Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Baby Shower

Had a blast at my baby shower...but my husband and I needed about a day and a half to fully recover.

It was nice being surrounded by friends and loved ones. =).

Will post about it soon.

Thanks to all those who came. My baby is so lucky to be welcomed like that.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Monday, January 21, 2008

Mommy Moment




You'll Be In My Heart
(Phil Collins)

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Come stop your crying, it will be all right
Just take my hand, hold it tight
I will protect you from all around you
I will be here don't you cry

For one so small,you seem so strong
My arms will hold you keep you safe and warm
This bond between us can't be broken
I will be here dont you cry

And you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more
Youll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You'll be here in my heart
Always

Why can't they understand the way we feel
They just don't trust what they cant explain
I know we're different but deep inside us
We're not that different at all

Don't listen to them, cause what do they know?
We need each other, to have and to hold
They'll see in time, I know

When destiny calls you, you must be strong
I may not be with you, but you gotta hold on
They'll see in time, I know

Well show them together 'cause

You'll be in my heart
I believe, you'll be in my heart
I'll be there from this day on
Now and forever more

You'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You'll be here in my heart always

Always...
I'll be with you
I'll be there for you always
Always and always
Just look over your shoulder
Just look over your shoulder
Just look over your shoulder
I'll be there always


Saturday, January 19, 2008

Nearing The Homestretch

I can't wait for my maternity leave. All I want to do right now is to lie down on my mom's sofa, surrounded by lots of fluffy pillows, eat lots of chocolate chip cookies while watching my brother battle weird zombies on PS3 (Resident Evil 5, beybeh!). Swollen feet be damned!

Of course, I would also like the luxury of ordering people around (read: my husband and brothers) and manipulating them whenever I have a whim that I want to satisfy, like Biggie Fries from Wendy's or a huge slice of Red Ribbon Blueberry Cheesecake or any of my mom's cooking.

I really want to enjoy my last few weeks of pregnancy to the fullest but I still have roughly a month to go before I am scheduled to go on maternity leave (February 18). My estimated due date is on the 24th, which gives me a week to relax and be pampered, assuming that Wolfgang wouldn't insist on being born before he is supposed to be.

I really need to savor all of these because after I give birth, all the attention would definitely be on the little one. I'll be casted aside and people would forget that I spent about 9 months carrying this little kick-happy bundle inside me.

Excited to attend my baby shower next week. I'll see a lot of the people that I love the most in one place and they would shower me--or rather my baby (see! it's starting already!) with presents. Hee!

Ooh, I will definitely miss all the special attention that I'm getting right now. And my huge breasts. And being pregnant came in handy during the holiday season because I can flag down cabs and people would not kill me for it because I'm preggo. =).

But I also want to go back to regular walking, instead of waddling around. It's hard to be Superwoman when you're carrying an excess baggage of about 30 lbs. I can't wait to wear all my regular, non-pregnant clothes because I've started wearing my mom's daster. >.<.
Not kidding, I'm wearing my mother's daster. And it's so comfortable that I don't mind broadcasting it. =).




Friday, January 18, 2008

Woe

My husband was raring to eat meat since last night and he wanted to try out the new grill that he won from a raffle yesterday. Haay, buti na lang sarado na Shopwise pag-uwi namin. =).

Anyways, I took photos of the grill and my husband demands that I post it here.



I can just imagine Sunday mornings where I would cook lotsa bacon, eggs, hams, and frankfurters, and pancakes on this baby...Oooh, yum. And then stir-fried veggies and oyster sauce for lunch would be good too. For dinner, my husband could have his prime rib or porter house steak grilled to perfection along with a bottle of ice-cold San Mig Light. Haayayayayayay.

And since we're fiddling with camera last night, here's our own version of body bumping. =).


Hint: I DON'T HAVE ANY STRETCH MARKS AT ALL. =).

Here's pregnancy edema at its best:


Sausage fingers, huh?


Tired, ugly, swollen but happy feet. Those are like huge, square bars of soap. Damn. I guess I do have that thing that Jason Alexander was talking about in Shallow Hal: CANKLES


Saturday, January 12, 2008

Overdue

Based on my last ultrasound, I'm about 33 weeks pregnant now. In two days, my husband and I will celebrate our fourth month as a married couple.

So far it's been a mixture of bliss, exhaustion, and a whole lot of adjustment.

The pregnancy definitely took us by surprise but I've always reiterated that our baby was such a welcomed blessing for me and my husband.

It's true that we'd been planning to get married with a very grand wedding scheduled for this year but the arrival of our baby boy gave us something better to look forward to.

Financially, we weren't prepared when we first found out but through sheer luck and our attempts at money management, we were able to pull through. Budgeting can still be an ass especially when the amount of bills that you have to pay is larger than the money that you have in the bank, but so far we've been doing okay. I'd like to say that our sudden financial ease has been the result of a well-timed windfall but we're far from being opulent but still it won't beat saving up and being prepared for the rainy days.

2007 had been an exhausting year for me. Physically, I've never settled down since moving out from the condo I'm renting early last year. I've moved back to my folk's house but I couldn't handle the daily 2 hour commute so I opted to stay in a dorm. After my pregnancy was confirmed, my husband opted to have me move into their house so that he can take care of me and we do our weekly sojourn back to Valenzuela during our rest days to spend time with my family. But we are targeting to move into a place of our own before this year ends. I hate feeling like a nomad.

Anyways, barely 2 months of dorming, I found out I was pregnant and I spent roughly a month of my first trimester eating dry crackers at my bunk to ward off nausea. I would admit to a dose of self-pity during this period because all I wanted to do then was to crawl into my mom's bed and cry.

My husband (then boyfriend) and I were living from paycheck-to-paycheck and paying off debts accumulated from 'bad' investments. We even had to borrow money from his sister to pay for my first ultrasound and check up.

Telling our respective families also added to the stress. Well, my family knows of our relationship at that point so it wasn't as surprising on my side. I had to admit that it was hardest telling my eldest brother. I'm scared of him. Because my dad was working abroad, my eldest kuya was the one who disciplined me while I was growing up so I cried buckets before mustering the nerve to tell him through a family huddle. My second brother and his wife were the first people that I've told of my pregnancy and they made sure that I was doing what needs to be done to have a healthy pregnancy. My third and fourth brothers were all cool about it, for some reason. And nobody had any violent reactions. I got a lot of hugs from them and lots of wishes for my baby to be a girl.

My mom...well, she just didn't talk to us for about half a day after we told her. That, I perfectly understand. When she was able to sit down and talk to us, she had already composed herself and asked what our plans were. I think it took her at least a month to be able to come to terms with it. I knew that it was already okay when she started buying me maternity blouses without being asked and when she started helping us prepare for our civil wedding. Actually, she did all the work....all my husband and I had to do was be there. I've never felt more love and gratitude for my mom as I do now. =). I had to tell her that I'm sorry that I was a difficult daughter during my teenage years. (hehe).

I had been unfair to my dad. He had never met my husband because when he left almost two years ago, that was the time I started dating my boyfriend. He only knew my husband from pictures that I would send to him via email and the stories that my mom would tell him over the phone. It was a dilemma about the proper time to tell him because I certainly didn't want to do it over the phone. I thought that my dad would be able to come home for a vacation on the month that we got married but it wasn't to be. My brothers, and my mom and his mom were all after us to get married as soon as possible that waiting for my dad to come home wasn't an option. I was scared because he was all alone on the other side, and I wanted the whole family to be there for him just in case he won't take it too well.

Eventually, my mom had to tell him and by that time, I was already married. As soon as I got the go-ahead signal from my mom, I sent him an email apologizing and thanking him for everything.

I am posting his reply, verbatim:

"My Dear Princess:
Although my heart still pains, I cannot ignore the fact that your Mom and I will suddenly
have another son who will take over from us in taking care of you, our princess. Therefore,
late as it may, I give both of you my blessings for a blissful and successful married life.
I just hope that you both gave it a serious thought before making the decision. As for me,
I don't have an idea now as to when I can come home due to the crisis we are having now in
the project, due to the absence of a project manager which is exacting a heavy strain on me
physically and mentally. So, take care of yourself always, and of your husband. I will see you when I'll be able to see both of you (which I hope to be sooner than I expect.)
Again, congratulations to both of you. God Bless You.
Love you too, my princess,
Regards,
DAD"

So all was well for my side of the family.

It was a different story for his family.

His mom knows that he has a gf, she just hasn't met me yet. And for him to tell his mom that I am pregnant and that we're getting married must've been a shock of a lifetime for her.

Nevertheless, she was composed and gracious when I first met her. And how scared I was, after she perused me from head to toe. If there had been any objections on her part, I perfectly understand. She's never met me before, and I would be taking away her only and favorite son away...I had already anticipated that tug-of-war may be in the offing but it wasn't that way.

My mother-in-law had accepted me as a daughter, and I am grateful for that.

BUT

I've also accepted that, in general, there will always be an unbridgeable gap between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law.

My MIL is a nice enough MIL...she cooks for me if I'm too tired to get up and prepare my food. She gives me small trinkets that she thinks I'd like...I could talk to her no problem about stuff and no, she's not a real dragon like some MILs could be.

Admittedly, a liberal daughter-in-law and a conservative mother-in-law would not always see eye to eye with each other, especially when it comes to child rearing so my husband and I are both planning to move into a space of our own after having our son baptized. But, I'll be spending the entirety of my maternity leave and until we move in to our own place with my mom so it's my husband's turn to deal with in-laws. Hehe.

I haven't had the chance to bond with my sister-in-law yet...she's living a rather mysterious life and their family still seems to have their own pending issues that are yet to be resolved. But I think we have a lot in common and this is based from her movie collections...she likes the classics like I do. And from what I've been hearing from my husband, she's terribly obsessive compulsive as well. Then again, these things take time. Hopefully, we get that chance to bond soon.

The biggest change I've seen for 2007 was none other than my husband.

It always warms my heart to see how much he had changed for the better and how supportive he had been throughout everything that had happen to us the past year. When I became pregnant, he'd always picked me up and I can actually count the number of times that he wasn't at our office lobby to pick me up. He now takes his work seriously and he is so good at what he does. =).

I can definitely see that right now, our family is his top priority. =).

I can see that impending fatherhood and being a husband is when he is at his best. He is always saying how lucky he is to have married me (ehem...) and I'd definitely say, 'right back at yah.'

As for me, I'm totally gearing up for what lies ahead. I am a wife, a mommy, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. It would be hard to balance all that, but yeah, bring it on, I say.

I'm ready. =).

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Sweet Child Of Mine


That's our little Wolf, sleeping peacefully inside me...

We'll see you soon...(EDD: Feb 24, 2008).

Haay. Mommy na'ko talaga.

* * * UPDATE * * *

Found an old pic of Wolf's dad...He's a chip off the old block, definitely.

My husband and baby are both pogi. =).




Sunday, January 06, 2008

Ang Pogi!


He is Ben Barnes and will portray Prince Caspian in the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian showing this May. Grabbed the photo here.

Haayy....sorry my darling...ang wafu-wafu niya talaga
.



Goodnight Girl (Wet Wet Wet)

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Heard this version while having breakfast this morning...found out that it was Jay Durias that sang this version. I love it.


Saturday, January 05, 2008

Yay!

My daddy's coming home...I just don't know when exactly but it should be sometime soon.

Haven't seen him in almost two years...

He's also excited to see how big I've become.


Thursday, January 03, 2008

Spectre

Two of my agents were fooling around with their digicams on Christmas morning at the ladies room...when they noticed something on one of the photos.

Can you see the face creeping out on the mirror behind them? Was it just their reflection? or Was it something else?

Note: photo was completely unretouched....





Holiday Burps

Bunch and bunch of photos taken over the Holidays.

Spent both Christmas and New Year's over at Valenzuela and for Christmas, Mom cooked her usual.


Joey's favorite food aside from pizza and sandwiches...lasagna. =).


This is my mom's famous chicken ala king. They're the BEST! And I'm not exaggerating. Never heard of anyone turning down a serving of my mom's ala king and people would rave days after eating these. They're best with toasted bread but sometimes when we're in the mood, we would create empanadas and use these as stuffing. Mmm...wow.


Of course, the holiday ham...


My nephew showing off his gift


Nice shot of my nephews' bling-blings while they were playing. I think those are called UFO's of something.



We also had new additions to the family..meet Anne (as in Curtis) and Bea (as in Alonzo)...just decide which is which. Hehe. My cousin had the intention of breeding them when, upon checking their genitals, I told him that both were female. I used to breed hamsters with disastrous results so I told myself never again. But they're fun pets...better than those boring, stagnant Siamese Fighting Fish. They're only cool when they're ripping each other apart, but in their lonesome...boring!


NEW YEAR 2008



My brother and his gf playing Resident Evil 4 on PS2 while waiting for the clock to strike 12.


My brother was dubbed as the 'Hotdog Master' for New Year's.


My brother and his smarmy smile while cooking what else...


And here's his handiwork. A plate of hot dogs plus a lonely cheese dog on the side.


My mom used a recipe from a Del Monte Kitchenomic book. The sauce is kinda weird..the color was somewhere between pink and orange, but it tasted good nonetheless.

We bought 3 kilos worth of meat and slathered some Hunts Hickory and Brown Sugar Sauce over it.


We all are carnivores.


My brother's portable grill was heaven sent...these beauties were cooked in less than 30 minutes without much effort. The downside is that it lacks that cooked-in-the-coal taste and essence that char-grilled meat has.


My husband, the original meat-macho man. =).



Steak goes well with beer. =). Too bad for me. =(


Maya's first New Year was kinda traumatic for her. She should learn a trick or two from our other dogs, Piglet and Colossus, New Year's Day was just another day to them. But boy, did they had a lot of bone to chew from. Maya is pictured here with her mommy and with her daddy below.


Fruits, meat, pasta, cake, wine, and cheese. We hope to have a bountiful upcoming year as well.



Happy New Year everyone. =).

I've noticed that it had been a relatively quiet New Year in our area. Even the Chinese family, the king of the new year firecrackers, that lives across the street was done with their show 30 minutes after midnight. And by 1 am, everything had considerably calmed down, which was a relief for me and my baby who had been kicking non-stop the entire time. Anyway, we just had a few fountain and one dragon fireworks which was beautiful to watch. Just view the vid below...


post script:

One of my nephew contacted dengue fever and was hospitalized after the 31st. He's getting better now but we had a scare. But what matters is that he's gonna be better now. Also hoping for my family and friends' good health for this year.

Also, mu husband and I belatedly realized that we hurt my mom-in-law's (his mom) feelings when we left her alone for New Year's. We'll make it up next year...promise.