Happy Mother's Day

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

I can easily relate to this one! I have a solid memory when little me and nanay were eating dinner. Nyemnyem finished her part already but she's still hungry and seeing there's only a portion left on the serving plate - she asked nanay "Nanay busog ka na?" My mom of course said yes and little me gulped the last piece.

Twas only when I got older (I was meaning to put more mature but yeah I am OLDER)and I think I saw a clip about it did I realize that Nanay gave her portion to me. How motherly, how unselfish mom's can be!Now that I am also a mom, I know now how it feels.

30th of October is the birth of a new me. I am Emmma Mariano Regalado and I am a mother.

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

Cheers to all the mothers.

To Nanay E, Nanay A, Ate Mai, Ate Leng, Ate La; to all my Titas; to Chie and the rest of the N@wies; to Nin, Ellen, Neng and all the Chapter 99 moms; to Rhea, Bunz, Jen and the Tropang Kap Mommy; to Rose, Icel and I dont know who else mommy friends from college; to lovely EDC mommies Baby, Jocel, Nelda, Macs and Pam. Happy Mother's Day!!!

My Princess

Dear Thea,

Its been half a year since I first saw how beautiful you are. And you dont know how much joy you have given us since.

Baby, you've grown so fast. From a little 3.2kg baby now you weigh a big 11.5. Everyone here in Brunei can't believe you are only 6 months! You have lots of fans here. People just cant resist borrowing you for a while from mommy. You smile at everybody and you dont cry when they carry you. Mommy and Daddy is always within reach so no worry. Our eyes are on you always... always.

Daddy cant help but laugh everytime you try to lift your body and want to stand up. Such a cutie when you lift your head and look for Mom and Dad everytime you wake up and none of us is by your side - then suddenly when you see us in the table (usually in front of the computer) you lie again and play by yourself. A joy to know you are looking for both of us when u open your eyes. How I wish you'd always think of us as you grow older.

You laugh out loud now, loud enough to let people downstairs hear you! Only dad can make you laugh that hard. You are fascinated by his voice, so attuned that even a simple crack in his throat makes you laugh!

Like mommy you like going out, always giddy when Dad carries you and put you in the car seat! The car seat is now one of the most useful things you have. I can almost imagine severe backaches if I only carry you during our 1 1/2 drive to Bandar. (Oh the car seat, it deserves its own entry but I have no time). Besides Dad will get 'pakat' if the police sees you're not in a car seat. (child endagerment law they say). Pag ganun anak, iyakan mo lang yung 'polis' maawa sayo yun tyak tapos papalampasin na tayo!

Ohh, you also have to know that just like daddy you talk while in your sleep. You laugh as in as if somebody tickes you. You cry as if someones taking you away from mommy and daddy. You're a little more fussy now, I think you're teething as you always purse your lips in a different way like you want to chew it or something. We'll see. I just hope you wont get fever or diarrhea as what others had.

On your 6th month we went to the airport. Its Tito Carl's last day in Brunei and we bade goodbye to him there. But syempre before that we ate muna and we had a little Tiramisu with a little candle just for you. The tiramisu was great by the way, mommy finished it in no time!

Your into solids now! And you eat quite funny. So happy when you like the food and so 'maarte' when you dont! Potato is a 'no' 'no', Avocado is 'kinda' ok, Papaya is good, but better when we add cereals. You like Heins cereal better than any other and the milna rusk you and daddy bought at supa save, he said you chose that and you were excited when he took it from the shelf!

Sweetheart, me and daddy loves you so much. Dont ever ever forget that.

Love,

Mommy

Shopping and Settling

Me and lil Thea has gone out of our liblib Seria community last Saturday! Yahoo!

How? Thea's Roravirus vaccine is due and the hospitals here doesnt have one, they referred us to Jerudong Park Medical Center which is 1 1/2 hours away from our place. Can u picture our location now? However, the upside is it's 30 min away to Bandar, the city where the malls are!

Malls here aren't like those in Manila. Nothing beats Mall of Asia! Hahaha. "The Mall" the medyo sossy one is 3-storey tall and siguro as big as Greenbelt 1. It does have nice stalls but you see I dont wear tudongs and "bulaklakin" dresses that women here fancies. But I have to say that the cinema is really nice. The lounge area has this huge TV screen for movie trailers. Would have love to go in the cinema but can't because we have Thea now.

First stop was bookstore.

"Five little ducks" and "Rainy Day Special".

Then we looked for Thea's jacket and Nyem's shirts, Nyem's shoes. Shopping really is an energy booster haha! Oh, Vhin went to the gadgets =P. Next stop was for Thea's weaning set, Thea's PJ's (those we brought from Calumpit will not fit in a couple of weeks), and other little girl stuff. After paying everything it's a little late na. Its time to go back to Seria =P

Seria might not have all the perks Manila has but I am beginning to love it. For this is the place God brought us. A place to bond as a family. A place where Vhin, Thea and I were able to rely on each other exclusively. Surely God knows what's best for us. If it has the gimmicks Manila has we might not have come to know the value of each other as much as we have learned it here in this liblib place.

Seria may not be the prettiest place but it is the best place for us...for now =D Hoping all of us may learn to love the place where we are. God bless you!

update

Hello! Its been a while. Alvin turned 30, Thea turned 5 mos, I had a mild case of mastitis which resulted to no blog post for several days.

Mastitis: inflammation of the breast in connection with pregnancy, breastfeeding and weaning.It is caused by blocked milk ducts or milk excess.

It was Saturday night, March 28, when I felt that my right breast was rather aching in an unusual manner. Sunday morning came, Alvin's birthday pa naman, I had fever na with chills on the side! Wahoo, I couldnt stand up and when I did I almost fell. I was rather sad not to be able to cook a meal for my husband, not to be able to post the blog I was working on for his birthday, and not to be able to do anything per se. It was his birthday, yet he did all the chores. Well, i managed to sponge bath Thea and made her wear the "Happy Birthday Daddy" shirt we prepared. So there, my doctor once again took care of his nyem nyem, putting hot compress on my right breast to unclog the duct on his birthday!

extra:

do you know this nursery rhyme?

Itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and wash the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain. And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Tagalog version - Alvin's way:

Maliliit na gagamba umakyat sa sanga.Bumuhos ang ulan tinangay sila. Sumikat ang araw naputol ang sanga. Malilit na gagamba, patay lahat sila. (hehehe)