Monthly Archives: August 2007

the road to relactation

Posted on by
8
A few months before Mateo turned six months, our little guy refused to nurse from me. I would offer my breasts to him at every opportunity and yet he'd turn away from it. As if he was disgusted. LOL. I initially approached the situation with much determination – Mateo WILL feed from me.
After a few days and numerous frustrated words, the little one made me cry in surrender. I tried to convince myself that six months of breastfeeding is more than enough. I was saddened thinking that my boy is indeed growing up. I finally made a conscious decision to wean him from my breast. I was resigned to letting him drink ounces of formula milk. I was prepared to shell out more money to buy more milk. I started looking forward to freedom from breastfeeding, like being able to leave Mateo for more than a few hours or finally going on a diet I've been planning since I gave birth. 
Mateo has other plans though, almost immediately after I made that decision, he decided otherwise. He started rejecting the bottle and nursing from my breast until my nipples hurt. As if trying to make up for the times he rejected me. As the days went by, he'd take less and less milk from the bottle even when I'm not at home. 
Nowadays, he'd take an average of 2 ounces from the bottle. He rarely finishes a whole bottle now but would eagerly feed from my breast when offered. This has prompted me to work on getting my milk back. A lot of work is being done by the consumer with all the sucking he's been doing. I've been helping him by drinking Anmum Lacta, Natalac, iron supplements, and calcium supplements – all prescribed by his pediatrician. Most of the time, I feel like I don't have enough milk especially when I try to pump. But my baby is very active and looks very healthy so I'm not very worried. Plus he drinks hungrily from me every time which can only mean that I have milk, right?
Just when I thought that my milk supply is diminishing and my breastfeeding days will soon be over. It's quite the opposite actually since Mateo has never really rejected the bottle before. So now, I can't leave him for long lest he starves himself by rejecting the bottle. A small part inside me is happy though. Happy that he'd continue getting breastmilk which is best until two years of age. There's even a tiny egotistic side of me that's happy because my baby still wants me. Hehe!
I never thought I'd be able to successfully breastfeed him for this long. Looks like the two of us will be aiming for the 12-month mark. After that, we'll see… 

mateo is 7

Posted on by
14
Yup, our little boy turned seven months last August 15. He had his pedia visit yesterday and we're finally done with the very expensive IPD vaccine! Yay! 
As of last night, he weighs 8.4 kg and 71.5 cm. I was a bit worried since he hasn't been gaining much lately. A lot of people have been commenting that he got thin. According to his pedia, his weight is still okay for his age and a decrease in weight gain is not so surprising since babies at this age are active already. I guess our little fatso is not so fat anymore Laughing
Two weeks before he turned seven, Mateo has started pulling himself up to standing position. After a month of crawling, he finally discovered that he could use anything near him (i.e. walls, pillows, mama/papa) to be able to stand up. It seems that he's getting bored with crawling and prefers to walk around with somebody holding him under the armpit. We initially didn't want to buy him a walker because we don't want him to be too independent on one. We changed our minds though after having backaches and sore knees from assisting Mateo. The mamu (my mama doesn't like to be called lola) has graciously volunteered to finance it. Yey! 
Lately though, he's had episodes of stranger anxiety. He'd cry whenever an unfamiliar face would carry him. It's good that he's slowly getting over it these past few days only to proceed to a different thing – attachment to the milk provider. Ramil has been calling him mama's boy since he usually prefers me. His face would light up, he'd get all excited, and he'd stretch out his arms whenever he sees me. It's very amusing at first but considering that I almost don't get anything done, it's starting to become irritating. Hopefully, this phase will soon be over.  
It's really amazing how Mateo's personality is unfolding right before our eyes. He is not just a baby anymore. The fact that he is indeed an individual member of the family gets stronger everyday. We feel it in ways he makes himself heard (oh yes…) and understood. He has developed numerous ways of communicating to us beyond the unending baby babble he'd make. He has developed different kinds of relationships with each member of our family. I can't believe having a baby gets better and better with each passing day.

saying goodbye

Posted on by
2
When I was young, before my parents were able to build a house of their own, I experienced having to move houses several times. All in all, I experienced living in four different houses even before I reached high school. Every time we would move, I would feel a bit sad. I didn't like having to leave friends I've made and having to adjust to a new environment.  
When Ramil and I decided that it's time for us to look for a bigger and better house, I was excited. The house we were living in was getting too cramped with the addition of another person and a half – yaya Cat and Mateo. We have resorted to just stacking some of our things and just placing them on any space available. I was looking forward to bigger space and hopefully, a house that could accommodate our parents if they want to sleep over.
That's why I was mildly surprised when in the midst of all our packing, I felt sad. For more than a year, Ramil and I lived on our own in that house. For half a year, we had Mateo with us. We fumbled through our first year of marriage and we experienced the joys of being first-time parents there. There were a lot of memories, very good memories. And of course, it was the place we considered home for quite some time.  
On moving day, when all our things were finally loaded into the truck, my mama instructed Ramil and I to have a final look around to see if there's anything else we missed. Well, I looked around and got very sentimental about leaving it. Even though it felt so stupid, I almost had tears in my eyes while silently saying goodbye. 
Even now, after two weeks in the new house, I could still vividly recall every part of the house we left. I could close my eyes and imagine myself inside it. But this new house is also slowly getting to me. I am starting to love it as if it's our own. 
I told Ramil before leaving that it's like saying goodbye to a significant part of our lives, the life where it was just me and him. It's the biggest realization that it will never be just him and me. Well, not until we reach our senior years and our children leave us. I will miss that life but I also warmly welcome our life now. It was like graduating from high school, sad to leave that part of your life but knowing that you have to move on.  
That final look around allowed me to take our memories with us. As my dear husband said, we'll make more memories in our new house. When my mama asked us whether there's anything else we left, I answered with a resounding no. We have everything with us.

need space?

Posted on by
Reply
Ramil and I have been thinking about our storage problems. Ever since our old hard disk crashed on us, we’ve been apprehensive about keeping all our files in one disk only. We’ve thought of buying another hard drive for backup. Good thing we found out about Driveway. Not only does it allows you to save with unlimited total storage, it even lets you send large files easily. They constantly add new features. The most recent are folder upload support as a zip file, a plugin for faster uploads, and web widgets for easy sharing. It doesn’t even require registration! This just saved us form spending for a new hard drive.

back!

Posted on by
Reply

Yep, I'm back! How I missed blogging… so let me make a short update of how the week-long move went. 

Despite my apprehensions on how the actual move will go, everything went almost smoothly. Since the house we will be moving in is just a few minutes from school, we were able to bring several boxes every time Ramil and I went to work. By Thursday, we were frantically trying to finish packing all the small things that were still scattered all over the house.

I actually called up several moving trucks in order to compare their rates. I was able to tentatively set a schedule with one of them pending my confirmation two days before. However, when I tried calling them to confirm, all I got was a wrong number. So I opted to set a schedule with a different moving truck. I told them to be in our house by 9 am that Saturday. I was so surprised when at 8 am, a truck stopped in front of our house. I thought, wow they are prompt! Then I discovered that they were the first truck that I called, the one I couldn't contact anymore. I had to call the other one to cancel lest we end up with two moving trucks!

Thankfully, we and all our things arrived at the house undamaged. My mama was a little impressed with the house we moved into. They stayed for the whole day and helped us put some of things in their proper places. The kitchen was organized in no time at all thanks to my mama. 

I initially thought we would spend another week unpacking all our stuff. Good thing it took us just two days. We still have two boxes left though. We're still thinking where else to put the contents.

We spent a blissful first week in the house. The storm allowed us to stay home and enjoy all the comforts it has to offer. Even Mateo seems to prefer this house.

I've been itching to go online so I can write some posts and grab some dollar opps. Hehe! Unfortunately, our application for the relocation of our SmartBro subscription took more than a week! It finally got installed last Thursday night and I was so eager to start earning some dollars again.

So there's my back to blogging update. More posts to follow ;)  

window needs

Posted on by
Reply
From a house with little to no windows at all, we moved in to a house with a lot of windows. Good thing the house comes with a set of curtains. The owner chose not to remove them and just gave instructions to wash them from time to time. We were initially planning to get some window blinds or window shades since they eliminate the need for heavy laundering.  
My old room in my parents' house used to have window blinds. They were convenient in a sense that I can control how much light I want to let in the room or whether I want people outside to be able to see what's inside. There are still some windows though that doesn't have any curtains and would look nice with a window shade. It's so nice to prettify an already pretty house.

a short blog break

Posted on by
14
We are still doing the week-long move to the new house we will be renting. I haven't been able to blog, much less do my usual blog rounds. Not to mention that PPP opportunities are sooo few these days. I'll still be updating myself on some of my favorite blogs until this move ends but expect regular blog activity once we get our bearings and settle down in the new house. To those who tagged me, I'll get around to doing them hopefully some time soon. Until then peeps ;)

kiddie fun

Posted on by
Reply
Ramil and I are very excited for Mateo to grow up and we could finally bring him to a lot of different places. We want him to have the precious experience of visiting different destinations. I'm sure given the money for it, we will be a well-traveled family. One of the things I love doing online is browsing through many vacation sites. One of the sites I was able to visit offers Cheap Disney World Vacation Packages. It got me thinking of bringing Mateo to Disney World! With the new Disneyland in HongKong, this would be a relatively easy thing to do. I still dream of bringing Mateo to Orlando, Florida though, where the original Disney World is located. We could also visit other theme parks there. I think Ramil and I are more excited right now.

good times

Posted on by
8

Life is good. There are days when you can't pinpoint one specific thing that makes you feel down and there are days when you can't pinpoint one specific thing that makes you feel up. I'm in the up. All the way up. 

I never thought that married life would be this good and that family life would be so much better. These days, I find myself not needing any reminders in an effort to make myself feel better. Waking up in the morning with Mateo smiling up at me and Ramil's arms around me are enough to make me feel grateful for the life I have now. 

We're still not that comfortable on the financial front but we still consider ourselves filthy rich just like before, if not more. Our days right now are filled with smiles and laughter, even if our minds are also sometimes filled with getting through to the next payday. I can't even remember the last time Ramil and I argued. We still have our usual bantering but that's what makes life with each other not boring. 

Everything is also okay, career-wise. I still consider myself a full-time SAHM, considering that I only leave the house for three hours to teach. I get to enjoy both, not wanting more or less time for each aspect of my life. Being a part-time teacher has also given me some me time, even though it's not really to pamper myself. Hehe! It has allowed me to miss Mateo everyday which, I think, is necessary for the impatient me not to feel burdened with him and with the house.

We have a good househelp/yaya with us. I can tell that she has fallen in love with Mateo too and that is a good thing. At least we know that she'll take good care of him when both Ramil and I are not around.

This does not mean I don't want anything more. Of course I do, I would love for things on the financial side to look up. But things are great right now and that's more than enough. Thank you Lord! 

baby inside baby?!

Posted on by
2
Despite the enormous number of normal pregnancies that occur year after year, how a fetus develops inside the mother's womb is not as easy as 1-2-3. Sometimes, some quirky thing happens that makes the pregnancy into another level other than what's normal. Unfortunately, some babies are born with congenital defects. If you are fortunate enough, the most out of the ordinary thing that could happen would be multiple births – twins, triplets, etc. Still, having twins can still have other unwanted scenarios like having siamese twins. 
Recently in Chile, another quirky thing has happened. A baby was born with a fetus inside its abdomen! The baby was born with a 10 cm fetus inside him. The doctors successfully took out the fetus. According to the article in New York Post, 

It had limbs and a partially developed spinal cord but no head and stood no chance of survival, doctors said.

"It's very rare," said Maria Angelica Belmar, head of the hospital's neonatal wing.

"It occurs in only one in every 500,000 live births," she said, adding that the number of cases recorded worldwide was fewer than 90.
The whole thing felt creepy to me at first. For the whole nine months, the mother has a baby inside her and this baby also has another baby inside him. Reminds me of a japanese doll, the wooden kinds of dolls that have several more dolls inside them. It's also amazing at the same time – the things nature comes up with.