plus one

we're both a year older, and hopefully wiser and smarter.



(aldo's the one who turned 30 by the way. LOL.)

i am omnipresent

first there was lycos and some other build-your-own-website-site that i can't remember... then there were my livejournal and this blog. and then there's my friendster, myspace, and multiply pages. now into the bandwagon called facebook* i jump into.

talk about having my little corner in cyberspace! i don't even know why i sign up for these things LOL.

*facebook here is what friendster to us back in the philippines was a few years ago. crazy!

my picky eater

remember the Star Margarine campaign in the early '90s... the one with Star Margarine on rice being really good for kids?

there must be some truth to that concept because Amori will only eat rice if i mix a little butter with it.

LOL.

(i know some purist moms will shudder at the thought but with my picky Amori, i'll do anything just so she'll eat anything other than bread, cream cheese, and fruits!).

recently i've tried making Amori some a thai-style fried rice of sorts, and paella - and she ate those. seems like she doesn't like plain rice! oh and no meats for amori too... she spits out chicken or meat. i hope it's just a phase... or maybe she's a vegetarian! LOL.

papa's girl

aren't they cute? =)

here's to hoping that one day (hopefully before amori's 18th birthday), i will have the time to put together a proper scrapbook for amori. i've saved all the photos, trinkets and whatnots, first locks of hair, hospital tags, ribbons, and stickers... all i really need is time and quiet space.

one day.

Formula For Disaster

i wish i were still in college - writing, researching, shooting, and editing investigative pieces such as this.

i wish that breastfeeding in the philippines will be encourged by more moms and doctors, as much as it is here.

... but having felt the pressure to do so isn't a great, positive experience. when it was my turn, i felt like a bad mother for not being able to do it for amori, and it took me a great deal of time to get past it. (heck, i even went as far as asking/telling the hospital nurses that maybe i had plugged ducts that's why the milk couldn't get out - insane, i know... i laugh at it now but it wasn't so funny at that time!) but at the end of the day, amori's weight gain was still the priority, whether it was by formula or breastmilk (so i still made pilit and did both for a while LOL).

so i still say breastfeeding is the best if you've got milk!

****

since i'm posting about breastfeeding, i just had to mention... aldo and i were watching Without A Trace last night, and it was about a filipina nanny accused of kidnapping/murdering an infant. in the end, it was the baby's mom that accidentally killed the baby - she was breastfeeding the baby in bed and suffocated the poor child. the mom was too drugged (anti-depressants for post-partum depression) to realize she killed her child (which is too dramatic already - i think any mom would have woken up at one point!). the father of the baby then tried to cover-up the accident by giving the filipina nanny a wad of cash, telling her to disappear so that the mom would not realize she killed her own baby.

yes, another reason to typecast filipinos as nannies. (i was once asked by a local why most filipinas here are nannies. i couldn't give a concrete reason why. why nga ba?)

1 2 3 4... Hi-5!

Barney has now been temporarily shelved. Amori now loves Hi-5... i guess the upbeat songs, fancy costumes, and all that dancing is much more fun to watch than a purple dinosaur.

Hi-5 was originally aussie - with a filipino in it (Kathleen De Leon)!



but we only get the US version on tv and on dvd though... but there's still a filipino in it - Kimee Balmilero!



we've been watching way too much Hi-5... i can't get their songs out of my head.

... I'm assuming that it won't be long before Barney gets back inside the DVD player!

let's go!

Branson Missouri is the Live Entertainment Capital of the World - they've got a lot of museums, several rides, outdoor parks, water rides, a Go Kart Track, miniature gorf courses, and a number of golf courses... what more can you ask for? To top if off, you can bid on your own Branson vacation - you give them a budget to work on and voila, a package customized just for you!

amori's room

aldo has finally cleared out amori's room. a few more weekends to go and it'll be ready! i've been thinking of what her room's theme will be - i'm still undecided, but it definitely won't be Dora. i was searching for kids bedding online and found The Very Hungry Caterpillar sheets ... not too sure about a hairy caterpillar on the pillows though, but it's cute - not to mention a great book to read to amori!

daycare failure

daycare did not quite work out for us.

amori would cry whenever we'd leave her. of course that goes without saying that what followed after those tearful goodbyes were also tearful 5-minute silent pauses in the car between aldo and me. it was too much of a heartbreak to see amori unhappy in daycare - even when aldo would pick her up, she wouldn't be her usual smiling and shouting self. at first we thought it might just be an adjustment period sort of thing, but on the 2nd week we had enough.

i know other daycare parents say that it takes time for the kids to get used to being dropped off but heck - i'll pass. everytime we'd pick up amori she was so filthy too - which made me more unhappy and angry. she'd smell like dried-up milk and crushed cheerios.

i thought it was pretty simple: find a daycare with an available space, give a deposit, bring her there for a few days before leaving her for full days, and leave her happy everyday after that. apparently it isn't so.

just like dating, it's a trial and error thing so we're not completely giving up. we're still on the hunt for a good daycare that she'll thrive in - but we're in no rush this time, as it'll most probably better that she's slightly older next time around.

now she's back with her babysitter and she's (more like we are!) a lot happier. at least no more coming home with stinky clothes and sticky fingers!