I need to have new pictures of my boy. This was taken last May – I have gone for a month without having taken pictures of him!

• We really are going to be hitting puberty with this boy soon. I see the signs – temper tantrums, answering back all the time, reasoning out, being lazy to go with us when we do the groceries. One time, he even opted to stay at home (alone) while we went out and bought groceries. He never turns the opportunity of a free hotdog sandwich and shake down – but that day, he wanted to stay in and watch Yugi-Oh, an anime series on DVD. And if you know my kids, he is one big scaredy cat. Really. While we were on our way to the grocery, Edil told me in two years, Matthew will be just like his nephews and would prefer to hang out with friends. We are actually just waiting for him to demand his own room.
• It is not really bad having a binating. He is old enough to be able to handle responsibilities and he takes care of setting the table and doing errands while I am working, like mixing his sister’s milk. Sure, it will always be met with a dabog dabog, grumble grumble with “Lagi na lang ako” chants, but he gets it done.
• He is doing well in school,  but I notice he hasn’t been reading that much. He still has nice study habits though, doing his assignments as soon as he gets home. But the desire to branch out and do more intelligent things have waned. He would rather watch Anime series all the time. Let’s pray this is just a phase please!
• He remembers all the things we promise him – we promised him we will go watch Ice Age 3 today but the princess is sick and he is bummed about it. He got over it because he saw on TV that HP4 will be shown on July 16th. So we will watch. I saw my sister will be watching with my Dad (on Facebook) and told them to take him along since Martha can’t handle HP4. Aba, he was happier going with the Lolo (because he told me Lolo knows HP4 better and that he will be getting more food because Lolo has more money, hahaha!) so it made me a little sad knowing we are not that cool in his eyes anymore, hehehe.
• He wants to experience camping (but he wants a toilet and a –cide for bugs, snakes and every imaginable bug out there) – a trip to the Outer Banks rentals would be good for him don’t you agree? – but he doesn’t want to go anywhere that is hot and humid.
• He wants to take piano, guitar and art lessons at school. It sucks we can only afford one. Besides, we don’t have a piano AND a guitar at home.
• He has this pesteng cough for a month now. It sounds like an allergy. But when Martha had an attack, I realized he might be having asthma again – the symptoms are all there. So now we have two asthmatic kids in the house. G.R.E.A.T!

Share This

She is still on the nebulizer as of today – her asthma attack is gone and her cough seems to have been broken (her phlegm is coming out). I am quite concerned because I know bronchodilators and steroids have effects on the heart but if one has trouble breathing, we need to follow the ABC’s of Emergency right? (Airway, Breathing, Circulation) We will deal with side effects as it comes. Let’s hope she doesn’t need it for the long term as I wouldn’t want her to be hooked on an AED defibrillator!

I haven’t been taking pictures as much and as often lately. Call it pure laziness on my part. I am trying to take pictures again as I realized as I don’t have current pictures of the kids (and even myself) and this is what I get:

“Hey no picture me Mom!!”

She really talks like that. While kids her age would usually say, “Martha loves to eat. Martha sleeps na.” not really knowing the pronouns “I” and “me”, she loves to use “Me” and “You” quite extensively. Call it text speak.

She even tells things like this:
”Tuya, eat na your food. Tapos na me.”
”Mom, sleep na me. Tuya tulit eh. Palo mo you si Tuya Mom!”

I really don’t know where she got it.

And this is her pissed-off face.
You can actually imagine her saying, “Haaaaaaay kulit you Mom!”
(she actually said that)

She was having hicks na here.

Share This

My Twitter. Bebot and MBAP friends once talked about owning a home. It seems we are at that stage where we want to have a house we can really call our own. I got so many tips on where to get loans, how to maximize the Pag-IBIG housing benefits, the current pricing of lots, whether it is better to buy a pre-made house or start from scratch, and whether a house, a townhouse unit or condo unit is better. It all boils down to preferences really. I once saw a  manufactured home in one of the movies I watched and it was really nice. It is a house that is built in a factory and then transported to the place where it should be. It is kinda cool really.

As for us, we would love to have a house with wide open space. Having lived in the suburbs made me realize how much free open spaces for the kids to run in is so good for my kids. I also realized how cheap lots are selling in our area too, makes me wish we can buy and invest on a lot right away!

Share This

Yes it’s the pits.
Martha has the hicks. Hika.

It started yesterday when she woke up throwing up. Oops. Bad sign. She was barking like a dog all throughout watching her cartoons in the morning. I gave her the usual Ventolin but after her afternoon nap, I knew she was having an attack. I almost panicked because 1) we didn’t have our usual stock of her asthma medicines (It has been a year since she had an attack!) and 2) our vehicle broke down. Since we live in a place where everyone was asleep by 8PM, that was bad news. Lolo and Lola to the rescue. I started her on Prednisone last night and wasn’t really able to sleep well because I was monitoring her breath sounds. It was the first time in a long while I heard her wheezing.

By morning I knew I had to be aggressive because I remember her pedia pulmonologist say that if an acute attack doesn’t stop in 24 hrs, we need to have her confined. We bought more medicines for her and thankfully, it lessened the worsening of her condition. As of the moment, she still has shallow breathing but it is better. Hopefully after we finish the 48 hours worth of emergency medicines, she will be a whole lot better. Time like these make me really want to have those premium Blue Advantage health plans.

The downside to having steroids? Martha has been hyper and jumping and running and bouncing off the 4 walls of our small house. I told her to stop and she gave me this sad, tampururot face.

She told me, “Mommy whatchame doing?”
Translated to, “Mommy what will I do? I’m bored.”

Share This

June is officially the start of school and the start of the rainy season where we live. That also means the start of colds, flu and cough and the signal to begin taking out the jackets and invest on umbrellas again.

My kids have different kinds of sinus and respiratory problems – asthma being one of them, so we try to make sure we avoid things that could trigger them. With my kids, pollution, too much heat and dirt are sure ways to set off their allergies. That is the primary reason we relocated.

Because we live in the mountains, I have grown accustomed to bringing jackets and caps for the kids even if it is a hundred degrees outside when we go out. Because for sure, by evening, it gets colder. Now that rainy season has started, rain showers are a natural occurrence as well. I think the kids have four to five jackets each while I only have two hooded jackets. I need to invest on a sturdy but fashionable coat especially since Christmas season is fast approaching. I remember our first Christmas last year here we were in jackets every time. I will be waiting for the end of season sale in the US and will definitely have my friend Glo buy me maybe one or two.

Share This

We just came from a great party of the kids’ cousins last weekend. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it made me realize that even if I don’t really enjoy going to parties, I should make an effort to bring my kids to parties where they are invited. Kids Party Birthday Invitations are always all over the house as most of my parents’ friends invite our kids to their parties too.

I love getting unique, one-of-a-kind invitations though. Nothing makes me more excited than getting a peak of what is going to be at the party than the invites themselves.

Just a tip though – make sure you always state the time of the party earlier, knowing how Pinoys are when it comes to time!

Share This

Ever imagine eating unusual dishes like snail porridge, sardine on toast sorbet, and
salmon poached with liquorice, hot and iced tea, chocolate wine?

These may all sound weird and utterly inedible for some but these are signature menu recipes from the Fat Duck Restaurant. The famous restaurant, being one of the only three restaurants ever to be given a three-star rating from Michelin Guide (oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide) and in 2005, it was named best restaurant by the Restaurant magazine.

Its chef and founder, Heston Blumenthal, has come up with his 50 signature recipes in the big fat duck cookbook, retailing for £93.75.

The book, as well as ebooks, can be bought at Borders the Book Shop.

You would be surprised to know that Blumenthal actually had no formal knowledge on cooking, just concocting recipes based on his obsession on how smell of food and its taste affect human beings. In fact, he even taught Nobel Prize winners once about molecular gastronomy, the science of food and taste.

If not for the rave reviews, one would naturally be curious as to how they would even taste. The presentation of the meals are appealing and downright entertaining. They present ipod music on sea shells and call it “Sound of the Sea”.

Here is the sample menu:

Fat Duck Tasting Menu (£97.50)

Nitro-green tea and lime mousse, orange and beetroot jelly, oyster, passion fruit jelly, horseradish cream, lavender pommery grain mustard ice cream, red cabbage gazpacho, jelly of quail, langoustine cream, parfait of foie gras

Snail porridge
Jabugo ham, shaved fennel

Roast foie gras
Almond fluid gel, cherry and camomile

Sardine on toast sorbet
Ballotine of mackerel ‘invertebrate’, marinated daikon

Salmon poached with liquorice
Asparagus, pink grapefruit, Manni olive oil

Poached breast of Anjou pigeon pancetta
Pastilla of pigeon leg, pistachio, cocoa and quatre épices

White chocolate and caviar
Mrs Marshall’s Margaret cornet
Pine sherbet fountain

Mango and douglas fir puree
Bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant sorbet

Carrot and orange tuile
Bavarois of basil
Beetroot jelly

Smoked bacon and egg ice cream
Pain perdu, tea jelly

Leather, oak and tobacco chocolates
Praline rose tartlet

A selection of wines by the glass to accompany this menu £67.50

Selection of Champagne Taittinger by the glass to accompany this menu £90.00

An optional 12.5% service charge will be added to your bill

Share This

Marlon Jackson’s words said it all:

"…they ridiculed you. How much pain can one take? Maybe now Michael they will leave you alone…"

I remember when I was a kid, my Mom would tell me how she loved Paul McCartney of the Beatles. As a teenager, I was shown the ultimate fan girl’s collection of Elvis Presley – my aunt absolutely adored him when she was a teenager.

And today I realized that I am not getting any younger.

I think I, together with the whole world, was crying today watching Michael Jackson’s memorial on TV. I don’t realize up until now how much his music, his dance, and his being affected all trends.

And my son asked me, “Why are you crying for him he looks like a girl.”

My kids’ generation will never know Michael, but they will definitely feel the imprint he left on music.

He was my time’s Elvis and the Beatles.
And years from now, my daughter will listen to him, just like how I’ve listened to Sinatra, Elvis and the Beatles. I just hope whoever their music icon will be, will not have the same sad fate ours had.

Source

Have you seen my Childhood?
I’m searching for the world that I come from
‘Cause I’ve been looking around
In the lost and found of my heart…
No one understands me
They view it as such strange eccentricities…
‘Cause I keep kidding around
Like a child, but pardon me…

Before you judge me, try hard to love me.
The painful youth I’ve had
Have you seen my Childhood…

It is sad someone has to die just for people to realize how much that person meant to the world….

"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with." ~ Michael Jackson

RIP MJ.

Share This