milestones | baby dragon and kuya tiger

today, matteo is 2 months and 4 days old.

even before he turned 1 month old, he could already lift his head high whenever he's lying on his stomach. His other milestones to date:

• smiles back
• responds with sounds
• weighs 11lbs

for his 2nd month, we celebrated with 2 dozen kk donuts! ;-)

as for kuya uno, i'm happy that he can now speak in complete sentences. but most of the time, it's in filipino. i need to talk to him in english more since everyone else in the house is using the vernacular. here are a few of uno's antics:

• my underwear was on my leg and uno accidentally kicked me (he was playing with his shoes on). my underwear got dirty and i told him, "i won't bring you with me to the mall anymore. say sorry." he replied with, "sorry panty." hahahaha!
• i was wearing my heels and looking at myself in the mirror. when uno saw me, he blurted, "wow, sexy nanay!" hihihi... (nanay is mommy in filipino)

looking forward to more wonderful milestones from my boys!

my only concern is, uno's getting jealous of matteo lately. i've been giving them equal attention, but it doesn't seem to work. uno wasn't like this, only started last week i think. how do i address this? any suggestions?

oh, and yes, i went back to work last monday. i'm happy to say, matteo is still purely breastfed. hope i can keep this up for the next few months! :D even though i'm only getting around 3-5 hours of sleep, my breaks are for "harvesting" milk, i only get to eat 1-2 meals a day, and i'm sleepy and tired all the time, i know my hard work will pay off big time. so i guess, this is also a milestone for me. :) oh yeah!

uno turns dos, part 1

for uno's 1st birthday, i originally wanted a pool party but i had a difficult time looking for a place. so we ended up celebrating his birthday at lazer extreme in market, market. 

i contemplated on whether or not it is wise to celebrate uno's 2nd since i just gave birth last february and i'm on a really, really tight budget. but i thought, the next time his birthday will fall exactly on a weekend is when he turns 7. that was my deciding factor. silly, i know. ;-) so with only 2 weeks left before the big day, i put my party planner hat on and frantically figured everything i wanted in my head.

the place

i've been googling pools for rent since forever, when all this time my mom knew about this place just a few blocks away from our house. pictures of pools from google looked ok, but this is by far the best i've seen.

first off, there's a lounge area with super comfy seats, colorful stools & pots, paintings, and cool furniture.

this was a day before the party. wasn't able to take 

better pix, sorry. see the pink cloth on the left? 

those are the seat cushions when not in use.

look how thick the cushions are! i swear, they're  super comfy! 

given the chance, i would sleep on them. :)

here's a view of the lounge from the pool.

(above pic was taken by my sister, trisha)

now for a kiddie party, the pool is huge!

shallowest is at 4ft (left) and deepest is at 12ft (right). 12 feet?!?!?!?!

coz there's a diving board on that part, that's why. :)

here's a view of the pool & lounge near the entrance.

and from the opposite side, here's a look at the entrance gate.

i hope you're getting an idea of what the place looks like. from

this angle, the lounge and pool are on the left, while the garden

is on your right (behind these wooden benches).

garden?! yep, there's a garden where you can do different kinds of activities.

from the entrance, this is a view of the garden.

(can you picture what the place looks like now?)

i only had around 50 guests and i can say this can easily fit around 100 people. i've been told this has been used for a debut and even a wedding! can you believe that? how awesome is this place! :D (nope, not getting paid to praise and sort of advertise this venue...hehe)

if the pix are not good enough for you to choose this for your party or event, below are a few more reasons i can give:

1. you can save on decorations since the place is already full of colorful stuff - the tables, chairs, pots, etc.

2. speaking of tables and chairs, you can use them if you're not getting a caterer.

3. it may not be obvious but the garden has trees. and these trees i believe are a big help in keeping the area cool.

4. it's not far. here's a map just to give you an idea.

blue dot is the venue.

5. and last but not the least, rent is not expensive. (but i think it varies on the # of guests you have)

the only problem i have is there's only 1 shower room. although i didn't hear any complaints about that.

so there you go, i hope those helped. :) i won't even think twice in renting this place again. an officemate is thinking of using it for team building; my niece has suggested it to one of her classmates for a teen party; and if staycation is your thing, why not bring your family here? :D

will tell you more about uno's party in my next posts. ;-)

baby dragon

wow, it took me more than a month to say that i've already given birth. having a toddler and a newborn can really get your hands busy. but i'm lovin' every second of it. ;-)

if you noticed  my new tickers, one of them indicates my baby santino matteo is now 1 month, 1 week, and 6 days old. time flies so fast and in a few weeks, i'm going back to work. bummer.

i barely have time to update this blog, so this is just going to be a quick post. take a look at a few pix!

i gave birth on 18 february 2012 at 8:25am. santino matteo weighed in at 6lbs 8oz and 

was 51cm in length. (he's heavier and longer than his kuya uno!)

here he is after a week - tanned from all that sun-baking. :)

matteo getting a kiss from kuya uno on his 1st week. <3

this i can truly say is a priceless photo. i was just taking pictures of us and in this one,

he was smiling with me. cute!

and finally, here's a pic of my tiger and dragon catching some zzz's.

<3 <3 <3

that's all for now. need to catch up on some sleep to. this weekend is going to be busy as i'm preparing for uno's 2nd. yipee!

diy photoshoot

like any other pregnant mommy, i'd want a professional to capture images of me and my tummy. but, i thought to myself, why not make my own photoshoot? 

so i did. :D and you can do it yourself, too!

here's a list of what you need:

a good camera
tripod
room with wide windows
time (between 9am-11am)
cloth (big enough to use as costume)

cloth (bigger enough to use as background)

masking tape

and last but not the least, an assistant a.k.a. your photographer (in my case, my niece - who was also my hair stylist)

i fixed my room a bit and turned it into a makeshift studio. prepped everything then worked on me - took a quick bath, put on make-up (while my niece was braiding my hair), wore my bandeau and cycling shorts, then figured out how to wear the cloth.

one quick tip before you do this: check out some pegs. i didn't get to see any inspiration before we started so it was pretty much an anything-goes shoot. but it turned out great! i just need to install photoshop and edit the pix.

check out the unedited photos from my diy shoot!

and here i am with my niece ayel, who was really helpful and game!

the pix just need editing and they're good to go! whatcha think? :D 

total cost: php20 for the white cloth (the bigger cloth is a blanket, hihi).

keep walking

no, my post is not about drinking and getting drunk (although it is the tagline of one popular alcoholic drink). i literally just want to remind all pregnant women out there to keep walking!

walk! yes, walk! it's the simplest and can be the best form of exercise for pregnant women.

i am on my 32nd week and i weigh 117 lbs! i've only gained around 20 lbs but guess what? my baby's weight is in the average range. ;-) everything is a-ok!

one thing i track whenever i walk is my sweat. weird? well, it's just that i make sure i walk a lot but not to the point i'll sweat or tire myself out. i'm pretty much following what the doctor ordered: walk as tolerated. 

although i feel hot a lot, i just find it easier to walk even with a big belly. my balance is not off unlike my 1st pregnancy where i had to walk like a duck. haha! plus, i don't easily get tired.

since i missed being "tall", i wore wedges today at work (and i just wanted to show off my legs, hihi). a lot of my colleagues were protesting but i assured them i'd be ok.

 i don't know what i was doing here, but i'm posting it anyway. hahaha!

 

super adore my new shoes! 3 and a half inches, i think - and i never wobbled! balance. balance. balance! thanks to minutes of walking. wanna see a close-up of my shoes? :D

so again let me say to you, keep walking! 

but please, don't walk to lose weight, that's a big no-no during pregnancy. unless of course your ob-gyne gave you the go signal. in any form of activity, always get your doctor's green light. :)