January 2008

I know I know I’ve been gushing about Andrea but I really want to document everything that’s happening to her just so I can look at it next year and remember all these wonderful times.

Since the last time I posted, here are Andrea’s new tricks:

- Correctly points at the following in a book: Baby, Lady Bug, Colors Blue, Green, Yellow and Red

- Touches the correct body parts when you sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes…except for the shoulders which she somehow can’t reach.

- Kisses (in her own way, which usually means putting her face near you and with her mouth open…teaching your cheeks)

-Embraces

- Follows simple instructions like: Say Bye, Say Hi, Look up, Jump, Kick, Spank, Hug, Kiss, Dance

- Can correctly find the following: All our maids at home, Nani (my grandmother), Gramma (my mother), Lola (my mother in law), Papa (my dad), Kuya Gabby (her cousin), Barney and Doggie, her balloon and lastly the moon.

- Her spoken vocab consists of: di-bug (lady bug), bu (blue), e-low (yellow), dadi or dada (for Daddy), la yu (for love you)

Wow….now I’m sad…she’s really not a baby any more.

In the Philippines, we are paid twice a month. Payday falls on the 15th and the 30th for most companies, it is not the case for us. Our payday is on the 5th and on the 20th and this usually works out fine but during this pay period, the wait in between paydays is just too long.
The last payday which was January 20 fell on a Sunday so our salary was given on the 18th. Meaning, we had to stretch the salary to go for 18 days and 3 weekends. This is no easy feat I’m telling you. I can already hear people complaining within the company, it’s gotten so bad that people are refusing to drink this coming weekend.
I am still so grateful that despite my complaining, I don’t have to avail of any of the payday loans just yet. While I know that there’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of payday loans (in fact payday loans are very helpful) I would rather exhaust all means possible before taking out a loan. Thank goodness to the budget Ruy and I started this year. It allowed me to stretch my salary for a longer period of time even with the gifts for my nephews and my sister who are all celebrating their birthdays this week.

It’s also a relief knowing just how accessible these loans are (some are already available online) just in case I would ever need them.

I want to share with you a Great Discovery: Zenni Optical, what is this you may ask? It’s an online optical shop which offers affordable and fashionable glasses for you and your loved ones. It’s the only place where you can find the Zenni Optical $8 Rx Glasses, is there any better value than that? Trust me I’ve looked and looked and the Best Thing Found: Zenni Optical … yup you can’t get this deal elsewhere.

Pregnancy becomes her. Yup, I’ve heard this comment one too many time when I was pregnant. You know what? I actually agree as well! I would have to say that I was one hot pregnant woman.

I felt good physically. I would often skip and hop in the office (much to the detriment of the nerves of the people around me who would practically have a heart attack whenever they’d see pregnant old me jumping around).

One thing I hated about being pregnant was all the unsolicited advice which would sometimes get ridiculous. I’ve learned the art of smiling and pretending to listen while the oldies gave me their words of wisdom. (Okay, I’d be honest…I wasn’t really smiling all the time)

I wish I had paid more attention to some of their advice though. For example, I should have listened when they told me to put on any stretch mark cream in order for me to prevent stretch marks. I didn’t listen to them before as I didn’t see the need to put on a cream when there wasn’t any mark on my tummy. It felt a but paranoid to do so. Had I known then what I knew now (seeing how ugly my stretch marks are), I would have piled on the revitol stretch mark cream when I had the chance.

Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20/

I almost died last night.

Andrea and I were reading a book together when she pointed to a yellow flag and said “e-low”. I felt my chest bursting with pride (knowing full well it could be a fluke) and I was just so happy.  A few pages down she saw a yellow triangle and she once again said “e-low”.

OH MY GOD!!

I was so excited but I had no one to tell.

wooohoo

Here are pictures to document Andrea’s reaction to her new toy.

So there she is obediently holding on to the handles. This went on for around 30 seconds. Then she discovered that there were toys in front. Sooo…

She let’s go and walks to the front of the walker to play with the toys. Completely going against the point of this contraption.

Just this morning, not only did she not hold on to this toy and walked without it. She also attempted to carry the entire thing…my goodness.

My mother-in-law gave Andrea this walker. Problem is Andrea’s not interested in pushing it, she just wants to play with the things in front and then walk away from it (yes she can walk without support and is annoyed that she has to hold on to this thing. 

I hope she uses it more for walking…aaarrrgh I swear my baby’s as stubborn as I am.

Having Andrea around makes chores feel good. We had to go to the grocery and buy  gifts for people.

It still shocks me when I see how much of a big girl Andrea has become.

Ruy and I shared chili dogs from DQ while Andrea took delight with her new discovery — glass windows.

Have you seen the TV show Las Vegas? I watched it for the first time last week and I find the pretentiousness so distracting. Imagine this, every single person casted is extremely good looking…yes from the security guard, janitor down to the person who handles Las Vegas hotel reservations. The thing is, the last time I was in Vegas…there was a whole lot of ugly people…yet somehow they were edited out from the TV show.

This is a useless observation I know. =)

Jen has been extremely generous with her time and effort as she is now buying stuff for three generations of bitches (Andrea, my mother and myself). Now that I think about, I feel too kapal…I had the audacity to ask her to shop for all of us…Oops sorry girl!!

I feel really lucky cause Jen and I have similar tastes and so I actually just tell her the general description of the things I need (office wear–size __) and she uses her magic to find stuff which are as cheap as buying from Divisoria here…I kid you not!

 Thanks girl!

It’s amazing just how many changes have happened to the blogging world. In the past, this was an unknown venue for self-expression. Now, it’s a thriving hub for practically every kind of person. There are now so many advancements like chat boxes, voting polls, embedded videos and files.

It’s funny cause I keep trying to explain what a blog is to my grandmother and the concept is just too far out for her to capture. Oh well.

I’ve been listening to Robert Kiyosaki’s audio book for the last 2 hours and as much as what he’s saying makes sense he’s droning voice is beginning to make me sleepy.

GAD…I hated long lectures in college, now I’m subjecting myself to it– and i’m not even being graded!

Trivia: Do you know that people who earn enough to be on the top tax bracket practically work from Jan- May just for the government. Isn’t this annoying?

A year or so ago, I posted about my dream of being able to give Ruy a Panerai watch and here we are a year after and I’m not one dollar closer to being able to make this dream a reality.  I really ought to take this budgetting and goal setting thing very very seriously otherwise my poor husband will be without gifts for a long time.

How nice!!! What a way to perk up a not so good week.  

Saw this in Data’s site.  It was very very touching.

It’s the happy that comes from working on something you believe in, and knowing what you do matters. It makes you love what you’re doing. And that love propels you on to something greater.

Like loving yourself and believing in yourself again. I think that’s one of the best things to be happy about.

 It’s nice to see people who love what they do and are passionate about it.  I have felt this way about my work, my company and my team practically every day for the last 40 months.  It’s become the norm for me to think and feel this way that I begin to panic when I sense the feeling slipping away.

I cannot imagine having to drag myself to work every day. I can’t imagine dreading the thought of Monday’s because I don’t like my job.  It must be tough…

I wish Ruy and I can spend the coming Valentine’s day doing something fun like vacations, it could be as menial as just going walking somewhere (yes I like strolling) or as far out as an Alaska cruise vacation. Okay, if I consider a trip to Alaska far out, I think I need to get more excitement in my life. 

In my defense, I know how fun cruises can be when you go into it with a good attitude and disposition and with the perfect companion you can be up for something wonderful.

I do know that we don’t have the budget for that right now so I’ll settle for a stroll.

I heard something over the radio this morning. It’s a wonderful quote on criticism (they said it’s from Pope John Paul). The gist is that we seem to be more open to being destroyed by praise than by being molded by criticism.  I love love love the idea behind the quote. I am one person who really really really craves for criticism…so much so that I criticize myself…ROTFL! 

 Has anyone heard of this quote? Can you give it to me verbatim?

I’ve tried searching online and I can’t find it, I did come across another interesting one.

If you are not being criticized, you may not be doing much — Donald H. Rumsfield

Doesn’t it drive you nuts having a million small bills to pay every pay day. The worst part is you have to go to different places just to pay them. It drives me insane as I don’t have that much time to go places and most of my free time is consumed by having to go to different places, different ATMs, different centers for paying. 

In my ideal world, I could cut up most of my credit cards and just pay one bill every month. I know that debt consolidation is the answer to my situation. That’s the only way for me to streamline my monthly budget and also to end my debt woes. I guess we can be considered quite lucky as we now have this option available to us. I know for a fact that our parents or grandparents weren’t as lucky (well, come to think of it, they probably didn’t have as much debt as we do now). I guess it’s just important that we review the contracts of these companies very thoroughly and read the fine print over and over again.  That way we can see if this option is really the most cost effective route to take for us.

We have some orientation from Pag-Ibig today and I’m really curious as to what they’re going to say. I’m not that knowledgable when it comes to government laws and stuff so I think this orientation would be good for me.

I have no immediate need for any transaction with Pag-ibig but who knows what 3-4 years will bring us.

I never imagined that grown up life would be full of loans and debts. I wish it wasn’t so but this is the reality of life today. The best we can do is find the company which can offer us easy processing, fast funding and excellent service.  I think we all know there’s only one company which comes to mind which can offer all these things plus Business Financing.

I still haven’t greeted my mom. 

I just feel so uncomfortable now that some time has passed and I still haven’t greeted her. I now I should say sorry…and I’ve been meaning to do that but I feel uncomfortable with that as well. 

I really should call her before the day ends huh? I feel so guilty it’s eating me up inside…I don’t know why…I’m mushy that way.

My in-laws just arrived from an almost month-long trip. They started their tour in Japan where they want to Kyoto and Tokyo, then they went to New York, Chicago, New Jersey, Napa Valley and San Francisco.

You can tell they really enjoyed their stay there as they were glowing when they returned. They also had bags full of stuff for Andrea. She has so many dresses that I dress her up as soon as she wakes up in the morning and then remove that dress 2 hours after when she takes a bath. Just so that the dresses will be used.

I was contemplating on the cost of their trip and I realized just how much they were able to save because of the friends and relatives they had in these places. They had a sponsor in Tokyo and when they went to the US my mother in law had some relatives who had prime New York City real estate where they stayed. 

I think they were so impressed with the house they stayed in that they actually had brochures of houses. If they do decide to purchase anything there I think they should consult Prudential Douglas Elliman which is the largest real estate firm in New York. You can’t take chances with big investments such as this.

I feel awful. It was my mother’s birthday yesterday and I wasn’t even able to greet her. =(

It was not like I forgot about her birthday. I was fully aware that it was her birthday and actually have something for her, I just got too caught up with work and was only able to call her at 10pm. At that time she was already sleeping cause she had migraine.

AAAAAArrrrrgh I feel sooo bad. I know if Andrea did that to me I’d feel really sad. haaay

What is it about Barney that drives kids crazy? I don’t get it cause Ruy and I both can’t stand Barney yet Andrea is cuckoo over Barney.

Andrea was in Megamall (for the first time ever) yesterday and she saw this Barney toy that was so much taller than she was. She ran to that Barney, hugged the doll, bit the snout…shouted (in glee).

I am at a loss. What is it? I really don’t get it.

I was watching some self-help show and it said that in order to be rich, you’ve got to feel rich first.  And is there anything that could make you feel more rich than having your very own gold bullion.  Yes, owning gold bullions, lying in a bed of cash and having a lot of diamonds — these 3 things are the ultimate signs of richness.

I am nowhere near accumulating enough cash to lie in, I only have the diamonds in my jewelry but I can definitely own some gold bullion. A lot of people are now switching from real estate to investing in gold. With the rapid decline of the real estate sector, you can be sure that your money would be safer if it’s invested in gold specially if the gold is procured from a safe seller like Monex Deposit Company.

Gold has been believed to be the best way of investing your money for centuries. Cleopatra and all those people can’t be wrong right (after all, Cleopatra was right about those milk baths too)

Andrea’s still not calling us. =(

She knows who we are but she never calls us. She doesn’t say mama or papa…I don’t understand.

According to the Babycenter .com development chart, she’s supposed to be doing this already. The thing is, she only talks when she’s mad. Otherwise she’s perfectly happy just sitting and playing and shouting.

I know I shouldn’t worry but I think it’s part of my job description as a mother to worry.  

One trick I’ve been dying to teach Andrea is that of kissing. There’s just that image in my head of a baby puckering her lips and planting a wet kiss on your cheeks that really drives me nuts.

I’ve been trying to teach Andrea how to do this and so far this is what we’ve accomplished.

1. I pucker my lips, I kiss her on the cheeks and then I ask her to kiss me. She laughs and crawls away.

2. I pucker my lips, I kiss her on the cheeks and then I ask her to kiss me. She sticks her tongue out at me and laughs.

3. I pucker my lips, I kiss her on the cheeks and then I ask her to kiss me. She  makes the kissing sounds I make.

4. I pucker my lips, I kiss her on the cheeks and then I ask her to kiss me. She moves her lips closer to my cheeks and then she bites me.

5. I pucker my lips, I kiss her on the cheeks and then I ask her to kiss me.  Just today, she held my cheeks with both hands and moved her lips to my cheeks.

I feel kilig!! Isn’t that so exciting? (This didn’t happen in one day, it took me a week to get her to do that and I’m not even sure if she’ll do it again.)

I’m still going to bug her about this cause I want her to make the kissing sounds while kissing…hehehe =) I’m a demanding mommy.

Before we got married, Ruy and I already had a division of labor which we thought was fair at that time. He is the big cook and he hates washing the dishes. I on the other hand enjoyed the bubbles and water and liked washing dishes.  It seemed perfectly logical at that time to assign the task of cooking to Ruy and washing to me.

I am re-thinking this set-up now as I have seen just how Ruy cooks. He’s like a madman when he’s cooking.  He obsesses over a dish…then when he’s cooking that he thinks of what other things he can pair up with what he’s cooking. Pots and pans are everywhere when he’s done.

I’m thinking it’s time to get a dishwasher. I looked up the best brands online as I’m not so familiar with this appliance and I saw that the dishwasher with the best reviews is the ge dishwasher .  It seems to be the perfect balance between price and quality. Do any of you have ge dishwashers? Can you give me any feedback on ge dishwashers.

Now, if Ruy’s cooking and the dishwasher’s washing…what do I do?

I EAT!!!

This made my day!!

Here’s a public service announcement for those unfortunate people who don’t know what to do with their extra cash.

Why not buy a beach house? I guess the next question would be, where should I buy a beach house?

I have just the answer for you, there are currently folly beach homes for sale. Can you just imagine the restful weekends you can have in these homes?

You guys haven’t seen my car but it’s in a sorry state lately. It has a dent on the hood, a scratch on the right side and a cracked windshield.  It’s hard finding the time and the money to have everything fixed. If I had my way, I’d get my hands on some body shop supplies and learn how to repair it myself.

The image in my head of myself repairing a car is just too funny.

Valentine’s day is coming. Are you one of those people who go all out for this occassion? I have a friend who’s actually going to buy a plasma tv for her boyfriend. BOYFRIEND okay not even husband.

I personally think that’s going too far too soon. I wouldn’t mind getting one for Ruy as I’m sure he’d go crazy over it, unfortunately I only have budget for a plasma lift right now…so sorry Ruy, you might have to wait for 5 years more…hehehe

Have you ever felt that the only purpose of your weekend was to do your chores?  I have and I still do actually.

Today I have to do the following:

- Go to the grocery

- Work on my blogs

- Finish the Calendars I’ve been working on

- Be a wife and mother

Waaaah…I also somehow need to relax. Good luck to me.

Remember the glasses I told you about before? Well I’ve lost them. I feel so stupid and wasteful cause we all know that glasses generally don’t come cheap. It’s also extremely hard trying to find something which looks unique. Most glasses I’ve seen look exactly like every one elses and I hate that.

Now presenting my Great Discovry: $ 8 Prescription Glasses From Zenni Optical . The glasses on this site are not only extremely affordable, they’re quite fashionable as well.

I personally like this style, I think it would fit the shape of my face perfectly.

I sometimes find it funny just how biased my relatives are when it comes to Andrea. In their heart of hearts I’m pretty sure they believe that there is no smarter baby in this world. Seriously, I think they think that.

It’s quite funny cause every time they see me they talk about how smart Andrea is by giving me evidences which support their argument.

I take this all with a grain of salt because I’m aware of the tendency of love to blind us all. I would then point out things which are proofs that Andrea is a normal baby. For example “Well this baby learned how to do the close-open at 4 months…Andrea’s 9 months and she still doesn’t do that”…here’s where it gets interesting…they tell me it’s cause Andrea has a strong personality and doesn’t want to follow….but if she wants to follow she can.

Isn’t that funny?  Ah…unconditional love and admiration like only grandparents can give

I have thousands upon thousands of  Andrea’s pictures saved on our pc and these are things I love looking at over and over and over again. I sometimes wonder what I’ll do if God forbid I lose all of those files. I think I’ll have that heart attack I was talking about a few posts down.

I found out that there’s such a thing as Computer Forensics. What is that you might ask? It’s the process of retrieving data from computers who  have conked out, died, passed the bucket or whatever you might want to call it. The company which specializes on this is called Flashback data and they’re the best when it comes to file recovery.

It’s the weekend!! And yet I’m dying to go back to work. It’s a sick sick problem I have.  Welcome to the world of a workaholic.

Ruy and I were chatting last night and I came across this big idea for a company-wide project involving my team and I’m dying to bring it forward. You can’t believe how excited I was last night. I kept on mumbling “Brilliant! it’s Brilliant!” over and over again.

I think I’m going to put it down on paper in a while to make sure I don’t forget it.  

I don’t know if you all know this but I have a heart condition called MVP. Mitral Valve Prolapse is basically a condition where one of the muscles which opens and closes the channels between the atrium and the ventricle does not work properly.

The only effect of this on me right now is that I experience arrythmia which is an Irregular Heartbeat. It’s something quite uncomfortable but is not deadly.

Having this condition makes me a bit paranoid though. It makes me feel as if I’m especially susceptible to Cardiac Arrest or other deadly heart conditions. This is why I have been dying to go walking for so long. I really want to have a healthy heart cause I want to see Andrea grow up

As I have mentioned a few posts down, Ruy and I celebrated err commemorated our 7th year anniversary as a couple.

Ruy actually was inviting me to go and watch a movie with him last night but I said no. I just didn’t feel like it. I have never been a movie person and I would just be as happy staying at home watching something on DVD. That is sooo much more relaxing for me.

I realized though that turning down that offer might be insensitive. Here he is planning and scheming on how we can celebrate and he gives me a suggestion and I blast it immediately.

Oh well… 

I am currently in the process of conducting employee performance evaluation for my team.  It was initially awkward as each and every person in my team can be considered as my friend. Can you imagine sitting with your friend and pointing out all their mistakes? Aaargh.

Luckily 98% of the things I have to say are good. So I wouldn’t have to worry about bridges getting burnt in the process.

I was reading this book called One Minute Manager and it mentioned something which I am trying very hard to apply, catch people doing something right. I realized that going into the performance evaluation process I was focusing on the negatives instead of on the positives. I was even panicking when I couldn’t find something bad to say about one person, as if the authenticity of the process would disappear if I don’t have anything to say.

I am really hoping I’d be able to apply everything I learned from this book.

Last night, before going to bed. I lay Andrea down and we sang head, shoulder’s, knees and toes. I held each of her body part while singing the song. After my song number she was giggling so I did it again (see Marj, I’m taking a chapter from your book).

I decided to ask her after my song. Andrea where’s your head?

Imagine my shock when she held her head with both hands.

I screamed and called out to Ruy and told him “Look! Look at what she’s doing!”

We weren’t sure if she just touched her head accidentally so we asked again. And she held her head again.

We were still doubtful so we decided to ask “Where’s your tongue?” and she immediately stuck out her tongue. We then asked again “Where’s your head?” and she held her head.

It was a proud moment for myself I’m telling you. I felt like I was about to burst with pride.

I think I’ll faint when Andrea graduates from pre-school.

Addendum:

This morning, her yaya asked her to wipe her mouth. She got the bib and wiped around her mouth. Then she held the bib. I guess she realized that it looked like her bandanna so she put it on top of her head and looked around as if waiting for us to clap. (Everyone claps and shouts whenever she does her tricks)…

It was 7 years ago, during the height of the Edsa Dos rallies when Ruy and I got together.

At that time, it was just something fun. We both wanted it to last but I don’t think either one of us could have predicted the turn of events and where we are right now.

It’s been one hell of a journey, and I’m sure we have so much in store for us and our Andrea.

Can’t wait!

It seems that everyone now a days has either a laptop or a pc. We are becoming so dependent on these things. I remember when I was in high school, only a handful of people had computers. Having one wasn’t such a necessity that people would only go to shops which offer computer rentals in case they actually need a pc.  I guess now that the costs of pc’s have gone down people would rather own one themselves.

Ruy and I are couch potatoes. Not that we are proud of it, but we’re just stating it as it is. We’re happy quietly watching episode after episode of our favorite series or reality show. We have several things we’ve been drooling over that would make our couch potato world’s even better. First we want those Omron massage chairs…mmmmm. The ones that massage you from the neck down and up again. Then we went a screen the size of a small movie house….and lastly we want some home theater popcorn machines where you can get popcorn which you can drizzle with freshly melted butter…Dream on Olivia

I was watching this TV show which exposes employers who exploit their employees by exposing them to unsafe and unsanitary conditions. I sometimes wonder how these people can live with themselves. How can you live your life knowing that you are exposing other human beings to risks of mesothelioma, TB or even death. How can you call yourself human when you do this.

The most disturbing thing is that when they are caught, they act as if there’s nothing wrong with what they are doing. I don’t get it.

I am sometimes in awe at how people with so little are able to survive. I can say that Ruy and I are both earning okay and we are still struggling from time to time. As I am a self-confessed self help junkie, I turned to self help books for answers. They are basically telling us to do one of two things, either cut down on expenses or if you can’t do that…earn more.

Ah, how simple that sounds!!  If only it were as simple to do.

I’ve been chatting with several people trying to come up with ideas on what we can do to earn more. We have a lot of ideas but the thing that would require the least amount of effort and the least amount of initial cash outlay would be selling. With the dollar rate now, buying stuff from the US and then selling them here in the Philippines would be extremely profitable. I have been toying with this idea for some time now and it’s seeming more and more like a wonderful plan. 

While buying retail would already be profitable, everyone knows that it would be so much cheaper to buy wholesale. And the lower the cost of the product, the higher the possible earnings. The problem now would be where to get wholesale products? I found this site which sells wholesale shirts. I personally think that wholesale t shirts would be a great investment or product to start with. After all, one hundred percent of the people I know wear t shirts so that already broadens our target market. Aside from this, urban shirts are very much in season right now and would even appeal to the fashionistas out there.

I’m not sure how I would go about the shipping of these things though. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be so easy because of the bulk but I guess that could be the least of my worries. =) First, I need to get money for the initial purchase.

My grandmother bathe all 4 of her children.

My grandmother bathe all 6 of her grandchildren at one point or another.

It warmed my heart watching her bathe Andrea, as if she is formally a part of our traditions, our life our family.

Andrea scheming…trying to figure out how she can get her hands on the fire…

Andrea playing peek-a-boo

I know of so many men who wince at the thought of seeing a Marriage Counselor. I heard so many erroneous arguments from men as to why they shouldn’t go:

- “It’s our problem how can an outsider fix it”

-”It’s not like we’re going to divorce, we’re just fighting”

-”Why? Do you want to leave me?”

-”I don’t want to tell other people about our problems”

-”Why should I see a counselor, I’m not crazy?”

- “If you don’t want to be with me then just leave”

- “I can fix this”

Being a psychologist, I strongly believe in the value of Marriage Counseling. When couples are having problems, each person feels victimized and attacked. When you feel like you’re the victim, it’s hard to see the other’s person’s point of view. Getting Marriage Help will guarantee that you can extend empathy to one another and see where the other person’s coming from.

I can’t understand why people won’t do this for the most important relationship in their life. Sometimes, hearing another person’s perspective just does wonders. The counseling sessions also provide you with a venue to voice out all your concerns without attacking the other. You are also forced to face issues you’ve been avoiding which could be eating away into your relationship.

Andrea turned 10 months yesterday and so I bought her a cake and took her picture as what I do every month. I’ll be posting the photos later or maybe tomorrow. I left the camera in my car.

Here are the things Andrea can do at 10 months:

- Wave goodbye on demand (When I say “Say bye Andrea”)

- When people ask her where here tongue is she sticks it out.

- Try to smile her way out of trouble. When I tell her “Andrea No!” she stops what she’s doing, but doesn’t remove her hand from what she’s touching. She slowly looks at me, then smiles at me…tsk tsk tsk

- Initiates peek-a-boo. She stands on her crib, then gently folds her knee so I can only see her hand. I will then say “Oh no, where’s Andrea?” then she’ll pop-up (almost jumping) and I’ll say “Peek-a-boo”. Occassionaly you can hear her say “pee-boo” . Sometimes she gets so excited, she forgets that she has to hide first when she plays peek-a-boo so she just keeps on jumping.

- She has repeatedly taken 6 independent steps. No holding, no cruising, just her standing up in the middle of the bed and walking towards me.

- Has become more social specially with other kids. She keeps on going near other kids wherever we are and it sometimes irritates the bigger kids. Oh well

- Has become adamant in showing us what she wants. When she points to the door, her whole body goes with her point. When you try to give her milk and it’s not time she pushes your hand away. When someone she doesn’t like tries to get her, she pushes their hand (sometimes even spanks them) while clinging to whoever’s holding her.

- Has become KSP. When it’s afternoon and the people around her are doing other things, she calls them (by shouting)  and then smiles. She needs attention…oh no

I’m overwhelmed at how much she seems like a big girl now. It’s annoying…I want my baby again…hehehe

Well actually they’re not really made for walking. These boots that I’m talking about are specially made for hiking and hunting.

You don’t come across good quality Hiking Boots and Hunting Boots these days.  Most of the boots out there are made to look good without much attention to function. These boots are honest to goodness hiking and hunting boots for those people who understand that function is much much more important than aesthetics.  After all, you wouldn’t care about how shiny your boots are when you’re trying to trek across a dangerous mountain right?

The best thing about these boots would have to be the ease in which you can buy them. Just click on the links and their wonderful people would assist you immediately.

Oh and it gets better….shipping is free if you spend more than $100. Awesome!

Yup, it’s getting harder and harder to leave Andrea.

She’s still quite clingy to me although considerably less now that she’s not sick anymore.  She also understands that after I give her a bath in the morning, I will leave soon after. She makes it difficult for me to do so by refusing to be put down after her bath.

When I do eventually get to leave her, she looks at me with this pleading and disappointed look on her face. As if telling me “Why are you doing this to me?” ….

Sucks big time I’m telling you.

I am so frustrated. I was trying to pay my credit card bill online using my eon account. I forgot that aside from the password required for you to enter into your online account, you are also required to key in a transaction password before you can actually conduct transactions online. The transaction password has to be completely different from your initial password.

Needless to say, I’ve completely forgotten my passwords. I tried twice and am currently one try away from getting locked out.  Arrrrgh.

I initially planned on writing all my passwords in a database probably in excel then locking that database. I was however worried that I would then lose the password I used to lock that database. If only I had known then that there is a software that facilitates Excel password recovery then I would have done that and I wouldn’t be faced with this scenario now.

In case you are interested in the software I was talking about, you can look at this website http://www.password-studio.com/

I am in a state of confusion right now. I’m at a crossroad and I don’t know what to do. 

In the Alchemist, Paulo Coehlo says that when you are doing what you are supposed to do the universe conspires to bring it to you.

Was that email from the universe? Or was that the call of something trying to distract me from what I’m supposed to do.

I’m so confused. And I’m sure the one reading this post is just as confused as I am.

Anyone who has seen my wedding ring would be able to correctly deduce that I have a love for gemstones. For me they add a touch of fun and whimsy to any ordinary jewelry. 

I don’t know if it’s true but I heard that some gems are supposed to be worn for particular purpose. They attract some sort of energy that could aid in healing different aspects of our lives. Some gems are supposed to attract money, some supposed to be good for love.  (I personally think that a diamond is good for love…if you give me some I will love you immediately)

The other benefits of gems are only secondary to me. It’s their aesthetics which really draws me to them. Look at some of the jewelries from sts jewels. They are beyond lovely don’t you think? They also make for excellent anniversary gifts. I would highly recommend sts jewels for men who are clueless as to what to give to their loved ones.  I recommend this because sts jewels offers a myriad of different products and they are reliable. You can be sure you won’t be getting fake gems from them! Plus the quality of their gems from cut to color are unmatched.

Our company’s thinking of opening up an office in Toronto and this means a whole lot of reservations for Hotels in Toronto. I’m pretty sure we’ll be using up a whole chunk of our budget on accomodations alone and that’s why we’re thinking of looking into Toronto bed and breakfast instead of hotels to cut on costs. I’m curious to see what a Bed and breakfast toronto style would look like.

A year or so ago, I posted a picture of our dream bathroom. We’ve come a few steps closer to this room as we already have the toilet and the sink installed. Now, the hard part. We are now in need of matching bathroom vanities to complete the overall look we are looking for.

It’s hard enough trying to find nice ones here in the Philippines, try looking for one while you’re on a budget. Ayayay

Today I was faced with a decision….should I buy shoes or a food processor. Had you asked me a year ago what I would choose I would have very easily said the shoe. But lo and behold, things have apparently changed a lot because I actually chose to buy a food processor.

I am still reeling from this decision. I myself am in shock. Is this the start of the domestication of livi….ewww I shudder at the thought. 

There are going to be major changes at work and I’m a bit overwhelmed. What’s even more overwhelming? No one to talk to about these changes since most of them are either still uncertain or confidential.

I am trying my best to be optimistic about these changes…

Unlike other people, spring cleaning doesn’t come to mind when I think of spring. Instead, I have visions of men in tights using their stick to hit a ball….hahaha.

When I was a kid, my friend Brian would always excitedly tell me about how he and his dad would try to catch as many of the Yankees game as possible. What’s possible would depend on how many New York Yankees Spring Training tickets as these things get sold out so quickly, Brian usually ends up just being able to watch 2 at most.  The best seat they ever got were Tier Boxes which aren’t really that great but for him they were AWESOME.

His enthuiasm was so infectious I ended up wanting to go and watch myself…despite not knowing anything about baseball.

I realized I want to have something like this with Andrea. Something she’ll get insanely excited about every year and something she’ll be able to tell her children about when she grows up. Any ideas?

Since my friends Van and Jen have already done this, I didn’t want to be left out. Here’s my color

You Are a Red Crayon

Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors.You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense… and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships.Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Woohoo!! I love it.

You will not believe how many insanely loud firecrackers people lit inside our subdivision. It was insane. I can’t believe how inconsiderate people are. What is the purpose of firecrackers anyway? There isn’t any logical purpose for it yet people insist on doing it.

I am so grateful that Andrea wasn’t affected by the loud sounds…she slept through most of them. I can just imagine all the other babies out there who are subject to these things. Poor kids

The arm of the law excuses no one. That may be true but it’s quite hard to pursue a case when you have no money to pay for it. Lawsuits costs money, it’s a sad fact. It’s a good thing that there are some companies who came up with this brilliant idea of giving out Commercial Lawsuit Financing, meaning they give out cash advances to fund your case. Brilliant huh?