I always thought assistance dogs were for blind or hearing impaired people. It turns out I was wrong.

Service dogs can be trained to find or retrieve objects that are out of reach, pull a manual wheelchairs, open doors and turn on lights, obtain help, assist with dressing or undressing, push buttons, open and close doors, and many other everyday tasks that may be difficult for a person with a disability. This is what we usually associate service dogs with.

However, service dogs can be specially trained seizure response dogs, and there are dogs trained to offer a person counter balance when ambulating. Furthermore, specially trained Service Dogs have been paired with children with autism and were proven to be effective in therapy. Autism Service Dogs are selected specifically for their stability, calmness and steady reaction to loud noises and constant motion.

For this reason, people really do to great lengths to make sure their service dogs are equipped with a good Service Dog Vest. Ruff Wear is a great brand to choose from. Service vests serve as a harness that attaches nicely to your leash or lead. It helps to keep the dog in check so you can control him without him feeling restrained.

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Lately, TV is filled with news of bloody crimes, inadequate police capabilities, and terrorism. It’s becoming really scary. Especially with all the nasty reports about break-ins and hostage-taking recently, I can’t help but feel like we all need CCTV security camera or something. Inasmuch as I would like to put my life and the life of my family in the hands of the authority, recent happenings continue to prove that they are not always on top of the situation. I can’t have that, especially if I can do something about it.

Who knows if the next incident strikes somewhere closer? Can I count on the authority to make the right decisions at the right time? I don’t even want to think about it. That’s the reason why I’m seriously considering about investing on some kind of security measure for my family, – GPRS devices, CCTV cameras at home, or just some sort of concealed phone if only Data cabling and Network cabling are my expertise.

If there is anything I can do to prevent them from getting involved in such situations, then I don’t mind spending. For as long as my family stays safe and away from all these useless danger, that’s alright with me. It’s still so much better than doing nothing.

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Before I go looking for possible log furniture designs I need to recommend to an aunt building a resthouse within our area, I wanted to finally blog about our amazing DFA experience before I forget

We were finally able to go through with our family application for passports last Friday, August 27th. Even if you do not have plans of travelling soon, it would be advisable for you to apply for an epassport (machine-readable, with digital signature and thumbprints) now. I applied for an appointment for us last July 11th and the earliest available slot was August 20th already. I wanted a Friday because Edil has no work that day (DFA is closed on weekends) and the first slot (7AM) because I was advised that spillovers happen.

1. First you need to set up an appointment here: http://epassport.com.ph/. It is fairly easy to do. Just pick out the dates you prefer. You will receive a confirmation e-mail which you need to print out (or copy the confirmation numbers). It contains a link to your passport application forms. Print that out.

2. Prepare your documents. I was going with the renewal and change of name/status while Edil and the kids were new applications.

Renewal:
Old passport – copy of front and back parts
Marriage certificate – if you are going to use your married name
(The lady who processed my application didn’t need my birth certificate)

New Applications:
Birth Certificates with NSO seal – if you have the old ones issued 2006 (yellow and blue papers) – that’s fine.
Copies of ID’s – since the kids are still in school and are minors, have their school IDs photocopied

*We were also made to photocopy our passport application forms as IDs for the kids.

** Have everything photocopied twice, just to be sure. It will be a hassle going out of the building to have it done and it cost Php3 each.

3. Go to the DFA Aseana early. We are instructed to be there 30 mins before schedule. We got the 7AM schedule so we were there at 6.30AM. Have the printout of your confirmation appointment email ready because the guard will look for it (and the time you have scheduled) – and guide you where to line up accordingly. The guard showed us there were 5000++ applicants that day and our time slot (7:00-7:30AM) had 276 applicants. So be early. It is also best if you have kids that you bring food and something they can be entertained with. My kids drew the whole time and listened to my iPhone.

4. Within 15 minutes, we were ushered in and wow, the room was cold – LOVE IT! There were already so many people but everything was organized. Security was everywhere guiding and assisting people and there were about 15 DFA personnel processing queues. We only had one number because we went as a family.

5. After processing the documents, you are going to pay at the cashier on the second floor. You get to choose between the regular processing which costs Php950 (20business days) or the express which costs Php1200 (10business days). At the processing window, you will see when would be the expected dates of releasing. Love that there are notices. You dont have to ask so much.

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I guess I will have to wait a few more years until the princess turns to favor women’s dresses.

Lately, she has been obsessed with a new TV show, Ben10. She actually calls it “Ben Tens”. It doesn’t help that she has two boys as her bus mates and she is the only girl. One time upon arriving home she actually asked me as soon as she opened the door, “Mommy pwede ba ako maging boy?” (Mommy can I be a boy?), and she must have seen my eyes grow wide as she hastingly said, “No, joke lang ako.” (I’m only joking)

She loves to dress up as  Super Hero, singing the Super Hero song from Hi-5. And since she is a “gir”, she told me, “Im Super Hero Girl Mom, kasi di ako boy, girl ako.”

So Super Hero Girl it is.

She actually has a cape and a – surprise! – a helmet. At least my daughter practices safety She alternates using her shorts or her lunchbox actually.

And you know what she said when we were watching the tragic hostage taking last August 23?

Classic Martha: Hala mom patay na ilaw sa bus! They need super hero girl!

And here was Super Hero Girl to the rescue:

That’s my girl, you gotta love her

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I was supposed to buy halloween costumes for the kids last month so that it will arrive in time for October but I ended up not getting anything because the kids have a mind of their own. Knowing myself, I would have wanted to have the kids in matching costumes, even if my kids are five years apart and my eldest might be too corny for matching stuff.

They were fine doing a Woody and Jessie tandem:

But there were two hitches – my kids are bigger than what their age size dictates so naturally, Matthew, being a size 10, didn’t have anything in his size and Martha is impossible to fit into a size 5. Plus, Martha wants a “giddyap”, in her terms. She asked, “Mommy, where is the giddyap of the Jessie?” – meaning the horse. So we browsed around and she insisted she wanted to have a giddyap like this – perfect for her – A HORSE AND A FAIRY PRINCESS! Nice.

Then Matthew wanted to be something scary (totally contradicts his stance two years ago!) if Martha wanted a horse and when Martha saw the vampire costumes, everything went downhill from there. She doesn’t want to have a Halloween party or a “trick or tree” anymore because there are a lot of “Vamp-i-ares”, as she puts it.

As always, we will cross the bridge when we get there!

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While most status updates in Facebook has been about the upcoming holiday season and the fact that families are now scheduling their family portraits to be use for the holiday invitations they will be sending out, this was my status update in my Facebook account on August 4th:

The brat’s first quarterly exams are coming up. It will be "exciting" to see us reviewing for it – so far every time I try to get her into a game of "Name That Color" she has answered pink, orange or her favorite color since two, GREEN. And no, she is not color blind. She knows when her clothes do no match. She throws a… fit when her shoes aren’t the same color. Monochromatic much?

I am in no way putting my lovely daughter down. I am just telling it as it is. I was really not that confident if Martha will be able to pull through with written exams because everyday, for the past two months since she started school, every time I would ask her what happened in school when she would go home – she would only answer one of the following things: Color, Drawing, Playground, Sing, Dance, Play ball – followed by the words “kami ni (insert friend here)”. I don’t even know if she knows the alphabet already.

So I did what I have never done with her big brother before – I printed test activity sheets for her to ‘answer”. Martha doesn’t really like reviewing by pointing at things. Besides, I wanted to do a simulated exam for her just in case.

Wouldn’t you know it – my daughter KNOWS her colors. She just cannot really articulate them that well.

She loooooooved doing the tests. She also got all the colors right – even coloring the object the right color. In fact, she did everything in 30 minutes! After the review, she ate two packs of eggnog, drank Yakult + juice and then downed a bottle of milk –and slept. Marts was zapped of her smarties juice!

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Last August 10th, Edil and I celebrated our 14th anniversary as a couple. Yes, I had a boyfriend when I only 15! (Would not be advocating that to teenagers! Listen to your moms!) Instead of giving me some nice roses from a Denver flower delivery service, Edil opted to give me something more – he missed two days of work to help me with mine. We were up for almost 36 out of the 48 hours, backs to each other, having each one computer to work with.

It was also the kids’ quarterly exams during those days so it was easier for me to devote my time reviewing them, especially Marts because he would continue my work for me. It would be the ideal set-up, letting Edil work at home or at least work within our area, but we need to suck it up for a time and deal with the present situation. Stability – we need to work for our kids’ future.

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I think we were in Manila two out of the four weekends of August. One weekend was attending my niece’s first birthday party. Her theme was Tinkerbell-inspired and guests were given pirate and Indian themed accessories to fit the Neverland theme of the party. They didn’t give personalized soccer balls but old-school candies and imported chocolates too! I don’t have that many nieces and nephews from my side of the family (most of them are based overseas already) but I will always say these are my favorites – as long as my brother and sisters have no kids of their own yet

I was asked to take pictures of the party and I realized I really need to buy new lens for my camera. My dSLR has been with me since 2007 and it still has the basic kit lens. I want to buy the cheapest macro lens before Christmas so I can at least take better shots. A friend lent his camera to us and the quality of shots were so different!

Just look:

The shots from my camera were mostly dark – cannot control light situations at the party but the shots from the different camera was OK – I found out the lens had wider openings for light to come through:

(me with my Mom and sisters)

I realized that 1) We badly need a car so we can travel to the city comfortably (and at a cheaper price!) 2) I can afford the cheapest macro lens (only Php5k!) 3) Black is not really nice to wear at CHILDREN AFTERNOON parties but looks great in pictures 4) Matthew is getting to be too old for kiddie parties – he only enjoys the magic portions 5) It is always best to put make-up on when you have a lovely mom sitting beside you during picture-taking.

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