My dad just left a few days ago. He’s on another contract for six months and I think he plans to save more money from this contract so he can sustain his small restaurant business. The business hasn’t been doing really well and in fact, has been closed and non-operational for a month now. This got Ramil and me talking about making investments. We both agree that my dad did not make a very good investment in his small restaurant business. He would get a safer investment if he decide to buy gold bullion. Recent prices and developments on gold trading has shown trends of increasing prices for gold, making it a good investment vehicle. I think I better suggest this to my dad when he comes back with more money to invest.

Those are what we’ll be doing with our stuff in the next few weeks. We will be moving back to Novaliches by mid-June and since we cannot bring all our stuff with us to my parents’ house because of lack of space nor to Brunei, we will be selling a lot of our stuff.

I’ve already planned on labeling our boxes with ‘For use in Nova’, ‘For storage in Nova’, and ‘For shipping to Brunei’. Hopefully, we won’t have to bring stuff anymore that we need to sell to Novaliches. Meaning, I hope to dispose/sell of them before we move back. Before even finishing my final list of items, some friends have already expressed interest with certain items like our automatic washing machine, our dining table, our cabinet, etc. So I might not need to put out a list anymore.

What’s stressing me is deciding which ones we’ll be bringing along to Brunei. We’ll be selling our TV and DVD player here and hopefully, we’ll just get a Samsung HDTV when we get there. It’s not really a necessity for us anymore since we rarely watch TV anymore and we mostly use our laptops to watch downloaded stuff. What I am dead-set on bringing are our books, most especially Mateo’s books. Ramil made a post the other day about how much of a teacher we are because books are right at the top of our list to bring when we move to another country. I’ve already made inquiries about the cost of sea freight from Manila to Brunei and although it’s arguably expensive, it’s still so much cheaper than discarding everything here and then re-acquiring them all there. However, I still plan to limit the amount that we’ll be bringing along. I plan to limit the cargo to exactly 1 cbm (cubic meter). I plan to have the crate built by the end of the year so I can start putting stuff in. Of course, I plan to fill it to the brim

Needless to say, our big, slash that – HUGE move is truly a test of faith. So far though, I feel God’s hand in all of this. And as my sister said when I expressed my fears of everything not working out there and having to go back here and starting all over again, it’s better to have tried it rather than live with ‘what-ifs’. So I said to myself, why not? Life is short and aside from a potentially better financial life for us, I am thinking of the whole thing as one HUGE adventure. Of course, the adventure part would be easier to swallow if it does not involve a three-year-old and a six-month-old, which would be Mateo’s and Anika’s age by the time we follow Ramil to Brunei. But I just remind myself that Ramil and I will be there all the way to guide them and we will all be together so we should be able to provide security and grounding for them despite living in a foreign country.

On another note, additional goals have been targeted by Ramil and me. The initial plan of me looking for a teaching job there as well once we have all settled down and adjusted has now been temporarily crossed out. I’m now thinking of pursuing my masters degree instead on our 2nd year there. Deadline for application to the program is every October and start of the program is every January so if this is in God’s plan, I’ll be a student once again by January 2012.

Once I finish my masters, Ramil and I will switch roles: I look for a hopefully higher paying teaching job while he takes up his own masters degree. Somehow, after talking about this new plan, things made even more sense. I have faith that indeed, God is sending us there not just for our financial growth but for our personal and career growth as well. Our decisions so far has made us realize that we want to be teachers for as long as we can and that we want to improve and develop ourselves more so that we can be better teachers.

So despite the constant seesaw of emotions from excitement to apprehension to fear, my faith has never been stronger than before. I strongly feel God guiding us so that we may fulfill His plans for us.

It’s almost a month since certain events happened in our lives that have turned our world upside down. Within the just two weeks, we were given an opportunity to (hopefully!) a financially better life. We’ve had to decide whether to take it or to just let it pass. With that decision comes many, many implications that have made me shed tears of sadness, frustration, and fear. The roller coaster of emotions this past month has made my stomach turn many times over, I’m pretty sure they were equivalent to several forms of ab workouts.

Nevertheless, we’ve decided to take what God is giving us. It’s all blind faith but I believe that God has a plan for us and that he will always want what’s best for us. So right now, after the initial excitement has passed, I find myself in sentimental moments more often.

We’ll have to let go of everything we’ve started on the last five years. We would have to say goodbye to something that we’ve built our life around for the last five years. I get sentimental about a lot of things lately: people, places, and things. We walk around our neighborhood thinking of all the things here that we would miss. We go through our stuff, reliving the stories behind each of them. We go to school and see people whom we know we will miss very, very dearly.

No one said that letting go and saying goodbye are easy things. I think even after we’ve moved out or sold our things, the real letting go will come much, much later.

Although it’s mid-May already and the summer heat is showing signs of abating, summer is definitely not over yet. There’s still a chance to have a short trip to the beach or at least, a pool.

Just this previous weekend, Mateo, my sister, and my parents had a short swimming trip in Tagaytay. Because we went to a wedding at the time, Ramil and I weren’t able to join them, making me want to go swimming as well. Unfortunately, I think the XL swimwear that I bought might not fit my 7-month-pregnant tummy anymore.

Although I would have wanted to shop for Ladies Designer Swimwear, I don’t think I have the time and resources. I am looking forward though to looking at Women’s Swimwear Bikinis next year. I hope to have some really nice beach vacation next year since we weren’t really able to have one this year. By then, I hope to have recovered my pre-pregnancy body so I could fit into some of the Women’s One Piece Swimwear I saw this summer season. We’ll be in another country by then and hopefully, our beach escapade will be in nearby Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Also of course, we would be bringing along two kids by then. I am looking forward to next summer!

A friend of mine is on a quest to lose weight. She has been trying to eat healthy and to maintain a regular exercise routine. However, despite the fact that she has lost considerable weight, her weight has almost stabilized already. The rate that she’s losing weight has been almost nil the past two months. Although she’s happy with how much she has lost already, she still has a lot of problem areas and she’s still not satisfied with her current weight.

Because of this, she’s now considering non-invasive procedures. Since she’s so interested in them, I thought of doing some researching for her. One of the procedures she’s most interested in is the use of lasers. Laser has so many applications nowadays. Many advancements are being developed with the use of medical lasers.

Aside from learning about her weight loss options with the use of lasers, we were also able to discover other applications of it like the percussors. These are hand-held complete mechanical devices. that can help doctors diagnose the condition of a patient’s internal organs and reflexes.

Another device we discovered is an ionic therapy device. This device helps in detoxifying the body. One device that we found ionizes the water that you’re going to bathe in so that the negatively charged toxins in your body would be released.

I’m almost on my seventh month and I’m expecting that I’ll be holding our little girl in my arms sometime in mid-July. So right now, we have nothing yet for the baby except for things that were used by Mateo. Good thing we won’t be making major purchases like the crib and the stroller. There are also some baby girl clothes here that were given to me when I was pregnant with Mateo and we didn’t know yet that I was having a boy then.

Still, I am planning to do a small shopping spree by the end of June, just a few small baby clothes because I’ve given away those that were used by Mateo. I will be having my next check-up this week which is a good thing because I’ve just run out of prenatal vitamins. I’m also expecting changes with my check-up schedule soon since I’m entering my third trimester.

Right now, I’m getting frantic with everything we need to get in order. I need to start packing our stuff because we’ll be moving out by mid-June. I also need to sell some of our things because we’ll be staying with my parents for several months until we leave for another country. Also, I need to process papers that we’ll be needing in the next few months. I’m actually hoping to finish the papers before I give birth so that I won’t have to worry about a baby when we go to DOST, DFA, BI, NBI, UP, etc.

So aside from physically getting bigger, my worries are also getting bigger. Not to mention that I am having separation anxiety from our way of life for five years. I just have to keep on reminding myself that change is good and that God has plans for us.

The huge change I posted about previously is definitely going to happen for us. Last Tuesday, we’ve taken the first and only step that’s initiated by us and it’s going to be a roller-coaster ride the next few months.

Aside from the fact that I will be breastfeeding after I give birth, I don’t think I won’t need to try diets for quick weight loss because I think I will lose weight from the changes that will happen and all the things we have to take care of to make them happen.

The next few months will definitely seem like a few steps backwards for us. I’m just thinking that we need those few backward steps so that we can jump farther ahead.

One of my friends has been dealing with acne problems since high school. She’s been to many dermatologists and she has tried a lot of remedies and medications. Unfortunately, she wasn’t really able to find one that completely works although some made her acne better.

Last year though,  she went to a dermatologist who asked if she would like to try accutane. Since she has always been on the look-out for acne solutions, she decided to try it. Well, the great thing is it worked! It definitely cleared up her acne and she was very happy to have acne-free skin.

However, I read up on this supposed acne-miracle drug and I was worried about the side effects. According to my research, bowel inflammation, decrease in night vision, headache, nausea, other skin problems like rash, peeling, and increase susceptibility to sunburn, depression, thinning of hair, urinary discomfort, irritation of the optic nerve at the back of the eyeballs, and many more. In fact, a person taking accutane is not allowed to donate blood until at least a month after treatment with it. Also, some people who have used it have had to hire an accutane lawyer to help them in filing lawsuits against the manufacturer.

One of the biggest side effects of this acne drug is birth defects if the person taking it is pregnant. Since my friend started taking it a few months before her wedding, I told her what I found out and although she’s happy with her acne-free skin, she regretted not finding out more about the drug. Fortunately for her, that accutane period of hers has come and gone without too many bad effects.

That’s what Mateo did last Thursday. My dad’s office is near the Manila Hotel and last Thursday, he asked my mom to meet up with him near the area when his training ends at around 3:00 pm. According to him, he hasn’t been inside the Manila Ocean Park and since he’s so near the area, they might as well go and visit.

So when my mom called me before she left their house in Novaliches, I expressed regret that it was such on short notice. Mateo had been to Manila Ocean Park but he was only two years old then. I knew it would only be a vague memory to him and with how engrossed and interested he could get lately with the things around him, I knew it would be such a treat for him.

After some chit-chat, just when we were about to say goodbye, I told my mom that I would let them bring Mateo if only I could ship him there. She asked me if I’d be willing to let my sister bring him instead. So I went to wake up my sister and ask her. After discussing some project management software that her friend was asking her about, she agreed and was excited as well. Since they’ll probably finish past dinner time, my mom must have thought of pushing her luck and suggesting that my sister and Mateo spend the night at Novaliches. Feeling more comfortable with letting them travel back to Antipolo during the day, I agreed.

So saying that Mateo had a blast is an understatement. According to my sister, his voice was so loud it was heard by everyone whenever they are in one area of the place. Most of his pictures, which I plan to upload once my sister gets around to giving them to me, were either blurred or has his face turned away because he was moving around a lot and refused to stay still to pose for the camera.

It was our (Ramil’s and my) first night at home without our little boy. The whole house was eerily quiet and peaceful. Everything was in order for more than two hours, which is Mateo’s usual nap time duration, and we didn’t have to keep reminding someone to pack away his things. Still, we missed him terribly.

I bombarded my sister with texts asking for updates and kept telling her to take pictures. She told me that Mateo even tried the fish spa and was almost swimming with the fishes while doing so; they had to change his clothes after. My sister said that when they were on their way back to Novaliches, my son kept telling them that he wants to go home already and he cried  loudly when my sister told him they’ll be spending the night in Novaliches. He cried for a long time and only stopped when my sister made up a story about the car not having enough gas to go up to Antipolo and that they might be stuck in the middle of a dark road. That shut him up and prompted an “Ayaw ko yun. That’s scary.” My sister told him they can go back home when Mr.Sun is out again which means they have to sleep first.

It was a good thing that he was tired from all the excitement so he didn’t find it difficult to fall asleep. However, he woke up in the middle of the night asking if Mr.Sun is out already. My sister told him no and to go back to sleep. He did but he woke up early in the morning and also proceeded to wake up my sister, telling her, “Time to wake up Tita, Mr.Sun is out. Let’s go home na.”

That day, they even brought him to SM North to see a Jungle Safari exhibit before going back to Antipolo. Despite his pleas of going home, he was still excited to see the huge stuffed animals in the exhibit.

When he got home, he was excited and very happy to see us. He was excitedly telling us everything that happened and my only regret is not being there to personally witness his experience. I had a lot of deadlines that day and I couldn’t possibly finish them in time if Ramil and I went with them.

Oh well, I’m planning to visit Avilon again soon. We went there when he was only a year and a half old so I’m pretty sure it’s going to be another exciting experience for him.

It’s funny that I’ve grown an online relationship with the person who sold me my fetal doppler. After she sold me one, she sent me a message through yahoo messenger, wishing me luck on my pregnancy and telling me that she’s hoping that I find the small medical equipment very useful. I gave a short thanks and I also thanked her again when I got the product and was able to use it.

The other day, we were chatting about other online medical supply retailers like JazzMedical. This particular retailer is not only offering advanced medical equipment, it’s range of products just recently included various lifestyle products like ALRI CR2 and other nutritional supplements, odor eliminators which would be good to use at home as well, maternity pads, and many more. The product offerings are so wide and varied which allows them to cater to more customers now.

My friend is thinking of doing the same thing and I hope she also finds it successful.