is it time for a pet?

kyle has been asking me if he can have a pet already for the past weeks. he was asking for a hamster, a dog/puppy, a lizard (gasp!) and other pet-worthy pets. i told him he can if he can answer this basic question:

will you clean up your pet after he poops and pees?

so far the answer is still a resounding NO, he would even say that poop and pee are yucky things and he will never touch those. that he even asked my why he should be the one cleaning u after his pet, isn't it my job to do that? (raising my eyebrows to high heavens). i had to explain to him that i do the cleaning/bathing etc for them because i'm their mommy and wen they're bigger, they'll choose to do those things on their own. pets can't do that.

so that means he's still not ready for one. i explained to him that having a pet is a big responsibility. you not only feed it, but also clean up and take care of it after.

although there are days when he asks me if he's ready to have a pet to take care of. and i just keep on asking him the same question. if he's willing to clean up after his pet then for sure, hubby and i would be willing to give him one. maybe starting with a pet hamster too.

let's wait and see.

summer fun!

the upside of us staying with the in laws is the big playground. so much room to run around, get all sweaty and happy.

i miss going home early and seeing them this happy and active.

the price i have to pay for saving up for their future.

hot in the city

manila's temperature yesterday reached a sweltering 36.1 degrees celcius. and it's not funny at all when you're living in a home with no aircon. (well, one aircon but it's in my parent's room and one aircon in my BIL's house).

the past few nights were spent at my in laws where not one but three electric fans running throughout the night. one for hubby and keon to share, the other for kade and i to share, the other for SIL. kyle chose to sleep in BIL's room and at the request of his cousin, Migs.

sleeping at night was torture, especially for me since i don't have my comfort pillows and my usual evening rituals (hehe). i haven't been getting the sleep that i need since i have to constantly check the kids in the middle of the night in case they're getting soaked by their own sweat. good thing they can still sleep peacefully.

and just this morning before leaving for work, power had been cut off. meralco decided to go with their rotational brownouts again. just when the heat has been really really annoying.

i was more worried for kade because he has started to have prickly heat around his neck, which for sure all mommies would agree, is one of our worst enemies during the summer. plus the fact that kade's hair is quite long already and has been reaching his eyes. so he tends to rub, scratch and tug at his hair.(our tradition is to have their first haircut on their first birthday, so a little sacrifice on our part and our boys)

our best solution:

put his hair up in pigtails. which obviously by the looks of this picture, he's not liking it at all. haha! but a little sacrifice has to be made for more comfort for the little one.

but he sure looks cute right?

kade: "hay naku mommy..." LOL

separation anxiety all over again

kade has turned 9 months yesterday and he has discovered another milestone/feat. whenever i leave him in the crib to grab something quick, he would wail, and call out to me. or whenever i hand him over to his dad for some little daddy-son bonding, he protests, which, to hubby's dismay. i feel bad for hubby that sometimes he gets the impression that his bunso doesn't want him that much vs me. but of course he went through the same thing with our two boys before. it's just heartbreaking to see him that way.

he often jokes that our sons prefer me over him, but i've assured him a hundred times that by the time they reach grade school (which is not far by the looks of it since kyle's in kinder already) they'll be the best of friends and mommy will be the enemy.

but really, deep inside, i love the attention i get from my boys when they were this young. that i am their star, the only thing they need. well, now it's only kade who's doing it for me. kyle and keon have grown up to do things on their own and usually needs me when they want milk or go to the potty.

how time flies so fast that soon enough, these three boys would be so embarrassed to let me kiss them to death, smell their feet and armpits, cuddle and make funny noises before bedtime.

i think i'm the one having separation anxiety for the past 5 years now. hahaha

updates updates

since i'm on a blogging high today, might as well post things we've been up to as a family.

keon's finally going to school this june! and the people who are on the same level of excitement as ours are his future teacher! she was able to meet him for a trial run for a week. and he was the star of the class. sadly that time, he just turned 2 and he's quite young to go to school this fear of seeing him bored before he hits his highschool term scares me. keon has this tendency to get bored easily so putting him in school after he turns three sounds reasonable. since his attention span is much better compared to when he was 2. and his vocabulary has blossomed! it felt like he was talking in straight sentences from the moment he was born! such a talkative boy! make that 2 boys! conversations with kyle feels like talking to a grown up already!

wedding preps are in full blast. more updates on my wedding blog. :)

work has been fun even with a very intimidating quota/target. but i know our team can make it! the incentive's a great motivator! hahaha

whew, so far, that's what's been on my mind lately. will update/revive this blog as i go along. :)

but you can find me on twitter, tumblr, plurk and facebook LOL

what have i been up to?

for the longest time, i have been neglecting this blog. much of what happens to me on a daily basis has/had been logged in 2 of my planners. one for daily thoughts and rants and the other for wedding preps.

hubby and i have been going through a lot of potential suppliers. one criteria that ranks high on our list is how much we can get from their rates, the cheaper but with a lot to give, the better. and so far, we're still trimming down our lists.

9 months into the planning and i can feel the stress and the pressure. but we've booked 2 out of the our 3 major suppliers: the church and the venue. next on the list is the photo/video. 60% of the budget goes to them. the rest, we can find cheaper ones - especially for the attire. finding a good "mananahi" that can copy our pegs works fine for me. ms. practical in me screams that i only get to wear my gown once so there's no need to make it really bongga. i'm all for the comfort.

on the homefront, things are still much the same. the kids have been reserved for next school year and we're tickled with excitement at the thought of keon going to school. he'll sure wow the class. that's how confident we are of him. our little wonder, next to kyle.

kade, has turned 6 months. and i still can't believe that it has been half a year already! he's such a little bundle of surprises. he's now into solids and quite the hefty eater! 5 scoops using his spoon is enough for him. to think he just started a week ago! how's that for matakaw? :)

i guess i shall focus now on the wedding preps blog so that i won't forget any details or pegs to use.

milestone!

at 5 mos. he can now hold his bottle on his own!

photo taken in the morning. his first milk of the day half sleeping, half drinking his milk. <3

dr. mommy

weekends are supposed to be a fun time for my 3 kiddos. but unfortunately, this weekend was a bit of a downer. kuya kyle, woke up saturday morning with a fever. a whopping 39 degrees. thank god he's one of the lucky ones who didn't have any febrile seisures. but he was quite lethargic and was camped on the living room sofa sleeping.

he was complaining of an itchy throat. so it was a confirmation that we were on the onset of tonsilitis.

come sunday night, he was back to normal but still running a 38 degree fever. the only consolation was hbo was good to us. he got to watch shrek 3 and kung fu panda.

so tomorrow, off to the pedia for a check up just to make sure. :)

kade at 4 months

a new milestone for kade :) athough he can't roll over yet on his own, he sure can support himself once we put him on his tummy. he even attempts to crawl already :)

a little brotherly love. :) my boys sure grow up so fast. :(

before the month ends

i have been so caught up with work that this blog took a backseat. and it saddens me that i've neglected my blog for weeks. i've stored up lots of stories but i just didn't have the time at all.

so what have i been up to?

> i finally received the blessings i was waiting for a long time. this helped a lot with the family expenses. and at least now, i'm down to one loan payment. yey!

> the first 3 months of my injectibles and so far, it has been smooth sailing. the bad part though is the weight gain, but i'm not complaining, people said i looked better now. :)

> the kids are doing great. kyle's done with his 2nd quarter exams which i hope he passed with flying colors. we're also hoping for a first honor award this time. keon's still struggling with his terrible twos, he's been quite clingy to his yaya and usually ends up crying over little things. kade's growing up so fast that i can't believe he's turning 4 months already!

> we're already working on kade's baptism this november. just a little get together with friends and family.

> work has been great. it's not routine like it was before and now we've got more people on the team compared to a few months before when it was only me. one woman team for the digital department. :)

> hubby's doing great at work too. he's no longer frazzled and stressed unlike the first few months when he got promoted. but of course, the stress of manning a staff of 120 people comes with the job. thank god that there are only a handful of those who are disobedient. :)

little wonders

it's funny how something so powerful as a fart and a burp can come out from someone so tiny and helpless?

kade xedric, the burping and farting champion at home. sometimes his two older brothers get blamed but in the end, he was the culprit!

and that's one of the reasons why mommy loves you to bits!

you stole the crown from your two kuyas. amazing little kid with big powers!

your little wonders truly amaze the family.

kyle's first gimik

a mom's worst nightmare is when her son finally asks permission to go out at night with friends.

well, technically this happened to me way too early.

kyle and his cousin migs went out for a night out in town. (with mig's parents of course!) the funny and scary part is when kyle said this:

mommy i'm going out with migs. gimik kami

my heart must have leapt to it's death right then and there. haha i was already imagining what if he was saying that to me when he is already of age? but of course everything was in all good fun.

oh but the hirits didn't end there. kuya vince, taught kyle to say this:

mommy we're going to look for girls.

homaygaad it was funny and scary really.

this is kyle on his first gimik:quite tame. for now. hahaha!

thank god he still has a long way to go before he can go on his first real gimik.

what would you do?

if you're faced with two kids crying over one toy?

a. let it go and let them figure it out for themselves
b. give one each of the same toy
c. give a different activity for each child
d. do nothing

i did all four and well, each option works depending on the kid's temperament. i've been through hell being mommy referee. i can't comfort one and leave the other one. it's all a matter of compromise and my kids have taught me how to.

amazing how kids can teach you life lessons.

now i'm working my muscles to be mommy referee again, this time to three fighting boys soon. good luck to me! and i hope there's another lesson in there somewhere.

letters to my 3 boys

i tried to write them letters that they get to read once they're bigger, but the moment i start the letter i get washed away with so much emotion that i can't continue. but i have to, i just don't know when. i have to control my emotions first and get these letters done.

my plan is to have a letter for them on their 7th, 13th, 21st and 30th birthday.

dear lord, give me strength and emotional capability to finish them before the tears start to fall again...

is it time to switch?

i've been discussing this issue with hubby, if we are to "upgrade" kyle to Nido since he's already 4 and is getting all the required nutrients from his daily meals. his milk intake is as follows: the moment he wakes up in the morning, before his afternoon nap, after his afternoon nap and before bedtime. sometimes he asks for milk during the night.

health-wise, kyle's quite big for his age and undoubtedly has an appetite of a 7 year old. he can finish a cup of rice in one sitting. his rice and food intake is actually larger than mine. but he does burn off those by being way active. so obesity for him is out of the question. thank god he isn't into sweets, but we do indulge him on special occasions. we don't want to deprive our kids. chips and sodas are for special occasions as well. the chips and sodas come out at night when the kids are asleep.

but i digress.

with the high cost of growing up milk, we think it would be more practical to upgrade him into the more "generic" ones.

plus the fact that we still have 2 more boys consuming growing up milk. keon, still has a year to go before he does move on up to Nido too.

i'm a bit scared that they might not like having fresh milk at this stage even if it is the most healthy. i should know, i still drink milk up to now.

if only those milk companies cut down on the cost, every mom should be happy. especially me since i've got 3 mouths to feed. LOL

first smiles

kade xedric and his first smile at 2 months
he's not done yet
now that's the smile we've been waiting for.

my 3rd honor graduate

it was such a pleasant surprise to find out that my little boy, kyle got 3rd honors in school. it was such a proud mommy moment for me.

funny story: Thursday morning (august 27) while waking kyle up for school, one of our yayas told us that kle got 3rd honors in school. we asked how did they find out. yaya told us that she saw the letter from kyle's teacher inside his lunchbox. the letter said that recognition day will be on Friday, which was the next day. if we didn't find out about the good news, our little boy would come up the stage without us. and that would be a sad, sad scene.

but thank god it didn't happen. :) i was able to accompany him and go up the stage. hubby unfortunately, arrived late. just after kyle and i went up the stage. but he was one proud daddy nonetheless. :)

and here's my little boy and his award:and with me getting his award on stage

kade at 2 months

my little wonder boy at two months. what he's up to now?

> since he turned a month old, he can lift his head for short periods of time, and now he can hold it much longer. he can now survey his "kingdom" when we carry him upright. he actually prefers to be held upright that him lying down. he gets all fussy and irritated.

> he loves staring at his mobile with his bears and insects. his current favorite is the rainbow caterpillar. he actually coos and gurgles to it. which is quite fun to watch.

> he's been sleeping through the night for almost 2 weeks. i have to wake him up for his regular feedings or else he'll be mr grumpy pants when he wakes up in the morning.

> we don't struggle anymore with him sleeping on his crib at night. but he has to sleep first on my chest to get him all settled before i transfer him to the crib. yey i can finally sleep on my side!

> even before he turned 2 months, he already showed his first smile. and to my happiness, i was able to witness. we're now looking forward to his first laugh and diligently working on it.

> he has discovered his hands and little fingers. and spends most of his waking time trying to put them inside his mouth. but usually leaves him frustrated since his coordination isn't that fine tuned yet. try and try again baby.

other than that, he's still a sleeping, feeding, pooping, peeing baby boy. not so much interaction going on yet since kade's determined to grow and grow before he can dazzle us with his antics and charm.

kyle and keon, little bundles of energy

crazy things they do at home:

kade xedric's birthing story

i was due july 23, but i was sure as hell that this little boy would make his grand entrance on the first week of july.

towards the end of the month of june, my ob and i were discussing when to schedule my routine IE to check up on kade if he's ready and if my body's ready. i asked to move the check up the following week (july 3) since that weekend, my family and i were going to celebrate my dad's birthday the whole weekend. thankfully my ob agreed, with a lot of pleading and charms used. i assured her that by the time she does the IE on my, i'll be giving birth already so she should be ready.

the week went by and come july 3, friday, i popped over to her clinic over lunch to have my IE. and surprises of all surprises, i was already 4cm dilated but not yet effaced. meaning mycervix isn't open yet. so i was still given directions to go home and rest it out. but knowing me, and having gone through 2 previous pregnancies, i returned to work and finished all my turnovers for the day. i even announced through facebook that i was 4cm dilated already and sent some officemates into shocked and almost panicked replies. but i assured them i was doing ok and not feeling any pain at all.

i was even the last one to go home that friday night at 930pm. but around that time i was already feeling the strain on my lower back. i knew anytime i'll be heading to the hospital.

once we got home, i slept it off. come the next day, i woke up around 730am and felt pain on my back going to my tummy. i knew it was time. hubby left for the office since i knew this can take a while. i was counting the contractions already. round 830, the pain was a bit uncomfortable but manageable. i texted my ob that i was having 5 min contractions every 30 mins. she replied that i should head to the hospital asap since i could give birth already. since i wasn't panicking yet, i even asked her if i can still grab something to eat after i take my shower. i got a big NO and that i should get a move on asap. so i did. texted hubby to head home and bring me to the hospital. (i was that relaxed that i wanted hubby to bring me to the hospital when in fact my dad or brother can drive me to the hospital)

around 930am i we were knocking on the door of the delivery room. left all my things to hubby. was subjected to the usual round of questions. at that time i was still wearing my red nail polish on my hands and feet. sadly i had to remove them and so the resident nurse took them off while i was being monitored. another round of IE and i was 7cm dilated and 8cm dilated when having contractions.

i was surprised when they wheeled me directly to the delivery room. i asked them: aren't i going to stay in the labor room? they told me there's no need since i was already 8cm dilated and i can give birth anytime.

i was prepped and strapped on to the table. it was a good 30-45 mins of chikahan with the doctors since my ob was still on her way. it was around 1045am. i was shaved, given my IV, another round of interviews, more chikahan. during those times i was already feeling the intense pain, i was asking the doctors if i can sit down a bit since it eases the pain, but since i can't anymore, i had to bear the pain.

a tip: those breathing exercises really help. the more you scream off the pain, the more it gets painful. seriously.

after another round of chikahan with my ob, she did another IE on me and then my water bag broke. this is it! in a few mintues, kade will make his grand entrance!

i was told to push if i felt like i was pooping. after a good 3 or 4 pushes... and feeling the head crowning, i passed out and woke up to the noise of the nurses in the recovery room. that was around 2pm already.

by the time i was wheeled into my room, i fell asleep again and woke up in the evening. and the first thing i asked is how was kade and how did he look like.

so that's the story of kade and how he came into this world. :)