back to school

Ramil will be going back to school next June. He has long been wanting to take up the teaching units required of him. Both of us are not education graduates and yet we are teachers. Ramil took up BS Biology while I took up BS Mathematics. None of us seriously thought that we would be teaching so we both didn’t take any education units. However, we both see ourselves staying in this profession already and it is only right that we do something to improve ourselves in this field. At first, he has thought of getting an Online Education Degree. With the vast amount of things the internet can provide, including education, a lot of good online universities are gaining ground. An online university, Capella, was even recently chosen as a finalist for the Minnesota Tekne Award. It just goes to show that studying online can be really good too. It would be easy for us now to finally take up those teaching units. No more excuses :)

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wrapping time

Seeing all the presents wrapped can give me such warm feelings inside. I love wrapping gifts ever since I was a kid. I was never the type to go to professionals for my gift-wrapping needs. That’s why I don”t avail of free gift-wrapping services in malls unless I absolutely don’t have any spare time for it. Giving a gift personally wrapped is so much more thoughtful and sweet. I miss it sometimes whenever I get a gift that’s obviously not wrapped by the one who gave it. Hehe!

2nd year!

This post is a day delayed, haven’t been able to do anything on the computer these past few days. Ramil and I marked our 2nd year as husband and wife yesterday. Yipee! We weren’t able to do anything to celebrate our anniversary because Ramil and I needed to go to school. Afterwards, we found ourselves in a nearby gas service station and waited for more than an hour while a mechanic replaced my dad’s car’s brake pads. This Saturday, we will be attending a wedding in Tagaytay and Ramil and I are planning to spend Saturday night there to celebrate our anniversary.

On another note, we’re almost done with our Christmas shopping! Well, actually there are still more people I’d like to give gifts to. Unfortunately, we’ve already gone beyond our budget. Hehe! Also, I’ve started another blog. This time, a photo blog. I was inspired by Aggie’s and Litzie’s photo a day project this December that I decided to start my own. With the enormous amount of storage and bandwidth that are unused in my hostmonster account, I’ve decided to spend $10 to be able to put it in another domain. The blog follows the photo-a-day concept which means I will be posting a photo (or photos) I’ve taken for that day. Journaling my life using pictures, eh? I haven’t fixed the whole thing yet so please bear with me. Feel free to visit or link to it ;)

gold bars, anyone?

I used to have a lot of silver jewelries. Silver rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. Ramil and I even had these matching rings. When you’d want to have some jewelry and gold is too expensive for you, silver is usually the more practical alternative. Some people buy these precious metals not just for vanity’s sake. Others buy silver and other precious metals, along with gold, as a form of currency. With the volatile exchange rates, it might actually be a wiser investment. Monex companies have been America’s silver and precious metals investment leader. People investing in silver or gold can buy them as coins or ingot form (reminds me of Harry Potter, eh?). Since 1990, world demand for silver now exceeds annual production so buying them now wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Maybe I should looking for my old silver jewelries, they just might come in handy.

2007.12.18

gift cards

christmas wrappers

Ramil, Cat, Mateo, and I all went to the tiangge in Ynares Center to buy some Christmas wrappers. I forgot to buy some when Ramil and I did our Christmas shopping and I didn’t want to buy expensive wrappers in the mall. We were able to buy the wrappers above for five pesos each while the gift cards are a peso each. I immediately wrapped all the presents after putting Mateo to sleep last night.

2007.12.17

mateo and the kettlemateo and the kettle 2

Mateo and the kettle

 

walking with a kettlewalking with a kettle 2

Walking with the kettle

 

crying with the kettle

after mama tried to take away the kettle

Today is actually our 2nd wedding anniversary. Nothing much happened, Ramil went to school in the morning whereas I also went later in the afternoon. After school, we brought my dad’s car to a nearby gas service station and spent more than an hour there while the mechanic changed the brake pads and aligned the wheels. So much for a wedding anniversary, huh? Nevertheless, our little one makes everyday a celebration with his antics.

Hopefully, we get to have some kind of celebration this coming weekend.

on being sick and tired of my baby

Okay, I feel guilty just typing the title. Nevertheless, it’s a confession I must make. It’s very difficult to make this post since mommy blogs are usually overflowing with feelings of motherliness and gushes for their babies. Still, I am sitting down right now to write a post on how I became sick and tired of my baby because I believe that I am not alone in this. I’d like to believe that I’m not the only imperfect mother out there. That yes, other mommies like me feels things like these.

Just like any relationship, the whole thing didn’t happen overnight. We were yaya-less two weeks ago and as soon as Ramil leaves for school, it was just me and Mateo. I enjoyed the whole week immensely. I got to spend a lot of time with my baby and I was delighted with how much he was learning from me. I’d like to think that the week did Mateo a lot of good too! Good enough for him to find his confidence and independence to be able to walk at the end of the week. I was one proud mama.

However, being yaya-less means baby duties plus house duties for me. I found myself finishing the laundry at 12 midnight one time, or I’d be doing the dishes from our breakfast only when Ramil gets home. Our meals consisted of easy-cook ones. Despite enjoying the week that I have my baby to myself, I was very, very tired by the end of the week. I’ve sung countless praises the whole week to other stay-at-home-moms who don’t keep a yaya nor a helper.

The following week, Cat, Mateo’s first yaya, came back. I was relieved that somebody can help me with housework and Mateo. I was supposed to go to school the whole week but ended up going for two days only because Mateo was having really bad diarrhea. I spent the rest of the week at home because I wanted to personally take care of my sick baby. Not to mention that he finds comfort with me. Taking care of him last week was really tiring. There were days when we’d have more than ten diaper changes. He’d cry from abdominal pain before each bowel movement and he had no appetite at all. It’s a good thing that aside from those things, he was an active and playful baby. Still, he has lost considerable weight by the end of the week.

So now, after two weeks of almost not having any time away from Mateo, I now have a clingy baby. He loves me more than any other person, much to Ramil’s dismay (hehe!). He even cries whenever he sees me leaving the room. Hence, he is now officially a mama’s boy :( Don’t get me wrong, I am very flattered but he’s starting to feel like an irritating stalker/admirer. There are times when I can’t even go to the bathroom without him wailing at the top of his lungs.

Yesterday, he was very clingy and was really out of sorts. I felt myself resenting it. I felt like he has all of me already, what more does he want? I’ve wanted to stop breastfeeding him since a few months ago but I never felt resentment for continuing to do so. Last night though, I was ready to let him cry it out until he falls asleep. It didn’t help that Ramil would expect me to rush to their rescue whenever he couldn’t handle Mateo anymore.

I found it difficult to sleep last night. I felt like a bad mother. I questioned myself. I felt so sorry for Mateo because he got me for his mama. I woke up today not feeling better at all.

Sometime today though, I got my second wind. I fell in love with my boy all over again. Nothing spectacular happened. It just happened. Maybe it was during one of our bonding times or when he gave me one of his winning smiles. I don’t really know.

All I know is that despite everything, I love being a mother. I know that there will be more down days in the future and I hope Mateo will be as forgiving as he is now. I also know that for each down day, I will fall in love with my boy more times than I can count. I know I will learn and I know I will get better. Bring it on.

family-friendly Orlando

Ramil and I can’t wait for Mateo to get older. We plan to bring him to Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida. Aside from Mateo, we’re pretty sure we’re going to enjoy ourselves as well. This dream trip would take a lot of planning though. At the top of our list is saving up for it. We need to prepare as early as now if we want to turn the dream into a reality. We also need to look into several Villas in Orlando. Since we’re going to be spending at least a week there if we plan to make the most out of it, we need to choose where we’re staying very carefully. As early as now, I could save up on my air miles so that we could use it when the time comes. Ramil and I can’t wait.

we’ve got a walker!!!

Last Sunday, Mateo walked a few meters on his own, without holding onto anything. I was standing behind him while he walked towards Ramil. We were both quietly cheering him on as took each wobbly step. Despite the his unsteadiness in some parts, he did it! I’m so proud of my boy, walking at 10 months! :)

old engagement

My generation is slowly entering that time in our lives when almost everyone we know is getting engaged. I still remember last year when my male officemate was asking around about diamonds. It seems that he and his girlfriend of almost 10 years were finally planning to get married. Little did I know that I will be walking down the aisle just a few months after them. Everyone in our office then were really surprised, being the youngest among the single women there then. Looks like there will be a lot of girls I know who might be flashing something like these in the next few months. Some would even sport some antique jewelry since some families have this tradition of passing on engagement rings. It would be nice to symbolize your engagement with something that has years of history in it.