christmas wishlist

its already mid october and it might be high time to look at my christmas list for presents for my family and closest friends. i think this year i'd better start early because i don't want to be stuck in the christmas rush. I'm already thinking of everyone I need to give presents to, and the list may be a bit long. Online purchases are becoming a trend so I may try it out this year too.
Couponchief.com is quite a good site, makes me feel like i got me a present too! And it has a lot of member stores to choose from. Like if I wanna buy some sports gear for hubby or hubby I can use Adidas coupons , or maybe computer accessories using
Dell Small Business coupons for my dad or brother-in-law. There are really a lot of possibilities and, and I could just as soon write out the rest of my wishlist from here. I'd better start it next week.... think-think-think!

power dressing

a few days ago we received a reminder from our boss regarding our work attire, which has someone turned a little less formal over the past few months. the memo made me realize that over the past few months, I've actually lost interest in dressing up after i went back to work. when I was preggy I invested a lot on branded clothes and after i gave birth, i invested on the stuff for the baby rather than on myself. so last saturday hubby and i went to divisoria's 168 mall to buy me some blouses for the office. I got to buy 6 blouses that are ok for work, and then sunday we went to megamall to buy some from tomato, and I got three, so basically, i have 9 new tops (plus a pair of shoes....) on my wardrobe. Did i also tell you my shoes (around 4 pairs!) conked out on my in a span of a month. Grrrr!!!! I need to buy 2 more shoes but it might have to wait till next month.
whew! the problems working women experience!

storage cabinets for keeps

When we moved into our 2-BR apartment from the one-bedroom one, we realized we simply had so much stuff, even though we've been a family for a mere two years. we actually swore that we won't move to a a new place unless its our own, because it would be too difficult to have all the stuff placed onto a truck (or two). with all the stuff of jessica now part of our inventory, its become more difficult. and when we do move to another house, one of our requirements is a garage for the car. With that, I'd loce to have garage storage cabinets to put in all the stuff that doesn't need to be inside the house. It would make the house look organized and neat. And later on I can go back to those stuff and remove the stuff I won't be needing anymore, like make a garage sale of the stuff we accumulate and ever earn from it later on.

baby shower pics

grimi just uploaded our baby shower pics (after several months) and i just wanted to share (actually i wanted to see again how big i was during my 9th month! hahaha....

my bestest mba friends

kumare fran - mom to joaquin, ninang to jessica

cute backdrop!

opening gifts!

never too old

its never too old to love.... never too old to find that someone for you. it may seem odd to think about older people wanting to find someone for them, but here's some news: there really is a website for senior singles to meet other singles their age! the site has featured seniors introducing a member of the group who's lookin' for love, fresh profiles of their members to browse through, and a search page where one can narrow down on their "types" for easier uhhh... sorting. senior dating made so much easier, if I could say so myself. its really more of a community for the older generation to meet and possibly to find the person they intend to spend (the rest) of their life with.

my updates

i haven't blogged for the past few weeks, yay! blame it on stress!!!! i am literally drowning in work!!! I'd like to think I'm quite well adjusted already to work since I came back from my ML, but work just remains to be a lot, well... right up to here (*think neck-deep*). hay.... i wanted to do a lot of stuff but i guess it'll have to wait till i get back my rhythm. i get enough rest naman, but every so often i feel that work gets on my nerves. whew. weekends are just as busy, though i'm happy that we get to spend it as a family. We go out to malls, visit grandparents (both sides) and we go to mass (me and jessica).
by the way, jessica's started to eat solid foods --- well, basically cerelac and banana and apple. she's only 4 months so i'm in no rush to introduce her to too much variety. figured i'll have more time for that when she gets to 6 months. i don't want to force her tummy to absorb so much anyway, i don't want her to get prone to allergies...
in line with her eating, we got her a walker.... well, right now it serves just as a seat for her since she's not yet learning how to walk. we don't let her on the stroller lately because she already kicks, and there's the danger of her falling down. the walker we bought only for 900! haha.... its originally priced at 1600 but it was on 25% off, then another 25% off on top of that because of two missing toys (which is really of no relevance to the purpose of the walker). so i think its a good buy considering its something we'll quit using anyway when she outgrows it (like now with the stroller)... at least she likes to sit on it, watch tv, push buttons and hear sounds.... so cute!
here she is at 4 months, getting prettier every day!

solid food! yummy!
me in my sports car

watcha lookin at??!

poot poot!!!!

long way from over

whew, i've been spending such busy days at work that i don't get the chance to blog as much even at home. Well, mostly because I spend my evenings with the baby and the husband, who, at this minute, are both sleeping like logs. Hubby is not feeling very well lately, been bugging him to see a doctor but to no avail, apparently he says he saw one but only for the colds he's been feeling in the mornings, not the asthma attacks or the eyes. it worries me so much but i know him to well to bug him just so much.
work is so hectic. i'd like to think i've been making pretty serious accomplishments for myself lately but there's never time to stop and look at them. everyday there are new to do's coming in, so there's no time to look back. i always said i would welcome any new opportunity that comes my way, and i still think i would. though i'm ok where i am now, it doesn't stop me from thinking that i can do more. but right now, since i get good benefits nevertheless, i'dsay its ok to stay till something better comes along.
jessica's turning to be as cute as we expected. today she's exactly four months old. and as advised by my supplier-friend, its good to cook misua for birthdays, so that's what i cooked today. i can't say its my favorite food, but its a change from the spaghetti-carbonara-spaghetti ritual of the past birthdays of jessica. anyhow, she's learning a lot, and i'm so proud! she can now hold some stuff: spoons, teether, her hair... my hair... yaya's hair... she already puts her hand on my face, and she babbles a lot already. its like chatting with a kid, only she's babbling. hehe... she likes to stand up always. and she's started tasting solid foods! yey! i only started her on cerelac and its more of a taste test. but its an understatement when they say babies are cute when they eat solids. its pure happiness seeing her face all covered up in cerelac! hahaha....
hmmm what else? i'm getting quite sleepy so pardon me if i continue posting another time. there are a lot of things i've been wanting to blog about but for now i just wanted to update.
hope to see you (very) soon!

school is harder than ever

over the past few months since having a baby, I've been more attuned to listening to stories of parents about kids and anything related to parenting. One example is schooling. I've heard quite a few times that school isn't as easy as it was before... more for parents than for kids. Well, at least this must be the case mostly in private schools, where kids are expected to perform better or do projects well. So a lot of parents need an Innovative Tutor to help them along the way. And well, if it was me, and I'm still a career woman, I'd probably consider it to. Not to help my kids catch up with homework, hopefully, but to make them excel.

busy

miss me? been so busy with stuff that I haven't had much time to blog. hay. kinda sad really, i don't even have time to do paid posts. geez. whenever i get home the first priority is to really make time for jessica, and some time for hubby as well. whatever small time is left i get to sleep, and this weekend has also been busy. Saturday was my MIL's birthday so we spent the morning with hubby's family. In the evening I attended the wedding of my MBA friend, Mai, at Fernwood. At least I got the chance to meet up with my MBA girlfriends and have a laugh and chat and simply catch up on stuff. Sunday it was my niece's 7th birthday and we attended her Mcdonalds birthday party. So whew! it was a really busy weekend. I don't think I've had much rest during the weekend, which is kinda sad because I'm expecting an even busier weekend ahead of me. Hay. Here are some pics of Jessica with her MamaLa and PapaLo:

Jessica at 3 months!

jessica's BUB pics

We got jessica's pics last saturday, and I can say i'm very happy to see the pics! hehe... of course, my daughter is really very photogenic. Seriously though, isn't she adorable?

i'm back

I miss blogging. Haven't blogged since I got back to work. I don't even have the time to write paid posts. Well, actually there's not much opps to write about so its ok. Unfortunately I can't log in to my blog because its restricted in the office. I'd have to post my postings at home.

Work is relatively easy (read: manageable) these days and I haven't felt this Unstressed since I got into this company. But usually at night I feel so stressed already more because I want to spend quality time with Jessica when I get home. If she's awake I usually get her when I get home and then cook dinner. Dinners are usually very early (around 7) and when Jessica is awake I spend the time carrying her around and talking to her. Normally she'd be awake till past 9 so after that I have to pump some milk first. I realize I need to buy natalac to increase my milk supply since I don’t want to stop breastfeeding yet. I really am thankful that we live very near to our offices so I get to spend as much time as we can with Jessica. We leave for the office before 8am and we get to the office in around 15minutes. So in the mornings I still get to hold Jessica as long as she's awake. At nights she wakes up somewhere between 12 and 2, and after that at around 4 am. Sometimes she doesn't ask for milk at 4am and wriggles around half-asleep till 5:30. At her young age, Jessica sleeps like her dad, moving around a lot. I'm actually contemplating asking hubby if its ok to put jessica in the middle of the bed (I'm at the middle now), but then, I'd be half-awake checking up on her so her dad won't crush her, and I'd hear a lot of complaints from hubby about feeling unimportant. I hear quite a lot of drama already from him as it is.

BTW, last Monday, we went to Blow-up Babies for Jessica's first photo session. We chose the egg set-up and the shoe set-up and we wanted a family portrait. Midway through the egg session (where Jessica was wearing yellow hooded onesies), she started to cry because she was already sleepy. We had to pull her through the rest of the photo sessions. I admire that their photographers and assistants try their best to make the babies laugh. There were really some instances when Jessica was already crying, and they would talk to her or pull up props to catch her attention. In the end we ordered prints for the egg session in collage (since Jessica had more nicer pictures in this session) and 1 in the egg session. I decided against the family portrait because I felt fat in the pics. Hahaha. The pics will be out by this coming Monday. Can't wait! I'll definitely scan those pics after I get them so I can give it away to our families when we meet next weekend. I'm really very glad our best friends (Jessica's godparents) gave us the free membership as a gift. I think its really worth it considering we're getting these for free:

- 1 8R print - worth 800
- 1 upgrade to collage - worth 800 also
- 3 birthday GCs - 1 for me (March), Hubby (December) and Jessica (May) and a 5R print upgradable to an 8R print for 300.

- other discounts which I might not use, except for the membership next year which I'm really contemplating, so I might buy their free membership GC at 20% off.

I'm kinda hoping we can have pictorials at least every other month, but I figure I'd have to negotiate this with my hubby first. Hehe… Pending the outcome of the pics, I'd say I'm quite satisfied with BUB's service. Even if it’s an expensive investment (with prints at 800 per 8R page), I figure that our baby will be a baby only once in her life. After she's passed the infant phase there won't be any turning back so I want to have as much memories from her childhood as we possibly can. :-)

dsl/landline bundle of horror

like i said 2 postings ago, i had a horrible experience with my service provider: Globelines/Innove. and till now i can't seem to let go of the fact that their continued negligence led the matter this far. I mean, I'm pretty much not a noisy/uncontrollable bitch when it comes to these things but this last encounter with them really,really tested my patience, not to mention my sanity. ok, it went like this:
we had the landline/dsl bundle installed last may 2007. prior to this we had their data only service, which was really ok, very few downtimes, i can't remember an incident where i was pissed off with them. now, when the landline was installed in may, they put in a different modem, actually now its a router, which was faulty in itself. They had to replace it 3x because it kept crashing and we kept losing the internet connection. i was ok despite hubby's protests that the service sucks. they always came whenever i called in the problem, anyways. but then, after this, now its the landline or internet that crashes. I had to call every 2 weeks (at most!!!) to have the phone repaired. worse, when the phone is repaired, we lose the broadband after. it was so frustrating. every two weeks i would call their hotline, request for them to repair the landline, then they would repair it, i lose my broadband, and i'll call their technical support for broadband, and then they fixed it. It has become routine. i hated it, but what was i to do? i don't like the situation, but at least they reacted within their 24-48 hour window.
then on august 9, evening, no dial tone again. called up their customer service and requested for repair. august 10, early morning, the dial tone was restored. surfed for a while, then come lunchtime i lost both dial tone and dsl access. called it in again. hubby of course, will be mad since its a weekend and weekend nights are spent playing DOTA. saturday, no show, no access, no repairmen coming in, followed it up, its supposed to be lined up for repair. sunday, i was already mad, followed up again 2 or 3 times. asked them to call me for feedback on the status. nada.
monday morning, i followed it up again, the csr (customer service rep) tells me the request was closed already.... huwaaaat???? how can they close the request without checking if the line is ok??? i didn't get any phonecall or visit from them checking if its ok. asked them to expedite the new (??) request.
to cut this long story short, this happened 3x for the next few days. i would call, they tell me that the request is closed, i'd get mad and i'd nag their CSR. i even asked for their supervisor, who was kind enough to provide feedback that she's coordinating the case already, this was tuesday, but after this no follow-up or resolution was still done. you can only imagine how mad i was already. i was mad at their technicians because they KEPT ON CLOSING MY REQUEST WITHOUT CHECKING IF MY LINE WAS OK. They kept going to the cabinet, a few blocks away, i suppose, checking the line there and changing this and that part. they could've visited my house, checking if the line there was the problem, RIGHT??? and i was angry at the CSR's because whenever i'd ask them to call me for feedback, it came unto deaf ears. I made 34+ calls to them from August 10 to August 16. Each call ranged from 10-30minutes. I even had an instance when I was put on hold by a CSR named Sam, for more than 30minutes! I used the second line on my cellphone to call them again and ask what the hell was their problem putting me on hold for sooo long!!!
august 16, i was at the end of my sanity. despite soooo many follow-ups, still no repairman, still the same old answers from them, still no feedback at the very least. i went to their globe business center. told them that if they don't repair the line that day, just cancel the request and terminate my account, i'd get service from another service provider. This was around 3pm. The Account officer there tells me again they will prioritize this request, that he will directly handle my case, and give me a call to update. NO ONE CALLED. THE LINE WAS NOT FIXED.
august 17, i called them again, this time i was calm enough to tell them to just get their modem and telephone and cancel my subscription. i hated them sooo much already. they fixed the line after lunch. apparently it took them only a few minutes because the line inside our compound was cut (or something to that effect). a few minutes. it took them 7 days to get here, 34 phone calls and follow-ups. they could have gone here a few days earlier and the situation couldn't have gotten this bad.
right now i'm testing the waters, i want to file a formal complaint with their customer care but i'm still really feeling so much anger so i'm delaying it a bit.I dunno, I mean, I did my part, in all angles, I can't see why I should be blamed for this. They really disappointed me, which is an understatement, because I can't imagine, for the life of me, how they could be this negligent.
hay, my ranting won't stop if i continue to write. this is just a warning to whoever is out there contemplating about getting them, I know there are satisfied subscribers. Good for them. But for me, the experience was definitely traumatic.

Going Aussie

One of the places I would want to go to, given the opportunity, is Australia. I want to experience the laidback life there, even for a moment. Of course, it would be fun to experience the holidays in Australia as well, to give me an idea of how their life is and what's important in their culture. There are a lot of flights to Australia, and one of the ways to get there is through DialAFlight. They offer flights to Australia at a cheaper rates, and there are holiday offers for those wanting to experience their culture. There are a lot of places to go to in Australia, such as Perth, Adelaide, Cairns, Queensland, and the Gold Coast. It would be a sure fun way to spend a vacation (or two). There are also a lot of Filipinos in Australia and its not uncommon to find some friends residing there. Another great way to spend the vacation: with friends or long-lost relatives. The good thing about using the Net to get info and tickets to other places is that they offer solid information, complete with pictures, so its easier to imagine where one would be going. And its a lot more hassle-free than looking for travel agencies and getting several quotations to find the lowest rates. So why not DialAFlight on your next trip to Australia?

repaired at last

i had the most horrible telecommunications issue since last week, which accounts for my not being able to blog at all since friday last week. i mean horrible.... the internet connection and the phone line just got repaired today. i'm not much in the mood to blog about it yet because my anger hasn't subsided so much, so I'll deal with that later. Just wanted to let you guys know I'm alive.
and I'm back to work.... :-(

holidays are coming

In a few more weeks we enter into the -ber months already. Hopefully this Christmas will be a bit lighter for our small family as we are both working already. Hubby has a good job and well, I have the bonus. hehe... plus GC's... yey.... in 2005 we were a bit broke because we just got married, and then in 2006 tabs was starting out with the onesnap business so we were also broke. hopefully 2007 is a lot nicer to our pockets.
I need to scout already for gifts for family and friends, I don't want to join the Christmas rush anymore because I realize one tends to spend more with all the panic buying. There's this great site in the net, Coupon Chief, that gives out coupons when you shop in stores. Stores such as The Children's Place, where one can buy gifts for the kids (like my nephew and nieces), and Old Navy, to buy gifts for dads and hubby and bros-in-law.
I therefore promise to myself: This year I'll start Christmas shopping early. Well, at least I'll start planning early.

classes suspended

Funny how it is that whenever PAGASA declares suspension of classes, the rain stops and the sun shines. Really, not that we don't trust that they are doing their job preventing any untoward incidents with the kids, flooding along the major thoroughfares and all, but then, its kinda funny. When we were college students we took advantage of the suspended classes to go to the malls, especially when the suspend it midday. hahaha.... brings back memories... i do hope the arrival of the second typhoon this august will help ease the dry spell in some of the provinces in luzon.

online goth dating

Online dating is already common these days, and its not uncommon either to learn of online affairs that lead to the altar. I personally consider it fate, that a couple can end up with each other after a long-distance affair. It takes a lot of trust to make something work out from nothing, right? Would you believe there is also an internet side that has real gothic personals where real gothic members are looking to meet other like-minded goth friends? Goth dating for people into the goth scene has never been easier, and it seems fun, of course, for gothic minded people. Interesting, eh. Goth singles can look for their special goth someone in this site, and they can end up happily ever after.

last 5 working days

time flies so fast, before I know it, my maternity leave is over in about a week's time. hay. did i get some rest? well, some, the time's i didn't, i know it was well-spent with my daughter. did i get to do everything I should have done? Well, NO. There were a ton of stuff I wanted to be able to do while I was on leave, be it personal stuff, having to go to places for some documents (transcript, PRC ID, Driver's license, NSO, etc.), but when my yaya left just as jessica turned a month old, well, I sorta lost the drive to do those things because I needed to stay at home. But I can truly say I spent as much time as I possibly could with my baby, so no regrets there as well. One thing I'm proud of, though, was being able to cook up new dishes, I didn't have time or the energy before to do them. Makes me feel like an accomplished mom. haha. i was able to cook lumpiang ubod, baked macaroni (which garnered a lot of good compliments, btw), polvoron (i stumbled on the first batch i made but the second one was good na!), mocha ref cake (ok lang, but nakakasawa), and finally, blueberry cheesecake. I always loved the BB cheesecake of Red Ribbon (because it tastes good and is cheap too). In fairness to my cheesecake, it tastes good, just like Red Ribbons'. The only difference is that I had a hard time topping the blueberry on the cake so it appeared like a blueberry cheesecake pie of sorts, hahaha, or you can call it blueberry cheesecake swirl (because the cheesecake went above the blueberry. waaah! its ok though, because it tastes good! I made it on Monday and by Wednesday evening we finished the whole cake, the three of us at home! hehehehe.... :-)
hay, if i had more time and budget I'd surely love to test a few more dishes, and learn to bake!!!! hmmm... someday... someday.

i'm now a postie

i finally got my blog approved for Payperpost after 5 days or so. Been checking every so often because i already finished the 20 posts requirement last week. Just got the email today and I'm happy I finally got approved. See, I need to work on some extra income and since I like to write anyways, then one good part-time work is to get paid to blog. A lot of the blogs I visit now are also PPP posties, and its good to know there is a community of posters right here. Anyways, blogging is good therapy, so why not earn from it at the same time. Well, I was almost good at it with my previous WP blog, which is not archived, I guess. Howell, that's some dollars already lost, but then its ok, I at least learned my lesson already. teehee.... I guess blogger isn't so stringent about sponsored posts, which is a good thing. When I'm earning enough I'll be working on a new blog, just for me, to increase further my income. hope it'll help at least with some of my personal expenses, and some internet shopping as well! teehee!!!! seriously, I'm hoping this new hobby/part-time job will work out, tried applying for some online work earlier this year, but it appeared to be too tedious and time consuming, something I'm not ready to rack my brains out what with my baby and my day job. :-) Congrats to me, I'm now a postie!!!!

jessica's baptism kwento & suppliers rating na rin

Finally! Last Sunday, August 5, Jessica had her baptism at the Edsa Shrine. Its nice to have a simple celebration witnessed by our family and closest friends. I never dreamed of a grand celebration for the baptism, I really wanted it to be an intimate celebration witnessed only by the people closest to us, the ones who really, really care for our daughter and our family. We didn't have the budget for a big celebration only since we're just yet recovering from a difficult start of the year. Anyway, we'll be inviting the rest of the people na lang on Jessica's first birthday.

The day started out fine, the baptism was scheduled for 3:30 pm so in the morning we were free to do things pa at home. A week before I attended the seminar/sharing that was required for the baptism, a good way to remember the Catholic concepts that we sometimes forget as we grow old. hehe....

Anyway, Saturday night, we got a call from Mark, the guy from the Parish office, confirming the schedule. I asked whether its ok to have a cream/ off-white colored garment but it was disapproved. hay. had no choice but to buy Jessica something else.


And so we left home before 2 since we needed to buy her a white skirt. I got a white blouse for Jessica as a parting gift from my boss before my maternity leave so just wanted to buy a white skirt. I didn't really want to buy those white gowns because she won't be able to use it. Sayang lang after. luckily after a bit of panicking, we were able to get a white skirt from Gingersnaps. It was too large for her so mukhang gown na rin. hahaha.... it was size 24 pa, she can still use it a few months from now. I just bought nappy clips para sumikip sya. hahaha... di naman halata sa pics noh!

So ok, the ceremony was really a nice and intimate one. There were only 3 kids to be baptized so di ganun kadaming tao. The priest was also nice and made some important reminders in bringing up the child in our faith. Nice. The ceremony ended around 4:15, most of the godparents were there: Charles, Jordan (Tabs' best friends) and Noge (Tabs brother), Grimi, Fran and Helen (My MBA best friends), and Marione (my HS bestfriend). Jeff (HS bestfriend) was not able to attend the ceremony since he was coming from Davao pa, while Francis (Tabs' HS friend) is in the hospital naman and wasn't discharged yet. Irene (Tabs sister) naman is in London already.

The reception was simple lang, we just ordered some food na by platter na lang instead of the initial plan to order per head (like the bunch of lunch meals) since I wanted the guests to be free to eat what they like. There was these family bundle meal ata yun, with one platter of spaghetti, one family size pizza, one family chicken (5-pc) and one pitcher iced tea. Since some of the invited guests didn't attend, there was a lot of food and we had a lot pa to take home. The staff of Shakeys were also very nice and easy to talk to. Overall I really believe we saved a lot and the guests seemed full naman.
I also gave out small tokens for the guests, I bought some round chocolates from Chocolate Lovers and then I made sticker labels na lang, its really cute. di ko pa pala nakunan ng pic. hmmm.

Jessica seemed to have fun naman looking at mommy opening up her gifts. hahaha... she was really staring e, she had a lot of gifts, nakakatuwa. next year sya na magbubukas ng gifts e. hehehehe....

My ratings:
Edsa Shrine: 10/10 - They are nice, easy to talk to, and I believe the ceremony was really solemn and intimate.
Shakeys Robinsons Galleria: 9/10 - They forgot to put the tarp banner because we were a bit early. Other than that, service was ok. Food was also ok.
Giveaways: 10/10 syempre DIY yun e!

scrapbooking?

I just finished organizing the pics of Jessica by her age. Something I should have done ages ago. And I'm kinda hoping I'd be able to start digiscrapping her very soon. Something I doubt I can start while I'm on leave, because I'm kinda lazy most of the time! hahahaha....
Howell, at least organizing her pics is a start. been meaning to start some photo albums but with so many pics, its so hard to choose. The one's I have printed, I haven't even pasted anywhere. geez.... lazy, lazy and lazy....

On the other hand, I was able to extract a channel 2 network from the tv in the sala, which made my housekeeper/yaya very happy. hehe.... that's the problem here in our area, without cable, channel 2's signal is too weak. and since I think its too premature to install cable when no one else is going to use it, well, we're practically forced to be Kapuso viewers. Now that channel 2 works, even if the picture quality isn't so good, my housekeeper can watch her favorite Kapamilya shows, specially Wowowee and those telenovelas at night.

somethings wrong with this blog

my postings aren't getting posted. so I guess something is amiss. huh!
i'm testing my yaya right now, she'll be with the baby the whole day, hubby has been insisting I do that already so the yaya can grasp the full extent of her responsibility when I get back to work.
hay, which makes me miss my little girl.... because I'll be back to work so soon, masarap sana to have her while I'm still at home.
hay....

4 days to go

4 Days to go till Jessica's baptism. This morning I already issued the reminder text to all my friends who I've invited, well, most of them naman confirmed, its only the older ones that we needed to invite. But the guestlist naman is quite safe pa at 40 pax, can go as high as 50pax naman, if need be I can just order an extra pizza or something for the guests. That's the good thing about having the food na lang by table. I do hope all is well. Hay. Excited na rin ako, everyone will see our little girl na ulit. Nga lang, everyone will probably say, bakit ang itim??? hahaha....

august already.... 16 days till I get back to work. huhuhu....

looking up career opportunities

true to my previous post, and perhaps driven by my constant lack of money because of so many bills and credit card debt, I've started applying to managerial jobs, some in my line of work, others just to test the waters. Not that I truly, truly hate my current company, I don't, I still love my friends there and I do enjoy the benefits. Its more because I find myself looking forward to where I'd see myself in the next couple of years, and the answer is, if I stay there, I'd probably be in the same supervisory position anyways. I'd be 30 yrs old in two years, and by then, I should really be in a managerial position. Otherwise my MBA degree wouldn't have paid off, diba?

so, I've updated my CV, started again my Jobstreet account, and hope I receive some interview offers soon. I've yet to look towards how I can pay back the car if ever I decide to move out, but that's not the biggest concern anyway. If I earn twice or more of what I currently earn then it would be easier to pay it anyway. I love that car, so even if I'll ask for a car where I'll work next, I'd still want to keep our Grandy (short for Grandeur).

Hay, I do hope I can get some interviews before I set of to work.... I can't take any leaves na kasi once I get back to the office. hehe.

Career change?

How does one go about a career change? For the past 6 years, I've work in procurement/purchasing. I finished my MBA. And now I've finally decided na I have very limited growth if I stay pa in purchasing. The opportunities are limited already. I've already been to the two biggest food businesses. worked up my knowledge in those two companies, if i'm to take on a managerial post in purchasing, it will most likely be in a smaller company. hence, my dilemma.
I'm hoping my MBA can help me with my career change plans. Right now I'm looking at sales or marketing as my next best alternatives.

2 months and two weeks old

yup, she's getting older and cuter everyday. and whenever i look at her age, it gets back to me just how soon I'd be going back to work. haaay.... will be back to work in two weeks na lang. I'd like to think, though, that I was able to give her naman my full attention for the past 3 months. There were things I though I'd be able to do while on leave but I was unable to do because I spent my time with jessica. No regrets there. I'm very happy that I was on leave for 3 months. I'd probably be missing a few of her other milestones, but then again we can't afford to be a one-income family at this point.
This morning I decided to fit her into some of the clothes that are yet unused so I can check whether she can use some of the clothes already. One is the gift of my former boss in Nestle, a blouse and pants pair from Gingersnaps. Isn't it cute?



The other one is a onesie I bought when I was still pregnant, hence I never realized that onesies were kinda useless in a tropical country like ours, esp if its long sleeved and covered the whole body. I didn't fit it till now, and I'm glad I did because it fits her just fine now. A few more weeks and it'd probably be useless already.


Hay, she grows up too fast....
Am also excited na for her baptism this coming sunday. give-aways are done na, so is the candle. I decided to settle for the off-white dress I bought since sayang naman if i still buy a white one for the symbolism. The candle I just bought a big one and put ribbons and the teddy bling-bling on it. Will post the pics tom siguro. I plan to light the candle every birthday nya so we can give thanks. :-)

baptism dress rehearsal

the stage mom in me can't help but play dress-up with Jessica, especially now that her baptism is drawing near. Look at her, isn't she such an angel?

Jessica's ride

Hubby's dad is back in the Philippines. Came home last monday. Hubby and I have been joking that jessica should say "stroller" when he comes to visit. We've been wanting to buy her one but we're waiting for someone to give it as a gift or something... Well, when his parents came last monday they gave her $100. Hubby and I decided to buy a stroller with the money, its something she can use naman e.
Goody, she likes it. See, my little girl likes staying outdoors. Sometimes when she cries a lot the only solution is to take her outside the house so she can see a different view. That usually makes her stop crying. The stroller saves us a half-hour or so of not carrying her. And now she can sleep in it too so its all good so far. I'm really hoping to get our money's worth with it, because I always read that some parents say they regret having a stroller because its bulky and it wasn't used. Well, I hope I won't say that, although its partly the reason why I don't want to buy an expensive one. The one we bought, baby1st, is ok. It has the basic functions anyway: reclining backrest, food table, reversible handlebars, seatbelts.... hehehe... its simple but useful for us so I'm quite happy with the buy.
This afternoon I took her out on the street and she seemed to have enjoyed the walk (well, for her its ride).

Patience

Been meaning to blog with this title for weeks now. Its always been in my head, but I haven't had the inspiration to really blog about it.
Every time my daughter, Jessica, cries and nothing seems to appease her, and I'm not feeling mad or irritated at all, I realize just how much motherhood has changed me. Apart from the time when I was in postpartum depression, I've realized that being a mom changes even the hardest attitudes to change. For me, its patience. See, I'm a self-confessed impatient person. I always, always want things fast, decisions made fast, I work fast. In other words, I'm a fast paced person. Aside from that, I want others to act in the same tune. I hate it when things are done slowly, when decisions take a long time to make.
Being a mom changed me in a way I think is best for me. I never realized that I can have an endless amount of patience when dealing with the needs of my daughter. Now, its okay when she cries hard when she's trying to sleep but can't quite catch it yet. I can hold her for hours, or talk to her about nothing and everything. I used to live my life trying to do too many things at the same time. She changed that. Now I can spend some days relaxing, (though I don't sleep still) and not feel guilty of the things I didn't do. My maternity leave also gave me opportunities to be a wife to my husband again, something I rarely did since I got pregnant. It makes me feel good that I can again attend to his needs.
Has motherhood changed me? Yes it did, but in most aspects, for the better.

Before I gave birth i wasn't really the type that takes a lot of pictures. Sure, I love good pics, and I've had my share of great pics, especially those taken from the prenups and the weddings, and pics of our trips together (me and hubby). I have pics grabbed from friends whenever there are special occasions. Graduation pictures I paid for (of course). When I was 9 months preggy, though, I bought a digicam because I was thinking that I wanted to record Jessica's moments. True enough, its been very useful, taking pictures of her almost everyday. I realize I also wanted to pose with her. hehehe... more to see who she looks like as she grows older. hehehe...

At 2 months and 5 days old, this is Jessica:

And this is Jessica with her daddy:


So, does she look like her dad?

4:32

awake... at 4:32am... waiting for jessica to fall into deep sleep so i can put her down.... haaay.... no complaints though.... i love watching her sleep din e.

20 posts

ever since my wordpress site has closed down i haven't really blogged as much as i'd like. been wanting to start blogging for pay already but I need to make 20 posts pa pala. howell. have to work on that first, as I only have 8. hehe...

anyways, things are doing better at home and i feel less stressed. i can now leave the house more often with the yaya already here. buti naman talaga. right now i can still feel the stress from the past month, something that i hope would go away when i get myself a massage next week. sana... sana...

and now that i get the chance to leave the house, i get to test how much time i can spend time away from my baby. just thinking about being gone for the whole day makes me so sad. its as if i still can't take it. especially now that she's a bit more interactive. she can now make sounds as if talking to me and smile and shout. of course no one understands what it means but then again its so nice to be talking to her just the same. hay....

also i'm slowly finding out that my yaya is a bit on the chismosa side pala.... well, she does tell me naman where she's been, but i guess it comes with the curiosity of the new environment, because when i introduced her this morning to the yaya of my friend here in the apartment, and then left for a while with hubby to have the car repaired, she made friends with the yaya pala and went there with jessica. i just hope she stays within the apartment compound lang.

like i said, hubby and i had the car repaired. funny because its our first time to bring the car to a shop. hubby panicked kasi whenever we pass humps on the road there's this clanking sound of metal. me, i think its just something "sumasayad", while hubby and his brother is soo panicking na. especially his brother. geez. turns out its just some sort of muffler bracket that's sira already. so we had them replaced already, cost us 300bucks. and hubby withdrew pa 5000. bwahahahaha.... so funny tlaga.

will go to the office (actually lunch at rockwell with officemates pala) for michelle's despedida. hay. will miss that girl!

less stressed

with the coming of our yaya, Marites, I'm hoping I'd be having less stressed these days. So far so good. They are not up to (my) speed when it comes to housework, pero aren't we all unsatisfied at some point? Syempre we can't impose too much on them, di sila kasing palaisip kesa sa tin. and they definitely don't have that sense of time that we people in the metro have.

I am thankful of having her though, so fas she's been good with Jessica and that matters the most. So long as she's honest, does her share of the housework, and more importantly takes good care of my daughter, then that's fine with me.

finally

after exactly a month with no yaya, we now have one. its really a big relief for me, everyday, i feel my energy level is going down with each passing day. yeah, i get more things done lately than i did before and i still manage to be a doting, loving mom to jessica, but other things get ignored. i constantly feel sleepy and then my husband is always feeling left out. and he is a bit jealous that i have no time and energy for him. and i constantly have lower back pains, which i promise myself a spa treatment and at least 30 minutes in a hot sauna to relieve me of all the "lamig", which i am feeling constantly in my arms and back. so yes.... the yaya/housekeeper is a relief. i am hoping that jessica will take to her though, so far all is well.
i left jessica to her this morning because i need to go out lunchtime and i need to see that she can at least handle it. and everything seems fine. she's yet to get jessica's moodswings though, my baby gets all suplada when she's sleepy, she only wants to be held upright so she can see things. she wants to stay outside sometimes, well, at least just outside the front door.
jessica celebrated her 2nd month yesterday. i just cooked some fettucine carbonara (for long life). she's grown so much healthier now and i'm happy for that. seems the milk makes her grow big. teehee... she has some habits now and some are good, some are bad. she's awake longer during the day. at night its alternating between so-good-doesn't-cry-at-all and tantrums when she can't fall asleep easily. hubby is actually claiming that's he's awake whenever we are. yeah, right! LOL
makes me kinda sad though, when i realize we only have a month left till i'm due back to the office. and then my days will be spent again working, and i'll miss my little girl and all the milestones she would have whilst i'm working.... that makes me sad. very sad.... haaay... but of course it comes with the realization that i am not ready to give up my career (whatever it is right now...) and my independence, well, not really financial independence, but knowing i have worth professionally.
howell... seems i can now post more frequently since i get some spare time for me now. and i 'm yet to spend it on sleep!
am leaving you with some 2-month old pics of jessica. hope you like it!

relaxing in her sling-turned-duyan (look at the pata!)

bonding moments with mommy

baby's first fever

my poor baby. jessica's been having tantrums the whole day. we came home from the clinic in UST after giving her vaccine shots for DPT and HiB and we kinda anticipated already that she'll be having fevers. Bought calpol already. Ayun na nga, she wasn't feeling well the whole day probably because of the pain in her thighs. Then come late afternoon her temp was up already. she cries differently pala when she's not feeling well. kakaawa. If only you can get na lang her pain so she'll be ok. Hope she feels better na by tonight....

financial woes

a few days ago there was this news article on the cost of living of Filipinos. It said there that a Filipino family of five members can be sustained with a monthly income of Php 8,200+. That includes food and the other basic needs. To that I can only say, good luck doing that. I mean, even if the family is just surviving on basic needs, its nearly impossible to live with that income in a month especially with children around.

Just a while ago, I called up the clinic of Jessica's pedia to inquire on how much the vaccine for DPT/P/HIB will cost. It turns out it was a whopping 2,900! My gosh!!!! It made me think twice again on shifting Jessica's pedia to another. My MIL was mentioning this well-baby clinic in UST and frankly, I'm quite convinced that we go there instead. The vaccines there are supposed to be free. Thing is, while we can come up with the money for her vaccines tomorrow, i'm thinking these next months it would be harder and harder to come out with that budget, e vaccines are scheduled every month.

We still haven't fully recovered from our financial burdens these past few months, with hubby not getting any salary from the business they started (since January), we've had an accumulation of credit card payables the past few months. Suffice it to say that right now, I am sooo very highly leveraged. It's going to take some time to pay off, and I haven't quite made out another payment plan for it for the next few months, last i did it in January, hoping to pay off all my debts in 2 years, well, it got worse because of our situation. haaayyy... Admittedly, the past few months there were really a lot of things going that required cash: car insurance (comprehensive), my final semesters' tuition fees, baby stuff, graduation, and then my hospital bill. Its been really rough. Hubby is now paying off his own payables from his mom and sister, so the next few months he'll have some extra for himself at least, while me, am not expecting any extras at all, I have to many credit card bills to pay, and it's going to be a while before I can pay it off. Howell...

Which reminds me, Jessica's baptism is coming up in a few weeks, and I do intend for it to be a meaningful celebration. Not grand, since I'm only inviting a couple of really close friends who are going to be Jessica's godparents, closest family, and some of our godparents in the wedding. And its going to be a simple celebration too, just the ceremony at Edsa Shrine and merienda at shakeys galleria. Like I said, simple does it.

long delayed post

been meaning to blog for so many days now. but whenever i'm just about ready to do so, something comes up, like a new chore or the baby calling, or some other reason. like yesterday just when i was about to blog, the internet connection was gone, because of the landline was repaired. stupid bundle, if you ask me.

so now i'm hoping i can finish this post without any more distractions... :-)

anyways, to update. well, there are so many updates I don't quite know where to start.

first, the HOUSEKEEPER....
i don't remember if i posted here that the nanny we got for jessica left us after three weeks. she said she wanted to join her cousins in this laundry shop where they work. and since i can't stop her anyway, i let her go. this is not my fourth week alone without the nanny. Its hard, though the bonding with jessica is more than what I had expected. I feel I really used my maternity leave wisely to have spent this much time with her. Its only the stress sometimes of still having to do the housework, and I end up so tired by nighttime, though lately i've also been able to adjust, i guess. but now, we really need to have that nanny, since its just over a month till I get back to work and I need for the nanny to be used to jessica, otherwise we'll have a problem. See, my daughter does not look kindly at everyone. she sometimes wants someone in particular to hold her: namely, me or her dad. I need the one month left to work up an attachment to my daughter and the nanny. So i'm really hoping, by next week, she (nanny) will be with us already.

second, JESSICA...
Well, she's grown quite healthy already. though i'm not exclusively bfeeding her I make sure I still get some milk for her, at least to work up her antibodies a bit. it still puzzles me though that sometimes she wakes up with a cold-like sound, though by midday its gone. she won't also sleep without the A/C since its too hot for her... will ask about this on the next pedia visit. Anyways, here's some itsy bitsy trivia on her now:

- she's learning the art of Tantrums... yikes! sometimes she gets all cranky and cries and cries and cries with her super loud voice. I call it the Tiyanak mode, since her voice is soooo LOUD sometimes it can scare you (like is she sick, feeling pain, or something) with the way she cries.after she settles down though, she just sleeps.
- she's already starting to see.... she can follow a person with her eyes. I don't think she can focus that much yet, but she does know how to follow me with her eyes. can't wait till i'm much more sure that she can already see.
- she already smiles. though its still one in a few hours, seeing her smile can take out all the stress i have in me....
- We now spend less on nappy's and baby wipes. Ever since she got through the phase of using like 15 nappies in a day, its been a breather for us financially. she used to use up so much diapers and baby wipes with all her poop (like 4-5 times a day), but its now normalized to only about 2-3 times. and the baby wipes we can use around 1 in a week now, whereas before we use up 2-3 packs in a week. whew. milk consumption has gone up though, with a 900-g can being used up in a 6 days. good thing that one is free.

Just this morning I had to run out for 5 minutes and left her at home (bad mommy)... because I got a call from hubby that the caravan (the ones usually pulled by a carabao) was nearby and I might get a "duyan" there. so i ran out (but ran back immediately after too). I got her a "duyan" already, the one made from rope (quite sosy if you ask me) for 500 pesos (from 560...) its nice though its quite expensive, but the rattan ones were quite crude and I keep thinking she could get scratches there. Also got her a "Banig" for the crib, for 60 pesos.

Ok... what else. Oh, am already working on her upcoming baptism on August 5. So far, the venue for the reception and the ceremony are reserved, already have her outfit, and the guestlist is on the works. I just need to work on the souvenirs if ever I'd still have any. here's her invite, which is just DIY. its better to have it like this though since I can just email it to those I won't be able to give a hard copy to.

everyone's saying she's soo cute here. hehehe... complete with headband to. she is too cute to be true, right??? :-)

oki, guess this is all for now, hope I can get around to making more posts in the coming days.

motherhood kwento

oops. haven't visited for a while, not that busy as in not so many house chores BUT the baby takes up quite a lot of time. there are quite a number of days when she wants to be carried a lot. and i mean a lot. like hours at a time. today she's pretty quiet though. hehe... and look at how much she's grown already!

pretty jessica

my bad mood face

isn't she cute in her matching headband? hehehe...
still no yaya though, and believe me its really hard having to handle both the household chores and the baby at the same time. Kinda hoping we get a housekeeper soon, of course I need some time also to get to know her and how she handles the baby. hay....

Seat Cushions with Style

When my husband and I moved to our apartment, we immediately bought a sofa for our living room. Unfortunately, the style we chose only had lime green fabric, the type that accumulates dirt over time. To prevent this we kept the plastic wrapping intact, and instead put a blanket and bedsheet as seat covers. I resolved to call a shop that personalizes seat cushions and cushion covers. That was 2.5 years ago and I still haven’t had the time to call. Not that I find the bedsheet and the blanket stylish enough for the sofa, but time constraits with work and other activities have prevented me from making that phonecall so someone will visit me at home to take the measurements.

Seat cushions are a great way of adding variety to your home. What more, it reflects your personality. Sunbrella Seat Cushions offers a wide range of styles for chair cushions, chaise lounge cushions, seat cushions, bench pads, ottoman cushions and throw pillows or create your own custom shaped cushions using their new Cushion Designer customization system. Simply follow the steps on the website and you'll be on your way to creating custom made cushions in the Sunbrella furniture fabric of your choice! Why not get yourself a matching patio umbrella or market umbrella? Your neighbors would certainly be envious of your stylish outdoor furniture.

Beach house dreams

A lot of Filipinos want to go to the US to work (and hopefully to live there). Personally I would only want to go to the United States for a vacation. And while I’m there, I also want to check out Mexico. Now, supposing I had a lot of extra cash (like when I win the lottery, perhaps?), then I’d be more than willing to invest in Baja Real Estate even if I don’t live there. I dunno if I’m allowed to buy any property there, but nevertheless, I’d really like to own a place there. What I’d really love, though, is to have a beach house. Yup, a beach house of my dreams. I get to watch those in the movies and I would like to experience always having a breeze whenever I walk in the beach, and the sound of the ocean to lull me to sleep at night. A romantic dinner by the beach with my husband every once in a while to rekindle romance. Taking a walk with the kids in the sand, and watching them make sandcastles while I sit under the sun with a good novel in hand. Hmmm… it may be too far-fetched right now, but who knows! I may just end up fulfilling these dreams (hopefully by the time I turn 50!).

leaving my WP blog

ok, so I'm bad. I don't listen to those Terms of Service Stuff. I checked my blog this morning and found out it has been suspended for violation of the Terms of Service. Okie.... guilty as charged since I enrolled the blog in PayperPost and ReviewMe. Just when I was starting to earn.... Grrr... And right now I have no way of retrieving my previous posts. And now, before I can enroll in Payperpost, I'd have to have some 20 posts. Double drat. No I have to work double-time in posting. Add to that, I'm still not fully satisfied with the look of this blog. Hayyy... so sad. I guess I really need to work on this today. Like, make some 20 posts today so I can enrol the blog already. I badly, badly need some extra money, you see.
Ooops, my bad.... so, welcome BACK to my new blog (still under construction though).