Mia in Pictures: Train

This is my entry to the Week 23 of Techie She Weekly Giveaways. This week’s lucky blogger will win $10 Paypal credits from Borris of Snapshots as They Happen.


Here are some snapshots of Mia when I saw her one afternoon playing with connecting blocks. I didn't even taught her how to do what she did, she just called me to show what she just did. Then she told me "tain"! (for train) :) These were taken around November 2011 when she was still 32 months old--in less than 2 months, she'll be turning 36 months old (3 years old) already. How time flies so fast. Again, please bear for the blurry, grainy and dim pictures--these were taken by a phone camera (read: low tech cellphone).

That's it for now... more Mia in pictures to come :)

Mia in pictures

I haven't blogged much about my daughter Mia for a while. I got too busy joining contests and the like. The last post i did about her was here. Look at how she's grown to be now :) 

Photo blog it is! Please bear with the blurry and the grainy pictures, these are all taken using cellphone camera.

at SM North Edsa Sky Garden

bonding with her daddy

Carousel with tatay Lando

her favorite ride

trying out the cement mixer truck

This year, will try to post more about Mia. Happy 2012!

my little photographer

At 2 years and 3 months, I now have a photographer :)

She likes to grab the camera from her titas and clicks to her delight--we actually dont know if she's amazed with the flash it makes or the sound or whatever. She doesn't even look at the preview of the image she's taking. There are times that she also borrows my cellphone just to take our pictures. As of now, I don't have a copy yet of the pictures that she took but once I get the files, I'll share them to you so stay tuned...

pretending to be looking through the view finder but obviously not :)

This is one of the pictures taken during the Nuffamily Day. I picked the picture above because I like that she's wearing pink (which i think looks good on her) and she looks like a professional photographer :)

the outfit details: pink shirt that I bought from the recently concluded bazaar held at our office, black leggings with pink ribbon-like detail at the bottom part (from one of her lolas) and offshore rubber shoes bought at SM Department Store.

this is my first entry for

First Nuffamily Day at Crosswinds Tagaytay

It was a first time for us (me, my husband and mia) to be in Tagaytay. Together with my tito Flor, tita Lily, tatay Lando and my sisters Jen and Jona, we joined Nuffnang's first ever Nuffamily Day held at Crosswinds in Tagaytay.

Crosswinds, Tagaytay

my family

participants at the top of the hill

The event was held at the area which I heard they call the helipad. It's at the top of a hill and most of it is covered with grass which is perfect for picnics and kite flying.

 
It was a fun-filled afternoon with lots of food, games and prizes. We even joined the Paper Folding Stop Dance game. We didn't expect that we'd reach the final two because of all the groups that joined, we were the only group that didn't have a child member--we're all adults in our group. But at the final battle we lost but its fine we enjoyed the game :)

The only thing I wasn't able to do that day was to meet other bloggers just as I wrote on my previous post because I literally treated the day a family day. Well, it's a first time for us to be out of town as a family.

my sisters getting ready for their lantern's lifting

Before the event ended, we all had the chance to light our own lanterns. I just didn't have a picture of us actually lifting the lanterns. Just like in the animated movie Tangled, the modern version of the fairy tale Rapunzel, the lanterns are a beautiful sight specially on a beautiful night sky. I just wondered at the end, where would the lanterns land after their lights go out--just a thought...

the lanterns in flight

Thank you Nuffnang and the sponsors for the exciting and fun-filled Nuffamily Day! Unfortunately, nanay Bel was not able to come with us then because she was not feeling well that day but we brought home lots of food for her to enjoy :)

bye bye my phones

The two mobile phones that I'm currently using just died last Friday. Apparently, while I was sleeping last Wednesday, Mia gave those two phones a generous milk bath and that happened while I was sleeping (I work on graveyard shift/night shift).


When I woke up these two phones were soaking wet with milk. Sorry I didn't have the actual picture of the phones because a) I don't have a camera and b) I'm using my phone's camera which unfortunately got broken so instead I borrowed pictures from GSMArena.

I learned my lesson: do not leave your things within reach of your children specially toddlers who would spill any liquid on anything or dunk anything on a container with liquid inside.


Now, to find and have a new phone because I need it primarily for work and for communicating with my family at home and of course with my friends. Not to mention that the above mentioned broken phones were just borrowed from my dad and my sister :( I need to find funds to replace them and to buy a new one...  

my happiness!

I just want to share with you who makes me HAPPY in every second of my life--my FAMILY!



Mia, Ipe and me



taken at Crosswinds Tagaytay



This is my entry for Daddy Yashiro's Journal's 3rd Blogoversary Contest: A BLOG A BABY. Come and join there are lots of prizes to be won.

A BIG THANK YOU to all the sponsors! For the participants take time to visit them.

Be A Life Saver of Goodness, My Online Journeys, Yashirokuru Online!, A Blogger in Japan

 Life Can't Wait, My Simple Life, Blogging Park,  Fashion Is My Passion

 My Quality Day, Real Men Wear Aprons, Life And Then Some, Pinay Mom, Cheap Travel and Tours, Home Remedies, Pop Ups of My Mind, Treat your Palate, My Pink Blog, Pepper Mayo, Home Ramblings, Pink Nimble, What the Fat?!, Lakwatsa.Net, Grab Shell Dude!, Kwento ni Toto

a series of unfortunate events

[As posted last October 21, 2010 on Tumblr]


I have been on and off the blogging world for weeks now actually for months already. A lot of things have happened and they’re sort of why i’m not blogging during those days, just blog-hopping and reading and sometimes, leaving comments…

Last week of August, Mia was hospitalized and was diagnosed of pneumonia which occurred along with her asthma :( We were at Cardinal Santos Medical Center for four full days. To think it started with just cough and colds, we didn’t think it would become something worse like that the next day with fever of 38 to 38.8. In the wee hours of the morning actually around one in the morning of August 25, we packed Mia’s and our things (just in case she’ll be admitted for confinement) and headed to the hospital. Because the first two hospitals that we went to were full, at around 2:30 - 4am, we ended up at Cardinal Santos Hospital. After a few interviews with the doctors, tests and waiting for results, we were admitted. At 5am, we were at our room already. The room for Mia’s medicard plan is semi-private but because all the other rooms were occupied, we were given the private room. I was carrying Mia almost the whole time, and most of the time we were at the couch not the hospital bed because Mia doesn’t want to be put down :( and she just wants to be with her mommy…

There were also good things that lightened my burden during that ordeal: medicard covered almost all of our hospital bills except for the excess fees (incremental costs, etc.) for the room rate and the doctor’s professional fee since we opted not to transfer into another room anymore after two days for our convenience since we have more than 2 visitors each day; we had more than enough hands who helped us, my mom, my dad, my sisters Jen and Jona, my tita Lucy and tita Lily.

First Monday of September, while i was checking on the stats of my site, i landed on something that offended me (i could not go into details yet for this one as this is still a pending issue and awaiting resolution—will try to blog about this once i have the results—hopefully better results for me), which also made me uneasy and vulnerable for about two to three weeks… but that didn’t stop me from doing what i am usually doing. It also made me re-assess / re-evaluate myself. If there are things that I learned from this, that would be: you can not trust even the one you thought you could trust and that you really really can not please everybody—whether the things you do are good or bad, still someone would say something not good towards you. Just ignore if you think you’e on the right side.

Second week of September, I found out from my mom and my aunt that my grandmother had on and off fever for several days. A week after, they told us that she’s not eating anything anymore and could not even turn from her lying position in bed. She could not drink even a drop of water as she chokes everytime they had her try. My mom and dad together with my sisters already went home to help my aunts and uncles and everyone else back home taking care of our grandmother. I wasnt able to come with them because I already used up my leave credits before and during Mia’s hospitalization. That was one of the sad part :(

Last September 21, I am on graveyard / night shift by the way, I received a text from my sister that our grandmother already joined our Lord in heaven. I still went to work the night after I received that then filed for a three days leave without pay. We went home for the wake and the burial then spent the rest of the week with our relatives. We are thankful that our grandmother did not suffer and just peacefully slept.

Currently, can say that i was made stronger by each of above mentioned events. I also learned that with every ordeal, it is your family and true friends that chooses to stay close and help lighten up things for us. Thank you for all the help and the prayers. Thank you Lord!

my breastfeeding story

thought i'd share this story here on my new blog. enjoy reading!

[As posted last August 15, 2010 on Tumblr]

on breastfeeding

There are a couple of breastfeeding related articles that I’ve read already and stumbled upon for a while now and most of them say that it’s breastfeeding week/month this August.

Well, Breastfeeding week or month it is, I would also like to share my own experience about breastfeeding even if its just for a short period of time.

I gave birth March of 2009 (that was my 38th week) thru Caesarean section. And because I still had to recover hours after the operation, Mia was given formula milk at the nursery. The nurses and the doctors there said she feeds well. As much as I could recall, she feeds for two ounces every two to three hours.

I believe it was already almost the next day before I was able to stand and walk after the operation. It was also the time that I asked to be brought to the nursery to finally see my baby again after our cheek to cheek encounter at the delivery room. Few months before I gave birth until that day, I still dont have milk but i was very eager to try my first time at breastfeeding so the nurse at the nursery assisted me and told me that its okay for me to breastfeed even if i still dont have milk, according to them: in time and with continuous stimulation, milk would finally come out.

I went back and forth to the nursery for two days and thankfully, Mia has been patient with me at that.

We weren't able to room-in because the doctors said that we couldn't bring her back to the nursery anymore once we bring her to the ward. We decided for her to stay at the nursery until after 5 days from her birth date. That was because she was under observation and medication because I had UTI (urinary tract infection) during my 36th week but was cleared on my 37th. Good thing, she had negative results.

on baby essentials…

[As posted last June 26, 2010 on Tumblr]

I’ve just read the latest post of Topaz Mommy regarding baby essentials and thought of creating a post in relation to that. The list of baby essentials is actually long and based on my own experience, most of them we used but some we did not. The weaning essentials could be bought a few months after the baby is out since weaning would be around 5 months up.

I know there are mommies who’ll agree/disagree with me but i just can’t help it but share this, of course from my personal experience:

We bought abdominal binders but didn’t get to use them. I gave birth at a hospital in Quezon City and one of my titas is a midwife—we’re at the hospital for a few days and they didn’t ask for any binder for the baby, they didn’t even make the babies wear them (no instructions from our pedia to use this). You’ll notice that when babies breathe, their abdominal muscles are at work too, that’s what my tita told me (not the actual words but the thought is there), the binder could hamper the breathing of the baby so if you’re going to let your baby wear an abdominal binder make sure that it’s not tight and the baby can breathe freely.

Having relatives and in-laws from the province (we’re from Rizal province, not much a province now but where we came from, there are still rice fields, carabaos, trees, clear skies and fresh air), i also had to deal with them regarding issues like the use of abdominal binder or “bigkis”. Elders from the province believe that babies should wear them specially for girls because that would make them “sexy” when they grow up. Honestly, I didn’t believe in that, they made me wear “bigkis” when i was little and look at me now, with 30 something waist line eeks. If there are doctors here (even non-doctors) who can tell me the main function or any scientific explanation of why a baby should wear an abdominal binder, i’d be glad to hear that.

So there, the last paragraph revealed that i’m a semi anti-“pamahiin” well not at all, i do believe in some of them and if there’ll be no harm in believing that then i’ll follow but if there’s something that i think could or might cause wrong, then i don’t.

Also in the list is a “water proof plastic panties”, honestly, i think i already saw something like that but didn’t bother to buy/use any of that. All through Mia’s 12 months, we only used cloth (gauze type) and disposable diapers. Why gauze type? They’re easy to wash with just soap and water and the very visible spaces in between the thread makes it airy and comfortable unlike the bird’s eye type of cloth diaper. I remember when my younger cousins or a relative’s baby used bird’s eye cloth diaper, somewhat a little harder to wash and the dirt (read: poop) clings to the cloth. The disposable diaper on the other hand, is being used once mia is already asleep at night and that’s until she wakes up in the morning. Oops, before any of you reacts, of course we change her diaper whenever we see that it’s almost full. We dont wait for 10 hours or what the diaper packaging says that it can last up to, it really would depend on how often or how much your baby had to pee. This is not a paid advertisement but i just thought of sharing, we used and are still using up to now Huggies Dry Comfort or Huggies Dry because they have a cloth-like cover (actually the whole diaper is cloth-like), i don’t like my baby wearing something that has plastic which comes in contact with the skin which i’m afraid might cause scratches and plastic is not breathable the heat stays within the diaper in contact with the baby’s skin.

Other mothers out there forgive me but this is my own opinion okay, you can still have your babys wear other diaper brands :) Good thing, until now (mia’s already 15 turning 16 months old) she hasn’t had diaper rash. For the first 6 months, Mia wore cloth diapers during the day and disposable diaper at night. 7 months up, we still use cloth diaper as lining for her panties :) now, she wears panties during the day and still disposable diaper at night, we have yet to train her toilet manners.

Diaper clips. We used the metal ones (i think the brand name is Farlin), they last longer too. The first time we bought things before i gave birth, we had the plastic clips but the time we used them, they’re bulky and leaves a mark on the baby’s skin (to think that we’ve left just enough space between the clip and the baby’s skin, if we adjust further would result to a loose diaper).

Walker. No walker for us. Mia learned how to walk on her own in her crib and with our guidance. I am not against walkers but i read somewhere that it somehow poses risks to the baby. Having multiple wheels and the baby without control on where he/she wants to go to, could cause the baby and the walker to fall down the stairs, bump on furniture (which could cause shock to some), and some other accidents. So if you want your baby to use a walker, full supervision should be imposed. if not the parents, the nannies’ eyes should always be on the baby because accidents happen with just a blink of an eye.

Babies should not be left alone even if they’re fast asleep. While they’re awake one turn and you wouldn’t know if they’ll fall from something, hold onto something which they could also swallow, etc.

Stroller. It’s almost 16 months and I’m proud to say that we survived even without a stroller. As far as I can remember, we only brought Mia to the mall when she’s already 6 months old but very very seldom, only when we badly needed to buy something after her monthly checkup but that’s all. Baby’s immune system are still developing that’s why you don’t want to expose them to places that are crowded like malls and even parties. Thank God it is only after Mia turned 13 months when she’s not having cough and colds very often but before that i think every other week we’re at her pedia’s clinic for checkup due to cough and colds.

Back to the baby essentials, i am not a pro here, i’m just a first time mom of a 15 turning 16 months old baby and i would like to share my experiences here. Every baby has their own personal needs and whichever you think would be useful for you and your baby, go and buy them, you think there’s no use for what you have, perfect gift item :)