is there any chance i will own this if ever i get hooked with blogging?

burberry's metal studs warrior bag - price: usd 22k.

i saw this in asian wall street yesterday and damn, i've been dreaming it every hour, every minute, and every second of my breathing time ever since. SIGHS. but of course there's no way i can afford to buy this bag and (trying to be self-righteous) i think it's downright unethical to have a bag as pricey as that when people around me is too impoverished to afford themselves of three square meals a day. talking about the haitians who were in the news the other night. sighs again.

okay... i'm really not here to talk about the bag but on how some of the mommies i know in the newlyweds forum are earning a lot because of paid blogging. some were even claiming they were able to buy a louis vuitton bag out of three-months blogging earnings. goodness gracious, you know how an lv bag can cost... and i'm not going to buy one either. but i can already imagine how many travels we can plan if we only have that extra cash, or savings we can keep in the mutual funds.

the question now is how can i have the time to blog like crazy for me to earn that much...

when i can't even keep this blog long because the little boy is already tugging my shirt now because he wants me to breastfeed him.

more updates on this topic later.

 

 

 

 

 

happy and excited over these...

things that we (it's mostly "me") are looking forward this summer:

kiddie camp this april which is being organized by mms. the stage mommy in me is again alive and kicking... hahaha... and i'm more excited to this event than the daddy. i wonder where i can find a small backpack...oops!  

sagada-la union road trip before the holy week. i already have an itinerary for this major lakwatsa as early as now... isn't it obvious i'm already giddy with excitement? haha.

we will take the banaue route going to sagada and spend two to three days in this town. this would give us enough time to see the beautiful wonders of this awesome place.

can't wait to trek down its rice terraces and refresh in bomokod falls and explore the nooks and crannies of sumaguing cave once again and taste the yum-yum yogurts or crepes some of the restos here are serving. we will take the baguio route on our way back but instead of kennon road or marcos highway, we will exit baguio via naguilian road, which i hope is passable by then, and take the road going to san juan, la union for another surfing adventure!   

moving to our new house this march. i just hope that there's still money left for us to furnish it. isn't it more exciting if we will move into a new house with new and bright furnitures and furnishings? i think i can take care of this... i can keep my consultancy job as one of my rakets so i can save up for the things i want to stuff inside our new abode. wohoo-hohoo!   

 

 

budget woes

just heard in the news that prices of meat products have again increased... BOO! it's just two weeks ago when we were doing our monthly grocery in puregold that my blood pressure shoot up when i find out that the sibuyas cost almost php 200 per kilo. i almost blurted out, "t*@# na, mas mahal pa sa baboy!" hahaha.

news like this irk most household managers (euphemism to misis who's usually in charge of the daily operations) like me. you see, i already allocate a certain amount for our weekly marketing as soon as jude hand over his monthly (yup, it's given only once a month) salary to me. it was already mind-boggling how i buy everything we need for the week out of my budget. but with another round of price increase... sigh, budgeting is already becoming an impossible task.

i might as well raise biik and inahin in our backyard. and that would be more fun to iñigo, i can already imagine.

oh, life!

 

it's one of the reasons why i breastfeed iñigo (and why i can't wean him yet)

i just want to share this article i read from my monthly subscription to dr. sears family newsletter as it really made me ecstatic.

 

i hope the expectant moms here will take this article seriously. it's just one of the MANY advantages of breastfeeding your child. i admit it's not really easy at the onset (i myself have a lot of woes stories to tell, probably in my next blog if i have the time) but keep going still. once you've passed the critical "6-week" period, you're okay.

 

BREASTFEEDING BUILDS BRIGHTER BRAINS

 

We can't promise that breastfeeding will make your child a Nobel Prize winner, but research shows that babies who are breastfed are smarter when they get older.

• Children who were breastfed have I.Q. scores averaging seven to ten points higher than formula-fed infants. It's important to remember that these numbers represent averages for hundreds of children, not the effect of breastfeeding on a specific individual. So, if you want to raise the intelligence level of an entire generation of children, breastfeeding would be a simple and cost-effective way to do it.
• Studies have shown that children who are breastfed get higher grades in school, even after other influences on school performance are taken into account.
• The intellectual advantage gained from breastfeeding is greater the longer the baby is breastfed.

Although intellectual differences between breastfed and formula-fed children used to be attributed to the increased holding and interaction associated with breastfeeding and to the fact that mothers who breastfed were better educated and/or more child-centered, new evidence shows that there are nutrients in breastmilk that enhance brain growth.

Smarter fats. One key ingredient in breastmilk is a brain-boosting fat called DHA (docasahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid. DHA is a vital nutrient for growth, development, and maintenance of brain tissue. Autopsy analysis of brain tissue from breastfed and formula-fed infants shows that the brains of breastfed babies have a higher concentration of DHA, and DHA levels are highest in babies who are breastfed the longest. Infant formulas made in the United States do not contain DHA.

Nutritip. To insure that babies get enough nutrients for their growing brains, it's important that breastfeeding mothers get enough DHA in their diets. Rich sources of DHA are fish (particularly salmon and tuna). Increases DHA will will benefit mom's health, too. Remember the nutritional rule of F's: four ounces of fish a day keeps central nervous system degeneration at bay.

Cholesterol. Another fat needed for optimal brain development. Breastmilk contains a lot of cholesterol, while infant formulas currently contain none. "Low in cholesterol" may be good news for adult diets, but not for babies--cholesterol provides basic components for manufacturing nerve tissue in the growing brain.

DHA, cholesterol, and other breastmilk fats provide the right substances for manufacturing myelin, the fatty sheath that surrounds nerve fibers. Myelin acts as insulation, making it possible for nerves to carry information from one part of the brain or body to another. So important are these brain-building fats, that if mother's diet doesn't provide enough of them for her milk, the breasts can make them on the spot.

Smarter sugars. Lactose is the main sugar in breastmilk. The body breaks it down into two simpler sugars - glucose and galactose. Galactose is a valuable nutrient for brain tissue development. Anthropologists have demonstrated that the more intelligent species of mammals have greater amounts of lactose in their milk, and human milk contains one of the highest concentrations of lactose of any mammal milk. Cow milk and some cow milk formulas contain lactose, but not as much as human milk. Soy-based and other lactose-free formulas contain no lactose at all, only table sugar and corn syrup.

Smarter connections. During the first two years of your baby's life, the brain grows rapidly, and baby's everyday experiences shapes brain growth. Brains cells, called neurons, multiply and connect with each other until the brain circuitry resembles miles of tangled electrical wires. Every time a baby interacts with her environment, her brain makes a new connection. Because breastmilk is digested faster, breastfed babies feed more often and therefore probably interact with their caregivers more often. Breastfeeding itself, with its skin-to-skin contact, the variations in milk flow, and the closeness between mother and baby, is usually a more interesting, more interactive experience than bottle-feeding. This is nature's way of insuring that babies get the stimulation they need for optimal brain development.

 

 

just like the baby in the movie meet the fockers (iñigo at 18 months series 3)

iñigo's repertoire of words shoot up from eight to more than a dozen (or probably twenty) recently. some of the new words he can speak consistently are:

"ovo" for opo.

"beewb" for bird and his male organ.

"sssst" for butchik, the lizard.

"bwu" for blue, the color.

he's also now a pro in doing some routines, which he learned with a little help from us such as:

- doing the sign of the cross before and after praying

- asking for an elderly's blessing, i.e. "mano po?" as how it's taught to us.

- knocking the door when he sees it close and not just barging in to the room as his yaya does.

and just as i've shared before, iñigo signs a lot to convey his message to us. "fish" and "bathtime" are the newest words he can sign but before that he's already familiar with the sign language for milk, eat, sleep, more, and daddy. 

he's already hungry in this picture:

 

and the favorite sign he loves to use for mommy: milk! (which i avoid to see btw... hehe)

good thing he's already into signing since he's one because i thought before that the seminar fee i paid to learn this will just go down to the drain. haha.

 

i have a patay na kuko, mommy! (iñigo at 18 months series 2)

it happened on the first week of january (way to go to start the new year eh?) when he was yayaless and the mommy was busy doing the dishes. and as usual, the little boy, when up and awake, roamed around the house and made kalikot every thing we have at home. it's the nebulizer apparatus that he took fancy of then (you know how heavy  it can be for a 1.5 y.o.) and apparently he pulled it out from the cabinet where i stored it and since it's heavy for him, down it fell to his foot! OUCH.

grabe, the first and last time i had a patay na kuko was just seven years ago after a major climb and the slope down from the summit of the mountain was really too steep and it's my toes that's working.

but here's my son right now, only 1.5 y.o. and is already nursing a patay na kuko. i can't help but LAUGH. =D

is this art, mommy? (iñigo at 18 months series 1)

the little boy turned 18 months last 8th of january and what a boy, he can be oh so dearest at one moment and switch to his little monster attitude in a split of second. but the beauty of sahmhood, i have more chance to understand my son's behavior, including its peculiarities, and deal with it. i just hope he won't use his "smile armor" more often as the mommy is left defenseless when it was thrown to her. how my heart melts... haha.

the next few blogs i'll be posting here are all about our little boy. time flies so fast when it comes to his development and i feel there's a lot of catching up to do.

for today, i wanted to show you what he did to our wall recently.

i never thought it's this soon that i need to figure out how crayons be wiped off from the wall paint. SIGH.

it's just one of his mischievous (and funny, too) deeds, i tell you.

 

 

what's up for us this 2008?

i forgot to mention in my last post that our new year getaway was also some sort of a planning session for us as a couple. it's because we we always believe in the saying that “the couple who plans together is the couple who stays happy together”. sensible enough, isn't it? and nothing will beat the 1st day of the year to share dreams together so there and then, amid the noise outside our room, jude and i  sat down and discussed our goals and plans for this year and made some reality checks along the process as we knew we are up against one important element… yeah, you guessed it right… money, budget, moolah.... sigh, if only money is the least of our concerns… =)

 

anyway, here’s a rundown of what you can expect from us this year:

 

-         transfer to our own house by first quarter. i’ve been looking forward for this since late last year but because of some delays, the construction of the house just started recently. it’s a simple bungalow i tell you but knowing that it’s already under our name (we will be paying off a housing loan though for ten years) is enough for us to be proud of, don’t you think?

 

-         start our own business. this also a long overdue project but we are positive that this will start very soon.

 

-         travel some more. more than what we did last year if possible. jude and i are eyeing camiguin as our next anniversary getaway this coming october. a trip to sagada this summer is also a nice idea as jude hasn’t been there (while i’ve been there twice). i was also considering to pursue my long-time dream to fly to batanes but after watching the movie “batanes” i eventually changed my mind as i find the place too rustic, which means we can’t bring iñigo with us and that’s definitely a no-no. jude also told me that he plans to go to bicol by may so it’s also in the bag now.

 

and if budget permits, i might see petronas again for a kl trip and proceed to singapore afterwards. =d

 

  -  go back to our roots and try climbing again! i’m still unsure though if i can do this   because: 1. i need to leave iñigo behind for one night; and 2. ehem… kaya ko pa ba? hehe. but jude is adamant that he will have at least one climb this year. let’s see…

 

-         conceive baby number two. should i divulge more? =D

 

there are some little plans we also made for our ourselves, for iñigo, and for the house which are:

 

-         learn photoshop and baking for me

-         learn other skill for jude

-         gardening for the front yard

-         enroll iñigo in a toddler school

-         print all the pictures we’ve had all these years

-         join more marathons and runs for jude

-         fix a personal time for each of us every month. jude can go out on this week while i can go out week after that.

-         fix a date every month. and the other week is for both of us.

-         involve ourselves in a cause-oriented group like gawad kalinga or the likes

 

and of course, the new year celebration won’t be complete without making any so we also joined the bandwagon and we too made some promises and commitments for this year. may heaven help us with these… =D

 

-         save, save, and save some more! there are tons of things we need and want to save for, which includes my lasik treatment, so we may be mr and mrs scrooge this year. the amortization for the housing loan would also start early this year so there’s also a lot of scrimping we need to do. i told you… money is never the least in our concerns. hehe. here's some measures we thought in order for us to save:

 

o       schedule our trips wisely. if possible, cut the trips we make going to metro manila and learn to say no to some invitations. prices of gas and toll are getting more expensive and we spend at least php 500 everytime we go somewhere in metro manila.

o       cut some household expenses like groceries and electricity. i know there’s something we can still forego.

o       cut further the eat-outs and food binges... we need to go on diet anyway

o       cut further the shopping and buying splurges. okay, this is for me. hehe.

 

- get rid of those excess fats and stay healthy. jog, bike and go to the gym for jude (their office has opened its own just last month so he has no reason not to…) while i can only join him for a jog. also, eat right which is really hard i tell you.

-         sleep early.

-         go to mass on time. yeah… we’re guilty of this. =(

 

jude has to add one more but i prefer not to share it with you.

 

so there you go for the things we look forward to this year. reading them makes me look more excited and yet intimated especially on the financial part but i know we can make it.

 

wish us luck! =)

totally HELPless

our yaya/househelp is on vacation right now and will be back only this weekend. contrary to what jude and i thought before she left for bicol we can SURVIVE without her. hahaha.

and honestly, i love my jobs right now as full-time yaya to iñigo and chimay of the house. here's why:

1. i have everything done as i wanted--no short-cuts and no misses--everything is covered.

2. i know everything is clean and bacteria-free because it was i who cleaned it. iñigo is safe to roll over the floor because i mopped it 3x.

3. i have more chance to teach my son how he should eat an oreo cookie and sip from his cup... it should be mess-free. =D

but if you'll ask jude what he doesn't like about our current setup:

1. i am stricken with my ka-OC-han again. he's bewildered on how i care so much for that one little speck of dust or strand of hair on the floor. the broom and the mop are my bestfriends these days.

2. he's incessantly reminded of my concerns inside the house and that drives him nuts.

3. he's usually my assistant. hehe.