The Photoshoot

I know, I’m so sorry but I just remembered I haven’t posted some photos from Johan’s pre-birthday photoshoot.

It was unplanned, really. My sister, the photographer, just confirmed on Thursday night that we’ll be having the shoot by Saturday. I was panicking because I don’t know any venues here in Cavite where we could do an outdoor shoot.

So, I sent an SOS message to the N@W egroup and thankfully, I got replies within a few minutes. I got two leads, one is a park along the side of a main road – it is pretty with waterfalls and benches and animal statues – but what made me say no to this is the pollution. It is literally along the side of the road with just an estimated two-three feet distance from the traffic. Not very healthy for Johan who was still nursing a bit of colds that day.

So, I decided to have the shoot at my second lead - at the back of the De la Salle University Medical Center. This place is shaded with tall trees and although the grass is not thick enough to allow Johan to crawl sans a blanket, it’s a pretty good venue for me and the photographer.

Here are some photos:


 
 
















 







Next time, I’m going to make sure that Johan slept at least an hour before we do the shoot. He’s been really fussy that day because he didn’t take his afternoon nap, I think he’s too excited knowing that we’ll be going out.

Next post would probably be after Johan’s Super Party on Saturday! Busy, busy, busy!

Style Attempt’s 3rd Giveaway

Style Attempt is giving away fab prizes from her equally fab sponsors for her 3rd Giveaway! Up for grabs for the first prize winner are the following:

1. A top from Nothing Less Awesome
   
2. A lootbag from SM-GTW
   
3. One bottle of Lorys Hair Cream (1kg)
   
4. A copy of MAVEN Magazine
   
5. Accessories from Mia Casa

Second and Third Prize will get the following:

1. A copy of MAVEN Magazine
   
2. Accessory from Mia Casa

Giveaway ends September 30th. To join, click here.

Lucky Me Post 4 – Curved!

Have you heard of the new Close Up Fire-Freeze? Are you using it? If yes, then why not share your long lasting freshness experience on Close Up Philippines Facebook page here and get the chance to win one of the five super cool prizes they’re giving away every week.

I learned about the contest just as Close Up announced it on Facebook. I joined on the first week with only two entries and forgot to send more, well, I totally forgot about the contest because I was too busy taking care of the sick Johan on the week that the first set of winners are to be announced.

I was surprised when a friend tagged me and congratulated me for something I seem to have won and when I clicked on the link, I was taken to this page:

Please excuse the grammatical error as I failed to notice that, I was too excited to submit it

But, yes, you read that right - “Shirley Mae Yboa-Tabora won a Blackberry Curve!”

Skeptic? Don’t be anymore because the Blackberry is in good hands, my hands! I went to their office today to personally claim it.

Amanda of Close Up Philippines is simply too kind to take my photo with my new Blackberry Curve and a certificate. It was nice meeting you, Amanda!

So, if you want to be as lucky as me, try the new Close Up Fire-Freeze and share how great  your experience is by liking the FB page of Close Up Philippines here, go to the “The Fire-Freeze Experience” tab on the left and start sharing! Who knows, you could be the next one to bring home a brand new Blackberry Curve!

Goodnight for now as BBM is waiting for me!

Of course, the little boy gets to experience the BB curve as well – center stage as my wallpaper

Thanks again, Close Up Philippines!

The Last Six Days

I’m sure are going to be hectic with last minute details to finish, RSVPs to be followed up, bookings to be followed up as well. But, in the end I hope this little boy more than anybody else enjoys every little thing we did for his birthday.



A few more sleeps, Johan and it’ll be your super party already! Love you, baby!

More photos on Johan’s pre-birthday photo shoot coming up in the next post.

Lucky Me Post 3 – Naturally White

Oh how I wish God gave me a natural white complexion but nevertheless there’s always Olay.

Keigh Jalbuena, the pretty and sweet lady behind Delishoes Servings recently had a birthday giveaway on her blog. She had it in six installments. Yes, she had six great giveaways for her birthday and I was so lucky to win the one that I coveted the most, Olay products!

I won 1000 pesos worth of Olay (those in the photo above), though I haven’t claimed it yet because on the day that Keigh and I were supposed to meet, I had to cancel on the last minute because we had to bring Johan to the hospital. Another meet up was scheduled but this time, Keigh will be meeting up with my sister instead. I hope to meet you in the future, Keigh, to thank you personally for these.

Well, I’m sure my mom and my MIL will be the ones who will take most of my loot. Oh well, sharing is fun, I’d be happy to have at least the soaps so please leave them for me, okay? Oh and RK, you can have the Foaming Cleanser as a thank you for meeting up with Keigh.

Watch out for the last installment of these Lucky Me posts, I’m sure your jaws will drop with what I won.

Izzoshop x Plethoricnonsense Giveaway

Angel of Plethoric Nonsense is giving away the following courtesy of Izzo Shop:

1 Molly satchel in paisley for your DSLRs and bulky cameras

3 digipurses for your digicams

Click here to join her give away! Contest ends October 22 at 8 pm.

Lucky Me Post 2 - Hydrated

I’ve been using Nivea since I was a kid. I remember Mama putting on Nivea Creme on our bodies especially on our elbows and knees because according to her, Nivea will keep our skin soft and younger looking.

A few weeks ago, Nivea Philippines created an app on their Facebook page named “Glamboard Express”. This app will allow you to create a look using Mango apparel, accessories and shoes. Nivea Philippines will then choose one winner per day that would receive NIVEA Express Hydration Lotion Goodie Bags and one winner weekly that gained the most number of votes that will win 3,000 pesos worth of shopping money from Mango.

I joined on the first week with my entry “Sassy Sunday”.



This entry made me win a goodie bag from Nivea which included these:



Thank you so much, Nivea Philippines!

To know more on the latest products and promos of Nivea Philippines head on over to the Facebook page here.

Lucky Me Post 1 - Addicted to Skin Cravings

The title of the post does not pertain to a certain brand of instant noodles. It means me being lucky not once but four times! So expect four servings, er, installments of Lucky Me’s.


Last Saturday, this huge box arrived at my door.



I was so excited to see what’s inside and immediately opened it. The 3-way Cargo box contained this paper bag:



Which has all of these inside!

Skin Cravings Body Scrub and Body Lotion in all variants: Cranberry Yoghurt, Dewberry Yoghurt, Strawberry Yoghurt, Choc Mint Kisses and Strawberry Cream

Everything smell so good you could eat them! This is my prize for joining Skin Cravings’ Facebook contest “Fan of the Hour” wherein there will be three questions every day and Skin Cravings will be choosing one winner per question. I joined on September 13th on Question number 2 for the day.

My answer was:

Upon opening the box, I immediately grabbed the Cranberry Yoghurt Scrub and headed to the bathroom. It was so creamy and smells really, really good. Did I say it smells so good you could eat it? Well, really it is! I feel so clean and fresh and yummy after each bath.

If you want to be as lucky as me, go to Skin Cravings’ Facebook page here and join their fan of the hour contest.

Almost There

In two weeks’ time all the mess, hard work and late nights from the many months of preparation are all going to pay off. According to my sidebar it’ll only be:

 

Just a few more days and we’ll be having one “Super” party for our little boy and I am so excited!

So little man, let’s go and get over this nasty cough and colds of yours because you’ve got one cute outfit waiting to be worn.


Two more weeks to go!

Please get well soon

It’s been two weeks already since Johan started having cough and colds. We already gave him Salbutamol and Ambroxol on the first week and moved to Amoxicillin on the second. All to no avail. I was so scared to sleep last night because there were a few times when Johan coughs and he vomits and it frightens me that I’d be sleeping deeply I won’t hear him if in case he gags.

So, we brought him today to a new pediatrician and he was given a new set of medicines and was advised to be nebulized at the hospital’s pulmonary lab. I was worried because when we brought Johan to the ER last week, he refused it and wailed. This time though was different, the nurse who assisted us at the pulmo lab is great with Johan. She kept on talking to him in a soothing voice and played with him till he was at ease with her. Well, Johan still cried but at least we were able to finish 1 Duavent nebule in 10 minutes.

He should also be nebulized every six hours for three days at home. I immediately sent a text brigade to my relatives who might have a nebulizer we could borrow for three days but apparently nobody owns one. I was thinking of traveling to Manila and buy one in Bambang where surely it would be cheaper but I don’t want to leave Johan at home and there was a transport strike scheduled for today which might make commuting hard. So hubby and I decided to just buy one from Mercury Drug, it costs us 3300 pesos.



I had no problem using the nebulizer on Johan. What I did was just turn on the TV to his BabyFirst TV channel, dump lots of toys and books in front of him and I was able to finish his 1 nebule of Duavent.


Giving him the antibiotics is a totally different matter. I should give him 3ml of Cefuroxime twice a day. The medicine tastes gross and I don’t blame Johan for not wanting to take it. I tried to give it to him in small doses using a dropper but every time he just vomits it out. I also tried putting it in with his formula but he doesn’t want to drink that either. That’s one big problem I have to find a solution for. Any suggestions?

Baby, please get well soon. Mommy is so scared and it pains me to see you sick. God bless you, Anak. Daddy and Mommy love you so much.

The Waiting Game

Okay, so my best friend from Singapore bought me this bag from Old Navy:



Along with these Super Mario and Luigi figures for Johan’s birthday:



She sent it thru SingPost on August 19 and today’s already September 14. Where could my package be? It’s nearly a month since the items were sent and I now wonder if my package could have gotten lost while in transit or maybe the very great PhilPost employees (though not all) opened my package already and took my items for themselves.

I can’t help but be really disgusted with some of the people working in government agencies after watching this on the news last week:




For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV  

Oh please, bring me my package already, Johan’s birthday will be in two weeks!

Great Booksale Finds

I’ve been a customer of Booksale for years. If only you have the patience to scour through their shelves and shelves of books, surely you’d be able to find one in a good condition. I can spend hours in this store and whenever I pass by one branch, it is close to impossible that I won’t buy one book.

Now that I have Johan, most of the times I’d be looking at children’s books instead of the usual mystery and self help books for me. I already bought a lot of books for Johan but I cannot not leave Booksale today without buying these:



I was lucky to find these two Dwell Studio hard bound, touch & feel books that were sold for only 85 pesos each. I think this retails at close to 400 for a new one. Such a steal!



Johan, of course, was excited to check out his new books. As soon as I showed these to him, he immediately browsed through the pages as if he could already read!
 
Cutie Johan with his two bottom teeth! He’s definitely happy with Mommy’s great finds!