2009: a year full of blessings

year 2009 started with a bang for us when jude was formally hired by his present company january of last year. it was indeed a blessing for us because the move was a lateral promotion for him, which means his income also increased. :)

february came and the reason why God gave jude a better salary was revealead. it's this month that we learned that we were expecting another child! it was really in our plans for 2009 to give iñigo a sibling but we were a bit apprehensive as our budget then--with our old disposable income--was still tight. nevertheless, we planned and i was even wishing that the baby will arrive on the month of june but it's only after four months of trying that i was able to conceive and that was when financial blessings were already pouring in. can i say that God really works wonderfully? amen! :)

we moved to this condo unit, which is just 3 buildings away from jude's office, middle of march. i consider this as a blessing because our life before then was really... uhm... quite miserable as we're not used of waiting for jude until 2 or 3 am because of his new work schedule. i also worried about him driving late at night while he was already exhausted from work.

it was also this month that we had a cebu getaway with an overnight stay in shangri-la mactan, something we rarely do. hehe.

months of april and may went well for us. just the fact that no one in the family got sick, and that we're able to pay our bills and financial obligations brought by jude's sudden separation from P&G are enough to count as blessings.

my parents (lolo joe and lola yolly) celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in june and though we had a simple celebration it was still meaningful, at least, for me. i should also count as a blessing that at their old age my papa and mama are still healthy and fit.

july is iñigo's birth month and we made his 3rd birthday memorable for him by having it in jollibee with his favorite character, i.e. thomas the tank engine, as the theme. the little boy was really so happy and even until now, whenever we pass by that jollibee branch, he'd never fail to remind us that it's where he celebrated his birthday. :that's enough for jude (the financer) and me (the organizer) happy. D

august is daddy''s month and he really had a blast on his birthday as he celebrated it separately with his family and loved ones, and friends. and what a better gift to receive for his birthday but his regularization in the company as his 6-month probationary period already ended...

and this also came with an increase in his salary. :P

aside from it's my birth month, it was september last year when some of the worst hurricanes hit the country and/or the metro. and just by being left unscathed and unaffected by these hurricanes was already something for us as we're already waiting for the coming of our second-born. in fact, we were even in the comforts of a private room in st. lukes hospital as we thought i'd already be popping out the day ondoy wreaked havoc in metro manila.

october came and so was our dear theo! i gave birth to our second born, who's weighing 7 lbs. and 7 oz., via lamaze procedure. he's the biggest blessing we received for 2009 and one of the two special gifts jude and i ever received in our marriage.

it was on october 8th, four days after we received our wonderful advanced anniversary gift, when jude and i celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. :)

november was a very busy month for us. nothing extraordinary happened except for iñigo who we enrolled in a regular preschool and has now a teacher (a real one, haha) and classmates.

we had theo's christening last december 5th and after a week we made our second and last major travel for 2009, which was in ilocos region (la union, vigan, laoag, pagudpud). it was a vacation well-spent and all of us... i guess theo also did as he seldom cried, hehe... enjoyed it!

last year was indeed a blessed year for us. yes, we had problems and challenges we also dealt with stress--a lot actually. but we chose to look at the glass half-filled. it was on the last week of august when our house in cabuyao was ransacked and i thought i was going to give birth pre-term because it was really stressful for both me and jude. just dealing with the local police and dswd was already a headache. but now, after all the calamities that made thousands of filipinos homeless, we still realized that we are still more blessed and fortunate... we just have to appreciate more on what were given to us  than to grieve on what was taken.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

retrospecting year 2008

last year was a year of accomplishments and failures, of good times and difficulties, of joys and woes... but as we have always said in our prayers, we thank the lord for all the things that happened this year, whether they are good or bad... each is considered a blessing. =)

1. our home sweet home was built

...and we moved in last may. though it's not yet finished (by my standard =P), there are some finishing touches (paint job, baluster for the porch, cornice touches, built-in cabinets for iñigo's room, fences, other kaek-ekan) that we still have to save for. but still, we're mighty proud of our house--our very first real-estate property!

 

2. the pregnancy that didn't progress

it was first week of march when i learned that jude and i were pregnant again. though we're not expecting that pregnancy, we were still overjoyed of the idea that a second baby is coming by end of 2008. but a miscarriage bursted our bubbles; i had my ultrasound on the 11th week and a blighted ovum (no embryo developed) was confirmed. initially, it was depressing, especially for me, but we were able to accept it in no time. after a month, god gave us one of the answers why it happened and i even took the miscarriage as a blessing in disguise. iñigo, inspite of his varicella vaccine, had chickenpox last june. and you know what this disease can do to a pregnant woman, which could be me, and to her developing fetus. meanwhile, iñigo was doing well and wasn't feeling sick, he didn't even get a fever. he was just scratching all the time. =)

3. family trips to malaysia and sagada (with la union as side trip)

inspite of the financial challenges we encountered last year, our family still managed to take a few trips. these were in malaysia (kuala lumpur, putrajaya, and malacca) and sagada and la union. my sss maternity benefits and a part of jude's bonus last october funded these trips respectively.

 

 

 

 

 

 

it was also last 2008 when iñigo had his first camping experience, which was in caliraya; and when we made a visita iglesia of the old churches in the remote towns of laguna.

4. the small business that we opened and closed.

i didn't mention it much here but we ventured into a food business in the first half of 2008. we named our store "bogzzi sizzling haus" with sizzling foods and goto as specialties. business was good in our first month of operation but the succeeding months coincided with the economic turmoil brought by skyrocketing rise of rice and fuel, and our sales went down, inluding the nearby shops (idamay daw ba? hehe). we also had a problem managing the business since we lost trusted helpers both in the store and in our house, while i cannot commit my time in tending the store as our house and son were all left under my charge... not to mention my job, which can also be sometimes demanding. i am not a superwoman so jude and i decided to close it.

5. the househelps that come and go

i remember making a lengthy post here about my sentiments on our househelps. it's enough to say that i really had a major headache when it comes to househelps and i hope that i won't have the same problem again this year... that if, we employ again a househelp. hehe.

6. a healthier and smarter little boy

"healthier" because unlike in 2007, iñigo never had any hospital confinement last year. except for the chickenpox, which i already mentioned, and a minor case of bronchitis last april, iñigo was well and active for the rest of 2008. it was me who was confined for three days in the hospital after i had a serious bleeding brought by my miscarriage and the d/c procedure, which followed afterwards.

there you go... the milestones and highlights of 2008 for us. we're optimistic that this year--2009--will be a better year for us, especially in the financial aspect... ehem... hehe. we are also looking forward to a few travels, one is already scheduled this march, but i hope there will be more... let's see na lang...

i'd also like to see a healthier and slimmer jude and marie this year... especially jude. haha!

...and if God wills, we will have our own baby girl na this year. *wishing* =D

our first post for 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

i hope last night was a joyous occasion for you and your loved ones.

we also had fun though we just had a simple and solemn celebration in welcoming the new year. merrymaking was limited only to blowing of torotot and jiggling of coins in our pockets and coin banks . we couldn't light any fireworks as iñigo was already suffering from sniffles for almost a week now.

poor kid... he couldn't go out of the house. he could only look at the fireworks thru the windows...

but he was more than happy with the foods we prepared and cooked. it's just a little of everything as i don't want to stock a lot of left-overs again inside the refrigerator.                    

our media noche table

my table centerpice churva

he was all set to eat in this picture... 

thanks God that his appetite is back. he wasn't eating that much as he was suffering from cough and colds since last christmas. the doctor said it's only a viral infection but i also think that his allergies are attacking. but am glad that the little boy is well now--on the first day of 2009...

what a way to greet the new year! =D