twelve 2012 highlights

*in no particular order*

one: bawled throughout the phantom of the opera

two: attended the natasha wang pole workshop 

three: was pleasantly surprised by wicked's ending

four: acted real immature in universal studios singapore

five: experienced pregnancy and being a parent for the first time 

six: arya, the sweetest KSP dog in the whole world

seven: rediscovered baguio thrice

eight: had an eating spree with my best friends in boracay

nine: got crafty

ten: finished reading the entire bible

eleven: finally got my 7 year long wish to go to casa san pablo

twelve: esther <3

*what are your 2012 highlights?*

Casa San Pablo

Last weekend, my family from my mom's side finally went to Casa San Pablo. We've all been wanting to go there for the longest time and my aunt's arrival was the perfect excuse for a short break. Personally, I've been wanting to go there for more than five years!

It's such a beautiful place and it suits different kinds of travelers. If you want a laid-back or romantic vacation, you can just stay in one of their quaint rooms (each room is different), eat yummy food in their restaurant, take a nap in one of their hammocks, and stargaze at night. If you're someone whose idea of a vacation is to move around as much as possible, there are lots of activities there: you can go swimming, do outdoor sports, they even have cooking classes. There are also tours offered outside the inn such as the Viaje Del Sol and lake tours. I swear, one visit is not enough! And it's very accessible so it's a perfect weekend getaway for couples, families, barkadas, or the lone traveler. When E gets a little bit older (a month or so from now, hehe), we'll surely come back.

More photos:

choose your hammock

such a pretty flower!

little chair

i love every tiny detail

essy says hi

breakfast

part of our yummy lunch

we stayed in room 13

one happy baby :)

GV Mondays

Source

An apt quote for today. The biggest typhoon that will hit the Philippines is already here and when there's a typhoon, destruction usually follows. But Filipinos are generally enduring individuals, able to get through hardships with humor and goodwill. We'd learn how to dance in the rain (and sometimes quite literally).

This is also something that He always reminds me. Instead of moaning and groaning because of setbacks, I should rise above it. It might be because I've being prepared for something bigger in the future and just feeling helpless would be the death of me.

Have you learned how to dance in the rain? :)

Oh, Christmas Tree! (Year 2)

This year, we won't be able to put up our Christmas tree since we lack space where we're staying now.

There's a blank space over our headboard and Esther often faces that area whenever she's on our bed. I've been wanting to put up something there so at least she's not just staring into space.

Then I thought, why not hit two birds with one stone? I could make a geometrical Christmas tree! That way, we can have something Christmassy in our room that will also stimulate Esther's visual development.

C and I made it together so we kind of continued our tradition. I was actually planning to do it on my own but when C saw me haphazardly making isosceles triangles he decided to take over. Yeah, I really suck at geometry and I have poor spatial sense.

Trivia: C and I were classmates in grade 8. He had a really high grade (around 95%ish) in the same geometry class I failed in (don't ask what my grade is).

He was so anal with measuring the triangles and even heard him mutter something about needing a t-square.

We used washi tapes and circle cut-outs of the rubberprint I made before.

I can't wait to see Esther's reaction when she sees the tree. She's sleeping as I'm writing this.

one.

Esther just turned one month and she decided to celebrate it by being wide awake and having a milk buffet from the wee hours of the morning til almost noon. Only babies could get away with those kinds of antics because they're so adorable.

I told C she's starting to look less like an infant (they all look almost alike) and more like OUR baby. Almost all of her features now she got from her dad, her hair obviously, but I'm so happy she got my dimples. It's amazing how this tiny little human came from our DNA!

I love watching her grow up and seeing her reach developmental milestones like following an object by moving her head and reacting to certain sounds and movements. She has hundreds of funny cute sounds, my most favorite being the one she makes when she stretches. We have started dancing/swaying to "Linus and Lucy" from A Charlie Brown Christmas. For now, she only smiles and giggles when she's asleep or half-asleep and I couldn't wait to see her smile socially.

Happy one month, Esther! Mama and papa loves you!

Our big little miracle

After I found the surprise money last week, C and I went to my routine OB check-up. When my OB saw me, she was in shock to see that I was 5-6 cm dilated (before giving birth, one must be 10cm dilated) and told me to go down to the maternity ward to have myself checked-in. We were in a daze on the way, I gave C last minute instructions. Our hospital bag was still at home. Everything happened in a blur and it wasn't because of the epidural.

Nine hours later, I became a mommy and C a daddy. I will forever remember the moment when I first saw E being put on my chest and hearing her first cry. From then on I couldn't take away my eyes off her, amazed that she came from my womb and forever thankful for this blessing. It was nice to finally see the actual knees who kept on kneeing my arm and other people inside my tummy!

I can almost feel my heart burst for all the love that I'm feeling for my family. I'm grateful for having such a beautiful baby girl and a very supportive husband who's as smitten with E as I am.

All the sleepless nights are worth it.

{P.S. Read C's blog entry about our little game changer}

Church Baby Shower!

The day after my Hootin' Baby Shower, our church also held a baby shower for us and celebrated my sister-in-law Andrea's birthday.

We weren't able to take much photos. Most of the photos were of baby Marco, hehehe.

C practicing how to hold a baby :D

Tita Alex and Marco

Marco fell asleep while Tito Roy was carrying him!

One of the games was to guess my waistline, hahaha. The new moms were spot on!

Moms and dads gave us all kinds of advice. Our pastor, before giving us advice, confessed that he also wants to have his own grandchild soon, hahaha. Being part of a small church community makes everyone closer to each other and I'm glad that we're part of one because it's much easier to raise a child if surrounded by supportive people (and I don't want to have post-partum depression!!!!).

Thank you so much tita Ina for hosting and to everyone who was there. The presence of children made the shower extra fun, hehehe. Thank you also to those who weren't able to attend but left gifts :)

Hootin' Baby Shower!

Last week, my best friends Kitsie and Leslie (who were also my maids of honor) hosted my baby shower. It was their first time to host a baby shower and they did great with the decors, games, and program <3

It was owl-themed

My mother-in-law prepared most of the yummy food. Thank you Mama Luchie! Thank you also to my mom, our ninang Amar, Kitsie, and Les for contributing other food and desserts. :)

My parents and mom-in-law gave touching speeches which includes useful tips, fond (and funny) memories, and lullabies. (Photos by Chappy)

Instaxmax galore! (Will have these scanned someday, promise!)

A big thank you to those who came and for your gifts (the baby stuff ones and the wise advice for us): Papa, Mama and tito Jessie, RA2K, Avic, Mama Luchie and the Callanta siblings (and Nan, the Callanta-to-be!), ninang Amar and tito Ruben Torres, Tin and Roj, Jowill, Miks, and our fellow buntis-couple, Biya! And of course, my lovely hostesses! Gosh, I claim the pregnancy card if I forgot anyone!

Yes, E's a SHE ;p

We feel really blessed that we have very supportive family and friends that would never hesitate to help us and to give advice or just panic with us when they don't know what to do either :p I feel the love <3

Surprise Money!

The house and my brain are in mild chaos right now because we're gonna have a baby soon! One of my to-do is to move our important paper documents from a make-shift filing case made out of a carton box and recycled envelopes to a more proper container (for now).

Since I have yet to make proper labels, I just removed each envelope content into a folder and included the envelope in the folder for the meantime. I'm glad I checked each envelope carefully because I found this in one of the envelopes:

Five thousand pesos in cash. I immediately messaged C if he put it in but he doesn't remember. I can't remember anything either. We concluded the same thing: it's from God! Maybe it's His baby shower gift to us or this amount will be needed soon.

There's a reason why I found it and only He knows what it is for.