Storytelling Time

story time with papa and mama

Reading books to E has been part of our daily routine and we all love it. We don't do it because we want E to become a genius or read independently by age two, we do it so she'll love books as much as we do. It's also fun to make silly voices and sound effects whenever we read to her. She still doesn't have a favorite book so we read our own favorites for now. C and I both love the Knufflebunny trilogy so much that we bought E a rabbit and named it Knucklebunny!

E @ 1 month with Knucklebunny

Personally, I love singing the lullaby from Robert Munsch's book, "Love You Forever," to E even when she was still in my tummy. It goes: I love you forever/ I like you for always/ As long as I'm living/ My baby you'll be. Here's a video clip of Joey (from Friends) reading the book:

Some helpful resources if you want to build your own collection of children's books:
50 best books for kids (Time Out New York)
67 books every geek should read to their kids before age 10 (Wired)

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}