Joema's Birthday

We spent Saturday before Joema’s birthday with our friends. Here’s the birthday boy blowing his candle with the help of the little girl.
 

Our little girl giving her godbrother some love.

 

The night before hubby’s birthday, Miya and I gave him our birthday card and gift. We were already settled on our bed that night and I kept on asking Joema if he needs to go to the bathroom hahaha. So when he finally did, I got our card and gift and asked Miya to hide under the bed covers. I told her to say “Happy Birthday, Daddy!” when Daddy finds us. Surprise was a success. Joema was so happy seeing her daughter greet him happy birthday. He told me later on that he was so happy seeing Miya’s face when she greeted him. He said the birthday card was enough, he didn’t really expect the gift. See, we’re not really big on gifts (I wish we were hahaha!) so it came as a surprise when we gave him his gift.
 

Happy birthday, Daddy!

 

Terno daw sila

The next morning, we both woke up early to hear mass and then we had breakfast at Milky and Sunny. The original plan was have breakfast at Poco Deli but we were at Kapitolyo too early and they were still closed. So we opted to eat breakfast at Milky and Sunny. It was our first time to eat there and I’m glad we weren’t disappointed because their servings were big.

 

He brought me to the office afterwards and then he went home to celebrate with my inlaws who were able to visit. The next day, we were on our way to Tagaytay. We passed by Paseo de Sta. Rosa first as we were on a mission to buy rubber shoes for the birthday boy. It took us a while to find the Nike Outlet Store there. If you’re going to go outlet shopping there, Nike is at the back of Paseo 4 – waaay, waaay back. It’s near the hospital that you passby if you travel from Tagaytay and then exit via Eton Exit. We first went to the Bench stores in Paseo 4 then went back to Paseo 1, I think, where we saw the first Nike store. After asking around, we went back again to Paseo 4 to Nike Outlet Store. At Bench, I went through the racks of Mothercare and F&X. Miya’s so funny she imitated me going through the racks, going through each of the hangers hahaha. Then when we passed by Crocs, we had her try on some shoes. She was picking the styles and colors she wanted. One style fit her but I didn’t like the color, so I went to a violet-colored one. She started pointing at it and told us, “Gusto ko vio-yet (violet)!” Too bad they didn’t have her size. She kept on insisting she likes the violet ones hahaha. It was the first time we brought her shopping with us and let her choose what she liked so it was a bit of a surprise to us that she had her own preferences now. Although at home she already likes to choose what clothes to wear or what color of shoes she likes.
 

We then had lunch at the nearby King Bee.

 

 After lunch, we headed to our final destination, Discovery Country Suites. After checking in, all of us took a bath. It was so hot that day that we had to take a bath after settling in.

 

Pictorial after ligo hehe

As you can see from the photos above, Miya discovered making faces to the camera. Most of her photos for this trip, she's either looking sideways or pretending to be a zombie. After taking our baths, it was nap time.

 

I think we woke up just in time for an early dinner. But before eating, we explored their garden. Miya had fun running around their garden and looking at the jacuzzi.

Yes, kunyari daw galit sya.

When she got tired, we went up to Restaurant Verbena for our dinner. Our accommodations included wine and cheese buffet but we didn’t really had a second serving of the wine and cheese. The first serving was just enough. We ordered their surf and turf and a tomato based pasta (forgot the actual names of the dishes). Before our main course arrived, we were given complimentary bread and various pates and spreads. Miya ate so much! She ate most of the bread, grapes and pasta! She was one happy baby after dinner. She was even complaining that her tummy was aching hahaha ang takaw kasi. Both hubby and I were also happy with what we ordered.



Ayaw nya daw tumingin sa camera



Here I am tickling her...ayaw matinag!

Good girl eating her dinner

Our yummy yummy food



Family pic that the baby photobombed!



Here's a nicer one =)

When we got to our room, the pampering was not yet over we were given milk and chocolates (part of our accommodation). We watched Nemo, which we borrowed from hotel, before going to bed. It was Miya’s first time to watch Nemo and she enjoyed it.  

The next day we again went to the garden first before eating. Miya loved the garden. I wish our future home will have big nice garden or yard she can play in.

Funny face again

 

 

Another funny face

Breakfast was as yummy as our dinner.

 

Ayaw na naman ngumiti ng isa dyan

Happy si birthday boy sa dami ng bread

Yummy breakfast

Miya was able to take a nap before we went home. But not before watching Nemo again. On our way home, we passed by Solenad. This time it was Mommy’s turn to buy shoes and Havaianas for Miya and me. Again, Miya chose the style of slippers that she wanted. At first, she wanted blue ones and then she said she liked green – “Gusto ko yung coyoy byu, gusto ko yung coyoy gween.” I had to point her to the Minnie Mouse ones. But first she liked the 101 Dalmatian pair but they didn’t have her size. Good thing I was able to convince here the Minnie Mouse pair was cute as well. She already wore the slippers when we got out of the store.

 

DIY Cards with Miya

Wow has it really been that long?!?! I haven’t blogged for a month! My last two posts were more than a month from each other. Ayayayay! I guess so many things has happened that I’ve not had time to blog. Well, I didn’t really had the time and energy to blog about anything, that’s why. I thought I lost my blogging mojo. But now I’m back. And I hope this time I’ll be on a roll hehehe. I haven’t even finished blogging about Miya’s 2^nd birthday yet (her celebration with Lolo and Lola). But that’s 4 months back – oh no!

 Anyway, let me start with these DIY projects we did. Since her Dad’s birthday and Mother’s Day was on the same week, we had 2 back-to-back DIY card projects for two consecutive Saturdays. For hubby’s birthday, I asked her to color the card that I pre-made. I made the letterings on the greetings and drew a cake, a gift and some balloons inside the card.
 

For our gift to Lola on Mother’s Day, to have some variety I had some magazine cut-outs and asked her to paste them. We actually did two cards because she enjoyed pasting the cut-outs so much. She was actually the one who told me which objects to cut out.
 

 
Up next: Joema’s birthday

WTS: Discovery Country Suites

Mother’s Day

My trip to Pakistan

Miya’s trial class

Tali Beach

Going...going...

Nope...still here!

I can't believe it's more than a month since my last post. In case someone is wondering where I was, well, I was just here hahaha. Well actually I went on a business trip a few weeks ago but that's that. In between I was just here. I think my blogging mojo went kaput!

Anyways, imagine my surprise when I went bloghopping and saw this from Pepper's blog.

The Positive Parental Participation Blog Award

Ack! Gusto ko maiyak, honestly! Thanks so much for giving this award to me, Pepper! I truly appreciate it. And you so much deserve this award as well. A is such a sweet little young lady.

Vivian created this blog award to recognize a blogger who exemplifies the tenants of Positive Parental Participation:

• Encourages children to love books and reading
• Believes that young children need to play in order to learn
• Supports positive parental participation

So without further ado, let me pay it forward and present this award to these following moms. I read a lot of mommy blogs but let me present this award to the mommies who I feel I connect to on a personal level (although we really just interact online).

1. Anna of blue law by anna - I first read Anna's blog even before she got married and had Laz. She's my inspiration in teaching my kid to love books and to love reading. Thankfully, my little Miya loves to read.

2. Liz of mrsT - Liz is a real life friend (as opposed to online friends hahaha). I am simply in awe of how she manages to take care of her two kids and her husband and manage her house without any help. She is my super woman!

3. Anj of From A to Zo - Anj is a tiger mom! I am so grateful for bumping into her blog. Because of her I have a deeper understanding of Asperger's syndrome (I have a godson who's diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome). She has faithfully rallied behind her son and continues to do so.

4. Marsy of Planet Marsy - I feel Marsy is my soul sister hehehe from our daughters' almost-similar-names (Lia and Miya) to our love for Titanic and Meteor Garden, I feel like we have so many things in common. Although admittedly I would love to be as well-travelled as her. Her little bibiyow is the best actress in town!

Habemus Papam Franciscum*

I’ve been monitoring the conclave since Tuesday. I was not glued on the TV since I can’t afford to lose sleep so I monitored via CNN mobile app and Twitter. When I woke up yesterday, CNN said that it was a black smoke (that is, no Pope yet). For the first day of conclave, the cardinals will only vote once. And then I checked the local time in Vatican, I think it was 2am there so I knew I can spend the whole day not checking if the chimney will release black or white smoke. And then in the afternoon before I went to mass, I saw some tweets saying there will definitely be a smoke around 6pm (this is the first voting for the 2^nd day of conclave).  For the second day of the conclave, the cardinals will vote twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. So yes, I attended mass and then had to do the groceries before going home. When we got home, CNN wasn’t doing their live coverage in Vatican, it was the nightly news with Kristie Liu-Stout. And then I slept. But again the first thing I did when I woke up was check Twitter on any news on the Pope. White smoke! This was around 6:30am earlier, and CNN’s tweet was around 5:30am. So I had to turn on the TV just to watch the replay. I knew CNN will show the announcement of the new Pope over and over again in their different shows in the morning. And I was right. Nakakakilabot when they announced, “Habemus Papam” and then the people cheered.

 

Franch Cardinal announcing "Habemus Papam" - "We have a Pope"

 

And then Pope Francis went out of the balcony. The first time I saw him on TV, I had tears in my eyes. I think he gave off the same aura as Pope John Paul II, very likeable, gave off a warm welcome. Before he gave the faithful his blessing, he asked the faithful to bless him first. Such a humble man.

 

 

 

*This was the first tweet from the new Pope's Twitter account @pontifex - We have Pope Francis!

Photos from CNN.com

Books I've Been Reading

I think I’ve been reading as much as I want since the start of the year.  I have posted some book reviews here before but ever since I gave birth, it’s hard to find time to read(excuses, excuses). But since I got my iPhone 5, reading has been so much easier. To commemorate my purchase of my Apple product, I read Steve Jobs’biography. Now I understand the “cult” following of Apple products. I think I also want more, if only I could afford more hehe.

 Anyhoo, as I’ve said I’ve been using iPhone’s book reader to read as much books as possible. It’shard to lug around a book with a toddler in tow. With my iPhone, I can read a book wherever I go (even while nursing my toddler to sleep because it’s very handy. She usually asks me to stop holding a book when she nurses from me hehe .Although I sometimes find myself being told by Miya, “Mommy stop na yan. Patay na.”And then taking the phone from me and turning it off herself. Or sometimes she will say, “Mommy ba-yow (borrow)” and proceed with playing with her apps (will post about the apps I downloaded for her in a separate post).

I’m now on my 6^th book for the year, after SteveJobs I’ve read Perks of Being a Wallflower and started re-reading all the HarryPotter Books. I’m now  on book 5, HarryPotter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I’ve finished Book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire just this Monday. And I can’t believe I don’t remember it to be that good! AlthoughI remember it being the book with the Quidditch World Cup and Triwizard Tournament. But aside from that, I don’t remember that much from it. I don’teven remember that Mad-Eye Moody was not the real Mad-Eye Moody! As of the four books I’ve re-read, I think Book 4 was the best book! It was an amazing book! I’ve laughed and cried while reading the book. The book was so engaging, I had a hard time putting it down. Page after page, I found myself getting excited to read what will happen next, as if I’m reading it for the very first time. I’m now excited to finish the whole series! 

Miya's First Haircut

I've only been cutting Miya's bangs ever since. But her hair has been long enough to warrant a proper haircut. No, I still didn't bring her to a cutting place, I did it by myself with our yaya keeping her distracted. So if you've noticed her hair length changing from this to this then that's thanks to me haha! I wanted to cut her hair after her photoshoot but we waited for hubby to see the final photos first. I finally did it on my birthday (I know that's over a month delayed already but for the purposes of documenting everything here in my blog, I'm doing this. Without further ado, here are her first photos after mommy's haircut.

Miya Daldal Last Night

Last night after her Daddy turned off the lights and she was nursing, she told him "Kiss, kiss." So Daddy willingly obliged. After her Dad kissed her, she said "Babu (I love you)!" My heart melted. She then asked me to kiss her Daddy, "Mommy kiss Daddy" and my hubby and I kissed goodnight.

On a slightly different note, sharing with you her first official photo ID (aside from her passport).

Miya’s 2nd Birthday at Las Casas

WARNING: PHOTO HEAVY POST

We celebrated Miya’s actual birthday at Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar. Since the place is in Bataan, we figured we should stay there for atleast two nights so that our drive will be worth it. So I bought two vouchers from DealGrocer way before Miya’s birthday and immediate booked the dates. We left the day after my birthday and since our car was coding, we left the house at 10am. Which is just about the right time for us since check-in is at 2pm. We arrived at the hotel/resort at about that time.

After checking-in, we explored the nearby grounds (the place is huge!!!) and took photos.

Then we went back to our room to change into our swimming attire and headed for the beach.

The water in the beach is not that clear – almost black, I think because of the black sand of the area. Since it was only me and Miya swimming, I wasn’t particularly brave to go deep into the water. We only stayed at the beach for a short while. We had to convince Miya that we will go back the next day because she was so happy with the waves splashing about. We then headed to the swimming pool where we stayed for a while.

After swimming, we ordered dinner at the restaurant and had our food delivered to our room. We then went to our room to wash up and change. After taking a bath, we were back to exploring the place. Not long after, it was time for dinner. Miya ate along with us. I’m happy to say that Joema and I can now eat together with Miya. No more Joema eating first while I entertain Miya and then I hand Miya over to him so that I can eat. Although, there are still times that we do that especially during the times that Miya doesn’t like to eat. But if she wants to eat then I can feed her and myself at the same time.

The next morning, for Miya’s birthday, to keep up with our tradition, we gave her a cake, sang her happy birthday and gave her our gifts. I even hang up a “Happy Birthday” banner on the wall. 

Forgive our bedhead hair hehe

We then went to have breakfast at the restaurant. After breakfast, we went swimming again but only for a short while because as I’ve mentioned before their pool is not heated.

Before eating lunch, we stayed at their gazebo to hang out. We love it there.

In the afternoon we joined the heritage tour of the place. There are currently 27 houses in the property and some of these houses can be rented out to guests. 

We were given hats before the start of the tour

Four of the 27 heritage houses inside Las Casas

Intricate ceiling done by an artist from Paete

This is inside a very luxurious bathroom

The original UP building from Quiapo was transfered at Las Casas

Those pillars are original from the old building

It’s a very interesting tour because you will get to see all of the 27 houses. You can enter some of the houses while some are not open to the public like the house that the owner of Las Casas uses whenever they are there. Suggest you do the tour in the morning since it gets pretty hot in the afternoon and you walk from one house to the other. At the latter part of the tour, Miya started getting restless she wanted to feed in between houses (see our photo here). The last stop for the tour is our gazebo. So we stayed there for a while before going back to our room.

After using the cold towel provided after the tour, she decided her angel friend needed a cooling down as well.

Yehey Daddy bought Pringles

Happy as a clam

During dinner, it was so thoughtful of the restaurant staff to give Miya a leche flan (in lieu of a cake) with a candle and sang her a happy birthday. I didn’t intentionally tell them it was her birthday. It just came up because she was being her usual daldal self so one of the servers asked how old she was. So we told her she turned two that day. Funny thing is when the singers came to our table, we immediately asked for our bill haha. I don’t know I’m just not comfortable with these singing groups at restaurants because I always worry if we should tip them or not since we didn’t ask them to sing but there they are singing in front of our table. Anyways, I digress, when the singing duo finished their second or third song, I asked that they sing "Happy Birthday" for the little girl. That’s when I knew something was up because they kept looking back at the kitchen and they were a bit hesitant to sing the song. And I also had to ask for our bill again and the servers kept on looking back at the kitchen and signaled me to wait. I don’t know what took the servers that long to prepare the leche flan and candle but it took the singers several songs before they sent out the leche flan hehehe. Nonetheless, we appreciated the gesture. I was so happy for my little girl. 

For our last day at the resort, we went for a swim after breakfast. But as I’ve already told you we had a little bit of a mishap at the beach. I’m not sure what irritated Miya's skin, if it was the water or the sand. But she kept on running up and down the beach saying “Hapdi, hapdi.” At first we thought, she was just playing around because it looked like she was having fun running up and down the beach. That was until she cried hehehe. Sorry but this girl knows how to tease us. Sometimes she says one thing but means another. But no worries, it’s nothing tap water can clean and fix. 

More photos of our last day after the jump: