Thank you!

My SIL, Mei, gave us "his and hers watches" or "couple watches". She gave it to us the last time she went back home from another country. Hubby and I were so thrilled. She really gives the bestest gifts! How sweet diba? :)

I don't wear watch anymore. I got used to checking time through my cellphone. I only wear a watch when I'm running so I can monitor the time. But since I already got one, I should start using one. Thank you!

Swimming Lessons

Our swimming lessons were completed about two weeks ago. It was a 10 day class teaching us basic swimming skills. In my group, we learned the survival swim, basic freestyle, and backstroke. I'm not yet good with them so I need to practice some more.

On the other hand, my little one was so afraid of submerging himself. It's the first thing that they have to learn but he was so scared of doing it. That's the reason why he's way behind his classmates in swimming.

Good thing, on the last few days of the lessons, he wasn't that scared anymore. And I can see that he's trying to learn. But he has not yet learned how to float so we are gonna enroll him again next year or might be every summer as long as he likes it. And another good thing, hubby just volunteered to practice or train our little one in swimming. :)

10 Commandments

I found this from a certain website about marriage. It's a nice read and if you have time, print it out and post it on your bedroom. :)

Ten Commandments for the Twentieth Century Husband

1. Thou shalt put thy wife before they mother, thy father, thy son, and thy daughter, for thy wife is thy lifelong companion.
2. Abuse not thy body by overeating, by tobacco, or drink, that thy days may be many and healthful in the presence of thy loved ones.
3. Permit neither thy business nor thy hobby to make of thee a stranger to thy children, for the most precious gift a man giveth his family is his time.
4. Forget not the virtue of cleanliness.
5. Make not thy wife a beggar, but share willingly with her thy worldly goods.
6. Forget not to say "I love you," for even though thy love be constant thy wife doth yearn to hear these words.
7. Remember that the approval of thy wife is worth more than the admiring glances of a hundred strangers. Cleave unto her and forsake all others.
8. Keep thy home in good repair, for out of it cometh the joys of old age.
9. Forgive with grace, for who among us does not need to be forgiven?
10. Honor the Lord all the days of thy life, and thy children will rise up and call thee blessed.

Ten Commandments for Wives

Since I am a wife, I will try to put little comments on each :)

1. Carefully guard thine health so thou canst always greet thy husband with a smile.
2. Never nag or complain. - I don't usually nag but I sometimes complain.. or was it really sometimes?
3. Do not worry about things which thou canst not change. - why do guys always leave their dirty clothes on the floor? ok, I know it's hard to change it.. but can't they just try? :)
4. Do not spend all thy time scrubbing, cleaning, and dusting the house. - I don't!
5. Love thine husband and children more than thy house.
6. Know how to prepare good, nutritious food and keep it on the table. - still learning :)
7. Know the limitations of thy husband's income and do not try to keep up with others. - a must!
8. Do not buy a hat or hairdo or wig that makes thy husband unhappy. - still thinking about this
9. Remember that at times silence is golden. - agree!
10. Do not drive the automobile from back or side seat. - Good thing I always drive from the driver's seat :p

All geared up

Swim Cap- ✓

Goggles- ✓

Kick board- ✓

Swim wear - ✓

I enrolled my kid to swimming class just last week at Bert Lozada Swim School. It has 10 sessions per course and one hour per day. I chose the earliest time in the morning so he won't have to deal with sunburns.

And after a few days I thought of also enrolling myself in a swim class coz I really don't know how to swim. I only know back floating and that's it haha! Hubby also agreed that I should and that it's never too late. In fact, I learned from the swimming school that they have students from the current batch ages 30, 52 and 66! I was so happy that I'm not their oldest student.

So I decided and enrolled myself with the same schedule as my son. We'll be on the same pool but with different instructors and hubby would be watching us and taking our pictures. Isn't that fun? :)

MOH

My sister and her long time boyfriend are going to get hitched! And I'm going to be the Matron of Honor.. yes matron! oh my.. does that sound so old???

OK, as a maid of honor.. err.. matron of honor, I helped her with the planning - choosing gown designs for the bridesmaids, wedding favors, trying out caterers' menu (I loved this!), sourcing out suppliers and making the invitation. The last on the list, I would like to share about.

We decided to just make the invitation on our own. I got the inspiration online (sorry card company I got some of your idea ;) ). I just tweaked it a bit and changed the colors according to her motif which are brown and teal. Got nice cardboard papers from National Bookstore for the invitation pages and also for the envelope. We did not use the traditional envelopes, instead we made our own also. It was just a bit tiring cutting all the half circles on the envelope. But I felt that our effort was all worth it. Here are some photos..

I really enjoyed being a soon-to-be Bride's slave! And I'm getting so excited for her wedding day which is barely a month from now.

Notes from a child

Got this from Daphne's blog and I just want to repost it as I feel that all parents and parents to be should know these things.. :)

1. Don't spoil me. I know quite well that I ought not to have all I ask for. I'm only testing you.

2. Don't be afraid to be firm with me. I prefer it, it makes me feel secure.

3. Don't let me form bad habits. I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.

4. Don't make me feel smaller than I am. It only makes me behave stupidly "big".

5. Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private.

6. Don't make me feel that my mistakes are sins. It upsets my sense of values.

7. Don't protect me from consequences. I need to learn the painful way sometimes.

8. Don't be too upset when I say "I hate you". Sometimes it isn't you I hate but your power to thwart me.

9. Don't take too much notice of my small ailments. Sometimes they get me the attention I need.

10. Don't nag. If you do, I shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.

11. Don't forget that I cannot explain myself as well as I should like. That is why I am not always accurate.

12. Don't put me off when I ask questions. If you do, you will find that I stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.

13. Don't be inconsistent. That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.

14. Don't tell me my fears are silly. They are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.

15. Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me too great a shock when I discover that you are neither.

16. Don't ever think that it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me. An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm towards you.

17. Don't forget I love experimenting. I couldn't get along without it, so please put up with it.

18. Don't forget how quickly I am growing up. It must be very difficult for you to keep pace with me, but please do try.

19. Don't forget that I don't thrive without lots of love and understanding, but I don't need to tell you, do I?

20. Please keep yourself fit and healthy. I need you.

Random thoughts

1. Jared was so into coloring these past few days. He can sit for a long time with his crayons and papers only.
2. Last weekend, we went to Trinoma to accompany our mom in buying her gifts for friends and colleagues. The good thing about it, we also got to buy Christmas gifts for ourselves courtesy of our santa mom! :)
3. I so miss running.. I hope we can join the Mighty Run on Dec 13. It will be my first run in almost 2 months.
4. I've decided not to go for 10k yet. The last time I registered for 10k did not push through so I thought of it as a sign. (do you believe in signs? me, I'm not sure hehe!) I feel that I am so not ready for it and I have to check with my doctor first if I'm ok to run that distance as I was diagnosed with ischemia before. With a family history of heart problems, I think we should be a little cautious.
5. But I still want a Nike+ Sportband (the pink one!).. or any other watch that can measure my time and distance while running even if I would just run 5k each time.
6. Hubby is busy as a bee. He missed lots of our lakwatsa and will be missing few others too.. sad
7. I miss my friends and I hope to meet them soon.
8. We are supposed to enroll our little one in a play camp this month but I don't think it will still push through in this holiday season. I hope to do it by January.
9. Why do I catch a cold every night usually before bedtime? Is it an allergy?
10. I need to go to my Ob, dentist and cardio. But when?

Car wash boys

Need I say more? :)

At long last

We had Jared's 1st birthday album printed! This happened because of Digiprint's sale, we got the photo book at 50% off .. what a steal!

To avail of the photo book, you just give them all the photos you want to be included and they will make the layout for you but since I have already finished the layout years ago, (ok not that long) I just submitted those and had them print it.

front cover

back cover

Sweethearts

hahaha! ;)

Soft Copy vs. Hard Copy

I was looking through our old photos here in my mom's house to find a certain photo with my childhood friends. I'm supposed to post it here in my blog.

There were photo albums of my birthdays and also my siblings, our out-of-town family trips, photos with my highschool friends, albums with H when we were still in bf-gf stage and so on.. It made me realized, suddenly, that I hardly had any hard copies of Jared's photos. Aside from his baptismal album which I have printed, I only had 4 or 5 photos printed when he was barely a year old and that's it.

Then it hit me that my son's life is shown on purely soft copies. I have digitally scrapped his photos from birth to 6 months which I was supposed to have it printed as a photobook, created and finished his first birthday album but all of it are still buried in my hard disk. Then a sudden thought came to me.. what if my computer crashed and the back-ups that I've made were ruined? He wouldn't have memories of his babyhood or childhood. Oh my! I wouldn't know what to do.. I better go in a photo printing shop a.s.a.p.!

Busy weekend

Last Friday, I installed the AVG antivirus on my computer. After the installation, I scanned right away before I finished updating the antivirus. It had detected 3 viruses and I immediately clicked HEAL then it was healed I guess. I left the computer for a while since the antivirus was not yet fully updated and when I came back to check.. the blue screen kept on appearing and the system kept on restarting. I was so pissed of.. with the virus and the antivirus grrr! I don't know what to do with it so we decided to bring it to the repair shop.

Went to the computer shops on SM Fairview but none of them accepted it for repair since they don't carry the MSI brand.. another grrr! The following day we decided it to bring it to where I bought it (SM city Cyberzone) since it's still under warranty. We went to the new annex of SM city north since the cyberzone has already moved there. When the computer was checked, the technician told us that the problem is the software and it is not under warranty so we had to pay for that service. We were also told that it will take for about 2-3 hours so while we're waiting, we looked for a resto where we can have lunch.

Since the place is just newly built, there were only a few restaurants that were already opened, so we just chose TOSH. At first, we were hesitant to dine there since my mom and sisters told us that the food there especially the pasta is just so so.. With that, we decided to just order the rice meals, Parmesan crusted fish fillet and American baked spareribs plus the Cream of Spinach soup. And for me, the food tasted good. The only complaint of H is the small serving size, well it's because he has a big appetite but for me it's just OK. My only complaint is the place being not so kid-friendly since they don't have highchairs for kids. I hope they realize the need for it.


Then we went back to the computer shop to check the laptop and good thing the problem was solved and it was already ok. Now I'm back to the online world! :)

When we got home, we went straight to our neighbor's 7th Birthday party. It was a food-and-fun-filled party.

Lovin' it

Now that we have transferred our office from Manila to Novaliches which is just near where we live, I can always take my toddler with me every day. I can work and at the same time look after Jared. His nanny is the one who attends to him while I work but I still guide her since she is not yet used to babysitting. It's her first time to work as a nanny so she barely knows anything about it. Anyway, that's fine with me because I'm always there if anything goes wrong and the good thing is she's learning. There were just some added work though as we have to prepare or pack Jared's things every day but that's all right. I just love being with my cutie cutie son every single day! He grows so fast and I don't want to miss out on anything. "Labu labu!" (this is how Jared says I love you. cute!)

Christmas updates

We spent the Christmas holidays in Batangas with my H's family. We did not have the traditional Noche Buena since Dec. 25 is their town's fiesta so the people were more on the celebration of their fiesta rather than Christmas. So here are the things we got busy of..

We celebrated Christmas day with H's relatives on his mom's side and everyone had a lot of fun. Too bad I was not able to take pictures since I was busy running around after Jared. He's becoming more active when there are lots of people around him.

The next day we went strolling by the beach (Taal lake) which was just a few blocks away from where we're staying.

Jared enjoyed playing with the cute little pet chicks of H's cousins. He enjoyed it so much that when it's time to go he strongly refused and started crying.

In the afternoon, we went to Tagaytay to try the Zip Line. Ok, I will write about this on another post :)

Merry Christmas!

Have a great Holiday week ahead! :)

COLDs Rush

Hubby and Jared both have colds. It was Jared that had it first just last week and good thing after a few days it was gone. Then H had it next then just yesterday Jared caught it again. I think he caught it from H who is getting well already. So the last night's sleep was not good for Jared. He woke up twice in the middle of the night because of stuffy nose. Haaay.. Is it because of the weather?

Sunday at The Block

Went to The Block at SM North with the primary reason of claiming my Huggies free toy. It was the last day of the promo so I took the chance of availing it. When I got there, the attendant told me that they will just contact me when my preferred toy is already available. In short, we did not get the toy.. so sad :(

But then, we went strolling around and passed by the activity center wherein there was a Doraemon event but had just already ended so Jared just played with the left-over decors of the place and he enjoyed it. He even got to take home some balloons hehe!

running away with his loots :p

Nice week

kulitan photo before having dinner

This week has been very enjoyable for me since I got to spend all my time with Jared. I loved it

even if it's more tiring than my usual days since I have additonal work and that is to attend to Jared's needs all the time. Still looking for a new nanny for Jared though. Good thing my work is flexible because my mom is my boss :p We really had a nice mother & son bonding :)

Anyway, we went back to my in-laws' house yesterday and then went to the mall in the afternoon with my 2 sis-in-law, hubby and of course Jared. We bought some things for Jared and Mei treated us for dinner at Gerry's even if there's no occasion. Such a nice and generous sister hehe! thanks ha! next time ulit! :) I only do things like that if it's my birthday and it rarely happens pa hehe! kuripot talaga!

Happy Feet

Yesterday, my hubby arrived home (we're here at my mom's place) earlier. Then we thought of having foot spa since mom has a bubble foot spa machine. Hubby had his turn first. I was the one who gave him the foot spa. Yeah, the things you do for love hehe!

hubby's feet look like they're enjoying the spa

Jared kept on joining while hubby was having his spa, so we just let him have his turn after.. and look at the smile on his face :)

looks like one happy and satisfied client! hehe!

And after that hubby was so lazy to give me foot spa in return.. argghh! I really hate him! I think I should have asked Jared instead hehe!

And speaking of foot spa, I'll leave you with the procedure on how to have a relaxing foot spa at home. :)

1. Soak your feet in warm water for at least 15 minutes. We used the electric bubble foot spa machine for this. If you don't have it you can use a bowl or dish that your feet will fit into. And then add some foot soak into the water to help your feet relax more.
2. Exfoliate your skin, concentrating on the calluses. This is the time you really want to concentrate on. Use a damp pumice stone or foot file to scrub down your entire foot. Using a foot scrub makes blasting away dead skin easier. Rub the foot scrub on your feet to get a basic exfoliation all over and then scrub over your calluses with the foot file. When you are done scrubbing, rinse and dry your feet.
3. Moisturize. You can use your favorite moisturizer or get something specifically for your feet.

Jared shops at Walter Mart

On our way to Gapan, Nueva Ecija last Friday, we stopped over at Walter Mart to do some grocery shopping and at the same time check out Metrobank's promo. The promo is you get a free Jack n' Jill snack pack when you purchase at least 1,500 at any Walter Mart branch. We all love freebies! Who doesn't anyway?

While strolling inside the supermarket using a regular shopping cart, we got excited when we saw someone using the kiddie push carts just like the ones in Landmark. We hurriedly look for one so that Jared can also enjoy the shopping time. Fortunately, I found one cart that has just been left out by another shopper. It's Jared's first time to ride/drive a car shopping cart and he loved it. It's really nice that the supermarket owners provide these kinds of carts for kids, really shows concern for their customers.