October 29, 2011, Saturday, 4:00 PM
Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street

First 30 kids to email the following info:

Name, age, name of guardian and
Mobile number/Email address of guardian

will make Halloween cupcakes with Sonja’s cupcakes
and get treats from Outback Steakhouse!

aimeediego@fullybookedonline.com
lorainesanchez@fullybookedonline.com

I’ll be coming back to work from my maternity leave. Believe it or not, I am looking forward to seeing the office again. Not that I’m missing to see fresh grads in front of their hp netbooks with this twinkle in their eyes. It’s just that I miss interacting with people in person. Pathetic huh? But it’s a personal choice. No regrets.

Mind you. The desire to resign and be a stay-at-home mom has lessened. I still dream of having more time to spend with the family, and ME time but I realized it’s actually harder for me to be an efficient mom when I’m home often.

We will be having dinner later tonight with my parents. They were letting me decide where the whole family will eat, where it is most convenient for me. Yes, having a two-month old baby makes you wish you have a mobile home so you can go anywhere but still attend to your baby’s needs asap. It has been difficult for me to leave him as he feeds from me directly. A couple of weeks from now, my maternity leave will end and I have no choice but to adjust. I’m just not sure how.

Note to self: start storing milk! ^^’
That alone is the road to liberation, I think. I hope.

The challenge now is NOT to formula-feed him, to feed him my milk, 100% of the time, direct or from the bottle, even if I go back to work. Keeping my fingers crossed… until June next year.

It’s Friday, and instead of being out with friends, I am balancing our budget sheet and browsing for cheapest auto insurance, we are to renew this June. I wonder if I’d still prefer to stay home after I give birth. Because I preferred to stay home even years after I gave birth to my daughter. I guess I really am a home buddy.

I prefer to go out on trips with my husband and daughter. And I am excited to plan for a family outing for summer next year with our new baby boy. But still, I wonder if I really would prefer to stay home or go out with friends for a night out if the kids would be taken care of someone I trust. Hmmm…

Before we even knew that our baby is a boy, I started liking these two names in my mind. They’re Spanish and would go nicely with our family name. But husband insists it’s his turn to name the baby. For some reason, he thinks I was the one who decided on our daughter’s name. All I can remember is he suggested a second name which I didn’t like and he let me decide on the second name. But the first name, it was never questioned. But for both names of our daughter, the story behind has something to do with husband.

Honestly, it’s no issue for me that he wants to name his baby boy. I don’t care whose turn it is technically. My issue is he wants to name him after the wrestler, Shawn Michaels, commonly known as Heart Break Kid (HBK). Well, he says he likes the name Shawn, that’s it. It just so happen that there’s a wrestler named as Shawn Michaels. I think he was making fun of me. And he wants his friends to have a good time so he kept saying that he wants those names over some bottles of beer. I don’t want to insist on the two names I like as I thought he’s not serious. He still has more than 3 months to think about it, before I give birth.

Anyway, two weeks ago, I had my ultrasound, and my EDD changed again. I wanted to compare dates from my daughter’s ultrasound results so I checked my files. Then I stumbled on my daughter’s baby book which I started filling in when I was pregnant with her (way back in 2006). There’s this page about the names we’d want for our baby if it’s a girl or if it’s a boy. And to my horror, I saw this!

You see, I just asked the husband when I filled this page so the spelling was wrong. All along, the husband liked those two names.

It’s March. Summer is here. Although our trip to Baguio didn’t push through, I’m excited to go to other outings that are planned this summer. I was a bit reluctant to join one of husband’s outings when he asked me. I thought our daughter could just come with him without me. But then I worry if the resort they’re going to have non slip floors, or will my daughter eat on time, etc. So I decided I might as well come with them so I can address any worries I have.

Oh yeah, I had to call my daughter’s school to ask for the exact date of their moving up day, and to make sure it’s not on the same weekend as this outing.

Most of my hours are spent sitting in bed. No, I am in no way sick. I am physically well and can still attend to some of my husband’s and daughter’s needs, well, pausing to sit down after every couple of minutes. I walk up and down the stairs as a form of exercise but again, pausing midway every time. I try to eat lots of veggies and fruits, and take my vitamins to stay healthy.

But I work from home these past few days because I am too afraid to travel. I always feel like I’d tip over because of my baby bump. And I don’t think I’m brave enough to ride a cab on my own to the office. I noticed I am so clumsy during this pregnancy so I make sure I hold on to the railings of the stairs when going down. At one time, I missed a step and almost landed on my hips. Thankfully, my hand was fast enough to hold on to something. Whew!

A cousin told me she has been talking my mom into give me an LED TV once we move in to our new house as a gift. I laughed, saying why would I ask for an LED TV when I could be asking for an entire family room showcase including a reclining loveseat. Hahaha. I was kidding, of course. Shouldn’t I be the one giving my folks stuff instead of them giving me? They’ve given me education so I could “fend” for myself, then that should be enough. And that’s the same way I want my children to be raised, that they are “equipped” enough to take care of themselves.

“There is no dependence that can be sure but a dependence upon one’s self” – John Gay

While I was digiscrapping, my daughter expressed her desire to play on my laptop. She loves playing Sesame Street games. I told her to wait for a while because mommy is doing something. So I planned the layout, well not really planned, more like chose among my template collection, while running document management software at the background, the little girl watched TV waiting patiently.

After two hours, she told me again.
Mikee: “Mommy, I want to play Elmo.”
Me: “Hmmm?” I answered absentmindedly.
Mikee: “Mommy, gabi na o!” (Mommy, look, it’s late.)

Whoa, did she just scold me? But yes, I gave in.

Unsurprisingly, I’ve been seeing a lot of wish list posted at Facebook from friends. And of course, those who do not own an android phone yet wished for one. I even saw a 12-year-old wanting one htc desire android phone.

Well, actually my 4-year-old wants an Ipad. I actually saw a cheaper version (probably made in China, I forgot) also posted in Facebook but still chose not to buy one. Still think my daughter is too young for these gadgets. Am I being too old-fashioned?