The past month had been birthing moments for two women I know – a cousin and a cousin’s friend (that makes her eligible to be called my friend too?).
My cousin L sent me an email on May 1 (to which I'm still guilty of not replying!) saying hello and asking of my pregnancy which she learned about from my mom. Mom happened to drop by their little city of Iligan while she was coming home from her Camiguin trip. But mom didn’t mention to me that L was pregnant too and was due to give birth that month!!! Weeee… Anyway, I was totally clueless about all this when L’s sister J informed me few weeks ago that L had already given birth.
My cousin’s friend Nadette on the other hand has been my occasional chat mate in YM so I was updated with what’s happening at her end. Being months ahead of me in pregnancy, she would sometimes give me advice.
Anyway, I was so delighted when she shared to me photos of her adorable little bundle of joy. So delighted that I couldn’t wait for my own baby to come out soon!
Here's a pic of her baby Alex:
Parents know that summer is one of the favorite seasons of kids (aside from Christmas of course). This is the time when kids take a break from their little load of school work. Even before the break, they are already excitedly imagining the long hours of play time with friends or vacation with their family to exciting places.
But wait… Mom and Dad have other plans. They want their little child to be more mentally-equipped the next school opening so they signed him up for a special summer program at Score. Fortunately not all academic-related programs are dull. Score Learning centers are known for their innovative and fun method of teaching kids. Not only does the child get loads of fun, he is also wisely spending his summer vacation learning new knowledge and actually enjoying it!
As Score says, ‘When children love to learn, they’ll learn’.
My brain is drained… my mind is blank… I stare at my screen till my eyes shut off. I had enough sleep last night, but I feel like I’ve been drugged. I’ve been unproductive the past weeks and I don’t like it at all. I’m demotivated to do any mind work. I’m lazy mentally and physically. Achhhhh! I miss my alert and wacky self. Encouraging words such as “its okay you need to rest coz you’re pregnant” doesn’t help much to boost my spirit.
**"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." Let me repeat this inspiring verse from the Bible over and over to get by with the tasks I want to accomplish today. Amen!!!
**Verse taken from Philippians 4:13.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star; how I wonder what you are…" I couldn't wait to sing this to my baby while I point to her the tiny twinkling lights above the night sky. Then when she’s older, we can gaze at the night skies using one of those night vision scopes from Optics Planet. Lovely!
Star gazing used to be my favorite past time back home in Phils. At night, my siblings and I would gather in our balcony while one of them strums the guitar with the rest of us singing along under the wide blanket of stars. I wish to share that experience with my child someday. I'd call us the stargazers. 
FYI: Optics Planet is an online store with the widest selection of night vision googles, scopes, riles scopes and other tactical and military gear. They ship free via UPS and APO shipping.
This is my personal blog, created and written by ME.
I occasionally write reviews and advertisement to which I am compensated for but these may not always be identified as paid or sponsored posts. Though the compensation received may influence the topics or posts written in this blog, I always give my honest findings, opinions or beliefs on these topics or products. Therefore, the thoughts and views expressed here are totally mine, unless otherwise quoted.
Effective June 7, 2007.
As early as now I’m contemplating on my future’s child education. I want to provide the best education she can have (so cliché I know!). I’ve heard about the good benefits of homeschooling, and then here’s another educational experience that seems to be getting positive reviews from parents. It’s the Score Learning Center where kids ages 4 to 14 are exposed to an innovative tutoring environment. Kids can improve their skills in numbers with Math tutors or improve their skills in reading, spelling and writing. Their programs are designed to help children succeed while they enjoy the learning experience. I’m on for fun educational method of teaching. This way the kids don’t get bored and would love to learn new knowledge. I actually watched their video to see their approach on teaching and I liked it. It was an informal set-up wherein kids were communicating with their teachers animatedly, not the usual stiff and boring classroom environment. No wonder Score parents and kids have been raving over their Score experience.
On a recent birthday party of a friend, I chatted with a Filipina who has a 16-month toddler named Nikki. I was then munching potato chips when little Nikki came up to me. I offered her a piece which she gladly (almost) accepted. But her mom was quick to pull her away. Then her mom curtly explained that she doesn’t feed Nikki with junk food. She even bought Nikki her own ration of food in the party!
That was a slap in my face. I wasn’t offended but I took it as a reminder coz lately I’ve been neglecting my diet. Me who was once a health conscious person am now stuffing myself with junk food (and I'm preggy!)! Ewwww…! Double ewwww!
Yesterday when we went grocery shopping I was proud that I overcame the temptation. When M and I were passing by the chips section, he took a big bag of his favorite chips and prodded me to pick my choice. I vehemently refused and told him I’d get the fruits instead.
Another test I have to overcome will be when M eats the chips while we watch “Heroes” later. We’ll see!
Waaaaa I took a very long break huh? Well, you know I can't be in one place for a long time. I have to be here, here and there… Get my point?
So, here's hoping that the strength I've stored is enough to last me in completing this tag. waaaaaa again!
Carey
Jake
Ems
Louis
Eli
Dimaks
Fingertalks
Female Gamer
Garry Conn
Pinoy Seminars
Sasha
Cafe Romanza
Blog About Money Online
Manila Mom
ScottPot
How to earn money online?
Quasi Fictional
Make Money Blogging!
Make Money Online 2.0
Nate Whitehill
Jozzua
Grow your Writing Business
CultureShiok
Gary Lee
Smart Wealthy Rich
TechZi
Erik Karey: Internet Entrepreneur
Tjantunen.com
Hate The Grind
Earn Money Blogging
Sasha
Ate Ghee
Mousey Ju
Cai
Karen/Malaya
Devilicious
~End Copying Here~
Whew! If you're included in this alexa train ride, you should be thankful that you're linked. Why don't you link me up too?
… the alexa train that is! I got tagged by Lutchi. Well, because I tag other bloggers for memes, I am returning the favor just for fun! If it increases my alexa rating, then good; if not, then thank you na lang.
Here's how to do it:
Start copying on the ~Start Copying Here~ and copy all the things listed without removing the links. (Of course, the train would be no use without those links.)
Move all the sites labeled "Newcomers" to the list labeled "Oldies".
Add 5 sites that you want to include in the train and make their link like this: http://redirect.alexa.com/redirect?www.example.com then invite them to join the train.
Of course when you do this, it's inevitable that you'll get to visit all the sites included in this train. So it's also a way of discovering new interesting blogs and perhaps make new friends too.
Let me start my looooonnnnnngggggggggg task now!
My five 'newcomers':
The Oldies:
Jona V.
Daisy
Deden
Kiss Fendi
Juliet B.
Nora
Jean
Julai
MWP
Yatot
Kookie
Era
Mich
Francesca
Yen
Marie
Dangkin
Cess
Ann
Liz
Bambi jho
Glenn Kev
This is where I'm stopping for a break! It's too longgggg and its making me sleepy!
After dinner tonight I turned on the TV. I was channel surfing through alien stations until I settled on CNN. Good timing coz they were taking a break from their regular dose of news (mostly about war in Iraq, duhhhhh!) and was featuring a short documentary about 3 American girls who left their jobs to tour the world in a year.
They call themselves the Lost Girls. Their description of a Lost Girl is:
Typically (with a few interesting exceptions), a Lost Girl is:
a woman in her 20s and 30s who's more than a bit unsure about what she's doing with her life, the direction that she's headed and how to make changes for the better. Despite having a steady paycheck, social life, regular dates, four walls and a foor over her head, she's got the pressing feeling that she's overlooking what's really important, and what she ultimately needs to be happy.
I was inspired with these girls that I'm so excited to give birth and embark on a travel escapade (maybe next year). Around Asia would do for a start. Or if I'm still here in Europe next year, then around Europe it will be!
nowhere far from my abode… I am just feeling lazy recently. Now that I'm on my last semester, I am spending more time sleeping and eating.
I've been meeting new acquaintances lately. They've been very nice and offered to "donate" their slightly-used baby clothings to me. I really don't mind at all. It's practical knowing how fast babies grow. I might be swamped with hand-me-downs, hehehe but of course I can't wait to shop for clothes for my baby.
Many people are concerned about high blood (HB) pressure. "I don’t want to eat this because it will cause high blood", blah, blah…, include my parents in the list (probably the millionaire George Lindemann too) . They take medications against HB and they are cautious with their diet. My sister recently told me that Mom totally eradicated pork in her diet while Dad prefers beef, seafoods and chicken. Well, its understandable because of their age. The irony is, I have low blood pressure.
This I found out last Wednesday when I had an appointment with a cardiologist. My BP is only 90/60. I was advised to drink water with minerals to improve my blood pressure. When did this happen anyway? In the monthly record with my OB, I had 120/65, 105/60 and 100/60 for months of February to April. Could it be because the cardiologist was using manual sphygmomanometer and the OB had digital? Or maybe because I’ve been sleeping late? Or maybe because I’ve been eating plenty of chocs lately? Yep, I’ve got received an article through email claiming that chocolates can lower blood pressure. I posted it in my other blog.
Why bother myself with questions unanswered? So I hit google and looked for the causes of low blood pressure!
Here are some of my research results:
From MSN: It may also result from reduced blood volume (such as might occur through dehydration or massive blood loss); or it might be through excessive dilation of the blood vessels (as could occur in response to septic shock, exposure to heat, conditions of the nervous system or to certain medications). Pregnant women also often have low blood pressure.
Girlfriends! I’m so blessed to have friends here whom I can exchange stories and laugh with… being in contact with Kababayans abroad is a truly one of the characteristics of Pinoys. Aside from healing the nostalgic feeling of conversing in my native tongue, there is a different sense of warmth and joy being with a kalahi! And so I invited them for a small barbeque party in our flat two weeks ago. We had non-stop food binge, fun chatter and endless exercise of our jaws from laughing really hard – oh my! Ang sakit ng tiyan ko sa kakatawa!
So the topic of holding a baby shower for me and my baby came up again during our small party. "What do you want?" They asked me. I didn’t hesitate to tell them I wanted gifts like crib and stroller. I was joking of course. But they seemed to have taken it seriously coz they were already planning to pull their resources together in order to buy a crib. *smile* Girlfriends!
As early as two months of my pregnancy, I’ve been massaging baby oil or lotion on my tummy to avoid stretch marks from appearing there. Thank God, I’m on my fifth month now and still no sign of the unsightly lightning-like lines on my skin.
Curious if I was doing the right thing, I took a break from reading real estate information and scoured the internet for infos and tips on how to avoid stretch marks. Unfortunately my research failed to give me any guaranteed prevention. Mostly what I read says that there is no guarantee that it can be prevented.
According to Wikihow.com these following steps MAY help prevent stretch marks:
1. Eat a very healthy diet to nourish your skin from the inside out.
I don’t know if I’m eating healthy. All I know is that I eat lots of fruits, chocolates, ice cream… My doc told me I can eat anything, so why bother? As long as it’s balanced diet, right?
2. Drink eight or more glasses of water and/or fluids daily to hydrate your skin and maintain elasticity.
I am not keeping track of the number of glasses I drink each day. I should start now.
3. Follow guidelines for gradual weight gain, in the recommended amount. The faster you gain weight during pregnancy, the more likely it is you will get stretch marks.
Goodie!!! When I was 2-3 months preggy, my weight was still the same. It was only on my 4th month that I started gaining weight.
4. Moisturize your breasts, belly, thighs and anywhere else you thing you might get stretch marks at least morning and night if you wish
I thought I only have to moisturize my belly…
5. Continue regimen after you deliver until you’re back to your target weight – rapid weight loss can also result in stretch marks.
Will do!!!
How about you? Did you get the awful stretch marks after your pregnancy? If not, what was your regimen? Care to share?
On Saturday, M and I took a day out to the country side. We toured a castle in a far away village. On our way home, I was so sleepy and tired from the long walk we took, going up the hilly village under the scorching heat of the sun. I fell asleep in the car.
When we were approaching the city, M asked me if I wanted to stop by Ikea. That took away my sleepiness in a flash. "Sure!" was my excited reply.
With no intention of buying anything, we just grabbed what we liked. tsk tsk tsk, not really a good idea! But of all the items we bought, it was the chopsticks that made me so happy. I"ve been wanting to practice eating with chopsticks. I bought a tray, the Ikea chocs (yummmm), flower vase and other unecessary knick knacks - things we really could live without, much like New Jersey hair transplants. I also took a rather expensive rectangular dish but returned it after I was back in my senses,(errr after being fed that is).
Then we drove off to a nearby shopping complex. The boutiques were tempting me! We succumbed to the temptation and end up treating ourselves with: a doll-blouse and cap for me, shirt and cargo pants for M.
We went home past 9PM, tired and hungry (again)….
I am still wondering if there's a connection with being preggy and lack of self-control.
Zzzzzzleepy is how I feel now! We woke up early today for our appointment with the OB at 8am. No eating, I was told. They would take another round of blood samples from me. I bet it’s called Fasting Blood Sugar? I remember my parents having that kind of fast before their health check-up.
Anyway, ohhh the “baby is growing” that’s what I said while the doc was moving his ultra-sound apparatus on my tummy. To which he replied “of course!” I saw a blurry image of my baby’s face, opening and closing its mouth. Was it talking to us? Baby seems not only hyper-active but also a blabber-mouth! Such cute hands and tiny feet! I can’t believe there’s a small human inside me. Baby’s heartbeat is normal. No pictures this time though, coz the images weren’t too vivid.
M was supposed to be on leave today, but last Friday they got a memo that starting this week they will be working overtime to catch up on deadlines. No luck for us! I thought we could finally get inside the National Museum today! The museum is just right across our doc’s clinic. There were already plenty of people (I suspect they were tourists) outside waiting for it to open when we went out from the clinic.
Zzzzzz. I’ll go back to snooze mode.
Related post: alive and kicking!
Mama would always remind us to eat breakfast. Its one of the many things that she would repeatedly instill in our minds, this would be it.
I've grown up eating breakfast. Even when in a hurry, I still eat breakfast.
I've also read from many health articles that eating breakfast is a healthy practice. It breaks the long fast our body experienced. Imagine that your last meal is dinner. The gap from dinner to the next day when you eat breakfast is 12 hours. And if you skip breakfast, that would be putting yourself in starvation. Diet guides also says that depriving the body of food in the morning will make you devour more food during lunch. That's not a good practice if you want to slim down. Small frequent meals, now that's the secret of being slim!
I'm glad that I've now introduced the habit of eating breakfast to M. He can't say no coz I painstakingly get up on mornings just to prepare him breakfast. If he is in a hurry, I'd let him bring fruits like apple or banana, yoghurt and some sandwich which he can munch while on his way to the bus stop or at the office. I'm like a momma packing "baon" for her little kid. hehehe practice na ko!
Enough of my blahs! The following article is taken from my email box which I would like to share. Read on!
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Breakfast can help prevent strokes, heart attack and sudden death. Advice on not to skip breakfast!
Healthy living
For those who always skip breakfast, you should stop that habit now! You've heard many times that "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Now, recent research confirms that one of the worst practices you can develop may be avoiding breakfast.
Why?
Because the frequency of heart attack, sudden death, and stroke peaks between 6:00 a.m. and noon, with the highest incidence being between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.What mechanism within the body could account for this significant jump in sudden death in the earlymorning hours?
We may have an Answer.
Platelet, tiny elements in the blood that keep us from bleeding to Death if we get a cut, can clump together inside our arteries due to cholesterol or laque buildup in the artery lining. It is in the morning hours that platelets become the most activated and tend to form these internal blood clots at the Greatest frequency.
However, eating even a very light breakfast prevents the morning platelet activation that is associated with heart attacks and strokes. Studies performed at Memorial University in St.Johns, Newfoundland found that eating a light, very low-fat breakfast was critical in modifying the morning platelet activation. Subjects in the study consumed either low-fat or fat-free yogurt, orange juice, fruit, and a source of protein coming from yogurt or fat-free milk. So if you skip breakfast, it's important that you change this practice immediately in light of this research. Develop a simple plan to eat cereal , such as oatmeal or Bran Flakes , along with six ounces of grape juice or orange juice , and perhaps a piece of fruit. This simple plan will keep your platelets from sticking together, keep blood clots from forming, and perhaps head off a potential Heart Attack or stroke . So never ever skip breakfast!
During the last three months or so I had severe dry skin. I know it was the winter season that was causing it plus the fact that we always use heater inside the house making the air so humid. Even after few minutes of rubbing generous amount of lotion all over my body, it’s back to dryness again. It even came to a point when it was bothering me with itchiness. Argh!
This problem is over anyway, because its spring time! I can now open the windows to let in the fresh air. No more dry skin and chapped lips. Or has my body adjusted to the cold climate already?
If you’re having dry skin problems, this article from Yahoo! might help you understand the causes and find the necessary solution that would best work for you.
Another appoinment with the doc. Everything is normal and healthy. The baby is looking good as doc said. I've gained few kilos. Though at this time, my tummy is still small.
I'm feeling much better these days. No more uncomfortable feeling of nausea. I'm glad I'm over it already. But there are times when it happens, very seldom.
Doc gave us a contact number to another doctor, for thyroid testing. I don't know if its SOP.
18 weeks and its already 127mm.
During our first visit with the OB, he prescribed me two medicines: the first one was capsule powered with calcium, iron and other minerals; the other one was actually lollipop said to have ginger in its ingredient, good for fighting nausea.
Looking back, I realized that I started feeling morning sickness when I learned I was pregnant (that was a day after Christmas). Well, there were times prior to that that I felt dizzy, but being picky and the feeling of throwing up after eating certain foods or my sensitive smell all became more apparent in January until the middle of February. Then it slowly disappeared.
And this lollipop helped ease nausea. Right after eating meals, I'd grab a lollipop and it would stop me from throwing up. That was all I did whenever I felt like vomitting. Once I ran out of supply, I asked M to buy on his way home. Unfortunately, the pharmacy also was out of supply. My smart hubby instead went to a grocery store and bought me ordinary lollipops. Guess what? It worked! So I concluded that it doesn't matter whether it was the "medicinal" lollipop or ordinary lollipop - its the brain being tricked that eating lollipop can stop feeling queasy thats at work.
That's just a preggy woman's theory.
my trusted arsenal against nausea and vomitting
So, wherever we go, M and I would always bring with us lots of "anti-queasiness" lollipop. He has some in his coat pockets, in his bag, in the car and he eats it with me. I survived nausea and vomitting because of lollipops!
This BLOG chronicles my experiences as a parent and of the new things I learn along the way as I take upon this role of raising responsible, loving, happy and intelligent children.
This is my personal blog, created and written by ME.
I occasionally write reviews and advertisement to which I am compensated for but these may not always be identified as paid or sponsored posts. Though the compensation received may influence the topics or posts written in this blog, I always give my honest findings, opinions or beliefs on these topics or products. Therefore, the thoughts and views expressed here are totally mine, unless otherwise quoted.
