Children's Birthday Celebration 2015

It was our princess' 7th birthday and the little prince's 3rd. 

Posting pics Lang just so you could celebrate with us even in pictures.

Puerto Princesa palAwan

Piso sale is heart. Last November 2014 I was able to book this trip for less than 3k, return trip for two! Initially the sched would have been 4am but it was rescheduled to 8am they emailed me around May this year. CebuPac said we can cancel the booking and they will just credit my deposit but duh why cancel  sayang nemen and I booked the hotel already and we are all set and I am excited already. It has been a while since I last travelled so 4 hours is not a big issue besides mahirap lumuwas ng 2am!!!

PP is heart! Let the pictures do the talking. It's kinda late and we don't have yaya (again). We are okay. The kids are fine without one and I uhmmm I just need to schedule chores. While I love being hands-on mom, I really don't like washing dishes but I don't like seeing them by the sink the whole day. Oh well, let's go back to Puerto Princesa :)

We checked in at Microtel Wyndham at 10am and they allowed us a room right away! Cheers to early check-in and accomodating hotel staff. 11am we are bound to the wharf for some Island hoping.

Honda Bay. I bought that red suit night before our trip. Buti naka sale 80% off. Haha off season sale are the best! Luli beach is the best - lulubog lilitaw, serious that's where the name came from. Starfish island next, well madami daw starfish haha. Last stop where we had lunch (at last!!!) was Pandan beach. Boat ride was 1300 for 4 hours, tipid pa kasi may isang sumabay sa amin. Group tour would be cheaper but I like how ours went. Relax lang!

Microtel's beach, it was a low low tide. We went swimming at the pool instead.

City tour was fun too. Butterfly and tribal village was nice, yes there were butterflies but that's just meh, the fun part was the tribal village tour - the Palaw-ans showcased their native craft, skills, music and weapon - blowgun for the win!!!

Save for the tummy ache after eating at Max's hahaha, okay don't shoot me ha we ate at Pandan naman ng seafood okay na yun, NOT, di nagustuhan ng tyan ko yung tofu ng Max hahaha.

To my date, thanks you for taking me out :) Next year ulit? Will bring nicer camera next time ha? Didnt realize the sony pics will get pixelized na, outdated na pala sya hahaha. good thing my iphone camera is really nice wahaha!!! Okay naman yang samsung camera sana eh kaso di naman nagagamit so waley :p But really I had a fun fun alone time with you. <3 p="">

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IWill just post pictures because I need to sleep. Tomorrow's a travel day and we need to wake up early. So here's our pictures 

 

We ate first hehe the kids are still playing outside

Their turn. Simon  is missing hehe he went with the praise team to watch a concert. They rented the van!!! More rentals please :)

At the rightmost us Ninang tito khyl's tita who lives with them.

Charade after! Techie version.

Wahaha not looking pa nakuha kong pic ni Leb! Can u see the balloons sa likod ni paolo? They gave it to me. This is 31st na pala ha. Morning before me and Alvin went out for a date at ---

Where we

Sang our hearts out!!! 

Lunch was fridays whwre i got free ice cream then we went to redbox then coffee before headingg home. They gave me cake nemen charap!!!

Thank you Lord for gifting me with a loving family and a superb husband. Please guide us tomorrow as we make new memories together.

Bedtime Song lyrics- Winnie the Pooh

Caleb loves the new Winnie the Pooh series and loves the song but  with its english accent I can hardly get what he's saying at the chorus. Well I get the toothbrush, PJ's, and hug and kiss la la la but I can't get what he saying at the chorus? Was it candy? Why would he say candy when they are about to sleep? So I searched for lyrics and alas he was saying Snug as a bear can be :)

Let's sing the song okay?

Bedtime Song – Winnie the Pooh

(lyrics)

Now the day is nearly through

It’s time for sleepy heads

But there’s something we should do

Before we go to bed

First we get our PJ’s on

The one that feels just right

Then we’re going to brush our teeth

All sparkly and white

Pick our favorite story book

And tuck our toys in tight

Don’t forget that hug and kiss

Then turn out the light

Snug as a bear can be

Dreaming in a honey tree

Snug as a bear, yeah, yeah

Snug as a bear can be

Oh bother, think… think… think…

Let’s go for our bedtime list this time

Get PJ’s on?  YES!

Brush our teeth? YES!

Read our storybook? YES

Our toys tuck in? YES

What did we miss?

Oh yes!

That hug and a kiss!

Snug as a bear can be

Dreaming in a honey tree

Snug as a bear, yeah, yeah

Snug as a bear can be

The new Tales of Friendship with Winnie the Pooh series is narrated by Robert Webb. He's English alright and that's something new considering all previous Winnie the Pooh's were American, when the author of the tales really was an Englishman :) Why do I know all this? Err here's one of the link about him dailymail. Just click the link alright :)

La union Baguio getaway in a Day!

It's may 17 a day before our anniv and we are headed to La Union for some grape picking and surfing experience.

Left house at 5:30, the sun is up early today, we enjoyed the view going north - love love layback life!

Passed by brgy asan and brgy nagtagaan. Funny names eh?!

Stop over at jolibee agoo just 15km++ away from the grape farm.

If u pass aringay town malapit ka na. You need to find barangay urayong just before the Welcome to Bauang arc. the road going to gapuz farm is on the left side and there was no sign when we went there. Pic below, you see the man in the orange shirt on his left is the road to the farm, it's a narrow road ha.

Gapuz Grape farm 250/kl if you pick it yourself but cheaper if you just buy them. Oh well, why would you go up north and not experience the thrill of picking your own bunch of grapes right?

We went home with half a kilo of grapes!!! Aint that awesome? Pwede naman pala kalahating kilo lang and for 125 we were able to pick grapes!!!

Grape picking check 🍇

Next on the list is lunch at Thunderbird Resort. Took us almost 30 minutes to get there just to find out that the place is fully booked and was closed for checked in clients only - we can't even go near the santorini like structures --- hmmm maybe there's an event that day. Good thing the lighthouse is outside the resort so we headed straight there for some photo op, actually ako lang nag photo op!!!

Thunderbird got crossed out of the list and next thing to do is surfing! Off to san juan we head but we also need to eat lunch muna.

We went to san juan surf school resort and a scorching sun welcomed us. The heat was unbearable and while we want to experience surfing our tummy won and we opted to have lunch at the resort's resto.

Hubby then ask if I am game to take  Naguillan road to ...Baguio!!! Who wouldn't like to go to Baguio. I said yes ofcourse :)

What did we do in Baguio? Drink hot choco, walked around and relax. 

Around 4pm we are bound home! That's over 200km drive again to our place. Good thing both our love language is quality time and we both love long drives but I wouldnt have thought the long drive would lead us to La Union and Baguio and back in one day.

"I had a really great time. We talked about the things we would have changed  in our wedding - food, avr, ring, gown - all those are just things to change and we can very well improve next time we renew our vows :) but one thing is certain, there's no changing the man I would want to marry."

Year year year year year year year!!!

Love those happy years with you.

Ephesians 6:1

Children, Obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

I’ve struggled with obeying my parents yesterday. I got so many errands to do, have to accompany hubby in the project he’s currently doing the whole morning and I got to go and pay her Meralco bill and she also requested me to go to the doctor’s clinic to ask about Tatay’s  condition and ask for a medical certificate. 

I was able to pay the Meralco bill with a help of a friend. But I almost gave up and did not go to the hospital because there wasn’t enough time to do it, well so I thought.  It was almost 12pm and hubby needs to go to the office to make it on time, time in is 2pm. My human brain calculated (the accountant in me rules), the time going to the clinic, the waiting time, the travel time going back at the house, and I figured we wont make it.

I told my husband it doesn’t seem possible. I already called the clinic but the phone is not ringing. I felt like Ive already done my part.  I wanted to call Mom and tell her to go to the clinic herself and ask the doctor maybe they’ll be more accommodating to her since -- she’s well a senior citizen already and she might be able to bypass the line in the doctor’s clinic. I however was still calculating and I knew we do not have enough time to line up. Hubby suggested we go to the clinic first and see if we could ask the doctor but if it will require so much time then we would go there next time. I bit my tongue, I was hoping he was correct but I knew ( with my calculator mind ) it will take a while. So we went to the hospital where the doc holds clinic.

I was told to hurry so I did. I ran to the elevator, and waiting for the lift to open feels like hours, so I went inside and pressed 4 where the clinic is. When finally the door opened I rushed outside, then I saw a familiar face, heard that familiar voice. Doc Glenn Gatchalian was talking to a woman and he was about to hop inside the elevator. I rushed right in the lift and called DOC GLENNN!!! I caught his attention alright J

I told him my Tatay’s situation, his urine is still reddish and they don’t know if they should continue his meds and that they are anxious already. He told me to continue the meds until the next hospital visit and drink lots of water. He said Tatay should be restricted and be on bed rest they had to be very careful because the operated part needs healing. The certificate, I still need to know what kind to cert Tatay needs but the urgent thing really was the medicine so I thanked him for his time. And run to our car where my husband waits. I sooo thank God for a supportive husband :)

The time I spent inside the hospital was less than 10 minutes and waaaay waaaaay less than the amount of time I calculated. In God all things are possible. He allowed me to see his greatness in that situation. He is in control. He holds the time. He sets everything in place. Had I said my piece and told my husband that it wouldn’t do good to even try going to the clinic I would have missed having experience His greatness. Submitting is still a long way for me but I thank God that he allows little things like this to remind me of his promises.

Obeying our parents can sometimes seem hard, okay okay that’s often hard. But the verse said we must obey our parents for this is the right thing to do. This will always remind me to look at it in a different way, na if God wants me to obey my parents He will surely make things possible for me to do their request.

Tomorrow, is my dad’s birthday.  No party for him even if he will turn 70. The doctor said he needs rest – bedrest even. But that doesn’t mean we will not celebrate God’s goodness in our Tatay’s life. We are thankful for the successful operation, for the doctors who treated him, for the finances He provided for the not so cheap hospital and doctors fees and for the love of all the people who prayed with us.

Lastly, let's be reminded of this verse. Got to look sideways nga lang because I dont have time to fix the video :)

Cruise by the Bay - Birthday Date

So on my hubby's night he chose to take me out on a cruise by the bay dinner date :) Was pretty excited but I chose to stick to pants and blouse rather than don a dress just because takot ako and mahirap magswim ng nakapalda lang!

Here's the voucher my hubby got! The face value is P1000 but it was discounted through Ensogo - OrientCraft deals for only P588.

Russian cuisine? Hmmm before we head there we went to a burger stop and ate because the serving might not be big and because we don't know what russian food were. Will I even eat it? Mabubusog ba ko? But we are on for some surprise and we are even excited, even  googling what russian cuisine was. The schedule was 6:30, we were there at the port at 6pm which is a good thing because passengers got to choose their seat on a first come first seat (hehe) basis.

Here's us before boarding. Excited di ba?

 We took turns taking pic. Well. I was taking pictures and he knew I wanted him to take mine too hahaha so he obliged ;)

Here he is reading his 36th birthday letter from the wifey.

It was a double decked craft same as advertised. We were served with red wine and it did made it romantic!

The "Russian" food however is very similar to our Filipino dishes :P They looked the same and yeah tasted the same too! Pansit, Fish Fillet and Rice. 

We were like, "Baka mali basa natin it shouldnt be russian it's rush yan! After eating we were given this! GOTCHA!!!

AND THIS!!!

They should have sticked to roses, one will do. I bet this "tupperware" would have cost them the same.

Overall, it wasnt the "russian" food, nor the souvenir that matters. We did had a great time. Laughing. Catching up. We havent done that in a while. And we were out without kids and it felt so different but we loved it. Read somewhere we shouldnt feel guilty when we go out on dates without our kids, we need those time and the kids need to learn too to be independent. But yeah someday we hope to bring them with us on cruise, kid friendly craft maybe and Filipino food would be fine!!!

Here's our pictures from their facebook website. We hid the "tupperware" for more pleasant and romantic pictures :)

Dear hubby, 

Happy birthday. May God give you the desires of your heart. 

Love,

Nyem

And thank you for taking time for me.

p.s. will we recommend orient craft cruises, well yes. but don't expect much and yeah don't dress up too much too. a fellow passenger was dressed to the nines - in heels and mini dress i bet she expected a lot from the "cruise". lower your expectation sisterettes. xoxo

TerrificTorpedo Tarat Caleb @ Two

Is this the terrible two stage? I was not ready for this. Thea was quiet I wanted her to talk but she opted to close her mouth but this little guy is like a parrot who repeats everthing he hears be it good or bad so we better watch our language when he's around (well everytime naman dapat).

So this post is all about his kakulitan this past few days, err weeks.

Eksena sa CR as I need to go to toilet and do #2, upon finding out I am not with him he began looking foe me and started knocking at the door: 

Caleb: Tuktuk... tuktuk... Mama are you there? 

Me: Yes Leb p**p** lang si Mama. Wait lang ha?

Caleb: Tuktuk MaMa Tuktuk po Mama

Me: Sandali lang Leb.

Caleb: Mamaaaaaaaa iyak iyak iyak

Transcript of the Video: (to follow please remind me hahaha)

C: Oh my car is work ( car is not working)

Mom:What do you need to make it work?

C :Screw Driver

C:Daddy Screw driver please?

When we go home he will always tell us "Iyak Cayeb" well he does because he still doesnt like being alone with our kasambahay :( And because his sleep time is around 12pm and he's sleepy na by the time we come home from Thea's school. So when asked why Iyak si Caleb he'll say "Antok"

It was a chore to take him out of the bathroom everytime he takes a bath, So I set up the alarm (the oven's alarm actually) and when it buzzes (we say Kring) it's time to go out the bathroom. He now obeys and it's really easy for us to leave the bathroom. But now he uses it on us, when I am doing something and he wants to get my attention he'll say Kriiiing Kriiiiing.

He still feeds and I know it's almost time for weaning so I sometimes tell him I got no more milk, with that he says "Ubos na Mama?" 

***Holy Week add ons:
He was hearing pasyon the whole day and he might have wondered why they kept singing so he went to the window and shouted
"Bakit kanta ha?"

Kilostones

Parents, especially moms, love keeping track of their children's milestones. When Thea was still a tod I kept a note of the things she can do. I did compare her to other kids and that's how I noticed that there's something not quite the same.

When she was diagnosed with delay, it did not stop me from tracking. On the contrary, I logged every single word she uttered even the dates and the definition. Until one day I stopped not because I lost hope but because her vocabulary increased so much I couldnt keep anymore.

On October she will turn 7. A big leap. Here in Pinas, 7th birthday is a big celebration. Okay, I'll rant first ha, please forgive me. Well I really don't like the way they celebrate 7th birthdays today what will all the princesses and prince theme, coutillion, and showering of gifts and dressing up. Uhmm dressing up is okay but the celebrant should be comfortable with the dresses or the costumes. No coutillion de amor pleeaaase, enough. And big No No to 7k - where 7 adult / ninong ninang will give 1k each, or 7 dance - where 7 boys will dance her, 1 will do and that's her dad. Will post more rants if time permits but i got none so lets continue. Thea is not a party girl, she's a sea girl, a mermaid, so will bring the gang somewhere else, well that's the plan for now.

Her vocabulary increased but she still doesnt like chatting much. A stranger will receive no Hi nor Hello from her until prodded, unless the stranger is an OT who knows how to capture her interest. Thea can read now, sight words and phonics. She can count up to 30 or was it 50 I dont know, all I know is she will say twenty ten for thirty because that's the number after twenty eight and twenty nine y'all. She can draw! And she draws pretty nice!

She's a kind girl. She doesn't get mad easily well unless you provoke her and that's human naman no! She shares to her baby brother: yesterday she got Vcut (chips she and her brother likes) and leb woke up to only a few left, he asked for some and she gives and gives until the last piece. If I tell you to count kids who give the last piece of her favorite chips to someone else, not much I bet! She's appreciative, especially when we make time for her, her smile er grin is contagious and even though she is heavy you wont be able to complain and you'll eventually give in when she wants to be carried.

She got tantrums alright but because of this major factors: 1. she's hungry 2. sleepy 3. needs go potty

1 & 2 are biological (okay pati 3 pero except muna natin) and even us, adults, sometimes are cranky when sleepy and hungry, I know someone who is - she's writing this blog right now. But #3 is exceptional we can eliminate that. And for some time now, we have been having a hard time with #3. I've read books, asked experts etc etc to know how to make her go potty but nothing happened she still wanted to go with nappy on. We were tasked to scooped the excrement from the nappy and dump it in the toilet. Was asked to show her how to do number 2 and flash etc. Maybe it worked little by little because...

One fine day when I prayed for patience for bonggang bonggang patience she did go to potty! Hours in and out the toilet. Donning on and off her pants. Praying and praying na sana this is it. She did and it was success. Next day was fail so was the day after that but good thing people in the house were cooperative and led Thea to the toilet everytime she looks like she's about to go. She has been doing it for 6 or 7 times already, let's wait till she reached 21 consecutive successful tries because that's the route times before you can memorize something. I'm positive we'll be diaper free in the coming days.

The post is not named Milestones because that measurement is too long, not inchstones either because that's too short. 

You make us proud baby girl. We love you.

Did I mention she got Tee-rific award at school for Reading? 

Isnt that AWESOME? 

Thank you Papa God!!

Looking back last quarter's Activities and pictures!

So last year's 4th quarter was a bit hectic. With all the patterns and sewing and marketing I had to make to make my dream come true. What was I'm talking about? Well  I had this mini cushions and pillow business, whoa business, more like racket for Christmas.

I joined an online bazaar and just a few ordered when it was just starting, but when the queen of the bazaar took notice order came and the total for the three is already 400 pieces so I needed to tell them I am not accepting orders anymore. Much work was required from tracing the pattern to
cutting to sewing to flipping over (not easy I tell you) to putting fiber to last stitch and putting the gold thread I have to tell you it was a chore. Actually one of the sisters I had to turn down PM me the other day if I am still available to make some orders, again I had to beg off because walang isang yayey and this is really a chore and feeling ko lugi sa trabaho as I only make 10/piece for this little thing.

Well, I enjoyed stitching and making fabric into something nice. The letter cushion has always been in my mind, single days pa when I received a letter cushion from my sister's best friend. The scrabble pillow I saw in Instagram last year and I just fell in love, scrabble is one of the few board games we have at home (Mariano).  Got several orders and break even point is within reach hehe, meaning I need to make some more pa. Please guys order ha ;) This is 150/pc for a 13x13 pillow.

Highlight was when someone ordered for these 2 families: Waaah gusto ko lagyan ng letter kay Juday and tell her uyyyy alam mo ba kamukha daw kita hahaha pero nun yun nung di ka pa masyadong payat :P

And though busy I never let my social life wither, I still went out and met with friends. Friends who loves me and my love for books. We went to this book sale and it was like a dream hahaha. Thank you ladies, the books are not as cheap as I thought they'd be but with lots of efforts from my kumares sinulit ko talaga ang punta! These and those they bought are only for P2k! We needed to reach 2k so we could have 500 peso worth of books for free. That's the John Green over there a gift for  myself!!! love love love!

It's a white polo Christmas at the Regalado house. Here's our yearly photo from 2012 - 2014 counterclockwise. While last year's photo was formal we hired a prof then, this year phone camera  sufficed. As we were all busy with the preps and me sewing we werent able to pause and pose at the tree before the Christmas rush. This year our photo was really on December 24 before Christmas eve!

Then last day of 2014 I need to have a boy scout theme picture of my boys. As early as September I already bought husband's uniform, and because of the clutter I couldnt find it by Dec 31. Ending he used last year's shirt which is hmmmm not his size any longer. Pero di ba dad by August no?

 My laging handa boys! I love you

 This was taken I guess early December, when orders arent that many yet. Seldom do we go inside this carousel together, either one of the kids won't come but this time both did thus a picture is necessary.

 You see my little girl? She's really a doll nowadays with her current fashion trend, long sleeve shirts. She will wear them over and over, now I have to buy more shirts because she doesnt want to wear her sando or tshirt at home just her long sleeves. But yeah she carries it well, pumapayat sya tignan hahaha, may future ang batang ito sa fashion!!!

Lookie here, waaah dalaga na baby ko! Long sleeves ulit now with matching tutu skirt! You'll see more of this shirt in her pictures, she got it from Tita Mai who had to search Robinson to find it. SUlit!

.

This was their Big Day Christmas Presentation. She performed, well standing there sway sway ng konti and not making a scene trying to go down the stage is a huge improvement!!! Waaah tuwang tuwa ako at ang tatay nya sobra. Thank you Lord!!!

 Regalado December 24, we were about to shout Merry Christmas here for hubs eldest bro based overseas. Captured Thea's smile via screenshot! I love screenshot option!!!  i love my phone actually it can bluetooth transfer files like this pic. Ayan ha love ko na samsung, eye candy si apple pero functional talaga si s5 eh.

here's Mariano's turn of family pic taken at Ate Mai's house just blocks away from our house. Oooooh I haven't told you yet, they relocated and moved here na! So La Res has 3 beauties already, just waiting for the time when the other one will move, let's see...

Mariano again singing the not so merry Merry Christmas song by the Beatles, taken at the Mariano Cabral Reunion Christmas Day

 Mariano fam again for the Zapata reunion this time.

Here's my attempt to be matchy matchy with my little girl! I painstakingly sewn this skirt morning of Dec 31 just for us to be matchy. But she left with her dad to Robinsons for 3 hours waiting for Tatay Fred. There was no time to have a decent pic taken and the little girl's minnie mouse skirt has gotten dirty good thing she has a pair of polka pants. Anyhoo, can you see my little boy's New Year attire?

Signing his last cheque for 2014. My little bossing! Thank you Ninang Nin for leb's polo!

We went out after New Year to Clark Pampanga, after their routinary trip to Ate Thea's most loved playground at Marquee Mall (primarily because airconditioned and it's not crowded) we went to Clark where the little guy enjoyed looking and posing at the planes...

and heyicoptur!

while ate Thea enjoyed climbing here :)

Hope you had a fun fun 2014, we did!