Miya's Holy Week

How was your Holy Week? Ours was spent at home and visiting relatives.

Holy Monday and Tuesday was spent at home. Then Wednesday, my mother and father visited us. In the afternoon, we went to our Ninang Ening and Ninong Rudy's in Cainta. They gave Miya lots of clothes and Ninang also gave me some nursing tops. On the way back to our condo, we passed by Tiendesitas. Miya was fascinated with all the things she saw.



On Maundy Thursday, Miya and I with my parents and brother visited some relatives in San Fernando, Pampanga. Joema had work so he wasn't able to go with us.

Miya loves seeing new people and "talking to them". Here she is talking to her Lola Zeny and Ate Faye. (Please excuse the same mittens from the day before, she was still in her sleeping clothes when we got to Pampanga. I bathe her there. I don't know why I felt the need to explain that haha.)



Since Lola Zeny is very talkative, granddaughter and lola had a blast.



Ate Faye can't get enough of Miya.



Friday was spent at home again for Miya to rest because she was out and about on Saturday again hehe. We went to San Jose to see my grandparents. Everyone was delighted with her because she smiles at everyone who "talks" to her. Even when she's in a foul mood, when you talk to her she will smile at you. I was so proud of her.

With lolo and his apo sa tuhod.


Miyia giggling at her Tita Nicole (the little girl) and Lola Dolly

Three generations: my lola, my mama and my daughter.


Easter Sunday was again at home with our little family.

First Girls Day Out

Over the weekend, I went out with the girls. It was my first day of pampering after giving birth and it felt so nice at the end of the day.

We all met up in Magallanes where the boys and other kids hang out. Then we had lunch in Valero near Kuya Ogie's clinic. Lunch was supposed to be at Chocolate Fire but it was closed for lunch on Saturdays. So I suggested Teazann but it was also closed. Good thing the nearby Pancake House was open which was fortunate because we enjoy the food from Pancake House. I had to feed Miya before eating lunch because she got hungry there. Thanks Heyl for bringing Ging to take care of Miya for me.



Then it was derma time. I have been wanting to go back since my last visit was in July or August of last year. My vitiligo's back but the good news is that the pigment was there according to Kuya Ogie. I just have to go back for the usual treatment. Yay! Everyone had facials but Ja tried the laser lipo. Now, all of us want to go back for the procedure hahaha. Kuya Ogie told me to wait after 6 months since I was breastfeeding and I will lose more weight. He even offered to give me the discounted price by then if I decide to do the procedure. Another yay!

After the derma we went to Fix Salon at Greenbelt 5. Miya and I were supposed to go for lunch and derma only but they all convinced me to come with them. I was easy to convince since I badly needed a haircut anyway.


Here's our after pic..don't we all look beautiful and refreshed?



Can't wait for the next girls day out. Now, I need to decide if I'll get that Keratin treatment from the salon...hmmm..

Our Little Catholic

Miya's Christening was fuss free. I know where I wanted her to get baptized and we had a choice of the restaurant for the reception more or less. So all we had to do was inquire and book the church and the restaurant. The church's only requirement was a copy of the birth certificate which my father took care of from Pasig City Hall who I think totally confused all of us. Side story: The Medical City said that we'll get the birth certificate after a month so my father went to Pasig City Hall around 1st week of March to get it. After paying for P140 he was told to get it on April 1, just a day before the baptism. It turned out they asked him to pay for a copy of the birth certificate from NSO. Hello! Even I know that won't be available within the first 6 months of birth. We were only asking for a copy of the birth certificate with the registered number on it. When my father returned on April 1, what they gave him is the NSO certificate saying that there was no record of Miya's birth. After a lot of confusion, my father just asked for a certified true copy of their record which we presented to the chapel - that was the copy we were asking for in the first place!

Anyways, Miya was baptized at the Archbishop's Palace, Villa San Miguel, same location where we had our wedding but instead of using the bigger chapel, we used the smaller chapel this time.


It was a happy coincidence that the priest who wedded us was the one assigned to baptize Miya. We didn't contact him to do the baptismal rites since the chapel said they will assign the priest to do the ceremonies. So we were pleasantly surprised to see Fr. Caloy when he got there.


Miya was so well-behaved that day. She didn't even cry when the water was poured onto her head for the blessing. She was awake for the entire baptismal rite, she fell asleep before the picture taking at the end.

The reception was held at the nearby Max's Restaurant. We didn't realize that the chapel and the restaurant was right beside each other until after we book both. We took care of the reservations after we're sure we were getting the birth certificate by April 1. So that actually gave us less than a month, which was all we really needed.


For souvenirs, I contacted the friend of Miya's Ninang who supplied the cupcakes on her son's baptism.


I was so tired after the celebration - hirap pala to entertain guests on your party, when we got married we just sat there and waited for everything to happen hehehe. This time around I had to go to every table and talk to everyone if they were having a good time, if the food was okay, etc.

Here are more pics from the baptism.

Miya with her ninongs.


With her lovely ninangs.

With my family.

Our little family.


With Joema's family.

My daughter was exhausted too.


Welcome to the Christian world, Anak! I hope I'll be able to bring you up as a good Catholic. We love you!

Photos from Reyna

Let me bombard you with more photos of my daughter (forgive me as my world revolves around her since she was born).

These photos were taken by my dear friend Reyna. The first set was taken on 12 Feb, Miya was a day short of being a two-week old baby. Reyna and our other friends came to visit and she wanted to shoot us, so we willingly obliged.












This second set was taken on 12 March. I requested Reyna for another shoot so that we can use one of the photos for the invitation for Miya's baptism.

Miya's First Two Months

Well, she's a little over two months now but I haven't blogged about her 1st and 2nd month "birthday". For her first month, since February doesn't have 30 days we celebrated on the 28th. We had a simple celebration at home, it was just us three and Miya's yaya.


For her 2nd month, my family came over for pizza, spaghetti and cake.





Some milestones:
* she now plays and interacts with us
* she gets fussy when I read her book Gus Gastos (we think she dislikes Gus or the monster or the fact that it wasn't really a children's book but a freeby from Oishi hahaha)
* she looks at the camera when her picture's taken
* she can hold her head up while burping or when you carry her facing you
* she can be carried with her back against me and looks everywhere around her
* she loves looking at lights and fascinated with the ceiling of the building elevator
* she falls asleep when carried in her sling
* she kicks and scratches you when she's fussy haha
*she very recently learned to thumbsuck (because the mittens are now gone), actually she sucks her whole hand hehe

Recent photos of our darling little angel..

...after drinking her vitamins..


...smiling at her pedia..

..after her bath.

"Fluffy Pillow" between Us

26 March 2011

Miya sleeps in her crib at night while she gets to take her afternoon naps beside me on our bed. And sometimes when she wakes up too early and I want to sleep an hour more or so, I transfer her from her crib to our bed. Usually during these times, Joema has already left for work.

This was the morning the hubby and I woke up with our baby girl beside us...the first time she slept overnight on our bed.

2011 Formula 1 Season

Yep, the F1 season is here again! Being a new mom won't stop me from watching the first leg of the season - Australian GP. I was so giddy with the excitement on the morning of the qualifying. The hubby and I watched the qualifying and race with our little one beside us. And of course I was so happy Vettel was in pole position after qualifying and converted the pole into a win. the hubby and I are at it again, dreaming that one day we'll get to see the race live. This time we hope our baby girl will come with us, hopefully when she's older she'll love the race too.



Photo from here.

Summer's Here

One of the things that got me upset when I was pregnant was my growing body. See, I have a petite frame and I always manage to have a small tummy - I can boast that I don't have bilbil, I can tuck in my blouses and wear two-piece bathing suits showing my abs. When I finally gave birth I thought I can have that back. Fortunately I didn't gain too much when I was pregnant, only 25 pounds, and because of breastfeeding I already lost 20 pounds (yey!). Although, I still don't have my abs back. BUT in the spirit of the summer season and for me to feel sexy again, I'm entering Tisha's anniversary giveaway of Cocomo Swimsuits in her blog Here, Tishie Tishie.

I'm hoping to win the second bikini since that will hide my flabs and it's very slimming print. I'm not sure if I have the guts to wear the third one, but that will definitely hide my flabs as well. So hop on over to her blog and get a chance to win any of these three swimsuits.

Moses Basket

Remember my post about the baby shower thrown by my friends where they invited Joema to join us? Well, Joema's gift the Moses basket arrived the following week, if I remember correctly. Anyway, Miya has been using it since we came home from the hospital. We place her there when we're downstairs, instead of bringing down the crib everytime we go down. That was really the purpose I intended for it. I wanted a bassinet for downstairs where we can place our baby. We also bring the basket when we go to our families or friends since we don't have a carrier. Although we only place her there once we get to the place and not while in transit in the car.

3-day-old Miya in her basket

1 month old Miya


1 month and 2 weeks

The problem is in a few weeks time (hopefully months), Miya will be outgrowing the basket. I wonder where we'll place her by then. Hopefully she'll be big enough then to be able to sit on her baby chair or maybe we can use the stroller our friends gave her (for when she wants to lie down).

Mommy's First Rejection

The other night I had my first share of rejection. Was trying to stop Miya's crying but she just won't stop. Checked her diaper but she doesn't need changing. Tried to breastfeed her but she didn't want to be fed. Then my mother-in-law takes her and starts swaying her while standing up and Miya stops. I was crying the moment Miya was back in her crib. Joema was asking me what the matter was. I was upset because I wasn't the one who stopped her from crying. I was upset because I didn't want her to be masanay in swaying just to stop her crying. I was upset with myself because I didn't want help from anyone when it was clear that I did need help. Whenever I feel selfish with my daughter, and I'm sure there will be many more times in the future, I will always think of what Frances of Topaz Mommy wrote - that it takes a village to raise a child and hopefully I will be more generous in sharing Miya with others.

**********

I wrote the text above on Feb 3, exactly 5 days after giving birth and 2 days after returning from the hospital. I lacked sleep so excuse the incohesive sentences. I felt so rejected then - by my only daughter no less. I wanted to comfort her. I want her to know that when she cries she can go to directly to me (or that she'll go only to me). The next day my husband told me that our our daughter is so beautiful then he said, we should share her with everyone so that everyone will know how beautiful she is. He's afraid I wouldn't want to go to his hometown to let his relatives see our daughter.

Well, Miya is now almost two months but I still want to do everything for her. Although, I have somewhat accepted that I needed help but not totally.

When my mother-in-law was still with us, she was the one who brought Miya down by the poolside to get the morning sun. Now that we have our househelp, I let yaya give Miya's vitamins and sometimes let her change the diapers. She also carries Miya once in a while. There are times when she's the one who can pacify Miya from crying and it takes all of my willpower to take my daughter away from her arms. My mom always wants to hold Miya when we're together. She even wants us to stay overnight at their house and sleep beside Miya but I've said no to this. It will just be difficult for all of us especially since Miya wakes up several times during the night for feedings and diaper change.

Some friends have told me to start pumping breastmilk so that our help can feed Miya while I sleep or Joema can feed Miya when we go out. But I still don't want to do this. I still want to breastfeed Miya directly. My maternity leave is for 12 weeks and I will extend this to another 15 days so I don't want to hurry with the pumping of milk.

So yes, I still want Miya all to myself although I really encourage the hubby to share responsibilities with me like burping her and taking her from me when she just wouldn't stop crying. He is the one person I willingly give Miya to.

I know, I know I have to learn to share her with others. But can you blame me if I don't want to share this adorable child?

Miya's First Seven Days

I've read somewhere to take photos of your child on her first seven days then monthly after that. Although I'm sure a lot of parents, like us, take photos of their child as much as we like or as often as we see them oh-so-cute!

To document Miya's first seven days with us here are her photos.

Jan 30 - Yawning..still sleepy!


Jan 31 - Look at those chinky eyes


Feb 1 - Refreshed after bath..she looks so bango


Feb 2 - Ooooh! hehehe


Feb 3 - Sssshhhh...our baby's sleeping


Feb 4 - Wrapped like a burrito


Feb 5 - Wacha looking at?