, the food was a bit cold na. But all in all, super yummy talaga and I was happy because they were really taste and for the leftovers, (bwahahahaha) which became my baon for the week :)

ALGO Spicy Beef Kaldereta (but not too spicy)

ALGO Spinach Lasagna (no meat)

ALGO Creamy Chicken Shiitake ---- I'm such a mushroom junkie!!

The rest of the food we served came from favorite and suking restos/ihawan :)

Garden Salad, Barbecue all the way from Mandaluyong, Lumpiang Shanghai from Terry's, Hotdog and Mallows on skewers:

My mother in law also kindly provided from UNO Restaurant in Binondo - yummy yummy Kiampong and Spicy Oyster (sisig?)

Brownies from SM's Brownie Station:

Aggy's Mini Cupcakes all the way from BF Paranaque:

Salted Caramel Mini Cupcake

Are you salivating over these yummy goodies yet? Hahaha...in the middle of writing this I'm pulled to the thought of why I'm actually blogging this entry -- food post ba or first birthday? Teehee :D :D

Anyway, perfect attendance from everyone in the family..yahoo! Music was provided by Ninang B and Tito P, photos were taken also by Ninong A and Tito K :)

With Lola, Ninang V and Tita V getting her measurements for her birthday party dress

Over-all it was a fun night! We had her blow the candle on the exact time she was born (errr, yanked from my tummy #tmi). Was it tiring? A bit...at this point I could only imagine that it would probably be x10 of what we will experience on her bigger celebration. 

But the important thing, regardless of how simple this particular celebration was, it was full of love. Flashes of our early days at home come to mind but some of them are hazy now. The days of fear, discouragement, not knowing what the future holds. Being new parents was a new territory we weren't sure we could handle well. But with the help of our loved ones and especially the guidance of Jesus and Mama Mary's intercession, I think we managed fine..don't you think?

Dearest Baby Z, you don't know just how happy you make mommy and daddy. We are very thankful that God gave you to us to take care of. We love you so much, we love every minute of our first 12 months..yes, even the challenging parts of it. We're so excited to see you grow more in beauty and faith and love. May God bless you always and may He help us guide you to reach your full potential. Hugs and kisses and warm cuddles for you our princess. You'll always be our baby, no matter what :)

Photo courtesy of Ninong A

Photo courtesy of Tito K

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Oh my teething child...that and other ails :(

[LATE POST: This happened before her 1st birthday...]

I thought we were done with the ouchies in her 9th month...not quite, not quite!!! The little one's teething again and it looks worse than the previous one. During those times she's just beyond fussy...I just look up and pray to God to help me find out what's wrong, help me soothe her. 

So I turned to the one thing I knew that would give her the best comfort - breastfeeding! Haha..it's actually like a comfort blanket for the both of us, especially when this mommy doesn't know what to do anymore. According to my hubby, it's my 'agimat'. But that particular night, breastfeeding didn't do it's usual magic. Fact is, I feel her gums were really tender and sore to even allow her to latch. She'd just come really close to the breast, attempt to latch and then back away while shaking her head and still sobbing ;(

Baby wearing before sleeping

I just wanna 'hang out' mommy...

Hey daddy please stop taking photos..

 I tried to cradle her and sing a lullaby but she was fighting the cradle hold. At that point I really did not know what to do. I know she's not hungry so food is ruled out. She's definitely sad and sleepy but our usual sleep routine didn't seem to hold. What gives?

As a last resort, I reached out for our Tula baby carrier. She did not refuse. I belted out a few of my "best singles" hahahaha and she seemed to like it :p I carried her to the living room and the kitchen, talking to her, even reciting her Muddypaws story. Okay at that point I tried to gamble taking her out of the Tula, crossing fingers and hoping she had been pacified enough. 

I really hoped she would sleep by then. We were after all, trying for an earlier bedtime...

So after removing her from the carrier and placing her on the bed, she latched well and it was the start of a better night for us. Oh babies, sometimes we'll never guess..now I'm truly convinced that toys and more toys are not the important thing...when it comes to comfort we can truly rely on a parent's love, powered by babywearing and breastfeeding :)

Oh, it's mommy's request pala

The following morning we went to have her checked by the pedia. Turns out this is a complicated case of teething, fatigue from the holiday travels, colds and a bacterial infection. Gaaaaahhhh!!!!

Since this is a late post, I'm now able to tell you that Z's well and good. After a round of antibiotics, nebules and the gum-soothing paste (which we weren't able to use), and well-deserved rest the little lady was back to her old self. She just lost a few pounds but she got it back again with a better appetite.

So here are the things that this episode taught me:

1. Breastfeeding is best for babies but it isn't a cure-all. Every now and then, they can get sick too!
2. Always check with baby's pedia. All the while we thought it was just another teething phase but through the eyes of an expert, other problems were uncovered. And because of that, we were able to act quickly to nurse her to health.
3. Holidays are fun times, the holidays are family time but babies are still babies. Their little bodies can't take too much travel, late night outs, being around smokers (who are not necessarily smoking, but there's still an effect). They'll hardly complain if we keep tagging them along. We should respect that and put in mind that we are their caregivers, we shouldn't let them down. 
4. Okay on a practical note, I sorta learned how to administer meds via dropper to a hesitant (to put it mildly) baby.
5. Make sure that we follow doctor's orders especially with the dosage and times. Yes, even with a sleeping baby!

The morning after: Nebulizer time

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Few more days before the P-A-R-T-Y!!!

In local parlance, this is what we call - The Huling Kembot! We kicked off the week before the party by going all the way down South to Cavite to have the fitting with Tito Boy Kastner Santos. All I could say was WOW!! Even if it was not finished yet, I liked what I was seeing! The fit was sooo great, parang na-Vicky Belo si Daddy A! Hahahaha :)

While I was a bit sad that we weren't able to participate with the papal visit activities, keri na rin because we have a baby and it would definitely be hard for us to go there. Maybe on his next visit, we'll be there na. Anyway, Tito Boy if you're reading this, thank you very much for making this suit for my man! All thumbs up!!!

Dapper Dad!

I think Z is fond of Tito Boy too!

Because we ended at around lunch time, we headed to my favorite - Racks in Magallanes. Per usual, we had the salad, carbonara, pork ribs and a pitcher of iced tea. Z liked their menu soo much but we had to get it from her. The staff were so nice to offer a coloring sheet and some crayons to keep her entertained. This is her first visit after the baptismal dinner, her first time to use crayons (under very strict supervision) and also her first time to taste carbonara and pork ribs..Huraaay for baby's firsts! :)

Sorry for the harassed look!

We capped off by visiting our OTD (on-the-day) coordinator, Madison Events c/o Ayee. We spent around 3 hours detailing stuff and her checking all our deliverables or things to be handed over to their care for the event.

On Monday Daddy A, my MIL and I went to Divilandia to get some more prizes for the kids and other butingtings for our DIY. We planned on finishing everything in 2 hours but it turned out to be almost 4 hours of walking and shopping. Whew, so many people shopping in January? I thought this was the lean season. Even the sellers were wondering why the surge in customers was almost the same as in the Christmas season. Maybe that's the post papal visit effect?

I hope these'll make the little kiddos happy!

After searching around 168 and the tiangge adjacent to Lucky Chinatown Mall, we checked out Michelle's at Tutuban Mall. Again, so many shoppers..on a Monday! Well, it was a holiday after all. I really wanted to get peacock feathers and some more nice looking feathers but boy they did not come cheap! The very nice (sosyal-looking) & healthy-looking feathers were PHP 125 a piece!!! The good news is that the peacock feathers were only priced at PHP 25; the bad news is that we weren't able to gather as many good looking ones as we needed. Gaaahhh!! Boa feathers (seen below) is PHP 125/yard. We were also able to source fake pearls (not from Michelle's) at PHP 13/string if you buy a dozen.

Well what is this for? I figured it's nice to also add a Gatsby-inspired doll to Z's memorabilia table so we got this little applique for PHP 25 only. We'll be sewing this to an extra garter and place additional feathers so the little dolly will also have a headpiece. Sweet! :)

Other party favors such as the paper doileys, candles, paper fan / flower, etc.

Here's Z looking on and probably wondering, "Do we really need them all, mommy?" This was last Wednesday as we were preparing to meet Vien at Greenbelt for Z and Mommy's dress fitting :)

Peacock feathers at PHP 25 per piece

And the pièce de résistance....haha just kidding!! Nope, we didn't down all of those and we're not even going to serve alcoholic drinks during the party...just some more DIY items inspired by our caterer's styling mood board. 

Instant Transformation: Gold doilies!

Few more days and so many DIY things to do! Aja!!!! :) Wish us luck and for our guests, see you on the 25th!

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We're on a first birthday high! :)

Official Photos --> Coming soon!

A sweet feature by Party Doll Manila

Party MTV by Shuttercount --> Coming soon!

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Zara's Eleventh Month

Ho ho ho..belated Merry Christmas! Oh our December was a blur..but Christmas has never been so full of meaning and life for us. Daddy A was busy with work, finishing major items with the clients, Mommy is busy as well preparing for her teaching assignment (and also seriously considering if she should return to PhD studies next term) and Z our baby is busy being as cute and as smart as can be!

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." --> Well she beat me to it. The little lady has almost a mouthful of teeth! Well, she got her four front ones, alright. She eats better now, I guess we're quite lucky to find baby recipes that she loves! She's also waaaay more talkative and taking after mommy with the singing bit. She can follow her fave songs to tune and tempo, Twinkle twinkle little star, especially.

Less fussy, more funny..mommy likey! :) This one's definitely a charmer, never fails to put a smile  to our faces (or even a hearty laugh!) at the breakfast table. Makes me think now why we did not have a baby sooner?!?

Here she is in her Santa outfit (thanks to Auntie Diane Lao), our little Christmas helper ---yup! helping undo the decors! Hahahaha...

Happy eleventh month, Z!

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