From Our Family

Boracay Day 3

13 November 2012

Our flight back home to Manila was not until 2pm that day. But since we had to allot atleast an hour travel time from Boracay island to the airport and then another two hours for the customary check-in me before our flight, we decided to leave around 10am that day. Joy's family's flight was an hour earlier than ours but we decided to go with them when they leave. Both Joema and Miya woke up a bit late that day. I was up already by 5:30am and started to pack. They weren't awake by 7am and I was started to get a little bit worried because I knew Miya would want to swim again. Joy and her kids were up by 7am, they ate breakfast and I think was at the beach by 8am. I had to wake up Joema and Miya around that time if we want to swim that morning. I brought Miya out with me to the beach with the thought of just meeting up with Joy and her family, while Joema took a bath. Sure enough, Miya wanted to swim so we went back to our room and dressed up in our bathing suits.

Our bagong gising look

Miya playing with her bubbles

  

It looked like we're the only ones there but the beach was packed! 

Just want to add this photo because Miya looks like she's thinking hehe

We just had enough time for a quick swim, breakfast and then it was time to say bye-bye.It started to rain just before we left our hotel. Thank God for blessing us a sunny morning before we left.

Goodbye, Boracay!

It's not my first time to visit Boracay but I don't remember enjoying this place as much before. I fell in love with the place. I think much of this comes from how much Miya enjoyed our trip. We'll visit again soon, Boracay!

Miya's Kitchen

We don't really buy toys for Miya. I can probably count in my one hand the toys that we've bought her ever since she was born. Most of her toys are gifts to her. As I've mentioned in my tips for first-time moms, you don't have to buy so many toys for your babies because they will find delight in the every day things. Most babies go through their gadget phase like they really love playing with remote controls, cellphones or any other item that has a lot of buttons. They also love playing peek-a-boo and playing pretend. The only thing that really matters to them are their parents. They just want our love and full attention.

So anyway, having said that I also don't want to deprive my daughters toys. I'm pretty sure she will come to the age when she will ask for toys. But in the meantime, we limit buying toys for her. I want her to have the toys that I never had but I so wanted to have when I was a kid (or even now that I'm a grownup) like a big dollhouse or play kitchen haha. Last week I've bought Miya this Little Tikes kitchen and laundry playset. This is second hand from a friend and she sold it to me for a song. I actually had to convince Joema to buy this because first we don't have space in our home for this and second he thought Miya was too young to enjoy this. I was finally able to convince him when I told him we can leave the toy at my parents' home and even if Miya is too young to enjoy this at this stage, she will enjoy this in the next few months. On the second item, Joema was soo wrong.

Miya was excited to see the playset. "Wooow" she said when her dad was getting it off the car. It was so big  it didn't fit the car trunk (we have a fairly small car), it was placed at the back seat. She didn't know where to start playing. The kitchen and laundry playset came with a few small items like plates, glasses and utensils. She was a happy baby, and I am a happy mommy!

"No water in the faucet?"

"I need to wash this cup"

"Okay, this for first"

"Ladidadida"

"What can I cook from my ref?"

"Okay let's microwave this"

Miya Daldal: Weh Di Nga?

Last night before bedtime, Miya was telling me to stand up, carry her and sing for her. Well, I’m actually starting to ask her if I could make her fall asleep that way instead of her nursing. I’m ready to wean her from breastfeeding and I think this will be the hardest part but that’s for a different post. So yeah, last night she told me, “Mommy, tayo tayo buhat (Mommy, stand up and carry)”. Then I answered, “Huuu di ka pa naman magsleep e.” And then she said, “Weh, di nga?” hahahaha! I know her yaya teaches her to say that phrase but it’s the first time I heard her say it correctly and on her own. Laughtrip tong anak ko!

Speaking of anak, she imitates how I say it. The other night I was not feeling well and she kept on asking to be nursed. But she keeps on nursing for a while and then goes to her dad to play and then goes back to me again to nurse and then goes to her dad to play. She’s been doing this a couple of times so I told her “Anak..” in a frustrated tone. Last night, when her daddy asks her to say it she says “Anak” in the same tone as I did. It was so funny! Seeing a toddler say “Anak” like a grownup!

When she wants to be carried she says “Sama” and then holds up her hand. I don’t know how it began but she suddenly started saying her S’s with an H like Sh. So she now says it “Shama”. My hubby was making fun of her and told her to say it with the tone of how Kris Aquino says “Tama (Towmo)”. Now she says it “Showmo” with matching paawa face LOL! My baby is crazy!

Her daddy and her latest antic is what they like to call “Sisig”. Miya loves to be tickled. One time Joema was tickling her all over her body and naming her body parts as pork ulam like sisig, liempo (okay I forgot the rest haha). Sisig is when he tickles her cheeks and neck. Now everytime my hubby comes home, Miya says “sisig” hahaha! And the daddy will oblige and tickle her. It never gets old!

When we get home, we usually ask her if she played with our next door neighbor Cedric. Her usual answer is “Away” even though they didn’t fight. When we ask her what they fought about she will say “Shtick – O” hahaha! Her friend brings his snack to our place. And Miya eats faster than her friend, so she usually asks for more even though Cedric is not done eating his share yet. I had to buy her Stick-O after the first time they didn’t share the food. But I always ask my yaya not to let her eat it everyday. Haay!

And then we’ll ask her what she ate. She now enumerates the food she usually eats although she didn’t really eat all of them in one day “Kanin…guyay (gulay)…baboy…sabaw”

Let me end this post by sharing with you a photo of my hilarious daughter.

Samurai X

So many things happened during the weekend (our office party, party with my college friends, my goddaughter's Christening, Manny Pacquaio's KO) and that only means I have a few items on my checklist for blogposts. Let me start with the easiest one to write about  - Samurai X.

Last week I saw a few posters of Samurai X at SM Megamall. At first, I didn't notice it that much. I just saw a poster with Japanese people on it..until I read the letters and phrases on the poster ...Ruruoni Kenshin! And then Samurai X. In one of our rides home, I mentioned it to Joema and he said that it was only showing at SM cinemas and that it was for a limited time only. I told him we can watch it at the nearby SM from my parent's place over the weekend (because we're visiting). But because of the flurry of activities last Sunday, we didn't have time to go the cinema. So I told him we can still watch it after going home, we can just go to SM Megamall to watch the last full show. When I searched the screening times I saw that Podium had an earlier screening time than Megamall so we went there first. When we got to the ticketing area, the lady there told us that the tickets are sold out. Huwat?!?! So we transferred to Megamall, when we got there almost all the people in front us lining up for tickets is buying for Samurai X. It was being shown in a guaranteed seat cinema so you had to choose your seat and I can see that almost all the seats were already taken. I'm so glad we still got pretty good seats, it was near the screen already but we didn't have any problems viewing the screen. We totally underestimated this movie..we thought we were the only ones who would want to watch it haha!

I love love love the movie! It's like watching the anime all over again. And if you've been reading my blog for a long time, you'll know that I loved the anime. I love that there were specific shots in the film that took me back to watching the anime. Those shots with Kenshin being his wacky self or the first time he came out in his red and white kimono. The funny scenes were also there like the fight scene with Sanosuke. Since this is a live movie, the dark plots of the anime were portrayed as very dark (sorry for the lack of word) in this film. When they showed the first time Kenshin had to assassinate someone, the killing was brutal! If you're a fan of the anime, you better watch this film! I think it's still being shown in some SM cinemas. The movie is so good, the audience clapped after the screening. I don't even remember when the last time was when I was this excited about a movie! This movie made me want to rewatch the whole anime series again..and I also want to go to Japan!!!

Karting

For our annual division retreat, our team went karting at Go-Kart, Park Square. You know how I love Formula 1, but the excitement really didn't occur to me until we got there, until I saw this.

I actually remember feeling nervous the moment I woke up on that day. My thought was what if I need to know how to drive for karting? I initially thought it's like bump cars but that morning I was so scared of driving. I've learned how to drive a car but I never really drove for myself haha. I always have someone to drive for me so either that or I commute. Anyway, I only got excited when I saw F1 references on the karting area - checkered flags, photos of F1 drivers, the track. Instantly I knew this would be fun. First thing you need to do is register on their computer and then they will take your photo. After that we were briefed on how it will all go. First was we were grouped into 8 individuals per group. Each group is given 12 minutes to practice. The flags were also discussed to us. I was part of the first group and I was the slowest! And I blame it on the kart that was assigned to me hahaha. Because I'm short, I had a hard time keeping my foot on the gas pedal. My kart would always stop the minute I lift my foot from the gas pedal. And because I was slow, I was always blue flagged hahaha! And they don't just wave the blue flag, they will wave it and point at you telling you to get out of the way!!!! Hay, after this I feel for Naraine Karthikeyen. I have a new found respect for all the drivers. It's not easy to be a race car driver!

And then based on our individual times, we were grouped into 7 groups of 3/4 individuals per group. Then it was race time! The winner will be the group with the most number of laps in an hour. And each driver is only allowed to drive for not less than 9 minutes and not more than 11 minutes at a time. So each driver will drive twice in a span of an hour. This part I enjoyed because I didn't have a hard time driving the kart. But but but I was still slow. Good thing my teammates were good drivers. We finished 5th and not kulelat hahaha (We were 7 groups). And they were very supportive! They never let me feel that I was the slowest hahaha. They always tell me after my drive that I did a good job. My female teammate even told me some tips because she was the first one to drive for our team, we had time to discuss on what are the speed corners and where are the braking zones. Naks! Well, not really that technical but she really did gave me some useful tips. Our team's strategy is that I will be the last one to drive for the first and second run so that we can limit the seat adjustments - both my teammates are 6-footers so the kart had to be adjusted when I go for a drive. On my first stint our team was number 1 (this is after the drive of my two teammates). I was doing well until all the drivers caught up with me. And since I was slow and I was trying to defend my position they kept on bumping my rear. One of my colleagues bumped me too hard that my kart hit the barriers, my helmet flew. My kart wouldn't start after this. I had to ask the marshall if instead of replacing my kart, my teammate will instead start from the pits with a new kart which is what we did. I think we were 6th when I was replaced by me teammate. My teammates again were able to catch up but after my second stint, we ended up as 5th. Most of the teams had a different strategy, their last drivers were the fastest one so that they can catch up with all the other teams. I wanted us to do the same but both my teammates were like, "It's okay, don't worry, we'll do okay." Which is actually a good thing because it took the pressure off my back. I was relieved that we were 5th. I thought we were 7th after my second drive. Whew!

Now onto the photos (mostly photos of me since I don't have permission from my colleagues to post their photos here hehehe...

Suiting up

Oh yeah I'm feeling it!

That's me again keeping that fast car behind me hahaha!

Waiting for my turn

My supportive teammates!

Here are the winners

All of us! We enjoyed karting!

Weeeee!!!

Urban Karting Manila
Level 7 Park Square 1
Makati City

It's December!

This is our Christmas tree this year. We used the same ornaments from previous years and added a few more green and red Christmas balls. We've put this up by the middle of November. This area now looks like a warehouse of gifts (exagg!) hahaha. I'm done wrapping all our Christmas presents - well, those that were already bought. I'm missing a few more items and then I'm totally done with our Christmas list. As for the Christmas tree, I don't want a theme every year. I just want to add in a few decors every year and maybe take out a few items as well. So basically, this will be our Christmas tree every year. I got the idea from Anna to buy one special ornament for Miya every year. But maybe we'll start this tradition next year before we put up our tree, I'll let Miya buy one ornament for herself. Christmas really is for kids and the kids at heart. Christmas now is extra special again because of Miya. Have you felt that - you're always excited for Christmas when you were a kid and then sometime in your adulthood, it didn't feel quite as a happy occasion. Sure it's still fun but not as fun as it was when you were young. I've had that, especially when we were all adults in the house. But when Miya came, I guess the "magic" came back!

We've also went to the nearest Christmas display from our house. We went one evening because hubby was so excited to buy street food hahaha.

Miya Daldal portion: She knows Santa Claus. She learned of him because of an app that plays Christmas songs. When you tap on Santa Claus, Santa will say "Ho ho ho." Imagine our surprise when she first saw Santa (outside the Iphone), it was a Santa display outside True Value she pointed at it and said "Ho ho ho." So now every time she sees a Santa she says "ho ho ho." She also knows Santa's name. Last night when I said "Santa" she followed it with a "Claus" hehe. I laughed because again I was surprised when she said "Claus" (more like "clows"). This urged her to do it again and said "'sa pa, 'sa pa" hahaha. She loves it when we laugh at her antics. She also says "Meemas tree" or "Meemas balls" hehehe.

I've also taught her that Christmas is Jesus's birthday. I bought a pop-up book to read to her. But I think I need to buy a new one because the book is not accurate (it says the three shepherds instead of three kings or magis). Well, this year this will pass off since I read the book to her and correct it as it is. So she knows Mary and Joseph and Angel Gabriel and then we count the three kings.

How about you? How are your Christmas preparations?

2 + 1 = 3

Source

Congratulations to the youngest triple world champion, Sebastian Vettel! He won three drivers' championship in three consecutive years! And he's only 25!

This year's F1 season was tight race between the drivers. Sebastian only started winning races one after the other at the second half of the season. And with only 13 points ahead of Alonso going into the last race (Brazil), anything can happen. Since the last race is in Brazil, I wasn't able to watch the qualifying live. I only knew about the results the next day (Sunday) when I woke up. I was a bit disappointed that Vettel was only P4 but I tried being positive and thought this is where he needs to be to win the championship. Alonso was P8 but was later on promoted to P7 when Maldonado was handed a 10-grid penalty. When Sunday night came, I was sleepy by 10pm so Miya and I went to sleep. But before the race started, hubby woke me up to tell me the race is about to start. I was too sleepy so I told him I won't watch it anymore. But a few minutes after midnight, Miya woke up for her feeding. That's when I heard on TV that Vettel is now P16. What the heck happened?!!? That surely woke me up. So after feeding Miya, I went downstairs to Joema and watched the race. It was lap 9 when I joined him and Vettel was P6 by that time. I had to ask him why Vettel was at the back of the grid when I heard it. Apparently there was an accident at the start of the race. It was a phenomenal race. I thought every single driver was at their best. And I must say this, I'm not a fan of Button but after the race I now think that he is a good driver. He can manage his tyres well and he drives well in the rain. I'm not going through the race lap by lap because you can read about it here and here.

I had a lump in my throat when the camera showed the Red Bull crew celebrating Vettel's victory. I was holding back tears! I was so so happy for him and for the entire team (Red Bull sealed the constructor's championship in Austin). All their hard work had paid off. They were extremely happy. I was also touched that they are really and genuinely happy not only for the team, but for Vettel. Christian Horner hugged Vettel so hard and so many times when they saw each other. Haaay...bromance at its best hahaha!

Here's to more championships!!!

Boracay 2012 - Day 2 Afternoon

After lunch we went to a nice spot at the beach. This is the same spot we had the afternoon before but this time we stayed under the shade of the tree. This was around 3pm already. Miya woke up while we stayed here. Just in time to eat, too. Her Ninong bought french fries for Miguel (who didn't eat lunch) so they ate that. Both Miya and Miguel feasted on french fries the entire trip haha! 

Still munching

Then it's swimming time! 

As usual ayaw paawat ng anak ko for a few minutes of picture taking. Look what happens on the next picture..

Ayan kasi ayaw pahawak hahaha! Don't worry nothing happened to her. She enjoyed doing this actually.

Jump shot!

More photos after the jump..

Miya Daldal

Miya is really talkative nowadays. As her Ninang Joy said to her other Ninang, "Ang daldal ni Miya. Nung nasa Boracay kami tumitigil lang sya magsalit pag tulog." Nyahahaha!  So maybe I'll start a series on her talkativeness here.

• Lately, she wants to watch Jollibee videos on Youtube. She'll say, "Baybee gangnam."  Yes, she wants to watch Jollibee dancing Gangname style. This is the video we frequent on Youtube. 

• Speaking of Jollibee, aside from spaghetti she likes french fries. She's so cute when she says french fries - more like "fwench fwies."
• I think she loves saying any word with F. She says "Iphwown" when she wants to hold her dad's phone. Or she says "fwan" for the electric fan. Or "fwag" for her toy frog. She says "beybi fwag" or "mommy fwag" hihi so cute!
• She also likes the flash mob dance that the crew and cast of The Big Bang Theory did. Joema introduced this to her. She'll say "Bing bang" hahaha. The other night, Joema told her to say "Bazinga", she says it more like "Mmmzinga" 

Boracay 2012 - Day 2 Morning

12 November 2012

Woke up late on our second day around 8:30am. I actually woke up earlier than that but since both hubby and baby were still asleep, I went back to sleep. Just goes to show how tired we all were the day before. I was woken up the ringing of our phone, it was Kyla asking us if we're ready for breakfast. But since we just woke up, I told them to go ahead and eat and we'll follow. One of the other good things about this trip is that Miya bonded with her godsister and godbrother (and Ninong and Ninang). She didn't want to leave their site. Everytime we go back to our room she always asks/says "Ninong" or "Kyky" or "Miguel". She didn't look for Joy but by the time the trip was over she knew their names very very well.

They were inseparable

After breakfast we went outside to the beach. We decided to stay at the beach just outside our hotel during the morning and then go to Station 1 in the afternoon. This way we didn't have to go back and forth like what we did the previous day.

Miya had a bathroom accident so we had to wash up earlier than usual hahaha. I think she's also sleepy that's why she didn't resist when I told her we need to wash up arleady. But the moment we're all washed she kept on asking for her Ninong so we went back to the beach. By this time, the kids were just on the shore playing with sand and they were also having merienda. Which reminded me I wanted to eat corn but look who ate it. Kidding, we shared the corn.

And then the kids (and Joy) got their hair braided. Look at my little daughter. She was so behaved the entire time. I think it's also because she's used to this, the yaya across our unit braids her hair too.

When they we're all done, we rode the tricycle  to Station 1 for lunch. On the tricycle ride, I had to feed Miya since she was asking for milk. She was so sleepy, she fell asleep on the short ride.

She slept the entire time we had lunch. We were craving for barbecue but since we couldn't find the restaurant we saw the previous night, we decided to eat at the first barbecue place we saw - Hawaiian Barbecue. Good thing, it turned out to be a wise decision. We enjoyed the food.

To be continued...

Boracay 2012 - Day 1 Afternoon

When we got to our hotel and after taking a bath, I thought Miya wanted to take a nap. She was saying that she was sleep when we were walking back to the hotel. But after feeding (yes, we're still breastfeeding), she said "Ninong, Ninong" and when I asked her if she wants to sleep first, she said "Ayaw!" hahaha. So we regrouped and headed out for lunch. Mek told us about the offer he received from Astoria and figured, yes let's eat where it's free! The buffet was supposedly only until 1:30pm so we were in a hurry to get there. It was already around 1pm when we left our hotel. We took the tricycle going to Astoria. When we got there, wow we were enamored with the place. It was so beautiful there. There swimming pool looked so inviting. There were rooms surrounding the pool. Their dining hall was big and airy. Before the start of our meal we were informed that in exchange of the free meal, we had to go through a 90-minute presentation on their club membership (I forgot the exact term they used). Since we're already there and the buffet lunch was free, we said yes. Anyways, they insisted that we don't have to commit to purchase the membership, we just have to listen.

My daughter making pa-cute to the camera

Our group

The food was good actually. And since we loved the place, we were excited for the presentation. I thought it was one of those annual membership thing where they give you GCs you can use for one year. Unfortunately, it wasn't that. The membership was for 30 years and they require you to pay on that very day after the presentation the downpayment of I think around P18,000. I don't really know the specifics because I left the function room where the presentation was held when Miya started getting cranky. She fell asleep outside the function room, just at the mezannine level of this dining hall where they had several more tables and a comfortable couch - that's where Miya and I settled in. Suffice it to say, when Joema, Mek and Joy left the function room they were already irritated with the hotel staff who gave the presentation. Joy said that she's feeling guilty even because the staff was disappointed they didn't get the club membership. Hay! First off, we're not rich people who just give you 18k right there and then without studying what you are proposing. The hotel gave them an ultimatum to decide there saying that it was a one-day deal! Secondly, if they want people to buy their membership it shouldn't take more than 2 hours to give a presentation. If at first  you get people to get excited with the deal, by the end of the hour and your presentation is not yet half way through that person will probably end up annoyed already. We were there for a vacation after all which you should know because that was one of the questions they had in the first part of the presentation (it was a Q&A portion where they ask you questions on how much you enjoy travelling etc). Funny coz when they came from the function room to get us, I told Joema I needed to pee. He was a bit of in a rush to get us out of that hotel hahaha. Too bad! Astoria Boracay is a really nice hotel in Station 1 from what we saw. But they should stop doing this to tourists! And they shouldn't say it was a one-day deal because all those times we passed by their hotel, they were offering those free buffet lunch/dinner.

One last photo before we left the hotel - Miya still sleeping

Anyways, moving on...As I kept on saying, nothing can hold us back in enjoying the trip. The sight of the beach can easily lift up your spirits no matter how foul a mood you're in.

Back to the beach!

Swim agad agad pag gising ni Miya

Our smiles are plastered on our faces once we hit the water

My water baby

When she's out of the water, she's playing with sand

It was a bit chilly that afternoon because of the rain so I had to put her robe on

When it started getting dark, we returned to our hotel to wash up for dinner. We ended up eating at a nearby  restaurant that served seafood buffet. Sorry no photos hahaha! The buffet was P250 per person and was totally worth it because we ate a ton of crabs (although small), shrimp (again small) and oysters. Miya immediately fell asleep when we got back to the hotel.