Ooooh that thing you do!

The naughty boy at 1 year & 9 months,

just a day after he got out of his 1st hospital stay.

***

I love how my little dude...

• refuses to lay on his bed unless I do so myself
• only wants nobody else but me when he cries
• says "do" when he means dog, "ka" when he means cup, "nga" when he means one more (weird, I know!), "cos" when he means close, "toter" when he means water, and all those other small "words" he can utter
• greets me when I get home with his eyes all lit up
• grabs my hand when he wants to ride his bike or go outside to play
• laughs uncontrollably when playing with his dad
• messes up his hair as if shampoo-ing when he sees a shampoo commercial on TV
• goes around in circles, jumping, until he gets dizzy and falls
• calls me "ma" only whenever I'm not paying attention to him
• wants my arms wrapped around him when he wakes up at the middle of the night to get him back to sleep

... and the list goes on.

Thank you, Lord, for the greatest blessing ever. :)

I Like the Number Eight

On this date, eight years ago, I was happy and excited being in a new relationship. You know how you always have that silly smile on your face because you're just so kilig? Something like that. I wasn't really expecting it to be for the long haul then, but I was hopeful that "he" turns out to be, well, someone worth it.

Fast forward to three years ago... it was confirmed. He was worth it. And so on the same date, at the exact same place where we "met", we made it official to spend the rest of our lives together.

October 16, 2008 - THE Day

Today marks our 8th anniversary - 5 years as boyfriend-girlfriend and 3 years as husband & wife. I don't think I can ever stress enough that our story isn't all good and fairy tale-y. We go through challenges (a lot of them, actually) but the bright side is, we choose to continue to understand and love all of each other.

This is the first time since we got married that we are celebrating our wedding anniversary. (On our first year, I was preggers so we couldn't do much. Last year, we were too busy taking care of our little dude that we didn't even have time to plan.) It's still nothing really grand ala second honeymoon though. Believe me, when you're both stressed from work and taking care of a super active toddler, this is already a luxury. Anyway, here's what we did for our anniversary weekend:

• Checked-in at Marriott Manila for a night (for free! We just used hubby's rewards points! Hehe)
• Had dinner at the Passion Restaurant at Maxims
• Watched 2 movies (one after the other) - Real Steel (very nice!) and No Other Woman (finally!)
• Did some planning stuff for our future, complete with worksheets (yes, very HR. haha!)
• Went to Mercato Centrale for some food shopping

We just spent time being together, connecting with each other - just us, physically, mentally, and emotionally. It felt great! :)

To end this post, I'd like to recall what I said on my wedding vows:

My Jax, I have so much joy in my heart as I stand here beside you today. Everyday, I thank the Lord for giving you to me - the one who will always have the ability to make me smile, the one who inspires me to be the best that I can be... the only one man I am spending the rest of my life with.

I have found what I always hoped for. I know that no matter what happens at the end of a long day, somebody's going to hold my hand and tell me that everything is going to be okay, or thank God for all the blessings He showers us with.

I promise I will be your best friend, number one fan, and partner.

I will not only be there for you when you are hurting. I will try to shield you from pain.

I will not only take care of you, our home, and our future family. I will give my 100% to be the best wife and mother.

I will love you not only for the things you do for me, nor for the way you make me feel. I will love the whole of your being - body, heart and soul, today and for all eternity.

Aaaaaww.. can I be any cheesier? Hahaha!

Happy Anniversary, my Jax! I love you to to the moon and back. :)

My ex-boyfriend and I - eight years strong!

Re-organizing

Why am I back? Hmm... It must be because of the crazy weather, or that the little one fell asleep earlier than usual tonight (hence the free time to blog), or well, maybe I just feel like there's so much to pour out.

I am not sure if turning 30 two months ago has something to do with feeling old - like so-many-things-have-changed old. I suddenly realized that I am so much different now than how I used to be (more on that on a separate post) that recently, I find myself spending precious hours just figuring out who I really am, what makes me happy, and what I really want out of life.

Anyways, I also got to thinking that maybe what's making me feel "this" is because I just turned lazy to do ANYTHING. With that, I decided that I'll make a list of the things I've always wanted to do (and of course, actually do it!) to jumpstart the old me. Here's what I have so far:

• Finish the 2 books lying on my desk - the parenting book which I got as a birthday gift (halfway done already) and another one on Execution which was from our General Manager, supposedly to help with the project I'm working on
  
• Start with a baby scrapbook - already bought srapbook pages and cutouts (on sale! haha!) for all the stuff I saved from Marcus' firsts but I've never really sat down and actually make something out of it
  
• Go back to cooking - I know I'm not exactly good at this but the domesticated part of me suddenly missed "experimenting". Maybe I should go and download one of those recipe apps for my phone?
  
• Reformat my laptop - I've started organizing all the photos (which I think are the only important files here) but I just haven't transferred them to an external drive. Tsk tsk.
  
• Clean-up my closet and get rid of all the clothes I don't want to wear or those that don't fit anymore. Huhu.
  
• Create my "dream life" plan - I was told that if you have a dream, write or draw them down and put it somewhere you'll always see it. That way, you'll be more driven to get to them.
  
• Schedule for all mommy duties - by this I mean the OC type where all info are in one structured list like for paying bills, grocery list by shelf category, etc.
  
• Exercise - been lazy to join Zumba class lately! :(
  

I'm hoping to be able to do another post on all the mixed feelings I've been having these days. Maybe when I get to cross a few of these items off the list?

The Big Boy

At 13 months, Marcus can do a lot of things now. Some of these are:

1. Walk and run and make mom and dad chase him
   
2. Climb up the stairs on his own (Well, he's been doing this since he was 9 months but we just won't let him. We still don't but at least now we're more confident he actually can.)
3. Cry like crazy when he doesn't get what he wants (Yes, he is officially a spoiled brat and we need to start doing something about this soon!)
   
4. Get his diaper when we say "Do you have poo-poo?"
5. Grab mommy's hand when he wants to go somewhere
   
6. Point to where we prepare his milk when asked "Do you want milk?"
7. Hop inside the car every chance he gets
8. Nod his head and proceed to the foot of the stairs when we say, "It's time to sleep. Let's go to bed."
9. Hug Barney real tight while swaying left and right (which means "love")
   
10. Etc. (a.k.a. Drive mom and dad nuts)

Sometimes, when I look at him, I am still amazed at how he's grown and how blessed I am to have him. He's really my stress reliever, my source of joy.

Marcus and I do not have a lot of pictures together because I am always the one taking photos (thanks to his yaya for this pic), so I'm just happy to have a recent one to post. Notice that he has a swollen lip (fell flat on his face yesterday) but to me he's still the cutest. :) I love you, baby!

The First Time I Had Flowers for V-Day

Jax and I never celebrated Valentine's Day. Yes, all 7 years we've ever been together. Never. He never gave me flowers, too. No, none of that. Not even those you can buy everywhere on the day of hearts. Nope. Until this V-Day, that is.

He was home late (as usual) and I was watching TV, already in my skimpy sleepwear. He knocked on the door and when I opened it, I couldn't stifle a giggle - it was the most beautiful bunch of flowers I have ever seen. I am not kidding! (But then again, maybe I am just easy to please, having received flowers probably less than 10 times in my entire life - hehe)


It was a dozen pink carnations with rhinestones that reminded me of my wedding bouquet. I love it! Here's me hiding behind them:

And this is me smiling ear to ear. Forgive me, this is my first time!

We didn't go out on a date though. That must be over the top for Jax already (I have to drug him to do that much - maybe next year.. hehe)

Thanks, baby! I wouldn't mind getting surprises like these every now and then. :)

Missing the BFF

Last night, I got to chat with my best friend who's currently based in Singapore. Our short (but sweet) exchange of messages got me nostalgic... of dinner dates, never ending life (love) talks, laugh trip over ex-es or the b*tches we dealt with during college days, sleepovers, etc.

By the time we were done chatting, I found myself reading old blog posts, which didn't help with stopping the reminiscing. Miss you, Nix! I really do. Hope we can catch up (big time!) soon.

Bistro Filipino

Three hours, two shopping bags, and one Krispy Kreme donut after I got to Boni High last night, Jax finally came to pick me up. I was about to snap at him for being late when he said the most brilliant idea he's had in quite a while.. "How 'bout we have dinner at Chef Laudico's?"

Could you say no to that? Of course.. NOT! My bad mood (Hel-lo?! 3 freakin' hours?! Fine, just 2 since I was still enjoying the 1st hour, but still) suddenly disappeared. I've been hearing a lot of good reviews about Bistro Filipino so naturally, I was excited to see for myself.


I initially thought it was a fine dining setting so I was a bit concerned that we were both just wearing jeans and polo shirts. Turned out we were dressed just alright. The place was cozy albeit a little noisy (with people talking aloud). The setting reminds me of old mansions with grand chandeliers and huge mirrors.

Service was good. When we arrived, we waited outside for a table for two to be available but it didn't take long until we were ushered inside. While waiting, we were also served with pandesal and butter, which I barely touched because I was, of course, saving space.

I especially loved the lumpia ubod cone, which was one of their bestsellers. It had a certain "kick" from the vinegar sorbet, very unique. The main course was good too (I had wagyu beef estofado), but the dessert.. oh my, the dessert! I have never tasted molten chocolate cake as heavenly as that! You know how when you try something and you could vividly remember how it tastes because it's just so damn good? That's how it was!

Will definitely come back and try their pasta (and the rest of the desserts!) soon. :)

Thank.God.It's.Friday.

When you're running around at work all week and you can't seem to put the urgent items in your list to an end, then there could be nothing sweeter than saying "TGIF!" on a Friday afternoon. Random things on my mind now:

1. Going to Boni High after work - David & Goliath and Shoe Salon sale! Yeyyy!
2. Want to take Marcus & Jax to UP Diliman (inspired by FB pics from Nix)
3. (Hoping for) weekend date with the husband

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Mommy's Back!

Just to officially say I've decided to revive this blog. Will post updates soon, I promise. :)