"us" time

i am happy that jude and i are now going out regularly as a couple ONLY; no preschooler to chase and no infant to carry. we do this two times a month as my 20-year old cousin stays with us every other sunday to get her allowance for school. i always seize this opportunity since we really don't like leaving the kids with our househelp especially at nigh, there must always be a relative around.

we're usually away for two to three hours and  must be back before midnight as experience taught us that theo wakes up around this time and cries incessantly when am not around, making me only guilty over our pleasure date, which should not be the case since jude and i really need a break from them. we don't go far anyway. our rule is our 'dating ground' should only be 15 mins. away from home and this only allows us to watch a movie in the nearest mall along pasong tamo or chill out in a bar which is actually many near our house.

the last date or gimmick we had was two sundays ago and jude brought me to a grill and bar along jupiter st. which is only 5 mins away from our house, if traffic is light and flowing. and should i say that we had a great time! too bad that am strill restricted from drinking booze or liquors (as if i was a tomadera before. hehehe) because i still nurse theo.

this only made me miss my pre-wedding days when jude and i didn't care at all for babies and breastmilk. we enjoyed pretty much our single days since the mountaineering group we belong in is very active in gimmicks and drinking sprees... 'di ba jah and mareng lui? hehehe.

 

happy birthday, jude/daddy/love.

jude celebrated his 36th birthday yesterday, 4 august 2006. but we're already on celebration mode as early as last saturday as we dined out and celebrated in friday's as a family. the next day (that's sunday) we invited his parents, siblings, and brother-in-law for a late lunch in pvl resto in mandaluyong and had a mini-reunion in his brother-in-law's house in san juan afterwards. it was last night when we celebrated it with some of our friends in a bar along pasong tamo and inspite of the heavy rain and traffic which we braved to reach to bar we still had a nice time.

i still have to give his birthday gift but before that, i give him my and iñigo's love thru this simple poem (inspired by ninoy's poem to tita cory, hehe)...

***

i did not only fall in love with you three times... 

but everytime you showed your affection to me even when i'm in my ugliest,

and putting up with my tantrums and remained on your calmest,

and spending your hard-earned money on an expense you can't even get what is it for,

but still you did as we wished for it.

 

i did not only fall in love with you three times...

but on the times you supported me on my advocacies and listened to my opinion even how weird they may be,

and on the moments i wanted to throw our pillows on your face but you held my hands or hugged me instead,

and during the crises we went thru in our married life as i saw you fighting.

 

i did not only fall in love with you three times...

but also on the times i saw you playing with our son even when your eyes were already heavy,

and when you did the dirtiest and yuckiest in taking care of him because i don't like to do it,

not to mention those days that you decided to just stay with me and iñigo in the house though you wanted to be somewhere... climbing, biking, or be with your friends.

i will always fall in love with you love as i know no other men can replace you as a husband and father of my children.

happy birthday, again! =)

 

 

his first day in his new company

...and that new company is (drum rolls please?)... shell shared service, a subsidiary of royal dutch shell--the energy and petrochemical giant.

jude was appointed as the health, safety, security, and environment (HSSE) manager of the company. so more than a transfer, jude's move to shell is also a promotion for him as he was just a rank-and-file employee in p&g. i don't mean to brag about this but i just want to tell that this is the big blessing i was talking about late last year. parallel to the offer by shell, jude was also applying for another role in his former office which could give him a better take-home pay every month. you see, we have bigger plans for this year (particularly my plan to just be a full-time sahm) and the coming years but we also need bigger funds to have those plans materialized. in short, we need more income and we really count it as a blessing when jude was headhunted for that managerial position last november and was picked among the other hopefuls. i can't help now but think that GOD is one with our plans after all. so i might as well close the issue that others don't think the same way as we do. =)

but his transfer is not that easy at all. for one month, we stressed ourselves on the transfer of jude's housing and car loans balances which we originally made with p&g. but again, GOD is so good that everything is now resolved and we just have to pay for one loan as the other will be taken cared of by what he can get from p&g for his 10 years of service. isn't it great that his transfer was just two weeks after his 10th year anniversary? GOD really is a wonderful planner, don't you think?

...and as the saying goes, "when it rains, it pours". blessings really pour on us at the start of this year as we have another answered prayer. =)

 

10 years in P&G

jude inside lisp's covered court

 

january 25, 2009 marked jude's tenth year in procter and gamble, phils., a toll manufacturing hub of procter and gamble (P&G) in the country and is based in light and industry science park 1 (LISP 1) in cabuyao, laguna.

P&G is jude's first job after graduation. nah, it didn't take him long to get a job... it's because he loved his course and alma mater so dearly that's why he took his sweet time to graduate from his undergraduate course, which is electronics and communications engineering (ECE). palusot... hehe. shortly after his graduation, he took the ECE board exam and passed it with flying colors (naks!)

jude holds the title "pollution control officer" of the company/plant for years now. and for three consecutive years, he's the elected president of the safety and pollution control officers association inside the park. (naks again!) oh btw, aside from these roles, he's also the environmental leader, fire protection system owner, and emergency management system owner of the plant. i've only come to know his multi-faceted roles when i updated his resume last year. dati pa kasi ako nahihilo sa trabaho n'ya... hahaha.

jude, together with his colleagues, in front of the plant's admin. office

 

but as the old adage goes, nothing in this world is constant except change. jude by next month will surrender his P&G ID and wear that of another company's. hmm... i've said enough for now... =)

but he will forever remain grateful to the company that trained him to what he is right now (okay, sounds so cliche), the seminars and training he had, the travel opportunities given to him, the perks and frills that go along with being a P&G employee, which reminds me, no more regular supply of ariel and/or tide, joy, downy, pantene, and safeguard for us...  and olay total effects for me during decembers--waaaaah!

jude proudly donning a fireman's suit in one of his fire protectection training

 

we are also grateful to the company as we acquired a car and a house and lot, and all were subsidized by the company in different means. =D

but for the last time, jude is grateful for the tenth year anniversary gift he received from the company...

bulova men's watch

three years of marital bliss and still counting

before i post the photos which would tell how we spent our third wedding anniversary (in advance), which am sure you know was spent somewhere again, i'd just like to announce that this day, 8 october 2008, marked jude and i's THIRD WEDDING ANNIVERSARY... yihee!

nothing grand was planned to celebrate the day of our union; no fancy dinner, no hotel accommodation, no concert or movie date... our activity tommorow maybe just a walk around the subdivision, or dvd movies marathon perhaps, things that take a little effort and money to do but we end up wondering why it's only done once in a blue moon, like anniversaries. we just want to have the realization that we can still enjoy each other's company without the frills and hefty sums; that we can still find romance in our own house amid the never-ending problems in our household and stress brought by an uber-active kiddo; and that we can make simple acts gestures of our love and care for one another.

why am i saying all these? because am sure that the years ahead of us will find us busier and more stressed, but i just want to make sure that the love and affection which bind us together three years ago are still there...

and i hope that everyday in our married life, it is felt.

samu't sari

my boss called me this morning to inform me that the venue of our conference early next year is no longer in shangri-la mactan. either i have it changed to shangi-la makati or tagaytay highlands, but definitely shangri-la mactan is already out of the picture because it is logistically unwise to hold the event there according to the sponsors. this is a sad news for me as i'm really looking forward to set foot on this 5-star hotel-resort in cebu for free, and i just have to pay for iñigo and jude, and probably my mom's (who will tend iñigo for me) airfare and accommodation.

but that was it. now we have a strong reason to push the other trip we're planning next year.

but i'm quite thrilled that tagaytay highlands is my boss' next option after shangri-la mactan as jude and iñigo haven't been there yet and i want them to have the chance to see it as the place is really lovely. and if i may add, it's only 30-minutes away from our house. =)

***

we have our hands full right now for next month's events. first in the list is our wedding anniversary so we're again preparing for an out-of-town trip, which we do every year. next is an (jude's younger brother) and rozunne's wedding on the 12th so we're quite busy preparing for our attire (AS IF...!), especially iñigo's as he'll be an extra bible-bearer to his ninong an's wedding. =D we wanted to throw a shower for the weds-to-be but we're not really sure when to do it as we will come back from our trip by 8th, our anniversary date, so we're in the dark with regard to this. add more to my stress is the visit of some important people from our number one company-client on the 9th and 10th.

but what's most stressful of all is when i found out that there's a big, big, big (more than 50% off?) sale of guess, mossimo, and mango items in the afternoon of 10th, it's only a one-time affair so i have to be there!!!

***

are male kids really uber-kulit? iñigo is right now and i sometimes end up in tears (no exaggeration here) as i am torn between reprimanding him or just letting him be since being naughty is in his nature as a two-year old. he's a very strong-willed kid and i am not sure if it's a positive or a negative trait for him. i'm nursing a bruise in my hips right now as while i'm sitting on a stool this morning, iñigo pulled it out as he intended to use it as a platform so he can get his toys above the cabinet, which i purposely put because once everything is in his reach... hay, CHAOS!

***

did you try googling your name? i did just this morning as i wanted to know what others will find out about me when they tried to key in my maiden name in google. it's my long-lost-but-found-now friend in college, jeanette, who told me yesterday while we're chatting that she googled my name in her effort to touchbase with me. siempre, napraning ako! hahaha.

there are only two entries for my name; one is mentioned in the website of national statistics coordination board as one of the reports i prepared for their office while i was still with department of trade and industry is posted there. but i laughed when i saw my job title as it's typed, "trade and tourism development specialist". hehehe. kelan pa nag-merge and DTI and DOT (tourism department)? my name is also mentioned in energy regulatory commission's (ERC) webpage for those who have cases with meralco back in 2001. to make it clear huh, i was the one, on behalf of my parents, who filed a case against meralco thru ERC because we received a billing statement which charged us php 30,000+ in amount. to make the story short, i won the case and i made myself popular in its kamagong branch. hahahaha.

i tried to search jude's name in google but there's zero result... hinde s'ya sikat. hehe.

***

TGIF, and we have a busy weekend ahead of us as we're going up north...

of metro manila. =)

bye-bye pick-up... hello trooper!

we never thought it would be that fast. jude posted our for-sale pick-up in sulit.com last thursday night and a lot of interested buyers emailed and called him the following morning. one of them immediately went to our house saturday afternoon as he was really too eager to see the vehicle and after a round of drive-test and engine check-up, and a little haggling over our price, we were able to close the deal! he went back this afternoon as he promised and paid us in cash; hence, with a heavy heart, we say "adieu, isuzu pick-up!" you served us well in just short span of time that we had you. =( how can we possibly transport the refrigerator and freezer borrowed from our mommies so we can use them in our store if not for you! now the problem is: how are we gonna give them back? =P

one reason by the way why jude disposed the pick-up is he's head-over-heels interested with the isuzu trooper his best buddy, dylan, is selling. the trooper is actually already with us since june, he's just waiting for us to raise enough cash for the payment. he never entertained any buyer--just jude. and the price is really a steal for a 4x4 so jude grabbed the chance and decided to sell the pick-up since we have no extra cash for another vehicle (i actually made him choose... hehe).

hay... what's with 4x4 vehicles that make guys drool over them? dylan got himself a better-looking 4x4 that's why he disposed the trooper. another friend of jude who happens to be iñigo's ninong has a land rover while another friend has... tan-ta-na-nan... a range rover!!! so imagine my pity for jude when he only got himself an old model of isuzu trooper. =( but what the heck! with the soaring fuel prices these days, we're better off with this car. at least it's not as fuel-hungry as the other cars i mentioned so we can still enjoy long road trips without the guilt-feeling.

 

belated happy birthday to iñigo's daddy and my love! =)

i'm a bad wife for posting late jude's birthday celebration. we actually had it simple then as we were both busy that day--jude renewed his driver's license in LTO and i dropped by in my office as there's something urgent for me to address. so there was no chance to prepare for a simple bash or whatever. after jude and iñigo fetched me in my office in alabang, we drove straight to paseo de sta. rosa (jude insisted that no malling for his special day... sige na nga... hehe) and had dinner in one of our favorite restos--kanin club--and ordered the special dishes they are known for--crispy dinuguan, sinangag na sinigang, and lumpiang sariwa.

we all had a feast! even the little boy who never failed to wow us with his big appetite, went home with a full stomach. look at his lovely smile after he finished his share of dinuguan:

his teeth need an extra brushing eh? =D

so that was how we celebrated jude's birthday last monday--so simple and yet intimate. i still don't even have a gift for him until now. can my movie treat (the dark knight) last friday count? hehe.

i still have plans of giving him something nice as soon as i got my money; but my problem is i don't know what to give him (it's always been my problem!). can i just wrap iñigo and tie him with pretty ribbons as he'd always muse that his son is the best gift he had every received? =)

a photo of the birthday boy and his "best gift":

it's daddy's time to shine

thank you for pitching in for iñigo when i'm not in the mood to do my role as a mom;

thank you for driving us to anywhere we wish no matter how tired or sleepy you were;

thank you for providing for the family even if it means no new running shoes or accessories for your beloved bike;

thank you for the extra patience you've shown us--me and iñigo--when in fact we deserve to be strangled;

thank you for dreaming big for his future and for the times that you were the first to notice how smart we have for a son;

thank you also for your kind words and gentle hands, such things make him a happy kid;

thank you for supporting me all the way in my advocacies and decisions that i think would benefit our son--that includes quitting my regular job;

thank you for always being there for us inspite of the strong urge for a boys night-out or gimmicks;

thank you for the little sacrifice that you can't go hiking or mountaineering for the meantime, you can't go without me anyway; =P

thank you for the spontaneous laughters, even our son appreciates that;

finally, thank you for being a good daddy to our son. sorry if i couldn't claim that you are the best because it means i have to compare you with the other daddies, which i don't have to as no one can take your place in the family. =)

happy father's day from me and iñigo!

 

why it's so hard to be romantic nowadays?

(jude and i don’t really patronize valentines so pardon me if i don’t feel like being mushy about it when i should be.)

 

so the question is: why is it so hard for us to experience that kilig moment now that we area already married with one kid than when we were still bf-gf?

 

here are some facts of life that we’re still trying to accept (and ignore):

 

• “thanks for the roses love but that’s a handsome one thousand bill you’re throwing away.” remember how often the boys give us bouquet of flowers before the marriage and how we appreciate this sweet gesture? i’d be happy with just a long stem of rose now.

 

• iñigo would cry “didey” for mickey as a signal that we play instead his favorite dvd while jude and i are contentedly sitting in our seats snuggled to each other while watching a good movie. talk about asungot… ahehe.

 

• (jude was about to hold my hand while we’re watching tv)” oops… may lamok! baka kagatin yung anak mo…” nyahahaha.

 

• how i wanted to cook his favorite crispy pata but it’s his cholesterol level that i’m concerned of… plus the fact that broiling it will put a toll in the electricity bill.

 

• can’t cuddle and smooch each other when our little boy is still awake or else he’d throw a fit (yes, he does… in defense of mommy. hehe.).

 

• and if by luck the little boy dozed off early, wish that one of us hasn’t reached dreamland yet.

 

• you know the rule when the bedsheet has just been changed and is still fresh… =D

 it’s not surprising that jude and I sneak in once in a while to go on a date without my little chaperon. we NEED to relive the days when things were still spontaneous and uncared for. albeit short-lived, the dates serve as a break from our monotonous life right now and more importantly, a time for us to rediscover our love for one another.

 

 

one of our honeymoon pix.

hay! those were the days... we were young(er) and wild and free... haha.

proud of our unorthodox way of parenting!

if there’s one thing that irks me the most as a mother is when i get unsolicited comments and advices on how we should raise our son according to their standards as our parenting practices is unacceptable. but what the heck! i didn’t ask for their opinion anyway. am happy with how jude and i fare as parents and i see that iñigo is pretty happy as well.

 

call me proud or stubborn but i will have it my way as long as i know that it’s the best for my son and it doesn’t inflict him any harm, at the least. parenting is not an easy job, that’s why i ready myself as early as i could as i never wanted to enter motherhood unprepared. i researched, i read, i asked. i can’t take the reason “sabi ng mga matatanda” to justify why i should or should not do such a thing to my son. my brain isn’t trained to think that way.

 

and i don’t think some people would pay me the same respect that am getting from them now, including my ate, a mother of three kids. she even thought that i did better than her in some facets. she’s impressed of my achievement of having successfully breastfeed her nephew even until this day. i told her it wasn’t that easy for me at the start. i was on the verge of giving up. but i never lost hope that one day there’s a fountain of milk that will flow down from my breasts. if it wasn’t for my stubbornness it would be too soon for my son to feed milk other than the one coming from me. some people were telling me that i should stop with breastfeeding because i wasn’t producing enough. one look at the milk i expressed made me feel more guilty. hahaha. but i shut my eyes and turned deaf ears to people around me. now, they are wowed on far i’ve come.

 

and we co-sleep with our child since his fourth day, which again is being frowned upon by some people. “you are spoiling him”, as they say. it’s also the same thing you’ll hear when you carry your child in your arms always. but spoiling for me means giving something to your kid that he will make him rot. i don’t think constant showing of affection is one. i even wished that i would wear iñigo, put him in a sling and carry him all the time. but i wasn’t that keen, with the next baby perhaps.

 

there are lot more things that we do and we don’t do that’s beyond bounds of conventional parenting. we bring iñigo along in our travels as we think that that the pros outweigh the cons of bringing him along; i didn’t massage his legs as i was told as i learned that babies are bowlegged in nature; i let him out even at night as i don’t believe in hamog; i give him another bath at night as he already stinks; and i give him more nutritious food other than those in jars or boxes.

 

but more than that, we give to iñigo what he needed most from us--our time--and we make sure that we spend it more with him. we sing songs and read books for him; we play balls or any other game he enjoys doing; we take him along to any place as long as it’s permitted; we cuddle and tickle him until he gets tired of laughing; we make most of our time together because we know that’s what really matter.

 

all of those we do to our son. you may find us incapable but that’s the most that we can do as parents.

 

at this point i would like to commend jude for being a wonderful father. parenting is never easy as i shared but i never heard him complain even if it means waking up at the middle of the night to give medicines to iñigo as it’s his schedule… while mine is in the morning. madaya ba? hehehe.

 

we are really lucky to have him as not all fathers are that doting to their kids… and are agreeing to their wives’ unorthodox style of parenting.

 

but he is.

 

gabriel's christening and don bosco mountaineering boys reuniting

last saturday was a hectic day for us as we found ourselves hopping from one place to another all over metro manila. we started off the day witnessing the christening of buboy and lui's first-born, jose gabriel serapio, in our lady of fatima parish in valenzuela. we left cabuyao at 7 am to arrive in the church at 10:30 am. yes, our travel was that long as you can imagine the distance. but i have no right to back out as i am one of the ninangs.

it's a joke, lui... trust me. =)

kidding aside, we regard dearly these two as we almost have the same lovestory to tell. bukuhan na... hahaha! just for your info, all of us four belong to the same mountaineering group. we were just acquaintances before and nobody would think that we will end up as pairs. then love blossomed between me and jude. kilig! hehehe. buboy and lui were there to make tukso. shortly, another love blossomed and this time it's between the two. jude and i were wed on october 2005 and five months after, it was buboy and lui who made it to the altar.

and now we are both proud parents of beautiful baby boys. hope fate would be forever good to us. =)

after the reception in max's edsa caloocan, we bid goodbye to the serapios and sped off to sta. mesa to visit my supplier. we dropped by don bosco mandaluyong as jude wanted to and we were surprised to see this:

the child in jude was beaming with joy when he saw the magnified don bosco mascot and he was quick to remember his son and the camera... so who else was the photographer in that picture?

after the short visit of the shop in sta. mesa, we made a stop in my in-laws' house in vito cruz so we can catch a nap (especially for iñigo) as we knew that night will be another long one.

old and not-so-old members alike of don bosco mountaineering society (jude is a member way back college days) met in arnold's house in sun valley, parañaque for a reunion. even father carlo, jude's bestfriend and one of iñigo's godfathers, was there. fr. chito dimaranan, svd., who is one of our wedding sponsors officiated the mass.

jude, iñigo and fr. carlo

and here the other dbms boys:

and they're clueless on what's happening with their kids:

they're tame in this picture

while i was busing taking pictures of pretty arianna, arnold and tanya's daughter:

isn't she pretty? hope someday i'm gonna have a daughter of my own but with her face. hehe.

 

jude's birthday celebration

jude had a grand time in his last birthday. the celebration actually began on its eve as his boss bernie in p&g threw a birthday bash for himself and jude in his house in cabuyao central subdivision, just one block away from our future house.

i prepared tacos as our contribution while the other foods and the booze were shouldered by boss bernie, aside from the videoke rental. the p&g boys had a great time singing and partying all night. the other boys even took off their shirt and waved it in the air when a rock song was being played. oh well... as always said, work hard and play hard... and they did.

we went home past 10.00 as the little boy is already sleepy. oh yes, iñigo went us with us and showed his dancing prowess when someone sang "itaktak mo". hahaha.

we woke up early the next day as i was itching to join the mommy milkshake fun run at the fort--not for the run itself but for the freebies. hehe. the fun run was organized and sponsored by a lingerie manufacturer to help promote breastfeeding in the country. i didn't go home empty-handed as i received a brassiere and panty set from them. babaw ba? lol. jude, on the other hand, was aghast when he saw that the free shirts that we will be using in the run is in pink. pakipot pa... hehehe.

in the end, the three of us (you read it right... we were three and iñigo was again with us in the run and jude carried him using a carrier) ran and enjoyed the morning of jude's birthday. jude was even inspired to join another run with iñigo and was thinking of buying a jersey set for his son. sino ngayon ang oc? hahaha.

after that event we head on to vito cruz to fetch jude's family to have lunch in max's restaurant. afterwards, jude and i left iñigo and his yaya matet with mommy and off we went to mall of asia to watch transformers, which we were aching to see in a big screen even weeks before.

all these happened in jude's birthday and i was glad that he's more than happy as he did everything he wanted to do on his birthday, including wearing a pink shirt. =P

jude here was wearing sunglasses that i gave to him as gift for his recent birthday. i just let him blew a candle on a cupcake because all of us in the house were on low-sugar diet mode; hence, no cake as for now. palusot! hehe.