a mommy's secret weapon

they should have told us in prenatal class that one thing we can try when a baby cries all night is to put her in a Baby Bjorn.

bye-bye september

The air feels crisper, and the horizon has a purplish haze to it. It's officially fall.

September has been busy, busy, busy for us. I went back to work part-time the first 2 weeks while Aldo was on leave - for the sake of goodwill towards my boss because I told her I'd go back after giving birth. On the days that I wasn't working, we took trips to Harrison Hot Springs and Victoria.





Amori also had a busy September. Aside from our trips, she had her first set of shots this month - which, I must add, were more painful for us than for her. She was a brave little girl, crying only when she was stabbed with the needles and 15 minutes after. But yikes, those were the longest 15 minutes we have ever experienced... hearing your baby cry out in pain is more heartbreaking than 20 hours of labor!

Her hair is growing longer (and upward I must say), neck muscles getting stronger, drooling, getting heavier, and amusing us more and more. Every morning she gives us a good morning smile that really makes me forget that my sleep is now punctuated by feeding and nappy changes every 4 hours.





We've completely let go of breastfeeding this month too... I am still feeling like a failure over it but have decided that we've exhausted all possibilities and now it's time to put away the breast pumps, nursing pillow, and nursing tops. Chapter over, time to move on.

This month we welcomed Amori's playmate Maya! From drinking pints on Fridays, to eating at Pinpin and Banana Leaf, to summer swimming at the Kitsilano pool, we are now officially parents. Cheers to future playdates and jogging strollers (yeah. as if.)!



Whew... what a month. Only one more month to go and we'll be on a plane to Manila!

papa productions presents

"When the moon hits your eye,
like a big pizza pie,
that's AMORI!"

produced, directed, shot, edited, and scored by amori's papa.

victoria, british columbia

Victoria, British Columbia is always in season! Victoria has the mildest climate in Canada, and is a place so green all year that flowers fall out of the sky and even the lamp posts bloom. It is no wonder that it is called The Garden City! The wild beauty of the Pacific coast and the adventure of the great outdoors are within the city limits and ocean and mountain vistas will follow you wherever you go.

Victoria remembers its colourful history with First Nations totem poles, heritage architecture and afternoon tea, and bustles with the energy of a university town, having the University of Victoria, Canada within its limits. Shop windows are full of British imports, Native art and the latest trends. Restaurants and cafés serve the freshest cuisine. The harbour is alive with the romance of an era when tall ships moored alongside the wharf and evenings glitter as lights twinkle and cast their magic from atop the landmark British Columbia Legislative Buildings.

First stop was the Butchart Gardens. It's supposedly one, if not the best gardens to visit in BC but sadly, it felt like there were too many plants and flowers and not much grand landscape architecture compared to the Minter Gardens. That and the fact that there are a thousand other tourists behind you so you can't really walk around at leisure without annoying anyone. The flowers were beautiful though, especially at this time of the year... it was pretty tempting to pluck out the huge roses.

flowers that look like little ballerinas

the Sunken Garden... the one in UP sure doesn't look like this!

Two kilometers away was the Butterfly Garden. It was an indoor garden with controlled temperatures to simulate tropical weather. It felt like we were in Manila because of the temperature, plus the banana trees, yellowbelles, and gumamelas. The butterflies are free-flying so it was awesome to see different kinds flying around.

Less than an hour's drive later, we were in Downtown Victoria.

the Parliament House

someone slept right thru the car ride

The next day, we visited the Craigdarroch Castle... oddly enough, it is now smack in the middle of a residential area so it was a bit weird to see a castle beside houses. LOL. The castle rooms are presented like a museum so some of them felt slightly creepy because some had clothed mannequins. I guess it didn't help that the floors were creaky too.

The ferry ride to and from vancouver was great. even if we had to wait for all 200+ cars, buses, and trucks to load, it was organized and systematic. Convenient too, since there's a ferry every hour. (If only the philippines had an organized travel system such as this, then local tourism would probably be even better. I guess it's already an achievement that there is a RORO ferry in place now.)

Travelling with an infant wasn't as bad as I had previously imagined - thanks to Baby Bjorn, Peg Perego, Medela Quick Steam Bags, and Ready To Feed Enfamil A+ in cans!

sand sculptures

our trip to harrison hot springs last weekend was our first as a family - perfect timing, as it was also our first wedding anniversary! armed with tons of diapers, bottles, formula, a bouncer seat, an infant carrier, and a stroller - we were off to see the sand sculptures before summer officially ends.

on the way, we stopped by the Minter Gardens. it was beautiful at 10am - the air was cool and smelled like a mixture of roses and freshly-cut grass. we carried amori around in a sling (which promptly put her to sleep!) and went around with a bunch of old folks on a tour. we loved the english rose garden, with roses in different hues, and as big as amori's face... plus a pretty gazebo right in the middle of it of course.

by noon we were at the harrison hot springs town proper, and could see the sculptures from our hotel window. after a diaper change and 4oz. of milk, we headed to the beach/lake shore where the sculptures were.

they were all awesome - you'd think they were made of cement or clay because the sculptures were detailed and not your average sand castle.


by amorieleanor


by amorieleanor


by amorieleanor


by amorieleanor

we saw a few that were being sculpted since there was another tournament that weekend sponsored by the Vancouver Sun.

harrison hot springs is a great place for a day trip but if you stay overnight like we did, it tends to get a bit boring on the 2nd day. it's a really scenic drive from downtown vancouver though - instead of the usual buildings, you see miles and miles of corn fields, hazelnut farms, tree farms, and mountains. think Smallville.

at least we now know that we can take amori practically everywhere even if she's only 2 months old!

525,600 minutes

wow, it's been a busy, busy year.

conversations at 5am

these days, amori and i have conversations as early as 5am - me half-awake while she's wide awake and talking to the mobile, the windows, or the blinds. LOL. it's amazing how fast babies develop - just a few weeks ago all we could hear were cooing sounds... and now its getting to sound like a-goo!

now who wouldn't have a good morning when this is what you wake up to!

breastfeeding is best for babies when you have milk!

breastfeeding hasn't come easy for the two of us. i had really wanted to breastfeed because of the health advantages - less allergies and less getting sick in general. i grew up sickly and with tons of allergies so i didn't want that for amori.

we told the nurses in the hospital that i would be breastfeeding, and i did what the prenatal classes told us - to breastfeed as soon as possible after delivery. the books and nurses said that she would not be hungry yet so we listened and figured she was crying all night just because she wanted to. but then Day 3 came. she was nursing for 5 hours straight, crying in between (me included because i was already bleeding and sore), and wasn't sleeping. aldo and i thought a pacifier was what she needed so i sent him to the nearest 24-hour store to get one because the nurses didn't have any! for about 2 days the pacifier worked.

our poor little munchkin had a temperature the following day because she was dehydrated - imagine being hungry and using up all your energy in the process. finally, the nurses gave her a bit of formula to bring down her temperature - and she finally slept for 4 hours straight.

little did we know at that time that it was all about hunger... none of the parenting books said anything about the fact that when newborns cry, it means they don't get enough milk! all the books said was that they don't get hungry much because their stomachs are as big as chick peas. hmph!

when we got home, the community health nurse visited us with her weighing scale - and we found out that amori had lost 10% of her birth weight, so our doctor suggested giving her formula as a supplement. and we did, so it brought her weight back up but she still seemed unsatisfied during feedings.

then we were told to go to the Vancouver Breastfeeding Clinic to see the specialists there. we were given medication and a tedious schedule of feeding and pumping to follow for the next 4 weeks to increase my milk supply.

fast forward to today, i still don't manufacture enough milk so whatever i get only acts as an appetizer for amori - her main course is still formula. the reward for the tedious task of taking the medicine every 6 hours, pumping, sterlizing bottles, and preparing formula for her succeeding feedings... she is now 10.5 lbs. and gives me a big smile after her big burp.

all this hoopla during our breastfeeding journey has given me emotional ups and downs. not only was i frustrated at myself for not knowing how to make her stop crying, i was also angry with the fact that much like my cervix that did not dilate, i couldn't produce enough milk too. in hindsight, it never occured to us to switch to 100% formula - either i'm a glutton for tedious tasks, or i am a martyr... LOL. all i realy want is for amori to grow up without food allergies and asthma like me. i'll do whatever it takes, even if it is the long route.

so no, breastfeeding isn't easy. it only looks easy in print and tv ads. LOL.