Drooling over these drool catchers

I'm not supposed to blog about it, really not yet. ..... But it's just too darn adorbs!!! Waaahh!! 😍

I was able to score a Lillebaby All Seasons Complete baby carrier during their last online sale. It's in a new print which I think looks very nice for ladies or mommy wearers and I hope it's something Daddy A would be able to at least tolerate 😜

The carrier is still on its way to the Philippines that's why I was hesitant to order accessories for it. But I was already majorly crushing on Tokidoki accessories ever since I found out I was pregnant with Baby E. 

So......tadaaaahhh!!! :D

The original plan was to have it embroidered with E's name or initials but I keep thinking, what if we have another baby or what if I intend to destash it in the future? Hence the semi-generic design..although Daddy A thinks I'll find it hard to let go of baby stuff, especially ones as cute as these! :)

So to maximize this order, I had one side in a boy print for when Daddy A will use the carrier. I know even big boys love super heroes so I really hope Daddy A will dig the Kawaii Marvel Heroes print. Of course, the reverse side is something that'll make Mommy Meowmeow (that's me!) giddy for days -- Tokidoki icons embroidered on pink minky fabric with a punny caption to boot - "Donut ever let me go!" So apt for babywearing! :)

I've been hooked on Amazon beginning with my first pregnancy. Now I'm falling in love with Etsy, too! :)

Should be filing this under: Choose your own Valentine's gift LOL! :)

Action shots when I get the entire package. Can't wait! 😍

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Happy Birthday, Daddy A!

Oh what a day it has been! Woke up today (well, I don't know whether I really slept or not) feeling happy because (1) our country's hosting the Miss Universe pageant and also because (2) it's Daddy A's very special day! :) 

We're still busy taking care of a newborn so I, unfortunately, wasn't able to plan nor prepare anything. To be fair, I offered to have a Mcdonald's breakfast delivery at 3 AM. Haha that's marriage and parenthood for us these days - having early morning dates while our 2 little ones are still asleep. Too bad their breakfast menu starts at 4! And since we try to get as much sleep these days, we weren't able to wait out that 1 hour. We hit the sack as soon as baby burped from his last nursing session. 'Twas a tough night for us tending to a wailing toddler and a nursling who just kept going at it and still needed to be burped & cleaned from spit-ups. I guess Daddy A really needed that extra shut-eye time today :) 

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My Facebook newsfeed has been abuzz with pageant fever. From friends listing their top bets, weighing in on the Q & A's, and even nitpicking evening gowns & national costumes. Definitely so proud that the Philippines pulled off this hosting stint with nary a glitch - at least nothing my untrained eye would notice.

Congratulations are in place first to Ms. France for being the new Miss Universe, to our very own Maxine Medina for a commendable showmanship and a strong finish in the top 6, and to all the candidates who gave their best.

Now to join the bandwagon, I'll share my answer to the question given to Ms. Philippines. I'll just change it up a bit to reflect the personal changes I have experienced.

"What is the most significant change you've seen in your life (the world) in the last 10 years?"

The most significant change for me is journeying from young adolescence to full-on adulthood with you, Daddy A, in my life. We started out as classmates, then friends, then lovers, and now partners in this life as husband and wife. I wish you can see the transformation you've gone through. You were just a DOTA-crazed boy (hahaha) when we met and now, you're a terrific husband to me and an even awesome father to our children. 2 kids now (!!!), can you imagine? If that isn't a significant enough change, then I don't know what is.

To say that you've always been there for me isn't quite telling of your life's impact on mine. For starters, you have saved me countless times from bad decisions in life. You even save me from myself when I'm having bouts of anxiety. And I don't know why you do it but you still continue to love me at my most unlovable moments. I know you don't claim to be spiritual or even religious but to me you truly are heaven-sent :)

Thank you for giving me a family, our little family. For staying up late to help me nurse, burp and change diapers - even if we both know you really don't have to. For reminding me what our sacrifices are worth. For doing your best for us, for letting me work on my "crazy ideas", for picking up the slack when I just can't anymore, for tolerating my Amazon mom moments *peace!*, and even for giving me a free rein in our kitchen. And really so much more.

I really pray our children take up after you in terms of attitude and temperament because you truly are so good. Plus the fact that you'd have a hard time managing 2 little ones if they're just like me! Hahaha..

Even if you don't enjoy celebrating birthdays, I'll always mark your special day with much fondness because honestly, it is more of a lucky day for me. Hehe..

Thank you so much for adulting with me! As long as we're together as a family then I'd happily look forward to more significant (and hopefully positive) changes in our lives. 

Bon anniversaire...Je t'aime <3

I hope you listen to my birthday song for you :D

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YOU by Basil Valdez

You give me hope,
The strength, the will to keep on;
No one else can make me feel this way
And only you
Can bring out all the best I can do;
I believe you turn the tide
And make me feel real good inside.

You pushed me up
When I'm about to give up;
You're on my side when no one seems to listen
And if you go,
You know the tears can't help but show
You'll break this heart and tear it apart;
Then suddenly the madness starts

CHORUS:
It's your smile,
Your face, your lips that I miss,
Those sweet little eyes that stare at me
And make me stay,
I'm with you through all the way.

'Cause it's you
Who fills the emptiness in me;
It changes ev'rything, you see,
When I know I've got you with me

You pushed me up
When I'm about to give up;
You're on my side when no one seems to listen
And if you go,
You know the tears can't help but show
You'll break this heart and tear it apart;
Then suddenly the madness starts

CHORUS:
It's your smile,
Your face, your lips that I miss,
Those sweet little eyes that stare at me
And make me say,
I'm with you through all the way.

'Cause it's you
Who fills the emptiness in me;
It changes ev'rything, you see,
When I know I've got you with me.

It's your smile,
Your face, your lips that I miss,
Those sweet little eyes that stare at me
And make me say,
I'm with you through all the way.

'Cause it's you
Who fills the emptiness in me;
It changes ev'rything, you see,
When I know I've got you with me.

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Our experience at the 37th Manila International Book Fair

Thanks to Homeschoolers of the Phililpines, a homeschooling Facebook group I belong to, I found out that the 37th Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) was scheduled this September at SMX and got free passes too! :)

I love books (and now even children's books) so I practically "begged" Daddy A to clear up our very tight schedule just so we can go and bring along Z. I knew that as a little bookworm, it'd be such a treat for her to experience her first book fair :)

So we went a little bit early and took a stroll along SM Mall of Asia's bay walk. 

Exercising by the bay

We had a quick bite at Starbucks too while waiting for the book fair to open its doors at 10 AM.

When we arrived at quarter to 10, we were a bit surprised with the already zigzagging line of people going inside SMX. Had we known about this queue, we would have wrapped up our breakfast much sooner. 

Grabbed a quick bite

We only had a couple of hours to spare to "get lost inside" so it was really a good thing that I chanced upon the recommendations of Ms. Donna Simpao Pangilinan in her HomesCool blog. I just went through her list and visited the booths that would best suit the season we are in. We were a group of 6 and we went in 4 different directions 😜 Myself looking at preschool/kindy products, hubby over at the Architecture books, FIL I guess looked at Agri books and my MIL went to the Grolier booth with the kids :)

Hubby's books - Diksiyonaryong Biswal ng Arkitekturang Filipino & Three Centuries of Binondo Architecture

First stop for me was Pauline's..

At this point I was still mindful of the budget. Well, more like keeping in mind that most booths I visited only accepted cash payment. 

I was able to score 5 books at a discount of course and the booth-keepers were really nice. I even overheard one sister comment something along the line of "hindi sayang ang pag-join nila sa fair". Whether it was due to monetary gains for their products or the fact that they are able to evangelize thru joining the fair or both..I was actually touched (and really happy that the Lord provided for them) when I heard her utter those words.

At Pauline's, I'm a Paulinian after all :)

Second I went to Bookmark and purchased 4 packs of "Original Artwork created by a boy with autism" each pack has 8 Notecards and 8 Envelopes. I was reserving these for Christmas or even just a "how are you" letter to friends. I ended up using 2 right away for reasons I will share in my next post.

Original artwork by a very talented child

Third stop for me was the Sing, Spell, Read and Write set of books although they ran out of packages already. I hope I can see them once more during the Homeschooling Conference this October! :)

Fourth stop, now with hubby in tow was the Jolly Phonics booth. First time I've heard about them from Ms. Donna's blog but when they explained each book and package to us, we decided this is a must-try for our toddler. Although it is really on the expensive side (even with a discount hehe), to us it is worth it for our homeschooling plans. 2 weeks from having the book with songs CD, Z already knows most of them and more importantly, is able to recognize the sounds each letter / phoneme makes. We're not rushing her to read at this point but we also want to expose her to different modes and mediums for learning. And I say we need to give our Leapfrog DVD's a rest too! :)

Some packages are PHP 30-70+k, these are for schools, I believe.

We got The Phonics Handbook & Jolly Songs with CD from them, luckily we were given a discount. Otherwise these 2 books alone would've cost us about PHP 5,000.00 already (what?!?) Hehehe. Daddy A gave me "the look" as if to say, you better make this worth if for the children 😂 The nice thing about this handbook is that I can make copies (legally allowed) for our home so that means I can really use this for more than 1 child :)

The snake is in the grass, the snake is in the grass...

The fifth and final stop - actually my MIL's stop - was the Grolier booth. I thought they were just looking at the products until I realized they actually bought a whole cart-full of children's educational books like the following series - Talking English (with talking pen), How Do You Know (with talking pen) & Fun-Thinkers with Match Frame. Wow!!! It was an advanced and truly merry Christmas gift for the kids because we had to make sure the pens were working :) Thank you so much Amah M & Angkong D!

Now I know what (and how much! hahaha) I have to prepare for next year's book fair! :) Just kidding Daddy A....but not really! :p

Knocked out baby in the Lille

Grolier books and talking pens from Amah M & Angkong D..thank you!!! :D

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