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?