autumn in sydney

it's our anniversary

2009-12-11T22:50:00.004+11:00

five years of marriage and two beautiful children. we've truly come a long way since our wedding day. a lot have changed but what remained the same is our love and respect for each other. it's no easy task nowadays especially since we're working so hard to be good parents that being good partners require an extra effort. thank you for deciding to make this marriage work.

paris can wait...at least that gives you more time to save. hehehehe :-P

thirty-een

2009-12-10T23:02:00.001+11:00

when you reach thirty, it doesn't seem old after all...

party planning mode

2009-11-26T16:35:00.002+11:00

i'm so excited! we're having aerin's baptism and aidan's 2nd birthday party in manila on april next year. most likely we'll have a joint celebration. we just need to decide on a date (before or after hap and neil's wedding) and then i can start planning the party!

happy birthday my aidan

2009-04-09T15:59:00.006+10:00

today you are one. officially no longer a baby but you will always be my baby boy no matter what. i can't believe it's been a year since the first time i held you in my arms. you are the most wonderful, amazing and adorable little boy in the whole world. you never fail to make me and your papa laugh. i love you so much my sweet cheeks. i want you to know that papa and mama will always be here for you. i know that you're going to be a good big brother my love.

don't grow up too fast my little one.

halfway to one

2008-10-09T16:08:00.004+11:00

our little man is 6months old today. since it's thursday (late-night shopping day), we'll probably have dinner outside and pick up a "birthday" cake.

i can't believe that in another 6months aidan will be a toddler. it's amazing how much he grows everyday.

extreme weather

2009-11-22T17:45:00.006+11:00

it's 41 degrees today in sydney. thank god for airconditioning. aerin and i just stayed in the house the entire day. forecast tomorrow is 21 degrees. how is it possible than in a span of 24 hours, the temperature plummets 20 degrees??? i hope we don't get sick with this constant change in weather.

this would sound strange but we don't have a single electric fan at home (unheard of back in manila where EVERY room would have one). i wouldn't mind getting this dyson air multiplier though, that is if it doesn't cost $400.

pretty cool huh?

our early arrival

2009-10-14T10:38:00.003+11:00

she wasn't due until the 4th of November. born at just 34 weeks, our little girl is finally here!

100 months

2009-09-23T21:04:00.003+10:00

yup, we're celebrating our 100 monthsary today! nothing special planned really (he even had to remind me it's our monthsary today). at least i didn't have to cook dinner and got thai take-away instead. given how busy our lives are at the moment, not having to cook dinner means a lot.

we also had the worst dust storm in sydney celebrate with us today. imagine waking up to an orangey-red sky. freaky...it was like there was an alien invasion or something. the sky only turned blue after lunch. check out the photos from smh: dust turns sydney sky red.

thirty three years and counting

2009-09-20T22:54:00.001+10:00

happy anniversary papa & mama! thank you for being such good role models to me and eric and my sisters and brother. it's true what they say that it's easy to get married but hard to make the marriage work. eric and i are at the point now where we are trying to balance being partners and parents at the same time and it's no easy feat for sure! you've truly showed us that it is possible to make marriage work as long as we work hard for it...together. we love you very much!

christmas shopping

2009-09-17T23:11:00.003+10:00

one of the (many!) things i wanted to do before i give birth is to buy christmas presents for my nieces and nephews (bahala na my uncles and aunties and cousins, kids muna) because i'm pretty sure i won't have the time when little baby arrives. especially that we'll be spending our first christmas in sydney, i don't have any excuse not to give them presents!

we started "stocking" on presents arleady whenever there's a sale going on. i've ticked some on our list already and have ideas already on what to give the others. oh, and we also have a christmas present for the kids already (aidan and little baby). i'll post photos once it's been set-up. i'm sure aidan will love it (the little baby too eventually...). i'm so excited for my little man!

i can only dream

2009-09-12T16:37:00.016+10:00

we decided to get a capsule for the litte baby. we didn't get one with aidan since we thought it was just a waste since you'll only get a good couple of months using it. but now that i have to think about how to manage daycare drop-off with the little baby (i couldn't just leave little baby in the house can i?), best option would be to get a capsule so i don't have to take little baby in and out of the carseat all the time.

i did my research and narrowed my choices down to these (i was looking at hiring one so initially i just went for the low-end ones):

fisher price capsule

steelcraft cruiser capsule

but i found out that this is available and it was love at first sight:

bugaboo takata carseat

perfect for my bug but is not available in australia. :-( so i searched for another capsule compatible with my bug and found this:

maxi cosi cabriofix in mystic brown

i've seen people around sydney using this but apparently it doesn't meet australian standards yet even though it has passed europe, united states and canada standards. i'm so tempted to get one though since the review is very good (even looked into european baby websites that ship to australia).

and then decided eventually on this since it is compatible with my bug not to mention available in australia (yay!):

peg perego viaggio in papaia

anyway, i went to target the other day and found the fisher price capsule on clearance at 60%! i couldn't resist and got the last available one in stock. another mom actually approached me and told me how she got hers just recently since it was so cheap although she hasn't used it yet.

i'm still thinking if i should get the peg perego one. i could always return the fisher price but for the price i got it for, it's such a steal and too hard not to use such a good buy.

if only i had my way, i'd love to get the bugaboo takata carseat so i'd have the complete travel system.

spring has finally sprung

2009-09-01T22:25:00.003+10:00

it's officially the first day of spring. i'm back from hibernation (not to mention the fact that i don't want one whole year to pass since my last post).

so much has happened the past 9+ months.

but the cherry on the top is that i've been busy growing a baby in my belly. yup, we're 30 plus weeks now and i know the baby's gender but eric doesn't.

my drink of choice

2007-05-07T20:03:00.000+10:00

as far as i can remember, i've always been a baileys drinker (i never really learned to like beer, which make night outs quite expensive for me or my dates). sure, i occasionaly drink smirnoff mule (which unfortunately isn't available in australia), archers spri (an aussie find, watermelon for me!), gin & tonic (bombay sapphire please, thanks to a certain welsh friend of mine), tequila, wine or jagerbombs (another aussie discovery which i brought back to manila) but baileys would always be my comfort drink.

guess what the husband brought me from the liquor store tonight...

and it's on sale too! 2 for $50 from liquorland!

i know that baileys recently released a couple of new ranges, baileys with a hint of mint and baileys with a hint of caramel. i haven't tried them yet but from what i hear, the original one is still the best.

what's your drink of choice?

no day but today

2007-05-09T19:58:00.000+10:00

forget regret, or life is yours to miss...

i don't think there is a musical that affected me the way that rent has (there was the lion king show in broadway which brought me to tears during the opening but it was more on relief that i got to watch the show after waiting for hours in line to get in) .

i got to watch the show in manila when eric and i were still dating,that was around 2001...about six years ago. i don't think we were even officially boyfriend-girlfriend back then.

anyway, the husband has a copy of the soundtrack and we would play it in the car every now and then. that's why seasons of love became one of our fave songs (we even included it in our wedding vid and prior that has been my signature ringtone that no one seems to recognize).

when i was in new york back in 2004 i was deciding on watching the lion king or rent in broadway but since i already watched the rent production in manila and have been wanting to watch the lionking in westend since 2003, i decided to just go and see the lion king (which by the way is a spectacular production).

when rent the movie came out last year, eric was so excited but i don't think it reached the cinemas in sydney so we just waited for it to be available in our friendly neighborhood blockbuster. a couple of months ago, we did just that. eric and i couldn't help but sing while watching the movie! i don't know why but the musical seemed to have affected me in some way after that. i have this need now to watch it again on stage and i'd constantly listen to the soundtrack on my way to work.

if you haven't seen it, i suggest you head out to your nearest video rental shop and rent it, literally.

***click here for trailers and clips***

ps. i have been wanting to blog about this since after watching the movie but never got around in doing just that. thanks to liv for inspiring me to blog about my rent experience.

caught in mcnaught

2007-07-23T14:28:00.000+10:00

while everyone else is busy reading their copy of deathly hallows (i was amazed by the queue in borders last saturday, if only they knew that target has shelves and shelves of the book displayed and available...), i was busy finishing my judith mcnaught every breath you take.

i was so caught up with the story that i woke up in the middle of the night last night and had to read a couple more chapters before going back to sleep and even called in sick today just to finish it (well that and some other reason...right). i was just too engrossed especially mcnaught had matthew and meredith from paradise as well as zack and julie of perfect in the story as well (i enjoyed paradise so much that i considered naming our daughter meredith until grey's anatomy came along...).

what can i say except that i'm a sucker for romance and happy endings.

awaiting a miracle

2007-09-05T19:08:00.000+10:00

we got the greatest news early morning (7am to be exact) last august 16, thursday (on the second day of my missed period). we couldn't contain ourselves and immediately called our families to tell them about it with the warning that it has yet to be confirmed by a doctor. everyone was so excited for us. we've been married for a little over two and a half years and have been trying for over a year. we even went as far as having ourselves checked and everything was fine. things really do happen in HIS time.

***

august 17 (friday), eric told me to do the test again and it came out with the same result...two pink lines!

***

the first doctor who found out about it (but unfortunately was unable to confirm it) was my cardiologist (i have a congenital heart disease so i've been seeing a cardio eversince i was a kid). i was scheduled to see him before we found out so i told him about our good news but i have yet to meet with my ob which was scheduled the week after. anyway, he sent the results of my 2d-echo to both my gp and ob adding in the report that i could be pregnant.

***

september 2 (sunday), father's day is celebrated in australia during the first sunday in september (mother's day is celebrated with the rest of the world during may, don't ask me why). as soon as i found out about it, i was thinking of telling eric during this day but obviously i couldn't keep it to myself and wait (we couldn't even keep from telling our families!). i had to act fast and think of a very first father's day present for my dear husband and decided on this...

cherish from the willow tree collection

and this...

peter downey's so you're going to be a dad

***

september 5 (today) finally! the day we've been waiting for. met with my ob today and she knew about it based on the report from my cardiologist. i told her that she really really have to confirm either by ultrasound or bloodtest and we're not just hallucinating about it since i haven't been experiencing any pregnancy symptons like morning sickness, etc. (i know i shouldn't be asking for it but then when we found out i just wanted confirmation that it is really true!). it was a good thing that she has her own machine inside her clinic and we saw our beanie baby and the heart beating! we definitely are expecting! we're now on our 7th week and our baby is due on april 21 (mid-late april).

i'm now waiting for the husband to arrive so we can go through the folder the ob gave us that has everything that we need to do during the pregnancy. it has everything you can think of! the schedule on when to visit her again, the scans, the screens and the tests we need to go through and when, even the referral to have the delivery at the san where we decided to give birth (which by the way we have to do now, imagine that!), information regarding excercise during pregnancy, pain relief during childbirth, caesarean section (just in case, you can't plan a c-section here since they really promote natural childbirth) as well as instrument-assisted delivery. she also provided us with a brief description of her fees and charges (what's included in it, what's not, how much you can claim towards medicare, how much it would cost you out-of-pocket, when is it payable, etc.).

before meeting her, eric wasn't sold yet to have her as our obstetrician since she was both an obstetrician and a gynecologist (which apparently is not a norm here unlike in manila), she was female (yup, majority of ob here are male, so females supposedly charge higher) and she was also a fertility specialist connected with sydney ivf. but after meeting her and seeing how much she charges upfront, eric seems to be happy to stay with her.

since it's now official, i told my close friends (and blogged about it!) which is such a relief since we've been keeping it to ourselves for two weeks now (not an easy feat!). good news are always meant to be announced if i say so myself. :-)

now time to to start saving for that bugaboo...

the results are in

2007-10-09T16:39:00.000+10:00

NUCHAL TRANSLUCENCY SCREENING

DATE: 9/10/07

Today you had Nuchal Translucency Screening performed on your pregnancy. The measurement of your baby's nuchal translucency was 2.8mm.

This measurement reduces the risk of Down syndrome from 1:805 (based on your age and the fetal size) to 1:972 (based on your age, the fetal size and the nuchal translucency thickness).

These results are reassuring, but they can never completely exclude Down syndrome.

***

called in sick since our NTS was scheduled for today and i was feeling lazy. when we reached the san ultrasound for women there were a lot of patients so we knew it was going to be a long wait. it didn't take long though for my name to be called which was good since i was busting and wanted to go to the toilet already (they told me to fill up with fluids before the scan). they did the scan for almost an hour, i didn't mind though since i always look forward to seeing our baby. what was good about it was they had the ultrasound machine screen projected in a flat screen tv mounted on the wall where we were facing so eric and i were like watching a movie starring our baby (can't wait for our 18-20 week morphology scan!). after that, the doctor saw us and interpreted the results together with the my recent blood test results. everything's fine with the baby. she also confirmed presence of nasal bone (which apparently even lowers the risk of down syndrome). i was even told that my risk is the same as someone a couple of years younger than me (looks like my eggs are still in tip top shape). afterwhich i was given the report above. oh, and we were also given a few pictures of our baby (i'll see if i can scan them so i can upload them here).

***

on another note, remember this? well, we finally got our new front door installed this morning but decided on a different one since the corinthian door costs more than twice as much as the one we got from doors plus. after almost two years, our front door now looks decent...

we really think it made a whole lot of difference in the over-all outside look of our home! we're still thinking though if we're going to have a screen door installed so that during the warmer months we can leave the front door open...

four months and counting

2007-11-13T18:17:00.000+11:00

another four weeks have passed by...

pregnancy and baby updates:

we finally met with the hematologist. i tested negative for lupus but it was confirmed that i have an autoimmune disease called ITP (idiopathic thryombocytopenic purpura or immune thryombocytopenic purpura ) which makes my platelets fluctuate. then and there she had blood tests done again and the results were actually positive since my platets went up to 76,000. the downside is i have to get blood tests done every three weeks and once it reaches 20,000 i have to take steroids or have to undergo platelet transfusion. as early as now, she already told me to prepare myself for the delivery given that i can't have any epidural (epidural can only be administered when one's platelet count is at least 90,000). so it doesn't really leave me much choice except to have either a normal natural delivery or a cesarean under general anesthesia. you see, my mama delivered all of her six babies normally so i'm thinking i should be able to delivery normally as well. not that i'm planning to have an epidural but not having that option just in case scares me.
we had our monthly check-up and everything is fine. saw our baby again and it was moving so much (although i haven't really felt anything consistent yet)! oddly enough, even if my tummy popped out already i didn't gain any weight last month, not that i'm complaining... :-) we also informed our ob of our planned trip to manila on december. she gave us the go signal to travel but to see her and the hematologist before we leave and after we arrive.
since we were in the hospital already we booked our 18-20 week morphology scan on the 30th of november. we'll know our baby's gender by then!
speaking of gender, last halloween my officemate did this wedding ring pendulum on me to determine our baby's gender. according to this, it's pretty accurate. i won't disclose muna what it predicted but let's just say it pretty much is what everybody is hoping for and guessing. but i got a different result on the chinese calendar. we'll see...
my parents just came back from the us and apparently my mama went crazy shopping for baby clothes! second day pa lang ata nila dun she texted me na that she got some stuff i asked her to buy and lots of clothes! sana lang tama hula nya on our baby's gender para magamit the clothes she bought. when i told her we were pregnant sure na sya on the gender of our baby!
eric and i have started thinking about our baby's baptism. initially we were deadset in having it in manila after three months after the birth since our family and friends are there and we want them present during the event. but then we thought that if we plan to be in manila around july next year and then come back again december the same year (nangangarap lang naman...) it might not be practical not to mention very expensive. so we're starting to look for possible places we can have the baptism here in sydney instead. i even already commissioned veluz to do the baptismal gown when i got to talk to her a couple of months ago when she was here! sana lang she won't be too busy by that time...
the husband has started to call day care centres and visiting them. i know that he actually listed our baby already in some of the centres waiting list (one day care centre has an 18-month waiting list!). so far around our area, average charge is $70/day while centres around where i work charges $90/day.
been going crazy shopping for baby einstein cds. so far i've got baby mozart, baby bach, baby vivaldi, baby neptune, baby galileo and the playtime music box. i plan to get the boxed set dvds from manila on december (greenhills lang okay na as long as it's clear) to add to my baby's collection. i also got the mozart effect for myself as well.

we're hoping to buy the car seat and cot soon so we're waiting for sales in babies galore and toys 'r us. unfortunately, graco pack n' play playards are very limited here so we only have about two or three models to choose from (unlike in the us). i actually looked into buying one from the us and have it shipped here but it's coming out really expensive so might as well get one from here instead (i really wanted one with a pivoting changing table sana). we're choosing between these two models (baby einstein pa din):

i recently bought curtains and valance for the nursery and have decided on kidsline barn yard theme. i'm really hoping i could get some wall border. now i'm obsessed with everything barn yard...

other updates:

we got tickets for the 14th of june phantom of the opera production in sydney next year! at least i’m guaranteed a date out already after our baby arrives. :-P we already made arrangements with aris and jen to look after our baby (we’ll look after enzo when they watch it the week before) or we can just get a baby sitter. i’m really excited since the last time i watched this was ten years ago!
i came home one day with surprises waiting for me from eric. first there was this 30gb 1mp hard drive handycam (we wanted to buy one so we can take videos when the baby arrives),

then when i went to our bedroom there was this 26" u series bravia lcd for our bedroom (eric wanted to have a tv in our bedroom for the longest time but i was against it since oprah said the bedroom should only be used for sleeping and sex...hahahahaha :-P but since i always fall asleep in the couch watching tv in our family room might as well get a tv in our bedroom!)

and to top it all off, when i went to the guest room, there was this 40" xbr series full hd bravia lcd for our family room!

my husband went panic buying in sony (thanks to my cousin pete who works for sony and was able to get us discounted staff discount price on the items)! i have to admit i was a bit shocked with all his secret purchases but i know he wanted to get these before and was just waiting for them to go on sale. natakot siguro that he can't buy these kind of stuff anymore when the baby comes! he kept on telling me that the digicam is for the baby anyway and the tv for the bedroom is for me so i can watch tv when the baby and i are in the room...yeah right. anyway, that weekend we went to buy a new tv cabinet for his brand spanking new lcd. as for the one in our bedroom, we're still waiting for the electrician to come since we plan to either mount it on the wall or ceiling.
after almost two years, we finally got the cornice fitted in our kitchen. our kitchen is finally complete! eric has to paint the cornice though and retouch the ceiling and bulkhead.

and that pretty much sums up what we've been up to the past four weeks! till my next post on the results of our 18-20 week morphology scan.

our baby's first picture

2007-11-14T14:03:00.000+11:00

at 12 weeks
9th October during the NTS

My Precious little baby

I have loved you from the start

You are a tiny miracle

laying closely to my heart

Each day I feel your presece

Each day you quickly grow

Each day your heart beats slowly

as only I could know

So I'll keep this in a special place

And remember each year through

of this very special time of life

The month I carried you

Author Unknown

my wish list

2007-11-20T14:19:00.000+11:00

since it’s only 2 weeks and 6 days till my birthday, 3 weeks until our anniversary, 5 weeks till christmas and 21 weeks and 6 days before our baby arrives, I decided to come up with my own wish list (not that my husband needs to be informed about these since I always tell him what I want anyway…side kwento: he complains how poor he gets during december since that’s the month we celebrate my birthday, our anniversary and christmas!):

weekend bag – i need (okay…want) a new weekend bag or a friday bag since we wear casual clothes in the office during fridays. if i wouldn’t feel guilty about it (i keep on telling myself it is too much for a bag given the other stuff we have to buy for our baby), i would pick these in an instant:

lv speedy 30 in monogram or damier canvas

lv batignolles

i’d love to have a leather coach bag too but the sydney store has limited styles available.

if i’m being practical (and i am), i’d be happy with a witchery nicky bag, pip bag or bailey bag (in that order).

classic diamond solitaire stud everyday earrings – right size for everyday use (not too small, not too big), in white gold

eternity ring (i like tiffany’s lucinda celebration ring) – channel setting, in white gold

tali gillette mama necklace – i want the one in the middle as a push present :-P, with diamond a’s in white gold

boy oh boy

2007-11-27T21:39:00.000+11:00

presenting...

at 19 weeks
27th November during the 18-20 week morphology scan

yup, we saw all 6mm of its penis (eric and i immediately assured each other that it's still going to grow...right? :-P).

we had our 18-20 week morphology scan this morning for almost three hours! had to walk around twice and even eat brunch in the middle before they were able to complete the scan since he wasn't in the best position and kept on rolling (sabi ni eric bata pa lang naughty and makulit na! the sonographer was hoping that eating would raise my blood sugar level and have an effect on the baby...it worked!). they checked everything, every organ and bone in his body. it was good to know that everything was where and how it should be. we were very particular about his heart given that he is at more risk with my history (i'm actually due for a fetal cardio scan in the next couple of months just to check his heart). we got the dvd of the scans (i had to lie down through three rounds of it!) and a cd with still pictures of our little boy which we'll be bringing with us to our trip in manila to show our families (a little less than three weeks to go!).

we really didn't have any feeling of what the gender of our baby will be but almost everyone was saying that it was going to be a girl so we were kinda expecting it i guess. my mama was so sure it's going to be a girl even as early as the time i told her we were pregnant! she even bought all these baby girl's dresses from the us! my officemate did the wedding pendulum on my belly and it predicted a girl. there were only three people who said it's going to be a boy plus according to the chinese calendar, we were going to have a boy. my mama was so funny when i told her about her grandson this morning. she was still in denial and warning me about all these stuff about boys. i don't know why my mom can still be so into girls given she has five daughters already (and a son)!

it hasn't completely sunk in just yet that we're going to have a little boy...but at least we've narrowed down the color topping of our bug since pink is already out!

one shopping day

2007-12-02T20:49:00.000+11:00

we were planning to go to bondi junction eversince eric got his new laptop so we could buy the oakley laptop bag that he wanted. i told him that we'll get it for him (that's me and the baby boy) as our present already for christmas. he told me wanted to get an overnight/travel bag as well (his jansport backpack has seen better days) so i told eric that we could get that for him for our anniversary. so happy that i got his presents already! at least i don't have to worry about it anymore.

since we were already there, we went to nine west so i could show him this big tote bag i wanted (perfect for our trip to manila, fits my usual bag stuff plus passport and other travel stuff i want to bring on the plane not to mention stuff that i might buy in bangkok airport dutyfree during our stopover!). he was more than happy to get it for me that since he knows he needs to come up with a lot of presents for me this month (i got the one in black though)!

i already asked my ate to check out some coach leather bags in the us as well (carly leather in chili and ergo belted leather hobo in either black or brown, sorry, i can't seem to copy the bag pictures in their site). sobra unti lang kasi ng bags that their sydney store carries, mga old styles pa. not sure though if she could get it for me since she's already in atlanta for work (she was on holiday in san francisco and then las vegas a week before her business trip). na-guiguilty ako magpabili ng lv batignolles kasi when eric went to the lv store, it costs a whopping au$1,100.00!!! we could already buy our baby's car seat with that (we don't have a car seat just yet)! coach siguro i wouldn't feel so guilty. :-)

we were there lang sa bondi junction for two hours only (and that includes having lunch already). which is good kasi we don't have to pay for parking yet. ang mahal kaya mag-park there!

given that this is the second to the last weekend till our vacation in manila, we decided to do some more shopping for pasalubongs today. so off we went to birkenhead point. we first went to the nine west outlet. i was able to get a bag for my mama (i wasn't planning at all to give her a bag for christmas). eric was able to get my sis-in-law a handbag and i was able to get a weekend bag for myself (courtesy of my dear husband again, super cheap lang naman eh!).

then we went to the surf shop to get my brother his rip curl boardshorts which he asked me to buy for him (my siblings think that australia is the land of billabong, rip curl and roxy, dami nga here but they're so expensive naman kaya! i wouldn't be surprised if it's cheaper sa manila). sana lang it fits since i got him a 38 (he told me to get a 36 pero walang nice na 36!). i called one of my sisters in manila and asked what size i should be getting for him and she said the last time they got my brother a 36 pants, they had to return it for a 38 so hopefully tama nga (but the shorts really look big). oh well, if it doesn't fit him, then it goes to my papa. i also got thongs (that's flipflops for you!) for my sisters since they were on sale, 3 for au$20.

we also passed by the pumpkin patch outlet to get the baby boy some stuff (we got ourselves stuff kasi so i wanted to make sure that he doesn't feel left out :-P). got a two-pack onesies that snaps on the side. i find baby stuff so expensive, i can get cheapo tops for au$10 (not the best quality though) samantalang the baby clothes costs around au$15-20. i really have to stock up on the basics while we're in manila. not to mention ang unti lang ng clothes for boys samantalang ang daming cute stuff for girls!

before our free parking ended, we decided to go home already (obvious ba that we hate paying for parking???) we went home happy with all our shopping finds but broke. oh well, at least happy naman...

halfway there

2007-12-08T19:49:00.000+11:00

20 more weeks to go!

i've started to feel "sensations" inside my tummy around the end of my 18th week. wasn't sure if that was the baby moving since it wasn't consistent (malay mo gas lang sya or something...). but i've been feeling it constantly now so it surely is him! i wouldn't describe it as butterfly flutters (as what i've read in mags), it was more on rolling and squirming inside. it usually happens at night but every now and then i'd feel it during the day.

as posted earlier, we found out that it's going to be a boy during our morphology scan which was done on our 19th week which really came out as a surprise to everyone!

my blood is still being continually tested every three weeks. the good news is i haven't heard from our hematologist since our last appointment. our agreement was that if my platelets drop to a dangerous level (around 20,000 i think), she'll give me a call so we can proceed with either me taking drugs or transfusion. no news is good news. but we're hoping to see her next week before our trip just to be safe.

it's been getting uncomfortable sleeping now with the growing belly. i find that putting a pillow underneath it while sleeping on my side helps (i still can sleep on my back with no issues though it's just i read it's best to sleep on your left side). i've woken up in the middle of the night twice already with really bad leg cramps. the first time it happened, i was able to pull my foot to stop the cramping but the recent one i had, i couldn't reach my foot anymore! and it took the husband a while to realize what was happening and pull my foot for me! i still wear my heels to work (i wear decent height heels anyway). i wonder if that contributes to my leg cramping...

i officially can't wear my pre-pregnancy pants anymore. for a while, looping a rubber band in the button hole and then hooking it to the button worked. but then as the weeks went by, i can't seem to zip my pants up anymore. besides, people at work keep on telling me that i've all of a sudden "popped", that's when i decided to stock on maternity pants already (not to mention an officemate actually commented one day "for god's sake autumn, get some maternity pants already!" since it was really obvious that my pants were unbottoned with a rubber band looping the button and the button hole obvious through my tight top, nakakahiya!). i just hope they last through the entire pregnancy para ma-roi ko naman my investment on the preggy clothes! i can still get away with wearing some of my pre-pregnancy tops, as long as they're stretchy. :-)

also, people in the office have started to ask me when i'm due so i guess it's really obvious now that i'm expecting!

we had our company christmas party last night at sydney shangri-la. buti naman i was able to come up with an outfit to wear kahit last minute (i got a non-preggy top but in a couple of sizes up from my normal pre-preg size, it's a good thing that uso ang empire/babydoll cut ngayon!). i'll probably wear the same outfit as my christmas outfit para ma-sulit. we have a wedding to attend to while in manila so isa pa yung outfit that i have to come up with soon since i don't think i have time to buy a dress to wear. i didn't realize dressing up while preggy could be so challenging!

we've been so busy with work lately. too busy in fact that eric had to put his day care search on hold until next year (after returning from our christmas vacation in manila). ako naman, we kicked-off our project at work about two and a half weeks ago and my replacement only started last week so medyo stressful talaga. had to remind myself every now and then to take it easy kasi i'm scared that it might affect our baby. been going home so exhausted lang talaga not to mention sleeping late as well the past couple of weeks.

on the shopping front, we got our graco pack 'n play already (we got the oakwood design). the car seat we'll probably get early next year na. we've been buying some little stuff already (blankets, clothes, etc.) but we really plan to buy the bulk of it in manila.

went shopping almost the entire day today for more pasalubongs and eric couldn't resist buying this for the baby boy when we saw it...

that's it! i'm celebrating my birthday on monday and our anniversary on tuesday. we didn't make any big plans this year since we're both so busy with work and we're off to manila on friday already. siguro dinner lang kami somewhere nice. till my next post...

we keep coming back to manila...

2008-01-29T21:04:00.001+11:00

we had a pretty hectic and intense three weeks in manila. trying to make the most of our short time there, i met up with friends the first week (took a toll on my body though since by the end of the first week, i was feeling sick already from all the late night-outs!), second week was spent with family to celebrate christmas and out-of town dive trip to dumaguete (i had to content myself snorkling though since i couldn't dive given my state now), and third week (or should i say the entire time i didn't meet up with friends) was spent shopping, eating, and more shopping (we bought so much stuff for the baby boy that we had to leave five full shopping bags in malingap which my parents will just bring when they come over and visit around april).

i paid homage to trinoma (countless times), greenhills, tiendesitas, eastwood, serendra and mall of asia (wasn't a good experience though). pinatulan ko even the sunday market at lung center (i got a LOT of carter's overuns from there)! feasted on chicken joy, jolly spaghetti and jolly hotdog at jollibee, sisig at gerry's, fried chicken and caramel bar at max's, spinach dip and linguine di valentino at cibo, upscale turo-turo at mang pepe's, friday's special thin crust pizza, chick n' chips and thick strawberry milkshake at shakey's, angel hair pomodoro at italianni's, ice blended mocha at coffee bean and tea leaf, giant squid at aloha polu kai, virgin martinis at larry's bar, black paella and conchinillo at alba's, ebi tempura and chicken kamemeshi at kamameshi, pasta, pizza and gelato at amici, bibingka with goat cheese and salted egg at via mare and other places i can't remember the name anymore. i had a couple of massages while there (not to mention the foot massages i got in bangkok airport), a haircut (the last one was around the same time last year!) and a diamond peel session.

we attended a wedding (eric attended two weddings while we were there). my mama and sisters threw us a baby shower before christmas. we went to the annual alarcon christmas party at pao the day before christmas and then heard christmas eve mass at club instead of our parish. christmas morning was spent in malingap and then off to san juan for christmas lunch with the in-laws and visited daddy at manila memorial. we then went to dumaguete for a couple of days before having our annual fireworks display in taysan to welcome the new year.

truly hectic and intense but it was worth every minute.

baby shower

christmas eve

on our way to apo island

family picture before leaving dumaguete

with ange friends

with miriam friends and the newest addition, tim

with p&g friends

5 and 6

2008-02-05T20:02:00.000+11:00

...months that is. the pregnancy continues to be easy for me. i even survived the long flight to manila and back to sydney given that we have a stopover in bangkok not to mention all the walking i did because of shopping and the late night-outs with friends. i had an appointment with my ob as soon as we arrived and was shocked how much i gained the past couple of weeks given that i saw her only the week before we left. the good thing though was the next time i saw her, i lost weight which means what i gained really was just holiday weight. my platelets are still being continued to be monitored and as mentioned in my previous post, i had my glucose tolerance test. i'll know by the end of the week the result of the long gtt if i have gestational diabetes (short gtt showed a result that was a little higher than the tolerance level) and i'm really hoping that it turns out negative. i'm seeing my ob every two weeks now and then every week once i hit the 36th week mark.

since we got back, we've been scheduling our weekends now to do some stuff that needs to be done before the much awaited arrival of our baby boy. we're kinda anticipating that i might deliver early given that my mama wasn't able to carry me full-term. we finished painting the nursery (okay, it was really eric who did it :-P) and installing the border (i helped here) but haven't finished decorating yet. we'll probably set everything up around end march.

we were able to acquire more barnyard items to add to our collection (eric still wants to get the rug and lamp).

we also bought another portacot to be set-up outside so we don't have to wheel the one for the bedroom/nursery in and out. we got it for 40% off so we couldn't resist the bargain. although eric still dreaming of getting a boori timber cot.

we bought the car seat already...

and finally paid our baby's bugaboo in full (we have yet to pick it up though). i'm so happy we got it last year when babies galore went on sale since they increased the price a couple of hundred dollars as the start of this year not to mention that the canvas topping is now available in blue (it was a toss between red, orange and blue). we even got the transport bag so we could bring it with us when we go on a trip.

we pretty much have the major stuff that we need. we're still searching though for my rocker and glider.

the baby just moves all the time now unlike before that i can only feel his movements usually during evenings. sometimes when i just stare at my belly i can actually see the movements underneath my skin! i love feeling him move inside me.

i can already feel the additional weight of my belly and at the end of day my legs ache but nothing a couple of pillows can fix when i sleep at night. speaking of sleep, i have to get up every night now to go to the toilet so i feel i don't get enough sleep and having real difficulty in waking up every morning.

i can't believe we only have a little over two months left before we finally get to hold him. it seems just like yesterday that we found out we were expecting!