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!

Birthday Wishlist for Johan

Now that “the day” is fast approaching, I’ve received lots of inquiries already on what they could give Johan for his birthday. So, here again is my wish list for my baby. Don’t worry dear Ninongs and Ninangs, everything on the list are practical buys and I tried to keep the items as affordable as possible.

For Johan’s health, wellness and grooming:

Vapor Soove, Price Php295 a bottle. You can buy online at ShopSpot

Vapor Soove does NOT contain Camphor like many other popular chest rubs. There have reports that camphor which may cause seizures in small children. – taken from the Shop Spot website.

Jar of Hope First Aid Gel, Price Php380 per jar. You can buy online at Indigo Manila.

 Made out of blue chamomile essential oil, this gel is great for mommy and daddy burnouts, stress, insomnia, fussy babies, insect bites, motion sickness, inflammation, (relieves puffy eyes from sleepless nights) rashes, cuts and wounds. Also helpful with teething! – taken from Indigo Manila’s multiply page

Shoo Fly Milk Lotion Bottle, Price Php725 for 300ml, you can buy online at Indigo Manila. Note: If you find this expensive, you can buy the smaller bottle of 60ml at Php 180.

Shoo Fly is a DEET-free insect repellant. Deet is a nasty chemical that can cause rashes, swelling, eye irritation, and worse problems, though they're unusual -- including brain swelling in children, anaphylactic shock, low blood pressure, and one report of death. – taken from Indigo Manila’s multiply page

J&J Baby Milk Bath, Price I think around Php300-400 for this huge bottle. Where to buy: SM, Watson’s, Mercury Drug

Cetaphil Skin Cleanser for Johan’s face, Price is around Php400 for the 250ml bottle. Where to buy: SM, Watson’s, Mercury Drug

Aloe Vera Kids Shampoo and Baby Wash from Human Nature, Price Php 120 for a 200ml bottle, you can buy online at Human Nature. I think they also have shops around the metro but I’m not sure where. =)

  Baby wipes from Pigeon or Giggles, Price: both costs around Php100 per pack. Note: I wanted a case for the baby wipes and Pigeon has it for Php250 (I think) with 1 pack of wipes already included. Where to buy: SM Baby Company

Pigeon Trainer Toothbrush set, Price: around Php250, Where to buy: SM Baby Company

For Johan’s feeding and potty training:

A potty trainer, it need not be this Fischer Price brand but please give something with a seat cover. =)

Travel Cutlery set, any brand as long as it’s BPA-free. Price: no idea, where to buy: SM Baby Company

Evenflo’s Snack Containers, Price: Php 400, Where to buy: SM Baby Company

Sippy Cups for bottle weaning – any brand as long as BPA-free, Price: no idea, Where to buy: SM Baby Company

For Johan’s Development:

Stackable toys for Johan’s motor skills

Baby-sized lego blocks or those wooden toys to develop motor skills

Kids books

Johan’s other essentials:

1. The usual clothing - T-shirts, Kentucky Sandos from Baclaran or Divisoria

2. Diapers (hehe!) – Johan is using Huggies Dry, size can be Large or XL

3. Toys for little boys – balls, trucks, cars

Thanks everyone! See you on October 1st!

Johan at the ER

If you’re my FB friend or a fellow N@wie, you would have read my post on Monday night about not being able to get some sleep because Johan is sick. I was deathly scared because his temperature that night shoot up to 38.9 degrees and he vomited thrice. I stood vigil beside his crib watching over him and I pinged hubby on yahoo messenger asking him to file for a leave the next day because we need to bring Johan to the hospital.

I was finally able to drowse off at 1:30 am when I put Johan to bed beside me but woke up at 3am to Johan’s coughing. It was this time when he vomited the fourth time and we decided to rush to the hospital.

It is just extremely unbelievable how the ER people attended to us. When we entered the door of the ER nobody came over to us, I even had to say excuse me to the resident doctor and to the two nurses who remained chatting. That’s the only time they took notice of us.

After the standard questions, the resident doctor instructed us to proceed to the bed and Johan will be given three doses of Ventolin via nebulizer. The nurse who assisted us insisted on putting an oxygen hose in Johan’s nose. Anybody ever experienced this? Is this the norm or standard procedure even if the patient is a baby? I just find it odd to put an oxygen hose to a baby’s nose, how the hell will you be able to keep it attached to the nose without the baby pulling it away? We asked for an oxygen mask but the nurse said the hose is the one that he was instructed to provide. Wth?!

The effin oxygen hose that we weren’t able to use but still had to pay 500 pesos for

We waited and waited for the nebulizer to arrive. It was more than 30 minutes after when it did and Johan already fell asleep. Another irritating nurse insisted on putting the mask on to the already sleeping baby’s face. Not surprisingly, Johan woke up and cried and all the while the nurse still kept on putting the mask on Johan. Hubby got mad already and told the nurse to stop it because it’s only doing more harm than good to Johan. His crying made his breathing more labored and he vomited again. I even asked the nurse to just let me hold the mask over Johan’s nose, he’ll still be getting the vapors from the nebulizer anyway but the nurse didn’t give it to me even saying “you do not know how”, turned around and left. To somebody who’s had asthma for years and to a mom who’s had barely two hours of sleep, that statement and attitude just got me so mad. I wanted to pull that nurse’s hair very badly.

The nebulizer which we weren’t able to use as well but had to pay 200 pesos for

Since, we feel Johan is a bit better, hubby and I decided to leave the hospital and just bring Johan home so he can rest more. We think he’s getting more stressed in the hospital environment so we asked to be discharged. I had to argue still for the two doses of Ventolin that remained sealed but we were asked to pay for. I already agreed to pay for the oxygen and the opened yet unused ventolin vial, asking to pay for the sealed ones is too much. In the end, we shelled out almost 800 pesos for an hour and a half of ER stay without having anything administered to Johan. Great service, really!

I am so not going back to that hospital. For a hospital that says this on their website: “The Hospital is committed to the provision of patient – centered quality, holistic and compassionate care".” – you might want to teach the meaning of quality care and compassion to your ER attendants.

For those living in the south, specifically near Dasmarinas, Cavite, can you please suggest a hospital and pediatrician that gives utmost quality care to their patients?  And please do not even suggest the hospital bearing the name of the Archers if you don’t want an arrow coming your way. =)

Johan sleeping on the ER bed

Sleepless Nights

I’ve had less than 4 hours of sleep last night because Johan is not feeling well until today. He kept on waking up last night due to colds and his nose is clogged making it difficult for him to breathe. I had to soothe him because he’s been crying every time he wakes up. His temperature was also a bit high at 37.8 degrees.

Tonight, I don’t think I’d be able to sleep again. I’m so worried even though Johan is already sleeping. It seems like he’s dreaming, talking in his sleep. I took his temperature a few moments ago and it’s 38 degrees. I already gave him his paracetamol a few hours back and I put a cooling patch on his forehead. Hopefully, the patch works and if not, I’ll be bringing him tomorrow to the hospital.

taken a few hours ago

Please get well soon, Anak. Mommy is getting so worried. Lord, please watch over my son.

Heart Kristel's ELF Giveaway

Heart Kristel is giving away loads of fab make up, head on over to her blog by clicking the photo above or clicking here. Her prizes are as follows:

First Prize

85-piece Complete The Look Palette - Limited Edition

Makeup Artist Brush Belt
10 - Single Eyeshadow
10 - Blush
Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder
Mineral Face Primer
Mineral Eyeshadow Primer
2 - Conditioning Lip Balm SPF 15
Mineral Infused Mascara
Eyeliner & Shadow Stick
Pout Perfecter
Cream Liner

Second Prize

85-piece Complete The Look Palette - Limited Edition
Mineral Eyeshadow Primer
2 - Hello Kitty Flavored Lip Balm

Giveaway is open worldwide and runs until the 10th of September.

Mommy Moments – Financial Tips

This week on Mommy Moments, we’re going to talk about finances.

For those who knew me really, really well would know that I’m not very good in handling money. I am a compulsive shopper. Everything changed though when I met my husband. Hubby is overly thrifty and he is the kind who would really save for the future.

When we were still BF-GF, we’re both students then, we used to save 5 peso coins and put it in a coin bank. Whatever we saved up is what we used when we go out on dates. We’re still doing it now.

Our 5 peso and 10 peso coin savings in a used Pringles container

When Johan was born, I wanted to save all the cash gifts given to him in a bank account under his name. It never materialized though and I have to get to that soon for his birthday. For the meantime, I opened a bank account under my name and that’s where I saved his cash gifts from his baptism and Christmas. This is also where I withdraw my Paypal money from my online jobs.

I plan to make Johan a better money saver than myself. As soon as he learns the use of money, I am going to teach him to save for his wants. I plan to give him his own coin bank and whenever he wants to buy something he would have to save up for it. I would like to teach him the value of money and the value of hard work.

As for my tip, there’s only one tried and tested scheme that would help you save up and this is what I usually tell my younger siblings: Live within your means.

If you want to learn more on saving and other financial matters Francisco Colayco’s blog is a good read.

Happy Mommy Moments!