Friends!

I met the most wonderful people during college and I am proud to say that we never lost touch of each other through the years. Especially now that I moved here in Manila with my husband, weekends are almost always with one or two of these super fun people.

Last friday, my bestfriend from Singapore arrived so we could shop for baby clothes in Divisoria. She is also pregnant with their first baby and we are both due on October with only 2 weeks in between, me going first. We went to Divi at 7am and we were done by 10am. We then went home to freshen up and off we went to SM San Lazaro so we could meet up with her husband's family to hand over the pasalubong from her husband.

Our college friends then threw a baby shower for the both of us at the Trader's Hotel at 6pm. It was a super fun get together, filled with endless chika and laughter. Too bad, some of our friends weren't there to celebrate with us. We went home around 11pm, tired but happy.

The next day, Saturday, May 29, the last single female in our group got married to another PLMayer who is also our classmate in college. It was a reunion of all sorts! Our group got together again, we were complete this time! We met up with other classmates from college and had a great time getting reacquainted.

We had a blast at the photo booth during the wedding reception. We didn't mind the long line as long as we get our picture taken.

I was tired at the end of the day and got the reprimanded by an angry husband the day after the event because I've been coughing all day. That's what I got from all the lakwatsa I did for the past two days and from laughing my heart out with the most wonderful people.

I am sick now but I am happy. :)

Here are some pictures from the photo booth during my friends' wedding:

Lizz Buenavetura's May Giveaway!

Know more about Lizz Buenaventura's giveaway here.

This month's contest is all about Nails, Lips, Skin and More! With this prizes, who wouldn't want to join??

At stake are the following:

1) Three bottles of Johnson & Johnson Body Care products: UV Lotion, Daily Calming Lotion, and Lasting Moisture Body Lotion-- all are full sized (200ml!)
2) GlutaMAX Lightening Lotion
3) Two boxes of GlutaMAX Glutathione whitening tablets
4) Maybelline Great Lash Mascara (in blackest black)
5) Rimmel Volume Boost Lipgloss in Innocent (my fav shade!)
6) Four mini lipglosses from Four East (red, brown, light pink, and gold)
7) Five mini nail polished from Four East (in various shades)

I only have to answer this question: "What is your favorite summer event/activity?"

My favorite would have to be our family's annual summer outing. We usually rent a private resort where we could all get together and have fun under the sun. It's great to spend time with the different generations and to see our family getting bigger with lots of kids to play with.

Look what came in the mail

Fellow n@wie, Tintin dela Cruz, has been too kind to give away some stuff of her daughter and I have been lucky to have been picked! She recently gave away 4 swaddling blankets and I got mine today. I picked the yellow one because I still do not know the gender of our little one and yellow will suit either boy or girl.  

Like Tintin said, the swaddling blanket that she gave away will serve as a trial blanket if baby wants to be swaddled. If my baby wants to then that will be the time that I'll purchase a couple or so more swaddling blankets. For the meantime, the Kiddopotamus blanket that Tintin gave me would do.

Thanks so much, Sis!

Pregnancy Update

• It feels like my tummy is stretched to its limits but I still have more weeks to go and I can't imagine how my tummy will grow anymore.
• My appetite has gone up and I think my cravings are returning. I'm currently craving for anything strawberry flavored.
• It's getting harder everyday to get up from the bed. My tummy is like the size of a watermelon and it's getting heavier each day.
• Little one is moving around a lot. Usually after dinner, before I sleep and around 4 in the morning.
• I'm sweating a lot. Probably because of the heat. (Gosh, we were at 38 degrees today here in Manila!) I'm taking two baths a day, sometimes three. 
• There were down times when I get pretty emotional and extra sensitive like when the time that hubby forgot to kiss me goodbye when he went to work. I even cried over this one. Hehe!

(Un)Special Boarding Area of the LRT Yellow Line

 If you have ridden the LRT before you must have noticed that the first door on the first coach is reserved for the senior citizens, pregnant women and people with kids in tow. It was done this way to avoid these "special" people to be squeezed like sardines along with the rest of the commuters of the LRT.

Last week, me and hubby attended a birthday party in UN Avenue. We had to ride the LRT from where we live to the venue. Going there was never a problem but the ride home was the ultimate. The special boarding area was packed with people and I do mean packed as in literally everyone is stepping on each others toes. I thought this area was meant to make the ride of the "special people" less difficult. The security guard on duty on that train still allowed people to get on even if it is obvious that there is no space to move anymore. That was the worst train ride I ever experienced!

Or so I thought. Today, I met with my mom and aunt at SM Manila and again had to ride the LRT to get there. It seems that they had revised the policy of the special boarding area and reserved the first door to senior citizens and the second door to pregnant women and those with kids. I told the LRT employee who informed me that it's a good thing they did something like this para hindi na siksikan. 

But, when I got on the train thru the second door. The people were mixed! Even the non-pregnant women were there so there was no difference at all with the volume of people. Siksikan pa din! It turned out that there was rope or whatsoever separating the commuters who got on thru the third door from the ones who got on thru the second door. 

I raised this issue with the security guard. I told him what's the use of allotting a separate area for the pregnant women if there is no division naman from the third door to the second door. Nonsense, di ba? Halo halo pa din ang mga tao and even the non-pregnant women who were seated won't even stand up to give their seats to the pregnant ones or to those with kids. It really did not help at all. Nasiksik pa din kaming mga pregnant women which shouldn't be the case given that that area was supposed to be a "Special Boarding Area".

Special boarding area that turned out to be UNspecial after all.

Great Article

I read this article from the NewlywedsAtWork message board and it made a lot of sense to me. I hope you find this article a good read, too.

Narinig mo na ba ito: "Libre lang ang mangarap."

Pag mukhang walang direksyon ang buhay mo, sasabihin nila,"wala ka man lang
kaambi-ambisyon!"
Pag andami-dami mong gustong gawin, sasabihin naman nila,"ambisyoso ka!" Ayos
ba?

May mga nagtatagumpay sa buhay, may sumisikat at nalalaos, may gumaganda ang
buhay pansamantala ngunit pagkatapos ay bumabalik sa dati at kung minsan ay mas
masahol pa.
Tignan mo yung kapitbahay mong nag Saudi o kaya'y pumunta sa Dubai at Italy o
kaya si ate sa Hongkong. Wag na tayo lumayo… Musta kaya ang buhay sa call center
sa bandang Libis o Ortigas? O kaya yung teller ng banko sa Makati . Ano ba ang
kasalukuyang sinasalamin ng buhay nila. Kaginhawaan? Kasaganahan? O kahirapan pa
din.

Marahil marami ang nangarap sa buhay. Kahit siguro yung kaibigan mong ewan,
marahil ay may pangarap din ngunit libre nga ba ito? At kung libre, bakit madami
pa din ang hindi nakakaabot sa kanilang mga pangarap. Kasya ba ang take home pay
mo? Musta ang credit card mo? Max up na yung pangatlo?!

Palagay ko hindi libre ang mangarap. Tulad na lang ng kalayaan, subukan mong
isalin sa ingles ang salitang ito – freedom. Libre nga ba ito? Kung libre ito,
bakit may Ninoy, bakit may Evelio Javier, at madami pang nagbubuwis ng buhay?
Tsk tsk. Nakakatuwa ang paggamit ng ating mga salita.

May kakilala akong nag-Saudi. Nakapag pundar ng bahay, umabot sa mahigit isang
milyon ang nahawakang pera. Tuloy tuloy na sana pero nalulong sa droga, nawala
lahat ang kabuhayan. Nangarap ba siya? Marahil. Pero somewhere along the way,
nawala ang focus niya.
Tapos si Manong Ed, istokwa, bata pa tumira na sa palengke. Sabi sa kanila,
"black sheep" ng pamilya. Di na inintindi ng magulang. Ang batang palaboy-laboy
sa palengke ng Surigao, kamuntik naging sundalo, kamuntik din nakatapos ng
engineering at nag-mekaniko. Nasaan na siya ngayon? Nag-abroad na, tangay ang
limang kaibigan at kapamilya. Saan kaya niya hinugot ang kanyang lakas upang
makaalis sa palengkeng naging kanlungan niya habang siya ay nag-iisa?

Listen, yung nanay ng friend ko at age 44, nag-nursing. Saan na siya ngayon? Nag
to-tour na. She has all the money to do just that. Ano! matanda ka na? Eto isa
pa. Yung lola ng friend ko, nag retire at age 65. Bumalik sa skul, kumuha ng
Law. Sabi ng mga apo at anak, "Matanda na kayo. Pahinga na lang kayo sa
bahay." Sagot niya, "Ubingak pay! (bata pa ako)." Nakinig ba siya? Hindi! Ayun
pumasa sa bar, lawyer na ang lola! Whew!

Ano, hihirit ka pa?

Minsan sa isang seminar, lumapit sa akin ang isang clerk, may konting luha at
lungkot sa kanyang mga mata. Sabi niya, "Labing pitong taon na akong clerk, wala
pang nangyari sa buhay ko!" Ako ay namangha at nabagabag. Anlalim nun ah! I got
scared. Sabi ko, "Anong ginawa mo? Madami namang seminar na pwedeng puntahan,
libro na puedeng basahin o kaya panibagong skills na pwedeng pag-aralan." Ang
kanyang tugon ay nakakalungkot. Sabi niya, "Busy ako sa work eh!" She was
practically imprisoned sa lamesa niya for 17 years! Kaya ang mas malalim na
tanong, "Are we busy with the right things? Does it make us grow? Does it make
us a better person? May mas magandang pupuntahan ba ang ginagawa natin sa
susunod na mga taon?"

Ang karayom, pag tinusok sa 'yo ay masakit. Mararamdaman mo ito. Kaya ang
karayom itinali ko sa isang steel rod at itinusok sa dibdib niya, at sinabing,
"Tignan mo yang isang officemate mo. Dati clerk din siya, ngayon Systems
Administrator na. Pareho kayo ng simula diba?"

The desire to dream starts from the heart, it is a daily decision to be where
you want to be. It is owning it. `Tol, wag ka umasa sa mana mo o kaya sa
gobyerno o sa Boss mo. At the end of the day, commodity ka lang. Ang buhay kasi
is buy and sell kaya dapat alamin mo ang tunay mong halaga baka na
syo-shortchange ka! Bilhin ka ng boss mo sa halagang Php10,000 tapos ibebenta ka
sa halagang Php100,000. Yan ang harap harapang prostitusyon!
Ask yourself. Masaya ka ba where you are? Ok ka na ba diyan? kumusta lineage ng
pamilya mo? Is that what you want to see in your generation? Sabi ng isang guard
sa akin noon. Junie, security guard na lolo ko. Security guard din tatay ko,
kaya security guard na din ako. Sabi ko, "Ayaw mong maging chief of
police?" But really, kung yung nagdaang henerasyon sa pamilya mo e puno ng
kakulangan, would you even dream and act to change it? O you resign to it and
say, "Eto ang kapalaran ko."
Simulan mo. Minsan masarap maging discontent. Wag mong isiping bata ka pa o
matanda ka na o may kakulangan ka. Ala akong pinag-aralan eh. Mahirap lang kami.
Wala kaming pera. O nagpapadala ka sa mga taong nagsasabing, "Sama-sama na lang
tayo dito!" This one really scares me! O nagsasabing, "Ambisyoso ka!" `Tol, at
the end of the day, di naman sila ang magpapakain ng pamilya mo eh. Try mong
utangan sila. It' not about lacking in resources, it is about resourcefulness.

I started losing friends when I realize may mga taong excess baggage sa buhay
natin. Minsan may nakilala ako, sobrang nega. Sala sa init sala sa lamig. Laging
may problemang dala. Minsang kasama ko sabi niya, "Bat di mo ako kinakausap?"
Sagot ko naman, "There is nothing good to say!" Lagi akong nagtatanong, "Is this
person going to make a good influence sa buhay ko?" Syempre, yan din ang lagi
kong tanong sa sarili ko.

Choose your friends. An eagle can not fly if he is dressed like a turkey. And
you can't go to the same school as the duck's school.

Tignan mo if they have grown in the past few years kasi may tinatawag na Law of
Association. Are they excited about life or they see it as drudgery? Are you in
survival mode or is your life accelerating? Pareho ba maxed up credit card niyo?
Do you hear more complaints than movements? Ang bakasyon ba mas
pinagpla-planuhan kaysa sa buhay? Is happy hour better than growing together?
There must be what they call the next level kasi ang buhay hindi dress
rehearsal. Kaya if you see yourself in the bar every weekend with your friends,
you better run away from them!

Start within you. Change the way you see things. Look at your life as a new
canvass. Choose the colors! Wag mo nang balikan yung nakaraan. Di mo na mababago
yun. Yung ngayon at bukas, may magagawa ka pa. Dapat may internal change muna.
You have to start with your character. Be a better person everyday. Lahat ng
gagawin mo should have an impact hindi lang sa buhay mo kundi sa mga taong nasa
paligid mo. Everyday decision yan.

Pag-align na yung character mo, pag tama yang puso mo, everything will come into
focus. Mas magaan ang buhay mo. Then yung sinasabi nilang, the whole universe
will collide to give you what you deserve will definitely happen. Remember, the
universe respond to deserved, not need, not want.

Finally, stretch yourself and your life like a rubber band. You will never know
what your potentials are until you stretch yourself hard enough it's gonna break
you. Don't let anyone live your life and drive you where they please. Like a
boss with a stick and a carrot dangling at the other end. The only person who
can tell you na hanggang diyan ka lang is yourself so the competition is not
between you and the other person. It's the devil inside you that doesn't want
you to grow.

Make a decision to change wherever you are. Don't wait for someday. Someday,
someday, someday. Remove that from your vocabulary and say NOW IS THE TIME TO
CHANGE!

Sama sama tayong mangarap. Mahal ang mangarap pero halika, I'll walk with you.
Ano, kelan tayo magsisimula?

You already know everything you need to know about success. All you have to do
is to put the remote control down, scoop that bag of chips away, get out from
the couch and do something!

Cute Hand-Stitched Bears for Souvenirs

I know it's too early to start preparing for the baby's christening. We don't even know yet if our Little One is a boy or a girl. But, I can't help myself and I tend to overthink things, make lists and plan ahead.

When I was staying at my parents house last April, my Mom and I thought we could start making the souvenirs ahead of time. By DIY-ing the favors we might save a lot of money and make the favors as personalized as possible. We thought why not make one of those mini rag dolls we usually see at the malls. Surely, there is a template somewhere over the web that is ready to be downloaded.

As I was browsing through the Martha Stewart website, I chanced upon one entry on the crafts page. Little hand-stitched bears!! These are even cuter than the mini rag dolls and what's even better is that it is really easy to make. I can make larger ones for the godparents and smaller ones for the rest of the guests. With more or less 5 more months to wait till the baby is due, I sure have a lot of time on my hands. 

So excited! I have a new project to complete, yay!

Just look at how cute these bears will turn out. With the names of the godparents hand-stitched to each of them, who wouldn't adore these?!

How to do this? Please follow this link: Hand-Stitched Bears

Wishing for a Few Things

Hubby and I thought we'll be able to know our Little One's gender last May 8 when we went to see my OB for our monthly prenatal. Dra. Eva said it would be better to wait at least for another month just to be sure. So, hopefully we'll know if we are having a boy or a girl by June 19th.

I can't wait till my friends organize a baby shower for me. I am wishing it will be scheduled in time for my also-pregnant-bestfriend Mhy's arrival on the 28th so we could have it done at the same time.

Speaking of which, Mhy asked me to create a list of things that we both need to buy for the baby. She will only be here for 3 days and will be needing to shop for maternity clothes and baby stuff. I already created a list and even searched my fave yahoo group, NewlywedsAtWork, for more tips on the essentials. 

I won't be putting the list here as it is pretty long. Instead, I am posting a few stuff that I am wishing for my baby and myself. Hopefully, our friends will get the hint for the baby shower. Hehe.

Avent Isis IQ Uno Breast Pump

Philips AVENT BPA Free Newborn Starter Set

Carter's Crib Beddings

Carter's Diaper Bag

Nursing Pillow

A set of Receiving Blankets

Bumbo Seat

That's all for now. I still need to do more online reading and research as to what else do we need. 

One Year After

On this day at 10 in the morning, we were standing before an altar committing ourselves to honor, respect and love each other for as long we live. We celebrated this commitment with our families and friends and they have been witnesses to our love for each other.

Now, one year after, not so much have changed. We are still overflowing with love for each other as we have been this same day one year ago. A love that is now extended and multiplied a hundred times over for this Little One we are now expecting. 

I know that our lives will change soon but I am praying that we continue loving each other as much we do today. 

I love you more each day and I promise to continue honoring you, respecting you and loving you for as long as I live.

Getting Ready

I'm almost 5 months pregnant and by now I already have a boxful of baby clothes given by my cousins and my sister-in-law. There are more baby clothes waiting to be handed down to me from my brother's baby. I don't really mind getting hand-me-downs since the baby will outgrow most of the clothes anyway. But, I would still buy some cute things for my baby like rompers, blankets, lots and lots of cloth diapers, some nice little outfits for going out. All that can wait, at least, until we know the baby's gender. Hopefully, we'll know by tomorrow when we visit my Gyne for our monthly prenatal check-up. "Please, please Little One, be cooperative and let Mommy and Daddy see our litte boy/girl."

For now, here are some of the baby clothes given to us: