Monthly Archives: May 2007

random mateo updates

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It's been quite some time since I posted updates on Mateo. Time really goes very fast especially when you have a baby. There always seem to be a lot happening and too little time to take note of them. So I'd like to take this opportunity to look back on what Mateo has been doing the past month.

  • Mateo started rolling over from tummy to back almost a month ago. It's so ironic that the first time he was able to do it, Ramil and I were having our couple time at the movies. Boy, we were so surprised when my mama told us that Mateo rolled over twice! We didn't want to believe it especially since Mateo doesn't seem to want to repeat the feat. I kept on urging him to 'show mama' but it took him almost three days before he finally repeated it for me. However, our son may have inherited one or two of Ramil's and my lazy bones. After showing the significant people in his life that he indeed can do it, Mateo seems to prefer to have somebody else do it for him. I'm blaming it on the fats. A lot of extra bulges gets in the way. LOL.
  • After the tummy to back roll over, our next wait is for the back to tummy kind. A week ago, Mateo surprised us early in the morning. Ramil and I were jerked to wakefulness to cheer him on. Despite the extra bulges, he seems to enjoy doing this kind of roll over because he now does it very often and he's getting better at it.
  • Mateo is now on cerelac. Yup, you've read that right! I know there might be tongues wagging right now since Mateo is just a week older than four months but I'm happy to say that it is with his pedia's go signal. A week before Mateo turned four months, we brought him to his pedia for his monthly check-up and his first IPD shot. According to his doctor, he seems healthy enough and since he can hold his head really well already, I can try giving him 2-5 teaspoons of cerelac twice a day. She said that she doesn't wait for the 6th month before advising her patients to start on solids so that they would also get used to it early. Good thing she gave her ok because my mama and sister are very eager to start Mateo on solids. He's also been showing eagerness whenever we are eating. We had no problem feeding him. He immediately took a liking for it and our feeding session would always end with him wanting more. I'm excitedly thinking of foods that I could let him try once we get his pedia's ok for other types of solid foods.
  • We have a talker. Nope, he hasn't said his first word but you wouldn't know it with the tremendous amount of babbling he's been doing. The problem now is how to shut him up. LOL.
  • We have a singer. I've been singing some nursery rhymes to him like Jack and Jill, I'm a little teapot, eensy weensy spider, etc. Most of the time I'd hold his two hands and try to do some actions with them. After some time, he'd babble along with me while I'm singing. My mama and sister were so amused when they saw it.
  • Mateo is ticklish. The first time he laughed was some time between two and three months. It happened while I was playfully kissing his neck. Nowadays, the easiest way to make him laugh is to tickle him in the neck or armpits or sides. He'd also squeal in delight often now.
  • Just like all babies, he gets bored easily. An hour with him would consist of more than three activities, more than three positions, more than three locations, more than three toys.
  • After more than four months of existence, Ramil and I would finally have Mateo baptized with barely a month to prepare. We just want to get it over and done with ;)

Our little angel is getting to be a handful already. I barely don't get anything done at all! Good thing our helper/yaya would be arriving this Saturday. Yippee! I'm sure I would totally enjoy my Mateo time now since no undone chore would be lingering in my mind.

under construction

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I can never seem to find the time to make the changes I want to make to this blog. Since I lack HTML skills, my blog seems to always look not-so-okay to me, I couldn't quite make it into the look that I want.

Some changes I would like to put are pretty easy for me, like a message board and a picture slideshow. Maybe I can also put some music but it might make loading really slow. Somehow, I think I would never be able to find the time to place the slideshow that I want. It's such a shame because I have a lot of Mateo pictures that I want to put on this blog.

Now that the schoolyear is about to start, I'm going to have less time blogging and tinkering with this blog. Hopefully, it gives me more things to blog about though. Hopefully, knowing that I would accumulate more pictures, I'd bother to make that picture slideshow into a reality. 

teaching abroad

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A few years back, when I was still with the insurance industry, I learned of a teaching opportunity in Texas. My lola's friend, who now lives there, know of some schools who are willing to directly hire from the Philippines and apparently, they were looking for math and science teachers then. Unfortunately, having had no teaching experience then, I wasn't able to apply for it much to my mama's disappointment. Ramil could have tried because he was already teaching at that time. But not wanting to be in a long distance relationship, we opted to postpone any plans of working abroad.
Nowadays, our parents would sometimes remind us of that opportunity that we let pass. Ever since, they were the ones who are more eager for us to go abroad and work there. Who knows, if we have grabbed that opportunity we just might be living in Texas now with a Texan twang in our English. We might have known all there is to know about Texas cowboys, we might be living in a Texas ranch, I could have looked at Houston, Texas rhinoplasty, and a lot of other what-could-have-beens.
Ramil and I don't regret anything though. We have always preferred being here in the Philippines than in some country where we don't know anyone and where we are so far-away from our loved ones. Our center director once told him, if all the good ones will leave what will be left here in the Philippines? Our sentiments exactly. We've talked about it countless times, we plan to stay here for as long as we can get by. We may not have all the money we could have been earning somewhere else but at least we have our parents just an hour's drive away, we could meet up with our friends anytime we want some company, we could bring up Mateo the way we want to – the Pinoy way. No matter how much pressure, from finances and parents, we might find ourselves in, for as long as we can pay the rent, buy food, pay gas, we are staying for the long haul. 

part-time SAHM

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I guess the title says how confused I am. I don't know what to call myself anymore. In my desire to be a SAHM and also be able to teach, I have committed myself to another schoolyear of teaching math part-time. I guess I never fully realized how much I love teaching until I've had to stay home and not see the kids for several months. It doesn't help that everytime I visit the school, my students would warmly and excitedly exclaim 'Teacher Andrea'. It also didn't hurt that a lot of them, some parents included, would tell me to go back.

Yes, I love teaching and this time, I am not doing it simply because I need the job or we need the money. This time around, I am also doing it for myself. Really, I earn more from blogging than what I will earn on a part-time basis. I don't mind though and with me handling just one class this schoolyear, I know I will be at my best teaching mode. At the same time, I still get to spend a lot of time with Mateo. I will be away from him for a maximum of three hours only! I have even arranged for me to be able to bring along Mateo and the yaya in case I'm not comfortable leaving just the two of them alone. I feel blessed. I am getting the best of two worlds that I love – being a mother and teaching.