It's pretty obvious that the school year has already started. I keep on making belated posts. Since it's Thursday and I have no classes tomorrow (yey!), I decided to do some catching up.
Months after I gave birth, we still weren't able to have Mateo baptized. Blame it on our tight budget and busy schedule. With the start of classes scheduled on June 18, Ramil and I gunned for a June 16 baptism, lest Mateo reaches the age of one without getting baptized.
Preparing for the baptism felt like deja vu. It felt like preparing for a much smaller and simpler wedding. First thing we looked for was the venue for the reception. We scouted several restos and considered different alternatives like getting a caterer but in the end, we chose to have it at Shangri-la in West Avenue. We decided on the church, Twin Hearts Parish, faster since there are only a few in the immediate area. Consider this my suppliers' rating post na rin
Restaurant: Shangri-la's Finest Chinese Cuisine, West Avenue Food was great. We were lucky because we got the function room at the end of the hall which also happens to be near the comfort rooms. The function room, with its fountain/water display on one side of the wall is good enough for smaller gatherings though it might not be that great-looking for a wedding especially since they can be quite strict when it comes to putting decors.
Church: Parish of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, West Triangle The church looks great. They only offer special baptisms which is what we want in the first place so it was appropriate for us. They have this separate room specifically for baptisms and it has a big stone basin for the part where water will be poured over the baby's head. I would have loved our experience there if not for the masungit na security guard. He kept on hassling us to start already even though some of the ninongs and ninangs were not there yet. We ended up starting without some of them 
Balloon centerpieces: DIY by me, my sister, and our 2 helpers I initially inquired with several party planners about their balloon centerpieces. The lowest quote I got was 100 pesos for 1 centerpiece. Affordable, yes but I felt that we might be spending too much on a simple baptism. I ended up buying uninflated balloons and getting my sister and our helpers to blow the balloons. I spent less than half of what I should have paid if I bought them. Although they were way inferior in comparison to those I have seen from party planners' sites, they were acceptable enough. Well, it must be because the balloons were all taken by some of the guests. Hehe! For Mateo's birthday though, we plan to get those balloon services.
Tarp Banner: Design by Melisse Baylosis, printing by a nearby printing shop Mateo's banner was a rush order so I didn't really expect it to come out looking as great as it did. Special thanks to Melisse who accomodated my rush order and who designed a really great banner.
Favors: Chocolates by Jeng Jeng was a ninang so this was her gift for Mateo. The chocolates taste really good and the ways she packaged them was really classy. We even got to bring home a lot for ourselves. She accepts orders by the way
mesmerized
happy family pic while Mateo kept on looking at the water basin
There's this widespread notion among males and females alike that big is beautiful when it comes to breasts. I used to share this notion also and considered myself ungifted in this area.
When I was younger, I went through a phase when I had many physical insecurities. I have to admit that I went through push-up bras and exercises that were said to increase bust size. Of course, it didn't help that media has been promoting the same thing with the proliferation of models with big breasts. It also didn't help that guys I know would openly ogle appreciate big-breasted girls. Not having enough money for expensive push-up bras, I learned to wear clothes that would look flattering on my relatively flat-chested body.
Things changed when I got pregnant though. Knowing that pregnancy brings about an increase in a woman's breast size, I looked forward and waited for it. Sure enough, I grew from a 32A before I got pregnant to a 36C a week after I gave birth. Never did I think that having bigger breasts would be unwelcome on my part. I found myself begrudging the fact that I couldn't wear any of my bras anymore, not to mention some of my blouses that were tight on the chest, and I found myself being thankful that I didn't have big breasts in the first place. I could only imagine my size now if I were a 36C to start with. Hehe!
Apart from this, I grew to view them for what they were really meant for – feeding babies. I realized that they're not built in such a way for men. Where men would discriminate between big and small breasts, babies would not. Big or small, babies love them. Having been successful in my goal of breastfeeding Mateo, I began to feel satisfaction and content. I've gone back down to a 34B since then and yet I don't even mind if I go back to my old size. Throughout the years, I didn't really feel sexy towards men but having Mateo feeding at my breast gives me fulfillment.
I guess being a mother could erase one's insecurities about her body. Right now, I'm still few pounds heavier than my usual weight, with more than a few flabs in my middle section, and a few faint stretchmarks across my hips. And yet I know I am beautiful. Maybe not in the way most people would define beautiful but in my way, yes. I now find myself wanting to exercise not just to have a better-looking body but to have a healthier body.
Having small breasts didn't prevent me from using them the way they are supposed to be used so I'm more than happy with them already. If a few more pounds, flabs, and stretchmarks are the effects and marks of motherhood, I'd gladly and proudly wear them.
After Mateo's baptism last Saturday and with the opening of classes last Monday, we were too tired to do anything much for father's day. Instead, we spent the day lounging around the house and playing with Mateo. Ramil and I can never seem to get enough of our little guy, his little smiles, laughs, giggles, and squeaks just melt our hearts.
Nevertheless, the new papa in the house deserves this belated papa's day post. Although I knew even when we were still just friends that Ramil would make a good father, I was still pleasantly surprised with how amazing he is with Mateo, boo-boos and all.
On Mateo's first day home, Ramil got his first taste of the messy side of being a father. After a few hours of sleep, Mateo woke up with poop in his diaper. Ramil and I immediately looked at each other, with me saying…'linisin mo…' You see, we had this agreement before I gave birth. I refused to clean our then-future baby's bottom from poop and Ramil, being the sweet husband to his then-very-pregnant wife, bravely volunteered to do the dirty job. Hence, my 'linisin mo…' statement. Our parents, who were in the room at the time with us, were only too happy to watch us get through our first hurdle as actual, hands-on parents. So I prepared the cotton balls, distilled water, and clean diapers, while Ramil opened Mateo's diapers. Then Mateo decided to give us a little excitement apart from our first diaper-with-poop changing experience. He decided to urinate as well. Straight into Ramil's face. The first-time papa decided to free himself from Mateo's deadly aim by flicking the tiny penis up and away from his face, which unfortunately got aimed at Mateo's own face. I almost peed on myself from all the laughing I was doing. I guess that definitely showed Mateo not to mess with his papa. LOL.
Despite that incident, the two are now best buds. Sometimes I'd almost envy the way Mateo would crave for playtime with Ramil. Even when he was just a little over a month old, Ramil for him was fun while I was milk 
. Nevertheless, I always have this warm feeling whenever I see the two of them having their father-son bonding moments. I just know that Mateo will grow up looking up to his papa. They say that we grow up to be like our parents, with a papa like Ramil, I bet Mateo is hoping that's true.
best buds
I've been tagged by Hannah.
Each player of this game starts with 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.
1. I used to eat cerelac up until I moved out of my parents' house, which would be around six months before I got married. My cerelac supply would always be in my mama's grocery list. Some people who would visit our house would even ask if we have a baby whenever they'd notice the cerelac. Nowadays, I'd sometimes eat any unfinished cerelac meals that Mateo has eaten.
2. I'm so scared of frogs that I can't even bear to see them on tv nor in pictures. I even had to pay a bio lab groupmate in highschool fifty pesos so that I wouldn't have to do any dissecting.
3. I don't want different kinds of food I will be eating to touch each other. Buffets are always a challenge for me. Each kind of food on my plate should have even the smallest space between them.
4. I don't like buko and raisins mixed in with food. I love eating buko and raisins only though. I'd go as far as removing the raisins from raisin bread and menudo, and removing the buko from buko salad and buko pandan.
5. I wash my feet before going to bed. Not so weird? I always wash my feet before going to bed, even if I washed them just a few minutes ago. Also, whenever I'd arrive home they're the first things I'd wash right after my face. And whenever I see someone's feet on a bed, i.e. Ramil's, I'd ask… ny, nagwash ka na ng feet?
6. I love prime numbers. That's the mathematician in me talking.
I'm tagging… Ramil, Jeng, Litzie, Kathy, Mai (not sure if you did this already…), Ann.
. Most important of all, Mateo doesn't get on my nerves anymore. Even if he's in an especially fussy mood the whole day.