babymaker

I've been watching the TV version of Palimos ng Pag-ibig (yes, we are more of a Kapamilya household). I vaguely remember watching the movie version when I was little starring Vilma Santos and Dina Bonnevie. Even then, the whole plot of the movie was very disturbing to me.
In the sineserye, Ditas (Kristine Hermosa's character) chose to sell her baby. This she was able to do but she wasn't able to say yes to the offer of her employer to dance in the club she was working for. I find this really, really confusing. You find yourself strapped for money, you absolutely refused to stoop as low as dancing in a nightclub and yet you would be willing to sell your baby for 200,000 pesos! Even though Ramil and I have often joked about it, hell, I'd dance first before selling Mateo.
The plot gets thicker when she chose to be a babymaker for real. After delivering her first 'merchandise' she told her dancer friend that she plans to rest for one month and then they can look for another client. Hello? Haven't they heard of post-partum depression? or of the 6-week recovery period? She plans to get pregnant a month (or two?) after giving birth?!?! I know, I know, it's TV. It's not meant to be realistic. Now I know why I get so hooked with such teleseryes, my life would never be as interesting.

circus

The circus is coming to town.
You just have to turn on your TV to be entertained by our respectable politicians doing some dance to a version of a popular song made by Lito Camo or doing some MTV-esque rock video. Very amusing indeed. The situation looks hopeless to me. I know there are some of them who could possibly do some good if they win. But really, who among them would be 100% clean during their whole stay in government? If they're willing to spend millions for some airtime for their campaign commercials, you can bet your a** they're gonna look for some payback when they win. Or maybe those who made sizable donations wouldn't let them forget it.
Ramil asked me a few weeks ago if I'm voting. I almost hesitated before answering, 'of course!'. With the list of senatoriables including Richard Gomez, it's hard to take the whole thing seriously. Then I realized, all the more I should vote! My vote, even if it's just one in the millions they will be counting, is me saying I'm tired of every election period turning into a circus, that I am choosing for Mateo's future.I am really praying that everyone who will be voting this May will not only be thinking twice, but several times, before writing a name down on that ballot. I wouldn't want Mateo growing up in a country run by people who think they can buy its people's votes just because they've had more than 10 high grossing movies, by gyrating on tv, or by having celebrities campaign for them. I know some of them may really be able to do some good in government. I just hope we base it beyond what we see on tv or in the movies.

more Mateo pics

This is turning out to be a Mateo photo blog (aside from my paid posts), LOL. I can't help it though, Mateo has been (literally) my everyday life since he's been born. And it's so much fun taking pictures of a baby. Here's one of his nicest pictures, where his face looks so serene and good-looking (according to Ramil and me!).

gwapo!

i want!

…this for Mateo.Mateo has been so alert already. I always find myself having to entertain him whenever he is awake. I would love for him to have a baby gym. I looked at different kinds of baby gyms and I loved this Baby Einstein baby gym. It's time for Mateo to exercise those muscles! :)

Mean Mums

Got this from a n@wie. I hope I get to be a mean mom to Mateo ;)

Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mum told me:

I loved you enough . . . To ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that you’re new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.

I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren’t perfect.

I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.

But most of all, I loved you enough. . To say NO when I knew you would hate me for it. Those were the most difficult battles of all.

I’m glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.

Was your Mum mean? I know mine was.

We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches.

And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.

My mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You’d think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labour Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, and learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, and empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!

My mother wouldn’t let our friend’s just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them.

While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 18.

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other’s property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated honest adults.. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mum was.

I think that is what’s wrong with the world today. It just doesn’t have enough mean mums!

bath time

Bath time is not always fun for our baby. Mateo used to cry a lot during his first few baths. He hates getting his head wet. So now, I would wash his body first and wash his head last so he wouldn’t cry as much. He now enjoys getting his body washed. He’s starting to like the feel of water on his skin. I can’t wait for him to get older and really start enjoying his bath time.

I’m almost embarrassed to post this picture. Pardon the tummy.

7 on 7

Tomorrow, March 7, is our 7th year anniversary! Yey! As boyfriend-girlfriend, that is.

It's so amazing how time flies. Everytime Ramil and I would look back, we couldn't believe that after almost 6 years, we were able to get married and after almost 7 years, we were going to have a baby. It doesn't feel like we've been together for so long already. Sometimes we still feel like we are just playing house and we are still just bf-gf.

Again, because of our son, we wouldn't be able to celebrate the way we used to. We don't mind because we are tight with our budget anyway and we find being with Mateo such a joy now. I guess we will just celebrate by reminiscing our bf-gf days and being thankful things turned out the way it did for us.

On our 3rd(?) year anniversary

a break!

Ramil and I took our longest break from our baby for the first time. It was the only time that both of us weren't with Mateo for more than 6 hours! We savored the free time and really enjoyed ourselves. And yet, at the end of the night, we were also very eager to go home to our baby. We went malling, I was able to finally get a haircut, and we had dinner and did some catching up with my best friends (thanks Jeng for the wonderful dinner!). My parents watched over Mateo and they were more than happy to do it. I feel great! Although I'm not comfortable leaving Mateo for longer than that, it proves that we could still go out like the way we used to. Now, if only we have the money to do that more often ;)

pumping no more

It's just nurse-supplement for Mateo and me! We were actually forced into this situation because I can't use my Avent pump anymore.

The original white valve of my pump got a tear on it a few weeks ago and it keeps on detaching itself after a few seconds of pumping. The pump comes with a spare valve and I've been using it since then. Stupid me, I lost the new valve when I disassembled the pump and sterilised it last week. I tried using the old valve but the pumping sessions elicit a lot of curse words from me. What used to be 15-20 minutes of pumping has stretched to 30-45 minutes because I keep on attaching the valve again. So I gave up pumping. I didn't think it would be a blessing in disguise.

Mateo has been mostly feeding directly from me since I stopped pumping. Yey! I didn't realize pumping my milk has been preventing me from directly breastfeeding. Without any other means of giving Mateo breastmilk, I was forced to put him to my breast at every chance I get. Now, I really think he's getting more breastmilk and I think my milk supply is slowly increasing. Still not enough to go pure though, he would still get frustrated at times and I would succumb and give him formula. Wawa naman e, parang gutom na gutom. Hehe!

So I am retiring my pump now. I could buy a new valve and my pump would be as good as new but I am happier feeding Mateo now. Anybody who wants it, I would be willing to give it for a really cheap price, just let me know by leaving a comment or by email ;)

off for the weekend

We are going to QC again this weeked. A breath of fresh air for Mateo and me! Hehe. We will be staying again at my parents' house so there might be no chance for me to go online this weekend. Dang. Lost opportunities…LOL. We will be seeing a lot of people too. Dinner at Jeng's house and baptism of Kate, Ramil's niece. I hope Mateo is up for it. Hopefully, his immune system has been boosted by the meager supply of breastmilk he gets from me.

Ramil doesn't have to go to school which means he gets to spend more time with us. I just love weekends.